Life becomes a Sacrifice to the rage of the cruel if he does but come off with the safety of his Soul that 's enough to make him abundant recompence for all As Christ saith Matth. 16.26 What shall it profit a Man to win the whole World and lose his own Soul So may it not be said What shall it prejudice a Man to lose all the World if he save his own Soul Thou knowest not what a Soul is what the Salvation of a Soul is thou knowest not what Eternity what that Life and Death means who canst not say Let me escape that Death let me obtain that Life and it is enough O study the World to come more secure to thy self the eternal Inheritance and then thou wilt say with the Psalmist what-ever thy condition be here I will lay me down in peace and take my rest for thou Lord makest me dwell in safety But more of this hereafter By what hath been said it appeareth that the Man that feareth is an happy Man and wherein his happiness lies It 's true that in this World he is but inchoatively and incompleatly happy but an happy Man he is As he that 's Heir to a great Estate even whilst he is under Age and hath little in possession may be said to be a Rich Man especially if he be under the care of a faithful Guardian no less may a Christian even in his non-age be said to be an happy Man There 's no happy Man in the World if this be not he When he is at lowest it 's better with him than with the best of Sinners Some Sinners will grant their Conscience tells them so that he that fears God will have the best of it in the other World but yet they conclude that themselves have the better of it here But they are mistaken even in this Life a Godly Man hath the better of Sinners He knows little of God he hath little understood the Joy of Faith the Pleasure of Love the Ease of Sincerity the Peace of Conscience the Gain of Godliness that would exchange lives with the best of Sinners here in this World The very hopes of the Saints fill them with more joy than the greatest possessions of the ungodly I had rather take my lot with Job on the Dunghil than with Nebuchadnezzar on his Throne with Lazarus in his Sores and Beggary than with Dives in his Purple and delicate Fare with Paul in his Bonds than with Agrippa and Bernice in their Pomp with that Prisoner at the Bar than his Judges at the Bench. He that is otherwise minded is guilty of one of these absurdities either to think that God is not better than Creatures or that the ungodly enjoy as much of God as those that are Godly If God be better than the World if God be the present Portion of the Godly and of them alone then he that feareth God is the happiest Man even in this Life But O what will his blessedness hereafter be What advantage will he have of Sinners in the other World When the comparison shall no longer be betwixt God and the Creatures betwixt the fulness of Heaven and the fatness of the Earth when the Question shall no longer be which is best peace of Conscience or the prosperity of the World the hopes of Glory or the pleasures of Sin the worst of Saints or the Sinners best But the question will then be Which is the best the Pleasures of the Saints or the Plagues of Sinners the Fruition of God or Reprobation from God the Joyes Above or the Pangs Beneath Then let it be considered then shall it be discerned who are the happy Persons those that Fear God or those that fear him not Vse The Application is that which I chiefly intend and this shall be by way of Information Exhortation and Direction I shall put them all together For the more effectual carrying on whereof I shall inform and warn you 1. Of the Opposites of this Fear 2. Of the Grounds or Reasons why men Fear not 3. Of the Reasons why you should Fear 4. What you should Fear 5. How you should improve this Holy Fear I. The Opposites of this Fear are 1. Rashness 2. Audacity 3. Security 1. Rashness Hastiness or Headiness in our way Fear will make Men consider 'T was good Counsel which the Town-Clerk gave in the Tumult Acts 19.36 that they did nothing rashly Eccles 5.2 Be not rash with thy Mouth neither let thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God The Apostle reckons hasty ones among the dangerous Persons 2 Tim. 3.4 Men shall be heady precipites running headlong on their course acting not upon Counsel but their suddain apprehensions or any strong impulses of their hearts at all adventures whether it be right or wrong Fear will make Men wary and advised what they do Christians if you would walk safely look before you speak nothing rashly do nothing rashly weigh your Thoughts and Intentions before you let them pass into action How many Evils doth rashness and headiness run us upon Those words which in an heat we have let fly some of our hasty Carriages and Actions have sometimes cost us many dayes sorrow and repentance which had we been cautelous and a little better advised might have been prevented Sometimes a sudden passion arises and out it goes in angry and froward words setting all in an uproar and combustion by and by our hearts recur upon us and then we wish O that I had bit my Tongue and not given it such an unbridled liberty Sometimes we break out into rash censures of those that it may be are better than our selves whereupon when we reflect we are ashamed that the Fool 's Bolt was so soon shot and wish we had been judging our selves when we were censuring our Brethren Take heed you mistake not rashness and headiness for Zeal I would not cool Godly Zeal there 's too little of it in the World We need the Spur more than the Bridle the Bellows nor the Bucket We may not quench true Zeal the Lord be merciful to us there is not so much of it to be found we had more need cast on Oil than Water upon that Holy Fire Zeal for Truth Zeal for Righteousness and Holiness how happy were it if there were more such Flames if all our shining were also burning Lights But Zeal must be regular as for the Matter of it it must be alwayes in a good thing Gal. 4.18 So it must be managed with good Counsel and Caution mistaken Zeal is a Fire that devours that good that it pretends to promote But as you may not run headlong upon that which hath the face of Good much less upon that which is apparently evil It 's dangerous to be heady in the Matters of God wherein in case we are right we can never over-do but much more mischievous to run headlong upon Sin Jer. 8.6 Every one turned to his course as the Horse rusheth into
ingenious Spirit fear more than to be base and unworthy Should you ask such a Person Why are you so exact and so tender and so circumspect in your way Why are you so busie and so studious and so laborious in your course Why can you not as well as others take up with a lower and more remiss way of Religion O I dare not be so unworthy I am the Servant of God and through his Grace I will serve him the best I can He that is most Holy and most Circumspect that keeps the closest to his Work and his Rule he is the best Servant to God and as I am obliged so I am resolved through the help of God to do him the most Honour and the best Service I can I should be a Wretch a vile and unworthy Person if I were otherwise minded The great God hath but few Servants in the World hath he taken me into the number of those few O what shall I render how can I be sufficiently thankful for that Grace God hath but few Servants in the World and the fewer the more serviceable have they need to be The Devil hath many Servants he hath those that serve him in every House in every Town there are whole Countries that are wholly peopled with the Servants of the Devil and their Work is to do all the dis-service and dishonour they can to God to cherish the Flesh and foment the Lusts thereof to fill the World with wickedness and to trample upon all that 's left of God in it What multitudes hath the Devil that serve him every-where and how busie are they at their Work God hath but a few Servants and since he hath made me one of them I 'le do him the best Service I can Such a blessed and quickning influence would such abiding thoughts have upon all the People of God As 't would be on the contrary If Sinners would carry this thought upon their Hearts I am every day serving the Devil it would be a Bridle to hold them in so if People kept up such a thought I am serving the Lord 't would be a Spur to quicken them on Such a thought upon Sinners Hearts I am serving the Devil would strike such a fear as would drive them quite backwards The very same fear which would animate Saints would strike Sinners dead in the Nest If a Sinner that 's going to the Ale-house would seriously consider and ask himself Whither am I going and upon whose Errand And his Heart should answer I am going to the Ale-house to serve the Devil the Devil hath some Servants at work there for him at their Drinking-work Swearing-work Scoffing-work and I am going among them to help on the Devil's Work And if others that are serving their Covetousness or their Pride or their Envy if their Hearts should tell them This also is serving the Devil the Devil hath a great Work for thee to do to damn that Soul of thine and as many others as thou canst The Devil would have thee to Hell with him and hang up that Soul of thine in Chains of Fire This he cannot do unless thou wilt put thine own hand to the Work and now he hath brought thee to it in the course thou art now taking thou art doing the Devil's Work to destroy thine own Soul Such thoughts would put Sinners to a stand or at least slacken their pace If the Devil should possess a whole Countrey of People as he hath sometimes possessed some particular Persons and should set them a pulling down their own Houses a burning their Corn and their Cattel a tearing their own flesh a pulling out their own Eyes a butchering their Children a pulling out one anothers Throats who would no the afraid to go dwell in that Countrey to be hired to that cruel Work Why Sinners 't is worse work than this that the Devil hath set you upon and you are now a-doing He hath set you on work to stab every Man his own Soul to strike in Darts through our Livers to kindle those Fires that will burn to the bottom of Hell and to cast your selves headlong into those Eternal Flames Hadst thou such a thought as this upon thy Heart didst thou but consider that this is it thou art doing 't would cool the heat of thy Lust and hold thee back at least from much of that wickedness thou art rushing upon And so it would be here if Christians did consider what 't is that they are a doing in their following Holiness and Righteousness that they are herein serving the Lord and that in his recovering and saving Design O how would it provoke them on How is it that thou art such a slow-belly that thou art such a drone and such a slug in thy Work Is he whom thou servest worthy of no more than this Pluck up thy Spirits Man thou art upon Service for the God of the whole Earth and upon the noblest Service that thou art capable of thou art sent forth upon the same Service for which the Son of God was sent into the World to save Souls and to destroy the Works of the Devil Jam. 5.20 If God should have employed thee but in those lower Works that Christ did for the Bodies of Men to open the Eyes of the Blind to unloose the Tongue of the Dumb to cast out Devils to heal the Sick and raise the Dead wouldst thou have been so unwilling and so backward at such Works Thou art upon greater Works than these to save thine own Soul and those that see and hear thee God hath made thee one of that Chosen Generation that Royal Priesthood that Holy Nation who are to serve him by shewing forth the Vertues of him that hath called them 1 Pet. 2.9 To bear his Name and to set forth his Praises in the World thou art set up as the Image of God as the Epistle of Christ thou art sent forth as a Factor and Agitator for God to negotiate for him in the Earth to bear up his Name to propagate his Gospel to enlarge his Kingdom Art thou not afraid to trifle in such noble Works Think O my Soul what 't is thou art for and for whom thou livest Shall I be as the Ox that eateth Grass or as the Swine that lyeth in the Mud and tell the World behold your King This is the Image of your God Shall the Epistle of Christ be nothing else but a Blank or Blots Shall the Factor for Heaven have so much of his Occupation for Earth Shall I teach Men to despise and pollute and blaspheme that worthy Name which I am intrusted to advance and exalt Shall any little that I do suffice me in so great a Trust Come on O my Soul remember thou servest the Living God and therefore let me do him the best Service I can Canst thou be too Holy Canst thou be too Circumspect and too Active I may be too sluggish and too silent and too shie and too shamefac'd
the irradiations of his Holy Spirit and the light of his countenance whilest they are walking in the Law of the Lord the prospering of their Souls in the grace of God and the comforts of the Holy Ghost this is the sunshine of their lives Their countenance is fallen their heart is sick they reckon themselves among the dead when God and their Souls are parted He hath no part in God that can live comfortably without him It 's true the pleasure that the Saints take in God is more or less according to the different degrees of their love to God and accordingly will the sense of his absence be more or less There is a desiring love which is the highest attainment of some weaker Christians and there is a delighting love which is the attainment of the more grown Christians The purer and stronger the love the greater pleasures comes in from the object of it and the more impatience follows from its distance and estrangement from it The love of weaker Christians puts forth in thirstings after the Lord but they taste but little of the sweetness but the more grown can sit down under his shadow with great delight yet neither the one nor the other can be at ease or contented without him Again there is a difference in the Natural temper and constitutions of Christians some are naturally of lively and warm affections and of a chearful and serene Spirit others are of more flat and dull and heavy spirits and this will make a difference upon their sence of things Spiritual Yea and the same persons at several times may be differing from themselves by reason of bodily distempers or occasional discomposures which may have such an influence upon their Spirits that they may at such seasons not only have lost the sweetness of Divine communion but the sence also of its want and those very duties wherein they were wont to have delightful converse with God may seem the most uneasie and wearisome work of their time But yet whoever he be that in ordinary can be satisfied at ease and be merry whilst he is a stranger from God and neither finds pleasure in him nor takes comfort in pleasing of him this man can never conclude that God is his portion He that is least in the Kingdom of God will doubtless be able to say Lord whom have I in Heaven yea or in Earth besides thee Sinner thou sayest that thou also hast chosen the Lord but how is it that he is no more look'd after or regarded by thee How is it that thou canst live so much without God in the world and find no miss of his presence Art thou content to be miserable whil'st thou livest here or hast thou chosen two portions this world to be thy portion here and God only for hereafter I that 's the truth of the case thou foreseest that this world will not last alwayes but thou must after a while be gone and leave all behind thee whil'st these things will last thou wilt take up with them but when they fail thee thou countest upon God at last and so he must only stand by as thy last refuge when all else is gone then God must be thy happiness Is this thy choice of God when thou canst only say Rather God than nothing So I may be sure of thee hereafter I care not for thee now He that hath not chosen God for his happiness in both worlds hath sincerely chosen him for neither Canst thou say thou hast chosen him for thy happiness in this world also when thou canst count thy self happy without him canst thou want communion with him and yet be at hearts ease canst thou take the prosperities of this world to supply the want of a God the smiles of fortune instead of smiles from Heaven will thy twilight or candle-light serve thee instead of Sun-light Canst thou quiet and comfort thy self thus God is none of my acquaintance but I have good acquaintance enough in the world God is angry with me but I have many good friends about me that bear me good will My work for Heaven goes but sadly on but yet I prosper and thrive in the Earth I have none of the best hearts I confess but yet I have a good House and a good Estate 't would be sad indeed if I had nothing either above or below either within or without me if both Heaven and Earth had cast me out but whil'st one of them holds 't is well mine own Cisterne is full and so long I can spare the Fountain Canst thou comfort thy self thus Deceive not thy self God is not the portion thine heart hath chosen thou wilt never find rest in any thing else who hast pitch'd on him as thine only happiness and till thou hast made him alone thou hast not made him at all the portion of thy Soul 5. If you are willing and resolved to forsake all things for his sake God and this world are proposed to our choice and this is included in the very nature of choosing that one be taken and the other left 't is not choosing to take both one of the two must be parted with or neither can be said to be chosen and so the word tells us Luk. 14.33 Whoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple This seems to be an hard word but is it so indeed Is it hard to part with all our Brass and to receive it in Gold to exchange our rags for better clothing our husks for better seeding What is Earth to Heaven Is all thou hast in the world too great a price to redeem thy Soul from Death and to instate it in everlasting blessedness If these things could redeem thee would'st thou say 't is too much to give this Earth is more than Heaven is worth But farther consider It is not so hard as it seems to be for what is it to forsake all that we have God would not have us to throw away our Estates and make our selves voluntary Beggars to give away our Houses and take up our Habitation in Dens or Caves to give away all our bread and our clothes and leave our selves to hunger and nakedness God would not have us to break the peace with the world to disoblige and fall out with all our friends and to become strangers to our own flesh God would not have us studiously to offend Father and Mother to despise Brethren and Sisters to be undutiful or unnatural to be surly and rude and uncivil to any and thereby create our selves enemies and trouble 't is for the honour of Christianity that we behave our selves sweetly and courteously and dutifully towards all and 't is the Interest of Christianity that those that fear God be good Husbands and provident and have Estates to serve him withall in their generations This is not the meaning of our forsaking of all to cast our selves into voluntary poverty or studiously to make our selves
an hopeful crop to see all green and fresh and hearty and strong this is not such a pleasure to the Husbandman as 't is to a Christian to see a spring of Grace in his Soul Now I see 't is not in vain to sow to the spirit to serve and wait on God Where is all thy praying where is all thy labouring God knows where 't is saith the barren Soul I doubt 't is all lost I can see no sign of it remaining that 's a sad Soul But ask thus of the thriving Christian where is all thy praying and thy labouring and he can answer O I thank God 't is here to be seen This field of mine a few years since lay all fallow rough and hard and nothing that was good was to be found upon it but now O how it joyes mine heart to find it so the good seed that hath been buried here is not dead 't is gotten up above ground the Lord hath let me see something of his grace breaking forth and it encreases and grows up daily in me The hard and stubborn is now become a melting and broken heart the proud and froward is now become an humble and quiet spirit It hath cost me something many a sad thought many a sigh many a tear but though I came hardly by it here 't is by the grace of God the barren hath brought forth this dry tree hath blossomed this sluggish heart to which the very thoughts of a laborious fruitful life were once so irksome that I doubted that I should never have come to any thing but should have liv'd and died a drone O what a comfort it is to me to see it thus hopefully come on A diligent Christian will have such successes his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 and when he sees what good success he has then let him speak what a pleasure it is to him Christian Thou hast been at thy work but what fruit hast thou found hast thou prospered hast thou sped well dost thou see of the travail of thy Soul Is thy sin weakened is the world conquered is grace quickened in thee Is it so and is it not a pleasure to thee to find it so Doth it not please thee that thou art not so vain nor so earthly nor so proud as thou hast been Doth it not glad thee at the heart to find that the Lord hath been with thee and blessed thee and helped thee in what thou hast set thine heart unto And how lookest thou now on thy remaining works wilt thou any more drive so heartlessely and so heavily on as thou wast wont to do wilt thou any more cry out Hard service a weary life Sure thou canst not what thou findest coming in will make thy very labour and thy sweat to be sweetness to thee 3. The pleasure of Ease Ease hath a pleasure in it not only ease or rest from our work but ease in our work when we can carry it on with ease by how much the harder our work is in it self by so much the greater pleasures will it be when we can go easily through it Christ tells us Matth. 11.30 that his yoke is easie and his burthen light Christ's yoke is an hard and an heavy yoke to Sinners and such which they are in no wise able to bear but he makes it easie to his Saints A yoke may be made easie three wayes 1. By making the burthen of it lighter 2. By making the neck stronger 3. By accustoming the neck to the yoke 1. By making the burthen of it lighter by paring it or taking off something of it a great yoke may be pared and pared till at length it come to be a little on Thus Christ's yoke will not be made easier he will pare nothing off he will not abate any thing of his work there 's the same Law for Saints and for Sinners there 's the same duty impos'd on the weak as the strong Matth. 5.17 18. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets till Heaven and Earth pass one jott or title shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled The same Law which was from the beginning shall be Law to the end Christ will never make that to be no sin which once was sin nor that to be no duty which once was a duty nor will he ever dispense with duty or sin he says not to any less shall serve for thee than for others he requires all of every one But here by way of caution take notice of two things 1. Christ's yoke is in this sense easier than Moses ' s yoke there is an abatement of the burthen of Ceremonies and legal Rites that Law of the carnal Commandment as 't is call'd Heb. 7.16 is vanished and taken out of the way no more of that chargeable service of Sacrifices no more Bulls or Goats or Lambs out of our flocks or herds the service of Christians is in this respect cheaper Service than that of the Jews of old 't is only our Moralls whereof nothing will be abated 2. Though Christ requires the same duty of all and imposes the same things and as much upon the weak as upon the strong yet he will accept that of the weak which he will not from the strong Nothing less than perfection is due from the weakest but sincerity will be accepted whatever imperfection there be God will take those weak and maimed Services from the weak which he will not from the strong He that hath a Male in his flock and Sacrificeth a corrupt thing Cursed be that deceiver Mal. 1.14 2. By making the neck stronger That 's an easie yoke to a man which a Child is not able to wagge A labouring man that 's weak and sickly will find his ordinary work to be too hard for him when he recovers his strength he can go through it with ease Weak Christians will ever find Christianity to be hard Service as they grow up to be stronger they will find it grow more easie day by day 3. By accustoming the neck to the yoke The yoke at first putting on wrings and galls and wearies those that are unaccustomed to the yoke are impatient of the yoke 't is use that makes it easie An Apprentice to a Trade though at his first entrance he do not half so much work as afterward yet 't is with twice so much pains The first hour is ordinarily with him the burthen and heat of the day his morning is hotter than his noon The tediousness of Religion meets us at the threshold our hardest task is to begin well nature will make the strongest opposition against grace at the the very birth of the new creature our first charge against lust is usually the hottest charge the travail of the birth hath more pain in it than all the after care of bringing up the child A Christian at his first setting out after Christ feels all his motions
in Christ am I in Covenant have I broken my Covenant with Death and disannulled my Agreement with Hell Am I no longer in League with my Sins and this evil World have I broken with them all and am I gotten within the Bond of the Covenant of God If I think I have yet am I not mistaken Many Souls have been mistaken have thought themselves within who have yet dyed without and am not I mistaken also Is the thing sure Is Christ mine indeed How is it that there is no more asking the way to the City of Refuge How may I get into Christ Or how may I know whether I be in Christ or not O how is it that we do not awaken our slumbring Spirits and call upon our careless Hearts Come on O my lingring Soul make haste get thee up to the Rock to Sanctuary to Sanctuary Awake thou Sleeper carest thou not that thou perish Come my Soul enter thou into thy Chamber hide thy self till the Indignation be over-past How is it that there is no more such care taken Are we so solicitous as we should be about this matter How is it with you Friends Are you busie in considering and fore-casting and enquiring how you may escape What is it that your fear of a Deluge hath put you upon to provide your selves against it Is there any more circumspection and heedfulness in your goings any more tenderness of Sin Are you throwing off those weights that will sink you with the multitude Are you busie in breaking down your Sins and building up your selves in hope of the Salvation of God Behold how generally our other Matters do still take up our Time and Thoughts we are building of Houses and planting of Vineyards and Buying and Selling and Marrying and giving in Marriage seldom giving our selves leave to think of a Flood that 's coming to take us all away O fear and let your fear set you on work to save your selves from Misery and Ruine The foolish World laugh at this Fear What jealous-headed melancholick Souls are these What Dreams and Fancies do they fright themselves withal And so did the old World doubtless laugh at Noah to see him such a Fanatick to amuse himself and others with such a strange conceit of a Flood and to go build an Ark to save himself from that Dream of a Deluge What laughing and mocking think you was there then amongst them to hear this Preacher of Righteousness to Preach and prepare for such a strange incredible thing Such mockings are there of the Men of this World at the fears and preparations of the Saints against the Judgments of God I but when the Ark was finished and Noah and his Family gotten in and the Flood came in earnest when they saw the Rain pouring down the Waters swelling the Seas roaring and tumbling in in whole Mountains of Waters upon them where was the laugh of the World then What a cry was their laugh then turned to Let Sinners laugh at last when they shall see all these things come upon them when the overflowing Scourge cometh and they shall then see the derided Saints gotten into the Ark and themselves left out to perish in the Waters Well by this time you may see what this Fear is or who is this Man that feareth The Man of Understanding that so knows God his Goodness and Severity that so knows Sin its Malignity and the Misery that it exposes to that so believes God that hath such a love for God and his own Soul and such an aversation from Sin that so foresees the danger he is in of running into Sin and falling into Misery that he wisely and warily looks to himself keeps himself from Iniquity and hides himself from those Mischiefs and Miseries which the rest of the World foolishly venture upon and are destroyed by in the end This is the Man that feareth this is the happy Man 2. What is that blessedness that is pronounced to him that feareth Happy is the Man that feareth To Happiness two things are required 1. Sufficiency 2. Security 1. Sufficiency He that is in want is in misery what-ever he hath how greatly soever he abounds yet if he hath not all that he needs yea all that he desires In the fulness of his Sufficiency he is in straits The pain of what he desires and hath not imbitters the pleasures of what he hath No Sufficiency no Satisfaction short of Satisfaction so far short of Happiness He must have all things that would find rest in any thing He that possesses what-ever he can desire that 's an happy Man only to this must be added 2. Security What we have to day may be lost to morrow He that hath most and holds it by such an uncertain Tenure is so far from finding rest in what he hath that he may be in greater perplexity than he that hath nothing Therefore can there be no happiness in any thing under the Sun for besides the insufficiency of these worldly things the whole Earth is too little to fill the Soul all this great World is not enough to fill the little World Man but besides this were they sufficient what security can be had for the continuance of them to us They are all but casualties they come and go they have all their Wings and who knows how soon they may take their flight At the best The things that are seen are but Temporal 2 Cor. 4.18 There must be permanence durableness in the matter of our Happiness The durable Riches the enduring Substance an Inheritance that fadeth not away and there must be security against their being lost or taken away Now this is the happiness of him that feareth he hath sufficient and what he hath is in safety 1. He hath a sufficiency This Fear as appears from what hath been spoken is a Religious Fear the Fear of God is sometimes taken for all Religion here only for one particular Branch of it yet such as argues the Truth of Religion and intitles the Soul to the whole income and revenue of Religion He that knows believes and loves God and therefore fears and flies from Sin and Wrath is certainly a Godly Man and shall have his Inheritance with the Just The first Sermon that ever we read that Christ Preached begins with an enumeration of the Beatitudes of this very Man He shall inherit the Earth he shall be comforted he shall be filled he shall obtain Mercy he shall see God his is the Kingdom of Heaven All these Graces that are there mentioned Poverty of Spirit Purity in Heart hunger after Righteousness Meekness c. are the particular Qualifications of this very Man And we may write down after that Copy Blessed is the Man that feareth for his is the Kingdom of God Blessed is the Man that feareth for he shall be comforted he shall obtain Mercy he shall see God This is the Man who shall inherit all things Rev. 21.7 and shall want nothing Psal
the Battel without fear or wit O the witless mad-headed multitude of Sinners in the World how do they rush on upon their wickedness they will neither ask Counsel nor take Counsel but on they will at a venture come of it what will Stand Sinner and fear fear and consider what is it thou art doing whither is it thou art running thou wilt on thy Way thou wilt after thy Lusts and after thy Companions thou wilt after these Riches and these Pleasures there 's no stopping thee nor putting thee to pause upon it thou art all in haste and impatient to be advised But yet for all thy haste take heed of what comes after thy Bargain is not like to be so good as to require such haste hasty Bargains seldom want woe What-ever is done rashly seldom comes to any other issue but either Repentance or Ruine Qui ante non cavet c. If thou wilt not Fear thou wilt shortly find what 't is to be thus head-strong and precipitant 2. Audacity or fool-hardiness or mad venturousness upon known dangers This is of kin to rashness but is not the same It is the other extream to Cowardise the mean betwixt both is Fortitude The Fear we are now treating of is not opposite to Fortitude as Cowardise is 't is not from pusillanimity but from magnanimity that we thus fear The most Heroick Spirits most fear to be base Exod. 1.17 Those worthy Midwives feared God and feared to sin against God and therefore feared not the Wrath of the King And as this Holy Fear doth not argue faint-heartedness so neither doth that audacity argue fortitude Is it valour or madness for a naked Man to run upon an Army of Enemies Such Desperadoes as kick against the pricks and run upon the Pikes of Divine Vengeance who knowing the Judgment of God against them that do such things will yet run their course of In quity not fearing of Judgments laughing at Reproofs Threatnings and Warnings and deriding those trembling Hearts that dare not run on with them to the same excess of riot What gallantry of Spirit do they count themselves to have arrived unto Gallantry of Spirit what to dare the Almighty to his Face to challenge Death and Hell to meet you in the Field for the Briars and Thorns to gather themselves to Battel against the devouring Fire Sure if ever you come to your wits you will understand how mad you have been Sinner darest thou continue in thine unbelief and impenitency when thou knowest that he that believeth not shall be damned he that repenteth not shall perish for ever Darest thou to walk after thy Lusts fulfilling the desires of the Flesh and of the Mind when thou knowest that they that live after the flesh shall die Thou knowest what the place and the portion of the Proud of the Covetous of the Liars of the Hypocrites is and yet darest thou continue in the number and the way of these Men Dost thou dare to go down quick into the Pit to take up thy dwelling in everlasting Darkness and thy lodging in the Eternal Fire Awaken from this Folly put away this madness from thee Awake and tremble to think what a desperate adventure thou hast hitherto run If you should see your Children in sport jumping over a boyling Furnace dancing on the Battlements of a Tower or in a frolick standing on tip-toe on the Weather-cock of a Steeple how would your Bowels turn your Bones tremble and all within you shake and shiver And will you yet be more venturous and fool-hardy your selves If ever you come to your selves you will be your own Wonder and Fear 3. Security Carnal Security Security is often taken for Safety To have our Estates or our Peace or our Souls secured is the same as to have them all in safety Job 11.14 15. If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away then shalt thou be secure because there is hope and thou shalt take thy rest in safety This Carnal Security is a retchlesness or carelesness of Heart to be without sense of our danger and without sollicitude for our safety The cares of this Life and the Pleasures of the Flesh do stupifie the Sinners of the Earth do lay their Souls a-sleep and bind up their senses so that they neither fear nor mind what 's like to come upon them This was the case of the old World in the dayes of Noah Luke 17.27 They did eat they drank they married and were given in marriage till the day came that Noah entred into the Ark. Their sensuality laid them all a-sleep and they never dream't of that Flood that came and destroyed them all It is said of the Men of Laish Judges 18.7 They dwelt careless after the manner of the Zidonians they were quiet and secure They neither feared Enemies nor made any provision against them but left themselves open to the mercy of any Invader Secure Sinners lay themselves open to all manner of mischiefs the Tempter may come the Avenger may come upon them before they are aware and he that may come will come The Lord of that Servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour when he is not aware and will cut him in sunder and appoint him his portion with Vnbelievers Luke 12.46 O how sick is this World of this Lethargick Distemper We cannot say as once 't was said Isa 33.14 The Sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulness hath surprized the Hypocrites Behold the Sinners all asleep and who is there among the Hypocrites that fears But how is it with you Sinners are you in no danger Is there no Devil in the World or is there no fear that he intends to hurt you Is that Lion that us'd to walk up and down seeking whom to devour is he now confin'd to his Den so that he cannot hurt the Earth any more Are your Lusts those Lion's Whelps grown tame Do they no longer war in your Members Doth the World cease to be a temptation and a snare and are you out of danger of that Perdition and Destruction in which it draws its Lovers Is there no danger of your becoming Proud or Covetous or Sensualists lovers of Riches lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God or is it no harm if you be so Nay what woful Work hath been made upon you already What inrodes and invasions have been made and are not your Souls already taken Captives Behold that ignorance and folly that impotence and weakness that enmity and perversness that malice and envy wherewith your hearts are already filled and that stupidity and senslesness under all these evils that appear upon you What doth all this portend Doth it speak good concerning you Doth it say thus concerning you these Men are in an happy state there 's no fear to Men in such a case no fear of the Covetous no fear of the Drunkards and the Lyars and the Scoffers they are all happy Men. Consider Man whither
all this it may be without such a thought if the Lord will or what if I should not live till to morrow Dost thou go up and down with thy Reckoning in thy Bosom Is thine Account made ready and dost thou carry it upon thine Heart where-ever thou goest Dost thou charge it upon thy self to do nothing but what thou wouldst be found doing To go no whither but where thou wouldst that thy Lord at his coming should find thee Dost thou use to say to thy self I would be loath to be found among the sluggish and slothful Servants among the Hypocrites and deceitful workers among the loose and prophane ones and therefore take heed O my Soul how thou be of that number or Companion with them How can I be sure but if I venture to lie or play the sluggard or the hypocrite but I may be found so doing How can I be sure if I venture to have fellowship with the Ungodly but I may be found among them Thou wilt say it may be 'T is possible I may be found there but 't is not likely I shall I hope I shall not and so for once thou wilt venture it Why this is thy Security thou art one of them who put the evil day from them Well now these are the Opposites of this Fear Rashness Audacity and Security II. The Grounds or Reasons of Mens Fearlesness or why they fear not these are especially these three 1. Ignorance 2. Vnbelief 3. Presumption 1. One Reason why Men Fear not is their Ignorance This I have spoken some-what of before and shall therefore speak the less now Blind Men have most cause of Fear of any Men if they stand upon never so safe ground yet for ought they know danger may be near If danger be never so near and never so great yet being not able to discover it there 's the less hopes of escaping it whether they are in danger or out of danger there 's still place for Fear because they know not where they are Blind Men of any Men have most reason to Fear and yet the Spiritual Blind are most out of Fear Men's Ignorance as it puts them past feeling Ephes 4.18 19. so it puts them past Fear they have so little light as not to see the evil that is before them and they have so little wit as not to suspect the evil they see not There is not any thing before them or round about them but they have need enough to fear it Their very Hopes Confidences and the Refuges that they trust upon if they knew what they were would be formidable enough to them Their Harbours in which they shelter themselves are Rocks at which they split and dash themselves their very Supports are their Snares What is the Hope of the Sinner It may be his Religion is his Hope and what is his Religion He believes there is a God and is no Atheist he trusts in Christ and is no Infidel he is a Protestant and no Papist he prayes and fasts he is sober and honest and harms no Man and is no Publican and this is his Righteousness upon which he ventures his Soul But if he knew but what his Belief and his Trust is how far short of the Faith of God's Elect if he understood what his Prayers and his Fastings are rather Images and Shadows than the Things themselves if he knew what lies and deceits what a rotten Thread they are upon which he hangs his Hopes and his Soul 't would make his Confidence his Terrour But he is ignorant and is not able to say Is there not a lie in my right hand I would not take off Sinners from Praying and Hearing and other Exercises of Religion I would not disgrace that little Morality that Temperance Truth Righteousness that 's found in any of them 't were well if all the Sinners of the Earth were Praying Sinners and Hearing Sinners if there were more morality found amongst the Unbelieving World Prayer is a Duty and our way to God Righteousness is a piece of the Image of God in Man a Jewel will sparkle though it be set in a Swine's Snout It 's pitty that they that have any thing of God should have so much of the Devil that they in whom any little good is should make such ill use of it as to undo themselves by it But what are the Prayers what is the Religion and Righteousness of these Men What Carnal Devotion what a Formal Religion what blind and lame and sick Sacrifices do they satisfie themselves with which have nothing of Truth or Spirit within no nor so much as a face or form of serious Godliness without Yea what is their Repentance but a cold asking forgiveness without either forsaking or so much as seriously confessing their Sins What is their Righteousness their Innocency and Harmlesness they bless themselves in It may be no more but this they are less wicked than some others Here is the Hope and the Trust of these blind Souls But did they understand what Wood Hay and Stubble what broken Reeds what Cobwebs these are their very Trust would be their Dread But because they think it 's right and sound because they think their Sand on which they build is a Rock this Babel this confused and indigested heap of Rubbish is their strong Tower because they have not so much Light as to discover what Refuges of Lies these are therefore 't is that in the midst of danger they are out of fear The best of Sinners if they understood it is enough to make them afraid and if their best be so O what would their worst be If their Religion be dangerous what is their Irreligion If there be so little hope in their Prayers what is there in their mocking at Prayers If they have reason to dread their Repentance how would their Impenitence look If what they account their Righteousness will be their Ruine what will their Wickedness be what will their Oaths and their Blasphemies and their Adulteries be But what-ever they be or what-ever danger they be in by the one or the other by their Services or their Sins by their Peace in Sin or their War with God they know it not and so go on their way in quiet and secure 2. Another Reason why Men Fear not is their Vnbelief The Belief of a God as it will make good Men Hope so it will make evil Men Fear He that believeth that God is can hardly but believe that he is the Rewarder of the Righteous and the Sinner If there be a God there is a Judg He that is the Maker is certainly the Governour of the World and he that is their Governour is their Judg. If there be a God he is Holy and therefore a lover of the Good and hater of the Evil. If there be a God he is Righteous and will neither condemn the Innocent nor hold the Wicked guiltless If there be a God he is Omniscient and All-seeing
many devices in Man's Heart It hath much of the Devil in it not only of the falshood of the Devil as before It is a lying Spirit nor only of the uncleanness of the Devil this also is the wicked one nor of the malice of the Devil It is the Enemy but of the cunning of the Devil of the subtilty of the Serpent This Serpent also is more subtile than all the Beasts of the Field It 's true it 's also a silly Heart easie to be beguiled it is so subtil as to beguile and yet so silly as easily to be beguiled like those false Teachers 2 Tim. 3.13 Deceiving and being deceived The great and most mischievous deceits of the Heart are its self-deceivings Jam. 1.22 deceiceiving your own selves and vers 26. deceiveth his own heart God cannot be deceived and if Men be deceived in us there is not so very much in that but the most mischievous deceits and which are most to be feared are its deceiving of it self 1. God cannot be deceived He is the searcher of the Heart Jer. 17.10 he knows what is in Man better than the Spirit that is in him God is greater than our Hearts and knoweth all things Our Hearts can tell us more of ourselves than all the World can tell us but God can tell us more of us than we of our selves He hath a Key to every Chamber a Window into every Corner a Candle to search into our inmost parts All things are naked and open before him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 He sees all that is lodging in us all the Lusts of the Heart yea and all the Thoughts of the Heart are open to his Eye Jer. 4.14 How long shall vain thoughts lodg within you He sees what there is a doing within us What good the Heart is at any time a-doing any good desires that are a-working any gracious designs that are going in the Heart he sees what evil there is a-doing an evil Motion cannot wag a Lust cannot stir but his eye is presently upon it Isa 1.16 Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes that is put it quite away cease to do evil if it do but continue though never so much in the dark yet it cannot be hid from mine eyes What are these hearts of ours often a-doing in secret which no others and it may be not our selves take notice of When our eyes are closed our hands are quiet our tongues are silent God knows what there may be doing within There may be devilish devices contriving within there may be dark counsels beneath Heart may be Swearing or Lying or Stealing or Coveting or committing Adultery whilst there 's no noise of any such thing without Yea whilst the Tongue is praying the Ears are hearing the Eye is lift up to Heaven the Heart may be in Hell or on Earth in the Field in the Shop in the Market or who knows where but God's Eye is upon it Friends Who knows where our hearts are or what they are a-doing at this hour It may be now God is a-preaching to you the Doctrine of Holy Fear of Holy Watchfulness and Circumspection some of your hearts may be un-preaching all that God speaks may be preaching Liberty Licentiousness Slothfulness Security to you and telling you there 's no such danger and no such need of Fear as hath been preached unto you Or if they do not contradict the Word that the Lord hath spoken yet it may be they divert you from minding it by telling you some impertinent Stories about other things filling your heads with your business or pleasure cutting you out your Work for to morrow Look inward Friends see if you can find your Hearts within or whether they be not gone abroad you know not whither But where-ever they are or whatever they are doing the Eye of the Lord is upon them Men may dissemble and deal deceitfully with God but they cannot deceive him 2. If they deceive Men it is not so greatly considerable Though that may be our wickedness too If we hide our selves from others if we be better or if we be worst than they apprehend us to be there is not so much in that The Heart is cunning at this also in deceiving of Men by palliating evil intentions with fair and specious pretences by seeking them out corners to sin in waiting for the twilight or the darkness to be a covering for them by smooth words and fair speeches beguiling the Hearts of the simple by a kiss of the Mouth when there is war in the Heart by putting the best side outward putting on the clothing of a Sheep upon a Wolf or a Bear the face of a Saint to cover the Soul of a Devil What is the Hypocrites Praying or Fasting or Alms or savoury Language and Discourse What is all this for 'T is but the Cloathing his Heart hath provided him to advance and set him up in the opinion of others 't is to serve his pride or his covetousness and to hide the poverty and rottenness which is within out of sight Beloved are there none of us guilty upon this account Whose Religion and the Exercise thereof are a meer carnal Design whose Duties are a meer Device to beguile Men into a good Opinion of us to raise up or keep up our Reputation amongst them Is it not thus with some of us Soul what hast thou been doing to day O I have been Praying and Hearing and Fasting or keeping a Sabbath to the Lord. No thou lyest thou hast been juggling and cheating and deceiving of Men. If these have been the Work of thy Tongue or thine Ears or thine Eyes to pray to hear to praise the Lord thine Heart hath found other work to do it hath been making a Garment of these Prayers and Praises to dress up it self in thereby to commend and set it off before the Spectators or it may be to hide or carry on some treacherous or wicked Design which needed such a covering The Heart is thus busie to deceive Men but still its greatest and most mischievous deceitfulness lies here in deceiving it self It is an horrid wickedness to deal deceitfully with the Lord to dissemble and lye unto God It is folly to be false to him who we know will discover the cheat and its highest impiety What is Iniquity if Hypocrisie be not And what Hypocrisie like mocking or lying unto God It is Mens great sin to deal deceitfully with Men But that which I would now lay before you as a special reason why we should Fear our hearts is their self-deceivings And how much Fear should be upon us upon this account will appear when we have considered these three things 1. About what Mens Hearts deceive them 2. By what Mens Hearts deceive them 3. Of what Mens Hearts deceive them 1. About what do Mens Hearts deceive them And that is about that they are most deeply concern'd to mind or regard Particularly 1. About Matters
Lord and I know not where they have laid him Grace is not Peace is no more to me a good Conscience where is it become I can neither Believe nor Love nor Pray nor Hope nor any thing else but Fear and Lament O had I feared alway this Fear had never come upon me Christians Are there no such Instances no such Cases in the World And is there no fear that this may be any of your cases Do not you also travel with Charge have you not a Treasure within you What have you been Professors so long Believers so long have you been Hearing and Praying and Fasting and Labouring all this while and have not gotten something you would be loth to lose And is not the World still as very a Thief as ever Does not the Devil lye in wait for you as well as for others Is not his Eye upon that Chain about thy Neck that Jewel in thy Bosom and those Bracelets upon thy Hands the Graces that appear upon thee and hath he not a mind to beguile thee of them all Are his Temptations so weak or art thou so strong that thou needest not fear them As I told thee once heretofore so I now tell thee again He that is so weak as not to fear Temptations is certainly not so strong as to resist them Look to thy self they are all standing at the catch for thee thy Companions are catching thine Estate is catching thy Businese is catching thy Pleasures are all catching at thee to spoil thee of all that ever thou hast Objection But he that hath nothing hath no need to fear the Thief As for me saith the Sinner I have nothing to lose neither Grace nor Peace it 's for the Rich to fear but I am so poor that I cannot be poorer my Estate is so bad that the Devil can hardly make it worse than it is I need not fear whither or among whom I go I cannot come amongst those that are worse than my self why then should such an one as I Fear Answer 1. Hast thou nothing to lose thou hast the more to get Art thou content to be thus poor for ever Hitherto thou hast no Grace thou hast no part in Christ nor the Salvation of God but what if thou shouldst never have That which hath kept thee from Christ hitherto and so wholly void and empty of the Grace of God hitherto is like to keep thee so for ever and O what if it should do so If the Devil and this evil World should serve thee all thy days as they have serv'd thee to this day What if thou shouldst continue thus blind and thus hard and in such a poor and wretched state of Soul to thy dying day Darest thou go down thus to thy Grave Darest thou stand thus in the Judgment When it shall be then demanded of thee What good hast thou done or what good hast thou gotten wouldst thou stand speechless Consider in time the less thou hast the more thou hast to get 2. Thou hast yet much to lose As poor as thou art thou mayest be poorer thy case is not so bad but it may be much worse than ' t is For 1. Thou hast a day of Grace to lose Though thou hast no Grace yet thou hast a day of Grace thou art yet under the means thou art yet in a possibility of Grace as wretched as thy state is it is not desperate The Word is nigh thee the Door of Mercy is yet open Behold the Lord stands at the Door and knocks behold he calleth thee Come unto me and be saved what is thy time for Doth not the Lord say as Rev. 2.21 I give this Sinner space to repent What are Sabbaths Ordinances Ministry for Is not the Acceptable Day yet proclaimed Is not the Word of Reconciliation yet preached unto thee and do all these give thee no hope no opportunity of obtaining Mercy What if these were all lost and gone if it were said unto thee Time is past What if thou shouldst never hear a Sermon more never keep a Sabbath more never see the face of a Minister of Christ more if thou shouldst never again be instructed or invited to Christ but shouldst be irrevocably given up to a Reprobate Mind and an Heart that cannot repent Is it nothing to thee that Repentance is yet preached to thee in the Name of the Lord Jesus that the Ambassadours are still before thy Door beseeching thee from the Lord and praying thee in Christ's stead Be thou reconciled to God How would such a Day be prized in Hell If the Ministers that are now sent to thee were sent down amongst those damned Souls that are bound in Chains of Darkness to carry down the Gospel to them O if those miserable Souls might have one Sabbath more one hour of Grace more one Sermon more of Repentance and Reconciliation preached unto them how would their shrieks and howlings be turned into shouts and acclamations of joy Why Sinner thou hast yet the Blessed Day before thee when 't is past and gone then thou wilt know too late of what price it was 2. Thou hast a Soul to lose As poor as thou art thou hast yet that which is more worth than all the World Matth. 16.26 Thou dost not know the price of a Soul who sayest Thou hast nothing to lose Sinners value their Souls at a low rate 't is the cheapest pennyworth that the Devil can buy in the World Men sell them as cheap as Esau sold his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage as the Rich Men sold the Poor for a piece of Silver or a pair of Shooes a Soul for a Lust a Soul for a Whore a Soul for a Name the lowest price the Devil bids will hardly be refused But as low as Men rate it a Soul is worth a Kingdom all the Kingdoms in the World will not buy it from his hands who knows it's worth All the Crowns and Scepters and Thrones and Dominions of all the Earth put all together one poor Soul will weigh them all down And this is it O Sinner that thou hast to lose and yet dost thou say thou hast nothing to lose How canst thou also but live in Fear Yea who in the World hath greater reason to fear than thou Is thy Soul so precious Is thy Soul in danger of being lost Is it so near gone almost past recovery every day every hour ready to drop down into that Pit from which is no Redemption How is it that such a thought shakes not thy Soul IV. What you should Fear 'T is too long to tell you of every thing that is to be feared Fear especially these Things following Fear 1. Your Delilahs or your beloved Sins 2. Your Jezebells or your painted Sins 3. Your Isaacs or any beloved Creature 4. The Cross or Affliction 5. The Curse or Damnation 1. Fear your Delilahs or your beloved Sins You have reason to fear every Sin greater Sins smaller Sins common and ordinary
's on with the Purple and Scarlet and fare deliciously every day Come along cast in thy Lot among us What art afraid of Cherish thy Flesh please thine Eyes and thy Humour What will such Enticements do upon such an Heart 'T will be all one as if they should say Come let 's go Hang our selves or Drown our selves or Stab or Poison our selves Come let 's make our Souls over to the Devil and write our selves free among the Dead let us get us down quick into the Pit What would thine Heart answer other than this Away O my Soul have thou nothing to do with these Men come not into their Secrets no nor so much as into their Company The like success would all other Temptations have He that 's afraid of Passion would shun Provocation he that 's afraid of Covetousness would be afraid of an over-busie Life in the World c. O Friends how venturous are we how little fear of Sin And if there be any fear of Sin how is it that it brings forth no more fear of Temptation How seldom do we consider This Company may be a snare unto me God knows with what loss I may come off from them This Garment or this Ornament or this Fashion may be a Temptation to me my proud and vain Heart cannot bear it this over-thrifty or over-busie Life may be my undoing this full Table how can I allow it to my self who am given to Appetite I must lay a Law upon my Belly and put a Knife to my Throat when I see delicates and such variety before me Where almost is this tenderness and wariness to be found Yea rather is it not despised and decryed as foolish scrupulosity where it is Go Hypocrites blot that Petition out of thy Prayer Lead us not into Temptation Never mock God with such a Prayer against Temptation whilst thou deridest them that fear it Study Hell more till thou hast more fear of Sin study Sin more and thou wilt not slight Temptation 2. The fear of the Curse will much allay our sinful fear of the Cross The greater will swallow up the less The torment of the Stone will make us forget the aking of a Tooth Who will fear the barking of a Dog that hears the roaring of a Lion Moses and Aaron's living Serpent swallowed up the Serpents of the Magicians Luke 12.4 5. Christ there prescribes the Fear of God as a cure of the Fear of Men. As it is on the other side The Favour of God casts a contempt on the Flatteries of Men the rising Sun puts out all our Candles 't is in the night only that Gloworms shine The more lively hopes of the Glory to come darken the Glory of this present World the respect to the recompence of Reward makes to despise the pleasures of Sin What is a Comet in the day-light What is a Cottage to him that hath a Crown in his Eye What are Meat and Drink and Clothes and Sports what are all the blazes of these crackling Thorns to the Light of the Countenance of God Hast thou Faith Hath thy Faith given thee a prospect of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Sure thou hast little of it who still blessest thy self in the Earth Get thee nearer the Lord acquaint thy self more with him say thou unto him Stand thou at my right hand and thou wilt say to the World sit thou under my foot-stool Carnal Men make the World their God and their Heaven when Riches increase and Friends abound and they are compassed about with pleasures then their Hearts are glad and their Glory rejoyceth But how comes this to pass Alas poor Men this is the best they know they never saw nor understood any higher things than these when they arrive to a plenteous and prosperous Estate they are at the top of their delight because they are come to the top of what they understand The Saints have higher things in their Eye they are gotten within ken of the Invisible Glory and can therefore write upon all things under the Sun Vanity of Vanities In like manner in the present case As the favour of God will eclipse the World's Sun-shine so the Terrors of the Lord will make all the World's storms to vanish away into a Mist The darkness of the Shadow will be lost in the dark of the Night the point of a Sword will heal the prick of a Pin. O what shall I do The Devil is come down and hath great wrath the World is all in a flame against me the Lions roar the Bears and the Wolves are abroad after the Prey I am despised and rejected and troden under-foot of Men I am persecuted and hunted up and down this Wilderness and am become a Runnagate and a Vagabond in this Earth I have lost my Friends lost mine Estate and they seek my Life also to take it away O what shall I do what will become of me Thou art in an hard case indeed but hast thou not greater things than that to trouble thy self about How is it with thy Soul Is not there a doubt that the Wrath of the Almighty may be hanging over thine Head Art thou in no danger of being rejected and reprobated of God of falling into the eternal Prison of being driven into everlasting Banishment What dost thou stand vexing and frighting thy self with the Wasps and the Hornets Look down look down to the Serpents and Scorpions that thy Soul is in danger of falling in amongst Take heed take heed lest the eternal God cast thee into his Prison lay thee in his Irons Let thy Soul dwell more amongst these greater Fears the Terrors of the Lord and thou wilt not so much mind the Terrors of Men. Thou wilt not regard the buzzings of those Hornets if thou fear more the bitings of those Serpents Sanctifie the Lord God in thine Heart let him be thy Fear let him be thy Dread and then thou wilt be more able to say I will not fear what Flesh can do unto me Now because this is the great Fear and that which will not only secure us from unnecessary fears but most powerfully stir up all other necessary Fears I shall enlarge a little further here And that this great Fear may be the more effectually wrought upon the Hearts of those to whom Fear especially belongeth I shall take the Hammer and drive home this Nail upon those who are in greatest danger of the Curse of God The unconverted Sinners of the Earth In order whereto I shall shew more particularly 1. What the Curse of God is 2. That all unconverted Sinners are under the Curse 3. That there is great danger that they may never escape it 1. What the Curse of God is It is called in Scripture sometimes the Wrath of God sometimes the Fury of God sometimes the Vengeance of God and his Fiery Indignation The Curse of God is properly his Will to punish and plague and take vengeance on Sinners You may call
still at a loss and in doubt how it is with me By this time you may see what an advantage there is in this Fear to help us to a right understanding of our states it will never rest searching till we be clearly satisfied Well but now you will say will you leave us here Shall our Fear still follow us with ' How may we know How may we prove that all this is in Sincerity Will you not help us out here what can you farther say that may non-plus our Fears and quiet us against such anxious and troublesome How may I know's may there nothing be brought forth to our help concerning which it may be said by this thou mayest know even all that thou desirest To this I answer 't is hard to bring up a Christian in this imperfect state to such full and infallible and satisfactory evidence of the soundness of his state that he should never again need to put the question How may I yet make a fuller proof of my self yet such marks there are laid down in Scripture and such helps there are for the clear discerning of them as may put a Christian beyond all perplexing and disquieting Doubts and Fears And to the end I may both the better assist the Fearing Christian to out-grow his groundless Fears and also may more effectually stir up the Fears of the unsound I shall a little enlarge here and lay down the most distinguishing Marks I find in Scripture to bring the Soul to a settlement Though I have endeavoured something this way in my Vindiciae Pietatis yet I shall here also say something to this purpose Now the marks that I shall lay down of true and saving-Grace shall be these three 1. A resolved choice of God for our portion and Happiness 2. An actual embracing of Christ as he that shall bring us to God 3. A giving up our selves to the practice of a Godly life The first mark 1. A resolved choice of God for our portion and happiness Here our fear will be putting in for satisfaction in 2 particulars 1. How may I know that he that hath chosen God is indeed a Godly man 2. How may I know that I have sincerely chosen God To the first Inquiry I shall give in the answer from Scripture and Reason 1. From Scripture This is the choice that the Scripture Saints have been recorded to have made This was Moses his choice Heb. 11.25 26. Choosing rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of Sin For he had respect to the recompence of reward This was David's choice Psal 16.2.5 O my soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance This was Asaph's choice Psal 73.25 26. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee God is the strength of mine heart and my portion for ever This was Mary's choice Luk. 10.42 Mary hath chosen the good part which shall never be taken from her There are but two parts one of which every one chooses the good part and the evil part The good part is God and things above there is none good but one that is God and there is nothing good but one thing the grace and good will of God the evil part are all things below All the good things of the world are the evil part a good Estate a good Name a good House good Friends though they be good in their kind yet are an evil portion and he whose portion they are is an evil man Psal 17.4 Mary was a good Woman and 't is evident she was so for she made a good choice she chose the good part which shall never be taken from her 2. From Reason There are two things included in this choice of God that are infallible evidences of a godly man Our choosing of God for our happiness includes in it Our preferring of God above all things Our being made like unto God 1. Our preferring of God above all things Every man will choose the best that is that which he judges best and loves best The reason of mens choice is their liking that which they choose better than that which they refuse He that neglecting God chooses this world for his portion therein takes the Crown off the head of the Lord and sets it upon the world and sayes of it this is better for me then God he that neglecting the world chooses God for his portion therein sayes God is better than all 2. Our choosing of God for our happiness infers our being made like unto God Every man chooses for himself according to his own heart 'T is the heart that makes the choice and it chooses that which is most suitable to it The heart that chooses God 't is a sign both that it likes God best and is made like unto God As by mens particular choices here below you may judge what spirit they are of he that chooses the pleasures of the flesh shews himself to be of a sensual heart he that chooses riches shews himself to be of a covetous heart he that chooses the honours and pomps of the world shews himself to be of a proud heart so in mens general choice he that chooses for himself here below proves himself a worldly-minded man and he that chooses for himself above therein appears to be of an Heavenly mind He that hath chosen God 't is a sign that he is made like unto God 't is divine grace in the heart that hath made the choice There 's one of these two ruling powers in every heart Nature or Grace and look which of the two hath the rule 't is that which hath the casting voice in the choice that 's made and each of these do choose what 's suitable to them Corrupt nature chooses what 's suitable to it and finding nothing in God nor in all the world to come that will please it it chooses for it self below And a gracious heart chooses what 's most suitable to it and finding as little to content it in this world as a carnal heart doth in Heaven therefore gets it up and takes its lot above Nothing will content grace but God and Glory and nothing but grace can be content with God alone The heart of man will never be carried up to Heaven to pitch there till there be something of Heaven first let down into it to fetch it up Now he that prefers God above all and is made like unto God is certainly a godly man and thus the first enquiry is answered It is evident that he that hath chosen God is a godly man for this is lay'd down as a special character of the Saints in Scripture and in this choice of God is included our preferring God above all and one being made like unto him 2. How may I know that I have sincerely chosen God Here lyes the main doubt to be resolved There
be many that say God is my portion I have chosen him for my inheritance and they think as they speak and yet do but deceive themselves I hope I have sincerely chosen the Lord but yet am in fear lest I also may be deceived How may I know whether it be so or no To this I answer you may know that you have sincerely chosen the Lord 1. If you have chosen him deliberately 2. If you have chosen him absolutely 3. If you carefully pursue your choice 4. If you measure your present happiness by the communion you have with him and the clearness of your title to him 5. If you be willing and resolved to forsake all things for his sake 1. If you have chosen God deliberately if your choice be not in a sudden fit but be the result of the deepest consideration Suddain bargains are often as suddenly repented of A light unadvised choice is not like to hold and while it holds there 's no great heed to be given to it Some men are such unstable Souls that their whole life almost is nothing else but choosing and changing when we choose understandingly and deliberately when we have throughly considered the great reasons for our choosing God his worthiness and excellency and our own necessity and have also weighed all the inconveniencies thereof and all the objections against it and do find that the reasons for do infinitely over-ballance all that can be said against it and hereupon determine for God that 's like to be found a sincere choice 2. If you have chosen him absolutely as that which you will stand to to the last whatever inconveniencies may follow When there are no ifs nor ands no reserves in your heart nor place lest for repentance When your choice runs not as Jacob's conditional vow Gen. 28.20 If the Lord will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go and give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I return to my Fathers house in peace then the Lord shall be my God but without any such if's whether he will feed me or no cloth me or no let him do with me as he will for that I am resolved however the Lord shall be my God And indeed so was Jacob too however the words sound This was never intended by him as the condition of his Religion there 's no other condition of that but if or since the Lord will be my God he shall be my God Jacob was in bond to God before and here he enters into a new bond layes a new obligation upon himself every one of these Mercies shall be so many new cords to bind me fast to the Lord but whether these new cords were added or no whether the Lord would keep or feed or cloth him or no 't was never his intent but his old bond should stand however that the Lord should be his God And as there are no reserves nor conditions in this our choice of God so is there a resolution against repenting of our choice whatever should happen A Christian chooses once for all chooses and changes not His choice of God is like to Gods choice Psal 110.4 I have sworn and will not repent sayes he concerning Christ The gifts and calling of God much more the Election of God are without repentance Rom. 11.29 where we choose God absolutely we leave no place for repentance 3. If you carefully pursue your choice Thus was it with Paul who had chosen for himself above and taken his aim at the right mark the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus he sayes Philip. 3.12 13. I follow after I reach forward I press to the mark Some vain men perswade themselves that they have chosen God and yet seldom or never look after nor take any care to obtain and make sure of him whom they have chosen they choose God but never follow God nor take the way that leads to the blessedness to come Sincere choice takes in both end and means When the choice of our hearts doth govern the course of our lives and doth effectually bend our course towards the obtaining of him whom we have chosen when this becomes our main drift and scope This I pray for this I wait for this I labour for this I live for I have nothing else to do but to serve and make sure of God if I can but so live as to please God here and get to Heaven when I dye whatever I miscarry in 't is all I look for this argues such a choice of God as will certainly argue us to be of God To choose God and yet to live to our selves to choose Heaven for our portion and yet to have our conversation in the earth an idle and inefficacious choice that doth not effectually command us after him whom we have chosen but let us run our old carnal course is a vanity and a delusion 4. If you measure your present happiness by the communications of God to you and the clearness of your title to him He that hath chosen God for his happiness look how much he possesses and enjoys of God and to what degree of clearness he is come concerning his Evidences for Heaven to such a degree of happiness he counts himself to have arrived whilst he can love and please and serve the Lord and maintain a confidence of his acceptance with him so long he can rejoyce when he is estranged from God he is as a man undone Therefore is it that Christians set themselves to get as much of God here and as sure a claim to the inheritance of the Saints in light as possibly they can Every one would make as sure of happiness as he can and would be happy as soon as he can would get as much as may be into present possession Hence are those breathings and thirstings and rejoycings of the Saints which we read of in Scripture As the hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God Psal 42.1 2. My Soul thirsteth for thee my Flesh longeth for thee thy loving kindness is better than life My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness when my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips Psal 63. O that my wayes were so directed to keep thy Statutes O let me not wander from thy Commandments Psal 119.5.10 For in keeping them is great reward Psal 19. I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved therefore mine heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth Psal 16.8 9. Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me thou hast put gladness in my heart Psal 4.6 7. Christians can never have good dayes longer than they are walking with God and beholding his face in righteousness this is their Heaven on Earth The reflection of the face of God in his Holy Image that appears upon them
3. That you may not fear the severities of Religion fear the severity of Christ against Irreligion Thou canst not bear the work of Righteousness but how wilt thou bear the wages of Unrighteousness if thou canst not be tied up so strait by the cords of his Discipline how wilt thou endure the chains of his indignation If the severities of his service be to thee a stumbling-stone the wrath of the Lamb will be a mill-stone if this stone fall upon thee it will grind thee to powder Matth. 21.44 Sinners let their tongues run at a wild rate I must have my ease I must have my liberty I was never in bondage and cannot now endure it to come under such a severe restraint But thou that professest thy self to be one of his Disciples wilt thou say as these say I cannot bear it I cannot endure it Canst thou burn what thinkest thou of the everlasting severity Consider what thou dost either submit to Christs Pastoral Rod or fall for ever under his Iron Rod wherewith he will crush thee to pieces like a Potters Vessel Why is this the case must I bow or burn must I come under his Government or be ground under his Milstones O I have done no more reasoning with flesh and blood no more picking quarrels with Religion whatever there be in it I dare not but submit to it all for fear a worse thing come unto me Well but wilt thou submit then wilt thou set thine heart to all his words wilt thou set thy Neck to all his works This is the third thing now I exhort you to follow after Severity and strictness in the wayes of the Lord which because it hath something more of asperity and roughness in it than those that follow there will be so much the more need of Fear to bring us to it 4. Simplicity Severity may be in Hypocrisie the Scribes and Pharisees were severe severe in their Fasts disfiguring their faces looking with sad and dejected countenances severe in the observation of the Rites Customs and Traditions of their Fathers yea and of the Letter of the Law of God there were very strict sects of them Act. 26.5 and yet they were Hypocrites Simplicity notes The Heart in our work Singleness of heart 1. Simplicity notes Heartiness in our Work nothing is plain and honest but that which is hearty doing the Will of God from the heart Ephes 6.6 Ye have obeyed from the heart Rom. 6.17 My Son give me thy heart Prov. 23.26 What is it to give God the heart This is one thing comprehended in it to give him the heart for a servant or to serve him with the heart He that gives God the heart gives him the best he hath and gives him all he hath the heart will command the tongue and the hands and the time and the Estate to be all at his service which way the heart goes all goes Serving the Lord with the heart is serving him in good earnest we do but play with duty we do but mock God where the heart is not 't is only serving him in spirit that is serving him in truth Friends be real and in good earnest in what you doe let all your Religion come deep let your Prayers and your Prayses and all the exercising your selves to Godliness of life be the streamings and issuings forth of your hearts to the Lord. Whatever you doe do it heartily as unto the Lord. Serve the Lord as you have been used to serve your flesh in good earnest What you have done for your Estates what you have done for your Names or for your safety you have done it heartily and shall that only which we do for God and for our Souls be done without an heart what is God what are our Souls and the concernments of them that they should be thus put off Is this heartless service all that God is worthy of will he accept it at our hands or is it no matter whether he accept it or no Is this spiritless service answerable to the worth of our Souls and the weight of Eternity will you venture all upon shadowes and lyes Are we but in Jest when we talk of a God or a Christ or a World to come Are our hopes and fears about hereafter but delusions and dreams Do you believe from the heart and dare you not obey from the heart How can you say you believe there is a God indeed that of a very truth there is such an Heaven and such an Hell in one of which your immortal Souls must dwell for ever how can you believe such things and not feel your very inwards even all the Powers of your Souls engaged about them Am I speaking to those that believe not is it not to you that believe that I now direct my words Consider friends The God in whom you believe is a Spirit and will be served in Spirit and in Truth God is a great God and infinitely worthy of the best and of all you have your Souls are precious eternal Life and eternal Death are serious things and which of these two will be your lott is a serious question and sure these most serious things do call for your most serious and hearty attendance upon them Away with all guile and hypocrisie provoke not the jealous God fool not away your Souls by trusting to lyes Worship God in the Spirit lift up your Souls in your Prayers chasten your Souls in your Fastings And as your Souls must be in your Lips in your Eyes in your Ears while you are solemnly worshipping of God so let your Hearts be in you Hands too in all that you have to doe Let your heart have an hand in all the actions of your lives Eccles 9.10 Whatever thine hand findeth to doe do it with thy might that is do it with all your heart the heart is the might of the man God is the strength of the heart and the heart is the strength of the man Sinners when they go forth upon service for the Devil they carry their heart in their hands Micah 7.3 They do evil with both hands earnestly Earnestly there 's the heart in their hands They do their worst that God will suffer them Thou hast done iniquity as thou couldest Jer. 3.5 as much as ever thou wert able As Sinners do their worst so let Christians do the best they can Whatever thou hast to do for thine own Soul by gathering in and treasuring up against the time to come do the most and the best thou canst be as hearty in laying up treasure in Heaven as ever thou hast been in laying up treasure on Earth Whatever service thou hast to do for God in thy generation by doing good to others do it with all thine heart In your instructing admonishing counselling reproving in your working righteousness in your shewing mercy in your promoting and encouraging any good work or preventing evil in your propagating serious Religion in your pulling poor sinners as
most kindly stroke in all Religion Fear brings us to Religion as to our Physick the sick man hath no love to Physick but yet he will take it rather than dye Love brings us to it as to our food 't is our meat and drink to do the will of God eating and drinking to the hungry and thirsty are some of the great pleasures of life Duties are the meat of Holy Souls and they come unto them with as great desire and are conversant in them with as great delight as hungry bodies come to and sit at their meals Cant. 2.3 I sate down under his shadow and his fruit was sweet to my taste Weak believers are like sickly men neither Physick nor food will relish with them they must eat for necessity they cannot live without something of Religion but were it not for necessity they could almost as well let it all alone 'T is well that necessity will prevail but whilest they are thus forced on how heavily do they drive and how little must suffice them too often they come on to their duties like bears to the stake and go off from them as the Oxe from under the yoke But when thou lovest thy soul will enlarge and reach forth with desire even after the highest pitch of Godliness and thou wilt go freely and chearfully on in all the exercises of it Thou wilt not then say may not less serve thou wilt not say may not less duty serve because thou canst not say may not less pleasure serve Every one would have as much pleasure as he can and therefore would'st thou have as much holiness as thou canst the more holy the more pleasure If thou lovest thou wilt not be for short Duties short Prayers short Sermons little snatches at Religion thou wilt not be so soon weary at thy work when are men weary of pleasure when do they use to say I have pleasant hours enough sunshine dayes enough O that my good dayes were over once O that my dayes of darkness would come and the years draw nigh wherein I might say I have no pleasure in them Every one is willing to live in delights as much and as long as he can when once we can say the Lord is my delight the next word will be Let me dwell in the presence of God for ever Christians let our Souls take the wing and mount up towards this blessed state O how short do the most of us fall we have much ground to go e're we shall get up to it How is it with us in our secret converses with God are we glad when our retiring hours draw near when we enter into our Closets to meet with our beloved do we there use to solace our selves with love Is praying and praising our pleasure is communing with God and with our own hearts a delight do our hearts use to say It 's good for me to be here And how is it with us in our ordinary course what is the joy of our life Is this it that our life is a walking with God have we no good dayes but our holy-dayes are we never well but when we can see and serve the Lord and never amiss while we are so doing do we not only judge but feel that intimacy and familiarity in Heaven is our only Heaven on earth Lord how seldom Lord how little is it thus with us But may we not obtain Is not such a blessed state worth our putting in for it Are you willing friends to keep you alwayes at this distance from your delight Is it enough that you have some hopes for hereafter are you content that your souls should never taste of your joyes here shall they still dwell in exile while they dwell on earth shall they never put off the garments of their widowhood till they put off their clothing of flesh Are you content to take up yet longer with this dark and disconsolate state Is the drudgery of Religion this sighing and mourning and striving against the stream and going on so poor and hungry and hard bestead Is this Religion enough for you would you be glad to be more cheary and lively in your way would you taste the milk and the honey the marrow and the fatness would you ride on with free spirits and full sails triumphing over difficulties and rejoycing in hope of the glory of God would you that these rough wayes were become a plain and these dark shades were all sun-shine would you feed in the green pastures and be led by the still waters and be made to drink of that River that makes glad the City of God Then put you on be no longer smatterers and pidlers dwell no longer on the shoar or surface of Religion but hoyse up all your sails and launch forth into the deep get you into the heart and inside of Christianity where the Lord will shew you his loves Be not satisfyed with some few glances or little touches but get you possessed and swallowed up of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord and this will be to you both the wine that will make glad your hearts and the oyle that will make all your wheels to run then shall you run the way of Gods Commandements when the pleasure of Love shall enlarge your hearts FINIS