Alex very likely will walk and do like beasts n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paed 2. 11. wants to such are more disrellishing then dead beer after the sweetest banket They that live in pleasure and lie at ease cannot endure a change o We are hardly brought to change from soft beds to hard boards Hist of the World 4. 2. 11. p. 158. And therefore as we expect the support of the Almighties Hand in our fainting time when we have nothing to support us from without we must look up humbly and thankfully to the same Hand now that we have plenty And we must accustome our selves now that our tables are spread to a sober temperate use of the creatures and to all fitting abstinence holding command over our spirits in His strength we are able to do it who over-powered the lion that we be not brought under the power of the Creature The body hath some preparatives before a purge and when we would come out of a sweat kindely we cast off first one cloth then another so should we do in the ranknesse and sweat of our prosperity p Vitia longae pacis opulentae securitatis Salv. And now the time calls upon us famine and the extremities thereof we have q Chap. 4. § 14. read and heard of and what hath it taught us Our tables are as full of excesse as before and fuller of surfeit So the fool goes on and is punished he cannot lay things to heart but they that are wise do heare the voice of the rod and do fear before it walking humbly with the Lord They have got command over their spirits and are got from under the power of the Creature by denying themselves a little in this and a little in that Now in this lesser thing so making way for greater so as when the rod of their affliction shall bud out again which they expect nay when the Lord shall turn the former rod which wrought no reformation into a serpent so that it stings like a scorpion they may feel the smart thereof but the poyson thereof shall not be deadly And so much to teach us abstinence and to get command over our selves that we be not brought under the power of the creature which will help us much to possesse our souls in patience in the day of trouble They that have not learnt to wait are not fitted to receive the fruits from the r James 5. 7. earth or the accomplishment of the promise from heaven Now touching our children the lesson is this we must not give them alwayes when they aske nor so much as they would have let them feele sometimes the want of it and the biting of an hungry stomack It sweeteneth the creature when they shall have it and puts a price upon the same when it is in their hand It is rare amongst those that are grown up to finde a stomack full of meat and an heart as full of praise The emptie stomack feeles the comfort and is in likelihood more enlarged Let the childe abstain from all sometimes but not often it is their growing time yet sometime altogether from all at all times from part They must not taste of every dish nor look so to do it is not good for the Å¿ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cl. Al. Paed 2. 1. pag. 103. parent lesse wholsome for the childe there is a drunkennesse t Plures cum sâ—t vino sobriae ciboâ—um largitate sunt â—briae Hiâ— lib. 2. â—p 17. in eating as in drinking Accustome children to waite now they will waite with more patience hereafter But more specially teach them a fit and reverent behaviour both before and at the table Though they sit at a common table yet it is Gods table He spread it for the parent and the childe Though there we receive common blessings yet we must not put upon them common esteeme nor return for them common thanks children must not by their rude and uncivill deportment before and at the table make it a stable or an hâ—gs-stye nor must they drown themselves there in an eager fulfilling their appetite like beasts u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cl. Mex Pop. 2. 7. pag. 127. at their manger or swine in their trough like beasts I say that have their manger before x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Loâ—â— laud. pag. 128. them and their dung hill behind them hereof Clem. of Alex. makes very good use and that is all I tend to here 6. And now that we have eaten we must remember to return praise Our great Master is our great example Before He gave common bread He gave thanks and when He administred the Sacrament of His blessed body and bloud He concluded with an Hymn * Matt. 26. 30. y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hearken to this saith Chrysostome y upon those words all ye that goe from your common table like swine whereas ye should give thanks and conclude with a Psalme And hearken ye also who will not sit out till the blessing be given Christ gave thanks before He gave to His disciples that we might begin with thanks-giving And He gave thanks after He had distributed and sung a Psalme that we might do so likewise so Chrysostome Now then that we are filled it is the very season of thanksgiving saith the y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Châ—s de Lâ—z Ser. 1. Tom. 5. Father And he that is now to addresse himselfe to return thanks is supposed to have fed temperately and to be sober They that have fed without feare and are filled with their pasture are more like to kick with the heele then to return praise and in so doing are worse then the most savadge creatures who to shew their thankfulnesse will be at the beck of those that feed them We must remember that with us men every favour requires a z Omne beneâ—icium exigit oâ—â—icium Lege Chrysost in Gen. cap. 12. Hom. 32. Man must not be like his belly what it receives to day it forgets to morrow and when it is full it thinks of temperance Translated out of Basil de jejunio p. 281. Psal 154 10. returne much more when we receive these comforts of meat and drink from Gods hand we must return in way of homage our thankfulnesse If it should be thrice asked as one in another case what is the speciall dutie or grace required in a Christian I should answer thrice also supposing the season Thankefulnesse Thankfulnesse at our sitting down Thankfulnesse at our receiving the blessing Thankfulnesse when we are refreshed Thankfulnesse is as good pleading in the Common Law the heart string a Lord Cooke Pref. Littlet thereof so of Religion It is the very All of a Christian if it be with all the heart And heartie it should be for as it is for beasts to eate till they be filled so is it beast-like to look downward when they are filled If God
to God S. Con. 85. In a Family the Fathers and the Mothers care is the greatest The Childes care is onely to obey and the servants to doe his work Care of Provision and Protection doth not trouble them Most of our disquietnesse in our Calling is that we trouble our selves about Gods work whereas we should Trust God and be doing in fitting the Childe and let God alone with the rest He stands upon His credit so much that it shall appeare we have not trusted Him in vaine even when we see no appearance of doing any good when we cannot discerne by all our spialls the least shew either for provision or Protection We remember who were very solicitous for their Children and because they could not provide for them nor protect them neither therefore perish they must in the wildernesse We must remember also That the Lord took care of those Children and destroyed those distrustfull parents who thought there was no path in a wildernesse because they could not discerne any nor meate to be had there because their hand was too short to provide it It is dangerous questioning the power of God in the greatest straite If He bring any person into a wildernesse it is because He may shew His power there for provision and protection both God works most wonderfully for and speaks the sweetest comfort to the heart in a wildernesse Note we this then and so I conclude There is much uncertainty in the Certainty of man and all Certainty in the uncertainty of God I tearme it so by allowance of the Spirit i 1 Cor. 1. 25. in respect of mans apprehension There is no uncertainty in God but all Certainty as in Him is all Wisdome all Strength We apprehend that there is a Certainty in man and an Uncertainty in God for if we observe our hearts we Trust Him least but that is our Foolishnesse and Weaknesse There is all uncertainty in men even in the best of men in Princes place no Certainty there There is all Certainty in God as in Him is all Wisdome and Strength put we confidence there Cast we Anchor upwards Commit we all but in well-doing all we have and all we are into his everlasting Armes Then assuredly we shall finde a stay for our selves and a portion for ours Provision and Protection both He is all to us and will be so when we are nothing in our selves And so much touching my Wildernesse and Gods providing for me even there though I tempted him ten times I call it a wildernesse for so I may because so my foolishnesse in my wayfare made it And Gods provision for me was very remarkable and therefore to be remembred for the Parents sake and Childrens too of great use and concernment to both Indeed he that can say no more of his Travels but that he passed through a Wildernesse hath said little to commend his Pilgrimage but much to magnifie the power of That Hand whereby he had a safe Convoy through the same It is a poore and worthlesse life such mine is that hath nothing worthy to be remembred in it but its Infirmities But yet there is nothing so magnifies Gods power * 2 Cor. 12. 9. as mans weaknesse doth When I shall give account of my life and cast up the summe thereof saith Iunius k Miserationes Domini narrabo quum rationes narrabo miserae vitae meae ut glorificetur dominus in me qui secit me vitâ Junii affix Oper. Theol. and so he begins I shall tell of the mercies of the Lord and His loving kindnesse to me ward And then he goes on reckoning up the infirmities of his body some of his minde too but that he puts a Marke upon is what extremitie he was in at Geneva and how graciously the Lord disposed thereof for that was remarkable indeed Beza also spareth not to tell us nay he fills his mouth with it how troublesome the Itch was to him not so easily cured then Deut. 28. 29. as now and what a desperate way the Smart the Chyrurgeon put him to and bad Counsell put him upon Such it was that there was but a step betwixt him and death but God wonderfully put to His Hand inter Pontem fontem Beza could not but confesse that Mercy as we finde it in his Epistle before his Confefsions And so farre That the Parent and Childe both may learne to account Gods works and if it might be to call His mercies by their names and to rest upon Gods providence as the surest inheritance Now I come to give the reason of my paines in all this which follows and what ingageth a Parent unto this Duty 1. I considered my yeers declining a pace When the Sunne is passed the Meridian and turned towards its place where it must set then we know the night approcheth when man ceasing from his work lyeth down in the Darke It is the Wisemans Counsell l Eccles 9. 10. and it is his wisdome to do that which is in his hand with all his might m Prima Actionum Argo Committenda sunt extrema Briareo de Aug. l. 6. 41. before he goes hence for there is no working in the grave The putting off this Day and the next and halfe a day cost the poore Levite and his Concubine very deer as we read Iudg. 19. And it teacheth us in our affairs concerning our selves or ours in setting our house in order That it is dangerous triflng away the Day-light I cannot say with Isaac I am old or mine eye is dimme but I must say in the following words I know not the day of my Death God may spare me among mine yet longer for my building is not so old but it may stand And yet so unsound the foundation is for it is of Clay it may sinke quickly as my good Father before me I may lye down turne to the Wall and to the earth all at once though yet I have scarcely felt and so also my Father before me the least distemper If this consideration come home and proves seasonable I shall then set all in a readinesse and in order that when Death comes I may have then no more to doe but to welcome it and shut the eye and depart tanquam Conviva Satur as one that hath made an improvement of life and hath hope in Death That was my first consideration 2. I considered my Children all three young the eldest but peeping into the World discerning little the second but newly out of the armes the youngest not out of the Cradle I considered also they are not so much mine as the Lords Whom thou hast borne unto me saith the Lord Ezek. 16. 20. And therefore in all reasonable Construction to be returned back againe unto Him by a well ordered education as himselfe hath appointed These thoughts so over-ruled me at length for I am not easily drawn to take my Pen in hand and prevailed with me to pen some instructions
in true judgement With the lowly is wisedome and the eye of the Lord is towards him for good More fully this in the second part But here let the childe have some old lessons with his new cloathes for that is all besides his sports he takes delight in It may be told That as the man must honour the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys ad pop Am Hom. 19. VVe commend not an horse for his trappings nor must we a man for his clothes what availeth a body well clad and a soul naked 1 Pet. 3. 3. Aug. confess lib. 1. cap. 7. house not the house the man so the person must put a grace upon his apparell not the apparell upon the person It is a poore ornament and not worth the looking on which is put-on and off with the cloathes The inward ornament is the grace indeed And if the Parent shall intend principally the beautifying of the inward man his own and his childes he shall reap the comfort of both And so much to the first which sheweth my scope to propose a way onely not to determinate the same 2. There is a spice of this pride which shews it selfe in children before their teeth in a froward stubborn carriage The Parent must be as speedy in observing what signes the childe gives hereof either in words or gesture thereby it is declared very much And he must leave nothing remaining so farre as he can help of this yron sinew out with it and spare him not The childes future good and the Parents comfort depend upon it Let him see and feele that it is very unprofitable and bootlesse to be sullen froward obstinate leave him not till he be as soft as a pumpion that is the counsell and the way to prevent this evill which will make him as unfit to rule hereafter as he is to obey now The Parent must be very watchfull and active here but now remembring he looks upon his owne picture as was said his own Image right Now heart answers heart as face to face in water or in Chrystall And therefore we shall the lesse feare the fathers passion All compassion will be used which is necessary and required And so the stubborn spirit which worketh all our woâ— as was said may be taken down through Gods blessing who is lookt up unto for that which is crooked no man can make straight And the contrary grace may be instilled and inforced I meane gentlenesse of carriage meeknesse of behaviour oh how winning how commendable it is Love is the whet-stone of Love an attractive thereof a Vt ameris ama Mar. I will tell thee said one how thou maist make another love thee without a love-potion a Ego tibi monstrabo amatorium sine medicamento c. Si vis amari ama Senec. epist. 9. If we would be beleeved we must â—â—ve honestly If we would be beloved we must lovel caâ—tily Isid 〈◊〉 lib. 2 epist 148. Be pleasing and loving to others and thou shalt have love againe A meeke and loving carriage will win the love and draw the eyes of all unto us as a cleare Sun-shine upon a faire Diall where as a rough stout and boysterous nature doth thrust out a rough and hasty hand against every man and will finde every mans hand as boisterous and rough against him but gentlenesse sinks into the heart and wins it makes the clearest Demonstration of a Gentle-man Others may assume the name but it is the Gentlemans right his whom gentlenesse calmenesse sweetnesse of carriage doth denominate There are other meanes to work and mould the spirit this way which I cannot thinke of but we must remember still that there is no way like this The looking up to the Lord the spreading this crookednesse and peremptory bent of nature before Him who onely can subdue it and set it straight But the Parent must do his part else God is lookt-up unto in vaine He must set the 21 chapter of Deut. before the childe there to reade the punishment of a stubborn childe He must informe him how unsociable a Nabal-like disposition is a 1. Sam. 25. 17. Latrant non loquuntur Cic. Brut. pag. 161. fol. Stridet non loquitur Cal. epist 339. How b 2. Sam. 23. 6 7. Vt spina ex quacunque parte con spâ—xeris habet aculeos Sic servus Diabol Chrysost in Matt. 7. Hom. 9. lat aut untractable such a person who is of the nature of thorne But above all things the Parent must bid the childe behold how God raiseth valleys and takes down hills Represseth the presumptuous and giveth grace to the modest 3. Spare not the childe for his lye children are strangely addicted to it because they are children and understand not he is a childe though a man threescore yeers old that useth it It is the winding crooked course the very going of the serpent which goeth basely upon the belly and eats the dust There is no vice doth more uncover a man to the world and covers him with shame It out-faces God and shrinks from man and what can be more childish It unmans a man debasing his glory and making it his shame It makes a man most unlike God most like the Divell I know not how a Parent can dispose of a lying childe he is unfit for any societie We take more content with our Dog then with one whose language we understand not saith De Civil liâ— 18. cap. 7. Austin I adde And then with one whose words we cannot trust A Parent must labour hard for the rooting out of this evill He may tell the childe That God is truth And that He commands and loves the same in His creatures and in our converse one with another That He sees the secrets of mans heart and will bring every secret thing to judgement The Parent may shew the childe as on a theater Gods judgements on lyers how quick and sharpe God hath been against this abuse of the Tongue punishing it with Leprosie and sudden death And that He hath allotted to lyers a place without amongst Dogs because they have abased themselves Reve. 22. 15. below men c. But perhaps the rod is the onely thing ' which yet the childe feares and understands and let him feel it now for the preventing of this great evill but yet so handle the childe that it may not run further into the thicket and shift the more as he we spake of did into the house Thereby the childe will be the more hardened against the next time A childe hath no more wit but to think as too many old folk do That an evill is cured with an evill which as one saith is a most absurd conceit there being no remedie against Isid Pelus lib. 2. epist 145. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Isid the evill of sinne this specially but confession and repentance Therefore handle the child with great discretion at this point And let the
from glory to glory o Cor. 3. 18. 3. It is of use to consider what darknesse is and what the bounds of the same the resolution is short we shall finde it to be no positive thing but a meer privation and as boundlesse it is as the light was for it is but the absence thereof If I take a candle out of a room I do not put darknesse into the same room but in taking away the candle I leave the room dark Thus of the great candle of the world it doth not make this side of our globe dark but withdrawing it self from our side it leaves us in darknesse This is of use to informe us That there is no efficient cause of darknesse either in our great world or in our little but a deficient altogether p Vide Augusâ—de civit lib 12. cap. 6 7. which cause is understood by the same way that darknesse is seene or silence is heard we heare silence by hearing nothing so we see darknesse by seeing nothing Shut the eye and behold darknesse Our enquiry is nought touching the efficient cause of an evill will or of a dark minde saith Mornaeus q Male quâ—ritur unde malâ—m efficiatur for there is no such cause thereof If light withdraw it self either from our world without or from our world within there needs no more to leave all darke r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil Hâ—x Hom 2 pag 18 19. yea and to expose us to the power of darknesse and to lead us to the houre of temptation The usefull enquiry then is Who is that fountain of Light Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world And we must acknowledge here if there be truth in us and say contrary to that which the Fathers of old said in an opinion of themselves we see not nor can we see Nay we shall ever sit in darknesse and in the very shadow of death untill this Light this Day-spring from on high shall visit us who at the first caused the light to shine out of darknesse and made the aire light before He gave the Sun And this is that Sun of Righteousnesse We must acknowledge farther That as we have many wayes to shut out of our roomes this light in the aire but no way to shut out darknesse so there is an heart in us which can oppose this fountain of Light shutting our eyes against it and thrusting it from us so resisting the Holy Ghost but for darknesse we are held and chained in it and against that we have no power A consideration if put home that will hide pride from us and humble us to the dust that from thence we may present this great request To the Hearer of prayers Lord that we might receive our sight Å¿ Mark 10. 51. Lord that thou wouldest give unto us the spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of Him the eyes of our understanding bring enlightned that we may know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints c. Ephes 1. 17 18 c. 4. It is considerable how small a thing doth make the place about us light supplying the want of that great body which is now with the other side of our globe What the Sun cannot do saith Chrysostome a little candle can t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Ephes Hom. 12. for not to speake of the starres those great lights which then shew clearest when the night is darkest a rush-candle a Glow-worm the bones of a fish a rotten piece of wood will dart you out a light which though the faintest all the power of that darknesse we properly call night cannot withstand But here we must remember a darknesse which we reade of so thick and palpable that it over-powered the fire and candle it put both out neither could burne the while As Philo Iudeus tells us as well as the Apocrypha Wisd 17. 5. This tells us first that He who is the God not of some but of all consolations can take away some comforts and supply us with other-some which may not be so full in our eye but yet as satisfying more contentfull He can put our acquaintance farre from us He can suffer the divell to cast some into prisons and into dungeons where the enemy thinks there is no light to be expected so wise they are in their generation and so prudently they have contrived But the enemy is mistaken for He who formeth light and createth darknesse He that made the light to shine out of the wombe of darknesse He that makes a candle supply the want of the Sun He that turneth the shadow of death into the morning He that doth these great and wonderfull things He it is that gives His children light in darknesse and songs in their night As Peter found it for behold to him a light shined in the prison x Act. 12. 7. so shall it be with all that truely feare the Lord A light shall arise to them in darknesse * Isa 58. 10. Psal 112. There is some cranny left whereby to let in light and a way open with the Lord for deliverance from all the expectation of the enemy though all the wayes be blocked up to man both in respect of the prison and the Iron-gate y Act. 12. 11. The children of Israel children of the day and of the light ever had in despight of the enemy and ever shall have light in their dwellings z Exod. 10. 23 though these dwelling are prisons caves and dungeons which the enemy calleth and indeed seeme to be like the shadow of death This meditation may be more enlarged for if nature be so solicitous as was said * Preface p. 19. in recompensing what is wanting much more then so will the God of nature do He takes from Moses a distinct and treatable voice He Himself will be a mouth to Moses He takes away Iohn a great light to His Church He gives the Lord Christ The Light of that Light He takes away Christ His bodily presence He leaves them not orphans comfortlesse He gives His Church a fuller measure of His Spirit He takes away strength of body He gives strength of faith establishment of heart He takes away a deare childe by that sorrow as by a sanctified meanes He formeth Christ in the heart It is of high use to consider how God doth supply in one kinde what He takes away in another as He doth make the little candle to supply the absence of the great Sun Lastly when we lye down we are to be taught as to recount the mercies of the day so to call to minde the dangers of the night Houses are marked out in the day-time and broke open in the night houses also are fired in the night And how helplesse is man amidst these casualties and dangers If a sleep the theefe findes him bound to his hand and if
and honoured him the more he suppressed goodnesse and dishonoured God Turning his gifts so bountifully bestowed of nature liberall maintenance grace all against the Giver to the satisfying of his own lusts for judgement causing oppression and for righteousnesse a cry Is it likely I say but that mans reckoning will be very heavy v Isa 5 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at this point Again how unreasonable a conceit is it That our Lord Christ taking upon Him the form of a Servant for us and humbling Himself so low as the Crosse should yet with patience long endure a proud servant lifting up himself in the pride of his thoughts before an humble and for his sake an humbled Lord And how unreasonable also and altogether unbeseeming c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defato erat 5. is it That Man poore silly man should in all things seek himselfe a 〈◊〉 Prov. 25. 27. hunt after his own repute his own glorie when as the Lord of Glorie coming down from Heaven to seek Man that was lost sought not his own Glorie b John 8. 50. Certainly this is an iniquitie which greatly provoketh and hath been and is accordingly punished for hence it is That the sword is upon the right eye and arme hence it is that a man proud of his knowledge is become blinde with light proud of his vertue is poyson'd with the Antidote Blown up with his Authoritie and height of his place and power findes his rise hath proved his downfall and his ladder his ruine Certainly for men to search their own glorie is not c Prov. 25. 17. glorie it tends rather to ruine examples whereof are written before us as in Capitall letters But of this before and anon after †8. Is it strength of Bodie or comelinesse of parts which is the beauty of the same Is it this or that which makes us think better of our selves then is meet This also is but a false valuation a vanitie d Prov. 21. 6. tossed to and fro If our strength lift up our heart it will be to our e Chron. 26. 16. destruction Which is to be considered so is this also That that is the f Lord Ver. Essayes 43. pag. 252. true comelinesse the best beauty which a picture cannot expresse yet no cause we should be proud thereof for the outward comelinesse as it is Gods work and hath His Stamp and Superscription we must prize it and put an honour upon it too but I must not be proud thereof what I dote upon will prove my sorrow and what I am proud of my snare For the most part as one notes it makes a Dissolute Youth and an Age a Ibid. little out of countenance though yet if it light well it makes Vertues shine and Vices blush But however It is not a thing to be proud of for it is as Summer fruits which are easie to corrupt and cannot last We cannot say of it IT IS g Hist of the World 2 book 3. 4. c. Preface p. 20. It may change if not vanish in a very short time in a night one fit of a fever of feare of sorrow may in one night so quaffe up our spirits that we cannot easily be known to be the men witnesse a Noble-man in Charles the fifth his Court as we reade in Lemnius h Lemn de complex page 147. Oh saith one i Dr Sibbs S. c. p. 141. That the creature should dare to exalt himselfe against God who need not fetch forces from without to trouble and molest us if He let out the humours of our body or the passions of our minde against us we shall be an astonishment or wonder unto others a terror and torment to our selves man in his best estate is but vanitie If we could reade our selves and the principles we consist of if we could look down towards our feet and see what our foundation is then certainly our plumes our high thoughts would fall flat down I remember how Pliny instructs the great men of the earth by occasion of a childe smothered in the wombe with the snuffe of a candle And thou saith he who art so proud because thy bloud is fresh in thy veines and thy bones full of marrow thou that art so puffed up because of some fulnesse or some great estate falne to thee may'st purchase thy death at as low a rate as that childe or lower a rayson stone may choake thee as it hath some others so may a haire in the milke He therefore weigheth his life in a right ballance who truly considereth how fraile he is so he concludeth a little chapter with a great lesson k Plin. Naâ— hist lib. 7. cap. 7 sâ—e cap. 50. It is a common Theame yet worthy to be insisted upon for if we did know our selves to be but men we should have wiser and sadder thoughts Therefore it is good to reade our selves Our vile body and the foundation it stands on speaks out plainly that fall it will we know not how soon I knew a man saith l Aug. de Civit. 22. 22. St. Austine and one of a strong constitution too his legge slipt and with that slip a joynt out of place so it laid him on the ground and could not be cured till he was laid underneath Sitting in a chayre saith the same Father is a safe posture but we know who fell out thence and brake his neck as we remember one did out of his bed that retyring and refreshing place The case was extraordinary for he was full of yeares and as full of sorrows And the news of the Arke weighed lowest But it tells us the ordinary lesson That death may meet us when and where we lesse look for it A m Judges 3. 20. Summer parlour seemes a safe place for repast and quiet And a brothers feast n 2 Sam. 23. hath no shew of danger And yet the hand of justice hath met with the sinner at both these places which tells us That He who hath his breath in his nostrils should not be proud for there is spare enough and in all places at all times and by the unlikeliest meanes to let it forth I remember a proud Conquerour demands in a bragge what he should feare o Victor timere quid potest quòd non timet Sen. Agaâ— Act. 4. And it was answer'd in a breath That which he feared not which he found true for soone after that he least suspected damp'd his spirits and quite put them out What I feare not and thinke not off is likely soonest to fall upon me As he is likelier to spoyle me in my house which he hath mark'd out in the day time Then that person whom I am warned of before my doore and whom my eye is upon Oh That silly man should lift up himselfe in a windy conceit of that which is not who before the next morning may be laid upon his sick bed and in a
19. 19. Hom. to the people of Antioch that is meere want of courage and resolution then difficulties really hard and insuperable We see saith he what your wonder-workers can do what strange feats They will run upon the ground like a wheel circularly They will run up and down a rope with as much steadinesse as another in plain ground They will cast up swords like Tennis-balls and catch them again with the like ease yet stranger things he tells of and all attained unto by diligence and custome provoked by a little gain What then saith the same Father can we think the way or practise of vertue and holinesse more difficult and the end of that way to have lesse gain and peace overcome we the stubbornnesse of our Will gain that winde up our selves to a resolution i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost 〈◊〉 we cannot by our own strength choose we the wayes of holinesse give we all diligence to walk in those paths then we are assured custome will make our paths easie and pleasant and at the end we shall have peace The conclusion then is Awake thy soul give all diligence and with the same diligence keep thy heart for out of it are the issues of life Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy wayes be established k Prov. 4. 23. and 26. §. 3. Profit 3. The other great Enchantresse of Mankinde so I finde them coupled in the forementioned place l Hist of the World lin 2. chap. 4. § 13. p. 239. is profit A restlesse desire of getting still more when though all the world were gotten it could never satisfie nor make a man say It is enough It jades a man and tires his spirits out in an eager pursuit of that wherewith he can no more fill himself then a coffer with knowledge and a bag with grace m You must not account that the chief riches which you can put in a purse Clâ—m Alex. paed 3. 7. p. 173. And yet he layeth out his pretious stock of time and parts in his eager pursuit this way which is as if a man should furnish forth a chamber in a Through-fare where he is to stay but a night and neglect to provide himself of a Mansion in the citie where he is for ever to dwell This is our folly the chain of darknesse over our heart That spirit of infirmity with which we are bowed down so as we will weary our selves in the wayes of vanitie though we finde our selves hungry and faint as the beast under their idols and as the Smith working them with the strength of his arm or if we think our selves filled it is as with the East-winde or ashes instead of bread when we awake for now the deceitfulnesse of riches hath closed the eye we shall be hungry And it is not possible to be otherwise for the heart turned from the Creatour to the Creature must needs be empty there being a vanitie upon it And being removed from the onely and eternall Good it must needs be like the needle shaken off from the pole starre in an unquiet trembling condition Like a meteor still in agitation and doubtfull suspense n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 12 29. The way then to fill the heart and to quiet it is to point it heaven-ward where is Rest and Satisfaction And this consideration may help to cure us of this spirit of infirmity which clings us together that we cannot look up to wit that God hath summed up all our happinesse in Himself as the drops in the Ocean All our streams of comfort come from that Sea and must return again thither If we have Him we have all if we want Him we have nothing Here our comforts lie strangling and divided some in this thing and some in that we go to the coffer for some and to the table for other some and yet we are not satisfied but in Christ these comforts are united if we have Him we have all But God we cannot have nor is it possible to feel how sweet he is while we feel a sweetnesse and satisfaction in the Creature and are feasting thereon It was a good answer and of great and high use which one made being asked where he found God There I found God said he where I left the Creature This is all I intend here whereby to fortifie us against the deceitfulnesse of riches which Fatigant neâ— satiant tamen Buch. in Psal 73. verse 7. weary but satisfie not I do not take this to be so proper to my scope and in some things which would fall in here I have presented my self elsewhere in the preface to the first part Hitherto of such inordinate desires which are not properly passions but proceeding from our opinion and fantasie our judgement and reason being put out of office and expoling us to the full sway and power of our passions whereby it doth appeare That we are not in greater danger in the hands of any then of our selves And therefore great cause to pray Deliver us from evil That is our p Quis est improbus ille Libera me à meipso Domine selves from our selves I come now to our master-passion The subduing of it is like the taking in of an Arch-rebell It is the leader and master of misrule then which nothing doth sooner and so immediately deforme Gods image and sometimes deface it utterly This is § 4. Anger A very strong motion from very weak reason It fills our house with smoake q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anger is like a smoake it darkens reason makes a very wise man a fool and to do unreasonably Achilles speech Hom. Iliads 18. well compar'd thereunto that we can see to do nothing in it nay more It deals with us as if one should cast the master out of his dwelling and then set fire on his house or as if an intemperate scold it is Mr Boltons comparison r Direct p. 98. Lege Chrysost in Gen. hom 53. â— should justle a reverend Iudge out of his place and there to take on in her talkative and scurrill manner Iust so will this absurd passion usurp and domineere over judgement not giving reason leave to interpose a word whereby it comes to passe that the man loseth the rule of his own spirit and so becomes like a Citie without walls Å¿ Prov. 25. 28. or like a ship without stern and pilot exposed to windes and tempests in the midst of a furious sea This man must needs be at a losse and make shipwrack of his wisedome and discretion and all so as his discreet friend cannot recover him again till he hath more command of himself for if one should repaire him and deliver him to day he will need the same help to morrow for he will suffer wrack again by the storm of his passion If thou deliver him yet thou must do it again t Prov. 19. 19. So we have heard how
of meeknesse so shalt thou honour thy brother but thy self more Chrysostome n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In Gen. 13. Hom. 34. â— gives us a good note The truest signe of a man honoured with reason is to be gentle meek courteous mercifull as one that would obtain mercie for consider we our selves or others we are vessells of earth all which could not be cleansed with water they must be broken o Levit. 11. 3â— reade Mr Answ or like bell-mettle once broken never sound again till new-cast and that will not be till the morning of our resurrection There be faults in all make the best of all It is good for a man nay it is his wisdome to pudder much in his own dung as a devout Spaniard p Avila's spirit Epist 24. p. 200. phraseth it To pry well into his faults and frailties and with great diligence there for from thence that bitter-root springeth that excellent and sweet grace humilitie but to pudder in another mans dung is Beetle-like q Scarabaeum aiunt 〈◊〉 sepultum vivere apobalsomo immersumemori a creature we know which lies covered in dung and findes sweetnesse there but put it amongst sweets and there it dies I will shut up this in the words of the Learned Knight changing but a word They who have sold the bloud of others good name of others at a low rate have but made the Hist of the World preface markets for their neighbours to buy of theirs at the same rate and price But Chrysostomes words upon those of our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In 8. Gen. Hom. 40. Iudge not that ye be not judged will serve better to stitch upon our lips How darest thou set thy self in Gods Throne by judging thy brother If thou wilt be a judge judge thy self and thy own wayes so mayest thou mendon But if thou sittest and judgest thy brother thou shalt but make thy own judgement the heavier § 6. Affections So much to the master passion and the subduing thereof and to order the tongue too that disordered member Affections are the next which may be called passions also when they come like sudden gusts for then they are the stormes of the soul and will overturn all if they be not suppressed and the heart steer'd aright by the interposing of judgement and right reason Our Affections set at libertie are like a Multos dominos habet qui unum non habet childe set loose and left to himself which will cause our shame and our sorrow both To instance our affection of feare not ordered and pointed right will make us like a Roe before the hunter or like a leafe shaken with the winde The Apostle speaks much in one word where feare is there is torment c. It slayeth without a sword Thy b Esay 22. 2. reade Edmunds upon Câ—sars Comment p. 17. p. 38. 39. slain men â— 1 John 4. 18. are not slain with the sword nor dead in battell How then were they slain for it is not proper to say slain with famine with c Exanimantur inctu Trim. A man that had his eyes covered to receive his death and uncovered again that he might reade his pardon was found stark dead upon the scaffold Char. chap. 16. p. 69. feare that surprised them before the battell and did the part of an executioner before the sword came Such an astonishing affection feare is if not fixt upon Him whom onely we should feare The like we may say of Love d Furori 〈…〉 mus 〈◊〉 Tacit. 〈◊〉 lib. 11. Ioy e Joy and sorrow have a contrary working but being immoderate they drink and quaffe up the spirits quickly and sometimes suddenly Sorrow if not plac'd aright but immoderately set upon the Creature they will swallow us up as a ship in the quicksands In a word The excesse of our affections do cause the greatnesse of our afflictions But contrary when our affections are well ordered they are the winde of the soul carrying it so as it is neither becalmed that it moves not when it should nor yet tossed that it moves disorderly They are the very wings of the soul A prayer without them so we may say of any other performance is like a bird without wings If I cared for nothing said Melancton I should pray for nothing They are the * Fear is worse then the thing feared as is prooved by the communication of Cyrus and Tygâ—anes Xenop Cyri. paed l. 3. p. 192. springs of all our services to God we are dry cold and dead without them They set the soule and heart on worke and then we seeke the Lord. David had prepared much for the house of his God and the reason was which himself gives Because I have set my affection to the house of my God We are as a dead Sea without our affections and as a raging Sea if they exceed the bounds And exceed they will if they are not held in order by His voyce who said to the Sea Be still Å¿ Oratio sine malis avis sine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nihil oratem 1. Chron. 22. 29. i 1. Chron. 28. 3. pâ—s meus affectus meus eo seror quocunqueseror They are as it is said of the body like a curious instrument quickly out of tune and then we as quickly have lost the mean between too much and too little They are just like moyst elements as Aire and Water which have no bounds of their own to contain them in but those of the vessell that keeps them water is spilt and lost without something to hold it so it is with our affections if they be not bounded by the Spirit of wisdome and power And if so they will answer all Gods dealing to His children As He enlargeth so they are enlarged as He opens so they open if evills threaten the more feare fixeth where it should and then feareth no evill tidings h Feare hath torment when it is out of place but if placed right upon God it quieteth and calmeth the heart it makes a mane fearelesse his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 112. The more tokens of displeasure the more sorrow yet ordered not without hope not a sorrow swallowing up the heart in despaire but a godly sorrow putting on to obedience These well ordered affections put the soul into a sutable plyablenesse that they answer the Lord in all His calls to joy when He calls for it to mourn when He calls for that But this sweet harmony and temper in the affections is never but when the Lord sets them in tune and keeps them so when His spirit watcheth over ours which should be our prayer for then look how many affections so many graces Love is turned to a love of God Ioy to a delight in the best things feare to a feare of offending Him more then any creature sorrow to a sorrow for sinne And
do make fair offers essayes and promises this way at such a time as this when they see themselves dropping into the grave But we must note as one before us and for our use B. Andrews on Psal 78. verse 34. that this time is the time when all Hypocrites Atheists tag and rag come in and seek Him For who is it that will not look out for a dwelling when he sees his old house dropping down upon his head Who will not cry out for mercy mercy when he seeth the doore shutting upon him and if he speaks not now he must hold his peace for ever Who will not desire that earnestly to live for ever with the Lord now that he sees he must die So true it is that this is the time when all even the worst of all do seek unto God and will turn unto Him But we must note also that this is not our time nor is it the time when God usually opens unto us 1. It is not our time to seek when we are not in case to seek any thing else It is not our time to turn to Him when we are not able to turne our selves in our bed not our time to rise earely to seek Him so we must if in an ordinary way we look to finde Him when we are not able to rise at all not our time to enquire after Him when breath faileth us and we are not able to speake three words together What ever our words are and â—ow pious soever whatever offers we make towards heaven it will be suspected to be slavish and extorted for feare of the Pale horse and that which follows It is not to be doubted but at such a pinch as this something we would say and something we would do which might do our selves good But what or how can we do to purpose when our strength is gone our spirits spent our senses appaled the shadow of death upon our eyes This time is not our time 2. Nor is it Gods time to heare In the Law the Lord forbad that torne flesh should be offered unto Him it was allotted for the dogs a Exod. 22. 31. Mal. 1. v. 13. But such a like sacrifice are our prayers and our praises at such a time as this as torne flesh broken divided and interrupted they must needs be when our heart within us is as Lead and our sighes beat as thick as a swift pulse The Lord ever refused the torne blind and the lame for a sacrifice It was not beseeming our Governour b Mal. 1. v. 8. a man like our selves In case to Him it was offered he would not accept of the same much lesse will God accept our torn divided sacrifice our refuse our Lees or dregs bottome dotage That which was dogs meat that which our selves and friends are weary of We had a male in our flock that is we had strength of body and minde and then of that best or male we should have offered unto the Lord But now that our best or male is spent now that we have cast away our precious stock of time and parts upon the service of sinne and Satan how can we now thinke that our torne blinde and lame sacrifice can be accepted how can we think the Lord will accept a corrupt thing against which He hath denounced a curse c Mal. 1. 14. It is not the Lords time He heareth not those persons who d Prov. 28. 9. Prov. 1. turn away their care from hearing his Law we must heare God first if we look that God should heare us at the last If He cryeth and He cannot be heard We shall cry and we shall not be heard for the Lord hath spoken it more then once e Zach. 7. 13. Quid enim justius c. Sal. De Gob. lib. 3. pag. 86. Non aâ—divimus non audimur ibidem All our stretching and crying and howling will be in vain We should have stretched and inclined our eares and have lifted up our voice on high when Gods time and ours was I mean the ordinary time that he hath appointed to be called upon and we are commanded to seek Him in What time is that it is called the Day of Salvation the acceptable Day And when is that time The Apostle answers Now is the accepted time now is the Day of Salvation now this present time f 1 Cor. 6. 2. And it is but a day Time is all the yeare long but your sowing time and your reaping time both these have their seasons Time is all the day long but tide-time hath See first Part. pag. 71. its appointed houre and we observe it as the poore man the stirring of the water Now this present time while the male is in the flock while breath is and strength is while the season is of knocking and opening Now is the time when we must seeke Now the time when God usually opens There is a pretty fiction touching the shell-fish and the Serpent And because it instructs us touching a speciall point of practise we thus read it The Shell-fish and the Serpent sometime lived together and conversed the Shell-fish very harmelesly with the Serpent the Serpent very crookedly with the Shell-fish After many faire means and thereby prevailing nothing the Shell-fish watched his opportunitie and while the Serpent slept gave him a blow on the head which is deadly The Serpent feeling himself wounded to death began to stretch out himself it is the manner of all creatures so to do but most remarkable in the Serpent because he lyeth in a ring and goeth in folds or doubles The Shell-fish observing the Serpent so stretching out and straightning himselfe told him Thou shouldest have done so before Thou shouldest have walked even and straight with Me when we conversed together so it might have benefitted thee but now nothing at all This is a fiction but it tels us our folly in good eatnest and instructs us in a speciall point of wisdome we have this property of the Serpent we are content to walk crookedly all our life in the crooked wayes of sinne and Death our owne wayes and we doubt not but to make all straight and even when we dye But ordinarily it profiteth us not our Thoughts deceive us and that is a fruit of our folly Our wisdome is to set all straight and even before hand to put our soules in order and our feete in straight pathes while there is yet Time this hath been the wisdome of the Saints If we read the sacred Register we shall observe all along That they whose yeares are numbred to be many were fruitfull in their lives and faithfull in their Deaths their Old age was their crowne of glory for it was found in the way of righteousnesse And for that great and waighty worke Their setting their house in order Their making all straight and even This was not a worke to be done then when strength and heart and breath faileth but already