much pleasure so when a man is a young sinner conscience is tender like a a queasie stomach troubled much with the least thing that offends it but continuance in sin makes conscience seared and brawny that afterwards the sinner like the Ostrich can digest iron and like the Turkish slaves feed on Opium and his stomach not at all recoil or complain It is reported of the Cretians that when they cursed their enemies they did not wish fire in their houses nor a dagger at their hearts but that which would bring greater wo ut mala consuetudine delectentur that they might delight in an evil custom for custom is not another nurture but another nature and that which is natural is not easily reduced Some say there is no transplanting trees after seven years rooting I am sure it is hard to transplant them out of a state of nature into a state of grace who have been seventy years rooting in the earth old servants will not easily leave their masters they will many times have their ears boared and be everlasting slaves rather then be made free T is with old sinners saith one as with them who have lived long under a Government Gurnals Armour they like to be as they are though but ill rather then to think of a change or like those who in a journey have gone out of their way all day such will rather take a new path over hedge and ditch then think of going so far back to be set right Old sinner for the sake of thy soul proceed no further knowest thou not that every step thou takest in thine unconverted state maketh thy condemnation more deep thy condition more dangerous and thy conversion more difficult Is it not high time for thee to begin to work out thy salvation when the sun of thy life is setting Ah 't is one of the saddest spectacles in the world to behold a man full of silver hoary hairs that is void of a golden sanctified heart surely of all men alive thou hast cause to abound in sorrow who doest to this day abide in thy sins THe second Use which I shall make of this doctrine shall be by way of Examination If without the second birth thou canst not escape the second death nor obtain eternal life Then Reader Try whether thou art new born or no commune with thy heart and see whether this work be done that thou mayst know how thou shalt fare in the other world Wherefore brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 The first fountain of our felicity is election and the manifestation of this is our calling by vocation God bringeth to pass in time what he appointed from eternity As a word is an outward thought and a thought an inward word so vocation is outward election or election put into act and made visible and election is inward vocation or Gods intention to convert and save Election is eternal calling Calling is a temporal election so that by ensuring thy calling thou ensurest thy election make thy calling sure be not satisfied to let thy salvation hang in suspence to follow Christ as the people followed Saul trembling not knowing how it shall fare with thee but strive for full assurance that an abundant entrance may be ministred unto you into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.11 I have read of an old wicked Usurer who had nothing in his mouth but It is good to be sure if his servant went to receive money he would follow after him and being asked the reason would answer It is good to be sure If he had told his money once he would do it a second yea a third time saying It is good to be sure If he locked his door himself he would arise out of his bed to feel it locked still pleading for his reason It is good to be sure It came to pass that this man fell desperately sick his servant calleth to him desirous to make him sensible of his sins Master have you been at prayers yea John saith he Sir said the servant go to prayers again you know 'T is good to be sure That 's more then needs saith the Usurer I am sure enough of that Truly this mans heart is the resemblance of most men they are all for security in bargains sales and purchases if they buy an inheritance on earth how sure will they make it the tenure shall be as strong as the brawn of the Law or the brains of Lawyers can devise what Bonds Deeds Fines Recoveries Leases Evidences and if any scruple collateral security are there to ensure it but alas who ensures the inheritance above how few are there that take any pains to secure their right to those everliving pleasures Like Jacob though in another sense men put their right hand of care caution and diligence upon the younger Son the body and their left hand on the elder the soul How few make their calling and election sure But Reader if thou wouldest make sure thy predestination and fore-appointment to glory it must be done by making sure thy Regeneration and translation into a state of grace Thou canst not ascend into heaven and see thy name written in the Lambs book of life but thou mayst descend into thine own heart and see it by the seeds and principles of a spiritual life as if any man would know whether the sun shineth or no he need but look on the ground and see the reflection of its beams and not on the body of the Sun which will but the more dazzle his eyes the pattern is known by the picture the cause by the effect the original by the copy Election by regeneration the soul that is conformed to Gods Law may know that he is inrolled in Gods list If I have chosen God I may safely conclude that God hath chosen me The Historian reporteth how a Senator relating to his son the great honors decreed to a number of Souldiers Tacitus whose names were written in a book the Son was importunate to see the book the Father shewed him the out-side it seemed so glorious that the son desired him to open it by no means saith the Father it is sealed by the Council then saith the son Tell me if my name be there the Father saith The names are secret to the Senate the Son studying how he might get some satisfaction desired his Father to declare the merits of those inscribed Soldiers which the Father doing and the Son consulting with his own heart found himself to be none of them Reader though the Book of life which includeth the names of those whose heads are destined to glorious Diadems be secret yet the deserts of those inscribed there are open they are as a chosen generation a peculiar people so also an holy nation a royal Priesthood a called company a sanctified society a regenerated remnant they are culled out of the world called by the word
their right to glory and salvation 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that when the houses of our earthly tabernacles shall be dissolved we shall enjoy a building of God an house not made with hands but eternall in the heavens So 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Job 19.25 2 Tim. 1.12 And all this assurance of adoption justification perseverance in grace fruition of glory which Saints have doth proceed from their assurance of their regeneration 1 John 3.14 We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren Regeneration or holiness is the first fruits which do ensure the harvest and the earnest which doth confirme the bargain and ensure the full sum Now Reader having given thee some motives to quicken thee to try thy soul I shall lay down the markes and bring thee to the test And they shall be taken from the nature and effects of regeneration First examine thine heart by the nature of this true holiness Now there are two things in the nature of this new creature In every birth there is Generatio unius corruptio alterius saith the Philosopher something generated and something destroyed so in this new birth there is the production of grace and the destruction of vice the life of righteousness and the death of sin the setting up of the Arke and the throwing down of Dagon The sinfullness of our souls by our first births consisteth in their aversion from God and good and in their conversion to the evil one and evil in having the image of Satan imprinted on them and the image of God blotted out of them The sanctity of our souls by their second births consisteth in their conversion to God and their aversion from sin in having the image of the Devil razed out of them and the image of the Saviour stamped on them As we have born the image of the earthly so we must bear the image of the heavenly And these two parts of the good part are like two Buckets in a Well as the one namely the interest of God cometh up the other namely the interest of sin and Satan goeth down the higher the Sun getteth the more still it scattereth the darkness First there is in this new nature a dying to sin The Apostle calleth it a putting off the old man Eph. 4.22 and a dying to sin Rom. 6.11 Conversion like the ship-mans fatal star is never seen but before the wrack and death of sin The spring of grace is a living fountain and cleanseth it self of mire and dirt Grace like Christ increaseth and sin like the Baptist decreaseth The expression of the holy Ghost about this is worthy our serious consideration Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin Lo here sin is served by Christ the same sauce which it formerly served Christ Sin crucified him when he came in the likeness of sinful flesh and he slayeth it when he cometh into the soul by his Spirit but in the words of the Apostle observe Sins appellation and its execution For its appellation it is called first the Old man partly because it is derived and propagated from Adam the eldest of men partly in comparison of renovation and renewing the whole man It is called secondly the body of sin partly because mans corrupt nature like a body or stock brancheth forth into divers actual sins as members Col. 3.5 Gal. 5.19 partly because of the strength of it as also because men are as much naturally in love with their sins as with themselves But take notice of the execution of this old man of this body of sin in the regenerate The old man is crucified Sin like an old man in them which are new made doth decay and decline every day it is every hour growing weaker and weaker and nearer to its grave and utter abolition Regeneration giveth sin its deaths wound though as those that are crucified it dyeth lingringly yet it dieth certainly Sin like a man in a consumption in a converted person is always wasting and dying till at last it 's quite dead One that is mortally wounded sprawleth and moveth for a time but afterwards giveth up the Ghost so sin while Saints live though it be mortally wounded doth rage and stir but it abateth in strength and dyeth with them St. De civit dei l. 8. c. 6. Augustine relateth of the Serpent that when she groweth old she draweth herself through a narrow hole and by this means stripping off her old skin she reneweth her age Ambulare in peccatis est sic versari in pec catis ut iâ— vocaâ—ione sua ordina ria Daveâ— in Col. 3. Truly thus the Christian is made new by putting off the old coat of the old man The Scripture speaketh expresly He that is born of God sinneth not 1 Joh. 3.9 that is constantly sin is not his design or imployment and chearfully sin is not his delight or element for sin is against his new nature now a man can do nothing against his nature cordially or constantly Sin may rebel within him but it cannot reign over him he looks on sin as his greatest enemy and therefore 't is impossible that he should converse with it in a way of amity Nay as fire and water heat and cold never meet but they fight so this new life is in continual war with every lust the new creature is like unto God Of purer eyes then to behold iniquity Hab. 1.13 the evil of sin cannot ordinarily get a good look from him he cannot meet this ugly guest in any corner of his house but his heart riseth against him he considereth what a Lord sin displeaseth what a Law sin transgresseth what a beautiful image sin defaceth what a glorious name fin dishonoreth what a lovely loving Savior sin buffetted shamefully and tortured cruelly what a precious soul and peerless salvation sin was like to have lost him eternally And Oh 't is a killing look which this soul giveth his dearest lust Ah thinks he that ever my nature should hatch and harbour such hideous monsters that ever my heart should be a polluted bed to breed and bring forth such a poisonous brood 'T was my iniquity that bid defiance to the highest Majesty 't was my corruption which scourged the back wounded the head nailed the feet and hands yea pierced the very heart of Jesus Christ my wickedness was the weight which caused his bloody sweat my lust was the murderer which put to death that Lord of life 't was my covetousness which betrayed him my cowardliness which condemned him and my cruelty which executed him and shal I be a friend to that Traytor which was such a foe to my Redeemer Well whatever it cost me through the strength of Christ I le have justice upon these murderers through the help of heaven these brats of hell shall have their
never fountain sent forth water more freely then this sinner doth godly sorrow when he considereth what he hath done how he hath sinned what a God he hath greived sorrow and grief overwhelm his spirit The fifth step is implantation into Christ the Spirit now leadeth the childe by the band unto Christ nay grafteth him into Christ The soul being convinced of the necessity it stands in of Christ of the endless misery which it must undergo without Christ of the al-sufficiency that is in Christ how willing how able he is to binde up the broken heart and to save the sinful soul doth by the help of the Holy Ghost venture its self and its everlasting estate up-Jesus Christ resolving to stand or fall live or die at his feet The sinner is now between hope and fear not knowing how he shall fare As the four Lepers that were shut out of the City in the famine of Samaria considered with themselves If we enter into the City the famine is in the City and we die there Kings 7.3 and if we sit still here we die also Now therefore come and let us fall into the Host of the Syrians if they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we shall but die and accordingly they went to the Syrians camp found food there and lived So the sinner pondereth in his heart If I go to the world and the lying vanities thereof I perish vanity of vanities is written upon all its enjoyments the famine is there there is nothing that is bread its whole shop cannot afford a plaister which can heal my wounded conscience if I sit still in this condition under the weight of mine iniquities I perish they will unquestionable sink me into Hell now therefore I will fall into the hands of the Lord Jesus If he save my soul I shall live if he deny to receive such an unworthy wretch as I am I shall but die I can but perish I will therefore venture and accordingly the soul goeth to him and findeth life in him I have sometime thought that when the sinner is come thus far he carrieth himself much like Esther When the King had made an irrevocable decree for the destruction of her self and people what doth she do she fasteth and prayeth and sendeth word to Mordecai I will go in unto the King which is not according to the Law and if I perish I perish Esth 4. ult Thus the poor broken-hearted sinner perceiving that the King of Kings hath made a Decree That the soul that sinneth shall die eternally and he is a grievous sinner he fasteth he mourneth he prayeth and at last resolveth Well I will go in unto the King though it be not according to the Law which shutteth me up under guilt and wrath If I perish I perish possibly he may hold out the golden Scepter of Grace and I may live in his sight thus the poor creature goeth maketh supplication believingly and prevaileth The Devil now layeth all the blocks he can possibly in the souls way to hinder its journey to Christ As when the woman talked to her husband of going to the Prophet for the enlivening of her dead childe he presently endeavoureth to disswade her that 't would be to no purpose Why wilt thou go 't is neither new moon nor Sabbath but yet she went and had her childe restored to life Thus To what purpose shouldst thou go to Christ saith the Devil to the penitent sinner Canst thou think that so holy and righteous a God will have the least respect for such a wicked notorious hell-hound as thou art I tell thee he hath sent thousands that never sinned as thou hast done into Hell and canst thou have any thoughts of Heaven Thou hast done my work all thy dayes and now lookest for a reward from God No no I le pay thee thy wages in blackness of darkness for ever if thou hadst intended for life thou shouldst have minded it sooner thou hast dayes without number broken the Law and many a time rejected the Gospel and now 't is too late God called and thou wouldst not hear now thou mayst call long enough for he will not hear thee he tells thee as much with his own mouth Prov. 1.25 to 32. Therefore thou mayst spare thy pains and prayers for all will be to no purpose Surely thou hast a impudent face and a brazen forehead to expect such choice blessings as pardon and life from that Christ whom thou hast persecuted in his people rejected in his Laws preferring the world and thy flesh before him and daring him to his very face Thus he that was the sinners tempter to those sins turns his tormentor for them and he that when the soul was posting to Hell bid it not doubt of Heaven doth now the creature is creeping towards eternal life perswade him that 't is impossible to escape eternal death But notwithstanding these discouragements the sinner will go to the great Prophet of the Church for the life of his dead soul He thinks 'T is true I am a grievous sinner but I know that he is a gracious Saviour I see nothing but misery and hell in me but I see mercy and heaven in him for my warrant Mat. 11.28 I have â—his precept Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy-laden for my encouragement I have his promise I will give you rest Ioh 6.33 him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out I will therefore go what ever come of it and lay my self at his feet if he condemn me and spurn me into Hell I le justifie him peradventure he may lend me his hand and raise me up with hope of Heaven others have gone to him and he hath bid them welcom O the rings and robes the kisses and embraces which many returning Prodigals have had of him who knoweth but he may be gracious to me if he had not been willing that poor sinners should live he would not have dyed if he had been unwilling that I should come why doth he call me Well what ever come of it I will go it may be I may be hid in the day of the Lords wrath Thus Faith at first standeth but on one weak foot I suppose that when the sinner is in this condition the very command of God enjoyning him to believe in the name of his Son is a special instrument in the hand of the Spirit to draw him unto Christ like Abraham he being called of God obeyed not knowing whither he went he being called of God to cast himself on Jesus Christ obeyeth not knowing how he shall speed The Disciples when they hear Christ speaking to them in the morning Cast on the other side of the ship and ye shall finde answer him We have fished all night and caught nothing nevertheless at thy command we will let down the net So the penitent man having tried this and that means and found no water no meat
was to make me an oratour not to make me a Christian I am confident many a child bemoans that now he is damned in hell which the Father did when he was converted on earth I cannot condemn the education of children according to the quality of their parents nor their bringing up to particular callings this latter I am sure is a duty but that which is first should be last and that which is last should be first Your greatest care and that in the first place should be to seek the Kingdom of God for your selves and children and then other things shall be added to you Caleb gave his daughter the upper and the neather springs O labour that yours may with Jacob have the dews of heaven as well as the fatness of the earth Elisha wept when he saw Hazael 2 Kings 3.12 13. and foresaw that he would slay young men and dash the children against the wall do nor some of you give far far greater occasion of weeping if possible teares of blood in slaying and murdering the souls of your dear children teaching them by your patterns to live like Heathens and Atheists Believe it God committeth the charge of and will account with you for all the souls in your families Gen. 4.3 10 11. When Cain had flain his brother Abel God called to him Where is thy Brother Abel And Cain said I know not am I my Brothers keeper And the Lord said What hast thou done the voice of thy brothers blood cryeth unto me from the ground And now thou art cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother blood at thine hand So suppose God should whisper one of you in the eare Cruel Father Careless Master Where is thy child or servant that dyed so many months or years ago You may possibly think what Cain spake Lord I know not whether in heaven or hell Holy Greenham saith that many mens children shall follow them up and down in hell cursing them and crying out of them for neglecting to instruct them Was I their keeper O think of it with speed and reform May not God reply very truly Cursed sinner vile wretch What hast thou done The voice of thy child of thy servants soul-blood cryeth to me from hell And now thou art cursed from hell which hath opened her mouth to receive thy sons thy servants soul at thine hand Friends Friends what will you do when God shall thus deal with you for your neglect of relative duties Possibly ye may think I deal too sharply but truly the reason is because I know that sin will not deal mildly either with you or yours And should I not give you warning the blood of your own and childrens souls would be required at my hands Good Lord that ye did but believe what it is to be guilty of others blood Heathens and Infidels provide for the body and temporall well-being of their children and what do many of you more Bears that bring forth mishapen whelps will by licking them bring them to a better form Your Children are brought forth enemies to God and are by nature children of wrath and heirs of eternal death doth it not behove you to strive that by religious nurture they may become children of the promise and heirs of eternal life Thirdly Make sure of Regeneration be never satisfyed till ye can upon Scripture grounds affirme that your natures are regenerated This this is the one thing necessary Your All hangs upon this hinge If this be not done ye are undone undone eternally All your profession civility priviledges guifts duties are cyphers and signify nothing unless Regeneration be the figure put before them It is Regeneration that will make you the sons of God the members of Christ the temples of the Spirit that will give you an holy improvement of all providences a right to all the promises and at last the purchased possession It is Regeneration that will teach you to live like men like Christians like Angels in the love and fruition of the infinitely blessed God O the price of this pearl is not known in this beggerly world A grave and wise Counsellour of France being desirous in his old age to retire himself was intreated by the King to write down some directions and leave with him for the more prosperous government of his Realm The Counsellour took some paper and wrote on the top Moderation in the middle Moderation at the bottom Moderation Demosthenes being asked what was the chief thing in an Oratour answered Elocution and being demanded the same question three times what made an Oratour he still gave the same answer Aug. â—pist 56. ad Di osc Augustine being demanded what was the greatest requisite of a Christian What was the first second and third still answered Humility Humility Humility Truly what the Counsellour said of Moderation the Grecian of Elocution and the Father of Humility I shall say of Regeneration If you ask me what is the chiefest thing in the world for a man to mind What is that which is worthy of all his time and strength and thoughts and words and actions I answer Regeneration If you demand What is that which is of greatest necessity and excellency that bringeth in the greatest profit delight and happiness I answer Regeneration He that hath this hath all that is worth having the having of this is heaven He that wanteth this hath nothing the whole world cannot make up the want of this the want of this is hell O Sirs your everlasting making or marring dependeth upon your sincerity or hypocrisie in this Of what infinite consequence is it therefore to you in whatsoever ye come short to make sure here Alas when ye come to throw your last cast for eternity how will the stoutest of you do to look death in the face without Regeneration in your hearts God hath in an hundred texts of Scripture devoted all unregenerate ones to the unquenchable fire and can any of you think to make him a lyer Believe it as soon as death landeth you at the other world you will have other thoughts of God and his Truths then now ye have For your help in this work which is of such absolute indispensable necessity unto your never dying souls I commend to you this Treatise beseeching the blessed God to make it serviceable unto your salvations Ignatius when he heard a clock strike would say I have one hour more to answer for I must tell you that ye have eighteen hours eighteen Sermons more to answer for When they were preached they had from some of you a favourable attention now they are printed it is not unknown what providence brought them to the press I wish they may have within you all an effectual operation that both the Author and his labors may appear to your joy at that great and terrible day These things being signified Act. 20.32 I commend you to God and to the word of
and therefore as a Deputy Lieutenant it must command its inferiors according to the directions which it receiveth from its superiour otherwise as a King which commands out of his Dominions it is not to be obeyed God hath indeed given conscience a large Commission it is a deputy Deity in the little world man The government of the soul lyeth for a great part upon its shoulders It hath an universal negative voice nothing to be done without its assent Rom. 14.2 ult but not an universal affirmative voice to enjoyn what it pleaseth when it is regulated by Gods Law then and not till then it can govern well our hearts and lives Bernard saith excellently Bern de cons i. l. 1. cap. 9. We must consult with conscience as also to consult with Scripture the Bible is the book of life according to that the books of our consciences may be copied or corrected Let us therefore saith he compare our book with Gods book lest in the last day our books be found false and faulty when they come to be examined Copies are no further valid and authentick then they agree with the Original neither is conscience any farther to be trusted then it accords with the word of truth it is an under-Officer and therefore if it wave its Commission and use its power against its Prince it is to be informed not obeyed The Law natural must be hearkened to so far as it agreeth with the Law moral It is the greatest idolatry in the world saith Reverend Mr. Rutherford to make thy self the idol and as bad a Papacy as that at Rome to make a Pope of thy own conscience The light of Scripture is infallible but not so the light of nature yet how ordinary is it for men in our dayes like the men of Sechem Judg. 9.46.49 to flie for shelter to this hold of the idol Berith and to think themselves safe if they can say the light within them they might more truly say the Prince of darkness moveth them to deny all ordinances to call Christians Devils and limbs of Antichrist to set up a Christ within them in opposition to that righteousness which he wrought without them but as that hold was fired over the Sechemites heads and they perished in it so these men and their consciences if the Lord do not turn them shall burn together Thou seest now Reader that men may follow their natural Judgements into eternal Torments do not therefore follow conscience blindfold but first set that watch by the Sun dial of Gods word for then onely 't will go true and according to it thou maist work Ninethly To joyn with this or that party or to hold this or that opinion is no sure evidence of salvation all the sign which some have of their sincerity is their schism and separation from the people of God and publick Ordinances They fancy for indeed it is but a fancy that to leave the good old way prescribed by Christ and travelâ—d in by the Saints in all ages and to take a by-way over hedge and ditch found out by themselves or some others whose persons they have in admiration is the nearest surest way to heaven How many list themselves under the colours of Quakers or Anabaptists or Episcopal or Independents or Presbyterians fighting in expressions at least against all that are of a different judgement and being confident of the goodness of their cause think it impossible for them that are engaged in it to miscarry Reader if thou art one of these I must tell thee for all this thou mayst be unconverted whatever thy cause or opinion be or whoever be the head of thy party or file-leader if Regeneratian be not thy Banner and Christ thy Captain thou shalt without question be conquered and as certainly die an eternal death as thou livest a natural life Creeds do not make Christians nor are opinions be they never so new signs of new affections rather è contra Divisions and side-takings do rather speak a brutish and grazing as Nebuchadnezzar's then a gracious heart Godw. Iew. Antiq. lib. 1. How many persons were there in the days of Christ who differed from others in their principles The very Scribes and Pharisees differed in some things the Essenes differed from them both the Sadduces from all three the Herodians from all the former yea the difference amongst many of them was so wide that they could not meet together in divine worship now how weak had it been for either of these from their dividing from men on earth to have inferd their dwelling with God in Heaven When for ought I know he must go beyond them all that will be saved Mat. 5.20 Thou mayst be of that party which hath the greatest name for purity and yet when thou diest not enter into peace I will for thy sake suppose the opinion which thou holdest to be true and sound and the partie to which thou joynest to be holy and solid yet neither of these is regeneration Alas the new birth doth not consist in a sound head though it be a mercy if thou holded the pattern of wholsom words but in a purified heart not in siding with the truth but in being sanctified by the truth The five foolish Virgins associated with the wise and yet were unregenerate and wicked Judas kept company with Christ and his Apostles and joyned with them in Acts of devotion and yet was a son of perdition Vermine crawl among roses but are without their savour and sweetness Spiders fasten on rich hangings yet are full of poison Dross and gold smoke and fire dregs and wine chaffe and corn are joyned together yet do abundantly differ Thou mayst like the mixt multitude seem to turn thy back upon Aegypt and embarque in the same bottom with the true Israelites and yet as they come short of Canaan Tenthly and lastly Some seeming good affections do not necessarily speak a mans good condition Every shining stone is not a Diamond nor is every flashy affection from regeneration Some say there is no precious stone but hath its counterfeit I think there is hardly any grace but hath its Ape I will instance in some few affections which thou mayst have and yet misse heaven Thou mayst wonder at the excellency of the word and yet be a stranger to the efficacy of it Luke 4.22 All bare him witness and wondred at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth All wondred at the saviour but all were not wounded for their sins All wondred at his gracious words but many wanted his gracious work Ezekiels Sermons were to some of his hearers as lovely songs and yet they continued impenitent in their sins Some people nibble at the bait of the preachers oratory when their souls are never caught with the hook and authority of Scripture Ezek. 3â— â—1 32. Thou mayst be full of joy under the word and yet be empty of grace Herod heard John gladly Mark 6.20 others received the
shall not so much as taste of Thou mayst see a Cherubim there with a flaming sword to guard that tree of life and keep thee out of that pleasant Paradise Nay thou mayest behold there the plagues and judgements the pain and punishments which the righteous God threatneth against and will execute upon thee and all in thy condition In a word thou mayst as it were find thy very self mentioned in the forlorn hope for Hell 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Rev. 21.6 7. While thou livest thou art fed like a beast by a common providence and art a meer stranger to all the saving promises If at any time thou fingerest the unsearchable riches in Christ like the riches which Solomon speaks of they make themselves wings and flye away from thee thou goest every day without thy guard being turned naked into the wide world amongst legions of Devils and soul-damning lusts to be rent and torn in pieces like a silly Hare amongst a pack of Hounds and none to shelter thee or call thee off Many dangers attend thee every day many miseries every moment when thou goest out or comest in liest down or risest up still are those frightful hel-hounds watching for thee and waiting only for leave from God O that his long-suffering might be unto thee salvation to drag thy soul into the lake of fire There is but an hairs breadth as it were between thee and hell And O when thou diest man what wilt thou then do as soon as that Captain death strikes the first stroak whole Armies of woes will fall upon thee Reader I have told thee somewhat of thy lamentable portion in this life though none can give thee a full Inventory of thy personal wretched estate One would think that every line under this head should be as a dagger stabbing thee at the heart and that if there were nothing else but these small guns I call them so comparatively of miseries in this world the fear of them should cause thee to flie as the distressed dove to the clifts of the rock the wounds of a crucified Christ But this is not all the murdering-piece the great Ordnance is yet behind I must hasten to write of thy misery in the other world which thou poor wretch though now without fear yet art hastning to feel As while thou livest thou art a cursed sinner so when thou diest thou art a damned creature Here I confess I shall fail much more then before for no pen can describe no pencil can delineate though both did it in blood to the utmost of humane wit and Art the thousand thousandth part of that pain which thou shalt there undergo I have read of a Court where it was made death to mention death Surely the word Death must needs sound dreadfully in thine ears because when it comes it will strike and that home 't will both kill thee and damn thee 't will part thy body and soul for a time and God and the soul to eternity 't will send thy body to the grave and thy soul to hell Thy condition now is lamentable and dangerous but then O then 't will be irrecoverable and desperate Thy deaths-day will be thy dooms-day wherein the guilty prisoner of the soul shall be fetched out of the noisom goal of the body and appear before the Judge of the whole earth and from him receive a sentence of eternal death and then be hurried by frightful Devils to execution It is storied of Charls King of Sweden a great enemy of the Jesuites that when he took any of their Colledges he would put the younger sort of them into his Mines saying That since they had wrought hard above ground he would now make trial how well they could work under ground Truly thus Satan will serve thee when thou hast wrought hard for him on earth he will pay thee thy wages in the dark vaults of hell and make trial how well thou canst work there Ah who would serve such a Master Look to it and remember that thou wast warned of it For if thou diest naturally before thou livest spiritually thou diest eternally Austins prayer was Hack me hew me burn me HERE but spare me HEREAFTER Spare me hereafter Alas what will thy condition be Thou art in hell upon earth for thou livest without God whose gracious presence is heaven and in hell after death thou shalt never be spared here nor hereafter now thou art a cursed sinner and then thou shalt be a damned creature thy best is past and thy worst to come though thy best portion is a poor pittance a few brutish pleasures I come now to thy misery in the other world ETernal death will teach thee six lessons though now neither mercy nor misery neither fair means nor foul means can prevail with thee to learn them First It will teach thee the vanity of this world Thou now seest it written with the finger of God in his word in capital letters Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity Eccles â— 3 yet thou wilt not believe it As 't is reported of a Gentlewoman that being told so answered 'T is true Solomon said so but he tried the world first and so will I Thou wilt try the world also before thou wilt trust the Word But be confident in the other world thou wilt find God true to thy cost when thine honor which now is but the breath of thy neighbor a thin cabinet of air which every one hath a key to but thy self shall be blown away when thy wealth which hath great eagles wings to flie from thee here shall not have so much as a small Sparrows wings to follow after thee there and when all thine earthly comforts for which thou sellest thy soul and thy Saviour shall as the Pharisees did Judas leave thee in the greatest extremity and bid thee look to thy self Then possibly thou wilt say as Cardinal Wolsey when he was out of favour with his Prince and left by him to the rage of his enemies If I had served my God as faithfully as I have served my King he would not have served me thus So thou wilt think If I had served my God as faithfully as I have served the world he would not have served me thus to leave me in my greatest need to the rage of scorching flames to the fury of roaring lions and tormenting devils if I had served my Saviour as faithfully as I have served my sins I should have received other manner of pay But for all thy faithful service to the world and thy flesh they will forsake thee Thou mayst then cry to the things of this world which have so much of thy time and heart and trust and which are indeed thy god as those Idolaters did to their Idolgod O Baal hear us O riches hear me O friends hear me O pleasures hear me O merry-meetings hear me O relations hear me yea if thou shouldst continue crying never so long thou couldst not have the least help Were
sin who would open his mouth for such a monster when there is no evil like it Doth God offer thee any thing to thy hurt when he would make a separation between thy soul and thy sins doth he desire any thing to thy disadvantage when he desireth thee to give a bill of divorce to sin which is the sourse of all sorrows the onely enemy of thy best friend the ever-blessed God and to be given up to which is the greatest plague and punishment on this side hell Tell me is not regeneration excellent which killeth such venemous serpents which executeth such traytours which mortifyeth these earthly members and dasheth these brats of Babylon against the wall Thirdly the price paid for this pearle doth loudly speak its excellency Reader little dost thou think what regeneration cost I tell thee and thou mayst well wonder at it The son of God came from heaven suffered the boundless rage of Divels and infinite wrath of God in mans nature upon this very errand to purchase regeneration and sanctification for poor sinners Read and admire Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.18 19. See the worth of this ware by that which it cost The precious blood of Christ surely it was a jewel of inestimable value which the Son of God thought worth his precious blood As lightly as thou thinkest of the death of sin and the life of righteousness the Lord Jesus underwent more then any one in hell feels to buy them of his father for the sons of men Ah none knoweth but God and Christ what it cost to buy off mans debts and guilt and to procure a new stock of holiness for his poor bankrupt creature to set up with again Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 Had man kept his original purity the Lord Jesus might have spared all his pains T it 2.14 Ioh 10.10 The second Adam came to restore that jewel to man of which the first Adam robd him This rare jewel this choice mercy was regeneration and holiness and this Christ looks upon as the full reward of his sufferings He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied Isa 53.11 The truth is Christ had exceeding hard labour the Greek Fathers call it unknown sufferings he had many a bitter pang many a sharp throw but for joy that children are born of God that those throws bring forth a numerous issue of new creatures he forgets his sorrows He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied Consider friend did Christ esteem regeneration worthâ— his blood to merit it and is it not worth thy prayers and teares and utmost indeavours to obtain it Did Christ come to destroy the works of the Divel which is sin 1 John 3.8 and wilt thou build them up did the Lord Jesus come to build up the temple of holiness and wilt thou pull it down did Christ think it worth the while to be reproached condemned crucified and all to make thee holy and wilt thou be such an enemy to the cross of Christ as by continuing in sin to deprive him of that which he earnd so dearly Why wilt thou bind thy self to be a slave to Satan when he redeemed thee with such a vast sum Did the mercifull God send his son into the world to bless thee in turning thee from thine iniquity and canst thou look upon that great blessing as thy bondage Acts 3. ult Believe it God had servants enough even Angels that are ever ready to do his will to send ordinary gifts by surely then t was some extrordinary present that he thought none worthy to carry and would trust none with but his onely Son God sent him to blesse you in turning every one of you from your iniquities I hope reader thou wilt have higher thoughts of holiness and worse thoughts of sin all thy dayes surely the son of God was not so prodigal of his most precious blood as to poure it out for any thing that was not superlatively excellent Fourthly Regeneration and the renewing of man will appear to be excellent in that it is the great end of God in his works The more noble any being is the more excellent ends it propounds to it self in its working thence it is that a man hath higher ends then a beast the ends of a beast are onely to please sence but the ends of a man are to satisfie his understanding Hence also the ends of a Christian are more excellent then the ends of other men his being is more noble and so are his ends To please glorifie and enjoy God How excellent then is that which the infinitely perfect God makes his end Surely the Most High cannot propound any low ends in his operations he that is the onely wise God must have eminent designs and ends Now unclasp the secret book of Gods decree and look into it as far as the word will warrant thee and thou shalt finde that in that internal work of Election God had the renewing of man after his image in his eye and to be his end According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Ephes 1.4 As an Artificer or Statuary that hath many pieces of stone all alike hewn out of the same Quarry in his yard sets some apart from the rest in his own thoughts intending to make some choice Statue some special piece of them So when all mankinde was before God he did in his eternal thoughts set some apart to be choice pieces to be holy and without blame Go from Gods decree to its execution from his inward to his outward actions and thou shalt finde thy renewing after his image to be still in his eye In thy creation he thought of thy regenerationâ— Prov. 16.4 Psal 100.4 5. Rev. 4. ult he made thee that he might new make thâ—â— Thou art a man that thou mightst become a Christian God made thee a rational creature that thou mightst be made a new creature He gave thee the matter in giving thee a body and a rational soul that thereby thou mightst be capable of the form which is the impression of his image on both There must be a tree before it can be hewed and squared for some curious building God did not make thee to eat and drink and sleep and toil in thy calling but to honor him and to live to him which are the actions of the new creature Trace God further from creation to providence and therein also thou mayst observe this to be his end Why doth he send the warm Summer of prosperity and refresh thee with his clearing beams and influences but to
such the second death hath no power This is that we are most nearly concernd in O that all the disputes of the times about Pedo baptism and Church-membership might at last be reduced to this How shall I do to be regenerate how shall I get a better heart how shall I procure evidences for heaven these questions will help to make Converts whereas others wake only Scepticks and Opinionists The temper of most men in our age is to have hot braines and cold hearts their religion evaporates into fume and froth and may be likened to those eares which run onely into straw but I shalt need say the losse the doctrine of Regeneration being so amply and accurately handled in the following Treatise For the author of this work though I have not had much knowledg of him yet by that little converse had with him I judge him to be a man of a serious and gracious spirit t is excellent when the vessels of Gods house retain in them a rellish and savour of that Good wine which they poure out to others This piece I hope may be very profitable and may serve with the blessing of God to be an alarum to awaken drowsie consciences that they sleep not the sleep of death which that it may is the prayer of him who is Thy Friend and Servant in the Lord. Thomas Watson From my study at Stephen Walbrook Ian. 26. 1659. THere is extant likewise of the Authors of this Treatise an excellent Book entituled Heaven and Hell Epitomized The true Christian Characterized As also an Exhortation with Motives Means and Directions to be speedy and serious about the work of Conversion An Exposition on the whole Book of Salomons Song commonly called the Canticles Wherein the Text is explained and useful Observations raised thereupon By John Robotham Preacher of the Gospel Both sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the lower end of Cheapside AN EPISTLE TO THE READER READER IN how happy a time dost thou live when God sendeth so many and so powerfull Messengers to call thee from the ways of sin and death And how miserable and unexcusable wilt thou prove if thou be after all this a stranger to the life of faith of holiness If nature had made thee a spiritual person a child of God and an heir of heaven this Doctrine of Regeneration might then be received as strangely as it was by Nicodemus and as neglectfully as it is by careless worldlings and as disdainfully as it is by unbelieving and malignant enemies of the Holy Ghost But sooner may you hope to find a new way into the world or a state of nature besides the way of humane birth then to find another way into the state of grace and the Kingdom of Heaven beside the New birth by the Spirit Nature proclaimeth its own vitiosity to every diligent observer He that is so carnall as not to observe it in the crosseness and rebellion of his soul against God and the worlds captivity to self and flesh one would think should yet be so rational as to observe it in the confusion and inordinate behaviour of men to one another While self is exalted against the good of friends and Neighbours yea and against the common good and that so uncurably as the wars and calamities of the Nations do signifie For whence come wars and fightings among men come they not hence even of their lusts that war in their members Jam. 4.1 But the corrupted soul is so conforme to the worlds corrupted state that it is no wonder if he perceive no need of a Restorer and so be in heart an Infidel upon that account As a man born blind may think the world hath no great need of the Sun because his eyes are so conform to a state of darkness that the night seemeth to him as good as the day As all the creatures which we daily see condemne the Atheist that denieth their Creator So all the spots and blemishes of the creatures especially the universal pravity of mankind condemneth the Infidel that seeing not Original sin and misery denieth the necessity of a redeemer And the holiness of renewed souls about him doth further condemne him that doth not acknowledge the sanctifier who is the Cause The Reparation of vitiated nature is a mysterious but glorious work of God which Angels desire to pry into and all the Regenerate rejoyce in and admire as having themselves been made partakers of so sweet and excellent a share The Kingdome of darkness is a confederacy of wicked Angels and men that are all ruled by one malicious principal Governour Matth. 12.24 to 30. and 25 41. c. whose work is to marr the work of God that nature may not attaine its primitive and proper end And the Kingdome of Christ is the holy society headed by him that hath made it his undertaken work to be the repairer of depraved nature and to destroy the works of the Divel and to remove impediments and conquer opposition and carry on his healing work that nature may yet attaine its ends in despight of sin and death and Hell As ever you would not be guilty of contemning this wonderful work of Natures Reparation Elevation and Perfection see now that you over-look not the great necessity of it in your selves where one would think as it doth most neerly concern you so it should be most easy to you to perceive it No part of nature is so deploratly vitiated as the soul of man except the Divels This was thy case that readest these words as well as mine and all mens els and if thou art not Restored by renewing grace it is thy case still it is Satans business to keep thee from observing it lest the knowledge of thy misery should waken thee to accept and mind the cure If he can make thee forget it or deceive thee by flatterers and by a seeming formal outside religiousness and quiet thee in thy misery till there be no remedy but time is past and mercy gone then is he the conquerour and hath the prey he aimed at and thou art lost for ever Thy salvation or damnation lieth on thy escaping this deceit and the presumption security and impenitencie that are its consequents For this end thou hast the plain directions of Gods word the frequent warnings the close convictions the fervent exhortations of his Ministers If the Spirit set in and these prevaile and thou give up thy self unreservedly to the Lord thou art a happy man and hath received the beginning of life eternall Regeneration must give thee a new nature suitable to the heavenly Doctrines and duties propounded in the holy Scriptures or else they will seem strange and toilsome things and thou wilt savour them no more then thy food when thou art sick Till thou art Regenerate and hast a new heart and Spirit thou wilt still disrellish those saving truths that call thee higher and put the upon selfdenyal and a holy life especially when they are closely applyed to
thee for these ends Thou wilt disrelish all spiritual prayers and conference especially when they discover and condemne thy unsanctifyed carnal state And thou wilt secretly or openly have a malignant distaste or opposition against the Regenerate that live by that renewing sanctifying Spirit to which thou art a stranger and wilt look on them as a people that condemne thee by their lives unless thou canst cheat thy self into a perswasion that they are but a company of singular proud selfconceited people and really no otherwise regenerate then thy self And all the Religion and wisdome and good â—arriage which thou hast without this spiritual change may easily be thy delusion but will never serve for thy Salvation yea heaven it self would be to thee no heaven if it were set open to thee and thou hadst not the heavenly nature to suit to the heavenly employment and felicity This is the business of a converting and confirming Ministery and of the spirit and grace that works by them and this is the business that above other business lyeth upon thee in this present world even to work now in thy soul that holy love to the most blessed God who is love it self which may cause thee here to thirst after his presence and to seek his favour and to do his will and may fit thee delightfully for ever to enjoy him and everlastingly to be solaced in the beholding of his glory in the feeling of his love and in his heavenly praises and the fulfilling of his will An unregenerate unholy soul is as unfit for this as thy mortal enemy to lye in thy bosome or as toads and serpents to be the familiar companions of men or as thy Ox or Ass is to feed with thee at thy table and lye with thee in thy bed Employments and Enjoyments must have a suitable nature if the Spirit fit thee not here for heaven in this life which is given thee purposely for that end its pernitious folly to hope for a heaven for which thy unsanctifyed nature is unfit and to promise thy self a felicity of which thou art uncapable and which indeed thy very heart doth hate Thou lovest not holiness here nor the very imperfect Saints that have it how much less couldst thou love the infinite holiness of God who hateth thy sins ten thousand times more then the most severe and sharp reprover hates them If thy eyes cannot look upon the smallest candle without offence how then would they endure to look upon the Sun and that in the nearest access unto its glory And if here thy enmity to the holy will of God be such that thou pleasest not him and he and his waies are displeasing unto thee how uncapable art thou of Heaven which is a state of mutual full delight where the Saints do perfectly please the Lord and are perfectly pleased in him and his pleasure Rom. 8.5 6 7 8. They that are after the flesh do mind or savour the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God And that which is born of the flesh is but flesh As that which is born of the spirit is spirit Joh. 3.6 It is therefore undenyable that till you are born of the spirit and so made spiritual all your Religion and civility leaveth you but enemies to God and in a state of Rebellion against his will and consequently in a state of death Baptism which is the Sacrament of Regeneration doth signifie this change and containe your profession and engagement to the Lord. But if you have not the Regeneration of the Spirit as well as of the water and the answer of a good conscience as well as the washing of the flesh you differ from Heathens and Infidels but as covenant-breakers differ from them that never entered into covenant with Christ at all But I must not stand too long instructing you at the door when my business is to call you in and to tell you that here is a Message to you from the Lord A Treatise of Regeneration the most necessary Subject in a stile so clean and close in words so pertinent plain powerful and pressing that undoubtedly by a serious impartial perusal joyned with sober consideration and prayer thy soul may receive unspeakable commodity Though I know not the Author I am so far acquainted with the spirit appearing in this Discourse that I dare assure thee he had very much help from heaven and dare encourage thee to study this savoury Treatise as that which containeth most certain sound and necessary doctrine directly tending to the saving of thy soul without any tendency to Heresie Schism or uncharitable cenforiousness A Doctrine necessary for the learned or unlearned the rich and the poor the honorable and the base and for men of all degrees and ranks which if it had been more heartily studied and inculcated in publick and in private by all Preachers of the Gospel instead of the humane inventions and Canons and Opinions and interests of their several Sects the Church and the consciences of the Pastors and their Flocks had been now much wholer and sounder then they are Believe it whatever thou art thou shalt never be saved for being a Lord or a Knight a Gentleman or a rich man a learned man or a well-spoken eloquent man nor yet for being a Calvinist or a Lutheran an Arminian an Anabaptist a Prelatist a Presbyterian an Independent or a Protestant formally and meerly as such much less for being a Papist or of any such grosly deluded Sect but as a Regenerate Christian it is that thou must be saved or thou canst have no hope If once this renewing Spirit have taken possession of thy soul and thou art made partaker of the Divine and Heavenly nature and art become a living Member of Christ thou shalt be saved though thou know not whether Diocesan Bishops Metropolitans Primates and Patriarks or onely Parochial Bishops be most agreeable to the minde of God and though thou know not whether any other Book than the Bible should contain the Liturgy of the Church and though thou know not in a hundred controversies of the times about Orders and Forms and Ceremonies and smaller points of doctrine which party it is that is in the right Holiness will save thee without the formalities of this party or of that but formalities will not save thee without holiness To you that are Regenerate I shall say but this keep very honourable and thankful thoughts of your spiritual birth Live now as the sons of the Eternal God and as the heirs of everlasting life Set your faces now towards Heaven as those that see the grave at hand and the vanities of this world all vanishing into
but are filled only with wind but Saints only can praise him properly after his manner in such a way as he accepteth praise is the highest the most excellent part of Divine Worship Now excellent speech becometh not a fool Pro. 17.7 as every sinner is But praise is comely for the upright Ps 33.1 The water of Saints praises is drawn out of a deep spring the heart and so it is sweet and pleasant This is God's great end in sowing the precious seed of grace that he might reap a crop of glory Acts 15.14 God did at first visit the Gentiles and take out of thim mark a people for his name He makes them partakers of his Nature that they might be a people for his name So Isa 43.21 This people have I formed for my self they shall shew forth my praise God formed all the people in the world for himself for his own praise Even a Pharoah is created and advanced that God might be exalted Rom. 9.17 But this regenerated people is the people which God principally designeth for his own praise This people I have formed for my self other people I have passed by like old pieces of mettal leaving them in their dust and rust but this people I have thrown into the fire of my Word have cast them anew and made them vessels of gold meet for my own service and glory They shall shew forth my praise They Alas others may praise him ignorantly as the arrow hiteth the mark but knoweth not its own motion or forcedly as he squeezeth confessions from them of his Justice and strength when they are under the rod or upon the wrack Exod. 9.27 And this is no thank to the Will of man but to the power of God who like the Huntsman useth the rage of the dogs to his own end and maketh the wrath of man to praise him Psal 7â— 10 or at best they praise him but notionally and by hear-say as one born blind may commend the Sun or a stranger the Countrey he never saw How far short must these come when no creature can do God right or limb out his vast perfections in their several dimensions surely these must do him wrong and blot his name with the most curious pensil of their most studied praises but this people shall shew forth my praise Alexander would have none draw his picture but Apelles or cut his statue but â— ysippus because none else had art enough to do it well Certain it is none have skil and wisdom to shew forth God's praise but that people which he formed for that purpose This people which have felt the weight of their sins and smarted with wounds in their souls this people which have sometime been terrified under the apprehension of my unspeakable fury and the expectation of the unquenchable fire this people that have seen their corruptions in their colours suffered divine terrors given themselves over for dead damned creatures and then were by bottomless mercy drawn out of the depth of misery translated out of death and darkness into the Kingdom of light and life this people which I have purchased with the blood of my Son beautified with the graces of my Spirit interessed in rich promises entitled to the heavenly possession this people which have been carried like the Ambassadors of the King of Babylon into the temple 2 King 20.12 and seen all the richness and glory thereof the pleasures and comforts therein tasting me to be gracious sitting under my shadow with great delight solacing their souls with the means of grace and rejoycing in hope of eternal glory this people shall praise the greatness of my power the manifoldness of my Wisdom the sweetness of my Love the sureness of my Word the riches of my Mercy the freeness of my Grace the beauty of my Image the preciousness of my Christ and all this upon their own knowledge and experience O the Hosannah's and Halelujahs the praise and glory and honor and thanks which this people shall give to the Lord and to the Lamb for ever The harps of Saints are tuned to these songs on earth but who can conceive what ravishing musick they will make in running division on these several notes in heaven Surely surely the greatest revenues of praises which come into Gods Exchequer are from the hearty acclamations of his sanctified and saved ones as they receive the choycest mercies the love of God the blood of Christ pardon peace grace glory so they return the highest praises The building of mans body is so stately a structure the rooms in it so curious the hangings and furniture so rich and costly embroidered as with needlework that the owner of the house hath a considerable rent of honor paid for it I will praise thee saith David for I am fearfully and wonderfully made my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest part of the earth Psa 139.14 15. The setting up of the new creation as it is more glorious the image of God's own perfections though it be imperfect in this life the heart of a Saint being bespangled like the heavens with those glistering stars of graces and his life being a legible comment on the divine Law so it brings the author a larger income of honor This is the Lords doings and it is marvellous in the godly mans eye 1 Tim. 1.13 14 17. 1 Pet. 1.3 but when the good work now begun shall be finished then Gods praises shall be perfected when the foundation of this spiritual Temple is laid in this world they cry grace graces but when the top-stone shall be laid in the other world then they shall cry Glory Glory Blessed are they that dwell in that house they ever praise him in that Temple doth every one speak of his glory Therefore the Psalmist observeth that when the Lord shall build up Sion then he shall appear in his glory Psal 10â— 6 While his Church is building he is glorious but as the Sun under a cloud not appearing so to the beholders we can see but little of his infinite beauty because of our weak eyes and receive but little of his infinite bounty because of our narrow hearts but when Sion shall be built up in heaven our eyes shall be strengthned to see the King in his glory to see him as he is and the water-pots of our souls enlarged and filled up to the brim with those streams which make glad the City of God then the Lord shall appear in his glory then he shall have the honor of all his Attributes the praise of all his Providences and the glory of all his Perfections for then he shall appear in all his royalty embroidery magnificence and glory When the Saints shall have sailed in the vessel of their Saviour through the boisterous waters of Mens wrath Devils rage and the Laws curse and be safely landed in Heaven then God shall have his full price of honor and glory for
in him that is really united to him There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 A Virgin hath no right at all to the honors and treasures of a man notwithstanding some well wishes towards him till she be married to him and become one flesh with him so a Christian hath no right at all to the great and good things which are Christs till he be married to the Lord Jesus and become one Spirit with him Union is the ground of communion probably when the flood came many hung about the Ark but the waves quickly washt them off those onely that were in the Ark were saved thus all that hang only about Christ the true Ark by a general profession will be drowned will be damned when the deluge of wrath cometh they only that are in him by a real implantation shall be saved Now saith the Apostle and observe it Reader if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 Therefore regeneration is required because by it the creature is planted into Christ Regeneration cutteth the man off from his own stock and grafteth him into the Lord Jesus Regeneration troweth the siner off from his own bottom and builds him on the Saviour as a sure foundation Regeneration is as it were the Minister which marrieth Christ and the soul together therein the soul giveth it self unfeignedly to Christ and Christ giveth himself really to the soul and thereby the sins and weaknesses of the soul the Wife become the Husbands and the riches and righteousness the home and heaven of Christ the Husbands become the Wives When God converteth a sinner he sendeth his Messenger as Abraham his Steward to provide a Wife for his only Son the Minister like the servant with Rebeckah treateth with the soul telling it how infinitely blessed his Masters Son is how rich even the heir of all things how beautiful even the fairest of ten thousands and altogether lovely how exceedingly this marriage will be for its advantage upon this the Spirit striking in the soul consenteth to take Christ for its Lord and Husband and so becometh the Spouse of the God of Isaac and hath heaven entailed on it for a Joynture I proceed now from the Explication to the Application of the Doctrine and it may be useful to us several ways FIrst By way of Information If without Regeneration men and women can never attain Salvation then it informeth us in the first place how gross and how great is the delusion of graceless and irreligious persons How exceedingly do most sinners cheat and cozen their own souls Reader it may be thou art a Drunkard a Swearer a Scoffer at godliness an Atheist in thy heart in thy soul and yet thou hopest to get to heaven O desperate delusion I tell thee either this Text which I write of and which is the word of the true and living God must be false which the Devil himself is not so great a Blasphemer as to think or thou art a brand for the unquenchable fire Do but look into the black list of those that are for utter darkness and thou mayst read thy very name written there in broad letters 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrightous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived O soul-cheater neither Forn cators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers noâ— Extortioners shall inherit the kingdom â—f God See Gal. 5.19 20 21. Gal. 6.7 8. Ephes 5.5 6. Friend I could name forty texts of Scripture which pass sentence of everlasting condemnation on thy soul and yet thou thinkest in despight of God and his word to be saved I assure thee prophane wretch thou comest short of hundreds which shall come short of heaven Many bid fair to the eyes of men by civility morality and common grace but come not up to the price to Regeneration and so miss of that place thou art every day adding sin to sin drunkenness to thirst posting in the road to hell and yet sayst that thou shalt arrive at heaven well within a few days it shall be tried whose words are truest God's or thine But if thou mayst be convinced of thy soul-flattery before it bring thee into endless misery I shall shew thee the utter impossibility of thy salvation while thou remainest in this condition There are four gates through which all must go that get into the new Jerusalem every one of which is shut lockt bar'd and bolted against thee 1. They that get to heaven must go through the gate of Election As all that were not reckoned by Genealogy were put by the Priesthood as being polluted Ezra 2.62 so all are excluded eternal life whose names are not written in the Lambs book of life Rev. 20. ult Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Now this gate of Election is shut against prophaness thou hast not the least ground to imagine that thou art elected whilst thou art unconverted because God decreed all them to be sanctified whom he decreed to be saved Mark that 2 Thess 2.13 14. Who hath chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth The end and the way were both in Gods thoughts together Those whose names are registred in heaven their natures are regenerated on earth Whom he did predestinate them he also called Rom. 8.30 The first rise saith one and spring of mercy is Election which breaketh out by effectual Calling and so floweth down in the channels of Faith and Holiness till it lose it self in the ocean of glory Vocation is the outward expression of God's inward intention to save a sinner or the first impression of the seal upon the wax therefore Election and Vocation are both conjoyned Rev. 17.14 nay the one is put for the other 1 Cor. 1.26 27. because they are inseparable companions so that if thy name be written in the book of life thy nature would be renewed to live a spiritual life 2 Tim. 1.9 1 Pet. 1.2 Therefore Reader if ever thou reachest heaven in this estate of unholiness thou must make a blot not onely in the Bible but in the very Book of Life 2. All that get to heaven must go through the gate of Christs Passion There is no name under heaven given among men by which we may be saved but the name of Jesus Christ Acts 4.12 And it is the death of Christ which purchaseth eternal life for Christians as the sown seed by dying bringeth forth a plentiful increase so Christ by dying bringeth many Sons to glory Joh. 12.24 Heb. 2.10 but this gate is shut against thee for those for whom Christ purchased glory for them he purchased grace The Son of God laid down the same price for both so that if ever he deliver thee from the condemning power of sin he will deliver thee from
neither of colour nor weight so the civil man in his life starts back from sin as if he durst not touch that venemous creature but he carrieth an heart along with him that receiveth in all having no power to examine who goeth in or out and without complaining either of colour or weight Reader it may be thou art no Drunkard no Swearer no Scoffer at godliness no Adulterer no Lyar I wish we had more that came so far towards heaven but take heed of resting here thou mayst be able to say all this and much more and yet in thee as in the young man there may be one thing lacking namely this new life He that went to make his picture stand alone saw at last his mistake and cried out Deest aliquid intus there is something wanting within he meant life so it may be in thee Believe it there is a vast difference betwixt restraining and renewing grace the former may skin over and cover the loathsom sore of sin when the latter doth search and cure it Civility like a black patch doth hide the wound but sanctity like a plaister doth both hide and heal it It is possible that thou dost not outwardly abound with the same corruptions which others do because thou hast not the same temptations Thy heart may be a vessel full of poisonous liquor which may remain undiscovered till thou hast a temptation to broach it Thy lusts may be as great Rebels against God though they lie lurking in the secret trenches of thy heart and dare not for fear or shame appear in the open field of thy life Thy Civility is a mercy and thou art bound to bless God for it But Oh take heed of trusting to it as a sure evidence of thy good estate for certainly it proveth not seldom a more neat and cleanly way to endless and easeless wo. Secondly A glorious Profession is no infallible evidence of thy right to life It is good to profess Christianity Religion is so noble so bountiful a Master that none need be afraid to be counted her servant We must confess Christ before men if we would have Christ to confess us before his Father and the holy Angels Matth. 10.31 he that disowns his colours deserves to be cashiered the camp But confession of the mouth must be accompanied with conversion of the heart or it will not save that is but the shadow this is the substance of Religion A Christian in name and a Christian in nature do exceedingly differ The profession and the power of godliness differ as leaves on a tree and good fruit a tree that hath fruit will have leaves a man that hath the power will have a form of godliness but as some trees as the Ivie are never without leaves yet never bear good fruit while they live so many profess Christ all their days who never bring forth fruit worthy of repentance and amendment of life Some defie the Devil with their lips who Deifie him in their lives There may be gaudy signs at the door where there is not a drop of good wine in the Cellar Apothecaries boxes have glorious titles even when they are altogether empty Many Christians in our days are like a curious bubble smooth and shining without but nothing save wind within professing that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobrate Tit. 1. ult A man may wear Christ's livery and do the Devils drudgery Judas called Jesus Master yet betrayed him Thou mayst like the Jews put a Crown on Christs head a Scepter in his hand and bow the knee to him as if he were thy King and yet all be but in mockery thou mayst crucifie and put him to death for all this by thy sinful ungodly life Silver looketh white and yet draweth black lines thy profession may be fair when thy practices are foul Sin is so ugly that it 's ashamed of the light and therefore walks not openly as Christ for fear of the people though for a different reason from his lest it should fright them from continuing its friends but as a theif it goeth abroad in the night and then with vizards and false beards unwilling to be known who they are even with a form of godliness 1 Tim. 3.1 5. An Hypocrite like a Bankrupt the less substance he hath the more shew he maketh The Ostrich hath great feathers but cannot flie Christ compareth him to a tomb which is without comely within unsavory Good doth not always appear with the same beauty being clouded with corruption so evil doth seldom appear in its native deformity but like Jezabel fills up the wrinckles of its face with artificial dawbery When Absolom intended his unnatural rebellion he pretended Religion he had a vow which he must pay 2 Sam. 15.7 When Simeon and Levi designed murder and death to the Sechemites they hang out devotion for their colours They may not marry their Sister to one that was uncircumcised Gen. 34.14 Thus many lead Religion about as wandring cheaters do a monstrous woman whom they no way affect meerly to get money by it for their own praise or profit but do not entertain her as their Mistris giving her the power and keys of their hearts When Religion is in fashion many will dress themselves by her Looking-glass Joab himself though a man of blood will learn her language see how exactly he speaks in her dialect 1 Chron. 19.13 If the Jews prospered the Samaritans and they were kindred The rising Sun is adored by the Persians Summer brings in not only herbs and fruits but Butterflies and Caterpillers which feed on them and attire themselves with the livery of the season So in the prosperous estate of Religion many Summer birds will wait on her and court her out of love to her portion not to her person but these like Pirates put their vessels into the colours of nations which they abhor not to serve them faithfully but to rob them the more easily As Samballat and Tobiah made shew to help when their aim was to hinder the Jews And truly such a lamp or blazing profession will quickly go out for want of oyl in the vessel this inward Regeneration Thy rotten house will fall when these earthly props of treasure or honors which shroud it up are taken away Like the Moon thou mayst shine brightly the former part of the night but set before morning The Hare when she is hotly pursued betakes her self to some beaten path not for any love she hath to it but that there by the scent of passengers she may lose her scent and take off the dogs So many prophane persons that have rob'd the State being pursued betake themselves to the Church path not for devotion but that they might lose the scent of their vileness and take off their prosecutors Thy profession Reader is one of the weakest foundations imaginable to build upon for thy practices may every hour give thy
time he is at war with them walks contrary to them and is preparing for them the instruments of eternal death Like Agag to the very hour of execution they are confident of a Pardon and go with their hearts full of hopes into the very place of despair They die willingly as they tell us and their neighbours commend them saying they died like lambs when rather like Solomons ox who goeth to the slaughter so died they going to the den of roaring Lions and the place of Dragons They had no Bands in their deaths who were in bondage to the devil Ps 73.4 As a man that is asleep upon the Mast of a Ship he is in a golden Dream and his thoughts upon large Revenues rich treasures Kingdomes and Diadems which he hath already in his own possession but in that very hour wherein he is solacing himself in his vain imaginations a storm ariseth the man is tumbled off the Mast and drowned Thus many have golden dreams strong presumptions of their salvation when alas they do but befool themselves are all the while upon the brink of hell and are tumbled into it before they are aware Reader look to this likewise that thou build not on such a weak bottome for this may happen both to prophane men and to hypocrites It is said of Pigmalion that he drew a picture so lively that he deceived himself and taking the picture for a person fell in love with his own picture I tell thee thou mayst spin so fine a thread and weave so curious a web of painted cloth feigned godliness that thou mayest deceive thy self and take it to be fine linnen the righteousness of the Saints and mayest thence gather that thy soul is safe when in all thou dost thou art unsound If confidence or not doubting our estates will prove them out of danger then the ignorant stupid seared sinners must certainly be saved which the Scriptures flatly deny Socrates who lived according to his natural conscience died with much calmness and confidence speaking of those who put him to death that they might kill him but could not hurt him yet was without the knowledge of Jesus Christ in whose name alone is salvation Eightly To follow the light within thee or to obey the Dictates of a natural conscience is no sound evidence for heaven A man may follow the light within him to the chambers of utter darkness The Jesuite in the Quaker would make this the infallible testimony of a mans uprightness and sincerity nay he plucks Christ from his Throne and sets the light within him in his room making it more then a mark even the meritorious cause of salvation but Reader I shall clearly prove that 't is so far from being worthy of our affiance that it is not so much as an evidence for heaven because conscience by nature is corrupted as much as the other faculties Their minds and consciences saith the Holy Ghost are defiled Tit. 1.15 The nature of conscience is good but the conscience of nature is evil It savours not the things of God it is not purged with the blood of Christ it is wholly blind in the matters of Christianity nay 't is a Rebel against God Now if I follow a blind guide am I ever like to enter in at the straight gate Is it rational arguing that I am in my Princes favour because I obey my Captain when he is a traytor I do not say that a natural conscience hath no good in it but I am sure 't is in the account of God an evil conscience opposing and resisting him Like an ignis fatuus as pure and perfect a light as the Quakers make it it leadeth men out of Gods high way into those bogs and quagmires wherein they sink and perish I question not but the heathens did follow their polluted consciences in their idolatrous practices And sure I am that Paul might thank his corrupt conscience for persecuting Jesus Christ I verily thought saith he that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Christ Acts 26,9 Mark the words they are full of weight Pauls conscience told him 't was his duty to suppress Christianity Was not his obedience to the commands of this conscience a sad sign that he was to be saved Further Christ telleth his Disciples John 16.2 That they who killed them should think they did God good service Observe here was pure light within men that made them think that they did God the greatest service in doing his Church the greatest disservice Tertul. tells us that Maximinian the Emperor esteemed Christianorum sanguinem diis gratissimam esse victimam the blood of Christians to be an acceptable sacrifice to the gods Is any man so mad as not to think that if such a Pilot steer the ship by answering to its motion must needs be cast away Saul would out of conscience have slain the Gibeonites 2 Sam. 21.2 and broken the Covenant which had been sworn to by the Israelites His conscience was evil and could not speak his condition to be good an evil conscience will call bitter sweet darkness light evil good It will leave plain precepts and walk by extraordinary Providences Isa 36.18 19 20. Jer. 50.7 It preferreth a strong impulsion of its own spirit before that word which is the will of Gods spirit Isa 36.9 10. it esteemeth a supposed Revelation above that Scripture which is indoubtedly of Divine inspiration 2 Pet. 1.19 It placeth often most of its Religion in Penance abstinence and outward acts of mortification in external signs of humility will-worship and neglecting the body Col. 2. ult of many of which God may say as to the Jews Who hath required these things at your hands Isa 1.12 It makes men keep a a great stir about cuffs ribbands hatbands as the Pharisees about pots and cups when their hearts are full of pride and malice robbing even Christ of the glory of our redemption and hating Christians for not daring to joyn in their cursed opinion Friend wil following such a conscience speak thee to be a true Christian Conscience is indeed a rule but regula regulata prius quam regulans such a rule as must be ruled by Gods word before it can be a right rule for our works To the Law and to the testimonies if conscience speak not according to this word it is because there is much pretended no true light in it Scripture is the compass by which conscience must bend its course or else 't will never land its passengers at the desired haven It is no farther liberty of conscience but licentiousness then it is regulated by the Scripture One office of conscience is Magistratical and Legislative to command and give Laws to man We read of the heathen that in regard of their consciences They were a Law to themselves Rom. 2.14 Conscientia mille Reges mille leges But though conscience be a King over the other faculties yet it is a subject subordinate to God
works of nature a tree which hath been many years growing may be cut down in an hour but in works of sin it s otherwise mans weakness can easily build them up but Gods power can onely throw them down Pompey when the Romans said That if Caesar came to Rome they saw not how they could resist his power told them That if he did but stamp with his foot on any ground in Italy he would bring men enough both footmen and horsemen to do it but when Caesar was coming with his Army Phaonius bid Pompey stamp with his feet and fetch the Souldiers which he had promised but all was in vain Pompey found it more difficult then he thought for Caesar made him first flee and then in a fight totally routed him The devil perswades men that they may defer their regeneration till their dissolution and then 't will be an easie matter to foil their spiritual foes but alas they finde it not so easie to mortifie earthly members and destroy the body of death when their souls adversaries with united strength encounter them fiercely and conquer them eternally Further all thy earthly comforts whether friends relations name estate limbs life must be laid at the feet of Christ hated for his sake and parted with at his call and command and that for the hope of such things as thou never sawest nor art ever like to see while thou livest Is not this Reader an hard chapter to forgo an estate in hand for something onely in hope to throw away present possessions and follow Christ thou knowest not whither to receive an inheritance thou knowest not when And as thy sins and thy soul must be parted asunder so thy Saviour and thy soul must be joyned together faith must follow repentance thy own righteousness must be esteemed as dross and dung the weight of thy soul and burthen of thy sins must be laid on the naked cross of Jesus Christ Now for thee who art by nature so extreamly in love with thy self to loath thy self and for thee notwithstanding thy discouragements from the number and nature of thy sins the threatnings and curses of the Law the wrath and righteousness of God to cling about and hang upon the Lord Jesus and resolve though he kill thee yet thou wilt trust in him surely this is not easie the work of God in infusing justifying faith is as great as in faith miraculous This is the work of God saith Christ that ye believe in the name of him whom he hath sent John 6.29 The work of God not onely in regard of its excellency because no work in man is more pleasing to God then believing on his Son but also in regard of its difficulty because none but a God can enable a man to believe the bird can as soon fly in the egg as thy soul mount up by faith towards heaven till the Almighty God assist thee Further all the commands of God must be heartily embraced some whereof are as contrary to flesh and blood as fire to water Self which is thy great idol must be denied the world with all its pomp and pride in comparison of Christ refused principalities and powers rencountred and foiled thine enemies loved and if killed it must be with kindness godliness owned though much disgraced by others truth followed close though it threaten to dash out thy teeth with its heels a buffeted Christ with his naked Cross preferred before weighty Crowns things which reason cannot comprehend believed and which none ever obtained labored for Friend are these easie things what thinkest thou add to all this the consideration not onely of thy weakness and inability to do these things but also thy wickedness and contrariety to them thou art not onely deprived of good but all over depraved with evil The imaginations and thoughts of thy heart are evil onely evil and that continually Gen. 6.5 Thou dost resolvedly and obstinately refuse good and choose evil Eccles 8.11 Jer. 44.16 The hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil Eccles 8.11 observe how full that text is man is resolved to have his minion his lust though he have wrath and death and hell into the bargain as the mother of Nero being told that her son would be her death if ever he were Emperor answered Let him kill me so he may reign so they say Let sin reign though it kill us though it damn us The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil If thou wert onely empty of God and grace the work were more easie but thou art an enemy to grace and godliness thy carnal minde which is Lady Reason her self thy highest natural excellency is not an enemy for such an one may be reconciled but in the abstract emnity against God Thou hatest God Rom. 1.30 His people 1 John 3.12 His precepts Prov. 1.25 29. His Son John 15.25 and all for his sake thou fightest against him daily sinnest in defiance of him continually entailest thy quarrel upon thy posterity carriest it with thee into the other world if thou diest unregenerate and there art throwing thine invenom'd darts of blasphemy and spitting thy poison against the Most High to eternity Now be thy own judge is it easie to cure that Patient who thus desperately hates both Physician and Physick John 3.5 Water indeed saith one may somwhat easily be dammed up but no art nor labour can make it run back in its own channel It was by a miracle that the river of Jordan was driven back and it is no less then a miracle that the tide of sin which ran so strong should be turned that the sinner who before was sailing towards Hell and wanted neither winde nor tide to carry him forward should now alter his course and tack about for Heaven This is hard it is not more strange to see the earth flye upward and fire move downward then to see a sinner walk contrary to his nature in the wayes of grace and holiness Now Reader is not that man worse then mad that either delayeth or dallieth about his conversion upon supposition that he can do it easily enough hereafter when all this which I have written must be wrought in regeneration and when he is not onely empty of an enemy to but even emnity against it all Though the work of conversion and therefore the way to salvation be thus difficult to all yet to some 't is more difficult then to others In respect of God indeed quoad Deum one is as easily converted as another for infinite power and mercy know no difference but quoad nos in respect of us it is more hard to bring some towards holiness and heaven then others where the matter is most rugged and untoward it s harder to bring it to a good and comely form Some pieces of timber are more knotty then others and therefore not so easily squared and fitted for the spiritual Temple and heavenly Jerusalem as
is with more difficulty kept from sinking then one which hath but just enough to ballast it so it s more hard to keep him from sinking into hell that hath a great estate then him that hath according to Agurs wish neither poverty nor riches And the reason is because though spirituall comforts run low this rich man is contented in regard that his temporal comforts run full-tap He makes up the absence of Christ with the presence of creatures when it may be poverty might cause him as the prodigal to think of returning to his fathers house where is spiritual plenty Quintus Aurelius in the dayes of Sylla had a fair Grange which lay convenient for some great person which caused him to be put in among them that were to be put to death but as soon as he saw his name among those that were in the list he cried out my Land at Alba hath kild me Some mens Lands have cost them their lives and been the knife to cut the throat of their bodies but many a mans gold hath lost him his God and been the knife to cut the throat of his soul Rich men like pamperd horses are the more unruly leaping over the hedges of divine precepts the hardlier kept within their bounds because full fed the young mans silver lost him his precious soul He went away from Christ sorrowful because he had great possessions Had the man been poor for a few days he might have been rich for ever but alas his wealth here through the wickedness of his heart caused his everlasting want whereupon Christ tels us How hardly shall a rich man enter into the Kingdome of Heaven I say unto you that it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of an Needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdome of heaven Mat. 19.23 24. Heaven is a stately Palace with a narrow portall through which this Camel with his thick bunch of clay can hardly get It is observed amongst Anglers that Pickerils are not easily nor often caught A man may catch an hundred Minums before he take one Pickeril and the reason is he preyeth at pleasure on the lesser fish and therefore seldom hath any stomack to bite at the bait so it faireth with rich men their stomacks are so cloyed with the things of this world that they have no appetite to the dainties of the word when the poor are Gospellized They contentedly take that for their portion which God intended only for their pension and make their wealth their throne to sit down upon with delight which God designed for their footstool and the faithfull laid at the Apostles feet In some fenny places in England it s storied where they are much troubled with gnats the people hang up dung to which when they flye they are caught with a net provided there for that purpose The dung of profit is the Devils bait with which he catcheth many persons Well may it be called the Mammon of unrighteousness for it both prompteth them to many sins as well as pierceth them through with many sorrows Gregory saith that sitting in the sea of Rome when it flourished he trembled every time he thought on that text Son remember that thou hadst thy good things in thy life time lest his outward plenty should be all his portion If Reader thou art wealthy be watchfull over thy heart lest like Birdlime it hinder the wings of thy soul from mounting up to heaven What the Egyptians sayd of the Israelites They are intangled in the land the wilderness hath shut them in Exod. 4.13 may fitly be applied to many men that are wealthy They are intangled in the world this wilderness hath shut them in like Lot's wife they set out for the Zoar of heaven but their hearts hanker after the Sodom of earth and so they look back perish in the way Ah 't is rare indeed to be very rich and truly religious Such men are often taken out of the world before the world be taken out of them Be careful O Friend if the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee in earthly enjoyments that they prove not heavenly impediments that his mindfulness of thy body do not make thee forgetful of thy soul lest thy wealth like Achans wedge of gold cleave thy soul in sunder Fourthly The old sinner is not easily converted but like an old maid when married hath harder labour then ordinary The longer the ground of mans heart lieth fallow bringing forth nothing but weeds unploughed up by repentance the harder it groweth and with the more difficulty is broken up 'T was hard to cast out the Devil who had for a long time possessed the man the Apostles could not do it and when Christ himself did it 't was not without much renting and raging Mark 9.21 26. Common experience telleth us that a ship the longer it leaketh the harder it is to be emptied An house the longer it goeth to ruine the worse to repair a nail the farther it is driven in the harder to get out Christ raised two to life in the Gospel besides others one was a maid newly dead Luk. 8.54 to whom Christ spake but little Maid I say unto thee arise and the work was quickly done the other was one who had been dead so long till he stunk now mark what work there was to enliven him Joh. 11.41 Christ weepeth groaneth in spirit prayeth to his Father then turneth to Lazarus and cryeth with a loud voyce Lazarus come forth I only allude to it When the sinner hath been but few years dead in sin a low voyce of Christ can raise him up but when a man hath been not four days but forty or fifty years rotting in the grave of corruption that he stinks in the nostrils of others it must be a loud voice indeed which must quicken him How hard is it to turn the old swine the old drunkard to temperance and the old goat the old adulterer to chastity though they be so old that their bodies cannot act them yet their hellish hearts affect them when they have nothing left but the dog-dayes of their age their bodies full of sores yet their souls are fuller of sins The longer the tree standeth in the ground the more it roots and the faster it setleth it self so that though a child might sometime have removed it yet now all the men in the Parish cannot pluck it up Jer. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Custom in sin takes away all conscience of sin and hardeneth the heart more against God and godliness As a youth when he first cometh to be Apprentice to some handicraft trade his hand is very tender and no sooner is it set to work but it blisters and puts him to pain but he continuing long at the trade his hand hardens and he can follow his work not onely without pain but with
separated for the service of the Lord they are born of the Spirit brought up in the Spirit and they walk after the Spirit The tast therefore which I now set thee is to try whether thou are one of these whether thou art born again without which thou canst not see the Kingdom of God Now though the commandment of God be argument and reason enough to a Christian why he should examine himself whether he be in the faith or no 2 Cor. 135. for a true subject dares not deny any coyn which hath the image and stamp of his Sovereign upon it yet I shall give thee two or three thoughts to stir thee up to the tryal of thy self First Consider that thy All hangs on this hinge of regeneration All that thou art worth for thine unchangeable estate in the other world dependeth on this This is the foundation of that hope that building which reacheth to heaven now t is dangerous to err in fundamentals the stability of the building depends on the strength of the foundation For a man to go out of his way at the first setting out is saddest of all Regeneration is the beginning of Christianity in thee nay thy interest in all the unsearchable riches in Christ standeth on this if regenerated then thy sins are pardoned thy person accepted God is thy Father Jesus Christ thy Husband and Saviour the Spirit thy Comforter the Promises are thy portion Heaven thy home but if thou art not adorned with the pious fruits of Christs Spirit thou art not interested in the precious fruits of his merits therefore make sure here God will deal with thee to eternity according to thy having or wanting this Now doth it not concern thee to beware of cozening thy self here when a mistake in this will make thee miserable for ever if ever any tresses had need be strong then surely they which draw such a weight as thine endless welfare Where men intend to dwell long thy build strong Soldiers use tents which have no foundation because they intend but a short stay in them thou lookest for a City which hath a foundation Friend hath thy expectation of it any foundation wouldst thou build sleightly for a dwelling of eternity Zeuxes being asked why he was so exact in painting answered Because he painted for eternity Lines which concern eternity had need be exactly drawn and deeds and marks and all things indeed which concern eternity had need to be exquisitely done If a Merchant venture all his estate in one vessel and where there is much hazard in the voyage how full of fear and care will he be lest the ship should miscarry himself and his family be ruined many a sad thought will he have in the day as sowr sawce to his food and possibly many an aking heart in the night to keep him waking He is even like to be beside himself so much is he perplexed and ask him the reason he will tell you I think I have cause All that I am worth is ventured in that bottom should it be lost and perish we are all lost my wife self and children must all perish Thus the man lives in little ease both day and night till at last he considereth with himself of what concernment the safety of that vessel is to him he resolveth and accordingly goeth to the Ensurers Office and ensureth his whole estate and then he is satisfied those fears which like weights hung on the clock of his heart and would not suffer it to rest are now taken off and he eats his bread with chearfulness and drinks his wine with a merry heart he can in all conditions be contented because his All is ensured Thus Reader Regeneration is the vessell in which all that thou art worth not for this present perishing but for the other everlasting world is ventured if that be sound thine endless welfare is safe if that be feigned and lame thou art lost for ever How caust thou take any comfort in the abundance of fading creatures whilst thy All thine Eternity is in danger O go to the Ensuring Office bring thy riches thy silver to the ballance of the Sanctuary and thereby try whether it hath its full weight Man what sayst thou to this reason for self examination is it not of unspeakable weight and I shall shew thee that t is of unquestionable truth Doth not the living God tell thee that except thou art born again thou shall not see his Kingdom Doth he not say expresly that without are dogs Rev. 22.15 The fathers house is onely for children Dogs must be without doors Pharaohs court admitted of vermine but I can assure that Gods will not Into it can in no wise enter any thing that is defiled or unclean Rev. 21. ult Impure persons can never get into the most holy place Heaven must be in thee before thou canst be in heaven It was a good inscription which a bad man wrot on the door of his house Per me nihil intret mali Let no evil passe through me whereupon said Diogenes Quomodo ingredietur dominus How then shall the Master get into his own house That inscription without question agreeth with the celestiall habitation There is nothing there but what is holy The Creatour is essentially infinitely and eternally holy the father is holy John 17.11 the holy child Jesus Acts 14.27 the holy Ghost Acts 21.11 the creatures there are holy the holy angels Mark 8.38 the saints or holy men and women Heb. 12.23 The work and eternall imployment there is holyness the servants wait on their Master without sinning as well as without ceasing the song there is Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Rev. 4.8 canst thou therefore think without holiness to get thither Secondly Consider that God will try thee He knoweth now what thou art whether dross or gold and he will shortly bring thee to the fire and make thee known both to thy self and others Though the waters of thy corruptions may run for a time under ground and be hidden from the eyes of men yet they will at length appear Thou art at present all Chrystal to God he needeth not as Momus would have a window into thy breast for he seeth thee throughly he seeth thy inwards more perfectly then thou and others can see thy outward parts The fining pot is for silver the furnance for gold but the Lord tryeth the heart Prov. 17.3 He hath a thread which leadeth him unerringly through the labyrinth of thy heart He needeth no serious inquisition about thee for he knoweth thee by immediate intuition He walks through the road of thy heart every hour therefore it concerneth thee not to balke it He will try thee probably in life but certainly at death and judgment and shouldest not thou then try thy self God may trie thee in life by prosperity he may give thee strong meat and thereby examine thy stomach whether it be good or bad he may let the world flow in upon thee
him he esteemeth the word of Gods mouth more then his appointed food Job 23.12 Mark not then varieties or superfluous fare but then daily necessary food the former might be spared but this for the preservation of life is necessarily required but Gods word was before this Spiritual dainties are most delightful to them that have special grace And truly 't is no wonder that the childe doth so exceedingly long for and love that which is as it were his father I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast quickened me Psal 119.93 Some men say they shall never forget such a friend the longest day that they have to live What 's the reason they will tell us they were nigh death either by fire or water or some disease and under God such men saved their lives so saith David I le never forget Gods Law the longest day I shall live why what 's the matter Alas I was nigh death next door to eternal damnation there was but a thin paper-wall of life between me and everlasting wo and under God the Word helped me it saved my soul I will never forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickened me If Alexander could say That he was more bound to his Tutor Aristotle then to his Father Philip because he had only his being from the latter when he had his well-being from the former and therefore he prized him so much How much therefore doth the true Christian value that word which is instrumental to his being in Christ here and his everlasting wel-being with Christ hereafter So for prayer the regenerate person cannot live without it and fellowship with God in it He is like a full vessel his heart filled with complaints against sin with longings after Christ and his likeness if you will not give it vent 't will burst Prayer is his breathing Godward without breathing the body could not live it would be inflamed and burnt up with the heat of its own entrails no more could the soul unless the Saint should breath often towards heaven crying Abba Father Spiritual breath was the first sign of Pauls spiritual birth Behold he prayeth Act. 9.11 So I might speak of other Ordinances of God for there is a constant trade driven between the Convert and heaven which is carried on by several commodities and if this commerce were broken off he could not subsist He findeth the means of grace as needful to keep grace and soul together as meat to keep life and soul together his heart though fired with this spiritual life is like green wood which will burn no longer then it s blown with the bellows of Ordinances Reader How dost thou find thine appetite unto the bread and water of life dost thou hunger after the Word Prayer Sacraments Commonion of Saints and the Lords day canst thou feed on them with delight dost thou rise from Table with an appetite longing to sit down again Canst thou lay as the Psalmist I watch and am as the Sparrow upon the house top Psal 102.7 Observe the Sparrow upon the top of an house looketh on this side and that side of the house it looketh this way and that way and round about if he can spy any corn and food and when it can see any it flieth to that place and pecks it up so dost thou watch for and resort to the Ordinances of God which are the food of thy soul what sayst thou It may be thou art for high language oratorical expressions such Sermons only are pleasing to thee the dish must be set out with many flowers on which thou lookest more then at the meat Believe it as there is no greater sign of a foul stomack then to loath solid meat and to pick sallats or feed on ashes so there is hardlier a greater sign of an unsanctified heart then to loath the solid food of the word and to pick the flowers of mans wisdom in a Sermon or to feed on the world Or possibly thou art one of the new-fangled opinionists of our unhappy times that are above Ordinances I must tell thee That to live above Ordinances is to live below a Saint He that doth not reckon the means of Grace his greatest priviledge on this side the place of Glory may well question whether ever he enjoyed God in them methinks the begger should know that door again at which he had a large alms a full bait James 1.18 19. 1 Pet. 2.2 3 4. A childe indeed may forbear his meat either in a fit of sullenness or under some disease but if he be a childe his dogged fit will be over he will get the mastery of his distemper and fall to his food again Secondly The new-born creature groweth in Grace the picture of a childe groweth not but a living childe doth After generation followeth augmentation the same word which breeds the new man feeds him and enables him to grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 As the same blood of which the babe is bred in the womb strikes up into the mothers breasts and by a further concoction becometh milk and so nourisheth it The good seed of the word falling into the foil of an honest heart makes it abundant in the work of the Lord Common Grace sometimes like Joshua's Sun standeth still but usually like the dial of Ahaz it goeth ten degrees backward when special grace like the morning light shineth brighter and brighter to perfect day Prov. 4.18 First the blade next the ear then the full corn first they who are begotten of God become little children next young men then old men and fathers 1 Joh. 2.1 12 13 14. The unfound Christian is like the Manna for the Israelites daily use which did corrupt and putrifie or like a pond of water which quickly drieth up when true Christianity as the Manna in the Ark doth keep sweet and as the waters of the Sanctuary is up first to the ankles then to the knees then to the loyns and at last became a River so deep that none could pass over it Ezek. 47.3 4 5. If Grace be true there is a natural tendency in it to growth as there is in seed cast into the earth There is vertually in a little plant the bigness and height of a great tree towards which it is putting forth it self with more and more strength every day So there is in that seed of Grace planted in the soul at conversion vertually that perfection of grace which Christ hath appointed that man unto towards which its putting it self forth every day He that hath clean hands groweth stronger and stronger Job 17.9 They go from strength to strength till they appear before God in Sion Psal 84. This River of living waters runneth along notwithstanding many turnings and windings till it empty it self into the Ocean and grace commence glory The grain of mustard-seed groweth into a tree and the smoaking flax is blown into a flame The least spark of true holiness cannot be put out
the difference between party and party next they hear the evidence and proofs on both sides After that they are shut up together and have neither fire nor candle nor bread nor drink allowed them till they are agreed on their verdict which when they have done they bring it into the Court and there 't is entred and recorded Go thou and do likewise when thou art got into thy chamber first make thine heart to engage and promise before the Judge of the whole earth that it will through the strength of Christ be true and faithful in determining this weighty controversie between God and thy soul Whether the land of promise belong to thee or not next let conscience be called which is as ten thousand witnesses and speak what it knoweth of thy right and title to that estate according to the known Laws of the Lord and if thou lovest the life of thy soul do not wink upon that witness or fee him underhand to make him to mince the matter and be partial in his testimony Foolish pity here is soul-damning cruelty but tell him he is upon his oath and in the presence of the infinite God and charge him to speak the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth O do but give conscience leave to be faithful at this time and t will be thy friend to eternity When the evidence is thus examined let nothing hinder a verdict call upon thy heart again and again whether it be resolved for thee or against thee till this be done give thy self no rest if one day will not serve take two never give over till it come to an issue one way or other Of what infinite concernment is this to thee when all that thou art worth for the other world dependeth on it When thou art agreed of a verdict let it be entred and ingrossed in the Court of Conscience namely that such a day thy title to the inheritance of the Saints in light was tried before the Judge of quick and dead and upon a full hearing of evidence on both sides such or such a verdict was brought in If thy heart find for thee how may this fill thee with joy that thy name is written in the book of life it may keep thee steddy in the greatest storm that thou art an undoubted heir to the eternal weight of glory When the waters of affliction overtake thee and the Devil throws his stones into them to trouble them and make them muddy that thou mayst doubt and distrust thine eternal felicity how quickly may the remembrance of such a verdict upon full evidence settle them again and how clearly mayst thousee thy sincerity like a true diamond sparkling gloriously at the bottom of those waters thou mightest gather Once in Christ and ever in Christ and I was once in him therefore I can never be out of him O Friend thy priviledges are high and unspeakable and therefore thy practices should be holy and answerable But I cannot stay to speak farther to thee here my work groweth in my hands already much beyond my thoughts yet I shall speak to thy dignity and happiness in the second subject of consideration under the first Use of Exhortation and to thy duty and holiness in the second Use of Exhortation if the book swell not too big But Reader if thine heart find against thee that thou art not born again what canst thou say for thy self why sentence of eternal death should not be awarded and executed upon thee according to Law yea according to the Gospel Hast thou read the reasons of the Doctrine and the first use of Information and dost thou not see the absolute indisponsable necessity of Regeneration in all that would be saved Hath not the God of truth as it were confirmed it with an oath Verily verily I say unto thee that except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Canst thou think to make the author of this Text a liar by getting to heaven in an unregenerate condition Dost thou believe that the thoughts of his heart stand for ever and the counsels of his majesty be established to all generations Suppose thou shouldst dye this day Alas how many diseases attend thee the feet of those that carried others to their long homes are ready to carry thee also Good Lord what will become of thee for ever ever ever Art thou able to dwell in everlasting burnings canst thou endure unquenchable flames For the sake of thy precious soul hasten out of this Sodom this natural estate which will undoubtedly be punished with fire and brimstone For thine help herein I have written the next Vse which I earnestly beseech thee as thou wouldest leave this world with comfort and look into the other world with courage that thou give it the reading thou knowest not what an hour may bring forth and the Lord give it his blessing THirdly This doctrine may be useful by way of exhortation and that to two sorts of persons 1. To the unregenerate If without regeneration men and women can never obtain salvation then it exhorteth thee Reader if in a state of nature to minde and labor for this second birth as ever thou wouldst escape the second death Dost thou not perceive by the word the living God That except thou art converted thou canst in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God! Matth. 18.3 Alas what then is like to be thy case shouldst thou die in this condition Assure thy self that all thy Friends and Lands honors and pleasures yea all the help which this whole world can afford thee cannot keep thee one quarter of an hour out of Hell This Law this standing Law of Heaven That except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God is like the Law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered By their Law That which was written in the Kings Name and sealed with the Kings seal might no man reverse Esth 8.8 Friend is not this written not onely in the name but with the very hand of the King of Kings I say unto thee and sealed with his own seal Verily verily and doest thou think poor worm to reverse it to turn the truth of the Eternal God into a lie I tell thee and I would speak it with reverence to the highest Majesty that God himself cannot do it 'T is his perfection that it is impossible for him to lye Tit. 1.2 His hand cannot but make good what his mouth hath spoken His will and word have joyned regegeration and salvation together and his faithfulness and truth will not suffer them to be parted asunder Therefore think of it timely and turn to God truly otherwise there is a necessity of thy perishing everlastingly Thou doest not know as strong and lusty as thou art how soon death may come behinde thee and throw thee and O 't will be thine eternal overthrow though as on Sodom thy morning be Sunshiny yet thou canst not tell
how soon it may overcast nay it may be followed with flakes of fire before night Sure I am that God hath given thee no lease of thy life and that others have died of the same age and likeliness tolive and why thou shouldst promise thy self a priviledge beyond others that thou shalt live longer I know no reason unless this That the Devil and thine own heart have conspired together to murther thy soul by getting thee to future and put off thy conversion till thou comest to Hell-fire and then thy ruine will be past remedy Suppose the same voice should come to thee which did to Hezekiah Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live meaning speedily What woulst thou do thy house is not in order thy soul Man is all out of order and therefore death would come to thee as Abijah to Jeroboams wife with heavy tidings with such news as Samuel brought to Eli which will make thy ears to tingle and thine heart to tremble Ah how will he do to die that never knew how to live The black Usher of death will go before and the flaming fire of Hell will follow after Didst thou but believe the word of God as much as the Devils do thou couldst never depart this life in thy wits who hast not led thy life according to Gods will One would think the noise of this murthering piece of this great Cannon Death though it should not be very near thee might awaken and affrighten thee when that deluge of wrath cometh that the fountain of fury from below is broken up and the flakes of fire from above are rained down thou hast no Ark no Promise no Christ to shelter thy self in For Regeneration is the plank cast out by God himself to save the sinking sinner by bringing him to the Lord Jesus and thou wantest it Dost thou not see that thy Sentence of death if thou continuest so is already passed in the High-Court of Heaven entred and engrost in the Book of Scripture and God knoweth how soon the word of command may be given to some disease for thy execution What comfort therefore canst thou take in all the creatures while thou wantest this new creation It is reported of Xerxes Plutarch in vit Themist the the greatest of the Persian Monarchs that when the Grecians had taken from him Sardis a famous City in Asia the less he commanded one every day at dinner to cry before him with a loud voice Sardis is lost Sardis is lost It seems to me that thou hast far more cause to have a Friend without or Conscience within to be thy Monitor every day and every meal to sound in thine ears Friend Thy Soul is lost Thy Soul is lost Certainly such a voice might mar thy greatest mirth sauce every dish with sorrow make thy most delicate meat a medicine and thy sweetest drink distastful to thee O didst thou but know what it is to lose thy soul thy God thy Christ thine Heaven and all for ever thou wouldst in the night be scared with dreams and visions and in the day be frighted with fears and terrors When Vriah was bid by David to go down to his house and refresh himself he answered The Ark and Israel and Judah abide in Tents and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields shall I then go into mine house to eat and drink and lie with my wife As thou livest and as thy soul liveth I will not do this thing 2 Sam. 11.11 Mark The good man could take no pleasure in relations or possessions because the natural lives of others were in danger nay he forswears the use of those comforts for that very cause How then canst thou solace thy self with lying vanities when thine Eternal life is not in jeopardy but lost really and thou canst not assure thy self one day for its recovery Shouldst thou see a condemned prisoner which knoweth not whether he shall be hanged on the morrow or the day after hawking or hunting sprucing himself or sporting with his jovial companions what thoughts wouldst thou have of such a man wouldst thou not think surely this man is mad or desperate were he not beside himself he would minde somewhat else since he is so near his end But Friend turn thine eyes inward and see whether there is not infinitely more reason why thou shouldst wonder at thine own folly and madness who art by the word of the dreadful God condemned not to be hanged but to be damned not to the gallows but to the unquenchable fire and canst not tell whether this night or to morrow morning justice shall be done upon thee and yet thou art buying and selling eating and drinking pampering the perishing body never minding or thinking what shall become of thy poor precious soul to eternity The wise mans advice is that if thou art indebted to men and liable to their arrest and imprisonment thou shouldst not give sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eye-lids before thou hast made thy peace Prov. 6.1 2 3 4. What speed shouldst thou then use when thou art infinitely indebted to the Almighty God at his mercy every moment liable continually to be arrested by that surly Serjeant Death and by him to be hurried into the dark prison of Hell to agree with thine Adversary while thou art in the way and to get the black lines of thy sins crost with the red lines of Christs blood and so for ever blotted out of the Book of Gods remembrance As the Chamberlain of one of the Persian Princes used to say to him every morning Arise my Lord and have regard to the weighty affairs for which the great God would have you to provide So say I to thee Awake O man out of thy carnal security and have regard to the great end for which thou wast born and the great errand for which the great God hath sent thee into the world Reader that thou mightest avoid the endless wo of the damned and attain the matchless weale of the saved I shall do two things in the prosecution of this exhortation I shall both give thee some helps towards regeneration and remove some hindrances First I shall offer thee three helps unto holiness and thereby unto Heaven Secondly I shall answer three objections which probably may arise in thine heart If thou hast any real desire after thine eternal welfare ponder them seriously and practice them faithfully And the good Lord make them successful O how happy might it be for thee if the getting of a regenerated nature were the main taske of thy whole time Believe it thou wilt have no cause to repent of it For the helps towards Regeneration and thereby towards Salvation The first help to Regeneration Serious Consideration 1. THe first help which I shall offer thee is serious consideration He that goeth in a wrong path and never thinketh of it will not return back or turn about though
he is void of true wisdom and liveth without this serious consideration Isa 1.2 3 4 5. They consider not the conclusion and therefore are confident in the commission of sin They consider not their last end therefore they come down mightily Lam. 1.9 A Divine writeth well how subtil Satan is to hinder mens consideration Satan saith he is very jealous of the sinner afraid every Christian that speaks to him Gurnals Armor part 1. pag â—2â— or ordinances he hear should inveigle him by his good will he should come at neither No nor have a thought of heaven or hell from one end of the week to the other and that he may have as few as may be he keepeth him full handed with work The sinner is grinding and he is filling the hopper that the mill may not stand still He is with the sinner as soon as he wakes and fils his wretched heart with some wicked thoughts which as a morning-draught may keep him from the infection of any savour of good that may be breathed on him by others in the day time All the day long he watcheth him as the Master would do his man that he fears will run away And at night like a careful Jaylor he locks him up again in his chamber with more bolts and fetters upon him not suffering him to sleep as he lieth on his bed till he hath done some mischiefe Ah poor wretch was ever slave so lookt too as long as the Divel can keep thee thus thou art his own sure enough Now as that Father said of the Gospel that it must needs be excellent because Nero prosecuted it with so much violence so this consideration must needs be an excellent help to holiness because the Divel doth prosecute it with such implacable hatred if he can keep this door of thy soul shut he feareth not Christs entrance into thy heart I have sometime read of a religious father that had a deboyst lewd son that was a great grief to him when the father was on his death bed he made this son to promise him that he would be every day of his life half an hour alone by himself The son making some conscience of his solemne engagement to his dying father used afterwards to retire himself daily for that space of time where at first he busied himself vainly in thinking of the honours and delights of the world but afterwards he began to consider what end his father had in binding him to such retiredness and then thought of his own folly in wandring from God and embracing a dying and lying world and the Spirit striking in with those meditations he became a new man O that Reader thou wouldst go and do as he did Is it not an easy remedy If God should require ten hours every day to be spent in secret about thy soul and salvation I profess to thee I know not how thou couldst spend thy time better or so well I am sure t were worth the while O Friend to be amongst Divels in everlasting torments or with Christ in everlasting pleasures are other manner of things then thou canst imagine but I do request of thee on the behalf of God and thy soul but one half hour every day that thou wouldst retire thy self into thy chamber or closet The beautiful bridegroom is bashful and cometh seldom to his Church Cant. 4.11 or any Christian in a crowd and there consider seriously of some things which I shall from the Lord propound to thee Let not the cheapness of the receipt make the refuse it thou seest somtimes that simple hearbs that grow in our own gardens cure those distempers which costly drugs fetched from far cannot As the Generals servant said to him when he raged and fretted at the counsel of the Prophet for the cure of his Leprosy If the Prophet had bid the do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much rather when he saith wash and be clean 2 Kings 5.13 so say I to thee if I should request more time in a day if I should desire far greater things of thee for the killing of that Leprosy which otherwise will kill thee wouldst thou not do it Ah didst thou but know the price of a Christ thou wouldst sell all to buy that pearle didst thou but know the wrath of a just holy and infinite God thou wouldst do any thing do all things possible to escape it How much rather when I desire onely one half hour in a day for serious consideration If thou wilt not do this for the avoiding of Hell dost thou not deserve to burn for ever think of it Reader whoever thou art I am very loath to leave thee before I have prevailed with thee dost thou not sqander away many an hour vainly nay sinfully in working out thy damnation and wilt thou not spare one half hour in a day to work out thy salvation in how many years hast thou spent in the service of thy brutish flesh and is half an hour in a day when thou art not sure to live a week too much for thine angelical spirit What saist thou Wilt thou promise thy Maker and Redeemer that thou wilt do this whose advantage is it like to be thine or mine If thou art wise thou art wise for thy self but if thou art a scorner thou alone shalt suffer Prov. 9.12 Well if thou wilt not grant me this little time thou art like to grieve for the refusal eternally And truly if thou wilt hear God in this I have hopes that he will hear thee in far greater Set thine heart therefore to all the words which I speak unto thee this day for it is not a vain thing but it is for thy life Deut. 12.46 47. I Shall upon presumption that thou wilt for thy souls sake use that cheap help of Consideration assist thee by laying down five particulars as subjects of thy most serious thoughts and I know not one of them but hath such weight that when thou are considering if the blessed God vouchsafe a meeting it may do the work The first subject of Consideration The misery of the unregenerate matchless endless FIrst Consider the misery which thou liest under or art liable to whilst thou art unregenerate And were I but able to charge and discharge this great gun fully it might probably fire thee out of all thy sinful holds and force thee to seek unto Christ for help But as the Roman said of his fellow-Citizen That he was beyond all expressions wicked so may I say of thee that thou art beyond not only all expressions but all conceptions wretched No ink is black enough to describe those dismal clouds of fury under which thou livest in this world But O what tongue can tell the thousandth part of those fiery torments to which thou art liable in the other world While thou livest thou art a cursed sinner and when thou diest thou shalt be a damned creature While thou livest thou art
a cursed sianer that roll of curses twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad is thy right Zach 5.4 Thou art a breaker of the Law and out of Christ and therefore an heir of the curse and wrath of the Lord. The curse of God hangs every moment over thine head like a Blood-hound it followeth thee where ever thou goest as thy shadow it accompanieth thee whatever thou dost thou art continually under the dropings and spouts of the Almighty Gods indignation and canst as soon slye from thy self as from it till thou art regenerated Thou art cursed in all thou hast whether they are natural civil or spiritual enjoyments they are all cursed to thee For thy natural parts thy wit memory knowledge head heart are all cursed to thee They are employed in the service of Satan and with them thou fightest against God and thy soul As Jehu against his Master so thou marchest furiously against thy Maker with his own Soldiers Thy Memory is Satans treasury thy Will an agent for hell thy carnal mind enmity against God the Handmaids of thy affections like Hagar crow over their Mistris and make even thy Reason a slave and Lacquey to thy sensual lusts all thy natural endowments are Satans ornaments and as the more sharp and keen the weapon is the more mischief the murderer doth with it so the more witty thou art the more wicked thou art thy wisdom being from below earthly sensual devilish Jam. 3.15 For thy civil advantages Thy wealth credit house-delights friends are all cursed to thee Thy riches make thee the greater rebel and thereby further thine eternal ruine Thy fulness breeds forgetfulness Where the richest Mines are the earth is most barren Thy wealth is like fuel to feed thy wantonness Thine Honor like wind puffeth up the bladder of thine empty heart with pride The more God lifteth thee up the more thou casteth him down the respectful breath of thy neighbours doth but blow the vessel of thy soul towards Hell Thy pleasures are prejudicial to thy precious soul like the wasp thou drownest thy self in those pots of honey and as the silly fish swimmest merily down the silver streams of Jordan till thou fallest into the dead sea and perishest Thy Relations and friends if wicked are cursed to thee they breathe on thee and thou takest the infection wanting this preservative of regeneration They are actually what Michal was to David intentionally in regard of Saul snares unto thee Thy house is cursed The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked Prov. 3.33 what ever cost be there there can be no true cheer for there is Gods curse which mars all this will either rot the timber and pull it down or undermine the foundation and blow it up Possibly there may be in thine house a loving wife lovely children many servants stately rooms costly furniture dainty fare great earthly delights But man The curse of God is there A spoonful of this like Copris will turn all thy wine into ink thy sea of honey into gall and wormwood How can thy sweetest dish be savoury when the curse of God is thy sauce Or thy most sugared cup be pleasant when the curse of God lieth like a toad swel'd at the bottom or thy finest rayment delight thee when in every suit there is the curse of God like a plague sore or how can thy most beautiful building content thee when this curse of God on thee for thy wickedness turns it into a prison to keep thee who art in the bond of iniquity till the hour of death the time of thine execution There is a place which some speak of in the West-Indies where there is extraordinary luscious fruit growing but the inhabitants are so scorched with the heat of the Sun by day and multitude of gnats stinging them by night that they cannot either eat or digest their sweet meats with any comfort for which cause the Spaniards call the place Comfits in hell Reader what delight canst thou take in thy table though it be spread with various earthly enjoyments when every dish is served in with the scorching wrath of God and stingings of a guilty conscience As a feast to him that sate under a naked sword as wine to a condemned malefactor as Dives dishes followed with the unquenchable fire so are all the comforts of this inferiour creation to an unregenerate person Thou art a curse to thy children its ill to have relation to thee who art under the indignation of God The seed of evil doers shall never be renowned Isa 14.20 so Job 5.3 4. If thy children are good thou art their grief if wicked thou wilt make them worse The best of them may smart temporally for thine iniquities When the body of the tree faleth the branches fall with it Exod. 20.5 and O how much more is it to be feared that thou wilt draw them after thee both to sin and Hell It is not safe to be thy neighbour if it be ill to dwell near him whose house is on fire surely 't is not good to be nigh him who is under Gods fury When an overflowing storm sweepeth away the wicked the tayle of it may dash at their best neighbours Though they shall not perish with thee yet they may smart for thee Thy name is cursed The name of the the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 Thou mayst be honorable in the esteem of thy graceless neighbours but thou art contemptible in the account of Christ and his members and when ever thou diest thou wilt go out like a candle leaving behinde thee a stinking savour in the nostrils of the Saints Thy calling what ever it be is cursed thine eathly imployment proves an heavenly impediment Thou art cursed in the City and cursed in the field cursed in thy basket and cursed in thy store cursed in the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land and increase of thy kine and flocks of thy sheep cursed when thou comest in and cursed when thou goest out The Lord will send upon thee cursing vexation and rebuke in all that thou settest thine hand unto until thou be destroyed and perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken the Lord Deut. 28. init per tot As thy natural parts and civil advantages so also thy spiritual priviledges are cursed to thee till thou turnest from sin â—hou enjoyest Sermons Sacraments Sabbaths seasons of Grace and like the Spider suckest poison out of those sweet flowers Roses some say kill horse-flies Is it not sad that those precious mercies should hasten and increase thy misery Thine unregeneracy like some desperate disease turneth those medicines which are administred to cure it into the nourishment and confirmation of the sickness it self the word of God is the savour of death unto death unto thee â— Cor. 2.18 Thou surfeitest of that bread of life then which no surfeit is more dangerous thou growest black and wanzy in the
33.14 It is written of the Lord Chancellor Egerton that going through Westminster Hall in Terme time he saw written upon the wall by one that was fearful he should be oppressed by a potent Adversary Tanquam non reversurus as though he should never return more Truly when thou art once cast into that prison thou shalt never come out As the cloud is consumed and washed away so he that goeth down into Hell returneth no more Job 7.9 The worm there dieth not and the fire there never goeth out there is blackness of darkness for ever The smoke of thy torments will ascend for ever and ever Matth. 18.10 Jude 7. Rev. 14.10 11. O Friend didst thou but know what this eternity of torment is thou wouldst howl and roar and never rest day nor night whilst thou art unconverted It is an age of ever living in death and pangs and yet never expiring a circle of sorrows which knoweth no end an extremity of pain which shall have no period when thou hast layn under those unconceiveable torments as many millions of ages as there are creatures great and small in Heaven Earth and the vast Ocean thou shalt not be nearer coming out then the first â—oment thou didst go in Now thou thinkest Prayers are long Sermons are long and Sabbaths are long and duties are long But how long wilt thou think Eternity to be Now thou sayst The Preacher is long-winded but ah how long-winded will Hell be when it shall hold thee ever ever ever to feel the stroke of infinite power and anger Thus Reader while thou livest thou art a cursed creature and when thou diest a damned sinner In life thou art cursed in all thou hast in all thou dost after death thou shalt know the vanity of the world the anger of the Lord the woful nature and effects of sin the worth of a Saviour the preciousness of time and what a boundless bottomless Ocean Eternity is Consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces when there is none to deliver you Psal 50.22 But possibly thou Reader though unregenerate dost not feel this curse nor fear this wrath therefore thou thinkest all is false But answer me this question Doth not the word of God speak more of thy misery both in this and the other world then I have or can speak And canst thou imagine that thine unbelief shall make God a lyar I tell thee the same Scripture of truth which speaketh of thy misery speaketh of thy stupidity 1 Thes 5.3 4. That thou wilt even mock and scoff when thou art told of it 2 Pet. 3.2 truly thy sottish senslesness is the chain by which Hells Jaylor holds thee so fast The sick Patient that feeleth his pain is in an hopeful way of recovery when he that is dangerously sick and senseless is usually given over for dead It is observed of those that are taken with the frenzy the disease being got into the cockloft of reason that the more the disease doth affect them Arist so much the more secure they are careless of any thing presumptuous in all things fearful of nothing as having lost the use of comon sense So is it with thee the more sinful the less sensible the more the dust of sin flies up into thine eyes the more blinde thou art now but when death comes 't will clear up thy sight Pliny saith of the mole Oculos incipit operire moriendo quos clausos habuit vivendo that though she be blinde all the time of her life yet when she cometh to die she openeth her eyes Truly though now thou shuttest thine eyes and art blinde in these things yet within a few dayes thou shalt come to die and then thine eyes will be opened and thou wilt see all these things and very much more as clearly as the Sun at noon-day Therefore Friend what dost thou say now to this first subject of consideration The misery which thou liest under and art liable to whilest thou art unregenerate Would any man that were not mad continue quiet in such an estate one moment Ah who would live one hour under such a torrid Zone for a world Dost thou believe that as they whom God blesseth are blessed indeed so they whom he curseth are cursed indeed When Christ cursed the fig-tree how speedy and effectual was it the Disciples say How soon is the fig-tree withered away Matth. 21.19 20. So will it be to thee as certain though not so sudden like a moth 't will devour thee surely yet it may be secretly that thou shalt take no notice of it Let conscience speak Art thou contented to be night and day where ever thou goest and whatever thou doest under Gods curse in this world if not then acquaint thy self NOW with God and be at peace and good a blessing instead of a curse shall come to thee Job 22.21 But if thou canst bear Gods curse so patiently here not sinking under it being kept above water with the skin-deep bladers of common blessings yet what wilt thou do hereafter when all these shall be parted from thee Canst thou so quietly in the other world hear that voice and feel the execution of that verse Go thou cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for ever Matth. 25.41 If thou canst not Agree with thy Adversary quickly whiles thou art in the way with him lest at any time the Adversary deliver thee to the Judge and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer and thou be cast into Prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the nttermost farthing Matth. 5.25 26. The second subject of Consideration The felicity of the Regenerate SEcondly Consider the unspeakable felicity which thou mighst enjoy if thou wert one regenerated Thy happiness would be far greater then my tongue can declare or thine heart desire Blessedness is so full a word that it comprehends all the good which the rational creature can wish and truly thou shouldst have it in its full weight As before thou wast above all expressions Cursed so now thou shouldst be beyond all comparison Blessed Thy gleanings should be better then the most prosperous worldlings Vintage the worst estate that thou shouldst ever be in would be far more leligible then the best estate of the greatest Emperour on earth that were unregenerate Every blessing written in the book of God would be thy birthright if thou wert born of God thou shouldst be blessed with the blessings of the throne and of the footstool with all things that belong to life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 No evil should come to thee there shall no evil happen to the just Prov. 12.21 No good should be kept from thee The Lord shall give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 If earth can make thee blessed thou shouldst be blessed Blessed are the meek for they
shall inherit the earth Matth. 5.5 If heaven can make thee blessed thou shouldst be blessed Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5.3 If all things could make thee blessed thou shouldst be blessed Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3. two last verses Reader I shall do my utmost so to set forth the felicity of the regenerate which no pen can fully that thou mayst admire it How goodly are thy tents O. Jacob and thy tabernacles O Israel Numb 24.5 and not only as Balaam desire their deaths Let me die the death of the righteous and let my latter end be like his Numb 23 10. but also endeavour to live their lives and to have thy conversation like theirs While thou continuest in this world thou shouldst be a blessed soul and when thou entrest into the other world thou shouldst be a glorions Saint In this world thou shouldst be a blessed soul in every condition into which thou couldst come in every relation in which thou dost stand at all times and in all places whatsoever All the Providences of God should be profitable to thee If Gods hand were enlarged in mercy thy heart should be enlarged in duty If God should prosper thee in temporals the streams of his bounty should lead thee as the water course either upward to the spring or downward to the ocean to the source and fountain of all thy happiness Thy heart would still be in heaven where thy best things were even then when thy body were busied among earthly good things 1 Cor. 7 29 30 Phil. 3.19 Some observe of the seed called Henbane that it killeth all birds save sparrows and to them it is nourishing food and they give this reason because their veines are so narrow that the fumes of the seed cannot passe through them to their hearts truly thus t would be with thee though thou sands of others are poisond with their worldly portions because the fumes thereof penetrate into their vitals but if riches increase thou shouldst not set thine heart upon them nay thou shouldst get nourishment from them As Jehosaphat the more honour and wealth thou hadst the more thy heart would be lifted up in the ways of God 2 Chro. 17.5 6. If thine estate were but little yet t would be perfumed with love and that lump of sugar in thy cup would make the liquor sweet be it never so small As the waters which flow from the hils of some of the Islands of Molacca taste of the Cinamon and Cloves which grow there so should thy guift though it were but water taste of the good will and special grace of the giver Thy little with the fear of the Lord would be better then the riches of many wicked men Psal 37 15. As a little ring with a very costly Diamond in it is far more worth then many great ones without it so thy estate though it were but a penny should be joyned with the pretious jewel of that love which is better then life and enjoyed by special promise and thereby be infinitely more worth then the thousands and millions of others bestowed meerly from common bounty and enjoyed onely by a generall providence If the black frost of adversity overtake thee thou shouldst as Conies thrive the better thy soul being hail thou wouldst become thereby the more healthy By affliction thou shouldst be partaker of Gods holiness Heb. 12.10 The waters of affliction should wash out the diri of thy corruption and the more they increased they would raise thee as the flood the Arke higher above the earth and mount thee nearer to heaven Torches burn the better for beating Spices smell the sweeter for pounding Vines bear the more for bleeding and the more thy soul were kept down by those weights like the Palm-tree the more thou shouldst grow That scouring and rubbing which fretteth others should make thee shine the brighter Psal 94.12 Divine corrections should make thee learn thy sacred lessons It is said of the Lacedemonians that when all other people were undone by war they onely grew rich Truly thus when ungodly ones are the worse for outward miseryes and wants like Ahaz in their distress they sin more against the Lord thou shouldst thrive the better grow the richer in grace and good works The diminution of thy temporal should be an addition to thy spiritual estate Job 36.9 10. As spring-water smoaketh when other waters are dried up because that is living and these are dead nay t is observed waters arising from deep springs are hotter in winter then in summer the outward cold keeping in and doul â—â—g the inward heat So the waters of thy graces should not onely continue having a living principle when the Sun of calamity scorcheth and drieth up the dead ponds of unregenerate professors Mat. 13.21 but also increase in spiritual heat Job 17.8 9. Philip. 1.14 If the Devil assaulted thee with temptations they should never be for thy perdition but probation Rev. 2.10 The Captain of thy Salvation would so strengthen thy soul with the Shield of Faith and Sword of the Spirit that thou shouldst not onely defend thy soul from all deadly wounds but offend thine Enemy and be more then a Conqueror over Principalities and Powers through him that loveth thee It would possibly be grievous and terrible to thee to be tempted but if God did not see it needful he would not suffer it nay if he could not make it useful he would not send it by those thorns of the flesh he would prick the vein and let out the ranck blood of thy spirit It is said of Telephus that he had his impostume opened by the dart of an Enemy which intended his hurt Truly so God would make to thee the fiery darts of the Devil though they were intentionally mortal to be eventually medicinal 1 John 5.18 The evil one should not touch thee that is with a mortal or deadly touch As a sound tree shaken with the winde thou shouldest not fall but root thy self the â—â—â—ter thou shouldest like Sampson fetch meat out of the Eater and out of the Strong sweetness thou shouldst get honey even out of this roaring Lion thy Regeneration like Pollium would be a special preservative against the poyson of that croocked Serpent Nay when thou shouldest fall into the evil of sin even that should turn to thy good God no thanks to thee like the skilful Apothecary would make wholsom treacle of such poisonus drugs If thy corruption should at any time get the mastery and break out in thy life thou shouldst be so well purged by the Physician of souls with the bitter Aloes of Repentance that as those who have had ill humors of their bodies getting head and breaking out in the small-pox and do well thou shouldst be the healthier in thy soul
of the nature of the blessed God as he is in himself therefore the Holy Ghost doth speak of God by the most excellent beings which our understandings reach as Spirits are for God is questionless such a spiritual being as is far above the most enlarged understanding Besides we are so clog'd and piniond with flesh that we know but little yea very little of our own spirits much less what a Spirit God is But there thou shouldst if converted know him fully thy understanding should be enlarged and satisfied Those scales which now hang about thine intellectual eye should then fall off and thou that didst behold him upon earth in the galss of his Gospel shouldst then see him face to face as the Sun doth by his beams and brightness so enlighten the eye and the air that we see thereby not onely other creatures but its own most glorious body so God would by the beams and beauty of his majesty so irradiate thy minde that thou shouldst see both the comeliness of his creatures and the brightness of his own being Thou shouldst know the great mystery of the Trinity the love of the Father the wisdom of the Son the sweet fellowship of the Holy Ghost That Riddle which now puzleth thee should there be unfolded thou shouldst know how the Father begat the Son how the Spirit proceeded from Father and Son and the difference between the generation of the Son and procession of the Spirit Thou shouldst know God in the unity of his nature now the Saints know him most by his Attributes which indeed differ not at all from his Being they are but different manifestations of one individed essence and distinguished by us for our better understanding of the Divine Nature but they are all the same in him and in themselves and then we shall know so Thou shouldst know the Hypostatical Union Ioh. 14.20 how the Son of God became the Son of Man that wonder of wonders Emanuel God with us God and Man in one person would be clearly seen all those knots would be untied thou shouldst then plough with Gods heifer and understand all his ridles thou shouldst know all things in God that were to be known in a full manner in a large measure to thine infinite comfort and content Thou shouldst know all this and far more for thy good If a little knowledge of God here be so pleasant to the soul Psal 19.10 though it be but a glimpse of him in the dawning of themorning what satisfaction will the compleat knowledge of him yeild to see that Sun at noon day If it be life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ imperfectly what will it be to know them perfectly and so as to enjoy them fully surely such instruction will be better then silver and such knowledge then choice gold this wisdom is better then rubies and all that thou canst desire is not to be compared to it How much have many wasted their wealth dried their brains macerated their bodies for a little knowledge of Nature which when they had gone to their utmost could not satisfie them they might as soon have broke their necks as their fasts by such knowledge but of what inestimable value is the knowledge of the God of Nature is the knowledge of him in Christ here and O of what incomparable worth will it be to know him as we are known of him to see him face to face this will be without question the beatifical vision Fifthly thou shouldst know the extent and truth of all the promises in the word which concern thy welfare in the other world How various and how precious are the promises which relate to heaven God promiseth his children such as are born of him large portions when they shall come to age unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ And thou shouldst then find that God will make good his word to a title He promiseth that they shall rest from their labours and their works shall follow them That they shall be before the throne and serve him day and night in his temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them That they shall hunger no more nor thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heart For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes Rev. 7.3 ult He promiseth that they shall be with Christ where he is and behold his glory John 17.24 That they shall not be hurt of the second death That they shall eat of the tree of life which groweth in the midst of the Paradise of God That they shall be cloathed in white raiment and not blotted out of the book of life but confessed before the father and the holy Angels Rev. 2.7 11. and 3.5 Christ promiseth him that overcommeth will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is new Jerusalem and I will write upon him my new name Rev. 3.12 That they which overcome shall sit down with him on his throne even as he hath overcome and is sit down with his father on his throne Revel 3.21 Look Psalm 16. ult and 17. ult Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 5.1 1 Cor. 13.12 Mat. 8.11 1 Pet. 1.4 Phil. 3.21 1 Thess 4.2 ult 1 John 3.2 Ephe. 5.25 26. All these promises and many more shall be fully accomplished There shall not one good thing of all that the Lord hath spoken be unfulfilled The expectation of the promises hath filled several of Gods Children with extasies and ravishments of spirit what joy then will the possession of them bring The very thought of a promise hath made them like Leviathan to laugh at the shaking of Spears at the threatning of their adversaries nay to kiss stakes and smile at fire and fagots O what then will the performance be The promises are large but our straitened minds cannot understand their breadth but then happy experience shall teach us their full latitude they are now like bones which have the sweetest meat upon them and the sweetest marrow in them but we are not able here to pick them clean nor to suck out half the marrow but then we shall taste and enjoy every thing in them Now when we read of drinking of the rivers of Gods pleasures of dwelling in his house of a kingdome and thrones and scepters and palms and crowns of glory and reigning with Christ for ever and ever our hearts are ready to faint as Jacob at the news of his Sons honour in Egypt and as the Queen of Sheba at the news of Solomons wisdom believed it not so we What God look upon such sinks of sin such clods of clay as we are and make our vile bodies like unto the
Martyrs he was earnest to know what it was which carried them through with so much courage One of them there being two and twenty at that time under the tormentors hands answered Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Upon the hearing of which words Adrian was converted and sealed the truth with his blood Thou hast heard much more concerning the happiness of the Saints in the other world then one verse of Scripture how art thou taken with it Doth the joy there nothing affect thine heart nor enlarge it in salleys out after it O that that joy that glory that house that eternal heaven were mine Doth it nothing resolve thee against sin and for Christ answer God in thy conscience Some write that forty one of Alexanders friends drunk themselves dead for a crown of gold of One hundred and eighty pound weight which the King had provided for them which drank most God offereth thee a crown of glory not corruptible as silver and gold are but eternal art not thou ashamed that those swaggerers should cursedly lose their lives and souls for a fading crown when thou wilt not leave thy lusts thy sins for an ever-flourishing crown of glory O man bethink thy self whilst thou hast time and do not as prophane Esau prefer thy mess of pottage before these spiritual priviledges and the eternal purchase Cleopatra the Egyptian Princess told Marcus Antonius when she saw him-spending his time vainly and meanly much below the quality of a Prince It is not for you to fish for Gudgeons or Trouts but for Towns and Cities and Castles and Kingdoms So say I to thee It is not for the to lie spending thy time and strength and beating thine head and heart for an hoard of dust or an heap of earth which shall shortly take its eternal leave of thee but for spiritual riches for durable riches and righteousness it 's not for thee to busie thy self about toyes and trifles but about the image of God the blood of Christ the Covenant of Grace the Kingdom 〈◊〉 Heaven the eternal weight of Glory O these are worthy of all thy thoughts and words and actions of all thy time and strength and health of all thy name and estate and interest whatsoever If thou att a rational creature Swinham Court of Wards and Liv. let reason prevail with thee and shew thy self a man of understanding It was the custom formerly in England to try one that was beg'd for a fool in this manner an apple or a counter with a piece of gold was set before him if he take the apple or the counter he is cast for a fool in the judgement of the Court as one that knoweth not the true value of things or how to make choyce of what was best for him Truly thus it is with thee God setteth before thee the counters and carnal comforts of this world the true gold and unutterable happiness of the other world nay he layeth before thee the eternal pains of hell and the eternal pleasures of Heaven to try which thou wilt take now if thou wilt take a poor portion below and leave the purchased possession above if thou wilt to abide in thy sensual lusts chuse the torments of hell and refuse by not submitting to the rule of Christ the joys of heaven art thou not a fool in grain surely the Devil will beg thee for a fool for ever therefore shew thy self wise by chusing that which is of greatest worth I call heaven and earth to record this day against thee that I have set before thee life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that both thou and thy seed may live Deut. 30.19 The third Subject of Consideration The Excellency of Regeneration THirdly Consider the excellency of that which the Lord requireth of thee for the avoiding of that easeless endless misery of the damned and the attaining the unspeakable and unchangeable felicity of the saved Reader I pray thee speak to God in thine heart and tell him what is the reason thou art so willing to go to Hell and so unwilling to go to Heaven Sure I am as thou art a living creature much more as a rational man thou hast a natural inclination and propensity towards thine own good and felicity and therefore thou canst not love Hell directly as it is torturing and wracking of thy soul and body though thou dost love it eventually as 't is the end of thy fleshly ungodly life Well I le undertake for once to dive into thine heart and tell thee the reason of thy backwardness towards heaven and thy forwardness for hell The reason is this thou lookest on the power of godliness as distasteful to thy flesh or disgraceful to thy name the yoke of Christ is too strict t is not the end that displeaseth thee thou couldst contentedly be happy but t is the narrowness of the way and the straitness of the gate with which thou art dis-satisfied 't will not afford thee room enough for thy beloved lusts is it not so let conscience speak Well I hope by the help of God to make thee of another minde when thou hast throughly read this Head which I am now writing of It is the saying of Plato That if moral Philosphy could be seen with moral eyes it would draw all mens hearts after it Sure sure I am that if Regeneration or the Divine nature were seen with divine eyes 't would draw mens hearts and heads and hands and all after it All that ever struck at it did it in the dark They spake evil of things which they knew not Reader what is that which God requireth of thee Is it not to leave thy slavery to Satan thy bondage to sin and to accept and enjoy the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Is it not that thou shouldst be divorced from sin that mishapen monster and spawn of the Devil whose person is deformed whose company is defiling and whose portion is damnation and that thou shouldst be married to Jesus Christ the fairest of ten thousands the heir of all things who would adorn thee with the jewels of his graces beautifie thee with the Imbroydery of his Spirit wash thee with his own blood array thee with his own righteousness and present thee to his father without spot to be blessed in his full immediate enjoyment for ever Is it not that thou shouldst cease thy drudgery to Hells-Jaylor live above the perishing profits bruitish pleasures empty honors of the world and flesh and that thou shouldst walk after the Spirit walk with God warm thine heart at the flame of his love bathe thy soul in angelical delights have thy conversation in Heaven here and thy habitation there hereafter Is not this Man the sum and substance of what the Lord requireth of thee and art thou not shroudly hurt would not these
all that would partake of Gospel-priviledges It is necessary in regard of the purpose of God Elect according to the fore knowledge of God through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 Though God did not choose men because they were holy yet he chose men to be holy though he appointed not men to be saved because they were Saints yet he appointed men to be Saints and then to be saved It is necessary in regard of the passion of Christ he died for sin that men might die to sin he laid down his life that men might lay down their lusts his passion is a City of Refuge to the Penitent not a sactuary to the presumptuous God intended it to help men out of not to hold them in the mire of sin He is the Author of eternal salvation to them that obey him Hebr. 5.9 He died because men were sinners but he died that men might be Saints He suffered the just for the unjust to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3.18 Now man and God can never be brought together till the emnity which is in the heart of man against God be removed If ever thou have Christ for thy Priest to satisfie Gods Justice for thy sins it is absolutely necessary that thou accept him for thy Prince to subdue thee to his service Had Christ come to procure man a pardon Gur. Arm. â—par â—17 and not to restore his lost holiness he had been a minister of sin and instead of bringing glory to God he had set sin in the throne and onely obtained a liberty for the creature to dishonour God without controle Again saith the same accurate writer In vain do men think to shroud themselves under Christs wings from the hue and cry of their accusing consciences while wickedness finds a sanctuary in them Christ was sent from God not to secure men in but to save men from their sins It is necessary in regard of the promises of God Thus saith the Lord of hosts turn to me saith the Lord of hosts and I will turn to you saith the Lord of hosts Zach. 1.3 Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Jam. 4.8 If ever God draw nigh to thee in mercy thou must draw nigh to him in duty He that shall have the reward must do the work The precepts of God must be written on the heart otherwise the promises of God shall never fall down on thine head Isa 1.16 17 and 55.7 1 King 8.35 Prov. 28.13 Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God Matth. 5.8 'T is the pure heart alone that hath the assurance of the pure heaven Thou seest now I hope clearly the absolute necessity of Regeneration what therefore canst thou think to do without it O ponder this again and again that there is no escape no evasion God will not vary from his Law Thy dying to sin is necessary sin must die or thy soul cannot live If ye live after the the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 6. Gal. 6.6 7. Surely thou canst not think that Heaven will be a stye for swine or a kennel for dogs that feed on filth and carrion Believe it if any iniquity be let go thy life must go for its life The Jaylors paid dear for letting Peter escape Act. 12. Herod commanded them to be put to death Truly so dear must thou pay for the escape of sin 't wil bring the second death even eternal death upon thee be thy sin as near and as dear as Isaac it must be sacrificed be it never so small it must not be spared Cesar was stab'd with bodkins I have somewhere read that a man and a Crocodile never meet but one dieth 'T is certain sin and the soul never meet but one dieth if sin live the soul dieth if sin die the soul liveth there is no parting stakes or retreating upon equal terms Maurice of Newport told his Souldiers when he had sent away his boates that there was no flying the Spaniards being before them and the Sea behinde them Either ye must eat up and destroy those Spaniards or drink up this ocean Friend such is thy case either thou must destroy thy sins or drink up the bottomless ocean of the Lords wrath Answer me seriously thou wilt say thou dost not love such a man so well as to be hangd for him Dost thou love sin so well as to be damned for it Dost thou love thy Drunkenness and Swearing and Uncleanness and scoffing at Godliness so well as to burn eternally in hell for them Dost thou love thy pride and worldliness and lustful thoughts and Atheisme and carnall mindedness so well as to be tormented day and night for ever and ever for them A very Coward will fight when he must either kill or be killed Willt not thou fight manfully when sin will kill thee if it be not killed by thee Ahab out of foolish pitie gave Benhadad his life when he ought to have slain him but the requital which Benhadad made was to kill Ahab 1 King cap. ult v. 31 34. such a requital sin will make thee if thou favour it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the masculine article sheweâ—h that it s to be referred to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mr. Manton on â—ude p. 38. Follow after peace and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Observe how peremptory God is in that place that without holiness no man shall see God It is not said that without peace no man shall see God but without holiness no man shall see God Peace may be broken in the quarrel of truth and holiness and yet for all that a man may see God Jeremiah was a man of contention and yet a man for the beatifical vision but they that are not holy cannot see God A pure eye onely can see a pure God As the eye which hath dust in it without or thick vapours stopping the nerves within cannot see except it be cleansed from the one and purged from the other So a man the eye of whose mind is clouded with the mist of sin cannot behold God till he be cleansed The Christians happiness in heaven consisteth in such a vision of God as shall make him like God 1 John 3.2 but a dusky glass cannot represent an image When the Sun of righteousness shall shine upon a pure Christal glass a clean unspotted soul t will cause a glorious reflection indeed To wind up this fourth subject of consideration Reader Affaires of absolute indispensable necessity should like weighty things make a deep impression upon thy spirit Urge thy soul often with this that of all things in the world regeneration is the one thing necessary Let conscience press it on thee I must be converted or condemned here is the word of the living God for it and such a word
that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God Gen. 28.20 21. Truly do thou say as he did Since the Lord is the God that keepeth me in all my wayes that gives me bread to eat and raiment to put on he shall be my God O do not give him ever cause to complain Hear O heaven and give ear O earth I have nourished and brought up a child and he hath rebelled against me Deut. 32.15 Thirdly Is there not all the reason in the world that wares or houses or any other thing should be for the use and service of him that paid a dear price for them If thou shouldst buy a beast at an high rate thou wouldst think thou couldst never have service enough of him Friend Thou didst cost the blood of the Son God Jesus Christ bought thy service at a dear rate Thou art not thine own thou art bought with a price therefore glorifie God in thy body and spirit for they are his 1 Cor. 6.20 Thou needst not grudge the Lord Jesus thy time and talents thy thoughts and words and estate and the utmost which thou art able to do Alas he paid dearly for it He died that he might be Lord of dead and living that whether we live we should live unto the Lord or die we should die unto him Rom. 14â— 8. O how little is thy service worth that Christ should purchase it with such an infinite sum We say of some children they had need to be dutiful children they cost their mothers dear many sharp throws and great danger of death O how dutiful hadst thou need to be who didst cost Christ such hard labour such throws from God and men death and divels thou art never able to conceive what a price thy Redeemer paid what pain he suffered to procure thy service and wilt thou deny the Lord that bought thee Plinie saith that blood will quench fire should not the blood of Jesus Christ quench the fire of thy lusts In all countries the ransomer of a bondman is to be his Lord no slavery so great as thine was no price ever paid so great for liberty therefore no service so great as that which thou owest If thou hadst done all that he commandeth thee thou hadst done but thy duty and mightst say thou wert an unprofitable servant what art thou then that never didst any thing O think of it seriously Redemption by the blood of the Saviour is a bloody obligation to service and if thou continuest a rebel t will be a bloody aggravation of thy sin What evil hath Christ done to thee that thou walkest contrary to him Ah friend to render good for evil is divine but to render evil for good is divelish Fourthly Is there not all the reason in the world that he who hath bound himself Apprentice to a Master promised solemnly to be his faithful servant sealed Indentures before witness engaged himself by vows covenants protestations and oaths should perform his promises and walk in every thing answerable to his bonds and obligations Wast not thou in Baptism solemnly dedicated to the service of God Did not thy parents seal the Indenture on thy part before the Lord Angels and Men that thou shouldst live according to the Laws and for the glory of the Father Son and Holy-Ghost Hast not thou listed thy self under the colours of Christ the Captain of thy Salvation and sacredly tied thy self to obey his commands and to fight under his banner against the devil world and flesh and wilt thou run from thy colours and turn to thine enemies and conspire and fight against Jesus Christ It was a custom in the Primitive times that such as were baptized did wear a white Stole a ceremony signifying the purity of life which the baptized were to lead Now there was one Elpidophorus Fulgentes animas vestâ—s quoque candida signat who after his baptism turned a persecutor Muritta the Minister who baptized him brought forth in publick the white Stole which Elpidophorus had worn at his baptism and cried unto him O Elpidophorus This Stole do I keep against thy comming to Judgement to testifie thy apostacy from Christ So be thou assured the water with which the Minister by whom the people before whom thou wast baptized will rise up against thee in Judgement if thou dost not walk in newness of life Luther speak of one that when tempted by the devil to sin answered that she was baptized and could not yield to him Remember that thou hast received thy Saviours press-money and therefore mayst not fight Satans battels Wast thou never partaker of the Lords Supper Didst thou not then with John stand by the cross of Jesus Christ and behold his blessed body bleeding under the knife of his Fathers wrath how 't was wounded for thy transgressions bruised for thine iniquities when thou didst take a sacred oath to be the death of those sins which were the death of thy Saviour and to live to him that died for thee when thou didst espouse Christ and his quarrel to thy self and engage to live and die with him and canst thou like a dishonest wife run a whoring after thy heart-idols and forget the Covenant of thy God Was there not a time when thou didst lie upon a sick bed and in thine own apprehension wast nigh the gate of death when thy sinful fleshly life began to flie in thy face and O the thoughts which thou hadst concerning thine appearance before God in the other world and thine endless estate there when thou didst pray hard O spare me a little Lord spare me a little that I may get some grace some spiritual strength before I go hence and be no more seen when thou didst promise O if God would then hear thee and try thee a little longer in this world thou wouldst turn over a new leafe lead a new life forbear thy former corruptions evil companions mind the service and glory of the infinite God and thine own eternal good And is all this nothing now God hath heard thee and delivered thee shouldst not thou now hear him and obey him Did thy sik-bed promises die when thou didst recover Psal 66 13 14. 116. 3 4 9. O follow Davids practice I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings I will pay thee my vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in distress Theodoricus Archbishop of Colen Aenâ—â—d Sylv lib 2. com de reb Alphon. when the Emperor Sigismund demanded of him the most compendious way to happiness made answer in brief thus Perform when thou art well what thou didst promise when thou wast sick Friend look back upon the time when the guilt of thy sins perplexed thee the fear of death surprised thee and the horror of Hell began to lay hold on thee and remember the promises
then they needed to do of his justifying himself in his transgressions and taking part with Satan against his own soul he crieth Guilty Guilty when such Bills of indictment are read against him but every word in them is a deep wound to him the wolf in the brest and worms in the belly do not cause half that pain which his wickedness doth by gnawing in his conscience Tell him of the Gospel how infinitely merciful God is and how inconceivably meritorious Christ is and how freely the glad tidings of the Gospel are offered to all O this toucheth him to the quick the sword of the Gospel cuts him more to the heart then the sword of the Law O saith he This this is my death were it not for this I should have some hopes of life but alas I have abused mercy which is the only friend I have left I have despised Christ and neglected the great salvation which was tendred to me in the Gospel Vile creature that I am Mercy Love and Grace came many a time woing me how did Jesus Christ himself with pardon and life come beseeching me begging of me to open my heart and let him in and yet cursed wretch that I was I denied him when the world could lie warm in my bosom all night and sin get a good room in my soul yet my Saviour must stand without and not be thought worthy to be let in I have most unworthily spurned against his bowels of compassion scorned his sweetest and most affectionate perswasions most desperately refused the only means of my recovery and therefore I what shall I do whether shall I go If one man sin against another the judge shall judge him 1 Sam. 2.25 but if a man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him If I had sinned only against my Creator my Redeemer might have satisfied for me but I wretched I have sinned against my Redeemer and therefore who shall intreat for me O the frights and fears the horrors and terrors which this poor creature suffereth under the sight and sence of his sins and guilt but the fore-thoughts of an everlasting miscarriage in the other world sinks him quite down that he is able to hold up no longer Thus the Spirit first plougheth up the fallow-ground of the heart before he casteth into it the seed of grace he first captivates the sinner and brings him into a spiritual dungeon under chains of guilt and horror that the very irons enter into his soul before he proclaimeth liberty to the captive Isa 61.1 2. and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Some indeed are brought lower then others with legal terror but surely not a few have sailed to Heaven by the very gates of Hell God is resolved that men shall feel sin either here or hereafter Thirdly The Spirit convinceth him of the impotency and weakness of all the things in the world to help him that in the whole garden of Nature there is never an herb which can make a salve to heal his wounded conscience Now the sinner is scorched with the heat of Gods wrath he is like a man in a burning feaver full of pain and he tumbleth and tosseth from one side of the bed to the other trying and hoping for ease he goeth to this carnal comfort or that humane help to have his pain abated and his sores cured but none of them will do as fast as he claps on those carnal plaisters the Spirit causeth his conscience to rub them off It may be first the man useth forreign drugs he being troubled in conscience goeth with Cain to the building of Cities to earthly imployments that the noise of the hammers might drown the voice of conscience that his minde and body being occupied about other things conscience might have no time nor leasure to proceed in preaching its cutting Lectures or else like Saul he runneth to his musick to carnal contentments to merry meetings jovial companions his preferment or pleasures in the world or some carnal diversion if it be possible to turn the water of his thoughts into another channel and so to keep that mill from going which makes such a clacking dreadful noise in his ears and threatneth to grind him to powder Thus sinfully foolish is man as soon as ever a fire is kindled in his soul which would aspire to heaven he runneth with his buckets to earthly springs and fetcheth water thence to quench it the throws of the new birth do no sooner come upon him but he like some simple women takes cooling things which cause his labour to go back again But the Holy Ghost for I am now speaking of one in whom the Spirit goeth through with the work makes all these things empty to him the vertue of those poor cordials is soon spent and now the man is as sick as before Conscience for all these interruptions still followeth him with its Hue and Cry by a warrant from Heaven for the breach of Gods Statutes that the sinner can house nowhere in any of these worldly comforts but conscience is at his heels raising the Town upon him and giveth him no rest the man finds this physick but like hot water to one in a cold fit of an ague which warms a little at present but makes his hot fit the more violent When the sinner findes that his exotical drugs will not cure him he will try in the next place Kitchin physick he will be his own both Doctor and Apothecary he hopeth that his praying and grieving and trouble of minde and resolution to be better will satisfie Gods justice and pacifie his own conscience and heal it throughly O how the man endeavors to lick himself whole man is a proud creature unwilling to beg or borrow of his neighbors very solicitous rather to make a poor shift with what he hath of his own The Mariners will row hard in a storm to get to shore by their own power before they will awake Jesus with Save us Master or we perish But the Spirit convinceth him of the insufficiency of all his prayers and tears and duties to appease God or satisfie his Law the Spirit sheweth him the narrowness and shortness of all his rags how they cannot possibly cover his nakedness conscience telleth him that by his very duties he is so far from paying his old score that he runneth further in debt Alas saith Conscience thy very duties may damn thee He who is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity seeth a thousand holes in thy best coat the holy God seeth sins enough in them to send thee into Hell for them Canst thou poor begger with thy counterfeit farthings think to pay an infinite sum Can thy poor finite performances satisfie infinite Justice for the violation of his righteous precepts And for thy resolutions of better obedience canst thou think that future obedience can satisfie for former disobedience No though thou couldst offer thousands of rams and ten
Cor. 3.8 Rom. 1.12 Gal. 3.2 As that word of God to Abraham Sarah thy wife shall have a Son Gen. 18.10 That word I say gave birth and being to Isaac when there was no likelyhood or possibility of his being from his parents so the word of God give a spiritual birth and being to men and women when there is no likelyhood or possibility in nature yea when their natures are in flat opposition and contrariety to it The word discovereth our diseases Rom. 7.7 Jam. 2.9 makes us feel our sickness Rom. 7.9 applyeth the medicine for our cure Mat. 11.28 Isa 55.1 Rom. 10.14 The word killeth sin casteth down Satan enliveneth the soul Eph. 6.15 Jer. 23.29 Rev. 12.11 Joh. 5.24 Joh. 17.17 Isa 11.6 7 8 9. Rom. 1.16 1 Cor. 1.18 Jam. 1.18 Thus thou seest that the Physitian of souls hath several meanes for the cure of thy malady do not thou neglect any neither reading nor hearing neither fasting nor praying neither meditation nor godly conference neither secret nor private nor publike duties for thou knowest not which may do the deed Christ may wait at that very door which thou keepest shut at that ordinance which thou omittest to enter into thy soul If thou desirest that he should meet thee in any duty do thou meet him in every duty How foolish art thou to take any one horse out of the team when the load is so weighty even thine endless welfare and all little little enough to draw thine untoward heart towards heaven The Husbandman that hath a piece of ground which lyeth at the end of his fallow still balked before will be sure to plough that up and expecteth a better crop out of that then out of any such quantity of ground in the field Reader if thou hast balked any of the forementioned duties for thy souls sake set upon it speedily for undoubtedly thou mayst reap a greater harvest by it then thou imaginest Friend have a care of secret private publike duties for all must be minded by them that would be new-moulded How many thousands among us do wilfully murder their souls some poison them by crying enormities others starve them by the omission of duties It was a pitiful equivocatiof the Duke D' Alva before Harlem that promised the Souldiers their lives and afterwards kild them with hunger saying That though he promised them their lives yet he did not promise that they should have food Art not thou a cheater and murderer of thy foul in promising it spiritual life when thou denyest it the means of life As ever thou wouldst have an harvest of grace do thou plough up and sow the ground of thine heart with all the means which God hath ordained for that end Thirdly be thou serious in thine attendance on the ordinances of God Be in earnest when thou art about soul affairs consider when thou art praying or hearing or reading or conferring with Christians it is for thy life it is for thy soul it is for eternity and do whatsoever the Lord calleth thee to do for the quickening thy dying soul with all thine heart with all thy might for there is no doing it in the grave whither thou art hastening When Samson would destroy the enemies of God He bowed himself with all his might Judg. 16.30 When David was waiting upon the Ark of God He danced before the Lord with all his might 2 Sam. 6.14 So when thou hearest for the death of thy sins thou shouldst hear with all thy might Ezek 40.4 When thou prayest for the life of thy soul thou shouldst pray with all thy might 1 Thes 5.17 Ah how should they hear and read and pray for regeneration that have but a few days nay hours possibly to do it in between whom and eternal burnings there is but a little airy breath and if they be not Regenerated before they die they are ruined they are damned for ever A childe may handle the mothers brest and play with it and kisse it but all this while he gets no good till at last he layeth his mouth to the breast gets the Nipple fast sucks with his might and strength and then he draweth nourishment Reader it may be thou hast minded duties and frequented ordinances yet possibly hast got no good by them 't is likely then that thou dost but play with them dally about them doing them as if thou didst them not if ever therefore thou wouldst get good by them thou must be serious and in earnest about them do them with all thy soul with all thy strength knowing that they are of infinite weight and endless concernment to thee considering that if God do not now hear thee in thy day of grace he will never never hear thee and if thou do not now hear him thou shalt shortly never never more have such an offer I doubt not friend but thou art serious about toys and trifles thou canst rise early and go to bed late and work hard all day and have thy mind stedfastly occupied about these foolish things of the world from which within a short time thou shalt be parted for ever How busie are vain men like a company of Ants to increase their heap of earth O think of it is it not pity such a plant should grow in Egypt which would thrive so well in Canaan How fitly how finely would that seriousness and fervency which thou usest about earth become and sute with heaven Ah t would be worth the while to be most covetous and sedulous about the things of God and Christ thy soul and Eternity Fourthly Be constant in the use of the means of Grace pray and wait hear and wait read and wait watch and wait In the morning sow thy seed in the evening with-hold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good Eccles 11.6 in every morning sow thy seed pray read meditate in the evening with-hold not thine hand do the same for thou knowest not which shall prosper at which the Spirit of God will give thee a gracious effectual meeting for thy conversion or salvation or whether both shall conduce equally to thy spiritual and eternal advantage Do not expect like the Hyperboreans to sow and reap in a day allow some distance between seed time and harvest Physick doth not work immediately when it s taken into the body be confident thou shalt reap in time if thou dost not faint Suppose thou wert sick of some mortal painful disease a dead man in thy own and others thoughts and an able faithful Physitian should warrant thy cure in time upon condition that thou wouldst follow his advice and diet thy self all the while wouldst thou not use all that he prescribed and wait and long to be recovered Thou wast wounded in a moment but art not so soon recovered 't is good to wait Gods leisure what Christ said in regard of his coming in Judgement I say in regard of
the Serpent that stings thee to death is from thy warming and hatching that egg in thine own breast All the men on earth and all the devils in hell could not damn thee were it not for thy wilfulness in sin And canst thou expect that Jesus Christ should save thee against thine own will that he should carry thee to heaven whether thou wilt or no Believe it a state of sin and wrath is the matter of thine own choice The door which shuts thee out of the fathers house is bolted against thee by thine own hands Answer me this question or else never more make this objection Art thou willing to turn from sin unto God Art thou willing to take the son of God for thy Saviour and Lord If thou art willing I am sure God is willing he hath confirmd it with an oath Ezek. 33.11 Jesus Christ is willing that sinners should live or he would not so willingly have died such a death he hath paid the price of thy ransom and offereth thee an happier estate then that of which Adam deprived thee If thou art willing to accept of thy freedom thou mayst have it If any man will let him drink of the water of life freely Rev. 22. And if thou art not willing why dost thou complain Fourthly I answer the fault is clearly in thy self because thou neglectest to do what thou hast power to do Thou hast power without any special grace to perform duties to hear the word to pray in secret and with thy family to forbear thy wicked company thy swearing lying drinking scoffing at godliness and yet dost not mind those duties constantly nor forbear those sins shall a servant friend be thine own judge which is trusted with five pound to imploy for his Masters honour spend this in whoring and gaming and then blame his master for not trusting him with thousands When man broke by his fall there was some stock left in his hands not enough to set him up again but that which might do him some good now they spend this profusely they throw away those checks of conscience which escaped the ruines of the fall they corrupt themselves in what they know and wickedly refuse to do what they can and yet are so impudent as to flie in the face of the ever-blessed God that he doth not give them power to do more Fifthly thy weakness and impotency should drive thee to Christ for strength Lex data ut gratia quaereretur gra tia data ut lex impleretur Aug. de Spi. et l. 1. cap. 19. Thy misery by the first Adam should cause thee to mind thy recovery by the second Adam The word of God discovereth to thee the necessity of regeneration thine own inability to do it that thou mightst ply the throne of grace flie to Jesus Christ for help and succour A man that is lifting a peice of timber and finds it too heavy for him will call in help thus the Law is a School-master to drive thee to Christ When thou considerest with thy self that thou must be regenerated or damned in hell for ever and that thou art altogether unable to renew and sanctify thy self how diligent should it make thee in attendance on Jesus Christ for his Spirit and grace How shouldst thou wait on thy redeemer in reading hearing praying meditating using all those meanes which he hath appointed for the conversion of thy soul The second objection answered That unregenerate men sin in performing duties and attending on ordinances SEcondly it may be thou wilt say You presse me much to pray and hear and frequent the means of grace but I sin in doing so I sin in praying I sin in hearing and singing and would you have me sin I answer First thou sinnest in eating and drinking and following thy calling in not doing these things upon right principles and for right ends and wilt thou therefore forbear them thou wilt pamper and please thy body right or wrong not onely in the use but even in the abuse of the creatures but how ordinary an excuse will make thee neglect thy soul Secondly Regenerate men themselves sin in all their performances though not in such a manner as unregenerate ones do and should they therefore lay them down Thirdly no pretence whatsoever can excuse from obedience to clear precepts remember also that the commands of God do not interfere or contradict each other Now God expresly commandeth thee though thou art in a natural estate to perform duties Peter when he had told Simon Magus that he was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity yet he bids him pray to the Lord Acts 8.22 if peradventure the thoughts of his heart might be forgiven him our sinning in duties cannot abrogate that Law of God which enjoyns duties as Gods precepts are not measures of our strength so they are not lessened by our weakness The Ninivites though unregenerate as some think yet when threatned with destruction did both pray and fast and found that it was not in vain Jonah 4.3 Fourthly thou sinnest less in performing duties then in neglecting them If thou art resolved to go on in a course of sinning and damning thy soul I know not what to say to thee the Lord pitty thee but if thou hast any desire of Salvation in a Gospel-way thou offendest far far less in waiting on God in his Ordinances then those do that refuse them in performing duties without suitable grace thou failest in the manner of Divine worship others that omit duties fail both in the matter and manner thou owest God outward as well as inward service the confession of thy mouth as well as the conversion of thine heart surely then if thou givest God the former though without the latter thou dost not sin so much as they that give him neither Fifthly shouldst thou neglect the means of grace thou wouldst make thy condition which is already dreadful to be desperate if ever God meet thee it must be in his own way Rom. 10.15 17. Prov. 8. I believe thou scarce ever heardst of any man converted while he cast by the means of grace which God afforded him Sixthly If thy condition be so sad that thou sinnest in all thou dost thou hast the more need to hasten out of it Ah who would be quiet one hour in such an estate wherein what ever he doth is abominable to God! Men that are weak and sickly do not therefore forbear food because they are not able to digest it well and it may possibly yeild some nourishment to their disease but do therefore eat that they may get strength and be enabled to overcome their distempers Seventhly God may meet with thee in the means of Grace The Ordinances of God are the golden pipes through which he conveyeth the oil of Grace from Christ the olive tree God doth not bid thee to wait upon him for nothing thousands have found by happy experience that they are blessed which watch at Wisdoms gate
which wait at the posts of her doors Prov. 8. latter end The Ninivites when Jonah had foretold their ruine fast and pray saying Who can tell if God will repent and turn from his fierce anger that we perish not Jonah 3.9 So now God hath foretold in his word the eternal destruction of all in thy condition do thou fast and pray read and meditate who can tell but God may turn and have mercy upon thee pour down his Spirit and holiness into thee that thou perish not Thou mayst hear and read of the success of others others have found him in his house of prayer and why not thou The Mariner cannot make either winde or tide yet he lieth ready upon the waters and waits for them The Husbandman cannot cause an harvest yet he ploughs and soweth hoping that the Heavens will help him Thou canst not heal thy self wait therefore at the means Christ may come when thou little thinkest of it and cure thee God delights to bless mans industry his usual course is to meet them that meet him he hath been found of them that sought him not and will he hide himself from thee when thou seekest his face for thine encouragement thou hast his word which is truth it self That if thou seek him early thou shalt finde him Prov. 8.17 Whilst there is life there is hope thou livest under the means O resolve to give God no rest till he give thee Regeneration The third and last Objection answered If I be elected I shall be saved let me live never so wickedly and neglect the means prescribed for my recovery THirdly It is possible thou mayst object That if thou art predestinated to life thou shalt be saved though thou neglectest all these means of salvation and if thou art not elected these will do thee no good I answer first that this looks like the language of one already in Hell though it be found too too often in the mouths of swaggerers upon earth in evil things the Devil would make thee separate the end from the means Think not of Hell but go on in sin saith he in good things the means from the end never trouble thy self with holiness yet doubt not of Heaven Secondly suppose that thou shouldst live and die in this desperate conclusion wouldst not thou certainly be damned without all controversie in the other world thou wouldst finde what a fine cheat the Devil had put upon thee by bringing thee into an opinion which will bring thee inevitably into destruction Believe it thou shalt know in the other world who shall have the worst of such cursed conclusions God or thy self Thirdly The Decree of God is a sealed book and the names in it are secret therefore thy part is to look to Gods revealed will namely to make thine Election sure by making thy Regeneration sure Dost thou not know that secret things belong to God but revealed things to us and our children O 't is dangerous to meddle with the secrets of Princes Fourthly This opinion is not believed by thee but is onely pretended as a cloak for thy wickedness and idleness for if thou dost believe that if God hath elected he will save thee however thou livest why are not thy practices answerable to such principles why dost thou not leave thy ground unsowed and thy calling unfollowed and say If God hath decreed me a crop of corn I shall have it whether I sow my ground or no and if God hath decreed me an estate I shall have it though I never minde my calling why dost thou not neglect and refuse eating and drinking and sleeping and say If God have decreed that I shall live longer I shall do it though I never eat or drink or sleep for God hath decreed these things concerning thy ground estate and natural life as well as concerning thine eternal condition in the other world When I see that thou throwest off all care and means of preserving thy life on earth expectest notwithstanding to continue alive then I may believe that thy forementioned thoughts are really such in regard of eternal life but till then I shall be confident that this conclusion is onely a feigned plea in the behalf of the Devil and thy carnal corruptions Fifthly The word of God which must shortly try thee for thine everlasting life or death doth declare to thee fully and clearly that God predestinateth to the means as well as the end where then wilt thou appear that neglectest the means that the means and end are joyned together in Gods decree is fully proved to thee in the 53 and 331 pages of this book therefore let not Satan so far delude thee as to make thee part them I shall conclude my answer to this objection for truly 't is so irrational that I do not think it worthy of six lines with a story which I have sometime read Ludovicus a learned man of Italy by sinful beginnings came at last to this conclusion It matters not what I do or how I live if I be predestinated to life I am sure to be saved if otherwise I cannot help it Thus with this desperate opinion he lived a long time till at last he fell dangerously sick and sent for a skilful Physitian earnestly desiring his advice the Physitian before-hand acquainted with his opinion told him Surely it will be needless to use any means for your recovery for if the time of your death be come it will be impossible to avoid it Ludovicus upon this began to consider of his own madness and folly in neglecting the means for his soul bemoaned his sin sincerely took physick and was through the blessing of God recovered both in soul and body O that what I have written might work such an effect upon thy spirit Consider Friend if notwithstanding Gods Decree means must be used for thy temporal estate should they not also for thine eternal estate Be not wise in thine own eyes but fear the Lord and depart from evil Labour to cleanse thy ways by taking heed thereto according to his word Prov. 3.7 Psal 119.9 REader I have now finished this weighty exhortation which doth so nearly concern thy precious soul and unchangeable condition in the other world Thou seest how large an epistle I have written to thee with mine own hand many an hours sleep have I lost to awaken thee out of thy carnal security but I am ignorant whether the work be done or no which is of such unspeakable waight or whether thou art resolved to set upon it through the strength of Christ in good earnest I preach to thee I pray for thee I desire and endeavour so to live as to set thee a pattern O that I knew what to do that might be more effectual for thy recovery Friend ponder seriously the truth and concernment of the particulars delivered Is there not infinite reason why thou shouldst speedily and heartily submit to the counsel of the Almighty God for the enlivening of
thy dying soul What more weighty busines hast thou to do then to set upon those things whereby thou mayst avoid unquenchable burnings and arive at fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Is thy ploughing or sowing thy buying or selling nay thine eating and drinking half so necessary as the Regeneration of thy soul without which the everliving God hath told thee over and over that thou shalt not be saved O that thou didst but believe what it is to be in heaven or hell for ever ever ever I have read of a woman that when her house was on fire she was very busie and wrought hard in carrying out her goods but at last bethought her self of her onely child which she never minded before for eagerness about her goods but had left it burning in the flames and then when it was too late she cryeth and roareth out sadly O my child Ah my poor child Truly thou art in danger thine everlasting estate is every moment in jeopardy if thou now busiest thy self wholly in scraping and carking and caring for thy body forgetting thy poor soul leaving that to the fire that shall never go out consider there is a time I would say an eternity coming when thou wilt think of it though then t will be too late and then O then how sadly how sorrowfully wilt thou sigh and sob howl and roare and screech out O my soul Ah my poor soul how wretchedly have I forgot my precious soul It is an unconceivable mercy that yet thou hast a day of grace wherein thou mayst think of and indeavour the good of thy soul For thy souls sake for the Lords sake O dear friend mind it speedily hear God now he calleth or then though thou callest loud and long he will never never hear thee When the mother of Thales urged him to marry Diog. Laert. he told her that t was too soon she continuing still importuning him he told her afterwards that t was too late Regeneration is thine espousal unto Jesus Christ the father of eternity calleth upon thee wooeth beseecheth commandeth thee now while it is called to day to accept of his own Son for thy Lord and husband do not O do not say T is too soon I will do it hereafter I assure thee before to morrow night God may say T is too late and then thou art lost for ever Hear counsel and receive instruction that thou mayst be wise in thy latter end lest thou mourn at last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed when thy soul is in hell tormented and say How have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined mine care to them that instructed me Pro. 19 20. Pro. 5.11 12 13. An Exhortation to the Regenerate First to give God the glory of that good work which is wrought in them Secondly to do what good they can to the souls of others especially of their relations I Come in the last place to a word of exhortation to the regenerate If without Regeneration none can attain salvation then O new born creature it highly concerneth thee to be thankeful to God and to be faithful to men First be thou thankful to God What wilt thou render to the Lord for this great inestimable benefit Is not thine heart ravished in the consideration of that good wil which took such notice of thee a poor worm Praise saith the Psalmist waiteth for thee in Sion Psal 65.1 and well it may for of Sion it may be said This and that man was born in her Psa 87.5 6. An heathen had three reasons for which he blessed God One of them was that he had made him a man a rationall creature I am sure thou hast more cause to blesse God that he hath made thee not onely a man but a Christian not onely a rational but a new creature They that are new born in Sion have infinite reason to honour God with the songs of Sion If David praised God Psa 139.14 15. because he was wonderfully made in regard of the frame of his body what cause hast thou to praise him for the curious workmanship of grace in thy soul Thou canst never give too great thanks for whom God hath wrought such great things Do thou say The Lord hath done great things for me whereof I am glad Ps 125.3 What joy is there at the birth of a great heir or a prince What ringing of bels and discharging of guns and making of bon-fires when those infants are born to many crosses as well as to crowns nay and their Scepters wither and crowns moulder away O the joy which thou mayst have in God who art born a child of God an heir of heaven of a kingdom which can never be shaken Do wicked men keep the day of their natural births with so much pleasure and delight when they were therein born in sin and brought forth in iniquity when by reason of those births they are obnoxious to eternal death and wilt thou not keep the day of thy spiritual birth with joy whereby thou art purified from thy natural pollution and assured of entrance into the purchased possession where thou shalt be perfectly purified It was the speech of Jonadab to Ammon Why art thou lean from day to day being the Kings son so say I to thee Why art thou sad who art Gods son Rejoyce O Christian thy name is written in the book of life thy soul hath the infalliable token of special and eternal love It was matter of great joy that Christ was born at Bethlehem Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy For to you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luk. 2.10 11. but I tell thee it may be matter of greater joy to thee that Christ is born in thine heart For notwithstanding the birth of Christ in Bethlehem thousands and millions go to hell but Christ was never formed in any ones heart but that man went to heaven It is reported of Annello who lately made an insurrection at Naples that considering how mean he was before and to what greatness he was raised he was so transported that he could not sleep O how shouldst thou be transported with the thoughts of that infinite happiness of which thou art an heir Serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing for it is he that hath new made us and not we our selves enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankeful unto him and bless his name Psalm 100. per tot Give thanks to God in thine heart by an humble admiration and in thy life by an holy conversation First Give thanks to God in thine heart by an humble admiration of his bottomless mercy If David when he considered the glorious heavens which God had made for man cryeth out so affectionately What is man that thou art mindful of
themselves godly men must be like candles which being lighted kindle others Grace is compared to oil which is of a diffusive spreading nature Matth. 25.4 and it doth like the oil in the widows barrel increase by pouring out the oil never ceased running till she ceased pouring The more thou improvest thy little stock of Grace the more thy master will trust thee with Peter Martyr speaketh of some mountains of salt in Cumana which whilst they lay common for the good of many never wasted though Merchants carried away in abundance but when they were once ingrossed to one mans use they consumed away He that hath greatest layings out for God shall have greatest comings in from God The loaves increased not whilst they were whole in the basket but whilst they were breaking and distributing to others Womens milk increaseth by drawing if the brest be not drawn it will dry up Prov. 11.14 15. He that soweth liberally shall reap liberally Believe it Friend the onely way to make thy one pound ten pounds is by trading with it I speak not of thy intruding into the Ministers calling but of dealing faithfully with the souls of thy friends and relations in thy place and station Truly one would think that every time thou considerest the dreadful danger of poor sinners thine heart should almost bleed within thee Jesus Christ groaned and wept for dead Lazarus How did David mourn for dead Absolom At a funeral though there be much cost yet there is no chear because one is dead What bowels of pity shouldst thou have towards them that are dead spiritually nay dying eternally Dost thou not remember there was a time when no eye pitied thee when God passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood yea when thou wast in thy blood he said unto thee Live behold that time was the time of love to thy soul canst thou now behold others wallowing in their pollutions weltring in their soul blood and thine eyes not affect thine heart with pity to them Especially we that are parents should use all means for the Regeneration of our children and relations We have a little sister that hath no breasts what shall we do for her said the Jews Cant. 8.8 Have not we little Children that have no Christ no hope no grace O what shall we do for them in the day that they shall be spoken for When Samson had found honey in the carcass of the lyon he did not onely eat himself but carryed some to his father and mother thou hast found hony and sweetness in the carcass of the Lyon of the tribe of Judah in a crucified Christ wilt thou not endeavour that thy relations and friends may share with thee Friend canst thou think without trembling on the unnaturalness of most fathers and mothers towards their children All their care is to get earth enough for them but never mind the instating them in heaven the Ostrich leaves her eggs in the earth Iob 39.14 15 and warmeth them in the dust where the foot crusheth them and the wild beast breaks them thus worldly men warm the fruit of their bodies in the earth are diligent to leave them dust enough but consider not that the foot of Gods fury will crush them and the roaring Lion devoure them if they be not Regenerated O the many soul murders which worldly parents commitâ— but if thou art born again I am perswaded nay I am confident of better things of thee thou darest not but teach thy sons Gods ways and labour that thy servants may be converted to him Christianity doth not diminish but rectify thy natural affection it causeth thee to love thy relations not less but better then thou didst before grace makes thy love to run out towards their souls and their spiritual and eternal good O what an honour and priviledge is it that thou mayst be instrumental for the saving of souls Jam. 5.2 ult which that thou mayst be take these three words for thine help First Be sure that thou set them a good pattern let thy life be so exact that others may write after thy copy with credit Look on thy self as new born for this end that thou mightest adorn the Doctrine of God thy Saviour Parents and Masters are often authentick patterns to all their inferiours their zeal will provoke many and if they fall as tall cedars they beat down many shrubs O therefore do nothing of which thou mayst not say to thy family and neighbours as Gideon to his souldiers Iudg 7.17 Look on me and do likewise It is reported of the Hares of Scythia that they teach their young ones to leap from bank to bank from rock to rock by leaping before them which otherwise they would never learn and by this means when they are hunted no beasts can overtake them Do thou set others a pattern in the performance of duties and in the exercise of graces that others learning by thine example may thereby be secured from Satan the great destroyer The morall is good of the fable The old crab bid the young one got forward Shew me the way saith the young crab the mother goeth backward and sideling the daughter followeth her saying Lo I go just as you do Truly thus thy little ones will quickly imitate thy doings Be careful therefore how thou livest walk circumspectly consider of every expression and action not onely whether it be lawful but also whether it be expedient and exemplary Thy religious pattern may do more good then the Ministers preaching they preach with their lips one day in a weak but thou by thy life preachest all the week long 1 Pet. 2.12 Have thy conservation honest among others that they may glorifie God in the day of their visitation 1 Pet. 2.12 Secondly Let thy prayers be constant and instant for their Regeneration How can I see the death of my childe said Hagar Alas how canst thou see the eternal death of thy dear children When thou kneelest to prayer with thy wife children and servants and considerest that death will shortly break up thy house and then heaven and hell will claim their due The Regenerate shall go to heaven the unregenerate to hell Thou and they who live together are likely to be parted asunder for ever Good Lord How shouldst thou pray for them with what fervency with what importunity Thou art new born and knowest that hell and heaven are no jesting matters Iohn 4.23 doth not thine heart ake to think that any of thine should dwell in everlasting burnings O go to Christ as the Centurion for his sick child Sir come down ere my child die Lord come down ere my poor children die for ever And as the woman of Canaan Have mercy on me O Lord thou Son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil Lord help me If thou canst do any thing help them Lord pitie poor children and form thy dear Son in them thus carry thy little children
Divine Characters in two parts aâ—â—tely distinguishing the more secret and undiscerned differences between 1. The Hypocrite in his best dress of seeming vertue and formal duties and the true Christian in his real graces and sincere obedience As also between the blackest weeds of daily infirmities of the truly godly eclipsing saving grace and the reigning sins of the unregenerate that pretend unto that godliness they never had By that late burning and shining Lamp Mr. Samuel Crook B. D. late Pastor of Wrington in Summerset A Commentary upon the Divine Revelation of the Apostle and Evangelist John By David Pareus sometimes Professour of Divinity in the University of Heidelburg And specially some things upon the twentieth Chapter are observed by the same Author against the Millinaries Translated out of the Latine into English by Elias Arnold Quartoes A Theatre of flying Insects wherein especially the manner of right ordering the Bee is excellently described with discourses Historical and Physical concerning them with a Second part of Meditations and Observations Theological and Moral in three Centuries upon the same subject by Samuel Purchas M. A. Peoples Need of a living Pastor at the Funeral of Mr. John Frost M. A. by Mr. Zach. Crofton 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Saints Worthiness and the Worlds worthlesness both opened and declared in a Sermon preached at the Funeral of that eminently Religious and highly honoured Knight Sir Nathanael Barnardiston Aug. 26. 1653. By Samuel Faire-clough Pastor of the Congregation at Ketton Holy things for holy men or the Lawyers Plea non-suited c. In some Christian reproof and pitty expressed towards M. Prynn's book intituled The Lord's Supper briefly Vindicated by S. S. Minister of the Gospel An Antidote against H. Hagger's poysonous Pamphlet intituled The Foundation of the Font discovered or a reply wherein his audaciousness and sophistry in arguing against Infant-Baptism Discipleship Church-membership is detected his cavils against M. C. M. B. and M. Hall are answered c. By A. Houghton Minister of the Gospel at Prees in Salop. Large Octavo's Four profitable Treatises very useful for Christian practice viz. The Killing power of the Law The Spiritual Watch The New Birth Of the Sabbath By the reverend William Fenner late Minister of Rochford in Essex Enchyridion Judicum or Jehosaphats Charge to his Judges Together with Catastrophe Magnatum or King David's Lamentation at Prince Abners Incineration By John Livesey Minister of the Gospel at Atherton The Journal or Diary of a thankful Christian a Day-book of National and publick personal and private passages of Gods providence to help Christians to thankfulness and experience By John Beudle Minister of the Gospel at Barnstone in Essex Mr. Robinsons Christian Armour The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration or the Doctrine of Regeneration opened and applied by George Swinock M. A. Preacher of the Gospel at Rickmersworth in Hertfordshire Heaven and Hell epitomized the true Christian Characterized by the same Author Small Octavo's Catechizing Gods Ordinance in sundry Sermons by Mr. Zachary Crofton Minister at Buttolphs Aldgate London the second Edition corrected and augmented The godly mans Ark in the day of his distresse discovered in divers Sermons the first of which was preached at the Funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Moore Whereunto is annexed Mrs. Elizabeth Moors Evidences for Heaven composed and collected by her in the time of her health for her comfort in the time of sickness By E. Calamy B. D. Pastor of the Church at Aldermanbury The Gale of opportunity and the Beloved Disciple by Thomas Froysall The Wedding Ring fit for the Finger in a Sermon at a Wedding in Edmonton by William Seaker Book of Emblems with Latine and English verses made upon Lights by Robert Farly Sion in the house of mourning because of Sin and Suffering being an Exposition on the fifth Chapter of the Lamentations by D. S. Pastor of Vpingham in the County of Rutland The one thing necessary by Mr. Thomas Watson Minister of Stephens Walbrook A Plea for Alms delivered in a Sermon at the Spittle before a solemn Assembly of the City on Tuesday in Easter week April 13. 1658. by Mr. Thomas Watson Minister of Stephens Walbrook Moses unvailed or those figures which served unto the pattern and shadow of heavenly things pointing out the Messiah Christ Jesus briefly explained whereunto is added the Harmony of the Prophets breathing with one mouth the mystery of his coming and of that redemption which by his death he was to accomplish To confirm the Christian and convince the Jew very profitable and full of comfort By William Guild Minister of Gods word at King-Edward in Scotland The Sacred Ordinance of Ordination by Imposition of the hands of the Presbytery As it was lately held forth in a Sermon preached at the solemn Ordination of Ministers in the City of Norwich June 11. Anno. 1656. By John Brinsley Minister of the Gospel at great Yarmouth Divine Principles or a Scripture Catechism c. Good Company being a collection of various serious pious Meditations useful for instruction consolation and confirmation By J. Melvin Minister of the Gospel at Vdimer in Sussex A Religious Treatise upon Simeon's Song or instructions how to live holily and dye happily By T. Woodriff B. D. Pastor at Kingsland in Herefordshire Five Sermons in five several wayes of preaching the 1 in B. A. way the 2 in B. H. way the 3 in Dr. M. and M. G. way the 4 in the Presbyterian way and the 5 in the Independent way of preaching by A. W. Minister of the Gospel The reformation in which is reconciliation with God and his People or a Catechism unveiling the Apostles Creed with Annotations in which Faith Ordinances and Government are professed as in the Primitive times in opposition to all Errors and Heresies By W. K. Minister of the Gospel Prospering prophaness provoking Holy Conference and Gods attention several Sermons from Malachy 3.15 16 17. by Zach. Crofton The Agreement and resolution of several Associated Ministers in the County of Cork for the Ordaining of Ministers Twelves Johnsons Essayes expressed in sundry Exquisite Fancies The Life and Death of Mr. Ignatius Jourdain one of the Aldermen of the City of Exeter who departed this life July 15. 1640. The second Edition published and inlarged by Ferdina Nicols Minister of the Gospel at Mary Acres Exon. The dangerous rule or a Sermon preached at Clonmel in the Province of Munster in Ireland upon Aug. 3. 1657. before the Reverend Judges for that Circuit by S. L. Master in Arts and lately fellow of C. C. C. in Oxon. The womans glory A Treatise first asserting the due honour of that Sexe by manifesting that women are capable of the highest improvements The second Edition inlarged By Samuel Torshel Twenty four's Groans of the Spirit or a Trial of the truth of Prayer A Handkercher for Parents wet Eyes upon the death of their Children or Friends There are going to the Press some new pieces of Mr. William Fenners late of Rochford in Essex never yet printed preserved by a special Providence one of which is a second part of his Wilful Impenitency being five Sermons more that he preached upon the 18. of Ezekiel and the 32 verse
form of godliness that those who are gracious cannot but judge it to be accompanied with the power when indeed it is but the picture When there was a famine in Samaria a scarcity of good food the fourth part of a cab of Doves dung which might be the quantity of a pinte was sold for five pieces of silver twelve shillings six pence of our money observe at what an high rate that which was nothing worth was valued at in a famine truly so there is such a scarcity of true godliness that godly men who exceedingly long for the advancement of Christ and Christianity in mens hearts and houses prize and encourage any thing that cometh near it that looketh like it or hath any tendency towards it But that which is highly esteemed of men may be abominable in the sight of God Luk. 16.15 Reader do not thou as some Tradesmen live altogether on thy credit with others The most cunning takers of money that are though they take notice of every piece are sometimes deceived and take bad money such as will never endure the touchstone for good coin What a poor comfort will it be to thee when thou art hungry and naked that others think and speak that thou art fed and cloathed he that trades highly and lives wholly upon trust seldom holds out long look therefore not so much at others commendation but at thy own Regeneration for that is it alone which accompanieth Salvation It is a favour that thou dost so walk as to have godly mens good word but for all that thou mayst be a stranger to this regenerating work and then it is not the wind of their breaths that can blow thy soul co the haven of bliss Seventhly Thy confidence of thy own good estate is no infallible evidence The world as they are mistaken in Repentance taking it to be only a little sorrow for sin though no aversion from it or detestation of it be joyned with it so they are also in the nature of Faith esteeming it to consist in the strength of perswasion and that who ever can be confident that Christ died for him and that he shall go to heaven doth believe unto salvation whereas the difference between a deceiving and a saving Faith doth not consist in the strength of perswafion but in the ground of it Matth. 7.3 ult the two buildings might be of equal height and beauty the difference lay in the bottom and foundation An Hypocrite may sail towards heaven with a full gale of confidence nay the strength of that wind doth over-turn the vessel for were he more dubious he would be more anxious about his recovery and so more likely to be saved There is saith the wise man that maketh himself rich yet hath nothing Prov. 13.7 That is there are some that are full of confidence rich in assurance that the love of God the blood of Christ the undefiled inherithnce are theirs when indeed they have not one grain of grace nor any true ground of their joy and peace but are very beggars The Apostle Paul speaketh of himself That he was alive without the Law Rom. 7.9 even then when he was liable to its curse and lash he had high thoughts of his present holiness and great hopes of his future happiness He was a jolly fellow cock-a-hoop taking himself to be somebody his motto was Omnia bene All is well when indeed every thing was ill and there was but a step between him and hell he had much false peace though he had no true purity His way was right in his own eyes but the end was the way of death Prov. 14.12 He was alive without the Law his ignorance was both the mother and nurse of his confidence just like a blind man encompassed about with bloody enemies or in a place full of Serpents and poisonous creatures yet thinks himself safe because he doth not see them Or as a man in a Lethargy he feels no pain though he be very near the pangs of death Christ told the Jews Ye say God is your Father but ye have not known him So these say God is their Father Christ is their Husband Heaven their home when they know neither As every wicked mans conscience is morally evil and stained with sin so many times it is naturally evil that it doth neither check him nor judge him for his sin One main work of conscience is to give evidence either for or against a man now conscience may bear false witness against its neighbor the godly man either through ignorance or mis-information not judging by a right rule or not using that rule rightly And conscience may give in false testimony on the behalf of ungodly men either through its blindness sleepiness security or searedness Conscience by nature doth flatter the sinner Deut. 29.29 Conscience may be seared when t is not setled and asleep when the sinner hath no true rest Some men serve their consciences as David did Vriah make it drunk that they may be rid of it when it hath begun to storm they speak to it by some carnal diversions as Christ to the rough sea Peace be still and if then a calm ensue they are safe While the Devil the strong man armed keep the house all is quiet Luk. 11.21 Conscience having often warned them of their sins and misery and being still resisted at last grows weary and resolveth to give them over to their own ways and wo. These men strongly perswade themselves that all is well and yet stoutly persist in all that is ill but they fall from the high turret of presumption into the bottomless gulf of perdition The worst men have not seldome the best thoughts of themselves both as to their present and future estates How confident was the Pharisee that his condition was safe for the present Luke 18.11 when he was in an estate of wrath and what assurance had those Prophets that they should be admitted into Paradise Matth. 7.21.22 23. How boldly did they bounce at the doore but entrance was denied as the Jews of old spake peremptorily We shall neither see sword nor famine though God himself had foretold both Jer. 5.12 so many now speak presumptuously they shall neither see Laws curse nor Gods wrath death nor damnation when God himself hath ensured them to all in their conditions They cry peace peace when sudden desolation is ready to seise on them as travail on a woman with child which they cannot escape 1 Thes 5.3 The mirth of these men was never usher'd in by godly mourning Their expectation is raised high but its foundation is not laid low Nero shut up the Temple of Janus tanquam nullo residuobello as if no Reliques of war remained saith Sueton when at the same time the Empire was at Civil war within it self How ordinary is it for men whose Consciences are past feeling to brag that God and they are good friends not knowing when they ever fell out when at the same