how doth he know but this one robbery may bring him to the gallows So the man that sins this day how doth he know but that this very dayes work may bring him to hell Deut. 32.35 To God belongs vengeance their feete shall slide in due time Therefore if a man sin against him he may stand to day and to morrow and many dayes but when the due time comes even the time which God hath set then up goes his heels he shall slide and break his neck thy houre-glasse runs in heaven and thou seest not when the sand comes to the bottome but when t is out then down thou goest to hell for ever There was one resolved to kill Julius Caesar such a day the night before a friend sent him a letter to acquaint him with it but being at supper and busie I will not look upon it now saith he to morrow is a new day The next day when he should have read his letter he was stabd Whence this Proverb came in Greece To morrow is a new day God sends thee a letter and a message from heaven to day hear his voice to day repent and come out of your sins or for ever to hell to day be converted and sanctified or for ever be hardned Dost thou refuse to bearken to day and puttest it off untill to morrow it may be to morrow may be a day of Gods wrath and then thou maiest be hardned seared and bound over unto the great day of Gods vengeance to morrow God may set the decree upon thy soul that thou shalt never repent Therefore if thou refuse this thou refusest all for what knowest thou but this very day may be thy day Reas 1 The reason is because Gods patience is in his own brest and who can tell how long it will last Hast thou Momus his glasse-window to look into Gods secret counsell hast thou a key-hole to look into Gods treasurie canst thou stand on tiptoe to look over Gods shoulder to look into Gods decree to see how long his patience will last It may be God hath suffered thee till this day thou art guilty of ten thousand sinnes and yet he is patient towards thee God hath stayed thus long for thee that hast sworne I know not how many oaths God hath born thus long with thee that hast told I know not how many lies prophaned I know not how many Sabbaths contemned I know not how many ordinances and sleighted I know not how many judgements yet Gods patience is in his own brest it is the long sufferance of God Thou mayest say I would fain have it to morrow and this seven yeers but alas it is his long sufferance and not thine and how dost thou know when he will conclude it it may be this day as well as to morrow Joel 2.13 Rent your hearts and not your garments saith the Prophet for the Lord he is gracious and mercifull This word for hath a great deal of force in it First It is a descriptivum for for he is gracious and a mercifull God therefore rent thy heart and let thy soul burst within thee that thou hast sinned against him for he is a mercifull God and it may be he will pardon all thy sins and heal all thy rebellions committed against him Secondly it is an upbraiding for upbraiding thee for thy sins rent thy heart therefore why he is a patient God wilt thou goe on in thy sins against such a patient God and rebel against such a loving Father that hath loved thee with so much compassion Rent thy heart for he is patient Thirdly it is a comforting and incouraging for rent thy heart for there is incouragement for thee to repent give over thy sins and go to the throne of grace For there is much mercie to welcome thee and great patience for to bid thee come home and abundance of grace for to incourage thee therefore rent thy heart and come home unto the Lord for he is patient and long-suffering Fourthly it is a forewarning for rent your hearts for the Lord is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse yet his mercie lasteth yet his patience endureth yet hee hath all his attributes and yet he is pleased to manifest the same still tendring grace and mercie unto thee Oh turn unto him while these endure or else thou shalt perish for ever Fifthly it is a threatning for now he is gracious now he is mercifull but his mercy will end his patience will end and then if thou hast not rent thy heart before it will be too late then Therefore as ever thou lovest thine own soule now rent thy heart and turn unto God It is Gods own proclamation The Lord the Lord slow to anger and of great mercie forgiving iniquity and sin Yea what man soever it be that humbles his soule before him he shall find grace and mercie with him yea abundance of mercie pardoning iniquity transgression and sinne yea any thing Let but a soul come prostrate before him humbling his soule he will pardon his sin But as it followeth in the words He will by no means clear the guiltie if notwithstanding all Gods patience and mercie thou go on in thy sins the Lord will never forgive thee but will visit thy sinnes upon thee unto the third and fourth generations because thou hast withstood the day of grace Beloved men run on in their sins as if so be an Angel from heaven should cry unto them and tell them yet God will be good unto them yet God will show them mercie and forbear them Beloved let your consciences answer if you ever heard the Lord God say to any of you thus long I will forbear you No Gods patience is in his own breast and therefore no man knows how long it will last Reas 2 A second reason is because Gods patience giveth no marks or inklings of it before it ends commonly when God strikes a man with death he giveth some signes of warnings of it before as sicknesse and pains and gray hairs and many sorrowes c. Now because thy life is in Gods hands thou carest not for it but venturest to go on in thy sinnes hoping to have some warning though thousands be cut off without it but the day of grace may come to an end and yet thou never have any inkling or warning of it before-hand commonly when God strikes a man with death he tells him of it before-hand by aches and pains as if the Lord should say Now thou shalt die now will I take thee out of the world But when the Lord taketh away the day of grace from a man though the spirituall man may take some notice of it yet there is no sensible apparition of it but after the day of grace is set upon a man he may be as strong and lustie as before he may come to Church as well after as before performe religious duties and do many good things as well after as
wrath of heaven was upon the world and that the floods of Gods vengeance were shortly to bee poured downe upon us and because my heart hath beene naught and I have sinned and provoked the Lords wrath I feare if I get not into this Ark which the Lord hath commanded me for to make I shall perish Now because they would not come unto Noah to ask him this reason therefore the world was condemned by him even so the Saints by making an Ark for their poore soules even by getting into Christ as the Ark was a type of Christ without whom none can be saved the Saints I say by getting into Christ do judge the whole world when they hear there be men â—hat be no swearers and no drunkards and that there bee men that will pray read heare the word conferre of God and of Christ and that weep and mourne for their sins that spend their times in the mortification of their lusts and endevour after holinesse and sanctification the whole world I say is judged by them How why they should say Sirs what is the matter that you doe so run after Sermons that you keep such a stirre about getting faith and repentance more then other men that you pray weep fast and mourne and are so strict in your works If thus men would but come unto Gods Saints and ask them the reason of all these things the Saints of God would tell them that the wrath of God would come upon them if they did not do thus they would never be saved if they did not thus beleeve and thus repent and thus pray and walk thus holily and precisely they should be all damned But the world it falls a mocking and a scoffing at them and never seeks to prevent the wrath of God but it suddenly seiseth on them to their destruction Secondly this teacheth us that when there is any one sinner converted from the wickednesse of his wayes and is become a Saint then all the world may know that there is a new Judge come to sit upon them Seest thou a drunkard a swearer a prophane person converted from his sinnes and now walks soberly holily and purely seest thou a man and a woman struck at a Sermon Then know that unlesse thou comest out of thy sinnes unlesse thou doest repent and walk holily there is a new Judge added to the rest that shall judge thee As our Saviour told the Pharisees If I through Beelzebub cast out Devils by whom do your children cast them out Therefore they shall be your judges Matth. 12.27 where Christ tells them that their children who were his Disciples for some of the Pharisees children did beleeve in Christ and follow him and had power from Christ to doe the same workes that Christ did Now they liked it well enough in their owne children but they could not endure it in Christ and therefore hee tells them that their children whom God had converted and to whom he had given power to doe the same workes that he did even they shall bee their Judges to condemne them And even so may it be with thee thou that art a father or a mother God having converted any of thine own children that child shall be thy Judge and condemne thee if thou repent not It may be God hath converted thy brother and sister and thou art not converted thy own brother and sister shall condemne thee if thou doe not repent and come out of thy sinnes Thirdly we may learn that it concerns all the world to take notice of every grace in Gods children There is never a grace of God in any of his Saints but it shall condemne the world if it be void of it The wayes of the Lord are all judgements because they judge them that will not walk in them Every grace yea the very thoughts of the righteous are called Judgements by Solomon Prov. 12. You may know a crooked thing by laying it to a straight line and by that it is judged to be crooked so the thoughts of the righteous which are right holy and pure shall judge the impure unholy and crooked thoughts of wicked men Is the child of God humble His humility shall judge thy pride Is the child of God meek and patient in suffering of wrong and injuries His meeknesse and patience shall judge thy choler and revenge Hath the child of God saith given him to beleeve in the Lord Jesus His faith shall judge thy infidelity Hath the child of God the spirit of prayer given him It shall condemne thee that praiest only with thine owne spirit Hath he zeale His zeale shall judge thy luke-warmnesse Doth his speech and communication administer grace to the hearers It shall condemne thee that speakest of vaine and idle things Yea all the actions of the godly shall judge the wicked and hence the Saints are said to doe Gods judgements Zeph. 2.3 that is they doe according to Gods judgements whereby he will judge the world Thus they that do mourn do judge them that do not mourne they that bewaile their wickednesse and the sinnes of the times judge them that doe not they that fast weep pray and humble themselves for the miseries of the Church in these dreadfull dayes they judge them that make no good conscience of their duties Fourthly learne hence that all the Texts of Scripture all the whole word of God that is it that begets these Saints and therefore they must needs judge the world the word of God begets mens hearts unto sanctification and holinesse whereby they become the Saints and therefore if they then much more shall the Word it selfe judge the world and hence it is that all the words of God in the Scripture are called Judgments Psal 105.5 And our Saviour saith The word that I have spoken the same shall judge you in the last day Joh. 12.48 The word that I have spoken where mark he doth not say The word which you have heard No there are many swearers and drunkards and prophane ungodly wretches that will not come to Church to hear the word there are many wicked men and dead hearted worldlings and rotten livers that will not bee brought to hear Gods Word it may bee at this present there is many whoremongers drundards and wicked persons that wallow in their filthinesse in the Ale-house Game-house or Drab-house or in the fields or beds or at their sports Well this word that is now a preaching whether they will hear it or no shall judge them at the last day Now all the wicked in Ashford that heare the word of God calling upon them to repent and to come out of their sinnes but will not or out of contempt of Gods word will absent themselves from it this word shall judge and condemne them There is never a drunkard swearer or prophane person though his pew be empty but this word of God that denounceth the eternal wrath and vengeance of God upon them if they come not out of their sinnes
to hell what wilt thou say then I never thought of this before that so it would be Mot. 2 The second Motive is Thou wouldest be loth to have the brand of a Reprobate Not to meditate is that brand The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God neither is God in all his thoughts Psal 10.4 He scornes to be so poring upon Bibles to be so wracking his mind with his sins He hath said in his heart God will not require it vers 13. God requires no such scrupulosity nor strictnesse Mot. 3 The third Motive is Thou wouldst be loth to roh God of his honour and the maine part of his service whis is Meditation Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart and with all thy soule Matth. 22.38 How can this bee true of them saith Chrysostom who become vain in their imaginations Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soule and mind And so do I saist thou So dost thou What and not love God with all that is in thy heart Thy thoughts are in thy heart thy meditations are in thy mind If thy thoughts then and meditations be not of God thou dost not love God with all thy heart David did not only pray that the words of his mouth but also that the thoughts of his heart should be ever acceptable to the Lord Psal 19.14 not only that he might be full of heavenly communication in his mouth but also of holy meditation in his heart Behold saith he thou requirest truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 And meditation is one of the duties of truth in the inward parts Mot. 4 The fourth Motive Thou wouldst be loth that all the worship thou givest to God should be abominable so it will be without meditation meditation before it meditation after it First Thou must meditate before thou goest about a duty of Gods worship consider before thou hear the word of God meditate what thou art going about Hearken O daughter and consider incline thine eare Psal 45.10 First consider and meditate and then incline thine eare This is part of those words often in Scripture Be ready be ready Be ready and come up saith God Exod. 34.2 Be ready against the third day Exod. 19. Gather your selves together Zeph. 2.1 that is prepare to meet thy God O Israel Amos 4.12 Secondly meditate after the duty When men part with men they use to give one another a farewell and not bluntly deliver their mind one to another and so turn their backs one upon another Lysias could not write a letter to Felix and break up abruptly but he gave him a farewell Acts 23.30 Neither may a man when a duty is done go away bluntly from God but give him a farewell by holy meditation It 's an unseemly kicking of a duty as most men do when they are come to the end of their prayers to whom with the Father and holy Spirit be ascribed all praise and glory Amen Come is dinner ready or what news do you hear This is unmannerlinesse towards the ordinances of God A man that hath been at a â—ooâ— dinner will sit a while after it or walke a while he will not presently run to his worke that the meat may digest the better So when thou hast been at Gods dainties sit after it a while pawsing and meditating thereof as often as thou well mayest let it have its working a while What is the reason thou hast so many by-thoughts in prayer Because thou dost not meditate before-hand and after Hence it is that thine eyes are not directed to the duty but like a blind Archer thou shootest but by aim when the good Archer shoots he must have the white in his eye still which he must levell at My voyce shalt thou hear betimes in the morning in the morning will I direct my prayer to thee and will look up â—s â— 3 How came that you may look on his meditations vers 1. By meditation he was wont to direct and levell his prayer to God Wicked men know that God is before them as a blinde man may leâ—rne that the But is before him but they see not God before them to direct their prayers unto him they pray at rovers Thou must use then to meditate of God that thy prayers may bee directed if thou prayest not thus thy prayers are like them in the Prophet who drew neer to God with their lippes but their hearts were far from him like an arrow beside the But or far from the mark either wide or short They have not cried unto me with their hearts when they howled upon their beds Hosea 7.14 They prayed but they prayed not to me saith the Lord as the White may say of a bungling Archer hee shoots but not at me when he shooted he shot another way God counts all such prayers no better then howling of Dragons and wild beasts so the word signifies saith Scindler God would as lief and rather too that a Dog or a Wolfe or Dragon should howl in his hearing then hear such a prayer as this is The onely way therefore to performe duties of Gods worship purely is cheifly meditation meditation meditation THE DANGER of deferring REPENTANCE DISCOVERED In a Sermon preached at Maidstone in Kent Septem 25. 1629. By that Reverend and faithfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B.D. Sometime Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Parson of Rochford in Essex London Printed by T.R. and E.M. for J.S. A SERMON OF Mr. WILLIAM FENNERS at Maidstone Septem 25. 1629. PROV 1.28 Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me THere is a good English Proverb amongst us that he that neglects the occasion the occasion will neglect him Solomon wisely begins his Proverbs with it for he bringeth in the Wisdom of his Father in these five particulars first making a generall Proclamation in the 20 verse Wisdome crieth without shee uttereth her vice in the streets He compareth God unto a Crier that goeth up and down the City from street to street and from doore to doore crying his commodity even the richest that ever was which is a Christ a Christ for redemption a Christ for sanctification a Christ to enlighten those that walk in darknesse and in the shadow of death Ho every one that thirsteth here is a Christ for you Secondly here is a mercifull reprehension in the 22. verse O yee foolish how long will yee love foolishnesse and yee scorners take pleasure in scorning Foolish indeed to be without Christ foolish to be without grace foolish to chafer away our souls for sin How long yee scorners will yee take pleasure in scorning will you still persist in your wickednesse and never have done with your sins will you never turn back again but damne your souls for ever O yee foolish how long will you love foolishnesse Thirdly here is a gracious exhortation in
saith of them Can the Blockmore change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may they do good that are accustomed to do evill The blacknesse of the Blackmore is only in the out-side of the skin yet all the Art under the heavens cannot blot it out So if once hardnesse possesse thy soule all the preaching of the Ministers and all the means of grace in the world can never bring it unto that frame and temper as to make it melt under the hand of God I tell thee thou that usest to come unto Sermons day after day and refusest to repent living still in thy sinnes there is no hammer nor beetle in the world more hard then thy heart as those men and women that sit under the preaching of the Word and hear the doctrine of life like raine from above beating and knocking on their consciences and on their hearts to awaken them out of their sinnes and yet notwitstanding will not repent at last they prove to be deafe Adders that stop their eares against the Word charme the Charmer never so wisely 2. God may seare mens consciences Doth thy conscience tell thee that thou art a luke-warmling and wilt thou not be reformed Doth thy conscience tell thee that thy prayers and all thy religion is rotten and unsound and that thy repentance is hypocriticall and naught and that for all thy vaine hopes thou art but a dissembler and yet remainest in thy sinnes and wilt thou not be bettered hereby Take heed for that man that runns on in sinne against the voice of his own conscience that man sinnes the sinne of Saul 1 Sam. 13.8 God bid him stay seven dayes untill Samuel came Saul stayes full seven dayes within one houre at last his lust began to bawl What shall I stay for a Prophet thus long Stay sayes his conscience Why sayes Saul I waited for him so long even seven dayes lacking but one houre Stay saith God to his conscience for the Word of God bids thee stay so long he stayed one day and two dayes and six dayes and seven dayes but one houre Stay saith his conscience no hee would not but I forced my selfe saith the Text as if hee should say I hardened my heart to do it though the word of the Lord my own conscience bid me stay and not do it yet I forced my selfe to do it What was this mans sinne Was it his offering of Sacrifice and calling upon God by prayer No the Lord commands us to call upon him in time of distresse and being commanded it was lawfull Was it his sinne to meddle with the Priests office No for he did but appoint the Sacrifice the Priest offered it What was it the breaking of one houres time No for he had sinned more against God then so but this was his sinne that he went against his own conscience when God stood in the way when conscience stood in the way conscience said stay but he would not stay God bid him stay but he would not stay And this is the sinne of many thousands amongsts us mens consciences tel them that they must not be drunkards mens consciences tell them that they must not be worldlings they must not be swearers they must not be luke-warme professors they must pray better then they do and have other faith then yet they have if ever they meane to be saved wilt thou yet against thy conscience force thy selfe to go on in thy sins from day to day and never be reformed take heed lest the Lord be provoked to set thy sun upon thy head and shut up thy heart and tonclude thy eternall destruction Object Suppose I go on in my sinnes and follow my wicked courses now what if I seek him hereafter and humble my soule before him with fasting and prayer and when I lie upon my death-bed I send a ticket unto my Minister to pray for me will all this do me no good Answ Surely no saith God Jerem. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my affections could not be toward this people cast them out of my sight Dost thou lie sick upon thy death-bed were Samuel Job or Daniel the Minister of thy Parish and thou shouldst send thy ticket unto them desiring them to remember thee in their prayers if Noah stood in the Pulpit and Job and Daniel were here before the Lord for to plead for thee yet he would not hear thee Object But suppose I humble my self by fasting and prayer will not God hear that Answ No if thou neglect the day of grace Jer. 14.12 when they fast I will not hear them and when they offer oblations I will not accept their cry but I will consume them by the sword by famine and by pestilence You may set up your fastings prayers and humiliations you may lament and mourne and pine away your selves in your sins but it is not all your prayers and fastings it is not all your lamentation and mourning that will do you good so long as the counsell of the Lord is rejected Because I called and ye would not answer therefore you shall call but I will not hear they thought that the Lords eares would alwayes be open and that when they called the Lord would have answered and that the day of grace would ever remain but God saith I will not hear them they would never have sought if they thought the Lord would not hear them but all their seeking was in vain Object You will say at what time soever a sinner repenteth he shall have mercy Answ It is true if thou repent from the bottome of thy heart but thou maiest come with many a degree of repentance and yet never repent whilest thou livest if thou repent from thy heart and root out thy sins then God will put away thy sins but thou maiest go on in repentance and calling upon God and performing many duties of Religion and yet be hardned look how much Religion will stand with self-love so much thou maiest have after the day of grace is gone Selfe-love may make a man flie to prayer and run after Sermons and go on in many holy duties and give over many sins look how far self-love may drive thee unto holy duties so far thou maist go and yet notwithstanding remaine hardned O therefore let us not delay nor put off the time of grace nor let go salvation while it may be had then shall they call but I will not answer he doth not set down when this time is it may be it is now it may be not this seven yeers it may be not till thy death Doct. 2 Doctr. It may be this very day even this very Sermon this very houre may be thy day that art now in thy sinnes that if thou repent not at this very one Sermon thou neglectest eternall life for ever lose the benefit of this Sermon at this time and thou maiest lose eternall salvation and never have it more The thiefe that robd this day
before as Saul went on in duties of Religion as well after Samuel had pronounced the Lords doome upon him how many times was he offering sacrifice unto the Lord after the Prophet told him that he was a man rejected how many good speeches came from him as when Samuel met him he salutes him with these words Blessed be thou of the Lord I pray thee turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. A man would have thought that Saul had been a good convert No no before all this his judgement and doome was set upon him God steals upon him and saies nothing he claps his plague upon their souls and holds his peace Isa 42.14 I have a long time held my peace I have been still and refrained my selfe now will I cry like a travelling woman I will destroy and devoure at once The Lord shews here how he deals with men they go on in their sins but the Lord holds his peace they provoke him every day but the Lord refraines his anger but now all at once his wrath breaketh forth upon them Psal 64.7 God will shoot an arrow at them suddenly their stroke shall be at once The Lord suddenly shoots a swift arrow at thee no sooner it is shot but it enters into thy bowels When the Lord comes upon a man he comes suddenly when he ends the day of grace upon him he doth it suddenly He ended the day of grace on the Scribes and Pharisees even in the very Sermon time while Christ was preaching unto them they were delivered up to hardnesse of heart so many were delivered up to hardnesse of heart in the time of Hosea's prophecie Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to idols let him alone saith God as if he should say Sermon let him alone Preacher let him alone Sirrit let him alone Christ let him alone Beloved if we stand out against God and reject the day of grace the Lord may say Word let such a man alone and never convert him Christ let such a man alone and never redeem him Spirit let such a man alone and never sanctifie him Sacraments let such a man alone and never seal up any comforts unto him a fearfull signe that men are come to this houre do we not see that men come to the Word and the Word lets them alone in their sins do not men come to the Sacrament and the Sacrament leaves them still in their filthinesse men come unto good duties but good duties let them alone and do them no good and this is the condition of many thousands in the world Therefore oh think upon this you that have made a league with your sins and an agreement with hell hear this delivered to you this day that the day of grace may be ended and God may come and clap his curse upon men and never give them any inkling of it at all Reas 3 A third reason is because God reckons upon every houre if God kept not a strict account of time how many Sermons you have had how many mercies you have injoyed how many crosses he hath warned you by if God kept not a true tale and account of every houres time you might rub on many dayes and moneths and yeers and spend much time in fulfilling of your lusts but God keepeth a reckoning of these things yea of every houre and of every minute Acts 17.30 The times of ignorance God regarded not but now he admonisheth all men to repent Alas when men live in their sins through blindnesse and ignorance and know not God the Lord takes no such strict notice of them but lets them go on longer and longer but when the Lord sends them his Word and Gospel and affords them the means of grace he doth the more strictly look unto them and takes the more exact account of them before they had the means of grace the Lord winked at them and did not so narrowly watch them but looked over mens igonrance as the originall hath it but now God sends his Word and Gospel he admonisheth all men to repent he winks at never an houre but sets down how oft thou hast had exhortation from thy Minister how often thou hast had warning by sicknesse and aflictions how often thou hast had checks from thine owne conscience how many admonitions thou hast had from thy friends how many times thou hast had the sound of the Gospel to sound in thy eares to bring thee home unto God John 2.7.11 This is the first beginning of miracles that Jesus did John 4.58 This is the second miracle that Jesus did saith the Text God sets down this is the first this is the second time This is the second Epistle I wrote to you saith Paul Oh this is the third time I wrote unto you 2 Cor. 13. that when I come I will not spare so God sets it downe in his catalogue this is the first time that I have warned this man this is the second time this is the third time that when I come I will not spare the Lord accounts how long he hath sought unto thee and intreated thee by his mercies how long he hath allured thee by his word how long he hath warned thee by his judgements how oft he hath smote thy heart with fears and thy conscience with terrors Now if for all this thou wilt not return just is it with God to cast thee down to hell for ever Reas 4 The fourth Reason and last it is a wonder that the day of grace is not ended already and that thou art not now in hell When a thing in this kind is looked for to be done it is a wonder that it is not done It is a wonderfull mercie of God unto this Kingdome that yet the day of grace is continued amongst us in regard of our long fear and expectation of the contrary For from the highest to the lowest we have highly revolted more and more provoked God to his very face What contempt of Gods word what neglect of Gods Ordinances what prophanation of Gods Sabbaths what scoffing and deriding of Gods servants how doth wickednesse and prophanesse stand up in the highest roome climb up into the highest chambers But as a whore condemned to die being with child is repreived for a time untill her child be brought forth so this Land hath gone a whoring from God yet so long as God hath some children to be brought forth which are not yet come unto the birth he lets his grace and Gospel continue untill these children be brought forth Therefore now beloved if we stick at the birth and come not forth a hundred to one but we shall miscarry When Christ comes first to thy soule he witnesseth grace and mercy to thee if thou wilt repent and amend yea he witnesseth forgivenesse of sins redemption and salvation if thou wilt beleeve but if not he will be a swift witnesse against thee Malachi 3.5 if thou continue and goest on in thy sins Agree with thine adversary
thou dost pronounce them but not speak them But when thou speakest of earthly things then thou speakest to the purpose because thy heart is set upon them and thy minde and the tongue goe together there is no jarre or discord betwixt them but if thy heart be not pure though thou speakest good things or holy things yet in Christ sense thou speakest them not For say I how can a vain evill corrupt heart think good thoughts An evill tree cannot bring â—orth good fruit saith our Saviour he doth not say that an evill tree cannot be made good for it may be graffed into anotheâ— stock divers wayes there are to make it good but so long as it is a corrupt tree it cannot bring forth good fruit Doe men gather grapes of thorns or stâ—ges of thistles Dost thou goe to a drunkard and thinkest there to finde any religion in him or to a whoremaster to finde grace in him Dost thou goe to a swearer or a prophane person and thinkest thou to find any feare of God in them Indeed sometimes there may be some morall good found in them but they are as a pearle in a dung-hill out of its place Fourthly all mens thoughts come to be vain when the drift and end of the heart and soule in thinking of them is vain But thou wilt say unto mee the end of my good thoughts is Gods glory What is it not to Gods glory that we goe to the Word and Sacraments that we pray and give almes I answer the end of every good work in it self is Gods glory but is it the end of the worker speaker or thinker I make no question but the end of a good action in it self is the glory of God so the end of prayer is the glory of God the end of all preaching and Sermons is the glory of God the end of giving of almes and of all good thoughts is the glory of God but the end of the man that prayes and preaches what is that the end of the hearer and giver of almes what is that the end of him that speaks well what is that Beloved must men have false and corrupt ends which we will branch out into these three heads For the first men will be thinking and plodding from morning till night of their worldly businesse Now because they know they must think on God to make God amends perhaps they will think on him at night when they have dishonoured him all the day So men will swear and swagger drink and be drunk and when they have done say Lord have mercy upon me and so they think to make God amends What beloved will yee sweare swagger drink be drunk and lie be secure and worldly and then ask God forgivenesse to make him amends This is to break Priscians head that you may give him a plaister Will you trespasse your neighbour that you may ask him forgivenesse This is a damned and devilish religion yet this is the religion of many men in the world you shall have them keep daies and weeks and yeares in the observation of the times of Gods worship they will keep the Sabbath in comming to Church they will hear Sermons pray and think of God but all this is to make God amends for the wrong that they have done him they know they have offended God and therefore they will do something to make him amends like those wicked men in Jeremies time who did steale murder commit adultery swear falsly and burn incense unto Baal and walk after the gods whom they knew not and then come and stand before God in his house which was called by his name and said We are delivered though we have done all these abominations As if God should say unto wicked men What will yee swear steal lie and be earthly giving up your selves unto all manner of lewdnesse in the breach and contempt of my commandements and then think by making a prayer unto me and by lifting up your eyes unto me and by giving your eares to hear my word thereby to make me recompence No no I have showed thee O man what is good Micah 8. Secondly the end of mens thoughts is commonly to collogue with God Let a man be under the crosse in calamity pain and misery then God shall heare of him often then he will think of God and of his sinnes nay the beastliest wretch in a whole Parish upon his sick-bed then Oh how will he call upon God then send for the Minister let him pray for me read a chapter or some good book then God shall have service upon service then he shall have the first second and third course But all this is but to be raised up again and then when he hath received a little strength he fall off again like the Jewes who when God slew them they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God neverthelesse they did but dâ—ssemble with him with their mouthes and flatter him with their double hearts Ps 78.34 There is many a man that seeks to God yea that seeks to him with tears and performes many a good duty and yet he doth but flatter with God he doth it but to curry favour with him hee is afraid of sicknesse crosses plagues and death and curses upon him if hee should not doe so and therefore to prevent this he will dissemble some service to God Thirdly to smother and choake their owne consciences their hearts think and tell them they must think of God their consciences tell them that they must have some holinesse some religion that they must keep the Sabbath in some sort that they must pray and goe to Church and hence it is that the drunkard swearer whoremaster will sometimes have thoughts of God and will be performing some outward acts of Religion Why his conscience otherwise would not let him be at rest but it is as the Devils bandog to drive him to it Thus when the Prophet commanded the people to worship the Lord to reverence his name to hallow his Sabbaths their consciences told them that they must doe so or else all the threatnings of wrath and vengeance denounced by the Prophets would come upon them Hence it is that the Lord by his Prophet exhorts saying Arise yee and depart for this is not your rest your mind hath another haunt you have this and that black lust this is not your rest Doth thy heart rest on God and good things If thy heart be good and holy so that it takes up its rest in God and in Christ then it is well but if thou only turnest aside to good duties and fallest as it were by chance upon holy things away away saith God this is not your rest Aristotle saith that the being of a thing consâ—steth in the end of a thing Therefore if the end of thy thoughts and courses be earthly and vain then certainly thy religion is earthly and vain Thou goest up and down what is it that thou lookest after
name of God in vain Is there never a drunkard here in this congregation that hath been at the Sacrament Is there never a whoremonger never a covetous worldling Where is the man whosoever hee bee amongst you all that is such a one He is in the state of damnation Is there never a luke-warm and carnall Christian that contents himself with a formall worship and a dead performance of holy duties that hath no zeal for God nor courage for his truth but is carelesse of all Gods commandements whosoever amongst you are guilty of these sins or any other and hath come unto this holy Communion in them they are the persons that how oft soever they have received so oft they have taken this name of the Lord in vain And if I should examine this Congregation from the one end of it unto the other I fear that every pew would yeeld some one If not many that have taken a Cōmunion which is one of Gods names in vain Should I but examine thee that comest unto the Communion this day how by the last Sacrament thou receivedst and the last Sermon thou hast heard thy faith is strengthened thy repentance renewed and thy obedience is increased and thy care doubled for to walk with God whether thou art made by them more zealous for God more forward in his worship and service and every day more holy and heavenly minded if not then thou hast taken this Name of the Lord thy God in vain and the Lord will not hold thee guiltlesse that is the Lord will not take away the guilt from thy conscience but he will let thy sinne lie open and thou shalt not be cleansed from it nor justified by the very blood of Jesus Christ but it shall rest upon thee to thy utter ruine and destruction unlesse thou forsake thy sinnes and so come preparedly unto this holy Table and banquet I know here is a covenant of grace a sweet refreshing for every humbled soul that is hungry broken for his sinnes and for every poore distressed conscience let all such come and lay their sinnes upon Christs crosse and welcome But if there be any that come in their sinnes and will not reforme their live◠but be as they came sinners so they mean for to continue the Lord himselfe will lay this mans sinnes upon his own head and they shall never be taken away from him but Christ shall at the day of judgement pronounce him a guilty person to his eternall condemnation King Belshazzar that abused but the holy vessels of the Temple and the Cups thereof what a dismall plague befell him for it Dan. 5.27.28 God hath numbred thy Kingdome and finished it thou art weighed in the ballance and art found too light thy Kingdome is departed from thee and is given to the Medes and Persians So beloved brethren if any of you shall abuse this Cup of the Lord comming to it with a filthy unclean heart and polluted conscience and earthly affections there is a hand-writing against every soule that thus commeth this day unto the Table of the Lord thou art numbred and weighed and found too light thou O man and woman whosoever thou art that prophanest and contemnest these holy things of God thou shalt be found out and the Lord will keep thee out by his spirituall plagues and thy sinne shall never be done away but be required at thy hands and stand in everlasting record against thee O my brethren that you would but seriously consider of it and look about you it being so weighty a thing that so neerly concernes every one of you But I would not have any poor broken heart and humble soul to mistake me and so-thereby be discouraged but give me leave I pray you for to use the words of the Brophet though spoken in another sense Psal 115. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the glory So let me apply this doctrine unto the comfort of all poore broken hearted sinners and beat off all carnall prophane wretches that live in their sinnes not unto you O drunkards and swaggerers not unto you whoremasters and unclean persons that wallow in ungodlinesse I say not unto you but unto the poor afflicted soul and contrite spirit that lieth bleeding and gasping under the weight of his sin and that trembles and fears being opprest with the sense of its own unworthinesse panting and breathing after Christ Jesus and suing earnestly unto the Throne of grace for mercie and forgivenesse unto thee only belongs this comfort and therefore take it home to thee and know it for thy selfe Art thou troubled with a hard heart and an unbeleeving soule and art even wearied and tired out with thy many sinnes and infirmities Come thou with comfort unto this holy Communion for thou shalt be sure to finde saying good by it to thee it shall be a spirituall medicine to heale all thy diseases and to cure all thy strong and prevailing corruptions and if thou come unto this holy Table of the Lord it shall make thee as it is recorded of Saint Laurence able to suffer Martyrdome and to get victory over all thy unruly affections yea at last thou shalt tread Satan thy arch-enemy under thy feet Therefore be not dismaied for the Lord Jesus invites thee to come What if thy infirmities be many yet the mercies of God which he tenders to thee in this Communion are many more Samson who was the strongest Souldier and Champion in his time that was in Israel to overcome the Philistims he yet began his strength in weaknesse being at the first overcome by a woman So though the Lord intend to make thee a strong Christian he will make thee to begin in weaknesse to perfect thy power to begin in sinne and misery that he may make thee to end in glory I know Gods children here may receive temporall punishments and bring temporall scourges upon themselves as we may see amongst the Corinthians here but it shall be for their good and amendment namely for their correction and not for their ruine and destruction that so being chastened by the Lord they might not be condemned with the world Therefore if thou comest carelesly and unprofitably God will chastise thee with the rods of men as he did Peter who receiving the Sacrament with his Master over night yet the next day thrice denied him but God whipt his soule and scourged his conscience for it and beat him black and blew so that he went out and wept bitterly Nay he could scarce wipe off that sinne and recover himselfe again whilst he lived Wherefore let us take heed of unprepared coming to the Sacrament for God will not hold such guiltlesse Yea if his own sonnes or daughters transgresse thereby hee will make them to feele the smart of it But now to come to all such as come month by month hand over head without any examination and repentance in their uncleannesse and abomination making no conscience
him he did not onely make an Arke but so hee made all the roomes so hee made it in the same forme and figure and in the same similitude just as the Lord set him downe the patterne even so did he So the Lord sets down the patterne of every good word and work of all our prayers and Sermons and hearing and conference and keeping the Sabbath and speaking holily all our actions have their patterne set downe in the word of God Now as wee are to doe the things so wee are to doe them in the same manner as the Lord commands even so must we doe Fiftly and lastly except we doe it in a right manner except as wee come to the duty so wee come to the right manner wee can never glorifie God The glory of God lies in the manner of doing of things So let your light shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Matth. 5.16 Mark the light must not shine onely in our lives and conversations but so that the duty must be a means to the glorifying of God Now the means must have its proportion and likenesse and nature and mold and frame from the nature of the end Look how the end is that the dutie lookes unto so must the frame and fashion of the duty be Now if the end of all our actions be that God may be glorified that must put a forme and fashion upon every duty that it may be so that he may have glory Suppose a man pray every day in his family and call all his houshold his servants and wife and children and all under his roof about him every morning and evening he may dishonour God by prayer every day on this fashion if a man pray coldly and carelesly for forme and fashion without faith and life he makes all the ordinance of God vile and all the worke of God contemptible his houshold sleeps one snorts it may be another is infinitely prophane it may bee and though there be divers that would fain be quickned and wakened yet his prayer is so cold there is no life nor heat nor warmth in it that God is exceedingly dishonoured and all are thereby rather worse then better So for a mans preaching though it be never so good a duty yet hee must labour to preach so as the Apostle speakes of his preaching and labour in the work of the Ministery how he may edifie others and save his own soule So fight I not as one that beats the â—ire but so as I may get the mastery We must so preach that we may attain the conversion of the people or else we may rather doe as Hophni and Phineas the sonnes of Fli that made the Table of the Lord contemptible and the Sacrifice of the Lord loathsome in the eyes of the people So may we do with the ordinance of God Take any duty of religion if it be not done aright God hath no glory by it Suppose thou wouldest reprove thy brother and tell him of his fault and check him for his backwardnesse or omâ—ssion of some duty and for the commission of some sinne if thou doe not doe it with a spirit of compassion and bowels of Jesus Christ with an humble heart with a feeling and a pure conscience I say thou gettest a blot to thy own selfe and causest God to be ill spoken of and the very way of his name to be dishonored This will be the effect of it and so in every other dutie And so I come to the use Is it so that we must not onely come to the Sacrament but come aright or doe any dutie but we must do it in a right manner This servs to condemne that naturall popery that is in mens hearts that is of opus operatum of the deed done this is the religion of the Church of Rome that so a man doe the duty indeed it is better if it bee done in a right manner but if it be done there is somewhat a man may look for by that If a man come to the Sacrament the very eating of the Host the very partaking of the body of Christ they make it meritorious so the very hearing of so many Sermons the very saying of so many prayers the very performanec of so many duties the very thing it self nakedly considered it is of some validity This is rooted in the hearts of men we see it up and downe people doe the duty and think all is well enough when they consider not how it is done People pray but not with zeale they heare but not with reverence People come to the Sacrament not for the better but for the worse they come not in a right manner and yet every one hopes to speed and builds himselfe on this that God accepts of him But this is the folly of mens hearts it is an evident argument that men goe foolishly to work in the wayes of God It is the brand of a foole not to be able to observe circumstances Aristotle the heathen hee saith it is the part of a wise man to think of and understand the manner of actions as a wise man saith he observes circumstances It is a part of wisdome to observe the right circumstances of every action as it is Ephes 5.15 Walke circumspectly that is accurately as it is in the originall not as fooles but as wise Marke hee perswades them to a right manner of walking not only to walk in a good course in praying and hearing in obedience and sobrietie in temperance faith and diligence in our callings but doe it accurately in a right manner doe it as wise men and not as fooles they doe it in a wrong manner It is the part of a foole I say to doe a thing and to leave the right manner of doing it Now this is nothing with God the Lord doth not esteeme any action though it bee never so frequently done except it bee done with his owne stamp except it have his owne character upon it I remember a story in 2 Kings 17.26 The Assyrians there observed that God sent Lions among them because they did not observe the right manner of the God of Israel they worshipped the God of Israel but because they observed not the right Manner of his word hee sent Lyons among them to teare and devoure them in pieces So though wee pray and heare and read and professe and have a name that wee live and though we be taken for good people heap up duties from day to day and vie performances and though we doe them as many times as the children of God nay though we could do them ten thousands times oftner then they yet if we doe them not in a rightmanner if wee know not the manner of the God of heaven and earth with humble hearts and selfe-denying spirits with holinesse of affection and with puritie of heart if a man doe them not in a right manner the
Lord will teare him in peices and hee shall have no deliverance for all that Another use shall be what may be the reasons why people are so willing generally to doe duties for the matter and care not to doe them in a right manner It will not be amisse a little to shew the mystery of this thing for we see every man is willing to doe duties every man will be praying and comming to Church many reprobates and God knows how many carnall hearts are in this congregation some drunkards it may be some adulterers some it may be that committed whoredome the last night some that have been swearing even now and deceiving in their shops there are many carnall hearts yet every man is willing to do duties to hear and to pray Now what may be the reason that people are willing to doe good duties and yet are loath to come off with their carnall harts There are four reasons The first is this Because the matter of the dutie is easie but the manner is difficult It is an easie matter to pray to say Lord I have sinned against heaven and against thee Lord I have sworne I have been a drunkard I have disallowed the Sabbath I have done this and that I pray thee pardon and forgive me and give mee thy grace it is an easie matrer to doe this It is easie for a man to come to Church and marke what the Miâ—iner saith and follow him from point to point and it may be goe over it to his family This is good there are few that come thus far And so it is easie to come to the Sacrament to take the Bread and the Cup and to pray for a blessing this is easie but when a man comes to a duty in a right manner here is difficulty when a man doth it with a How Take heed How you beare He doth not call upon people to hear that is not the matter there needs no great diligence for that but if you will consider How you hear take heed to that Here must be a great deal of circumspection the soul must be marvellous painfull a man must offer violence to his own soul a man must fight against his own wil a man must beat down his own spirit he must crucify his own thoughts must mortify his own mind beat down his own soul It is a hard thing to do it in a right manner as the Lord commands if we consider now how to doe it This is certaine flesh and blood cannot abide to take pains if it can serve God with ease and pray with ease that it will doe but for a man to weep before God for a man to indict his heart to the throne of grace to rend his bowels before his Maker to tâ—are the caule of his heart upon his knees for a man to vow to God and pay them for a man to rid his hands of all the wages of iniquity for a man to purifie himselfe as Christ is pure for a man to wrastle with God and to take grace according to the covenant of grace with life and power to doe it in a right manner here is religion and this men cannot abide And so for the Sacrament for a man to come in a right manner Oh it is difficult to flesh and blood for a man to goe and examine all his life to reckon up all his conversation to anotomize himself from his cradle to this moment to consider how he hath sinned in his calling in his family in his shop in his company in his speâ—ch and in his life to goe and judge himselfe of these and condemne himselfe and to accept of his owne punishment to goe and wrack his owne thoughts and crucifie his owne soule Oh! this is hard men cannot abide this therefore they go and take the matter they observe that and leave out the manner Secondly another reason is this because the matter of duties may be done with a proud heart there is no duty but a man may do it with a proud heart and never bee humble A man may pray and use good words and make good petitions and have marvellous good language and Scripture phrases and termes and passages and an admirable sweet tone and yet have a proud heart A man may come and preach a Sermon he may preach so as that he may strangely affect the hearts of the people and may make all the people wonder and admire at the gracious words that come from his mouth and yet have a proud heart A man may heare and heare oft and hear the best Preachers in the Citie and delight in hearing and yet have a proud heart A man may come to the Sacrament and sit to ones thinking as devoutly as any in the Church and pray when the people pray and give thanks when others give thanks and have a kind of morall faith in the Covenant and a morrall application of the promises and yet have a proud heart It is the manner of doing duties that humbles the soule as St. Paul saith Acts 20. You know in what manner I have beene with you Why what was the manner In all humility of mind saith he being among the Ephesians preaching to them in a right manner leaving them the example of his owne patterne doing all this in a right manner he did it in all humility of heart It is the right manner of prayer that pulls downe the heart before God It is the right manner of hearing the word that makes a man melt at it It is the right manner of comming to the Sacrament that makes a man feele the comfort of God and the promises of the Gospel and to seek and find the admirable things contained in it It is the right manner that makes a man walke lowly with his God Thirdly another Reeson is Because the matter may stand with an unholy life A man may do a duty for the matter of it and yet be unholy This is plain how many thousands are there that pray and yet are vain and covetous and carnall How many thousands heare Sermons and yet are unprofitable Ever hearing and never come to the knowledge of the truth If they were injurious before they are injurious still if they were cousners before they are so still if they were drunkards before they are so still A man may receive the Sacrament every month and yet may have his lusts and roll them as a sweet morsell under his tongue he may delight in his secret lusts and go on in the deadnesse of his heart It is the right manner of worshipping of God that purgeth the conscience and purifieth the soule and makes a man that there is no room for his corruptions as you may see 1 Thess 2.10 You your selves know saith the Apstle how holily and unblamably we walked among you He speaks there of his manner of walking and hee saith to them because it was in a right manner it was an holy