Seven Treatises, Treatise 4 · Chapter 5
CHAP. 5. Of the fourth reaſon.
ANother reaſon for the perſwading of vsus to looke to the daily guiding of our ſelues in ſome certaine manner, is,The daunger that followes the neglecting of it. Matth. 26.41. Heb. 3.13. for that hee, who will let looſe his heart any day or time of the day to any intemperance, or vnlawfull libertie, doth fall into ſome of Sathans ſnares, and is caught with the deceitfulnes of ſinne immediatly, ſome way or other, if he be not hardened alſo: yea though he be the beſt of many, hee ſhall finde to his coſt how needfull the counſell of the Apoſtle is, watch in all things;2. Tim. 4.5. and therefore at all times: ſo that there ſhal be no time wherein he may caſt off feare of euill, that ſo he may be the man which is ſpoken of, Bleſſed is he that feareth alwaies. Prou. 28.13.Yea he ſhall find that he is more weakened and indaungered by one daies negligence in little regarding his ſoule and his actions (whiles other things of leſſe value are carefully looked to) then in an hundred, wherein his care and conſcience were continued, beſides that, he ſhall not eaſily recouer himſelfe againe. For although God keepe his children from many euils, while they deſire it: Pſal. 32 6.7. Pſal. 91.11. 2. Sam. 7.14. 2. Chron. 16.9. Prou. 10.9. Pſal. 89.31yet if they be ſecure, hee leaueth them to themſelues, and doth puniſh their ſinnes, as he doth other mens. And who would bee willing to hauehave his life filled with many feares, diſquiets, reproches, and ſuch other croſſings, when he might be free and merrie? But beſides, nothing is better prooued to vsus then this, that the enuious man watcheth all opportunities, yea when men leaſt ſuſpect it, to ſow tares with the good ſeede; to vnſettle them,Matth. 13.25. to ſteale away their heart and louelove from God, to giuegive it vntounto creatures. And therefore much more, when we hauehave remitted our care, and left off our watch (whereby hee knoweth and ſeeth,Matth. 12.44. that we are now as an houſe ſwept and trimmed vp readie to receiue ſuch a gueſt) much more (I ſay) doth he then take his opportunitie to enter and keepe poſſeſsion in vsus more ſtrongly, and ſo depriueth vsus of our former liberties. And euen as Sampſon, when his lockes were clipped off, was afraid and troubled at the voyce of his wife, ſaying:Iudg. 16.20. The Philiſtims be vponupon thee Sampſon; but yet thought with himſelfe, I will ariſe and eſcape their hands, as in times paſt, but could not: ſo when the diuell hath ſecretly ſtolne our hearts from our true treaſure, euen from attending vponupon God,Pſal. 130.5. Pſal. 123.2. and hath fixed them vponupon ſome other thing, as pleaſure, profit, aduauncement, or ſuch like; wee thinking to doe as in times paſt, when we had our hearts at commandement, doe goe about it in vaine: For our ſtrength which we had ſometime, is gone, and we by ſeeking libertie amiſſe, and ſhaking off the Lords yoke, doe finde by experience the fruite of ſuch follie, I may more fitly call it madnes. It is not therefore without cauſe, that wee are ſo earneſtly warned by the holie Ghoſt, that we keepe our hearts with all diligence: And againe,Prou. 4.23. Prou. 23.17. Let thy heart be in the feare of the Lord continually: which a man would thinke ſhould be vnderſtood by vsus of one day as wel as another, that it be not neglected at any time. For although God will direct and guide vsus in the way wherein he hath ſet vsus, as I hauehave ſaid, yet out of this way (if we will needes waxe wearie of it) we ſhall finde nothing but awknes and croſſing of vsus, wandring and vncomfortablenes, becauſe that in no ſuch ſtate hath God promiſed to gouerne vsus. But ſtirre vp the gifts of God which are in thee, and that powerfull grace, which thou haſt receiued, daily pray to hauehave renued in thee, by ſuch direction as may be giuen thee, and thou ſhalt finde thy ſelfe to bee ſet forward with ſuch eaſe, as thou wilt beware that thou forgoe it not againe.
Moreouer, if any would ſhake off this doctrine, as ſifting him more narrowly, then he can well like of: and therefore would for the ſeeking of more libertie to the fleſh, cauill at theſe Scriptures, as miſalleaged, ſuch an one muſt needes maintaine, that there is ſome time, and ſome daies, more libertie giuen to man, then at other times, and on other daies. But hee is driuen from that hold by manifeſt Scripture, as hee is tied to a daily direction by the former. For to the ſtopping of ſuch mouthes, is that written by the holy Ghoſt: Take heede that there be not at any time, Heb. 3.12.in any of you an euill heart, and ſo a departing thereby from the liuing God: If not at any time, then much leſſe any day, wherein are many times, ſeeing it is manifeſt that there are many times, yea houres in the day, wherein the heart may ſtart aſide from God, that is, from doing his will: So that nothing ſhall be gained by reſiſting the truth, but it ſhall turne to the ſwifter damnation of them, which doe it. Men may ſay (I denie not) that it is hard to hauehave that rule ouer their hearts: but it will not ſerue them, to the reiecting of the truth (which God hath brought to light to them and made manifeſt to their conſciences) but that they muſt for all that, grant, that it is a dutie to be yeelded vntounto of them, and therefore to bee ſet vponupon and gone about rather then reſiſted, aſſuring themſelues, that an honeſt endeuour ſhall not be in vaine.
Jlluſtration of the former matter by ſimilitudes.And if we ſee this in common reaſon, that a man which hath a long iourney to trauaile, as an hundred or two hundred miles, will not count this ſufficient directiō, to go on Eaſtward or Weſtward, as his way ſhal lie, or by a generall rule only;The firſt. but will take a particular note by what townes he muſt goe eueryevery day, and how hee muſt paſſe from one to another: what marueile ſhould it be, that they who are to trauaile this great and long voyage to the kingdome of heauen, yea and that through this large and weariſome wildernes of the world, doe not reckon their way generally by the yeere, but particularly by eueryevery day, and through the day conſider the diuers kindes of dutie, which they are to performe, as a part of the way by which they ſhould goe, that at night they may reioyce, that they are ſo much neerer their iourneys end (and that in ſafetie and quiet) then they were in the morning at their ſetting foorth, and hauehave not (with the greateſt part) loſt their labour, by going out of their way?
Euen as Moſes teacheth vsus, by his owne example in the Pſalme, where hee ſaith:Pſal. 91.12. Teach vsus, O Lord, to number our daies (that is, to conſider the ſhortnes of our life by the daies of it) that we may applie our hearts to wiſedome: that is, in thoſe few daies thereof. And as the Steward of ſome Noble mans houſe doth not make a generall reckoning and account of much money laid out, but writeth the particulars, daily and hourely as he giueth out and receiueth, that hee may not bee deceiued:The ſecond. ſo and much more (as the Chriſtian life is more precious then all earthly treaſure) doth the wiſe man looke daily to his waies, and through the day, that his account may the leſſe trouble him at his lying downe, and conſequently at the day of his death. Yea, and more then that, ſo will hee euen ſet downe many parts of his life in writing alſo, ſuch as are principally to be kept in record (as Gods benefits, and his owne ſinnes) as he is able, and all to helpe him to be better directed in it.
To the ſame purpoſe of daily looking to our waies,The third. our Chriſtian life is compared to a courſe or race: that as they which runne keepe their bounds and courſe, and goe not aſide out of the way: ſo ſhould they who runne in the Chriſtian race, looke before them, and ſee that they keepe in their way, and not runne on vncertainly, or wandring they know not where, whither, nor how, by peruerting their waies.
It is alſo compared to an high way,The fourth. in the which if we guide and keep our beaſt, although it be loden, it commeth ſafely to the market with the cariage or burden: but if we ſuffer it to goe out of the plaine way into cartrakes, and to climbe vp to the browes and rough waies, it is caſt and wearied: ſo if we keepe in the knowne and beaten way, we goe on our Chriſtian courſe ſafely, although with ſome difficultie, and with many incombrances: but if wee peruert our way, and goe out of it, by and by we fall into daunger,Prou. 10.9. Pſal. 89.32. we know not how great: as by wofull experience many fearing God hauehave found it with them, who then wiſhed they had been circumſpect, when it is too late.
So it is compared to a rule, to guide vsus: that as well in our talke with other,The fift. as alone by our ſelues, in our earthly buſines, as our ſpirituall ſeruice of God: in our affaires abroad, as well as our dealings at home, and in one thing as well as another, we ſhould hauehave certaine direction for eueryevery part of it. And the very ſame thing did the faithfull ſeruant of God S. Paul teach Timothie, 2. Tim. 3.10.his beloued and naturall ſonne in the faith, by his owne example when he ſaid: Thou haſt knowne my courſe, and manner of liuing, &c. as if hee ſhould ſay, what hath been my daily carriage of my ſelfe (for elſe hee could not hauehave ſpoken ſo) and particularly, that it hath been beautified with faith, louelove, patience in great afflictions and perſecutions, with gentlenes to all, and long ſuffering, and bearing much at the hands of vnworthie perſons: thou haſt knowne alſo my minde and purpoſe, what I hauehave deſired yet further.
The ſame is to be ſaid of other faithfull ſeruants of God,Gen. 5.22.23. Gen. 6.5. Heb. 3.2. as Enoch walked with God: Noah was a iuſt and vpright man, and walked with God: And Moſes was faithfull in the houſe of God. Which ſpeeches vttered of the holie people of God in thoſe times, wherein things were ſet downe more darkly, what can they teſtifie of them leſſe, then this which I ſay?
So that it is manifeſt, both by the doctrine of the word of God, and alſo by the examples thereof, that not onelyonly there ought to be a generall guiding of Gods people by the word, but alſo a particular trying of their waies therby, and a framing of them thereto: and that this ought to be as a trade, to be followed in one point as in another, according to the knowledge of euerie one, and therefore to be made an ordinarie courſe of them eueryevery day, to ſeeke to hauehave direction in all things.