put in him for continuall defence deliuerance and succour in soule and bodie they are carried with distrust as with a whirlewind and therefore their hope is faint or none at all before they see their desire accomplished In their great dangers when meanes to come out doe faile them they are ouercome with feare and almost beside themselues In losses impatient and full of murmuring receiuing them as from a cruell iudge and sorrowing for them deadly And as some haue their hearts thus boiling in their trials and afflictions so others haue their hearts swelling against God in obstinacie and contempt for his afflicting them and are loose careles and desperate whatsoeuer pincheth them yet in a scoffing spirit they say within themselues let him doe his best yet will we not turne vnto him nor seeke vnto him oh horrible blasphemie fearefull to be once named that I say nothing of them who ascribe all to blinde fortune in cursing of the which they curse God or as the Atheists doe to nature Are not these loathsome guestes to lodge in the hearts of Christians I doe not goe about to set downe the poisoned corruptions and lusts of Heathens Turkes and Atheists as they are properly called that is such as deny God vtterly for so should I neuer haue done but to lay forth some part of the corruptions which dwell and abide in the hearts of such as goe for Christians that many of them who can beare out matters boldly here among men may see what villanie and treacherie they commit against God This is a little of a great deale of the dishonour which they offer to God And as this declareth what rebellion is in men vnder the crosse so how they behaue themselues towards him in the daies of their prosperitie experience teacheth and I could shew at large if the time would suffer me to declare it As for thankefulnes there is little or none in them I appeale to their owne consciences what doe their hearts yeeld to God the whole day thorough for his manifold mercies and if some doe yet is it done onely in words for a fashion onely and from the very teeth outward and yet many are ashamed euen at their table to doe that They reioyce in the merry world whilest they haue ease and plenty they looke for no other but wish it alwaies so yet what grace doe they desire the more although they haue their fill but are rather more headstrong and inordinate And if they aske ought of God it is to bestowe it on their lusts being made drunken with their pleasures so that they are louers of them more then louers of God and become insensible thereby and past all feeling If some be not thus hardened yet shall they be found to haue small desire to furnish their hearts with the best gifts when yet they see that he which hath giuen the one is as readie to giue the other also And as for the true worshipping of God how farre are the most from taking pleasure therein when yet one day bestowed in it is better then a thousand in any delights beside For superstition and blind deuotion carrie many to false worships affirming boldly that they cannot rest in that manner which God prescribes in his word that is to doe it in spirit and truth though God sendeth vs to the Scriptures to know his will and minde but the will-worship which they deuise to themselues and which they take vp by tradition as to represent God by an image and Christ by a Crucifixe that onely pleaseth them and their deuotion is frozen and cold except it be helped by such counterfeit delusions And many of them which imbrace the truth and retaine the right manner of worshipping God according to his word yet are content to be deceiued while they denie that which onely maketh the other well pleasing to God and sauourie to themselues that is to doe it with their heart and ioyfully without which God telleth them plainly that in vaine they worship him And as in their worshipping of him by the vse of religious exercises their harts take no delight euen so in his seruice throughout the course of their priuate conuersation how vaine prophane and dissolute are their hearts what pleasure is it to them to please him though it should be their meate drinke and pastime and how lightly are his iudgements passed ouer how fearefull soeuer they be so farre is it off that they can expell their hypocrisie and other sinnes Moreouer they haue no desire in peace to bee taught the true vse of it namely to haue peace with God and as much as in them lieth to be at peace with all men Rom. 12.18 no not in their owne houses which yet to be without is a little hell to them And as for the Lords Sabboth and other many good meanes appointed on the same to season and change their hearts they sensiblie loath them or finde no sauour in them neither is it any part of their thought to seeke any comfort in them although they be the chiefe flower of a true Christians garland or if some of them doe it is in superstitious deuotion wishing that religion vp againe whereby God is dishonoured highlie but as their fathers before them did euen so doe they passe through the world as shadowes their mindes looking no higher so that though they were made to honour yet they not vnderstanding it are like the beasts that perish These may serue for a taste of the corruptions and worldly lusts which men not worse accounted of doe swarme with directly tending to the dishonour of God from which with the rest that follow when wee shall see how God deliuereth his beloued we shall haue cause to loue the godly life more heartily which is by Gods grace freed from such intemperancie freed I say so that it ruleth them not neither reigneth in them although sometimes in some thing it preuaile against them till they repent of it which grace none of the other doe finde nor obtaine when they be at the best But to goe forward to acquaint men with some of the vnbridled and worldly lusts which carrie them after the hurt of their neighbour what vnreuerence contempt and obstinacie appeareth to be in the hearts of many against their betters diminishing that authoritie credit and estimation which God hath giuen them so that place yeeres and gifts are had in meane account of them Where is that ancient reuerence which younger men in the Ministerie haue giuen to those who haue gone before them in labours gifts and good example they imagining themselues able to doe farre better then their elders and therfore ambitiously aspiring to that which they ought not and lifting vp themselues aboue them when yet they should haue learned to honour and submit themselues to those of low degree What vnthankfulnes in the people to them which labour for their
and the like spirituall seruices the word preached giuing so gratious occasions that man shall be able to say that meditation is a wonderfull helpe to faith and a godly life CHAP. 7. Of the third priuate helpe which is the armour of a Christian and of the first three points of it THe third priuate helpe is the armour which was next mentioned among the rest This being not so cleerely vnderstood nor the vse of it so well seene into requireth a more full handling then I purpose to vse in the most of the rest And this armour God in his mercie hath appointed to furnish the Christian souldier withall in his warfare against all his spirituall enemies that by the helpe thereof and the other meanes in this treatise mentioned he may be able to be directed aright from time to time and keepe a good course in his life and beate backe the strong and subtill assaults of the diuell that he be not led by nor ouercome of them nor of the manifold bad passions and euill desires of his own heart which otherwise will draw him continually after them But before I proceed any further I will set downe the points worthie to be learned and practised in and about this armour that the reader may see better how to make right vse of it First therefore I will shew what this armour is and the chiefe parts of it Secondly that a Christian life cannot stand without it nor be practised of any except he be armed as God hath taught and appointed him to be Thirdly how it is gotten and come by and how wee should put it on Fourthly how we may by the helpe of it practise godlines from time to time and be able to stand fast in our Christian course and resist in the time of daunger By all which God will make vs able to liue christianly which is to haue our conuersation in heauen with our God as he requireth The whole complete armour therefore is the spirituall furniture of the gifts and graces of the holie Ghost by which God doth deliuer his from all aduersarie power and bring them to the obedience of his will I speake not here of those who are to bee called but who are effectuallie called alreadie and they by the helpe of this armour doe not onely cast downe strong holds of temptation and ouerthrow imaginations and euery high thing which exalteth it self in the opinion of him that is tempted against the knowledg of God but also bring into subiection euery euill thought in them to the obedience of Christ And this armour is that which is set downe to the Ephesians the parts whereof are these Truth or sinceritie righteousnes the shooes of peace or preparation to beare the crosse faith the helmet of saluation which in another place he calleth hope and the word of God This is the full furniture of a Christian by the which the Lord hath taught him to fight against the diuell and his instruments and thereby to preuaile in and through their captaine and head Christ Iesus And although there are other points of armour set downe in other places of the Scripture yet are they but parcels of this or the same in other words expressed Neither shall there neede any other for he who is attired and armed with this shall not in any point be vnprouided or to seeke of strength in the time of neede But yet doth not euery man see by and by how these may be accounted armour therefore will I describe them seuerally Sinceritie or vprightnes is that weapon of the spirituall warfare and that fruit of the spirit which should accompanie the whole conuersation not some few actions of a Christian by the which hee is simple and without fraud and hypocrisie bearing sway in him both towards God and his neighbour and it may the more cleerely be discerned by considering the person in whom it is found namely an vpright man whom in the description of Nathaniel our Sauiour Christ calleth a true Israelite in whom there is no guile which vertue although it be a part of the Christian armour yet that it is rare not onely the best doe see but euen the bad sort doe complaine according to the words of Salomon Many men will boast euery one of his owne goodnes but who can finde a faithfull man that is to say who will prooue himselfe to bee such an one indeede as hee will seeme to be by word and shew For to say the truth men are so infected with hollownes and glozing and through custome and continuance therein so confirmed in it that vntill God changeth the heart Ieremies words are true of this one as of other euils It is as possible for him who is accustomed to euill to returne and doe good as for the blacke Moore to change his skinne or the Leopard her spots And this veritie consisteth as well in holding and keeping the truth I meane the sound knowledge of the word of God in our iudgement as the practise of it in a good conscience Which I say because there are some who professe great friendship to the Gospell who yet maintaine strange opinions not according to the truth of it as that the law ought not to be preached in any wise and that there should no differences of men be made when yet the Scripture putteth difference betwixt good and bad both in their life and in rewards Psalm 1. The holding of such opinions therefore standeth not with sinceritie which freely admitteth all opinions to bee measured and censured by the word Now therefore if this be sinceritie and vprightnes to be free not onely from double heartednes and halting but also to be readie to yeeld a francke assent and practise to the truth and also if this vertue bee one part of the Christian armour he who is voyde of this must needes lie open to great danger both by error in opinion and by corruption in life for he wanteth that which should defend him And contrarily he who seeketh to please God vnfainedly his conscience bearing him record that he hath some true measure of this sinceritie and still laboureth after it that is to be simple and plaine though politike in his words actions and meaning he hath this part of the armour the vse whereof how great and gainefull it is shall appeare hereafter And such a thing is veritie or sinceritie But let this be added that if any will purpose this in some things yet not resolue to shew it in all euen this is the man who is farre from sinceritie Righteousnes is that part of the armour and such a gift of the spirit whereby our hearts are bent to all manner of goodnes and righteous dealing approouing of it as most excellent desiring feruently and delighting in it and that because it is good and disliking and hating all naughtines and euill And he who looketh to be preserued in manifold temptations to
also to liue well and godly Of the which making cleane and purging the heart as this is no fit place to speake so they must haue learned it and haue attained to it who are here mentioned that is such as haue couenanted vnfainedly to watch and obserue the same Therfore to returne seeing the heart is a deepe dungeon and pit full of all vncleane thoughts and yet deceiuing men so that they shal thinke farre otherwise and suspect no such thing as 1. King 15.8 seeing in all their actions some one or other portion of it is readie to corrupt and staine euen the best of them so that not the holiest parts of Gods worship can purely and holily be fulfilled without the careful holding in of it it is worthily and for iust cause made one part of this wholesome remedie of the well ordering of our liues So that if any be giuen to seeke the libertie which God hath not allowed him to let loose his heart after any folly and vanitie and counteth it too great streightnesse and precise curiousnesse to keepe a dominion and a superioritie ouer it so as he might thereby bring it into subiection he is iustly to be pitied if he cannot be otherwise perswaded but if he thinke that way to build vp a godly life vntill the Lord call backe his word which now standeth for a perfect direction of well liuing he shall neuer attaine to that which he seeketh Now this watching ouer the heart that it may be with the more fruite must haue accompanying it a suspitious and iealous feare lest at any time it breake forth into such delights as are worldly carnall c. Of the which feare for the great good that it doth those who are ledde by it the wise man saith Blessed is the man that feareth alwayes that is his euill heart in one point or other and therefore taketh the more paine about it This being so farre to be vnderstood and practised as our weaknes will giue leaue i. so as we do not willingly nourish idlenesse and vnprofitable liberty and loosnesse in vs we are to take view of the fruite which it bringeth vs and to measure by dayes by weekes and so forward what ease to our consciences what chearfulnesse to our soules and what better fruit in walking in our callings more then we were wont is reaped of vs and inioyed And when we shall see that there is no comparison betwixt the one and other that is betwixt a wandering heart and betwixt a circumspect care we may more fully be resolued to hold out in this course still because although much foolish and fleshly licentiousnes is forgone which is naturally most desired yet it frameth and maketh vs fit for the Lord weaneth vs more and more from the world and is a meane by which with great ease and readinesse wee go on in our Christian course For this is that which we hope for hereby And there shall be no doubt but when the meditations of our hearts shall please the Lord that the wordes of our mouthes and the practise of our liues shall also be acceptable in his sight To conclude this point it is againe to be remembred that we weane our heart from earthly delights which oftentimes tickling it with a pleasant sweetnesse do steale it away from heauenly things and hold it here below and so by little and little bring it to find a contentation here and breed a wearisomnesse in that godly life And further that we be very wary that our hearts be not stolne from a liking of good waies neither brought out of frame by loathing our duties and so depriued of their peace especially that we be not hurt nor wounded that way where there is greatest cause of feare and daunger nor brought into subiection to those sinnes to the which by nature we be most inclined as to the loue of the world vncleannes breaking off of brotherly affection c. And here if at any time we should be ouertaken which is not to be doubted of no not of the most circumspect and best aduised we resolutely purposed not to sleepe nor slumber in our sinne neither promise to our selues forgiuenesse too easily but first to awake our selues to be amazed that we should let go the strength and hold which once we had to rebuke and checke our selues sharply till shame and sorow for so offending may humble vs and then we may be bold to assure our soules hauing an aduocate with the father Iesus Christ the righteous that we are receiued of him againe And to the end that in this worke we may more happily go forward and this watch be the better kept our purpose was to auoide carefully all outward hinderances and to auoide occasions of quenching Gods spirit in vs as we shall haue wisedome to see them as too farre entring into dealings or talke about the world to call our selues backe from all excesse that way also vnprofitable and dangerous company and acquaintance any vnnecessary and idle talke and whatsoeuer else like vnto these And contrarily to be carefull to continue with diligence and delight not onely the exercise and vse of such holy meanes of meditation and prayer as well by our selues as with others also reading hearing and conference c. but also with minds to reape fruite by the same which is not alwayes intended nor sought for so oft as the things themselues are vsed As for example seeing the readiest and best way to nourish and continue this holy desire and carefull watching ouer our hearts is increase of knowledge by the helpe of hearing and reading for zealous and holy affections are like a flame of fire which without the adding and putting to of wood as new matter will soone be quenched and extinguished so will our looking to our hearts and obseruing of them be loosely and lightly continued it is our purpose to stir vp our selues with more earnestnesse hereunto because we know that we shall otherwise frustrate and make vaine our whole couenant That is to say as foloweth We do acknowledge that our negligence and vnreuerence in these haue so greatly depriued vs of fruite in vnderstanding and iudgement as well as other wayes that before our hearing we trust we shall prepare our harts by casting off that which would hinder vs namely rebellious gainsaying the truth security hardnesse worldly affections c. that with meeknesse and teachablenesse we will bring honest and good hearts to the hearing of the word in the action it selfe be attentiue and marking that which shall be taught so as it may worke in vs and raise vp answerable affections to that which we shall heare as ioy by comfortable doctrine feare by that which moueth fear c. after we haue heard we wil beware that it perish not in vs through our owne default or negligence in minding other matters more then that which we haue heard whereby we should bury it in forgetfulnesse
beside themselues while they were in such good moodes they come to themselues againe that is to their old course and say Shall we forgoe our pleasant life our mery companie our braue stomacks which make vs famous and to be spoken of yea the meanest haue somewhat to hold themselues in as it were in chaines that they may not returne to God lest he should saue them But now I haue shewed them their estate euen their shame and the woe which they are in and what variety of spirituall and heauenly delights they haue forgone by refusing to walke within the compasse of Christian duty from daie to daie which sweetnesse of holy delights God giueth his seruants as a taste of heauen in this life what remaineth but this that all which will not shew themselues desperate wilfully to seeke their owne confusion consider this though they haue long forgot God and lay it to heart namely that they say with the apostles euerie one seuerallie when Christ their master told them that one among the rest should betraie him Is it I master and with Paule when he was smitten downe at the gates of Damascus Lord what wilt thou haue me to doe yea and let them doe as the seruants of Benhadad when they were in great feare of their liues by the king of Israell They put halters about their necks and came and humbled themselues before him and said they were his seruants to the end they might finde fauour at his hands Thus I say let them seeke the Lord while he may be found and say Spare thy people ô Lord and be no longer angry with the sheepe of thy pasture But let them doe it in trueth till the promises of God be beleeued of them and applied to them piercing to the heart and taking hold of the affections so that they may see themselues to be of the number of Gods people and to goe beyond all reprobates and till the same word of God which they haue heard preached hauing beene the seed of saluation to them may be the mould of their conuersation also which they being cast into may be fashioned after the doctrine of it And the rather for the renued peace and defence of the gospell by the happy succession of our most gracious Soueraigne the kings Maiestie as well as the hope we haue for the time to come of liuing safely vnder our vine figgetree lest if they serue not the Lord with ioy and a good heart for all such good things they doe procure such plagues as shall manifestly shew that he is angry with them Now to shut vp all if it be said to me that I haue shewed how men may liue happily but nothing hath beene said about happie dying be this for answere An happy life bringeth an answerable death and the learning and accustoming of our selues to die contemne the world while we liue shall lead vs the way to eternall and blessed life when we must die For that knowledge faith hope and other grace is to vphold and guide vs at death which was the staffe and stay of vs in our life which God shed plentifully into our hearts both in our life and at our death to make vs blessed in both And of this Treatise and of the whole booke thus much A SWEET MEDITATION OF THE AVTHORS LONG AGOE of the benefit of reading conference musing on holy things and praier conteining a complaint that these holy exercises are neglected for that which is worse than nothing euen mens sinfull will 1 OH what a blessed thing it is with godly learn'd to talke By reading and by conference both as we sit and walke 2 And oft to thinke vpon the ioy by God for his prepar'd And eke to pray with groanes to him the like hath not beene hard 3 It doth reuiue our hearts most dull and bring our mindes in frame It doth indue our soules with light made fit to praise Gods name 4 It causeth vs our time to spend in fruit and heauenly sort It keeps from euery euill way and so from ill report 5 It holds our minds frō earthly thoghts and vanities most vaine It doth become pleasant and sweet instead of irkesome paine 6 By this ill tidings are not fear'd afflictions are not heard But from impatience and ire hereby we are preseru'd 7 By meditation and reading with prayer annext thereto We make our gaine of that which we are loth once to forgo 8 It maketh vs a sauour sweet in places where we come That some are gain'd to God thereby and folly hath no roome 9 Blessed is he whose portion this in stead of toile is giuen Whereby some cannot read a line from morning vnto euen 10 And as his lot in fairer ground is cast whom this behighteth In reading and in studie sweet that ioyfully delighteth 11 So he that seeth not this grace and priuiledge most great Sorrow and shame shall him pursue and folly be his meat 12 I speake of those whose calling is by learning for to liue Whom God would haue be free from world and good example giue 13 And so of euery one as he hath liberty and leaue That he do not for fond delight◠himselfe hereof bereaue 14 But Lord what griefe it is to thinke that this so happie a lot Should be trod downe as pearles of swine of many a drunken sot 15 That this deceitfull merchandise of profit and of gaine Should darken so blinde mens eies that they should loath this paine 16 That some should dreame of honour high and of promotion so That this sweet state with all her fruits they should gladly forgo 17 That neither Scripture giuē by God nor books by learned made Can cause them be in loue with them and so forsake their trade 18 Indeed it doth require the heart from euill to be brought That louers of pleasures more than God may come to better thought 19 I meane that they may sin abhorre of euery loathsome kind And that their chiefest ioy may be from thence to weane their mind 19 And with no lesse delight of heart they wisdome may imbrace Till godlinesse hath got in them a roome and setled place 20 Such shall it finde a pleasure sweet their yeeres and time to spend In authours holy and diuine vntill their life do end 21 And such therefore may be full sure the forenam'd fruites to reape And to inioy all good delights in measure and in heape 22 If any thinke this too great toile and state of life to hard Let him againe thinke that full great and sweet is the reward 23 〈◊〉 for my selfe with Salomon this one thing I may say Tha◠〈◊〉 haue had experience of 〈◊〉 a happy day 24 Such as deceitfull world doth yeeld to such as it imbrace Yet neuer saw I pleasure like vnto this heauenly grace 25 What did I say Not like to it no nor to be compar'd For one it yeeldeth twenty fold in pleasure and
though it is at the first hardly obtained assure himselfe against all the subtilties of the diuell and other cursed spirits that he shall see the Lord in the land of the liuing euen he who hath been truly humbled in the sight of his miserie seene Christ Iesus the onely deliuerer of such and therefore himselfe hath and doth beleeue in him vnfainedly And thus I haue shewed how both the doctrine of miserie and redemption ought to worke which is the third point But seeing we are so fearfull at the first beginning of our effectuall calling that wee dare not rest perswaded that we haue any faith these few markes of it following I haue set downe in a briefe manner which both accompanie the weakest faith and where they be found are infallible tokens that in such a person there is some true measure of iustifying faith That is to say first if wee striue against doubting Iudg. 6.17 Secondly if we not feeling faith complaine bitterly of the want of it Thirdly if we seeke feruently to be setled in beleeuing Fourthly if we desire to search out the sinne which may possibly hinder vs and to expell it And some one of these or other graces like them shall euer be seene in the beleeuer by such as can iudge though not alwaies perceiued of the partie himselfe CHAP. 5. Of the lets of faith and namely in the behalfe of the Minister ANd now that I haue shewed how by faith men are made the people of God and consequently iustified thereby who were before his enemies and his beloued which sometimes were not beloued I would here cease to say any more of this matter but that I consider that euery truth is not by and by receiued and so I feare I may say of this especially because it is oft bewailed and complained of in the Scriptures that few haue this faith and that it is seldome or rarely found in the world which thing wee who marke the course and practise of the greatest part in the world doe see may well be so I will therfore here speake to my deare and weake brethren somewhat more at large to satisfie them and set downe the chiefe lets that hinder faith on the behalfe of the Minister Now seeing that faith so honoureth inricheth and beautifieth men as we haue heard it should doubtles bee farre otherwise with thousands of them which thinke they haue it but are deceiued then now it is if they did enioy it Yea and to come more neere to our selues for whose cause chiefly I wrote this the multitudes in our parts of the land which professe that they haue it and by no meanes can abide the contrarie speech to goe or opinion to be conceiued of them should if they had it indeede astonish and feare all Epicures Atheists and Papists and other hypocrites which now differ little from them They should make the religion I say of those which haue any as it is in it selfe a lumpe of lies and an heap of heresies to appeare so indeed and the other who regard none at all to bee abhorred as they deserue to be whereas now they being the fewest which haue attained to any true fruite of the Gospell are gazing stockes and reproches to such as haue no more then a bare name or vaine opinion thereof euen to many of the professors themselues as to the rest of them which are enemies to the truth According to the complaint which the Prophet Esay made in his time saying Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath giuen me are as signes and as wonders in Israel Esai 8.18 In few words therefore let vs see what is the cause why so many who boldly affirme that they beleeue and looke verely to be saued by the death of Christ are yet vtterly destitute of the same It is briefly set downe by S. Paul to be this If our Gospell be hidden as it is hidden to none but to them that are lost the god of this world hath blinded their mindes that the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ should not shine vnto them He plainly sheweth that the fault is in men that they are content to be blindfolded and holden backe though the diuell be the bewitcher of them and so keepeth them from so great a treasure as is brought vnto them by the Gospell But as wee truly say that man is faultie in this that he openeth his eares and giueth credit to Sathans deceitfull suggestions so because God did see what would come to passe thereby he did therefore set watchmen who should giue his people warning thereof namely how Sathan holdeth them from beleeuing by some of his subtill traines to the end they might preuent them therefore wee must know that this fault whereby men are letted from beleeuing is either in him who should bring the tidings that is the watchman who is the Minister or in them who should receiue the same that is the people and hearers for if the lets be not remoued in both faith is rarely or not at all come by It is cleere therefore to begin with the Minister that if he be one which teacheth not at all they that depend vpon him cannot know what loue God beareth to them through Christ or at least they cannot know it to belong vnto them for as much as faith commeth by hearing of the word of God preached vnto them and as our Sauiour saith If the blind leade the blinde both will fall into the ditch Therefore it is too manifest that in some parishes not one man knoweth himselfe to be saued I say if he depend vpon his Minister but all such knowledge is a mysterie to them And yet if that were the onely let on the Ministers behalfe it were well with many people but where seldome teaching is the hearers must needes be ignorant of this matter also because this heauenly truth to teach how men may know that they are the elect of God and without wauering cannot be sufficiently and cleerely enough laid foorth by the skilfullest teachers seldome teaching neither if it could were the hearers able to conceiue and vnderstand remember and be familiarly acquainted with it so as they may be able to trie themselues and to proue their estate to be good all which yet is meete and necessarie For though I know that the grounds and generall truths are few vpon which this matter dependeth yet the breaking of them small to the peoples benefit requireth labour and time plainenes and loue yea to teach the same thing oft for their safetie and in a nurselike or motherly affection to stut and stammer with them that is to apply our selues vnto them and to giue them here a little and there a little now a line and then a line and yet to count all little enough to make them sauour our message at least and to be saued by it Howsoeuer many Ministers make their reckoning that a little
at least so many as whereby the most are hindred by the diuell from imbracing and beleeuing the promise of life that all which list may see how they are held backe from their happines and peace And these they are briefly 1. First some thinke it impossible to be assured of their saluation in this life and therefore seeke not after it 2. Others think it possible but not necessary that men should busie themselues about it for the obtaining and keeping of it and that they may be saued without so much adoe 3. Another sort are such as thinke it both possible and necessarie but they see it so hard to come by that they are loth to take the paines therefore they will not goe about it 4. Another sort are careles and as ignorant as they are careles euer learning but neuer comming to the knowledge of the truth who though they come to heare yet regard not when God speaketh vnto them out of his word their minds being taken vp about other matters Now by this manner of hearing they come not to vnderstand the doctrine much lesse affect it 5. Others see that if they should labour so after heauenly things they must lose their liberties in sinful pleasures which they wil not by any meanes forgoe and contrariwise that they must suffer reproch and afflictions with the children of God and therefore they looke not after the promise of the life to come as Esau 6. Others are presumptuous who through selfeloue perswade themselues that they doe beleeue and yet keepe some one sinne or many in their hearts which they will not renounce contenting themselues to thinke they haue faith when they haue it not and so neuer seeke for the truth and power thereof As they would follow Christ but first they would goe burie their father 7. Others with these though not so grosse offenders were neuer broken hearted through the sight of their sinne and miserie and therefore the doctrine of faith cannot enter 8. Others thinke that though they begin yet they shall neuer continue or hold on in a godly course or els doe take offence some other way and therefore will neuer goe about it or hauing begun will soone reuolt againe 9. Others will say it is a comfortable thing to know our selues to bee the children of God and they hope they are so they speake well of the Gospel they are glad to heare it and like well of the promise of eternall life but they neuer goe about to fasten it to themselues by meditating of it weighing the truth and vnchangeablenes thereof and making their account to liue by it and to be conformed to it 10. Others like well of it as the former and sometimes weigh and consider the doctrine and thereby thinke themselues to be in good case but this comfort is sudden and quickly gone againe And thus they are driuen and tossed to and fro yet being close men will not disclose their hearts and lay open their doubts to such as may helpe them and helpe to set them at libertie from their lets although they be vtterly vnable to helpe themselues These are the chiefe lets whereby the people are holden from this grace of beleeuing without which it is impossible to please God or to be his children And now that I haue set downe a taste of both kindes of le ts I thinke it not amisse to stay a while in speaking to both sorts of them by whom these arise that is to say the Ministers and people And first I turne to you my brethren in the Ministerie And you I exhort to consider your duties laid foorth at large in the word of God sometime by the names and titles which he giueth vs and sometime in plaine commandements and charge The names are many as watchmen Ezech. 33.7 Cant. 3.3 labourers Mat. 9.37 the salt of the earth and light of the world Matth. 5.13.14 shepheards Ioh. 21.15 and the good Scribes which bring out of their treasurie both old and new things Matth. 13. and stewards to giue euery one his portion 1. Cor. 4.1 and nurses 1. Thess 2.7 with such like In cōmandements thus Take heed to your charge and to the whole flock ouer which the holy Ghost hath made you ouerseers to feede the Church of God which hee hath purchased with his bloud Act. 20.28 And againe to Timothie I charge thee before God and the Lord Iesus Christ who shall iudge the quicke and dead at the appearing of his kingdome preach the word be diligent in season and out of season conuince reproue exhort with all long sufferance and doctrine 2. Tim. 4.1.2 All which with the like what other thing doe they teach but that all such as the Lord hath put in trust with his people bought with so great a price should loue them tenderly as nurses doe the yong children and beare their weaknesses kindly rather then break their hearts with sorrow Also that they should prouide for them liberally and with good allowance and teach them the whole counsaile of God as good Scribes and regard all sorts as the Lords stewards by wise applying themselues to all Then that they should be diligent and painfull as the Lords workmen and labourers going before them as lights to guide in example of vncorrupt life in all wisedome and grauitie but especially as Christ taught his Disciples at his departing from them in humilitie Ioh. 13.14.15 not thinking themselues too good for Christs sake to be their seruants And to the end they may bring them to him and preserue them as chast spouses to him their onely husband to doe them good priuatly as their needes should require by confirming the weake comforting the afflicted admonishing the vnruly and being patient towards all Ezech. 34.4.5 1. Thess 5.14 These duties I say the Lord inioyneth vs by the forementioned titles which he giueth to his Ministers and by the commaundements and charges annexed thereto Now as we would be glad he should heare vs in the time of our necessitie and especially in our last and solemne day of our departure from this life so let vs heare him thus calling vpon vs to haue compassion on his sillie ignorant and shiftles people And although the burthen that he laieth vpon vs is great yet are not our incouragements for that purpose exceeding great also The honour that hee putteth vpon vs to be his ambassadours and to bring the message of so great a king and the message it selfe not about things transitorie or earthly but eternall what can bee like vnto it Besides the comfort which wee may reape both by our priuate studie in giuing attendance to reading and as hauing that as our ordinarie labour to talke with God as I may say and his good seruants when other men must toyle and trauaile in all weather with much care and trouble and
knew that I had it by more and those infallible arguments and testimonies I could neuer be wearie of looking to and increasing it as I had learned how but for some yeeres space haue done and do euery day nourish and strengthen it and I recreate my selfe in thinking what benefit I haue by it vntill my gaine thereby and pleasure therein doe keepe me there with delight more then in all pastime and the labour which I bestow about it is so farre from toyle or wearisomnes that it is my greatest solace neither doe I thinke or feele my selfe to be armed to the well going through the affaires of the day before I haue prepared my selfe thereto by refreshing my soule with considering Gods aboundant loue and fauour towards me and rest vppon it as mine owne But when I haue done it I am by good heede taking cheerefull and in good estate all the day after and so I am in reuerence be it spoken said he perswaded that I shall continue to doe Now to make vse of this Christian speech because it is according to knowledge and I haue said nothing of him which is not as needfull for vs and his practise agreeth with the doctrine of the Scriptures if wee will speake euery man the truth what comfort or well ordered estate can be in our liues any day without it And when that true and liuely beholding of Gods gracious kindnes is not present with vs to begin the day what going forward in it is to be looked for but in vnsauourie lightnes and so be deceiued or in care and sorrow and so bee disquieted Therefore if men were wise they would see that they could not well want this any day especially seeing God hath giuen libertie to them to inioy such sweet communion with him by meanes of this pretious faith but they would consider their end how vncertaine it is as all other things which they inioy and therfore be readie for it at one time as well as another which they might doe if they held fast their confidence that bringeth with it so great reward And how shall wee leade our whole life by faith in our particular parts thereof beleeuing that God will guide and blesse vs as we shall heare in the next Treatise if wee be not first well seasoned and acquainted with this iustifying faith But alas we verifie the saying of our Sauiour though to our great shame it may bee spoken that the children of this world are wiser in their kinde then we who if they bee disappointed of their desire one way haue twentie shifts to seeke it another But it is too manifest that the most part euen of the better sort and those who haue tasted of this faith and assurance alreadie doe not thinke this possible to keepe yea and increase it from day to day and therefore go not about it but are content to hold it by starts now and then when it is reuiued in them by some speciall helpe of preaching And thus doing they see not the twentith part of Gods bountie and fatherly affection towards them who giueth them not some taste now and then of his abundant loue but would haue them filled with it and that continually yea and thereby to be in safetie all the day long which if many of Gods seruants did beleeue as they doe any article of their faith that it is true how greatly should their heauie hearts bee made ioyfull and their heads lifted vp with cheerefulnes whereas now deceiueable mirth or vnprofitable sorrow holdeth them downe either at their labour or from it seeing they haue not this boldnes to reioyce in the Lord alwaies and that because they beleeue not alwaies neither thinke that they may or can possibly attaine to it And by this meanes that they are so ofte cast from their hold of faith and so of peace and constancie therein the diuell weakneth and holdeth backe sundrie which are comming on by their example thinking themselues well in the case they are in rather then in following them except they saw some beautie and excellencie in their liues more then is in themselues Besides this they not holding their perswasion for continuance as well as for some speciall time doe bring much vnprofitablenes into their liues and sometimes daungerous outstrayings and giue many offences which otherwise they should not by al which their heauines is increased and somtimes long lien in And that which is hardest of all the rest they either dare not rise vp againe out of their sorrow or know not how they should and so they make the most part of their life to bee very bondage which through beleeuing should be most sweet libertie thereby inioy not many comfortable fruits of faith in their liues which other Christians doe And whiles all this commeth to passe we must needs say that God is not honoured of them nor his praises so in their hearts as they should and might be if they from time to time did nourish and liue by this their faith and confidence But though I would haue it receiued that much sweetnes accompanieth this faith yet I meane not here to set downe the priuiledges which accompany it and a godly life that is done in another place This spirit of bondage therefore which holdeth them oft in feare I earnestly wish were abandoned and that this wauering and needles doubting which possesseth so great part of their life especially when any great affliction arresteth them or lieth long vpon them were as farre from them as the East is from the West so that they might see the aboundant fauour of God farre greater towards them then euer they did and that by how much they may inioy it more vsually then euer they thought it possible And as for them that count their aduice and direction for the preseruing of faith they shall goe without the fruite of it till they see that they lost not their labour who were thought to doe too much seeing they did more then themselues could be perswaded to doe Therfore as I haue said let all such as to whom God hath sealed vp their saluation by his spirit by the which he hath giuen them an earnest of it be diligent to heare and marke the promises daily so shall they waxe familiar and well acquainted with the mind and purpose of God howsoeuer the prophane worldlings make them common things and are soone wearie of hearing thē Let thē weigh thē also and applie them to their owne soules daily by priuate meditation let them learne of other the faithfull seruants of God how they doe most especially preserue their faith And let them be throughly perswaded that how crossely soeuer things come to passe yet the Lord seeketh their good by them and doth not delight in their sorrow and troubles for if hee did he could a thousand waies make a riddance of them but sendeth them specially for their benefit and good so shall they grow rooted and
thereon in such wise that he dares ieopard his soule vpon the truth and doctrine of them euen as he is to looke for saluation only by our Lord Iesus Christ euer counting that for sinne which shall be found to iarre or iangle with the same either in his heart or life But though all who haue hope to be saued should doe this yet it is manifest they doe not They make not conscience of many sinnes they looke not to many promises they feare not many threats all which doe much testifie against them that they be not so well fenced as they might be and by meanes hereof they holde euen the promise of saluation it selfe more weakely And this commeth to passe the more commonly that they be no better stablished and rooted in the truth to beleeue it because these things as they be worthiest and most excellent so they be not plainely soundly and thoroughly beaten into the people and that againe and againe till they that are willing haue them for their owne And another cause is for that the people who haue some taste of this doctrine namely how they should ioyne good life with their faith take not paine when they haue been well taught them to call them to minde and digest them onely they haue pieces and fragments of many good points but rarely it shall be found that one Christian among many groweth to see this which I now speake of by teaching much lesse hath it in vse and practise for his owne that is to giue credit to one part of the word as well as to another and not euery one to take that which liketh him And therefore when they haue some work of true faith in them yet they see not how to set vpon repentance and a godly life how to begin and how to proceede therein but are off and on now forward then backward and scarcely at any time setled and staied the which although it be so in great part through their owne weaknes yet is it also in respect of their ignorance I speake of the better sort of people and such as haue receiued the first fruites of the spirit Whereas if they were perswaded that they ought to make conscience of all sound doctrine that they heare and to giue assent to euery part of the word of God and submit themselues thereto promises threats and commandements they should hold more firmely the perswasion of their saluation and also be better prepared how to flie euill and how to doe dutie and how to trust God in all kindes of his promises Therefore it is said to the Hebrues To vs was the Gospell preached as also vnto them but the word that they heard profited not them because it was not mixed with faith in those that heard it Againe Without faith it is impossible to please God With the which agreeth that which is written by S. Paul to the Romanes Whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne that is whatsoeuer we doe not being perswaded in our consciences that we please God in doing of it we sinne against him Now then when our iudgements be not setled in this doctrine and truth and consequently we follow no such rule in our actions must wee not needes wander vp and downe the more vnprofitably and heauily or when we be at the best must we not needs be doubtfull and vncertaine whether wee please God or no whereas our chiefe care should be least we doe any thing which might crase or cracke our faith especially when it is tender and weake and like the bruised reede which is easily broken Therefore if any beleeue to be saued let them beleeue also that they shall be sanctified for with one and the same faith we beleeue both and that they shall receiue grace from God to bring foorth fruites of amendment of life and that they shall be made able by him through the hearing of the holie Scriptures to cast off their old conuersation This faith much auaileth to the furthering of the deare children of God in a godly course euen at their first comming vnto God as it doth alwaies after to liue by it And although God by the same spirit regenerateth them by the which he assureth them of their adoption yet is it wrought in them much more hardly and in greater feare when they doe not first know and be perswaded in their iudgements that it shall be so And though it can be but weake in any at their first conuersion to God yet shall they sooner wade through their doubts and grow out of their feare if they haue this faith as a foundation to vphold them and incourage them to goe about it But otherwise they shall faint and feare oft times and be without hope nothing is more cleere then this if we obserue it in weake christians And thus must they be perswaded also concerning all blessing good successe deliuerance out of troubles or patience and meekenes to beare them as well as to beleeue the forgiuenes of sinnes and finally whatsoeuer God saith in his word either the forbidding of any sinne or the requiring of any dutie they are bound to beleeue it as the truth of God to depend vpon it and to be built vpon it and to trust him vpon his bare word and to suffer themselues to be led by it and that because it is his word hauing in them alwaies a setled purpose to doe so and this is called by the Apostle the obedience of faith For they must be resolued of this that to whom God giues Christ to them also he giues all things needfull for this life and the life to come in and by Christ And thus Noah did not only beleeue that he was made heire of righteousnesse but also that he and certaine of his household should be saued in the flood and Abraham likewise beleeued not only that he was iustified but also went to a place which he knew not only seeing God commaunded and abode in the land of promise as in a strange countrey and beleeued that he should haue a sonne in his olde age And they who beleeued among the Israelites in the Sauiour which was to come of whom Moses though darkely had taught before the same beleeued other promises as that the walles of Iericho should fall downe after they had bin compassed about seuen daies Many other such examples who shewed themselues not only to beleeue the promise of forgiuenes of sinnes and of eternall life but also other temporall promises yea and precepts also and threats which God had set downe in his word very profitable for vs to this purpose many such I say both thoroughout the Scriptures and namely in that eleuenth chapter to the Hebrues are set downe vnto vs. And this generall faith so called for that it giueth assent and credit to the word of God in the elect as well to one part as to another with an honest heart ready to
that our hearts be first purified through beleeuing that our sinnes are forgiuen vs and wee made partakers of Christ his grace and so our consciences appeased and that they bee continued in the same good order afterwards And they who wil not see and follow after this but thinke to abstaine from sinfull temptations and serue God in an honest and godly life howsoeuer the heart be little looked after shall reape a sleight fruite of their trauaile neither leade the life which is approued of God as hath been said nor finde the comfort which they imagine they shall haue at leastwise which they heare to be graunted by the Lord. But it commeth to passe as it is written that as they serue him so he serueth them for as they serue not God in heart and deed but in word so their peace is not in heart and deed but in word their ioy not in soule but in countenance a false comfort and that appeareth in time of neede as they gaue to him a false worship It is profitable for vs to weigh this for such as crie out of vs as of Precisians for teaching and vrging this doe proue to their cost and shame oftentimes that they had been happy if they could haue receiued this our doctrine howsoeuer they reproch and speake ill of our liuing Who should not haue branded themselues with sinnes that they could neuer after weare out the staine of them any more if they had been as the strictest Precisians before It hath been shewed how the heart being kept pure and cleane the vnruly desires and appetites which arise from thence shall be kept vnder in vs and the power of them shaken and weakened this is thus to be vnderstoode that euen as if our hearts were altogether pure all our thoughts and desires should be altogether holy and none of them vncleane so our hearts being purified and clensed but vnperfectlie and in part our desires therefore cannot be in the perfectest and best Christians altogether good and pleasing to God but vnperfit that is to say many of them euill and many which are holy yet mixed with euill and corruption Whereby it commeth to passe that the holiest seruants of God both carrie about them the noisome remnants of sinne whilest they liue as loathsome ragges for they cleaue fast vnto them and also they complaine and grone vnder them as heauie burthens saying Oh wretched men that we are who shall deliuer vs And againe If thou O Lord shouldest looke streightlie what is done amisse who should be able to abide it This I say is the perfection of the best that they who charge vs to challenge a puritie to our selues may be ashamed But yet least wicked and vngodly men should thinke this a small gift and priuiledge that Gods seruants haue in this that they be in part renued and so be brought to thinke that there is no great difference betwixt the godlie and themselues they are to knowe that to haue our hearts changed but in measure so as it be in truth is a benefit of greater value then the whole world and what meruaile if the ouercomming of malice and reuenge but one affection be of greater value then the winning of a Citie Prouerb 16.32 And whereas they thinke there is no difference betwixt the one and the other they may vnderstand that the meanest person hauing a cleane heart though not perfect is by infinite degrees happier then the most glosing professor which wanteth it the one saued the other damned as we reade of the poore Publicane and the vaine glorious Pharisie CHAP. 13. Of the summe and manner of handling this second part of a godly life and particularlie of the rules to be obserued for the effecting of it namely knowledge and practise ANd thus Christian reader I haue set downe to thee one part of the life which God requireth of thee whosoeuer thou art who lookest for saluation at his hands being a beleeuer in Christs that is that thou shouldest renounce the euill lust which swarme euery where in the world and vngodly life following the same and how this should be done and how farre thou maist attaine hereunto euen so farre as mans frailty will permit and not as the vnbeleeuers only be sure that thou hast this in some measure wrought in thee in truth But in all this thou hast been taught onely to cast off that which is sinfull and naught which to doe is no doubt a great part of godlinesse but there hath been nothing said of the manifold pointes of dutie on the other side and of the goodnesse which is to be found in vs and in the which Gods people must shine as lights vnto the world For this is the glory and beautie of a man as Salomon saith That which is to be desired of a man is his goodnesse Of this life therefore which must be wrought in stead of the former euill conuersation and bringeth foorth fruites of amendment and consisteth in the doing of good workes I am now to intreate and speake And as this is more hard to attaine to then the other as hard as that is so it is farre more pretious and beautifull to bee doing of good then to auoide euill though he is a rare man who is not to be charged that way The which I say first that they may see what a great portion they haue euen in this world whom God hath framed thereunto how contemptible soeuer their estate be to them who know it not neither can iudge of it according to the truth And secondly that they who rest in it and can say they hope yea see no great euill in them may know that if they bee not also giuen vnto good workes the greatest perfection that they can reioyce in is this that they are but halfe christians But the matter is much and large which must needes be handled in the laying forth of this point to shew fully and cleerely for the simple hearted Christian what this part of a godly life is therefore I will make no longer stay in any thing as neere as I can then I must needes First then I will set downe some generall rules to direct thee how to practise all duties commaunded which otherwise might be done to small purpose then I will more particularly shew wherein this part of godlines or of doing good doth consist that is to say in duties of holines to God and in righteous dealing towards men with reasons of both lastly I will answere some obiections brought against the godly life And where I say I will giue thee rules which shall helpe thee to practise the godly life marke them well for because this point is not well learned therefore many which would gladly liue well attaine to it in no good sort to bring it in credit with others but meete with many vnsetlings discouragements and coolings of their zeale yea oft
if it be practised vpon the weake stated and men behind hand it is as the plucking off their skin from their bodie If it be asked what commoditie a man may reape lawfully this way I say if he buy the annuitie or rent of him who is wealthie so as there be plaine dealing he may safely inioy the benefit which the other offereth If he be but weake or in debt who selleth it let him be sure he giue to the vttermost value and in token that hee doth so let him not bee vnwilling to release him againe afterwards which shal alwaies proue that he seeketh no aduantage by him And this of annuities both to direct a Christian how to deale in them and to answere such as thinke without any ground that no dealing about them is lawfull what our libertie is Now that all may come by and inioy their right in these and in all other vsuall contracts exchaunges societies and dealings amongst men for want whereof are the most broyles and contentions in the world let this be for conclusion marked that truth in words equitie in deeds and simple meaning in purposes and thoughts is to be firmely and constantly retained and where that hath not been practised full restitution is to be made Now another dutie is to restore to the right owner the thing which wee finde if we can know him and not to count it our own Also to restore faithfully and without delay any thing which is committed to our keeping for trust and not to defraud the partie whether executors of the will of the dead or guardians that take vpon them the care of orphanes liuing that as the beloued Disciple Iohn being put in trust by his Lord and Master with Mary his mother to regard her was faithfull and tooke her home to him Ioh. 19.27 euen so may they bee true and iust in that which is committed vnto them The Lawyer also to take no causes into his hands which he seeth can haue no good end with equitie and those which he doth become defender of to shew all honest faithfulnes and diligence in following of them That they in whom it lieth make no delaies in the ending of the suites which come before them but with all expedition possible dispatch the same that their light may breake foorth cleerely as the noonetide Which grace is commended in Iob thorough all the world where it is heard of that he restrained not the poore of their desire nor caused the eyes of the widow to faile by long waiting for her request Last of all to suffer all men to inioy their owne and as neither by play lotteries laying of wagers neither by force violence or any kind of oppression so neither by deceit and craft we seeke or procure the hurt of our neighbour to increase our owne profit And thus I haue set down a summe of the chiefe duties which our God hath bound vs to performe towards our neighbour concerning his goods that we be found no way vnrighteous in our practise and dealings with him but suffer him to liue safely by vs as hee trusteth to doe wherein though I haue laid out nothing in any large manner which was not my purpose to doe further then need requireth yet he that considereth how many duties here are to be performed shall see it the more needfull to haue a briefe rehearsall of them being so many to the which as to a glasse he may repaire when hee will rather then to desire some few of them handled more largely with omission of the rest In these duties performing who so setteth himselfe to delight and maketh it his pleasure to walke after these rules and when he can finde by due obseruing himselfe that he hath taken any thing wrongfully to turne backe vnlawfull gaine as his libertie shal be great with the Lord and his confidence strong when hee seeth that for his cause and for the hope of the reward promised him he can be willing to denie himselfe and his owne will so his example shall be highly commended and do much good amongst men And yet this should not be to seeke with such as goe for Gods seruants as it is written It is ioy to the iust to doe iudgement And let it bee remembred that I here teach them who professe that they are willing to learne not the scorner To conclude let not onely the forementioned sinnes against this commandement be auoided and the contrarie duties practised but let vs euery way so vse our goods that wee may be thereby more fruitfull in euery good worke then we could be if we wanted them else how shall we be able to giue a good account to our Lord and Master and to say Behold Lord here are thy fiue or two talents I haue gained with them many more Luk. 19.18 The next dutie wherein we are to serue our neighbour through loue and to deale righteously with him is about his name Herein our loue must shew it selfe to be such that we be afraid to vexe or grieue him this way as well as in his person or goods The sinnes haue been mentioned more at large which are committed against this commaundement the duties shall bee put in a narrower roome One of the which is to reioyce in the good report of as many as we can heare and be perswaded of as the Apostle did for the good name of the elect Ladie who had so carefully walked after the Gospell her self y t by her feruent trauaile he had found her children also doing the same This reioycing for the good name of others banisheth this secret repining at the same and enuying them for it and the poysoned desire of vaine glorie out of our selues to the which belongeth this that we sorrow for their infirmities so farre it ought to be off from vs to report them or heare them of others with delight Another is to hope through patience for better things then as yet can be seene in men remembring what we our selues haue been sometime and therefore not rashly to iudge and condemne such so much as secretly and least of all to make them odious in company by vttering their crimes or allowing others to doe soe of whom we haue good hope Concerning the rest who sinne boldly I say Let Baal pleade for himselfe for such as defame themselues by their wicked behauiour are not iniuried by vs in giuing warning of them It is also further required of vs here that as we shall be able and may get good oportunitie thereunto we helpe to couer these faults of theirs through loue who may be recouered and brought to repentance and yet not by flattering them therein or dissembling the same for that is rancke hating of them when we by suffering them to goe on in their sinnes cause them thereby to come to some open shame and punishment but doe we rather as the Apostle Iames expoundeth this hiding
publike cannot be daily had and inioyed and yet we neede daily reliefe and helpe neither although they could were they sufficient to inable vs to honour God as it becommeth vs therefore God hath commaunded vs to vse priuate exercises whereof these eight be chiefe First watchfulnes meditation and the armor of a Christian vnto the which is to be added our owne experience and these properly belong to euery one alone by himselfe The next are the vse of company by conference and family exercise and these are properly to be vsed of a mans selfe with others the last two which are prayer and reading are common to both The necessitie whereof is so great that if they be not knowne and vsed rightly and in good sort the publike will proue but vnprofitable and the whole life out of square as shall be seene when we come to handle and speake more particularly of the right vse of them And of the helps or meanes to continue a godly life which they are and the kinds of them thus much be said Now I will as I promised in the entrance into this treatise more fully shew what euery one of these is and what force they haue God working thereby to vphold the weight of a godly life That all who list to consider it wisely may see it and so many as will vse these meanes may proue and finde it themselues And first I will begin with the publike and afterwards speake of the priuate And I will so handle and speake of euery one according to the skill which God hath giuen me as may make most for this present purpose that is most largely of those meanes which with their vse are lesse knowne and more briefly of those with which men are most acquainted Neither let this trouble the reader that I haue made mention of some of thē by other occasions in some other places for whereas it may be obiected that these meanes called helps are spoken of in other treatises of this booke as parts of a Christians dutie I answere it is true for I haue spoken of vprightnes one piece of the armour and of watchfulnes and prayer in the former treatise and so of the rest And there I speake of them as of common duties and parts of godlinesse as the loue and feare of God be but here I speake of them as speciall helpes to godlinesse for though I denie not but that all the duties of a Christian man are also helps to liue happily yet who doth not see that these here mentioned as the Word and the Sacraments watching and prayer with the other are more properly so called as more specially fitting vs for the right performing of all duties Besides in other places I speake of them by occasion and therefore more briefly but here of purpose and therefore more largely But let it suffice that I vnderstand these which I mention in this treatise to be helpes and meanes especially And more particularly of the armour and of the parts thereof this I say because otherwise I must haue giuen a watch-word about it afterwards when I come to speake of it in due place that though I speake of all the parts of it by occasion in one treatise or other yet there I speake of them for the most part as particular duties to be done in our seueral actions but here I speake of them as of such duties as must alwaies abide and be lodged in our hearts and that we may haue thē as a Larderhouse alwaies full of good and holesome victuall and not as one dish to serue for some occasion where we may obserue that though the one is not without the other yet there is a manifest difference betwixt them so that the one is not the other And so I take it the Apostle meant in the Epistle to the Ephesians where when hee had named diuers duties as mercie loue kindnes Ephes chap. 4. 5. which are parts of the armour yet he saith after Ephes chap. 6.14 Stand fast in your armour when ye haue put it on as if he should say it is not enough to shew kindnes mercie to some persons at some time and to haue the vse of the other parts of the armour when occasion shall be offered but to put and keepe them on that so we may euer haue thē in a readines to be vsed Euen as women doe not onely trimme and dresse their houses with flowers but they haue also their gardens be set and filled with them from whence they may haue them alwaies for such vses This I thought good to say about the matter in hand to free the reader from some doubts Now I will proceed to the next chapter CHAP. 2. Of the publike helpes to increase godlines and namely the ministerie of the word TO begin therefore with the publike meanes and helpes whereby God hath appointed to strengthen the beleeuer and settle him in a godly life know wee that the word is the first and principall And there shall neede no great marueiling at this which I say if we mark the royall and most excellent commendations that we heare and reade of the Scriptures which are this word of God For besides that they are by good euidence and testimonie proued to be the very truth and word of God not the phantasies of mans braine which hee willeth vs to search sending vs vnto them if we desire to know his mind and will towards vs so the authoritie of them is such that by whomsoeuer it be gainsaid or called into question we neede not bee troubled at it and so be discomfited no although it were an Angel from heauen if any such thing were possible much lesse the man of sinne who yet chalengeth authoritie to be heard before them And that we may not doubt but that all Gods will is reuealed in them we are taught that they are all-sufficient that is containe whatsoeuer is able to make one either an inheritour of saluation or a true Christian in which two consisteth true felicitie Now for the plainnes and euidence of the heauenly matter that is contained in them by the meanes which God hath vsed and the order that he hath taken for laying out the sweetnes beautie of them they are in the most necessarie points easie to be vnderstood and conceiued euen of the simple and ignorant For besides that he hath commanded them to be reuerently and distinctly read in the assemblie he hath giuen vnto his Church most excellent gifts I meane pastors and teachers to interprete and teach his whole counsell out of them and to shew the people how to profit by the doctrine of them and to make the right vse thereof in such wise applying the same to them as if they had been particularly and onely appointed for them And in like manner he hath prouided to haue these his holie Scriptures turned into those tongues and languages which are vnderstood of the
things as good Christians amongst men neither any other but such as doe know it would euer thinke that so much poyson could be inclosed in so narrow a roome as within the compasse of one silly man Oh the fruite and benefit which by our meditation and priuate prayer we reape is so great the spirit of God changing our hearts thereby from their daily course and custom more and more and bringing the heauenly life into more liking with vs and making it more easie and sweete which with the men of the world is so yrkesome and vnsauorie that none can well expresse or conceiue it but he which hath felt the same For by it God bringeth to passe that the sugred baites of earthly delights and transitorie pleasures of the world though Sathan kindleth an excessiue and an inordinate loue of them in vs become not deadly poison vnto vs as they doe to many the Lord teaching vs to see the painted vizor and deceiueable picture of them by looking into them throughly that we may beware of them And as the Scripture noteth how the men of God who are most commended there for their pietie as Moses Dauid Paul and others were much taken vp of this exercise so I dare boldly affirme that the most godly of our time may thanke God much for their acquaintance with it and much vse of it and others that are strangers to it how wise and forward soeuer they be in practise of Christian dutie should be much more purged and cleansed from euill if with their other seruices of God they were conuersant in this meditation ioyned with their priuate prayers and this secret talking with God and with their owne hearts And therefore although I looke not by this speech to perswade prophane men and such as are addicted and giuen ouer to the full inioying of their hearts desire in the things of this present world to regard this practise of musing yet my hope is that I shall easily preuaile with those Who haue been readie and willing long agone if they might haue had any plaine direction to teach them how to vse it to preuaile I say with them to haue it in greater reckoning for the neere and inward acquaintance which they may haue with God by it as by little and little they shall be inabled But the truth is indeede that it is new and strange to such as haue not been accustomed to it though people of good hope in somuch that when they heare by the word of God that such a dutie is required by him at their hands they are readie though it tend to their great benefit to reason against it as needles and too hard to be attained vnto contenting themselues to serue God without it rather then to imbrace it immediatly vntill they may see further into the necessitie benefit and possibilitie of it And for the first two how necessarie and profitable it is I haue shewed as also it will further appeare by that which followeth of the lettes which doe hinder it and the remedies against them And then I will shew how possible yea in time how easie it will become and then will the benefit and fruite thereof most chiefly appeare And concerning the letters how many and great soeuer they be before I speake of them I haue no doubt notwithstanding them by Gods assistance to make the way so easie and plaine to the true Christian to meditation in this treatise of and about it that by the same the difficulties and discouragements which doe most trouble them shall be remoued or at least weakned that howsoeuer some take no profit by it they shall haue the way shewed them in a few leaues which they also may learne in a few weekes to make good benefit of it which otherwise they may without helpe be voyde of for many yeares To say somewhat therefore of the impediments first which hold Gods people strangers from the vse of meditation with profit they are of two sorts For either they are such as hinder them altogether from going about or entring into it or else they keepe them from taking any good thereby although they set apart all other things of purpose that they may giue themselues for the time wholy thereto Of the former sort there are three The first is when a Christian knowing this dutie to be required of him goeth about it either in the morning as I here perswade if it may be or at any other conuenient time but he hath no matter in readines to meditate vpon he is emptie barren and vtterly to seeke about what to bestowe the time and his cogitations for although he hath heard many things in sermons and wanteth many graces which might driue him the rather to meditation the better to come by them and carrieth about many corruptions and hath receiued many blessings and mercies from God yet the diuell holdeth him as it were blinde forgetfull and his minde confounded it being occupied and taken vp vsually other waies amisse so that he can finde nothing to muse or consider vpon whereby he might season his heart Which when he seeth and thereby that he cannot proceede in the dutie which he hath been taught to performe and desireth also to doe the same he is exceedingly discouraged made heauie hearted and thereby the more hardly perswaded to goe about it any more but vnable to aske the way to redresse the same For they who are so snared and ouermatched by the diuell can hardly seeke remedy if any thing be amisse with them but leaue of altogether from the good in the which they perceiue themselues to be stopped which is cleane contrarie to the practise of the children of this world who are so wise in their kind that if they be disappointed and broken off from their purpose one way they will seeke the accomplishment of their desire many other waies rather then to be frustrated Now against this Let I haue set downe hereafter in this treatise a way to remedy it vnto the which I referre the reader that is to say certaine rules to helpe him to meditate and examples also to set him on worke yet least euery weake Christian should not be able sufficiently to direct himselfe this I adde further and more particularly that it shall be expedient for him principally to propound to himselfe as he is able these foure things till he shall be better able to helpe himselfe to muse of them First of his vnworthines vilenes and other his seuerall corruptions and sinnes Secondly of the greatnes of Gods bountie in forgiuing so many and subduing daily more and more the dominion of sinne and Sathan in him Thirdly he is to thinke how he may be guided through that present day after the rules of his daily direction especially those that seeme hardest to be followed both the well ordering of the heart and framing his life so farre as they agree with Gods word Fourthly let him meditate
yet as soone as they perceiue that they haue gone too farre and haue passed their bounds in their lawfull liberties eating drinking recreation vse of mariage pleasuring in goods trusting in friends and making flesh their arme they returne speedily as out of open and manifest sinnes and thereby become more carefull another time and when they see how many buffets light vpon others who haue small regard of sobrietie or measure keeping they see their portion to be great in restreining themselues from that excesse in lawfull things which they keepe no measure in And thus much be said of the first part or branch of this priuiledge Wherein may be seene that the Lord hath offered great fauour to his children to so many as esteeme of it that the glorie of present things and prosperitie in this world which vndoe many shal yet not bewitch nor deceiue them but they shal be able to escape these snares by the spirituall wings that he hath giuen them for that purpose to mount aboue them as godly Ioseph Moses many of Gods deare seruants did before them But if it be asked Why hath he giuen them to one and not to another I answere Seeing one setteth more store by it than another I speake it to the shame of those who giue occasion though they be otherwise well to be hoped of For the custome and boldnesse in this sinne of intemperancie and worldlines which we see in the most men doth draw after them and their example some euen of those which are religious causing them to haue their teeth set on edge so eagerlie to follow them in their prophane course and the abundance of iniquitie doth coole their feruencie in seeking to weane their hearts from such poisoned and deceitfull baits and dainties as they see them so greedily to deuoure For otherwise though they are fraile yet hauing receiued a taste of the heauenly doctrine which is the onely mother and nourisher of true sobrietie they should not so easily forget themselues and be ouercome of their vaine desires For if popish dreames and fantasies without all ground of Gods word haue so inchanted princes and other persons of great possessions that they haue drawen them from their pompe and many solemnities into Monasteries and Nunries for the deceiuable hope of saluation should not the word of trueth much more preuaile with them who haue had a right taste of it to renounce dangerous and vnlawfull liberties And although they were led from one errour to another yet if errour might doe so much with them should not the trueth doe much more with the children of the trueth to abide in it and be gouerned by it It is pitie that any of the Lords beloued should offer such dishonour to the glorious word of God as to refuse the gouernment of it and giue occasion to the vnbeleeuers to say That God dieteth his people so meanly in his owne house that they be driuen to eat with the intemperate at their table as it were their poisoned dainties But let this reproofe make any such of Gods seruants ashamed as haue giuen occasion of it and let them not follow the excesse of such as know no better And when they shall finde this doctrine hard to be practised that is to vse their prosperitie rightly and soberly if then such matter as this is were read and well weighed of them and the examples of those which are contrarilie minded what bondage they are in I doubt not but that the hardnesse which they complaine of should in good measure be asswaged CHAP. 9. Of the seuenth priuiledge Concerning the afflictions of the godly and namely of the first branch of the same that is How they may be free from many of those troubles which do light on and meet with the vnreformed NOw followeth the prerogatiue that they haue about afflictions Of the which although they are not void yet if we diligently marke Gods dealing with them heerein we must needs confesse that he sheweth exceeding fauor vnto them Which seeing it is not one way but many and sundry declared vnto them I will in some order as I can lay them forth particularly And they may all be referred to three kinds For first he holdeth many tribulations from them altogether in that they be his children which others by their sinnes do plucke vpon themselues Ps 32.10.11 Secondly he deliuereth them out of manie which otherwise would sore oppresse them when yet he leaueth others in them still And thirdly he teacheth them aright and well to beare them when he thinketh it not meet to deliuer them And of these three I will handle the first in this chapter Concerning the which point it may easily be gathered by that which hath beene said of the former priuiledges how true this is that many troubles neuer take hold of such as walke after those rules which I haue spoken of and which inioy the said priuiledges and seeing all Gods children be such as may doe so therefore euen they may be deliuered from many troubles and afflictions one as well as another which yet the vngodly and vnregenerate cannot escape For they whose hearts are cleansed and sanctified so that they truely hate all maner of sinne and more specially renounce in their liues the sinne which they know who indeauour to haue a good conscience in all things and doe all this with delight and with delight also doe daily vse the meanes to grow forward in this course how can the plagues and calamities take hold on them which doe on other men who are strangers to such a course For the greatest and sorest punishments and troubles that fall vpon any are brought vpon them by their sinne contrary to the erronious opinion of them who thinke that religion is the chiefe cause of troubles they are nothing els but the fruite thereof and the greater sinners that men are the sharper and heauier iudgements outward or inward doe meet with and take hold of them and the deepelier doth God drawe his bowe against them and wherein is the scripture more plentifull then in this argument and matter For sinne came the first punishment into the world namely death and Gods curse which without sinne had neuer beene knowen in all the world with the casting off our first parents and their posteritie out of the fauour of God Through sinne came all kindes of plagues and punishments vpon men as hunger nakednesse diseases the pestilence bondage to enemies and inuasion of them imprisonment losse of goods losse of life and such like For sinne both person and place whole cities and villages haue beene destroied from the king to the begger both Pharao and the raskall souldiers that peirced Christ through and platted a crowne of thornes vpon his head and Iudas the pursebearer who was also the traytour euen all these did by sinne purchase to themselues the reward of iniquity All which plagues they which were voide of those sinnes and
crosses from God as sent to them in his loue they murmure not against him neither refuse to be chastised of him but are thankfull and therefore labour for patience that it may haue her perfect worke yea and further if they can finde any sinne in themselues which might draw these corrections of the Lord vpon them they heartily turne from it with all possible speed that so they may more confidently intreat the Lord to turne away all the tartnesse of their affliction frō them And they which after this maner behaue themselues vnder the crosse although they performe these duties but in weaknesse shall finde their troubles howsoeuer for the time irkesome vnto the flesh yet to be gainfull manie waies and in manie respects vnto their soules For they shall giue them a proofe of that grace as meeknesse trust and confidence which otherwise they could not know to be in them They shall teach them also experience of greater acknowledging Gods fatherly kindnesse which worketh and bringeth forth these sweet graces in them by as vnlikely occasions as the soft waters gush out of the hard and stonie rocke for in others what doe afflictions cause for the most part that haue them but rage and fretting and such like Besides in those who are rightly exercised in the bearing of them they hold them from many sinnes which others runne into they make them more humble and thankfull they hearten them by custome therein to beare greater yea greater than they thought possible that euer they should haue gone vnder and with all these commeth most sound and exceeding comfort in the end at least with hope in the middest of them which shall not make them ashamed Therefore if the seruants of God may inioy these with many other such commodities by their afflictions and haue so good liking of the Christian life that they will not forsake it for the greatest of them I conclude this third branch as the two former That the Lord hath not left their afflictions vpon them to vexe them and make their liues wearisome and vnpleasant to them but that they should receiue much good and benefit by them And although they be not without sharpnesse yet the Christian life hath so many sweet fruits of them therewith that as men are not wearie of the pleasant spring time though it be anoied with the flea so we do not loath our afflicted estate being so many waies gainfull for some bitternesse that accompanieth the same for holy securitie through the favour of God a good conscience and confidence of our cause that it is good maketh euen a hard state easie or at least tolerable And these priuiledges which I haue now spoken of who can sufficientlie maruell that our glorious God doth communicate to mortall men yea vile sinners which were once without God in the world I confesse in setting them downe that I am much astonished to thinke of his vnspeakable kindnesse especially because I haue mentioned no vaine speculations or dreames of mans braine which vanish in the aire but vndoubted truethes out of the word of God and found true by experience of many good Christians so that we may worthily be prouoked to seeke a part therein amongst them And yet so much the greater they are and better to be accounted of inasmuch as the longer they be inioyed the more fruit and comfort they bring to him that hath his part in them And when we finde not this doctrine sauourie and sweet to vs nor the vse of it in our afflictions let vs not charge and challenge the Lord for it but consider what we haue lost through vnbeliefe CHAP. 12. Of the eighth priuiledge Of growing in grace NOw as it cannot be denied but that these forementioned graces are singular priuiledges so to passe the next we are not to be ignorant of this that whatsoeuer good things Gods people already haue and inioy yet God hath more in store for them and will giue more grace and greater measure of his heauenly gifts then they before they had them could either aske or thinke And this is woorthy to be considered with the former as a further increase and higher degree of the fruits of his loue that he doth so largely and bountifully reach out his hand vnto them that thereby they may be inriched as farre beyond the beginnings of their true happines as their beginnings were beyond their first condition before it in the iudgement of all men For cleerer proofe heereof we are to know that he maketh them to grow in sounder vnderstanding of his wil in more assurance of faith and strength of hope in more patience vnder the crosse more moderation in the vse of their lawfull liberties and benefits of this life he giueth them better rule ouer their hearts and affections and that in more things then at the first and ofter easilier and so ouer their liues and actions their tongues their hands their eies their eares The Lord giueth them farre more inlargement in praier then in times past and constantly to bestow more time in all the helpes to godlinesse and to scoure off much rust and rubbish of the rebellious old man and their euill qualities as they haue and see greater reason why they should doe so yea he worketh more sound comfort by the holy Ghost and more constant continuance thereof in them then they were wont to be acquainted with And to comprehend much in few words the whole course of their life is much better gouerned then it was wont to be and the image of God more liuely and cleerely restored And are not these thinke we priuiledges farre aboue their expectation and greater then they could looke for All which the Apostle knowing that they were dainties prepared for the Lords beloued ones and a great treasure although hidden from the world did daily wish and pray for that they might be giuen to the church of Colossa as he sheweth in these words After that I heard of your faith in Christ Iesus and loue towards all the Saints I ceased not to pray for you that you might be filled with all knowledge of his will in all wisdome and spirituall vnder standing that you might walke worthy the Lord and please him in all things bringing foorth fruit in euery good worke increasing in the acknowledging of God strengthened with all might according to his glorious power vnto all long suffering and lenity of mind with ioy What haue I said concerning this priuilege which the Apostle hath not fully conteined in these words And yet what people are there being but lately turned to God as the Colossians were which might not thinke that the graces which he put them in hope of and incouraged them to looke for were not more and farre greater then they might possibly be partakers of Which thing may liuely be seene in Moses example if we compare the time wherein God did first call
who hauing made good and commendable beginnings long agone yet haue taken discouragement from making answerable proceedings although it be written Let thy profiting be seene of all And I denie not but that the deuill raiseth occasions enough of fainting slouth deadnesse of spirit of earthlie mindednesse neglecting of meanes c. in such as haue well begun in a Christian life but God be thanked they are not least vnfurnished nor vnprouided of all helps against the same if they were acquainted with the will of God but as they might be Such therefore as see themselues faultie and weake this way let them learne of them which haue better experience in the waies of God than themselues and which doe more chearefully go before them that they by their example may more soundly and constantly goe forward For why should it not be with the Lords plants in his orchard as it is in an husbandmans that as grafts and plants being set in good ground doe spread their branches and shoot foorth their boughes apparently in a few yeeres so might the Lords plants doe Moreouer we see in all societies one commeth awke and vntoward to an occupation learning or any trade yet in few yeeres is able to guide others which plainly sheweth how he hath profited himselfe And can any thing be truly said why he which is but a yong Christian only such an one as is a liuely member of Christ though as yet he be to be thorowly grounded in the principles of religion yet can any thing I say be truly alledged why he should not in a few yeeres be well growen and increased himselfe and able also in those matters to instruct and guide others that as he was inexpert in the word of righteousnesse when he was a babe so after experience he may be stablished For to what end are all those goodly things reuealed in the Scriptures How we may grow from faith to faith and from grace to grace and that such as are aged and well growen should haue their inward senses of their minds exercised to discerne good and euill and that we should whatsoeuer we haue attained vnto more than others yet seeke to increase daily more and more To what end I say are such Scriptures and many other of like sort Are they not written for our instruction and edifying Or els do we thinke that they should lie by vs vnknowen and we not to meddle with them Which if we will not affirme as indeed no wise or well aduised person will why should we not looke to thriue and prosper in our spirituall husbandrie and that with much more assurance than in the earthly wherein yet many thousands doe exceedingly increase and the rather for that our gaine and the blessing of God is farre more certeine in that than in the other Why I say should not we of the ministerie first and principally and then the seuerall congregations and people which are taught and guided by vs not only shine as lights in the darke world but daily more and more as the morning light doth vnto the perfect day And to be so farre beyond our first beginnings in louing and obeying that which we know that as we were then readie and forward in a little when we knew no more so we may now giue occasion to many to praise God for vs whiles they see the same readinesse and forwardnesse to continue in vs as our knowledge is increased And as we were then carefull ouer other for the good of their soules so why should we not be still of the same minde exhorting one another daily with comfort prouoking to loue to good works and not neglect that dutie for the care of our bodies and wealth The which I heartily wish were done but with that alacritie and cheerefulnesse which I my selfe haue seene many yeeres agone But alas how rare a thing is this to finde either in the one or in the other which causeth this and such other worthie prerogatiues of the faithfull as are spoken of in the Scripture to be in small account seeing few examples are found of this practise And by this it may be seene what is to be vnderstood by growing and what this priuiledge is in the laying forth of the which I am now occupied namely that a true Christian may be able to see and in trueth to affirme that he inioieth farre better liking greater freedome much more ease and sweetnesse in seruing God and in the Christian course then sometime he was able to doe or euer looked for That he seeth farre greater light in the will and word of God and bewty in the Godly life and hath much more conquest ouer his rebellious heart in subduing the affections thereof then euer he thought had beene possible for him which who so inioieth not is vniustly depriued of so great a commodity as beside the saluation of his soule hath none like it vpon the earth and yet cannot be separated from that neither And yet as great as it is I haue shewed that the Lord thinketh it neither too great nor too good for his children but hath bequeathed it vnto them and giuen them free graunt of it and so they may haue their part in it although the greater the benefit is the more strongly the diuill keepeth men backe from possessing it yea euen many of Gods deare children themselues whom he holdeth in the cordes of sinne and baites of vanity so that thereby they lose and forgoe a great part in this heauenly priuiledge and liberty But how he and they doe stop their proceedings in grace and Godlinesse may be seene in the former treatise of the lets Yet I cannot omit here to put them in remembrance of this one let againe that without great heed taking they shall weaken their loue to their brethren through conceites and taking of pritches one against an other and that oft times without any iust cause so that they shall be much feebled therby from duties of loue which if it were well considered had little need to be so being sufficient to hinder euery good enterprise then the which their need be no greater But if these and such like be not their stops and staies let not any obiect and say that they desire with their hearts to be partakers of this priuiledge and benefit if they knew how for if they were willing to be perswaded to vse those meanes with that free and ready heart constantly and daily which they sometimes are willing to doe their desire should quickely be accomplished and they made partakers of that which they wish and that is alwaies to make reckoning of that to be their chiefest treasure To grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ and therefore without ceasing to keepe their hearts vnto it and to thinke there is nothing more to be regarded nor of greater weight and necessity then to bestow the day and the seuerall parts of