that it might be reserved for the facred use of Gods table, received this anfwer from him: Son remember what Peter said, Gold and Silver have I none; let this plate which thou beareft be diftributed to the poor; for my bleffed mafter Saint Colomb was wont to offer that holy Sacrifice in chalices of braffe; because they say, our Saviour was with brazen nailes faftned to his cross; thus he in more humility then wisdome; Lep,rofis ulcerofarum plagarum ruebat in Ofcula. lib. Confor. Fruitu. Separatur. And for the other two; never man more affected bravery and pr'de then they did beggery, and nastiness; placing a kind of merit in fticks, and clay, in rags and patches, and flovenry; S. Francifcus circa mortem fuam in teftamento fuo fcribi voluit quod omnes celle & domus fratrum de lignis & luto effent tantum, ad confervandam melius bumilitatem & paupertatem. Libr. Conform. p. 218. Lib. 2. Fructu. 4. Conform. 16. Let thefe and their ill-advifed followers pafs for Cynicks in Chriftianity; although now, what ever the original rule of their fordid founder was; even those of that order can in their buildings and furnitures emulate the magnificence of Princes; as if they affected no less excefs in the one extreme, then their patron did in the other, Fratres omnes vilibus veftibus induantur; & poffunt ea repeciare de faccis & aliis peciis cum benedictione Dei. Conform. 1. 1. Frutu 9. p. 116. Wife Chriftians fit down in the mean; now under the Gofpel avoyding a careleffe or parcimonious neglect on the one fide, and a fuperftitious lavifhnefle on the other.

As for this Church of ours, there is at this time especially little fear of too much; and if we be nor more in the ablative, then our Ancestors were in the dative cafe yet we are generally more apt to higgle with the Almighty; and in a base niggardlinefs to pinch him in the allowances to his fervice; wherein we do not fo much wrong onr God as our felves; for there is not in all the World fo fure a motive for God to give largely unto us, as that we give freely unto God: David did but intend to build God an house, and now in a gratious retribution, God tells him by Nathan, The Lord will build thee an house, and will establish thine house and thy kingdome for ever before thee: and contrarily in this it holds as in all other pious bequests; He that foweth Sparingly, fball reap sparingly. & if fome particular wayes of the conveighance of our bounty were Prov. 3. anciently ceremonial, yet we are fure this charge is perpetual, Honour

2 Sam. II, 16.

2 Cor.

9. 6.

the Lord with thy fubstance. Had our bleffed Saviour been of the mind of thefe drye and pinching Devotionifts, he had furely chid Mary Magdalene, for the needleffe waft of that her pretious ointment, and have agreed with Judus how much better it migh have 26. been employed for the relief of many poor foules that want- Mat.2 6. ed bread, then in fuch a complement of unneceffary delicacy; but 13. how kindly this seasonable expence was taken by our Lord Jefus, appears, in that the memorial of this beneficence is ordained by him to have no narrower bounds of Time or Place, then this bleffed Gospel it felf.

Shortly, as the honeft and learned Gerfon long fince diftingusbed in matter of Doctrine; fo must we learn to diftingufh in matter of practise; fome things are of the neceffity of devotion, others of the piety of devotion; and yet further, in this fecond ranke, fome things are effential to the piety of devotion, without which it cannot be at all, others are accidental without which it cannot be fo well; under this latter fort, expedience and decency both of cleanliness and coft challenge a due place, and cannot justly be denyed it: As it is in our own cafe, fome things are requifite out of the neceffity of nature, without which we cannot fubfift; other things are requifite for the convenience of our estate, without which we cannot maintain a well being; He that hath Bread and Drinke, and Cloathes, may live; but he that hath not his Linnen wathed and his meat cleanly dreffed, and change of warme fuits will hardly live with comfort.

To the great marriage of the Kings fon in the Gospel, all comers are invited; yea the guests are fetcht from the very high waies, any choice and hedges, where there could be no probability of Wardrobe, yet when the King comes in, and finds a man without his wedding garment she in difpleasure asks,Friend how camest thou in bither; fufficienty intimating that even com'ineffe of fashion and meer complement are worthily expected in the folemn entertainments of God.

To conclude, if we have rightly apprehended the dreadful and glorious Majefty of the great God; we fhall never think we can come with reverence enough into his holy prefence; and it is no fmall appendance of reverence to have our very bodies decently compofed before him: and if we have well weighed the abfolute fo

Ff

veraignty

Mat. 22.

9.10.

veraignty of this great King of Glory;and the infinite largess of our munificent God,who hath given us our felves, and all that we have, or are, or hope for, that hath not grudged us ought in earth, or heaven; no not the dear fon of his love, and eternal effence; but hath fent him out of his bofome for our redemption: we cannot think all our little enough to confecrate to his blessed name and service; and fhall hold that evil eye worthy to be pulled out, which fhall grudg the fatteft of his flocks, and heards to the altar of the Almighty. Now the application of this whole difcourfe I leave to the thoughts of every reader; who cannot but eafily finde how too much need there is of a monitor in this kind; whiles the examples of a profane indecency fo abound every where to the great fhame of the Gospel, and scandall of all ingenious mindes. I forbear to particularize ; a volume would be too ftraight for this complaint:

It is not the blushing of my Nation,the derifion of Foraigners,the advantage of adverfaries that I drive at,in these seasonable lines ; it is the reformation of those foul abuses,grofs neglects, outward indignities, notorious pollutions,which have helpt to expofe the face of this famous Church, late the glory of Chriftendcm, to the fcorne of the nations round about us;who now change their former envy at her unmatchable beauty, into a kinde of infulting pity of her miferable deformity Returne,dear brethren,returne to that comly order,and decency which won honour and reverence toyour goodly forefathers.

After the main care of the fubftance of divine worship (which must be ever holy,spiritual, anfwerable to the unfailing and exact. rule of the eternal word of God) let the outward carriage of Gods facred affairs be (what may be ) futable to that pure, and dreadful Majefty whofe they are;let his now neglected houfes be decently Nequid repaired,neatly kept,reverently regarded for the owners fake, and profanum inviolably referved for thofe facred uses to which they are dedicated; infratur, let his holy table be comly fpread; & attended with awful devotion, ne offer fus let them be clean both within and without that bear the veffels of fed quam the Lord;let the maintenance of his altar be free,liberal,chearful;let Gods chair, the pulpit, be climb'd into by his chofen fervants, with is de trembling, and gravity briefly, let his whole fervice and worship be celebrated with all holy reverence;this is the way to the acceptation of God, and to honour with men.

Templo Dei

inhab itat

de din.

babita virg.

GOOD

Good Security:

A Comfortable

DISCOURSE

O F

The Christians Affurance of Heaven.

Grounded upon 2 Pet. 1. 10.

Give diligence to make your Calling and Election furc.

Thall be my onely drift,and endeavour in this difcourfe to fettle the hearts of those who profefs the name of Christ, in a main cafe of Chriftian refolution concerning their prefent and final eftate; the mean where of

is no leffe comfortable and useful, then the extremes miferably dangerous: whiles one is caufelefly confident, and dyes prefuming; another is wilfully careless, and perifheth through neglect, both fearfully mif-carry, and help to fill up hell: I fhall defire to guide the wife Chriftian in a midway between both thefe, and teach him how to be refolute without prefumption; and to be awful without diftruft, how to labour for an holy fecurity, and modeft confidence. Ere we defcend to the matter;Three termes require

a little clearing, what this calling is? What election? What the fure-making of both ?

As to the firft; this cannot be taken of an outward calling: For we are fure enough of that; wherefoever the Gospel is preached we are called outwardly; neither are we much the nearer to be fure of that, for many are called, few chofen, yea certainly this not anfwered fhall aggravate our damnation; It is therefore an inward and effectuall calling that we muft endeavour to make fure: a call, not by the found of the word only, but by the efficacy of the Spirit: The foul hath an ear as well as the body, when the car of the foul hears the operative motions of Gods fpirit, as well as the car of the body hears the external found of the Gospel: then are we called by God, when true faith is wrought in the Soul, as well as outward conformity in our life; when we are made true Chriftians as well as outward profeffors, then, and not till then have we this calling from God.

Such then is our calling; the election is answerable to it; Not a temporal, and external, to fome fpecial office, or dignity; whereof our Saviour, Have not I chofen you twelve. John. 6. 70. and Mofes bis chofen, Pfal. 106. Not a fingling out from the moft, to an outward profeffion of Chrift, whereof perhaps the Apoftle, 1 Thef. 1. 4. Knowing, beloved, that ye are elect of God, and the Pfalmift, Bleffed is he whom thou choofeft and caufeft to dwell in thy courts, Pfal. 65.5. For notwithstanding this noble and happy priviledge, little would it availe us to be fure of this, and no more; no profeffion,no dig. nity can fecure us from being perfc&ly miserable, but an eternal election to glory; whereof St. Paul, Ephef. 1. 4. God hath chefen us in Chrift before the foundations of the world, that we might be holy, and blamleffe before him in love; and to his Coloffiaus, As the cleft of God boly and beloved; fuch as to whom faving Faith is appropriated, the ftyle whereof is Fidus ele&torum, the faith of the Elect, Tit. 1. 1.

Such then is our calling, and elution. Now this calling, this election must be made fure or firme, as the word (d) fignifics: fure and firme, not on Gods part who we know is unchangble in his nature, in his counfels. So as in that regard our election (if it be at all is moft fure, and furer cannot be ; but on ours, not only in refpect of the object, which is the truth, and immutability of the thing it felf; but i refpect of the fubje&t too, the foul that ap

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