3.5.2013 PETER HENRY IV

'honor is like the shadow which flees from those who pursue it
and follows those who flee from it.

'duty is ours; events are God's

though a man cannot bring his condition to be as big as his heart,
yet, if he can bring his heart to be as little as his condition, ;
from thence is contentment.

earthly minded me..are like moles; they live in the earth;
they see no beauty in holiness, no comeliness in Jesus Christ.

the three questions which he advised people
to put to themselves in self examination before the sacrament, were,
what am i?
what have i done?
what do i want?

what am i? in sin, or in Christ?
am i effectually called, or am i not?
if not, it is dangerous coming.
ask what am i,
that if i am not as i should be,
i may mend my state.
if not alive, then go to God for spiritual life.
and when God gives life,
then away to the sacrament for the support of the spiritual life.
those mentioned in acts 2,
as soon as they were converted,
were presently in church fellowship.

what have i don?
here is work for self examination.
to consider our sins; the sin of our nature;
the sins of our hearts and lives;
the sins of our particular relations;
sabbath sin; tongue sins, etc.
when we have found out our sins,
then we must repent.
repenting includes contrition, hearty sorrow;
contrition is the breaking of the heart, pounding it as in a mortar.
confession, telling God what we have done.
conversion, turning from sin.
with all these, hearty prayer must be joined.

what do i want?
a condemned malefactor wants a pardon;
a hungry soul wants bread;
a debtor wants a surety;
a traveller wants a guide;
a guilty person wants a city of refuge;
a blind man wants eye salve;
a weak soul wants strength;
a graceless heart wants grace;
a sinner wants a saviour.
now all these are to be had with Christ.
all these are offered in the sacrament.
in one word, Christ and all His benefits.
when we are going to a market,
we look about the house to see what is wanting.
when we have found out our wants,
we must represent them to god in prayer.

in reference to this subject he would say;
-self examination is required before the communion;
and he was urgent in pressing it;
he frequently explained the nature of the duty
and pointed out the hinderances of it;
such as laziness, self love, pride and ignorance of its necessity.
many think, he remarks,
every man is bound to believe his sins are pardoned
and that God is his Father
that it is a fault to question it.
they are ignorant of the nature and way of the duty;
know not how to examine, where to begin,
nor want to inquire after.
some are hindered by a desperate resolution -to what purpose should they try?
-they resolve to continue as they are, come what will;\
this preciseness will not suit them;
they must have liberty.
the world is a snare to many.
false persuasions, that the work is done already, hinder others.
(foot: they are fully persuaded that Christ died for them and that they shall be saved. how they came by this persuasion they cannot tell. but is is suspicious to have goods and know not how one came by them the doctrine of faith, by john rogers 1634)
many who do examine, yet do it by halves;
they go about it in their own strength, and so miscarry.

as motives to it, he would urge, that multitudes perish who thought all was well
prov 14.12; luke 13.25;18.10-11; revelations 3.17.
-it is an easy and a common thing to be mistaken;
there are many bye ways;
the heart is deceitful.

the least despairing are most desperate, isaiah 44.20.
what if  death should come before thou hast tried?
thou wilt be lost for ever; there will be no trying in the grave.
shortly, God will try you.
besides, there is great advantage in it.
if unconverted, it will be a means to bring thee out of that condition.
if in Christ, it will marvellously further consolation;
in this way and no other thou mayest attain assurance, II pet. 1.10
which will produce admirable sweetness;
sweetness in every condition, let publick troubles be what they man.
it will abate the terribleness of death and judgment,
and add wings to obedience.

he would say, by way of direction;
-art thou resolved to set about it?
sequester thyself from all other employments.
implore the spirit's assistance by hearty prayer, psalm 139.20
pitch upon such a time when you are fittest for the work, -best disposed.
have in readiness some scripture marks of truth and grace, and then try,
-it it thus with me, or is it not?
give not over till it be brought to some issue;
let the sentence pass without fear or flattery.
when thou knowest they condition, be affected accordingly.
if thou find thou art, to this day, in thy sins,
oh, tremble, and make haste!
do not conclude it is in vain to turn.
if otherwise, rejoice and be exceeding glad.

on another occasion he writes.
are ye passed from death unto life?
there is such a thing, and it may be known,
and we can have no comfort in living the life of nature,
if we are not spiritually alive;
if we do not live the life of grace.
now, one good mark to know it by is the END that we live to.
is that God or self?
another, is by the FOOD that we live upon.
is that Chris?-His merit and righteousness for justification;
His Spirit and grace for sanctification?
another, is by the RULE that we live by.
is that the rule of the new creature,-the word of God/
is that the card and compass we sail by,
-the light and lamp we walk by?
or, is it something else,
-the dictates of our own corrupt nature, carnal reason, fleshly appetites,
the course and custom of this vain world?
try by this.

...matthew 7.24 preached..
therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him...
he observed, that he who hears sermons, and doth not do them, is a monster in religion.
he is all head and ears, having neither hands to work with nor feet to walk with.
there is a disease, which children have, called the rickets,
wherein their heads swell as large as two heads,
and their legs are crooked, which hinder their going.
we have many ricketty christians;
they hear much and their heads swell with empty notions and indigested opinions,
but their legs are crooked, their walking is perverse. (turned away)
every such person is a mocker of God,
a deceiver of himself,
a discourager of ministers, barren soil,
a bad servant,
a beholder of his natural face in a glass,
a builder of his house upon the sand.

...the great thing that he condemned and witnessed against in the church of rome,
was their monopolizing of the church,
and condemning all that are not in with their interests,
which is so directly contrary to the spirit of the gospel,
as nothing can be more.
he sometimes said,
i am too much a catholick to be a roman catholick.

..noticing the common objection urged against the strictness of a holy life;
-it is more than needs.
i have a good heart towards God;
i go to church and give to every man his own;
and what do the best more?
i will tell thee, saith he.
-they do more;
they watch against the occasions of sin
and pray and endeavour, that the wicked one may not touch them.
then he hath touched them and they have sinned,
it is the great grief of their souls, caused them to mourn bitterly.
they take hold, by FAITH, on the blood of Christ
and receive remission through Him...

..earthly riches are uncertain riches I tim. 6.17;
but spiritual mercies are sure mercies. isaiah 60.3

..he observed, from numbers 10.12
-that all our removes in this world,
are but from one wilderness to another.
upon any change that is before us,
we are apt to promise ourselves a canaan,
but we shall be deceived,
it will prove a wilderness.

..on the duty of christian reproof, he observes;
-when we reprove our brother, we must be careful we violate not his credit.
so Christ looked only upon peter, lest, if He had spoken to him,
the jews, over hearing, might have reviled and upbraided him
with his treachery to his master.
so also, at supper, when he reproved judas,
He speaks in general terms;-'one of you'

again;-to reprove a brother, is like as,
when he is fallen, to help him up again;
when he is wounded, to help to cure him;
when he hath broken a bone, to help to set it;
when he is out of his way,to put him in it;
when he is fallen into the fire, to pluck him out'
when he hath contracted defilement, to help to cleanse him.

in reproving, temper zeal with charity.
in the ark, as there was aaron's rod, so there was also the pot of manna;
virga severitatis manna dulcedinis;
bitter pills must be gilded over with love and meekness.

he would not bear that any should be evil spoken of in his hearing;
it was to him as vinegar to the teeth.
he would mind those who reflected upon people behind their backs,
of that law, lev. 19.14; thou shalt not cures the deaf.
those that are absent are deaf,
they cannot right themselves
and therefore say no ill of them.
a friend of his inquiring of him concerning a matter
which tended to reflect upon some people;
he began to give him an account of the story,
but immediately broke off and checked himself with these words,
but our rule is, to speak evil of no man,
and would proceed no further in the story.
it was but the week before he died, that one desired him to lend hims such a book.
truly, saith he, i would lend it you, but that it rakes in the faults of some,
which should rather be  covered with a mantle of love.
it were easy to multiply instances of this.

when some zealous people in the country would have him to preach against
top-knots and other vanities in apparel,
he would say, that was none of his business;
if he could but persuade people to Christ,
the pride and vanity, and excess of those things
would fall of course;
and yet he had a dislike to vanity and gaiety of dress
and allowed it not in those that he had influence upon.
...when some complained to him of a relation of their's
that would not let them dress his children with ribbons, and other fine things;
why truly, saith mr. henry,
those things are fit for children;
thereby reproving both him that would not allow them to his children
and them that perhaps minded them too much themselves.

on first wearing a new suit of clothes, he wrote,
-lord, clothe me with Thy righteousness, which is
a comely, costly, lasting, everlasting garment.

..on one occasion, he writes,
-none should despair, because God can help them;
none should presume, because God can cross them.

..the will of God's purpose is the rule of all His actions;
the will of His precept is the rule of all our actions.

god can provide for us without us;
so cannot we for ourselves without God.

mr henry said he had observed concerning himself,
that he was sometimes the worse for eating,
but never for abstinence;
sometimes the worse for wearing too few clothes,
but never for wearing too many;
sometimes the worse for speaking,
but never the worse for keeping silence. (
 (foot: xenocrates, holding his peace at some detractive discourse, was asked, why he spoke not?
'because i have sometimes repented of speaking,
but never of holding my peace.)

as to his letters, he was very free in writing to his friends.
a good letter, he would say,
may perhaps do more good than o good sermon,
because the address is more particular,
and that which is written remains.
his language and expressions in his letters were
always pious and heavenly and seasoned with the salt of grace;
and when there was occasion, he would excellently administer
counsels, reproofs or comforts by letter.
he kept no copies...

in a letter to his son..

we are well, but in daily expectation of that which we are born
and born again to, and that is trouble in this world
(foot: as God hath hedged up our way with strict commands,
so He hath strewed it likewise with thorns of afflictions.)
yet rejoicing in hope of the glory of God,
which we are reaching after and pressing towards,
as we trust you are also.
where you are, you see more of the glittering vanities of this world in a day,
than we here do in an age;
and are you more and more in love with them,
or dead and dying to them?
i hope dead and dying to them
for they are poor things and perish in the using;
make many worse that enjoy them, but none better.
what is translated vexation of spirit, eccl. 1.2,
bay be read feeding upon wind,
compare hosea 12.1.
and can wind satisfy?
the Lord preserve and keep you from all evil...

it is some short refreshment to friends and relations,
to see and hear from one another, but it passeth away,
and we have here no continuing city,
no abiding delights in this world;
our rest remains elsewhere;
those we have, lose much of their sweetness,
form the thoughts of parting with them while we enjoy them,
but the happiness to come is eternal:
after millions of millions of ages,
if we may so speak of eternity,
as far from an end as the first moment..
keep that in your eye , my dear child, and it will, as much as any thing,
dazzle your eyes, to all the fading, deceiving vanities of this lower world;
and will be a quickening motive to you,
to abound always in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as you know your labour
shall not be in vain in the Lord.

...he that girdeth on the harness,
must not boast as he that puts it off.
while the world we live in is under the moon,
-constant in nothing but inconstancy,
-and such changes are made in other families,
why should we alone promise ourselves
immunity from the common lot?
there would be no need of faith and patience,
which are winter graces,
if it should be always summer time with us.
we have three unchangeables
to oppose to all other mutabilities;
an unchangeable covenant,
and unchangeable God
and an unchangeable heaven.
and while these three remain the same yesterday, to day and for ever,
welcome the will of our heavenly Father
in all events that may happen to us;
come what will,
nothing can come amiss to us.

the further progress you make in your studies,
you will find them the easier;
it is so with religion,
the worst is at first.
it is like the picture that frowned at first entrance,
but afterwards smiles and looks pleasant.
they that walk in sinful ways,
meet with some difficulties at first,
which custom conquers, and they become as nothing.
it is good accustoming ourselves to that which is good.
the more we do the more we may do in religion.
your acquaintance, i doubt not,
increaseth abroad,
and accordingly your watch must be;
for by that oftentimes, ere we are aware, we are ensnared.
he that walketh with wised men shall be wise.

...your improvement is our joy.
be sincere and serious, clothed with humility,
abounding always in the work of the Lord;
and when you have done all, saying,
i am an unprofitable servant,
i have done only what was my duty to do.
it was the good advice of the moral philosopher,
in your converse with men
-Distrust.
but i must add, in everything towards God,
-Believe.
expect temptation and a snare at every turn,
and walk accordingly.
we have a good cause,
-a vanquished enemy..
-an extraordinary pay;...

i would have you redeem time for hearing the word
in season and out of season;
your other studies will prosper never the worse,
especially if you could return immediately from it
to the closet again,
without cooling divertisements (diversion or entertainment)
by the way.

see your need of Christ more and more, and live upon Him;
no life like it, so sweet, so safe.

(foot: He is sweet food, I pet 2.3; song of songs 2.3. He is sweet in His pardons, His promises, His ordinances, His offices, His comforts, His communion. those who have fed upon Christ are lively in the ways of God; their appetites are dead to the world; they are solicitous to bring in others;
and they are desirous after more.)

we cannot be discharged from the guilt of any evil we do,
without His merit to satisfy:
we cannot move in the performance of any good required,
which out His spirit and grace to assist and enable for it;
and when we have done all,
that all is nothing,
without His mediation and intercession to make it acceptable;
so that every day, in everything, He is All in all....

be careful of your health...
but especially neglect not the main matter.
the soul is the man;
if that do well, all is well.
..redeem time, especially for your soul.
expect trouble in this world and prepare for it.

(foot: mr. greenham said, 'he never looked for a better estate than that wherein he was,
but often prepared himself for a worse.)

expect happiness in the other world,
and walk worthy of it, unto all pleasing.

a good book is a good companion at any time,
but especially a good God, who is always ready to hold communion
with those that desire and seek communion with Him.
keep low and humble in your thoughts and opinion of yourself;
but aim high in your desires and expectations,

(foot: covet grace earnestly, but beware of coveting any creature earnestly, john 4.27; col. 3.2
'pitch thy behaviour low, they projects high;
so shalt thou humble and magnanimous be;
(generous in forgiving insult or injury)
sink not in spirit. who aimeth at the sky,
shoots higher much than he that means a tree.
the church porch.   herbert's poems)

even as high as the kingdom of heaven itself,
and resolve to take up with nothing short of it...

immediately after his son was ordained to the work of the ministry at london,
in the year 1687, he thus wrote to him..
are you now a minster of Jesus Christ?
hath He counted you faithful, putting you into the ministry?
then, be faithful.
out of love to Him feed His lambs.
make it your to ergon (the work),
as a workman that needs not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth...
i am and shall be, according to my duty and promise,
earnest at the throne of grace, on your behalf,
that the Lord will pour out upon you of Hid Holy Spirit,
that He would take you off your own bottom,
and lay you low in the sense of your own
unworthiness, inability and insufficiency,
that you may say...woe is me, i am undone!
and with jeremiah, i am a child
and with paul, i am nothing.
where this is not, the main thing is wanting;
for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble...

..to one of his daughters, concerning her little ones,
he thus writes; - 'they are but bubbles.

(foot: 'like to the falling of a star,
or as the flights of eagles are
or like the fresh spring's gaudy hue
or silver drops of morning dew
or like a wind that *chafes the flood
(to 'wear' by rubbing)
or bubbles which on water stood
even such is man, whose borrowed light
is strait called in and paid tonight.
the wind blows out; the bubble dies
the spring entomb'd in autumn lies
the dew dries up; the star is shot
the flight is past and man forgot.)

we have many warnings to sit loose.
the less we rely upon them in our joys and hopes,
the more likely to have them continued to us.
our God is a jealous God;
nor will he suffer the creature
to usurp his throne in our affections.

..to one who desired his direction for the attaining the gift of prayer
he wrote the following letter of advice.

if you would be able in words and expressions of your own,
without the help of a form,
to offer up prayers to God,
observe these following rules of direction,
in the use whereof,
by God's blessing, you may in time attain thereunto.
1. you must be thoroughly convinced, that,
where such a gift is it is of great use to a christian,
both very comfortable and very profitable
and therefore very desirable and worth your serious endeavours.
this must first be or else all that follows will signify nothing.
for it is as the wise man saith,
prov. 18.1 through desire, a man having separated himself,\
seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom;
that is, till we are brought, in some good measure, to desire the end,
we shall never in good earnest apply ourselves to the means
for the obtaining of it.
it is a gift that fits a person to be of use to others in the duty of prayer
according as there is occasion, either in a family or in christian communion.

(foot: an ingenuous man would be ashamed to pretend unto any art or faculty,
wherein he is grossly ignorant:so may that man be to profess religion,
who neglects to attain this gift.
a christian that cannot pray,
is like a orator that cannot speak,
or a traveller that cannot go.    bishop wilkins on prayer..)

it is also of great advantage to ourselves.
for how can any form though never so exact
be possibly contrived so as to reach all the circumstances of my particular case?
and yet it is my duty, in everything, to make my requests known to God.

3.you must rightly understand and consider who it is,

(foot: by prayer we honour God in the acknowledgment of our dependence upon Him
and in the owning of Him as all sufficient,
able to supply all our needs;
also an all seeing and all knowing God.
therefore, to restrain prayer,
is to deny Him that service and homage which are His due.
but then prayer is an inward thing.
tis heart work.
it must be done in the spirit, ephesians 6.18
He regards not what words, but what desires.
desires.without words are prayers;
but words without desires are but babbling.)

with whom you have to do in prayer,
for your encouragement to come to Him,
though in the midst of many infirmities and imperfections.
he is your Father, your loving, tender hearted Father,
who knows your frame and remembers you are but dust;
who is not extreme to mark what we do amiss in manner and expression,
where the heart is upright with Him.
you may judge a little concerning His love,
by the disposition that is in you towards your children,
when they come to ask things needful of you.
and believe Him to be infinitely more merciful and compassionate
than the most merciful and compassionate of fathers and mothers are or can be..

4. you must pray that you may pray.

(do but think how a poor condemned creature would carry it, if he might but find
so much favour as to be admitted into the king's presence, to speak for himself.

beg of God, the Father of lights,
form whom every good and perfect gift comes,
to bestow this gift upon you. ...

5. it is good, before you address yourself to the duty,
to read a portion of holy scripture, which will be of great use to furnish you
both with matter and words for prayer,
especially david's psalms and paul's epistles.
the Holy spirit hath provided for us a treasury or store house
of what is suitable for all occasions, ...

6.  there must be some acquaintance with our own hearts,
with our spiritual state and condition,
our wants and way,
or else no good will be done in this matter.
It is sense of need, hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness,
that supplies the poor beggar at your door with
pertinent expressions and arguments;
he needs not the help  of any friend or book to furnish him.
\so if we know ourselves, and feel our condition,
and set God before us as our God.
able and ready to help us.
words will easity follow wherewith to offer up our desires to Him,
who understands the language even of sighs and tears and groanings
which cannot be uttered. romans 8.26

(foot: prayers not self by us, are seldom heart by God. p.henry)