that now is will be by Fire against the coldness of Love If this be true how do we hasten the great and terrible day by our coldness in Love one towards another Is it nothing to us Gratifying the Devil rejoycing the wicked and Justifying their reproaches of Saints that hereby we gratifie the Devil rejoyce the hearts of the wicked and justifie their reproaches of Saints The great stratagem of Hell is to promote our differences and to keep us from Union all the bones they throw among us are to set us by the ears the Devil knows that Societies of Christians are immortal if they do not kill themselves by Division Divide impera Divide them and rule them is a maxime in Hell and among the Antichristian party Gal. 5.15 If ye bite and devour one another a Consumption will be the consequent Why should we be imployed in the Devils work Hath he not instruments and tongues enough of his own O! how doth Antichrist yet ground by the Animosities and Divisions among Christians Certainly what Tacitus saith of some in his time we may of the Papists and all our Forraign Enemies Nihil spei nisi per discordiase habent All their hopes of ruining us arisâ— from our homebred discords and divisions Were all the Arrows in one bundle they would by tryal and experience find it next to an impossibility to break them Methinks the proud boasts of the Man of Sin should make us bury all our discords were we but of one heart before God and uniting our Prayers the Mountains would become Plains yea the seven Hills among the rest Sure we do not consider where and among whom we are Are we not in the world where Satan rules Shall the Children quarrel in their Enemies quarters Gen. 13.7 Abraham sues for peace upon this as a taking consideration that we are Brethren and the Perrizzite dwelt in the land Wicked men are Spectators of our fewds and discords The very Heathen have calmed the mutinies of their Souldiers by saying your Enemies yonder behold your mutinous behaviour What one said prophetically some years ago Europae Speculum p. 173. I cannot but recall that unless God did stir up some in the Protestant Churches and cloth them with a mighty Spirit to accommodate our differences the end of them may be that our Enemies will laugh when we shall weep Have we not Enemies enough but must we be dogged and cruel to one another We say the Fire burns the hotter for the cold weather Would to God the Antiperistasis were blessed that the cold abroad the oppositions against us may intend our affections the more to God to his wayes to his people And are not the wicked justisied in their reproaches of the Saints whilst they do but write after our Copy Is it nothing to us Perjury that hereby we are perjured yea often perjured as oft we have received the Communion Christians saith our great Usher should remember that as oft as they come to the Lords table so oft do they enter into new bonds of peace and tye themselves with firmer knots of love together this blessed Communion being a Sacred Sealâ— not only of the Union which we have with our head by faith but also of our conjunction with the other members of the body by love Lastly Is it nothing to us Hindring pardon that hereby we hinder the forgiveness of our own iniquities How can we hope we shall be forgiven if we forgive not one another How can we look that Scripture in the face Mat. 6.14 15. if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses Or that with what measure you mete Mat. 7.2 it shall be measured to you again Would we have God deal with us as we deal with our Brethren These and such like considerations have made some even of the Episcopal perswasion to complain for want of love Bishop Reyn of the peace of the Church p. 16.17 and to sigh for more Charity towards Christians though of different perswasions That in the case of unavoidable differences among good men saith one there should be no more mutual charity meekness moderation tolerance and â—â—manity expressed c. this is a lamentation and will be for a lamentation Between the Episcopal Presbyteriaâ— and ladependent parties saith a second much of the acidness and sharpness of the humour would be alayed Bishop Gaudens Serm. Printed 1660. if this policy of charitable censure and interpretation were applyed on all sides c. I should be glad to see the beams of this candour this kindness this charity shine in all saces from all sides that the Shiboleths of different dialects and designs c. might be laid aside by being all for Christ Bishop Hall's Serm. before his Majesty 1641â— c. A third presseth to a charitable construction of each others acts and intentions because there is nothing in the world which may not be taken with either hand whether the right hand of favour or the left of malice We see the Son of God himself in whom the Prince of this World could find nothing yet was exposed to mis-construction Matth. 11.19 Behold a Glutton c. Good Lord what uncharitable censures are men apt to pass upon each other Let a man be strict and austere in moral and divine duties though never so puaceable he is a Puritan and every Puâ—itan is an Hypocrite Let him be more free and give more scope to his concersation though never so conscionable he is a Libertin Let him make scruple of any innovated form he is a Schismatick Let him â—â—and for the anciently received Rites and Government he is a time-serving Formalist Let me tell you he is right that hath a right heart to his God what forms soever he is for The Kingdome of God doth not stand in â—â—eats and drinks in stuffs or colours or Fashions in Noyses or Gestures it stands in Holiness and Righteousness c. Let us study now not to widen or gall or ranckle but how to salve and heal c. I shall conclude this Chapter with beseeching yea conjuring you in the words of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians Phil. 2.1 2. O quam sacro fascino usus est Ipsa suada credo si loqui posset not potuisset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi quot verba tot tela quae nimium animos nostros percellant c. Mortoni sent de pace procuranda inter Eâ—â—â—â—gel p. 25. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowells and mercies Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind CHAP. XXXV The faults of Church-Members towards those of their particular Congregations Church-Members miscarriages 1. uselessness and
to scatter and disperse those fogs and mists which over-cloud their Souls you should be eyes to the blind but you are not you should be of a merciful Spirit to all Souls more especially to the Souls of all Saints most especially to the Souls of those Saints to whom you are peculiarly related but you are not Exod. 23.5 1 Thes 5.14 1 Cor. 12.7 Mal. 3.16 In the old Law God took care of Asses if they lay under a burthen Israel was to help them Doth God take care for beasts and will not ye for men for Saints for the redeemed of the Lord God requires of you that you comfort the feeble minded The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall Christ expects his own with increase They that feared the Lord spake often one to another to comfort one another with the promises of God made to his people against the flourishing of the wicked and overflowing of ungodliness and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of Remembrance was written before him c. the Lord book't that good service Nihil de Scripturis nihil de salute Animarum agitur sed nugae risus verba proferuntur inventum he pur it upon record But though the Lord hearknetâ— and hears yet he seldom finds us so employed our neglects are sealed up in his bag I pray God we may lay it to heart repent and reform Bernards complaint may justly be revived Not a word of the Scriptures nothing of the Salvation of the Soul but trisles and to yes laughter and words as light as the wind eat up the time I know there have been too many Uzza's amongst us who have had an itching desire to be fingring of the Ark thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think and like the ambitious Sons of Levi taking too much upon them whereby the Ministry hath suffered much contempt The Lord forgive these daring Phaetons who have set the world in a slame hereby But let not us run from one extreme into another Let us give to the Ministry their due Jude v. 20. and yet not neglect to build up our selves in our most holy faith Mutual duties should be exercised between Christian and Christian The Apostle is express for it in the places already quoted I shall adde one more Col. 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another O! if God would be with me so far as to make me an instrument to prevail with you to go and visit one another and stir up one another that knowing the terours of the Lord you may perswade men O! bewail thy unserviceableness thy private spiritedness thy want of love and bowels to others especially now when the Ministerial help fails to such a degree and when there is so great an Apostasie Sure then is no time wherein Christian-fellowship is more called for and wherein it may be more profitable than at this time But alas How are the wise as well as the foolish Virgins asleep generally secure without action no way usefull to each other no more than they are who are fast asleep in their beds of rest O! how few are there like Jonathan and David how few enter into a brotherly promise to exhort one another to call one another to account to tell one another their fears to know of one another their growth in Religion We are proud and loath to have our nakedness appear yea some of us have few stories to tell of Gods goodness and bounty to our Souls and we hate a discovery how low earthly vain backsliding we are Hence reserved to each other But God will bring forth the hidden works of dishonesty 3. Not admonishing or not aright How is Fraternal correption neglected or spoyl'd in the managing Some totally neglect reproving their Brethren Gallio-like they little care for these things they are little concern'd whether God be honoured or dishonoured Others delay admonition Either neglecting it altogether or delaying it The Flesh is backward to this self-denying work and so the many weighty circumstances which should bring the Offendor to Repentance are forgot The Offendor is also hardned in his Sin He thinks by thy silence thou art altogether like unto him so he judgeth of Gods silence these things hast thou done and I kept silence Psa 50.21 thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self so he judgeth of thy silence It 's much easier to fetch out a spot of inck from a cloth the day it is stained than afterwards Sin like a Mole will quickly bury it self and the longer let alone the harder it is to dig it up The longer a disease is let alone the harder cured Cronical diseases are seldome a credit to the Physitian Besides if you neglect the Reproof this day or hour perhaps by the next he will commit the same Sin again for either he knows it not to be a sin or in case he knows it yet every new act doth strengthen the habit of sin It is the nature of sin to blind the Mind to stupifie the Conscience and to harden the heart Exhort therefore one another dayly Heb. 3.13 while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin If the finner add sin to sin put that to your account for neglecting the Ordinance of God for his reducement If he loseth the favour of God and neglects hereupon all private communion with the Lord put that to thy account If at length he becomes impudent in sin so that like a Bedlam he feels not the pricks of sharp admonition put all this to your account because you have delayed to cure to heal to save the Soul of your Brother A timely reproof might have saved a Soul and covered a multitude of sins Besides have you time at your command that you with Faelix will do your duty at a more convenient season May'st not thou dye or the Offendor dye and both in sin thou in the sin of Omission and he in the sin of Commission unrepented of before the day comes wherein thou art resolved to tell him roundly of his fault Why art not thou trembling with fear of blood-guiltiness Is Soul-murther no sin with thee Or have you the Holy-Ghost at command Without the Holy Spirits a sistances and concourse your labour will be in vain you will get a blot by reproving the delinquent will flye in your face hate you for telling the truth he will add sin unto sin and perhaps put you into a flame too and must the Holy-Ghost dance attendance on you If you observe his hour you must go presently whilst the wound is fresh and bleeding but if you neglect his call it is a question whether your hour will be Gods Others miscarry in reproving Some reprove Or miscarrying in it not reproving privately Matth. 18.15 Prov. 10.12 Si solus nosti
your souls are the most considerable Jewels you stand possessed of All the world will not weigh with one soul Thy money may ransome thy body nothing save Christs blood thy soul Pause a while Reader and reflect on all thy sinfull neglects of thy immortal Soul lest on thy death-bed thou shriek and cry O my soul whether art thou going 2. Carelessness of others souls How little are the souls of others valued and cared for how many masters are there that care no more for their servants souls than for the dogs nay not so much Perhaps some of you are carefull that the bodies of your families be cloathed be fed c. but the souls lie unprovided for Soul-poysoners not censured as they ought to be Make nothing to lay poyson for souls more care is taken for the pigs than for the souls 1. How do we justly censure them as worthy of Capital punishments that murther the bodies of men but not so others who poyson and destroy thousands of souls How do you hate to have an hand in murthering the bodies of any to lay poyson for the destruction of any and yet how commonly do men lay the poyson of ill councell and ill example before others to cause them to fall into the pit of hell and are not affected with this great evil 2. Not troubled at soul-murtherers How troubled are we at any that kill bodies or that murther others but not so at the millions that destroy their own and others souls that have an hand in ruining in damning themselves and others 3. If any neglect means that might have continued the life of their husbands children c. how are they dejected how do the wring their hands and beat their breasts whereas if by carelessness if by the neglect of their duties if by evil example they have destroyed their souls they are not troubled about these matters 4. Low esteems of those that prize their souls How do you account meanly of all that take pains for their souls that wait at the pools of Bethesda that consult Ministers and books and attend on the Ordinances for their souls whilst you account it your wisdome to lay out the most if not all of your time for your bodies Hast thou the name of a Christian I pray God to let one word to sink into thine heart thou hast not Christ thou hast not the Spirit of Christ in thee he knows how to value souls and therefore shed blood for them and sends his Spirit in the Gospel to be importunate for their salvation CHAP. II. Their want of saving Conviction and Compunction HOw many Professours like Paul Alive without the Law Rom 7.9 Rev. 3.1 are alive without the Law How many like Sardis have a name to live imagine they are alive when they are dead How many are alive in their own conceit and perhaps in the conceit of others and yet are void of the true super-natural life How many are contented with their being baptized They see no need of Christ they were born of Christian Parents Luke 3.3 they are of the stock of Abraham We have Abraham to our Father They do not consider how many baptized persons are deadly enemies to Christ and to their souls and averse to the wayes of holiness they will not consider that Swearers Drunkards and Adulterers have as good claimes to Christ and heaven as these have How many also please themselves with the Religion of Education God hath not moulded their hearts though Parents their lives their Parents have taught them some Principles of Religion but they are strangers to the wonderful operations and teachings of the Holy Ghost they have not the Unction from above they know not what it is that teacheth all things and yet such as these are alive i. e. merry jocund jovial confident if any goe to heaven they shall be of the number But to speak more particularly First Few convinced of original sin imputed How many are there that were never convinced of original sin imputed or imparted 1. How few are convinced that Adam was a common person and that we sinned in his loynes that if he had stood we had stood and that it is just with God that he ship wracking himself we should be counted sinners in him We did eat of the forbidden fruit in Adam we in Adam believed the Devil rather thaâ— God we in Adam broke with God for toyes and trifles we were ungrateful disobedient in him we apostâ—tized in him and broke covenant with God in him hence by one mans offence sin entred into the world Rom. 5.12 and death by sin for that as Levi paid tithes in Abraham so we becâ—me rebells against the Majesty of Heaven in our first Parents when did you shed a tear for Adam's sin for your and his grand provocation 2. Few convinced of original sin inherent Psal 5.9 How few see Adam 's sinful nature imparted to them They see not their inward part is very wickedness nothing but wickedness Few see what a sad Apostacy from the perfection of mans nature Sin hath brought into the world and how black an Image of Sathan it hath drawn upon the soul they never saw what filthy dirty loathsome things they are in the eyes of God they never saw their noysomeness and venome the garbage and malignity of their hearts How few see a general defect of all righteousness and holiness wherein at first they were created How few are convinced of an antipathy to all that is good That they are haters of God by nature Eph. 2.1 that they are dead in trespasses and sins a more dreadful estate than if they were rotting in their graves that they have an Ocean of corruption within them that will never be dried up in this life that they have a worse Leprosie than that among the Jewes which got into the walls and would never out till the house was demolished who almost thinks so sadly of themselves They bless God their hearts are good though they be the worst of men pray not slight Ordinances closet duties and family worship lies neglected yet the Devil perswades them all is well their hearts are good though the heart of man by nature be like hell it self whose fire of lust is unquenchable though it be like Peter's great sheet which he saw in the Vision full of all unclean things Acts 11.6 though it be a receptacle of all impiety yet how few turn their eyes inward to see their natural deformities Alass All the venome the Snake sends forth is nothing to the poyson that lies in its nature And all those monstrous impieties which the lives of men are taunted with are not to be compared with the venome that lurks in the heart of every man by nature Men would not glory in their blood and descent did they but believe how sin descended and was conveyed Men could not content themselves to walk heavily under some actual
work-house That he possesseth the heart of every unregenerate man The strong man keeps the house and so all is quiet It was a sad day when the abomination of desolation should be seen standing in the holy place but what are abominable Men to abominable Devils They did but exercise their cruelties on the bodies of the Jewes but how many Devils have their walks in the hearts of natural men and women If thou art in thy bloods the Devil hath entred into thee as sure as ever he entred into the heard of Swine and so hurrieth thee into base lasts as he carried them headlong into the Sea CHAP. III. Their want of Despair in Self IF Men are sensible of their sinne and miserie Few humbled Souls Rom. 10.3 yet how many are going about to establish their own righteousness Though some are convinced of the ugliness of sin of â—he miserie by sin yet they are not fully convinced that the covenant of works requires perfect personal and corstant obedience that it admits not of repentance that it accepts not of the will for the deed Gal. 3.10 but Curseth every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them so that if there be a failer by a vain thought the conditions of that covenant are broken and nothing save fearful expectations should seize on such a Soul Few I say believe this but though they are bankrupt Children of Adam yet they hope by their pedling Wares to set up again and maintain themselves without being beholden to any other for the procuring of their salvation hence they pray who were prayerless before hear and perhaps with much diligence who were wont to play away the Sabbath and Sermon time and reform in many things and now Soul take thine ease thou hast goâ—ds laid up for many years yea for eternity thou art converted sure and so think all the Neighbour-hood O! what a change is here The man was a Drunkard not so now an Adulterer a prophane Belial but now civilized yea a devout man Serious that was flashy before and touching the righteousness which is in the Law Phil. 3.6 blameless Now he is alive indeed his Conscience is pacified which before troubled him he can hear the Word gladly which before was burthensome to him he can pray with affection and with some delight when before all the Ordinances of Heaven were tedious and intollerable burthens to him Now he thinks Sure I have life within me I am not dead He sees not all this while that he must have life from without and ability from without He doth not yet say Psal 38.4 Mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Psa 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up No no he can look up with confidence and call God Father Job 12.6 and though sometimes he provokes God yet he is secure He doth not see that he is dead i. e. damned 2 Cor. 3.5 and insufficient as of himself to think any thing as of himself but all his sufficiency is of God He thinks he is not utterly unable to make amends for his sins not quite dead for he can pray c. He sees not that it is as easie to make new Worlds as to put up one acceptable Prayer to God He sees not that he needs an Almighty power to enable him to perform his duties and infinite satisfaction to discharge him of his debts He is somewhat sensible of his danger by sin Isa 63.1 but he eyes not him that is mighty to save He looks for help within but not without He sees no absolute necessity of Christ all this while He sees not that all his righteousnesses are as filthy raggs in Gods sight Isa 64.6 and that all his duties fill up the Catalogue of his sins He sees not that there is no Salvation in any other save Jesus Christ Acts 4.12 because there is no other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved He hopes to goe to Heaven through doors of his own the door of Repentance the door of Reformation the door of good Works c. hence he takes hold of the mercy of God and the promises of pardon Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him yea he will abundantly pardon Thus have I done saith this awakened person and now my Case is good O! I would not be in mine old myres for a World O! what a change is here I was a careless Wretch careless of God and my Soul careless of praying reading hearing c. not so now And now that the house Matth. 12.43 44 45. out of which the unclean Spirit is gone is swept and garnished he carrieth it high and little thinks he that seven worse Spirits are entring in This is the case of multitude of Professours whom Christ will never seek nor save Luke 19.10 for that they are not lost they are not succourless and helpless they think they may save themselves from wrath to come They see not that there is a Satisfaction to be made to Divine Justice which they cannot make wherefore their hopes are from their reformations not from Christ their peace is from their performances not from Christs blood of attonement All these have I kept from my youth up Luke 18.21 Hence he is consident not from Christs coming under the Law hence he is diligent in Prayer c. but careless of the way of Faith hence he blesseth himself in his own performances and is no way taken up with what Christ hath done and suffered for him Moses is magnifyed and Christ is slighted Duties are set up and Faith neglected Works advanced and cryed up and Faith is little heeded or look'd after How few are there who count themselves wholly destitute of every good thing that should make them acceptable unto God They lay not the weight of Salvation upon the grace of God by Jesus Christ but upon somewhat that comes from themselves they will have a Bridge of Duties that shall carry them over the Gulph of eternal miserie they hope to quench Hell Fire by their tears Alass some years agoe you might as well have drawn Water out of the Flint as tears from them but the case is altered I was blind but now I see the deserts of sin which I saw not before I see it is a fearful thing to sin against God and now I bewail my sins and am sorry at heart for them sure my condition is monded I thank God I am not as other men nor as once I was my self I hope by my tears to wash away my sins All the while Christ lieth without doors the Soul is a stranger to Faith in Christ he sees not his
Conscience though I hazard the displeasure of great men thereby Numb 24.10 So did that Sorcerer though Balaks anger was kindled against Balaam and he smote his hands together 18. I have some sights of another World and I desire to spend an eternity with the Saints So had Balaam Numb 23.10 and did not he desire so much Let me dye the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his 19. When I think of the day of Judgement I am affected with it whereas before I was sottish and secure So was Felix As he Paul reasoned of Righteousness Acts 24.25 Temperance and Judgement to come Felix trembled 20. I am an Orthodox Protestant so thou mayst be a Teacher too thou mayst not only know Gods will and approve the things that are more excellent Rom. 2.18 19 20 24. being instructed out of the Law but confident that thou thy self art a guide of the blind a light of them which are in darkness an Instructer of the foolish a Teacher of babes which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the Law and yet fall short of Christ and of Heaven yea the name of God may be blasphemed among the Gentiles through thee 21. I am free from the scandaious evils of the times So were they in Peter They had escaped the pollutions of the world 2 Pet. 2.20 22. yea and that through the knowledge of Christ which is more than the moral Heathens ever had and yet were dogs and swine still 22. I live inoffensively none can lay any thing to my charge But was not Paul whilst Christless Phil. 3.6 touching the Righteousness which is in the Law blameless At the same time he was Persecuting the Church of God 23. I have obeyed the Commandements of God for a long time I am not like a Mushrom soon up and soon vanishing I am a constant Servant to the Commandements of God So was the young man in the Gospel Matth. 19.20 he said unto Christ All these things I have kept from my youth up what lack I yet 24. I have inlargements in duties and satisfie not my self with ordinary duties Matth. 23.14 Luk. 18.12 but make Conscience of extraordinary duties I fast and that oft And did not the Pharisees make long Prayer and fast off I fast twice in the week 25. I have joyes in Ordinances the word of the Lord is sweet and precious I know the time when it was not so But did not Hered hear the word of God gladly Did he not see an excellency in John Mar. 6.20 Had he not his Virtues and Graces in great esteem Had he not a Reverend behaviour towards him Did not he observe him and care to please him He heard him and that gladly He was much delighted in John's Preaching 26. Nay but I go farther for I stirr up others to frequent Sermons So did the Elders of Israel Ezek. 33.30 Come I pray you and hear what is the word that comes forth from the Lord c. 27. I obey as well as hear I hear in order to practise And was not Herod conformable to John's Doctrine though John Preached not placentia Mar. 6.20 he was a rough Preacher a burning as well as a shining light yet the Text tells us â—e did many things 28. Matth. 7.28.13.54 Mar. 1.22.11.18 When I hear the word I am strangely taken with it So were the people when they heard Christ they were astonished at his Doctrine 29. Many a time under a Sermon my knees and heart ake So it was with Felix As he reasoned of Righteousness Temperance c. Felix trembled 30. But I Pray and Pray oft as well as hear and therefore is it not well It may be ill enough if thou hast no better evidence When you make many Prayers when you multiply Prayer when you add Prayer to Prayer yet I will not hear Isa 1.15 31. There was a time when I felt sin no more than a dead man feels a mountain upon him but now it is heavy 't is burthensome And was it not so to Cain And Cain said unto the Lord my punishment or mine iniquity is greater than I can bear Was it not so to Judas Mat. 25.8 10. when he repented himself and restor'd the thirty pieces of silver saying I have sinned in that I have betrayed the Innocent blood and went and hanged himself 32. I have desires after grace and am willing to be at cost for it So the foolish Virgins And the foolish being awakened out of their security in their form of Godliness said unto the wise give us of your Oyl Matth. 25.8 10 yea they went to buy They were willing to be at cost for the power of Godliness 33. I associate only with Gods people yea with the purest and holiest So did the foolish Virgins they associated not only with Virgins but with the wise Virgins Matth. 25.1 Both wise and foolish went out together to meet the Bridegroom 34. I consult Ministers for my Soul and have high attainments But wherein dost thou go beyond those of whom it is said Isa 58.2 They seek me daily and delight to know my wayes as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinance of their God they ask of me the Ordinances of Justice they take delight in approaching to God Wherein dost thou go beyond those in the Hebrews Hebr. 6.4 5. who were once inlightened and had tasted of the Heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy-Ghost Hebr. 6.9 and had tasted the good word of God and the Powers of the world to come If thou hast not better things than these thou hast not savingly closed with Jesus Christ for as yet thou hast nothing that accompanieth Salvation from which Salvation cannot be seperated O! I cannot but pitty these poor hearts these Almost-Christians Almost Christians and Almost Saved I may say they are not farr from the Kingdome of God and yet in a sense they are farther than any others Our greatest difficulty hath been to undeceive these to unchrist these I mean to take off these figleaves with which they have covered themselves that they may come to Christ for clothing and so prevent the appearing of their nakedness O! It is hard tough work to perswade a proud Pharisee that all his Righteousness will not steed him that he must fling away all that he must have something else to shew for Heaven and Glory O! How have men fled in our faces when we have told them that yet they have nothing that is essential to a Christian as a Christian or which makes a Christian a Christian no more than a picture hath of the essence of a man You may imagine a man that hath bestown 20 or 30 years in building how loath is he to pull down all again Though he fears the foundation is but on the Sands he will rather venture than begin all
in Christ Jesus our Lord Whilst the Candle of the Lord shines on thy Tabernacle whilst thy bones are full of marrow whilst thou washest thy feet in butter whilst every Mordechai boweth in the gates whilst thou hast dews on thy heart meltings and enlargements in Ordinances so long thou canst keep up good thoughts of God and his love but let the Scene be altered let the Sun wrap up it self in a Cloud of darkness let the rod lie on the back and the Arrows of the Almighty pierce the heart and then not only grace within is questioned but the love of God without I am cast out from before thine eyes his mercy is clean gone Then all men are lyars even Samuel himself But alas how ignorant art thou of the methods of God Heb. 12.6 7 8. Doth not he chasten every son that he receiveth Should not he have liberty to use what rod he pleaseth whilst all are for thy Profit that thou mayst partake of his Holinesse Rom. 8.29 Phil. 3.20 Matth. 20.23 Col. 1.24 Might not Christ have had ill surmises of his Father upon higher grounds than any thou canst name Who art thou to hope for milder usage from God than he shew'd to his own Natural Son If thou art predestinated to be conformable to Christ to be partaker of his sufferings to drink of his cup wilt thou doubt thy filiation from thy filling up the sufferings of Christ 3. Concluding thence sadly of Gods intentions How do some draw sad conclusions from Gods Providentiall dispensations concerning his intentions for the future When they lose dear Relations an Husband or the Wife of the bosome gone a sweet Child snatcht away and perhaps by inadvertency O then no sooner can we enter into the house of mourning but we hear cries from you O my hypocrisie O my formality O this is one of Gods Arrows of Vengeance O! God is beginning his Controversie which will never end till it laies me as low as Hell Whereas you should entertain other thoughts of God viz. That now he is removing the Idols of jealousie now he is weaning your hearts from Creatures that he may have all your love he knew how much Spiritual Communion you have lost by the company of your Relations and now he himself would have more of your company now he would have you to delight your selves more in himself now he hath but dryed the stream a weak unsatisfying stream that you may drink and drink abundantly of the purest Chrystal waters that drop from the blessed Fountain immediately now God hath a blessed design of grace to prepare you for glory he is now making the earth an howling Wilderness that you may long for Canaan he is now leaving you to naked walls that he himself may fill them he is now turning all out of doors that you may have the more liberty to treat with his Majesty with the less disturbance without interruption Alas you know not how unkind and burdensome yea treacherous your Friend your Relation might have been if continued longer to you you know not what a dishonour to God and to your selves he might have been if longer continued in the land of the living and therefore to preserve him from scandal and your selves from heart-breakings thereby God hath in mercy pity and faithfulness removed him taking him away it may be from the evil to come Few put these Comments upon Gods Providences towards them but commonly take all in the worst sense they can 4. Calling Gods love in question for want of Evidences How do some instantly call in question Gods love if Evidences be not seen if they be not fairly writ so as the Soul can read them But may not the money be in the Saeks mouth though the Brethren see it not for a while Yea though the Soul hath had a welcome from God yea many a welcome yet how soon is the Soul so crest-fall'n that it is afraid to go into Gods presence and through the power of Satan and Melancholy duty yea many duties have hereby been intermitted This provokes God exceedingly What When you have had his Stâ—ffe and his Bracelets when you have had such admirable proofs of his Love in sending his Son and Holy Spirit after you to work so great and glorious a change in you coming in the still voice and whispering Love unto you dandling you as on the knee welcoming you again and again to the Throne of Grace oft filling your empty Bottles answering your thousand Doubts sealing the Covenant of Grace and granting and confirming to you all the Patents of Love And yet at every turn have you doubted whether God loves you or no God chides Zion for this Isai 49.14 Let not Zion say the Lord hath forsaken c. 5. Concluding God no Friend because Satan is an Enemy and doth tempt them Are there not some good Souls though their goodness lies not in this that are apt to question the Love of God to them from the blasphemous thoughts and injections that they are harrazed with But what because Satan is your Adversary must God therefore not be your Friend Because Satan doth tempt you will it therefore follow that God doth not love you Were we not wonderfully prone to evil surmises and distrusts of God we would not make Satans Malice a ground sufficient to doubt of the Love of God Doth the Husband love his Wife the less for that she is tempted whilst she defies the Tempter and is burthened with his foul and daring sollicitations O how is Satan gratified hereby Considerations against evil surmises of God He is the great Accuser the great Tale-bearer that seperateth choice Friends He goeth betwixt God and Saints as a Mediatour of Differences to accuse Saints to God and God to Saints and will you any longer be Tale-hearers against God Believe it the false witness which he brings is against him who hath given you wonderful proofs of his everlasting Love towards you When O! when will you complain of Satan in the words of the Psalmist The Enemy hath persecuted my Soul Psal 143.3 he hath made me to dwell in darkness like those that have been long dead It is the Enemy that vails and obscures the work of the Spirit what he can that you shall see it no more than a dead man can behold any company that is in the Room Vault or Grave with him When Satan tells you your Graces are counterfeit your Faith but that which a temporary may have your Graces but moral Vertues O! how soon is your Enemy credited how much more believed than God his Ministers and all the testimonies of Gods Love that are brought you Hence you are one day jealous of the Kindness of Christ another day of the Fulness of Christ then of the Intentions of Christ he means no good to me Hence also you doubt of the acceptance of your Persons and Duties There is a Cloud hangs over my Prayers
but O! how is the world mistaken in many of them Thou hast not called upon me Isa 41.21 23. O Jacob Though Jacob was a People sever'd into a Church-State with an aim at Gods praise yet Jacob pray'd not This was grievous unto God Do not many Professours clearly evidence that they are prayerless Souls by their disobedience to the Preceptive their impatience under the Providential Will of God By their distrust of the All-sufficiency and Faithfulness of God Zeph. 3.2 She obeyed not the voice she received not correction she trusted not in the Lord she drew not near to her God By their entring into so many Temptations Matth. 26.41 Jer. 10.21 Watch and Pray lest you enter into Temptation By their being deceived and labouring to deceive others in the things of God The Pastours are become bruitish and have not sought the Lord. By their Back-slidings Zeph. 1.6 Considerations against this sin Psa 10.4 Joh. 21.15 and Apostasies And them that are turned back from the Lord and those that have not sought the Lord. Doth not this sin speak out high contempt of God That God is not entertained so much as in a thought He will not seek God God is not in all his thoughts That the thoughts of God are blasphemous What profit should we have if we pray unto him Yea Doth not this sin speak out the hearts denial of God What saith the Psalmist Psa 53.1 4. The Fool hath said in his heart there is no God he calls not upon God To live without Prayer is to be dead while alive for it is to live without God Jer. 10.25 The Families that know not God and that call not on his Name are the same What Will ye not do so much as Pray unto God What can you do less for God than by this homage to own him for your Maker Or less for your own Souls than to beg their lives of him whose hand of Justice is lift up against them Their Souls and theirs only shall live Psa 69.32 that seek the Lord. No Malefactours dye more unlamented than those that when cast will not beg for their lives How many also are there Restraining Prayer that have cast off Prayer How many have restrained Prayer And that both when they have thought they have prayed themselves out of affliction they have had no more to say to God Job 15.4 till under affliction again and when they have for some time prayed for deliverance to no purpose This evil is of the Lord why should I wait any longer This is worse than not to pray at all Not to pray at all notes only the neglect of duty but to cast off Prayer a distaste of duty But I shall be more particular Though Prayer be the only Key Neglecting Eâ—aculatary Prayer to unlock the Store-houses and Treasuries of all Blessings yet how little hath this Key been used I shall wave publick and private and only instance in secret Prayer and that both sudden and composed and solemn How few Professours have made conscience of Ejaculatory Prayer How seldome have we darted up our Souls to Heaven upon sudden emergent occasions in some short desires As when we are hearing Lord set home this Word upon my heart When in Prayer our hearts are melting c. Lord suffer not my heart any more to be hardened from thy fear When we are about our worldly employments Lord keep my heart with thy self c. Are not some of us wholly unacquainted with this kind of Praying Not such a Dart saith one to be found in all their Quiver They know not how in the midst of their worldly businesses and company yea in the midst of their solemn religious duties in hearing reading conferring praying c. to send their thoughts to give God a visit though a short one in a desire or two to speak at least one or two heart-heart-words unto him Have not most Professours too much contented themselves with their solemn Visits of God but between their solemn Duties have scarce ever conversed with God What account shall we be able to give of our thoughts the first-born of our Souls from morning to evening Is not this the highest improvement of them to send them in embasies unto Heaven and by them to converse with God Do not the best of us find strangeness apt to grow between God and our Souls between our set Duties And may we not impute that strangeness to our omission of these more â—â—ansient and occasional talkings with God How many precious things in Christian conference in Sermons in our solemn joynt Prayers are lost for want of present liâ—ting up our hearts to God for his presence therein and blessing thereupon How many blessed motions or the Holy Spirit suggested to us in our particular Callings are quench'd for want of these short sallyes of our Souls to Heaven for more grace that these sparks may be kept alive yea blown into a flame Neglect of this kind of Prayer is no small provocation it grieves God there is much unkindness in it that God should be so gracious as to let his door stand wide open at all times and that he should assure us of welcome when ever we come to him and yet that we should not be so kind as to step in to visit him with a desire hour after hour and that though we may thus visit him and not neglect but rather further any business we have in hand and without being uncivil to any company in which we are He cannot but take this udkindly How few Professours have made conscience of closet-Prayer Neglecting closet Prayer Though Christ takes it for granted that his Disciples will thus pray and hath annexed a sweet promise to the due performance of this duty When thou prayest enter into thy Closet Mat. 6.6 and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Retire thy self get thee a place set thy self a time wherein thou mayest vacare Deo be at leisure to make it thy business to pray to God c. Yet how is this duty wholly omitted by some and too too seldom performed by others Satan prevails with some otherwise honest Souls to put off this duty from time to time by telling them either that they will but play the hypocrites therein or that the time is not convenient by reason either of some bodily or of some soul distempers or that this and the other worldly business must of necessity be dispatch'd at such a time c. O how little do such love the Lord that are afraid to talk too secretly or too often in secret with him But alas how many omit closet-Prayer altogether Some content themselves with praying with others either in the Church or in the Family How can such look upon themselves as Saints whatever Profession they make What a Saint and yet
never desire any privacy between God and thy Soul a Saint and yet find no errand to invite thee to speak with God alone Sure thou rather seekest to approve thy self to men than to God Thou mayest for a time be the worlds Saint but God will at last un-case thee and present thee before the eyes of all the world for an Hypocrite Mat. 6.5 6. The trâ—e Lover delights to visit his Friend when he may find him alone like that good man who when the set time for his closet-Prayer was come would break from any compony he was in with this handsome speech I have a Friend that stayes for me Farewell Others put off this duty by pretending they pray alwayes every hour they are darting up Ejaculations to Heaven As the pretence of every day-Sabbath saith one comes just to no Sabbath so the continual Prayâ—â— of some carnal Professours is not Praying aâ— aâ—â— Eâ—aculatory Prayer should not hinder but rather fit for solemn set Praying Fire must be kept upon the Altar continually but that must not hinder the Morning and Evening Sacrifice True Christians cannot be satisfied with a bit and away but they must â—â—ve their set meals Others look at Closet Prayer to be at the best but a Free will Offering as they term it which they may offer if they will but will not own it a duty Surely such are little sensible of their heart-plagues or else they would alone one by one make Prayers 1 Kings 8.38 39. Zech. 12.10 11. and Supplications Such either have 〈…〉 Spirit at all or else but little very little of the Spirit or else they would be Praying apart In all my observation â—â—e raines of Christians have begun in their Closeâ— neglects either by omitting the duty totally or by â—areless formal customary management of it The truth is saith a late neat Writer this is the first step towards Apostacy Back-sliders grow first out of acquaintance with God in secret then delight in this duty declineth by little and little then are they less frequent in their visits upon which followeth a casting off the duty and yet they may appear great sticklers and zealous in publick Ordinances but if they recover not what they have lost in their secret Trade they will ere long break here also No surer sign of an Hypocrite than to neglect secret Prayer it turns thee into a Nebuchadnezzar into an Heathen nay into a Nebuchadnezzar Jer. 10.21 a Beast They are become bruitish and have not sought the Lord. Thou pretendest a love to God didst thou love him thou wouldst love to be with him yea lovers covet to be alone where they may more freely impart their mutual affections perhaps in thy family Religious worship of God by Prayer is yet kept up to keep up thy credit with men that thou mayst not be thought an Atheist that thou mayst be trusted an hundred things may keep thee and hold thee to publick duties but herein is the tryal of thy uprightness what thou dost in secret for God and with him when the Masters part the two great ones God and World then is the trial of thee whose Servant thou art but oh when the Master is alone then he is mostly neglected When alone thou art fittest for this duty of calling upon God when the World is shut out then thou hast a discharge from the cumbers of the Earth an Heathen Scipio will tell the I have never better company than when I have no company for then can I freely entertain my own thoughts and converse with all the learned that have been in former ages But thou art called to greater honour to improve thy solitude Joh. 16.32 to converse with God when alone to have thy Father with thee Yea God like a modest lover communicates most of his affections to his people when they are in secret Psa 63.6 when David was in the night watches then his Soul was filled with marrow and fatness not that he wanted Gods presence in the day for seven times a day he praised God but his day-sacrifices yielded him not that marrow and sweetness as he tasted in the night when he was sequestred from all company and business O! the hidden Mannah is the sweetest Cant. Hos 2.14 The Church leaneth on the breast of Christ in the Wilderness and there he speaks to her heart Unhappy Soul innumerable are thy losses by neglecting Christs calls Come my Beloved Cant. 7.12 let us goe forth into the Fields there will I give thee my loves That God should so lovingly invite thee to take a turn or two with him every day inorder to his opening his breast to thee and yet be denied Again When alone and not with God thou art lyable to Sathans foulest Temptations to Atheism Discontent or Pride of heart When the Devil finds the house empty he will furnish you with company enough seven other worse Spirits if worse may be you shall be employed Fear a Rape at least if God be not engaged to be a little Sanctuary in thy Closet and retirements Sathan frequents the high wayes and that Robber takes men aside into a corner and then pillageth them of their treasure He thought so to have dealt with Christ and therefore takes him into a Mountain alone Mat. 4.8 When alone your dangers are greatest therefore should your cries to Heaven be most vehement How few Professours have observed the fittest time for secret Prayer Not early enough in the Closet Mark 13.33 God would have us in this sense Watch unto Prayer God would have us early to tell the world whose Servants we are and that we dare not undertake any business without first engaging God with us Mark 1.35 that we dare not enter on Sathans territories without Christ our great Champion with us This Post should be sent to Heaven in the beginning of the day for no sooner in the morning do we begin to live and stirr but we need fresh succours and Auxiliaries from Heaven True Christians count that the sweetest air they breath in which is the fruit of Prayer and all things relish well with him that 〈◊〉 through this golden Pipe of Prayer and therefore he is up early in his Closet that 〈◊〉 may receive all this way from the Lords bounty and faithfulness Therefore 〈◊〉 sooner doth he open his eyes but he opens his heart to God and before he puts onâ— ragg he must to Heaven in secret Ejaculations at least before he goes to his Closet to pour out his Soul more plentifully before God He expecteth no good day unless iâ— be begun with a good duty and therefore my voice shaleâ— thou hear in the morning Psa 5.3.119.147 in the morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee David prevented the dawning of the morning naâ— he prevented God i. e. his Providences and Favours which he expected he loved to have them in the Channel of Prayer But alas how do Professours shuffle
of your hearts I abhorr my self saith Job This implies a dislike an hatred an indignation against an utter alienation from and an opposition against sin God knows how little of this is mixed with the Confessions of most Professours 3. Petition as to the Matter In their Petitions Both Matter and Manner and End Have not we been faulty in the Matter Have they been alwayes for the best things Life Liberty Estate c. are desired but Grace Victory over Pride Passions Worldliness c. lye unsought for We fail also when we pray simply that we may not suffer for there is no foundation in the Promise for such a Prayer and we may not pray save for what God hath promised Have not we fail'd in the Manner Manner Have we alwayes pray'd with Earnestness Humility Faith Sincerity c. Hath the whole man been employed Few can say as David Psa 109.4 But I Prayer He was all Prayer or all of David or in David was herein employed Few can say With my whole heart have I intreated thy favour 119.58 Alas few pray effectually The heart and soul is not at work in the Duty James 5.16 It is the effectual fervent Prayer that avails We pray as if we had a mind God should deny us Qui frigide rogat docet negare Colos 4.2 We are too much like Children scribling over a piece of Paper which when they have done lay it aside or break it or think no more of it We have not continued in Prayer we have not back'd our Prayers with Prayers reinforced them we have soon fainted we have not been the right seed of Jacob I will not let thee goe untill thou bless me we soon faint and our desires expire Have not we fail'd in the End End James 4.3 May I not say as the Apostle James Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that you may consume it upon your Lusts Hath not our level been too low We should have made Gods Glory our End and we have made Self to quiet Conscience to obtain pardon of sin rather than purity of heart and life Hos 7.14 They assemble for Corn and Wine You have been perhaps earnest for the pardon of your own and Englands sins and yet selfish in all You fear and well you may temporal Plagues you are afraid that Sodoms sins may bring down fire and brimstone and therefore for your own sakes rather than Gods you pray and with some vehemency but your End is still too low Never do you pray aright till you pray more for Christs sake than for your own for his glory rather than for your own present future temporal or eternal advantages It is one thing to seek our selves and another thing to seek God in a duty They that pretended so highly begin to expostulate with God Isa 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not and takest no knowledge Mens Lusts Pray rather than their Graces Pride and self-love endite the Petitions You have been suckling your lusts whilst seemingly devout You make Provision for the flesh whilst about spiritual work and whilst your inward man seems to be exercised 4. Thanksgiving In our Thanksgivings who is free from guilt in the gratulatory part of Prayer Some bless God for Justification Sanctification Adoption c. and are strangers to these Privileges yea if catechised know not what these mercies are no more than Parrots know what they prattle Others if like the Leapers they are cleansed yet return not to bless the Lord They are large in Petitions but very sparing in their Praises Unthankful Beggars are an abomination to God and man We should be thankful for the least mercy but though we have had the honour to be admitted into the Presence Chambers as Favourites an honour not vouchsafed to the most of mankind yet we are sullen and slow to return Praises for so great a vouchsafement You have not come to dry breasts you are every day full of mercy 2 Chron. 32. but alas You render not according to what you have received therefore wrath is against you Hast thou had no meetings in Prayer no enlargements no desires to fear the Lord no importunities no wrestlings why yet it is mercy that thou livest upon the patience and bounty of God 'T is much that thou shouldst have a beeing and be preserved to this day 'T is a wonder he should feed thee cloth thee protect thee strive with thee suffer thee who art but dust and ashes to speak with him The last night thou might'st have lain on a bed of fire or by the hedge or have been in the great deeps but alas few so ready to praise as to pray We are too much like the Vagabonds when we have what we come for away we goe and come no more till pinching necessity drives us Yea we too oft aggravate our miseries and over-look the benefits we enjoy that are mix'd with our crosses 3ly How have we After the Duty when our Prayers have been ended fail'd of our duties toward God by running post hast from the Throne of Grace to the World if not to our Lusts Not considering how our hearts were in time of duty whether straitned or enlarged Nor examining how the Duty hath been done whether composed or distracted whether we had the face of God toward us or his face vailed whether we were lively or lifeless dead-hearted or quickned serious or slight what Faith was stirring what Repentance exercised The Church and People of God observed their hardness in duty Isa 63.17 Why hast thou hardned our hearts from thy fear We should look back upon our Prayers that we may be humbled for all our vain thoughts untowardness distractions and unbelief in the duty and we should do it then whilst we are in the highest capacity to know the miscarriages of the Soul what the aggravating circumstances thereof are c. And not only in order to Humiliation but Reformation that for the future we may not dare to touch the Mount of Gods Presence with such beastly frames In case we were in a good frame in the Duty quickly losing what was got in the Duty Did we labour to retain the influences of the Ordinance upon our hearts Did not we let the fire goe out again Have not we like some in a great sweat gone into the open air too soon and took a cold That 's dangerous David was more careful to maintain his fresh and lively frames and therefore he intreateth the Lord to keep the same in his Servants heart for ever How have we been faulty not looking for an answer Psa 5.3.85.8 in not believing that our Prayers shall be answered We direct our Prayer unto God but we do not look up till God look down as David We do not hearken what God the Lord will speak Paul observed how long the Lord was silent to his Prayer 2 Cor.
the Scholar of those Notions which he affects and valueth Haven ot our hearts cryed out many times unto the Bible depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of Gods wayes either as to worship or manners and that because knowledge is an obligation yea a provocation to duty and a sting in case duty be neglected What things we prize we search into Not searching the Scriptures Jo. 5.39 But how little have we searched the Scriptures as diggers in Mines do search for gold and silver in the Earth as the Word signifieth And this leads me to those two main Evidences of our slighting the written Word of God our not reading and not meditating upon it Not reading them Dent. 31.11 Matth. 12.3.5.21.16 Luk. 10.26 Deut. 17.19 as we ought which I shall a little enlarge upon How have we been guilty of not reading the Scriptures as we ought That every one ought to read them is so evident that there is no way for the Papists to keep men from believing this truth but by keeping of them from reading the Scripture No business can discharge any from this duty and yet how is this evident duty neglected Some have not been so farr wrought upon as from sense of their own ignorance and blindness in the things that concern their Everlasting welfare and from conviction that they can know such things only by the help of the written Word of God to take up firm resolutions to undertake the study of the Scripture Others notwithstanding their resolutions never set upon the reading of the Bible over At all They have seen no excellency in this book they have seen more in a piece of Philosophy in a rational discourse of Divinity in an ingenious History in a politick discourse yea in a Romance or in a Play Polititian-like who preferr'd an Ode in Pindar before all Davids Psalms How many read the Bible too seldome Oft enough thinking it too much to read it dayly to spend one hour therein every day Have not some spent several hours in a day in reading some good books of mens inditing but not a quarter of an hour in reading Gods-book I even hate mine own works said Luther and oft times wish they were burnt because I fear lest they should withdraw men from reading the Scriptures How much greater is the Number of those Aright not reverently 2 Sam. 7.18 that have not read the Bible aright Are not all of us in this number When have we prepared for the reading of the Scriptures as becomes those that are going in unto God so going into the Sanctuary where the Word of God was kept is tearmed Have not we read fearlesly Tremblingly When we were going to take the Bible into our hands have we trembled at the Word Isa 66.2 lest we should not sanctifie the Name of God yea lest we should take the Name of God in vain in our reading Have not we read heedlesly Attentively Not diligently marking the Duties commanded the Sins forbidden the Rewards promised and the Punishments threatned therein Have not our thoughts been wandering and gadding and not fixed upon what we read When did we attend to Scripture words as heedfully 1 Kings 20.33 as Benhadad's Messengers did to the words of Ahab Have not we read unbelievingly Believingly Deut. 29.9 Rom. 15.4 Josh 1.5 compar'd with Hebr. 13.5 Conscieneiously For right Ends Not believing that the Scripture is the Word of God that whatever we read therein is true and good that the Spirit of God the Inditer of every word in this Book did particularly intend our good in every Verse that in the Scripture Life and Death is set before us yea that Scripture words are our Life Have not we read out of custome and not conscienciously in obedience to the command of God Have not we read for wrong ends Either to satisfie our curiosity and not to regulate our hearts and lives or to have matter of discourse but not matter of practise to have Scripture at our tongues end not at our hearts or only to know being ashamed to be ignorant of those things which all Christians know and to be able to say nothing of such matters which we cannot but have occasion divers times in company to talk of but not to do When did we read the Scriptures with this particular intention that they might be a Lamp unto our feet Psa 119.105 and a Light unto our paths That we might thereby be help'd to order our conversation aright When did we read the Bible with the same attention reverence Quid est Scriptura Sacra nisi quaedam Epistola Omnipotentis Dei ad Creaturam suam Greg. Hos 8.12 and resolution to follow every rule therein as we think we would if we had lived when Christ was upon Earth received a Letter from him directing us what to believe and do that we might be saved Or as we think we should a Book writ immediately by the singer of God as he wrote the Ten Commandements in two Tables Why the Bible is Gods Letter to every one of us in particular written by himself though mediately I have written to him the great things of my Law To him it is in the singular number because to every man and woman particularly When did we read the Bible as Children read the last Will and Testament of their deceased Parent Have not we read the Scripture With Prayer without begging of God his Spirit to help us to understand what we read and to practise what we understand at least not so importunately as we would if we had been begging for our Lives at the Barr of a Judge Have not we sown this seed among thornes in unplowed hearts Jer. 4.3 and have not so much as prayed to God to take away the heart of stone and to give an heart of flesh a teachable plyable tractable spirit ready to receive every Divine impression O! when shall we make conscience of reading the Scriptures daily as we ought The Emperour of Heaven saith Gregory the great the Lord of Angels and Men hath sent to you that which concerns your life and will you still neglect to read it with a fervent and zealous Spirit How guilty have we been in not meditating in the Word of God as we ought How little Not meditating if at all have we dwelt in our serious thoughts upon the matters contained in the written Word of God to the end we might understand how much they do concern us and that our hearts may thereby be raised to some holy affections and resolutions Though meditation be commanded as a chief means sanctified by God for the keeping of his Word Josh 1.8 Psa 1.2 though we cannot be holy and happy without it altogether though it be one of the Profitablest duties of a Christian the Reader and Studier of Scripture may see the beauty and smell the sweetness of the flowres that grow
in this Divine Garden but it is the Meditater the Christian-Bee that gathers the honey out of them though it be the duty by which the Soul digesteth truths and draweth forth their strength for its nourishment and refreshment yea the duty by which all other duties are improved yet how much is this duty neglected by all sorts of Professours because though it be the delightfullest task to the Spirit yet it is the most tedious to the Flesh that ever men on earth were imployed in Have not many been long Professours At all and yet if they would tell all the truth they will confess they never spent one hour together in mediating on the most weighty Scripture-truths on God on Mans Estate by Creation Degeneration Regeneration Glorification on Christ on the Vanity of the Creature on the Beauty of Holiness on Death on Judgement on Heaven and Hell Meditation saith Mr. Baxter in his Saints rest is confest to be a duty by all but by constant neglect denyed by most and I know not by what fatal customary security it comes to pass that men that are very tender Conscienced toward most other duties yet do as easily overslip this as if they knew it not to be a duty at all they that are presently troubled in mind if they omit a Sermon a Fast a Prayer in publick or private yet were never troubled that they have omitted Meditation perhaps all their life time unto this very day How few have mannaged this duty aright Aright Hath not that which we call Meditation been Study only Hath not some controversial point or some nice speculation been the matter of our Meditation Hereby we evidence that we have not so great spiritual hunger after Righteousness as we should Hungry men saith one do not use to stand and pick bones when they have meat enough to eat Hath not our end in meditating been only the increasing of our knowledge and not the improving of our knowledge Have not we begun this work without God When we were going about to Meditate have not we neglected Prayer for help from Heaven to go through with the work though without God we can neither know resolve upon nor perform what is good for from him yea from his own good pleasure comes both the will and the deed Have not we idled away our meditating seasons If we have sequestred our selves from worldly businesses and company for meditation at any time have not we idled away that time by suffering our thoughts to gad and wander up and down to no purpose to be sure not to fetch in considerations for the stamping holy impressions upon our hearts and lives Have not we in meditating been without a due sense of Gods presence May not we cry out Gen. 28.16 surely the Lord was in such and such a place where I have been meditating and I knew it not i. e. I considered it not Hath not the work of our understandings in this business been to retain and not to convey truth into the heart Have our understandings represented what should work holy affections and resolutions aright Have they presented things good of a Divine and Heavenly nature as God Christ Heaven c. in their prime and beauty Have they presented things in their nature simply evil as Sin Gods wrath Hell at their worst Have not we left off meditating before we attained the end of Meditation before holy affections and resolutions are wrought Have not we rush'd out of this duty as well as rush'd into it Have not we gone from this work as a bird out of the snare with joy and speed Have not we ended as well as begun this work without God not praying to God for strength to perform what we have been inabled by grace to resolve upon for God and for pardon of what hath been amiss in the duty O! when will English Professours be prevailed with to make conscience of this duty of duties I once more intreat thee to use Mr. Baxters words as thou art a man that maketh conscience of a revealed duty and that darest not wilfully resist the Spirit as thou valuest the high delights of a Saint and the Soul-ravishing exercise of Heavenly Contemplation and as thou art faithfull to the peace and prosperity of thine own Soul that thou speedily and diligently set upon this great duty O! Considerations against flighting Gods written Word what a mighty blessing is it to have such a book wherein are written by God himself the great counsels of his will concerning mans Eternal Salvation What a sin is it then to have low mean yea vile and base thoughts of it Is not our slighting of the Word of the Lord the cause of all the wickedness in our hearts and lives Whence are all our omissions and commissions but because we make a light matter of sinning against the Scriptures Certainly this great provocation hath a great hand in our miseries and threatneth utter ruine to us Prov. 13.13 Isa 5.24 Who so despiseth the Word shall be destroyed Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth the chaff so their root shall be rottenness and their blosome shall go up as dust because they have cast away the Law of the Lord of Hosts and despised the Word of the Holy one of Israel CHAP. XVI Their miscarriages about the Promises 9ly Professors miscarriages about the Promises MUch Ungodliness is also evidenced in Professors miscarriages about the Promises of the Ward the promises being the great promoters of godliness in the world not only as arguments to induce it by shewing how God will reward it but likewise as principles of godliness or the chief instrument whereby God makes Souls partakers of the Divine nature 1. Not believing their truth How little do we believe the truth of the Promises How little do we believe that the Spirit of God and glory rests on them that suffer for Christ and his Gospel and that as tribulations do abound for Christ so shall consolations by him or that we shall have an hundred fold advantage by any loss we sustain for Christ and his concernments All that fear of man all that cowardise all those tremblings of heart that are upon Professors this day all that enmity against the Cross of Christ which appears on the faces and hearts of men are clear demonstrations how little the promises for the bearing up under suffering for the deliverance out of suffering or rewarding of suffering for Christ are believed We cannot set the Promises against all Crosses 2. Not prizing them enough How low are our esteems of the Promises of God of the great and faithful God in comparison of what they are concerning the Promises of honest and sufficient men I appeal to thee if a King should promise thee a thousand pound per annum whether it would not more rejoyce thine heart than the Promises of eternal Life which God hath made unto thee do With how
few Professours are the Promises of God exceeding great and precious 2 Pet. 1.4 Not admiring Gods condescention therein 3. How little do we admire at Gods stopping so low as to oblige himself by promise to such varlets as we God might have dealt with us by way of absolute Soveraignty and Dominion imposing only upon us commands to do our duty without adjoyning any promise of a reward he being our Creatour and we his Creatures It is his great condescention to deal with us by way of Promise which is not only an insinuation and signification of what he will do but a laying a bond or obligation upon himself to do so and so Herein God did more condescend unto Man than unto the fallen Angels they have not any one not the least Promise of any good made by God unto them And yet how little are we in admiration Not blessing God for them 1 Jo. 2.25 4. How little do we bless the Lord for those Jewels that are wrapt up in the Promises for the Fruit that hangs on this Tree of Life This is the Promise that he hath promised us even eternal Life A Crown is promised Jam. 1.12 He shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him A Kingdome is promised Hearken Jam. 2.5 my beloved Brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in Faith and heirs of the Kingdome which he hath promised to them that love him Yet how unthankfull This doubtless proceeds from our diffidence of the reality and faithfulness of the Promiser and therefore that shall be another Question 5. How little do we relye upon God Not relying on the Promiser to make good his Promises How many think God the Promiser as changeable as themselves Men in Boats being in constant motion upon the Waters are apt to fancy that the Land and Trees move as they themselves do So many Christians think as oft as they fail in point of strict duty God will fail too Who layes all the stress upon the faithfulness of him that hath promised Do not we lean partly to the Promises and partly to our own endeavours and the means we use and so divide our dependencies betwixt the Promises of God and our own Duties to bring in pardons peace holiness or any outward comforts 6. Do not we eye Promises Not eyeing Christ in them without eyeing Christ Do not we dote on the Bracclets but neglect the Friend Do not some set a greater value on the Promise than on Christ's Person Though the Promises are only the Chrystal Streams of that River of Life Rev. 22.1 which proceedeth out of the Throne of God and the Lamb yet do not we make them the Primary and not the Secondary Object of Faith Who look upon Promises only as Instruments to bring Christ and the Soul together 7. Not hoping for the good of them How little do we hope for the good laid up in the Promises What fearful expectations have many Prosessours though they walk close with God though they abstain from that which is evil though they fulifill after God to the utmost of their power though they design which way to walk in all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good word and work yet how cast down how discouraged are they how do they pine away and their hearts dye within them how are they as Reeds shaken as Ships driven and cannot cast anchor within the Vail Moses himself was shaken when a deliverance of Gods own promising met with opposition And Moses said Lord wherefore hast thou so evil intreated this people Exod. 5.22 23. why is it that thou hast sent me For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy Name he hath done evil to this people neither hast thou delivered thy people at all It is Gods wonted course to bring signal mercies under a sentence of death before we enjoy them and yet how prevailing is unbelief when God deferrs and the Promise is obstructed How faint are we Our hope is not lively 8. Noc waiting for the good of them Heb. 10.36 How little do we wait till that good which is in the Promises be given out to us I may truly say to many yea to most Ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receive the Promise Sure The Vision is for an appointed time Hab. 2.3 and God would have us to wait though it tarry because it will not tarry beyond the time appointed by the wise and saithful God But though God never fail of his own time yet he seldome comes at ours and then we run into unbelief if not impatiency of spirit How oft do we Antedate the Promise and set it a time before Gods time Jam. â— 4 Patience hath not its perfect work so that if God save us out of our miseries we shall not be able to say as the Church Loe this is our God Isa 25.9 we have waited for him and he will save us This is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation This limiting the holy One of Israel either as to means when we tye up the Lord to work by wayes and causes of our own or to dayes and hours of our own bold and impudent prescription is no small provocation Psa 78.40 41. How oft did they provoke him in the Wilderness and grieve him in the Desert Yea they turned back and tempted God and limited the holy One of Israel Some will wait a month or two for the Promise of Pardon that they may have peace in their Consciences and for Promises of outwards but when they see nothing comes of their waiting 2 Kings 6.33 then there is no hope why should I wait on the Lord any longer That Wretch waited a little but not long enough We allow time to the Physician to cure us we yield that he knows the fittest time to apply cordialls but we yield not so much to God We would have the smarting Plaister pulled off before the Wound be healed whereas it is best for us to have it kept on David's foot was almost slipt when he saw the Promise of the Kingdom deferred he makes a bad inference from the delay One day I shall fall by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27.1 We do not stay our selves on the Promises till the thing promised be given into our bosomes David waited patiently but so do not we Our hearts are not at rest but we stagger like Drunkards we reel this way and that way but are not established and setled In this we are not consident that God who hath promised cannot lye and therefore will perform the word that is gone forth from an unfeigned lip We are too hasty in our desires whereas God knows the fittest season for the Promise to bring forth We shall have it when the time is come but we
hasten the birth and spoyl the conception The Prophet of old complains of some Isa 35.4 Isa 28.16 that they were of an hasty heart whereas He that believeth maketh not hast God deferrs to put an edge on our desires a value on what is promised and to exercise our Faith The Word that is gone forth out of the mouth of the God of truth should quiet but it doth not Isa 60.22 Psa 102.13 I the Lord will hasten it in its time The Lord will arise and have mercy upon Zion when the time to favour her yea when the set time is come And is not Gods time the best 9. Abusing Promises How have many abused rather than applyed Promises How many dogs take the Children's bread How many Hypocrites tast of the forbidden fruit Lay hold on that which doth not belong unto them When they read those sweet delicious promises of the pardon of Sin of the love of God of the freeness of grace of the glory to come they count them as theirs whereas they are but Usurpers they set their mark on anothers goods they are thieves and robbers for they are strangers to the Promises How many abuse the mercy of God in the Promises so that even the Promises become an occasion of stumbling whilst they continue in sin in hopes of pardons through the Promises We are not led by the sweetness of the Promise to Repentance but rather harden our hearts presuming of pardons on course from the God of grace Gluttons surfet soonest upon the greatest dainties thus many venture to continue to sin that grace may abound hence Repentance is put off because men hope God will abundantly pardon when ever the wicked forsakes his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts The Promises are not made a Sanctuary unto which men fly from sin but as a Sanctuary to protect them in their sinfull courses God is mercifull slow to wrath he will abundantly pardon c. therefore c. Do not we overlook all the threatnings and terrible denunciations of God against our sins and wholly pitch on the comfortable Promises of the Gospel Do not we eye Promises and yet hate Commands Do not we mind Temporal Promises with the neglect of Spiritual and therein disparage God by setting a deeper value on Earth than on Heaven on our back and bellies than on God Do not we eye the Promises that speak of mercy but pass over those that lead to duty View with pleasure pardoning Promises but neglect the Promises of sprinkling us with clean water and that Sin shall not have Dominion over us We like it that God will be our God but we love not to be Gods people under his command and at his dispose How do we eye the absolute Promises but neglect the conditional We take hold of Promises of deliverance when under any misery but we forget the condition If my people shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their evil wayes c. little is that minded by us which the Prophet speaks At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation Jer. 18.9 10. and concerning a Kingdome to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voyce then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them We love we like Promised mercies and every one is looked upon as an unbelieving Thomas that doubts of the mercy but we overlook the preparatory duties of Fasting Praying Repenting and Reforming our hearts and wayes c. Hence men dote almost on the Promises of grace but secretly hate the Promises to grace because they find no gracious qualifications in themselves they love to hear of Gods readiness to pardon but they are loth to hear that they must come to Christ for Repentance and then for Remission they would fain have the penny but they cannot endure labour God hath linked his Promises and our seeking together Ezek. 36.37 Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them But how many of us do either altogether neglect or slothfully go about to perform the condition of the Promise Are not some of us altogether strangers to faith the condition of the whole covenant of grace know not what an heart purifying faith means We never gave our selves unto the Lord yet run away with the Promises of forgiveness though ignorant of the Mediatour betwixt God and sinfull creatures though full of pride and high concerts of our own Righteousness though we live in an open disesteem of the Gospel of Christ though we cannot but find an incompliance of heart with subjection to Christ yet we boast Abraham is our Father the blessing of Abraham is come upon us the Promises are ours How do the Promises of God make some slothfull in the use of appointed means How formal in duties are we May it not be said of us Deest aliquid intus as of the Image there is somewhat wanting withinâ— Are not we silly doves without heart Are not we only bolstred up with the Promises O! these pillows under our heads make us slumbring Virgins All is well God is mercifull c. but we do not sweat and get our living by labour we strive not to enter in at the straight gate c. We look for the blessed hope but we live not soberly I know saith God the thoughts that I think towards you thoughts of peace Jer. 29.11 12. but not of an evil to give you an expected end but be sure that ye call upon me and goe and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you 10. Nicely applying them How nice and curious are some in applying of Promises They forsooth take no pleasure in any Promises but such as they think no hand touched before their own They neglect the plain clear open rich Promises of the Gospel and if any be more abstruse and hard to be found out by an ordinary eye they are greedily suck'd in They are only or mainly for mystical Promises Such think they are delighted with the goodness of the Promise whereas they are only pleased with the newness of it or with their own invention and that they can see farther into a Mill-stone than another I have known some of these and I have seen what is become of them their pride and affectation hath led them also from the plain paths of holiness 11. How many will not close with a Promise such is their folly till the thing promised be found within them Not applying them till they have what they should apply them for Because their hearts are so corrupt therefore they will not apply the Promises of subduing iniquity and of purifying the heart whereas there is no way to get their corrupt hearts cleansed but by laying hold on such Promises and the longer they keep off the Promise the worse it will be with them
heart What good didst thou do or receive in that company wa st thou eyes to the blind feet to the lame didst thou labour to bring thy Friends nearer to Jesus Christ or hast thou more estranged and prejudiced them from and against the way of truth O my heart Didst thou take heed to thy wayes that thou didst not sin with thy tongue Didst thou keep thy mouth as with a bridle When going into the Shop or Field yet with Isaack thou art to meditate there and conferr with God and thy heart thus O my heart for whom dost thou labour for Self or for God whose Servant wilt thou be to day the Worlds or Christs O my heart How many snares are there in the World what a dirty place â—is the World and how great is thy danger if God prevent not by special grace O my Soul What need hast thou of Almighty power to keep thee that thou mayest retain thy sweetness in salt waters But alas How seldome do we reflect on our words or silence on our speaking or hearing on our behaviour abroad or at home When do we consider what our affections were most set upon in such and such a place in such an hour and what our demeanour God-ward and toward our Neighbour was We do not believe Bernard who tells us If we would examine our selves as oft as we need Bern. in Cant. we must do it alwayes And Chrysostomes paraphrase and counsel on Psalm 4. is of as little credit with us Let this account be kept every day have a little Book in thy Conscience and write therein thy daily transgressions and when thou layest thee down on thy Bed bring forth thy Book and take an account of thy sinnes 6. Crowing weary of the work before they have brought things to an issue Do not we grow weary of this work before it be brought to any considerable Issue We flagg before we come to the up-shot Still some were learning and never came to the knowledge of the truth And so some pretend at least to be alwayes trying but they hold not fast They try their hearts as some did truths till they be wholly sceptical as ignorant whether converted or no as ever They know not more this year than they did seven years since but hang betwixt Heaven and Hell in a dubious state for want of skill or pains to decide this matter We are not resolute and peremptory enough to have an account of our Souls yea such an one as that we may have boldness in the presence of Christ When David thought on God and was troubled Psa 77.3 6. he never gives over his heart till he ended this controversie He communed with his heart and made a diligent search We should commune till we know whether we be natural or spiritual and accordingly be humbled greatly or greatly rejoyce in God our Saviour But alas This Age is strangely dull and sluggish those Duties that will cost expence of spirits and call for the labour of the mind we wholly omit or do them very negligently Reader Could I but prevail with thee to set in good earnest upon Occasional Meditation and Heart-Examination and Solemn Meditation and Self-Tryal I should bless the Lord as long as I breath for this enterprise of mine The searcher of hearts knoweth that I took Pen in hand on this design to labour with thee in order to inside Duties that thou might'st not be contented with a Form of Godliness and rest in the external part of Religion that more work might be done within doors in Closets and Hearts O that you would reform Not pass on to another Chapter till you have engaged your slippery incconstant hearts to attend on this necessary Duty Take a few Considerations to impell you 1. Motives to this great duty Heathens else will rise up in judgment against us The very Heathen will rise up in judgement to condemn you if you neglect this duty A Roman Philosopher every night before he slept would examine himself thus Quod malum hodie sanesti c. What sin hast thou opposed wherein art thou bettered Cato also would daily at evening call to mind what ever he had seen read or done that day I use saith Senica every evening to plead my cause with my self when the candle is gone and all silent I review all that I have said or done in the day I hide nothing from mine own scrutiny I pass by nothing Pithagoras gave also this severe rule to his Scholars that they should no night suffer sleep to seize their senses till they had three times recalled the accidents and passages of the day what evil have I committed what good have I omitted Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees saith Christ may not I say of the Heathen how can you hope for Salvation O! how hath thine heart cheated thee with vain confidences How hast thou cryed the Temple of the Lord I have Abraham to my Father whilst moral Heathens have been better acquainted with their hearts than thou art Yea Sensitive creatures will else shame us 2. The very sensitive creatures may shame thee into the practise of this duty Go thou sluggard to all the souls of Heaven Do they not sit in the Sun and view themselves look inward to themselves turn every feather to set it at rights Do they not look over their feathers and pick out and throw away that which is bad and set others in their places when misplaced Nay 3. We shall else be self-condemned You your selves will be judges of your selves You take the glass and what is amiss in the hair in the face in the body you rectifie by it and what no observation to be made of the faces of your Souls O! take the word of God and make use of this glass which now is in thine hand doth it discover no spots no neglects no failings O! view thy self and humble thy self reflect on thy self and conserr with thy self till thou art ashamed till thou abhorrest and loathest thy self before the Lord. 4. You have a sure sign of hypocrisie on you The neglect of this duty a sign of hypocrisie whilst this duty lies neglected for all the upright have been very carefull to commune with their hearts to search their hearts to make diligent search lest any lust should be covered as Rachel covered her Idols or as Saul was hid in the stuff Nothing is more desired by a sincere Soul than to be throughly searched examine me O Lord Psa 26.2 as Artificers do whether their gold be weight or no and prove me as Artificers do their silver in the fire try my reins and my heart the most inward motions of my Soul search me more deeply and throughly than the world can do Unfound hearts have one Dalilah they have one house of Rimmon that they cannot endure to be examined and found out they are loath to search too
low-spirited and selfish we are Are not we exceedingly pleased at the flowers that are spread upon our dead Corps Though the praises be not due to us yet how do we drink them in as the Hart doth water 19. How Magisterial have we been Being Dictatours to others What great Dictatours to others as if all were bound to dance after us We will not abate at all but every poor Mordecai must do obeysance to our opinion 20. How are we guilty of despising Despising others yea scorning those that are as we think below us in Birth in Estate in Power in Parts and Gifts yea in graces Isa 58.9 How do we evidence our slighting of them in our looks in our words in our gestures and behaviours Pride saith one is a bad Mother of many bad Children these three especially boasting of our selves contending with and despising of others Job 35.6 How unlike are we herein unto God Behold God is mighty i. e. most mighty most great the positive is put for the superlative degree and yet he despiseth not any i. e. any of those who have no might no greatness yea how do we herein reproach our Maker God saith one made every man an object of respect or pity 't is Pride that makes any the objects of contempt Prov. 17.5 and in them their Maker Who so mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker 21. unwilling to confess their faults unto others How few will confess their faults unto others Perhaps they will reform but hate it to the death to go and acknowledge their trespasses to others whom 't is clear and proved they have trespassed against How many have you injured by tale-bearing backbiting c. Must not God work a miracle to perswade us to make reistitution to go to the parties wronged and confess the wrong there and then to go from house to house to vindicate and clear the party there where before we had wickedly stained and aspersed him This makes me cry out Lord who shall be saved Lord many are called but few are chosen 22. Reproving haughtily Isa 3.5 When we go about that too too much neglected duty of fraternal correption how loftily do we manage it How do our words yea looks and gestures evidence our haughtiness The Child behaveth himself proudly against the Ancient Vindicating themselvs maliciously 23. What a stirr what a noise do we make to vindicate our selves when aspersed and calumniated Whereas the humble Soul would never stirr to clear himself as knowing how much guilt and sin there is within were it not for the honour of God and the edification of the Lords people which may be hindred if prejudices and unjust reproaches be not removed Alas most men study revenges and like the Grave are unsatiable in their malicious vindications 24. Being bloudily minded toward their dissenting Brethren How bitter have we been against dissenting Brethren Would we not have cast them out of the Land if we might have had our wills Did not we talk of shipping away all that would not submit to our way of worship Did not we count them who were divided in circumstances and ceremonies from us like Dogs and Pagans unfit to subsist among us No wonder if for these things God make us a shame and a derision a Proverb and a by-word to all the Nations round about us O! our Pride testifies to our faces we are guilty of what brought down fire on Sodom This is the sin that God setteth himself in battel-array against Jam. 4.6 so the word for resisting in that Scripture God resisteth the proud signifieth 'T is that which makes God abhor us and our offerings Prov. 16.5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Believe it Gods eyes are upon the haughty that he may bring them down and he watcheth his opportunity to do it Psa 38.6 The Lord knoweth the proud afar off When God meets with a spectacle that he cannot endure to look upon he turns from it whilst it is afarr off What shall I say Pride is the first of those seven things Prov. 6.17 which are an abomination to the Lord. And no wonder that God so loatheth it whilst it crosseth the great design of God in the Gospel which is to humble the mountains 1 Cor. 1.29 31. that no flesh should glory in his presence but that he that glorieth should glory only in the Lord. CHAP. XXII Their Intemperance in Eating THough Pride was the first spark that blow'd up the glory of Sodom Professors Fulness of Bread yet there was also Fulness of Bread that made the flame the greater Behold This was the iniquity of thy Sister Sodom Ezek. 16.49 Pride Fulness of Bread c. Their Pride was evidenced in their Fulness of Bread as the Cause in its Effect The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to be temperate is as one well observes applyed frequently to the Mind in opposition to Pride because Sobriety proceeds from an humble sense that nothing is ours but all that we have is Gods and all Intemperance is commonly the issue of a proud Spirit which makes men look on themselves as Owners and all Creatures as their proper Goods which are perfectly at their disposal Hence the Crown of Pride Isa 28.1 3. and the Drunkards of Ephraim are both names for the same persons And is not our Pride evidenced in our Fulness of Bread Sodoms intemperance in eating not to insist on intemperance in drinking was very great but I fear Englands hath exceeded Sodoms I will not say all your labour is for the mouth Eccles 6.7 as Solomon complains and yet the appetite is not filled but this I say that some live to eat some sacrifice all to the belly to some the belly is a God Few can displease their appetite like prophane Esau they part from their heritage from the blessing of the first-born for a mess of pottage for a little pleasure to the taste How will we deny our selves in respect of Life when we cannot deny our selves in respect of a little Meat As Heaven and God are low very low with them that cannot deny themselves in a little Iudian-Smoke in a Pipe in a cup of Liquor but will be immoderate in these though thereby they hazard the displeasure of God So are they very low with us if we cannot deny our selves in our Morsels All our ruine came in at this door that Adam ventured the displeasure of God to eat a little pleasant Fruit. A man would think Evidenced in their much eating that the wounds we received by the mouth should make us check our appetite all our dayes 1. How have we been guilty of eating too much A little would content Nature which hath therefore given us a little Mouth and Stomach to teach us saith an Ancient Moderation How have our hearts been overcharged with surfetting whilst wicked men with
house that is falling we would endeavour to save our selves from this untoward generation The Apostle would not so have adjured them so charg'd so intreated them had he not known the danger of wicked company Psa 7.11 God is angry with the wicked every day his bow is bent his arrows are on the strings the instruments for their ruine are all prepared And is it safe to be there where the Arrows of God are ready to fly about our ears How was the Apostle afraid to be in the Bath with Cerinthus Numb 16.26 Depart saith God by Moses from the tents of Korah Dathan and Abiram lest you be consumed in all their sins How have the baskets of good figs suffered with the bad Is it not prejudicial to the gold to lye with the dross Lot had been ruined by his Neighbourhood to the Sodomites if God had not wrought wonderfully for his deliverance Will you put God to work miracles to save you from your ungodly company It is dangerous being in the road with thieves whilst Gods hue and cry of Vengeance is at their backs Prov. 13.20 A Companion of fools shall be destroyed The very beasts may instruct you to consult better for your security the very Deer are afraid of a wounded chased Deer and therefore for their preservation thrust him out of their company How few believe their own experiences From not believing that they have suffered from them what they have suffered by the company of the Ungodly It had been better we had gone to the Pest-house and eat and drank with persons infected with the Plague even whilst the soar and botch was running on them than to accompany with wicked men our bodies would have been endangered only by the one but our Souls are by the other Is not the poyson of Asps under their tongues Doth not the Devil act them Eph. 2.2 Doth he not work effectually in the Children of disobedience Doth he not inform them Is there any breath that is not infections coming from their lips How soon could Joseph rap out an Oath by living with Pharaohs Courtiers It was not long time that Peter was â—nnecessarily without a Call in the High-Priests Hall and how quickly do we hear him Curse and Swear and deny his Lord and Master We are insensibly insnared and defiled by wicked men as we are black'd and discoloured by lying long under the hot and scortching Sun-beams Do not we yet know and feel how a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump and that one sinner destroys much good and that those that were mingled among the Heathen learned their wayes Have not you found after such company-keeping how your hearts have been dead dull straitned loth and unwilling to come into Gods presence It is difficult saith a late ingenious Writer even to a miracle to keep Gods Commandements and evil company too How suddenly after your Soul-refreshments in your Closet Communion have you lost all your heats and spiritual fervencies which you had in secret and have instantly cooled by going forth into cold and corrupt air When a Saint hath been in private ravished with the love of God and the joys of Heavenâ— and afterwards meets with company which neither doth nor can speak one word of such matters what a damp is it to him What a quenching as it were of the Spirit of God in him Nay is not that true which one saith that the people of God do generally lose more by worldly men that are of a blameless conversation before men than they lose by wicked and profane men O! how oft hath communion with carnal men been at least an occasion of blotting your evidences and of your suspecting the truth of your own graces whilst you have omitted the duties of admonition and reproof when there was a call thereto O! how oft have you said If I cannot suffer such a mans frowns and displeasure and therefore have omitted my duty to their Souls and durst not appear for God against their sins how shall I deny my self in greater matters How shall I suffer at a stake for Christ How shall I resist to blood fighting against sin You hold the Wolfe by the Ear whilst among them If you reprove them you get a blot if not you fear you are too cowardly to be inrolled among the Saints I will acquaint you with an Observation of mine When I have seen a Christian fall into an intimacy with vain and erroneous company I have counted it a mark of a back-sliding heart and have found it so too too oft And no wonder for we our selves count it a disgrace to us to accompany with them who associate with people suspected for uncleanness and dishonesty and so doth the Spirit of God who will not partake in the scandal of such Association Verily He will not be a Partner with you when you are not choice of your Fellowship How few consider From not considering how hereby they harden them in their wickedness how they harden wicked men by an intimacy with them Whereas withdrawment from them might be a means to make them ashamed Whilst we are merry and jovial with them we make them believe their condition is not deplorable their danger is not great whereas if we shunned them as we would a Bowed-Wall whilst they remain enemies to the Lord this might do them good for the startling of them and rouzing of them out of their unhappy security and strong delusions wherein they are held Not discharging Duty in their company Secondly May not neglect of discharging the Duties owed to wicked men whilst in their company be also justly charged upon Church-Members Professours carelessness of the perishing condition of the Souls even of the vilest is a sin much to be lamented It is an Iron Age we live in and mens hearts are strangely hardned as to any pitty they shew to the multitudes who are in a natural and damnable condition Me-thinks you should reflect on the misery of an unconverted state whilst you your selves were so lately in it Are not you convinced Several weighty Considerations to perswade Professors to be treating with Souls about their eternal Estate what-ever company they are in that those with whom you converse daily have reasonable immortal Souls capable of eternal life or misery Have not they the same common Nature with you Are there not at least many civil bonds wherein you stand related to them Doth not their misery call aloud for your compassions Are they not in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity Have they yet any part or fellowship in the pardon of their Sins The endeavouring to heal the back-slidings of Christians though a very necessary work is not so necessary for they will surely be pardoned and healed they are not in such hazard of damnation as to endeavour to open the eyes of these poor blind wretches and to turn them from the power of Satan unto God Would you not
the merciful Dispensations of God to them 1 Sam. 15.17 18 19. And Samuel said When thou wast little in thine own sight wast not thou made the Head of the Tribes of Israel and the Lord annointed thee King over Israel and the Lord seat thee on a journey and said Goe and utterly destroy the Sinners c. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord And Nathan said to David c. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. I annointed thee King over Israel and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul And I gave thee thy Masters House and thy Masters Wives into thy bosome and gave thee the House of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would morcover have given unto thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord to do evil in his sight And hath there not been as much disingenuity and unkindness in our Sins The Lord hath given his Statutes to us and his Laws He hath not so dealt with all the Nations under Heaven He hath nourished and brought us up as Children Isa 1.2 3 4. but we have rebelled against him The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People my People doth not cousider Ah sinful Nation a People laden with iniquity c. God fetcheth a deep sigh Ah! under the burden of this Ingratitude His Spirit is laden and troubled with it They have provoked the Holy One of Israel Mis-improvements of Mercies are very provoking When God comes for Bread to be sent away with Stones must need vex the good Spirit of the Lord. Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken it Oh for Professours to be worse than Publicans for they will be kind to such as are kind to them Have not we sinn'd against God even with his favours and requited him evil for good May not the Lord say unto us Deut. 32.6 Do ye thus require the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee All the mercies we have received greaten our sins The more richly that God hath heaped his Blessngs upon us the more wantonly we have followed the swinge of our own Lusts and the more contemptuously spurned at his holy Commandements We have great cause to be ashamed for that all our sins have been 〈◊〉 gainst mercy and therefore against the Principle and Law of Nature It is a perpetual Spot not to be worn out by time that of King Jeash that he slew Zechariah the Son of Jehojada the High Priest who had been loyal unto him in the getting of the Kingdom and faithful in the administration of it ◠Chron. 24.22 23. Thus Joash the King remembred not the kindness which Jehojada his Father had done to him but slew his Son and when he dyed he said the Lord look upon it and requite it And it came to pass at the end of the year that the Host of Syria came up against him and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the Princes of the people from among the people But alas What Engagements could Zechariah possibly lay on Joash that may weigh with the Mercies of our God to us And yet how have we made his choicest Favours as Arrows to shoot at the God that sent them What wretched Prodigals have we been to wast all in the service of Hell which were conferr'd with so open an hand to draw forth our time strength and spirits in the praises and services of God For this our Ingratitude Ezra 9.13 14. the Lord may justly be angry with us till he hath consumed us so that there shall be no remnant nor escaping O that you would remember the Lord from Shittim to Gilgal Mica 6.5 i. e. from the beginning of Mercy to the end of it And you will hardly find that you any of you have been the better for it but many Jeshurun-like have waxed fat and kicked God is this day calling out of Heaven to England and to each particular person in it Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise I could even wish for the thousands of our Israel that they had received fewer Privileges or had had the grace to serve the Lord in the abundance of all things better than they have to this very day If ever you purpose sound Repentance then take a view of all the Mercies of God towards you Goe back to the time when the first stone was laid yea goe back to the eternal projects of God to make thee out of nothing and to redeem thee when worse than nothing Review the upper and lower Springs with which Soul and Body have been refreshed Remember how many eminent Deliverances and Salvations God hath wrought for thee And if at any time thou hast been straitned in outward comforts yet remember how thou hast been enlarged with spiritual graces if God hath denyed thee in one kind of mercy he hath supplyed it by a gracious wonderfull commutation in another in a better if thou hast been denyed the fleshpots of Egypt and the land flowing with honey yet it hath been all made up in the bread the Mannah that fell from Heaven if thou hast had sometimes bodily infirmities yet thou hast been strengthned with all might in the inward man if thou hast been denyed thee the gold of the earth yet God hath supplyed thee in making thee rich in faith If sometimes Friends have been unfriendly inconstant or treacherous yet God hath stood by thee when all left thee God hath dealt with you as with Sons your gleanings are better than the Vintage of the world Having laid these and innumerable such mercies in one Scale now lay in the other Scale thy soul ingratitude not only that particular sin of unthankfulness that thou hast been guilty of of which before but the ingratitude that hath been in all thy sins in thy pride hypocrisie formality self-love self-seeking impatience neglect of duty to Superiours Equals and Inferiours profaneness intemperance unrighteousness c. that Remembring the Lord and his goodness towards thee together with thy cursed returns thou may'st yet abhor thy self in dust and ashes Take words and say My Salvations are more than I can number Blessed be God the Father of all mercy But my sins also are innumerable I cannot recount them shame upon me O! how vile have I made my self whilst by abuse of rich mercy Mat. 5.47 Isa 1.3 I have lived below the ingenuity that is found in Publicans and Beasts O that God would give me the success that the Angel had on such a sinfull people as you are Judg. 2.1 2 3 4. And the Angel of the Lord come up from Gilgal to Bochim and said I made you to go up out of Egypt and have brought you into the land which I swear unto your
institutions though all the sins for which God cast out the Heathen and cast off his Israel oe found amongst us and these highly aggravated and innumerable circumstances yet how little are we concerned therein How seldom do we express our inward sorrows by Tears and Fasts David beheld the Transgressours aâ—â— was grieved because they kept not Gods word Horrour seized on him because they made void Gods Law Yea Rivers of water ran down his eyes because men kept not Gods Law Psal 119.158 v. 53 136. 1 Pet. 2.7 But where is the sorrowing after a Godly sort Where are the weeping Jeremiah's Naltons Midhopes or whose Soul like Lots is vexed pierced with the unclean conversation of the wicked If ever God did call us to weeping and to mourning this is the day but behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen killing sheep eating flesh and drinking wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die And it was revealed in mine ears saith the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die Isa 22.12 13 14. saith the Lord God of Hosts When Elijah saw how iniquity abounded how the worship of God was crushed how things went among the great ones of those wicked times how Idolaters were countenanced the faithfull prophets durst not shew their faces he is so burthened at what became of this that he knows not how to live 1 Kings 19.4 It is enough take away my life He is weary of the world weary of his own Land though the best under the cope of Heaven yea he thinks it a good time to remove that his eyes may see no more of these detestable things and that his Soul may be no longer prick'd with these scratching Briars But the searcher of Hearts knows how little we have been affected with all the shipwrackt faith and conscience that our eyes have seen how seldome our heads have been fountains of teart how seldome we have made our houses Bochims how insensible we have been of all the ungodliness and unrighteousness which we and our people are guilty of Wo is us we have not been wounded through Gods sides we have not sympathised with a Christ Crucified every day But like Gallio we have not laid these things to heart And yet we have still impudently enough laid claim to Christ and the priviledges of the New Testament purchased by his bloud Though we never followed Christ to the Cross weeping though we have hardly shed one tear for all the contempt and abuse of him which is Epidemical which abounds from Dan to Beersheba from one part of the Nation to another We pretend we have great sorrows though they are not expressed by tears in a sensitive manner we think to relieve our selves with the dryness of our constitution and yet we have tears more than a good many to express our sorrows by if a Relation drops into the Earth we can follow the Herse wringing our hands and beating our breasts if an Estate which we have got by carking cares by neglect of duties heart-duties and family-duties be in one day consumed and dissolved by a flame into ashes we then can express our sorrows by weeping and lamentation witness some of your howlings your cries at the late Desolation by Fire But commune with your own hearts whether you were ever made so sensible ever so affecâ—â—â—and â—unk with the consideration of the honour that God hath lost by you and by thousands like your selves Was God ever more affronted by a professing people than by us Was ever Christ so set at naught as of late times Was he ever more despised in his Person Offices and Institutions by the Rhabsheka's of the Earth than he hath been lately by them who have had a form of godliness Zech. 7.12 and yet our hearts are bard as an Adamant O! what grounds have you to question all your mourning for your own sins whilst you mourn not for the sins of others Did you mourn for sin as it is against God You would mourn for other mens sins for they are against the Lord also Ezra 9.3 You would be like Ezra he rent his garments pull'd off the hair of his beard sate down astonished for the sinfull marriages of the people But we are insensible though God be much more dishonoured by the Adulterers and Adulteresses by the Blasphemers and Atheists by the Worldlings and Apostates who swarm in the midst of us How can we perswade our selves that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts whilst he is so much reflected on and yet we no way suitably affected therewith If a Child if a Father if an Husband if a Friend be injured thou art much affected with the injury but not so with all the affronts that the Sons of Belial put upon the blessed God every day How can we imagine in the least that we have any true love to the Souls of our Neighbours whâ—â—â—â— we behold them lifting up the heel against their Maker wounding and destroying their Souls by their sins and yet we not sign if not weep in secret for the desperate nazards they are running Nay how can you imagine you love your selves your estates liberties lives c. whilst God is provoked to ruine you and them for their great provocations Josh 7. You know one Achan brought a Plague upon the whole body of Israel and yet his sin was secret But we have Street-Drunkards Street-Swearers Street-Adulterers and Adulteresses Street-Scoffers at Piety and the Worship of God And are ye not in danger to partake of the Plagues that these sins are crying for And what yet are your hearts as insensible as Rocks The Lord be mercifull to you and take out the heart of stone How can you be free from being guilty of all the known sins of the land whilst you do not mourn for them before the Lord Nay yea of the â—okens of Gâ—ds dispâ—â—asure against Sin Isa 22.45 Joel 2.2 to shew yet the greatness of your stubbornness you are insensible not only of your own and other mens sins but of the tokens of Gods displeasure against those sinnes God hath emptied us from Vessel to Vessel followed us with the Sword and Pestilence and wonderfully so lately by dreadfull flames God hath spoyled us of our glory and humbled us as low as dust and ashes it is a time of treading down and therefore we should weep bitterly it is a day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness We have had such a Plague as never the like such a Fire hath been kindled as never the like amongst us the Protestant Nations are very low and the Antichristian very bold and consident yet we can hardly hang out harps upon the Willows Eph. 4.19 but as if our hearts were past feeling we are insensible both of sin and wrath O! I hear some cry out of hard times but there is much more reason to cry out