A New Canaan Full of Most Pleasant Gardens, Treatise · Case 1
I. Case.
You will be ready to say now, Whither will you carry us? you go so high by this your teaching, as that we shall never be able to follow you, at least some of us; and therefore what shall we do in this case?
I Answer in three Concessions, and three Counsels.
First Concession and Counsel.
I believe you will never be able to follow me some of you, unless you be freed,
First,
From your former, sinful, sensual delights; for is not that the very grand cause why so many thousand men and women care not for those great delights, which I have so much spoken of, at all, because they are before hand so enchained to their carnal delights, so glued to their enchanting pleasures, so fastened to their sinful sports, as that they are no more able, till freed, (Rom. 6.18.) from the same to flee up to those delights of which I speak, than a fowl whose legs are in a snare, or Anselms bird, which had a stone tied to its feet; though with proud swelling words they brag of liberty, and promise it to others, themselves being the servants of corruption. For of whom a man is overcome (as they are of their lusts) of the same is he brought in bondage, 2 Pet. 2.19. And therefore, my advice is, that you will labor, if any of you be such, first to be freed by Christ, and that by prayer, and faith in his name; For if the Son shall make you free, then shall you be free indeed, John 8.36. otherwise ye *Quod amissum (Nim. Liberum Art.) nisi a quo potuit dari, non potest reddi. Concil. Araus. 2. Can. 13.cannot. It is reported of the Kentish men that when William the Conquerour came over to Conquer England, they cried, and said, Kentish men must have Liberty, and Kentish men will have Liberty. Answerable whereunto, do ye also cry out, and say to Christ therefore, Lord Jesus Christ, we must have Liberty, and we will have Liberty, and thou canst give us Liberty, and make us free indeed: and therefore, Lord free us, Lord knock off those bolts which hold us, cut off those snares which keep us, strike off those fetters which fasten us, break off those iron chains which encompass us; O come Lord Jesus, come and deliver us, and make no tarrying. Here be as earnest as you can be possibly, to be freed by the Lord, both fully and speedily; wrestling for it with all your might, that in him may be all your delight.
Second Concession and Counsel.
I believe you, that you cannot follow me, some of you, because ye are dead, as the Ephesians once were, Ephes. 2.2. and have been so a long while, even like Lazarus, these four dayes some of you; I mean,
First, The day of your pueritia.
Secondly, The day of your Adolescency, or youth.
Thirdly, The day of your Manly age.
Fourthly, The day of your Old age.
And therefore you can take no more delight in Christ, than Lazarus could in the sweetest meat, if any had been set before him, before he was raised by Christ; and that is most peoples Case in our Congregations. So that my Counsel to you is this, that, as when Lazarus was dead, they went and acquainted Christ with it, who also raised him from the dead, John 11.32. So, you also will go to Christ, and acquaint him with your Condition, saying, Lord, I have been dead, loe these four days, or thus long, and therefore could no more delight my self in thee, than a dead man, in the greatest dainties set before him; and therefore, O most mighty Saviour, raise me from the dead also as thou raisedst Lazarus thy Friend. O great friend of poor sinners, who desire to be raised, suscitate me a poor sinner, that I may live, and live in those great delights which are to be taken in thee. O my God, let the same power whereby thou wast raised from the dead thy self, be shewn in me, and for me, that thereby I may come to believe in thee, and so may be quickned by thee, as to sit in heavenly places in thee, I humbly pray thee.
Third Concession and Counsel.
I believe that you cannot follow me, some of you, because you want wings, even the wings of Eagles, Rev. 12.14. Eagles you are thought to be by some, nay some of you by your selves, and such as are gathered to, & about Christ, according to Mat. 24.28. Believing verily that you do believe in Christ; but as much the neerer it is for you to think so, as for a man to believe that he is a Prince, when he is but a Peasant; or for him to think that he hath wings, when he hath none. A case very common with the commons, nay, greatest part of men, that are in the Christian world; wherefore, my advice is, that you make forthwith your Request to God, that as to that mystical woman, in Revel. 12.14. were given two wings of a great Eagle, that she might flee away into the wilderness, into her place, away from the Dragon that would have swallowed her; so the two Eagles wings of Prayer and Contemplation, may be given to you, that like earth-despising, dirtshunning, & of low *Secundum illud de Aquila, Adagium. foreign, Aquila Trigas aspiciens: de magnis qui pusilla negligunt.things neglectful Eagles, you may flee away from the same Dragon; I will not say, into the wilderness, but into heaven it self, which is your proper place; where that sweet bread of Life is, which ever lasteth and never perisheth, and where dainties are without death, and delights without delayes, for your unspeakable delectation. O my God, help this people to these helps, and help them by thy marvelous might, that having these …eat Eagle, to wit, of eminent Saints, … they may center all their delight: … me also to these two wings of Prayer and Contemplation, that like a great Eagle I may eminently, exemplarily, excellingly, flee towards heaven, Prov. 23.5. and even bathe my self in those unutterable delights of heaven.