them Ezek. 33.11.14 says the Prophet If the wicked turn from his sin if he repent if he amend v. 15. walk in the Statutes of Life He shall surely live what can be more sure since God himself is pleas'd to say it v. 15. He shall surely live He shall not die v. 16. None of the sins he has committed shall be ever mention'd to him he shall hear of them no more they shall not rise in judgment against him God himself has promis'd v. 16. He shall surely live He shall not die Say to them again and say it boldly in his Name whose Justice makes them tremble Ezek. 33.11 As I live says the Lord God I have no pleasure in the Death of the wicked but that the VVicked turn from his way Live Return says He Return from your evill ways VVhy will you die VVhy will you Die As who should say you may live if you will I always am at hand prepar'd to help you if you heartily repent you know you may recover if you have a mind to it you know that if you die it is because you will As I Live have no pleasure in your Death and therefore I have reason to complain VVhy WILL you Die Dear Christians What can we wish for more We know that God can help us if He will Whether He will or no we need no farther proof than his own Word We have his Word We have his Oath He cannot take his own Great Name in vain And He has sworn by his own Life He has no pleasure in our Death He dos not of himself desire it but that we return live O! we are happy O beatos quo rum causâ Deus jurat O miseros si nec juranti Domino credimus for whose sake God swears But O! how miserable are we if when God himself is pleas'd to swear we can't beleeve Him If Deeds are better proof than Words Let us pass from what He has said to what He has done What has He done for Sinners Or rather What has He not done For them He came from Heaven for them He lived a pain full life on Earth for them He died upon the Cross Math. 9.13 I came not says He to call the Just but Sinners He came because 't was necessary he should come And therefore for their sakes for whom it was most necessary for them he principally came He never was so kind to any as to Sinners All his Conversation was in their Company He made it his chief business to oblige them He follow'd them from place to place He thought of nothing else but how to gain their love He came with a design to enflame their hearts He brought down fire from Heaven with him wisht for nothing more than that this fire might burn His more than ordinary Kindness was in all occasions so visibly remarkable that He was taken notice of pointed at The Pharisees were scandaliz'd to to see 't And in those days it was his great Reproach He was too much a Friend to Publicans Sinners Math. 11.19 All this while alas they little understood his Business upon Earth His great Compassion of their Misery was the occasion of his coming And since their Indigence first brought him from above it was no wonder the Relieving of it was his chief Employment here below He came as a Physician to his dying Friends whom He most dearly lov'd therefore took most care was the most concern'd for those who were most dangerously sick Thus did our God behave himself to Sinners Thus did he love his Enemies and treat them as his dearest Friends Thus did He live to serve them till at length He died to save them S. Paul concludes from hence Rom. 5.10 We now have much more Hope than ever For if when we were Enemies we then were reconcil'd to God undoubtedly we now have much more reason being reconcil'd to hope we shall be sav'd If then before he sent his only Son God lov'd his Enemies so dearly as to send him We may well conclude that since He came amongst us since He interpos'd betwixt us his Father's Anger since He died to reconcile us to Him since He rose again Rom. 8.34 at the right hand of his Father is our Advocate in Heaven making intercession for us surely now our humble Supplications joyn'd with his offer'd in his Name Jo. 14. v. 15. will for his sake be much more easily receiv'd If then a Contrite an Humble Heart was always so agreable He never would despise it Will He now refuse it If the Totall Sum of all the horrid Crimes of Mankind during severall Ages if the Malice of them All together could not any way divert the course of overflowing Mercy if it could not hinder Him from sending Jesus to redeem the World How can we think the Greatness of our Sins can hinder Him from having Mercy on us when we heartily repent Let us therefore once for all humbly confess own our Fault The Truth is We are proud willing to excuse our selves We are willing to lay the blame of our Impenitence at our Creator's door say He will not pardon us He will not give us Grace He will not save us When if we well examine we shall find the blame is always ours We will not repent We will not comply with his Grace in a word We will not be sav'd All we can say in our defence is that our sins are great God will not look upon such grievous Sinners as we are I cannot say they are not great or that we are not grievous Sinners But that therefore God will never look upon us is as false as the Word of God is true He hates the Sin but loves the Sinner He hates the Leprosie but loves the Leper S. Aug. Conf. lib. 8. cap. 3. And as a Mercifull Father He rejoyces more at the Repentance of one Sinner than the Innocence of ninety nine who do not stand in need of it Let us therefore once again humbly acknowledg confess our Fault We only pretend our Leprosie is so inveterate God will not suffer us to come into his sight He will not cure us He will not make us clean The Truth is we are so negligent so stupid so insensible of our condition that though we now then are terrified to see the Danger of it nevertheless we will not make our Supplications to Him as we ought We will not be cur'd We will not be cleans'd DANGER OF DELAY SECT I. Hew apt we are to differr Repentance THat we are All of us some time or other betwixt this Death oblig'd under pain of Eternall Damnation to rouse our sleepy souls from the bewitching Lethargy of Sin is an important Truth which no man can dispute We All are fully satisfied that if we live in the state of Sin if our Affections are
Corner of the World in which He is not Present So the Holy Ghost would cease to be our Infinite and Souvereign Good if any Corner of our Heart have any thing lodg'd in it that excludes Him When once we have receiv'd the Holy Ghost our Heart is the Kingdom of God He is the Absolute and Only Monarch that commands it He cannot Alienate the least part of his Title to the Gouvernment He cannot any way admitt of a Companion in his Throne Our Heart is the Throne of the Most High And if we remember what became of Lucifer I hope it will suffice to make us sensible how dangerous a thing it is to place a Creature in the Throne of God Isai 14.14 make it like the Highest S. Austin wondring at the overflowing measure of Gods Holy Spirit in the Apostles Hearts observes that the reason why they were so full of God was because they were so empty of his Creatures They were very Full says he because they were very Empty because they were so Empty of the Spirit of this World therefore they were so full of the Spirit of God O that our Hearts were Empty O that they were purg'd cleans'd like theirs from all inordinate affection to this World We then should be prepar'd like Them ready to receive the Fullness of the Holy Ghost T is a great Work will require some time Why are we then so flow in undertaking it Acts. 1.11 VVhy do we stand Gazing We gaze we lift our eyes to Heaven But yet we stand our feet are fixt upon the Earth We preferr Heaven before Hell of the two we had rather be there But of the three if it were possible we had rather be always here How long will you love Vanity Psal 4.2 says the Psalmist This World is nothing else but Vanity How long will you Love it Eccles 4. v. 16. T is Vanity Vexation of Spirit How long will you delight in it It flies before you like a Shadow 6. v. 12. How long will you run afterit Alas t is but a Shadow if you overtake it The VVorld passes away 1. Jâ— 4.17 T is an unkind illnatur'd VVorld which passes by us with a flattering smile will not stay a moment with us If it had ever been a true faithfull Friend to any man We should have some pretence to justifie our expectation of its being Kind But since we know it never was so to its greatest Favourites We way be sure it never will be so to us The Time will come when we shall plainly see although perhaps too late that All is Vanity we shall love no more what we are now so fond of The Love of all those Trifles which our Infancy was once much pleas'd withall is now forgot and we so much contemn those childish entertainments that unless we saw the same in other Children we should scarce beleeve we ever lov'd them As when we advance in years we see the folly of our Childhood so upon our Deathbed we as plainly see the folly of our Life we then discover that the Honours Riches Pleasures of this World are only so many serious Trifles which are therefore more ridiculous because more serious When once the Period of our Time approaches When we are upon the Borders of Eternity When we are as it were betwixt two Worlds the End of this the Beginning of the next which never will have end Then it is that all our Joys begin to vanish out of sight they are the same to us as if they never had been present Than it is that all our Miseries are every one in View such Miseries as never can be past but will for all Eternity be always present When once that Hour comes we shall be Wise enough to undervalue contemn what we so dearly love But then I fear We shall be VVise too late Our useless VVisdom will not rise in Judgment for us but against us O let us now endeavour to be VVise disengage our Hearts from all inordinate affection to this world that we may be prepar'd for the receiving of this Grace which is the best surest Pledge of the Eternall Glory which we hope for in the world to come MOTIVES OF FEAR SECT I. How much it imports us to remember the Day of Judgment WHen the Disciples askt our Saviour what would be the Sign of his Coming and of the End of the VVorld Math. 24.3 v. 36. Our Saviour answerd that the Day Hour were not to be known before hand that his Coming would be like a Flash of Lightning v. 27. when they least expected Him Therefore v. 44. says He be ready for in such an Hour as you think not the Son of Man will come v. 35. Heaven Earth shall pass away but my VVords shall not passe away The World shall have an End The Son of man shall Come to Judge the World The Hour of his Coming shall surprise us when we think not of it If we knew before hand we should certainly prepare And we have much more reason since we do not know it But alas our Saviour Jesus Christ himself has prophecied v. 38. that As in the days that were before the Floud they were eating drinking marrying giving in marriage till the Day that Noe entred the Ark v. 39. And Knew not till the Floud came and took them all away So also shall be the Coming of the Son of man He told us how it would be every day we see how true it is We mind nothing but eating drinking marrying giving in marriage We seek for nothing but Diversion Sport Pastime We now Rejoyce But then when the World ends our Joys will end with it Then we shall Grieve not only then Math. 24.30 but for ever THEN all the Tribes of the Earth shall mourn They shall All mourn Not All the Just Not All God's Friends Not All devout pious Christians who not only in their Baptism but also during Life renounc'd the Vanities Pleasures of this World All these will have just reason to abound with Joy at the Approach of their so long defir'd everlasting Happyness Psal 126.5 They sow'd with Tears but now shall reap with Joy All the Tribes of the Earth All Those whose Hearts were always fixt upon the Earth upon the Honours Riches Pleasures of the Earth THEY shall All mourn And not without sufficient Reason For 1. They shall see the fatall End of all their transitory Happyness 2. They shall see the sad Beginning of their everlasting Misery SECT II. That our Last Day is the fatall End of all our transitory Happyness AS on the one side Nothing can be truly Little which is Infinite So on the other Nothing can be truly Great which has an End Baruch 3. v. 25. Our God is Great says the Prophet has no End As if
in Us. Love is as Strong as Death Cant. 8.6 T is this Victorious Love which frees us from the Tyranny of all those Passions which divide the Kingdom of our Heart Math. 12.25.26 a Kingdom brought to Desolation where Satan casts out Satan How can this Kingdom stand How is there any true Content and Satisfaction to be found in it A Man who places all his Happyness in Humouring his Passions can never please himself till he has pleas'd them All And since it is impossible to please two Masters how is' t possible for any Man to please so many I might here appeal to each Man 's private Conscience for a farther Testimony of this Truth But if a Sullen Conscience even when it is upon the Wrack refuses to Confess We have the Word of God the best clearest Evidence we can desire The VVicked Isai 57.20 21. says He are like the troubled Sea when it cannot Rest whose VVaters cast up Mire Dirt There is no PEACE says my God to the VVicked On the other side when once the Love of God has full possession of our Heart when Christ Gouverns it by Faith the Holy Ghost by Charity Gen. 1.2 Math. 8.26 when the Spirit of God begins to moue upon the face of the VVaters it presently Commands the VVinds the Sea there succeeds a Great Calm In a word As much as Liberty is more agreable than Slavery As much as Unity is better than Division As much as Peace Content Ease are more Delightfull than perpetuall Disturbance Discontent Pain so much the Pleasure which attends the Love of God is Greater than the Pleasures of this VVorld Had it been possible for our Creator to oblige us All to Love Him gratis we might then have had more Colour for our Crime And yet it would have been no more than what He very well deserves He Lov'd us gratis without any possibility of Recompence He humbled himself to repair our Honour He quitted Heaven to promote our Interest He sufferd torments to procure our Ease And it would only be a Suitable Return if we preferr'd his Honour Interest Pleasure far before our own But as our Kind Gracious God has order'd it to our advantage we are All oblig'd to seek our Own True Honour Interest Pleasure despise the False Appearances of Honourable Profitable Delightfull which the World endeavours to delude us with When we have made the most we can of such an Obligation 't will amount to neither more nor lesse than What we dayly see before our Eyes Consider how the Ambitious the Covetous the Voluptuous love their Honours Riches Pleasures Is it not plain They Love them above all things And why should not we Love God as well as Worldlings Love the VVorld They Love it with all their Heart They desire nothing else but to enjoy it with all their Soul They have no passion for any thing else with all their Mind They think of nothing else but how to make a Figure in it Has God less charms than the VVorld Or is a Flattering Friend well known to be our Greatest Enemy more amiable than the Best of Friends most True most Ancient most Constant who has always Lov'd us better than we Love our selves Is it a Greater Honour for a Man to be the Divel's Slave than be a Favourite of God Is it a Greater Profit to be cheated in the End than be Eternally Rewarded Or are those Pleasures which are always mixt with intervalls of discontent anxiety pain greater than those Delights which are unchangeable immortall divine which even in this Vale of Misery begin our Heaven upon Earth Ah Christians We have litle reason to dispute the terms of such an Obligation where the whole Advantage is entirely on our Side So great Advantage that we cannot truly Love our selves Math. 22.38 unless we Love our Lord our GOD with all our Heart with all our Soul with all our Mind This is not only our Greatest Duty but our Greatest Good SECT IV. That the Love of God is the chief Grace of the Holy Ghost I Am come Luke 12.22 says our Saviour to Send Fire on the Earth what do I desire but that it may be Kindled This He desires for This He came and This we pray for in the Service of the Church Come Holy Spirit Fill the Hearts of thy Faithfull Kindle in them the Fire of thy Love The Holy Ghost came visibly at first prov'd his Presence by the Miracles He did But yet a Spirit is not naturally sensible when He comes invisibly He comes more like Himself nor have we any reason when He dwells within us to suspect that He is lesse at home because He lesse Appears abroad Although we do not see the Fire descend rest upon our Heads yet if the Love of God enflame us if it burn within our Hearts if it appear in our Devotion in our Conversation in our Actions 't is enough we then may hope we have receiv'd the Holy Ghost that our Saviour verifies in us his Promise which He made us when He said He shall be IN YOU Jo. 14. v. 17. He did not come in to the World to visit the Apostles only and abandon their Posterity Our Saviour did not send him to us that he might immediately forsake us but that He might remain with us for ever to the End of the World Jo. 14. v. 16. I will pray my Father says He that He may abide with you for ever The Spirit of God shall be in Vs T is a solemn Promise of our Saviour himself we cannot doubt of it although we cannot but admire it with profound astonishment Kings 3.8.27 like that of Solomon VVill God dwell with us on the Earth will the Spirit of God not only dwell here with us but within us If Heaven says he and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Thee How much lesse this House which I have builded If we find that Salomon was thus transported when he lookt upon his Temple compar'd it with the Majesty of God to whom he built it may not we admire much more the living Temple of the Holy Ghost If the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain the Spirit of God How much lesse this litle House of clay Can we imagine that this litle Heart of ours is more capacious than Heaven Or can our Heart contain our God if Heaven cannot Oh no our God is infinite He cannot be contain'd in either yet He dwells in both Hear the Psalmist 122.1 To Thee I lift up my Eyes O Thou that Dwellest in the Heavens Hear S. Paul 1. Cor. 3.16 You are the Temple of God the Spirit of God Dwells in You. Compare both Testaments the Old and New if you seriously beleeve them both conclude we have the same assurance that God dwells in Virtuous Souls as that He dwells in
Heaven The Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17.21 Wheresoever Majesty resides the Court is there wheresoeuer the King gouverns there his Kingdom is If the Almighty gouvern all the Passions Motions Affections of our Souls if once He be the Souvereign Monarch of our Hearts if the Love of God give Law to all our Inclinations the H. Ghost is then as truly in us as a King is in his Kingdom He is no otherwise in Heaven This is that Heaven upon Earth which none can understand but those devout pious Souls who by experience Tast See how sweet God's Kingdom is Ps 33.9 where Christ gouverns by Faith the Holy Ghost by Charity or as S. Austin says whose King is Truth whose Law is Love A Spirit having no proportion with Place if we beleeve Philosophers is neither here nor there nor any where of its self but only by its Operation in a Body which is in some Place When Angels formerly appear'd with airy bodies they were truly substantially present in those human Forms which they inhabited by operating there Whatever the Airy Body seemd to do the Angel truly did the Angel mov'd the Angel walkt the Angel spoke discourst converst with men The Holy Ghost is likewise truly substantially present in the Soul of a devout pious Christian He dwells in his Heart by operating there His Heart becomes a Paradise on Earth The Love of God now planted in the middle of it is the Tree of Life Gen. 2.9 The Holy Ghost himself becomes the Angel Guardian of the Place like the Cherubin defends it with a Flaming Sword Gen. 3.24 Gal. 5. v. 25. He gives him Life we Live by the Spirit He gives him Motion we VValk by the Spirit He gives him Speech T is not You that Speak Math. 10.20 says our Saviour to his Apostles but the Spirit of God that Speaks in You. So far you see the Parallell betwixt the Presence of an Angel dwelling in an airy Body the Presence of the Holy Ghost inhabiting in us Only this difference there is Philosophers are puzzled to explain the Virtue the Operation by which an Angel moves the Body it assumes But Christians by the light of Faith have this Advantage over them They plainly read understand in Scripture that the Virtue of the Holy Ghost by which He moves gouverns us is Charity that the Operation which with us He produces in us is the Love of God above all things God the Holy Ghost is Charity 1. Jo. 4.8 He is the Consubstantiall Love of God the Father the Son If Charity inspire us if the Love of God direct us gouvern us influence the principall Designs Actions of our Life we then may reasonably hope 1. Cor. 2.12 we have not receiv'd the Spirit of this VVorld but the Spirit which is of God That Inclination which is predominant gouverns all the rest is usually call'd the Spirit of a man If this be Love of Honours Riches Pleasures of this World T is an Ambitious a Covetous a Carnall or to speak them all at once a VVorldly Spirit But if it be the Love of God above all things without any competition of Creatures 't is a Virtuous a Divine a Holy Spirit Then it is that the Love of God is diffus'd in our Hearts Rom. 5.5 by the Holy Ghost the HOLY SPIRIT which is given to us S. Paul Acts. 19.1.2 when he came to Ephesus and found certain Disciples demanded of them Have ye receiv'd the Holy Ghost since ye beleev'd And I am apt to think it would not be amiss to put the Question to the Christians of our Age. You in whose Minds Christ dwells by Faith dos the Holy Ghost dwell in your Hearts by Charity Is your Love suitable to your Creed Do you Love God as you Beleeve He deserves Do you Love Him above all things Your greatest Care is it to please your God Your greatest Grief is it to have displeas'd Him In all things which deserve Deliberation do you first consult his Law make it the Rule of all your Measures Examine well the whole Course of your Life your Actions Humours Designs What is it that employs your Mind the most What Thoughts are those which close your Eyes at Night open them next Morning Are they fixt upon the Only Necessary Do they tend to Heaven All things else what are they Are they Nothing in comparison of That If so you have receiv'd the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God Io. 14. v. 17. whom the VVorld cannot receive But if the Souvereign Inclination of your Hearts be Love of Honours Riches Pleasures if your greatest Grief Trouble be your disappointment of Success in these if upon all occasions you consult your Inclinations the Maximes of the World You then may answer as the Ephesians did Alas we are but litle acquainted with this Holy Spirit we have scarce heard of him we know not what He is A VVorldly Spirit we have more acquaintance with But as for the Spirit of God He is a Stranger to us We say our Prayers we frequent the Sacrements we are in the common road of customary Duties But our Ambitious Spirit our impatient Love of Honour is such that we are more concern'd for an Affront than for a Mortall Sin Our Avaritious Spirit our insatiable Love of Riches is so violent that we had rather hazard the loss of all the Heaven we pretend to than expose the Treasure we possess Our Carnall Spirit our incontinent Love of Pleasure is so passionate that we had rather quitt our Right to all the Eternall Joys above than any way deny our selves the rotten satisfaction we seek for here below In short we love this World so much that if we might but always have it at Command 't is All we ask We wish no more VVe have receiv'd the Spirit of this VVorld 1. Cor. 2.12 I hope I may be pardon'd if I am a litle importune in pressing home this Question Acts. 19.2 Have you receiv'd the Holy Ghost Eternity depends upon 't Your Choice of Heaven or Hell Your being Children of God or of the Divel Your being Sav'd or Damn'd for ever All This what is All if This be not All This depends upon the Answer to this necessary Question Rom. 8.16 As Many as are led by the Spirit of God says Saint Paul They are the Children of God Compute your Actions Words Thoughts from Morning to Night from Day to Day Dos the Spirit of God direct lead you Or the Spirit of this World If the Spirit of God You are the Children of God If not Hear what the Apostle says If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ He is none of his Rom. 8.9 He is not a Brother of Christ He is not an adoptive Son of his Eternall Father He has a Father in Hell
but none in Heaven Our Saviour plainly says Jo. 8. v. 42. If God were your Father You VVould LOVE Me above all things but because You do not v. 44. You are of your Father the Divel Let those who above all things Love the World Consider this and Tremble Let them not gaze in vain upon our Saviour ascending to his Father Let them be assur'd his Father is not theirs that as certainly as He ascended to his Father in Heaven they shall in time unless they seriously repent descend to their's in Hell This was the Reason why our Saviour told the Jews VVhither I go Jo. 8. v. 21. You cannot come As if He should say I go to my Father If He were your Father also then you might bear me Company But 1. Cor. 2.12 since you have receiv'd the Spirit of this VVorld as long as you are gouvern'd by the Spirit of another Father You may in due time follow him to Hell But 't is impossible without sincere Repentance You should ever follow me to Heaven VVhither I go you cannot come The Jews amaz'd to hear it knew not what He meant He told them the reason I am from above Jo. 8. v. 23. says He I am not of this VVorld The Spirit which gouverns all my Actions is from above 't is not the Spirit of this World 't is the Spirit of my Father therefore I go to him But on the other side You are of this VVorld Ibid. You are led by the Spirit of this World and therefore VVhither I go You eannot come Let us not flatter deceive our selves with vain appearances of superficiall Piety which flote upon the Surface of our Souls but sound the very bottom of our Hearts be assur'd that if we find them chiefly fixt upon this World or any Creature in it We may stand gazing with the Men of Galilee We may contemplate admire the Ascension of our Saviour but all in vain All this will be no Comfort to us Whither He goes we cannot follow Him We cannot Ascend unless we first receive the Holy Ghost nor can we receive Him unless we first prepare for His reception SECT V. That we ought to prepare our Heart for this great Grace WHen our Saviour was upon the point of leaving his Apostles after He had been fourty days discoursing with them concerning the Kingdom of God The last most important thing He recommended to their Care was that They should prepare themselves for the receiving of the Holy Ghost Acts. 1.4 He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the Promise of the Father Prepare your Hearts 1. Sam. 7.3 says the Prophet Prepare your Hearts to God serve Him only and He will deliver you Prepare your Hearts to entertain the Holy Ghost or else you never will receive Him Prepare Materialls for the Temple of the Holy Ghost 1. Cor. 6.19 His Temple is not to be built finisht in a day We must have Time to carry on the Work more than ordinary Preparations must be made Chron. 1.29.2 VVith ALL MY MIGHT says the Royall Prophet I have PREPAR'D for the House of my God because says he v. 1. the VVork is GREAT the Palace is not for Man but GOD. Our Heart has been profan'd with Idols Our Ambition A varice Lust have had their severall Altars in it from time to time according as occasion serv'd have offerd Sacrifice to Honours Riches Pleasures Such a Temple so Profan'd must be demolisht a New one built upon the Ruines of it 18.31 Make your selves a New Heart a New Spirit says the Prophet Ezechiel Although it be God's VVork it is not only His but also Ours As much as lies in us we must cooperate and labour with Him And the more difficult it is the more industriously we must endeavour to effect it Chron. 1.29 2. VVith all our Might with all our industry diligence we must prepare our Heart that it may be a Temple of the Holy Ghost O that we had but VVings like a Dove the wings of that Dove which once descended visibly upon our Saviour Then would VVe fly away Psal 55.6 be at Rest Our Hearts would fly away from all things in this World be at Rest in Heaven If once the Love of God enflame our Hearts with ardent continuall desires of being happy with Him We shall find that these Desires are VVings by which our Hearts aspire mount to Heaven But if the Love of any thing in this World bind us to the Earth We then shall find that our celestiall Desires are clogg'd with earthly Passions although we now then with a faint sigh look up to Heaven yet our stronger Inclinations will always bear us down He who is wholly disengag'd from all the Charms of a deluding World He only is at liberty S. Austin says The VVings of his soul are Free But if his Heart be any way ensnar'd with any other Love He then has Birdlime in his VVings He cannot fly away be at Rest. The Apostles themselves were not prepar'd for the receiving of the H. Ghost as long as they were satisfied with being Happy in our Saviour's Company on Earth If any Satisfaction here below could innocently challenge so much place in their Affections surely Innocence it self descending down from Heaven had the best clearest Title to their Love And yet as long as they were of S. Peter's mind and thoughâ— with themselves Math. 17.4 T is Good for us to be Here T is Good to make our Tabernacles Here so long we find they were not fit for the Reception of the Holy Ghost Jo. 16. v. 7. I tell you the truth says our Saviour T is expedient for you that I go away Because you Love me with so litle Resignation are so unwilling that I leave you therefore 't is expedient for you that I now ascend to raise your Hearts above the World carry them to Heaven with me If I go not away your Love will creep upon the Earth the Spirit of the World will still possess your Hearts the Spirit of God will find no habitation there v. 7. the Comforter will not come But if I depart if I whom you so dearly love ascend your Minds Hearts will follow me to Heaven they will be rais'd above the reach of all things in this World the Spirit of the World will have no dwelling there You then will be prepar'd for the receiving of the H. Ghost when you are so v. 7. I will send Him to you When the Holy Ghost came Acts. 2.2 He fill'd All the House where they were sitting Wherever He comes He fills the House He takes it All to Himself And 't is no wonder being Infinite He takes up so much room As God would cease to be Immense If there were any
no more Poor miserable Wretches There was once a Time when Honours Dignities Titles recommended them to the admiring World whose eyes were dazled with the glory of their Greatness They were follow'd waited on celebrated in their Generation But now alas They shall be so No more There was a Time when they abounded in the overflowing measure of their VVealth their Palaces were sumptuous and All things suitable to the aspiring Height of their Ambition But now No more Their great Magnificence is buried in the ruines of the World their Gold Silver melted down into the Earth from whence it came and All their Pride lies levell'd with the common Dust to which All Things return There was a Time when all the sinfull Pleasures of the World attended them when they deny'd their Passions nothing that they askt when they had full Command of All that they desir'd rather cloy'd than satisfy'd their brutall appetites But now No more Their Honours Riches Pleasures All are at an End Their Time is at an End Their Time shall be NO MORE When as it happens frequently amongst the various accidents of Human Life We are depriv'd of some particular Enjoyment which we passionately love though we lament grieve yet we have still some Comfort left T is not a totall deprivation of All that we enjoy The Damage is supported by some other Pleasures Conveniences If one Friend die our other Friends survive If one forsake us we may find another faithfull to us Or if they all abandon us yet our misfortune is not universall We have always something left which we can think upon without affliction repose our wearied Thoughts He that is dangerously Sick of one or two diseases is not at the same time sick of all the rest Whatever his condition is he always has some hopes of being better And although these hopes are very little They are still some little Comfort to a Man in Misery But when this Dreadfull Day is come which putts an end to Time it putts an end to All their Hopes All that they ever lov'd or now desire abandons them their Inclinations are more lively than they ever were All are disappointed Then All the Tribes of the Earth shall mourn to see the fatall End of All their transitory Happyness But alas this is not All They shall have much more reason to lament grieve when at the same time they behold the Sad Beginning of their Everlasting Misery SECT III. That our Last Day is the Sad Beginning of our Everlasting Misery WE have seen the dreadfull symptoms of an agonizing World the terrible Convulsions of expiring Nature the finall End of All that Sinners love with so much Passion an End of all Ambition Avarice Pleasure an End of all their Honours Riches Amours an End of politick Designs of ancient Families of nuptiall Joys an End of idle Conversations Balls Plays an End of Beauty Wit Courage an End of all their Feasting Drinking Diverting an End of all their Mirth Delight Pastime And which of all things is most terrible to a despairing Soul an End of Sin but not an End of the Sinner an End of Pleasure but not an End of Pain an End of Time but not an End of their Eternity which will eternally Begin and never have an End After Hundreds Thousands Millions not of Years but Ages if we may suppose that Heaven Earth with all that they contain were chang'd into numerall figures at the foot of the Account whatever it amounts to you may find it witten Here Eternity Begins Moreover if you multiply this number by it self by the same rule multiply the Product of it All is Nothing to Eternity Wherever this innumerable number ends Eternity Begins If All be Nothing to Eternity What will the inconsiderable number of those years which Sinners prodigally spend in Sin What will it then appear to be Will it not seem incomparably lesse than Nothing And will not Sinners then have too much reason to lament that for so short a Moment so much lesse than Nothing they have forfeited the eternall Joys of Heaven incurr'd the everlasting Pains of Hell VVhat is a man advantag'd Luke 9.25 says our Saviour if he gain the whole world lose himself Alas poor Souls what Comfort is it to have gain'd the World lost your Selves to have lost all Happyness gain'd If I may call it Gain all Misery and All for Nothing What Pains by what Means they are to suffer is a question fitter for our Curiosity than our Edification T is enough to know as much of Hell as the Apostle tells us of Heaven Neither the Eye has seen 1. Cor. 2.9 not the Ear heard not has it entred into the Heart of any man what unspeakable Pains Torments the Almighty has prepar'd in the next life for those who have in this offended Him T is enough that God is certainly as Just as He is God therefore infinitely Just T is enough that the Enormity of Sin which He so patiently endures is aggravated by the Greatness of his Majesty therefore infinitely Infinite It follows evidently hence that All * All the most effectuall most proper Means which God's great Wisdom can invent All that his Justice a By the Eternall Rule of his Decree can exact All that his Omnipotence b According to the rigour of the Sentence can put in execution will be All employd to punish those who have offended him It follows also that it is as much impossible for any man to comprehend the great excess of those eternall Pains as 't is to understand God's Wisdom Justice Omnipotence All which are infinitely rais'd above the reach of human Reason However we may easily conjecture something by considering God's Justice in this World judging thence what it may be hereafter If the Just themselves are so severely punisht in this World if it be true as the Psalmist says 34.19 Many are the Asslictions of the Righteous if even God's Friends who are so faithfull to him undergo such punishments for little failings in their Duty what will become of his Enemies who forfeit all their Title to his Friendship by their grievous Sins If in the days of overflowing Mercy which appear'd so eminently above all his Works he gave such signall instances of his avenging Anger if even when his Pity in a manner held his hands the Fury of His Wrath broke loose with an universall Deluge laid the world so deep in water that amongst so many millions not a single Sinner could escape what will become of miserable Sinners at the Day of Judgment when the End of Time shall put an end to all his Goodness all his Kindness all his Mercy begin the Triumph of Eternall Justice When our God will be to us no longer Good no longer Kind no longer Mercifull but only Just eternally
infinitely Just Our Saviour Jesus will not then appear as the Physician * T is too late to be Cur'd or Redeem'd Redeemer of our Souls but only as the Judge of all our Actions And even to his Friends a As Judge he appoints them that place at his Right Hand He will not shew himself in any other Quality The very Sentence of their Happyness will be an Act of Justice only b Not an Act of Pardon not of Mercy Our Lord says the Apostle at that Day will be a Righteous Judge T is true 't was nothing but the mercifull Assistance of his Grace which heretofore enabled them to sight and finish well their Course But now in the Rewarding of his Friends according to his Promise c No longer inclind to Pardon He 's no longer Mercifull if we beleeve S. Paul but only RIGHTEOUS and JUST If at that Day He would bâ— Mercifull to any He woulâ— surely be so to his Friends And since the Best Faith fullest of all his Servant find no Mercy * T is too late to ask for Mercy at the Tryall Can his Enemiâ— expect it T is call'd thâ— Day of Judgment to distinguish it from all these otheâ— Days of Mercy And if in these He shower'd dowâ— Fire from Heaven 't is no wonder if in those the Starâ— themselves will seem to fall If Sodom and Gomorrh were consum'd t is easy to beleeve that then the Earth will All of it be laid in Ashes But alas this universalâ— Deluge of devouring Fire together with the Darknesâ— of the Sun Moon the roarings of the Sea and howlings of the Wind Air All this is but a Prelude to the Misery of Sinners This is only the Beginning of their sorrows Math. 24.8 This is nothing but their Summons to appear before the Bar And 't is the dreadfull Appprehension of their Judgment Damnation which torments them with an agonizing Fear There was a Time when Life was sweet but now they hate it There was once a Time when the despair of Living was their greatest Pain but now the Scene is chang'd the despair of Dying is incomparably more tormenting In those days says the beloved Disciple Men shall seek Death Revel 9.6 shall not find it They shall desire to Die Death shall fly from them There was a Time when Sinners laught at all the Fears and Apprehensions of this Day Eccles 3.4 but now the Time of laughing will be past nor will it be as Salomon calls it a Time to mourn it will not be a Time but an Eternity to mourn Then All the Tribes of the Earth shall mourn Not only Those who whilst they liv'd were thought to carry visibly the mark of Reprobation in their foreheads but also such as liv'd great Saints in the esteem of men died great Sinners in the Sight of God shall then desire to die again seek for an Eternall Death shall not find it Then shall their conceal'd Abominations all their shamefull Actions all their secret Works of Darkness come to light Then nothing shall be coverd nothing so industriously hid Math. 10.26 but what shall be reveal'd to all the World Nor only Those who took such care to hide their Sins from others but even those who formerly were us'd to hide them from themselves shall clearly see the Malice of their palliated Crimes Math. 24.30 Then they shall SEE and Then they shall MOURN We now are willing to live peaceably quietly within our selves We do not much delight in the remorses of a guilty mind and therefore we contrive some kind of Conscience for every thing we do We are uneasy at the thought of everlasting pains therefore if we ever take our selves to task we rake together all we can to make a favourable judgment of our State As the Examen rather is design'd to please our selves than God t is generally very superficial We look upon our Actions all in grosse without enquiring much into the drift cheif design of them We look upon the outward shew the approbation esteem of men The example of some who passe for good virtuous and yet have often done the same as we do Our being free as we suppose from many faults which we observe not in our Selves Our great abhorrence of some certain Sins which we observe in others Our being punctually religiously precise in some small matters some exteriour mortifications some particular devotions which we take a fancy to And thus we frame a false Idea of the miserable State we shall be found in when we come before the Bar. We now are proud willing to excuse our selves but then the Testimony of our clearer sighted Conscience will confound humble us Our Passions blind us now we see not what we truly are But then the Sun of Justice will arise scatter all the darkness which conceals us from our selves The piercing rays the All-discovering beams of Truth will break like lightning through the Clouds of our affected ignorance when once the Son of Man appears to judge the World If there were any possibility of cheating his All-seeing Wisdom of calling back the time of his indulgent Mercy or escaping from the hands of his Allmighty Power Were there any possibility of this or were there any Friend from whom the Guilty might expect the least assistance it would be some litle Comfort They had once a true faithfull Friend who dearly lov'd them came from Heaven to instruct them conduct them thither liv'd a painfull laborious life amongst them although neglected scorn'd persecuted by them yet continued constant in his Love to redeem them paid their Ransom with the price of his own Bloud But now their best and only Friend becomes their greatest Enemy He lov'd them once But Love so long neglected so much abus'd is now quite chang'd into a mortall eternall Hatred He invited all of them to come to Him whenever they had need of his Assistance Math. 11.28 Come to me All you that labour But now alas it is too late to come His Patience now is spent in the Fury of his everlasting indignation He for ever banishes them from Him Math. 25.41 Go from Me ye accursed Go Ambitious Souls leave your honourable Titles all behind you go seek the best preferment you can find amongst the Divel his Angells Ibid. v. 41. Go Infatiable Misers go take possession of that Misery which you have purchas'd with the loss of your beloved Treasure Go Voluptuous Wretches you who formerly have wisht your Flames might ever burn Go now Burn for ever in the everlasting Flames of Hell Behold the dreadfull Sentence we must All expect Luke 21.36 unless we follow his Advice who then will be our Judge VVatch therefore says He Pray always that you may then be accounted worthy to escape
their past Offences I must confess the difficulties which occurr in the conversion of a Sinner are insuperable if compar'd to the weak strength of our corrupted Nature and if the possibility of working our Salvation be consider'd only with regard to human Frailty there appears no hope of compassing so great a Work Such is the Ignorance Blindness of our Vnderstanding Such is the Malice Perversness of our VVill Our Inclinations are so prone to liberty the Restraint of our unreasonable Humours is so sensibly uneasy to us that a thorough Reformation of our Lives is far above our single strength Without the Grace of God we neither have the Wisdom to contrive it nor the Courage to begin it nor the Power to perform it But yet this Darkness of our Reason though we cannot of our selves dispell it may be dissipated by a lively Faith in Him who enlightens every man that comes in to the World Jo. 1.9 This Depravation Corruption of our VVill although it be to us alone impossible may by the sweet forcible impulses of a powerfull Grace be chang'd rectified This obstinate Rebellion of our Appetite against the Rule of Reason the Precepts of a Christian life though we have often found our Selves unable to reduce it to the terms of just Obedience may easily be conquerd by Omnipotence If Sin have so much blinded us that we can hardly see our Danger If the Noise of Wordly vanities have made us almost deaf to all good counsell If the Habit of our Sins have lam'd us so that we can scarcely move a foot towards Heaven If we are blind deaf lame nay even dead to God all that 's good no Person can be in a worse condition than this All this is nothing to the powerfull hand of God Such miracles as these were his familiar Exercise on Earth The blind see the deaf hear Math. 11.5 the lame walk the dead are rais'd to lise All this our God can easily perform in favour of us whensoêre He pleases Lord if thou wilt says the Leprous man Math. 8.2 thou CANST make me clean Let the diseases of a sinfull Soul be ever so inveterate so deeply rooted in the heart He clearly and distinctly comprehends the nature of them all He knows exactly the proportion virtue of his Remedies And all of them obey the word of his Command I will Math. 8.3 says He Be thou cleans'd when once God says the word the work is done immediatly his Leprosie was cleans'd Create in me Ps 50. O my God Create in me a clean Heart I ask not any thing but what is easy to Thee Alas it is to me impossible but Thou my God canst do it with more ease than I can ask it Behold my misery with pity compassion Behold me indigent naked cloath'd with nothing but the horrid scurf of my Uncleanness Behold me blind deaf lame almost dead with a contagious leprosie of Sin which covers me from head to foot has not left a sound part in me Conscious of my unworthyness after so long neglecting my condition after so long confiding in my own weak strength after so long despairing of my health because I thought I could do any thing found I could not cure my self Conscious I say of my Unworthyness I scarce pretend to ask for Mercy I only cast my self upon my knees face prostrate before thy Feet exposing laying open all my grievous distempers which every one of them though I am humbly silent every one speaks loudly my necessities begs with all the moving eloquence of Misery thy pity assistance I know my Sins provoke thy Justice whilst my Misery appeals to thy Almighty Power But thy faithfull servant David tells me that the Israelites provokt Thee also nevertheless not for their sake but for thy Name 's sake Thou wast pleas'd to save them Psal 106.8 that Thou might'st make thy mighty Power known This is the first Foundation of my Hope I know the Credit of thy Power is engag'd in their behalf who trust entirely in it firmly expect it depend upon it And therefore in this posture I present my self with loving Confidence before thy Feet resolving there to expect with all Humility Patience when thou shalt please to cast an eye upon me and either find the Benefit of being cur'd or which appears to me impossible die in the hands of an omnipotent Physician Ah my dear Jesus This is all that I can do And even This I cannot do without thy Grace But when I have done This my Comfort is that Thou canst do the rest Lord if Thou wilt Math. 8.2 Thou canst make me clean Dear Christians let us pause a while with a serious attention behold this Leper at our Saviour's feet Behold the lively Image of a Sinner the perfect Model of a Penitent Behold both what we are what we ought to be In his Disease we see our Misery in his Behaviour we see our Duty in his Disease we see the sad effects of Sin we see the strong temptations assaults of a most terrible Despair In his Behaviour we see the fruits of true Repentance we see the victory of a triumphant Hope the great comfort which attends a loving Confidence in God's Omnipotence O what a Comfort is it to an humble Penitent to be assur'd that as God gives him All he has so He can give him All he wants If we are almost quite oppress'd with those aridities desolations of Mind which none can know but by experience S. Paul tells us 2. Cor. 9.8 God is able to make all Grace abound in us If we labour under the perpetuall violence of importune temptations the same S. Paul assures us Hebr. 2.18 God is able to succour those that are tempted If our temptations are so strong we so negligent that after some resistance we relapse into our Sins if we rise again yet fall if we renew our Resolutions when we think our selves securest are surpris'd fall again S. Paul assures us Rom. 14.4 God is able to make us stand If having tried all ways we can imagine we are at a losse know not either what to think or what to ask Ephes 3.20 the same Saint tells us God is able to do exceeding aboundantly above all that we can ask or think Is any thing too hard for God Genes 18.14 Can any thing be hard to him whose Power is infinite whose VVill is his Power 1. Sam. 2.6 Our Lord kills makes alive brings to the grave raises up His Power accompanys our Souls as far as the Gates of Hell it self brings them back again Although your Soul quite overgrown with sin may be perhaps in the All-seeing Eye of God a much more horrid object than the foulest Divel in Hell Nevertheless go confidently with the Leper to our Saviour
croud in amongst the multitudes that follow Him cast your self down upon your knees face Say with a truly contrite truly humble heart Math. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt thou CANST make me clean Then shall you hear him graciously return that comfortable answer I will Be thou clean Then shall you be transported with excess of joy to find feel the truth of what I now advance to wit that God not only can relieve us if he will but also will relieve us if we please SECT III. That God will help us if we please ALthough God's Power be the first Foundation of our Hope his Mercy always ready to assist us is the principall if not the only Motive of it This was the comfortable Meditation with which the Royall Prophet counterballanc'd all his Fears Psal 26.3 Thy Mercy says he Thy loving Kindness is always before my eyes Without this comfort he would never have supported the remorses of his Conscience Psal 50.4 his Sin was ever before him His continuall Apprehensions and frightfull Thoughts would certainly have driven him into a deep Despair Psal 26.3 had not God's Mercy also always been before him The very thought of God reviv'd his drooping Spirits he could not so much as think of Him without thinking of his Mercy to be God to be Mercifull were to him one the self same thing 59.17 my God is my defence says he the God of my Mercy If he lifted up his eyes to Heaven with enflam'd desires of being happy there he ador'd that Mercy which preserv'd the Angells rewarded them with Glory Thy Mercy O Lord 36.5 is in the Heavens If he lookt down took a prospect of this vale of miseries he admir'd to see God's Mercy stoop so low to see it most appear where there is most occasion for it to see it superabound where Sin abounds 33.5 The Earth is full of his Mercy If he lookt before him he beheld God's Mercy starting first preventing fore-running all his good designs entreprises 59.10 His Mercy will prevent me If he lookt behind him he beheld the self same Mercy following him promoting carrying on perfecting his good Endeavours 23.6 His Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life Which way soever he cast his eye he saw himself defended surrounded with God's Mercy himself the Center Mercy the Circumference 32.10 Him that trusts in God Mercy shall compass him about Thus did this Saint who once had been a Sinner Thus did he comfort encourage his afflicted Soul when ever the remembrance of his Sins oppress'd his Mind And thus may we in imitation of him Thus may we also answer all the troublesome suggestions of our panik Fears confronting Sin with Grace Justice with Mercy Fear with Hope loving Confidence in him whose Mercy still is infinite 100.5 always will be so His Mercy is Everlasting All this you 'l say is little comfort to a Sinner who is day night obsesst with all the terrifying Spectres of a guilty Conscience Every body knows that God is infinitely Mercifull But yet the Word of God assures us it is a fundamentall Truth which every Christian is acquainted with Math. 22.14 Math. 7.14 That few are chosen amongst many which are call'd that the Gate which leads to Life is strait narrow that there are but few who find it so that all the splendid Appearance of God's Mercy when 't is well examin'd seems to vanish out of sight or shrink into a little compass if compar'd with the innumerable numbers of those Reprobates Rom. 9.22 who are prepar'd and fitted for Destruction Is not this enough to make a Sinner tremble A Sinner who is conscious to himself of being much more guilty in the sight of God than many millions of those Souls who are already gone before him already suffer the eternall flames of Hell These Thoughts I must confesse are Terrible To him whose eyes are open by God's grace to see the malice of his Sins see Death Judgment Damnation attend Such thoughts as these to such a man are terrible beyond expression But however if a man be more afraid than hurt where is the harm of all his Fear Are we not All oblig'd to humble our proud hearts under the powerfull hand of God 1. Pet. 5.6 Phil. 2.12 and work out our Salvation with Fear Trembling Is not our obligation to fear consistent with our greater motives greater obligations to hope T is one of the most dangerous mistakes that we are subject to We seem to fancy that our Fear destroys our Hope that we cannot hope unless we cease to fear We take these two Affections of the Mind for mortall Enemies because their humours are so opposite But as that Friendship is the greatest which no difference of Humour can divide So if we examine well the matter we shall find that Fear Hope are such inseparable Friends they cannot possibly subsist without each other's company The Separation of the one is certainly the Death Ruine of the Other Fear without Hope degenerates into Despair Hope without Fear is now no longer Hope but dangerous Presumption If now then our Minds are troubled perplext with Fear We must not therefore presently conclude that we have lost our Hope No no We should have lost it if we did not fear If the Consideration of God's Justice make a Sinner tremble he may lawfully desire to be deliver'd from the uneasyness the pain the anxiety which are the troublesome Companions of his Fear But as for Fear it self 't is an essentiall Duty of a Christian which cannot upon any terms admitt a Dispensation If the unsearchable Designs and Secrets of God's Providence are apt to fill our Souls with apprehensions fears this only helps us to perform the one half of our Duty without prejudicing the performance of the other for the more we fear his Justice so much more we hasten to the shelter of his Mercy This was the only Refuge which the Royall Prophet had recourse to in his days of trouble Psal 77.2 v. 9. when his Soul refus'd to be Comforted Has God says he forgotten to be gracious v. 8. Has He shut up in Anger all his tender Mercies Is his Mercy clean gone for ever Doth his Promise fail for evermore Oh no His promise cannot fail He can no more deceive than be deceiv'd He has sign'd his promise more than once in Scripture And with a solemn Oath He has deliver'd it A Promise an Oath which by Commission from Himself his Ministers are order'd to make use of When Sinners are dejected with Temptations of Despair Ezek. 33.10 When their Transgressions their Sins lie heavy upon them When they begin to pine away with Fear melancholy Thoughts of never being able to recover What shall we say to comfort them Say to
criminall if our Hearts are divided betwixt Heaven Earth we must before we Die Repent and Mend or we are lost for ever Luke 12.3 Vnless we repent we shall All perish This we agree upon Our difficulty lies not in the knowing but in the performing of our Duty When we discourse with our Selves in generall terms what it is we ought to do the Debate soon comes to an Issue But as we descend to the particulars of when and how We come not so easily to a Resolution about the Time We suppose that we are able at our pleasure to change our Hearts subdue our Passions reform our Lives But our Hearts at present are otherwise engag'd our Passions are youthfull and very importune our way of Life though none of the best is suitable to the common Maxims of the World And what hast I pray to do just now what may be done as easily another time when ever we please Besides the present Circumstances are very particular An abrupt Disengagement would now go very much against the hair We had better for a time content our Passions bring them to a composition When this or that Business is over that we may more freely attend to the work of our Salvation when our Company changes when we meet with a Conjuncture of more favourable circumstances O! then we 'l begin the New Man bid Adieu to the follies of this World from that instant date the beginning of our journey towards Heaven Thus the Colour of Piety gives a reputation to the Delusion We cover the popular Cheat with an agreable disguise And betwixt gratifying our Inclinations on the one side with a criminall condescendance pacifying the remorses of our Conscience on the other side with a plausible pretence of future amendment at a more convenient time We make Virtue in appearance subscribe to our Vices counterfeit God's Hand to one of the worst Temptations of the Divel SECT II. How dangerous it is to differ Repentance T Is clear we are not Masters Disposers of our Time only He who was the first Author of Time who now conserves it who will one day put a finall period to all Time He I say only He disposes of it as he pleases Besides the Changing of our Hearts is far above our single strength we are not able by our selves so much as to begin so great a Work how then shall we be able to perform it at our leisure whensoever we please S. Gregory assures us we know it well enough that God who promises to PARDON us Ho. 12. in Ev. if we Repent has never promis'd us the TIME of our Repentance T is true we cannot but confess to the great shame of our Ingratitude that our Creator loves us far above our merit If we look back from hence as far as the first Creation carry our serious thoughts through all the steps of Providence we meet with nothing but remarkable instances of his good wishes towards us Nay if we yet look farther back from the first moment of this World into Eternity We find Him before the beginning of all Time entertaining his Thoughts with the premeditation of our wellfare And in the first page of his Eternall Accounts we find the great Design of Man's Redemption that stupendious Mystery of Mercy Justice the Incarnation of our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ who held nothing so dear no obligation so important as our Sanctification even to the degree of laying down his Life for the advantage of that sacred Interest See here the Motives which we have to think He loves us Yet give me leave to tell you He is not so fond of us but that He can be angry at us when He finds his Love neglected Witness all those miserable Christian Souls who once were happy in the same Testimonies of his Affection Who thought as we do to reform their lives at a more convenient season Who suppos'd as we do that God's extraordinary Grace would never fail to be at hand when ever they pleas'd to have occasion for it Alas poor Souls they now are lodg'd in the flames of Hell for all Eternity and know too late that though God never fails to bestow his extraordinary Graces where He finds a faithfull correspondency of our Endeavours with his mercifull Assistance yet He often shuts his Hand if we withdraw ours He dos not first desert us Yet if deserted by us 't is no wonder if He treat us upon equall terms so desert us Wonder not that God who is so infinitely good can find in his heart to Abandon thus a Sinner who stifles the remorses of his Conscience who resists the frequent inspirations which invite him to Repentance who has always something else to do when he thinks of his Duty always is so rude so scornfully uncivill in receiving all the Embassys of Peace which Heaven sends him that every trifling Object which salutes his Fancy every miserable creature which a silly Passion recommends to him is sure to have the preference be the first admitted How often dos God court us when we are alone as it were carefully managing that favourable occasion when it may be presum'd we are at leisure for his entertainment But alas we are perhaps never less alone than when we are alone The Common Enemy of Mankind is then most busy to prevent the advantage of such a happy circumstance How often dos He apply himself to us when any suddain Accident has cross'd our inclinations when we have been dissappointed in our intrigues when we begin to find our labour lost in the pursuit of what we hunted after when we sit down angry affronted at the confusion of our mistake almost ready to fall out with the World for having cheated us then it is that He takes hold of this conjuncture begins in a loving manner to expostulate with us to exprobrate to us how treacherous a Friend we find the World to be on the contrary how constant faithfull a Friend He has been to us from all Eternity to this moment how ready He is notwithstanding all that 's past to receive us with open arms into favour again if we return sincerely to Him And how do we hearken to all this Why truly it passes away like a little Fit of melancholy we were then in an ill humour we are now glad 't is over so we think no more on 't What ever God speaks to our Hearts is all out of doors Our Hearts are shut against him Apoc. 3.20 all the time He stands at the door and knocks and we neglect Him letting Him stand wait our leisure We approve the Friendship of the World before his And though we may have some slight thoughts of hearing Him some other time yet for the present we flatly deny Him Entrance refuse Him Audience Let us now Consider a little What pittifull Worms we are who thus contemn the Almighty Who He
is whom we affront What trifles we preferr before him And we shall not wonder if at length He leave us desert us with a Resolution never more to offer us these extraordinary Favours I go away says He Jo. 8. v. 21. you shall Seek me and you shall Die in your Sins SECT III. Reasons why Delay is so Dangerous THat I may discover yet more clearly the Extravagance of Sinners who differr the entire Conversion of their Hearts from time to time upon a vain Presumption of choosing their own time when they please I suppose as a fundamentall Principle 1. Pet. 5. v. 5. that God gives Grace to the humble and resists the Proud He who values himself upon being Wise enough in the management of his salvation Who neglects the time which God's great Mercy offers him Who presumes He can whenêre he pleases choose the time of his Conversion Such a Person if ever he approach the Throne of Grace comes in a disposition directly opposite to Reconciliation he carries Pride barefac't in the very Front of him and the Address he presents is endorst with the very same fault which he begs pardon for A true Convert comes trembling with a Heart truly humbled under the Omnipotent Hand of an offended Majesty And such a Penitent will always find Favour A Contrite Humble Heart God never will despise All his former Offences will passe for nothing Ezek. 33.16 None of his sins He committed shall be mention'd to him In the Day of his Conversion his Impiety shall never hurt him What time soever God shall please to mark out to him if he manage that he is secure But if a Sinner carelessly reject God's inspirations from time to time neglect the opportunities He mercifully offers him if he behave himself as if he thought his Time of Reconciliation were entirely at his own disposing and upon this account when he thinks fit presents himself before the Throne of Grace His very Coming in this manner is an Act of Pride a Pride by which he dangerously presumes upon a more than ordinary Favour such as he knows has been denied to many thousands who are damn'd for ever for less Sins than his less neglect of the Almighty a Pride which is the greatest provocation that can be imagin'd in as much as it abuses all his infinite Goodness Longanimity Patience not only to the utmost degree of contempt but even to an impudent assurance of obtaining Mercy when we please although we have so much so often so long contemn'd it This is a sufficient Reason why God may abandon such proud Penitents as often as He pleases and this Reason is attended with a sort of Obligation if a man may term it so incumbent upon Providence if not always at least generally for the most part to treat them according to their merit This Obligation arises from two Titles God is the the Creator of Man the Redeemer of Sinfull man The first gives Him the Prerogative of being the supreme and universall Lord and Master of the Universe under which Character it belongs to him to give Law to all the parts of it take such methods as may with a smooth easy yet strong steddy influence promote carry on the great Design of the Creation Hence comes the Obligation of supporting the Credit maintaining the Authority of his Gouvernment which sinks immediatly falls to nothing if his too great Indulgence always tolerate the open violation of his precepts joyn'd with all the indignities affronts and insolences of a haughty Subject that will not be reclaim'd but when he pleases will not take the advantage of those favourable Opportunities which are so often offer'd him but differrs the only necessary Business of his life from time to time upon a proud Presumption of being receiv'd at any hour whensoêre he pleases Nothing under Heaven can in this occasion keep up the Spirit vigour of Discipline amongst us and place the Fear of God before our eyes but a just severe Punishment such as becomes the Indignation of an angry God abus'd affronted contemn'd which is to treat us as we treat Him leave us as He finds us flatly refuse us Audience when we make our supplications to Him This Motive which arises from the Title of Creator is aboundantly sufficient but yet the Title of Redeemer is a far more powerfull inducement to the same rigour of Justice The Creation of the World was but a small Expence A Word said the whole Work done But the Redemption of sinfull Man the Extraction of him out of the profound Abyss of Sin and Malice was a more laborious Masterpiece of Mercy Justice it cost him his descent from Heaven a painfull life for many years upon Earth the last drop of his most precious bloud upon the Cross Having redeem'd us from the Divel at so dear a rate having paid the utmost price of our Salvation He has a strict Right to the Honour and Reputation of his Mercy Isai 42.8 He is Lord of All and his Glory He will not give to Another He is our Lord Master by Redemption All of us are His He has paid the full Discharge of our Account but He will not apply the Value of this Payment to those persons whose Pride will either Challenge the Credit or Share it with Him He bestows it only where it may be evident if not to all the World at least to every Sinner's Conscience who receives the benefit that nothing but the Power of Grace could work so wonderfull a Resurrection free him from the Servitude of Sin He who made our Hearts cannot but know the temper of our Inclinations He cannot but see how partiall unequall we are in our Judgments If any thing be amiss with us we presently begin to murmure repine within our selves as if God only were the Author of our failings But if we succeed in any thing that seems praiseworthy either in the Sight of God or Man we presently assume the reputation of it to our selves Our Faith teaches us the contrary And we seem to beleeve it But yet I know not how it is our Pride which comes into the World with us S. Ber. de ord vit mor instit That Vice which is the first we fight with the last we conquer is so apt to work upon our Judgment that if we examine well we cannot but observe we always are a great deal more inclin'd to magnifie our own Endeavours than to admire the Power of Grace If God should never treat us as we merit if He never should abandon those who from his Goodness take occasion to abuse it We should grow insensible of our necessities We should forget our Obligations to the Grace of our Redeemer We should behave our selves as if we thought that All is done by our High Hand Deut. 32.27 not by the Assistance
no great effect of Mercy we must still persever firm in our Endeavours The more we fear God's Anger the faster we must fly to the Protection of his Goodness We must not sink under the apprehensions of our Reprobation but without disputing our Destiny we must resolve either to obtain pardon or die in the demanding of it If the Almighty seem to take no notice of us if He seem as it were to command us out of his sight we have nothing else to say but Lord whither shall we go Jo. 6. v. 68. What way is there to fly from thy Anger but by the speediest recourse we possibly can make to the shelter of thy infinite Goodness We know we deserve an Eternall Bannishment from thy Presence We know we often have refus'd Thee Audience We know it was our common Answer Go Prov. 3.28 and Come again another time therefore we know we have no reason to complain if now we are forsaken abandon'd by Thee But this is only what we deserve 't is only what we justly Fear Thou nevertheless commandest us to Hope otherwise And 't is in complyance with this Command Rom. 4.18 that we Hope even against Hope We come not to dispute about our Heaven or our Hell We come not to capitulate upon the Articles of our Salvation We only fear as we have reason and hope as we ought so that setting aside the whole sollicitude of that Affair we leave it entirely to thy Mercy We come with a Contrite Humble Heart full of nothing but a sincere Sorrow for all our past Offences joyn'd with a hearty Resolution never to offend Thee any more Except it may be an Offence for Sinners such as we are to continue in thy Presence Which cannot be No no though we should see thy Sword of Justice drawn against us thy Omnipotent Hand stretcht out to strike us dead at thy Feet We will not quitt the place Job 13.15 Although Thou kill'st us we will still Trust in Thee This is the Humble Heart which charms our God the Heart which He cannot refuse Ps 50. Such a Contrite such an Humble Heart He never will despise This is the only disposition that can make amends for the abuse of so much Goodness for the differring our Conversion so long upon a proud Presumption of Amendment when we pleas'd Such an Humble Heart as this gives God no reason to be jealous of his Honour His Hand appears manifestly in the management and preparation of it Ex od 8.19 The Finger of God is here Such a Convert as this will never challenge any share in the Honour of his Conversion but admiring the Benefit will resign the Honour humble himself so much the more in his presence Who made him what he is But God will always have the Honour of the work He will be Mercifull when He thinks fit not allow proud Man to dispose of his Mercy He will take his own time and confound the presumptuous Pride of those who as if they were God's Masters rather than his servants make no doubt but they can choose a Time convenient when they please Sinners Deceive not your selves Think not that God is always equally dispos'd to hear us whensoever we appoint our time of Audience He will not suffer us to pretend to the honour of beginning our Conversion challenging his Greatest Graces at our leisure T is true He died to save us But though He died for our Benefit He died for God's Honour and will not part with any share of this Honour to humour a proud Penitent Isai 42.8 1. Pet. 5.5 He is Lord of All and his Glory He will not give to Another He Resists the Proud and only to the Humble He gives Grace in this World Glory in the next A CONTRITE HEART SECT I. Sorrow for our Sins O My God! Anton. das Chagas God of my Soul my Life my Heart All that is within me I have sinn'd ô my God I have offended Thee I have done ill before the Face of Heaven Earth Neither the Stars of Heaven nor the grains of Sand upon the Earth are equall to the boundless number of my grievous sins Ah my dear God! my Maker my Preserver my Redeemer my Only Benefactor how it grieves me to have So offended Thee Ibid. I am much more troubled at my great Ingratitude than at the greatness of the Torments I deserve O that I could bewail with Tears of bloud the base Unworthyness of my behaviour to my only most Obliging most Endearing most Deserving Friend A Friend who always lov'd me even when I lov'd my silly Humours his miserable Creatures more than Him who always Lov'd me even when I was his most Vngratefull Enemy And notwithstanding All still Made me whatsoêre I VVas still Gave me whatsoêre I Had and still Invited me nay even Courted me with dayly inspirations of his Grace to Love Him above All Things O that my Eyes were living Fountains of continuall Repentance to bewail my base Unworthyness And yet although my bleeding Heart should burst out at my Eyes my Grief would nere be equall to my Grievous Sins the Guilt of which is infinite and infinitely greater than I 'm able to conceive Though I should weep with Tears of bloud in every corner of the Earth where I have sinn'd All that would never wash away the Guilt or Scandall of my Crimes There 's nothing but the bleeding Sacrifice of the Vnspotted Lamb of God There 's nothing but the Bloud of JESUS dying for my sake upon the Cross There 's nothing else can reconcile me to the Souvereign Majesty which I have so provok't There 's nothing else can wash out the deep Stains of my unspeakable ingratitude This is that Mercy of my God which the admiring World has Reason to call Great That Mercy which is truly Great not only in it's self but Great to all that are Partakers of it Have Mercy on me O God Ps 50. according to Thy Great Mercy VVash my poor soul from it's Iniquity Cleanse it from it's Sins Sprinkle me only with the bloud of JESUS I shall be Cleans'd VVash me with it I shall be whiter than Snow Cast me not away from Thy Face but look upon a Contrite an Humble Heart which for the sake of Thy Beloved Son Math. 17.5 with whom Thou art well Pleas'd I hope Thou wilt not despise but that Thou wilt have Mercy on me O God according to Thy Great Mercy SECT II. Resolutions of Amendment I Have said Now I Begin Alas Ps 76. How often have I said So as often broke my word And what Hope have I Now to keep it more than any other Time When I renew the dolefull memory of my Relapses how I tremble at the very Thought To think how often in a luke-warm Fit of Piety I have imagin'd I was Now beginning to amend my
yet walk slowly in the way to Heaven This happens now then 't is true but such Examples are as rare as they are great They are effects of more than ordinary Grace which God grants only when and where he pleases S. Peter never would have wept so bitterly if Jesus had not mercifully turn'd lookt upon him Luk. 22.61.62 Lazarus had never risen from the grave if Jesus had not come himself call'd him forth with a loud voice Jo. 11.43 The Prodigall had never come back to his Father if he had not first come to himself Luke 15.17 Alas poor Wretch he follow'd Swine before if he might have fill'd his belly with their husks v. 16. he would have been contented See the blindness of a Sinner But as soon as ever he came to himself v. 17. his eyes were open the opening of his eyes was that which brought him to himself He Saw the great Enormity of his offences I have sinn'd says he v. 18. I have sinn'd against Heaven before my Father's face v. 19. I am not worthy to be call'd his Son The Idea of his Sins was now so terrible made so deep impression in him that it humbled him not only in his Judgment but his Heart It humbled him so much that he not only thought himself unworthy but desir'd to be receiv'd accordingly beg'd his Father not to entertain him as a Son but as one of his hired servants v. 19. When once the Grace of God enlightens us by a miracle of Mercy breaks through the impenetrable Darkness which our Passions cloud our Reason with this Light discovers clearly to us the Enormity of Sin as this Light encreases we discover dayly more more This Light is followd with a Sacred Heat that softens the obdurate coldness of our Temper by which means the terrible Idea of our Guilt makes every day a deeper more sensible Impression in our Hearts And This is the Second Reason why the Greatest Saints are the most humble because the greater Saints they are the more They see the great Enormity of Sin the more They feel the Terrour of their Guilt the more They doubt of their obtaining Pardon the more They fear and tremble all their life I. The Enormity of Sin THe humble Penitent whose words I lately cited thus describes his coming to himself Entretien 7. Whilst I pursued says he the wandring Errours of my Heart I drunk iniquity like water not only that Job 15.16 but was so hardned so blind that whatsoêre I read or heard of Sin made no impression insteed of working my Conversion only serv'd to render me more Guilty more inexcusable At length the happy Time arriv'd 2. Cor. 1.3 in which it pleas'd the Father of all Mercies the God of all our Comfort to bestow a favourable look upon me and the first Glance presently disperst the Darkness of my Soul The very Dawning of that Light discover'd to me the Infernall Monster in whose company I had so long liv'd unconcern'd I saw and was immediately seizd with so prodigious Fear and Trembling at the Sight that I am confident as long as I have breath to live I never shall recover it S. Ifidore of Damiette describes this Monster in surprising terms Ibid. Some think says he that the Devil was the Father of Sin others on the contrary maintain that Sin was the Father of the Devil Be it how you please says he I leave you to imagine either what a Father it must be of such a Son or what a Son we may expect of such a Father This I must confess is Black enough But all it's Blackness only serves to leave us in the Dark We are not yet one jot the nigher Knowing what Sin is And all that we can gather from it is that we are never like to have it painted to the Life unless an Angel undertake to draw it the Devil sitt for the Picture The Philosopher was in the right of it when being askt the question what God is he took a Day then two then three after all ingenuously confess'd the more he thought of it the more he found himself unable to express it If a man should ask me the like question what a Sinner is I should not be asham'd to own I am not able to describe the one no more than he was to express the other If God be the Supreme Souvereign Good if with Him all things else are good if nothing else be good without Him We may in proportion say the same of Sin T is the Supreme Souvereign Evill All things else are evill with it Nothing else is so to us without it If it be true that All good comes from God as from the First Univerfall Cause of All The same is true of Sin which is the First Universall Root of all our Evills God made Heaven Sin made Hell He made the Earth Sin made it miserable He created Angells in his Paradise above Sin threw them down He created Man Woman in our Paradise below Sin immediately cast them out Consider all the Torments of the Damn'd the cruell Pains of those Eternall Flames the never-ceasing Anguishes of their despairing Rage c. All This More than All that you are able to conceive is only Part of the Effects of Sin T was Sin prepar'd All this More than this for Them Us. If what you only know by Faith make no impression if you are more sensible of what we suffer here than what they suffer there Consider the Revolt of all the Elements against us Fire which once was only made to serve us now becomes the fatall instrument our angry God makes use of to destroy punish us the very Air we breath infect's us with Diseases the Earth we walk on trembles opens buries us alive All This had never been if Man had never Sinn'd Consider all the Miseries which Famine Plague War involve us in the Poverty of half the World with all the Hunger Thirst Cold Sickness Despair which Follow it And after all the Civil War of Passion against Reason which if well examin'd will be found the Greatest most Painfull of our Miseries from whence proceed our Ignorance Malice and from thence all Immoralities Corruptions Scandals which we meet with in the World All This had never been if Man had never Sinn'd Consider all the sad Disasters You or Yours have mett with all the Losses you have sufferd in your Family Estate or Friends all the Crosses you have born with so much Pain Whatever you have undergone you never had been subject to your Heart had never ak't if Man had never Sinn'd Accursed Sin the only first Beginning first Cause of all our Mischiefs both in this World the next My God! 1. Jo. 3.2 if once we Saw Thee as Thou
an Affliction so surprising so sensible it made Him bleed with grief to think of it His Fears immediatly prov'd true The day of Battell was no sooner coming but they almost All deserted Him serv'd his Enemy Sinner whoêre Thou art that readst this Parable if Thou hast any spark of Honour left or any thing of common Justice or Good nature in Thee I am confident Thou canst not but conceive some horrour of so base a Treachery However have a care of being so severe as David was in giving sentence Have a care I say of calling God to witness that the men who have done this 2. Sam. 12.5 deserve to die Remember what the Prophet said Thou art the Man Remember the Apostle's words Rom. 2.1 O Man whoêre Thou art that judgest Thou condemnst thy self Thou dost the same And I dare boldly add Thou dost incomparably more In every mortall sin which Thou art guilty of thy Treachery is infinitely worse If once We Sinners were sufficiently sensible of what we are our selves We then should be more moderate in censuring railing at the crimes of Others If we find our selves transported with an unbecoming Zeal which we too often shew too much of Let us call our Anger home find Employment for it there The Case is ours T is we who are the Men T is we who are the Traytors We our selves who are the Treacherous Souldiers that desert in time of Battle If we offer to compare our Generall with theirs we cannot but confess that Ours is infinitely more Endearing more Deserving more Just When we in former wars had been defeated by the common Enemy taken prisoners by the Devil God himself descended to assist us to rally up our scatterd Forces He immediatly cloath'd us arm'd us punctually payd us taught us all our Exercises train'd us up to all the hardship of a Souldiers life Whatever He commanded us to do or suffer He endur'd and did Himself in every danger He was always at the head of us and every drop of his most Sacred bloud He freely Sacrific'd to serve us See the Standing Army which our God has mercifully rais'd to fight for Heaven against the Powers of Hell The Devil with a forreign Army of such Spirits as himself endeavours to surprise us He would never venture to attack us if he had not some intelligence amongst us All our Passions Inclinations and Humours are his Friends With these He always keeps a private correspondance and by their Assistance which they under hand assure him of He ventures to invade us even when our God himself is at the head of us Before the Day of Battell comes we never shrink the least We march on cheerfully We know that we are sure to conquer if we will but fight T is true Our Generall who sees the bottom of our Hearts has reason to suspect our Constancy Yet we assure him of the contrary with new Professions of Fidelity We solemnly declare that we will rather Die than Yield We take the Sacrement upon it And yet after all the Hour of Tryall the first Moment of Temptation is no sooner come but we immediatly Desert our God Serve the Devil Was there ever any Treachery so base so horrid so extravagant as This III. The Disloyalty of a Sinner THis is not All. The God we thus Desert not only is our Generall but He is also King of all the World We are not only Souldiers to our Generall but we are also Subjects to our King And every Sinner is in every Sin as much Disloyal to the One as he is Treacherous to the Other T is a shame to see how easily how clearly we discover all the Malice Injustice of Rebellion in our Neighbours how little we observe it in our selves If any of our Neighbours one day preach up Loyalty Obedience Non-Resistance the next day take up arms against their Souvereign If to day they humbly offer their Addresses to their lawfull Prince with all expressions of their Duty Constancy Resolution to serve Him perhaps the next day call a forreign Power in to head their Faction against him If to day they swear Allegeance the next day break their Oath How scandaliz'd we are what Liberty we take of saying what we please how Violent we are in our Invectives against Rebells All this while we are the Men we do the Same And which is worse we do a great deal more in every Mortall Sin Our Passions Inclinations Humours like so many factious Common-Wealth-Men always are endeavouring to subvert the Gouvernment of Reason which is in effect the Gouvernment of God himself who made us Rationall He made us out of Nothing Therefore we are All Entirely His. He every moment of our Life preserves us from returning back to Nothing Therefore we are Always His. We cannot possibly be any Body 's else but His He cannot give us over to another Maker or Preserver T is impossible for God to Abdicate his Right of Gouverning the World His Title to the Monarchy of all the Universe is as Unalterable Unquestionable as the Deity it self There 's no Appearance of Appeal from Him who is Essentially Supreme in Heaven as well as Earth No Deist ever had the Face to say His Right descends originally from the Mobile who gave it Him upon such Terms as they thought Fit such as He agreed to Upon which account unless He Gouvern as they please to understand the Contract betwixt Him Them They still reserve the Power to Depose his Majesty sett another in his Place No no As weak as human Reason is it never was so blind as to subscribe to so much Blasphemy as This. And yet the Common Outcry of our Passions is for Liberty Priviledges of the Subject They perpetually complain of Slavery Arbitrary Power They are Mortall Enemies to any Gouvernment in which they have no Voice The Passion which we call Predominant is that which heads the Faction And although there be no Colour for the Crime they openly Rebell Luke 19.14 we will not have this Man say they Reign over us Our Saviour Jesus Christ Commands us All to follow his Example not to sett our Hearts upon the Riches Pleasures Honours of this World but to be always ready for his sake to suffer Poverty Affliction Disgrace we will not have this Man reign over us He bids always be upon our Guard make it our chief Business to observe the Motions of our Enemy He bids us Mortify our Passions Disengage our criminall Affections and Avoid all dangerous Occasions of Sin in short He bids us Love Him above all things our Neighbour as our selves we will not have this Man reign over us This Man And Who is He T is He who is true God as well as Man T is He who measures out the waters Isay 40.12.17 in the Hollow of his Hand who measures out the
Heavens with a Span Before whom all the Nations of the Earth are Nothing even less than Nothing T is He whom all his Creatures wait upon Psal 104. that He may feed them in due Season who gives them they Gather who opens his Hand they are fill'd who takes away their Breath they return to Dust T is He who sitts in the Heavens laughs at the Kings Rulers of the Earth Psal 2. who makes their Devices of no effect Ps 33. who breaks them with a Rod of iron Ps 2.9 dashes them in pieces like a Potters Vessell He who is the Lord of All Ps 47. most High most Terrible and GREAT KING over all the Earth This King we openly Rebell against in every Mortall Sin IV. The Impiety of a Sinner THe Duty which we ow to Parents is a Virtue which we commonly call Piety And every Breach of such a Duty may be properly call'd Impious T is a Virtue by it self whose Character compar'd with other morall Virtues is as different from them as 't is eminent above them Her Authority extends to all of them And when they are obedient to her orders when they serve her when they wear her Livery we call them by her Name T is thus we call all Virtues Pious all Vices Impious The Reason is because our God not only is a Generall to his Souldiers a Monarch to his Subjects But He also is a Father to his Children We are All of us his Children He 's a Father to us All. Each virtuous Action of our life is more or less a Duty which we ow to such a Father and is therefore Pious On the contrary in every Offence we Sin against our Father are therefore Impious Whensoever we offend our God we sin against our Generall We basely break the Promises of our Fidelity which once we made so solemnly in Baptism since so frequently renew'd We treacherously Desert him even in the very moment when we should begin the Battle Whensoever we offend our God we sin against our King We break the sacred Oaths of our Allegeance which we seal'd so often with the Sacrament We trample under foot all Tyes of Loyalty openly Rebell against Him Whensoever we offend our God we sin against our Father We are Impious even beyond expression we Dethrone his Majesty we Banish him from our Heart we Vsurp the Gouvernment of it our selves manage it against Him When the Scribes murmur'd at our Saviour Luke 15.2 for receiving Sinners eating with 'em He told them of the Prodigall Son who was not only Receiv'd but Feasted by his Father after he had so unkindly left Him after he had wasted all his Substance in a forreign Country after he began to be in want feed Swine long for busks to fill his belly with His chief Design in telling of the Parable as we may judge by the occasion was not to accuse the Son but to excuse the Father by consequence Himself His principall intention was to justify the Father's Mercy Tenderness Kindness to his Son therefore t was not proper to exaggerate his fault T was fitter for the present purpose to sett forth his great Contrition and Humility who notwithstanding all his former Folly Brutishness Blindness yet at length came to himself repented v. 17. return'd with such a contrite such an humble heart to cast himself before his Father's feet A willfull Fool A swinish Brute Both so Blind as not to see their Misery is the Idea of a Sinner the whole Idea which the Scripture gives us in this Parable There 's no Ingratitude Presumption Pride or Insolence appears from the beginning to the end of it The Treachery the Disloyalty which I have lately spoken of have no room there Much less the great Impiety which now I am about to speak of He was no Deserter Rebell or Usurper True it is He left his Father when he went to seek his Fortune but we do not read that he Deserted Him in time of Battle He return'd again without his Father's leave but yet we do not read that he appear'd in Arms against Him by Force oblig'd Him to Submitt He envy'd not his Father's Power Authority His great Ambition only was to be as happy as his hired servants He desir'd no more than to be one of 'em He came humbly said Luke 15.21 Father I am not worthy to be call'd your Son He did not impiously tell him Father You are not worthy to be Master of your House We do not read He sent a Messenger with peremptory Orders to his Father's Palace to Command him to be gone by such an Hour What would you have said Suppose our Prodigall had been so Impious as This Ah Sinner Let not too much Zeal transport Thee Call thy Anger home The Case is thine Thou art the Man In every Mortall Sin which we consent to We are All as Impious infinitely more Our Heavenly Father is He not our King Our Heart is it not his Throne Was it not He who Made it for Himself And is it not his Right to Gouvern it Guide it to the Happyness for which He made it As often as we Value any Honour Interest or Pleasure any Passion Inclination or Humour more than his Commandements So often we Vsurp the Empire of our Heart we sway the Scepter Gouvern as we please Banish Him from thence And is not This as much as if we said Father You are not worthy to be Master of your House As often as the Devil tempts us or our Wickedness inclines us to preserr our Self or any other Thing before Him If we freely give Consent suffer any Creature to possess the Chief Place in our Heart So often we are every jot as Impious as if we sent Him peremptory Orders to be Gone that very Hour I tremble whilst I write Each Line encreases my Despair of ever being able to express the Malice of a Mortall Sin The more I amplify the more I see how much I am to blame for undertaking so impossible a Thing V. The great Ingratitude Presumption Pride Insolence of every Sinner I Have said enough to shew that every Sinner is a treacherous Souldier a disloyall Subject an impious Son I now design to shew This is not All but that He also is a most ungratefull Villain who betrays his Benefactor a presumptuous Slave who abuses his Deliverer a proud Servant who despises his Master a Criminall so insolent as to offend before his Judge's face A most ungratefull Villain A meer Upstart rais'd from lesse than Dust An empty Thing extracted out of Nothing That such a Thing as this so exalted as it is should be so stupid so insensible of all his Obligations so unmindfull of the Favours he receives so illnatur'd to his greatest Benefactor who continually makes him all he
the numerous Inhabitants like swarms of Ants run up down follow eagerly their little Trade of hoarding up a petty Treasure which is nothing to his purpose All his Treasure his Heart are both in Heaven There his Loving Eye is generally fixt And if he now then look down upon the Riches Glory Power Honour of this miserable World they all seem trifling matters All such Things are little inconsiderable contemptible to Him And yet He cannot justly be accus'd of Pride S. Chrysostom Hom. 11. in ep 1. Cor. because he thinks the wisest Politicians are but Fools their Riches Shadows all their Pleasures Dreams all their Titles Dignities and Honours only Childrens Baubles No it cannot justly be accounted Pride T is certainly the greatest Wisdom to submitt our Judgments conform them to the Eternall Truth of God himself judge of things as they are truly in themselves Or otherwise we must allow that Salomon himself was guilty of Presumption Arrogance when after a full Tryal after long sad Expeperience He pronounc't that All the World is Vanity of Vanities nothing else but Vanity He labours all he can to make his Soul become a Heaven upon Earth S. Chrysostom Hom. 16. in Epist ad Heb. failes not to succeed in such a noble entreprise The Heaven which we see so admire is but an Embleme of his Happyness As Heaven is enlightned by the rising Sun his Soul is more enlightned by the Grace of God the Sun of Justice which arises without setting in his Heart As Heaven always is the same still beautifull bright within it self although the midnight Darkness seem to alter obscure it so his Soul is still the same 't is always easy content within it self although He live obscurely in disgrace or poverty seem a miserable man to those who little understand the Secret of his Happyness As Heaven is so high above the Winds and Storms that the most violent disturbance of the Air can never reach it so the Soul of a good Christian even when the World combines to make him suffer most receives no harm at all His Treasure is in Heaven his Heart is with it He 's above the reach of all that they can do His Heart is rais'd to such a height that when He takes a prospect of the Earth below He sees no difference twixt Men Pismires Neither are the Poor the only Objects that seem little in his Sight but Kings themselves Generalls of Armies Politicians Usurers what you please seem every jot as little contemptible as They. The Difference of Poor Rich makes no impression upon Him no more than when He sees amongst a Swarm of little Pismires some creep loaded others empty What can Men do to such a Man as This S. Chrysostom Hom. 5. ad Popul Antio suppose they have a mind to make him miserable Will they rob him of his mony All his Riches are in Heaven Will they Banish him from home He has no other Home but Heaven it is not in their Power to Banish him from thence Will they lay him fast in Chains His Conscience will still be free And for his part He fears no other Chains but those of Sin Or will they kill him When they have done this They have no more to Do And even then His Soul will Live for ever his body one day Rise again A Man S. Chrysostom lib. 2. ad Theod. lapsum c. 3. who lives not but for Jesus Christ is quite above the reach of all misfortunes that can threaten him Provided that He will not freely deliberately hurt himself No man alive can have the least advantage over Him He 's invincible at all Arms. The Loss of his Goods is no Affliction to him because he well considers that we All bring Nothing with us at our Birth that we All shall carry Nothing with us at our Death The vain desires of Reputation Honour cannot seize his Heart because he knows that all our Conversation ought to be in Heaven All the injuries outrages He meets with are not able to provoke him He 's a Christian And being truly such He fears but one great Danger of one only Loss the Danger of offending God Loosing of his Favour All things else as Banishment and Poverty with all the greatest most dangerous Extremities He values not at all even Death it self which others think so Terrible is always most agreable most comfortable most wellcome whensoêre it comes SECT III. His Desire of Heaven THe Scripture generally represents a Christian as a Person disengag'd separated from the World If you were of the world S. Jo. 15.19 says our Saviour the world would love his own but because you are not of the world I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you 1. Jo. 2.15 He loves not the world nor the things that are in the world Because if any man love the world the Love of God is not in him Rom. 12.2 He is not conform'd to the world but transform'd by the renewing of his Mind that He may prove what is the good the acceptable perfect will of God He uses the world 1. Cor. 7.31 Gal. 6.14 Coloss 3.3 Jam. 1.27 1. Pet. 2.11 as if he us'd it not The world is crucifyd to him He to the world He is Dead his Life is hid with Christ in God His Religion pure undefil'd is that by which He keeps himself unspotted from the world He abstains from all Desires which war against the Soul because He is a Stranger a Pilgrim in the World But that which most inclines him to Desire the Happyness of Heaven is his Knowing that as long as He is here 2. Cor. 5.6 He 's Absent from his God No wonder He so much Desires to be in Heaven D. Sp. Par. 2. Ch. 21. All his Comfort is his Hope of being there The Gate so strait The way so narrow The continuall Violence so necessary to be us'd The Cross he dayly bears The Self-Denyall which he always practises The Pennance without which we All shall perish Luke 13.3 if we do not mortify our Passions curb our Humours resist our Inclinations All this putt together is enough to make a Christians Life so painfull troublesome disagreable 1. Cor. 15.19 that if in this life only He had Hope He would of all Men be most miserable T is no wonder therefore He so much Desires the Sight of God Ibid. which only can deliver him from all the miseries He labours under Ch. 22. T is the great Affliction of the Just to see themselves so far from Sion separated from their God banisht from their Heavenly Jerusalem Although the Riches of the World were all their Own They still would think themselves Unfortunate because their Treasure is is
not here 't is only to be found hereafter They as earnestly Desire the Happyness of Heaven as a Hart long hunted thirsts for Water T is a Duty indispensably incumbent upon all true Christians to Desire it above All Things Hear S. Austin Ibid. Ch. 21. He who finds himself at Ease on Earth who is contented to live always Here And finds his greatest Joy Satisfaction in this world will never enter Heaven If you ask the Reason He replys because He has not in his Heart the Love of God whoever dos not Sigh above all things Wish for the Enjoyment of Eternall Life Examine well your Heart If God should promise you a long Life upon Earth tell you You shall here enjoy whatever you can wish for Riches Pleasures Honours Health Prosperity what you please besides shall every where attend you Only You shall never See me You shall never have a Share with Me in Heaven would you be Content whoever is in such a Disposition dos not yet begin to Love Him above All Things Hear the Royall Prophet Ibid. Ch. 22. Hear the Language of his Love As the Hart pants after water Ps 42.1.2.3 so my Soul pants after Thee My God My Soul is thirsty for Thee O Thou Living God the only Life Comfort of my Soul My Tears have been my Entertainment Day Night t is the only Ease of my impatient Grief to have the Liberty of weeping in thy Absence VVhen shall I appear before my God When once that happy Day approaches Ps 17.15 when I once Behold thy Face I shall be Satisfyd but never shall be satisfyd till then T is this Ps 27.4 only this One Thing I always have Desir'd of Thee that I may Dwell in thy House for ever behold thy Beauty All God's Children say the same Ibid. they dayly pray to their Eternall Father that his Kingdom come And their Desire of Everlasting Life though sometimes out of Mind is always in their Heart By this they Pray incessantly By this they are attentive to God's Presence in the midst of those Employments Affairs which otherwise would easily divert them from the Thought of Him By This they frequently Recall their wandring Thoughts Renew their decaying Fervour Enflame their cooling Love Encourage their desponding Hearts March a great deal faster towards Heaven VVhen the Scripture commands us says S. Austin to Pray Always we are not therefore oblig'd to be always on our knees or always singing Psalms in Choire we only are oblig'd to have continually in the Bottom of our Heart a true Desire to leave this Earth enter into Heaven This continuall Desire must still persever in our Heart VVe always must lament sigh and say I am a Captive a Pilgrim I am far from Home I am not with my God T is true S. Austin adds a Just Man may divert himself sometimes spend some hours in such Employments as appear quite different from Gaining Heaven T is alas the Servitude of his Captivity which thus obliges him to work for the Egyptians whilst he is a Slave to Pharaoh But however in the midst of all his Slavery He never can forget the Land of Promise He laments He sighs He always wishes to be There And Thus He always Prays to God that He will please to grant him the Possession of that Souvereign Good which only can Suffice to make Him truly for ever Happy THE CONTENTS Motives of Love § 1. How much it imports us to Love God above All Things pag. 1 § 2. That the Love of God is our Greatest Duty 3 § 3. That the Love of God is our Greatest Good 20 § 4. That the Love of God is the chief Grace of the Holy Ghost 40 § 5. That we ought to prepare our Hearts for this great Grace 57 Motives of Fear § 1. How much it imports us to remember the Day of Judgment 71 § 2. That our Last Day is the fatall End of all our transitory Happyness 75 § 3. That our Last Day is the sad Beginning of our Everlasting Misery 90 Motives of Hope § 1. How unreasonable a thing it is for any Sinner to Despair 109 § 2. That God can help us if He will 115 § 3. That God will help us if we please 130 Danger of Delay § 1. How apt we are to Differr Repentance 149 § 2. How dangerous it is to Differr Repentance 153 § 3. Reasons why Delay is so Dangerous 161 § 4. That we ought to begin immediatly without Delay 172 A Contrite Heart § 1. Sorrow for our Sins 189 § 2. Resolutions of Amendement 193 An Humble Heart § 1. The Necessity Advantages of Humility 201 § 2. First Degree of Humility 213 § 3. Second Degree of Humility 219 § 4. An Objection answer'd 233 § 5. Third Degree of Humility 242 § 6. First Reason why the greatest Saints are the most humble 249 § 7. Second Reason why the greatest Saints are the most Humble 262 I. The Enormity of Sin 273 II. The Treachery of a Sinner 285 III. The Disloyalty of a Sinner 296 IV. The Impiety of a Sinner 303 V. The great Ingratitude Presumption Pride Insolence of every Sinner 311 VI. Our Saviours Idea of Sin the Impression it made upon Him 319 VII The Saints Idea of Sin How much it humbles them 335 The Character of a Good Christian § 1. The Perfection of his Duty 352 § 2. His Contempt of the VVorld 362 § 3. His Desire of Heaven 372 FINIS