Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	satan_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	21	3	8.9861	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89411	Several works of Mr. Iohn Murcot, that eminent and godly preacher of the Word, lately of a Church of Christ at Dublin in Ireland. Containing, I. Circumspect walking, on Eph. 5.15,16. II. The parable of the ten virgins, on Mat. 25. from ver. 1. to ver. 14. III. The sun of righteousness hath healing in his wings for sinners, on Mal. 4.2. IV. Christs willingness to receive humble sinners, on John 6.37. Together with his life and death. Published by Mr. Winter, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Eaton, Mr. Carryl, and Mr. Manton. With alphabetical tables, and a table of the Scriptures explained throughout the whole.	Murcot, John, 1625-1654.; Winter, Samuel, 1596?-1665.; Chambers, Robert, minister in Dublin.; Eaton, Samuel, 1506?-1665.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.; Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.; J. G.	1657 (1657)	Wing M3083; Thomason E911_1; ESTC R202939	754,107	852

God as the Apostle did not by sense nor what we fee● though never so much yet that must not be our life or if never so little that must not be our death but still live by faith in the son of God who liveth for ever and therefore his people shall not dye nor their Lamps be put out in obscure darkness 3. Consider then have we not declined have not our Lamps burned much clearer then now they do hath not our light been clearer then now it is and our warmth been more then now it is this is matter of humbling to us Have we not received much mixture of error in these erting times we cannot imagine how much darkness it brings upon our Lamps to have one error mixed with much truth Besides may not the Lord Jesus say to us all I have somewhat against you all in that you have left your first love Time was when you were zealous for the house of God and it did even eat you up now you are grown to a Gallio's spirit care not for these things Now we seek our own things and nest our selves in security it is well with us and therefore we consider not the danger poor souls are in by such as go up and down with the power of delusion few mourners in Zion for these things If the Church were under persecution it is likely we should lament truly I look upon its present state as more destructive to it so many Vipers ●ating at the very heart and bowels of Religion where is our burning of zeal for God against these things sure it should humble us 4. We see that Believers may decline and these times do give an abundant proof of it how many that have been as burning and shining lights have been benighted and inveloped in the most Egyptian darkness entertaning the most desperate opinions walking after their own Lusts and yet afterwards have been restored O how should this make us fear before him be not high-minded but fear here thou seest one and there another their lamps next to a being quite extinct yet thou hast light and heat maintained O boast not thy self lift not up thy self but fear before the Lord humility indeed is a kind of a nurse of the graces conservatrix virtutum as Bernard saith If he spared not the Angels in their pride will he spare thee A Novise is in danger of falling into the condemnation of the Devil in danger of being puffed up He giveth grace to the lowly but resisteth the proud Some do observe that word be ye cloathed with humility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be ye cloathed the word cometh from a word signifying a knot because it ties all together as I may say and so knitteth the graces together as pearls upon a Braslet if the knot be broken they are quickly lost It is indeed brethren the thief in the candle the great waster the Moth in the cloath consumeth it and spoyleth the beauty and strength of it It is the worm at the root of the Guord it will smite it and we see it by sad experience when men grow so proud and pretend to Angelical perfection in our days they fall as low as hell and brutish bestiality in their lusts O therefore let us labour to walk humbly with God be not high-minded though at present we stand and flourish and shine and burn we are liable to declinings 5. If we be so liable to declinings then it should teach us so much the more to be diligent in improving I am sure the Apostle giveth it as a preservative against declining and apostatizing But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ grow in grace and in knowledge knowledge is that whereby the Lord doth reveal himself to his people from grace to grace as you have it in that place of the Apostle whom beholding as in a glass c. But observe here keep your selves that is fall not from your own stedfastness and how should this be One means is to grow in grace If we would not have our Lamps burn dim and low we must labour to supply them so as they may increase the path of the just is as a shining light which shineth more and more to the perfect day and the wind of that Spirit which bloweth where it listeth it riseth higher and higher as some note O see to it then ordinarily while the fruit is in growth the leaves wither not nor the fruit fals except in some great storm or wind Labour to grow then first in bigness then in sweetness grow more mellow sweet full of love humility and self-denial 6. If we be so liable to decline it should teach us to avoid all those things which tend to a declining else we shall never avoid the thing it self we must take heed of sleeping then for though our Lamps be never so bright when we begin to sleep when we awake they will burn low if not extinct and will have great need of trimming up Security is the undoing evil in all things where was the joy of Davids faith when he began to be secure Psal 30. 7. Take heed of putting off the day of his appearing that will gender to security and that security will bring a neglect of our Lamps and then they will grow low and decline 2. Take we heed of false Teachers try the Spirits whether they be of God or no they have a strange influence upon the life and liveliness of mens profession were they not these that hindered the Galathians Ye did run well who hath hindered you who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth Ye did run well in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rase wherein they had Lamps or Torches but who hath hindered you The Apostle Peter maketh it the immediate cause of the backsliding and declining at least if not utter apostacy Beware saith he lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked and fall from your own stedfastness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be carried out of his way to go with another the power of error is greater then we are aware of The Apostle speaks thus This I say lest any man deceive you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with enticing words beguile you They have cunning craftiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cogging with the die Satan changing himself into an Angel of light and his Ministers into Ministers of light and cogging with the die like cunning and deceitful Gamsters how easie is it to deceive the hearts of the simple yea the hearts of his but that they are kept by that power But a great way they may prevail and so we may lose our stedfastness and therefore take heed what spirits we give ear to Alas do we not see in our days what fearful work Satan hath made among Professors how many have their Lamps quite put out that went for zealous

Jesus knoweth it and he will acknowledge it O he is strict to mark what is good if but a little spark in much smoak or under much ashes when to all mens thinking the life is gone he seeth there is somewhat alive and awake within a Seed of God within and he will take notice of it for the comfort of his poor people If ever in any example we would have thought men had slept will and all we would have thought so of the Disciples that notable example that being so often shakt with such sharp and shameful rebukes yet they should forth with be asleep again as if they had not 〈…〉 heeded Jesus Christ at all yet at last when they came to themselves and could sleep no longer for the enemies were upon them Now sleep if you can lest this should too sorely assail them that they had slept so soundly under such awaking means as they had and be swallowed up of to much grief O saith our Saviour the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak he knew their Consciences would be ready to load them and Satan would help forward their overwhelming grief they wist not what to say to him nor for themselves and therefore our Saviour himself letteth them know that there was some willingness within them the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak and that he took notice of it and accepted according to what they had and not according to what they had not where there is a willing mind O here is comfort indeed to have to do with such a Master such a father such a Bridegroom as both knoweth and that little willingness that is in sincerity in his peoples hearts not to sleep though they themselves could not say so he puts an answer into their mouths to Satans accusing and the smitings of their own hearts and a plea in their mouths to himself to prevail with him for pity and sparing of them Remember this that though sleep and slumber and many woful interruptions are in thy service of God yet remember Jesus Christ he hath served without any such slumbrings and such imperfections and this is thine he will render unto man if he do acknowledge to God he hath sinned that is to say freely feelingly faithfully acknowledge it Ah brethren it was a time of prayer and a duty for the Disciples to pray when our Saviour prayed but they were all asleep if now their righteousness peace and salvation had depended upon themselves where had it been or if Jesus Christ had slept as well as they where had it been but he was wrestling and praying for himself and for them in himself at that time he never was heavy in his prayers he never fell asleep nor slumbred neither with this spiritual slumber he fulfilled all righteousness to a tittle O then remember this brethren this must be the ground of our grace and comfort you must have it in another and not in your selves And magnifie this rich grace of God in Jesus Christ that hath laid up for such poor sleeping sinners such a watchful Ordinance 6. Another word may be this though it be true in thy sleep thou art in great danger as you heard before which indeed is enough to alarm us continually yet if we do strive and stir up our selves a●d yet are overcome though sore against our wills and so are in danger of some deadly blow are weak and feeble and the least temptation may smite us to the ground much more then dreadful temptations and without all question Satan never lulls us asleep but he hath a design upon us to take away our life our God our Christ our peace our comfort our strength from us Yea to smite us to the ground at once and smite us no more As Abishai said to David and as he begged he might have leave so doth the Devil even beg O how fain he would have leave to smite us then as he moved the Lord against Job so continually this accuser and enemy whose work it is to devour O when he findeth such a prey how edged is his appetite but remember this for thy comfort and say not surely Satan will smite me to the heart at one time or another poor trembling soul the Lord that keepeth Israel and watcheth them he never slumbreth nor sleepeth Indeed if the Lord had slept as we are apt to think he doth when he with-holds from us his quickening or comforting presence for a time and were apt to cry out as I may say to awake him yet he never sleepeth he watcheth and wards many a secret thrust and blow that when we are asleep poor creatures we cannot be aware of and though thou mayest grieve him by a sloathful spirit and he may make thee smart other ways for it yet surely he wi●l not give up the life of dear Saints the price of this life of his dear dear Son to the will of Satan No they were bought at too dear a rate 7. Again O what a comfort it is to a child of God that he hath to do with such a Christ such a Bridegroom the wise Virgins belong to are espoused to as when they do sleep is willing to take so much pains to awaken them This indeed it should grieve us so much the more that we should put him to it yet it is a comfort and no weak one neither that he is willing to be at suh pains with us to awake us How long doth he stand at the door and knock before they will open they lye asleep still he cals them with the sweetest compellations My love my dove my undefiled O thou dear and precious soul it is I thy dear Saviour It is I whom thy soul loveth wilt thou rise and open to me I am wet with the dew of the night canst thou finde in thy heart to put me to stand without and indu●e the cold and the injuries of the night and weather and keep me out of thy heart the place which I have chosen for my habitation and wherein is all my delight O what workings of his bowels are here one would think this were enough to awaken No yet she shifts and maketh excuses and very frivolous ones as people will when they are not very willing of a thing Well now a man would have thought the Lord Jesus might have been justly grieved so as to depart and leave her sleeping No saith the Text He came nearer and put his hand in at the hole of the door Poor souls he s 〈…〉 eth that the spirit is willing the flesh is weak that is to say So far as carnal we are weak the strength of the flesh maketh us weak and nothing else will do therefore he is fain to come and take her by the heart to touch her heart to begin to unbolt the door himself he cometh in some nearer sweeter powerful breathings of his spirit within that now she is overcome and

of us free-born if any by nature should have been free-born surely the seed of Abrah●m according to the flesh but our Saviour tells them their liberty was but imaginary if the Son did make them free they should be free indeed this is the third Fourthly by tenure and usurpation there is a bondage also as we see it in the case of Israel in Egypt they were bond-men in Egypt and they made them serve a hard bondage it is called the house of bondage they made them serve with rigour so saith the text in all manner of service the design of the King being to weary them out by degrees and yet to advantage himself by their service while they were wearying out this was their wise dealing with them lest they should be too hard for them and truly of this nature is the bondage wherein the people of God themselves are in part though the Devil have no title to them the price being paid for them to the justice of the Father yet he as a tyrannical ●aylor loath to let them go and therefore he loads them with chains laies heavy temptations upon them and sin rageth to lose its servant and therefore tyrannizeth and the Law in the members carryeth captive to the Law of sin and this is one great grief to the poor child of God that though sin do not raign in their mortal bodies yet it tyrannizeth over them and with a strong hand many times holds them down so as that they are not able to stir hand nor foot but more of this afterwards Now for the parts of this bondage with which the parts of that liberty or freedom we are to speak of will run parallel We shall devide this bondage into these two general parts it is either to sin or else to the black concomitants which are very many we shall particularize some of them and thereby our liberty will the more plainly appear First then for sin it is clear we are in bondage to sin either totally or in part all of us by nature altogether in bondage for we are sold under sin and though it be true that sin is only a privation of good and disposition to evil and so properly cannot be said to rule over us yet by a prosopopeia we are said to be in bondage to it therefore we are said to be sold under sin sold under it and therefore in Scripture it is that sin is called an old man corrupt according to deceitful lusts and this old man it is that hath the poor sinner under his power and ruleth him with subtilty O they are deceitful lusts ●he counsels of sin the fetches and tricks and devices depths and methods of a sinful heart who knoweth Brethren he carryeth it so slily that many think themselves at liberty as free-men as any the world hath yea so free as to promise to others liberty and yet themselves in the mean time are the servants of sin and not only so but the●● are Laws of sin which carry a strength with them and the poor creature under them must obey them and these Laws are nothing else but the wills of the flesh as the Apostle calls them an arbitray government here beginneth and takes it rise Hoc volo sic jubeo c. saith the imperious person If a sinner begin to question what reason there is in such an act he is prompted to sin bloweth out the candle hoc volo c. let my will be a reason I will have it so So many lusts so many wills and is it not a bondage to be under these Ye were saith the Apostle the servants of sin but now ye have obeyed from the heart the form of Doctrine delivered unto you and so in several other places whosoever committeth sin saith our Saviour is the servant of sin You talk of being Abrahams seed and never being in bondage this is nothing to my purpose I speak of a bondage to sin and he that commits it is the servant of it he that works it industriously is a drudge to his lusts as alas how many of us are and he that curiously works it is an Artist O with what art can some mon lye and cheat and cozen and play the hypocrites these are the servants of sin O when one fulfills the lusts of the flesh and of the mind maketh provision for the flesh to satisfie the lusts thereof This man is a servant of sin the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye the pride of life the love of profits the love of pleasures and the love of pride when men give themselves up to satisfie these study their lusts how to fulfill them this is a bondage under sin with a witness Now blessed be the Lord the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath delivered us as many as believe from this bondage so the Apostle breaks out pathetically Thanks be to God that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart the form of Doctrine delivered unto you now saith he being made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness and this is set forth by our death to sin ye are dead saith the Apostle to the Col. and your life is hid with Christ in God now death puts an end to all bondage 〈◊〉 as Job speaking of it the small and great are there in the grave and the servant is free from his Master A woman saith the Apostle speaking of sin of the Law with respect to sin as afterward we shall speak somewhat she is bound to her husband as long as he liveth but if he be dead then she is free So it is in this case death breaks all the iron yoaks and brazen gates therefore saith the Apostle he that is dead is freed from sin not as the vulgar and some read is justified as if our justification and sanctification were confounded for here the Apostle is speaking of our Sanctification or the death of sin crucifying the old man of being buried with Christ in body and so dead to sin now saith he he that is dead is free from sin the Con. is comprehended in the Antecedent he is freed actually from sin Sin shall not have dominion over you saith the Apostle no iniquity shall have dominion over you Thus believers are freed from sin whereas before we were under a cruel bondage you that have experience of this liberty what it is to be freed from your former lusts which you served foolish and hurtful lusts the Lord teach you to prize it But secondly now for the Con. of this bondage to sin there are many and very dreadful which every poor sinner is under which are also as parts of this bondage First then hence it is that we are in bondage unto Satan that we are under his power that we are in bondage by nature to him as the Jaylor it is clear the Spirit that now

this terror and this bondage a means to their inlargement Ah blessed Prison that is only to make poor creatures willing to be at liberty well now this the Lord Jesus when he cometh and revealeth himself to a soul he brings him out of these labyrinths of fears and terrors letteth the poor creature see that himself is the way and the only way he hath undertaken the work for his people only if they will believe though they have no strength in them to do any thing nor to extricate themselves from the difficulties they find themselves in by reason they cannot fulfil the Law yet he is the mighty one upon whom help is laid and withal letteth them understand how his bowels do yern over them and how his heart is open ready to inlarge them and so perswadeth them to close with him and then they go forth when faith cometh so Christ is the end of the Law and the ●aw a School-Master to bring us to Christ But that is but the Sixth Seventhly Another part of this bondage is those after-claps of fears and terrours that after Christ hath been revealed to and in a soul may befall the creature alas you find it so they may be clapt up afterward in the pit of noise the horrible pit and be in the deeps and in darkness and like Jeremiahs dungeon sink in the mire where there is no standing they feel no bottom of their misery their fears are overwhelming or like Jonahs Whales belly they are in the belly of hell and all the waves and billows of God go over them O this is sore bondage however it be true that the Spirit of God is never any more a spirit of bondage to them to witness to them they are children of wrath afterward yet he doth not say but they may have bondage again and all fear hath torment and is bondage to the Spirit it doth fetter it and shut up and contract the spirits exceedingly Now I say the darkness of a mans own heart which doth naturally gender fear and Satan to help and the frowns of Gods displeasure for the present though he do not witness any more that a man is a child of eternal wrath and displeasure these may bring the poor creature into sad perplexities Well yet the Spirit of the Lord Jesus when he cometh brings also liberty with him from this bondage David will tel you so and Heman will tell you so do but consider what conditions they were in how came they to be delivered O lift up the light of thy countena nce upon me Son of God arise upon me shine upon my soul and then I shall be healed O restore to me the joy of thy salvation make me to hear joy and gladness c. Well the Promise doth extend even to this bondage also and to this may we refer the next I will speak of it distinctly Eightly There is another Bondage and that is the fears of death and judgement whereby many a poor creature is kept in Bondage all the days of their lives as the Apostle saith in that to the Hebrews to which I will speak a few words He came saith the Text and took part of flesh and blood that through death be might destroy him that hath the power of death that is to say the Devil and deliver them that through fear of death were all their life-time subject to Bondage Brethren death it self is a terrible thing the Simplex could say but hardly could he tell the reason of it for them that have no fear of God before their eyes but have put out the eye of reason and live like Beasts giving up themselves to commit wickedness with greediness though while they can keep off the apprehensions of death they may go on merrily but when that seizeth upon them it marrs their mirth it maketh a change in their faces and they are not now truly death is not so terrible in it self considered but that the stoutness of a mans spirit specially where there is no other consideration of it he may overcome it and live above the fears of it as the Heathens some of them did but now a man that knoweth indeed what death is not only a dissolution of the union between the soul and body taking down this mouldring Tabernacle but a Serpent with a sting it is where sin and guilt lies upon the soul it is the beginning of sorrows the arrest of the soul to judgement to come to receive its doom for all its bloody evils he hath been guilty of The wordling is not willing to give up his soul O he knoweth he can never answer for his wasting of his spirits and spending his time to lay up treasure here and in the mean time neglecting his soul and Jesus Christ and tenders of Grace he knoweth this well enough and therefore he will not yield up his Spirit they shall take it from him as it is in the Parable This night shall thy soul be taken from thee and so for any other sin and now I say this maketh death terrible and by reason of these fears of death men that have any sight or sense of their condition they are in Bondage all their lives long yea even the people of God themselves are in some measure under this bondage and according to the measure of the discovery of Christ to them and the power of faith in them is this fear and this bondage broken and the Lord Jesus came for this end to deliver them alas before his coming the Saints may be specially meant here who had indeed the knowledge of Christ to be crucified for Sinners and beheld him crucified though darkly in the sacrifices c. and in the promise from the foundation of the world but yet notwithstanding they had not that confidence usually but there was more room for doubtings and fears because they died still without the accomplishing of that promise now though such as had an extraordinary measure of faith and a prophetical spirit might see this clearly and so it might raise them much what above this bondage yet ordinarily I believe it was not so that they had such clear conviction of the freeness of grace and the abundance and riches of it in Jesus Christ and therefore it did not so f●lly quiet their Spirits in respect of fears of death and judgement they did not so clearly see the sting pluckt out therefore the Apostle saith those Sacrifices though they did hold out Christ could not make the comers thereunto perfect and therefore they were often repeated But now the Lord Jesus he hath by once offering for ever perfected compleated their salvation and therefore you shall find that the Apostle and others do so triumph over death and the grave and sin as we hardly find any before the coming of Christ and it must needs be so because now the Spirit which is the liberty of the Saints was poured out in a

tell you that liberty is sweet it is not to be expressed If Paul had not been free he had had many a lash by those cruel tyrants If the soul be not free it is liable to perish to be whipped to death to eternal death with Scorpions ask but any of the people of God who have been wearied and almost worried with their lusts O the iron entered into their soul they did sit in darkness in the dungeon many a sad day and hour and at last Out of the depths they have called to the Lord he hath set them free O what an Heaven upon Earth they found it when they have been delivered in any measure from this bondage what would they take to be in the same condition again specially under the command of their lusts not all the world brethren the Lord perswade your hearts now now while it is to be had before you be called for out of prison to the judgement that you may go forth and enjoy this glorious liberty O but you would say Alas what should we do in this case we are convinced it may be some poor soul ma● say of himself that this is a miserable bondage we are in even by sin and the consequents of it and we would fain be set free but we know not which way to go about it we are in a maze a wilderness a labyrinth a du●geon we grope and grope and cannot find the way out O what shall we do it may be this may be the case of some of our souls I will tell you what you shall do First Deny your own policy and wisdom know they will not set you free Judas had much knowledge and yet he hanged himself you will rather by depth of reasonings plunge your selves deeper the Gospel is foolishness to them through the pride in their carnal knowledge Secondly Labour to know the Gospel in its tenor and to close with it to believe it you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free truth truly known will set a soul free this truth is the truth of the Gospel for Grace and Truth come by Jesus Christ and it is observable that they are both put together Sanctifie them with thy Truth saith our Saviour thy Word is Truth There are three things here considerable First That there must be a through acquaintance with the bondage that we are under and the better condition of service how much the service of Christ is to be preferred before that of Satan for the truth is while a man knoweth no better he will be content to serve the worse there is never a sinner under the dominion of sin but thinketh he is the freest man and the people of God that are bound up in their Spirits to such a strict way of walking with God he thinketh they are the men in bondage but alas it is because he understandeth not his own condition nor is it a slight hint of such a thing that will usually prevail to a freedom from all sin therefore you must labour to study what this bondage is see what thou art exposed to by reason of it and see what a prfect freedom the service of Christ is O what great reward there is in the very keeping of his Commandments joy is such an inseparable attendant upon obedience that some measure of it followeth every good action as the very heathens themselves acknowledged much more then when the Lord Jesus is the Master and his service the work Secondly Thou must be acquainted with the commands of Christ his precepts are pure and they have an influence upon the heart that believeth them to bring him out of that bondage to set him free I do believe nothing more keepeth many a soul in bondage he knoweth not what the will of Christ is in such or such a particular else he would do it Be acquainted with Christ the summe of the Gospel you shall know the truth that is to say what he hath done to set poor creatures free became a servant obedient to the death was in bondage in prison in the horrible pit how he was put to it to overcome c. Thirdly and principally thou must be acquainted with the promises of the Gospel that are made to this end it is their excellency to help forward our freedom this part of the truth well known so known as to be closed with will make every poor creature free ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free and so this in the text the Sun of righteousness shall arise upon you with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and so many other places sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace It is the very tenure of the Covenant and of the promises in Scripture that he will deliver his people save them from all their uncleannesses and subdue all iniquities for them yea though they work iniquity with both hands Vers 3. Either we know not these things or else we make not use of them we act not faith upon them the Lord doth love to have his people use the importunity of faith for nothing is so importunate as faith nor offers as I may say such violence to heaven as that doth O Brethren the Lord help our unbelief and forgive our neglect of our faith in this point if thou canst act it but weakly yet put forth some act of faith hang upon these promises tell the Lord he hath caused thee to hope upon this his Word else thou couldest not hope and thou dost hope in this Word else thy heart would altogether sink within thee and will he now make thee ashamed of his hope hath his promise ever failed a poor creature and will it now fail thee But beside this dost thou find thy heart moved made willing indeed to part with sin Art thou in good earnest in this business O yes saith the poor soul I would rather then my life be set at liberty for what good will my life do me if I must continually serve sin and grieve such bowels of love towards me in Jesus Christ have you searched do you know your hearts in this point it may be thou hast not that heed of trusting thy heart further then thou seest it it will deceive thee then but if thou hast searched it and beg'd of God to search it and thou dost not find but he hath through infinite riches of grace made thee willing to come out if thou couldst tell how I tell you Brethren if this be so the chains are fallen off from your hands and the bolts from your legs your freedom is in a great part accomplished only thou canst not find the way out of the prison O then follow Christ follow his Spirit when he moveth thy heart at any time to search and try maketh thee tender puts thee into a frame to bewail the evils of thy heart take

Christians are become meer Atheists how many have suffered a great abatement in their zeal and vigour and life and closeness of walking with God by this means O therefore take heed of falshood at the beginning 3. Take we heed of learning their ways by conversing with dead-hearted Professors where there is not that life and power that light and heat but a cold luke-warm frame for such as our Company is such shall we be in a great measure why must men make no friendship with an angry man lest he learn his ways And truly brethren a formal Professor a loose Professor that hath little of the power of Godliness upon him he is a quench-coal and by degrees you shall find your selves growing to a more listless indifferency then before therefore though you may pity them pray for them stir them up and provoke them as occasion serveth yet that inward familiarity as to lie in their bosoms which will be followed with a conformity to them take heed of you shall find it will work a declining 4. Take heed of deceiving our selves with false measures and weights The Apostle tell us of some that compared themselves with themselves and were not wise or comparing themselves with some others which are haply behind them this maketh them slack So the Church of Laodicea what was the reason of their lukewarmness they lost their love the heat and burning of their Lamps were gone whatever light they had why they thought they were rich and had need of nothing they needed not that eye-salve to buy of Christ nor gold nor raiment O this is the desperate undoing sin indeed when men think now O they bless God they are rich it is for others to press forward they need not walk so painfully as others their corruptions are more subdued then others Si dixisti sufsiciat periisti See Phil. 3. I forget what is behind c. 5. Arm your selves against the smiles and discouragements of the world for though like Sampsons foxes they look with their faces contrary waies yet the effect is one and the same not to fire but to quench that light and heat that is in a believer for the smiles of the world are her embraces she doth use to smother with them and as I may say overlay a soul when Davids mountain was made strong and by Gods favour too then he began to be secure to fal asleep and his Lamp was almost gone when God hid his face from him his comfort was lost in a great measure How many Demas's are there which forsake the work of Christ for this present world yea indeed many that can endure the frowns of the world yet are overcome by her smiles Jesurun kicked not nor forgot the God of her salvation so much as when she waxed fat So in that of Nehemiah they took strong Cities and a fat land and possessed houses full of all wels digged vineyards and olive-yards and fruit-trees in abunndance so they did eat and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in the great goodness notwithstanding they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behind their backs c. and slew the Prophets which testified against them O wat●h against this take heed we do not abate our earnestness after more and more of Christ lest while we are panting like the Hart after the water brooks we take up with a drop for all the Creature-comforts in the world are no more and our thirst after spirituals be more cooled and we solace our selves under our Guord instead of the Aple-tree the sweet shadow of Christ And to this end alway keep fresh upon your hearts the love of Jesus his smiles when the Diamond is present the Load-stone cannot draw Again Arm we our selves against the frowns of the world discouragements we must expect to meet with sooner or latter specially if we do not like a hollow-hearted bulrush bow and bend and comply with every thing a notable embleme of an Hypocrite If we stand firm like an Oke or Cedar we shall feel strong gusts It may be some of us have known what they meant and some have had experience of their weakness to bear up against them O how should this humble us and make ●s double our watch Satan will raise a storm if the Lord permit him thinking on a sudden to blow out our Lamps but we must arm against it and be sure to go on though it be weeping As the Milch-kine that carried the Ark up from the Philistins to Bethlehem they had their Calves left at home which were a strong avocation and yet saith the Text they went strait forward lowing and lamenting after their Calves but yet they went forward It may be we may be put to it as that Marquess of Vioum in Italy even Galeacius that forsook house and lands and wife and children and all for Christ It may be we cannot do it without some reluctancy yet it must be done it may be we shall have many discouragements from our own hearts strong temptations violent temptations haply more then ever yet we have had so that we cannot go on but weeping and wailing yet resolve upon it by his grace however we will go on such a well-grounded resolution often renewed with a waiting upon the Spirit for his strength to perform it will carry a man on far 6. Be sure not to neglect the Ordinances of Christ nor be slight in the using of them And one of the two I doubt we are often guilty of and therefore we may thank our selves for much of the deadness that groweth upon us daily these are the golden Pipes whereby this Oyl is conveyed continually from the Lord Jesus for the keeping our Lamps alive and lively Would you not wither but continue your verdour and greenness you must keep close to the waters of the Sanctuary they shall be like Trees planted by the rivers of water his leaf shall never fail he that delights in the Law of God meditates in it day and night there is private conversation with God And they that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God yea in old age they shall flourish and b●ing forth more abundantly when many times it is the declining time A diligent careful serious use of all the Ordinances with an eye to faith seeing through them all but as empty pipes without his presence to fill them this exceedingly conduceth 7. Be sure your aim be as high as heaven and the perfection which shall be at the resurrection of the dead So the Apostle N●t that I count that I have attained but I press hard forward and all his diligence was that he might attain the resurrection of the dead by a Metonymie of the Adjunct it is put for the perfection of that 〈…〉 a●e at the resurrection see how high he aimed at and therefore he did not languish nor