Sermon Preached Several Times

TITLES AND TEXTS.

DAVIDS Instructer.

ALL Scripture, saith the Apostle, is divinely inspired, and is profitable to instruct. And Every word of God, saith Agur, is pure: even as pure as gold or silver that hath past seven times through the fire in the furnace.

But yet, as some gold and silver is finer than other; and some golden vessels are more useful than others are: so between Scripture and Scripture (though all pure, precious, and profitable) there is great difference: some is of greater excellency, and of more ordinary use.

And no one Book of Scripture more excellent, or of more frequent use both in public and private than this of the Psalms; wherein the holy men of God, as they pour out their souls unto him, so they portrait and paint them out unto us.

Among the rest of the Psalms, some of them there are, about which the Holy Ghosts pleasure was, that the Pen-men thereof should take more pains than usual, and more Art than ordinary should be shown, in the framing and contriving of them: And where he useth more Art, we may well expect more excellence; where they have taken most pains in teaching us, there should we use most diligence in learning that, that is taught us.

Of this kind are the 25. the 37. the 119. and this 34. Psalm; composed according to the order of the Hebrew Alphabet, the verses of them beginning, as in Acrostichall Poems, with the letters thereof in their vulgar and usual order: partly to help memory; and partly, that even Children and learners, together with their first Elements of other learning, might have an Alphabet of piety and godliness taught them.

This Psalm, one of those thus artificially framed, is a Psalm consisting partly of Celebration, of praise and thanks-giving to God; and partly of Exhortation and instruction to us.

The words propounded for the subject matter of my present discourse, are parcel of the latter part. For in the verses next before-going, the Psalmist had incited men to the fear of God: and in these words he undertaketh to teach them this Fear.

In the words there are these four parts: Invitatio, Compellatio, Exhortatio, & Pollicitatio.

1. An Invitation; Come.

2. A Compellation; Children.

3. An Exhortation; Hearken to me.

4. A Pollicitation or a promise; and therein again these four particulars:

The Agent, the Act, the Object, the Subject.

1. The Agent; King David himself, the Penman of this Psalm; I.

2. The Act; teaching or instructing: I will teach.

3. The Object, or persons to be taught; Children; whom before he called upon; You.

4. The Subject-matter of his teaching, that wherein he would instruct them; the Fear of the Lord.

And of these parts and points in order, as briefly as conveniently I may.

[Part 1] In the first place then there is prompta Invitatio, a free Invitation: affording us this Lesson, (to omit all others) that

[Doctr. 1] We had need of all invitements and incitements, enticements and allurements to goodness and godliness. Hence so many mementoes in the word of God: Remember thy Creator: and, Remember, forget not: &c. so many Caveats; Cave tibi; Take heed to thyself: and, Cavete vobis, Take ye heed to yourselves, &c. so many Invitations; Come, let us go up to God's house: and, Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord: and in this place, Come, Children; hearken to me: &c.

All needful, and all little enough:

[Reason 1] 1. In regard of our natural averseness to good things. Man by nature, saith Zophar, is like a wild Asses Colt: as an Asses foale, for rudeness; a wild Asses, for unruliness: untamed and intractable, as the wild Ass in the wilderness.

[Reason 2] 2. In regard of the difficulty of the work. The way of the wise, saith wise Solomon, is upward. We are bred in Hell: ( by Nature vessels of wrath: ) and we must climb up to Heaven: a long way and a steep. We are like those, that row against wind and tide; we strive against the stream and current of corrupt nature, of evil custom; we struggle against the strong counterblasts of bitter scoffs, and bad counsel. We have need therefore of all kind of encouragement.

[Reason 3] 3. In regard of our proneness to grow slack. And you, my brethren, saith the Apostle, be not weary of well doing. We are too prone, even the best of us, to wax weary on this way, to grow slack at this work. It is true of us, that Alphius the Usurer sometime said of his Clients, Even good Debtors will grow slack Pay-masters, if they be let alone, if they be not now and then called upon.

[Use 1] The consideration whereof may serve, First, to admonish us of our duty one to another. Let us observe either other, saith the Apostle, to whet on, or to egg on, to love and good works. So the Holy Ghost describeth the manner of God's Saints, quickening, calling on, and encouraging either other. And many people shall go, and say; Come, and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. And, Come, O ye house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. And again; The people of one City shall go to another, and say; Up, and let us pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts: and I will go myself too.

Now this, as it is the duty of all, so more specially of those that converse familiarly together; most especially of those that have care and charge of others, Ministers and Magistrates in public, Parents, Schoolmasters, and Masters of Families in private, to whet up their inferiors, (it is the term that Moses useth, and the Apostle imitateth him in) to be oft calling upon those that be under their charge, and inciting of them to those things that be good Remembering, that, as the Heathen man saith that those that correct but instruct not, are like those that snuff the light oft, but put no oil into the lamp; so those that instruct but incite not, are like those that put in oil enough, yea enough it may be to drown the light, (that which may oft soon be done,) but are not careful or mindful to raise and pull up the week, which unless it be in due time still done, the light will of it self soon decay, and wax dim, though there be no defect of liquor to feed it withal.

[Use 2] Secondly, as we must ourselves call upon others; so we must be content to be called upon by others. Inferiors especially and learners, children, servants, or others, must not think much to be frequently called upon by their Superiors: they must not account it any disgrace or disparagement unto them, that they are oft admonished, incited and called upon in this kind. I will not be negligent, saith Peter, to put you in mind of these things, though you have knowledge, though you know the truth already, and be established in it. Yea, Though I be persuaded of you, saith the Apostle Paul, that you are full of goodness, and of all knowledge, and able to admonish one another: yet I am bold by writing to put you in mind of these things. Yea, It is not tedious to me to go over the same things oft with you; and it is the safest course for you. So that even those that are best grounded, that have abundance of sound knowledge, that are full of grace and goodness, that are the greatest proficience, and forwardest Scholars in Christ's School, yet may stand oft in need of being whet up, and put on: much more such as are but rude and raw, as are but novices and dullards, as are scarce, it may be, yet of the first form in Christ's School. Tender plants and new planted have need oft to be watered; they are in danger else to windle and wither away. And God's grace and good things in us are like a dull sea-coal fire, which if it be not now and then blown or stirred up, though there be no want of Fewell, yet will of it self at length die and go out.

[Part 2] In the next place there is as prompta Invitatio, so blanda Compellatio: as a free Invitation, so a sweet and loving Compellation: Children.

The Name of Children is a most sweet Name, savouring strongly of Love; and used therefore so oft by that Disciple of Love, and of Christ's love, in that Epistle of his that breatheth nothing but Love: Little Children, let us love one another, not in word and tongue, but in deed and truth: and, Little Children, let no man deceive you: And, [Doctr. 2] Little Children, keep yourselves from Idols, &c. And it showeth what loving affection ought to be between Teacher and taught; even such as is between natural Parents and Children. That which the Apostle Paul so oft, and in so lively manner expresseth in himself, when he compareth himself, sometime to a Father; I exhorted you and besought you, as a Father his Children: sometime to a Mother; My little Children, of whom I travail again till Christ be formed in you: sometime to a Nurse; We were gentle among you, as a Nurse cherisheth her Children.

And great reason is there that so it should be:

[Reason 1] For first, God hath given the name of Parents unto them: he hath comprehended all Superiors under that head.

And surely, if other masters have the name of Father given them: as Naaman's servants give it him: School-masters much more. They are in some kind, under God, (to use the Apostles term) patres spirituum, the Fathers of men's Spirits. Our Parents are instruments under God, for the producing of our Bodies the baser part: they are instruments under him, for the framing and moulding of our minds and souls, the better and more principal part of us.

[Reason 2] Yea, as the Apostle Paul saith of the Corinthians, that he was their Father, because by his Ministry he had begotten them to God: so such School-masters as are careful and conscionable of their duty in that kind, may well say of their Scholers that they are their children in Christ, as the same Paul styleth Timothy and Titus else-where; since that many (no doubt) of them receive the first seeds and grains, and beginnings of faith and fear of God, and other saving and sanctifying grace from them.

[Reason 3] Again, this the rather is as equal, so needful; because that where no love is, there is little hope of learning. Little hope there is, that the Master should do his Scholers good, if he love not them: and as little hope is there, that the Scholers should receive good from him or profit by him, unless they love him.

[Use 1] That which serveth in the first place to admonish all Teachers and Instructors, either public or private, how they ought to be affected toward those that are committed to their charge. As one saith of a good Prince, that he hath as many Sons as he hath subjects, and is therefore as a kind and loving Father to them: so should the School-master make account that he hath in some sort, as many Children as Scholers that be under his charge; and therefore carry himself toward them in kind and loving manner, even as if he were a natural Father unto them.

Which kind and loving carriage, or Fatherly affection, yet is not so to be interpreted, as if it were utterly to exclude and cut off all just reproof and due correction, when occasions shall require it. That was the fault of Eli, and David too, though worthy men of God otherwise; and it proved a break-neck to the one, and an heart-sore to the other. The rod and correction give instruction, saith Solomon, but a child left to himself is the confusion of her that bare him. And, He that spareth the rod, hateth his Son, but he that loveth him, chasteneth him betimes. The seducer speaketh the child fair to mar him; the Father handleth him roughly to amend him: He is kind in correcting him; he were cruel in sparing him. Correction is a kind of cure. A fair hand, we say commonly, maketh a foul wound. The Surgeon searcheth the wound to the quick, that he may save the man's life: for he should endanger the one, if he dealt but superficially with the other. He is not cruel that diggeth and gasheth the flesh, to get out a sting, or a splinter, that will not out otherwise: he is cruel rather, that (out of a fond pitifulnesse) letteth it alone: Nor he cruel, that giveth correction, when it is requisite and needful, but he rather that then with holdeth it.

Reproof therefore, yea correction too, may well stand with Love. As many as I love, I rebuke, saith our Savior. And, God, saith the Apostle after Solomon, whom he loveth, he correcteth; and he scourgeth every Son that he receiveth. The Physician is troublesome to the frantic Patient, and the Father to the unruly Child; the one in binding him, the other in beating him: and yet both do what they do out of Love.

Yea severity and sharpness may in some cases well agree with it. Rebuke them sharply, saith Paul to Titus of some, that they may be found sound in the Faith. And, to use an Heathen man's comparison; A Surgeon had he two persons to cut for the stone, the one his dear Friend, the other a mere Stranger, would he be so foolish, think we, out of love and favor to his friend, as to cut him with a blunter tool or razor than he would cut the other with?

It is not meant therefore, when kind and loving carriage is required of Instructers and Teachers, that they should not therefore either correct or reprove: But that whether they teach, or instruct, or reprove, or correct, they do, according to the Apostles rule, all in Love, and in loving manner: That they strive in the first place by all mild and gentle usage to win them, and by fair words and rewards to entice and allure, as God himself is wont to deal with us. And again, when they shall be constrained to take rougher courses with them; yet that then also they temper severity with lenity, and allay the sharpness of the one with some mild dash of the other: Restore the offender, saith the Apostle, with the spirit of lenity; as the Surgeon setteth and restoreth a limb dislocated to his proper place and due site again, with as little pain, as needs must, to the party: Do as those that give Children worm-wood or aloës for the worms, they sweeten the brims of the cup with honey, or mix it with wine or milk, or some other such sweet thing to make them take it the more willingly, and give them a little sugar after to sweeten their mouths with again: or as those that give bitter pills to queesie stomached patients, they wrap them up in some conserve, or in the pap of an apple, that they may with as little offense as may be take them in, and the better keep and retain them when they be down: So order and temper their reproof and their correction, that it may appear not to proceed from spleen, or grudge, or choler, or some other such peevish and sinister humor; but that even by the very manner of it, and the affection shown in it, it may be seen to issue from a loving mind, and to aim at nothing but the well-doing of the party either corrected or reproved.

In a word, let Teachers and Instructers remember what the Heathen man truly saith, that there is no living creature more wayward naturally than Man, nor that need to be managed with more discretion and skill.

[Use 2] Secondly, let Scholers learn hence how they are to esteem of their Teachers, and how to carry themselves towards them; even to reverence them, and to affect them as Parents. I beseech you, saith the Apostle, that you would take notice of them, that take pains with you, and that admonish you; and that you would have them in singular love for their work sake.

The Heathen themselves could say, that to God, a man's Parents, and his Teachers, sufficient requital could never be made. And no marvel. For if the Teachers do as they ought, and the Scholers likewise make that use of them that they should, they may well say of them as Paul doth to Philemon, Etiam animam mihi debes, that they owe them their very souls; as having been a means even to save their souls. And how ought they to love them from the heart, whom they owe their very souls unto?

Far be it from any here then, to be like those wicked wretches, whom the Prophet inveigheth against, that hate those that reprove them: to hate their Instructors, because they are sometime also necessarily Reprovers or Correctors, to hate them for that, for which they ought rather to love them. You must not, as this our Psalmist speaketh, be as Horse or Mule that are without understanding. Horses and Mules can well endure and are wont to take notice of those that feed them, and stroke them, and make much of them; but they cannot endure those that come about them to drench them, or bleed them, or to meddle with their sores, though they intend nothing therein but their good: because they have sense, whereby they perceive some present good in the one; but they have no reason to apprehend any future good in the other. Creatures endued with reason, must be wiser than they: and love their Teacher, as well reproving and correcting, when just occasion is, as speaking fair and commending: as men were wont to esteem themselves beholden to the Surgeon, as well for opening the ulcer, and letting out the corrupt matter, as for healing up the wound again.

They must remember what the wise man saith, that he that hateth Instruction and Correction, and so he that hateth his Instructers and Correctors, is a Fool: yea, he that hateth either, shall die.

[Part 3] In the third place followeth, Seria exhortatio, a serious Exhortation: [Doctr. 3] Hearken unto me. Wherein is expressed, the principal duty of Children, Scholers and Learners, to hearken unto their Parents, Instructers and Teachers. That for which Solomon so oft calleth upon those that he dealeth with: Hear, O ye Children, the Instruction of a Father, and give ear to learn understanding: and, My Son, hearken unto my words, and incline thine ears to my sayings. And, Hear me now therefore, O Children, and hearken unto the words of my mouth, &c.

And great reason they so should.

[Reason 1] For first, it is their wisdom so to do, A wise Son, saith Solomon, will hearken to his Fathers instruction. And, He that hearkeneth to good advice is wise. No greater folly in young people, than to think themselves wise enough, able enough to advise and to guide themselves well enough, and to stand in no need of direction or advice. You know well what the famous sentence so oft cited saith: He is the best man that can of himself discern, what is fit and meet to be done. He is the next him, that can hearken to good advice given him by others: But he that neither can see what is fit of himself, nor will follow the good counsel that others shall give, such a one is as an unprofitable limb in the body, and a very burden to the earth that beareth him. Children and young people, since they cannot be in the first rank, (because age bringeth experience, and skill requireth years:) they must be content to be in the second, lest they come within compass of the third.

[Reason 2] Secondly, it is impiety in some sort to do otherwise. They will not hear thee, saith God to the Prophet: for they will not hear me. And surely the fifth Commandment, (as Philo the Jew well observeth, who therefore also maketh it a branch of the first Table, and so divideth the Tables equally, assigning five precepts to either:) it is a mixed Commandment, and differeth somewhat from the rest of those in the second Table; they consider Man as our neighbor, in nature like us; this as God's Deputy, standing in his stead, by him set over us, and in his name, and by his authority, performing offices about us. And therefore when such instruct and admonish, God doth it by them. When we hearken to them, we hearken to him in them: when we refuse to regard them, we contemn him in them. Neither can such contempt be cleared from some taint of impiety.

[Use.] Let this briefly then admonish Children, to hearken to, and take to heart the good and wholesome admonitions of their Parents, Instructers, Tutors, and Teachers, Let the Eare, saith Bernard, that was once opened to let in death and destruction, by hearkening to evil counsel, be now set wide open to let in life and Salvation, by giving ear to good advice. Let your ears with Ulysses (to deal with you out of your own learning) be close shut against the Sirens songs of such as shall by fair words and smooth language, go about to seduce you, and to with-draw you from that, wherein consisteth your special good; that shall seek to bring you out of love with your Instructers, or with those courses that are by them taken with you for your good. But let your ears be open, and your hearts pliable to attend unto them, their instructions and admonitions, and yield yourselves wholly unto them to be ruled, guided and directed by them.

There is a blessing of God promised on those that so do: a Blessing of wisdom, a Blessing of long Life. The ear, saith Solomon, that hearkeneth to the instruction of life, shall lodge among the wise. And, It is the first Commandment, saith the Apostle, in the Decalogue, that hath a special promise annexed to it; Honor thy Father and thy Mother; (and Instructers, as we heard before, are as Parents:) that it may go well with thee, and that thou mayest be long-lived.

As on the other side, there is a Curse of God denounced against those that do otherwise, that stop their ears, like the deaf adder, against good admonition, and refuse to hear the Charmers voice, charm he never so sweetly, to be ruled by their Governors, deal they never so kindly and lovingly with them. The eye that scorneth the Father, or setteth light by the Mothers admonition, let the ravens of the valley dig it out, and the young Eagles devour it. They are cursed with a witness, whom the Holy Ghost thus curseth, in such emphatical manner, in such exquisite terms, as may well make ones heart quake to hear.

Yea, to do otherwise it is made a note of a reprobate and a cast-away, of one that God is fully determined everlastingly to damn and destroy; I know, saith the Prophet to Amaziah, that God is determined to destroy thee, because thou doest thus, and wilt not hearken to mine advice. And of Eli's Sons, saith the Holy Ghost, Notwithstanding they obeyed not the voice of their Father, because the Lord was bent to slay them. We are wont to say of those that have Plague-spots, that they have God's tokens upon them, and such are seldom known to scape or recover. Of such ungracious Children we may much better say, that they have God's tokens indeed on them; and such (observe it when you will) you shall seldom see come to good.

[Part 4] In the fourth and last place cometh benigna pollicitatio, a kind pollicitation or promise.

And in it consider we, according to our former Division;

[Branch 1] First, the Agent, or person teaching, King David himself. As Solomon his Son, though a King, scorned not the title of a Preacher; so David his Father, though a worthy Prince, thought no scorn to play the part of a Schoolmaster, to be a Teacher of Children, even of petty Scholers, of little ones.

[Doctrine 4] Whence observe we, that Teaching even of Children is no base profession; it is that, that may well beseem even the greatest. Abraham, though a Prince of God, or a great Prince, yet was careful himself to teach his sons and his servants (God himself testifieth it of him, and commendeth it in him) to keep God's commandments. David, though the chief Governor of God's people, and the Head of many Heathen, yet inviteth Children here to come to him, and promiseth himself to instruct them: as also else-where, I will instruct and teach thee what way to take, I will guide thee with mine eye. And Solomon, the wisest mere man that was ever since Adam, thought it no disparagement either to his place or his person to give instructions and directions to the Children that God gave him. Yea, as our Savior saith, Behold one greater than either David or Solomon. Our Savior himself, when Children were presented unto him, and his Disciples would have kept them back from him, as supposing it too mean a business for him to be employed in, was displeased with them for so doing, and called the Children unto him. And he that was so forward to embrace them and bless them, was (no doubt of it) as ready also to teach and instruct them, so oft as opportunity was offered him.

Neither ought any to disdain or think meanly of this office. For

[Reason 1] 1. It is an office that hath been formerly performed to them by others. We are all naturally as wild trees, that by manuring and husbandry become fruitful and useful. We brought neither Grace, nor Art into the world with us. If we have ought of either, we have been taught it by others. And we should not think much to perform that office unto others, that by others hath been formerly performed unto us. Solomon thinketh no scorn to instruct his Son, because his Father instructed him in like manner before.

[Reason 2] 2. It is an office most necessary and of singular use. It is the foundation, that lieth lowest, under ground, out of sight, that though it maketh least show, yet beareth up the whole building. As Kingdoms and States consist of Cities and Towns, so these of private Families; the well-being whereof mainly dependeth upon the careful education and training up of the youth in them.

[Use 1] The consideration whereof may serve first to take away the unjust and frivolous aspersions, that either rude and ignorant, or profane and irreligious persons do usually cast upon this profession. Where it is strange to see, (and it argueth the great corruption of man's nature,) how that those Callings that God hath most graced in the Word, are commonly most disgraced and contemned in the World. How meanly do most men think of a Priest or a Pedant? as in scorn they use to term them the one and the other. And yet who come nearer to God than the Ministers of his word? Or who come nearer to Ministers than School-masters do? What is their School but a private Church? if it be ordered as it ought. If Christian Families be so, Christian Schools much more. Or what are they themselves, (if they be at least that they should be) but private Catechists, but private Preachers? But as he saith, Skill hath no foe of any, but such as are unskillful themselves: so none will think basely of so worthy and honorable a Calling, but those that are themselves either rude dolts or debauched rake-hells.

[Use 2] Secondly, it may serve to approve and commend the prudent and pious practice of those, that are careful to give encouragement to those of this profession, and to provide such means for the maintenance of them, that men of worth and good parts may be employed in such places: As also, to incite others, whom God hath blessed with means and ability, to all due care and caution in this kind, as being a business, whereupon the good both of Church and State mainly dependeth. As Solomon saith, that the Throne (or the Chair of Estate) is upheld by the Plough: so we may truly say, that both Church and State are upheld by the School. For let private Schools be neglected, whence shall the Universities be supplied? whence shall the Ministry be provided? how shall they teach others, that were themselves never taught? how shall the chief Offices be furnished with men of ability either in Church or Common-weal? Both Religion and Learning will soon die and decay, if life be not kept and maintained in the root.

And here can I not wholly pass by in silence, nor forbear to put you of this place, in mind, of those two Honorable Knights, the Grand-Father, and the Grand-Child, the one long since deceased, the other yet living; whom God hath made Instruments of a great blessing, in this kind, to this place. The former of them first founded a free School among you, for the training up of your youth in virtue, religion, and good learning, and left land and means to maintain it, with stipends (such as were in those times ordinary) for School-master and Ushier. The latter of them hath added liberally to his Grand Fathers gift, hath increased the salaries of the Teachers, and beside sundry yearly pensions to the poor both of this place, and of divers others near about you, to encourage Parents the rather to set their Children to learning, and the Children to bend their minds and endeavors thereunto, hath given a large and liberal exhibition for the maintenance of seven Scholers in one of the Universities, to be chosen successively each year from your School. The Lord reward this his bounty and liberality abundantly into the bosom of Him and His; give you grace to make a good use of it; and stir up many more whom he hath blessed with ability, to show their thankfulness in like manner to him from whom they have it, by setting apart and consecrating some part of their means, to the furtherance and advancement of religion and learning.

[Branch 2] Hitherto of the Agent: the Act followeth, and that is Teaching or Instruction: I will teach.

[Doctrine 5] Here is the School-masters work, to teach, to instruct, I will instruct thee, and teach thee, saith our Psalmist else-where. And, When I was young and tender, my Father taught me, saith Solomon. A work and duty of great necessity.

[Reason 1] For the soul of man is naturally instar tabulae abrasae, as a clean pair of tables, that have nothing at all written in them. There is no grace or goodness, learning or art naturally written in it: howsoever some grounds there are, whereby these things may through industry and God's blessing be attained.

[Reason 2] Yea in regard of grace and goodness, it is instar codicis depravati, as a book blurred and blotted, or depraved and misprinted, that must have much rased and done out, ere it can be well corrected, or that written into it, that it ought to have.

It is instar agri inculti, as an untilled ground, wherein weeds of all sorts come up of themselves naturally, but no good thing will grow without mucking and manuring, without much travel and toil: it is a mother (as he said of the Earth sometime) to the one, it is but a stepdame to the other.

[Use 1] And first, what a great mercy of God then is this to this Land, and more specially to this place and many others, that vouchsafeth such means, and stirreth up the hearts and minds of worthy men to establish such courses, whereby instruction and learning may be conveyed to us and our Children, may be wrought into us and them, that we may not be like savage people, no better than brute beasts; yea in some regard worse; since It is worse, as that ancient Father well saith, to be like unto a beast, than to be a beast indeed. O learn, if you be wise, to know your own happiness before many others, to acknowledge God's goodness to you above many others, and to show yourselves thankful both to Him and to Those, that he useth as Instruments to provide such things for you.

[Use 2] Again, let this admonish Teachers of their Duty, and incite them unto the diligent performance of it; as they bear the name, so to execute the Office; as they receive the wages, so to do the work; as they have undertaken the charge of it, so to undergo the burden of it, and discharge faithfully the trust of so great a weight, that the Parents of their Children have entrusted them withal, even the souls of those their Children, not their bodies only, as dear to them as themselves.

Otherwise, if they shall bear the name of Teachers, and not execute the Office, they shall be but Idols; or, as the Prophet saith, Idol-shepherds, so Idol-Teachers: like Idols, that have the name, but not the nature of God; that have limbs and lineaments of a man, but no action nor life; that have mouths, but speak not; hands, but feel not; feet, but stir not, &c.

If they take the wages, and do not the work, they shall be no better than Thieves. As he said sometime in Socrates, that the Monk that labored not with his hands for his living was a Thief: so the School-master that laboreth not with his tongue in instructing his Scholers; yea though he labor with his hands otherwise never so much, yet if he tend not his School, and the instruction of those under his charge in it, he is as very a Thief, as he that taketh apurse by the highway side; he might as well pick their Parents purses or pockets.

Yea, if he be wholly careless of the discharge of his duty herein, he is little better than a Murderer; he becometh guilty of soul-murder: as Bernard truly saith of Parents negligent in the education of their Children, that they are rather Paricides, than Parents. For he is a murderer, not only that knocketh a man on the head, or cutteth his throat with a knife, or runneth him thorough with a Rapier; but he also that by detention or denial of due food starveth him whom he stood bound to feed and relieve, and so suffereth him to perish through his default.

As therefore you are called Teachers, and are called to teach, so be you careful to answer your Name, to be that, that you are termed. Apply yourselves with all alacrity, sedulitie and diligence, to this necessary, to this worthy work. Neither let it discourage you, if you meet with some foolish and unthankful persons or Parents, that shall either slenderly consider your travel, or con you little thank for your labor. It is with you in this case, as with Tailors, that make garments for Children: though the Children pay them not, yet their Parents, they are sure, will. Do you your duty faithfully and constantly; and as the Prophet said of himself, Your work shall be with God, and your wages with him: He will regard and reward you, whether men do or no. For Every man shall receive his wages from him according to his work.

Nor again let it dishearten you, if you meet with some untoward ones, whom notwithstanding all your pains and toil you can do no good upon. It is the care, not the cure of them, that is required of you. Do your best endeavor, and let the event be what it will, you shall have from God, whose work you do, when you do conscionably what you do, according to your pains, not according to the issue or event of it.

[Branch 3] But who are they, that King David undertaketh to teach? And so pass we on from the Act to the Object, (the third particular in his promise;) the persons taught, You. They are the Children, that before he called upon, and invited unto him.

[Doctrine 6] Children are to be taught. Teach a Child, saith Solomon. And, When I was a Child, my Father taught me. And, I write to you, Children; saith the Apostle John, among others.

And that not without good cause. For,

[Reason 1] 1. We are then aptest to learn. The foale is easier broken and brought to a pace, that is taken while it is yet young, than that is let alone till it have more years. The plant is easily bowed and bent any way, while it is but a twig, that will sooner break than bend when it is grown a strong tree.

[Reason 2] 2. What we then learn, sticketh best by us. Any vessel will retain long the savor of that liquor, that it was seasoned first withal. And the cloth best keepeth its color, that was died in the wool, that it took in ere it came to the wheel or the woof. Teach a child, saith Solomon, in the trade of his way; and he will not depart from it when he is old.

[Reason 3] 3. We have much to go through with, and but little time to learn; a long task, and a short time. Though we set upon it while we are young, we can hardly attain to any perfection in ought ere we be old: and therefore can never begin too soon, nor soon enough neither.

[Reason 4] 4. It is a shame for an old man to be then learning his first elements, that, that every Child may and should know. Not that they should not then learn, that have not before learned. It is better to learn late than never. It is a folly for a man to refuse to learn at all, because a long time he hath not learned. And if it be a shame for a man not to have learned till then; it is much more a shame for him not to learn then neither. But the longer we defer it, the more pain it will be to us, the more shame it will be for us, not a shame, I say, so much that now we learn, as that before we have not learned.

[Reason 5] Lastly, Children if they be taught no good thing, they will of themselves learn evil things. The mind of man or child is like a restless, Mill, that cannot stand still, will never be without work. By doing nothing, saith the Heathen Man, men soon learn to do evil things. And evil weeds come up apace, and grow soon over-rank in us, if some diligent husbandry be not constantly used with us.

[Use 1] And here first Children are to be admonished to use their time and means well, that God's goodness, and the care and bounty of Friends and Parents affordeth them, & to apply themselves to their learning, while their senses are lively, their wit quick, their memory fresh and strong; take that in now that may stick by them hereafter; lay that up now that they have comfort of, and benefit by hereafter: Do as wise travellers, that have a long days journey to make, that get them up betimes, and take the day before them, and not like foolish, improvident, and unadvised persons, that with frivolous delays triflle out the time, and burn daylight. You know what is said commonly, that Time and Tide tarrieth for no man. Neither is it possible to recall any one day or hour, when it is once over, nay nor the least minute or moment of our life, when it is once past and gone. It will be too late for you to say hereafter, Oh were I as young again as once I was; or, Were I to begin again as sometime I was, and had that time and those means that then I had, or might have had, I would then do thus and thus. Prevent it now therefore, while you may, by following good counsel, and taking your learning, that now seeketh you, and offereth it self unto you, lest you mourn hereafter in your latter days; when you have spent your time and your strength in folly and vanity; and say, How have I hated instruction, and in mine heart scorned correction; and have not obeyed the voice of them that taught me, nor inclined mine ear unto them that instructed me: yea when your bones, it may be, as he speaketh in Job, are so filled with the sins of your youth, with the fruits of those loose courses that then you took, that they leave you not, till they lie down with you in the dust.

[Use 2] As also many Parents come here justly to be reproved, that are too too careless in this kind; Let their children go on without instruction and correction so long, that afterward when they would themselves, they can do no good with them; but through the just judgment of God upon them by their stubbornness and untowardness, they become such a corrosive and an heart-sore unto them, that they make them even weary of their lives, and oft bring their gray heads with excessive grief for them to the grave.

Let them alone, say they, yet a while; they are but young yet: there will be time enough to teach them, and to nurture them hereafter. Yea, but for the body of thy Child, thou wouldst be wiser and more wary. Were any limb misshapen, or did any part grow awry, thou wouldst be sure to take it betimes, while the nerves are gentle and pliable, the flesh soft and waxie, and the bones tender, and gristly, so as they may be easily wrought and molded any way. Be no less wise then for the soul of thy Child. Thou canst not begin too soon. Forestalled we are all of us; the Heathen themselves saw and said as much. We bring vice into the world with us, that must be wrought out of us: and the sooner we are dealt with, ere it take deeper root with us, or grow to stronger head in us, the more easily it will be done.

What shall we say of those, that all their whole time train them up in idleness, in nothing but vanity and naughtiness? That which proveth after the very bane and utter overthrow of them. For having been brought up to nothing, and having no kind of employment to pass their time away with, they light commonly into lewd company, whom they waste themselves and their means with, and so come at length to confusion. What shall we say, I say, of such, but what Bernard before said, that such are rather Paricides than Parents? And the blood of their Children shall be one day required at their hands, which though they perish deservedly through their own voluntary default, yet by their diligent endeavor and care might have done much better.

But what is it that David would have these little ones to learn? [Branch 4] And so come we at length to the fourth and last Branch; the Subject-Matter of his teaching; the Fear of the Lord.

[Doctrine 7] The last point then that we observe hence is, that, The Fear of God, religion, and godliness is to be taught Children, and to be learned as well of young as of old. Abraham, saith God of him, will teach his sons and his whole household, to walk in God's ways. Remember thy Creator, to wit, to fear and serve him, saith Solomon, in the days of thy youth. And, Ye Fathers, saith the Apostle Paul, bring up your Children in instruction and information of the LORD.

And great reason for Parents so to train them up, if they desire or regard their good.

[Reason 1] For 1. there is no true wisdom but in it. Timor Domini principium sapientiae: The Fear of God is the Beginning of Wisdom; saith Solomon. Yea, Timor Domini caput, or praecipuum sapientiae; The Fear of God is the chief and principal point of Wisdom; saith both David, & the same Solomon. And Job long before either of them, Timor Domini est sapientia ipsa: The Fear of God is wisdom, even wisdom it self. No true wisdom without it, no true wisdom but in it. To be taught our Children therefore, if we would have them wise, if we would not have them fools and idiots, as they must needs be without it.

[Reason 2] 2. There is no true happiness without it, no blessedness but by it. For it is that, that God's blessing is entailed unto; even all the good blessings both of this life and the next; and Blessedness it self, not temporal only, but eternal. For, Blessed is the man that feareth God: and, Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord; and, He is a blessed man that standeth always in awe. For, Godliness (that is, the Fear of God,) hath the promises both of this life, and of that that is to come. Of this life. For, There shall be no want to those that fear him: they shall lack nothing that is good for them. And of the life to come too. For, The loving kindness of the Lord is forever and ever upon them that fear him; and his bounty or mercy upon their Children's Children. And therefore no marvel if Solomon, as in the Entrance into his Proverbs he maketh the Fear of God, the Beginning of all; so in the Conclusion and shutting up of his Ecclesiastes, he maketh the same Fear of God, the very Sum and the End of all. Summa, or Finis rei. Will you hear (saith he) what is the Sum, or the End of all: Fear God, and keep his Commandments: For that is the whole duty of man: and that is the only means to make man truly happy, the main matter that Solomon there intended to teach.

[Use 1] Now this First may teach you that be Parents, Masters and Teachers, what to labor in, if you desire the true welfare and happiness of those that be under your charge, or God's blessing upon them, and your labors and endeavors with them; even to teach them the fear of God. You are not to think it enough, that you have taught them some trade, that you have given them learning, (human learning, I mean) that they may live by another day; but you must withal, or else you come far short of that you should do, teach them also to fear God, and so to serve him here, as they may live with him eternally, when they go hence.

To which purpose it is well observed, that the promise of a blessing to be continued to posterity, though made to the observance of all God's precepts, yet is more specially annexed to the second Commandment in the Decalogue, which is concerning the service and worship of God; God thereby intimating what Parents and others should principally apply themselves to have planted in their Families, if they would have God's blessing entailed upon their issue. For as for other things, even Heathen and Infidels, or mere Civil and natural men, will be ordinarily teaching and instructing their Children, to forbear and abhor lying, and stealing, and looseness of life, and surfeiting, and excess, and the like; because such things may make them unfit for common and civil society, or may be a means to waste them, and that, that they shall leave them. But God would have us (and those that be truly godly will regard it) to go a step further, and to teach them a lesson beyond all this, not civility alone, but true piety too; that we may be blessed in them, and they inherit God's blessing with us.

And surely what difference will there be between a Christian Parent and an Heathen, a Christian School-master and a Pagan; if the Parent or School-master teach his Children and Scholers, matter of civility or human learning alone? Do not Heathen even the same? As the Apostle speaketh in another case, He that provideth not for his Family, is worse than an Infidel: So here, that Parent that bringeth up his Child idly, is worse than many an Infidel: he that traineth him up in some worldly trade only is no better than they. That School-master that teacheth them not at all that be committed unto him, is worse than many an Infidel; he that giveth them human learning only, is little better than they. That Parent or Teacher that doth not teach them Civility, comes far short of many Heathen ones; he that doth teach Civility, and not Piety withal, goeth no further than they have gone.

[Use 2] Lastly, Children also must learn to fear and to serve God. If your Governors must teach you it, then questionless you must learn it. Remember thy Creator, saith Solomon, in the days of thy youth. And, Whereby shall a boy, or a Child, saith David, make his path pure, but by taking heed to it according to God's word?

It is an idle conceit of many, that Religion and Godliness is not for Children, that such things concern them not. There is no age freed from it. And therefore John writeth unto, and directeth, what he writeth, unto all, not to old men, and young men, strong grown men only, but to Children and little ones also. And surely most equal it is, that as the first-fruits of other things, so the first-fruits of our years should go also to God.

It is but a Devillish Proverb, A young Saint, and an old Devil. The Holy Ghost by Solomon assureth us the contrary: Teach a Child, saith he, in the trade of his way, and he will not depart from it, when he is old. It is true indeed, that those that have made most show of piety, when they fall away again, prove usually most profane. But where it hath once truly taken root in the heart, there it will continue constantly even to all eternity, and never die or decay again.

Let this therefore, good Children, be your principal care and study: (For what shall it avail you to be cunning in Tully, Virgil, Homer, and other profane Writers, if you be unskillful in God's book? to have learned Greek and Latin, if you learn not withal the language of Canaan? to have your speech agreeable to the rules of Priscian or Lily, if your lives and courses be not consonant to the rules and laws of Christianity? to have knowledge of the Creatures, when you are ignorant of the Creator? to have learned that whereby you may live a while here, and neglect that whereby you may live eternally hereafter?) Learn to fear God, to serve God; and then God will bless you. For He will bless those that fear him, be they great or small. Yea he will take charge of you, and provide for you, if your Parents be taken from you. Though my Father and Mother, saith David, should leave me, yet would God take me up. He will be a Father unto you: he will see you shall not want. If your Parents have wrought the Fear of God into you; they shall be sure to leave God's blessing to you; they may boldly bequeath it you; and you shall be sure to partake with them in it.

To end where we began; it is the commendation of Timothy, and of his Parents withal, that he had known the holy Scriptures from a Child; and had been even nursed up in the words of faith and good doctrine; sucking piety and godliness in, with his Mothers milk, and beginning to be acquainted with it even at the breast. Let the like course be taken of, and with others, and it will make them prove in time also like Timothy, wise to salvation, and enabled to every good work.

THE CHRISTIAN MANS CARE.

IT is the wonted manner of Physicians, when blood issueth out immoderately one way, to open a vein elsewhere, and so by revulsion, as they term it, to stay it, by diverting the course and current of it another way: The like course doth our Savior Christ take in this place. For observing the minds and hearts, the thoughts and cares of most men, to be wholly addicted unto, and carried after the things of this world, he endeavoreth in this place to withdraw them there-from, and so to cure them of this running disease, by diverting and turning the tide and stream of them another way. And as the Apostle would have us turn all our worldly grief into godly grief, into sorrow for our sins; and our Savior else-where, all our worldly fear into godly fear, into fear of offending and displeasing God Almighty; so here he willeth us to turn all our worldly care into godly care, our care for this life, and the things of this life, into care for the things of another, of a better life.

[Branch 1] Seek first the Kingdom of God, and his Righteousness.

Now because many doubts and distrustful thoughts might hereupon arise in weak or worldly men's minds, how they should be provided for, and furnished with meat, drink, and apparel, and other necessaries of this life; that they may beg or starve, if they look not after the world: Our Savior for the further strengthening of their faith herein, and better encouragement hereunto, assureth them that upon their due and diligent pursuit of the one, God himself will be mindful of them, to supply them with the other; these things that they now thirst after, and take so much thought for, shall upon their so doing, without their further care be cast in upon them, and added as an overplus or an advantage thereunto.

[Branch 2] And all these things shall be added unto you.

So that the words, you see, divide themselves into two General Parts;

[Part 2] An Exhortation,

[Part 1] And a Motive to induce thereunto.

[Part 2] But for further light and help we may subdivide them into these [Members 4] four Particulars;

[Member 1] 1. An Act, what we must do, Seek:

[Member 2] 2. The Object of this Act, what it is that we must seek, God's Kingdom and his righteousness:

[Member 3] 3. The Order and Manner, how and when these things must be sought, in the First place:

[Member 4] 4. The Benefit that thereby will accrue unto us, And all these things shall be added unto you.

To begin with the First, Seek.

Spiritual things must be sought.

Seek the things that be above, saith the Apostle Paul. And, To [Member 1] those that by continuance in well doing seek glory, and honor, and immortality, saith the same Apostle. And, The Kingdom of Heaven is like [Observat. 1] a Merchant that seeketh precious Pearls, saith our Savior.

Sought thus they must be in two respects,

In regard of the Difficultie,

And in regard of the Dignity of them.

First in regard of the Difficultie of obtaining them: because Without [Respect 1] seeking they will not be had.

[Reason 1] 1. Things must be sought, that cannot easily be compassed; such all things of worth and weight are ordinarily, and such also these are. They are compared to a Kingdom both here, and oft else-where: And a Kingdom, we know, is not easily conquered: a Crown is not ordinarily compassed with ease. It is not won commonly without battle; nor bought but with blood. They are compared to treasure, and matter of gain. And worldly Wealth, we well know, (and the heavenly much more) will not be gotten but with labor and travel.

[Reason 2] 2. Things must be sought that are not natural, that come not by kind. So Arts and Sciences, (because no man is borne an Artist ) must by study and industry be attained. And much more then this Art of Arts; this Art of reigning; this Art of living well and happily, yea of living everlastingly, will not without much study and industry be learned: especially lighting upon such blocks, as we all are naturally, being borne stark idiots, and of ourselves wholly uncapable of ought in it.

3. Things must be sought, that are not everywhere to be had, as foreign commodities that must be far fetched. But such is the Righteousness spoken of in this place. It is a simple that every soil will not bear: a rare drugge that every country or climate will not afford It grew once in Paradise. But upon the fall of our first Parents, it left this world; and it is not now to be found here on earth, in the land of the living. It must be fetched again, as ( they say) fire was by Prometheus from heaven. Every good giving, and every perfect gift, saith S. James, cometh from above.

[Reason 4] 4. Things lost must be sought ere they can be again found. So our Savior saith, he came to seek what was lost. And the Widow in the Parable, by seeking found her lost testor. Such are these, we had them once, but we have now lost them. Our first Parents were borne, as I may so say, with this royal robe; they were created with this imperial Crown. But the Devil stripped them of it; he cheated and coosened them of this Crown, as we use to do Children, with the Apple, or what ever fruit it were, that he tendered unto Eve. So they lost it: and their posterity must recover it, ere they can enjoy it; they must win this Crown again, before they may wear it.

[Respect. 2] Thus you see then that these things must be sought in regard of the hardness and difficulty, because otherwise they cannot be had.

Now they must again be sought in regard of the dignity of them. Which worth and dignity of them appeareth in the next Point.

[Uses 2] But before we pass to that, the Use of this in a word.

[Use 1] And the First use hereof may be for Confutation, to control the vain conceits of those that think that these things will come without seeking; that hope to have them though they never once look after them, or the means whereby they may be attained; that make account that heaven and happiness will drop into their mouths, if they do but gape when they lie a dying, and say, Lord have mercy upon me, or, Lord help me to Heaven. It were to little purpose for our Savior to incite us here to seek thus after them, if without such seeking they might be had. No, If thou seek for it, saith Solomon, as for silver, and search for it, as for treasure, &c. And God, saith our Savior, will have us ask that we may have, and seek that we may find, and knock that it may be opened unto us. And as he addeth there, that He that seeketh findeth: so certain it is, that he that seeketh not, is never like to find ought.

[Use 2] Another Use hereof may be for Conviction, to convince many not to have what they profess and pretend to have. For how many pretend title to, and claim interest in this Kingdom, that never took pains or labor about the compassing of it? How many profess themselves to be possessed of the Righteousness here spoken of, that never travelled or labored in the searching out of it, or in the seeking after it?

He would be deemed a most vain man, that would boast and bear men in hand that he had been at the East-Indies, conquered a great part of the Country, and brought away much treasure and rich commodities from thence, who yet had never crossed the seas, or set foot once on ship-board, or come near the sea side. And no less vain are they, that would have men believe them, that they have made conquest of the Spiritual Canaan, and possessed themselves of much of the wealth and treasure of it; when as they never yet stirred once out of the mystical Egypt, never so much as inquired the way to it, much less ever travelled toward it. He would be deemed most ridiculous, that would profess to have rare skill in the Mathematickes, or some other abstruse Science, when he had never spent day or hour in the study thereof. And no less ridiculous are they that will seem to have gotten much skill in this spiritual King-craft, (if I may so term it) and yet never beat their heads, or busied their brains about it; never studied the Gospel of this Kingdom, the only Book out of which it may be learned. Yea in this regard is this Spiritual Treasure rather like learning than wealth; in that worldly wealth and Honors may be had without labor or study by the donation of others, or by succession and descent; this, not so; each one must seek it for himself, and must seek and labor in it himself, or else the seeking of others, and their endeavor for him, will stand him in little stead.

It is a pithy speech, indeed, that Bernard hath, and in his sense not unsound. Speaking of those words of the Prophet, The Lord is good to him that trusteth on him, and to the soul that seeketh him; If God be so good, saith he, to him that seeketh him, what will he be to him when he findeth him? But a strange matter it is; That no man can seek God before he have found him; nor can a man linne seeking of him, when he hath once found him. God will be sought, that he may be found of us; and he will be found, that he may further be sought of us. Men cannot seek him, saith he, until they have found him: and certain it is that they have not yet found him, that never sought him, or that do not still constantly and continually seek him.

Yet for the better explaining of Bernard's meaning in the words before recited, and the assoiling of some scruple that thence might arise, as also for the reconciling of some speeches of our Savior, that may seem the one to cross the other: we must understand, that there is never any seeking on our part, before some proffer on God's part: for man can by no means prevent God's work. Now to pass by those common lights and helps of nature by God generally afforded unto all, of which the Apostle Paul to the Athenians, and the Lycaonians in the Acts; because they never prove effectual in this kind to any purpose ordinarily in any: and to confine ourselves to those aids that he offereth and affordeth usually in his Church; which alone in ordinary course are effectual to this end: There is as a twofold vocation; so a twofold disquisition: As a twofold vocation on God's part: an external vocation, in the offer of the means, which doth not always take effect; of which our Savior, Many are called, but few chosen: and an internal vocation, in the blessing accompanying those means, which cannot be without effect; of which the Apostle, Those that he calleth, he justifieth; and those that he justifieth, he glorifieth. So there is a twofold disquisition or seeking on our part; an outward seeking (if I may so term it) in the use of the means, the study of them, and pains taking about them, which yet is not always effectual: For, They shall go to seek the Lord with their sacrifices; but they shall not find him, saith the Prophet: And Many shall seek to enter, but shall not be able, saith our Savior. The other inward, when those means by the gracious assistance of God's Spirit, have wrought thoroughly upon the heart: of which the Psalmist, Blessed are they, that seek him with their whole heart: and God by the Prophet, They shall seek me, and find me, because they shall seek me with all their heart. And this is that seeking that Bernard speaketh of; which is ever effectual; and of which our Savior therefore, Whosoever seeketh findeth. For none so seek but such as by effectual vocation are found of God before: none so seek, but such as by effectual conversion (the inseparable effect and fruit of such vocation ) have returned unto God, and so found him in part already. But as none are called ordinarily in the latter sort, but those that are called first in the former: so none seek ordinarily in this latter sort, but those that have diligently sought first in the former: which seeking our Savior therefore inciteth hereunto, and by which we may hope to attain to the latter, if we continue constant therein, through God's blessing thereupon. But without it there is no hope ever to attain to it, or to find that, that in some sort may be sought and not found, but cannot be found unless it be sought; and when it is once found, is so far from causing men to give over their seeking, that it maketh them, incited by that sweetness that they find in it in part found, seek more diligently now than ever before.

[Question.] Without seeking then, these things are not to be expected. But are they worth the seeking? may some man say. There are indeed some toilsome toys, hard to come by, but of no use or worth when a man hath them: like an Olive, or a Date-stone, hard to crack the one, and to cleave the other, but nothing or nothing worth ought, when it is cracked or cloven, within either: And the very wealth, yea and the learning too of many consisteth much in such.

[Answer.] But these are not so: The things here propounded as they are hard and difficult, so they are singularly excellent. And therefore [Respect 2] as they must be sought ere they can be had in regard of their difficulty; so they may well be sought that they may be had, in regard of the dignity, the worth, the excellency of them; yea in regard of the use too, and the necessity of them.

[Member 2] For first, here is a Crown, a Kingdom, the highest pitch of ambitious men's aims. [Object.] If for anything a man should break his faith, it should [Branch 1] be for a Crown, for a Kingdom; saith one. And the Devil hoped, if by any means, by the proffer of a Kingdom, to draw our Savior to his impious and devilish desires. If such reckoning then be made of a corruptible Crown, of an earthly Kingdom, the Kingdom of men; that which when it hath been long a getting, may be lost and gone again the very next day, yea may be overturned in an hour: what account should be made of an incorruptible Crown, of a Crown that cannot be lost, of an heavenly Kingdom, the Kingdom of God; of a Kingdom, saith the Apostle, that cannot be shaken, of a Throne that standeth firm and immovable forever?

[Branch 2] Secondly, here is Righteousness, a principal part of God's Image, wherein Man at first was made: that whereby man excelleth the beasts; and that maketh him like God; yea without which man is not only no better, but far worse than a beast; and whereby men do as far excel men, as men themselves do beasts. For a man endued with reason, without this righteousness, that is, without religion, is (not only as bad as, but) far worse than any beast. And Religion maketh some men excel other some that want it, as much as reason maketh them excel brute beasts.

It was the saying of an Heathen Man, that Moral virtue was so beautiful, that if it could be seen with bodily eyes, it would make men to be wondrously enamored with it. And yet was that, saith Lactantius, but a bare shadow of the Righteousness here spoken of. But if the shadow be so excellent, what is the substance? if the Picture be so beautiful, what is the Person it self, which the Picture cometh so far short of? If they made such account of their glassie bugle, saith Jerome after Tertullian, how ought this rich and precious Pearl of ours to be esteemed of? This to that is as Gold to Brasse, saith Bernard; and a little of the palest and coarsest Gold is far better than much of the finest and brightest Brasse.

But let us consider them a little severally.

[Branch 1] In the first place then, here is

[Observat. 2] A Kingdom propounded to all Christ's followers and favorites.

Seek God's Kingdom, saith our Savior.

[Points 3] Concerning which, it shall not be amiss to inquire;

• 1. What Kingdom this is;
• 2. Wherein it consisteth;
• 3. Why it is so termed.

[Point 1] The Kingdom then here spoken of, is not so much the Kingdom of God over us, as the Kingdom of God in us: not the Kingdom whereby he reigneth over us; (and yet it is no small privilege and preeminence to be subject and servant to so puissant a Sovereign; if they were counted happy that were in Solomon's service, then are they much more blessed that dwell in God's house and court, that have dependence upon him:) but the Kingdom whereby he reigneth in us, and wherein we reign with him: It is your Fathers will, saith our Savior, to give you a Kingdom. And, He hath made us Kings and Priests, and we shall reign with him forever. And, To him that overcometh I will give to sit on my Throne, as I overcame, and sit on my Fathers Throne.

[Point 2] Now of this Kingdom there are two degrees.

[Degrees 2] There is first a Kingdom of Grace; wherein we reign here in grace by Christ, whereby we have power here;

[Degree 1] 1. To quell, conquer, and over-come our natural corruptions, [Branch 1] our lusts and concupiscences within us, our outrageous passions, our unruly and inordinate affections, wherewith worldly men are led captive, enslaved and enthralled, and which before our conversion bare sway, and ruled in and over us also. It is a point of the highest command, saith the Heathen man, for a man to have command of himself. He is a King that dreads naught; he is a King that covets and desires nothing. And, It is a wondrous great Kingdom for a man to be able to contemn a Crown, to set light by a Kingdom, as Moses did, that preferred afflictions with God's people before it: to tread, not the Earth only, but the very Moon too, and all sublunarie things, as dross and Trash under his feet.

[Branch 2] 2. To prevail against, and triumph over all the enemies and adversaries of our salvation without us, and all such outward evils as they are able to raise up against us. To which purpose it is that the Apostle having spoken before of persecutions, the sword, famine, and nakedness; In all these things, saith he, we are more than Conquerors, (What is that? even Triumphers.) through him that hath loved us. For, God maketh us always to triumph through Christ. The very Cross of Christ, saith one, was Christ's Charet of Triumph. And the very same is the Cross even to this day to all Christians; it is their Charet, their Chair of estate. He is a valiant Champion indeed, saith Ignatius, who though he be beaten, and receive many blows, yet will not give over till he have vanquished his adversary. They overcame him, saith the Holy Ghost, that warred upon them, and overcame them, by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the Testimony, and by not thinking much to lay down their lives unto death; by setting light (as the Apostle of himself) by their lives. The Spirit of God may seem to contradict himself when he saith in the one place, He made war upon the Saints and overcame them; and in the other again, They conquered and overcame him. But the one is spoken according to human conceit, the other according to the truth of the thing. And certain it is, that as God's Children are never better delivered out of their troubles, than when they seem not to be delivered at all, when they are delivered out of them by death: So they never more prevail against, and triumph over their adversaries, than when those their adversaries outwardly seem most to prevail against, and to triumph over them.

[Degree 2] But because this their Majesty is most inward, and the world cannot so well see it: there is secondly therefore a Kingdom of Glory, whereby those that reign now in Grace by Christ, shall one day reign in Glory with Christ. For, our life is now hidden with Christ in God; saith the Apostle: But when Christ, who is our Life shall appear, then shall we also appear in glory with him. And, We shall at his appearing become like unto him, because we shall see him as he is. As We are now glorified in him, so he shall then be glorified in us; what time we shall hear from him that blessed and joyful sound, Come and receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.

[Point 3] Now further this Kingdom is called the Kingdom of God;

[Reasons 4] [Reason 1] 1. Because he hath prepared it;

[Reason 2] 2. Because he conferreth and bestoweth it;

[Reason 3] 3. Because of and under him we hold it;

[Reason 4] 4. Because with him we reign in it; for from him we receive it, and together with him we reign in it.

[Use 4] Is it a Crown and a Kingdom then, and such a Crown and a Kingdom, that our Savior here maketh offer of?

[Use 1] This serveth first, as to discover, so to check and control the base-mindedness of most men in the World: Who, as the Israelites preferred the Leekes and Onions of Egypt, before the bread of Angels, the food that came down from heaven; so prefer paltry Peables before these precious Pearls; thick-clay, as the Prophet speaketh, before this pure Gold; the worlds counterfeit coin, before this true treasure; the base and slavish service of sin and Satan, before the Crown and the Kingdom that our Savior here maketh offer of: that choose rather, with Issakar, (dull asses indeed) to couch themselves quietly between two packs, and bow their shoulders down to bear any such (even unsufferable and unsupportable) burdens as the World is wont to impose on those that are slaves and drudges to it; than to rouse up their spirits, that lie groveling on the ground, seek to shake off the yoke, and free themselves from this thralldom, and strive to get command of him, that now keepeth them as captives: that are content to serve the Devil rather, and their, nay his, brutish lusts, ( the baddest and basest service that can be,) than to reign with Christ, or to serve him in a free and honorable service, whose service is true freedom, and to serve him is to reign with him, who maketh all his servants Captains, Commanders and Kings.

[Use 2] Again, it serveth to discover and convince many, not to be that indeed, which they profess themselves to be, not to be Christians indeed and truth, though they bear the name and title of such. For Christianity is a Kingdom. It not freeth men only from the thralldom of Sin and Satan; ( they are free indeed that Christ maketh free; ) but it maketh them Kings also to rule and sway over such as before they were enthralled and enslaved unto. Whereas many millions of those that profess themselves to be Christians, remain still Satan's vassals, slaves some to their filthy lusts, some to their muck and their money, some to their pride and ambition, some to their furious affection, some to one corruption, and some to another. Yea as one saith of Rome when she was in her Pride, that she conquered other Countries abroad, but was vanquished with her own Vices at home: and another of the Persian Kings, that they commanded the whole World, but their Wives or Concubines commanded them. And Cato of the Romans; All men, saith he, but we, rule their wives; We rule all men; and our wives rule us. And the Orator of Verres, that he governed the Province, and a base strumpet him. And Themistocles of himself, and the Athenians, That the Athenians ruled all Greece, he the Athenians, his Mother him, and his Son his Mother: So many in this kind, they are Masters of others, and yet servants themselves; command some, but are again commanded by others; have as many Lord's as lusts, that bear rule and sway in them; For by whom a man is overcome, his bondslave he is, saith S. Peter: And, His servant he is, whom he yieldeth obedience unto; saith S. Paul: And, who so committeth sin, is the servant of sin, saith our Savior. As long therefore as thou hast a Master, yea many Masters, within thee, thou art a slave to thy corruptions, they rule and sway thee as they list, they wind and turn thee which way they will, like an artificial motion that goeth with a screw, and stirreth as that writhes it; so long as thou reignest not over them, but they reign in and over thee, and thou art ruled and swayed by them, so long thou art no Christian, whatsoever thou mayest be counted or called; For, Christianity is a Kingdom; and every Christian is not a Free-man only, but in this kind even a King too.

[Use 3] But are they so indeed? And are all Christians called to a Crown, to a Kingdom? Then let them learn hence how charily and warily it behooveth Christian men to walk of all others.

[Reason 1] For first, The Sun may go unseen as soon as Kings may. They are in the eye of the world, and all men's eyes are on them. And, You are the light of the World, saith our Savior, not to us Ministers alone, but to all Christians in general: Ye are as a City seated on an hill, that cannot be hid.

[Reason 2] Again, the greatest states afford least liberty. Many things may well beseem mean men, that will in no wise become great ones. It stood not with Themistocles his state to stoop down to take up of the spoils, that the enemy had thrown from them in flight; but, Take up of them, if thou wilt, saith he to one of his followers; thou mayest well enough; for thou art not Themistocles; thou art not as I am: And many things may well beseem a worldly man, as to be greedy of the world, and to mind earthly things, which will in no wise become a Christian.

[Reason 3] Besides that, the greater and higher the person is that offendeth, the more heinous and conspicuous is his offense. Any spot is soon spied upon white apparel; and the least stain doth evil upon a royal roabe. A small defect in a Christian is more, than a greater matter in a mere Worldling. And therefore are such worse, saith Salvian, though they be no worse, than others, because they ought to be better.

[Use 4] Lastly, is it no less matter than a Kingdom, that we are here invited unto? This may serve to incite us, if there be any mettle in us, to the diligent and industrious seeking after it. Who would not put hard for it, to win a Crown, to gain a Kingdom? Here is fit matter for our ambitious thoughts and desires to be working upon with warrant. For, as Augustine observeth, that there is a kind of lawful and religious Usury, that the Word of God alloweth; He that showeth mercy to the poor, lendeth on Usury to the Lord, and it shall with large interest be repaid him. And there is a kind of spiritual Covetousness, that the Spirit of God approveth of; when men are greedy of Grace, they can never have enough of it; Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness. So there is a kind of holy Ambition, that our Savior Christ not alloweth only, but inciteth also, and exhorteth us hereunto. Affect, saith the Apostle, the best, the chiefest things. And, Let even a Kingdom at least, a Crown, and no less, saith our Savior, be your aim. It is enough for earthly Princes, their followers and favorites, if they can attain to some Titles of inferior Honor, to be Dukes and Marquesses, or the like. But if they begin once, with Seianus, to have an eye or aim at a Crown, that will in no wise be endured in them. But it is not some inferior Honor, some petty place in a kingdom, but the Crown and Kingdom it self, that our Savior Christ here would have us shoot at, and seek after. And who would not seek after a kingdom, if he had any hope to attain it? We see upon what uncertain hopes ambitious persons in such cases lay all at the stake, and hazard loss, not of living only, but of life. And certainly our Savior would never encite us to seek after it, if it were not to be had. Yea he giveth us assurance, that if we seek seriously, and so as we should, we shall find it. For Everyone, saith he, that so seeketh, findeth: he is as sure to find, as if he had found already. One siphorus sought me diligently, saith the Apostle, and he found me: And so, I love them that love me, saith the Wisdom of God that hath the disposing of this Crown, of this Kingdom, and all those that seek me early, shall be sure to find me. The Kingdoms of this World, as the Wealth of this World, may be sought, and not found; this Kingdom we shall not miss of, if we seek it as we should. He that sincerely desireth it, hath in part attained it already.

[Objection.] But a Crown, a Kingdom? may some say. What man is there that will none of it? What need any man be incited or exhorted to accept of it? Who would not have heaven and happiness? Who would not reign in heaven eternally with God and Christ? Unless it be some wretched and accursed Atheists, that think there is no such thing to be had.

Yea but there is somewhat more than so in it. We must begin to reign here, if we mean to reign there. We must partake with Christ here in the first-fruits of Grace, if we desire hereafter to partake with him in fullness of Glory.

[Observat. 3] There is no access to this Kingdom, but by Righteousness only.

[Branch 2] Seek God's Kingdom and his Righteousness, saith our Savior Christ here. And, That Grace may reign through Righteousness, saith the Apostle else-where.

[Questions 3] Now concerning this Righteousness, three Questions would be discussed;

1. What is meant by Righteousness here;

2. Why it is called the Righteousness of God;

3 Why no part in this Kingdom can be had without it.

[Question 1] There is therefore a twofold Righteousness; and every true Christian (it is the constant Doctrine of all our Divines; and our Adversaries wittingly wrong us, when they charge us with the contrary) hath his peculiar share in either. There is a Righteousness imputed, and there is a Righteousness imparted; the one inherent in Christ, and imputed to us; the other imparted by Christ, and inherent in us. For that spiritual Oil that was poured upon Christ our Head, and wherewith God anointed him above all his fellows, when the Spirit was given him beyond measure, like the Ointment that was poured upon Aaron's head, is shed forth and diffused in some measure, more or less, unto every living member of his mystical Body. Of his fullness have we received all, even grace for grace. The former is the Righteousness of Justification; the latter is the Righteousness of Sanctification.

[Answer.] Some understand here the former: I rather the latter.

[Reason 1] 1. Because the word is so taken everywhere else throughout this whole Sermon: as where it is said; Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness: And, Blessed are they that suffer for righteousness sake: And, Unless your Righteousness go beyond the Righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, &c. Which very passage these words seem to have reference unto.

[Reason 2] 2. Because it is that Righteousness that doth properly, peculiarly, and immediately make us actually Kings, and putteth us in the actual possession of this Kingdom: the former meriteth it, this entereth us into it: the former purchaseth it for us; this prepareth and fitteth us for it. Our justification acquitteth us of the guilt of sin: Our sanctification freeth us from the power of sin, enabling us to quell it, to subdue it, to prevail against it, that ruled, conquered, and kept us under before: and so causeth us to reign here as spiritual Kings over it: yea it cleanseth us also of the soil and filth of sin, and so by eating our corruption out of us by degrees, it prepareth and fitteth us for that Kingdom to come, which flesh and blood cannot enter, nor corruption inherit. But whether of the two be here meant, is not greatly material; since that they never are severed the one from the other: And where the one therefore is expressed, there the other ever is implied.

Now this Righteousness is here called the Righteousness of God; [Question 2]

Generally, [Answer. General.] in opposition to that counterfeit Righteousness that the Scribes and Pharisees so much bragged of, and gloried so much in; and which our Savior had discovered, taxed, and rejected before in this Sermon.

More particularly, in divers respects: [Answer. Particular.]

1. Because it is given of God. For, All good is of God. And No [Reason 1] man ever was or is good without God. No man can have ought, saith S. John the Baptist, unless it be given him from above. And, Every good gift, saith S. James, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights. As none is originally and essentially good but God: so no man is in any kind or degree good without God. There is no man good, saith Augustine, but that of bad, is by God made good. And, He, saith Bernard, that findeth no man good, saveth none but such as by preventing grace he maketh good.

[Reason 2] 2. Because it is approved of by God: which that other of theirs is not. It is said of Zechariah and Elizabeth, that they were just in God's sight. Whereupon saith Ambrose, It is one thing to be just in man's sight, and another thing to be just in God's sight: An outward show and semblance, is enough for the one: but inward power and truth is required unto the other. And that that maketh a glorious show in the eyes of man, is most abominable many times in the sight of God; Gold in man's eyes, dirt in God's sight; saith Gregory.

[Reason 3] 3. Because it is conformable to the Law of God; It maketh us conformable to it in part here for the present, and it will make us fully and perfectly conformable to it hereafter. Whereas that other of theirs doth nothing less. The whole Life of such, saith Augustine, is nothing but sin: and their best actions, no better than glittering corruptions.

[Reason 4] 4. Because it is and shall be rewarded of God. The Crown expected is called the Crown of Righteousness. And, To those, saith the Apostle, that by well-doing, and continuance therein, seek glory, and honor, and immortality, will God give eternal life in that day. And, Thy Father, saith our Savior, that seeth thee in secret, will reward thee openly. Yea there is no action so mean or slight proceeding from this, even to the gift of a Cup of cold water, that shall pass unregarded, or unrewarded with God. Whereas that other Righteousness of theirs hath no reward promised it. Verily I say unto you, saith our Savior, not barely, they have, but they have all, their reward: they have all they desire, and all they deserve, and all that ever they are like to have: they may make their acquittance, for such kind and manner of discharge doth our Savior there allude unto.

But why may a man without this Righteousness have no part in [Question. 3] God's Kingdom?

[Answer.] For divers causes and reasons;

These among many others:

[Reason 1] 1 Because the Chief Commander in this Kingdom, is a King of Righteousness. The Scepter of this Kingdom is a Rod of Righteousness. The Throne of this Kingdom is a Seat of Righteousness: And the Kingdom it self is a Kingdom of Righteousness: And, No unrighteous therefore can inherit this Kingdom; that hath nothing at all but Righteous in it. The people of it, saith the Prophet, are all Righteous.

[Reason 2] 2. Because none but those that have part here in the Kingdom of Grace, may hereafter partake in the Kingdom of Glory. But by Righteousness we become members of the Kingdom of Grace. That Grace, saith the Apostle, may reign through Righteousness. None but such therefore have any part in the one; none but such shall ever have share in the other.

[Reason 3] 3. Because this Righteousness is the Royal Roabe. Let thy Priests, saith the Psalmist, (and the same Persons here are both Kings and Priests) be clothed with Righteousness. And, He hath clad me with the Robe of Righteousness. And, To the Bride it was given to be arrayed in fine Silke: and the fine Silke is the Righteousness of the Saints. As no man then might come into the Wedding-house without the Wedding-garment; so may no man enter into this Kingdom without this Royal Robe. Without Holiness, saith the Apostle, shall no man ever see God. And those alone that are clothed with Righteousness here, shall be clothed everlastingly with Salvation hereafter.

[Reason 4] 4. Because No unclean thing can come within the walls and compass of this Kingdom: nay, no unclean person can set foot into the Way that leadeth to it. But this Righteousness, and this alone is that, that can truly and thoroughly cleanse, purge, and purify us, and that not our hands only, but our hearts too; as well the inward man, as the outward; as well the Spirit as the Flesh. Whereas that other Righteousness cleanseth the outside only, but leaveth the inside as foul still as ever it was. And therefore no marvel if our Savior tell us, That unless our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, we shall never get into the Kingdom of God. [Uses 3]

[Use 1] First then, do we desire to have part in this Kingdom?

Are we ambitious of a Crown? and that such a Crown, as is not environed with pricking Cares, as if it were a Crown of thorns or thistles, but such a one as may cure and rid our heads of all carking care? as hereafter we shall see. Learn we here the way to it. The Way to this Crown, to this Kingdom, is by Righteousness. Seek ye, saith our Savior, the Righteousness of God; and that will bring you to the Kingdom of God. For, The Kingdom of God is Righteousness. This Kingdom of God is not like the Kingdoms of this World: that are gotten oft by wicked courses, and kept by the like: wherein men rise by unrighteousness, and wherein not Righteousness, but unrighteousness oft reigneth. There is no way to rise in this Kingdom, there is no way to attain to this Kingdom, but by Righteousness. He that followeth Righteousness and mercy, shall find Righteousness, and Life, and glory; saith Solomon. For it is the Just, saith the Psalmist, that God loveth and regardeth, that he regardeth and protecteth, that shall behold his face, that shall dwell ever in his house; and that shall shine as the Sun, saith our Savior, in the Kingdom of God their Father forever and ever.

[Use 2] Secondly, observe we hence how cross and averse the corrupt heart of man is naturally to all goodness and godliness; that, though a Crown, a Kingdom, an incorruptible Crown, an everlasting Kingdom be propounded to this Righteousness, and annexed unto it, yet will rather lose this Crown, rather leave and forgo this Kingdom, than condescend to accept of it upon such a condition; will not be constrained to live happily, and to reign everlastingly, unless he may do so upon some other terms; will choose rather not to reign, than to be righteous. If this Crown indeed might be compassed by fraud and deceit, or by oppression and extortion; not a few would be sure to have a share in it, that are now never like to have any interest therein. Or if it might be held with looseness and lewdness of life, we should not need much Rhetoric to persuade many to accept of it. It is one main end, for which many men desire authoritity and greatness, that they may thereby gain liberty to live and do as they list; and without which they esteem power and authority naught worth. When John the Baptist preached the Gospel of this Kingdom, Herod would willingly have had it, if he might have held his Herodias, his Harlot with it. When our Savior Christ published it, the Pharisees would fain have had it, if with their pride, covetousness, and hypocrisy, it might have been had and held; or if such a specious show of Righteousness would have served the turn for it, as they dazzled the eyes of the simpler sort with. But when this Righteousness of God, this strictness of life, cometh to be propounded together with it, and to be exacted of all those that will have any share in it; now Herod flieth off, and will none of it, the Pharisees keep aloof off, and reject it; and every natural man's perverse heart thinketh it held at too high a rate, if without change of his corrupt course of life it cannot be compassed.

[Use 3] Thirdly, this serveth to exclude many from it, that would yet seem to have, yea and persuade themselves, that they have a good share in it. They have no share in the former, because they have no part in the latter: They have no part in the Kingdom propounded by Christ, because no part in the Righteousness annexed unto it; because they remain still as they were naturally, unrenewed, unsanctified, unholy, unrighteous, wholly impure and profane both in heart and in life; or if they have some show of holiness, it is in outward semblance only, there is no inward substance or power of it. Such they are; and other they refuse to be. They like well of this Kingdom; but they cannot away with the Righteousness: They are desirous to reign; but unwilling to be righteous. Happy they would be; but holy they will not be. And yet they hope, they say, to do as well as the best. A thing that neither Religion, nor natural Reason admitteth. For God hath linked these two together with an indissoluble bond, Happiness and Holiness, Reigning and Righteousness; the one as the Crown, the other as the Robe, which cannot be had or worn therefore the one without the other. And what God hath conjoined, man, do he what he can, shall never be able to dis-join, and to sever. Whosoever refuseth to live as a Saint with Christ here on earth, shall never reign as a Saint with him hereafter in heaven.

[Objection.] Yea but, will some say, though we be not so for the present, yet intend we, and purpose one day to be such; we hope to be so ere we die, when we lie a dying at least. As there is no wretched miser almost, no miserable worldling, no griping cormorant, no filthy leacher, no debauched hell-hound, unless he be desperately bent to destroy his soul, and be wholly given up unto a reprobate sense, and to a senseless estate, but will say, that he meaneth yet one day to do otherwise; he goeth far, they say, that never turneth; and he hopeth he shall have time enough so to do ere he die. But they must follow the world, or their own lusts first a while, and then they will take time at last to look after these things.

[Member 3] To meet with this slight that Satan is wont to suggest, thereby to cheat men of their souls, our Savior here admonisheth us to seek God's Kingdom and his Righteousness, not in the last, but in the first place.

Spiritual things as they must be sought, so they must be sought in the first place:

They must be sought instantly, without longer delay; they [Observat. 4] must be sought first, before and above all other things. Seek ye first God's Kingdom, and his Righteousness, saith our Savior. And, He that seeketh me early, saith God's Wisdom by Solomon, shall find me.

And great reason there is, why it should so be. [Reasons 8]

[Reason 1] For first, The better part justly claimeth the principal care, and to be provided for in the first place. Other things concern our bodies; these our soul and its well-fare. And as our Savior saith, The body is better than raiment: so the Soul is better than the body. Besides that, The Soul may do well without the Body; but the Body cannot do well without the Soul. Our first and principal care therefore should be for our soul, and those things that concern it; and for these therefore in the first place, because they principally concern it.

[Reason 2] Secondly, Things eternal should be preferred before things temporal. While we look, saith the Apostle, not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen, are temporal; but the things that are not seen, are eternal. And, Labor, saith our Savior, not for the meat that perisheth, but for the meat that endureth unto life eternal. But all other things are temporal and transitory; these only that our Savior inciteth hereunto, are eternal. And what comparison then between the one and the other?

[Reason 3] Thirdly, Things necessary ought to be preferred to the first place. But these are the only necessary things. There is but one thing necessary; saith our Savior to Martha. Which one thing therefore only David desired; and Paul made his main aim, counting all but as dross and trash unto it: to wit, this Kingdom, and the Righteousness of it. The old Proverb here holdeth, Either a King, or a Caitiffe. The greatest King in the world, if he miss of this Kingdom, is as miserable a wretch as may be.

[Reason 4] Fourthly, It is a most unworthy thing to deal so with God, as no man would endure to be dealt with. We will serve God, forsooth: but when? when we are now good for naught. When we have served ourselves of the world, and satisfied our own lusts, are glutted with the one, and have surfeited of the other, and are unfit and unable any longer to follow either; when we are scarce able to turn our withered bodies, and wearied bones in our bed, then will we offer and tender our service to God. Offer it to thy Prince, saith the Prophet; and see if he will accept of it. Yea make proffer of thyself then, say I, to any mean man. And it is an unworthy usage of God, for a man to offer that unto God, that any man would think scorn of.

[Reason 5] Fifthly, All man's life is little enough, were it never so long, as for the learning, so for the attaining of these things. And we have no surety of any time, no not of an hour. My times, saith David, are in thine hands. Our times are in God's hands, who as he hath promised pardon, saith Augustine, upon our repentance, so he hath not promised us, so much as an hour for repentance. And when he hath given men space, but they have no grace to turn, it is a just thing with him to deny them futher time for turning. It is a fond thing therefore to let go and lose the time that we have, in hope of, and building upon that that we may never have; to let that go that is in our own hand, relying upon that that is in another's hand.

[Reason 6] Sixthly, The longer we defer it, the more unfit shall we find ourselves for it. He that is not fit for it today, will be more unfit for it tomorrow. Continuance in sinning hardeneth in sin, and breedeth a brawninesse in the Soul: while Nature, and Custom, a second Nature, concurring together, produce an irrecoverablenesse in evil.

[Reason 7] Seventhly, this Righteousness should be sought in the first place, because Nothing whatsoever, though never so good, either is good, or can do good without it. Yea the better and the more excellent anything is, the worse it is, if it be not joined with it.

What is better than government? the very Life of a State. Yet if the Scepter be not swaied aright; if it rule not according to justice and right; Regiment without righteousness degenerateth, and turneth into Tyrannie; it is but Robbery with authority. For the main end of government is for the execution and enjoyment of justice: and without it therefore government is no better than plain robbery; yea it is in some respect worse than it.

What is better than Law? the life of Government. But unjust Laws are not worthy the Name of Laws. Woe to those, saith the Prophet, that make unjust Laws. Woe to those that make them; yea and woe to those also for whom they are made. For they are but a means to undo those, for whose good they are pretended.

What is better than Peace, Unity, Agreement, and Concord? Without which those former also are of no use, of no force. The very Name of Peace is sweet; but the thing it self much sweeter. Behold, saith the Psalmist, how goodly and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is for the pleasantness of it, like the precious Ointment that was poured upon Aaron's Head, that wet his Beard, and ran down to the very skirts of his Garments. It is delightful not to those themselves alone, that are at unity among themselves, but it sendeth forth a pleasing savor to their neighbors round about them: as on the other side, contentious persons are not troublesome to either other only, but to all that dwell near unto them. Concord in societies, is as Harmonie in consorts, which being duly observed, maketh the Music delightful; being not observed, by jarring maketh all harsh and untunable, as well to the hearers, as to the singers themselves. Again, for the profitableness and behovefulnesse of it, It is like the dew of Hermon, and that that cometh down upon the Hill of Zion. It is as a sweet dew, that maketh all things grow and thrive; as the contrary spoileth and layeth all things waste, like the blast of some malignant aspect. Concord and agreement addeth strength even to mean things; discord and disagreement bringeth the strongest to wrack. And no marvel: For without the Blessing of God what can prosper; yea or subsist? But There, saith the Psalmist, hath God promised his Blessing, (to wit, where Brethren agree together in one) and life for evermore. But the God of Peace will give no blessing there, where Peace and Unity is not. So that there is nothing more delightful, more behooveful than Peace. In regard whereof, it is that the Apostle Paul so oft, and so instantly inciteth unto it. I therefore Paul, the Lord's Prisoner, beseech you, that you would walk worthy of the Calling whereunto you are called; with all humbleness of mind, and meekness, with long suffering, supporting one another through Love; Endevouring to retain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace. There is one Body, and one Spirit, one Faith, one Hope, one Baptism, one Lord, one God and Father of all, above all, through all, and in you all. And again, to pass by many other passages; If therefore there be any consolation, if any comfort of Love, if any communion of Spirit, if any bowels and compassions; Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like minded, like affected, of one accord, and of one judgment. And so proceedeth he to dehort them from self-will, self-love, self-respect, and self-conceit, the very bane and pests of agreement and concord. This therefore should you strive and labor by all means to maintain among yourselves, being (as Abraham told Lot) brethren; and being called and joined together (as the Apostle speaketh) into one Body. But withal, you must have a care that this your Peace be the Peace of God, that it be in God, and for God; that the main aim of your agreement be the advancement of God's Kingdom, and the maintenance of Right. For if Peace be not joined with Piety, better no Peace than such Peace; if agreement be not joined with justice and equity, better no agreement at all than such. As it is no Council, but a Conventicle, wherein Truth is not aimed at: so it is no Society, but a Conspiracie, wherein right is not regarded. When men are, as Simeon and Levi, Brethren in evil; when they combine themselves together to injure and wrong others; such agreement and concord is worse than any discord or disagreement whatsoever. And the more strongly men in such case are united together, the worse they are, the more evil they may do; yea the worse it is for themselves too. For the more they are united and conjoined either with other, the more are they dis-united and dis-joined from God.

But to leave this Digression, though not altogether impertinent, which the present Occasion in part required of me; and to return to the main Point that we are principally to pursue.

[Reason 8] Therefore, lastly, are God's Kingdom and his Righteousness first to be sought, because

The seeking thereof will be the most Compendious Course for the compassing of our own Desires.

[Member 4] For why do men neglect to look after God's Kingdom? Forsooth, because they must build their houses, they must feather their nests first: they must get something that may be a stay to them hereafter, that they may be able to defend the world withal. To remove therefore this rub, and to rid and ease men of this care, our Savior here telleth them, that upon the due seeking of God's Kingdom and his Righteousness, or the Righteousness thereof, (for all cometh to one effect) all these things that men so much desire and look after, and take so much thought and care for, shall be by God himself provided for them, supplied unto them, and cast in thereupon as an advantage thereunto.

So that

This one thing will bring all with it, it will help us to all things, that [Observat. 5] our heart can desire. Trust in the Lord, saith the Psalmist, and do good, and thou shalt assuredly be fed. Delight thyself in the Lord, and he will give thee thine own hearts desire. He will be thy Sun and thy Shield; he will give thee grace and glory: and he will deny thee no good thing, so long as thou leadest a godly life. As when Solomon asked Wisdom, it pleased God so well, that he gave him Wealth and Honor together with it: so upon the seeking hereof, we shall not only find it, but we shall have all other good things cast in upon us together with it.

Nor indeed can it be otherwise. [Reasons 4]

[Reason 1] For first, we shall have thereupon our right to all things restored us in Christ. All things, saith the Apostle, whether present, or future, this world or the next, all things, I say, are yours; and you Christ's; and Christ God's. As Christ, so all Christians are in Christ Heirs of all things. And for God therefore to deny them ought, were to deny them of their own.

[Reason 2] Secondly, they that thus do, are God's Children in Christ; and may have for the asking what they will at God's hands. For, If you that are evil, saith our Savior, use to give good things to your Children; how much more will your heavenly Father give you good things, if you ask him? He feedeth the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the field: and he that is careful to provide for his hounds and his hawks, will he suffer his Children to beg and starve, that must one day be his heirs?

[Reason 3] Thirdly, he hath prepared a Growne, a Kingdom for them. Fear not, little flock, saith our Savior, it is your Fathers will to bestow a Kingdom upon you. And, Will he deny them a Crum, that will give them a Crown? Will he deny them a bit of bread, or a cup of drink, ( all the wealth in the world is no more with him; he can as easily give the one as the other) that purposeth one day to make them Kings?

[Reason 4] Yea lastly, he hath bestowed his own, his only Son on them. He so loved them, that he gave his only begotten Son for them. And, He that spared not his own Son, but gave him up to death for them, how can he but give them all things together with him? He that sent his Son to die for them, hath put his Spirit in them, and hath promised them the fruition of his blessed presence forever; how can he refuse to provide for them, and confer upon them whatsoever good thing they shall stand in need of, while they live here?

[Use 4] Now this first serveth to admonish all Christian men, yea all men [Use 1] in general, both what they should first and most, and what they should last and least care for. Their first and principal care should be for the principal things, that is, for spiritual things, for God's Kingdom and his Righteousness, for sanctificat • n and true holiness. These are the things that most nearly concern them, and without which they can have no benefit of ought else. And these are the things that God would have them most to look after: As for other things, when we have so done, he would have us leave the care of them wholly to him. Roll thy burden upon the Lord, saith the Psalmist, and he will maintain thee. Cast all your care upon him, saith S. Peter; for he taketh care for you. And, Take you no thought for ought, saith S. Paul: but let all your wants be made known unto God by prayer. He knoweth what is fit for you, and he will supply you. What a deal of trouble, and distraction might we free ourselves of? How great quietness and sweet tranquility of mind might we procure to ourselves, if we could do thus?

[Use 2] But alas how contrarily (and let that be the next Use) are most men affected to that that God would here have?

[Error 1] God would have men take care for spiritual things, and leave the care of temporal things wholly to him. Whereas most men take a clean contrary course. All the care they take is for temporal things, and as for spiritual things, they say, they will leave all to God's mercy: They will take to themselves God's part, and they will leave God their part. What he would do himself, they will do; and what he would have them do, that they put off and refer wholly to him. Temporal things they will be sure to look for, they will not trust God with them: But for spiritual things if they will not be found without seeking, for their parts they are never like to be sought after.

[Error 2] Again, Spiritual things God would have to be esteemed as the principal, and to be set in the first place; and temporal things to be reckoned of as secondary matters, as things accessory unto them. Whereas worldly men generally take a direct contrary course. They set the cart, as we say, before the horse. They make Sara tend on Hagar; the Mistress wait on the hand-maid. They make the principal the accessory, and the accessory the principal. Take most pains in that, that God would have them to take least in; and take least pains in that, that God would have them to take most in. First God's Kingdom and his Righteousness, saith Christ, and then Riches or those other things, meat, drink, and apparel. But first Riches, saith the World, monies and means of maintenance, (for these must be had howsoever) and then Religion and Righteousness may a little, time enough, be looked after, when we are once furnished of the former.

Yea God's Children themselves are ofttimes too much faulty in this kind: Too slack and careless in seeking after the best things; and more careful than they should be, for the things of this life. Not so diligent in attending as they should be, with Mary, that one thing, that is only necessary, and without which no worldly thing can ought avail them; and on the other side, with Martha, troubled about many things, and those many times such as they might very well be without, much perplexed and distracted with care and thought about provisions for the body, for the back and the belly, for meat, drink and apparel; (that which our Savior here had reproved in his followers before) as if either they wanted a Father to provide for them, or their Father were ignorant of their wants. If we see a young man grow worldly, full of care and thought for the world, we are ready to say, Sure his Father is deceased, and his Friends gone; he hath lost those that should look after him; he hath nobody left to take care for him but himself; else he would never sure be so worldly, so full of care as he is. But our heavenly Father is not dead: (he liveth forever to do for us:) nor doth or can his care die for them, whom he hath once vouchsafed to undertake the care of. And it is a great wrong therefore, that Christian men offer to this their careful and provident Father, when they are so full of care themselves.

But doth no care at all then become Christians? may some man say. [Question.] Or is all Care utterly condemned? Should Christian men be like those of Laish, a sort of careless people, to live looking after nothing, but put off all to God's providence, and so let things go at six and sevens, as we say?

Not so neither. We must wisely distinguish here; [Answer.] that we neither wheel into the whirl-pit of distrustfulness on the one hand, nor wreck ourselves against the rock of retchlesnesse on the other. There is a twofold care, yea or carefulness, if you will: there is a carefulness of diligence; and there is a carefulness of diffidence: the one is approved and commended; the other is disallowed and condemned: we are enjoined the one; we are inhibited the other; nor doth the one necessarily follow the other, or the expulsion of the one exclude also the other. Conceive it by a plain and familiar instance. A Father placeth his Son in a Farm, furnisheth him with a stock, biddeth him play the good husband; and further assureth him, to put him out of all fear, that, if things fall out otherwise than well, so that it be not by his own willful neglect or default, he will supply him and set him up again. The Son in such case, though he may well be the less distrustful, yet ought not to be the less diligent, for this his Fathers kind offer, and the assurance given him of such supplies. Nor ought Christian men therefore to be the less careful of walking diligently and industriously in those places and callings whereunto God hath assigned them, or in following the affairs and doing the duties that do thereunto appertain. (They walk inordinately, saith the Apostle, that follow not their own work, and as well earn, if they be able, a • eat their own bread; ) because God hath graciously promised, and undertaken to provide for them. Walk they must each one carefully within the compass of his calling, and expect God's blessing upon their labors and endeavors. But for the issue and event of them, they must not be troubled and distracted about it; but leave that all to God, assuring themselves that he will not see them to want, howsoever things fall out, but will furnish them ever with what is fit.

[Use 3] And so in the third place, this serveth to meet with a conceit that keepeth many from looking after the things of God's Kingdom, because they fear that they shall want necessaries, if they shall so do. For, to omit that true Faith, as Jerome speaketh, feareth not Famine: and again, that he is unworthy this Crown, this Kingdom, that preferreth worldly trash before it, or that is not content willingly, yea and gladly, to forgo the one, for the attaining and compassing of the other: Such fear is wholly superfluous; it is a groundless fear: Since that God the Father by Jesus Christ his Son and his Surety, hath here given thee assurance, that so long as thou seekest it as thou oughtest, thou shalt never want ought; all other things shall be from God himself supplied to thee with it. And the Lions themselves therefore, saith the Psalmist, (and the Lion is the King of beasts,) shall hunger and starve: those that are likeliest to be fed: But those that seek the Lord shall want nothing that is good. He will rain bread from heaven, and set the flint stone abroach, and turn the dry and waste wilderness into rivers of water, before his shall pine and perish.

[Use 4] Yea this rather should induce, encite, and encourage us to seek, as the more carefully, so the more cheerfully after these things, considering that so gracious a promise is annexed thereunto: Fear, that is, serve the Lord diligently, ye his Saints, saith the Psalmist: for there shall nothing be wanting to them that fear him. Wouldest thou then be cared for? Wouldest thou be provided for? Wouldest thou need to take no more thought or care for ought? Get thee into Christ's Court; get thee a place in God's Kingdom. Men think they shall be well, they shall be safe, they shall be made forever, when they have got some place, so it be at least some gainful one, about the King, or belonging to the Court: such an office could they compass, they should never need more to fear want, or to take further care for the world. Yet we know and see that such places oft bring a world of cares with them, and are a means oft to bring men to want. But he that hath a share in this Kingdom of God, shall never indeed need to take further care for ought, shall never need indeed to fear any defect. Blessed is the man, saith the Prophet, that dependeth upon God: for he shall be as a Tree planted by the water side, that spreadeth her root alongst the river, and doth not feel when the scorching heat cometh, but continueth ever green, and taketh no thought for the year of drought, nor at any time ceaseth to have fruit on her. Forebear not therefore the following hereof for fear of want; but follow these things rather if thou wouldst not fear want.

In like manner for your Children, would you have them so provided for, that you should not need to take any further care for them in that kind? Distrustfull care, I mean still, and of uncertain event; for otherwise Parents ought to be careful to provide for their children; and he is worse, I say not, than an Infidel, but than a brute beast, that doth otherwise. But would you so do for them, that they may be sure not to want? which otherwise, though you leave them never so much, they may do. Do the like for them, that you are exhorted here to do for yourselves. A poor man when he hath gotten his child once into the Hospital, how glad is he? he thinketh he need take no more care for him, whether he live or die, whether he leave him ought or no; (and yet he will do his best to get some what to leave him;) he knoweth there he shall not want. But get yo •• Children, say I, not into Christ's Hospital, but into God's Kingdom 〈◊〉 Grace, and they shall then be sure indeed never to want, you shall need to take no further thought for them. Let this be thy first care, and thy principal care, as for thyself, so for them, not how to make them rich, but how to make them religious, how to work the sincere f • a • e of God, & faith of Christ into them. This when thou hast once effected, thou needest not be troubled to think what will become of them, if thou beest taken away from them; or what thou shalt be able, when thou diest, to do for them: thou shalt leave them God's blessing, if thou hast nothing else to leave them; (where Religion and Righteousness runneth on in a race, there God's blessing is also hereditary with it:) and if thou leave them that, though thou leave them naught else, they shall be sure to do well, they shall never want ought. For, The Lord knoweth the days of the upright, or the righteous; saith David: and their inheritance shall abide forever. They shall not be confounded in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall have their fill. And he confirmeth it further by his own experience, both concerning them and their issue. I have been young, and am now old; yet never, either in my younger or elder times, have I seen any righteous man forsaken, or his seed driven to beg their bread. But though he be merciful and ready to lend, (a means many times to lessen and impair men's estates) yet his seed after him inheriteth the blessing.

Yea but we see even godly men many times in want, may some say. [Objection.]

I answer in a word. They never want what is good, what is necessary, what is needful and behoovefull for them to have. And whatsoever is not good and fit for them, it is better for them to be without it, than with it; to want, than to have it. Do we not see, I say not, the Sons of Kings, but even Kings and Princes themselves oft by the Physicians direction imprisoned in their own Palaces, confined to, and cowpt up in their chambers, restrained of their wonted full and delicate fare, and held to hard meat, as we say, tied to a strict and spare diet; yea and glad too to observe it, because it would otherwise be worse with them? No marvel then if the godly sometime in like manner, though Kings and Lord's of all things, are for their spiritual health and further good, restrained of some things that are not so fit for them at the present. Such want is no want, when a man rather is without, than wanteth that, which to be without then is for his good.

To end where we began; let us by any means take heed lest our immoderate care for the things of this life, expel and justle out our care for things belonging to a better life: Let that rather yield to this, and this then will discharge us of that: let our main and principal care be for God's Kingdom and his Righteousness, and for other things we may then boldly cast our care upon God, who will be sure thereupon sufficiently, yea abundantly to furnish us with whatsoever he shall see to be needful and fit for us.

A Short Catechism for the Simpler Sort.

1 Q Who made the whole World, and Man at the first?

A. God, the Creator of all things.

2 Q. What is God?

A. An eternal, and almighty Spirit, most wise, most holy, most just, and most merciful.

3 Q. How many God's are there?

A. There is but one God.

4 Q. How many Persons are there in that one Deity?

A. There are three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost.

5 Q. Is each of these Persons God?

A. Yea: the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.

6 Q. Are they then three several God's?

A. No: they are three distinct Persons, yet but one God.

7 Q. Whereof did God create Man at first?

A. He made man's body of the mould of the earth; but his soul he created immediately of nothing.

8 Q. In what estate did God then make Man?

A. He made him pure & perfect, in his own Image, like himself.

9 Q. Wherein was Man then like unto God?

A. In that he was perfectly wise, and perfectly good.

10 Q. How came man then to be evil as now he is?

A. By disobeying God, in breaking his Commandment.

11 Q. Wherein did Man break the Commandment of God?

A. In eating of the fruit of one Tree, which God had forbidden him.

12 Q. Who persuaded him so to do?

A. The Devil persuaded the Woman, and the Woman her Husband.

13 Q. What is the Devil?

A. The Devil is an evil Spirit, who being damned for sinning against God, doth seek to destroy others.

14 Q. What became of Man after he had thus sinned against God?

A. He became most wicked, and most wretched.

15 Q. In what regard wicked?

A. In that he lost God's Image, and was not now like unto God as before, but like the Devil.

16 Q. In what regard wretched?

A. In that he lost God's favor, and brought upon himself God's everlasting curse and wrath.

17 Q. In what state are we all then, since this fall of our first Parents?

A. We are all also by nature most wicked, and most wretched.

18 Q. When come we to be thus evil and wicked?

A. We are evil and wicked from our very breeding and our birth.

19 Q. What do we for this our wickedness deserve at God's hands?

A. Eternal damnation both of soul and body in hell-fire.

20 Q. Are we able any way to save ourselves from this?

A. No: we are not able: for we are by nature spiritually dead in sin and naughtiness.

21 Q. Is there no means then to deliver us from eternal destruction?

A. Yes: we may be delivered by God's mercy in Jesus Christ.

22 Q. Who is that Jesus Christ?

A. Jesus Christ is the second Person, the eternal Son of God.

23 Q. What hath he done to save us?

A. He suffered death upon the Cross, to save us from death and destruction.

24 Q. How could he die being the eternal Son of God?

A. He was both God and Man; and died as he was Man; but raised himself again to life as he was God.

25 Q. Shall all men then be saved by Christ?

A. No: none shall be saved by Christ, but such as repent of their sins, and believe in him.

26 Q. What is meant by repenting of Sin?

A. To repent of our sins is to be heartily sory for them, to hate and abhor them, and to endeavor carefully to shun and avoid them.

27 Q. What is meant by believing in Christ?

A. To believe, or to trust in Christ, is to rely wholly upon him for the pardon of our sins, and the safety of our souls.

28 Q. How come we thus to rely on him?

A. By the word of God, making known God's mercy in this behalf towards us in Christ Jesus.

29 Q. What means are there to give us further assurance of the mercy of God towards us?

A. The Sacraments give us further assurance of God's mercy revealed in the Word.

30 Q. What is meant by the word Sacrament?

A. Sacraments are as visible Signs and Seals of God's mercy towards us in Christ.

31 Q. How many Sacraments are there now in use?

A. There are two Sacraments; Baptism, and the Lord's Supper.

32 Q. What is Baptism?

A. Baptism is a Sacrament, wherein by washing of the Body is signified the purging and cleansing of the soul.

33 Q. What is the outward Sign in Baptism?

A. The outward Sign in Baptism is water.

34 Q. What is that a Sign of?

A. Water in Baptism is a Sign of the Holy Ghost, whereby we are inwardly renewed.

35 Q. What is the Lord's Supper?

A. The Lord's Supper is a Sacrament, wherein by eating and drinking is represented our spiritual Communion with Christ.

36 Q. What be the outward Signs in the Lord's Supper?

A. The outward Signs in the Lord's Supper are Bread and Wine.

37 Q. What are they Signs of?

A. The Bread signifieth Christ's Body, and the Wine signifieth his Blood.

38 Q. What is meant by the breaking of the Bread, and the pouring out of the Wine?

A. The Bread is broken, and the Wine poured out, to represent the cruel pains and torments, and the bitter and bloody death that Christ suffered for our sake,

39 Q. To what end are we to come to the Lord's Table?

A. First, to be put in mind of Christ's death and passion:

And secondly, to be assured thereby of the forgiveness of our sins.

40 Q. How ought they to be affected that desire to repair thither?

A. First, they ought to see and know their sins;

Secondly, to be truly and sincerely sory for them;

Thirdly, to hate and abhor them, as the cause of Christ's death;

And lastly, to resolve not to return again to the practice of them.

Euripides Helena.

CHRIST'S GENERALL Watch-Word.

§. 1. THere be two comings of our Lord and Savior Christ mentioned in Scripture: the former of them in mercy, to save the world; the latter of them in majesty, to judge the world.

Some of those that lived in the time of the former, had moved question to our Savior himself concerning the latter; When will the coming of the Son of man be?

Now our Savior, in way of answer unto this question, layeth down both the certainty and the uncertainty of his second coming: the certainty, that it shall be; the uncertainty when it shall be. That, which is wont to be said of the day of Death, being no less true of the day of Doome; There is nothing more certain, and yet nothing more uncertain: Nothing more certain than that it shall be: as sure, we use to say, as Death; and may well say, as Doome: For Heaven and earth (saith our Savior) shall pass away, but so shall not my word. And yet nothing more uncertain than when it shall be. For, Of that day and hour knoweth no man ought, no nor the Angels in heaven, nor the Son ( as he was then) himself.

Hereupon he taketh occasion to exhort his Disciples whom he then spake to, and us all in and by them, unto circumspection and wariness, unto vigilancy and watchfulness: that since such a day must once come, and they know not how soon it may come, wherein they shall all be called to give up their accounts, that therefore they live in a continual expectation of it, in a perpetual preparation for it; that whensoever it shall come, they may be found ready and fit for it.

Which exhortation having urged and enlarged by sundry arguments of enforcement and illustration in the words before going, he doth here repeat and conclude, winding up the sum of all before delivered in this one word, WATCH.

A word not consisting of many syllables or letters; but containing [Part 1] much matter, and matter of much use. Which that it may the better and the more orderly be unfolded, we will refer all that shall be spoken to these four heads:

The Sense, the Proofes,

The Manner, and the Means: Or,

1. The Meaning of the word, whas it is to watch.

2. The Reasons, why we ought so to watch.

3. The manner, how we must watch.

4. The Means, whereby we may watch.

The two former belong to Doctrine; the two latter to Use.

§. 2. For the first of them, to wit, what it is to watch. Watching is, to speak properly, an affection of the body; and is by way of metaphor only applied unto the soul. In regard whereof it will not be amiss to consider briefly what it importeth in the one, that we may the better conceive thereby what it signifieth in the other.

Watching therefore and waking are two several things: it is one thing to wake, or to be awake, and another thing to watch. For example: we are all here (I presume) at this present waking; but cannot properly be said to be watching, because neither is it now the ordinary time of rest, neither (it may be) have we any present inclination thereunto. But the Disciples of our Savior the night before he suffered, are said to have watched with him, Could ye not watch an hour with me? because both it was then the ordinary time of repose, and they very sleepy and drowsy also themselves. Again, the Psalmist complaineth that God held his eyes waking, or watching; (but in an unproper sense) that he was forced to keep waking, and so in some sort to watch as it were against his will. A man lieth oft awake when he would fain sleep, but cannot, either through disease of body or distraction of mind: And a man that is set to watch, may keep awake, but not mind or regard his charge: and neither of them in such case are said properly to watch. But those that sit by such a sick man as cannot sleep, to tend him, are said to watch by him: And the Shepherds are said to have been watching over their flocks, when the Angel appeared to them that brought them tidings of Christ's birth. So that bodily watching (to speak properly and precisely) is then, when a man striveth to keep himself corporally waking for the tending or heeding of something, at such time as he is or may be inclining to sleep.

§. 3. But it is no such bodily watching that is here intended. A man may not watch thus, that keepeth himself so awake: and a man may not keep himself so awake, and yet watch. Peter watched thus while he slept in the prison between two soldiers tied fast with two chains. And so did David, when trusting to God's gracious protection, he laid himself quietly down to sleep. Whereas on the other side, Judas sat up all the night long (as thieves and murderers also do many times) to put his treason in practice, while his fellow Disciples slept; and yet watched he no more, nay not so much as they did. And David was broad awake, when he spied Bathsheba from off his terrace; and yet watched he not so well as before he did, when on his pallet he lay fast asleep: he rose from one sleep, to fall into another, a worse sleep. It is not a corporal, but a spiritual; not a proper, but a figurative, a metaphorical watching, (and yet a watching that hath reference to that proper, some resemblance of that corporal watching) that our Savior here intendeth.

To apply therefore what was before said of watching, to the Soul, and so to our present purpose. Sin is in the word compared to a sleep. Let not us sleep, as others sleep, saith the Apostle: For those that sleep, sleep in the night: and, We are not of the night, but of the light and of the day. He speaketh as of a spiritual night of ignorance, so of a spiritual sleep of sin. Repentance is said to be an awaking (as it were) out of this sleep. Awake to righteousness; and sin not, saith the same Apostle. And again, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, from the deadly sleep of sin, and Christ will enlighten thee. And As it is a sign that a man is awaked out of his sleep, when he telleth what dreams he saw in his sleep: so it is a sign, saith the Heathen man, of one truly repentant, when a man maketh sincere confession of his former offense. And lastly, the striving to keep ourselves from future relapse, and from falling back into this our former deadly slumber again, is that which by the same metaphor is termed watching, as here, so elsewhere.

So that it is as much in effect, as if our Savior had said, when he willeth us to watch; that It is not sufficient for us, that we have been awaked out of the deadly sleep of sin; but we must with all heedful diligence for the time to come strive to keep ourselves thus waking. Watch we cannot till we be awaked; and when we are once awaked, we must ever watch. And so have we both the true sense and signification of the word; and the point also therein propounded.

§. 4. Now the Reasons of this point may be four: [Part 2]

The first taken from the drowsiness of our own natural disposition.

The second from the diligence of our Adversarie the Devil.

The third from the necessity of perseverance.

The fourth and last from the danger of relapse.

[Reason 1] For the first of them, to wit, the drowsiness of our own natural disposition. He came the second time, saith the Evangelist of our Savior's Disciples, whom he had but lately before awaked, and found them asleep again; for their eyes were heavy. And as it is with those that be of an heavy constitution, of a drowsy disposition, that though they be awaked out of sleep, yet unless they use some diligence (yea though they so do) to keep themselves awake, they are ready ever anon to be napping and nodding, and (if they be not the more careful) to fall even fast asleep again: So it is naturally with everyone of us in regard of our souls: We are all generally of a very dull and drowsy disposition, by reason of that lumpish flesh of ours, that abideth much even in the best of us. By means whereof it cometh to pass, that we are oft sleeping and slumbering, be we never so careful and diligent; yea in danger oft, after we have been awaked out of this dreery and deadly sleep, to fall eftsoone back again into the same, if we keep not a constant watch over ourselves and our souls. Beside that the Devil is ready and busy ever to help forward, besprinkling of our tempels with his spiritual Opium of evil motions and suggestions, to further the matter, and to cast us again (if it be possible) into a Lethargy irrecoverable.

[Reason 2] §. 5. A second Reason therefore may be taken from the diligence of this our Adversarie. Be sober and watch, saith the Apostle, for your Adversarie the Devil goeth about continually like a roaring Lion, seeking whom he may devour. Shall men watch, saith the Heathen man, to slay and destroy others? and wilt not thou watch to save thyself? So say I: Shall Satan be more vigilant in watching to do us a shrewd turn or a mischief, than we in watching to keep ourselves safe from his malice? Undoubtedly if he watch thus continually to assault us, unless we watch as constantly on the other side to prevent him, we shall soon come to be surprised and vanquished again of him. Continuall watch therefore is to be held of us, because our enemy continually lies in wait for us: nor can we ever in regard thereof (be we never so watchful) be over-much wary, yea or wary enough. A thing the rather to be regarded, because it is not here, as in bodily or in worldly watch and ward; where some watch for the rest, and the rest sleep while they wake: as that Greek, Commander sometime said in a general solemnity, that he kept sober and watched, that others the whilst might drink and sleep: And Philip of Macedon used to say, that he might safely drink deep, as long as Antipater kept sober and watched. But it is not so in this spiritual watch; we cannot here watch by deputy; no man can watch for us; but everyone must watch for himself.

§. 6. But (may some say) are not the Ministers of God in the word called Watchmen? and are they not said to watch for our souls?

I answer: True it is indeed; they are called Watchmen: and they are said to watch, yet not so much for, as over your souls. Now it is one thing to watch for one, and another thing to watch over one. To watch for one (to speak properly) is to watch in his stead that he may not watch: as in a City besieged, or in a set Campe some few watch by night in their turns that the rest the whilst may sleep: and as the Prince is said to watch, that the subject may rest at ease: or the Princes guard to watch, that he may sleep safely. But to watch over one is to watch by him to keep him awake; as those that watch Deere to tame them by keeping them from sleep; or as those that tend a sick Patient in some drowsy disease, or after some medicine received, or a vein opened, or the like, where sleep may be prejudicial and dangerous unto him. In this latter manner are we said to watch over you, and the main end of our watching is to keep you waking. Which unless it be therefore by our watching effected, all our watching in regard of you is to no purpose; no more than their watching about the Patient before spoken of, if he sleep amids them, while they watch about him. The Pastor then indeed must watch over his people: but the people must watch also with their Pastor, and must be kept waking by his watching. Yea as he must watch over both himself and them; so must they in person also watch each one over himself. To which purpose, if we should demand of our Savior, as Peter did sometime in the very same case, and upon the like occasion; Master, speakest thou this unto us alone, or unto all? Doest thou speak this to thine Apostles only, or to Pastors alone, that are to watch over others, or to the people also, to thy Disciples all in general? our Savior would no doubt answer, yea so expressly he doth answer, What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch. Others may watch over us; but none can watch for us: each one in person must ever watch for himself.

§. 7. To the adversary before mentioned, we might well add [Enemy 2] another, no less dangerous than the former, to wit, the world, as Aaron saith of his people, wholly set upon wickedness. This though we be not of it, yet are we in it, neither can we go, or get out of it, when we will ourselves; we must stay in it, till it please God to call us out of it. And so long as we are in it, we tread upon embers, we walk among snares, of evil example, of allurement by profit and pleasure, of shame and abashment by derision, scorn and contempt, of terror and affrightment by opposition, threats, and discountenance, if we do not as others do. We are in as much danger (if not much more) by evil men as by devils, by devils incarnate, as by devils indeed: they are limbs of the devil, and the instruments that he oftest maketh use of. We are more in danger of wicked men for our souls, than they are for their bodies that live in the wide wilderness, where wild beasts are most frequent. They were men like themselves that our Savior warned his to beware of, when he said, Take ye heed of men: for they are they that may do you most mischief. They were Men-wolves that he forewarned them of, when he told them, that he should send them out as sheep among wolves. And had not they need to walk warily, that have so many snares in their way? Had they not need to stand continually upon their guard, that have their enemies on either side, nay on every side of them? Have they not just cause to watch night and day, that abide there where Lions, Wolves, and wild beasts of ravenous disposition are most rife?

§. 8. But there is yet a third enemy, as vigilant and diligent, yea more incessant and more dangerous than either of the former, and that is our own corrupt nature. For the other two are without us, this is within us, it is an inbred, an home-bred adversary. A man's enemies, saith the Prophet, and our Savior from him, shall be those of his own house. An household foe is much more dangerous than a forainer, than one out of the house, though dwelling at the next door. But this enemy of ours is not in our house, but in our heart, lodged and seated in the very inwardest and secretest closet of our soul. The other two are professed adversaries, this a pretended friend. And a pretended friend is more dangerous than a professed foe. It was not a professed enemy, saith David, that did me this wrong; for then could I well have borne it: nor was it an open adversary, that set himself against me; for then could I have shunned him: but it was thou, ô man, my companion, my counselor, my guide, my familiar. And therefore, Trust not a friend, saith the Prophet, take heed especially of a false friend; put no confidence in a counselor: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. But this false-hearted friend of ours lieth not in our bosom, but within our breast. Again, the other two cease sometime their opposing of us, this is incessant, it never ceaseth. Though there be a continual enmity, a perpetual hostility, a war without truce between Satan and us: yet are we not always actually in skirmish and combat. We are not always in fight, though we be always in the field. Nor is the devil himself always about us or with us. But our corrupt nature is never from us, it is always in the very midst of us; we carry it about with us continually, whithersoever we go, or wheresoever we become. And it is never idle in us, but incessantly working on us, continually either hindering us in well-doing, or provoking and egging of us on unto evil. The flesh, saith the Apostle, lusteth and striveth against the Spirit, so that ye cannot do what you would. And, I find by woeful experience, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For mine inner man delighteth in the Law of God: But I see and feel another law in my limbs rebelling against the law of my mind, and leading me captive to the law of sin that is in my limbs.

§. 9. Lastly, without the help of this traitor no other enemy can hurt us. The devil himself cannot foil us, unless we ourselves will. He may persuade and entice, suggest and provoke, but he cannot enforce or contstrain, nor unless our own heart give consent, cause us to sin. As we use therefore to say of the Land and State that we live in, that We need not fear any foreign foe, if we be true among ourselves: So may it be said much more truly of our spiritual estate, we should not need to fear any outward adversary, either world or devil, if our own heart were, and would be sure to keep true to us. But it is our own heart within us that is ready to join with our adversaries without us, and to betray us unto them. The prince of this world, saith our Savior, hath been dealing with me; but he found nothing in me; and therefore prevailed not against me. But he never cometh to assault us, but he findeth enough and too much in us; the main cause why so oft he prevaileth against us. He findeth a many Judases within us, that are ready to join with him, to second him, to assist him, to fight for him, to betray us into his hands. Without this intestine traitor then, the devil himself cannot hurt us: but it alone is able to hurt us without him. We need no other Tempter to tempt or entice us to evil: we have an Eve, a Tempter of our own each one within us, more powerful and more effectual than any is or can be without us, and one that needeth not any help from without. Every man, saith the Apostle, is tempted, when he is enticed and drawn aside by his own lust. And so lust having conceived bringeth forth sin, and sin being consummate bringeth forth death. No need is there of other devil to delude or destroy us; there is devil enough in the hearts of everyone of us to do either, there is enough in us without any devils help to effect either.

§. 10. We have as much cause then to watch even against ourselves, as against any adversary whatsoever. Since that as the Heathen man sometime said, Every man is the first and the greatest flatterer of himself: and others could never come to fasten their flatteries upon us, if we did not before flatter ourselves: So every man is the first and the greatest enemy to himself: and other enemies could never do us any harm, if we did not first conspire with them to hurt ourselves. And if they had need to be exceeding vigilant, and extraordinarily circumspect, that have not only many open enemies, besetting and assaulting them on every side without, but many close traitors also, that have busy heads and working brains, plotting and practicing continually their ruin at home; then surely no less cause have we to be extraordinarily watchful, whose case, as we see, is the very same. If our first parents had cause to watch in Paradise, when there was no adversary but without: Much more have we cause to watch, and to watch most diligently now, when we have adversaries both without and within. For therein is the difference, as one saith well, between Adam and Judas, so between our first parents and us, that Outward temptation prevented inward corruption in them, inward corruption preventeth outward temptation in us. So many adversaries therefore, so vigilant, so diligent, round about us, on every side of us, before us, behind us, above us, beneath us, without us, within us, must needs enforce on us an incessant watchfulness, if we have any care of our own safety.

§. 11. A third Reason may be taken from the necessity of perseverance. Who so endureth to the end (saith our Savior, he alone) shall be saved. The Christian course is compared to a race. Let us run with patience (saith the Apostle) the race set before us. And in a race (saith the same Apostle) all run; but all win not. If we ask who win, he telleth us else-where, that they only win the wager or get the garland, that run according to the laws of the game, to the rules of the race. Now in worldly races the law of the game is, that none but he gaineth the prize, that getteth first to the gole: But in the spiritual race the law is otherwise. For there not who so cometh first, but who so holdeth out to the last, be he in order of place or time first or last, is sure to win and to do well. Be faithful to death, and thou shalt have the crown of life, saith our Savior to each Christian soldier and soul. As in a race then it is to no purpose for a man to set out with the first, and to run eagerly a while, if after some time he sit down, and stay at the mid-way: yea if he give over when he is within but a foot or two of the gole, it is all one as if he had never set foot into the field: So here for a man to run well for a spurt, and then to give over, yea to break off that good course that he was entered into but a day or twain before decease, it is enough to annul all his former proceedings, and to make him to be in no better estate than if he had never set foot into the good ways of God. For it is perseverance alone in well-doing, that carrieth away the crown. The latter part of a man's life over-swayeth the former: and the former yieldeth it to the latter. If the righteous man (saith the Prophet, or rather God himself by the Prophet) shall turn from his righteous course of life that before he lived in, none of his former good deeds shall be remembered or reckoned; but in the evil that then he doth, he shall die. Yea to keep to the comparison that we have in our text: If a Servant or Soldier appointed to watch for his Masters coming, or against the enemies approach, shall continue watching till within an hour or some shorter time of the arrival of the one or the assault of the other, but shall then chance to fall fast asleep; he shall be no less in danger either to be shent of the one or to be slain by the other, than if he had slept all out, and watched no time at all. And the like may be said of our spiritual Watch; which if we shall for any time intermit, or after any time give over, we may chance in the interim, to be surprised either by the justice of God, or by the malice of Satan, and so be in danger of perishing everlastingly by either, notwithstanding all our former watch. To which purpose saith our Savior in the words next before my text; that it is in this case As when a man going from home for a time, leaveth his servants to keep house, and setteth each one his task, and willeth the Porter to watch: and he warneth us all therefore to watch incessantly, (because we know not what time our Lord and Master may come) lest if he come suddenly, he take us asleep.

§. 12. [Reason 4] A fourth Reason may be taken from the danger of relapse: Go thy way (saith our Savior to the Cripple he had cured) and sin no more, lest a worse matter befall thee. As we stand continually in no small danger of relapse, partly through the drowsiness of our own disposition, and partly through the diligence of our Adversary the Devil, (as before we have shown:) so is there no small danger in relapse, and in relinquishing this our spiritual watch: which if ever therefore we give over and fall from, it shall not be barely all one to us, as if we had ever lien still asleep, but it shall be far worse with us, than if we had never been awaked. For as it is in the diseases of the body; so it is likewise in the sickness of the soul. As in bodily sickness the relapse usually is worse and more dangerous, more incurable and irrecoverable than the disease it self was at first: so it falleth out commonly, yea so it is ever ordinarily in this spiritual Lethargy, that the relapse proveth more desperate than the disease was in it self. For if men (saith the Apostle) having escaped these worldly defilements by the acknowledgement of Christ (or the profession of Christianity) come after to be entangled and again overcome of them; the latter estate of such is worse than the first. For it had been better for them never to have taken notice of the good way of God, than after notice taken of it, to turn again away from it. Since that such, as the Proverb truly speaketh, are like the Dog that resumeth his own vomit; and like Swine that after washing return again to their wallowing in the mire. As if he had said in words applied to the present comparison, It had been better for men to have lien fast asleep still, snorting securely in their sin, than having been by the word and Spirit of God, raised and roused out of it, to fall afterward back again into some deadly fit of it.

§. 13. They seldom awake again, that fall the second time so fast asleep. Partly, for that through their own inbred corruption (the evil humor that feedeth this drowsy disease) waxing commonly in such cases more fierce and furious than afore (like a mastive that breaketh loose, when he hath been tied up some time; or like the stream of a river that hath recovered scope again, where it had found some restraint formerly, either pent in with arches, or bounded with banks) this spiritual Lethargy in the return of it groweth stronger upon them, and so harder to be subdued and expelled than at first; like a malady that hath got mastery of, and now contemneth those remedies that curbed and abated the force of it for a while. As also partly through Satan's malicious policy, who endeavoreth all he can by plunging of such as have broken or been breaking away from him (if he can fasten again upon them) as deep as may be in all manner of impiety and impurity, thereby to make them surer than ever to himself: like the Jailor, that having laid hold on his prisoner again, that had either attempted or made escape from him, layeth load on him with irons as many as he may bear, to make him sure from starting aside anymore. Yea and partly through the just judgment of God, who upon such Apostates (as, though he have been so gracious and merciful unto them as to awake them out of this deadly slumber sometime, yet he findeth them not thankful to him for it, nor steadfast and faithful with him, nor careful to keep their watch so as they should, but willing to sleep again, delighting in slumber, and repenting that ever they were awaked) is wont to pour out the spirit not of slumber, but of deep and dead sleep; so that it may be said of them, as of Saul and his troupes, A deep sleep of God was upon them, that they did not awake: as he is said even to close up the eyes, and to make the very hearts of such (not their heads only) heavy, that they may not return or repent, that is, be awaked anymore again out of their dead sleep, and so healed of this their spiritual Lethargy. And no marvel then if they seldom awake or recover, whom God, and the Devil, and their own corrupt heart, God in justice, the Devil in malice, and their own corrupt heart out of its own drowsy disposition, shall all conspire as it were together to with-hold from waking, and from returning to their wonted watch.

§ 14. So that whether we regard the drowsiness of our own natural disposition; or the diligence of our Adversary ever watching against us; or the necessity of perseverance, and holding out to the end; or the dreadful danger of relapse, if we fall from our former forwardness, and either intermit or give over our watch, and our standing upon our Guard: we cannot but see the truth of the point formerly propounded, to wit, that it is not sufficient for us that we have been awaked out of this spiritual sleep of sin, but there is further need of perpetual care to be had for the keeping of us from falling back into that deadly slumber again.

§. 15. Now what may be the Use of all this, but to exhort and excite us to the diligent practice and performance of a duty so necessary, that so nearly concerneth us, and that is so oft and so earnestly exacted of us and pressed upon us, both by our Savior Christ himself, and his Apostles, as here, so else-where.

Which that we may do the more readily and with the better success, it shall not be amiss in the next place to consider of, both the Manner, how it is to be performed; as also the Means, whereby it may be effected.

For the former, to wit, the Manner how this spiritual watch is [Part 3] to be held, we will pitch upon four points, wherein the same doth principally consist:

• The 1. is a due Examination of our several actions;
• The 2. a diligent observation of our special corruptions;
• The 3. a careful avoidance of the occasions of evil;
• The 4. a constant resistance of temptations unto evil;

And of these in order.

§. 16. [Point 1] The first point then of this Christian watch is the due Examination of our several actions, before we undertake them, lest we be otherwise unawares overtaken with sin in them, especially where they may be doubtful and questionable. Ponder, saith Solomon, the paths of thy feet, that thy ways may all be ordered aright. And again, A prudent man (will not run on head, but) will consider his steps. Those that go in ways dark and slippery, and in that regard dangerous, are wont to tread gingerly and step warily, feel with hand and foot their way before them, whether it be clear and firm, and will not lift up the one foot, till they find sure footing for the other. And so should it be with us that are here travelling through the dark and dangerous way of this worlds wilderness, like the vale of Siddim slimy and slippry, and full of limepits, of such pitfalls and springes as Satan diggeth and setteth for us, and of such stumbling-blocks as he layeth before us, thereby to maim and to mischief us: we have great reason to look about us, and to have an eye to our footing, that we step not unwarily and unadvisedly upon that that may prove and procure either our woe or our bane, either our ruin or our ruthe.

§. 17. This is that that the Apostle seemeth to have an eye unto, where he exhorteth some to walk in sincerity; (as also he professeth of himself that he so did:) and prayeth for others, that they may discern those things that differ, to the end they may be sincere. The word used by the Apostle in both places signifieth properly sometime tried by the light of the Sun. And it is a Metaphor (as some suppose) taken from the custom of the Eagle, whose manner is (if we may believe those that write the natural story) to bring her young out of the nest before they be full fledge, and to hold them forth against the full sight of the sun; the light whereof those of them that can with open eye endure, she retaineth and bringeth up as her own; the rest that cannot brook it, but wink at it, she rejecteth and casteth off as a bastardly brood. In like manner should we do with those manifold motions that arise in our minds, and that are hatched as it were in our hearts, ere we proceed to put them in practice; we should bring them forth first to the bright sunneshine of God's word; let them look upon that, and it upon them: if they can endure it, we may on in them with courage and comfort; if not, we must stay both our hand and our heart too from further following or fostering of them.

§. 18. Others think it rather taken from the usual practice of Chapmen in the view and choice of their wares. A wise and wary Chapman that hath to do with a deceitful Merchant, Draper, or other, one that keepeth his wares in obscure places where the defects of them cannot so easily be discerned, or hath false lights that may help to give a counterfeit gloss to them, he will take no ware of him upon his word, but he will first diligently view it, toss it and turn it to and fro over and over, try how it is in the midst as well as at both ends, bring it forth into the light, hold up his cloth against the sun, see if he can espy any defect or default in it; he knoweth well he may easily else be over-reached. The like should be our practice, because our case is alike. We have to deal daily with divers crafty Merchants, by whom we are sure to be oft cozened, be we never so careful, and can never therefore take heed enough how we deal with them. There is first the Devil, for his slinesse and subtlety termed a Serpent, for his experience and antiquity styled an old Serpent: one that, like a deceitful Draper (saith one,) to draw men on unto sin, showeth them the present pleasure or profit of sin as the one end of the cloth, but concealeth and keepeth out of sight the middle and the other end of it in the internal remorse here, and the eternal punishment hereafter. Then there is the world, which ourselves are wont to say is wholly set upon deceit, and the Spirit of God saith is wholly set upon sin: of whom we may well say as one sometime of an Historian, Both the words and the shows of it are all full of fraud. Yea there is lastly our own Heart as fraudulent and deceitful as any of them. For, The heart of man, saith Jeremiah, is wicked and deceitful above all things: who can know it? So deceitful, that ofttimes it deceiveth a man's own self, and so consequently it self. Having to deal then with such crafty ones, we had need to be exceeding wary, that they take nothing up from them, that they shall offer to obtrude on us, either by outward persuasion, or inward suggestion, or otherwise, especially where there shall be some good ground and just cause of suspicion, until we have turned it every way, and tried it by the light of God's Law, examined both ends, weighed well every circumstance, and searched every corner of it; that we may have good assurance, as the Apostle willeth, of the lawfulness and the warrantableness of it, before we venture upon the admission of it to consent, or to practice.

§. 20. This was David's course: Thy testimonies (saith he) are my comfort and my counsel. David was a very wise Prince himself, prudent like an Angel of God, as the woman sometime told him. And he had besides a learned Counsel about him; Achitophel among the rest, One whose words went in those days for Oracles. But yet had David a Counselor beyond and above all these, to wit, the voice of God himself in his word: This had a negative voice in all David's consultations; so that though the matter propounded seemed good in his own eyes, yea and had the approbation of his learned Council withal, yet if this his head Counselor went not with it, it was not for David to deal with. And this Counselor so long as David hearkened unto (for sometime to his own woe he over-shot himself by neglecting it; but for the most part he did so) so long he did well, and thrived and found comfort, and had prosperous success in whatsoever he went about. And the like must we do, if we desire to fare as he did; make God's word our Counselor, if we would have it our comforter: do as worldly-wise and wary men are wont to do; they will do nothing without counsel; If they dwell near to a Lawyer, whom they may freely repair and have access to upon every occasion, and of whom they may have counsel, and cost them nothing, as oft as they will, they will be sure to do nothing of moment, where the least matter of doubt or suspicion of danger may be, without his advice. And such a Counselor have we ever at hand with us, ready on all occasions to advise us, never weary of conferring with us, angry with us for nothing but either for not asking or not following his advice; whom therefore if we shall neglect to consult with, and take counsel of upon every just occasion, the common wariness of worldly men, yea our own wariness in worldly things will one day worthily condemn us.

§. 21. Yet is this that that most men can be hardly drawn to condescend unto, to take advice of God's word, that is so willing to advise them. There is none but would have comfort from it: and there is none almost willing to take counsel of it. We like all well to have a Comforter of it; but we have no lust to make a Counselor of it. But as David, and God's Spirit by David joineth these two together: so we must not disjoyne or sever them the one from the other; or if we do, we shall but delude ourselves with vain hopes. For he that taketh not counsel of God's word, shall never receive comfort from God's word. He that maketh it not a Counselor, shall never find it a Comforter. The neglect of this hath been the cause that many, wise otherwise and religious, have oft shamefully over-shot themselves, because (with Joshua and the Israelites in their agreements with the Gibeonites ) they have not been careful to consult with the voice of God in his word. In which kind cometh justly to be censured the unadvised carriage of those that practice first and advise afterward: run on head into ambiguous actions, and then after fall to examining whether they have done well, and as they ought in them, or no. Of which course well saith the Wiseman; It is a snare for a man to devour a thing consecrated, and then afterward to inquire of the vow. A man is ensnared and entangled now by his own act; so that he is not so free, nor fit now to judge aright of it, because his practice hath fore-stalled, and (as it may fall out) corrupted and perverted his judgment: ready therefore as one partial in his own cause, or as a Judge that hath taken somewhat of the one side, to pass no sincere, nor indifferent sentence.

§. 22. As also their preposterous course cometh here not unworthily to be taxed, that first resolve, and then consult; determine first what they will do, and then ask advice what they should do. Thus did the Jewish Captains sometime with Jeremiah. They come to him very demurely, and make deep protestations, calling God solemnly to witness of the truth of their intention, of their willing mind and full purpose to put in execution and practice whatsoever God by the Prophet should advise them unto, were it good or bad. But (as Jeremiah after truly told them) they dissembled but with him. For they were resolved before what course they would take; and came only to make trial whether the Prophet would concur therein with them or no. Which when they found that he did not, they fly off fairly from him; yea they stick not to give him the lie, and to tell him to his teeth, that the answer he brought them was no divine Oracle, but an untruth of his own coining at the instigation of Baruch. And in like manner do many nowadays repair to God's Ministers for their opinion in cases of conscience concerning the lawfulness of some act that they are resolved on already; that if they deliver their opinions with them, they may then be able to say, they had the judgment of good Divines for it, before they did it, or attempted ought in it, to stop the mouths of those with that may afterward question it: but whether they concur or no, resolved to go on, and so oft do directly contrary to the judgment and advice of those whom they made show to consult with. I say not, but that a man consulting with a Divine, if he receive not good satisfaction from him, is free still notwithstanding his sentence. But for a man to resort to God's Ministers and Messengers for advice, when he is resolved before what he will do, howsoever they shall advise, or howsoever he may be convinced by God's word of the contrary, is no other but a mere mockery both of them, and of him; yea, and as it falleth out oft, a means of deluding himself too, and betraying his own soul to sin: the rather while God in his just judgment many times fitteth such hypocritical Consulters with such corrupt Counselors, as speak not what they deem agreeable to God's holy will and word, but what they suppose the party resorting to them is willing to hear.

[Point 2] §. 23. A second point wherein this spiritual Watch consisteth, is, the diligent Observation of our own special corruptions. I beseech you, brethren, saith the Apostle, as Pilgrims and Strangers abstain from fleshly lusts, that fight against the soul. Sin is the main enemy and the band of man's soul. And all sins in general fight against every man's soul; but some sins more specially against some than against others. And as in the world, where two neighbor kingdoms are at open war either with other, there is an hostility in general between all the Subjects of either, even between those that never bore arms against, nor ever saw either other; but this hostility is more specially executed and exercised between those that either border either upon other, or are up in arms in the field together either against other: So here, there is a general hostility between each Soul and all Sin, but that exercised in more special manner between each particular soul and some peculiar sins; and these commonly of two sorts, the sins of a man's calling or particular vocation, and the sins of a man's nature, or of his natural constitution.

§. 24. First, the sins of a man's Calling; under which head also may be comprehended the sins either of the places that men abide in, or of the times that they live in.

When I say the sins of a man's Calling, it is not so to be understood, as if the works or duties of any lawful Calling were evil or sinful in themselves: but that a man by occasion of his place and vocation, or his course of life and conversation, may have more, and more frequent occasions of some sins than of others, greater and stronger inducements and enticements to some sins than to others, which he is therefore more specially to keep watch against. Thus the Courtiers sin is with Naaman to make a God of his Prince, in being content to please the one by displeasing the other: The Captains sin with Joab, to be a man of blood, ready to use, or abuse his weapon rather, to private revenge: The Soldiers sin to pill and spoil, and make a prey of those whom he ought to protect: The Lawyers sin to betray, or to delay his Clients cause, to draw the more fees from him: The Judges sin to pervert judgment, or to tefuse to do justice, for fear, favor, or reward: The Ministers sin to sooth up men in their sin, or to forbear to reprove sin for fear of man's face: The Handy-craftmans sin to do his work deceitfully and unfaithfully, there especially where he thinketh that he cannot be discovered: The Tradesmans sin to use lying and fraud in the uttering of his wares: The sin of great men to be oppressors of the poor: and the sin of the meaner and poorer sort to be discontent with their estate, to envy those that exceed them, and to be instruments of evil offices for their own advantage to others. And so upon each course of life and Calling are there some special sins attending, which those therefore that follow it are the more subject unto, and more in danger to be surprised by, than by many, or ordirily by any other.

Again, when it is said that the sins are to be observed of the times and places that men live in; it is not so to be conceived, as if all sins were not in some sort to be found in all places, or as if all sins had not been more or less in all ages; but that some sins in some places are rifer than others, some sins in some ages more in request than some other: as some diseases reign more in some places than in others, some infirmities are more frequent at sometimes than at others: which those therefore that live in such times or such places, must more specially watch against, as being more in danger to be infected and tainted therewith.

§. 25. The second sort of special corruptions are the sins of a man's nature, or of his natural constitution, such as he is naturally more addicted and inclined unto than unto other. For as it is with the body, so is it also with the soul. As in every man's body there is a general mixture of all the four humors, Blood, Fleame, and the two Cholers, in some degree more or less, but there is someone of them predominant, in regard whereof a man is said to be of a Sanguine, a Flegmatike, a Melancholike, or a Cholerike Constitution: or as in grounds untoiled and untilled there grow evil weeds of all sorts, but there is someone commonly that over-toppeth the residue, and groweth rifer and rancker usually than the rest: So in the soul of man (since the fall of our first Parents a general seed-plot of evil) there are spiritual weeds of all sorts, a mixture of all vice, the seed and spawn of all sin, Atheism it self not excepted: but there is someone pestilent Humour or other lightly more predominant than the rest, someone main and master vice, that giveth a denomination, in regard whereof men are said to be, some ambitious, some covetous, some superstitious, some lascivious, and the like: not as if such persons had no other vice, but that that they are so named by: for it is most true that the Heathen man saith, He that hath any one vice, hath all other with it; but, because that beareth the sway, though the other be all there too in a lower, and a less eminent degree. This is that which David seemeth to have aimed at when he saith; I was upright also with him, and kept myself from mine own sin. Every David (saith one well) hath his Bathsheba, and every Bathsheba her David. David had no doubt his sin, his beloved, his dear, his darling sin, that which naturally he delighted in and was addicted unto. And so hath every man ordinarily someone corruption or other, that is the delight of his heart and the joy of his eyes, that he is naturally most wedded unto, most carried away with. Now this main sin, this master sin is it that we must principally bend our Watch against; as the King of Aram bade his soldiers fight neither against more nor less, but against the King of Israel. For as when he was once slain, the whole Hoast was soon vanquished: so if this master sin be once mastered in us, other petty and inferior ones will the more easily be subdued.

§. 26. But this is it that flesh and blood will not abide almost to hear ought of. It is in stripping us of sin, as in flaying of a beast, the skin cometh away with ease, till you come to the head. Men are well enough content, at least outwardly, to conform themselves to good courses, till it come to the master corruption, to the head sin; to the fat sin that their profit cometh in by, or their sweet sin that they do naturally take pleasure and delight in: but there it sticketh fast, and goeth not on, (if at all) without much ado, but with great difficulty. The worldly minded for other matters will be as conformable as you will desire: But for his State-sin, or his Trade-sin, with Naaman, he must have a protection, that must not be stirred, it may not be touched: he will do anything else that you will have him; but therein must God be merciful unto him: It is a thing incident to his trade and course of life; he cannot do otherwise; it is his living; and it is no other than everyone doth: and if he should not do so as well as others, there were no living for him in the world. A wretched speech of a distrustful heart, refusing to trust him with the body, whom they would seem to trust with the soul. Faith (saith one well) feareth no famine. Yea a fearful sign of an ungracious heart, loving and regarding gain more than godliness, and preferring temporal living before life everlasting. It is better, saith our Savior, to go halt and blind to heaven, than to go with health and sight to hell. So it is far better for a man, with Lazarus, to beg and starve in the streets, and so to be conveyed hence to heaven; than, with the rich-man at whose door he lay, to live in good fashion, or gather a great estate together here, and then be snatched away hence to hell.

§. 27. Yea, but it is not our fault; it is the fault of the times; or, it is the fault of the Land, or the City, that we do as we do. To omit, that we ascribe oft those things to the times and places we live in, that indeed proceed principally from ourselves and our own corrupt hearts: like the Philosophers fool that complained the room was so dark she could not see, when she had suddenly by some disease lost her sight. The rifer any evil is in those places or ages we live in, the more careful should we be to shun and avoid such a sin. Take heed, saith the Apostle, that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise men; because the days are evil. Are the times then we live in, or the places we abide in, more than ordinarily evil in this or that kind? That giveth us no liberty, but should make us walk the more warily; as men that live in bad airs, or in time of general contagion, are more careful to fence and arm themselves by taking of preservatives, eating in the morning ere they go abroad, carrying some things about them to smell to, &c. against danger of infection: that we may be like the fish, that though it live and swim in the salt sea, yet it tasteth not of the salt: that it may be said of us as it was of Noah, But Noah was a just man in his generation: not, a just man as just men went in those days, ( that were but a poor praise of so worthy a Patriarke) but Noah was a just man in that generation wherein the whole world was over-grown with wickedness; he continued just then when there were none almost just but himself and his family, and not all of them neither. Let us remember in this case that as it is an height of impiety and ungodliness for a man to be bad in a good age, and to continue unreformed in a time of general reformation; so it is a special commendation, and a note of true godliness, for a man to be good in a bad age, and to continue uncorrupted in times of general corruption: yea that it is the office of good Christians (that are in their kind and degree the light of the world, while they are in the world, as, Christ also was when he was in it) to shine as lights in the midst of a naughty and perverse nation, striving to show more sincerity and more zeal and forwardness in the best things, the more dissolute the times grow, and the more corrupt those are they live among; like the lamp that shineth brightest where the air about it is most dark, or the room that it is in; and like the fire that burneth hottest and scaldeth most, when the weather is most cold, in the sharpest of winter.

§. 28. Again, in the like manner it is with men for their native corruptions. For to pass from the worldly to the fleshly minded: Come we to the lascivious and incontinent person: we shall find him affected as Herod was, ready to hear John the Baptist gladly, and upon his motion to do many good matters: but if you begin once to deal with him about his Herodias, he can no longer endure you. Some such have not sticked openly and plainly to profess, that they cannot, nor will not leave their lust and their lecherie, no not for the saving of their souls. So deal we with the drunkard: we may chance to find him tractable enough otherwise: but if you come once to his drink, to pull the cup from his mouth, or pluck it out of his hand; you may as soon wring ought out of the fist of some Giant, it is so fast glued to either: he will make you answer with the vine in Jotham's parable; I cannot leave my wine; nor give over my good fellowship: take away my good liquor, and you take away my life. So for the angry man, that is of an hasty and a furious disposition: reprove him for his furious and outrageous behavior, his cursing, and banning, and blaspheming of God's name. What will his answer be, but this? I confess, it is a fault indeed to do thus: but you know my nature. I am of a choleric constitution: and sear fuel is soon fired. Every man hath his fault: that is my natural infirmity: and it must be borne with. I cannot mend it, and my life lay upon it. Yea men account it an all-sufficient Apology, and an unanswerable plea for their grossest corruptions if they can say but, It is my nature. Socrates (as they report of him) when there came one Zopyrus to Athens that professed by men's physnomie to tell how they were affected, & having guessed shrewdly at the matter with many other, was at length brought to him, and after a diligent view of his visage censured him for a man blockish, proud, ambitious, vicious of life, and tainted with many foul matters, whereupon the standers by fell a laughing at him as now out of his Art; bade them stay their laughter, for the man, he said, spake not amiss: true it was, that he was naturally indeed so affected as Zopyrus had said, but by the help of Philosophy he had altered and overcome nature. Can a natural man then by natural helps so restrain and curb his own natural corruptions, that they shall not come to break forth on him, or to be discovered in him? And cannot Christian men, having spiritual and supernatural helps, do as much, yea or much more? A foul shame it is for us, and no small stain to our profession, if by God's grace assisting us we cannot do that, which by human learning alone Heathen men have effected before us: Not to add, what our Savior saith, that, unless we go beyond such, we shall never be saved.

§. 29. Is it a corruption of thy nature? or is it a sin incident to thy calling, or to thy course of life and condition? Then it is that sin that God specially calleth thee to keep watch and ward against. For what need or use is there of watching there, where there is no fear or danger of assault? Were it not a wise watching, for men to keep watch and ward against such enemies as are many hundred miles off them, and neglect those the mean while that are nearer at hand with them, ready every hour almost to be setting upon them? If there were (as oft there hath been) hostility between France and us, were it a wise part, or would it deserve the name of watching, to set some about the Cinque-ports to keep out Turkish men of war, but to let French bottoms pass freely in and out to land forces at their pleasure? They are thine own corruptions, not other men's, that wage war against thy soul: those it standeth thee therefore in hand to keep watch and ward against; because those they are that thou standest most in danger of; and those they are that the Devil is readiest to assault thee withal: such as are the sins either of thy birth and constitution, or of thy breed and education, or of thy course of life and conversation, or of thy state and condition, or of the times thou livest in, or of the places thou abidest in; which because they be nearest or dearest unto thee, thou mayest soonest therefore be drawn away by them, and canst hardliest in that regard be withdrawn away from them.

§. 30. [Point 3] A third point or head of this spiritual Watch, is the careful avoidance of all occasions of evil. A prudent man, saith Solomon, foreseeth the plague, and hideth himself: but the foolish go on still, and are plagued. And it is indeed a point of true spiritual wisdom to foresee sin a far off in the occasions of evil, and by eschewing the one to prevent the other. Fly from sin (saith Sirachs son) as from a Serpent. He were evil advised that would sleep near the hole where he knew that a Serpent harboured; or that seeing a Serpent making toward him, would use no means to keep it from him, till it got within reach of him; alleging for himself that he were safe enough, so long as the Serpent fasteneth not upon him. Nor were they better than stark fools, that should sit still and suffer the enemy, whom they were informed to be up in arms and coming for them, to enter their territory, approach their City, sit down before it, and raise rampires against it; pretending the mean while, that all is well enough with them (what should they need to fear or care?) so long as their walls are not scaled, nor the City it self surprised: The latter is like enough soon to follow, if way be given to the former: In like manner here it is but a sorry watching that we hold against sin, unless we keep watch withal against the occasions of evil. If we wax remiss in our watching against the one, we shall soon be surprised and subdued by the other. It was the wile that that wily one used against our first parents, and by it prevailed with them. He would have the woman at first but go and see the forbidden fruit; though they were not to eat of it, yet they might lawfully enough look on it; it was the taste, not the view of it that God had forbidden them. But What meanest thou, O woman, (saith one of the Ancients) to eye thine own bane so wishfully? Why shouldest thou have such a mind to gaze on that which thou mayest not meddle with? And indeed it fell out full unhappily with her; as with the fish, that is nibbling so long upon the bait, till at length it be suddenly unawares caught with the hook. For from gazing upon it she proceeded to gaping after it; and from sight and view to touch and taste, to the taking in of that that proved the bane both of her and hers.

And it is the course whereby Satan yet to this day prevaileth with a many; such especially as seem to make any conscience of their courses; by drawing them into bad company, combining and linking them in league with lewd ones, egging them on to unnecessary contentions and Law-suits, enticing them to some kind of lawful, but dangerous delights, and such like wiles at the first sight not appearing to be such, he leadeth them into such sins as themselves at first intended not, nor once dreamed (it may be) that they should ever be drawn unto.

§. 31. To this purpose as the Apostle Paul saith of the Ministers of the word, that they must not entangle themselves with worldly affairs: thereby implying that the Minister of God by giving way to multiplicity of worldly businesses, though he intend not in so doing to neglect or grow slack in the work of his own function, yet may come to be so pusseld and snarld in them, that he shall not be able to get well out again when he is once in, and so may be, beside his purpose, with-drawn from that which he should principally attend. So the Apostle Peter of many Christians, that having escaped the defilements of this world, (that is, such sins as worldly men are wont to be ordinarily defiled with) by being entangled, (to wit, in the like occasions of sin, and such snares as Satan had in the same set for them) they come at length to be overcome and vanquished again; to wit, by being drawn again to the practice of such foul enormities as in themselves they had formerly reformed. In regard whereof it is that our Savior doth admonish his Disciples to Watch and pray, that they enter not into temptation. For that if they do enter, an hundred to one it is, (such is man's natural weakness and proneness to evil) that they come not out without some foil. And agreeable to our prayer should our practice be, or else it is but a mock-prayer, and a mockery of him whom we pray to. As we are taught to pray that we may not enter into temptation; so must we take heed how we offer ourselves unto temptation. Else what is it but a mere mocking of God, to ask that of God, which we willfully deny to ourselves, when we might have it? Or how can we hope that God should hear us when we hear not ourselves, when we refuse to put an Amen to our own prayer? We must shun, saith the Apostle, and be shy of the very show and shadow of sin: be afraid, not, with the burnt child, of the fire, and the flame only; but of the very smoke it self of sin: remembering that though the smoke can do no great hurt it self, yet the fire that may burn us shrewdly, is not far from it.

§. 32. Where cometh to be met with the idle plea of those, who when they are admonished or advised to forbear some courses, some companies, that may in this kind prove prejudicial and dangerous unto them, are wont to say; Why? Is it not lawful to do this or that? or, Is it simply unlawful to be in such and such company? Yea but, saith the Apostle to such; All things (that is, all things in their own nature indifferent) are lawful: but all (such) things are not expedient. Things in themselves lawful, in the use of them prove oft inexpedient, and then become they in that regard, and so far forth unlawful to us. The use of a thing and the abuse of it are many times so close twined and twisted together, that a man cannot lay hold on the one but he shall be taken with the other; he cannot pull the one to him, but the other will come with it and accompany it in spite of his heart, though he do not desire the company of it, or to have any dealing at all with it. Yea sure it is (as one well saith) that He that will needs do all that ever he may do, will be soon drawn to do somewhat also that he ought not to do. And better it were for a man to forbear many things that he might do; (there is no hurt in such forbearance; it will never be grief or offense of heart to him, as she said to David in another case, that he hath so done) than by venturing so far between wind and water, in what he may do, to be but once overtaken in what he should not do; which may prove a corasive to him as long as he liveth. And certainly as it were but a fond course for a man that is travelling by the way, when he hath a fair broad path to walk in, to press so near the brink or bank of a brook that runneth along by it, and that, where the ground is slippery, and when the wind is high and bloweth stiff, that ten to one he is in over shoes, if not over head and ears, ere he go far, yea that at every step almost he is in danger to slip in: So here it is a very unwise and improvident carriage, for a man, when he hath the broad rhoad of God's law, giving him scope enough to walk at large without danger in the use of God's good creatures and in the ordering of his courses, yet to press needlessly so near upon the borders and confines of sin, that as David saith to Jonathan, as sure as God liveth, there is but a step between death and me; so there is but a step between sin and them; or as he of men at sea, but a three inch plancke between them and death; so but an inch or two between them and that that may be their bane and the very break-neck of their soul: and that step or inch further may the Devil soon push them, or the very swinge and sway of their own corruption may of it self easily carry them. For it is in going to Godward, as in climbing an hill; a man shall be enforced to stay and breath himself oft ere he would; it is in walking to sin-ward as in running down an hill; a man shall not be able to take up his fierce and disordered affections, and to stay himself where he would: A man is carried with the strong stream of his own affections in the one, he must strive and struggle against the main current, yea the swift and stiff torrent of his own corruptions in the other: so that unless he strive and strain hard, if he grow but remiss, he will soon be going amaine backward; and when he is once going on toward sin, or never so little gone in sin, it is not easy for him to stop and stay, when he will. And how careful had we need then to be of keeping aloof off from that, how fearful of making toward it, or pressing near upon it, which if we do but approach unto, we shall hardly keep out of, if we once chance to step into, we shall hardly but go on in,; and if we step but once into, may be, if we go on in, will be our end. Oh let us consider then how dangerous it is even to approach near to this whirlpit, where we may so soon be wheeled in ere we are aware: let us take heed how we be playing about the hole of the Asp, or near the den of the Cockatrice: let us remember that it is in the use even of things indifferent that Satan most usually setteth his snares for God's servants: and that he prevaileth against those that be not grossly profane and ungodly more often by the immoderate and inordinate use of things in themselves lawful, than by drawing them to such things as are simply evil and unlawful in themselves. And withal, that it is as easier, so safer, for the fowl to pass by the snare while she is yet out, than it is to wind her self out again, when she is once in: She is safe enough for being caught, if she keep aloof of it; she ventureth catching, though she be not caught, if she come over-near it. Keep aloof of her (to wit, the Harlot) saith Solomon lessoning his son, come not so much as once, near the door where such a one dwelleth. He is in danger that so doth, whether he go in to her or no. And he sinneth dangerously that willfully exposeth himself to the danger of any sin.

§. 33. Now in this kind is more special regard to be had, as before of our special corruptions, so here of such special temptations as we have formerly found ourselves either to have fallen, or to have been in danger of falling by, that we may the more warily for the time to come shun such things, as though not evil in themselves, yet we find to have been formerly occasions of evil unto us. Turn mine eyes away, saith David, ô Lord, even from beholding of vanity: not mine heart only from affecting it, but mine eyes also from beholding it. It is not likely indeed (though some have so thought) that David penned that Psalm after his foul over-sight with Bathsheba: it may seem rather by the main matter of it to have been made during the time of his exilement under Saul, before he came to the crown. But well might David, or any other in David's case, calling to mind after the like offense, what had been the occasion of his fall, how by letting his eyes run at random, and not watching over them as he ought, he had come to be caught in Satan's snares; well, I say, might such a one pray earnestly unto God, as David there doth, that his eyes as well as his heart might be kept within compass, lest by the one Satan might come again to surprise and to seise upon the other. Yea not only ought such a one so to pray with David, but to join practice also with his prayer, by making (as Job sometime did) a covenant with his eyes, that they should no more be fixed and set upon such objects as had been formerly occasions to him of folly and of fall: and so others in the like case to forbear such company, cast off such acquaintance, shun such private familiarities, and break off such needless businesses, as have been the means formerly to ensnare them unto sin. Remembering what the Prophet saith, describing the man that shall both dwell in safety here, and behold the glory of God to his eternal comfort hereafter, that he is such a one, as walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly, and refuseth gain by oppression; that shaketh his hands from taking of gifts, (he will not only not consent to do a man wrong, but will not so much as receive a gift whereby he may be engaged or inclined so to do;) and stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood; (he will not only have no hand in the shedding of it, but he cannot endure to hear any communing of it;) and lastly, that shutteth his eyes from seeing of evil: he not escheweth only the practice of it, but he even shunneth the very sight of it, so far forth as it may be a means to inveigle his heart; or the sight of ought that may betray his heart thereunto.

§. 34. The fourth and last point wherein this spiritual Watch consisteth is the constant resistance of temptations unto evil. It cannot be, saith our Savior, but that offenses will come: So it cannot be avoided, walk we never so warily, but that occasions of evil too too many will be offered. Herein therefore standeth a further part of this our Watch, as in a careful avoidance (so much as in us lieth) of the occasions of sin that they be not offered: so in a constant resistance of temptations and encitements to evil when they shall be offered, yea when they shall be urged and enforced upon us; that which the Apostles James and Peter call the withstanding of the Devil and his instruments; and the Apostle Paul withstanding and standing, or standing firm and fast by standing out, in the evil day, that is, in the time of temptation.

On that night, saith the story of Ahasuerus, the Kings sleep went from him. It is no watching to speak properly, neither is it thankworthy, for a man to lie awake, because he cannot sleep: but when long continuance of waking, and the usual hour of rest, and and the drowsiness of his own brain, and the heaviness of his eyes, and the example of others fast asleep by him, shall all concur and conspire as it were to cast him into a slumber, for a man then to strive to keep waking is true watching, and is thank-worthy indeed. So here for a man to keep himself sober, when he cannot come by wine or strong drink, or when he wanteth his good-Fellowes to drink with (for this is one of those sociable sins: there is no life in it without company) it is not thankeworthy, the will is as good, or as bad rather, still as ever. But for a man to be careful not to break the bounds of sobriety, when he shall be in place where wine is plenty, and no restraint of it, and where company will be egging him on, and urging him with instance to take more than is meet, that is true temperance and praise-worthy indeed. In like manner for a man to keep a true man, as we say, because he was never put in trust, or to deal faithfully, where a due and strict account is taken of his actions; it is no commendation the one, and it is but a very slender commendation (if any at all) the other. But for a man that hath trust reposed in him, and none to look after him, or to call him to account (as Joseph, as the workmen about the Temple sometime) to deal then truly and faithfully, especially when want and penury shall be persuading him to the contrary, that is indeed a matter of high commendation; that is watching over a man's hands and fingers indeed. Thus also for a man to live chastely and keep continent, when he wanteth his lewd company, or for a woman to live honestly whom no man looketh after, or because she is otherwise looked after, and a narrow watch is set over her, deserveth not the name of watchfulness in either, yea the heart may be never a whit the less faulty with either. But for Tamar to deny Ammon’s incestuous suit, and to stand out against him, till by mere force she be constrained to endure rather the dishonest act of another, than to do any of her own; for Joseph sued and sought to by his Mistress that had some kind of command over him, yea urged and solicited day after day to condescend to her adulterous desires, to refuse to yield to her allurements, (her inforcements I might well say) and to choose rather to hazard loss of present liberty (such as then he had) by not sinning, than to gain further enlargement and advancement (there might well be hope of future preferment) by consenting to sin; it was a part and practice of due watchfulness indeed.

§. 35. Where cometh to be met with that vain and idle Apology that many are wont to make in defense or excuse at least of their inordinate behavior, that they were provoked and urged to do that they did: Are you not ashamed to be overseen with drink in such sort as to make yourself a scorn and a laughing stock to everyone that beheld you, and to become no better than a beast? Oh; saith he, I was urged to it: I was in company with Chapmen Customers; (they are those that a man lives by) and I could not do otherwise than I did. Yea but no man could or can ( nor the Devil himself) compel thee to sin, unless thou wilt thyself. And there were no need for thee, or for any man to watch against such sins as these are, if there were no such occasions of falling into them, or if no such temptations to incite or entice thereunto. Again, saith another reproved for his outrageous behavior in cursing and banning, swearing and swaggering, and blaspheming, as before; I did nothing but what I was urged and provoked unto: It would have angered an Angel; it would have made a Saint swear, to be used as I was, to endure what I did. Alas! and what use were there of patience, were there no provokement to impatience? or what praise is it there to be patient, where there is no occasion (for just cause none can be) of impatience? Shall another man's wickedness make thee wicked like him? Wilt thou imitate him in that, wherein thou condemnest him? and be like him in that which thou mislikest in him? Yea shall man's wronging thee make thee wrong God? his abusing thee make thee abuse God's blessed name? his flying in thy face make thee fly in God's face? What watching call we this, for a man to keep no longer awake, than till his eyes begin to grow heavy, and then of his own accord to settle himself unto sleep? Or what watching is it to keep watch and ward, to fence and fortify, where no assault is made, and to set no watch nor make resistance when we are indeed assaulted? to watch, till we see the enemy whom we should watch against, approach; and so soon as we descry him, as the hireling, when he spieth the Wolf coming, to leave instantly and give over our watch? No: it is in regard of continual danger that we are in, either by inward defect or by outward default, that this Watch is required: And therefore there must watch be most diligent, where is most likelihood of danger, or where hottest assault is made: Yea continual watch must be held and joined with resistance, not till assault only be made, but so oft as assault shall be made, and so long as it shall continue: Which because it will so do ever even till we die, this our Watch must continue also even unto death.

§. 36. Hitherto then we have considered of the manner of this [Part 4] Watch, and wherein the same doth principally consist; Let us now further consider of some Means of help and furtherance, whereby we may be the better enabled to go thorough therewith.

[Help 1] The first may be the practice of Sobriety and Temperance, Take heed, saith our Savior, lest at any time your hearts come to be oppressed or surcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and with the cares of this life: and so that day come upon you and surprise you unawares: But watch and pray continually. And surely as it is with the body; so is it also with the soul. Temperate diet is a great help to bodily watching: and on the other side when men have over-liberally eaten and drunk, they are wont to be heavy and drowsy, ready to slumber as they sit, sit for nothing but for sleep. And no less enemy to this spiritual Watch is such riot and excess. Be not filled with wine, (saith the Apostle) wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit: as if when the one went in, the other went out; and there were no room left for the one, when men are filled so with the other. We are wont to say that When the wine goeth in, the wit goeth out: but the Apostle saith, that when wine is thus taken in, the Spirit of God is expelled, (wherewith we should watch) and the Spirit of Satan is entertained, (against which we should watch) and the Temple of the one is made a sty and a stable for the other. For such excess is a mean even to drown the mind, and by casting reason and understanding into a dead and deadly sleep, to make men unable to watch against the motions of sin, to shut the door of the heart against all virtue, and to set it wide open to all vice. By means hereof came Noah to discover his own shame in the sight of his sons, to his disgrace and reproach. Yea by means hereof came Lot in beastly manner to abuse himself by filthy incest with those that came out of his own loins, and so became he the father of an accursed bastardly brood. And no marvel if Sin and Satan find free entrance at will, when that is shut out, or laid up that should watch against either.

§. 37. On the other side Sobriety is a special help unto vigilancy: which the Apostles therefore are wont usually to join the one with the other. Let not us sleep, as others do, saith the Apostle Paul; but let us watch, and be sober. And, Be sober and watch, saith the Apostle Peter. Which sobriety also must be understood to consist, not in the temperate taking of meat and drink only, but in a moderate usage of all other temporal blessings, such especially as we are wont to take pleasure and delight in. For there is (as the Prophet saith in another sense, Thou that art drunk, but not with wine; and, They are drunk, but not with wine; and they stagger, but not with strong drink, ) there is, I say (as I have shown elsewhere) a drunkenness without either wine or strong drink; yea and a surfeiting too without flesh or food. A man may surfeit of, and be drunk with prosperity, with pleasure, with game, with disport, with other the like delights; and may well be said so to do, when he is so transported with them, so distempered by them, that he breaketh forth into such disordered and outrageous behavior; as, of immoderate rejoicing, and excessive laughter, of howting and showting, and of gesture unseemly, or of fretting and chafing, of cursing and banning, of swearing and blaspheming, or the like, as will not stand with sobriety, and such as they could not but condemn in themselves, were they not for the time in a manner drunk and beside themselves; yea sometime, not such only as all sober minded men would abhor, but such as even a mad man himself, if he be not stark mad, will esteem to be mad carriage.

§. 38. Whereas some therefore use to say, when they are rebuked and reproved, as for their abuse of God's good creatures, so for their drunken and disordered behavior at game, or otherwise; Is it not lawful to eat and drink? and, Is it not lawful to use game? and, Is it not lawful for neighbors to be merry together? Yes undoubtedly: Christianity enjoineth not, nor exacteth of us any Stoicall austerity. God hath given and granted us, as bread to strengthen our bodies, so wine to cheare our hearts withal: he hath liberally afforded us the free use of his good creatures, not for necessity alone, but for lawful delight too. Neither doth it follow, that God's children take no delight at all in such outward delights, because they have other more principal ones that they take far greater delight in. It is promised as a blessing even unto God's people, that there should be boys and girls playing together in the streets of Jerusalem: and that they should have liberty to invite and entertain either other, each man his friend or his neighbor under his vine or fig tree, in his orchard or in his arbour. But can we not use God's creatures, unless we abuse them, and make that the bane and poison of our souls, that was given us to be the food and stay of our bodies? Or can we not be merry unless we make the devil our play-fellow? Can we not be merry, unless we be mad? Is there no mirth at all but in swearing and swaggering, and in blaspheming of God's blessed Name? Is our mirth (think we) nothing worth, if it be not mixed with profaneness; if it be not seasoned, or tainted rather, with impiety and ungodliness, or with impurity and uncleanness? Such eating and drinking is accursed eating and drinking: such mirth is accursed mirth, evil-beseeming any Christian, and such as will at length end in mourning and woe, yea in eternal mourning and everlasting woe, if it be not speedily prevented. As the Apostle saith, in regard of others, so is it no less true in regard of a man's self; It is evil for a man to eat with offense; and with the disa • ling of himself unto good duties: And it is evil for a man to use game or any other lawful delight in that manner, as it shall be an occasion, either of stumbling to others, or of sin and evil to himself. And, It is not good therefore for a man to eat flesh, nor drink wine, nor use game, nor do ought else, whereby either himself, or any other shall be occasioned to sin. For what we owe unto others, we owe much more to ourselves; being enjoined to love others indeed, but as ourselves. And therefore ought we to have a care as well to live soberly in regard of ourselves, as to walk charitably in regard of our brethren.

§ 39. The rather are we to be heedful and careful in this kind, because (that which made Job so fearful and suspicious of his children, lest they should over-shoot themselves when they were feasting together) we are more prone to be carried away unto evil in our pleasures and delights, in mirth and game, in sport and pastime, than amids our sadder and more serious affairs. With these commonly is Satan tempering his poison to infect our souls with unto death; under these is he usually hiding his hooks to catch us withal to our destruction: as those that seek by poison to make a man away are wont not to minister it alone, but to mix it with such meat as the party ordinarily feedeth on, and taketh most delight in, or to give it him in his ordinary drink; and as the Fisher-man baiteth his hook for each fish with such bait as the fish usually feedeth on, and most greedily gapeth after. Besides that we are in danger by such means to be soonest surprised of him; as Ammon was sometime by Absalom's Followers, and Elah by Zimry his own traitorous Servant, and the Citizens of Laish by the children of D • n, for that we are in such cases commonly most secure, and least mistrustful; and the more in danger therefore, the less we misdoubt it, or dream of it.

[Help 2] §. 40. A second help unto Vigilancie is the society of Saints, the company of those that be godly and religious. Two, saith the Wiseman, are better than one. For if the one of them fall, the other is at hand to help him up again. But woe be to him that is alone. For if he fall, he hath none to help to raise him again. A drowsy person, if he be alone, is ready presently to fall asleep. But if he be in company, the very presence of others, besides their mutual conference and discourse, is a good means to keep him awake; and if he begin but to nod, someone or other of the company is ready to jog him on the elbow, and either to keep him awake, or to awake him soon again, if on a sudden he be sleeping. As it is dangerous therefore for a man to be left alone, when he is heavy, and sleep may (as after a vein opened or some potion taken) prove prejudicial unto him: So it is dangerous for us in regard of our drowsy disposition to be solitary; we may the sooner be surprised with sinful suggestions, the more easily be drawn to yield to Satanical temptations, and the longer may it be (if ever it be) ere we recover ourselves again after them: Whereas if we be in company with those that be wise and wakeful, it may be a mean to keep us waking oft, when we would otherwise be slumbering, and to recover us the more speedily when we are suddenly fallen into slumber unawares. To this purpose the Apostle exhorteth Christian men to observe either other: that is, to have an eye one to another, and not each one to himself only; to keep watch one over another, and not each one over himself only, like cursed Cain that asketh of God, whether he were his brothers keeper. And to what end would he have them thus to watch over their brethren? to whet them up, or whet them on, saith the Apostle: (that which we all stand in need of:) to provoke and egg them on unto godliness and well-doing, to keep them watching with themselves. And how is that done? Surely, As iron, saith Solomon, whetteth iron; so the very face of a man whetteth his friend. The very presence of a religious person, and much more his good speech, & his godly carriage, his holy advice, his discreet admonition, his seasonable reproof may be a mean to encourage & cheer us up when we do well, to restrain and stay us up, when we are slumbering & sinking down, to recover and raise us up again when we are down unawares. In which kind, as the whet-stone, though dull and blunt it self, yet is able to sharpen iron tools: so even those that be but dull and drowsy of themselves, but yet diligent, and desirous to keep waking both themselves and others, may help to sharpen and qui • ken even those that be otherwise more wakeful (it may be) than themselves. For as there is none so learned, but he may learn something from the very meanest, even from those that be far inferior in gifts to himself: Apollos though a learned Teacher and well read in the word, yet may be taught something by a silly Tent-maker and a weak woman, that he was ignorant of before: and the Jewish Rabbin's acknowledge that they came to understand a place of the Prophet Isaiah by hearing an Arabian woman mention a broom, or a besom in her language to her maid: so there is none so watchful of himself, but he may have need of others to watch over him, and may receive benefit in that kind, even from a drowsy soul, one that is less wakeful than himself. In a word, drowsy persons, if they desire to keep waking, can better do it in company together one with another, (it is not likely they should all suddenly fall fast asleep at once) than they can being severally apart either from other.

§. 41. Well therefore and wisely addeth the Apostle in that place, Not forsaking the fellowship; as the manner is of many. And again; But we are not of them that with-draw themselves to their own ruin. It is not safe for a melancholy man to be much solitary: and it is a matter of no small danger for a Christian man to affect a solitariness, or a sullen kind of privacy and retiredness, and by occasion thereof to sequester himself from the company & society of others, though it be upon some good and godly pretence. Thus as in the Church of Rome, at this day many affect a Monkish course of life, under color of withdrawing themselves from the world: So among the Ancients we find that some worthy men otherwise had sometime some cogitations and projects looking and bending somewhat that way, yea that sometime they made some trial of conclusions in that kind. But what doth one principal man among them confess, writing to another of them out of the wilderness, whither he had withdrawn himself, how he found himself there affected? What I do here night and day (saith he) I am even ashamed to relate. For the City business I have shunned as an occasion of many evils: but myself yet I cannot shun. But it fareth with me, as with men at sea that are seasicke because they cannot brook the sea: when they are in a greater ship, they think they should be better, if they were in a less bark; it is the rolling of the great ship they think that maketh them so evil: and so out of the ship they get them into the boat or the bark. But in the ship or in the bark they are bad still, as evil as ever, so long as the bitter choller abideth with them that pestereth their stomach. In like manner it is with us. Carying about with us our inbred and inmate passions, we are everywhere encumbered with the like perturbations; and so gain no great matter by this our solitariness, and sequestering of ourselves. And another of latter and more superstitious times, though a great admirer and practiser of Monastical life himself, advising a woman that had a great mind to the Wilderness; Is it not Wisdom, saith he, peradventure you will say, to eschew as the wealth, so the throng of the City? will not my chastity be there safer, where conversing with few or none, I may please him alone whom I desire principally to approve myself unto? No by no means, say I: One that will do evil, shall find matter enough in the Wilderness to work upon, and beside shady shelter in the thicket, and silence in solitude. For the evil that none sees, none finds fault withal. And where there is none to find fault, the Tempter is the bolder to assault, and the fault is committed the more freely. Whereas being in company you cannot do evil though you would: for you are presently eyed, chid, rebuked and reclaimed by the rest. To conclude, either you are a wise Virgin or a foolish one: if a wise one, the company hath need of you; if an unwise one, you of it. And else-where dealing with some other in like manner affected; Perchance, saith he, you will make choice of solitariness, not well weighing either your own weakness, or Satan's assaults. For what can be more ieopardous than to wrestle alone with such a sly adversary as seeth us when we see not him? We had more need to seek out some troupe to join ourselves with, where we may have as many Fellow-helpers as fellows. For it is the congregation that is terrible, as an army well ranged. But woe be to him that is alone: for if he fall, he hath none at hand to help him up. That which a many find too true by woeful experience, when the noon-day devil hath enticed them out into the Wilderness under pretence of greater holiness, and strictness of life. And undoubtedly, as there is none but are more prone to slumber when they are alone, than when they are in company with others that are awake; so there is no man, if he well consider himself, but he shall find that he is more prone to be assailed with evil suggestions and motions, when he is alone by himself, than when he is in company with others that be religiously affected. In regard whereof it is not without good cause that the same Author saith, I more fear the evil that I may do alone, than what I cannot do but in company. Those therefore that shunning the society of others, sequester themselves, and will needs live wholly to themselves, do but in so doing deprive themselves of a main help unto watchfulness, and expose themselves unwisely, (though it may be unwittingly) unto the wiles and snares of their suttle Adversary, who is then with them unseen, when there is nobody else by them; and is then readiest to assault them, when there is none by to assist them.

§. 42. But as he said sometime to one that was talking, as he said, with himself, He had need be well advised, that he talked not with a bad Companion: so here, a man that not without good cause desireth company, had need yet be wary what company he lighteth on and associateth himself unto. For as the benefit is great that cometh by good company, so is the danger and harm no less that accreweth by bad. Association is of much force both the one way and the other. Our society with others, and theirs with us, cannot but prevail much either to make us like them, or to make them like us. He that walketh but with the wise, saith Solomon, shall wax wiser thereby: and he that keepeth company with fools, shall be the worse for it. The very company of either is wont ordinarily to work even with some efficacy on those that much or oft converse though for other ends with either. A third help therefore unto Watchfulness may be the shunning of the society and fellowship of wicked and profane persons. Away from me, saith David, all ye workers of iniquity. And, A wicked person I will not know: I will have no acquaintance with any such. Yea to this purpose, as he inviteth good company to him, I am a companion of all those that fear thee, and keep thy precepts. Such as feared God, were they high or low, were they rich or poor, they were for his company, he was content and desirous to be acquainted with them. So on the other side he biddeth all profane ones away from him, Away from me, ye wicked ones: I will keep the commandments of my God. As if he could not keep God's commandments, at least not so well as he would, so long as the wicked were in company with him. And in this regard as else-where he professeth of himself, that he would neither sit among, nor go abroad, nor keep any company with such: so he pronounceth him a happy man, that neither walketh with, nor standeth amids, nor sitteth among, that in no sort or manner converseth with those, that are wicked, sinful, and scoffers at goodness and godliness. Not that a man should by and by in a Pharisaical humor condemn or contemn everyone that cometh short of himself either in knowledge or in practice of sanctification, or should sequester himself from everyone that is not so forward in, or zealous of the better things, as were to be wished and desired; like those proud Hypocrites in Isaiah, that say, stand aloof of me; come not near me: for I am holier than thou. Weak ones are to be received, not to be rejected: to be healed and strengthened, not to be turned out. But for those that be openly profane with Esau; scoffers and deriders of religion with Ishmael; by their loose and lewd course of life proclaiming and publishing not an utter want only of goodness and godliness in them, but a perverseness of heart, and an averseness thereunto; such, saith the Apostle, should men shun: lest they corrupt us, when we cannot correct them. For the very sight of blear eyes may hurt those that have whole, but tender, eyes: when the sight of the whole will not help the blear-eyed. Sooner may evil be fastened upon good ones, weak ones especially, than good things conveyed unto and wrought into those that be obstinately evil.

§. 43. And surely as some bodily diseases are said to be catching and contagious; a man may soon catch them by being in company of or drinking with those that have them: So it is with most diseases of the soul; this spiritual Lethargy is a contagious, a catching disease, we take it easily one from another. Evil company is infectious, as evil airs are. There is a kind of contagiousnesse in loose and lewd companions, as well as in those that are possessed of some pestilent disease. And we have great reason therefore, if our souls health be dear to us, to be careful of shunning, so much as may be, such places, and such persons, or to be very wary in conversing with them, where it cannot be avoided. The bodily plague is not so soon taken by sitting by the sick man's bed-side; but a spiritual plague, worse far than it, more deadly, more desperate, may much sooner be gotten by sitting with profane, and debauched persons. A man shall hardly come with fair apparel amongst colliers, and carters, and chimney-sweepers, but he shall carry some of their soil and their foot away from them; but his white apparel will be soyled and sullied at least by them. And we shall hardly be in company long or oft with ungodly ones, but we shall bear away some tincture of their ungodliness with us. Woe is me, saith the Prophet Isaiah, I am undone; for I am a man of polluted lips, and I dwell amids people of polluted lips: as if a man could not lightly live among such, but he should in part be such as they were. One slothful person infecteth another: As the crampfish benumbeth those that touch or come near it. One wicked one fasteneth his wickedness upon another. The very sight of others sleeping may make a man sleepy that were wakeful otherwise: as the very sight of those that yawne is wont to set others also on yawning. Yea such is the devilish disposition of man's wicked and wretched heart, that as some infected and infectious persons have a strong desire to be infecting of others; and those that have already moiled themselves, take a delight in, and make a sport of moyling others, that come in with fair clothes among them, thereby to make them like themselves; so wicked and profane persons usually desire nothing more, delight more in nothing, than in transfusing of their wickedness and profaneness unto others. Besides that we are prone enough of ourselves to take infection without help. Our corruption within us is as tinder or gun-powder rather, ready to be on a light flame, if but the least spark light on it, or it come but anything near the fire: like flax that of it self catcheth and draweth the flame to it, and is all on a flash, so soon as it but feeleth the fire.

§. 44. As good company therefore ought diligently to be sought and kept; so evil company ought as warily to be shunned and avoided. Not that we may not at all have commerce with such: for he that would so do, must go out of the world: nor yet that we should deny Christian offices to such: such we were also sometime ourselves: and it were inhumane cruelty to shut up persons infected together, and so suffer them to starve. But as we are wont to deal with those that are so diseased, though we be careful to relieve them, and to make provision of things necessary for them, as well physic as food, to restore health, if it may be, as well as to preserve life; yet we are wary of coming over-near them, or conversing so with them, as whereby to take any infection from them: So here, howsoever by occasion of our calling and course of life, we may be called and constrained to have dealings sometime with such as are openly ungodly and professedly profane; and so far forth as we have opportunity and just occasion so to do, we perform offices about them, spiritual ones especially, as standeth with our duty, and may be for their good: Yet we take heed how we enter into any league of familiarity and inwardness with such, whereby we may through ordinary companying with them take spiritual infection from them, when we intend it not, ere we be aware. Make no league, saith Solomon, with a wrathful man: nor keep company with one that is of a furious and outrageous behavior, Lest thou learn his ways; and thy conversing with him prove a snare unto thy soul. For as those that walk in the Sun, though for other end and purpose, become tanned with it and sun-burnt, whether they regard it or no: so those that come oft in company with profane and evil disposed persons, though for no evil end, intending nothing less than to become like unto them, yet draw they a tincture oft from them, learn to lispe and to limpe after them, come in time somewhat to resemble them both in speech and in practice, and to have a strange change wrought on them, in regard of what they have been, though they perceive not how nor when they change. Israel's posterity had learned Egyptian superstitions by their long abode in Egypt: and Heathenish impieties from those heathen people among whom they were mingled in the land of Canaan. Yea Joseph himself by living in Pharaoh's Court had learned to swear at every word almost by the life of Pharaoh, ( By the life of Pharaoh ye are but Spies; and, By the life of Pharaoh ye go not hence ) as the other profane his Fellow-courtiers usually did. Such apt Scholars are we all generally, to learn ought that is evil: and so easy a matter it is even for the best and the strongest to take taint by such societies; and if not to become wholly profane like them, yet by oft sight of sin to have it wax more familiar with them, nothing so distasteful unto them as in times past it was; and so to have the edge of their former zeal and fervor against it abated, and the intention of their watchfulness consequently in some degree slackened. And it is one degree unto evil to be less eager against evil; yea it is no small degree of evil, when a man can well away with evil in others.

[Help 4] §. 45. A fourth Help to further us in this spiritual Watch is to labor to keep the fear of God fresh in our souls. A wise man, saith the Wiseman, feareth and departeth from evil: And By the fear of God men depart from evil. There is no affection more watchful than fear. Griefe and sorrow make men many times heavy and drowsy: but fear and care are wont to make them vigilant and watchful. Jacob after he heard news of his brother Esau's coming against him, could not for his life take any rest all that night long. Yea Sampson himself when he lay with his head in Dalilaes lap, no sooner was admonished that the Philistines were upon him, but he start up instantly and began to look about him, he had little list to continue his wanton daliance with her, or his sleeping upon her knee. In fear of invasion men are wont to keep due watch and ward: where no such danger is misdoubted, like the men of Laish, there are they more careless and secure. In like manner is it here: The fear of God if it be kept fresh in our hearts, it will keep us spiritually waking, it will make us careful to shun, and fearful to do ought, that may offend him whom we fear. Job was a just man, saith the Holy Ghost, fearing God and eschewing evil. And By faith Noah forewarned of things to come long after, moved with fear prepared the Ark for the safety of him and his. What made him so careful, when the whole world was so careless, but his faith and his fear? Faith bred fear, and fear bred care. In regard whereof, the Spirit of God by Solomon justly pronounceth that man a blessed man that feareth continually. For who so so doth, will ever stand upon his guard, will never slumber in security. And it is our only security, our only safety for us, never to be secure. On the other side, when the fear of God beginneth to decay and wax faint in us, then are we wont to grow less watchful and careful of shunning sin, and to lie more open to all Satan's temptations thereunto. That subtle serpent could not prevail with our first Parents to induce them to disobedience and breach of God's charge, till he had wrought this fear of God out of their hearts, by persuading them that there was no such danger in the matter, they should not die, though they did it. And therefore it is not without cause that David admonisheth his malicious Adversaries in that manner; Stand in awe, and sin not: as implying, that this was the reason why they took such ungodly courses against the godly, because they stood not in awe of God. And undoubtedly the main cause of so much looseness in the lives and courses of most men, is for want of this awe, because the Fear of God is not in them.

§. 46. The wickedness of the wicked man, saith the Psalmist, enformeth me in the very midst of mine heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. Come we to any wicked man, that liveth never so loosely, and tell him that there is no fear of God in his heart; he will be ready to cry out of presumptuous and uncharitable censurers, that take God's office upon them to see into men's souls, and to tell what is in men's hearts. But the Spirit of God itself telleth such, that their own lives evidently discover to any understanding eye what is within them; their profane and secure courses proclaim a want of this awe in them. For were there any the least measure of that fear of God in them, that they would be thought to have, yea were it but the servile fear only, that the devils themselves have; they would not, nay they could not continue and go on so carelessly, so securely in their dissolute courses as they do; this very fear it self alone would rouse them up and raise them out of their spiritual slumber; it would even enforce them to look about them in spite of their teeth; at least not suffer them so securely to lie snorting in sin. To this purpose the Apostle Paul having ripped up and dissected the natural man from top to toe, and made as it were an Anatomy of him, finding his tongue tipped with fraud, his lips tainted with venom, his mouth full of gall, his throat a gaping grave; his tongue as a rapier to run men through with, and his throat as a sepulcher to bury them in; his feet swift to shed blood; and all his ways full of mischief: at length he concludeth all with this as the cause of all this evil both in heart and life, There is no fear of God before their eyes. Which place one of the Ancients alluding unto saith, that The fear of God is as a Porter set at the door of our Soul. If the Porter that is set to watch at the door to keep suspicious persons out, grow sleepy and slumber, they will be stealing in that should not, now one and then another: but if he fall fast asleep, or be knocked on the head and slain outright, then who will may come in hand over head. In like manner here: When the fear of God beginneth to grow faint in the soul, not to be so fresh as formerly it hath been, then evil motions find some entrance and begin to steal in upon us. But if the fear of God be utterly extinct and put out in us, then lie we wide open, exposed indifferently to all sorts of sins: There is no sin so heinous, so hideous, that men are privileged or exempt from, where this fear is once abandoned and abolished. I thought, saith Abraham, there is no fear of God in this place: and therefore they will kill me to have my wife away from me. Murder and Adultery, are the two foremost sins in the second Table, and such as the very light of nature doth of all other most, and most evidently condemn; and yet is there no bones made of them in Abraham's account, where this fear of God is wanting, and much less then of any other that seem lesser and lighter than they.

§. 47. So that if the question be, how it cometh to pass that such sins and the like are so rife in these times, we need go no further to seek the cause of it; it is because Men have cast off the fear of God, that should and would otherwise better keep them within compass. And herein is wicked and wretched man become worse than the brute beasts. For whereas There be two homebred Tutors as it were that God hath set over each of us, Shame and Fear, the shame of sin, and the fear of wrath: He that hath cast off shame, is no better than a beast; he that hath shaken off fear is worse than a beast: For we lay load upon an Ass, and he is well content with it, because he is an Ass, a beast made and borne to bear burdens: But if you offer to thrust him down some steep hill, or to drive him into the fire, he holdeth back, and shunneth it all he can, because he loveth life, and feareth death. Whereas wretched man, more blockish and senseless than the very Ass, more brutish than the brute beast, than the brutishest of beasts, hath no fear or dread of that that may be his eternal bane, that may bring everlasting death and destruction upon him. Yea wicked man, a devil incarnate, cometh short herein in some sort of the devil himself. For the devils, saith James, believe and tremble: they believe God's Word, and they tremble at his wrath. Whereas wicked man, in that regard worse than they, neither believeth the one, nor feareth the other; maketh but a scoff and a jest of either. And no marvel then, if there be no watching against sin, where there is no fear or expectation of any evil or danger by sin, no dread or awe of God's wrath against it.

[Help 5] §. 48. A fifth Help to further us in our spiritual Watch, and a mean to keep this fear of God fresh in our souls, is to be thoroughly persuaded, and oft seriously to consider, of God's continual presence about us and with us, wheresoever we are, and whatsoever we are about. I have set the Lord always before mine eyes, saith David: For he is at my right hand: therefore shall I not fall. And it would be indeed a sovereign preservative to keep us from falling into this spiritual slumber, and a singular means to make us watchful of our ways, if we could at all times remember and did seriously consider, that There is an eye of God in every place viewing both good and bad: yea that that God who is all eye, and whose eye seeth all, that seeth all himself unseen of any, is present in all places; not penned up in Heaven, but filling Heaven and Earth; as without all things, and yet not excluded from any, so within all things, and yet not included in any; being like a sphere, as the Heathen man sometime said, whose Center is everywhere, and its Circumference nowhere. So that as David said sometime of himself, There is no flying for any man from the face of God; no shunning of the Spirit or presence of God: if we climb up into Heaven, we are sure there to find him: and if we creep down into hell, we shall not miss of him there neither; (full glad would those damned wretches be, if they could) if we could take the wings of the morning, and fly as far as the world is wide, yet there should we be sure to find the hand of God ready to catch hold of us. Or if we imagine that the darkness and the nightly shade may cover and conceal us from his sight, he is able to turn as the day into dark night, so the dark night into day. Yea darkness is no darkness with him; but the night is as clear as the day; light and darkness, day and night are with him both alike. It is the argument that Solomon useth with the incontinent person to withdraw him from his loose and licentious courses; Why shouldest thou delight, saith he, in a strange woman, or embrace a strangers bosom? Since the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord; and he pondereth all his paths. Yea not his ways alone, but the secret motions of his mind, and the inward intentions of his heart, they are all naked and broken up, as the inwards of a beast that is cut up and quartered, to him that we have to deal with. For thou hast possessed my very reins, saith David, and thou understandest all my thoughts: yea, thou understandest them afar off, or long before: he seeth them ere they are, they are conceived of him, ere they be conceived in us, he knoweth as well what we will either think or do, as what we have already thought or done. And Hell and destruction, saith Solomon, are before the Lord: and how much more then the hearts of the sons of men? And it is the argument that Elihu useth to dissuade and deter men from wicked practices; God's eyes are upon the ways of man; and he eieth every step he taketh: And there is no darkness, nor deadly shade, that can shadow wicked workers from his sight.

§. 49. This was that that kept David in compass: I have kept, saith he, thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are in thy sight. As all God's laws in his sight: so all his ways in God's sight: God's laws in his sight by dutiful regard; his ways in God's sight through his all-seeing providence, whereby like a well-drawn picture, that eieth each one in the room, he eieth in that manner each one in the world, and all the ways of each one, as if his eye were upon none but him alone. This was it that made Joseph so vigilant and watchful, that he would not yield unto sin, though he were solicited and urged thereunto, when there was both opportunity and secrecy withal, none by to see them or to bewray them, and so to incense his Master against him: How can I, saith he, do this great wickedness, and sin against God? It was the fear of God arising from the consideration of his presence there, that kept Joseph at that time from that sin. As if he had said; Though there be no creature by to see what we do, yet there is a God that over-looketh us. And, as he saith; What availeth it to have none privy to our evil acts, when we have our own consciences privy thereunto? So what availeth it to have no creature privy to them, when we have him privy to them who must one day be our Judge, and who as he abhorreth them, and cannot brook or abide them, so hath threatened to punish and take vengeance upon us for them. We read of two religious men that took two contrary courses with two lewd women, whom they were desirous to reclaim from their lewd manner of life. The one came to the one as desirous of her company, so it might be with all secrecy: and when she had led him from room to room, and he made still many doubts, as very shy and fearful, lest at this window, that key hole, this crevice, or that crany, some or other might chance to peep in and espy them together, at length she brought him to the inwardest room in the house, where she said she was full sure that none upon her life could possibly come to pry in or see ought: but then he told her that all the bolts and bars that were could not keep God out, all the walls and doors that were could not hinder his eye-sight: and what should they gain by shunning man's eyes, when they lay open still to God's eye? The other of them came to another of like condition in like manner, as desiring her company, but so as she would go out at doors and company with him openly in the street: Which when she seemed to reject as a mad man's request; he thereupon told her, that Better and safer it were to commit that or any other sin in the eyes of a multitude of mortal men, than in the sight of God alone the immortal Judge of mankind; in the eyes of the whole world, than in the sight of the Judge of the whole world, before whom one day we must all be judged. How warrantable the course was, I stand not to discuss: and what effect it had with them, I remember not now: But sure I am that it would be very effectual unto us to keep us vigilant and watchful, and so to preserve us from many over-sights, which for want hereof we are oft overtaken withal, if we could ever seriously consider of this presence of God with us.

§. 50. This would keep us within the bounds of Sobriety and Temperance in the use of God's good creatures, in our recreations and disports; if we remembered, that we eat and drink in God's presence; that we feast and make merry together, yea that we play and sport us in God's presence: that as well, when we are playing, as when we are praying, we are ever still in God's eye. Children, though they take more liberty to be wanton and waggish, when they are out of their Parents eye, yet are they more careful commonly to carry themselves more decently even in their sports, when they play in their presence. And so would we do, were we assured that we were in God's presence, and that God overlooked us even at our game. The Heathen man adviseth a friend of his to propound to himself and set before him some grave man or other, and so to carry himself in all his courses as he thought he should do, if such an one were then eying him: that when he were moved to do ought that were indecent, he might think with himself, Would I do this, or do thus if such an one were in presence? And sure it is that man's eye many times, such an ones especially as we reverence and stand in some awe of, is a special mean to keep men in compass. For do we not see it by common experience, that when men are swearing and swaggering, or otherwise disordered, if one chance to come in whom they have some reverend conceit of, or one that they know cannot abide such behavior, they are by and by husht and quiet, and break off their disorders, and behave themselves more orderly so long as he is in presence. Yea if such an one be by unseen behind the back of someone of them, when he shall rap out an oath, or break a bawdy jest on some other of the company, will not the rest be ready to say to him, Do not you see who is behind you? as ready it may be, otherwise to vie oaths with him, and to require his unsavory jest with the like. Can man's presence then so far prevail with us? And would not God's much more, if we were assured of it; or had we the eye of our soul open to see the one, as we have the bodily eye to see the other? Or are we not ashamed of ourselves, that man's presence should prevail with us more than the presence of God should? that what we would blush and be ashamed to do in any man's, yea in any childes eye, that had but wit enough to conceive what we did, that we blush not, nor are abashed to commit in God's sight.

§. 51. Again this would keep us from taking liberty to ourselves of sinning in regard of screcy and privacy, were we never so solitary, never so private. It is true that wicked wretches take occasion by such opportunities to offend the more freely. The eye of the Adulterer, saith Job, waiteth for the twilight; and then he disguiseth himself, and saith, No eye shall see him. Yea of God himself they think, He walketh aloft on the heavenly tarase, and there is many a thick cloud between him and us: How can he see or discern what we do in the dark? But Understand, ye unwise ones, as the Psalmist speaketh; and ye brutish ones, will ye never be wise? He that formed the eye, shall not he himself see? he that planted the ear, shall not he himself hear? yea he that made the heart, knoweth not he what is in the heart? Or he that framed thy soul, cannot he see as much and as well as thy soul? But when thou art in the dark, doth not thy soul see what thou doest? And doth not God then that is far above thy soul, that knoweth thy soul better than thy soul knoweth it self, that knoweth more by thee than thou knowest by thyself, doth he not much more know, and much more easily and clearly discern what thou doest in the dark? Oh how watchful and wary would we be in all our ways, were our hearts but once thoroughly possessed with this undoubted persuasion of God's perpetual presence with us, of his all-seeing eye ever & everywhere over-looking on us? What temptation could prevail against us, were this consideration at hand with us? If we could follow that good rule though by an Heathen man given, So converse with men, as if God overlooked thee; so commune with God, as if men over-heard thee: If we could have that continually before the eyes of our soul that a reverend and religious man had before his eyes ever in his study; Sin not; (be thou never so secret) for God seeth thee: the good Angels stand by thee: the Devil is ready to accuse thee; thine own conscience to give in evidence against thee; and hell fire to torment thee: it would not be so great a mastery to keep us waking and watchful, as for want hereof usually it is.

§. 52. [Help 6] A sixth help to this spiritual Watchfulness is the frequent consideration of our end, and of that last day either of death or doom, wherein we must everyone appear before God to give up our accounts to him. The end of all things, saith the Apostle Peter, is at hand: be sober therefore, and watch unto prayer. And our Savior oft; Watch therefore; for you know not in what hour your Master will come. And it is the last Argument that the Wiseman useth (hoping, if by any, by it to prevail) to the unruly youngster, that will needs have his own swinge; But know that for all these things God will call thee to account. As those therefore that are to give an account of their actions, as at Athens most of their Magistrates did at the years end when they went out of office, are wont to be more wary and chary how they carry themselves in their affairs, than those that are not liable to account, nor look ever to come to reckoning, especially if it be uncertain how soon they may be called upon to give up their accounts: So ought it to be with us, since we may well remember, yea so it cannot but be with us, if we shall duly consider, that we must all of us one day appear at Christ's Tribunal, and there everyone give account unto God for himself. And if we shall withal take notice, what a strict account it shall be, wherein we must answer not for every wicked work only, but for every idle word also, and as well for the very Thoughts of our hearts, as for the actions of our lives; and that this we know not how soon it may be, (God hath prefixed us no set time for it, he would have the last day hid from us, because he would have us every day watch for it: ) it must needs make us keep a most strait watch, and that constantly and continually too, not over our feet and our hands only, but over our hearts, and our minds also, as the Wiseman doth well admonish us.

§. 53. Yea but that day, may some say, is not so near yet, the Apostle Paul himself saith so. There are some fore-running signs of it as yet unfulfilled, as the conversion of the Jews, and the subversion of Antichrist: And till these have been, it shall not be.

To this I answer, with some of the Ancients; that there is a twofold dooms-day: a general Doomes-day, at the end of the world: and a particular Doomes-day, at the end of each man's life. Every man's Deaths-day is each man's Doomes-day. For It is reserved for all men, that once they must die, and then cometh judgment. And when the body returneth to dust, whence it was taken, the Spirit goeth to God, to give account to him that at first gave it. And that which is wont to be said, (though, it may be, at first spoken in another sense) As the tree falleth, so it lieth: as Death leaveth thee, so shall the last judgment find thee, and so shalt thou abide then for all eternity. If the evil servant therefore shall say in his heart, My Master will not come yet: and shall take occasion thereby either to sleep with the slothful, or to be drunk with the riotous, which he ought not to do, to give over his vigilancy, and live more remissly or more loosely; that Servants Master will come when he is not aware, and by death cut him in two, sever body and soul asunder, and give him his portion with Hypocrites, in that place of torment, where is nothing but weeping and wailing for pain and grief, and gnashing of teeth for indignation and vexation of Spirit.

§. 54. And what shall it avail a man that the world standeth still, if he die, and so the whole world be as good as gone with him? If the river run still that he dwelt by, the house stand still that he dwelt in, when himself is taken away from either? Though the last day of the world be never so far off, yet may the last day of thy life be near at hand. Though the worlds Doomes-day come not yet, thine may come long before it: though it be never so long before that come, it cannot be long ere thine will come. And if it be uncertain when the general day of doom will be, it is no less uncertain, yea in some sort more uncertain when thy particular day of Doome will be. There are both affirmative and negative signs of the one; there may be affirmative, but there are no negative signs of the other. Of the general day of Doome there are some affirmative signs; such as argue the near approaching of it, as the tenderness of the bough and the sprouting out of the fig tree doth the summers approach. And there are some negative signs; such as till they come that day shall not be, as the gathering in of the Jews again; and the destruction of the Beast and the woman that sitteth on her. But of each man's particular Doomes-day, to wit, of his dying day, there may be signs affirmative, as decay of nature, old age, and some uncureable diseases; by which it may be known that the day of death is not far off. But negative signs of it there are none, of which we may say, till such or such things be, a man shall not die: a man cannot say, I am not weak, nor sick, nor old yet; and therefore I know I shall not die yet. For our Sun may set at noon, as the Prophet speaketh in another sense: our life may be cut off in the midst of our years: we may be snatched away suddenly in the prime of our strength. The young goeth many times as soon as the old; and the strong oft before the weak. Yea as for one apple that hangeth on the tree till it be rotten or full ripe, there are twenty or more blown down, or beaten down, or nipped with the frost, or blasted before they be ripe: So for one man that fulfilleth his natural course, there are an hundred intercepted and have their lives shortened, by surfeit, by sickness, by the sword, by pensiveness, by someone casualty or other.

§. 55. Could we then but seriously consider thus much with ourselves, that we know our life cannot be long, though we should live the full length of it: Our life it is but a hand-breadth; and our whole age it is as nothing in regard of God: it is but a point to sempiternitie, the time after decease that hath a beginning, but no ending; it is just nothing to eternity, God's age, that hath neither beginning nor ending: And again, that we know not how soon death may come; it is never far off indeed; The day present if it be not it, yet it is not far off it: but it is nearer by much many times than we are aware of; it is very near at hand oft ere it appear so to be; it cometh frequently without warning, and striketh a man stark-dead ere he be discerned to be dying: And lastly, that when it cometh, we must instantly come to our reckoning without further respite or delay: for no man, saith Solomon, hath power over his own spirit, to retain it in the day of death: there is no taking or gaining of further time then; nor shifting off of the account that we are then called unto, and shall be enforced, will we nill we, then to give up: It could not choose but keep us continually waking and watching for it, as death waiteth and watcheth everywhere for us; it would make us the mean while walk wisely and warily, as those that desire to give up a good account whensoever they shall be called to it, which they are sure they shall, but uncertain how soon they shall be. O, saith Moses, that men were wise: they would then understand this, they would think upon their end. As on the other side it is noted as a point of folly in God's people, and an occasion of their fall, that they minded not, nor remembered their end. Yea did men seriously think on this, it would make them wise. Were they so wise as to number their days aright, they would apply their hearts to further wisdom. Had they with Joseph of Arimathea their tomb hewed out in their garden, where the use was in those parts to solace themselves, and to make merry with their friends, that in the midst of their mirth, they might have their end in their eye: or were they affected as that Ancient Father was, that said, Whether he ate or drank, or whatsoever he did, he thought he heard in his ear that dreadful sound of the last trumpet, Arise ye dead, and come to judgment: it would keep them waking amids their mirth, much better than the loudest music; it would make them, as the Apostle willeth them, Whether they be eating or drinking, or whatsoever else they be about, to do all so to God's glory, as those that once must be, and presently may be called to render an account of that they then do.

§. 56. To this purpose it is a good rule, understood aright, that is commonly given, that A man should so live every day, as if that day were his dying day: for that so it may prove, for ought he knoweth. It is true indeed that an Heathen man saith, He liveth but evil, that knoweth not how to die well. And it is as true that, as one of the Ancients saith, He liveth not as a Christian man should, that is not fit every day to come to God's board; so he liveth otherwise than he ought, that is not every day prepared for death, that is not ready to go to God every day, if God should call for him that day; as who knoweth but that he may? For how many have risen well in the morning, that never went to bed again? how many have gone well to bed, that never saw day-light again? And look what hath befallen one man, may befall any man: that may well fall out this day, that may fall out any day; and that must needs come to pass one day.

But yet that rule of living every day as if that day were a man's dying day, must be conceived for the manner of our behavior and carriage, not for the matter and substance of it. To make this more plain. For the main matter and substance of a man's employment, that is, the works, duties and offices to be performed of him, it is not true. For did a man know that this day should be his last day, or had he some strong presumption that it were so to be; it were not lawful for him to follow, either his lawful disports and delights, or the ordinary works of his special calling; but rather leaving either of them, he ought wholly to apply himself to the setting of his house in order, as Isaiah willed Hezekiah, and the making of all straight and even between God and his own soul, to prayer and supplication, and such holy meditations, as the present occasion should require. But for the manner of a man's carriage in those duties that he is daily called unto, or is conversant about, it is true; a man ought continually so to behave himself in them, in being as careful to eschew all evil whatsoever, or to repent him without delay of whatsoever evil he hath been overtaken withal; and to do whatsoever work he doth as sincerely and as circumspectly, as he would do, if he were to do such duties upon his death-bed or upon his dying day, or as he would do them, if instantly upon it he were to answer, not before man, but before God, for the doing of them. And surely a special mean it would be to keep us in compass, if we could but think with ourselves, when we are about to behave ourselves in ought otherwise than we ought, and than our conscience telleth us that we should, Would I do this, or do thus, if this were to be my last work; were I to die upon the doing of it, or were I presently to give up an account, and to make mine answer before God for it? And who knoweth but that that work, whatsoever it be, may be thy last work? Who can tell but that thou mayest be taken away in the very act of it, as some have been in the very act of iniquity? Oh how sincerely, how circumspectly would we in all things behave ourselves, did such thoughts possess our souls?

§. 57. [Help 7] A seventh help to this watchfulness is to be oft sifting and examining ourselves, viewing and surveying our hearts and our lives, taking account of ourselves how we watch and how we walk, how the case standeth between us and God, how we go backward or forward in the good ways of God, and how we thrive or pare in the gifts and graces of his Spirit. If we would judge ourselves, saith the Apostle, we should not be judged. As there is no surer way to prevent the judgment of God, than by our judging of ourselves: so there is no better course to prepare us for the judgment of God, than by fore-judging of ourselves. Let a man therefore, saith the same Apostle, examine himself, and so repair to God's board. As examination of ourselves is a mean to fit us for God's table, so is it a mean also to further us in our account, which we are to give up unto God. We should live every day, as we would, if we were to go that day to God's board; and we should so address ourselves when we are to repair to God's board, as we would if we were then to go unto God: and the diligent discussing of ourselves and our courses is a good mean to further us in, to fit us for either.

§. 58. Stand in awe, saith the Psalmist, and sin not: examine your own hearts on your beds, and be still. And of himself else-where, I considered my ways, and turned my feet again to thy testimonies. And, sift or search yourselves, saith one Prophet, and search again and again, (for so the words would there be read) before the sentence be executed, and ye be carried away as chaff; before the fierce wrath of God come upon you, and the day of God's indignation overtake you. And, Let us search and sift our ways, and our courses, saith another, and return unto the Lord. And, Prove yourselves, saith the Apostle, whether you be in the Faith or no: that ye may know whether Christ be in you or no; whether you be sound and sincere, or but counterfeit Christians. And again, Let each man try his own work; that he may have whereof to rejoice in himself and not in others: ( in that which he knoweth by himself, not in that which others conceive of him:) For every man must bear his own burden: And it is the testimony of his own heart concerning his estate, not the opinion or report that others have given him or had of him, that must one day before God either excuse or accuse him, either acquit or condemn him. No better means therefore by the testimony of God's Spirit to keep us in awe, to prevent God's wrath, to restrain us from sin, to bring us back into God's way when we have gone out of it, to stay us from going out of it again when we are once in it, to uphold us in the state of grace, to afford us sound comfort of our present estate, to preserve us from the danger of self-deceit and of inward decay in good things; than the oft view and surveigh of our own works and our ways, and the diligent discussing of our daily courses and carriage.

§. 59. We see how careful worldly men are in this kind; I mean, of keeping duly, and oft casting up their accounts. And not without cause: they find much benefit by it: they come thereby to understand aright their own strength and ability, which they might be else mistaken in: and if in any matter of expense they have gone beyond their compass, or have slipped unawares into some course more chargeable than gainful, they can soon come by this mean both to discover and to correct it betimes, ere it grow to a greater evil. And on the other side for want of due care in this kind, men fall oft far behind hand before they be aware of it; so that they are quite sunk many times ere they perceive themselves sinking; they are gone past recovery ere they discern that they are going. And were we as careful for the state of our souls, as the children of this world are for their worldly estates, we would be as careful (much better cause we have so to be) of keeping and oft casting up our accounts concerning the one, as they are theirs concerning the other: That which as it would much further our growth in grace, and by way of prevention preserve us from decay and relapse; so for want whereof many that have made fair shows have fallen backward, and have become spiritual banckrupts ere they have perceived that they were breaking.

§. 60. As Tradesmen therefore and those that have much dealings in the world, are wont to have their day-book, to keep particular account of each days both receipt and expense: So an exceeding great help would it be unto us in good courses, if we could bring ourselves in a constant course to take every day at Even an account of ourselves, how we have spent that day, and what account we are able to give of it unto God. It is wisdom in worldly men so to do, even where they are not liable to account; because their worldly well-being dependeth much thereupon. But it were much more wisdom for that man so to do, that were to give up a strict reckoning of all his affairs and of his carriage in each of them, and that at an hours warning: he should by means hereof have his accounts ready by him upon any occasion, having kept them thus diligently from day today. It is a point then of double wisdom in us to be diligent in the daily practice and performance of this duty; both for that our spiritual welfare dependeth much thereupon; as also for that we are liable to the most strict account that may be, to be given up, not at an hours, but at less than an hours warning, if it shall be so called for; which this course duly observed would be a special mean to fit us for.

§. 61. This even Heathen men have done. They have taught it their Scholars: they have used it themselves. For so Pythagoras enjoined his disciples each of them to rehearse every evening this verse to himself; What good or ill have I done (this day?) or what not done, that I should do? And accordingly was it their usual manner at even ever to run over what they had said, or heard, or done the day past. And Seneca, as he telleth us of one Sextius a Stoic, whose daily practice this was, to call himself at Even, to a reckoning, what evil he had healed in himself that day, what vice he had withstood or subdued in himself, wherein he was oughts better, being that he had lived a day longer: So he professeth of himself, that it was his usual guise, every night after he was laid in bed and the light out, when all was quiet about him, to cite himself as it were to appear before himself, to render an account of his courses, and so privately with himself to recount and record his whole days work, all his words and his deeds, passing such censure upon each of them as the condition or quality of either did require. And a Latin Poet describing a wise and a good man, maketh this his daily pratice, Not to suffer his eyes to sleep, till he have run over all his actions of the whole live-long day past, and taken notice what was well done, and wherein he had faulted and failed, to approve himself in the one, to reprove himself for the other.

§. 62. Thus have Heathen men done: And as he sometime said, Shall they set se much by their glassie bugle, and not we much more by our precious pearl? Shall they be so careful to use these means for the furthering of themselves in matter of mere morality: and shall not Christian men much more do the like for the helping of themselves forward in the practice of true piety? A shame it were for us that they should take more pains and use greater diligence about the nutshell, than we should for the kernel; that they should be enamored more on the shadow, than we are with the substance; they ravished more with a dead picture than we with the person whose picture it is, and whose surpassing beauty and excellency the picture cometh far short of; that mere civility and humanity should prevail more with them than true Christianity and divinity doth or can do with us. As we are to think therefore daily of that general account; so let us call each one himself daily to a particular reckoning. We shall walk every day the more warily being to pass such a censure; we shall sleep and rest more freely, more quietly, more soundly, more sweetly, having past such a censure: we shall be sure, when we have ransacked ourselves in this manner over night, to have no known sin unrepented of lodge with us till the next day. Yea he that hath thus acquit himself ere he lay him down to sleep, shall be sure to watch even while he sleepeth; and though he were taken away suddenly in his sleep, should be found spiritually awake. In a word, as the often rubbing of our eyes is a good mean to keep us corporally waking: so the frequent ransacking of our hearts and lives will prove a sovereign help to keep us spiritually watching.

[Help 8] §. 63. An eighth help to further us in this spiritual Watch is to be jealous of ourselves and of our own infirmity and weakness, that we may soon be ensnared and easily surprised, foiled at least, if we be not exceeding wary, before we be aware. As the fear of God will make us careful to shun all sin, and whatsoever is evil in it self: so this jealousy of ourselves, and fear of our own infirmity, will make us careful to eschew all occasions of sin, and whatsoever by means of our weakness may become matter of evil unto us. For as those that know themselves to be of a weak stomach, ready to take check at such meats as many other ordinarily are wont to digest well enough, are very chary of their diet, and careful to eschew and forbear not such meats only as are simply unwholesome, but even such also as they suspect or suppose to be hard of digestion, and will not in that regard so well accord with their weakness: So the man that is suspicious of himself, and jealous of his own corruption, will be careful to walk warily, and diligently to avoid not those things alone that he seeth and knoweth to be simply evil, and in that regard prejudicial to all in general, but even those things also that, though indifferent, and in themselves otherwise not unwarrantable, such as may be done by some sometime without hurt or offense, yet that in regard of the strength of his corruption, his natural disposition, the weakness of grace in him, and his proneness to slip and be overtaken in them, may in that regard prove dangerous and prejudicial to him in particular, howsoever others wiser or stronger, or not so affected as he findeth and feeleth himself, might without danger deal with them. This religious jealousy had Job of his children, when they were feasting together, knowing how prone youth are to over-shoot themselves in mirth and disport: Peradventure, saith he, my sons may have sinned, and (blessed, that is, as the Hebrews use the word by a kind of fairness and fineness of speech) blasphemed God in their hearts. And the like godly jealousy of ourselves it is good for each of us to have, as to say with ourselves, when we are moved or solicited to some jeopardous course, though we cannot condemn it as simply evil; Peradventure I may sin, and be overtaken ere I be aware; I may fail in it or fall by it, though other stronger than I may deal in it without danger. Yea the like jealousy had Job of himself: he was no less suspicious of himself, than he was of his sons. I was afraid, saith he, of all my works; knowing, that if I did wickedly, thou wouldest not acquit me. And this suspiciousnesse of himself no doubt was it that caused him to make a Covenant with his eyes, not to seize on such objects, as might prove occasion unto him of any spiritual evil.

§. 64. Watch and pray, saith our Savior, that ye enter not into temptation: the Spirit indeed is ready; but the flesh is weak. As if he had said more at large; Considering your own infirmity and feebleness, ye have great need to take heed and earnestly to desire, that ye may not so much as touch upon any temptation: For such is the proneness of your corrupt nature to give way to them, that if you do but enter into any temptation, though the Spirit purpose otherwise, yet the flesh faltring with you, it is an hundred to one that you come not out as you went in, but you receive some foil or other. Do we not see how careful they are that have gun-powder in their houses, to look that no fire or candle come near where it is? And in like manner did we consider that our corrupt heart is like tinder or gun-powder, apt in temptation to be soon fired and inflamed, it would make us the more careful to keep aloof off, and fearful to come nigh ought that might be a mean to tempt or to entice us unto evil. And on the other side, as those that set such materials to dry before the fire, as are apt soon and suddenly to take fire, by the sudden lighting but of a little spark in them, though they be never so heedy, though they stand still by them and have their eye ever on them, may chance to have all on a light fire, ere they can help or prevent it: So falleth it out here not seldom, that while we venture too near, and presume as Peter sometime did to stand bathing himself against the fire in the High-priests Hall; we are suddenly caught, as he was, ere we think on it, we have by some sudden injection our affections so fired, that the very frame of our heart is all on a flame, ere we are aware of it, or are able now well either to prevent it, or easily to suppress it.

§. 65. Again, this jealousy of our own weakness will make us the more careful, as to shun all occasions, whereby we may be endangered; so, because it is not in our power ever to avoid them, to use diligently all good means, whereby we may be supported and strengthened against them. To which purpose our Savior joineth watching and prayer together, as there, so elsewhere: as also his Apostles oft couple them the one with the other. No man, saith one of the Ancients, is enabled by God, that is not enfeebled first in himself. And no marvel; For so long as we find ourselves (as we suppose) strong enough to stand alone on our own legs of ourselves, we think scorn to use crutches, or to be supported by others: so long as we think ourselves wise enough and able to wade well enough thorough with our affairs, we regard not to take advice or to seek help and aid from others: So here, so long as we misdoubt not our own weakness, as we are over-forward to presume upon our own strength, so we are over-backward and careless of using those means whereby we might attain true strength indeed. And on the other side, the more conscious men are to themselves of their own wants, the more diligent are they wont to be in resorting to those by whom their wants may be supplied: and the more suspicious we are of our own infirmity and weakness, the more careful will we be daily and hourly to repair unto him, who alone is able to confirm and strengthen us, yea who is able so to enable us notwithstanding our weakness, that his power and might shall appear in us amids our feebleness, and our very infirmity shall make much for his glory. And surely, In this kind, as one well saith, it is more behooveful for a man to be somewhat too fearful and heedy, than to be a little too confident and fool-hardy: to take notice of his own weakness, that he may become strong, than while he thinketh himself strong in his own conceit, to prove weak. In regard whereof also the Wiseman, as we said formerly, not unworthily pronounceth him happy, that continually standeth in fear: as afraid, though he may seem to stand fast and firm, lest through infirmity he should chance to fall.

§. 66. The want hereof hath been the fault, and hath proved the fall of not a few. For, to pass by that fearful downfall of our first Parents hereby occasioned: What but this was the main ground of Peters miscarriage? but this presumption, I mean, of his own might, and neglect of those means whereby he might have been enabled to stand, while he trusted to his own strength? A threefold offense some have observed in his behavior in that business; that he opposed himself to our Savior forewarning him of his fall, he preferred himself indiscreetly before the rest of his Fellow-disciples, and he took the matter wholly upon himself, as that which he knew himself able well enough to go through with. Thou wilt deny me, Peter, saith our Savior; Nay, but I will not, saith Peter. Though all should deny thee, yet will not I deny thee: I will never deny thee, though I die for it. And no doubt of it but that Peter then both meant as he spake, and spake what he thought; he misdoubted not himself, nor his own inability, but he would and should do as then he said. But the Physician felt Peters pulse, and discerned that in his Patient, which the Patient did not, nor could then see in himself. And surely, as it befell Peter, so falleth it out with many other. They are like sick men, that when they have had a good day or two after some fits of a fever, think they are now perfectly well recovered again, and so presuming contrary to the Physicians advice to venture abroad into the air, or to cast off their sick kerchiefe, or to misdiet themselves, either they catch cold or take surfeit, and so fall back by relapse into their former disease, handling them then more fiercely by far, and endangering them much more than before. And so is it here with a many: they think themselves strong enough to encounter with Satan, especially if they have stood out and come off well (as they think) in a temptation or twain, and so grow careless either of eschewing the occasions of evil, or of using means whereby they may be enabled to withstand them when they are offered: Which when they so do, it is just oft with God to leave them to their own strength, as the nurse doth the child that will not endure to be lead, and so to suffer them to fall, as soon then they will, sometime to their eternal ruin, that they may deservedly perish through their own folly and fool-hardines; sometime to their present pain, but their future amendment, that having had experience of their own feebleness and inability to stand of themselves, they may in time to come be more wary, more distrustful of their own strength, and more careful to resort from time to time unto him, from whom only true strength is to be had. And for this end no doubt hath the Holy Ghost left upon record the foul slips and falls of many of God's worthy Saints and Servants, not that any should thereby be encouraged or emboldened unto sin; but that the ruin of such great ones might make weaker ones more wary; that where we have seen them slip for want of watchfulness, there might we be more watchful: that when we see others foiled far stronger than ourselves, it might make us the more to distrust our own strength: Which the more we distrust, the less shall we presume on it, and the more careful shall we be to use all good means, whereby true strength may be achieved of us and increased in us.

[Help 9] §. 67. A ninth Help to further us in this spiritual. Watch is a sincere hatred of evil, that we labor not only to condemn sin in judgment, but even to hate and detest it in heart. The fear of God, saith Solomon, is to hate evil: not to forbear it only, but, as the Apostle speaketh, to abhor it. The servile fear may make a man break off the practice of sin outwardly in his life, (wicked men, had they but it, durst not go on in their wicked courses as they do) but the filial fear will do more than that, it will make a man hate and detest it also inwardly in his heart: For this fear it is a loving fear, a fear joined with love, yea proceeding from the love of him whom we fear. And ye that love the Lord, saith the Psalmist, hate that that is evil. Doest thou love God, saith Augustine; thou must hate then what he hateth: Yea if thou lovest him indeed, thou canst not but hate what he hateth. Neither indeed can we closely cleave to that that it good, till we have brought our hearts to detest and abhor that that is evil. Which thing if it were once thoroughly wrought in us, there should not need much Rhetoric to persuade us to watch both against sin and against all occasions of it: We would of ourselves be careful enough to shun and avoid that, which our hearts abhorred, and could not brook or abide. For as the meat that a man loatheth, he cannot endure so much as the sent or savor of it, nay nor, it may be, the sight of it: so would it be with us in regard of sin, had we the like inward dislike and loathing of sin in our souls. And one main cause of relapse into sin, and of want of due watchfulness against it, in those that for some time have surceased the practice of it, is because they never hated it in heart, though they could not but in judgment condemn it, being evidently convinced in conscience of the evilness of it: their heart looked still after it (though their hand for fear or other respect were for a while with-drawn and withheld from it) ready therefore when such respects as before stayed and restrained it, were at any time removed, to give friendly entertainment unto it again.

§. 68. Would we therefore keep a constant Watch against sin? Oh let us labor then to have wrought in us a true hatred of sin; or such sins especially, as we have been most addicted unto, or have most delighted in before. The more formerly we have loved them, the more now let us loath them: the more we have for the time past delighted in them, the more for the time to come let us even detest and abhor them. As the meat that we have sometime surfeited of, we not only know now to be evil for us, but even our stomach riseth and goeth against it: so those sins that we have formerly glutted our souls with, let us not only condemn now as the bane of our souls, but endeavor even so to be affected towards them, that our very hearts may rise against them upon the memory and remembrance of them. Let it be with us in regard of them, as it was with Ammon in his affection to Tamar. He loved her earnestly at first, though with an incestuous love, or lust rather: But after, that he had abused her and defiled himself with her, his love was in a strange manner so turned into hatred, that the love wherewith before he loved her, was not so great, but the hatred wherewith he then hated her, was far greater. So for those sins that we have formerly defiled our souls with, we should labor to have our love in like manner turned into hatred; and strive to bring our hearts to it, to abhor them now as much, yea (if it were possible, as there is good ground for it and just cause of it) much more, than ever we loved them, or delighted in them before. This could we do with Ammon; we would do further as he did. He thrust Tamar instantly out at doors, when his affection was thus altered; he could no longer endure so much as the sight of her: and not that only, but he caused the door to be bolted fast after her, that she might not have any free or further access in unto him again. So were our hearts and affections estranged from such sins, as they had been linked and fastened unto before, we would not only be careful without further delay to dispossess our souls of them, but we would be constantly watchful to keep the door of our heart surely bolted against them, that they might never be able to gain entrance again with us.

§. 69. [Help 10] The tenth and last help, that we will propound for the present, to further us in this spiritual Watch, is the diligent and constant practice and performance of good duties and offices. Which help divideth it self into two branches; the one opposing to idleness, and the other to worldliness.

The former is the constant following of the works of our particular [Branch 1] callings. Let him that stole, saith the Apostle, steal no more; but let him labor rather and work with his hands some good thing or other, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let him that stole steal no more: that is well; but that is not enough. Let him steal no more, but labor rather: because else though he leave stealing a while, if he live idle, he will come to suffer want soon, (for Sloth wasteth as well as excess and riot:) and so be falling anon to his former trade again: Not to add, that he that liveth so, even in that he so liveth, living like a drone on the labors of others, is little better than a Thief. Sloth, saith Solomon, causeth sleep. And sure as we see it to be with drowsy persons, that if they sit still and do nothing, they will soon fall asleep: so is it here; if we give ourselves over to idleness, we shall soon come to be overtaken again with this deadly sleep of sin. Fullness and idleness are noted to have been two main causes of those filthy sins of Sodom. It is a common by-word with us, that Of idleness cometh no goodness: And By doing nothing, saith the Heathen man, men learn to do evil things. It is easy slipping out of an idle life into an evil and a wicked life: yea an idle life, it is of it self evil. For man was made for action, not for idleness. And howsoever, saith one well, we count him a good man that doth no evil, he is indeed rather an evil man that doth no good. Sleep and death are said to be brethren or Coson-germanes: or the one at least to be an image and a resemblance of the other. And as those therefore that are deceased are said to be fallen asleep: so they that lie asleep may well be said to be in some kind or degree of decease. Now what difference is there between him that lieth fast asleep, and him that is idle though awake? save that the one is restrained from action by the course of nature, whereas the other voluntary restraineth himself: and that is no sin therefore in the one, that is no small sin in the other. Slothfulnesse therefore not only causing sleep, but being it self of it self a kind of spiritual sleep, it is consequently also a kind even of spiritual death: And the idle and slothful may be well said to be not only spiritually asleep, even when they are awake, but to be spiritually dead also, even while they live: their very waking, while they so wake, being no better than sleep, and their very life, while they so live, no better than death: yea worse than natural sleep, (because against nature) for a man to sleep waking; worse than corporal death, for a man to be as dead ere he die, to be his own Bearer, to wind himself quick, and to bury himself yet breathing.

§. 70. Idleness therefore, it is both evil of it self; and it exposeth men to further evils. Satan where he findeth the house vacant, that he had before quit, he doth easily make a re-entry again. He doth as the Crab, that desirous to prey on the Oyster, but finding the fish enclosed and her self excluded with two such shells as all her power is not able to pierce, watcheth the time when she lieth bathing her self in the sun and gaping to take in some pleasant refreshing, while the winds are calm, and the waters still; then she slily and suddenly casteth in some sandy grit that keepeth her two shells from closing again, and by that means cometh she to get in her cleyes, one after another, and so to prey upon the fish. In like manner doth Satan, where he desireth to seize upon the soul, but seeth some likelihood of resistance; he watcheth men's idle times, and when he findeth the heart vacant and the mind free from present employment, then is he busy to inject first idle and sandy thoughts, by which he maketh way for worse matters, and after wicked and noisome motions, by which he cometh many times to take full seisen of the soul, and to work its utter ruin. In regard whereof it is no unnecessary counsel that one of the Ancients giveth, that We be always about some good business or other, that the Tempter whensoever he come, find us not unoccupied.

§. 71. Yea for this cause is it that God hath ordained that every man should have some certain course of life wherein to be ordinarily employed. Let every man, saith the Apostle, in that calling wherein he was called, therein with God (or, in God's Name, as we use to say) abide. There is a twofold calling by the Apostle there mentioned; The calling wherein a man was called, and the calling whereunto a man was called, when he was converted and became a Christian at first: there is the general calling of a Christian, that whereunto he was called; and there is the particular calling or special course of life wherein a man lived, before (as it may fall out) he was called thereunto. A man must not imagine therefore, when he is called to be a Christian, that he must presently cast off all worldly employments, give over the works of his former vocation, and apply himself wholly (as some Heretics sometime supposed, misled by some places of Scripture misexpounded) to prayer and contemplation, and mere matter of devotion: but he must retain the one calling still as well as the other, follow the one still as well as the other, make conscience as well of executing the duties of the one as of frequenting the exercises of the other: and not think that under color of following of Sermons and frequenting of godly exercises, he may lawfully neglect those necessary duties that by virtue of his special calling he standeth in conscience bound unto.

In a word, each Christian man that is able, must, as the Apostle willeth, earn, and eat his own bread, work with his own hands, and follow his own affairs, that is, such business as to his particular place and special calling appertaineth: else he is branded by the same Apostle for an inordinate walker, that is, a disorderly liver; a Denier of the Faith, not in word, but in deed; and one little better, if not worse than some Heathen and Infidels, that have even by natures dim light condemned idleness in any.

§. 72. But here is great Caution to be used, and due regard to [Branch 2] be had, lest while we shun a rock, we fall into a whirl-pool: lest while we seek to eschew idleness on the one hand, we be swallowed up with worldliness on the other: lost while we labor to keep our left eye waking by the diligent following of our worldly affairs, we suffer our right eye to close and fall fast asleep by neglect of religious exercises either public or private. The Angel that talked with me, came again, saith the Prophet, and awaked me as one that is raised out of his sleep. It fared with the Prophet when he was attending on God's Angel, as with a drowsy person, who though he be awaked and set to work, yet he is ready to sleep at it, and to be ever and anon slumbering, if he be not now and then jogged and stirred up: And in like manner it is with our drowsy spirits, and will be continually, if they be not frequently roused and raised up by the constant use of religious exercises. In regard whereof Paul willeth Timothy, to quicken by stirring up the grace of God that is in him, as men do embers that lie raked up in the ashes.

§. 73. Now this is done by means either public or private. First by frequenting the public ministry of the Word at due times. Quench not the spirit, saith the Apostle: despise not Prophecy: as if the neglect, or contempt (and it is the contempt of it that is the main ground of neglect) of the one were a principal mean of extinguishing and quite quenching the other. And undoubtedly so is it. For either fire or light is put out, not by pouring on of water only or some contrary matter; but besides that, either by withdrawing from it and denying that unto it that should feed it; (for if the fuel fail, the fire will of it self out:) or by neglecting to blow it, and to stir it up by times; as we oft see it fall out that it goeth out of it self also, where yet there is wood and coal enough to have longer continued, had some such industry been used. And even so is spiritual grace oft impaired and decayeth, not by the practice of sin and wickedness only, as by water poured on it; but by neglect of the Word, the means that should foster and feed it, and that by raising and rousing up our dull and dead spirits should put spiritual life and alacrity, as it were, unto us. And no marvel then, if, as Solomon saith, Where vision faileth, there the people perish: if the grace of God go out, where these means are neglected; if they fall fast again into this deep and deadly sleep, though they were sometime awaked out of it, that are not careful to keep within the sound of God's Trumpet, and to frequent the house of God where it may be heard, that, as at first it did awake them, so should keep them still awake.

§. 74. Neither are those free therefore from danger of discontinuing this their watchfulness, that out of a vain presumption of their own spiritual parts, can content themselves with their own private devotions; supposing that they may as well, and as effectually sanctify a Sabbath by reading and meditating, and praying apart by themselves, as by being present at, and adjoining themselves to the public assemblies of God's Saints. It is a spice of intolerable pride and presumption for any to be so conceited of themselves. David was of a far other mind, and therefore led by another spirit, than they are that so imagine. He was a man after God's own heart; and a man of excellent parts. The Word of God not only dwelt plentifully in him; but flowed abundantly from him: he was able not to admonish himself alone, but to instruct, direct, and edify others: he could not only sing Psalms, but pen hymns, both of praise and of prayer: many holy and heavenly meditations had he in the time of his exilement, as may appear by those divine ditties during it composed of him. And yet could not he content himself with these his private devotions. But, as it was the very joy of his heart, when he was at home, to repair to the Temple, to the public assemblies there held: so nothing made his banishment, and his abode in foreign parts, more bitter unto him, than this, that by means thereof he was restrained of repairing unto them, and of joining with God's people in such holy duties as were there daily performed. Read divers of the Psalms framed by him during that time; and consider well, how bitterly he bewaileth his restraint in this kind; how instantly he sueth to God for freedom of resort; how he blesseth those that had liberty of repair or place of abode there, even the very birds themselves that had access but to build thereabout: and you will soon see a strange difference between that worthy man of God and these, that so highly over-prize their own private devotions, as thus to under-value the public assemblies of God's Saints, and the ministry of his Word.

§. 75. And yet neither also is this sufficient indeed, that we frequent the public means: private helps must be added and adjoined thereunto, of meditation, of conference, of supplication, of examination, of confession, and the like: that though much of most of the week be taken up with our worldly affairs; yet we reserve some time amids them constantly every day for some spiritual employment. For as it is with our clockes and our watches, that unless they be wound up at certain times, they will slacken their motion, yea by means of the heavy weights and plummets of lead that hang on them, they will at length come down to the ground, and so stand stone still: So is it with our souls; we have our earthy affections and our worldly thoughts, as heavy weights, hanging so at the heels of them, that unless they be at some certain times wound up, as it were, by the use of some holy exercises, they will grow slack and sluggish in their mounting up to Heaven-ward, yea at length, it may be, come to an utter cessation of all endeavor in that kind. For this cause David, as he maketh this one property of a Blessed man, that he maketh God's Law his daily, yea and his nightly meditation: So he professeth of himself, that it was one of his daily exercises to meditate on God's Word; and it was his nightly employment to be singing of God's praises. He had certain set times every day for meditation and invocation, at morning, at noon-tide, and at even: And besides those ordinary set times, he took occasion oft extraordinarily, as opportunity was offered, even seven times a day, that is, many times, to be lauding of the Lord, either for his judgments, or for his mercies. And the like should we do everyone of us, if we desire to keep this spiritual Watch fresh in our souls, and would not have them wholly dulled with or drowned in the world: we should set some time apart every day from our worldly affairs, to be spent in reading, in meditation, in conference (with God, at least) in prayer and invocation of his name, in search of our souls, in acknowledgement of our sins, &c. And so intermingle the one with the other, that by over-eager attending the one we do not wholly neglect the other. It is that that would fit us for the public ministry, and make it the more effectual with us: As on the other side it is well observed, that the want of such private employments maketh the public ministry altogether unprofitable with many; who hear much, and are at many Sermons, but gain little by any, because they are not careful hereby, either to prepare their hearts before hand, to receive the seed of the Word as into ground fitted for it, or to water and cherish what they have taken in on the Sabbath, by a constant course of religious offices in the week following.

§. 76. Nor let any man allege here in way of excuse for himself, that for the works of his calling, they are so many, so manifold, he cannot possibly find any spare time to spend thus in religious employments. For (to omit what might be said further in way of answer hereunto) did they esteem so highly of holy things as the worth of them well deserveth, they would find time for them as well as they do ordinarily for matters of far less weight than it. Yea (that which is a foul shame to consider) those that will pretend such straits of time to shift off such employments, can find many of them time enough (if not more than enough) to follow their vain and idle disports. And canst thou find every day almost spare time enough at large for the one? and canst thou no day almost find the least spare time at all for the other? Undoubtedly that day mayest thou well esteem but evil employed, whereof thou spendest more part in thy vain delights, than in the advancement of thy spiritual good.

To conclude, if we will watch aright and as we ought; as the works of our special callings must not be neglected, so our spiritual good, and those means either public or private that tend directly to the nourishing and improving of it, are to be principally regarded: And therefore so are we to ply and follow the one, that yet even amids them we take time for, and exclude not wholly all minding and meditation of the other; yea so warily in their due season to attend either, that neither we be surprised with sloth and idleness on the one side, nor yet with worldliness on the other.

And thus have we seen both what it is to watch, why we are so to watch; the manner how we must watch; and the means whereby we may be enabled so to watch in some measure.

[Question.] §. 77. Now here, ere we end, would a Question be answered. For may some say; But is it possible for any man living by this manner of watching to keep ever waking; by thus watching against sin, to keep himself wholly free from sin?

To pass by here that conceit of some School-men, [Answer.] that a man cannot keep himself free from all sin in general; but that he may from any one sin whatsoever in particular; that he may, though not from all, yet from this or that sin. Which they express by a similitude of a man enclosed in a barrel full of holes let down under water, that may with his finger or some other help stop any one hole and keep the water out at it, which yet he cannot avoid but that it will come in the whilst at the rest, any of which yet also he may stop if he will. But to pass by this, which I take to be not all out so sound; for answer hereunto some distinction must be made.

Sins therefore are of two sorts, either voluntary, or involuntary; either with the will, or without it. Some sins are involuntary, [Sort. 1] or without the will, such as be absolutely either beside or against it; as are all sins, of pure ignorance, and of mere infirmity. Sins of pure or bare Ignorance I call those in which ignorance is simple or single, not affected, and not a Companion only, but a Cause. It is not with men in them, as it is with those that affect Ignorance, and please themselves in it; and that without check of conscience they may more freely offend, are content so to continue: but they desire to be informed aright, and use the best means they can so to inform themselves; but yet are mistaken, and so do that out of ignorance, which for a world they would never have done, had they known it to be evil. Sins of mere Infirmity or frailty I call those, that a man knoweth to be evil, and yet is not able by any means to avoid, though he do what he can, even as much as he would or could if his life lay upon it. Thus in hearing the Word, a man, it may be, cannot listen so attentively for any long time together, but that many by-thoughts will come buzzing and fluttring about him, as the fowls did about Abraham when he was offering of his sacrifice, and will oft, pressing in upon him in spite of his heart, disturb him and hinder him in that holy exercise: yea sometime the more a man striveth and bendeth himself to banish and beat them away, the more he cometh to be pestered and encumbered by them, and his attention to be tainted and infected withal. Thus in prayer oft a man cannot shake off that deadness or dullness and drowsiness of spirit, that possesseth his soul, and depriveth him of that alacrity and fervency that ought then to be in him. Thus a man railed upon and reviled, though he can keep his tongue from breaking out into evil language, and can stay his hand from striking in way of revenge; yet he cannot for his heart blood, it may be, do he what he can, keep down his heart from rising, and rebelling against the law of his mind, or from swelling and boiling with some wrathful passion and inordinate motion within him. Thus in distress or danger even a godly man many times cannot rest and rely upon God with that firmness and confidence of faith, and with that quietness and tranquility of mind, that he ought, and not only desireth with all his heart, but with all his might and best ability endeavoreth to do.

§. 78. Now sins of this kind cannot be avoided, be a man never so careful, never so wary and watchful: (a man cannot watch there, where he suspecteth no evil; nor can his watching avail him beyond his ability:) which God therefore in mercy vouchsafeth his children a daily pardon of course for, and is content graciously to pass by and put up in them; though in rigor of justice he might deservedly call them to a strict account for them. And yet by the constant use of this religious watch having our judgments better cleared, and our hearts confirmed and strengthened, we may come in time to be less subject to the former sort of them, and less exposed also to the latter.

[Sort. 2] Other sins besides those are all more or less voluntary, and are committed in part at least with the will of the committer: such are sins of negligence and oversight, escaping us through carelessness; of mixed infirmity, proceeding from temptations of much terror; of presumption, pride, and wantonness, occasioned by delightful objects and the like. Yea such are the most, if not all, outward gross sins joined with knowledge, which even a natural man therefore might forbear if he would; and which it were an unjust thing for human laws to forbid and to punish offenders for, were it not in man's natural power to forbear. And these voluntary sins are those that we are principally to keep watch against: which if we shall diligently and constantly apply ourselves unto, there will a twofold benefit redound thereby unto us.

§. 79. First, we shall avoid many, even a multitude of sins, which for want of this watchfulness we may be, and are ordinarily overtaken withal. Nor should the enemy so oft as he doth prevail against us, and foil us, if he found us standing on our guard and keeping duly this watch. To exemplify this by an instance or two. Compare we first David and Joseph together, tempted both in the same kind, though not with the like fierceness of assault: but the one foiled, where the temptation was weaker; the other unvanquished, where the temptation was stronger. David a man well in years, and a married man too, having the remedy already by God's ordinance provided to relieve man's infirmity in case of incontinency; yea enjoying it not sparingly, but somewhat more freely than was fit, having not one wife alone, but a many, beside concubines not a few; This David thus furnished, by chance espieth, not some single woman, but another man's wife, washing her self: he is not sought unto by her, but he is to make suit unto her, uncertain of success; and to use messengers to her, that must therefore to his shame and reproach, and his dishonorable engagement to them, be privy to his dishonest desires and his adulterous designs. On the other side Joseph, a young man, in the heat of his youth, in the prime & flower of his years; Joseph a single man, not enjoying yet the benefit of marriage, that might help to support him in temptations of this kind; being not to sue to any other, but sued earnestly to by another, by a Superior, by his Mistress, by such an one as had no small command of him otherwise; opportunity offered for the doing of the act desired with all privacie and secrecy; no fear of danger to hinder, where none were near to take notice of it; great hope of future benefit, to entice and encourage, by liberty, or further advancement likely enough by her means to be procured. Now in this great inequality of motives and inducements on either side, what is the reason, why Joseph standeth, when David falleth; that he holdeth out worthily, who is the more strongly assailed, when the other is so foully and fearfully foiled, who is far more weakly assaulted, or rather, is not so much assaulted, as is ready to assault the honesty of another: but that the one stood upon his watch, when the other did not?

It was no sin for David by chance to espy a naked woman, his neighbors wife, washing her self; neither was it a thing in his power (how should he forecast it?) to avoid: but the object being thus casually offered unto him, David, that ought (as he prayed sometime) to have turned his eyes away from it, willfully fixed them so long there, where they had occasionally seised, that his heart came to be tainted with filthy concupiscence, and his affections all inflamed with lustful desires; and so grew he restless within himself, till he had brought that about, that deprived him of true rest indeed. On the other side Joseph after motion had once in that kind been made to him by his Mistress, was both careful to shun all occasions of that sinful act whereunto he was tempted; (he would not endure to be so much as in company alone with her:) and again as constant in withstanding the temptation when it was offered, and the occasion could not be shunned: for though she pressed him to it day after day, he would not hearken unto her: yea he chose rather to hazard loss of liberty and life than to yield unto her impious and adulterous desire. In a word, the one watched, and so did not the other; & therefore the one was not vanquished so, as was the other. And by watching with the one may others escape, and might that other have escaped that, which for want of this watch he was vanquished in.

§. 80. Again, as Machetes the Macedonian appealed sometime from Philip, to Philip, from Philip sleeping, to Philip waking: so compare we now Joseph and Joseph together, Joseph watching with the same Joseph somewhat neglecting this watch. Joseph himself that stood thus steadfast in a stronger temptation, yet slipped after swearing by Pharaoh's life in a feebler. But the evil was not so evident, so open-faced in the one as in the other: and therefore being not so carefully watched against or regarded, by being oft heard grew familiar, and gained admittance with him, who might otherwise in all likelihood have kept himself free from it, with much less difficulty and danger than he did from the former. This watch therefore duly and diligently kept, would keep us from many sins that we are daily over-taken with. And the greatest part of outward sinful acts, that the godly fall into, may be justly ascribed to the want of it as the main cause of the most of them, which by this course therefore were it constantly observed of them, might be prevented and avoided.

[Benefit 2] §. 81. Again, even in those slips and faults either of mixed infirmity and over-sight, yea or of presumption it self too, (for to sin in contempt of God with an high hand, I doubt much, whether God's children ever do,) that even godly men themselves are ofttimes overtaken withal, yet there is great difference between the watchful and the watchlesse Christian; between the party that ordinarily keepeth this watch, though not so carefully and constantly all out as he ought, and such as keep no such watch at all: and that in three things, before sin, in sin, and after sin.

[Difference 1] First, before sin: For the one, his main desire and purpose, his general resolution and endeavor is not to sin at all, howsoever of infirmity, or through over-sight, or through violence of temptation, or strength of corruption, he slip and slide into, or be pushed upon, or enticed unto and ensnared in sin oft ere he be aware: whereas the other standeth indifferently affected to sin or to forbear sin, as occasion shall be ministered and offered of either; or rather inclining, as his corrupt heart naturally carrieth him, to the ready embracing of any evil that opportunity is offered of, and that standeth with his own natural desire. So that the one is like unto a Watchman that being appointed to watch, so soon as he cometh to the place where he should watch, layeth himself down to sleep, or sitteth rechlesly, not regarding whether he sleep or keep awake. Whereas the other is like one that being set to watch, striveth to keep himself waking, and desireth so to do, but yet through the drowsiness of his disposition and long continuance without rest, chanceth sometime to slumber, though he purposed it not. Or the one is like a man that goeth to Church to try if he can catch a nap there, and so soon therefore as he is in his seat setteth him to sleep, which the sooner he falleth into, the sooner hath he his desire: The other is like Eutichus, that came not, in all likelihood, to Paul's Sermon with a purpose to sleep at it: (if he had purposed it, he would never have made choice of the place he did to sit in, where he should no sooner slumber but he should be in danger of down fall and of as much as his life was worth:) but yet through Paul's long preaching, and his own long waking, he was at length overcome with sleep, though he little thought or meant, it may be, when he came in, that he so should. Like the former is that man that keepeth not watch at all, like the latter he that keepeth ordinarily some watch over his soul. The one sleep findeth; whereas the other seeketh sleep.

[Difference 2] §. 82. Again, in the very act of sin there is no small difference between these twain. For the one sleepeth wholly, as he saith: he sleepeth a deep and a dead sleep: he is carried with full swinge of heart and will unto sin. The other sleepeth but unquietly, like the Watchman that against his will in part falling asleep, hath but an unquiet sleep of it, and even watcheth in some sort in his sleep, he is dreaming of the danger that he is or may be in, and of the enemies approach, whom he is set to watch against. It is that which we may observe in the Churches sleep in the Canticles; I sleep, saith she, but mine heart is awake. We use to say of children, that their heart is asleep even when their eyes are awake: contrariwise it is said of the children of God, that their eyes oft are asleep when their heart is awake: so that though they be outwardly borne-down and carried away with the stiff wind, or the strong stream of some violent and untoward temptation, yet their heart inwardly is not wholly surprised with it, they sin not with a full and an absolute consent of will in it; there is some secret mislike still of themselves in that they do, and some inward strife and reluctance (though not at all times a like sensible) more or less against it, even in the very act usually of committing it. In a word, the one willingly falleth fast asleep; the other unwillingly in some sort, slumbereth rather than sleepeth.

[Difference 3] §. 83. Lastly, after sin committed; the one as he willfully laid himself down to sleep, and fell presently fast asleep, so he lieth sleeping and snoring, securely snorting in sin, without touch or remorse usually, till by some extraordinary accident of outward affliction, danger, distress, or the like, as by his Generals alarm or the enemies assault, he be waked again and roused up out of his sleep. Whereas the other, as he fell asleep beside his purpose, and was never indeed thoroughly or soundly asleep, but in a slumber rather than any deep or dead sleep; so he is easily awaked, as those are that are but slightly asleep, yea his own very unquietness, if nothing else, ere long awaketh him again, like one in a fearful dream, whose very fear many times is a means to awake him, and to free him from his fear. David's heart smote him, saith the Holy Ghost, as after his cutting of the skirt of King Saul's coat; so presently upon his attempt of taking the number of his people: and immediately thereupon, as one start out of his sleep, he beginneth to rub up his eyes and to look about him; and in most humble and submiss manner betaketh he himself unto God, confessing his fault, craving forgiveness of it, and never resting till by renewing of his repentance he had recovered himself, and returned again to his former watch. The one sleepeth soundly till he be raised out of his sleep again; the other awaketh again eft-soones even of himself. And thus much briefly of the benefit that we may reap by this watch, and how far forth we may by help of it keep ourselves free from sin.

§. 84. Now to draw to an end, and to truss or tucke up as it were in few words, after our Savior's own example here, the sum of all that hitherto hath been handled: Considering the drowsiness of our own natural disposition, and how easily in that regard we may again fall asleep; and the diligence of our Adversary watching continually against us, by whom we may soon be surprised if at any time we do sleep; as also the necessity of perseverance, that if we hold not out in our watch to the end, it is all in vain and to no end, and the danger of relapse, if we fall back into this spiritual Lethargy, likely to be in worse case and more irrecoverable than we were at the first. Let it not suffice us, that we have been awaked out of our sinful and secure courses, but let us be careful by all good means to keep ourselves so waking and watching; by due examination of our several actions ere we enter upon them; diligent observation of our special corruptions, that we may contend and strive against them; careful avoidance of the occasions of evil, that they be not offered; and constant resistance of temptations unto evil, when we are therewith assaulted: And that we may the better so watch and hold out in this our watch; let us labor to keep an holy moderation and sobriety in the use of all God's good creatures; hold fellowship with the godly that may have an eye to us; shun the society of wicked ones that may taint and infect us; strive to preserve the fear of God fresh in our souls; endeavor to persuade our hearts of God's presence ever with us; think oft on our end, and our account to come after it; be oft casting up reckonings between God and our souls; have a jealousy of our own infirmity and proclivitie unto evil; labor to have a sincere hatred of sin wrought in our hearts; and lastly be diligent in the duties of our particular vocations, and constant in frequenting of religious exercises as well public as private. Thus watching we shall prevent and escape many evils, that for want of this watchfulness, to our woe afterward, we might otherwise be overtaken withal; we shall have a pardon of course daily signed us upon general suit, for those that either through ignorance or mere frailty escape us: we shall never sleep wholly, nor rest obstinately in sin, howsoever we may chance sometime to be overtaken therewith, but shall recover ourselves eftsoone again by renewed repentance: and we shall be continually prepared for Christ's second coming, so that, whether we sleep or wake, live or die, his we shall be both in life and in death, and with the wise Virgins, whensoever he cometh, being found spiritually waking, shall be ready to enter in with him into the Bride-chamber of immortality, there to abide with him in eternal felicity.

TRUE CONTENTMENT.

THE JOY OF THE IVST: WITH THE SIGNES OF SVCH.

AN unseasonable discourse, saith Siracks Son, is as music in mourning. And to some, peradventure, it will seem somewhat unseasonable to treat of Joy in times of Griefe; in such a time especially, when so much cause of sorrow, that it may well seem a sin not to be in some sort sick of it. And yet it will not (I hope) prove so unseasonable, if all be well weighed, to treat even in such a time of such Joy, as God's Spirit here speaketh of. For when is Physic more seasonable than in time of sickness? Or when had God's Children more need of cheering up, than when they are pressed down with the heaviest crosses and calamities? The very main Scope and drift of the Psalmist, whoever he was, in this Psalm.

The Psalm is partly Prophetical, and partly Consolatorie.

And may well be divided into

• Doctrine, and
• Use.

[Doctrine.] The Doctrine delivered in the former Part of the Psalm, is concerning [Part 2] the Powerful and Potent Kingdom of Christ: the Glory, Greatness, Might, Majesty, and ample extent whereof, [Use.] is in most Majesticall manner, and with a style no less stately described from [Part 1] [Doctrine.] the first verse to the tenth.

[Part 2] The Use of the Doctrine is twofold in the rest of the Psalm;

[Uses 2] Partly for Encouragement,

And partly for Comfort.

[Use 1] First for Encouragement, to incite the Godly to cleave close unto God, and to depend wholly upon him, with assured expectation of safety and deliverance from him, as being so Great, so Mightie, so Potent a Prince.

[Use 2] Secondly, for Comfort, to cheer up their hearts that so do, amids those manifold crosses and calamities that they may chance to be exercised here withal for a while.

Between both which is this pithy and golden Sentence inserted, inferred as a Corollary upon the former, prefixed as an Introduction unto the latter; and so shaking hands, as it were, jointly with either:

[Branches 3] In it we may consider;

[Branch 1] 1 A Blessing or a Benefit, and that such an one as all desire, Light or Joy: for they are both in substance the same: the one put for the other, as elsewhere oft, in the former part; and the one of them expounded by the other in the latter part.

[Branch 2] 2 The Persons to whom this Benefit belongeth, who may therefore lay claim to it, and justly hope for and expect it; those that seem to share least in it, the Just, or the Righteous; that is, as in the latter part of the Verse it is expounded, all such as are sincere and upright in heart.

[Branch 3] 3. The Manner or Measure, how far forth such either do or may partake in it for the present: It is sown for them: it is as yet but seed-time with them: some beginnings of it they have already, and the rest they shall have; but their Harvest is behind yet, the main Crop is yet to come.

[Consider. 3] We will first join the first and the second together. For to speak [Consider. 1] much of the first apart would be to small purpose.

[Consider. 2] Then consider somewhat of the third by it self:

[Consider. 3] And so pass on to, and conclude with the Illustration of the second, ending there our Discourse, where the Text it self endeth.

[Consider. 1] The main Point then that in the first place offereth it self to us, [Point 1] is this; that

And

Joy belongeth to the Righteous, and to the Righteous only: None but the Godly have good or just cause to rejoice.

[Branch 1] The Righteous have right to it.

[Observation 1] For, for them it is prepared. There is Light and Joy sown for [Reason 1] them.

To them it is promised: The Righteous shall be glad and rejoice [Reason 2] before God; yea they shall exceedingly rejoice: And, The Righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and trust in him: and all that be upright in heart shall rejoice.

To them it shall be performed: They that sow now in tears, shall [Reason 3] reap in Joy. The redeemed of the Lord shall turn unto Zion: and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. Yea when the wicked shall mourn and howl, they shall sing merrily. My servants shall rejoice, when you shall be abashed: my servants shall sing for joy of heart, when you shall cry out for anguish of heart, and shall howl again for vexation of spirit.

To them it is in part made good for the present. There is a snare, [Reason 4] or a cord, saith Solomon, in the sin of the wicked to strangle their joy with: but the righteous sing and are merry. And, Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing, saith David, thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girt me with gladness.

Unto it they are exhorted. Rejoice in the Lord, saith the Psalmist, [Reason 5] ye righteous, as else-where, so in the very next words to my Text. And, Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright of heart. And Finally, saith the Apostle, brethren rejoice in the Lord: And, Rejoice evermore: And again, Rejoice in the Lord always: and yet again, I say, Rejoice. Nor would the Holy Ghost thus incite to it, if there were not good ground for it.

Now the Godly have a twofold cause to rejoice: [Grounds 2]

In regard of what they have; and in regard of what they hope for:

In regard of the present grace and favor of God:

And in regard of their hope of future glory with God:

They are in present possession of the one; they live in expectation of the other.

[Ground 1] First, for the present: they are freed from God's wrath: they are reconciled unto God; they are at one again with him; yea they [Branches 2] are in special grace and favor with him.

First, they are freed from God's wrath. Which the more heavy and dreadful it is, the greater joy it must needs be for a man to be freed from it, that was before obnoxious, as we are all naturally unto it. [Branch 1] The wrath of a King, saith Solomon, is as the roaring of a Lion: ( who when he roareth, who trembleth not? ) and as the messengers of death. And what is the wrath then of the King of Kings, the sovereign Lord, not of men's bodies only, but of their souls too, able as he made both, so to destroy both in Hell fire, where the worm never dieth, and the fire never decayeth, and the torment consequently is never at an end? Now what greater joy can there be to a poor Prisoner, a condemned person, that lieth in hourly expectation of being drawn forth to execution, That through daily fear of death, dieth daily before he die, and leadeth by means thereof an anxious life, little better, if not more bitter, than death; What greater Joy, I say, can there be to such an one, than to have tidings brought him that his Pardon is procured? We read in our own Chronicles, of some who have been so surcharged and transported with joy thereupon, that they have even surfeited of it, (as persons that have been long famished, feeding over-greedily upon good victuals, when they come at first again to them) and have died with it: Their joy hath been more than they were able to digest. And what greater joy then can there be to a poor distressed soul, especially having lien some space of time under the heavy apprehension of God's wrath, and so having had some kind of Hell here out of Hell; than to have the pardon of his sins sealed unto him by God, to have tidings hereof brought him by the ministry of God's Word, and some assurance of it given him by the testimony of God's Spirit? To which purpose David having upon his own experience both of the one estate and the other, pronounced them to be in a most happy and blessed estate, that have their iniquities forgiven, and are cased of their sins; concludeth his discourse with an incitement of all such to Joy and to great Joy; as none having better or greater cause than such to rejoice.

[Branch 2] It is matter of much Joy then for a man to be freed from God's wrath. But the Godly are not so only. They are not freed from God's wrath alone, but they are received into special grace and favor with God. And if the favor of a King, a mortal man, whose breath is in his nostrils, be (it is Solomon's comparison) as the dew upon the grass, or the green herbs, that refresheth and cheereth, and maketh all to thrive: What a benefit is it then to be in favor with God, in whose favor there is life? yea whose favor is better than life? Since the Godly therefore are girt about, as the Psalmist speaketh, with God's favor, they may well be girt about with Joy. And the assurance of it alone being better than life, may well serve sufficiently to cheer up their hearts even amids those afflictions that are more bitter than death.

[Ground 2] Secondly, the righteous have just cause to rejoice, as in regard of what they have, so in regard of what they hope for and expect. * Rejoice in hope, saith the Apostle: a second Ground of their Joy. For they live in hope and expectation of a Crown, of a Kingdom; of an incorruptible Crown, of an everlasting Kingdom: of a most happy, a most blissful, a most blessed estate. Hope, we say, is the very Heart of the Soul, and the very Life of a Mans Life. It is that that putteth Spirit into our Spirits, and maketh our Life to be Life. An hopeless Life, is an heartless Life: And he is a most forlorn man that hath no Hopes. It is that that is wont to support men's Souls, and not to stay them only from fainting, but to cheer up their hearts, and to fill them with joy, amids many sore crosses and occasions of much grief. And if worldly hopes can do so much, being so vain, so uncertain: How much more may a Christian man's hopes, (for there is no man that liveth more by hope than he; nor hath any man better, or greater, or surer hopes than he hath:) being so great that he cannot possibly hope for so much, but he shall receive much more; and he shall find, when he cometh to it, as the Queen of Saba told Solomon, that the one half was not told him: so certain, that he is as sure of what he hopeth for, as if already he had it; (for this hope never faileth: and those that God hath justified, those he hath glorified; they are as sure to be glorified, as if already they were.) How much more, I say, may these hopes of the godly, being so good, so great, so sure, so certain, fill their hearts with joy amids all occasions of grief? Rejoice, saith our Savior, your names are written in Heaven. And when men persecute you, and put out your names, and revile you, and speak all the evil that may be of you; even then rejoice ye, and be glad; for great is your reward in Heaven. And, Being justified by faith, saith the Apostle, we are at peace with God, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God: yea we rejoice in tribulations. And, wherein (that is, in the hope whereof) ye greatly rejoice, saith S. Peter, though for a season ye be in heaviness by means of manifold afflictions.

So that if either the enjoyment of God's present favor, or the assurance of future glory, may either of them alone severally, and much more both of them jointly, well and sufficiently countervail and over-weigh all matter of grief whatsoever; then it is apparent that the godly being presently possessed of the one, and as sure to have, as if they were already possessed of it, the other, can never want, if they could see it, much matter of joy.

Let the Saints therefore rejoice, saith the Psalmist. But, Rejoice [Branch 2] not thou Israel, saith the Prophet Hoshe, so long as thou goest a whoring [Observation 2] from thy God. The Godly may well joy, but

the ungodly have no cause at all to rejoice.

First, the wicked can have no true Joy, because they have not [Reason 1] God's Spirit. For true Joy is a fruit and an effect of the Spirit. Now where the root is not, the fruit cannot be: there may be a root without a stock, as when a tree is hewn down, or a bush cut up; and a stock without leaf or fruit, as in winter time; but neither fruit nor stock where the root is not. But wicked men have not the Spirit. As they are none of Christ's that have it not; so none have it that are not Christ's. And wanting the root therefore, they cannot have the fruit, which springing from it, cannot possibly be without it. For how can an effect be without the cause of it?

[Reason 2] Secondly, there is no joy to the wicked; because there is no peace to the wicked. For there can be no true Joy, where there is no inward peace; ( Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost: and, The God of Hope fill you with all Joy and Peace: and, The fruit of the Spirit is Joy and Peace, saith the Apostle) no sound and solid joy, where there is nothing but disquiet and distraction, nothing but terror and horror, nothing but apprehension and expectation of wrath. But the wicked man, saith Job, is like a woman that is always in travel; there is a noise of fear ever in his ear. They are as the raging Sea that casteth up mire and dirt, saith the Prophet Isaiah: There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. A seeming uncertain peace they may have; but they are never safe, nowhere sure, seem they never so secure. It is but, saith the Heathen man, like the calmness of the Sea, that seemeth sometimes so smooth that men may play upon it at pleasure, but if there arise but some sudden flaw or gust of wind, as there doth oft in an instant, all is turned topsie turvie, and where men were pleasantly sporting themselves a little before, there whole ships are now swallowed up. The wicked therefore having no sound or sure peace, they can have no serious or settled Joy.

[Reason 3] Thirdly, Light and Joy are put the one for the other. The Jews had Gladness, and Light, and Joy, saith the Story. And there can be no Joy, where is no Light. What Joy can I have, saith blind Toby, when I sit in darkness, and do not see the Light of Heaven? Now the Godly indeed as they are called Light, and Children of Light; so they are said to be and abide in the Light, and to walk in the Light, even in the Light of God's countenance. But all wicked ones as they are called Darkness, and the Children of darkness; the prince they serve is called the Prince of darkness, and the State that they live in a kingdom of darkness; so they are said to walk in the dark, to be and abide in the dark, to sit in darkness and in a deadly shade. Nor is there hope of ever altering or mending this their estate, unless they alter and amend themselves. For the blackness of darkness, (or darkness as black as pitch, darkness more palpable than that of Egypt was) is reserved and laid up for them (not for a few days, but) forever. As they walk in darkness, so they walk unto darkness, from spiritual darkness that holdeth them here for a time, to that utter, that eternal darkness, wherein is nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth; which when they are once entered into, they shall never get out of again. And seeing then that there can be no joy without light: there can be no true joy to any wicked man wanting true light.

[Use 1] Now this first may serve to confute and control the preposterous and erroneous conceit of worldly men, that think to find Joy where it is not to be had; think there is no Joy where it is alone to be had.

[Error 1] 1. That think to find and attain true Joy without Faith, the fear of God, repentance of sin, righteousness, and reconcilement to God, in the outward things of this world, or in sinful delights. But alas, they deceive and delude themselves, embracing with Ixion a cloud instead of Juno, and a figment instead of Helen, with Paris, a counterfeit shadow of mirth instead of true Joy.

For what sound or inward joy can from outward things accrue? [Reason 1] It is a groundless Joy that cometh from them; such as may like a little counterfeit complexion, alter the look and smooth the face outwardly, but never thoroughly fill, or truly cheer up the soul inwardly. The ground of all true and sound joy must come from within, it must have his rooting in the soul; else it is but as weeds that grow on the top of the water, that float aloft, but can take no sure hold, because they never come at, nor do spring up from the bottom. Cast as many clothes as you will upon a dead corps, you shall never be able to put any natural heat into it. No, the garments that we wear must receive heat from the body before they can return any warmth again unto it. And there must be matter of joy and comfort from within, ere any sound joy or comfort can accrue from anything without.

[Reason 2] Again, what sound joy or comfort can any man have, so long as he is forth of God's favor? For no creature can comfort, where he discomforteth. If God be for us, saith the Apostle, who can be against us? But if God be set against us, who can be for us? What joy could Haman have of the favor of his fellow-Courtiers, when King Ahasuerus frowned upon him? He might well have said then, as he had formerly said in another case, All nothing availeth me, as long as Ahasuerus frowneth on me. Or what comfort found Baltasar in the furniture of his Table, the honor of his Princes, the state of his Palace, or the multitude of his Provinces, when the finger of God writ him his destiny on the wall, which he feared so much before he heard what it was? What sound joy can there be to a malefactor condemned to die a most cruel death, and to suffer so much torture before he die, that the delay of death shall be worse, and more intolerable than death, though he revel and swagger in the prison, and strive to pass away the time with his companions, as merrily as he may, while the halter, that he must die by, hangeth over his head? It is the state of every wicked one. He is, while he so continueth, but a damned wretch, a condemned person; ( He that believeth not, saith our Savior, is condemned already: ) He is in this World, as in God's Prison, whence there can be no escape: he is there fast under the chains of a guilty conscience, ready to pinch and gall him, if they be but a little straitened: howsoever therefore he riot and revel here, and strive to pass over pleasantly the time of his restraint, having by his Jailors leave and permission, the liberty of some part of this his prison; yet he can never be truly joyful, never heartily merry, so long as he remaineth so: His mirth it is not hearty, it is but strained, or it is but a mere delusion, a fools paradise at the most. There can be no cause in the world therefore of rejoicing to any man, till he be reconciled unto God. Because though a man had all the world, yet could all the world do him no good, so long as the heavy wrath of God hangeth over his head, as the sword did sometime over the head of the Tyrants flatterer, ready every hour to seize on him, and Hell-mouth gapeth under him, ready as soon to receive him. He may out of ignorance of his own estate, slumber a while in security, or apply himself to some flashie pleasures; but if he saw his own estate, if he knew his own plight, he would rather howl and weep every hour all his life long.

[Error 2] A second conceit of worldly men, is, that they think there is no joy there, where it is only to be had: There is no joy, they think, to be found in the good ways of God. It is the conceit of many, and it keepeth many back from looking that way, that if a man set foot once into God's ways, all his joy is instantly dashed and lost, all his mirth is marred, he must never look to live merry hour after: Whereas indeed it is clean contrary. There is no true joy but there; no sound mirth to be found in anything else-where. Thou shalt never be truly merry, till thou beest truly godly, till thou art become sincerely religious. True Joy is proper and peculiar to the godly alone. It is a fruit of God's Spirit; which they alone have: it is a branch of Christ's Kingdom, which they only belong to. As the Heathen man saith, that A wise man only loveth, others but dally and lust only: so others may revel, the godly only rejoice. Christianity and Piety doth not call men away from joy; but it inviteth them to true joy, to sound joy, to incessant and everlasting rejoicing. It doth not quell and kill, or quench our mirth; it doth only correct and qualify it, that it may be such as it should be, and such as is behooveful for us for it to be. The Christian man may live as merrily as any man in the world may: yea his life may well be the merriest of any man's under the Sun. Since that he draweth his mirth from the Well-head, where there is Joy and Pleasure God's plenty; where there is Fullness of most delightful Ioyes, and Streams of pleasures that flow forever. For to omit that Godliness doth not • ebar or restrain a man of the use of any honest and lawful natural delight; much less deprive him of all comfort and delight in the use of them. A Christian man hath a good right unto, and a just interest in all things procured for him by Christ, and in him again restored to him, (though by his first Parents default forfeited) and among other things also even to the comforts and delights of this life. For all things saith the Apostle, as well things present, as things to come, and even this world too, (and such honest joys and delights consequently as it is able to afford) are yours, because you are Christ's, who is the Heir of all things, and you in him, being Coheires with him; and he God's. Though his joy depend not upon them, as the worldly man's doth, yet he is not debarred of them, and of the free and comfortable use of them: which for his sake many times even the wicked worldly ones have more plenty of, than otherwise they should have had. Nor doth it follow, saith the Heathen man, that a wise man's palate should find no relish in his meat, because his mind findeth more relish in some other better matters: or that a Christian man should not find much delight and comfort even in these outward things, because he hath other and better matter of joy and comfort within. He could not be so heartily thankful to God for them, if he found not much comfort, delight, relief and refreshing in them. Yea no man may eat his meat with more delight, or use his honest recreations and disports with more comfort, or have more joy of his worldly wealth and estate, than the Godly man may: worldly men have these things but as thieves stolen goods, that they make merry with in hugger mugger; or as a man that hath robbed the kings Exchequer, and by that means enriched himself. Whereas the godly man hath them as favors bestowed on him by God, as effects and fruits of his love, which maketh them the more comfortable by much to him, and doth exceedingly improve his joy and delight in them: since it is the Giver oft that joyeth a man more than the gift: and a small matter bestowed on a man out of grace and favor by his Sovereign, doth more rejoice him, than a far greater gotten from him by stealth. And as for such filthy and beastly delights, such inordinate and brutish lusts, as have indeed no sound pleasure in them, no more than is found in the scratching of some unsound or evil-affected part when it itcheth; and bring much more pain with them commonly at parting, or if not then presently, not long after: howsoever he may have formerly taken some delight in them, as worldly men ordinarily do: yet being healed now of his disease, it is no pain for him to part with them, he desireth not the itch, that he may be scratching again; no more than Saul, when a new heart was given him, had a mind to be following his Fathers Asses anymore. He is no more troubled with the leaving and forbearing of them, than men grown are wont to be troubled, when they are come to maturity and ripeness of years, that they may not now play at cherypit, as they had wont to do when they were children; or that they must lay aside and leave off such childish toys, as sometime they made much reckoning of: or than men glorified in Heaven after the resurrection shall be grieved, that they do not eat and drink, and marry, and make merry still in that manner as they did, while they lived here on earth. These and the like vanities godliness indeed waineth men, and estrangeth their minds from, and by restraining them of such pleasures, freeth them from far greater pains, that such filthy, frothy, and flitting delights are dearly bought with. But instead thereof it furnisheth them with other joys and delight, such as do so far surpass all outward joys whatsoever, as there is indeed no comparison between the one and the other: the one is as no joy in regard of the other. For what is the Kingdom of Christ? nothing but dumps and doubts, and drooping, and melancholy fits, as many imagine. Or what is the work of God's Spirit in the hearts of his Children? To possess their souls wholly with terrors and fears; or to fill them with grief and pensiveness only? No, The fruit of the Spirit is Joy and Peace, saith the Apostle. And, the Kingdom of God is Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost. There is true joy, there is sound joy, there is unutterable joy; ( You rejoice with a Joy glorious, saith the Apostle Peter, and unspeakable; And I do over-abound exceedingly in Joy, saith Saint Paul; as finding no words sufficient to express his joy with;) such joy, as no worldly joy is once to be compared with; such joy, as no worldly man is able to conceive what it is. The soul only, saith Solomon, knoweth it own bitterness; nor doth another feel its Joy. And Talke, saith Augustine, as long as you will, and all you can, of honey, and of the sweetness of it, unless a man taste it, he can never conceive what it is. So undoubtedly it is here: He alone that hath tasted it, can tell, what sweet peace and tranquility of heart and mind, what unspeakable joy and comfort of spirit is there found and felt, where the mercy of God in Jesus Christ is once soundly assured and sealed up to the soul.

[Use 2] Secondly, this may serve for Exhortation, and incitement to Godliness, and to godly Joy; to labor for it, and to Joy in it.

[Branch 1] First, to incite men to labor for righteousness, if they desire to attain to true and hearty rejoicing. Wouldst thou have joy? ( Who would not? For all men desire happiness: and as there is no full happiness without joy; so there is no sound joy without true happiness.) then learn here the right way to it: then take that course that will bring thee to true Joy and sound Peace, Seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof. It is the righteous man only that can truly rejoice. For The Kingdom of God is Righteousness and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost. There is Joy in the end, saith Bernard, and Joy without end: but the way to this Joy is by Righteousness and Peace. From Righteousness Peace floweth, and Joy from Peace. The one is the way, the other is the end; and unless we go the way, we can never come to the end.

It is true indeed, if there were divers ways that tended to one end, it were no great matter, which of them a man took: though he should go further about, it may be, and take somewhat the more pains, yet he were sure at the last to arrive where he would. But when a man hath tried all other courses, he shall find in conclusion, that there is no other way but this to attain to true joy, and that all his labor therefore was lost in beating about and seeking by other courses to compass it. It was Solomon's own case. And who can hope after him to discover some new passage that he could not? He was the wisest man that ever was: nor wanted he abundance of all such things as worldly men are wont to take delight in, and make the matter of their joy. But when he had wearied himself in a multiplicity of by-ways, treading one while in one path, and travelling another while another, and pursuing each as far as any of them would lead, at length he concludeth that there was no true joy, comfort and contentment to be found in anything but in the fear of God and in doing his Will; and that in all other courses, carried they never so goodly a show with them, or seemed they to promise never so great matters, there was nothing to be found but vanity and vexation of Spirit, and no more therefore to be gotten or gained by them. And the like shall everyone find that Solomon did, when he hath toiled and tired himself in beating about to find it else-where, that he hath but taken pains in vain, and deprived himself of joy, in seeking joy there, where it is not to be had; as one that seeking for Grapes among Brambles, or for Figs among Briers and Thorns, shall but tear his clothes, and prick his hands, but never find any such fruit on them, as he there seeketh for. It is not Wit, nor Wealth, nor Honor, nor Nobility, nor Learning, nor any Worldly thing else, but Righteousness and a good Conscience alone, that is able to work settled tranquility, to minister sound comfort, to procure constant alacrity and cheerfulness of mind. That alone can give a good relish to any state or condition, be it ne-never so mean, or, in the eye of the world, never so miserable: whereas the greatest, highest, largest, gloriousest estates cannot give any dram or drop of pure joy, sure comfort, or true content without it. Any course of life may be cheerful and lightsome with it; none can ever be truly comfortable or delightful without it. Godliness and a good conscience is as a sweet perfume, that can give a good sent even to rags; ungodliness and an evil conscience, as filthy matter, that issuing from an ulcerous body, is able to infect and make unsavory the best apparel that can be, to him especially that weareth it. And therefore Heape up and gather thee together Gold and Silver, saith an Heathen man, build thee stately Galleries, plant thee pleasant Orchards and Gardens; fill thee thy house with Servitours, and the whole City with Debtors, till thy mind be settled and satisfied ( nor can anything but God, and the assurance of his favor settle or satisfy it: ) all will be but (I say not as another saith, as curious Pictures to a bleared eye, as exquisite music to an aking head, that doth neither help nor hurt, but) as a cup of neat wine given one in a Fever, as Honey ministered to one that hath his stomach pestered with Choler, as delicate Meats dressed for a dysenterious person, that can relish nothing, can retain nothing, receiveth no strength from them, is but the worse for them, and put by them to more pain. None of all these will be able to minister any sound joy or comfort to thee, no more than they could do to him, that had more of them before thee, than thou canst hope ever to attain unto, until thou come to have part in him, who is the Fountain of all joy, and the God of all comfort, without whom there is no true joy, no sound comfort to be had.

[Branch 2] Secondly, to incite all those that have attained to this estate, to joy in it: and not to suffer outward losses, worldly crosses, calamities or the like, to deprive and bereave them of that alacrity and cheerfulness that their estate may well afford them; and that the Holy Ghost, as we heard before, doth so oft require of them, even so oft, as no one thing almost more. True it is indeed, that it is a very hard and a difficult thing, especially amids the manifold miseries of this our present Pilgrimage, and the evil days that here we pass rather than live, and the rather also having so much of that dull metal, that muddy mould of the old Adam remaining still in the most of us, for Christian men to rejoice so as they ought, and as they have just cause to do. It is a point that is far more easily preached than practiced. Yet this should we everyone of us strive and strain ourselves unto; and to this purpose Give, as the Apostle adviseth, all diligent endeavor to get assurance to ourselves of our election and of our calling and conversion unto God; since that upon our notice and apprehension of it, doth this our joyful and comfortable estate for the present depend; and for want of it, many that have much cause of joy and comfort, were they but aware of it, live oft times a very heavy and uncomfortable life, and so are, through their own ignorance and default, many times most miserable, when yet they are indeed, or at least might be most happy. And when we find ourselves so depressed and dejected, by means of cross occurrence, that this alacrity and cheerfulness is overwhelmed therewith, labor to rouse up our spirits, and say, as David sometime said; Why art thou thus dejected and cast down, O my Soul? and why art thou so distracted and disquieted within me? Trust still in God, and fix thy hopes on him, who is the Light of thy countenance, and thy God. Yea do as David did, endeavor at least to do it: when he was in a great streit, his City sacked and burned, his own wives, and the wives and children of his followers carried captive; and for ought he or they then knew, all slain; his own company also conspiring to stone him to death; so transported they were with grief and passion, each one for his own losses; yet amids all these difficulties it is said of David, that He cheered up himself in the Lord his God. And so should ev • ry one do, that truly and sincerely feareth God, and is careful to walk in the obedience of his Will; though he sit in darkness, saith the Prophet, and have no spark of light, that his outward estate is able to afford, yet Let him trust in the Lord, and rest him on his God; and even then also endeavor to be glad, and rejoice in his favor and mercy, when his present estate seemeth to give all cause to the contrary.

This the rather God's Children should strive and strain themselves [Motives 4] unto; as to attain, so at all times to retain and maintain this alacrity and cheerfulness in their souls:

[Motive 1] First, because the want of it is a great enemy to thankfulness. Rejoice in the Lord ye righteous, saith the Psalmist; for it becometh the upright to be thankful: as if they could not be thankful, unless they were cheerful. And certainly we cannot be so thankful to God as we should for his favors, so long as we have no joy of them, as we take not delight in them. Yea we are too too unthankful to the grace of God, and value his goodness at too low a rate, if we suffer any outward thing, what ever it be, and much more toys and trifles, matters of no moment, to deprive us of the joy that we might and should enjoy in it.

[Motive 2] Secondly, because the want of it is a great hindrance unto the performance of good duties. Serve the Lord with fear, saith the Psalmist, and rejoice before him with reverence: And when thou comest to appear before the Lord thy God in thy festivals, See in any case, saith God, that thou rejoice. And Because thou wouldst not serve the Lord thy God, with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies that he shall send upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things. It is as a cheerful giver; so a cheerful server, that God loveth and delighteth in. And it taketh away the grace of all holy duties, when with hanging of the wings, and flagging affections, when with drooping, lumpishnesse, deadness and dullness we go about them.

[Motive 3] Thirdly, because it heartneth God's enemies, and giveth them occasion of triumph, when they see God's Children hang the head. Then do David's enemies exult over him, when they see him smitten with sorrow, and like one at his wits end. It is not so much the crosses and calamities that befall God's Church and Children, as their taking them too much to heart, and their heartless carriage under them, that heartneth and encourageth the adverse party, and giveth them occasion to triumph. As we triumph over them, though they seem to prevail against us, when we show ourselves undaunted and undismaid, notwithstanding their extremest rage, and nothing vexeth them more, than when they perceive that notwithstanding all that ever they can do, yet our courage is not quailed: So on the other side again it putteth courage into them, when they perceive us to be discouraged, it ministereth matter of joy and insultation to them, when they see us dejected and disheartened, and our countenances cast down, as if we despaired wholly of divine, either protection or deliverance, and were not only at our wits end, but at our hopes end also.

[Motive 4] And lastly, because it disheartneth many from good courses. As the Spies that were sent to view the Land of Canaan, by their cowardice and faint-heartedness, brought up a slander upon that good land that God had promised to bestow upon his people, and so made the people that they had no desire to set further forward toward it, but began to entertain thoughts rather of returning back again into Egypt: So this heavy and uncomfortable state and carriage of God's Children, causeth religion and godliness to be misdoubted and traduced, as a most heartless and uncomfortable course; is a means to bring an imputation upon the good ways of God, as if nothing but melancholy fits were there to be found, and that sullen humor were the only predominant in all pious and religious persons; and so beateth back many from setting foot into good courses, that were coming on before; yea maketh many call in question and doubt shrewdly of the truth of those things that the Spirit of God speaketh so oft in the Word, concerning the joy and comfort of the Godly man's estate.

All which well considered, it standeth us everyone in hand, that are attained to the state of grace and favor with God, as we desire to show ourselves truly and thoroughly thankful to God for it, and to express our thankfulness in such a cheerful performance of good duties, as may put life and grace into them, as we would be loath to hearten God's enemies, and add courage unto them, or to dishearten weak ones, and discourage them from coming on to him; to take notice of our own happiness, and consider well what a blessed estate we are in, and to stir up our hearts to a joying in it, in some measure, proportionably to that matter of joy that it ministereth unto us; and to take great heed how we suffer this joy either to be filched from us by any slight of Satan, or to be drowned in us by occasion of any outward occurrence.

And here before we pass from this first point of instruction, it shall not be amiss, to remove that imputation that we even now said is by occasion of the uncomfortable carriage of some Christians, cast by many upon the profession of Christianity in general; by answering an Objection that may be and is oft made against the Doctrine before delivered.

For, Joy the godly man's Portion? may some man say. [Objection.] Experience plainly disproveth it. We see none live more merrily and jovially than wicked and worldly men do; none more heavily and pensively than those that make most conscience of their courses: so that none, it seemeth, have indeed less Joy than the godly.

I answer to either Branch severally. [Branches 2]

[Branch 1] First for the wicked and worldly, such they say, live most merrily, and rejoice most of any.

[Answer. 1] But 1. They judge amiss of Joy, and are much mistaken, that measure Joy by outward laughter and merriment. A sound substantial joy is one thing, and a tickling laughter is another thing: There is a pain sometime in the one, an inward warmth in the other. Any ridiculous toy may occasion the one, some weighty matter is necessarily the ground of the other. Whether delighteth a man more, or joyeth him more inwardly at the heart, a bag of gold given him, or an inheritance befallen him, that it may be, he scarce smileth at the receipt of, or some idle jest told him that maketh him laugh till his heart ache, or till he almost burst again withal? True Joy, saith the Heathen man, is, though not a sad, yet a solid and a serious thing. And there is as much difference between idle merriment and sound Joy, as between wanton daliance and well grounded love. Wicked and worldly men may have some kind of superficial merriment, some kind of froathie and flashie mirth, such as may wet the mouth, but not warm the heart, may smooth the brow, but not fill the breast; like a slight dash of rain, that washeth the stalk, but wetteth not the root, and therefore doth the grass little good; or to use Solomon's comparison, like an handful of brush wood or sear thorns under the pot, that maketh a great noise, and giveth a great blase, but heateth little, boileth nothing, leaveth the meat still as raw as it was when it went in: But true, sound and substantial joy, such as that is that the godly have, or as is here said to belong to them, do such never attain to.

[Answer 2] 2. We see what they make show of outwardly, but we see not what they feel inwardly. The soul only knoweth it own bitterness, saith Solomon: And even in laughter oft the heart is heavy. You see all of you what an handsome shoe this is, said the Roman sometime, but where it pincheth me, I feel only myself. So here, saith Ambrose, You see how such feast and revel outwardly; but you consider not what gripes and twitches their consciences feel inwardly. Their laughter is never better than a light gigling, many times but a strained grinning, like the laughter of such as have eaten of mad Smallage, which though it wring them exceedingly inwardly, yet setteth them on grinning outwardly, and so maketh them go away with a seeming laughter. In the transgression of the wicked there is a snare, saith Solomon: And the wicked man is holden in the cords of his own sin. Every wicked man carrieth an halter about him to strangle his own joy withal, to mar his own mirth. The guilt of his sin is as an unseen sore, that putteth him to many a privy pang, that himself only feeleth; as a silent scourge that giveth him many a secret jerke, that none heareth or seeth but himself alone.

[Answer 3] 3. Take it at the best, it is but as the Joy of those that are held, as we say, in a fools paradise; deluded with a groundless conceit of vain hopes: as of a frantic person, that hath yet some lightsome turns by times, or is held with a merry kind of madness: or of a mad man, that imagineth himself a rich and a great man, when he is indeed but a poor beggarly wretch: as of children in a siege, that being not apprehensive of the danger they are in, are as busy at their sports, as their parents are at the breach, while the city is ready to be sacked; or as of men in a sleep; (it is just the sinners case; his whole life is but as a sleep; he is no more awake though his eyes be open, than those beasts that are said to sleep so: his estate as a dream: that dreaming of strange matters, have many false Ioyes, and false fears, which as soon as they are awaked, do all vanish, and prove just nothing. Safe they may be, saith the Heathen man, but they are never secure. And, Secure, say I, they may sometime be, but they can never be safe. As the Peace they have, is but a seeming peace: so the Joy they have is but a counterfeit Joy; no true Peace, no sound, no substantial Joy.

[Branch 2] Secondly, for the godly, do they seem many times very pensive and sorrowful? and the life of many such to be very uncouth and uncomfortable?

I answer: [Answer 1] 1. Those that object this, as Bernard speaketh, do but seek for a straw to thrust out their own eyes with. For do they see and observe many such, as they say, that live uncouth and uncomfortable lives? They might as well on the other side, if they pleased, see and observe many more that have lived wonderful cheerfully even in extreme want and penury, in so much that their whole life for the cheerfulness of it hath been as a continual feast; that have carried themselves most comfortably amids many grievous calamities, that a man would wonder how they could stand upright, or hold up the head under the weight of them, so as they have done. Not so only (saith the Apostle, having spoken of Christian men's rejoicing in their hope of glory; ) but we glory also even in our afflictions. And the faithful Hebrews, with much Joy suffered the loss of their goods. And the Apostles went from the Consitory when they had been beaten, rated and reviled, rejoicing that they were graced so to be disgraced for Christ. And Many a Martyr of Christ hath gone as merrily to the stake, as others would have done to a feast. Now these men see and observe the one, but the other they will not see, because they are willing to pick a quarrel to Christian profession. To use a comparison, used before me by a right reverend Divine. Suppose a man come into one of your shops, and ask to see some wares: which when he is shown, he findeth some fault with; and though you tell him you will show him better, yet he refuseth to see them, and so goeth his way: will you not say that such a one came not to buy, but to cavil? In like manner, when men to object against Piety and Godliness, as the mother and means of a most uncomfortable life, shall pick out examples of some few distressed and disconsolate Christians, that either oppressed with melancholy, or mistaken through weakness of judgment in their own estates, live pensively, and shall refuse to take notice of others many more, ten to one, that live cheerfully, and go on joyfully with much comfort and contentment in a religious course of life; we may well say and deem of such, that they deal very unequally, and are bent to cavil only at the practice and profession of Piety, because they have no love or liking to it.

[Answer 2] 2. Are good men, sayest thou, many times heavy and sad? It is not godliness or holiness that maketh them so heavy, but the want of it rather, either in others or in themselves.

And not to insist long upon the former, that the godly are oft heavy, not because they are themselves holy, but because others, whom they desire should be so, are not as themselves are. It is not their own holiness, but thy profaneness that maketh them heavy. As the bad lives of the Sodomites were an heart-sore to Lot, and the wicked courses of David's enemies, a great grief unto David. Nor were a man indeed truly good, did he not desire to have others also good; nor can he be desirous that others should do well, but he must needs be grieved when he shall see them do otherwise than well. They are one main cause of their heaviness, that find fault with them for it. They should have the less cause to be heavy, and it were not for such as they are.

But to let that pass, it is not so much the sight of their present, as the consideration of their former estate, that maketh good men so sad. They are not heavy, because they are now holy, but because they were not sooner such: that they have spent, or mis-spent rather so much time, in an unholy course of life, which now seeing their own folly, they seriously repent of, and are sincerely sory for. Or if their grief arise, as it may well also, from the sight of the present; it is because they are no holier than they are. The godly, saith one, are not heavy therefore, because they are holy; but therefore are they heavy, because they are no more holy; because they are not so holy yet as they would be: because they see so much unholiness yet abide by them. As the love of money maketh men think that they have never enough of it; and the greedy desire of having still more, makes them not regard or take notice of what already they have. You shall hear the rich oft complain that they are but very poor men; and they are indeed in some respect as they say. So the great love of godliness, and the greedy desire of it, and that even out of the comfort and sweetness that they have felt and found in it, doth oft so possess the hearts and minds of the godly, that it withholdeth them from seeing and taking notice of what they have, and maketh them many times pensive, because they have so little as they imagine, though being more than ordinarily stored with it, of that which so earnestly they desire. Nor ought that heaviness of theirs therefore be imputed to holiness, which either the true or supposed want of it produceth. It is a very unequal thing, to charge holiness with that that unholiness is the cause of, and much more to challenge the godly for that, which themselves and such as they be, are the cause of.

[Answer 3] 3. Do some godly men lead a very uncomfortable life? It is by means of their weakness and ignorance of their own happiness. They judge not aright of their own present estate; they are not yet acquainted with the voice of God's Spirit, that speaketh peace and comfort to their souls. As when men come at first into a strange Country, it is some space of time ere they can understand the language, and so come to converse familiarly with the Natives thereof. So is it with God's Children oft for some space of time, after their first conversion to God and Godliness, they understand not instantly the language of God's Spirit, which they have not been formerly acquainted with; nor apprehend they therefore presently those sweet comforts and joys that their present estate and condition affordeth. It is with them as with a prisoner or a condemned person, that though he have his pardon signed and sealed, and news brought him of it, as Jacob had of Joseph's life and state, yet doth not believe it; or when the deed it self is shown to him, yet because he cannot himself read it, or see his own name in it, or else because, it may be, he mistaketh somewhat in it, giveth no credit at all to it, and so hath no more joy of it yet, than as if it were not. And we may add also, that even melancholy is many times a cause of it. For God's grace, though it renew and change the disposition of the soul, yet it altereth not the natural constitution of the body. Even the godly therefore, as they are some of them made of a melancholic mould as well as others, so are they subject, as well as others, to melancholic passions and affections: An humor that is wont to raise many strange imaginations, groundless griefs, false fears and frights, senseless surmises; and as a piece of coloured glass maketh all that is seen thorough it, yea the very Sun-beams, that pass in by it, seem all of the same color with it self; so this black humor representeth all things to the eye of the soul as duskish and dark, full of horror and terror, even the very bright beams of God's favor, and the lovely fruits and effects of it, picking many times matter of fear and misdoubt out of those things, that might give it best assurance. That which the Devil also taking advantage of, is not negligent to work upon, and by means thereof, to possess the minds of such, with such conceits of themselves, which by reason of their melancholy, having once made a deep impression, are not easily again removed, as may vex and turmoile them, and either make them weary of God's ways, or discourage others from entering into them. And it is unequal to ascribe that unto Godliness in general, that proceedeth from the special constitution of some few godly ones only, and is no other than is common to them, with many other profane also, being of the same constitution, though not in the same condition, that they are. We see scholars many, more than others ordinarily, subject to melancholy, because their retired courses of life and privacie of study, is a great means to feed that humor where it is naturally found: yet neither followeth it therefore, that all Scholars live uncomfortable lives, because some do so, that are possessed and oppressed with that humor. Nor may that rightly be ascribed to study and learning, which not it, but the constitution of some students produceth.

[Answer 4] 4. Do men live sometime not so comfortably, when they begin to grow godly? The untowardness of their corrupt nature is the cause of it. It is no marvel if the spiritual breeding be with some difficulty: especially when we go as Rebekah did, with two twins, and those such too as cannot agree well together. No marvel, I say, if there be some striving and struggling, and such as may sometime cause much inward trouble and distraction, until the better of them have got the upper hand of the other. Make choice of the best course of life, said the Heathen man sometime, and use and custom will make it familiar and pleasant. But as it is with millstones, though they be hewed as fit as may be either to other, yet they grind not at first so handsomely, till they have wrought sometime together: Or apparel, though well made, and fit for the body, yet is not so easy at the first putting on, as when it hath been worn a while: Nor do man and wife many times, especially having some cross qualities, agree so well at first, as they do afterward, when they come to understand more thoroughly either others disposition, and have learned to fashion and apply themselves either to other. So it is here: Christ's yoke, saith Gregory, seemeth heavy at the first taking of it up; it becometh easy, yea delightful, when a while we have borne it. God's Spirit and our corrupt nature do not fadge so well at first: they seem somewhat uncouth courses that we are entered into, till we have inured ourselves unto them. It is our own untowardness, and unruliness, our sticking at the birth, our unwillingness to yield ourselves up wholly unto God, the rebelliousnesse of our spirit not reduced so easily to the obedience of God's good Spirit, that hindereth our comfort, that procureth to us that discomfort, which more godliness admitted and given way to would cure. For the cause taken away the effect would soon cease.

[Answer 5] 5. Are even godly men sometime in very lamentable plight? Their own wickedness, their own wantonness, not their weakness only, is sometime the cause of it. For even God's Children also ofttimes straying out of God's way, as we are wont to say of children, light into harms way, and come home again by weeping cross. Even God's Children are now and then shaking hands with the wicked, and taking part with God's enemies, as Jehoshaphat with Ahab, which they pay full dear for oftentimes before they have done with it. Yea as our children, so God's Children, when they are full fed especially, are over prone to grow wanton, and will needs be dipping their finger sometimes in the Devils sauce, as I may so say; as children sometime out of a lickerish disposition, will be tampering with such things, as they are forbidden to meddle with, and it is dangerous for them to deal with; which costeth them afterward many a deep sigh and a salt tear, ere they can recover again of the evil, and the inward discomfort, that by means thereof accrueth unto them. It was David's case: when he was now at rest and ease, he was led aside, and fell a dalying with some sinful delights, that eclipsed his joy and comfort, and procured to him such discomfort, as made his life for a long time together most uncomfortable to him, it being a long time ere he could thoroughly recover his former state of joy and comfort again. But what is the true cause of discomfort in such cases? It is not godliness; it is ungodliness. A disordered Patient, we say, maketh a cruel Physician. The Patients disorder and misdieting of himself, contrary to the rules by the Physician prescribed him, procureth him oft much pain, disturbeth the cure of his disease, hindereth his recovery, requireth new purgings and potions, yea peradventure searings and cuttings, that otherwise he should not have needed; which to lay the fault of, therefore, on the Physician, or the rules of Physic, or the courses by him prescribed, and of the Patient neglected, were unreasonable and senseless.

[Answer 6] 6 Are the godly in these cases full of sorrow and grief? Even in such sorrow and sadness there is the seed of sound joy. The way to joy is by grief; as the way by Physic is to health, As the worldly man's Joy endeth in grief; so the godly man's grief endeth in Joy. He is not far from true Joy, that can sincerely sorrow for his sin. For as war with the world procureth peace with God; so sorrow for sin produceth Joy in God. Yea he hath much matter of sound joy in him, as we shall afterward see, that can and doth seriously lament and bewail his own wants, his untowardness, his former wantonness, his wickedness. What say I, there is matter of joy? There is even joy oft herein. There are tears of Joy, as well as of grief; and there is also a mixture oft of the one with the other, Men take pleasure and delight sometime even in mourning and bemoaning themselves, as well as in mirth. And I make no doubt, but that many of God's Children do many times take as much delight, and find as much comfort, even in their Godly grief, and in the bewailing of their wants, as any worldly men do ordinarily in those outward pleasures, that their hearts and affections are most carried away with. Nor let any natural man much marvel hereat. For if such can take so much pleasure, as I have heard some of them confess, and as Augustine observeth, in seeing an idle play of some feigned subject, that so affecteth them, that it draweth tears from them, though the thing acted nothing at all concern them, nor, it may be ever was in truth executed, that they desire and long exceedingly to see it again; then they need not marvel, if God's Children can take much more pleasure in this their holy grief, though it draw many a tear from them, that so nearly concerneth them; and in those religious tears, which are so pleasing to God, that they cause much Joy in Heaven, and by which so much benefit accrueth to themselves. They may well be comfortable, that are the procurers of comfort; they may well be pleasant and delightful tears, that are sure pledges of eternal Joy and delight.

[Answer 7] 7. Do not the Godly seem so joyful ofttimes as the wicked? or make so much show of mirth outwardly? It followeth not that therefore they are not as joyful, or have not as much mirth as they. For the joy of God's Children, as the ground of it, is more inward, than outward: as the windows that conveyed the light into Solomon's Temple, were wider within, than without they were. The richest veins of Oare lie deepest in the ground. And the greatest joy many times makes outwardly least show. As hypocrites ofttimes rejoice in the face, as the Apostle speaketh, when yet they rejoice not in the heart; and worldly men many times set a good face on it, and make semblance of mirth outwardly when their hearts are inwardly the whiles pinched with pain: so the godly oft times rejoice in the heart, when yet they rejoice not in the face; ( as sorrowing, saith the same Apostle, and yet always rejoicing: ) and have their souls fraught inwardly with abundance of joy, though their looks outwardly show it not. The Kings daughter, saith the Psalmist, is all glorious on the inside. As the Glory of God's Church; so the Joy of God's Children is much, yea or most, inward: and it is no marvel therefore, if the World and Worldly men see not either the one or the other; they want Spiritual eyes to discern either. They think there is no mirth, but where there is gigling and laughing, or swaggering and revelling, and the like. But God's Children may say to them, as our Savior to his Disciples, I have other meat than you wot of; so, We have other manner of Joy than you are aware of. The Godly are oft merry, though they make little show of it: yea their mirth is most many times, when it is least seen. Those that prescribe rules for the choice of Simples, advise to take herbs in the Spring, flowers in Summer, fruits in Autumn, roots in Winter; and why roots for the most part at that time? Surely because the sap is then gone down; it is most in the root, when it is least in the stock; it is most of all then under ground, when it is least to be seen above ground. And so it is ofttimes with the Joy of God's Children, it is most rife many times with them inwardly in the heart, when least show of it appeareth outwardly, or discovereth it self in their life.

[Answer 8] Lastly, is the Joy of God's Children many times obscured? or doth it not oft so evidently appear outwardly to the eye? It is no marvel. As we said even now, It is here oft Winter time with them. It is so in some sort generally so long as they live here. It is Summer here with the wicked, it is Winter with them. The one is as the grass that is green in Winter, but withereth when the heat of Summer once cometh. The other is as the Oak, that in Winter seemeth sear, but when Summer cometh sprouteth out, and continueth fresh and green then, when the grass is parched and burnt up, or made hay of. You are now dead, saith the Apostle; and your life is hid with Christ; but when Christ, who is your Life, shall appear, then shall you also appear in Glory with him. As if he had said, It is now Winter time, and the sap lieth hid in the root with you, but when Summer cometh, you shall spring out, and be in your prime as trees and plants are when the Sun approacheth.

But more specially it is Winter with them at some time more than at others. As in times of affliction, desertion, temptation and persecution. That is the Winter that in the Canticles the Spirit specially speaketh of. And no marvel if joy and comfort be then ofttimes restrained with them; at least if they do not then so apparently offer themselves to outward view. Who would expect or require leaves or fruit ordinarily in Winter time from a tree? Not but that the Godly have even at such times also good ground even for great joy and much comfort; howsoever they see it not for the present: or but that they have many of them many times in many such cases, as much joy and comfort as ever: like the Palme-tree in that regard, that keepeth his green hew continually, and never casteth his leaf all the year long. But that then usually joy and comfort is somewhat obscured with the most, with weak ones especially, who yet when they are free from such fits, live as cheerfully, as joyfully, as comfortably as any.

Such occasions and occurents then are the godly subject unto now and then, that through their weakness oft disturb much and dim their joy for a time. And are not worldly men also subject to many diseases, disasters, crosses, griefs, discontentments, that set them oft off the hinges, and mar all their mirth? It is an unequal thing then for them to tax religion for that, or to twit the religious with it, which to all other courses of life is incident as well as to it. An unequal thing for them to require such an equal tenure of disposition from a Christian man, in all occurrence and accidents, as no other is able to exhibit. They may as well require mirth of a natural man in the midst of some sharp fit of a burning fever or the like, as require alacrity and cheerfulness of a Christian in some such cases.

But to come somewhat nearer home to the portion of Scripture [Answer 9] that we have in hand. Is not the joy of the godly in this life either so full or so sensible? The Reason is here intimated. It is but Seed-time as yet. And to see to ofttimes there is little difference, though indeed there be much, between an acre of ground that lieth still unsowen, and one that is sown with some precious seed.

[Consider. 2] And so pass we on to the second Point before propounded, how far forth God's children do even here partake of this Joy. [Point 2] They are not wholly deprived or debarred of it for the present. For they are incited unto it, in the very next words to my Text. And yet they are not come to the whole crop neither; it is not their Harvest-time yet: that is not till the worlds end. Light is sown for them, saith the Psalmist.

[Observation 3] Whence observe we, that

As the fruit of righteousness; so Light and Joy are said here to be sown.

And that principally for these causes:

[Reason 1] 1. Because it is here hidden oft, it is not so apparent to the eye; it is as corn in the ground, that lieth there unseen: it is much clouded and obscured with many crosses and conflicts.

[Reason 2] . Because it seemeth buried and overwhelmed to some. As an ignorant person, that knew not the nature of grain, and the efficacy that is in seed, would think it were not sown, but buried and cast away, when it is cast into the ground, and laid up in the earth.

[Reason 3] 3. Because it is not yet come to his height and full growth, or to that increase that it will come unto. The grain may sprout in the ground, but that is nothing in comparison to that that it is expected to come unto.

[Reason 4] 4. Because it is even here a breeding, and in time it will break forth, spring out, shoot up; yea so it doth also here; and in due time produce and bring forth a plentiful Harvest. For, those that sow in tears, saith the Psalmist, shall reap in joy. And where this seed of Light and Joy is now sown, a further larger crop of it shall there sometime succeed.

[Uses 4] The consideration whereof may serve;

[Use 1] First, to admonish God's children not to be dismayed and discouraged, or to grow discontent, if they cannot find and feel yet that large measure of spiritual joy and comfort, that they desire, and expected, yea and in the word of God is oft promised. It is but our Seed-time yet. And would we have Seed-time and Harvest concur? No, Behold the Husbandman, saith Saint James, how he waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth; and expecteth patiently till the first and latter rain be passed on it. And in like manner must we have patience till God's Harvest-time come, and then shall we be sure to have our full crop, whatsoever it please God to impart unto us of it before; in the mean while looking constantly after the spiritual rain of the Word, and praying instantly for the sweet dew of his Spirit, to descend down upon our souls, for the cherishing and improving of this seed of joy sown in us. When we have laid our grain into the ground, we do not look to see it the same day again, much less to reap the same day, (as he saith of the Hyperborean people far North, that they sow shortly after the Sun rising with them, and reap before the Sun set, that is because the whole half year is one continual day with them:) no, we expect not the next day, nor the next week neither, to see it again above ground; but we are content to wait patiently till the year come about; and are glad when we see it but after a month it may be, begin to peep out of the ground, living in hope still of the further growth of it, and to enjoy at length, after the spire and the blade, a full ear. So must we learn likewise herein patiently to wait God's good leisure, and though we see a long time but slender growth, scarce any sight at all of it, yet not to be dismayed therefore or discouraged, but live in hope, as the husband-man doth, of further increase of it, and of a full crop at length, when God shall see it good. And the rather by much may we live in hope, and live by hope here than there, because the seed that is there sown, after it is so sown may miscarry; it may be cast into the ground, and die there, and so never come up again: ( The grain, saith Joel, is rotted under the clods: ) it may spring up well, and be blasted, while it is yet in the blade: it may be eared, and yet perish ere it come to be cut: The meat, saith the Prophet, is cut away from your mouth: that is, it is spoiled and stroyed when it is full ripe, and fit for the sickle, when you make full account to feed on it, and it is in a manner even in your mouths. But this spiritual seed of light and joy ( the main matter and ground of it, I mean) that is sown in the hearts of God's Children, being an incorruptible seed, shall never die and decay, but though it may seem to lie dead there for a long time together, yet it shall surely sprout out, and in time show forth it self; yea it is even then sprouting, when it seemeth so to lie dead, and it will daily be growing, as the seed cast into the ground, though it be not regarded, or notice taken of it, till it come to its full growth. For the way of the Just, saith Solomon, is as the light, that shineth more and more till it be broad day light. And, God will in his due time bring their righteousness forth as the light, and their judgment as the noon-day, that do quietly and constantly rest upon him, and are content to wait and abide his pleasure. For, He that soweth to the Spirit, shall from the Spirit reap life eternal. And, He that soweth righteousness, shall have a sure reward. And, In due time we shall reap, if we faint not.

[Use 2] In the mean space let us take heed, that we be not herein our own enemies; that we do not by our disorders and excesses, by our own wickedness or wantonness disturb willfully our own peace, and so eclipse our own light, by interposition of some grievous enormities, which as the dark body of the Earth coming between the Sun and the Moon, may be a means to restrain the sweet influences of God's Spirit, that otherwise we might have enjoyed: ( Wouldst thou never be sad? saith Augustine, have an eye to thy life, be careful ever to live uprightly: A religious life can never want matter of much joy. ) Or how we grow negligent in the use of good means for the maintaining and feeding, yea for the stirring of it up, and the making of it burn clear, that so we may walk cheerfully and comfortably in the light of it. For light must, we know, be maintained, and oft tended and trimmed, or else it will but burn dim and afford little light. Yea, if we do find at any time some defect in this kind, some restraint of spiritual comfort, let us descend into our souls, and seriously examine ourselves, whether we nourish not within us some secret corruption, that may choke this our joy, and like a thick fog, or a filthy vapor ascending up in our souls, may keep the light of God's countenance from shining in upon us so brightly as otherwise it would, or peradventure formerly it hath done.

[Use 3] Again, Is this seed sown already? and is there a sure crop to come of it? Then as the Psalmist thereupon here inferreth, Rejoice ye righteous, and be glad in the Lord. Be not as ground or land that lieth wholly unsowen. Full glad is the Husbandman when he hath had a seasonable seed-time, and hath got his grain once well into the ground. But how merry think you, would he be, if he could have his crop secured? This should therefore serve again to incite and stir up all God's Children, to constant and continual joy and rejoicing, having so sound a seed of joy sown in them, and being so sure of a large and plentiful crop of it: to say with the blessed Virgin, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Savior: And with the Spouse in the Prophet, I will greatly rejoice, and my soul shall be joyful (for why should it not be so?) in my God; even in the God of my salvation.

[Use 4] Yea it may well serve to check us, for that fondly and willfully we suffer ourselves by every sleight and trifling occasion to be bereft of this joy, whereof God's mercy and goodness hath in part put us here in present possession. There is a childish and peevish humor naturally in everyone of us: and some tang and taint of it we may observe even in Abraham; Fear not, Abraham, saith God himself to Abraham; I am thy buckler, and rich reward. But, Lord, what wilt thou give me, saith Abraham to God again, so long as I go childless? As if all he had were nothing, or he could have no joy of anything, so long as he was without that one thing, so long as he wanted a son and heir: as Haman had no joy of all his wealth and honor, and grace and favor with King and Queen, so long as Mordecai crouched not to him, nor fawned on him, as others did. And the like wayward humor is too rise with the most of us. We are like children with whom toys and trifles are more regarded than matters of greater worth and weight; and who therefore if someone of those toys be taken away from them, though they have many more of them besides, will in a pettish humor cast all the rest away after it, and sit whining for that one. The loss or want of someone trifle, and that such sometime as a Christian man or woman might well be ashamed to make any reckoning or account of, that either we had and have lost, or do want and would have, I say not of a child, or of a friend, or a father, or of some worldly means, (that the most are wont most heartily to mourn for) but of a fine ruffe, or a new fashion, or of a good look from some great one, or of a bow of the knee from some inferior one, or of an hawk, or an hound, or a whelp, (for even so low, and yet lower, do our base affections oft deject us) doth so affect us, and go so near to the heart with us, that it is a means many, too many, times to abandon all joy and mirth with us, as if all the gracious favors of God towards us in Christ Jesus, and all the rich and glorious hopes of our eternal inheritance with him, were all nothing in comparison of such a trifle as that, or not able to joy and cheer up our hearts without it. This childish and sottish quality should we everyone of us take notice of in ourselves, of too much proneness at least unto it, and strive and labor against it, as being worthily ashamed of it, and considering with ourselves, what an unworthy thing it is, that the love and loss of such pidling toys, yea or of any worldly thing whatsoever, should prevail so far with us, as to deprive us of that joy and comfort that our blessed estate in Christ Jesus even for the present may well minister unto us. An Heathen man telleth a Courtier that had lost his Son; that he had no cause to mourn, either for that or ought else, as long as his Sovereign was in safety, and he in favor with his Sovereign, he had all things in him; and should be unthankful to his good fortunes, if he were not cheerful both in heart and look, so long as things stood so with him, as then they did. How much better may it be said to every true Christian, let his wants and his losses be never so great, that he hath little cause to mourn for them, so long as he is in grace and favor with God; he hath all things in him, and so long therefore he is happy, and he have nothing else but him. And exceeding unthankful is he to God's goodness, if the apprehension of it fill not his heart at all times with gladness; unworthy is he of salvation by Christ, that cannot at any time find matter of rejoicing in Christ.

Yea, but how can we rejoice, peradventure will some say, [Objection.] amids so many crosses and calamities as God's Church and Children are daily vexed and annoyed with, yea and ourselves also among the rest? Or how can we rejoice, when we have so many sins and corruptions to be sory for? Yea, how may we lawfully rejoice, when we are called unto heaviness and solemn humiliation, when we are commanded and enjoined by God, to mourn and lament? When either our own estate or God's Churches is such, that not to be sorry, and to be even sick with sorrow, may well seem a sin?

To this I answer:

1. We must ever remember so to keep one Commandment, that we break not another. Repent, is one Commandment; [Answer 1] Rejoice, is another. And he that commandeth the one, hath enjoined also the other. As Saint James therefore reasoneth, He that said, Thou shalt not kill, hath said also, Thou shalt not commit adultery; though thou dost not kill therefore, yet if thou do commit adultery, thou art a transgressor. So here, he that hath commanded us to be sory for our sins, and for the afflictions of our brethren, hath commanded us also evermore to rejoice. And therefore though we fail not in sorrow for our sins, or for our brethren's afflictions, yet if we willfully banish and abandon this spiritual joy which God's Spirit requireth of us, we make ourselves thereby guilty of sin in God's sight. A sin it may be not to be sorry at some time: and a sin it is for God's child at any time not to joy. They say that Negative precepts or prohibitions only, tie at, and unto all times: But this Affirmative injunction also concerning a Christian man's joy, admitteth no intermission, but tieth unto all times. Sorrow may be sometime out of season: this spiritual joy, as of some food we say, is never unseasonable. The godly are at sometimes prohibited the one: they are never inhibited, but enjoined ever the other. Yea mark what I say; it is undoubtedly true: Albeit few be prone to offend that way, yet a man may offend even in excessive sorrow for sin, in thinking too much on his sins, in mourning immeasurably for his sins. If such thy meditation of thy sin, and sorrow for thy sin shall so far prevail with thee, that thou art wholly swallowed up with it, or by means of it, art either detained from, or disabled unto, and made wholly unfit for the performance of other necessary duties, that thy sorrow doth then make thee guilty of sin, and thou hast just cause to be sorry for that sorrow.

[Answer 2] 2. Joy and grief, in some degree at least, may well stand together. As true joy may well stand with some fear. Rejoice before him, saith the Psalmist, with fear. So true joy may well stand with some grief. As sorrowing, saith the Apostle, and yet always rejoicing. He that hath commanded us to sorrow sometime, would never else have enjoined us at all times to rejoice. There is joy even in grief; as there is grief even in joy. Yea, though it may seem strange, yet it is questionless true, the greater grief sometime the greater joy; and the greater joy, the greater grief. A man may at the same time both be exceeding sorry for his sin, and yet rejoice exceedingly in the apprehension of God's mercy, in the free pardon and forgiveness of it. Yea, the greater grief a man hath for his sins, the more cause of joy he hath even in that regard. And the greater joy a man hath in the apprehension of God's favor in the forgiveness of his sin, the greater grief and sorrow for his sin it usually worketh in him. As where the servile fear ceaseth, that regardeth nothing but wrath, there the filial fear of offending groweth usually most rife: For the more a man is assured of God's love towards him, the more he loveth God; and the more he loveth him, the more afraid is he of offending him: So where the inward gal • cease of a guilty conscience, there sincere grief for sin groweth fresher than ever before. To illustrate this by some familiar comparison. Suppose one that stood guilty of high Treason against his Sovereign, and that not in some inferior kind, but in the highest degree, either having made a violent assault upon the person of the Lord's Anointed, or having not by accident, as he sometime that slew Croesus his Son, but by a malicious train taken away the life of his only Son that should have succeeded him, having no other issue in the Kingdom; and having been arraigned and condemned for the same, yet should by his Sovereign out of his gracious disposition, and at the earnest suit of some about him, have the fact pardoned him, and his pardon sent him. This party doubtless, as he could not but exceedingly rejoice in so undeserved, in so unexpected a favor; so withal, if he had any spark of grace or good nature at all in him, the very apprehension of his Sovereigns gracious disposition, would make him mourn for his foul fact more than ever before, considering with himself how wretchedly and unworthily he had carried himself toward one whom he found so graciously, beyond and above all, either expectation or imagination, disposed. The case is ours in effect: and not to insist long upon application of it: It may hereby plainly appear, how Spiritual Joy, may well stand with Godly grief, and these two affections that seem the one contrary to the other, may yet agree well together in a Christian man's soul: since that the more a man joyeth in the assurance of God's goodness toward him, the more he must needs grieve to consider how by his wicked and rebellious courses, he hath demeaned himself wretchedly and unworthily toward that God, whom he findeth so graciously affected toward him.

A man may mourn for his sins then, and yet rejoice in God's mercy; be sory for his transgression, and yet have joy of his pardon. And in like manner may he be grieved heartily for the present afflictions of Joseph, and that even so as he may be sick with grief again; and yet withal be cheered and comforted in the consideration of that happy issue of them, that God's Fatherly care of his Church, his Power, his Providence, his gracious Promise, and his own Faith building thereupon, give him good hope and assurance, that they shall have in the end. For the Griefe of God's Children in these cases is not a desperate grief, but a sorrow mixed with Faith and Hope. It is but a storm, said that good Bishop, and within a while it will over. And, The rod of the wicked, saith the Psalmist, shall not rest upon the Lot of the Righteous. Nor will God utterly cast off his people; nor forsake his Inheritance forever. But though he send afflictions in upon them, to scour and to cleanse them; yet he will return again to them, and have compassion on them, according to the multitude of his mercies; and turn again their captivity, as the Rivers in the South. When he hath by their adversaries wrought his own work upon them, (for even such also do his work, though against their own will: ) he will turn his hand upon them, and utterly destroy them, as the Father to please the Child again, and to testify his reconcilement to it, is content sometime to cast the rod into the fire, that he had corrected it with before. Yea, the more men take God's wrath to heart, and the more they are humbled under his hand, (be the same either on themselves or others,) the more comfort may they have in their humiliation, as conceiving thereby the greater hope and assurance, that God will in mercy the sooner hasten the deliverance of his distressed ones, and the confusion of their oppressors.

And thus again may a man mourn as heartily for the sins also of others, as he doth or would do for his own, and lament even with floods of tears their folly, and misery like to ensue on it; and yet have joy withal of his own conversion, and assurance of salvation: as those that are safe on shore, having escaped shipwreck, may at the same time both commiserate the distress and danger of those that are still wallowing in the Sea amids the waves, and bickering with the billows there, in jeopardy every instant to be swallowed up irrecoverably in the deep; and yet the whilst rejoice also in, and be thankful unto God for their own safety. Joy and grief therefore may well concur and agree together. Nor do God's Commandments herein cross or contradict one another. We may well sorrow sometimes, and yet always rejoice.

[Answer 3] 3. Even in the greatest afflictions may God's children have much joy. For, To the lust, or the upright, ariseth light in darkness, saith the Psalmist. The ungodly meet with darkness oft in the day: the godly have light oft even in the night: The Sun goeth down at noonday oft with the one: it riseth oft even at mid-night with the other. In whom you trust, saith Saint Peter, and rejoice with a joy unspeakable and glorious; albeit, by occasion of manifold temptations, ye are for a season in some sorrow. And, My brethren, saith Saint James, count it exceeding Joy, when you fall into many trials or troubles. And, Great is my rejoicing; I am full of comfort; I have joy over-abundant in all my tribulations, saith Saint Paul. They may retain joy in them, yea they may draw matter of joy from them. They may retain joy in them: For it is another kind of matter, and a matter of far greater consequence, that is the ground of their joy. A Christian man's joy dependeth not upon freedom from afflictions, but upon the assurance of God's favor towards him for the present, and upon his hopes of future matters. Yea they may draw matter of joy from them: Since they do, or may know that they are good for them, and do work for their good: I know, saith the Apostle, that this shall turn to my salvation. And, All things work together for the good of those that love God. And as the sick man therefore may rejoice at the coming of the Surgeon, (though he know full well that he must needs put him to much pain,) that cometh to saw off some part gangreaned, or to cut him of the stone: So may the godly have joy, not in only, but of those afflictions that befall them, knowing them to be God's loving and fatherly chastisements of them for their good; and considering that though no such chastisement for the time seem joyous, but grievous, yet they bring forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness in those that are therewith exercised. And this the rather, when the afflictions that befall them are such, as tend directly to give them the greater assurance of their future eternal happiness. As the Apostle telleth the Philippians, That their adversaries rage and fury against them, was as well an evident sign of the salvation of the one, as of the destruction of the other: and the Thessalonians, That their sufferings for Christ and his Kingdom, did evidently show that God had vouchsafed them a part in that Kingdom, for which he called them in such sort to suffer: and that their troubles here were a pledge and seal of their eternal rest there. For, This is a true and a sure assertion, saith the same Apostle; that if we die with Christ, we shall live with him; if we suffer for him, we shall reign with him. And why may not God's Children rejoice then, even in their greatest afflictions, when they shall consider that this light trouble that lasteth but for a short season shall procure unto them, as the Apostle speaketh, an exceeding excessive eternal weight of Glory. For the further confirmation and fuller illustration of this point, consider we the Nature of that excellent Creature, one of the first of God's works, that this Joy of God's Children is compared to in my Text. Concerning which, I will make bold to insert here a very comfortable Meditation of a nameless Author, and that somewhat more largely, because the Book is not commonly to be had. We see and prove, saith this Author, by daily experience, how powerful and dreadful a thing the darkness of the Night is. For when it falleth, it covereth and muffleth up the face of the whole World; it obscureth and hideth the hue and the fashion of all Creatures; it bindeth up all hands, and breaketh off all employments; ( The Night cometh, saith our Savior, wherein no man can work; it arresteth and keepeth captive all living wights, Men and Beasts, that they must be still and rest there, where it arresteth them; yea it maketh them fearful and faint-hearted, full of fancies, and much subject to frights. It is of all others such a powerful and unconquerable Tyrant, as no Man is able to withstand. And yet nevertheless, it is not of that might that it is able to overwhelm, or to quench the least light in the World. For we see that the darker the Night is, the clearer the Stars shine: Yea the least candles light that is lighted, withstandeth the whole Night, and not only suffereth not the darkness to cover, or to smother and oppress it, but it giveth light also even in the midst of the darkness, and beateth it back for some space and distance on every side of it: So that which way soever it is borne, or wheresoever it cometh, there must darkness depart and give place unto the light; all the power and the dreadfulness of it, cannot help or prevail ought against it. And though the light be so weak, that it cannot cast light round about, or drive the darkness far from it, as in the spark of an hot coal, yet cannot the darkness cover or conceal, and much less quench it; but it giveth light to it self alone at least, so that it may be seen afar off in the dark; and it remaineth unconquered of the dark, though it cannot help other things, nor give light unto them. Yea (that that is yet more wonderful) a rotten shining piece of wood, which hath the faintest light that can be found, yet remaineth invincible of all the power of darkness; and the more it is compassed about with darkness, the clearer light it giveth. So little is darkness able to overcome or keep down any light; but that it ruleth, and vanquisheth, and expelleth the darkness, which else overwhelmeth, and snareth, and fettereth and putteth all things in fear. Now if this Natural light, but God's Creature, be so powerful and so able to prevail against the darkness of the Night: Why should not that spiritual Light, that God's Spirit doth kindle and set up in the hearts of God's Children? Yea why should not God himself, the only true and eternal Light, the Creator of that Light, and the Well-spring of Life and Light, dwelling himself by his Spirit in the hearts of the faithful, be able to afford them light in darkness, and to minister sound joy and sweet comfort unto them, in the very midst of their heaviest and most hideous afflictions? He can doubtless do it at all times; yea and many times also he doth it. For, Blessed be God, saith the Apostle, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Mercies, and the God of all Consolation, that comforteth us in all our troubles: Yea, that not only comforteth us, but comforteth us in that manner and measure, that As our Tribulations abound for Christ, so our Consolations also abound in Christ. And certainly as Well-water is wont in Winter-time to be warmest; so many times God's Children in the midst of their greatest afflictions; some in the Dungeon, some at the Stake, some even in the Fire flaming on every side of them, have found greater comfort than ever they did when they were free from those afflictions; have had such strange joys even there and then imparted unto them, as they were scarce ever before acquainted with. To persuade the godly Martyrs to courage, constancy and cheerfulness in their sufferings for Christ's cause, the Auncients used a twofold Consideration. One was, that they could expect to suffer no harder nor harsher things, at the hands of cruel Tyrants, than divers had done, and had been willing to yield themselves unto, upon advice of the Physician, at the hands of the Surgeon. Another was, that no cruelty could be exercised upon them, but that some others, either out of an ardent love and affection to their Country, and a zeal of the good and welfare of it, or out of a desire to maintain their credit and reputation, or out of an affectation of future fame and renown, or out of a resolved obstination and obfirmation of mind, had not quietly only, and patiently, but even cheerfully endured the like. Yea the Heathen man observeth, that not only those Philosophers that made Virtue the chief good, but those also that pleaded wholly for pleasure, and placed all Human, yea and Divine Happiness in a manner, wholly in it, yet held that a man might be cheerful amids the most exquisite torments that might be, the one in the consideration of his honesty and fidelity that he suffered for: the other in consideration of those pleasures and delights (a very slight and sory comfort indeed) that formerly he had enjoyed, and now cheered up himself with the remembrance of. And the Master of that brutish sect, when he lay on his death-bed, amids grievous torments from the Strangury, that then held him, and inward Ulcers, professed (if a man might have believed him) that he then lived the happiest life that ever he did. Now to reason, as the Heathen man himself hence doth: If, saith he, such things be found among those with whom pleasure reigneth, why should they seem incredible with those that follow Virtue? If an obstinate stiffness of mind, that lasteth usually but for a spurt, could prevail so much with some; why should not Virtue, well grounded, that is wont to be constant in her courses, enable others much more to as much? So, we may well say; If a vain shadow, a lifeless image of virtue could prevail thus far with some: why may not true Faith and Christian Fortitude effect as much or much more with others? If the contemplation of former pleasures, present applause, or future fame, a vain blast only of man's breath, be able to carry men cheerfully through such unsufferable sufferings: how much more may the present assurance of God's favor, together with the hopeful expectation of an eternal reward, be able to maintain a constancy of cheerful constitution in a Christian man's soul, amids the heaviest afflictions that can here be endured? If the uncertain hope of recovery of inconstant health, and prolonging of a miserable life a while, and not the shunning or shifting off, but the delaying only of death, be a means to cheer up the patient under the saw, or launcer, or searing iron of the Surgeon, though the pain he undergo seem unsupportable: how much more may the assurance of immortality ( the only true and sure health ) and life everlasting shortly after to ensue, cheer up the faithful man's heart amids as great or greater matters, if he be called thereunto? If the Spirit of man possessed with some obstinate humor, can steel a man's heart (as it is reported to have done) to such a contempt of torments, that no torture hath been able to interrupt his laughter, or to break off his derision of those that have tired themselves more than him, with torturing of him: what shall not the Spirit of God and Christ himself, by his Spirit, be able to strengthen and enable those unto, whose hearts his Spirit, and he by his Spirit possesseth? We therefore even glory, not rejoice barely, in afflictions, saith the Apostle, because the Love of God is shed forth into our hearts, by the Spirit that is given us. And. I am able, saith the same Apostle, to do (yea and to endure also) anything, (yet not by mine own strength, but) through Christ enabling me. Being strengthened with all might by his glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering even with joyfulness.

[Answer 4] 4. There is no time, no state whatsoever, wherein the godly man hath not great cause of joy. It were unreasonable to require such incessant joy of such evermore and at all times, had not such at all times good reason to rejoice. Rejoice evermore, saith the Apostle: and, In all things give thanks. And surely, if we ought, as the same Apostle else-where saith, At all times and in all things to be thankful; then questionless we ought at all times and in all things to be joyful, as well in adversity, as in prosperity, as well in afflictions, as in freedom from them, as well when things fall out cross, as when it fareth with us as we would. The Godly man then hath at all times good and just cause of joy: it is apparent. For, God's injunctions are not unreasonable. But I go a step further, and dare be bold to aver it, that every righteous man, everyone that is truly religious, hath at all times, if he could himself see it and apprehend it, much more matter of joy, than he hath of grief, or can have. For what doth or can minister more matter of grief, than God's favor and love in Christ may afford matter of joy? And those therefore that are ever in the favor of God, (what should I need to add; and that live in hope of eternal Glory with God?) can at no time have so great cause of grief, but that they have even at the self-same time much more cause of joy. But every Godly man is ever in favor with God: Every Godly man therefore hath ever and at all times, if he were so wise as to apprehend it, more ample matter of joy by much than of grief.

[Objection.] Yea, but it is the Just or the Righteous man, will peradventure some say, that must, that may thus rejoice: And where are any such? Who can say, saith Solomon, I have so purified mine heart, that I am wholly free from sin? No: There is no man Just or Righteous on earth, that doth ever well, and never evil. A vain thing may it seem then to exhort men to rejoice, when the condition annexed is such as excludeth all from rejoicing. To what end is it to incite the Just to rejoice, when there are none such that may rejoice?

[Answer.] The answer is ready at hand, in the latter part of the Verse. By Just are meant all such as are upright in heart.

Which clause is added;

[Considerat. 3] Partly to exclude the Hypocrite,

And partly to temper and qualify the rigor of the term before used, if it were strictly and exactly taken.

So that it is a note as well of Extent, as of Restraint: [Uses 2]

[Use 1] 1. Of Restraint, to exclude from this joy, and all right thereunto and interest therein, all dissemblers, all counterfeit Christians, all hollow-hearted Hypocrites; that repent in the face, but not in the heart; that make a sour face, that they may seem to fast, saith our Savior; that Iustifie themselves in the sight of men, but God seeth their hearts what they are, and seeth them to be far other than either they should be, or they pretend themselves to be.

[Use 2] 2. Of Extent, to extend and enlarge this Joy, the ground of it and the right to it, to all that are single and sincere-hearted: and so to give and afford a share and a portion in it as well to those that are sincerely righteous on earth, as to those that are perfectly righteous in Heaven.

It is as a Key to let in the one;

It is as a Bolt to spar and bar out the other.

To clear this further by a distinction or two of Bernard's and Ambrose.

[Sorts 6] There are six either Sorts or Degrees of Justice or Righteousness.

[Sort 1] 1. Ficta, sed non recta: A righteousness feigned or counterfeit, but not sound and sincere. Such as the Pharisees was. A righteousness in outward show and semblance, but not in inward truth and substance. Like counterfeit coin, that hath the Kings stamp indeed, but is base and bad metal, and is therefore naught worth.

[Sort 2] 2. Recta, sed non pura, non perfecta: A Righteousness, sound and sincere, but not perfectly pure. When, though sin do remain still with men, yet it doth not reign in them. There is a mixture in them, as of Light and Darkness, dimness at least, in a painted glass, died with some obscure and dim color: it is transparent and giveth true, but not clear and pure light. And such is the righteousness of all faithful persons while they live here.

[Sort 3] 3. Pura, sed non firma: A righteousness pure and perfect, but not firm and permanent. Such was the righteousness of our first Parents before their fall. Pure and perfect it was: for such did God create them: they had no sense at first of any evil motion at all in them, much less did they yield or give any consent to any such. But firm and permanent it was not: (it might have been, if they would:) for they changed willfully that estate that God created them in, and so fell away from that their Original Righteousness.

[Sort 4] 4. Firma, sed finita: A righteousness not pure only, but firm too, yet finite: Such is the righteousness of the elect Angels, and of the blessed Saints glorified in part now in Heaven: and shall be of all the Elect as well Men as Angels after the last day.

[Sort 5] 5. Infinita: An infinite righteousness. Such is the righteousness of God alone; of him that is not righteous only, but even righteousness it self: and the righteousness of all Creatures both Men and Angels put together, is as none in regard of his, being the same with himself.

The first of them is, in this term, excluded from sound Joy; the second is admitted to it, as well as the third or the fourth, yea therefore rather than the third by much, because it is sure in time to attain to the fourth: and it may well therefore constitute a distinct [Sort 6] sort or degree to make up the number propounded at first, to wit, imperfecta, sed firma, or firma, sed non pura, non perfecta: An imperfect righteousness, but yet firm; or a firm and permanent righteousness, though not yet pure and perfect: Since that the Grace of God begun here in the hearts of his Holy ones, though never so infirm and weak in it self, yet being supported and upheld by the power of his Spirit, is sure never wholly or fully to fail: but as the light that the Moon receiveth from the Sun, though to our seeming but very little at first shortly after the change, as we term it, yet it increaseth more and more daily, till it come to the full; so shall The Light of Grace in God's Children, though but little, scarce sensible at the first either to others or themselves, yet it shall grow on till it come to it full growth; which when it hath once attained, (that which will not be in this life) it will never (herein contrary to the manner of the Moon ) impair or abate again.

[Point 3] So that the Point that hence ariseth is this, that

[Branch 1] First to the Vpright; that is, as well to those that be sincere-hearted, [Observ. 4] as to those that be perfectly and exactly righteous: yea to all upright, be they strong or weak ones, be they well grown, or but new borne babes in Christ Jesus.

For whereas there are two ranks of Men truly righteous:

[Rankes 2] The former of such righteous ones as never fell, never sinned: the [Division 1] estate of the Elect Angels, that need no repentance, that like the [Ranke 1] Prodigals elder Brother, never left their Fathers house, nor ever offended him in ought.

[Ranke 2] The latter of such righteous ones as have fallen indeed, but are risen again, through God's mercy in Christ their Savior, restoring them in part, and raising them up again by repentance: the state of all the faithful in part renewed, and regenerate, and restored again to their Original Righteousness:

Or to come nearer to the Point;

The former of those that are righteous in regard of a perfect habit, or an absolute perfection of righteousness: And so our Savior Christ only here on earth was; and the Saints saved now in heaven [Division 2] are. [Ranke 1]

The latter of those that are righteous in regard of the desire, study, [Ranke 2] endeavor, and imperfect practice, rather than perfection of righteousness: Such as sincerely desire to fear, and to serve God; and endeavor constantly to do his Will: as have respect to God's Commandments: and think upon them to observe them: though they cannot keep or fulfill them so as they should: that follow after righteousness, as a work-man doth his trade, that he hath bound himself an apprentice to, though he be not yet his crafts-master: And so Job is said to be Just, though he had his infirmities and failings, by his own confession, not a few. So Zechariah and Elizabeth are said to have been righteous in God's sight; that is, truly and sincerely, though not perfectly, righteous: for they were not also without their wants. And even these latter also have right to, and may have part in the joy here propounded as well as the former, though the former enjoy it far more fully than they do. For, God will be merciful, yea he hath already been, and is merciful, to those that set their hearts aright, and that desire to fear his Name. And, I will be with him, saith God of Solomon, if he endeavor to do my Will. And Then, saith David, shall I not be confounded, when I have respect to all thy Precepts: and When I am upright with my God. And, The loving kindness of the Lord is from ever and forever, upon those that think upon his Commandments to do them. And, He that followeth after Righteousness shall find Honor and Life; true Honor, and eternal Life. For unto those that by patient perseverance in well-doing seek Honor, and Glory, and Immortality, will God render Life eternal.

And therefore to such also, even in express terms is joy promised; and such also in express terms are enjoined to rejoice. The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and trust in him; and all (without exception) that are upright in heart, shall rejoice. And as here, Light is sown for the righteous; so else-where, Light in darkness ariseth to the upright. And again, having in the beginning of the Psalm pronounced them blessed, not that never sinned, but that have sincerely repented them of their sins; in whose soul there is no guile: he concludeth with an incitement, yea an injunction laid upon all such to rejoice: Be glad ye Righteous, and rejoice in the Lord; and be merry, yea shout for Joy, all ye that are upright in heart. And if there be great Joy in Heaven for such; sure there may well be much Joy also here on earth unto such.

And this may be further confirmed unto us, if we shall consider, [Reasons 4]

[Reason 1] 1. That it is not so much the quantity, as the quality and sincerity of his grace in us that God principally regardeth. A little pale and course Gold is of much more worth than much bright Copper, than much fine Brasse. And a good piece of Gold is true Gold, though it be bemired and besmeared with dirt; an ingot of Gold, is good Gold, though it have much dross still mixed with it. Nor will a man that is in his wits cast away his money, be it Gold or Silver, for the foulness of it, or the Gold-smith his wedge for the dross that is mixed with it: but where he meeteth with never so little good Gold, and it be but a grain or two, mixed with never so much dross, he will not leave the Gold for the dross, but keep the dross with the Gold, till he have fined it, and so severed and freed the one from the other. In like manner here: God's grace in the hearts of his Children, though it be mixed still with many infirmities, yea and corruptions, yet is it true Grace, and much better than all those seeming shadows, and though glorious, yet but counterfeit shows of it, that are found either in Heathen men's lives, or in the courses of Hypocrites. Nor will God therefore, in regard of those infirmities and corruptions mixed with it, reject it, but rather have a care of them in whom it is, to cure and to correct them, that his Grace by the removal and amendmenr of them, may grow daily more pure, till it come at length unto a perfection of purity.

[Reason 2] 2. That with God the will is accepted for the work, and the desire and endeavor for the deed. As it is in evil; the very study, desire and endeavor of doing evil, maketh a man to stand guilty of evil doing in God's sight, albeit he do not, because he dare not or cannot do what he desireth. He that looketh but on a woman to lust after her, saith our Savior, hath already committed adultery with her. And, He that hateth but his Brother, saith Saint John, hath already murdered him in his heart. A strange matter, saith Augustine, the Woman is still honest, and yet art thou an adulterer; the man is alive still, and yet thou art a murderer. So is it also in goodness: the study, desire and endeavor, the constant study, sincere desire, and earnest endeavor of holiness and righteousness, make a man esteemed holy and righteous in God's sight, though he cannot yet attain to that measure of it that he would. God regardeth more what he desireth and endeavoreth to be, than what he is; he respecteth more what he desireth and endeavoreth to do, than what he doth.

[Reason 3] 3. That God exacteth no more of his, than he hath bestowed on them. He requireth not the gain of ten talents, where he hath given out but five, or the profit of five, where he hath conferred but one only. He is content to accept of his what they are able to afford, in grace and mercy pardoning, passing by and remitting the rest. Cursed is the Deceiver, or the Coosener, saith the Prophet, that having a sound or a fat Male in his flock, bringeth a corrupt carrion or a lean starveling to God for a sacrifice. But he is not accursed that bringeth no berter, because he hath no better to bring. Yea observe we in the legal sacrifices and oblations, how low in mercy God descendeth. It is true that if men should serve God and sacrifice to him, according to his state and his greatness, All the wood of Lebanon would not serve to burn, nor all the beasts that be in it suffice for a sacrifice; yea little enough would all the wood in the world be, and all the cattle therein to it, to make up but one sacrifice. Yet see how low God is content to stoop herein, in regard of man's beggerlinesse, not able to give or offer ought worthy of God. He is content to accept of a sheep or two, or a lamb or two for a sacrifice; or if a man be not able to bring so much, he is well pleased with one; or if he want means for a lamb, he is not unwilling to take a pair of Turtle Doves, or two little Pigeons instead of it; yea if a man's ability be not able to reach so far neither, an handful or two of flower, with a corn of salt or two, shall suffice as well as ought else, where it is brought and offered with an honest heart. And it is more than once or twice inculcated for the comfort and encouragement of weak ones, of the poorer sort, that were not able to offer as the rich did, and might doubt therefore of the like acceptance: Look what he is able; according to his ability; even what his hand is able to reach unto; and it shall be accepted. The poor Widows two mites were as acceptable to God, as the largest offerings of the richest. He measureth the gift not by the worth or the greatness of it, but by the might and the mind only of the giver. And If there be in a man a willing mind, saith the Apostle, it is accepted not according to what he hath not, but according to what he hath. God regardeth in his not so much what they should, as what they can and are willing to do. And what thou wouldst do but canst not do, saith Augustine, God accounteth as done.

[Reason 4] 4. That it is not so much our inherent Righteousness in regard of the worth, dignity, and excellency of it, much less in regard of any purity and perfection in it, but as it is a fruit of God's Love, a token of his Favor, a sign and mark of our Adoption and Justification, and a pledge and pawn of our future Glorification, that is the ground and matter of our Joy: not it self so much, as that, that it giveth us assurance of.

[Respect 1] 1. As it is a sign and a seal of our Adoption. For our Regeneration whereby this Righteousness is restored, wrought and begun in us, doth ratify and seal up our Adoption unto us. Since that none are the Children of God by Adoption, but those that are so also by Regeneration. And all that are so by Regeneration, are by Adoption also such. The least and lowest degree therefore of sincere and sound Sanctification being an effect and fruit of Regeneration, is a certain sign of Adoption, and may minister a sure argument to him that hath it, that he is the adopted Child of God. Now as Parents love their children, not so much for their wit or comeliness, or the like qualities, as because they are theirs; so doth God love his Children, even because they are his Children: yea had he not loved them before they had any good quality in them, for which he might affect them, they had never come to have any such. And as Parents affect as well, and delight as much in their little young ones as in those that be well grown or at man's estate, as well in those that are not able to earn the bread that they eat, as in those that are able to do them the best service: nor is any father so unnatural, that because his child being weak and wearish, sickly and crazy, as being full of bleach or some other such like troublesome infirmity, is in regard thereof somewhat waspish and way-ward, especially being a good natured and a dutiful child otherwise, will for that cause the less either regard or affect it: no we are wont rather to be the more affectionate toward them, and the more tender and charie of them, when it is so with them. Yea, I say not, what infirmity, but what disease almost is there so loathsome, as will keep a mother from tendering and tending her child? In like manner is it with our Heaxenly Father, whose love and affection to his, goeth infinitely beyond the love and affection of any earthly father or mother whatsoever. For, as a Father, saith the Psalmist, is pitiful unto his Children; so is the Lord pitiful to those that fear him. And the most natural mother, the kindest and tenderest Parent that is, may sooner forget or not regard the fruit of her own body, than he can forget or not regard them. And, I will spare them, saith he, that fear me, and think on my Name, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. He loveth and delighteth in his little weak ones, his novices, his young Babes in Christ, that can scarce almost creep, much less go well alone yet, as well as in his great ones, his strong, his well grown ones, that are able to help and to tend others. For The Lord's delight is in all those that fear him, and that rely upon his mercy. He is content to accept of at their hands what they are able. As a little done by a Son, giveth his Father much better contentment, than a great deal more done by a mere stranger or a servant. And there is the difference between a Son and a Servant; that a Servant if he cannot do his Masters work, his Master will not keep him, he must go seek him some other service; whereas a Son, albeit he be not able to do ought, yet he is not therefore cast off; his Father keepeth him not for the service that he doth or can do him, but he keepeth him because he is his Son. Yea it is not the wants and infirmities and imperfections, or the remainders of sin and corruption in God's Children, that can cause God to cast them off or to abhor them. Our corruptions shall not hurt us, if they do not please us, saith Augustine. Nor is it so much our corruptions as our pleasing of ourselves in them, that maketh God to be displeased with us. Any beginning of sincere sanctifying Grace then argueth God's Child; and a weak Child of God being yet a Child of God, as well as a strong, hath good cause and great cause therein to rejoice.

[Respect 2] 2. This inchoate Righteousness, or first fruits of God's Spirit, is as a sure Sign and Seal of Justification and Adoption, (for Justification also and Sanctification are never sundered or severed; all that are truly Justified are sincerely Sanctified; and all that are sincerely Sanctified, are truly Justified also:) so is it a firm pledge and pawn, or earnest rather, of future Glorification, and of whatsoever of God's gracious Promises remaineth yet to be made good. Christ is, as I may so say, the Surety we have for them. He is as our Surety to God, for the discharge of our debt: so God's Surety to us, for the performance of his Promises. And God's Spirit in the Graces of it, is the earnest that he hath given us already beforehand, for the better assurance of what is to follow. All the Promises of God are in Christ, Yea and Amen, that is, firm and stable, saith the Apostle. And, It is God that establisheth us with you in him; who hath also anointed and sealed us, and put the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts. And this holy Spirit of Promise, wherewith we are anointed and sealed, is the earnest of the Inheritance by Christ purchased for us, for assurance of possession. As a penny therefore given in earnest bindeth as firmly as a pound; if the party at least be a sure and sufficient man that one dealeth with: so even the smallest measure of sincere grace being God's own earnest, bindeth him in regard of his Promise accompanying it, (for without some such word of agreement and promise, it could not be an earnest: ) to the making good of all his gracious Promises, made to the faithful in general, to those that have received it in particular; and may as well therefore minister good Hope, and give undoubted assurance of the performance thereof unto them in due time. And as a weak, but a true Faith, may as well lay hold upon Christ, and receive him by God offered, as well as a strong; as a feeble and a shaking hand may as well receive a Kings alms, as the lustiest and the ablest man's hand that is: So even a weak beginning of saving and sanctifying Grace, if it can be discerned and discried amids a multitude of wants, may as well give assurance both of present Grace and Favor, and of future Glory with God, as the greatest measure that may be. And as a piece of Gold that such a poor sick man's weak hand receiveth of the Kings gift, may as much glad him at the heart, stand him in as much stead, and do him as much good, as that that is received with a better: So God's gift by a weak Faith received and apprehended, may as well comfort a man's soul, and as well joy him at the heart, being it may stand him in as much stead, and be as beneficial to him for his good, as being received by a stronger. Yea, the main and principal matter of our joy here, being grounded upon not so much what we have already, as what we hope for, and shall have: though a piece of gold be better worth, and a man therefore may do more good with it, than he can with a small piece of silver, yet the latter may altogether joy a man as much as the former, in regard of the inheritance that is assured unto him by either: So a poor quantity of Grace, though it cannot for the present so much benefit a man, either to do so much good to him, or to others by him; as a richer and larger portion of grace may; yet in regard of the Heavenly Inheritance and future Glory, that it is an earnest of, the one may well minister as much joy as the other, because the one giveth good assurance of the very self-same in effect and substance with the other.

Every sincere Christian then, be he weak or strong, hath much matter and good ground of Joy. Let all, saith the Psalmist, that are upright-hearted, rejoice. But

[Branch 2] The Hypocrite hath no cause to rejoice.

[Observat. 5] As Simon Peter told Simon Magus, Thou hast no part nor portion in this business, for thine heart is not upright in God's sight: So the Hypocrite hath no part nor share in the Joy of the Just, because he is not upright-hearted, his heart is not single nor sincere in God's sight. The Joy of the Hypocrite is but momentary, saith Zophar in Job; it is no true, no sound, no permanent Joy. As their repentance is, so is their rejoicing: as their godliness is, so is their Joy. As they repent in the face, but not in the heart: So rejoice they may in the face, but not in the heart. As their Godliness is all in outward show, nothing in substance nor in truth, and therefore it is of no constancy at all, of no continuance. ( Thy goodness, saith God, is as a morning cloud, that is dissolved as soon as the Sun breaketh forth, and as the dew, that melteth and is dried up, as soon as the Sun shineth on it.) So is their joy only a superficial, a seeming rejoicing, and it shall not therefore last long, but it shall fade and fail soon, as their goodness and godliness doth.

[Reason 1] And no marvel:

For, 1. Whence ariseth the Joy here spoken of? Yea, whence springeth all true, sound and constant Joy, but as before was shown, from the present assurance of God's favor here, and the hopeful expectation of eternal happiness hereafter? But the Hypocrite hath neither Faith nor Hope; neither Faith that may give him assurance of the one, nor Hope that may put him in expectation of the other. No Faith, no such Faith at least, as may give assurance of God's favor. For the Faith that doth that, must be a Faith without hypocrisy, a Faith unfeigned: And how can his Faith be without hypocrisy, when he himself is but an hypocrite. No hope, such at least as is certain and unfailable, such as is the hope that is founded on Faith unfeigned. For What hope can the Hypocrite have, though he have heaped up never so much, saith Job, when God snatcheth away his soul. The Just man hath hope even in death, saith Solomon. But then do the Hypocrites hepes fail him, if not before; When he dieth, saith Solomon, his hopes all die with him. Where no Hope then, no Joy: where no Faith, no Hope: and the Hypocrite therefore having neither Faith, nor sure Hope, cannot have any sound Joy.

[Reason 2] 2. In the light of God's Countenance is the Joy of the Godly. Blessed are they, saith Ethan, that walk in the light of thy Countenance, O Lord: such may indeed continually rejoice in thy Name. But the Hypocrite as he cannot delight in God, so he can have no list to come into God's sight, much less to walk before him, or in the light of his face, as those do, and well may, that are upright. For how can the Hypocrite, saith Job, delight himself in the All-sufficient? Or what heart can he have at all times to call upon God? Or consequently to depend upon him? And again, Though God slay me, yet will I trust in him; and I will approve my ways in his sight: (to wit, for the integrity, for the sincerity of them:) And he shall be my Savior and my salvation; when the Hypocrite shall not dare to appear in his presence. And indeed with what confidence can any hypocrite appear before God, when though he may delude man, yet he cannot beguile God? For God seeth not as man seeth: Man seeth the face, but God seeth the heart. (There is no deluding of him with vain shows, no more than cozening of a skillful Mint-man with counterfeit coin ) When all that they do is most loathsome and abominable in God's sight? when all their masked devotion is so far from pacifying God's wrath, that it is but a means rather to aggravate and exasperate it against them? For the hollow-hearted, saith Elihu, do but heap up and increase wrath. What joy can the hypocrite then have to come into that light, that discovereth his hypocrisy, that layeth open his deceit The light, saith Job, is as the shadow of Death to such. Or what assurance can hypocrisy give of God's favor, when there is nothing that doth more than it procure his displeasure? His Lord will give him his portion with hypocrites, saith our Savior, when he would intimate that such an one should most surely, most severely be punished.

[Reason 3] 3. Is righteousness the root of Joy? Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy, saith the Apostle. And doth Joy spring from righteousness? Then can the hypocrite have no true Joy, because he hath no true righteousness. For as counterfeit coin is no coin; nor will in payment go as current for the procuring of ought to him that hath it; so counterfeit righteousness is in deed and truth no righteousness, nor will to any good purpose stand him that hath it instead. Yea as he is farthest off from attaining to righteousness that supposeth himself to have it when indeed he hath not: so is that man farthest off from being indeed righteous, that maketh show of being such when he is indeed nothing less. Dissembled holiness, saith that ancient Father, is double ungodliness. For it is one point of ungodliness for a man not to be godly; and another point of it, being not godly, to make show of being such; and shall therefore have a double share in God's wrath. And a wicked man, saith the Heathen man, is then worst when he seemeth best; he is never worse than when he maketh show to be that which he is not. If there can be no sound rejoicing then, where righteousness is not; no hypocrite being most unrighteous can ever soundly rejoice.

[Use.] Now the only Use of this Point (passing by all other) shall be, to stir us up everyone diligently and seriously to examine himself whether his heart be sincere and upright with God or no, that so he may come to know whether he have part or no in this Joy, whether he have good and just cause or no to rejoice.

This the rather should we be content, and it standeth us upon, to take the more pains in, because there is much deceit and delusion, yea and collusion too, in this kind.

[Deceit 1] Satan is full of wiles. And our own heart also is exceeding deceitful. Many there be that beguile themselves, and think themselves to be somewhat, yea to be great ones, (as Simon Magus gave himself out to be, some great one,) when indeed they are just nothing, but are most miserably deluded. And there is no means whereby Satan keepeth more out of God's way, than by bearing them in hand, and making them believe that they are in it already.

[Deceit 2] And again on the other side, many think they have not that which indeed they have. For a man may have Grace, and yet not know that he hath it; (as the Embruo or the Infant in the womb hath life, and yet knoweth not that it liveth;) yea he may think that he hath it not. As we seek sometime for keys, when they are in our pocket: and we think that we have lost some Jewell, when we have it safe locked up in our chest, or in our deske; yea or as the Butcher looketh about him for the candle that sticketh in his hat, and he carrieth about with him on his head, and seeketh it by the light of that which he seeketh, as if he had it not about him, not remembering suddenly where he stuck it. So the Godly are oft in their own conceit at a loss, when yet that they deem lost is still sure and safe; they miss many times God's grace in them, and seek for this grace by the light of the same grace, which yet they see not in themselves. And this is another wile of the Devil, whereby he laboreth to delude such, by calling in question their sincerity, as he sometime did Job's, and moving, yea making them many times to their great discomfort to doubt of it, by persuading them that they are out of God's way, when they are indeed in it; and out of favor with God, when they are as much in favor with him as any; that so either he may, if it be possible, make them grow desperate and careless; or else that he may make the way to the heavenly Canaan as tedious, toilsome and troublesome unto them as he can, when by no force or wile of his he is able to push or tice them out of it.

That both sincerity therefore may be discerned, and hypocrisy discovered, to the consolation of the one, and the confusion of the other: it shall not be amiss here to annex some Notes, whereby those that desire to be truly informed of their estate, may be able to judge of their own sincerity, and of the uprightness of their heart.

[Note 1] The first Note then of Sinceritie may be Universality: when our repentance and obedience is not partial but general, when we are careful to shun, not one or two only, this or that sin, but all known sin whatsoever, and to endeavor ourselves to walk in all the good ways of God, without exception of any. So it is said of Josiah, that he turned unto God with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind and his might, according to all that was contained in the Law. And so saith David of himself, I have refrained my feet, not from one or two, but from every evil way, that I might keep thy Statutes. And, Then shall I not be confounded, when I have respect unto all thy Precepts. And, Therefore do I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right; and every wrong way do I even abhor. And hereby doth he approve unto God his sincerity and the uprightness of his heart with God. I have kept the ways of God, and have not wickedly gone away from my God. For all his Commandments were before me, and I put not any of his Statutes willfully away from me: But was upright before him, and kept myself from mine own sin. And of Zechariah and Elizabeth it is said, They were righteous in God's sight, walking blamelessly in all God's Commandments and Ordinances. For as it is said of Vices, He that hath any one of them, hath all of them. A fool, saith the Heathen man, is free from no fault. So it is much more true of Virtues, He that hath any one of them, hath all of them; and consequently, He hath none, that wanteth any. For Vices indeed are contrary and adverse one to another; as False-hood is to False-hood, though Truth never to Truth. Vices are Extremes, Virtue is the Mean. And Extremes cross either other, as well as the Mean. And therefore of them there is some doubt made (though there need not) by some: but of the other it is generally agreed by all; that as he saith of Arts and Sciences, so moral Virtues much more, have a kind of consanguinity and natural nearness between them; they are tied in such an indissoluble band together, that they cannot possibly be severed or dis-joined one from another. And therefore any on Virtue, where it entereth, expelleth all Vice, because no one Virtue ever entereth alone, but it bringeth • ver in somewhat of each other Virtue with it. Nor is it so in Moral Virtues only, as they are commonly termed; but it is so in Spiritual Graces also. There is a Concatenation as well of the one, as of the other; they are so inseparably linked and chained together in an holy band, in a divine league, that one cannot nor will not be without the other. And therefore every true Christian hath each sanctifying Grace in some measure. As a Child, so soon as it is borne, is a perfect man for integrity of parts and entireness of limbs, though not for bigness and bulk of body: So every good Christian that is indeed truly regenerate, is no sooner soundly converted, but he is in part renewed in all parts, and hath in some degree or other a beginning of all Christian Grace, though he be not anything yet near his due and full growth in any: And he hath not any as yet consequently, if he wholly want any: as also on the other side again, if he have any one spiritual grace, he is in some degree freed from every spiritual Vice. For as Health is in the body, so is Grace in the Soul. As Health freeth from all diseases, according to the degree of it: (for in it also there are degrees: ) So sanctifying Grace freeth from all Vices that are contrary thereunto, according to the measure and proportion of it. Nor is a man therefore said to be in good health, so long as any one disease holdeth him and hangeth on him; nor clean, while the Leprosy possesseth any one part of him: nor a Saint, (and yet such an one is every true Christian) so long as any Vice, what ever it be, ruleth and reigneth in him, or he willfully lieth and liveth in any one Sin.

Again, as it is in Christian Graces; so is it also in God's Commandments. The whole Law, say they well in the Schools, is one Copulative. The Law for the sanction indeed is disiunctive; for the Injunction it is Copulative. The sanction runneth in the Disiunctive, Either do thus, or die: the Injunction in the Copulative, nor either do this or that; but, Do both this, and that too. Love God above all, and thy Neighbor as thyself. Take the true God alone for thy God: and worship him according to his Will: and use his Name reverently, and Sanctify his Sabbaths, &c. And therefore saith our Savior to the Pharisees, These things ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone. Now it is a rule in the Art of Reasoning, that in a Disiunctive, if any one part hold, the whole is held to be true; in the Copulative, if any one part hold not; the whole is held to be untrue. So in a Disjunctive Injunction, if a man perform the one part, he is freed thereby from the other; the Woman that was enjoined to bring for her Purification a pair either of Turtles, or of Pigeons, was thereby bound to bring the one only, she needed not to bring both: and in the legal sanction, he that doth, dieth not, he that dieth, doth not; for no man is thereby bound to both, both to do, and to die, to do the one, and yet to endure also the other. But in a Copulative Injunction it is far otherwise; nothing is done to any purpose, if a man observe not every part: It is as in a Lease that is grounded upon many conditions, ten or twenty suppose, any one of them not observed, make a forfeiture of the whole. He is accursed that persisteth not in everything contained in the Law of God to fulfill it. And though he do not all these things, saith God by the Prophet, if he do but any one of them, because he hath done any of these abominations, (for so I take it, the words would be read) he shall die. Yea, Saint James therefore goeth further, and sticketh not to affirm, That whosoever keepeth the whole Law, but faileth only in one point, he is guilty of the whole. Which words of his yet are not so to be taken as if a man in stealing did break the Commandment of not committing adultery, or in telling a lie, the Commandment of sanctifying the Sabbath: or as if a man that did at any time of infirmity sin against any one Commandment of God, (as who doth not oft, even the holiest that is?) did stand guilty in God's sight as a wicked wretch, and one that had no regard at all of any. But his meaning is, that that man that would seem to make conscience of keeping all the Commandments of God save one, but maketh no conscience, or hath no care of keeping that one, doth not in deed and truth, whatsoever he may pretend or seem to do, make conscience of any, no not of those that in that manner he seemeth to observe. The reason that the Apostle addeth there is indeed very forcible. It is the same God that enacted and delivered the whole Law, that hath enjoined one good duty as well as another, hath inhibited one sinful act as well as another. If a man therefore for Conscience of God's Will and Word do exercise himself in anyone good duty, he will consequently exercise himself in all other good duties that concern him; because the same God in his Word hath alike enjoined all. If for Conscience of God's Will and Word he forbear or abhor any one sin, he will for conscience of the same Word and Will of God, forbear and abhor all other Sins; because the same God in his Word hath alike forbidden all. And on the contrary therefore, he that doth not either exercise himself in every known duty that concerneth him of the one sort, or is not careful to shun every kind of evil act of the other sort, doth not either observe ought in the one kind, or eschew ought in the other kind, out of any true care or conscience of his duty and obedience to God, but for some other by ends and by-respects. It is a good Rule in the Schools, He that hath any one sin remitted, hath all sins remitted: And so, He that hath sincerely repented of any one sin, hath repented him of all. And he that hath not repented him of all known sin, hath not repented yet of any. For what is true Repentance, but a returning again into the right way? And how is it possible for a man to return into the right way, as long as he wandreth still in any by-path? Or how can a man repent of this or that particular sin, because it is contrary to God's Will, or offensive in his sight, but he must needs withal repent him of whatsoever he knoweth to be in like manner a breach of his Law, and a business that he abhorreth? Nor doth that man indeed study sincerely and out of a love of God to please him in anything, that doth not as the Apostle Paul prayeth in the behalf of the Colossions, endeavor and strive to fructify in every good work, that he may please the Lord in all things. He doth not God's Will, saith Salvian well, but his own Will, that doth it no further than himself will: that doth not by laboring with the Apostle Paul, to keep a good conscience in all things, endeavor to approve himself and his courses unto God, as well in some things as in others. This Universality therefore of care and endeavor is a good argument of Sinceritie. As on the other side it is a shrewd sign of unsoundness and insinceritie, when men will seem to make conscience of performance of some good duties, and yet are wholly careless and regardless of others: or when they will seem to make conscience of the forbearance of some sins, and yet lie and live in the ordinary practice of others, which yet they cannot be so ignorant as not to know, or so unmindful, as not to consider to be sins. Thus was Herod's hypocrisy detected and discovered. He stood in some awe of John, knowing him to be a very holy man: and because he would be esteemed religious, and would seem to respect him, he heard him oft, and at his motion did many good things: yea and it is like enough that he outwardly reformed many things amiss, that John found fault with, either in his Court, or in himself. But yet he would not leave the keeping of his Brothers wife for all that; and therefore when John began to deal plainly with him in that point, he then brake off all, and committed John to ward; and made it evidently appear thereby, that all his former reformation and well-doing, was but in show only, and for other ends. And hereby also was Iehues zeal descried to be unsound. He made a great show a while of zeal for God and his worship: and Jonadab must needs along with him and see it. He was zealous against Baal, that was the ruin of Ahab's house, and against Ahab's house, which it was not for his safety, as he thought, to let stand, or to leave any remainder of: but he gave way to the Calves, though no less abominable in God's sight, and as dishonorable unto him, because that seemed to be the stay of his estate. And so he shown thereby that all his Piety was no better than mere Policy; and that he sought but his own ends in either. And in like manner when men and women shall be content to reform their lives, and conform themselves to the Will and Word of God in some things, but stand out willfully in some other things, refusing to practice the like reformation, or to show the like conformity in them, albeit they be in heart and conscience convinced of their duty therein, it is an evident Argument of unsoundesse.

[Note 2] A second Note of Sinceritie is Vniformitie. As an Universality, so an Vniformitie in well doing: when a man keepeth an equable tenor in his courses and carriage, not strict in some things, and slack in other, though it may be, not wholly regardless of them; but holdeth an even hand generally in his care and observance of things enjoined him by God. I charge thee, saith the Apostle to Timothy, that thou observe all these things, without preferring one before another, and that thou do nothing partially. And saith David, as before, I have all thy Precepts concerning all things in esteem; and I forbear not only, but even abhor all wicked ways. And again, By thy Commandments I get understanding; and therefore I abhor not someone or two, but each wicked way. His zeal was not partial, but indifferently against all. And it is an evident sign, saith one of the Ancients, that our zeal is of God, when in like manner we find ourselves alike affected in regard of all sin, whatsoever God may be dishonored by, as well in one kind as in another.

But on the other side, when men will seem wonderful earnest and eager for the observation of some of God's Ordinances, marvelous strict and precise in the keeping of some precepts, extreme fiery in their opposition against some enormities, excessive in their hatred and detestation of some sins, yea sometime but supposed sins, even to the the abhorring of men's persons for them; but have nothing the like intention of zeal and fervor in other matters, though of as great moment, or against other sins, though no less heinous than those; albeit they will not seem wholly careless or altogether regardless either of the one or of the other: And especially when men will seem to be so double diligent in less matters, things of ceremony and circumstance only, when they are but negligent the whiles in far greater; very strait-laced in the one, but over-loose-girt in the other: It is a shrewd argument that their hearts are not upright in either: but that they are carried away with some corrupt humor or other, self-love, or emulation, or vain-glory, or the like, that shrowdeth it self in the habit of Piety and zeal. Thus our Savior discovered the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees in his time. Woe be unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hyprorites, saith our Savior; for you tithe Mint and Anise, and Cumin, and every kind of Potherb; but judgment, mercy, fidelity, and the weightier things of the Law ye neglect; ye strain at a Gnat, and swallow a Camel. They were very precise and curious in paying their Tithes, even of trifles; (wherein they shall one day rise in judgment against not a few Christians, and condemn them therein, though themselves too be condemned) and in some other like businesses of lesser moment; but in other matters more weighty they shown nothing the like strictness, and are by our Savior therefore censured for no better than hollow-hearted hypocrites. And assuredly as inequality of the pulse argueth much distemper in the body; so this inequality of carriage argueth little soundness in the soul. It is no true Religion or Piety, but dissimulation and hypocrisy, that is not in all things like it self; saith an Author that pretendeth to be Cyprian, though indeed he be not, speaking of some that were very nice and curious, even to some taint and spice of superstition, of but touching an image, or tasting ought that had any seeming reference to an Idol; but were overloose and careless of their carriage otherwise. Every true Christian as he is renewed in part in all parts, so he hath a kind of proportionable growth in each part, as the Apostle speaketh of the mystical body of Christ in general. As he is not as a maimed person, one that wanteth tongue, or legs, or hands, or some other limbs, but as one that hath a whole entire organical body: So he is not as a Monster, one that hath the head or hand, back or belly bigger than the whole body besides, but hath a comely symmetrie of each part with part. As there are no Dwarfes in Christ's Body, none that grow not at all, but stand ever at a stay: So in the Christian soul no Grace doth so stand at a stay while the rest grow, much less do they all so stand at a stay, while someone groweth, that any one should so excessively outstrip all the rest, that the rest in regard of it should scarce be seen. Neither is a Christian man like a new upstart Courtier, who because he is not able to furnish himself all over completely at first, is fain to wear his apparel unsuitable in the several parts of it. Yea rather, as it is an argument of affectation of wealth when men go well and richly appareled, in someone part of their apparel, but have not the rest suitable and correspondent thereunto: so it is an argument rather of affectation of Holiness, than of true Holiness indeed, when men are so unequal and unsuitable in their courses and dispositions, in someone or two things demeaning themselves as exceedingly restrict, but in many others, or the most things again as remiss; when their care and conscience in some things, is not in some sort proportionable and correspondent to that that they make show of in other things: Nor doth the one prove, much less make a man the richer; nay it hindereth rather, and is a means to cast him more behind hand: nor doth the other prove, much less make a man truly religious; nay it hindereth rather, while with a general neglect of growth in, or regard of other good duties, a man's study and care is wholly set and spent upon someone particular that he pleaseth himself in; as where the matter that should nourish and support the whole body, is conveyed all to someone part, not so much to feed it, as to feed a wen that groweth upon it.

[Note 3] A third Note of Sinceritie, is Vbiquitie: when a man is in some measure alike in all places, as well in bad company as in good, in private as in public, in Church, out of Church, at home and abroad. To this purpose it is that David saith of himself; I have set the Lord always before my face. And, All my ways are in thy sight. As all God's ways in his sight; so all his ways in God's sight: and therefore wheresoever he was, as being ever in God's eye, he endeavored to approve himself unto God. Those things that are natural follow a man whithersoever he goeth, and accompany him constantly wheresoever he become. Change of place, saith the Heathen man, causeth not any change of mind. As it is with the motion of the heart and the lungs in the body; they are of themselves beating and stirring wheresoever a man is, or whatsoever he is about, and it is painful to a man therefore to restrain the work of them, or to hold his breath for any time: so it is a good sign that Godliness is grown to a kind of connaturalnesse with us, when our religious disposition continueth with us in all places, and is in some sort working in us, wheresoever we are: so that it is with us, as with David it was, who saith of himself, that howsoever he had purposed to forbear speaking of ought that was good while he was in company with some wicked, and some profane ones were in presence, yet it was no small pain to him, and he was hardly able to restrain or to contain himself. It was with him as it was sometime with Jeremiah in somewhat the like case, but of greater necessity; when he saw what evil entertainment the Word of God found with the most, he had once resolved he saith, not to mention God's Name anymore to them; but he could not for his life keep long that his unwarrantable resolution; God's Word was as a fire in his breast, and as a flame shut up in his bones, so that he soon grew weary of it, and he could not by any means keep it in. Not that at all times and in all places men are bound to discover themselves in this kind, or to maintain matter of religious discourse in all companies. It was one of Pythagoras his precepts, that a man should not bear God's Image or Name about him on the Ring that ordinarily he wore. And Holy things, saith our Savior, are not to be offered unto dogs, nor pearls cast before swine. No: we must be wary where and before whom we speak; and take heed how by our indiscreet carriage in such kind we wrong religion it self, and make it ridiculous. But that even among such we retain still a religious disposition; and the restraint of good employments be grievous unto us, though no necessity lie upon us, as upon Jeremiah there did, having no just opportunity for such employment at the present; which may be a means to seal up our sincerity unto us. In like manner when we shall be religiously affected, not when we are in the Church only, or about some solemn part of God's service, (at which time the solemnity of the action, and the very sight of others enforceth a kind of conformity and outward semblance of holiness on those many times that are most profane,) but even out of the Church also, and out of God's solemn service, even when we are about our ordinary affairs: Nor when we shall be in the presence only o • others, either good or bad, familiars, or strangers, but when we shall be retired also and alone by ourselves.

For a true Christian is, as the Heathen Philosopher saith of a good man, like a Cube or a Square, or, if you will, like a Die, that falleth alike every way, and keepeth the same site, wheresoever or which way soever you seat it: He is as Gold, saith Chrysostom, which cast you it into the Fire, it will not waste; lay it you in the water, it will not rust; it will retain still it own purity, wheresoever it be kept.

But on the other side, when men are like the Chamaeleon, ready to change their live with everyone that they company or converse with; like the Polypus, that resembleth every stone that it sticketh to; like the Water that conformeth it self easily and instantly to the shape and fashion of everything that either it is poured into, or that is dipped in it; or like Pictures cunningly and curiously drawn, that seem to turn their eyes every way, and to fix them on everyone that cometh in the way, or that casteth his eye on them; can be religious among such, and profane among other such, be such ever as the company is that they are in: Or like the Buskins anciently used in Tragoedies, that would serve either leg alike; are as fit for one society as for another: Or like the Plaiers that used them, such as acting Princely parts, wear royal apparel, keep state, and demean themselves gravely and soberly so long as they are in public view upon the Stage; but when they have done Acting, are no sooner off the Stage, but they pass presently into another, a clean contrary, habit, retain neither Prince-like behavior nor apparel, but are most beggarly, base and debauched, either in private by themselves, or among their companions like themselves: In the Church and public assemblies, carry themselves very devoutly, and in the presence of others affect a show of religion, but out of the congregation are far from all show of Godliness, or in their private conversation have little or no care at all of ought in that kind; it is a sure sign of no soundness at all in such as be so variously affected: acting like those Stage-Players, sometime one part, and sometime another, as either by others they are assigned them, or as the places that they are in put upon them for the present. It is no true devotion, saith Lactantius, that leaveth a man at the Church-door. Where religion is not shown in the actions of a man's life, in the course of his calling, as well as in the Congregation and in his Church-service, Such religion (Saint James saith it,) is but vain and unsound. Nor is that religion any better that affecteth view and sight, that loveth to be seen; (it was the Pharisees devotion that did all so as men might see what they did:) that is loud and talkative in company, silent in secret, in presence of others operative, idle in private. As the Heathen man saith of one that never wept or mourned for her father, but when there was somebody by to see her; He mourneth not heartily that affecteth to be seen mourning, and mourneth not therefore but where some may see it: He mourneth indeed heartily, that mourneth then when there is none by to take notice of it, and to bear witness that he mourneth. So in this case, he is not sincerely religious, that affecteth to have his religion seen, and that never therefore carrieth himself religiously, but where others are by to take notice of it: he is truly religious that is careful to carry himself religiously, and is frequent and diligent in holy duties, even then when he is alone by himself, as well as when he is in the presence and company of others; that converseth so with men, saith the Heathen man, as if God overlooked him, communeth with God so even in private, as if men over-heard him. And certainly, howsoever it be true indeed, that the public Service is of exceeding great benefit, and therefore highly to be esteemed, as having a more powerful, lively and effectual work of the Spirit in it, and a more special blessing of God promised and annexed unto it; in regard whereof, David though a man full of the Spirit of Grace, yet could not during his exilement content himself with his own private meditations and devotions, but longed exceedingly, and prayed most instantly to have free liberty of access again to the public assemblies of the Saints: yet when upon a man's sick or death-bed Satan shall be busy about him, and calling his sincerity in question, a man may in such case be more comforted, and receive better assurance of his sincerity, by consideration of his frequency and diligence in holy duties in private, because in them there can be least danger or suspicion of hypocrisy, which none but God and his own soul hath been privy unto, than by all that he hath performed either publicly or privately in the presence of others.

[Note 4] A fourth Note of Sinceritie is Perpetuitie, Constancy, permanence, continuance: when we are not godly and religious by fits and starts only, upon some special and extraordinary occasions, but in a constant and continued course, at all times, even when such occasions cease. I have applied myself to keep thy Commandments continually, saith David: And, I will delight myself continually in thy Commandments, which I love. And, Blessed is the man that feareth continually, saith Solomon. This constant delight in the Word of God, this constant applying of ourselves to the doing of the Will of God, this continual standing in awe of God, is a sound note of sincerity. But when men seem to be so affected only upon some extraordinary occasions, and when those are once over, all is gone again, it is a shrewd sign that nothing was ever sound or sincere with them. And this well weighed will easily discover the unsoundness of many sorts that yet make a great show for a season. Some at the first hearing of the Word seem to be wondrously affected and ravished with it. The novelty and the strangeness of the Doctrine delivered, (as they say at Athens, We will hear thee once again, because thou tellest us of new Doctrine, such as we never heard of before; ) or the eloquence and powerful delivery of the Preacher, (some Apollos, it may be, or some son of Thunder, one that speaketh so as they never heard man speak before; ) or the consideration of such glorious matters as are in it propounded, of an Heaven and an Happiness, and Blessedness beyond conceit, and without end; may much affect even a natural man, at the first hearing especially, and make him to be wondrously delighted in it: and yet may the Word have no sound or saving work on him: all may prove but a flash, and so be by and by gone again. Those that receive the seed on the stony ground, hear the Word at first with some delight, but shortly after they dwindle and wither away, because they want root. This their delight is not permanent, because the Word had no root in them. Yea thus, as a reverend Divine well observeth, and an Heathen man also in effect the same long before him, as some are said to be Sea-sick; so others may be said to be Sermon-sick. Sea-passengers that do not well brook the Seas, so long as they are upon the water, are faint and sick, and out of frame, so as that they think they shall sure miscarry with it, they make account to die no other death; but when they have gotten on land and reposed them a while, they are as well again as ever they were. So is it with some mere natural men sometime at a Sermon. Hearing some powerful Divine, that striketh somewhat home with them, that thundereth and lighteneth, as he said that Pericles did, their mind is troubled, and their conscience touched, and their soul melteth, and they grow heart-sick, and have much inward remorse, and begin to bethink themselves of taking a new course; but no sooner the Sermon is done, and they are come out of the Church, and have taken a little the fresh air of the world again, but all is over and gone, they are restored to their wonted estate, and retired to their former courses again. It is with them, as with those that have taken a small quantity of some purging Physic beneath the due dosis, enough to stir and trouble them, but not enough to purge or to work ought out of them. You may see some such thing in Felix, when he heard Paul discourse very powerfully (as right well he could) of Justice, Righteousness, Repentance, and the judgment to come, he was cast into a trembling fit withal for the present: and not able well to brook either the matter of his Doctrine, or the manner of his delivery of it, he caused him to break off; but that he was never the better for it afterward, appeareth hereby, in that notwithstanding it he persisted in his accustomed bribery, and other the like corrupt courses. Again thus some for a brunt at their first coming on to the profession of religion, having some special motive to incite them thereunto, seem very fervent and zealous, even seething hot, as the word is; but after a while prove luke-warm, and at length even key-cold: like Snailes that thrust out as it were a long pair of horns before them; but pull them instantly in again, as soon as they meet with ought that opposeth: like Peter that would needs be fighting and slashing at the first, but shortly after fled away, left him, yea denied and forswore him, whom he was so forward to fight for before. But he presently after repented, and came on again, and so continued, which these do not. His foul fall was but for a fit, a fit of infirmity it was only in him. Whereas on the other side, their fierce forwardness is but for a fit, a sudden fit of heat it is only in them. Thus many again, as an Heathen man also hath observed, when they lie deadly sick, oh then they seem wondrously well affected, they are very sory for their sins, seem even to hate and abhor them, very devout and frequent in Prayer to God, taxing and censuring themselves for their former carelessness in that kind, and now if God would vouchsafe to continue life, and restore health to them, they would be new men, leave their sins, and their former lewd courses, and lead another manner of life than ever they did. But it is with them, as it is with Sea-men sometime in a storm, that out of fear of danger and desire of safety cast all that ever they have over-board, which when the storm is once over, they strive and labor as fast, if by any means they can, to get up again. When they are once free from that fear, that before affected them, they return to their former courses afresh, as if it repented them now that ever it had repented them of them. When God slew them, saith the Psalmist, then they sought him, and returned, and inquired after God early. But they flattered him only with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was never upright with him, neither were they steadfast in his Covenant. And therefore well did the Emperor Sigismunds Confessor answer him, when being in a sore fit of sickness, and having made many goodly fair promises and protestations of future reformation upon recovery, and amendment of life, he desired of him to be informed, whereby he might discern whether such his repentance were sincere; If, quoth he, you be as careful to make good in your health, what you now promise, as you are forward now in your extremity to promise. And in like manner is it with many others in some outward danger and distress. Ionaes Sea-men distressed by that sudden and strange storm, Call everyone on his God, then every man to prayer, a man would think no devouter men again in the world; but when the danger is once over, nothing but swearing and swaggering, blaspheming and tearing of that Name, that before so reverently they invocated, none profaner than some of those that a little before seemed so devout. It is that which God complaineth of in Judah and Ephraim: O Ephraim what shall I do with thee? or how should I deal with thee, O Judah? for your goodness is as a morning Cloud, and as the early Dew it goeth away. No longer than God's hand was heavy upon them, and the night of his wrath did in fearful manner over-spread them, was there any show at all of goodness or godliness to be seen in them. A particular and pregnant example of such carriage we may see in the Inhabitants of Jerusalem: Their City was besieged and begirt by the Chaldeans, and in great danger to be surprised. Hereupon admonished by the Prophet, they repent them of some sins, reform some abuses, renew their covenants with God, seal it up with a solemn sacrifice, cutting a Calf in twain, and passing between the two sides so sundered: But no sooner was the siege broken up, and the City relieved by the access of some aids from Egypt, but they return again to their wonted bias, slipping away, and starting aside like a deceitful or a slippery bow, as the Psalmist speaketh of the Israelites, whose inconstancy also he maketh an Argument of their insinceritie. And what he saith of one sort of them, may be well said of them all. They had not set their heart aright, and therefore their spirit was not constant with God. Their religion and devotion is but as the motion of a wind-mill driven with the wind, that maketh grist no longer than the wind bloweth upon it: or as the motion of an Image that goeth with a device, that stirreth no longer than the force lasteth of the screw or the spring that setteth it a stirring. And that is the difference between Natural and Artificial motions: the motion of the pulse, and the breath in man's body, and the motion of an Image, or a Mill, and the like: a free motion and a forced one. The ground of the motion in the one is from within, of the other from without: there is some stress and straining required to the staying of the one; and there is some like stress and strain required for the stirring of the other: and the one therefore stirs constantly till it be staid; the other stays and standeth still till it be stirred: and when that force and stress is gone, the one again stirs, when that force and stress is gone, the other again stayeth. The motion of the godly, in the good ways of God, is like the pacing of a beast broken and brought to a true pace, or naturally ambling of it self, he keepeth to his pace constantly, and though he may be forced out of it, yet he doth nothing so well with it, nor is it for his ease, but he is ever and anon making offer to come into it again, and so doth so soon as he findeth himself free from such enforcement. Whereas the motion of Hypocrites in God's ways, is as the pacing of a beast not truly paced, that being forced to pace, shuffleth but, and though he may be kept a while to it, yet cannot long hold out with it, is ready, if he be not held hard to it, at every step to go out of it, and is never well till he be in his trot again. Pharaoh himself would relent somewhat while God's hand was upon him, but he hardened his heart again as soon as that Hand of God was gone: he was like the iron, that though it melt while it is in the fire, yet groweth stiff again after it hath been but a while out of it: because Iron it was before, and Iron it is still. It is true indeed that a man, especially one suddenly converted, may be much more feelingly affected presently upon his conversion, than he shall, it may be, ever after again: as one that hath lived long in the dark, when he cometh first into the light. And that the fear of God is much more fresh at sometimes upon special occasions, even in the hearts of his servants, than at other times it is. But where there is an utter falling away from former forwardness, and as it was with the Israelites even a loathing of that Manna, that at first they seemed so much to like, to love, to long after, that even on the Sabbath they would needs go to seek it; with a preferring even of Egyptian Leekes before it, and a longing after them again: where an utter casting off of all fear of God and care of good courses, when such occasions, as put them into it, are once blown over; it giveth just ground of suspicion, that the former forwardness in God's cause was no sincere love of God, but a sudden fit of passion only in the one; the fearfulness of God's wrath no sanctified fear, but a servile and slavish disposition only in the other.

[Objections 2] Yea but will some say peradventure, (for my desire is herein to help weak souls and tender consciences all that I can:) This is [Objection 1] that that so much troubleth me, that I cannot find and feel in myself such inward remorse and hearty sorrow for my sins, or such alacrity and vivacity of spirit, as sometime I have done, or as at my first supposed, but now suspected, conversion I did.

[Answer.] I answer: Nor is it to be expected that always one so should: or is the soundness of the parties conversion to be either questioned or suspected in that regard if he do not. For it standeth with reason, that a strange change, especially where it is suddenly effected, from one contrary to another, should more affect, and be more sensible, than the after-continuance of that estate which by such a change is introduced. The heat of an hot bath or an hot-house, is more sensible at our first entrance, especially if on a sudden we chop into it, than it is when we have been some space of time in it. And the more familiar everything groweth to be with us, the less sensible is the power and the work of it upon us. In this kind therefore also is there great difference between those that are at an instant converted, as Paul was, and those that with Timothy, have the grace of God wrought into them by degrees. The league that was naturally between the soul and Satan, is violently rent asunder in the one, it is gently unript and unsowed in the other. The one are suddenly snatched out of the Devils claws, the other are sweetly won and ticed out of his hands. The cords of sin, wherein the soul was held captive are burst with strong hand and main might, as Samson's were, in the one; they are easily fretted by little and little, as the bands of life that hold body and soul together in persons weak and far spent, in the other: the one have their spiritual fetters at once knock off by force, the other filed off by degrees. And hence it is that the one are ofttimes more sensible of what is wrought upon them, and done in them at their first conversion, than afterward; the other find and feel their own growth and progress better than they. Nor are any to be dismayed or to misdoubt themselves therefore, those especially of the former sort, so long as they can find in themselves a continued love of God's word, a constant use of good means, and care of good courses, albeit good things seem not so sensible with them, as they did at the first.

[Objection 2] Again, will some say, that troubleth me, that I find the fear of God indeed so fresh in me, when God's hand is present upon me, or upon some others in my sight; and so little of it again, when that is gone. Yea, that I seem in such cases to be more affected with the outward evil it self, than with my si • nes that have procured it: which maketh me to fear, that this my fear is at the most but a servile fear, and such as Hypocrites are wont in the like cases to have.

[Answer 1] I answer: 1. It is agreeable both to reason and to religion, that the Fear of God should be more fresh with us, and more than ordinary at other times, when special occasions thereof occur. David feared God that day, saith the Story; what time Uzzah was so suddenly smitten and slain. He feared him before, but his fear was then much more than ordinary, by occasion of that extraordinary judgment. Yea, for a man not to have his fear of God in some sort proportioned to the various and divers occasions of expressing and exercising it; as for a man to fear no more, or no otherwise, when some eminent judgments of God discover themselves either incumbent or imminent, on himself or on others, than he doth ordinarily at other times; were a strange kind of stupidity, and a shrewd argument of unsoundness. It is one thing to cast off all fear and regard of God at other times; and another thing not to have his fear so fresh in us at other times, as on such occasions we find and feel it to be.

[Answer 2] 2. It is to be considered, that the fear even of God's wrath, or the servile fear, as it is usually termed, is not simply evil of it self. Though where it is unsanctified, by occasion of man's corruption, as being joined with an hatred of him whom it feareth, it is evil, and produceth many evil and sinful effects. For it is a thing in nature, (and I speak now not of nature corrupted, but of nature created ) for each thing to fear that that tendeth to it own evil. Yea it were an evil and an ungracious thing in a child, even in God's child, not to stand in much awe of his fathers wrath, or not to fear his fathers rod.

[Answer 3] 3. It is not to be wondered, considering that there is ordinarily a far less measure of grace than of corruption in the most, and that grace also strippeth us not wholly of this fear, but doth only qualify and correct it, if even in God's children the apprehension of God's heavy indignation do so drown the consideration of their own transgressions, that they can hardly amids those terrors and horrors that their hearts and minds are possessed with, descry and discern their grief and sorrow for their sins. When thou takest away the wicked of the world like dross; My flesh, saith David, trembleth again for fear of thee, and I am horribly afraid of thy Judgments. And, When I heard of it, saith Habakkuk, my belly quaked, and my lips quivered, and I trembled and shook, so that my bones seemed to be not out of joint, but even rotten again. And if it were so with such Worthies, no marvel if the like sometime befall weak ones.

[Answer 4] 4. Let it be remembered, that as Grace doth not wholly strip us of this Fear, so it doth not cross us, but concur rather with us in the use and exercise of it. And it followeth not therefore that a man's sorrow for his sin is not sincere, because his fear of God's wrath is greater or rifer in him than it. It is a Question propounded by a worthy Divine, whether a man's grief for his sin may be deemed sincere or no, when he can weep more for the loss of some dear friend than for it. And his Answer is, which may well also serve, because the reason will hold, here; that it may, because nature and grace concur in the one, whereas nature and grace cross in the other. Since that grace therefore doth not wholly either inhibit or restrain a man either from fearing of outward judgments, or being sensible of outward evils, so that grace and nature cross not but concur rather therein; whereas in godly sorrow for sin, corrupt nature concurreth not with grace, but is cross rather and averse thereunto: it is not to be marvelled, (especially where grace yet is but weak ) if that fear and grief be greater, or more sensible at least, (for the greatess grief is not always the most sensible, nor maketh always the most show; a man may fear more, and be more heartily sory for a consumption that he misdoubteth himself to be far gone in, than for a felon on his fingers end, that putteth him to more pain, and goeth, as we say, to the very heart with him, for the present,) wherein two agents concur, than wherein the one is alone, and the other hindereth more than helpeth.

[Note 5] A fifth Note of Sinceritie, may be a Jealousy of ones own Hypocrisy: when a man is suspicious of himself, and timorous lest he should be unsincere. As the Disciples of our Savior, when he told them, One of you will betray me; though they knew themselves far from any such thought or purpose at the present, yet everyone of them began to suspect himself, that he might be the man that our Savior Christ meant, and to ask thereupon, Is it I, Lord? or Is it I? Judas that was the man indeed, was most silent of any; though at length he ask also for company, lest by not asking when each other did, he might move suspicion, and so bewray himself by his silence. And in like manner is it here, Hypocrites do least question their own sincerity of all others. They most misdoubt it usually that are furthest of all from it. Oh, let mine heart be upright in thy Statutes, saith sincere David; (as suspecting or misdoubting himself, lest it might prove otherwise;) that I may not be shamed. Mad-men are not wont to question whether they be in their right wits or no. Yea, they are not mad, saith one, that think or suspect that they are. And certainly this godly jealousy, this shienesse of unsoundness is so good and so sure an argument of sincerity, that I know none better, none surer than it. For such careful and anxious inquiry, such fearfulness of hypocrisy, argueth a strong desire of sincerity: and the desire of Grace, as we shall see afterward, is generally agreed on to be Grace. Yea even over-much timorousness and superfluous curiosity in this kind, when men cannot satisfy themselves with anything, no not with the pregnantest proofs of it, and are therefore thereby much disturbed, perplexed, and distracted, though it be an infirmity, and ought therefore with all good endeavor to be remedied, because it dismayeth, disheartneth, disturbeth the peace of the mind, depriveth the soul of alacrity, dulleth and dampeth the spirits, and hindereth much in the performance of many necessary good duties; yet as they use to say of shamefastness, It is a good sign of an evil cause, though it proceed from an evil cause, a consciousness commonly of some defect; yet it is a sign of some Grace; so is this, though of it self a weakness, yet a sign of much grace and goodness: it is like some weeds, that though they be weeds, of no good use, but unprofitable, and such as hinder the growth of better things, that might succeed in their room, if they were once removed, yet are signs of a rich and a fat soil, and howsoever therefore they may discourage an unskillful person from dealing with it, yet will give a wise and an experienced man encouragement thereunto.

[Note 6] A sixth Note of Sinceritie may be a sight and sense of ones own Incredulity and Impenitency, with a serious grief for it. It was the poor man's speech to our Savior in the Gospel; I believe, Lord; help my unbelief. His Faith he found and felt mixed with much infidelity and incredulity; and the sense of his infidelity, with the grief for it, argued his Faith. And it is reported of the Mother of three men of great note, that when she told her Confessor, that considering what rare Scholars and Men of note her three sons, whom she had by unlawful means begotten on her, had proved; the one the Master of the Stories, another the Master of the Sentences, and the third the Collector and Compiler of the Decrees, she could not be so sory for her sin as she should; he made her answer again, and it was no evil answer; Be sorry for this then, that thou art, or canst be no more sorry. And undoubtedly as when we have best believed, yet we shall have cause still to repent us of our unbelief: so when we have repented the best we can of our sins, we shall have cause to repent us even then of our impenitence, of a want of repentance in us. But this ignorant, unfaithful, impenitent persons are not usually apprehensive and sensible of. They believe and repent, they say, (and it may well be they think and believe as they say,) as well as the best. And shall I tell you what is the cause of it? Sinners, saith one, are sleepers. They are as men in a dream: and there is nothing difficult with dreamers. Men may dream, and many do oft, that they fly in the Air, and swim over the Sea: but are far enough for all that from doing or being able to do either, as they will soon find, when they are once awaked out of their dream. In like manner is it with these silly deluded souls. They lie fast asleep in sin, and so doing they dream yet of faith and the fear of God and repentance, and other graces of God's Spirit, they dream, I say, that they have these things as well and as much as any, yea so well as better needs not to be had. Whereas others that be awaked out of this imaginous sleep, and do now indeed truly repent and believe, find many wants, much defectivenesse, in their Repentance, their Faith, their Hope, their fear of God, their dependence upon God, and the other graces of his Spirit, truly indeed, but imperfectly as yet begun and wrought in them. Yea, as the more knowledge a man hath, the more he cometh to know his ignorance; the more skill he hath, the more he cometh to discover his own unskilfulness: A young Scholar when he hath gotten his Seton or his Ramus once by heart, thinketh he hath as much Logic as his Tutor can teach him; but when he cometh indeed to understand things, he seeth his own error: So the more men believe, the more they come to see and feel their own unbelief, the further they wade on in the study and practice of repentance, the more they find out and discover their own impenitence, and complain of the hardness and untowardness of their hearts: the more they labor and make progress in sound Sanctification, the more come they to apprehend and to see into the depth of their corruption. And this very sense of the want of Grace, is a good argument of Grace. It is a sure sign of Grace, to see no Grace, and to see it with grief. For, Blessed, saith our Savior, are those that are poor in spirit; even as well as those that are pure in Spirit. The one, he saith, shall see God, and the other hath a present right to the Kingdom of God, which is the same in effect: For the Kingdom of God is theirs. He saith not, Blessed are the rich in Grace; though that also be most true: but, Blessed are the poor in spirit: that is, such as are spiritually poor, humbled, dejected, cast down in the sight and sense of their own wants, apprehending nothing so much as the want of Grace in themselves. Such are blessed, because such are rich, though they cannot yet come to see and apprehend their own wealth. And this he saith no doubt, that if any weak one be not able yet to discern the purity of his own heart, he may yet be comforted in the very poverty of his Spirit: the serious sense whereof may assure him that he is in part come out of his sin, and is entered into the state of Grace. For it is a sure sign that a man is awaked out of his sleep, when he discovereth and seeth the errors of his Dream. And it is in these cases with men commonly, as it is in drawing up of water; as long as the bucket is under water we feel not the weight of it, but so soon as it cometh above water, it beginneth to hang heavy on the hand: when a man diveth under water, he feeleth no weight of the water, though there be many tun of it over his head; The Element, they say, weigheth not in his own proper place; whereas half a tub full of the same water taken out of the River and set upon the same man's head, would be very burdensome unto him, and make him soon grow weary of it. In like manner, so long as a man is over head and ears in sin, he is not sensible of the weight of sin, it is not troublesome at all to him; but when he beginneth once to come out of that state of sin, wherein he lay and lived before, then beginneth sin to hang heavy on him, and he to feel the heavy weight of it. So long as sin is in the will, the proper seat of sin, a man feeleth no weight of it, he taketh rather delight in it, It is a sport and a pastime to fools to do evil, saith Solomon; and it is a good sign therefore that Sin is removed out of his seat, out of his Chair of estate, when it becometh ponderous and burdensome to us, as the Elements do, when they are out of their own natural place. A living member is not burdensome to the body: a man's arms are no burden to him, though they be massy and weighty: but a withered arm, or a limb mortified hangeth like a lump of lead on it. So long as sin liveth in the soul, unkilled wholly and unmortified as yet, so long our corruption is nothing at all cumbersome to us; but when it is once mortified in a man, it beginneth to grow burdensome unto him, and to hang like a lump of dead flesh upon his soul; and then beginneth he poor soul, pestered and oppressed with the weight of it, to cry out with the Apostle, O wretched man that I am; when shall I be once freed from this carcase of sin, that hangeth so heavy upon my soul? It is with him as with one that hath had a fit of the falling sickness, or that beginneth to recover again after a dead Palsy. So long as a man is in a fit of the falling sickness, though he be for the time in such lamentable plight, that he lieth along like a beast, unable to stand on his legs, or to lift up himself, or do ought to help himself, foaming and sprawling, and beating his own body, a rueful sight to all that see him; yet is he all the while himself insensible of ought: but when the fit is once over, and the man is come to himself again, then he beginneth to find and feel himself all out of frame, his head heavy and giddy, his eyes staring and distorted, his brain and whole body disturbed and strangely disposed, all which before he was not sensible of: As also while a man lieth, rather than liveth, held with a dead Palsy, though he be not able to stir hand or foot, yet hath he himself no sense of it; but when those dead parts of him are in some measure revived again, the passages being opened for the vital Spirits to repair to them, and so sense and motion restored to them in part, then making offer to go or to stir, he beginneth to feel and complain of the stiffness and starknesse of his limbs and joints, and a general unwealdinesse throughout his whole body. And in like manner is it here. So long as a man is wholly dead in sin, albeit he be as much disabled unto the doing of any holy duty, as a dead man is unto the actions of this life, yet he findeth it not, he feeleth it not, he apprehendeth no such either disability in himself, or difficulty in the duties that he should do; but when any measure of Spiritual life is once infused into the soul, whereby he liveth now to God, that lay before spiritually dead, now striving to apply himself unto God's work, and to walk in the good ways of God, he beginneth to find and feel, with much pain and grief of mind, his own infirmity and weakness, the strange blindness of his mind, the dullness and drowsiness of his spirits, the untowardness of his heart; the rebelliousnesse of his will; the sense whereof is a sure argument of Spiritual life begun in him. For as Augustine saith well, though in another case and upon another occasion; There may be some life without grief; but there can be no grief without life. So there may be some spiritual life without any sense of pain or grief at all, as with the glorified ones in Heaven it is: but there can be no godly sorrow or sense of spiritual pain and grief, where no beginning at all of spiritual life is. And therefore it is that our Savior also pronounceth them Blessed, that thus mourn: nor doth he say that they shall be, but that they are already in a blessed estate, and that in due time they shall have comfort. Yea, undoubtedly these very heavy and uncomfortable signs are of all other the surest signs of true grace and sincerity, because least subject to deceit and delusion of any.

[Note 7] A seventh Note of Sinceritie, is an earnest desire of Grace. Though a man cannot discern yet any Grace in himself, yet if he do seriously and earnestly desire Grace, it is a good sign of some beginning of Grace. For it is Grace, even to desire Grace. It is the first step unto Grace, for a man to see no Grace; and it is the first degree of Grace, for a man to desire Grace: when a man's heart doth with an holy Echo answer God's voice as David's did: Seek my face; sayest Thou. O Lord, thy face will I seek. And, Thou hast commanded us diligently to keep thy Law. Oh that my ways were so directed, that I might keep thy Statutes. When it can say seriously with Augustine; Lord, enable me to do what thou enjoynest me, and then enjoin me what thou wilt. It is a principal part of goodness, saith the Heathen man, for a man to be willing to be good. And it is the very essence of Righteousness, saith Augustine, for a man to be willing to be Righteous. It is not an help only unto health, but even a degree of health, though not in the body, yet in the soul, for a man to be willing to be healed. As it is a principal part of our sickness to be unwilling to be cured: so is it a principal part of health with us here to be willing to be healed: When we can in sincerity of heart answer that question of our Savior to the sick man, Wilt thou be healed? with a Sana me, Domine, Heale me, O Lord, as Jeremiah, and I shall then be healed: And, Heale my soul, as David, for I have sinned against thee. Let thine ears, O Lord, saith Nehemie, be attentive to the prayers of thy servants that desire to fear thy Name. And, The good God, saith Hezekiah, be merciful to that man that setteth his heart to seek the Lord. And surely, as Bernard saith well, discoursing on those words of the Prophet; The Lord is good to those that wait on him, and to the Soul that seeketh him: For as it is elsewhere, those that so seek him, shall find him. If God, saith he, be so good to those that seek him; what will he be to them, when they find him? But this is a strange thing, that no man can so seek him before he hath found him. And surely, as no man can sincerely seek God in vain; so no man can sincerely desire grace in vain. A man may love gold, and yet not have it: but no man loveth God, but he is sure to have God, saith Augustine. Wealth a man may desire, and yet be never the nearer it: but Grace no man ever sincerely desired and missed of it. It is true here that the Psalmist in another case saith; Lord, thou hearest the desire of the poor; thou hast prepared their heart, and thine ear hearkeneth to their prayers. It is God that hath prepared the heart, and wrought this desire in it; (for It is God that worketh such willingness in us: ) and he will never frustrate the desire that himself hath there wrought. Yea, as no man, saith he, can seek God but he that hath found him; and it is a sign therefore that a man hath already found God in part, when seriously and sincerely he seeketh him: So no man can desire Grace, but he that already hath grace: (for he that desireth Grace, hath grace to desire it: ) and it is an infallible sign therefore, that a man hath already some measure of Grace, that doth seriously desire to have it. He would never desire to fear God, that stood not in some awe of him already: nor desire to feel in himself a love of God, that did not in some measure already love God: Nor could a man ever truly desire sanctifying Grace, were not his heart already sanctified by the Spirit of Grace, which hath wrought also in him that desire of it. Not to add that the greatest part of a Christian man's perfection in this life, (witness Paul's own ingenuous confession of himself: and who went ever beyond him? How far at least come the most short of him?) consisteth rather in will, than in work, and in desire and endeavor, more than in deed.

True it is indeed, that any natural man may desire happiness, glory, salvation, and eternal well-being. Oh, saith Balaam, that I might die the death of the righteous, and that my latter end might be like his: ( he desired indeed to die their death, but to live their life he could not endure:) it is natural for everyone to desire his own natural good. But to desire spiritual Grace, Holiness, sound Sanctification, Faith unfeigned, the true Fear of God, serious Repentance, is more than any natural man ever did or can do. And therefore Blessed are they, saith our Savior, as, that are poor in spirit, and that mourn for their spiritual defects; so that hunger and thirst after Righteousness, after Spiritual Grace, after a supply of them. Now what is hunger but a want of food with a sense thereof, and an earnest desire of it? or what is thirst but a drought, a want of drink, and a vehement desire of it? For in hunger and thirst there are these three things: first, an emptiness in the one, and a want of moisture in the other: for it is not want of food simply, but want of wetting that causeth this: secondly, a sense of this emptiness and want of moisture, with a special kind of pain and grief in the body proceeding from it: For a man may be empty bodied, and yet not affected thus with it, as in some diseases, and where natural heat is much wasted: and thirdly, a vehement desire of such either nouriture or moisture, whereby this emptiness may be filled, or this drought slaked: For a man may be empty, and sick again in some sort with it, yea ready to die of it, and yet have no appetite to his meat neither, but a loathing of that rather, whereby he might be refreshed and relieved: he may be empty of food, and yet feel it not; he may feel it in some sort, and yet not desire food. But in hunger and thirst ordinarily do these all three concur. Yea, so vehement and violent is this desire of such supply oft in hunger and thirst, that for a bit of bread, or a cup of drink, men have many times been content to part with the dearest and pretiousest things that they have been possessed of. In like manner is it in this spiritual hunger and thirst. There is first spiritual poverty, a vacuity, an emptiness of Grace, to sight and sense it may be, utterly of all, in deed and truth of some degree of it: there is secondly a grief and painfulness in the heart and soul arising from the apprehension of it, a mourning and bemoaning of ones self for the want of it: and thirdly, an earnest desire of it above all things in the world, so that as a man thoroughly an hungered counteth all nothing in regard of meat, a man heartily a thirst all nothing in comparison of drink, he would give anything for it: so the soul thus affected, with the blessed Apostle counteth all nothing but dross and dung, in comparison of Christ, the knowledge of him, faith in him, and conformity unto him. It is with it, as with a Kings child, that though it be never so richly arrayed, and have never so many costly jewels hanging about it, yet all is as nothing to it, nothing but the nurses breast can still it, when for want of food it is out of quiet. So nothing but spiritual Grace can here satisfy the soul, and all other things are esteemed as nothing to it. Or as with some women that go with child, and are subject to longing; they will part with anything for that that they long for, and are ready even to sink down, to faint, to go away, yea to die, if they have it not: So here spiritual Grace and the sense and assurance of it, is the thing longed for, and that they would give a whole world for to obtain, if they had it, and they are ready even to faint and sink under that heavy weight of grief that surchargeth their distressed souls, because they cannot yet find and feel that in themselves, which yet undoubtedly they have. For certainly whosoever they be that can find themselves in this sort affected, either they must confess themselves to be in a blessed estate, and consequently in the state of grace, (for what true happiness out of it?) or else they must contradict our Savior, and charge Truth it self with untruth, who hath pronounced them blessed that are so affected. And this I desire to have well weighed and seriously considered for the staying of many troubled souls. What is it that doth so much trouble thee, and in this lamentable wise distress and distract thee? Oh, saith he presently, I have no Faith, no Repentance, no Love, no fear of God, no sanctifying, no saving grace in me. Why? doest thou see a want of these things in thyself? Yes, that is it that so grieveth me: that I cannot love God, stand in awe of him, trust in his mercy, repent of my sins as I should. Yea but, doest thou not seriously and unfeignedly desire to do thus? Oh yes, I desire it above all things in the world, and I would be willing to buy, and it were with a whole world, the least measure, a dram or a drop only, of such grace. And who is it, I pray thee, that hath wrought this desire in thee? Not the Devil: he would rather quench it all he could in thee: Not thine own corrupt heart: that is naturally most averse thereunto: It must needs then be the work of the Spirit of God, and of him who affirmeth them to be all in a blessed plight that thus hunger and thirst after grace, and assureth them withal, that they shall one day be satisfied. Give her meat, said our Savior, when he had raised Jairus his daughter, to show that she was not revived only, but recovered. A good stomach, we say, is a sign of good health. And as hunger is a sign of health in the body: so is this spiritual hunger of health in the Soul.

[Note 8] An eighth Note of Sinceritie may be a desire and endeavor of growth in grace: Desire, I say, and endeavor; for where desire indeed is, there endeavor also will be: there cannot but be a serious endeavor, where the desire of the heart is sincere. But grow in grace, saith Saint Peter, inciting hereunto, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And, Desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may thereby grow. And it is the joint prayer of the Apostles to their Savior and ours; Lord, increase our faith, therein craving a further improvement of that Grace that already they had received. And the Heathen man himself maketh it a note of a good man, that he studieth daily how he may grow better than he is, not contenting himself with any degree or measure of goodness. Yea the Apostle Paul telleth us, that the whole Body of Christ (whereof every true Christian is a limb ) is so compact together in it self, and so firmly fastened with certain spiritual nerves and ligaments to the head, that from it there is by them conveyed to each part a continual supply of spiritual Grace, both sufficient to furnish it, and to further the growth of it.

[Objection 1] Yea but, peradventure will some say, that is it that maketh me misdoubt myself, that to mine own seeming I stand at a stay; and me thinketh, I have so done for a long time together.

[Answer 1] I answer: It may well so be, and yet mayest thou be growing for all that. The eye can see other things, but it cannot see it self: We can easily see the face and the countenance of another, we cannot behold our own, but by reflection only. Christians many times better discern how others grow in grace and come forward, than how themselves do, though it may be growing as fast or faster than they. The Boat that crosseth us on the River, seemeth to go far swifter than ours, though our own go as fast or faster than it; and the land it self to pass by us, while we stand still, when indeed we pass by it, and it standeth still. Strangers that come by starts, some continuance of time between, to us, can better judge of the growth of our Children than ourselves, who have them continually in our eye. And it is the manner therefore of curious Artists, Picture-drawers and the like, to stand sometime aloof off viewing their work, yea or to go wholly away from it, and to leave it a while, and after some space of time to return to it again, that they may the better discern any the least defect in it. Our continual conversing with ourselves, maketh our own growth many times to be not so discernible of ourselves as of others. Which may the rather befall us, because this spiritual growth in the most is ordinarily but by insensible degrees. A man may stand gasing a long time upon the Diall, and yet not perceive how the hand there stirreth, though it be stirring all that while: he may in warm springing weather sit night and day beside the young green grass, and yet not discern the shooting up of it, though by the warmth of the weather it be continually sprouting.

Thou mayest well therefore be growing, though thou doest not [Answer 2] discern it. As a man may have grace, and yet not know it: so he may be growing in grace, and yet not be aware of it. But dost thou not desire and endeavor to grow in it? If thou dost so, it is certain that thou dost grow, and art growing, howsoever thou seest it not. To use Gersons similitude, or one somewhat like it at least: A man is bound for the East-Indies, and shapeth his course thitherward; but by the way is put off oft by cross winds to the Westward, he is compelled to put into divers harbours, and to make some stay by the way there, either to shift off stormy weather, or to take in fresh water. And yet all this while we say, he is going onward on his way, because his purpose and resolution still continueth the same. It is much more so in spiritual things, because our very growth it self in them consisteth much even in resolution and desire. The strength of desire never a whit furthereth the Seaman so long as he lieth wind-bound to the making of his Port; but the very strength of our desire may convey us near to God, may carry us higher, as with Eagles wings, up towards Heaven.

[Answer 3] Yea this thy greedy desire of grace may make thee less sensible of thine own growth: as the Heathen man observeth, that the earnest desire of what men would have, maketh them forgetful of what they have. I forget what is past, saith the Apostle, and press on to what is before. Their eye is more upon what they want, than upon what they have. It is with good Christians in this case, as with rich worldlings, that like men in a race have their eye on those that be before them, not on those that come after them; they are ever eying those that seem to out-strip and out-go them in wealth, and think they have nothing, they are but poor men, so long as they come short of such and such. And so is it with these; they are oft eying those, whose either examples they read of, or whose courses and graces they are in some sort eye-witnesses of, and think that they have nothing, they make no progress, at least worth speaking of, so long as they come behind, and keep short of such: And this is it oft that maketh them complain so much of their wants and their slow progress, and that they cannot perceive but that they stand still at a stay. Which yet complaint of theirs, and fervent desire of growth in grace, is a sure argument of sincere and undoubted grace in them. Yea it is an argument that they love not life only but Grace, that they love Grace for it self, that they love Grace as it is Grace, when they desire so much to increase and to grow in Grace, especially supposing themselves to be in the estate of it already.

Whereas on the other side, it is an argument of insinceritie and unsoundness, when men having gotten some small measure of speculative knowledge, or having attained to some slight degree of superficial conformity, far enough indeed from any sound sanctification, they can quietly sit down by it, and have no mind to go any further: yea how much soever they have attained to, if they can set down their rest there, sing a requiem to their souls, and say with the rich Glutton in the Gospel, Soul, thou hast much good; or, I have enough, with Esau: what should I labor for anymore? It was the Church of Laodiceaes song, I am rich, and full, and need nothing. He is nothing worth indeed that so deemeth of himself. He wanteth everything, he hath not anything, that thinketh he wanteth nothing; saith Bernard. The same is to be said of those that think themselves well enough, if they be but a little better than those that are stark naught, that are grossly impious and extremely profane: That use to ask when they are incited to a more frequent and diligent use of the means, for the furtherance of their Christian growth: Why? may not a man be saved, though he know no more than this, and this? Or though he have no more than such a measure of Faith, or though he do not live so precisely as such and such do? For such evidently show, that it is not Grace but Life, not Sanctification that they desire, but Salvation only. They serve God, only to serve their own turns upon God. It is not the pleasing of God, but the saving of themselves that they do not so much affect, as they are content to have grace for. He was never indeed good, that desireth not to be better. Yea, He is stark naught, that desireth not to be as good as the best. For he cannot be good, that loveth not goodness. Nor can any man truly love it, but he must needs desire more of it. For, He that loveth money, saith Solomon, will never have enough of it: And so he that truly loveth Grace, will never think he hath enough of it, and will consequently be ever desiring to grow in it. Which desire of growth in grace, as it is a good sign of sincerity of grace, so the want of it is too sure an argument of unsoundness.

[Objection 2] Yea but will some other peradventure say, I have heard it oft said, that no true Christian, yea, that no man at all ever standeth at a stay: But that everyone as he is continually going on toward his end, so he is continually growing either better or worse: like the Angels on the Ladder that Jacob saw, whereof some went upward, some downward, but none of them stood still. And with me the declination to the worse side is too evident: For I find that I am not able to continue in prayer, or to keep my mind long bent to any intention of meditation, yea that I cannot endure to hold out in hearing, or to retain or call to mind again what I have heard, as I formerly have done, or have been able to do. It is the usual complaint of many good Christians held with lingering infirmities and such bodily diseases as waste the spirits, weaken the senses, decay the memory, and disable the functions of those faculties of the soul that are wont to be in these holy exercises employed.

[Answer.] For Answer hereunto; to omit what before was said, that where an earnest desire and endeavor of growth is, there is no standing at a stay. It followeth not, because persons cannot perform outward, yea or inward actions as formerly they have done, that therefore there is a decay of Spiritual grace in them. For the Soul, we know, while it abideth in the body, worketh by it and the parts of it. And the working of it therefore cannot be other, than the affection of those parts, it worketh by, will afford. As the Heathen Philosopher therefore well observeth, that it followeth not that either the soul it self, or the faculty of seeing in the soul (for it is not the body, nor the eye it self that seeth, to speak properly, but the soul that seeth by it) is grown weak and decayed, because it cannot see so well by or with an old eye, as it could do and did by or with a young one: Give it a young eye again, and it will see as well as ever. Nor doth it follow that a work-man hath either lost or lessened his skill, because either he wanteth tools, and therefore he cannot work, or hath bad tools, and cannot therefore work so well as he could, when he had better than now he hath: that a Musician is not so good or skillful an Artist as he was, because he cannot make so good Music with his Viole or Citharne, being now cracked and crazed, or evil-stringed, as he could when it was new and sound, and well-stringed at first. So neither doth it follow that Spiritual Grace is therefore abated or decayed in the soul, because it cannot hold out now with that continuance of attention, or strength and vigor of intention in meditation, invocation, or other the like holy exercises, the body being, by age, or sickness and feebleness accruing from either, much decayed and disabled, as it could formerly, when the parts and functions of it were fresh. I say not, (for I would not herein be mistaken) if the desire of doing what it hath done, but cannot now do, what it is now restrained of, or disabled unto, be not as fervent as formerly. For the desire usually rather on such occasions increaseth. And it is a shrewd evil sign, as even an Heathen man also could observe, when men restrained of the means or the use of them, or disabled unto their wonted performance of such duties, are not at all therewith moved, but can well enough endure such want. It was by one deemed as unequal for an old man to desire the strength he had when he was young, as for a young man to desire the strength that an Ox hath, or an Elephant. But for a man here not to desire to do as he hath done, may well minister some suspicion, of an heart not very sound, which they that thus complain of, by this their complaint do evidently show themselves not to be free only, but to be far from. The very absence and restraint of things loved, longed after, and delighted in, is a great means to incense and inflame much the desire. Nor can there be a decay of grace, though the work of it may be restrained or suspended, where the desire continueth such. Spiritual grace is of the same nature, in some sort, with the Soul: As that is an immortal substance; so is this an incorruptible seed. Nor is it therefore any physical or natural defect, though such may either in whole or in part restrain the operation, that can possibly either destroy, or decay either by some natural defects indeed, (such as either suspend or abandon the use of reason and understanding, and make a man by that means uncapable of instruction,) a man may be disabled in ordinary course, (for extraordinary workings we leave unto God; who as he gave power of speech and utterance sometime to a dumb beast, and his sanctifying Spirit to a Babe yet unborne, so is able to work in this kind as he will:) unto the attaining of saving Grace, whereas yet it is not. But where it is already wrought, there cannot any such natural defect, either crase it, or wholly raze it out again. It were as absurd to imagine that a fit of the dead Palsy continuing with a man some good space of time, and depriving him thereby of ability unto the performance of holy duties, should of it self therefore make him less holy than he was when it first seized upon him; as to suppose a man well affected to be less liberally minded, because being fallen into poverty, he cannot now do that, which before he was wont to do, when he had better means and a more plentiful estate. It is not therefore any disability arising from such defects and infirmities, that argueth any decay of grace.

[Note 9] A ninth Note of sincerity may be an endeavor to find out and discover our own corruptions; and a gladness when we have discovered them by the light of God's Word, or such other good means as God shall offer us. This business had David been busy about, what time he brake out into that exclamation; O, who can tell how oft he sins? or, What man is he that understandeth his own errors? It fared with David, saith Spina, as with the Houswife that having diligently swept her house and cast the dust out at doors, can see nothing amiss now, no specke of dust in it; whereas if the Sun do but a little shine in thorough some cranie in the wall, or some broken quarrel in the window, she may soon see the whole house swim and swarm with innumerable motes of dust floating to and fro in the air, which for dimness of light or sight before she was not able to discern. And so fared it with David; he was a man of no loose life, but even from his younger years careful of his courses, Vpright and after God's own heart; so that little might seem to be amiss, or to require reformation and amendment with him: yet when he came to look more intentively into God's Law, a little beam of light reflecting upon his soul from it, discovered unto him such an innumerable company as well of corruptions in his heart, as of errors and over-sights in his life, that it made him, as one amazed, cry out in that manner, as guessing by what he now saw, that he had not seen before, how much corruption remained yet in him unseen. In like manner had he been sifting of himself, when he said; I considered my ways, and turned my feet unto thy Testimonies. And of the joy that he conceived, when upon such view and search he had light upon somewhat that he was ignorant of before, and came to the notice of some duty concerning himself, that before he was not aware of: I rejoice, saith he, at thy Word, (to wit, when somewhat from it is discovered unto me,) as one that findeth a great spoil; that hath gotten a rich bootie. An allusion to rich spoils taken from the enemy in the field, wherein the pleasure is usually as much as, or more than the profit. And he saith further therefore, That he will praise God with an upright heart, when he shall have learned his righteous Testimonies: He will thank him heartily, when he shall by his Law inform him of ought. Yea how glad was he when Abigail had discovered unto him his error, and by that means stayed his hand from an unwarrantable act, that in his heat of passion he had before resolved to execute? And how doth he bless her, and bless God for her, her, as a messenger of God, and God, as one that had sent her to meet him, and so to with-hold him from that outrage? And this is also a singular good note of a sincere heart, when a man is careful to search into his own corruptions and oversights, is willing to be informed of them, glad to see them discovered, and ready to reform them when they are evidently discovered to him, and his conscience convinced of them out of God's word. As on the contrary part when men are not willing to have their corruptions discovered to them, cannot endure those that are dealing in any sort with their sins, fume and storm against those that even in the kindest and most Christian manner inform them of them, albeit they cannot wholly excuse them or deny them to be such: when men will of set purpose forbear, yea and forswear to, the hearing of those, whose plain dealing and powerful delivery of God's Word, hath begun to lay open to them their corruptions, and to touch them a little to the quick: Or when (as Augustine well observeth of some, speaking of those words of the Psalmist; He flattereth himself in his own eyes, till his iniquity be found abominable; and he refuseth to understand: ) they will seem to search, but are loath to find; and therefore, as the young man in the Gospel, that moved a question to our Savior, they are sory that ever they sought, and go away with heavy hearts, when they find not as they would, when they have not an issue and an answer to their own minds: and as the Jewish Captains that repaired for advice and direction to Jeremiah, refuse thereupon to follow what they are informed of, or to reform what upon such search they meet with, and find to be amiss with them in heart or life: It is a fearful sign that their heart is not upright, and their seeming search was never made in sincerity.

[Note 10] The last Note of Sinceritie shall be a love of God and good things, and of the Children of God for God; together with a steadfast purpose to depend still upon God, to continue constant in the frequent and diligent use of all the holy Ordinances of God, and to persevere and go on in the good ways of God, though a man cannot yet find or feel in himself any assurance of God's special favor towards him, or any comfort in the Ordinances of God that he useth.

These I am the rather willing thus to pile up together, and to comprehend under one Head, though they might severally be insisted on, because I would hasten to an end, fearing that I have been over-long in what is past already: The work growing greater than I made account it would have done.

That our Love of God is a sure argument of God's special Love of us it is most evident. I love them, saith the Wisdom of God, that love me. And, He that loveth me, saith our Savior Christ, both the Father and I will love him. A man could not love God, did not God first love him, and work this very love of himself in him. Nor need any man, that truly (though but weakly, yet so well as he is able, or rather as God hath enabled him;) loveth God, doubt but that God loveth him. For how can he choose but love them again, when they love him, whom he loved even before they loved him? How can he but love them, when they love him, that loved them, when they loved not him; that loved them so dearly when they hated him, and were enemies to him, as to give his Son to die for them. If God, saith that blessed Man and Martyr of God, so loved us when we hated him and fled away from him, that he sent his Son after us to seek us, and with loss of his own life to redeem and reduce us, how can we think otherwise, but that now loving him, and lamenting because we do no more love him, he will surely love us forever?

And that the Love of God's Children for God, is a good Sign of the love of God, it is no less apparent. He that loveth him that begat, saith Saint John, loveth him also that is begotten. And he that loveth him that is begotten, say I, loveth him also that begat. It was for Jonathan's sake principally, that David loved and favored Mephibosheth. Nor could a man for God love the Children of God, if he did not first love God himself. In regard whereof also Saint John maketh this Love of God's Children a Sign that a man is in the light, to wit, of God's favor; that he is past from death to Life, is in the state of salvation; that he is borne of God, is regenerate, is the Child of God; that God dwelleth in him, he abideth in his heart by his Spirit; and that he doth Sincerely love God, and is beloved consequently of God. And as David testifieth the sincerity of his Love unto God, by his loving, liking of, and delighting in the Saints of God: so he maketh the honoring and respecting of those that fear God, a note and mark of such as are free Denizens of the heavenly Jerusalem.

The like might be said severally of the steadfast purpose of depending upon God, and of continuing constant in the diligent use of the Ordinances of God, and walking carefully in his ways. But that which I here in this last Note principally aim at, and will therefore most insist on, is this, that then the Sinceritie of a man's heart herein doth most evidently appear, when he persisteth thus constantly in loving God, and God's Children, cleaving to God, following him, frequenting his Ordinances, and depending upon him, though God seem not to regard him, nor do reveal himself yet unto him in that comfortable manner, as he doth frequently and usually unto those that be his. Yet will I wait upon the Lord, saith the Prophet Isaiah, though he have hid his face from us. And, Though he slay me, saith Job, yet will I still trust in him: Yea, though he hide his face from me, and carry himself towards me as an enemy. Hereby do the People of God in the Psalm approve their Sinceritie unto God, and the uprightness of their hearts with him, in that though God seemed to have clean forgotten them, and to have utterly cast them off, yet they had not left him, nor taken occasion thereby, either to neglect him or to stray from him, either in heart or in life, and to seek to any other helps. And it is certainly an argument of a great measure of Grace, when a Christian Soul, though finding in it self so weak encouragement, in regard of comfort or assurance, to depend upon God, yet can firmly resolve constantly to rely and rest wholly upon him: when though it feel little or no comfort at all in ought that it doth, yet it will not thereby be discouraged from persisting in the observance of holy exercises, and the performance of good duties, content with Patience, and yet not without a kind of religious impatience too, to submit it self to God's good pleasure, wait his holy leisure, and expect when he shall see it fit and seasonable in mercy, further to reveal himself, and to minister unto it the inward comforts of his Spirit. As on the other side it is a shrewd Sign of insincerity and unsoundness, when men are ready to cast off all religious regard, if they cannot in good exercises find present comfort; or shall be ready, if God do not instantly answer them according to their desires, to say with Iorams profane Pursuevant, What should I do waiting on God any longer? Or with Saul, to leave God, and betake them to other courses, yea those, such as he in his Word hath expressly inhibited.

Neither are we to think that the Prayers and other holy exercises of such so affected, as before was said, in regard of the want of that alacrity and cheerfulness of Spirit in them, are therefore either altogether unprofitable to themselves, or unacceptable in God's sight. For to omit, that there is oft more true Spiritual vivacitie in the prayers and other exercises of persons even so affected, than in the prayers and exercises of many others; their inward sense of their wants and instant desire of having them supplied, putting a great deal of spirit and life more than ordinary into them: An hungry belly, an empty maw, will make a beggar beg more earnestly, than when he hath been feeding but a little before. Read but the Psalms and Prayers that the Saints of God have made and penned in such cases, and upon such occasions, and mark what a deal of spiritual vigor and vivacitie appeareth in them. Not to stand, I say, upon this; Even the weakest and the feeblest that are, must for their comfort and encouragement in this kind be informed, that as the broths, and meats, and medicines that sick persons take, though they delight not the taste, nor do they find any good relish in them, by reason of their present infirmity and weakness, yet may do them much good, and be a means both to preserve life, to keep from fainting and further weakness, and to strengthen also in some measure: so holy actions though performed with much infirmity and weakness, yet with an holy and religious diligence, may much benefit the soul so performing the same, albeit it find little spiritual relish in them, or feel no comfort from them for the present. Yea, howsoever it be true, as I said before, that the want of alacrity and cheerfulness in performance of holy Duties, especially procured by some willful neglect, or by some peevish and wayward disposition, framing matter of grief to it self from idle toys and trifles unto the disturbance of it self in such duties, doth much diminish, and take away much the grace of them: yet it is no less true that the constant and conscionable persisting in performance of such duties, notwithstanding that all good means used, the poor Christian soul cannot attain to that alacrity that fain it would, may make them no less acceptable, if not more acceptable to God, than if they were done even with the greatest delight. Suppose two persons attend the King in his hunting, or at his sports, the one that taketh much delight in the game, the other that hath little or no delight in it: or the one lusty and healthy, and that attendeth him therefore with ease; the other weak and faint, or lame, or having some hurt about him, in regard whereof he cannot follow him but with much pain and difficulty, and yet will not give over, but be hard at his heels still, as ready and forward as the former. His will may be every whit as good as the other, and his Sovereign is no less, if not more, for such his service beholden to him, than to the other. Nor may the service of such a poor soul therefore be the less acceptable to God, because it cannot perform it with such alacrity and delight as it desireth. And in like manner for Faith and dependence upon God. It is not an argument of no Faith, when a man cannot yet attain to a full persuasion and assurance of God's special favor towards him, and of the free remission of his sins in Christ, that many other faithful have had, and many doubtless also ordinarily have. This is a consequent rather of Faith, that as Augustine saith of works, rather followeth the person justified, than precedeth and goeth before Justification, as Faith being an instrumental cause of producing it as an effect doth. It is a consequent, I say, of it, deduced from it, as the same Father well showeth, by a Syllogism, wherein Faith is assumed, and this persuasion concluded from it: and that not simply and absolutely necessary neither, but such as is, by general consent, oft severed from it. But for a man, though he cannot yet attain to it, yea though he never should so long as he liveth, yet to resolve to cleave unto God with full purpose of heart, to stick close unto him, to depend wholly upon him, and not to give over still seeking and suing to him for it, and the constant use of all good means to attain it; like a Courtier, who though the King show him no Countenance, but seem wholly to neglect him, and not at all to regard him, yet will still follow the Court, and tender his service, and resolve to give attendance, hoping yet to find acceptance at length, yea to do it constantly, whether he shall find acceptance or no; or like the woman of Canaan, that would follow Christ still, and would take no nay of him, though he seemed not only not to regard her, or any other that made suit for her, but to reject and put her off with much disgrace: it is a sound argument of a true and a lively Faith, and of no small measure of the same.

[Question.] Where if it be demanded how this trusting to, and dependence upon God, may stand with the want of such assurance; I shall not need to say much, because the Argument hath by a reverend Brother been of late handled at large.

[Answer.] Only I make it plain by this familiar Comparison. Put case a poor man hath occasion to make use of some great Courtier for the effecting of some business of great consequence for him, even as much as his life lieth on, or all that ever he is worth, as suppose the procuring him his pardon for some capital crime from the Prince. And this great Courtier telleth him, that though he be but a stranger, one that can claim no such thing from him, yea one that hath deserved many ways evil of him, yet if he trust only to him, and rely wholly upon him, he will do that for him, which the poor wretch requireth of him. This poor man now in this case may trust only to him, and neglecting all other means that either others may advise him to, or himself sometime think on, rely wholly upon him; and yet he may not be fully persuaded that he will effect it for him neither. The consideration of his own want of worth and evil desert, his immoderate fear arising from the apprehension of the great danger that he is in, and the subtle persuasion of others that would bear him in hand that he will but delude him, and not do for him as he saith, may either severally or jointly be a means to hold his mind in suspense, and to keep him from such assurance, Yea his very mistaking and misconstruction of the great man's meaning, when he saith, If you will trust to, or rely upon me alone for it, being possessed with a conceit that his want of a full persuasion that he will do it, which he cannot yet for his heart-blood bring his mind to any settled assurance of, doth evidently show that he doth not trust to him, may be a means to make him believe, that he will never do it for him, because he doth not, what he supposeth is therein absolutely required of him, which to that great man also, if he should be demanded of it, not daring to tell an untruth, would appear. And yet for all this he may resolve to stick to his mediation only, and to rely wholly upon him, and not to seek or try any other way, whatsoever any man shall persuade him to the contrary, or whatsoever the issue and event of it shall be. And even so may it well be, and is questionless with a Christian soul many times. God hath proclaimed and published a Patent of Pardon and salvation by Christ, to all that trust to him for the same. A man may so do, encouraged thereunto by this gracious offer and the condition to it annexed, yea many an one so doth, and yet partly out of the sight and consideration of his own unworthiness, partly out of a kind of timorousness and pusillanimitie of Spirit, partly by reason of some strong melancholic imagination, and partly also through some powerful delusion of Satan, not be able possibly to persuade himself that Christ is yet his, or that he hath interest in him, hath his sins pardoned for him, and shall live eternally by him. Yea the very mistaking of the true Nature of saving Faith, and supposing the very essence of it to consist in this particular persuasion, (which yet is only an effect and a fruit, yea such a fruit of it, as doth not necessarily always spring from it, nor is at all times of the year ever constantly found on it,) and that therefore he doth not trust in Christ so long as he wanteth it, is a main means to keep many from it, and from the comfort of it, which yet have true Faith, and do unfeignedly trust in Christ for all that: As by many other sound and undoubted Arguments, which if they be questioned with and urged to it, not daring to deny them, lest they should lie against their own Conscience, may be drawn from their own confessions and answers concerning themselves, (when there is no fear of Hypocrisy, lest they should therein dissemble, being more prone to charge than to clear, and to allege matter against themselves, than to produce anything for themselves;) will evidently appear. Among which Arguments also even this, though it come last, yet is none of the least, if their Conscience unfeignedly can testify for them, that though they have not yet such a persuasion and assurance of God's mercy toward them in Christ for the remission of their sins and the salvation of their souls, yet they unfeignedly desire, and labor instantly for it, and though they cannot yet attain to it, yet they love the Lord Jesus heartily, and his members for his sake, and rest and repose themselves wholly upon him, and God's mercy in him, renouncing all other means of remission of sin and salvation without him, with a full purpose of heart and resolution still so to do, expecting when God shall in mercy be pleased to look graciously upon them, and to vouchsafe them that assurance that as yet they have not. Who so trusteth in the Lord, saith Solomon, O blessed is he. And what a great measure of grace is it for a man to trust thus in God, and cleave fast unto him, while he lieth yet under the sense and apprehension of his wrath?

Those therefore, whatsoever they are, that having by these or the like Notes and Signs examined themselves, have found their hearts to be sincere and upright with God, albeit this their beginning of Grace be mixed with much weakness, they may know thereby and assure themselves that they have right to, and interest in the Light and Joy of the Just here spoken of: and they may therefore safely lay hold on it, admit it, give way to it, receive it and harbor it in their hearts; yea that they wrong themselves, God's grace in them, and his goodness towards them, when they refuse and repel it, having so good and sure ground for it, having so great cause, as we have here shown, to rejoice.

Light and Joy being sown here, not for the righteous alone, but for all that are upright in heart.

Which Joy the Lord in mercy vouchsafe to all in Zion that yet want it, and increase it daily in the hearts of all those that already have it, until we come all to meet and partake together in that fullness of Joy, which shall never again be interrupted or eclipsed in us, shall never in whole or in part be taken again away from us, Amen.

IACOBS THANKFVLNES TO GOD, FOR GOD'S GOODNES to JACOB.

THese Words are parcel of a Prayer conceived by the Patriarch Jacob, in a time of distress, after his departure from Laban, when tidings were brought him that his brother Esau was coming in arms against him with four hundred men at his heels.

His Prayer consisteth of four parts.

There is in it;

[Part 1] 1. A serious Protestation concerning the ground of his journey, and his leaving of Laban, to wit, God's own Word: he had not done what he did of his own head, but by God's special direction: a good argument to assure him that God would therein secure him, having his Word and Warrant for the ground of his Action. He walketh surely, that walketh warily: He walketh warily, that walketh with warrant.

[Part 2] 2. An humble Confession and acknowledgement of God's goodness towards him; illustrate and amplified by his own unworthiness of it; and so a secret insinuation of his thankfulness for it.

[Part 3] 3. An instant suit and Supplication to God, that he would vouchsafe to stand by him in his present distress, and deliver him out of the great danger that he was in at that instant, walking in no other way, than that God himself had set him in.

[Part 4] 4. An Allegation of God's gracious promises formerly made him; which might seem likely to fail, and to be utterly frustrate, if he were now left to the mercy of his merciless Brother, who minded nothing, but the destruction of him and all his.

The words of my Text are the second Part: [Part 2] And therein are these Particulars;

1. His own Vnworthinesse; I am not worthy:

2. God's Goodness; laid down,

1. In the Grounds of it, Mercy, and Truth; Mercy in promising, Truth in performing:

2. In a Fruit and Effect of it; Jacob's present estate, now at his return from Laban, compared with what it was, when he went thither:

Where first in General observe we, ere we come to the Particulars,

How before he come to crave what he would have of God, he doth in thankful manner mention what already he had received.

And withal note we,

So Moses; Lord thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another. And the Saints elsewhere; Lord thou wast sometime favorable to thy Land, in bringing again the Captivitie of Jacob, &c. And We have heard, O God, from our Fathers reports, what wonderful works in times past thou wroughtest for them. And David; Lord, thou hast kept me from my childhood up till now: Therefore will I talk of thy wondrous works. Forsake me not now until mine old age, nor when I am gray headed, &c.

[Reasons 2] Now this they do,

• Partly, in regard of God;
• And partly, in regard of themselves.

[Reason 1] First, in regard of God, to testify their Thankfulness to him, and to incite him thereby the rather to vouchsafe them further favor, being so thankful for the former. For Thanksgiving is the best, and the most effectual form of Prayer. And the ascent of our thanksgivings to God, is a means to procure a more plentiful descent of his mercies upon us. It is as a little water poured into the Pump, when the Springs lie low, that bringeth up a great deal more together with it: Or as the Vapours, that ascending up from the earth, are a means to bring down rain for the watering of it, where it was parched and dried up; and so making it fertile, where it was barren before.

Secondly, in regard of themselves, to strengthen their Faith, in assurance of future favor and safeguard from God, upon ground and experience of his former goodness. For the receipt of former mercies [Reason 2] giveth good hope and assurance of future favors. Hear me, saith David, when I call, O my righteous God, or God of my righteous cause. Thou hast formerly delivered me when I was in distress: Have mercy therefore now again on me, and give ear to my Prayer. And, Thou hast been my succor; leave me not now, nor forsake me, O God my Savior. And, The Lord that delivered me from the claws of the Lion, and the paw of the Bear, will deliver me also out of the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine. So the Apostle Paul likewise; Who delivered me then, and doth yet deliver me, and I trust that he will further deliver me again. And again; The Lord stood by me, when all forsook me: and I was delivered out of the mouth of that Lion: Yea the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and preserve me to his everlasting Kingdom.

That which may serve to teach us; [Uses 2]

[Use 1] First, to keep in mind carefully God's former mercies, and not suffer them by forgetfulness to slip away from us. We should be in this regard (to use the Heathen man's comparison) like Civet boxes, which though the Civet be taken out of them, yet retain still the sent of it: The sweet sent of God's mercies and gracious deliverances should remain still in our minds by a faithful and careful remembrance of them, even when the act it self is over.

And this should we the rather do, that we may thereby be encouraged the more constantly and confidently to depend upon God and his goodness for the time to come. For this is one main cause of our usual distrust of God's Providence in times of trouble, or in danger and distress, that we remember not what God hath in former times done either for others, or for ourselves. This it is that maketh men ready, when charge beginneth to come on them, and things go backward with them, to put their hands to iniquity, and by fraud and deceit, or by exaction and oppression, or by becoming instruments of evil offices to great ones, to seek to repair their losses, or to enlarge their estates: And men are wont to pretend a kind of necessity of so doing; they should not be able to defend the world (as they speak) unless they so did; there would be no living for them in the world, if they did otherwise. As if God were not as well able to provide for them then, as before-time he had been: as if either continuance of time had weakened his hand, or by his former bounty his wealth and treasury were exhausted or wasted: As with man it oft falleth out. No: God's hand is not shortened; his Power is not impaired: but thy trust in him is straitened; thy faith is not strengthened. It is not his might, but thy faith, that faileth. And one reason thereof is, because thou callest not to mind, what God hath formerly done for thee, which he is able also to do for thee still. And surely if we did but consider seriously, who it was that kept us and fed us in our Mothers womb before we were borne, when neither we could shift for ourselves, nor our Parents do ought for us, we might well reason thus with ourselves; He that preserved and maintained me without any care or travel either of mine own or others for me then, while I was yet in my Mothers womb, is much more able by mine honest labors and endeavors to do the same now for me and mine: he is able now to give me sufficiency by them, that then provided sufficiently for me without them.

[Use 2] Again, do we desire to have God's goodness continued unto us, or enlarged towards us? Let us be careful then to show ourselves thankful unto him for mercies formerly received. For thankfulness for former mercies, is a strong inducement to move God to confer further favors. Let the people (saith the Psalmist) praise thee, O God; yea let all the people join together in the praising of thee: And then shall the Earth bring forth her increase; and God will show himself to be our God, by multiplying his mercies and blessings upon us. As on the other side, the want of it lieth as a block in the way between God and us to debar us of further blessings. For he is unworthy of future favors, that is not thankful for former mercies. And the course of God's gracious goodness stoppeth, where no recourse of thanksgiving is. It is our unthankfulness that stayeth and stauncheth the streams of God's bounty, that they flow not so freely as otherwise they would; being like the Spring Solinus speaketh of, that riseth and runneth over while men sing and play to it, but falleth and sinketh again as fast, so soon as they cease. That is it that causeth our prayers, though we pray long, and sue hard, and cry loud, oft to fail; and causeth God not to answer them according either to our desires, or to his own wonted dealings with others of his in times past; not that he is become either more short-handed, or close-fisted, or hard-hearted, now than heretofore he hath been; (for he is ever the same; ) but because, with those nine Leapers, we are more frequent and fervent in Prayer than in Praise, more forward and earnest to sue for what we desire, than to return thanks for it again when we are heard: Importunate to have; unquiet, till we have; and unthankful, when we have once gotten what we could have. Yea this it is that causeth God, to bereave us oft of those benefits and blessings that he hath formerly bestowed on us; as being but cast away with us, as those things are, that on unthankful persons are conferred. Because (saith God of the unthankful Israelites) they say, I will go after my Sweet-hearts, that give me my meat and my drink, my wool and my flax, my wine and mine oil; and consider not, that it is I that gave them these things: Therefore I will come and take these things again away from them. And because Pharaoh saith, The River is mine own; Therefore, saith God, will I dry up the River. For the better understanding whereof, and of some other the like passages in the Prophet, I shall tell you that, that (it may be) will seem very strange to many of you, and yet to some here present peradventure as well known as to myself. There is some Country in the World where it never raineth all the year long. Of some it is by some reported without certainty or truth. But it is certainly so in Egypt: and even Moses himself intimateth as much, where he saith that the Land of Canaan was therein unlike it. It never raineth there ordinarily from one end of the year to the other; And it is recorded therefore as a strange miracle, a thing never the like heard of, that some once in such a Kings reign it so did. But to make amends for that defect, and supply the want of it, once a year at a certain time the River Shichor or Nile overfloweth all the low land, and so both filleth their Ponds and Cisterns, and watreth their grounds for them; and if it fall short, it produceth a dearth; if it stay over-long it delayeth seed-time, and so causeth a late Harvest. Now in regard hereof, because in Greece they had no such River that overflowed their land, but their grounds were watered with Rain from Heaven, the Egyptians used in mockery to tell the Greeks, that if God should forget to rain, they might chance to starve for it. They thought the rain was of God, but not the River the rain that came down from Heaven, that came indeed, they thought, from him; but the Water of the River, they thought came not from him, they had that of their own, and were not beholden to him for it. For this cause therefore doth God threaten to dry up, (that is, restrain) their River (as at sometimes also it appeareth by stories he did) whereon the fruitfulness and fertilty of their Land did depend. And if we would not have God to deal in the like manner with us, let us take heed how we be found faulty in this kind, as they were. Let us call ourselves rather to a due and a strict account, how thankful we have been for God's mercies towards us fore-passed, how thankful we are for his favors which we enjoy at the present; and how we come short and fail (as upon due search we shall find that we do much the very best of us all) in either; that we may both repent us of our unthankfulness towards him, and grow up daily more and more in thankfulness for them. That will be the best means to continue them unto us; that will be the best means to increase them upon us: For thankfulness, as good seed, being bred of God's blessings, doth not preserve only, but increase also, that that bred it.

And thus much for the General.

[Particular 1] Proceed we now to the Particulars.

Where first we find, Jacob confessing his own unworthiness: Less than all those favors, (for so are the words in the Original ) that God had vouchsafed him, and heaped up so plentifully upon him.

Less than them, or any of them: Because altogether unworthy [Reason 1] of them; as not deserving, nor having right to require ought, (and much less so much as he had received,) by way of due debt and desert at God's hands.

[Reason 2] And again, Less than them, because unable to requite them: For God and our Parents (saith the Heathen man) cannot be requited. David sought sometime how he might; but he could not devise how. Thanks alone he could return (a poor requital) and no more.

[Observ. 2] Where again observe we a second practice of God's People;

So Jacob here: and so his Grand-father Abraham before him; How should I that am but dust and ashes, presume to speak to my Lord? And, What am I? saith David; or what is my Parentage, that thou shouldest afford me such favors? And What is man that thou shouldst regard him? or the son of man that thou shouldst once think on him? I am not worthy, saith John the Baptist of our Lord Jesus, to carry his shoes after him; or to untie but his shooestrings. Vnworthy, saith the Centurion, that thou shouldst come under my roof; or, that I should come once in thy presence. Vnworthy, saith the Prodigal Child, to be called thy son. Vnworthy, saith the Apostle Paul, to bear the name of an Apostle.

And what is the Ground of all this? Doubtless it ariseth, [Grounds 2]

Partly from the Consideration of their own unprofitableness and [Considerat. 4] abominableness;

And partly from the Consideration of God's Majesty and Greatness.

First from the Consideration of themselves. [Ground 1]

• (1) Their vileness and abominableness in evil.
• (2) Their poorenesse and unprofitableness in good.

1. Their vileness and abominableness by reason of Sin. In regard [Consid. 1] whereof, they are not unworthy only of ought that is good, but worthy of all evil, if God in the rigor of his justice should regard them as in themselves they are. Behold, I am vile; saith Job. what should I say? Bred in sin, saith David, and borne in iniquity: And If the very Heavens themselves, and the Stars (the brightest and clearest part of them) be not clean in God's sight: How much more is Man a mirie worm, unclean? Yea, how much more (I say) is man abominable, that drinketh in iniquity like water? With whom sin is as familiar as his ordinary diet, his daily meat and drink is? Whereupon well saith Augustine, entreating of those words of the Psalmist, Reject not, O Lord, the work of thy hands: Regard, O Lord, in me not my work, but thine own: for if thou regardest my work, thou damnest me; if thine own work, thou crownest me. Since that whatsoever good I have, I have it from thee: and it is therefore rather thine than mine. For I know, saith the Apostle, that in me, that is, in this flesh of mine there dwelleth nothing that is good.

[Consider. 2] 2. Their poorenesse and unprofitableness even in the good that they do or have.

1. The poorenesse and imperfection of that grace and goodness that is yet in them, and of all that they do consequently, while they live here. For our Sanctification is here but in part. As we know but in part: so we are purged but in part. I am not yet perfect, saith the Apostle. And, who can say, I have so cleansed mine heart, saith Solomon, that I am wholly free from sin? Yea as the most that any know is the least of that they know not: so the most of the sanctifying Grace that we have, is the least (for the most part) of that that we want and should have. There are relics and remainders of the old man still even in the best. They are not so stripped of their old garment, of their Prison apparel, but that many a rag of it hangeth still upon them, and sticketh so close to them, that they will not off all, till they go altogether for good & all, till death do that all at once, that grace doth now by degrees. Though sin reign not in them, as formerly it hath done: yet it remaineth with them, and dwelleth still, like a bad Inmate, within them. It remaineth, saith Bernard, even in the best, though plucked up by the root, yet not wholly pulled out; though dejected and thrown down in regard of its regencie, yet not ejected or cast out in regard of inherency. It is like a wild fig-tree, saith Proclus in Epiphanius, that hath so pierced into the stone-wall of a fair Temple, that though it be cut away, the boughs, body of it, and the main stump of it pulled out, yet some of the strings of the root, ready ever anon to sprout out again, will abide there, do what can be done, till the wall it self be digged down. It is as the fretting Leprousie in an house, that though the walls be scraped over and over, again and again, yet will not away, until the building be it self wholly demolished. And as we are ourselves; so is all that cometh from us. There is a tang and taint of this rotten root in all that we do: as there is a tincture of the stained glass in the light that it giveth, and in the rays of the Sun, though pure otherwise themselves, that pass through it. Our evil actions are merely evil, saith Gregory, but our good actions (are not, nay) cannot be purely good. They are but maimed; saith Prosper. They are so imperfect, and some way or other corrupt, saith Anselm, that God might well be displeased with them. Our righteousness is all (even the very best of it) in God's sight, saith Bernard (alluding to the words of the Prophet Isaiah ) but as a menstruous clout (that is, as a filthy, beastly, abominable rag) if it should strictly be examined: Unless we esteem ourselves better than our forefathers, who have no less truly than humbly confessed so by themselves. And, if our best righteousness be such; (no better than unrighteousness; saith Gregory; a kind of unrighteous righteousness, saith Bernard: ) what is our unrighteousness then? If the light that is in us burn so dim, how is it with our darkness, which for the most part is more than the light, even in those that have most?

Again, they consider as their poorenesse and imperfection in Grace; [Consider. 3] so their unprofitableness, even in the good that they do out of Grace. For, When you have done all that ever you can, saith our Savior, say that you are (for so indeed you are, but) unprofitable servants. It is a Question moved by Eliphaz in Job, Whether a man can be profitable to God, as he may be profitable to man, either himself, or any other. And it is well resolved and answered by Elihu in the Negative: If thou dost well, saith he, what good dost thou to God? or what is he the better for it? And again, If thou dost evil, what hurt dost thou to him? Be thy sins never so many, what is he the worse for it? No: All my well-doing, saith David, or my goodness, is nothing to my God. He were not God, saith Augustine, if my well-doing could do him any good. For God (saith one well) being ever the same, is neither the better for our goodness, nor the worse for our wickedness. He neither gaineth ought by us, when we love and serve him, and cleave close to him: nor loseth he ought by us, when we love him not, but leave him and fall away from him. For he can be well enough without us: but we can by no means do well without him. And therefore he cannot be the better for us; howsoever we may be the better for him.

[Ground 2] Secondly, from the consideration of God's infinite Majesty and Dignity, his worth and his greatness, that dampeth and obscureth [Consider. 2] all those their excellent parts, for which others so much worthily and deservedly admire them. Goodly Creatures are the Stars, and they shine bright in the Night, but when the Sun is once up, all their light and luster is gone, it is no more to be seen, than as if they were not: Nor do those worthy Saints of God, whom we justly deem as bright Stars, retain their glorious luster that yet dasleth our eyes, when they appear in the presence of the God of Glory. The nearer therefore God's Saints approach to God, and consider his worth and his greatness, the more apprehensive are they of their own meanness and unworthiness. And as the Moon never casteth less light, than when she is nearest the Sun, from whom she hath it: so never doth ought, (ought, I mean, that excelleth, that is ought,) less appear in any of us, than when we approach nearest the Father and Fountain of Light, from whom we have received whatsoever we have. For nowhere doth Man better or more fully see his own meanness, than in the glass of God's Greatness. While we sit here in the Church together, and look one upon another, or upon other things here about us, we may well seem to be well-eyed and quick-sighted the most of us. But if the Sun should shine bright abroad, and we should go out and look full on it, our eyes would be soon obscured and darkened, and all our sharp-sightednesse would prove nothing but mere dimness and darkness. And surely, if the very Seraphim themselves, though so glorious Creatures in themselves (that their presence when they appear but in some glimpse only of that their celestial Glory, is wont to strike such terror and astonishment into those to whom they appear in that manner) yet when they cast their eyes on that most Glorious Sun of Righteousness, this Suns Creator, the Author of its excellency, and infinitely therefore more excellent than it, they are so abashed at the consideration of their own vileness in comparison of it, that they clap their wings on their faces, ( as men are wont to do their hands, when the lightning flasheth in their eyes) as wholly overwhelmed with it, and not easily enduring it. No marvel if Elias, when God spake unto him, (though in no terrible manner, but with a still voice, yet) cast his mantle over his face, as abashed at his appearance; and if other the Saints of God, when by Prayer they repair unto God, and set themselves in his special presence, beholding God as it were then looking with full eye upon them, and looking him in a manner full in the face, do then especially, as take notice of, so confess and acknowledge, their unworthiness to approach so glorious a Presence, and to require or expect ought from the hands of such a Majesty, being so mean, so vile, so base, so abominable, as they are, and do then especially see themselves to be. Lord depart from me; I am a sinful wretch; saith Saint Peter to our Savior, when in a strange draught of fish only, he saw some print of his Deity. And, I have oft heard of thee by report; saith Job to God: but now mine eye seeth thee: And therefore do I even abhor myself; and repent me in dust and ashes; in such as myself am. Men are then holiest (saith Pythagoras ) when they repair unto God: they are humblest sure (say I) when they approach nearest to him.

Now this may serve first to teach us Humility. For if so worthy [Use 1] Saints and servants of God account themselves unworthy of ought, and think and speak so meanly of themselves; what doth it behoove us to do, that come so far short of them? There are two Virtues especially, that our Savior Christ hath by his own example commended unto us, to be imitated of us; Humility in his Life, and Love or Charity at his Death: Which we may well therefore term Christ's cognisances; and the marks and badges of those that be his. And certainly where Humility is wanting, that is wanting that God's Children have ever most of all abounded and excelled in. All their speeches and sayings generally (if you mark them) savor strongly of it. Dust and ashes, saith Abraham. A worm, and no man; saith David. Not a man, but a beast; saith the wise man Agur, and Asaph. The least and last of the Saints; and of the Apostles; saith the Apostle Paul of himself: but the first and chiefest of Sinners.

And where men therefore are so prone to stand upon terms of comparison; I am as good a man as such and such: and, I deserve as well as they: and, I see no reason why I should not be respected as well as any other: and are so ready to thrust themselves forward; and not in giving honor to others, as the Apostle exhorteth, but in taking honor to themselves, which the Holy Ghost reproveth, strive to go beyond others: it savoreth not of the Spirit of Christ, not of that Spirit that God's Children are led by; but of the Spirit and humor rather of those, who in the Gospel are reported to have affected the chief rooms at feasts, and the highest seats in the Synagogues, to be crowched and cringed to, and to be called, Rabbi Rabbi: the Scribes and Pharisees, I mean, who in comparison of themselves, scorned and contemned all others; I am not like other men; nor like this Publican: saith he. Such should remember that where the fear of God is, Pride is not: and consequently, that where such pride is, there is a great want of sincerity. And consider withal, that as there is, no Virtue more acceptable and well-pleasing to God than Humility: so there is no Vice in God's sight more abominable than Pride. It is a strange thing, saith Augustine, entreating of those words of the Psalmist, Though the Lord be on high himself, yet beholdeth he the lowly: as for the proud and haughty, he knoweth them a far off. It is a strange thing, saith he, and yet as true as it is strange: God he sitteth aloft himself in Heaven: and yet the higher a man lifteth himself, the further he is from him; the lower a man stoopeth, the nearer he is to him. We have a very pregnant instance of it in the Pharisee and the Publican, by our Savior propounded. The proud Pharisee pressed as near God as he could: the poor Publican, not daring so to do, stood aloof off. And yet was God far from the proud Pharisee, but near to the poor Publican. The latter went away justified rather than the former. For the Lord is near unto all those that be of a contrite heart: And he will dwell with him that is of an humble spirit. He reststeth the proud: but he giveth grace (that is, honor and respect) to the humble. The Low valleys are watered, when the high hills remain thirsty: And the poor and lowly are satisfied, when the proud rich are sent away empty. In a word; much danger there is in Pride; there is not the like in Humility, albeit a man should abase himself somewhat more, than were meet or requisite for him to do. In coming in at a low portall, if a man stoop never so low, there is little danger in so doing; but if he hold up his head an inch only too high, he may chance to get a sound knock, if not a broken brow by it.

[Use 2] Secondly, this may well discover one reason unto us, why our suits and prayers many times prevail not with God, but are returned back to us without fruit and effect; to wit, because we are not so humbled as we ought to be, ere we come to commence them; because we are not so affected as Jacob here, with any serious consideration or apprehension of our own indignity and unworthiness: The want whereof breedeth irreverence and presumption in us, the very bane and pests of Prayer.

There are three special faults in Prayer, saith Bernard, that hinder the success of it; faintness, coldness, and boldness:

There is first a faint, a fearful, a distrustful Prayer:

There is secondly a cold, a formal, a superficial Prayer:

And there is thirdly a bold, a proud, a presumptuous Prayer. And this last is the worst.

The faint and fearful prayer cannot get out, much less get up: it sticketh fast between the teeth, or in the throat rather.

The cold and formal prayer cometh forth fast enough, but it cannot get up: it freeseth (for want of spirit and fervor) by the way, ere it come to appear in God's presence. A good man's prayer is effectual, saith S. James, but provided it be fervent.

The bold and presumptuous prayer flieth up apace; but it is as fast beaten back again, for presenting it self over-boldly and sauoily in God's sight; and instead of a blessing, it bringeth back a curse with it. Such was that proud Pharisees prayer before spoken of: He went up, saith our Savior, into the Temple to pray. But when he was arrived there, he had nothing to ask. He thrusteth himself forward, and offereth God a sacrifice of praise indeed; but of his own, not of his. He spendeth the time not with Jacob in the confession of his own unworthiness, but in commemoration of his merits and good deeds unto God; for fear lest God should forget them, or not esteem of him as his worth (he thought) well deserved that he should.

True it is indeed, that even God's sincere Servants, as Hezekiah, Nehemie, Job, and others do upon special occasion sometime make mention, and that in Prayer too, of the sincerity of their hearts, their upright carriage, and their careful endeavor for God's glory, and the good of his House, the Church. But if we shall advisedly compare these and the former together, we shall find a far different strain and spirit in either; we may discern as much difference between the one and the other in their prayers, as between the vain-glorious confidence of Heathen Philosophers, and the religious constancy of Christian Martyrs in their ends. There is a vaunting Pride joined with a scorn of others in the one: There is a necessary and lowly touch (either in way of just apology, or to strengthen their faith in some hope of speeding with God, and having their suits heard of him) of their own sincerity and integrity in the other. And howsoever therefore we may likewise on the like occasions do the like, so be we remember withal to do it also in the like manner as they did: Yet we must take heed how we offer to press over-boldly and presumptuously into God's presence; lest as Jacob speaketh else where, and upon another occasion, we bring a curse upon ourselves instead of a blessing: Rather consider we the greatness and the gloriousness, on the one side, of that inconceivable Majesty that in prayer we approach unto; and on the other side, our own vileness, indignity, and unworthiness; that being truly humbled in the view both of the one and the other, our Prayers so seasoned, may both find freer access to God, and return with better success to us.

[Use 3] Thirdly, this directly crosseth and controlleth that Popish conceit of Merit, properly so termed, of matter of worth and desert in Man. Non sum dignus; I am not worthy of ought; saith Jacob: and it is the common and general note (as you have heard) of God's Servants. Whereas our Romanists teach their followers to plead to God for themselves, as the Jews did sometime for the Centurion to our Savior; Dignus est; He is worthy; he deserveth, that thou shouldest do this for him. Dignus es: Thou art worthy to receive honor and glory; sing the Saints of God to God. But, Digni sumus; We are worthy; do they sing, and teach theirs so to sing: We are worthy, that God should confer honor and glory on us: We deserve by our well-doing, not grace only, but glory too, even eternal glory: And much more than any temporal benefits and blessings whatsoever, that come far short of either. They give all to God: these take all to themselves. There is on their parts nothing but indignity with the one; nothing but condignity with the other. Jacob deemeth himself unworthy of ought; and they esteem themselves worthy of anything. There was nothing that he could; and there is nothing but that they do, or can deserve it at God's hands. He knoweth not how to requite what already he hath received: they are able not to requite it only, but to merit also much more. A strange presumption, whereby men dare arrogate and ascribe that unto themselves, that none of God's holy ones, whose stories are recorded in God's Word, ever did, or durst do.

Take we Example in this kind, but by one of them for all. Job, the only man of note in the time he lived in, for a just, and an upright, or a perfect man, one that feared God, and eschewed evil: no one like him (by God's own testimony ) in the whole world then besides. And yet how he stood herein affected, his own words will best show: wherein observe we how in stripping himself of all matter of merit, worth, or desert, he proceedeth and goeth on as by certain taires and degrees.

[Degrees 4] First, How can any man, saith he, be justified, if he be compared [Degree 1] with God? He showeth that man's justice is just none, saith the Scholiast, if it be compared with God's justice. For, Even those that are just by participation from him, are not just at all, if they come once in comparison with him, saith Augustine.

[Degree 2] But how would the case stand with him, if he come to be tried not by that infinite depth of justice that is in God, but by the exact rule of righteousness, that of man God requireth, and is contained in God's Law? If a man, saith Job, would go to law with God, or if God should call man to a strict account, man were not able to answer God for one of a thousand. Among a thousand of his works, though having done so many good works, could not Job pick out any one, of which he durst say, This I dare be tried by; or, I dare offer this to the strictest trial. The holy man, saith Gregory, saw that all our worthy virtues would prove vicious, yea vices, if they were brought to a strict trial. And, The man therefore that vaunteth himself of his perfection, thereby showeth that he hath not yet so much as begun to lead a good life. So that, If I would justify myself, saith Job, mine own mouth, (if according to mine heart it speak) must needs condemn me for so doing; when I see myself, so much amiss with me, when I know so much evil by myself.

But suppose he were not guilty in this manner to himself, that [Degree 3] he saw no such thing in himself, or knew nothing amiss by himself. If I were perfect, saith he; yet do I not know mine own soul. As if he should say, as Saint Paul sometime did; Though I knew nothing by myself, (as in some kind and case the Apostle professeth of himself, to wit, for his demeanure toward the Corinthians, his faithful carriage in his Ministry, and those things especially which the false Apostles charged him with, as he else-where expoundeth himself:) yet were I not thereby justified. Or as David, in Augustine's Paraphrase of him, How right and straight soever I seem to myself, thou bringest a rule out of thy treasury, which when thou layest me to, I am found faulty. For, Who (saith the Psalmist) understandeth all his own errors? Mans heart (saith the Prophet) is deceitful above all things: so deceitful, that it deceiveth oft even it self. And those things, saith Gregory, that make a goodly show, even in a man's own eyes, appear many times but foul, slubbred and sullied in God's sight. No man seeth exactly the depth of his own heart. But God is greater than our heart, and seeth oft that in it, and in the actions that flow from it, that we see not in it or them ourselves; and knoweth consequently more by us, than we know by ourselves. As Paul therefore, so Job, though he could neither be justly taxed for ought by others, nor did know ought amiss by himself; though it had been so, I say, with him (as yet far otherwise it was) that he had passed well both man's judgment, the strictest censure of others, and his own too, the testimony of his own Conscience; yet durst he not, for all that, offer himself to God's judgment, there to be tried by the rigor and severity of God's justice; well wotting that for all this there he might fail, as both having deceived others, and having been deceived in himself; whereas there he was to deal with him, who is so well seen in man's heart, his own work, that he cannot possibly by any means be deceived therein.

Lastly, Though I were never so just, saith Job, yet would I not argue [Degree 4] with God, but make suit unto my Judge. I would not argue, by demanding justice; but make suit, by craving mercy, saith Lyra. I would not argue, trusting to mine own merits; but make suit, trusting rather, saith Cardinal Hugh, to his mercy. For it is mercy that we stand in need of, saith Augustine: it is that that must stand us then instead. Since that, All man's righteousness will appear to be but unrighteousness, saith Gregory, if it should strictly be examined. And therefore for all a man's righteousness he had need yet to pray; that, that that might in such strict trial fail, may by his Judges mercy alone hold out and be made good. For it is all one, saith he, as if Job had there said, Albeit I grow up and attain to good works, yet it is not of merit, but of mercy, that I do achieve life. And such Prayer therefore must we lean unto, even when we do well, that even all our holy life may be seasoned with humility: Which the contrary presumption belike then of merit, desert, worth, and dignity, is in Gregory's judgment a great enemy unto.

But so absurd and even sottish is the Popish doctrine in this Point, that some of their chief Champions, as half ashamed of it, seek sometime to qualify it, and sometime flatly deny it.

Sometime, I say, they seek to temper, and to qualify, and to correct it, as Apothecaries do poisons, when in desperate cases they minister them to try conclusions with forlorn Patients. Thus Bellarmine having at large discussed the Point; laid down a good distinction for the clearing of the difference between us and them, when we say, that No confidence is to be put in man's merits; and they say, that some may be; to wit, that it is one thing for confidence to be put in them, and another thing for confidence to arise from them: and with a trembling kind of assertion affirmed the former, that not only confidence may arise from them; but that some confidence also may be placed in them, if men be certain that they are such, and so that they be not proud of them: (And yet how sorteth this their doctrine, I pray you, with their Prayers, where they say; God that seest that we trust in nothing that we do? Or what is this then, but even to mock God to his face, when they tell him they do not that, which indeed they do?) At length he cometh to conclude that we have the safest course on our side. As it is the best and behooveful course, saith Bernard, not to pretend merit, but to request mercy: So it is the surest and the safest course, saith Bellarmine, not to trust in any work or worth of our own, but to rely wholly upon God's mercy. For, In regard, saith he, of the uncertainty of our own righteousness, and the jeopardy of vain-glory, it is the safest course for a man to repose his whole trust in the mercy and goodness of God alone. And he produceth to this purpose the speeches and practices of divers holy men of God lying upon their death-beds: (as indeed the most, even Papists also, yea and some Popes too, whatsoever they were taught or held otherwise while they lived, are glad (to prevent the worst) to die Protestants in this Point, and to renounce all their pretended merits, worth, and works then, when they should stand them most instead:) For so Ambrose at point of death, saith he, spake to his people; I have not so lived among you, that I should be ashamed to live longer with you: nor am I afraid to die, because we have a good Master. Which speech of his Augustine used much to admire and commend; affirming that Ambrose so said, that he might not be thought presumptuously to put confidence in his course of life and carriage, though never so pure. So Augustine likewise himself to his adversaries; For my reputation among men, I have witnesses great store, that have known me, to testify for me: but in the sight of God my Conscience alone can speak for me; which albeit I bear fearless against your false accusations, yet dare I not justify myself before the eyes of the Almighty, but expect rather a largesse of mercy flowing from him, than a strict judicial trial. And Bernard of himself; Let others plead their merits, and boast and brag that they have borne and endured the heat and the burden of the day: but it is good for me to cleave to God, and to put my trust in him. And when he was even at deaths door, writing to some of his friends; Pray ye my Savior not to delay now my timely departure, but to keep and protect me in it. Be careful by your prayers to fence mine heel being bare of Merits it self. Where Saint Bernard, saith Bellarmine, howsoever out of the Conscience of his good life he desired to have his death no longer delayed, yet was so far from trusting in his Merits, that he made account he had none. And again, when he was even now (as it were) at the last gasp; I confess, saith he, that I am not worthy of, nor can by mine own merits obtain the Kingdom of Heaven: But my Lord Jesus Christ, who holdeth it by a double right, the Inheritance of his Father, and the merit of his Passion, contenting himself with the one, bestoweth on me the other. This then hath been, by our adversaries their own confession, the ordinary practice of God's People, even the greatest, the godliest, the worthiest of them. And can we imagine but that their Faith and their Doctrine then at other times was correspondent thereunto? No undoubtedly. Thus they did, and thus they died themselves: and thus taught they their people to do, and to die. Yea thus were our Ancestors here in England above five hundred years agone taught to prepare themselves for death, by Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury, who then lived. Among other Questions he willeth that this be demanded of the sick man that lieth a dying; Dost thou believe and hope to be saved, or to come to life eternal, not by thine own merits, but by Christ's? To which Question he adviseth the sick man to say, yea. And then turning his speech to him by way of instruction and exhortation; Cover thyself, saith he, all over with Christ's death, and wind up thy Soul in it. And if God offer to judge thee, say thou; Lord, I set the death of my Lord Jesus Christ between me and thee, and thy judgment, and I will no otherwise contend with thee. If he say, thou deservest damnation; say thou; I set the death of my Lord Jesus Christ between thee and me and mine evil deserts: And I tender the Merits of his most worthy Passion instead of the Merit that I should have, but (alas) have not. This then was the Doctrine and Practice of those Ancient Fathers; and this it was that our Ancestors and Forefathers were taught, contrary to that that the Church of Rome teacheth and maintaineth at this day. Yea this, that fire-brand of the Christian world, Pope Hildebrand made profession of, when he writ on this wise (as Baronius reporteth of him) to the Abbot of Clugny, I find myself so depressed with the weight of mine own actions, that I have no hope of safety left, but in the mercy of Christ alone.

But let us examine Bellarmine's cautelous conclusion a little.

1. Is this the surest and safest course? why condemn they us then as Heretics for taking and teaching it? Why cross they out of their own Writers such speeches as tend this way? Would they not have men go the safer way? It is their Canonists rule, and their Casuists common note, that The safest side, where any doubt may be, is to be held. And that much doubt may be, yea must needs be here, himself telleth us, when he teacheth, that Mans Merits are ordinarily very uncertain; yea so uncertain, that without special revelation a man can have no assured certainty of them. So that our fault belike herein is only this then, that we are not so venturous, or fool-hardie rather, as they are.

2. Is it a sure, yea the surest and safest course that can be, to trust in God's mercy alone? Then is God's mercy alone belike able to save a man without merits. For in vain were it to trust in it alone, if it alone were not sufficient to save: according to that excellent saying of Bernard, speaking of those words of the Psalmist; He will save them because they trust in him. He will save them; saith he: Why so? For what merits of theirs? Mark what followeth: Because they trust in him: A sweet cause, but effectual and irrefragable. This is the righteousness indeed, not of the Law, but of Faith. This is man's whole merit, that he set his whole hope on him, who hath saved the whole man. And This is man's true confidence, to fall from himself, and rest on his Lord, refreshed in nothing but his mercy only. And elsewhere; No man need as he for what merits of ours we expect good things at God's hands. It is merit sufficient, to know, that no merit is sufficient. And again, God's mercy is my merit. Though I want merit, yet wanteth he no mercy. Nor can I want store of merit, so long as he hath store of mercy. Much merit have I, since that he hath so much mercy.

3. But why should they trust thus in God's mercy alone? or why may they not trust safely enough in their own merits also? For so his Assertion was, that in them men might trust to; and that there was ground good enough for them so for to do. In regard, saith he, of the uncertainty of a man's own righteousness: because a man may be mistaken in it, and imagine that he hath it, when he hath not. But certain or uncertain, how can man's merit be the ground of his salvation, if his salvation depend upon God's mercy alone? Or how is man's merit necessarily required unto salvation, if by God's mercy alone he may be saved without it?

4. In regard also, saith he, of the jeopardie of vain-glory. In which clause he acknowledgeth that this their Doctrine of man's merit is a dangerous Doctrine, (as Bernard also termeth the practice of it both foolish and perilous ) and such as may soon puff up men's minds with vain-glory, yea with pride and presumption, (he might well have said) the very bane of all true confidence, grace, goodness and godliness. And consequently as a most dreadful rock threatening ship-wrack of salvation, to be most warily shunned and eschewed of all those that are jealous of miscarrying, and desirous of eternal well-doing.

I will add here but the Confession of one or two of their own Writers: I am wholly of this mind (saith Cardinal Contarene) that it is a pious and a Christian-like saying, that we ought to rely, as on a thing steadfast and able to support us, on Christ's righteousness bestowed upon us, not on holiness or grace inherent in us. On this alone, as certain and steadfast ought we to rest. And All the Ancients with general consent, saith Cassander, deliver, that confidence for remission of sins, and hope of pardon and life eternal, is to be placed in God's mercy alone and Christ's merits. To which purpose also he allegeth a place of Pope Gregory, to this effect; We trust not in our own tears or deeds, but in our Advocates plea. And as for trust in ought else, saith Adrian of Vtrech, who was Bishop of Rome also afterward; Our merits are but as a staff of reed, which if a man lean to or rely on, it knappeth asunder, and runneth thorough his hand that relieth on it. It is the surest course, saith Bellarmine; it is the only sure course, say we, to trust only in God's mercy. So said the Ancients before us (as some of their own, you see confess) with us. And to teach men instead of it to trust in their own merits, is to teach them to exchange a rock for a reed. Nor can there be any safety at all in so doing; unless it be safe to rely on so deceitful and dangerous a stay as is sure to serve them all (by their own Adrian’s confession) that trust thereunto, as Rabsake saith Egypt did, as the Spartan said Athens would have done, if Greece should have relied on it.

Thus then sometime they seek to salve and qualify this their pestilent and poisonful doctrine, which at other times, as not half, but wholly ashamed to own it, they do utterly deny and disclaim.

It is Philip Melanchthon's eighth lie, saith Bellarmine, that our Teachers will men to merit remission of sins by their works. These words, I find not at all in the place out of which they are alleged. Neither know I what Edition of that Confession he followeth. But suppose that Philip say so. Why is it a lie? Is it not true that they teach so? Yes doubtless. Bellarmine himself else-where confesseth, that some of their Doctors teach, that men by their own works make satisfaction to God for the fault or offense it self. Others, that they satisfy both for the fault or offense, and for the punishment also, yea even the eternal pains thereunto due: Others again (whom he giveth his voice with) not for the fault it self indeed, but for the guilt of such penalties as remain due for the same, after that the fault is forgiven, that is, saith he, for the pains that a sinner should in Hell else have suffered, the eternity of them only taken away: that which he termeth out of some places of Scripture both mis-translated, and mis-expounded, a redeeming or buying out of men's sins; and maintaineth remission of sins to be by such redemption purchased and procured.

Again, that men by their works make such condign satisfaction for some sins, that thereby the offense and wrong done to God is truly recompensed, and his justice fully satisfied; and that through God's grace they do in some sort by works of their own, which they owe not to God, truly or equally, and therefore justly also and condignly satisfy; for that such works have a kind of infiniteness (or infinite worth) in them, and consequently an equality with the wrong that they did God by their sins, in sundry places he himself avoweth: which what is it but to merit remission of sins? For hath not he merited remission that hath made such satisfaction?

Yea the Objection being made, that then either there must be two joint satisfactions, the one Christ's, and the other ours; or but one only; and that either Christ's, and then we do not satisfy; or ours, and then Christ's is excluded; or else we divide the honor between Christ and ourselves, that he pay for the fault, and we for the punishment: The Cardinal saith, that hereunto three Answers are given.

For 1. some say, that there is one only satisfaction, and that is Christ's: and that we, to speak properly, do not satisfy at all, but only do somewhat in regard whereof God applieth Christ's satisfaction to us: And so, saith he, should our works be nothing but conditions, or dispositions at most, without which Christ's satisfaction should not be applied to us. That which is indeed in effect the same that we say. But this he holdeth to be erroneous.

2. Some say, that there are two satisfactions, but the one depending upon the other; the one Christ's, and the other ours: for though the one were sufficient; yet for greater honor to us, God will have ours added to his. And this he holdeth to be not improbable.

3. Some say, and that is the more probable, (and that therefore he goeth with) that there is but one actual satisfaction alone, and that ours. And so Christ consequently is excluded, and shut out at doors, as in the Objection before was said. Yea he saith moreover, that as the Saints may well be termed our Redeemers, because that by their sufferings they may redeem or buy out our sins: So a man may well be said to be his own Redeemer and Savior, and yet no wrong done therein to Christ, when by his own works he maketh condign satisfaction to God in this manner for his sins.

And now judge you, whether Philip Melancthon lied or no, when he said (if at least he did so say) that they will men to merit remission of their sins by their works. But let us hear further how not Melancthon, but Bellarmine lieth himself, where he chargeth Melancthon with lying. We teach not, saith he, that by works done without faith or God's free help, men may merit remission of sins. Nor do we ascribe even unto those works that are done of Faith and by God's aid, such a merit, as that the reward doth of justice or right answer it; (that is, the merit of condignity) but the merit of impetration only, as Augustine speaketh; which the Schoolmen are wont to call not the merit of condignity, but the merit of congruity. Nor is there any dissent among Catholics herein.

I might here take occasion to show somewhat largely, in what sense the ancient Fathers, as also other Writers of those times do ordinarily use the word to Merit (because our adversaries so much press the use of that Phrase in thē, as if it implied such Merit as they maintain) to wit, as Bellarmine himself, with others of his own side also acknowledgeth, for to achieve or obtain ought on any terms whatsoever, be it of free favor, or of due debt and desert: which is the Merit of Impetration, that he saith Augustine speaketh of; and differeth much from Merit or Desert strictly and properly so termed, as Bellarmine himself also granteth: Since that, by their own confession, it is one thing to impetrate or obtain, and another to merit, that is, to deserve: And therefore in such sense as they use the word Merit, a man may be said sometime to merit, that is, obtain and impetrate, what he deserveth not; and again, not to merit, that is, obtain and impetrate what yet he hath well deserved. As also in this sense they are wont (Bellarmine himself also acknowledging it) to call all good works Merits, for which we receive ought, though the reward be, as he granteth also that it may be, not of desert, right, or due debt, but of favor and grace only. Wherein Bernard singularly well expounding their meaning, and his own too, where he useth those and the like terms; If we speak properly, saith he, those things that we use to call Merits, are certain seeds of Hope, sparks of Love, signs of our hidden Predestination, presages of our future glorification; the way to the Crown, not the cause of our Crowning.

I might also insist on that which Bellarmine hath else-where, that to merit, as they speak, is no more than that which the Greeks call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which word signifieth not to be worthy, as he saith, contrary to all use and authority, but to be vouchsafed, reputed or esteemed as worthy, as also Cajetan himself therein following their own vulgar Latin, expoundeth it. And whereas the same their vulgar Translation hath it in bad and barbarous Latin, and their Rhemists version in as bad or worse English, with such hosts God is promerited: The meaning of it is, saith Bellarmine, that with such Sacrifices God is delighted, or pacified, as Chrysostom's Commentary hath it, (though indeed in Chrysostom's Commentary, there is no such word, or any one word of exposition, but the same word it self only) or is pleased, (well-pleased, it is word for word in the Original) as Oecumenius expoundeth it. And it signifieth, saith he, that God is delighted in good works, and is therewith conciliated, (that is, moved to befriend, as we say) and induced thereby to do good unto those that do well. Which is that that we mean, when we say that works are meritorious. Well it were indeed if they either meant or maintained no more than is here said. Little controversy would there then be between us and them.

But to let these things pass, lest I be in this point over-long. Do all Catholics deny indeed even to works done of Faith and Grace all merit of condignity? And is there no difference at all among them therein? Yea doth not Bellarmine himself maintain the contrary? Or doth he not know that there is difference among them herein? and that the most of them (of later times especially) go the other way? Yes undoubtedly. But he dealeth herein, as he doth in the point of Adoration of Images. It is a common Tenent among them, that Images are to be worshipped with the self same worship that those are worshipped with, whose Images they are: and so consequently the Images of God and Christ with divine Worship. And Bellarmine himself, though a little qualifying it, both alloweth and defendeth it, that by accident, or improperly they may be and are so worshipped; to wit, either as those Images are God's or Christ's Deputies, and so receive for God or Christ himself the worship due to either; or as men conceive God or Christ clad in that Image, as a King in his robes, and so worship the Image in the same worship together with either. But yet, saith he, you must not in any wise tell the people so in the Pulpit, that any Images are to be worshipped with Divine worship; but the conrtary rather, that they are not to be worshipped. And why so? Forsooth, because many good Catholics cannot endure to hear that Images should so be adored: and again, Because it giveth Heretics occasion to speak more freely evil of them.

And in like manner dealeth he in this matter of Merit. Because our Writers justly tax them for extreme arrogance therein. Bellarmine here flatly denieth it, and saith that none of them maintain it, and we do but bely them in charging them with it. And yet, to pass by what before was alleged out of him; and what he saith elsewhere again, that the remission of some sins is even in Justice due to man's good merit; Where professedly he handleth the Controversy concerning the merits of man's works, he concludeth the direct contrary to what here he avoweth, and condemneth what he averreth here, as no better than Heresy.

The very Title of his Discourse is, That men's works done of charity do condignly merit or deserve Life eternal; and that, not only in regard of God's Covenant, but in regard of the works themselves.

In the Discourse it self he telleth us, that All Catholics hold that they merit life eternal. That some of them indeed would have no mention made either of condignity, or congruity; Some go a middle way between congruity and condignity; and some again would distinguish between dignity and condignity. But that the common opinion of their Divines admitteth merit of condignity: which he also concludeth with.

Again he saith that some of their Divines hold, that such works do not merit life eternal condignly, in regard of the work it self, or the worth of it, but in regard of God's Covenant and his acceptation of them only; And that thus only the Ancient Schoolmen held. Others, that they merit it condignly in regard of the work it self, and the worth of it, albeit that God with man had made no such agreement at all. He himself thinketh best to go the middle way, as he saith the Council of Trent doth; to wit, that they merit it condignly, in regard both of the agreement and the work jointly together. And that we may not mistake his meaning herein, he telleth us further, that he doth not thus determine, as if he held, that such works did not in regard of the dignity and worth of them well deserve life eternal, albeit no such agreement were; but merit it in regard of God's gracious acceptance only: for it were a disgrace to God, if his grace in us should be so poor and imperfect as to merit no otherwise: (as the Lovaine Professors also, too base and beggarly for us to crave it and have it as an alms: ) and that they therefore deserve it, because there is a kind of proportion and equality; yea not a proportionable only, but an absolute equality (for so he saith in express terms elsewhere) between the work and the wages: And that is properly merit of condignity indeed, when the work is equal of it self to the wages: which merit of condignity he saith therefore is truly and properly, simply and absolutely so termed; Merit in Justice, or of right and due debt: which that other of congruity is not. And such works therefore, say our Rhemists, are truly and properly meritorious, and full worthy of everlasting life, so that Heaven is the due and just stipend or recompense, which God by his justice oweth to persons so working; and that so far forth, that he should be unjust, if he should not render Heaven for the same: Albeit that assertion was by the Divines of Paris almost 300. years since condemned as false and heretical; and by Durand, saith Bellarmine himself, it is censured (and that not unjustly) not as bold only, but as blasphemous.

But why is God's agreement needful then? or why doth Bellarmine require that also? He telleth you himself; not for any defect or want of worth in the work; but because that without some such agreement no reward or wages can of right be claimed for any work, albeit of it self otherwise it be never so worthy.

Lastly, he telleth us that there want not very grave Authors, who think that every good work of a just man endued with Charity, meriteth or deserveth life eternal. Which he thus far forth also subscribeth unto, if this condition be added, that not only the party doing it be endued with Charity, but the very work it self also do actually, or virtually at least proceed from Charity, and be done for God's sake. So that not only the whole course and tenor of a godly man's life uprightly and religiously led, being laid altogether in one lump, but every particular such action of it, considered alone by it self, should by this their doctrine deserve no less than Heaven at God's hands. And then belike so oft as they have done any good work merely for God's sake, so oft have they deserved an Heaven at least of him. It were absurd and senseless for a sorry beggar to imagine (that I may use Bellarmine's own comparison ) that by weeding though a whole day in the Kings garden at White-hall, he had in regard of the worth of the work done by him, deserved an hundred Iacobusses, because his Majesty had promised for his days work to give him such wages. Bellarmine himself will not deny it. But it were much more absurd for such an one to imagine, that for every weed that in that his days work he had pulled up (were it done out of never so much love to his Sovereign ) he had deserved, I say not an Earldom, or a Dukedom, but a Crown at least or a Kingdom. And yet is there far greater disproportion here between the work that we do, and the reward that we expect, than could there be between the work and the wages: Since that between finite and infinite there is no proportion at all. And therefore saith our Country-man Thomas of Walden, though no friend to Wycliffe; for he wrote professedly against him; What can we do that should be worthy of heavenly things, which the Apostle saith, that The sufferings of this life are not worthy of? I account him therefore the sounder Divine, the better Catholic, (and the Protestants belike then are the better Catholics herein), and one that agreeth more with God's Word, that simply and utterly denieth such Merit. And though a man, saith an uncertain Author, but alleged commonly by them, as Eusebius Emissenus, should with all the strength of body and mind exercise himself to the utmost, in obedience to God all his life long, yet could he bring out nothing, that by way of condign merit could countervail Heavens happiness. For, considering the extent and continuance of it, if we cast our reckonings up aright, saith Augustine, it should be eternal travel at least, that should purchase eternal rest. And considering the dignity and excellency of it, Though a man, saith Anselm, should serve God in most fervent manner for a thousand years together, yet should he not thereby condignly merit to be but half a day in Heaven. And though the godly have done a whole million of good deeds, saith Chrysostom, yet that such a Crown, such an Heaven, and so great Honor should for so small pidling matters (in comparison thereof) be conferred on them, it is of God's free Grace, and (as he there also implieth) not of due debt, or of their des • rt. For, It is of justice, saith he, that the other are punished; it is of grace that these are crowned, that is, there is deserved pain, as Augustine speaketh, repaid the one, Grace undeserved freely bestowed on the other. Anselm, it seemeth, thought he could not in an hundred, nay in a thousand years, do that, that they are able to do in less than an hour. He thought and taught that a man could not in a thousand years, by all that ever he did, or could do, merit half a days abode in Heaven; and they think and teach (if they think at least as they teach) that a man may in much less than half a days space do that, that shall merit more than a thousand thousand years, even an eternal abode in Heaven. Chrysostom thought a man could not with a million of good works do that, that they think they can do with any one alone. For so many thousands of them, saith he, cannot in justice deserve the Kingdom of Heaven. Any one alone, say they, of those that we do, can do it. Jacob deemed himself unable with all that he had done or could do, to require those favors, even in his Temporal estate, that God had conferred upon him: These men hold that they can by some one good deed of theirs alone, not requite God only for what they have already received of him, (for that must be done first, which no man indeed can do, ere they can merit ought at his hands) but engage him also to do further deservedly for them, even to the conferring of life eternal, and celestial glory on them.

Thus we have seen, both what they hold, howsoever they seem sometime ashamed of it, and therefore one while deny, what another while they affirm: As also how contrary their presumptuous conceits and positions in this kind are to the humble confessions and acknowledgements of God's sincere Servants, as well recorded in the Word, as reported else-where, yea related, alleged, and taken notice of by themselves.

[Use 4] But to leave them to their proud and Pharisaical fancies, and return home again to ourselves; this lastly should persuade us with the Apostle Saint Paul, to rest content with whatsoever estate God shall see good to place us in, with whatsoever he shall please to confer on us, and afford us, or whatsoever he shall think fit to call us unto; considering that we are not worthy of ought, but unworthy wholly of whatsoever we have, be it more or less. And if we be unworthy of what we have, be it never so little; then have we more than we are worthy of, even when we have least: And if we have more than we are worthy of; then have we no cause to repine, murmur, grow discontent, or complain, if we have not so much as such and such have; if we cannot go, or fare as such and such do; if we have not so good trading, or our houses so well furnished, our wives and children so appareled, as such and such have.

[Errors 2] This it is a great fault in the World, in this age of ours especially, [Error 1] an age of excess; wherein each one striveth to go beyond another, in pride of apparel, in building, in expense in all kind of superfluity and excess; that like men that run in a race, we cast our eyes forward on those that go before us, but we forget to look back unto those that come short of us. Men and women look upon those many times that are of higher degree than themselves, and would fain match them, and go even with them. Or suppose it be but on those, that are of the same rank with themselves: they see how they go, how they fare, how they spend; (and it is many times much more than they are well able to do, or than their means will well afford) and because they are loath to come behind any of their own degree; (that they deem were a disgrace to them;) they begin to think thus with themselves; What difference is there betwixt us and them? and why should not we then do as they do? And hence ariseth a discontent in their minds, because they want means to do what they desire. Which their discontent, with their present estate, together with the inordinate and immoderate desire of that which they have not, and fain would have, only because they see others have it; is not only an occasion to deprive and bereave them (with Haman, and ^k Ahab ) of the comfort and benefit of what they have; but it is as a grave also, to bury in the thankful remembrance of those manifold mercies that God hath vouchsafed them, above many other, (it may be) even of their own rank; as if God had done nothing for them, (as those murmuring Jews charged him, Wherein hast thou loved us? that is, shown any love to us, done ought for us?) unless they may spend, and go, and be maintained in it, as such and such do. Yea so far oft doth this corruption prevail with not a few, that with the Frog in the Fable, they stretch their states so far to get even with others, that at length all cracketh and cometh to naught, and both they and theirs rue it in the end.

Again, others having sometime had more plentiful means, [Error 2] and having then (as they might well do) proportioned their expense accordingly thereunto; when it pleaseth God to withdraw that their plenty in part, for causes best known to himself, and it may be among others, to try them, how they will take it, whether they will say with our Savior, Not my will, but thy will be done, and so practice what they daily pray; and with Job, God hath given, and God hath taken again; blessed be his Name; and so return God his own with thanks: Yet out of a pride of heart and stoutness of stomach, ( Many are humbled, saith Bernard, yet are not humble: ) not enduring to strike sails, or to stoop an inch, they will strive to live still according to their former means, and shape their expense not by what they have, but by what they have had: and so whereas the Lord in mercy had yet left them a competency still, they cast the helve (as we say) after the hatchet, and overthrow all: Or they grow into such inward grief and discontent, because they cannot do still as formerly they have done, as either breaketh their hearts and shortneth their days, or altogether disableth them unto the cheerful performance of any good office either to God or man.

All which corruptions might soon be helped, if we could with Jacob here say, and think as we say; Non sum dignus, Domine; Lord I am not worthy of ought. If we would look out abroad, but cast our eyes now and then on those that have far less than we have. As Aristippus, when a friend of his came to condole with him for some land that he had lost, demanded of him what he had to live on himself, and when he made answer that he had but some one small close only, he told him, that there was cause rather for Aristippus to bemoan him, than for him to bemoan Aristippus, who had more than thrice as much land still left him to live on than he had. It is hard but we should find some, with the Cynic, yea not a few be we never so needy, that would be glad of our relics. Or▪ if we would but cast our eyes home-ward, and consider ourselves, and our own unworthiness of ought, we might soon see how little cause we have to be discontent in such cases. For have we but little left? It is more than we deserve. Hath God taken much from us? he might well have took more. As Anytus, a Gentleman of Athens, told his guests that were at table with him, when Alcibiades a young Gallant came in a revelling humor and took away the one half of his plate that stood either for show or service upon the cupboard, and they marvelled much at it, that Anytus could so take it, affirming that he had dealt very unkindly with them, Nay rather, quoth he, he hath dealt very kindly with us, that he hath left us half, when he might have took all: for it was all his, or at his command. So it is here indeed. He taketh part, that gave all; and that might therefore as well take all as part; because all is but his own. They tell of a Jewish Doctor, that was called Rabbi This-too, because he used always to say, whatsoever befell him, This is good too, and this too, and this too, and this too, &c. And in like manner may we well say, how little soever be left us, This is more than I am worthy of, and this too, and this too, &c. If God shall again and again too, never so often, impair our estates, and by piece-meal withdraw from us what he hath formerly conferred on us: And consequently as he said to one that though with loss of goods, had in safety yet escaped himself to the shore, not repine or murmur for what is lost, but be thankful to God for what is left, and for what formerly we have had.

Hitherto we have considered of Jacob's unworthiness, by himself [Particular 2] here acknowledged: we come now to see God's undeserved goodness to Jacob.

Wherein there offer themselves to our consideration;

• 1. The grounds of it, and
• 2. The fruit and effect of it.

The grounds of it are two; [Grounds 2]

• God's Mercy, and
• God's Truth:

His Mercy in promising what he had now performed; his Truth in performing and making good what he had promised.

[Ground 1] First, his Mercy: where observe we that whatsoever we have or hope from God, it is all of mere mercy.

Vnworthie of all thy Mercies; saith Jacob. And, who crowneth, or [Observ. 3] invironeth thee rather, with Mercies; saith the Psalmist: and doth not deal with thee according to thy deserts. For if he should so do, he should damn thee; saith Augustine. And, who so trusteth in the Lord, Mercy shall encompass him on every side; saith David.

Now this point, that all that we either receive or expect is of God's Mercy, howsoever it be by the former consideration sufficiently confirmed. For if we be not worthy of ought, then is nothing of merit. And if nothing of merit, then all consequently of mercy.

Yet consider we for the further proof of it these two things;

• The manner of God's Promises, and [Consider. 2]
• The prayers of God's Saints.

[Consid. 1] First, the Promises of God run all upon Mercy. Showing mercy to thousands, with them that love him, and keep his Commandments. And, His mercy is forever and ever on those that fear him; and keep Covenants with him, and think upon his Commandments to do them. And, I will spare them (and there is mercy then) that fear me, and think on my Name, as a man spareth his Son that serveth him. There shall be judgment without mercy to those that show no mercy. And, If without mercy to those that show no mercy; then with mercy even to those also that show mercy; saith Augustine. Yea so saith our Savior himself; Blessed are the merciful; for they shall have mercy shown them. And, The grace of God is ( that is, bringeth) life eternal; saith the Apostle. Which place Augustine entreating of, The Apostle, saith he, having said, the wages of sin is Death; because everlasting death is repaied as of debt due to the service of Sin and Satan; he doth not say, albeit he might also so have said; but the reward of Righteousness is Life eternal: But he chose rather to say, God's Grace (or free favor) is Life eternal; that thereby we might learn that God bringeth us to Life eternal, not for our Merits, but of his Mercy. In regard whereof Tertullian also very fitly termeth (alluding to military matters) the one a Stipend, the other a Donative; because, as Bernard saith well, it cannot be had but by donation, or free gift. And if of free gift, then not of due debt, or desert for any work done, saith Hilary. For, gift and debt cannot stand together; saith Faber. Yea Cardinal Cajetan himself on those words of the Apostle, He saith not, The wages of righteousness is Life eternal; but the grace, that is, the gift of God, is life eternal; that we may understand that we attain life eternal not by our merits, but by God's free gift. For which cause also he addeth, In Christ Jesus our Lord. Behold the merit; behold the righteousness, the wages whereof is life eternal; but to us in regard of Christ himself it is a gift. And lastly, to add one place more of so many as might be added; With thee is mercy, saith the Psalmist to God: for thou wilt reward every man according to his works. Concerning which words Gregory, (on that of the Psalmist, Make me to hear thy mercy in the morning; which he expoundeth the resurrection ) having moved this Question; If the happiness of the Saints be of mercy, and not of merit, how is it said, Thou wilt render to each one according to his works? If according to men's works it be rendered, how may it be deemed mercy? He thus answereth; It is one thing to render according to works, and another thing to render the reward for the works themselves. In the one is noted only the quality of the work, (a far other exposition than Bellarmine giveth of it) that those that have done well, shall receive a royal reward. (And in the other then consequently should be implied an equality between the work and the wages. But) No labor or work of ours, (nothing that we can either do or endure) by the Apostles own testimony, can be equal to, or once compared with that blessed life, wherein men shall live of God and with God. For, the sufferings of this life, (yea all of them, if any one man could and should undergo them all, saith Bernard, from the very beginning of the world too, saith Macarius, unto the worlds end) are not worthy, saith the Apostle, of the Glory that shall be revealed ( not, unto us, as he also well observeth, but) in us. And, what are all man's merits then, saith Bernard, to it; that it should of right be due to them: or that God should do men wrong, if he bestowed it not on them? as our Rhemists before affirmed that he should. The grace therefore of salvation is not due to works, saith Faber, ( which the Popish purgers cross out of him) but to the goodness of God alone. Nor doth man's salvation consist in man's merits, but in God's mercy, saith Origen.

[Consider. 2] Again, the prayers of God's Saints strike all upon this string. Of David, Chrysostom observeth, that though he were a man of singular parts for sincerity and piety, by God's own testimony of him; and had many good deeds that he might have alleged, yet in all his prayers ordinarily he hath recourse only to God's mercy, that alone he pleadeth, that alone he relieth upon, and desireth to be saved by. Let others, saith he, allege and plead what they list; I will hope in thy mercy: that I plead and allege, and that do I hang all mine hope upon. And, Have mercy on me, and hear me; and Have mercy on me, for I am weak. And, The same song, saith he, have we need to sing everyone of us, albeit we had done ten thousand times ten thousand good deeds, and attained even to the very highest pitch and perfection of righteousness: for it is yet of mercy and loving kindness still that we are heard, and that we are saved for all that. So the same David again else-where, But thou Lord deal mercifully with me for thy Names sake. And, Save me for thy Mercy sake. For thy mercy, not for my merit, saith Augustine. For thy mercy, not for my righteousness, saith Ruffine. Not because I am worthy, but because thou art merciful, saith Chrysostom. He flieth only to God's goodness and his loving kindness: Commending God's free grace, not claiming ought as due to his good deeds, saith Prosper. It is as if he had said; I entreat thee to save me, saith Gregory, not trusting to mine own merits, but presuming only to obtain that of thy mercy, which by mine own merits I have no hope to obtain: Or, I entreat thee to hear me, not in thy judiciary severity, but in thy most merciful bounty; saith Augustine. He renounceth his own merit; and he desireth to be heard, saith Cassiodore, not according to his merits, but for God's mercy sake: whereon when our hope is fixed, pardon is the easilier obtained. And, Let thy mercy also betide me, and thy salvation, according to thy Word. According to thy Word, not according to my merit; A child he would be not of pride, but of the promise, saith Augustine. And again; For thy Name sake be merciful to my sin: for it is much. For thy Name, not for my merit; saith Ruffine: and Bernard; Be I never so penitent, and afflict and macerate myself never so much. He attributeth his whole salvation to the mercy of his Savior, saith Cardinal Hugh. And, In mercy remember me, or think upon me, for thy goodness sake, O Lord. Not in wrath, as I am worthy; but as is worthy of thee in thy mercy; saith Augustine. For thy goodness, not for any merit of mine; saith Peter Lombard. For, When he saith, For thy goodness, his meaning is, and he would so be understood, Not for my merit; saith Cassiodore. Who thence also observeth that, No man without grievous error, may presume at anytime thereon. And yet again; For thy Name sake guide and conduct me. For thy Name, not for my merit; saith Augustine, and Hugh the Cardinal after him: Not for my worth, desert, or dignity, but for thy Glory. And Hilary on those words of his, Hear my voice according to thy mercy, or thy loving kindness, O Lord. We, saith he, when we have fasted some once, out of vain-glory, or given ought to a beggar for his mere importunity, think that God is bound by and by to hear us; Whereas David after all his hearty crying, his night watchings, his early meditations, his continency in his younger years, his diligent inquiry into God's Statutes, and his careful keeping of his Testimonies, having attained to a perfection in all kind of goodness, yet hath his hope wholly in God, and expecteth all from his mercy, placeth all his hope in it, and desireth to be heard according to it. And Chrysostom preaching upon the Prayer of Eleazar, entreating mercy and kindness for his Master Abraham; ( and whose merits might better have been pleaded than his?) That you may not imagine, saith he, that he demanded it as a debt, Deale mercifully or show mercy, saith he, to my master Abraham. Though we had done ten thousand good deeds, saith he, yet is it of grace that we require to be saved, and of loving kindness, not of debt or desert, that we look to receive this. So the Apostle; The Lord show mercy to Onesiphorus his family. (The Lord show him mercy, because he shown me mercy.) For he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains; but when he was at Rome he diligently sought me and found me; and in how many things he steeded me (or supplied me) at Ephesus, thou well knowest. And, the Lord grant therefore, that he may find mercy with the Lord in that day. That as he sought me and found me; so he may find mercy when he shall seek it at the hand of his Judge; saith one that beareth the name of Ambrose. That as I found mercy with him, so may he find mercy with God; saith Chrysostom: And mark you, saith he, how he saith, nothing, or not anything but mercy: Eleemosynam, that is, word for word, Alms, that which the Popish Professor so much scorned before: Mercy in that day, wherein we shall have much need of it; if Onesiphorus for all these his good works, we (the most of us) much more. There is mercy as well for those that helped him, as for those that forsook him; as well mercy in rewarding the one, as mercy in pardoning and not punishing the other. So Daniel also, We present these our prayers unto thee, not for any our righteousness, (that is, any righteous works of ours; for we have none, saith Gregory Nazianzen; such at least as we dare plead the worth of) but for thy tender mercies. Whereupon also saith Aquinas, Obtaining by prayer indeed resteth upon mercy; whereas merit of condignity resteth upon Justice or Righteousness: and therefore by prayer do men obtain many things of God in mercy, which yet in justice they deserve not. Yea so the Papists themselves in their Liturgy, (retaining yet still some broken relics of Antiquity ) contrary to their School-learning, desire God not to ponder their merits, but to pardon their misdeeds; and so consequently to be merciful (as the Psalmist speaketh) to their sins. And, a Popish Writer commenting upon that place; What merit, saith he, can we pretend or plead to God, whom we owe all unto? Or how can we applaud ourselves in our good deeds, when all our righteousness is but as a filthy rag in God's sight? Our merits therefore are none to God, whom all that we do, is due unto, &c. And it is a good rule that Bernard giveth for Prayer in general: He that cometh, saith he, to ask ought of God, must in the first place have an eye unto this, that he look not to receive ought for his own worth or merits, but hope to obtain whatsoever he craves, only of God's mercy. And when we come to pray (saith Aquinas) we must devise some cause why our suit should be heard, and that must be not our merit, but God's mercy: according to that of Daniel above mentioned, which he also there allegeth.

It is all of mercy therefore, that God promiseth: It is all of mercy that God's children pray for. It is a Throne of grace that they repair unto; and it is mercy that they there sue for. It is for mercy all that they pray; And to mercy it is, that they ascribe all: whatsoever either by prayer they obtain at God's hand, or without prayer they have voluntarily conferred on them by him, (as Jacob here much more than ever he did or durst ask,) they acknowledge all to come of mercy. They are the children, saith Jacob, that God hath of his mercy given thy Servant. And, God hath been merciful to me: and therefore have I all this. And here in my Text; All the mercies, that thou hast shown me. Even the just, saith Augustine, will ascribe nothing to their merits, but give all only to God's mercy. For, All is taken from the one, that is ascribed to the other, saith Bernard.

[Use 1] Now this first again serveth even to cut the very throat of that Romish Doctrine of Merit. For mercy and merit (as they understand it) by their own confession cannot stand together. That which a man meriteth, say they, he hath not of mercy. And, it is, according to the judgment (not of mercy, but) of justice, that man's merit is rewarded. Where to omit that even the reward, that we expect for our well doing to receive, is, as Augustine from the Apostle Paul's speech observeth, and Bellarmine himself also from him acknowledgeth of grace or free favor, (which before also was shown:) and consequently by their own grants also, not of merit, but of mere mercy. As the Apostle reasoneth concerning Election; If it be of grace, then it is not of works: for else grace were no grace. If it be of works, then it is not of grace: for else work were no work. So here, That which is of mercy, is not of merit: for else mercy were no mercy. And that which is of merit, is not of mercy: for else merit were no merit. Since it is no mercy to afford a man what he hath merited: no just merit that hath need of mercy. Or thus; If it be of right, then it is not of mercy: for else right were no right. If it be of mercy, then it is not of right, or due debt: for then mercy were no mercy. Since it is no point of mercy to give a man his due: nor needeth he crave or sue for mercy, that demandeth but his due, and requireth consequently but his own: As merit therefore leaveth no place for mercy: ( there is no entrance for grace, saith Bernard, where merit is once got in.) So mercy likewise leaveth no place for merit: the rather since that also, (as well Primasius observeth) a man doth no more than his due, when he hath done all, and can claim nothing as due therefore for what he doth of due debt. For he is a debtor (saith he, and the Apostle before him) and standeth bound to do what he doth, before he do it; and is justly and deservedly damned, if be do it not; and when he hath done all he can, he hath nothing to glory of, because he hath done nothing but what he stood bound to do. It being most true that Saint Bernard, saith Bellarmine, showeth in a Sermon of his, that for sundry respects, the good works that we do are all due to God, and God might therefore well require them of us, though he rendered us no reward for them: and therefore cannot we challenge any reward at God's hand for them. And how much less then can any man by way of condign merit or due debt claim ought at God's hand, when no man doth anything near so much as he ought?

Let who will, therefore trust to merit: let us fly to, let us rely upon mercy. For as it is a point of mercy with God to vouchsafe mercy to such as submissely and sincerely sue for it, seek to it, and rely wholly upon it: So it shall be just with him to turn them off to their own merits, and to deal with them as they deserve, that renouncing his mercy rely on their own merits, and offer themselves to be judged by his Justice alone: (And in a woeful estate are all those, that come so to be judged:) That renouncing expressly as well Christ's merit as God's mercy, (they do so in precise terms, I do them no wrong) expect and look for a reward of their works, not from the mercy of a father, nor from the free bounty and liberality of a Prince, (they are Bellarmine's own words) but from the justice of a Judge; not for Christ's merit, (for life eternal, say they, is not given for Christ's merit, nor is it to be ascribed thereunto ) but for the worth of their own works.

Yea let us the rather abhor this pestiferous Doctrine, which so strongly savoreth of the Pharisaical leaven; For that as the acknowledgement of God's mercy here was the ground of Jacob's thankfulness: so this conceit of man's merit is the very bane of true thankfulness, and their own bane therefore that are possessed with it, and cause of much unthankfulness to God for his mercies. For how can a man be truly thankful to God for ought, that thinketh he hath nothing from him, but what he hath deserved, he hath dearly earned, is of right due to him, and he should have wrong if he had it not? And let us acknowledge, (as other the faithful servants of God have done before us) that it is, as our highest wisdom to see our own folly; our best knowledge for us to know our own ignorance, and how little it is that indeed we know; our greatest perfection to discover and find out our own imperfections, how far we come short of that we should be; our main righteousness to acknowledge our own unrighteousness; and our chief purity sincerely to confess our own impurity: so our only Merit to know the insufficiency of our Merit, to believe that we have no such Merit as the Popish sort imagine; and our only worth and dignity, seriously to apprehend and sincerely to acknowledge our own want of worth and indignity, to account ourselves with Jacob here unworthy of ought, and to ascribe it therefore not to our own merit, but to God's mercy that we have ought.

[Use 2] And so pass we to a second use of this point; which may again serve to teach us lowliness, thankfulness, and contentment of mind. What we have earned dearly and is owing us, we may justly expect, and claim as of right due to us: and we think much when we come to demand a debt of one that oweth it us, to crave it in any submiss manner; and much more to be denied it, when we make demand of it: for we are wont to say in such cases, that we ask but our own. But when we come to crave a courtesy, to request a kindness (from a superior especially) of one that is no way indebted or engaged unto us, we are glad to come with cap in hand, and use all terms of submisnesse and engagement: nor have we cause to be discontent, if he deny us; and we are wont to be well content (if but in part he please to grant our request) with what he is willing to afford us; and think that we have cause to be thankful to him for it, whatsoever it be, be it never so mean; because it is more than of right we could challenge or demand of him. So here, if we could claim or challenge ought at God's hand by way of Merit or due debt upon desert, it were somewhat; some color we might have to repine, when we had not what we would have, or when we have not as others have. But when as God is no way thus indebted to any; all is absolutely his own; and he may do as he will with it: when as we come to him as beggars do to us, to ask alms, to crave all of mere mercy: we have great reason now to repair to him in the submissest manner that may be: we have no reason to repine, if he give us less than we would; ( Beggars, we say, must be no choosers: ) or than he giveth to many others. We would think much that any man should take upon him to control us in the disposing of our alms; (albeit ofttimes we err much therein, and had need therefore of advice from others:) Great Potentates especially would take it in foul scorn, that every base fellow should take upon him to direct them where and how to confer their favors. Much more it is extreme arrogancy and presumption in us, when we will take upon us to control God in the distribution of his mercies, as if he did not distribute them so equally as he ought. Whereas we should rather endeavor to bring our heart to his hand, and shape our will to his pleasure: that where he stayeth his liberality, there we stay our desires; as in the wilderness the Israelites made stay where the Ark stayed: and when he enlargeth his hand, we in thankfulness enlarge also our hearts: being thankful to him for whatsoever we have, be it more or less; since that it is all of mere mercy; not discontent for what we have not, or for what we see others have.

[Grounds 2] And thus was the former ground of God's goodness, his Mercy: the latter followeth now, his Veracitie, his Fidelitie, his Truth.

[Particular. 3] Truth hath here reference to a word of Promise. And we may do well to observe how these two are still coupled and yoked together, Mercy and Truth. All the ways of God are Mercy and Truth, saith the Psalmist; and that even to those that keep covenant with him. And, Thy Mercy, O Lord, reacheth unto the Heavens, and thy Truth or Faithfulness unto the Clouds. And, Withdraw not thy tender Mercies from me, O Lord: but let thy Mercy and thy Truth always preserve me. And, I will praise thee for thy Mercy and thy Truth, &c. The one is the ground of God's gracious Promises: the other is the ground of the Performance of what therein he hath promised. It is his Mercy that he doth ought at first, and that he promiseth further to do ought: And it is his Truth and his Justice, (for Truth is a part also of Justice ) that he performeth and maketh good what he hath promised.

[Ground 2] So that here is A second ground of God's goodness, unto those whom by promise he hath vouchsafed to tie himself unto, His Word and his Truth.

[Observat. 4] Send forth thy Light and thy Truth, saith the Psalmist, to bring me again to thine holy Hill. And, Destroy mine enemies in thy Truth. And, My Mercy and Truth, saith God, shall always be with him: and my Covenant shall stand firm with him forever. For, I will not break my Covenant; nor will I falsify my Truth. And, Blessed therefore is the man, whose hope is in the Lord, who keepeth his Truth forever. It is his Mercy that moveth him; it is his Truth that bindeth him. It is his Mercy, I say, that induceth him to promise: it is his Truth that obligeth him to make good what he hath promised. A sure tie-all. Heaven and Earth may fail sooner than God's Truth; than he should fail to make good ought that he hath promised to his.

For first, it is against the very nature of God to do otherwise. He that made the ear, saith the Psalmist, shall not he hear? and [Reason 1] he that made the eye, shall not he see? and he that teacheth man wisdom, that giveth man understanding, shall not he understand himself? So he that teacheth man Truth, and of man requireth Truth, shall not he keep and observe Truth himself? Yea how is it possible he should do otherwise who is Truth it self? who as he is a God of Truth and Truth it self, so his Word also is a Word of Truth and Truth it self: And therefore he cannot lie, nor deny himself: It were an impotency in him, if he were able to do either. If you that are evil know how to give good things to your children; how much more, saith our Savior, shall your Heavenly Father, who is Goodness it self, give good things to his? So if an honest man will be careful to keep his word, one that hath but some small drop of this divine Truth distilled into his heart, which floweth infinitely in God, how much more shall he do so, who is Truth it self, and who can no more cease to be true or to be just than he can cease to be God.

[Reason 2] Again, is not God as prone (think we) and as ready unto Mercy as unto wrath; to do good as to do evil; to bless as to curse; to fulfill his promises, as to execute his threatenings and his menaces; to cause to prosper, as to punish? Yes undoubtedly, and (if we may say so) much more. But God's threatenings against the wicked shall undoubtedly take effect. God hath even by a solemn Oath bound himself thereunto: and that they shall find to their endless woe one day unfailable, that now either deny it, or make doubt of it. And much more then shall his free promises be made good all to the godly: The rather since that he hath bound himself by Oath as well to the fulfilling of the one, as to the effecting and executing of the other.

[Use 1] Now this consideration may first serve to clear many places of Scripture, where God's children seem to require God even in justice to hear, and help them, and do for them, and deliver them: And where God is said to be just, either in remitting of men's sins, or in rewarding of their works. Which places Popish Writers are wont to abuse and produce for the justification of their pernicious Positions concerning man's merit, and the worth of men's works. As if in those places God's Children pleaded unto God their own merits, in regard whereof God in justice might not deny them their suits, they requiring nothing but what by their own righteous actions they had even in justice deserved at God's hands: Or as if God's justice it self so tied him to the rewarding of their works, in regard of the very worth and dignity of them, that God could not without some taint of injustice do otherwise. But that the justice or righteousness that the Saints and Servants of God speak of in those places, neither is, nor respecteth simply the justice or righteousness of their persons, in regard whereof, and for the worth of which, God in justice, were engaged to do for them what they require of him, is hereby apparent, in that in some of those very places, where they require or plead this justice, they sue yet for mercy, and renounce their own righteousness, and refuse to be tried by the precise Rule of God's justice.

But what justice or righteousness will some say, then is it?

I answer: It is sometime the justice of their cause; when being falsely accused, and wrongfully charged, by their malicious Adversaries, with such crimes as they never either committed or imagined, they dare appeal even to God's justice, and offer themselves to be tried thereby for their innocence therein.

Sometime it is God's Justice and Righteousness, that is, his Truth, or his Faithfulness; which the Psalmist therefore joineth together, (it is Hugh the Cardinals observation) as one and the same. For Truth or Faithfulness is (as before was said) a branch and a limb of Justice or Righteousness. That which even our Adversaries themselves also confess and acknowledge, expounding some such places so also themselves. If we confess our sins, saith Saint John, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us (how but by Christ's blood?) from all iniquity. Here those words just and faithful, saith Bellarmine, are referred to God's Promise: For therefore, saith he, is God said to be faithful and just, because he standeth to his word, and breaketh not his Faith. Though therein he crosseth himself again elsewhere; and he addeth wretchedly, yea impiously in the same place, that there seemeth to be no promise at all extant in Scripture concerning remission of sins upon confession of them made unto God. In like manner where the Apostle saith, For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you show to his Name, in ministering to his Saints. He showeth manifestly, saith Bellarmine, that he should be unjust, if he did otherwise. And therefore it is neither bold nor blasphemous to say, that God should be unjust, if he should not keep his promises: to confute which assertion, falsely fathered upon Durand, whom therein he doth wrong too, he produceth that place. Again whereas Saint Paul saith, There is a crown of Righteousness (and so it may be, and yet a crown of Mercy too, saith Chrysostom) laid up for me, which the just Judge will render unto me in that day; and not to me alone, but to all those that love his appearance; It is not his own righteousness, but God's righteousness, saith Bernard, that the Apostle here buildeth upon. For it is a just thing for God to pay that that he oweth. And he oweth that that he hath promised. It was out of mercy indeed promised, but it is of justice to be performed. And this is the justice that the Apostle here presumeth of, even God's Promise. For, that may well be of justice and due debt required, that was freely promised at first. To which purpose also even Bellarmine, That which God doth of grace or free favor, saith he, that he may not do: (or he may choose whether he will do or no.) But yet when he hath promised once to do it, he cannot now but do it, though not simply and absolutely, yet in respect of his promise. Hence is that that Augustine, and others after him, so oft have: God, saith he, albeit he be debtor to none, yet hath he made himself a debtor to us. But how? Not by receipt, but by promise. Not by receiving of ought from us; but by promising what he pleased and thought good himself unto us. In regard whereof very pithily and piously saith Bernard, My Judges will (or good will) is my right. What can be righter? What can be richer? What righter for merit? What richer for recompense? Now it is one thing to say to one, You owe me this or that, because I have bestowed somewhat upon you, or have done this or that for you, and have thereby deserved it: and another thing to say, Yow owe me this or that, because you promised to bestow it on me. In the one, the ground of the debt ariseth from the work or deed and desert of the party that claimeth it: in the other, from the word and promise of him, of whom it is claimed. In the former sense, saith Augustine, can no man claim ought of God: because no man can by any such means tie or engage God to himself. But in the latter sense some may, in regard of his promise past to them, by which, though free otherwise, he hath bound himself to do for them, to the performance whereof, his Truth and his Justice do now tie him. By virtue of which Truth and Justice God's Saints oft require that of God, which in justice otherwise they durst not, nor could claim or challenge at his hands as of due debt or of desert.

[Use 2] Again, this may further be of singular use to all God's dear children and faithful servants to hearten and encourage them quietly and contentedly to rest and repose themselves wholly upon him and his Truth, for the making good of all his gracious promises unto them. Let your conversation, saith the Apostle, be without covetousness, (yea or distrustfulness either;) and rest contented with what you have. For he hath said, (and what he hath said, concerneth us, as well as either Jacob or Joshua, to whom it was said) I will not leave thee, nor in any wise will I forsake thee. So that we may boldly say (yet not presuming of our own merit and worth, but on his Mercy and Truth ) with the Psalmist, The Lord is my feeder; I am sure to want nothing: and, The Lord is mine helper; I need not fear anything. He hath said it: and that is enough; we need no other security, his bare word is as good, yea better than any bond. For he is a God of Truth; and cannot go from his word. And those therefore that trust in him shall not need (as the Prophet speaketh) to make haste; by seeking to unlawful and indirect courses for the relieving of themselves, when they are in some want; or for the recovering of themselves, when they are fallen behind hand; or for the enlarging of their estates, when charge beginneth to grow upon them: like those that to save themselves being in danger of drowning, catch hold of whatsoever cometh next hand, such things oft as are means rather to enwrap and entangle and so to wind them further in, than to bear them up, or to help them out. Nor shall they need to hang (as our Savior Christ speaketh) in suspense; as the Clouds do in the Air, hovering to and fro, as the wind driveth them, and uncertain whether to hang still there, or to fall down on the earth: perplexed and distracted with carking care and thought for the things of this life how they shall have wherewith to maintain their charge, and to feed and clothe them and theirs; especially if dear times come, and further charge grow upon them, or if trading decay and wax dead with them, or if those break that they have dealings with, and the like: As if God were tied to these means; or as if the performance of God's Promises depended upon these things? But walk they may well cheerfully in the careful performance of those duties that God hath in their several places imposed on them, (for there is a diligent care as well as a diffident; the one enjoined, the other inhibited) and so leave the issue and event of all to God and his blessing: who will be sure to provide for them, and will suffer neither them, nor theirs (for he is a God of his Word, and that all shall find, that trust to it) to want anything at any time, that shall be fit for them.

These then were the two grounds of God's goodness to Jacob, his Mercy and his Truth. Now followeth a fruit and effect, and so a proof and experiment of this Mercy and Truth, and consequently of his Goodness in general. For I went, saith Jacob, over this river Jordan with my staff only in mine hand; and now am I become owner of two troops, or two bands.

Where we have, first,

[Particular 4] An humble acknowledgement of his mean beginnings.

He came into the Country with his staff only, like a poor Pilgrim, [Observ. 5] a Stranger, a Traveler; no company with him; no attendance upon him; like one that went, as we say, to seek his fortune abroad: and he thought himself well apaid, if he might have but meat, drink and apparel only, every servants allowance.

Which he mentioneth, as other Servants of God, do sometime the like;

Partly to testify the inward humility and lowliness of his mind, not puffed up (as the manner is) with that great mass of wealth, that [Reason 1] God had pleased to confer upon him: to show that his heart was not altered, albeit his estate were: Jacob continued the same man that he was when he came over Jordan: he had not forgotten his former estate: his mind remained still the same that it was.

[Reason 2] And partly also to commend and amplify the great goodness of God towards him, who from so mean and bare an estate had advanced him and raised him, to that wealth which he now had.

[Use 1] Where first come many to be controlled and condemned, who being raised from a very mean estate, even from the mire and muck hill, the dung-cart or the dung-hill, as the Psalmist speaketh; when they are once gotten up, are ashamed now to be acknowne of their beginnings, can endure no more to hear of their Parentage and their offspring; refuse to take notice of their poor kindred, that are yet as the were. Yea so far in these cases forget not a few what formerly they have been, this none are many times more insolent, or more arrogant than such, none more imperious, or more scornful toward others, even those that have been sometime their betters, as if they had never been other than they are or had ever been such as now they are.

But let such take heed, lest they hear from God as Saul sometime by Samuel, When thou wast mean in thine own eyes, I advanced thee, &c. And lest, as he for his disobedience, so they for their pride and ingratitude and haughtiness of spirit, be plucked down, and stripped, and laid as low again as ever they were. Let them remember what the Wise man saith; Pride ushereth destruction; and an high mind forerunneth a fall. And our Savior in the Gospel: He that lifteth up himself, shall be laid low; and he that abaseth himself shall be exalted. And, a miserable thing it is, as the Heathen man speaketh, to have been happy, or as the Holy Ghost, to have been in honor. For the higher a man sitteth, the heavier he falleth: And, better not to rise, than to rise and fall. But a double misery it is to be miserable, and yet not commiserated; to be in pitiful plight, and yet not to be pitied. That which is usually the lot of such when they do fall: The more scornfully they have carried themselves towards others while they were aloft, the less are they pitied of any when they come down. For by such their carriage having made themselves not envious only, but odious, as they were an eye-sore, while they stood, so they become a laughing-stock, when they fall.

Which things considered, let such therefore among you, as are [Use 2] come up from mean estate to large and plentiful means, learn to imitate Jacob, and to do as he here did. Look back to your beginnings. Be not puffed up in pride, in regard of your present wealth: Nor take you occasion thereby to contemn or disdain others, that come short of you therein. But remember what you have been sometime yourselves; and how far beneath not a few of those, whom you have gotten now so far above. It is hard, if there be not some in this place, (for my part I know none: but sure I am, many such there have been, and some such there may here be) that may say with Jacob, I came into this City with a staff in mine hand, and a freeze coat on my back, (yea it may be in far meaner estate yet than he) with neither hose nor shoes on my feet, and scarce a penny in my purse; glad if I might get into any almost, though never so mean service. And now God hath given me a large and a plentiful estate: he hath made me a Master of many servants; he hath richly clothed me, provided liberally for me, &c. And let not then what you are now (if it have been and be thus with any of you) make you forget what you have been. But as Agathocles being by birth but a Potters son, and yet having by his prowess attained to be King of his own country, caused his cupboard to be furnished with earthen cups, and his table, to be served with earthen dishes, that he might thereby be put in mind of his mean and poor parentage. So do you cast your eyes back on your mean beginnings, that by consideration thereof you may the rather be moved, both unto thankfulness to God for what you now have; and to humility, modesty, and lowliness of mind, to carry yourselves the more moderately towards those, that are still as you once were, or that were once as you are now, but are now as yourselves were once.

Such then was Jacob's penury, and his mean beginnings at first.

Now followeth God's bounty towards him, in so enriching him, [Particular 5] and improving and enlarging his estate in that manner, that he was now become Master and owner of two troupes.

Whence observe we, that [Observat. 6]

God is able to raise from low degree; and from mean estate and small beginnings to bring to great matters.

He raiseth, saith the Psalmist, the needy out of the dust; and lifteth the poor up from the dung-hill: to seat him with Princes, even with the Princes of his people, and to make him inherit the Throne of Glory, saith Anna. He took Saul from seeking his Fathers Asses; and David from feeding his Fathers Sheep, and following the Ewes great with young, to feed his people in Jacob, and his inheritance in Israel. And by his means saith Solomon, Out of the prison come some to reign, and out of the dungeon some to sit in the chair of estate; as we know what Joseph sometime did.

^g Nor is it any hard matter with him so to do.

For he is the supreme Judge, that setteth up and pulleth down. [Reason 1] All estates hold of him, and he disposeth them at pleasure. No Prince can so easily ruin, or raise, as he can both them and their favorites also; for if them, much more then those that depend upon them. Thine is the kingdom, saith David; and thou reignest over all: and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give might unto any, even the meanest.

Again, all the wealth in the world is his. For, gold is mine, [Reason 2] and silver is mine, saith he by Haggie. And, riches and honor are thine and of thee, saith King David. Yea The earth is the Lord's, saith the Psalmist, and the fullness thereof. And, The whole world, saith he, is mine, and whatsoever therein is. The Devil may pretend title to it, but hath of right nothing to do with it; nor hath he or any other whosoever power to dispose of ought in it, further than he permitteth.

[Use 1] The consideration whereof may first serve to admonish us not to trust unto these things. Charge the rich men of this world, saith the Apostle, not to be high minded; nor to trust in uncertain riches: so uncertain, saith Nazianzen, that a man may as well trust to the weather-cock, that standeth continually in the wind, or to figures and characters not drawn, as another speaketh, in the ice, but written in the running water, as to the wealth of this world. Since that he that gave them can again resume them. ( God gave, and God hath taken, saith Job. ) He that set up, can as well and as easily pull down. For this is easier (whatsoever the Canon law saith to the contrary in some cases) than that. Out of the Prison, saith Solomon, there cometh one to reign, when he that was himself borne a King is abased. As he that was so poor is here stored and made rich: so he that is most rich, may as soon be pulled and made poor, and left barer than ever Jacob was when he came to Laban at first.

[Use 2] Secondly, it may encourage men to depend upon God's providence; and to seek to him for wealth, and not to Satan: that is, to seek it by lawful and honest means, and not by unlawful and indirect courses. Since that God is as well, yea far better able to enrich by the one, than the Devil is, or can be by the other. He that thus enriched Jacob, notwithstanding Laban's hard, cross, and unjust dealing with him, is no less able still (for neither is his hand now shortened, nor his treasury exhausted) to do the like for those that depend, with Jacob, upon him, and walk no other way toward wealth, than they are directed by him, notwithstanding all the affronts and oppositions that the world and worldly men, whom they live either among or under, and have occasion to deal with, shall be ever able to make against them.

[Use 3] Thirdly, it may teach young beginners not to be dismayed or discouraged in regard of their small beginnings. Hast thou but a small matter to set up with, and to begin the world withal? Consider what God is able to do for thee: and what he hath done before time, who is the same still, for those that were his. It is hard if thou hast not as much as Jacob had here to begin with, and we see what God brought it to. Be thou thankful therefore to God for that little that thou hast; ( in thankfulness a poor man may be as rich as a richer ) and that may prove an effectual means to improve it. Endeavor thyself to walk uprightly before him, and to keep a good conscience in the course of thy calling. And thou shalt see, he will build thine house for thee, and so bless thine endeavors; that though thy beginnings be small, yet thy latter end (if he see it to be good for thee) shall be great; as Bildad told Job; and as in Job God made it good, setting him up again with nothing; after those his great losses, but the contribution of his friends; and raising him thereby and his blessing on it, to a larger estate than ever he had enjoyed before time.

[Use 4] Lastly, hath God dealt with any of you, as he had done here with Jacob? Take heed how you sacrifice to your yarne, and burn incense to your net: how you kiss your own hand; and ascribe your wealth and your raising, to your own forecast and industry, and so make an idol of it. Remember that which Solomon saith, that it is the blessing of God that maketh a man rich: and that all man's labor and care is nothing without it: that it is God, as Moses speaketh, that giveth you power to get wealth. Learn not the language of the rich worldling, Soul, thou hast much good; or of Esau, a mere natural, I have enough; and no more: but the language of Job rather, The Lord hath given; the language of David, Of thine hand, O Lord, and thine, is all that we have; the language of Eleazar, Abraham's servant, God hath blessed my Master greatly, and he is thereby become great: He hath given him flocks and herds, and gold and silver, and servants, &c. the language of Jacob; The children that God of his grace hath given me: and, God hath been good to me, and therefore have I all this. As you have received all from God; so ascribe all unto God; and be thankful to him for all. Let the streams of God's bounty lead you (as the watercourse doth, either to the spring upward, or downward to the main Ocean ) to the source and fountain from which they do flow. Return a tribute unto him, from whom you receive all, as the Rivers do to the Sea, from whence they have their first rising. That may be a good means to secure the rest to you; whereas the with-holding of it, as the Merchants non-payment of the Kings custom, may prove the utter loss of all. Let him, I say, that gave all, receive a part again from you of that that is his own, by the relief of his poor members, by the support and maintenance of his Ministers; it is that in effect that Jacob so solemnly vowed to show his thankfulness in. Not that he needed it, who needeth nothing himself; no more than the Sea doth the Rivers that run into it: but that your thankful minds thereby may be testified, and he incited to be the more beneficial to you, who desireth any good occasion of doing you good. Return him part; said I? Nay, dedicate all to him, as you have received all from him; by employing all to his Glory, using all after his Will: For of him, and through him; and therefore unto him are all things: and to him be glory forever. Amen.

THE IVDGEMENT OF A great School-man, concerning the Merit of man's works; contrary to that which the Church of Rome now holdeth. Durand in Sentent. lib. 2. dist. 27. quaest. 2.

MErit of condignity strictly and properly taken, is such a voluntary action for which in justice or of right a reward is due to one, so that if it be not rendered, he that should render it doth wrong, and is simply and properly unjust. And such merit of condignity is found among men, but is not in man towards God.

That which hereby appeareth, because that which is rendered rather out of the liberality of the giver, than out of any debt due to the work, cometh not within the compass of Merit of condignity strictly and properly taken.

But whatsoever we receive from God, be it grace or glory, or good temporal, or spiritual (whatsoever good work done for the same go before in us) we receive rather and more principally from God's liberality, than rendered as due for the desert of the work.

And therefore nothing at all cometh within compass of Merit of condignity so taken.

The Major appeareth by the definition of Merit of condignity before assigned.

The Minor is thus proved: because it is an easier and a less matter to make a full recompense for that that one hath received from another, than to make him a debtor. For to make him a debtor, it is necessary that one return him more than he hath received from him, that so in regard of that overplus the other may become his debtor.

But no man can fully recompense God; according to that which the Philosopher saith, That God and our Parents can never be sufficiently recompensed.

Therefore much less is it possible, that by any work of ours God should become debtor to us, so that he should be unjust, if he paid us not somewhat for it, that were due unto us for the same.

The reason hereof is, because what we are, and what we have, be it good actions, or good dispositions, or the use of them, &c. it is all in us of God's liberality, both freely bestowing it on us, and freely preserving it in us. And because by a free gift no man is bound to give more: but the receiver rather is thereby bound to the giver.

Therefore by good dispositions, or good actions, or the good use of either bestowed on us by God, God is not bound in any bond of justice to give us ought else, so that if he should not give it, he should be unjust; but we are rather thereby bound to God. And to think or say the contrary, is bold and blasphemous. And if God therefore to a man dying in grace should deny glory, he should do therein no wrong: nor should he be unjust, if he should withdraw glory from one that already hath it. And if any should complain hereof, God might say unto him, as it is in the Gospel, May I not do as I will with mine own? And the party that should suffer it, ought to say as Job did, The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken; he hath done as he pleased: blessed be his Name. For since that every good thing is of God's free gift, God is not bound thereby, because he hath given something, to give other some also, so that he should be unjust, if he gave them not. And if anything be bestowed on us, or returned to us for our good works, it is rather and more principally out of God's liberality that giveth it, than out of any debt that is due to our works.

If any shall say, that albeit God become not a debtor by any work of ours, yet he becometh a debtor by his own promise expressed in Scripture.

It is of no force, for two causes:

The first is, because God's promise in Scripture implieth no such obligation, but importeth only a liberal disposition in God.

The second is, because that which is rendered, is not rendered for the due desert of the work, but for the promise precedent. It is not, I say, rendered, for the condign merit of the work, but only or principally for the promise: And so it is not such debt, as we now speak of.

That it appeareth that Merit of condignity strictly and properly taken, to wit, for a voluntary action, for which a reward is of justice due to the doer, so that if it be not paid, he that should pay it, doth wrong, and is simply and properly unjust; is not in Man towards God, yea that it is altogether impossible for any such to be.

DAVIDS Remembrancer.

THIS Psalm, as appeareth by the whole tenor of it, was composed by the Prophet DAVID during the time of some grievous and tedious temporal affliction; and that accompanied also (as may seem) with some spiritual desertion. And it may well for the subject matter of it be termed

DAVIDS Remembrancer;

As being penned by him for this end, to put God in mind of him, and of his present forlorn and distressed estate.

The Psalm consisteth of three principal Parts. [Part 3]

[Part 1] There is first a grievous complaint of his present condition; propounded by way of expostulation;

1. In regard of God; who seemed not to regard him.

2. In regard of himself, by means thereof driven to his shifts, and in a manner at his wits end.

3. In regard of his adversaries; who took occasion thereby to triumph and insult over him.

[Part 2] There is secondly an humble suit and request commenced by him to God, and conceived in three distinct parts, answering the three branches of his former complaint. For 1. He requesteth God that he would Behold and hear; that he would vouchsafe to regard him, and turn his face again towards him, and not send him away, inaudita querela, unheard and unanswered.

2. He addeth some Reasons why he desireth and requireth God thus to hear and regard him. [Reasons 2]

[Reason 1] 1. In regard of himself, that he sleep not in death: not meant, as some think, of sleeping in sin; though sin in Scripture be oft compared to sleep; nor, as others, of the death of grief and despair; though that be said too to be a kind of death; and maketh a man's life oft no better, yea more bitter than death: nor yet as others, of dying eternally, of being everlastingly damned: but of temporal death, (that is usually termed a sleep; and is nothing indeed but a sleep longer than usual; yea in some sort a perpetual sleep, because to continue as long as the world lasteth:) that he might not die in this distressed and discomfortable estate.

[Reason 2] 2. In regard of his malicious and evil affected Adversaries; that they might not have longer or further cause of joy and triumph in his overthrow, as having now without all help or hope of recovery, gotten the upper hand of him.

[Part 3] And there is thirdly a cheerful and a comfortable Conclusion, wherein as recollecting himself, and controlling the voice of sense with the voice of faith;

[Branch 1] 1. He professeth his trust and confidence in God.

[Branch 2] 2. He promiseth himself assured help and deliverance from God.

[Branch 3] And 3. He praiseth God for it, as if already he had received it: See the picture of an hopeful heart, saith Chrysostom, he craveth aid of God, and before he have it, he renders thanks for it, as if already he had it.

And thus have you the sum and substance of the Psalm, with the several parts of it.

To return to the first branch of his complaint, which I purpose only to insist on.

First, for the manner of it, or phrase it is conceived in; there are [Readings 4] four several readings, though in effect for sense and substance much the same.

[Reading 1] For 1. Some read the words of the former part, without stop or stay, as one continued sentence; How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, forever? But they both neglect the pause in the Hebrew; and beside make no very good sense.

[Reading 2] 2. Others make a pause, but a pause misplaced; and they thus read them; How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me? forever? As elsewhere, How long, O God, shall the Adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy Name forever? But the pause here in the Original, is after Domine; not after Oblivisceris.

[Reading 3] 3. Others placing the pause aright, read the words as an Aposiopesis, that is, a broken or imperfect sentence, not unfit to express passion. Quousque, Domine? How long, O Lord? As if he had said; How long will it be ere thou mind me? In aeternum oblivisceris? Wilt thou never again think on me? How long wilt thou hide thy face away from me? And the like we may find in divers other places; How long, O Lord? wilt thou be angry forever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire? And, How long, Lord? Wilt thou hide thy face forever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? Yea the very self-same Aposiopesis apparently, where he saith; But thou, O Lord, how long? And Return O Lord: how long? And let it repent thee concerning thy servants: As also oft elsewhere.

[Reading 4] 4. It may well be read by way of Reduplication, (a form very fit also to express the vehement affection of a soul surcharged with sorrow, and pinched in with pain;) enclosing the middle part of the verse within a Parenthesis: How long, O Lord? (wilt thou never remember me?) how long, (I say) wilt thou hide thy face away from me? And the like Reduplication is found also elsewhere, where he saith, How long shall the wicked, O Lord? How long (I say) shall the wicked exult?

Either of the two latter may well stand with the Context of the words in the Original.

Secondly, For the Matter and substance of it:

1. There are two things complained of:

1. That God had forgotten him.

2. That he had hid his face away from him. Both humanitus dicta, spoken by way of resemblance from the manner of men, and the one going a degree beyond the other. It is more to hide his face from him, than not to remember him. We may out of unmindfulnesse sometime forget one, whom we wish otherwise well unto: but when we do wittingly and willingly turn, or hide our face away from him, it is a sign that either we hate and abhor him, or at least desire not to mind or remember him. There is an implication of bare neglect in the one; an intimation of anger and indignation, of displeasure and evil will in the other. For God therefore to forget DAVID, not to mind him, or look after him, is much! If his eye be never so little once off us, the spiritual adversary is ready presently to seize on us, as the Kite on the Chicke, if the Hen look not carefully after it. But for God, DAVIDS only joy and stay, to turn his face away from him, that he may not mind him, as if in anger and evil-will towards him, he had cast off all care of him, yea were resolved to reject him, and were willing to expose him to the will of those that would rejoice in his ruin: this is much more. There is an unmindfulnesse of him implied in the former; an evil mind towards him implied in the latter. And surely, if in the favor of God there be life; yea his favor is better than life it self: then undoubtedly such apprehension of his disfavour and displeasure must needs be as death, yea more bitter than death it self to the soul so deserted.

2. Both these are further aggravated by the circumstance of time; the long continuance of either.

1. For the time past; he had been long in this estate already.

2. For the time to come; it was uncertain how long it would last.

Now for God for an instant to be angry with some of his, and to hide his face from them, cannot be but most heavy to those that have formerly enjoyed it, and been before in his favor: (for as for others; those, we say, that were never out of hell, think there is no other Heaven. ) The least frown of his face, or bending of his brows, is a very hell it self to such: Thou turnedst but thy face away, saith DAVID, and I was troubled. But to have it last and continue so for a long time together, what a daunting and dismaying must it needs be to that soul, that shall esteem it self in a manner to lie so long in hell, and to have in some sort an hell so long here out of hell, where it had a kind of heaven before? And yet further again, though this heavy and disconsolate estate should last long, and were yet to last far longer; yet if there were some certain stint of time set how long it should last; the eye of the soul being fixed upon that term, it would be some comfort to consider how the time wore away. But where the eye of the mind meeteth with no object to stint it, but (as it is with persons distressed at sea in a thick fog, that have rowed and wrought long till their hearts ache again, and beaten to and fro, but can descry no shore; or as it is with those that are in hell, whose torments have no stint, but are boundless and endless) it is as far from an end still, for ought it can descry, as at first; it hath lasted thus long, and it is uncertain how long longer it may last: This is that that might break an heart of stone or steel, that might enforce the forlorn soul to sink down under the heavy burden and unsupportable weight of it, overwhelmed with horror, and swallowed up with despair, were there not somewhat else (even an hand of God himself) to support and uphold it. And yet was this, as we see here, DAVIDS estate at the present. He complaineth that God had forgotten him, yea he had hid his face from him: this discomfortable estate had lasted long with him already, and it was uncertain yet how long it would last.

[Doctrine.] Whence observe we this Instruction, that God's Church and dearest children are oft in that case, what for outward afflictions, what for inward desertions, that both in the sight of others, and to their own sense and feeling, God seemeth to have rejected them, and not to regard them.

In the sight, I say, of others: for so say the profane proud, oppressing and pursuing the poor; God hath forgotten them; he hath hidden away his face, and will never more look after them. And DAVIDS enemies of him, (if he were Author of that Psalm;) God hath forsaken him; let us pursue him, and seize on him: for there is none to deliver him. Yea to their own sense and feeling. For so Zion the Mother of the faithful complaineth; The Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me. So the children of the Church, and those no bastardly brood neither, but such as continued firm unto God, and faithful with him, complain also, That though they had not forgotten God, nor dealt disloyally with him, yet God had forgotten them and hid his face away from them. So DAVID, a man after God's own heart, and (as his name soundeth) the Lord's Darling, or the beloved of the Lord, yet maketh grievous complaints often-times unto God, and in holy manner debateth the matter, and expostulateth with God, both here and elsewhere: I will say to God my rock; Why hast thou forgotten me? And, Lord, why rejectest thou my soul, and hidest thy face away from me? I am like to the dead that lie slain in the grave; that are cut off from thine hand, and thou rememberest no more. Yea not DAVID alone as a Type of him; but the only begotten of God himself, his Son of Love, as he termeth him, his dearest Darling, (though he thought him not too dear for us) when he was on the Cross, not in his enemies eyes and account only, that twitted him with his trust in God, who seemed then not to regard him, but to his own sense and feeling too, seemed neglected and forgotten, as by that bitter and lamentable complaint that he then made, appeareth; My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And if it were so with Christ, DAVIDS Lord; no marvel if the like also sometime befell DAVID: if this betided the head, no marvel if it betide the body too: If it were sometime the state of the native Son, that had never been other; no marvel if it be the state oft of adopted Sons, of such as have of Servants been made Sons, of such as have from Bond-slaves been advanced to that honor.

Which yet we are not so to understand, as if God could forget any man, or as if God could forget ought. Oblivion is a defect, and cannot befall him, who is perfection it self. But as we are said to forget things when we do no more regard them, or take notice of them, or look after them, than if we had forgotten them: Forget thy people and thy fathers house, saith the Psalmist to Pharaohs daughter; And rich men are said to forget their poor kindred and acquaintance: So is God said to forget men, when he doth not respect them, when he taketh no care of them, when for good he no more regardeth them than if he had clean forgotten them.

Now in this manner doth God indeed forget some; some he seemeth to forget, though indeed he do not forget them. As Ambrose saith, That God doth wholly forsake some: as he did Judas and Saul, whom he utterly cast off. Some he seemeth to forsake, but he forsaketh not indeed. As our Savior Christ, albeit God seemed to have forsaken him, when not only he left him in his cruel enemies hands, and suffered them to work their wills upon him, but even poured out his own heavy wrath and indignation upon him; and he complained therefore as before, That his God had forsaken him; yet was he not indeed then forsaken, but even then heard and helped; nor was he ever left alone; but though his Disciples all forsook him, and fled from him; yet his Father forsook him not, but abode ever with him: And DAVID, though he complain sometime in the same terms that our Savior did; yet elsewhere he acknowledgeth that howsoever he had said in his haste, (in the heat of temptation,) that he was cast out of God's sight, yet even then did God hear him and grant his requests. In like manner, some God thus forgetteth indeed. (As they forget him; so he forgetteth them. ) Call the child Loruchamah, saith God to Hoshea; for I will have no more mercy on the house of Israel; but (as the Vulgar Latin hath it) I will utterly forget them: or rather (after the Original) I will never forgive them: but because they have forgotten the Law of their God, I will forget them; when I have visited their ways on them, and rewarded them for their deeds. God threateneth, (saith Ruffine) both to remember to damn them, and to forget ever to show mercy upon them, when he hath once condemned them. Some he seemeth to forget, when he doth not. He neglecteth not the godly, no not when he neglecteth them: Yea, he remembereth them then best, when he seemeth least to regard them, when he seemeth most of all to forget them. Though the wicked, when he hath his will on the poor, thinketh that God hath forgotten them, and doth not at all mind them; yet the poor, saith the Psalmist, shall not always be forgotten; nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever. But God when he maketh inquisition for blood, will make it appear then that he remembereth them, and that he doth not forget the poor man's complaint, nor will ever fail any of those that seek to him and trust in him. And though Zion complain that her God had forgotten her; yet the Lord telleth her, and assureth her that even then he had her as fresh in mind, as if she were written upon his hands, and her present estate was never out of his eye: yea that he could no more forget her, than a woman could her child, or than the kindest and tenderest mother that is the fruit of her own womb.

[Question.] But why doth God, may some say, then deal thus strangely with his dear ones, and by seeming not to regard them, yea by seeming to reject them, suffer them to be in so woeful and rueful an estate, that they are in a manner like persons utterly forlorn for the present?

[Answer.] I answer: God doth this for divers ends; whereof these are some [Reasons 8] of the principal.

[Reason 1] First, to try their sincerity, their confidence in God, their constancy with God, whether their hearts be sincere toward him, and upright with him, or no; whether they will keep constantly in God's ways, though God seem to neglect them, or seek to indirect courses, because God seemeth not to regard them. God left Hezekiah, saith the holy Ghost, to try him and to know, that is, to make known, what was in his heart. And the Lord tempteth you, saith Moses to the Israelites, to humble you, and to prove you, and to know what is in your heart, whether you love him heartily, and will constantly keep his Commandments or no. As a Father will sometimes cross his son, to try the childes disposition, to see how he will take it, whether he will mutter and grumble at it, and grow humorous and wayward, neglect his duty to his Father, because his Father seemeth to neglect him, or make offer to run away and withdraw himself from his Fathers obedience, because he seemeth to carry himself harshly and roughly toward him, and to provoke him thereunto: So doth God likewise ofttimes cross his children, and seemeth to neglect them, to try their disposition, what metal they are made of, how they stand affected toward him: whether they will neglect God, because God seemeth to neglect them, forbear to serve him, because he seemeth to forget them, cease to depend upon him, because he seemeth not to look after them, to provide for them, or to protect them: like Iorams profane Pursuivant; This evil, saith he, is of God, and why should I depend then on God any longer? Or whether they will still constantly cleave to him, though he seem not to regard them, nor to have any care of them; and say with Isaiah; Yet will I wait upon God, though he have hid his face from us, and I will look for him though he look not on us; for they are all blessed that wait on him; and he will not fail in due time to show mercy unto all them that do so constantly wait on him. As Samuel dealt with Saul; he kept away till the last hour, to see what Saul would do, when Samuel seemed not to keep touch with him. So doth God with his Saints, and with those that be in league with him; he withdraweth himself oft, and keepeth aloof off for a long time together, to try what they will do, and what courses they will take, when God seemeth to break with them, and to leave them in the suds, as we say, amids many difficulties much perplexed, as it was with DAVID at this time.

Thus was Saul's hypocrisy discovered. He would seem to depend on God; and sought to him in his troubles and asked advice of him. But when God seemed to neglect him, and gave him no answer, neither by dream, nor vision, nor by Vrim and Thummim, neither by Prophet, nor by Priest, then left he God and sought to the Sorceresse, and by the Sorceresse to Satan.

Where a question may be moved, [Question.] how that is true that the holy Ghost saith else-where, that Saul did not at all ask counsel of God. Saul asked counsel of God, saith one place; but the Lord gave him no answer: And, Thus died Saul in his sin, saith another place, which he sinned, in that he asked counsel of a witch, and asked not of God; and therefore the Lord slew him.

[Solution 1] But the answer is easy; and may be returned in two Rules of the Civil Law.

1. That is not deemed done, that is not sincerely done; or that is not done so as it should. God accounteth that as not done, that is not done in sincerity. Take it by the like: It is said of the idolatrous Heathen that were placed in Samaria, that they feared the Lord, and yet served their own idols too; and yet in the very next verse again it is said of the very same persons, Neither they, nor their children fear God to this day. Their fear was no fear, because no sincere fear: and so Saul's seeking to God no seeking, because no sincere seeking. The Lord is near to all that call on him, but that call on him in sincerity. And , The true worshippers are such as worship in Spirit and Truth. But no counterfeit coin will go for currant with him.

[Solution 2] 2. That is not done, that holdeth not out, that keepeth not firm. There is nothing said to be done, as long as ought is yet undone; Perseverance is all in all. He is faithful indeed that holdeth out to the last. He is a true lover, that loveth ever. But He never loved truly, that loveth not continually: He was never a true friend, that ever ceaseth to be a friend, that is not a friend always, that loveth not in adversity, as well as in prosperity, nor is content to take part with him, whom he seemeth to love in either: So he never truly trusted in God, that ever ceaseth to depend upon him, that dareth not trust God as well at sea as on land, as well in adversity as in prosperity, that is ready to leave and give over relying on God, so soon as God leaveth in outward show at least to look after him.

On the other side, thus was I • bs sincerity approved. Why, saith he to God, dost thou hide thy face away from me? and carriest thyself as an enemy towards me? Surely for no other end, Job, but to try thy sincerity; and to make it manifest what thou art. The Devil slandered Job, and traduced him, as if he had been but an hireling, one that served God only to serve his own turn upon God; and would therefore soon leave God, if God should seem to leave him, yea would not stick to ourse God, if he should but a little anger him, to his face. But the Devil proved a liar, like himself: it was far otherwise with Job: As he was no hireling, so he proved no changeling. As the Heathen man saith of one, He ceased not to worship even an angry God: Though he slay me, saith Job, yet I will trust still in him. And thus the Saints of God approve unto God their own sincerity; in that though God had forgotten them, yet they had not forgotten him; though he had smitten them, (that is, by smiting thrown and thrust them down) to the very bottom of the Sea, the place where the Whales lodge, and had overwhelmed them with the shadow of death; and suffered them to be butchered and massacred all the day long, as if they were no other than sheep sent to the shambles, and set apart for the slaughter; yet for all this, they would not from him, nor seek to any other but him: As Diogenes the Cynicke sometime told his Master Antisthenes, there was no cudgel so crabbed that could drive them way from him.

[Reason 2] Secondly, God doth this to exercise the gifts and graces of his Spirit in them. For many graces of God, as patience, confidence in God, and the like, are like torches and tapers, that show dim in the light, but burn clear in the dark; or like the Moon, and the Stars, that are not seen in the day, but shine bright in the night. There is no use of patience when all things go well with us. Ye have heard of Job's patience, saith James. But we had never heard of it, had Job never been in trouble. There is no sight of faith, when we do sensibly see and feel as it were the love and good will of God towards us in the pregnant and plentiful effects and fruits of his favor. It is the efficacy of faith, saith Augustine, to believe what we see not; for it is the reward of faith for us to see what we believe. But when it is winter time with us, and the s • p is all down in the root, little sign or show of it to be seen abroad, or above ground in the branches; when all outward, yea and inward signs of God's love and favor towards us, and of his care and regard of us shall seem to fail and be withdrawn from us; when we shall see and feel nothing, but arguments of his anger and wrath, troubles without and terrors within, God's face turned from us, or his angry look towards us; yet even then through these thick and black clouds to descry and discern the bright sun-shine of God's favor; and contrary to sense and reason, carnal sense, and corrupt reason, to believe that God loveth us, when he lowreth onus, and seemeth even to loath us, that we are in favor still with him when he knitteth the brows and frowneth on us, that he remembereth us and thinketh on us when he seemeth to forget us, that he is a gracious God and a sure Savior to us, when he seemeth bent to destroy us; this is the excellency of faith indeed. And for the exercise of this and other the like graces in his, doth God oft withdraw himself from them, as the Nurse doth from the child, to teach it to exercise the feet, and learn to stand and go of it self without help or hold. Or as the Eagle with her young ones, which when they are grown fledg, she turneth out of the nest, nor beareth them ever on her wing, though sometimes she so do, but to enure them to fly, flieth from them, and leaveth them sometime to shift for themselves. God led you along the wilderness, saith Moses to the Israelites, to humble you, and to teach you, that man lives not by bread, but by God's Word; to teach them to swim without bladders, to go without crutches, to depend upon the bare word of God, when bread and water should fail; and to learn, as, with the Apostle, not to trust in themselves, so not to trust to the means, but in him that worketh by them, and that can as well work for us without them, when they fail.

[Reason 3] Thirdly, to enure us to patience, and holy obedience, and submission of our wills to the good pleasure of God. As a father sometime will cross his child in those things that he hath a mind to, yea and it may be are not evil for him neither otherwise, and d • ny him some things that he doth most of all desire, though they be such things as he is willing enough, yea and hath a purpose afterward to bestow on him, only thereby to enure him to rest contented with his will, and to submit and refer his desires to his pleasure: So doth God oftentimes withdraw and with-hold long from his children outward joys, inward comforts, the light of his countenance, the fruits of his favor, the things they most desire, and that he purposeth one day to bestow on them, though he keep them back for the present, thereby to enure them to patience and childlike submission, that they may learn to practice what they daily pray, and what our Savior as well by practice as by precept, hath taught them to say, Not my will, but thy will be done. For as patience maketh trial; so trial breedeth patience. As by patience, and by nothing more, is our sincerity approved: (nothing putteth our piety to the proof more than patience:) so such trials as these do enure to patience and obedience: (As it is said of our Savior, That though he were the Son, yet he learned obedience by those things that he suffered: ) a lesson at the first not so easily learned of us, till by continuance of sufferings we have been enured to the yoke. By these and the like courses therefore God enureth and instructeth his children to bear quietly such burdens as he pleaseth to lay on them; as also to wait his leisure, and abide his good pleasure, who knoweth what is best for them, and will deny nothing in his due season unto them; but as a wise Physician, saith Augustine, dieting his patient, will both give them what is fit for them to have, and give it them then when it is fit for them to have it.

[Reason 4] Fourthly, God dealeth thus many times with his children, to work in them a greater hatred and detestation of sin, whereof this hiding of his face from them, is oft a fruit and an effect. When you stretch forth your hands, saith God by the Prophet, I will hide mine eyes from you, and though you make many prayers, I will not hear you, because your hands are full of blood. And saith the same Prophet, speaking in the person of God's people; Thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. Yea in the Lamentations the people of God complain, that God had overwhelmed them with his wrath, a • d covered himself with a cloud, that their prayers might not pass, nor have access to his Highness; because they had sinned and rebelled against him, and he therefore had not spared them. And certainly that is one principal cause, the sins of God's Church and Children, their rebellious courses, their untoward carriage, their wickedness, their wantonness, their evil demeanure towards him, that maketh God to turn away his loving countenance from them, and that not only for a time to look off them, till they humble themselves before him, but even for some space of time after also, to look strangely upon them. He doth as a wise and discreet Father, who when his Son hath offended him, though upon his submission he be reconciled unto him, and be inwardly as well affected again towards him, as ever, yet will make some show of anger still, it may be, and lowre and frown on him for a long time after, that he may not suddenly take heart to grace, as we say, again; but may by that means be drawn to be both more seriously sory for his offense past, and more fearful for the future of offending his Father. So dealeth God with his Children, when they have done amiss and run riot, though upon their repentance he be at one again with them, yet he concealeth it long many times; neither is his countenance oft the same for a long time after towards them, that formerly it had been. Thus dealt DAVID with Absalom; and thus God himself with DAVID. After that Absalom by a train had made away his brother Ammon, and was fled upon it to Geshur; DAVID a Father but too indulgent, ( that was his fault, and he smarted shrewdly for it) after some space of time, when the sorrow for his son Ammon was over, began to earn inwardly after Absalom; and since that Ammon was gone, he was loath to lose the comfort of his Absalom also, whom he loved but too well, and far better than his Absalom loved him. And though he strove to conceal it, yet he could not but discover it. Joab wisely discerned it, and used the woman of Tekoa as a Midwife, to deliver DAVIDS heart of that that it went great with, and was full of pain withal; and to draw that from him as by constraint or importunity, which DAVID was of himself over-willing unto already. Thus Absalom his exile must be called home at length, though with some difficulty: and the matter must proceed not as from DAVID, but from Joab: DAVIDS affection to Absalom must by all means be concealed: Yea, after Absalom was returned, though DAVID, no doubt, longed still after him, and in some sort doated on him, and was more seriously and sincerely desirous to see Absalom, than Absalom was to see DAVID; yet, Let him turn, saith he, to his own house, and not see my face. And so dwelt Absalom, DAVIDS best beloved son, (for he had not yet Solomon) for the space of two years in Jerusalem, where the Court most was, and yet might not all that while so much as see the King his Fathers face, or have access once to his presence. DAVID, no doubt, was perfectly reconciled in heart to him, and counted it no small cross that he must thus be deprived of him; but knowing Absolom's disposition, how soon he might be returning to some such like practice, if he were suddenly taken into grace again, was content to enforce himself to this harsh and unpleasing carriage towards him, (unpleasing, I say, as well to DAVID himself, as to Absalom ) to prevent some such further mischief (if it might have been) that might otherwise both befall himself and Absalom, as upon the change of his countenance towards him shortly after ensued. Now look how DAVID dealt with Absalom, so dealt God himself with DAVID. After that foul abuse of Bathsheba, and the murder of Uriah, albeit DAVID had to Nathan freely confessed his offense, and Nathan from God again assured him of the free and full forgiveness of it; The Lord hath taken away thy sin, thou shalt not die for it: Yet the Lord, the more thoroughly to humble him for it, and to make him the more wary for the time to come of shunning that that might produce again such fearful effects, did not look upon him so lovingly for a long time after, as before he had wont to do. Read but the Psalm that he made after Nathan had been with him; and see how earnestly and instantly he crieth and calleth upon God still, to turn his face away from his sin, and to look in mercy upon himself, not to cast him wholly out of his sight, nor to take his good Spirit utterly away from him, to restore unto him again those inward comforts and joys, which through the light of God's countenance he had formerly enjoyed, but had in a manner clean lost, and was wholly deprived of for the present. And in like manner doth God deal with many other of his dear servants, after some heinous and notorious crimes by them committed, he withdraweth oft his face and favorable countenance away from them, not till they repent only, but even after they have repented of them, to make them wiser and warier for the time to come, and to detest their own folly the more for the present.

[Reason 5] Fifthly, God oft thus withdraweth and estrangeth himself from his, That the cross incumbent may have its full and perfect work on them, which if it were sooner removed, it would be the worse for them, as when the corrasive plaster is pulled off ere the dead flesh is eaten out: and indeed as it were to no end for the Surgeon to clap on a corrasive, if he should pull it off again instantly, before it have done ought; it were to no purpose for the Finer to put his gold into the fire, if he should either pull it out again, or put out his fire, before the ore he melted, and the drossy matter severed: So it would be to small purpose for God to lay crosses on us, for the bettering and amending of us, if he should presently again so soon as we feel the smart of them, and begin to whine under his hand, remove them away instantly, ere we be at all bettered by them, or have that effected on us that God intendeth in them. Count it matter of much joy, my brethren, saith James, when you fall into many trials, or troubles. Since you know that the trial of your faith bringeth forth patience: And let patience have her perfect work, that you may be sound and entire. And for the furthering and consummating of this work, doth God oftentimes thus withdraw himself, as it were, out of the way, and seemeth to keep aloof off, when he is yet near at hand with us. He doth as the Physician or Surgeon doth with his Patient, when he meeteth with a sore festered or full of dead flesh: He applieth some sharp corrasive to purge the wound, and to eat out the dead flesh, that would else hinder the cure. Which being done, the Patient, it may be, impatient of pain, as soon as he feeleth the smart of it, crieth to have it removed. But he telleth him, No, it must stay there till it have eaten to the quick, and effected that thoroughly for which it is applied. And to this purpose having given charge to them that be about him, to see that nothing be stirred till he come again to him, withdraweth and retireth himself till it be full time to take it off again. Mean while the Patient lying in pain, counteth every minute an hour till the Surgeon come back again, and if he stay long, thinketh that sure he hath forgotten him, while he is taken up with other Patients, or is otherwise employed, and will never in any time return again to him: when as the Surgeon, it may be, is all this while but in the very next room to him, there by the hour-glass, to that purpose set up, attending but the time, till the plaster have wrought that that it is to effect. And in the very self-same manner doth God deal oft with his dearest ones. Thus Paul buffeted by Satan, (it was no small corrasive and heart-sore, you may be well assured, that troubled so much so magnanimous a spirit as his was) was instant with God more than once or twice to be rid of that evil. But the answer he had from God was, that he must patiently abide it: he should not want his grace that should enable him to undergo it. But it would be worse with him, if it were otherwise; he would be in much peril of being puffed up with pride, if he were wholly freed from it. Yea thus DAVID, when God's hand was sometime upon him, and he felt it harsh and heavy, he crieth earnestly unto God, to have it removed from him: Take, saith he, thy plague away from me; I am even consumed with the stroke of thine hand. And he pleadeth with God, as the Patient would do with the Physician, when he is full of pain with that that is applied, he is sure that the plaster hath done enough by this time: It is good for me that I have been afflicted. This affliction surely hath done me much good, I am very much amended by it. For Before I was afflicted I went astray; but since I have been thus troubled, I am grown more careful of my courses; now I keep thy Commandments. But God saw that in DAVID, that he, it may be, saw not in himself. He saw much dead flesh, much corrupt matter behind, that was yet to be eaten out, or it would be ready soon to break forth into some outrage, as also afterward it did, when DAVID came to be free from that harsh course of cure, and hard and strict diet, that God had a long time before held him to.

True it is that God dealeth not with us in this kind, as the Finer doth with his oar, who never linneth melting it, and passing it thorough the fire again and again, as long as any drossy matter remaineth mixed with it; or as those that boil broths or curious confections for sick persons, that never leave blowing and boiling so long as any scum at all ariseth on them. If he should so do, we should never be any of us out of the furnace of affliction; even the very best of us should be ever either in, or over the fire, always burning or boiling as long as we lived. For so long as we live here, we shall retain some of this dross still: nor will our scum be utterly purged out of us, while we abide here. But yet howsoever God doth not go so exactly to work with us, (the cross would sooner eat our hearts out of our bodies, than work all spiritual filth and dross out of our souls) yet he will have that he doth in this kind, work to some purpose with us, he will not have us come out of the fire as we went in, he will not endure we should come off the fire as foul and as full of scum, as we were when he set us on. And that the cross may have this effect indeed on us, he doth in mercy to us, till it be done, withdraw himself from us, that his wonted manner of presence may not hinder the work of it.

[Reason 6] Sixthly, God dealeth thus oft with them, to stir up and kindle their zeal, to make them more fervent in prayer, and in seeking unto him, and to take away that coldness and remissness that usually groweth upon them, when they are free from such afflictions. Thus he neglected the Israelites, though fighting in a just quarrel, and suffered them to fall before their brethren, the Benjamites, maintaining a bad cause, till they fasted and prayed more earnestly, and by a kind of holy and religious importunity wrested aid and assistance from God. Thus he delayed and put off the poor woman of Canaan crying after him: he would neither hear her, nor the Disciples making suit for her: he answered her at first with a seeming kind of sullen silence; then with a cutting answer, sharper than his former silence; I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of Israel: And, It is not fit to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs. But those speeches were but as blasts of the belowes, not to blow out, but to blow up the fire of her faith, and to make it so to blaze, as should astonish those that saw it. And it is a dissimulation, saith Bernard, not an indignation, a concealment of affection, no abatement of love, that Christ in the Canticles oft withdraweth and hideth himself from his dearly beloved, and is not found of her, nor returneth to her, so soon as she calleth; it is but to exercise her love, to inflame her affection, to make her more eager in seeking up and down after him. He doth as a father that hath a son at the University, who though he understand, by his Tutor or some other friends, of his wants, yet will not take notice of them, till from his son himself he hear of them, Let him write, saith he, himself for them; and it may be he shall write twice too before he have what he desireth, because he will by such means have him both to learn to know his duty, and to exercise his pen also for his own good: So our heavenly Father, though he know well enough what we have need of, nor will he suffer us to want ought that shall be needful for us, yet he will have our wants made known to him by suit and supplication, ere he will take notice of them, yea he will make us sue long many times ere he fulfill our desires, because he will have us to exercise his Spirit of Prayer in us. Or as the Nurse, who perceiving that the child beginneth to neglect her, withdraweth her self aside, and keepeth some while out of sight, yea and letteth the child, it may be, cry a good ere she come again to it, to make it grow more fond on her, when it hath been afraid of losing her: So DAVID, when in his prosperity he began to presume more than was meet on God's favor, and to grow somewhat reckless in that regard, as if God were now so firm to him, that he were sure never to lose him, nor to have the effects and fruits of it ever withdrawn from him, albeit he were not altogether so careful to use all good means to retain it, as formerly he had been. Thou turnedst, saith he, thy face from me: and then being sore troubled, he sought earnestly with strong cries and salt tears, to recover and regain again the sense of God's favor, which by his own neglect he thus had lost. Or as a Father, saith one, that holding an Apple in his hand, which the child would fain have, letteth him toile and tug at it, and with much ado unloose finger after finger, yea, and it may be, whine and cry heartily ere he come by it: So doth God many times with us, to make us wrestle with him, and as Jacob sometime by intention and eagerness of prayer wring favor away from him; and as the poor widow did by the unjust Judge, even by our importunity overcome him. Or as our Savior Christ dealt with the two Disciples, when he made as though he would go further, though he meant not to leave them, to make them the more instant on him, to press him to stay with them: So doth God many times make as though he were leaving, or had left us, to incite us to a more fervent and instant usage of all holy means, whereby we may either keep his favor with us, while we yet have it, or fetch it again when it is gone.

[Reason 7] Seventhly, God doth thus to commend to us his mercy, to teach us to make more account of his favor, when by the want of it we have felt what a bitter thing it is to be without it, and after long miss of it, come to re-enjoy it again. The present evil is ever the greatest: and the fit we felt last seemeth usually the sharpest. But the present good is deemed commonly the least; and that that goeth from us better, than that that abideth by us: and albeit the departure of ought from us, make it never a whit the better, yet any good thing seemeth better when it is going, and better yet when it is gone, than it did while either there was yet no fear of losing it, or it had not yet left us. We never understand the worth of anything so well, as by the want of it. The eye cannot so well judge of an object, if it be sited too near it; nor if it be continually without any intermission in the eye. The continued and continual enjoyment of the best things, yea and of those that best please us, though not always the best indeed, without intermission or enter-change, is wont to breed, if not a surfeit, yet a glut and a satiety, that so dulleth the souls appetite, that it maketh us as less apprehensive of, so less affected with the benefit that we enjoy in them. Health is never known what a jewel it is, till by sickness we have been some time deprived of it. Nor do God's children know so well, what a blessing they have of the sense of God's favor, till by some spiritual desertion they have been a while bereft of it. But as health is better esteemed when we have been sick some time: and fire is more comfortable when we have been a while in the cold: and our meat is then best relished, when we have fasted longer than ordinary: and rest is most delightful, when we have been toiled and are tired: and liberty is more welcome when we have been some time restrained of it, than when without interruption we have constantly retained it: So God's favorable aspect is much more acceptable and comfortable, when the sun-shine of his favor beginneth to break forth again, after some black and bitter tempests and storms of his wrath; especially when they have been of long continuance, and much pains hath been taken for the recovery of it again. Things long looked for are most welcome, when they come at the last: And that is commonly sweetest, that is gotten with most sweat. Samuel was the dearer to Anna, because she had stayed long for him, and by earnest suit at length obtained him, when she was almost out of hope of him. So was John the Baptist to his Parents, who had long sought him of God, and were vouchsafed him in their latter years. Jacob loved Benjamin, because he paid so dear for him; he bought him with the life of his beloved Rachel that died of him: and both him and Joseph, because he had them in his old age; yea so full of joy was Jacob, when he saw Joseph again, whom he had long wanted, and had clean given over for gone, that he desired not to live a day longer. It is a good note of Ambroses, from a speech of the Apostles, that God loveth to have many sue to him for one, that he may have thanks again of the more. So God loveth to have his blessings and favors begged long ere he part with them, that we may learn the better to value them, and to make more account of them, and to be more thankful to him for them, when we have them. For when they come unsued for, we are wont to make the less of them. Profered ware, for the most part, is but slightly esteemed of. We make light of the first and the latter rain, of the constant course of the Sun, and the seasons of the year, though on these things dependeth the stay and the staff of our life, because they come commonly in a constant and an ordinary course: But when a little dash of rain cometh after fasting and prayer upon a long drought, we are usually as more affected with it, so more thankful to God for it, than for all the sweet dew or the plentiful showers that God's flagons shed down upon us the whole year before. Oh, saith DAVID, when he had some space of time found a restraint of God's favor, that before he had enjoyed, now if God would vouchsafe to look lovingly upon him, and restore him the wonted sight and sense of his favor again, he would teach sinners God's ways, and his mouth should set forth God's praise; and he would offer up to God anything, that he should desire and would accept of. And for this cause, no doubt, among others, doth God make us many times sue long for it, and cry with DAVID, How long, Lord? before it do come; to make it more welcome to us, and us more thankful for it when it doth come.

[Reason 8] Lastly, he doth so, to make us the more careful to keep his favor, and the sense of it, when we have it, and the more wary to shun and avoid all such courses, whereby we may either lose it or hazard the loss of it: when we shall find by woeful experience, that being once gone, it is not usually so easily recalled or recovered. That that is hardly earned, is wont, to be more carefully kept. A man will not in haste or unadvisedly spend his penny, that he hath labored hard and taken much pains for; especially if he know not how to get so much again, but with the like difficulty when that is gone: But lightly come, we say, and lightly gone; young Gallants that never knew what the getting of money meant, are ready when they come to it, to let all fly abroad, as if they could have it again with a wish or a word, when they would. If God, when (for just causes best known to himself, and for the most part for evil desert and bad demeanure on our part) he hath turned his face away from us, and carried himself strangely toward us, he should by and by suddenly upon the first and least bend of our hamme, or formal sob, or superficial sigh, or a forced tear or twain, or some faint and heartless prayer turn it again toward us, and look kindly again on us; it is to be feared that even the best of us would be overmuch careless of retaining it when we had it. But now when we shall find by woeful and dreadful experience in the bitterness of our spirits, that God's face being once clouded toward us, or turned from us, it must, or may at least cost us many a deep sigh, and a salt tear, long looking, and much longing, even till our heart faint, and our eyes fail, much anguish of mind and perplexity of spirit, much striving and struggling with our own corruption and weakness, and much straining and wrestling by earnest suit and supplication, by fasting and instancy of prayer, ere we can come to prevail so far with God, as to have those thick clouds of his wrath dispelled, and that loving and amiable aspect of his vouchsafed us again; this cannot but make us (if we be not desperately reckless) exceeding careful of all good courses that may keep and retain it with us, when we have it, and no less fearful of ought that may again estrange it away from us. The Spouse in the Canticles, when after long search, with much ado, she had at length lighted on her beloved, whom by her neglect of him, she had unadvisedly given occasion to withdraw himself from her: I took hold on him, saith she, and I will not let him go again. And, Turn away from thy wrath, say the people of God to God in the Psalm, and Let thy face shine forth once again on us: and then will we never go back from thee again, nor give thee the like cause to turn thy face again from us.

And thus you see both in what sense God is said to hide his face from his, and for a long time oft (as both to themselves and to others seemeth) to forget them; as also for what causes he is wont so to do.

[Uses 8] Now hence let us learn then:

[Use 1] First, That we take heed how we censure men as forth of God's favor, in regard of any outward afflictions, yea or inward desertions, though they be great and grievous, long and tedious, sticking close by them without removal or amendment, producing in them many hideous and fearful effects, so that in the eyes of the world, as well themselves as others, God may seem to have cast them off utterly, and to have forgotten them forever. It hath been the state of God's best Saints, of his dearest Children, of his faithfullest Servants, yea of the only Son himself, the Saint of Saints, when he bare the burden of our sins. So that, as DAVID speaketh, if we should so deem, if we should go by this rule, and thereby judge of men's estates, we should condemn, not God's only Son only, which some sometime did, as forth of God's favor, but the whole progeny of God's Children, the whole race of the righteous, whose lot and portion it hath oft been to be in this woeful condition, and to drink of this bitter cup, that Christ their head began to them; and to pass this sharp trial, this fiery and bloody Baptism, that their Savior past before them. If we cannot see how such courses may stand with God's love: we must remember that God's ways, and his works, and dealings with his, are wonderful and unsearchable, far above our reach, and such as we are not able to comprehend. For my ways, saith he, are not as your ways, nor my thoughts as your thoughts. But look how far the heaven is higher than the earth, so far are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. And yet may we in some sort even by human courses conceive, how such things as these are, may well stand even with the greatest love. For God, as the Heathen man well observeth, hath as well a fatherly discretion, as a motherly affection. His love is not a foolish and an undiscreet love, such as many fond mothers have, but a wise, a discreet, a judicious love, such as wise and prudent parents have. He so loveth his children, as he hath a care of their good; and disposeth and administereth all things so as may be for it. A fond mother would have her son always by her good will at home with her, and never out of her sight; would have him crossed in nothing, but let him have his will in everything, though it be to his own evil. But the wise parent driveth him out at doors, sendeth him forth to school, bindeth him apprentice, it may be, or boordeth him abroad, where he seeth him but seldom, breaketh him oft of his will, frowneth on him and correcteth him when he doth otherwise than well; and yet loveth he him no less than the fond mother doth, yea he doth all that he doth in this kind out of love.

Again, further it may stand well with such a fathers love, not to correct his child only for his faults, when he doth amiss, but, when some disease shall require it, to hire the Surgeon to cut him, and to leave him fast bound in his hands, and either to withdraw himself, while the thing is a doing, or if he be by, to refuse to unbinde him, or to do ought for him, when being in fear or in pain, he shall cry and call upon him to stay the Surgeons hand, or to help to untie him. Nor would the Surgeon himself, were he to cure or cut his own child, use a blunter launcet in the cutting of him, or not cut him so much, or so deep, the disease requiring it, as he would do with a mere stranger. And why may it not stand then with the love of God to deal thus harshly and sharply with his dearest children, when either their outward evil courses, or their inward corruptions, by way either of correction, or of cure, (and yet what is correction it self but a kind of cure?) shall require it? He may love them no less, though he hide himself from them, than the nurse, or the mother doth her child, when she hideth her self a while from it, and yet to save her own life, would be full loath to lose or to leave it. Not to add, that the courses that God useth in this kind, are ofttimes as well exercises for those that be in health and good plight for the present, as Physic for those that be crazy and sick, surprised with some deadly or dangerous disease.

[Use 2] Secondly, This may be a warning to God's children, to take heed how they take liberty to sin upon assurance of God's favor, and presumption of his goodness and fatherly loving kindness. For though God do love us, yet he doateth not on us. If we carry ourselves saucily or stubbornly towards him, he will not bear it; if we take bad courses, he will not endure it. He will not suffer us through his forbearance of us to be hardened in evil: but by some means or other he will be sure to bring us home again, if at least we belong to him and to his election of love. And though he cast us not off utterly, though he damn us not eternally; yet he may so seem to forget us, so estrange himself from us, so with-draw and withhold from us the light of his countenance, that the bright beams of his favor may never shine forth again on us, as formerly they have done, so long as we live, and • o may we come to have not a purgatory, but a very hell in our souls while we live here, go drooping and dwindling, distressed, distracted and dejected all our life long, and be in little better case for the time than the reprobate oft are, yea than the very devils and damned souls in hell themselves. Though we escape with our lives, yet the cure may be so costly, and the course of Physic and Surgery that God shall take with us, may be so harsh and unpleasant, may put us to those bitter pangs, and unsupportable pains, that it may make us curse the day that ever we did wittingly and willingly that that might provoke such a wrath, or require such a cure, and wish a thousand and a thousand times that we had been, not fast asleep in our beds, but dead and buried in our graves when we did it.

It is a vain thing therefore for any man to presume so, as to say or think; God will never sure deal so roughly with me, though I carry myself otherwise than I ought towards him. Yea it is most fearful and dangerous upon such impious imaginations to presume to displease and provoke him to wrath. For to omit that it is a note of a most ungracious disposition, for a man therefore to be evil, because God is good; and to take liberty to himself to wrong God, because God loveth him. Art thou dearer to God than DAVID was? Art thou deeper in God's books, or higher in his favor than he? Yet how sharply God dealt with him; how roughly, yea how rigorously (as might seem to fleshly reason) he handled him, having provoked him to wrath, and incurred his displeasure, may appear by those Psalms wherein at large he complaineth of it. And how long it was in these cases ere he could recover his former estate of inward comfort and sense of grace with God again, appeareth likewise by his earnest suit, so oft and so instantly commenced for it, both here and else-where.

[Use 3] Thirdly, The consideration hereof should instruct us, not to be utterly dismayed and discouraged, if either we shall find and feel our own estate, or shall see and observe the state of God's Church and Children to be such as DAVIDS was at this present, and all Israel's at other times. That we be not daunted and disheartened, though we meet with many afflictions and distractions, as well troubles without as terrors within, and shall see no sign of God's assistance, but all show rather of the contrary, the fruits of God's favor and love being all with-drawn and withheld from us, and God seeming to carry himself not as a friend, but as a foe towards us, writing bitter things against us, and suffering fearful things to befall us. But learn as the Prophet Isaiah speaketh, when we sit in darkness, and have no light, when we can find no light of joy without, nor spark of comfort within, yet even then to trust in the Name of the Lord, and to stay ourselves upon our God. We must remember that, as the Apostle saith, We walk by faith, and not by sight: So we live by faith, and not by sense. Faith goeth not by feeling; nay it goeth oft against feeling. And this is the very pitch and height of faith, as for a man with Abraham, above hope to believe under hope, so to believe all contrary to that that we see and feel, to believe that God then loveth us, is a kind Father, and will be a sure Savior unto us, when we feel his hand heavy on us, and he seemeth even bent to destroy us.

We are saved by hope, saith the Apostle; but hope that is seen is no hope. And so we are saved by faith; and though this faith be a kind of spiritual sight, and that surer and certainer than bodily sight; and those things that are not seen by it, are better seen, than those things that are seen; yet the faith (to speak properly) that is seen is no faith: for Faith is the evidence of things unseen. For a man therefore to believe that he is in grace with God, when he hath pregnant proofs of God's favor, it is a matter of no mastery. But to believe then when he seeth not, yea to believe it then when he seeth and feeleth all to the contrary in the apprehension of carnal reason, this is the praise and commendation of faith indeed. We must consider what is or should be the ground and stay of our faith: not these outward props, which we are wont so much to lean on and to trust to, not our own sight or sense, that oft faileth and deludeth us, but God's Word and his Truth, and the stability of his Promise, which though Heaven and Earth should pass away, and all things should return to their first Chaos again, yet shall never in ought fail any of those that depend upon it. Remember thy Word, saith DAVID, unto thy servant, wherein thou hast made me to put my trust: That is my comfort in my trouble; for thy Word putteth life into me. And, Thou art my shelter and my shield; and my trust is in thy Word. And learn we herein to imitate the earth that we tread on. Though being a massy body, it hangeth in the midst of the Air, environed with the heavens, and yet keepeth his place steedily, and never stirreth an inch from it, having no props or shores to uphold it, no beams or bars to fasten it, nothing to stay or establish it, but the bare Word of God alone. For by his powerful Word, saith the Apostle, he upholdeth all things. And, Thy Word, saith the Psalmist, O Lord, abideth forever. And, Thy Truth is from age to age: thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and it standeth still. It abideth by it to this day by virtue of thine Ordinance. And in like manner must we learn to depend upon the bare Word of God, when all other props and stays shall be pulled away from us: to trust him upon his bare promise without pledge or pawn. Else we deal with him no otherwise than any Usurer will with the veriest beggar or banckrout that is, when he cometh to borrow money of him. Though he dare not trust him on his word, nor on his bond neither (it is naught worth; nothing better than his word;) yet on his pawn or his pledge he dare trust either the poorest or the unfaithfullest man that is. But as Augustine saith well, That it is but an harlotry love for a woman to love the gift more than the giver; and so to love the giver no longer than he giveth: So it is but an harlotry faith for a man to trust God's pledge or pawn more than God himself, and so to trust him no further than he seeth or feeleth what he doth. Yea the truth is, that in these cases, when we dare trust God no further, nor rely on him any longer than we have some pledge or pawn of his providence, we trust not him, but we trust his pledge, as he trusteth not the poor man, but trusteth only his pawn, that dare not lend him ought but upon his pawn. And hereby may we try and examine the sincerity and the soundness of our faith, what it is indeed that we rely upon, what it is that we trust to: If we can say, as DAVID here afterward in the shutting up of the Psalm, That we then trust in God's mercy, and expect safety from him, even when he seemeth to have forgotten us, and to have hidden his face from us; if we can then comfort ourselves in the Lord our God, when all other aids and comforts have taken their leave of us. It is a feeble faith that cannot stand without stilts, a lame faith that cannot go without crutches. Hereby will appear whether a man's stilts bear him up or no, if he be able to stand, when they are taken away from him: if he can, it is a sign he rested not on them, though he made use of them; if he cannot, it were they, not his legs that upheld him. And hereby may it appear what our faith and confidence is founded on, whether on God's word or his pledge, his pawn or his promise: If when the pledge or the pawn is gone, yet our faith abideth still firm, it is a sign that it was fixed on God himself, and not on it: But if when it is gone, our faith falleth to the ground, it is a sign that our faith was wholly founded on it, not on God or God's Word, which abiding still firm, our faith were it thereon founded would continue steadfast with it. For Those that trust in the Lord, saith the Psalmist, are as mount Zion, that standeth fast, and never stirreth. And this is that that we should by all means labor and strive unto, that our faith may rest and rely on God himself, and his infallible and unfaileable Word of promise, not upon the outward pledges and pawns of his providence, nor on the ordinary effects and fruits of his favor, that so when these shall be withdrawn, yea and withheld long, it may be, from us, so that God may in anger seem to have hid his face from us, and to have forgotten us, which, as we see, hath been ofttimes the state and condition of God's children, yet we may not be disheartened, but see light even in darkness, and be able to discern the sweet Sun-shine of God's favor even thorough the thickest clouds of his fiercest wrath.

So likewise for the Church of God, when we shall see it either in general, or in some principal parts of it, so left unto the fury and rage of her malicious and mischievous-minded adversaries, that God seemeth not to regard it, or what becometh of it, but even suffereth them to have their own will upon it; in so much, that as Gregory Nazianzen saith of his time, God's former providence and care of keeping his Church may seem utterly to fail, and that he hath ceased and given over to do for it in these days as he had wont to do in former times: yea when we shall see it left in such plight, not for a short space only, but for so long a time together (her enemies might and malice daily growing more and more, and her means on the other side daily more and more failing, and her might and power daily more and more impaired and impoverished) that God may seem clean to have forgotten her, and to think no more of her, but even to have cast her off forever: yet must we not despair even then of her preservation, and of the raising of her up again. But as Jehoshaphat in his straights, have the eyes of our faith fixed upon God, and his Word: who hath promised (and his promise shall never fail, or prove false) never to leave or forsake his, though for a time he may seem so to do. And we must withal remember that this is no new matter, but the same that ofttimes hath befallen the Church of God formerly. That man's extremity is God's opportunity. It is now time for thee, saith DAVID, Lord, to put to thy hand, when men have even destroyed thy Law. So then is God's time to help his Church, when it seemeth ready to be destroyed and even utterly swallowed up forever. Then is the fittest time for the Angel to call to Abraham to stay his hand, when the knife is even at Isaac's throat, and he given up now for dead. And then is the seasonablest time for God to set in foot for the rescuing of his Church and Children, and the deliverance of his chosen ones, when the enemies dagger is at their very heart, and they seem now given up for gone. As Philo sometime told his people, That he was verily persuaded that God would now do something for them, because Gaius was so earnestly bent against them; yea that then God's help is nearest, when man's is furthest off. As it is commonly said, Where the Philosopher endeth, there the Physician beginneth; and where the Physician endeth, there the Divine beginneth: So where man's aid endeth, there God's aid beginneth. Deliverance is oft nearest, when destruction seemeth surest. It is never fitter time for God to put to his helping hand, than when all human helps, that are wont to be as veils and curtains drawn between our eye and God's hand, do utterly fail. When Judgment, saith the Prophet, was turned back, and Justice stood aloof off, and Truth was fallen in the streets, and Equity could not enter, and all true dealing failed; and by refraining from evil men made themselves but a prey to the evil: and the Lord saw it, and wondered that no man would stand up or put forth himself to stand for the Truth: Then did he himself put in to save by his own arm, and by his Justice to support those that were ready to sink. Then put he on Judgment as a Corslet, and Salvation as an Helmet; and Vengeance as a Roabe, and Wrath as a Cloake: to repay the fury of his adversaries, and to recompense his enemies. Then, saith the Prophet, God did thus: and why not till then? Surely (to omit all other ends) to get himself the more glory. That they might fear the Name of the Lord from the West, and his Glory from the Sun-rising; when with a blast of his breath, he should suddenly turn the tide again, and the Spirit of the Lord should drive back, yea & carry away the enemy, that brake in like a flood, had surrounded a great part, and was like to over-flow & over-whelme all. That man's fury, as the Psalmist speaketh, might turn to God's glory, when by his bare rebuke with a word of his mouth, both horse and chariot are cast into a dead sleep, and the troops of archers are utterly discomfited, and the remnant of their rage is contrary to expectation restrained. That he may be known and magnified for a mighty God, and a powerful Protector; when, though the nations rage, and the kingdoms are in such a commotion, that the earth seemeth to shake withal, and the very mountains to be removed, and swallowed up in the Sea; yet he suddenly stilleth all; breaketh their bows, knappeth their spears asunder, and burneth up their chariots, and by a general desolation, and destruction of his enemies, settleth such peace the whole world over, (for the behoove of his Church, and the freer passage of his Truth) as was in Augustus time, when the Prince of peace came into the world.

[Use 4] Fourthly, Let us learn in these cases to examine ourselves where we find such things to befall us, whether we have not been or grown careless in endeavoring to retain the favor of God with us, and to maintain the work of his Spirit in us: and strive therein to be more fervent, wherein formerly we have been slack. For that is one cause why God is wont so to estrange himself from his children, to fetch them home to him, that are too prone to stray from him, when he dealeth kindly with them; and to make them more earnest and fervent in those things, that they had waxed remiss and reckless in before, when they were free from such afflictions; that as water pent up in a pipe, shooteth up higher than it would otherwise, had it scope and space to disperse it self; so our thoughts and desires that would otherwise be straying abroad and wandering in the ends of the world, being by affliction and anguish straitened and restrained, might be carried higher to heavenward, as Noah's Ark was with the waters of the Deluge, and confined unto him, whom they were wandering from before, as the Chicken from her damme, till she be frighted with the Kite. And this is the use therefore that we should make of such desertions, that we be thereby incited to strive to hold that the faster, that we seem in danger to lose; that we stir up ourselves to take faster hold on God, as those that look down from some steep place, when they feel their heads begin to swim, or find themselves in danger of falling, are wont to take better hold of the rail that may stay them; cling closer about him, as the nurse-child hangeth on the nurse or the mother, when she seemeth about to leave it, or threatens to throw it down; and as the wheel of the water-mill, the more violently the flood driveth it away from it, the more violently doth it still turn again upon the stream: So the more violently God with both hands seemeth to thrust and shoove us away from him, the more instantly and eagerly should we enforce ourselves to press upon him. Since for that end he doth it, not that he desireth to be rid of us, but that he may not lose us, that we may come nearer home to him, abide firmer with him, and sit closer by him than formerly we have done: like the father, that when his son hath some way displeased him, biddeth him away out of his sight, (though he would be loath he should so do,) not to drive him away indeed, but to make him draw nearer to him, and by humble submission more earnestly endeavor to pacify and appease his fathers wrath, and seek to regain his favor and good will again: or like as he did with Moses, when he bade him let him alone, that he might destroy that rebellious and idolatrous people; not that Moses should so let him alone indeed, but rather that he might not leave him, but be the more earnest in suit with him on his people's behalf, and not give over till he had obtained his suit for them.

And in like manner should we be affected also in regard of God's Church, when we shall see it to be in such estate as was formerly observed. We should make her case our own; and take occasion thereby, to be the more instant with God, that his face may be turned to it, that seemeth to be turned from it, and that in mercy and goodness he will remember and think upon her as his Spouse, whom now, when like a widow forlorn and desolate, she sitteth weeping and wailing, he seemeth to have forgotten, and not at all to regard. Thus may we observe that DAVID concludeth divers of his Psalms made when he was in such estate himself with suit and supplication for the Church of God in general. Oh be favorable, for thy good pleasures sake, to Zion; and build up the walls of Jerusalem. And, Deliver Israel, O Lord, out of all his troubles. His own present condition was a mean to put him in mind of the afflicted and distressed estate of other of God's servants. And the like use should we all make, either of God's hand on ourselves, or of his dealings in this kind with his Church and children abroad, albeit we ourselves remain free: You that are mindful of the Lord, saith the Prophet, what ever you be, be not silent; be importunate with him, and give him no rest till he repair Zion's breaches, and set up Jerusalem again to be the glory of the world. For to this very end doth God oft as it were wink, and withdraw himself from his people, that we may with strong cries on all hands awake and fetch him again. True it is indeed that God is not as Baal, of whom Elias sometime said to his Priests, Crie aloud; peradventure he sleepeth, and you must wake him. No: he that hath the charge of Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth. And yet he winketh, if I may so say, and seemeth sometime to sleep, as our Savior slept in the ship, when his Disciples were like to have been cast away the whilst, and he doth thus sleep to make us awake; he seemeth to sleep, to make us awake out of our sleep, and cry the louder to wake him out of his seeming sleep. Up, Lord, say they, why sleepest thou? Awake, we beseech thee; and stand not aloof off forever. Why dost thou hide thy face away from us? and forgettest what misery and affliction we are in? As the Disciples to our Savior, when they awoke him out of sleep; Save us, Master: Carest thou not that we perish? And again, The Lord awaked, as one that had been asleep. Thus at this very present doth God seem to be asleep, while the enemies of his Church daily prevail and get ground of her, and triumph over her. He seemeth, I say, to sleep, and he would by our out-cries be awaked. And sure it is to be doubted that we have not yet cried long enough or loud enough, that he seemeth to sleep still, and doth not yet rouse and raise up himself for the deliverance of his distressed ones.

[Use 5] Fifthly, Is this oft the estate of God's Children, that not in the sight of others only, but to their own sense and feeling too, God seemeth to have left them, and to have cast them clean off? And may it therefore, for ought we know, prove the estate of each of us? For nothing in this kind befalleth one, but what may befall any: whose estate may not that be, that was DAVIDS once? yea rather that was DAVIDS oft? The consideration hereof then should stir us up everyone to labor before hand to get good assurance of God's favor while we are free yet from such afflictions, from such spiritual desertions. As Xenophon saith (and it was a good speech though of a mere natural man,) That it stood rich men upon to make God their friend in prosperity, that so they might be sure to find a friend of him in adversity. So it standeth us upon to get good assurance of God's favor and love towards us, while we are free from afflictions, that when they shall befall us, we may have comfort of that assurance which formerly we have gotten. For it is with God's children commonly in this case, as it is with one that hath received such a blow or wound on the head, as that though it be not deadly, nor depriveth him wholly of life, yet so astonisheth him for the time, that albeit he have life in him with Eutychus, yet he hath no sense of it: or as with one in a swoon, that discerneth not the light of the Sun, though it shine full upon him, nor can see ought, or take notice of those that stand about him and take pains with him. Or as it is with those that have been Sea-sick, and are giddy when they come first ashore, all seemeth to turn round with them, and the earth it self to reel and roll up and down as the ship did. And even so is it usually with them at such times, though they have spiritual life of grace in them, yet they feel it not; ( Create in me, saith DAVID, O Lord, a new heart, as if all were to be begun again:) though they be in God's favor, yet they see it not; they are not able to discern (there is such a mist over their eyes) the beams of God's love and favor toward them, though it shine out brightly even then full in their face, nor his provident eye over them, and care of them, though even them also it be working about them for their benefit, as effectually as ever. All seemeth to be shaken with them, even God's eternal love it self toward them, though more firm than the pillars of heaven and earth it self are. It is no time therefore then for a man to take trial of his own estate, when his thoughts and affections are so disturbed and distracted, as DAVID confesseth that it was with him at this time. But it is a fit time for him to make use then of his former trial. For that man that hath before-time taken sound trial of himself, and upon due and diligent search, hath found himself to be in the estate of grace, and consequently in favor with God; he may then yet take notice therefore, and reap comfort thereby, not regarding what then for the present he feeleth, but remembering what upon such enquiry he hath formerly found; and assuring himself, since that the gifts and graces of God are without repentance; and that once elected, and ever beloved; for Whom God loveth once, he loveth forever; he is no changeling in his love; that therefore the grace that once he had is not utterly gone, though he cannot now discern it; nor the grace that he once was in with God is not utterly lost, though it be so concealed, that for the present he cannot now descry it. And as women that go with child, when they have sometime felt the child stir in the womb, do thereby know that they have quickened, and have truly conceived, though they do not always so feel it. So if once we have found upon due and sound trial good assurance of God's grace and favor by the effectual and powerful work of his good Spirit upon our souls, and by the comfortable motions thereof in our hearts, though we have not the like always, (as Alas, saith religious Bernard, they come but seldom with many a one, and when they do come, they are soon gone again ) yet we may be assured that we have conceived and are quickened, and that spiritual life is not gone again, though we find it not so sensibly to work in us at all times, yea the rather here may we build upon it, as having far better assurance, than women can in such cases have of the life of that they go with; because that that is conceived in them being bred of mortal and corruptible seed, though it have been quickened, yet may die and miscarry, ere they be delivered of it; whereas that that is by God's Word and his Spirit bred and conceived in us, being bred of immortal and incorruptible seed by the Word of God that liveth and lasteth forever, if it be once there conceived, can never die nor decay again, but endureth to eternity, as he himself doth, by whose Spirit it is begotten and bred in us. Or as one that hath at leisure times cast up and balanced his accounts, and brought all to one entire sum, is at any time ready, if on a sudden he be called to a reckoning, though he have not time or leisure then amids many distractions otherwise to run over his reckonings, or to cast up the particulars, yet to tell how things stand with him; it requireth no more but the bare reading, he need not stand to recount it, being sure that it was well & truly cast up before: So he that hath before-time truly tried his own estate, and made his reckonings up concerning the same with God and his Word, may thereby know then how it standeth with him in regard of God, by calling to mind only the issue of his former examination, when by reason of disturbance and distraction through the violence of temptation, he shall have little leisure or liberty to take any exact trial or proof of it at the present.

Exceeding injurious therefore are they herein to themselves, that defer and put off the trial of their estate till such times; and by reason that then either their sacrifice affordeth no good signs, or they light on an evil Interpreter, that turneth all to the worst, by such their delay they miss then of much comfort, that otherwise they might have had, if they had taken trial of themselves and their estates in due time, but by means of their neglect thereof they are then deprived of, when they have most need of it. And surely did men know beforehand what need they should have, and what want they may find of comfort in such cases, and how unfit and unapt they are like then to find themselves for such employments, they would be questionless more careful to sift and examine themselves before such times of trial, and by good assurance of God's grace and favor gained beforehand, treasure up some store of comfort that may then stand them instead, when there shall be no Manna found abroad in the fields, nor such sweet dew dropping down upon their dry and thirsty souls, as there hath done formerly. It is a wise and prudent course, in summer to lay up against winter; in time of peace to provide for war; and before storms come, for men to furnish themselves with such necessaries as they may then stand in need of. And it will be our best wisdom to get and lay up such matter of comfort beforehand, that whensoever such times of trouble and trial shall come, we may have that at hand then, that may stand us instead, and not be driven to seek for it, when we should make use of it, and shall find it hard to come by, if we were not furnished with it before.

[Use 6] Sixthly, If God in such our afflictions and desertions do not instantly answer us, if he send not comfort and deliverance so soon as we call for it; if he shall hide himself from us, and seem not willing to be found of us so soon as ever we seek him; (that which we do not yet oft, when we seem to do) let us take heed how we grow thereupon impatient. Let us remember that God heareth us, even when he seemeth to be deaf towards us; He heareth us to our profit, though not to our pleasure; and to our behoove, though not according to our desire: He is present with us, even when he delayeth us; yea he is present with us, in that he doth delay us; and that is better then present with us, that for the present is denied us. It is a point of mercy in him, that he is not so forward to show mercy. There is no cause therefore for us to be impatient, since that all is for our good; yea Patience it self is good for us; which hereby God doth not try only and exercise, but work in us, and enure us unto. And it is good for us to learn quietly to bear God's yoke, to sit down by it, yea to lie down under it, and thrust our mouth in the dust, assuring ourselves that so doing we shall have a good issue of it, and shall do well in the end.

Patience, I say, is for our good: But by impatiency there is no good to be gotten. It will be but a means to make God lay harder and heavier things on us, when we begin to grow impatient under his hand. As a discreet Father, when his son shall take pet at some small matter that his father hath crossed him in, may well thereupon take occasion, yea and many times doth, to give him some further and greater cause of discontent, to bring him thereby to know himself and his duty, and to teach him to rest content with that that his father will have: So when God sendeth smaller and lighter crosses, and men wax waspish and wayward under them, God is wont to second them with greater and weightier afflictions, to work patience into them, and to enure them to the yoke; which being patiently borne, will become lighter unto us, and may the sooner in all likelihood be removed from us, having taken out that lesson that God thereby would learn us. Whereas by impatience it will but grow more grievous unto us, as the snare is to the fowl, that by fluttering and straining makes the string straiter, to her greater torment, and yet is never the nearer getting out again; as the yoke is to the beast, that by striving and struggling with it, hath galled her neck, and yet is compelled to draw still in it, with more pain then from her own folly, than from the weight of it, or of that that she draweth in it: And we shall but thereby procure to ourselves the more evil; as the sick man in a burning fever, while by tossing and tumbling to and fro, he seeketh to find ease, doth but exasperate the disease, and increase his own grief.

Let us beware therefore of impatience; But let us take heed [Use 7] especially, how any length of afflictions maketh us once think of leaving God, or of seeking with Saul to Satan, by putting our hands unto wickedness, or using indirect courses, for the salving and easing or relieving of ourselves. It was the Devils policy that he used, but without success, with our Savior; to bear him in hand that his Father had cast off all care of him, thereby to persuade him to depend no longer upon his providence, who if he did love him or regard him, would not so suffer him to starve. And it is one of the flights that even to this day he useth oft with God's servants, thereby in time of affliction to withdraw them from relying on God, who seemeth not to look after them, as if they were sure to perish, if they shifted not for themselves, but trusted still to him, that had no care at all of them. And howsoever by this engine he prevailed not with our Savior, yet by it with many other, too many, too oft he prevails, and maketh them commit much folly. For while through weakness of faith, and want of patience, they are loath to wait God's good leisure, and desirous to be rid, in all haste, of the present affliction, they put their hand oft to such courses as produce fearful effects, and use such sory shifts for the relieving of themselves, as do but plunge them further and deeper into such a labyrinth of evils, as they are many times never able to get out of again. So that it fareth with them, as with persons unskillful in swimming, that having ventured past their depth, and being in danger now of drowning, while hastily and inconsiderately they catch at what cometh next hand, to save themselves with, lay hold oft on weeds, that do but entangle them, and draw them deeper under water, and there keep them down from ever getting up again, till they be (that which by such means they sought to prevent) indeed drowned. This subtle slight of Satan we must be careful in these cases to discover, and say to ourselves, when such things shall be suggested unto us: This is but my weakness, or Satan's wickedness: God I know hath not left me, though he may seem not to look after me. He now trieth me whether mine heart be upright with him or no, whether I will cleave constantly to him, though he do nothing but cross me, and abide still with him, though he seem wholly to neglect me; or whether I will leave him, and give over adhering unto him, if he do not use me as I would that he should. And therefore I will resolve, that I may not prove unsound, to keep constantly with him, and not hearken to Satan, nor yield to such indirect courses, as by him shall be suggested, for the procuring either of ease or of delivery, whatsoever shall come of it. Such constancy shall seal up unto us our sincerity; and shall not want with God a rich and a royal reward. For he that shall so continue depending upon God, when all human helps shall fail him, and all lawful means of releef; choosing rather to endure grief and pain all his life long, and to live a life more bitter than death it self, than to make trial of any unlawful course to procure ease and relief; such a man so dying, saith Chrysostom, shall have his place in heaven among the Martyrs; yea such a one is no other than a Martyr indeed; he is as good a Martyr as he that leaveth his head on the block, or is burnt to ashes at a stake for the testimony of God's truth, and the keeping of a good conscience. All the difference between the one and the other is this; that to the one it is said, Deny Christ, or thou shalt die; to the other it is said, Do evil, or thou shalt live wretchedly, thou shalt live a life little better, if not worse, than death. He is once for all a Martyr, that will rather endure the one; he is oft, yea every day a Martyr, as Paul saith of himself, that he died daily, that chooseth rather to undergo the other. Too prone we are to stray from God, when he useth us well, when he dealeth lovingly with us: but a most blessed thing it is, when our hearts are so linked to him, that we will not stir an inch from him, though he seem to carry himself never so harshly towards us.

[Use 8] Lastly, Would we have God in these cases to remember us? let us be careful then to remember him; yea let us then learn to remember ourselves. Let us take heed how we forget him, if we would not have him to forget us: for our forgetfulness of him, and our duty to him, is for the most part the cause that moveth him to forget us. As indeed what can be more just, or what more equal, than for God to forget us, when we forget him, and to neglect us, when we regard not him; to refuse to hear us, when we refuse to hear him? Or how can we with any color complain of the one, when we are guilty of the other? Yea when God seemeth to have forgotten us, if we would have him again remember us, Let not us then be backward to remember ourselves: But let us apply ourselves to make a right use of the cross; help to further the effect of it, do not cross or hinder the work of it. The more speedy success God's hand hath with us, the sooner it is like to be removed away from us. DAVIDS struggling with it, and hanging back, and refusing to yield to that that God thereby required of him, was a mean to continue it the longer upon him, and to put him to the more pain. And this undoubtedly is one main cause of the long continuance of many evils, that men are humbled, as Bernard speaketh, and yet are not humble; they will break in sunder, ere they will bow or bend under God's hand. Let us apply ourselves therefore to that which by the cross God requireth of us, if we desire to have the cross removed again away from us.

Now this that we may do,

[Means 1] First, We must endeavor to inquire and find out the cause of the cross, and the ground of God's aversion of his face away from us. A disease can never be well cured, till the cause of it be discovered: Nor can we take any right course for the removal of a cross, unless that that hath procured it be in some sort discovered. The voice of the Lord, saith the Prophet Micah, crieth unto the City. God by his judgments preacheth not verbal, but real Sermons unto us. He preacheth even without preaching, as Basil speaketh. As he is said to hold his peace, though he do speak, when he doth not punish; so is he said to preach, though he speak not, when he doth punish. His very judgments are real Sermons of reformation and repentance. They have a voice, saith the Prophet: But everyone understandeth not this voice. They spake in a strange language to many, to the most; as Paul's companions, when Christ spake to him, they hear a noise and no more. The foolish, saith the Psalmist, conceive it not, and the brutish understand it not. But a man of wisdom, the wise man, saith the Prophet, knoweth what it meaneth. And as the Psalmist speaketh of God's works of mercy; Who so is wise to observe these things, such shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord: So of his works of judgment saith Jeremiah, Who so is wise to understand these things, to him the mouth of God speaketh, and he is able to declare what this Voice of God saith. And of both of them the Prophet Hoshe, Who so is wise, will understand these things: and who so is of understanding, will know that the Lord's ways are strait and even, and the just shall walk in them, but the wicked shall fall in them. To use Chrysostom's comparison, yea and Augustine's too; Lay you a book open before a child, or one that cannot read, he may gaze and stare on it, but he can make no use of it, because he understandeth nothing at all in it. But bring it to one that can read, and that understandeth the language it is written in, and he can read you many stories or instructions out of it. It is as dumb and silent to the one; it speaketh to, and talketh with the other. In like manner is it with God's judgments, as Augustine also well applieth it: all sorts of men see them, but few are able aright to read them▪ • r to understand them what they say.

But what is it that the wise man is by them admonish • ? Surely, to listen to the Rod, saith Micah; and who, or what it is that hath procured it: to inquire, saith Jeremiah, what is the cause, why the land is spoiled, and lieth burnt up like a wild wilderness, that no man passeth thorough; that is, to search out the cause of the present cross. To which purpose also God's people in the time of their captivity, Let us search, say they, and sift out our works and our ways. They had before entered into some discourse and dispute with themselves, what might be the cause of that their calamity. And first they lay down this for an undoubted and undeniable position, That there is no evil that befalleth any, either person or people, but the Lord hath his hand in it. Dare any man, say they, say, that ought cometh to pass, and the Lord hath not appointed it? Doth not both good and evil come out of his mouth? But what then? Doth God as earthly fathers do, who in an idle humor sometime correct their children without cause? Or doth God take pleasure in stamping upon his people, and in vexing and grieving of them? No: he doth not willingly, or from the heart punish, and afflict the sons of men. It is a grief to him to be grievous unto us; it is a pain to him to be punishing of us. It goeth as much against the heart with him to afflict, as it goeth against the hair with us to be afflicted. Why but, what is the cause then that he dealeth so harshly with us, that he carrieth himself so austerely towards us? Wherefore is the living man afflicted? Man suffereth for his sin. We have sinned and rebelled against him: and he hath not spared us. God is good of himself; he hath his harshness from us; it is our corruption that requireth it. A disordered patient maketh a cruel Physician. By our disordered courses, we enforce him to anger, in whom anger is not; and even wrest and wring that from him, that in some sort is not in him. Therefore, saith he, have I smitten thee with the wounds of an enemy, for the multitude of thine iniquities, and because thy transgressions are grievous. What these sins of theirs therefore were, do they desire and purpose to make Search, that so coming to understand the true cause of their calamity, they may set upon some course for means of recovery. And in like manner ought we to do upon the like occasions, say as Job doth; Shew me, O Lord, or make known to me, wherefore thou contendest with me: do as DAVID did, when in Israel they had had a long time of dearth; He went to ask of God for what cause it might be: make a search into, take surveigh of our hearts and our lives; labor, as Solomon speaketh, to find out the plague, the cause of it at least, in our hearts, and in our courses.

And for our better furtherance herein we may consider, [Consider. 6]

[Consid. 1] 1. What sins especially God hath in his Word threatened such judgments against, as are present on us, or any part of his Church. For if such sins be now found rife or reigning among us, there is just cause to suspect that God by such judgments doth make good his word; sealeth up the truth of it; and thereby showeth, that His menaces are not vain, or ineffectual; that his Prophets words, as the profane people sometime spake, are not windy.

[Consider. 2] 2. What sins God hath formerly inflicted the like plagues for on others: which if these times be found to imitate those in, it may well be deemed, that God in justice, as he findeth us like them in practice, so he maketh us like them in punishment; as he findeth the like sins among us, so he poureth the like plagues upon us; as he findeth us sick of the same sores, so he plieth us with the same plasters.

[Consider. 3] 3. How we have abused those things, or ourselves in those things, wherein or whereby God doth punish us. For there is oft an analogy and a proportion between men's practices and God's punishments, between their transgressions and his judgments. Look wherein men offend, therein usually are they punished. And blessings abused are turned oft into curses, as the staff sometime into a Serpent, that men may be crossed and plagued in those things, which they were not thankful for, or used not well, when they were blessed in them. DAVID was too indulgent a father to his children, and he smarted shrewdly for it in Ammon’s rape of Tamar, Absolom's murder of Ammon, and both Absolom's, and afterwards Adoniaes rebellion. When God's people abused those temporal blessings of gold and silver, corn and wine, wool and flax, that he had bestowed on them, God threateneth to return, and take them again away from them. And in like manner he threateneth them, when they observed not his Sabbaths, that their land, during their captivity, should rest and lie waste untilled and untoiled, because it rested not on their Sabbaths, when they dwelt in it: As also that because they set light by the word of God when they had it, he would send a famine of hearing it, when they should be constrained to seek far and near for, and yet not find that, which they then refused when they might have had it, or made no reckoning of, when in great plenty they had it: And because they did not serve the Lord their God with a good will, and with a cheerful heart in the abundance of all things; they should therefore serve their enemies, which he should send upon them, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and want of all things: And as they had served strange gods in their own land, so they should serve strangers in a land that was not their own.

[Consider. 4] 4. How we may have been faulty towards others, in those things that we now suffer ourselves. For there is a just retaliation oft in such cases with God. And there is nothing more equal than such requitals. DAVID abuseth the wife of Uriah; and his own son abuseth his in the same sort. He slayeth Uriah himself with the sword; and for the slaughter of Uriah the sword haunteth his house. Adoni-bezeks cruelty on those that he had conquered, was requited with the like, executed through God's just judgment on him by those into whose hands he fell: and even he himself acknowledgeth the equity of it. And God threateneth such as oppress poor widows and orphans, That their wives shall be widows, and their children orphans.

[Consider. 5] 5. What neglects or evil acts being faulty in them, we have been admonished of, or checked for, either publicly in the ministry of the Word, or privately by good offices of friends or others, yea or inwardly by the voice of our own heart, or the motions and suggestions of God's Spirit, and yet we have not regarded to amend and reform. For it is an usual thing with God, when his Word taketh not place, nor prevaileth with us, to second it with the Rod, as thereby to seal up and confirm the truth of it; so to make us the more attentive unto it. He doth as Absalom did with Joab, when he would not come at him, having sent once or twice for him, he caused his servants to set his corn on fire, and then cometh Joab to him without further sending for, to know what he would with him, and why he had so served him. And so, saith Elihu, doth God; he calleth upon men many times to break off their bad courses, either by outward admonitions, or by inward suggestions; which when men regard not, he layeth some affliction upon them, that continueth with them, and sticketh by them, till it have opened their ears that were stopped before, and pulled down their pride, or taken down their stomach, and made them to say with Saul stricken down to the ground, Lord, what is it that thou wouldest have me to do?

[Considerat. 6] 6. How we have abused, as well God's judgments, as his Mercies; how we have either refused or neglected to hearken as well to the sound of God's rod as to the voice of his Word; what afflictions have formerly been inflicted on us, whereof little or no use at all hath been made by us. For that is also usually God's manner, when men profit not by such crosses as he hath formerly exercised them with, to proceed from shorter to some of longer continuance, from milder to sharper courses. He dealeth with the sons of men, as the Physician doth with his patient; who when he findeth that the potion which he hath given his patient will not work with him, he secondeth it with some stronger purge; when he perceiveth the disease to be so settled, that sudden courses will not serve, he prescribeth him a course of some longer continuance. So our Savior fore-warned the poor man, whom he had healed, That if he sinned again, some worse matter would befall him: his not profiting by the former, would procure unto him some further, some far heavier cross. And God threateneth his people, that if lighter matters would not amend them, he would lay harsher and heavier things on them, till they were even in a manner wasted and consumed withal.

[Means 2] Secondly, what we find ourselves thus faulty in, we should endeavor to reform. As we must labor to find out the cause of the evil, and what hath turned God's face from us; so should we withal labor to remove the same, that the cause being taken away, the effect also may cease; and that God's face that is now turned from us, may be turned again towards us. For this should be the end of our search, to discover what is amiss; and this the end of our discovery, to amend and remove the evil discovered, either in our hearts or in our lives. Otherwise our search is but vain and frivolous, and our inquiry unsincere. Yea, better were it for us never to have been so forward to search, if we be not as forward to redress, what upon search we have found to be otherwise than well with us. It must needs aggravate wrath, when we are shown, or see what is amiss, and are not careful to amend. Let us search and try our ways, say they, and return unto the Lord: (as DAVID of himself, I considered my ways, and turned my feet unto thy paths, where upon such consideration, I found that I had swerved from them:) And then Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto the Lord our God in heaven. As if it were to no end for them to seek unto God by prayer, till they had pulled down the partition wall that severed between them and him; and hindered their suits from getting access to him, or obtaining success with him: until they had, as searched out, so reformed and removed such evils, as upon their search had presented themselves to their sight, and as came to view upon this their surveigh. And indeed till this course be taken, it is to small purpose to pray. It is as if the person pricked or wounded should cry and call upon the Surgeon to have some ease of his pain, but would not endure to have the splinter or the arrow-head pulled out that sticketh fast in his flesh, and causeth his grief: or as if people should pray to God to stay the rage and fury of the burning, when an house or town is on fire, and themselves the mean while pour on oil, or throw on fuel to the fire. This God himself noteth, as the main cause of the continuance of his heavy hand upon his people, Thou criedst, saith he, unto me; O my Father, and the Guide of my youth, Wilt thou retain thy wrath always? wilt thou be angry forever? This thou sayedst; but thou diddest evil more and more still. And, They howl to me on their beds for their corn and their wine: but they rebel against me still. And again; Therefore is not the wrath of God yet turned away, but his hand is stretched out still; because the people turn not to him that smiteth them; nor are turned away from their sins. And surely so long indeed there is no hope of prevailing with God; If I see iniquity in mine heart, saith DAVID, (and be loath to leave it; ) or, If with my heart I look after it, (as we are wont to look after such things as we love and delight in, and are not willing to forgo;) the Lord will never hear any prayer of mine that I make to him. As the cause therefore of the disease must be removed, (and it can be dealt with till it be discovered) ere there can be any sound cure of the disease, or such as shall constantly continue: So our sins must be removed that turn God's face and favor from us, and withdraw his regard of us, ere we can hope to have his carriage towards us altered for the better, or any end of our present evils. We enforce him to continue his hard dealing with us while we do otherwise, we restrain him from doing that, that of himself otherwise he would do, and is of himself in his own nature most ready and willing unto, did not we ourselves withhold him from it. So that while we continue still in our sins and excesses, our own practice crosseth and hindereth the effect and fruit of our prayers; and we are like those heathen, of whom the Cynicke observed, that they prayed indeed to their God's for health; but at the very same time when they so did, they used such excess as could not but greatly impair health, and so willfully deprived themselves of that that they prayed for.

[Means 3] Thirdly, that we may thus do; because our heart is not in our own hands, nor is it in man's power to direct his own paths, nor are afflictions able of themselves to effect grace in us, or to work good on us without the aid of God's Spirit working together with them; we should be earnest with God by prayer, that he will be pleased, as he doth correct us, so withal to instruct us; as he sendeth crosses, so that he would vouchsafe grace, whereby we may make a good use of them, and learn to profit by them; as to show and make known to us what he aimeth at in them, so to enable us in some measure to do that which he requireth of us; to turn us unto him, that he may return unto us.

[Means 4] And lastly, when we have thus done, then may we with the more comfort and confidence deal with the Lord for the removal of the evil it self, be it outward or inward. Then may we seek to him with good assurance of success, because we seek him as we should; we may then praying hope indeed to be heard, those clouds of our iniquities being dispersed and dispelled, that before hindered the passage of our prayers. In a word, thus we repenting of, and turning from our sins, that have turned God away from us, and returning to him that hath hid his face from us, he will turn again in mercy and goodness unto us, and make the light of his countenance again to shine forth upon us; we remembering ourselves, he will cease longer to forget us; Yea, he will begin in mercy again to remember us, who in wrath seemed to have forgotten us; and show that he so doth to our comfort, and the confusion of our foes, by raising of us, and lifting up our heads again, and not suffering them to triumph over us, as formerly they have done.