judge the world 155 5 Learn hence also that the Ministers of God by every Sermon they preach shall judge the world 157 Use 2 For to condemn the world who see not an amiablenesse in the faces of the Saints who shall one day be their judges who shall judge both Saints and Angels 157 2 This sheweth the folly of the wicked who prepare not for these Judges 158 Lastly it condemnes all those that do not see glory and majesty in the faces of Gods Saints he that revileth the Saints revileth his judges 159 160 Who shall judge the World 1 God the Father by way of authority all judgement is originally from him 161 2 God the Son by way of dispensation 161 3 God the holy Ghost by way of conviction 161 4 The word of God by way of form it being the platform according to which Christ will judge the whole world 162 5 All the Ministers of God shall sit as Justices in common 164 6 All the Saints from one end of the world to the other shall assist the just Judge of heaven and earth 164 So that the wicked shall not be able to plead 1 Their ignorance 165 2 Nor their poverty 166 3 Neither their sinning at their masters command 170 4 Neither callings nor tradings 167 5 Neither the sinfull times they live in 167 Use 3 First for the just reproof of many of the Saints of God because they are not so circumspect over their wayes as they ought how will they be able to rise up in judgement against the wicked for such sins as they themselves live in 168 2 It may serve to condemne some of the Saints of God in regard of that little difference that is to be found betwixt the wicked of the world and them in their lives and manners that it is hard to tell which is a Saint and which is a reprobate by their conversations 170 3 It may serve to condemn the scandalousnes of many persons in their behaviour and actions 171 The Contents of the Sixth Sermon 1 Cor. 11.30 DOct. 1 from the 18 verse That whosoever will come to the holy Cōmunion they must examine themselves that so they may come worthily 175 The Apostle gives three Reasons of it 1 From the end of the Sacrament 176 2 From the wrong men offer to Christ if they come in their sins 177 3 From the woful wrong that a man doth to his own soul that commeth without preparation 177 The Vses of the point are these 1 For the reproof of those that comming unpreparedly get no spiritual strength thereby 178 2 For terror to unworthy receivers 179 3 To shew they make themselves liable to Gods temporary plagues 180 4 For instruction to examine our selves 180 5 He concludes with an use of exhortation 181 An explanation of the words 2 Doct. God doth most severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Lords Supper 183 4 Reas 1 Because Christ himself instituted it 184 2 Because Christ is the matter of it and therefore the more heynous the defilement 187 3 Because Christ is the form of it wherein confirming grace is sealed to the soul 190 4 Because Christ is the end of the Sacrament 191 Use 1 For instruction shewing whence sicknesse weaknesse c. come 193 2 From whence comes hardnesse of heart c. 194 Use 2 For comfort unto every poor afflicted soul c. 198 Use 3 For terror to those that come unpreparedly 199 Object Do all that come unworthily eat and drink their own damnation Answ A man may eat and drink his own damnation three wayes 1 In regard of guilt and liablenesse to Gods wrath 203 2 In regard of the seal and obligation in the conscience 203 3 In regard of the sigillation in heaven 204 Lastly the conclusion denouncing terror to all those that dare rush upon this holy ordinance 205 But for comfort to all them who with all diligence set upon the preparing of their souls for this great Ordinance 206 The Contents of the Seventh Sermon on 2 Cor. 11.28 The words of the Text explained 210 Doct. 1 We must not rush upon the Sacrament 210 There are none of the Ordinances of God that a man may rush upon without examination 211 Three Reasons Naturally we are no invited guests to the Sacrament 212 2 Though we are invited yet it may be we are not disposed for naturally we are strangers to God and the covenant of God all this indisposition must be wrought off before we can come comfortably to the Sacrament 213 3 This is a solemne Ordinance and therefore an ordinary disposition will not serve the turn 213 Many a reprobate may eat and drink in Christs presence 214 Use To forewarn men lest they unpreparedly rush upon any of Gods Ordinances especially upon the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ 215 The Text divided into Four parts 216 Doct. 2 There is a necessity that we should receive the Lords Supper and receive it often 217 Doct. 3 The manner of performance of duties is to be regarded 218 Five Reasons 1 The Lord commands the manner as well as the matter 219 2 Circumstances overthrow actions if they be not rightly and duly observed 219 It's instanced 1 In prayer 219 2 In preaching 220 3 In receiving the Sacrament 221 4 In brotherly reproofe 221 5 In eating drinking and marrying 221 3 Because only the right manner of doing duties gets the blessing 223 4 Because Christ himself is an example unto us in this he did not only obey his Father in the matter of his commands but in the manner of them 224 5 Because otherwise we canaot glorifie God 225 Use 1 First to condemne that naturall Popery that is in the hearts aef men c. 227 Use 2 For discovery why people are so willing to do duties for the matter and not for the manner 229 The Reasons of it are these 1 Because the matter of duty is easie but the manner is difficult 229 2 Duties for the matter of them may be done with a proud heart 231 3 They may be done with an unholy life 232 4 The matter of duty bringeth not the crosse and many zealous for the matter are persecutors of goodnesse 234 Use 3 To exhort men to labour to perform duties aright 235 Three motives to perswade people to perform duties after a right manner 1 Because no Ordinance at all else can be effectual unto us 236 2 All is but hypocrisie if the manner be not regarded 236 3 It is only the right manner of doing duties that pleaseth God 238 4 Doct. Every man must prepare himself before he come to the Lords Table 239 4 Reas 1 Because the Sacrament is Gods Ordinance 239 2 Because the Lord Christ hath made great preparation in providing it 241 3 Because Christ in this ordinance offers for to come into the soul he looks for good entertainment 24◠4 Because the Sacrament is a part of Christs last wil and Testament therefore when we
the most righteous sentence of God upon them and they shall sing Hallelujah salvation and honour and power be to the Lord our God for true righteous are his judgements Rev. 19.1 2. Let them goe accursed as they are for it is a righteous sentence passed on them 3. They shall judge the world by their Majestie they shall not only stand against the wicked and consent to and applaud that sentence that Christ shall passe against the wicked but they shall be invested wâ—th robes of majestie and with a diademe of glory then shall the righteous shine as the starres in the firmament and the wicked shall be amazed and astonished at the fight of them as you may read in that platforme of judgement Matth 25. where Christ sets his Saints over against the world that so the world may look upon them and be confounded at their sight 4. They judge the world by their lives and conversations as Ambrose saith rightly then is the world judged by them when as the courses and manners of the world are not found upon them Therefore it is a pretty observation of Hilary if it be the meaning of the Text I will not say it is upon the 2. Psalme Be wise â—ee Judges God hath appointed you to be Judges to sit on his bench with his Sonne learne then to be wise get to be indued with spirituall wisedome and understanding and to shine in all integritie and righteousnesse and then turning his speech to the wicked he say's Kisse the Sonne lest he be angry However it be yet this is a truth that by the lives of his Saints he will judge the world there faith shall judge the worlds infidelitie their repentance shall judge the worlds impenitency their accepting of and taking the Lord Jesus shall judge their rejection and neglect of Christ Jesus their zeale shall judge the worlds luke-warmnesse and their holinesse shall judge the worlds prophanenesse Reas 1 1. Bcause of the misticall union that is betwixt Christ and his Saintâ— He is the head and they are his members now that which the head doth we ascribe to the whole body when the head speakes the whole body speakes when the head sees the whole body sees so when Christ judgeth the world the whole body of Christ may truely be said to judge the world As much as you did it unto one of these saith Christ you did it unto me so in as much as Christ passeth sentence even all the members of the mysticall body of Christ judge with him Reas 2 Secondly in regard of compassion I speak not of the word compassion as it signifies pitie but of compassion of suffering with Christ seeing that Christ was reproched contemned hated misused and condemned by the world the Saints are likewise with him seeing they pertake of the afflictions humiliations and debasements of Christ here they shall also be made pertakers with Christ in his glory Here the wicked judge the Saints and call them hypocrites and dissemblers and laugh and scoffâ— at them and wonder at them as the Prophet brings in Christ speaking Esay 8. Behold I and the children that thou hast given me are for signes and wonders in Israel The wicked count them for wonders and monsters in the world judging them hypocrites and liers which have nothing in them but rottennesse and dissimulation Now the rule of like for like shall take place here and as they were judged by the world so they shall be Judges of the world Reas 3 Thirdly for the great terror to all wicked men at the day of judgement for as it is with a thiefe not only when the Judge shall command to hang him but all the Justices and all the Countrey shall cry out Hang him hang him he is judged the more terrible so God will not onely say of all wicked and ungodly sinners Damne them damne them but he will have all the Saints in heaven and all the Saints on earth to cry out Away with them away with them let them be damned Psal 50.4 5. This will make their judgment so much the more terrible Reas 4 Fourthly the Saints shall judge the world because God will so convince them that their mouthes shall bee stopped they shall have never a syllable to excuse themselves withall when they shall see men flesh and bloud as themselves are when they shall see men and women that have lived in the same towne enjoyed the same Ordinance of God lived in the same family that did partake of the same blessings and of the same crosses and afflictions with themselves subject also to the same corruptions and sinnes as themselves when they shall see these at Christs right hand they shall have never a word to excuse themselves withall As when the Apostles had healed the creeple Acts 3. if the people had judged them for wicked and pestilent men the creeple would have convinced them and shewed that they were of God if they should have cried Root them out the creeple would have condemned them and told them that they did good And when the wicked shall see the Saints at Gods right hand will they call them hypocrites and dissemblers they themselves shall see that they are sincere will they call them Puritans why they shall then see that their purity stands them in good stead then the ungodly shall not stand in judgement nor the sinners in the Congregation of the righteous Psal 1.6 Thus the point is clear Vse 1 The first Use then is for instruction whereby we may learn that the Saints by their now being Saints doe now judge the world if by the lives of Saints then God doth judge the world then there is never a Saint in a town or City or Parish in all the Countrey but he judgeth all the wicked that are about him How By living godly by hating the sinnes of the times by keeping his or their garments clean from the pollution of the world For by doing this he judgeth the world See it in Noah Heb. 11.7 By faith Noah being warned of God as yet moved with feare prepared an Ark for the saving of his house by which he condemned the world Object But some men will say Could Noah be said to condemne the world by making the Ark All the world did not see him when he did it Answ Beloved Noah making the Ark an hundred and twenty years though it was not seen of all yet all the world must needs baar of it it being such a strange thing Now he condemned the world in that the whole world did not come unto Noah to enquire of him in sober sadnesse but rather mockâ— him for building the Ark they thought him to bee a peevish melancholy man and not well in his wits and so scoft at him saying Will he make an Ark to swim upon dry land whereas they should have asked him soberly the cause why he did it and if they had done so Noah no question would have told them that the
so good yet the manner of thinking them is evill 3. Efficientially when the man that thinks them is vain 4. When it is a thought that might become the best Saint upon the earth or a glorified Angel in heaven yet the drift of the soule being carnall and vain the soule thereby becomes vain also First then materiall vaine thoughts are all thoughts of the world of the works of thy calling of thy recreations eating drinking sleeping thoughts of thy wife and children and the like they are vain thoughts not sinfull necessarily yet they may come to be sinfull five manner of wayes Manner 1 First when we think of them primarily that is in the first place when we think of them before we think of God Tell me then what are thy first thoughts in the morning Hereby a man may know his thoughts whether they bee good or evill Consider I say what it is that first presents it selfe unto thy thoughts certainly that which the heart is most haunted withall and most taken up with is most naturall unto it If the heart be carnall and earthly it will have carnall and earthly thoughts if it be a godly and gracious heart it will labour to make God the first in his thoughts I know the godly man fails in many things and many unruly thoughts in him may rebell but it is the very griefe of his soule and he will never rest nor be at quiet till he hath got Balm from Gilead strength from Christ for the subduing and crucifying of them even of those vain and sinfull thoughts that stick closest unto their hearts and are most prone unto them naturally so that it is the practice of a godly man first in the morning to lift up his heart with his hand unto God and when he is up his thoughts are wholly upon God See this in David who considering that the Lord was present everywhere made this use of it When I awake I am present with thee Psal 139.18 His heart was lifted up to God he did endeavour to shake hands with God as it were in his holy meditations worshipping and adoring God with his first thoughts he would be sure to give God the flower and Maiden-head of his first service and thoughts as soon as ever he was awake his heart was in heaven This shewes that the thoughts of men that â—ive in their sins are damnable thoughts Thou that arâ— a drunkard a swearer a profane person a carnall worldling that never hast repented I tell thee that the very thinking of thy meat and drink is damnable the very thoughts of thy recreations and of thy sleep are damnable thoughts to think of the workes of thy calling yea of setting thy foot upon the ground or of any thing that God hath commanded thee for to doe are all damnable thoughts Why Because thou givest not God thy first thoughts Wilt thou think of thy belly and back before thou thinkest of God and how to be converted unto him Wilt thou think of thy Markets and Faires before thou â—hinkest of thy reconciliation with God The first thing that every soule is bound for to doe is to get in with God First seek the kingdom of God saith our Saviour and the righteousnesse thereof Matth. 6.35 Where our Saviour doth not forbid our taking of thought for the things of this life but that they should not be sought after in the first place so that our first thoughts and endeavours should be after the Kingdom of heaven Therefore all thoughts whatsoever which are conceived before a man bee converted and so thinks of God are all damnable thoughts Manner 2 Secondly all worldly thoughts are sinfull when we think of them too usually as Chrysostome speakes because we think of the universalitie of them Beloved it is lawfull to think of the world and to think of our trade and imployments to think of our corn of our catâ—ell fields barnes wives children for if God have commanded or commended these things unto us then surely he gives us leave to think on them that so we may accomplish our businesse the better but let us take heed they bee not too usuall with us for we have soules as well as bodies and there is a heaven as well as an earthly business to think upon thou art not to live here alwayes therefore take heed that thy thoughts be not too usuall and common upon the things of the world let not earth and earthly things have too much of thy thoughts As the Prophet David seeing the thoughts of wicked men wholly to run after the things of the world he tels them all their thoughts perish and so I tell you if that your thoughts on the world run together with heap and crowd and then you bundle them up in bundles as it were they all prove damnable and shall perish Manner 3 Thirdly worldly thoughts are sinfull and damnable if thou thinkest of them too savourly a carnall-minded man thinkes savourly of the things of the world the thoughts of earthly things are savoury unto them a wicked man hee will thinke of God and of the world but which is the savourest thought to him He will think of Christ of heaven and of the word of God and of such a Sermon he heard but alas hee finds no savour taste nor rellish in them he finds no sweetnesse joy or delight in them but when he thinkes of the world of his gold and silver of his lands and livings Oh these are merry thoughts unto him â—hese are sweet unto him and pleasant to him and his heart is not at home in his own nest he can think of these seven dayes nay seven moneths nay seven yeares together and yet never be weary but his thoughts as ful as fresh as at the first But bring him to a Sermon or to a prayer and he is jaded presâ—ntly his heart is empty and his thoughts are at an end For saith the Apostle they that are after the flesh savour the things of the flesh Rom. 8 5. It is a true note of an earthly carnall fleshly heart to be thinking on earthly and vain things savourly Thou maist think on the world but it must be onely with a cast of thy thoughtâ— as one that looks upon a thing with a squint eye but when thou art to think on God or on the things of God then thou must gather all thy thoughts and affections thou must lay all the powers of thy soule together and thou must imploy them only to this work Manner 4 Fourthly worldly thoughts become sinfull when we think of them without counsell then saith Solomon they come to nought when a man considers not afore-hand what thoughts are necessary and needfull and so restraines and keeps off all impertinent thoughts then his thoughts will prove distrustful carking thoughts caring for the morrow contrary to the rule of Christ Matth. 6.33 Take no care for to morrow let to morrow care for it self He doth not forbid here
the first till the last Saint that shall be upon the earth Surely the wicked shall never escape condemnation for 1. God the Father who judgeth by way of authoritie he will condemne thee all judgement cometh originally from him he that hath often commanded thee to repent and to come out of thy sinnes he shall condemne thee because thou hast not obeyed him 2. God the Sonne he will judge thee who judgeth by way of dispensation Act. 10. First Christ preacheth to thee repentance and remission of sinnes to which if thou yeeld not then know that there is a day appointed wherein he will judge thee That Saviour that thou sayest thou desirest if thou part not with thy lusts he himselfe will be thy Judge that will condemne thee 3. God the holy Ghost will judge thee that Spirit that now strives and wrestles with thee that suggests good motions into thy heart that puts thee in minde of repentance bidding thee leave and forsake thy sinnes and live holily but if thou wilt not this Spirit shall judge thee by way of conviction 4. The Word of God shall judge thee and that by way of forme it being the platforme according unto which Christ will judge the whole world Now suppose there be forty prisoners in the Gaole together one in for murther another for theft another for treason that man that knows the Law if there be equitie and justice in the Assise he I say that knows the Law knows who shall be hanged or quartered or burned or set free even so Beloved that man that looks through the Scriptures that reads this or that Chapter this or that sentence may know that or this man will to hell if he repent not Say I this of my selfe or sayes not the Scripture as much The fearfull and unbeleeving and all that love and make lies shall be cast into that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for ever Rev. 21.8 By this text will the Lord Iesus come and judge the world and therefore as for all such as live and dye in their sinnes we may all know that they shall be all damn'd in fire brimstone for ever Hereby I know that all they that make no conscience of idle vain and earthly speeches and reproachfull words they shall give an account for them by this Text Mat. 12.56 Doth the Scripture say that all the wicked shall be turned into hell with all the Nations that forget God I know it shall be so by that text Psal 10. for all things shall be done according to the Scriptures Rom. 2.16 In that day saith the Apostle when God shall judge the secrets of menâ— hearts by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel that is just as Gods Ministers preach just as you find it written in the same Scriptures so will he judge at that day Beloved there is never a Text throughout the whole Scripture that commands you to leave and forsake your sinnes but it shall judge you if you doe not there is not one Text of Scripture that commands performance of any holy duty but it shall rise up in judgement against thee if thou performe it not Doth the Scripture say Be not drunk with wine wherein is excesse Eph. â— 18 It shall judge and condemn the drunkard that drinks excessively Doth the Scripture say Mortifie your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affectiâ—nâ— evill concupiscence and covetousnesse which is Idolatry Col. 3.5 If notwithstanding these sinnes live in thee this Text shall rise up and condemne thee to hell Doth the text say That the fathers to the children shall make known Gods truth Esa 28.9 Eph. 6.4 Parents bring up your children in the nurture and information of the Lord It shall rise up in judgement and condemne those parents that have not instructed their children to feare God Doth the tex say Thou shalt teach the word of God unto thy children and that thou shalt talâ—e of it when thou sittest in thy house and when thou goâ—st by the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up Deut. 6.7 It shall judge thee because thou makest no conscience of holy conference All these and the like Texts of Scripture shall rise up and stand in rank to condemne thee that hast not swayed thy heart and framed thy life according to the Scriptures 5. All the Ministers of God shall sit as Justices in common from the first Preacher of righteousnesse unto the last Moses shall judge thee Joshua David Esay Jeremy Hosea Daniel Paul Peter c. they shall all judge you just as Gods Ministers judge you here so will God he will take all their Sermons and clap them upon the heads of all rebellious hearers and so damn them for ever Lastly The Saints shall judge you yea all the Saints from one end of the world to the other they shall assist the just Judge of heaven earth and they shall be interpretive Judges Beloved how can the wicked escape condemnation that have so many thousands of Judges so many thousand exhortations and reproofes so many thousand admonitions and invitations so many thousand mercies proffers of Christ When God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost shall judge them when heaven and all the Angels in heaven and all the Saints on earth shall judge them and condemne them How canst thou escape Is there never a drunkard in this congregation Is there never a swearer never a prophane person never a mocker never a railer in this towne that refuseth to hearken to the word The men of Niniveh shall rise up in judgement against them and condemne them because they still live in their sinnes notwithstanding they have had not three dayes preaching nor fortie dayes space onely for repentance but many years of grace calling upon them The Queen of Sheba shall condemne many that live in these sinnes who went many hundred miles to hear the wisedome of Solomon for going and comming it was well-nigh two thousand miles but you have the word of Christ preached in your eares and saying the Kingdom of God is come among you but you will scarce step out of your dores to receive it or take any paines for it This one woman shall judge them There will be no way for the wicked to put off their judgement then the sonnes of Eli shall have none to advocate between God and them none to cloke or cover their wickednesse they shall then have no excuses for themselves for would they excuse themselves the Saints shall judge them would they send out excuses the Saints shall cut them off Would they in the first place say Alas I was ignorant I knew not how to pray or to read or to meditate on the Scriptures nor to chatechize my family I was dull and blockish to conceive such points as were taught me and if I did live in sinne it was ignorance that taught it me I was never book-learned Saith Augustine this Ignoramus that was as ignorant and as
A DIVINE MESSAGE TO THE ELECT SOULE The Heads of these ensuing SERMONS contained in this BOOK Viz. The use and benefit of Divine Meditation The danger of deferring Repentance The Arraignment of vain and evill thoughts The Judgement of the World passed by the Saints The punishment of unworthy Receivers The Duty of Communicants The Duty of Reprovers and Persons reproved The second Edition corrected and amended by a worthy friend of the AUTHORS A DIVINE MESSAGE TO THE ELECT SOULE DELIVERED In eight Sermons upon seven severall Texts By that laborious and faithfull Messenger of CHRIST Mr. William Fenner B.D. Somtimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Minister of Rochford in Essex The second Edition corrected and Enlarged I have sent unto you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt your young men have I slain with the sword and have taken away your horses I have made the stink of the Camp to come up to your nostrils yet have ye not returned to me saith the Lord therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet me thy God O Israel Amos 4.10.12 Printed at London by T.R. and E.M. for John Stafford and are to be sold at his house in Brides Church-yard 1647. THE EPISTLE TO the godly Reader of these pious Sermons THE Author of these ensuing Sermons Master William Fenner was so deservedly famous in the Church of God and so well knowne unto mee in particular and one to whom I was so much obliged when he was living as that I could not thinke it sufficient to give a bare Imprimatur unto his Sermons but have added this Testimony also that thereby all good people might be encouraged to read these Works of his whose life and conversation was a continuall Sermon and who spent himself in studying and preaching and whose memory will be ever pretious unto Your loving friend Edm. Calamy TO THE READER Good Reader THe Author of these Sermons having served his time and being fallen asleep The lot is fallen upon me to appear in their behalf and to seal unto their worth and usefulnesse for publike service as far as thou pleasest to seal unto my judgement and faithfulnesse in such a case with thine opinion and approbation For the truth is that the strength and value of my testimony concerning them is like to extend no further then thine doth concerning me So that if I adde any thing to their credit and estimation in the world by my recommendation it is by the mediation of thine ingenuity and fairnesse towards me But if thou shalt please to be at any reasonable cost in the reading of them and lay thy judgement and conscience as close to the Spirit as thou must thine eyes to the letter of what thou readest I make no question but I shall be the gainer and not they by this engagement of my self for them True worth especially when it overcomes and breaks out of the cloud of obscurity alwayes returns more then what it receives from any mans testimony neither is there any method or trade so proper and certain whereby to raise an estate of honour and reputation to a mans self as the bestowing or casting honour and reputation upon others so he be carefull and dexterous in the choice of his subject John Baptist by giving testimony only to one Jesus Christ out-grew the common stature of those that are born of women in true greatnesse Mat. 11.11 And yet there was little or nothing in effect added to Jesus Christ himself by his testimony Joh. 5.34 It is an ingenuous and inoffensive way to serve our selves out of other mens excellencies by advancing them neither do the generality of men in their practice more generally consent upon any principle of reason equity then this To recompence such men with terms of honour who are unpartial and free in subscribing and acknowledging the worth and eminencie of others And as many that are but of mean condition in the world otherwise yet maintain themselves comfortably by trimming and dressing the gardens and orchards and vineyards of rich and wealthy men so may men that want other personal abilities and excellencies of their own subsist upon terms of a convenient reputation only by vindicating adorning and setting forth the endowments and gracefull parts of other men The subject or argument of these Sermons is partly that noble and high-importing strain of Christian devotion Preparation for that solemn enterview of Jesus Christ in his death at his Table The great severity of Gods proceedings against despisers of admonitions and reproof Both theames of savoury consideration for all those that love not death and more especially for those who desire not only to be saved but to be saved upon sweeter and more comfortable terms then as by fire 1 Cor. 3.15 Those that were chastened with weaknesse and sicknesse and death amongst the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11.30 were yet saved ver 32. but this was as by or through fire though they did not perish were not consumed by the flames of Gods displeasure against them yet they were sorely scorched with them the smell of this fire was strong upon the garments of their flesh They discerned not the body of his Son Jesus Christ in his ordinances but in stead of that holy reverend and deep-studied behaviour which was due unto it both from their inner and outward man as being a creature of the highest and deepest sanctification that ever God sanctified Sanctified not only to a more excellent and glorious condition but also to many ends and purposes of far higher and deerer concernment both for the glory of God and benefit of Men themselves then all other creatures whatsoever whether in heaven or in earth They handled and dealt by it in both kinds as if it had been but a common or unsanctified thing thus they discerned not the Lords body And as they discerned not his body so neither did God in some sense discern theirs but in those sore strokes and heavy judgements which he inflicted on them had them in no other regard or consideration then as if they had been the bodies of his enemies the bodies of wicked and sinful men thus drawing the model and platform of their punishment as usually he doth from the structure and proportion of their sin And if the moral or spiritual seeds and originals of our outward and bodily afflictions as sicknesses weaknesses either upon our selves or ours declining estates losses c. which still lie deeper than the natural were but carefully and narrowly sought out it is much to be feared we should finde a great part of them at least in the bowels of the same Sin so frequent amongst us I mean of Not discerning the LORDS Body The just and righteous God builds up the breaches that we make upon the honour belonging to the body of his Sonne with the ruines of that honour which he had given unto ours in health strength
reckon them The least vain thought that ever you imagined the least vain word that ever you uttered were weight enough to presse your soules down to hell Therefore what are so many sins and so great and so often committed What are they they are as heavie as rocks and mountains yet ye feele them not so heavie Why Ye weigh them not if ye did yee should finde them heavier then the sand as David did when his sinne was ever before him Psal 51.3 that is his sinne was ever in his thoughts and in his meditation his sinne was ever like a huge Milstone before him and he was ever tugging and pulling to remove it out of his way Object I but you will say How shall I come to feele my burden Answ I answer three things are here to be discovered First the ground upon which our meditation must be raised Secondly the manner how to follow it home to the heart Thirdly how to put life and power in it The ground I referre to these foure heads First meditate on the goodnesse patience and mercy of God that hath been abused by any of your sins the greater they have been to you the greater is every sinne this maketh them out of measure sinfull because God is out of measure mercifull There are many sinnes in one when a man sinnes against many mercies See Iudg. 2.2 3. Why have ye done thus I have done thus and thus mercifully unto you why have yee done thus unthankefully to me Why was my mercy abused Why was my goodnesse sleighted Why was my patience despised as if the Lord should say I speak to your owne consciences think of it meditate of it why have yee done this Doe ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father Meditate of it first and tell me then For it is a question put to thy meditation to answer Do yee thus requite the Lord ye foolish people Wert thou ever in want but God supplied thee Wert thou ever in weaknesse but God strengthened thee Wert thou ever in straits but God delivered thee When thou wert in sicknesse he cured thee when thou wert in poverty who relieved thee when thou wert in misery who succoured thee Hath not God been a gracious God to thee Every soule can tell never poor sinner hath had a more gracious God then I poore sinner have found to my soule All my bones can say Lord who hath been like unto thee This heart hath been heavie and thou hast cheered it this soul hath been distressed thou hast eased it many troubles have befallen me and thou hast given me a gracious issue This poore man saith David pointing to himselfe this poore man cried and the Lord heard him Psa 34.6 And shall I thus reward the Lord shall I sinne against this goodnesse Then what shall I say Heare O heavens and hearken O earth Sunne stand thou still and thou Moon bee amazed at this and be avenged on such a heart as this The Oxe knowes his Owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but here is a heart that will not remember to know the Lord Heare O heavens this villany crieth so loud that your eares may heare it Heare all yee Angels and be astonished here is villany to make your eares glow yea hear Hell hear Deviâ—s if ever there were worse committed by you When men are but ingenuous if they have received any kindnesse from a friend they were never in want but hee relieved them never harbourlesse but he housed them never to seek but he found them Let a man deale thus kindly with a man if this man should deny him any ordinary favour he will be ashamed of himselfe ashamed to come into his presence What will he think his house was mine his cubboard was mine and his purse was mine and his friends were mine and that I should deale thus unkindly with him even nature rebukes me This serious meditation will help to breake thy heart The second ground of meditation is to meditate on the justice of God God is a just God as well as mercifull Speak all yee Devils in hell Doe yee not feele that he is a just God Speake Sodome Speake Gomorrah your fire and brimstone can testifie that he is a just God Speak Adah Zillah and all yee that were drowned in the old world your deluge can testifie he is a just God His judgements are in all the world 1 Chron. 16.14 What is become of drunken Nabal and swearing Saul and covetous Ahab and proud Iesabel and mocking Iehu and envious Shimei What is become of all blind Jebusites and prating cavilling Dioâ—repheses Justice hath taken hold of them What is poverty What is nakednesse What is famine sicknesse the gout the stone Feaver plague These are the little arrowes of Gods justice What is shame disgrace crosses afflictions unseasonable raines dangerous weather warres rumours of warres What are all the evils under the Sunne They are the little finger of Gods justice Thou spiest them here and there in every Town and in every parish in every Countrey doe they not all witnesse that he is a just God Read Psalm 7.11 12 13. God hath bent his bow already saith David the arrow is ready to slie out of the string It will not be long before it hit thee if thou meditate not upon amendment God is angry with the wicked every day as an angry man useth to say I will be revenged on thee Wilt thou not give over thy sins I will be revenged on thee Read Psal 11.5 6 7. Meditate on this he will neither spare King nor subject nor rich nor poore nor noble nor base nor Judges and Justices yet judges and Justices may spare but God will not spare they may bee bribed to pardon but God will not be fee'd to spare them that goe on in their wickednesse and doe I think to escape Nay my soule thou canst never escape except thou obeyest The third ground is Meditate on the wrath of God Oh! what wrath is it Can I stand against it It burnes like an Oven and all the proud and all that doe wickedly shall be as stubble and the day of wrath shall burne them up Behold this saith the Text. Malac. 4.1 Behold it and meditate on it Can I goe naked in a hot fiery oven Can I lift up my hands against it My hands will be scorched Can I kick against it My legs will be baked Can I blow upon it with my mouth my mouth is fired Did I ever see lime burned were I in the limes roome could I endure that boyling and yet if I live in my sinnes I shall be as the burning of lime Isay 33.12 Let thy heart meditate terror Who among us shall be able to dwell that is the meaning of it as Montanus sheweth who among us shall dwell with devouring fire who among us shall burne with everlasting burnings vers 14. Gods mercie shall say Take him wrath I would have
converted him but he would not Gods goodnesse shall say Take him wrath I would have been kinde unto him but he hath abused me Gods patience shall say Take him wrath I have suffered him a great while that he might have time of repentance but he repented not in that time God smote Egypt in their first-borne Why For his mercy endureth for ever God overthrew Pharaoh and his hoast Why For his mercy endureth for ever Psal 136.15 He smote great Kings Sihon a King and Og a King for his mercy endureth for ever So will God damne thee that art a drunkard Why for his mercie endureth for ever God will confound thee that art a worldling Why for his mercy endureth for ever God will be revenged on thee that art a Luke-warmling Why for his mercy endureth for ever This may well make thee tear the haire of thy head rather then let thee go on in thy sinnes See Jerem. 7.29 Meditate on this The fourth ground meditate on the constancie of God As the Lord was an enemy to wicked men so he continues the same God still a constant enemy to them still As the Lord would not endure sinne heretofore so hee is constant hee still will not endure it Did the Lord once say Weep and howle yee drunkards Joel 1.5 he is constant so he saith still Did the Lord say he would burn up Sabbath-breakers Jer. 17.27 he is constant so he saith still Who ever hardned his heart against the Lord and prospered Job 9.14 as if he should say I put it to thee to meditate of it canst thou shew me a president did ever any man harden his heart against Gods Word in his sin that prospered Did Senacherib prosper in his will-worship Did Judas prosper in his coveteousnesse Did Jeconiah prosper in his stubbornnesse Where is the Scribe where is the receiver where is he that counted the towers saith the prophet Your fathers where are they saith Zachary Did not my words take hold of them and are they not all now in hell that have ever lived and died in their sin from the beginning of the world Thou canst not shew me one drunkard or one mocker or one profane person or one formaâ—l professor from the day that man was created upon the earth that is not now in hell if he be dead Meditate on this how canst thou expect to be the one onely in all the world that shall escape if thou livest and diest in thy sins If hell were opened and the bottomlesse pit were lookt into thou shouldest see every soul that ever lived and died in their sins even every soul there is not one soul missing Meditate on this when I die do I think I shall not be there nay I shall be there too unlesse aforehand I enter into the strait gate and walk in the narrow way of newnesse of life The Second SERMON OF The use and benefit of Divine Meditation HAGGAI 1.5 Now therfore thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your wayes NOw followes the manner how to follow Meditation home to the heart Here are foure things to be practised First weigh and ponder all these things in thy heart It 's said of Mary shee pondered Luke 2 19. and kept all these sayings in her heart verse 51. The words signifie two things First shee compared these things together Secondly she cast them all in the scales together Dost thou know God is mercifull ponder it with his justice Dost thou know that Jesus Christ died for sinners ponder it with the true drift of it how that it is not to let men go on in their sins but to save them from their sins Dost thou obey God in this or that Commandement O ponder thy life with the rest Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy wayes be established Prov. 4.26 A man that eates his meat well forty morsels well yet one crum going awry throttles him Thou walkest in these and these Commandements yea but there be other Commandments besides these dost thou walk in them too thou must if thou meanest to have thy wayes to be established The Jewes had their continers talents mind's sicles which were greater weights so they had also their gerahs and agorahs smaller measures and smallest of all so have thou greater and lesse weights great ones to ponder the great Commandments and lesse to weigh even the least of Gods Commandments and see thou make true Evangelicall weight or else all will not be well Suppose a man were to pay a 100 pound of good and lawfull money and in weight upon forfeiture of all that he hath if he weigh it not but the Creditor doth and finds it light he is undone If thou ponderest not thy wayes God will ponder them Prov. 5.21 the word signifies he weighs and ponders them in a ballance or scales he puts the Word of his Gospel in the one and thy goings and obedience in the other Thou art weighed and art found light thy kingdom is departed from thee saith God to Belshazzar Dan. 5.27 So if thou be light thou shalt be weighed and so found thou shalt lose the kingdom of heaven for ever Secondly strip sin and look upon it stark naked sin covers and disguiseth it self with pleasure profit ease and many a whorish garment and so inticeth the heart Even a toad if she were covered over with gold those that saw onely the gold would pocket it up if it were naked they would sling it in the kennell Why do men love covetousnesse Why its hooded with profit Why carding dicing hunting hawking tabring piping and more then the word alloweth Why they are cloathed with pleasure and delight It s the duty of Ministers to unmask and uncase sin and pluck off the vail that covers it from appearing unto men The not doing of this is the cause that men do not meditate on the vilenesse of their sins never are humbled never escape Gods wrath even because they do not discover mens iniquities Lam. 2.14 Alas the profit of thy sins shall cease the pleasure cease the ease cease and all these goodly suits shall vanish away when the soul comes to die or to stand before the judgement seat of Christ sin will remain but thy silver and thy gold where will that be then thy laughter and thy merriment what will become of that then thy delight will be gone Meditate therefore with thy selfe my sin is now gainfull and easie and pleasant but what will my sin become when I come to lie on my death-bed what good will it doe me when I have most need of succour I will never acknowledge him my freind that will turn against me when I have most need of him Alas I must die I must come to judgement I must goe either to heaven or to hell the profit that I get now by my sins will it bestead me then the pleasure the ease that I now find in sin will it help me there Alas no it will then be my
confirmes it with an oath Therefore if the Lord sweare thou shalt not how darest thou how canst thou hope or think ever to enter into his rest This was almost fourty yeares before he died that the Lord made this oath against them and God knowes how many thousands of them fel short not only of the land of Canaan but also of the Kingdome of heaven So God took Ismael an hundred and seventeen yeares before he died twenty yeares God offered him grace and repentance but he would not take warning a mocker he was and a mocker he would be for he mocked Isaac when he was a child of six yeares old and no meanes would reclaim him before he heard the voice Cast out the bond-woman and her sonne Out with him saith God for he shall never be heire with my sonne this was an hundred and seventeen years before Ismaels death And so God took Saul five and thirty or six and thirty yeares before he died according to Josephus Chronology if it bee true howsoever hee took him divers yeares before his death for so the Scripture makes it plain 1. Sam. 15.20 The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a man that hee should repent Therefore because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord the Lord also hath rejected thee from being a King And do not think that thou by thy prayers and crying God mercie canst ever alter him for his councell is immutable and hee is strong in his decree and cannot change Hitherto Grace and Mercie have been offered thee which if thou hadst embraced thou mightst have found mercy from the Lord and the Kingdome should have been established and confirmed unto thee but now it is too late for the strength of Israel cannot lie God took Esau fiftie yeares before his death for so long he lived after he sought the blessing with teares but he was a hunting when God was a calling he was following his prophanenesse when God was wooing him to repentance At last when he called for repentance and sought it earnestly yea his soule was carefull for to get it yet he could never obtaine it though hee sought it earnestly with teares fiftie yeares before he died Now if the Lord so severely punish contempt of temporall blessings O how will he punish the contempt of proffers of grace and salvation I tell you God will be more strict in revenging of this sinne then of any other sinne he will come with Martiall law against all those that contemne his Gospell Joh. 3.18 He that beleeveth not is condemned already Doth Christ preach repentance and salvation and the Kingdome of God and wilt thou not repent and beleeve Martiall Law beloved martiall Law hang him up for he is condemned already Even like a souldier that rebels against his General forsakes his Colours they doe not cast him into prison and stay for the Assizes or Sessions but give him Martiall Law even hang him up So if the Lord sound his Gospell in thine eares and offers thee conditions of peace knocking at the doore of thy heart by his Spirit and thou refuse to open to him thou art condemned already for the Strength of Israel cannot lie nor repent Oh therefore take heed now whiles his word sounds in thine eares while his Spirit secretly whispers in thy heart to thee open to him for else thou art condemned for ever Take notice then that God doth commonly give men a day and no man or Angel doth know how long this day lasteth To some it lasteth to their last gasp to some to their old age and to some it is cut off in their childhood God gave the Angels a day the which because they neglected they are reserved in chains of darknesse untill the great judgement day God gave Cain a day Genes 4. During all the time of this day though Cain sinned again and again and went on in his sinnes a great while yet he heard nothing but a still voice If thou do well Cain shalt thou not be accepted but if thou dost ill sinne lieth at the doore But when no meanes will prevaile but Cain will go on adding sinne to sinne and murder unto all the rest of his sinnes and so let go the season of mercy the Lords tells him from heaven that the day of grace is past the gate of mercy is shut against thee for thou art now accursed from the earth As if the Lord should say Before I gave thee a day of salvation and offered thee mercy but thou wouldst not accept of it but now I have clapt a curse upon thy soul that thou shalt never claw off So God gave Nineveh a day to repent Jona 3. Yet forty dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed God gave the Fig-tree a day even three yeares before he would have it cut down God gave the old World a day of an hundred and twenty yeares during this time God sent unto them Noah a Preacher of righteousnes to call upon them to repent and so set it down also that his Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man but his time shall be an hundred and twenty yeares yet one writes that the Lord cut off twenty of the hundred and twenty yeares because of their iniquities which were so grievous and provoked him so much that they hasted him to come before he would have done In all this space if they had repented they should have found mercy from the Lord but when this time was gone and the day of grace was out the Deluge came in upon them and God by his judgments overthrew the whole World Object You my ask me when this day or season of grace doth end or cease Answ I answer that neither men nor Angels can tell but this I say it may be yet this day of grace lasteth unto thee now it may bee God speaketh whom to thy soul now it may be God warms thy heart and givs thee good purposes resolutions now it may be the Lord Jesus passeth by thee in a good thought and desire lay hold on it for thy day may cease this very night for ought thou knowest Luke 17.22 The time shall come saith Christ when you shall desire to see one of the dayes of the Sonne of man and shall not see it Now is the day of Christ upon you now is Christ offering and preaching himself to you but if you let this day passe thou mayst desire to have one of the drops of that bloud that hath been offered to thee and yet never have it thou mayst desire to feele one rap of that Spirit that hath knockt at thy heart and yet goe without it thou maist intreat for one dram of that mercy that hath been offered and thou hast rejected but it shall never be granted to thee God may clap that fearfull sentence upon thee Now henceforth never grow fruit more on thee never repentance come into thy heart more If now thou wilt not repent and be
3. Here is notice given to all the world Heare O earth as if he had said here is a reckoning that you little dream of I will bring a plague upon you not onely for your idolatry for your whoredome and fornication but even for your vaine thoughts Prov. 24.9 The thoughts of the wicked are sinne the Lord doth not only condemne the actions and courses of wicked men but sets his curse upon their very thoughts Sinne is of an homogeneall nature of which every part of a thing is the whole every piece of stone is stone for it hath the nature of the whole even so it is with sin the least part of sin the least thought of sin the least shiver of sin is sin and abominable before God Reas 1 The reasons why those whose hearts and thoughts run habitually on earth and earthly things must needs end in destruction are 1. That mans end must needs end in destruction that never repents Now so long as a mans thoughts runne usually and habitually on the things of the world that man never repents repentance not onely cleanseth the outside of man but the inside also even the heart repentance goeth as farre as the Law of God goeth where the word of God begins there repentance must needs begin now the word of God begins and strikes at the heart as saith the Apostle The word of God is sharp and powerfull sharper then any two-edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of the soule and spirit the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts of the heart Heb. 4.12 Now then if the word of God strike at the thoughts of the heart then repentance must goe and teach so farre to reforme and amend the things of the heart or else he never repents Let a man sweep his house never so much yet it is not clean so long as there remains one Cob-web in it so if thy heart be swept from drunkennesse whoring and swearing and yet if the old Cob-web of vain thoughts remain in any corner of thy heart not washed out nor swept down thou hast not as yet repented Oh Jerusalem saith God by his Prophet wash thy heart from wickednesse that thou maist be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 4.14 Mark how the Lord inforceth his exhortation see how he backs his counsell that thou maist be saved as if he had said thou canst not be saved unlesse thou wash thy heart from vain thoughts how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee He doth not say why doe vain thoughts come in thee for they will come into the best most holy heart but how long shall they lodge within thee If but vain thoughts do lodge in man take up their nest in his heart if a man let his thoughts dwell upon vain things and hee give way unto them and use them as his market trade and recreations hee cannot be saved it is an emphaticall kind of speech as if the Lord should say O Jerusalem thou never considerest this and thus he doth as it were pity and compassionate them in their blindnesse and ignoranâ—e and horrible besottednesse that think that thought is free Beloved when the Lord comes to reckon with the world he will not only reckon with them for their pounds and shillings for their hundreds and thousands of sinnes for their murders whoredomes blasphemies c. but he will call them to account for their least sinnes the pence and farthing sinnes even their very thoughts agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way lest he deliver thee up to the Jaylor and thou be cast into prison thou shalt not come out untill thou hast paid the utmost farthing thou must deliver up thy farthing as well as thy pound sinnes or else thou never agreest with thine adversary When the Lord by his prophet calls upon his people exhorting them to repentance he willeth and exhorteth them to change their thoughts Esay 55.7 Repentance is the change of the thoughts according to the English Proverb I have changed my thoughts Look unto thy feet when thou goest into the house of God Eccles 5.1 Thou canst never go to the House of God without thy feet the thoughts and affections of the heart are the feet of the soul and thou canst never go to God without them and therefore if thy heart and affections run habitually on earthly things thou didst never repent and so thine end is damnation Reas 2 The second reason is that mans end must needs be destruction that hath no Christ in the world now so long as thy thoughts run habitually on earthly things thou hast no Christ It is not enough for a man to hang on Christ for many a man doth so and yet is cut off from Christ and perisheth for ever thou must not onely hang upon Christ but thou must also get into Christ As in the old world when the deluge came and the waters increased so greatly that the mountaines and high hils were covered with them and the people could not save themselves by getting unto the tops of the mountains no question but many seeing the Ark swim above the water did climb up and hang upon the sides of the Ark thinking to save themselves yet none of them were saved but those that were gotten into the Ark so many a man will catch hold of Christ but his hold will be gone and he perish for ever unlesse he get into Christ Now a man can never get into Christ unlesse his heart bee purged from vaine thoughts For Christ when he entreth into a man cleanseth his heart from vain thoughts 2 Cor. 10.5 If Christ once come into the heart he will set up his throne there he will hold up his Scepter of Righteousnesse in it when Christ cometh see what a work hee will make in the heart he will not suffer a proud thought to remain there to upbraid him he will not suffer ever a sinfull lust to stand up to beard him but he will cast down every imagination and all high things that exalt themselves and he will bring every thought into subjection unto himself Therefore if thy thoughts run after the lusts of thy owne heart thou hast no Christ in thee for Christ beloved will never dwell in a foule house I know there is no wheat without some darnell no gold without some drosse no wine without some lees so there is no man but hath some sin no man so clean but hath some defilements of sin upon him therefore if a man have not his cleansing grace of Christ in him cleansing the heart from vain things there is no Christ in him for Christ will never dwell in a foule heart Now beloved the very vain thoughts of a man defile him as Christ saith Matth. 7.21 22 23. Out of the heart proceedeth evill thoughts and they are they that defile a man All these not onely murder and adulteries and uncleannesses and all
Minister after Minister to instruct them in the knowledge of my wayes I laboured to convert them and to bring them home unto my self and to work better thoughts in them but still they are a people that walk after their own thoughts that provoke me continually unto my face There is never a thought of thine but it is in the verse face of God both thought and imagined But some man may say I think of God and of Christ of faith and repentance and of calling on God of mending of this and that course I think of death and of my last account and every foot I have holy thoughts in my mind But beloved give me leave I pray you for to speak something unto you which it may be may stick by you while you live I will propound these foure things and distinctions unto you which I will use First what doest thou think of God and of heaven then tell me whether thy thoughts be injective thoughts into thy heart or thoughts raised by thy heart for there is a great deale of difference betweene thoughts injected and thoughts raised God casts good thoughts into a godly mans heart which being fit soyl it fructifies and brings forth fruit Again God casts good thoughts into a wicked mans heart but because his heart is not sanctified and therefore no fit soyl to harbour in they die and vanish God casts in and they cast out God casts in again and they cast out again therefore if thou hast good thoughts examine and try whether they be thoughts raised from thy heart or no see whether thy heart be a renewed heart a sanctified an holy heart fit to bring forth good thoughts every day Beloved a wicked man may have a thousand good thoughts and yet go to hell in the midst of them all God cast a good thought into the heart of the King of Babylon to go against Judah and Jerusalem for to punish his people for their sins and to avenge himself on them for the breach of his Covenant but what saith the text Reas 1 Howbeit he thought not so Isa 10. No his only ayme was how to get honour how to inrich to enlarge his territories and to bring down the Nations under him and to make his name and fame to be spread and declared through all the world So God casts many good thoughts into many a wicked mans heart to repent and to leave his drunkennesse his pride his swearing and whoring to be holy and religious howbeit he thinks not so but he thinks how to eate and drink how to be proud and haughty how to be rich and great in the world how to be vain and licentious yea thy thoughts are vile and vain all the day long Oh that men were wise truly to understand this the want whereof is the cause why many thousands go to hell and are damned for ever I will make it plain to you A wicked man reasons thus with himself I confesse and it is true I sinne every day against God and sometimes drink a pot with my friend though sometimes I let fall an oath and am overtaken in my infirmities yet I thank God he hath sanctified my heart for I think of God and of Christ and I oft call upon his name and let my thoughts run on good things God and heaven are many times in my mind and I am sorry when I do amisse and the Lord hath blest me with a large portion of outward things Besides I see these and these signes of grace in me and therefore I think my case to be happy And thus securely they live and so they go on and so they die and so go to hell and perish for ever and ever Here is the misery of it many think of God and of Christ of death and of their last account of heaven of hell of faith and repentance of leaving sinne of crucifying their lusts and practising of holinesse Now men think that their thinking of these things is a part of their discharge when indeed they are Additions to and peeces of their talents which increase their judgements God casts in a thought of repentance of holinesse of the remembrance of death and last account Dost thou find thy heart never the better and holier by them Then know it is only Gods haunting of thy heart and Gods calling upon thee and Gods inviting thee unto repentance to leave thy sinnes to come out of thy deadnesse and formality to prepare for thy death and judgment and therefore I say if thy heart now think not so if thy heart do not repent beleeve and grow more zealous and thou art not drawn the neerer to God I say then that the more of these good thoughts that thou hast had the greater thy doome will be if thou hast had ten thousands of them if they have beene onely Gods haunting of thy heart think thou then now of grace of God of thy poor soul which is not bettered by them nor made holy then know they are peeces of thy talent and it doth make thy torments in hell the greater Secondly thou hast good thoughts but the question is whether they be fleeting or abiding thoughts Many think of God of grace of heaven of the word of God and when they heare a Sermon they will think of God but these thoughts though they come into their minds yet they go away presently they are in and out at an instant in a trice they passe away and are gone Beloved there are two kinds of vaine thoughts 1. vaine because the substance and matter of them is vain and so all worldly thoughts are vain 2. or else for their want of durance and lasting and so are all thoughts of heaven of God and grace and of Christ it they vanish away they are all vain thoughts though they seeme otherwise Haer what God saith Gen. 6.5 God saw that the wickednesse of man was great upon the earth and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were only evill continually all the imaginations great is the emphasis of this word all all the thoughts yea all universally are only evill continually But you will say unto me Doth not a wicked man think that there is a God why that is a good thought doth he not think that this God is to be observed and worshipped why this is a good thought doth he not think that sin is to be forsaken that is a good thought doth he not think of heaven and of Christ how then are their thoughts only evill and that continually I answer because all the thoughts of a wicked mans heart are vaine that is vanishing thoughts not vaine for the matter which sometimes may be good and holy but vaine because they soone vanish away thoughts that come and tarry not that leave no impression in their hearts behind them these are all vaine thoughts according to that of the Apostle The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vaine 1 Cor.
Is it that thou maiest have grace or that thou maist follow thy calling and get thy living is it this that thou wouldst have for which thou keepest such a digging and scraping and such a laying up Then thy end is carnall and vain and thy drift and end declareth the truth of thy soul that it is carnall and vain THE JUDGEMENT OF THE WORLD By SAINTS at the last Day DELIVERED And learnedly discovered in a Sermon preached By that vigilant and painfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B.D. Sometime Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Parson of Rochford in Essex London Printed by T.R. and E.M. for J.S. A SERMON OF Mr. WILLIAM FENNERS Upon this ensuing Text. 1 Cor. 6. part of the 2d verse Know yee not that the Saints shall judge the World THE Corinthians thought Paul had converted many poore mean men amongst them Chapter 1.26 27. God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty yet the Nobles the Lawyers the Counsellers the chiefe men in the Citie the Apostle had not converted one of them or at the least very few Brethren you see your calling who they are that be converted to the obedience of the Gospel of Christ from the evill of their wayes not many wise men after the flesh not many rich not many noble some few there be here and there one but for the most part they are a company of poor beggerly Christians Now it seems these poor Christians having controversies one with another went to Law among themselves and that before unbeleevers The Apostle condemnes this their going to Law and would have them cease their suits and quarrels one against another before the unjust and unbeleevers and that by four Arguments First by the shamefulnesse of it verse 5. I speak it to your shame as if he should say Are you such fooles that you cannot take up these matters among your selves that you cannot make references of your wrongs to mediate one to another but that you must go to Law before unbeleevers Secondly from the scandalousnesse of it It is a thing so scandalous and offensive to those that are without that I wonder any of you dare be so bold as to go to Law one with another What will the world think What are these the men that professe the Gospel Are these they that have the Wisdome of God in them and that are led by the Spirit of God And have they no more understanding in them then when they have any matter of controversie they cannot end it among themselves but must go to Law before the unjust and unbeleevers as they terme them Thirdly from the unsâ—emingnesse of it in the second verse Do you not know that the Saints shall judge the earth What hath God made you Judges of the world and doe you goe to be judged by the world Or as Ambrose speakes hath God appointed you to be Judges of the men in the world and are you not fit to be Judges of the things of the world Fourthly from the strangenesse of it Dare any of yuu He speakes interrogatively vers 1. It is a strange thing that you should come to that impudencie against the Gospel of Christ one would think that you should tremble and quake at such a thing as this is What is there never a wise Christian amongst you never an understanding professor that is able to take up a controversie or decide and judge between his brethren what a strange thing is this Then hee backs it with foure Arguments 1. Because they wre Brethren vers 6. Brother goes to Law with brother 2. Because it was about the things of this life What hath God made you Judge of heavenly things of Angels and are you unfit to Judge of the things of this life 3. It was abâ—ut small matters ver 2. whereas you shall sit upon men and Angels and the weightiest matters in the world the greatest things of Gods law judging them to the greatest penaltie and punishment even to eternall damnation and are yee unworthy then to judge even of the smallest matters 4. And lastly Because it was about such things as the meanest Christian in the towne might have taken up and have ended Set up them that are least esteemed Doe you not know that the Saints shall judge the world Doct. I need not goe far for a point the word affords it The Doctrine is That the Saints shall judge the world It is an old truth yea as old as the world it selfe you may read it in the fourth verse of Judes Epistle That Enoâ—h the seventh from Adam prophecied saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints God will not onely come to judgement himselfe but he will come attended with all his Saints even with all the godâ—y to execute vengeance upon all the world So our Saviour told Saint Peter and not onely him but all that follow him in the regeneration They shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Mat. 9.18 They shall judge the Nations and have dominion over the people Wisd 3.8 Object And now because doubt is the best way to attaine unto knowledge let me answer a doubt that may creepe in by the way How shall the Saints judge the world Answ Ans Not by pronouncing of judgement upon the world for that Christ alone shall do Then shall the King say to them on his left hand Depart yee cursed Mat. 25. But the Saints shall judge the world these foure wayes 1. They shall judge the world by their consent unto Christs judgement God traines up his children in this world educates them and teaâ—heth them how they may judge the world hereafter he teacheth them in this life how to assent with his proceedings in the world so that they are able to say Righteous art thou O Lord and just are thy judgements Psal 119.137 Now if the Saints be trained in this life to assent unto Gods proceedings with the world much more then will they be able to know and consent unto Christs judgement when he shall come with his Saints to judge the world Now the Law saith that consenters are agents and therefore because the Saints shall consent to the judgement of Christ therefore they are said to judge the world 2. The Saints shall judge the world by their applause of Christs judgement they shall not only give consent unto the judgment of Christ but they shall also applaud it and commend it when God shall say to all drunkards swearers lyers Sabbath-breakers and to all unbeleeving impenitent and graceles sinners Depart yee cursed into hell fire then though it were his owne father that begat him or his mother that bare him though it were his owne brother or sister wife or child that hath been as dear as his own life and soule to him yet they shall clap their hands for joy and applaud
inward man is not reformed there is sâ—me lust in thy heart some pride in thy will some stubbornnesse in thy spirit some Idoll in thy bosome First cleanse the inside of the platter Matth. 23.26 There is never an ordinance of God that can bee done but there must be somewhat done first a man must doe somthing before As in the choice of Officers as Ministers or Deacons other Officers in the Church first they must bee proved before they be chosen so in all the Ordinances of God Would wee come to the Sacrament There is somewhat must bee done first we must examine our selves and root out all unsanctifiednesse and indisposition that cannot stand with the right communicating in the Lords Supper And so in every other good duty The reasons of this are First because naturally we are not invited guests wee are not such as are invited to the Lords Supper we are children of wrath and as long as we are in such a estate we cannot come aright to the Communion This is childrens bread and it cannot be given to dogges Christ whensoever he sets his dainties before his people he tels us for whom they are Take eate this is my Body that is broken for you This is the Supper that is made for you as it is in this Chapter verse 24. First we must prove our selves invited guests It is true the Lord Christ invites every man to the Lords Supper but he invites him methodically he must bee in such an estate but every man is not so fitted a man must be a member of Christ that means to partake of Christs death he must be one that is in Christ he must be able to prove that he is ingraffed into Christ he must bee able to shew the mark of the Lord Christ on him As it is with some of your great dinners and feasts in this Citie you have tickets and all that are admitted to the feast must shew their ticket before they are admitted So thou must be able to shew thy ticket that thou hast an invitation from Christ thou must have a mark and token from Chtist that thou commest and commest with his warrant A second reason is though thou be invited it may be thou art not disposed If a man will doe a thing that hee is naturally indisposed to there must be somewhat done before of necessitie So the Lords Supper it is a thing that naturally wee are indisposed unto therefore somewhat must of necessity be done first Naturally we are unholy we are unthankfull and carnall we are in our sinnes strangers from God and the Covenant of God and from the seale of the Covenant all this indisposition must be wrought out before we can comfortably come hither If Christ would have the very Chamber first trimmed before he instituted the Passeover and the Sacrament much more will hee have the soule disposed for him and the heart cleansed from all filthinesse If hee that ate of the Peace-offering being indisposed having his uncleannesse upon him was to bee cut off from his people Levit. 7.20 what will God doe to such people as come hither in their uncleannesse and indisposition unsanctified and unqualified Thirdly suppose we were both invited and disposed yet this is not enough This is a solemn Ordinance of God and an ordinary disposition will not serve the turne Though every child of God bee ordinarily disposed to every good word and work to pray and to heare the word of God he is prepared and furnished to every well doing ordinarily and habitually but a man must be disposed further There is a solemne preparation required to the Communion as in Deut. 16.15 there were solemne feasts in the Law so there is this solemne feast in the Gospel and there are solemne preparations required thereto When we come to the Communion to eate the Lords Supper it is not eating and drinking in Christs presence for so may any reprobate doe and yet Christ may say to him Depart from me thou worker of iniquity It is not to come and sit in your Pewes and wait till the Bread come and take it and till the Cup come and drink it so many a reprobate may doe and the Corinthians did that did eate and drink their own damnation But there must be a solemne preparation to it to be sealed with the Spirit of Promise to be righteous by faith in the body and blood of Christ For a man to be humble and empty of his sinne to bee thirsty after the pretious blood of Christ to be fed and built up in the promises It is a weighty thing to come to the Communion a man must bee a worthy man or else he hath nothing to doe here As Solomon said of Adonijah If he be a worthy man not a haire shall fall from his head but if wickednes be found in him hee shall die 1. King 1.52 So if we be worthy men and women not a haire of our head shall fall to the ground none of the curses shall light on us that light on unprepared persons but if wickednesse be found in us if we be guilty of any sinne if we live in any lust not mortfied if there be any prophanenesse in our lives in our families in our courses and callings though we catch hold of the hornes of the Altar though we partake of these holy mysteries yet we shall be so far from having any mercie as that we shall hasten our own ruine we set a seal on our own judgment and make our case worse then it was before Let us take notice of it and never dare to rush on any of Gods ordinances You know what became of the foolish man in the Gospel that when they were invited to come to the marriage Supper he thought it was nothing but to come with them that came to crowd in with them and sit down among the rest he considered not what he went about that he might be prepared accordingly the event was this he was cast out into utter darknesse Matth. 22.13 It is dangerous rushing on any of Gods ordinances To rush upon prayer for a man to fall down upon his knees and to utter any thing before the Lord hastily with his mouth not considering that God is in heaven and he on the earth A mans word may damne his own soule and pull vengeance on his own pate his prayers may prove a curse his prayer for mercy may bee turned into vengeance So the higher the service the greater the danger As the servants of Abigail said to her Consider what you doe when evill was determined against them so consider what you doe when you come to the Sacrament you come to a weighty thing to that that will either set you neerer to the Kingdom of God or to hell and condemnation But I let this passe and come to the words themselves Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and
him he did not onely make an Arke but so hee made all the roomes so hee made it in the same forme and figure and in the same similitude just as the Lord set him downe the patterne even so did he So the Lord sets down the patterne of every good word and work of all our prayers and Sermons and hearing and conference and keeping the Sabbath and speaking holily all our actions have their patterne set downe in the word of God Now as wee are to doe the things so wee are to doe them in the same manner as the Lord commands even so must we doe Fiftly and lastly except we doe it in a right manner except as wee come to the duty so wee come to the right manner wee can never glorifie God The glory of God lies in the manner of doing of things So let your light shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Matth. 5.16 Mark the light must not shine onely in our lives and conversations but so that the duty must be a means to the glorifying of God Now the means must have its proportion and likenesse and nature and mold and frame from the nature of the end Look how the end is that the dutie lookes unto so must the frame and fashion of the duty be Now if the end of all our actions be that God may be glorified that must put a forme and fashion upon every duty that it may be so that he may have glory Suppose a man pray every day in his family and call all his houshold his servants and wife and children and all under his roof about him every morning and evening he may dishonour God by prayer every day on this fashion if a man pray coldly and carelesly for forme and fashion without faith and life he makes all the ordinance of God vile and all the worke of God contemptible his houshold sleeps one snorts it may be another is infinitely prophane it may bee and though there be divers that would fain be quickned and wakened yet his prayer is so cold there is no life nor heat nor warmth in it that God is exceedingly dishonoured and all are thereby rather worse then better So for a mans preaching though it be never so good a duty yet hee must labour to preach so as the Apostle speakes of his preaching and labour in the work of the Ministery how he may edifie others and save his own soule So fight I not as one that beats the â—ire but so as I may get the mastery We must so preach that we may attain the conversion of the people or else we may rather doe as Hophni and Phineas the sonnes of Fli that made the Table of the Lord contemptible and the Sacrifice of the Lord loathsome in the eyes of the people So may we do with the ordinance of God Take any duty of religion if it be not done aright God hath no glory by it Suppose thou wouldest reprove thy brother and tell him of his fault and check him for his backwardnesse or omâ—ssion of some duty and for the commission of some sinne if thou doe not doe it with a spirit of compassion and bowels of Jesus Christ with an humble heart with a feeling and a pure conscience I say thou gettest a blot to thy own selfe and causest God to be ill spoken of and the very way of his name to be dishonored This will be the effect of it and so in every other dutie And so I come to the use Is it so that we must not onely come to the Sacrament but come aright or doe any dutie but we must do it in a right manner This servs to condemne that naturall popery that is in mens hearts that is of opus operatum of the deed done this is the religion of the Church of Rome that so a man doe the duty indeed it is better if it bee done in a right manner but if it be done there is somewhat a man may look for by that If a man come to the Sacrament the very eating of the Host the very partaking of the body of Christ they make it meritorious so the very hearing of so many Sermons the very saying of so many prayers the very performanec of so many duties the very thing it self nakedly considered it is of some validity This is rooted in the hearts of men we see it up and downe people doe the duty and think all is well enough when they consider not how it is done People pray but not with zeale they heare but not with reverence People come to the Sacrament not for the better but for the worse they come not in a right manner and yet every one hopes to speed and builds himselfe on this that God accepts of him But this is the folly of mens hearts it is an evident argument that men goe foolishly to work in the wayes of God It is the brand of a foole not to be able to observe circumstances Aristotle the heathen hee saith it is the part of a wise man to think of and understand the manner of actions as a wise man saith he observes circumstances It is a part of wisdome to observe the right circumstances of every action as it is Ephes 5.15 Walke circumspectly that is accurately as it is in the originall not as fooles but as wise Marke hee perswades them to a right manner of walking not only to walk in a good course in praying and hearing in obedience and sobrietie in temperance faith and diligence in our callings but doe it accurately in a right manner doe it as wise men and not as fooles they doe it in a wrong manner It is the part of a foole I say to doe a thing and to leave the right manner of doing it Now this is nothing with God the Lord doth not esteeme any action though it bee never so frequently done except it bee done with his owne stamp except it have his owne character upon it I remember a story in 2 Kings 17.26 The Assyrians there observed that God sent Lions among them because they did not observe the right manner of the God of Israel they worshipped the God of Israel but because they observed not the right Manner of his word hee sent Lyons among them to teare and devoure them in pieces So though wee pray and heare and read and professe and have a name that wee live and though we be taken for good people heap up duties from day to day and vie performances and though we doe them as many times as the children of God nay though we could do them ten thousands times oftner then they yet if we doe them not in a rightmanner if wee know not the manner of the God of heaven and earth with humble hearts and selfe-denying spirits with holinesse of affection and with puritie of heart if a man doe them not in a right manner the
then he will prevent the mischeif a man is guilty of bodily murther but thou art guilty of the soule of thy brother if thou let him fall into sin Thou thinkest thy brother is harsh he will not bear with thee he is hasty and testy no thou art in an error That man that hates reproof erreth saith Solomon Indeed a man should not be too sharp but first tell his brother in private that he is in an error for reproof is a means of grace it flowes from great love it is the providence of God that hath cast it about that thou shouldest have reproof given thee if thou have a heart to take it it is an argument of love Another reason is taken from the primary end of reproof which is to bring a man to good to reduce him into a right way to convert a man to save his soule that is the primary end of reproof and admonition therefore to go on in sinnes contrary to it must needs be a great evill As Solomon brings in the wisdome of the Father Jesus Christ calling upon people O yee fooles how long will yee love folly turn at my reproof Mark what followes to what end I will poure my spirit on you There is the end he tells them O yee fooles wretched people without understanding that go on in sinne and harden your owne hearts that repent not nor turne not to God that will not submit to his wisdome nor imbrace his word yee fooles that wrong your own souls oh turne at my reproof Why This is the reason that God reproves a man on this fashion it is that a man may have the Spirit of God granted him If thou have an eare to heare reproof and a heart to drink it in and to weare it as a crown of gold on thy head and as a chain about thy neck thou shouldest have the Spirit of God for thy labour the Lord reproves thee that thou mightest return back and have his Spirit and have mercie and forgivenesse This is all the ill will that Gods Ministers beare thee and all the hatred that reprovers shew when they tell thee of thy sinnes whatsoever they be that they may stop thy steps from going downe to Hell When the Lord sends thee Sermon upon Sermon Preacher after Preacher thou art called on day by day as you here in this place This is the infinite goodnesse of God toward your souls therefore your sinne is infinite great if you do not amend as the wise man saith He that hates reproof shall surely die Prov. 15.10 there is no remedy for that man that man that puts off repentance God reproves him from day to day on the Sabbath day and on the week dayes hee goes to this man and there he is reproved and to another and there he is reproved and yet he goes on in this deadnesse and formality in the ordinances of God that man shall surely die there is no remedy he sins against the infinite mercie of God Thirdly there is no reason in the world why reproofe should be taked otherwise then with all willingnesse and thankfulnesse and chearfulnesse If a man have but the reason of a man in him he must needs take reproof in good part he must be a beast that doth not judge well of him that reproves him There is an excellent place Prov. 12.1 He that puts off reproof is brutish he that hates reproof is a brute that man hath no reason in him Art thou a swearer and art reproved for it thy brother tells thee thou wilt be damned for it Doest thou chafe at that man thou art a beast thou hast no more understanding then an Ox or an Asse As it is with a horse when the Ostler comes to rub him he kicks with the heel when he only beats off the dirt he lifts up his hinder legge on him and it may be wounds him so thou hast no more understanding then a beast that finds fault with one that reproves thee for thy sins So that whatsoever thy sin be he that tells thee of it there is no reason in the world but he should be a dear man to thee Me thinks of all men under heaven godly Ministers that are faithfull in their place and calling should be the dearest men to you upon the face of the earth Why because they reprove you and tell you of your sins and what will become of your souls what will be the issue and Catastrophe of all your wayes You that come to Church every day may read a Lecture in the Word of God what will be your doom at the last day you are told of your pride and adultery of your whoredome and oaths carnall Gospellers of their secure and carnall condition and common professors of their formality and other lusts that men are given to you are told of all I say the feet of Gods messengers should be beautifull you should hug the messengers and put their reproofs in your bosomes and let them have power and efficacie on your souls and go and put them in practice The Use of this is First is it so that it is the infinite mercie of God to reprove men of their sinnes to tell them of whatsoever is amisse in their hearts and lives let me tell you First see here what an infinite punishment God is bringing upon that Kingdome when hee is taking away reprovers from them when God takes away reprovers he takes away all mercie and loving kindnesse Therefore God when he threatned to deliver up Judah to curse that Kingdome to plague them for their rebellion and utterly to give them over he saith he will take away the reprover saith hee to the Prophet Thou shalt be dumb and not open thy mouth thou shalt not be a reprover to this people Ezek. 3.26 When the Lord would curse that people and bind them over to a reprobate sense and deliver them to wrath the Prophet shall not be a reprover he silences the Prophet Or as Piscator thinks the anger of God silenced him or confined him to his house that he should not prophesie So when God silences his Ministers that he takes them from a place or threatens to take them away it is a signe of heavie vengeance toward such a people It may be wicked people laughed at them and made it a matter of nothing they were glad that Ezekiels mouth was gagged and it were no matter if the countrey were rid of a company of Puritans though they had no such word then they had as bad they think all is well but the time will come that they will curse the day that ever they provoked God to take away their Ministers we enjoy them by the mercie of God other places have lost them God knows how soon wee may lose ours In Hosea 4.4 the Lord there when he would set out the desperate estate of the children of Ephraim he delivers them up to such a state and condition