commands must give place to a moral duty because they will not justifie our neglect of that Hence on the Sabbath-day we may and ought to lift our Neighbours Ox out of the pit Luke 14.5 and to perform any other act of necessary charity notwithstanding that positive command to worship God upon that day 6. That which God now requires of you and in doing of which you may most glorifie God and edifie your Neighbour that is undoubtedly your present duty Quest How shall we know this Ans 1. Always look within your Calling for your present duty for there it lies Don't go beyond your line Do your own business 1 Thes 4.11 We have different gifts and different talents according to the Grace that is given unto us Let every one attend to that which God hath fitted him for and called him to Rom. 12.6 7 8. 1 Pet. 4.10 11. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way Prov. 14.8 God hath appointed to every one his way of living in this World from the Smith that blows the coals Isa 54.16 to the King that sins upon the Throne That cannot be our duty which we are not called to We are not absolute Lords to do what we list No we are under command and must obey I am one in authority says the Centurion I say unto my servant do this and he doth it Luke 7.8 God hath the Supreme Authority over us We ought not to move one step but by his direction Our Calling is twofold 1. General As we are Christians so all Saints are of the same Calling Rom. 1.7 called to be saints We are all equally obliged to the duties of our Christian Calling i. e. to serve and worship God to believe in him to love and fear him c. 2. Particular So we differ in our Callings Some are called to the Magistracy some to the Ministry some are Masters some Servants some called to this some to that Trade or Occupation We are called to Christianity by the preaching of the Gospel of Christ We are called to some outward worldly Calling by God's special appointment in his Law Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work Exod. 20.9 Every man hath his work a full business which he must not neglect He must do all his work They walk disorderly who work not at all 2 Thes 3.11 living in pleasures and wantonness Jam. 5.5 having nothing to do Let all idle voluptuous Gallants consider this who spend their days in mirth and jollity scorn the thought of business they must needs be far from their present duty who are imploy'd in nothing or that which is worse than nothing We are called to this or that Imployment by Providence That we should be of some Calling is from the Word that we are of this or that Calling is from Providence Providence follows the Word and is a fulfilling of that some way or other Much of the duties of our Christian Calling do follow us into our particular Callings as duties of worship must be performed in our Families every day let our particular Calling be what it will So the same Graces must be exercised in our particular Callings which were required in our general Callings The same Graces do follow us into our particular Callings and into all the works of our hands They who do not keep up duties of worship in their Families will be as remiss in all duties of practical holiness in their lives They who are not frequent in prayer are never eminent in holiness And as no acts of worship publick or private do please God that are not performed in Faith and in the fear of God So no common acts of our lives are pleasing to God if not done in Faith and seasoned with that inward exercise of Grace that belongs to all the common actions of a Christian In shewing you your present duty in your particular callings I shall not insist so much upon duties of worship you know 'em That Prayer reading the Scriptures Meditation and discourse of what you hear out of the Word are all duties and you know when they should be performed Morning and Evening and as oft as your necessary occasions will permit Whether you do them I must leave that to God and your own Consciences But the present duty I would fix you in is that of Practical Holiness which is your constant duty every moment of the day I would clear up this to you and shew you what it is and where it lies that if it be the will of God you may be always found in it I say then That your present duty lies in a present exercise of Grace suitable to the present work and business in all its circumstances which you are at any time imploy'd in If you buy or sell it must be in the fear of God if you marry it must be in the Lord. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do you must do it to Gods glory which cannot be if you do not act Grace in every thing you do The true Gospel-holiness of an action lies in that Grace that goes along with it 'T is Grace only that turns an action Heaven ward and God-ward you have no other way to sence your selves from the temptations snares and sins that border upon all the works of your calling but by keeping your selves in a due exercise of Grace being in the fear of God all the day long that is the way to eschew evil and to do good 't is the beginning of wisdom He acts like a Fool who acts without it The fear of God in Scripture is put for all the Graces of the Spirit and in that sense I now press it upon you You see your present duty lies in your present work in the daily business of your particular callings I suppose your callings are lawful that there are no Stage-players Conjurers Diviners Astrologers here Those who are of such callings their duty is to leave them and to betake themselves to some honest Imployment consistent with Grace and then Grace will help you out in it wonderfully I could name some other callings that I would hardly advise a Christian to But whatever lawful Calling you are of whatever Office you bear whatever Relation you stand in as Husbands Wives Parents Children Masters Servants whatever your Trade Occupation or Imployment is there are particular Duties proper to your Callings which cannot be performed but by a suitable exercise of Grace by which you shew the respect you have to God in doing what you do regulating and moderating your selves and all your actions by that rule of the Word You may do the works of your calling and yet not do the duties of your calling if you seek only your selves your own profit pleasure c. this is not to serve God but your selves You must do what you do in Faith as to the Lord and then every thing you do will be an act of worship because it carries in it
wherein you will be as careful to fulfill the Conditions as you would have God faithful in fulfilling the Promises Look out so sharp to the Progress of your Sanctification that Sin may not expire but be mortified and that Grace may be so lively as to confute the reproach of Enemies and exceed the Commendation of Friends Bear Afflictions not as a Malefactor goes to Execution because he can't help it but as chary not to miss the Fruit of Affliction the Participation of Gods Holiness Thô you look first to your selves be not only selfish though in the most Gracious manner but endeavour to be Blessings as far as your Name is heard of In short perform all your duties to God your selves and others in the Name of Christ thrô his Strength according to his Command relying upon his Promises that you may feel what it is to be accepted in Gods and your beloved This is to be Serious in Religion Learn to be more than barely contented with your present Condition Vse 2 't is that which God in Wisdom chooseth for you preferring it before any other Condition Every Condition hath some lessons peculiar to it which are better learnt in that Condition than in any other and those things that may be best learnt in thy Condition are the things you most need learning which when you have learnt then God will put thee into other circumstances to teach thee something else Every Condition hath something grievous in it by reason of the Sin and Vanity that cleaves to it but that which is most grievous if it be used as Physick will help to cure thee We all grant 't is best to take Physick when we need it a 1 Pet. 1.6 Now for a season if need be you are in heaviness thrô manifold Trials and when we take Physick we imprison our selves in our Chamber as much as others in a Gaol we abstain from riot as much as they that want bread we tend our Physick and need no Arguments to do so Christians let God be your Physician and prescribe what Physick he pleaseth we have nothing else to do but observe his Instructions for it's beneficial operation Apply this to any Condition that is uneasie to you and you 'l see cause not only to justifie but to praise your wise Physitian but if this arguing be not cogent I will commend one that is I confess I love those Directions that will apply themselves that will work their way for Application That you may so far like your present Condition as to perform the duties of it before you desire an Alteration of it take this course Sit down and consider should God so far humour thee as to let thee frame thine own Condition to thine own mind to give thee thy choice for a worldly Happiness Suppose he allowed thee time to think to consult Friends to alter and add upon second and third yea upon your twentieth Thought whatever the Wit of man could suggest or the Heart of man desire and all this for a whole Moneth together before you fixt your choice I suppose when you chose it should be Wealth without Care Pleasure without Weariness Honour without Hazard Health without Sickness Friends without Mistake Relations without Crosses Old Age without Infirmities and if God should thus alter the course of his Providence unto what would your own Pride and the Worlds Envy expose you O! but you 'l say all this with Grace will do well Do you think so but would not Grace without all this do better Can you think that such a Condition would Wean you from the World and fit you for Heaven or is Earth the place where you would live for ever and have no more Happiness than that can afford you Return Poor Soul return to thy Self and to thy God acknowledge that God is Wise and thou art a Fool And 't is better be employed in the present Duty of thy present Condition than to doze out thy Life in wilde Imaginations Vse 3 Make Conscience of both sorts of Duties Religious and Worldly and allot fit and distinct times for Heavenly and Worldly Business but with this difference let Religion mix it self with worldly business and spare not but let not the World break in upon Religion lest it spoil it Religion will perfume the World but the World will taint Religion Though every thing in the World be clogg'd with Vanity yet there 's something of Duty about every thing we meddle with and we must not call neglect of Duty contempt of the World Use the World as you do your Servants to whom you give due liberty as the best way to prevent their taking more than is due so to take a due care about the World is the best way to prevent Religion's being justled out by worldly cares Count not any Sin or Duty about the least matters so small as to venture upon the one or neglect the other but proportion your carefulness according to the business before you I see more cause every day than other to commend both the Truth and Weight of the Observation that all Over-doing is undoing You can't bestow too much diligence about one thing but you rob something else of what diligence is necessary and marr that about which you are over-solicitous I 'le close this with that of the Apostle b 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. This I say Brethren the time is short we have none to spare It remaineth for the future that both they that have Wives be as though they bad none let 'em not be Uxorious and they that weep as if they wept not if God bring them under sorrrow let them but water their Plants not drown 'em and they that rejoyce as if they rejoyced not we must at best rejoyce with trembling and they that buy as if they possessed not there 's nothing we can purchase worth the name of a Possession and they that use this world as not abusing it to any other use than what God hath appointed for the fashion of this World passeth away the Pageantry of this World will soon be over but I would have you without carefulness without distracting carefulness about worldly things Whatever you do for the bettering of your Condition follow God but Vse 4 do not go before him This is a direction of great moment being a necessary Caution against that Sin that doth always beset us Every man is an Orator to aggravate his own grievances and thinks himself a Politician for fitting them with Remedies yea hath the confidence of a Prophet that they shall certainly be effectual if God will but take his Time and Method for their operation c Job 11.12 Vain man would be wise thô he be born like a wild Asses Colt to kick up his heels against Gods unsearchable Wisdom You may at once see both your proness to the Sin and Christ directing to this Remedy in one and the same instance viz. When Peter had made such a
is a matter of great Consequence to you For 1. If you cannot give your selves an account of your Religion you will never enjoy the Comforts of it never take comfort in its Comforts The Comforts of true Religion are too Great too Sweet â—oo Precious to be vainly lost or but coldly sought after Joy unspeakable and full of Glory is well worth having but alas how shall you come by this Joy these strong Consolations if you are not satisfied in the reality of that Principle in your hearts upon which they depend You have no Joy or Peace but in Believing a Rom. 15.13 and Hoping b 12.12 and walking Holily c Psal 119 65 and if you know not but your Faith and Hope may be a meer Fancy and so your diligence in Holiness which is the Effect of Faith but the Effect of Fancy what Comfort can you have in one or other what pleasure can you have in reflecting upon your Sincerity when you question your Sincerity Or upon your Interest in Christ and the benefits of His Blood and priviledges of the Gospel when for ought you know the Faith upon which that Interest immediately stands is not a Grace of Gods Spirit but a Fancy of your own Heads 2. You will never be able to give an account of it to others What you understand not your selves you will not be able to make out to others that ask you a reason of it If you cannot tell why you believe how can you Evidence to others that you do believe And if you cannot tell why you Practise thus or thus how can you satisfie others that your Practice is reasonable If you would be able to answer them first see you be able to answer your selves when you can satisfie your own Conscience you may the better answer their Cavils or Check their Revilings or bear their Censures 3. You will never be able to suffer for your Religion if you cannot give at least your selves an account of it nor suffer for that the Reality of which is Doubtfull to you You will soon make shipwrack of a good Conscience if you be at uncertainties about that Faith which should help you to keep it Get well settled or you will be easily shaken you will very scarcely venture your All in the World in Expectation of Eternal Life when you are not sure there is such a thing or that you have a Title to it but rather fear that the hopes you had of it were no better than waking mens Dreams or pleasing Visions of an imaginary Happiness which had no Subsistence but in your own Fancies You are like enough to come into sufferings you had need see upon what Ground you stand that you may be able to hold out If you once come to Question the reality of your Faith you will soon come to forsake it And if you know not but your Practice hitherto hath been unreasonable you will think when troubles come upon you you have reason to alter it If your former Strictness and Zeal in Religion seem Folly to you you will count it your Wisdom to grow loose and cold and careless in it especially rather than hazard Estate or Liberty or Life for it What man of Sence would Hang or Burn rather than forgoe that which he himself took to be but a Fancy at least had no assurance that it was not 4. You shall not need to fear the Scorns or Censures of Enemies if you be fully satisfied in your selves that your Faith is really a Grace of Gods Spirit in you and not a Deceit of your own Heart and the Holiness of youâ— Conversation a well grounded Scriptural Practice not an unwarrantable Irrational Niceness Let the Prophane World Scoff its fill and call you Deceivers or count you Fools it is no shame to be called Fools for believing Christs Truth or doing Christs Will it hath been the Lot of others before you And so long as you Feel the Power of Faith in your own Souls you are sure it Purifies your Hearts makes you fearfull of Sin Conscientious and painfull in Duty Strong against Temptations Patient in Afflictions and so long too as you find Holiness growing and thriving in you your Spiritual Strength encreasing your Fruit abounding so long you may be sure you are not Fools and the Worlds Flouts or Scorns cannot make you so You would not be much concerned if those that bore you an ill will should make themselves sport with you and attempt to perswade you that you were Blind or Lame or Sick or asleep when in the mean while your Eyes were open and you saw all things about you as at other times you could walk and Excercise your Limbs discourse and Exercise your Reason perform all the Actions of men that are awake or in health If you experience the workings of an holy Principle in your Hearts and the Effects of it in your Lives neither the Sophistry nor Censures nor Jeers of those that are otherwise minded will be able to beat you out of the Conviction of your Spirtual Senses any more than of your Reason and Understanding or Bodily motions 2. Labour to Evidence the same to others and to be able to give a reason of your Faith and Hope and holy Obedience to them that demand it of you and if possible to satisfie them as well as your selves 1. This may be much for the Glory of God and Credit of the Gospel when it is seen that you are Men as well as Christians and act Reasonably as well as Religiously and never more reasonably than when most Religiously that that Divine Nature d 2 Pet. 1.4 you are made partakers of is a perfection and Elevation not the destruction of your Humane that you have great reason for that good way that Holy course in which you have been walking and that the greatest strictness in Religion is really your greatest Wisdom How may your Confession when joyned with a Godly Conversation which is a speaking Practice and the most forcible Conviction stop the mouths of Cavillers falsifie their Slanders make them know themselves to be Liars and own themselves to have had too hard thoughts of you and that they and not you have been in the wrong And if you come into sufferings it will be for the Honour of the Gospel so to demean your selves as to make it appear that you suffer not only not as Evil Doers d 1 Pet. 4.15 but not as Fools that there is enough in your Religion to justifie you before men not only in your greatest Preciseness but in your deepest sufferings and though you pass for Fools with the unbelieving World for exposing your selves to a thousand miseries and apparent present ruin in Expectation of an Invisible and only future Happiness yet your Faith is so well grounded your Hope so sure that you need not be ashamed of undergoing evil any more than of doing good 2. It may be a means to encourage the Hearts
Sinners converted know the addictedness of an unconverted mans Heart to his Corruptions They have tasted most of the bitterness of Sin and of the sweetness of pardoning Mercy They know most of the terror of the Lord and therefore they should be most in perswading of 2 Cor. 5.11 and sorrowing for Sinners Paul so eminent in Sin was as famous for Compassion to Sinners Gal. 6.1 The overtaken with a fault he wills should be gently set in joynt with the Spirit of meekness He could not speak of Sinners without Weeping Phil. 3.18 He had great heaviness and sorrow of Heart for his unconverted Brethren Rom. 9.2 Who is weak and I am not weak who is offended and I burn not 2 Cor. 11.29 He commends meekness toward Sinners upon this very ground for we saith he Tit. 3.3 our selves were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another § 13 3. They that mourn for others Sins must more mourn because those Sins are offensive and dishonourable to God and hurtful to Sinners than because they are injurious to themselves that mourn over them To mourn for Sins of the times because hurtful to us is not Zeal for God or Charity to Sinners but self-love Godly Sorrow is when we sorrow for Sin as against God All Sorrow for our selves and our worldly Interest is but worldly Sorrow and dedolendus est iste dolor 'T is to be repented of when it puts the other-out of place We frequently mourn for the miscarriages of the times but more as they are afflictive than Sinful because we suffer rather than because Gods Honour or Souls suffer If we were not our selves concerned in the suffering of our worldly Interest few would hear of our mourning The complaint of What wilt â—â—ou do to thy great Name is much rarer than What shall become of my Family my Estate The precious Water of our Tears is not to be cast upon such Dunghils into such Sinks Sin brought in Tears and they should be principally shed for Sin 'T is observed by some that God who in times of publick mourning for Sin commands baldness forbids it for worldly troubles Isa 22.12 Lev. 21.5 4. They that mourn for others Sins should mourn more in secret § 14 than in open complaining Thus Jeremy ch 17. v. 13. I will mourn in secret places for your Pride Our Father saith Christ seeth in secret Mat. 6.18 though he recompenseth openly Publick Exercises of Religion may gain most applause and be most advantageous to observers but they testifie not so much sincerity to the Conscience as those in secret He mourns most truly that hath no other Witness thereof but the alseeing God Fasting and so Mourning is Feasting and Rejoycing to one that eyes only the eye of man in these services when men observe them Mat. 6.16 Our Saviour forbids appearing unto men to fast by putting on a wreathed grim sowre Countenance a lowring Look not that he forbids open expressions of sorrow used by Saints of old but the counterfeit semblance of Sorrow to make an Ostentation of Sanctimony to be noted by men Nor doth Christ here tax Mourners for seeming to fast when they did not but for desiring to be known abroad to fast when they fasted in private 2 Kings 10.16 'T is a Jehu's zeal which may be seen only and desires to be so 5. They that mourn for others Sins must mourn to an high degree § 15 who have been the occasions furtherers and promoters of their Sins either by neglecting to reprove them for restraining them from or giving them Examples of Sinning This Sanctified Conscience will make one of the bitterest ingredients into Sorrow for the Sins of others 'T was the trouble of David that he had occasion'd the Death of the Priests by receiving relief from Ahimelech 1 Sam. 22.22 I have occasion'd the Death said David to Abiathar of all the Persons of thy Fathers House I doubt not but some whom God hath converted may say Lord I have some way or other furthered the Sins of this or that great Offender if so what canst thou do less than drop the Balsom of thy Tears into his wounds of Sin Thô God have pardoned the Sin to thee and layes it not to thy Charge holy Compassion should put thee upon laying it to thy Heart This undoubtedly is a due piece of Spiritual Restitution of what thou hast wrong'd him of Canst thou do less than beg with Tears and Sobs that God would be more merciful to his Soul than thou hast been Canst thou do less than with an holy ingenuity endeavour to bring him home to that God from whom thou taughtest him to wander 6. They that mourn for the Sins of others must mourn with an § 16 Holy Reflexion upon themselves and that in these three particulars 1. They must reflect upon themselves with Sorrow because they have the same impure Natures that the most to be lamented Sinner in the World hath The holiest in thâ— World may say Lord this most extravagant Sinner speaks but the Sence of my Nature My Nature answers his as Face answers Face in the Glass But of this before 2. With a Reflection of Examination 1. Whether you have not some way or other furthered this Sinner in his much to be lamented impieties either by not endeavouring to hinder him from Sin so much as you might or by prompting him to it more than you ought If so how deeply this is to be resented you heard before 2. Whether the same open Sins that are acted by him the noted Offender or Sins almost or altogether as bad are not acted and entertain'd by thee in secret places 2 Chro. 28.10 Are there not with you even with you sins against the Lord your God or at least in thy Heart If so doubtless 't is thy duty to cast the first Stone at thy self and as Christ said to the Daughters of Jerusalem to weep first under the sence of thy own Unholiness and to remember thô thy Sins are not so infamous as those of a publick Sinner yet by being secret they may be Sins of greater danger And that First by occasioning Hypocrisie in contenting thy self with visible appearances of Holiness and freedom from open impieties Facile accedit tentator ubi non timetur reprehensor 2. Thy secreet Sins may be more dangerous in regard by their secrecy thou shalt not be so happy as to meet a reprover The loudly snorting Sinner every one will be ready to jog with a Reprehension whilest thou that sinnest silently in secret shalt be freed from any wholsom molestation by holy Reprehension He that would be watchful wants either a severe Censurer or a faithful Reprover 3. Thy secret Sins are not so like to trouble and awaken thy drowsie Conscience the Sins of publick offences having oft been the occasion to make People both asham'd of Sin and afraid of Vengeance 3.
mans Conscience in the sight of God Paul's Preaching this is the principal thing to be aimed at and it is the proper source of all profitable Preaching To conclude You that are Ministers suffer a Word of Exhortation Men Brethren and Fathers you are called to an high and holy Calling your Work is full of Danger full of Duty and full of Mercy You are called to the winning of Souls an Employment near a-kin unto our Lords work the saving of Souls and the nearer your spirits be in conformity to his holy temper and frame the fitter you are for and the more fruitfull you shall be in your work None of you are ignorant of the begun departure of our Glory and the daily advance of its departure and the sad appearances of the Lords being about to leave us utterly Should not these Signs of the times rowse up Ministers unto greater seriousness What can be the reason of this sad Observation that when formerly a few Lights raised up in the Nation did shine so as to scatter and dispell the darkness of Popery in a little time yet now when there are more and more Learned men amongst us yet the Darkness comes on apace Is it not because they were men filled with the Holy Ghost and with Power and many of us are only filled with Light and Knowledge and inefficacious Notions of Gods Truth Doth not always the Spirit of the Ministers propagate it self amongst the People A lively Ministry and lively Christians Therefore be serious at heart believe and so speak feel and so speak and as you teach so doe and then People will feel what you say and obey the Word of God And lastly for People It is not unfit that you should hear of Ministers Work and Duty and Difficulties you see that all is of your Concernment All things are for your sakes as the Apostle in another case Then only I intreat you 1. Pity us We are not Angels but men of like Passions with your selves Be fuller of Charity than of Censure We have all that you have to do about the saving of our own Souls and a great Work besides about the saving of yours We have all your difficulties as Christians and some that you are not acquainted with that are only Ministers Temptations and Tryals 2. Help us in our Work If you can do any thing help us in the work of Winning Souls What can we do say you O! a great deal Be but won to Christ and we are made Make haste to Heaven that you and we may meet joyfully before the Throne of God and the Lamb. 3. Pray for us How often and how earnestly doth Paul begg the Prayers of the Churches and if he did so much more should we begg them and you grant them for our Necessities and Weaknesses are greater than his 2 Thess 3.1 2. Finally Brethren pray for us that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith THE CHAMBER of IMAGERY IN THE Church of ROME laid open OR AN Antidote against Popery Quest How is the Practical Love of Truth the best Preservative against Popery SERMON X. 1 PET. II.III. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious WHen false Worship had prevailed in the Church of old unto its Ruine God shewed and represented it unto his Prophet under the name and appearance of a Chamber of Imagery Ezek. 8.11 12. For therein were pourtraied all the Abomination wherewith the Worship of God was defiled and Religion corrupted Things relating unto Divine Truth and Worship have had again the same event in the world especially in the Church of Rome And my present Design is to take a view of the Chambers of their Imagery and to shew what was the occasion and what were the Means of their Erection and in them we shall see all the Abomination wherewith the Divine Worship of the Gospel hath been corrupted and Christian Religion ruined Unto this end it will be necessary to lay down some such Principles of Sacred Truth as will demonstrate and evince the Grounds and Causes of that Transformation of the Substance and Power of Religion into a Lifeless Image which shall be proved to have fallen out amongst them And because I intend their benefit principally who resolve all their Perswasion in Religion into the Word of God I shall deduce these Principles from that Passage of it in the first Epistle of the Apostle Peter Chap. 2. and the three first Verses The first Verse contains an Exhortation unto or an Injunction of universal Holiness by the laying aside or casting out whatever is contrary thereunto wherefore lay aside all Malice and all guile and hypocrisie and envy and all evil speaking the Rule whereof extends unto all other vicious habits of Mind whatever And in the Second there is a Profession of the Means whereby this End may be attained namely how any one may be so strengthened in Grace as to cast out all such sinful Inclinations and Practises as are contrary unto the Holiness required of us which is the Divine Word compared therefore unto Food which is the Means of preserving Natural Life and of increasing its strength As new born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby Hereon the Apostle proceeds to declare the Condition whereon our profiting growing and thriving by the Word doth depend and this is an experience of its Power as it is the Instrument of God whereby he conveys his Grace unto us if so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious See 1 Thes 1.5 Therein lies the first and chief Principle of our ensuing Demonstration and it is this All the Benefit and Advantage which any men do or may receive by the Word or the Truths of the Gospel depend on an experience of its Power and Efficacy in communicating the Grace of God unto their Souls This Principle is evident in it self and not to be questioned by any but such as never had the least real sence of Religion on their own Minds Besides it is evidently contained in the Testimony of the Apostle before laid down Hereunto three other Principles of equal Evidence with it self are supposed and virtually contained in it 1. There is a Power and Efficacy in the Word and the Preaching of it Rom. 1.16 I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it 〈…〉 Pâ—â—â—r of God unto salvation It hath a divine Power the Power of God accompanying it and put forth in it unto its proper Ends for the Word of Gâ—d is quick and powerful Heb. 4.12 2. The Power that is in the Word of God consists in its efficacy to communicate Grace of God unto the Souls of man in and by it they taste that 〈◊〉 Lord is gracious that is is efficacy unto its proper Ends. These are Salvation with all things requisite
of the Gospel and endeavour as they say the conversion of the Souls of men This is the second Part of that Image which they have set up instead of the Holy Appointment of Jesus Christ The Third Way they insist on unto this purpose the third part of this Image consists in Plots and Contrivances to murder Princes to embroil Nations in Blood to stir up Sedition unto their Ruine inveagling and alluring all sorts of Vicious Indigent Ambitious Persons into an Association with them so to introduce the Catholick Religion in the places which they design to subvert This Engine for the Propagation of the Faith hath been plied with various Successes in many Nations of Europe and is still at work unto the same purpose And hereunto belong all the Arts which they use for the infatuation of the Minds of Princes and Great men all the Baits they lay for others of all sorts to work them over unto a compliance with their Designs Of these Parts I say is that dreadful Image made up and compos'd which they set up embrace and adore in the room of the Holy way for the propagation of the Gospel appointed by Jesus Christ In his way they can see no Beauty they can expect no success they cannot believe that ever the world will be converted by it or be brought in subjection unto the Pope and therefore betake themselves unto their own Faith Prayer Holiness Preaching Suffering all in expectation of the promised Presence and Assistance of Christ are no ways for efficacy success and advantage to be compared unto the Sword Inquisition and under-hand Designings And this also is that which they call Zeal for the Glory of God and the Honour of Christ another deformed Image which they have brought into Religion For whereas that Grace consists principally in postponing Self and all Self-concerns with an undervaluation of them unto the Glory of God and the special Duties whereby it may be promoted this Impious Design to destroy Mankind by all ways of Subtilty and Cruelty unto their own advantage is set up in the room of it But the consideration of the Nature and Spirit of the Vse and End of the Gospel of the Design of Christ in it and by it is sufficient to preserve the Souls of men not utterly infatuated in an abhorrency of this Image of its Propagation It is that wherein the God of this World by the help of their Blindness and Lusts hath put a cheat on mankind and prevailed with them under a pretence of doing Christ Honour to make the vilest Representation of him to the World that can be conceived If he hath appointed this way for the propagating of the Gospel he cannot well be distinguished from Mahomet But there is nothing more contrary unto him nothing that his holy Soul doth more abhor And had not men lost all spiritual Sense of the Nature and Ends of the Gospel they could never have given up themselves unto these Abominations For any to suppose that the Faith of the Gospel is to be propagated by such Cruelty and Blood by Art and Subtilty by Plots Conspiracies and Contrivances any way but by the foolishness of Preaching which unto that end is the Power and Wisdom of God is to declare his own Ignorance of it and inconcernment in it And had not men conceived and embraced another Religion than what is taught therein or abused a pretence thereof unto Ends and Advantages of their own this Imagination of the propagation of it had never taken place in their Minds it is so diametrically opposite unto the whole Nature and all the Ends of it SECT IX There is yet amongst them another Image of a General Principle no less horrid than that before mentioned and that with respect unto Religious Obedience It is the great foundation of all Religion and in especial of Christian Religion That God in all things is to be obeyed absolutely and universally Of all our Obedience there is no other Reason but that it is his Will and is known unto us so to be This follows necessarily from the infinite Perfections of the Divine Nature As the first Essential Verity he is to be believed in what he reveals above and against all contradiction from pretended Reasons or any Imaginations whatever and as he is the only absolute Independent Being Essential Goodness and the Sovereign Lord of all things he is without further Reason Motive or Inducement to be absolutely obeyed in all his Commands An Instance whereof we have in Abraham offering his only Son without dispute or hesitation in compliance with a Divine Revelation and Command It will seem very difficult to frame an Image hereof amongst men with whom there is not the least shadow of these Divine Perfections namely Essential Verity and absolute Sovereignty in conjunction with infinite Wisdom and Goodness which alone renders such an Obedience lawful useful or suitable unto the Principles of our rational Natures But these of whom we speak have not been wanting unto themselves herein especially the principal Craftmen of this Image-Trade The Order of the Jesuites have made a bold Attempt for the framing of it Their Vow of blind Obedience as they call it unto their Superiors whereto they resign the whole conduct of their Souls in all the concernments of Religion in all Duties toward God and man unto their Guidance and Disposal is a cursed Image of this absolute Obedience unto the Commands of God which he requireth of us Hence the Founder of their Order was not ashamed in his Epistle ad Fratres Lusitanos to urge and press this blind Obedience from the Example of Abraham yielding Obedience unto God without debate or consideration as if the Superiors of the Order were Good and not Evil and Sinful men Whilst this Honour was reserved unto God whilst this was judged to be his Prerogative alone namely that his Commands are to be obeyed in all things without Reasonings and Examinations as unto the Matter Justice and Equity of them meerly because they are his which absolutely and infallibly conclude them good holy and just the righteous Government of the world and the Security of men in all their Rights was safely provided for for he neither will nor can command any thing but what is holy just and good But since the Ascription of such a Godlike Authority unto man as to secure blind Obedience unto all their Commands innumerable Evils in Murders Seditions and Perjuries have openly ensued thereon But besides those particular Evils in matter of Fact which have proceeded from this corrupt Fountain this perswasion at once takes away all grounds of Peace and Security from Mankind for who knows what a Crew or Sort of men called the Jesuites Superiors known only by their restless Ambition and evil Practices in the world may command their Vassals who are sworn to execute whatever they command without any consideration whether it be right or wrong good or evil Let Princes and other great men
and storms Ordinances and afflictions every thing all things are employed all busie all at work and all at work for good Take a wicked man and all things are against him take a Child of God and all things are for him all are sent upon a gracious excellent design and shall prosper in it More particularly oppositions persecutions and fiery Tryals have issued in these three things which are choice advantages 1. By these things God makes a discrimination and separates between the good and the bad the precious and the vile In those Fields where there is care taken to sow the best and cleanest corn the envious one will come and scatter eares Churches do contract filth and corruption as well as other bodies and though they were very pure in their first erecting and constitution yet afterward they do degenerate and ill humours flow and abound in them Some among them leave their first love and their first works and are drawn aside from the simplicity of the Gospel and live not according to the rules of the Gospel Yea there are not only decaying Professors but also false hypocritical pretenders creep into Churches Afflictions now are the Physick God gives for the purging them out these are the Fan of Christ with which he cleares his Floor they are his Fire for the refining of his Gold and severing it from the dross When storms arise the rotten and unsound fruit falls off When persecution ariseth stony ground hearers are offended then away go formalists hypocrites and all such as were strangers to the power of godliness And it is a good riddance for God and his Church need them not What loss is it when greedy Wolves and filthy Swine in Sheeps cloathing forsake the fold they never did good in it and never will 2. By troubles and persecutions the good are bettered In such times and by such means their corruptions are mortified and their graces are brightned The trees of righteousness which are planted in Gods Courts do root the faster for being shaken with Tempests and flourish the more for their pruning Their fierce Tryals do refine their Souls and heat them into a greater zeal for God and holiness The very rage and malice of their enemies doth strengthen their care and raise their resolution so that they grow stronger and stronger Michal jeer'd and stouted at David for this zeal but he plainly and bravely told her if that was to be vile he would be yet more so Upon these two accounts when times are saddest and persecution hottest whatever may be said of the actings of men there is no cause to complain of male administration on Gods part so long as the Church is made purer and the Saints are made better But I will add this further 3. By these persecutions the Church is enlarged and the number of her Children is encreased The oppressing of the Israelites by hardned Pharaoh issued in their multiplying When the Church at Jerusalem was scattered the Kingdom of Christ was amplified the more by it Those afflictions and bands which happened to Paul tended to and ended in the furtherance of the Gospel The blood of the Martyrs hath all along been the Seed of the Church Persecutors are fools as well as mad men they lose what they do Christ and the Gospel gain So doth God outshoot his enemies in their own bow and makes their very wrath to praise him And let Tryals and Persecutions come to never so great an height I know no reason why the joy of Believers should not be increased when the Nation of Saints is multiplied Do you all you that profess Religion and godliness look to it that the number of Christians be not diminished and lessened through your wretched Apostacy and then it shall be augmented through your firmeness and holy constancy That is the fifth thing by which we may support and comfort our selves viz. The great things which God hath done for his People 6. There are very great and glorious things which God hath further to do If all were accomplished which God hath in his heart and purpose to do for his Church none of us should be here the world would have an end and time would be no more The world doth upon some account owe its continuance to the Church The world is but the stage upon which God is acting for his Name and for his Church and when the Act is finished the stage shall be pull'd down When wicked and ungodly men are plotting against the Church and persecuting of her Children they act indeed like unreasonable men in digging up those very foundations on which themselves stand and pulling down the Pillars that uphold them And as God continues the world for the sake of the Church so he hath great of things yet in his purpose and promise which must by no means fail for their accomplishment Such as these the giving great peace to her Children the bringing down her proud and insulting enemies especially that grand and implacable one Babylon The bringing in both his ancient people the Jews and the fulness of the Gentiles The making the place of his feet glorious and setting up the Mountain of his House in the top of the Mountains and causing the Kings of the Earth to bring their glory and the honour of the Nations into it 7. God hath laid upon himself strong obligations to do these and such like things and therefore we are on the surer hand God hath bound himself by promise and that is as good security as heart can desire Gods Word is better than mans bond It is setled in Heaven It is yea and amen God can as soon cease to be as falsify his Word whatsoever thou hast a promise for O Believer thou mayst be as sure off as if thou hadst the thing in thine own possession And how dark soever and cross soever Providence may seem to be do not you fear them for there always is a sweet harmony and perfect agreement between Providences and promises yea the great work and business of Providence is to give accomplishment to the promises Divine Providence is the Midwife of promise and is to give Birth to those blessed and admirable mercies which it travails with And though sometimes Providence acts somewhat roughly yet it always proceeds very safely so that there never is a miscarriage 8. God is greatly concerned in the good and welfare of his Church and People He is more concerned than we are and all the men in the world It is very true we are nearly concerned in the prosperity of the Church and true Religion in the Churches peace it is that we shall have peace Our all is indeed imbarqued in this Ship if that should be cast away we are ruined you may reckon upon that Let Religion be lost and we are lost farewell prosperity and all that you can call good and therefore none of us should be careless or wanting to Prayer or duty But know God is more
Actions and Accidents two things considerable 1. The Action for example such a Text was handled such a charitable Action done such a Man brake his Leg was drunk or the like 2. The Inference or Observation to be gathered from thence for all Events whether good or bad are intended by the wise God for mans Instruction Now the Memory lays up the former and can retain it a long time but the Lesson which we should learn from it that 's neglected that 's forgotten 2. Things Hurtful to us to wit Injuries These usually stick in the memory when better things slip out If any body hath spoke or done evil to us the memory is trusty enough about these As one says we can remember Old Songs and Old Wrongs long enough yea those whom we profess to forgive yet we declare that we cannot forget them Not but that a man may have a natural remembrance of an injury so that he have not an angry remembrance of it As our heavenly Father himself remembers all a Believers sins but puts away his anger so we may rationally remember them but we must spiritually forget them for else the remembrance of them generally doth us a great deal of hurt but no good at all it cools our love weakens our trust and prepares us for revenge as did Amnon towards Absolon 2 Sam. 13.32 3. Things Sinful thus we can remember a filthy Story seven years when we do forget a saving Sermon in seven hours And herein the Memory is the great Nurse of Contemplative wickedness and represents to the idle and sinful heart all the sins it wots of with renewed delight and so strengthens the impression and doubles the guilt Ezek. 23.19 She multiplyed her Whoredoms in calling to remembrance the days of her youth wherein she had played the Harlot in the Land of Egypt The depraved Memory is herein fitly compared to a Sive that lets the good Corn fall through and reserves only the chaff by which its plain that the Faculty is not lost but poyson'd So that in this respect we may say as Themistocles did to Simonides when he offered to teach him The Art of Memory rather says he teach me The art of Forgetfulness for the things which I would not I remember and cannot forget the things I would 2. The cortuption of the Memory stands in Forgetting those things which we should remember But these things being so exceeding many great and useful though I cannot enumerate them yet I shall comprize the chief of them in these following general heads 1. Our Creator and what he hath done and what he hath done for us Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth And yet whom do we more forget Jerem. 2.32 Can a Maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire yet my people have forgotten me days without number And our Forgetfulness here is most inexcusable because we may see taste and feel him every moment forasmuch as he is not far from every one of us seeing in him we live and move and have our Being and yet we can make shift to forget Him which shews the great Craze we had by the Fall And then the great things which he hath done to wit in the Works of Creation and Providence especially for his Church these we early forget but should remember Psal 77.11 I will remember the Works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of Old And particularly what he hath done for us the many and great Mercies and Deliverances especially the most remarkable of them which every good Christian should have a Catalogue of in his mind or in his Book Deut. 8.2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy GOD led thee these Forty Years c. 2. Our Redeemer and what he hath suffered for us Never was there such an Instance of free and transcendent Love in the World as that the Eternal Son of God should give himself to be a Sacrifice to expiate our Sin and yet we that can profess of far less kindnesses from men that we shall never forget them can forget this else he had never instituted the Lords Supper on purpose to keep up the solemn and useful Remembrance thereof which Remembrance sets a work all our Graces our Faith Love Repentance Thankfulness c. And without the frequent Use of this Ordinance where it may be had a defect will be forced in these Graces for the greatest things wear off with time and Holy David himself found cause to charge it uopn his Soul Ps 102.3 Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits c. 3. The Truths of Religion especially the most weighty Malach. 1.4 Remember ye the Law of Moses my Servants which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the Statutes and Judgments And of these the Apostle Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.12 13 15. he would put the Christians in remembrance though they knew them that they might be established in present Truth yea he would stir them up by putting them in remembrance as long as he lived The Doctrine of God of Christ of the Creation of the Fall of the Covenant of Grace of Faith Repentance the Resurrection as in my Text and Judgment to come these things should be so ingrafted into the hearts of Christians that they should know and remember as well as their own Names or the rooms of their Houses and yet it is a shame to find how easily and almost utterly these things are forgotten by too many How few do we find that have been long Hearers of Gods Word that can give any tolerable account of the Nature of that Faith by which the Soul lives 4. The Duties of Religion The Scripture that so often requires us to remember them plainly implies that we are apt to forget them what 's the meaning of that Exodus the 20 Chap. Verse 8. Remember the Sabboth to keep it holy but that we easily forget it we are surprized by it it returns ere we are aware so that Heb. 13. Verse 2 3 16. which is called by some a Chapter of Remembrance be not forgetful to entertain Strangers Remember them that are in Bonds to do good and to Communicate forget not All which as they shew our duty so do they imply our defectiveness herein though to forget those and such like are as absurd as if we did forget to eat or sleep For as Christians we live by Faith and breath by Prayer so to forget to repent to believe to pray and to discharge the duties of our Relation Callings and all other duties toward God and toward men is to forget Christianity it self 5. Our Sins As there is a culpable so there is an useful and necessary remembrance of them when we remember sin to renew our love to it that 's damnable but when we remember it to loath it and to loath our selves for it that 's saving Ezek. 36.31 Then shall ye remember
renders them comly in the sight of men yea and in the sight of God too As the Ornament of a meek and quiet spirit so the Ornament of an humble and lowly spirit is in his sight of great price Indeed all along this was the great Requisite in the People of God The main thing that he required of them was to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with and before him so the Prophet informs us Mic. 6.8 To do justly and to love Mercy that is the Sum of all Duty to man to walk humbly that is the Sum of all Duty to God 8. Set before your eyes the Examples of humble and lowly Persons Direct 8 Some are greatly influenc'd by Examples more than they are by Precepts 1. Look upon the most eminent Saints that ever were upon the earth and you will find they were most eminent for humility Jacob thinks himself less than the least of Gods Mercies David speaks of himself as a worm and no man Agur says that he was more brutish than any man The Apostle Paul says of himself 1 Tim. 5.15 Eph. 3.8 that he is the chiefest of sinners and less than the least of all Saints How does that great Saint and Apostle vilifie and nullifie himself Bradford that holy man and Martyr subscribes himself in one of his Epistles a very paintâ—d Hypocrite The Apostle Peter said unto our Saviour Depart from me Luke 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for I am a sinful man O Lord a man that is a great sinner Thus the heaviest ears of Corn do always hang downwards and so do those Boughs of Trees that are most laden with fruit 2. Look upon the Angels of God the elect Angels they excel in strength and so they do in humility likewise they readily condescend to minister unto the Children of men that are abundantly inferior to themselves they take charge of them and bear them up as it were in their arms Are they not all ministring Spirits says the Apostle to the Hebrews The Interrogation is an Affirmation The greatest Angels do not disdain to minister to the least Saints When they have appeared to men they have utterly rejected the reverence they would have shewn them and have openly declared themselves our fellow-servants that we and they have but one common Lord. 3. Look upon the Lord Jesus Christ himself he is the great instance of humility though he was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God yet he was made in the likeness of men and took upon him the form of a Servant and made himself of no reputation or as the word signifies he emptied himself of all his Glory he sought his Fathers glory and not his own yea he humbled himself so as to become obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross The very Incarnation of Christ is condescention enough to pole both men and Angels what then was his Crucifixion When you feel any Self-exaltation then remember and reflect upon Christ's Humiliation and think how unsutable a humble Master and a proud Servant is a humble Christ and a proud Christian This alone through the Spirit 's assistance is sufficient to bring down the swelling of the Spirits Direct 9 9. Use all Gods dealings with you and dispensations towards you as so many Antidotes against this Sin You hear they are design'd by God I pray you let them all be improv'd by you for this very end and purpose Hath God shined into your hearts and given you the knowledge of his Glory in the face of his Son Jesus Christ says Judas not Iscariot How is it Lord that thou dost manifest thy self unto us and not unto the World Hath he quickned and saved you from Sin and Death Say then By Grace we are saved not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he hath saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Is Grace and Life preserved and increased which was at first infused into your Souls give God the Glory Say Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be the praise Yea let all Gods outward Dispensations have this operation upon you Let Mercies humble you if God gives you worldly wealth and honour and lifts you up above others in Estate or Esteem say as David Who are we Lord and as Jacob We are less than the least of thy Mercies Let Afflictions humble you if God lays his hand upon you then lay your mouths in the dust if he smites you upon your backs do you smite upon your own Thighs We are call'd upon in Scripture to humble our selves under the hand of God 2 Chro. 33.32 You read of Manasseh how when he was in affliction he humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers May your Afflictions have the like effect Direct 10 10. Be much in the Duty of Prayer Give thy self to it If Pride doth not hinder Prayer Prayer will subdue Pride and whilst thou art in this Duty make this one of thy chief Petitions that God would cure thee of this evil disease Some are ready to wonder why Prayer in all cases is one of our chief Directions and Prescriptions they may as well wonder why Bread in all Meals is one chief part of our Food Why Prayer is the principal thing that calls in God to our Assistance without whose help we shall never be able to master the Pride of our hearts This was the course the Apostle took when he was like to be exalted above measure he besought the Lord thrice that is often a definite Number for an indefinite he did not only pray that God would take the Thorn out of his Flesh but that he would also cure the Pride that was in his heart he knew if the Cause were taken away the Effect would cease Oh for this do you beseech the Lord again and again pray and that earnestly that God by his Spirit would help thee to mortifie the Pride of thy Spirit be humbled as Hezekiah was for the Pride of thy heart in times past and pray as Paul prayed that God would prevent and cure the Pride of thy heart for time to come Desire God to use what Preservatives and Medecines he pleaseth so that the Cure be effected Beg of God that he would help thee on with this Ornament and cloath thee with Humility he hath promised to give Grace to the humble do you pray that he would give you the Grace of Humility Quest Wherein is a middle worldly condition most eligible SERMON XVII PROV XXX VIII IX Remove far from me Vanity and Lies give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with food convenient for me Lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain MY Text presents you with a short yet very pithy Prayer of Agur concerning whom
the world affords fewer Temptations to Apostacy than either of the extreams As 1. Poverty Suppose a person truly godly in a poor and low condition in the world and thence by consequence having a necessary dependance upon others for his livelihood if now Providence so ordereth it that those persons on whom he thus depends prove Enemies to God and the power and life of Religion O that there were no reason for such suppositions what Temptations are those poor ones under to abate their zeal for God and first to conceal their profession and possibly afterwards to deny and disown those ways which Conscience tells them are the ways of God and this in complyance with their Masters fearing else the loss of their favour and worldly advantages enjoyed from them I must say such poor ones if I do not alter my course expect no more relief and then my work will be gone I shall have no more credit and so I had e'en as good shut up my shop and shut up my mouth too nay I may fear not only a suspension of what kindness I have received but of a friend he will become my Enemy and then how easily may I and mine be crushed Oh my friends How cogent such Arguments have been of late with many to do things contrary to their Judgments and to go against the plain Dictates of their own Consciences to decline their Professions and so to make work for repentance may easily be imagined but not readily sufficiently be lamented 2. Let us consider the other extream Riches and one would think at first blush that these should be a mighty Bulwork and a strong preservative against Apostacy but constant experience teacheth the contrary Wealth and Honour have been a mighty snare even to the people of God themselves in an hour of Temptation it is a great self my beloved that great men are call'd sometime to deny for the sake of Christ and his Gospel and oh how hard is this to be done how apt are such to study distinctions to evade their duty and palliate their sin when the performance of the one and forbearance of the other may hazard the loss of a great Estate but now a middle Condition in the World does not so violently drive men upon those rocks and quicksands upon which both the poor and the rich are liable so often to make shipwrack of faith and a good Conscience and thus have I given you a brief resolution of the case to be discuss'd this day and having spoken what my time would allow me in the doctrinal part it remains that I should make a little Application VSE The 1. Use shall be by way of caution you have heard a middle worldly Condition is most desireable and this upon several rational considerations have a care that this be not applyed by any of you so as to be a rule as to your spiritual state and condition in the World you know there are two sorts of riches there are earthly riches such as the Holy Ghost calls this Worlds Goods 1 Joh. 3.17 And there are heavenly riches such as will be of use in the other World Luke 12.21 a being rich towards God Now my Brethren though a middle Estate as to the World and as to worldly Accommodations be most desireable yet you are miserably mistaken if you think a middle Condition as to spiritual things to be so I confess the Language of many mens Lives nay of the Lives of Professors speaks to this purpose I know few if any that live as if they were afraid they should be too rich but alass how many live as if they were afraid they should be too godly afraid of being righteous over much of being too zealous for God Oh Sirs have a care of this lay your hands upon your hearts inquire into the temper of your Souls about this matter may be some of you even in this Sense would not be so miserably poor but you would willingly have a little Grace a little Godliness if it were only to give you some hopes that you should not go to Hell when you die and hence are very inquisitive and industrious to find out some marks and signs and what may be the Discoveries of the least degree of saving Grace whilst in the mean time they are not as may be feared so industrious how to increase their Grace and how to be adding to their spiritual stock according to that Counsel given us 2 Pet. 1.5 giving all diligence add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledg c. are you not afraid you may have too much Grace and be too holy do you not sometimes blame and at least shew a dislike against those who outstrip you and think they are more nice than wise and too exact and curious in their conversation and that a more lax and indifferent Carriage would be better and that moderation and a middle way would be more commendable oh have a care of this Lukewarmeness a being neither cold nor hot Rev. 3.15 16. remember he that thinks he hath Grace enough it is much to be feared he hath none at all be you copying out the Example of the Holy Apostle Phil. 3.13 14. if you say what is this to my Subject in hand I answer 't is no matter so it may prove an advantage to thy Soul But now then to make some more pertinent use of what you have heard I shall direct my application to three sorts of persons or to persons with respect to that threefold condition in the World that my Text mentions and that my Discourse have pointed at all along viz. the poor the rich and those of you that are in a middle Estate between both and this by way of counsel and advice to you all 1. One Word to the poor 2. Two Words to the rich 3. Three Words to you that are in a middle Condition betwixt both 1. One Word to the poor and this shall be a counselling comforting incouraging Word I will not now enquire how Poverty came upon you whether it be the Gift of God I mean whether it came more immediately from the hand of divine Providence or whether it be the effect and result of your own Lusts of your profuseness and prodigality of your sloth and idleness of your gluttony and drunkenness I 'le not enquire this at present but leave it to your selves to consider only take it for granted that poor very poor you are and may be upon this account despicable in the eyes of others and miserable in your own Now my friends that which I have to say to you in short is this be perswaded that the greatest misery of your present condition is not as possibly some of you may be apt to imagine that this your condition is pinching hard and puffs heavy upon your fleshly part and that by reason of your Poverty you are the Objects of scorn and derision in the World but indeed the greatness of your
Much more joy will flow in upon you if you go farther and overcome evil with good You will bless God heartily who hath enabled you against all temptations and your own natural inclinations to the contrary to perform this excellent and most Christian duty when you find in your selves the joy that will attend it Quest How may the well discharge of our present duty give us assurance of help from God for the well discharge of all future duties SERMON XX. 1 Sam. 17.34 35 36 37. Psal 27.14 Prov. 10.29 2 Chron. 15.2 OUR Reverend and Worthy Brother who hath the ordering of the Morning-Lectures in this place hath both now and heretofore in great wisdom singled out many choice select cases relating to the mystery of practical godliness and of singular use to all those who desire to know and feel more in themselves of the power of inward experimental Christianity Surely 't is not for nothing that God should send to this Auditority so many of his Messengers one after another Morning by Morning rising early and sending To whom much is given of them much will be required See that you improve these extraordinary means of grace The case that is fallen to my lot this Morning is this viz. How may the well discharge of our present duty give us assurance of help from God for the well discharge of all future duties This Question hath Two parts in it and cannot be so well grounded upon a single Text therefore I shall name Three or Four you may have your eye upon all viz. 1 Sam. 17.34 35 36 37. And David said unto Saul Thy servant kept his fathers sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock And I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth and when he arose against me I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God David said moreover the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine And Saul said unto David Go and the Lord be with thee Psal 27.14 Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. Prov. 10.29 The way of the Lord is strength to the upright but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity 2 Chron. 15.2 And he went out to meet Asa and said unto him Hear ye me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin The Lord is with you while ye be with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you I do not name these several Scriptures as so many Texts which I intend to preach upon but as so many Proofs of the truth of the Point That it is a Case very agreeable to the Scriptures and to the Analogy of Faith and so I shall take it up and for once preach common place wise upon it which was a way of preaching much in use in the last Century and upwards by many eminent Divines and not without great success Now we tie our selves to single Texts Then they preached upon such and such Subjects proving what they said by Scripture and in this good old way I shall walk for once Pray follow me with due attention This Case or Question may be resolved into two 1. What our present duty is 2. How the well discharge of that may encourage us to hope in God for his help and assistance in all future duties First What is our present duty Before I define this it will be necessary to speak something previous to it which may help us much in this Enquiry and lead us as it were by the hand into a right understanding of our present duty The steps I shall go by are these shewing you 1. What Duty is in the general nature and notion of it 'T is an Act of Obedience to the will of our Superiors God being our Soveraign Supreme Lord Master and Lawgiver our duty lies in subjecting our selves in all things to his will Duty is that which is due from Man to God 'T is Justitia ergâ—â— Deum Gic. de Nat. de lib. 1. 'T is Justice towards God We don't do God right we rob him of his glory if we don't do our duty God knows indeed how to recover his right and the wrong we do in sinning against him will in the end redound to our own souls Prov. 8.36 Every sinner deals injuriously with God he does not give unto God the things that are Gods he withholds the obedience that is due unto God he will not be subject to his Law he does not do his duty 2. Something is our present duty God hath filled up all our time with duty not one Moment left at our own disposal We must give an account to him of every thing we do in the body from first to last every day hath its proper works the things of it self Mat. 6.34 3. Nothing that is sinful and in it self unlawful can be our duty at any time and therefore to be sure not our present duty This needs no proof 4. Every thing that is in it self-lawful is not therefore our duty All things are lawful but all things are not expedient 1 Cor. 6.12 Whatsoever is not forbidden under a penalty is lawful i. e. whatsoever is not contrary to the rectitude of the Law and in the doing of which we incur no penalty from the Law that is lawful but nothing properly is our duty but what is commanded What we have a command to do or not to do the doing or not doing of that is our duty as the command runs in the Affirmative or Negative The Law strictly injoyns some things does tollerate and allow of some others of a more indifferent nature which in intimo gradu-juris in the lowest degree of legality may be called lawful and yet Circumstances may render our doing these things unlawful when God is not glorified nor our Neighbour edified All things edifie not 1 Cor. 10.23 5. Every thing that is commanded and is in its time and place our duty may not be our present duty Affirmative commands do bind semper but not ad semper as Negatives do Affirmatives bind always i. e. we can never be discharged from that obligation that lies upon us to worship God but we are not bound at all times to the outward acts of worship for then me should do nothing else Neither indeed are we bound at all times to inward acts of worship for in our sleep we do not act our Grace A disposition so to do from an inward habit and principle is all that God requires when we are not in a capacity to act either Grace or Reason Besides positive
disobedient Servant because he observed not your time Those in the Gospel Mat. 20.1 2 3 4. came into the Vineyard at the same hour they were called They who were called at one hour did not come in at another hour A call of God to repentance loses much of its efficacy if it be not presently complied with the heart is hardened under it 'T is true God can renew his call but the first is quite lost if it be not presently obey'd straightway they left their nets and followed him Mat. 4.20 22. This was a converting call There are many calls to conversion that are not converting calls Man calls in God's Name but till God speak inwardly to the heart all the Preachers in the world cannot prevail with a sinner to come to Christ Converting Grace is a special Providence towards the Elect. I am now speaking of the call of common Providence to common Duties I mean such Duties as God by his Word hath annexed to such Providences James 5.13 Is any afflicted let him pray is any merry let him sing psalms Do the duty of thy present condition keep time with God because he keeps time with thee he gives thee thy daily bread then perform thy daily duty towards him 3. Consult thy conscience 'T is a proper Judg of what thou hast done and what thou shouldst do at this instant Joseph found it so Gen. 39.8 9 Conscience in those who are enlightned cannot easily step over a plain duty 't will stumble at it and demur about it does cast a look towards it tho by the violence of lust a man may be hurried another way yet conscience looks behind there is a mis-giving heart that tells him Thus and thus you ought to do Hear thy conscience speak it may shew thee the right way and turn thee into it He is a profligate wretch indeed who has no reverence for his own conscience A wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment Eccles 8.5 Consult thy conscience in what thou art going about if that startle stop there and consider well with thy self don 't mistake a carnal Objection for a scruple of conscience Under the light of the Gospel conscience is better instructed than to doubt of plain duties All cases of conscience lie in more abstruse matters 4. Consider what present temptation thou art under in the light a present temptation we may see what is our present duty The Devil sets against that might and main He cares not what we do if he can keep us from our present duty He will suffer us to put any thing in the room of that you may read pray and meditate the Devil will allow of any thing but what we should do He knows 't is in vain to tempt some men to gross scandalous sins therefore he will reach a duty over the shoulder to them to justle out the present duty that lies before them Take this for a Rule viz. 'T is always our duty to act in opposition to any present temptation If sinners entire thee consent thou not Prov. 1.10 We do never more effectually resist any present evil than by setting about that good thing that is contrary to it When the Devil sees his temptations have this contrary effect to awaken our zeal for God and to stir us up to a more vigorous prosecution of our duty 't is not his interest to go on in that temptation which he sees is such a provocation to holiness and spurs us on the faster to our duty The Devil knows not this before-hand His temptations are but tryals and experiments that he makes to see how we stand affected and how they will take 5. Consult with the Word of God especially those Scriptures that speak to the state and condition thou art in in the world whether Master Servant Parent Child Rich or Poor gather up those Texts and be often reading them over to thy Faith Mingle them afresh every day with Faith carry them about you in your Memory or in a Book fair written that you may often have your eye upon them they will be a light to your feet and a lanthorn to your paths You can never walk exactly in your place and sphere if you do not walk by this rule often coming to the light that you may see whether your works are wrought in God Some Christians do many things many good things in the dark or at least by a general Scripture-light Some confused Notions they have but no clear distinct understanding of their duty In conversion there are general principles laid in inclining us to all Christian duties which for want of searching the Scriptures we take up by guess but a distinct particular knowledg of these duties is an after-work distinct from our first conversion 't is called Edification or building up which makes us expert skilful Christians The Scriptures are able to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished unto every good word and work 2 Tim. 3.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad omne opus bonum perfectè instructus vel omnibus numeris absolutus A man so skill'd in all things appertaining to his duty so exact in it that nothing is wanting nor nothing redundant he does neither more nor less than God requires he keeps close to the Rule puts in all the spiritual Ingredients that may give a duty its right season and savour 6. Devote thy self in sincerity to the fear of God through the whole course of thy life Let it be the full purpose of thy heart to cleave unto God and to do whatever God shall convince thee to be thy duty Labour to bring your hearts into such a holy frame before you make a judgment of your present duty Sincerity towards God does wonderfully enlighten us it clears up the eye of the soul breaks thorow all prejudices makes us judg impartially according to truth Integrity and uprightness will preserve us Psal 25.21 and direct our way Prov. 21.29 This I say That man whose mind is thus set upon his duty will not find it so difficult a matter to discern what is his present duty ordinarily he will not in some extraordinary cases there may be more difficulty sometimes but ordinarily 't is otherwise There is a secret guidance of God in this case The integrity of the upright shall guide them Prov. 11.3 There is a voice behind thee a whisper from Heaven saying This is the way walk in it David took this course first he resolves upon universal obedience Psal 119.8 30 32. I have said ver 5 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dixi i. e. in animo statuit apud se So ver 106 112. and then begs of God to order his steps and tell him which foot he should put formost what he should do first and what in the next place ver 5 35 135. how he should order his conversation aright If the Devil finds you unfixed and unresolved untrusty and wavering he will assault you with more violence
2. which of them may be uncovered without shame seeing that some as the hands the face the feet may be naked without sin to our selves or offence to others To which I answer 1. That the use of the parts and their destinated ends are to be well considered in this case The use of the Face is chiefly to distinguish 1. the Sex the Male from the Female 2. the Individuals one person from another the use of the hands is that they may be instruments for work business and all manual operations 2. That to cover or muffle up those parts ordinarily whose ends and use requires to be uncovered is to cross Gods end and design and by consequence sinful 3. That to uncover those parts promiscuously and expose them ordinarily to open view for which there can be no such good ends and uses assigned is sinful For the general Law of God must always take place where the special use of a particular part requires not the contrary 4. And therefore all Apparel or fashions of Apparel which expose those parts to view of which exposing God and Nature have assigned no use is sinful 'T is true I confess our first Parents in that hasty provision which they made against their shame took care only for Aprons but God who had adequate conceptions of their wants and what was necessary to supply them of the Rule of Decency and what would fully answer it provided for them coats that so the whole body except as before excepted might be cover'd and its shame concealed § 2. Another end of Apparel was to defend the body 1. from the ordinary injuries of unseasonable seasons 2. the common inconveniencies of labour and travel 3. the emergent accidents that might befall them in their Pilgrimage For the Fall of Man had introduced excessive heats and colds They were driven out of Paradise to wander and work in a Wilderness now overgrown with briars thorns and thistles the early Fruits of the late Curse and Cloaths were assigned them in this exegency for a kind of defensive Armour Hence we read 1 Sam. 17.38 That Saul armed David with his own armour and he arm'd him with a coat of mail In the Hebrew it is Saul cloath'd David with his cloaths and he cloath'd him with a coat of mail And the word there used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of near cognation with that in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence therefore 1. Whatever modes of Apparel comply not with this gracious end of God in defending our bodies from those inconveniences are sinfully worn and used 2. That it is a horrid cruelty to our frail bodies to expose them to those injuries against which God has provided a remedy to gratifie pride or to humour any Vanity And however our Gallants hope to keep themselves warm and to shelter their sin under the skreen of their own foolish Proverb Pride feels no cold yet God has oftentimes made their sin to become their punishment whilst by an obstinate striving with the inconveniences of an ill-contrived Mode they have hazarded if not lost their Healths if not their Lives by a ridiculous Complement to some new fashion But how they will stand before the righteous Judgment-Seat of God when he shall arraign and try them as Guilty of Self-Murder in the great day of scrutiny they may do well timely to advise upon and consider § 3. To these I may add That when God made Man his first suit of Apparel he took measure of him by that Employment which he had cut out for him Man's assigned work was labour not to eat the bread of idleness but first to earn it in the sweat of his face which tho at first it was a Curse is by Grace converted into a Blessing And accordingly God so adapted and accommodated his cloaths to his body that they might not hinder readiness expedition industry diligence and perseverance in the works of his particular Calling Hence these things will be exceeding plain 1. That God having appointed Man to labour cannot be supposed to have made any provision for or given the least indulgence to idleness Intervals for rest to redintegrate the decay'd Spirits cessation for a season from hard labour God allows and Nature requires but exemption from a particular Calling or any dispensation for sloth in that Calling we find none 2. That God having suited cloathing in all its forms and shapes so to the body that they prejudice him not in the works of his particular Calling whatever fashions of Apparel do incommode him therein and render him unfit or less fit to discharge the duties of it are so far sinfully used 3. That therefore they who by unmerciful lacing girding bracing pinching themselves in uneasie garments can scarce breathe less eat and least of all labour do apparently offend against this end of God and it is but just that they who will not or create an impotency that they cannot work should not eat nor long breathe in the earth whereof they are unprofitable burdens Plato calls the Body the Prison of the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and some have made the cloaths the Prison of the body wherein they are so cloyster'd so immured in the Cage and Little-ease of a pinching fashion that the body is made an unprofitable servant to the soul and both of them to God In the declining times of the Roman Commonwealth this vanity began to obtain and is smartly noted by the Comaedian as the folly of Mothers Quas matres student Demissis humeris esse vincto pectore ut graciles litent Tâ—rent eunuch Si quae est habitior paulò pugilem esse ajunt deducant cibum Jametsibona est Natura reddunt curaturâ Junceas But thus has Pride brought many to their Coffins who after an uneasie life spun out in more pain with doing nothing than they had found in labour after a few tedious days worn out in Asthma's Catarrhs Consumptions and Ptisicks could never get freedom from the confinement of their cloaths till their souls had procured a Gaol-delivery from their bodies However they cannot justly complain of Providence who gave them their option and left them to their own desires Rather to be out of the world than out of the fashion § 4. There is yet another end of Apparel viz. The adorning of the body And in this all our wanton Fashionists take sanctuary Out of which that I may force them or so far as is sober and moderate indulge them I shall first premise a few Observations and then lay down some Conclusions 1 Let these few things be premised 1. That Ornamentals strictly taken as distinct from useful garments do not come under the same appointment of God with necessary cloathing For 1. It is ordinarily sinful to wear no Apparel but not so to wear no such Ornaments 2. The necessity of Nature requires the one but no necessity or end of Nature requires the other Gods
make for the Soul whilst it may be the Body hath only a dish of Herbs 2. Reprehension I may then in the next place blame and bewail the folly and madness of most men who live as if they had no Souls or as if their Souls were fit only to be placed with the Dogs of the fold Like a woman I have heard of who when her house was on fire was very busie in saving of her stuff carrying out with all her might as much as she could at last she bethought her self of her Child which was left in a Cradle but when she returned to look after that she found that the fire had destroyed it and there she was first aware of her praeposterous care for her Goods before her Child running up and down as one distracted crying my Child my Child as David for his son Absalom So â—las when 't is too late all that neglect their Souls in this life will how I out in the midst of their scorching flames 2 Sam. 18.33 Oh my Soul my Soul I would I had dyed for thee my dear and pretious Soul We would have nothing bad by our good Will we would not have bad Relatives Children or other no not so much as a bad piece of Coin and how comes it to pass that men can be so content with bad Souls Thy Soul is thy self and if thy Soul be bad thou art bad thy self and how hast thou deserved so ill of thy self that thou shouldest neglect thy self and care not what become of thy Soul which is thy self Xerxes when he beheld his numerous Army wept Oh sayd he what a many here are that in a very short space must yield to Death and be devoured by VVorms It is a far sadder consideration that such multitudes of mens Souls are lost and perish Eternally and let the abounding of sin speak whether this be a causeless fear When the Apostles heard that one of them though but one was the Son of Perdition and should lose his Soul Every one of them was jealous over his Condition and cryed out Is it I Is it I Matth. 26.22 I cannot tell who particularly it is yet I cannot but know there are many sins that speak men ripe for judgment and many other sins which though they be not so notorious and visible are yet certainly as truly destructive and damnable A leak in any part of the Ship may sink it And now oh that my words might reach your hearts I speak in the behalf of your pretious Souls These words are not about trifles which you may consider or neglect as you please but as Moses said in the like case These words are your Life and no less than Life or Death Eternal depends upon your receiving of them When your Bodies are distemper'd what sending is there for a Physitian How are the symptoms of the Disease considered Or if an Estate be doubtful what counsel do we not take What cost and charge are we not at to ensure it Yet we let our Souls run all imaginable yea and unimaginable hazards without the least care to be sure without suitable care to their worth or danger and how can we any longer go for Christians or the Disciples of him who taught us here the pretiousness of our Souls and himself valued them accordingly Whatsoever we may flatter our selves with only such as are of the same mind with him shall have Salvation by him It is high time then to be Exhorted 3. Exhortation and prevailed with to suitable affections and dispositions shall I say or rather to suitable Lives and Conversations unto what ye have heard The truths that have been spoken unto are not so much speculative as practical they meet with little or no controversie in the Theory but in the practice of them The Devil knows that let men believe what they will concerning their Souls he is sure enough to obtain them and that with great advantage to a more sore condemnation if they do not practice according to what they are convinc'd of Shew then that thou doest value and esteem thy Soul according to the worth and dignity Children or Fools or Barbarous Africans preferr Beads and Toyes before Gold and real Pearls but it were folly and madness if we should do so and yet I am afraid we do worse every day Whatsoever is the price the tempter offers or perswades to sin with remember that it is for thy Soul if thou consentest and yieldest the bargain is struck thou doest what in thee lies to give thy Soul for the pleasure or advantage of the sin Judas had an ill bargain that lost his Soul and his Saviour for thirty pence though many sell their Saviour and their Souls too cheaper every day a goodly price be it what it will God gave his Son for thy Soul and entrusted thee with it and thou ungrateful and vile wretch doest barter it away for trifles You know Nathan 's Parable of the Ew-Lamb 2 Sam. 12. so tenderly beloved by the right owner of it and yet it was slain to entertain a stranger That Parable respects more than David Thou art the Man Thy Soul is the beloved Lamb and the Devil is the Stranger whom to be sure thou art no way concern'd to entertain when thou sinnest thou slayest this Ewe-Lamb to entertain and gratifie this stranger Oh that the Parallel might be carryed a little further and that some or other upon the reading of this would cry out with David I have sinned And if thou wouldest indeed value thy Soul be perswaded from what thou hast heard that all those things which concern thy Soul are far more excellent than those which concern thy Body as for instance That 1. Thy Souls riches are the best riches call'd by our Saviour true riches Considerations to facilitate this duty Luk. 16.11 Ah that any should be contentedly without them 2. The Souls pleasures are the choicest pleasures True Joy is not a superficial thing that affects the countenance and produces smiles or laughter many poor wretches in Bedlam are thus merrily mad but res severa est verum gaudium The Heart is the seat of all our Affections and so of our Joy and nothing can rejoyce that but the favour of God to the Soul 3. The Souls honour is the truest honour if honour be in honorante what honour is it to have the applause or homage of sorry sinful men But it is God that delights to honour the Soul and will put off his own glory upon it I shall say nothing to vilifie the Body which is the other part we consist of and we overprize and value it is enough to say with Bernard quantumcunque excolatur caro est Trim thy Body pamper it bestow all thy care and pains upon it 't is but flesh still t will be wormes meat and by all thy carking and caring for it thou art but preparing to feast those contemptible Creatures more delicately or if that will
kindness to Men as to communicate himself to them as I said before and to admit men to make such near approaches to himself both these manifest his great goodness II. Take notice wherein Christianity excels Philosophy properly Vse II so call'd The one directs us the way to Communion with God which the other cannot do Philosophy speaks nothing of the Mediator the Man Christ Jesus by whom alone we can draw nigh to God Philosophy improves the Principles of meer Nature but cannot confer a new Nature doth not infuse such Principles as the Gospel doth to lead men into Communion with God Philosophy whether Natural or Moral hath an excellency in it in its proper Sphaere but yet falls far short of Christianity the Principles of the Gospel and the Mysteries of Faith wherein Men are led to the true knowledge of God and fellowship with him III. This may be matter of Lamentation in this prophane and Apostate Vse III Age that there is so little of this Communion with God to be found among men Some understand not what it is some desire it not nor seek after it some have lost what once they had And some deride and scoff at it as a foolish fancy a dream a delusion of some fanatick people Though some may pretend to it that have it not yet God forbid we should deny it The Apostle in the Text asserteth it and the experience of real Christians in all Ages bears witness to it And if it be not a fancy but a real thing I am sure it is the most solemn and important thing in the whole World Q. But why are there so few that attain it A. 1. Some are under an evil heart of unbelief whereby they depart from the living God Heb. 3.12 And what stands opposite to Communion with him more than departing from him 2. Others walk in Hypocrisie and have only External Communion with the Church and Ordinances of it but for want of true Grace and sincerity in their hearts have no real Communion with God 3. Others walk in Pride and God resisteth the proud knoweth him afar off and all Communion with God is intercepted hereby 4. Others are in such friendship with the World which as the Apostle saith is Enmity against God and where there is Enmity there can be no Communion 5. Others are under the disturbance of head-strong Passions and Communion with God requires a quiet serene and sedate frame of Spirit 6. Others concern themselves only about Disputes and Controversies in Religion and mind not that wherein the Life and Power of it consisteth which is Communion with God 7. Others satisfie themselves with notions and speculations with fine Language strains of Rhetorick well compiled forms of devotion and look no farther 8. Others give way to wandring thoughts and serve God with a distracted mind whereby their Hearts are carryed from God even while they are serving of him 9. Others make Religion meer matter of Discourse please themselves to talk of it and that 's all 10. And Lastly Others are fall'n into down right Atheism question Gods very Being and indeed are of no Religion at all and can have no Communion with the Deity which they doubt of or deny Now is not this to be lamented for Men to have no Communion with that God who gave them their Being that God in whose favour is their Life that God in whom is treasured up the true felicity of Man God is a Fountain of Living water a Spring of endless Pleasure an Ocean of all Perfection and Holiness but what is this to him that hath no Communion with him and hath not a drop of all this falling upon himself But in stead of this Communion with God have not these Men Fellowship with unrighteousness and the unfruitful works of darkness which the Apostle forbids Eph. 5.11 Fellowship with the Adulterer or Adulteress in Uncleanness with the Swearer in Prophane Oaths with the Unjust in Unrighteousness with the deceiver in his frauds the Lyer in false Speaking the Drunkard iâ— riotous and intemperate Drinking which Men call good Fellowship c. And I could wish that the Fellowship that men call clubbing at Taverns and Coffee-houses at unseasonable hours whereby the duties of their Families are neglected were forborn at this day Certainly a more circumspect walking is required of us especially such as pretend to Religion in a day wherein God is visiting the Nation and rebuking his own people for their Iniquities And many in stead of Fellowship with God have Fellowship with the Devil I mean not so much Witches Sorcerers or such as Confederate expresly with him but such as do his Lusts and carry on his work in the World What is the Devils great work Is it not to propagate Wickedness to persecute the Church to obstruct the Gospel to foment Divisions to corrupt the Truth with Error and to sow Tares among the Wheat And how many are there that have Fellowship with the Devil in such works as those But they little think of the Fellowship they are in danger to have with him in his Torments who at present have this Fellowship with him in these works of Wickedness IV. I shall next proceed to exhort men to seek after this Communion Vse IV with God And I shall first speak to such as are meer strangers to it have lived many years in the World and in a Land where the Gospel hath been long preached and yet know nothing of it 1. Let me perswade them that there is really such a thing and that all that is spoken of it is not meer canting and vain pretence 2. Let me perswade them seriously to seek it and to make it the great work of their lives and their great scope and end in all Religion to attain unto it 3. As the Gospel invites sinners to Christ let them make haste to him that in him they may have their peace made with God and receive that Grace whereby they may be capable of Communion with him 4. Let them no longer walk in darkness For if we say we have Fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth as the Apostle speaks in this Chapter And here remember what I spake in the opening of the Text. Wisdom is Light and Folly is Darkness Knowledge is Light and Ignorance is Darkness Truth is Light and Error is Darkness Holiness is Light and Sin and Wickedness are Darkness Let Men then first walk wisely and not as Fools Wisdom lyes in choosing to a Mans self a good end and in fitting means sutable to that end let Men do this Wisdom lies in preferring things according to their true worth and value let Men do so Wisdom lies in embracing of Seasons and redeeming of Time let Men practise this Wisdom lies in looking to things in their End and Issue and not only how they appear at the present let Men do this also And secondly I said Knowledge is Light Ignorance is Darkness
contending with its Father Upon this Principle our Lord Christ built his resignation in the Text. 'T is impossible to submit willingly to the pleasure of an Enemy Enmity excludes submission Rom. 8.7 let there be a sense of reconciliation and resignation will follow 2. We must be exercised in the mortification of pride and passion For pride will swell and passion tumultuate they who are used to have their wills shall find it hard if not impossible to let God have his without reluctancy No self-will will tumultuate against God himself according to custom You know how it was with peevish Jonah I do well to be angry with proud Joram this evil is of the Lord why should I wait upon him any longer And how with Pharaoh Exod. 5.2 they were persons used to have their wills When the Devil desired God to afflict Job chap. 1. 11. 2. 5 he presumed that Job having had much prosperity could not bear a great cross without flying in God's Face Consequently 3. If we have been inured to sufferings the Task is easier yet Lam. 3.27 28. Paul was accustomed to afflictions and see what he saith Acts 21.13 Phil. 4.11 12. 4. Keep the sense of your own great sinfulness upon your hearts This will stop your mouths when you would complain of the holy hand of God upon you Lam. 3.39 wherefore doth a living man complain I will bear the indignation of the Lord saith the Church elsewhere because I sinned against him 5. Christ pray'd himself into this frame Jo. 12.27 28. The more impatient and discontent we be the more need of Prayer Christ did not tarry till the hurry were over but cryed to his Father while it continued And observe How he Prayed and what He Prayed brokenly and uttered the Sense and very Case of his Soul No matter how abrubt the Prayer be so it be the Representation of our Hearts Thus did David Psal 61.2 Where doth he Pray in Banishment When when his Spirit is overwhelmed How doth he Pray he Cried Thus Hannah Prayed her self composed Remember Resignation is the work of the Spirit of God and therefore you must plead for it before you have it 6. Subdue your Carnal Reasonings by the Reasonings of Faith So did Holy David when the Flesh had Reasoned him into Impatience he went into the Sanctuary and was composed Psal 73.16 17. And to help in this Combat between Faith and Sense take these following Considerations 1. That all things are good from Gods Will. I am sure all Providences be They are good because he Willeth them Psal 119.68 Thou art good and thou doest good Himself is good and Will therefore are his ways good also No matter what Sense and Reason say God cannot do amiss And therefore Jeremy lays down this as a Principle before he dare Argue about Gods Judgments Chap. 12.1 And so David Psal 73.1 So Hezekiah 2 Kings 20.19 2. That what becomes God to do or order becomes us to suffer If God bring the Affliction we may bear it If it be for his Glory it cannot be for our Disadvantage God will not do what is Evil and we may very well submit to what is good Job 1.21 3. 'T is our Folly and Bruitishness when there is any Impatience of Gods Will. Jonah was Mad with Passion when he told God he did well to be Angry at the Dying of the Guord Jonah 4.9 Psal 73.21 22. 4. That God hath managed as unlikely Providences for the good of his People as these that he is bringing upon us and having such experience of his Wisdom and Faithfulness 't is reason we submit especially having the Promise too Rom. 8 28. 5. That when there is a contrariety of Will between Two Parties the Best the Wisest the Holiest should carry it If either God must not have his Will or we want ours 'T is all the reason in the World we should submit and imbrace the Cross patiently Methinks there should be no Debate about this matter 6. That God will be Glorified Levit. 10.3 This silenc'd Aaron and what are we This was Answer enough to Christ himself in the Text and are we too good or too proud to acquiesce in it 7. That God is Glorified upon others on harder Terms then any proposed to us Our Cup is nothing so bitter as the Lord Jesus's was nor like that of the Primitive Christians and Martyrs then and since They were scourg'd with Scorpions we in comparison but with small Rods. 8. Lastly That submission breaks the Blow God will not contend with a resigned Soul Satis est prostrasse But his Day falls heavily upon the Unquiet Proud and Obstinate With the froward he will behave himself frowardly Read Isa 2.11 12. As Incouragements to Resignation Consider 1. This frame is a greater Blessing then Deliverance Christ chose it rather then that the Cup should pass away And the Father rather granted it Certainly what the Father and Son preferred is best 2. This once attain'd Sufferings are Free-will-offerings Now Affliction is not an Absolute Necessity but the Souls Choice And what an Honour is it to be willing persons in such an hard case If we submit willingly we have a Reward if not a necessity of suffering however lies upon us to allude to 1 Cor. 9.16 17. David acknowledged that God put a special Honour upon him and his People when they offered willingly 1 Chron. 9.14 How much greater Honour is it to offer our selves to the pleasure of God in a suffering-season 3. This is evidently the Duty of the Day Fear is on every side The Fury of Bruitish Men is very high many of our Brethren are already opprest and bear it quietly God calls us to resignation to his Will in all Providences and aloud by the Voice of his Word And Refuge fails us Why that we may have no possibility of Evading this Duty And being it s now seasonable it should be beautiful and desirable in our Eyes Eccles 3.11 4. If we resign to the Will of God Faith shall be kept alive and our hold of our relation to and interest in God continued Christ in the height of his Sufferings could call God his God and commit his Spirit confidently into his hands Psal 31.5 5. If we survive and out-live the Storm God will make us eminently Vessels of Honour 1 Pet. 5.7 What great persons were Abraham and Isaac after they had resolved themselves into the Will of God Gen. 22.16 c. Nay the benifit thereof extended to their Posterity for many Generations What a blessed end had patient resigned Job James 5.11 6. If we Die in this Frame and Day according to the Will of God it shall be no loss but infinite advantage Isa 57.1 2. See it in David and Christ Psal 16.8 9 10. After Paul had submitted himself to the Will of God and the Lord Jesus Acts 20.24 21.13 How confident was he at his Dissolution and in what a Tryumphant Frame do we find him 2 Tim. 4.8
commanded Solomon to be made King Benaiah said Amen the Lord do so Or when in Imprecations of evil as Numb 5.22 the Woman tried by the Water of Jealousie which sprinkled on the Curse it blotted out the Curse if she was Innocent if Guilty her Thigh presently rotted she was to say Amen Amen let it be so if I be Guilty and let it be so if I be Innocent So at the end of the Curses Deut. 27.10 and all the People shall say Amen they are loath to have the Curse come therefore they are commanded there to say Amen but they need no command to Seal the Blessings with Amen all are apt enough to Beleive and Wish them But here is a double Amen which hath the greater Emphasis and requires greater Attention and Intention of mind as Neh. 9.5 Bless the Lord your God for ever and ever and Blessed be his Glorious Name which is exalted above all Blessings and Praise Ever and Ever is answered by Amen Amen or let it be ratified in Heaven so on Earth And the Jews say that he that pronounceth this Amen as he ought is greater than he that Blesseth in the Name of the Lord he that pronounceth this Amen with all his might the Gates of Heaven flie open to him But there are Three evil Amens they call the 1. Abbreviated in the first Sillable or Letter and whoever so pronounceth it as to hasten his Amen his Days shall be soon passed 2. There is Amen cut off in the last Sillable suppressed 3. There is the Pupillar or Orphan Amen when it is pronounced at random impertinently and unseasonably without Understanding Prayer or Praise foregoing and so there is no Father to beget Devotion in them and so 't is an Orphan Amen and his Children shall be Fatherless that pronounceth such a lifeless Word and a Fatherless Amen But he that with knowledg and fervour pronounceth this Amen his Days shall be prolonged upon Earth as Buxtorff relates 2. Now I am to give you some considerations and arguments for the use of this Amen and the manner of it and they are Seven 1. It is lawful and laudable publickly to use it because it is connatural to Prayer and Praise I do not lay the lawfulness of it upon a Persian decree or a positive Injunction set on things no ways connatural to the Action for that is forced Meat and turns a Mans Stomack and his Conscience There is no need for a Rubrick by the Men of the great Synagogue or a Canon to command a Man to blush when it is only the natural passion that will command it So when the heart is warm in Prayer with serious and earnest affections a double Amen doth as naturally flow from us as Milk from a Mothers Breast to her Suckling and Amen comes from Amen which signifies to Nurse as if it were if not the Mother yet the faithful Nurse of lively Devotion Assent to Repetitions is essential unto Prayer and it is not signified publickly but by our Amen Not that we are obliged to speak it always and with a loud Voice quantis arteriis opus est si pro sono audiamur Tert. what Lungs had we need to have if God hear us for our loudness But when the heart is affected we see here how the People stood up and lift up their hands to Heaven naturally signifying they would lift the Name of God with all their might but they cast down themselves bowing down their Heads and worshipping the Lord with their Faces to the ground who can hold his Breath from a groan or sigh when matter and affection meet together The Israelites here could not withhold their hands nor Hannah hold still her Eyes when earnest in Temple Prayer nor can a zealous heart hold the Tongue from moving to an Amen at the end of Prayer and Praise There is no Child of God that can say our Father but lower or louder he must and will say Amen The Jews in time of Incense called themselves mutes in deep silent Prayer when they praised God on Instruments Semivocates but when in open Prayer and Praises then they were Vocates in their Amens 2. We have the practise of the Old and New Testament Beleivers for our example In Moses you had it in Numbers and Deuteronomy and David oft useth it in the Psalms yea this double Amen Psal 41.13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting Amen and Amen God was Israels God accepting their Praises hearing Prayers fulfilling promises and this for Ever and Ever and be it Eternally ratified Amen and Amen to all Generations Psal 106.48 the same words are repeated with this exhortation let all the People say Amen Hallelujah And they had the same Praises and Petitions to offer therefore the same conclusion is suitable So the Prophet Jeremiah speaking of Gods Oath to give Canaan to the Jews says Oh Lord Amen or be it so Jer. 11.5 so Paul 1 Cor. 14.16 how can the Idiot the private Man who knows only his own private single Language say Amen to Prayer or Praise in another Tongue which not only imports the custom but the manner of saying Amcn to be with Faith and Understanding Eph. 3.21 to him be Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all Ages World without end Amen Yea Jesus Christ a greater than Moses Prophets and Apostles adds this conclusion to his perfect form of Petitions in Matth. 6. so in his Book of Revelations chap. 5 14. the Four Beasts and Four and Twenty Elders who represented tho whole Church of Jews and Gentiles together cry Amen Yea that innumerable Company of those Triumphing Souls who had white Robes and Palms in their Hands as Victors over Temptations with the Elders and Angels fell on their Faces and worshipped God saying Amen Blessing and Glory and Honour and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Power and Might be unto our God for Ever and Ever Amen Rev. 7.12 So at the fall of Babylon as the Voice of many Thunders and Waters the Church cries Amen Hallelujah The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth and hath Avenged the Blood of his Servants Rev. 19.4 Yea it lasts unto the mariage of the Lamb Rev. 22.20 still when the Bridegroom comes the Church cries Amen come Lord Jesus come quickly 3. Amen after Prayer and Praise is the Mans consent judgment and approbation of what is offered unto God it is the setting to of our Seal to all and our putting our Hands to bear a part in the Praises and to have a share in the Petitions It imports the desire of our Soul which is the formality of Prayer now all these are essential to these Duties and the pronunciation is but the publication of our reward Sense which is very significant in publick Worship Hearing is but the formal Sense in conceiving the Petitions but Speech brings them forth and is a more open profession and a more Masculine expression of Devotion Lamen 3.41 let us lift up our hearts