MISCELLANEA; OR, Serious, Useful CONSIDERATIONS, Moral, Historical, Theological. Together with the CHARACTERS OF A True Believer In Paradoxes and Seeming Contradictions. AN ESSAY. ALSO, A little Box of Safe, Purgative, and Restorative Pills, to be constantly taken by all those that desire, either to get their Souls into, or to keep them in, an healthful, holy, heavenly frame and temper: Or, A wholesome Diet-drink for Christians. By THO. GODDARD, Gent. Lips. de Constant. lib. 2. cap. 4. Pulcra haec laudatio; O virum doctum! sed illi melior, O virum sapientem! & ista optima, O virum bonum! August. Ep. Veritas & dulcis est, & amara: quando amara, curate, quando dulcis, pascit: & Medicamen est animo & pabulum. LONDON: Printed by E. C. for Tho. William at the Bible in Little-Britain, and Will. Thompson at harbour in Leicester-shire. 1661. To the Right Honourable, ROBERT, Earl of SUNDERLAND and BARON of Wormleiton. MY LORD, I That in our late dangerous, dismal, deadly days of War was a man of peace, am now pressed; And therefore I must not only expect, but in prudence prepare to encounter with such enemies as are resolved and prepared to charge me both with sword and Pistol, censure and detraction. With the first, for presuming to set up my dim candle amidst such shining Tapers, whose every where diffused brightness is sufficient to dispel a midnight, yea an Egyptian darkness, without the assistance or contribution of my faint Ray. Yet whether the light, warmth, influence of some of those flaming torches do most resemble the beautiful, comfortable suns, or a blasting, mischievous, dreadful, prodigious comets we are at this day sadly able to determine. For not a few Books▪ are diseases rather than medicines, and of so infectious, so venomous a nature that a Heylin. Geo. p. 717. like the people called Psylli, they are able to poison Serpents, to corrupt those and to render them much worse who are too erroneous already. Besides, instead of affording solid, safe, and good nourishment, they do too often fill the reader's stomaches with hurtful crudities, and their heads with airy, false, abstruse, turbulent, truculent, yea blasphemous notions, principles, and opinions, either not fit to be published, ventilated, and b Dispudanti pruritus est ecclesiarum scabies. Wotto● ad Reg. controverted; or else not only unprofitable, but also very dangerous if not mortal to be embraced; since by woeful experience we find that poisoned instead of wholesome pills, are too frequently and greedily swallowed, because they are either roled up in, and covered with the pap of Flesh-pleasing delights, or else because they are guilded with gain, learning, eloquence, or seeming piety. Whereas the innocent ends of my unpolished papers are to levelly the high, to blunt the keen, to rectify the erring, and to straighten the crooked thoughts which too many have of pleasure, honour, profit, the worldly man's only c Haec tria pro trino numine mundus habet. And yet an Heathen could say of them, omnia ista bona quae nos speciosa sed fallaci voluptate delectant, pecunia, d●gnitas, potentia aliaque complura ad quae generis humani caeca cupidetas obstup●scit, cum labore possidentur, cum invidia conspiciuntur, ●osquè ipsos quos exo●●ant & prem●●t, plus minantur quam prosunt: lubrica & incerta sunt, nunquam bene tenentur, nam ut nihil de tempore futuro timeatur, ipsa tamen magnae felicitatis tu●cla sollicita est. ●enec: de Brevit. vit. Ad Pau●●num. Trinity, to unedge their teeth, to sharpen their appetites, and to inflame their cold desires after the best things, that so they may no longer feed upon Husks, or delight in dung, but that they may hunger and thirst after the bread and water of Life, and by a justifying Faith both feast, fill, and fat their empty, lean, yea almost famished Souls with the Manna of divine promises: And lastly to persuade Christians not only to store, enrich, and adorn their understandings with knowledge, but also to turn and digest their knowledge into practice, without which Christian care, and pious both endeavour and resolution, the noblest, wisest, richest, greatest persons in the world are but living Tombs possessed with evil spirits, glorious, stately, beautiful shrines, and walking Sepulchers carrying dead souls up and down in them. For wilful ignorance, and learned profaneness are the Scylla and Charybdis of the Soul. The one leads men hoodwinked, seiled, tamely, and securely unto Hell: The other makes them walk, or rather run, and leap with their eyes wide open into the bottomless pit of eternal destruction. 2 I am sure also to be shot at with the pistol of detraction, because nothing hath the happiness to be approved, much less than the favour, or Crown to be applauded that doth not please. And amongst all those things which are most offensive, none are either so sour, or so distasteful to almost all, as the speaking or writing of truth to them, and the decrying, undervaluing, contemning, or endeavouring to take away their Diana from them, since a sincere love of Holiness, a pious contempt of the infatuating, deluding world, self-denial, and mortification are both the hardest rules, and the harshest Lessons in all the Grammar of Christianity to like, learn, and practise. Besides, it's a custom no less common than both unreasonable, and unjust, to condemn the workman if the work be innocent, and when they cannot deservedly accuse the picture, to blemish, bespatter, and reproach the painter. For it's not only the bloody policy of Satan to persuade, but 'tis also the desperate madness of sinners to think, and strive to ward and guard themselves, and their Dalilahs against the downright blows of truth, by slighting, reviling them that speak it: And (like ignorant, or impudent Sophisters) when they cannot answer the arguments of their opponents, with their wicked wit to jeer or slander them, as if their wisdom, safety, and felicity consisted in evasions, detraction, or a wilful opposition of truth. And as if David's Harp were not sweet compared with the murdering melody of the Sirens' tongue of sin, or error; The Honesty and Lawfulness of my designs are such, that as I am assured they will not only Alarm but exasperate and multiply my adversaries (or rather the enemies of plaindealing and godliness) into an enraged, numerous Army against me: The most being ready and resolved to run unto that standard which is set up against honesty, virtue, sanctity, heavenly mindedness, contempt of the world and all it's vanished vexing, vanishing ensnaring, deceiving, destroying vanities: So I am fully persuaded that the best will both favour, own, assist me. And amongst all them I have resolved to fly only to your Honour for relief, and safety; well knowing that your Lordships entertaining of me and siding with me will be not only my security, encouragement, honour, but also an hopeful, smiling presage of a prosperous victorious issue in these my weak, yet wel-meant undertake. For truly my Lord it's my own as well as others Joy, and wonder that your Lordship's dawning is a serene Meridian. That you came out of the Mine refined gold, and a polished Jewel from the Rock; That your equally amiable graces, and eminent accomplishments do honour your honour, and ennoble your Nobility; That your green years and blooming youth have those grey hairs snowed upon them, which are at once the Ornament, Comfort, Crown, and Glory of venerable age, I mean Learning, Wisdom, and Virtue; That these equally beautiful, and fragrant flowers should be full blown in your Lordship's January, when they scarce peep out, but are very rarely budded in the May of others; and that you are not only fair, and flourishing, but also both sweet and ripe in the very Blossom, when the most are either foul or blasted, deformed, or withered, or both, with ignorance, and vices in their youth. This I say being really true, and without an Hyperbole, Flattery, or framed Idea of what might or should be in a Christian, or a Person nobly descended, 'tis both an happy Prodigy and a most auspicious Omen, that your Lordship will grow up, prosper, rise, shine, and live to be the Glory of your Noble Family, the honour of your Nation, the darling, happiness, and triumph of your Country; and, like the Sun, a great, choice blessing to all those that do or shall live under your cherishing, comforting, reviving influence; by being so happy as to have any relation unto, or dependence upon, your Honour. My Lord, that is the right, the true Nobility indeed, that is inlaid with virtue and piety; for he is the Noblest peer in the World, that is sincere religious. There is no creature on this side Heaven either so glorious, or excellent, as a Godly great man. The purest Gold is but shining clay, the most precious and resplendent Gems are but common and dushkish Stones, all the sparkling stars are but dim candles set in dark Lanterns, and the refulgent eye of Heaven is but a glimmering Gloworm or Taper; compared with his worth, and brightness. He's a Phoenix whom the other Birds of Honour cannot but applaud, esteem, and admire, though they will not imitate him; A Titus Vespasian, the love and delight of mankind, the Loadstone, joy, and jewel, of all honest, gracious hearts: He's one of Gods most honourable Privy Counselors: A Prince of the most truly Royal blood, the richest Heir, and the greatest, the happiest Monarch in the World, for Heaven is his Inheritance, and Kingdom. These, these my Lord are the prerogatives, privileges, and portion of those that are great, and good. My Lord, it's a custom in some places, when a Tenant dies, for the next that injoies the lease of the deceased to pay his Landlord an Harriot, viz. The best of all his quick goods, and Cattle. My Forefathers who for an hundred years were Tenants to your Lordship's noble Progenitors, lie all of them in their beds of dust: I succeed them in that Relation they had to your Honourable Family. I humbly hope therefore that it will not be interpreted a breach of Covenants though I pay that service in lieu of a Harriot to your Lordship which I confess I do most justly owe, and therefore in Duty, and Gratitude, ought also to pay unto that mirror, and honour of her Sex, Family, and Name, your Lordships truly noble Mother. But yet I dare not tender this Homage to your Honour without this most humble Supplication; That your Lordship will be pleased to pardon my very high & criminal presumption in thus daring to setan orient Jewel in a leaden Ring; to stamp your Lordship's beautiful image upon a copper medal; and in offering to pay or rather to acknowledge a little of my great debt, in leather instead of silver. But truly my Lord besides a faithful heart and fervent prayers for your felicity, this is the best of all my goods, and the chiefest of all my treasures that I have to lay at your Lordship's feet. And this is also the liveliest the truest portraiture that I am able to draw: Either of your Honour's merits, which to express fully or to speak elegantly silence is both the best Orator and the most eloquent Panegyric: Or of your Honourable Family's favours, Nobleness, and Goodness to their Tenants; who did both know and consider that the faint and sickly sweats, the naked backs, empty bellies, crying wants, complaining sufferings, and the inevitable beggary of Tenants and their Families impoverished, famished, and undone by being unmercifully racked in their rents were both bloody gain, sinful providence, cruel thrift, and also a sure way to canker, and lessen, yea to consume their estates. And therefore your Lordship's Noble Progenitors so far as I do either know or could ever hear, have carefully, wisely, constantly shunned, scorned, and abhorred those fatal shelus of oppression, and exaction, upon which so many great, avaricious, worldly greedy Landlords have wracked and ruined their estates, honour, consciences, and posterities. Lastly, this is the exactest draught that I can make of my own thankfulness, and obligations. Be pleased therefore, my most Noble Lord, once more I earnestly beseech you to pardon both my uncivil prolixity, and my unmannerly injurious boldness in presuming to beg of your Lordship not only that you would condescend so much below yourself as to alight and stay in so mean a Fabric, but also that you would deign to lodge in such Sheets as are both very course and black. This honour and favour if your Lordship will vouchsafe to confer upon me, than these roughhewn stones which I have set up as columns of my faithfulness, duty, gratitude, will become and continue (in spite of the iron teeth, and the insatiable appetite of devouring time, that eats and consumes without fullness, surfeiting, or satisfaction, even flinty pillars, as well as feeble persons) a double monument of your Lordship's nobleness, and goodness to succeeding ages. These, these my Lord are the Forces and weapons wherewith you have, do, and will, easily, certainly, gloriously, not only conquer, but endear all real, virtuous hearts. These are the fetters too, wherewith they will be not only chained most strongly, and kept most securely, but also wherein they will be both willing, joyful, and ambitious to follow the Triumphal Chariot of your transcendent worth. And amongst all those happy Captives who thus adorn your Lordship's victories, none will or can more cordially honour you then he who (with his most ardent prayers for the temporal, Spiritual, and eternal prosperity, Felicity and glory both of your Honour, and your Noble relations on earth, and in Heaven) takes the boldness to subscribe himself, My LORD, Your Honours most Humble and most faithful Servant, Tho. Goddard▪ TO THE Christian Reader. BOOKS are a Feast or Banquet to which the invited guests (all that can read & understand) do come with various appetites and palates. Some do hunger after, and like best, that meat which is most unwholesome and dangerous, corrupt principles. Others do desire and delight chief, or only in such dainties and delicates as are curiously cooked and served up either in the China-dishes, or silver plates, of wit and eloquence. And some will feed liberally upon such provision as is both course, and common, when it is laid in the savoury sauce of truth. The first of these I would not entertain if I could, procul hinc, procul ite; for I have neither a bit nor a drop for you, unless like spiders you will suck poison out of sweet flowers. The second I cannot though I would; For I have no rare or generous wines (no Rhetorical streams flowing from the pure and limpid fountain of ravishing Oratory) to invite, tempt, or delightfully to inebriate your Lady-appetites, or thirsty minds withal: Nor have I the Mine of a rich invention, or the necessary Magic of a lofty towering fancy, either to furnish and cover my Table with sweet meats, or to confine you within the circle of Approbation. My pen cannot drop Nectar, or life-honey, nor are my lines either studded with pearl and Jewels, choice and refined conceits; or enameled with elegant, endearing, melting phrases. Only the last sort then, are my (yea and their own) true friends. They are hearty welcome to my poor dinner of green herbs. If any thing please them I desire them to eat freely, & much good may it do them. But as for them (and God knows there are too many such nominal Christians in the world) that, like those who are surfeited, sickly, breeding, or dying, do nauseate and abhor almost every thing, and usually those things most that are most nourishing, necessary, safe, and proper for them, that will scarce touch, taste or sip of the best potion or Pharmacon to save their lives; I do advise them either to change their minds, or to forbear my table; because truth and holy Counsels will (like Physic) either help or hurt, cure or kill them. I have run and rushed I confess into that crowd, which doth not only press and oppress the press, but surfeit it too: Otherwise such filthy, unsavoury, loathsome, impostumated matter, would not be vomited up by it, as we either do, or may too frequently behold. I know very well also, that this is a acquaint, a queasy, a critical, a very inquisitive, and a peevish Age. I shall therefore that I may not offend it more; (it being already too apt to be angry with truth and plainness) and in order to the satisfying of such whose reason is not in their wills, whose heaven is not in their Lusts, whose brains are not quartered in other men's heads, whose learning and religion doth not consist in opinion, detraction, profession, temporising, or faction, who do not do●e upon deformity, live on poison, and idolise their very diseases; Acquaint the world why I have exposed myself to the danger, and run the hazard of being esteemed what it shall please the many, or any to account me. First then negatively; It is not, Reader, I assure thee a tympanied ambition to be known to the world; For he is certainly very strangely distempered in his head that will knowingly and deliberately make, and set up himself a common But to receive all those forked, and piled arrows which wit, learning, pride, envy, malice, and ignorance will be sure to shoot at him: Nor a desire or design to blow a gaudy Hemisphere upon a Nut●shel, or to perch upon a weathercock; to hunt (I mean) for a vulgar applause, or to sit upon the good or rather giddy opinions of the reeling multitude: Nor is't the midwifery of others importunity (that Hackney, bald, threadbare, lean, and wondrous old apology for printing, and common pimp to the press) that hath delivered me of these little, weak, and scarce breathing children: Nor is it either the wealth or beauty of these sisters (unless you will be so kind as to account them fair and rich because they are neither deformed, nor diseased) that hath prevailed with me to offer them unto the love, acceptance, and embraces of the world. Nor is it levity of mind, or a lascivious Genius that makes me prostitute them to the eyes and hands of all. Nor are a desire of praise from the virtuous, and judicious, or an opinion of any excellency in themselves the wings that have carried these callow birds out of their warm nest into the cold, unkind, and dangerous world. Nor is it any confidence that these helpless infants will find either civility, courtesy, or charity abroad, since the most are friends only to the wealthy, but Momus' and Nabals to books and Authors. Nor yet is it because I am persuaded that others have not done much better than myself herein; For I well know, and freely confess myself to be but a dwarf to those Giants, a molehill to those mountains, and but a little winking candle compared with those great and bright Sun● of learning, by whose polished, exquisite structures, these my unhewen stones are set up. Affirmatively, or positively than my reasons and end why I suffered these doves to fly abroad are these: First, because as our Talents (though but few or little) must not be profusely wasted; so neither must they be parsimoniously buried in the napkins either of idleness or silence. 2. Secondly, because it's both my prayer and hope, that with some of these smooth stones taken out of that crystal brook the holy Scriptures, put into, and thrown out of the sling of truth though by a little, weak assailant, that great, dangerous, mischievous, deadly, and really dreadful Gol●ath sin, (through the guidance, blessing, and assistance of God's omnipotent arm, who can when, and where it pleaseth him give both birth and success to this design and encounter) will be overcome in some of those that shall seriously and impartially peruse my papers: And also that those uncircumcised Philistines (honour, pleasure, profit) which have manacled the hands and put out the eyes of so many Samsons (chained, corrupted, yea deadened the affections, and blinded the minds of so many millions of men and women) will be either vanquished or weakened, in them. 3. Thirdly, because though the thin web of my work be through an unskilful hand very course spun, yet since the warp is truth, and the oufe profit, I do not despair but it may, yea will, not only invite but also delight and benefit, some of my chapmen, my Readers; since I know that there are many both so inge●●ous, and so ingenuous, that I am persuaded a Cord twisted and made up of Divinity, Reason, Experience, and History will both hold them, please them, and become not only an acceptable, but an amiable ornament unto them, although the workman want both art, and elegancy. 4. Fourthly, because though I am very far from presuming, or pretending to be fit or able either to teach those scholars that are deservedly preferred into the upper School: Or to add any light of knowledge to those bright stars in the high Orbs of Learning: yet I hope I may without offence, yea and with some advantage to them also, immind, and entreat them, to join science and conscience together, to live up to their knowledge and duty, by burning inwardly with a well-grounded, well-guided zeal for God; and by shining outwardly towards men with sobriety, innocency, sanctity; Since great gifts, parts and abilities without honesty and grace, are great snares, temptations, mischiefs, and plagues both to themselves and others. And since without a holy, diligent, careful improvement of them both to God's glory and the good▪ of others, all those whom God hath honoured and enriched with them, will by him be greatly and grievously punished for abusing, or not using and employing of them. And as for those who are yet in the petty school, and lower forms, that have not overgrown, nor travailed beyond their A. B. C. in understanding and religion, nor as yet rightly learned to know themselves, sin, the world, or their Christ's cross (that great work, duty, and comfort of true Christians) there are lessens offered and set by me very necessary for them to be acquainted with, instructed in, imminded of, and seasoned withal. 5. Lastly because I know that although many, instead of accepting my poor endeavours, and receiving the truth in the love of it, will not only reject, and disregard it, but also censure, yea by't, and revile the Author with their envenomed teeth, and frothy, filthy tongues; yet my labour will not, shall not be in vain, because it's in the Lord, and for the Lord. In his name and fear this plain (not mosaic or carved) work was undertaken, to his glory it was, and is intended, directed, and by his assistance, it is finished; I do not, I dare not say, perfected. His blessing, his powerful, gracious, fruitful influence, I do therefore most humbly beg upon it. And do only desire these few very reasonable things and favours of my Readers: First that they would instead of carping, snarling, or barking at my book, which I confess hath too much Alloy and dross (but no poison) in it, communicate their own more pure, and better refined labours to the world. It will be, I assure them, my joy and contentment, not envy or sorrow, to see, and their own, not only honour but comfort to build marble and magnificent fabrics, where such low, mudwalled Cottages, as mine is are erected. 2. Secondly, that they would prise, welcome, and embrace truth, though it kerb, cross, or kill their carnal Joys, profane ways, and worldly interests. 3. Thirdly, That they would seriously consider that Jewels are both as precious and resplendent in a wooden box, or in an earthen pot, as in a cabinet of Pearl: That there may be useful, wholesome, and savoury herbs in that Garden, which wants the bravery, beauty, glories, and the gaudey embroidery of curious flowers; And that sweet meats may do well for sauce, or to taste of, but are not fit, or safe to be made our daily bread. 4 Fourthly, that they would not be their own murderers and Executioners by loving vice, and hating virtue, by adoring earth, and trampling Heaven under their feet, by forsaking Christ, to follow the world, by poisoning their souls, to please their senses, by deferring their repentance, and an holy Life till death; or by leaving the safe and pleasant ways of truth and righteousness, to walk in the dangerous, destructive paths of error, heresies, and wickedness. 5. Lastly, I do earnestly entreat them to read what I have written without partiality, passion, prejudice, and prepossession, that Maxim being most true here; Intus existens, prohibet altenum. For, vessels top full of earth cannot receive without being emptied either gold or gems: And the most precious cordial, the most sovereign Julep must needs be lost, and spilt, if it be put into a dish that is brim-ful of dung, or muck-hill-pit water; Read them then (once more I do importunately, pray and request you) with hearts willing, desirous and resolved to be informed, imminded, convinced, reformed, confirmed, and if you receive any good by my weak labours, remember to give God the glory of his own work and mercy; and instead of your praises Crown me with your prayers. But if you do not profit by them consider, That bad, disaffected, and distempered stomaches do turn the best meats into ill humours, and into dangerous, if not mortal diseases; That none are more either sure to languish, or likely to die, than those that refuse, loath and cast away the Physic that should cure them. That those who hate the light shall one day when 'tis too late, clearly see their folly, sin, and misery, in outerdarknesse. That glorified Saints would be Gaolers, Angels tormentors, and heaven itself an hell to those, that are unholy, unheavenly, unregenerated on earth. That they who have forgotten, forsaken, left, and lost God and Jesus Christ, shall never (without humbling their souls, mourning for their sins, and returning to the Lord) find or feel any true comfort, peace, or happiness, either in life, or death. That they who do not with the spiritual eye of a justifying faith, steadfastly behold the sun of righteousness Jesus Christ, (as 'tis said the eagle can with her natural eyes the sun of heaven) will and do (like the kite) with the eyes of sense & corrupt reason look earnestly, yea longingly at, st●op eagerly unto, and feed greedily upon the carrion and garbage of creature-comforts, which do only fit and fat the wicked (as the richest soil doth beasts) for the day of slaughter, vengeance, and damnation. That they who do not imp● the wings of their knowledge and reason with the golden feathers of virtue and piety, will never be able to soar above the World, or to mount up to Heaven. a Solus vir bonus est revera prudens Arist. Ethic. 6. Contrae (inquit alius) stolidi et imprudentes sunt mali, Keck, syst. Ethic. lib. 1. c. 3. p. 148. That they only are really wise and good, who are sincerely religious; because discoursing learnedly is but the bark, the shell of knowledge, and because professing zealously is but the husk, the leaf of sanctity: for only honesty and piety are the kernel, fruit, head, heart, blood, spirits, light, heat, soul, and body of true wisdom, and saving grace. That therefore Christians ought to conform their practice to their principles, their works to their words, and their Lives to their light. That they whose actions are eccentrick to God's honour, word, and will, will never (without repentance and reformation) be found weight in the balance of the sanctuary. That it's infinitely more both honour and happiness to be a truly holy Christian, than it is to be a victorious Caesar, a famous Scipio, a renowned Castriot or an invincible Alexander. That it's transcendently, unspeakably, yea unconceivably more both glory, comfort, and felicity to, and for Christians to mortify their sins, lusts and passions, then to overcome, own or command the whole world. Praeclarum quidem est, inquit b Xevoph in Orat. de Ag●filio. Agesilaus, inexpugnabiles hostium muros superare, multo verum praeclarius animum parare suum, ut â c We have stricken one good blow, there resteth another, yet better, and greater than that, which is, that we overcome ourselves forbearing to ris●e and kill, said Frederick the Emperor to his Germane Soldiers, after he had defeated the Hungarians Camerarius Hist Meditat. pecunia, voluptatibus, metuquè sit inexpugnabilis. That none shall lie so low in Hell as those that have been nearest Heaven in the enjoyment of the powerful means of grace, and that have had the gracious tenders of God's choicest and most precious mercies in Christ, frequently and earnestly offered unto them, if they live and die barren, hard, dry, or profane under them, and wilful undervaluers, neglecters, or despisers of them. And lastly, consider, that a frequent, serious and pious meditation of God's mercy, the love of Christ, Man's duty, the misery of sin, excellency of grace, necessity of Christ, vanity of the creature, emptiness and deceitfulness of the world, felicity of heaven, torments of hell, the frailty of life, certainty of death, and of the dreadful day of judgement, is, and will be found by all those that will carefully, and conscientiously use, and practise it, a most sovereign, excellent, fruitful means both to awaken, humble, melt, and inflame a secure, proud, hard, frozen heart. Meditatio est soror lectionis, nutrix orationis, directrix operis, omniumque pariter perfectio et consumatrix. Lege, crede, ora, time, dilige, disce, Age. Vale. To his Worthy Friend, Mr. THO. GODDARD. Learned Sir, HAving perused your Miscellanea and Character: both which you diminish in your title page, by naming them an essay. I fell upon the consideration of Country Gentlemen semblable to the three Regions of the Air. In the middle, Clouds and Vapours and Meteors apt to condense into plagues; or dry and fiery Exhalations which unrestrained by providence divine, fall down in oppressions, and violences. Among these we may rank divers of our dull Grands, who lapping warm their Dura Matters, in a fat velume of some old college or Cathedral leases, or later easier purchases; like Mushrooms, or Fuzzes of noisome earth, grow able to dim both learned Wits and nobler Originals. In a lower Region, we discern some, that having contented themselves for a dozen months to wear a gaudy gown in the University, and only to play with a few books finely strung and guilded, return with that Library, whence streams of learning flow up to their lips, and clusters of choice sentences hang dangling o'er their beds and shelves, while they like Tantalus, so set, cannot sip, nor reach what is indeed above their heads. Who oft in their estates of Land become the prey of Sycophants, or crafty Servants, and their Souls hardly escaping the book and thraldom, either of our professors, or the popish confessors, are frighted out of their old wits by new Illuminists, or by that Bull of Ecclesia Catholica Romana, so charmed, that they dare not leap that pale out of which they are made to believe, that God hath no Dear, nor they any hope of Salvation. But (Sir,) As in the supreme Region is Limpid Air, and calm and pure Serenity preserved. So have we some beaux esprits, rare and elevated Souls, who having tasted profoundly the fountains both of moral and divine knowledges, cannot rest till from their own full thoughts they impart (as the Sun his rays) a fostering and blessed contagion to the Souls of their darker brethren. Here I would willingly exemplify in words at length, and tell the happiness of Chesh. in their pious, noble, and learned Sr. G. B: Of Lincoln the like, in Sir I. M. And of Northam. in Sr. I. I. my most honoured Maecenas; and I am hardly withheld from mentioning our famous and learned countryman, Dr. T. N. Physician, on whom might worthily be bestowed the Panegyric or Pindarick●odes, even of that incomparable Poet of Leicest. Mr. I. Cl. But as the well-known modesty of these, so yours also imbars enc●mions: other wise I might justly boast a Bee of generous race and extraction. From Bee Bee in this County, who by industrious draughts from various Flowers in divers languaged books, hath framed a composure of Nectarian sweets, and imparts them thus, not only to that voisinage (whereof he is a double ornament in learning and in conversation) but with enlarged Beneficence (the crown of good men's actions) exposes his laborious collections to the use of all that are able to understand him. Wherein I profess (for fear of sacrilege) I dare not use my Deleatur nor what you call for, an Index expurgatory. Believe me, Sir, when I say as Trebatius to his Horace, Equidem nihil hinc diffindere possim, and add, nec ausim, and yet will boldly affix this short charm to your most observant Readers This page, right set, should be the last behind; In this are all th' Errata they can find. Leicest. Janu. 19th 58. Your Servant, S it. Tho. . To my worthily honoured, AND Very good Friend Mr. THOMAS GODDARD. Dear SIR, I Have at length so far befriended myself as to read over your serious and savoury Meditations: wherein methinks elegance and piety like friendly rivals strive for mastery; and that with such equal skill and strength that either both (which is not lawful) or neither (which is pity since both deserve it) must have the Crown Sir, the honour of the work (if you'll be so benign to the churlish ungrateful world, to make it publ●que) will be your own, the profit and pleasure the Readers. For ex●ruditione fructus, ex elegantia voluptas, et ex authoritate summus honos conciliatur. You have done many Heathen Authors the honour to make them speak like Christians, and you'll make those whom you vouchsafe to favour with the Reading of your papers to live as such if they be read with the same spirit, they were written; if they find not the reader good, they'll make him good: as was said of Plato; philosophia Platonem non accepit nobilem, sed fecit Sir, I received them when I was in a hurry of business and could but cast an eye upon them: but at a little more leisure reviewing them, I see if I could but take in a little more, and digest what as yet I have but tasted, I should be forced to say more, without danger of being taxed by malice itself of flattery, rashness, or ignorance, (for nec irrisio in istos moresnec ad●latio c●dat) than your modesty will bear. Who mind what he reads, will see your mind, in what you have written, to be well composed and gathered up within itself; and I wish both mine and yours too, could keep under the command of those apprehensions you had when you so well employed yourself. Were they to be public, I would desire Cyprian to spare that Ornament for you, to be put into the Epistle to your Book which Erasmus bestowed on him, viz. Pectus ardet evangelica pietate, & pectori respondet oratio; loquitur diserta, sed magis fortia quàm diserta. And I would (not so much to commend as engage you to it) say, neque tam fortia loquitur quàm vivit. Sir, in vouchsafing me a sight of your Papers, you have both done me honour, and laid a very acceptable and pleasing obligation upon me, the more to thank you for your Love, and the better to esteem you for your Worth. I beseech you, Sir, conceive no displeasure against me for detaining your papers so long; for till within these 3 or 4 days I had but just looked on them: And, Non satis est vidisse semel, juvat usq morari; Ter pulchrum est quod ter lectum placet. I confess my own judgement condemns me for keeping it so long and minding it no more, as doing an act that should belie my respects and misreport that true love and esteem, which I do and have so much cause, both to pay and own you. At my next meeting with you, I will submit myself to your charitable censure, and in the mean time pray that you and I may copy out your papers in our lives. Live and be happy, and if you can, continue to love June, 4th, 165●. Your already too much regarded Friend, and Servant, E. S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Printer to the READER WHETHER Courteous, Christian, or Critical, READER, IF Courteous, thou wilt kindly accept what's freely, and civilly here presented to thee. If Christian, thou wilt not disdain, fret, or frown to be imminded of thy duty, though thou been so learned as not to need a Teacher. If critical, remember thou art but a man, and so thou wilt be sure to have not only wants, but weaknesses too (if not crimes,) till thou becommest a Feast for Worms. Do not then gad abroad, but stay at home, till thou canst see nothing within thyself that justly deserves either reproof, or detestation, lest thy wit (like a foul Gun) recoil and wound thyself. Remember, that great Parts without Grace are poison. That a veil laid over the defects of thy Brother, will be a mantle to cover thy own. That the worst men are usually the most censorious and peevish. That it's neither wisdom, nor honour to endeavour to please all. And therefore the Author well knowing that some will prise and delight in that which others despise, hath exposed this Child which was born in the year 1658▪ (as by the Letters of some of those learned, orthodox, religious Gentlemen herewith for thy satisfaction printed who did see and peruse it, is manifest) to thy view. It hath been swaddled up in silence, and laid down in the cradle of privacy, longer than at first the Father of it intended, to prevent that prejudice which an ingenuous, open-breasted plainness would very probably or rather most certainly, have done unto him; since many in these black, blasting, bloody dries did lose their teeth, and not a few their lives, by going too near the heels of truth. Thou wilt find some expressions hoodded, because it was not safe to let them go abroad bare-faced. 'Tis too well known that it hath been a very cold, dark, frosty, winter in England, and that hath kept these ●●●●owers a long-time within their Bed. But since we have now (for ever blessed, adored, admired be the only God of wisdom, justice, mercy,) a pleasant, fruitful Spring, by the happy, joyful, seasonable rising of the welcome Sun of Soveraingnty again in our Horizon; the comfortable quickening influence thereof, hath caused them not only to peep out of their grave, and look abroad, but also freely to offer themselves to thine eye and ; as willing, yea desirous at once to please and profit thee: Do not then whither them by thy envious censure, or reject them with a churlish disdain, scornful slight, or peevish disrespect, but cherish them by thy kind acceptance. Do not only taste or gargoyle, but swallow, and digest what's here prepared for thee. Thou wilt find variety to invite thee. For here is History to delight thee, Truth to confirm or convince thee, Divinity to profit thee, Brevity to please thee; here are no knotty controversies, to puzzle or perplex thee, no lascivious passages to corrupt or debauch thee, no venomous principles to poison or destroy thee: and here is a little poetry, least having nothing but a dish of prose set before thee, thy (perhaps queasy) stomach, should be distasted, cloyed, or offended 'Tis true, many of the materials in this building are old (yet sound;) but the method, the fashion is new, or however not common. These papers were sent to London at the beginning of May last past to give thee a visit; and had long since offered themselves to thy perusal, if the unhandsome neglect of him that desired to have the printing of them had not at once abused the Author's civility and frustrated his expectation by detaining them several months in his hands without doing any thing in order to the publishing of them. And since that time, the press of that party who engaged to dispatch them against the last Term or sooner hath been so full and busy that the delay was unavoidable and constrained: since therefore it's not my fault, but trouble, that this Book hath been so long imprisoned, now 'tis enlarged let it be acceptable, and then it will (though it comes so late) be not only seasonable, but I hope profitable to thee. The end of printing it is not (I assure thee) thy applause, but thy spiritual good: And that this may be the happy success of the Author's writing, my publishing, and thy reading; is both his earnest prayer, and my hearty desire. Farewell. Courteous Reader, I Am constrained, contrary to my desire and expectation, instead of ceasing further to trouble thee, to present a Letter of Request for a new favour unto thee; I mean, to entreat thy pardon of the following Erratas, which being both many, and great ones, do stand in need at once of thy courtesy and ingenuity to correct and excuse them. Besides, the Book being transcribed by one that did neither observe the Orthography, nor regard the Commas, Semicolons, Colons, or Periods of sentences, they do in too many places of it both request thy Candour, and want thy care to rectify them. It's my unhappiness and not fault, that this trouble should be given thee. I hope therefore thou wilt not condemn the Author, but pass by, or amend in thy Reading the faults in transcribing and printing of them. This favour if thou pleasest to grant, it will double his obligations to love and thank he, who both desires thy spiritual good, and to do thee good spiritually. ERRATA. IN the Epistle Dedicatory. p. 7. l. 20. r. varnished, p. 11. l. 7. r. paper. l. 13. r. virtues. In the preface. p. 3. l. 16. r. Opinion. p. 5. l. 18. r. highest. p. 2. l. 6. r. Haven. p. 8. l. 5. r. and kingdom. p. 9 l. 3. r. comedy. Ibid. p. 12. l. 37. r. which. del. equally. p. 14. l. 30. r. and they. p. 17. l. 33. r. exulted. p. 18. l 5 r. thy &. deal. own. p. 19 l 3 marg. r. in Trinitate. p. 12. l. 14. r. covet. p. 23. l. 10. r. this. p. 24. l. 12. r. all miseries. p, 25. l. 19 r. all whose prayers. p. 27. l. 7. marg. r. but. p. 35. r. storm. p. 44. l. 13. r. but rebellion. p 49, l. 6. r. erected. p. 50. l. 25. r. pittacus. p. 51. l. 24. r. eutrapelus. p. 51. l. 19 marg. r. Frilby. p. 52. l. 22. r. juvandi. p. 53. l. 22. r. is. l. 36. r. patientia. p. 54 l. 9 r. with Isaac. p. 55. l. 7. r. quest. p. 56. 10. r. dumb siti● sitare ●item. p. 57 l. 21. r. visiting. p. 61. l. 36. r. dark. p. 62. l. 2. r. delight in. p. 68 l. 27. r. their. p. 71. l. 14. r. pleased. p. 76. l. 15. r sheds. l. 22 r. in the Centre. p. 89. l. 2. r. as l. 11. God in all things ends the parenthesis) p 90. l. 5. r. clean. p. 94. l. 16. r. expressions. p. 95. l. 12. r. which. p. 103. l. 8. r. leaden. p. 104. l. 20. r. a Nathan. p. 117. l. 31 del. that. p. 122. l. 9 r. pessimus. p. 132. l. 21. r. and in the margen● r. and articles of the Ch. of England. 23. A little Box of pills. p. 13. l. 29. for Varius r. Narius. p. 18 l. 23. r. down. Reader thou art desired to take notice that all the Pages from 48 are false folied, that instead of 49 there is 45, &c, but we have kept them in this ●rrata as they should be, that is, in order. MISCELLANEA; OR, Serious Useful Considerations, Moral, Historical, Theologicall. I. Of God. THE nature of God who is the deepest Ocean of being, cannot be measured by the short, the snarled line of man's shallow, dark, erroneous understanding, nay 'tis equal madness, and presumption to attempt it. For how can that which is narrow and finite, contain, or comprehend that which is infinite. Deus religione intelligendus est, pietate profitendus, sensu vero persequendus non est, sed adorandus. His glorious essence so dazzles the purblind eyes of reason and natural knowledge, that the more they look on him, the blinder they are. We can at best but spell him in his wonderful works of Creation, Providence, Preservation, and his Gubernation of the world, as Men; as Christians, we may and can read much of him, and see his back parts in his Attributes, Word, Ordinances, by his holy Spirit teaching, illuminating and applying the spiritual eyesalve of heavenly wisdom, and saving knowledge, to our bemisted, darkened, benighted minds: But when we are Saints in Heaven, the Prospectives of Glory and Immortality being given unto us, we shall then see him face to face, and know him as he is. Here on earth where we are but strangers, guests, pilgrims, it is our duty to serve, obey, admire, adore him. There, which is our City, Heaven, home, it will be our both delight, happiness, reward and portion to behold, possess, enjoy him for ever; and this is the very Apex, and completion of a Christians felicity. Here it's presumption, danger, sin, to peep into the secret Cabinet the Sacred Ark of his unrevealed will; there God will discover, and the soul will with fresh, unwearied, renewed desires, sweetest pleasures, most refined bliss, purest Joys, and fullest contentment, without all possibility of either sorrowing, sinning, losing them, or being satiated with them, see and possess whatever can afford it blessedness, glory, or satisfaction. Here errors, crimes, miseries, and judgements are the fruits, effects, rewards of a busy, bold, curious, profane inquiry into the essence of that thrice blessed incomprehensible Majesty; and therefore we must be sober, fearful, humble, modest in our search of it, in our approach towards it, and not dare or presume to touch that glorious Mount, by any irreligious, irreverent, unwarrantable notions, opinions or expressions of this great God, blessed for ever: for otherwise in stead of a discovering light to guide and comfort us, we shall be sure to meet with a fire that will consume us. L●qui volentes de Dei profundo, merst sunt in profundum. It is honour, comfort, and happiness enough for us to know him by a justifying faith to be our God in Christ, while our souls abide in the Tents of our bodies, in the Wilderness of this world, and that when death hath taken them down, we shall have spiritual Mansions, and a glorious inheritance in the Canaan of Heaven. This Almighty, yet most merciful God, is the sole Landlord of the whole world; we are his Tenants at will, and the Rents which he requires of us, and hath obliged us to pay duly, truly, and not only yearly, but daily unto him, are obedience, holiness, love, praises, prayer, and thankfulness. This God is both omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and just, and pure, therefore he both knoweth all those sins that are acted, though never so secretly or cunningly by the sons of men, abhors them, and will certainly, yea severely punish them: Yet he is also, patiented, pitiful, gracious and merciful, therefore he is not only willing, but ready, yea desirous to forgive them, and to be reconciled to all truly penitent transgressors. a Aelius Spartianus. Trajane the Emperor of Rome being on horseback to go to the Wars, he alighted again to hear the complaint of a poor Roman. If the Lord of Hosts be marching against a poor soul in a way of wrath, he will yet both stay to hear the Petition of an humble, sorrowful sinner, being that God, who heareth prayers, and he will also turn from his fierce wrath, being that God who delighteth in showing mercy, b Thucydides. Admetus Molossorum Rex ignovit Hosti suo. Themistocli, filiolum proprium intuens, quem Themistocles supplex utraque manu complexus patri ostentabat. This good God who is infinitely more compassionate, than the most pitiful Prince, yea then the most affectionate father, and (which is yet more) then the most indulgent tender hearted * Esay 49. 15. Mother ever was, or possibly can be to the child of her own womb, will both freely and fully pardon all those who bring his own, his only son Jesus Christ, in the Arms of faith and love, with humility and supplication unto him for the life of their souls. (c) Marc. Aurelius in a Letter to his friend Cornelius. It was a custom amongst the Romans after they had proclaimed open wars against an Enemy, and when they had sent their Armies against them, for all the Roman Senators to go into the Temple of Jupiter, and in it to swear, that if those enemies against whom they were going to fight, did desire to enter into a league with Rome, or ask pardon for their faults, that then all revenge laid aside they should grant them mercy. The Lord of Hosts hath proclaimed open wars * Esay 3. 11. against all impenitent Sinners, who are implacable enemies to his Majesty, to the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ his son, and to his people; yet he hath declared, * Esay 55. 7. promised, * Ezechiel 33. 11. yea sworn that if by true repentance, sound humiliation and a through reformation of their hearts and lives they will mourn for and turn from their sins enter into a Covenant to walk holily, closely, uprightly before him, keep it, and by servant prayer beg for mercy, and forgiveness, hearty * Prov. 28. 13. acknowledge their crimes that then he will pardon them, be reconciled unto them, and not destroy them. d Don Anthony de Guavara Dial of Princes. Fol. 200. Darius to mock Alexander the great, sent to him to know where his treasures were for such great Armies: Alexander answered, Tell Darius he keeps his treasures in his coffers, and that I have no other treasures but the hearts of my friends. He that hath God for his friend shall be sure to be rich, he shall want no good thing, the Lord will give him both grace and glory, he will make him both holy and happy; And he that makes God his Treasure, esteeming, loving, seeking his favour, a sweet holy Communion with him, and a stock, a hoard of virtue, and all heavenly graces, above all earthly enjoyments, shall be sure to find all precious substance here, and to be crowned with eternal felicity hereafter. e Rainold O●as. p 484. When Caesar had commanded Pompey's statuas to be erected, M. Cicero said thus to him; Statuas Pompeii statuisti, stabilisti tuas. He that sincerely endeavours to honour God, shall certainly by it, but not for it (because all, yea more than we can either do or pay is both debt and duty to him) * honour himself. Non reputes magnum quod Deo servis, sed maximum reputa quod ipse dignetur te in servum assumere sibi. f 1 Sam. 2. 30. Julian commanded by an Edict all the Christians in his Army to sacrifice to his Gods, (g) Spee. Chro●●●. p. 171. 173. or else they should lose their places and Honours: whereupon Flavius Valentinianus chose rather to forsake the Camp then Christ, his Conscience, and his Religion; but God did eminently, abundantly, reward him, for afterwards he became Emperor of Rome. Amongst the Ancestors of the Rhodians it was a Law, that if a Father had many Children, the most virtuous should inherit; and if he had but one virtuous child, that then he should be the sole heir of his goods and Estate. Only they who art obedient, pious, gracious men and women, shall be Heirs of glory, and enjoy the inheritance of the Saints in light. It is therefore our wisdom, duty, interest, and will be our comfort, peace, happiness to get clear evidences that this God, is our God: for unless we have a propriety in him, and can truly, beleevingly, experimentally say with Thomas, My Lord and my God; although he be aboundlesse, bottomless, Ocean of mercy, not so much as one drop thereof will ever flow out from him, to refresh our souls. It's no advantage or comfort to an Esau, that the Lord loves a Jacob. Quid mihi profuerit Deus alienus? Vae illi qui non habet Deum de proprio. The Ark preserved none but only those who were in it from perishing. Let us therefore do to God as i Senec. de Benef. lib. 1. Cap. p. 385. Aeschines did to Socrates his Master, resign and give up our souls and selves, freely, sincerely, entirely to him, saying with him, Nihil dignum te inveni quod dare tibi p●ssim, & hoc modo pauperem me esse sentio. Itaque dono tibi quod unum habeo, Me ipsum. Such is O Lord my poverty that I have nothing worthy of thy acceptance, or answerable to my desires, to present unto thee, and therefore I do cordially give thee myself; and then the Lord will answer us, as Socrates did him, Accipio, sed ea lege ut te tibi meliorem reddam quam recepi; I do not only accept thee, but I will also make and return thee to thyself better, richer, holier, happier, than I received thee. For if we will be his people, than the Lord will be our God, and in, and with him, we shall enjoy all good things, but without him nothing. Because, Quicquid praeter te est Domine non reficit, non sufficit; si ad Corpus sufficit, non tamen perpetuo satiat, quum adhuc amplius quaeratur: qui autem te habet, satiatus est, finem suum habet; non habet ultra quod quaeratur, quia tu es supra omne visible, audibile, adorabile gustabile, tangibile, sensibile. In a word, what King Henry the 5th. promised to his Soldiers when he said to them. h Speed. Chro●. p. 796. Whosoever desires Riches, Honour, and Rewards here, he shall find them, Ni mirum haec medio posuit Deus omnia campo, the Lord of hosts makes good to his people who are sure to find life in his favour, to receive grace with every good thing here, and eternal glory hereafter. This is the portion, pay, and promotion of all that faithfully serve, that truly love God. The Prayer. MOST High, most holy, most gracious, and most glorious God, since thou art both the Lord of Hosts, and the King of Saints, the Father of Mercy and the fountain, or rather the inexhaustible, neverfailing, every fully, sweetly and freely satisfying Ocean of all true felicity, heavenly Joys, heart-reviving, supporting Graces and thirsty souls; Let all those I beseech thee that know and profess thy name, fear, love, trust, obey thee and delight in thee; Let them know thee savingly, fear thee filially, love thee cordially, obey thee sincerely, and delight in thee chief, yea infinitely more than in Corn, Wine, Oil, pleasure, profit, honour and all sublunary enjoyments. Let oh Lord nothing please, quiet, or content them till they have gotten comfortable evidences of thy special Love, and until they enjoy an humble, holy, sweet communion with thee. Let them not account the choicest, rarest, most endearing things in the whole world worth either desiring, seeking, or possessing without thee, since they all are (if they do not flow from thy Love in Christ, as well as come or stream from thy common, thy general providence) but shells without kernels, Bones without marrow, Combs without honey, and Husks without fruit to those that receive them: that so being sensible and persuaded of their Creator's All-sufficiency, the Creatures emptiness, deceitfulness, insufficiency, their own nothingness, unworthiness, wretchedness, loathsomeness and spiritual misery by reason of their Original pollution, actual Rebellions, and crying abominations committed against thee, they may beg earnestly, hearty, constantly to thee who alone canst, and wilt hear, help, heal them, for spiritual Mercy, for hearts to abhor sin, humiliation for sin, pardon of it, strength against it, and victory over all sin; for minds to know thee, holiness to be like thee, sincerity to please, grace to glorify thee, and for thy Favour which is at once (like a Cabinet of Pearl full of most precious unvaluable gems) Joy, Peace, Honour, Riches, Comfort, Light, Life, and Bliss. O let us all-blessed God make thee our end, our Centre and Rest, our Portion. Our Treasure, and our All; and let us never be quiet till we know and experience thee to be a reconciled God and our merciful Father in and through thy dear Son Jesus Christ, that so we may both enjoy thy Love O God, which is better than life, whilst we sojourn upon earth, and live Crowned with the God of Love in glory when these Mud-walled Cottages of our frail Bodies shall be crumbled and resolved into Dust by Death. Grant this O God for Jesus Christ his sake. Amen. Sine Deo nec Gratia, Gaudium, Bonum, nec Coelum. II. Of Jesus Christ; and, A Christians Duty unto Christ. HE is truly, really, both God and man; God, that he might satisfy the Lords justice, appease his wrath, justify and acquit guilty, condemned man; * Propter hominem homo Deus factus est. man that he might die for sin, purchase life for those who were spiritually dead, and redeem them both from their woeful slavery, and from eternal misery. He put off those Royal robes of Majesty and Glory, and put on (in his Incarnation) the course, rotten Garments, or rather rags of flesh and frailty, and so became like us in all things sin only excepted. Behold here infinite, astonishing, miraculous debasement, Compassion, Condescension. The Creator of the world became a mortal man, the King of Kings a subject. Man sins, and his God willingly dies to expiate his Crimes. The Actions and passion of this blessed Jesus are a continued series of miracles, a golden chain let down from heaven to earth, all whose links are love, mercy, goodness, pity, wonder. a Dio Cassius. Trajanum ferunt suorum vulneribus medicam manum adhibuisse, & cum fasciae dificerent, nec fuaelquidem vesti pepercisse, sed eam totam in ligamenta & fomenta discidisse. But this, and ten thousand times more, Compassion, affection, charity, is not so much as a drop to the Ocean, a beam of light to the Sun, or a dust in the balance to the whole earth, compared with the love of Christ to undone man. For never did the most tender hearted Sovereign do that for a wounded Soldier; nor yet the most faithful lover for his dearest friend, which Jesus Christ did for his deadlyest enemies. What Prince did ever give his Throne, Kingdom to his chiefest Rebels? What Physician did ever let the blood out of his own heart to cure a most malicious unthankful Patient? What Judge did ever freely sacrifice his own life to save a condemned malefactor, who did not only desire and resolve, but endeavour to murder him upon the Bench? What General or Commander did ever suffer willingly himself to be mortally wounded, to cure the hurts or save the lives of those Soldiers who conspired to betray him? Yet Jesus Christ did all this and infinitely more; for he left heaven, descended out of the Chariot and came down from the Throne of his Glory, to sit upon his footstool the earth. He willingly endured a close imprisonment in that dark Dungeon, the womb of his both Mother and Creature for a time; and afterwards he removed himself into that greater Gaol the world, into which he was no sooner entered by his birth, but disregard, dishonour, contempt, dangers attended on him, saluted him, and was the best entertainment, the chief Rent, and Homage which his Tenants, Subjects, Creatures afforded, presented, paid unto him their Lord, King, Creator. Immediately, yea constantly after this cold, uncivil, unkind, ingrateful usage till his death, bloody enemies hunted this Royal Lion of the Tribe of Juda to destroy him; cruel Eagles pursued this harmless, galless Dove, to pray upon him; Malicious cunning Foxes attempted to catch this innocent meek Lamb of God, whom they should have worshipped to worry him: some openly persecuted, others secretly combined against him; some impudently affronted, others subtly by questions, varnished with Religion, and gilded with pretence of conscience laboured to ensnare him: some scorned and derided, others blasphemed him: This golden Ball was continually bandied and tossed up and down in the Tennis Court of this world by wicked men with the Rackets of Implacable malice, enraged ignorance, blind ambition, and barbarous persecution till he was stricken into the hazard of his Grave by the hand of death. And yet all this was kindness, Comdie to those injuries, to that Tragedy, which he received, and soon after acted: for they consulted, apprehended, accused, buffeted, derided, reviled, undervalved, insulted, slandered, crowned with thorns (at once to mock and wound him) arraigned, condemned, and then crucified him. And yet all this too was love, ease, pleasure, mercy, to that ineffable, yea unconceivable misery which their own, and the sins of the whole world burdened, and afflicted him withal in that bloody, violent, terrible conflict of his upon the cross with sin, Satan, and the wrath of God, the dreadfulness, weight, horror, and fierceness whereof was such that it amazed, affrighted nature, and almost unhinged the whole Creation. * Matth. 27. For the sun of heaven, whilst the son of God was suffering upon earth hid his resplendent face under a pitchy cloud, at once blushing, grieving and fearing to behold so sad a spectacle. The heavens put themselves into mourning, wore a sable garment, and gave a black livery to the world, when that prodigious fact was committed, that so they might both wear an habit suitable to the crime, and apparel heaven a●d earth in a dress fit to attend their maker withal to his grave, expressing their sorrows in showers of tears. The very Rocks (to upbraid his more than flinty hearted Enemies, to teach them and us compassion, when others, especially those who are innocent do suffer, and compunction when we by sinning do crucify our Saviour) did relent, yea break, and (because man was dumbo, or rather silent and would not,) they clavae themselves into mouths and tongues to proclaim, and preach his Majesty, mercy, Divinity, torments, funeral; The senseless earth seemed to apprehend, grew aguish, and falling into a cold fit, she did quake and tremble, as if she had both understood, and been terrified with those woeful, dismal, dreadful calamities, plagues, and judgements with her equally stupid, cruel and rebellious Children were then with both hands deliberately, diligently, certainly pulling down upon their own wicked heads, and by that fearful, bloody, prevailing Imprecation * Matth. 6, 25. (his blood be upon us and our Children) importuning an omnipotent, just, and highly offended God to entail upon their unborn posterity. The vail of the Temple rend from the top to the bottom in twain, and by that Sympathising, mysterious Act did declare, assure and publish, both to them and all the world. 1. That the vail of ignorance, and superstition, which had so long covered and blinded the minds of men, should be immediately taken way, and torn in pieces by the promulgation of the glorious, precious, comfortable Gospel of Jesus Christ. 2. That the vail or pale of partition betwixt Jew and Gentile (the Jews being till then enclosed, and several, but the Gentile open-field and Common) were now plucked up and broken down. 3. That all the types, ceremonies, shadows, and sacrifices of the Law, were vanished, abolished, the Antitype being come. 4. That the veil of sin which hide the face of God from beholding his noblest sublunary Creatures with the eyes of pity and mercy were taken away, so that now God would look with a pleased smiling countenance upon man, in & through his dear son Jesus Christ. 5. And lastly, that the obdurate, & stony heart of sinful man must be rend and broken by true repentance, humiliation and contrition, before he can have any saving interest in, or spiritual benefits by the passion, merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ: The Graves unlocked their hitherto fast bolted doors, and many of the Prisoners of hope came out of their cold, silent, dark habitations at once, to acknowledge the divinity of Christ, to manifest their allegiance to him their Sovereign, to assert and demonstrate the certainty of the body's Resurrection, and to confess him to be their God, Head, Redeemer. Thus all things but ingrateful man, for whom Christ endured all this, did sympathise and suffer with him, the greatness, sharpness and intolerableness of whose sorrow, anguish and miseries were such (And needs must they be unparallelled, unconceivable, since the guilt, load, punishment, torments of all the elect, yea, of the whole world, together with the utmost, keenest and most implacable rage, spite and fury both of Dev●ls and wicked men, pressed, pierced, wounded both his body and soul at once) that at last he bled out these words, * Matth. 27. 46. My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? But yet his misery was our mercy, his Crucifixion our Comfort; For now the wounds of this gracious, glorious Jesus are become a Christians City of refuge. So that he who flies unto, and hides himself in the Clefts and holes of that Rock, shall not be consumed, though the Lord pass by in Majesty, glory, and fury. A Bird being pursued by an Hawk flew into the bosom of a b Xenocrates. Philosopher, who gave his unexpected guest both welcome and safety. When a poor soul is pursued by that red Dragon, Satan, who desires and strives to catch and destroy it, then if it do but fly with the wings of Faith and Prayer to Jesus Christ, whose very heart was opened with a spear upon the Cross to receive it, it will there find both * Evacuatur peccatum non ut non sit sed ut non obsit. Aug. security, and deliverance from him. The very name of Jesus Christ hath a thousand treasures of Joy, Peace, comfort, pleasures in it. Nomen Jesu Christi est nomen sub quo nemini desperandum. It's an Asylum to the most heinous, wicked, guilty Malefactor. It is honey in the mouth, music in the ear, and a Jubilee in the heart. c Pulio in ejus vita. A poor woman coming to Claudius for Justice and weeping, Claudius also wept and dried her eyes, for which being censured by some Courtiers, as doing that which was unbecoming his Majesty, and too much below an Emperor: I had rather (said he) be a partaker of my Subjects griefs, then give them occasion to have their eyes full of tears. When a truly humbled sinner cometh to Jesus Christ, either for mercy to his soul, or Justice against his spiritual enemies, (who do daily, yea, hourly assault, injure, tempt and endeavour to murder him) with prayers and tears, this Sun of righteousness will arise, and shed the beams of light, joy, comfort, peace into that darkened, drooping spirit; he will dry up, or howsoever sweeten the bitter springs of doubting, temptations, dejection, desertion here, and hereafter, he will for ever wipe away all tears from the eyes of Saints. He is so full of yearning Bowels, and tender compassion, that what d Speed. Chro. p. 88 Et Suetonius. Vespasian said, viz. No man should go away sad from the Speech of a Prince, Christ doth, for he sends all them away that come to him with mourning hearts * Matth. 5. 4. rejoicing. e Speed. Cro. p. 111. Albinus the Roman while he was in Britain, commanded his soldiers no service, but he would bear therein a part even in carrying of burdens. What work soever Jesus Christ the Captain of our salvation, commands his soldiers, faithful Christians to do, he will not only assist but enable them to perform it, & which is yet more, he will not only carry budens with them, but he will also * Matt, 11. 28. ease them of them. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Axiocus almost sick to death, at the very sight of Socrates recovered his former health. If a sin-sick, sin-wounded, dying soul, can but by a lively faith look upon Jesus Christ, it will undoubtedly, infallibly, (probatum est) receive, recover, enjoy, cure, health, life, What Alphonsus' King King of Spain advised his brother in Law, Henry the 3 King of England to be: viz. A Lamb to his Subjects, a Lion to Rebels: Jesus Christ is, * 2 Thessalon. 17, 8, 9 For he will come in flames of fire to take vengeance on those that obey not his Gospel, but he will own, protect, promote, love, honour and reward all those who are loyal and faithful to him. For his love to his betrothed, purchased, redeemed one's, infinitely exceeds, excels that of Jonathan to David, of Regulus to Rome, of Curtius and the Gracchis to their Country. And the mutual love betwixt Christ and a true Christian doth transcend both in respect of dearness, divineness, and duration (beyond all possibility of expression) the affection of Hortensius and Cicero to one another, of whom 'tis said f Raynold▪ Or●●. p. 43. Alter semper ab altero adjutus erat communicando, favendo, monendo. The Grecian Ladies counted the years of their life from the day of their marriage. All men and women are by nature spiritually dead, and therefore neither do nor can live either holily or happily till by faith they be espoused to Christ. So that it may be truly said of every one who dies without a saving interest in him, Fuit non vixit, he was, but he lived not. The French Historian concludes the Reign of Charles the 9th King of France, in which thirty thousand Protestants by those cruel Massacres in Paris, and other places, went through a Sea of Blood to the heavenly Canaan, with these words; All posterity will both admire and abhor it. And surely not only all ages, but all true Christians, will both admire, and adore the wisdom and goodness of God in contriving such a way and means as was equally full of miracle and mercy, namely the sending of his dear Son freely out of his own bosom, to seek and save, lost, undone cursed man: They will also with wonder love, and thankfulness meditate of, and acknowledge the, unparallelled unspeakable * Solus pro nobis suscipit sine malis meritis paenam, ut nos per illum sine bonis meritis consequeremur gratiam, Aug. affection and compassion of Jesus Christ, in dying not only to redeem Captives, but which is much more, to purchase pardon for those who were implacable enemies to him, and bloody Rebels in arms against him. And lastly they will abhor, and loath all sin and express their detestation thereof, by never committing, delighting or living in those impieties, transgressions, and abominations, which Jesus Christ hates, which cost him so much anguish, grief, trouble, and which brought him to so horrible, so painful, and so ignominious a death: They being those Jews that crucified him, that Crown of Thorns which wounded his head, who is the head of his Church and members, those hands and whips that scourged him, those nails that fastened him to the Cross, and that spear which pierced his very heart, and killed the Lord of life. Nor yet is this all the duty we are to perform, all the tribute we are to pay, or all the gratitude or praise, which we must express and return to Jesus Christ; for we are most justly and strongly obliged, not only to avoid carefully, to oppose resolutely, to strangle impartially, and to hate implacably all sin though never so dear, sweet, or profitable to us; but we must also carefully, conscionably, sincerely, constantly strive and resolve, to tread in the steps of Christ, to make him our rule, and to measure our conversation by the strait line of his most holy † life, it being the sum of all religion to imitate him whom we worship. * Matth. 11. 29 Et frustra appellamur Christiani si imitatores non simus Christi; qui ideo se viam dixit esse, ut conversatio magistri esset forma discipuli, et illam humilitatem eligeret servus, quam sectatus est Dominus. If he be not our Exemplar, he will not be our Saviour. If we will not learn of him here, we shall not live with him hereafter. Besides the great, the unavoidable danger, which we incur, and the insupportable miseries, which we are sure to bring upon ourselves by refusing to walk in those paths of piety and Righteousness, which Christ hath chalked out for us: we have many and great encouragements to follow him in those blessed ways, which he hath trodden before us. For we can never engage with such a Captain, nor choose such a Husband, nor follow such a Guide, nor serve such a Master, nor imitate such a pattern as Jesus Christ. Because he is a Captain invincible, a Husband most rich, wise, faithful, great, honourable, a guide infallible, a most munificent, loving, bountiful master, and a pattern unmatchable. Verbi verba sunt nobis documenta, Verbi facta sunt nobis exempla. The words of this word, who is * John 1. 1. God the Word, are our instructions, and the actions of this Word are our examples. This glorious, this gracious Jesus, is the good, the great Shepherd of our souls: he speaks to his flock, his people, as * Judges 7. 17. Gideon did to his little Army, look on me and do likewise; and his sheep will not only hearken to his voice, but obey him also. This King of Saints saith to his Subjects, as (i) Edward the 3d. (g) Speed Cronic. p. 704. King of England did to his soldiers, when he entered into a Ford, in the River Some; (notwithstanding a thousand horse and ten thousand foot, were sent thither by the French, to impeach his passage over it) he that loves me let him follow me; they will cheerfully courageously march after him, for they are such Cordelyons, that the greatest dangers cannot affright them, nor Enemies, though Anakims (Giant's both in power, might, malice, and cruelty) discourage or dispirit them, nor sufferings and torments, though never so sharp, bitter, or painful, dissuade or deter them: Nay, death itself, though presenting itself in its grimmest hue, and most ghastly shape, cannot dismay, or appall them: for their Captain is their Bridegroom, and rather than they will not enjoy him, they will meet, and celebrate their Nuptials to him in a flame. They will embrace him with hands and arms burning for him, as well as with hearts fired with Love unto him; Yea, they will welcome both miseries and death, when they are the messengers to invite them unto, and the means to hasten, effect, and solemnize their longed for marriage to Jesus Christ: h Fox book of Martyr's vol. 3, p. 140. As Mr. Sanders did, who being brought to the stake to be burned, kissed it, saying, Welcome the Cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life: i idem. vol. 2. p. 554. and as Anthony Person did too, who being brought to the place of Execution, with a cheerful countenance, he embraced the post (to which he was to be bound) in his arms, and kissed it, saying, Now welcome mine own sweet wife, for this day shalt thou and I be married together in the love and peace of God. And rather than they will either desert or dishonour their Captain or his Cause, they will freely, constantly undauntedly sacrifice their lives in it, and prefer death for Christ, before life, yea, and all the world too, without him, as another faithful Soldier of his k Fox book of Martyrs. vol. 3. p. 200. Stephen Knight did, who being come to the place, where he was to be burned, he kneeled down and said; Thou seest O Lord that where I might live in worldly wealth to worship a false God, and honour thine enemies, I choose rather the torment of the body, and loss of this life, and have counted all things but vile dust and dung, that I might win thee, which death is dearer to me, than thousands of gold and silver. And which is yet more, they not only have, and will meekly, willingly, invincibly carry the cross of Christ, but like the blessed * Mercatura est quadam amittere, ut majora lucreris. Tertul. Apostles they have heretofore, * Acts. 5. 41. do at present, and wil● hereafter rejoice also, that they were, and are counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. But that which is more than all, that which I have yet said, or these have done, or suffered for their husband and General, is this; some of them have exalted, yea, sung in the midst of such tortures, torments and miseries, as have caused paleness to sit upon the faces, trembling to seize upon the joints, and sighs, terrors, grief, amazement and horror to fill and wound the hearts of their Spectators, persecutors, Executioners, even whilst they were joyfully suffering of them. l Fox B. of Martyr's vol. 3. p. 390. Master Denley sung a Pslame in the midst of the fire, when it was kindled, and he was burning in it, and having a Faggot thrown at him, by one of the tormentors at the command of cruel Doctor Story, which so hurt his face that he bled again, he left his singing, and clapped both his hands on his face; but afterwards he put his hands abroad, and sung again. m Idem. vol. 3. p. 537. And when George Roper came to the stake, where he was to be burned, he leapt at it for joy. Some have blessed God for setting the Crown of Martyrdom upon their heads. n Idem vol. 3. p. 850. When Alice Driver who was burned at ipswich had the Iron chain put about her Neck; O, said she, here is a goodly Neckerchief, blessed be God for it. Id. vol. 3. p. 888. Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this, said John Noye, when he came to the stake to be burned. Others have both fervently desired to glorify God in those fires, and grieved that God would not suffer them to be made a sacrifice, as that precious Jewel, our Bishop Jewel did. Thus we see the pious, gracious, faithful Servants, Subjects and Soldiers of Jesus Christ are not only desirous to reign with him; but they are also ready to suffer for him. And for such Lambs, and such only as do copy out the holy Life of Jesus Christ, and write it in their own, in those golden characters of sanctity, constancy, humility, meekness, patience, charity, prayer, obedience, etc. did this Lamb of God Jesus Christ die. Redemptor noster pro bonis misericorditer incarnatus est. Nihil igitur haec Margarita ad porcos & canes. The Prayer. MOST dear and yet most dreadful Jesus, who art a God of might and Majesty as well as mercy of justice as we as pity, a Lion as well as a Lamb, a Saviour and a Sovereign, and at once the Creator, Husband, Brother and Redeemer of thine Elect: Be pleased blessed Jesus to grant that those who own thine own name, wear thy Livery, and have Covenanted with thee to be thy Servants may be careful, watchful, zealous, conscientious and willing to honour their Master thy sacred and most excellent Majesty, to obey thy commands, to imitate thy holy Life, and to accept thee on thine own terms joyfully, thankfully, hearty, even as a Lord, King, Prophet, to govern, command, teach them, as well as a Priest and Saviour to sacrifice and die for them. Let them consider what it will cost them to buy this precious field, this inestimable jewel; what they must do to be real Christians, and to get a saving Interest in Jesus Christ. That they must sell all that they have, part readily and resolvedly with the World, with their sins, their isaac's, Idols yea their Lands, Liberties and Lives also, if he who is the Lord and giver of them require us to surrender them to and for his own use and glory. That they must take Christ as in a matrimonial Covenant, and be not only chaste, obedient pleasing, faithful, constant to him, but also that they must honour and esteem him above all other things, admit no corrival into their affection with him, rejoice in his presence, mourn for his absence, grieve when he's offended by them, and angry with them, forsake all for him, cleave steadfastly to him, and neither for either love of life, or fear of death, leave, dishonour, or deny him. That they must be mortified, Selfdenying, sincere Christians. That they must not expect to be carried on Beds of Down, or to have their way green, smooth, easy, soft, or strawed with flowers to Heaven. That they must run without fainting, loitering or tiring to the end of the Race if they would obtain the prize. That they must cheerfully, courageously bear Christ's cross, or else they shall never triumphantly wear a Crown. That they must not only sweep, sweeten, cleanse, and open the dusty, dirty-filthy, sin-lockt houses of their hearts with the besom of repentance, and the hands of Faith and Love to entertain him, but they must also welcome him, set him at the upper end of the Table in the highest seat, esteem, affect him above and beyond all other persons or things whilst they live on earth, or else when they die he will never open the narrow Gate of Life to let them into Heaven. That if they be not good and holy in the Kingdom of Grace, they shall never be great or happy in the Kingdom of Glory. That if their sins and lusts which Lord it over them revel in them, captivate them, and are dear and sweet unto them, be not hated, crucified and forsaken by them, the Lord Jesus Christ though he was crucified for sinners and died to purchase Life for transgressors who were spiritually dead, will never save them. That therefore we may resolve and labour to get into that Ark Jesus Christ, where safety and salvation only are to be found; make us, I beseech thee, speedingly really, savingly sensible of the want, the worth, the excellency, All-sufficiency and the necessity of a Jesus, that so we may court, seek, and value thee, in and from whom alone is all fullness, sweetness, happiness above all things. And let, O most gracious God, all our sins be laid upon the Head, set upon the Account of that Scape-goat Jesus Christ, that so they may be carried into the Wilderness of forgetfulness. Take away, O Lord, our filthy Garments from us, and cloth us with change of Raiment; impute the Righteousness of Jesus Christ to us, that so being found in the Garments of our elder Brother we may receive from our heavenly Father the Blessing of Grace here, and that wherewith thou crownest thy own freely given, and yet by Christ dearly purchased Grace, eternal Glory hereafter. Grant this O Lord for his sake who died to satisfy thy dreadful Justice, who shed his heartblood to quench the fire of thy flaming consuming wrath, to pay our debts, to purchase our pardon, to redeem us from eternal slavery and misery, and to save, our undone Souls. Amen. In Christo & per Christum solum modo, Vita, Libertas, Foelicitas et beata Aeternitas. III. Of the Holy Ghost. THE Holy Ghost is the third Person in the glorious, blessed, a Deus est indivise ●●us in Trini●e, et inconfuse trinus in unitate. undivided, b Sacramentum hoc venerandum non scrutandum quemodo pluralitas sit in unitate, & unitas it plura litate, Sc●uta●i hoc temeritas est, credere pietas, nosse verò uìta aeterna. Incomprehensible Trinity, proceeding from both the Father and the Son, and yet Coessential, coeternal, and Coequal with them. The opera & officia, the works and Offices of the Holy Ghost, are these. 1. It illuminates our blind understandings, and teacheth us to know what we are by nature, together with the necessity and felicity of being born again. It teacheth us also to know the danger, deformity, and misery of sin, the infinite and undeserved love of God and Christ to undone man, and the means both to escape eternal death, and to obtain immortal glory. 2. It regenerates us, making us that were profane, holy; barren, fruitful; rebellious, Loyal; and impenitent, truly sorrowful for all our transgressions. 3. It quickens, and breatheth Life into us, that were by nature dead, and buried in trespasses and sins. 4. It both inspires and stirreth up good motions in our souls. 5. It helps our infirmities, makes c Rom. 8. 26. intercession for us, indites our prayers, inables us to pray fervently, faithfully, prevailingly to God for Grace, pardon and salvation. 6. It comforts, quiets, and supports mourning, doubting, drooping hearts. 7. It leads and keepeth Christians into, and in the way of holiness, till they come to heaven, and enjoy eternal happiness. 8. It sanctifieth and maketh God's ordinances effectual for the conviction and conversion of sinners. Lastly, (to name no more) it dwelleth and abideth in all those that truly repent, believe, love, obey, fear, and serve God. The Holy Ghost is compared and resembled in Scripture to divers things. First, it's compared to d Jere. 23, 29. Acts 2. 3. fire, and that in these respects. Fire first heats, 2. shyves, 3. ascends, 4. softens, and 5. refines drossy and hard things: so the Holy Ghost, 1. inflames our frozen hearts with love to God, and zeal for God. 2 It makes Christian's shine in works of piety, justice, charity, mercy, and in holiness of life. 3. It raiseth their naturally low-flying, or rather crawling affections from earthly things, and maketh them to mount, and fix them upon God, Christ, and heavenly things. 4. It turneth a heart of Adamant into a soft and tender heart of flesh. 5. It purgeth away a Christians dross, it purifies him from his corruptions and filth. Secondly, the Holy Ghost is compared to e Ezech. 36. 25. water; for as water, 1. refreshes, 2. quenches, 3 cleanses, 4. fructifies: So the Spirit of God, comforts, cheers, and reviveth troubled, weary, languishing hearts. 2. It quencheth Gods fiery wrath, kindled and flaming out against transgressors in their terrors, spiritual desertion, trouble, & anguish of soul and conscience for their sins. 3 It cleanseth them from all filthiness both of flesh & spirit. 4. It makes them fruitful in every good work. Thirdly, the Holy Ghost is compared to a * John 3. 32. Dove: As Doves are 1. meek, for they have no gall; 2. innocent and harmless creatures; 3. Lovers of, and delighted with white houses to sit and roost in, Amant alba tecta Columbae: So those Christians that have the spirit of God are, 1. free from malice, hatred, sinful anger, envy, or however they mourn, and are exceedingly displeased with themselves for being otherwise. 2. The Holy Ghost makes them not only careful to do no hurt or wrong to any, but also willing and desirous to do good unto others, especially spiritually, that is to their souls. 3. It makes their hearts pure and white by sprinkling the blood of Christ upon them, and working godly sorrow in them, without which it will neither delight nor dwell in them, because sin unrepented of, makes the soul black, ugly, and filthy. Fourthly, the holy Ghost is compared to * Acts 2. 3. cloven fiery tongu●s, to teach us that our tongues must be cloven with Charity and fervency in our prayers: for 1. we must not only beg earnestly for mercy, but we must also praise the Lord most hearty for his mercies; petition and thanksgiving must cleave them. 2. We must pray for both spiritual and temporal mercies, these, must again divide our tongues. 3. We must pray and ●ry mightily not only for pardon of sin, for the removal, or sanctification of afflictions, for grace and prosperity, to and for ourselves, but for all others also. 4. We must pray not only that God would give us and others glory hereafter, but also that we and they may honour and glorify God here. And certainly all those that have this glorious Spirit, have also not only their tongues, but their hearts too, thus cloven: with zeal, I mean for God, and love to their own and others souls. Fifthly, the Holy Ghost is compared to a * Ephes. 1. 13. Seal, because as Deeds and Conveyances are unable and ineffectual to settle, and assure those things contained in them, being null and void in Law, till they be sealed: So we can have no sound, good, or clear Evidences, that our sins are forgiven us, that God is reconciled to us, that the Lord Jesus is our Jesus, and that our souls shall be saved, till we be sealed by the Spirit of God. Sixthly, the Holy Ghost is compared to * 2 Cor. 1 22, and ch 4. v. 5. Earnest; for as Earnest is an argument and proof of an agreement betwixt man and man, for something to be delivered and given by one to another; and also an assurance that some other and greater thing shall be made good, and received, when that is given and taken: So by having the Earnest of the Spirit Christians are assured that now the Lord and they are agreed and reconciled, that they shall undoubtedly have his favour, blessing, grace here, and that they shall hereafter enjoy eternal joy, and bliss with him for ever. Seventhly, the Holy Ghost is compared to † John 16. 13. a Guide, because as Guides do, 1. Comfort, 2. direct, 3 defend, 4. keep those they travail with, from wand'ring, 5. accompany them and bring them to their Journeys end: So the spirit of God doth 1. wonderfully solace and rejoice the hearts of true Christians in their pilgrimage on earth. 2. It directs and showeth them which is the sure good, and best way for them to go in. 3. It secures and delivers them from those enemies and dangers that lie in Ambush to surprise them, and are ready to seize upon them. 4. It keeps them from erring and straying in the broad, dangerous, yea deadly ways of sin, and leads them forward in the narrow, but safe and happy path of life. And lastly, the Holy Ghost never leaves them finally, but conducts them with safety, joy, and comfort to their earnestly longed for, and desired home, Heaven. These and such like are the bright, beautiful, and refreshing Beams, that ray from his glorious Sun, and dart consolation, exultation peace, and felicity into the hearts of God's people. These are the pure, reviving and pleasant streams that flow from this Fountain, or rather Ocean, into the fouls of true Christians. These are the radiant, rich, yea precious and inestimable Jewels that embellish and adorn the Holy Spirits Mansion, a truly Gracious heart. Let us then sincerely desire, fervently beg, highly prise this Holy Spirit, and when ever it knocks at the door of our hearts by any holy motions, say as † Genes. 24. 31. Laban did to Abraham's Servant, Come in thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared a room for thee. The Prayer. O Eternal, infinite, and incomprehensible Lord God, who art Three in One and One in Three most glorious Persons, distinguished but not divided grant, I humbly beseech thee, that the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Light, Truth and Life may illuminate all those that are darkened with Ignorance, and benighted in Superstition, with the glorious Beams of saving knowledge. Let it guide all those that wander in the by paths of Error, and Wickedness into the safe way of Verity, and Holiness. And let it quicken such as are dead in Trespasses and Sins, that those dry bones, those stinking Lazarusses may rise, live and praise thee, Let it, O Lord, convince, convert, humble, purify and regenerate those that are secure, profane, carnal and unclean, that so being sanctified by the Spirit of Christ they may be comfortably assured they are justified by the Merits of Christ. Let, good God, thy Holy Spirit excite, persuade, enable Christians to try, discern, and judge which is the true Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, that so they may not be deluded, but infallibly directed by it to choose, and to walk under the Conduct thereof, in the way of Holiness that leads to happiness. And do thou, O Lord, who art the Father of Spirits, give us all thy Holy Spirit, whereby we may be enabled to cry Abba Father, for thy Sons and our alone Saviour's sake Jesus Christ. Amen. Sine Spiritu Sancto nec lux, pax, puritas, Sanctitas, nec gloria. iv Of Sin and Sinners. 'tis the true and fruitful mother of miseries: A Pandora's Box full of all real deadly plagues and curses. 'tis the poison of the soul, rack of Conscience, the Bellows, fuel, oil, that blow, kindle, and continue the fiery wrath of God burning against all obstinate perpetrators thereof, a Ho 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 632. Like Homer's Thersiteses its ugly without as well as within, having like the subtle cruel Panther a deformed head as well as a destructive deadly paw. Like Judas it kisses and betrays us. Like joab it embraces, stab●, and kills at once. b Quint Curtius lib. 8. p. 154. Sin is like to the River Nilus whose streams do cause and produce a fruitfulness even to wonder, but yet it abounds with crocodiles wickedness is sometimes prosperous, but it's always dangerous, and without Repentance deadly. It's like the Caspian Sea, which affords the sweetest waters, but breeds the greatest Serpents. The Preface of sin may be pleasure, its Exordium delight, but the Finis thereof will be punishment. At sin's table, the first course may be contentment, but the second will be death. It may appear to our dim eyes a Dove, but if we once lodge it in our bosoms, or embrace it, we shall find it a serpent, that will both sting and kill us. 'tis a Siren which allures us to our ruin; a Thief that robs us of our chiefest treasures, our choicest mercies, God's favour, a saving interest in Christ, pardon of sin, peace of Conscience, grace & glory: It's the souls both Leprosy and murderer; Like the stone by the river Maeander called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sober stone which put into a man's bosom, would make him mad, it distracts us. Like that deaf-stone (which I have read is in Scotland) that one standing at one end of it can not hear what another saith standing at the other end thereof, it stops the ears of the Lord, that our Prayers cannot find audience, or acceptance with him. * Esay 59 1. 2. Behold, the Lords hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you, and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. c Plutarch in ejus vit●. What Phocian the Athenian once said to the people of Athens, viz. All that ever you say and do dislikes me, God * Prov. 15 8, 9 26. saith and declareth to all wicked persons, whose both prayers, ways, and thoughts are abominable to him, yea and their civil actions too, † for the ploughing of the wicked is sin, * Prov. 21. 4. Sin it blots out all the characters of beauty, comeliness, and amability which God at first engraved upon the soul; it covers also the face of the soul (which was most fair and lovely till sin did spoil, blast, and soil it) with a black vail of deformity, and renders it loathsome, and ugly in the pure eye of God. It defaces, yea ruins the rarest piece of the whole Creation, the Epitome of the Universe, the wonder of Nature, the miracle of the world, Man. It not only poisons the lower springs of earthly enjoyments, & turns blessings into curses, but like Pharaohs lean kine it devours & consumes those sat one's, riches, health, greatness, peace, plenty, and all * Read Deut. 28. chapped. worldly prosperity. It also (which is a mischief infinitely greater than the other) dams up the current of those upper springs, grace, mercy, special love, salvation, so that the soul like the mountains of Gilbea hath no celestial showers of holiness, or real happiness reigned upon it. It turned Paradise into a wilderness, and makes the world a Pest-house, when that too pregnant womb the heart hath conceived Sin, by the Devil, who is the true Father thereof, it nourishes, seeds, and keeps it till it falls in travail of those cursed dreadful monstrous Twins, Gild, and Misery, and then it's carried and laid down by death, and judgement in a bed of fire, and attended only with Devils, and Reprobates, without all possibility or hope of ever being delivered. It grieves Heaven, but makes Hell triumph. It's a tree that bears no other fruit but shame, sorrow, wrath, and death. Do but wipe your eyes, and behold the ugly face of sin, in the Crystal glass of God's word, and also in those red mirrors, the fearful judgements, the dreadful vengeance of the Lord upon those pillars of salt, those miserable standing monuments of God's hatred, and detestation, erected both in his word, and in the world; Impenitent transgressors; And lastly in the bloody sufferings of Jesus Christ, and then if your hearts be not harder than an Adamant, or like the * Job. 41. 24. Leviathans, as firm as a stone, yea as hard as a piece of the nether millstone, they will relent, and you will mourn, confess, forsake, yea loathe all sin. † Numb. 32. 23. It's the souls bloodhound, which will hunt, pursue, overtake, and (as Actaeon was killed by his own dogs, as Haman was hanged upon his own Gibbet, as Holofernes was beheaded with his own sword) destroy it. 'tis that Ionas in the ship of the soul which raises a terrible tempest of divine wrath against it, whereby it will be not only restlessly tossed upon the briny bitter Billows of fear, anguish, dejection, and perplexity, but also before the stone cease, (unless it be thrown over board, cast out of the heart, and life, by godly sorrow, and unfeigned repentance,) it will most certainly, and miserably be wracked and perished without hope, or help, in a boiling Sea of fire, and brimstone, which hath neither banks, nor bottom. For as d Leigh choice observat. in the Life of Claudius, p. 102. Claudius was murdered by Agrippina, his wife, with that meat mixed by her with poison, which he most, and best loved: So those sins, wherein the wicked do most delight, and please themselves, will certainly (if they do not get their pardon in this life,) both poison and kill their souls. 'tis a truth equally sad, apparent, and prodigious, that there is no Creature in the world, so merciless, or mischievous to its self, as a wicked man is. For it is an e Bed. Axiom ex Arist. lib. 2. phys. Axiom in Philosophy, Idem non agit corruptionem sui ipsius nisi per accidens. Every thing naturally either desireth, or tends to its own preservation, perfection and felicity. But an impious profane Man, yea every impenitent sinner doth deliberately contrive, cunningly plot, diligently seek, industriously pursue, and most laboriously, yea, indefatigably endeavour to ruin both his body and soul for ever. He is a Wolf, a Devil to himself, (for he is his own adversary, his own tempter) as well as to others: Since he spends much time, useth many means, spares for no cost, and takes very great pains to go to Hell. So that f Camerar. Hist. medit. lib. 1. p. 29. what the Common Soldier said unto Marius (who was in his youth a Cutler, but afterwards an Emperor) when he slew him, This is with the sword, which thyself hast made; God, men, Conscience and Satan may, yea will one day say, to every impenitent sinner, This sin of thine, thy pride, hypocrisy, drunkenness, thy profaneness, uncleaness, worldlyness, etc. which thou hast in thy youth and life committed, is the sharp & glittering sword with which the Lord of Hosts doth now pierce thy hardened heart through with sorrow, and kill thy sinful soul. 'tis the sole object of God's eternal hatred. Deo nihil est invisum, odiosum, execrabile, nisi malum. It's a spiritual Gangraena which (if it be not cured by hearty repentance) will provoke the Lord to cut the soul off, with the sharp Revenging axe of Justice, and the two-edged sword of wrath from the body of Jesus Christ. What the Jews said of the golden Calf, g Godw. Jew. Antiq. lib. 4. p. 175. No punishment befalleth thee Israel, in which there is not an Ounce of this Calf, is most true of sin, it being certain that both temporal punishments, spiritual judgements, and eternal torments are procured by it, and that they have been, are, and will be inflicted by the Lord upon those that are wicked, as the just reward, and deserved wages of iniquity; because sin like Goliath comes always with an Army of Philistines, with woes, miseries, curses and troubles in the rear of it. And if men will suffer, or rather combine with, and help Satan to pinion themselves with the Cords of iniquity, God will also (in his own time) bind them with the fetters of afflictions, and hang them up as Spectacles of his just fury, in the Chains of Damnation. The counsel therefore of Otho 2. aught to be our practice, Pacem, inquit, cum omnibus habe, bellum cum vitiis; because we cannot make our peace with God, nor enjoy that peace of God which passeth all understanding, unless we wage war, and maintain a courageous, constant fight till death, against sin, Satan, and ourselves. If we would have the Lord our friend, and love us, we must be enemies to, and hate implacably every wicked way, and every evil thing. * Matth. 5▪ 7. If we mourn for sin here, we shall rejoice hereafter, but if we rejoice in sin here, * Job 20. 5. we shall † grieve hereafter; because the short empty deceitful pleasures of sin, which are but (like the colours in the Rainbow) pleasures in appearance only, not in truth, or reality, in the end will sting and fill the heart with unspeakable, yea unconceivable horror and sorrow; for sin is neither h Socrates' Epist. 7. a gainful, nor an honourable, nor a pleasant thing, but the greatest calamity in the world. Although then the distempered palat's of wicked men may at their first drinking a sugared draught of sinful delights, taste some * Sin is like the River Atheneus whose upper waters were sweet & grateful, both towards the bottom brackish. pleasantness, and honey therein, yet they will be sure to relish and find bitterness, yea gall and wormwood at the bottom of the Cup. Besides, they cannot satisfy, but they will satiate them, and as at the first, they will be sick of Love, so ere long they will be sick of loathing (like * 2 Sam. 13. 15. 27. Amnon) even those dearest, fairest, Tamars', on which but even now they so passionately doted. For like the bloody Sword of cruel war, it will be bitrernesse in the end. The Devil like a cunning cruel Master at first useth his Servants with seeming kindness, and bids them welcome, he will not cross, displease or deny them any thing, nor in any thing: but when he hath once got them into his workhouse, and engaged them in his service, than the condition of an Israelite in Egypt, or a Galley slave in Turkey, or of a Christian in the Inquisition, is infinitely more desirable and comfortable than theirs. When Satan first tempts men and women to drudge for him, to sin, he persuades them that the evil which he would have them act is so little, venial, inconsiderable, that it hath no danger in it, and that they shall not fail to find, and receive either delight, advantage, or advancement, or all, (for he hides his deadly hook with such baits, as he by his long experience finds are the likeliest to be swallowed by those he desires to catch, and resolves to kill) by the committing of it, and by this pulley he draws them, with this screw he turns and winds them up to presume; In this hood put over the eyes of their mind, he leads them, blindfold, quietly, easily, and securely to the very brink of the bottomless pit; for they go with him, as that more than foolish young wanton did with his unchaste minion, † Prov 7. 22. Even as a Beast goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks: But when this bloody Gaoler hath hung and locked so many Irons upon his jocund, fearless, muffled, miserable Captives, that he is confident they cannot break Prison, nor make an escape, than he awakens them with thunder, and represents their woeful condition in the most grisly, terrible, dreadful form, which he with all his skill and spite is able unto them, suggesting and telling them; That their sins are got above God's mercy being too great to be pardoned, that since they have chosen him for their master, damnation must be their wages; that since they have given him the flower of their youth, God will never accept the bran of their age; that the day of Grace is ended, and the door of mercy shut, & therefore it is in vain either to work or knock; that their sins have made them like stubble fully dry, & therefore God will be a consuming fire to them; that they have walked so far, and so long in the broad way of death, that it's now too late to turn into the narrow way of life; that their iniquities have made them too filthy, for God's pure eyes to pity them; that they have turned a deaf care to their Maker's commands, and therefore he will not now hear their cries; that they have both locked and bolted the iron doors of their hearts against Christ, and therefore God will not open the gate of mercy to them; that they have sinned against infinite love, admirable patience, glorious light, etc. and therefore the Lord will now in fury both pour out the fullest vials of his dreadful wrath upon them, and cast their souls into utter darkness, that they have trodden the precious blood of Jesus Christ under their profane feet, and therefore God will never set a Crown of glory on their heads; that they have chosen to have their portion in this world, and therefore God will not give them an inheritance in Heaven. With these and such like Millstones of temptation which he strives to hang about the necks of their guilty, awakened, amazed, perplexed consciences, he both endeavours and hopes to sink and drown their souls in the Dead sea of despair. For our groans are the Devil's music, our sins his Banquet, our sufferings his solace, our torments his pleasure, our sorrow his Joy, our evils his doth desire and satisfaction, our wickedness his very wis●, our destruction his delight, and our eternal ruin his Triumph. And our sins are those murdering pieces, wherewith this politic, cunning, active, cruel enemy of mankind both wounds, and kills so many immortal souls. They are the wheels of that Chariot wherein this Prince of the Air rideth triumphing up and down the World, over vanquished, captivated, murdered men and women; They are the Rocks, and quicksands which split, and swallow up so many millions of precious souls. It is then a dear bargain when men purchase a few, empty, transient delights, with infinite, endless pain, grief, torments; when they sell heaven, and their souls, to buy H●ll; yet thus do all wicked profane persons. Breve est quod delectat, aeternum quod cruciat; for impenitent sinners shall be always burning in streams, and drowning in flames, without all hope or possibility of ever being either drowned or consumed. Those that are truly wise will therefore fear Sinne. But a fool (for so the wisest of men, * Prov. 1. 7. 32. Solomon calls every one that is wicked) makes a mock at it, sports with it, and like one that I have read of, Joco venenum bibit, serio mortem obiit, He drinks the poisoned waters of sin in jest, but murders his own soul in earnest. And as i Julius Caesar was killed with daggers; Fabius was cheaked with an hair; some have been killed with a plumbstone, and others have been choak●d with a bit of Ch●ese. And the lest sin without Repentance will be deadly to the soul, because it's an essence and contempt done and committed against an infinite, pu●e, holy, just God. Cleopatra killed herself with a little serpent called Apis: So wicked men do destroy themselves, not only with great Scarlet, and gross sins, but with little ones also, because the soul may be strangled with cords of vanity, as well as with the Cart-ropes of iniquity. And the greatest wisest man in the world, if wicked, will, or however hath just cause when he dies to say, as Nero did, Heu qualis Artife● pereo! since if he be not rich in grace, and wise to salvation in this life, at his death he will find himself to have been the veriest Idiot, and the poorest Lazar that ever had a being upon Earth. What was said of Domi●ian; namely, That all those evils which were scattered in others met, and were united in him, is most true of sin, it being that Ocean, from which all those streams of misery and mischief flow, which over whelm and destroy the ungodly. If sin reign, the man is dead, since Grace and sin like Mezentius his couples cannot live together. Like light and darkness, Heaven and Hell, they are irreconcilable: so that what was at first said of those two Princes, Conradine of Sicily, and Charles of Anjou, and afterwards k Camden Annal. of Q. Elizabeth, lib. 2. p. 142. applied to Elizabeth Queen of England and Mary Queen of Scots; The death of Mary is the Life of Elizabeth, and the Life of Mary the death of Elizabeth, is most true of them; for the life of piety is the death of iniquity, and the life of impiety is the death of Sanctity and the Soul. Besides all this both danger and misery to which a wicked person renders himself obnoxious by his sins, enough one would think to rouse, affright, and humble the most Atheistical wretch in the world, every impenitent transgressor doth yet add more fuel to the fire of God's wrath, and more weight to the already insupportable burden of his sins by his ingrateful, injurious, dishonourable undervaluing of Christ; for he prefers Barrabas before Jesus, his lusts before his Lord, and (which is a crime both most horrible, and abominable) Satan that roaring lion who seeks daily to devour him, before his Saviour, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who laid down his life to deliver him: For Christ commands, and he rebels, Christ woos, and he will not love, Christ knocks, and he will not open the door to him; but now let the Devil call, and he will run, let the Devil persuade, and he will obey, let the Devil knock by a temptation, and he will let him in, either at the gate or window, and rather than he shall be kept out, his ears, eyes, mouth, heart and all shall be unlocked for him. His condition is most sad, and woeful, for bloody cutthroats are got into his house, his heart, yet he fears no danger, he is mortally sick, yet he feels no pain, death stands at the door, and destruction is ready to come over his Threshold, and yet he says, Soul take thine ease: Nihil enim est miserius misero se non miserante. Let then all unholy ungracious men and women consider that if they do live and die on earth fast asleep in a sinful * Quisquis desolationem non novit, nec Consolationem agnoscere potest et quisquis ignorat consolationem esse necessariam, super est ut non habeat gratiam Dei. Ind est quod homines seculi negotiis & flagitiis implicati dum miseriam non sentiunt ●o attendum misericordiam. Bern. security, their souls will most certainly awaken in Hell, in unavoidable never dying misery; for if impiety and impenitency be the praemises, eternal damnation both of body and soul will be the conclusion. Pe●●atum puniendum est aut eaten, aut a deo; si punitur eaten, tunc punitur sine te, si vero non punitura te, tecum punietur. To be merciful to sin is to be cruel to ourselves, since he that loves and spares it doth not only lash, and wound, but * O Israel thou hast destroyed thyself H●sea 13. 9 murder himself. Because as holiness is both a work, an incomparable felicity, and a reward; So sin, is both a Crime, a punishment and an Executioner to all unconverted offenders. Pharoah's sins, as well as the Sea drowned him. * Numb. 16. 32. And Corah's swallowing down sin without repentance was the cause that the earth swallowed up him without example; for never did so many of her ungracious children as he & his wicked companions were (who was therefore most justly by God made woefully miserable in that dreadful destruction, because they was all wilfully guilty of that damnable Rebellion) fall down into her gaping, enlarged, new made mouth, slide, or rather tumble headlong into her empty, greedy stomach, & entrails, or lie down alive in her cold and merciless bosom before. O the misery and madness of a graceless Sinner! How can he expect or hope to escape the dreadful vengeance of God, that by his unkindness, unthankfulness, and undutifulness to his heavenly Father hath most justly provoked the God of mercy to become his everlasting enemy. What the people of Rome said when they lamented the death of Octavius Augustus, he will most certainly when 'tis too late have cause in another sense to say, utinam aut non l Aurel. Vict. nasceretur aut non mor eretur, would he had never been born, or never died. The Prayer. O LORD, thou art a God infinite in all Divine perfections. Thou hast all things, and art all things eternally from, within, and unto thy most glorious self. Thou dost therefore want neither the praises nor the Services of either the most gracious Christians, or the most glorious Cherubims. The holiness, prayers, and duties of Saints or Angels can add nothing to thy most transcendently divine Excellencies: Nor can the vices, vileness, crimes, and Sins of men lessen, stain, or eclipse thy Glory. Yet such O Lord is thy miraculous condescension, thy wonderful, thy undeserved Compassion to the Bankrupted posterity of Adam, that thou art pleased not only to acquaint, but also to assure all those who walk humbly, conscientiously, holily before thee, and sincerely endeavour to praise thy great, and glorious name, that though they be but dust, ashes, and worms, yet they do honour and glorify thy ever blessed Majesty. And although sin be so contrary to thy holy nature, opposite to thy righteous Laws, and Will, and loathsome in thy pure eye, that even the least sin is a great, yea an infinite offence, injury, and contempt done unto thee, and doth at once vex, load, and grieve thee: Yet such O Lord is thy never enough to be admired, acknowledged, or magnified mercy and patience to rebellious, self-polluting, poisoning, self-ruining Man, that thou d●st not only forbear to punish, plague, and damn him, but thou art also pleased though he daily offend thee, and persist in his provocations of thee, and reject thy gracious tenders of peace, pardon and salvation to seek unto him, to entreat; yea by thy Ministers to importune and beseech him that he would be reconciled to thee, love, accept, embrace thee, and thy offered mercy, that so tbou mayest forgive, own, delight in him, deliver, and save him both from Wrath and Death. O Lord, let the riches of thy unparallelled goodness, long-sufferance, and forbearance l●●d us unto speedy, unfeigned, hearty Repentance. Let the serious consideration of the cursed, defiling, deforming, damnable nature of sin, the guilt whereof could not be expiated, nor the filth thereof purged away with any Sacrifice but the blood and death of the only Son of God, Jesus Christ both God and Man, make us not only fear but tremble to commit the least evil. O let it pierce and break our hearts with Grief and Remorse to consider how we have pierced our Saviour's very heart, and broken his most just and holy Commandments by our wilfully transgressing against him. Let O Lord our spirits melt, mourn, and bleed within us for our shedding and trampling under our profane feet without pity or sorrow that precious blood of our dearest Saviour, which alone can cleanse and cure our defiled, wounded Souls. Whensoever we are tempted to commit any sin, let us O Lord not only meditate and remember what it cost Christ to make our peace with a displeased God, to pay our debts, and to ransom our enthralled Souls, but let us also set before our eyes and look upon Jesus Christ, who never committed any sin, sweeting, suffering, groaning, wounded, bleeding and lying for our Sins, that so we may in his unexampled and unexpressible miseries with the eyes of detestation and lamentation behold the danger, and desert of our own Iniquities. Let not sin, most holy God, be sweet, dear or delightful to us, which was Gall and Vinegar, bitter, painful and deadly to Jesus Christ. O let the knowledge of thy power and purity awe and deter us from evil, but chief let our frequent, serious, admiring and thankful reflections upon the bounty, mercy, and long-suffering of our gracious God, and the free, the infinite Love of Jesus Christ prevail with us, and make us both watchful and careful to detest, decline, loath, leave, confess, forsake and crucify all our lusts and transgressions, and to love, honour, please, praise, and glorify our God. And let us not embrace, entertain, or welcome sin into our hearts, and crucify our blessed Saviour any more, lest our bloody cruelty both to him and our own souls deprive us for ever of Christ, Comfort, Grace and Glory. Amen. Peccatum lethale est Venenum, Quod delectat & necat. V Of the World, and the brightest Jewel in its Crown, Sovereignty. 'Tis a fool's Idol, a wise man's Inn; 'tis a storehouse of vanities, a shop full of gaudy but empty pots; a fair house haunted with evil Spirits; it's a maze, a desert, a disguised mockery, an Ocean of troubles, a pitfal to the rich, a burden to the poor, a traducer of the good, a deceiver of all that love and trust it. 'Tis a Garden enameled with beautiful flowers, under which lurk deadly Serpents; a green, soft, pleasant walk, covered and bespread with nets and snares; a Speed Chron p. 118. a path like that of a Heliogabalus, strawed with the powder and dust of Gold and silver, but leading to a Gibbet. A sweet spring set round with lime-twigs; a stately wealthy City infected with the plague. 'Tis the body's Paradise, but a Purgatory to the soul. 'Tis a painted, treacherous Harlot, which allures, invites, but destroys her Lovers: a tender Nurse to vice, dandling it upon her knees of Pleasure and Profit, but a stepmother which hates and strangles virtue; 'Tis a d●ie pit, a broken Cistern, in a drought, an empty cloud, a Feast in a dream, and without Christ (as one said of her dead husband) a cold armful. And as for Sovereignty (though it be the Acme of an ambitious man's desires, and felicity, his God, his Christ, and his all in all, yet) it's but a Crown sparkling with Jewels, and lined with thorns: It's very glorious indeed, but withal so heavy that it maketh both their heads and hearts to ache with cares, and troubles who wear it. b Camerar. Hist. Medit. lib. 3. p. 159. Saturninus being invested with the Imperial Robes by the Soldiers whether he would or no, with tears in his eyes, said thus unto them; Friends, you know not wh●t an evil it is to command, Javelins and Swords hang over our heads, pikes are bend on every side against us, our guides do make us aghast, we fear them who accompany us, N●mo tam humilis est qui paenam velsummi hominis sperare non possit. Seneca de lya lib. 1. there is no savour in our meats, no safety in our ways etc. In making me your Sovereign, you draw me into the Jaws of death. And therefore when the Romans had despoiled Antiochus of all Asia, he gave them hearty thanks c Brathwai● survey of Hist. saying they had freed him of many insupportable Cares. The world 'tis a pit covered with leaves; she doth boast herself to be rich, and to be able to give her Servants the Livery, her favourites the reward, and her Children the portions of wealth, honour, contentment, happiness, prosperity; but when a true Inventory of all she hath is taken by her Heirs, the greatest Potentates, and wealthiest worldlings, the Summa totalis amounts only to Vanity and Vexation of spirit. She seems to have a treasury full of precious things, but when it is opened and viewed, it will be found (just like the Trunks of that vain glorious Cardinal Camp●jus, with his twenty Mules carried through Cheapside, for ostentation, to win him admiration, and to gain him an high esteem, amongst the people, that yet had in stead of gold, and silver, and rarities, only bits of bread, pieces of broken meat, Hors●-shoes, bones, old boots, eggs, and shoes, etc. in them) to have nothing that is truly good, excellent or desirable in it. d Lucius M●ri●eus Span. Hist. lib. 18. et Camerar. Charles great Grandfather to Ferdinand King of Arragon, and Sicilia, a little before his death, with great anguish of spirit (looking upon those who stood about him) cried out, O how vain are the thoughts of men! O wretched they that aspire to the glory of the world, that desire nothing but riches, pomp and dignity! O how happy is the condition of poor men, and how safe and pleasant is their life, that eat their bread with the sweat of their brows, and that live by the labour of their hands! miserable I, what good doth my Kingdom to me? What do my Subjects, and the service of so many men profit me? What have they gained me? much travail and turmoil, and infinite dangers both of body and soul, without the enjoying of so much as one good day. Miserable and wretched I, that so late came to know the deceitfulness of the world! How much better ●ad I lived, if in stead of a Sceptre I had wielded a hedging Bill, and if of a King I had soon made myself a Clown. And yet the besotted Idolaters thereof say of this world as e Burton Melanch. Metszuma an Indian Prince did, Bonum est esse hic, It's good to be here, although her best beloved Children are sure when they sit in her Lap to have thorns for their Cushion, and when they lean upon her Bosom to lay their heads on a Serpent. The Sun of this world (which is the wicked man's Heaven) is prosperity, the Moon mutability. Besides, true contentment or pleasure seldom dwell in the same house with greatness. f Camerar. lib. 3. p. 163. It's reported the Emperor Charles the 5th. used to say, that after he had resigned the Empire, he had tasted more pleasure and contentment in his Monastical retiredness in one day, than he found in, or reaped from the Seeds, and harvest of all his Victories and triumphs, which had made him be esteemed happy above all other Princes. g Ludovicus Vives. Quid enim aliud est potentia, quam speciosa molestia? The world is the greatest cheat, for there is nothing in it, that can satisfy, sanctify or save our souls, or that can make us truly wise, holy, or happy, though it pretend to afford them all. h Marc. Aurelius. Dial of Princes. Marcus Aurelius, who was both an eminent Philosopher, a victorious Commander, and a prosperous Emperor, after many years' enjoyment of his Throne, with all worldly both glory and felicity, being at length summoned to appear before the King of Kings, upon his deathbed said: Of all that I have had, possessed, enjoyed, attained in this world, I have now only two things, to wit, pain for that I have offended the Gods, and sorrow for that time which I have consumed in Vice●. And the glass of his life being almost run, he cried out, O miserable man that I am, in a short time of all that I have enjoyed in this life, I shall with me carry nothing but my winding sheet. The experience of its vanity, emptiness, deceitfulness, made i Burt. Melanch. Sebastian Foscarinus sometimes Duke of Venice command this inscription to be writ upon his Tomb, Hear O ye Venetians, and I will tell you what is the best thing in the World, To contemn it. I leave thee (said a dying Emperor to his Son) in leaving thee my Empire, poverty, labour, wars, enemies, sorrow, and in a place where thou wilt have always something to bewail. The world 'tis nothing but a floating Island: a Sea (like Euripus,) always ebbing and flowing: a wheel wherein you may see the uttermost spoke of greatness, and Sovereignty on the ground with one turn of the hand of providence k Speed. chron. p. 625. I once saw (saith Comines) Henry Holland Duke of Exeter run on foot barelegged after the Duke of Burgundy's train, begging his bread for God's sake. King Henry the 3. King of England told some whose bounty he craved, that it was more Charity to relieve him with money, than one that went begging from door to door; l Camerar. Marius uno die factus est Imperator, altero imperavit, tertio interfectus est a gregario Milite. m Speed. Chron. p. 135-153. Licinius Valerianus the greatest Monarch in the world, to whom all nations did homage, was both vanquished, and taken prisoner, by Sapor King of Persia, who caused him to bow down his neck and back, for himself thereon to tread, and mount into his saddle, and afterwards his skin was flayed off, he being alive. Lastly, that I may not present a meal in stead of a taste, and so turn delight into trouble, or appetite into satiety and loathing, n Knolls Turkish Hist. Bajazet was in the morning a glorious mighty Emperor, but ere night, he was a miserable Captive, and fell so low from off those highest pinnacles, Empire and Majesty, as to become Tamerlanes footstool. The wise, valiant and victorious Romans were so sensible of the danger and inconstancy of the highest worldly honour, and the greatest earthly felicity, that in their triumphs the General or Emperor that road in honour through the City of Rome, with the principal of his enemies bound in Chains behind his chariot, had always a servant running along by him with this Corrective of his Glory, Respice post te, hominem memento te. As if he had said, Look behind thee, and in those truest faithful Mirrors set by the angry (yet most just) hand of providence, in a sable frame, thou shalt clearly see the vanity, o When Pomp●y's head was presented to Julius Caesar he wept bitterly, saying; I lament Pompey's fall and fear mine own Fortune. Leigh. Choice Obser. p. 17. mutability, misery of all terrestrial greatness, glory and prosperity. For those Captives who adorn thy Triumph may be thy executioners. Those rattling chains which are now thy music, may become hells to ring thy passing peal. That Chariot wherein thou now ride in so much state, may be the Coffin wherein before night thou mayest be carried to thy grave; and those friends which now so much rejoice at thy dearly earned, or purchased honour, may be to day sad mourners at thy Funeral. Thou dwellest but in a house of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, and therefore mayst lie level suddenly with the Earth, although at present thou art reared up to such a height, and built so many stories higher than those feeble, tottering and rotten supporters of thy pomp, those unwilling, mourning, miserable witnesses of thy dangerous Exaltations. Remember thou art but a man, thy victory cannot deify thee, nor conquer thy mortality; nor can thy triumph protect, or secure thee from being vanquished and led into captivity by death. * Mortalia eminent, cadunt, deterun●ur, crescun●, ex●uriuntu●, implentur Divinorum una natura est. Sen. Epist. 66. 645. Sejanus fell suddenly from those slippery Battlements where thou now standest, both re●ling and giddy; Let not therefore thy success or Eminency make thee forget either thine own frailty, or their inconstancy, since calamity stands at that door, where Security is Porter to the house; fearless greatness, and blind, presumptuous prosperity, being like that p Arist. Problem Sect. 13. Quest. 5. Sea wherein ships use to be cast away in the midst of a Calm. Crowns than are not so bright as burdensome, nor so glorious as dangerous, nor so pleasing as they are painful to those that own & carry them. The sad experience whereof made that potent King Seleucus often to say, * thorn is the Anagram of Throne. Mihi credit, mori mallem quam imperare. Otho. That if a man knew with what cares a Diadem was clogged, he would not take it up, though it lay in the dust. If then either Subjects knew how dearly Princes buy their power, or Princes, how sweet, comfortable, and happy a thing it is to live in quiet, free from cares, * Timeo incustoditos aditus, timeo ipsos custodes. Tiberius. fears, dangers, Jealousy, (those evil spirits, which always haunt, affright, vex, torment and embitter greatness) Subjects would pity their rulers, aod Kings would envy their Subjects; For without a saving interest in the Sun of Righteousness Jesus Christ, the mightiest Monarches both live and die, in a black, perplexing, afflicting night of trouble, distraction and misery, notwithstanding all the Stars of Pomp, Power and Wealth, which shine, or rather glimmer in the firmament of Sovereignty. The whole world is not able to give the soul one satisfying meal, much more unable is she then to feast it. She may spread and cover her table with variety of costly, curious, dainty dishes, but she serves them up with such bitter, unsavoury, yea deadly sauces, that her best and kindest treatment of her noblest, dearest friends, proves either their sickness, or death. Her guests sit down indeed to a rare, a pleasant banquet, but swords hang over their heads, tied to nothing but single horsehairs. What contentment or delight than can it afford, or they receive and enjoy, when they know not whether they shall live or die, feast or perish at her board? Luther calls the Turkish Empire nothing but a crumb given by the Master of the family (God Almighty) to dogs. The World like a Lottery gives a hundred blanks for one prize, to those that venture their whole estates, even body, soul, name and posterity at it. And if any one do happen to draw out a Throne, yet will not that reimburse him, or pay his Bill of charges which he hath laid out for it, * Fortuna vitrea est, quae cum splendet frangitur, because when he hath gotten it, he's not sure to enjoy it. For the strongest Kingdoms are but tottering Fabrics, whose foundations are laid (though they dig never so deep) in sand. And although they may seem to be founded on a Rock, or to be so deeply rooted, as that they need not fear a period, nor that they shall be overturned, or swallowed up, by either the most furious tempest of Foreign Invasions, or the raging, inexorable Billows of domestic divisions and intestine Rebellions, yet q Sir Walter Rale●gh p●aeface to his Hist. of the World. dies, hora, momentum sufficit evertendis iis dominationibus quae Adamantinis radicibus videbantur esse fundatae. But this innate, inevitable, insuperable not only mutability, but also mortality of Kingdoms, as well as * Nun telluris tres tantum cubiti te expectant? Basil. Kings (which yet is enough to render the sweetest earthly enjoyments, and comforts that the cozening deluding world can afford, to those who have the greatest interest in her, and share of her, both sour, flat, and dead, to the intellectual of a truly wise man) is not either the only Ghost that disquiets, Magna s●rvitus est magna fortuna. Seneca de Bervit vi●● ad Pauli●um. or misery that waits and attends upon Empire, from its Birth, to its burial, from its Cradle, to its Coffin; For the A●pes of honour and greatness are ascended always by the troublesome steps of danger, † drudgery, difficulty, and too often also by the fatal stairs of Treachery, Tyranny, and Impiety. And when such men after all their sweeting, toiling and striving, do get up to the top of them, 'tis true they have a delightful prospect, but withal they perceive and find, that they do stand upon r Domitian said, That the condition of Princes was most miserable who could not be credited touching a conspiracy plainly detected unless they were first slain. a dangerous precipice, and that it will cost them no less care and vigilancy to preserve themselves from falling into the bottomless gulf of Ruin, than it did pains and perils to attain that which they are now assured has more vexation, than satisfaction, more thorns than Roses, and more Gall than Honey in it. To arise to honour, it is enough that the body sweat water, but to maintain it, it is necessary that the heart weep blood, said Sophia the Empress to Tiberius. Thou wilt not deny, said one to Alexander the great, that all which thou hast in thy Conquest gotten is little, and that the quietness which thou hast lost it much; the Realms which thou hast subdued are many, but the cares, sighs, thoughts, which thou hast heaped upon thy heart are infinite: for the Gods do seldom suffer them to enjoy that quietly in peace, which they have unjustly gotten in war. s Bacon Essai. 19 p. 105. King's like to heavenly bodies have much veneration, but no rest, for the choicest and best refined treasures, or favours which the world hath to bestow upon her eldest sons, are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Giftless gifts, nor doth she only deceive her Favourites, but destroy them also, even by advancing of them, the price which they usually pay for their worldly felicity, being not only temporal calamities, but too often eternal miseries. For dignity is not only often, but most commonly the moth of virtue, honour the Canker of honesty, power the poison of piety, and greatness is too frequently the death of goodness. t Mr. Ba●ter Saints everlasting rest. p. 78. The difficulty is so great of conjoining graciousness with greatness, that is next to an impossibility; and their conjunction so rare, that they are next to inconsistent. To have a heart taken up with Christ and heaven, when we have health and abundance in the world, is neither easy nor ordinary. u O●uphri●s. Pius quintus dixisse fertur, Cum essem religiosus sperabam bene de salute animae, Cardinalis factus extimui, Pontifex Creatus pene, despero. Quid igitur insanius quam pro momentanea felicitate aeternis te mancipare suppliciis. 'Tis a madness even to miracle to lose eternal bliss and glory, to gain temporal, withering honour, and mundane felicity. The Prayer. O LORD, thou art that God who didst both create this beautiful World out of nothing, and dost know that there is nothing in this bewitching, beguiling, ensnaring, intangling World, that can either afford the Soul of man any rea●● Comforts, or make it truly happy. For if thou but frown, chide, hid thy face, or manifest the least displeasure against us, all the lower springs of Creature-comforts will immediately fail, dry up, disappoint, deceive us; and like the early dew, or morning Clouds, consume, fly away, and vanish before the heat and wind of thy fiery wrath, and fierce, fearful, irresistible Indignation. Let therefore Christians, O Lord, I beseech thee, that know the greatness, the terribleness of thy Power, admire thine omnipotency, adore thy wisdom, praise thy goodness, tremble at thy wrath, strive for Heaven, and contenm the World. Let them, O Lord, prefer Goodness before Greatness. Holiness before Honour, Piety above Pleasure, and Righteousness b●yond Riches. Let them not shipwreck their Consciences or destroy their Souls for Dominion. Let not their Ambition to be great men make them forget, neglect, or cease to be Christians, and good men. Let them study and endeavour more earnestly to command their own rebellious hearts, to govern aright their unruly passions, to get their misplaced Affections unnailed, and their headstrong traitorous Lusts subdued, then to obtain Authority or Dignity amongst Men. And let ibem account it a greater happiness, mercy, advancement, glory to be Loyal, faithful, dutiful Subjects and Servants to Jesus Christ, then to be Sovereigns over Kingdoms. Let not their eyes be blinded with the Splendour of power, nor dazzled with the Lustre of Honour, nor their hearts and affections lime-twigged by an inordinate, sinful Love of Wealth, or Greatness, that so their rise may not prove their ruin, their exaltation their destruction, their power their poison; and that so their temporal Eminency, and momentany Felicity may not usher them unto, engulf and suck them into, or both sadly, suddenly, unexpectedly, and unpreparedly end in ever enduring misery. Amen. Mundus delectat, decipit, destruit. VI Of Loyalty, and Rebellion. THAT Kings (whose Original in England is beyond the Memory of History) whether good or bad, do derive, and receive their Authority immediately from God: That Subjects do justly, and indispensably owe both submission, and subjection unto them: And that God hath placed them so far beyond the power, and so high above the reach of their Subjects cruel, unjust, ingrateful, when (against them) armed hands, that they are accountable to himself only for their Actions; are Truths so bright, so evident, that we may run, and read them confirmed by the sacred Scriptures, asserted by the pens of learned men, and sealed with the blood of pious Christians in all Ages. * prov. 8. 15. By me (saith God) Kings reign. † Dan. 2 21. He removeth Kings and seateth Kings up. * Dan. 1. 37. The God of Heaven (saith Daniel to Nabuchadnezzar a wicked King) hath given thee a Kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 2. Touch not mine anointed, says David a man after Gods own heart, † 1 Sam. 24. 5. whose Counsel and Command to others was his own * practice, as well as Duty. Nor are we only inhibited to oppose or resist him, for there is no rising up against him, says wise * Prov. 30. 31. Agur: But which is yet more, we are prohibited by † Eccles. 8. 4. Who may say to a, King, what dost thou? words to question him, much more than certainly it is unlawful, and sinful for his Subjects to depose, or with Swords to murder him. Holy Augustine tell us that Kings have their Kingdoms from God, not from men. Solus verus Deus dat regna terrena bonis & malis. Famous Bracton saith positively, Rex non habet superiorem nisi Deum; The King hath no superior but God. The Oath of Supremacy which we take both as lawful, and necessary, hath these express words in it: The King's Highness is the only Supreme Governor of this Realm, and all other his Highness' Dominions and Countries, as well in all spiritual, or Ecclesiastical things, or Causes, as Temporal, etc. And Lastly, our a Magn. Cham 29. Law saith, That none shall be arrested, imprisoned, disseized of their Estates, deprived of his Liberty, banished, or otherwise destroyed, but by the verdict of his equals, and the Law of the Land. This Magna Charta was granted, enacted, confirmed by the Kings of England, from whom this, and all other Laws receive their life and being. For he is Anima Legis, his Fiat animates and quickens them; without it Bills are but breathless Embryo's: where or whence then have we any Law, or just power to restrain, imprison, arraign, condemn, banish or to destroy our Sacred Sovereign; who hath no peers, no equals within his Dominions? Thirdly, this truth, That Christians ought not to resist, or R●bell against their Kings, though Pagans, Papists, or Tyrants, hath been subscribed by millions of them with their Blood, not only under the ten Roman: most barbarous persecutions by those Heathenish Monsters, when so many of them were slaughtered that there were for every day in the year (saith St. Jerom) 5000 Martyrs: But this was also the judgement, and practise of our English Martyrs in Queen Macies dries. The fire of Loyalty burned in their hearts, and flamed out at their mouths in Christian exhortations, and persuasions of the Spectators to Allegiance, and obedience unto the King and Queen, when they were unjustly by their Authority, Command, or permission condemned, sentenced to be burned, and when that cruel Sentence was ready to be executed by remorseless men, or rather Tigers upon them. b Fox Book of Martyrs. vol. 3 p. 665. Bishop Cranmer a little before his Martyrdom in his last words to the people said thus: I exhort you that next under God you obey your King and Queen (viz. Philip and Mary) willingly and gladly, without murmuring or grudging, not for fear of them only, but much more for the fear of God, Knowing that they be God's Ministers appointed by God to rule, and govern you: and therefore whosoever resisteth them, resisteth the ordinance of God. Authority is God's creature; Monarchy is a divine Institution, not the work or Child of men; Loyalty therefore is our duty, and at once the comfort, and the character of Christians, and real piety. The spirit of truth hath joined Fear God, and honour the King together, true Christians therefore dare not attempt ei●her to divide, or divorce them. And as they have no warrant for it, but a plain, a peremptory Comm●nd against it: so neither is th●re any either wisdom or safety in doing of it. For Loyalty is not only the Mother, but the Nurse of Peace. And peace is the Magazine, the Mine, Root and Spring of plenty, safety, prosperity and all temporal felicity. Rebellion is the source of desolation. Succ●s●full Traitors, are usually most cruel Tyran●s. * Nemo unqu●m imperium mal●● artibus quaesitum bene exercuit. Tacit. Usurpers are commonly Oppressors. Their victories make them bloody and miserable Captives to their brutish lusts and passions which overcome and enslave them. Ira, Superbia, Crudelitas, Furor, Rabbis sunt victoriae Comites, & victorum hoste●, a quibus saep● Clarissimi victores turpissime victi sunt, saith Petrarch, and we can sadly say we have found his words most true. Can we expect or hope that those Wolves which worry the Shepherd, will love, spare, or defend the Sheep? That such as thirst for blood, struggle for Thrones, and court the possessions of others, will desire peace, execute Justice, or delight in mercy? If conscience then do not, prudence should persuade us not only to hate Treason, but also to decline, yea to detest all Communion, Concurrence, and correspondency with Traitors. By woeful experience we now know (though the widest, broadest words, and the highest the most eloquent language are too narrow, low and flat fully to express it) how great, how grievous a Judgement, & Calamity it is to have no King in Israel. Have we not seen since the Crown did fall from our head because we had sinned against the Lord, such things acted amongst us as we cannot but tremble to hear, and abhor to think of? Have we not had such Nero's as did with delight, inhumanity, and impiety rip up the Bowels of their Mother, murder their gracious Father, and endeavour with cunning, cruelty and indefatigableness to ruin at once both the Church and State? So that we may say of some of their Fathers, as the Romans did of him when he commanded a Boy to be so cut as to make him an artificial Woman, Would Nero's Father had had such a Wife: Since c Speed Chron. p. 103. what was said of Lucius the King of Britain, may be too truly affirmed of them; namely, That they had been happy if they had not left a Son behind them, because their Children (as Lampridius said of Commodus) h●ve liv●d for the Subjects mischief and their own shame. We have been taught (but we have paid exceeding dear for our Learning) the difference betwixt being governed by L●mbs, and Lions. Let us therefore prize God's mercies whilst we enjoy them, lest our sufferings and sorrows show ns the heinousness of our Sin, in slighting, and rejecting of them. And let us not only profess Loyalty with our lips, but let us carefully, really, constantly express it in our Lives to our Sacred Sovereign, it being both pleasing to God, and profitable to ourselves to be obedient, faithful Subjects. For Allegiance is the faithful Lifeguard, the invincible Rampart both of King and people. 'Tis that sweet smell * 'Tis said ●hat sweet smells will k●l Vultures, and revive D●ves. A●ms are the defence of Tyrants, and therefore ●he unsavoury 〈◊〉 of Gunpowder is delightful, but the odoriferous savour of pe●ce is distasteful, yea deadly to them. which kills Vultures, I mean foreign, and Domestic Enemies. 'Tis that Hoop, that Ring, which keeps Cormorants, Avaricious, Ambitious men f●om devouring of us. 'Tis that Muzzle, t●at Chain, which ties up and hinders those cruel wild Beasts, Factious, Aspiring, Traitorous Incendiaries, from tearing in pieces, preying on, and kindling amongst us the consuming, fearful fire of Civil War, which (e) like the Trojan horse) hath ever an Army of Plagues, Miseries, and Calamities in the Belly of it. 'Tis that music which drives away the evil spirit of Division from us. The King is the Head, Husband, Father, Lord of his people: 'Tis therefore against Piety, Nature, Law, Reason, Gratitude, for those that are his Members, Wife, Children, Subjects, Servants to injure, resist, or Rebel against him. 'Tis an odious, infamous, damnable Crime to conspire against him that protects us to endeavour his Ruin that is exposed to daily, yea hourly cares, dangers, troubles, to screen, shield, preserve us, and wickedly to violate those Sacred Oaths which we have solemnly taken to express our Allegiance by a Christian sincere obedience unto him. Tbough he be a bad King that rules us, yet we ought to be good, dutiful, loyal Subjects. For whether he be Merciful or Cruel, Righteous, or Impious, Just, or Tyrannical, God doth † Rom 13. 1. ordain, send, set up, and * Dan. 4. 32. give him his Kingdom. He that gave Sovereignty to Augustus, gave it also to Nero. He that gave it to the Vespasions, Father and Son, sweetest Emperors, gave it also to Domitian that bloody Monster. In a word, he that gave it to Christian Constantine, gave it also to Ju●ian the Apostate, saith St. Augustine. We are therefore strongly obliged (He being God's Vicegerent on earth) whether he be good or evil, to reverence, not resist him to * 1 Tim. 2. 1. pray for him, not to plot against him, to fear, not to fight him. Yea so tender, jealous, and careful is the Lord of Kings, that in his holy Word he doth not only forbid us † Exod. 22 28. to speak evil of our Lawful Sovereign, but also to think, * Eccles. 10. 10 or † wish any evil to him. d Cap. 25. ●. 3. And the Law of England hath made it high Treason for any one, or all his Subjects but to imagine his Death: Much more certainly than are we forbidden to do any evil to our King, to t●ke up Arms against him, and to seize, apprehend, imprison, Arraign, Condemn, Murder him. Our Law saith the King can do no wrong, it must needs be then against all right, reason, justice, equity, Conscience, that he should suffer any wrong by or from his Subjects who cannot attempt his destruction without being guilty of Treason, nor act it (unless they repent) without Damnation. God says † 2 Pet. 2. 13. 17. we must submit to him, how then can we justify ourselves in rising up against him? Let us therefore not only esteem Gods command our Duty, but let us make it our delight, care and resolution inviolably to observe it. Let us remember and consider that Loyalty is pleasing to God, an honour to Religion, a Bulwark against foreign invasions, & an Antidote against the stinging, kill power of the Law; but that Rebellion * 1 Sam. 15. 23. is as the sin of Witchcraft, which is death without mercy by the Laws both of † Levit. 20. 17. God and Man. 'Tis a crimson sluice pulled up to let in Confusion together with all other imaginable, yea unexpressible miseries upon a people. 'Tis a bloody Flux that often destroys, but always extremely weakens that Body politic, that unwise, unhappy Kingdom which is diseased, and afflicted with it. 'Tis that furious Wildfire, which quickly turns the strongest, the best built and the most flourishing Nation into Ashes. 'tis a Cart-rope of Iniquity, that draws down God's heaviest Judgements upon a People. 'tis a dagger that stabs Religion to the very heart, and let's out the Lifeblood thereof. 'tis a sword that cuts the Sinews and ligaments of Love, Unity, Honesty, Justice, Mercy, and Piety asunder. 'Tis the Devil's grand Engine, wherewith he batters down the Throne and Temple of Christ in a State, & the means he uses to erect his own Kingdom upon their Ruins. 'Tis the broad way to Poverty, Infamy, Death, and Damnation. The Triumphs of Traitors are nothing but glorious Chariots wherein Satan drives them securely, furiously, suddenly to destruction. Their most eminent Conquests are only barbarous, successful Murders, public Robberies, and short-lived prosperons Impieties. For Rebels (like blind Samson) do always pull down Ruin either upon their own, or upon their Posterities heads, or both. Their Victories do but multiply at once their Iniquities and Calamities. God abhors them, good men detest them, Vengeance pursues them, their scarlet Crimes cry aloud for Plagues to be inflicted on them, and their deserved Execution is often as strange, sudden and unexpected, as their wicked, horrid, cursed practices are loathsome in the eye of God, and odious to all gracious, honest men. And that you may see what signal marks of Infamy, Misery, Indignation, and Detestation, the King of Kings, God Almighty hath visibly set upon Traitors, I shall present you with a few instances of his severe, yet most righteous deal with them, and the vufortunate Children of some of them. Was not Absalon justly, and strangely punished? That head which contrived the sin, cut off the sinner, for his Hair became his Halter: he hanged by it upon an unexpected Gallow-tree and so perished. † 2 Kings. 12. 20. The Servants of Joash conspired against him, and slew him: * 2 Kings 14. 5. But Amaziah so soon as he was confirmed in the Kingdom slew those wicked Servants that murdered his Father. Julius Caesar's Butchers came all of them to untimely Deaths, and some of them were cut off by their own hand with those very Weapons wherewith they killed him. But since I need not travail out of England to fetch examples of this kind, I shall offer a few of our own to your view and serious perusal. King Henry the 6th. was deprived of his Kingdom, and together with his young Son Edward imprisoned, and put to death by King Edward the 4th. King Edward the 4th. died not without suspicion of poison. After his death his two Sons were imprisoned, and murdered in the Tower by their bloody Uncle the cruel Duke of Gloucester, who being a Tyrannical Usurper was encountered and justly slain in Bosworth Fields by Henry the 7th. King Henry the 〈◊〉. (an Usurper) had only one Son and one Daughter: his Son William was drowned in his passage from Normandy; his Daughter Maud was disinherited by Stephen of her Birthright; and E●stace the only Son of King Stephen, died mad in his Father's life-time. But that English Judas, Machiavil, Ravillack, Cromwell, though he deserve to lead the Van of all Heathenish, Atheistical. Perjured, Jesuitical Traitors, shall bring up the Rear of these Odious, Execrable Exampler. He murdered his Gracious Sovereign, Exiled his pious Son, enslaved his Fellow-Subjects, shed abundance of innocent Blood, Tyrannised over Three Kingdoms, Nursed Heresies, protected, and promoted Traitors, justified Rebellion, designed, laboured, and endeavoured to extirpate Monarchy together with all the Royal Progeny of our late blessed King of ever glorious Memory. This is that Cromwell of whom (as of most Tyrants) that may be truly affirmed which Florus saith of Beasts, (sc.) Maxim mortiferi esse solent morsus morientium bestiarum: for usually the Older the Crueler, the nearer their end, and destruction, the bloodier, and more barbarous they are. His name stinks worse than his rotten carcase, his memory is loathsome to all honest hearts, and his Children who had built their nests amongst the Stars are tumbled down by the angry Arm of a just God, and do now lie level with the surface of the earth, not so much as a branch, sprout, or stump of that hollow, rotten tree remaining either in power, or honour. So true is that of Curtius, Nulla quaesita scelere potentia est diuturna. Thus we see that Rebellion kindles such a Fire as will not be quenched till either the Traitors themselves or their miserable posterity be consumed. The joy of Hypocrites is but for a moment, and the triumphing of the wicked is short, saith Zophar. Since I began to write, God hath effected two more famous Monuments of his hatred against Rebellion in England, I shall therefore (though I intended to add no more) briefly mention them. The one is his merciful blasting the hopes of those persons commonly called the flyblown, stinking Rump. The other is his seasonable breaking the horns of those fanatics in the North. This is the Lords doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And thus we see again, that though God may for a time forbear to punish Rebellion, yet he will not forget it. Though the just Laws of men may sleep, or rather seem to slumber a while, yet they will both surely and quickly awaken: And though they may be gagged or bound by the cruel hands of Violence and Treason, yet they will most certainly be rescued, set at Liberty, and preserved to the disappointment, terror, unpitied destruction, and the joyful execution of the enemies of God, and the King. For whose happy Restauration without swimming through a Sea of Christian blood to his Throne, and his preservation from barbarous, bloody men, when he is safely arrived and restored, let us all frequently, hearty, cry unto the Lord. The Prayer. ANd be thou pleased most gracious God, I humbly beseech, theeto protect his Royal person from open violence and secret Conspiracies: Let no weapon form against him prosper, and let every arm stretched out against him whither. Make him, O Lord, good, and great, holy, and happy. Establish his Throne in peace upon the sure foundations of Truth and Righteousness. Crown him with the chiefest and choicest of all thy blessings; Be, O Lord, a shield and a Sun unto him, fasten him as a Nail in a sure place, and make him a gracious, ancient, glorious Father in Israel. Shower down the Mercies and Comforts of the upper and nether springs upon the Heads and Hearts of him and the rest of that Royal Family. Cause, dear God, Wars to cease, Religion to flourish, and Love to abound in this Kingdom. Let not our sins provoke thee to turn our Goshen into an Aceldama any more. Make, O Lord, our Sovereign happy in his People, make his People happy in Him their rightful King, and make us all happy in the enjoyment of thy love, protection, and favour for Jesus Christ his sake, Amen. Per obedientiam pax, prosperitas, libertas: per Rebellionem Inf elieitas, poena, paupertas, infamia, desolatio, damnatio. VII. Of Riches. Riches are a golden hook wherewith Satan catches and destroys the greedy Sons of Mammon. They are (without Grace) the rust, canker, poison, that eat, consume, and kill the very sinews, heart, and vitals of honesty, contentment, piety. They are nothing (without Christ) but silver letters, glorious burdens, guilded miseries, glittering troubles, shining vexations, painted Cares, afflicting friends, miserable Comforters, Egyptian reeds, broken Cisterns, birds on wing, a squalid Gloworm. They are the Mother of Pride, fuel of contention, panders to vice. Divitiae sunt alimenta vitiorum, voluptatum organa, Clavis aurea scelerum. They make men the prey of Enemies, sponges of Tyranny, and the But● of envy. And therefore when the a Aemy. Probus in vita Thrasibuli. p. 28. Mitylenians had given to Pittcus one of the seven wisemen, many thousand acres of Land, he refused their gift, saying, Nolite, rogo vos, mihi dare quod multi invideant, plures etiam concupiscant, Do not, I pray you, said he bestow that on me which many will envy, and more will covet. Riches, they breed a Dropfie in the mind, which makes it thirst insatiably. They make that Heart which immoderately loves them, (like the ground wherein the Mines are found) so barren that no good thing grows in it. They are that fair enticing apple, for which men lose Paradise; * Prov. 11. 4. false friends in distress; a shadow which vanisheth when the clouds of sickness, trouble of mind * If every feather in that featherbed whereon I lie were a piece of Gold, it would now do me no good, if I had not made my peace with god said that sincerely gracious, eminently religious, and most heavenly Servant of Jesus Christ Ms. Sarah Sharp of Filby in Leicestershire upon her deathbed, who put off her rotten Rags of flesh and frailty to be clothed with the white precious, and shining Robes of Immortality, Felicity & glory, March. the 14. 1658. or death hang over our heads, being no more able in such a condition, to quiet, content, or satisfy the mind with real Comforts, than virtue is to fill a pot, or the sight of Gold an hungry stomach. As that rich-poor man found, who being very sick and full of grief called for a bag of Gold and laid it at his heart, in hope thereby to find help and ease, but presently after he called to them that stood by to take it away, saying, O it will not do, it will not do. Riches they glue, and nail the heart of a Worldling to the earth, so that what Valerius saith of Ptolomaeus King of Cyprus, he was in title King of that Island, but in his heart a miserable drudge of money, may in truth be affirmed of most very wealthy men. They are called Impedimenta, the b Bacon Essay. 33 p. 205. Baggage of virtue, that hinders men in their march towards Heaven. They are compared to long garments which hinder men from running the Race of Piety. Gold and Silver are too heavy metals for him to carry that seeks Heaven. They are the roots of care, and the seeds of Trouble. Divitias invenisti? requiem perdidisti. King Eutrapeus used to heap most riches on them whom he most hated, saying, that together with their Riches he should crush, and oppress them with a● heavy burden of cares. And Bishop Latimer said in a Sermon, Believe me, auditors, if I had an enemy to whom I might lawfully wish any evil, I would desire chief that he might be very rich, because I am certain that when once he enjoys abundance of wealth, he will always want rest and quiet. Riches they dead our affections to heavenly things, and make us prefer gain before Godliness, Silver before Sanctity, Plenty before Piety, and cosfers full of Gold before a gracious Christ. If I were not Alexander the great, I would be Diogenes the Philosopher, said Alexander. If I were not great, I would be good, says a rich man. 'Tis almost impossible, says one; 'tis a miracle of grace, says another, for a rich man to be righteous. And yet if Riches be sanctified, Prov. 10. 12. they are great * blessings, and singular advantages to honour God, and to do good withal to others, if not curses; being like poison, if corrected, physic, if not, death: and like muck, if not spread abroad, good for nothing. Wealth consists not in having, but in desiring: Vis fieri dives? nile cupias, Wouldst thou have enough? desire nothing. A contented mind is Lord of both the Indies. c Plut. Apophthegm. The Samnites after M. Curius had overcome them in battle sent unto him for a present a good Sum of Gold: the Ambassadors came, found him sitting by the fire side tending the Pot, wherein he boiled certain R●pe Roots, and tendering the present to him, he gave them this answer, d Plurimum habet qui desiderat minimum, habet autem quantum vult qui vult minimum. Putean. Orat. 1. That he who could content himself with such a supper, had no need at all of gold. Would ye be rich? be virtuous, and righteous. Be virtuous because they only (saith an Heathen) Qui virtute sunt praediti divites sunt, soli enim possident res et fructuosas, & sempiternas: solique (quod proprium est divitiarum) contenti sunt rebus suis, etc. Be righteous, because fidelibus totus mundus divitiarum est, saith a Christian; the Saints have all the world for their possession. And if you would increase your riches, the surest way is * Prov. 11 24. 1 Tim. 6. 19 Charitably to scatter them. e Reinold. Orat. p. 397. Divitiae quo aliis jurandis profunduntur magis, eo magis nobis ipsis amplificantur; servando minuuntur, minuendo crescunt; acquiruntur largiendo, congeruntur dissipando, cetinentur impertiends. Si parcas perdis, amittis si recondas, si distribuas custodis; non erunt diu tuae si sint solius tuae, nunquam erunt magis tuae, quam si cunctis communes facias. Qui ditissimus esse volet, profusissimus sit oportet; qui parcissimus esse studet, egentissimus sit necesse est, says the Orator elegantly. Riches the more bountifully we distribute them, the more abundantly we increase them. They are lessened by keeping, and multiplied by lessening of them; they are gotten by giving them away, heaped together by dispersing, and retained by bestowing of them. If we spare them, we consume them; if we hid them, we lose them, but if we relieve others with them, we save them: They will not stay long with us if we keep them only to ourselves; they will never be more truly ours, then when we freely communicate them to others. If then we would be wealthy, we must be liberal, since the way to be beggarly is to be niggardly, and to be poor to be parsimonious. The safest place to keep our Riches in, is Christ's treasury, the poor. When Alexander the Great had given away his Treasure, and they asked him where it was, he pointed to the poor, and said in Scriniis, in my Chests And the only way to take our wealth with us to Heaven, or to find it there, is to send it before on poor men's backs thither. Money is a good Maid, but a bad Mistress. If we over love Riches, they will destroy us. If we trust in them, they will deceive us; They will serve a worldly wicked man: when he puts off from the shore of life by sickness, and launches into the Ocean of eternity by death, as Pharaohs Chariot wheels did him and the Egyptians in the midst of the red Sea, they will fall off, and fail him in his greatest extremity: And as the f Mr. Weever Funer. Acts & Monuments. Courtiers, Counsellors, Friends, and Servants did that renowned King of England, Edward the 3d. upon his deathbed, they will forsake him, and neither stay, nor so much as appear to administer any either temporal, or spiritual Comfort unto him. g Rainold Oratus p. 290. What Hannibal said of Antiochus his Soldiers, Auro fulgebant satis ad Pompam armis, ad pugnam nihil valebant; 'tis most true of them. They may, yea, can indeed make us shine and glitter with bravery; but they cannot fit, arm, enable, or spirit us to fight against our spiritual Enemies with Courage, nor the wrath of God with victory. And therefore Beatus ille qui non post illa abiit quae possessa onerant, amata inquinant, amissa cruciant. A man may be very poor with abundance of Wealth, yea when he hath the highest Tide of plenty: and a man may be really h Mens bona possidet Regnum. Nerva Imperator. rich in the midst of wants, yea in the lowest Ebb of Poverty; for pauper esse non potest qui apud Deum dives est, 'tis not goods but goodness, not earthly wealth but Heavenly Wisdom, not a great Estate in the World, but a saving interest in Christ, not gold, * Prov. 8. 21. but grace that makes us truly rich. Isse ad deum copiosus, * Judges 4. 18, 19-21. ille opulentus advenit cui adstabunt continentia, misericordia, potentia fides, charitas. God is not always pleased with those he prospers in the World, for he gives wicked men riches as † Jael gave Sisera milk and lodging; * Judges 3. 17-21. As Ehud gave Eglon a to their destructions; * 1 Sam. 18, 21. And † as Saul gave Michal to David to be a snare unto them. Riches are but the blessings of Gods left hand, the comforts of the lower springs, and therefore Goats, profane men and women, that shall be eternally damned, may drink freely, fill themselves at those wells, and have abundance of them. The Indians who never heard of Christ, were owners of the Gold and Silver Mines, when Christians had but quarries of stone. But God deals with his Children as * Genes. 24. 6. Abraham did to Isaac, he gives them all that he hath, grace, mercy, peace here, and glory hereafter. And as * 2 Cron. 21. 3. Jehoshaphat did with his Sons, he gives the eldest (those that are regenerate that are adopted and have the Spirit whereby they can truly comfortably cry Abba Father) a Kingdom, but unto all the rest (to all those that are unconverted, unholy) he gives only gifts of silver and Gold and of precious things; for the wicked have nothing but outward Mercies for their Portion. The Prayer. O LORD thou alone dost both bless the substance, and curse the blessings of Men. Thy dispensations, holy God, are various, perplexing, wonderful. For thou makest some persons that are poor, oppressed, distressed, imprisoned, banished, and very indigent rich in Faith, and dost assure them that they are heirs of an heavenly, great, glorious, ever-enduring Inheritance, whilst others that are great, full, opulent, free from troubles, and prosperous in the World, are both exceeding miserable and very Beggars; And yet thou art most just, equal, righteous in all thy do, ways, and deal with men. Thy mercy O Lord is plenty with Poverty. Thy blessing is pure real, refined Riches, having no mixture of sorrow, care, or fear in it. Thou O God fillest the empty, thou satisfiest the hungry and thirsty with good things; when the wickedly wealthy are empty both of Grace, comfort, peace and contentment, though they be brimful, yea though they run over with Abundance. Let not Christians therefore, O Lord, fix their eyes or set their hearts upon earth, or earthly things only, as if there was no Heaven for them to look upon, or no Celestial riches for them to desire and seek. But let them account all sublunary enjoyments but fair and fading Flowers: which thine Anger can and will both blast and whither in a moment. Let them not prefer a muckhill before a Mine by esteeming gain more than Godliness. Let them not strangle their souls with a silver Snare, nor suffer themselves to be catched in a Net of Gold by either an inordinate Love of, or an over-eager, and sinful guest and pursuit after Riches while they live, lest when they die their Iniquity and Calamities teach them their folly, upbraid them with their frenzy, and sting them for ever with unexpressible misery. Grant this O thou who art rich in Mercy, for his sake in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom, real Wealth, and Happiness Jesus Christ, Amen. Divitiae sine Gratia nocent, affligunt; vexant, premunt, opprimunt, irretiant, interficiunt. VII. Of Covetousness; And Covetous Persons. 'Tis a Thief that steals a man from himself leaving him his treasures, but robbing him of an heart to use them. 'tis a Wolf in the heart, that must daily be fed, yet at length kills the Caterer who provides for it; and besides, while he lives it torments him with continual pain, fear, trouble. 'tis a gulf which cannot be filled up with the Curtius of plenty: A whirl-pool, which though it should suck in, and swallow up both the Indieses yea and the whole World, would yet be both empty and hungry. 'tis the rickets of the soul that keeps it from growing in grace. 'tis the spring from which flow those muddy stinking streams of baseness and dishonesty. The Centre, in which the lines of cruelty, bribery, ambition, theft, murder, usury, oppression, injustice meet. Yea, all evils grow, sprout, and proceed from this bitter * 1 Timothy 6. 10. Root and are bred in the womb of avarice. 'tis the shop, the forge●, where all wickedness is wrought, and form. Avari●ia fornix est in qua omnia Jesu Christi opprobria, sputa, clavi, lancea, flagella, spinae, crux, mors, & caetera passionis instrumenta procusa et formata. 'tis the Boulimia of the mind, which enlarges man's appetite and desires beyond all capacity, and possibility of being either pleased, or satisfied; for Dum sitiat sedare sitim, sitis altera crescit; The heart like the Horseleech still crying, Give, Give. The gluttonous earth may as soon be satisfied, yea cloyed with dead bodies put into its hungry stomach, its empty Bowels, as an avaricious heart can be filled with bags of gold or silver. The Sea can as soon be calm, in a violent tempest, yea in the most furious Herricano, as that mind can be quiet which is stirred with stormy desires after wealth. A covetous person is an Ahab, longing, sickening, dying for a Naboths vineyard. He's a Leviathan in the Ocean, a Pike in the pool of this world devouring by oppression, depopulation, uncharitableness, etc. the lesser fry, the poor, like Saul, he's busy and diligent in seeking of Asses, even when a great, a glorious Kingdom is offered unto him; He's sick of such a disease as makes a man die of famine in the midst of plenty, he's a Bankrupt with a great estate. a Marsil Ficinus Lib. Epi. 3●. Non est bonum haec habere quae dicuntur bonae, nisi bonis dignus fueris; Bonis enim non fruitur nisi bonus. And both in life and death he is a felo ' de se. He always wants what he hath, and this is part of his punishment (as one said to Alexander the Great) that he shall neither with enough, nor yet with too much be contented. He hath Caninum appetitum, so that nothing but either Death or Grace can take the greedy Muck-worm of avarice from him. He's like that Lapis chelidonius which retains its virtue no longer then it's set in Gold. Wealth and his heart like Hypocrates Twins, laugh and cry, live and die together. Like those Barbarians, who rejoice at, and bless the Sunrising, but mourn, and curse it when setting: he's only thankful foe prosperity, and pleased with plenty, for losses, wants, and crosses, do fret, torment, distract him. b Hackw Apolog. p. 404. et Sive tonius. Avarice 'tis the souls madness, witness Caligula who set up Stews in his Court and Palace, prostituting therein Boys and Women to get money by it, and not herewith content he would sometimes walk upon heaps of Gold and Silver, and sometimes as they lay spread abroad in a large Room roll himself up and down stark naked upon them. Bias his Problem, Qua re non es lassus? luerum faciendo: Quid maxime delectat? Lucrari, is, if not a Covetous man's whole Bible, yet at least a most Canonical Text therein, upon which his life is a commentary, and to which he conforms his Actions, his practice, with very much delight, yea with all his heart. He is an Alchemist that extracts gold not only out of dirt, or dung, but sin also, and says with c Hackw. Apolog. p 4●4. Vespasian, bonus est odor lucri ex re qualibet. He (like a Lapwing) hath a Coronet, an immortal soul to prize, and to take care of, yet feeds upon excrements, and like a Worm both lives and dies in a dunghill: he like the conclusion of a Syllogism semper sequitur deteriorem 〈◊〉, and his Motto may well be, I●opem & miserum me copia fecit, Wealth hath made me a miserable beggar. What Diogenes said to Alexander i●iting and persuading him to leave his Tub and follow him, every man may truly say to Avarice tempting him; In following thee Alexander (thou Avarice) I shall forsake myself, and in being thine I shall cease to be my own. A worldling with Alcibiades placeth his chiefest felicity in getting and keeping of goods, and is most troubled that when he dies he cannot (like Hermocrates) make himself his own Executor; being as unwilling to be divorced from them to whom he hath espoused his affections, as he was who when he found the certain symtoms of death upon him commanded his bed to be set up betwixt two Chests which he had filled with money, and himself to be laid thereon, saying; let me lie betwixt my friends, and enjoy them as long as I can, these I have most loved, and when we are parted, I have no hope to find any other friends. d Rainold. Orat. p. 128. Tyridates' King of Armenia called Nero his God; a covetous person e Heylyn. Geog. (like the Romans who erected a Temple to Dea pecunia and worshipped her in it in the figure of a woman holding a Cornucopia in one hand etc. at if all happiness did consist in Riches only) makes Gold his God, and hath that infamous brand of * Ephes. 5. 5. Idolatry set upon him by the hand of truth itself. How more than brutish than are all those men and women who adore that which they should trample under their feet! That hope to find fresh and sweet springs in a wilderness where no water is, nay in a broken Cistern: That promise to themselves beautiful, and pleasant fruits from a dry root, or a dead tree, That expect (without making any other provision for themselves) to live upon flying birds because sometimes they light, and settle upon their ground. That have no other Balm to apply unto their wounded Consciences but Money. That neither have not care for any other Evidences but their Deeds for their lands. That think to unlock the narrow Gate of Life with a Golden key. That like a Silkworm kill themselves with working for others, spinning the thread of wealth out of their own Bowels, and yet can make with all 〈◊〉 toil, art, and pains but a spider's web, which either the hands of enemies, or the Blesome of destruction, or the wind of God's displeasure, can and will both easily and certainly break, sweep down, and blow away; That deny and deprive themselves of all Comforts, to make both themselves and their posterities miserable. That acknowledge, as it were, a statute of, that mortgage, nay sell their souls for a little wealth, that so they may buy a corruptible fading inheritance for their Children, although to purchase that, they are sure to forfeit and lose both Heaven, happiness, and their own souls. That both lay and give * Esay 9 18. fire to a train to blow up and consume those † I do earnestly desire all covetous, irreligious Parents seriously to consider of and tremble at these few amongst many places of scripture. Exod 34. 7. Job. 18. 19 Job 19 10, 11, ●5. 22. 23. 28. houses and lands which they have built upon, and bought with the ruins of others. That feed their Children with poisoned dainties, That * Prov. 3. 33. sow their Lands with Sin for their offspring while they live, which will bring forth no better fruits, nor yield any other harvest but infamy, beggary, curses and misery unto them, and entail together with their inheritance, the wrath of God upon them. Certainly those that do thus are equally mad, and miserable, for (as that Blessed and Pious Martyr Bishop Hooper said) the gains of the World with the loss of God's favour is beggary and wretchedness. And all they are such and so do who prefer Earth before Heaven, plenty before piety, for they will one-day (to their grief, shame, and astonishment) find, that their greenest hopes will be blasted, their Egyptian reeds broken, their strongest holds demolished, that their honey will be turned into † Prov. 20. 17. gall and gravel, and that their wealth will end in wants and endless misery. Alexander the great going upon a hopeful expedition, gave away his Gold, and being asked what he kept for himself, he answered, Spem majorum, & meliorum, The hope of better and greater things. But these infatuated Mammonists give away their hopes of the most choice and precious things, Christ, Heaven, Pardon, a good Conscience, Salvation, etc. and reserve nothing but their Gold, and the guilt both of overloving, and sinfully getting it. And although they may or do expect a plentiful harvest after so laborious and troublesome a seedtime, yet they will find, that they have only ploughed upon a Rock, laboured in the fire, sown the wind, and therefore that they shall reap nothing but the whirlwind, for † Prov. 10. 2. Riches profit not in the day of wrath, says Solomon. And a greater than Solomon, God himself saith, * Ezech. 7. 19 their silver and their Gold, shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lords wrath, they shall not satisfy their souls neither fill their Bowels. Let us then as we desire not to be spiritual beggars and everlastingly undone, with an holy greediness covet the best gifts, and strive to be virtuous and pious, since f Plato. Omne super terram et sub terra Aurum non est ex ulla parte cum virtute comparandum. Let us with an indefatigable diligence labour to be rich in faith and good works: And let us with an holy scorn trample upon shining dirt, and that thick clay, wherewith, whereby, and wherein so many are both soiled, and suffocated, defiled, and destroyed, remembering always that man is de terra, & ex terra, sed non ad terram, nec propter terram; And also seriously considering, that Avarice is one of the Devil's strongest toils, wherein he takes, a Drag-net, wherewith he catches, and a pioner whereby he both undermines and kills the soul. Superbia clausit Diabolo coelum, Gula primo parenti abstulit par adifum, Avaritia diviti aperuit infernum. All covetous persons are spiritual Idolaters, (i) Heylyn. Geog. p. 790. so that what the people of Brasile said to the Spaniards holding up a wedge of Gold (g) viz. Behold the God of the Christians, may truly and sadly be objected to, and charged upon all avaricious men and women; for they make goods their God, account gain, godliness, and so do treasure up wrath instead of Wealth, * Prov. 3 33. Curses instead of Riches to themselves, and their posterities. Having thus presented to your view (though very unskilfully) an Anatomy of that loathsome, meager, unsavoury, unprofitable carcase, worldly mindedness, together with a true (though unlively) picture of the folly, indigency, slavery, and misery of all covetous persons; I shall now commend to your consideration a duty which Christ commands, † Matth. 6. 20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, etc. Beg earnestly, cry mightily to God for his favour, and carefully endeavour to keep yourselves in his Love, labour for a justifying faith, for purity, humility, and sincerity of heart, for holiness and all heavenly Graces, etc. For these are such Treasures to which all the Indian Mines are but dust, heaps, empty Exchequers, or Gravel-pits; and in comparison whereof the rarest, the most precious Jewels in the World, are but Glass and flints. As so many spurs therefore to quicken, or Arguments to persuade you to express your Loyalty to the King of Righteousness your Sovereign by your obedience and conformity to his will and Commands; and also to prevail with you, even for your own sakes, and the eternal good of your Souls, Conscientiously and carefully to put this duty (the pious performance whereof you will find to be equally necessary, profitable, and comfortable unto you) in practice consider, First, That these Celestial treasures are not only permanent, but they are also real Riches, such as will make you truly everlastingly great, honourable, wealthy, happy. Secondly, Consider, that these and only such treasures, are suitable to the nature and necessities of the soul. Gold they say is good, Conira palpitationem cordis, against that trouble called the palpitation or trembling of the heart, but it cannot cure a wounded spirit, nor so much as ease a heart that's burdened with the sense and fear of God's dreadful wrath for sin. The Soul is a spiritual substance, and therefore it cannot be fed, contented, maintained, or preserved, with mundane mercies, or carnal comforts, though shell was Empress of the universe. No, nothing but a saving interest in Christ, peace of Conscience, a sweet communion with God, victory over all her spiritual enemies, assurance of God's mercy in the full and free remission of all her Iniquities, etc. can quiet or satisfy her. And therefore she cries out in her pangs, wants, and serious reflections upon herself when she is either scorched with God's hot displeasure, and fiery indignation, or warmed with the Beams of Love and Mercy darting from the Sun of righteousness, and shining upon her, as that Martyr John Lambert did in the fire, h Fox B. of Martyrs. vol. 2. p. 427. col. 2. None but Christ, None but Christ; He alone being able to quench her thirst, to satisfy her hunger, to grant her desires, to supply her wants, to cure her maladies, to support her under pressures, to ease her of her burdens, to vanquish her enemies, to resolve all her doubts, to revive her in her swoon, to strengthen her in her languish, to give her cordials in her faintings, to secure her from her fears, to comfort her in her sorrows, to calm her in, to sanctyfie unto her, and to free her from all her troubles, by confirming her faith, increasing her graces, multiplying her Joys, and establishing her peace in the firm assurance, and clear Evidence (by his holy Spirit) of his free, infinite, eternal, unchangeable love unto her, the full satisfaction given by him to the Justice of God for her, and his free miraculous redemption of her, from her spiritual thraldom, from the curse and rigour of the Law, from the reigning, condemning power of sin, and from Satan, wrath, eternal Death, and Hell. Thirdly, Consider, that these divine Treasures will afford you real comforts in the dark, cloudy, showry days of adversity; yea in the saddest condition: whereas all those sublunary enjoyments, comforts and contentments which the worldly minded in their prosperity do so much admire, delight, and so eagerly pursue if you seek to them, when you are afflicted, tempted or dejected, for relief, deliverance, or consolation, will answer you as the * 2 Kings 26. 27. King of Israel did that distressed woman in the Famine of Samaria, when she cried to him as he passed by, Help my Lord, O King: If the Lord do not help thee, said he, whence shall I help thee? Riches will answer, it is not in me to secure, solace, or save you. Honour, power, pleasure, etc. will answer too, nor in us; For all we cannot make or give you an healing plaster for your hurt. We cannot cure the wound which the fiery Serpent of sin hath made in your Consciences, nor take out its painful deadly sting. We can neither make your peace with the Lord, shield you from his mortal arrows, interest you in his tender mercies, procure the yearning bowels, nor purchase the precious blood of Jesus Christ to sanctify or save, to cure, or comfort you. Thus and no otherwise will they answer, own, befriend, and bestead all those in the day of their visitation, that have made earth their Heaven, Honour their Idol, Opulency their Deity, the World their God, and Greatness their Happiness. Fourthly, Consider, that you may have a Confluence of all temporal blessings, and yet be both hated and Cursed of God. You may have all the good things of this Life, and yet be bad men. You may enjoy the world, and yet want Christ, and so be truly, eternally wretched, undone, ruined for all that, Quid enim prodest si omnia habes, eum tamen qui omnia dedit non habere? 'Tis not lucre but loss, 'tis not wealth but wants, yea beggary, to have all the world from God, if that God who made the World, and gives us all things, be not our God. But if you have these spiritual treasures, than you will enjoy Christ, and with him all things * Rom. 8. 32. . Will he who hath freely given us gold, deny us clay? Will he who hath bestowed pearls upon us, refuse to grant pebbles to us? Will he who hath clothed us with Robes, deny us Rags? will he who hath given us Diamonds, deny us dust or dirt? No, * 1 Cor. 21. 22. 33. no, do but read that great Charter of all true Christians, which (like the Laws of the Medes and Persians) will never be altered, nor repealed, and there in Golden Letters you may run and read the portion, privileges, and inheritance of every true believer. All is yours (saith that great Apostle) whether Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas, or the World, or Life, or Death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is Gods. So that every heavenly minded Christian (as well as a holy Corinthian) having a deed of Gift made to him by God, written with Christ's blood, sealed by his holy Spirit, and witnessed by his faithful Servant, pious and blessed St. Paul, of such precious, inestimable Riches, may truly contemningly say to the World, when she Courts him to embrace, covet, love, Idolise her, and says (as the Devil did to Christ when he tempted him to worship him) All these things will I give thee, sugared pleasures, gaudy riches, glittering pomp, swelling, studied titles, downy ease, rosy delights, dazzling Majest●e, etc. as * Dan. 5. 17. Daniel did to Belshazzer, when he promised him Riches, honour and promotion to interpret his Dreams, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy Rewards to another. And as † Genes. 33. 9 Esau did to his Brother Jacob when he tendered his present to him, I have enough, keep that thou hast thyself. For how can they want any thing, whose Husband is not only kind, loving and faithful, but also both the Lord and Heir of all things: and whose Father (the God of truth) hath promised to give to his Son's Wife, every sincere Christian, for a Dower or Jointure, both * Psalm. 84. 11 Grace, Glory, and every good thing. Lastly, Consider, that an holy greecinesse and covetousness after these ever enduring treasures, these best gifts, an indefatigable diligence to attain them, a restless care for them, and the setting of your hearts, the fixing of your affections entirely upon them, is both the best and surest way to provide not only for yourselves, but for your posterity also. For if God be your Father he will be your children's Guardian, he will take the charge of them, and care for them, so that they shall neither * Psalm. 37 25 want nor be wronged, since the Lord is not only able but willing to protect and supply them: And it's a truth equally bright and comfortable, that the Children of religious Parents who have had no other inheritance, portions, or legacies but their faithful prayers, holy Counsels, and pious Examples to settle upon them, or be queath unto them to live upon, and to set up withal in the World, have yet prospered, come to honour, and been blest with both plenty and felicity: whereas the offspring of the wicked, who have been left heirs to very vast sums of money and great estates, have come to a morsel of Bread by reason of Gods either secret, or visible (but always most just) curse upon what they enjoy, for either their own or the sins of their forefathers, in wickedly getting, unlawfully keeping, or sinfully abusing and mispending of them. Male parta male et cito dilabuntur. Besides, Injusta lucra breves habent voluptates, longos autem dolores. The momentany pleasures of unjust Gain will be embittered and punished with eternal pains, and sorrows. The Prayer. O LORD, so desirous art thou to save, and so unwilling to destroy the miserable, undone (because wicked, and rebellious) Children of Adam, whose Life on Earth is both a Warfare and a wayfare, a Fight and a voyage, that thou hast both provided them a Magazine, and set them up, great, yea glorious, Landmarks (The Holy Scriptures) to furnish them with Weapons to subdue all their Enenemies: And also to afford them Light, and to give them Direction whereby they may safely sail by those Shelves and Quicksands that threaten to ruin and swallow up their Souls in their passage to eternity. And further as one of the greatest and most mischievous of them all haste in love to their Souls acquainted them with the danger, mischief and misery of Avarice, that so they may both fear, avoid, decline and escape that Soul-wracking, Soul-ruining Rock: Blessed God add one Link more I beseech thee to the long, the precious Chain of thy free Love, and rich, immerited Mercy, Give Christians hearts I pray thee to hate Covetousness: Let not their Affections O Lord be riveted to earthly things. Let them not set up Gold or goods in their minds above their good God. Let them not sinfully love or seek that here which will either leave or betray them, when they come to lie under black and sad Providences, under the burden, anguish, trouble, and terrors of a wakened Conscience, and the affrighting, confounding Arrest of Death. Give them Grace, O Lord, to covet the best Gifts, and then the best of Gifts, Jesus Christ, that real Indie wherein all the most precious, I neverfailing Mines of Saving Grace, heavenly Blessings, spiritual Joys and Comforts, everlasting Treasures, purest sweetest pleasures, highest Honoures, and eternal Felicity are to be found, and gotten, will be given unto them. Let them, O Lord, make Christ their All, and then they will be sure to want nothing. Let all their, fresh springs be in thee, and then dry and broken Cisterns, Creature-comforts will neither deceive nor destroy them. And let all, O Lord, that enjoy the Gospel of Jesus Christ both remember and consider with timely Care, and Fear, that covetous Persons are not written in the Book of Life, and enroled in Heaven, but that they are Registered, Listed and put by the Lord into that black Catalogue and Muster-roll of heinous Sinners, and odious Idolaters, whose souls shall never enter into God's rest, Kingdom and Glory, Amen. Avaritia Averni est porta, pietatis Gangraena, Honestatis Tinea, Mors Animae. IX. Of Pleasure. IT's an Itch that overspreads all the senses till it grow an incurable disease. A hand which tickles us like Trout to our ruin. A Tarantula that stings men so, as to make them die laughing. It deprives us of our Palates, so that we cannot taste any sweetness in the duties of holiness, and service of God. It's pleasing but dangerous Opium to the soul, and hath a Sirent tongue, wherewith it sings such Melodious Lullabies unto it that at length the heart is laid down by it so fast asleep in the Cradle of security, that nothing but either the thunder of threatening, or the lightning of flaming wrath and scorching anger, or the fire of Hell flashing in the very face of Conscience can awaken it. * All sublunary delights, pleasures and contentments Gustata magis quam potata delectant. Cicer. Tusc. lib. 2. The top of the cup is honey, but the bottom Gall. It at our first acquaintance with us, smiles upon us, and bids us welcome, but afterwards it scourges us with Scorpions. By it men and women a Hackwel Apolog p. 458. like the Jesters of Heliogabalus, are smothered with violets, and buried under Roses, a bitter sweet death. Voluptuous persons like the b Sr. Anthony Shirley's relation. Kings of Persia, do Hawk at Butterflies with Sparrows, their lusts make them pursue vanities. They are like the c Howel in the Life of Lewis 3. French, of whom one saith in regard of their Inconsiderateness that they are Animalta sine praeterito & futuro, Creatures that have no respect either to time past, or time to come. When they have tired, glutted, and turned the edge of their lusts by a full and free enjoyment of their darling luscious delights, and their foolish, filthy pleasures, they say of such a day or time as the d Burton melancholy. Barbarous Prince did of that when he saw Julius Caesar and his gallant Roman Army, that he had now seen the Gods, and that it was the happiest day that ever he had in his life. And as the Glutton did at a great feast, sure there is no other Heaven but this. They are like that Cardinal who said he would not give his part in Paris, for his part in Paradise. The Alpha of pleasures is mirth, but the Omega mourning. It's a false fire, an Ignis fatuus, that lights, leads, and betrays those who follow it to danger, dishonour, destruction; It's a soft, sweet, pleasant Gale that fills the sails of men's corrupt affections, and wastes them delightfully, down the calm streams of carnal Joy, and sensual pleasures into the Mare mortuum of everlasting lamentation. It's like the Apples of Sodom very beautiful without, when within there's nothing but dust and rottenness. Like some pictures exceeding fair and amiable if looked upon one way, but most ugly and deformed if beheld another way. It hath a weight of lead on the one hand as well as a wing on the other, a sting as well as a speckled skin. And when best or sweetest, it's but honey and Aloes, wine and water mixed together, nay many times it stings the heart so painfully, that even while smiles sit upon the * Prov. 14. 13. face, sighs and sorrows fill and perch upon the spirit. That very day, saith Marcus Aurelius, when I triumphed in Rome openly for my Victories, my heart wept secretly. Pleasure it strangles the soul with silken halters, smothers it in a bed of down, throws it from a Tower of Pearl, stabs it with a Golden dagger, kills it with a delicious banquet, and drowns it in a Sea of Wine. The infatuated Lovers of it are like e Speed Cro. p. 85. Domitian, whose delight was, to catch and kill flies. Like f Hackwel Apolog. p. 463. Nero who used to fish with golden hooks, and nets drawn with purple coloured Lines for Gudgeons. 'tis like Diogenes his laqueus melleus, delightful but deadly. A voluptuous person is an Aetna, always burning within with foolish and filthy desires, and often flaming out in Acts of impurity, bestiality, impiety; he's an Israelite dying with Quails in his mouth. Pleasure it's like a Favourite, both a sum and a cipher, in a very little time, all and nothing, she serves and deludes her Lovers (as 'tis said the Devil hath done some witches) glving them shining leaves, instead of real Gold, and proves an empty cloud instead of a Juno to those that embrace her. She decoys men into snares, and dangers, and instead of a pleasant walk she proves at last a deep pit and a narrow ditch to her lovers. For although they do prefer Dalilahs' lap before Abraham's bosom, yet they will one day most certainly find that all those fleshly, vain, and sinful pleasures, whereon they have doted, and wherein they have lived, will be Serpents and stones, instead of fish, and bread, and but Thorns, Thistles, Briers, instead of Grapes, Figgs, and Flowers. Pleasure 'tis like an g Heylyn Geog. ex Ovidio. p. 726. Aethiopian Lake, at which whosoever drinks, it makes him (they say) either mad, or drowsy. 'tis like small beer, or water in a fever, which doth not quench but increase the thirst; and though at first it may be pleasant, yet afterwards it is always dangerous, and often deadly. 'tis that Green fruit which breeds the worm of an evil Conscience in their souls that feed too greedily, too long, and too much upon it. The Prayer. O LORD, thou knowest that the Devil that equally cunning, cruel and implacable enemy of Mankind doth both long and labour to take, possess, and command that Royal Fort the heart. In Order whereunto he uses both Fraud and Force, Arms and art, that so if he cannot conquer it by Battery he may yet gain it by Treachery, or flattery, and if he cannot by affrighting, that then he may by alluring have it yielded up unto him. Now to the effecting of this bloody design upon too many, he knows that an inordinate, excessive Love of sensual pleasure is very useful and contributory, prevalent, and successful: voluptuous persons being never vigilant, and very seldom valiant, resolved and constant opposers of his Assaults, suggestions, and sugared insinuations: Self-denial, Mortification, Preciseness and Holiness being too rough, too sharp, too hard, too uneven and too troublesome a way for their delicate, their tender Feet to tread upon and to walk in. Be pleased therefore, most blessed God, who art the only overflowing, ever-flowing Ocean of all true Joy, really-sweet pleasures, and refined delights, to grant that all the streams of Christians affections, may run down right, pure, and holy Channels into thee. That they may relish that incomparable pleasantness which is to be found in thee, thy Word, Worship, ways, and love, that so all carnal pleasures may be sour, bitter, and unsavoury unto them. Let not, O Lord, Satan poison them with candled delights or sugared sensuality. Let him not convey their death in Honey, nor drown them in Rose-water. But antidote them, I beseech thee, and preserve them against his mortal potions, and his murdering Stratagems by convincing of them that Satan though he may seem a Friend will be sound a Fiend, and that although pleasure may by his juggling and through the bemisted eyes and deluded sight appear a seemingly innocent Dove unto them, yet if it be immoderately prized and pursued by them) that it will certainly be found a fiery deadly, Serpent which will sting them with immortal, incurable, intolerable sorrow, terrors, torments, Amen. Voluptas obcaecat, titillat, pascit, placet, perdit. X. Of Health. 'TIs a Jewel not valued because common. 'Tis the solace of life, without which all other outward mercies are both unsavoury and dead, this being the soul that both animates them, and the ingredient that gives a delightful relish to them. 'Tis a Venice Glass, easily, quickly, irreparably and very often unexpectedly cracked and broken. a Pliny. Nat. Hist. 'Tis a Bird or flower but of one day's life and continuance, a guest or friend that doth but call or visit, not stay with us. It naturally kills fear, breeds security, feeds to wantonness, excites to pleasure, spurs on to vice, inables to sin, and without Grace, it's both the souls sickness and death. The want of it, makes men impatient, discontented, unserviceable, the fruition profane. If God deny this mercy to a man although there be a confluence of all other creature-comforts, yet he is but like one clothed with Gold, Silk, or Tissue, adorned with Jewels, crowned with Honours, feasted with dainties, cheered with the rarest music, comforted with Cordials, surrounded with a faithful wife, and with dutiful, hopeful Children, attended with real friends, skilful Physicians, obedient servants, and laid upon a bed of Ivory, in a chamber richly furnished with all his bones out of Joint and broken. 'Tis usual for the sun of health to arise clear, to shine bright in the morning, and to set in a cloud of sickness at night. How easily, quickly, will a fiery fever devour and consume it? An Airy colic rack, yea ruin it? A watery dropsy float and drown it? or an aguish earthquake shake and swallow it up? The elements are all up in arms, and at civil wars within the body natural, as heretofore the Saxons in the time of the Heptarchy was in the body politic of this Nation, each of them contending for victory, and aspiring to a Monarchy, over that Microcosm, Man; (non enim datur temperamentum ad pondus) and when any of them prevails and triumpheth over the other Competitors, Health is then both wounded, vanquished, captivated, and committed either a close Prisoner, to a dark room, and a weary languishing restless bed by sickness, or else it's condemned, and executed by death. A thousand enemies combine, assault, beleaguer it; and either by the furious storm of a sudden violent unexpected distemper, they force and surprise it, or else by a lingering lasting siege of pain and weakness (as by consumptions, etc.) they famish and conquer it. Health 'tis a Bibulus triumphing in a Chariot i'th' morning and lying in the afternoon in a Coffin. A Ca●sar now very well, on the top of the hill of honour and power, and anon expiring with wounds in the Senate. A Quintus Scapula while supping and feasting himself, turned into, and served up for a Banquet to the worms. An Aufejus while dining dying. A Valla who as he was drinking Honey-wine, had the gall of death put into his cup, by the hand of providence, and so departed out of the vale of the dying, into the vale of the dead. 'tis both a Conqueror and a Captive in a day, hour, moment, 'Tis a Cyrus strong, secure, prosperous in the morning, and before night slain by Tomiris, Death. The Prayer. O Most Merciful and most Bountiful Lord God, thou hast not not only given unto man a being, but a well being also upon Earth. Nor hast thou only built him a stately Palace this World to dwell in, and furnished every Room, every part thereof with necessaries for his entertainment to make his abode therein desirable, but thou hast also decked, and adorned it with infinitely various, and admirably curious delightful things to make his life pleasant. And as the top-stone, the choicest of all outward Favours hast given him health without which he could not comfortably survey, use, or enjoy them. O let good God thy Munificence and Mercy be so sanctified unto us, that the sense of thy goodness and bounty may humble us that profess ourselves to be Christians for our undervaluing and abusing this eminent, sweet, excellent blessing by luxury, by idleness, ' gluttony, drunkenness and wantonness. Engage and endear our hearts by thy Love to thee, make us careful to employ and improve all our Talents to thy Glory, and grant that we may both fear, scorn, and hate to consume our precious time, to spend our marrow, to waste our strength and to destroy our health in drudging for Satan, and in pleasing, fewelling, feeding our vain, vile, carnal and cursed Lusts. Let our hearts be sound in thy Statutes, that thou moist not punish us with rottenness in our Bones. Make us O Lord sick of sin, that sickness which is the fruit and punishment of sin may either be withheld or removed from us, or however sanctified unto us. And be thou blessed to heal our diseased souls, and make us holy, for otherwise healthfulness of Body will not be a Comfort, or Mercy, but a Cross, and Judgement to us. Grant this for Jesus Christ his sake, Amen. Salus et Sal, & Sol est humanae vitae. XI. Of saving Faith, and Sincere Love. FAith, 'tis a Diamond set in the Ring of the soul by the spirit of God: other graces, and virtue's enamel, beautify it, this gives worth and value to it. 'Tis the uppermost link in the Golden chain of Grace, joining, uniting, espousing a true believer to Jesus Christ. 'Tis the hand whereby he takes the long white Raiment of Christ's Righteousness out of the glorious wardrobe of his infinite merits to his soul withal, which is stripped stark naked by Adam's fall, and become both ugly and filthy through actual sins, that so God may not behold the spots and deformity thereof to loath and abhor it: And 'tis the hand also which not only receives, but applies that Sovereign Plaster made of Christ's precious heartblood to the soul for ease, cure, comfort. 'Tis the mouth that sucks the full and sweet Breasts of Divine promises, to refresh, feed, nourish and strengthen the inward man. a One saith of humane learning that if the face● thereof could be seen it is fairer than the morning and evening star. Aeneas Silvius, in an Epistle to Sigismond Duke of Austria How infinitely more amiable, delightful and beautiful then will the sight of Jesus Christ who is white & ruddy, yea altogether lovely (Cantic. 5. 10-16) by Faith here and for ever in glory hereafter be to a believing, glorified Soul? And saith Aug. Habet fides Oculos suos quibus quodammodo videt verum esse quod nondum videt. Aug. Epi. 222. 'Tis the eye by which a true believer sees▪ God through the thickest cloud of sin, in the blackest midnight of affliction, yea in the darkest dungeon of tentation or desertion, smiling upon him in the most amiable face of Jesus Christ. 'Tis the wing that carries Prayer to the Throne of grace, and the usher that leads the soul home (to Heaven) and there leaves it. 'Tis a Peter catching hold of Christ, when ready to sink in a Sea of perplexity. It's a Sun that may be misted with fears, and darkened with doubtings, but can never be totally or finally eclipsed by despair; for a Christian may lose his feeling, but it's impossible for him to lose his * Josuah 1. 5. compared with Hebr. 13. 15. union: He may indeed want for a time the lustre, but he cannot for ever be deprived of the light of God's countenance. Like a tree in winter he may seem to others, yea and to himself too to be dead, yet even then his root is full of sap and alive, his heart hath saving grace in it, for his life is hid in Christ: he hath an immortal seed in him which cannot perish though (like fire under ashes) it may be covered, and for a time not discerned, either to grow, or burn; and therefore he will certainly (like * Psalm. 1. David's tree) be both green, well liking, and fruitful again. These being truths to me like the Sunbeams when most radiant, equally clear and comfortable. 1. That where true and saving grace is once wrought in the heart by the spirit of God, it may indeed decay, but is cannot die. (For this Lamp will always be fed with that Oil from Heaven) it may be hidden, but it shall not be lost, it may be wounded, but it cannot be killed: For though sin may blur, and fully a Christians evidences, yet it cannot cancel them, nor shall it ever pull off that seal which the holy Spirit hath set unto them and stamped upon them. 2. That those whom God once loves with his peculiar, his special love, shall never become the eternal objects of his hatred and wrath. Because whom God once loves, loves he * John. 13. 1. saith Saint John, to the end, that is for ever. 3. And that none of those who by a justifying faith are espoused to Jesus Christ, (though they may provoke him to frown, chide, threaten, yea punish them) shall ever have a Bill of divorce given unto them by him. Because all such (though they be not so sanctified as to have no roots that bear Gall, and the bitter fruits of sin in them, nor so washed as to have no filth, stains, or soil adhere in this world unto them) are fully acquitted of, and discharged from that infinite debt they owed unto God by their all-sufficient surety Jesus Christ who paid it for them, so that it will never be required of them. And although they be not perfectly, yet they are sincerely pure and holy here, and therefore shall most certainly be saved hereafter. Saving faith, 'tis the only Receipt to cure the dead palsy of Atheism, in heart and life, the Apoplexy of security, and the best Aqua Coelestis, the best cordial water to revive and cheer up a Soul that droops or faints under the sad apprehensions of God's displeasure, and for want of a Comfortable assurance of his Love. It's Alcinous his tree in reality; for it bears precious fruit continually. 'Tis like a Rod of Myrtle, which (saith Pliny) will keep a traveller while he holds it in his hand from being faint or weary. 'Tis always attended with her cheerful Sister, and most faithful Companion, Hope. These two are to the Soul, what Maroellus and Fabius Maximus was said to be unto Rome, The Sword and the Buckler thereof. b They are called uniones, because they always grow together by couples Heylyn. Goerg. p. 805. And like those Gems called Vniones, they always grow together in it. Faith and Hope are as it were the Breasts that nourish, comfort, and support the Soul, affording it et tutamen et solamen (as that Masculine Martyr Agatha said to Quintianus by whose barbarous command her Breasts were cut off) both safety and solace in the midst of all dangers and miseries. A true believer is that beautiful * Esther 8. 4. Esther, to whom Ahasuerus the great King of Saints God Almighty holds out the Golden Sceptre of Mercy, that he may come into his presence, enjoy his Favour and live: for the just shall live by his faith, him God doth love and will honour, but all Vashti's * Esther 1. 11. all unbelievers shall be rejected, divorced from Christ, (though Hypocrisy, Morality, wealth or greatness may make them like her, very fair to look on) who is the head and Husband of his Church and people for ever. Faith, 'tis a tree that bears those golden Apples, those rare, sweet, pleasant, precious fruits, love to God and his Saints, purity and humility of heart, and affections, peace of conscience, victory over the world, charity, joy in the Holy Ghost, courage and constancy in the confession and profession of the truth, etc. These are the Daughters that rise up and call their Mother blessed. These are the Jewels that adorn, and the Royal train which attends the King's Daughter who is all glorious within, yea and makes that Palace (that heart) where she resides and keeps Court all glorious too; for the God of glory, the Lord of glory, and the Spirit of glory do all take up their abode in a believing Soul. Faith, 'tis a Stephen beholding a living Christ in heaven through a thick and violent shower of stones, when the body is dying upon earth. 'Tis a brass wall, a * Ephes. 6. 16. shield wherewith a believer both repelleth and quenches all the fiery darts of the Devil. Hostem visibilem feriendo invisibilem vincis credendo. Our visible enemies may be subdued by striking and fight, but our invisible Adversary the Devil cannot be conquered but by believing. 'Tis that heavenly David which overcomes that spiritual Goliath Satan, and all those uncircumcised Philistines, sin, the world, temptations, our carnal hearts, corrupt affections, filthy lusts, and our disorderly, unruly passions, those wild horses which carry us headlong into sin, and run away with the soul towards Hell. 'Tis a divine Apelles that draws the Image of God defaced by sin, to the life again upon the Soul. 'Tis the salt which maketh all our Sacrifices both savoury and acceptable, because * Heb. 11. 6. without faith it's impossible to please God. Justifying faith works by love, and lover runs down the several Channels † We must love God above all things, Apprenatiuè 2 Intensiv● 3. Ad●quatè First of Love to God. Amat enim non immerito, qui amatus est sine merito. Amat sine fine, qui sine principio se cognovit amatum. And his love to God he demonstrates by yielding a willing, sincere, constant, and universal obedience to all his Commandments. For, Quicquid propter deum fit, aequaliter fit. True obedience doth neither deny nor dispute God's commands, but obeyeth them all both equally and cheerfully. 2. Of charity to the poor, because he that's freely through grace made a member of Christ, cannot but both pity and relieve Christ's members. The sense of God's undeserved mercy and bounty to himself will melt his heart into Compassion, and open his hand to distribute unto those that are in want. 3. Of praying and sorrowing for those that are profane. The wicked (like those who are infected with the plague) desire and delight to corrupt and destroy others, encourage them to sin, and accompany them in sin: But those that love God, do so love their Brethren in the flesh also, that they both mourn for their iniquities, and earnestly, hearty cry to the Lord to convince, convert, pardon and save them. 4. Of forgiving enemies freely, cordially, fully, since no man was ever either so malicious against, or injurious to another, as man was to his maker and Saviour, yet Christ did not only forgive him but died also to make an atonement for him, and to reconcile God and him, and therefore for Christ's sake, in obedience to his command, and to express his conformity to his Redeemer, he will pardon his worst, greatest, and most implacable adversaries, yea and love even those that hate him. 5. Lastly, of sympathising with afflicted Christians. If one string on a musical instrument be but touched, all the rest will express their fellow-feeling thereof in a sound. If the head ache, the tongue will complain: if a finger be burnt, the eye will weep. And all those whom God hath comforted in their own sorrows, will mourn for others calamities, and grieve for the afflictions of Joseph. Certainly then those are but dead and rotten members which are not sensible of, nor affected with the maladies and miseries of their brethren. Love, 'tis the weight, which moves all the wheels of the soul in duty: Amor meus pondus meum, Eo feror quocunqne feror, said holy Augustine. 'Tis the spring of all wel-pleasing services to God. e Curtius. Alexander the great had two Friends, Hephest●on● and Parmento Hephesten loved Alexander, Parmenio; the King. God hath two sorts of Friends, good men and bad men. A worldly, wicked man loves God as a King able to protect, promote, honour, provide for him. Nam amici ficti fortunae sunt amici non sui. But a true believer loves Christ as a Lord, Husband, Prophet, with a heart not only willing, but resolved to be guided, commanded, instructed by him, and to be loyal, dutiful, obedient, chaste, faithful unto him The one follows Christ for loaves, forb●y base, low, carnal ends, aims, designs: the other, to honour, serve, please, praise him. The one because he's great, and bountiful; the other because he's good and holy, the one withers, shrinks, repines, forsakes God, when he is nipped with the frost of adversity, or threatened with the storms of persecution, being like a tree that seeds and loses both its fruit and leaves in the cold sharp winter of trials & dangers; and like a Mushroom, without root: But the other like a Palmtree is not only green in the winter of Affliction, but he will also rather than he will want, deny, or dishonour Christ, go through flames and floods, to serve, obey, meet, enjoy him. Faith and Love are like a pair of compasses, whilst saith stands firmly fixed with the centre, which is God, (nam Circumferentia fidei est verbum dei, Centrum fidei deus verbum) Love walks the round, and puts a girdle of Mercy about the loins. There may be a show of charity without faith, but there can be no show of Faith without Charity. d Rainold. Orat. p. 320. Cato Vticensis being asked by one, Quem maxime amaret? Respondit, fratrem; my Brother Being asked the same question a second and a third time, still answered, Fratrem, my Brother, and nothing else. Ask a true Believer whom he most really, entirely loves, both his tongue, heart, and life will answer, My elder Brother Jesus Christ. Socrates said often he had rather have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The King's favour, than the King's gold or silver. A true believer had rather enjoy the love of God, the light of his countenance, and a sweet Communion with Christ, than ten thousand worlds, and says with e Melch. Adam. in vit. Luth. Luther, Mallem ego cum Christo ruere, quam cum Caesare stare. For Christ is the loadstone to which the needle of his heart doth willingly, constantly, restlessly (though tremblingly) turn. Nothing can keep, dissuade, or withhold him from him, neither enemies, troubles, dangers, nor devils, for his love is strong as death, and love alone over-powers all powers. * Genes. 8. 9 Christ alone is the Ark wherein his soul (like † Noah's Dove in the Deluge) can find rest. Faith and love are to the soul of a gracious praying Christian, wherein Amalek and Israel, the flesh and Spirit, are up in Arms, and will continue fight all the day (during the time of this natural life) as * Exod. 17. 11, 12▪ 13. Aaron and Hur were to Moses the Servant of the Lord. For although Amalek may, yea doth sometimes prevail against Israel, Corruption against Grace: And although (as Moses hands were heavy) a Christians Spirit may be faint or weary, with so long, so sharp a conflict, yet he (like Moses) being set upon a stone, resting, trusting, and relying upon that chief cornerstone, that precious stone, cut out of the Mountain without hands Jesus Christ, and being also (like Moses hands steady, fixed, and constant (being upheld by faith and love, as Moses hands were by Aaron and Hur) in crying to and begging of the Lord both strength, assistance, and victory until the going down of the Sun, till death, he obtains under the great Captain of man's Salvation, through whom Christians are more than conquerors, Jesus Christ, a comfortable happy, glorious Victory over Amalek and his people, Satan, temptations, sin, corruptions and all its deadliest enemies. The Prayer. MOST Holy Lord God, thou hast not only given unto Christians a glimpse of the Felicity and Glory of Heaven by revealing to them what it is, so far as they are capable to apprehend it, for they can never comprehend it till they enjoy it, and are crowned with it: But thou hast also chalked them out the way that leads to it, offered them an infallible guide to conduct them in it, and promised, yea assured them, if they will accept thy gracious offer, to give them both Legs and strength to carry them unto it. Thou O Lord art truth itself, enable us steadfastly to believe thee. Thou art Goodness itself, grant that we may ardently, entirely love thee. And since without these graces in reality we can neither please nor enjoy thee, Crown us with them, I beseech thee; for these are such sweet Flowers as did never grow since Adam by his fatal fall sowed it all over with venomous Weeds in the Garden of Nature; that so being regenerated, quickened, inflamed, and enabled by thee, we may come boldly unto thee, rely confidently upon thee, set our Affections sincerely on thee, delight chief in thee, and rest eternally blessed with thee. Grant this for his sake in whom thou canst deny thy people nothing, Jesus Christ the Son of thy Love, Amen. Per fidem in Christo corona in Caelo. XII. Of Repentance. 'TIs the Soul's return from travailing in the foreign Country of sin. 'Tis a Vagabond prodigal, * Luke 15. 17. First come to his right mind (being before no better than a madman out of his wits) and then coming home to his Heavenly Father upon the feet of † Idem. v. 21. confession and sorrow; for it's not only far more infamous to commit sin, then to confess it, because nihil pudori esse debet poenitenti nisi non faterl; true penitents should blush at nothing but at the concealing of their crimes: but it's also very dangerous not to acknowledge, or to excuse our offences. Quicunque enim sibi se excusat, accusat deo, because either to extenuate our faults, or to plead our own innocency, will both aggravate our sins, and provoke the Lord to punish us for our wickedness: Since the surest way for transgressors to be found guilty and to be condemned; * Prov. 28. 13. is to † hid their sins and to justify themselves; for wounds that bleed inward, and poison that is not vomited up, are most deadly. Repentance is an Augustins, a Christians retractation. It makes the soul a Solomon (wise and happy) living as well as speaking or writing an Ecclesiastes. 'Tis an * 1 Kin. 20. 32. 34. Aramite with importunity, submission and supplication begging the Life of Benhadad (the soul) of the merciful King of Israel, God Almighty. An humble, hearty, particular, ingenuous * Prov. 28. 13. confession of all sin; a sound humiliation and godly sorrow for all sin; a real detestation of, and an irreconcilable hatred to all sin; a resolute resistance, and constant opposition against all sin; an holy jealousy and Christian vigilancy at all times, in all places, in all company, and in all our callings and employments over our consciences, affections, hearts, tongues, lives, souls and bodies, to fly and decline all occasions of, all temptations unto sin; a pious care when through frailty, temptation, corruption, or security, our souls are become black, ●oul, and deformed by sin, to a God's children fall, but it's the property of the Devil's child to lie still, Mr. Philpot. Humanum est cadere, ●ace rebelluinum, resurgere Christianum, perseverare in peecato diabolicum. August bathe them in, and to wash them with tears of godly sorrow till they be white and clean, & to be afraid of sullying, of defiling them again. Inanis enim est ista poenitentia quam sequens culpa coinquinat. A conscientious care to do no wrong to our neighbours, or if we have willingly & knowingly injured any man, to give him full satisfaction, (for non tollitur peceatum nisi restituatur ablatum, b I have read of one Py●rhus that when he persuaded the Sultan Selimus to give the wealth and treasure which he had taken from the Persian Merchan S▪ unto an Hospital for the maintenance of the poor; Nay rather, said Selimus, let it be restored to the right owners: and accordingly restitution was made thereof unto them. It would certainly be very much for the glory of God, the honour of the Gospel, the comfort of those that profess themselves to be Christians and the good of their posterity, if they would write after and copy out the honest example of this Turk herein: but if this be called or esteemed foul because a Mahomitan set it, I shall present them with one equally fair, and necessary, written by a good Christian, I mean pious and conscientious Zaccheus, Luke 19 8. And also with one Royal precedent, one noble pattern of our own, viz. King Henry 7th. who in his last Will and Testament willed that Restitution should be made of all such Moneys as had unjustly been levied by his Officers. Speed Chron. p. 993. Go thou then and do like these who ever thou art that art grown rich or great by unjust gain and means, and then the Lord will pard●n, honour, bless thee. But if th●u resolvest wickedly to keep what thou hast sinfully gotten, thy sins will most certainly find thee out, the wrath of God will pursue thee, his judgements will overtake thee, and his dreadful vengeance will both fall and rest upon thy soul, estate, name and posterity. Prov. 11, 7. 18. 10. 7. Prov. 3. 33, 16. 8. 28. 8. Ezek. 33. 15. no restitution no remission & by consequence no salvation: (now by the way, if this rule of St. Augustine, which hath been judged & esteemed Orthodox & canonical so many ages, should be precisely observed, and exactly conformed unto, then certainly what one said of the Roman Senators, viz. That if they should restore to others what they had unjustly gotten & taken from them, they must go to their ploughs and cottages again, might truly be affirmed of and would be the condition of many thousands, yea millions of great and rich men in the world) And last a real grieving for our sins, more than for our sufferings, and that we have provoked, dishonoured God more, then that we are punished by God, are the marks, the Principia constitutiva of true repentance. Repentance 'tis a setting of the soul again (it being double died, and twice dead in Original, and in actual sin, and plucked up by the roots through delight and continuance therein) in the rich soil of Grace, and a watering of it with tears of contrition, and the blood of Jesus Christ (as Hortensius did his Plane trees with wine, (if I may so speak without a Solecism) applied by a justifying faith to Revivification and fruitfulness. 'Tis the condition of that Obligation, without the performance whereof the Soul cannot be discharged from the debt of sin, but remains liable every moment to be arrested (without all possibility of either flying, hiding, or defending itself) by that , inexorable Sergeant Death, to be tried and cast upon that Bond in the high Court of God's Justice, and after a verdict given up by God's Law, and its own Conscience against it, to have judgement and execution served upon it, and then to be thrown into the Prison of Hell, there to lie without bail or Mainprize for ever. 'Tis a well of everlasting life, Springing up in the heart, without which there is no possibility of being holy, no promise of being happy. 'Tis a soul in travail of those spiritual Twins, Pardon, Peace; pained and tortured with many grievous heartrending pangs (for God's Children have always their hardest labours of their choicest, sweetest, greatest mercies,) but at length by an Almighty wonder-working hand and power, safely, seasonably, joyfully delivered. 'Tis the plank on which the soul gets when dashed or wracked upon the rocks of sin, by the tempests of temptations and corruptions, and so escapes perishing in the sea of despair, distraction, damnation. 'Tis that Aqua fortis which both eats through the very heart of sin, and wherewith the characters of honesty, virtue, piety, are engraven upon the inward man. 'Tis the water which both quenches the burning wrath of God, cleanseth a polluted conscience, and moistens the soul till it become an Eden. 'Tis the daybreak of saving mercy with a cloudy wet morning, but a bright, fair, pleasant afternoon, and a glorious Sunset follows it. 'Tis one of a Christians main deeds, and best evidences for his right and title to an heavenly inheritance. The Motto of a true penitent may well be (like that French Ladies) a watering pot dropping with this inscription, Nil mihi praeterea, praeterea mihi nihil. He's happier weeping then the wicked are when rejoicing; for there is more true delight, and joy of heart in the sorrow of Saints, then in the mirth and laughter of the world. Verus poenitens de peccatis dolet & de dolore gaudet. A true penitent grieves for his sins, and rejoiceth in that grief, it being his exceeding great delight and pleasure to consider that God hath given him a heart to mourn and sorrow for them. The Athenians never went to conclude a peace, but in mourning habits; we can never make our peace with God, unless we go to him with mourning hearts. True repentance doth work wonders. It will turn a Wolf into a Lamb, an Eagle into a Dove, a Thorn into an Olive, a Rock into a fountain, a Serpent into a Sheep, a Tyrant into a Martyr, a stone into a Son of Abraham, a Saul into a Paul, a persecutor into a worshipper of, and a sufferer for Christ, a cruel Jailor into a sorrowful Confessor, and a dry stick (like Aaron's rod) into a fruitful tree. Alexander the great being asked, Quomodo potitus esset Graecia, respondebat, Nihil procrastinans. Speedy, hearty repentance, is a sure infallible means for us to obtain more than Greece, even grace, pardon, Heaven. Optima poenitentia est nova vita, saith Luther. He that hath new and holy principles, the new wine of Grace wrought and put into the Bottle of his renewed heart by the spirit of God, will neither walk in his old ways, continue in a profane course, nor hanker after, nor long for the fleshpots of Egypt again. Ista est vera poenitentia quando quis sic poenitet ut non repetat. A righteous Lot will run to Zoar, but he will not return any more to Sodom. Noah was drunk but once. David was but once an Adulterer. When a grievous, gross sinner becomes a gracious Saint, he gives this Motto, Ego non sum ego, and he carefully prints it in his life and actions, well knowing that they only are sincere Christians & do truly repent, ●hat carefully, resolutely, constantly forsake, loath and abhor all their sins. It is then our wisdom, and will be our happiness, to write with a pen of iron, and with the point of a Diamond upon the stony tables of our obdurate hearts, that Golden saying, viz. It is every man's duty to repent one day before he dies: for we are not sure to live to morrow, no nor till to morrow, but we are sure if wedie before we repent to be damned. And if we neglect, defer or think it too soon to repent to day, it may be too late to morrow; for God hath * Micah 3. 4. Jerem. 14 12. and Psalm. 32. 6. threatened that he will turn a deaf ear to such desperate, careless transgressors, although they cry, shed many tears, and make many prayers for audience, mercy and acceptance. Besides how justly do they deserve to perish, that will neither seek, nor labour to obtain a pardon when they are reprieved, that do not value it till they be going to the Gallows, to their graves. And although poenitentia vera est nunquam sera, tamen poenitentia sera est earo vera: Though true repentance be never late, yet late repentance is seldom true. 'Tis very rare to see a Felon though he profess and seem to be very sorry for his fact, pardoned and unpinioned upon the Ladder: more strange to see a condemned Traitor fetched away from the scaffold, and carried to the Court, to be honoured & advanced so highly by the King, as not only to become his Favourite but his Son and Heir also: But it's the greatest wonder of all, and the highest frenzy for men to wound and poison themselves, because they may be cured; to break their bones, because they may chance to get them well set again; to run into the fire, because it's possible their Father will pull them out, and not suffer them to be burned; and to love, act, live, and persevere both in theft, murder and rebellion, in hope of being not only pardoned, but promoted, when they come to be executed. And certainly it's no less than the greatest folly, yea madness, and cruelty to our own Souls, that we are capable either to invent, act, or express, to presume and expect to obtain mercy, favour, and pardon from God at our death, when we have knowingly, wilfully, and impenitently continued both robbers of God and traitors to God by sinning against him all our life. For it's most just and equal that the Lord should abhor, reject, and burn the bone, when the Devil hath had all the marrow. The Prayer. O LORD, under the Law those sacrifices that were acceptable to thy Majesty were offered up with Fire, but under the Gospel those Oblations, those duties and services are most pleasing to thee, which are presented, and tendered with Water, with penitential tears, flowing from the bitter-sweet springs of a saving sight of sin, and godly Sorrow for sin. Grant, O Lord, that we may both love thee, and grieve that by our Iniquities we have offended thee. Let us serve thee with gladness of heart, and yet be in bitterness of Soul for our dishonouring of thee. O give us, Holy God, to worship, serve, and pray unto thee not only with the fire of Love and zeal burning upon the altars of our inflamed hearts, but also with the waters of contrition and remorse streaming out of broken Spirits. Let us not seek thee, and sin wilfully against thee. Let us not profess repentance, and practise rebellion. Let us not, O Lord, forsake Egypt, and long to enjoy it again. But grant that we may never any more attempt, or presume to repeat or act our former old, or any new crimes. And since most Holy God every known sin, even the very lest is a great, a grievous, a deep, and a desperate wound to the Soul so soon as it is acted, that festers in it by continuance, gangrenes by delight, and kills the Soul by impenitency. O let all transgressing Christians speedily search their Souls and sores with the Probe of serious consideration, let them behold them with the eyes of grief, and humiliation, let them bathe and wash them with Tears of sorrow and contrition, enable them by a justifying Faith to receive and apply unto them that Sovereign, all-healing plaster made of that most precious Balm, the blood of Jesus Christ, let them bind up their wounded spirits with the hands of compunction and self-abhorrency, and grant that they may keep on their plaster both by a through reformation, and a constant conscientious care, willingly, deliberately, knowingly, to sin no more that so they may recover, be healed, and live. Grant this great mercy, O thou God of mercy, unto us for the merits of Jesus Christ, Amen. Poenitere est vere sapere, valere, vivere. XIII. Of Prayer. 'TIs that safe, careful, nimble, spiritual messenger and post, that carries and brings letters of intelligence and love-tokens, to and from Christ. 'Tis the language of Canaan, A Christians Shiboleth. 'Tis the souls both Orator and Solicitor in that great Court of Requests Heaven. 'Tis a Jacob wrestling with God and prevailing. A Jonah (though buried alive in a swimming Sepulchre, though shipped in a living Vessel and carried down under Deck to the confines of Hell) crying for, and obtaining a safe landing on the shore of Life; 'Tis a Moses begging and receiving cure of the souls Physician, of Almighty God for Miriam, a leprous sinful person. 'Tis a Christians Forces wherewith he besieges Heaven and takes it by storm, by violence. 'Tis the souls industrious faithful factor in Heaven, from whence it brings the precious everlasting riches, and Jewel of grace, forgiveness, comfort to the heart. 'tis the key that opens and shuts Heaven. Oratio justi clavis est coeli, ascendit precatio, et descendit Dei miseratio, licet alta sit terra, altum coelum, audit tamen Deus hominis linguam si mundam habet conscientiam. Prayer (like a Hackw. Apolog. p. 295. & histor. of Flanders .. Dousa's Doves (when Leyden was besieged) it brings certain intelligence of relief, supplies, assistance, coming from the Lord of Hosts, to strengthen, succour, and deliver the soul when it's beleaguered, endangered, or assaulted by sin, Satan, or the world. What was said of Luther, is true of prayer, It may have almost what it will of Christ. There is a kind of omnipotency in it, whereby it holds, hinders, and (with an humble, holy reverence be it spoken) binds the arm of Almighty God that he cannot strike; Let me alone, saith the Lord to Moses; and get thee out of Sodom, said the * Genes. 19 22. Angel to Lot, for (thy supplication is her preservation, thy prayers and presence are her protection, thy company is her security, thy residence her reprieve,) I cannot do any thing (I cannot rain down Hell out of Heaven, in a fiery shower to consume her) till thou be'st out of her, and got to Zoar. As Faith is the Empress of Graces, so prayer is the Queen of duties. The Elements of effectual Prayer are, First Faith. oremus credamus, & ut ipsa non deficiat fides qua oramus, * James 5 16. Hebr. 11. 5. Oremus. Fides fundit orationem, fusa oratio fi dei impetrat firmitatem. Faith and prayer are like the fire and fuel: fire makes the fuel burn and flame, and fuel feeds the fire and keeps it burning and flaming. Faithless prayers are fruitless prayers; or rather such supplications are provocations, for God is so far from smelling a sweet savour in the sacrifices of unbelievers, that he loathes them, they stink in his nostrils, and therefore he will cast their duties like dung into their faces. 2. * James 5. 16. Fervency. Qui frigide rogat negare docet, prevalency is the child of importunity. An * Luke 18: 4, 5. Atheistical, unjust judge that neither fears God, nor cares for man, will grant the earnest suit of a poor Widow though a stranger to him: How much more than will the great judge of Heaven and earth, who is not only a just, but also a most gracious, compassionate God and Father, both hear and grant the ardent, humble, and hearty petitions of his own Children? He that did never say to the house of jacob, seek ye my face, in vain: He that commands us to ask, and seek, and hath promised that we shall receive and find, will certainly (for he is the God of truth) attend to the cries, and grant the requests of his own people when they beg such things as tend to his glory, and the good of their own souls. But yet no heat, no hearing, because cold prayers are but carcases, and carnal, sinful services, which the Lord detests and will never accept. 3. * Psalm. 118. 1. We must love God, 1. Amoreamicitiae, because he is most excellent and lovely. 2. Amore desiderii, because he is the Ocean of our Joy, comforts and happiness. 3. Amore complacentiae, with a love of Joy & delight. 4. Amore benevolentiae, with a sincere endeavour to honour serve and praise him. Love; Favours are both the seeds, fuel, and Bonds of Friendship. Compassion is the Spring of affection. Mercy is the Mother of Amity; Magnes amoris amor, Love is love's loadstone. A saving sense, and a right apprehension of God's infinite, immutable, undeserved love to us, will enkindle the fire of love in us. And if we once truly love God, we shall then be always careful to please, fearful to offend, and grieved if we do displease him, † Minus te amat domine, qui tecum aliquid a mat. Aug. in soliloq. we shall delight and rejoice in him above all things. We shall desire to be more intimately acquainted with him, we shall esteem his favour, and prise his presence more than the honours, treasures, and smiles of all the world; we shall never willingly do any thing that may cloud his face, or cause a distance between us: And then, but never before, may or can we impart our sorrows, or discover our wants, straits, wounds, and miseries by prayer to our reconciled God, with boldness, assurance, and a well grounded hope to be comforted, enlarged, supplied, cured, delivered. For God will not hear those that hate, but * Prov 8. 17. those that love him. 4. Constancy; constancy in duty is the top-stone of duty. If we would be heard, we must persevere, and continue * Rom. 12. 12. Eph s 6. 18. instant in prayer; no constancy, no crown: 'tis so necessary and so profitable for us to call upon God, that we are commanded to * 1 Thes. 5. 17. pray without ceasing: we daily commit iniquities, receive mercies, escape punishments, and therefore we ought daily, yea hourly not only to beseech the Lord to pardon us, but also to praise and magnify him for blessing and protecting of us. Prayer 'tis both a duty and a privilege, a work and a reward, a service and a comfort. 'tis an approved, experimented, infallible means to procure and obtain a blessing upon our blessings, a glorious victory over the world, the flesh, and the Devil; assurance of God's special love, deliverance in, support under, and protection from (so far as it's good for God's children) troubles, afflictions, desertions, peace of conscience, pardon of sin, sanctification of the cross, Joy in the Holy Ghost, a supply of our wants a holy contentation of mind in every condition, and whatsoever is good either for soul or body, here or hereafter. Oratio est oranti subsidium, Deo sacrificium, Diaholo flagellum. The Trophies, Success, Triumphs of Prayer are eminent, glorious, infinite both in all ages and places. 'tis Murus animae, munimentum inconcussum, armatur a inexpugnabilis. 'tis a cordial to the heart, an acceptable sacrifice to God, a scourge to Satan, a brass wall to the soul. I shall therefore conclude with the same exhortation to all Christians, that some of the blessed b Laurence Saunders, George Marsh, John Careless. Fox B. of Martyr's vol. 3. p. 138. Col. 1. vol. 3 p. 235. col. 2. Idem p. 721. col. 1. Martyrs did their pious, confirming, consolatory Letters to their friends, and Relations, Pray, Pray, Pray, for the fervent effectual prayers of the righteous like * 2 Sam. 1. 22. the Sword of Saul do never return empty: and like Jonathans' Bow, they neither turn back, nor return without success and victory. The Prayer. O LORD, thou hast commanded all men to call upon thee, promised that they that ask shall receive, and yet (that we may strive and resolve to be humble, fervent, upright, pure, and holy) hast assured us that if we regard iniquity in our hearts, thou wilt not hear us, though we beg, weep, howl, and cry unto thee. O enable us to pray unto thee, most holy God, with Hearts steadfastly resolved not to provoke thee by sin●ing wilfully, and delightfully against thee: Because it's not only a vain and a very dangerous attempt, but also an intolerable dishonour to thee, and a most horrible, a most abominable crime committed against thee with our Tongues to profess piety, and to beg for mercy, when our hearts are deeply, and resolvedly in Love with hateful iniquity. That therefore we may pray acceptably, prevailingly, give us Grace and hearts to hate all sin perfectly, implacably; and let thine own Spirit of prayer, O Lord, enable us powerfully, and assist us effectually to call upon thee, that so thou mayest both hear and grant the prayers of thine own Spirit. Grant this, O thou that didst never say to the house of Jacob, seek ye my face, in vain▪ for his sake who sits at thy right hand to make intercession for us, Amen. Preces prosunt, obtinent, praeliant, vincunt, triumphant. XIV. Of Sincerity and Hypocrisy. Together with some Characters of both sincere and hypocritical Christians, and Professors. SIncerity 'tis the salt that both seasons, and purifies that muddy, stinking spring the heart. 'Tis the Gardener that keeps (though it cannot utterly extirpate nor kill) the noisome, rank, poisonful weeds of sin, from over-growing, and smothering the herbs of Grace in the garden of the Soul. 'Tis the touchstone of virtue, the marrow, heart, spirits, life of piety. 'Tis a Simeon with Christ in its Arms. Like the Empress Mammea's Guard appointed by her to watch at the door, and commanded to keep out all vicious, infamous persons from going in to her Son Alexander, lest they should corrupt, debauch him; It stands Sentinel at the gate of the heart, that so no sin may enter into it, to pollute or poison it. An upright man is like a Pliny Nat. Hist. that Assyria malus quae venenis medetur, et omnibus Anni temporibus edit fructus, pomis aliis maturescentibus, allis subnascentibus. He is homo quadratus, like a die which cast high or low by the hand of providence still falls upon a square and stands firm, as well when an Ace, or when a Cize, or Cinque. He both really desires, and carefully endeavours (for he dares not divide or put asunder what God hath joined together, I mean the means and the end, love and labour, prayer and pardon, hearing, doing, professing and practising) holiness, happiness, Grace and Glory; and therefore he hath Oculus ad Coelum, manus ad clavem, well knowing that bene cogitare est bene somniare, good wishing is but good dreaming, if it be not animated by striving and resolving to please G●od in all things, in all his actions to honour God; and so though he shoot many Bows short, yet he both reaches, and hits the mark, the white, because his heart aims chief, ultimately in all his services, ways and works at God's glory, who requires not of us in this world perfection, but integrity. He's always afraid of sinning, and that prevents his both offending, and suffering. b Probus. Mater timidi non solet flere. * Vis in timore esse securus? securitatem time. He fears falling, and by that means stands fast upon an hill of Ice, the world. Qui semper timet, securus, H● will not endure a Rimmon in his heart, because he knows that God (like Alexander) will have no Copartner, nor corrival. Aut Caesar aut nullus. That inscription which the Commonwealth of Venice hath politically written in their Magazine; (c) Burt. Melanch. Felix civitas quae tempore pacis de bello cogitat; he hath religiously ingraved in his memory and mind, and therefore 'tis both his resolution and care, in health to provide for sickness, in a calm to prepare for a storm, in Life for death. He strives and aspires to be greater, stronger, higher in grace and God's favour every day than other, and gives this (which was Pompey's) for his Motto, Ego cupio praecellere et esse supremus; He can neither rest nor be quiet till (like Saul) he be grown taller than worldly, moral, hypocritical men by the shoulders, neck and head, in honesty, virtue, piety: And never (as 'tis said of the Crocodile) gives over * Psalm. 92. 13. 14. Job. 17. 9 growing in goodness and godliness till his death. What Alexander the great said to one of his Captains named Alexander, Recordare nominis Alexandri, see thou do nothing that will smut, stain, or darken the fair, the illustrious name of Alexander. He (being like the Ermine, to whom nothing is so troublesome, as to be soul, for it will rather die then be soiled) endeavours carefully to observe and conscionably to perform; and therefore he labours to keep himself unspotted from the world, to get and to keep a pure heart and clear hands, to be undefiled in God's Law, and to wash his heart from all wickedness. He doth as really endeavour never to commit sin, as he doth unfaignedly desire never to be damned for sin. He doth think, speak, and act at all times, in all duties and places, as under the eye, and in the presence of God, because he knows d Seneca. Epist. ad Luc 83. p. 711. Sic certe vivendum est tanquam in conspectu vivamus, sic cogitandum tanquam aliquis in pectus intimum inspicere possit, & potest. Quid enim prodest ab homine aliquid esse secretum? Nihil deo clausum interest animis nostris & cogitatiocibus nostris intervenit. And also because he knows, that although man can make no through lights to look clearly into the heart, yet it lies unboweled, dissected unto his allseeing eye, to whom all things, even the most dark, hidden and undiscernible, are both naked, opened, and transparent. He makes God his centre, and so enjoys both rest, happiness, and stability in the midst of all either national, or personal overturnings and shake. e Let their money perish with them who esteem all the gold in the world worth one days society with Jesus Christ and his holy spirit, said that noble and pious marquis of Vico Gealacius Caraciolus, when a Jesuit offered him, huge sums of money to forsake his Religion, and to turn Papist again. videte jus vitam. He (like an Eagle) disdains to pursue flies, earthly enjoyments, and sublunary comforts, because like flies they are only to be seen, and found in the sunshine, and summer of prosperity, but fly away and hid themselves in the dark, cloudy days and winter of adversity, spiritual desertion, and death. Thou art not, said Cleopatra to Mark Anthony, to fish for Gudgeons and Trout, but thou art to angle for Castles, and Towers, and Forts, and Cities. When the heart of a true Nathaniel like Dinah gins to gad abroad, to hanker and thirst inordinately after creature-comforts, he considers and tells his Soul, Soul thou wert not created by an omnipotent power, nor sent into the world by an omniscient, holy, just, glorious, and dreadful God, to fish for Gudgeons or Trout, for pleasure, wealth, honour, or greatness; to love and mind such poor, contemptible, empty, treacherous, worthless things as these; burby faith and prayer, holiness, hope, and perseverance in a constant course of sanctification, to angle, to seek, wait and labour for the impregnable Castle of a good Conscience, for the strong, rich, and beautiful Forts of virtue and piety, for the City of Heaven, and for the Towers of glory, felicity, and immortality. He desires and delights in the society of the brethren, the people and servants of God, because he sees the superscription of Caesar upon them, the Image of Christ lively and truly drawn and stamped by the Spirit of God upon their souls. And also because he doth experimentally find, that f Socrates. Bonorum conversatio est virtutis exercitatio, he gets good by good company. He doth with an ardent zeal, and pious care set up the worship of God in his family, because he knows, that the prison's stink, but yet not so much as those sweet houses where the fear and true honour of God is wanting; As that blessed Martyr g Fox B. of Martyrs. vol. 3. p. 156. Bishop Hooper said. And he desires to serve God who is the purest of Spirits, with spiritual purity. If the candle of the Lord shine upon his Tabernacle, so that his riches, or honours increase; he notwithstanding both longs, and seeks for higher and better things, and says as Luther did (when many of the great ones of Saxony sent very rich gifts unto him) Lord thou shalt not put me off so; for he will not take, or accept outward things for his portion, or inheritance, nor exchange Heaven for earth. He is the Epistle, the letter of Christ, wherein men may run and read saving grace, written by the finger of the Holy Ghost, therefore he is exceedingly, yea constantly careful to keep both his heart and life, fair and free from the spots of vice and the stains of sin. That King of Rivers in Germany the rhine crosseth the muddy lake of Constance with a clean course and keeps his streams both pure and clear: So a sincere Christian keeps himself free from the corruptions, sins, and pollutions of the world; and like Lot in Sodom he is grieved for, but not defiled with the crimes, vices, and filthy conversation of the wicked; for though he be in the world, yet he is not of the world, He mourns for the abominations of the land wherein, * Psalm 119. 158. idem. ver. 136. and of the ungodly amongst whom he lives. He rejoiceth in the peace of Zion, and the prosperity of Jerusalem: but is grieved for the afflictions of Joseph; and above all for the dishonour done to his God; for his own worldly interest, relations, or life are not so dear to him, as the glory of his Maker, and Redeemer. He accounts God's ordinances the rarest dainties, the sweetest delicates, and with Job esteems Gods holy word, and them more than his necessary food. He stumbles often, seldom falls, but never lies down in sin so, as not to rise up out of it. He like a laboriqus Bee, doth industriously, daily, delightfully suck, not only the sweet and beautiful flowers of Gods precious promises, heavenly counsels, and holy commands, but also the bitter (yet wholesome) herbs of Gods just and terrible threaten growing in that rare garden, or rather Paradise, the sacred Scriptures, that so he may fill the hive of his Soul, with the honey and wax of holiness and honesty. He's a good Theodosius who had rather be a living member of that true Church whereof Christ is the glorious head, than an Emperor in the World. And saith with holy Ignatius, who persuaded his friends not to dissuade him from suffering Martyrdom, It is better for me to die in Jesus Christ, then to reign in the ends of the earth; because Jesus Christ is the life of the faithful, and life without Christ is death. And because (as blessed Bradford h Fox B. of Martyr's vol. 3. p. 283. said when the Queen's mercy was offered him if he would recant, and forsake his Religion) Life in God's displeasure is worse than death, and death with his true favour is true life. He is one in whom the house of David prevails against the house of Saul. And is not † gilt, but Gold. He hath no sweet sin nor secret lust lapped close up within the folds of guile, or hypocrisy in his heart. He like * Qualis animus, talis oratio, qualis oratio, talis vita. His life as well as his lips, his works as well as his words, do praise God, for he doth not flatter, but truly fear the Lord. Enoch walk with God. Like Caleb and Josuah, his heart follows the Lordsfully, while he is travailing through the wilderness of this world, towards Canaan, Heaven. And he is an * Genes. 5. 22. Abraham a friend of God. Sincerity, 'tis the highest round, and pitch of Grace and goodness that the Soul can fly, or climb to, while it's pinioned, and loaden with the flesh: * Esay 41 8. 2 Chron. 26. 7. 'Tis the Soul's cordial when fainting, its bladder when sinking, its leg when stumbling, staff when falling, comfort while living, Joy when dying, and its Crown after death. But without sincerity we are but light without heat, mudwals pargetted, Rotten posts gilded, ugly wrinkled creatures painted, professors blanched: without it we are odious and loathsome both to God, and Man, God hates us for not being * Quid tibi prodest nomen usurpare alienum et vocari quod non es? It will be no real profit, advantage or comfort unto us, either, to be called Saint, or to be accounted the children of God by men, if we be but whited Tombs, but carnal, rotten, dissembling Christians and professors in the sight and esteem of God, nay we are much more odious to the Lord for being pious only in show and appearance. really, and man for being seemingly religious: so that we are too bad for Heaven, too good for earth, and therefore only fit for Hell. An Hypocrite is like an Egyptian Temple, which was very curious, glorious and beautiful without, but had nothing within, except a Serpent, or an Ape. Though he professeth himself to be a Temple of the Holy Ghost, yet his heart hath nothing in it, but either filthy, or foolish, venomous, or vain lusts and desires. He is like that tree in Pliny, whose leaf is as broad as a hat, but its fruit no bigger than a Bean. Like that Ox slain and sacrificed in Rome, the same day that Caesar was murdered in the Senate, without an Heart, at least without a good one; for * Prov. 10. 20. the heart of the wicked is little worth. Like that shield, which had God painted on the one side, and the Devil on the other. He hangs like Mahomet's Tomb (or as the Papists picture Erasmus) betwixt Heaven and Hell. Like Janus he hath two faces; being intus Nero, foris Cato; Loquitu● ut Ps●●, vivitur ut Gallonius: audi, nemo melius; specta, nemo pejus. He is like a man with corrupted Lungs, a bad Liver, rotten teeth, and an artificial perfumed breath. Like a stinking carcase stuck with lilies, violets, and roses; like a rotten dunghill covered with snow; like one clothed in white with a plague-sore upon him, and like a thief's coat, plush or scarlet without, and cloth within, of another colour. He's like Nebuchadnezars Image, whose feet were clay, for his affections (though his words be gilded with golden, 1 Camden Annal. Of Queen Elizabeth lib. 4. p. 489. holy expressions, and his outward behaviour with a silver, civil, specious, religious profession) are carnal, earthly vile, and sinful. (i) Squire when he anointed the Pummel of Queen Elizabeth's Saddle with poison to destroy her, cried with a loud voice, God save the Queen. An Hypocrite when he seems most zealous to honour Christ, even than murders him, he cries Hosanna with his tongue, but his heart says, Crucify him, for it loves and preferreth some Dalilah more than him, and before him He hath certainly a Diana in the Temple, a Dagon in the Ark of his heart; like those * 2 Kings 17. 35. that feared the Lord, and served other Gods. And like k Speed. Chro. p. 297 Redwald the 7th. Monarch of the English men, who in the same Temple erected an Altar for Christ, and another little altar for sacrifices to his Idols. He is like those leones Syriaci, l Aristotle & Solinus. qui primo quinque foetus pariunt deinceps quatuor, post ad singulos partus uno pauciores, donec ad extremum omnino steriles nullum foetum pariunt. He is like the Cypress tree, beautiful but barren. m Fox B. of Martyrs. vol. 3. p. 967. 'Tis reported of Castellanus an Apostate professor who persecuted the Christians at Orleans, that he was stricken by the hand of God with this most strange judgement, the one half of his body burned as hot as fire, and the other part of it was as cold as Ice, and thus crying and lamenting he continued till his death. The fire of piety kindles in the mouth, burns upon the tongue, and blazes out in the verbal expression of an Hypocrite, but his heart is frozen, and cold as snow for all that, because there is not so much as one spark of true grace therein to thaw, or heat it while he lives here, nor to prevent his sufferings hereafter, in that place where (through God's just judgement, upon him) he shall both freeze and fry, weep and gnash his teeth without all possibility of ease or end. An Hypocrite than is both a self-destroyer, and a self-deceiver. Patroclus exultabat Armis Achilles, sensit Hector nihil aliud esse quam Patroclum. For although with his glittering shows of piety, (like a Juggler) he may delude the eyes of men, yet he cannot cast a mist before, * Jerem. 17. 10. nor draw a curtain betwixt the the Allseeing eye of God and his soul; because the Lord both searches, tries, knows and weighs the heart and spirit, and the darkest angles, together with those darling corruptions, that lurk the closest in them. What was said of Cicero, Linguam omnes fere mirantur, pectus non ita, is true of an Hypocrite, most men may admire his tongue, even whilst God abhorreth his heart; that may be most eloquent and pious, while this is most unclean, & impious. n Speed. He is like Tiberius, aliud ore, aliud ment, omnia dissimulans. And like o Guicciardine. Pope Alexander the 6th. who was so cunning a dissembler that he never spoke as he meant. And therefore he is abominable to God, who loves and requires truth in the inward parts being, non corticis sed cordis Deus, the God of the heart, and not of the bark. An Hypocrite deals with Christ as * Ruth. 1. 14. 17. Orpah did with Naomi, he kisses, and leaves, professes, and forsakes him. And therefore God will both reject him, eclipse or rather kill his Joys in * Job 20. 5. a moment, * Matth. 22. 13, 14 15, 16. and inflict eternal woes † upon him. But a sincere Christian carries himself towards his Saviour, as Ruth did to Naomi, he forsakes all for him, cleaves steadfastly to him, and resolves nothing shall part, divide, or divorce him from him, and therefore God will both own, honour, and crown him with felicity and glory to all eternity: For that with Galba the Emperor of Rome once said to his Soldiers, may both most comfortably and truly be affirmed of Christ, and all true Nathaniels, Zachary's, and Elizabeth's, I mean all sincere Christians. viz. ego vestor & vos mei, Jesus Christ is and * Hosea 2. 19 will be theirs faithfully, yea everlastingly, and they are his most entirely, cordially, constantly. My beloved is mine, and I am his, saith the spouse of Christ her Husband. The Prayer. O LORD since thou hast acquainted those that enjoy thy Gospel wherein thy will and their own duties, comforts, privileges and happiness are revealed to them, that a double heart is an evil heart; Let us not I beseech thee be contented, much less well-pleased or resolved like Solomon's Harlot to have that Child divided betwixt thee and our Lusts. Under the Law thou didst command that the Altar upon which thy people sacrificed unto thee should be made of whole Stones. But under the Gospel thou requirest that the Spirits of those who serve and seek thee, be contrite, fleshy, tender, yet entirely devoted to thee. O Let not blessed God our hearts who sit under the droopings of the Sanctuary be stonehard, barren, senseless, dead hearts, but take them into thine own hands O Lord, and mould, fashion, form and frame them so that they may be soft, broken, and yet wholly, only, and sincerely thine: And that so thou mayst delight in them, take possession of them, set up thy glorious Throne, and dwell in them. O let us remember that sincerity will be our Comfort in the midst of our sorrows, and a wellspring of Joy, peace, gladness, hope, and happiness to us hath in life and death, whereas Hypocrisy will both bring us unto, and leave us in eternal woes and horror. Let us also consider that the paint of Hypocrisy, and the varnish of formality will not, cannot either hid our loathsome deformity from the 〈◊〉 pure Allseeing eye, or abide and stick on when we shall appear before our God by death, and judgement who is a consuming 〈…〉 us not therefore, O thou that requirest truth in the inward parts, to content ourselves with shows of goodness, and a form of Godliness, but grant that we may labour to get the life and power of Religion into our hearts, to departed from all iniquity, to walk in all the Commandments of our God without reproof, and cordially to serve the Lord, that so living here without Guile, we may die in the Lord, and after death riegn with the God of truth in Glory. Amen. Sinceritas, pietatis est medulla, anima Gratiae, Antidotum contra desperationem. XV. Of Afflictions. 'tIs the * Esay. 48. 10. jer. 9 7. Furnace into which God casts his people to refine them, his enemies to consume them. It's a comfortable pillar of fire to lead his Israel towards Canaan, but a fearful flame, like that from Heaven upon Nadab and Abihu, to destroy the wicked. 'Tis a Scullion, a file to make Christians bright and clean. 'Tis the gall and Wormwood that God layeth upon those breasts of the world, power, pleasure, honour, profit, to wean his children from it. 'Tis the hand, the friend that pulleth them out, and will not suffer them to dabble, soil, drown themselves, in the puddles, sinks or streams of earthly vanities, carnal pleasures, or creature comforts. 'Tis the King's professor of Divinity in the Academy of the World. 'Tis the a Scholacrucis ●ehola lucis. Calamitas virtutis est occasio. Seneca dedivin. provident. School of Christ, where a Christian learns to take out lessons of patience, humility, submission to Gods will, contempt of the World, Repentance, and dependence upon God. It gives a tongue to the heart, and (as the extreme danger Croesus was in by Cyrus and his enemies in the battle, made his till then dumb Son cry out b Rex est, caeve ne ●ccidas. Heyl. Geogr. p. 528. O do not kill King Croesus) maketh men and women both to break open and knock off, all the doors, locks, bars, and obstructions of speech, and also to * Hosea. 5. 15. cry out for mercy, acceptance, forgiveness, deliverance, safety, and salvation, although they had never before spoken one word to God by prayer for the lives of their endangered, wounded, dying souls. What the barren women of Rome did foolishly conceive of, and vainly expect from the Priests of Mars when they danced stark naked up and down the streets with whips in their hands to keep off Dogs from biting them, namely that if they were lashed by them, it would make them fruitful; Christians find it experimentally to be most true of the Rod of God, for it makes them * Psal. 119 67● 71. bring forth fruit meet for repentance. Affliction like Aloes is bitter in taste, but sweet in operation, for it kills sin that Cancer, that cruel deadly worm which doth so dangerously wound, so grievously pain, and so intolerably torment the Soul. 'Tis to an Israelite a Jordan, but a Red sea to an Egyptian. A child of God may say of Troubles, as Socrates did of his enemies Anitus and Melitus, they may kill me, but they cannot hurt me; for he is like the Amiantus stone called the Asbest, which ('tis said) being cast into the fire seems forthwith to be all on a flame, but being taken out shines more gloriously: And like gold, which put into fire is more pure, and being cast into the water is most radiant. Tribulation is to him as the enemy's sword was to that soldier, who being therewith wounded in his side, was thereby cured of an Impostume, which otherwise would have caused his death. Adversity it is a Christians Topics from whence he deduces Arguments to prove himself a * Prov. 13. 1●. Favourite in the Court of Heaven. 'Tis his Heraldry or Coat of Arms where by he is able to prove himself allied to Christ, and an Heir of Glory; they being Bastards, Esay. 27. 9 not Sons, who are not chastened of the lord Deus unicum tantum habet filium sine peccato, nullum sine flagello. It's the † Physic that purgeth out the peccant, dangerous humours of sin; 'tis a painful but a health-bringing medicine. Nulla remedia quae vulneribus adhibentur tam faciunt dolorem, quam quae sunt salutaria, saith the Orator. Corrections like Plato's suppers are best the day after. * A gale of groans and sighs, a stream of tears accompanies us to the very gates of Heaven, and there bids us farewell for ever. M. Baxter. A good man's drink is wormwood here, for he must not expect two Heavens. Delicatus es si hic gauderevelis cum seculo, & postea regnare cum Christo; Since they that would reap in joy must sow in tears, they must expect both clouds and showers, † 1 Thess. c. 3. v. 3● it being the lot, portion and condition of all God's people to have foul weather and foul way in their Journey towards their everlasting home, Heaven. c Rainold. Orat p 401. Cyrus' olim suos Persas libertatis dulce dinem ex labore servitutis docuisse traditur. * Si mihi tranquilla & placata omnia faissent incredibili qua nunc f●uor laetitiae voluptate caruissem. Cicer. post reditum. Misery gives a sweet relish to mercy, and therefore God will have his people to be slaves in Egypt, before he makes them free denizens of Canaan. * Afflictions are the snuffers wherewith God makes his people to burn and shine more bright. Affliction, 'tis the Mortar in which a Child of God is beaten and bruised to make his graces like sweet spices smell more fragrantly. Afflictio piorum non est tam poenae criminis quam examen virtutis: For God's sharpest deal, and severest dispensations towards his children are corrections not judgements, chastisements but not punishments, or if they be punishments they are yet poenae emendatoriae non interfectoriae, reforming not consuming, temporal, not eternal, sin-killing, but not soul-killing punishments. Affliction 'tis the Sieve wherewith God sifts, and as it were dresseth them to make them fit grain to be gathered into his Garner. 'Tis the workhouse in which he frameth his Servants like to his Son. 'Tis the mould wherein God casts his own people, and forms Jesus Christ in them. 'Tis the Mint-house wherein the Lord stampeth his own Image upon them with this superscription, Holiness to the lord d There is no greater sign of damnation then to lie in sin and evil unpunished of God, saith blessed Mr. Bradford. 'Tis the mark, livery, Cognizance, of the friends, sheep, and servants of Christ. 'Tis a Rod (like † 1 Sam. 14. 27. Janathans') with honey at the end of it, whereby men's eyes are enlightened to behold their misery; most men and women being too like the Mole, who (they say) is blind till a little before her death, but then see's. * Job 36. 8, 9 If they be bound in fetters, and be holden in the cords of affliction, than God showeth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded, saith Elihu. Manasses could not see his sins so as to be humble for them, and to repent of them, till affliction had opened his eyes. Adversity 'tis the Grave of sin, and the Womb of Grace. 'Tis like d Rainold Orat. p. 394. the picture of Diana in Chios, which frowns when you come to it, and smiles when you go from it. * Nihil mihi videtur infelici●s eo, cui nunquam aliquid ●venit adversi. Demetrius. Demetrius an Heathen accounted it a great unhappiness that he had no misfortune. And not without just cause, since prosperity is usually the mother and forerunner of iniquity, security, * Prov. 1. 32. misery. e Plutarch. Apothegm. When Philip King of Macedon had tidings brought unto him of many worthy and prosperous exploits achieved all together in one and the same day, he cried out: O fortune, work me but some small displeasure, I beseech thee, for these so many blessed good turns. f Camerar. lib. 1 p. 38. And when Amasis' King of Egypt heard of Polycrates his happiness, he wrote to him, saying, I have thy great felicity in suspicion. And afterwards said, that he feared he should be forced to sorrow and lamentation because of this his friend overwhelmed with misery. And that he feared came to pass, for not long after Polycrates was hanged upon a Gibbet, by the Command of Oraetes the Lieutenant of Cyrus. * Miserum te judico quod runquam fuisti miser. Seneca de divin. providentia. Impunity is the greatest infelicity: * Prov. 2. 1●. prosperous wickedness being the usual Harbinger of grievous calamities, for God is most angry at the wicked when he seems (because he doth not punish them) to be pleased with them. Amongst men there is et misericordia punien● & crudelitas parcens. Witness Tiberius g Suetonius vita Tyberii. who constrained them to live who were willing to die: And h Camerar. lib. 5. p. 334. Caligula, whose Command to the bloody Executioner of his cruelties was, Ita feri ut mori se sentiat; strike so as he may feel Death. And when a poor prisoner said to Tiberius, I beseech your Majesty that I may die, he answered him, thou art not yet in my favour. So the Lord (but most justly) punisheth his enemies by sparing, wounds by not striking, and plagues them by prospering of them. For Adversity with God's mercy is true felicity, but prosperity with God's wrath is real misery. Paul in a Dungeon was happily miserable, when Nero upon a Throne was miserably happy. The way to Canaan for the Israelites lay through a howling desert; Affliction is the King's great road to Heaven. i Don Anthony de Guevara Dial of Princes Fol. 28. Bias amongst others ordained this Law, That none should be a Prince of the Perinenses but he that had been brought up ten years in the Wars. Because, saith he, he alone doth know how precious a thing peace is, that hath felt the extreme calamities of War. Famine teacheth us the worth of plenty, Imprisonment indears liberty, darkness makes the light both more desirable and welcome; so the burden of affliction felt, and the bitterness thereof being sweetened, by being sanctified unto us, will make us both highly to prise Gods great mercy in delivering us from troubles, and hearty to praise him for his compassion and goodness in giving us songs in the night, solace in the midst of our Sorrows, and support under our sharpest sufferings; since none will either so much value the favour and felicity of a pleasant calm, or rejoice in the security of an earnestly desired Haven, as those who have experienced the amazing distracting terrors of a Choleric, furio●● storm, and have been exposed to the dreadful dangers 〈◊〉 an enraged Ocean, whose angry, cruel, and remorseless Billows did seem to quarrel and contend which of them should be their Executioners, and first overwhelm, ingulf, and bury them in the liquid bosom of their merciless Mother: Christ is never so amiable, dear, or precious to any, as he is to them who have been sensible of the weight, height, and smart of sin, their own nothingness, vileness, and wretchedness, by reason thereof, and his infinite, undeserved Love in both freely, seasonably, safely bringing them by the gates of Hell to Heaven. And therefore God who is not only wisdom itself, but † 1 John. 4. 6. Love, and the father of mercies, who doth not willingly afflict the children of men, who is grieved as well as fretted at their transgressions, would not cut and launch his people, if their festered sores could be cured, or the life of their souls preserved by mild, unpainfull, and merciful applications. He is also * John. 1. 15. that husbandman, who is Lord of the Vine-yard, and he both takes care of it, and delights in it; He will not therefore cut down with the Axe of vengeance those trees that bear good (though but little) fruit, * Revel. 3. 19▪ but only prune them with the sharp knife of Affliction, Deus paternum habet adversus bonos viros animum et illos fortius amat to, operibus, doloribus ac damnis exagitat; ut verum colligant robur. Senec. de Divin. provident. that so they may be more fruitful. He is not (like Tyrants) pleased with their sufferings, for even then when his hand is whipping of them, his tender Bowels (like an indulgent pitiful Mothers) yearn toward them; while he strikes, he loves them; yea therefore he strikes because he loves them: you have his own word for it, as many as I love † These are the Lots which all Kings from the first that ever was to the last that ever shall be, shall most certainly draw in their courses, Regnabo, regno, regnavi, sum st●●e Regno. I rebuke and chasten. His blows, are Balm, his wounds cure, his anger is favour, & his displeasure mercy to them. It's then both the unspeakable felicity of, and a prerogative Royal, not only peculiar and annexed unto, but also inseparable from all the Heavenborn heirs of Christ's Kingdom, That no condition how sad, grievous, or calamitous soever it be in this world, either shall or can render them miserable: * John. 10 28. Psalm. 103. 17. Because it's beyond the power both of sin, Satan, sufferings and death, either to extinguish the fire of God's free love towards them, or totally and finally to take away the inward, soul-ravishing, and reviving comforts of the Holy Spirit from them, or to extirpate the root of grace out of them here, or to keep them from, or to deprive them of, that crown of glory, which the Lord hath both promised them in this life, and prepared for them in the next, when Angels shall carry their souls into Abraham's bosom: whereas the undoubted immediate Heirs of earthly Princes are often either excluded, disinherited, deposed, or Assassinated, and so do not only lose their rights, hopes, honours, lives and glories, but become far more miserable by their being formerly so happy either in expectation, or fruition. We need travail no further than * Our age doth afford us the most bloody, barbarous and impious example of this kind that ever the Sun beheld, viz. the horrid murder of King Charles the 1st. England to fetch woeful instances or examples to confirm this truth. * Robert the eldest son of William the Conqueror, King Henry the sixth, and (to name no more) Edward and Richard the only Sons of King Edward 4. were disinherited, deposed and murdered. The first by his younger brethren, William Rufus, and Henry. The second by Edward the 4. The other by their uncle then Duke of Gloucester. Thus we see that a Christians cross is a Crown, whereas an earthly Crown is but a cross. The statue of Neptune at Messina holds Scylla and Charybdis in chains, with this inscription, Pergite securae per freta nostra rates. The Lord order all his dispensations both of love and anger to his own glory and his people's good, so that neither prosperity nor adversity shall hurt them, k Luther. Quicquid enim passus est Christus idem nobis sanctificavit, paupertatem ditavit, ignominiam glorificavit, mortem vivificavit. Whatever Christ suffered that he hath sanctified. He hath made poverty riches, Ignominy honour, and brought life out of the womb of death to and for his people. l 〈…〉 ●aeom. ex Arist. lib. 2. Ethic. c. 5. It's an Axiom in Philosophy, Med cinae fiunt per contraria, and it's true in Divinity: for the great Physician of our souls makes miseries medicines, sickness health, and tribulations * Psalm 119. 71 mercies to his Children, yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Nocuments are Documents, corrections * Psalm 119. 67. instructions, calamities cordials, and crosses comforts unto them. Believe me, there is no such joy in the World as the people of Christ have under the cross, I speak by experience, said pious Mr. Philpot. m Fox B. of Martyrs, vol. 3. Guy de Brez being committed prisoner into the Castle of Tournay, he was visited by many persons of quality, and amongst the rest by the Countess of Ren, who coming into the Prison, and beholding the iron chain to which he was fastened, Mr. Guy, said she, I wonder you can either eat, drink or sleep in quiet, for were I in your case the very terror thereof would go nigh to kill me. Madam said he, the good cause for which I suffer, and that inward peace of conscience wherewith God hath endued me, makes me eat and drink with greater comfort than my enemies can which seek my life, yea my chains and bonds are so fare from terrifying me or breaking my sleep, that I glory and delight therein, esteeming them at a higher rate than chains and rings of gold or any other precious Jewels whatsoever, for they yield me much more profit. Yea when I hear the rattling of my chains, me thinks I hear as it were some sweet instrument of Music sounding in my ears. Job 34. 29. Thus when God gives quietness, who then can make troubles? when he comforts, speaks peace, and gives Joy to his people, who, or what can make them sad, unhappy, or disconsolate? It's true, God's jewels may, yea often do lie in a black Cabinet, in a mournful condition for a time, yet like diamonds in a dark night they do then sparkle and give a resplendent lustre; for their graces like Sunbeams dart and shine through the thickest clouds of grief and misery. Like Ball● they rise the higher by being stricken down with the hand of Correction: And although they be loaden or pressed with a laden, a very ponderous burden of inward or outward troubles, yet they make good that impress which the noble family of the Columni gave when they were banished by Pope Alexander the 6th. A bending branch with this inscription, Flecti potest, frangi non potest. They are Oaks, proud, stubborn, obdurate sinners, not Osiers, meek, humble, penitent Saints, that are torn, blasted and consumed by Thunder and lightning, by judgements, vengeance, and fiery wrath from Heaven. The worst evils that befall them cannot hurt them. n Marsil. Ficin: Epistolar. lib. 4. Mala non patitur nisi malus. And which is more, they do them good, for God takes the venom out of them, and so makes them not only safe, but healthful also, and necessary for them. Christians therefore should, yea must be, Not only patiented, submissive, and contented under chastisements, saying with him, ut fiat voluntas Domini quotidie oramus, cum facta est voluntas Domini feramus. But Joyful also, as the blessed Apostles, and those that were spoilt for the name of Christ were when for a good cause, a good conscience, a good God and a gracious Saviour they were both scourged and plundered, saying with another, Placent mihi dolores per quos nihil in mundo placet. They should be thankful, and say with job when all the beautiful and pleasant plumes of riches, honour, prosperity, health and and his dearest creature-comforts were plucked away from him by the just, yet merciful hand of God, but violent and unjust hands of cruel enemies who stripped and left him naked and distressed, * Job 1. 28. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Christian's should labour to be sound humbled for the * Lamen. 3. 2●. 30. provoking, procuring cause of all their sorrows and sufferings, their transgressions. They should seriously consider that there are two Oceans to drown those Egyptians, their sins, in God's wonderful mercy, and the infinite merits of Jesus Christ, and so by a lively faith keep their souls both from despairing and mourning. They should by servant prayer seek to get the afflicting hand of God sanctified unto them, that so his Rod as well as his Staff may comfort them. They must not only clear and justify God in his severest dispensations towards them, bat also acknowledge his mercy in that he doth but whip them with a rod, whereas they have deserved to be scourged with Scorpions, and because he doth lay but the little finger of his displeasure upon them, whereas he might justly have smitten them with the hand of his wrath. Christian's must resolve to swallow that poison no more, to run into that fire no more, that is, to commit those crimes and iniquities no more, which did so much endanger the lives of their Souls, and whereby they did so much both dishonour, and displease the Lord. They must be sure when they come safe to land, * Psalm. 76. 11 10. to perform those vows and promises which they made to God when they were tossed and distressed in the Sea of adversity. Lastly, God's people must adore and admire the wisdom and goodness of that God, who both can and doth make the Lion of affliction to afford, and give the honey of spiritual consolation, and the sweet meat of saving grace to the souls of his people; it being a most sadly experimented truth, that if man should enjoy a Paradise all his days in this World, he would then seek no further, but sit down contented, and say of it, as Peter once did of Mount Tabor, It's good for me to be here. Because that if our lives be not made bitter and sour by tribulations, neither Holiness, Christ, nor Heaven, will be either dear or desirable to our souls. And though the Lord do afflict his Children, yet the sharpest, the longest calamities and sorrows which they can possibly endure on this side their graves, are but a drop, a moment of pain, distress, trouble, misery, and grief, to that Ocean of Joy, and eternity of Bliss which they shall surely enjoy after their death. 2 Corinth. 4. 17. * Our light afflictions which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, (●) ●ips. Epist. 63. saith blessed Paul, O felices inter omnes miserias hoc uno Christiani, quod via nobis per haec ad aliam vitam, in qua nec gaudiorum nec modum ullum esse scimus nec finem. Adversity sanctyfied is a sharp, but a sure way to felicity and glory: Like honey it both purgeth and heals a Christian. And as affliction hath a sting wherewith it pains and wounds, so like that Serpent the Scorpion (such is the compassionate goodness of the Lord) it hath also in its own Bowels an antidote wherewith it doth both ease, preserve, and cure a Child of God, and so becomes his Balsam, not his Bane. The Prayer. O LORD, thou art both Wisdom, Love, and Goodness itself. 'Tis pity therefore as well as anger, compassion as well as indignation, that moves thee to strike, chasten, frown upon and afflict thy people. Thou knowest that even the best and most dutiful of all thy children are apt to become wild, wanton, forgetful, stubborn, unthankful, sickly, and diseased, if thou lay up thy rod, and feed them fat with Mercies. And thou seest that prosperity makes them to gather dust, and to grow both mouldy, and rusty, but that Adversity makes and keeps them fair, bright, and clean. O let the consideration therefore of thine infinite Wisdom, make us quietly, willingly, contentedly, silently, to submit unto all thine angry dispensations, to bear thine indignation, and to kiss thy correcting Hand▪ And let, O Lord, the serious meditation of thy wonderful Love and Goodness make us both joyful, and thankful, for those sharp, but safe, yea necessary Corrosives, the soundest hearts having some proud flesh in them, and for those painful, but purgative, healing, comfortable potions and pledges of thy fatherly care, and tender compassions towards us. Let us all when we are afflicted, consider and remember, that it's for sin we suffer, and that our transgressions are the source of our punishments, that so when we are chastised for our faults, we may not murmur, but mourn; repine, but repent; nor be peevish, but patiented, submissive, penitent. And let O Lord all thy chastisements be so sanctified unto us, that our understandings may be enlightened, our judgements rectified, our souls humbled, our corruptions mortified, our consciences purified, our lives reform, that thy dreadful wrath may be appeased, thy unsupportable judgements removed thy tender mercies evidenced, and thy loving kindness which is better than life, vouchsafed, and continued unto us. Grant this O Lord for Christ his sake, Amen. Afflictio illuminat, decet, purgat, eurat. XVI. Of Patience. PAtience 'tis a * Job 1. 21. Job blessing God for the loss of blessings; an * 1 Sam. 3. 18. Eli kissing the Rod that drew blood from him with that sharp lash, that heavy stroke, the threatened ruin of his house and posterity, with the mouth of submission, saying, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. a Cedrenus in vit. Mauritii. & Camerar. It's a holy, good Mauritius who when he was not only deposed from his Empire, and succeeded by one of the worst, yea basest of all his subjects, Phocas; but also compelled to be a sad and mournful Spectator of the bloody butchery of all his five sweet innocent Children, he meekly and joyfully kissed the hand that beat him, saying, Righteous art thou O Lord, and just are thy Judgements. 'Tis a Lamb that will be both shorn and killed without crying It's a grace that keeps the soul in a calm, holy, contented frame in every condition. 'Tis an Isaac bound and ready to be sacrificed without murmuring. A stone-wall that both blunts and repels the piled arrows of the sharpest sufferings. 'Tis a fountain without mud, and clear though stirred or troubled with the hand, and rod of affliction. A face without a frown and peevish tear in the greatest pain, disappointment, grief, torment. 'Tis a writ of restitution, when distrust, frowardness, discontentment, or rash anger, have ejected a man out of his right mind, and Christian behaviour, whereby he is again peaceably and quietly restored unto himself: In your patience possess your Souls. 'Tis a stream that keeps within the banks of † Psalm 39 9 silence with David, and * Philip. 4. 11. 12. an holy contentation of mind with Paul, when the stormy impetuous winds of affliction, poverty, sickness, or persecution do blow upon it. 'Tis cooling Physic that preserves the soul from falling into the dangerous fever of an angry murmuring against Gods crossing providences. 'Tis one (like the Camel) kneeling down to take up his burden. It makes a man like wheat fall down in a silent submission, and a willing resignation of himself to the will and pleasure of God, when he's winnowed with the fan of adversity. 'Tis a clear Sky in the worst weather. An Anvil unbroken with the hardest strokes of injury, calamity, or Tyranny. b Et non sentire mala sua, non est hominis; et non far, non est vir. Seneca. 'Tis the golden▪ mean betwixt the extremes of stupidity and repining. 'Tis Jonah in a Whale's belly without fretting. 'Tis the Cradle wherein passion is rocked asleep. 'Tis the earnest, the bond of a liberal remuneration: c Hug. Grocius of the Law of War and peace, ex Ter●ul. For so bounteous a rewarder of patience is God, that if you commit your injury to him, he is a revenger; if you grief, an healer; if your death, a reviver. How great is the power of patience, to have God himself a debtor to it! Patience, 'tis a Joseph relieving, maintaining, providing for the soul in the Egypt of this world, when afflicted with the forest famine. 'Tis a child descended of a Royal family, being the Daughter of that Queen mother Meekness. 'Tis an Abraham prepared, resolved, contented to forsake and want all, country, friends, land, if God will have it so. 'Tis a Dove without Gall; A tree without knots; A spirit even and planed; A fresh spring, and sweet water in the saltest sea of tribulation; A But that receives all darts without pain, hurt, and death; A bush burning, yet not consumed. Patience 'twill make a man like * Esay 39 8. Hezekiah willingly consent, and (as it were) set his hand to God's Deed of gift, of all his, yea and his posterities temporal mercies to enemies, and aliens, with a Good is the word, and righteous is the work of the Lord. 'Tis a Christians Sandale and shoe wherewith he both can and doth tread upon the nettles and briers of injuries and reproaches without either smart or hurt; and also wherewith he walks upon Gravel and thistles, endureth crosses, losses and troubles without fainting, * Prov. 3. 15. fretting, or † tiring. The Prayer. O LORD, if thou wert as prone to revenge as we are to rebel; Or if thou shouldest be as ready to destroy us, as we are forward to displease and dishonour thee, showers of Fire and Fury instead of dews of Grace and Mercy would daily, yea hourly fall from Heaven upon our heads. But such, O thou God of Patience, though thou art angry with the wicked every day, is thy wonderful Long-suffering towards us, though we daily vex and grieve thee, that thou art graciously pleased to warn us, to wait on us, to woo us, to strive with us and to offer both favour, and forgiveness to us. O let us resolve and endeavour to learn of Christ, to imitate him, and to transcribe into our own actions and behaviour that Golden Copy which our blessed Saviour hath set us by being (like him) meek and lowly in heart. And since thy holy Word assures us that a froward mouth and heart are hateful and abominable unto thee: O let us never give thee any rest till thou hast adorned us with the precious, the glorious Ornament of a meek and quiet spirit: That so we may lie silently under thine angry hand when corrected, bear injuries, affronts, revile, petiently and Christianly, when they are done or offered unto us, wait without fretting contentedly the Lords own time and leisure, for comfort and deliverance, when we are afflicted, distressed, oppressed. And though we should be wrongfully, or suddenly deprived either of all our sublunary mercies, or of those which we most value, affect, and desire, that so we may possess our souls in patience, and not be angry or froward at God's sharpest deal with us, because how great or many soever our miseries are or may be, they are less and fewer than our iniquities deserve. Grant this O Lord for Christ his sake. Amen. Patientia tacet, adjuvat, exonerat. XVII. Of Baptism. 'TIs a Moses leading and carrying Infants out of Egypt into the Canaan of God's true Church. It's the hand that ingrafts them into the true Vine Jesus Christ, that so they may become living and fruitful Branches, and escape everlasting burning. 'Tis their Matriculation in the Acadamy of Christianity. The Oath of Allegiance which they take to be loyal Subjects to the King of peace and righteousness Jesus Christ. a Don Anthony de Guevare. Dial of Princ. Fol. 9 When the Romans created any Knights, they caused them to swear, 1. That they should spend all the days of their lives in Wars. 2. That they should never through fear, poverty, for riches or any other thing take Wages but of Rome only. Lastly, that they would rather choose to die in liberty, then to live in Captivity. In our Baptismal Covenant (which is an honour and happiness infinitely beyond that of being a Roman Knight, for thereby we are made members of Christ's body, and (as I may say) Peers and Nobles of his Kingdom, we do solemnly and faithfully promise and engage 1. To fight the Lords battles under the great Captain of our Salvation Jesus Christ against sin, temptations, the World, the flesh, and the Devil until Death. 2. That we will not be hired, corrupted, alured, nor prevailed withal, either by pleasure, power, credit, profit, or any thing to serve the Devil or our own Lusts against Christ. And Lastly, that we will neither willingly suffer ourselves to be pinioned or manacled by our spiritual enemies, nor live in cursed slavery, or captivity under them, but that we will (as Hannibal solemnly swore to Amilcar that he would be an irreconcilable enemy to Rome) both live and die in a Christian, courageous, constant, implacable hatred against them, and opposition of them. Baptism it's the brand whereby we are known, being thereby brought within the pale of Christ's visible Church; and also whereby we are distinguished from Heathens, and Pagans. Certainly then those parents are very unwise, unnatural, yea cruel to their Children, who will not suffer the covenant of Grace, nor that Deed of an heavenly inheritance which God hath drawn, and is ready made to be sealed by this Sacrament (to which they have an unquestionable right by virtue of God's promise which is made unto, and entailed upon them as well as their Parents) unto them. But instead thereof do without all both pity and affection not only keep those Lambs out of Christ's fold, In Baptismo Cyprianus seatit omnia peccata deponi, diabolum opprimi, spiritum sanctum accipi. Idem. Cent. 3. p. 247. but also expose them to Wolves and wild beasts, Heretics and Seducers to be devoured: And rather choose to have them continue foul and filthy, then to have them * Not per illud sacramentum ablutis delictis nostrae cacitatis, in vitam aeternam liberari, inquit Tertul. de Baptismo. lib. de Baptist Hist. eccles. Magdeburgens. cent. 3. p. 239. washed in the laver of Regeneration. Besides they do grievously sin against their own souls in slighting, opposing and despising so sacred an institution. For although the want, and in some cases, the neglect of God's ordinances be not, yet the contempt of them is damnable. Woe to them, Et Origen, docuit peccati fordes per Baptismum deponi● & omne genus delictorum auserri. Idem. Hist. Ecclesiast. Magdeburg. Cent. 3. p. 253. saith a learned man, that in the Administration of this Sacrament of Baptism deny their duty to dying infants, under pretence of I know not what discipline. And woe ('tis sadly to be feared) will pursue and overtake those who will not suffer Ministers to perform their duty to Infants, neither living nor dying, through their dangerous delusions, and under both vain and ungrounded pretences. For the administration of this Sacrament of Baptism hath both the best foundation and text, the * Mark 1. 4. Acts ●38, 39 Genes. 17. compared with Coloss. ●, 11. 12. word of God to warrant it; and the best, clearest, and safest comment (to wit) the practice of the Apostles, and also both the judgement and practice of all Christian Churches in the world for some hundred of years to confirm it. c The Baptism of Infants was not derived from the authority of man neither of councess, but from the tradition or doctrine of the Apostles, saith S. Augustine contra Donatist. lib. 4. cap. 23. & 24. Baptism hath its beginning from God's word and from the use of the primitive Church, saith Mr. Philpot. (d) And the Ecclesiastical History and others acquaint us that Auxentius who was an Arrian, with his adherents, was one of the first that denied infant Baptism, and next after him that Heretic Pelagius: And then the Anabaptists. These are the spoysoned springs and muddy channels, from which, and down which this dirty, unwholesome, dangerous stream of Antipedo baptism did flow & run into this vertiginous, truthsick, and truth-despising, if not loathing age: into which the former times have conveyed and emptied their dregs, froth, and filth; and wherein gray-headed errors and Heresies are not only grown young again, but vamped, furbished and new gilt on purpose to vent them unto such, Mr. Simpsons' History of the Church, Mr. Philpot, etc. either ignorant, inconsiderate, or profane chapmen, as without care, or conscience will sell their souls to purchase their Lusts. For now it's become a gainful trade to retail those damnable and dangerous Heresies, and principles that are sent by wholesale out of Italy by the Pope's Factors, and which is more, all that will, may set up and be free of any Company they like best. 'Tis no wonder then that God's Temple and Table have but a few guests, when the Devil is permitted to revel and keep open-house for all comers, or that truth should be opposed when the Father of lies hath liberty to speak against it. Infant-baptisme being heretofore questioned after so many years quiet enjoyment of its undoubtted Right as enabled it to plead prescription for it, It was Defendant in the cause, and produced such clear, strong, and good evidences, that it got both a verdict and judgement upon it, which still hangs upon record in the Court of antiquity against the adversaries thereof. But of late time it hath been forced through the unjust disturbance of some turbulent spirits to be Plaintiff also; And through the good providence and the divine assistance of him who hath given e That pious and learned Divine Mr. Baxter, cum multis a●iis, and amongst them that emnently learned Dr. Hammond pract. catech. some of his Servants such a mouth and wisdom as none of its enemies are able to resist. It hath again cast the most cunning, active, and irreconcilable enemies thereof to the glory of God, the vindication of truth, the comfort of his people, and the everlasting both shame, and silence of those whose either passion, or interests have blinded their Reasons, or corrupted their affections so, as that they either know not, or love not the truth. For f Cypr. Epist. 59 ad Fidam. A baptismo post Christum prohiberi non debet infans recens natus, saith Cyprian, † and with him agree so many both pious and learned men, * Vide Dr. Hammond pract. catech. p. 212. to 219. that but to name them, their arguments and say would swell this Subject into a Volume. where you will meet with abundant satisfaction in this particular. In short therefore (for it's not my design to be polemical herein) to me it seems to be a very safe and good rule which g Arist. Ethic. lib. 10. c. 3. That rule also of St. Augustine is very sat and good, viz. Quod universa tenet ecclesia, nec conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est, non nisi authoritate apostolica traditum rectissime creditur. Aug. Baptis. contr. Donatist. lib. 2. c. 7. Aristotle lays down, sc. That whatsoever hath been affirmed by almost all, should not hastily be denied by any; because h Vincent. ●yrinensis. Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus tenetur Ecclestis, id demum Catholicum. 'Tis a Merldian shining truth, that all new ways are false ways, and therefore they must be carefully declined by all those that really desire to walk in that good old way of life, that leads to bliss and glory. And 'tis as true that they must needs wander, stumble, and fall, that resolve to walk in crooked, uneven, blind and slippery foot-paths of their own making. The Prayer. O LORD, it is no less than a signal, a singular and a very great Mercy to thy Church and Children, that thou hast provided and given them a remedy for Infants against the danger, the poison, and the pollution of Original Sin, wherein they are born, and thereby come into the world both defiled, and spiritually deformed: In that thou hast set open the door of Baptism for them, at which they enter and are admitted to come within the pale of thy visible Church. Lord still continue this great Privilege nnto them. And as then and there they are listed under and Covenant with the great, the glorious, the victorious and invincible Captain of our Salvation to fight under him against the implacable Enemies of their gracious both Saviour and Sovereign, and their own immortal Souls, the World, the Devil, and the flesh; O let them be conscientiously careful to pay their Vows, to discharge their solemn engagements, and to express their fidelity, piety, and loyalty by continuing Christ's faithful Soldiers and Servants unto death, Amen. Baptismus janua est Vitae, Christianitatis Ostium, Regenerationis Sacramentum. XVIII. Of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper. 'tIs the Soul's Banqnet. 'Tis one of those * Certainly then those Ministers are very not only unkind but cruel and injurious to their flocks and people that either cut off this breast by absolutely ●●susing, or dry it up by deferring and neglecting to administer this necessity food, this holy and comfortable Sacrament unto them. Breasts wherewith our Mother the Church nurseth and nourisheth the Children of Christ. 'Tis both the food and fuel of Grace. Jesus Christ is in this necessary Holy Sacrament a Pelican in deed, and reality; for he feeds his faithful ones with his own Blood. 'Tis a lively representation of Christ crucified to the eye of faith. 'Tis spiritual glue which joins and cements Christians one to another in Love and Unity. 'Tis a Christians commemoration-day of his best and greatest Benefactor. 'Tis the last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ, whereby he bequeathed the precious, ineftimiable, everlasting Treasures, comforts, and blessing of his Death and passion to all worthy Receivers. I acknowledge the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ administered according to Christ's institution to be one of the greatest treasures and comforts that he left us upon the earth, a Fox B of Marty 5, vol. 3. p. 556. col. 1. Those Ministers than do rob, defraud, wrong their people that either take away or keep from them this precious treasure. faith Mr. Philpot. 'Tis a deed of Gift, A Conveyance from Jesus Christ of himself and all his merits both sealed and delivered, with livery and seisin to all true Believers; whereby they have a just right, an unquestionable title unto, and a saving interest in the Lord Jesus, and all the sweet, blessed, and glorious benefits of his death, resurrection and intercession. b Camerar. lib. 1. p. 64. Darius' King of Persia had in his Bedchamber a vine all of Gold which was enriched with precious stones, and did bear grapes made of pearl of an inestimable value. And yet this Vine was but a barren figstree, and its orient Gems but dry and withered leaves compared with that * Jo●n 15. 1. true vine Jesus Christ, and the most precious fruit thereof. For if all the Gold, Jewels, rarities, and wealth of the whole world were put into one scale of the balance, and but one drop of that invaluable blood which flowed from this vine when it was cut, (when Christ was crucified) upon the cross in the other Scale, all those would be but feathers, chaff, or moss, light, vain, and worthless things, in respect of the excellency, and necessity of this: Since 'tis only the blood of Christ that cleanses us from fin, and makes the soul beautiful in the eyes of God, and redeemeth it from eternal damnation. For it is not in the power either of all the glorious Angels, and blessed Saints in Heaven, or of all the Christians upon earth to satisfy the Justice of God for one Soul, much less than can stones or clay reconcile an angry God, and free a sinner from everlasting misery. To neglect this holy Sacrament then wherein this precious blood of Christ is freely offered to us to purge and save us, is both dangerous and sinful, to contemn it (without repentance) damnable. Si qui Sacramentorum usum ac si opus iis non 〈◊〉 erent aspernarentur, non modo arrogantiae summae sed etiam impietatis in Deum merito damnari debent: quum non suae tantum infi●mitatis subsidia, sed et Deum ipsorum authorem contemnant, ipsius gratiam respuant, et spiritum quantum in ipsis est extinguant, saith one. c ●●akwel Apolog. p. 417. Aesop's Son at a Feast which he made dissolved Pearls in Vinegar, and gave to each guest one to drink: And yet his bounty was but parsimony, his pearls below pebbles compared with the love and excellency of this true Magarite, this pearl of infinite price and value, the Lord Jesus Christ, which every rightly qualified and prepared communicant, both drinks, and eateth also at this Supper of the Lamb. And Cleopatra's draught when she swallowed an Exchequer, and drunk an Indies, was but puddle, muddy water to those pure, refreshing, life-preserving streams which flow into the Soul from that Rock of living-water Jesus Christ, through the golden conduit-pipe of this blessed Sacrament. ●on Anthory de Guevara Dial of Princ. Fol. 417. (d) When the feast of the God Janus was celebrated in Rome, none were suffered to go into his Temple, but those that had new apparel. That day also the Emperor put on his imperial Robes, and all the Captives who could with their hand touch them were delivered: prisoners for debt were discharged, all transgressions pardoned, and exiled persons were recalled. Whoever cometh to this holy Sacrament clothed with the new and rich apparel of Christ's righteousness, and can with the hand of a justifying faith touch Jesus Christ, shall be sure to find and receive comfort, favour, acceptance; a discharge from the debt of sin, liberty, and enlargement from the slavery of his own Lusts and from the captivity of Satan; communion with Christ here, and admission into the Kingdom of Heaven (out of which man was justly excluded, exiled, for sin and Rebellion) hereafter: For when by death a true Christian doth put off the Rags of his mortality, God will invest him with the Robes of Glory to all Eternity. The Prayer. EVer blessed God, such are thy tender mercies, unspeakable Love, and matchless Bounty to thy Children upon earth, that as thou hast prepared and provided for them both Mansions and a feast, a Supper of Glory with the Lamb in the Kingdom of Heaven, so hast thou also provided a spiritual Banquet, and furnished thy Table with most exquisite, curious, precious, and delicious dainties, to refresh, nourish, comfort, strengthen and unite them in their journey, and whilst they are upon their way thither, this Blessed Sacrament. O Lord, let not I beseech thee this Soul-feeding, heart-chearing, Grace-strengthening and increasing communion, and Supper be neglected, undervalved, contemned, or denied through the corruptions, contentions, differences, carelessness, or ungrounded scrupulousness of Men. ●ut let Ministers, O Lord, carefully obey thy command, and conscientiously discharge their own Duty, in rightly and frequently administering of it to their people, that thy bitter, thy bloody Death, O Blessed Saviour, may be constantly and thankfully remembered, thy wonderful, unparallelled, undeserved love, pity, goodness acknowledged, and thy great Name praised, and glorified. And let Christians O Lord come to this Holy Sacrament, so qualified, and prepared, that their Graces may be strengthened, their Souls as with marrow and fatness satisfied, their interest in Christ cleared and confirmed, their joys and comforts multiplied, their Affections inseparably united and their mutual love to one another mightily increased. Grant this O Lord for his sake who is both the maker of the Feast and the Feast himself, Jesus Christ, Amen. Coena Domini cibus est Animae, alimentum Gratiae, Nutrix pietatis, solaminis canalis, pignus amoris, condonationis sigillum et corroborationis Sacramentum. XIX. Of Preaching. THE sacred word of God, purely, rightly, and powerfully preached, is that Bethesday, wherein Mephibosheths souls, lamed in their feet, (their affections) by the fall which they had out of the arms of Adam and Eve, are cured; and thereby enabled to run the ways of God's commandments. 'Tis the * Cantic. 4. 16. and 7. 5. Garden, the Gallery, where Christ meeteth, speaks to, and walks with his people. 'Tis the mount of blessings, conduit of faith, Golden Sceptre of mercy, and the spiritual seed of Grace and Life. 'Tis the Chariot in which Christ rideth triumphantly into the Soul. 'Tis the hammer that breaks open the iron door of the heart, the key that unlocks it. 'tis the fire that consumeth all Satan's strong holds in the spirit. 'Tis spiritual eyesalve, that gives a blind Bartimeus his sight. And 'tis the voice that awakens the most drowsy, deaf, secure sinner. a Rainold. Orat. 1. p. 41. What the Orator saith the Oratione, is true, the praedicatione: Morbis, inquit, animi medicinam facere debet (praedicatio facit) comprimendo quae tument, roborando quae languent, quae inflammant leniendo, coercendo quae diffluunt, expurgando quae redundant. 'Tis an Ark always bringing blessings with it. Nathan which will rouse, convince, and humble david's, relapsing Saints. 'tis a Peter pricking the hearts of great and gross sinners to their conversion, sanctification, Salvation. 'Tis a messenger sent from God, and bringing with it those three wonderful, glorious, instimable Jewels and blessings to the soul, sense of sin, assurance of pardon, and a through reformation both of the Heart and life. It's the means which God hath promised, commanded, owned blessed and sanctyfied (by the inward, powerful and effectual operation of his holy Spirit speaking home to the conscience, stirring those healing waters of the sanctuary, and accompanying the outward administration of the word) most ordinarily, and efficaciously to instruct the ignorant, confirm the weak, to warm the cold, mollify the hard, melt the frozen, comfort them that mourn, to awaken those that are drowsy, resolve those who doubt, encourage and quiet such as fear, guide them that err, bind up the broken hearted, and to quicken those that are dead in trespasses and sins. 'tis a Cornucopia of all those excellent, spiritual mercies and comforts. 'Tis the granary of celestial food, and Manna; the silver trumpet of peace, and the white flag of mercy to a people. It's a Nilus that softens, refresheth and fructifieth barren, hard, and languishing hearts. 'tis a Mary with Christ in the womb of it, an Angel instructing a Philip; a light in the thickest, saddest darkness, and a comfortable seasonable rain in a drought. 'Tis both meat to the hungry, water to the thirsty, physic to the diseased, milk to the weak, a Lamp to them that wander, and wine to the sorrowful. In Asia it was a custom, that the Child which was not nursed by his mother, should not have the goods of his Mother. Those who are not nursed by that Mother the true Church of Christ, with the breasts of God's word and ordinances, faithfully and duly administered, are never like to have God for their Father nor to be heirs of the Church's estate, I mean the love, promises, protection, grace, and blessing of the Lord, nor to enjoy the glorious inheritance of her Children eternal felicity hereafter. The Prayer. O LORD, thou art so fare from desiring or delighting in the eternal Damnation of the vilest, greatest, grossest sinners, that thou hast commanded the Gospel of Salvation to be preached to every creature both to Jews and Gentiles. Yet since even this word of Life is both a dead, and a kill Letter, without the quickening, sanctifying influence and efficacy of thy holy Spirit: Grant blessed God that the Holy Ghost may both teach and speak effectually, convincingly, convertingly, savingly to the ears and hearts of unregenerated Sinners, that so the dead may both hear and feel the voice and power of the Son of God, and live. And be thou pleased most merciful God so to own, bless, and prosper thine own Labourers in thy vine-yard, that the Consciences of those who are enemies to thine own ordinances and Ministers may be convinced, their spirits grieved and humbled, their mouths stopped, their sin and errors discovered to them, hated by them, and forsaken of them: And that the understandings of those who hear and enjoy them may be savingly enlightened, their hearts graciously changed, their Lives throughly reform, and their souls everlastingly saved. Let him who is the Word Jesus Christ be ushered into their hearts by the preaching of thy Word. Let not Christians spill the potion or throw away the plaster that should heal and cure their sin-diseased, Sin-wounded Souls by neglecting or despising this Soul-converting, and this Christ-conveying Ordinance. But grant that we may both love, prize, and hunger after this Heavenly Manna, thy word preached, that so our souls may not be famished, but fed, and nourished unto eternal Life. Grant this for Jesus Christ his sake, Amen. Evangeliis praedicatio eternae est vitae promulgatio, Pietatis semen, virtutis pabulum, consolationis vehiculum, Cordis fulcrum, Imber gratiae, pharmacon Animae, Mortuis tuba, caecis Lux, Dux errantibus, Titubantibus baculus, esurientibus cibu●, ignorantibus fons Scientiae, Oceanus gaudii parens Fidei. XX. Of godly, learned, and of ungodly, unlearned Ministers. PIous Ministers they are the brightest stars in the firmament of the Church. a Tully. Diis proximi sunt Deorum sacerdotes. They are the pillars on which it standeth. The Spokesmen that woo the soul with heavenly Rhetoric, that court it with Divine Oratory to love Christ, and the paranymphs that lead it to marry him. They are Celestial Ambassadors sent by the Lord Jesus to treat with sinners, and to conclude an everlasting peace betwixt him and them. They are the chariots, horsemen, watchmen, and (as Saint Ambrose was said to be of Milan) et ornamenta, & munimenta urbis & ecclesiae: The beauty, safety, blessing, honour, and bulwarks both of the Nation, Cities, Towns and places where th●y live. b Dr. Arrowsmith. Tact. Sa. Nequit Hippo devastari ante obitum Augustini, nec ante obitum Parei Heidelberga. c Dr. Stoughton. Like the heavens they enlighten, comfort, fructify that Microcosm, Man, with their heat, light, influence with the light of saving knowledge, the heat of well grounded, well guided zeal, and the influence of an exemplary pious conversation, without which Ministers are like those Physicians that give an Antidote with one hand to their patients (their people) and poison with the other. And at best they are but like that * Act. 27. 22. Ship wherein St. Paul was, that perished itself though it saved others. * Such Ministers are like Cooks that labour and sweat to dress meat for others, but eat none of it themselves. Or those carpenters that built the Ark wherein Noah & his family were preserved, and yet themselves were drowned in the deluge. When they are wicked, that may be said of them which was objected by Cato unto Tiberius, concerning the Dalmatian commotions, scls. d Camden Annal. of Q. Elizabeth. That their flocks are committed not to shepherds but Wolves. e Such Ministers are praedatores non praedicatores, seductores non doctores, peculatores non speculatores, raptores non pastors. For such men do not watch, but worry; they do not teach, but tear; they do not feed, but kill and flay their sheep. Ah Lord! how black and terrible will that Bill of indictment appear, which will be both preferred & found at that great assize, the day of Judgement, against such Ministers as do either poison or pine their flocks! That either kill them (as Henry the first King of France is said to be murdered with consecrated wine) with the deadly, flesh-pleasing muskadine of erroneous or Heretical doctrines & principles: or famish them for want of the sincere milk of the word through their ignorance or idleness: or lead them out of the narrow way of life, and not only encourage and persuade them to, but harden them in sin by their profaneness, worldliness, * Si quid injungere inferiorive lis, id prius in te ac tu os si ipse stotueris facilius omnes obedientes habebis. Liu. l. 26. vicious lives, & scandalous examples. Certainly all such blind, seducing, dumb, ungodly Ministers, will inevitably, irrecoverably (without repentance and reformation,) sink under the insupportable weight of the blood, ruin, and destruction of their wandering, miscarrying and everlastingly undone people to the very bottom of Hell. O Lord let them fear it here, that they may not feel it hereafter. There was (as I have read (a Woman in England who believed there was not God. A Minister came to her to convince her, and demanding of her how she became an Atheist, she answered: That the very first thing which caused her to question the Deity was the seeing of himself to live so wickedly; for says she, I know you to be a Learned man and a good Preacher and the beholding you to live so impiously, to be a Swearer, a Liar, a Drunkard, and a Profaner of the Sabbath, this made me to question whether there was a God in Heaven or no, seeing he did let you run on in your wickedness still unpunished. Methinks this sad story should make the hearts, eyes and and ears of all scandalous ungodly Ministers to bleed, weep, and tingle that either do or shall know, read, or hear of, and I hearty beseech the Lord it may. But this is not all. For besides the danger and misery to which they render their own souls obnoxious by their wickedness; they do also both bring a great * Thou therefore that teachest another, teachest not thou thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 1 Rom, 2. 21. 22, 24. Turpe est doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum. scandal upon the Gospel, and give their people just cause to complain of them for being a heavy burden and a grievous scourge unto them; and most deservedly to account them the unworthiest men in the world. That saying of Seneca is most true here, Nullos pejus mereri de omnibus mortalibus, quam qui aliter vivunt, quam vivendum praecipiunt. They are also wens and spots upon the fair face and beautiful body of the Ministry, and which is yet more, ignorant, profane, bad pastors are the very worst of men. f Dr. Arrowsmith. Tact. Sa. Perussima creaturarum visibilium est homo degener, pessimus hominum pseudo-Christianus, Christianorum vero pessimus nequam verbi Minister. They live without Love, honour, and doing good, and they die without comfort. g Gospel's Ministers should resolve to do like him who said, Ita literarum illud Nectar hauriam, ita auditores m●os instruam tanquam parum victurus ita vivam tanquam semper docturus. P●tean. Orat. He alone (said that Tyrant Phalaris) may be called happy, of whom it may be truly said, he gave good Doctrines to live, and left a good example to die. Facile est monere, said Thales, that's but the body, pie vivere thats very difficult, but it's the soul of a true Gospel's Minister. Because the way for Ministers to do good is to be good. Nisi praestes quod praedicas, mendacium non evangelium videbitur; It's no peculiar conceit, but a matter of sound consequence, that all duties are by so much the better performed, by how much the men are more religious, from whose abilities the same proceed, saith learned Hooker. For without all question their Sermons are most convincing and successful, who carefully h Optima exempla exhibemus, et liberi nostri etiam si velint non facile male evadent, quum nihil quod turpe sit vel visuri vel audituri sunt, sed in virtutis et honesti studio totos dies conterent. Cyrus' R●x. write upon their own hearts and conscientiously practise in their lives those truths and duties which they preach unto, and press upon others. But pious, gracious Ministers are the porters of Paradise. They are * Rom. 10. 14. Kingfishers, that in the Halcyon days of peace do build, and breed, begetting many sons and daughters unto God. Their absence, or silence is a sluice pulled up to let in miseries. When Ambassadors are called home in anger, it presageth War. The Romans sacked, and leveled to the ground the City of Corinth for a small affront offered to their Ambassadors. God is very jealous of his own honour, and also very tender of these his Servants; he will therefore most certainly punish and revenge the abuses and injuries done unto them. Besides those upon record in God's word, and many other Authors, I shall instance in one example only, the severity and justice of God against an enemy of a Godly Minister. 1 Fox B. of Martyr. (i) John Martin boasting every where that he would cut off the Minister's nose of Angrongue in France, was soon after set upon by a mad Wolf, who did indeed eat his nose from his face dying mad thereof himself, and yet it was never observed that this Wolf had ever hurt any before. Godly Ministers do make a Nation, while it prizeth and enjoys them, a Mount Gerizim; without them the richest and most flourishing Kingdom is but an Ebal. They are the Mines that every us; * Christ calls Ministers the salt of the Earth; for sal: serves to preserve the people from being Flyblown with every corrupt doctrine un to putrefaction, says Mr. Vines in his Sermon upon Ephes. 4. 14, 15. called the Impostures of seducing Teachers discovered. p. 3. the salt that seasons us; the earnest, and pawns of prosperity; the pledges of peace, mercy, and felicity to a people; the fountains which water and refresh us; the Advocates who solicit for us; They are the Hammers of error, the Maules of sin, idolatry, and heresy; the springs of knowledge, and holy counsel, and the Aqueducts of Grace and comforts to us. They are Physicians, when we are weak, infected, or sick, to strengthen and cure us; Shepherds that feed, lead, watch and keep us in the green, safe, fruitful, wholesome pastures of Gods holy Ordinances: And guides, when we go astray, to direct and reclaim us. k Honour sacerdotis, est firmamentum imperii. Tacit. de Judaeis. hist. Honour, love, reverence, obedience, charity, maintenance, l If we had been thankful to God for the good Ministers of his Word, we had not been so soon deprived of it and them. John Careless in a Letter to Mr. Bradford. Fox Book of Martyrs. thankfulness, hearty prayers for a blessing upon their labours, and a conscientious care to conform our lives to all those heavenly Doctrines, holy admonitions, sacred truths, and serious, seasonable, pious reprehensions which they preach unto us, are the duties we own them; the tithes we must pay them, and the encouragements which we are obliged to give them. Their calling ought by us to be honoured, their persons highly esteemed and respected. I have read of one who said that if he should meet an Angel and a Minister together, he would first salute the Minister, and then the Angel. Their * 1 Cor. 9 9▪ 11-14. maintenance ought to be certain, competent and comfortable. First, Because if men were at liberty and might choose, whether they would contribute to their Minister's subsistence or not, 'tis more than probable that (like Chameleons) they should be fed and maintained with little else besides the thin diet of airy promises and fair speeches. 2. Because indigency, and necessity are very strong and (too often) prevailing Temptations with them to a scandalous, sinful compliance, with debauched, infamous, impious persons, and to live as they do because they have their livelihood, or relief from them. 3. Because poverty compels them to mind the world too greedily & eagerly, distracts them in their studies, and hinders them from growing and thriving in Learning, and Abilities. 4. Because the meanness and wantfulnesse of a Ministers outward condition and estate doth not only invite, animate, and persuade worldly minded men, profane persons, corrupt and seduced professors to deny them their deuce, to vex, oppose, affront, revile, and insult over both their persons and callings; but also to undervalue, disregard, and comtemne sound, precious, and necessary Truths, because they are delivered by such poor men unto them. The Jews did so by Christ the King, and the Gentiles have and will do so too unto his Ambassadors and Servants in all ages. 5. Because scandalous live are one great cause why there are so many scandalous preachers; for if their maintenance were augmented and ascertained, 'tis very likely their lives would be reform; since if piety did not, yet policy would then restrain them from being notoriously vicious and profane. Lastly, because contempt treads usually upon the heel of want. m Plutarch. Apothegm. A certain Laconian seeing a Collector going about to gather men's devotions for the gods, said; I will now make no more reckoning of the Gods so long as they be poorer than myself. n Heylin. Geogr. p. 69. And King Aigoland who did a long time make Charlemagne believe that he would be baptised, the time being now at hand in which he should fulfil his promise, he very gallantly accompanied came to the French-Court: where seeing many Lazars and poor people expecting Alms from the Emperor's Table, he ask what they were, was answered, that they were the messengers and servants of God. On these words he speedily returned, desperately protesting, that he would not serve that God which could keep his Servants no better. The Abderites sent unto Hypocrates to come unto them to cure Democritus who (as they supposed) was mad: And promised if he would come to give him all the gold they had: yea if all the Ciy were Gold, they said he should have it. It is a thing, yea crime not only sad and shameful but also lamentable, prodigious, and worthy with tears of blood to be bewailed; That Christians should not love, encourage, prize and reward Orthodox, learned, and pious Ministers (the Physicians of the soul) so much as Heathens did a Physician for the body: That these Bristol stones should be desired, or preferred before those precious Diamonds. And which is yet more vile, monstrous, sinful, dangerous, detestable and deplorable; that Christians, yea forward and seemingly zealous professors should choose and esteem Mountebanks, and murderers (seducers and Jesuits) more than gracious pastors & before them; such are very strangely, if not irecoverably distempered and sick. Heu quam pericul●sus est iste morbus quum et infirmitates suas amat, & medicos suos odio habet aegrotus! Certainly that malady is mortal which makes the patiented love his disease, and hate his Doctor. And thus to disesteem, oppose, and hate the faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ, is a sin in the highest form of those crying crimes which will shorten the life of our peace; cloud, if it do not totally eclipse, the glorious sun of the Gospel amongst us, † 2 Chron 36. 16. and * provoke the Lord to consume and destroy the Land with the Inhabitants thereof. Let us then if we will not love them nor be liberal to them, and thankful for them, for Gods, their own, nor our souls sake, yet be just to them, and pay them their deuce for very shame, † Levit. 72 30. 1 Cor. 9 tithes are the Lords. He hath reserved them to himself, and therefore man cannot either lawfully or safely alienate them. Nor did ever any man yet that purchased a Lordship or Lands, except the Estate he bought were impropriate, the rise and age whereof (I mean of Impropriations) is known almost to every man, claim or pretend any right or title to the tenth part of what he bought. And yet further, Tithes have been settled upon the Ministers of England, and confirmed unto them by sixty Acts of Parliament, says Mr. Prynne, and which is yet more, they were confirmed and paid unto them before the Conquest by the Saxons, and all along since the Conquest down to these times, wherein the malice and power of Satan, the avarice of some self-seeking Christians, and the both envy and subtlety of Jesuits those implacable enemies to, and restless underminers of the Gospel and Ministers of Jesus Christ have stirred up some seduced people to declaim against them as a burden and grievance, and to petition the Magistrates to take them away; notwithstanding their undoubted right unto them. See for your fuller and better satisfaction herein the 8th Chapter of Mr. Seldens History of Tithes. p. 195. And yet further, Tithes were instituted and paid both before the Law, under the Law, and under the Gospel too. See D. George Carletons' Tithes proved to be due by a Divine Right. D. Will. Sclater his Minister's Portion, Mr. prynn's Gospel plea, etc. since the Labourer is worthy of his wages: Since Tithes is their unquestionable right both by the Laws of * I know it is either hellish malice, or pernicious baseness, or ignorance of the work and burden of Ministers that makes their maintenance so generally incompetent and their very livelihood & subsistence so envied and grudged at. M. Baxter Saints everlasting rest. p. 91. God and men, and since riches gotten by sacrilege, are always put into a bag with holes. And therefore it was a saying among the Jews, Decima ut dives fias. Let then all such as have or do so defraud their pastors, always remember and seriously consider, That it's unpardonable Felony to rob Ambassadors. And let them frequently and impartially view and weigh what God himself says in * Malach. 3. 8. Malachi the last of the Prophets (who is therefore elegantly styled Fibula legis & Evangelii, the button or clasp of the Law and Gospel) ye have rob me, saith the Lord: wherein, say they that were guilty of Sacrilege have we rob thee? God himself is pleased to answer and resolve them thus, In Tithes and offerings. And if the conscience of their duty cannot persuade them to hate this crimson crime, yet let the fear of God's fierce wrath and heavy curse dissiwade and deter them from being guilty of it: Since it's most certain that God will both apprehend, and arraign all such Sacrilegious thiefs: and also that without true repentance, they are then sure to be cast, to be denied the benefit of their clergy, and to be condemned without mercy. Lastly, let such cankers and caterpillars of the Ministry consider that that dangerous, odious felony will not enrich them, nor will that unjust gain be enjoyed by them, for others will be as ready and resolved to require, yea to compel the payment of their Tithes to them, as they are willing and desirous not to pay them to their Ministers whose just deuce and rights they are. o August Sermo, 219. de tempore. If thou wilt not give thy Tithes, Dabis impio militi quod non vis dare Deo, & Sacerdoti; Hoc tollit Piscus, quod non accepit Christus, saith St. Augustine. Thou shalt be sure to give that to an impious Soldier which thou wilt not give to God, and a religious Minister: The Exchequer takes that away which Christ hath not received. And what greater folly or madness can there be in the world, then for men to sin, ruin, and wilfully to pull down God's anger, judgements, and curses upon themselves to please, or profit others? The Prayer. O LORD, it is thy sweet, gracious, and precious promise that thou wilt be with thy Ministers to the end of the World: Be pleased therefore, I most humbly, earnestly, and hearty beseech thee, to own, honour, bless, multiply▪ protect, and continue them in spite of all opposition both from earth, and Hell. And as thou hast assured us that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against thy Church; So neither suffer, O Lord, the Agents▪ Factors, and Emissaries of Satan, the implacable enemies of truth, holiness, reformation, ordinances, and righteousness to ruin, or root ●ut thy Ministers, lest thy Church lie buried under the rubbish, filth and straw of Atheism, idolatry, heresy, ignorance, and profaneness. Preserve and shield them, good God, from contempt, opposition, and persecution. Let their feet be beautiful in our eyes, their voice melodious to our Ears, and their message most welcome, pleasant, acceptable to our hearts, that bring, publish, and preach the glad tidings of Salvation unto us. Bring not a fatal, dreadful eclipse upon us by causing the Sun to go down upon our Prophots. Let not, O Lord, those stars fall out of thy right hand, but let them be as the Signet upon thy finger, and as the Apple of thine eye, near and dear unto thee. And since in the darker times of the Law thou didst require and command that thy Priests should be holy, and without blemish: O grant that in these brightest days of the glorious Gospel thy Ministers may be holy, heavenly, harmless, and blameless. Make them O Lord, careful to feed their stocks both with holy doctrines, and with religious examples, that so they may be not only preachers, but patterns too of virtue and piety to their people. Grant this inward purity and outward Beauty to our Pastors, O Lord, for his sake who is the great● Shepherd both of their and our Souls, Jesus Christ, Amen. Sacerdotes pii sunt dotes preciosissimae. XXI. Self-calling. Of Self-making preachers, or rather Praters and Seducers. THey are bloody Empirics, whose Medicines murder, whose potions poison their credulous, distempered patients, * Rom. 16. 1●. simple-men, silly women who are laden with divers lusts, and * 2 Tim. 3. 6. unstable Souls. They are the worst of Lepers, whose disease having seized their heads, their understandings; (for say * 2 Pet. 1. 24. some, errors in judgement are more both dangerous and deadly, * Mr. Hildersham upon Ps. 51. Lecture 146. p. 779. etc. than errors in practice) it is there so deeply rooted being either set in the fruitful soil of † 2 Pet. 2. 14. gain, or * Rom. 16. 18. fed with the peccant humours of Lust, or both, that nothing (without grace) but either the Rod of discipline, or the Sword of justice can cure them. They are spiritual Traitors to the King of Heaven; for they take upon them to be his Ambassadors, without his letters of credence, having neither legation, mission, nor commission from him to warrant their actions: since they are neither called immediately by God, nor ●mediately by men, I mean by such men as are lawfully, and according to the use, and practise of all rightly constituted Churches invested with authority and power to depute, and ordain them to dispense the mysteries of Salvation to the people, and to wait at the Altar: Not the first, because they cannot work miracles, nor speak with Tongues, unless it be with lying, corrupting, deluding, slandering, bewitching or betraying tongues. Nor the second, because they have neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Ability nor authority, a Dr. Arronsmith. Tact. Sac. both which together with piety are necessarily required to the constituting or making of a right Gospel's Minister. They are thiefs and robbers, because they come not in at the door of Ordination; but either climb over it by pride, or creep under it by Avarice, or pick the lock by Hypocrisy, or get the door to be opened and widened by Sophistry, subtlety, or policy: And when they are once got in, or admitted, instead of saving, or curing them that hear, like, and embrace them, and their Doctrines, they do always endanger, and too often not only wound, but destroy them. b Luther in suo comment: super. Epist. ad Gala●as. Non satis est habere verbum & puram doctrinam; c It's a Maxim in Law, That no man can do an Act to himself. He cannot present himself to a Benefice, nor make himself an Officer: much less than (for a minori ad majus valet consequen●ia) can be legally make himself a Minister or Preacher. Sir Henry Finch● Discourse of Law. Lib. 1. p. 91. Oportet etiam ut vocatio certa sit sine qua qui ingreditur ad mactandum et perdendum venit. It's observed and affirmed that Knate, Eagles, Ravens, and carrion Crows, can and do kill Lions, Staggs, and silly sheep, by these stratagems or means. The Knats do muster, draw themselves up into Battalia, and then with a winged speed they assault the King of Beasts, employing all their natural strength, weapons, and artillery against his eyes, upon which they resolutely settle, and there continue until they have made his eyelids so sore, that pain, anger, and disdain do not only enrage him, but also make him run furiously either into some river, or pit, where he is drowned, or killed. The Prince of birds burdens his pinions, with as much dust, sand, or gravel, as he can gather into his wings by basking himself and fluttering with them either upon the seashore, or upon some other place where he can take up his lading: and then he carries it away, and sits in Ambush upon some convenient Rock or tree, till he spy a stag his welcome and designed prey, to whom he nimbly, eagerly, and courageously flies, settles upon his head, and then beats him on the eyes with his dusty wings till through fear, and blindness he doth hastily seek his death either by falling down some precipice, or by running himself against stones or trees, and so becomes his own Executioner and his enemy's prize. Ravens and Carrion crows they also when once they discover a faint sheep, do carefully watch for an opportunity to destroy it, and effect it by pecking, and pulling out the eyes thereof, for than it can neither see to escape their Tyranny by going from them, nor yet behold the cruelty they act by digging without opposition, resistance or relief with their black beaks died scarlet in its blood into the bowels thereof, for that treasure (its flesh) they so greedily hunger after. And these men (as if these winged, feathered creatures had been their Masters and Tutors) do use the same method, well-knowing that if the eye of knowledge be once misled, wounded▪ or lost, their work's done: Because it's as easy to abuse, misled, or destroy the blind, as it's to attempt it. And therefore we do, or may at least clearly, and should sadly see, that those the eyes of whose minds are either dusted and sanded with Avarice, and worldly or fleshly aims; or gravelled with abstruse, dry, and unprofitable notions and opinions; or made fore by errors; or are quite pecked out by damnable Heresies, do either hastily run, or else will be securely led into dangers, snares and miseries, not only temporal and spiritual, but also (unless the Lord do manifest and express his power and mercy at once, in restoring them to their fight again, or in opening their eyes, who have been blind from their birth) eternal, to the everlasting ruin of their immortal Souls. These active impudent impostors are Satan's engineers, and pioneers, wherewith he endeavours to undermine and subvert both the foundation and Bulwarks of the Church, God's word, his ordinances, and religious ministers. They are (while such) listed soldiers under the Prince of darkness: And although (like an Army consisting of the people of many nations) their opinions, manners, habits, qualities, and designs be both numerous, divers, and opposite one from, and to another, yet they all * They know too well the truth and Success of that saying of Plato, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That Community of interests couples and unites men, but privacy distracts and divides them. For the Children of this world are wiser in their generation then the Children of light. They do therefore unite themselves, that so they may distract, undermine and destroy others unite, combine, and resolve as one man to fight for him they serve against all others: And like lines though drawn from all the parts of the circumference, they yet all meet in one Centre, viz. the opposing, hating, disgracing, declaiming against, and at last persecuting of Godly and rightly ordained Ministers. In hoc uniformes esse solent errantium deformitates▪ quod recte sentientes odio habent. For they too well know that the most will take things by show and number, not by weight. And that it's not only easy, but ordinary and common for sheep to scab, stray and rot, when the Shepherds are blind, ignorant, idle, scattered, or slain: They are not only wandering and falling Stars, but fiery, and prodigious Comets equally terrible, ominous, and mischievous to a Commonwealth. They are Satan's saeds-men that sow God's field the Church with Tares and Cockle, Heresies and Errors. They care not how sinful their principles or practices be, so they be but † Pietas obtenditur, Aurum qu●●ritur. gainful. For they prefer thriving, fat, time— and * Romans 16. 17. flesh-pleasing errors before lean, displeasing, and dangerous Truths; Garlic and Onions before Manna. They deceive not only † Rom. 16. 18. others but * 2 Tim. 3. 13. themselves too. Nam putant se spiritu repletos, cum inani vento distenti sunt et turgidi. That pretended plausible and ungrounded liberty, or rather * True Liberty is a power to do what we ought, not what we will. Mr. Vin●. in his 2 Sermons on 1 Pet. 2. 15. 16. p. 12 licentiousness which they so zealously idolise, and so earnestly contend for, is a most sad, real, miserable slavery: And besides 'tis the Moth, canker, destruction, and grave of order, peace, unity, amity, justice, honesty, safety, and † When the Independents were first at work and endeavouring to set up themselves, the Parliament in their Manifesto concerning Professors amongst other things did declare 1643. That nothing can be more destruct ●e against the cause of Religion then to be divided amongst themselves And is it not as true now as it was then? piety. For the hope of impunity (much more than the assurance) is the spring of iiniquty and all Impiety. Because when sin is not prohibited, nor punished by Magistrates, it is not only commanded and protected, but the Actors thereof are encouraged therein by them. Qui non vetat peccare quum potest jubet. These Seducers are at first but like little eggs out of which serpents are hatched, that in a short time grow to be both * Omnis error immensus, Senec. monstrous and mortal. They have no warrant from the word of God, nor can they find any footsteps in the purest times, or best reformed Churches for men d Ever since Christ had a Ministry on earth the constant (ordinary) way of their admittance hath been by Ministerial Ordination. Mr. Baxter 5 disputes of 〈◊〉 Government and Worship. p. 261▪ See this truth by him there both abundantly and most clearly proved. ordinarily and when they please to run without a call, or to lay their hands upon that sacred, honourable, and terrible calling the Ministry, till by the * Tim. 4. 14 14. Tit. 1. 5. Acts 18. 17. 1 Tim. 5. 22. laying on of the hands of others authorized and impowered so to do, they be set apart for that great work. And therefore it is very great both presumption and danger to launch into this Ocean, and to sail in the Lighters and Cock-boats of our own light heads against both the wind and tide of Scripture and Antiquity, without both Pilot, Sailes, Stern, and Ballast, as all such self-calling teachers do now adays. For they have neither the spirit nor word of God for a P●lot; nor the Sails of learning and piety; nor the Stern of a lawful calling; nor the Ballast of humility, or saving knowledge. It is then no wonder that they are either wracked upon the Rocks of error, or swallowed up in the quicksands of Heresy. Physicians tell us of a complication of diseases in the body. e Suetonius et Plutarch. Historians tells us that Sylla, who was the chief man of that faction in Rome which opposed Marius, said of Julius Caesar who was then but a young Child, Caesari multos Marios inesse, that there were many Marii in that one boy. And we find by woeful experience that not only the youngest errors are born big-bellied with more and greater than themselves, † A minimis vitiis incipiunt quae in maxima proruunt. (as the greatest oak grows out of an Acorn, and the most violent torrent issues at first out of a little spring) but also that these deceivers have a Covey of sins which juke and sit in their hearts together: Since sins (like birds and beasts) do usually flock and herd together, For First, they sinne * See Dr. saunderson's fourth S●●mon ad populum p. 463. § 46. in Quarto. leaving those callings which they ought to follow (unless they be either commanded or disabled by God so to do) viz. those that they have been bred up in. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. And if they have no calling, that's concluded a great sin both by Christians and Heathens. 2. Such do sin in taking up, and following that calling with which they ought not to meddle. Vae negligenti quod debuit; & arr●ganti, quod non debuit. Besides, God is a God of order, and Paul (inspired by the spirit of God) commands that all things be done decently and in order. * 'tis equally sad, sinful, shameful and intolerable, that every man that will, though ignorant, proud, profane or drunk with the sugared yet poisoned cups of Heresy and Erro, should be suffered to leave his calling, to reel being made light & giddy with whimsies, falsehood, and self-conceitedness, into the pulpit, and then both freely & impudently to vomit up his unsavory, unwholesome opinions, and to bespatter both the Ministry and the Ministers of Christ. Tertullian saith of his times, Ordinationes ●●rum ●emerariae, leves, inconstantes, ●unc ●●●ply●os, nunc seculo obst●●●es, nunc Apost●tas nostros ut eos gloria obligent quia veritate 〈◊〉 possunt: Nusquam faci●●●●●r●●●ciscitur quam in cast●is rebellium, ubi ipsum esse illi● promereri est. Itaque 〈◊〉 h●d●e episcopus, ●●as alius, ●od●e d●aco●us, qui cras 〈◊〉; hodie presbyter qui cras laicus; Nam & Laicis sacerdo●alia Mun●●a injungunt. Tertullian de p●●scriptione advers: Hae●et. And is not this a true and a too lively picture of our times? But this self-calling and self-making is the inlet of all division, distraction, and the Mother of confusion. For how is it possible, that Religion, peace, justice, or piety should either continue, increase, or flourish, if any one, or every one may create, and commission himself to be a Judge, Justice, or Minister, when he pleaseth? 3. Such do twist a threefold cord of iniquity wherewith they are so strongly bound that (without God's ●●ercy and grace) they cannot get lose from their crimes, dangers, and miseries. For they are guilty of being a stumbling block to * Idem. verse 12. That Christians must not offend their brethren in lawful, much less unlawful things. weak, † 1 Cor 10. 32. 1 Cor. 8▪ 9 An offence and grief to confirmed, and a s●are to unsettled doubting Christians. f Lips●us Epist. 97. Non satis est ne ipse errem, sed ne alteri sim erroris causa. 4. Such do sin both in leading the blind out of the way (abusing, corrupting, and poisoning the ignorant, with false and wicked principles) and in hardening them by their examples, counsels and doctrines, whom they have caused to wander from the way of truth and life. Lastly, to name no more, if God permit such men to get power into their hands, they do often (if not always) persecute with extremest rigour, and remorseless cruelty those of contrary Judgements, though they be most innocent, Orthodox, and holy. Witness those scarlet theatres on which they acted in Germany, which are and will be crimson monuments of their fury, tyranny, and impiety till time shall be no more. The Church of God in St. Augustine's time before his conversion used to pray, Ab Augustini logica libera nos Domine. And for my part I am fully persuaded that it is the Duty of God's people, hearty and fervently to join together in this Petition to the Lord: From a toleration of, an indulgence to, or a connivance at, all or any men that will to make themselves ministers, and preachers, Good Lord deliver us. Because it will be high time for Religion to make her Will; for the Gospel to take shipping to land in another Land, and for Christians to provide an Ark to save themselves from perishing either in a deluge of superstition, profaneness, Atheism; or else in a Red sea of persecution, when it may be truly said of such men, g When Galba came first to the Empire there was great confusion and licentiousness in the State, whereupon a Senator said in full Senate. It were better to live where nothing is lawful, then where all things are lawful. Leigh. Choice Observat. p. 120. Quod libet, id licet. his etc. The Jews did highly esteem, (accounting barrenness a curse) and the Romans did liberally reward those parents who had many Children. h Camerar. lib. 6. p. 415. And 'tis said that the chief reason why the Electors chose Rodolph Emperor of Germany, was his plenteous offspring. So the Lord doth also both love, honour, and crown those spiritual fathers (pious and rightly ordained Ministers) that beget with the immortal seed of the word, quickened by the spirit of life, Sons and Daughters unto God: for they shall * Dan. 12. 3. shine for ever and ever in the firmament of Glory; And he doth bless their labours: But as for these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i Luther super Epist ad Galatas see also Jerem 23. 32. Nunquam fortunat Deus laborom eorum qui non sunt vocati, & quanquam quaedam salutaria afferunt, tamen nihil aedificant, saith Luther. k Perphyr. in ●jus vita. Pythagoras when any of his Scholars deserted his School, in eorum usitatis sedibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posuisse dicitur, quo significaret eos moraliter obiisse. When those who have formerly professed themselves to be the Scholars and Disciples of Christ, do not only desert his School, the Temple, but also inveigh against, and abandon both his ordinances and Ministers their spiritual teachers: well may Christians set their Coffins in their seats, for it's much to be feared that they are spiritually departed and dead: but however 'tis most certain that they are fallen into a dangerous swoon of Apostasy. I shall therefore conclude with these hearty and fervent petitions. The Prayer. EIther convince, revive, convert, and reclaim all such O Lord, and suffer them not is keep any longer a splint in their wounds to hinder their cure by adding l Mall●● s●mp●r errarc, quam semel errasse vide i. obstinacy to errou●, perseverance in evil to ignorance, impiety to iniquity: or else never suffer, most gracious God, the wall of thy vineyard, Church-Government according to the pattern in the Mount (thine own Word and Will) to be broken down, by fraud, or force, for Foxes or wild Boars ( * Pictos agnos adorant, vivos devorant. Jesuits, Apostates, Hypocrites, Persecutors, seducers, and temporizers,) to have free ingress into it, to root up the Vines therein, or to pull off the Grapes thereof: Nor the door of Christ's Garden to be thrown off of those hinges, orders and Ordination by the hands of power, or policy, for wild beasts, Heretics, and popish Priests to enter therein to tread down thy Roses and Lilies, or to crop, or kill thy best fruit-trees, Godly Ministers, and truly gracious Christians. Nor that Crystal, pure, sweet, healing Fountain, that spiritual bath, and Spa which cures all the maladies, and diseases of the Soul in that Garden, the Holy Scriptures, to be muddyed, defiled, corrupted, or poisoned, by those, nor any other unwashed, diseased, beleapered, invented hands or feet, till the stream of time shall fall into, and lose itself in the boundless Ocean of Eternity. m Plat●● Timeo. And since there are two diseases of the Soul, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, madness and ignorance; and that by woeful experience it's found that the most of these Leaders, and teachers, and also their Favourites and followers do labour under, and are distempered either with both, or one of them: be pleased, blessed God, who art the great and good Physician of the Soul, and dost see their ways, either to heal them, by giving repentance to them and making them wise to Salvation: or else according to thine own * 2 Tim. 3. 9 promise let their folly be made known to all men, and let them proceed no further, that so the banks of truth and piety may never be broken down, nor over-flowed by the furious, filthy, and deadly streams of error, idolatry, heresy, and profaneness. And Lastly, since Distraction is the inlet of Destruction, Division, of Desolation, to the greatest, richest, most flourishing and most prosperous Nation; For he that is Wisdom itself Jesus * Matth. 12. 15. Christ, hath told us so; and the spirit of Truth hath also assured us, that their † ●ames. 3. 14, ●5. Wisdom, who love contention and delight in strife is earthly, sensual, devilish; So that carnal policy makes such men like Children to stand upon their heads, and to kick with their heels against Heaven, and also seriously, cunningly, and unweariedly both to contrive, plot, and endeavour their own as well as others ruin; witness Haman, Absalon, and many others. Let O Lord piety (for this is the best yea the only real prudence and policy) sit at the Helm of that Royal and impregnable Ship, thy truly catholic Church, and of this sinful, shaking, divided, unsettled, reeling, and rebellious Nation in particular; once a beautiful Rachel, but since a blear-eyed Leah, once a fair and lovely Sarah, but since a foul and leprous Miriam, yet still (blessed be thy Name) a true member thereof: Let truth and righteousness (as her hands) guide and steer her by the Compass of thy Holy Word; Let O Lord peace and unity be her sails; and let the sweet and pleasant Gales of brotherly l●ve, tranquillity, and Christian charity fill them: Let whatever Ionas (whatever abomination, or accursed thing) it is that raises the overturning Tempests of thy wrath, and fury against her, or any part of her, be cast overboard by her vigilant and valiant Pilots, pious, orthodox and zealous Magistrates * O qu●m beati erunt in illo die judcii Magistratus illi qui subditos non modo honestis legibus, judiciis & disciplin● rexerunt: sed etiam omnium maxime in hoc studium incubucrunt, ut incorrupta Religio apud suos exculta sit; doctrina coelestis per fidos, eruditos et constantes Ministros sit tradita, & ingens hominum multitudo per spiritum et verbum renata in conspectum Christi prodeat, quae tali Magistratui aeternas gra ias agate! E contra quam infelices qui etc. Religionem per var●as corruptelas passi sunt adulterare, says one. And an Heathen could say, In nau●ragio Rector laudandus quem obruit more clavum tenentem. Senec. ad Petil. c. 6. and Ministers, that Pirates, strangers, and enemies, (the professed▪ cruel, subtle, and secret adversaries, opposers, and underminers of thy Glory, Gospel, ordinances, and Ministers) may neither be enriched by her woeful wrack, nor pleased with the birth and sight of those grievous miseries, and overwhelming calamities, which too often proceed from her contentious, and disagreeing Children; but let the desires, and designs O Lord of Zions enemies be blasted and frustrated. And let, blessed God, all those spiritual Merchants, those heavenly Mariners (thy Saints thy faithful Soldiers, and Servants) that are resolved, or shall resolve, to venture all their treasures, their souls, lives, and worldly interests in that Ark, thy Church, and to embark themselves in her for a voyage to the Holy Land, to that new and glorious Jerusalem which is above, Let them, dear God I once more humbly beseech thee, be crowned with a calm, with quietness, serenity and safety in their passage over the brackish, boisterous, dangerous Ocean of life; and when they shall put into, and cast Anchor in the port of Death, then let them find that they are safely arrived at the Isles of Paradise, the Kingdom of Heaven, Glory, and Felicity, Amen. Qui pugnat sine mandato, poenam accipit non mercedem; Qui praedicat sine vocatione, peccat non prodest. XXII. Of a good and a bad Conscience. A Good Conscience 'tis the suburbs of Heaven. 'Tis the Sanctuary of the Soul when it's pursued by sin, Satan, fear or temptation. 'Tis Heaven in hell, riches in poverty, honour in disgrace, health in sickness; in bonds liberty; and light in darkness. 'Tis Balm that healeth all wound●. A medicine infinitely more precious than all the Benedicta Medicamenta of Physicians: for it cures all spiritual maladies, and antidotes the mind against all temporal miseries. 'tis the best Mithridate to expel all troubles from the heart. 'tis God's temple, Christ's Bedchamber, and the Spirits Mansion; for the highest Heavens, and the humblest, purest, holiest heart, are the two places of Gods most glorious * Esay 57 15. Residence. 'Tis the souls soft Bed whereon it resteth quietly and sweetly, with a pillow of Gospel promises, and the left hand of Christ under its head, his right hand also embracing it, when it's either troubled, dejected, or distressed. 'tis an admirable Sovereign Balsam against the stinging, perplexing fears and all the dreadful dismaying apprehensions of sin, God's wrath, Satan, Death, judgement and Hell. 'Tis an Ark that keepeth the Soul safe, and preserves it from sinking under the heaviest burden of sin, or sorrow in the greatest deluge of inward, or outward troubles. 'Tis a ship with Christ in it; Heaven in a little volume. 'Tis divine love, and special mercy printed usually upon the soul by the Spirit of God in the press either of God's ordinances, or afflictions, in great and golden characters with notes of choicest favour, tenderest mercies, and free grace upon it. 'tis a Kingdom of fortified, rich, safe, and happy; 'tis the daughter of faith and repentance, and the Mother of all real, ineffable, endless Joy, comforts, pleasures. 'Tis a serene sky with the Sun and Moon of Faith and repentance, fixed and shining in the firmament of the Soul together with the brightest sparkling stars of all other saving graces, which beautify, bespangle it, and make a glorious constellation therein. 'Tis a feast in a famine, an haven in a storm, life in death. 'Tis an invincible fort in a Leaguer, when the outworks, City and Castle of health, riches, liberty are taken. 'Tis a Paradise with a tree of Life in it. 'Tis the Vialactea in a Laetitia bonae conscientiae paradisus est ●nimarum, gaudium angelorum, hortus deliciarum, ager benedictionis, templam Sclomonis, aula Dei, hab●tac ulum spiritus. heavenly heart. The vena porta of * 2 Corinth. 1. 12. gladness, joy, and a consolation to the spirit here, and the beginning of that matchless felicity, which will outlive time, and run parallel with the longest line of eternity. 'Tis a Dove that brings an Olive branch of peace to a Noah, a righteous person in the greatest inundation of perplexity and sorrow of heart. 'Tis the way to a life without fear or trouble. 'Tis a John lying in the bosom of Jesus. 'Tis a transcript, a true copy of eternal felicity. 'Tis a consolatory epistle written with the blood of Jesus Christ by the finger of the Holy Ghost, sent by love, and read by faith to a languishing, mourning, drooping, bleeding Soul. 'Tis ipsum coelum, saith Augustine, a continual feast, saith Solomon, Yea it is a Goshen in Egypt, an Angel in a Dungeon, an harbour in a Tempest, an Heaven upon earth, and the daystar of Glory. 'Tis an immarcescible Crown; A treasure which once got can never be lost: for what that b Cicere, paradox. ad sinem▪ Prince of Orators saith of virtue, is most true of a good conscience. Nec eripi, nec surripi potest ●nquam: Neque naufragio, neque incendio amittitur: n●● tempestatum, nec temporum permutatione mutatur. But a bad conscience it's the souls inquisition, and strappado, It's the epitome or abridgement of eternal torments. 'Tis the gloomy evening to the black day of Damnation. 'Tis the terrible Harbinger of that dreadful, furious, cruel train, and troop of dismal, intolerable, unconceivable woes, and plagues which are marching, ●ay at the door, to take up their everlasting Quarters and abode in the miserable Soul. 'Tis secretum ftagellum: an hell in the soul before the Soul be in Hell. 'Tis the lightning of those horrors which the thunder of that confounding ●●ntence, Goye cursed into Hel-fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels, etc. will suddenly inflict upon the for ever undone, impenitent sinners. Perillus' his brazen Bull when hottest was a Downe-bed warmed to the scorching anguish of an evil Conscience. Nam urit, caedit, lancinat, et eo gravius quia sine morte. The stinging of the most venomous Serpent is pleasure and delight to the agonies of such a wounded Spirit. That poor wretch who was flayed alive, and then laid upon a bed of Salt till he expired by the barbarous command of Solyman, ●elt no pain, and rested upon a soft couch-chair compared with him or her that hangeth upon the gibbet of an evil conscience. Yea the greatest, sharpest, deadliest pangs and throws of that woman who hath the hardest labour in childbearing are not only ease and refreshments, but cordials in respect of the horrible, unavoidable, insupportable tortures, lashings, bite, and gnawings of the whip and worm of a bad conscience. An evil conscience is the outward court of Hell. 'Tis the earnest and foretaste of those torments which are easeless, endless, remediless. 'Tis like that * Ezck 2. 9, 10. Book in Ezekiel wherein was written both within and without, lamentation and mourning and wo. Weigh them seriously and hearken attentively to the God of Wisdom and truth, who assureth us † Prov. 18. 14. The spirit of a man willsustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear? That a Spirit wounded with the sense of its guilt and misery is insupportable: (for by putting the question he puts it out of all question that it is so) And also to that doleful echo of the damned souls in Hell. c See the life of Spira. Francis Spira that complete map of misery, that so you may both judge impartially what it is, fear it, and carefully, timely, resolutely, oppose, hate, decline, and fly that which will bring you unto, and hang your souls upon the same rack on which all his bones were broken, viz. Sin against convictions, covenants, promises, profession, love, light, knowledge, and conscience, committed, relapsed into, and unrepented of. I now feel, saith he, God's heavy wrath that burns like the torments of hellfire within me, and afflicteth my soul with pangs unutterable. And again the gnawing worms of an unquenchable horror, confusion, and (which is worst of all) Desperation continually torture me. My pangs, faith he, are such that the damned wights in Hell, endure not the like misery. O let us then hear and fear: yea let us be instructed, warned and persuaded by his and * Cain, Judas, etc. others sufferings to pray and labour to get good consciences, and to keep them void of offence both towards God, and towards men, that so we may never feel and endure the exquisite, the insufferable torments of a double Hell, Desperation, and Damnation. And since unicuique liber est propria conscientia, & ad hunc librum discutiendum & emendandum omnes alii inventi. Since every man's conscience is his book, and that all books are written for the reading, correcting, and expunging the erratas thereof: It is therefore the great duty and concernment of every one vigilantly, conscientiously, constantly to take heed that it be neither interlined with sin, nor blotted and blurred with crimes & vices, nor defaced with foul and filthy lusts: Because if it be not kept pure, fair, and undefiled, God will one day command it to be burned by the common hangman, the Devil, in the fire of Hell. But if it be preserved unstained, God will then love and delight in it. For facies animi est c●nscientia: sicut in conspectu hominum gratiosa est facies pulcra; sic in conspectu Dei speciosa est conscientia munda. The face of the mind is the conscience: And an unspotted conscience is as beautiful in the sight of God, as the most renowned and celebrated Beauty either is, or ever was amiable in the eyes of men▪ If then thou wouldst be free from the anguish, agonies, and miseries of an evil Conscience; do thou in this case, what one advised Domitian to do in another, who being asked by Domitian how he might so rule as not to be hated like many of his predecessors, answered him, Tu fac contra, do thou contrary to that they have done. Do thou confess, repent, hate, and forsake every known sin, and take heed of relapsing into wickedness, for sin is both the root and fuel of outward troubles, inward terrors, temporal punishments, spiritual Judgements, and eternal torments. The Prayer. O LORD, thou hast not only forbidden us upon pain of High Treason, Death, and Damnation, to commit the least sin, and acquainted, yea assured us that all things are naked and opened to the eyes of that God with whom we have to do: But thou hast also placed a comptrouler, a Register, a Notary (conscience) in every Child of Adam, to observe, record, and remember all our thoughts, words and actions, whether good or evil. And thy great design in all this is to make us afraid of acting any either open wickedness, or secret filthiness, since even all our closest iniquities, impurities, villainies, and our midnight abominations are perpetrated upon a stage at noonday, and in the sight of the Sun, not only in respect of thine allseeing eye to whom the darkness and light are both alike; but also in respect of that impartial witness, that all-observing Sentinel which thou hast placed within us, that will most certainly reveal all those hidden, hideous, horrible and loathsome crimes we are guilty, of which the eye or ear of Man never saw, nor heard, accuse us to God of them, and both evidently and undeniably to the Lord, and our own selves proves us conscious of them. Give us therefore, O Lord I beseech thee, Grace, care, and resolutions to live, walk, and behave ourselves, to think, speak, and act, as under thine eye, and in thy presence at all times, in all places, in all company, in all conditions, in all our callings, duties, services, recreations, and employments, that so our consciences may acquit, and not condemn us, Let us prize, seek and keep the happiness, peace and comfort of a good conscience more than pleasure, plenty, prosperity, liberty, yea then Life: And let us fear the plague and torment of a bad Conscience more than Death. And since O Lord thou wilt most certainly bring every work unto Judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil, O give us Grace to fear thee, and to keep thy Commandments, that so we may both enjoy the peace of God here, and the God of peace hereafter. This grant for his sake who is the Prince of peace, and died to make our peace with thee, thine only Son and our alone Saviour Amen. Conscientia est index, judex, vindex; Bona, coeli est Porta & primitiae: Mala, damnationis Prodromus Et Gehennae miseriarum principum. XXIII. Of Life. IT is the seedtime both of Grace and Glory. 'Tis a short, craggy, thorny, narrow way, to a sad, or joyful, to a blessed, or cursed eternity. 'Tis a tree from which some blooms do fall in their infancy, on which some buds are blasted when but just set in their childhood, from which some green fruits are snatched off in their youth, upon which some hang till Manhood, and then are violently stricken down, or pulled off by the hand of death; and some continue thereon, until they be full ripe by old age, and then drop down into their graves. Man hath as it were two Sepulchers; One in the warm belly of his natural Mother, and the other in the cold Bowels of the common Mother of all both men and women, the Earth. By life he is put into a Gaol, by Death into a Dungeon. So soon as we are born we cry; as if because we then want language to speak them, our eyes did weep elegies, and by those tears at once prognosticate, express, and lament our future troubles, sorrows, sufferings, Funerals. The Mexicanes thus salute their Infants coming out of the Womb: Infant thou art come into the World to suffer, endure; suffer and hold thy peace. Our Mothers are living Tombs to us before our birth; and so soon as ever we do but peep, or step into the world, every thing not only mindeth us of, but also preacheth and readeth Sermons, Lectures, and Lessons to us of our departure out of it again. For what are our swaddling , but winding sheets? What are our cradles, but Coffins? What is the ringing of the Bell before our being Christened, but an antedated passing peal? What are those arms which carry us to Church to be baptised, but a Bier? What doth our being first undressed signify, but the putting off of our mortality? What is our being laid down to sleep, but an emblem of our Burial? And what is our first sleep, but the Image and elder Brother of Death? Life 'tis a weak twig, and a slender thread upon which frail man hangeth over both his Grave, and Hell. 'Tis a Tragae-Comedie whose scenes are health, sickness, strength, weakness, joy, sorrow, mirth, and mourning: The Prologue tears, the Epilogue groans. a Rainold. Orat. 185. Romani duas angorum & voluptatum deas Angerioniam & Volupiam ita colebant, ut Angeroniae pontifices in sacello Volupiae, et Angeroniae simulacrum in ara Volupiae collocarent, quo significarent, angores voluptatibus, dolorem gaudiis humana vita semper temerari. In this world there is no day without clouds. The door of this natural life is always turning upon the hinges of mutability, and variety of conditions. Winter, Summer, Autumn, Spring, prosperity, adversity, sadness, gladness, black and white days ( b Godwin. Rom. Antiq. as the Romans distinguished them) make chequer-work in our lives. Our complexions (our outward estate and conditions) are sometimes fair and ruddy with joy, comforts, mercies, and sometimes they are black, wrinkled, pale, and wan with sorrows, crosses, and miseries. Man hath neither * Psalm. 102. 11. Job 14. 2. Solstice, nor rest here; and therefore the Romans built the Temple of Quies without the City, to signify that the lower Region of this Life is subject unto, and disquieted with storms, and showers, * Lacrymae nobis decrunt antequam causae dolendi. Sencca de brevitate vitae. troubles, and afflictions. The Womb of Life is always pregnant with both consolations, and tribulations, which struggle therein, and the one (as * Genes. 25. 26. Jacob did Esau) usually taketh the other by the heel. c Plin. Secund. Panegy. ad Trajan. Habet enim has vice's conditie mortalium ut adversa ex secundis, ex adversis secunda nascerentur. Like ship-boys we stand sometimes upon the top of the mast of Prosperity, and sometimes we are put down under● deck by Adversity. Our life is a Sea wherein these tides are always ebbing and flowing; Dolour & voluptas se invicem succedunt. No man was ever yet so happy as to enjoy all those mercies which the hand of God hath liberally scattered and divided amongst all men. Nor was there ever yet any man so miserable but he had some comforts. And though the line of calamity be often, if not ordinarily to the godly longer than that of felicity in this Life: yet it will be but very short (even in his own judgement that is most miserable) if it be measured, or compared with the endless line of eternity. And this consideration will make the waters of Marah sweet to a Child of God. Our Life is an Irish, a troubled, dangerous, tempestuous Ocean; we take Shipping at our Birth with tears, we ●ail over it with care, fear, sorrow, and we land at the port of Death with sighs, sadness, unwillingness. The thread of Life is so short and rotten, that it is often (yea alas too often) spun out by the wheel and broken off by the hand of providence, before it leads us out of the Labyrinths and maze of sin and misery; many millions being carried to their graves, before they consider why, or for what they came out of the Womb into the world. For they do not consider that Man was not made and born to embase his Soul with the allay of sin, which alone renders it capable and maketh it fit to receive the impressions of temptations and all real evils. To fuel and feed his filthy Lusts, or to gratify and comply with his vile and vain desires. To burn himself in the fire of uncleanness, anger, or malice; or to drown himself in the waters of drunkenness, and intemperance. To choke himself in the dirty puddles, and muddy Fens of sensuality and Epicurism. To lie grovelling upon, or to spend his time in rooting in the earth by wilfully diseasing his Soul with the falling-sickness of Avarice, or to entertain a dumb Devil into his heart, not only to hinder, but disable him from either praying to the Lord for grace, and pardon of sin, or praising him for his great and undeserved mercies. And yet it's too true that with the most of these devils some men and women are possessed, and the most with some of them. 'Tis most certain that God did not give man's sole brave wings to pursue the poor quarry of pleasure, profit, and honour, or to fly unto hell, but that by holy meditations, and a religious conversation it should with them mount up to Heaven. The Lord both gives us our beings, and continueth us in them, to trust, love, serve, obey, honour, and delight in him. He hath assured us we must die, and yet concealed from us how long we shall live, that so we might every day and every where expect death, and by a holy life and faith in Christ escape the torments of an everlasting death in hell. We read of many that had always some mementoes of their Original by them. Agathocles who was but the Son of a Potter, when he became a King, had earthen pots brought up and set in his Presence chamber, to immind him of his low extraction. d Camerar. lib. 1. p. 48. Willigis from a base condition, (for he was but the Son of a Carter) being advanced to so high a dignity as to be made Archbishop of Ments, caused these following words to be written in great Letters in his Lodging Chamber: Willigis, Willigis, remember from whence thou camest. And certainly if Men and Women (even the most Royal, Noble, Rich, who have the most Talents to account for, as well as the poorest and meanest) would but either frequently view, and seriously reflect upon their pedigree which they may find and see if they will, * Job 17. 4. I have said to corruption, Thou art my Father, to the Worm, Thou art my Mother and my Sister. Job. 17. 4. Or if they would but diligently hearken unto, and meditate upon those Lectures and Catechisms of their own frailty, and mortality, which God not only reads to their ears, but presenteth also to their eyes in the sickness, and death of others, certainly they would neither be proud nor profane: And they would also learn rightly to know both the brevity and the uncertainty of this life, which is indeed so uncertain, that for aught thou canst tell how great or good soever thou art, that art now looking upon this dark picture, this unlively description of it, death may have an Attachment against thee, or an Habeas corpus, to remove and carry thee out of the Land of the living, before thou hast read one line, nay one word more, and serve it upon thee without warning, respect, and all possibility of being either rescued, concealed, bailed, or protected from it. We are all pilgrims and travail towards our long home before we can go. Every day is a step, every week a walk, every month a stage, and every year a long Journey towards our Graves. Life 'tis a swift Race; we are making ready for it in our conception, our Birth is the starting post, the time of our so journing in this World is the Green or course over which we gallop with a winged speed, and our death is the Gaol or end of it. Orimur & Morimur. Childhood is both the death and Tomb of infancy; Child-houd lies buried in youth; Manhood interr's youth, and old age is the Sepulchre of them all. And when these five pages which are all the leaves that Nature, or rather the God of Nature hath bound up together in the book of Life, are turned over by the nimble hand of flying Time, Death claspeth it up, and then carrieth and layeth us all down in the University Library of the Grave, where the greatest, best, and the most curiously (with honour, wealth, power) guilded and embellished Folio's, as well as the worst, lest, and plainest pamphlets, and Decimo-sexto's (high, low, rich, poor, learned, ignorant, good, bad, young, old, men and women) are deposited and locked up, until the Author, the creator of them all, God Almighty at the day of judgement shall open the door (raise them all out of their graves) take them up and peruse them, to burn or preserve them according to the Contents of every one of them; the actions of their lives good, or evil. How much then doth it concern us to live innocently, uprightly, purely, piously, unblamably, since every letter, word and line in the books of our lives and consciences, (all our thoughts, words, and actions, how darkly, secretly or cunningly soever they have been either conceived or committed) will one day be read by all the world. And since at that last great day of Judgement, they e Mr. Bolton Quatuor Novis●t p. 92. will be as legible as if they were written with the brightest stars, or the most glistering Sunbeams upon a Wall of Crystal. Besides an holy life is the hand that writes a Christians name in the volume of honour, that hangs it on the File of Fame, and that sets the best, and the most glorious Crown upon his head. Triasunt coronarum genera, Goronalegis, Corona sacerdotis, Corona Regni, * A good name is better than precious ointment: Cant. 7. 1. sed corona bonae famae omnes superat. And this Diadem all that truly fear God shall wear for ever. † Psalm 112. 6. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Their names will be fresh, fragrant, and flourishing to all posterity. f Camerarius Some of the West-indians had this custom, They used to deck with Jewels of Gold and with precious stones dead bodies. And we know that in England ●nd other Countries the bodies of Noble persons are usually imbalmed. Let us who profess ourselves to be Christians do that for our souls which these do unto dead bodies. Let us carefully and speedily labour both to enrich, adorn, and perfume our souls and memories by getting and gathering the Gold, Gems, and sweet spices of grace, godliness, virtue, and honesty; because if our lives be vicious, and impious, our souls will not only burn in Hell, and our bodies yield an unsavoury stench in the Grave; but our names too will * Prov. 10. 7. rot in the World. Weigh and judge then which of these aught to be preferred, immortal Glory, or eternal misery: And whether it be not b●●ter to be coffined up in silence, and buried in oblivion, then to live, (though dead) everlastingly infamous. Life 'tis an Interlude; the womb is the attiring room wherein we are dressed; the world is the Theatre whereon we act; our birth is the curtain drawn, to let us out upon the stage; our life is the part we act; death is our exit, and the plaudit, if we perform our part well, if we live religiously, and persevere in piety, will be * Matth. 25. 23 Euge, Well done good and faithful Servant, enter thou into thy master's joy. Lo this honour, this happiness have all the Saints. This is the portion, the Crown of a Ridley, not a Roscius. Life 'tis an hedge of thorns, upon which we must not only tread, but walk to our Graves. 'Tis a bowl of Gall with a few drops of Rose-water in it. 'Tis a Garden full of nettles, and briers, not flowers, Tricae et spinae haec omnis vita, et falleris si quaeris in ea gaudiorum Flores. To conclude, since every man may truly say, and ought practically to speak, (to live like one that both knows and believes the truth thereof) with him, g Lips. Epist. 330. Quid natus sim scio, imbecillum corpus, fragile morbi pabulum, mortis victima. Since the strongest, wisest, greatest, richest, yea the holiest of mere men is but h Aristotle. imbecillitatis exemplum, temporis spolium, inconstantiae imago, invidiae et calamitatis trutina, reliqua vero pituita et bilis. And since it's better to improve, then portray it; to spend our time holily, then to speak our life elegantly, I shall say but this: A good, gracious, godly life, is a near, sure, straight way to a comfortable, peaceful, blissful death. And a good death is the birth-pay of a blessed, glorious life that shall never end. Although then the morning of a pious Christians days may be tempestuous, and lowering, yet his evening will be calm and bright: whereas the life of him that is impenitently wicked, though i Nun quam tristiorem sententiam Domitianus sine praefatione clementiae pronunciavit, ut non aliud jam certius atr●cis exitus signum esset quam principii lenitas. Suctonius. like the heavy, bloody, and condemning sentence of that cruel Emperor Domitian, it do begin with a preface of Clemency, with pleasure, and outward prosperity, yet it (like his merciless Judgement) will be sure to have a woeful, horrible, and most miserable Conclusion. The Prayer. O LORD, thou hast acquainted us with the vanity, frailty and uncertainty of this natural Life in those lively, real, teaching resemblances and comparisons of it in thy Word of Truth to a Post, a Race, a Shuttle, a Vapour, Span, Bubble, Flower, Grasse. And thou hast also informed us, that as short, brittle, mutable as it is, we must either whilst our Souls sojourn in these houses of Clay, (our bodies) whose foundations are in the dust, both make our peace with God, and get our Pardons sealed, or else we shall lie under thy dreadful intolerable, yet unavoidable vengeance for ever. O Grant therefore most gracious God that we may not ravel out those Golden Skeans of precious opportunities, offers of Grace, and means of Salvation, which thy mercy, bounty, patience have both given and continued unto us to make our callings and elections sure. Suffer us not, holy God, to play, loiter, sin, or sleep away our precious Time, seasons of Grace, our Talents, Gifts, Hopes, Comforts, Promises, lest while we live those days come upon us, wherein like Pashur thou in wrath and justice make us a burden to ourselves. Lest thou make our lives so bitter and grievous that we shall dig for death as Riches, and seek it as for hid treasures, even cou●t, crave, court it, and yet not be able to find it or prevail to be taken out of our Misery by it. And lest after all these terrors, sufferings, sorrows, agonies, and languish our sinful Souls be for ever separated, divorced, banished from the God of love, light, life, and cast into utter darkness and eternal death amongst cursed Reprobates, and damned Devils, when we go hence and shall be seen no more. Amen. Vita vere religiosa optimum est medicamentum contra Timorem, Terrorem & Mortis Stimulum. Bonus semper Vivit; Abit enim▪ non obit; Asbconditnr, non abscinditur; Dormit, non perit; Mutatur, non moritur. XXIV. Of Death. 'tIs the Soul's convoy to Heaven or Hell. 'Tis the Porter that lets a true sanctified, mortified Christian into Paradise, through the narrow Gate of Life; The Pilot that steers him over the rough, raging, troublesome Sea of this World, and lands him safe at the Haven of Happiness, Heaven. 'Tis the first statute in Magna Charta; A Law made Primo mundi, which can never be repealed. * Hebr. 9 27. For it's appointed, (It's enacted, ordained, in the High Court of Parliament in Heaven) for all men once to die. 'Tis to a Child of God the Souls Coronation day, gaudy-day, its glad day, as a Mr. Fox B. of Martyr. vol. 3 p. 431. Wolsey, its wedding day, as b Idem vol. 3. p. 502. Bishop Ridly the night before he was to be burned being at Supper he was very cheerful and did bid Ms. Irish his keeper's Wise and the rest of the company at Board with him to his Wedding. For saith he, to morrow I must be married. blessed Bishop Ridley called it, and its year of Jubilee. But it's a sluice pulled up to drown the wicked. It's an impenitent sinner's shipwreck. 'Tis the death, burial, and period of his prosperity, delights, pleasures; The funeral of all his comforts, and the nativity of his eternal torments. 'Tis the Baker's going out of Prison to execution, a joseph's enlargement and promotion, a Queen Elizabeth's Exaltation to a Throne. 'Tis a good Man's Spring, a Reprobates Autumn; a Nu●c dimittis to a pious Simeon; a Take him Gaoler, bind him hand and foot and cast him into utter darkness to an impious Soul. A quietus est, a writ of ease to the godly; a warrant signed and delivered for the destruction of the Wicked. 'Tis an Ahimaaz bringing good tidings to the righteous, but the last and worst of all Jobs messengers to him that is unholy; relating his sad, his irrecoverable, irreparable loss of all soul, body, goods, riches, pleasures, friends, children, house, lands, honours, mirth, hopes, offices, power, earth, and Heaven unto him. It lets that Dove (the Soul) out of the Cage, the Ark of the body. It knocks off those bolts, mortality, and frailty, and sets it at liberty. It's the taking up of Jeremiah (the Soul) out of the dark, filthy, noisome, irksome Dungeon of the flesh; and the safe delivery of that Daniel from those hungry, cruel, terrible Lions, sin, Satan, Hell. Christ hath disarmed death, and now to the Godly, Mors nomen est tantum; c Owen Epic. Introitus, non interitus. So that what Camerarius appointed by his last will should be written on his monument; may also most truly be ingraved upon the Tomb of every one that dies in the Lord: Vita mihi mors est; mors mihi nova vita est, Life to me is death, and death to me is a new, a true, a blessed, a glorious Life. Death, 'tis both unavoidable and certainly uncertain. (d) Apollonius Thyaneus, who had travailed over the greatest part of Europe, Asia, and Africa, being asked at his return, (n) Dial of Princes. what wonderful things he had seen in those Countries through which he had travailed, answered; That he wondered most at two things. 1. That in all the parts of the World where he had been, he had seen quiet men troubled by seditious persons, the humble subject to the proud, the just obedient to the Tyrant, the cruel commanding the merciful, the ignorant teaching the wise, and above all, That he had seen great Thiefs hang the innocent on the Gallows. 2ly That the other thing at which he marvailed was, that in a●l the Countries, and places, where he had been, he knew not, neither could he find any man who was immortal, but that at length both high and low had an end. And as Death is inevitable, so it is also in itself terrible. For groans, sighs, tears, convulsions, cries, paleness, blacks and Funerals, are the Harbingers, Heralds, and the train thereof. And yet to the Godly 'tis but like a King's visit to his beloved Subjects in his progress, acceptable honourable, welcome, and comfortable. Nam pompa mortis magis terret, quam mors ipsa. e Augustus Caesar died in a compliment, Vespasian in a Jest, Galba with a Sentence, Septimius Severus in dispatch, etc. Bacon Essays 2. p. 8. The very Heathens entertained it without fear, & embraced it without sorrow. The * H●rodotus lib. 5. Thracians or rather Thrausians, wept at the birth of their Children, and † In the primitive times C●ristians were wont at Funerals to sing Psalms of Thanksgiving Kinet Cathol. Orthod. Quest. rejoiced at the death of their Friends. Solon could say to rich Croesus, Ante obitum nemo beatus, No man is happy till he be dead. And we ought not to lament our death, but the wicked lives we lead, saith Bruxellus. How much more than should Christians receive it, both with courage, and * Prov. 14. 32. gladness; Since Pagans knew not what should become of them afterwards. Animula vagula, blandula, hospes, comesque corporis, quae nunc abibis in loca, pallidula, nudula, frigida, nec ut soles dabis joca, said f Hadrian in his Sollioquy on his Deathbed. one of them. But the Children of God know that as they have an unquestionable right and title to a glorious inheritance, so they cannot possibly enjoy it until they be put into quiet possession thereof by that high Sheriff Death. It's true death was the most ugly, frightful dreadful thing in the world. It was the King of Terrors, yea of all terrible things the most terrible, being the firstborn of that most deformed, monstrous, loathsome, hateful Mother sin: But when Christ had put his precious blood into its pale, ghastly, ill-favoured face, it than became, and so continueth, beautiful, amiable, desirable. I desire, saith blessed St. Paul, to be dissolved and to be with Christ. g Pontanus, lib. 4. Libenter ecorporis vinculis evolaudum est. Quid enim hic est quod quenquam ad diutius vivendum invitare possit? an labores assidui? an diurnae nocturnaeque solicitudines? an quotidiani angores? an fortunae ludibria? an morborum varietas? an mille casus, mille incommoda? vere melior est dies mortis quam natalis! Ille siquidem quietis & beatitudinis: hic autem miseriarum dolorumque initium est. Therefore many of the Martyrs courted, importuned, longed for, and begged of their most bloody persecutors a release from that debt which they owed, desired, yea thirsted, and rejoiced to pay unto nature. Why do you not give me that gold chain, and create me a Knight of that Noble Orde? said Ludovicus Marsacus, a French Martyr when the rope wherewith his Fellow were to be executed was put about his Neck. (9) Fox B. of Martyr. vol. 3. p. 891. And (h) one Priest's wife being condemned to be burnt at Exeter, when that cruel Sentence was pronounced against her, she lifted up her voice, and thanked God, saying, I thank thee my Lord my God, this day have I found that which I have so long sought. Death is not now a Thorn, but a Crown. 'tis not a wound, but a plaster to a good Christian, who like the Sun shines brightest usually when setting. This cruel Serpent hath now lost his sing, so that the greatest hurt which it can do a Child of God is to free him from misery, dangers, troubles. 'tis the bridge over which he passeth to Glory. 'tis a soft bed of down, a sweet bed of Roses, as holy Bainam styled it when he was riding in a fiery Chariot of Martyrdom to Heaven. 'Tis the Gate of Paradise, the Messenger of Bliss, the Usher, and Harbinger of Glory. Though it kill, yet it cannot hurt, nor conquer a Saint. Hoc posteris dicite, hominem Christo deditum posse mori, non posse superari. And therefore the Motto of a good Christian may well be the last words of i Aemil Probus in vita Epaminoned. Epaminondas, who being mortally wounded by the Beotians in a bloody Battle, and ready to expire, it was told him that his Enemies were overthrown; which pleasing, happy news, he no sooner heard, but he concluded both his Speech, and Life with these words, Satis inquit vixi, invictus enim morior. I have lived long enough since I die unvanquished; For Christians are * Rom. 8. 37. more than Conquerors through him, that loved them. Death, 'tis a springtide of * Euge Deo sit laus & gloria quod jam mea instet liberatio & horula gratissima, said pious Graserus when he perceived his legs to swell with a Dropsy. Melch. Adam. in vit. Graeseri. joy and pleasure to the godly. It's the Souls Gaole-delivery. 'Tis God's Servant sent in love and mercy to invite them to come to that Feast of Felicity and eternal Glory which the Lord hath prepared for them: And therefore the people of God have gone merrily to meet death when their friends have followed them with sorrow and mourning to see them embrace and suffer it. k Fox B. of Martyr's vol. 3. p. 176. When Doctor Taylor (being condemned) was carried out of London to be conveyed to Hadley where he was to be burned; he was all the way as merry and cheerful, as one that accounted himself going to a most pleasant Banquet or Wedding. We see then that although Death be the Mother of misery, and so terrible to the wicked, that even the very thoughts and fear of dying is a death to them: witness Lewis the 11. King of France, who when he was sick commanded that none should so much as name that terrible word Death unto him: Yet to the Godly it's neither hurtful nor horrible. But yet as I said it is both * Hebr. 9 27. unavoidable, for the chief Law that the Gods have given to humane nature is, That none should have perpetual Life, saith Pliny; And also most uncertain l Senec. lib. 3. Epist. 29. Incertum est quo loco mors te expectet: Tu vero eam in omni loco expecta, saith Seneca. It doth and must needs therefore infinitely concern all men and women, as they desire to save their S●uls, and fear to shed their own blood and to become their own murderers, butchers and executioners, seriously, timely, yea daily to * Praecogitati mali mollis ictus. Senec. Epist. 77. consider the mortality of their bodies, and the immortality of their Souls, that they must die but once; That if they die wickedly they are undone, yea cursed eternally: Since if the fire of Hell be once kindled upon them, neither Rivers of tears, nor infinite Oceans of Blood, nor prayers, nor cries, though never so importunate, or lamentable, will ever be able to cool or mitigate, much less than to quench it. And also to have some Monitors, and remembrancers of their approaching, inevitable dissolution always before the eyes of their minds, because forgetfulness of Death maketh life sinful, and death most dreadful. m Camerar. lib. 6. p. 420. Philip King of Macedon appointed one of his pages to come into his Chamber door every morning, and to speak these words, Memento te esse mortalem. Neither did he ever come out of his Chamber, or admit any man to speak with him, till the Page had proclaimed every day thrice, Philip thou art a man. The Emperor Maximilian the first, two years before his death, whithersoever he went carried a Coffin with him to immind him of his end. n Dial of Princes. The Thebans had this custom, No Theban might build himself an house to dwell in, before he had made him a Sepulchre to be buried in. The Grecian Emperors upon the day of their inauguration in Constantinople, had several sorts of stone presented to them by a Mason; out of which they was to choose one to make them a Tomb to be buried in. o Joseph of Arimathea had his Tomb in a Garden; and so had their great men also. Mat. 27 60. 2 Kings 21. 18. The Jews had their Sepulchers in their Gardens, that so in the the midst of their delights, they might remember their mortality, And others have had a Death's head served up to their Tables, that they might in that perspicuous, mortifying glass behold their own frailty in the midst of their mirth, pleasures, jollity. And certainly, serious, frequent, and pious meditation of death, will beget in us, a vigilant, continual expectation of death; expectation of it, will p Vivere in in tota vita discendum est. Quod magis mirum est in tota vita dissendam est mori. Seneca de brevitate vita ad Paulinam. persuade and spur us on to preparation for it, so that we shall be able not only to look it in the face with comfort, but triumphingly to say; O Death where is thy sting, etc. It being nothing to such as have the Lamps of their Souls filled with saving Grace, and their Garments washed white in the blood of the Lamb, but the Death and period of all their sins, sorrows, fears, dangers, troubles, enemies, yea and of death itself. Mors & vita duello conflixere mirando. Rex mortuus; regnat vivu●. In hoc duello mors et vita in arenam descenderunt, sed tandem vicit vita et gloriose exiit e sepulcro de morte triumphans. Irrideamus ergo mortem, & cum Apostolo dicam●s, Vbi mors victoria? For (q) Quid ipsa mors quam timemus? (g) Lips Epist. p. 75. Requies, gaudium, et vera vita, aut siquid in ea mali, malis tantum. What is that death which we so much fear, and at the very name whereof we tremble? 'Tis rest, joy, and life, or if there be any evil in it, 'tis only so to those that are evil. And indeed 'tis very sad, yea woeful to all ungracious persons who have this punishment: In dying they forget themselves, because in their life time they forgot God. But besides this grievous punishment, and heavy judgement most justly inflicted by the Lord upon them because when he came to them in their health, prosperity, life, and offered them mercy, they refused (with equal madness and cruelty to their own souls) to hear and embrace the tenders of love and salvation: when their Life is lost and ended, all hope, comfort, help, all means of Grace, and seasons of mercy, all possibility of pardon, together with the society of the Glorious Angels, and glorified Saints, the beatifical vision, and blessed fruition of the thrice blessed Trinity, and those ineffable pleasures which are prepared for all that love God, will then be lost for ever, Deus amissus est mors animae, anima amissa est mors corporis. The Death of the body is but the body of death: therefore disce non metuendum existimare quae metuenda finite. But the death of the Soul (the loss of God and his favour) is the Soul of Death. Fear therefore by sin to provoke that God who can, and for sin unrepented of, and continued in, will inflict eternal death both upon the body and soul, and make all impenitent transgressors ever living objects of his never-dying wrath. I shall conclude all with presenting and commending the Lord Gabriel Simeons' Glass to your view and perusal. Beauty is deceitful, money flieth away, Rule-bearing is odious, victory doubtful, peace fraudulent, old age miserable, the fame of wisdom everlasting, Life short, death (to the Godly) * Mark the perfect man, & behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. happy. Psalm. 37. 37 The Prayer. O LORD, Man hath but one Door to let him into the World by Life, but there are a thousand Posterns, Wickets, and Passages to let him out of it by Death. We are born both Mortal and Miserable; O give us blessed God so to live, that at the end of our days we may be immortally happy: we came into the World Sinners, O grant that we may go out of it Saints. We were unclean at our birth, O let us be pure and holy at our dissolution. The hand of every moment winds off some of the little clue of Life. The string and plummet of our days creep, and descend every minute nearer and nearer to the ground, our Graves. The Sun of this natural Life never stands still, but moves, or rather flies from the East and morning of our birth and infancy, to the South, and noon of Youth, and Manhood, and then hastens to the West, the evening of old Age. Grant therefore holy God, that when this Sun shall set in the night of Death, our Souls may rise and shine with the Sun of Righteousness in Glory; That as we grow older we may grow holier every day than other; That we may pass the time of sojourning in these Tents of flesh in thy way and Fear, that so the Conscience, Evidence, and Comfort of a wel-spent Life, may both Antidote and Arm us against the Sting and Power of Death before it comes, and free us from the Horreus and Misery of it, when it doth come. O let it be no Stranger to our thoughts, and then it will be no terror to our Hearts. O let us get death into our minds, and that will put life into all our Actions. O grant good God, that our Lives may be pious, and then our Death will be peaceable, joyful, welcome unto us and precious in the sight of the Lord. And give us I beseech thee most merciful Father some clusters of Grapes of the good Land of Canaan here, even the Graces of thy holy Spirit, and some fore-tasts of thy special Love in Christ while we continue in the Wilderness of this World, that when we die our Souls may enter into, and for ever possess the spiritual Canaan of Heaven. Grant this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake, Amen, Amen. Diu vixit qui pie moritur. Fructus est laboris & finis operis placere melioribus. FINIS. Soli Deo Gloria. THE CHARACTERS OF A True Believer, IN PARADOXES, AND Seeming Contradictions. AN ESSAY. By THO. GODDARD Gent. Vetera legendo et metitando nova invenimus, Quintil. Placere cupio, prodesse precor, & laboro. LONDON, Printed by E. C. For Thomas Williams at the Bible in Litle-Brittain: and William Thompson, at harbour in Leicestershire. 1661. THE CHARACTERS OF A True Believer, In PARADOXES, AND Seeming Contradictions. 1. HE believeth that which he cannot comprehend, because it is above reason. That there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead, yet but one God; that God is the Father of Christ; that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from them both, and yet that they are all three coeternal and but one in substance. 2. He believeth that Christ who was before all time, and created the world, was yet born in the fullness of time, and became man in the world. That he who fills both Heaven and earth, and can neither be included, nor excluded any where, was shut up and confined within the narrow womb of a Virgin. That he who is the Omnipotent, and can do whatever pleaseth him, could neither go nor stand. That he who is Wisdom itself, could not understand. That he who is the Word, could not speak. That Christ was killed before he was alive, and slain before he was born. That he who is Almighty, was held in the Arms, and bound in the hands of a weak Woman. That the Mother of Christ was both his Daughter, Creature, Spouse, and a pure Virgin even after her Son was born. And that if Jesus had not been slain for her from the beginning of the World, Mary had not lived. 3. A true believer is both a Pibble and a Diamond, a Pillar and a Troubler of the World. He is both the honour and scorn, the love, envy and hatred of men. In the Arithmetic of the wicked he standeth but for a cipher, but in the account of an holy God he is a Sum. In the scales of the World he is dross, but in the Balance of the Sanctuary Gold. 4. A true Believer is a merry mourner, one cheerfully sorrowful. And as sometimes the clouds and Sun do rain and shine together: So while Rivers of penitent grief and tears spring up in his heart and run out at the floodgates of his eyes, celestial beams of unknown joy, comfort, gladness, dart upon, irradiate, and revive his dark, troubled, drooping Spirit. 5. He riseth by falling. Humiliation is his exaltation. He goeth to Heaven by Hell. And is never so high and precious in God's eyes, as when he is vilest and lowest in his own. 6. A true Believer is cured by sickness, being never so well as when he fainteth & is even ready to die of love for Christ. Affliction is his physic, Julip, happiness. He is saved by shipwreck, landed by storms, and deeply rooted by winds and shake. 7. He beeleveth God to be most just, and yet that the Lord from all eternity decreed, that the innocent should be condemned and suffer to acquit the guilty: And also that the greatest sinners should be saved by one should die for sin, and yet never committed any sin. He believeth himself to be freely pardoned, and yet knows that a price was paid for his redemption worth more than ten thousand Worlds. He believes God to be most merciful, most loving, and yet knows, that God delivered up his own, his only Son, and suffered him to suffer not only the most bitter, painful, and cruel, but also the most shameful Death. And likewise that the Lord poured out upon him the fullest vials of his fiercest wrath, and that all this was done, endured, and suffered for those who were both Enemies and Traitors to God and his Son. 8. A true Believer hateth all the World, yet is no man's Enemy. He is implacable, yet without malice; inexorable, yet easy to be persuaded. He prayeth for, and hearty forgiveth his very Murderers. His worst enemies are friends to him and do him good. He sinneth least, when he is most angry; Taketh revenge on no body but himself; And never pleaseth God more than when he is most offended and displeased with himself. 9 A true Believer is the most ambitious man in the World, For nothing can satisfy or bond his aspiring mind but a Kingdom, and Crown, yet he is the most Loyal Subject and the greatest contemner of all sublunary things. He wageth and maintaineth with courage, resolution, delight and constancy, perpetual Wars, and yet he is the greatest lover of peace, lives in peace, is the most quiet man, and dies in peace. He is victorious, yea invincible, yet fights without men against both men and Devils. And though he be plundered, beggared, and lose all, yet he groweth rich and great by wars without pay or pillage. 10. He is born both alive and dead. He dies twice, and lives a threefold life of Nature, Grace, Glory. He hath one resurrection before another after he is dead. 11. He studieth with delight and diligence to know that which he is assured will both grieve and trouble him being known. He is never so wise as when he knoweth himself to be a Fool. He is never so likely to get safe to shore, as when he is most fearful of being cast away. He is never beautiful until he see, and acknowledge himself to be ugly, and deformed: and the more he loathes himself, the more God loves him. 12. He is born of mean and base Parents, and yet he is the only truly noble Man: For he hath the Royalest blood, greatest alliances and relations, highest titles, choicest honours, honourablest Attendants, and the best estate of any man. For God is his Father, Christ is his Husband, Heaven is his mansion, Saints are his Brethren, Angels are his Servants, and Glory is his inheritance. 13. A true Believer is born both a Beggar and an Heir. He often lives poor, yet is always Rich, and dies wealthy, though without Lands, money, goods. He keepeth his estate by sending it away, and increaseth it by spending of it, when others not only lessen but lose theirs by sparing, and saving it. And he taketh his treasure with him to his Grave, and beyond it. 14. He is never whole till he hath been broken. He is never rightly, throughly cured until he hath been deeply wounded. He is never on earth more really happy, then when he seemeth to be truly miserable. Injuries are favours to him; losses, gain; calamities, mercies; afflictions, consolations. The breaking of his bones setteth them, and makes them both strait and strong. 15. A true Believer liveth in Heaven, whilst he sojourns upon Earth, he speaketh in company without being heard, receives answers which no man can either intercept, demur, or perceive, enjoys the best company though alone. He walks while he lies still, and is not there where men behold him. 16. He hath a continual feast without flesh, and eating: A Banquet without sweet meats, melody without music, and Joy in the midst of sorrow. He is dear, beloved, owned, when he thinks himself despised, rejected, hated. He believes he shall find pleasure in pain, honey in gall, life in death, and doth so. 17. He hath all things in the midst of his extremest wants, yet is beholding to the World for nothing; for he fetcheth his meat, drink, clothes, mercies, comforts and whatever he possesseth from Heaven. He sends by faithful, frequent, fervent prayers to Christ for them, bids patience wait, and appoints hope to bring him an answer, which believing he shall receive, it cometh indeed either according to his desires and expectation, or beyond them. He always speeds and obtains even when his suit is denied. He hath what he will, because he will have but what he may, and therefore he sits down both contented and thankful though he be crossed. 18. A true Believer is afraid of that which with zeal, courage, sincerity, and constancy he is resolved to do, to serve God. He delighteth in it, yet is grieved that he can perform duty no better. He seeketh diligently for that which he knows he shall not find, and beggeth that importunately which he is assured will be both denied and granted in this world unto him. He is what he seems to be, yet is not what he seems, being like Solomon's Tents, black without, but adorned with precious things within. He is both black and white, weak and strong, contemptible and Honourable, sick and well, at Liberty and in Prison, a Sinner and a Saint, fearful and yet bold as a Lyon. 19 He leaves the dirty broad way of the World, and by crossing that, he goeth on directly in the right way toward Heaven. Though he be far from home, and from his friends in a strange Country, yea in the darkest night, yet he can go to his Father almost in a moment without wand'ring. Though all the men in the World should lie armed in Ambush to surprise him, yet he can pass either safely by them, or victoriously through them. For although he may be taken, or killed, yet he cannot be kept or overcome. 20. A true Believer loveth Gods Words and Ordinances as dearly as his Life. Because by them he was wounded to his healing, humbled to his raising, enlightened to the beholding of his Blindness, emptiness, nakedness, nothingness, filthiness, and because without them (though he had been the sole Monarch of the whole world) he had been everlastingly undone, and a very beggar. He trembles at the good, the holy Word of God, yet both rejoiceth in it, and findeth transcendent sweetness, spiritual, yea soul-ravishing joy and gladness by it. 21. He honoureth highly, loveth dearly, and obeyeth willingly his natural Parents, yet prizeth, and affects his spiritual Father, a Godly Minister, above, and beyond all men, though he be not at all akin to him: Because he knoweth that it's better never to be, then to be everlastingly miserable, and never to be Borne, than not to be Borne again. 22. He will not, he dare not spare his own Flock, and take another's only Lamb. He therefore dedicates and consecrates the Sabbath-day which is none of his own, wholly, cheerfully, joyfully, thankfully, hearty, and religiously to the Lord. And by so doing he getteth six for one to himself, together with a promise of God's guidance, favour, protection, and blessing upon him, his, and his Labours in his calling in them. And so by serving God he serves himself too, and by giving God his due, he both keep's his own, and getteth more than he had. 23. A true Believer increaseth his estate by giving it away, gathereth by scattering. By clothing others he adorns himself with Robes, by relieving others he supplies his own wants, and by sowing Charity he reaps Mercy. 24. He saveth his Life by confessing his guiltiness, whereas others condemn themselves by concealing their crimes. He's the only happy man, for nothing can make him miserable. Because he is comforted when afflicted, he is at Liberty in Bondage, at home when Banished, said when famished; full though empty, satisfied when hungry, advanced though degraded, safe when most cruelly persecuted, and when killed crowned. 25. He is naturally heavy and droffy, yet ascends; and the nearer his body comes to its Centre, the earth, and its long home, the Grave, by age and sickness, the faster and the higher his Soul mounts towards Heaven. And at length his Soul is divorced from his Body, both with joy and grief, exultation and mourning. 26. A true Believer is never satisfied, yet always contented. He feareth continually, yet seldom wants Hope. He doubts, yet steadfastly believeth; he is not worldly minded, and yet he is so covetous, that he never thinks he hath enough. He is most temperate and sober, yet is always thirsty. He is a modest Suitor, yet is resolved to take no denial. He knoweth and confesseth himself to be unfit to ask, and unworthy to receive either a gracious answer, or any mercy, and yet he will not cease begging till his prayers be heard, and his petitions granted. 27. He never sits, stands, nor lies, but is always walking. His motion is neither retrograde, nor circular, but progressive, yet the longer, faster, and further he travels, the stronger, and fresher he is. All things ●re become new in him, yet the old man is not destroyed. He is very pitiful, and tender hearted, yet so merciless and implacable an enemy to sin, that he is never quiet or pleased till it be mortified, crucified and dead in him. He is both in the world, and out of it at the same time. He is willing, yea desirous to keep his estate, yet freely parteth with it, if God will have it, and accounts the loss of all for Christ, the greatest, the truest gain. 28. He injoies that which he doubts he wants, loves unfeignedly that which he fear he doth not care for, & prizeth above all things that which others trample under their feet. He is assured of his Salvation, and that he is an Heir of Glory, yet questions his evidences, and by * Nulla sunt sirmiora quam quae ex dubiis facta sunt certa. doubting makes them firm and good. 29. A true Believer matters not his life, nay he desires to die, yet strives more than any man to save himself. He is terribly afraid of Hell and Damnation, yet would not knowingly and with delight and perseverance commit, or live in any one sin to obtain Heaven. 30. He is diligent in his calling, yet doth not mind earthly things. He alone hath a true comfortable and religious right to the Creature, yet accounts himself an Usurper, till his Title be confirmed by his interest in Christ. Though he hold his Land in free Soccage, yet he acknowledgeth, 'tis but in Capite. Though his Tenure be in Fee-simple; yet he confesseth himself to be but a Tenant at Will. Though his goods be his own, yet he knows and believes himself bound freely, and liberally (if he be able) to distribute and communicate them unto others. He believeth all things without Christ are nothing but vanity and ●●●●tion of Spirit, and that Christ alone is all things without any thing else. 31. That which others fear, fly and abhor, he courts, desires, and welcomes. That which is their Funeral is his Nuptials; For death doth not kill but translate him, it doth not execute but remove him. He dies daily, and so doth not die at all but departed; His sleep is a short death, and his dissolution is but a long sleep. Death which is a destructive deluge to the wicked, is only an Ark to him, preserving and carrying him safe to Mount Ararat, Heaven, and there it both lands and leaves him. 32 A true Believer anticipates the last day. He accuseth, arraigneth, and condemneth himself, and so is both acquitted and discharged by God at his death. He is no Incendiary, yet desires nothing so much a● to see both Heaven and earth on fire. He trembles at the presence of God, yet longe●h for, and will both rejoice and triumph at his glorious appearing, because than he shall meet Christ as a Saviour and husband, not as a dreadful confounding Judge He believes his mortal body, though it be burned, drowned, devoured by wild Beasts, or buried in the earth and consumed to dust, and although that very dust should be scattered & lost, seal yet be collected, raised again entire, and beautiful (though before it was deformed) and be made a glorious Body. And that both his Body Soul, though they have been absent and strangers unto one another for many hundrens, ●ea thousands of years, shall meet again, be married in joy & bliss, and enjoy one another without all fear, or possibility of ever being separated any more, in felicity and glory to all Eternity. S. D. G. FINIS. A little Box of safe Purgative and Restorative Pills to be constantly taken by all those that desire either to get their Souls into, or to keep them in, an healthful, holy, heavenly Frame, and Temper. 1. HE that doth not love God above all things dethrones him, and sets up the Prince of Lies and darkness above the God of Truth, Light, and Glory. 2. He that refus●th to take Jesus Christ for his husband, shall one day find him a dreadful condemning Judge. And his condition will be woeful that refuses to love and embrace Christ, that woos him, and would free him from his woeful condition. 3. He that shuts the Holy Ghost out of his heart, lo●ks the narrow gate of Life against his own Soul, and sets the door of hell wide open for himself to enter thereat into everlasting, ever-tormenting sorrows. 4. He that commits sin with delight, doth delight sinfully to murder at once his Saviour, his Soul, his Neighbour and his Companions in evil, who have been his evil Companions. 5. He that makes no conscience to honour God by sanctifying the Sabbath-day, will make no scruple to dishonour the Gospel, Religion and himself, or to wrong others all the week after. 6. He that accounts any sin little, is a great sinner, and without great sorrow, for so doing, he will be a great sufferer. 7. He only is a Christian indeed that is a Christian in his deeds. 8 He that preaches well, and lives i'll, persuades men to profaneness, and dissuades them from piety. 9 He that doth not hear the word of God to his humiliation, Reformation, Renovation, shall hear God the Word pronounce the sentence of eternal condemnation against him for being an unfruitful, an unprofitable hearer of God's word. 10. He that sees not his own blindness, is blind though he sees: And therefore he can neither find the way to true happiness, nor be truly happy in his ways. 11. He that doth not mourn for sin while he lives, shall burn in hell for his sin when he dies. For as a Saints Sorrow is his real unspeakable Joy, so a sinner's Joy will be his eternal Sorrow. 12. He that is not God's Servant, is a slave to the worst of Masters, the Devil. 13. He that is in League and confederacy with his Lusts, is a volunteer under Satan, in arms, and in open not only hostility but Rebellion against the Lord of hosts. 14. He that prays not daily to God for grace, mercy and pardon, provokes God to punish him for his neglect of prayer, and is liable (being out of God's protection) every moment to become a prey to that roaring Lion, the Devil, who seeks daily his destruction. 15. He that is content to want Christ, is sure to want content. And he that thinks to deceive God and the world with a show of holiness, God will make it appear to the world and himself, that his holiness was but in show. 16. He that was never humbled for the sins of his prayers, hath great cause to pray, that he may be humbled for that as well as his others sins. 17. He that doth neither care nor fear to appear evil, will neither be afraid, to be really evil, nor to have his evil appear. 18. The surest way to conquer sin, is to fly from it. 19 He that doth not resist temptations, invites Satan to besiege him, and hath given him Hostages that he will without striking or fight surrender up the sort of his heart unto him. 20. The Soul of true Religion is to be truly religious in Soul: And a pious life, is the life of piety. 21. He that makes this world his God, shall have his portion in Hell, with the God of this world. 22. They of all other persons are the most ill-favoured, and deformed, that have fair faces and ●oul hearts. For the beauty of the body is but the body of beauty: But a soul deformed by sin hath in it the very soul of Deformity. 23. He is in God's account a good Christian, that sincerely endeavours to be good, and grieves hearty that he is no better. 24. He fulfils the will of God, whose will and heart are fully fixed, and willing to do it, though he cannot perfectly keep the Commandments of God. Because the Lord will never impute the unwilling failings of his people unto them. 25. He runs the race that is set before him, who walks uprightly in the way of holiness. 26. They are the Devils Cocks, not Christ's Doves, that crow when they have enjoyed their Lusts, that boast of, or glory in their sin and shame, and in their shameful sins. 27. He is a bad man that is only good, that he may get goods by bad means, and by seeming to be good. For he that serves God only for gain, makes gain only his God. 28. Heaven will never be fit for him, that doth not labour to fit himself for heaven. 29. He must needs love sinfully that loves sin: And both his care and crimes must needs be very great, that cares▪ not how great his crimes are, so he be but great. 30. He is the worst of fools, that never as yet became a fool that he might be wife. 31. He that delights in his iniquities kisses his chain, hugs his bolts, rejoices in his fetters, and is well pleased to be led by the Devil in triumph to hell. 32. He that despises the means of grace and comfort, hath little cause to expect any grace, or comfort by the means. 33. He can never miscarry, or be cast away in the harbour or Death, that carries the ballast of a good Conscience, and keeps the Anchor of a lively saving hope both sure and steadfast whilst he sails over the Sea of life. 34. He that feels not the want of Christ while he lives, shall be sure to find the want of Christ when he dies. 35. He that is a true Child of God, will be truly grieved and afflicted for the afflictions of God's Children. 36. The only way for Christians, never to repent hereafter that they have committed any Sins, is ever while they live here, unfeignedly to repent of all the sins, that they have committed. 37. He that runs from Christ's colour (that great Captain of m●n● Salvation) to serve Satan, hath no colour why he should serve Christ so treacherously as to run from him to be Satan's Servant. For Christ shed his blood and died to save him, but Satan doth both restlessly and implacably plot and desire to kill and damn him. 38. His breath stinks the worst, and is the most offensive, infectious, and unsavoury, that smells of lies, oaths, obscene, filthy, and rotten speeches, instead of being perfumed with prayers and praises unto that God who gives him his breath. 39 He that never tasted the bitterness of sin, did never relish the sweetness either of Grace, or a Saviour. 40. The way for men to please God when he is offended, is to be displeased with themselves for offending God. And the way for them to offend God, is to please themselves in doing those things that they know do displease God. 41. He that doth not fear continually, hath just cause to live in continual fear. 42. He that doth only profess Religion, for vain and sinful ends, will in the end be found to have been only a vain and sinful professor. 43. He that refuses to draw nigh to the God of Mercy in duty, will find that the God of Justice will draw nigh to him in vengeance and fury. For he that doth not pray to God to pardon and love him, provokes God to hate, plague, and damn him. 44. He that Rebels against the God of peace, deprives himself of that peace of God which passes all understanding. And without being wise, penitent, and Loyal, he shall never enjoy the consolations of that God, who is the God of all consolations. 45. Never envy the wicked though they be great, rich, and prosperous with a wicked envy. Had not they need to have a few Holy days here, that must never rest hereafter? Had not they need to have a few warm gleams of mirth, and pleasure while they live, that when they die must live without all possibility of dying in devouring fire and everlasting burn? 46. His condition is very fearful that never feared his condition: For their danger is certainly the greatest, that never was sensible of, nor affected with the greatness of their danger. 47. Every sincerely pious Christian find experimentally that to be most true of God which Varius said of Caesar, viz. That they who durst speak to him were ignorant of his greatness; and they who durst not speak to him, were ignorant of his goodness. He knows that the Lord is Almighty and most dreadful as well as most loving and merciful: he therefore comes into his presence and prays unto him both with faith and fear, reverence and confidence, joy and trembling. 48. He that loves God truly hates all sin implacably, because he knows that the God of love, hates all sin perfectly. 49. Jesus Christ never was nor ever will be either precious or gracious to any, but those only, to whom all things in the World in respect of Christ are vile and contemptible. The way then for Christians to be liked, and beloved of Christ, is to love and prize Christ above all things, and to strive to be like unto Christ. 50. He to whom wickedness is sweet and but like cork or feathers in this life, to him his most pleasant Sins will one day be bitter as gall, and the lightest, the least of them will then be found in finitely heavier than lead, millstones, and mountains. 51. A Saints outside is course and dark, but his inside is very rich and glorious. In the eyes of carnal men he is but like an unpolished Jewel, which to the ignorant seems no better than a despicable stone. But in the sight and account of God, he is even then both amiable, orient and precious. 'Tis better to be plain and pious, then ●gorgeous and vicious. And to be beloved and honoured of God, and hated and despised of the world, then to be beloved and honoured of the world, and hated and despised of God, who created the world. 52. He that is false and treacherous to himself, will never be true or faithful to another. He may really desire the goods of his friend, but he will never desire really his friends good. He will love a man till he needs him, but when a man hath need of his love, he will rather betray then bestead him: Only he is a good friend that is really a good Christian. For piety is the right root of Amity, and holiness is the only spring of faithfulness both to God and man. 53. Nothing can satisfy the godly desires of him that is Gracious and heavenly, but the eternal fruition of that gracious God in Heaven that gives him those godly desires. 54. 'Tis very both easy and ordinary to censure others for their ●aults. But it is very hard and rare to avoid and hate in ourselves, the faults we censure in others. 55. He that dares commit sin without all fear of damnation, but dares not profess Christ for fear of disgrace or danger, is the veriest, the maddest, the cruelest coward in the world: and yet he dares do more than a Saint, who is both bold as a Lion, and the only true valiant man, for he dares not knowingly, and willingly commit one sin for all the world. 56. He that will be of any Religion to please the Time he lives in, will live in time to be of no Religion at all. 57 He that makes no Conscience of being a dwarf, will quickly grow up to be a Giant in wickedness. For if his face be not red with blushing at his whispering provocations, he will not be ashamed, nor afraid, to die his soul scarlet with loud-crying abominations. 58. Not only those sins that are of the first or second magnitude, but even those also that are of the least size; are in their own nature both great and mortal. Jaels' nail will kill as sure as Goliahs' Sword. A little halter will strangle a Felon as well as a Cable-roap. And 'tis well known that little Boys have often let in great Thiefs to rob the house, and murder the Master. 59 His heart cannot be good who never mourned under the sense and misery of a bad, nor servently begged of God that changes the heart, to have his heart changed, and to give him the great mercy of a good heart. 60. His do are well pleasing to God, that is well-pleased with God's do. 60. He was never athirst for grace, that did not thirst for more grace than he had. 62. He that would have God to bless him daily in his calling, must both have a clear, a lawful calling to his calling, and call daily upon God to bless him, and his Labours in it. 63. He that prays to God in anger, wrath, or malice against others, provokes God to wrath and anger by his prayers. And in stead of prevailing with God for the forgiveness of his trespasses, he doth trespass yet more in ask him for givenesse, because he sins willingly, even at that very time, when he seems earnestly to beg of the Lord the pardon of his sins, and so doth not please or serve, but mock God. For the God of love and life doth infinitely hate, and will not hear those that love hatred, and live in it. But he will avenge himself severely upon all those that desire and delight to revenge themselves implacably upon others. 64. 'Tis midnight with an impenitent transgressor when he hath the brightest noontide of prosperity; And 'tis a serene, a shining Noontide with a Saint, when he is in the cloudiest midnight of adversity. 65. A Saint is a great gainer, though he lose all that he hath in the world. But a wicked man is a great loser, though he gain all that the world hath in it. 66. He is mercifully cruel to his own Soul that spares the lives of those Amalekites his Sins. But he is both cruelly merciful, and merciful without any cruelty to his soul, that kills them all without mercy. 67. He that would live when he dies, must kill (by mortification) all his deadly sins in his life. And he that would never die * Mortibus vi●imus, Senec. must die daily. 68 The sins of others will increase his sorrow, that doth not sorrow for others sins. 69. He that would be married to Jesus Christ, must get his heart divorced from an inordinate love of worldly things, because Christ Jesus will give him a Bill of Divorce that loves the things of the world inordinately. For he that makes earth his Heaven, or Paradise by suffering a sinful love thereof to enter into his Soul, his Soul shall never enter into the Paradise of Heaven. 70. He that hath a saving interest in Christ, shall be full and rich, even when he is empty, wantful, and deprived of all creature-comforts: But he that wants a saving interest in Christ, will be poor, and empty in the midst of his fullest enjoyments and greatest plenty. 71. His Soul is sick to death that neither is nor ever yet was heartsick with grief for the sins of his Life, which will be (without true repentance) the death of his Soul: nor love sick for the great and good physician of the soul Jesus Christ, who is both lovely and loving to those only that are sick of love for him. 72. His sins are most both odious and heinous that after he hath repent of them, returns again with delight to the commission of his heinous sins. Because he hath laid God in one, and put the Devil into the other Scale of the balance, and suffered the Devil to weigh down the Lord. He hath also heard God and the Devil argue and plead, and after a full hearing he doth deliberately (by wilful relapsing) decree for Satan against his Saviour. And so he doth both undervalue, dishonour and provoke God, and also repent that he did repent. God will therefore most certainly judge him for his sins without mercy that gives so sinful a judgement against the God of mercy. 73. It's reported that when Caesar saw M. Brutus come running upon him amongst those that murdered him he said, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, And thou my son! The sins of God's Children do grieve and offend Christ more than the iniquities of his Enemies. Because a contempt, or an injury from a friend doth both dishonour him more highly, and wound him more deeply than an affront, or an abuse from a professed Adversary. 74. He is a bad Magistrate that is not good for nothing. And as pious Governors do cloth a Nation with the Rob●● of Joy and gladness: So wicked Rulers do put it into Sackcloth and mourning. 75. He that undermines the Church of God, doth at once labour, sweat, and weary himself to dig a hole down to hell for his Soul to fall irrecoverably into the bottomless pit. And he that persecutes the people of God, by shedding their innocent, crying blood, pulls up a sluice to let in a crimson deluge to drown him. 76. Never did any wicked men attempt to pull down God from his Throne by setting up themselves, their lusts, interests and idols above him, or his glory, but the God of glory pulled or rather tumbled them down headlong for that wicked attempt; Either by humbling their proud, presumptuous hearts, or else by destroying their persons, or blasting their cursed designs, or (which is yet more dreadful) by damning their rebellious Souls. 'Tis then a fearful thing not to fear falling into the omnipotent Arms, and the angry hands of that terrible God, who both can and will with one blow kill and confound the offender, and with one frown, or stroke send him at once both to his Grave and H●ll. 77. A pious Christian, though he hates no man's person, is yet the worst, most inexorable, and invincible enemy of all mortal creatures to the ungodly whose works and ways his Soul doth loath and detest. For by his faithful prayers he can prevail with God, to infatuate their Counses, dispirit their stout hearts, blast their designs, whither their flourishing hopes, to break the Arm of their power, and to rescue himself, and those that fear God out of the Jaws of Enemies, dangers, and death. 'Tis therefore a stupendious astonishing madness in wicked men to hate those whom God loves, to destroy those for whose sakes themselves are preserved, to hope to build themselves houses upon earth by pulling the pillars thereof, to condemn them that shall one day be their Judges, and to plot and presume to plant themselves or their Posterities in the World by supplanting and rooting out the upright * Prov. 2. 1. who shall dwell in the Land, whereas the * Prov. 3. 33. wicked (* in whose house the curse of the Lord is) shall be cut off from the earth. † Prov. 2. 22. For if Cedars, vin●●, olive, and orange trees be cut down, than brambles, briers, and barren Figtrees will certainly, suddenly, miserably be cursed, burned, and consumed. 78. He is the worst malignant and Incendiary in a State that is a wicked man, For he not only hates goodness and good Christians, but he also both kindles the fire of God's wrath against it, and keeps it burning and flaming by casting continually the oil of sin upon it. 79. Those Governors and great ones who are so bewitched with the fading, dying, and kill glories of this World, as for the Love of them to slight Heaven, neglect the great Salvation offered them, and to reject Jesus Christ, their pomp will end in pain, their honour in Infamy, and their Glory in eternal misery. 80. He that slights, opposes, robs and wrongs the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ, God's faithful Ministers, doth dishonour, displease, and bid defiance to their Master, the Lord of Hosts. He must therefore (without repentance, restitution and submission) expect to receive neither peace, pardon, nor quarter, but death without mercy, that steals from, or fights against the God of bounty, Justice, and Mercy, and rejects both the offers, and the offerers of peace. 81. He is an intolerable Traitor in and to a Commonwealth, that hates, and persecutes the Children of God. For as it is Treason by the Laws of men, not only to murder a Prince, but also to stab or maliciously to deface his picture; So it is spiritual Rebellion too, not only to fight against God himself, but also wilfully to wound, and to destroy those that bear his Image, his holy Servants. 82. He that would have his shameful sins for ever hidden, must not be ashamed, but resolved to lay them open, and fully to discover them; For concealing reveals, but confessing covers them: And he that desires never to be accused, arraigned, or condemned for his guilt, must freely acknowledge himself to be guilty, and most worthy to be eternally condemned. An open bosom, an unbared breast is a sure shield, and Armour of proof against the deadly Arrows of the Lords most dreadful wrath. 83. He that will lose his Soul to preserve his Life, shall save neither; But he that is willing to perish to save his Soul, shall save his Soul from perishing. 84. He that is undone for Christ is truly rich and happy. But he that is rich and prosperous without Christ is really undone▪ poor, and miserable. 85. He that doth not in the time of this Life make God's glory, and the enjoyment of Heaven his chiefest ends, shall neither enjoy the God of Glory, nor the joys of Heaven, at his end. 86. He that would never want must be poor in Spirit. And he that would always rejoice, must mourn daily; for he that did never grieve shall ever lament. 87. He that is rotten at core, that hath an unsound, a● unsincere heart, will like an Apple be specked without. For a Leprous Soul will have some spot or other upon the Face of the Life; And an Hypocritical Spirit will have foul hands, which at one time or other will work Wickedness, ●lain its seeming purity, and discover its artificial, its borrowed paint, and its real deformity. 88 He that desires never to leave God, nor to be left and finally forsaken of God, must not only resolve, but seriously endeavour both to departed from evil, and to do good. For sincerity is the root of courageous constancy, but Hypocrisy is the true Mother of timorous Apostasy. And it's most certain, that he who will not leave his Rimmon, or Mammon, his sweet sin and his secret Lust to please Christ, will never lose or lay down his Relations, Lands, Liberty, or Life, to enjoy and glorify Christ. 89. He that opens the door of his heart to let in sin, or Satan, shuts it and turns the key against his Saviour and Sovereign, whose power made it, whose Love prevailed with him to let his own heart be pierced on the Cross to unlock it. If then a Sinner will not suffer the hand of mercy to unbolt it, the arm of wrath will most certainly break it to pieces. If the fire of infinite, unexpressible Love cannot melt it, the flames of endless, intolerable Anger will burn it. If the precious blood of Christ do not soften this Adamant, it will sink it to the bottom of Hell: For those whom goodness doth not win, vengeance will destroy. 90. The Life of a Saint is a public Mercy, his Death a common Calamity. The end of his days is the Autumn of all his misery, and the Spring of his endless Glory and felicity. So that what Suetonius saith of Titus Vespasia● may more, yea most truly be said of him when he is cut down with the Sith of death, viz. That he was taken away to the greater loss of Mankind then of himself. Optima Eloquentia est bona vita. He is most eloquent whose Life is most Holy and Innocent. FINIS. Soli Dea Gloria. The Table. 1 Of God, pag 1. 2 Of Jesus Christ, and a Christians Duty unto Christ, 7. 3 Of the Holy Ghost, 19 4 Of Sin and sinners, 23. 5 Of the World, and the brightest Jewel in its Crown, Sovereignty, 24. 6 Of Loyalty, and Rebellion, 42. 7 Of Riches, 46. 8 Of covetousness and covetous persons, 51. 9 Of Pleasure, 61. 10 Of Health, 65. 11 Of saving faith, and sincere Love, 67. 12 Of Repentance, 74. 13 Of Prayer, 80. 14 Of sincerity and hypocrisy together with some Characters of both sincere and Hypocritical Christians, 84. 15 Of Affliction, 92. 16 Of Patience, 102. 17 Of Baptism, 105. 18 Of the Sacrament of the Lords supper, 109. 19 Of preaching, 113. 20 Of Godly, learned, and of ungodly, unlearned, Ministers, 116. 21 Of self-calling self-making preachers, or rather Anabaptistical praters, and seducers, 124. 22 Of a good and a bad Conscience, 132. 23 Of Life, 137. 24 Of Death, 144. FINIS A little dark PICTURE of the Great, Glorious, Unparallelled Loyalty, Piety, and Policy of the Renowned Restorer of Monarchy, Liberty, Tranquillity, and Prosperity to ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, and IRELAND The Lord General MONK. THe World hath bred brave Hero's whose bright Name Darkens the Sun and fills the Trump of Fame. Whose fragrant memory is still i'●h Bloom, And ne'er shall whither till the day of Doom. Whose acts at once astonish, fire, endear All noble souls that them do know, or hear. Those are the root, and source whence that Renown Did grow, and flow, which justly doth them Crown With honour, love, and praise, whereby they all Survive with glory their own Funeral. Such virtuous great Worthies there have been: But they died childless sure; for we have seen Nothing but dwarves in this base, Iron age (Except in Treason, Avarice, and Rage, Wherein such horrid Monsters have been known As ne'er before in all the world were shown) Until our true Saint GEORGE did rise and kill That hideous viperous brood, who plotted still In their enchanted Castle to enslave, Torment and keep us till we found our grave. A dismal darkness hath this sinful Land Over spread e'er since by a cur●●, cruel hands That glorious * King Charles the first. Light was quenched, whose happy rays, While we enjoyed him turned our nights to days. That orifice at which we all have bled Almost to death (our martyred Sovereign's head) MONK now hath stopped by his pious Art, And healed with his faithful, Loyal Heart. Twelve years 've had nor day, peace, Law, nor Spring; He gives us all by bringing home our King. The City gates he broke and threw aside T'unhinge Rebellion, that great CHARLES might ride With Love and Safety, there from whence did spring His hurt, his help; loss, gain; joy, suffering. Our bane is now our balm: Such is his skill We're now preserved by that which did us kill. The bloody Sword by his just loyal vote Hath made rank poison our best antidote. Some say there is a Phoenix, but we see A Fable is become a truth in thee. Thou art the healer, honour, Atlas, love, Of three expiring Kingdoms. As above A Crown of bliss attends thee, so below Prayers, praises, thanks, which really we own▪ Thy matchless merits, we shall duly pay With zeal, and joy, until our dying day. We have felt the difference 'twixt Law, and Lust; 'Twixt cruel perjured Tyrants, and a Just, Mildred, gracious Prince, whose love, and piety Were his chief crimes. Our Faith and Loyalty To CHARLES his Son our hatred shall express Of their ingratitude, and wickedness, Who murdered him only for this one thing, That they themselves might get above the King. This is our cost and sorrow we soon saw: For neither Oaths, Religion, nor Law Can bond or stop their furious ambition, Pride, Avarice, Rebellion, or Sedition. They racked us, robbed us, hatched plots to destroy Our Naboths, their good vineyards to enjoy. Thus bolted, beaten, burdened we had spent Our days in slavery, misery, banishment, Had we not been freed and restored by thee From Tyrant's Traitors to our Liberty. When therefore (Famous MONK) thy body shall Receive a writ of ease to rest from all Those pining cares, black dangers, palsy fears, Which canker, and consume our flying years; (Mirror of men) thine Epitaph shall be Sighs, tears, and groans, not varnished poetry. Not stones but hearts shall make thy monument Which will endure till time itself be spent And thus those seeds which thou this year didst sow, Will root, live, sprout, and till the last day grow: Two harvests thou shalt reap, honour in this, And in the next World endless joy, peace, bliss. On thy rare Tomb this shall be writ. Here lies th' Elixir of all wit, The sum, the map, the Quintessence Of Prudence, Loyalty, Sapience. England's Saviour and Renown: Who gave his Sovereign his Crown, And would not snatch it as his own, Although he might have climbed the Throne. A world of wonders was this man: A Caesar, Soldier Christian: A Son of Mars, and yet a † He is an exception to that too general rule Nulla ●ides pietas que viris qui castra sequwtur. Saint; Who loved colours, but loathed paint. Rich and Righteous, good and great; The pillar of our Church and State; A scourge to Rebels, friends to those That were not the King's traitorous Foes. Most valiant, yet durst not draw His sword against King, Oaths, or Law. Known unto none, yet known by all To free three Kingdoms from their Thrall. Though others scrambled for Empire He only did t' obey aspire. fanatics he id dissipate Because both truth, and peace they hate. Lambert and's Locusts he o'erthrew, Yet did not fight that bloody crew. By stratagems he made them yield; With words, not swords he won the field, The maul of errors, Heresies (Which do bemist, and dim the eyes Of those that follow false new lights, Until they lose their Fame, Faith, Sights) He was like subtle Fabius, By wise delays he saved us. Religious pure, and lovely Face, Which Blood and Treason did disgrace, Spot, and deform, he did make fair And beautiful: For the right heir Of our late King (the best of Men) He restored to's Diadem. He wooed, agreed, and Married Great Britain to her Sacred Head, Whom fraud and Force had severed From his true Spouse and Royal Bed. This is a little: All the rest Of him by silence will be best Expressed who did far excel Whatever Wit, or words can tell. But hark! Me thinks I hear some call and say, Down with these common stones, throw them away, MONK cannot die. He therefore needs no verse T'embalm his Name, or to adorn his Hearse; Nor yet to give a Tomb a tongue to tell, Whose dust in that dark silent house doth dwell. His true Allegiance, and Piety Will make him live to all eternity. 'Tis true. I've done: But will not cease to pray, May England have a MONK until doomsday. Amen. T. ●. Upon the Happy, Safe and miraculous return of our Sacred Sovereign CHARLES II. to his Sceptre, City, and Subjects on the XXIX. day of May 1660; A short, Loyal, and Cordial Congratulatory POEM. WElcome great King of Hearts! 've had all night since we wanted thy refulgent light Who art our only Sun, plagues, curses, wars Oppression, Rapine, Ruin, Faction, Jarrs, Bonds, blood, confusion, woe's, calamities, Gaols, gibbets, axes, plunder, Heresies Have been the sad, but just effects of those Black crimes, and bloody paths, too many chose Loved, and resolved to tread: We now do see At once the want, and worth of Mornarchi●. Our Law, peace, safety, properties and all Our comforts were eclipsed by the fall Of glorious CHARLES, yea killed and buried With him for them and us who lost his head. But thy miraculous Return doth give A resurrection to them, for they live Again by thy reviving influence, Whose presence quickens them. The sight and sense Of this choice mercy unto us shall be Both cords and chains of faithfulness to thee And love; praise, thanks to our good gracious God, Who hath destroyed our Serpents, burnt his Rod. Thy safe arrival makes a joyful spring, The Heavens weep for joy to see our King. Since thou didst rise and gild our Hemisphere With thy bright beams, no ominous cloud appear. Those beasts of prey that hunted to have fed O'th' sheep and Shepherd too, are all now fled. Our day is unto them a dismal night, Their dark deeds, make them fear, hate, eat the light. Peace, plenty, gladness, triumphs do express And prove our Loyalty, our happiness: Men, earth, air, water, fire do all agree To guard, obey, feast, honour, welcome thee. Our pangs are gone: The twenty ninth of May, we'll therefore call England's happy Birthday. Thy people had hard labour, swoonings, cries, Cares, faintings, fears watered with weeping eyes, Did burden, rack, afflict them, till they saw Their Child, and Father (the true spring of Law, Justice and power) to their longing arms, Brought and delivered without blood, or harms. But now they have forgot their Throws, and sing Being safely brought to bed of a brave King. Whose virtues are too big for art, prose, verse, To limn, to hold, or fully to rehearse. Whose life's a miracle, whose patience, Is truly wonderful; whose innocence, Sufferings, sobriety, desire of peace His enemies, and comforts did increase. A King, yet without Subjects, rich, yet poor, Born to a Throne, yet cast upon the floor, By Rebels hands who threw their Sovereign down, To raise themselves and to usurp his Crown. Forced intoth' Field of war; 'mongst enemies Abroad, at home, he was; who to surprise And kill him did pray, plot, fight, pay, combine; Though by all Laws both humane and divine They were forbidden those hellish, horrid crimes Which Christians durst ne'er act in former times. The weapons which they used for their defence Being only prayers, tears, flight, obedience. Deprived he was of Friends, rest, means by those That professed Loyalty, but were deadly Foes. His guard was dangers, his associates Want, fear, distress, dishonour; his estate Was seized and divided for this end, T'increase rebellious numbers to defend Their theft, and sacrilege with Gun, and Sword, Against their Oaths, our Laws, his right, God's word. And which is more, they voted to repeal, Null and prohibit what God doth reveal To be his will, Law, and command to all: (We might nor pay, nor pray, but for his Fall) 'Twas death and treason made by them to do What Reason, Conscience, Scripture binds us to, (Thus we may see how wickedness proceeds From evil thoughts to words, from words to deeds Black as the place where all such shall remain Without repentance in horrors and pain. Firebrands, and Rebels being condemned to dwell By a just God in endless flames in hell.) But all these blows did hue, polish, and square Thee for God's Temple. Great afflictions are The road to Heaven, physic, wholesome food, Which God prescribes, and gives his for their good. Prosperity, us surfeits, crosses cure; The potion's bitter, the effect both sweet and sure, Love, power, mercy have refined thee, And brought thee out o'th' furnace for to be A praise to God, a blessing to this Land, Which was consumed by his angry hand. His dispensations are just, gracious, rare, No age, or story can with those compare, Which he hath showered on thy Royal Head, Since miracles did cease, and go to bed. On that same day where thou didst first see Light He did restore thee to thy Throne, and Right. Armies excluded, Armies brought thee in; A Rump was guilty of that odious Sin Thy sad exile; a Loyal Parliament Did call thee home from thy long banishment. The City fed those flames that did consume Our peace, the City also did perfume Their streets with loyal Fires, and put out The stinking ●aggots of the new-light Rout. Petitions moved that murder might be done On our ●ust King; Addresses begged his Son Might be restored to this benighted Isle Which hath been a dark Egypt all this while. Our crimes deprived us of our Sovereign, The sins of Rebels and their frantic Train Together with the cries of pious men, Prevailed with God to give's a King again. That King by whom all other Kings do reign, Did pilot thee over the dangerous Main. Those envious gusts which two days hindered Thy passage to's, in traitorous Lungs were bred. The Ships, the Sea, the wind that filled the sails With which, in which, o'er which with prosperous gales, Thou didst then sail, they were the Prayers, Tears And hearts of pious Subjects, whose great ●ears, Sorrows, and dangers are now vanished, And by thy happy presence banished. But terrors, anguish, hotly do pursue And sting that bloudy● painted, faithless crew, Whose consciences, and matchless Villainies Tell them their guilt, and future miseries. What's got by sin doth seldom long endure: Justice is sometimes slow, but always sure. 've seen the spring, the summer, and the fall, The birth, growth, rise, ruin, and death of all Their wicked plots; Let's therefore strive to be Such Subjects, and such Christians, that we May join Allegiance unto Piety, As Debt, and Duty to his Majesty: Since fearing God and honouring the King Will peace and happiness to England bring. And let none have so much as one good day, That will not hearty boch say, and pray, God save the KING. Amen. T. G.