vapours 'T is grown so dark that I can work no more All these I lost when once I lost my sight And now 't is time to bid the world good night But stay my soul though great thy losses are Thy Blessed Saviour doth not yet forsake thee Make him thine own and then thou needst not care His joyful prefence will a gainer make thee That 's true indeed to him I 'le therefore flye Whose fulness can my losses all supply Be thou my strength O God and I stand surely Be thou my light and I shall finde my way Be thou my shield and I shall walk securely Be thou my guide and I shall never stray Be thou my strength my light my shield my guide And I shall neither stray nor fall nor slide Be thou my fortress foes shall foil mee never Be thou my portion I shall ne'r be poor Be thou my life and I shall live for ever Be thou my God and I defire no more Shine thou on mee and I shall need no Sun Nor fear whilst thou art mine to be undone THE BLIND MANS Advantage THe dark doth not a dungeon make Nor night the want of brightness A knowing and contented mind Can turn that dark to lightness May I from ignorance be free And see Gods loving-kindness With Angels bright That live in light I 'le not complain of blindness The foolish are compar'd with beasts Though differing in their feature Who knowledge wants though hee have his sight Is but a brutish creature Where eyes are lost there inward light With knowledge can requite them Minds truly wise Have Angels eyes 'T is happy to be like them 'T is sad I know to lose the sight And much to be lamented Yet therein finde I gain enough To make the blind contented For when mine eyes could look abroad They sometimes bred mee danger And I was then Like many men At home too much a stranger But now I 'me free from all those snares Way-layd for eyes that wander Whose looks have often prov'd to lust No better than a pandar From all whose most alluring baits My blindness doth exempt mee What Eve beguil'd Or David foil'd Hath now no power to tempt mee And now mine eyes are inward bent With earnest inquisition To search and try and know my self And what 's mine own condition Thus are they rather turn'd than lost For that which was mee homward Hath now no looks For other books But all my sight is homeward Homeward indeed my blindness calls My certain change foretelling For sith my windows be shut up I must look to remove my dwelling There is an house not made with hands The joyes of whose fruition My Faith gives mee Good hopes to see For the end of Faith is vision And thither to be remov'd from hence I may well count a kindness For though I here have lost my fight Yet there I shall lose my blindness Thus hee that out of dark brought light To blessings turns our crosses Where his love takes His goodness makes Us gainers by our losses AN Address to Blindness Wherein are contained several grounds or chearful Patience for those that bee in that condition WElcome Blindness for his sake From whom thou didst commission take To seize upon my watchful spyes And by degrees to cloud mine eyes Because thine orders were from God I 'le not repine but kiss my Rod. No little Birds to earth decline Without a Providence Divine I may as well conclude from thence No Blindness but by providence All rising thoughts I therefore shun And only say Gods will bee done From him the Holy Lord of Might There 's nothing can proceed but right Or light on mee but what is just For what am I but sinful dust The Provocation then being from mee Submissive Patience will become mee Besides God would be understood In all hee sends to seek our good His bitter Pills intend our health And outward losses inward wealth His very chiding comes from kindness And therefore once more welcome Blindness With aged Eli thou didst dwell And Father Isaac knew thee well With Jacob too thou didst abide And other holy men beside Wâ—y then should I deny submission When Saints have been in my condition Thy first appearance calls thee foe But better known thou art not so At least there 's more of friend in thee Than at the first there seems to be For though the body may defie thee The soul may prove a gainer by thee Thy clouds ecclipse all earthly beauties And yet obstruct not holy duties For I can hear discourse and pray Though thou hast took my sight away Thou rather furtherest such transactions In helping to prevent distractions Thy mantle muffles up the sight And yet obscures no inward light Nay thou giv'st leisure and occasions For many heavenly Meditations And canst with Faith and Hope agree Why then should I fall out with thee 'T wixt Faith and thee hath ever been Consent for that 's of things not seen A Christians walking suits thee right For that 's by Faith and not by sight And for a Saint the best ingredients Are hood-winkt faith and blind obedience When once God speaks man should be mute Beleeve obey and not dispute For of his word the truth and right Hath no dependence on our sight Thou canst not therefore I confess Either hinder Faith or Holiness Nor canst thou bar mee from his love Whom no mans face could ever move Or mee from loving him again That doth invisible remain And I though blind may have a being Where blindness shall be turn'd to seeing In Heaven I know there dwells no night But glorious and eternal light For which thou makâ—st mee pant and pray And pressest mee to sigh and say O come the time when I shall never Be blind at all but see for ever Thou also teachest mee to know The emptiness of things below For now by thee I plainly finde That all this world is all but wind And from the Scepter to the Hod There 's nothing worthy love but God In Summe seeing that from God thou art For good and not without desert No foe to Faith or Hope or Love Put rather friend to things above Contented I may well remain Till Heaven restore my sight again THE COMPLAINT AND THE SUIT OF A SINNER Ah mee VVHat a wretch should I be Should I suffer what I see that my sins do require There be none of them so small Which for vengeance do not call And for bitterness and gall Loss of body soul and all In the pit of woe and thrall 'T is no less than endless fire That in justice is their hire Sin Sin With my life did begin And I have liv'd therein All my daies heretofore Sins of heart head hand and tongue Through my life all along Like a thread have they run Binding mee to be undone Many and great are they grown And if Justice scan the score I must perish evermore Poor I Whither now shall I fly To be set at liberty From this depth of miscry 'T is not Sea 't is not shoar 'T is not all the Indian o're 'T is not Rome with all her store That hath salve to cure my sore Onely One can mee restore To that Altar I will fly There I 'le live there I 'le dye Save Save Mercy Lord do I crave Other Refuge none I have But thy mercy to implore O look upon mee through that side Which the spear made so wide Look on mee through him that died And for sin was crucified Grant his wounds my sins may hide And his blood cross my score And I ask but one thing more Grace Grace In my heart do thou place That I may run the race Which thy Laws do require Give mee Lord I humbly sue Grace to know grace to do Grace that may mee so renew And confirm and perfect too That when death shall claim his due Grace in Glory may expire This is all my desire AN EPITAPH LIfe leads to Death so Nature saith Death is the way to Life So Faith Thus let us think of both Say I Hee that desires to live must dye A Meditation UPON THIS EPITAPH LIfe is the way to Death The common course of Nature saith Death is the way to Life This is a truth maintain'd by Faith Even Nature then May minde us men To look for an alteration But against that day 'T is Faith must lay Sure grounds of consolation Hee that would live must dye So Faith and Nature both do teach In words they both comply And yet in sense they make a breach Who love this breath Must look for death Thus Nature doth explain it Faith thus who love That life above Must dye before obtain it But 't is by both confest All Adams race are born to dye The worst and eke the best The rich the poor the low the high Against deaths dart The wisest heart Could never yet finde shield The stout must stoop The daring droop And all be forc'd to yeeld And yet there 's hope in Death For such as do in Christ beleeve For when they lose this breath They truly do begin to live Their worst is past For even the last Omega well to dye The Alpha is To joy and bliss In Heavens eternity To thee I therefore cry Who dost both grace and glory give Teach mee Lord how to dye That so I may be taught to live While I dwell in clay I humbly pray For an heavenly conversation And when I must Return to dust Lord shew mee thy salvation FINIS
they will increase to more ungodliness and their word will eat as doth a canker 2 Tim. 2.16 17. 2 Tim. 2.16 17. The like Caution we have Heb. 12.15 Heb. 12.15 Look to it that no root of bitterness spring up 2 Tim. 3.13 and thereby many be defiled evil men Seducers wax worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 So hard a matter it is if once we be caught to recover again out of the snare of the Devil So that if we put all this together we may plainly perceive that we have a great deal of reason to be watchful over our selves and to take heed that no man deceive us What remains now Use but that I press you earnestly to this your duty If ever there were age wherein this Subject were in season this is it Erasmus in writing the life of St. Jerome hath a notable passage concerning those times wherein that Father lived his words are these Nullum fuit unquam saeculum seditiosius neque consusius sic omnia contaminarant haereticorum errores ac dissidia ut magnae cujusdam artis fuerit orthodoxum esse i.e. There was never any age fuller of confusion and sedition and the errours and dissentions of Hereticks had so polluted all things that it was a kinde of Art for a man to be Orthodox which passage looks as if it were calculated for our meridian 't is the very picture of the times wherein we have lately lived wherein there have been spread abroad such variety of errours that it could be no less than an Art to be Orthodox Almighty God fed us once with the staves of a good Shepherd beauty and bands in beauty there was unity in bands order but our beauty hath been defaced and our bands broken our unity divided and our order dissolved many shepherds have been smitten and the flocks scattered the gaps were left open and the Foxes let loose and the Sheep had got libertatem erroris and were at liberty to stray and perish as it were cum privilegio It cannot therefore but be a word in season to call upon men to look about them Blessed be the God of Truth for the hopes which hee hath given us of seeing better times but the day is so newly broke and there is so much of the old leaven gone abroad and our own Station is so slippery and errour is so infectious that I hope it will prove an acceptable service to warn every one of you as Christ warned his own Disciples to take heed that no man deceive you And for your better furtherance in this so needful a work I cannot in the general commend unto your thoughts any better direction than this namely To be in the fear of the Lord all the day long even natural fear is the great Guardian of the body how warily doth hee walk that is afraid of falling how careful is that man about his mony that fears robbing how diligent is hee that is afraid of danger how circumspect is hee that is afraid of sickness So is spiritual fear the great Guardian of the soul Prov. 16.6 For by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil and the same fear will preserve us also from departing from God Jer. 32.40 Jer. 32.40 If therefore you would not be led away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 3.17 with the errour of lawless men be not high minded but fear Happy is the man that feareth alway Pro. 28.14 but hee that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief Prov. 28.14 For particular helps against the danger of being seduced let mee commend unto you these few following Helps against Seduction First Labour to know the Truth A blind man may easily be led out of the way And to this end let the word of Christ dwell in you richly that you may be able to discern between things that differ for his word is Truth Joh. 17.17 Joh. 17.17 This will be a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths but ignorance of the Scriptures is the way to errour Mat. 22.29 This was the Rule of old to the Law and to the Testimonies Isa 8.20 Isa 8.20 and it is in force still and it is well for us that we have a written word for a Rule to walk by for otherwise what certainty could we have of any of those things that do belong to our peace 't is by the Scriptures that we come to know the voice of Christ from the voice of a stranger and to be preserved from the path of the destroyer This is the principal Antidote which St. Paul prescribes against the like danger as may appear by comparing Act. 20. v. 29.30 Acts 20.29 30. with vers 32. for having warned them of grievous Wolves which should enter among them after his departure for a remedy against them hee commends them to God and to the word of his grace c. And the like may be observed from 2 Tim. 3. if wee compare the four last verses with the rest of the chapter Secondly Labour to be rooted and settled and stablished in the Truth Be not children in understanding nor yet in inconstancy mutatur in horas is the character of a childe in the phrase of the Poet children are never long in one mind but be not you such children a tottering wall may easily be blown down a childish inconstancy is in danger to be tossed to and fro like a wave of the Sea a weather-cock disposition is easily carried about with every wind of doctrine Ephes 4.14 unstable souls may quickly be insnared and therefore hold fast the profession of the Faith without wavering 2 Pet. 2.14 wavering is the way to wander from the Truth Thirdly Be contented with the Truth without itching after novelties lest ye be drawn away from sound doctrine hee that is weary of being led by God is in danger to be led away with errour Remember them that were weary of Manna and lusted for flesh Num. 11.33 Num. 11.33 it had been better for them to have been contented with Gods allowance than to have longed for such varieties they had sweet meats indeed but they had soure sauce with it for while the meat was in their mouths the heavy wrath of God fell upon them and they that did feed to the fullest did never thrive with it Psal 106.15 for God sent leanness into their Soul Psal 106.15 Fourthly Be lovers of the truth men are not easily won to let go what they love but if once our love to the truth grow cold we may easily be wrought upon to exchange it for fables yea it is just with God that such men as do not embrace the love of the truth 2 Thes 2.10 11. that they may be saved should be given up to believe lies 2 Thess 2.10 11. Fiftly Be ye doers of the truth and beware of living in any known way of wickedness with liking and allowance There are some men that
are more in danger to be seduced than other men are some are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlearned souls 2 Pet. 3.16 2 Pet. 3.16 these may easily be wrought upon to call good evil and evil good 't is an easie matter for ignorant men to be deceived Some are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men that are not well under-set not well propt up not rooted and stablished in the faith 2 Pet. 2.14 which they have been taught and such unstable souls may easily be beguiled some are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plain hearted well meaning men people that have no harm in them and therefore are not apt to suspect any in others and therefore are the more in danger to be over-reached Rom. 16.18 Rom. 16.18 but none in more danger to be seduced than wicked men 2 Tim. 3.13 wicked men and seducers are coupled by St. Paul and well they may for disorder in the affections is the way to corrupt the understanding Errour in practice will in time draw on errour in judgement and when once a good conscience is put away 1 Tim. 1.19 faith will quickly suffer Shipwrack 1 Tim. 1.19 He that lives in any known sin which he is resolved not to part withall that man is swept and garnished for the entertaining of any erroneous doctrine which shall tend to strengthen his hands and to comfort his heart in his way of wickedness Facile credimus quod volumus We are very apt to believe what we would have to be true and are loath to doubt of such things as are agreeable to our desires 6. Beware of calling into question apparent truths and of disputing express commands for after this manner the Serpent beguiled Eve and by this means the man of God that was sent to Bethel was betrayed to believe a lye 1 King 13. No Commission Per. Ol. 1 King 13. should ever sway us against express orders under Hand and Seal nor should the pretended voice of an Angel prevail with us against the express voice of God lest it prove bitterness in the latter end for by the one we may be deceived by the other we cannot 7. Beware of their society who with judicious and understanding men have the repute of Seducers Peter in the high-priests hall may quickly be brought to deny his master They that defire the health of their bodies are carefull to shun all places of infection and so should we be too if our desire be the health of our souls T is dangerous for the unlearned to be hearers of such men or to read their books or to hold discourse with them though it be with an intent not to be led by them Dinah had no intent to be defiled when her curiosity sent her forth to see the daughters of the land but 't is not good to be gadding or to wall in tempting waies God hath made no promise to preserve us from evil when we lead our selves into temptation Eightly Trust no mans doctrine upon his own bare word nor upon his bond neither unless he bring the word of God for his security Believe not the matter for the mans sake but the man for the matters sake if we pin our faith upon another mans sleeve we knovv not whether it may be carryed 't is not good to be too credulous lest sometimes we be couzened 1 Thes 5.21 Try all things and hold fast what is good Is the precept of St. Paul How curious are men in receiving of mony a man will tell mony after his own father and if any peece be suspicious we turn it and wind it and ring it and rub it and smel to it and shew it to the by-standers and it may be carry it to the Gold-smith to try and touch it nor care we whose Image and Superscription it bears if once we discover the coyn to be counterfeit And have we not much more reason to be curious about those things that do belong to the good of our souls Follow therefore in this case the advice of St. John 1 Epist 4.1 Many false Prophets are gone forth saith he 1 Joh. 4.1 and so may we believe not therefore every one that pretends to the Spirit but try what Spirit they are of And for our better direction in their discovery These following rules may be very useful First Rules for the tryal of false Prophets Rule 1. They that come not in by the door are theeves and robbers John 10.1 It is spoken there of false Christs but it holds true also of false Prophets and by this door I understand a lawful calling nor may any man take upon him to be a messenger of God unless he be fairly called to it and if any man pretend to a mission and can produce no commission for what he doth he is but a deceiver I do not deny but that a man may be truely a Prophet and yet he may be a false Prophet he may be truely a Prophet in regard of the lawfulness of his calling and yet he may be a false Prophet in regard of the ill discharging of his duty and therefore I do not say that a lawful calling is enough to argue the truth of a mans doctrine but this I say that the want of a lawful calling is enough to prove the falshood of the person Who sent thee or who made thee a minister is a needful question for if any man come in his own name it is to be doubted that he comes upon his own errand The Lord complains of some that spake lies in his Name Jer. 14.14 and he never sent them If they speak lies we may be sure that he never sent them or at least not on that errand and if he sent them not what can we expect but lies from them If God send any upon his errands it is either by the ordinary way of imposition of those reverend hands in which Christ hath intrusted that power for the good of his Church or else t is by the way extraordinary Now whomsoever he sends this way he doth not onely vouchsafe unto them some special revelation for the perswading of themselves but also he indues them with power sufficient for the performing of such works as are above the reach of men or devils and for the doing of such things as may carry authority with them to convince others also that they are sent of God These are Gods waies and who-ever they be that pretend to be sent of God yet cannot make it out by one of these waies we may safely conclude that God never sent them unless it be to prove the sincerity of our love as it is said of the false Prophet Deut. 13.3 or else for a punishment to a barren and wanton Nation and if like Jezabel Rev. 2.20 they call themselves Prophets upon their own account we may call them Seducers Secondly They that can indure no superiority in the Church are suspicious persons The ground of this I have
c. and some Pastors and Teachers Mark not all teachers for who then should be hearers but some Pastors and Teachers And why hath hee given the Church Pastors and Teachers but amongst other ends for this also that we should not be tossed to and fro and carried about c vers 14. If then God gave Ministers to prevent Seducers we may well account them no better than Seducers that shall revile or oppose them Fourthly Beware of those who decline the word of God revealed in the Scriptures and set up any other Rule to walk by in the worship of God and way of salvation 'T is his word that is the Truth and therefore to decline this and instead thereof to set up Traditions new Lights or pretended Revelations is the mark of a deceiver There be many in these latter daies that have boasted much of the Spirit and pretended to Revelations no less than Angelical but let them boast and pretend what they will Si à verbo discrepant non sunt Evangelica Revelationes sed Diabolicae illusiones if they agree not with the written Word of God they are no Evangelical Revelations but they are diabolical delusions 'T is the way of Christs Apostles that we must walk in we must hear them i.e. beleeve regard obey and follow them and they that do not thus hear them are not of God and by this we may know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of errour 1 Joh. 4.6 Fifthly They that are for divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned from the blessed Apostles are to be marked and avoided for they serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies Rom. 16.17 If it be but strange doctrine with which heretofore we have had no acquaintance which is brought unto us Heb. 13.9 let it stand at the door and examine it thorowly before it be let in and unless it have a good certificate give it no entertainment but if it cross the unity of the Spirit and the bond of Peace away with it for unnecessary strife and needless divisions have no agreement with the Spirit of God To this purpose give mee leave to acquaint you with a passage of a modern Divine much to be taken notice of his words are these In a Church where the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ only is soundly and truly taught and received if any the most sanctified man in shew shall teach any thing which may tend to make a division or faction See Mr. Par. in his Loctures on Rom. 16 17. and to disturb the peace of the Church suspect and be jealous thereof for either it is false or if true yet better be buried as low as the center of the earth than to be broached to break the Peace and unity of the Church Thus hee Sixthly Beware of those that promise liberty beyond the bounds of the Gospel The Gospel indeed is a perfect doctrine of perfect liberty shewing us the ready way how to be freed from the terrour and rigour of the Law from the service of sin and slavery of Satan and from the curse of God and the wrath to come But if any man shall stretch this liberty to a freedome from Parents and Masters and Magistrates and Ministers to a freedome from the Ordinances of God to a freedome from the Moral Law as the Rule of our Obedience to a freedome from penitential sorrows and from praying unto God for the pardon of our sins this is beyond the liberty of the Gospel This is not liberty but looseness this is liberty turned into a cloak of maliciousness and they that thus promise liberty are themselves the Servants of corruption See 1 Tim. 6.1 2 3 4. Seventhly By their fruits you may know them Mat. 7.16 Mat. 7.16 not by their leaves but by their fruit for the leaves may bee fair when the fruit is faulty Not by their cloathing but by their carriage for that may be sheepish when this is ravenous and devouring not by their street-doors but by their secret chambers for the one may be swept and clean when the other are foul and nasty There is filthiness of the Spirit as well as of the flesh and though they put away fornication and drunkenness yet if they retain pride and hatred and malice and wrath and seditions and heresies are they not carnal Men may pretend to much light and perfection and acquaintance with God but if they say They have no sin they are a company of lyers 1 Joh. 1.8 10. And they that walk in hatred let them pretend what they will they walk in darkness 1 Joh. 2.9 11. And therefore look narrowly into their conversations A conversation truly pure and truly peaceable patient and meek full of self-denial and mercy and charity is a conversation suitable to the Gospel but they that walk contrary to these are disorderly walkers Walkers indeed some of them are for they go to and fro and compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes who if they come not within compass of the Statute against Vagrants and Wanderers whom a whip and a pass should convey to the place from whence they came yet they should be carefully avoided by all those that wish well to their own peace and the good of their brethren Or lastly If this be not the true meaning of that place Mat. 7.16 then by their fruits we must understand the fruit which grows upon their doctrine observe what fruit their doctrine brings forth for by that you shall know them The scope of their doctrine will help to discover what they are If it tend to the denying of all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to living godly righteously and soberly in this present world 't is well but if it tend to the strengthening of the hands of evil daers this is according to the false Prophets of old Jer. 23.14 If it tend to peace and love and mercy and meekness 't is well but if it tend to hatred variance envy and malice it cometh of evil If it tend to build men up in their most holy Faith if it tend to a growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ if it tend to the growing up in all things into him which is the head i.e. into a greater communion with and conformity to the Lord Jesus 't is well but if it tend not to these things 't is but hay and stubble at the most or else 't is a wind of doctrine empty and light stuff at the best having more of noise and sound than of soundness and solidity But if this wind prove blustering and tempestuous raising up storms of sedition and rebellion and kindling the coals of needless contentions all the day long though it carry with it never so great a shew of zeal and holiness yet can it not proceed from the Spirit of that God who is not the Author of confusion but of peace 1 Cor. 14.33 But