A Dying Fathers Living Legacy, to his Loving SON: OR, Lively RULES from the Rule of Life, to be lived by every Mother's Child. Prov. 4.1. Hear, O ye Children, the instruction of a Father, and give ear to learn understanding. By F. S. Gent. Printed for the Author, And are to be sold by Elisha Wallis at the gilded Horse-shoe in the Old Bayley. 1660. Dear Child. I Have been at work for thee, heart and hand; it lieth upon thee as a duty now, to perfect what I have begun, to get these notions into thy heart by prayer, and let others read them in thy life by practice. The Speculative part of Religion, is not comparable to the practical. Begin in the Spirit, oh but take heed you end not in the flesh. Satan is subtle, I know his devices; the world is tempting, take heed of its flatteries; the heart is naught, beware of its deceits; Keep thy heart with all keeping, and yet do what thou canst, Corruption will break out; but let not sin have a free passage to go in and out at pleasure. Mind nothing but the one thing necessary, union with Christ, and never let it be thy aim to make thyself glorious in the world, but to glorify God in the world. They only that follow holiness in this life, shall attain to happiness in the life to come. Be as holy as ever thou canst, the more holy here, the more happy hereafter; without holiness no happiness. It is not thine but Christ's. Thou wilt find an opposition in the practice of Religion; when you think yourself surest, then suspect yourself most; though thou shouldest get a foil, yet lay not down thy weapons, and say, I will fight no more. He that continues faithful unto the death, shall receive a crown of life. Get wisdom, and get understanding; the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to departed from iniquity, that is understanding: so shalt thou crown the work, and not only rejoice the heart of thy Father on Earth, but our Father in Heaven, and Elder Brother, and Sweet Comforter. Unto whose protection I leave thee. F. S. Reader. THese sententious words or proverbial sentences, are left as a Legacy, by a dying Father, to his Son. Expect not Method, but apply thyself to meditation, which was by the Author chief intended. Youth is active. It is good for us to busy them in the best things, to write our children copies to write after, or writ over. A good life is better than good lines. Most men, especially young men, are led much by example. It is best so to walk before our children, as that they may see Christ in us, and follow him. Christ is the best copy to write after, and the best pattern to follow. Christianity is more than Christ to be known, it is the life of Christ to be followed. The Author is not willing to have his name known for reasons best known to himself, and yet both reason and Religion too put him upon the work, having his own experience to witness such beginnings successful. If through goodness it prove profitable either to thee or thine, Let God have all the glory, but let not prejudice hinder from closing with truth. What is Manna the worse for being brought to thee in an earthen vessel? The Apostle rejoiced that Christ was preached, though they that preached him, did it out of envy: Here is my rejoicing, that what I have done, was out of pure love to poor souls, and not to seek or purchase a fame among men. Help me with thy prayers, that all these truths might be put in practice, by thee and me, thine and mine; so wilt thou not only engage the Author, but many more to subscribe themselves, Thine in the Lord, F. S. A Dying Fathers Living Legacy to his loving Son. REligion is necessary, not in the way of nature to our being, but in the way Grace to our well-being. In all matters of Religion, get Jesus Christ to be thy Partner. Reason perfects us as we are men, Religion as we are Christians. With God, it is not how Rational, but Religious. Religion doth not consist in externals, but in the motion of the soul after God. God will not be content with outsides. The saving light of the Spirit is, when that which is light in the head, is heat in the heart, and light in the Conversation. Common light comes from the Spirit, but saving light is that which is with the Spirit. Do not determine thy estate by head-illumination, but by heart-illumination. Many Christians are in the dark, merely from their light. True light, where ever it is, there is a desire after more light; the light of the righteous shineth more and more. Where ever this true light is, it lays hold on Christ for life: as it leads us unto Christ by faith, so it leads us after Christ by practice. They only that live to Christ, shall find Christ to be gain to them at death, To me to live is Christ, to die is gain, Phil. 1.21. BEfore you put your hands into the world's bosom, put your heart into God's hands. As God hath bound you by precept to pray, so he hath bound himself by promise to hear. Though prayer can make no change in God, yet it may make an alteration in you. We come to learn our duty, from our request. We pray not that Gods will may be altered, but accomplished; not to alter his counsel, but his sentence. Though God be resolved to show mercy, yet he requires submission. Though duty doth not merit mercy, yet duty is God's order to mercy. Do not rest without prayer; Oh but take heed, do not rest in prayer. External duties are means to convey grace, but no arguments to prove the truth of grace. The performance of duty is no sure sign of a man's acceptation with God, but the neglect of duty is a sure sign of a man's abomination unto God. However all external duties are as nothing so long as a man is an old man, yet the nothingness of a duty that arises from the doer, must be no prejudice to God's Authority, or breach of man's duty. A new creature is not so all in all, that external duties must be neglected, seeing they are means appointed by God to make him more a new creature. YOur prayers must not be offered up as righteousness, but with righteousness. You cannot pray without a promise. God's promises are the Saints best prayers. All things promised must be prayed for under the notion of promised things. Promises are the ground of prayer, and the ground of faith in prayer. Promises are the rules of what we may pray for in faith, and faith is the ground of what we may expect with comfort. As God gives promises to ground faith, so he adds providences to build it up. As the soul lives by faith, so faith lives by promise. Promise. A Promise is a word-revelation, arising from mere mercy out of the purposes of God's heart, concerning good to fallen man in Christ Jesus. You had never known Gods purposes, but by his promises. The impulsive cause of Gods making promises, was his love, the meriting cause, Christ. They are purging, healing, raising up, only as Christ is folded up in them. The promises are the plasters upon which the blood of Christ is spread: the blood of Christ gives virtue to the promise. They are all made in Christ, and performed in Christ, purchased by his blood, and executed by his power. The Saints are therefore heirs of promise, because members of Jesus Christ. Promises have a being because of Christ. After the breach of the first Covenant, God had never declared his good will to man in a second Covenant, but for the sake of Jesus Christ, and it is by our being in him that we lay claim to those promises. All promises are made for him, and in him unto us, so far as we are incorporated into him, and are members of Jesus Christ. All the promises are yea and amen in Christ. Thy interest in one promise is worth all thy interests. God's promises which could not be too dearly bought, yet they are freely given. God's promises are free in respect of the making of them, yet they are conditional in respect of the performance of them. The promises are tendered without exception, but not without condition. Though they are made out of free mercy, yet they are performed in relation to our subservient duty. God never promised life absolutely, but upon condition. In the first Covenant, Do and live; In the second Covenant, Believe and live. Now faith is so poor a condition, as puts no worth in us to receive; and therefore justified freely of his grace. You are saved of grace, but through faith, and it is therefore of faith, that it might be of grace. If God made a promise to thee when thou wast wallowing in thy blood, then certainly God will make it good. By promising, God hath made himself a debtor to himself. God hath made promises of pardon, consider not thy own weakness so much as the strength of God's promise: look not to thy unworthiness, but upon the truth, worth, and excellency of the promise. GOds outward proceed of providence, do sometimes seem to contradict the truth of his promises. God's promises speak healing, when God's providences seem to speak trouble: yet the position holds true, that it is God's purpose, under all the pressures and troubles of his Church to deliver them. There are two things that may be written upon the Church of Christ, Holiness, and Victory. Whatsoever the difference is betwixt the enemies of the Church and the Church, Christ's party shall overcome. This should make us live by faith, and not by sense. If you look upon things necessary or contingent, in both these providence rules. There is a special providence over every hair of a child of God, all his hairs are numbered. If a hair cannot fall from the head without providence, the head shall not fall from the body without providence. Troubles are the issues of neglected providences. Labour to relieve thyself, in thy greatest straits, in Covenant-promises. Hard throws have been made advantages to the birth of sweet mercies. Though trouble may be thy condition, yet rest shall be thy portion. Though affliction may be thy exercise, yet deliverance shall be thy inheritance. providence order all actions and agents to her own end: Actions may move very strangely in our view, and yet very orderly to the greatest good, as their supernatural end. Give not way then to sinkings and despondencies of spirit in any trouble, in the lowest conditions and greatest sufferings there is yet ground of hope. When vain is the hope of man, then comes the salvation of God. When the morning is darkest, then comes the day. When troubles are at the highest, than deliverance is at the nearest. Things wonderful to us, are yet easy with God, marvellous in our eyes, and yet familiar with him. Awaken thy heart to pray. Nothing shall be too hard for him to do, whose heart God carries forth, and holds up to believe and pray unto him. Nothing hath been done without it, nothing can be done against it. Providence. GOds Providence is an act of infinite power and wisdom, whereby he preserves and governs all things in order to his glorious Mercy and Justice. God's will, being immutable in its determination, his Providence must needs be infallible in its administrations. God's Providence is not limited by means, therefore trust Providence when you see no means. Let nothing puzzle you that doth not puzzle God. When God makes use of means, it is not from the deficiency of his Power, but from the riches of his Goodness. To establish the means, and deny the providence of God, determining the end, is a part of Atheism; to establish the providence of God determining the end, and despise the means, is great profaneness. Use means, yet withal trust and attend God's providence for the obtaining of the end. True faith sets God highest in means, sees God out of means, and waits upon him in the opposition of means. Endeavours are appointed by God, not to alter his will, but perform it, and in what we obtain not our desires, we testify our obedience. Use means as if there wereno God, trust in God as if there were no means. Be not over-persuaded of particular means. The waterman thinks his boat will save him, but perhaps it is a twig. To neglect helps is to tempt God, to trust in them when we have them, is to commit Idolatry with them. WHen you come to pray, look to what God hath promised, and in prayer look into the promise. When you pray, labour to avoid two things, calling upon God in your own strength, and expecting an answer from God in your own worth. You may direct your prayer to Father, Son, and holy Spirit, but not as one separated from the other. When you go to pray, you give God a visit; frequency of worship doth maintain a respect between God and you. It is then very seasonable to attend upon, and apply ourselves to the work or duty of prayer, when the working or grace of the Holy Ghost doth beget a disposition in us to pray. When grace doth offer a seasonableness to pray, (you shall find) it affords a sufficiency of strength for prayer. Seasons of grace last not always, it is not at our command to have the Spirit of God moving in us: when you know the motions of the Spirit, act accordingly to them. Keep heavenly things as thou wouldst keep heaven itself. Strive for spiritual life; A dead man, and a dying Christian, are two sad sights. A dead prayer leaves a dead Spirit behind it. A dull Spirit is the fruit of a dead prayer. A dead heart argues a dying soul. God is coming into that soul with comfort, who is mighty in duty. Consolation and supplication go together. When we do our present duty, God will not remember our former sin. Pray unto God for a better praying heart, there will nothing prevail with God if prayer will not. The heart is then most fit to pour out a prayer to God, when it is lowest in the apprehensions of misery. When you hear David praying for mercy, it is a sign he is in misery. There is no want so great, but prayer will help. Prayer is the most efficacious Engine a man can work by, for what is in the power of God, the same is in man by prayer. Prayer is a calling upon God. Prayer. AS Christ's prayer was not, so ours must not be a bare manifestation of our minds unto God, but a holy arguing with God. No natural man can pray, he is muzzled. You may be able to word it in prayer, but you cannot have a prayer in the sight of God as well as in the sight of man without the Spirit of prayer. Do not judge of your having the Spirit of prayer, by your freedom of utterance in prayer, by your constant performance of prayer, nor by your extraordinary inlargements under prayer, but by the inward reaching of your heart after God. It is the panting soul that is the praying soul. Watch unto prayer, not only to keep off drowsiness, but to eye providence. To pray and do nothing else, is in effect to do nothing less. Let not your practice be a confutation of your prayers, lest the day of supplication prove a day of provocation. Remember this, If you regard iniquity in your heart, God will not hear your prayers. Then is a good prayer when God doth not only confirm thy hopes in prayer, but conform thy life to prayer. In duties we can do nothing with God (as they are our duties) but God will do something in us. If stolen waters be sweet to wicked men, begged meat is much more sweet to godly men. We are too ready, after we have done well, to lie down and catch cold: When we have pleased the Lord in lawful duties, to please ourselves in unlawful liberties. ASk thyself often, what sin have I left? It is not the converting, but the converted sinner that is the true penitent. All that are converted shall be saved, but all that shall be saved, are not converted. He that confesseth his sin; and turns to it again, reputes of his repentance. He that reputes provides for after repentings. God gives heaven to a man that is fit for heaven, there is no aptness in a sinner for heaven that repenteth not. Repentance. REpentance is an universal turning from all sin, even unto God. Though repentance and turning from sin doth not deserve heaven, yet it fits us for mercy and pardon. It is against the Justice of God to give pardon without repentance; though repentance doth not profit God, yet repentance pleaseth God. Such as are kind and merciful to their sins, that love not their sins should be spoken against, never repent. Health and freedom from sickness, is a great mercy, pardon of sin is a greater, for this is the ground of the other. Take heed of sinning, lest you teach God to punish you. When you see a man sinning at a high rate, do not censure him, but say, Why am I so low in grace? To delight in men's sins, is the sport of Devils; Recovery from those sins is the joy of Angels. The eye of the Lord is more upon the root of sin, than upon the act of sin. Nature makes a soul sensible of the act of sin, the Spirit of the root of sin. Nature presents to us the painfulness of sin, the Spirit the sinfulness of sin. Nature makes sensible of gross sins, the Spirit of the least sin, as well as the greatest. The Spirit teaches to measure every sin by the greatness of God, and so no sin: is little. If you would keep from the act of sin, avoid the occasion of sin. They that confess and forsake not, are only dog-sick, when they have disgorged their stomaches, they will return to their vomit. Every sin a believer commits deserves damnation, but no sin shall condemn, but the living and continuing in it. As it is not the falling into the water that drowns, but lying in it, so it is not the falling into sin that damns, but dying in it. Neither good, nor bad at the last day shall be judged by every one of his actions, but by all, not according to his steps, but according to his ways. There will be every day's pollution, let there be every day's purifying. The Devil will be at his work, be you at your work. To him that knoweth to do good, and doth it, not to him it is sin. It is not the body that sins, it is the soul that sins. A Christian should always have this care, that the iniquity of his hands may be cleansed, and the filthiness of his heart purged. The Spirit of God loves clean hands, and the holiness of God loves a pure heart. To be always suffering and never repenting, is the property of infernal spirits. Wise men that set themselves against God, they very wittily go to hell. Can you but think what bitter pains your sweet sins will cost, you would be provident, you durst not but be innocent. Sin drives a man from himself, and from God. Conversion it brings a man to himself, and unto God, when the Prodigal was come to himself, he returned to his Father. We never go below ourselves, but when we sin. We do not go below ourselves when we suffer. Holiness hath a silent excellency in it, Sin hath a secret deformity. No person in the world that sin doth so much defile, as a child of God, and no person in the world that sin doth so ill with as a child of God. It is a spotting time, let the Saints take heed. The eclipse of the Sun, is more observed than the shining of the Sun. Sin becomes no man, more ill becomes a wise man. Find out your sins, before God's judgements find you out; It is good to be beforehand with God. If you are inclined to intemperance, take heed of ill company. When drunkenness says Come, say No, I have got a new acquaintance. We must consider our own ways, before we can turn our feet to God's testimonies. The house of God is the worst place to sin in. The Lord is in the midst of his people, there must be no hypocrite there. The City where God dwells must be a holy City, and the Mountain a holy Mountain: Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord for ever. There is nothing that the Law can call sin, but the Gospel can pardon: Do your sins reach as high as Heaven, Christ is above them. Christ hath as much compassion, as thou hast iniquity: Christ is sensible of a sinner's condition, every sin-labouring soul is a welcome guest to Christ. But remember this, sin cannot be killed without the death of Christ, nor mortified without the Spirit of Christ. Conversion is your first work, than mortification. However Christ makes intercession in heaven for his own people, he doth not speak a word for the wicked. AS the thread followeth the needle, so death followeth sin. Man had never fallen into the grave, if he had not fallen into transgression. Man died, not because his nature was subject to corruption but because sin had corrupted his nature. Man was wholly a stranger to death, till acquainted with sin. There is no man that lives that shall not see death; Death will find every man, and connive at no man. The glorious end we should aim at in life, is not to study how we might enjoy the comforts of life, but how we may overcome the discouragements of death. Death is always drawing nearer and nearer, whether you improve your time, or throw away your time. Men ordinarily leave the earth, when they are most busy about it. Those must die that shall not be damned. It is a good mind in a man to be content to die, and willing to live; but to be willing to die, and content live, is the mind of a strong Christian. To labour not to die, is labour in vain, to live without fear of death, is to die living. The comforts of life are no rational comforts, till you be freed from the terrors of death. What comforts of life can be sweet, when a man is afraid of death, and uncertain of life? Seldom doth he die well, that lives ill. They are fools that give away their souls for nothing. Prevention is better than confusion. He lives twice, that bestows the fore part of his time well. That man that lives to die, shall die to live. The way to die well, is to die often; often and seriously think of dying, and then sin if thou canst. A dram of grace will be more worth to you when you come to die, than a sea of gifts. A man may live by a form, he cannot die by a form. Remember this, the bellows of death will blow the spark of sincerity into a flame, and the blaze of formality into nothing. He neither fears nor feels death that hath his hopes in heaven. Though death be terrible, yet innocency is bold. Christ by death, in death, delivers us from death. If he died that you might live with him, do not desire to live long from him. 1 If you would live well, take heed where you live, even the place of pleasure is dangerous. 2 In learning to live, study how to die; he loses all his time, that knows not how to end his time. 3 Dye you must, be active for God whilst you live. You that must die shortly had need to live strictly. The way to have great confidence when you die, is to get, and keep a good conscience whilst you live. Man's life may be very short, it cannot be long; the time of man is a long death, but it is but a short life. men's principles speak the shortness of life, but their practices speak the eternity of life. Time is but short, but eternity is long. If a wicked man would be happy, he must make time long, and eternity short. As time is the measure of his sin, so eternity is the measure of his punishment. Prepare for an enemy that is always getting ground of you; not only the approaches of death are perpetual, but insensible. Make sure of death, that you be not miserable in death; and after death. When I was a young man (saith Seneca) my care was to live well, and when age came, I studied how to die well. The right way to die well, is to live well, and the right way to live well, is to die betimes to sin, the world, and self. You must die, make sure of an interest in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ will do you good when you come to die, so will the power of godliness. AFter death comes Judgement. At that day the wicked shall know God's forbearance is no acquittance. Wicked men are surely ordained to punishment, as godly men are ordained to deliverance. Though the Saints may be losers for God's word, yet they shall lose nothing by God. It cannot be long before the world's Funerals, and the birth day of Judgement. Though we sleep in sin, judgement slumbers not. The Lord Jesus Christ he is judge, not only of the fact, but of the heart. Make the Judge your friend; Get him that is your Judge to be your Advocate. It is not the varnish of profession Christ will respect at that day, unless he see the workmanship of the Holy Ghost in the heart. The wicked may drink a sea of wrath, but they shall not sip one drop of injustice. The sinner being self-condemned, shall clear the Judge. Christ's first coming, was to unite, his second coming shall be to separate. That heart that would not break with sorrow for sin, shall now be rend thorough with despair. They that would not weep for their sins, shall now barn for their sins. To bear this will be intolerable; to avoid this will be impossible. Sinners they must come to the Bar, and they are sure to be cast at the Bar. If you have not a part in the blood of the Lamb, you shall be sure to have a part in the wrath of the Lamb. But if thou hast no sins of allowance, thou shalt have grains of allowance. One dram of grace is too good to go to hell. ALL that will expect to be saved must wait upon the foolishness of preaching. The creature as a creature is indispensibly bound to serve God. Pray privately, hear publicly. God never comes so nigh to the soul, as when he enters into the ear. It is preaching that brings hearing, and hearing that brings faith, and faith salvation. As God will be worshipped in Spirit, so in truth, not only in opposition to the Ceremonial Law, but in opposition to the hypocrisy of the heart. That man never received the word in the power of it, that never received it in the perpetuity of it. Instability is always a sure note of insincerity. God looks more at the manner of the duty, than the matter; it is not what you do, but how you do, not how much, but how well. As God will have you holy, because he is holy, so you must worship him in spirit, because he is a Spirit. What is the reason that men sleep so securely after so many Sermons? they say with Samuel, It is only man's voice. The outward teachings of man, is of no power without the inward teachings of God's Spirit. Christ revealed to us differenceth us from Pagans; Christ revealed in us severeth us from Reprobates. It is not thy hearing of man's voice, but thy subjection to God's voice, that begets thee anew to God. As he sins that gives not God the hearing, so he sins that only gives God the hearing. The word is never spoken in vain, though it may be often heard in vain, it either purifies or consumes. Gospel-ordinances (you will find) either ripen your graces, or ripen your corruptions. The word of God is an enemy to none but them that are enemies to themselves. No worship is a breach of the first Commandment; false worship is a breach of the second Commandment. Will-worship is always false worship; All things that I command you in matters of practice, and in matters of worship, that do, and no more. You must worship God with your will, oh but take heed of Will worship. When the heart goes not along with the duty, that is hypocrisy, when the heart is not stirred up in the duty to lively and vigorous acts, that is formality. As God will have the heart in prayer, so in hearing, he is a Spirit, and he will be worshipped in Truth. The Lord whose Name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Take heed of the false worship of the heart, if thou are not guilty of Idolatry, thou mayest be guilty of Hypocrisy. Take heed of the Idolatry of the heart. Be spiritual in what you do. A jealous eye is a watchful eye. When ever you come to worship, look to your thoughts. Look to your conceptions of God when you worship, how you represent God in worship. There is as much danger of imaginations within, as there is of Images without. That which makes us successeless in duty, is undue thoughts of God. Make spiritual growth the end of coming to the word. That Spirit that says, Hear my Law, says, My Son, forget not my Law. A holy life is the infusion of holy truth. Truth shall never die, who ever die or live. Charge thyself with that which is the end of the word (that is) Live well. ASk thy heart every night what hath been thy darling to day, who hath been most in thy thoughts to day. The actions of men's lives, are the ways of their thoughts. Secret thoughts will engender gross transgressions; secret sins will bring to open shame, if you do not shame yourself before God for them. Sins of act are like arrows that fly by day; Sins of thought are the pestilence that lurks in darkness. It is not what thoughts are injected into thee, but what thoughts are maintained by thee. Thoughts are sins of the highest part of a man, for they are the sins of his heart. Thoughts are the firstborn of original corruption, if it be the first born, it must needs be the strongest, as Jacob said to Reuben. A man many times doth not what he would, but he always thinks as he will. If thy heart be heavenly, thy thoughts will be holy. God thinks on you when you forget him. If God should withdraw his thoughts from us, as we do ours from him, what would become of us: Think on that. Thoughts are called the counsels of a man's heart, if thy thoughts be not counselled thoughts, such as thou dost determine to think on, they are not good thoughts. The souls part of fin, is the greatest part of sin, therefore thoughts are the greatest part of sin; yet sins in deed are in regard of progress the worse, because thoughts are included in them. This is that which undoes many a man (let it not be thy undoing) to have good thoughts of God, and good thoughts of themselves too. THere is no soul hath more high thoughts of God, than that soul that hath low thoughts of itself. The foul that lives lowest, hath the highest objects before it. The lower the soul lies, the higher the things are it aims at. The lower the ebb, the higher the tide. The lower the foundation of virtue is laid, the higher shall the roof of glory be overlaid. They that are risen with Christ, that seek the power of Christ risen, seek things above. (An humble spirit may be busied in low things, but not taken up with them. If Saints be sad, it is because they are too busy here below.) The more low we are, the more comfort we have of God: When we are nothing in our own eyes, then are we something in Gods. If thou wouldst be all in God, learn to empty thyself, not by taking notice so much of thy graces, as thy wants. The more we can empty ourselves, the more we shall be filled with God. A Christians emptiness is his fullness, and his fullness is his emptiness. God is in that man that is not in himself. If I will be any thing in myself, as of myself, I must look to be no creature of Gods making. Whatsoever a Christian is for grace or glory, it is out of himself, he hath nothing in himself, as of himself; all that he hath, he hath in Christ. We altogether shine in the beams of our husband. Fellow Christ's example, his whole life and death was an absolute denial of himself. It unburdens a man of himself, this self-denial. If a man let's go his fleshh ec shall advance his spirit. A self-seeker is a clod of earth that sucks the sap of his soul only to himself. Deny thyself wholly; if there be not thorough self-denial, ere long there will be God-denial. Whosoever is not poor in himself, he will never go our of himself, for he hath some other supply. Those that have full conceits of themselves, can never thirst after Christ. When man makes an Idol of self, he wants now and then some to come and worship him. Those that have least knowledge of themselves, are apt to dote on themselves. He that knows himself best, loves himself least. Those that have most light, have lowest thoughts; they trust not to the grace in their own hearts, but to the grace in the Covenant. Pride is a conceit of selfsufficiency. THou canst never act freely and cheerfully in God's ways, until the divine nature be communicated. Where divine power works not creatingly, it works not relievingly; hence it is that one that is not a Christian in deed, holds not out always to be a Christian in show. As vital principles, and spiritual habits are infused by God, so they own their permanency and stability to God. It is his work to perfect holiness in his fear. The judgement of sense ought to be regulated by reason, and the judgement of reason ought to be corrected by faith. Though I must not, nor cannot give a reason of every thing I believe, yet I must give a reason of my faith. There is the life of faith, the living of faith, and the liveliness of faith; the first is the habit, the second is the act, the third is the grace. Faith doth not justify as a grace in us, or as a work; not as an active condition, contributing any thing to its own worth, but as a passive condition, or qualification, whereby we receive Jesus Christ the Lord, and it is for his merits, and not for our faith, though by our faith we are justified. It is the application of Christ's righteousness, not our apprehending it. By faith alone we are justified, but the faith by which we are justified is not alone. As we cannot get it of ourselves, so we cannot act it of ourselves. Faith is not our righteousness, yet it makes the righteousness of Christ to be ours: Abraham believed, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. Christ in our nature hath fulfilled all righteousness, this God hath promised shall be ours for justification; now faith closes with this Covenant, applies this promise, and rests upon Christ for justification. Therefore of faith that it might be by grace; therefore of faith to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed. Faith is the root of a Christians conversation, and a Christians conversation is the fruit of faith. Many measure their faith by persuasion, but I had rather measure my faith by the power of mortification: so much as it sanctifies, so much it is; faith cannot conduce to the act of redemption, but faith conduces to our justification. You are to act faith upon God, that the promise may be returned. Wherefore do I believe? because God hath promised; Wherefore do I hope? because faith believes; Wherefore do I wait? because hope expects. An easy faith is always a false faith. He that never found it hard to believe, never believed. A fruitless faith is always a false faith. It is not the work faith, nor the works of faith, but faith with her proper work by which we are justified. By faith the person is justified, and by works the faith is justified. Though faith alone doth justify, yet not that faith which is alone. Christian's should not only labour to be justified by faith, but they should labour to justify their faith. Show me thy invisible faith by thy visible life. God doth justify a man by his faith, he doth not justify him for his faith. Faith is the Engine by which we do all; by which we prevail with God, and overcome the world: it must not only live in us, but we must live by it. Faith, it grows in the exercise. Do what you can for faith, though your doing will not come up to believing; and say not that you cannot believe: for if you go not thus far, to do what you can, your unbelief is not from your cannot, but from your will not. Go and put forth that faith thou art able to put forth, and in the end God will make it a spiritual believing. As the water Christ commanded to be poured out, was turned into wine by the pouring of it out: so deal with Christ Jesus for believing, and in the end God will turn thy faith, which is but water, into wine. Thou wilt believe thyself into believing. You ought to believe till you be persuaded that you do believe, for the more you do believe, the more you shall be persuaded to believe. By frequency of believing, you shall feel at your very heart that you do believe, 1 Joh. 5.10. If repentance accompany faith, it is no presumption to believe: but it is presumption to look for mercy in a way of unbelief. Beware of unbelief, for it is a shelter to sin all your life. As faith is the shield of the new man, so unbelief is the shield of the old man. As the shield of faith doth quench the fiery darts of the Devil, so unbelief doth quench the fiery darts of God. This unbelief removes all the blocks that lie in the way of sin, as belief removes all the blocks that lie in the way of holiness. Unbelief, it robs God the Father at once of all his Attributes; it robs God the Son of the Glory of his triumph over Sin, Death, and Hell; it robs God the Holy-Ghost of his seals to thy evidence of pardon. The Spirit seals to thy soul the pardon of thy sins, and unbelief comes and tears thy evidences, and breaks the seals. Labour as much for faith in the threaten, as for faith in the promises. And remember this, though other sins merit hell, yet it is this sin of unbelief only that puts you into damnation. AS great sins are not easily to be reform, so great mercies are not soon obtained. When the stream of thankfulness is not returned, the tide of mercy stops. Although God looks for nothing in us to bestow his love upon us, nor for nothing from us as the ground of the continuance of his love to us, yet we are to be highly thankful for any little the Lord gives, and to be humble, and judge ourselves worthy of nothing when the Lord denies. Mercy is not the purchase of the creature, but the gift of God. Fellow God close with your praises, that goes before you in his mercies. As praises are the seasonable fruit under mercies, so humiliation and prayers are the seasonable fruit under troubles. Sinners may speak good words of God, it is only comely for the upright to praise God. Thanksgiving, it is the proper work of Christians, and the natural work of Angels. A little makes a thankful man admire much: Oh how big are a thankful man's mercies, and how little he! Be careful for nothing, but by prayer, and supplication, make your requests known to God with thanksgiving. Days of thanksgiving and prayer are helps to the duties God requires from us, they are not our only business. When we pray and give thanks, it is not the only business of the day, but these are helps to us that we may persevere and improve our obedience. Though our goodness reaches not to God, yet it should to the Saints. If God be rich in mercy unto us, it is that we should be rich in good works unto others. It is good to receive a mercy from God, it is better to improve a mercy. Great and renewed receivings from God, should beget fresh, quick, and strong resolutions of obedience unto God. The more holy fire there is in the service, the more pleasing the service. When ever you serve God, it must be with fear; when ever you praise God, it must be with trembling. Though I cannot praise God sufficiently, yet Christ can. ALl have a call of inexcusableness, few have a call of effectualness. Grace is not denied to the wicked, but it is only given to the weary. By grace is meant the love and favour of God within himself, and is the spring and fountain of all that good which he doth give out unto his children. As grace is communicative, so it is called goodness. As it is with delight, so it is called love: as it is given out to man in state of misery, so it is called mercy: as it is dispensed freely, so it is called grace. When the Spirit works a man for salvation, then doth the Spirit pour forth those graces, and exercises those operations without which you cannot live grace. Notwithstanding Christ hath paid the price of salvation, yet you shall not be saved without the Spirits application. The Spirit is the executor of that will of which Christ is the Testator. Christ gives the Legacies, but the Spirit pays them. Christ is the Mediator of the new Covenant, and the Spirit is the Administrator of that Covenant. You can no more expect to be renewed without the Spirit, than to be saved without the Son. As you cannot be saved unredeemed, so you cannot be saved unrenewed. A graceless man shall never inherit heaven. A graceless man is a cruel man to his own soul. As sinners are given up to sin, so those that have really profited by the means of grace, are given up to grace: hence it is, that a gracious person will ask, How doth this stand with grace? Grace is either getting or losing. No man can decay in good, but by some thing that is bad. It is always some sinful evil that makes us to whither in spiritual good. It would be a wonder to see a man dying in grace, and not withal living in sin. If that which should keep down sin be kept down by sinning, how exceeding sinful mayst thou be? When we be less good, we shall always do the less good, and the more ill. You will find much ado to do a little good. Grace's are given, not only to make us good, but to make us to do good. Grace, as it is in man, is but a creature, and would fail him, for the Angels and Adam had the perfect habits of grace, and yet fell: therefore beg of God continual assistance and supply for the acting of thy grace. Grace which is meat and drink to a holy heart, is but physic to a formal soul. If thy grace be true grace, it will drive thee out of thyself, by making thee more humble, and draw thee unto Christ, by making thee more thankful. If God hath called thee to grace, be not discouraged, though thou hast never so little. Calling is from God, therefore the called should be for God. Doth God call? then all the holiness within us, is matter of humiliation to us. Not only sin, but grace should make us humble. Yoursins should make you humble, because they are your own: your grace should make you humble, because it is none of your own. It is a hard thing to get grace, and it is as hard when we have it, to get above it. Live unto grace, not thy own, but the grace of God. Grace brings glory to you, and grace requires glory from you. When all is received from the grace of God, return all back again to the glory of God. What we receive from God in a way of mercy, we must return to God in a way of duty. God returns our duties, we are to return his mercies. Our mercies are sure in God's hands. There is a time when mercy flows in, and there is a time when mercy flows off. Be it winter or summer, be it sickness or heath, be it riches or poverty, in the want of mercy as well as in the enjoyment of mercy, in all things give thanks. The condition of the Saints in this life, is like the days in the year, sometimes cloudy, and full of storms; sometimes fair, and full of comfort. The soul lives in the enjoyment of God, and dies without him: nothing can make up the loss of God. Beware of making up a lost God with other things. Aholy discontent in other things without God, is the readiest way to get God again. In the absence of God, take no delight in any thing below God, in any thing in the world. It is better to honour God in thy greatest misery, than to dishonour him in thy greatest happiness. Keep up thy heart in holy employments, trust in the Lord in times of darkness. Serve an angry God with all sincerity, as a reconciled God, when he hides his face, labour to see his heart. What ever those reasonings be that would keep thee from God, say, Get thee behind me Satan. Trusting in God in the midst of all discouragements to heaven, is a noble act of faith. Would you see God in the way of his distressing dispensations, then labour to cease from self, and walk by faith. Faith doth enable the soul to eye the present design of God under the variety of those difficulties his people are in. Faith knows how to improve past experiences in order to present help and relief. God's immutability is the foundation of the Saints safety. God to the Father by prayer, that you may go to the Son by faith. God will have his people walk before him, not by sense, but by faith. Though God sometimes withdraws from his people, yet his heart is still towards them. Though God doth withdraw from his people, yet he doth never utterly forsake them. It is a discovery of a new Covenant-frame of heart; when we can trust God in difficult, dark providences. Though sometimes God hides his face from his people, he never sets his face against them. In times of affliction, it is the property of a good child to love God most, in times of speaking peace, to fear God most, and his goodness; to fear to offend him for his goodness sake. God is angry with wicked men's sins, but he is grieved for yours. To grieve God, is more than to provoke God; therefore when thou art tempted, labour to renew those thoughts which thou hadst of thy sin at that time when thou wast suing for peace, when thou wouldst have given a world for God's favour. GOd hates and abominates the services of wicked men, as bad as their sins. Conscience sees a necessity of duty, and then starts a resolution. In thy resolution look not so much what terminates and bounds it, as what bottoms it. Wicked and ungodly men do not come to serve God, but come to serve their turns upon God. No punishment, no prayer. As God is pressed down with the sins of wicked men, so with their sacrifices. To obey is better than sacrifice, but to sacrifice, and not to obey, is worse than Witchcraft. God will damn wicked men as much for their sacrifices, as for their sins. He will sacrifice them in hell, for their sacrificing here upon earth. God doth abominate their persons, therefore he must needs abominate their prayers. In the first Covenant, the person was accepted for the works sake; in the second Covenant, the work is accepted for the persons sake. God doth not bid a man welcome for his gifts, but he bids the gifts welcome for the man. Wicked men make their sacrifices their saviours. Wicked men do as beggars do in want, give me now, and I will never ask more. Duties in themselves are good, but as they are thy duties, they are sinful. So long as our duties grow upon the bitter root of corrupt nature, they are bitter; but remove them into Christ Jesus, and they shall be sweet and acceptable. The prayer, the desire, the breath of an upright soul, is God's delight. CHrist is always readiest to help his people, when they are in most danger. Righteousness is called a Breastplate, not ours, but Christ's: the best way than is to shelter ourselves in Christ. When there is a storm abroad, you shall find them all secure that have security in Christ. Take Tower in Christ as soon as possible, there is no security in any other strength or Tower. The name of the Lord is the godly man's Tower, and the wicked man's Terror. A wicked man goes unto it as a shelter in trouble; and counts it a prison in peace. A godly man runs into it, and counts it a sweet thing to be housed in a storm. If thou be'st Christ's in a time of peace, he will be thy Tower in a time of trouble. Those that are under the government of Christ, are sure to be provided for by Christ. Unto whom Christ is a King to rule them, he is a strong tower to secure them. Christ's power is beyond the distresses of his people. Our difficult work is Christ's work. If thou wouldst not fear temporal judgements when they come, strengthen thy faith, and be much in prayer before they come. As faith gets up, so fear gets down; the strength of fear is from weakness of faith. All our spiritual swoons come from unbelief. The way for a Christian not to act his fear, is to act his faith. The creature is not much to be feared. You cannot fear man too much, but you fear God too little. The main sin that brings destruction upon men, is trusting to men, and not to God. Fear adds much to our vexation, nothing to our safety. When fear prevails, take a promise, and plead it by faith. If you go to the Father by prayer, you need not fear peace through the Son. Make the Lord of hosts your fear, and you shall have him for your sanctuary. You must sanctify God, and make him your fear and your dread, and he will sanctuary and safeguard you. In evil times God will have a special care of his own people. That man is too big for all evils, that is great in God. He that dwells in God for sanctification, shall dwell in him for preservation. He that walketh uprightly, shall dwell on high, and his place shall be in the Rock. THe times of the Church's calamities are the times of wicked men's insolences and blasphemies. When the Church suffers, there should be a veil of sorrow drawn over thy eyes. Look not what the world doth, but what God would have thee to do. Be not afraid or discouraged, though sometimes our Ark doth move upon very troublesome waters: Victory in the end shall be on the Church's side. The Church is taken for the whole number of God's Elect, effectually called into a fellowship with Christ, through sanctification and belief of the truth. What ever the difference is between the enemies of the Church and the Church, Christ's party shall overcome. On whose side dost thou think God doth engage himself. Is not the Sea able to quench a coal of fire? One acting of a grace, sometimes is sufficient to destroy an enemy, Heb. 11.33, 34. The Church of Christ in this life, is like a ship upon the Sea. The ship hath goodly sails, the Church hath admirable graces. If there be not a gale, the ship cannot steer: so notwithstanding all the Church's graces, it cannot move from faith to virtue without the fresh actings and breathe of God upon those graces. The ship is a trading vessel, and so the Church: They are the great tradesmen for heaven. The ship is the only safe place, out of the Church there is no safety. The Church of God, though it be tossed and tumbled, yet it hath an Anchor, the blood of Christ. The ship in comparison of the sea, is but a little thing; yet it is above the water: so the Church in comparison of the world, is but a handful of men; yet it hath an Ark, the Lord Jesus Christ. In every new danger, the people of God are apt to forget their former deliverance. The proper time of fear is in thy prosperity, and the time to believe, when other helps fail. There is all in God in the want of all. The life of a Christian as a Christian, is to live out of himself. As the graft of a tree lives upon the root, so a Christian by faith lives upon Christ. You must provide for a troubling time, as well as a healing time. Profane persons will make troublesome times: with such David had to deal, their words pierced nearer his heart than their swords. When a people are not healed by their troubles, they must expect to be troubled in their healings. Observe this, wheresoever there is faith, there is a quiet soul, first or last. THe top of a Christians joy is not in outward, earthly, but spiritual things. They which are most acquainted with carnal mirth, are greatest strangers to spiritual joy. Every grace, as it is the expression of God's love, so it is the spring of our joy. We may joy in these things below, but they must not be our spring and sea, the spring from which they come, and the sea to which they tend. Joy, it sets the soul upon wing for heaven: what is the nature of your joy? doth it make you fly up or fly out? Cursed is that joy that makes God sad, eat and drink, and rise up to play, and not rise up to pray and praise God, and your table will be your snare, your death. There is a desperate propension and active forwardness in the affection of joy, to run out upon such things that are sinful. Let not that be the matter of your joy, which is the fruit of your sin. Do not make that the matter of thy joy, which should be the matter of thy humiliation. The sins of others, the calamities of others. God allows us to rejoice in creature-comforts, and lawful liberties, so it be done lawfully. It is not the thing rejoiced in, but the manner of rejoicing, that makes our joy criminal and sinful. Though the Scripture allows thee to rejoice, yet it forbids sinful rejoicing. It is a sinful thing to rejoice in a creature for itself. Joy sinfully acted, is when the sweetness of the creature is not a means to lead thee unto God, but as an object to satisfy thee without God. Creatures are not given properly to be enjoyed, but to be used and directed to a further end. You are not to bond and terminate your comforts in them. You cannot joy in any thing for itself, but you make it a God Delight is a glory proper to God as God. Joy naturally centres itself in the things of this life. A natural man doth not take occasion to rejoice from the creature, but he rests his joy in the creature. Do not you overjoy in the things of this life, but joy in this; that your name is written in the book of life. Your heart cannot be overmuch taken, or best pleased with that which is not best without sin. Though outward comforts are good in themselves, and so occasions of joy, yet they are not good enough for the joy of thy heart to be taken up at, or to be taken up with. As we may quickly be more taken with these things than they are worth, so our joy cannot but exceed. Worldly comforts, since the fall suit so well with our carnal humours, that while we deal about them, we cannot but feed too hearty on them, and drink more deep of that cup than we ought. It is a lawful thing to take pleasure in lawful things, but they are made unlawful to us, when much of our time is eaten up in eating and drinking. Time is short, and time is precious, and time employed in acting our joy on creature-comforts, it is to fit us for better joys. A day of prosperity must not be a day of joy, when we have gone a whoring from God, Hos. 9.1. In regeneration and sanctification, the affection of joy is renewed. A new creature, and a new joy. It is the godly man's practice to make heavenly things his chiefest joy. Joy rectified, rejoices in nothing contrary unto God, in nothing above God, in nothing equal unto God, in all things for God. Make God, and Christ, and the Word, the centre and complacency of thy soul, the rule and reason of all thy delight in other things. In a word, delight in spiritual things first and last, only and most. ALL the Saints in this life, some way or other, they have or they shall have their afflictions. That father that doth always dandle his child upon his lap, may be a fond father, but he is but a foolish father. God in his wisdom, he will not let us be always dandled upon the lap of pleasure. God loves his children, yet he makes not wantoness of them We have a mixture of grace and sin, therefore we must have a mixture of mercy and affliction. Sorrow shall never cease to be, until sin cease to be. The least sin is a greater evil than the greatest affliction: therefore God makes use of affliction to cure his people of their sin. A wicked man is bad under affliction, a child of God never better. A rose is never so sweet as under the Still. Faith gets more by affliction, than mercy. Faith gets more love by mercy, but more strength by affliction. The less a child of God hath of affliction, the less of faith and patience. The more the Bullock is accustomed to the yoke, the more quiet. There is not so much danger of spiritual pride under afflictions, as under mercies. Affliction lays the soul low in humility, but lifts it up in heavenly mindedness. Whom have I in heaven but thee? God may condemn a man to prosperity in this life, so as that prosperity shall both increase and secure his ruin. As God sometimes scatters his blessings in wrath, so now and then he throws away his rod in wrath. God's judgements may be secret to the persons afflicted; they cannot be injurious: they come not by chance, but by special direction from God. For a man to say, it is my chance, or my hard hap, is the language of Ashdod, of a Philistine. 1 Sam. 6.9. Afflictions, as they are the candle of the Lord, whereby he searches our hearts, and makes inquiry into our lives: so they are the voice of the Lord, that we would search and try our hearts too. When God smites, he doth as it were judge thee, and those afflictions command thee to judge thyself. As the instructing voice of affliction is, that God is displeased: so the exhorting voice is, seek my face. Every lash is, seek and pray. Seek God's face more than the removal of God's judgements. He doth not lay on so much as he is able to afflict, but a the Saints are able to bear. God will either bring down the Saints afflictions to their strength, or raise up their strength to their afflictions. Now if thou be'st not the better for being the worse, thou mayest suspect thyself. Thou needest no other art of memory besides misery. If smarting here will save from smarting hereafter; refuse not the chastening of the Lord, neither be grieved at his correction. When God's hand is on thy back, let thy hand be on thy mouth. When the father hath the rod in his hands, the child falls upon his knees. Let Judah repent of the evil of her ways, and God will repent of the evil of his punishments. Providence lays the plaster, but grace makes the cure. The work of the Devil is to destroy us, the work of grace is to try us. God hath a great deal of honour, not only by the truth of grace, but by the trial of grace. Wheresoever God chastiseth, there he is, there he is in mercy. By affliction he separates the sin that he hates, from the sinner that he loves. He that continues faithful unto death, shall receive a crown of life. The ready way to the crown, is by the cross. Those that are saved souls, are most of them afflicted souls. THe glory of our hereafter glory, will be in oneness of communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit, and one another in God, who is one in all, and all in one. Death to the Saints, is a guide to convey them to happiness: to the wicked as a Jailor, to carry them to the place of execution. It is good for us to be here, saith Peter; but it is better for me to departed, saith St. Paul. Here we are like Martha, cumbered about many things; there we are like Mary, at the feet of our Saviour. If you live holily, like a sound Christian upon earth, you shall live happily, like the glorious Angels in heaven. It is the peculiar privilege of the Saints to appear in glory when Christ appears. Redemption of the soul from sin, was the end of Christ's first coming; redemption of the bodies of the Saints, is the end of Christ's second coming. The bodies of the Saints are members of Christ, joined in a mystical and perpetual union unto Christ. Union and intimate relation to Jesus Christ, as it is the ground of, so it infallibly infers communication of grace and glory from Christ. Seeing the union of the body is certain, the glory of the body is certain likewise. The bodies of the Saints are in part sanctified by Christ's first coming, and therefore shall be hereafter glorified by his second coming. Sanctification begun is a forerunner of glorification hereafter. A man that would reap glory, must sow grace. The best of a Christian is to come. The state of a Christian is nothing in real possession, to what it is in reversion. The only way for thee to make good provision for thy soul, is to be a Saint. And here is your duty. 1 To live in unity, Eph. 4.3. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace. 2 To keep the Saints company, Psal. 16.3. But to the Saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 3 To pray for the Saints, Ephes. 6.18. Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto, with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints. 4 To have the bowels of compassion towards all the Saints, Phil. 2.1, 2. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 5 To help thy brother out of sin, Gal. 6.1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the Spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 6 To provoke to goodness, Heb. 10.24. And let us consider one another to provoke to love and good works. 7 To relieve the Saints, Act. 4.34, 35. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands, or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the Apostles feet, and distribution was made to every man according as he had need. 8 To imitate the Saints, so far as you have Christ for an example, 1 Cor. 11.1. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. FINIS. Books sold by Elisha Wallis, at the gilded Horseshoe in he Old Tailor. MR. caryl his exposition on the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, twenty seaventh, twenty eighth, twenty ninth, thirty, and thirty first chapters of the book of Job, in Quarto. Mr. robinson's Christian Armour, Octo. Mr. Ellis his Pastor and the Clerk, or a debate (real) concerning Infant-Baptism, wherein, 1 the truth of the doctrine is afresh cleared, 2 the Scriptures alleged for it, vindicated, 3 the objections usual briefly answered, 4 the seeds-men of them truly ciphered, together with some retractations of the Author and repentings, in reference to the late civil and ecclesiastical changes, Octo. A vindication of the Civil Magistrates power and authority in matters of Religion, with a refutation of the toleration of all Religions among Christians, with the judgement of the reformed Churches concerning the same, Quarto. Dr. Thomas Tailors works in two volumes, in folio. First Volume. 1 An exposition on Christ's temptations. 2 On Peter's Sermon before Cornelius. 3 Circumspect walking. 4 A threefold Alphabet of rules for Christian practice. Second Volume. 1 An exposition on the 32 Psalm. 2 The parable of the sour. 3 A map of Rome. With several other Sermons. FINIS. The Dying Fathers Living Legacy.