garment seamlesse woven throughout and all one piece Or like Solomons Temple whose outside was stone inside gold especially the Sanctum sanctorum 1 Kings 6. 30. whos 's very floor as well as roof was gold within and without or like his Chariot the pillars whereof were of silver but the bottom was of gold Cant. 3. 10. The sincere soul must not onely see he be the same within that without like Noahs or Moses Arke the one pitched within as well as without with pitch for water-service Gen 6. 14. the other overlaid with gold within and without for Divine-service and be like the twelve Exod. 37. 2. Gates of the New Jerusalem each of which where one solid entire pearl Rev. 21. 21. But he should rather strive to be more within then he seems without herein differing from other men as much as the building and framing of Gods City doth from all other buildings in the world We lay our foundations of course and rougher stone but build up with fairer But the holy Cities streets was paved with gold the wall was Jasper but the foundations exceeded all The foundations of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones Rev. 21. 18 19. What a rare speech was that of an Heathen We should alwaies so act and live as if we were Sic certe vivendum est tanquam in conspectu vivamus Sic cogitandum tanquam aliquis in pectus intimum inspicere possit quid enim prodest ab homine aliquid esse secretum nihil Deo clausum Interest animis nostris mediis cogitationibus intervenit Seneca in open view and so think as if there were some one looking into our heart For what doth it profit to be hid from man when nothing is to God He steps into our mindes and walkes in the midst of our thoughts 5. It informs us of another most sad and weighty point how far a hypocrite may go and how high he may fly yet at last fall low and perish in some unsuspected sin There be many die of Occult and unknown diseases who are opened when they are dead then it is seen what they died of but then too late but there be more die of unknown sins who would not have their hearts opened here as Lydias was that they might have lived But then it is too late when they are dead and gone themselves to come to the knowled of it Magus next to Judas is an example of an arch hypocrite as any in all the Bible he came on apace of a late Sorcerer a new Professor and all the talk and news of Samaria was of Simons conversion and extraordinary forwardnesse and piety He outstrips them all he hears believes is baptized continueth with the godly contributeth wondereth Omnia facit quae reliquos videt proestare imo his majora Aret. in loc more then all the rest and sits more close to the Preacher Who dips his hand usually so soon in the dish as the Traitor Here if any were in Scripture you may lively behold a falling star a washed swine a painted sepulchre sepulchre the unclean spirit going out and returning in his hopefull stepping forward and mounting upward and in his shamefull retreat and dolefull declination 1. How many steps are here of his ascent and hopefull exaltation which shew him to be a star washed painted and the unclean spirit going out 1. He heard 2. Believed 3. Was Baptized 4. Joyned with the Church and continued 5. Wondered Or was in a more than ordinary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extacy or rapture he was at least seemed to be extraordinarily taken and affected with his new knowledge of the Gospel truths and his own state 6. He received the holy Ghost in some then common yet now extraordinary never sanctifying gifts As may appear 1. By that of Heb. 6. 4. where many are said to be partakers of the holy Ghost who do yet eternally miscarry partaking of the common gifts of the holy Spirit whereof some were peculiar to those times as to speak with tongues to prophesie 1. By interpreting Scripture written 2. By foretelling things to come as Agabus yea Balaam did who is said to have the spirit come upon him Num. 24. 3. and some gifts that are common to all ages as illumination conviction elocution utterance and acquaintance with the mysteries of Godlinesse 2. Many others have had the holy Ghost as appears by that plea which will be made by many Mat. 7. 22. 3. It is said they laid their hands on them v. 17. and they all received the holy Ghost of which number Simon was one 4. He offered them money it is said v. 18. not to have the holy Ghost which other believers had but to have power to give or sell the holy Ghost to others which power was peculiar onely to the Apostles 7. He was desirous of more gifts more eminent and Church-edifying gifts then he had already as it seems 8. He would not be sparing of his Purse but would let money go so he might have spirituall gifts He offered them money 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the singular number as Acts 4. 37. but store of money This word is rendered riches Mar. 10. 23. 9. He seemed somwhat affected with his sad condition so plainly layd before him Trepidum fuisse non est dubium Oâ—atio pctri ad cor penetravit sauciavit conscientiam Arct. in locum and so smartly set home by Peter He trembled saith Aretius no question was pricked in his heart and wounded and galled in Conscience 10. He is to be commended too that he did not storm and stomack at Peters reproof as many a one would have done but seems to take it in good part 11. He desires the prayers of others on his behalf which is very commendable so Paul often and the best of men have done 12 He desires they would pray for his soul that none of those evils might pursue and overtake him but that he might be out of the state of perdition and out of this gall of bitternesse Hitherto he runs well But Secondly Observe him further and you shall see the star falling that he was a swine still though washed a Sepulchre though painted and the unclean spirit returning 1. You may see here a change without a change a seeming but no reall change 2. An outward change before an inward in true godlinesse the inward goes first then the outward the hypocrite washeth the outside onely 3. Here was a change in profession none in disposition In principles not affections 4. He was changed in company not alone when by himself 5. He was changed in head not in heart Vulpes pilos mutavit non moâ—es 6. His change was in gifts not in grace He had more of common gifts of Knowledge Utterance Illumination then of Conscience and Sanctification 7. He had more of unsound grace then true more Faith then Repentance more Historicall Faith
branded as the most notorious offenders and threatned with the heaviest judgements who do harbour these sinfull thoughts in their hearts Wo to them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord and their workes are in the dark and they say who seeth us and who knoweth us Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potters clay For shall the work say of him that made it he made me not Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it he hath no understanding Shall not he that made the eye see and he that made the heart understand as much as the Potter who made the vessel knowes the mould and make and measure of it Esay 29. 15 16. see also Ezek. 8. 12. Psal 10. 11 13. 64. 4 5 6 7. 94. 7 8 9 10. Reas 7. But as deep and dark as they are the Lords eye is upon them and observeth every one of them The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men that they are vain Yea he understandeth the thoughts a far off Psal 139. 2. or long before as well as we know what the harvest will be by the seed and that a company of croking frogs will follow when we see the spawn First He knoweth our thoughts a far off that is long before they break forth in any Act. Deut. 31. 16. 19. Behold saith the Lord to Moses thou shallt sleep with thy Fathers and this people will rise up and go a whoring after other Gods c. For I know their imaginations which they go about even now before I have brought them into the land which I sware unto them Secondly He knoweth the thoughts a far off that is long before we think it as Elisha told Hazael what outragious acts he should commit when he should be King of Syria 2 King 8. 13. when it was the furthest end of his thought that either he should be so great a person or so vile a monster Is thy servant a dead dog saith he that I should do thus The Lord Ezek. 38. 10. foreseeth what thoughts counsels projects ambition greatnesse and high places will engender Thirdly As he knoweth what we never yet acted or what we never yet imagined so what we never shall act but what we have in our thoughts if we were not hindred he therefore telleth David that the men of Keilah had such a purpose to deliver him up into Sauls hands though Saul never came thither and David never stayed to try 1 Sam. 23. 12. Will the men of Keilah deliver me into the hand of Saul and the Lord said they will deliver thee up The inward man of the heart is the onely priviledged place where externall Courts have no jurisdiction to exercise and the severall Thoughts are the Casus reservati the Cases reserved onely to Divine Cognizance but here therefore doth God shew his Soveraignty and heavenly Prerogative most He sets up his Throne in the heart gives out commands to the thoughts he binds them in chaines of duty for obedience and bindes them in chaines of wrath and darknesse for disobedience Here doth he exercise his Legislative power here doth he keep a daily Visitation and here doth he chiefly exercise his Judiciall Authority Other causes may be tried below in mans day at mans Bar The Thought-knowing is reserved to Gods day and the judging to his Bar. There are onely five who have to do with the Thoughts 1. The Father 1 Chron. 28. 9. Solomon my Son know the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations c. 2. Jesus Christ which is an Argument of his divinity Rev. 2. 23. All the Churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the hearts and the reines And I will give to every one of you according to your workes 3. The holy Ghost 1 Cor. 2. 10. The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 4. The Word Which is Gods Law and hath his power and authority committed to it In his name to bind and loose save and destroy as the Law of the Land hath the power of the supream judicatory For what is the Law but an Omnipresent unseen Magistrate or Parliament So the Word of God is Gods Vicegerent hath God-like Power and Jurisdiction Heb. 4. 12. For the Word of God is quick and powerfull sharper then any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart So 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. The weapons of our warfare the Word and Gospel which we preach are not carnall but mighty through God to the casting down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 5. The Conscience is Gods Delegate and the Laws Officer in his own Precincts to take an account of the thoughts to examine them check restrain or censure them and upon all occasions to make a privy search in the heart as oft as it will The Spirit of Prov. 20. 27. Rom. 2. 15. man is the candle of the Lord searching the inner parts of the Belly So that if Conscience do his office right it must be as those living creatures full of eyes within and look narrowly to the thoughts and if thou wilt do any Rev. 4. 8. part of thy duty as thou oughtest thou must admit Conscience to be Ex intimus a Secretioribus to be thy Hushai thy bosom friend and of the Cabinet counsell and say thus and thus saith Ahithophel but what sayest thou Hushai Thus and thus my thoughts suggest but what saiest thou Conscience and it must be to thee a Sacratioribus too thy Confessor or domeâ—tick Chaplain to whom thou must give an account of all thy actions and intentions And these are all who have to do with our Thoughts at present but there is a day a coming wherein God will lay open all inclosures and discover all hidden things of darknesse turning each mans inside outward and will make known the Counsels of the 1 Cor. 4. 5. Rom. 2. 15. 16. Eccles 12. 14. heart as the Apostle saith And then all the world shall be made privy to our Thoughts and be as well witnesses and judges of them as of our Actions Mean time let the People of God be busie about ordering and judging their own thoughts let them forbear to pry into other mens judge nothing before the time we shall come to judge and be judged too soon enough and let them patiently undergo all other mens censures and misconstructions as unknown yet well known as deceivers yet true men 2 Cor. 6. 8. and refer all to God who will bring forth their righteousnesse as the light and their integrity as the noon day And then shall every one have
looked at him I will not say as in our Proverb the devil looked over Lincolne but as the devil looked over Paradise while man remained innocent seeking his ruine Take heed of this foul sin Charity envieth not saith the Apostle But 1 Cor. 13. the corrupt spirit that is in all the sons of men doth naturally lust unto this sin of Envy And yet is there a worse Eye of envy than this which lookes a squint not onely where men bestow their favours unequally as they think but when God shall bestow his unequally as they suppose on those who have not deserved so well done or suffered so much as themselves There were that murmured against the good man of the house at his distributions to whom the Lord said May I not do what I will with mine own Is Mat. 10. 15. thine eye evill because I am good And yet a worse whereof a spice seemed to be in Josuah when we emulate the gifts and graces of God bestowed on others as if our selves were eclipsed by their luster To whom a Moses would say Let them increase let me decrease Oh that all the Num. 11. 15. Lords people did prophesie and that the Lord would pour out of his spirit upon all Moses had a self-denying heart and a bountifull eye Whatsoever was good in Gods eye was good in his too 2. There is an evil Eye of disdain There is a generation saith the wise man Oh how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up Prov. 30. 13. Thus Haman looked Est 3. 5 6. Superciliously on Mordecai as if he could have eaten him when he thought scorn to foul his hands with him Thus scornfull Michal in her heart disdained her husband 1 Chro. 15. 19. when he danced before the Arke as if she a Kings daughter had been disparaged by her husbands ardent zeal and piety A base and wicked disposition this is and God ever owes such a shame He resisteth the proud and will bring down the proud looks as well as the proud hearts Thus the Scripture often describeth Psal 18. 27. the wicked by their gestures Winking with the eye Prov. 10. 10. Psal 35. 19. Putting out the fingers Esay 58. 9. as shewing a disdainfull spirit Yet is there also a good Eye of holy disdain and contempt in Godly men Psal 15. 4. In whose eyes it is said a vile and wicked person is contemned Noble Mordecai looked upon Haman as vile and contemptible in midst of all his high Titles and great offices of advancement And holy Elisha looked upon a wicked King as so worthlesse a person that in his holy contempt he said he would not have vouchsafed to make him an answer or lend him a look were it not for 2 King 3. 14. the presence of Jehoshaphat whom he more honoured for his Grace than for his Diadem 3. The evil Eye of suspicion whereas Charity thinketh no evil but interprets all in the best sense and will rather chuse to make the best of evil than the worst of bad or bad of good Devise not evil against thy neighbour saith the Lord when he dwells securely Prov. 3. 29 30. by thee and intends thee no harm But suspicion and jealousie looks upon every good act and office done with an evil eye David sends to Hanun to condole the death of his Father and to congratulate his peaceable 2 Sam. 10. 3. succession in the Throne This is interpreted to be a perfidious act to fore-run an invasion by sending his messengers as spies to observe the nature manners and preparations of his Countrey This suspion is a botch breaking out in a base and foul heart infected with fraud falshood or other filthy guilt and is the bane of secure confidence and is to be banished out of Christian breasts as the great enemy to humane society and true friendship 4. The Censorious Eye is another evil eye It is Totus oculus ad extra totus tenebrae ad intra all eye without all darknesse within He hath a Beam in his own eye yet seeth never the worse but the better to espy the least mote in his brothers eye Whereas the sincere person is totus oculus ad intra The least mote troubles him makes him weep wipe wash But his neighbours mote or beam troubles him not 5. The Covetous and Greedy Eye is another evil Eye As there is a Bountifull Eye that shall be blessed Prov. 22. 9. He giveth his bread to the poor when he sees their want his eye pitties them So he that hasteth to be rich saith the same Solomon hath an Prov. 28. 22. evil eye a covetous and cruel eye and considereth not that poverty shall come on him His eye is never satisfied with seeing his own wealth and anothers woe he thinks much to see another live by him he hath devoured Naboths vineyard already in his eye Deut. 15. 9. and is sick with discontent if he cant get him part with it Their desires are enlarged as hell saith the Prophet and they seek to add Hab. 2. 15. house to house and field to field till there be no more place that they may be placed Esa 5. 8. alone in the midst of the earth 6 The Eye of adultery is another evil eye wherewith ever the beholders heart is defiled and often the chastity of another is endangered The harlots eye-lids are very dangerous Proverbs 6. 25. 7. The malicious and revengefull Eye is a devilish evil Eye such was Cains who cast many a sower and menacing look at his brother Abel when he gave him never a word Which malice and mischief in his thoughts and looks the Lord reproved when Gen. 4. he said Cain why art thou wroth with thy brother and why is thy countenance cast down This is Eye-murder or heart-murder as the former Unchast Eye is called heart-adultery or Eyes full of adultery 2 Pet. 2. 14. 8. The Unnaturall and Ungracious Eye of children to their parents or those in nearest relations is worst of all sometimes the eye of the Husband is evil to the Wife and the Wife to her Husband yea the tender mother to her tender babe but that is not ordinary but in time of extreamest famine and Deut. 28. 54 55 56 57. calamity and is then the sorest judgement and the height of all misery But it is too ordinary to see the child look with an evil eye upon his aged and indigent parents and this is the height of impiety and the most prodigious of sins and inhumanity The eye that mocketh his father and despiseth to obey his Prov. 30. 17. mother the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagels shall eat it He ordinarily dies a shamefull death and lies unburied then do the Crowes and Eagles prey upon his carcasse as carrion and begin with the eyes as they usually do He that curseth his father or mother he saith againe in another
the least and he bids fair for it he would spare for no mony so it might be had that he might give the Holy Ghost which none but the Apostles ever had power to do that he might be as much talked of for the spirit as any of them and might out shine them all Oh that this spirit had died with him Oh how many of his disciples and sectators have we at this day who affect spirituall gifts out of ambition and preach out of emulation Some desire to Phil. 1. 15. hear that they may learn and know to know and learn that they may teach to teach that they may practice themselves and edifie others but others there be who care not for learning knowing teaching practizing edifying but hear and know and teach that they may be heard and known and talked of if not worse to gather disciples after them such as Magus had The impurest Gnosticks and Ranters bearing the name of Christians This spirituall pride is the more dangerous pride when outward shews not but dies take heed of a worse within Pride is like the small pox if it strike inward it is certain death better it should come out in the foulest bloches and scabs Some low spirits are proud of their clothes as the peacock of his feathers of a head of haire as Absolom Es 19. 11. of an old pedigree as Pharaoh of his many Honors and titles as Haman of his great atcheivements and faire buildings as Nebuchadnezzar Bad and too bad all But another Ez. 28. 3. 14. as Tyre steps up as an anointed cherub glories of his anointing and is proud of his wisdome That he is more wise then Daniel or any Scripture man of them all Here is the greatest danger The Pharisees pride of spirit was worse then that of Absaloms as Diogenes pride of heart was worse then of Plato's attire and fare The one puft up with his beauty the other with his duty How much is it safer to be humble after a sin then proud after a duty and to be kept low in midst of many weaknesses then to be lifted up in midst of the fullest mercies and richest graces which made Mr. Fox say his graces did him most hurt and his sins most good and made Luther say in a sober sense operabona sunt perniciosa in salutem good works are destructive to salvation to wit if relied on and prided or gloried in 3. Thoughts of Security which are apt to Thoughts of Security seize upon a gracious heart Either for his own privat state as David who once dreamed of Golden prosperity that his Mountain Psal 30. 6. Job 29. 18. Jer. 45. should never be moved and Job that he should die in his nest and Baruch that he should enjoy great matters and a quiet state in the world God will poure his servants from vessell to vessell that their sent may not abide in them Or for the Church but Noah may look and look again ere he see any dry land for the Ark to rest upon it and our Saviour hath forewarned us not to think he comes to send Peace to his Church but fire and sword rather In the world you Mat. 10. 34. Jo. 16. 33. shall have tribulation and live we never so Godly They which will live Godly in this world all and every one of them shall suffer tribulation our thoughts must not dream of sitting at the right hand and left in Kingdoms below but of drinking of Christs cup and being baptized with his baptisme 4. Self magnifying and admiring thoughts of our own worth and excellency and despising others forgetting that of the Apostle that every man think soberly and Ro. 12. 3. and 10. Pro. 26. 12. meanly of himselfe in honor preferring others and of the wise man Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit There is more hope of a foole than of him These are like little children they blow a bladder first full of wind then play with it or like the Baker they dream a dream and themselves must interpret Gen. 40. 16. it and the interpretation must be their advancement But these thoughts of self-conceit and self-magnifying have cost the world and the Church especially very dear they being the mother of faction division discontent heresies schismes rents seperations confusion destruction yea this self-conceit is the Arch-heretick and the greatest sectary in the world and the greatest incendiary in the state 5. Projecting restles working thoughts There is a mint of them continually going in the shop of a buisy minde His inward thought is how to make his house and name stand for ever Psal 49. 11. And Psal 146. 4. Thus is he employed all his life long with a hundred proclamations in his head till death comes His breath goeth forth he returneth to his dust in that day all his thoughts perish should he live ever his thoughts would be at work ever He dyeth as Archimedes buisie about his Projects As Caligula or Domitian was wont to tumble himself all along upon heapes of gold so he tumbles himself upon a heap of thoughts Man is like a candle lighted it wastes it self goes out in smoke and ends in an ill savour so mans thoughts or mans mind is like a peece of ordinance made with much cost mounted with much labour but being over charged and fire put to it flies a peeces and destroyes the engeneer When death gives fire the mans thoughts break and he and they perish together or every man is as a woman with child that dies in travell women have a time when they cease bearing and conceiving mans mind never ceaseth travelling The woman is usually delivered and child and she both safe the man and his thoughts perish together Absalom travelled with ambitious thoughts death comes there is an end of them Ahitophel with Politick thoughts death comes there is an end of them The great builder and gatherer dreames of nothing but getting talks of nothing but building thinks of nothing Immoritur studiis amore seneseiâ— habendi Hoâ— but enjoying eating drinking living at such a rate he goes well to bed riseth no more there all his thoughts perish CHAP. XXV The melancholy and merry thought THE melancholly thought is a sad thought and where predominant worse then many other because more tenacious obstinate and unmovable Opprobrium medici Opprobrium Theologi Ludibrium Diaboli The Physitian is tired with him the Minister grieved the devil makes sport with him In the German proverb Luther saith it goes for currant Caput melancholicum diaboli balneum The melancholy head is the devils bathing place This poor creature the devil makes him his Asse to ride in triumph upon having first laid his own garments all his own sins upon him which he willingly beares This spirit is the worst we have to deale with and to cast out Like the dumb and deaf spirit whom the disciples Mat. 9. 28 29. could not remove onely
did God shut out the carnall Israelites and sware in his wrath they should not enter into his rest because they erred in their hearts They whose plague was Psal 95. Lev. 13. 44. in their head were utterly unclean above all others and shut out of the camp Error is soul adultery and defiles no lesse then bodily fornication those who go a whoring after it 3. Haeresy a foule sin shutting out of Gods Kingdome is onely in the mind and thoughts 4. Insidelity that great Gospel sin and that fearfull Apollyon and soul murderer is onely a sin of the heart and thoughts 5. The like I might say of impenitency hypocrisie spirituall pride malice envy covetousnesse and the worst of sins are all lodged in the heart 6. Yea the sin against the Holy Ghost is not any outward acting of the most monstrous impiety or abomination but the fear of it is in the heart the contagion of it chiefly poisons the understanding conscience and will As the diseases of the mind are worse and more incurable then bodily Lunacy is worse then a feaver a fit of Phrensie worse then of Stone or Gout The Doctor can say little to these diseases of the mind so sins of the mind worse then any bodily The Pro. 18. 14. spirit of a man may sustain any infirmity of body but the wounded spirit who can beare And as the Judgments inflicted on the soul are above all the heaviest judgments as the immediate wrath of God darted into the soul That fire not blowen horror of Job 20. 26. Ro. 11. 8. Ro. 1. 26. 28. conscience the searea conscience the spirit of slumber or of remorse Vile affections the reprobate mind are all such plagues as hell hath no greater so are soul sins worst of sins The wrath of God is poured usually on the spirits of men the devils chaines are not of Iron but of darknesse the paines of hell take not hold yet of the body but of the spirit onely Yea as all the Treasures of grace and comfort in the Godly are laid up in the hidden man of the heart there is his best and he is a thousand times better in his heart intention desire then he can be in all his holy acts and duties he would do much more and better still so the worst wickednesse even in the most wicked is within when he doth most villanously and talketh most impudently his heart is a thousand times worse yet then all his actions for this as it is the seat of grace and vertue so of all sin and vice Yea so much Malignity is in an evil thought that as one drop of poison may mar a whole cup of wine so an evil thought spoils the best duty and performance The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Pro. 21. 27. because also so some read it he bringeth it with a wicked minde Judas his charitable Jo. 12. 5 6. motion stank because of the covetousnesse that was in his heart and his kisse of piety Lu. 22. 48. stank worse because of the horrid treason and war which was in his heart though his words both times smoother then oyl CHAP. XXIX The Second use for humiliation IN the second place see what cause is here for Humiliation universall and continuall humiliation above all other sins be humbled for thy Thoughts Whatsoever is fair without thy thoughts are foul to be sure who can say his heart is clean Yea whatever is Prov. 20. 9. foulest without the thoughts are yet more foul and filthy Many men are like the Egyptian Temples rich fair beautifull without when you come in Cats mice serpents Crocodyles fair sepulchers and painted over full of stench and rottennesse within when as the godly soul desires to be like Solomons Temple which had the lights narrower without wider within which had nothing but stone and timber to be seen without within 1 King 6. 4. 21 22 30. nothing but gold Alas have not we many a wild many a vile and sinfull Thought to bewaile not transient and involuntary but deliberate fixed and voluntary thoughts How hard to get the heart in a good frame how hardly doth a good thought enter how soon is it turned out of doors what cold welcome do we give it But to ill thoughts we set doors wide open we make room to entertain them we keep them company discourse with them with much delight and never think the time long they stay and are loth to let them go Oh how many forgetfull thoughts have we of God either no thoughts or low thoughts or hard thoughts or Atheisticall or blasphemous or impious at least dishonourable and distrustfull thoughts of God Towards thy neighbour how many unkind uncharitable envious censorious passionate malicious proud scornfull injurious thoughts hast thou had And for thy self who need tell thee of thy vain impure self-deceiving self-exalting self-magnifying self-seeking thoughts who can number thy carking caring plodding plotting thoughts thy empty aery frothy endlesse uselesse unprofitable and unsavoury thoughts Is not thy heart full of carnall reasonings roving imaginations motions yea of sinfull counsels devises purposes The good man is like the Merchant who hath not much abroad opens not shop but his goods are packed and piled up in low Cellars and bestowed in his ware-houses and back rooms of his house But on the other side the most of men are like our gaudy and beggarly Alehouses where you behold a painted Sign-Post and coloured windows without but never a good room within nor a bed to ly on but store of loathsom smels and more loathsome oathes and filthynesse or like our ordinary tradesmen who have all their rich wares in their shops exposed to view and sale but their Cellars are filled with coales trash and lumber Our base hearts herein are like some beggarly Alehouses again where if a man of fashion shall come and desire lodging they send him away and say they have no entertainment for him when they will make hard shift to lodge a company of lewd fellows though they sit up all night themselves Or like Sodom where there is not room for one godly Lot but he shall be wearied and worried out of his skin or if an Angel come for a nights lodging he shall before he is well entered be assaulted and haled out of doors when the city is full of vicious wretches Or like Baals house which was cramd and crouded as full as ever it could hold from one end to another that they stood mouth to mouth as it is said 2 Kings 10. 21. as close as one could stand by another when there was narrow search made least one poor servant of the Lord should creep in amongst them all A good thought is as Abel soon made away and dies without issue when the evil as Cain lives and multiplies to fill the world The good thought like Sarah is barren when the evil as Hagar presently conceives The good
Ele you strike it yet it lives you flea it yet it lives you cut it in pieces yet it stirs you throw it into scalding water and there it stirs a while too So Bray a wicked fool in a morter his folly will not depart from him Prov. 27. 22. Reproofes kill it not affliction kils it not sicknesse kils it not weaknesse kils it not death kils it not nay hell kils it not The heart is the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The unruly evil which no man can tame Jam. 2. 8. This sets on fire the whole course of nature and is it self set on fire of hell Full it is of deadly poyson as that old Leprosie it infects all that comes near it We think Lev. 13. it sad living in an unwholsome aire or in a house near the Common-shore because of the continuall ill smels What is it to live over the ill savour of a fowl nasty heart Who would willingly lodge or dwell in a house reported to be haunted with Evil spirits Thy heart is so yet thou art not afraid David was weary of Mesech Israel of Egypt Lot sick of Sodom Jeremy of his Dungeon and wilt thou as the Bedlam play with thy chaines and sport thy self with thine own deceivings in the midst of thy mortall and bloudy enemies Consider well of it CHAP. XXX The Third Use of Information in severall particulars THE third use informes us of divers weighty points 1. What a wide and vast difference there is between the lawes of men and the pure law of God All those fall far short of this they reach but the outward man this the heart spirit conscience and the most hidden thoughts Heb. 4. 12. Their Laws are Carnall this Spirituall holy requiring truth in the inward parts This applies Canons Rom. 7 14. and Engins to the mind and forbids lust in the first motions checks the thought of Belial 2 Cor. 10 4 5. Rom. 7 7. or wickednesse as it is cal'd in the heart Deut. 15. 9. The Laws of men require no more but to strike the topsale in a civil behaviour The Law of God boards every vessel cals for the bils of lading makes a through search in every Cabin sees what we are fraught with and if it find any prohibited wares not goods or concealed armes for the use of the enemy they are seized on and the vessell must yield or sink The Laws of men plant their Ordinance against the Enemies colours set out upon the wals of the Castle That of God undermines the foundations and blows up all that stand in opposition The Magistrate onely provides ne peccatum turbet God ne sit he ne peccatum resistat God ne restet We may be Boni cives mali Christiani We may observe the manner of the God of the land as they said 2 Kings 17. 27. Yet not know or keep the Laws of the God of heaven The Statutes of Omri and Samaria are oft-times kept by Mit. 6. 16. those who violate the Edicts of Sion and of Christ The Christian therefore must not be a Statute Christian but a Scripture Christian 2. What a sad difference there is between the holy Law of God and our base hearts His Law pure we impure that spirituall we carnall It was an uneven and uncomfortable match between beautifull courteous and vertuous Abigail and that clown and ungracious churle Nabal that between beautifull Moses and black Zipporah but Gods Law and our hearts are worse matched But those were the worst matches in all the Scriptures Gen. 6. 2 4. when the Sons of God went in to the daughters of men they begat that Gygantean and vicious race which corrupted the whole earth But this is the worst match in the world wherein the Law of God is married to the heart of man For the motions of sins which are by the law do work in our members to bring forth fruit to death Rom. 7. 6. and hereby is the whole Church corruptted The Tables of the Law were formerly engraven in stone and put into an Ark◠overlaid with pure Gold within and without Exod. 25. 11. But the Tables of the Law and Covenant of Grace are now written in Gold and put into a homely ark of stone 3. What a difference there is between a godly and a wicked man a sincere person and a hypocrite as much or more as between Solomons shields of beaten massy gold and 1 King 10. 17. and 14. 27. Rehoboams of brasse of like size and number Copper and Gold differ not so much in colour as in their weight and worth So tin and silver look alike weigh not alike The difference between man and man is not so much in favour complexion stature or state as in the mind not so much in diseases poverty misery as sin not so much in education wit reason parts or gifts as graces The godly for his outward aspect is like to an old Church Pauls for example built of ordinary stone without plain but when you come in you find there a comely inside handsome seats and a convenient place to worship God in The wicked for his outside not much unlike yet more fitly compared to a prison Newgate for example built of fair stone but within nothing to be found but nastinesse hunger hardship ill smels and which is worst of all a company of Hell-birds for their vile behaviour In a word the godly are like heaven fair without but the glory is all invisible and not to be imagined how great till you come within And the wicked are like hell it self to which a broad and easie way doth lead but it is bad to describe but worse then you can imagine when you enter 4. What a busie work is it to be a Christian he hath more to do then to wash Animum rege hunc fraenus hunc tu compesce Catena Horat. the outside of the cup and platter to make a covenant mith his eye ear hand foot mouth and to keep his mouth bridled he must keep his heart bridled Keep thy heart with all keeping Prov. 4. 23. The God of truth requireth to be worshipped in spirit and truth Joh. 4. 24. in the inward parts The cleanly Christian is like those neat Citizens who if they wash and sweep their doors to the street side do wash and rub and keep the inside cleanner if they do but brush their outward garments have their inner garments washt and the linnen which is next them so the Christian is to cleanse his hands but much more to purge and purify his heart The sincere Christian who would be approved of God is to adorn the inner man of the heart 1 Pet. 3. 4. as old Sarah did and to affect to be of the Kings daughters fashion the spouse of Christ all glorious within Psal 45. 13. or to be in the Bridegrooms fashion whose outward garment was of four pieces as all the other Israelites were Deut. 22. 12. yet was his inner
of desires is above all the rest The holiest Saint and highest Angel even when they do love adore and magnifie God do cover their faces because they fall short of his perfections such is their imperfection not their sin the imperfection of their nature not of their state Gods infinite perfections being not to be reached with any measure of finite graces Onely desires come in to help out all these rise up higher and strive to reach Gods highest praises and to give him the full of his perfections so that where tongues and prophecy and faith and love it self cease or fall short desires carry all before them 8. Lastly These desires as they are the first and highest of graces so they are the last and lowest and the standing dish of grace and shews the minimum quid sic of a Christian when nothing else is to be found While life remaines desires continue when desire ceaseth nature is spent the man is dead or dying Eccies 12. 5. All that the poor soul hath to say for it self somtimes is this Psal 38. 9. Lord thou knowest all my desire my groaning is not hid from thee Rom. 7. 18. To will is present my desire ceaseth not yet to thy name and to the remembrance of thee Esa 26. 8. I will look still after thee and toward thy holy Temple though I am cast out of sight and all thy waves and billowes have gone over me Jonah 2. 4. I cry out as my dying expiring Saviour I thirst I stretch out my hands unto thee my soul thirsteth for thee as the thirsty land hear me speedily O Lord my spirit faileth hide not thy face least I be like to them that Psal 143. 6. go down into the pit I pant Psal 42. 1. I long Psal 63. 1. I faint Psal 84. 2. All is well The fire is not out while there is a spark grace is not dead while there is one desire left Ly down again Samuel the lamp of God is not yet gone out The Lord may call 1 Sam. 3. 3. â— thee yet and come to thee again and again what is there in hungering and thirsting poverty of spirit and mourning more then a few desires yet all those are called blessed yea and they shall be blessed Will you hear what other eminent and exâ—erienced Divines have said in this case to the comfort of poor souls and those that are lowest and least in the Kingdom of God Mr. Perkins saith The desire to believe in the In his grain of mustard seed want of faith is faith Though as yet there want firm and lively grace yet art thou not altogether void of grace if thou canst desire it thy desire is the seed conception or bud of what thou wantest Now is the spring time of the inguafted word or immortall seed cast into the furrows of thy heart Wait but a while using the meanes and thou shalt see that leaves blossoms and fruits will shortly follow Austin saith Let thy desires be before God and he which seeth in In Psal 36. secret shall reward thee openly Thy desire is thy prayer and if thy desire be continuall thy prayer is continuall In another place The In Expos Epist. Joh. tract 4. whole life of a Christian is an holy will and desire Luther saith The more we feel our unworthynesse and the lesse we find the promises belong to us the more we must desire them being assured this desire doth greatly please God who desireth and willeth that his grace should be earnestly desired Beza saith If thou find not thy heart touched inwardly pray that it may be Resp ad act Col. Monpil touched for then mayst thou know that this desire is a pledge of the fathers good will towards thee Chemnitius saith When I have a good desire though it scarcely sheweth it self in some little and slender sigh I must be assured the spirit of God is present and worketh his good work Ur sin said Faith in the most holy is not perfect Lo. Com. neverthelesse whosoever feels in his heart an earnest desire to believe and a striving against his doubts both may and must assure himself that he is indued with true faith Holy Bradford to Mr. Jo. Carelesse Thy sins are undoubtedly pardoned c. for God hath given thee a penitent and believing heart that is an heart which desireth to repent and believe for such a one is taken of him he accepting the will for the deed for a penitent and believing heart indeed Famous Knox Albeit sometimes thy pain be so horrible that you find no release or comfort neither in spirit nor body yet if thy heart can onely sob unto God despair not you shall obtain your hearts desire Many more such like expressions we might produce out of our later Writers but these may suffâ—ce 2. For the other thing to know when desires are good I shall lay down four Rules to know it by Rule 1. Desires are then good when the Object of them is good The Object of good desires is manifold 1. The first and principall Object of our Te nontua non te propter tua sed te propter te tua post te propter te best desires is God himself not his but himself Esa 26. 9. With my soul have I desired thee To desire the things of God every one doth his blessings the worldling his salvation the prophanest his gifts graces favour the hypocrite himself for himself above all riches grace life heaven it self is onely the desire of the truly Godly Oh how like an Angel did he sing that said Whom have I in heaven but thee and what do I desire in earth in comparison of thee Few of us that sing that Psalm Psal 73. 25. with our understanding can say I sing thus in my spirit and understanding also 2. Next to God blessed for ever Jesus Christ the delight of God is to be the desire of our eyes He is called the desire of the nations Hag. 2. 7. The Church can say I am my beloveds and my desire is towards him as well as my beloved is mine and his desire is towards me Cant. 7. 10. 3. Covenant relation to God through Christ This next to God and Christ to be desired Thus dying David said He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire 2 Sam. 23. 5. 4. Spirituall gifts 1 Cor. 14. 1. and saving grace much more which flow from the Covenant Neh. 1. 11. for though all gifts Gratis data non gratum faciunt are of grace freely given yet they are noâ— alwayes given with grace to sanctify 5. The Ordinances are to be desired Psal 26. 8. 84. 1 2. The Word Acts 13. 7. 1 Pet. 2. 2. The Sacrament Luk. 22. 15. Thus did Christ himself What manner of Christians then are they that have no delight in the Word and that say of the Table
can not fly I think to fly but fall into the mouth of danger I run from the roaring Lion and Am. 5. 19. a Bear assaults me I hast from him to find shelter in the house and the serpent in the wall stings me I escâ—pe the open pit and am taken in the hidden snare Abroad the Esa 24. 18. Lam. 1. 20. sword devoureth within there is as death I run with Lot from the Sodom of a prophane world and think to find safety in the Gen. 19. 30 31. Zoar of holy ordinances but there am I in fear I go to the cave of solitude and there they that come out of my loines deflower me I row and work but the sea out-works me I sleep and am not secure a storm awakes me I perceive a Jonah is Jonah 1. 13. within I cry unto thee my throat is dried Psal 69. 3. Psal 1. 43. 6. Psal 119. 82. Psal 144. 7. 11. I stretch out my hands to thee as the parched thirsty land Mine eyes faile in waiting for thy salvation saying when wilt thou rid me and deliver me from the hands of strange children whose right hand is a right hand of falshood I cry out with thy Church of old our persecutors are swifter then the eagles Lam. 4. 19. of heaven they pursue us upon the mountaines and lay wait for us in the wildernesse Oh that Jer. 9. 1. my head were waters and that mine eyes were a fountain of teares that I might weep day and night for the bruise of the daughter of Sion my soul whose whole head is sick and heart faint from the crown of the head to the soâ—e of the foot there is no soundnesse but wounds and blaines and Esa 1. 6. putrifying sores Oh that I had a cottage in the wildernesse that I might leave my Jer. 9. 2. habitation and go from an assembly of Treacherous ones Or that I had wings like Psal 55. 6. a dove that I might fly away and be at rest Oh that thou wouldest put out thy hand and take me into thy Ark that I might be delivered from these windy storms tempests In the multitude of my many other sins my Thoughts perplex my soul Ashamed I am O Lord to speak and blush to think what an heart I have an heart so dark so dead so vain and vile so foul and filthy A noisome dunghill a stinking sepulchre a loathsom dungeon an infected Pesthouse a cage of filthy birds a sty of swine a den of theeves Like that great tree this heart of mine is wherein are branches enough for all fouls of the ayr to build their nests and under whose shade is shelter for all the beasts of the earth A very Tophet I may call it because a burying place it is of whatever good is an Horma because a place Jer. 7. 32. Num. 21. 3. Num. 11. 34. Gen. 14. 10. Hos 4. 15. of execution to holy motions and desire a Kibroth-hattaavah because the grave of lusts the vale of Siddim because so full of slime-pits yea a Beth-Aven because a house full of iniquity is in it Ah Lord what thoughts are there what sinfull thoughts my good desires few faint fading I think and think not I muse and mind not I like but seek not allow but pursue not I know but love not I say but do not I wish but will not A will or almost half a will I have a power and care and compleat will I want But of sinfull thoughts how great the number how foul the nature how restlesse their motion rudely rushing in unsent for proudly commanding entertainment though not bid welcome refusing to quit their lodgings if not by strong hand excluded though desired to be gone The good thought how rarely is it seen in this Climat as rare almost as an Angel in Sodom whither once there came a couple and when pressed and intreated to come in had almost chuse rather to lie in the streets then come under this roof but when once entred how do the sons of Sodom young and old beset the room from every quarter pressing upon me with violence to have them out no dores bars entreaties of mine can keep them out Lord put out thy hand draw in this heart secure these heavenly guests and strike these sons of Sodom with blindnesse or deadnesse that they may never find a door for entrance Oh! What cold entertainment doth a good thought find it is either ript out of the womb as Hazaell ript the children out of their mothers bellies before it is ripe for birth or cast out as soon as born as the males of Israel to be destroyed or else persecuted to death in infancy as the children in Bethlehem by that bloudy Herod who sought to slay thy Son if it had been possible Lord remember they that seek my life seek thine and thy Christs But let what is of Christ be preserved though all the rest perish In Egypt I read the more thy people were diminished the more they multiplied oh that it might be so here with me at least let the Lord leave a seed that I be not as Sodom or made like unto Gomorrah I have too many other sins to bewaile of eye ear mouth hand foot and the whole diseased man Totus pro corpore morbus But as unhappy Saul had not it seemes hurt enough done him by the Philistines wounds but he must hasten his 1 Sam. 31. 4. own death by falling on his own sword so miserable I as if I had not enemies enow abroad must contribute somewhat to my own ruine from my self Had I no other sins my thoughts alone would undo me should I wash my self with snow water and Job 9. 30. 31. make my self never so clean These garments would defile me Oh of thee Lord how few thoughts have I And those again how low mean and sorry Of thy Son Spirit and grace how irreverent confused and unbecoming Of thy Word and Works how many questioning disliking and gainsaying thoughts have I And my evil thoughts not transient and vanishing as are my good but fixed deliberate and abiding either ever remaining or ever and anon returning How ignorant earthly carnall is my heart not savouring the things of God but those which are of Mat. 16. 23. men how cold loose dead is my spirit all the wisdome that is here below is earthly sensuall or devillish This heart of mine a Jam. 3. 15. garden to weeds a grave to graces a lake of Sodom or dead sea wherein no holy motion breeds or is long-lived The earth puts forth her weeds at spring forbeares in winter my heart is winter all the year long to grace a spring to weeds The Aguish body hath his well day after an ill I am followed with a Quotidian that hath his hot fit after his cold I have both together a continuall cold fit to duty and hot to sin Lord when shall this Etna have