Or Falseness and Hypocrisie In truth no better than profane Madness in real mocking God with a meer outside all this while Or Thy abominable Lukewarmness towards God and Religion but adhesion to the World and to the Pleasures of Sin Those numberless neglects which thou hast been guilty of neglects of Prayer of Self-Examination of Repentance c. Those bold Transgressions In thine Iniquity perhaps more than one c. 3. Petitioning for A serious composed thinking mind Wisdom to consider thy latter end For 4 hearty persuasion of the Being and clearer Conceptions of the Nature of God so that thou may'st together fear him and love him with all thine heart Truth in the inward parts For a sense of true Goods and zeal for them Contempt of the World and all worldly Happiness a deep concernment for thy Duty Impartiality and Diligence therein The perpetual Guard of God's Grace and other things as God shall move thy heart Lastly Resolve by God's help to give thy self to be religious in good Earnest To personate Godliness and to double no more And particularly 1. To give out every day some small part of time to Religious Duties at least to Thought and Prayer in secret This by God's Grace will have a happy effect 2. When thou prayest or when thou hearest or readest c. to keep thy mind close to what thou art about at least to endeavour such attention and servour what thou can'st 3. To submit to Christ and treasure up whatsoever Light and Evidence thou receivest 4. To get serious and religious people about thee or to affect the Company of such And other like helps as God shall direct thee CHAP. III. The Second Duty advised to Making our Peace with God § 1. Seriousness in Religion puts a man immediately upon making his Peace with God § 2. Peace or Reconciliation with God in what sence soever taken effected by Repentance and Faith § 3. The proper Notions of Repentance and Faith both in common Language and Scripture § 4. In Scripture they are often put so as to comprise one another § 5. Yet is the joint Practice of both of them absolutely necessary to make our peace with God § 6. Four Steps to a penitent State § 7. The first of them a sight and sense of our own Guilt called by some Conviction of Sin § 8. The second Contrition The way to work it § 9. The third Confession to God What it is § 10. Confession to Man when necessary § 11. The fourth Forsaking Sin Two Branches thereof § 12. The Necessity of both § 13. The Method of effecting both § 14. Of Faith as more particularly concerned in making our Peace with God § 15. Of Prayer in this Case § 16. Of subsequent Care and Endeavours and of the Lord's Supper as the best Seal § 1. IT was good Counsel though given by one who had more need himself to have taken it than he to whom he gave it Acquaint now thy self with God and be at Peace thereby good shall come unto thee Job 22. 21. And whosoever is once serious in Religion as before urged will very tenderly feel himself concern'd to endeavour such Acquainting himself with God as may be a Method of Peace with him nay he will not be at ease with himself he will scarce give Sleep to his Eyes or Slumber to his Eye-lids till he has made some advance towards God for Mercy and so for Peace Supposing any Man now first to grow serious and so never yet to have been reconciled to God the sense of a vast load of Guilt will soon oppress and almost sink his Soul of no less a load than the whole Mass and Body of all his Omissions and Commissions ever since he came to any memory of his Actions not one of all pardoned for not one of all repented of So that he will be crying out with David Psal 69. 1 2. Save me O God for the waters are come in unto my Soul I sink in deep Mire where there is no standing I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me This will put him upon instant endeavours of Peace and Reconciliation § 2. Now there is say some a double Reconciliation of our selves to God a Reconciliation of the Person to him and a Reconciliation of the Heart and Nature a distinction if at all proper yet most certainly of such things as cannot be separated For without this latter namely the Reconciliation of the Mind at least begun and in a good measure accomplish'd the person can never be reconciled For if the Mind can never be separated from the Man then cannot the person be reconciled except the Mind be so also But let there be as much in the distinction as there can to effect both these kinds of Reconciliation we are to set out and proceed the same way The Practice of Repentance from dead works in its full Latitude and of Faith in Christ Jesus effects both § 3. There are scarce any two Names in the World more frequently in the Mouths of Christians than these two Repentance and Faith and there are perhaps no Duties of like importance less understood For both of them being in several places of Scripture used in several and very different Sences many plain persons are confounded in their Notions or in the understanding of them To make all then as distinct and plain as I am able The Word Repent or Repentance according to its proper import in usual Speech is no more than to be sorry for something which we have done amiss that is which we apprehend done to our own or others harm disgrace or prejudice some way or other which therefore we from our hearts wish undone and would call back or undo were it possible for us And Faith also properly signifies only Belief that is assenting or agreeing to any thing as true This is the natural and full import of both these Words in common Language But in Holy Scripture and with Divines though they retain this their general Notion yet because they are for the most part applied each of them to its certain proper Object as Repentance to Sin called by the Holy Ghost Dead Works and Faith to the Doctrine of the Gospel and so to God and Christ its Authors they receive from thence a determinate and restrained sence and signifie certain Christian Vertues which are partly Gifts of God that is wrought in us by his Grace or by a supernatural Power partly also our Duties because they are at least in the first beginnings of them such Acts which God requires of us and by the Means and Aids which he has provided and affords us has made and makes in our powers to exert or practise and in the progress growth or ripeness of them Habits attained by these former Acts to which he by his Grace hath excited and enabled us Repentance then as it is an Act of Christian Duty is an endeavour of forsaking Sin and of leading
After this how can I think of neglecting him through any tenderness of face Especially when I am at present in so far better that is easier and more tolerable Circumstances than he was I perhaps am laugh'd at by some Fools or Mad-men for obeying him but I am otherwise at ease and to have Heaven for the reward of overcoming this petty private affront Shall then such inconsiderable Trifles make me wave or forgo my Duty Far be it from me In any other Case whatsoever by like Consultations or Considerations as in these Cases now set down shall we through God's Grace and Blessing upon our honest endeavour find out particular means and by such thought work our hearts to particular resolution for breaking our selves of any other or whatsoever Sins we have found more peculiarly prevalent in us And thus as to the second Step of this Head of Practice The Third will be A particular Resolution or as occasion serves Vow touching the use of those Means which we have found most proper to amend us and touching such instances of our Manners which upon enquiry we have found most to need Reformation All general Resolutions we know must be performed in particular instances of Life and Action and therefore a particular Resolution touching those Means which by consideration we have found proper to each Case will be no less necessary than the general Resolution first proposed as to the main Body of the Work As for example Suppose avoiding ill Company be one Means I have found out to keep me from Intemperance and Excess or from loss of Time c. I 'll immediately resolve not only against loose but against vain Companions I 'll keep home more abandon certain Familiars estrange my self from such and such I 'll set my self certain employment so much for such a time c. Suppose again contenting my self with sufficient Provisions and abandoning a too peremptory Resolution I had taken up to be rich to such a degree be the Means I have discovered proper for the remedying my unjust oppressive dealing I 'll resolve on that and immediately order my Affairs accordingly But in such Cases as these perhaps single resolution will not suffice to hold our unstable Souls sometimes therefore but with much caution and deliberation we may do well to add Vow David or whatever holy Man was the Author of that Psalm did so Psal 119. 51. I have said that is resolved with my self to keep thy Words and lest that should not do ver 106. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Judgments Thus as to the first Part of the Method for breaking our selves of Sin by such Acts as are to be done for the present Those which are to be continued are the prosecution of these Resolutions or Vows by a constant study of Mortification and by daily endeavours of proficiency in Holyness through the whole following part of our Life Now the treating hereof belongs not to this first Class of Advices but is to be set down in the second Part. In the mean while we are to proceed with what yet remains for our present making our peace with God § 14. And now after this Practice of Repentance Faith interposes again and that not meerly Faith towards God or a belief of the Being Nature and Providence of God as hitherto most insisted on but Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ or Faith as called by the Apostle Rom. 3. 25. Faith in his Blood For him as bleeding for us upon the Cross as sacrificed upon that Altar hath God set forth to be a propitiation and it is by the Blood of his Cross that he made peace Col. 1. 20. 'T is the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God that purges our Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. 'T is by that one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. This is that Fountain set open to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for Sin and for Vncleanness Zechar. 13. 1. Hither therefore after all Confessions Contrition Tears Resolutions Vows and endeavours of Reformation the faithful Soul comes Here it exerts new Acts of Faith that is Trust Affiance and Dependance And as the Holy persons Matth. 28. 9. did corporally to our Saviour after his Resurection so must true Penitents as it were catching the Crucified Jesus by the Feet hold him fast after a spiritual sort as their only hope and refuge that only name given under Heaven that Dear Jesus which redeemed us from the Wrath to come and with Christ thus not in their Arms but Heart look up to the Eternal Father for pardon and peace through the Son of his Loves This distinct trust in Christ as sacrificed for our Sins in this Order or thus in conjunction with such practice of Repentance as set down exerted or exercised I conceive of most essential and singular Force to the perfecting our Peace both with God and in our own Consciences § 15. And now I see not any thing which remains speaking as to a certain course of transient Acts ordinarily to compleat a Man's Reconciliation with God except we should say it is requisite to Cloath all these Acts with serious and suitable Prayer Prayer is that Christian Duty which as I may say alone as it were gives a body to all the Acts of Grace in the Soul or as one well observes It is indeed that single Duty wherein Dr. Owen of the Spirit of Prayer every Geace is acted every Sin opposed every good thing obtained or impetrated of God Without it Contrition and Faith and Resolution are after a sort airy and volatil This fixes them and makes them substantial mature and permanent Nay it raises and strengthens or heightens them Prayer is such an Office as not only actuates or draws out into Exercise all Christian Graces but makes the Soul more earnest and zealous in the Actings of them Having therefore proceeded as above directed towards making thy Peace with God cast thy self in secret at the Throne of Grace in earnest and humble supplication confessing and bewailing thy Sin with the Exercise of all the Contrition thou canst excite passing Sentence on thy self acknowledging what thou hast deserved but withall pleading the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ the atonement made by the Blood of his Cross and casting thy self upon God's mercy through that great and alone true Propitiation bringing indeed the heartiest Purposes and making the firmest Resolutions thou can'st endeavouring to the utmost of thy Power to perform all that concerns thee on thy part by the Covenant of Grace but after all acknowledging thy self an unprofitable servant Luke 17. 10. disclaiming therefore any righteousness of thine own and beseeching Pardon for thy very Repentance begging to be sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus and to be found in him For he is the Lord our
Method of effecting both § 14. Of Faith as more particularly concern'd in making our Peace with God § 15. Of Prayer in this Case § 16. Of subsequent Care and Endeavours and of the Lord's Supper as the best Seal Matter and a Method for Devotion suitable to the 3d Chapter CHAP. IV. The Third Duty advised to laying up our Treasure in Heaven § 1. THree Points necessary to be spoken to under this Head § 2. A short account what the Heavenly Happiness is which we are to endeavour to secure § 3. It is no presumption in a faithful Soul to aim at or seek after this Happiness but in strictness a Duty § 4. Directions to secure it Of chusing God for our Happiness § 5. Of being full of good Works § 6. Of good Works in a more special sence § 7. How Christians of all sorts may be rich in good Works § 8. Works of Liberality and Mercy or of Bodily Charity peculiarly accounted laying up a Treasure in Heaven § 9. Charity to Men's Souls no less Matter and a Method for Devotion suitable to the Fourth Chapter CHAP. V. Of a Composed Estate both of Affairs and Mind § 1. DIsentangling our selves from this World a necessary Christian Duty § 2. The means thereto chiefly two Putting our Affairs in order and composing our Minds § 3. Particular Directions hereto Setting bounds to our desires and designs of getting § 4. Putting and keeping our Estates or Accounts in such Order as to be just to all § 5. Of Restitution § 6. Of settling Children and Relations § 7. Care in making and keeping a Will § 8. Reconciliation to Mankind § 9. Advice to Relations Secrets c. § 10. Resigning all to God and laying aside Soliicitude § 11. The Conclusion of this part Matter and a Method for Devotion suitable to the Fifth Chapter Be ye also ready A METHOD OF Preparation for Death and Judgment Quest What Course People should take to be Ready for Heaven Or which is much the same to be always prepared for Death and Judgment PART I. Chap. 1. § 1. To be Ready for Heaven and to be always prepared for Death and Judgment are the same § 2. Yet this Question contains two Questions in it § 3. This Question no where expresly put or closely resolved in Scripture and some probable Reasons why § 4. But Preparation or being always ready for our Lord 's Coming frequently enjoyned and its Nature set forth at large throughout the whole Scripture § 5. The Design of this Treatise and general Branches of the Preparation necessary § 6. This Work must not end but with our Lives yet is to be begun as early as may be § 1. THE Holy Ghost has assured us That there is no Work nor Device nor Wisdom in the Grave Eccles 9. 10. But that after Death only comes Judgment Heb. 9. 27. And in the place where the Tree falleth there it shall be Eccles 11. 3. That is say even the Jewish Masters In the condition wherein Death finds us God judgeth us Immediately then upon the departure of the Soul out of the Body the state of such dissolved Person is everlastingly and unchangeably determined as to his future Weal or Wo and a Gulph fixed between the Blessed and the Damned so that they who would pass from one to the other cannot Luke 16. 26. Neither is there any return from either Wherefore after Death there being no preparation possible to be made for Judgment it must unavoidably follow Preparation for Death and Preparation for Judgment include one another or are much the same and he that is provided for one is also provided for the other for whoso is not prepared for Judgment before his Death can never be provided for it because after Death no Work is to be done no Provision can be made And finally Inasmuch as whosoever goes out of this World in an estate well provided for Death and Judgment shall most certainly rest from their Labours their Works following them Rev. 14. 13. receive at the last day that happy Sentence Come ye blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Matt. 25. 34. Therefore whosoever is prepared for Death and Judgment is also ready for Heaven So that all these Questions are most evidently in effect one and the same § 2. Notwithstanding the Case of Conscience as above put and 't is indeed as weighty a Case of Conscienoe as well can be put does really contain in it two Questions First What should a man do to prepare himself for Death Secondly What to maintain such prepared Temper And accordingly must in the process of this Discourse receive in Justice a double Answer For it is certain many People may have been in some part of their days for a while both in their own sense and in reality tolerably prepared for Death who yet through sundry intanglements in the World and the general deceitfulness of Sin may either totally or very dangerously relapse from this state so dangerously without doubt as that though they may not perhaps through the extraordinary Mercy of God to them finally miss of eternal Salvation yet shall they forfeit all Comfort in a dying hour and go out of this World both in their own and others apprehensions as if bound over and consigned to everlasting Torments a most dreadful degree of Misery this most certainly Which Consideration should awaken all good People always to maintain as well as at first endeavour to attain such a prepared state as we are at present about to consult of § 3. In the mean time both these being Questions whereto a full and distinct Resolution is one of the most necessary things imaginable to People of whatsoever Rank Sex or Age assignable a man would wonder that neither our Lord Jesus himself nor any of his Apostles have any where or in any one place of Holy Scripture professedly and expresly delivered an entire and close Answer thereto nay that we find not so much as either of the Questions once directly and plainly put either to our Lord or the Apostles in all the Records of their Ministry Indeed we have a Question which interpretatively may seem at first the same or somewhat near it put by some relenting persons who were in a way to their Conversion or as one may say under the pangs of the New Birth Acts 2. 37. Men and Brethren what shall we do And yet more nearly by the penitent Jailor Acts 16. 30. Sirs what must I do to be saved But in both these Instances the Persons who make the Enquiry express no respect to Death or Judgment nor seem at that time to have had immediately an eye on either Those in the first Instance being at that time by St. Peter's Sermon only under the first conviction of their Sin in crucifying the Lord of Life seem meerly to have designed by their Question What shall we do to get this so great Sin
a new Life or a Change of Manners for the better it is a sorrow consisting not so much in grief or transient Affection though there is many times that too in it as of setled Dissent and Dislike and so of real Action it is setting the Heart against Sin and because it is impossible for us to undo the Ill we have done a taking care we sin no more whether by doing what we ought not or the neglecting what we ought to do and as it is an Habit or State it is a changed Heart and Life For by frequent and constant endeavour of a new Life the very frame and temper of our Hearts will be changed and that changed Frame and Temper will have a constant influence upon our Actions and so our Life will be changed Thus as to the nature of Repentance Now as to Faith The most general Act of Christian Duty so called is the Soul 's agreeing or yielding that the Gospel or the way to Heaven which Christ Jesus and his Apostles taught is true It presupposes therefore the understanding of that Doctrine or Way Now the particular Acts of it are as various as the Parts of the Gospel And though with many People Use hath obtained that a Belief of the Promises and indeed of one part of them of the promised Blessing without the respect due to the other part the Condition of that Blessing and so a trust in God through Christ is esteemed the great Act of Faith yet is the assenting or agreeing to whatsoever is affirmed in the Gospel as that Christ died rose again now sits in Heaven shall come to judge the World c. as much or more properly an Act of true Christian Faith as such Trust or Affiance which in strictness is a distinct Christian Vertue grounded in Faith In like manner also is the receiving this dreadful Threat He that believeth and so repenteth not shall be damned a true Act of Faith yet not of Trust And to conclude the Belief of all the Commands in the Gospel not only that they came from God are reasonable and fit for us to observe but that they are an effectual and certain way to everlasting happiness so that whosoever yields the obedience of Faith shall be saved is as much an Act a necessary Act of Christian Faith as any of the rest And the Habit of Faith is nothing else but a rooted perswasion of all these the several parts of the Gospel by which the Soul is ready as occasion offers to exert any of these Acts Thus as to the Nature of Repentance and Faith when they signifie or are taken for Christian Vertues or Graces And yet even when thus taken in Scripture though they are not always even in Scripture it self taken for Christian Vertues yet I say when thus taken they are each of them used in a very different extent § 4. Sometimes in a very ample and large sence Synecdochically as we speak are they put not only for themselves but what accompanies them And thus the Scripture seems to make one while Repentance one while Faith the whole Condition of the Covenant of Grace or to put one of them for all that we on our part are by that Covenant bound to do in order to our acceptance with God or to the pardon of our Sin and Salvation Thus not only when St. John the Baptist and the Apostles but when Christ himself first went out to preach the Kingdom of Heaven or teach people the way thither the Sum of their Doctrine is recorded to have been Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3. 2. and 4. 17. Mark 6. 12. No doubt both our Lord and his Apostles preached Faith as well as Repentance all along and St. Mark in the beginning of his Gospel expresly brings in our Lord so preaching ch 1. 14 15. Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe the Gospel Yet in the other places Repentance is put alone but with an intent no question that people should understand therewith its necessary Concomitant and Companion Faith And thus when our Lord instructs the Apostles in what they were to preach he tells them It behooved that he should suffer and rise again and that Repentance and Remission of Sin should be preached in his name among all Nations Luke ult 47. And as pursuant hereto St. Peter when he preaches to those who were pricked in their heart by the sense of their guilt in crucifying the Lord of Life who therefore had as much need of Faith in the blood of Jesus for Remission as any could have When he preaches I say to them what they should do to obtain Pardon he requires in express terms only Repent and be Baptized Acts 2. 38. and chap. 3. 10. to others of the same Nation and under the same guilt Repent ye and be converted In this last place indeed Repentance is more explained than before but yet no mention made of Faith in any of these places where yet the Design was to set down the Condition on which Sin might be pardoned which as will be soon evident is Faith as well as Repentance Again in other places me meet with mention of Faith or believing alone without any mention of Repentance Thus in the promise annex'd to the Apostle's Commission for preaching the Gospel Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned And when St. Paul teacheth the poor humble Jailor what he should do to be saved all he gives in Instruction is only Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved and thine House Acts 16. 31. Here we see believing or Faith alone without any mention of Repentance has Salvation promised to it as if a Man were to do nothing to be saved but believe the Gospel Nay St. Paul in his Epistles seems to go beyond what is asserted in any of these places concluding from due Premises Rom. 3. 28. Therefore a Man is justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law That is without a Jewish Mosaical Righteousness And the same he says in other places The Reason hereof undoubtedly is for that sincere believing the Gospel or Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ doth most certainly involve or carry with it Repentance He that receives from his heart that Doctrine or believes that way to Heaven which our Lord Christ taught will seek Heaven by Repentance or breaking off his Sin Else it is plain he believes not what Christ preached at the very first Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And if he truly and Christianly repent it is plain he believes in Christ for he takes that very way to Salvation to which Faith in Christ directs him § 5. Yet at another time when the Holy Ghost speaks more at large distinctly and expresly both Repentance and Faith are
acknowledging his fault and desiring pardon and reconciliation This is expresly our Lord's Doctrine Matth. 5. 23 24. Therefore if thou bring thy Gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift And as far as this is any part of the satisfaction required in the Romish Church under the same Caution as before we not only contend not but most readily admit it yea and require it 3. In case of the guilt of any particular Sin pressing the Conscience and any doubts fears or disquiets of Mind which private Christians are not able themselves to satisfie Nay in case any suspect the weakness of their own Judgments or proneness to flatter and deal too favourably with themselves which Suspicions there are often great Reasons for such persons may and ought to have recourse to their spiritual Guide who may direct them in truer fuller and more sufficient Methods of Repentance instruct them in the Promises of Pardon and pray with them and for them that they may obtain it But in this Case we are now speaking to Confession to a Minister stands in the Church as an Act of Christian Discretion and free choice not of absolute and perpetual necessity much less is it in all Cases of mortal Sin a Duty as it is made by some For even in this Case we are now treating of one Christian Friend may most charitably and profitably confess his Sin to another though as we speak a Lay-Person and beg his Counsel Assistance and Prayers to God for Pardon which is the true sense of St. James chap. 5. ver 16. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much But all these are particular Cases the two first also primarily and ordinarily necessary for reconciling our selves to Men rather than to God though without them where by particular Reasons requisite and in our own power ' we cannot look upon our selves reconciled to God and so none of these belong absolutely to Repentance in general whereby in all kinds of Sin we make our peace with God and which is under present consideration And thus far of Confession whether to God or Man as a third Step to or Concomitant of Repentance § 11. A Fourth and the most necessary of all and which of all yet mentioned nearest approacheth to or even enters the very nature of true Repentance is forsaking Sin that is breaking off the Practice of it and endeavouring to root out the Habit Curstom yea and all Inclination thereto Now if we duly consider the great variety or sad abundance of the Habits of Sins in us we shall soon discern the breaking our selves off them to be a larger Work and of a far vaster scope and compass than we were at first aware of For we have all of us Sins of Omission as well as of Commission and no doubt some Habits of both Habits I say most of us of doing nothing of Laziness putting off and totally neglecting Duties as well as Habits of doing Evil Habits of common Sloth and Habits of spiritual Sloth or of being backward to dull and slow in all holy Duties as well as Habits of Excess in eating drinking apparel sleep c. Habits too perhaps of Covetousness of Voluptuousness of Ambition of Pride with general inordinacy of Passions All these and other like true Repentance breaks a man of so that this our fourth Step will contain in it two Particulars or a Negative and Positive Part according to the Prophet a ceasing to do evil and learning to do well or the abandoning the old conversation all sinful Life and Practice and the Endeavour and Practice of such Vertues and Duties which we before neglected or which are most contrary to our former Evils in the Language of the Apostle Ephes 4. 22 23. Putting off concerning the former Conversation the Old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts And being renewed in the Spirit of our Mind And indeed the Necessity and Method of Practising of both these Particulars is one and the same § 12. First As to the Necessity of them both Without both these all Convictions all the Contrition imaginable all Confessions find not Mercy with God nor avail to make our Peace For the Promise of Mercy or Peace runs thus Prov. 28. 13. Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his Sins shall find Mercy And forsaking is clearly the more momentous Act of much more weight and consequence than confession For in case of wickedness persisted in God has protested not to hearken to our Confessions Cries or Prayers When ye spread forth your hands saith he I will hide mine eyes from you when ye make many Prayers I will not hear Isa 1. 15. But wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow though they be red as Crimson they shall be as Wool And to the same purpose speaketh the Holy Ghost by Ezekiel chap. 18. 21 22. Observe here also as before those two branches set distinctly Turning from all Sins and keeping all God's Statutes or doing that which is lawful and right The same have we over again as distinctly chap. 33. 19. of the same Prophet Nor is the Doctrine of the New Testament different This is the genuine and true meaning of putting off the Old Man with his deeds and putting on the New Man Coloss 3. 9 10. as it is by command made a duty or can possibly be an act of ours Nothing else but Eschewing of evil and doing good Habitually by constant endeavours and impartially which St. Peter also tells us is the Course all they who love life must still take 1 Peter 3. 10 11. It is remarkable that when many of the Pharisees and People were Baptized of John confessing their Sins thinking haply that Confession with the Baptism of so holy a person greater than whom had not been born of Woman might stand them in much stead God-wards the Holy Baptist entertains this confessing multitude with no better a welcome than O Generation of Vipers Think not to say with your selves we have Abraham to our Father c. But bring forth fruits meet for Repentance As if he had said content not your selves with these Confessions nor this Baptism act and live as becomes true Penitents For the Axe is now under the Gospel laid unto the root of the Tree Therefore every Tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen down and cast into the Fire And to wave other no less express sayings both of our Lord and of his Apostles
himself Thirdly Pause now a while for Meditation and due thought that thy Resolutions in the end may be the riper more considerate and durable And especially think with thy self Is there not more solid joy and comfort in a few moments of such Address to God as this thou hast now made and in such converse with him in well grounded hopes and a reasonable prospect that thou shalt hereafter have the perfect sight and eternal enjoyment of the glorious God than in all the Contentments and pleasures thou ever yet tastedst in the World Wherefore resolve 1. To quit all other Happiness but the Almighty God and to take God alone for thy Portion thy Shield and thy great Reward Worldly Goods indeed thou maist use in thy journey but thou maist not make them thine End nor solace thy self without looking up to God in them Psal 73. 25 26 24 28. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Thou Lord shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory It is good for me to draw near to God I have put my trust in the Lord GOD that I may declare all his works in Heaven everlastingly before him Having thus resolved in thy heart proceed and resolve further 2. By all means possible to endeavour the securing God as thy Portion for ever 1. By good works in the general sense of the term that is by Vniversal and Impartial Obedience 2. By good works in a more particular sence answerable to thy condition as set down By Liberality to the poor By other works of Bodily mercy By Charity to Men's Souls or the like 3. By faith with Humility daily to make and maintain claim to God as thy portion And whatsoever else God shall direct thee And may God direct thee and be thy portion for ever So prays the Author for thee whoever readest this and so do thou pray for him while he lives CHAP. V. Of a Composed Estate both of Affairs and Mind § 1. DIsentangling our selves from this World a necessary Christian Duty § 2. The means thereto chiefly Two putting our Affairs in Order and Composing our Minds § 3. Particular Directions hereto Setting bounds to our desires and designs of getting § 4. Putting and keeping our Estates or Accounts in such order as to be just to all § 5. Of Restitution § 6. Of Settling Children and Relations § 7. Care in making and keeping a Will § 8. Reconciliation to Mankind § 9. Advice to Relations Secrets c. § 10. Resigning them all to God and laying aside Solicitude § 11. The Conclusion of this Part. § 1 THose who have practised the former Advices or Prescriptions may be presumed to have secured to themselves a Happiness in the other World wherefore being that it is most sure they must shortly and they know not how soon depart hence it now is both just and seasonable to move them to Disentangle themselves from this World For the proving this to be all Christian Peoples both Duty and Interest let it but be granted what is above set forth and has been proved that it is our Duty and Interest to be always ready and this inavoidably follows that it is our Duty to be disentangled For is a Man ready for a Journey who has Fetters and Bolts on or who is loaden with Chains and Irons which it is not possible in a short time to knock off or rid him from No more is the Man who is involved in the cares and business but especially in the Love of this World fit or ready for his passage into that heavenly Country a Country or State wherein we are to live at another rate than we do here and for the Purity and Liberty whereof we must be somewhat prepared by a holy and abstract Life before we can be capable of being blessed therein Nor does it seem needful to inlarge in shewing how sinful as well as how unreasonable it is for a Man to incumber himself or to remain incumbred more than by his Duty necessitated in worldly Affairs There is nothing more commonly known than our Lord's reprimand or check to that busy good Woman Luke 10. 41. Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things The original terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aptly express the Course and Nature of many of our Lives They are nothing but a State of distraction and tumult Nor can any thing be more plain than that the cares of this Life and love of this World and busy ploding about it do put the Mind and Affections at as great a distance from God as do most of those Sins which are reputed the most scandalous St. John affirms thus much commanding 1 John 2. 15. that we Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him And we have above had occasion to consider the sad truth of the Apostle St. Paul's observation touching Men that are resolved to be rich 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts which drown Men in Destruction and Perdition For the love of Money is the Root of all Evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows In a word no wise Man will no Christian Man can look upon the best Condition or most plentiful and firm settlement in this World any otherwise than as a Good Inn to a Traveller If we can get but convenient Refreshments and Necessaries to pass on with comfort it is as much as we should look after The way-faring Man who turneth in to stay for a Night would be esteemed a Mad Man if he should spend the time wherein he should eat rest and sleep in furnishing his Room and laying in Stores of Provisions and Superfluities as if he were to abide there for term of Life And just so wise a Course is it for us who have here no abiding place but are only to pass on towards Heaven to spend those Days and Years which God has allotted us for Life and furnishing our Souls with Knowledge Grace and Vertue to qualify us for Heaven meerly in Earthly Cares and Labours and in endless Perplexities about compassing Wealth which we must leave behind us for ought we know before to morrow morning to him that comes next and which will be our loss rather than advantage when we come unto our true Home and Country Good Works may follow us but Money or Great Estates cannot except it be to appear in Judgment against us for coming unjustly by them or setting our hearts too much upon them and so enslaving our selves to them and making meer Earth-worms of our Souls § 2. But it is much more
way of handling the Case put which in this polite Age may to many seem mean yea even contempible But the Author hopes his Readers will be so prudent or favourable as to remember The Subject Matter here treated is to be understood by the meanest and plainest people and therefore to be made as plain as may be The Study of such Plainness has many times occasioned more variety and even Baldness of Expressions for the same thing than would have been otherwise pardonable which varied Expressions are sometimes put in Parentheses sometimes brought in by That is or otherwise And if the Authors Intention herein be understood it will appear this way of Explanation of a harder Word or Form of Speech by an easier is several ways useful and so to the generality of People far above Contempt Instances hereof the Judicious Reader may observe almost in every Page But to assign a few Pag. 26. the Term To redeem all time possible is used Now what the Author's meaning in that Phrase is every poor plain Man or Woman may not perhaps understand therefore in a Parenthesis it follows that is to make use of all Opportunities and Advantages thou hast to prepare thy self for the other World Thus it is plain to all what the Author there meant by redeeming of Time Again p. 22. lin 11. Meditate that is think and consider Meditation is nothing but Thought and Consideration Sometimes again the Particle Or is used to the same purpose as That is So p. 47. Decalogue or Ten Commandments It is almost impossible to write as our Language now stands but now and then a hard or uncertain and dark Expression must drop But such Explication or ascertaining it as I have used I hope makes amends for those Mishaps and more needs not be said on this Point A Word or Two may be needful to be added touching the seeming Meanness or even Baseness of divers Materials and Observations which go to the making up this Piece As to which Point no more shall be said but that it is to be considered sundry things herein are writ even for the meanest poorest People that live for such the Author has had occasion to converse with and such he is not ashamed to own that he many times visits People who live upon their daily Labours nay possibly upon Alms. These poor Creatures have Souls to save as precious in the Sight of God as Rich Mens and therefore are to be exhorted and encouraged to such good Works as are incident to their Condition or as they are capable of They are also to be spoken to in Language befitting their Capacities and Circumstances Now to such as these it is plain the Author had an Eye as in other places so especially in pag. 162 163 c. Let all Peoples Needs be considered and each sort take their Share and perhaps little will be found contemptible or such which might have been spared And thus much as to this First Part. The Second Part fitted to Persons of more Proficiency and who have leisure and possibly a Prospect of more time before them than some miserable Creatures that may be concerned in this First Part is as good as finish'd and shall God willing be publish'd as this finds Acceptance with Serious and Devout Christians From such the Author hopes he may gain some Intimations both how he may amend this Part and make the other more compleat And the number of such Souls may the God of all Grace daily encrease and both perfect all that are such already and preserve them to his Heavenly Kingdom Good Reader make the same Prayer for thy true Well wisher the Author ER. ERRATA PAge 10. Line 6. read Conscience p. 14. l. 19. blot out they p. 23. l. 21. r. thee in the Knowledge of p. 30. l. 1. r. some others p. 31. l. 17. r. in Persons of riper Years p. 51. l. 2. r. fix p. 61. l. 20. r. First Stage p. 69. l. 7. r. submit to Truth p. 80. l. 4. r. we meet with p. 125. l. 11. r. Grace p. 174. l. 2. r. resigning then p. 175 l. 25. r. plodding Escapes of some false Points and Accents are waved as less material The CONTENTS of the several Chapters and Sections of the First Part. Quest. WHat Course people should take to be ready for Heaven Or which is much the same to be always prepared for Death and Judgment CHAP I. § 1. To be ready for Heaven and to be always prepared for Death and Judgment are the same § 2. Yet this Question contains two Questions in it § 3. This Question no where expresly out or closely resolved in Scripture and some probable Reasons why § 4. But Preparation or being always ready for our Lord 's Coming frequently enjoined and its Nature set forth at large throughout the whole Scripture § 5. The Design of this Treatise and General Branches of the Preparation necessary § 6. The work of this preparation must not end but with our lives yet is to be begun as early as may be Matter and a Method for Devotions suitable to the First Chapter CHAP. II. The first Duty advised to Religion in good Earnest § 1. The first rank of people to be prepared for Death and Judgment such who are perfectly to begin § 2. Provision for removing the Scruples of some § 3. What Death and Judgment are § 4. What generally makes Men afraid unwilling and unfit to die § 5. Such Practices as will answer the three Intentions proposed will be all the preparation necessary for persons within this Period § 6. The first Duty to be practised giving the mind to Religion in good earnest § 7. This much wanting in the generality § 8. What is the meaning of giving a Man's mind to Religion § 9. Vsing ones self to think a proper means to make the mind serious in Religion § 10. A particular Train of Thoughts to this purpose § 11. The whole Evidence summed up and this Head concluded Matter and a Method for Devotion suitable to the Second Chapter CHAP. III. The second Duty advised to making our Peace with God § 1. SEriousness in Religion puts a Man immediately upon making his Peace with God § 2. Peace or Reconciliation with God in what sence soever taken effected by Repentance and Faith § 3. The proper notions of Repentance and Faith both in Common Language and Scripture § 4. In Scripture they are often put so as to comprize one another § 5. Yet is the joint practice of both of them absolutely necessary to make our Peace with God § 6. Four steps to a penitent State § 7. The first of them a sight and sense of our own guilt called by some conviction of Sin § 8. The Second Contrition the way to work it § 9. The third Confession to God What it is § 10. Confession to Man When necessary § 11. The fourth forsaking Sin Two Branches thereof § 12. The necessity of both § 13. The
thou hast And so God prosper thy Work and my Work to us both CHAP. II. The First Duty Advised to Religion in good earnest § 1. The first Rank of People to be prepared for Death and Judgment such who are perfectly to begin § 2. Provision for removing the Scruples of some § 3. What Death and Judgment are § 4. What generally makes Men afraid unwilling and unfit to die § 5. Such Practices as will answer the three Intentions proposed will be all the Preparation necessary for Persons within this Period § 6. The first Duty to be practised Giving the mind to Religion in good earnest § 7. This much wanting in the Generality § 8. What is the meaning of giving a Man's Mind to Religion § 9. Vsing ones self to think a proper Means to make the Mind serious in Religion § 10. A particular Train of Thoughts to this purpose § 11. The whole Evidence summed up and this Head concluded § 1. TO enter then upon our first Stage namely An Account of such Particulars in order to being prepared for Death which concern those who are quite to begin this Work Of these we may reckon two sorts First Licentious loose ungodly People be they young or old who if they have thought at any time of Death Judgment or another World it has been in a sort against their wills at least they have generally thrust such thoughts out of their Minds and put far from them the evil day so that Repentance Turning to God and all good Conscience are strangers to them These People sometimes Judgment overtakes in this Life and they are likely to be carried off by Accidents by violent means or perhaps by the Hand of Justice and then in a great deal of confusion of Mind they think of preparing for Death A second sort there are more orderly persons who live at the common rate of People amongst us professing their Country Religion but in good earnest minding little of any Religion to the purpose They perhaps sometimes at Sermons or by hearing or reading Holy Scriptures or good Books have been prick'd in Conscience and thought of repenting and in such moods have prayed to God to forgive their Sins and resolved to lead new Lives but presently the Cares of this world and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Lusts of other things Mark 4. 19. entring and seizing their hearts have dash'd those beginnings and blasted any farther success of Grace and although there may be some knowledge and sense of Duty remaining in them to work upon yet they are persectly to begin all through Repentance and so all Preparation for Death Now even these as well as the former though haply they may not as the others come under the Lash of the Law to die by publick Justice yet are with them and all men obnoxious to Epidemical or Acute Diseases Plague Fevers Fluxes c. to VVars and such overflowing Scourges which sometimes sweep away the greatest part of a Nation to private Accidents such as Falls Bruises breaking of Bones Wounds loss of Blood and a hundred like Occurrences by which they may suddenly be brought to the Gates or into the Chambers of Death and in these and like Cases it will be necessary for them to begin and make up what present preparation they can for Death and that as speedily as may be If they survive their danger they may mend or ripen their Preparations if they do not the Question is What can be done on a sudden or in a sew Months or Weeks to put such People in a likelihood of Salvation that is in a state any ways tolerably prepared sor Death and Judgment I said in a few Months or VVeeks for as to a preparation to be made in a few Days God knows some poor People think of a few Hours I do not pretend to any Methods or Directions touching such a Preparation the thing is if not impossible yet not ordinarily to be effected Now these Persons perhaps many of them according to course of Nature may be at a long distance from the Grave yet sith they know not how soon they may drop or be hurried thither it is the Interest and Duty of them and of all to make up the best preparation for Death they can even for the present lest they should be surprized and taken totally unprepared Nor will this part be only usefull to such for though all may not be perfectly to begin yet the Counsels to be given to Beginners may supply some Defects in riper years of common Rank The certainty of Death once and the uncertainty of the time when how soon or by what means makes as instant sudden and perfect preparation for Death as may be necessary even to all whatsoever Never will any wise man think he can begin his Preparations too soon and make them too perfect nor is there any thing more common than mens bitter lamenting and alas finding themselves to have all cause to lament that they begun too late or have been too slighty and superficial in them But when did we ever see or hear any repent or who can be presumed ever to have had cause to repent that they were too early or too mature and careful herein Now that our way may be clear I think fit to remove one stumbling Block § 2. It is not impossible but that to some Beginners who may be grave Persons exercised in Science and Business more considerative thoughtful and of more comprehensive heads and so seeing further than others it is not impossible I say but to such this work at first may seem so long and to consist of so great variety of Parts so many things necessary to being duly prepared sor Death and the Tribunal of an all-seeing God as that they may think none can be certain he knows or any that he teaches all points necessary in this case Especially it having been above confessed that the Prescriptions or Directions proper hereto are no where in Scripture put all together but are diversly scattered almost through the Holy Canon This Suspicion I have found in some Now for delivering our selves from under this Scruple and for satisfying our Minds touching the sufficiency of the Advices which shall hereafter be given let us in the beginning enquire what Death is and what Judgment And then what should make us any more unwilling or loath to die than we are at night when weary after the Business of the day to go to rest or than a Day-Labourer would be in the Evening to receive his Wages and be dismiss'd Which things when we have seen we shall soon discern what we have to deliver our selves from and what to provide and consequently all that can be necessary or profitable for us according to our condition to do in order to an happy end § 3. First then let us endeavour as intimately as we can to see what Death is and at a distance narrowly look this Gorgon or to use a
retired or gone alone and considered the particular grievousness of thy sins the vast multitudes of them the Mercy Love and Goodness thou hast sinn'd against c. Answ Lord I have not And so in others This is most easie and even this will be very profitable and soon bring Christian people of all sorts in secret freely to pour out their Souls before God Nor 2. Can any such person after this practice be well at a loss for Petition The Soul seeing in particular what it wants cannot be presumed ignorant what to ask or unable to ask it At least it is but looking over the Particulars again and turning them into Petitions Nay even while confessing our Guilt and our Wants we can hardly forbear at least we may both naturally and profitably proceed at the end of each Particular conâ—essed to add Petitions for pardon of Sin and for supply of the Grace we need As suppose in my examination of my self I find I want a sight of my Sins and have confessed so much to God how can I forbear to add by way of Petition Lord shew them to me in which case no one that reads Holy Scripture can be so barren as not many times to recollect sundry Petitions of Holy Men to like effect which will be marvellously helpful and quickning As particularly that Psal 19. 12. Who can understand his Errors Cleanse thou me from secret faults To which a Soul in the condition we suppose will naturally add And that I may be cleansed shew them me O Lord so as I may mourn over them duly and throughly repent The like I cannot but presume a little Practice will soon naturalize any to in other points and therefore forbear adding more in this Case Lastly As to Resolution Though the Particulars requisite here may be very different according as People have been more or less guilty in resisting Grace neglecting Repentance and hardning their hearts yet thus much may be of general behoof to resolve upon 1. To set apart for a while daily or weekly some time for the particular survey of our whole Life from our first memory of our selves and for the viewing as near as able all the Sins of each part of our Age. 2. Daily to particularize in our Confessions and ever to go mourning over such sins wherein we have more grievously or more frequently fallen 3. To be impartial in the practice of every particular Branch of Duty in the whole forementioned Method or Course of making our Peace with God And whatever else God shall move thy heart to For these are only Instances of some material Points by way of Direction to make pious Souls understand that practice which a little Vse and God's Grace will soon familiarize to them CHAP. IV. The Third Duty advised to Laying up our Treasure in Heaven § 1. THree Points necessary to be spoken to under this head § 2. A short account what the Heavenly happiness is which we are to endeavour to secure § 3. It is no presumption in a faithful Soul to aim at or seek after this happiness but in strictness a duty § 4. Directions to secure it Of chusing God for our happiness § 5. Of being full of Good Works § 6. Of Good Works in a more special sence § 7. How Christians of all sorts may be rich in Good Works § 8. Works of Liberality and Mercy or of bodily charity peculiarly accounted laying up a Treasure in Heaven § 9. Charity to Men's Souls no less so § 1. HE who has been careful and conscientious in his endeavors to reconcile himself to God as before directed may through our Lord Christ who is our Peace come with an humble boldness to the Father He may in his name ask of the Father whatsoever he can need or finds himself at a loss for and he shall receive it He may in special ask of him everlasting life and happiness in Heaven Nay he ought now to think of no happiness below Heaven but there to place his heart there to settle his affections and in a word as our Lord enjoyns to lay up his Treasure in Heaven the doing which is the next advice or third step in this our first Stage But for sinful Dust and Ashes to aim so high may perhaps at first seem to many poor dejected Souls as much a presumption as to secure a happiness in Heaven seems to carnal Men impossible Nay 't is not improbable many may be much at a loss what conceptions to frame of any happiness there at all We have been here so accustomed to live meerly by sense that we can conceive of little or nothing which falls not under our senses What the pleasures of Eating and Drinking are what sleep and carnal joys we know too well But what happiness there can be in a World where 't is said there 's none of these we cannot easily apprehend It will therefore be necessary here First to shew what that Happiness is which we are to propose to our selves in Heaven Secondly to prove in a few words that for persons who have made their peace with God 't is not presumption but their Duty as well as Interest to lay up their Treasure or place their happiness in Heaven and indeed in God himself And Lastly to assign such means whereby we may secure to our selves the heavenly Happiness or Treasure § 2. And First to give some account what that happiness in Heaven is which we are to propose to our selves Not at present so largely and distinctly as in a fitter place will be expedient to be given but at least generally and in the gross so as may inflame our desires after it and excite our diligence to fecure it The happiness above then is a State of fuller and more absolute blessedness and joy than here we are able to conceive of A State wherein all our reasonable powers shall be made perfect and perfectly imployed on such things which will be most intirely suitable and satisfactory to them And not only the Soul thus raised but even the Body it self shall be exalted to such a degree of Purity and Eternal Ease as to have nothing in it or about it which argues any imperfection in its kind nothing which can hinder the mind in its noblest Actions nothing which can affect the Man with any inconvenience We shall see God as he is face to face See him I say with the eyes of our mind not these poor weak bodily ones That is we shall know him even as we our selves are known 1 Cor. 13. 12. not indirectly or by a long compass about as we now do but intuitively by immediate Revelation as it were looking straight upon him The mind shall be so raised as to be able to conceive truly and properly of the Being Nature and Perfections of God Our bodily Eyes indeed shall behold the Lord Jesus for he has a body visibly to be beheld and even this certainly will be a glorious and most
sure thou dost so Tell him thou wilt leave thy Heart thy Soul and Affections with him at present never again to be withdrawn at least thou desirest with all thy heart they never may be withdrawn Beseech him that he will keep them to himself and accept of thee that he will vouchsafe to become thy Happiness and make thee know he is so Try him thus and see if he will refuse thee If he should he must do that he never did yet nay he must do what he has said he never will do John 6. 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Christ at least has said it and Christ and his Father are one Secondly having once solemnly made this Choice accustom thy self in thy daily Devotions to go to God to look on him and claim him as thy Portion The Saints in Scripture often did so David when in the Cave forlorn and seemingly cast off did so Psal 142. 5. I cried unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living Asaph did so Psal 73. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever And whosoever was the Author of Psal 119. at ver 57. did so Thou art my portion O Lord I have said that I would keep thy words And Jeremy did so Lam. 3. 24. The Lord is my portion saith my Soul therefore will I hope in him Nay God himself seems to have delighted to be so called Jer 10. 16. The portion of Jacob is not like them that is Jehovah the alone true God is not like the gods of the Nations And again chap. 50. 19. to the same Effect In both places this seems to be put as a Name no less peculiar to God than his incommunicable Name Jehovah Nay it is more than this if more can be Deut. 32. 9. The Lord's portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his inheritance O infinite Condescention God is his Peoples Portion and they are his Wherefore if thou canst make it out to thy self that is if thy Heart bear thee witness that thou hast given thy self up to God to be his and hast thus made Choice of God to be thy Happiness doubt not to call him thine thy portion thy exceeding great reward thy God and make thy humble and frequent Claim to him as such This will surther ratify thy Choice and as I may say more endear thee to thy heavenly Father and him to thee This will fill thee by degrees with Joy and Peace in believing This will give thee some tast of Heaven and the Enjoyment of God before-hand § 5. Especially if thou be diligent in what is the next Direction an Endeavour to be full of good Works for by these we lay up Treasure in Heaven By these we not only secure our right to Glory but through the infinite Grace of God according to his Method and Promise of rewarding we add to that exceeding great and eternal weight of Glory reserved in Heaven for us In the Gospel the Servant who by one pound committed to Luke 19. 12. c. his management had gained five pounds was made ruler over five Cities and he who had gained ten pounds over ten Cities There will be a Proportion between every Man's Reward and his Work not indeed of commutative Justice as if our good Works could properly merit or bring God in Debt to us but of Grace and liberal distributive Justice God of his abundant Goodness approportioning the Recompence of Reward to the Degrees of Mens Labours Pains and Cost whether in doing good or suffering ill and hardship for his sake both which kinds of Acts may in some Sence be called good Works But it will be here necessary that we look a little more closely into the Nature of good Works Good Works then may be so called either in a general or special Sence 1. In a general one As every Act especially every outward Action may be called a Work so every good Action may be called a good Work Accordingly as 1 John 3. 4 8. Every one who committeth sin that is who transgresseth the Law doth the works of the Devil So he that Acts any thing in obedience to and Congruity with the Law of God does a good work or the work of God § 6. But Use has obtained that we call those chiefly or eminently good works which are good and profitable to Men that is to other Men and the Publick Of which Nature is giving of Alms building and endowing Alms-Houses Hospitals Schools c. But of these latter it is to be observed that there is too great a Difference very often betwixt the Action and Ames de Conscientiâ Lib. the Work So that though the Work be good the Action may be stark naught or but very indifferent As for Instance the Pharisee gives Alms but Matth. 6. he sounds a Trumpet in pretence perhaps to call together the Poor but in reality to proclaim his Liberality The relieving the Poor with his Alms is a good Work but thus giving Alms is vain Glory and hypocritical Pride Again a man going out of the World leaves Money to build and endow an Alms-House or for some such publick Good but while he was alive he sat hatching over all he had and would not part with a Penny to any good Use nor would he now haply if he could keep it any longer no nor give it to this Use if he had Children of his own or any whom he loved well enough to leave it to Now suppose such Bequests or Foundations to be or to have been some other Mens Acts at present deceased I would neither my self censure nor teach others to câ—nsure any deceased Person 's Charity or bounty in his Will But supposing it likely to be the Case of my self or of any man living I should think such Bequest scarce so much as indifferently or tolerably a good Work for it would seem to me an Act of Necessity more than of Charity But better late than never as they say wherefore let such Actions pass as they shall Notwithstanding it is to be said and must be acknowledged touching all good works of this latter kind these are good works which only rich men can do and so this is a Method wherein only one and that far the smallest part of Christians can lay up Treasure in Heaven § 7. But in the former sense the poorest and meanest as well as Richest sort even all Christians of what degree soever may be rich and ought to abound in good works And that we may particularly see how we will take one instance in each kind of Duties 1. In Duties towards God Prayers and such kind of Devotions in time of Leisure Strength and Vigor sent up to Heaven against a time of need and especially against a dying hour are Good Works Even poor Widows maintained by the Church both may and
according to St. Paul's Sentiments if Religious will I am sure ought to abound in these 1 Tim. V. 5. She that is a Widow indeed and desolate trusteth in God and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day And it is certain Prayers devoutly sent up to Heaven though not speedily answered are not lost but are a Treasure laid up there against a time of need answered sometimes even in this World at a distance but most certainly in another In 1 King See Doctor Lightfoot on the place ix 1 2 3. Solomon has an answer to his Prayer made in the Temple thirteen years before This indeed was only for Hallowing an Earthly Temple But the instance Act. 10. 4. was of Prayers that sped for making a spiritual one Cornelius his Prayers as well as his Alms were come up for a Memorial before God and they are answered by no less a blessing than the gift of the Holy Ghost v. 44. that was even by a Heaven upon Earth for the Holy Ghost in a Man's heart will turn Earth or any thing here to Heaven At least it most assuredly brings those in whom it dwells to Heaven 2. In Duties to our selves All acts of Sobriety Purity Self-denial and Mortification are good works and in these or most of these all sorts of Christians may abound That they are good works and even in the best Men perhaps and most laborious in the other kinds of good works necessary is evident from that of St. Paul 1 Cor. 9. ult I keep under my body saith he and bring it into subjection least that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast away From the close of which Text it appears also that they are a means to preserve the best Men from miscarrying in their Christian course and therefore conducing to the Heavenly Treasure or Happiness hereafter A Man would wonder to meet with an Heathen Poet and him Epicurean enough Horat. Ode Inclusam Danaen avowing thus much Quo quisque sibi plura negaverit A Diis plura feret The more any man has denied himself the greater reward shall he receive from God But it is justifiable from an infinitely better Authority Mat. 19. 29. Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life And by Parity of Reason who being not called to so eminent instances of self-denial practice such lower degrees as are suitable to their present Circumstances and thereby advance in Holiness in contempt of this world and in the love of God shall receive a proportionable reward Not one act then wherein I have foregone my own will appetite or natural inclination for God or my Duties sake but God observes it and it stands as if recorded before him against the day of Recompences Every hour's sleep which at any time in my life I broke or shall break to pray or meditate or examine Conscience or for any other work of Devotion or of Charity Every Fast I have kept or shall keep every day's pleasure or recreation I have denied my self every penny and farthing I have forborn to lay out upon my self or vanities or shall spare from gratifying my humour or tricking up my body this pitiful house of clay which I carry about stealing it possibly into a poor Man's hands or house every of these acts past or future is and will be regarded by God and so proves a Treasure laid up in Heaven Now though I have not the opportunities advantages nor perhaps the substance which others have for sundry of the good works under other heads yet as to these under this I may be sufficiently qualified Namely I may many and many a time Watch unto Prayer or like Devotions and good Offices I may fast and steal alone by my self to humble my soul before God when others run to their sports I may spare that money for a good purpose which others of my degree vainly expend beyond what becomes them I may forbear many of those Cups which others drink to cheer their hearts as they say or make them merry but which perhaps make them mad at least would make me so I may refrain from pampering my body to feed my lusts In such good works as these ought every one to abound who minds the providing himself a happiness to go to after Death For as wicked men by proceeding or running on impenitently in sin and not minding that the forbearance and long suffering of God leads them to repentance Rom. 11. 4. do thereby treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God So pious persons complying with the Gospel or with the Spirit of God in taking up from the Liberties they have used and retrenching themselves of many things which they might have lawfully enjoyed in the days of their youth and vigour while the Candle of the Lord shined upon their head and they washed their steps in Butter to use Holy Job's Expressions do hereby treasure up unto themselves mercy and grace against a time of need and particularly against that great day when the secrets of Mens hearts and all Men's practices shall be revealed when that which has been done in the Closet shall be publisht as on the house-top and every good man shall have praise of God 1 Cor. 4. 5. 3. In Duties to Men Justice in a strict sense or honest dealing is certainly a good work He whose constant care it is in all his Dealings and Actions to do to all men as he would they should do unto him shall not certainly lose his reward He has treasured up what the righteous Judge who first commanded it will not forget amply to recompence Now in this kind also all sorts of Men may abound and must too if they expect to die with comfort or rise with joy Luk. 16. 11. If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous that is untrue Mammon who will commit to your trust the true riches § 8. But as we have above observed in common speech and indeed even in the usual language of Scripture the term good works more peculiarly signifies works of Charity and Liberality and the doing such is more especially and even literally said to be a laying up treasure in heaven Luk. 12. 33 34. Sell that ye have and give Alms provide your selves bags which wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief approacheth neither moth corrupteth For where your treasure is there will your heart be also And in 1 Tim. 6. 17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us all things to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying
up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life Now though it may seem at first that in this kind of good works namely those usually called works of Charity only rich people are capable of laying up Treasure in Heaven or providing themselves hereafter any measure of happiness yet if we consider there are many good Offices or kind services that even the meanest sort sometimes may perform to their Superiors and that such services are of real value we may and must account that poor people endeavouring to do all the good they can to the Bodies Souls Estates or good names of others are as really charitable and if diligent to do such good as abundant in the work of Charity in their way as the most magnificent publick Benefactors in theirs and consequently will be as surely and gloriously rewarded He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward Mat. 10. 41 42. In which surprising promise and as it were excess of Divine grace and goodness poor people ought for their comfort to take notice of three things 1 How small matters from them to whom little is given God esteems as Alms Even a Cup of cold water given to a fellow Christian as such or haply a little room or harbour in a corner of the poor Cottage to a weary or wet Passenger 2 How largely God will reward it with a righteous man's or a Prophet's reward according to the nature of the person we designed to do good to 3 The sureness of the reward Verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward that is by an ordinary Figure he shall most certainly receive it Let no one then think he cannot be Charitable or bountiful because he is not rich but let him not fail to do all the good Luk. 12. 33. to others that lies in his way Hereby he provides himself Bags which wax not old a treasure in heaven that faileth not That is he makes a happy preparation for another world § 9. But there is one sort of good works or of Charity to others which transcends far all other Bounty and that is Charity to the souls of Men labour in instructing those who are ignorant of God and of their Duty in retrieving and delivering men from a leud course of life to being serious and strict in Religion in bringing them home to Christ and his Church This is a Charity as far surpassing that which is meerly extended to Mens bodies as the soul in excellence surpasseth the body He that can help a soul to Heaven before him hath certainly sent an unvaluable treasure thither For if any man err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins James the last 19 20. Wherefore to conclude this Head touching good works Let us be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult And thus as to the third Duty in our first Period of providing for our selves a Happiness in another world against we leave this Matter and a Method suitable for Devotion to the Fourth Chapter FIrst Examine Whether ever hitherto thou hast thought in good earnest of laying up treasure or securing thy self a Happiness in Heaven Shouldest thou die this moment what reasonable hopes hast thou that thou shouldest be blessed in that other world or after death rest from thy Labours Particularly 1. Hast thou any sound clear or even tolerable conceptions and rational sense of the life or happiness of a soul abstract or separate from the body Or art thou not as it were drown'd in brutish Apprehensions understanding none but a sensual life And are not Spiritual and Heavenly things in a manner Dreams Fables and Romances to thee 2. Hast thou lookt upon it as thy Duty and Concernment above all things to secure to thy self a happiness to come 3. Didst thou ever seriously set thy self by Resolution and Prayer to chose the Everlasting God for thy happiness Does thy soul in any such measure cleave to him at present as that thou canst with any probable hope claim him for thy Portion 4. Hast thou pursued this choice by an honest endeavour of holy life and abounding in good works according to thy quality and power Or hast thou not been idle a Loiterer and secure flatterer of thy self never really active herein Or what is worse yet very frequent dost thou not meerly profess to know God but in works deniest him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Tit. 1. vers ult Secondly Having thus strictly examined thy Conscience in the fear of God by Serious Prayer set thy self First to Confess thy particular guilt in this case according to the true answer of thy Conscience In which behalf if thou hast practised the Devotional parts annext to the foregoing Chapters and especially the Directions of the last thou canst not be at any loss Accuse thy self sincerely and unbosom thy heart before God by going over again the Particulars Remember the Holy God loveth truth in the inward parts and will be readier both to become thine and make thee his if he see thee to be cordial in the endeavour of making him thy choice Further proceeding in Prayer 2dly Look upon Acknowledge and adore God as the only true Happiness of Man's Soul as the Father of Spirits who made thy Soul for himself and put into it this property that it can be satisfied with nothing below himself And if thou findest an inward sense hereof in thy heart immediately as another act of Prayer 3dly Bless God for this Token of good for such certainly it is to thee a sign that notwithstanding all thy neglects of God notwithstanding all thy pursuits and wandrings after Airy bubbles of happiness in this World he has not yet totally cast thee off and left thee to thy own vain heart Wherefore now 4ly By way of Petition beg of him that he will graciously through Christ Jesus vouchsafe to become thy Treasure and portion As in the foregoing Chapter directed offer him up thy heart and beseech him to accept it and both to make and keep it his Lament thy wandrings and thy long alienation from thy alone true good Acknowledge thy Disappointments of Happiness and perpetual missing of satisfaction in the World and beseech of God again and again that he will enable thee with purpose of heart to cleave unto
but to provide for Praecipua Cura esse debet non legatorum institutionis haeredis sed ut eorum quos dominus Curae nostrae commisit saluti consulatur the salvation of those whom God has committed to our care This I say and am content to think the Author supposed ought to be practised at a covenient distance as near as we can from death and before we make our wills for then commonly it is of the latest However this leads to the next particular § 7. 5ly If thou wouldest have thy mind in such frame and thy worldly matters in such order as to be ever ready at thy Lord's call Live not without a Will by thee supposing thou hast any thing to dispose of This is not only prudence but ordinarily duty For in case we should be suddenly taken away how else can we be just to others either to our neighbours abroad or to those at home of our own Blood and Family It was we know in express terms by God commanded to good Hezekiah as a preparative for Death Isa 38. 1. And we may observe some who have had little care of making any other preparation for Death not to have been negligent in this behalf Achitophel would set his house in order though his next business was to hang himself A dreadful instance of a worldly wise but irreligious desperate man Notwithstanding what may well mind us of our Lord's observation on Mammonists The children of this world are in their generation wise than the children of light Luk. 16. 8. Let us not then disdain to imitate any in whatsoever they do wisely as long as it is consistent with good conscience And such certainly is what at present is urged Now as concerning making our wills let us consider it is one of the solemnest and weightiest acts of our lives and therefore to be done 1 In the fear of God and with great consideration and conscience without Passion and fond Partiality For a Man's last Will and Testament is to survive him let it not therefore be a Monument of the Testator's folly injustice or Vice and the effects of it may be almost immortal Wherefore 2. it will not be amiss ordinarily to take advice not so much of Learned Lawyers though in many cases that also is to be done as of prudent and serious Christian Friends by whose direction if not on our own heads we may insert into our wills some Tokens of our Faith and Christian Hope some Injunctions Proviso's or Conditions which may oblige our posterity to what they perhaps would otherwise neglect we may hereby be Benefactors to their souls a long time after our death However certainly a Christian Man's Will should bespeak him seriously a Christian And Lastly If we have wherewithal let us not forget the Poor It were better indeed to do that sooner that we might have the Prayers of the Poor to accompany our departing souls Luk. 16. 9. But whether we have been liberal before or not something of this kind ought not to be omitted in any able persons last Will. The best of us commonly have some odd ends of Debts of Charity if not of just recompence to the Poor which it is needful we pay when going our long journey § 8. 6thly Besides this Charity in giving there may be also another part in forgiving very necessary to the composing of most persons minds especially when they are looking toward death as well as otherwise requisire to the qualifying them for appearing before God For if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses Mat. 6. 14 15. Reconcile therefore thy self as far as possible to Mankind and take care to live so reconciled As to making amends for any satisfiable wrong done by our selves as it is comprized in the nature of true repentance so it has been there and lately lookt to and prest and is supposed already done But we may also have suffered as well as done wrong and whether all men may have been just to us or no we are as we have seen by the condition assigned by our Lord for our very own pardon obliged to be charitable to them Let therefore no mans injustice imbitter our spirits for any revengeful inclination or affection will be doubly to our own injury first in obstructing our pardon in the Court of Heaven then in disturbing our peace within our selves The desire of revenge is very far from being in it self at any time an easie and tame passion much less can it be matter of comfortable reflection to any one of good Conscience or consisting with inward peace And certainly we have need of all good Conscience of all comforts and peace possible to fortifie us against death that last Enemy Nor will a good man only take care that his own heart be pacified but he will have so much charity for others who perhaps have been uncharitable enough to him to endeavour the pacification of theirs also before he go out of the world If any man bear me a grudge though without my fault I cannot give a more Christian Testimony of my forgiving him than by endeavouring to deliver him before I die from under that sin And I ought to be the more careful herein because I cannot tell but some sinful infirmities of mine own may have more provoked him and given him in his opinion juster cause of offence than I am aware of and what is just in his opinion it is reasonable for him to adhere to till he be convinced otherwise Now what so happy way to bring such person to reason as the melting addresses of a dying man or of one who is as dying The making up therefore of all quarrels betwixt us and others yea though we are the injured not the injurious party is very requisite where possible to compleating our peace both with God and in our selves The Apostle's Rule is If it be possible as much as in you lieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather as to your part else it seems a little Tautological if it be possible ON YOVR PART says he live peaceably with all men and much more die so § 9. 7thly As to parting with Friends and Relations as well as with persons more estranged from us some consideration is to be had But the larger Directions will be of another place Mean while as to any Admonitions and the words of dying men or of men speaking as if upon their death-bed sink deep and stick long whatsoever serious counsels there are which we should give to any of our Friends were we now at point of death nothing hinders but at some convenient time even in the state of health we may gravely and affectionately give them these Prefacing them in this or such like manner My Dear Child Friend or otherwise as occasion requires I must die I know not how nor how soon but if