he carries his eye over all the shafts in his quiver he pulls out and puts in one after another untill he have made choice of his Arrow then he proves it with his finger and judges by his ear whether it be fit to fly to the mark then he considers how the Wind siâ—s whether to help him or to hinder him When he hath put his Arrow into the bow and begun to draw if there come a gust of contradiction in his way he hath the discretion to bear with it till it have spent it self When the blast is over he sets his foot to the ground draws his Arrow up to the head and sticks it up to the Feathers Thus it is that Preaching is a kind of Artillery exercise that requireth strength and knowledg Ministers a kind of Aâ—chers and the Souls of Men are the fairest marks that can be shot at but it so cometh to passe that many for want of growth to draw the Bow of the Prophets and Apostles or want of skill to shoot or care to shoot when they have taken their aim many times miss the mark being either short or wide and so become despised Christ to be made our Example in bearing the Crosse. VVHen Alexander the great marched through Persia his way was stopped with Ice and Sâ—ow insomuch that his Souldiers being tyred out with hard marches were discouraged and would have gone no further Which he perceiving dismounted his horse and went on foot through the midst of them all making himself a way with a pickâ—xe VVhereat they all being ashamed First his Friends then the Captains of his Army and last of all the Common-Souldiers followed him So should all men follow Christ their Saviour by that rough and unpleasant way of the Cross that he hath gon before them He having drunk unto them in the cup of his Passion they are to pledg him when occasion is offered He having left them an Example of his suffering they are to follow him in the sâ—lf-â—ame steps of sorrow 1 Pet. 2. 21. The slavery of Sin IT is the observation of a learned facetious Italian That they which lead a servile life as bodily servants in Princes Courts and meniall in other houses who being occupied in other Mens businesse are ruled by the Will of another Mans beck and learn in another Mans countenance what they must do All that they have is another Mans another Mans threshold another Mans House another Mans sleep another Mans meat and which is worst of all another Mans mind They neither weep nor laugh at their own pleasure but they cast off their own and put on another Mans affections besides they do another Mans business think another Mans thoughts and live another Mans life Such and worse is the slavery of Sin and Sathan Never was there any Vassall endured greater villany and drudgery though never so hard and cruâ—ll then every impenitent Sinner doth under Sin and the Devill who hath them at such command that if he bid them but go they are ready to run he leads them as a Dog in a chain he ruleth over them like a Prince and worketh in their hearts as in a shop causing them to fulfill the will of the flesh Ephes. 2. 23. The great danger of not keeping close to Gods Word IT is a thing very well-known in the great and populous City of London that when Children or some of bigger growth newly come out of the Country and so not well-acquainted with the streets are either lost or found straying from their home there is a sort of leud wicked People commonly called Spirits that presently fasten upon them and by falshood and fair language draw them further out of their way then sell them to forreign plantations to the great grief of their Parents and Friends who in all likelihood never afterwards hear what is become of them Thus it is that when Men and Women are found stragling from God their Father the Church their Mother and refuse to be led by the good guidance of the blessed Spirit when they keep not to the Law and to the Testimony nor stick close to the Word of God which is in it self a lantern to their feet and a light unto their paths then no marvell if they meet with wicked Spirits seducers and false teachers that lead them captive at their will and that not receiving the Truth in the love of the Truth God give them over to strong delusions to believe alye 2 Thes. 2. 11. How it is that Men fail so much in the true service of God THe Sun-beams collected in a burning-glasse kindle a fire upon certain conditions viz. that the Object be combustible and apt to take fire that the glass be held still and steddy and that it be in a just distance neither too far off nor yet too neer but so as the beams may best unite their force Such a burning glass is Christ. Through him Gods Fatherly love shineth upon us he standeth as Mediatour betwixt God and us receiving the beams of his Father as his natural Son and transfusing them altogether upon us his adopted brethren Being then in so clear a Sun-shine and having so perfect a burning glass How comes it to passe that so many of us continue so cold so key-cold so much failing in the true service of God Surely there is some defect in the conditions some hold the glasse too far off and think of the Mercies of God in Christ but slightly and confusedly some hold it too near and being all upon Mercy Mercy make remission of sins a plaister for presumption in sinning Some hold it not still by steddy and fixed Meditations but superficially glance upon it by spurts and flashes And some others are not of such combustible matter not so fit to be fixed with the fear of his Mercies as to be feared with the fire of his Iudgments Dissention the Forerunner of Confusion IT is observed that when Sheep fall a butting one against another a storm follows not long after And they say of Bees that when they stir and strive amongst themselves it is a sign that their King is about to remove and leave the hive Surely then prodigious must needs be all intestine Enmity when the sheep of Christ are so malignant one against another it is a fearfull presage of an ensuing ruine when there are such stirs and schisms in the Church such tumults and hurliburlies in the State it may be justly feared that God is about to remove from us Hypocrisy discovering it self in the end COunterfeit Diamonds may sparkle and glister and make a great shew for some time but their lustre will not last long And experience shews that an Apple if it be rotten at the coar though it have a fair and shining out side yet rottennesse will not stay long but will taint the outside also It is the nature of things unsound that
such as make low accompt of Mens lives that destroy where they might build hopes of amendment and down with root and branch where they need but pare the leafe such in discharge of their place are govern'd more by Custome then Conscience who take dark circumstance and lame surmise for evidence rashly giving sentence and as precipitately proceeding to Execution Graces of Gods spirit not given in vain THe Husbandman the more he improves his ground the greater crop he looks for the completer the Souldier is armed the better service is required of him The Scholler that is well instructed must shew great fruits of his proficiency Thus the Earthly part of Man soaks in the sweet showers of Grace that fall upon it The bleffed Spirit of God puts upon us that Panoplia that whole Armour of God And the same Spirit teacheth us all things leads us into all Truth and brings all things to our Remembrance which Christ hath spoken for our good Shall we then being thus manured thus armed thus instructed not bring forth fruits in some measure answerable to so great Indulgence Shall such blessings of God be received in vain It must not be we may read these and the like expressions in Scripture Occupy till I come Give an accompt of thy sâ—ewardship To whom much is given much is required What 's the meaning Cum crescunt dona rationes etiam crescunt donorum We must give an accompt as well of Graces received from God Whether they be those summer Graces of Prosperiâ—y Joy and Thansgiving or those winter Graces of Adversity Patience and Perseverance or the Grace of Humility which is alwayes in season as of Sins of what kind soever committed against him Sacriledge justly rewarded to take heed of committing it IT was a suddain and sad end that befell Cardinall Wolsey whilst he sought more to please his Soveraign then his Saviour And the revenging hand of God pursued his five chiefe Agents that were most instrumentall for him in his sacrilegious enterprise One of them killed his fellow in a Duell and was hang'd sor it a third drowned himselfe in a well a fourth fell from a great Estate to extream beggery Doctor Allen the last and chiefest of them being Arch-bishop of Dublin was cruelly slain by his Enemies Utinam his similibus exemplis c. saith the Author of this story I would men would take heed by these and the like examples how they meddle with things consecrated to God for if divine Justice so severely punished those that converted Church-goods though not so well administred to better uses doubtlesse And why but because they did it out of selfish and sinfull self-interested Principles and â—nds What shall become of such as take all occasions to rob God that they might enrich themselves Spoliantur Ecclesiae Scholae c. was Luthers complaint of old Parishes and Churches are polled and robbed of their maintenance as if they meant to starve us all The comfortable Resurrection of Gods poore despised People WHen we see one in the streets from every dunghill gather old pieces of rags and durty clouts little would we think that of those old rotten ragges beaten together in the Mill there should be made such pure fine white Paper as afterwards we see there is Thus the poor despised Children of God may be cast out into the world as dung and dross may be smeared and smooted all over with lying amongst the pots they may be in tears perhaps in bloud both broken-hearted and broken-boned yet for all this they are not to dispair for God will make them one day shine in joy like the bright stars of Heaven and make of them Royall Imperiall Paper wherein he will write his own name for ever Conversion of a sinner matter of great rejoycing IT is observable that Abraham made a feast at the weaning of his Son Isaac not on the day of his Nativity not on the day of his Circumcision but on that day when he was taken from his Mothers breast from sucking of Milk to taste of stronger meat This made a festival in Abrahams family and may very well make a feast in ever true Repentant sinners heart Nascimuâ— carâ—ales allactamur spirituales We are all of us conceived and born in sinne and with our Mothers milk have sucked in the bitter juyce of corrupt Nature but when it comes so to passe that by the speciall illumination of Gods holy Spirit shining into our hearts that we are weaned from the things of this World and raised up to those things which are at Gods right hand that we are new Creatures new Men c. This hath alwayes been matter of great rejoycing to the Angels of Heaven and must needs be the like to every sinner that is so converted Childrens Christian instruction the great benefit thereof IT is reported of the Harts of Scythia that they teach their young ones to leap from bank to bank from Rock to Rock from one turfe to another by leaping before them which otherwise tâ—ey would never practise of themselves by which meanes when they are hunted no Man or beast can ever overtake them So if Parents would but exercise their Children unto Godlinesse principle them in the wayes of God whilst they are young and season their tender years with goodnesse dropping good things by degrees into their narrow-moutn'd vessels and whetting the same upon their Memories by often repeating Sathan that mighty Hunter should never have them for his prey nor lead them captive at his Will they would not be young Saints and old Devils as the prophane Proverb hath it but young Saints and old Angels of heaven The joyes of Heaven not to be expressed St. Augustine tells us that one day while he was about to write something upon the eighth verse of the Thirty sixth Psalm Thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasures And being almost swallowed up with the Contemplation of Heavenly joyes one called unto him very loud by his name and enquiring who it was he answered I am Hierom with whom in my life time thou hadst so much conference concerning doubts in Scripture and am now best experienced to resolve thee of any doubts concerning the joyes of Heaven but onely let me first aske thee this question Art thou able to put the whole Earth and all the waters of the Sea into a little 〈◊〉 Canst thou measure the waters in thy fist and mete out Heaven with thy span or weigh the Mountains in scales and the hills in a ballance If not no more is it pâ—ssible that thy understanding should comprehend the least of those joyes And certainly The joyes of Heaven are inexpressible so sayes St. Paul 1 Cor. 2. 9. The eye may see farre it may reach the Stars but not the joyes of Heaven the ear may extend it selfe a great
of the inferiour Members be cut off yet the body may live and do indifferently well but if the Head be taken off if the King be set aside actum est de Republica that Kingdome that People cannot long stand Christ the proper object of the Soul THere is no Agent that takes any rest or contentment but in its proper Object If a man had all the Musicall raptures and melodious Harmony in the whole World before him he could not hear it with his eyes because it is the proper object of the Ear If never so triumphant shews or Courtly Masques he could not see them with his Ears because they are the proper Object of the Eye So it is with the Soul of Man if it were possible that all the treasures pleasures honours preferments and delights which the World doth affect were presented and tendered to the Soul yet would they not afford unto it any true satisfaction because they be not the proper Object and Center of the Soul it is the Lord onely or as a godly Martyr said once None but Christ can compasse the Soul about with true content and comfort Sathans aim at those that have most of God and Religion in them PIrats and such as are Robbers at Sea slightly passe by smaller Vessels that are but poorly fraighted whilst ships that are richly laden and furnished with Merchantable commodities become the object of their greedy thoughts at whom they make the strongest opposition and for the gaining of whom rather then fail they will hazard their lives to the utmost of danger imaginable Thus it is that Sathan that Arch-Pirate lets poor silly ignorant Souls alone such as by their own defaults are but as so many empty Vessels floating on the Sea of this World Oh but when he spies out a rich Soul laden with the fruits of the Spirit that hath much of god Christ and Heaven in it there it is that he bends all his Forces and against such a Soul it is that he raiseth all his strength that so if possible he may bring it under his more then miserable subjection Sin to be abhorred as the cause of Christs Death AFter Iulius Caesar was treacherously murthered in the Senate-house Antonius brought forth his coat all bloudy cut and mangled and laying it open to the view of the People said Look here is your Emperours coat and as the bloudy-minded Conspirators have dealt by it so have they also with Caesars body whereupon they were all in an uproar crying out to slay those Murtherers then they took the Tables and stools that were in the place and set them on fire and ran to the houses of the Conspirators and burnt them down to the ground But behold a greater then Caesar even the Lord Iesus himself all bloudy rent and torn for the Sins of the World How then when we look on Sin as the cause of his death and seriously consider that Sin hath slain the Lord of life should our hearts be provoked to be revenged on Sin How should we loath and abhor it as having done that mischief that all the Devills in Hell could never have done the like A lesser Sin given way unto makes way for the committing of greater IT is S. Augustines story of Manicheus that being tormented with flies was of opinion that the Devill made them and not God Why then said one that stood by If the Devill made flies then the Devill made Worms True said he the Devill did make worms But said the other If the Devill did make worms then he made birds beasts and Man He granted all And thus saith the good old Father by denying God in the fly he came to deny God in Man and consequently the whole Creation And thus it is that the yeilding to lesser Sins draws the Soul to the commission of far greater as in these licentious dayes of ours is too too apparent How many have fallen First to have low thoughts of the Scripture and Ordinances of God then to slight them afterwards to make as it were a Nose of Wax of them and in conclusion to cast them quite off lifting up themselves their Christ-dishonouring and Soul-damning opinions above them so that falling from evill to evill from folly to folly and as it is in all other cases of the like Nature from being naught to be very naught and from very naught to be stark naught till God in his most just Judgment sets them at nought for ever Men to prefer suffering before Sinning IT is reported of that eminent servant of God Marcus Arethusus who in the time of Constantine had been the cause of overthrowing an Idoll-Temple but Iulian coming to be the Emperour commanded the People of that place to build it up again all were ready so to do onely the good Bishop dissented whereupon they that were his own people to whom he had formerly preached and who as in all probability any one would have thought might have learn't better things fell upon him strip't off all his cloaths then abused his naked body and gave it up to children and School-boyes to be lanched with their penknives but when all this would not do they caused him to be set in the Sun having his naked body anointed all over with honey that so he might be bitten and stung to death by Flies and Wasps and all this cruelty they exercised upon him because he would not do any thing towards the re-building of that Idol Temple Nay they came so far that if he would give but an half-penny towards the charge they would release him but he refused all though the advancing of an half-penny might have been the saving of his life and in doing thus he did but live up to that principle that most Câ—ristians talk of and few come up unto And thus it is that all of us must chuse rather to suffer the worst of torments that Men and Devills can inflict then to commit the least Sin whereby God should be dishonoured our Consciences wounded Religion reproached and our Souls endangered Discretion a main part of true Wisedome A Father that had three Sons was desirous to try their discretions which he did by giving to each of them an Apple that had some part of it rotten The first eats up his Apple rotten and all The second throws all his away because some part of it was rotten But the third picks out the rotten and eats that which was good so that he appeared the wisest Thus some in these daies for want of Discretion swallow down all that is presented rotten and sound together Others throw away all Truth because every thing delivered unto them in not Truth but surely they are the wisest and most discreet that know now to try the Spirits whether they be of God or not how to chuse the good and refuse the evill The difference betwixt true and feyned
have continued till this day such as sometimes we were barbarous subjects to the Prince of darknesse Want of Love is the cause of all our sorrowes ST Paul prayed that the Philippian's love might abound more and more and he exhorted also the Hebrewes Let brotherly love continue But in these uncharitable daies of ours the Exhortation may be cast into a new mould Let brotherly love begin for were it but begun there could not be so many quarrells so many sects so many factions so many broiles such envy hatred and malice as is at this day to be found amongst us Vncertainty of the Multitude NOne ever more faithfull in God's House than Moses none deeper in God's Book none more graced with Miracles none more carefull of the People's good and none more honoured by the People than himself was yet if the People be but once distressed and straitned in their provisions they 'l put down Moses and set up a new Governour How did the People at the first entertain Paul even as an Angel of light and were ready to pull out their eyes and to give them to him to do him good but after they had once hearkened to seducers then was St. Paul no longer a Father to them but an enemy and in stead of plucking out their own eyes to do him good they seemed forward enough to pluck out St. Paul's eyes to do their fals Apostles a pleasure Nay had not Christ himself an Hosanna one day a crucifige on the next Hence it is that nothing is more uncertain than the minds of that Bellua multorum capitum the Multitude constant in nothing but inconstancy you cannot tell where to have them nothing more uncertain than their hearts and minds you cannot tell when you have them nothing more ungratefull or a worse esteemer of mens deserts you cannot make any account of recompence from them humorous clamorou◠〈◊〉 uncoâ—stant giddy headed c. have alwaies been the proper adjuncts of the People Profession without Practice not acceptable PHarnaces sent a Crown to Caesar at the same time he rebelled against him but he returned the Crown and this message back Faciat imperata priùs Let him return to his obedience first and then I will accept the Crown by way of recognisance Thus God will not be crowned with our bare profession except we crown that with a suitable conversation Man's being is from God ABen Ezra a learned Rabbi of the Iewes hath a witty conceit of the Hebrew names that signifie Man and Woman Ish and Ishak they have in them saith he some letters that are part of the Name of God JEHOVAH which if you take away there will remain no other letters than those that make up the word which signifies fire The Morall of the conceit is That their subsistence is in God and they will both come to ruine if they be severed from him St. Paul maketh this good It were to be wished that we did all learn of him whence to take and how to make the estimate of our Being we should not then so much overvalue our nothing and undervalue that which can make us something as commonly we do The Doctrine of free Grace abused by licentious Libertines THe Philosopher observed that of three of the best things in the world through the wickednesse of men three of the worst things proceeded and grew 1. Of Vertue Envy 2. Of Truth Hatred 3. Of Familiarity Contempt But we that are Christians may add a fourth viz. Of the Doctrine of free Iustification carnail Liberty The Catholick Doctrine of Iustification by faith alone is the true Nectar of our souls so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it keepâ—th from death yet fit nectar acetum this sweetest wine in the Spouses flaggons proves no better than vinegar or rather poyson in their stomacks who turn free Grace into wantonnesse and Christian liberty into all licentiousnesse The Soulâ—s steighting of Christ offering mercies deplorable HEâ—odotus in his Urania makes mention of Themistocles comming upon the men of Andrus for a round sum of mony and to that purpose said unto them that he had brought two goddesses into them Perswasion and Necessity The men of Andrus answered him that they had likewise two great goddesses with them which did forbid them to give him any mony and those were Povâ—rty and Impossibility Thus Christ he comes unto the sons of men with an Invitation and a Compellation an Invitation Venite ad me c. Come unto me all ye that are weary and laden c. a Compellation Compelle intrare c. Compell them to enter c. But what return doth the Soul make she bolts up the dore of the heart denies entrance and either demurs with those builders in Haggai Nondum venit tempus It is time enough yet to serve the Lord or else makes answer with a flat Nolumus hunc regnare We will not have this man to reign over us God's goodnesse satisfied with Man's thankfulnesse THemistocles when he entred into the Olympick games and all the Grecians cast their eyes upon him and pointed at him and whispered one to another This is Themistocles that delivered Greece from Xerxes and the barbarous Perstans this is Themistocles All which he having taken notice of said This day I must confesse I am abundantly recompenced for all the pains that ever I took for Greece Thus Goâ— lookes for no other reward but this he loads us with benefits he gives all the commodities of the world to the sons of men reserving only this Royalty to himself He calls for no other tribute but that we should attribute all unto him give him the glory with a Non nobis Domine non nobis And therefore it is that the Psalmist repeats it very often and very pathetically O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wondrous works that he hath done for the children of men The Ruler's sins hasten the ruine of a State JUdges and Magistrates are the Physicians of the State and sins are the diseases of it What skills it whether a Gangreen begin at the head or the heel seeing both waies it will kill if the part that is diseased be not cut off except this be the difference that the head being nearer the heart a Gangreen in the head will kill sooner than that which is in the heel Even so will the sins of great Ones overthrow a State sooner than those of the meaner sort therefore wise was that advice of Sigismund the Emperour when upon a motion to reform the Church one said Let us begin at the Minorites Nay rather saith the Emperour let us begin at the Majorites for if the great ones be good the meaner cannot be easily ill but be the mean ones never so good the great will be nothing the better No man a loser by
may not think them other then Stars in this lower firmament but if they fall from their holy station and embrace this present vvorld whether in judgement or practice renouncing the truth and power of godliness we may then conclude that they never had any true light in them and were no other then a glittering composition of Pride and Hypocrisie A vain rich Man AS a Brook with a fall of Rain-waters swells and as it were proud of his late encrease makes a noyse nay runs here and there to shew it selfe till by running it hath run out all that ever it had Even so some rich men upon some fall of wealth begin to swell as if they were little Seas then make a noyse of ostentation and because they have but one tongue of their own they get the eccho of some soothing flatterers they over-flow the lower grounds the poor and spread their names in letters of bloud in the end after some short noyse as the brook leaves nothing but dirt and mire behind so do they leave nothing at their death to themselves but confusion before God and men Reason must submit to Faith VVHen three Ambassadors were sent from Rome to appease the discord betwix Nicomedes and Prusias vvhereof one vvas troubled vvith a Megrim in his head another had the Gowt in his Toes and the third was a Fool Cato said vvittily That Ambassage had neither head nor foot nor heart So that man vvhosoeever he be shall never have a head to conceive the truth nor a foot to vvalk in the vvayes of obedience nor a heart to receive the comfortable â—ssurance of salvation that suffers his Reason Will and Affections to usurp upon his faith Qui se sibi constituiâ— slultum habet magistrum He that goes to school to his own reason hath a fool to his Schoolmaster and he that suffers his faith to be over-ruled by his Reason may have a strong Reason but a weak faith to rely upon The patience of God provoked turns to fury AS a child in the Mothers wombe the longer it is in the wombe before it comes forth the bigger the child will be and the more pain it will put the Mother unto Thus it is with God though he hath leaden feet yet he hath iron hands the longer he is before he strikes the heavier the blow will be when he strikes the longer he keeps-in his wrath and is patient toward a People or a Nation the bigger the child of wrath will be when it comes forth and the greater will be their misery and affliction Distrustfull cares reproved LOok on the Robin-red-breast pretty bird how cheerfully doth he sit and sing in the Chamber window yet knows not where he is nor where he shall make the next meal and at night must shrowd himselfe in a bush for his lodging VVhat a shame is it then for Christians that see before them such liberall provisions of their God and find themselves set warm under their roofs yet are ready to droop under a distrustful and unthankful dulness and are ready to say Can God make windows in Heaven 2 King 7. 2. Can God prepare a Table in the Wildernesse Psal. 78. 19. No harm in Humility A Man goes in at a door and he stoops the door is high enough yet he stoops you will say he needs not stoop yea but saith Bernard there is no hurt in his stooping otherwise he may catch a knock this way he is safe Thus a man may bear himselfe too high upon the favour of God having some good measure of sanctification and of assurance of eternal life it will be hard not to be proud of it Pride hath slain thousands O but spiritual pride hath slain her ten thousands Humility never yet did harm to any there is no danger in stooping It is better to be an humble servant of the Lord than a great Lord of many servants the lowest of Gods friends then the highest amongst his enemies Mortality of the sinners life to be considered and deplored IT is reported of Xerxes that having prepared 300000. men to fight with the Graecians and having mustered them up into a general Rendezvous and taken notice of their strength and the greatness of their number he fell a weeping out of the consideration that not one of them should remain alive within the space of an hundreth years Much more ought we to mourn then when we consider the abundance of people that are in England and the abundance of sin perpetrated amongst us and what shall become not onely of our bodies within these few years but what shall become of our souls to all Eternity Satan subdued by Christ's death IT is written of the Camelion that when he espies a Serpent taking shade under a Tree he climbs up the Tree and le ts down a thread breathed out of his mouth as small as a Spiders thread at the end whereof there is a little drop as clear as any Pearl which falling on the Serpents head kills him Christ is this Camelion he climbs up into the Tree of his Cross and le ts down a thread of blood issuing out of his side like Rahab's red thread hanging out at the window the least drop whereof being so prestious and so peerless falling upon the Serpents head kills him The experience of God's love is to be a motive of better obedience THere is a famous History of one Androdus the Dane dwelling in Rome that fled from his Master into the Wilderness and took shelter in a Lions den The Lion came home with a thorn in his foot and seeing the man in the den reached out his foot and the man pulled out the thorn which the Lion took so kindly that for three years he fed the man in his den After three years the man stole out of the den and returned back to Rome was apprehended by his Master and condemned to be devoured by a Lion It so happened that this very Lion was designed to devour him The Lion knows his old friend and would not hurt him The people wondred at it the man was saved and the Lion given to him which he carryed about with him in the streets of Rome from whence grew this saying Hic est homo medicus Leonis hic est Leo hospes hominis Well most true it is that the great God of Heaven hath pluckt out many many a thorn out of our feet hath delighted himself to do us good let then the experience of such love prick us on to better obedience not to bring forth thorns and bryers to him not to have our hearts barren and dryed up as the thorny ground not to kick against him with our feet whilst he is pulling out the thorn that troubles us A good Man is mindful of his latter end WE read that Daniel strewed ashes in the Temple to discover the footsteps of Bells Priests which did eat up the
or Figure-flinger do but hit in one thing of twenty he is presently cryed up for a Cunning man but let the Physitian work six hundred cures yet if through the impatience of his Patient he fail but in one that one fail doth more turn to his discredit then his many eminent cures did formerly get him praise Thus doth the world deal with men in the matter of censure If a worldly minded man have but an outward gift of strength of speech or of any other naturall endowment he is accounted filius gallinae albae one of the white boyes of the time a precious man a man of excellent parts c. though he be at the same time in ordine ad spiritualia an Idolater a prophane person c. But let the child of God be truly zealous for God honest and holy in life and conversation yet if there be but one infirmity in him as who is free or if he have through weaknesse fallen into some one sin that one infirmity against which he striveth or that one sin for which he is grieved shall drown all the graces in him be they never so eminent never so great and the World is ready to give him up for a wicked man an Hypocrite c. The godly and ungodly their different motions in goodness A Violent motion is quick in the beginning but slow in the end a stone cast upward is then most weak when it is most high but a natural motion is slow in the beginning quicker in the end For if a Man from a high Tower cast a stone down-ward the nearer to the center the quicker is the motion And therfore when a man at his first conversion is exceeding quick but afterwards waxeth every day slower and slower in the wayes of goodnesse his motion is not natural and kindly but forced otherwise like a constant resolved Christian the longer he lives and the neerer he comes to the mark the more swiftly doth he run the more vehemently doth he contend for that everlasting Crown which he shall be sure to attain at his Races end Self-conceited Men blameâ—worthy Men. St. Hierome observeth â—hus much of Petrus Abaelardus and his followers that he was used to say in point of Controversie Omnes sane Patres sic dijudicant at ego non c. Indeed the stream of all the Fathers run this way but I am of another judgement So what S. Augustine affirmeth of some in his time Nisi quod faciant nihil rectè judicant is too too true in this self-conceited time of ours Men wade so far in a vein of singularity that they think nothing well done but what they doe themselves how do they dote upon the issue of their own empty brains and thus admiring themselves vvhom do they not censure hating the persons of their superiours and scorning the opinions of their elders Great Men to be merciful Men. AS the Snow which falls upon the Mountains being dissolved into water by the beams of the Sun descending into the valley maketh it to give her encrease but being deprived of the Sun's heat remaines congealed useless and unprofitable So they which are in high places as it were Mountains in Court or Country upon whom the favour of God and the King shine most ought not to be frozen in Charity not to be bound up to themselves but to be publique spirited men to have the bowels of Piety and pitty melt within them for the good of their inferiour brethren A Rich Man is Gods Steward A Begger upon the way asked something of an honourable Lady she gave him six pence saying This is more then ever God gave me O sayes the Beggar Madam you have abundance and God hath given you all that you have say not so good Madam Well saies she I speak the truth for God hath not given but lent unto me what I have that I may bestow it upon such as thou art And it is very true indeed that the poor are Gods Almesmen and the Rich are but his Stewards into whose hands God hath put his Monies to distribute to them in the time of necessity An Orthodoxal Christian hath a like esteem of all Gods Ordinances WHen at the taking of new Carthage in Spain two Souldiers contended about the murall Crown due to him who first climed up the wall so that the whole Army was thereupon in danger of division Scipio the Generall said He knew that they both got up the wall together and so gave the scaling Crown to them both Thus a good Orthodoxal Christian doth not clash Gods Ordinances together about Precedency he makes not odious comparisons betwixt Prayer and Preaching Preaching and Catechizing Prayer publique and private premeditate and extemporary but compounds all controversies about Gods Ordinances by praising them all practising them all and thanking God for them all Gods two hands of Mercy and Judgement THere is mention made of a Load-stone in Aethiopia which hath two corners with the one it draweth-to with the other it puts the Iron from it So God hath two arms the one of Mercy the other of Iudgement two hands the one of Love the other of wrath with the one he draweth with the other he driveth the one stroaketh the other striketh and as he hath a right hand of favour wherewith to load the Saints so he wants not a left hand of fury wherewith to dash the wicked in pieces A Wife to be subordinate to her Husband AS Tertullian saith of a King that he is solo Deo minor hath in his Kingdom none above him but onely God so is a Woman in a Family solo marito minor she should command all in the house but her Husband she may be similis but not aequalis honoris she may partake in the same kind of honour but not in the same degree of honour as Man doth otherwise if it come to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the rule of a woman actum est de â—amilia farewel all good order Why Because women have more of the heart then the head their affections out-step their discretion they are commonly more witty then wise so that wisdom requiring the pondering of circumstances the forwardnesse of their affections will not suffer them to pause so long hence it is that their resolutions are rash and wilfull which cannot prognosticate any good event Happily some woman may be as wise as Abigail and some man as silly as Nabal yet then neither doth Man lose his Prerogative nor Woman acquire a title above him deal with him she may per viam consilii but not imperii counsel him she may command him she may not The fiery triall on the Church of God VVHen the Romans immortalized any of their Emperours they did it with this Ceremony They brought one to swear that they saw him go to Heaven out of the fire intimating That the fiery trial had passed
things more commendable then his Victoryes for having vanquished the French King by force of battle he put off from himselfe the whole glory and gave it devoutly to God causing to be sung Non nobis Domine non nobis Domine Not unto us Lord not unto us Lord but unto thy name be the glory given c. Psalm 115. 1. And thus must every one do be his atchievements never so great whether private or publique let God have the glory of all for it is no less then blasphemy in Man to attribute either the strength or the glory of success unto himselfe St. Pauls omnia possum had been over presumptuous had he not added by him that strengthneth me Phil. 4. How it is that one Man censureth another THat divine Spaniard in his pleasant but useful fictions of the life of Gusman makes his Rogue wittily discourse of the unconscionableâ—â—ss of the Genowayes and their prying into and censuring of other mens lives That when they are young and go first to School they play away and lose their Consciences which their Master finding he layes them up carefully in a Christ but because he hath the keeping of so many and they mixed one with another he gives to his Schollers when they go away such Consciences as come first to hand which they take to be their own but are indeed somebodie 's else Whence it comes to pass that no man bearing his own Conscience in his own bosome every Man looks and pryes into that of another Mans The truth of this story may be questioned but the Morall is true without all question and we have need sometimes of such pleasant passages to tell us the truth that we may understand our selves the better There 's hardly the Man to be found that is not curious in other Mens faults blind in his own partial to himself never without matter against others still complayning of the badnesse of the times the decay of Trade the ripenesse of sin but will not be perswaded that he is any way the occasion of the same To be thankfull to God as well in Adversity as Prosperity THemistocles was wont to tell his ingratefull Country-men the Athenians that they used him like a shady Tree under which when a storm happened they would run and take shelter but when the storm was over they would be ready to cut it down and burn it When there were any Tumults or uproares in the Common-wealth who but Themistocles all the People would flock to Themistocles for succour but when there was a calm in the State and all things at peace through his good advice and industry then who more base Who more contemptible then poor Themistocles And is not this the case of many at this day they will pray unto God in time of Adversity but they will not praise God in time of Prosperity While the corn is growing the hedge is well fenced but when it is in'd the fields are thrown open when they stand in need of any blessings then they are all upon the spur somewhat carefull to please God but when they have caught what they fished for then they let the reyns slack are not so forward in the ways of obedience so that it is a great blessing of God that we are kept in want of one blessing or other were it otherwise he were likely to have but a little of our company The doctrine of Seducers dangerous VVE may read of a Woolfe taken in a snare which when a Man went about to kill with his hunting speare the Woolfe breathed in his face and poysoned him in such a manner that he presently began to swell all over his body and was very hardly recovered again Such is the contagion which the soul of the Hearer receives by the poysoned breath of Seducers doctrine if so be that coming near such kind of Vermine a Man do not wind them that is not draw up into his Soul the sweet breathings of the Spirit it is great odds but that he is totally infected thereby to the irreparable loss both of soul and body togeâ—her God seeketh his People more especially in his own House the Church VVHen we receive summons from any supream Authority the Messenger or Offiâ—â—â— of the Court seeks us not in idling places he pursues us not into the fields neither doth he come to our sports to warn us but to our houses and there reads his message as if we were there because we should be there and then without any further enquiry departs fastning the script or writ upon the door In like manner the Ministers of the Gospel are Gods Ambassador and Gods Messengers God supposeth every Man to be at home and so do they because at hours and times set apart for his worship they are presumed to have no houses but his house whom they shall meet no where nor more certainly find than there there it is that more especially when two or three are met together in his name he will be in the midst of them there he will teach them his wayes and there he will give them grace too to walk in his waies nor can a Sermon have any influence upon such as are not there so true is that of venerable Bede That he that comes not willingly to Church shall one day go unwillingly to Hell The sincere Preachers comfort IN a great Festivall when the expectation was not less then the concourse both very great St. Bernard having preached a very eloquent Sermon as that heavenly tongue was able beyond expectation while the People admire and applaud the Abbot walks sadly with a mind not ordinarily dejected The next day he preaches a lively Sermon full of profitable truth plain without any Rhetorical dress whereupon his meaner capacited Auditors went away very well contented but curious itching ears were unsatisfied but he walks cheerfully with a mind more then usually pleasant The people wonder why he should be sad when applauded and when not merry but he returns this answer Heri Bernardum hodiè Iesum Christum yesterday I preached Bernard but to day Iesus Christ It is the same with all Preachers of Gods word There can be no feast within when a Man is conscious to himself of dallying with God Integrity is that which furnisheth out the sweet banquet and heavenly repast of joy That Preacher shall have mâ—st comfort that preacheth most of Christ and so shall he too that lives most to Chrâ—st when a rotten-hearted Wolsey whose Conscience tells him he served the King his Master better then God his Maker shall languish away in discontent and vexation of spirit God afflicts his Children for their good IT is the observation of an excellent Preacher yet living who passing by on a dark night in the streets of London and meeting a youth who had a lighted Link in his hand who being offended thereat because it burnt so dark
and dim and therefore the better to improve the light thereof he beat bruised and battered it against the wall that the weike therein might be spread out and the pitch with other combustible matter which before stifled the light with its over-stifness might be loosened which presently caused the link to blaze forth in a bighter flame Thus God deals with our Souls that they may shine the brighter before Men he buffets and afflicts us with severall Temptations to give us occasion to exercise those graces which otherwise would lye dormant within us and such corrections will in fine greatly add to our spirituall light and lustre The Godly Man is Gods favourite LUther was known to pray oft with intention of mind and zealous fervency that so long as he lived Germany might be quiet and had often profest that he firmly believed it would be so that so Gods word might have a little Freedom and space to spread it self Whereupon one Nich. Mark a Citizen of Francfort was wont as oft as he heard of any rumours of War to say I fear it not so long as Luther lives this was the esteem that Luther had of all good Men they thought that God would deny him nothing And certainly the Godly man is Gods favourite God will hear him in a time of trouble it is he that must stand in the gap to prevent and that must stand up to take off the hand of God when it lies heavy upon a sinful Nation or People be the Judgement near or afar off imminent or â—â—cumbent it is the godly man if any that must be instrumentall for delivery Christians and their Knowledge to be communicative THe Naturalists do observe that the Pismires which are reckoned amongst the most sagacious creatures and the Bees which are amongst the most usefull and the Elephants amongst the potent are for communion and do gather and keep together And the excellency of other creatures lies in the communication of themselves the Sun raying out his warm and cherishing beams the Fountain bubling out his purling streams the Earth yielding forth soveraigne herbs and plants all for the benefit of others Such are all true Christians they are then in their excellency when they are communicative and usefull nay they encrease by communicating and gain by giving away and imparting their gifts There is a story of some mountains of Salt in Cumana which never diminished though carried away in much abundance by the Merchants but when once they were monopolized to the benefit of a private purse then the salt decreased till afterwards all were allowed to take of it it had a new accesse and encrease The truth of this story may be uncertain but the application is true He that envies unto others the use of his gifts decaies them but he thrives most that is most diffusive The waies of Hypocrites not easily traced AN horse may be known by the track and where a cart hath gone you may perceive by the print of the wheel but we know not the way of a ship though Hondius Mercator and others have delineated in their Maps the severall voyages of Captain Drake Cavendish Scouten c. yet the marriner can see no such path upon the fea as they have drawn out Such are the waies of all hypocrites though a man may have some directions and marks to follow them yet may he misse of them at the very last you may search all the rooms of their hearts and yet be at a lâ—sse they have secret and back doors to go out at they are cunning to keep their secrets as an harlot doth her lover The sister of the Emperour Henry the third when a great snow fell carried her lover upon her shoulders that the fact might not be discovered the lover is entertained but nothing can be seen but the print of the Ladies feet and the hypocrite harbours his lust but there is nothing to be found but the steps of the upright in heart It is harder to discover the rottennesse of his soul than the tricks of a horse-courser in the open market of Smithfield Mans Inconstancy THere is a Fable how that Inconstancy would needs have her picture drawn but none would undertake it because her face and shape altered so often But at length Time took a pencill in hand and because he had no other Table to do it upon he printed her picture upon Man And most true it is that all men and women since that time have had too much of her resemblance too too many men have her very face to the life they will be religious and they will not be religious there 's no body knowes what they will be nor what to make of them they are constant in nothing but inconstancy they have their gales of devotion their breathings of love one while at another time when the fit is upon them then there 's nothing but lumpishnesse of spirit and dulnesse of affection now faithfull to their promise anon fallen off for one by-respect or other The sincere Preacher's courage THere was a Noble-man one Reinard at Rotenburgh that much loved Wolfg. Musculus and was very tender of his safety as knowing that he had many enemies because of his revolt from Popery and perceiving that he was gone abroad as his use was into a village to preach he disguising himself because he would not be known and taking many of his Horse-men with him came rushing in at the Church-door and in a threatning manner bids him come out of the Pulpit Musculus thinking they had been the servants of a Popish Bishop who was his violent Adversary desired he might have leave to finish his Sermon and then he would go with them whithersoever they would carry him And so he went on being nothing at all daunted exhorting the People to constancy in the faith and withall to pray for him who was now as he thought in his Enemies hands When Sermon was done the Nobleman discovers himselfe hugs him in his arms admires his courage tells him he did it to try his spirit and withall to warne him how easily he might be endangered See here the courage of sincerity how the Righteous are as bold as Lions It is a gracious God and a good cause that supports them but on the other side How do the wicked fear even where no fear is he hath nothing at all left to sustaine him nothing to cover his head when the Cloud breaks in upon him yea before the appearance of any actuall trouble he creates both feares and jealousies to himself sonus excitat omnis suspensum he trembles at every motion To make God our Counsellor AN ancient able Divine reports it of Sir Thomas Thin a Religious western Knight that he would undertake â—o business before he was fully perswaded of the lawfulness of it both by clear Texts of Scripture and approbation of the
his Vineyard to keepers but God keeps his Church in his own hands he may use the help of men but it must be as tools rather then as his agents he works by them they cannot works but by him so that in spite of the gates of hell his Church his Vine shall flourish Even so return O God of hosts look down from heaven and visit this Vineyard of ours thy Church which thy right hand hath planted and the branch which thou hast made strong for thy self The sad condition of all impenitent Sinners IT is said of Antoninus Arch-Bishop of Florence that after he had heard the confession of a wretched Usurer he gave no other Absolution than this Deus miseratur tui si vult condonet tibi peccata tua quod non credo c. God be mercifull to thee if he please and forgive thee thy sins which I do not believe and bring thee to eternall life which is impossible i. rebus sic stantibus if God doth not wonderfully work a strange conversion in his heart And such and so sad is the condition of every unregenerate man every impenitent sinner they are no other then bondslaves of Sathan firebrands of hell vessells of wrath men without God in the world No wonder then that as long as they continue in such a wretched estate God cease to be mercifull unto them deny them forgivnesse of sins here in this life and admission into his Kingdom of glory hereafter God as he is a God of mercy so he is a God of judgment and therefore not to be provoked NOthing so cold as Lead yet nothing more scalding if molten nothing more blunt then Iron and yet nothing so keen if sharpned The aire is soft anâ— tender yet out of it are ingendred thundrings and lightnings the Sea is calm ana smooth but if tossed with tempests it is rough above measure Thus it is that mercy abused turns to fury God as he is a God of mercies so he is a God of judgmen and it is a fearfull thing to fall into his punishing hands He is loath to strike but when he strikes he strikes home If his wrath be kindled yea but a little wo be to all those on whom it lights how much more when he is sore displeased with a people or person Who knowes the power of â—is anger saies Moses Let every one therefore submit to his Iustice and implore his Mercy Men must either burn or turn for even our God is a consuming fire Promises of God the excellency and comforts that are to be found in them IT is said of Mr. Bilney that blessed Martyr of Christ Iesus that being much wounded in conscience by reason of the great sin he had committed in subscribing to the Popish errors he was much comforted by reading those words 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptance that Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners c. Thus was Beza supported under his troubles by the words of Christ Ioh. 10. 27 28 29. Mention is also made of one that was upheld under great affliction and comforted from that of Esay chap. 26. 3. of another in the like condition from that of the same Prophet chap. 57. 15. of a third a young Maid upon the knowledge of a reverend Divine yet living that went triumphantly to Heaven by the refreshing she found in that well known Text Math. 11. 28. Many also are the drooping spirits that have been wonderfully cheared by reading the eighth Chapter of St. Pauls Epistle to the Romans and by that Text of St. Iohn in his first Epistle chap. 3. 14. We know that we have passed from death to life c. And thus it is that great is the excellency transcendent the comforts that are to be found in Gods Promises they are the good Christians Magna Charta for Heaven the onely assurance that he hath to claim by There is no comfort no true reall virtuall comfort but what is built and founded upon a Scripture-promise if otherwise it is presumption and cannot properly be called true comfort The Promises are pabulum fidei anima fidei the food of faith and the very soul of faith They are a Mine of rich treasures a Garden full of choise flowers able to enrich the soul with all celestial contentments to sweeten the sourest of conditions The truth is there is no promise of God but if he be pleased to illighten unto us and shew us our interest in it will afford a plentifull harvest of everlasting joy and that which is true and reall contentment indeed The griping Usurer and his Broker characterised IT is commonly known that the neather Milstone stands or lies still and stirs not So the wretched rapacious griping Usurer sits at home and spends his time in a kind of diabolicall Arithmetick as Numeration of hours daies and monies Substraction from other mens estates and Multiplication of his own untill he have made Division between his soul and Heaven and divided the Earth to himself and himself if God be not the more mercifull to a worser place And for his Broker he is not much unlike the upper Milstone without which the neather may seem to be unservicable that is quick stirring and runs round so he is still in action like the Iackall yelping before the Lion for a prey ever contriving how he may bring grist to the Mill mony into the Usurers bank and sorrow to his own soul. Hence is that phrase of the Prophet Grinding the faces of the poor who like corn are ground to powder betwixt them But let all such know that it were better for them if they endured all temporall punishment whatsoever that a milstone were tyed about their necks and so cast into the bottom of the sea than that both body and soul should be cast into hell fire for evermore The danger of fleshly lusts to be avoided CLemens Alexandrinus hath a story that the first who found out fire was a Satyre a wild man and perceiving it to be a creature beautifull and resplendent like a hot suitor he offers to kisse it But the fire speaking to him said Take heed Satyr come not near me for if thou dost I shall burn thy beard The meaning is that unclean lust being a fire which lâ—st fâ—ll be arts have found out they aâ—e told if they meddle with it they are sure to be burnt by it Can a man go upon hot coals and not be burnt take fire in his bosome and his cloaths not be consumed go in unto a strange woman and be innocent come near such a she-fire and not be sindg'd He cannot it is impossible He may tread upon coals thinking to tread them out but he will first tread the fire into his own feet he may think to take fire in his bosome and his cloaths
had a man in his Kingdome that durst deal so plainly and faithfully with him Thus did but all Men especially Ministers Preachers of the Word such as are immediately employed by God seriously take notice of his Omnipresence and continually remember how his eye is alwaies upon them O how diligent how confident how abundant would it make them in the work of the Lord how faithfull how couragious how unbyassed how above the frownes and smiles of the greatest of the Sons of Men c. The consideration of Gods omnipresence to be a disswasive from Sin IT is well known what Ahashuerus that great Monarch said concerning Haman when coming in he found him cast upon the Queens bed on which she sate What saith he will he force the Queen before me in the house There was the killing emphasis in the words before me will he force the Queen before me What will he dare to commit such a villany and I stand and look on Thus it is that to do wickedly in the sight of God is a thing that he looks upon as the greatest affront and indignity that can possibly be done unto him What saith he wilt thou be drunk before me swear blaspheme before me be unclean before me break my Laws before me this then is the killing aggravation of all sin that it is done before the face of God in the presence of God whereas the very consideration of Gods Omnipresence that he stands and looks on should be as a bar a Remora to stop the proceeding of all wicked intendments a disswasive rather from Sin then the least encouragement thereunto Courts of Iudicature to be free from all manner of Injustice IT is said of that famous Athenian Judicature where once Dionysius sate as a Judg and thereupon called The Areopogite that they did excell so much in authority that Kings laid down their Crowns when they came to sit with them that they were of such integrity that they kept their Court and gave judgment in the night and in the dark that they might not behold the persons whâ— did speak least they should be moved thereby they onely did hear what was said Here it was that the Pleader must not use any proeme nor make any Rhetoricall expression to move the affections so that the People did bear as much reverence to the sentences and decrees promulged there as they did to their sacred Oracles Such was the strictness such the Iustice of that though then Heathen Councill that it may very well serve as a miroir to look in as a pattern for the imitation and as a coppy for the most Christian Courts of Iudicature to write by For were but Causes evenly weighed in the ballance of Justice there would not be so much complaining of the often titing on the one side or the other as now there is Were men but Christian Lawyers they would not be so often looked on as Heathen Orators Were Laws but justly put in execution the sword would not so often be born in vain neither would great ones bear down those that are lesse nor mighty ones confound the mean but all would be subservient to the Supream serviceable and respectfull one to the other Ministers advised in the method of Profitable Preaching AS the Physitian himself gives not health but onely gives some helps to bring the body into a fit temperament and disposition so far as to help and strengthen Nature So the Preacher cannot be said to give knowledg but the helps and motives by which natural light being excited and helped may get knowledg And as he is the best Physitian that doth not oppresse nature with a multitude of medicines but pleasantly with a few doth help it for the recovery of health So he is the best Preacher not that knoweth how to heap up many mediums and Arguments to force the understanding rather then to entice it by the sweetnesse of light but he that by the easy and gratefull Mediums which are within reach or fitted to our light doth lead Men as by the hand unto the Truth in the beholding or sight of which Truth onely knowledg doth consist and not in use of Arguments hence is it that Arguments are called Reasons by a name of relation to Truth And why so but because they are a means for finding out of Truth and discovery of Errour Fear of Hell to be a restraint from the least Sin THe passage in Scripture is well known how Nebuchadnezzar erected a Golden Image with this terrible commination That whosoever would not fall down and worship it should be cast into the fiery Furnace This now was so terrible to every one that heard it that unlesse it were three or four there were none that did resist the very fear of a Fiery Furnace made them do any thing And shall not then the fear of those eternall flames the fear of that great day wherein God shall reveal all wrath without any mercy to the Wicked man shall not this turn him out of the wayes of Sin shall not this make him with bitternesse bewail his former lusts and to hate those bitter-sweets of pleasure which er'st he so much delighted in saying with Ionathan I have tasted a little honey and I must dye I have had a little pleasure of Sin and I must be damn'd for evermore Daily amendment of life enjoyned to the making up of the new Creature IT is said of Argo the then Royal Soveraign of the Asiatique Seas that being upon constant service she was constantly repaired and as one plank or board failed she was ever and anon supplied with another that was more serviceable insomuch that at last she became all new which caused a great dispute amongst the Philosophers of those times whether she were the same ship as before or not Thus it is that for our parts we have daily and hourly served under the commands of Sin and Sathan made provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof drawn iniquity with cords of Vanity and sin as it were with a Cartrope and daily like Ephraim increased in wickednesse insomuch that there are not onely some bruises and brushes but as it were a shipwrack of Faith and all goodnesse in the frame of our pretious Souls What then remains but that we should dye daily unto Sin and live unto Righteousnesse put in a new plank this day and another to morrow now subdue one lust and another to morrow this day conquer one Temptation and the next another be still on the mending hand and then the question needs not be put Whether we be the same or not For old things being put away all things will become new we shall be new Men new Creatures we shall have new hearts new spirits and new songs in our mouthes be made partakers of the new Covenant and at last Inheritors of the new Ierusalem Gods great patience
was answered That there dwelt Truth one that he never loved and must therefore expect no shelter there Well he goes to the third the house of Peace and there he finds the like entertainment In the midst of this distraction he lights upon the house of Mercy and there humbly desiring entrance was made welcome and refreshed This may be but a dream imaginary yet the application is a reall Truth Then thus It is not the sewing up together of some few Fig-leaves of Merit as some suppose that will cover the nakednesse of a poor distressed Soul nor the outward varnish and goodly splendor of morall virtues and humane performances as others think that can adde any thing of comfort to the wounded Conscience When the habitations of Iustice Truth and Peace are bolted fast upon the drooping Soul then are the Gates of Mercy wide open to receive it there being no Salvation but by the Mercies of God in Christ Iesus An Hypocrite being true to none is beloved of none THe Griffon in the Fable when the battel was to be fought betwixt the beasts of the Field and the Fowls of the Ayr would partake of neither side but stood neutrall untill he could perceive which 〈◊〉 did get the best of the day and therefore shewed his fore-part like a Fowl unto the Birds and his hinder part like a four-footed beast unto the beasts thereby to gull them both but his deceit being perceived of both he was hated and rejected of both as unworthy to be trusted on either side Thus it fares with the Hypocrite who being desirous to serve two Masters and to retain the favour both of God and the World is hated both of God and the World The Devill hates him because he retaineth unto Christ and Christ hates him much more because he doth but onely retain unto him The World cannot abide him because he professeth Godlinesse and God can worse abide him because he doth but professe it neither of them doth love him because he hath been true to neither nor yet indeed unto himself but hath betrayed Christ for the Worlds sake and the World for Christs sake and himself for Sin and Sathan's sake The Churches sad condition to be laid to heart IT is reported of Alexander that being in extream thirst when a draught of water was offered unto him he thought it a hard thing and no way suitable to the dignity of a Prince that he alone should queâ—ch his thirst when others in his Army had not wherewithall to abate theirs wherefore he returns the cup with this speech Nec solus bibere susâ—ineo c. I cannot endure to drink alone and here 's not enough for every one to wet their lips Thus Uriah while the Ark and his Lord Ioab was in the Field will not go down to his house no not so much as to refresh himself And what sayes old Anchises when Aeneas would have saved his life Absit ut excisa possim supervivere Troia Far be it from me that I should desire to live when Troy suffers that it does And thus Far let it be from any true-hearted Christian to live deliciously when not Troy but the Church of God is under a clowd of sorrow and affliction so that what betwixt the Popish and the peevish party She is ready to be overwhelmed too too blame then are all they that with those Iewish Priests at the taking of Ierusalem by Titus the Roman Emperour have not onely a desire to live but to live in pomp in bravery in giving liberty to themselves in all sensuall delights in abating nothing of their carnal contentments when they see and hear of the Church of God suffering grievous things and brought unto lamentable streights under the burthen of sore and most heavy pressures Mercies of God in Christ Jesus the danger of dallying with them ONe that hath plyed his cups hard and coming home drunk finds a Candle lighted on the Table but through the swiftnesse and violence of the spirits being oppressed to and fro he seeth things double instead of one Candle he sees two and going as he thinks to put out one of them he finds himself in the dark and cryes out Where is the other Candle but all in vain Thus carnall-minded Men being as it were intoxicated with the delights and pleasures of this World do through the multiplying glasse of their own deceitfull fancies see not onely one or two but the many and superabundant mercies of God yet extinguishing and not seasonably applying the sweet and tender Mercies of God in Christ Iesus to their Souls like Children that have played away the Candle and go to bed darkling so they having abused the time of Mercy are cast out into utter darknesse to all Eternity and then when it is too late they cry out as the Drunkard did for the Candle Lord where are thy Mercies of old God not to he set out by any Representation or Image to the eye of Man IT is recorded of Zeuxis one of the best Gentile Painters in the World that going about to draw the pourtrayture of Iuno he singled out five of the fairest Virgins in Agrigentine and paintâ—d her according to that which he saw most commendable in any one of them but when he went about to make the picture of Venus he selected fifty of the fairest Maids in Sparta and said Fifty more fairer then those were not sufficient patterns to afford him form and beauty to expresse the perfection of such a Goddesse And therefore when his art was not able to reach her excellency he drew on his Table a large picture of a Temple with a door open and the Goddesse as it were going in so that the beholder could see nothing but her back-parts Now if so excellent an Artist could not expresse the excellency of Flesh and bloud How shall any man be able to paint or set out by any presentation to the eye of Man the spirituall and invisible God And therefore let Demetrius the Silversmith and Alexander the Coppersmith and all the other Carvers and Painters pack and be gone and nevâ—r employ their skill to resemble the Image of the Incomprehensible God because the drawing of his Image will but rather shew the greatnesse of their folly then be able to expresse the least part of his glory In time of Prosperity to provide for Adversity THe Naturalists observe that whiles the Halcyon Bird is brooding her egs and bringing forth her young ones there is usually fair weather from whence we call good times Halcyon-dayes she neglects not any of those dayes but sits close upon her nest and is very diligent in bringing forth lest if there should be a change of weather the waters should grow high and her young ones be in danger of drowning Thus in the times of Prosperity we must provide for Adversity lay hold upon the opportunities of peace
them if he stay a Fortnight or a Moneth he may pull up another but it will be somewhat harder If he stay a year or two till it have taken deep root then he may pull and pull his heart out his labour is all in vain he shall never be able to move it And thus it is that one Sin one offence if we labour to pull it up in time it may be forgiven it may be taken away And if we let that one go on to two or three yet with unfeigned Repentance with bleeding tears with uncessant out-cryes to a gracious God they may be raced out and wiped away but with greater difficulty but if a Man give up himself unto Sin accustome himself to do evill so that it take deep root in the heart and be settled in the Soul he shall never be able to pull it up nor arise from the death of Sin which hath so fast seized on him Sectarian subtilty Diabolical delusion AS common Drunkards when they get in a temperate Man upon their Ale-house-bench entice him tempt him tole him on first to taste then to pledg them then when he is well whitled and come on cup after cup this health and that health till he be fully fudled and his brains intoxicated Thus the subtile Sectarians are modest at the first and very Maiden-like they will not force upon their Proselytes a full carouse of their Circean cups but by degrees by little and little they wind into their hearts and privily bring in damnable heresies They do not violently rush but slily creep into houses and there they begin at the apronstrings with illiterate Mechanicks silly women such as are led more by aâ—â—ection then Iudgment then they let fall an apple to see if Atalanta will take it up some general received Truth but withall secretly foyst in some â—rronious opinion or poysonous principle scatter some sparks of their mild-sire to see whether they will heat or enflame And having their methods and wayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rules to go by they grammer and ground their deluded Followers 〈…〉 admission in general and Fundamental principles of their black art but let them not see at what they drive acquaint them not at the first dash the mystery of Iniquity the depths of Sathan Rev. 2. 24. Men not to be proud of their Lands and Livings WHen Socrates saw Alcibiades proud of his spatious Fields and wide Inheritance he calls for a Map of the World looks for Greece and finding it asks Alcibiades Whereabout his Lands lay When he answered They were not set forth in the Map Why saith Socrates are thou proud of that which is no part of the Earth And to speak truth Why should any Man bear himself high upon the greatnesse of his Revenue the largenesse of his demesnes For if the dominion of a King be but a poor spot of Earth What a nothing must the possession of a Subject be some small parcell of a Shire not worthy the name of a Chorographer And had he with Lycinius as much as a Kite could fly over yea if all the whole Globe were his six or seven foot would be enough to serve his turn in the Conclusion Repentance to be Universall IF a Ship spring three leaks and onely two be stopped the third will sink the Ship And if a Man have two grievous wounds in his body and take order to cure onely one that which is neglected will kill him Even so if we having divers lusts which fight against our Souls do mortifie but some of them 't is to no purpose If the guilt of many Sins lye upon us as in many things we sin all and we repent but of some of them it will not avail us any thing Hence is that Counsel of Solomon Let all thy wayes be ordered He that will make a true search must search all his wayes and try all his thoughts words and deeds repent of all Sin For he that favours himself in any one Sin be it never so small that Man hates no Sin perfectly what shew soever he makes to the contrary Wicked Men see the miseries but not the Joyes of Gods People AS a Man standing upon the Sea-shore sees a great heap of waters one wave riding on the back of another and hears too especially if it be in stormy weather the lowd roarings thereof but all this while though he see the waters he doth not see the wealth the gold and silver the infinite Riches that lye buried in the bottom thereof So it is that Wicked Men see the want but not the wealth of Gods People their conflicts but not their comforts they easily take notice of the miseries and troubles that usually attends upon the bodies of the Children of God but they cannot possibly discover the joyes and rejoycings of the Spirit that are in their Souls neither indeed can they For they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. Magistrates and great Men not to raise themselves by the ruine of the Church IT is reported of Sabbacus a King of Ethiopia who being by dreams admonished that he could not possesse himself of the Kingdom of Egypt otherwayes then by Sacriledge and the slaying of the Priests He chose rather to lay aside his claym and advantages of Warr which he had gotten and to refer the Government of that Kingdom to twelve wife Men who erected to that Prince's piety one of the stateliest Pyramides of Egypt which yet remains How much more will it become Christians in any way of power and Magistracy not to make their way upon the spoyles nor lay the Foundations or to carry on the Fabrick of their greatnesse and dominion upon the carcasses and ruines of any much lesse of the Church and Church-men such as are able true and faithful Ministers of the true God and the Lord Iesus Christ. How it is that the sweet fruits of Grace come to grow on the bitter root of Nature IT is a question put by Plutarch How it comes to passe that the Fig-Tree being of that extream bitternesse the root the branches the leaves the stock and stem being all of them so bitter the fruit should be so sweet and pleasant to the taste The like may be proposed How it is that the sweet fruits of the Spirit should ever grow upon the bitter stock of Nature how Man by Nature being in the very gall of bitternesse should ever become a sweet smelling favour in the nostrils of his God Surely no otherwise but that by Faith an Repentance being ingrafted into the stock Christ Iesus he sucks in juicy sweetnesse from thence and so is made a Tree of Righteousnesse in Gods Garden How it is that Afflictions lye oft-times so heavy IT is said of Hagar That when her bottle of Water was spent she sate down and fell a weeping as if she had been utterly undone her provision and