The Crown and Glory of a Christian, Part 3
3. Of the Exerciſe of Spiritual life.
1. Walk cloſe with God in your general and particular calling, and be careful that the one do not juſtle out the other; as there is a time for all things, ſo there is a time for both thoſe: your general calling muſt not thruſt out your particular; that is but a temptation, and not a duty: neither muſt your particular calling thruſt out your general, for that is to love the world more than God, and to ſerve your ſelf altogether, and not the Lord Chriſt at all. It was the ſin of Cain, that he did not divide aright for God; the duties of your general calling (faithfully performed) muſt ſanctifie all the duties of your particular calling.
2. Be oft at home communing with your own heart, Pſal. 4. 4. and propounding queſtions to it, ſuch as theſe: 1. Whoſe am I? am I one that belongs to God, or do I belong to Satan? 2. Whom ſerve I? do I ſerve Chriſt, or do I ſerve Sin? The bleſſed Apoſtle could anſwer both thoſe queſtions, Act. 27. 23. [There ſtood by me this night the Angel of God, whoſe I am, and whom I ſerve.] And 3. What am I? am I a veſſel of wrath, or am I a veſſel of mercy? am I a child of God, or am I a child of the devil? 4. Where am I? Adam, where art thou? as God ſaid ſo to Adam, ſo you muſt ſay ſo to your own ſoul, Where art thou ſoul? art thou in the broad way that leads to death and damnation? or art thou in the narrow way that leads to life and ſalvation? and if at any time you find your ſpirit looſe and extravagant in broad ways of the world, then cry to your ſelf, as God to Elijah, What doſt thou here Elijah? 1 King. 19. 13. ſo gird up the loyns of your mind again. Luk. 12. 35.
3. Know that your heart will be backward to this communing work, Fugitivi ſumus acordibus noſtris, ſaith Auguſtine; we flee from our own hearts, and our own hearts flee as faſt and as far from us. 'Tis pity we ſhould carry hearts about with us in our boſoms for twenty, thirty, forty or fifty years, ſome more, if ſome leſs) and yet be ſuch ſtrangers to them, and they to us; account it therefore your great loſs that you know your own heart no better, that you commune with it no oftner; alas, we know not our own hearts, Am I a dog, (ſaith Hazael) that I ſhould do ſo and ſo? 2 King. 8. 13. Yet ſuch a dog was he in wickedneſs when he came to his opportunity; you muſt tremble to be left in the hands of your own counſel; as Hezekiah was left to himſelf, to try him (not the ſtrength of his grace as Abraham was, Gen. 22. 1, but his frailty and proneneſs to ſin) and to let him know all that was in his heart, 2 Chron. 32. 31. When Satans Temptation hath an opportunity to draw out your corruption, then and there is your moſt eminent danger.
4. Seeing your heart will not ſtand to parley, do you bind it to good behaviour, and lay Gods charge upon it that it ſtir not in this parleying work, till you have made ſome work of your work, and brought it to ſome bleſſed iſſue; know, that never did the Sacrifice (under the Law) ſtand more in need of binding with cords to the horns of the Altar, Pſal. 118.27, than your looſe & ſlippery heart doth with all obligations (and all little enough) unto holy duties; hence is it that ſelf-examination is ſo hard a duty; no ſooner are we in it, but (ere ever we be aware) we are out of it again.
5. When ye have (through grace) fixed your heart, and are able to ſay (with David) My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed, Pſal. 57. 7, (which undoubtedly is as hard to fix (to good) as quick-ſilver is, that hath a principle of motion in it, but not of reſt) then fall upon Conſideration-work (which is the excellency of a man above the beaſt; then conſider and better conſider the four queſtions aforeſaid, and the tendency of all your ways, [Ponder the path of thy feet, Prov. 4.26.] to wit, by the weights of the Word of God do you oft poize them: Conſideration is the ſtay of our thoughts, which are as ſwift as any ſhip. Conſideration is as an Anchor to them. God bids his people, Conſider their ways, twice over, Hag. 1. 5, 7, do it once and again.
6. You may know where you are, if you ſeriouſly and throughly conſider the frame of your own ſpirit: the way to hell is a broad way; and he that is all for elbow-room, and for a wide way to be extravagant in, and likes not the ſtrict way of Religion (which is ſo called from its ſtrict binding up our hearts from looſneſs, a religando▪ is a broad way man, that ſays (with Jeroboam) 'tis too much for you to go up to Jeruſalem, 1 King. 12. 28, 'tis too much for you to be ſo preciſe, and ſo ſtrait-laced; Let us break thoſe bands aſunder, and caſt away thoſe cords from us, Pſal. 2. 3. [Medice vivere, eſt miſere vivere,] to live ſtrictly by a Rule, is to live miſerably, both for ſoul and body. Spiritus Religioſus eſt ſpiritus melancholicus; Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we ſhall die. Iſa. 22. 12, 14. 1 Cor. 15. 32.
7. You have this exemplified in Noah's Raven and Dove, Gen. 8.7, 9, 11. you may not be as the Raven that was accuſtom'd to live at large, becomes weary of being caged up in the Ark, and likes not ſuch ſtrait limits any longer, therefore ſhe flutters about the Ark, but went not in, as not willing to be confined to the ark either for diet or lodging any more, but chuſes rather to fly abroad and to feed upon the carcaſes of the drowned.
8. You muſt be like the Dove, which did not diſlike her conſinement, nor the diet and lodging of the ark, and therefore returns to it as the place of her reſt, and beſt repoſe, not finding better repaſt any where elſe. Thus thoſe are unclean Ravens, that are all for fleſhly liberty and licentiouſneſs, and can feed upon ſtinking carrion of wickedneſs; but you muſt be Chriſts Dove, Cant. 2. 14, that can find no reſt for the ſoles of your feet but in him; you muſt (with others) flock to the windows of the Temple, Iſa. 60. 8. Chriſt your Noah, your Comforter, will put forth his hand to take you in; and there think his ſervice your wages (as well as your work) and not your wearineſs.
9. Thus muſt you be ſerious in inquiring of your ſelf, whoſe you are, and whom you ſerve, yea and what you are, as well as where? whether in the broad or narrow way: If conſideration be needful in all our undertakings, how much more in that for Eternity! oh be not ſleight herein, but dwell with your thoughts upon it. You know, he that rides poſt through a Country, can never draw a diſtinct Map of that Countrey, which requires many pauſes for viewing every particular boundary, &c. So if you ride poſt with your ſwift thoughts in your circuit thorough the Iſle of Man, you cannot take a diſtinct account of your ſelf in order to thoſe four grand Queſtions. You muſt walk round about your ſelf, and go round that little world, as they did about Sion, Pſ. 48. 12, 13, that they might tell the towers thereof, and mark well her bulwarks, yea and [conſider] her palaces, &c.
10. Then hath your Spiritual conſideration a bleſſed iſſue, when you dwell upon it with your fixed thoughts, until Chriſt appear your chiefeſt good, and ſin your chiefeſt evil: David did turn [his] ways upſide down, (as the Hebrew word [chiſhabli deraki] ſignifies, Pſal. 119. 59.) in his own ſecret thoughts and conſideration. The Noun of which Verb, to wit, cheſheb, ſignifies, opus phrygionicum, an embroider'd garment, which is the ſame on both ſides; they that work them, muſt often turn them, firſt on one ſide, and then on the other. Thus David would turn [his] way every way, and muſt have them both ſides alike, both that ſide towards God, and that ſide towards man; for the ways of many men have a ſhining outſide towards man, and yet their inſide is rugged, uneven, and uncomely towards God. Sordet in conſpectu judicis, quod fulget in conſpectu operantis; (ſaith the Father) but Chriſt ſaith better, That which is highly eſteemed amongſt men, is an abomination in the ſight of God, Luk. 16. 15.
11. As you muſt turn [your] ways every way, and upſide down according to the Hebrew reading of that, Pſal. 119. 59. So muſt you make a Dialogue with your ſelf according to the Greek reading. The Septuagint reads it, [foreign] I made a dialogue with my ſelf about my own ways; I argued this point to an iſſue, whether the ways of God, or the ways of ſin were better; and when I underſtood that the paths of ſin go down to death; I turned my feet from the ways of ſin to the ways of God. Thus muſt you upon ſound conſideration and deliberation find out ſin to be the way to Gods curſe, but Chriſt the way to Gods bleſſing. He is [the] way, Joh. 14. 6. Walk in him, Col. 2. 6.
12. When ſin appears to you the greateſt evil (as Chriſt the greateſt good) then you cannot let any ſin live peaceably in you, no nor come peaceably to you, (be it little or great) you muſt have tenderneſs of ſpirit: Joſiah had a tender heart, 2 King. 22. 19. 2 Chron. 34. 27. Such as are of tender Conſtitutions cannot endure the leaſt cold wind to blow upon them, therefore they cry [ſhut the caſement, and bolt the door,] I ſhall catch cold; thus to a tender heart, the leaſt cold air of ſin is irkſome: the door of your heart muſt be ſhut againſt ſin (the greateſt evil), yet open for Chriſt (the chiefeſt good), Ezek. 44. 2, 3, That door is for the Prince, the Prince of life, no other gueſt muſt enter in.