will he lay down his basket and take up his axe and say his spirit shall not always strive with man Shiloe was his house but he forsook it the temple of Jerusalem was his habitation but he left it Judah was his pleasant plant but he hath forsaken it he did walk among the seven golden candlesticks in the Churches of Asia but he hath removed those candlesticks and the Lord grant he may never give England a bill of divorce oh my soul art thou a barren branch then maist thou fear the pruning hook if thou be a barren tree thou maist fear the axe and the fire is like to be thy end if thou bear but a little fruit if God spare thee thou maist expect cutting and pruning by affliction it is better bleed then burn answer Gods ends in his afflicting thee bring forth more fruit if he take any thing from thee 't is but what thou canst well spare yea what fed some excrescence and rendred thee more useless oh my God use me as thou wilt only cut me not down for the fire our me and prune me at thy pleasure but forsake me not nor lay me waste Upon suckers in a fruit-bearing tree 78. Med. FRom those suckers before observed in a fruit-bearing tree I had also this following meditation for observing how they grew rank by the nourishment that should have fed the tree and loftily lift up the head above them and suckt that sap that should have made other branches to bear and as they were unprofitable themselves so they rendred the rest almost useless I thought they much resembled some new upstart opinions which some unwary professors espouse to themselves and because they differ from others they therefore think themselves more holy then their neighbours and hold their heads higher and verily believe growing in opinion is growing in grace In Arragon there were some hereticks who called themselves the illuminati as if they only had been in the light and all the world besides had been in darkness the Gnosticks would be the only knowing men the Manichees thought whatsoever they taught was food from heaven and the Family of Love boast of their Evangelium regni and of late the Ranters and Quakers boast of the infallible conduct of the spirit Now those opinions are ofttimes the brats of their own brain and many times pernicious errours or at least unprofitable things or matters of no great concernment yet they being thus espoused they suffer these opinions to suck all the sap that should maintain the vitalls of Religion that the whole tree is thereby rendred useless and unprofitable How many are there in our age that might have brought God much glory and his Church much good who have set themselves with might and main and spent their time and their strength and laid out their zeal and all for the promoting their own opinion perhaps an errour or at best but some lesser disputable truth perhaps about some circumstance of worship when in the mean time the very fundamentals of religion are neglected and the very vitals languish for want of nourishment for seldome do you see a wrangling Christian eminent in the power of godliness Many men when they have espoused an opinion make provision to maintain it they subject not their opinions to the rule but bring the rule to them and make it truckle under them for it is victory and not truth that many seek and therefore they spend their time and strength this way yea shut their eyes against all that makes not for them they are as zealous for their opinion as if the whole of religion consisted in it and as if they could hardly be Christians which were not of their minde when perhaps for sixteen hundred years they cannot finde a man of their judgement and all this while forgetting that the power of godliness and an holy life is the main of religion for whatever is in the brain if this be not in the heart all is worth nothing these mens knowledge floating in the brain makes them top-heavy but by reason of some obstructions their knowledge sinks not down into nor seasons the heart or the life Many are like the two men in the fable that contended about the shadow of the ass they had found who should go in it in a hot day till at last while they contended the ass got loose and escaped or like the dog in the fable that catching at the shadow lost the substance so these contend about trifles and neglect the main they are like children that have the rickets the head grows too big for the body the head thrives but the whole body pines they spend so much of their strength and zeal for externals that they neglect the internals they have so much zeal for or against ceremonies that they neglect the substance yet mistake me not my designe is not to make men careless in lesser points but more carefull in greater I would not have them think any sin small or to neglect any known duty but I would have them proportion their zeal according to the weight of the matter and not spend it all upon lesser matters and neglect the main concerns I would have no man neglect his little finger yet would I have him in the first place secure his head and heart he may be a man if he want his little finger but not without his head and his heart he may be a Christian though he erre about the modes and circumstances of worship but he cannot without holiness and sincerity some Christians are like the Salamander always in the fire of contention but these mens graces rather then corruptions are like to be burnt I like not those men that moddle religion in their own brain and make their own conceptions the center of unity and like Procrustes make his own bed fit all comers Let all things saith the Apostle be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14.40 a necessary rule but so extremely wrackt that I conceive through mens corruption it hath produced more indecency and disorder then any one Scripture besides the Papists and others making this the foundation of all their needless ceremonies but to return to the point in hand my desire and designe is to perswade men to maintain the vitalls of Religion in the first place and let the strength of their zeal be laid out here and for lesser points if disputable let every man be satisfied in his own conscience and grant some allowance to others that differ in their judgements till they themselves are infallibly sure that they hold no errors take Christs counsel Mat. 7.1 judge not that you be not judged for with what judgement ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again many men are quick-sighted abroad but blinde at home reade also the Apostles counsel Rom. 14.1 2 3. c. Oh my soul spend not thy time and strength in trifles when thou
of him or the son of man that thou regardest him thou hast made him a little lower then the angels thou hast crowned him with glory and dignity Psal 8.4 5. I considered that all this rule and dominion glory and dignity was given him that he might serve and honour his Creator whose image he did in the Creation most lively represent but above all sublunary creatures none have more deviated from the rule God hath given them nor transgressed his laws nor frustrated the ends of their creation more then man by whose fall the beauty of the newly burnisht world was soon stained and the glory of it soon ecclipsed This made me wonder that God suffered such enemies to live upon the face of the earth to be lords over the works of his hands Oh the patience and long-forbearance of a merciful God! that such rebels that have their life and breath and being from him and are guilty of so many acts of treason and rebellion against heaven should yet be preserved and provided for as they are and so many offers of mercy tendred to them Oh my soul hath God done so much for thee was this glorious fabrick of the world made for thy sake among others are the creatures yea the angels themselves set a work for thy good and doth thy great benefactor only require the pepper-corn of homage and the thankful acknowledgement of what thou hast received and obediential homage for the time to come and dost thou deny him that art thou fed and cloathed maintained and preserved by his providence and care and hast thou any meat to eat or drink to drink or cloaths to put on or health or strength or limbs or senses or peace or plenty or life or breath or any other enjoyment but what he gives thee and is a thankfull acknowledgment of these favours denyed by thee he doth not need thee neither canst thou add any thing to his glory yet he takes himself honoured by a thankfull obediential observation of his commands but alas how much time didst thou spend before thou dist cordially yield any thanks to him for his benefits and how much wanting art thou in it to this very day he makes his sun to shine upon thee and his rain to fall upon thee he gives thee fruitfull seasons and fills thy heart with food and gladness 't is doubtless then thy duty to devote thy self wholly to his service and give up not only thy name but thy heart to Christ Oh my God! dost thou expect service from me enable me to do it I am by nature a senceless stock or stone dead in trespasses and sins put life into me and I shall perform the actions of life I cannot act without thy assistance give me help from heaven for vain is the help of man open my lips then shall I shew forth thy praise inlarge my heart then shall I run the ways of thy commands touch my tongue with a coal from thy altar then shall I trumpet out thy praise seek thy servant and I shall be found Upon the plucking off the tops of weeds 10. Med. IN a dry season when the bottles of heaven were stopped and the clouds were bound up the rain restrained and the showers withheld from the earth so that it was parched hard and dry and gaped in vain for cooling moistning refreshing softning showers I observed some persons when they could not get up the weeds by the roots tare off their heads which when they had done the garden seemed pleasant to the beholders and gave content for a while to the spectators who imagined there had been a through-reformation but not long after when a shower of rain distilled upon it the cheat appeared the weeds sprung up as fresh and flourishing as before yea like hydra with more heads then at first so this partiall reformation was discovered This observation afforded this Meditation I thought it much resembled a partiall reformation in the soul when men begin their reformation at the wrong end or take a wrong course to kill the tree of sin as many do they crop and lop off some branches and let the root alone this is not the way to destroy it many tear off some of the tops of the weeds but let the root remain in the soul which when it is watered with the devils temptations and the worlds allurements and animated with fit occasions and suitable opportunities they spring forth afresh it may be with more heads then before and then the cheat appears that those sins were not kil'd but laid aside An evident example we have of this in Herod who convinced by Iohn Baptists preaching that his courses were not good sets upon a reformation falls out with many of his sins lops off here one bough and there another but lets the root remain firm which afterwards spring forth and shew themselves It is said he reformed many things but he left much work behinde undone to the undoing of his soul The sore was only skinned over and was not sound at the bottom and after broke out with more violence and greater anguish like a torrent of water dam'd up when the dam breaks it runs more furiously So did Herods corruption even to the taking away of Iohn Baptists head who before had set some stop to it And thus it is with many seeming Converts that after prove wicked apostates and persecute the truth that they did formerly profess the root of the matter was not in them Hazael did not believe so much wickedness to lodge in his heart as the Prophet spake of and afterwards appeared An apple rotten at the heart may have a fair outside but the rottenness within will in time rot the outside also when the fountain is corrupted it is impossible to purge the stream If the heart be rotten all that thence proceeds will have an ill savour This half reformation hath been the undoing of many forward Professors in our days they reformed their lives but not their hearts they lopt off some boughs but medled not with the root they went to clense the stream but not the fountain and in a little time the corruption within breaks forth into the life and conversation without and the unclean spirit that was cast out takes to himself seven more worse then himself and enters in and the last end of that man is worse then the beginning Mat. 12.45 The devil deals by such when he hath reduced them as a Jaylour with one that hath broke prison lays on more bolts Runagate Christians are the devils greatest devotes and such apostates very hardly if ever are reduced O my soul how stands the case with thee hast thou not weeded thy own garden thus and rather tore off the lops of the weeds then pluckt them up by the root how comes it else to pass that upon every showr of temptation they are so apt to spring up again look about thee if thou wilt not kill sin sin will kill thee and if
God forgive I beseech thee my carnal confidence trusting to the arm of flesh both in reference to my body and soul let me see the vanity of all creature-confidences how little they can avail without thy blessing and however thou crossest my designes for the world Lord succeed my designes for heaven with thy blessings leave me not to the teaching of man but teach me thy self water me with the dew of heaven and let thy clouds drop fatness incline my heart to thy testimonies and not to coveteousness Upon flowers seemingly dead in winter yet flourishing in the spring 23. Med. WHen I observed some flowers in the garden that all the winter long when the sun was remote in the Southern climate hid their heads withered seemed to die and to be extinct and buried themselves in their mother earth yet at the return of the year when their beloved smiled upon them when the sun came to the aequinoctial and began to court them and shine upon them with a more direct ray and warmer gleam they crept out of their grave revived sprang again and flourished like a love sick woman killed with a frown and recovered with a smile those that before go in their mourning-weeds now put on their best apparel This consideration made me compare it to the state of a poor soul in desertion when God the Sun of righteousness her beloved hides his face and stands at a remote distance then it is winter with the soul then it droops hangs down the head and is ready to die and cry out with the spouse stay me with flagons comfort me with apples I am sick of love but there may be life in the root when it appears not in the branches when the Sun of righteousness ariseth in the soul with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 these dry bones will live these dead branches will bud these swouning fainting souls will revive and these buried flowers will spring out again though they are in the shadow of death light shall spring out to them The hearb of grace will not die in a hard winter when the spring comes it will bud and break forth the best of Saints oft have had their fainting-fits David that man after Gods own heart though well acquainted with the incomes of the spirit the smiles of God and spirituall consolations yet had many qualms and fainting-fits upon the apprehension of Gods departure but God though he seem to be long absent will not forsake those that are not willing to leave him Esay 4.14.15 but Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me can a woman forget her sucking-childe that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee A father sometimes hides himself behinde the wall to try the affections of his little son to see whether he will miss him what moan he will make in his absence or whether he minde his play and be content without him when yet he is so far from forsaking him that every tear goes to his heart so God in his withdrawings from his people is much concerned in the moan they make and his bowels yearn at their complaints as he did at Ephraims when he bemoaned himself Jer. 31.18 19 20. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself c. Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord who is among you saith the prophet that feareth the Lord and walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God Esay 5.10 Here we see a man may fear God and yet be in darkness sometimes the Sun may he ecclipsed sometimes clouded but it will break forth again those that have their eyes enlightned shall see it though the blinde discern not between day and night light and darkness the greatest part of the world know not what it is to have the Sun of righteousness to arise in their hemisphere But it is the greatest grief to a believer that ever befell him in his life to have the face of his beloved to be clouded from him and his sun to set at noon then he goes with the spouse seeking him sorrowing did ye see him whom my soul loveth Cant. 3.3 when they seek him and cannot finde him when they call him and he gives them no answer Cant. 5.6 they seek from ordinance to ordinance from Minister to Minister and enquire after him every room in the house may witness their moan and their complaint but when they finde they rejoyce with the Martyr Oh Austin he is come he is come oh my soul how stands the case with thee art thou apprehensive of the approaches and departures of God from thy soul dost thou rejoyce in his presence as these poor flowers in the presence of their beloved dost thou mourn at his absence as they do and hide thy head dost thou hunger and thirst after him as the thirsty man for drink or the thirsty land for drops of rain if thou make little matter of him it is a signe thou hast little benefit by him or little love to him or never knewest what it was to have communion with him he is the chiefest of ten thousand therefore the virgins love him get as strong an apprehension of his love to thee and thine to him as possibly thou canst this will keep the soul from stragling thou wilt never leave him whom thou lovest and he will never leave one that loves him his withdrawings are but to try thy affections and he oft loves dearly those he seems to loathe if thou forsake not him he will never forsake thee and an evidence of his love will bear up the heart above trouble the Psalmist when he was so troubled that he could not speak yet comforted himself in considering the days of old and the years of ancient times and calling to his remembrance his songs in the night Psal 77.4 5 6. when there is a calm and tranquillity in the soul examine thy self by Scripture-evidences whether there be the truth of grace in thy soul or no and if thou finde it lay up these records against a stormy-day when the sun is clouded and out of sight then when thou canst not reade thy own heart or see grace in thy soul yet maist thou say at such a time in such a place I examined my self by such and such marks grounded upon such and such Scriptures and plainly and impartially judged my graces were true now true grace cannot be lost and therefore I know there is fire though under the ashes and true grace though buried under corruption and he that then loved me will love me to the end yea with an everlasting love oh my God assist me in this work of examination and not only give