the chiefest among ten thousand his head is as the most fine gold his locks are bushy black as a Raven his eyes are as the eyes of Doves by the Rivers of waters washed with milk and fitly set his cheeks are as a bed of spices as sweet flowers his lipps like Lillies dropping sweet smelling myrrhe his hands are like gold Rings set with the Berill his belly is as bright Ivory overlaid with Saphires his legs are as Pillars of Marble set upon sockets of sine gold his countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the Cedars his mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely This is my Beloved c. I 'le praise thee with uprightness Psal 119.7 164. Septies i. e. Saepissime Psal 148. I 'le praise thee seven times a day Yea David thought seven times a day too little and therefore he call'd in all the Creatures of Heaven and Earth Air and Sea to praise God the Dragons in the deep must not be silent True Lovers praise God as much as they can they exalt God to the utmost of their power and then from a sense that God is above all their praise they would have every thing that hath breath to praise the Lord yea and inanimates too for to joyn in the Quire Doth Praise wait for God 11. Did you love God Not loving all of God and Christ Jo. 13.34 35. 1 Jo. 4.19 you would love every thing of God Do you love his Omnipresence his Justice his Holiness True love to Christ sticks not barely in the Person of Christ but reacheth to all that have an Union with him Do we love Christ mystical as well as personal Are we of Catholick Spirits The Apostle is peremptory and brandeth them all as Liars that pretend to love God and Christ and do not love Saints 12. Not thirsting after nearer Communion True Lovers of God thirst after nearer Commuion with God My Soul followeth hard after thee The Soul still encroacheth upon God Let me see thy Glory saith Moses though he saw more than Mortals were commonly permitted to behold yet Semper avarus eget Much would have more Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God A true Lover of God is under an holy impatience till he ceaseth to see darkly in a glass He would fain see with open face O! saith such a Soul the distance between Christ and me is too great O! I cannot but groan earnestly when I consider I am absent from the Lord whilst present in the body Lord saith Austin I will dye that I may enjoy thee I will not live but I will dye I desire to dye that I may see Christ and refuse to live that I may live with Christ The broken Rings Contracts and Espousals content not the true Lover but he longs for the Marriage day Here are Clouds that oft pass 'twixt God and my Soul O that I were above them Here if I see and enjoy the fear of losing so sweet a sight abates the comfort of fruition but then welcome an eternal day that shall never have a night 13. Being weary of his Commands If you loved God his Commandements would not be grievous to you Love cannot be easily poised Love hath a kind of Almightiness in it so that heavy burdens are made light 1 Jo. 5.3 and almost impossible things become feasible But of how many things do we say Mal. 1.13 What a weariness is it How are you haled by Governours by Conscience and by the terrours of the Law unto Duties How like Slaves chain'd to Gallies you must work though sore against your wills Did you love God you would count nothing tedious Hebr. 12.1 save dulness in his service Sin would only be the Weight O the burden of Formality Pride c But O the pleasures of the wayes of God! His yoak is easie his burden light 14. Did you love God Not fearing how it goes with Gods affairs 1 Sam. 4.13 you would be jealous lest it should goe ill with Gods affairs The loving Mother trembleth lest the Child should suffer when she is off from it But alas how few Elies are there whose hearts tremble beause of the Ark Do you really fear lest Formality should eat out the Power of Godliness lest Traditions should make void the Commandements of God lest your Trades should spoyl your Communion with God You may easily imagine Considerations tending to humble us for want of Love to God the want of Love to God must needs be a great Provocation O to pretend love and yet Judas-like betray Christ with a kisse to say Hail Master and yet preferr a base Lust before him What an indignity is it to the Husband that the Wife loves the Slave before him The World should be your Slave but it hath got the heart the bosome and Christ must stand without doors till his locks are wet Cant. 5. O that God should stoop so low as to love you as to make you the birth of his everlasting counsels of love that he should carry you long in the womb of his eternal purpose This goodly Fabrick of Heaven and Earth had not been erected but as a Stage whereon he would shew his love to you And did he not in the fulness of time purchase you by the blood of his First-born yea of his only begotten Son and for this very end that he might gain your love as well as reveal his own love And yet that your love should not be like an Eccho which returneth what it receiveth Sure you should cast back Gods beams of love upon himself This is all he expects My Son give me thine heart All the command he layes upon you Mat. 22 36 37. is in one word To Love him God might have commanded our Children to be sacrificed to pass through the Fire O! what a favour is it to love the Lord That God will honour us so farr as to suffer us to love him And yet we love any thing any sordid base Lust rather than God We would count it a favour if a Prince would give us a privy Key to come to him when we please Here is more honour we may have recourse to the bosom of God when we will God would have us to love him with all the heart with all the soul The Lord would not lose one grain of our love O that we should deny him that which he with reverence be it spoken and thought on is so fond of Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord require of thee but to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul God requires not now Cattle upon a thousand Hills or Rivers of Oyle Only Love me Love me Love me heartily constantly chiefly and yet we deny him our
from Genesis to the Revelation and what ever filthiness waâ— found in Men or Kingdoms may be founâ— upon our skirts and shall not we hang up our harps refuse to be comforted shall not we lye down prostrate before God and pour out water before the Lord and weep till we can weep no more Tremble O my heart under all these provocations And let your hearts be as the leaves of a treee that is shaken by the Whirlwind What so many hellish lusts to swarm in thy heart What guilty of so many millions of iniquities against the God of Heaven and yet thou secure light vain and frothy I profess if I did not know what a stone I have within I should wonder all the day long how it is possible we can stand under so much guilt without shreiks cryes and lamentations I should wonder how you eat and drink and sleep how you can laugh or sing whilst God is so provoked Can I think that man lives who is not moved by the weight of a mountain on his back Professour thou hast that which is heavier than Mountains of lead upon thy Soul and yet thou hardly feelest it Thou dost not groan under that which drew not only tears of water but of blood yea clots of blood from the eyes and veins of Jesus Christ I wonder how you continue your claims to Christ how you can call God Father Christ Redeemer whilst you have so little love to him and whilst you were never pricked at the heart for all the injuries that you and others have done him Whom you love you are troubled for if he be injured by your selves or others But where is your Soul-trouble for your own and other mens sins Are not many as sensual as ever as great servants to the flesh as ever Have you not your Feasts and Entertainments as formerly Though it be a day Isa 22.12 13 14. wherein the Lord calls to weeping and mourning to baldness and girding with sackcloth yet behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine And hath not the Lord sent you a word that may make your knees to tremble Is not the hand-writing plain It was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye saith the Lord God of Hosts O! Fall down amazed fill thy Spirit with horrour away into thy Closet though thou art in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity yet pray to the Lord if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart and the wickedness and prophaness of thy life and particularly thy unseasonable mirth and fleshly indulgencies may be forgiven How can you trade with so much guilt upon you You have had your pleas for your covetousness and inordinate affections to the World that God bids you provide for your own But what think'st thou of thy Soul Is that no part of thine own Is that no piece of thy charge O! Provide for thy Soul Thy Soul cannot be safe whilst stained with so many thousand impurities which were never mourned over to this day O! Let sorrow enter into the very inwards of thy heart and let the insupportable pressures of sin sink thy very Soul Zech. 12.10 Mourn as the tender Mother for her only Son be in bitterness so as thou canst not relish those things which thou hast hitherto followed with so much eagerness Let the loathsomeness of thy sins be continually before thine eyes as thy standing dish So it was with Repenting David Psa 51.3 Lam. 5.16 Lam. 1.1 2 3 4 9 13 21. My sin is ever before me So it was with the Church Woe to us we have sinned It is true they were under fearful Plagues How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people How is she become a Widow She that was great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces how is she become tributary Among all her Lovers she hath none to comfort her all her Friends have dealt treacherously with her c. She dwelleth among the Heathen she findeth no rest all her Persecutours overtook her between the straits The wayes to Zion mourn c. She came down wonderfully and she had no Comforter c. The Enemy hath magnified himself c. From above hath he sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them c. All mine Enemies have heard of my trouble they are glad that thou hast done it Lam. 2.3 15 16. The Lord hath burned against Jacob like a flaming fire which devoureth round about c. All they that pass by clap their hands at thee they hiss and wagg the head at the Daughter of Jerusalem saying Is this the City that men call the Perfection of Beauty Lam. 4.6 11 16. the Joy of the whole Earth All thine Enemies have opened their mouth against thee they hiss and gnash the teeth and say We have swallowed her up Certainly this is the day we looked for We have found We have seen it The punishment of the iniquity of the Daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown as in a moment and no hand stayed on her The Lord hath accomplished his fury he hath powred out his fierce anger and hath kindled a fire in Zion and it hath devoured the foundations thereof The anger of the Lord hath divided them c. Lam. 5.2 8 10 11. Our Inheritance is turned to Strangers our Houses to Aliens Our Necks are under Persecution We labour and have no rest Servants have ruled over us there is none to deliver us out of their hand Our skin was black like an Oven because of the terrible Famine They ravished the Women in Zion and the Maids in the Cities of Judah But yet they mind not their misery so much as their sin Woe unto us for we have sinned In order to the promoting of this godly sorrow I do importune thee with the highest fervency I can that thou seperate some extraordinary time to humble thy self by Fasting and Prayer that God would give thee Repentance for thine own and thine other mens sins Perhaps to this day thou hast never observed one in order to the getting of a broken heart O that I could now prevail with thee for this is the means that God hath blest again and again On such dayes God hath softned many an heart and cast out the Devil of security and hardness which could not be cast out in ordinary times of waiting upon God Let thy main request on that day be for a deep consideration of all thy sins with all their several aggravations and a deep humiliation for them O! I beseech you if you have any love to Christ to the credit of Religion to your perishing Souls break through all businesses and impediments and retire your selves and fall down at the footstool of God more solemnly than ever you did If you are by the consideration
A GOSPEL-GLASSE Representing the MISCARRIAGES OF English Professors BOTH In their Personal and Relative Capacities for which God is contending with them by the Sword Plague c. and since the writing of the greatest part of the following Treatise for the Press by the dreadful Fire in London OR A CALL FROM HEAVEN To SINNERS and SAINTS By Repentance and Reformation to prepare to meet God Levit. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Jer. 2.35 Yet thou sayest Because I am innocent surely his anger shall turn from me Behold I will plead with thee because thou sayest I have not sinned LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXVII THE Authors PREFACE WHEN it is a day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness then saith the Prophet Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion Joel 2.1 2. and found an Alarum in my holy Mountain Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble Lam. 2.1 How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of Zion with a Cloud in his anger and cast down from Heaven unto the Earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his Foot-stool in the day of his anger He hath violently taken away his Tabernacle as if it were of a Garden V. 6 he hath destroyed the Places of the Assembly The Lord hath caused the solemn Feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and hath despised in the indignation of his anger his Priests V. 7 Yea the Lord hath cast off his Altar he hath abhorred his Sanctuary the Law is no more her Prophet also find no Vision from the Lord. O that now mine eyes could fail with tears V. 9 and my bowels were more troubled within me O that my Liver were poured upon the Earth for the destruction of the Daughter of my People V. 11 because the Children and the Sucklings swoon in the streets of the City We see not our Signes there is no more any Prophet Psal 74.9 neither is there among us any that knoweth How Long. When we 2 Sam. 6.1 2. like David were restoring the Ark of God I mean the presence of Christ in his Worship and Ordinances what Stumblings of the Oxen have we seen What miserable Disappointments have we met with And what sad breaches have there been made How hath God stopt our way and branded our Enterprises with wonderful remarks of his sore displeasure Hear therefore the word of the Lord Hos 4.1 ye Children of Israel for the Lord hath a Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land We poor Ministers have pleaded with you till we can plead no more the Lord hath bid us stand by whilest he himself takes up the Controverste O is it not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Hebr. 10.31 Are you not sensible what Arrows God hath begun to shoot amongst us How many thousands Psal 58.9 Isa 5.25 and ten thousands hath he taken away as with a whirlwind by the Pestilence For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still How hath God shaken our Heavens Hag. 2.6 and our Earth the Sea as well as dry Land How doth he contend still by the Sword And how much precious blood hath the Earth and Sea drunk up For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still O! Come Psal 46.8 Behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the Earth Every Providence of God especially his more notable Acts hath a reason written upon it could mans eye read it When the Church complained that God was as a stranger in the Land Jer. 14.8 10. and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night The Lord replyes to them Thus have they loved to wander c. The Controversie began on their side they may see their Sin in the Punishment as in a Glass Do they winder I grow strange to them The estrangement began on their part Nothing appears more our instant Duty than to enter a serious scrutiny What have we done Wherein have we offended Lam. 3.40 41 44. Let us search and try our wayes saith the afflicted Church of Judah upon this very occasion of the Lords covering himself with a Cloud that their Prayers could not pass through and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the Heavens O! Hag. 1.5.7 Consider your wayes The Lord doubled it Your iniquities have seperated between you and your God Isa 59.2 and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear I find men will easily subscribe to this that Sin is the procuring cause of all misery but I find an aptness to transferr the guilt from one to another from one party to another and though people do even sell themselves to work wickedness yet so predominant is Self-love that it sees no spots in it self Ahab is not the troubler of Israel but Elijah Nay a good man Aaron excuseth himself Exod. 32.22 and layes the blame on others The Sin is theirs not mine Men have a natural desire to justifie themselves and their desire is so strong that they care not whom they bespatter or burden so they may but ease and acquit themselves And indeed Sin is such an ugly Monster that no man will own it if he can choose but had rather lay this Child of Darkness at any mans door yea at Gods than Father it himself My Design in this Enterprize is to obviate this Distemper and to bring you all of you to own your iniquity that you may say resolve upon it that you will confess your iniquity Psal 32.5 that so God may forgive the iniquity of your sin My Place and Duty as a Minister though wholly unworthy of that Relation to God and you binds me to cause Jerusalem to know her abominations Ezek. 16.2 and therefore I have descended to Particulars that if it be the will of God I might hit the humour 1 Kings 8.38 and shew to every man the plague of his own heart The Lord knoweth I take no pleasure to rake in these Dunghills I dread the ill uses that the Sons of Belial may make of this Enterprize I expect various Censures from them who should be otherwise minâ—ed but my record is on high that the great Design of this Publication is to reduce Professours to a more aweful humble serious Repentance towards God and singular Conversation before men I thank God for the freedome that a Reverend Brother hath taken with the ejected Ministers Vox clamantis in Deserto and I must profess that since the perusal of that most seasonable Piâ—ce I have had no quiet in my Conscience till I entred upon this Labour Though my bodily Distempers pleaded loud for my silence though I was
ends and how lumpish and heavy are our hearts in the beginning of a Sabbath much more than upon any other day Doth not this prove the day to be no way pleasing to us And how chearfull are some of us when the Sabbath is ended The heart is not so well pleased all the day as then yea do not some cheat and delude themselves hereby as if they had joy in the Lord and had received comfort from the Word and other Ordinances whereas they are glad that the yoak of Ordinances the burden of the Word of the Lord and the burden of the day of the Lord is taking off their Shoulders Being hindred from profaning it only by external motives How many are there who would profane Gods Sabbaths and wholy neglect the Ordinances of them were it not for the Laws of men and the eyes of their Relations How quieted are some when they have attended the publick service Satisfied with worshipping God publickly and do they betwixt and after those solemn duties refrain their lips from worldly talk from impertinencies from such discourse as bears no proportion with the holiness of the day When works of Necessity and Charity happen out beyond our expectation or forecast Glad to be hindred from works of piety are we at all troubled at them Do not we rather rejoyce because we have thereby a dispensation to withdraw from the immediate worship of God And how many neglect to do all their works on the six dayes Exod. 20.9 though the Lord so expresly chargeth them so to do that they may have a pretence of necessity to do much servile work on the Sabbath How common is it to dress meat on the Sabbath more than on any other day when there is not the least pretence of weakness c. Hereby not only Servants but the whole house are too much in labour and destraction and hindred if not from the solemn Assemblies yet from Family and Closet worship How do many gossip complement Eating too much on the Sabbath and feast away abroad the day of the Lord or else eat to an excess at home and thereby make themselves fitter for a bed than to wait on the Sanctuary to hear Christs voice to meditate on his love and to feed in his pleasant pastures How carefull are we to keep our selves Stealing Gods time and ours from pilfering from our Neighbour but not from stealing from God his time yea are not some Governours so ungodly unmercifull that they will allow their people no time but the Sabbath to recreate themselves from their labours If they need recreation you have more time than God hath reserved sure you should not steal from God to pleasure them In the discharge of the works of mercy to Man and Beast Not performing duties of mercy aright Do not we respect more our own commodity than the will of God than the dispensation of God and the creatures necessities Are these works of mercy attended with such spiritual meditations as they do afford us if our hearts were holy How few bless God for giving them one day Not blessing of God for the Sabbath wherein they may lighten their hearts of all worldly cares and throw off all griefs and secular cumbers and may seek for relief and comfort in their God Perhaps the Master observes a day unto the Lord Careless whether those under them observe the Sabbath but how careless is he that his Sons and Daughters and all within his gate honour the day of the Lord Do not many Professing Governours of Families let them sleep away the Sabbath that they may be the fitter for their drudgeries the following week O! when will Governours be as diligent that their Servants and Houshold serve the Lord as that they serve themselves You have been carefull that your work were done on the week but careless whether Gods work were done by them on the Sabbath careless whether your Servants profited by the Sabbath yea or no When will Gods glory and the good of your peoples Souls be nearer to you than your worldly advantages You ask your Servants what work they have done for you every day and call them to frequent accounts for your gains-sake and what never reckon with them about their Spiritual Soul-work O! how little is the love of God shed abroad in your hearts How justly may God be angry with us till he hath consumed us for our desiling the day of the Lord It was Gods express Law Exod. 31.14 that every one that desileth it should surely be put to death When the people were weary of the Sabbath when they said Amos 8.5 v. 7. When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat c. v. 7. The Lord swore by the excellency of Jacob Surely I will never forget any of their works v. 8. Shall not the land tremble for this and every one mourn that dwelleth therein and it shall rise up wholly as a floud and it shall be cast out and drowned as by the floud of Egypt v. 9. And it shall come to pass in that day saith the Lord God that I will cause the Sun to go down at Noon and I will darken the Earth in the clear day v. 10 And I will turn your Feasts into mourning and all your Songs into lamentation c. v. 11. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord God that I will send a Famine in the land not a Famine of Bread nor a thirst for Water but of hearing the Word of the Lord. v. 12. And they shall wander from Sea to Sea and from the North even to the East they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not find it CHAP. XX. Their miscarriages about Heart-examination THe more that the Lord of Heaven chargeth us with a Duty Professors miscarriages about Self-examination the more inexcusable are our neglects of it There are few things more commanded us than to try and examine our hearts and lives 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves c. Prove your selves c. We are apt to be strangers to our selves to cheat our selves with vain presumptuous hopes to rest in notions therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Examine your selves take an experimental knowledge of your selves We are apt to prove others and censure them therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prove your own selves begin at home try your state try your actions bring the mettal to the touchstone see whether it be sound or counterfeit try your Faith whether it be temporary or saving prove your Repentance whether it be through or superficial examine your Love whether it be sincere or hypocritical and your Obedience whether it be universal or partial Deut. 4.39 Know therefore and consider it in thine heart make a return or answer to thine heart Commune with thine own heart
of your provocations humbled in the very dust be sure to keep Conscience tender Let not your convictions dye strike again and again smite on the thigh again and again whilst the Iron is hot This fire may be kept alive by bringing new fuel to it Labour exquisitely to afflict your Souls that you should be so foolish so vile as under Christs Livery to commit so great and so hideous abominations Take words and say O the Light that I have abused O the means of Grace that I have slighted O the little service that I have done to Christ O the many dis-services Let these things cut and grave and afflict and humble thy Soul exceedingly from morning to evening and from evening to morning till God be pacified towards thee beware lest the motions of a lazy heart cause thee to desist sooner A patient that hath had a long disease must continue in the use of the prescriptions till the ill humour be purged away 4. Indignation Let your sorrow be accompanied with detestation See all your sins and loath them and your selves too This is promised they shall loath their ways and doings which are not good O! how much sin have we confessed which yet we have secretly hug'd in our hearts Labour to have your hearts rise against your pride hypocrifie c. Hate sin not only for Hell but as Hell yea hate your selves for your sins yea hate your selves that you can hate your sins no more O that my hatred of my Lusts might be greater than ever my love was unto them I wish from my Soul Professors were more apprehensive of Gods Judgements that are upon them and the Nation for their sins I wish many of us were come up to the frames of the hard-hearted Jews and expressed so much tenderness as they did when Gods hand was heavy upon them their sins also were an heavy burden Hos 7.14 In their affliction they sought God early they mourned and humbled themselves very much though with the removal of their trouble their sorrows wore away However be not satisfied with this sorrow but labour for such sorrow as David had when he was wounded in his heart for sin though Nathan told him his sin was forgiven yet he continued his sorrows for his great transgressions Labour I beseech you for tears of hatred and indignation be greatly displeased with your selves because you have so foolishly and wretchedly dishonoured God and ventured your eternal undoing and if yet thine eyes be not like the Fish-ponds of Heshbon for thy sins take words and sament before God thine hardness of heart that thou shouldst so grievously offend and provoke God so good so gracious a God and that notwithstanding thine heart should remain unbroken 5. Supplication Let there be added hearty cries to God for pardon of all these and all other abominations Who forgives him that scorns to sue for Remission Here is your work in this day the Devil and a false heart will put you upon other work but this is your present work Cant. 1.6 They made me the keeper of the Vineyards but mine own Vineyard I have not kept But O! do not leave the work that God sets you about I know it is your duty to provide for the bodies of your Children but consider the danger of thy Soul what guilt thou art under and give the Lord no rest till he hath blotted out all thy sin and art assured that he will remember it no more Relieve not thy self with the general bounty of God or with the free grace and rich mercy of God whilst thou neglectest to cry to God for grace and mercy He will be sought unto by the house of Israel Prize thy condition that thou art alive to pray thou mightst have been in Hell there to howl for ever and ever Seek the Lord whilst he may be found Seek in time before it be too late And if thou doubtest whether thou hast an interest in Christ and the promises because of thy hideous transgressions yet remember the gracious words that tell once from the mouth of Christ to the Samaritan John 4.10 If thou didst know the gift of God thou wouldst have asked and he would have given thee living water Though thou art unworthy of Childrens bread and hast deserved to be cast forth among the dogs yet thou hast to do with a bountifull and mercifull Lord and therefore be not cast down so as to be discouraged from waiting on the Lord. It was ill said of him why should I wait on the Lord any longer There is no hope I would have thee take better words into thy mouth and say Lord I am unworthy to be the object of thy mercy unworthy to live worthy to be denyed because thou didst call and I did not hear therefore if I call thou mayst justly turn me off in thy fury thou mightest answer me by terrible things in righteousness But deal not with me according to my deservings O! make me the great instance of the power of thy grace let thy mercy in pardoning be great exceeding great O God! Do not delay the suing out thy pardon Without delay away quickly to the Throne of Grace Remember Faelix put off his work till some other time There is danger in delays lest your sense of sin and sorrow for it vanish and decay blow up the first sparks of grace lest they go out and dye again take the first advantages of the grace of God Hast thou an inclination to humble thy self to pray to seek Gods face improve it quickly lest the wrath of God who is nighly provoked already against thee break form upon thee and there be no remedy Do not you know that you have lost the sense of the love of God But have you also lost all sense of Gods wrath Do not you wonder you escape that you are yet alive that you are not free among the dead incorporated with the Hypocrites and damned crew Will you dare you go on in your hardness of heart Will you treasure up wrath against the day of wrath O! God forbid Lay by the world thy false friend thy treacherous Joab that hath smitten to the earth with its kisses and its smiles Here is a business on which thy life the life of thy precious Soul depends Prepare to meet thy God wrath is gone out from the Lord howl weep cry it may be you shall be hid is the day of the Lords wrath it may be your sins shall be forgiven Though the law be a looking-glass to shew you your spots the Baver under the law was made of looking-glosses yet it cannot cleanse you it is the Gospel alone that pardons Away ye wandring Sheep to the great Shepheard of your Souls Hebr. 13.20 great he is in affection and love to his flock he hath laid down his life for you he hath purchased you with his own bloud Nathans parable of the Ewe-Lamb is most true of Christ and
who have committed more sins in number than the hairs on my head than the sands on the Sea shore And what Mercy for me Shall I have a Christ Will Christ accept of me who have wronged his Father and him for so many years together O! how long doth many an awakened Soul hang in doubts and fears ere it will venture upon Christs graciousness alone and then when the Soul hath long stood out the fears increase I have refused Christ so long to all my former transgressions I have added this my puting off Christ and Salvation when freely tendered and therefore sure I may not now come And now if Christ offers them mercy still they are fearful they cannot believe that Christ is serious and real O! by these jealousies of Christ you provoke him not a little You are ready to say This is too good news to be true What is this but to say The Gospel is false it is no true and faithful Word 't is not to be received with all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save the greatest of sinners blasphemers and persecutours of Christ This is the great Sin that made Christ weep You seldome find Christ weeping over the Idolaters of the World I find him not weeping over Sodom and Gomorrah but if Hierusalem refuse Christ this makes him weep indeed Hierusalem Luke 19.42 Hierusalem O if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things that concern thy peace Christ became a man of sorrows Isa 53.3 was acquainted with griefs c. on hopes he should see of the travail of his Soul and be satisfied It troubles Christ to see thee to goe about to make God a Lyar to his Son and to be denied thy loves and affections for whose sake he submitted to his Fathers frowns O! this sin of Unbelief hath great unkindness in it Mar. 16.14 and therefore no wonder if Christ upbraids for it A man is properly upbraided when as the kindness that hath been done to him is revealed to him together with his ungratefulness But what shall I say So farr are Souls from coming to Christ that they do seldome bewail this sin and seldome seek to God for power against it and though men pretend they cannot come to Christ yet the truth is they will not so Mr. Fenner in his willful impenitency hath abundantly proved The immediate cause of your not coming is not a natural deficiency but a moral opposition of Spirit against Christ CHAP. VII Their taking Christ partially without conjugal affections and without considering the cost they may be at 5ly Many take Christ partially IF at length men are perswaded to come to Christ yet they take him partially both as King Prophet and Priest As their King They are contented he shall rule in many things but not in all Their drudgery to one or two lusts must be preferr'd before Christs Scepter and Government Some part of Christs Yoak of Commandements they will submit to but are not pleased that Christ shall impose what they will they pick and choose here they will obey in another thing I pray have me excused few are brought to say Lord what wilt thou have me to do Any thing Lord I am called to thy foot as the man of the East was ready to trudge after thee to the ends of the Earth As their Prophet Here they divide too many things they will learn of Christ but they must partly lean to their own understandings and be taught for Doctrines the Traditions of men They are also partial in their close with Christ as their Priest They hope to be saved partly by his mediation and partly by their own As the Papists so many Protestant Professours are for a divided Christ few are for exalting Christ alone so as to renounce all other Lords who have had Dominion over them and to count all other Teachers besides Christ as vain absurd unsound and weak Few renounce all their own righteousness as dung to put the Crown on Christs head alone to make Christ their alone Mediatour their alone Intercessour No they must have Cisterns of their own to keep their water in and Sands of their own to build upon and so Christ the Elect precious Stone is refused by the Builders How many hope to be pardoned partly by Christ and partly by their Civility and new Obedience They lay their title to God Heaven and Glory partly from Christs merits and partly from their own deserts few whose hopes are founded on Christ's satisfaction alone but their hopes rise or fall according to what they do for him rather than according to what he hath done and suffered for them their hopes of acceptance with God are more from their reformations than from Christs entring within the Vaile If they have peace of Conscience they ascribe it to their Prayers rather than to Christs Intercession and if they Pray in secret in their Closet and in their Family too when both before were neglected they hope to pass by this Bridge to Heaven but if it be too short they will set Christ to patch up what is wanting that they may land on the other shore Hence it is that many Professors are much more consciencious in their obedience to the moral law than they are to the Law of Faith for that they hope their obedience will steed them asmuch if not more than Jesus Christ but if they understand that without Faith there is no pleasing God then they will labour for a faith that may justifie them rather as an act of theirs than in respect of the object Christ. Christ is still used only upon necessity and to make up the want of somewhat else but very few dare rest on the merits of Christ alone so as to see all their righteousness to be as filthy rags To few â—s Christ made of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Let me ring a peal in your Ears Totum Christum et totum Christi You must receive Christ entirely all Christ and all of Christ or you are not Christians though you have a name to live Christ is coming to distinguish names from things and then you will curse the day you had the Name or heard of the Name you will have your portion with Hypocrites These are indispensible terms on which Christ will insist All or none Christ as a Refiner as well as a Saviour Christ as a Lord as well as a Sacrifice Sixthly Many close with Christ without coniugal affections If men are perswaded in the horrours of their Spirits to take Christ as Priest Prophet and King as a meer shift to shift off their troubles and sorrows and their sins the occasions of them yet their hearts stand off from Christ as an Husband they have not conjugal affections to him their hearts are not brought over to him they receive him not into their bosomes into their choicest affections all this while There is still
dangerous and damnable When Hezekiah heard the blasphemies of Rabshekah it is said He rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the House of the Lord and said This is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy If an Assyrian Blasphemer was so great a troubler what troublers are Nominal Christians thus abusing their Profession and the God they pretend to serve But alas Professors miscarriages as to errours Not mourning for them How little have we been affected with the Floud cast out of the Serpents mouth after the Woman Though the Trumpet hath sounded Woe Woe Woe to the Inhabitants of the Earth because of Spiritual Plagnes We have been puffed up and have not mourned We have spoken laughingly of those sins We have not considered this Judgement as coming from the Lord as a token of his wrath in giving up so many of our Country-men to strong delusious to believe lyes We have shewed little Zeal for Gods glory that hath been blemished by these detestable things Neither have we pittied the many that have followed these pernicious ways How little have we mourned for them though the Apostle saith their damnation slumbereth not How few means have we used for their reducement Not using mouns to reduce the erroneous hardly put up a Prayer for them not admonished them but let them alone to perish in their delusions Not so much as requested an able Minister to have recourse to these poor deluded Souls in order to the turning of them from the Idols of their own brains How little have we endeavoured to strengthen our selves Not preparing Antidotes against the Infection to prepare Antidotes against this Infection We have not studied the Scriptures that we might warn the unruly and resist gain-sayers and be established in the present Truths but though we have seen so many ship-wrack their Faith and Consciences yet we have been high-minded and have not feared Have we not been guilty of not expressing our dislike of the wayes of Hereticks as we should Not disliking them We have not shunn'd them as we ought To maintain a Party to strengthen a Faction how have we too much countenanced them their fellowship hath not been enough avoided How little have we regarded those Apostolical injunctions Now I besiech you Brethren mark them Rom. 16.17 18. which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple 2 Thes 3.14 And if any man obey not our word note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed We have shunn'd the house where one with the Plague-fore dwells Prov. 19.27 but we have not with-drawn from them that cause to erre from the words of Knowledge What shall I say Nor contending for the Faith We have not so heartily and vigorously contended for the Faith which was once and but once delivered to the Saints as we ought The Lord humble us for our luke-warmness We have cryed up Moderation and counted him an Hagio mastix that hath appeared against the abominations of the Head Sure we have not been valiant for the Truth upon the Earth Jer. 9.3 We have not sparkled so much the more in an holy Zeal because others have perverted the right wayes of the Lord. Because Fools have not been answered Prov. 26.4 5. they have grown Wise in their own conceit We have been afraid to meddle with some because they have unreasonably shrowded themselves under the name of Saints Gal. 2.11 but Paul with-stood Peter to the face when Truth was like to suffer I do not in all this go about to justifie undue rigours God knows how for base respects interests names of our own we have been too severe against some things of less moment some circumstances of Church Government c. too much zeal about mint and anice we have been too imposing of what lies dark and obscure in the book of God and this while the Enemies tares have been suffered to grow and the Fundamentals of our Religion have been at least endangered But that which hath been Englands Sin is too much permitting and countenancing of damnable Doctrines What shall I say When God hath said Who is on my side who We have hardly answered for our selves We have been doubtfull in the Faith wavering and reeling not quite on nor quite off but staggering and tottering Our Religion hath been rather Opinion than Faith so that we have stood looking on as Neuters whilst Hereticks have made Merchandise of Souls with fained words 2 Pet. 2.3 The great Truths of God have lyen loose upon our hearts they have not been fastned by the Master of the Assemblies as nails in a sure place and having little experience of what we profess to know hence luke warmness followeth on course or blind zeal for our Ancestours Religion O how by reason of the great defection amongst us hath the way of Truth been evil spoken of 2 Pet. 2.2 The common Enemy fastneth all upon Religion They will not distinguish between Truth and Errour yea between Truth and Heresie and never would put a difference between the Orthodox and the Heterodox but if any one that had been called a Christian fell into any damnable Errours or Practises all Christians suffered thereby which forced the Primitive Fathers to Penne Remonstrances Confessions of Faith and Apologies that they might clear Christ and his Church from being Mother or Nurse to such a cursed Progency And though some amongst us have by Confessions of Faith and otherwise born witness against Errours yet doubtless our Consciences will tell us that we have not by Fastings Prayers Studies and all Endeavours improved all our time and Spirits for the suppresssing and drying up the floud of the Serpent the Soul-destroying floud as we should but if we have had any Acrimony of Spirit we have let it forth upon them that have crost us about Modes of Government rather than against them who have shaken the Foundations of our Religion When I consider the multitudes of Sects that have been and are still amongst us I wonder not that the Gospel hath had a miscarrying Womb and dry Breasts In all times Christianity hath suffered hereby Zozomen saith that many would have followed Christ Noscio quod dogma eligam quod praeferam but they were discouraged by the divers Doctrines amongst his followers Chrysosteme professeth that an Heathen told him He would become a Christian but he knew not to what party of them to joyn there are so many opinions and contentions among Christians When the multitude of Christians were one-soul'd Act. 2.32 33. then Fear and Aw and Reverence upon all the people But now that one saith I am of Paul c. Now Religion is had in derision
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
he had fourteen thousand before he had three thousand Camels afterwards six thousand before five hundred Asses then one thousand yet how little can we trust Providence in such cases How hardly were the Disciples perswaded that the absence of their Lord and Master Jesus Christ should be supplyed in the Spirit And yet saith Christ Nevertheless I tell you the truth â—fo 16.7 it is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him to you Christ in his Spirit dwelling in our hearts is better than Christ in Flesh dwelling in our houses When the unclean Spirit departs from a man Mat. 12.43 and returns again he brings seven Spirits worse than himself and the latter end of that man is worse than his beginning but when Christ withdrew from Earth to Heaven he brings seven consolations better than at first in the powring forth of the Comforter and the end of such in whom the Spirit supplies the want of Christs bodily presence is better than the beginning Why cryest thou for thine affliction thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity Jer. 30.15 16 17. c. Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured c. for I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds saith the Lord because they called thee an outcast c. Nothing more usual with God than to make the loss of one comfort the means of enjoying another with advantage yea with the advantage of the hundred fold But alas most fear they shall be losers by Christ and for Christ God doth as Marriners row one way and look another he brings most of his great ends about by looking quite aside from what he hath a special intent to bring to pass the Lord seldome proceeds in a direct way to his ends i. e. in a right way to our apprehensions in such a way as we would have him go in but he leads us about Psa 107.7 as he did Israel and yet that was the right way indeed though the means seem to oppose the end yet he works to the praise of his Name he can write right by a crooked pen and bring honey out of the Carkas of the Lion make use of strange instruments break down Jerichos walls by the sounds of Ramshorns But O! how little do we trust Providence when the means are not probable to effect our expected end Zech. 14.7 Hebr. 11.12 Who believes there shall be light in the Evening And that Sarah shall have a posterity as the Stars in the Firmament for multitude and as the sand on the Sea shore which is innumerable when she was old had been barren so long and her Lord old also Who will think that the Sun and the Stars shall bow to Joseph when he lies in the Pit or is in the Dungeon of the Heathen King How slow to believe were the Disciples when Christ is dead and buried Luk. 24.21 25. and lies three dayes in the Grave We thought this should have been he that should have delivered Israel How little doth the Worm Jacob Jacob when reduced as low as the earth when creeping into holes for security when as contemptible as a worm that no man scruples to tread upon when so easily to be destroyed as a worm believe Isa 41.15 16.17 that yet the Worm Jacob shall thresh the mountains and fan them and the wind shall carry them away Alas how unseemly is the behaviour of many if Providence thwarts them in taking away a Child an Husband an Estate how discouraged and cast down are we as if God in his Providence had pulled down that which he could never build again or rooted up that which he could never plant again O! how few believe that if God pull down their brick-houses that he will build them again of hewn-stones and that if he consume their Fir-trees he will build again with Cedars Do not many afflicted Christians think it impossible for their sorrow to be turned into joy Whence is all our dejectedness under Cross-Providences Hence dejectedness under Cross-Providences but from our not believing that all things are disposed by the wife and gracious Providence of God We believe not enough that the Eyes of our loving Father run to and fro throughout the Earth to shew himself Marvellous for our help in a time of need and danger David was thus overtaken till he school'd himself into a better frame with Why art thou cast down O my Soul Psa 42.5 and why art thou disquieted in me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance Few can say God is our refuge and strength Psa 46.1 2. a very present help in trouble Therefore will we not fear though the Earth be removed and though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea Few believe that if the Lord be pleased to lay a great burden upon their shoulders he will give great strength to bear it and if he gives but little strength he will surely proportion the burden to it Whence are all our uproars of Spirit and disquietness of heart but from our not trusting upon Providence When God is working desolation did we see it his work we would be still David was so when strangely provoked by Shimei's insolency and railings God hath bid Shimei curse Abisha was not so much concerned in the affront as David but he sees not God in the lips of Shimei and therefore his Spirit is inflamed All the boylings of Revenge that are in the hearts of men one ' gainst another may be Boyling of revenge attributed to mans blindness and injudicious view of things they see not the wicked to be Gods Sword to let out their corruption they do not believe that God intends to pursue gracious designs by such instruments Joseph was easily conquered and perswaded to forgive the unkindness yea the cruelty of his Brethren in making Merchandize of him to the Ishmalites he could say Gen. 45.8.50.20 It was not you that sent me hither but God c. As for you ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive He insinuates to them that they had no cause to fear his revenging himself on them for that he could easily pardon that offence of theirs out of which God hath drawn so much good to his people and so much glory to his own Name How silent would we be yea how full of praises if by an eye of faith we did see the end of God in all his Providences that they lead to holyness Before I was afflicted I went astray Psa 119.67 75. Hebr. 12.10 but now I keep thy Word I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou hast afflicted me in faithfulness He for
the world comes in But how little pleas'd with the galleries wherein the beloved may be held How are men pleased with the earth but find no more rellish in Christ and his ways than in the white of an egge What great journeys have you taken even compassed Sea and Land to gain riches and hardly can go a mile or two to meet with God How is every opportunity laid hold of to get more to the heap But do not you remain contented with the least measures of grace yea with somewhat below grace How oft have you left your meat to serve a Customer but when so to serve the Lord Jesus Christ How few design for riches as a means to carry them to a further end They should be but as the rounds of a Ladder not to stand upon but thereby to ascend higher even to glory and to the new Hierusalem But alas few desire the world in subordination to God and as a means to glorifie God but the more they love the World the less God is loved and the more their desires are carried out after riches the less after God How few pursue earthly things in obedience to Gods call How many out of a desire of filthy lucre How few seek the World with an holy indifferency How few reserve their zeal and hottest endeavours for heavenly things Is not the general cry Psa 4.6 Who will shew us any good We need no proof of this there are instances every where How for the getting of a penny Note will some debarr themselves of Ordinances Is it not a sufficient excuse with some for not attending on the Worship of God that they met with a Customer that kept them from the Ordinance Doth not the Clock strike too fast whilst thou art selling to advantage Doth not time run away too fast Dost thou not wish thou couldst with Joshuah cause the Sun to stand still on a Market-day or on a Fair-day when trading is quick But O! The Sexton is blamed for suffering the Clock to stand still on a Sabbath day and when thou art in the Worship of God O! When will the Sabbath be gone Amos 8.5 When will the Duty be over that we may fell How many Hypocritical out-cries are there against the World O! It eats up my time O! It eats up my spirits It robs me of communion with God We say it is an Enemy and yet we can bosome this Snake lodge this Enemy Col. 3.5 that God would have us to kill Mortifie Covetousness How oft hath God charged thee against Covetousness Take heed and beware of it Considerations to withdraw the heare from Covetousness Luke 12.15 Two words to the same purpose all little enough to take thee off from earthly pursuits How apparently hath God with-drawn from thee ever since thou wast taken with this Dalilah How hardly art thou pull'd out of the deep pit and miry clay to Duty much more to God And wilt thou be rich Art thou resolved to run into the bryars Then farewell to thee not only in time but to eternity Mat. 13.23 How many convictions and impressions of the blessed Spirit have your worldly cares choaked How have your inordinate desires of riches puzled your Souls and diverted them from minding and improving the counsells of God and Conscience But O! How unreasonable are earthly prosecutions in this day of Gods wrath When God is plucking up by the roots now to be seeking great things for our selves to have Baruck's sore running on us Jer. 45. ult this makes us the more inexcusable sinners This is altogether unseasonable this is no time for it this is ignoble yea base O that we were ashamed of it We say The last dayes are perillous dayes we pretend to expect the Cross and is this good preparation for the Cross of Christ to load our selves with thick clay to crack our Consciences and thereby to incurr Gods farther displeasure How unlike art thou to the primitive Converts Paul when converted Phil. 3.8 counts all things but dung in comparison of Christ And Zacheus no sooner had a work of grace begun upon him but down went the World faster than ever it went up He parts from riches with more freedome than he sought them The half of my goods I give to the poor Luke 19.8 and if I have wronged any man I will restore four-fold John the beloved Disciple affirms That there is an inconsistency between loving the Father 1 John 2.15 1 John 5.4 and the World and that Whosoever is born of God evercometh the World But alas Our hearts are as Cities without walls the World hath a thorow-fare in them and may come and goe without any Pass from Heaven How hath God put a remark of his sore displeasure upon our worldly endeavours We have to dwell in our seiled houses neglected Gods house Hag. 1.2 4 6. and said The time is not come for the building the waste places for the restoring the Worship of God for the building of the house of God and how hath God caused many of us to vomit up our sweet morsels which we rolled under our tongues O! Consider your wayes Ye have sowen much and bring in little ye eat but have not enough ye drink but ye are not silled with drink and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bagg with holes How hath this Sin deadned you to all the Worship of God How by the interposition of this dark body of the Earth hath the light of Heaven yea the light of Gods countenance been darkned and how hath thy Soul been benighted and clouded They say If a Knife be put into the Earth it will lose its edge I am sure of this experiment That Christians who were once lively and active for God yet by engaging their hearts to the World they have lost their zeal their keenness and their lustre which once they had When thou hast gained time from thy business to think of God and to discharge duty hast hot thou miss'd thine heart hast not thou left and lost it in the croud How dost thou debase thy self hereby The curse of Cham is upon thee a servant of servants thou art a slave to that which thou shouldst rule over God did not give thee a reasonable Soul that thou shouldst choose the Serpents curse to crawl and live upon the Earth O! What sordid practises have some stoop'd unto for the getting this Worlds riches Ahab to gain a few handfulls of earth dares walk to it through Naboth's bowells Judas to pocket thirty Pieces will venture to betray his Lord and the Lord of Heaven and Earth O! tremble to think what sad effects your Covetousness may have upon you before you dye Demas left Christ lost his Soul shipwrack'd his faith and all to embrace this present evil world Prov. 28.20 And if thou make hast to be rich shalt thou be innocent Whether thou place thy confidence and hope
to you by them though in the Name of the Lord. When your Ministers declaimed against your sins did you so mind what they delivered as to be any whit troubled Zech. 7.11 12. Did you not harden your hearts as an adamant Were you not so farr from being troubled for your sins that it was your only trouble you could not commit them without controul Were you not even troubled with admonitions and counsels commands and threatnings that crost you in your sins Can you say Acts 17.11 that you Received the Word with all readiness of mind Have not you heard heartlesly Heartlesly without a real sense of your want of the Word and without an appetite to it Had you such vehement desires after the treasure your Ministers were bringing you as covetous men have after the treasures of the Earth Could you ever with David say Psal 119.20 My Soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgements at all times Have not you heard unbelievingly unbelievingly Not crediting your Ministers Doctrine and not applying it to but shifting it off from your selve Have not their Sermons been therefore unprofitable to your Souls Heb. 4.2 because not mix'd with Faith Can you say that you received their Word 1 Thes 2.13 as the Word of God That you applyed it to your Souls as that which concern'd you May not we say with grief of Soul as our Lord hath said already John 5.37 You have not heard his voice at any time When you heard the Word which is Gods Word did you hear God himself speaking his own Word unto your hearts Have you not been cautioned by the Lord Jesus Christ and by his Ministers with a Take heed how you hear Luke 18.18 Carpingly And yet how oft have you heard the Ministers of Christ carpingly Not with a willingness to be judged by the Word but to judge it and the Preacher for it Have not you let slip the most material passages of the Sermon and pitch'd upon the weaknesses or impertinencies of the Minister How oft have you when you could not blame the subject matter found fault with the method and the manner of delivery and over-look'd that wherein your Souls were especially concerned Have not you heard Non-obediently Non-obediently Have not you been untractable and unteachable Have you not heard proudly and not humbly With hard hearts and not with hearts of flesh ready to receive the impression of the Word and willing to be moulded and fashioned according to it When could you say to any of Gods Ministers as Cornelius to Peter We are all here present to hear all that is commanded of God When wast thou of such an yielding Spirit Acts 9.6 Job 34.32 as Saul was of Lord What wilt thou have me to do His ear and heart was open to every command So was Job's That which I see not teach thou me Have not you had your Exceptions If Ministers have enjoyn'd you to pray in your Families perhaps you heard them therein but if they enjoyned from the Lord the same Legislatour that you pray in your Closets that you examine your selves that you fill your hands with both the Tables they could not be heard one reserve at least Whereas the right hearer cries out Lord What wilt thou have me to do I will do any thing Lord actively or passively to get Hill out of my Soul now and to keep my Soul out of Hell hereafter After hearing the Embassadours of Heaven After Not examining what they have heard how faulty have you been In not examining what you have heard by the written Word The Bereans consulted with the Oracles of God brought the Doctrines they heard to the measuring Line of the Sanctuary but so have not you They say a man will tell money after his Father but you have been too careless to tell over the Doctrines you have heard How many were there to whom the reputation and worth of the Teacher was sufficient proof of his Doctrine receiving all that was stamp'd with his tongue Mat. 23.9 Jude v. 16. Have not you called such and such a Minister Your Father on Earth in the same sense in which Christ forbids it Have not you had the Persons of men in admiration and that for advantage No wonder that Errours have abounded Men that through an over-esteem of the Minister take all upon trust or through sloth will not examine Doctrines are like to be deceived May not Christ check you Not remembring it Mar. 8.18 rather than the Disciples with Why do you not remember Have not you heard the Word and instantly forgot it Hath not the Word gone in at one ear and out at another Have not you let slip the Word Jam. 1.25 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is metaphorical taken from a Sieve or leaking Vessel when the liquor runs out as fast as it is put in Heb. 2.1 Have not you hereby been ever learning but not come to the knowledge of the truth Your Memories should be like the Ark wherein the Pot of Mannah was kept but alas When you heard the Word then came the wicked One Mat. 13.19 and catched away what was sowen in your hearts and was not the Word and the labours of Christs Ministers fallen so low that you were contented at least little troubled thus to be pillaged of this heavenly treasure Have not you neglected Meditation upon the Word you have heard Not meditating on it It was one special way whereby in time of the Law the clean Beasts were known from the unclean chewing the end Levit. 11.3 Luke 11.25 But how few ruminate upon what they have heard and received They do not with Mary keep the sayings and ponder them in their hearts Blessed are they that hear the Word and keep it How few retire into their Closets and reflect on the usefulness of the Word for the nourishment of their graces for the destruction of their sins How few consider whether they have met with God in the Sermon yea or no You should have gathered up the words of Christs Minister as Christ said of the fragments so as none should be lost or as the Gold-smith looks after the very dust of gold but as soon as Conscience was quieted did you ever think more of the Word How few have gone from the Church to the Closet Not praying over it there to pour out their Souls for a blessing upon what they heard From the Pulpit to the Trade is bad but from the Pulpit to the Ale-house that 's abominable but all are not clear herein O! If when your sin was discovered you had gone into your chambers and begg'd humiliation for it and victory over it and if when neglected duty was prest in publick you had retired and prayed to God to incline your hearts to keep Gods statutes would it not have been better with you than now it is Have not you
you cannot so exhort as Ministers c. But have you not been told that God can work by small means as well as by great and that by things that are not God can confound the wisdome of the flesh and bring to naught the things that are Is not this like the pretence of not being eloquent Do you not know have you not heard that the issue and event depends on the blessng of the Lord rather than on the work it self Is it not all one to the Lord to wound by a short as by a long sword Cannot God bless a few words in thy mouth as he did in Christs and the Apostles Can'st not thou say follow Christ and may not presently a Matthew a Publican leave his sinfull courses and embrace the Christian faith Can'st thou not say Repent and Believe that your sins may be blotted out and may not God concur with thee as he did of old times Is the Lords hand shortned that it cannot help If Israel be not gathered yet thy reward is with the Lord if thine heart were upright and could testifie that night and day thou hast not ceased to warn to rebuke and counsel Certainly your memories are not so bad but you must remember the weight of sin and of the wrath of God you have seen the wonders of the Lord in the deeps you that have escaped to shoar can tell of the Rocks and Shelves and Storms which you have been delivered from and will you set other Shipwrack their Souls rather than hold out your light unto them 〈…〉 may avoyd their ruines What shall I say to humble you There is more 〈◊〉 in Hell than you can afford Blush blush and be ashamed to have less zeal love and pitty to perishing Souls than Dives in Hell had he would have his Brethren saved from the Valley of Hinnom Your silence will make others think that Hell is a tollerable place that sin is not so evil and bitter a thing that to lye under Gods wrath is not so great a misery whilst you are so slow and backward to warn your Friends and Acquaintance that they slee from these and take Sanctuary in the true City of Refuge the Lord Jesus Christ O! If you know the worth of a Soul pitty the multitude with whom the day is not broke whose forlorn Souls are under a continual Massacre from the bloudy Butcher of Hell Besmear your Souls no longer with the guilt of their bloud Let them not starve for want of bread whilst you have to give them I shall bless God for ever and ever if this your negligence of the Souls of those whom you may account without may be cordially bewailed and you for the future double your diligence for their conversion Ministers cannot convert without the Concourse of Omnipotency neither can you Though Satan and thy own lazy heart hath told thee thou art unfit to set upon this work yet better do it meanly than wholy omit it God like Parents on earth loves to see his Children lift at those duties which are too hard for them and then he steps in and is a Co-worker with them What God did by illiterate Fishermen by Priscilla he can do by thee The Lord pardon thy former unmercifulness to the Souls of men But if thou continue careless and cruel if thou wilt not by Prayers for them and counsels to them seek their reducement as sure as thou art reading the voyce of thy Brothers blood is crying against thee from the earth By your example before if not since Profession you have been the cause of the destruction of Souls of how many who can tell And as Jeroboam made Israel to sin many years after he was rotten in his grave so your sin your wicked examples may propagate the trade of sin from generation to generation until Christ shall come to Judgement Tremble tremble at the thoughts of it if thou hast not the heart of a Beast in thee O! how many Souls are crying in Hell against thee cursing the day they knew thee or their Ancestours knew thee for that by thee they learned to sin the more and were strengthned in their wickedness by thy tongue and by thy life And now are not you bound to do your utmost to make restitution to labour to save them that be alive Is it not reasonable that you should labour to win Souls to Gods as you have to the Devils service and to have many blessing God in the Heavens for you that ever they were in the company of such an active zealous Christian who by word and life was instrumental to bring them to the knowledge of themselves and of their God And is it not a glorious work to hold forth such Light to the World that they seeing your good works may glorifie God and you may be Propagators of Zeal and Holiness from Generation to Generation till Christ shall appear to judge the World and to reward you for all the services you have done to his Name O! how welcome shall that man be to Heaven and Christ who hath fed the Souls and clothed the Souls and visited the Souls which he hath purchased with his own precious blood Christ will own thee for his Benefactour CHAP. XXXVII The Dis-ingenuity and Scandalousness of their Miscarriages WHen God had given the Prophet Ezekiel a large Catalogue of Judah's Abominations The wickedness of the former miscarriages Ezek. 8.9 V. 6 13 15. he then shew'd him the Wickedness of their Abominations He said unto me Goe in and Behold the wicked Abominations they do here He commanded him once and again and again to turn him yet again and he should see greater Abominations I cannot indeed promise thee that thou shalt now see greater Abominations than those already mentioned All that I shall now do shall be to represent the former Miscarriages in their crimson dye and scarlet colour And The First Thing I shall mention Commitred against so good and kind a God Eph. 4.30 as making your Sins Professours out of measure sinful is your Dis-ingenuity in so sinning against God O! You have sinned against a gracious God You have grieved the good Spirit of God whereby some amongst you have been sealed to the day of Redemption I am bold to say that one godly man's sinning against light and mercy doth more break the heart of God than the bruitish Sins of a Pagan Kingdom Ezek. 6.9 I am broken saith God with your whorish heart which hath departed from me c. And ye shall loath your selves for your evils which ye have committed in your abominations Amos 2.13 God hath been press'd down with your sins as the Cart with sheaves till he hath even Creak'd under the weight God expected more from the Treet planted in Zion than from the wild ones in the Wilderness Luke 13.9 Grief and Burthen springs much from unexpected Unkindnesses I looked for Fruit and there was none How were David's and Saul's Sins aggravated from
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
What vengeance is that like to prove which hath Gods Armies of Fire and Wind united Is it nothing that the Fire burned at some time contrary to the Wind and as it were in opposition to it and was then as uncheckable as when it had the Winds raising and chasing it Is it nothing that in the drought of the season and the want of water God seem'd to hinder the application of Remora's to both Wind and Fire Was not therein the Judgement executed upon England in its heart which God threatned against the Chaldeans a drought is upon her Waters and they shall be dryed up Jer. 50.38 for it is a Land of graven Images and they are madd upon their Idols Is it nothing that the rational and probable anticipations of the constagrating progresses of the Fire which might have been were hid from the eyes of those whose interest it would have been to have improved them Did not God at that time take courage from the mighty and wisdome from the wise Is it nothing that London the great Bulwark of the Reformed Religion against the assaults and batteries of Popery and Prophaness is in a great measure destroyed But above all Is it nothing that generally there is so little sense of any of these Judgements The Wine of Astomshment is given us to drink and we reel to and fro like Drunkards But alas 2 Chron. 7.14 Who humbleth himself and prayes and seeks Gods face and turns from his wicked wayes that God may heal our Land 2. The sins of any one of us may be the Incendiâ— aries Should not your hearts be broken for and from your sins seeing the sins of any one of you in particular may have been the great Incendiary This is certain God hath for the delinquency of one man yea for one sin brought Plagues upon many If any thing will move thine heart this will but nothing will without Gods concurse The Lord fasten this nayl the Lord fix this upon thy Soul and let it be as Frontlets between â—â—ine eyes day and night When Achan was guilty of one sin and that a secret one when he had stoln a wedge of Gold when he had impropriated it to his own use which God had destined to another he troubled the whole Church of God the Armies of Israel fell before the men of Ai the generation of Gods curse yea Joshua their Prince became dejected and his communion with God was thereby for a while broken And the Lord said unto Joshua get thee up Josh 7.10 11 12 c. 22.20 wherefore lyest thou on thy face Did not Achan the Son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing and wrath fell on all the Congregation of Israel And that man perished not alone in his iniquity The iniquity of Peor though committed long agoe yet raised a cloud of wrath which was ready to empty it self upon the whole Church of God for it many years after Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us Josh 22.17 from which we are not cleansed to this day although there was a Plague in the Congregation of the Lord The Gibeonites who had craftily secured their Lives by an exchange for their Liberties got an Oath from Saul and almost 500. years after when this Covenant was broken in the slaying of many of them and Saul was dead the flourishing Church of God suffered three years Famine for this Perjury Then there was a Famine in the dayes of David 2 Sam. 21.1 three years year after year and David enquired of the Lord And the Lord answered It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites Manasseh sinn'd and that cost the Liberties and Lives of many good as well as bad Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great anger 2 Kings 23.26 wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the Provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withall Pharaoh refused to give liberty to Gods Church to worship their God and this brought unparallel'd Judgements and Plagues upon the whole Land of Egypt Amalecks abuse of Gods people was not forgotten for an hundred years but God took up an everlasting quarrel with them till he had rooten them out of the Earth Thus saith the Lord of Hosts 1 Sam. 15.2 I remember that which Amaleck did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt Yea the Sins of one good man have brought down Plagues upon many David whether out of curiosity or vain-glory or confidence in an arm of flesh would needs number the people a little sin in comparison of what we are guilty of yet it cost the lives of 70000. by the Pestilence So the Lord sent a Pestilence upon Israel c. 2 Sam. 24.15 and there dyed of the people from Dan even to Beersheâ—a seventy thousand men Solomon was a good Prince and yet by his sins he brought miserable confusions on the most considerable part of the Church of Israel by that great revolt which it occasioned Wherefore the Lord said to Solomon 1 Kings 11.11 For as much as this is done of thee and thou hast not kept my Covenant and my Sâ—atutes which I have commanded thee I will surely rend the Kingdom from thee and will give it to thy Servant Eli a good man and a good Magistrate yet because too indulgent to his Children a Vice common but seldome considered and bewailed what a fearful Plague brought he upon his Posterity as well as himself And the Lord said unto Samuel Behold I will do a thing in Israel 1 Sam 3.11 12 13 14. at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his House When I begin I will also make an end for I have told him that I will judge his House for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not And therefore I have sworn unto the House of Eli that the iniquity of Elies House shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever Luk. 11.50 51. Mat. 23.35 36. The blood of all the Prophets saith Christ which was shed from the Foundation of the World shall be required of this Generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation And yet who holds up his hand to Gods Barr and cryes Guilty Guilty Who saith as David when the Angel forraged among the People 2 Sam. 24.17 Let thy hand be against me for these sheep What have they done We are quick-sighted enough yea too much to espye and aggravate the sins of others We expect fearful Plagues for others Adulteries Drunkennesses Swearing and Blaspheming But the Lord hearkeneth when we will