Errata sic corrige. Pag. 10. lin. penult. lege Incurrat. pag. 12. lin. 4. defit. p. 16. l. 12. Legeruntne. p. 19 l. 3. quae. p. 37. l. 4. jure. p. 32. l. 8. nulla. p. 37. vlt filij. p. 39 l. 2. necquicquam. The Spiritual Spring. A SERMON PREACHED AT PAUL'S, Where 〈…〉 declared the necessity of growing in GRACE., and the goodly gain that comes thereby, etc. By RICHARD LEE, Preacher of the word of God at Woluerhampton in STAFFORDSHIRE. Cant. ●. 16. Awake, O North wind, and come thou South, blow upon my Garden, that the spices thereof may flow out: Let my beloved come into his Garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. LONDON: Printed by T. S. for SAMVEL MAN, dwelling in Paul's Churchyard at the sign of the Swan, 1625. To the Worshipful, and his loving friend, the Gentlemen of London, Benefactors to the Preaching of the word of God, at Woluerhampton. WHen I was first importuned to commit these my weak labours to a more general view: I stood in the balance, whether way to take: On the one side, I saw the world was full enough of Books: & what good would my spoonful do in the Sea? and how unfit it were that myself, the least of littles, should deliver knowledge to posterity, and that this wayward age, was so ill-disposed, that it could not abide ungues in ulcere, we should scratch in the sore; as also the cloudy style, and stumbling phrase I had writ it in, not dreaming the world should look on it. Furthermore, I perceived on the other hand, that my scarce discerned spark, gave a true light; and why may not some gain a little? I have read of night-travellers, that have been refreshed by the shine of Glow-worms? We are borne in a time, wherein people love new varieties in apparel, diet, houses, yea, friends: why may not some see this, and be better for it? It is an ill wind blows no man profit; If but one gain, and that a little, I have enough. A sick or weak stomach, that at a table leaves dainties, and feeds of some course dish, the Cook will not repent he sent it in. Being moved by these things, I thought I could not do better than to send it to your hands (although most of you heard it Preached) to express my thankfulness for that love and liberality I have received from many of you: and now I am glad, God hath given me this opportunity to lay open to wide report, that worthy work you have done amongst us. There is a cursed crying; Sin reigns in this age without control, I mean the taking away of Church-rites, H●● 18. in. Act. called by Chrysostome, the dowry of the Bride; robbing of God the Father, and the Church the Mother: Hence it is, that many brave wits turn to study Law, or Physic, or follow some other callings, letting pass sacred Divinity, the Mistress of sciences; and those that have taken on them that worthy function, yet want of means, hath brought want of books and other necessaries; so that many stuff their heads with ears in stead of learning; mean while the Gospel droops, God's vinetree spreads not, Popery holds his ground, & dusky ignorance as a thick mist remains undispeld in many corners of this Kingdom, for want of sunbeams. But the more we beat on this point, the harder men's hearts are; like the Catadupes, that are deaf by the fall of Nilus. Now blessed be God, who hath so mightily wrought in you, to stir you up to be instruments, to spread heaven's sunshine, to those that sit in darkness; and have sent labourers into others vineyards, and paid them with your own penny. Happy be the Angel that called on you, to send help into our Macedonia: I mean, to establish the preaching of God's word in that place where I now dwell. I never knew any part of this kingdom, where Rome's shakie brood roosted & rested themselves more warmer and safer, and with greater countenance, then in our country. But I make no question, it is begun already that as the day breaks, and the shadows fly away, those owls will betake themseles to ivy trees, and no longer domineer over the childish in experience of many people. Go on worthy Gentlemen with such works, they shall be your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and crown. The Lord stir up your hearts more and more, & grant that others may glass themselves by you, and through your example, tread this holy maze. And so I rest, committing my faint endeavours into your hands, desiring your favourable acceptance, & wont love. I shall remain Yours ever obliged, Richard Lee. Woluerhampton Octob. 16. 1624. The Spiritual SPRING. 2 PETER 3. Verse the last. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour jesus Christ: to him be glory both now and for ever, Amen: THe words in hand are a sovereign remedy against the deadly poison of Apostasy. The Apostle tells us a little before, that in these last and worst times, many il-aduised men shall cast unsavoury scorns in the face of Christian profession, which shall cause many to faint in their journey to heaven. A help against cold, is heat, against poverty, is thriftiness; against going backward, is pressing forward. We have here pre●enting-Physicke against relapses, and rather do water and manure Grace, then sow it. We urge not planting, but prospering; rather food to nourish, than seed to beget. Here is a single act, with a double object, A charge given, expressing the matter, Grow, the subject, in Grace and Knowledge; and so shuts up the Epistle with a Doxology at the foot of it. To Grow, is taken either continuè, to augment those graces we have: or Discretè, to add new to our store, as the same Apostle hath it, Chap. 5. add to your faith virtue, etc. Grace is taken either for God's favour in himself, Eph. 1.5.6. this is that which makes us acceptable before him; Or for the gift of grace, Rom. 1.5. In God as in the Fountain, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Jg●i● & Jgnita enallag●●●●●ri in us as in the Cistern; he is the light, we are as john was, a burning lamp, enlightened from that light. Grace, one for more, Grace, for Graces. Or rather it is, vox artis, where grace signifies more than graces, causa then causa; as in the Scripture, Si Christum discis. man is a larger word than men, Knowledge of jesus Christ, by a Synecdoche, to know and believe in him. This i● the fountain and head of all Religion, the end and perfection of the Law and Gospel, joh. 17.3. Grace is set before knowledge, because a graceless knowing is a fruitless knowing. Growth here then must be an active motion, or operation of graces of God's spirit in us, whereby they increase either by apposition or extension. Doct.— Haec nostro signabitur area curru. You see now which way the words look, and what smell the flowers bound-up will send forth. The quintessential doctrine, or main path, I must beat, is, that we must not only be careful to have graces, but to increase in those when they are begun. God would have us good Proficien●● in his school, and to thrive under his hand, to mend our pace in our Christian journey, to build upon the foundation already laid. God's camp admits of no dwarves, his flourishing pastures of no stooklings, his family of no unchrists. It is that with Grace as with Nature, in growth 〈…〉 makes to be at a stand, and old age makes to decay; but good men, Psalm 84.7. they go from strength to strength. The Prophet alludes to the growing of a child, which as it multiplies in years, waxeth stronger, Pro●. 4.18. The just shineth more and more unto the perfect day. As in the wreak of day, we have a scarce-discerned light, after a while, the morning shows her white limb through nights black curtains, and so by degrees wins the field of darkness, & comes 〈…〉, yea to a golden splendour: In the like manner saith the Wise man, doth grace's lustre creep on to perfection in God's servants. David compares a Christians goodness to the spring-time, Psalm 92.14 when all but rotten trees bud and blossom. In the Gospel our Saviour reprehends the slothful servant that puts not forth his ●●●ent. Math. 25. Math. 13. Again, he compares Grace unto a grain of Mustard seed, which is a very little seed, yet in some Countries is of so great a stalk, that birds may build their nests in it. In Syria saith ●ai●tan. Thus you see God stands for it, how holy Writ blazeth on it with sprinkling brightness. Reason. Now Reason shall stand up like an armed m●n to defend i●: Let us briefly then consider, his, the Necessity; secondly, the 〈…〉, thirdly, the danger of not growing. First, Necessity pleads for it, because; first, we have no set pitch in this life, we must rest when we are dead, here is our nonage, when we are at full age, to our inheritance we go: This life is our spring-time, when we are ripe, God reaps us into his barn: We are here as young Plants in a Nursery, when we are grown up, God will transplant us. 2 We went on a pace in evil, in our unregeneracy, when we served the devil: have not we more reason to run faster now, having a better Master, a credibler service, and greater wages? 3 All will be little enough in times of trial: Desertions, temptations, sicknesses, crosses, and death, will look us in the face. The wings of our hope will be cut off, find our prayers will have their moultring time; we shall fight then against ourselves like giants: we glean but happiness now, we shall mow misery then; store will be no sore, but a supersedeas in all our trials, let us barrel up plenty of grace, and feather our nests, & prepare oil in our lamps against that time. Secondly, see the benefits that accrue by our growing. 1 God shall have much glory, joh. 15.8. Herein 〈◊〉 Father glorified, that ye bears much fruit. 2 Themselves shall have much benefit by it; Luke 8. 1●. they that sow much, shall reap much; to increase in grace, is to furnish ourselves with faith against trials, with joy in miseries, strength on thy deathbed, ability to pray, and the like: for he that doubled his five talents, was made Ruler over many things, Matth. 25.21. His that soweth liberally, 2 Cor. 9 ●. shall reap liberally. 3 Others gain by our wealth and glean at our harvest; We shall by our good instruction and examples set feathers to other folk's arrows; when our herbs are grown, we shall fraught our neighbour's gardens; our light shall enlighten them, our lives shall shame them, and set Conscience on working; for the fuller the Fountain is, the bigger the stream will be. Thirdly, the danger of not growing. Minimè verò bonus est, qui melior non vult fieri. Ber. ep. 91. Qui melior esse non cupit nec est bonus. 1 Such have no grace at all, only guilded outsides. That seed which grows not, is rotten under the clods: He was never good that mends not: The goodness of the ground is known by the crop. 2 Painted corn ripens not: these disgrace the means God hath given them, as the Word and Sacraments; a lean-faced servant disparageth his Master's house-keeping. 3 The curse of God lights on them. We say if our children, corn, cattles, or grass, prosper not, that they are bewitched: What? a good Farm and thrive not? surely God's blessing is not there. It is a heavy judgement on the enemies of the Church, to be as the grass upon the house tops, which withereth afore it grow up, Psal. 129.6. Non progredi est regredi. 4 Not to go forward, is going backward; we cannot stand at a stay, either ascend or descend; coldness lets in custom, and custom causeth defending of sin. Use 1 Let scrutiny be made in the first place, let us Ministers try your sufficiencies; God will one day search with candles. Good gold fears not the balance nor touchstone, Zeph. 1.12. but a bankrupt abides not the counting-booke. You have heard the fitness of this duty, let something be said as a jacobs-staff to take the height of your graces. I purpose by God's assistance, first to spread a plaster, then to apply it, first to draw, then to shoot. A little to discover the marks of growing, and then to lay my finger where it smarts. To deliver somewhat as I may say in complexo altogether; Know this, that growing children are hungry, they eat much and often; he waxeth but slowly that panteth not after the word of God, the bread of life. Furthermore, note, that as the Philosopher saith; Arist. de ortu & interit. c. 5. Augmentation keeps the same species, when knowledge turns into idle disputes, and believing becomes presuming, and a tender conscience falls to vain scruples, as we see in our bedlam Anabaptists, and fantastical Brownists, whose doctrine is critical, and their conversations hypocritical; here is not Augmentation, but Mutation, not cherishing, but changing. A true grower adds daily some cubit to his stature, and in holding the truth, he believes the Philosopher's proverb, That he can never offend in the excess. Again, Philosophy saith, Circa quali●ates bonas nemo peccat in excessis. there must be ●n apt proportion in augmentation: It is unseemly and monstrous in nature, for a child to grow in arms only, and not in the legs, or in legs and arms, but not in body; so to have more knowledge, and less humility, to thrive in joy, and be hidebound and hand-bound in good works, is neither kindly nor comfortable. We are to put forward the slowest growing grace. In a word, some tokens that we are of a larger size, are more accidental: as, it is a thousand to one but ourselves or others, or both ourselves and others, will see●s ●aller than we were, and our overstepping of those evils, that were before too high for us: So also growers shall have ●●yals, the best scholars are most posed the highest trees subject it to winds, the devil and his agents assault the richest b●●ties. The hotter the day the ●uster the ●yes; the more gracious, the more opposed and less esteemed of the world. Good men are like a Pyramid, the nearer heaven, the less in man's eye. But we may yet sift this point more narrower, and proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 step by step. Try how thou are bettered in four things. First, In Mortification, doth thy blood ●●●e more to see iniquity committed? Is it thy heart's solace to see superstition, and prophanensse go down the wind? Is thy hand and heart set against them? Dost thou more tragically butcher thine own evil, and is now thy coruptions soon crushed if they begin to swell? Secondly, In Vi●ification, hast thou more spiritual journeys to heaven? Art thou earnester in thy thoughts and sighs. Doth love strive for the strength of a Giant? If it be thus with thee, thou art a good tree that grows downward in root, and upward in body and branch. Thirdly, how is it with thee in holy duties? Dost thou sweep thy heart cleaner, and adorn the inward man more than thou hadst wont before thou comest to God's ordinances? Art thou more sincere, reverend, and devout, in performing thy services 〈◊〉 of old? Though Satan knock now at thy heart, to enter in with his bastard 〈◊〉, thou more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him, and resolvest the Minister shall blow, no more on the sands, nor sow on the waters, but let him shoot and hit the white. But principally the stronger Christian, the mightier in Prayer. Lover's love meetings, and the nearer marriage, the oftener they meet; for in this sense the proverb is true, After building comes begging. Fourthly, there is a sensible mending in works, The fatter any one is in Grace, the more he sweats out good works. He hath a more quicke-edged purpose to take all occasions of doing good, he spreads his wings wider to help more people, he dies now like a lofty Hawk at the best works, he that before was all for good to men's bodies, which are works good in their kind, these he performs more than before, but yet withal looks higher, and labours to spread God's Gospel, and to hoist up the sail of drooping Religion, and with his Prayers, purse, and power doth his endeavour to beat down Popery, and profaneness, and to be a light to them that sit in darkness. Use 2 Antipodes, opposite to this doctrine, are first, such as grow not; secondly, or grow but in general graces; thirdly, or such as fall back. It blots with blame, yea, bitterly bites Non profici●●●s. Many are as ignorant, as sinful, as dull, as fruitless, as twenty years ago; they go round as a horse in a mill; they go to the Church, to the Sacraments, to family-prayers, ●●nne up and down as Aunts in a Molehill and do nothing, and yet think they have Religion enough, Quomodo proficis si tibi iam sufficis. Ber. de consid. l. 2. Such are frozen on their dr●gs, twice dead and plucked up by the roots. Nay, we have another generation of people that envy the growing man. If any be like Saul among the people, higher by the head and shoulders in matters of Religion, he is hated; as loitering servants do their fellows that outwork them. Dealing with his neighbours, as a Gardener with his hedge, if any part of it out-sprout the rest, he eclipse it down. As Esop's Fox having lost his tail, would persuade all other Foxes to cut off their tails. Act. 13.10. Paul tells us that an hinderer is the child of the devil. As for those silly ones that are over-learning and never 〈◊〉 come to the knowledge of the truth, 2 Tim. 3.6.7. but thinks he should be as Pegasus, have a golden bridle to stop his posthaste to God: These are as the proverb is; Grecisemper pueri; saith an Egyptian, apud Plat. in Time●. Always children. Boys and Truants must be whipped. Ambrose elegantly observes in Luke 21. the danger of a suckling, the joy to have it weaned, and so grow up. Abraham saith he feasted when Isaac was weaned, In ceruitu impij ambiulant. Eras. coloqui de naufrag. but the child that was not weaned was overlaid by the mother. Thou art a wicked man. Circular motion is the motion of the heavens, but not the heavenliest motion, nor the perfectest. Fruitless dead trees must be plucked up. God may very well give thee up to hardness of heart, and say as once a Captain did to one of his watch, finding him a sleep, he flew him, saying, Dead I found thee, and dead I'll leave thee; for being dead spiritually, God may justly damn thee eternally. And standing so worse thou mayst be, better thou canst not be: The lying stone gathers moss, the standing pool mud. The bird mounting upon wing, is out of fear, but sitting on the ground is in danger both of snare and Fowlet. This Atheist may stand in his own light, and spurn against our truth with this poor objection; That grace is a simple essence, and not natural, and so not capable of growing. Answ. It is true that a simple essence grows not in God the fountain, or as I may say in the abstract, but secondarily in us it may be further revealed, and plentifully bestowed. There is a spiritual growing, as well as a natural. Secondly, Others stop the mouth of Conscience, with this, that they know more than they did, and can talk more of Religion than they had wont, and have more dexterity in prayer, and the like. Such must know that there are some general gifts of grace which God bestows on unregenerate men as such as these are I have named. There is saving graces, as mortification, godly sorrow, humility, and the like; if thou mend'st in these last kinds thou art happy indeed, but if thou growest only in such graces, as judas, Achit●phel, or such hypocrites may have, thy show is more worth than thy substance: As a Cinnamon tree, thy bark is more worth than thy body. Thy flourishing is but as a quagmire grown over with green grass. Psal. 129.6. Thy growing cannot last, but as grass on the house top, to whither before it grow up. A tree cut up by the roots, may sprout forth leaves for a while: A man after he is dead for a time his nails and hair may grow. As for the former, they are but as a dog in a wheel; the melancholy Stoikes went beyond them: and these of the latter sort; it may be evil, is at a stand in them, through education or want of occasion; as fire may want fuel; but not one sin yet hath his fatal blow as Goliath had, nor so much as a Buck that hath his death's wound, though he be not yet hunted down. I say in all thy flourishing shows thou deceivest thy brethren with shadows, and thyself with sin. Thirdly, But this is not all, we have a disease called a consumption, wherein men grow, I confess, but worse. We have Towns, Rome. Cities, Kingdoms, Persons, as the Crabfish go backward. Shall we begin with the worst first. Rome was once famous, Her faith was spoken of throughout the whole world, She was beautiful in her youth. Out of her loins sprung worthy Martyrs, and reverend Ministers, but now she is dropped into a crooked old age, a foolish dotage. She hath nourished in her bosom a brood of misbegotten Controversies, and when we have discovered their young opinions and blind errors, like Foxes that are hard hunted, they seek intricate holes, and thorny bushes, they hide themselves in knotty distinctions: So that as one saith, I have sought Rome in Rome, Quaesini Romam in Roma, & non inveni Romam. and could not find Rome: She will have a Monopoly of heaven, and the prisoner at the bar will be judge of the Law. She denies children for knowing their father's will: She will not only forgive sins, but maintain sins. The Stews yield good tribute to the grandmother of spiritual fornications. Gretser p. 159. Bell de summo Pontif. l. 5 c. 7. Bannes in Tho. Aquin. 1●. 2●●. qu. 12. art. 2. Inst. Cath. 23. Ser. 12.13. Her subjects must not obey out Princes, but depose them, yea, in some case kill them, though the Pope grant no special licence. Yea, iure & merito, saith Simantha. May not we say of her doctrine as of jeroboams' shields, he found them of silver, and left them of brass; so that now instead of loving her, we must leave her, and obey the charge given by the Prophet jeremiah, Chap. 50.14. Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she hath sinned against the Lord. England. Let this be Babylon's disease alone. But as for the reformed Churches, let them ride on with their honour, and good prosperity have they: Fare be it from them with Hezekiahs' Sun to go backward. Yet if we look into the general decay of godliness and virtue, we may with tears lament and say, That at the beginning men were Giants in body, but now Giants in sin. Common principles of honesty are become unto many, Mali proficiunt boni deficiunt. Ber. as the writings on a tomb stone, by much treading almost quite defaced. Wickedness grows, goodness decays, by this cloud we may presage a storm. But of this famous City I hope better things. London. Your works have blazed all the Kingdom over, and displayed their branches into other lands, you have clothed the naked, fed the hungry, nursed the fatherless. And best of all which is put into the mouth of posterity, you have bought eye-salue, and have sent it to the blind, and have given Torches to them that have dwelled in the gloomy darkness of thick ignorance. Oh let it not be said that you retire, or grow not on in grace and in charity as well as in knowledge. Let it not be said that you feed the poor sparingly, and plentifully feast the rich, who as Tennisplayers, can bandy to you again. As Rachel disliked her own barrenness, so did her husband: so do you your fruitlessness. Principally have a care so to honour God with your substance, as to send faithful labourers into his Vineyard. I have observed myself dwelling in a Country where Popery and ignorance doth lamentably flourish, and their nests are for the most part in the Parish of some ten pound Levite, and we shall often hear that in those places, some one or other is drawn to the superstitious faction; and no marvel when men's minds are as tabula nuda, fit for any impression, & so embrace that Religion which is next to them, be it what it will. Many of you may say with David; Thou tookest me from behind the ewes; you had poor beginnings, and now God hath spread your tables, and filled full your cups. This life is a journey, heaven our aim; be a viaticum to poor Travellers, let your purses hire Preachers, and send the Gospel where it is not, that Rome's superstitions may be banished from this Land, and thereby sin and sinners may be dashed out of countenance. Truly I may say as the Disciples did of the Ass. The Lord hath need of him. Many good desires are among your poor Countrymen, but in many places for want of preaching (the fuel for that fire) all goes out: Isa. 37.3. and as Hezekias said, The children are come to the births, and there is no strength to bring forth. Poor souls are so wounded by sin, that they need lie under the Physician's hand. The Proverb in this sense is false. Homo sine doctore est ut caecus sine doctore. Aug de temp. Josephus l. 3. c. 9 Misere vivit qui medicè vivit; For man without a Teacher is as a blind man without a guide, saith Augustin. And how can men but sleep when the candle is out? josephus' thought that when God shown to Israel by Vrim and Thummim, whether they should go to battle, it was thus, the Priest should put on the Ephod, & if the precious stones shined, they need not fear their foes; but I am sure, that if our precious stones shine, I mean God's Word, we need not fear Antechrists' kings of the earth. Well then, though it hath been said that Popery like Leah was blear-eyed, yet fruitful, and we fair as Rachel, but barren, Oh put you that song in our mouths, Psal. 113.9. that the barren he maketh to keep house to be a joyful mother of children, than God shall have glory, we comfort, you profit. Magistrates. But since I have begun to speak, let me say on. May it not be said of some of our Magistrates executing of justice, Quorum primus impetus plus erat quam virorum, secundus minus quam fo●minarum. as is said of the Frenchmens fight? At the first stronger than men, at the last weaker than women. Our Laws the Axletree of our estate, on whose firmness we move, upon whose bosom the Church leans, or either are as a rusty clock that goes not, often time for flourishing, not for fight. If laws be put in execution, alas, but for a while, we may say as Fabias said of Hannibal's Army, Ad specimen non ad vulnus Cic. de orat. like a fire of straw, makes a great blaze, but is quickly out: like the leaping of the locust that flirt's up a little, and quickly down, Locustarum saltus Greg. Moral. l. 31. or as the Planets in their Epicycles, sometimes ascending, and sometimes descending. Let not profaneness get the upper hand, nor Popery nor carnal security, which as Prometheus his vulture eat out the heart of Religion, we may fear, we may say of them as men do of snow when it melts not, that it lies for more. For God's sake you that are our Herculesses against these Giants, bring down her that sits as a Queen, let not the people say of you, as men do of a dead Hawk, a good one if she were alive. Let your faith outlook your eyes, and march on valiantly. As for us Ministers, Ministers. we should be known as Aaron's rod was, by blossomming and fruit, and like Nabuchadnezzars' Oven, seaven-times hotter than others. God would have his messengers as an Emperor would have his wife, without fault, or suspicion of fault. We should have life in our doctrine, and doctrine in our life; but we have many like a Raven, cries on every steeple East, West, North and South, but having got her prey she lies down under a sunny bank, and ye hear no more of her; so many Preachers spare no pains in season and out of season, till they be warm in some fat Parsonage, then like Demas, they embrace this present world: as the Eagle they fly high, and have no eye to their nest. Psal. 137.5.6. It is a judgement when the tongue cleaves to the roof of the mouth. When like the Stork, have a sweet voice being young, but a hoarse one in old age, they either Preach not at all, or as lightning, only flasheth, but warms not, and truly how can it be that the cold can warm others, and he that is dead can quicken others? To end with private men. Private Christians. How many Professors of Religion, with Lot's wife have looked back? let these know that many set out of Egypt, that never saw the land of Canaan: some like john march furiously, yet sit down and catch cold, and fall into a consumption. Some now and then smite sin a little, as a mother doth a child that shames her, but love it well enough; others wound sin a little but will not kill it. When Elisha bade joash take his arrows & smite on the ground, and be smote thrice and stayed. The man of God was wrath, 2 King 13.19. and said, thou shouldest have smitten five or six times, then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: So if men would but give their corruption more deadly wounds, they need not be like a Hackney, that tires in the heat of the day, or a dull Ass' trot, that will not last long, or like the children of Ephraim, are armed, and carry bows, yet turn back in the day of battle; yea, deal unfaithfully, and turn aside like a deceitful bow. Psal 78.9. We must tell to these sinking-downe estates, that little decays will prove great breaches; slidings lead to fall; indifferency to senselessness. The more a man is enlightened, the worse he is falling back. A candle never enlightened smells not, but being enlightened, and blown out, than it stinks. The backsliders in the seaventh persecution, Fox Act. Mon. were punished with strange diseases and evil spirits. When Cranes fly backwards, it is a sign of a tempest. Aelian l. 3. c 13. There is nothing but soul weather towards, for him that hath broken covenant with God. When love tokens are sent home, we say a match is broken. The Lord dwells not in that heart, that hath the goodness removed out of it. When we come into the King's Palace, and see all the sumptuous Hang taken down; we conclude the King is removing of his lodging. When we have shouldered God out of our hearts, our case is miserable: It is a wondrous danger of a heat to take cold. The Novatian heresy, a great sect, and many learned men were of them, held, that a reuolter could not be received again: howsoever I abhor their blear-eyed error, because I here God say, Return O back sliding Israel, jer. 3.2. yet nevertheless there is such intricate turnings, and Meandry windings, that few return; none without much sorrow and smart: Hierome. Origens' lamentation is woeful, and may affright a faller-backe: such men's consciences, as a broken leg, will pain in ill weather. Yet O Lord there is mercy with thee, that thou mayst be feared. The chief Physician of the soul hath scored us out a way for delivery, Reu. 2.5. first, Remember whence thou art fallen: secondly, Repent, cry out against this sin, hate it, loathe it: lastly, and do thy first work: never rest till thou hast got thy former strength. To these I may add three more; first. Do all this quickly. A candle put out, blow the match quickly, and it may enlighten: we are like sluggards, the longer we lie in bed, are unwillinger to rise: Secondly, ill company is as ill air, or ill diet to a man in a consumption, which will hinder his health, not better him: Lastly, know God love's us not the worse, if we hearty mourn for our failings, and fly to him. Christ calls his Spouse, fair pleasant, O love for delights Cant. 7.6. although Chap. 5. she had caught a fall and marred her face. Having now as a Hawk struck my talents into the face Use 3 of several offenders; let me ring my silver bells in the cares of a growing good man. It is pity he should go without his due: If it be between thy flesh and spirit, as was between the house of David and Saul, 2 Sam. 3.1. Now there was long war between the house of Saul, and the house of David, but David waxed stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker: If thy flesh be tamer, thy spirit stronger; so that thou canst feel old age, as well by the strength of the soul, as the weakness of the body: Thy Conscience, Faith, Love, and all other graces are mightier, and as it were, up in a swarm in thee: Thou art more watchful than before: A child, the older it grows, the less it sleeps. Thou that before wast afraid to follow God in the dark, but now art as a Sea-card needle, standest in the greatest tempests; we have for thee a nest of young joys, we open a mine of gold unto thee, and tell thee thou art a true Christian, crosses cannot crush thee: God binds thee up among his jewels, and hath made more promises to do thee good, then ever he made to hold up the pillars of the world. Some it may be accuseth himself, alas, I cannot grow, Object. 1 oh would to God I were better. I answer, that Grace grows but slowly, Answ. and loseth ground of time. Again, the blade springs, whilst the husbandman sleeps; we may be better, and not ware of it. Also there are kinds of growing; trees one while shoot upward, another while down. An Apple may grow one while in greatness, after in goodness. Object. 2 But I am nothing like so forward as I was at my first conversion; my prayer is weak, my hearing dull. Answ. What are thy too little for thee? a good sign of growing. But a man may abate in five respects of his former forwardness, and be no back-slider; First, so fare as it was new to us: the lame man, Acts 3. leapt at his first curing, we must not suppose that he did always afterwards in his doings, leap: The Israelites at their delivery out of Babylon's captivity, their mouths were filled with laughter, and their tongues with joy; we may not suppose that they always after did nothing but laugh: The Sun is more acceptable at the rising, then at the setting. Secondly, so fare as was to by-ends: we may hear a Preacher set forth the blessings that attend godliness; as Peace, Wealth, comfort in our Children, and the like: whereupon we cheerfully set about all God's business; but our Lord seeing our unfitness to have these outward blessings, and so cuts us short of them: we may then abate of our forwardness, so fare as these ends did spur us on, and be no backsliders. Thirdly, we may stop so fare as blind zeal puts us forward, and be never the worse. A good man in his conversion, his flesh is as the flesh of a young child; very tender, being but as it were, newly wounded for sin. A child in grace is as one in nature, that fears bugbears and trifles, which men do not. Now in what he was over-scrupulous, over-strict, too strait laced, he may abate upon more knowledge, and yet stand his ground in christianity well enough. Fourthly, he may assuage of what he is at extraordinary times, in days of humiliation, and yet be no faller back. Lastly, he may be overwhelmed with troubles, or under a temptation, or in a spiritual desertion; he must not judge himself to be, as he than feels himself to be; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. for all this, it may be said of thee, even in this case, as Homer said of Diomedes; a little man, but a great soldier. Object. 3 But I in truth am worse than I were. Answ. It may be thou seest thyself worse, which argues a better eyesight, and that a greater light is in thy heart. In the morning when the roses of the day begin to flower, all the foul corners of a house cannot be seen; but when the Sun creeps towards the highest Zenith of heaven, every small spot is apparent. Or take it for granted, thou art worse indeed, art humbled for this, dost strive against it mightily, as a falling man catcheth at what he can; is there an amazed kind of sorrow upon thee for it? I must tell thee, thou mayst be nearer delivery now, then ever. The devils in the Gospel, never tortured the possessed more, then at their going out; I have known it frieze the keenest against a thaw, and grow darkest towards break of day. But I should prove an ill Physician, only to bid you grow, and not set in at a dead-lift. We need help to this business, Helps to grow. considering that grace in man is like a tender outlandish herb brought into our countries; we shall have much ado to make it prosper. Therefore, 1 Eat sin, as Ignorance, Pride, Hypocrisy, ill-company, etc. Evil is a stepmother to good: as an Eastern wind nips our blossoms: as sickness that keeps down a child; so doth our transgressions stint and starve our graces, and make us uncapable of being bigger. 2 Get a good conscience that will cast up thy accounts every night, and read thee a curtain lecture for thy negligence. 3 Thou must have good store of humility; Discendendo ascendit. by descending, thou shalt ascend; the low valleys are ever fruitfullest. 4 Labour for spiritual wisdom to be led by the best precedents, to take thy work out of the best Samplers, Post protogenam lincam ducere. to write after the best copies, to draw a line after the best Painter. Lastly, practise four duties; first, Meditation; secondly, hearing God's word; thirdly, Prayer; fourthly, to make a good use of afflictions. 1 Meditate on Gods 3 The excellency of grace. 1 Mercies. 2 His allseeing eye. 1 Meditate of God's favour to our persons, to our kingdom. How many dangers have we been liable unto, have not the Bulls of Basan comp●●sed us about? yet may not our Church sing with the Church of Israel. Many times have they afflicted me from my youth: Psal. 129.2.4. yet they have not prevailed against me; the Lord hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked: was not King Edward our Darius to build God's Temple? As for Queen Maries Reign, it is true: sucking the blood of the Saints, yet but short, and out of those ashes had we a Phoenix, the blood of the Martyrs was the seed of the Church. Did not our late Queen Elizabeth, of thrice blessed memory, account herself as a sheep for the slaughter, yet did not she outlive six or seven Popes? As for that cruel exploit of eighty eight: Psal. 124.2.3. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, they had swallowed us up quick. What Processions and Masses, said and sung among them, hoping their superstitions would have given them the day? but our heavenly Father so apparently then took our part; that it is reported, the great Turk should say, in that fight God was a Lutheran. Had not the Papists yet a further hope, when our Queen should dye; had they not Esau's thoughts, the days of mourning will come shortly, and then, and then, we will slay our brethren the Protestants? But our Sun did set, and no night followed. As for that matchless plot, the Gunpowder-treason; before, their practices were fire and faggot; now, fire and powder; they would have brought Doomsday upon three Kingdoms at once: Then had the songs of our Temples ceased; we might have named our children Icabods; yea, when our Noble Prince took his late long journey, they clapped their wings, and began to crow: but, Blessed be the Lord, Psal 124.6. who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Abortu solis ad Hesperium eubile. If I should stand here a whole day, I could not recount God's goodness to us. As the Cherubin's wings hung over the Mercy-seat, so doth God's mercies over us. Are not we reserved for better times than our forefathers were? Pro mollioribus & melioribus ●a●is. where hath the Gospel shined more than here? hath not a pillar of fire, and a cloud guided us above threescore years? As a man that at the beginning of a clear night counts the stars, but after a while, they appear so fast, that he is confounded. Our stars, our Preachers, in the beginning of our late Queen's Reign might easily have been numbered; but who can reckon up our shining lamps now? So that we may say of our Land, as Siluius said of Rhodes, Semper in sole sita est. It is always in the Sun; our Mustardseed is a spreading tree, and birds build in it. What must we say to all this? Hear the Apostles advice, 2 Cor. 7.1. Having therefore these promises, let us perfect holiness: what are our, promises? nay, having these performances, let us perfect holiness, and increase in godliness. The best herbs grow in the sunshine: our Summer flowers are the best flowers: we must hatch and ripen too under God's wing of mercy, or we shall never be aught. 2 Consider well of God's allseeing eye, and thou canst not but mend. The master's eye makes the horse fat, Fertillinus in agro oculus domini est, Plin l. 18. c. 6. and the field fruitful. If a Magistrate would but well weigh, though he be a God of men, yet he is a man of God; Ye are Gods; alas, but metaphorical Gods, a Deity of some threescore and ten years; and then he that whileome was a judge, Nuper judex eram iam judicis ante tribunal. must himself be judged; it would make him not wink in one cause, and have Ly●ceus eyes in another. If our great men would but dwell on these thoughts, they would with flaming courage speak for God on the Bench, and in the too. 3 Ponder well the excellency of Grace, and it will cause thee to stir up the gift of God, 2 Tim. 1.6. It establisheth the heart, and like an Atlas underprops us in dangers, it changeth the mind, so that we shall turn no more to our former course of sinning; whereas, good nature, education, wisdom, cannot alter one quality, but so as a Wolf in Sheep skins, will turn to his old by as again: The guilt of any thing will wear off: Riches will take her to her wings as an Eagle, saith Solomon, on which if thou ●●ts● thy heart, thou hangest thy jewel at an eagle's leg that will fly away with it. All earthly things in time of misery, is as a heap of snow, which melts away in a hot day, and makes the ways miry: But grace is a cordial in every sickness, a house in every storm: In all troubles it makes the Church our Chair, our Faith our Feast, and Heaven our home. Who will not work hard for this wages, and sow much, to reap much of this grain? The second duty, as a pulley to set thy clock on going, is a diligent hearing of God's word, that is our food, 1 Pet. 2.2. As new borne babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. There must be nutriment to augmentation; manuring makes Plants flourish; feeding makes children and cattles grow. God's word is our pasci and nasci, birth and breeding: and yet alas how few respect it, and amongst those that are swift to hear, how many have we, that are like men sick of an Atrophy, eat much, but thrive not? We hear much, but practise not; like a bulrush, dry, though in a wet place. Thirdly, prayer is a supporting stone in this Building, and a good stake in this hedge; 1 Pet. 1.2. & 2. ep. 12. This the Apostle Peter practised for our instruction, and the rest of the Apostles together, Bona mea dona tua. Aug. vel ipse velabipso Aug. de doctr. Christ. c. 31. Luke 17.5. Increase our faith, for all comes from God that's good; Paul may plant, and Apollo water, but God gives the increase. Either it is himself, or from himself. Now prayer sets God on work, and God sets Heaven and earth on work. He hath pawned his word to hear us. His Name is a hearer of prayers. Lastly, make a good use of crosses and troubles; let them do the work they are sent for, pluck thy heart from the world, exercise thy faith and patience, let them drive thee to God, rouse up thy prayer, and chain thine ear to his heavenly-voyce. Grace is like some kind of Fowls, the fattest in the hardest weather, as a sea-bird that build 〈◊〉 nest in a storm, as a palm tree that is taller for pressing. I have now said what I can in this point, Let us hear the Apostle Paul speak, Virescit vulnere virtue. Quid. Eleg. 1 Thess. 4.1. Brethren, we exhort you by the Lord jesus, that ye would abound more and more; You look how your children grow, and will now and then cast up your books to see how your estates thrive, you will walk into your Gardens and to your Country houses, to view the coming forward of your 〈…〉, and corn; for God's sake ●ooke to the ●●well 〈…〉 the soul in the bosom, God 〈…〉 selves good, and crown you for doing yo●● 〈…〉 into whose hands I commit you, the Lord of heaven make you know the things that belong to your peace, & not outstand the day of your visitation. Now is our Springtime. When one is dead, his days of thriving are gone. job 14.7.10 There is hope of a tree, saith job, that it may sprought, though it be cut up, yet by the sent of water it will bud; but man is sick and dyeth, and perisheth. Whilst we have time let us do good, let our eyes be in our heads; The Lord God make us wise unto Salvation. Amen. FJNIS.