Eden and had all the creatures to serve him yet a Consort must be cast in as the Complement of his external Felicity Gen. 2.18 It is not good that man should be alone I will make an help meet for him But how near and dear soever Wives are 1 Cor 7.29 they must be died unto It remain that they who have wives be as though they had none Those actually Christs are to die unto religious Self A man must have a Righteousness of his own Mat. 5.20 Phil. 3.9 Except your Righteousness And yet this Righteousness must not be his own but Christs Paul dies to his own Righteousness Not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law Unto the World As those actually Christs are to die unto Self so unto the World Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Thus generally but now particularly Those actually Christs are to die to the Worship of the World The men of the world Joh. 4.24 Col. 2.8 20. if they worship not a false God yet they worship a true God falsly for He is a Spirit and must be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth According to the Truth of the Rule and in Truth of Heart Is is not connatural unto man to worship a God of his own making rather than the God that made him Those actually Christs are to die unto the Wisdom of the World As the Friendship of the World Job 28.28 is Enmity with God so the Wisdom of the World is Folly with God The fear of the Lord that 's wisdom and to depart from evil that 's understanding The men of the world think themselves very wise Prov. 26.12 but seest thou a man wise in his own eyes there is more hope of a fool than of him The men of the world think themselves and are thought by others Jer. 4.22 to be very wise but they are wise to do evil to do good they have no knowledge Worldy wisdom or the wisdom of the world is the greatest folly in the world To be witty in sinning to make a mock at sin and to make wickedness our work is the greatest folly in the world Those actually Christs are to die to the Mode of the World It is a profane Proverb as good out of the World as out of the Fashion But were there ever such Fashions in the World as are now in the world Do not Men look like Monsters Do not Women look like Harlots Are we not the Apes of the false French As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance 1 Pet. 1.14 Those actually Christs are to die to the Manners of the World These must be daily dying to the Debauchery and Prophanity to the Adultery and Sodomy the Idolatry and Iniquity of the Times It was once sinfully said Act. 14.11 Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men but may it not now be said that Devils are come up unto us in the likeness of men Do not some men account Oaths their greatest Rhetorick Cheating the greatest Ingenuity Atheism their greatest Art Rebellion their greatest Religion Sin their greatest Safety He that departeth from Evil Isa 59.15 maketh himself a prey is accounted mad Margent Those actually Christs are to die to the pleasures of the world Ah! many spend and end their daies in sinful pleasures They spend their time in mirth Job 21.13 and in a moment go down to the grave That word If any man will not work neither let him eat seem to be vanishing now and most men seem to read it thus If any man will not play neither let him eat Gaming is much the Mode and as men live in their sins so they live upon their sins All the Income that many have is their Gaming Those actually Christs are to die to the profits of the world The men of the world make the world their Business Prov. 28.22 Jer. 17.11 it is their Element they make baste to be rich But he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his daies and at his end shall be a fool DIRECT III. ART actually in Christ Direct 3. Non mori sed damnari metuo Mortem optare malum timere pejus Jer. 20.3 be not surprized then with a Pannick Fear concerning the Arrests of the first Death I am not afraid to die but I am afraid to be damned I am not afraid of the pains of Death but I am afraid of the pains of Hell It was the word of Henry the fifth to wish death is not good but to fear death is worse No man should be afraid to die but he that is ashamed to live Thou art in Christ and dost thou fear death If a soul in Christ fear death what then may a soul out of Christ If a soul in Christ dread the shooting of this Gulf then a soul out of Christ may be a Magor-Missabib fear round about Shalt thou fear death when Christ is thine consider what he is He is a Father and a Friend a Foundation and a Fountain a God and a Guide a Guard and a Good a Rock and a Portion to these distinctly Fear not Death for Christ is thine and he is a Father He is stiled the Father of Eternity Isa 9.6 Whither should the Child go but to the Father Whither should the Christian go but to Christ But if Christ be a Father Quest what manner of Father then is Christ to his Children What good soever is in any Creature Sol. is more eminently in Christ All the dispersed Excellencies that are throughout the Vniverse meet in Christ Psal 94.9 and concenter in him He that planted the Ear shall not he hear and he that formed the Eye shall not he see He that gives Ears to others must needs be all Ear himself and he that gives Eyes to others must needs be all Eye himself Take now the Characters Properties and Properties of a natural Father and see how Christ infinitely out-bids and out-vies such a natural Father A natural Father pitieth the Child To be without natural affection is a sin against Nature 2 Sam. 18.5 A Father pitieth his Child yea then most pitieth him when he standeth in most need of pity The Father then take the greatest Care when there is the greatest Cause When the Child is sick and weak under amazing pains and amusing pangs when sickness and weakness are upon the Child then there is the greatest paternal pity and affection unto the Child Thus yea infinitely more than thus Christ as a Father pitieth his Children Though Christ as man had a Father yet Christ as God is a Father Psal 103.13 As a Father pitieth his Children so Jehovah pitieth them that fear him A natural Father provideth for
to Death and to the House appointed for all living Ab Vtero ad Sepulcrum From the Womb to the Tomb is the Motto of Infant-Man Reader a Reflection upon these things together with Gods Glory thy Good and my Good have encouraged unto this work though I be the Benjamin the Least the Last of my Fathers House The work is good though the workman be bad The Subject is Death wonder not for no sooner did we begin to live but we began to die and shall continue dying until we be swallowed up of Death We dwell in Clay-Houses and our Bodies are Clay-Builts The School-men say Gratia infusa effusa diffusa that a good Thought is Grace infused a good Word is Grace effused a good Work is Grace diffused I would not out-bid my self neither would I know any thing by my self but my sin but second Thoughts and Reviews may better the first if not be better than the first Many with my self though not so much as my self may see Emendata are Emendanda that what is mended needs mending and what is bettered needs bettering yea the best sometimes not good enough to be called good It could never be said of any one but that only One Christ Jesus that he did all things well Luke 23.4 41. I find no fault in this man this man hath done all things well this man hath done nothing amiss I am not altogether insensible that my Thoughts are very short of Things and that my Words are far short of my Thoughts I dare not therefore be so peremptory concerning this Writing as Pilate was concerning his when he said John 19.22 What I have written I have written To give a penny is below an Alexander he will give a City To give Farthings and Fragments is below the Majesty and Magnificence the Grandeur and Glory of Princes and Potentates Araunah as a King gave unto David But Reader a penny to Me may be as much as a pound to Another Had I more thou shouldest have it Goats hair contributed to the Erection of the Tabernacle and the two Mites which made a Farthing received a welcome into the Treasury I have formerly sent through importunity two little-little Tracts into the World the one entituled Love to the Life the other A Paternal Gift The Author and Actor of Grace Christ Jesus the Lord by his Blessing hath made way for them into the Hands and Hearts of many Glory to God in the Highest which hath among other things encouraged the sending of this third Tract as a Modicum and Morsel and Mercy into the world also which is Mans last Scene in the acting whereof he goeth off the Stage not altogether despairing but hoping that this also through the same Blessing will meet with the like Entertainment and Welcome from those who are acquainted with Christ and acquitted by Him Reader Earl of Marlborrough to Sir Hugh Pollard Dying and dead mens dying words p. 2. it was the saying of an Earl not long before his death in a Letter of his to a Knight as followeth There is a certain thing going up and down the world called Religion that how dressed soever loseth not its Being the great and good God hath not left it without a witness more or less sooner or later in every mans Bosom to direct him in the pursuit of it Bullinger The Truth of Religion saith one is not to be judged by the Prosperity or Aversity of the Professors of it Most if not all the Learned men in the world have found that the Notion of God and Religion is the first engraven in and the last defaced out of the Minds of Men. Earl of Leicester A great person left this Testimony behind him concerning Christian-Religion that the sincere profession of it had in it Sweets and Joys that Courts were Strangers unto Basil The reason saith one why Julian and all other Apostates slight Religion is because they do not understand it Religion is a persons Interest Rolls rebuilding of the City p. 177. a Nations Interest how infatuated soever persons of worldly Grandeur and Glory may be This is the Religion of the Papists He that shall assassinate a King in Zeal for their Religion shall be canonized for a Saint Ah Religion ever to be abhorred and dreaded by those that are not of it as being resolved to propagate it self every where by secret Plots and open Violence by Fire and Sword Per Fas Nefas by Fraud and Force But what have I to do with those blind and bloody Papists with those children of Belial with those children of Blood Is this Religion of God which hath no other way to promote and propagate it self but by Fire and Massacre Is not the Religion of the Papist Rebellion Is not the Faith of the Papist Fancy Is not the Mercy of the Papist Murder Those born in England are born saith one in the Region of Religion in the Land of Goshen Mr. Ness Christians walk and work in the Valley of Vision Now Religion is the Beauty and Bulwark of a Nation It is to a Nation as the Palladium was to Troy which could not be destroyed so long as that was possessed It is like Sampsons Lock which while he retains he retains his Strength and is invincible Men differ not so much from Beasts in Reason as in Religion Religion is the highest Reason What can be more rational than for the supream Truth to be believed the highest Good to be embraced the first Cause of all things to be owned and feared and for those who were made by God and live wholly upon him to improve all for him and live wholly to him It was the will of God that the Body of Moses should be interred in a secret place unknown to any man to prevent Superstition Verse 9. of Judes ep and Idolatry among the Jews Now as the Angel and the Devil strove for the Body of Moses when he was dead And as seven Cities contended for Homer when he was dead though they cared not for him while he lived thus it fares with Religion Is it not now made a meer Eccho Do not men now speak of it Vox praeterea nihil as of the Lacedemonian-Nightingale a Voicc and nothing more Many contend and contest for the Carkass and Skeliton of it few contend for the Life and Substance of it which consisteth in Works not in Words We should rather be Agents than Disputants in Religion The Vanity of the Head is to argue much but the Sincerity of the Heart is to act much Look but into the Divine Mirror and there read such multitudes of Truths and so precious as will take up a mans time were he to live as many Years as Methuselah did Days It is not the subtle Head but the sincere Heart that shall go to Heaven That Man is under a prodigious Deception and Delusion who hopes to
save any thing by his Religion but his Soul He that sets up Religion to get any thing by it more than the Glory of God and the Salvation of his Soul will make a bad Bargain of it in the Close It is said of One that he would have Religion along with him Andronicus so far as it lay in his way Religion is like cold weather good for those that are sound bad for those that are unsound Differences also about Religion should not make men careless to have any but careful to have the best Julian That wicked Apostate loved the worst Religion best and was a professed Friend to all Foes of Goodness One being convinced of an Heathenish Custom thought Monica that Religion was not so poor as to borrow Rites from Pagans The Polanders are said to be of all Religions It is said if a Man hath lost his Religion he may seek it in Poland Poland and he shall be sure to find it or he may conclude that it is vanished out of the world May not the same be said of England that was said of Poland Galeacius to the Jesuit Let that Religion said one to another be cursed for ever which shall wed men to the World and divorce men from God Men may differ in Religon and yet be of the same Religion for every Difference in Religion is not a differing Religion Have a care not only of the Profession of Truth but also of the Truth of Profession lest bare Profession ends not in blessed Possession It is not enough to act a part or personate Religion but a man must be a religious person He spake like Himself who said Clarks Mirrour p. 39. that Religion did but effeminate mens minds and unfit them for noble Enterprises But why do I harp upon this string so long I shall only add this and so close Be of that Religion which the Protestant spake of who being asked by a Papist where his Religion was before Luther wittily answered in the Bible where thy Religion never was Now Reader Deut. 33.27 that the Eternal God may be thy Refuge and underneath thee everlasting Arms That Grace may be opened to thy Heart and thy Heart unto Grace that the Blessing of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob may be upon thee that the Eternal Spirit may be with thee that thou mayest distinguish between Light and Darkness Life and Death Truth and Error Gold and Dross Silver and Tin Flowers and Weeds Corn and Chaff is the Breathing of his Soul who through Grace more than desires as for Himself so for Thee that thou mayest not live to die but die to live and dying see the Death of Death in the Death of Jesus R. Mayhew Vita fugit nulloque Sono dilabitur Aetas Sic fugiendo solet fallere Vita fugit Vita fugit liquidam velut Unda supervenit Undam Sic Tempus trudit Tempora Vita fugit Vita fugit pars prima fugit pars altera fugit Tertia pars fugiet tempore Vita fugit Vita fugit res dicta satis res omnibus aequa Cognita nòn aequè credita Vita fugit Vita fugit celeris Mors Vltima Linea rerum Rerum tempus edax Vivito Vita fugit THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK SECT I. WHether there be a natural or corporal Death the circumference of the Vniverse Page 1 2 c. SECT II. What this natural or corporal Death is which is the circumference of the Vniverse Page 4 5. SECT III. Whether natural or corporal Death be the circumference of the Vniverse Page 7 8 c. SECT IV. Why natural or corporal Death is the circumference of the Vniverse 1. Man hath sinned therefore Man is mortal and must dye Page 11 12 c. 2. Man is formed out of the Dust therefore Man is mortal and must dye 3. God hath appointed Death therefore Man is mortal and must dye SECT V. The Brevity of Life Page 14. SECT VI. The Certainty of Death Page 16. SECT VII The Vncertainty of the time of Death Page 17. SECT VIII The Impartiality of Death Page 19. SECT IX Directions concerning Death the Tribute of Nature and Law of Mortals This Section hath a double Aspect looking to a Soul out of Christ and to a Soul in Christ Page 20 c CHAP. I. To the Soul out of Christ Direct 1. Put not far away the day of Death Direct 2. Take not God's work out of God's hand Direct 3. Tremble for thou may'st dye and be damned That Death is terrible appears by its 1. Antecedents 2. Nature 3. Consequents Page 22. Direct 4. Go to Christ in whose Death is the Death of Death Quest 1. What is this coming or going to Christ Sol. It is a believing in Christ. Page 24. Quest 2. Is there a necessity of going to Christ for Salvation Sol. Christ is a Saviour is the Saviour Quest 3. But am I called to go unto this Saviour for Salvation Page 25. Sol. Called thou art therefore go Quest 4. But what shall I be welcome if I go Sol. Come and welcome Quest 5. But is not an Impossibility imposed Sol. He that commands coming concerns himself with drawing Quest 6. May a lost Soul go to Christ Sol. A lost Soul may go must go Quest 7. But can a Soul believe in Christ without Christ Sol. No but he that calleth to come causeth to come Quest 8. What manner of Saviour is this Saviour Page 26. Sol. 1. A merciful 2. A meek 3. A free 4. A desirable 5. A delectable 6. A faithful 7. A fruitful 8. An incomparable 9. An invincible A fourfold Conquest hath Christ made 1. Over the World 2. Over the Heart 3. Over Hell 4. Over Heaven Page 31. 10. Christ is a full Saviour There is in Christ a fulness 1. Of Power 2. Of Pardon Christ pardons Sin in respect of his 1. Deity 2. Dignity 3. Mercy 4. Merit There is also in Christ a fulness 3. Of Light 4. Of Love 5. Of Wisdom 6. Of Righteousness Pag. 35. The Law required a threefold Righteousness 1. Habitual 2. Practical 3. Passive Wherein the Law threatned 1. A Privation of Comfort 2. An Infliction of Torment All answered by Christ for those that are Christs CHAP. II. To the Soul in Christ Page 38. DIRECT I. Direct 1. Prepare thorough Christ for the first Death Quest But what course shall I steer and by what compass shall I sail that I may prepare for this Death Sol. 1. Make thorough Christ Mortality thy Meditation 2. Be much thorough Christ in Prayer To this end reflect Page 42. 1. The Income of Prayer 2. The Influence of Prayer 1. Prayer thorough Christ had an Influence over the four Elements 1. Over the Air. 2. Over the Fire 3. Over the Earth 4. Over the Water 2. Prayer thorough Christ had an Influence over the Prison 3. Prayer thorough Christ had an Influence upon the great Luminaries 4. Prayer had an Influence upon the Son 5.
2 Chron. 18.3 31. Chap. 19.2 3. Be joyous also for thou art on the best side As there is the worst so there is the best side The worlds side is the worst side Gods side is the best side It was not the Virtue but the Vice of Jehoshaphat to be of Ahab's side and it had like to have cost his life That side is the best side on which holy Saints and Angels are on which a holy God and a holy Christ are but these are on thy side if thou beest actually Christs That side is the best side on which holy Saints are but they are on their side who are actually Christs Though God hath a Bag for the Sins of his yet he hath a Book for the Prayers of his and a Bottle for the Tears of his Now all the Prayers and Tears of all the Saints throughout all the Vniverse are engaged for those who are actually Christs I have seen Acts 7.34 I have seen the affliction of my People which is in Egypt and have heard their groaning and am come down to deliver them That side is the best side on which holy Angels are but they are on their side who are actually Christs Sodom and Gomorrah were not a match for two Angels Sennacheribs Army was not a match for one Angel and yet holy Angels are on their side who are Christs Are they not all ministring Spirits Heb. 1.14 sent forth to minister unto them who shall be heirs of salvation That side is the best side on which a holy God is but God is on their side Psal 118.6 who are actually Christs Jehovah is on my side or for me I will not fear what can man do unto me That side is the best side on which a holy Christ is but he is on their side who are actually his For how many did Alexander stand For how many did they reckon Gideon The Sword of the Lord Rev. 6.2 and of Gideon But a greater than Gideon is here Christ Jesus the Lord who went out conquering and to conquer and for how many stands He Now is not that side the best side on which holy Saints are and they are numerous I looked Rev. 14.1 and lo a Lamb stood on mount Zion and with him an hundred forty and four thousand Is not that side the best side on which holy Angels are an◠they are innumerable Heb. 12.22 Isa 40.15 To an innumerable company◠Angels Is not that side the best side o◠which a holy God is For All Nations unto him are but as the drop of a Bucket Is not that side the best side on which a holy Christ is For He is the Captain of the Saints salvation Heb. 2.10 made perfect thorough suffering Soul thy side is Christ side and Christs side is thy side take now 〈◊〉 taste what manner of side Christs is Christs side is the strongest side Are not me◠for the strongest side but most men mistake tha◠side that is the strongest side on which Christ is Be strong and courageous be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria 2 Chron. 32. 7 8. nor for the multitude tha◠is with him for there are more with us than with him with him is an Arm of flesh but with us is the living God to help us and to fight our Battels God is incomprehensible therefore innumerable Here all natural and spiritual Arithmetick and Rhetorick are puzled and posed Christs side is the soundest side The worlds side is an unsound side an ulcerous side a rotten side Their Root is Rottenness The world hath a stinking Breath and the Air of the world is infectious Joseph had not been long in the Court of Pharaoh before he learned to swear by the Life of Pharaoh But now Christs side is a sound side there is soundness within there is truth in the inward parts yea 't is sound within and without The Kings daughter is all Glory within Psal 45.13 and her cloathing is of wrought Gold Christs side is a prudent side The greatest Sinners are the greatest Fools the greatest Saints are the greatest Sages Those who are actually Christs are wise unto salvation which is the greatest wisdom they have that wisdom from above which is first pure and then peaceable Thou thorough thy Commandments hast made me wiser than mine Enemies Psal 119.98 Christs side is a prevailing side He must reign until he hath put all his enemies under his feet A fourfold Conquest hath Christ Jesus made for His. Over Sin To conquer a Lust is more than to conquer a Land 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made Sin a Sacrifice for us who knew no Sin by Himself that we might be made the righteousness of God in him He slays the Sons of Zerviah within Over Satan Satan is a great Enemy though Sin be a greater but Christ hath made a Conquest upon both 1 John 3.8 Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil Over the Earth The world is a potent Enemy unto all but a prevailing Enemy unto many unto most Few are a match for the world John 16.33 but Christ is I have overcome the world Over Heaven Heaven is worth the hearing worth the hecding worth the having worth the holding And to look for his Son from Heaven 1 Thess 1.10 whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come Art actually in Christ Cordial VIII Be joyous also for thou art graciously interested in the blessed Blood of a bleeding Jesus But what manner of Blood is Christs Blood Quest Sol. 1. Christs Blood is precious Blood The Redemption of a Soul is precious for the Soul is redeemed with Blood that is precious If the blood of a Christian be so precious in Gods eyes how precious should the Blood of a Christ be in our eyes The blood of Saints is precious in the eyes of God Psal 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints This Blood is also precious in the eyes of Christ Psal 72 14. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight Is the blood of a Christian thus What should the Blood of a Christ then be in our eyes for it is precious Blood Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold There is the negative part Silver and Gold are corruptible things though unto some as Micah's gods were to him take away these things though corruptible things and they have nothing left Ye have taken away my gods from me and the Priest and what have I left Here is a Redemption but not with corruptible things as Silver 1 Pet. 1.18 19. and Gold Silver and Gold may redeem a person in captivity to the Turk or Tartar but Silver and Gold cannot redeem a Person in captivity to Sin and Satan If this cannot what can the Blood of
the Gospel and the voice from Mount Sion came along with Christ Joh. 1.17 The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Christ is the Churches merit Death is a Stipend Life is a Donative a free Gift Martyrology p. 126 Lord Gray Duke of Suffolk Person p. 99. Bernard not a due Debt The mercy of Christ is the merit of the Christian One at the place of Execution said I trust to be saved by the merits of Christ alone and by no other Trumpery A Maryan-Martyr at the Stake said In the merits of Christ alone I trust this day to enter into his joy My merit saith one is the mercy of my God so long as God is not poor in mercy I cannot be poor of merit if he be great in mercy I also am great in merit Luther himself confesseth Luth. in Gal. p. 90. That when he prayed or said Mass he used to add this in the end oh Lord Jesus I come unto thee and I pray thee that these Burdens together with the straitness of my Rule and Religion may be a full recompence for all my sins But this he also saith Before I would admit of the blasphemy of the merit of Congruence before Grace to obtain Grace and works in the merit of worthiness after Grace I would not onely that the holiness of all the Papists and Merit-mongers but also of all the Saints and Angels should be thrown into the bottom of Hell and condemned with the Devil Christ is the Churches merit for the Church is Christ's purchase Feed the Church of God Acts 20.28 which he hath purchased with his own blood Man was sold sold under sin a Slave to Sin a Slave to Satan but Christ hath bought him 1 Cor. 6.20 and paid dear for him Ye are bought with a price Here was a valuable price for it was invaluable blood the blood of a sinless Jesus Christ is the Churches Mine The people of Brazile in America Clark 's Mirror Part II. p. 170. call Gold the God of the Christians Gold hath devotions paid it as to a Goddess In some places of America if the Historian do not hyperbolize there is such abundance of Gold that in some Mines there is more Gold than Earth p. 77. So Potter in his compendious view saith That in some of the American-Mines they can hardly find so much Earth Basil Marq. of Vico. Clark's 2d Part. Ecclesiast History p. 104. Joh. 1.14 16. as Gold When one was tempted with Gold he answered Give me Gold that will last for ever Luther would not be put off with Gold without Grace and Glory Galeacius being proffered a vast Sum of money to return said Let his money perish with him that accounts all the Gold in the world worth one days communion with Jesus Christ and his holy Spirit There are Mines of Gold but Christ is a Mine of Grace He is full of Grace and Truth He is an Ore indeed that is able to enrich a Beggar yea a Bankrupt Of his fulness have all we received Col. 2.3 and Grace for Grace All the treasures of Grace are hid in this Christ for this Church Christ is the Churches Mirror As he is the Churches Mercy and Merit and Mine so Mirror In this Glasâ— ye may take a Pisgah-Prospect of the Holy Land The King would not be seen without his youngest Son The Father will not be seen without his eldest Son No man hath seen God at any time Joh. 1.18 the onely begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him The bosom is the seat of amity and secresiâ— who is so intirely loved as she that lieth in the bosom Men admit those into their bosoms to whom they impart all their secresies Calvin The breast saith One is the place of counsels Now Christ is the Mirror he being in the bosom of the Father discovers and declares the Father unmasks and unveils the Father The firmamental Sun is not seen out of his own light The Father and the Son are so great lights that they are not seen out of their own light In thy light Joh. 14.9 we shall see light The Father is seen in the Son He that hath seen me hath seen the Father Oh my Soul in this Christ thou mayst see God see Glory see Heaven and thy name written there Moses must stand upon a Mount to receive from God the Tables of Stone and the Law As Moses must have a Mount to converse with God so thou must have a Mirror to see God to see the reconciled face of God If ever thou seest God to be thy God to be thine in Covenant thine in Christ then Christ must be thy mirror wherein thou takest a prospect of him If Christ be thus how then should he be endeared and cryed up as a Person without compare in a Christians eye and the Object of a Christians desire Now the desires that will have the ear of Christ and an answer from Christ they are the desires of the heart all other desires are but as Ships without Sails Clouds without Water Trees without Fruit Bodies without Souls But what manner of desires are cordial desires Quest Cordial desires are good desires Sol. 1. If the desire be from the heart then good is the object of that desire I am writing of a person that makes Christ the object of his soul-delight now the object of his desire which is from his heart must be good The desire of the righteous is onely good Prov. 11.23 but the expectation of the wicked is wrath It is a Maxim in Philosophy that all things desire good The desires of the righteous as righteous are onely good alwayes good for as they desire Christ above all so they desire Christ in all and after all in whom is all good and nothing but good Cant. 5.8 I charge you oh daughters of Jerusalem if ye see my beloved that ye tell him I am sick of love Oh! if ye see him be sure to tell him whatever ye forget to tell him do not forget to tell him this that I am sick of love for him Oh tell him that I know not how to live another day without him another duty without him Oh tell him that my head akes that my Heart akes that my very heart-strings are ready to break for a Sight of him for a Smile from him for inward and intimate Converse and Communion with him Cordial desires are lawful desires They must be things lawful that are desired or our desires are unlawful We must not desire as the Mother of Zebedees children did Matth. 20.20 21 22. concerning which Christ said Ye know not what ye ask What wilt thou saith Christ She said Grant that these my two Sons James and John who themselves are said to put up this Petition to the Lord Mark 10.35 for they said Doe for us whatsoever we