utter darkenesse there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeths Where wilt thou seeke for helpe from the world It is all on fire and all thy workes wherein thou delightedst In thine owne heart there thy conscience hath alreadie kindled the fire of hell In the Saints those thou derided'st on earth In the good Angels they defie thee as the enemie of God and vassall of Satan In the evill Angels whom thou served'st they wrought thy damnation and are thy tormenters In that mercifull Saviour the date of mercie is out and this is the day of judgement vengeance and recompence 1. Thy consorts are witnesses against thee Thy conscience confesseth guiltie 2. The heavens shut thee out which thou in thy life neglectedst Hell stands open for thee the Angels detest thee the Saints even thine owne Father Mother and children abhorre thee the frownes of that angry Iudge strike through thy soule with infinite horrour and which is most fearefull the gracious Saviour of all the world laughes at thy destruction thou shalt heare him who hath so long besought thee in vaine to bee reconciled to him openly sentence thee Depart from mee thou cursed into everlasting fire prepâ—red for the Devill and his Angels After that sentence what canst thou say for thy selfe what excuse can all the world yeeld thee wilt thou say Lord Lord haue notâ— I professed thy name was I not baptized have I not in thy name prophecied but thou shalt heare I know thee not depart from mee thoâ— worker of iniquitie thou carelesse servant neglecting dutie thou curser thou swearer thou Sabboth-breaker what wilt thou plead for further audience why then didst not thou giue audience Alas thou canst not plead that worst of a fooles excuses to say I had not thought for he will tell thee to thy face I fore-told thee of this day I warned thee againe and againe I hid nothing from thee of all that thou seest and feelest but testified it to thy face I will not hold thee guiltlesse Thou wilt not bee able to say so much as Lord have mercie upon mee for if thou shouldest thou shouldst soone heare a bitter answerâ— with what face dost thou now call for mercie Thou hadst no mercie on thy selfe I offered thee grace I importuned thee to receiue it I even thrust mercie upon thee but thou waitedst upon lying vanities and forsookâ—dst thine owne mercie Ion. 2. 8. Thou hadst no mercie on my members abused'st reviled'st spoked'st of them the worst of evill and discouragdst them all thou couldst Thou shewedst me no mercie thou piercedst crucifiedst mee thou trampledst my bloud under thy feete Oh how shall we then cry for sorrow of heart and houle for vexation of minde Esay 65. 14. Let the day perish wherein I was borne why died I not in the birth why did I not giue up the ghost when I came out of the belly Cursed bee the day that ever I was borne O that my mother had beene my grave Oh that I might once liue againe oh that at length I might die oh death oh anguish oh hell oh infinite torment without measure without end Oh that now there were an heart in us to consider our latter end Wee knowing the terrours of the Lord desire to perswade you and wee are made manifest to God oh that wee were also made manifest to your consciences that you might be worthy to escape all these things Luk. 21. 36. that you might lift up your heads with joy at that day that wee that sow and you that grow we that reape and you that are reaped might rejoyce together Let us therefore be exhorted to fasten first in our memorie then in our heart this great and terrible day of the Lord. Let us set open our eares to those heavenly summons and know that it is not in vaine that our Iudge who desires to bee our Saviour so often warnes us to take heed Binde it as a signe upon thine hand and set it as a frontlet betweene thine eyes make thy soule to bee affected with it that thou mayest feare and depart from evill and turne this terrible day to thy comfort and everlasting happinesse Consider for motiues first the great consequence depending on it It is not a light matter that little concernes thee but thy life or death thy unspeakable happinesse or miserie and that not for a day but for ever which then is in action Now in great affaires we never content our selues with any measure of diligence how shamefull and full of unbeliefe then is this negligence Secondly It is impossible to keepe our feete in the right way from errour if we haue not this often in remembrance for as there are infinite wayes mis-leading us so there is no meanes better to direct us in the right way then by remembring our end But how should we fasten this day in our hearts First by faith perswading our hearts that this is truth and to that end observing not onely the frequent testimonies of the Lord in the word but also the assent even of our reason and the confession of our conscience scoring up our faults against that day Even the heathen themselues upon firme and undeniable grounds haue built this conclusion now indeed when we beleeue it and haue brought our hearts to yeeld unto it we shall not easily forget it Secondly Labour by prayer for sense and feeling of the Spirit that God would take out this securitie and awake thy sluggish heart to wait upon him and expect his comming Proposition 2. The sinners shall not stand in the congregation of the just For explication of the words who are to bee accounted sinners was before delivered pag 45. namely such as liue in any open and notorious breach of Gods commaundement Secondly The Congregation signifieth here a certaine Assembly or societie of men gathered together and so intends nothing else but the Church Now the Church is diversly taken sometime for the Catholike Church that is the whole bodie of Christ comprising in it all the faithfull from the first to the last member of his mysticall bodie living in the world Thus you will finde the word taken Ephe. 1. 22. 23. sometime for some member of that bodie distinguished according to divers respects incident to it thus the Church is divided into the triumphant which raignes with Christ in heaven or militant which fights under his banner against sinne the world and Satan here on earth The militant Church hath many subdivisions and is either visible in severall Congregations professing openly the name of Christ or invisible which are the faithfull in those Congregations confessing also in heart the Lord Iesus and his truth who although as men are visible and may bee discerned by any bodily eye yet as the faithfull and truely sanctified cannot ordinarily or generally be distinguished from many hypocrites living with them in the same assemblies So likewise the visible Church hath many branches some greater as
THE WAY TO BLESSEDNES A TREATISE OR COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST PSALME PSAL. 119. 1. Blessed are the vndefiled in the way who walke in the Law of the Lord. By PHINEES FLETCHER B. in D. and Minister of Gods Word at Hilgay in NORFOLKE LONDON Printed by I. D. for Iames Boler and are to be sold at the Marigold in Pauls Church-yard 1632. TO MY MOST HONORED FREE AND BOVNTIFVLL Patron Sir HENRY WILOVGHBY Baronet and to his most worthy Lady all blessings of this and a better life Sir THe ignorant generally complaine of too much preaching and some learned of too much writing The first haue no eyes to see either the grace of God in his word or their owne want of grace for want of that gracâ—ous word The other I thinke in this haue squint eyes or at least looke not the râ—ght way to the Gospell For did they condemne onely the wanton idle and vaine Pamphlets which too licentiously pandaring for lust stand forth in every shop or those turbulent libells which being engendered in earthly mindes breake forth into all bitternesse and fill the world with stormes and schismes who would not rise up with them against the wicked But the bookes by them censured nay despised and derided are such as tend to edification and are scorned either because they savour not of profound and deepe learning or not bumbasted with multiplicitie of reading or not stucke thicke enough with the flowers of Rhetorike when yet our owne experience makes us see these despised labours wonderfully to prosper in the Church whether it bee that the Lord delights to glorifie his power in infirmitie and takes no pleasure in the wisedome of words which makes the crosse of Christ of no effect or as light so the word is most cleere and powerfull when least mixed Famous is that historie of Sozomen who hath left it upon record that in the first Councell of Nice when an heathen Philosopher did not a little stumble the learned Christians a simple old man stept out and with plaine dealing both confuted and converted him No question there is great and even necessarie use of those speciall gifts in the Church yet by such examples the Lord plainely shewes that hee will not haue his meanest grace despised I am perswaded that with as much reason and lesse blasphemie wee may quarrell with the Creator for making so many rivers and fountaines on earth so many starres in heaven as with the Redeemer and blessed Spirit for storing this Kingdome with those gifts which make it as a watered garden and another firmament full of glorious lights shedding their beames into every corner For my selfe if any desire to know the reasons impelling mee to write what before I had spoken and giue way to my private and weake meditations to looke out in publike upon so learned an Age the chiefe are these First That redoubled and trebled commaund of our most gracious Saviour Feed my sheepe together with that inforcing motiue As thou lovest mee Oh! who can loue him sufficiently who loved to death whose loue passeth knowledge Or how can any man feed too much when no man can loue enough Therefore that Apostle there so adjured contented not himselfe to feed by preaching but to this day feedes us by his writing The same precept is often by his blessed Spirit pressed upon his Ministers Feed the flocke of Christ. As every man hath received the gift so let him administer it â—o other as good Stewards of the manifold graces of God Take heed to your selues and to the flocke over which the holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his owne bloud O strong adjuration Now God forbid that I should ever esteeme any paines sufficient for that for which God thought not his bloud too much Secondly The streight account which our Soveraigne Lord hath foretold he will exact of all his servants to whom he commits these treasures of his grace so that the single talent shall bee accountable and the slothfull person adjudged to a fearefull condemnation and execution for not putting it to the banke Thirdly The profit of Gods people especially those committed to me by Christ. Surely there is a wonderfull loue betweene a faithfull Pastor and his faithfull people The Galatians could giue their eyes Aquila and Priscilla their liues to the Apostle But beyond all admiration was the loue of that Apostle who not onely loved the more the lesse he was beloved their neglect as it were by Antiperistasis kindling and enflaming his affections but could willingly deferre his joyes with Christ in heaven and still liue under the bloudie persecution of Iewes Gentiles false Brethren and which is worse then all these the fierie opposition and loathsome but forced struglings with remainders of sinne that hee might build the Church He knew not which to choose his presence with Christ in infinite felicitie or his edifying the Church with all worldly miserie Lastly Though there be eueÌ„ innumerable lights heaven yet is ther not one in vaine the very least and most obscure haue their use their light and influence yea those infinite little starres which by us cannot be discerned by reason partly of their distance partly of their smalnesse yet doe they paue embrighten and point out that milkie way in heaven And I doubt not but this little and weake worke shall through his power who brings light out of daâ—kenesse direct some or further them in that blessed way to eternall life But it may bee some will stop my way with slight eâ—tertainment and strong opposition of the world This cannot weigh with those stronger arguments inciting mee to this dutie I remember the Astronomers distinguish the visible fixt starres into six severall magnitudes Those of the first and chiefest exceed the whole earth in quantitie an hundred and seven-fold and even the most obscure and cloudy of the sixt magnitude eighteen-fold with advantage Thus those first and great starres the holy Apostles their followers and immediate Successours how wonderfully they did surmount the whole earth may easily appeare in this that when all the world interposed it selfe to ecclipse their light yet did they then shine more bright and filled the whole earth with the glorious splendour of the Gospell of Christ. So even in these last ages we haue knowne that notwithstanding all the opposition of Popes Emperours and many other Princes the whole earth indeed being banded against a very few and farre inferiour to those fiâ—st Ministers yet did they overcome all their malice and shed the long obscured light into all parts of the Christian world For my selfe I rest assured that one heavenly sparke in the least of those starres shining in the right hand of Christ shall not nor cannot by any earthly opposition bee so ecclipsed but that it shall breake through and both enlighten and enflame some of those whom God hath chosen It
washes and clenses it will not suffer any sinfull wickednesse to dwell peaceably in the heart much lesse beare rule or haue dominion there The Spirit lusteth against the flesh The strong man is cast out by the stronger and his goods spoiled They therefore who liue in rebellion under the dominion of sinne where wickednesse keepes quiet possession as it is in all ungodly persons cannot possibly haue any fruit of the Spirit For as where health and life by receit of some good Physicke begin to grow more strong there nature wrastling with the disease workes to cast out the sicke humour so when the death and resurrection of Christ are effectually ministred unto us this life of God being planted in us struggles against this death of sinne and will not cease till it haue expelled this hellish infection Lastly wickednesse is that qualitie which is altogether contrary and irreconcileably adverse to these fruits of the Spirit and therefore wheresoever predominant keepeth out and driues away that by which it selfe is â—tterly destroyed Now in every wicked man sinne hath the upper hand whence they haue their denomination the kingdome of God cannot bee setled in the heart so long as sinne and Satan haue the scepter But as when Ierobam had usurped the Kingdome over the tâ—n Tribes he would not suffer the sonnes of David or any of their favourers to stay in his jurisdiction and was jealous of every occasion which might giue them any hope or advantage to returne to the Scepter and for this cause cast out the Levites and worship of God least the people by such meanes might haue beene drawne from his obedience so where wickednâ—sse hath dominion it keeps out the Kingdome of Christ resists the word of the Kingdome and is jealous of every occasion which might bring in the government and dominion of the Lord Iesus 2. It is altogether impossible that wicked persons such as despise God in his word and embrace the wayes and counsels of the ungodly should enter into the glory of God This the King of glory often avoâ—cheth Not they that say Lord but they that doe the will of the Father shall enter into the kingdome of heaven Vnlesse a man bee borne againe of water and of the Spirit hee cannot enter into Gods kingdome There shall enter into it no uncleane thing c. see also 1 Cor. 6. 9. 10â— Ephe. 5.5 6. And our reason will manifestly confirme it especially helped by Gods Spirit For First God is of pure eyes and cannot behold wickednesse but is a consuming fire to such Looke as in God is unspeakable mercy and grace which hath opened a way by faith and repentance to this his kingdome through Iesus Christ so likewise is in him a most pure nature infinitely averse nay adverse to all sinfull uncleannesse a righteousnesse which cannot justifie the wicked and revenging justice persecâ—ting the disobedient sinner and eternally punishing unrepentant wickednesse Thus hee makes himselfe knowne to us Exod. 34.6.7 Nahum 1.3.2 Thes. 1.7 8. 9. Secondly The wicked follow such guides and goe on in such wayes as are altogether opposite to this kingdome of God they follow the world the flesh and the Devill carnall worldly and devillish men in the wayes of rebellion which lead to destruction thus they are here and every where described and when they are called to the narrow gate and the old and good way they desperately refuse to walke in it Now every one shall eate the fruit of his owne wayes see Rom. 3. 16. His owne iniquitie shall take the wicked and he shall be holden in the cords of his owne sinne 3. The glory of Gods kingdome which wee shall enjoy with him consists principally of righteousnesse holinesse and joy of the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. And these in their perfection make up the especiall part of our blessed estate But these are infinitely and unreconcileably contrary to wickednesse and cannot possibly stand together Fourthly Whosoever enters into the Kingdome of God must passe through Christ who is the doore and the way neither is it possible to come to salvation by any other name or meanes But the wicked haue nothing in Christ no part or portion he prayes nor for the world but for the faithfull that they may bee where hee is and the glory which God hath given him hee giveth them nay they haue no faith by which onely they are entred into Christ seing faith purifieth the heart Lastly Holinesse is necessarily required to that glorious vision of God whereby consists our perfect happines not onely as a condition but as that nature which enableth us to see him The superiour and transcendent nature cannot bee perceived by the inferiour a beast may see the shape but not the reasonable nature of a man whereby hee farre surmounteth such creatures a bodily eye neither doth nor can perceiue spirituall substances not so much as the soule which dwels with it and in it and by which it seeth whatsoever it seeth Now holinesse is that nature of God in man 2 Pet. 1.4 which giues him power to behold God in his divine nature and it is confessed that wicked persons are altogether void of holinesse and that without holinesse no man shall see God 3. Learne here not onely that wicked persons abiding in the visible Church and making an hypocriticall profession shall by some notable fall discover themselues and be uncased that all the world may know what they are but the cause also why thus they fall off and goe away they are not planted by the rivers those running and living waters which continue with them They forsake the fountaine of flowing waters to digge themselues pits which will hold no water Whosoever hath saith our Saviour to him shall bee giuen nay hee shall haue abundance and whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to haue and therefore addes that caveat Take heed how you heare Thus Dâ—mas at length was discovered 2 Tim. 4. 10. As pits get in a little water in the time of raine which when hot weather comes is instantly exhausted and dried up so these men take in some of the word but not the fountaine it selfe the whole word Necessarily must offences come â— yea to this end that those whom God approues might bee knowne and others also might be layd open certaine it is that no hypocrite doth constantly delight in the whol word or meditate in it nor intirely giue up himselfe to it For either because it is new and fresh they rejoyce in it for a season Mat. 13 20. 21. Iohn 3. 35. or because their hearts are parched and tormented with the tâ—rrours of the Law they will then desire this water of life as when men are in a fit of an Ague but after the fit is off nothing regard it Thus was it with Pharaoh so with Zedikiah Ier. 37. 17. And that little which they
senselesse in that life of holinesse in which he was formed at first and conformed to God 2. No circumstantiall accident or qualitie but such as are inherent can debase or vilifie any substance Gold were it covered all over with durt not the lesse precious but any mixture of baser mettall makes it of lesse worth Thus neither povertie contempt of men weaknes of body are any iust causes of despising in all which estates we reade of heathens honourable in the eyes of their coaevals and many Christians glorious in the eyes of God and men But sinne being once rooted in man is such an inherent qualitie as eats out of him whatsoever is perfectly good as holines perverting the best natures to most evill It strips the body of that glory and maiesticall beautie in which it was framed and covers it with shamfull nakednes It robs the soule of all those glorious endowments with which it was gorgeously apparelled by the Creatour and brings upon it a most miserable povertie and loathsome deformitie Certainely as wilfull rebellion against an earthly Prince taints the blood and abases the whole stocke making them of noble vile of rich poore so that they instantly lose all civill priviledge and preferment so the treason and rebellion against the King of heaven by sinne casteth man downe from that height of dignitie which he enioyed in his service and onely by his favour to the lowest and basest degree of all the creatures Howsoever wicked men may flourish in the eyes of carnall persons and even reigne upon â—arth in an outward false prosperitie howsoever they are so mingled in the church that they cannot many times be discerned by man yet the judgments of God will surely finde and single them out and bring them in due time to utter confusion This is here somewhat darkly in a comparison but very strongly confirmed when they are resmbled to chaffe before the wind for as the dust of chaffâ— lies safely with the good graine while it is not movâ—d and stirred but whâ—n it is fanned or the winde let in it presently is scattered and peâ—isheth so the wicked in the day of peace till the Lord ariseâ—h to judgment lie secure and seeme to prosper but when the Lord takes his fanne into his hand and purgeth his floore how suddenly are they consumed Read Ier. 30. 23. 24. Amos 9. 9. 10. Esay 41. 15. 16. Hosea 13. 3. Psal. 92â—6 7 and 140. 11. Looke as dogges pursuing an Hare or Deere follow incessantly and though they flie from one starting hole to another yet never giue over till they take and destroy them so shall the judgements of God pursue the wicked though they seeme to escape some evils yet shall they certainely bee followed till they are utterly consumed Thus when Ahab had sold himselfâ— to doe wickedly first a long drouth and famine findes him out starts and pursues him when he had escaped that the sword followes him when there through the mercie and long suffering of God calling to repentance hee had gotten the better and now by wicked policie had setled his kingdome and made way to his tyrannie in the bloud of Naboth the fearefull threatnings of God overtake him and fill his soule with fright and horrour when hee now through a fained repentance had winded out of that miserie yet the vengeance of God so closely hunted him that in spight of all warnings he falls by the sword of the Syrians the dogges licke up his bloud and eate up all his familie Thus Iehoram sonne of Iehosaphat 2 Chron. 21. being a wicked King is first put up by the Edomites then hunted by the Arabians lost his goods his sonnes his wiues lastly a sore and tedious disease overtakes him and at length pulls out his very guts with grievous torments and the reason a most necessary and infallible cause of this effect is that justice and office of God being Iudge of all the world 2. Take hence a sure tryall of thy estate Thou art borne under the Covenant and in the Church but know the chaffe springs and ripens with the graine thou art a member of the visible Church the chaffe is brought in with the corne thou enjoyest the meanes of eternall life the word Sacraments rods in afflictions but the chaffe and wheat are beaten and sifted together But therefore passing by such common workes which agree as well to the reprobate as to the godly examine and try how these ordinary meanes worke upon thee and what effect thou seest proceed from them The flaile beats out the corne and the fanne purifies it if then thou art one of those whom that great Husband-man will gather into his Granaries the word of God shall separate thee from the heap of worldly men and it together with the fatherly chastisements of God shall continually purge and clense thy heart from the sinfull drosse which is in it If then thou findest the word and these rods thus to worke on thee thou art safe Dost thou then every day see more cause of dislike in thy selfe in thy wayes learnest to abhorre thy selfe denie thy self judge thy selfe Do those chastisements of God weane thy heart from the vanities of this life and the flatteries of this world so that thou accountest all things dung in comparison of the knowledge of Christ his death and resurrection working in thee the death of sinne and life of grace These are good signes of life and health when the wind blowes dost thou not fliâ— out of the floore and embracest the world Looke to thy selfe and bee not deceived with thâ—se ordinarie notes common to good and bad 1. Those are here cenâ—ured that choose rather to bee the dust of chaffe then the corne and will not bee perswaded to come out of that cursed condition How many are there who flatter themselues in their wayes untill their abominable wickednesse be found out by the judgements of God They giue up their hearts to the world follow the sinfull profits and pleasures of it and will not be perswaded to delight in the word of God or the good way pointed out by that word as long as they feele not the curse and alas how should they feele being past all feeling they despise the threatnings of God and lie downe in their mire which not onely fills them with filth and prepares them to endlesse miserie but defiles the land and brings a curse upon all that are neere them 2. Those that cannot bee intreated to separate themselues from such companie wher not only it is impossible to receiue any profit or good but where they shall surely smart with them When they heare the warning of Gods Spirit Depart from the foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lippes of knowledge they are deafe and stop their eares Thus wee see many ignorant soules continue in Babylon till they partake of her plagues and bring an old house as we say and they felt upon their heads And many simple people