upon him ibid. Five Motives to walke worthy of God 1. If we do walke worthy of God then we shall answer all the labour and cost that God hath been at 193. 2. Then we shall walk with God in white 194. 3. Then we doe not disappoint Gods account ibid. 4. Then we shall be importunate beggers and so worthy of mercy ibid. 5. Then we shall adde humiliation to every duty we do performe ibid. 2. If we do not walke worthy of God then 1. We walke worthie of destruction 195. 2. Then we are guiltie of the death of Christ ibid. 3. Then we shall be condemned ibid. Use We must be as it were even of the very nature of God 192. The Contents of the fourteenth SERMON on Col. 1. 10. IT is possible to walk in all manner of pleasing unto the Lord 200. Reas 1. Because God is not a rigorous God ibid. 2. There is a way wherein if we walk we shall please God ibid. 3. The Lord hath shewed us this way ibid. 4. Many have walked in this way before us ibid. Doct. It is a fit duty to please God ibid. Reason 1. Because God is a great King 201. 2. His pleasure is a good pleasure ibid. 3. Christ who is our better did thâ—se things that pleased God ibid. 4. If we do not please God our consciences will condem us ibid. 5. It is a duty most sutable to humane society ibid. Doctr. Pleasing of God is a large duty 202. Reason 1. It is the end of all our duties ibid. 2. It is the most acceptable of all duties ibid. 3. It is unconfinable to place or time ibid. 4. It is in all things without limitation ibid. 5. It is an everlasting duty 203. 6. It is the whole duty of the new man ibid. Doctr. It is a necessary duty to please God ibid. Reas 1. Because we have no saving grace unlesse we labour to please God ib. 2. We are in a woful case if we do not please God ibid. 3. If we doe not please God we are continually in danger of the wrath of God Use To condemn 1. Those that please not God ibid. 2. Those that please men ibid. 3. Those that please themselves 205. The Contents of the fifteenth SERMON on Luke 23. 42. EXtraordinary cases never make a common rule 209. That a wicked life will have a cursed end this is the ordinary rule ibid. Yet in some extrtardinary cases it may be otherwise 1. When God is pleased to shew his prerogative royall ibid. 2. When a sinner hath not had means of salvation in his life but only at his death 210. 3. When a sinner shall be made exemplary ibid. 4. When the Lord may be as much honoured by a mans death as he hath been dishonoured by his life This repentance of the thief was extraordinary as is proved by five arguments 1. Because it was one of the wonders of Christs passion ibid. 2. We read not of any other that was converted at the last hour as the thief was 211. 3. Because of the suddennesse of it ibid. 4. In regard of the Evangelicall perfection of it Containing 212. 1. His penitentiall confession ibid. 2 His penitential profession ibid. 3. His penitentiall satisfaction ibid. 4. His penitentiall self-deniall ibid. 5. His penitentiall faith ibid. 6. His penitentiall resolution 213. 7. His penitentiall prayer ibid. 5. This repentance was extraordinary in regard of the incomparablenesse of it ibid. Use To condemn those that rely upon this example 214. This example is once recorded that none might despaire and but once that none might presume 215. None because of this example should defer their repentance 1. Because this thief had not the means of life and grace before 216. 2. Because we never read that this thief put off his repentance till the last ibid. 3. Because at that time God was in a way of working miracles 218. The Contents of the seventeenth SERMON on Psal 147. 3. THe words of the Text opened 223. What is meant by wholenesse of heart ibid. What is meant by brokennesse of heart 224. Doctr. Christ justifies and sanctifies Or heals the broken-hearted 226. Four Reasons 1. Because God hath given grace unto Christ to heale the broken-hearted ibid. 2. Christ hath undertaken to do it ibid. 3. Christ hath this in charge to bind up the broken-hearted ibid. 4. None but the broken hearted will accept of Christ ibid. Severall objections are answered 227. 228 229. Three Reasons why Christ will heale the broken-hearted 1. This is the most seasonable time to be healed when the heart is broken 232. 2. It is the most profitablest time ibid. 3. It is the very nick of time the heart can never be healed untill it be broken ibid. Three signes of a broken heart 1. A breaking from sin 234. 2. A breaking in it self with sorrow ibid. The history of Zacheus conversion is opened in seven particulars ibid. 3. When the heart is broken then it will stoop to Gods word in all things 237. The Contents of the eighteenth SERMON on Isaiah 57. 1. The words of the Text explained Doct. ALl men must die 241. Reason 1. Because God hath so appointed it 242. 2. Because all men and women are of the dust ibid. 3. Because all have sinned ibid. 4. Because as death came into the World by sin so sin might go out of the world by death ibid. Two Objections against this are answered ibid. Use 1. Let no man look to be exempted from death for his righteousnese 243. 2. Hence we should learn to draw our hearts from this present world ibid. 3. To teach us to prepare our selves for a better life ibid. Doct. The death and losse of good men must be laied to heart as an especiall cause of grief and sorrow 244 Reason 1. Because the instruments of Gods glory are taken away ibid. 2. Because of the great losse that others have by their death ibid. 3. Because of the evill to come for while they live they are as a wall to keep off the wrath of God ibid. Use 1. To reprove those that rejoyce at the death of the righteous 245 2. To informe us what a losse it is when the righteous are taken away ibid. Doct. When God will bring any great judgement upon a people or Nation ordinarily he takes away his faithfull servants from amongst them 146. Use 1. To inform us of Gods extraordinary love to his Children ibid. 2. To inform us that when the righteous are taken away we are certainly to expect some great judgement from God to fall upon us ibid. The Contents of the nineteenth SERMON on Jeremiah 14. 9. THe opening of the context in many particulars 251. Doctr. God many times doth cast off a people 252. Four Signes of Gods casting off a people 1. When he takes away his love and respect from a people 253. 2. When he takes away his providence from them ibid. 3. When he breaks down the wals of Magistracy and Ministry ibid. 4.
God hath placed that fiery blade of death at the entrance into the Paridise of heaven so that none can enter before they tast of death and all must taste of it yea the most righteous are not exempted from the stroak of death This then should teach us to labour to draw our hearts from the love of this present life and what can better perswade us and wean us from the love of this world than a due consideration of death we know we must all die and therefore we should prepare our selves for it If any prophane person amongst us knew that this night must be his last night and that now he had no longer to live would not this amaze him and make him bethink himself and to prepare for death If rich covetous men which spend the whole course of their life in providing for the things of this life did truely consider of death and that their end draweth nigh would they doe as they do when this life and all the things of this life and all our joyes and pleasures of this world shall shortly have an end for when death comes they shall all be taken from us or rather we from them Oh how excellent a thing is it then for us to be drawn from the things of this life unto a due consideration of death and of those heavenly Joyes and happinesse to come Oh you that look for these things what manner of men ought you to be in holy life and conversation Thirdly seeing we all must die and this present life must come to an end this should teach us to prepare our selves for a better life to provide for a surer building a better estate which shall never perish Philosophers who were but heathen men could meditate on death setting it always before their eyes But this is not enough for us that are Christians we cannot truly prepare our selves for it unlesse we first build a surer foundation in providing for a better life which shall never have an end and this no heathen or wicked man can ever do Oh how wofull would that message be unto a wicked man that was brought unto good King Hezekiah Come set thy house in order for thou must die and not live and why should it be terrible unto him surely because he hath no hope of a better life he hath not provided for a better habitation Consider then with what comfort thou couldest entertain this message with whâ—â— comfort canst thou meet with death for he is no Christian that cannot in some measure willingly meet with death for by it we pas unto a better life for as this our brother spake often he that would have comfort in death must look beyond death he must not fix his eyes on the terrors of death but he must look beyond to that glorious inheritance to which we are passing through death and there shall he behold his Saviour putting forth his hand ready to receive him there shall he see the blessed Saints and Angels whose company he shall enjoy besides an infinite heap of Joyes and happinesse that is prepared for him also O my beloved nothing will make us willingly to entertain the message of death but only the comforts of the life to come Oh let us labour then for these comforts that so we may be provided against death were it not a foolishnesse for a man who being a tennant at will and shortly to be turned out of his house never to take care for another until he is cast out of doors Beloved we are all tennants at will and we are very shortly to be cast out of our dwelling houses of clay and shall we not provide for a surer habitation Death is at hand and our life must shortly have an end let us therefore labour to be assured of a better life when this is ended that so with comfort we may meet with death Now we come unto the second point which is here to be considered taken from the complaint of the Prophet that the people did not consider nor lay it to heart viz. the death of the righteous whence I note That the death and losse of good men must be laid to heart as a speciall cause of grief and sorrow We ought justly to be grieved at the death of a righteous man when God taketh him from amongst us How did the Prophet Jeremy and the people lament the death of that good King Josiah 2 Chron. 35. 23. so devout men made great lamentation for the death of Stephen Acts 8. 2. so all Israel lamented the death of Moses Deut. 34. 8. And Joash the King of Israel wept for the death of the Prophet Elisha 2 Kings 13. 14. and thus we should lament and sorrow for the death of any righteous man yet not in respect of themselves as if their case were worse now then before for they are now more happy But first in regard of Gods glory whereof they were instruments to set it forth for since they were taken away Gods glory is impaired because there are the fewer left which doe truly serve and worship him for as David saith the dead praise not the Lord c. Psal 115. 17. so then they being dead do not praise the Lord among the faithful on earth any longer Secondly in regard of the great losse that others have by their death who have alwayes received much good by them in their life for the godly doe so order and behave themselves in all their wayes that they do good wheresoever they come therefore when they die it must needs be a great losse unto such who might if they had lived been bettered by them Thirdly We ought to lament the death of the righteous in regard of the evil to come for while they live they are as a wal about us to keep Gods judgments from us If there had been but ten righteous men in Sodome it had not been destroyed Gen. 18. 32. If there be any messenger one among a thousand saith Elihu to shew unto man his uprightnesse then is God gracious unto him Job 33. 23. Run ye to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem saith God and see if you can find a man if there be any that executeth judgement and seeks the Lord and I will pardon it Jer. 5. 1. so that if there had been but one righteous man among the people in that city the Lord would have spared them even for that ones sake and therefore the Lord speaking of the righteous saith I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place he shall be as a glorious throne unto his fathers house Esay 22. 23. Oh consider then what a losse we have when the righteous dye we are like to perish when the naile that was in the sure place is removed cut down and falls for then the burden that was upon it shall be cut off Esay 22. 25. You therefore of this Congregation consider and lament for this your losse in that this good man is
Thus you see that the Saints of God are marvellous importunate to keepe God in his ordinances Quest But may not a man be saved without preaching Answ I answer the argument is clear the Saints maintain God in his ordinances the want of which is under the penalty of death and damnation because we have more need of God in his ordinances than of all the gold in the world for all the gold in the world will not satisfy a hungry man It is bread that he must have because he hath need of it so the Saints have most need of God and of Christ for though they have but ragged coats and their bodies pincht with hunger yet God is he that they stand most in need of In Psalme the 73. and the 25. verse David fretted at the prosperity of the wicked but at the last he breaks off kindly saying whom have I Heaven but thee As if he should have said let them have what they will I will have nothing but thâ—e And why so why thou art my strength and my portion for ever mark he saith that God is his strength yea the strength of his heart hereby shewing that all the helps in the word cannot help the heart of man if God and Christ bee wanting you were as good offer a journey to refresh a weary man or the ayre to feed a hungry man as to offer riches honours and ease to help a distressed soul These will never help a man he may well dote upon them but his soule and conscience will be galled and troubled still it must be the God of peace that must speak peace to troubled soules It must be the God of peace that must speak peace to a distressed soul to a soule that is damned in it selfe it is he that must say I will be the strength of their hearts and their portion for ever no marvel then if a poor soul cryes to God when happily the heart is full when the soul gnaws and cries within it selfe I am damned I am damned happily the palate is pleased with delicates when the poor soul for ought it knows must goe down to hell oh then beloved if you will have safety goe where God is for every good gift comes in with him if once a man hath got God into his company he hath all good things with him God blessed Obed Edoms house for the Arks sake now the Arke was a type of Christ and where it came many blessings came with it even so when God comes unto a people they are married unto him in righteousnesse in judgement in loving kindnesse and in mercies for ever Hosea 2. 9. When a man is married to a wife all is his so get Christ and all is thine and then what wouldst thou have more God speaks to the raine and it heares God speaks to the corne and it heares but if thou be in Christ hell and death are thy servants but they that have outward things only as profits pleasures or the like they have their ruine unlesse they have Christ with them get Christ therefore for if he be wanting all outward and inward dangers befall that man or that Nation woe be unto him or them that are without God For though they bring up their children yet will I bereave them that there shall not be a man left yea woe also to them when I do depart from them Ephraim as Tyrus is planted in a pleasant place but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer Hosea 9. 12. 13. True indeed woe be unto that heart County or Kingdome that God is departed from when God who is the God of mercies and all consolation is departed away who can but pitty that soule County or Kingdome who will not submit to Gods peace consolation and salvation When God parts all miseries follow for that man that makes no conscience in outfacing God in the congregation mark what the text saith Deut. 28. 15. I will forsake them and many miseries shall overtake them and when the floud-gates are once up then come in all evils And then they shal say are not these things come upon us because God is not with us If therefore we would avoid woe and sorrow slaying and killing one another if the wife would not see her husband killed before her tender eyes and the man see his wife snatcht out of the world by the hands of wicked men then leave not God but hold him fast and then evil dayes will depart from us It is our holding of God that keeps miseries from us oh then what shall we think of them that are weary of God and that say to the Almighty Depart from us Job 22. 17. Ob. But are there any amongst us that are weary of God I hope there are none such amongst us I answer Thou art a servant and rejectest the Command of thy Master in it thou doest reject God and all such as have a mean conceit of the worship of God and the word of God and think that prayer or preaching is continued too long I say these men know not what they think or say but certainly it is because they would be freed from the Ordinances of God well God will free thee from them one day I will warrant thee and then thou wilt be in a miserable condition oh that thou wouldest pitty thy poor condition but thou art weary of Gods ordinances and of his mercies his presence and patience know thou that thou shalt be deprived of Gods goodnesse and thy portion shall be with those that hate God in this life here and after this life if thou repent not thy portion shall be with them in Tophet where the worm dyeth not and where the fire goeth not out and then crying will not availe God will be God over thee in destruction yea when he hath spurned thousands and ten thousands into hell such as thou art then shalt thou be the everlasting object of his never dying wrath then notwithstanding all thy shrill cries though thou couldest be heard out of that dungeon yet were thy help never the near for God is God still I advise thee therefore what to do whilst thou art here in this life make thy peace with God in Christ and lay thy self low before him and beare patiently his hand in his wrath which thou hast deserved And mark what I say thou hast deserved to be in hell an hundred times that is the least and therefore be contented with thy condition for thou hast chosen death rather than life and God should wrong himself and thee also if he should not let thee have thy choosing Will not these things move you my brethren Me thinks I see your colours rise I am glad of it I hope it is to a good end you may be wise and happily so wise as to choose life rather than death Now the Lord grant it for he delights not in your destruction I wâ—â—â—dde one word more to leave the more impression in your
and displease him A wicked man will swear and blaspheme the Name of God and by and by it may be he will cry God mercy and so he thinks of God The man breaks out it may be into wrath and malice fury and passion and then it may be a thought will come into his mind to cry God mercy for it and thus he thinks of God The man is carelesse earthly dead and lukewarm in the performance of good duties and because his Conscience tells him it is not good he will aslo God forgivenesse he will be proud vain and rotten in his speeches and then it may be a thought will come into his mind to ask God forgivenesse and so he thinks of God he will think of the world of his pleasures profits of his lusts and sins and then it may be a good thought will come into his mind and then it may be he will think a little of God too Beloved this is carnal and devillish thinking of God thy thoughts then of God must be joyned with the fear of God Fourthly and lastly thou thinkest of God but the question is whether thy thoughts of him be profitable or unprofitable thoughts a godly man thinks of repentance and repents upon it he thinks of calling on God more faithfully and fervently then he did before and he accomplishes his thoughts for he goes a bout it and his heart is the better for it Thus it was with David when he said I thought on my way ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies Psalm 119. 59. I thought on my wayes there was his good thoughts and turned my feet unto thy testimonies there was the profit of his good thoughts but on the contrary thou thinkest of God but God hath never the more service of thee thou thinkest of leaving of thy good fellowship and merry companions but for all thy thought thou retainest them still thou thinkest to give over all thy deadnesse and luke-warmnesse and so get more zeal fervency yet day after day and year after year thy heart is as dead vain and secure as before as ever before Examine thy self and see thou hast good thoughts thou saist but where is the profit of them thou thinkest of leaving thy wrath and of bridling thy filthy passions but art thou enabled by thy thoughts to put up an injury the better it may be thou thinkest of death but is thy life the more holy and sanctified by it Thou thinkest of Christ and his blood but is thy heart purged by it Oh the wretched misery of the most men in the world because of the unprofitablenesse of their thoughts they have many good thoughts but they want the profitable use of them they get no good by by them There is an excellent description of the thoughts of wicked men though it be Apocrypha The heart of the foolish is like a Cart-Wheel and his thoughts like the rowling Axeltree As the Cart-wheel goes round all the day and yet remains on the Axeltree so is it with wicked men their thoughts wheel and wheel them up and down a thousand thousand times their thoughts run upon this thing and then upon another thing and so they rowl up and down continually yet their heatt is at the same passe it was still an earthly heart it was and so it is still a prophane heart it was and so it is still a carnall proud heart it was and so it remains still But let these know that the time hastens wherein God will judge them even for their very thoughts Where are they then that say thought is free It is true indeed it is free from mens knowledge and from mens Courts but not from Gods they are not free from Gods all-seeing eye and knowledge Thou hast tryed and known me saith the Prophet thou understandest my thoughts afar off Psal 139. Beloved as you are in the Ale-house or gaming house as you walk abroad in the fields as you are imployed in your callings or about any holy duty God seeth all thy thoughts what is going in and what is coming out there is never a thought in thy heart but God sees it how then can thoughts be free God will weigh the thoughts of men Prov. 16. 2. Beloved what a fearfull day will that be when God shall take his Scales and weigh not mens bodies and estates for then in may be that rich men and fat and grosse men will out-weigh them that are better but he will take mens thoughts and weigh them he will weigh their souls he will take mens good thoughts and put them in one scale and their bad earthly carnal and unprofitable thoughts into another scale and to try which weighs heaviest Now if thy earthly and sinfull thoughts weigh heaviest then down thou goest into eternall damnation Secondly as thoughts are not free from Gods knowledge so are they not free from Gods Word for Gods Word can meet with them for it is lively and mighty in operation and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. Doth the word of God discern the thoughts of mens hearts Then much more doth the God of this word and therefore how can thoughts be fee Thirdly and lastly they are not free from the condemnation of hell and and damnation I am he saith God that search the heart and reins and I will give to every one of you according to his works or as some translations have it according to your thoughts Revel 3. 23. Now if God will so severely punish thoughts take heed then how thou retainest any evil thoughts I should here give you some meanes in the use that so you might rid your selves from vain thoughts First love the word of God if ever thou wilt come out of them prize the truth of God and labour to get thy mind and thoughts to be set on better things and then the thoughts of the world and all vain things will vanish away This course the Prophet David took Psal 119 113 I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love How came it to pass that he hated vain thoughts namely by loving Gods Law if he had not loved Gods Law and those excellent things therein and set his heart on them he could never have hated vain thoughts The way then to break off thy league with vain thoughts is to be in league with good thoughts Dost thou complain of vain thoughts in prayer in hearing the word in receiving of the Sacraments and art thou stuffed and filled with them that thou canst not think upon God and holy things thou dost hereby bewray thine own rottenesse and corruptions And therefore know that if thou lovest the Lord and his Word and didst set thy thoughts upon him thou wouldest never have them so much imployed about such base things Secondly if ever thou wouldest rid thy heart of vain thoughts especially when thou art in holy action thou must go unto God by prayer there is no greater
were but now you cannot help it these things and times are gone and cannot be recalled such a one hath been a drunkard a swearer a worldling c. but he cannot help it now True he might have helped it and because he did not his heart shall bleed for it if he belong to God but doe not stand poaring too much upon it but consider now what you have to doe now you are to humble your selves now you are to strive with God in all manner of prayer for more grace and more power of obedience and assurance and be not discouraged Fourthly If the soule be discouraged it will breed nothing but sorrow What is the reason that many Christians are alwayes weeping and mourning and sighing and sobbing from day to day all their life time and will not be comforted because of these discouragements 1 Thes 4. 13. Sorrow not saith the Apostle as those that have no hope as if he had said sorrow if you will but do not sorrow as they that have â—o hope How is that it is a sorrow with nothing but sorrow from which they have no hope of inlargement or freedome O then my brethren suppose you have dead hearts suppose you want zeale you want assurance suppose it be so yet labour to attain these grace sorrow and spare not weepe and mourne and powre out whole buckets of teares for your sinnes if you can but sorrow not with nothing but sorrow be not discouraged suppose that thou hast a dead heart that thou art an hypocrite that thou hast a rotten heart it is a heavy thing and a fearful case indeed for which thou hast great cause of humiliation and sorrow but yet sorrow not desperately as men without hope be not wholly discouraged but as you sorrow for your sinnes so also labour with incouragement to get cut and be rid of your sinnes Fifthly Discouragements breed and procure a totall perplexity They leave the soul in a maze that it knows not whither to turne it self When men come to be discouraged O what shall I do saith one I am utterly undone saith another I know not what will become of me saith a third Oh I am utterly lost I shall perish one day one day God will discover me and be avenged on me for this and that sin I were as good go to he lat the first as at the last for that will be the end of me I have gone to prayer but that doth not helpe me I have gone to Sacraments but I find no help still my soule lies under the power of sinne still my sinnes are as strong in me as ever Thus the soule is discouraged and cries out Oh what shall I doe I know not what to doe What shall I doe sayest thou Alas thou hast things enough to doe if thou wert not discouraged Utterly undone No man thou mightest see that thou art not utterly undone but that thou art discouraged Dost thou not know what will be come of thee yea poore soule there is mercy grace and peace for thee if thou wilt not be discouraged Sixthly Discouragements whisper within a man a sentence of death and an impossibility of escaping As far as the discouragement of life goeth so far goeth the sentence of death We despaired of life and had the sentence of death in our selves saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. 8. 9. he despaired of life in himselfe and therfore had the sentence of death in himself this was good but he did not despaire of life in God for then he should have had likewise the sentence of death from God in his conscience If you despaire in the Lord you have the sentence of death and damnation from God in your conscience take heed of this my beloved be not discouraged in God do not despaire in the Lord that will work a miserable effect in your souls it will secretly whisper a sentence of damnation in your soules It is strange to consider how many poore soules rub on with these whispering sentences in their bosomes suffering their consciences day by day to tell them that they are rotten to tell them that they were never yet converted to tell them that they are yet in the state of damnation and yet they will not root out these discouragements O goe to the Throne of grace begge for grace and for mercie and for power against sinne and bee not discouraged What wilt thou carry thine owne sentence of death in thy breast if thou wilt not rouze up thy soule and pray with more affection and confidence and shake off discouragements take heed least thou carry the sentence of thine owne death and damnation in thy bowels Oh therefore once more let mee beseech you to take heede of these discouragements and now hearken unto the voice of God which calleth upon you Feare not Thou drewest nigh in the day that I called upon thee Thou saidest Feare not THE MISERY OF THE CREATURES BY The Sinne of Man In a SERMON By WILLIAM FENNER Minister of the Gospel sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Lecturer of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford They are accusing groanes They are judging and condemning groanes First they are upbraiding groanes Give ears Oh ye heavens and I will speak and hear Oh earth the words of my lips Deut. 32. 1. as if God had said mark O ye heavens and let all the whole world hear what I testify against this people as if the heavens and the earth did upbraid them of their unthankfulnesse God commands the Sun to shine and it shineth the earth to fructify and it obeyeth But this wicked people he commands to repent and forsake their sins and they will not Chrysostome saith wicked men although they have naturall reason in them are more senceless than sencelesse creatures the rocks and the flints the flye and the gnats may upbraid them the rocks rent in sunder but this people will not rent their hearts swarmes of flies were hiss'd for to come and they yielded obedience and the livelesse creatures groan under the slavery of sin but they will not obey they will not be brought to groan for their sins How do all the creatures upbraid man Do ye thus requite the Lord O ye foolish people and unwise Beloved how do the heavens and the earth upbraide thee for unthankfulnesse wert thou ever in sickness and God did not deliver thee wert thou ever in misery and God did not comfort thee wert thou ever in any straight and God did not direct thee in sickness who was life unto thee in poverty who supplyed thee in danger who delivered thee was it noâ— God that hath done all for thee And shall the Lord command thee obedience and wilt thou not grant it him doth he command thee to part with thy lust and crucify all thy corruptions and wilt thou not obey him doth the Lord command thee to be meek humble patient and dost thou refuse then hear O heavens
in the power and sanctification of holinesse then men would say of themselves of a truth God is in these men Christ dwels in them and the Spirit of God leads and governs them indeed If thou wouldest judge the world take heed how the world judgeth thee lest thou with the world be condemned eternally It was said that Herod feared John because he was a just man Mark 6. 23. So if all thy neighbours did know that thou were a just man a holy and conscionable man in all thy wayes and in all thy actions and that cannot endure swearing lying and deceit but did see that thou wast just and one that feared God truly they would all fear thee THE PUNISHMENT Of Unworthy COMMUNICANTS AT THE TABLE of the LORD DELIVERED In a SERMON preached By that Reverend and Faithfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B. D. Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Pastor of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford A SERMON OF M. WILLIAM FENNERS Upon this ensuing Text. 1 Cor. 11. 30. For this cause many are weak and sick among you and many sleep THE Apostle in this Chapter taxeth two abuses which were then amongst the Corinthians First the unseemly habit of women in the congregation from the 1 verse to the 17. Secondly the prophane usage of the holy Communion both by men and women from the 17 verse to the end of the Chapter and herein from the 23. verse to the end of the 25 he sets down the Institution of the Lords Supper and thence raiseth a point of Doctrine That whosoever would come to this holy communion they must examine themselves that so they may come worthily else it were better that they never came So we may read in the 28 verse But let a man examine himselfe and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup As if the Apostle had said Unlesse a man examine himself and search his own heart and find out his sins and dive into the secrets of his soul to bring out his hidden corruptions confessing them and judging himselfe for them before the Lord let them never presume to come to the holy Sacrament And then he proves it by three Reasons The first is taken from the end of the Sacrament for it is the remembrance of the death and passion of Christ so it is in 26. verse So oft as you Eat of this Bread and Drink of this Cup you shew forth the Lords death till he come It is a reason that the men of this world are not acquainted withall and therefore it was a good wish of a Reverend Father that the Sacrament should never be ministred but there should be a Sermon to teach men the nature of it and to instruct them in the Mystery thereof We approach unto the Sacrament hand over head living in our sinnes not shewing by our coming that Christ is dead we say we profess that Christ dyed for our sins and yet not withstanding our sins live in us as if Christ had not died for us or as if we would proclaim that his death had no effect in us For were we dead with Christ then sin and the living occasions of sin would be dead in us also My beloved we should never come to this Sacrament but we should shew forth the Lords death thereby that is that Christ is dead or rather dyed for sin and that sin is also dead in us The second reason is taken from the damned wrong we offer unto Christ if we come in our sins for we are guilty of the body and bloud of Christ as it is in the 27 verse nay thou sinnest against the Lord Jesus Christ not a jot lesse than Pilate that condemned him than Judas that betrayed him and the Jews that cryed out Crucifie him crucifie him yea thou art as much guilty as if thy own hand in thy own person had been imbrued in his bloud Now we know it is a horrible sin to be guilty of the blood and murther of an ordinary man yea of a very rogue how much more is it a great and fearfull sin to be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ the onely and eternall Sonne of God Yet comest thou to this holy Communion and bringest no lesse than the guilt of the Body and bloud of Christ upon thy soul The third Reason is taken from the wofull wrong and injury that man brings upon his own soul that comes unpreparedly without examination of himselfe in the 20. verse he eateth and drinketh his own damnation that is he maketh himselfe guilty of and lyable to the same vengeance that the crucifiers of Christ had inflicted on them Good had it been for that man saith Christ of Judas if that he had never been born So may I say Good had it been for that man and that woman if they had never been borne who come unworthily unto the Table of the Lord for when they eat of that Bread they eat their own bane and when they drinke of that Cup they drinke their own damnation Then commeth he to make some uses of this point and first he condemns those that as they come so they goe away from the Sacrament no more holy no more gracious than before but as they come in their sins so they go away in their sins they came drunkards and they go away drunkards they came worldlings and they go away worldlings they came mockers and they go away mockers they came in their wrath anger malice deadnesse hypocrisie and luke-warmnesse and so they goe away still never the better but living in them as they did before As in the â—â— verse You come together saith the Apostle not for the better but for the worse Whereas â—f they would have come worthily they should have gone away the better they should have received more grace and holinesse to walk with God more power and strength against sin and corruption yea the Lord would have ratified and confirmed his Covenant with them whereas living in contention and not coming with preparation they grow the worse by the Sacrament The Corinthians thought that the Apostle would have praised them for their coming to Church and receiving the Sacrament Shall I praise you saith the Apostle in this I praise you not Secondly He makes an use of terror against all those that dare come in their sins unto this holy Sacrament of the Lord for that man that cometh in his sins unto the Table of the Lord 1. Though he may think he receives the Communion yet he doth not for this is not the Table of the Lord but the Table of devils It is true thou receivest the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ but yet coming in thy sins thou receivest not his body and blood as of a Saviour to save thee from thy sins Indeed thou receivest the body and blood of Christ sacramentally but it is
man or woman rich or poor that person was to be cut off from the presence of the Lord Levit. 12. whereto the Lord sets his Seal for the confirmation thereof I am the Lord and as sure as I am the Lord so will I see it accomplished So my beloved let me say unto you of England from Dover to Newcastle or from the one end of the town unto the other that soul who toucheth any one of these holy things with an impure heart and cometh to partake of them with his uncleannesse upon him living in his sinnes and wallowing in his lusts casting off the fear of the Lord and making no conscience to walk in Gods wayes that soul shall surely be cut off that cometh so unworthily unto the Table of the Lord not only the hand that taketh it and the mouth that eateth it but even the very soul of him that cometh shall perish from the presence of the Lord. So Levit. 7. 20. That soul that eateth of the flesh of the Sacrifices of peace offerings that pertain unto the Lord having his uncleannesse upon him even that soul shall be cut off from his people Now you know that all those sacrifices had relation unto Christ but yet under the Law they were but shadows and typicall relations and were not so lievly and effectuall means for the exhibiting of Christ as the Lords Supper is And therefore if such as came in their uncleannesse unto them were punished with no lesse punishment than a cutting off from fellowship with the Lords people what wrath and vengeance will the Lord bring upon thee that comest with thy uncleannesse upon thee unto this holy Communion Augustine saith that man that receiveth the Sacrament unworthily receiveth a great plague to his own soul and a great torment to his own conscience yea and heapeth up a store of wrath unto himself against the day of wrath Me thinks thou that livest in thy sinnes and wilt not come out of them when thou hearest these words This is my body and seest the bread broken before thy face it should even make thee tremble and quake to look upon it more to touch it and most of all to tast it for it is the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ and how darest thou come in thy sins to defile it A third Reason is in regard of the form of the Sacrament which is Christ too for as he is the efficient cause that instituted it and as he is also the matter of the Sacrament so in the third place Christ is the form of the Sacrament also wherein the confirming grace of God is sealed up unto thee Now as it is treason for a man to offer contempt unto the Kings broad Seal so certainly is it high treason against this King of Kings to contemn this blessed Sacrament which is the Seal of the righteousnesse of faith If thou shouldest clip the Kings Coyn I will say that thou art a Traitor Oh what a traytor art thou then yea accursed traytor in the account of God and Christ if thou clippest his holy Communion if thou clip it of thy examination and due preparation and so come hand over head not regarding so holy an Ordinance Thou sinnest against the Court of heaven That which Saint James speaks in general of the whole worship of God Draw near unto God let me apply it in particular unto this drawing near unto God in his holy Communion James 4. 8. Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded Draw near unto God in the hearing reading and meditating on Gods Word draw near unto God in Prayer and in his holy Sacrament and receive it for your amendment of life Draw near unto God I that I wil saith the wicked man I wil come to Church and draw near unto the holy Communion Will you so saith the Apostle No first Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purge your hearts ye double-minded As if he should say never think of drawing near unto God or setting foot on this holy ground and handling those holy mysteries of Christ unlesse thou first purge thy heart and cleanse thy soul from all thy filthy lusts and cursed corruptions lest otherwise thou coming in thy sins with thy uncleannesse on thee and so receiving unworthily thou eatest and drinkest thine own damnation as our English translation hath it damnation to thy self and not to another No God forbid that thou shouldest by thy unworthy coming eat and drink condemnation to another for thou that art a child of God and comest unto the Table of the Lord with repentance and a sound measure of preparation though others that sit in the same pew with with thee for their prophanenesse eat and drink their own damnation yet thou shalt be sure to receive the seal and assurance of thy reconciliation and salvation with free acceptance of God through the Lord Jesus Christ for every man shall bear his own burden The last Reason is in regard of the end of the Sacrament which is Christ also For as he is the efficient material and formal cause so Christ is also the final cause of the Sacrament So it is in the 26 verse As oft as you eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup you shew forth the Lords death until he come Not that Christ may be eaten with the teeth or corporally received in the Sacrament or as if he were there productively or transubstantially as the Papists say no the Apostle shews that the end of the celebration of this Sacrament is to shew forth the death of Christ untill he come I but say the Romists unlesse we eat the body and drink the blood of Christ really and not the consecrated bread and wine how can any man by this unworthy communicating eat and drink his own damnation and make himself guilty of the body and blood of Christ I answer a man cannot bring this guilt upon himselfe by eating a peece of bread or drinking a cup of wine but the Apostle hath an answer so fitted for this as that all the Papists in the world shall never be able to gain say and therefore I pray you to mark it for he hath joyned these two verses together as oft as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup you shew forth the Lords death till he come Wherefore whosoever eateth this bread or drinketh this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord even for this cause because it is the shewing forth of Christs death till he come Therefore if thou eatest and drinkest unworthily coming in thy sins and resolvest to go on in them that as thou wert proud before thou camest to the Sacrament so thou art still as thou wert cholerick angry and impatient before so thou art still as thou wert luke-warm and dead-hearted in Gods service before so thou remainest still remember I pray thee that as oft as thou hast come unto the
glad of it c. and it is said there that Jesus rejoyced c. I rather rejoyce that thou hast sent me to poor souls such as are the off-scouring of the world c. but he that is selfe-conceited is wiser forsooth then so Christ tels thee that thou must take up his crosse but thou thinkest that thou hast more wit thou canst go a wiser way to work thou hast an easier way to heaven thou wilt none of the Crosse and I tell thee then that Christ wil none of thee but he will be glad to see thee damned Fourthly and lastly he is in the broad way to hell that is selfe-conceited there be many wayes to hell the covetous goes one way the Drunkard goes another there are a thousand wayes to hell though there be sundry wayes to hell yet they all meet in selfe-conceit there is the broad high way where all meet selfe-conceit is not only the way to hell but it is the brood way where all wayes meet There is a way saith the wise man that seems right c. Prov. 14. 12. but the end of it is death there is the wages there all the wayes meet Oh then examine your selves I should give you signes and tokens to make it appeare unto you but the time will not give me leave I will only name one or two That man that selfe-swears is conceited of himself that is one sign As I am an honest man As God shal help me by my faith and troth As I look that the Lord should save my soul c. these men are highly conceited of themselvs they think that their salvation is sure yea so sure that they may swear by it but these are devillish and damnable self conceits it is Gods prerogative only to sweare by himself Heb. 6. 13. 14. I speak this because I know it is a common practise among men and a hellish brand of a cursed self-conceited man THE EFFICACIE Of Importunate PRAYER In tvvo SERMONS By that laborious and faithful Messenger of CHRIST WILLIAM FENNER Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Minister of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford THE EFFICACY OF Importunate Prayer LUKE 11. 9. Ask and it shall be given unto you Seeke and you shall finde Knock and it shall be opened unto you OUr Saviour CHRIST being demanded by one of his Disciples how they should pray He here teaches them these two things First a Platform of prayer in the 2 3 4. verses Say Our Father c. Secondly he teaches them the Importunity of Prayer which he sets forth by the similitude of a man who having a guest come to him at midnight and had nothing to set before him he went to his friend to intreat him to lend him three loaves and at the first he nakedly intreats Lend me three loaves The door is shut sayes his friend and I cannot open it now Secondly he falls to intreat and to beseech him to do him this favour He had a guest come to him and he knew not what to do Why 't is midnight saies he is there no other time to come but now Thirdly he begins to knock he must needs have them though it be at an unreasonable hour Why I tell you I am in bed Then he intreats him as a friend Friend me no friends sayes he again Yet the man would not leave knocking at last with much adoe the man rises saying Will you never be answered and he lends him three loaves because of his importunity Now saith our Saviour I say unto you though he would not give him as a friend yet because of his importunity he will The similitude is this Thou art that man oh Christian soul this guest is thy self Now then come home to thy self with the Prodigall who when he was come to himself goes to his father and friend This friend is Christ that thou art to pray unto these three loaves are grace mercy and peace These thou art to pray for it may be Christ answereth thee in thy conscience It is midnight thou commest too late there is no mercy for thee The soul prayes still Oh Lord awaken and help me it may be the Lord will answer thee by terror in thy soul The door of mercy is shut thou shouldest have come rather Yet Lord open unto me sayes the soul Nay saith the Lord all my children have mercy already now mercy is asleep I have converted them already they came in due season thou commest at midnight there is no mercy for such a hell-hound as thou art Up Lord have mercy on me sayes the poor soul and look on me c. Look me no looks saith the Lord I came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel there was a time when I would have converted thee when I called unto thee early and late But now I am asleep and my mercy is asleep it hath been awake as long as it could well hold open its eyes and comest thou now Oh the soul cries still and will never give over if mercy be to be had at the throne of grace he will have it Even as a begger being at a gentlemans door they bidding him be gone there is nothing to be had nay sayes the begger I will not be gone here is something to be had and I will have something or else I will die at the door The gentleman hearing him say so thinks it would be a shame for him if he should die at his door and gives him somewhat So when the soul is thus importunate because of importunity it shall be granted Verily I say unto you if you thus ask it shall be given unto you These words contain in them the main duty of importunate prayer Ask if asking wil not serve turn seek if seeking will not serve turn then knock try all meanes Another parable our Saviour put forth Luke 18. 1 2. that men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint There was a poor woman wronged by her adversary and there was no Judge to right her but a wicked one so that she had but poor hopes yet she resolves to go or else she shall be undone therefore if she perish she will perish at his feet He cals her all to naught Oh for Gods sake help me sayes she I care not for God nor man sayes the Judge Nay good my Lord saith the woman The Judge seeing her thus importunate said I shall be troubled with her if I do her not justice How much more saith the text shall not God avenge his elect that cry day and night Obj. But some man may demand what is importunate prayer Ans I answer it is a relstess praier which will take no nay nor contumelious repulse but is in a holy manner impudent until it speed and there are in it four things First it is restlesse he that is importunate cannot rest till he speed in his suit before God as the poor woman of
Thirdly from Satan Fourthly from a mans own sluggishnesse For the first The best children of God have corrupt natures and when they have done what they can distractions will fasten on them They would perform good duties better if they were able saying with Paul The good which I would I do not c. Secondly from nature as it is curbed The more grace binds nature to its good behaviovr the more rustling it keeps Even a Bird being at liberty keps no stir but being in a cage it flutters about because it is abridged of its libertie so when thou hast curbed thy corrupt flesh it will be skittish in every good dutie thou goest about and hence it is that the Apostle useth this phrase viz. I find another law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind c. When grace curbs the law of sin then nature rebels Thirdly from Satan as in Job Satan stands at his right hand as a Plantiffe as Aegidius compares it which puts in all Cases to hinder the Defendant Even so the Devil puts in all bie-thoughts that he can devise to hinder a mans suit for going on before the throne of grace But thou must do as Abraham did when he was sacrificing when the birds came he drave them away so must thou do by thy bie-thoughts if thou wilt have fruit of thy supplications before God Fourthly they come from spiritual sluggishness that creeps on the best if they take not heed And this was the reason the Apostle cryed O wretched man that I am c. I speak not now to the children of God who are troubled with bie-thoughts in their praiers For they the more bie-thoughts they have the more earnest they are in prayer they mourn with David in their prayer Consider O Lord saith he how I mourn Psal 55. There was something in the Prophets prayer that did vex him and that made him so much the more to mourn before God But as for you that can have bie-thoughts in prayer and let them abide with you your praiers are not importunate the Heathen shall rise up against you and condemn you I remember a storie of a certain Youth who being in the temple with Alexander when he was to offer incense to his god and the Youth holding the golden Censer with the fire in it a coal fell on the Youths hand and burnt his wrist but the Youth considering what a sacred thing he was about for all he felt his wrist to be burnt yet he would not stir but continued still to the end This I speak to shame those that can let any thing though never so small to disturb them yea if it were possible lesser things then nothing for if nothing come to draw their hearts away they themselves will employ their hearts Baals Priests shall condemn these who did cut themselves with knives and all to make them pray so much the more stronglie What a shame is it then that we should come on life and death to pray for our souls and yet come with such loose and lazie praiers Think you that a male factor when he is crying at the Bar for his life will be thinking on his Pots and Whores c Was it ever heard of that a man at deaths-door should be thinking on his Dogs can he then think on them Do you think that Jonah prayed on this fashion when he was in the Whales belly or the Thief on the crosse or Daniel in the Lions den or the three Children in the fierie furnace or Paul in Prison Do ye think that these prayed thus What shall I be at praier and my mind in the fields No no if I will pray I must melt before God and bewail my sins and be heartily affected in prayer But as long as I pray thus I pray not at all And as God said to Adam where art thou so may he say to thee Man where art thou art thou at prayer and thy mind at mill is thy mind on thy Oxen and art thou at prayer before me what an indignitie is this Should a man come to sue to the King and not mind his suit will not the King say Do you mock me know you to whom ye speak The Lord takes this as a haynous sin when men come into his presence with such loose hearts Now seeing these things are thus take a word of exhortation to labour for importunate Prayer Prayer is the art of all arts it enables a man to all other duties it is the art of Repentance c. Samuel confessed if he had not had the 〈…〉 Prayer he could not have had the art of preaching 2 San. 12. 2â— See the antithesis between these two words God forbid as if he should say God forbid that I should cease to pray for you for then I should not teach you the right way A Minister can never preach to his people that prayes not for his people It is the art of Thanksgiving a man cannot be thankful if he cannot pray Psal 116. 12. It was the means whereby the Prophet David would be thankful to God he would take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. A man hath not a good servant unlesse he can pray for his master see the story of Abrahams servant Gen 24. Prayer helps to perform all other good duties How dost thou think to have benefit by the Word unlâ—sse thou be fervent in prayer with God to get a blessing upon it We can do nothing but by begging Secondly as Prayer is the art of all arts so it is the Compendium of all divinitie Therefore to call zealously on the name of the Lord is to be a Christian Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord c. It includes repentance humiliation sorrow for sin joy in Gods goodnesse thanksgiving for mercies obedience to his commandements yea the whole dutie man therefore we must labour to be importunate in prayer A Reasonable soul is eminently all souls so Prayer is eminently all good duties Psal 72. The prayer of David the son Jesse that is all his repentance in all passages he did humble himself before God all Davids duties are included by the name of the prayer of David the son of Jesse And therefore thou hadst need to make much of Prayer for thou canst never repent unlesse thou pray well Thirdly Prayer is a mans utmost refuge a man cannot have Christ but only by Prayer 'T is bad enough for a man to be a Drunkard or to live in any other sin but yet after all this if a man have the spirit of prayer there is hope of this man if after all his sinnes committed he can pray to God there is hope But for a man to sinne and not to be importunate in prayer is dangerous What saith the Psalmist They are corrupt and become abominable they have not called on the name of the Lord Psalm 14. 4. Oh fearfull condition Fourthly Prayer is that which Gods
mock at preaching c. Tush thou wilt not be so precise If ever thou be one of his thou wilt not only obey him but also be circumspect in all thy obedience nay if thou be broken in heart thou wilt not only stoop to every commandment of God but also count it thine honour and glory though it be the meanest office in his service Thou art my glory sayes David David that was broken from his pride counted it his glory to obey God his glory to serve God yea his glory to be reproched for his sake Thou art not broken in heart till thou count it thine excellency to serve God We use to say such a ones excellency is in his learning or wit c. but he is too precise and too holy as if it were not a mans excellency to be pure and zealous and to serve God But I tell thee if thou count it not thine honour to be forward for God and to be nicknamed for Christ thine excellency to lie in this that thou art godly and heavenly thou art a proud fool when John Husse was to write upon the Epistle of Saint James he counted it such an high office of dignity that he was confounded at his own indignity saying unto God Hei mihi laudare te contremisco he counted it such an honour to doe any thing for God that he was ashamed at his own vilenesse O my brethren God is called the excellency of Jacob it was not their valour nor wisedome but this was their excellency that God was their God thy riches are proud riches if thy excellency lie in them more than in God if thou dost not go about every commandment as thine excellency thy obedience is proud This is a third signe of a heart broken from sin if it be broken from its pride A Funerall SERMON Preached By that laborious and faithful Messenger of CHRIST WILLIAM FENNER Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Minister of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford A Funerall SERMON ISAI 57. 1. The righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart mercifull men are taken away none considering that the righteous are taken away from the evill to come IN the end of the former chapter the Prophet reproveth the speciall sin of Idol-shepheards who followed their own pleasures and profits not regarding their flock Now he reproves the generall sin of security in the people and namely in this that whereas the righteous perish yet no man layeth it to heart and mercifull men are taken away none considering c. This verse is a complaint of the Prophet touching the people in generall for that they considered not the Iudgements of God upon them in taking away the righteous from among them In the words themselves we are to consider First the work of the Lord viz. the righteous perisheth and mercifull men are taken away Secondly the peoples sin in not considering it not regarding this work of the Lord which is that the righteous may be delivered from the evill to come By righteous is here meant not such as are legally righteous by the works of the law for so no man is righteous but by righteous is here meant such as are Evangelically righteous by the righteousnesse of faith in the Gospell Perisheth that is from the earth for otherwise the righteous perish not No man considering that is no man lamenting mourning or grieving for the loss of them The first thing then to bee considered is from the first part and it is plain out of the words of the text That all men must dye even the most holy and most righteous for they are all subject to the stroak of bodily death as well as the wicked There is no remembrance saith Solomon of the wise more than of the fool and how dyeth the wise man even as the fool Eccles 2. 16. so zachar 1. 5. Your fathers where are they and the Prophets â—o they live for ever so that we sce Prophets and fathers dye as well as other men yea those Worthies recorded in the Scripture Noah Abraham David c. they are all gone the same way they are all dead The first reason is because it is appointed unto all men once to dye and after that comes the judgement Heb. 9. 27. God hath thus decreed it and therefore it must be so Secondly because all men and women are of the dust and therefore must return to the dust again dust thou art saith God and unto dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. 19. Thirdly because all have sinned even the most righteous man now the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. The most righteous man must dye Fourthly because as death came into the world by sinne Romans 5. 12. so sinne must goe out of the world by death and therefore it is needfull that the righteous dye that so they may be freed from sin But some may object and say Hath not Christ abolished death why then do the righteous dy I answer he hath abolished death as he hath abolished sin now he hath not taken sin quite away from us for we see it doth still remain in us neither hath he quite abolished death from the righteous for we see they all dye but he abolished the dominion of sin so that it doth no longer reign in us and so he hath taken away the dominion of death so that it doth not rage as a Tyrant over us so that it is not hurtfull unto us as a punishment but as a means to convey us into a better life Christ hath taken away the sting both of sin and death though not the things themselves away from us yet he will one day free us from them both so then the righteous must suffer death as well as the wicked though not in the same kind Let no man then look to be exempted from death for his righteousnesse nor from any outward miseries that may befall the sons of Adam nay if we are the servants of Christ we must look for a greater share in these than other men greater crosses greater afflictions greater sicknesse and harder pangs of death do oft befall the righteous as â—â— did unto this our brother who though he were old and stricken 〈◊〉 yeers yet the pangs of death were strong upon him Those whom 〈◊〉 will make heirs of Eternall life he suffers them to have a greater poâ—â—â—on in these afflictions But the wicked are fat and full and die with â—â—eir bones full of marrow as Job speaks they commonly have little sicknesse and an easie death but the godly do ordinarily undergo greater pangs let none therefore think that for his righteousnesse he shall be free Secondly consider we here how few amongst us have learned this Arithmetique namely to number our dayes and they are but short even a span long who is there almost that thinks on death who prepares himself for it and yet all even the most righteous must die for
thoughts thy vain words and thy vain lusts and wilt thou not If God had redeemed us with silver and gold that were but drosse no he hath redeemed us with the bloud of his Sonne if now thou wilt part with the bloud of Christ rather then with thy sinnes that the word of God commands thee to part with how great is thy hatred of the word Bloud it is necessary to the life of every living creature I am sure the Bloud of Christ is necessary to the life of a Christian without it a man can never be washed nor never be sanctified nor made acceptable to God That man that will rather part with his bloud rather then lay down his hatred of such an one whom he hates he hates him for ever he hates him to the death Thou that rather then thou wilt part with thy evill courses from those sinnes that Gods word would have thee to to give over and forsake wilt part with the bloud of Christ I say thou hatest the word and thou hatest a reformation of thy wayes for ever with an everlasting and damnable hatred That man that had rather be damned then leave his sinnes that had rather goe to hell then be a new creature he hates the parting with his sinnes he hates to be a new creature It is truth man is a reasonable creature and therefore cannot reason so in expresse words as to say I had rather be damned then to give over my drunkennesse my lying my swearing my lust I had rather goe to hell then be so pure and so holy c. But every wicked man is so unreasonable in very deed for the word of God tells that wicked men that live and die in such sins and such sins shall be damned yet they will not give over their sinnes Doth not your own conscience tell you that as long as you pray no better as long as you walke no better in your profession God abhorreâ— you and all that you doe and will damn you doth not thy conscience cell thee that yet thou hast no assurance of salvation that as yet Jesu-Christ was never given to thee that as yet you never had the Spirit of Christ to kill sinne in you if that thou wilt goe on in thy sinnes and not get Christ and his Spirit into thy heart as the word of God commandeth thee and thy own conscience perswadeth thee I say if yet thou wilt goe on in thy sinnes then thou choosest to be damned rather then to part with sin Doe we not say such a rogue will be hanged that such a hasty furious man will undoe himselfe doe we not say of a rebellious child that he will be disinherited not that any man reasons so in words I will doe thus and thus and undoe my selfe I will steale and be hanged I wil be a rebellious child and be disinherited I will goe on in my sinnes let the world say what it will and be damned But when a man knows that the wages of sin is death that the end of drunkennesse of swearing of lying of pride security hypocrisie formality in religion c. is death When a man knows that the end of that sinne which he lives iâ— is damnation and yet will goe on in those sinnes he wills to be damned Ezek 18. 31. Turne you turne you why will you dye O house of Israle why were any so madde as to be willing to dye to perish for ever yet saith the Prophet why will you dye as if he should say why will you sin that man that wills to sin he wills to be damned that man that will be damned rather then part with his sinne that man loves sin for ever and so hates the light Beloved be ashamed to carry so many plague-tokens upon your hearts so manny sinnes in your soules so many oppositions and rebellious against the word That man that hates and rebells against the word can never be saved by the word You that have had the preaching of the word look that you give way to it take heed that you withstand not the breath of it I could tel you one thing I pray God to send it home to your hearts commonly when God sneds his word to a people those that are wrought upon for the most part are wrought upon at the beginning generally it is so I will give you a convincing place for it Acts. 13. 48. And when the Gentiles heard they glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life beleeved Paul and Barnabas were come to Antioch and had preached one Sabbath day and now had preached another The Gentiles glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life beleeved as if he had said all that were ordained to eternall life beleeved at those Sermons as if he should say again all that beleeved not at those two Sermons were reprobates Those that did belong to God they did beleeve and hearkened to the preaching of the word to them on those two Sabbaths All that were ordeined to life they beleeved at these two Sermons the rest that beleeved not are branded and marked out for despisers and wonderers Heare O despisers and wonder and perish c. Agree with thine Adversary whilst thou art in the way Matth. 5. Beloved you are now in the way of salvation your Adversary is the Lord himself til he be reconciled unto you you are in the way while you are under the preaching of the word you know not how soon God may take you out of the way you know not how soon God may take his word away or if that continue yet he may withdraw his Spirit and then if God once take away his Spirit then you may seek to be converted but shall never find it you may seek for grace but shall never get it you may seek for Christ but never obtaine him if men stand out against the word and Spirit of Christ while it is beating upon their hearts and offering them grace then Christ will be a swift witnesse against them Malach. 3. 5. Doth Christ come to thee now obey now beleeve now give over thy sins Doth he bid thee now repent c. O give way to the Words of Christ give way to the spirit of Christ otherwise Christ will come swiftly I will be a swift witnesse I tell you the Covenant of grace will not stay long God is about to put up his wares When no Customers come the Merchant puts up his wares so God will even close up all his graces then Preachers may preach but none shall be converted People may heare but never be turned which the Lord deny from ever being amongst us therefore while it is called to day hearken and the Feare of God be with you GODS IMPARTIALITY IN HIS JUDGEMENTS In a SERMON By WILLIAM FENNER Minister of the Gospel sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Lecturer of Rochford in Essex London Printed
too good for the world First the world viz. the wicked in the world are very little worth not worth one godly man or woman in it whence observe that Gods Children are worthy persons But before I handle this point I will give the sence and meaning of the words 1. This word World is diversly taken Sometims it is taken for the whole Fabrick of Heaven and earth Iohn 1. 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not So Acts 17. 24. God that made the world c. 2. Sometimes it is taken for all mankind good and bad So Rom. 5. 12. As by one man sin entred into the world viz. sin entred into the men which are in the world 3. Sometimes it is taken for the elect onely so Iohn 1. 29. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sinne of the world viz. the elect in the world Again God so loved the world c. Iohn 3. 1. 16. viz. his elect in the world Again we beleeve this is the Saviour of the world Iohn 4. 42. viz. of the elect in the world But why are the godly called the world I answer first because the world was made for them and it is continued yet for their sakes Secondly they may be called the world because they are scattered through the world and that not onely among the Iewes but even among the Gentiles also Thirdly they may be called the world because in themselves they are a world of people but yet compare them with the Devils drove they are few even as the shaking of the Olive tree Isaiah 17. 6. yet in themselves they are as the Starres in number Genesis 15. 5. And Balaam said who can number the dust of Iacob Numb 22. 10. Sometimes it is taken for the reprobates in the world so John 15. 19. If you were of the world the world would love its owne It is plain also in the prayer of Christ I pray not for the world John 17. 9. And they may fitly be called the world First because they are the worlds Citizens they mind the things of the world they follow nothing but the world Secondly because they are the greatest part of the world Sometimes the world is taken for the things in the world those things wherewith the Devill uses to draw men from God as the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes the pride of life 1. John 2. 16. Sometimes for the happy estate and condition the godly shall enjoy after this life So Luke 20 35. They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world c. Now whereas the Apostle saith of whom the world was not worthy I take it he means wicked men in the world and those are they that are not worthy the company of the godly And because I intend to shew the unworthinesse of the world I will shew first that the things in this world are little worth Secondly that the men in the world are little worth First I will shew you that the things in the world are little worth as Riches Honours pleasures c. they are called deceitfull riches and Christ calls them the Mammon of iniquity Luke 16. 9. trash Luke 8. 14. Snares 1 Tim. 6. 9. They are called uncertain riches Now these base titles must needs argue that they are little worth for were they worth more God would set better Titles on them And Salomon who had best experience of them yet hee termes them vanity Eccles 1 2. and 11. Secondly they are little worth because they are very unprofitable they cannot pofit a man It is plain by the speech of Samuel 1. Sam. 12. 21. Vain things which cannot profit c. Thirdly they are little worth because they cannot further a man in the main thing at which he should aime they may further a man in some trifles but not in the maine thing There is no true good comes to a man by all the riches in the world neither can they free a man from the evill day neither can they make you better either in respect of God or your selves First in respect of God they cannot make you better esteemed with God for he regards not the rich more then the poore Job 34. 19. He doth not account of a man according to his greatnesse but according to his goodnesse Prov. 20. 7 8. Better is a poor man that walks in his integrity then a King that is perverse in his wayes Secondly they cannot better him in respect of God because they cannot assure him of the love of God Thirdly they cannot make a man more mindfull of God nay they corrupt mens hearts they make a man more forgetfull of God It is thus with the greatest part of men in the world that are worldly rich it is with them as it was with the Prodigall who while he had money in his purse never did he think on his Father Fourthly the things of this world cannot make a man more thankfull to God but rather the contrary ut supra Fifthly the things of this world cannot draw a man neerer unto God You see that the more men have the more negligent they are in Gods service Secondly in respect of our selves First all the things of this life cannot in rich a mans soule with grace they cannot make him humble nor mercifull nor constant in the profession of godlinesse and good duties nay it rather makes them the more unmeet to any goodnesse where there is gaine in the chest there is losse in the Conscience he that gets money apace may lose Faith and a good Conscience and they that most cover for abundance of the things of this life are most backward in Grace and this argues that the things of this life are little worth even in respect of a mans selfe Secondly they are not able to free a man from any spirituall evill they may promise freedome but when they come to the triall they will be like a broken staffe nay they cannot free thee so much as from an ague much lesse will they help in the day of the Lords wrath when the rich man shall be called to an account and the Lord will recompence every man according to his wayes So Prov. 11. 4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath True it is they may be as a wall of brasse to keep off the evil of this world yet when the houre of death approacheth they cannot free from that when you are affrighted with the accusation of your owne Consciences and with the apprehension of Gods wrath when the Devill shall set upon you and all your friends forsake you shall the things of this life then doe you any pleasure no no. You wil say to them then as Job to his friends miserable comforters are you all this argues their little worth For God will not examine you how rich you have been but he will consider you as you have honoured him and as
Spirit of Christ he is none of Christs now if Christ be in you the body is dead if you consider the body as it hath relation unto sinne Again if you live after the flesh you shall dye verse 13. as if he should have said if your flesh be alive in you if your pride live in you and if your infidelity live in you if your hardnesse of heart live in you if your wrath c live in you and if you walke after these you shall surely die he meaneth not a temporall death for so they must doe howsoever they live but his meaning is they shall die eternally but if you mortify the deedes of the body by the spirit you shall live so then it is plaine there is no life of Christ to bee had so long as you retain your sinnes and therefore sinne must bee mortified First because Christ is a Saviour and hence he is called Jesus Matth. 1. 21. for he shall save his people from their sinnes if therefore Christ doe not save thee from thy sins and if by the power of Christ thou mortifie not thy sinnes and give them a deadly blow assure thy selfe he will never be a Jesus unto thee It is true indeed Christ dyed for sinners but it was not to let them goe on in sinne and therefore if thou goe on in sinne it is for thy damnation and not for thy salvation for he will first save thee from thy sinnes or else he will never save thee from hell so then consider if thy sinnes bear sway in thee if they doe then know thou art delivered up unto the power of thy sinnes and to everlasting darknesse For Christ is the true Physitian of the soule and you know that the Physitian doth not bring a potion to put it unto deaths mouth to kill death and so to save the sicke person alive no but hee putteth it into the sicke mans mouth to kill the ill humours that are in his body that so hee might not fall into the hands of death so Christ came not to quench the flames of hell by his spirituall Physicke but to let his Physicke fall upon the heart and soule of man to save him from hell Therefore unlesse the bloud of Christ doe mortifie thy sinnes and crucifie thy lusts there is no hope ever to get Christ to save thee from hell and everlasting damnation This is a true saying saith the Apostle and worthy to be received that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithfull saying and wicked men like it well indeede For saith the drunkard I am a wicked man yet Christ came to save me The whoremonger saith I am an uncleane person yet Christ came to save me The swearer will say Christ came to save sinners and therefore I hope he will save me too No no Christ came to save sinners that is such as were sinners but now are none they have and doe repent Jesus Christ came to save sinners saith the Apostle whereof I am chiefe I was a blasphemer and a persecuter but now I am not Hence then is the faithfull saying Christ came to save sinners not still sinning No before Paul was injurious a persecuter and lived in ignorance and unbeleefe but now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was wonderfully abundant through Faith and love towards him so that the grace of God hath appeared to draw men out of blindnesse and ignorance therefore to say that Christ came to save such as live in their sins and will live in them as in sins of drunkeness prophaness or uncleaness is a rotten saying and this onely is the faithfull saying that Christ came into the world to save sinners in whom the power of sinne is broken therefore if ever we looke to have benefit or interest by Christ we must mortify our earthly members Secondly because it is impossible for sinne and grace to live and subsist in one subject it is impossible that they should ever stand together and be in a man at one and the same time it cannot be that one and the same creature can have the life of a swine and the life of a man for if he have the soule of a swine he cannot have the soul of a man for they are two contrary distinct lives and where the one is the other cannot be It is like hot water and cold if it be cold it cannot be hot if it be hot it cannot be cold Even so the life of sinne and the life of grace are two contraries and therefore they that walke in their sinnes walke contrary to God Now the Lord saith if you walke contrary to me I will walke contrary unto you Levit. 26. and two contraries we know cannot goe together He that walks in sinne walkes contrary unto God but he that goes on in the waies of grace he walks towards God Now it is impossible to walk towards Dover and towards London at one and the same time for every steppe he goeth forward to the one it carries him backward from the other so then if ever we will have the life of grace we must forsake our sinnes as it was with the house of Saul and David Sauls house grew weaker and Davids stronger so must it be with sin and grace as grace growes stronger so sinne must grow weaker as grace goes up so sinne must go down And as Saul told David he would not give him Michal his daughter to wife unlesse he brought unto him an hundred fore-skinnes of the Philistines Even so the Lord saith that he will not marry the Lord Jesus Christ unto any soule unlesse he bring the fore-skinne of every lust hee must circumcise the foreskinne of his pride of his covetousnesse of his prophanenesse this must bee the offering and condition of marriage unto Christ even the circumcision of the heart and the mortification of all the corruptions Thirdly because else it is impossible to enter into heaven if we mortify not our sinnes a man can never be capable of glory hereafter that doth not mortifie his sinnes here in this life Suppose a wicked man should enter into heaven it is impossible that he should delight in heaven if he were there You will thinke this a strange point but give me leave to explain it a little I say that a wicked man if he were in heaven he could finde no delight there As for example take a beast for so is every man by his own knowledge in regard of the life of grace as saith the Prophet Jeremy though a man take an Oxe or an Asse and bring him unto the Kings table and set before him all the delicates which appertain unto Kings let him have a dinner before him that cost an hundred pounds yet he had rather be in the fields among his fellowes eating grasse or set a Crowne of gold upon a beasts head he will not regard it but cast it off into the mire for
now can a man stabbe his owne arme through with ease can he cut off his Legg or any other member without feeling any geeat paine no more can a man kill his sinnes and mortifie his lusts with ease It is called mortification to shew that there is a great deal of misery and pain in it The Apostle saith that those that are Christians have crncified the flesh c. Gal. 5. 24. and therfore Repentance is set out unto us by crucifiing which is the hardest of all kinds of mortifying Can a man set his flesh upon the Tenter pierce his hands and feet with nailes laying his whole weight upon the Tenter and yet feele no paine Cicero a wise Heathen saith that crucifiing was a torment that cruelty it selfe had invented to put a man to death it being the soarest kind of death that could be devised And the Apostle to set forth Repentance what it is shews it by crucifying It is an easie matter to cut off the outward act of sinne as of swearing or drunkennesse c. this is an easie matter but to crucifie a mans lusts and to mortify daily the body of death which be beareth about him this is a hard thing indeed A Father saith it it is the hardest Text in all the Bible and the hardest dutie in all Christianity that we can goe about they that can do it can doe all things and therefore let a man resolve with himselfe that unlesse he attain unto this there is no Christ for him How shall we saith the Apostle that are dead to sinne live any longer therein Romans 6. 2. The Apostle makes it a Paradox and wonders that men should be so unreasonable as to thinke that they are crucified with Christ and yet live in their sinnes Is it possible that you can be dead with Christ and yet live in your sinne No no it cannot be But some may object and say what doth the Apostle meane to exhort the Colossians unto Mortification were they not already mortified did he not say a little before that they were crucified and buried together with Christ Yes it is true but they that have mortified their earthly Members must go on and persevere in this Mortification and that for three Reasons First because the very same sinne that hath been killed will live again unlesse it be continually mortified for sinne is strong-hearted it is not every blow that will kill sinne stone-dead no no we may say of sin as some I say of Cats they have nine lives kill sin once and it wil revive again kil it the second time and it will yet live kill it the third time it will yet have life unlesse it be continually mortified it will never be starke dead and therefore the worke must be continued as Christ said of his disciples If you continue in my Word then are you my Disciples indeed So if we goe on in mortification then verily are we Christs Disciples Secondly suppose the sinne mortified doe not rise againe yet if wee goe not on in the way of Mortification there will arise another sinne in the roome of it Sinne is like the Monster Hydra cut off one head and many will rise up in its roome Even so it is in the body of sinne therefore thou must dayly mortifie it or else it will grow again There is a History that speakes of a Fig-tree that grew in a stone wall and all means was used to kill it they cut off the branches and it grew again they cut down the body and it grew again they cut it up by the roote and still it lived and grew untill they pulled downe the stone wall Even so it is with sinne lopp off the branches it lives cut downe the body it will not die digg up the rootes and it will still revive and will never leave growing untill God pull downe the stone wall of this our earthly Tabernacle and lay it in the dust and therefore we must still be mortifying of it Thirdly because as we mortifie so we mortifie but in part as saith the Apostle in another case we know but in part c. so may we say of this duty we mortifie but in part as we may say of a man breathing out his last breath he is a dying but not quite deade so we may say of sinne though it lie sprawling upon the ground yet it is not dead the last gaspe is not past Nay it may be sinne is more striving in the heart of a child of God converted then it was before conversion As an Oxe or an Asse when they have their deaths blow will lash and struggle more then then they did in all their life time before but this is nothing but the pangs of death being giving up their last breath Hence it is that the Apostle saith that the flesh lustâ—th against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh Gal. 5. So that they could not doe what they would verse 17. as if he should say sinne is so mortified that it hath his deaths wound in thee else thou canst not be the childe of God yea such a deaths wound as it cannot possible recover again If a man that hath received his deaths wound should send for all the Physitians in the world and take all the Physicke hee could and use all the meanes under Heaven yet they can never recover him So when a man is converted unto God as soone as ever the worke is wrought in him sinne hath his deaths blow and although the Devill come as Physitian with all the Cordialls Juleps and Balmes under Heaven and use all the shifts and devises in the world yet he shall never be able to recover it again all will not doe why because it hath received its deaths blow it may be with his industrie and cost hee may make the face of sinne loke fresh and faire for a time but it hath it deaths wound and it will down at the last The last Use may be of triall and examination whether sin be living or dead Now that we may know whether we have mortified our sins or no let us observe these markes following First they that have mortified their sinnes live in the contrary Graces Hence it is that the Psalmist saith that They worke no iniquitie but walke in thy pathes Psalme 119. 3. First they crucifie all their sinnes they doe no iniquity Secondly as they doe no iniquity so they take up all the wayes of God contrary to that iniquity as they give up all the wayes of sinne so they take up all the wayes of Grace they walke in all Gods wayes So that here is the question if a man giving over his sinnes doe take up all the Graces contary to those sinnes This is a rule in Divinity that Grace takes not away nature that is Grace comes not to take away a mans affections but to take them up Suppose a man be subject unto anger when he is a little moved grace comes