concerns of another World and the welfare of their immortals Souls Is not this folly Poor Sinners let me reason a little with you if possible to recover your lost understanding come be your own judges Is it your interest think you to adventure your All for things that cannot abide with you when obtained nor satisfy you if they stay things that can but bring you to your Grave and accompany your bodies to the House of Mourhing and there leave you unless they shew you the way to Hell also Is it not madness to adventure your Souls for a trade pleasures and treasures of so short continuance and little advantage things that you will shortly be as weary of as now desirous and throw them to the Bats and Moles of the Earth that you may go into the Rocks to hide you from the fury of a Sin-avenging God Will you spend all upon time and lay up nothing for eternity Or is it rational to think that you should reap where you never sowed and possess the benefit of that Trade you never drove Gal. 6. 7 8. Can you think to reach Heaven hereafter and never walk one foot in the way to it here Certainly what men sow that they shall reap Can you imagine the things of Heaven to be so cheap as to be had without looking after Alas things far inferiour cannot be so easily obtained it may cost some of you many tuggings much sweat labour and expence to get but a little of this World and do you think to find this tried Gold without buying and digging for it and is it a wise bargain think you to purchase your desirable Comforts with the loss of your Souls and that you may gain but a little of the World to part with a possibility of having Heaven What will it profit you to get the World were you sure of every part of it and to lose your Souls Mat. 16. 26. And what if you miss of your hopes in this and fall short of Heaven too never have what you look'd for on Earth nor a place in Heaven neither will not your case be then dreadful O! foolish Souls that may be happy but will not that may get into such a course of life as would enrich you here and for ever but refuse it preferring a poor beggarly life before a rich and noble state choosing rather to trade with Devils than God to swap away your delightful time for doleful eternity your salvationprizes swinish pleasures O sad exchange for to be bewailed but not remedied What to barter away strength for weakness desires for emptiness labours for vanity hope for despair precious souls for perishing shadows an open door of grace for a shut door of glory mercy for misery earth for hell O fools in grain to let go such a bargain as being had would for ever make you and being lost may never be regained but in the room of it an eternity to repent your time of folly when tears and cries will be too late when mercy shall have no repentings for you bowels themselves no roulings over you nor everlasting arms any help for you Mat. 25. 10. This is your danger Sinners this may be your case who refuse wisdom's counsels choosing death rather than life you that would have none of Wisdom's wares nor work but have rather valued the Devil's Counters before Christ's Gold and the pleasures of sin that are but for a season before the treasures of grace and glory that are eternal walking after the flesh and serving divers lusts till your trading time for Heaven be almost over Alas Sinners there may be for any thing you know but few Merchandising hours left for you in this World it may be scarce a Sabbath more between some of you and hell in what a case then are you like to be who never set upon this heavenly Trade to this very day and should you now go out of this World strangers to this employment in what a doleful state will your Souls be for ever when you come to possess the eternal fruit of your bad bargain then could any lay their ears to Hell gates and listen at your cries they would hear such language as this from your trembling lips Folly Folly Woe Woe Eternity Eternity VSE II. Secondly This calls to mourning over the great decaies of this Heavenly Trade in the times and places wherein we live Loss of Trade is easily resented as an evil case a matter of trouble Men use to be affected with hard times when a death lies on their interests and their earthly concerns are at a loss and this is the case of most men this day all places are full of complaints about their affairs in the world there 's a moth in mens labours and dealings and it is easily seen and felt the heavy looks and heartless carriages of many do plainly demonstrate a sense of their temporal wastes and their mouths vent such-language The times are hard and the trade of the Nation gone But alas where are the mourners of Sion and who is afflicted at the decaies of godliness and death on this Heavenly Trade Though there is nothing more visible and lamentable than the faling back in Religion yet who laies it to heart and who is rightly affected with this important evil Now towards the cure of this insensibleness and to awaken our hearts to a due apprehensiveness of our evil case by reason of the decaies of godliness I shall 1 Lay down some symptomes evidencing it to be our case that there are real and great decaies of this Heavenly Trade in the time and places wherein we live 2 Shew why this should be for a lamentation First That this Heavenly Trade goes back and decaies is so evident that he is a stranger in our Israel and hath too much of a spirit unconcern'd in these matters who doth not plainly see Religion and the power of Godliness dying and languishing in most places and persons Now the better to evince this sad truth I shall proceed in a plain and familiar method keeping to the metaphor in the text and the usual symptomes of decay'd Trading Six things usually shew the decaies of earthly Trading all which are conclusive of the point in hand and discover bad times for piety and great wastes of Religion First When the price of things is much fal'n and the rates very low and goods are worth little or nothing then men say it 's bad trading So is it now in this Heavenly Trade the rate and value of divine things is much abated Wisdom's goods seem little worth to many There was a time when Heavenly Wares were highly prized the Word of God was precious to souls far better to Saints than thousands of gold and silver they could have parted with all the world to enjoy God in Ordinances estate ease credit were nothing to a place in God's house and one view of his countenance was better than life Oh how sweet were the words of
troubles them but to be something though never so little satisfieth them and if this be Popery to rest in the work done how many Papists have we amongst us this day Certainly Professors are generally asleep or slumbering they do their work so badly and heartlesly their work falls out of their hand as things do from men asleep active for the world as if they could never do enough but soon tyr'd in the work of God dispatch but little of heavenly work from day to day from one Sabbath to another little heart-searching soul-watching work is done little in-door employment is carried on the exercise of faith hope humility patience zeal self-denial seems a stranger to a great many this day not for want of occasions or encouragements to work the Lord is still calling upon his Labourers to make haste but for want of hearts to work And this spiritual sloth proves that the Heavenly Trade is much lost Fourthly The poverty of Traders plainly shews Trading is not good when a Trade doth not maintain the Trader but he still goes back and becomes poorer then surely trading is not good The diligent hand makes rich Prov. 10. 4. When trading is good Traders usually thrive and live well upon it but when they waste and become poor then trading decaies So is it with Heavenly Traders when they drive a good Trade for Heaven they grow rich apace towards God and in their own souls Wisdom's wares are soul-enriching wares My fruit is better than gold yea than fine gold and my revenue than choice silver Prov. 8. 19. Men account those to be rich who have much of gold and silver but Wisdom's fruit is better than gold and therefore must needs be enriching they that have this gold cannot be poor Hence it is Christ counsels Laodicea to buy of him gold tryed in the fire that she might be rich Rev. 3. 1. But alas how poor in spirituals are persons generally this day Therefore I said Sur ly these are poor they are foolish for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgement of their God Jer. 5. 4. Unacquaintedness with the way of God when men walk wide from Religion and lose their strict and close walking with God they soon become poor and foolish And this is the case of many every where they give a carnal liberty to themselves and indulge a freedom to walk after the fight of their own eyes and not by rule and where this is there is soul-poverty which is too visible in most this day Christians do but observe your own hearts and others and you will find this spiritual poverty abounding every where Little thrivings appear under the best of means choicest Priviledges do little more than keep up a name to live they convey but little quickenings to the soul A shew of Religion and a meer skeleton of profession is the common fruit of Ordinances in most places whereas all the while decaies are on the vitals of Christianity abatements in grace appear every day and a visible alteration in the whole frame and internal vigour of the soul faith love humility patience self-denyal and every grace becomes weaker every day Former daies were better than now Eccles 7. 10. Speak Christian are not matters worse with thy soul than they were and abatements appear in every part There was a time when thy mind was beam'd over with Divine Light the Candle of the Lord did shine in thy tabernacle Thy eye was quick to discern good and evil thou couldest once see an excellency in the knowledge of Christ O how choice were sermons priviledges were to thee the uncasking of Jewels and the opening of hidden glory thou did'st dwell in the Land of Visions and still some new discoveries of light and grace did meet thee in thy affectionate attendance upon God But now it is not so thy Candle burns dimly and thy right eye is darkened now thou seest but little beauty in grace or desireableness in truth things under thy feet th' other day that seem'd nothing compar'd with Christ now through the multiplying-glass of thy deceived mind seem great and lovely Formerly thy affections were warm and lively after God his word and ways O! how precious were his appointed Feasts and his Tabernacles amiable thou couldst delight in approaching to God and talk of a blessedness in his presence O the pleasure sweetness and joy thy heart did find in thy Closet in spiritual Converses and Duties and publick Ordinances thou couldst weep over sin and bedew thy prayers with tears and find thy heart burn within thee while Christ was speaking and melted under the warm beams of divine love But alas now it is not so now thy affections are dead thy heart as cold as a stone all the while thou art speaking to God in Prayer or God speaking to thee in his Word thou findest no more savour in Ordinances Duties and Christian Converses than in the white of an Egg Job 6. 16. Thou findest not that delight in God as formerly and the night of thy pleasure is turned to fear unto thee Isa 21. 4. This is Soul-poverty Again there was a time also when thy Will like the great Wheel in the Clock could move regularly after God thou couldst choose God for thy chiefest interest and Christ for thy only treasure preferring an interest in him above ten thousand Worlds thou couldst have voted for communion with God before thy meat and drink and one hours fellowship with Christ beyond all the delights on Earth thou couldst choose the things that please God and deny thy own pleasure to give content to him thou couldst once stick to thy first choice and find the purpose of thy heart cleaving to God Act. 11. 23. Thou couldst once resolve and keep thy resolutions 't was easier to take thy heart out of thy body than to gain thy consent to part with Christ his presence and ways But now thy will is hardly drawn after pure and constant enjoyments of God in his ways O! how difficult a thing is it to perswade thy will to let go all for Christ to leave every thing to attend on God to part with the world and self to wait on God to throw all over-board to take in Christ How hard is it now to consent that Christ shall have all the command of thy Soul and dispose of thy dearest interests now thou findest it a work above thee to keep thy heart in order one hour or to perform the purposes of thy Soul to God and Godliness thou resolvest and changest every day thou vowest and breakest thy vows continually there is no stedfastness in thy spirit this also bespeaks thy Soul-poverty There was a time also when thy Conscience was tender thy heart could smite thee for the least sin thy Conscience could hold thee to the greatest duty and bind thee to thy good behaviour thou could'st not go against the light and checks of thy regulated Conscience were it to gain the whole
Heaven 1 Pet. 1. 5 What strivings have some to obtain a Crown that is corruptible and shall I be weary that am in pursuit of one that is incorruptible 1 Cor. 9. 25. without labour no rest without bearing the heat and burden of the day when called thereto no penny at the end Matt. 20. 12 13. without striving lawfully no crowning 2 Tim. 2. 5. without doing the commandment no eating of the tree of life Rev. 22. 14. without enduring to the end no salvation Mark 13. 13. comfort your selves with this that Heaven will make amends for all when your wet and weary sowings shall end in a pleasant and eternal harvest Gal. 16. 9. Let us not be weary in well doing for you shall reap in due time if ye faint not Be stedfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. Direct 7. Lastly What you do do quickly Time waits not your leisure There are but twelve hours in the day and how many of them have been slept and sinned away and how few of them may be before you who knows What if your Sun should set at noon day or a summons meet you in the midst of your work Give account of thy Stewardship for thou shalt be no longer Steward Luke 16. 2. What will you then do Some of you are in your afternoon what time is that to set forth such a long journey as the way to Heaven is and yet will you gain by your delays some of this time also for the Devil World and Flesh others of you are in your morning the best time to put forth in your travel towards glory O! lose not your season for eternity Make much of time saith Aquinas especially in the weighty matter of Salvation O! how much would they that now lie frying in Hell rejoyce if they might have the least minute of time wherein they might get God's favour the young man hath death at his back the old man before his eyes and that 's the more dangerous enemy that pursues thee than that which marches up to thy face Christ's work admits of no delays his injunction allows not of too morrow but while 't is called to day Heb. 3. 7. To day if you will hear his voice vers 13. To day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Seek the Lord while he may be found Isa 55. 6. Haste haste the tide will not bide Rutherford 'T is now or never while the Light shines the Lord knocks the Angel moves on the waters while the Lord delays his coming Salvation-work is quick work God's racers must run his Doves must fly his Servants be diligent that they may be found of him in peace 1 Cor. 9. 26. Isa 60. 8. 2 Pet. 3. 14. You that have stood idle in the market-place all your day hitherto hasten into the Lord's Vineyard Matt. 20. 6. Love is sick to hear tell of to morrow Mr. Rutherford What Jonathan said to his Lad when David's life was in danger let me advise you And Jonathan cried after the Lad make speed haste stay not 1 Sam. 20. 38. I rue nothing said precious Mr. The fulfilling of the Scriptures Welch when on his sick-bed but that I was so long in beginning O saith David that I had wings like a Dove for then would I fly away and be at rest I would hasten my escape from the stormy wind and Tempest Psal 55. 6 8. Sinners you are in danger of stormy tempests while in your unchanged state O hasten to your strong holds ye prisoners of hope When Brentius was like to be given up to the enemy one writes him this note Fuge Brenti cito citius citissime Fly Brentius quickly more quickly most speedily Souls 't is for your lives make all possible haste about the work of your Salvation And you that are entred on this heavenly work double your diligence that you may finish your course before God finishes your time methinks the word of God and his providences this day yea every thing seems to thrust you forward and do to you as Pharaoh's Task-masters did to Israel Exod. 5. 13. And the Task-masters hasted them saying fulfil your work To Professors Counsel 2. Secondly if the Heavenly Trade be the best Trade then you that profess this Calling be you exhorted to follow it keep up and improve your Trade for Heaven what 's an employment without improvement the most profitable Calling not followed turns to little advantage The day we live in gives men sensible experience of this truth that they who intend to live in the World must attend their employments The idle person suffers hunger they must be careful and diligent in their business that think to make any thing of their earthly interests and so 't is in this Trade of godliness they that will be saved must work out their Salvation A Trade is a man's business and course of life which he pursues and carries on from day to day 't is the subject of his thoughts counsels and considerations of his time and strength and daily work where he ends one day he begins the next and contributes his utmost wisdom parts and labours to the most vigorous prosecution of it And so must it be in this Heavenly Trade Christians it must be the impending business and principal concern of your whole life that which commands your thoughts purposes and capacities which engrosses your time care and strength and to which every other business must give way and every occasion and occurrence must be subservient it must be followed and driven on every day in every thing place and company what-ever is neglected that must go on and give no place to intermissions no not for a moment You must not say to godliness as Felix did to Paul Go thy way for this time when I have a more convenient season I will send for thee Acts 24. 25. Stops in the way of God are not easily recovered one days neglect brings all out of order Prosperity in Religion admits of no Parenthesis in its work or consists with allowed interruptions Piety must be as the blood that runs through every vein of your life and affair in the World In eating drinking talking thinking buying selling you must be still driving on Wisdom's Merchandise Christians follow your work or lay down your Trade 't is vanity yea the way to beggery to profess a Calling and not pusue it Quest But wherein lies this Heavenly Trade which I must so make my business what do you drive at by all these Arguments for Heavenly Trading What I intend by this metaphor I shall open to you under these seven general Heads as the main duty of a Christian and to be carried on in the whole course of his life 1 To have and keep up a heavenly spirit 2 To secure your interest in heavenly things 3 To get in more
God and secur'd your All in his hands Rule 3. Thirdly Keep your earthly business within the bounds of due time He that hath allotted you your work hath allotted you your time for it it consists not with man's state relation and interest to be arbitrary in any thing but to walk by rule There is a time for every thing under the Sun Eccles 3. 1. A time for every purpose and for every work verse 17. Job 7. 1. As there is an appointed time to man on earth so there is an appointed time to man for earthly things He that hath set bounds to the world hath not left worldly employments without bounds but hath fixed mens earthly affairs within their proper season Psal 104. 23. Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening The Psalmist acknowledges here the power and providence of God in setting bounds to his creatures bounds to the Sun and Moon Verse 19. He appointed the Moon for seasons and the Sun knoweth his going down Bounds to the day and night Verse 20. Thou makest darkness and it is night he limits the labours of wild beasts and men the beasts have their preyingtime confined to the night Verse 20. 22. And it is night wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth the Sun riseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens Men have their working-time allotted in the day Man goeth forth to his work and labour until the evening that is to the end of their working-day which consisted among the Jews of twelve hours John 11. 9. Are there not twelve hours in the day the usual time for men to dispatch their earthly work in The Lord would not p Providentia ergo Dei noluit sic prolixam operandi continuationem ut hominum vires nimium atteret sed modum constituit saith Musculus have mens labours drawn out so far as to wear out their strength but hath set bounds to it As the Lord would not have the world to take up mens hearts so he would not have it to eat out their time or encroach on these seasons that are due to greater concerns God Nature Grace thy own soul and the spiritual good of others have their claims as well as thy earthly calings to this little inch of this time O consume not thy precious day on things that are temporal and neglect thy opportunities for things eternal do not enslave thy body beyond thy beasts which have their times of rest nor exhaust that strength which better things call for upon an empty perishing world Excessive labours beyond their due time do argue either too much desire of these things or too little faith in God and are reprov'd by the Lord as the vanity and practice of them who are not his beloved ones Psal 127. 2. 'T is lamentable to see such as would be thought the heirs of Heaven so excessively taken up in enlarging their possessions on earth engrossing all their time early and late about their earthly affairs leaving nothing but a few unserviceable minutes for God and their souls O Christians Keep the stream of your earthly affections and labours within the banks of allowed time rob not God of his time of special service nor nature of her time of needful rest and refreshment nor thy own or others souls of time for their spiritual concerns for such poor perishing things Shew charity to thy redeemed body make it not a drudge to thy earthly lusts Man is too noble a creature to be a vassal to this world 'T is a sad spectacle to see the Nazarites of Heaven like Sampson with their heads shaven and their eyes pluckt out to grind in the world's mill till they pluck down the house about their ears Judg. 16. 21. How do men macerate their bodies and starve their souls onely to help them with supplies in their passage to the grave and all the while neglect the work of God and their souls leaving the reliques of their wasted strength and the world's refuse for the service of an immortal God This is not to follow earthly things by heavenly Rule Rule 4. Fourthly Be diligent in the use of your working time take heed you waste it not upon impertinencies or by needless diversions or by idleness and unfaithfulness in your work this is a sin against both Law and Gospel which requires diligence and faithfulness in mens earthly callings Labour and calling-work was man's duty before his fall Gen. 2. 15 The Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it And after the fall painful labour was injoyn'd and inflicted as a punishment of his sin Gen. 3. 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou return to the ground This duty of bodily labour in mens Callings is of equal sanction and regard with the duties of Gods Worship being inserted in a positive Law and as that which is necessary to the sanctifying of God in Sabbaths Exod. 29. 9 10 Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work The injunction of working in six days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Mayer is given in the same commanding terms in the Original that the injunction of not working in the seventh is and the same reason is given for both the one is taken from Gods resting on the seventh day and the other from his working the six days So that not to labour faithfully in thy Calling the six days is a breach of the fourth command as well as the working on the Sabbath-day Not as if the six days labour were to exclude all religious Worship of God on either of these days when the Lord calls to it by extraordinary Providences as to mourning or rejoycing or by ordinary tenders of Gospel-mercy in Week-day Lectures or the like for this would cross his other commands Preaching in season and out of season and labouring for the bread that endures to eternal life This diligent labour doth not exclude private worship every day and publick worship on week-days so far as it consists with faithfulness in mens Callings for which time must be redeemed Eph. 5. 16. but it requires diligent attendance on mens Callings on the week-days as opposed to sloath and sinful waste of time without which God is not duely served on the Sabbath This diligence in mens Callings is also required in the Gospel 1 Thess 3. 10. Idleness is a Gospel-scandal and renders Christians worthy to be abstained from as not obeying the Word of God and such must not eat 1 Thess 4. 11. such are unprofitable servants who improve not their talents for God and the good of others Matth. 25. 30. and are worse than Infidels who do not by diligence in their Calling provide for their own 1 Tim. 5. 8. Rule 5. Fifthly while your hands
measure of Soul darkness fallen upon us in this Evening-part of our Gospel-day Isa 42. 19 20. Who is blind but my servant or deaf as my messenger that I sent who is blind as he that is perfect and blind as the Lords servant seeing many things but thou observest not opening the ear but he heareth not Were not a Veil on mens minds could it possibly be that CHRIST should be so little precious in this Day of revelation and Land of visions in which we live Was there ever a Nation in the World to whom Christ hath been so unveiled and manifestly held forth Crucified before their eyes and yet not to know the Day of their visitation and the things of their peace be-speaks shameful Ignorance Is not this a manifest Evidence of mens Darkness and folly to be fondly taken with Airy Notions and vain Speculations and all the while neglect that Wisdome which maketh wise to salvation to leave the Fire of the Sanctuary and sit down by Sparks of their own kindling That having a Kingdom before them which cannot be shaken and an Inheritance that fadeth not away reserved in the heavens they should turn again to the beggarly Elements of this world loathing their Manna and Angels food and longing again for the Onyons and Garlick they had vomited up to leave tried Gold for that which perisheth to let Heaven drop out of their hands and hugg the World in their hearts to neglect that Merchandise which brings in unsearchable riches and drive a Trade for such Goods whose fashion passeth away Do plainly argue Ignorance and folly Are not the silver streams of Jordan better than the muddy waters of Assyria and our Rock above the worldlings Sandy bottoms they themselves being Judges and yet to lose those pleasant streams for that filthy puddle is folly indeed Will Eagles stoop to Flies Can Souls who have ascended into the light of the Lord and seen the things that differ and had acquaintance with things above upon choice come down again and prey upon the Carrion Comforts and Interests of a dying World O no. Can a Maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire Oh foolish people and unwise to be unmindful of the Rock that begat them to leave the Snow of Lebanon to let down such a gainful Trade as Holiness is that they may pursue a Soul-cheating starving damning World demonstrates folly and madness in such as have the knowledge or hopes of better things are ye so foolish having begun in the spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh Gal. 3. 3. To obviate or retrieve this folly is the design of this ensuing Discourse which comes not in the gawdy Dress of curious Art or in the Excellency of mans wisdom but in the plainness and demonstration of the truth as it is in Jesus I am not ignorant that Books have their Fashions as well as men and Discourses that come not forth in the Modish Garb laced with Elegancy and stuffed with Lofty strains scarce meet with a Look except of Scorn and Contempt from the Wits of this Day But I love not to follow them who darken counsel by words and by their sublime Speculations and abstruse Notions lead men into Clouds of their own creating and while they shew Themselves lose their Readers There are many tricks and devices saith Mr. Dod that some men use in Preaching which we may apply also to Writing but it seldom does good the pure Gospel and that Preaching which the World counts foolishness is that which works most kindly Christ's own Weapons are the fittest for his own service and when there is least of man in Gods work then usually does there most of God appear The business of this Book is not to feed thy Curiosity but to find out thy Conscience and the likeliest way to That is through the plains of Intelligible truth I cannot expect that Discourse should lead others towards Heaven that has not its self drained and refined from Earth Expect not in this any thing that may please thy carnal mind but what may profit thy teachable and obedient Soul and before thou ascendest the Throne to judge it take the Balance of the Sanctuary and weigh it Be advised to go beyond such Readers who onely view the Title read the Epistle glance a little on the Book and if they find not something singular and pleasing their curious Fancy lay it aside this shews a full Stomach but an empty Soul and is a Practice that overturns the Writers pains and the Readers profit be perswaded to read it throughly and impartially and weigh it seriously and thou mayest find something that concerns either thy Understanding Affection Conscience or Conversation I have chosen to prosecute the Metaphor of Trading throughout this Discourse having a principal respect to that sort of persons in the design of this Book and the better to insinuate into the mind of ordinary Christians the knowledge of heavenly things of mens duties neglects and backsliding If thou art one who never madest a profession of God farther than blindness formality or superstition might lead thee and a stranger to this great pleasant and gainful Trade of Godliness here thou mayest find Arguments to perswade thee to this rational and necessary Undertaking in order to Life and Salvation Grace and Glory with Counsel and Instructions how thou mayest attain to this high and heavenly Calling If thou be one who drivest furiously after the World pursuing thy earthly Interest with greediness neglecting the things that concern thy peace and subjecting the Concerns of Heaven and thy immmortal Soul to the poor and perishing Trifles of this World here thou wilt find reasons to convince thee of that folly and helps to loosen thy heart from that ensaring Soul ruining bondage If thou meetest with Rebukes upon thy earthly Interests and crosses on thy Affairs and undertakings in the World this Book will help thee to find out the Cause of thy Disappointments and those consuming Moths on thy Estate and Instruct thee to get Honey out of these Rods good from these evils and how to Comport with Divine ends and thy own Advantages by such Dispensations Hast thou made a Profeossio of Godliness and formerly driven this Heavenly Trade to Advantage but art now fallen back and decay'd in thy Spiritual substance and become poor in thy Inward man and towards God here mayest thou find the Discoveries and Evidences of a back-sliding Soul with the Causes of it thou wilt also meet with Awakening Considerations to Affect and Afflict thy heart with the sense of thy evil Case Here also mayest thou know whether thy Decays are cureable and what course thou mayest take to get out of thy languishing estate Art thou one that doest profess this Heavenly Trade this Piece will tell thee what thy work is and wherein this Imployment lies what are the Important duties of Piety to be driven on every Day with Directions and Rules about it If thou art one
done so much for you Wait upon and walk in the light while you have it if Grace thinks it not much to spread a Table for you don't you think it much to spare time to sit down at it You that find so many things to do when God calls for your Company will shortly find that God hath other things to do than to mind you when you need his Cordials how glad would you be of enjoying time to hear the voice of peace when you are entring upon Eternity who are not at leisure now to hear Divine precepts while in the possession of time neglect not hearing praying seasons which are your Seed-time for Glory O that every day saith one were a Sabbath or a Fast-day for then I should be well Buy not your ease or earthly interest at so dear a rate as the loss of salvation time and helps Evidence your love to God by your valuation of his Presence in his Ordinances How can you long for the enjoyment of God in Heaven who care not for his company on Earth or his glorious appearances in his Sanctuary Stick at nothing that may yield him delight or give him glory how expensive soever it be on your dearest Comforts and Interests When one told Du Moulin in his sickness that he wronged himself by speaking so much 'T is true said he but I will die glorifying of God A Soul that supreamly loves God will count nothing too much to do part with or suffer that may bring him glory 7ly Rest not in your enjoyments of means without improvement of them What 's a full Table if thy Soul abide empty and frequent feeding if thy inner man languish 't is a time of dying and secret waste in most Christians O covet earnestly the best gifts that you may flourish in the Courts of God and grow as the Cedars of Lebanon that you may be throughly furnished to every good work and your profiting appear to all men Be deeply sensible of your little Fruit under great dressing and be humbled take heed of spiritual pride and puffings up in your apprehended Excellencies or Priviledges 't is the humble soul is the most thriving soul keep your Hearts pure and Lives unspotted As sound bodies so sincere souls are most growing pare off luxuriant branches as they sprout out and lay the Ax to the root of them every day keep up Faith in the Promises of Soul-prosperity to them that serve him in sincerity Psal 92. 12 13. and stay on Christ by Faith for help when you see nothing but Discouragements in your selves and when you are afraid to apply the Promises even then bless God for them These Promises said a doubting Soul are none of mine yet I am glad that God hath made them and for their sakes that shall partake of them Mr. White 8thly Neglect not secret transactions between God and your Souls to which I fear some of you may be too great strangers no wonder that Intimacy between God and Souls does fall when they are seldom together in retirements Oh take heed of passing by thy Closet or secret corners one day Matth 6. 6. or posting out of them before God and your Souls have some Converse together and be not onely constant in it but careful to please God in the spiritual performance of it Let not Custom or Formality deprive thee of the sweetness of that bread eaten in secret You are in this Book more fully called upon to these Duties of secret Prayer meditation heart-searching and watching-work to which I refer you 9ly Make conscience of every Duty you owe towards others in your Relations Places and Callings keep up Family duty or write Heathen upon thy doors that the World may know thee If you neglect Gods service he will not be your Sanctuary Prayerless houses have broken walls and doors and no defence against the least evil If you will not give God your breathings how can you think he will give you his blessings 'T is sad that any especially such whom God hath taken into his house should shut him out of their doors or give him such pitiful service as some do scarce ever reading the Scriptures in their Families from one Lords-day to another onely send him a little hasty fruit some short and shuffled prayers once a day no wonder that salvation come not to their houses or converting grace into their families but a flying Roll is over their habitations and the black marks of Ruine on their Children and Servants think it not strange that God makes thy pleasant Roses pricking Bryers and Thorns to thee who hast made them Spears and Swords to him Oh keep with God in every duty of his service your Relation Calling and Imployments Lastly in every condition walk with God and wait for God if he lead you in ways of mercy follow him in ways of duty If you have Comforts take heed of doting on or abusing of them when he sends you Afflictions receive them be not fainting nor froward under them but sanctifie God in them and by their hand return to him do not over-love your mercies or over-fear your troubles prepare for Changes but live upon Immutability and be setled under all your unsettlements count nothing strange but sin and nothing hard to bear but the absence or anger of a gracious God lose not your fears in times of peace neither cast away your confidence in the day of trouble let your Lamps be alwaies burning that you may see the way of your duty in the Night of your danger and how to get in Comfort in your Adversity and let your loins be girt that you may be ready both to do your work and to meet your wages and be alway looking and waiting for the coming of your Lord who will welcom you in the Acceptance of your Duties uncloath you of your sins and sufferings and crown your sincerity and faithfulness with a Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you which is the longed for Fruit of all his Labours with you and the subject matter of his daily prayers for you who is in him that was and is and is to come Your Affectionate Labourer Fellow Servant and Brother Barthol Ashwood THE Heavenly Trade Opened and improved from Proverbs 3. 14. For the Merchandise of it is better than the Merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold THAT Religion is under a very great declension in the day and place wherein we live is too evident to serious observers but too little laid to heart or the prodigious effects which usually follow such expiring godliness duly trembled at The character of the last and perilous times hath over taken us men having a form of godliness but denying the power of it 2 Tim. 3 5. a Nos non eloquimur magna sâ—d vivimus Minut. Foel A lamp a name to live notions parts external priviledges and duties make up the Religion of the greatest part of professing
seven years service consumed with drought in the day and frost in the night and his sleep departed from his eyes Thus have I been twenty years in thy house I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters and six years for thy cattel and thou hast changed my wages ten times Gen. 31. 40 41. And yet all this he could bear to enjoy the object of his love So 't is with earthly minded men all their capacities are engaged about earthly things their chiefest strength is laid out about their Trades callings and businesses in the world seldom minding soul-concerns little employed in religious duties now and then hear read pray as may stand with interest cold sleighty formal sleepy in duty but all life when about the world ready to complain prayer is too long preaching tedious too much time spent in duty what need this waste Matth. 26. 8. All seems lost to flesh and blood which is spent on Christ and his service Mr. Trap But all too little for the world weary themselves for very vanity stick at nothing that will help them to their desired interests undergo any hardships turn the back on any duties adventure health reputation the displeasure of God with all their spiritual mercies yea and the eternal welfare of their souls also rather than lose an advantage in the world This is the spirit of too many this day Men that seem to be somewhat bid fair for salvation with the young man in the Gospel like the terms well come up to every thing but this cannot part with the world for Christ come up to every thing onely with Naaman must be pardoned in this that they have a Rimmon to bow to 2 Kings 5. 18. In every thing else they will consent to follow Christ but in this they must be spared when their farms their merchandise and profit calls for them then the concerns of Christ and their souls must stand by and affections like a flood run over all that lies in their way take no notice what Scripture or Conscience say deaf to all arguments that thwart interest This is the case of a worldly heart his chiefest strength is laid out about earthly things these must be followed and sought after whatever becomes of the soul and spiritual things What is that so great hope saith Seneca what so great necessity that stoops man who was made upright to contemplate Heaven and buries and drowns him in the deeps of the Earth to get out that gold which is not got with less danger than 't is kept Sen A little strength for duty will serve the turn but a great deal of time care and labour must the world have Surely the world rules that heart that comes and goes at its bidding and can leave all to follow it c Quae tanta spes fuit quae tanta necessitas hominem ad sidera erectum incurvavit defodit in fundum telluris intime mersit ut erueret aurum non minore periculo quaerendum quam possidendum Sen. at the command of interest You will judge him another man's servant who whatever he is doing will leave it all when his Master calls him and follow him Let men think what they will God hath no part for the present in that soul that can do more to enjoy the world than God and counts any thing more necessary than to converse with obey and serve him Fourthly The delight and pleasure men take in earthly things declare that their hearts are let out upon them Where the heart is there will the delights be d Cordis vita est amor Love is is the very life of the soul Alsted Theol. natur p. 613. When Jonathan's heart was knit with the heart of David 1 Sam. 18. 1. as an evidence of it Chap. 19. 2 Jonathan Saul's Son delighted much in David e Delectatio sit quies quaedam appetitus considerata presentia boni delectantis quod appetitui satisfacit Aqui. 12. 9. 31. 1. 2. M. Delight is the rest of desire in the fruition of that good the heart is set upon which satisfies the desire Reynolds of the Passions Cap. 19. Pag. 197. One calls it the Sabbath of our thoughts and that sweet tranquillity of mind which we receive from the presence and fruition of that good whereunto our desires have carried us If then mens delights in the world exceed their pleasure in God 't is a sign the world is their chiefest good Wicked men delight in their abominations and that proves their ways to be of choice Isa 63. 3 They have chosen their own ways and their soul delighteth in their abominations Try thy heart by thy pleasure what is sweetest to thy taste God or the World What is most delightful to thee to wait on God though with the loss of the world or to pursue the world with the want of God Men cheat their own Souls when they say the enjoyment of God is better than the world and yet for every trifle and smallest advantage can upon choice baulk the enjoyment of God in his appointments and cannot adventure the least loss and prejudice to their interest though it were for the nearest fellowship with God certainly that which is the Souls greatest pleasure that will it make after when left to its liberty Canst thou leave the snow of Lebanon for the waters of Assyria Pass by a walk in Christ's gallery to sit down and solace thy self on the dunghil-comforts of this life then are not thy chiefest delights in God Psal 27. 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple If the beholding of God in Ordinances be thy delight it will be the one thing in thy desires and endeavours also all other things are nothing to that If thy chiefest pleasure be in God then nothing but a conviction of duty can make thee upon choice decline an opportunity of waiting on God and even then also when obedience to God sets thy hand to the world delight in God will engage thy longings after him and make thy greatest comforts thou art then pursuing a weight and a burden to thy soul because they stand between thy heart and communion with God Thy affections will be like the Kine that drew the Ark to Bethshemesh that lowed after their Calves as they went 1 Sam. 16. 12. When thou art constrained to draw in the Cart of thy duty-employments even then will thy desires belowing after the comfort of thy relation-interest in God How is it soul speak Is not a good Fair and Bargain sweeter to thee and doth more affect thy heart than a sermon and a duty Dost thou not use to follow the world with thy back on fellowship with God and Saints and not the least regret in thy spirit or cloud on thy comforts if so thy heart is
not yet supremely set on God Fifthly Lothness to part with thy earthly comforts and interests tells thee thy heart is too much upon them Jacob's unwillingness to part with Benjamin was a sign his heart was too much set upon him Judah tells the Governour of Egypt That his Father's life was bound up in the Lad's life Gen. 44. 30. The Spouses affection to her Beloved was seen in this that when she found him she held him and would not let him go Cant. 3. 4. I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go Such is the testimony that if mens hearts are on the things of this life they hold them fast and will not let them go Most men are too tenacious of their interests to be dead to them close hands argue cleaving hearts to the world Alas with what reluctancy do men that have the abundance of this worlds goods lay them out again for God! how hard is it to draw any proportions of charity from them that have this worlds goods what arguments and reasons will men be pleading for their sparingness in parting with the Mammon of this world and how much beneath their measure do most men expend their earthly things upon the calls that God gives them This shews plainly their heart is bound up in the fruition of these things Covetous men will sooner part with their flesh than their gold saith Augustine shall I take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men whom I know not whence they be 1 Sam. 25. 11. saith covetous Nabal Covetous persons cannot endure to part with what they have a Avarus tenendo divitias tenetur a divitiis dum vult esse praedo fit praeda Aug. The covetous man while he holds fast his riches is held fast by them and in preying on others he himself becomes a prey August They are like a net which takes in all the fish that comes at it but le ts out none again except some small ones that are little worth Earthly minds are seen in nothing more than in their tenacity and close keeping of what they have like dying men whatever they take hold of they let not go This is the temper of many they cannot scatter for God nor honour him with their substance There is that withholdeth more than is meet Prov. 11. 24. That 's the character of one whose heart is on the world b Non solum avarus est qui rapit aliena sed ille avarus est qui cupide servat sua Aug. He is not onely covetous that takes away other mens goods saith Augustine but he that covetously withholds his own and will not let them go when God hath use for them Certainly if Believers themselves are not their own then they will one day know their estates and interests are not their own but the Lord's and to be at his dispose How will the owner of that Colt Christ sent for rise up in judgment against many no sooner did the Disciples say The Lord hath need of him but straightway they let him go Luk. 19. 33 34 35. Shall one that pretended not so much to Christ for ought we know readily part with so much at the first request and they that profess much love to Christ refuse to lay out lesser things for him This doth manifest the world is dearer to such than Jesus Christ Lastly Then are mens hearts upon the world when their trust and dependence is upon earthly things We are apt to put confidence in friends and therefore the Lord cautions Israel against such dependencies as false deceiving things Trust not in a friend put ye not confidence in a guide c. Micah 7. 5. The Spouse came leaning upon her Beloved in the wilderness Cant. 8. 5. No sooner had the rich man store of goods but he places his confidence in them Luke 12. 19. I will say to my soul soul thou hast goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry 'T is natural to men that chuse the world for their treasure to chuse it also for their trust They that dare adventure their supreme affection on things dare also take up their dependency on them Men chuse not a tree they think will rot Isa 40. 20. If riches be thy choice thou thinkest them worthy of thy relyance or thou actest irrationally Men that have wealth have inward thoughts that their houses shall continue for ever and their dweling places to all generations they call their Lands after their own names Psal 49. 11. 'T is hard to have the good things of this life and not to expect too much from them so inviting is their appearance to a dependency on them Earthly things are fair in promise but false in performance like quagmires covered with grass men think them firm ground but when they tread upon them they soon become their graves The Evangelist calls all that glorious pomp with which Agrippa so amus'd spectatours but a meer show Acts 25. 23. When Agrippa was come and Bernice with great pomp 't is with much fantasie and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 external show All the glory of this world is but a pompous shew that cheats beholders and allures them to a deceived expectation They that have much visible comfort in creatures live little by faith How rare is it for men that have estates and riches for their posterity to commit them to divine care by an act of pure recumbency on the promise and to believe upon a naked word for all their supplies and needed comforts Such is our expectation whither we flee for help Isa 20. 6. An earthly heart is known by carnal trust and dependency on earthly things Ah souls put your hearts into this scale and see whether they do not press down to this present world Speak soul who shalt shortly be weighed for eternity in the ballance of the Sanctuary are not thy desires thy thoughts thy restless labours thy delights thy close adherence to and dependency all engaged about the things of this life with the neglect of God and heavenly things thine own heart being Judge And if so then Thy State is dangerous And thy Folly great First Thy State is dangerous thou hast not a dram of true grace in thee Love not the world nor the things of the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2. 15. Do not flatter thy soul into perdition if thou lovest the world thou dost not love God For the friendship of this world is enmity against God Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God James 4. 4. He whose heart and mind is set after the world he that will be rich the bent and design of the heart is for it that 's the Butt he levels at whatever he professes That 's his great business and project Thine
symptome of approaching ruine If men are not given up to a spirit of blindness they must needs see that wasting destructions are upon us gray hairs are here and there and we see it not Hos 7. 9 10. Strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not yea gray hairs are here and there yet he layeth it not to heart and the pride of Israel doth testifie to his face and they do not return to the Lord their God nor seek him for all this * Sentit quidem dolores sed non agnoscit causam fontem sui mali Confirmat esse Israelem desperatum incurabilem quia convictus non tamen redit ad Dominum Zanch. They felt the pain but did not acknowledg the cause and fountain of all those evils saith Zanchy and this shew'd they were desperate and incurable in that they were convicted of their evil case and yet would not return to the Lord. No spot more dangerous than continuance in sin under utmost means of reformation and confessed danger of ruine If our transgressions and sins be upon us and we pine away in them how shall we then live Ezek. 33. 10. VSE IV. If the Heavenly Trade be the best Trade c. Then this offers counsel and exhortation to five sorts of persons 1. To such as are strangers to this Heavenly Trade Counsel 1. Such as are strangers to this Heavenly Trade you that never were acquainted with this high Calling but have spent all your time about things that perish trafficking about Hell and Damnation Be you exhorted to set about this choise rich and blessed Trade There are four Arguments that usually sway with rational persons in their choice of earthly Callings which are also weighty inducements unto all not yet concern'd to speed upon this Heavenly Trade Arg. 1. First Necessity puts men on employments and none are greater than theirs who are without this Divine Calling Sinners you that are yet without God in the World you are miserably poor and ready to perish you are worth nothing but sin and misery He is a poor man that hath nothing to live upon and such are you while without this line of communication and strangers to these supreme concerns You are spiritually poor and have nothing as yet for your Souls to live on here or to all eternity Rev. 3. 17. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Poverty is one of the miseries of all unchanged souls and that which aggravates it is this that they think themselves rich and yet have nothing no Food to fill them but empty husks and swines meat no Rayment to cover them but filthy rags and confusion no House to shelter them from the storms of Divine wrath or any Habitation to receive them but an infernal Lake of Fire and Brimstone and a receptacle with damned Devils not a friend to help them not an eye to pitty them There are none so poor in the World but they have something or other to help them something in hand or something in hope something of their own or something of others if they can't dig yet they can beg if they have not interests to maintain them yet they find pitty to relieve them But a Christless Sinner hath nothing to supply his immortal part nothing in hand nothing in hope nothing of his own nothing of others that can contribute the least good to his undone Soul whatever he lives on is nothing but wind and emptiness He feeds on ashes a deceived heart turns him aside Isa 44. 20. He crams his starved Soul with filthy dung and excrements so loathsome are all the pleasures of sin he lives on Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World Eph. 2. 12. This is your condition Souls while without this Heavenly Trade you are miserably poor what-ever you have in the World you have nothing in God what-ever your Bodies and Families have your Souls have nothing †Vniversa inutiliter habet qui unum illud quo universis utatur non habet 'T is little profit to enjoy all things and miss that one thing by which only we come to use them Aug. You labour for vanity and lie down in sorrow and have you not reason to look out after some course to help you and to embrace this overture of a Calling that will maintain and enrich you here and for ever The Lepers case is thine if thou sit still in thy condition thou diest In the World's fulness is famine in thy security and false hopes is death also If thou adventure an offer'd grace it may save thee however thou can'st but die 2 Kin. 7. 3 4. Again you are not only poor but Bankrupts your poverty is of your own procurement and the issue of your prodigality you had once a fair Estate but lost it God Grace and Glory was yours by the first Covenant Luke 15. 30. but you have trifled it away for forbidden-fruit and spent all you had on Harlots you have consum'd your Lord's goods also in riotous living and wasted a large stock committed to your trust and now must give an account of your Stewardship were it only your personal wants that your folly hath brought upon you though that be heavy yet 't is comparatively tolerable but restitution must be made and that is unconceivably distressing A dreadful word sinners lies against you how can you bear it how can you eat drink talk or sleep in peace much less rejoyce when the hand-writing is against the wall 't is this Give an account of thy Stewardship Luke 16. 2. A review of thy past time must be expected by what means thou did'st reduce thy miserable Soul to this low estate and an account of thy Stewardship will be required and then when too late thou wilt say with the Steward What shall I do ver 3. and is it not more advisable now to take this counsel of Eliphaz to acquaint thy self with God and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee Job 22. 21. to return to that Trade which thou hast left and recover the Treasure which thou hast lost that so thy account may be comfortable in the day of Christ Nay further you are not only poor and bankrupts but deeply in debt debtors to God to whom you owe your selves and all that you have by the Law of Creation and Covenant-obligation but never yet discharg'd that due to this very day You are in debt to God for all your mercies in Creation and Providence patience-mercy preservation-mercy preventing-mercy bounty-mercy there 's never a moment but God is laying out some new mercy upon thee of which thou hast never made retribution to this day Debtors to the Law of God which hath its full and just claim on you a Law that is just righteous and good and to which you owe obedience by just and unquestionable
God You are also maintained by God and that obliges you to him 'T was the argument the Apostle urged to the Masters of Reason in that age why they should seek the Lord because 't was from him they had their subsistence Acts 17. 28. For in him we live and move and have our being If God maintains you 't is rational he should have the use of you 'T was the reason Moses used to prove God's right to Israels all Deut. 32. 9 to 15. The Lord's portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his inheritance why He found him in the desert Land in the waste howling wilderness he led him about he instructed him he kept him as the apple of his eye As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings so the Lord alone did lead him and there was no strange God with him And therefore no reason they should leave him for strangers He made him ride upon the high places of the earth that he might eat the increase of the field and he made him to suck honey out of the Rock and oyl out of the flinty Rock Butter of Kine and milk of Sheep with fat of Lambs and Rams of the breed of Bashan and Goats with the fat of kidnies of wheat and thou didst drink the pure blood of the Grape Mercies are cords and bands by which the Lord obligeth men to himself I drew them with cords of a man and with bands of love Hos 11. 4. All thy life sinner hath been full of these constraints of mercy and love to take the Lord to be thy God The Gospel of Grace which you profess to own and receive binds you to seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof Matth. 6. 33. to do the work of God to labour for that bread which endures to eternal life to work the works of God Joh. 6. 27 28. to be no more your own but the Lord's 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Cease to call or think your selves Christians tell the world you do not believe or hope to be saved by a crucified Christ or else come over to him and be disposed by his sacred Will This is your duty Arg. 4. Fourthly Weigh the unspeakable gain that will surely accrew to you if you set up this Trade of Godliness I have already shewn in the demonstration of this point the great profit that this Heavenly Trade will turn unto to all that deal thoroughly in it to which I advise you to cast back your eye and take three or four considerations more to convince your understandings that Religion is eligible on grounds of greatest interest For First Religion will maintain you in the hardest times So will not other Trades there may be seasons when earthly employments will turn to no accounts You have heard that riches profit not in the day of wrath and some of you have seen the time when they that work could yet scarcely eat but God's work is meat and drink when daily bread fails Joh. 4. 30. I have meat to eat that you know not of Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. God careth for the righteous and when the Lions lack and are hunger-bit they that fear the Lord shall want no good thing Psal 34. 10. They shall be sure to be provided for whoever wants God hath past his word for it All things are theirs by purchase who are Christ's by choice that is saith Piscator o Omnes res terrenae vestris usious vestrae saluti a Deo destinatae sunt All earthly things are designed of God for your use and the furtherance of your salvation Not as if the Saints had a right to other mens interests The Apostle doth not speak here saith Pareus of civil possessions but of that divine order by which all things ought to serve the good and advantage of the Church of God The Earth is the Lord's the fulness thereof all which is given into the hands of Christ for the good of his people And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the Church Ephes 1. 22. The whole Earth is but God's Kitchin for the maintenance of his house and if he will feed his servants and slaves much more his children He gives to all their meat in due season and satisfies the desires of every living thing Much more will he care for and give food convenient to his living in Jerusalem Indeed Believers are not of the world and therefore have not their portions in the world they are the Heirs of Heaven and have no promise of more on Earth than will comfortably carry them home and suffice for the discharge of those offices assigned to them here They are Servants not Heirs who carry the cloak-bags in their journey Persons of grandeur bear no more about them than for present use Surely were earthly treasures good for heaven-born souls he that gives better things would not deny these But God knows enough is as good as a feast and so much the Saints shall have in their passage home No man sends his servants a journey but he allows them enough to carry them thorough and so will God to his If he maintains idlers and enemies much more will he feed his faithful servants and labourers He hath promised to supply all their wants Phil. 4. 19. and is able to make it good If he thinks it not much to give them a Crown he will not deny them Crumbs If God should let his work-men want his work would cease his own interest as well as his promise obliges him to look after such his Love Truth Glory with all his Attributes are concerned to maintain his people in his work and therefore nothing more sure than daily bread and sufficiency in all things to such as serve and obey him Secondly Godliness will secure you in dangerous times Prov. 3. 23. Thou shalt then walk in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble when thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet v. 24. For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken The way of duty is the way of safety whatever men think the greatest security is in the boldest Adventures for God if regular where his Sun does guide you there his shadow will cover you who shall harm you if you are followers of that which is good 1 Pet. 3. 13. Men may threaten you but cannot injure you they may spoil your estates imprison your bodies but cannot do you any real harm while men keep with God God will abide with them his presence shall fence them his favour shall shield them his Angels shall encamp about them all his Attributes shall guard and secure them God's people that cleave to him in
without works and love without labours will signifie nothing towards salvation Will Opinion make a man an Artist or imagination enrich him or hunger fill him or reading the way to a place bring him thither No more will affection knowledge and profession help men to Heaven unless they work out their salvation and carry on the duties of Religion that lead to it Phil. 2. 12. First Consider a Christian hath much work and a little time great work and small strength necessary work and many diversions excellent work none like it persons that set about salvation in earnest will find much to do and the farther they go in Religion the more busie their employment will be every day brings its work with it new instructions new mercies new afflictions and temptations every day which calls for much exercised grace and duty A child of God hath no time for idleness or impertinent business O the many things that must be dispatched within the compass of this little inch of time for eternity Soul if thou diest and thy work undone when thou diest thy soul 's undone there 's no rising from thy grave to do neglected work or dispensation at the Bar of God for the omission of Salvation-duties This work is necessary also as well as great some duties are necessary to secure thy salvation all duties are necessary to maintain thy comforts and greaten thy glory Men plead necessity for this and th' other thing to do this work and take that journey to omit this duty and absent from such a priviledge but who is sensible of the necessity of working the work of God and attending soul-concerns It may not be necessary you should have peace credit plenty riches comforts that you should have so much estate preferment and contentment in the world but 't is absolutely necessary thy soul should be saved and that God should be obeyed that spiritual concerns should be attended whatever is neglected that thy debts should be paid thy peace with God obtained thy hungry soul be fed and refreshed thy title to Heaven clear'd the presence of God enjoy'd and thy seed-time for glory improv'd 'T is promised-work too and that makes it necessary you have engag'd to be the Lord's if you are Christians and have given up your selves to be his and not your own your time is his your capacities his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. what you are and have is from him and for him this you have devoted to the use and service of God when you took him to be your God 2 Cor. 8. 5. and many a time since you have engag'd to obedience of his commands There are sick-bed-vows affliction-promises engagements under conscience-troubles yea every day and in every duty you tell God you will mend your waies redeem your time do him more and better work and how can you stand before him with such flattery and dissimulation and under the guilt of so much falshood and treachery while your work lies still undone Yea your work Christians is excellent work also above all the employments of the world 't is supernatural work yea Angelical work yea such work as Angels cannot do to believe in love converse with and obey Christ as your Redeemer and Saviour Phil. 3. 10. 1 Pet. 1. 7 8 9 12. to suffer for Christ and be baptized into a conformity with his death and resurrection 'T is suitable work also you are called to in this Heavenly Trade work suited to your natures If you are Saints you have received a heavenly spirit and are partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. 'T is as natural for you to do heavenly work if you are Christians as for the world to do earthly work there being a disposition and propensity put into your renewed natures to new and heavenly work as there is a disposition in the seed to its proper fruit 1 Joh. 3. 9. For his seed remaineth in him 'T is work suited to your hopes which are laid up in Heaven Col. 1. 5. For the hope which is laid up for you in Heaven whereof you have heard before in the word of Truth That is the blessedness those great and glorious things you hope for which are laid up for you in Heaven as a Treasure safely kept for you Called hope by an Antonomasia saith Davenant a Beatitudo promissa dicitur spes nostra id est illâ—â— quod speramas per Antonomasiam neque hoc praemium dicitur tantum oblatum nobis propositum nam hâ—c spem nostram infirmaret si certitudo rerum speratarum penderet ex nobis dispositione nostra ita ut vel daretur nobis vel negaretur promerito operum nostrorum sed dicitur se positum nobis id est quasi in deposito reconditum apud Deum Patrem nostrum Daven This reward is not said to be onely offered and proposed to us for that would weaken our hope if the certainty of those things hoped for did depend on us and our disposition so that it should be given or denied us according to the worth of our works graces and duties but 't is said to be laid aside for us as that which is deposited and safely laid up in God our Father for us A Christian's choicest Treasures lie in hope not in hand beyond their present view and enjoyment and yet secured to their use and propriety 1 Pet. 1. 4. Reserved in Heaven for you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kept as it were in custody and with watch and ward for you sure and certain on which the hopes of Believers are firmly laid and to which their present work is suited heavenly work bears a proportion and agreement in its nature though not in worth to heavenly and eternal things 't is work suited to your inheritance and wages in its kind though not in degree and that 's excellent work which is of the same nature with your eternal blessedness Suited also to your present priviledges who sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Eph. 2. 6. Gracious souls though in habitation they are on the Earth yet in point of priviledge they sit in Heaven Through their union with Christ they may be said b Sedere fecit nos in coelestibus in persona Christi inque novam vitam excitavit ut Spiritu in coelis versemur efficit Zanch. saith Zanchy to sit where he sits as a husband or Brother absent from his Wife and Brethren doth possess a Kingdom for them they though absent may be truly said relatively to possess it in him as members in the head they sit in Heaven in the person of Christ and as the lump is sanctified in the first fruits Neither do they sit onely relatively through their union with Christ but spiritually through their communion with him In that sense saith Bucer as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3. 20. They have their conversation in Heaven This is a glorious priviledge the Saints onely enjoy in this life to converse in Heaven and to
world Rule 7. Seventhly Follow your duty but cast your care on God abide in your callings but live above them 1 Pet. 5. 17. Casting all your care on God for he careth for you Depend not on your wisdom labour or success in your employments but upon the promise love and care of God for you If the Lord blesseth your substance don't you bless your selves in it See an emptiness in all your abundance and shortness in these to answer your many wants God can soon make a hole in your money-bags blow on your encrease turn your prosperity into contempt and make your expected comforts as the dream of a night vision Live not on large barns but on the full breasts of promises for the good of what you do enjoy or for the supply of what you want The poor Christian hath the keeping of his purse in his Father's hand the rich in his own hand If sight fail live by faith Faith assures you of the good issue of all difficulties in your way and gets advantage from the worst condition and sweetness to mingle with every bitter providence you meet with It may be thou hast a great family and little to live on lyest in debt and hast nothing to pay it hadst a little th' other day but the Caterpiller and the Cankerworm hath devour'd it this loss and th' other stroak hath wasted it In this case thy duty is to live on God by faith for a sanctified fruit of his hand upon thee and for making up this lack by his abundance When thou canst see no way out of thy perplexing trouble let thine eye be unto God for help 2 Chron. 20. 12. 2 Chron. 25. 8. Go not out of God's way for relief He that wounds must heal he onely that casteth down can raise up Deut. 32. 30. Neither faint thou in the day of adversity or way of thy duty Prov. 24. 10. Prov. 16. 3. but commit thy way to the Lord and he will bring it to pass Psal 37. 5. Mat. 6. v. 25. 1 Cor. 7. 32. Phil. 4. 6. Take heed of carking cares and fretful vexings these cannot lessen thy trouble but will greaten thy sins a provident care is thy duty but a distrustful vexing care both thy sin and affliction Rule 8. Eightly In all your labours pray for a blessing If you would live well you must beg as well as work add duty to thy diligence prayer to thy provident care calling on God to thy calling in the world As every creature so every condition and work is sanctified by the word and prayer 1 Tim. 4. 15. In every undertaking seek to God for counsel Prov. 3. 6. In all thy waies acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Christians should not set upon the smallest matters without enquiring the will of God not to go to this or that place to buy or sell to do this or that work without seeking to God for direction Jam. 4. 13 14 15. Our journeys saith one must not be undertaken without asking God's leave Dr. Mant. on Jam. This would evidence a life of dependance on God and bring all thy affairs under divine care and blessing Abraham's servant begins his journey with prayer Gen. 24. 12. 27. and concluded it with praise Gen. 28. 20. And so Jacob Israel's folly in concluding with the Gibeonites contrary to the command of God was laid on their not asking counsel of God Josh 9. 14. The men took of their victuals and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. O the snares and disadvantages men are exposed to in their earthly concerns for not taking counsel from God and engaging his hand and blessing with them Prayer will further your work sweeten your pains and difficulties in it and secure the comfort and good of it When you want mercy seek God for it when you receive mercy see God in it and return praise to God for it Rule 9. Ninthly Though you live in the World yet be dead to the World Heaven-born souls though in the World yet are not of the World but chosen out of it Joh. 15. 19. and crucified to it Gal. 6. 14. God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the World is crucified to me and I unto the World This crucifiedness to the World * Se mundum cum omni suo fastu pompa gloria aspernari contemnere quasi rem nihili vanam mortuam saith Paraeus signifies the contempt and despising of this World he intimates hereby that the World with all its scorn pride pomp and glory are despised by him as a nothing empty dead thing A soul crucified to the World sees nothing lovely and desirable in this World but God his Word and Works there 's nothing in earthly things that can be taking with spiritual hearts if God be not enjoyed in them all the glory of the World is no more to them than a dead carkass if the love of God breath not through it on their hearts nay the very Garden of the Lord is a Wilderness to them if the Rose of Sharon be not in it A mortified Saint wonders that a rational immortal Soul can see such worth in riches pleasures honours and poor perishing things of this life which to him are nothing he can easily part with all at the Lord's bidding And he feels no such evil neither in the bad things of this World as to make men startle at them wants losses reproaches torments for Christ lose their frightfulness to them whose hearts love to the Lord Jesus hath reconciled unto the bitterest affliction that can befall them for his sake If Christ stand and do not perish saith Luther what matter is it if Wife and Children perish If liberty estate life and all go so he stay Such should thy heart be in pursuit of these things as one that is dead to the World and sits loose from all its glory and above all its threatnings content to have or not to have to use or want to enjoy or be denied or deprived of it as God pleaseth Rule 10. Lastly Do all your work within the view of death judgment and eternity transact the employments of every day as dying persons who are leaving this World and liable to a remove every moment How would frequent and serious thoughts of a near approaching end wonderfully check mens greedy pursuits of this World and help to keep their actions in a consistency with their accounts King Philip would have it proclaim'd before him every morning Remember that thou art mortal And when falling upon the Sand he afterward saw the print of his body said O how litle a parcel of earth will hold us when we are dead who ambitiously seek after the World while we are living When Severus was old he called for an Urn or Pitcher in which the ashes of a dead person were put and looking a while on it said a Tu virum capies quem orbis
as it were removed from the body for a time saith Beza that he might converse with God c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi se moto ad tempus a corpore animo cum Deo colloqui Elijah was alone in secret prayer when the Angel brought him that refreshing feast in the strength of which he travell'd in the wilderness forty days 1 King 19. 4. to v. 9. O what am I said Mr. Patrick Simpson after he had been many hours in his Garden alone wrestling with God for his deserted Wife being dust and ashes that the holy ministring Spirits should be sent by the Lord to deliver a message to me telling one that over-heard him that he had had a vision of Angels who did with audible voice give him an answer from the Lord of his Wive's condition this Woman also to whom upon importunity he delivered these words as she was approaching to the place where he lay on the ground heard an affrighting noise of a great rushing of multitudes together and with it a melodious sound Such a welcome doth the Lord Jesus give his children sometimes when he gets them alone into his Chambers and Wine-cellar O the sweetness persons may find in their solitudes with Christ Sampson turn'd aside when he saw a swarm of Bees and Honey in the carkass of the Lion Judg. 14. 8. 'T is said of Jerome that living in the wilderness he seemed to converse with Angels Contemplation saith Gregory is the clearest day of internal light then are their discoveries most when in a holy silence with God alone Retirement Christian is an opportunity put into thy hand of in-door work 't is God's call into the Mount Exod. 34. 2 3. Be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai and present thy self there to me in the top of the Mount and no man shall come up with thee 'T is his command to a holy silence and cessation from other work that thou may'st attend the most secret concerns of thy soul Improve this time wholly in converse with God and attending the affairs of thy soul This is a season to take an estimate of thy soul-state to try the grounds of thy hope for eternity to be searching into the secrets of thy heart and taking a full review of thy past life and former carriages Psal 4. 4. Then is the time to weigh thy mercies and duties to call to mind God's dealings with thee and thy carriages towards him to be studying the wiles of Satan and the ways of thy duty the worth of godliness the danger of miscarrying and the blessedness of overcoming and such like meditations When you are riding or walking or sitting alone invite the Lord Jesus to keep you company to walk and converse with you fill up your vacant hours with secret prayer and meditation take heed of being at leisure from duty-employment either in your general or particular Calling or lawful Employments lest being too much alone the Devil strike in for company no greater temptation can Satan find than times of solitude not improved Eighthly Get good from occasional objects and occurrences which are not chance and fortune as the blind world calls it but the products of divine wisdom and pleasure towards Believers for their good Albane receiving a persecuted Christian into his house and seeing his holy devotion and sweet carriage he was so much affected with his good example that he became both a Professor and Martyr Bede It was not by accident but divine intention that Melchisedeck should meet Abraham to bless him and Shimei meet David to curse him that Moses should meet Jethro's Daughter at the well in Midian and that David should meet the Egyptian in pursuing the Amalekites It was God put it into the thoughts of Saul's servant to advise his Master to speak with the Prophet by which means he obtain'd a Kingdom 'T was by divine disposal that when Joseph was cast into the pit the Midianites should pass by and lift him up and sell him to the Ishmaelites and they to Potiphar The Lord is carrying on some part of his work some piece of mercy or justice comfort or affliction by all these occurrences in which his people should be co-workers with him and be learning something from every passage of providence they meet with and object they occasionally behold in their journeyings and pursuits of their occasions in the World What fruitful meditations had Sampson from beholding the carkass of the Lion and swarm of Bees in it in his journey to Timnah Judg. 14. 8. 14. And our Saviour from seeing the wither'd Fig-tree in his passage from Bethany to Jerusalem Mat. 21. 19 to 23. What a lecture did Christ read to his Disciples upon viewing the goodly Buildings of the Temple Luke 21. 5 to the end He beheld the City and wept over it and improved it to some instruction to his Disciples Luke 19. 41. He beheld people casting in gifts into the treasury and makes improvement of it Mark 12. 4. Some told him of the blood of the Galileans which Pilate had mingled with their sacrifice and he makes a profitable use of it for his Disciples instruction Luke 13. 1 2. What Sermons hath Christ preached when he took his Text from the waters of Samaria Joh. 4. 9 10. from the Manna given to Israel in the wilderness Joh. 6. 26 27 31 32. from the multitudes flocking after him for loaves Christians if you would grow rich in Spirituals make some spiritual improvement of all you see hear meet with in your journeys dealings converses in the World Thou walkest into thy Garden get some instruction from the objects that thou castest thy eyes upon Every herb in thy Garden preaches God to thee b Qualibet herba monstrar Deum Thou walkest into the Field go with Isaac's heart to meditate upon the creatures and providences of God thou beholdest there Thou lookest to the Heavens let it not be only as the Pharisees to discern the face of the Skie Matth. 16. 3. but to see the glory of God and his handy-work Psal 19. 1. with the Chymist extract some good from every thing thou meetest with 'T was said of Jerome he knew how to gather gold out of the dunghill and honey out of weeds leaving the poison for spiders How will men dig into the bowels of the earth rack the creatures spend themselves to get a few shadows and all the while do nothing to get the substance that endures and this doubtless is one reason of soul-poverty this day we trade not with creatures and occurrences that fall in our way to spiritual advantages Beg spiritual skill and faithfulness to be improving all you see hear do or enjoy to soul-profit Ninthly Get good from your falls and miscarriages Physicians do sometimes make poysons medicinal and so doth the Physician of of value make the diseases of his people turn to their health Sin is the greatest evil and yet redemption-grace
may be truly gracious and yet live uncomfortably in his Soul and in the wayes of God but he that thrives in Godliness hath larger incomes of sweetness and peace and makes many a merry meal on the review of his integrity and the grace of God in and towards him Psal 112. 2. Seventhly Layings up as well as layings out bespeaks good Trading when men fill their bags and enlarge their possessions turn Purchasers and begin to join house to house and field to field then they manifestly shew their thrivings So when Souls thrive in their Heavenly Trade they begin to lay up for Heaven and to be preparing for another world they lay up Treasure in Heaven Mat. 6. 21. get bags that wax not old weak Christians are all for their comforts here how they may maintain their peace and pleasure in the way but strong Christians thriving Souls they have their thoughts upon their journeys end and to make provisions for their future state Bread and Water contents them here Gen. 28. 20. a little spending Money in the way to help them home is all they indent for But their chiefest care is to lay up for Heaven When shall I provide for mine own house saith Jacob Gen. 30. 30 So the thriving Christian is thoughtful about his house in Heaven to make all the provisions he can for that he will lay up in store a good foundation to lay hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6. 19. he is for securing all he can for Heaven and for such works as will follow him he will turn all he may into moveables that he may transmit them into his Countrey The interests of this world are stak'd down to the earth and cannot be removed but thriving Christians are for such goods as they can knock up and carry with them to their own home They strive to pray hear think speak do suffer and all for eternity their affections are gone before to Heaven while their bodies are imprison'd in the World As 't is said of the Athenians when besieged by Sylla their hearts were with him without the walls whiles their bodies were forc'd to serve within a Animos extra moenia corpora necessitati servientes intra muros habuerint Paterc So 't is with enriched Christians the World is a Prison to them a strange Countrey where they have been sent to trade and when they have fill'd their sacks and got all they can they long to depart into their own Countrey By these things Christians may you know what kind of Trade you drive for Heaven and what share you have in this great engagement to thanksgiving Object All this makes against me and confirms my just fears that I am a stranger to spiritual thrivings I now see 't is a pittiful Trade I drive in godliness I profess hear pray perform duties enjoy priviledges but am never the better O how may I write lost labour on all my performances I need no greater proof than these evidences nor other judge than my own conscience to convince my languishing soul of daily wastes and poverty in my heavenly Trade What shall I do to get my case mended and once attain to true thrivings in this holy Calling Sol. There are four things which usually make men thriving in their earthly Trades which do also contribute to prosperity in this heavenly Merchandise 1 A provident care 2 A diligent hand 3 A secret trade 4 A divine blessing First Men that are thriving in the World are provident and careful to prevent their dangers to secure their interests and proportion means to their advantage And so must Christians that think ever to flourish in godliness what losses and miscarriages in Religion might a provident care prevent were temptations way-laid and corruptions timely guarded against souls might escape many surprisals of sin and abatements in grace Never think to prosper in holiness till you are provident to prevent its weaknings and contribute all you may towards its strength and enlargement One enjoys a good frame of soul much peace and joy in believing and for want of watchfulness loseth all again Another hath got a little power over his corruptions for a time and for want of a provident care to avoid ensnaring occasions is overcome again Another hath a choice advantage put into his hand for spiritual good but not exercising a timely care and preparation to improve it miscarries in all his hopes and labours and by these changes and interruptions their spiritual welfare is impeded Go learn of the Ant she provideth her meat in Summer Prov. 6. 6 8. Be wise as Serpents they decline danger as soon as seen and guard their noblest part though with the hazard of their All Matth. 19. 16. Walk circumspectly as wise Eph. 5. 15. O how happy might Christians be were they as provident for their souls as they are for their bodies and did exercise their reason care and fore-sight to further their spiritual interests and without this provident care never think to prosper in this heavenly Merchandise Take heed of grace-wasting sins of any secret lust allowed or sweet morsel rouled under your tongue that will prove a moth in your spiritual estate and keep you low in your heavenly interests Souls under some perplexing lust are like Israel under the prevailing hand of Midian against them Judg. 6. 3 4 6. When Israel had sown the Midianites came up and the Amalekites and the children of the East and they encamped against them and destroyed the encrease of the earth and left no sustenance for Israel neither Sheep nor Ox nor Ass and Israel was greatly impoverished So 't is with such no sooner have they got any mercy frame experience hope or soul-advantage but presently a prevailing lust riseth up and destroys all Cry unto the Lord as Israel did until he deliver you from every iniquity make no peace with any corruption never let it rest till wholly destroyed if you think to prosper in your souls and conversations Be provident also to take all advantages for godliness watching your opportunities for every duty keeping every soul-market and fair and taking the best season to lay out grace and get in profit Prov. 8. 34. Be careful to get some good from every thing and to keep and save what you have and this will tend to soul-thriving Acts 2. 46. Secondly A diligent hand tends to thriving men that prosper in the World take pains and follow their employments rising early sitting up late neglecting no business that may help on to profiting So must you that intend to thrive in Religion you must make it your business you must be labourers in God's Vineyard Joh. 6. 27. and workmen indeed that need not be ashamed 2 Tim. 2. 15. Christians for the most part are too slothful in their spiritual business to have their profiting appear it will cost you more striving to enter into the strait-gate and get ground in the narrow way that leads to life more blows must pass
are about the world set a guard about your hearts The Believers heart is Christ's royal Fort secure that and all is safe If riches increase set not your hearts upon them Psal 62. 10. 't is the Nature of earthly things like a Malignant Disease to get to the heart O how hard is it to meddle with these and the heart not become earthy too when a gracious Soul hath been with God and got his heart warm'd quicken'd and drawn out to things above no sooner doth he return to the world but all is gone again such dangerous damps doth this earth send unto heavenly hearts secure thy heart with God every day make a new surrender of it to him before thou get into the snares of thy earthly business Set a vigilant watch upon thy heart every moment lest the things of the world steal in and take it captive Rule 6. Sixthly Attend your earthly affairs with a calm and quiet spirit whatever occurrence you meet with in the world let your spirits be composed and fixed on God wonder not at changes in an unsteddy world which is onely constant in unconstancy r Omnia versantur in perpetuo ascensa descensâ—â— Here have we no continuing City Heb. 13. 14. All things here are moving ascending or descending Things below are compared to the Moon Rev. 12. 1. which is never at a stay but hath its constant changes and like the Sea that ebbs and flows every day and as the fountain of the Sun which Pliny s Plin. Lib. 2. C. 103. writes of that the waters are extream cold and sweet at noon but boiling hot and bitter at midnight So mutable are the comforts of this world then going when they seem most likely to stay Man's condition in this world at the best is like the mountain Potosi over which there alwaies hangs a cloud even in the clearest day And as 't is written of a Meer or t Desc of Scotland Salt Marsh in Scotland called Pochlowland where there are tempestuous waves raging without wind yea in the greatest calm Christians be not troubled at the tides you see in these waters of Marah Riches make themselves wings and fly away Prov. 23. 5. Let none of these lower things trouble you when gone which cannot content you when present but one moment of time can make them cease to be yours There is but one daies difference u Vna dies interest inter magnam civitatem nullam Et quos faelices Cinthia vidit vidit miseros abitura dies saith Seneca upon the burning of a City between a great City and no City So there may be but one day nay but one hour between a Father and no Father a Husband and no Husband a man of pleasure and a man of sorrows a rich man and a poor man Set not that at your hearts which should be at your heels Men do not use to sigh look pale and cry when servants leave them Earthly things are no more they are given you as handmaids to wait on you not as a Spouse to lye in your bosoms as servants that come and go not as children that abide in the house for ever When thou hast lost an earthly comfort say A servant is gone from me to day Keep up a contentation of mind with the portion God gives you here Heb. 13. 5. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with those things that you have Let them suffice you as 't is in the Greek count them enough If an Esau can be satisfied with his crumbs how much more should a Jacob with the childrens bread What this and Heaven too saith one A little of the world and much of Heaven will well agree I have enough and enough and enough said precious Mr. Ball who yet was very low in the world When the Earl of Leicester offered Mr. Cartwright the Provostship of Eaton Colledge saying 't was an hundred pound more than enough he answered the hundred pound more than enough was enough for him Psal 37. 16. A little that the righteous hath is better than the revenues of the wicked There are two diminutives in the Original a little little of the righteous man's let it be never so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little with righteousness it weight down all the abundance of the worldly man's interest be it more or less it is enough O thrice fools are we like new born Princes weeping in the cradle knowing not that there is a Kingdom before them Rutherford I have often thought on that providence concerning Israel in the wilderness Exod. 16. 8. He that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack Christian why so troubled about thy proportion of these things of the footstool as if your Father knew not what you wanted or cared not for you or could not maintain you You shall have enough to carry you to your graves and you can absolutely need no more And seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not for behold I will bring evil upon all flesh but thy life will I give thee as a prey in all places whither thou goest Jer. 45. 4 5. You know not what God is doing in the world Have you but little now you may shortly have less Be content with what you have A little in Bethel if it be but a pillow of stones with bread and water is better than the rich Plains of Sodom A piece of blest bread in Immanuel's Land is sweeter and will go farther than all the Garlick and Flesh-pots of Egypt than a great deal of unsanctified comforts A small portion of the world with soul-advantage is better than a great estate with spiritual losses and temptations God can multiply a few loaves make the barrel of meal and cruse of oyl to hold out and your cloaths not to wax old rather than you shall want enough to carry you through your wilderness if you will be believing and obedient Be contented with the talent God gives you to trade upon Have others more than you envy them not a When a man grows rich saith Mr. Dod he does but go out of a little boat into a greater barge but he is still on the Sea they have the more to reckon for and it may be they need more or they can bear more than you That saith one would sink a small vessel which is but an ordinary burden to a great ship Some can better manage a large estate with less trouble and temptation than others Possibly that would puff up thy heart with pride and catch thy feet in snares that never stirs anothers affections to whom God hath given a braver spirit or greater mortifiedness to this world Subscribe to God's wisdom and pleasure believe his promises wonder at his mercy be thankfull for what you have above many see your All in God and hope to be shortly with him and you cannot but be content with your allowance in the
terrae non capit Lips Wilt thou contain that man whom the whole World cannot contain Alas what will the whole World be to thee when thou comest to die let it seem no more to thee now who art dying every day do every thing as strangers and pilgrims here Heb. 11. 9. 13. and as if you heard a voice every day saying Awake and come to judgment Jerome thought whatever he did he still heard that voice Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Arise ye dead and come to judgment When you are travelling to this Market and the other Fair think Sure I am journeying to the grave and I know not what dust I shall shortly be shovell'd into when you are about your work think I am hastening to eternity and shortly these hands must rot in the grave When you promise your selves great things as the fruit of your labours and hope for this gain and the other comfort say Death may come between me and my enjoyments and crop off the hopes of all my labours What can be great to him that accounts the World nothing or long to him that counts his life but a span Mr. Dod When thou findest thy heart running out too greedily after this World ready to lye cheat oppress undermine others to greaten thy interest think on this For all these things God will bring thee to judgment and render to thee according to all thy works Secondly Then do you your earthly work in an heavenly manner when you do it with an heavenly heart As is the heart so is the action in God's account the Lord was much pleased that it was in David's heart to build him an House though he never did it 1 Kin. 8. 18. and displeased with all that Israel did in his service because their heart was not right with him Psal 78. 37. Israel did many good works they sought him they returned and enquired early after God they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer ver 34 35. but all this was nothing in God's esteem because their heart was not upright in it they had an earthly carnal selfish backsliding heart in all they did If thy heart be heavenly though thy work be earthly yet it puts an excellency on it but if thy work be heavenly and thy heart earthly God doth reject and despise it the heart is the root of every action and if the root be good the fruit will be good also Mat. 12. 33. Rom. 11. 16. If the fountain be sweet the streams will be sweet also and if thy heart be heavenly thy work is heavenly A heavenly heart like the Bee turns all it doth to heavenly uses when the Lord Jesus had put his hand upon the Spouses heart and left some myrrh upon her bowels presently her hands dropped myrrh and her fingers sweet smelling myrrh Cant. 5. 4 5. A heavenly heart perfumes thy earthly work and makes it wonderfully taking with the heart of Christ Quest How might I know when my heart is heavenly in my earthly work Sol. First A heavenly heart is a heart enlightned to see heavenly things a heart beam'd over with heavenly light to discern things invisible An earthly heart is a dark heart it sees nothing in God his Word and Works so as to draw up his heart to Heaven an earthly heart sees nothing but earth in heavenly things and an heavenly heart sees Heaven in earthly things The Patriarchs saw the heavenly City in their earthly Countrey Heb. 11. 13 14 16. They saw the promises that is the things promised afar off and confessed that they were strangers on earth they sought a Countrey desired a better Countrey that is an heavenly and all that as the product of their heavenly sight they saw heavenly things in earthly Abraham had an heavenly eye to see Christ's day Joh. 8. 5 6. and Moses a heavenly eye to see him who is invisible Heb. 11. 27. A heavenly heart doth not only see heavenly things but sees an infinite worth and excellency in them it sees them to be the best things it sees a greater glory and desirableness in things above in one glance of his eye in one day within his Courts in one hours communion with him than in all the World besides Mary saw more advantage in sitting at Christ's feet than in the many things Martha's heart was taken up about Luke 10. 41 42. Cursed be that man saith the noble Marquess Galeacius that accounts not one hours communion with Christ above all the World Secondly A heavenly heart is a heart that savours heavenly things Rom. 8. 5. Nothing goes down so sweet with a heavenly heart as heavenly things every thing rejoyces in its like An earthly heart delights in earthly things the Merchant in his Trade the Husband-man in his Field Houses Husbandry and fruits of the earth the voluptuous man in his pleasures as he that sold his City for a draught of water crying out when he had done O that for so short a pleasure of a King I should be made a Slave The proud man in his greatness Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom Dan. 4. 30. So doth the heavenly heart relish greatest sweetness in heavenly things How sweet are thy words to my taste yea sweeter than honey to my mouth Psal 119. 103. His fruit was sweet to my taste his mouth is most sweet Cant. 2. 3. and 5. 16. My meditation of him shall be sweet Psal 104. 34. We took sweet counsel together Psal 55. 14. We talked of the mysteries of godliness saith Ainsworth of the exercises of Religion saith another which I suppose the Prophet meaneth by going into the House of God as companions consulting as it were how they might prepare themselves to his service Thirdly A heavenly heart is a heart that longs and desires after heavenly things Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none that I can desire on Earth in comparison of thee Psal 73. 25. When shall I come and appear before God My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and glory as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Psal 43. 2. Psal 63. 1 2. My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God Psal 84. 2. Desires are the natural motions of the heart and the best character and truest lineaments saith one y Reynold's Treatise of Passion that can be drawn of the minds of men Practices may be overrul'd by ends but desires are alwaies genuine and natural Hence good men have had most confidence in approving themselves to God by their affections and the inward longings of their souls after him as being the purest and most unfeigned issues of love and such as have least proximity and danger from forein and secular ends It is an unquestionable