His sake I humbly implore thee to convert this Judgment I now labour under into Mercy Let it operate in my Soul a true detestation of all Sin a stedfast purpose to forsake all my evil ways a comfortable experience of thy Mercy pronouncing Pardon to my afflicted Conscience by the infallible Evidence of thy Holy Spirit and assurance of Peace with thee O make me to hear of Joy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Cast me not away from thy presence neither take thy Holy Spirit the Comforter from me but restore me to the joy of thy Salvation and uphold and establish me with thy free Spirit 5. O thou who despisest not a broken and contrite heart pour the Oyl of thy Mercy and heal my wounded Spirit Then will I teach Transgressors thy way that they may fear thee and melt at the sight of thy Judgments then shall Sinners be Converted unto thee who art the Fountain of all Mercy and Consolation Lord hear me and incline thine Ear in this day of my Calamity Lord Consider and perform thine own promise made through thy beloved Son Jesus Christ the Righteous to whom with thee O Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit be all Honour and Glory in Heaven and Earth from this time forth and for ever more Amen CHAP. XXXIII The Sense of Spiritual Wants THE next thing which wounds and afflicts the Conscience is Sense of defects and Spiritual Wants As want of Faith Hope and Assurance of Salvation Want of Sanctification Purity of Heart the Spirit of Prayer and Hearing and want of ability to perform other Holy Duties In these the Spirit is stupified and overcast even in the best of Christians for a time The Religious Person sometimes is sensible of a dulness and want of Fervency in Prayer and of a comfortable assurance that God heareth or regardeth it because he doth not presenty answer or not grant our Petitions Sometimes they feel a Deviation of the Mind and discomposure of thoughts in attention and unbelief in hearing and reading the Word Sometimes want of Patience want of Love to God and Charity to Men In short such a general debility or distemper of the Internal Man that he readily concludes with St. Paul That in his Flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 These are great Maladies of the Soul and Wounds of the Spirit but it inferreth a good Prognostick of a bad Cause Where these are and the Sinner is insensible they are desperate Symptomes 2. IN this Case let us consider that the very same measure of Grace which to the present sense of a Regenerate Man seemeth incompetent may yet be a sufficient measure to save him And when he Invocates the Divine Assistance he is most strong though in his own sense he is weak and deficient For in St. Paul's distress the Lord thus answered his Petition My Grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.8 It saith not it shall be but it is sufficient meaning the present measure of Grace he had in his Possession when he looked upon himself as a weak Vessel 3. THE most Pious their measure of Assurance is such as they are not only enjoyned to give diligence to make their Calling and Election sure that so an entrance may be administred to them abundantly into the Everlasting Kingdom but they are in duty bound also to Work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 All Incredulity inferreth not a Reprobate sense There is Incredulity in the very Elect before and a perplexing Remnant after their Calling yea even in their best Estate here else why did the Holy Apostles pray Lord encrease our Faith Luke 17.5 And why did our Saviour upbraid them with unbelief Mark 16.14 4. AND Saving Faith differeth in degrees So that there is a stronger and a weaker Faith yet both true and justifying So do all other Graces one hath a greater and more Excellent measure of the Spirit of Prayer than another One hath a more discerning and attentive Spirit of Hearing than another and yet in either instance the minor may be true and sufficient For to every Man is given according to the measure of Christ Ephes. 4.7 One hath ten Talents and another but two Nay even in one and the same Person 's Faith there is sometimes a grander and sometimes a diminutive measure of Confidence and Assurance And so we must judge of other Gifts sometimes there is more fervency in Prayer and other times less The Sun doth not display his Radiant Beams on us always alike neither doth the light of Gods Grace illuminate us after one manner 5. A true saving Faith may be very impotent and the Believer may be insensible for some space but yet the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it as may appear in St. Peter's Example There are doubtings and failings in the best on Earth by Reason we are but here partly Spiritual We are not yet arrived to perfection Faith here must receive continual encreases and be subject to Tryals And the like does ensue to all other Vertues and Graces That true Faith never shall finally fall away or utterly fail though it be subject to Intension and Remission because Christ interceeded for us as he said to St. Peter behold Satan hath desired that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not Luke 22.31 32. Because his Grace by which we are called and stand is immutable in the Counsel and Decree of Heaven and are Sealed up by the Holy Spirit of Promise 2 Cor. 1.22 And the like we are to judge of of all the Fruits of Sanctification which being the Donations and Graces of God are such as he repenteth not of neither finally withdraweth Rom. 11.29 6. THOU hast indeed a true sense of thy Spiritual wants and mournest at thy Corruptions of Heart which on every occasion produce sinful Acts against thy Maker if this be a heavy burden unto thee receive this Comfort that thy sin is excluded its proper place and become a Stranger unto thee For nothing in its own proper station is so ponderous The danger is want of Sense and taking pleasure in Unrighteousness If a wounded Person is insensible he is either dead or in some dangerous Exstacy No part hath sense but the Living though it were for the present more comfortable to be whole yet sense of smart in thy wounds inferreth Life and indeed in Gods Medicaments who makes all things operate for the best to them that love him 't is a better State in respect of the quiet Fruits of Righteousness accruing to them that are thereby Exercised and the Ulcerous Corruptions of our Souls often necessitating our wounding that we may be healed than the secure prosperity of Sinners for it is good and beneficial at the last for the just that they have been afflicted Psal. 119.67 7. WHEN thou hearest or readest the Scriptures art thou sensible of the want of Faith
of his not hearing our Prayers It was no small tryal when David cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why art thou so far from helping me and from the Words of my Roaring Psal. 22.1 But the Acclamation on the Cross carryed a louder sound Mat. 27.46 Moses was denied entrance into Canaan but was received into Heaven The Cup did not pass away from Christ but God's Will was perform'd in the operation of Man's Redemption and so he was heard Heb. 5.7 15. DOTH thy Faith endure many sharp encounters of the Tempter Then observe the Almighty by this means doth more confirm it Is not every Temptation as the shaking of Trees which loosing the ground Engrafts them the deeper Thou art sensible of thy great defects in Sanctity and of many dubious conflicts between the Flesh and the Spirit provoking thy Soul to cry with Rebecca when perplex'd with her wrestling Twins Why am I thus Gen. 25.22 Despond not but consider the work of him with whom we have to do Thus he chaseth thee often to fly to him and to Consult his Oracles Thus he exerciseth thee to humility without which the most Excellent Graces could not save thee He that Prayed for St. Peter's falling could have prevented him from falling into that Sin But in so doing he kept him from presumption and fitted him to confirm his Brethren 16. IN all Humility beg Holiness of God who hath expresly said ask and ye shall have And to consider that God is perfect Holiness is a vehement Motive conducing to it and certainly he cannot chuse but love his own Image in us and freely give us that which he loveth It pleased the Author of our Being that Solomon before Riches Revenge and Life it self should petition him for Wisdom upon which he did not only grant his request but additionally gave him Riches and Honour And undoubtedly it doth so much please God that any of his Servants doth in the sense of their wants before all things give Grace the Preferrence and they that in the sincerity of their heart Petition to him for Sanctity of Life he will not deny them but will insert to their grant more than we are able to ask or think of The Prayer O Almighty God Infinite in Mercy and perfect Verity who delightest not in the destruction of Wretched Creatures nor despisest the Groans of a Troubled Spirit Lord I am poor and afflicted and do in bitterness of Soul acknowledge my vileness and vacancy of Grace the Corruption of my sinful nature the misery which I have procured my self by my wilful disobedience to thy Holy Laws and my Impotency to any thing that is good Lord I am as that wretched Traveller wounded and cast down only sensible of my Wounds but utterly unable to move or help my self The Priest and Levite pass by and afford me no relief neither is it in the power of the Creature to assist me Nay even thy just and holy Law which wholsomely instructs Do this and live is so far from aiding me or administring Comfort that my sins make it appear to me a killing Letter or at best resembling the Prophets Staff sent before by the Ministry of thy Servant not able to give Life but a Prospect of my Sins and rendring me guilty before thy dreadful Tribunal and at the Bar of my terrified Conscience 2. BUT O Lord let the good Samaritan the Prophet himself Christ Jesus thy dear Son and my alone Saviour inspire me with his Holy Spirit for he only can bind up my wounded Soul and heal it Thou hast wounded me by an heavy apprehension of thy Justice O now heal me by the assurance of thy Mercy Strengthen my Faith in Christ who freely justifieth Sinners And as thou hast in thine Eternal Love given him to Death for my Redemption so give me an infallible assurance that he is my Saviour and Deliverer That according to thine own Gracious Promise in him I may live with thee 3. AND O thou who art the Saviour of all the World who sentest the Holy Ghost the Comforter of all thy Servants to thy Afflicted Disciples to strengthen them send him to my Enervated and Wretched Soul It is neither of him that Willeth nor of him that Runneth but of thine own Infinite Goodness shewing Mercy Thy Omnipotence is effectual in the Operation of thy good Will and Pleasure O be Graciously pleased to Sanctifie my Corrupted will and affections And as thou hast freely given me a will and a hearts desire to serve and please thee that I might be saved so perfect thine own work in me and establish what thou hast begun Give me O Lord true Holiness and repair thine own Image in me that thou mayst own me for thine and then manifest thine own work in me and unto me 4. LET not the good Spirit which has possession of me remain any longer in obscurity but blessed Lord manifest thy self unto my Soul And let the Illumination of thy Spirit break out in full assurance of Faith that I may no more doubt of thy Mercies Grant me an entire Victory over Sin and Despair by the apparent presence of the Comforter My afflicted Soul O Lord knoweth no Sanctuary to flie unto but thy infinite mercy Unto thee alone it Gaspeth as a thirsty Land O shower down such a plentiful Dew of thy Grace which may refresh my wearied Spirit and fill me with the Fruits of Righteousness which may evidently appear in my Life and Conversation to thy Glory and the assurance of my Election Vocation Sanctification Perseverance and Salvation in thy beloved Son and my alone Saviour to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit Three Persons one Immortal Incomprehensible Omnipotent only Wise God be rendred all Honour and Glory in Heaven and Earth now and to all Eternity Amen CHAP. XXXIV Fear of Temptations NEXT We are to Consider the Conscience afflicted with Fear of Temptations and a defection through them enclining it to a despair of Grace sufficient to resist them by this means the Soul is immerst with heaviness through manifold Temptations 1 Pet. 1.6 In which case it is necessary to consider That first A Temptation is a Tryal or taking an Experiment of something or other The Devil who cannot compel tryeth men whether he can allure them to Sin and this is apprehensively Temptation 2. THERE is a Temptation of Tryal which you see Acts 20.19 1 Cor. 10.13 Rev. 3.20 and St. James saith My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations And Blessed is the man that endureth Temptation For when he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that Love him St. James 1.2 12. God is said to tempt no man that is to Evil Evidently implying as there is no Sin in him so neither is there any occasioned by him yet tried Abraham to manifest him openly to others and himself For no man knoweth himself which is untried
occasion to vex at the Levity and Vanity of thy own Mind If it be just what is the monstrous Object of thy Hatred and Malice Assure thy self the Adulteress is unhappy enough and there is no Creature on Earth more despicable and odious nor no Sin in this Life accompanied with so many varieties of Plagues and Judgments so that indeed they are great Objects of Pity if all these wretched Ingredients can render them to be so as a wounded Conscience the Devil 's Earnest to the Impenitent and assurance of Hell and Damnation 8. IN the next place my address shall be to those in whom there is occasion of Suspicion And first Let Man himself consider how odious Adultery is and out of all measure sinful for he sinneth against his own Body defileth the Temple of the Holy Ghost Cor. 6.18 19. and pierceth through his own Bowels with a Dart of Rottenness Prov. 7.23 And that which will render him in the end mournful But beyond all this in case of Impenitency which the stubborn Presumer may justly suspect it is that whereby he excludeth himself from the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6.9 10. And in the Adulteresses Crime some Aggravations are appertaining to it as robbing her Husband of his Posterity obtruding a base and adulterous Issue and so stealing away his Estate and Inheritance by giving it to a Stranger and fixing on an indelible Character of Dishonor and Bastardy upon her Child who but for her impotent and ungovern'd Lust might have proved noble and legitimate An Injury which she can never expiate nor repair to the innocuous Son with Rivers of Tears and streams of her infected Blood This multiplied Sin is sometimes conceal'd from Men but never from the All-seeing God who is a severe Revenger of all Iniquity 9 OTHER Sins are grievous and pernicious yet neither Lying Stealing Idolatry Murder nor Witchcraft can of it self dissolve the Sacred Bond of Wedlock as this only base act of Adultery doth Therefore our Saviour admits of no Divorce but upon that occasion And it is remarkable that when God would display the loathsomness of Idolatry which most displeased him he styl'd it Whoredom and himself a jealous God and certainly though that be abolished of the bitter Water causing the Curse and rotting of the Thigh with swelling which attended that antiquated Ceremony yet the bitter Moral and Substance are not quite extinguish'd Numb 5.18 10. AVOID what you are sensible of hath created your Suspicion otherwise you are guilty if not of Adultery yet of a just Cause of Jealousie Lysander punished one of his Soldiers for going out of his Quarters resolving that he would have none of his look or go out like a Plunderer Dinah's idle visits Gen. 34.1 2. proved her dishonor effusion of guiltless Blood her Father's Trouble and her Brother's Curse The wisest of Men recordeth it as the mark of an Harlot Prov. 7.11 12. Her feet abide not in the house now she is without now in the streets lying in wait at every corner 11. IT was an Italian Severity in Sulpitius and a Diposition to part with his Wife who divorced her for going out of doors bare-headed The Law said he confined thee to mine Eyes and Approbation and not to please others The common Law noted any going out unvail'd with the odious brand of Adultery So careful were they to avoid all occasions or suspicions of that Sin However foolishly strict they were I am sure Jerom's Rules fore-noted is good Whatsoever saith he may probably be feigned be thou cautious it may not be feigned Thou owest this to thy Husband's Love thine own Indemnity and Honor and the Right and Credit of thy Children The PRAYER O Eternal and Almighty God Father of Lights and of the First-born who are written in Heaven and of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect Thou art the Searcher of all Hearts and Reins to whose All-seeing Eye every Creature is manifest and every thought of the Heart naked and open We humbly beseech thee to take from us our stony Hearts and to give us Hearts of flesh to subdue in us by thy omnipotent Spirit the miserable remainders of the First Adam that native inclination to Sin which continually carrieth us away Captive to the Laws thereof even to that Evil which we would not commit but utterly detest and in bitterness of Soul repent of 2. LORD create clean Hearts and renew right Spirits within us root out that raging Spirit of Jealousie that infernal Fire which lies scorching in our bosoms and enlighten our Vnderstandings with a sound Knowledge of all the Mysteries of Eternal Life and Salvation Sanctifie our Wills and Affections and according to thine own gracious promise six thy Law in our inward Parts and write it deeply in our Hearts that we may know thee from the least to the greatest Heal up those Wounds which our Sins have made so wide that none but thine own Hands can close them and forgive our Iniquity and remember our Sins no more 3. O Lord thou didst by thy holy Word so heal the fountains that death and barrenness was no more therein heal we humbly beseech thee the wretched Corruptions of our hearts cleanse and sanctifie all the thoughts thereof by the sweet and blessed influence of thy Holy Spirit and so quide govern and direct us in the way which thou wilt have us to walk in as that we may in all our Thoughts Words and Actions be acceptable to thee Mortifie and subdue all our evil Desires and Thoughts and bring them all into Subjection to thy Holy Will and Pleasure that we may constantly resist all Temptations to Sin and Wickedness 4. KEEP us and Counsel us in all our Affairs Spiritual and Temporal that we may be filled with the holy Fruits of the Spirit of Sanctification appearing in new and hallowed Thoughts Words and Actions to thy glory and our farther assurance before thee so that in our Bodies and in our Spirits we may be kept blameless in this sinful and miserable World unto the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with thee O Father of Mercy and the Holy Spirit the Comforter of the Elect be rendred all Honor and Glory in Heaven and in Earth from this time forth and to all Eternity Amen CHAP. XXIII Of External Actions THE External Actions of Men are the product and fruit of their Thoughts and as we owe Sanctimony to God and our own Consciences within so do we good Examples to our Neighbors in things External And our blessed Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount excites us with this Doctrin Mat. 5.16 Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven 2. GOOD Actions proceed from a sound Credence without which they cannot be good nor pleasing in the Sight of Heaven For whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 For Faith apprehending Christ to our Justification renders our Works
Supream Court of Judicature within us and above us and a silent Register of our Thoughts and Words It is a thousand Witnesses as the Apostle says Accusing or Excusing Rom. 2.15 Such is the Impartiality of this Judge that no Bribery can tempt him to Justifie the Wicked nor Condemn the Just but he is the first Revenger of Impiety and an excluder of the Guilty from Absolution 2. IN true Tranquility of Conscience the Heart is cheerful in every Estate and Condition Rom. 5.1 3. and dreadeth no Judge nor Witness It is a continual Feast the Soul's Paradise the Mind 's fair Haven an unvaluable Possession which renders every owner Happy It is an immoveable Comfort the first Fruits of Heaven and Riches which shall never be taken away As no Wind can move or shake the Sun-beams so neither Life nor Death Prosperity or Adversity can Transfix this While this is secure tho Men receive many sharp Encounters as the Citizens of Ai did Josh. 7. Yet are they confident to resist they can resolve with that pattern of Patience Job 13.15 Tho he Kill me yet will I trust in him But if that fail and the Smoak ascendeth their Hearts are under a great Consternation Josh. 8.20 3. THE Almighty Woundeth and Healeth Deut. 32.39 Job 5.18 But it is with his Justice and Mercy The Wise Man says Prov. 6.32 33. We wound our selve by Sin and God healeth us by Afflictions as Chirurgions do with the Lancet and Cautery Sins are the Thieves which rob us and leave us wounded us by the way till the good Samaritan appears with his Wine and Oil to cleanse supple and bind up our Wounds He scourgeth the Conscience with a sense of his Anger to make us sensible of our Sins and to bring us to an abhorrence of them And thus he sometimes Disciplines us with external Afflictions 4. GOD sometimes wounds the Heart and terrifies the Conscience by the Word Preached and then we are Pricked at the Heart and with St. Peter's Auditors cry out Men and Brethren what shall we do Acts 2.37 Sometimes he smites the Conscience with an inward sense and apprehension of his fierce Wrath and severe imminent Judgments in which as the Psalmist complains of Psalm 55.4 5. An Horrible fear overtaketh them like the Earthquake at Horeb preceeding the Still small voice of Mercy 1 Kings 19.11 12. In sense of a Spiritual Desertion while he hideth away his Face Spiritual Wants or permission to some grievous Temptation cold Fits of Despair and Buffetings by the Messengers of Satan in all which tho there be means of Comfort appointed yet none can prevail till the Spirit of God the Comforter return and Heal. 5. THE same Hand giveth the Wound and prescribeth the Plaister as it was said Hos. 5.13 The Assyrians and Jareb could not heal Judah and Ephraim of their Wound so no Mortal Creature can administer Comfort whereby to heal a wounded Spirit till he who correcteth in Measure approaches and bindeth it up Jer. 30.11 c. He only he says the Psalmist Psalm 147.3 He healeth the broken in Heart and bindeth up their Wounds Even he who was Wounded for our Sins and bruised for our Iniquities and by whose Stripes we are Healed Isa. 53.5 CHAP. XXVII What things principally wound the Conscience THERE are some things which Principally afflict and wound the Conscience and comes up as the Prophet mentions 1 Sam. 13.17 like those Philistim Spoilers in three Companies to destroy and drive Men into Despair And the first Apparition and Assault is the apprehension of God's Wrath for some Hainous Sin committed An Instance we have in Cain having Murdered his Brother cryed out My Sin or Punishment is greater than I can bear Gen. 4.13 And Judas having betray'd his Lord and Master durst not approach to him to beg Mercy by reason he apprehended an implacable Anger in Christ. 2. IT is certain according to the Apostles saying That the Wrath of God cometh on the Children of Disobedience Col. 3.6 And that his Wrath is revealed from Heaven against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men Rom. 1.18 And that the Impenitent by their hardness of Heart treasure up to themselves Wrath against the day of Wrath That theâ—e shall be Indignation and Wrath to them that obey not the Truth Rom. 2.5 8. But when thou who art of a wounded Spirit and broken Heart hast well considered perhaps thou wilt find that these things are of no Concernment to thee but to those who live in Sin 3. THE second Obstacle in wounding the Conscience is sense of Spiritual Wants as Hope Faith assurance of Salvation the Spirit of Sanctification and Prayer These being the Graces of the Almighty and the Presence of his Holy Spirit in the Regenerate may yet for the time be an hidden Treasure an Immortal Seed under the frozen Clods without any appearance of Life And the truly Devout may weep and complain like the Penitent Magdalen in the Garden for the loss of Christ when at the same season he is discoursing with them but they are ignorant of his Presence John 20.14 4. THE third Obstacle is fear of some strong Temptations and Tryals at which the afflicted and affrighted Conscience is Amazed as the Disciples were when Jesus slept in the Storm and the Ship was Over-mastered with Waves and ready to Travel to the bottom of the Sea upon Death's Errand Matt. 8.24 25. Or like St. Peter on the Water when he beheld the rough Billows come Plowing before him cryeth out Save Master we Perish Matt. 14.30 When it evidently appears they cannot Perish who are with Christ nor they cannot be Safe who are without him CHAP. XXVIII Divine Considerations of the Afflicted AS God is Just so he is Merciful he is no enexorable Radamanth but he is easie to be entreated Concerning whom we have a Word more sure than any Testimony of Man for the Almighty in Exod. 34.6 being his own Herald thus proclaims himself The Lord merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sin Now if that which others report of the Kings of Israel 1 Kings 20.31 That they were merciful Kings Could perswade them to seek Mercy and to enjoy their Lives and Liberties how much more should that which God who cannot lye hath declared himself Tit. 1.2 move the afflicted Soul humbly to Petition him for Mercy who is more ready to grant it than we are or can be to entreat it for ask it we never could except his preventing Grace and holy Spirit invisibly moved us 2. GOD delights not in the Death of Sinners but in their Conversion Ezek. 18. And as it is a true Prognostick of a Guests being welcome by the good Aspects and Deportment of the Family So it is an evident signal that a Penitent Sinner is welcome to Heaven by the Angels loud Exultations If God in his good Pleasure would have destroyed thee how often
habitation every Room and Recess thereof it disturbeth with hideous Cries like Ziim and Ohim doleful Beasts in the Desolations of Babylon Isai. 13.21 6. IT is a folly and sober distraction wherein the deseased Mind rejecteth all wholesome Prescriptions it Rebelleth against the Physician and lacerateth open its own Wounds it is an Heart-corroding canker the internal Man's Woolf which devoureth that which feedeth it the Worm which gnaweth the Soul which Prometheus-like cherisheth the Vulture which afflicteth it and delighteth in that which grieves it Nor is the best of Men free from this Distemper for David with his Soul made this inquest Why art thou so sad O my Soul and why art thou so disquieted within me Psal. 43.5 7. OUR Blessed Saviour who was free from Sin who bare all our Sorrows in the sense of his Father's wrath acknowledged that his Soul was heavy to the death And wrestling with that most unknown Passion cryed out upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He could no otherwise be sensible of Hell Torments due to us in his Humane Soul than by losing the present sense of the Deities Assistance which wheresoever it is makes Eternal Happiness He lost in that Agony a present sense not an Indeficient Interest For even then he called God his God which Demonstrated a vast distance between the Impatience of Desperate and Irrecoverable Sinners and the Estate of those Good Men who are under Tribulation for the Infirmity of their Souls The just Man may be compared to the Israelites marching with the Egyptians through the Red-Sea where there is a way opened to their Promised Rest but the Waters return with a full force and drown the Enemy 8. AS to this Malady we must not plead ignorance but be sensible that it groweth Gradually First In unadvised Anger mixâ— with Sorrow which are the Seminaries of Impatience Next it goes forward to a dislike of every Accident and Estate from thence to an internal Repining So like a Gangren it invadeth the Souls Vitals Hope Content and a Cheerful dependance upon God's Providence and then marches forward to violent Despair so that it behoves a Man highly to prevent this danger by checking its Primitive Motions and learning to make a Prudent use of every Affliction and to Expel all those discomposed Thoughts which nourish it likewise to practise in the whole Course of Life that Christian Patience and Moderation which becometh those who depend on the Providence of God Some Motives to it I shall shew in the next Chapter CHAP. XIV Motives to Patience and Contentedness FIRST God Commandeth us by his Holy Apostle in several places as Rom. 12.12 1 Thess. 5.8 1 Tim. 6.8 Heb. 13.5 And David earnestly perswades us to this duty Psal. 37. from the first to the fourteenth Verse Secondly Consider well the disadvantages of Impatience and the Advantages of Patience Seneca was of that good Opinion that no man could be happy who did not think himself so It imports not what thy Condition is if thou thinkest it evil The Patient Man is happy in every Estate because God will hear him Psal. 40.1 And the Wise Man gives this Result Eccles. 7.8 The Patient in Spirit is better than the Proud in Spirit And the Apostle gives us this assurance Rom. 2.7 That the Lord will give him Eternal Life And the Evangelist gives us this Encouragement by Patience a Man possesseth his own Soul Luke 21.19 All Affliction to him is but a wholesome Bitter Potion which he freely swalloweth as being prescribed to Operate his Cure and to produce him the quiet Fruits of Righteousness Heb. 12.11 The Apostle likewise tells you 1 Tim. 6.6 That Godliness with Contentment is great gain 2. PATIENCE allays a ponderous burden and makes it easie and therein defeateth the adverse Party the product of whose Injury is the Perplexity and Impatience of the injured When Job Exercised his Affliction with Patience Satan was foiled at his own Weapon As Ballast if it be well placed that it cannot move or shoot the Sailing Ship Rides secure but if otherwise she is Foundred Even so it is with Patience in the Soul It was a Blessed Victory obtained at Job's first encounter at which the Angels of Heaven could do no less than give a Plaudite for when Satan had fully charged him with all his Machinations and Job had received all those fierce Blows on his Shield of Patience he made this meek Reply The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the Name of the Lord And the Holy Ghost thus testifieth In all this Job sinned not Job 1.21 22. And Job was happy in being so great a Victor and happy are all they who imitate that invincible Patience in their sufferings 3. THOSE who are Impatient must submit to that Term of being Evil and the Almighty will not lend an Ear to them They are by every Condition made worse being Authors of their own misery and make their own Burdens intollerable by striving under that which no violence can cast off They are Satan's Captives introducing their Fretful Impatience only to adorn his Triumphs they prove scorns to Men who can no less than deride if not loath that Morosity and peevish Waywardness which causeth the Impatient malecontent neither to enjoy Friends nor himself An Example we have of that Mirror of Impatience Diogenes the Cynick who being Asked by Alexandâ—r the Great if he lacked any thing to which he Morosely Replyed Yea I do Stand out of my Light Now whether he embraced this Churlish Humour to profess himself a Votary to his own Passions or to lay Claim to an equal Capacity and Right of Contemning his Friends Greatness as much as he slighted his Poverty that I cannot Expostulate But he chose rather to Inhabit in a Tub than expect the delayed Beneficence of him that promised to build him a House And certainly by this his Impatience he reaped no Advantage 4. CONSIDER that Momentary Afflictions are of no Duration If all the World Men and Devils Conspired to vex and molest thee they could not long make thee an Object of their Fury and Malice The Apostle like a good Prognostick foretells our Necessities Heb. 10.37 Ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promises For yet a very little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Then Blessed are all they who with meekness and a patient Confidence expect him Be therefore Patient Stablish your hearts For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh James 5.8 Heaviness may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psal. 30.5 However the longest day as its due must accept of a period And the most tedious misery of a good Christian shall have such a Counsumation as may render him happy 5. CONSIDER the extent of thy suffering Perhaps thou art envied without Cause Thou owest thanks to God for that Conformity to his
thy heavy Displeasure lest I am utterly Consumed Let thy Corrections work in me a true sense and detestation of all my Sins a filial fear to offend thee and a fixed resolution to love and serve thee more carefully for the future To this end I humbly beseech thee give me assurance of my Justification by Christs Righteousness my attonement with thee and such a peace of Conscience as the world can never give nor take from me that I may adore thee above all and render thee a sincere thankfulness for all thy Mercies Temporal and Eternal Entertaining always in my Heart that assurance of my Saviour who suffered such great great things for me that he will not suffer me to fall under any of Satans Conflicts 3. LORD Sanctifie all my Afflictions to me by thy good Spirit Cast out of my Soul all those Sins and Corruptions which lye lurking to betray me to Ruin Let the sum and height of my Ambition be only to be thine give me a prudent and contented Heart in every estate and condition a faithful dependance on thy Good Providence in assurance that thou who hast promised will never fail me nor forsake me that in every Affliction I may expect thy gracious Deliverance Give me Patience and meekness of Spirit that I may in the midst of all my troubles find rest to my Soul Let not my Heart be fixed on Transitory things but on things which are above where Christ my Peace sitteth at thy right hand making Intercession for me 4. CHASE from me all Impatience bitterness of Spirit Diffidence and the secret Murmurings of Flesh and Blood Let thy Holy Spirit the Comforter dwell in me to keep and counsel me in all affairs and interests Spiritual and Temporal Let his joyful Presence so sweeten all those Marahs of Affliction which thy Providence shall appoint in my way to the Promised rest O let me ever rejoice in thee and in every Estate live cheerfully before thee untill thou in thy good pleasure bring me unto the fulness of eternal Joys in thy blessed Presence where thou wilt wipe away all Tears from my Eyes Make me glad with the light of thy Countenance and unite me to that Triumphant Society of Saints and Angels which in perfect Harmony Sing their Halelujahs to thee Eternally through Jesus Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen CHAP. XVI Of Hope HE is not living in the World that is void of Hope The Child hopes to arrive to Manhood the Aged to linger out a Year longer The Poor hopes for Wealth the Sick for Health The Imprisoned for Liberty And the Afflicted that Joy may be the Scene of the Morning Hope induces the Husband-Man to Sow and Manure his Ground the weary Traveller to endure his tedious Ways and the Experienced Swimmer to spread his tyred Arms upon the Death-threatning Waves Thus is the whole Span of Man's Life Employed in Suffering and Hoping 2. BUT in Hopes there 's a vast difference As for Example the Human vain Hope is of all others the most pernicious Such a Hope is but the Denomination of an uncertain Good 't is a treacherous Guide leading to desperate Precipices the Ignis fatuus of the Mind and the Waking Man's Dream It was the Tempters Artifice first to assail Man's Innocency with vain hope grounded on a lying Promise without this flash of Vanity Satan had never gain'd so many Vassals Imprimis He sheweth the forbidden Fruit and in a wicked Elegancy Preached this Doctrin In the day ye Eat thereof ye shall be as Gods Gen. 3.5 Thus was unhappy man caught by this alluring Bait. 3. SO he Accosted the Second Adam the Lord of Glory when he represented to him the Kingdoms and Glory of the World Matth. 4.8 Satan still makes it is his Business to give us a Prospect of false Heavens to precipitate us into a true Hell suggesting vain hopes that he might deprive us of the real There is none commits the least sin but a Train of vain Hopes attends it Several instances we have as in Cain's Murder Amnons Lust Judas's Treason or Achitophel's Despair The Sinner many times hopes for some other product of his Resolutions than from the Sin he transacts 4. THE worst have not lost their hopes of some good but all their wishes are in vain For the hopes of the Wicked are often frustrated but the Justice of the most just Judge cannot We must expect from Reason's Providence and when Time's Glass is fully run there must be something future all which carries the face of Goodness yet so flattering a Liberty is Self-hopes that every man especially the Juvenile who are least acquainted with Fascination and Constant Inconstancy of the World relying much on hope and depending little on Memory promise themselves great things But when the Malignants Sing Requiems to their Souls sudden Destruction is the more terrible in its assault by Reason it poured upon them unsuspectedly The Hypocrites hope shall perish their hope shall be Sorrow of Mind Job 11.20 5. AND truly such is Worldly Confidence in an Evil Conscience However it may appear to have purchased thee A Covenant with death and an Agreement with Hell Isai. 28.15 yet it will deceive thee However it fawns and promises long Life and vigour in an Arm of Flesh and the vain Councels of Men raising thy Hopes to high Flights yet they are but Phantasms of deluded Men and create an Eruption in the midst of their full Career delivering up their Mind to dangerous Convulsions and by the Ascent is cast down from so high a Pinacle as renders the Fall the more desperate How often do despairing Wretches wish they had never hoped when the vanity of it is plainly Demonstrated like Pharoah's Chariot-Wheels they fall off where they are most deeply engaged between Floods of returning Miseries Exod. 14.25 6. NOW I come to shew you there is a hope of the Righteous which never fails this is a prudent Expectation of future Happiness fulfilling of his Promises who is Yea and Amen both in this Life and that which is to come This is a Vertue infused into our Hearts by Gods Holy Spirit who cannot deceive as the Psalmist confirms it Psal. 31.24 Be of good Courage and he shall strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the Lord. The Eye of the Lord is upon them Psal. 33.18 And they trust in him who will certainly perform his Promise And thrice happy are they in whom the Lord taketh pleasure their Expectation shall be Gladness 7. SOLOMON says They have hope in death Prov. 14.33 And the Apostle tells you they are saved thereby Rom. 8.24 Hopes in any Creature may be frustrated but hope in God maketh not ashamed for he is good to all them that trust in him Lam. 3.24 25. This hope is not Humane or Conjectural liable to Fraudulency but Theologically grounded on the infallible Word of God in whom is only our Confidence Psal. 119.81 Now the Object of this Hope is what
and no Constancy to be found among the Sons and Daughters of Men. Prosperity is like a Fair Morning quickly overcast with hideous Storms like the Morning Dew soon vanishing or like a pleasant Flower or a Jonah's Gourd such are all Humane Enjoyments So that there is no sure Hope but in the Almighty who is immutable neither deceiveth those that trust in him therefore beware of vain Hopes especially those which are Irrational lest thou tempt the Lord for they are fraudulent to Men. Such is their Reliance who contemn the ordinary means in Expectation of Miracles and act contrary to the express Word of the most High in vain hope of obtaining a Pardon 4. PROPOSE not too great things to thy self for we are frequently the evident Authors of our own Misfortunes when we promise Peace Health and Prosperity to our selves This soaring Ambition's Wings are sometimes deplumed and we fall into bitterness when we come short of that which to our selves we so vainly promised So that it were much better never to climb too high than put our selves in so much danger as falling from so great a Precipice but rather let us invoke the Great Being who is the Author of our Hope and the Donor of all Consolation to infuse a sure Hope and a stedfast Confidence by a Divine Inspiration into our Souls A Prayer for Hope O Almighty God my earnest Expectation and Hope my Fortress Helper and Deliverer though my numberless Sins have deserved thy Wrath insomuch as thou mayst justly cast me off into hopeless Despair and final Destruction yet look upon me with thy Eye of Mercy through the Wounds of a bleeding Jesus in whom thou hast commanded me to believe and hast promised Remission of my Sins and Eternal Life For his sake alone I humbly beseech thee give me that assurance that in the end I may obtain my hope even the Salvation of my Soul And though thou dost now fill my wounded Spirit with Bitterness and remove from me Peace and Comfort so that I forget my Prosperity and go mourning all the day long 2. YET O Lord though thou humblest my dejected Soul with ponderosity of Sorrows and makest my Eyes fountains of Tears driving me to Solitude and Silence with them that mourn in Zion Yet thou dost extend thy Goodness to them that wait for thee and to the Soul which seeketh thee Thy Mercies are renewed every Morning and thy Compassions fail not to frail Dust and Ashes Thou hast opened unto me the rich treasure of thy transcendent Mercies and enabled me to trust in thee Thou hast according to thy stupendious Mercy begotten me again to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of thy dear Son from the dead of an Inheritance Incorruptible For all these Blessings my Soul hath acknowledged thee to be my Portion therefore will I trust in thee 3. O Lord I know that the Hopes of the Hills are vain and so is all Confidence in frail Mortality and no hope can be happy which is not fixed in thee But in defiance to all Satan's devices thrice blessed must he be whose hope thou art He shall be like a Tree planted by the Waters of Life which shall never wither but prosper for thou art Truth it self And O thou God of all Consolation now speak Peace to my afflicted Soul and let me not be disappointed of my Hope Thou art pleased to wean me from the Allurements of an unkind and diffident World by suffering me to endure such Grief and Sorrow yet seeing thou art my Hope from my Youth let me not be ashamed of my Confidence let thy Mercy be still my Hope and thy Grace my Strength amidst all the Storms and Surges of Affliction fasten my Soul's Anchor on the Land of the Living my Rock who is entred within the Vail to make requests for me 4. INVRE me with Patience untill the time of Comfort and refreshing shall return from thy gracious Presence Give me the Helmet of Salvation and an Assurance of what thou hast graciously promised in thy Word and laid up for me in Heaven Let the Experience of thy former Goodness in many Deliverances give me a Door of Hope for the future that I may more and more trust in thee And O thou who art the God of Hope fill me with Joy and Peace in Believing that I may abound in Hope through the Power of thy holy Spirit Give me a strong Consolation and full assurance of thy Mercy that continuing grounded and established in a stedfast Hope of my Resurrection to a Life of Glory at the appointed hour my Flesh may rest in Hope and my Soul be cheerfully rendred into thy Gracious Hands to rest with thee through Jesus Christ my ever blessed Lord and Saviour Amen CHAP. XVIII Of Fear FEAR is a pensive and anxious Expectation of some danger approaching either Imminent or a Supposition of appearing so We are timerous at any Malevolency which is real or apparent and many times at that which proves not so Fear is opposite to Fortitude as one extream of Participation and as it allayeth too much Presumption by its limitation it becomes beneficial but when it exceeds its Extent it grows Pernicious Vertue is absent when Fortitude is not present And he can never express his Duty towards God well or demonstrate his Justice to the World who acts contrary for Satan is vigilant in his diabolical Operations upon the Timerous offering to his View continual Objects of imposterous and vain Fears like Hunters Suels to chase the fearful Deer from the safe ways So Satan driving through Pusilanimity and Timidity that he maketh them Evil for fear of Men whom the fear of God cannot make Good 2. TO omit many acceptations of the Word I shall only handle some few First there is a natural Fear and that of two sorts in respect of the Object First Concerning the avoidance of Sin for the love of him who knew no Sin It happen'd so with Adam in his state of Innocency who having heard the Threatning feared to Sin signalizing he would not be guilty of offending his Creator whom he loved above all But however Adam in the Temptation lost this Fear and so Sinned yet in the rectitude of his Mind he reassumed it Secondly In relation to the avoidance of Sorrow in apprehension of God's Anger against Sin commited In this Christ Feared Matt. 26.38 Heb. 5.7 He that knew no Sin 3. THE nearest to this is the filial fear of the Regenerate who tho through Infirmity they frequently Sin and fear to displease God by any Offence as Solomon declares Prov. 8.13 The fear of the Lord is to hate Evil. This is the beginning of Wisdom and it is principally demonstrated in four things First That we place God ever before our Eyes moving as always in his Presence Secondly That we acknowledg him as the Omniscient Witness and supream Judge of all our Thoughts Words and Actions Thirdly That we fear not the Creatures as we do
Carefulness Psal. 127.2 That Manna which was kept all Night except only for the Sabbath was Corrupted Exod. 16.20 24. All our labour to lay up except for Salvation the eternal Sabbath is but lost Therefore Labour for the Meat which endureth to Eternal Life John 6.27 2. SET your affections on things above Col. 3.2 And study a holy Contempt of this World It is Affection creates us Care and where that is there our Cares and our Minds will be fixed 'T is the highest Prudence to lop off vain Cares that our better placed Care may be more Fruitful and to thrust out worldly thoughts As Christ did the tumultuous Company at Jairus house which otherwise like those Guests at Bethlehem would afford him no room As when the Superfluity of the Branches are pruned off the Vine is recompenced in the Fruit So it is in the cutting off vain Cares the more thou diminishest from them the more fruitfully shall thy Soul be augmented in Spiritual things As when Elijah was taken up to Heaven his Mantle fell off 2 King 2.13 So do the Cares of this World when our Hearts are addicted to Heavenly things 3. HOW properly may vain childish things like dead Leaves neer the fruitful Autumn fall off our minds when we subscribe our selves Men And when that which we have in possession is perfect how easily do our Worldly Cares wither and fall away even like the Glow-worms fraudulent Lustre which vanishes at the approach of the Morning Light In whatsoever State thou art learn therewith to be content Discontent and avaritious Desires force the heart upon the sharp Tenters of Care If a Man be content with little he will not care for much Cares follow Riches and augment with their Encreases Mat. 13.22 4. TRUST in the Lord and commit thy ways to him and he will bring it to pass Psal. 37.5 Cast thy care upon him for He careth for thee 1 Pet. 5.7 and hath Promised He will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 And the Prophet declares this comfortable Report Jer. 17.7 8. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is for he shall be as a tree planted by the Waters and shall not be careful in the year of drought Gods Providence is vigilant over his Servants and it can neither err nor be defeated He that gave us Life will not fail to give us Meat and Cloathing he that feeds the Fowls of the Air and adorns the fading Flowers with such varieties of Beauty will not forget to Feed and Cloath Man whom he has appointed to be Lord over them 5. HE knoweth our Necessities before we ask and that all our Care cannot add one Cubit to our Stature Riches and Honors for which men take such indefatigable care come neither from the East nor from the West nor yet from the South but it is God which both giveth and taketh away Some increase in Wealth Sleeping or Waking others with unwearied industry wax poor Labour to perform thy endeavour with Cheerfulness and commit the Issue to God By which means thou wilt avoid all Diffidence and Distracting Care 6. BE vigilant over thy Soul otherwise Cares will choak up the holy Seed of God's Word whereby it will become unprofitable to thee It will Eclipse the light of Heavenly Knowledge it will clog the Heart and creep on like an Ephialt which having seized us we groan under it and can neither shake it off nor awake to an holy Expectation of the coming of Christ. Frequently Recollect thy Mind of thy Mortality Frailty of Life and the Vanity of all Transitory things What are Riches and Magnificence in this World They are like Childrens Bubbles filled with Air which vanishes in their breaking Even such are we like Dreams or a Scene wherein our parts once Acted we must shrink into Natures Tyring-room never to return 7. IT is uncertain what hour may be our last but it is certain one must come and how nigh it may be at hand is beyond our knowledge perhaps this night the Sentence may come forth and a Writ of Alienation on thy Store laid up for many years and this harsh Summons may reach thy Ears Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall all those things be Luke 12.20 When the Hives in their Plenitude warn the Masters of their Republick that they want a Deduction of their Colony they Swarm and Flie But if you cast a little Dust among them they presently settle So the only Expedient to settle our Swarm of Busie Cares is the memento of our Original That Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return Gen. 3.19 Lastly to remember the Apostles Rule Phil. 4.6 Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication let your Requests be made known unto God Those wants and cares are happy which chase us to him Therefore let us depend and hope in him and Invocate him by Prayer The Prayer O MOST Gracious and Merciful Lord God who Feedest the young Ravens Clothest the Lillies of the Fields and fillest all things with thy Goodness Thou Governest in Heaven and in Earth and givest to every Creature Subsistence and Preservation in its kind O Lord I humbly acknowledge thy goodness towards me even from the Womb unto this present moment Thou hast preserved me when I neither knew what human necessities were nor which way to relieve them When I reposed my self thou preservedst me when I did not foresee any evil approaching thou dissipatedst it when I was kept ignorant of my Necessities thy infinite Mercies Prevented me with Blessings and Provisions when I was lost thou recoveredst me And when I was dead in trespasses and sins thou didst quicken me by thy Grace when I understood nothing of the Way of Life thou meekly didst inform me and didst guide me in the way wherein I should walk But above all before ever I was thou gavest thy Son Christ Jesus to be the Inestimable price of my Redemption 2. AND now O Lord I who am less than the least of all thy Mercies what shall I render thee Nay what can I for all thy Transcendent Blessings Thou hast not only once like the good Samaritan but many times as a God of Infinite Mercy bound up the wounds of my Soul and taken care of me O let thy Mercy still continue towards me and create O God in me a clean and a contrite heart and renew a right Spirit within me that it may express my thankfulness aright to so great a Majesty as thou art The Lyons want the Mighty suffer hunger Thou hast sent a Fire among them that live at ease and carelesly even unto the Proud and Rejoicing Cities and what am I O Lord that thou pleasest to spare me and dost not still feed me with the Bread of Anxiety and Affliction and make me drink the Waters of Astonishment 3. LORD fix my Hopes on thy Providence and give me
the hazard of their Immortal Souls 4. NOW the Rules to be observed are these First Earnestly endeavour to find out and abandon all thy known Sins Secondly Rest not in outward appearances but entertain the illumination of God's Word into the secret and dark recesses of thy Heart For the Woman in the Gospel first lighted and then swept the Room Luke 15.8 Thirdly Judge thy self as impartially as thou wouldst do an Enemy Skillful Painters place their Work at some distance from 'em that they may be able to judge and amend their Errors So must thou fix thy actions upon some other Person like David who could noâ— behold his Sin in himself till Nathan shewed it him in another 2 Sam. 12. I need not instance in Judah Gen. 28. Or in Ahab 1 Kings 20.4 5. BEGIN Early and be constant in this Duty If thy Thoughts after some slender pursuit return as those Men of Jericho with a Non est Inventus Josh. 2.22 Know that thou hast more need of greater diligence to repeat often thy Examination Examin thy self by the whole Law of God And enquire what thou hast done in opposition to Sin Few wicked Men but are content to observe some of God's Laws if thou wilt grant them Naaman's Plea only The Lord pardon thy Servant in this thing And sometimes Herod Ahab and Pharaoh will have certain fits of seeming Devotion and Repentance The Brazen Serpent will not Sting And Men's Corruptions are most apparent when opportunity gives them Birth 6. NOW The Interrogatories to be propounded to thy Conscience are these First doth Sin reign in thee so that thou yieldest a willing obedience to it Or doth it bear sway and tyrannize over thee For between these there is an immense difference True it is all Men sin but Sin reigneth only in the Unregenerate Let not sin reign in your mortal Body Rom. 6.12 And St. Paul further tells ye that the Regenerate sin Rom. 7.15.19 That which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but whâ—t I hate that do I For the Good that I do I would not But the Evil which I would not that I do From this Inference ask thy Conscience whether thou wouldst have committed this Evil which now wounds it If not it is no more thou but Sin that dwelleth in thee 7. DOST thou detest all Sin because it is contrary to God's Holy Will And rather more for the love of God than for fear of his Judgments Dost thou not only grieve for every Sin which thou hast committed but also for the â—ravity and Corruption of thy Will and the infirmities of Flesh and Blood disabling thee to the purer service of God If thou art in this State thou art not disesteemed in the Eye of the Almighty Neither will God ever Condemn thee for that which he hath given thee a competency of Grace to abhor and condemn in thy self For if we would judge our selves we should not be judged 1 Cor. 11.31 The Unregenerate Person Idolizes Sin but is afraid of the Punishment but the Regenerate abhors it therefore God will not judge him for it but will rather say what he said to the Woman taken in Adultery Neither do I Condemn thee go and Sin no more John 8.11 8. WOULDST thou embrace Sanctity and is it thy Heart's desire to serve God in sincerity So that thou can'st say with the Church Isa. 26.8 The desire of our Soul is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee If thou dost hunger and thirst after Righteousness be assured thou shalt be satisfied Matt. 5. Dost thou in the inward Man consent to the Law of God 'T is Infallibly certain if thou dost pursue after Holiness without which none can see God thou art esteemed of the Almighty For our best Perfection at present is this not that we are throughly Pious but that we chase after it 9. HAST thou with the Kingly Prophet Psalm 119.6 a respect to all God's Commandments so that thou dost not in thy Heart dispense with any of them for Pleasures Profits or any secular Advantage but wouldst earnestly enjoy that Priviledge of keeping them all If so let not slip the Anchor of thy Hope but receive Comfort For hower Satan's Delusions may allure thee and thy own Corruptions may betray thee yet thy minor serving of thy Creator without Exemption or dispensation to any Sin concludeth thee in a State of Regeneration the Denomination following the better Part as appears in St. Paul's Expression of himself in the same case Rom. 7.25 With the Mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the Flesh the Law of Sin That is groaning under the Tyranny but not dispensing with its Reign 10. DOST thou resolve to oblige thy self to avoid Sin Then God will accept thee 2 Cor. 8.12 David said I will keep thy Statutes and I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy Righteous Judgments Psal. 119 8.106 It is evident he made a breach of his Performance tho his Intentions were quite contrary 2 Sam. 12.9 Dost thou conscientiously and diligently use the means to take cognizance of thy Sins as by applying the word of God home to thy Conscience for by the Law comes the knowledge of Sin Rom. 7.7 Dost thou carefully shun all occasions and incentives moving thee and enticing thee to Sin and Wickedness It is a vanity in him to detest Drunkenness who will not restrain his boon Companions It is impossible for him to hate Adultery who fixeth his Eye upon the Lascivious and is entangled in the snare of the Adulterer Such are apt then to forget what was mentioned in our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount Matt. 5.28 Whosoever looketh on a Woman to Lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart And Solomon's Advice is very proper Come not near the Door of her House Prov. 5.8 For Opportunity and Occasion is Lust's Pander 11. ASK thy Conscience whether it can presume to sin wittingly and willingly And whether it can be sedate in any known and unrepented Sin If it be disturbed dissipate thy Fear for this very disturbance of Conscience which so much appals thee is a principal Mark of a good Conscience It is true as the Woman sang of Saul and David 1 Sam. 18.7 Saul hath slain his Thousands and David his ten Thousands So Despair hath cast away some but Presumption Multitudes Hath not thy Conscience at some time in a particular Measure been refreshed by a Divine assurance of thy Interest in a Saviour a resolution to forsake all thy Sins Peace with God and Salvation by the Merits of Christ We commit a gross Mistake if we always judge of our State by present Sense For there are certain hours of Tentation wherein the light of Grace is obscurely Eclipsed to our Sense and the stupid or afflicted Conscience feeleth no present Illumination of God's Spirit which yet in due time shall return and compensate our Tryals with
Assurance Sanctification and the Spirit and Fervency of Prayer If so be comforted For as the Solar Eclipse and Descension of Light towards us can be discerned by no Lustre but it s own so neither can the want of Grace be possibly discerned by any thing but Grace Hast thou a hearty desire to have these wants of Grace supplyed Then that very holy Ambition is Grace it self without which thou couldst not desire it Our blessed Lord in his Sermon on the Mount Math. 5.6 pronounces Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled God will never desert that Soul which desireth him and his saving health None can hunger but the Living and none hungers for Grace but he that subsisteth by it But then thy desire of that Seed must be ardent not languid such as cannot rest unsatisfied with any thing else in the World 8. THERE may be an Enervate and Oblique appetite of Salvation in Balaam for fear of Damnation but he more loved the Wages of Unrighteousness The happiest thirsts for the Waters of Life and afflicteth the Soul till it be obtained and enjoys no rest or peace without it So that indeed this very State which so much afflicteth thee is the most secure and happy and thou shalt once know that which one said in the happy Event of his unhappy Shipwrack We had perished if we had not thus perished And when thou hast received the Spirit of God in such a measure as thereby to discern the things that are freely given thee of God then thou shalt find That Blessed is the Man whom the Lord chasteneth and teacheth in his Law that he may give him rest from his days of adversity Psal. 94.12 13. 9. MAKE that inquest with thy Soul whether ever thou wert possest of that which thou art now sensible thou wantest If so be assured it shall revive again and finally overcome For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World and this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith 1 John 5.4 And this sense and sorrow is a signal of the recovery of the health of thy most precious part thy Soul as the seven times Neezing of the Shunamite's Child presaged his reviving 2 Kings 4.35 If thou never yet enjoyd'st the Grace which thou now beginnest to be sensible of it now evidently is apparent thou shalt acquire it for this internal perplexity is but as the motion of the Waters of Bethesda a certain Prognostick of a healing Power descending on thee 10. NEXT ask thy self according to that saying of the Prophet Jer. 2.17 Hast thou not procured this unto thy self Even this which thou now complainest of Hast thou not neglected the appointed means If want of Faith perplex thee hast thou not negligently heard the Gospel Hast thou laid it up in a Solicitous Heart Hast thou valued it and begged it fervently and frequently of God above all things in the World Thou art querulous for want of the Spirit of Prayer Hast thou not neglected this Duty formerly and dost thou now duly prepare thy self for that holy Office Dost thou use that vigilancy which Christ enjoyn'd of Watch and Pray by recalling thy profane and wandring Thoughts from their Extravagancies and all attention of Spirit fixing them on the Holy Jesus Thou art sensible thy Heart Tongue nor Actions are not Sanctimonious Appeal to thy own Conscience and then tell me if thou hast not heretofore us'd all Arts and sollicited all things to appear in the throng to drown the loud checks of that voice within thee and hast looked upon it as thy utter Enemy Now if thou wouldst cease the Effect remove the Occasion duly observe God's holy Ordinances and he will infallibly perform his Promises 11. ENQUIRE whether thou dost not persevere in some habitual sin It is a great folly to cry out of the Heat and still cast oyl on the Fire If it be an Achan's Wedge hidden search for the Cursed thing Josh. 7.25 26. and the Plague in thine own heart 1 Kings 8.38 And by removing the Impediment and Obstruction thou shalt be Comforted If it be a sleeping Jonah cast him over-board And as Eliphaz said to Job If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt put iniquity far from thy Tabernacles The Almighty shall be thy defence then shalt thou have delight in the Almighty and shalt lift up thy face unto God Thou shalt make thy Prayer unto him and he shall hear thee Job 22.23 c. 12. TO reduce what has been said into practice follow these Rules Give an audit to God's Word preparedly that is renew thy Repentance and Invocate the Father of Lights to Illuminate thee that thou mayst be a Reverend and an Attentive Auditor Faith comes by Hearing so doth Sanctification God's Spirit operating upon his own Ordinance to make it Active The occasion why so many hear so often and so few so seldom practise and receive true Comfort by it is for want of a due preparation resembling them that sow among Thorns Let Faith and all Christian Graces be valuable to thee for his sake who is the Author of all our Happiness How few set a right Estimate on Heavenly things till it be too late Mundane Vanities are Rated high and often purchased at a dear Rate but where are those that rise Early rest Late Eat the Bread of Carefulness venture Sea and Land to obtain the holy City even the New Jerusalem Be eager in the pursuit of these things thou standst in need of and the Almighty will not with-hold them from thee 13. OUR Saviour affirms to us John 7.38 39. He that believeth in me out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of Living Waters That is fluency of Graces proceeding from the Holy Ghost If thou wilt labour and endeavour to attain unto this Faith chase away all Obstructions that do oppose thee For a Resolution to persevere in any known Sin and True Faith are inconsistent An obdurate Heart is like the great stone on the mouth of the Well at Padan-Aram which kept Men back from the Waters of Refreshment These Impediments I say must first be removed for sin in the Affections is like a venomous Toad in the Mouth of the Fountain obstructing the Waters of Life 14. CONSIDER the Operation of the Almighty in thee and compare thy misfortunes with others If thou art not heard by the Great Being perhaps thy Supplication is not consonant to his Will For his design is to save thee and infallibly to bless thee and if he performs that by a means suitable to Omnipotency wilt thou be impatient with Naaman if thou art not healed according to thy way which thou proposest Is not it enough that he will effect that which is properest and best for thee and canst thou pretend to outvie his Wisdom Perhaps he thinks it requisite to try thy perseverance and patience whereof I confess I know no severe object than an opinion
which denominates tempting or proving As you will find in Exod. 15.25 and Ch. 16.4 Deut. 8.16 and Chap. 13.3 Psal. 26.2 1 Pet. 1.7 And there is a Temptation of seducement which is a Solicitation to defection and falling from God by sinning and committing evil 1 Tim. 6.9 1 Thes. 3.5 So that God tempteth that he may Discipline us but the Devil that he may destroy us 3. SOME Temptations spring from the Corruption and Sin Inherent in the Flesh St. James 1.14 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lusts such as are mentioned Gal. 5.19 20. Some are suggested by the Tempter who being a Spirit hath power to insinuate and convey his impious notions into our minds Suggestion between Spirits are as Contiguity and touching of Bodies for whereas he cannot discover the unuttered secrets of the heart it being the Almighties peculiar Prerogative but he observes mens natural inclinations and habits by their Words and Actions and so prepares Baits accordingly thus he fishes in these depths till he perceives his Suggestions are swallowed and the Sinner taken And by this means he presenteth such Thoughts as he conjectureth will take by that which is obvious to the Senses of men As he fitted an opportunity of Treason to impious Judas by the malice of the high Priests Of Lust to Amnon of venturing on the cursed thing to Achan of the Revenge to Cain of Idolatry to Ahaz by the Altar of Damascus 2 Kin. 16.10 c. 4. OF Temptations there are four degrees by which it ariseth to full Maturity First Suggestion Secondly Delight therein Thirdly Consenting Fourthly Acting the same As St. James tells ye Chap. 1.14 15. Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lusts and enticed then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death The first of these a bare Suggestion is not our Sin if there be no delight or consenting to it For Christ was tempted Mat. 4.1 Luke 4.2 in all points as we are yet without sin Heb. 4.15 The Sin is Satans when ever he Suggesteth evil The Second as the Third and Fourth is Sin in its degree for every delight in evil declares a Mans inclination to be such A declining from Good and a proneness to consent and act evil 5. A tryal of Temptation to the Just is but as Fire to Gold it purifieth and createth a valuation in God's Esteem as the Psalmist tells ye Psal 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and the Apostle informs ye 1 Pet. 1.7 That the tryal of your Faith being much more precious than of Gold which perisheth though it be tryed with Fire might be found unto praise c. And that mirror of Patience is Comforted Job 23.10 When he hath tryed me I shall come forth as Gold Temptation therefore burneth out the dross and is as a Winnowing Wind For Satan by a Temptation winnowed St. Peter Now Consider with thy self can the Refiner of Gold take that Care that he will not lose it in the Furnace Can the Husbandman so opportune the Wind that he will not lose the Corn but cleanse it from the Chaff And canst thou think that the Almighty will suffer thee to be lost by permitting thee to Temptations No assure thy self he cannot err He measureth all Is Faithful and will not suffer thee to be tempted above what thou art able 1 Cor. 10.13 He knoweth how to deliver his out of Temptations 2 Pet. 2.9 Therefore God commands us not to fear any of these things which they should suffer whom Satan should cast into Prison Rev. 2.10 6. THERE can be no Conquest gained without an Enemy nor no Crown without a Conflict No Faith without Troubles nor no Combate without some Adversary When the Almighty puts thee to Tryals he stedfastly beholds how thou entertainest the Enemy and as thou standest the Shock he supplieth thee with fresh aids as necessity requireth and in the mean time prepareth the Crown Many by a long and secure peace grow Impotent and for want of Experience unable to resist an enemy when he invadeth perhaps their own Pride born out of self-ignorance overcometh them or fulness may debauch them whereas Exercise makes them Vigorous and Temptations humble Lest I should be Exalted above measure saith Saint Paul There was given to me a Thorn in the Flesh the Messengers of Satan to buffet me 2 Cor. 12.7 And indeed Conscience of a Sin and fear of punishment makes the Regenerate more Religious and is much the firmer Faith which Repentance storeth up That ye Sorrowed after a Godly sort what Carefulness it wrought in you 2 Cor. 7.11 7. THE Spiritual Pharoah most eagerly pursueth those who are departing out of his Kingdom He passeth by his own as Captives And chaseth those in whom he perceiveth Christ liveth When he must be cast out then he teareth most furiously Luke 9.42 So that his rage against thee is no Argument of Despair but rather of great Affiance that Satan himself finds thou art none of his Disciple were he secure of thee he would let thee go unmolested to destruction and never disquiet thee lest any agitation should bring thee to Repentance and him to loss This Lesson our Saviour taught When a strong Man armed keepeth his Palace his Goods are in peace Luke 11.21 8. CONSIDER well that the best have been and the best that live are tempted The Jebusites were left in Jerusalem for an Exercise of Vertue 2 Sam. 5.6 The Apostle wrapt up into the third Heaven was buffetted by Satans Messengers 2 Cor. 12. 12. EVERY day dedicate thy first and last 2 7. Once for all Christ in whom was no sin was tempted Heb. 4.15 That thou are tempted is no inference of Despair It seems a Paradox how Heaven and Earth are here so annexed we being partly Spirit and partly Flesh that we cannot appear as we would Gal. 5.17 We find an irksome Law in our selves opposing us Our Reparation is something and Supernatural but so short of that which shall be that our selves like the Israelites in Ezra's time sound a discordious Concord of sharps and flats joy and sorrow Ezra 3.13 We must expect perfection in Heaven for our present freedom from sin is rather a desire to be free than our being so 9. NEXT let us consider that God's Grace who at his pleasure chaineth up the Tempter is sufficient for thee Rev. 20.1 2 Cor. 12.9 He restraineth him so much that he cannot be a lying Spirit in the Mouths of Ahab's Prophets untill he have leave to tempt him out to his destruction from him who justly permitteth to strong Delusions that they should perish in believing Lies who receive not the love of the Truth that they might be saved Omnipotence knows best how far he will suffer thee to be tempted and accordingly measureth out a sufficiency of Grace to all the Regenerate Why he suffered David so
dangerously to fall or St. Peter and St. Paul is dubious except to humble them and leave us motives to Repentance and as for his Judgments be assured they are ever just 10. WHEN thou art under any Temptation examine thy self whether thou delightest in it If thou takest no pleasure in it nor consentest to it but rather startlest at it as a thing which thy Soul detests and abhorrs it shall not prejudice thee Now consider whether the Temptation which commonly assaulteth thee is such as probably ariseth from the Corruption of thine own heart which is usually inferred by the Thoughts Parley from one thing to another by direct or natural mediums But if it be a Temptation of Satan's cast into thy Soul it is vulgarly abrupt and such as thou didst not think of Incongruous Sudden Unnatural and such as thou tremblest at as Blasphemous Sanguine or Desperate Though in some Temptations he takes the opportunity of deluding our sight and hearing joyning himself with our natural inclination to sin And these are his Messengers the Apostle mentions 1 Cor. 12.21 22. Gal. 5.20 Who are like Traytors Corrupted by some Foreign State against their native Country Now if a Temptation arise of Corrupted nature the Remedy must be the depression of carnal Reason and Affections For if it be Satan's Instigations the very discovery will infer a Detestation whereby thou mayest gain the Conquest for if we yield not to his allurements he is utterly vanquished 11. WHEN any motion excites thee either Internally by Suggestion or Externally by persuasions of Men observe the Apostles Rule 1 Job 4.1 Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World and by this thou art proved whether thou lovest the Lord thy God with all thy Heart And St. Paul tells ye there must be also Heresies among you 1 Cor. 11.19 Therefore Examine whether they bring any Propositions against Faith the substance of the Gospel Sanctimony commanded in God's Law Peace Order Charity and Unity To this end that if we discern any thing in Mens perswasions or any internal Suggestions contrary to our great Law-Giver we may conclude them Carnal Earthly Sensual and Devilish and so use our utmost endeavour to resist them which may be perform'd by the practice of these Rules following Thoughts to the Almighty in Sincere and Fervent Prayer to preserve thee from Temptations and to guide all thy Thoughts Words and Actions so that waking thou mayst walk sincerely in his presence and sleeping rest assuredly in his Protection Prepare and fortifie thy self against these encounters of Temptations with the whole Armour of God Eph. 6.12 Thou must expect Tryals for thy Adversaries are Formidable such as Flesh and Blood Principalities and Spiritual Wickednesses It is a Conflict the more terrible by being Abstruse and with an invisible puissant indefatigable and restless Antagonist with whom thou canst not Truce safely Therefore contrive before-hand like the Wise Master-Builder to fix the Basis upon a Rock against which no Winds Storms or Floods can prevail Mat. 7.24 25. 13. THE Mariner doth not design his Ship only for a Calm but also against furious Storms and rough Seas Prepare thy self with the Anchor of the Soul Heb. 6.19 Hope to lay hold on Christ who therefore suffered and was tempted that he might deliver thee from and in Temptations Next Fraught thy self with Patience and all things necessary for Tryals which thou must in reason expect before thou canst arrive at thy desired Haven It were great Incogitancy to think that Satan who could not abstain from tempting the Lord Jesus in whom was found no sin will ever give thee a Cessation from Temptations in whom he conceives some hopes of prevailing for he will endeavour to perplex thee though he cannot attain to vanquish thee 14. BE vigilant lest ye enter into Temptation Because your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 And be not less vigilant for your own Salvation Some have not observed whether a mischievous Temptation hath hurried them but hath been surprized and led into some desperate sins which upon true Opticks have abhorred and trembled at Thou must expect many assaults for Satan leaves them sometimes to return with seven worse Spirits Luke 11.26 That security may destroy thee when no other means are prevalent Be not Precipitated into any sudden undertaking but consult first the Oracles of God and there receive direction Let them be as the Cloudy Pillar to Israel and where that directeth Steer thy Course accordingly 15. FOLLOW the Apostle's advice St. James 4.7 Resist the Devil and he will flie from you If thou Surrendrest or givest him the least advantage he is Tyrannical Next observe St. Paul's Exhortation to his Son Timothy to flie youthful lusts 2 Tim. 2.22 For they are like Serpents and there 's no safe debate with them except by fasting and Prayer Therefore the exquisitest way is flight Stop thy Ears to the Enchanting Syrens and with the Patientest of Men make a Covenant with thine Eyes not to behold that which shall prejudice thee Job 31.1 Take heed of all Incentives and Inauspicious motives beware of Tamar's ways and Dalilah's Embraces Solomon's Curtisans Invitations and presented Opportunities Suspected Company Lascivious Entertainments Betraying Gifts and whatsoever may lead thee to the paths of Death 16. AS the subtile Enemy fixes his Gins according as he finds the assaulted inclinable to be ensnared so be thou careful most to fortifie thy self where thou findest him placing his main Batteries And most carefully watch over thy self where he most frequently assaileth thee In this use Perseverance which will prove an Antidote against that Malice which else would destroy thee To reckon up all the Artifices of this Tempter would be Voluminous I shall only instance some few And first he represents himself in the shape of a Serpent with his destructive Commentaries on the forbidden fruit Secondly He appears like a holy Prophet with lying Visions to Bewitch the foolish and impotent Next he comes like a Court like Sophister with ample promises of Wealth Honour and Pleasure another time he Acts the Pander and produces a Bathsheba bathing her self And lastly He hellishly studies the secret Conspirator and assists Judas in the betraying of his Lord and Master and for revenge of so horrid a Fact makes him become his own Executioner therefore search into his Gifts and whatever they are fear the Enemy As Saul said of David 1 Sam. 23.22 See his place where his haunt is for he dealeth very subtily He never pretends the least shadow of Goodness but there 's some mischief in the end of it he is studious of Men and where a Gentle disposition is evident he tempts to Luxury an Ambitious to some lofty and impious designs and the Angry to Revenge In this so important Affair thou canst not be too Politick therefore where thou art
most weak let thy Fortifications and Guards be strongest 17. FLY Idleness that lazy Matron of all Evil and Basis of Mischief Ever employ thy self about acts of Vertue and then there will be no space or room for the Tempter What advantage did he reap upon the Royal Prophet by staining so glorious a Life which was produc'd by his few hours Vacancy Dally not with Temptations for happy shall he be who parleys not with them but is Careful and Vigilant and is ready to say as Elisha said of Jehoram's Messenger 2 Kings 6.32 When he cometh shut the Door and hold him fast there Is not the sound of his Master's Feet behind him The same Remedy we must use to Satan's Messengers who are sent to Destroy us We must crush the Cocatrice Eggs lest breaking out into a fiery Serpent we cannot Conquer it but say too late as the Turk mention'd of Scanderberg This Enemy should have been Subdued in his Minority for a Attemptation is Nourished that Hour it is not Mastered 18. INVOKE the Almighty constantly and fervently use his own Words Lead us not into Temptation In many Instances these are a Divine Revenge on some precedent unrepented Sin against which the Sanctimonious frequently make their Supplications And if as often as Satan assaileth we could address our selves to earnest and zealous Prayers we should worst him at his own Weapon receive frequenter Allarms to awaken us to a stronger Guard even the shadow of the Almighty The first Enemy that assailed Israel in his way to Canaan was vanquish'd by Prayer When Moses held up his Hands Israel prevailed Exod. 17. The same repulse we must use to our grandest Enemy The Prayer O LOD God Almighty the Examiner of all Hearts and the Tryer of the Reins who knowest before we ask what our Necessities are and by thy Holy Spirit helpest our Infirmities Lord I acknowledge my Ignorance in not Praying unto thee as I ought but thou alone canst make request for me according to thy blessed Will with unutterable Groans which thou only understandest Help I beseech thee my Infirmities regulate my Devotion and restrain the busie Malice of the Tempter Direct and accept my Prayers as Incense in thy sight and let them enter thy Presence through Jesus Christ my only Redeemer and Advocate 2. THOU who art Truth it self hast promised that all things shall work together for good to them that love thee and keep thy Commandments Lord I put all my trust and confidence in thee and do stedfastly believe that it is good for me that I have been afflicted for I am assured that after the tryal of my Faith and exercise of my Patience I shall receive of thee the only giver of all good things the quiet Fruits of Righteousness But O Lord how shall frail dust and ashes appear before thee which is full of Infirmities Fears Doubtings and Failings for mine Iniquities have taken such hold upon me that l am not able to look up Nay they are more in number than the hairs on my head and my heart hath failed me Neither have I to deal O Lord with Flesh and Blood only but with Invisible Powers of Darkness which with restless encounters assault my Soul to destroy it 3. BUT O Lord God of my Salvation be not thou far from me Shew thy Power and deliver me from the Messengers of Satan which are too mighty for me O rescue me and bridle their Insolent Malice bind the Strong man and deliver thy Vessel from his Usurping Tyranny that I may in every faculty of my Soul serve and please thee Pardon all my sins for thy Blessed Son's sake who died for me Heal my wounded Soul which hath to the anguish of my heart so often sinned against thee Hide not thy face from me in time of my trouble forget not my bitter affliction which makes me go mourning all the day long while the insulting Enemy heavily oppresseth me Thou art my King O God and canst Command deliverances Lord I am poor needy and destitute of help and strength to resist the Fiery Darts of Satan 4. PUT thy whole Armour upon me I beseech thee that I may be able to stand Arise for my aid O thou preserver of all Men redeem me from the devouring Lyons Mouth and for thy Infinite Mercies sake think upon me make hast to help me and make no long tarrying O my God O suffer me not for any tryals to fall from thee Lay no more upon me than thou wilt be pleased to give me Strength Patâ—ince and Perseverance to bear Cheerfully Confirm me unto the end that I may be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Give me a blessed Effect and Issue out of every tryal that the more thou permittest me to suffer the more Experience I may acquire of thy Mercy and the greater assurance that thou wilt never fail me nor forsake me That I may through him who hath by suffering vanquished death hell and him who hath the power of death overcome all these Spiritual wickednesses which war against my Soul 5. LORD I have trusted only in thy Mercy thou hast ordained Strength in the Mouths of Babes and Infants O strengthen me unto the end that my heart may rejoice in thy Salvation Lord spare me that I may recover my strength Put thou a new song into my mouth that I may praise thee for my deliverance and declare unto afflicted Sinners what thou hast done for my Soul Lord hear me and have mercy upon me Thou who art ever readier to give than poor Mortals are to ask deny not the Humble and Earnest Requests of me the vilest and worst of Sinners This I beg O Lord through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen The Close HAVING run through the several Parts I intended I shall now Calculate the whole and give a Specimen of Reducing it into Practice Be very careful to stifle every Sin in its primitive motion and give no place to the Wiles of Satan but crush betimes the Cockatrice Egg lest it break out into a Serpent Permit not vain Imaginations to possess thy Mind which are impossible for thee to attain or unprofitable if they are attained but rather contemn and behold them as empty shadows and lighter than Vanity 2. BUT labour daily more and more to inspect into thy self that thou mayst attain to that cognizance If thou shouldst upon the Enquiry be asked what is the vilest Creature in the whole Earths Circumference thy nearest and most intimate Friend thy Conscience may report thy own self by reason of thy Sins And if on the contrary thou wert ask'd the Question What is the truest Catholicon for it Thy Heart may readily reply The Blood of Christ which speaks better things than the Blood of Abel Affect not vain Glory nor Popularity lest it prove more pernicious than Contempt and avoid entertaining a male-contented mind for that may produce thee more misery than thou