when Health is gone The want of Health and vigour of Spirits must needs be a great disadvantage where-ever it lighteth yet where Grace is and ruleth the Heart is lifted up to God the Soul breaths after him and his bodily Infirmities are an help to Mortification to Patience to the neglect of Worldly Things and a provocation to long for his Salvation as old Jacob did upon his Death-bed David attained to the best temper and measure of Spiritual Health when he was most overlaid with Bodily Sickness 2. To Health we may joyn Bodily Strength which is a great help to Spiritual Assaults which work more upon Weakness Age c. than upon others in whom Nature sanctified can afford more helps to the inner Man assaulted by Frowardness Timerousness or the like as one well noteth Young Men have more strength than others over-worn by Age and if they have the Word of God abiding in them they are strong indeed to overcome the evil one Many Men out of their strength of Body might spare more time from their sleep to spend in Religious Duties which others of weaker and feebler Bodies cannot spare who if they should miss of sufficient refreshment in this kind would be unfit for any holy performance Many occasions also may the strong take in travel for the doing of many good Services which cannot be so well performed by the weaker sort Yea such Men may wrestle the more earnestly with God in Prayer and in performing other holy Exercises may be the more vehement which weak Bodies are unable to perform But it is sad to see wicked Men notwithstanding their bodily weakness to be never the weaker Servants of Sin The Adulterer rolls over his sin in his Heart though disabled by his own Wickedness as well as by Age from the actual committing of that Sin he is a filthy person still as in his greatest bodily vigour and a greater teacher and provoker of others to the same Wickedness So Witches and other envious Persons Malice in them supplieth the defects of natural abilities or want of power or opportunity And rather than fail they summon in Satan to assist them in their hellish designs So others in time of their Weakness grow more cross and froward to all about them and being more impatient do murmur against God and are ready to Curse and Blaspheme because they have not Health Limbs Strength as well as others These are not unlike the Vassals of Antichrist justly suffering extraordinary Plagues for their voluntary Slavery That gnawed their Tongues for pain and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds Rev. 16.10 11. But the weakest Body must labour to be strong in Spirit that the power of God's Spirit may be manifested in its Weakness whilst the inner Man is renewed day by day though the outward Man decayeth 3. Youth also is an advantage in the Service of God Young Men have more abilities and helps than Old Persons their Wits being fresh their Affections lively all the powers of Nature are then in their prime and God requireth more of them in regard of outward performances Let young Men now remember their Creator in the days of their Youth and the prime of their Days while the evil days come not The days of Old-age are evil Days but thou must serve God in thy best Days give him not the dregs of thy time let him have the principal and choicest of thine Age think thy best days not good enough The Years will approach wherein thou wilt say I have no pleasure in them Dost thou think God will delight and take pleasure in that Age of thine if thou then begin to serve him when as thou thy self canst find no pleasure in it The Lord is to be served with gladness of Heart for the abundance of all things and wilt thou hope to serve him and be accepted of him if thou begin not till then when thou thy self shall take contentment in nothing when Old Age shall take away the joy of thine Heart and comfort of thy Life Yet must the Aged labour to excel in a settled Constancy in Gravity in holy Examples in ripeness of every Grace and holy Affection But the Younger sort must do more than the Aged can do in regard of the exercises of Religion and that in many respects 4. So also in respect of outward Estate and therein in regard of Wealth Honour the Lord with thy Substance and with the first-fruits of thine Increase Prov. 3.9 St. Paul bids Timothy Charge them that be rich in this World c. that they do good that they be rich in good Works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come Where ye see the Lord requireth an open Hand and Heart in them who are enriched with outward Blessings Every one is to lay by him as the Lord hath enabled him There be many things here required of the Rich which the Poor cannot do as to maintain the preaching of the Gospel where Means are wanting to relieve the Poor and Needy to strive against the danger and deceitfulness of Riches in the possessing and enjoying these outward things to be as if you possessed them not being as ready to leave all for Christ as they that have least and to be ready according to your portion of Wealth to set forth the Glory of Christ to make Riches the fuel of your Graces and the instruments of your Duty towards God and Man To have the House full of Riches and the Heart full of Grace this is an happy Conjunction and causeth matter of great admiration It is an evidence of much Grace when a Man is very holy in the midst of abundance of outward Riches As Pineda speaks of Job That the holiness of Job Exingentibus Jobi divitiis valdè locupletatur ejus sanctitas Pineda was enriched by his great Riches But usually Riches do impoverish the Soul and devour all care of Heaven they make Men to forget God yea to kick and spurn against him as it is said of Jesurun They are often made the Bellows of Pride the fuel of Luxury and Wantonness the instrument of Revenge and cause their owners to contemn despise and oppress their poor Brethren and to make no other use of them but to satisfie their Lusts and clog their Souls fastening them to the things below 5. Hereunto we may add Respect and Esteem from the World wherein some Men have a greater part than others and if they would rightly use it a greater advantage to glorifie God and so accordingly the Lord requireth more at their hands than can well be performed by others First of all Some have favour with great Men So Nehemiah had with the Persian King and he might be bold to speak for Jerusalem the City of the Lord when it lay desolate and so he did An ordinary Israelite had not
then cannot a Man forget God Who lives under a continual sence of the want of God his Soul is still breathing and panting after God Love causeth an emission of the Thoughts it will not suffer him to dwell at home but to be where it is best of all to be There 's a Necessity a Man should mind what he most affecteth and a Man that loveth God cannot live in a Course of Forgetfulness of God either as an holy Man noteth Want brings him or Love constrains him or Christ draws him and Christ will not be long from his if their Hearts come not up to him he will come into them and if he be there all is taken up with attending upon him SECT II. A Soliloquy at Waking HOw pretious are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the Sum of them c. When I awake I am still with thee Psal 139.17 18. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my Flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no Water is To see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Because thy Loving-kindness is better than Life my Lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee while I live I will lift up my hands in thy Name My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips when I remember thee upon my Bed and meditate on thee in the Night-watches Because thou hast been my Help therefore in the shadow of thy Wings will I rejoice My Soul followeth hard after thee thy right hand upholdeth me Psal 63.1 to 9. O God my Heart is fixed I will sing and give praise even with my Glory Awake Psaltery and Harp I my self will awake early or in the Morning I will be up first and raise the Morning out of its Bed that I may come to the Celebration of thy Praises Psal 108.1 2. My Soul waiteth for thee O Lord more than they that watch for the Morning I say more than they that watch for the Morning Psal 130 6. He waited for the Lord more than they that watch for the Morning either as one Expositor saith more than they who in the Sanctuary of the Lord heedfully observ'd the Morning watch that they might offer the Morning Sacrifice in due season or more than they that are appointed to keep watch all Night do watch and long for the Morning as another Expositor hath it SECT III. Directions how to begin the Day GIve GOD your first waking Thoughts Suffer no Wordly Thought to enter till God first come in The First-fruits of the Mouth and of the Heart are to be offered unto God Primitiae oris cordis Deo offerendae Ambros in Psal 119. saith St. Ambrose So all evil and vain thoughts either will not dare to intrude or shall more easily be kept out The Mind of Man is never idle it will be always active either about God or the World Christ or Vanity Good or Evil. It is always busied in thinking devising pondering on somewhat or other Therefore it is necessary that first of all in the Morning we set our Minds to the Meditation of Divine and Heavenly Objects How will the Devil busy himself in injecting Multitudes of other thoughts into your Minds to divert your Minds from the sweet Meditation of God if you give not God your waking thoughts Multitudes of thoughts will run into your Minds like People running to a Bull-baiting or to see some strange Sight but you must watch against them and drive them away as Ahraham did the Fowls from his Sacrifice 2. Lift up your Hearts to God in a reverent manner and give him thanks for the rest of the Night past that his Compassions have not failed you but are renued every Morning that even in the Night you have received an apparent Evidence of his Love and whereas for your Sins committed the day before God might even in the dead of Sleep have taken your Souls from you and so have suddenly brought you to your account bless him that it hath been his good pleasure yet to spare you 3. If God's Glory be dear unto you you will or ought to begin every Day in this manner before you do any thing by offering to God's Glory what ye are about to do setting before him premeditately the Actions of the ensuing Day in this or the like manner My God whatsoever I shall this day speak or do yea whatsoever I shall think I offer wholly to thee these Prayers these Meditations these Alms these Devotions this Fasting these Works these Businesses these Actions these my Affairs I dedicate and consecrate unto thee nor desire I any thing else than what I shall perform this day may turn to thine Honour How sweet is it in the beginning of the day before a Man takes any new Matter in hand to lift up his Heart to God and to say thus within himself Lord I will undertake this or that Action by thy help and for thee this day for thee will I labour I will think this for thee for thee now will I hold my peace and now I will speak for thy Honour and Glory I will cast my self on thee for the following Day Use your selves constantly to this Course that your Consciences may check you when you neglect it Such a constant Course will keep off divers Temptations that may otherwise surprize you and engage your Hearts to God for all the day following SECT IV. At the Dawning of the Day and Rising of the Day-Star MEditate how the Gospel is tanquam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Day-Star and the Work of the Spirit enlightning the Mind is as the dawning of the Day or rising of the Day-star in the Heart of a Christian So St. Peter commends those to whom he writeth for making use of the Old Testament of the Truth whereof they were assured in the mean time 2 Pet. 1.19 until by a further Work of the Spirit of Illumination their Hearts and Minds are more effectually instructed and more strongly assured of the Truth of the Gospel of Christ The Old Testament is as a Torch-light in a dark Room the New Testament revealed by the Spirit is as the Dawning of the Day or Rising of the Day-Star in comparison of that Light which shall appear at Christ's second Coming which shall be as the bright Rising of the Sun of Righteousness Consider that as the Dawning of the Day is in respect of the Night so is a Soul enlightned with the saving Knowledg of the Gospel to one in his natural Blindness And First If we compare such a Soul to those poor Creatures that want the outward Means of Knowledg it is manifest for these have no Light offered them whereby to come to know God in a saving way therefore in respect of this Knowledg there is a meer Night of Ignorance among them The
more specially bound to it than some others So sometimes a Man shall have a special opportunity given him to admonish another of his Sin He may meet him alone he may perhaps have some advantage of him in some kind and may make him beholden to him some way or other and so have occasion to deal the more boldly with him As Moses when Pharaoh stood in need of him and his Prayer to remove the Plagues which came so thick upon him made use thereof and amonished him of his unfaithful dealing and hardness of Heart I have read that when a great Persecutor of the Protestants in France was smitten with a most grievous Disease and was forced to make use of a Protestant Physician that feared God the said Physician took this as an opportunity to tell him closely of the great Sin in shedding the Blood of his Saints and that this Disease was God's revenging Hand upon him And when our Saviour had made the Blind Man especially beholden to him for the cure of his Blindness he took the opportunity to give him a seasonable Admonition Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee Thus when another hath need of thine Alms thy Counsel thine Help any way and Opportunity is given thee to deal plainly with him for any special Sin that thou seest him lying in so perhaps thou findest him in a better temper than he useth to be Thou mayst then think the Lord hath fitted and made him ready to thine Hand and given thee an opportunity to work upon him and thou must think thy self bound to take it There are many Cases and great variety of this kind which a Man shall ordinarily meet with and which every one must watchfully observe and take for the Glory of God and his own furtherance in the Ways and Work of God Finally All Christians truly sanctified are enabled with heavenly Means and Graces far above those that are in their Natural Estate The wise Man saith A living Dog is better than a dead Lion The meanest Christian of the weakest Capacity and ordinary Natural Parts being raised to the new Life of Grace is better able to do the Service of God than he that is dead in Sin though enriched with higher natural Endowments Russin Eccles hist lib. 1. cap. 3. Ruffinus in his Ecclesiastical History tells us a memorable story That when the Emperour Constantine the Great had caused the Clergy to come together to dispute about the Opinion of Arius there came unto the Assembly divers Philosophers and Logicians that were exquisite in their Faculty and were highly conceited of themselves Among the rest there was one that was very famous for a Logician and every day he disputed with the Bishops that were good Logicians also Many very learned Men came to see and hear those Conflicts nor could the Philosopher be put to silence Nay so cunning he was that when he was thought most of all to be caught and taken like a slippery Eel he would slide away from them But that God might shew that his Kingdom is not in Word but in Power there was among the Bishops one of the Confessors standing by a Man knowing little save Jesus Christ and him crucified who when he saw the Philosopher insulting over the Bishops and boasting himself upon the skill that he had in Arguing and Reasoning desired of all that stood by to give him room that he might talk with that Philosopher The Bishops and their Party that knew the simplicity of the Man and his unskilfulness in that kind were afraid and blushed lest that Holy Simplicity of his should perhaps be exposed to the Scorns of those crafty Companions But the Old Man persisted in his purpose and thus began O Philosopher saith he in the Name of Jesus Christ hear thou those things which are true God that made the Heavens and the Earth and gave Man a Spirit whom he framed of the Dust of the Earth is One He hath by the Virtue of his Word created all things both Visible and Invisible and strengthened them by the Sanctification of his Spirit This Word and Wisdom whom we call the Son taking pity upon humane Errours was born of a Virgin and by the passion of his Death hath delivered us from everlasting Death and by his Resurrection hath given us everlasting Life whom we look for to be the Judg of all we do O Philosopher said he believest thou this Whereupon the Philosopher as if he had never learnt the Art of Contradiction was so astonished at the words which were spoken that being mute to all that was alledged only this he was able to answer That what the Old Man had said seemed so to himself indeed and that there was no other Truth than that which was delivered by him Whereupon the Old Man then replied Why then faith he if thou believest these things to be true arise and follow me to the Church and take thy Baptism the Seal of this Faith Hereupon the Philosopher turning to his Disciples or to those that were present and came to hear said O ye learned Men hearken unto me Whilst this Matter in hand was performed by Words I also opposed Words unto Words and those things which were spoken able I was to confute by the Art of Speaking But now that instead of Words Power is proceeded from the Mouth of him that speaketh neither can Words resist that Power neither can Man withstand God Therefore if any of you here present can believe those things that have been spoken as I do believe them let him believe in Christ and follow this Old Man in whom God hath thus spoken And so at length the Philosopher becoming a Christian was glad that he was thus vanquished Now then all ye that are made alive to God consider ye what the Lord requireth at your Hands is it enough for you to keep pace in the Ways of God with those that are asleep yet dead in Sin As if a Man should not arise from his Bed nor set upon his Work until he seeth the dead Corpses in the Church-Yard rise out of their Graves and walk abroad It is you that have wherewithal to serve the Lord It is you that have your Eyes opened to see the Ways and Works which he hath ordained that ye should walk in them It is you that have Faith to rest upon him whereby to receive an encouragement from him in his Services upon the apprehension of the Crown of Glory It is you that have the Spirit of Prayer it is you that have cast Anchor within the Vail it is you that can see an open passage for your Prayers and Services to the Throne of Grace It is you that have felt the Fire of God to fall upon your Hearts whereby ye might offer up an acceptable Sacrifice unto God like Elijah whilst Carnal Men like the Priests of Baal may beat cut and force themselves as divers of the Papists do beyond others in outward