A77983:392
Four books on the eleventh of Matthew
Four books on the eleventh of Matthew: viz: I. Christ inviting sinners to come to him for rest. II. Christ the great teacher of souls that come to him. To which is added a treatise of meekness and of anger. III. Christ the humble teacher of those that come to him. IIII. The only easy way to heaven. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel at Stepney and Cripple-Gate, London.Four books on the eleventh of Matthew: viz: I. Christ inviting sinners to come to him for rest. II. Christ the great teacher of souls that come to him. To which is added a treatise of meekness and of anger. III. Christ the humble teacher of those that come to him. IIII. The only easie way to heaven. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel at Stepny and Cripple-Gate, London.
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1659
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Object. I but you will say, There is more difficulty than this, It is required that every one should watch over another, a narrow watching over one another in their ways, and observing one another, and this is true, a carnal heart cannot do it, we were wont to have a loose kind of way, that we lived in a Church communion one with another, and never knew one another, perhaps never saw one another's face in all your lives, but when you came to the Sacrament, and whatever evil you ⟨p. 692⟩had heard of one another, you never minded their reformation,
Object. I but you wil say, There is more difficulty than this, It is required that every one should watch over another, a narrow watching over one another in their waies, and observing one another, and this is true, a carnal heart cannot do it, we were wont to have a loose kind of way, that we lived in a Church communion one with another, and never knew one another, perhaps never saw one anothers face in all your lives, but when you came to the Sacrament, and whatever evil you ⟨p. 692⟩had heard of one another, you never minded their reformation,
Answ. Now it is true, That in the way of the Gospel, when the Saints are joined together in that way, they must and ought to watch over one another, And what great burden is this to a Gracious heart? to a carnal heart it is true, all the ways of God are burdensome, but to a Gracious heart it is an ease, that there shall not only be my own care, and the Grace of God in me to watch over me, but I shall have the use of all the Graces in the all Saints of God to watch over me, And is here any hurt in this? It is an honour that God puts upon thee, that he gives not only his Angels charge over thee, but all his Saints a charge over thee likewise. A Prince hath a great Guard for the safety of his Person, and that is the honour of a Prince, he cannot go alone so as others do, but must go with a Guard: Now as the Prince in an outward way, so the Saints in a spiritual way, they are dear to Jesus Christ, and therefore they shall never go up and down, but they shall have their Angels to have charge over them, But what have they charge over them for? it is as the Scripture saith, that they should not dash their foot against a stone, they have charge over your Bodies in a more peculiar way, and the Saints have charge over you in a more spiritual way: now that you shall have Angels to watch over your Bodies, and I make no question but they keep Satan off from hurting of you, and then you shall have the Saints of God with whom you shall live eternally in Heaven, and they shall watch over you for your spiritual good, and so they shall communicate all their Graces, and Gifts, and they are bound in Conscience, so to do, and this is a great ease to a Gracious heart.