or Devils Oh bless God for Faith even ye of little Faith at its first entrance it gives your soul a lift from heaven to earth There it lists your names no longer men of this world but henceforth Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God there it hath laid you up an Inheritance and thence it brings you your maintenance thither it turns your eyes and all your streams it shews you what you have there and by those beams it draws you up thither Those to whom it shews the least of that glory it shews enough to disgrace the glory of the world and as this Sun-light grows so doth all the beauty of the world fade and vanish out of sight By Faith our conversation is in heaven Now by how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts are there by how much the more our hearts are in heaven by so much the less on earth and when once the world hath lost our love it hath lost its power over us 1. By how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts and affections are there we ordinarily love to be where we use to be No such damp grows upon affection as by distance and estrangement when we loose our acquaintance we loose our delight in God Acquaint thy self with him and be at peace Joh 22. 21. Acquaint thy self with him and be in love there wants nothing to fix our affections on heaven but being better acquainted there Intimacy begets dearness Do you not love God t is a sign you have had little to do with him Is not your delight in Heaven t is a sign you are seldome there Is prayer and holy meditation and exercising your selves in the Scriptures and attendance on ordinances a weariness and altogether unpleasant to you sure you have little known what the spirit of Prayer and Communion with God in his word and ordinances mean those whose Souls dwell by the wells of salvation and often let down the bucket do taste that the waters thereof are sweet they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thine house and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of life Psal 36. Those that walking closely with God do dwell in the secret of his presence under the sweet dewes and influences of his grace the business of whose life is to behold and love and serve the Lord their hearts have found such rest there that they can find no rest elswhere 2. By how much the more our hearts are in Heaven by so much the less are they on earth worldly professours have all their religion in their mouths there 's little within whatever they talk If any man love the world the love of the father is not in aim If any man love the Father the love of the world ceases Heaven and Hell may meet as well as Heaven and Earth in the same heart Set your affections on things above and not on the earth on both you cannot your bodies as easily as your Souls may dwell in Heaven and Earth together You use to say I cannot be here and there too no sure enough you cannot whilest your Souls are the inhabitants of this they are exiles from the other world and when they have their dwelling in Heaven they are but strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth this world hath lost your hearts when God hath gain'd them 3. When once the world hath lost our hearts it hath lost its power over us who will be entic'd by what he hates or slights God and the world rule both by love If God hath our love he hath the command of all that ever we have if we love the world what can it not do with us whither can it not lead us If the world hath lost our love it were even as good lay down its weapons and let us alone let them follow God let them be holy let them to Heaven their hearts are gone and there 's no holding them back It may still hang in their heels and retard their motion Heaven-ward but their hearts being gone thither their main course will bend it self 6. Faith gives assurance of this better inheritance Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen It is an evidence not only that there is another world and a better world then this and that this better state may be obbtaind that there is an entrance into the everlasting Kingdom possible that these mortals may be clothed with immortality that these corruptibles may put on incorruption and these poor worms that creep on the dust may get them wings and fly away hence into everlasting bliss but it is also an evidence that all this shall be that there shall be a performance of all those glorious things which God hath spoken concerning his Saints Blessed is he that hath believed for there shall be a performance of all that hath been told him Luk. 1. 45. Faith hath taken bond for performance The Almighty God hath bound himself to us and lest through unbelief we should stick at taking his single bond he hath given security hath brought in his Son and heir the Lord Jesus Christ to stand bound with him Faith hath taken this bond and having it self sealed to the Articles or conditions on our parts upon the performance whereof the inheritance stands sure to us upon the greatest security that Heaven and Earth can give it keeps it by it and hath it ready to produce upon all occasions to stop the clamours of unbelief The Covenant of God that 's our security The Almighties bond and articles wherein he hath made over all that ever he hath by an immutable and irrevocable deed to his Saints Heb. 6. 17 18. Nay more Faith will shew a believer his own name in this deed If it can but shew it self to us can make it evident that it is what it is the Faith of Gods elect if it does but once appear that we do sincerely believe it therein shews us our names in the promise of God To say to any one that knows he believes to say to him He that believeth shall be saved is fully as much as if it had been said to him by name Thou O man even thou shalt be saved thy name is written in the book of life Unbelief will be staggering at the promise and will call in question all that the Lord God hath said And when this world comes upon us and tempts us opens its pack and shews us its wares and offers us our choice of whatsoever will please us Take it saies unbelief make sure of something let not go such penniworths they may be the best thou art ever like to have Mayst thou be rich mayst thou live in pleasure and in honour here Be not such a fool as to neglect thy self for a conceit of some strange
it is chiefly because their Victory over the world is not perfect and compleat There are three grounds of mens unwillingness to die 1. From a natural abhorrence of death 2. From a lothness to part with their treasure here 3. From an uncertainty whither they shall go when they go hence 1. From that abhorrence of death which is implanted in the natures of all living And upon this account there may be even in the best of Saints an unwillingness to die Our Lord himself who was without sin discovers something of it when he cried out Matth. 26. 39. Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me It s true in his case there was more in it there was wrath in the Cup there was a curse in the Cup there were all the sins of the World wrung in to mingle him a bitter draught but this was also something of it there was death in the Cup. He that said a little before Luke 12. 50. I have a Baptisme to be baptized with this Baptisme of Bloud was it and how am I straitned till it be accomplished I think long ere that day come yet when it came his Innocent Nature you see how it was put to it Christians you that seem to have triumph'd over the fears of death that upon good grounds have said unto it in the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 55. Death where is thy sting grave where is thy victory yet when it comes to it in earnest you know not how this flesh may shrink and if it do yet be not discouraged possibly this very instance of our Lord may be left upon Record to this very end to comfort his Saints when they shall be thus troubled It will be your wisdome to whatever confidence you are arrived that your death is already swallowed up in victory that you shall entertain your dying day as the most joyful day of your life though in this confidence your hearts pant after the approach of that day Make haste my beloved come Lord Jesus yet will it be your wisdome to buckle on all your armour all your hopes all your graces all your evidences all your experiences and comforts and to expect that the conflict of that day may be such as may need your utmost preparations for it 2. From a lothness to part with their treasure here What men have they cannot carry it with them and they are loth to leave it behind them When men die can they carry their money with them can they carry their houses or Lands with them they covet they purchase they build they lay up with so much care and zeal as if they could ship over all they have into the other world but yet they know that as they came naked in so naked they must go out of this world Job 1. 21. But now a Christian that hath Conquered the World the World from thenceforth ceases to be his treasure A Worldling what he has here 't is his treasure for 't is all he has God is a treasure but he 's none of his Christ is a treasure but he 's none of his heaven is a treasure but man 't is none of thine this earth is all thou hast a Christian hath another treasure he hath not his hopes in his hand that 's to come But yet in regard we have hitherto conquered but in part there may be some unwillingness upon this account also even in the Saints to die-Woe to us there are still such remains of the spirit of this world in us our hearts are still carnal to such a degree so suited to an earthly and fleshly life taking such large allowances of our fleshly delights and finding such pleasure in the enjoyment of them that this makes us linger and hang back when God calls away And indeed such Christians who indulge themselves the pleasures of the flesh and are overgrown with an earthly mind is not this the case of too many such Christians do but deceive themselves and others while they say they are willing to die Thou saist if I were sure that Christ were mine I would not care to live a day longer I want assurance and that 's the only reason I would yet a while longer abide in this Tabernacle No no there 's something more in the matter the world hath still such hold of thy heart thou findest such pleasure in an earthly life thy friends and thy estate and thy contentment thou hast herein are so taking with thee that yet thou canst not find in thine heart to part Search Christians narrowly if you find not the matter to be thus with you I never look to be more willing to die till I find mine heart more loose from the pleasure of an earthly life 'T is the mortified Christian he whose soul is already dead to this world who is ready to die out of this world Those who live most with God whose souls being weaned from this milk and honey can keep their distance from it whose self-denying course hath made the pleasures of the flesh to loose their gratefulness to them whom their communion with God their converse with Eternity their delightful fore-views of the pleasures above have already carried up their hearts these are the Christians that are ready to be gone I will believe such an one that he is in earnest when he sayes Make hast my beloved 3. From an uncertainty whither they shall go when they go hence what world they shall find when they leave this Upon this ground I cannot blame worldlings to be afraid to die art thou afraid thou mayst well enough for whither will thy death carry thee O the Lord knows I know not whither nor where it will lay me Dost thou not know whither death will carry thee thou mayst be sure into no good place if it find thee thus Captives to the world are Captives to the Devil and whither will the Devil carry his prisoners Who would be willing to leave his Country his habitation and acquaintance for an unknown Land especially when he had a jealousie he should be sold for a Bondman Is this thy case Worldling I wonder not that thou sayest It s better to abide here A Christian may know whither he is going when he goes hence 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens And hence sayes the Apostle v. 2. We groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven Whatever our dwelling be here we know where we shall have a better when this fails we groan not under the ruines of this but in hopes of a better building earnestly desiring that joyful day It s true Christians may be at some uncertainty through the weakness of their faith and in doubts what their place and portion hereafter may be and therefore also may fear to be gone But however upon
withholding us from Christ Christ comes to bring us back unto the Father 1 Pet. 3. 18. to reduce us to our duty and restore us to our happiness The world that withdraws us from God withholds us from Christ Particularly It holds us back from coming to Christ It holds us in from following of Christ 1. It holds us back from coming to Christ And this it doth by these four means By Darkning our sight Deadning our sense Hanging upon our hearts and about our necks Furnishing us with excuses 1. By darkning the sight that we cannot see either the excellency or the necessity of Christ Christ draws on Souls to him by love and fear First he frights us in by presenting the danger and misery that is falling upon us and we cannot escape if we stand out Look to thy self Sinner this world will betray thee to thy ruine thy pleasures are thy traitors thy carnal friends are thy traitors thy estate is thy traitor they are feasting thee and feeding thee but t is for the day of slaughter the butcher the butcher of souls is near thee into whose hands they are betraying thee they seek thy life thou art but a dead man death is already feeding upon thee the curse of God doth already cleave to thee and is ready to fall upon thee in its full weight thou wilt be devoured thou wilt be swallowed up ere thou art aware come away come to me and thou shalt be safe this house is falling on thine head escape for thy life the avenger of blood is at thy heels flee to the City of refuge I am thy City of refuge come unto me Thus he provokes by fear And this is such an argument to drive Souls into Christ as a clap of thunder or a storm of hail is to the Traviler to hasten him to shelter Then Christ draws by love presents himself and his salvation to the Soul displayes all his beautie and excellencies before it opens the Gospel wherein his grace and his glory appear and shine forth the Gospel is sent down full of Christ there are all the treasures and unsearchable riches of Christ and all held forth in open sight to invite sinners unto him Now the world dashes all this that it workes nothing on the Soul by blinding the eye that it cannot see what Christ sets before it what is either beauty or blackness to the blind soul 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which beleive not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them We are naturally born blind and if our eyes begin a little to be opened this earth is thrown as dust in our eyes that we may not see what 's before us The things of this world as the Moon interposed causeth an eclipse in our souls that we cannot see the Sun we cannot discern either light or darkness either the light of the glorious Gospel or the darkness of the Pitt either our hopes or our dangers this earth keeps both Heaven and Hell out of sight The things of the world should be a glass wherein we may behold the glory of the Lord we may see God in every creature The Heavens declare the glory of God Psal 19. 1. And so doth the earth also and all that is therein but that which God made a glass in which we might see his glory the Divel makes a cloud to take God out of sight what God made a window to let in the light the Divel makes a shut to keep it out Worldly men fix and terminate their eyes in worldly things they can neither look besides them nor through them It is not with them according to the course of nature The Sun dazles mens eyes that they cannot see the Earth but the quite contrary The Earth dazles their eyes that they cannot see the Sun Men usually carry their eyes in their hearts they will not look but where they love or if they should look heavenward yet they could not see the earth hath dazled their eyes Sinners take heed of these riches take heed of these pleasures these substances and these shadowes which your hearts are set upon they will not only be as clogs to keep you down from ascending heavenward but as clouds to hinder you from looking thither It may be they appear as bright clouds but a bright cloud will hide the Sun out of sight as well as a black 2. By deadning the sense they can neither see nor feel they see not the excellency nor can feel their need of Christ who are drunken with these worldly vanities they who altogether live by sense are without sense of any but the present things they can make a shift to live without Christ the less of Christ the better for their turns Christ and the things of Christ are the only things that stand in their way are their way to poverty not to wealth to reproach and shame not to honour they can well enough want Christ while they live but what need they may have of him after this life that enters not into their hearts they are so busy with what they find here that they look not so far as the grave much less beyond it 'T is hard dealing with such hearts but when you find them alone retired and withdrawn from the world and how long may we wait ere we meet with such a season find them in a croud among their carnal friends and companions find them among their Sheep or Oxen or at their pleasures and the noise of these will so drown all that can be said that its like to make as deep impression as a showre upon a stone cry out in their eares fire fire throw Death and Hell in their faces it moves them not so much as to draw forth such a question What may I do to escape We never will come to Christ till we see we need him and we never see our need of Christ till being withdrawn from the hurries of this World we have leisure to sit down and consider How seldom do carnal hearts ask What use is there of Christ wherefore is he come what want would there be of him if there were no Christ If God that spared not his Son but gave him a ransome for the world had spared all this cost it had been all one to them they could have liv'd as merrily and as plentifully here however and that 's all they mind or regard Or if they have any sense of their need of Christ at all it is so little that it will do nothing to the perswading them after him the wound is not so deep but the name of a Saviour will skin it over Seldome does it rise so high as to wring out such a serious question What may I do that Christ may be mine How many Houses and Markets and Shops and Companies may we come into ere we hear any such question Go into the
once found out she quickly spoil'd him of it and delivered him a captive to his enemies find out the strength of the World what it is and wherein it lyes and then you will understand your way to the conquering of it But where lyes this strength of the World I answer In The Spirit of the World within us In the God of the World without us 1. In the spirit of the world within the world hath a strong party within man which sides with it 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God we have not we who have that spirit of God in us have not received the spirit of this world but all others have no other spirit In the whole generation of worldly men there is the same spirit as in the whole generation of the Saints there is the same divine spirit the same spirit of grace the same spirit of faith the same spirit of love the same holy spirit So in all the men of this world there is the same worldly spirit The spirit of this world is an earthly Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 47. the first man is of the earth earthy in his creation he had an earthy body and by sin he is come to have an earthy Soul Sin was his fall from Heaven to Earth as in his choice he made for himself he chose an earthly inheritance so in his temper and disposition and tendency his very nature now inclines and bends towards earthly things his Soul as well as his Body lusts after and feeds upon dust The spirit of the World is a short sighted spirit it cannot see afarr off 2 Pet. 19. Heavenly things are too far distant to be discerned by it it loves and gapes for and grasps things present things to come are far out of its sight The spirit of the world is a low and narrow spirit these poor and beggerly things that this earth affords are the highest of its ambition Seekest thou great things for thy self Yes I do what worldly greatness are these the great things thou seekest a great name a great estate great possessions thou mistakest thy self man these great things are but small things below the spirit of a man below a divine and immortal Soul meat and drink and mirth and money are these the best things thou findest for thy heart to be set upon for thy soul to take pleasure in sure thou hast changed Souls with the bruits that canst take up with such things as these The Spirit of the World is an homebred spirit it hath never been abroad but hath been born and bred in this worldly region it hath never set foot nor been acquainted in a better land the spirit which is of God carries up to the upper regions the regions of light and life and glory and immortality where it hath made discoveries of other manner of treasures and joyes and glories then are here to be found but the spirit of the world hath ever dwelt at home the souls of worldlings dwell in their houses of clay and never travail farther then they can with the snail carry their houses upon their heads their Souls travail no farther then their carkases This Spirit of the World by what hath been hinted of the make and temper of it you see hath a suitableness to worldly things and this is the great advantage the World hath upon us it tempts us to that we love and like all that the World perswades us to is to seek what we have a mind to to do what we have a mind to to follow our natures and dispositions to find out what will best please us and there to take our fill The difficulty of Christs victory over Souls lyes in this that he calls and commands them to things and to wayes contrary to their natures not to please but to deny themselves to kill their Flesh to cross their appetites to contradict their own mind to pursue an happiness which is so sublime and spiritual and so unsuitable to their carnal natures that it is altogether unsavory to them and hereupon he hath hard work to prevail and t is but here and there one amongst many that will be prevailed upon to hearken to him to how many houses may we come to how many souls may we bring the everlasting Gospel ere one will open and accept how many are call'd to Christ to one that comes O brethren you are witness how hardly any of your souls were perswaded to come along with Christ and may be some of you stand off and hang back and will not be perswaded to come fully in to this day What 's the reason of this Oh carnal men think that Christ calls them to their loss perswades them to their hurt that they have a better being whilest they are wallowing in their riches and their pleasures then ever they should find in following of Christ But now the advantage that the world hath on Souls is that it tempts them to things pleasing to them their natures joyn with the world and draw them the same way Whilest Christ calls if any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me this is all the world requires if any man will be my servant let him seek himself and shift for himself and please himself and shun the cross and follow his own heart and what great difficulty is there to perswade men to follow their own minds when worldly temptations meet with worldly spirits when temptations to pride meet with proud hearts when temptations to pleasure meet with flesh-pleasing hearts when temptations to vanity meet with vain hearts when temptations to covetousness meet with covetous hearts how mightily must they needs prevail From this suitableness of the spirit to worldly things it doth Readily take in of the World Greedily make out after the World 1. It doth readily take in of the World the world never knocks but the heart opens the world never offers but the hand is ready to receive yea though the terms upon which we must have it be never so unreasonable though for every draught of pleasure they must after drink the double in wormwood though with the gains of the world they must drink in a curse yet like men in a dropsie though to drink will be death their thirst must be quenched It may be when the world is a tempting the Soul conscience stands by and gives it warning take heed of these pleasures ther 's poyson in that cup or ther 's wormwood at the bottome take heed of these deceitful riches ther 's a snare lies under there 's a curse cleaves to them look to thy self Soul the world is but a playing the Devil with thee these pleasures and these riches it hath sent to fetch away thy Soul it holds thee so busy about thine earthly affairs that thou mayest the mean while loose the opportunity of making Christ thine of making the
of the world lives in you Oh have you been so long professours of Christianity and have not yet gotten the Spirit of Christianity Is this the Spirit of Christ that leads you on in an earthly course did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to be such drudges to the world did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to plow and sow and buy and sell and hoord up treasures on earth what are your thoughts your designs your courses your ordinary talk and discourse what is it but earth earth are these the thoughts the wayes the language of the Spirit can any one that beholds our conversation that in the general bent and tenour of it is all about the world and but now and then a cold wish or a few heartless words about the things of God can any man that beholds us say I these are the persons that are dead to the world that are crucified that are mortified to things below these are they that have received the spirit of Christ indeed these speak like Christians and look like Christians and live like Christians like men of another world can it be said thus of us can we say thus of our selves my life is a spiritual life my course is an heavenly course my steps are all bending to another countrey can we say thus would not our daily course our daily discourse give us the lye if we should Oh we are yet of an earthly sensual Spirit the Spirit of this world is yet bearing rule in us our very Soul is but a lump of earth and flesh Oh for another Spirit a new Soul a more divine and cellestial frame O seek O wait for this better Spirit and then we should quickly see another life once let the world be thrust out of the heart and we shall quickly see more of Heaven breaking forth in the life 2. The strength of the world lyes in the God of this world Sathan gives strength to and marshals its temptations so as that the success of them depends much on him this he he doth 1. By over rating the good things present and underrating the good things to come 2. By sharpning the edge of the evil things present and blunting the edge of the evil things to come 3. By an active stimulating and provoking the Soul on any terms whaatsoever to pursue the present good and to escape the present evil 1. By over rating the good things present and under rating the good things to come He that looks on the world through the Devils glass shall see it double to what it is he gives the same prospect to us as he did to our Lord Matth. 4. 2. shews it in its Glory every Comet Shines as the Sun he makes the silver as gold the brass as silver stones as iron every thing hath a borrowed face and looks better then it is The Apple whereby he tempted our first parents Gen. 3. 5. he makes a deifying Apple In the day that you eat your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Sathans design is to blind and put out mens eyes knowing that they can never see the terrene glory till their eyes be out but his pretence is to open eyes to make such discoveries of the hidden excellencies in these earthly treasures as will transfigure Earth into an Heaven He presents the world as that which hath substance sufficiency contentment hearts ease satisfaction in it he sayes to his friends as the Lord sayes to his Prov. 8. 17. c. I love them that love me and them that seek me early shall find me riches and honours are with me yea durable riches and righteousness I will cause those that love me to find substance and I will fill their treasures thus the Lord speaks to his and the Devil gives the world a tongue to speak at the same rate I love them that love me I have riches and honours durable riches and I will fill them with treasures And as the world speaks so worldlings think it cannot boast greater things of it self then will be believed Hos 12. 8. I am become rich sayes Ephraim I have found me out substance the shadow is a substance in those eyes that see no better things Hence these things are taken up by the men of this world as their portion as their heritage as their happiness and hope thou givest them their portion in this life Psal 17. and they take them as their portion and now Lord what wait I for saith the Psalmist my hope is in thee and now world what wait I for what work I for what live I for truly my hope is in thee the worldling sayes God is my portion and in a sense he says true for the world is his God And on the other side as Sathan over rates this so he under rates the other world 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of of God should shine unto them The Gospel is a window through which the light and glory of the other world breaks in and shines down upon this here the pretended opener of eyes smites with blindness by a vail of unbelief he keeps the Gospel and all the glory of it out of sight unbelief gives the lye to all that the Gospel speaks calls all into question holds under uncertainties whether there be any such thing or no and what 's doubtful and uncertain whether it be or no will be vallewed there after What a low price do carnal hearts put upon the deep things of God upon the great things of eternity Glory and honour and immortality and eternal life what cheap things are they accounted whilest soul and conscience and peace and hopes and life are so ordinarily sold to purchase an earthly inheritance that 's the bargain that every where is driving in this earth how few are there that will deal for Heaven and Glory though it may be bought without mony and without price though it may be had for the seeking for though it be bought to their hands yet they will not take it Now what advantage is this to wordly temptations when the price of things to come is so beaten down when the price of things present is so hoised and raised as if the one could hardly be over-bought and the other were scarce worth the dealing for 2. By sharpening the edge of present evils and blunting the edge of evils to come The afflictions of this life are made to cut deeper than the vengeance to come The persecutions of men are more feared than the Plague of God Satan makes his Vassals to think there is no Heaven or Hell to those on Earth Poverty looks more dismally than eternal Fire Disgrace than Damnation the Wrath of man than the Cnrse of God Let Death and Damnation be preached to the World and this stirs them
things thou knowest not what thou mayst find hereafter Who can tell what there is in another world whether there be any other state of blessedness then what our eyes do see But grant there be such an happy state what may this be to thee God knows whether ever thou mayst be the better for 't when thou hast done all thou canst and lost all thou hast and left thy self a poor and miserable and forlorn wretch an abject an exile from all thy comforts and contentments after all this thou mayst never come to Heaven at last foolish man loose not a certainty for an uncertainty know when thou art well and keep what thou hast what thou hast thou art sure of thine house is thine own thy estate is thine own thy friends and thy pleasures and thy liberties do not thine eyes see them dost thou not tast that they are good here thou hast something but what thou mayst have heareafter who can tell And what can a poor Soul answer to such temptations that 's held under unbelief I confess there 's no great wisdom in losing certainties for uncertainties I see I have something here and if I were sure it should be so well with me hereafter I could be content to venture all I have to follow Christ naked to follow holiness even to bonds imprisonment and death But what if there should be no such thing as Heaven or I should never come there But now Faith will reply what are thy good things thou countest so sure to thee what but vanity and vexation but were they better then they are and worth what thou countest them what is the assurance thou hast of them for how long are they thine for how many years for how many dayes what thine eye sees to day where may it all be by to morrow or suppose the most thou canst thou canst have but a lease of life in them when thou diest thy estate dies thy pleasures die thy friends dye to thee and here 's the assurance thou boastest of at present thou hast something that pleases thee and may be they may last for an hour or two longer or for a few dayes more but to be sure after a few years at utmost they will be gone and thou must know them no more This is thy assurance But is Heaven no more sure then this Is that enduring substance like these transient shadows can stability be removed or eternity expire or if the doubt be whether ever thou shalt obtain this blessed state what hath God said He that beleiveth shall be saved Is it uncertain whether God be true Hath God help'd me to beleive and therein told me I shall be saved and shall I yet question whether I shall or no At least this is sure beyond all contradiction Heaven may be had thou shalt certainly be saved if it be not thine own fault if thou wilt thou mayst The Gospel is a mockery if this be not true it apparently offers life to all that will and therefore to thee amongst the rest Rev. 22. 17. The Spirit and the bride say come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely there is this only uncertainty now remaining It s a question whether thou wilt or not If thou wilt thou mayst Now when a Soul is brought to this much more when a beleiver understanding that he beleives can read his own name in the book of life then let the world try its skill what an hard task will it have before it Come change thy God and thy glory for that which profiteth not forsake the fountain of living waters for these broken Cisterns purchase the pleasures of time with the loss of Eternity Come let the other world go what wilt thou give me then why what ever thine heart desires of all that thine eyes do see No no deceitful world I have better things then these and I will now use thine own words I will not loose a certainty for uncertainties God is mine but after a few dayes whose shall these things be that thou offerest me I mean not to be so put off as to take mine Heaven on Earth Let this earth be my prison my purgatory my Hell rather then my Heaven my life is bought into that eternal inheritance reserved in Heaven for me and I will not sell mine inheritance V. The Conquest of Faith over this conflicting world this I shall dispatch in shewing 1. How far forth or in what sence every believer hath overcome the world 2. Wherein the victory stands 1. How far forth or in what sence every believer hath overcome the world this in 4 particulars 1. He is actually interess'd in Christs victory 2. He is radically indued with Christs conquering power 3. He hath actually broken the head design of the world 4. He is effectually marching on in the pursuit of the victory 1. He is actually interess'd in Christs victory he hath overcome in capite a believer is in Christ and as such whatsoever Christ hath done as redeemer of the world is his and for him Joh. 16. 33. aforementioned Be ye of good comfort I have overcome the world Christs victory is a believers security I have overcome be ye of good comfort why what comfort is that to us If an unbeliever had ask'd what comfort is that to me it must have been answer'd none at all whilest thou continuest in unbelief thou hast no part in Christ nor art like to reap any profit by him while he is a conquerour thou art a captive still its lusts fetter thee its thorns choke thee its pollutions cleave to thee thou art at present and thou mayst dye a worldling and from this temporal it may carry thee down to an eternal bondage But if it be ask'd what comfort is it to a believer that Christ hath overcome its great comfort In him thou hast overcome his victory is thy victory Christ saies to thee not only as Joh. 14. 19. because I live ye shall live also because I have overcome ye shall overcome but because I have overcome ye have overcome 1 Joh. 4. 4. ye are of God little children and have overcome 2. He is radically endued with Christs conquering power he hath overcome in causa he hath that within him which will be the death of his enemies he is not only interess'd in Christ and what he hath done but Christ is in him the spirit of Christ which is the power of the living God is in him He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Rom. 8. 9. The same power by which Christ overcame is already communicated to the Soul of a believer and thence may he be said to have already conquered because he hath received that spirit of power which will certainly work for him the victory What can a living child new born do He is as weak as water he cannot speak he cannot stand he cannot conquer a flea but what may not this child do when he
the things of the world without placing our happiness in them The Supremacy of the world is founded in its apprehended sufficiency to bless us and make us happy Whilest we hold it our treasure we resign our selves to it as our Governour Mat. 6. 21. Where the treasure is there the heart will be also The heart will never dwell in or serve this world when it hath chosen another treasure the world can never hold the dominion of a Lord longer then it can hold the reputation of our God The soul will not be governed or commanded by it unless it be content to take it as its reward when the heart hath said to the Lord Thou art my portion it can say to the world Stand thou as my footstool when we neither promise our selves contentment in our expectations nor feel our selves at rest in our possessions of the world when the heart is fixed on an higher good and so strongly working upward that it will not be detained from the pursuit of it by any thing it either hath or hopes for here then the world is vanquished Now in this is included 1. Our making God our happiness It s vain for any man to say or think the world is not who cannot truly say The Lord is my happiness and Heritage It s natural to man to desire happiness and to pitch some where or other where he hopes 't is to be had what he apprehends to be the best of all he knows most suitable and most satisfactory to his desire and appetite there he fastens Worldly men that know no better promise to themselves a worldly happiness and here they fix and it is impossible for them to loosen hence till they discover and close with some higher good till God comes in the World will not out The Psalmist could never but have envied and Idolized the portion and prosperity of the ungodly had not God been his portion First he must say Whom have I in heaven but thee and then he can add There 's none in earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73. 2. The due limiting our desires after and moderating our delights in the things of this world and a subordination of them all to our great end If the world be not our happiness we shall love it and seek it thereafter The world if it be any thing to us it must be either our end or our means if God be our portion he is our end if God be our end the world ceases to be such two last ends no man can have till he have two souls if the world be not our end it must be either our means or nothing to us Our desires and delights are proportionable to our conceits of and our expectations from the objects of them that which is apprehended and accepted as our end is desired accordingly hath the stream and strength of the soul running out after it there it desires and loves without limit that which is apprehended only as a means is so far only amiable and desired as it subserves our end When ever the world ceases to be accounted our happiness it will necessarily be judg'd only as a means to it and thence will follow this limiting our worldly desires and moderating of our worldly delights we shall desire them no farther nor delight in them otherwise then as they are conducible to God 2. Victory over the world stands in a power to mannage our worldly affairs and businesses without the prejudice of our souls Psal 112. 5. He will guide his affairs with discretion and his discretion herein appears 1. That in the multitudes of the thoughts he hath in his heart and the businesses he hath in his hand he hath still an eye to the main He 's a discreet man that rightly understands and duly minds his great concernment the world must be minded the Plough must be followed the seed must be sown the Flocks must be kept the Oxen and the Asses must be cared for But what is the world to my soul what is my food to my life this must be chiefly look'd to that I perish not that I run not upon an eternal undoing that my soul may live and it may be well with me hereafter I must first seek the Kingdome of God and then let other things be minded as they may He that said Be diligent to know the state of thy flocks and to look well to thy herds Prov. 27. 23. said also with an Emphasis Deut. 4. 9. Only take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently above all keeping keep thy heart Prov. 4. 23. And therefore to this he hath a most special eye his eye looks most inwards it s well with me without or whether it be or no how is it within how goes the work of Faith and Repentance on how goes the work of Mortification and Sanctification on here he bestows his special labour in working out his salvation in laying up treasure in heaven I shall never count my self to prosper whilest my soul prospers not I shall never count my self a good husband whilest mine own Vineyard hath not been kept and I shall never count my self poor while I am growing rich unto God I shall never count my self an ill husband whilest I have been wise and busie for Eternity 2. That to this end he overcharges not pulls no more of business upon him then he can go through with without neglecting his soul though he must imploy himself yet he will not intangle himself in the affairs of this life 2 Tim. 2. 4. His Lord hath given him fair warning Luke 21. 34. Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with the cares of this life and he 's willing to take the warning He 's wary how he undertakes more business then God calls him to if God put him upon a more busie life and lays on a greater load of work or care upon him he chearfully sets his shoulders to it knowing that where God sets him on work he will be with him in the work and help him out but he would have no more to do then God sets him about Christians besides the Call of God there are too often other Masters call us to work 't is not seldome that mens lusts set them on work as their lusts call them off from work call them to play or to sleep or to be idle so sometimes also mens lusts call them to work Some mens pride sets them on work many an hard daies work they have to get something to maintain it Some mens prodigality sets them on work that they may have to spend on their throats their bellies or companions but most of all mens covetousness sets them on work this is an hard and cruel Master oh what a labourious weary life do such men live their life is a meer drudgery rising early going to bed late eating the bread of carefulness How many irons hath the covetous man in the fire how many cares how
the whole thus far forth every Believer is willing to die though he still feel a natural dread of death though by reason of the remainders of flesh he be too much taken with the pleasure of an earthly life and being at some uncertainty and under some doubts what his future estate after death may be he may linger and hang back yet were these doubts removed and were he grown to an assurance that whenever his soul looses from this body it should immediately be received into the Paradise of God he so much prefers a life with God in perfect holiness and blessedness above the most prosperous worldly life that though his flesh could wish a longer stay yet his spirit would be willing when ever the Lord calls to depart and be with Christ which is far better And according as the mortification of his flesh his Crucifixion to the world and his assurance of salvation grow more compleat and clear so is his willingness heightned into more earnest desires and longings Come Lord Jesus why doth my Lord delay his coming when Lord when shall this dust return to the earth and this spirit to God that gave it make haste my beloved and come away Oh Brethren what an argument is here to press you to put hard for this Victory over the World when the World is Conquered death is Conquered the fear of death ceases Would you be delivered from this fear would you not count it a mercy better then life to be bold to die arise then and buckle on your armour treat this world no longer as a friend but deal with it as an enemy watch against it fight against it and what day you prevail over it you have both won the field of all your doubts and fears Victory over this world is a sure evidence for heaven and got the Mastery of your carnal hearts which alone make death formidable or unwelcome Brethren death comes you know and it may be upon you on a sudden do you not perceive its approaches do we not some of us already feel our Tabernacles to totter do not the walls moulder the windows grow dim do not our pillars shake and grow weak under us you that are youngest and strongest do you not know that death may be at the door do you know what a day or a night may bring forth are you ready to be gone are you bold to go forth and meet this last Enemy or do you not shake and shrink at the very mention of it Be mortified once and then let death do its worst Give the Word leave to kill this world give the spirit leave to kill this flesh and then you may give death leave to do its office Consider whither ever you go you carry your life in your hand and know not whether ever you shall bring it back O think with your selves when you are going forth into the field think with your selves I carry my life in my hand and God knows whether ever I may return with it whether ever I may come home alive when you go into the house think with thy self God knows whether ever I may come abroad when you arise in the morning God knows whether my next lodging may not be in the dust when you lye down in the evening God knows where my soul may be before morning I may awaken in another world and what if I should awaken in flames and feel this soul wrapp'd up in a winding sheet of fire Is there no fear it may be so Hath this world kept me from Christ all my life long and will it let me to heaven at last hath it held me in Chains all my time here how will it use me when it carries me hence Are you ready to die how shall I die when this earth is still my treasure take away my Gods and what have I more How shall I die when my soul hangs in doubt whither must I when I go hence can I follow this grisly Messenger when I know not whither he will lead me let mine Enemy die first let sin and the World die let mine Enemy be dead and let him that liveth be my friend let me cease from this earth and let heaven be my treasure and then I shall be willing to be gone Be it thus with you Friends and then you will be ready to be offered up Whatever Executioner be now sent to take away your life if old age be sent if a disease a Fever or Consumption if a distast a fall or a fire or any the like casualties if a son of violence a thief or a murtherer whatever Executioner be sent to take away your life and when ever he comes whether in the first second or third Watch you will say with the Apostle The time of my departure is at hand I am ready to be offered up I desire to depart and to be with Christ Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation And now at length Behold the man Here is the Conquerour and this is his Victory He that is come unto Christ to whom the world hath ceased to be his treasure and he hath accepted of God as his happiness and Heritage the moderation of whose affections to things earthly doth evidence that they are now only his means not his end He that can mannage his worldly affairs without the prejudice of his soul that whatever his hand finds to do hath still an eye to the main that overcharges not with business but makes business leave room for duty that so cares for the Oxen and the Asses that he neglect not the souls of his sons or servants that in all his dealings hath a due respect to truth righteousness and mercy that will be true though to his own hindrance that will be poor rather then dishonest or unmerciful whom the whole world cannot hire to lye or be unrighteous He that can use the world to its proper end all for God he that can want the worlds good things or suffer the worlds evil things and can keep his heart and his way whether he prosper or suffer that can deny his flesh when he hath to satisfie it that can want and be content suffer and be patient that is humble in the height of honour magnanimous in the depth of danger and difficulty that keeps in an even equal poise sober temperate serious in all the turns and changes of his life He that can thus live in the world and can die out of the world that is willing to be gone this is the Conquerour and here is his victory Use 1. The application that I shall make of the whole shall be by way of Information and Conviction Direction and Exhortation 1. By way of Information and Conviction Learn from what hath been said 1. That every Captive to the World is an unbeliever 2. That where there is but little power over the World there is but little Faith 1. Every Captive to
mark is this they mind earthly things of them that are saved or of them that perish and is not this the most proper character that can be given of thee see and take more perfect knowledge of thy self canst thou not see hast thou received the Spirit and yet not so much light as to discern betwixt earth and Heaven Is the Lord divided and become contrary to himself do not his hand and his seal agree does his word write this man no child and is that his Spirit that calls thee a child of God once again see and compare the writings that in the word and that in thy heart and if the voice within thee be not according call it not the witness of the Spirit but the false witness of the Devil If thou wilt yet understand thy self no better it 's much to be feared thou wilt not there 's too much dust in thine eye for thee to see it If thou wilt not see it yet there it stands written upon thee in most legible characters a minder of earthly things whose end is destruction But beloved I am perswaded better things of you to whom I am now speaking even you of little faith though it may be of a great name yet with you also must I plead a while and tell you from the Lord that I have somewhat against you and oh were it but a little somewhat that I have to speak even against you but sure there is very much to be spoken unless you will save me the labour and speak against your selves So much may be said as if it be duly considered may take you down many rounds lower then you imagine your selves to have ascended how few of you that are risen with Christ but are too often letting your affections run down again to this earth who though you have really counted this earth but dung yet are too greedily gathering up this dung into your bosomes that have your hands full and your mouths full of this dung and much more then you are aware of it is still in your hearts that are not able to loose what you have accounted loss In whom though Christ may be really formed yet there appears little conformity to his life or death To whom though it hath been long since said Lazarus come forth yet to this day you have scarce gotten your heads above ground whose bellies creep upon the dust whilest your eyes and your hopes are in Heaven in whom there is such a mixture of flesh and Spirit that it 's hard to discern which hath the predominance whose hearts seem still so divided betwixt Christ and the world that no body that knows you can tell which hath the better part whose time and whose care and whose labour run out so much on things below that without some great charity it may be judg'd your hearts are there also And yet by some clearer insight into the mysteries of the Gospel by some affectionate intercourses with God in your secret recesses and retirements from the world by your serious heats and inlargements in your duties with others by some tastes and relishes of the pleasure of ordinances by some raptures of joy and the seeming serenity and uncloudiness of your spirits by not considering what abatement the carnality and earthliness of your course must necessarily make upon you are grown to an hope and opinion that you are the highly favoured of the Lord and his greatly beloved But do you not blush then at your unworthiness are you not ashamed that such love and such hopes should no more wean your hearts from these breasts of vanity from which you suck nothing but filth or froth that you should defile such an heavenly treasure by lodging it in such earthen vessels that you should so disgrace that divine portion which you count is yours as that it should not be enough for you but leave you as hungry as if you had no God nor hope in him that you should so disgrace your Fathers table by your unnatural appetite after coals and dirt Is your profession that God is your happiness your treasure your all Is your none but Christ come to more then this Hath your covenanting with God for renouncing the world mortifying your flesh denying your self brought forth no better fruits then these Oh the impudence and disingenuity of our hearts that can carry the conscience of such treachery before the Throne of Grace without shame and consternation how can you lift up your face before the Lord without hanging down the head Nay do you not fear that your hearts also have deceived you and that matters may not be so well with you as you sometimes conclude that your hopes are but delusory that your joys are but dreams and all your comforts are but the lying divinations and prophesies of your own deceived heart Is it out of question with you that you are risen with Christ and ascended with Christ when these hearts are gotten no further up out of their graves Believe it Christians the severities of Religion will be a surer testimony to you then all its suavities an humble patient contented self-denying mortified Christian under all his doubts and fears under all his complaints of darkness and deadness is fairer for heaven then you all Those are the joys of faith which spring up out of the ruines of carnal joys those are the genuine comforts and delights of the Saints that arise up out of the ashes of earthly delights those are the confidences of true believers which grow out of their contempt of the world then will the world think better of our Religion and then may we hope better of our selves when the joy of the Lord is our strength and the joys of the earth are strangers to us and despised by us Oh Brethren let us no longer dishonour our God nor delude our selves let not the world any longer say in our reproach these men are even as we Let them see that our ways are not as their ways that our joys are not as their joys and then they will know our hope is not as their hope our Rock is not as their Rock Children of the Kingdome if I may be bold to call you so where is the proof of your heavenly extract where is your fathers spirit how can you be patient with your selves whilest you are such degenerate plants how can you satisfie your selves that you are the genuine off-spring of God when so unlike your father how can you without weeping behold the glory of these later Temples to fall so far short of those that were in the Ages before us where is the primitive spirituality the mortification and self-denial of the primitive Christians how have the stars chang'd their Orbs from moving in the Celestial Spheres how seem they now to be fixed in the earth how can you count your selves Stars and not Comets when your highest elevation is seldome above the middle Region you hang betwixt heaven and earth We take
this flesh I am sick of this World these briars and thorns yea and these Lillies and Roses are a grief of mind to me I must have them out ere I can be at rest Make these thorns to scratch me these flowers to stink in my nostrils Beg a new heart beg a better spirit that may neither find pleasure nor so much as ease in such things as these Oh for mortification oh for a more raised spirit where is the life of faith where is the power of the Spirit help Lord help Lord a renewed heart a chaste spirit when shall it once be let not my soul be held any longer an adulteress from thee let not these husks be my meat these ashes be my bread this earth be my treasure while God stands by Let not Christ and my soul be kept strangers whilest I am the familiar of this flesh and the servant of vanity Plead with the Lord for relief Plead with him upon his own interest Who is it O Lord that 's must wronged whose right is it that 's most invaded whose am I Am I not thine Lord Is not my love and my labour and my strength and my time and my body and my soul is it not all thy right shall thine enemy command and carry away that which is thine recover recover thy due Take this heart and all that I have take possession Lord set thy name upon my door and suffer not these strangers to enter or encroach upon thy right Plead with him upon the bloud of his Covenant Whence is the Covenanted Redemption is it only from Hell is it not from lust also can it be from one if it be not from both a total redemption Lord an universal redemption from every Plague from every enemy I cannot escape the pit if I be held in the snare if I break not this outer I shall fall also into the inner Prison by the bloud of the Covenant send forth thy Prisoner out of this Prison What doth this bloud speak Doth it only say Deliver them from the pit for thou hast found a ransome Doth it not also say Whilest thou keepest them in the World keep them from the evil and will not God hear the cry of such bloud Cry unto the Lord. Be instant be importunate with him Try the strength of Prayer Be uncessant resolve against denyals Cry unto him day and night avenge me of mine adversary Rid my soul out of thraldom whilest thou livest give not over if thou wilt not thou shalt not be denyed Has thou gotten a little ground take the same way to maintain what thou hast gotten Does the Conquered World rally upon thee and do thy affections begin to stoop to it Pray them up again Doth thine heart begin again to wander after it Pray it in again Do thy corruptions and temptations begin to get head again and to prevail Pray them down again meet them with a Prayer at every turn The Lord rebuke thee false heart The Lord rebuke thee deceitful World The Lord uphold thee oppressed Soul Beloved your Victory over the World can neither be gotten nor maintained but by power from above T is God only that 's able to give battel to the flesh In vain do you engage unless he engage with you Prayer will set faith on work and faith will engage the promise and the promise will engage Christ with you and Christ will engage the Father to your help If Heaven be too hard for earth the World shall fall before a Praying soul Brethren will you take this counsel put it thus into every Prayer you make and if you find this to be your Great enemy Bend the main force of every Prayer against it Fight neither against small nor great in comparison but against this King of Evils This is the great Thief Lord that meets me at every turn and is robbing me every day that robs the Lord of his due and my Soul of its peace this is the Moth that eats out all my Strength this is the Murtherer that kills my Soul O let this Strong be bowed down this is the Heir kill him and the Inheritance shall be mine And when ever you have made your prayer judge of the acceptance of it by the success it hath on this Adversary When at any time you have found your souls most melted and inlarged in prayer and greatliest refreshed by sensible illapses and incoms from above at such a time presently return into your heart and demand But how goes it now with the interest of the World in me How stands my heart now affected to my carnal things am I weaned Is my clog fallen off What hath my flesh lost by what my spirit seems to have gained What hath my earthly-mindedness my covetousness lost in this prayer Can I now go away and be contented and be patient in any condition hath this Divine warmth left a chill upon my fleshly appetite can I the better want the Quails now I have tasted of the Manna am I less careful and less concerned which way the World goes with me or can I go down presently into my shop or forth into my fields and be as hungry and as much swallowed up of my earthly cares and delights as if I had never tasted any thing of God Can I so Oh this is not the Prayer I took it to be I may not sit down by this I must to my knees again to my God again and again while I live I will not give over thus I will wrestle I will wait I will enquire to day to morrow next day after every prayer Is it yet better yet more mortified yet more weaned Yet more humble and contented I can never I will never satisfie my self with any praying with any answer whilst my flesh thus holds up its head This is the first Direction the stress whereof I lay upon these two things Bend the main force if every Prayer against this evil level your Arrow against the face of this enemy And then judge of the acceptableness of your prayer by the success it hath upon it 2. Improve Sabbaths this way The Sabbath is the test of God Heb. 4. Our holy keeping of Sabbaths is our entring into his Rest our recess from the World and our retiring to the Lord to take our Rest with him The end of the Sabbath is the preservation and propagation of Religion it is for the continuing in memory the Redemption of Christ for the more abundant diffusion and shedding abroad of the Spirit of Christ for the more solemn Celebration of his Worship and so consequently for the maintaining the power of Holiness all which the World would destroy and bury with him in his Grave aud roll it self as a stone upon it all that it might never be remembred There are four special means by which Religion is kept up in the World and transmitted from Generation to Generation 1. A fixed Rule or Standard of Religion whereby the knowledge of God
his Will Worship and Waies is preserved and propagated to wit the holy Scriptures Isa 8. 20. to the Law and to the Testimonies c. 2. Fixed Officers To interpret expound and give the sense of the Word and to publish and preach it to the World Nehem. 8. 4. 8. Mal. 2. 7. 3. Fixed Ordinances Wherein the Lord is to be solemnly worshiped the Observing and keeping pure and entire whereof is required as in many positive Precepts so also in all those Scriptures which forbid Idolatry Superstition and Will-worship 4. A fixed time for instruction in the Law of God and for his more solemn Worship This fixed time is the Sabbath day Isa 66. 23. c. The Adversaries of Religion have attempted its destruction by heaving at these Pillars npon which it is supported and the opposition which hath been made against them hath been carried on some part of it at least much after the same way The Authority of the Scriptures hath been inunded by pretences to other rules besides to be added to them as unwritten Traditions or enthusiastical Revelations Ordinances have been assaulted by the addition of humane Inventions to Divine Institutions The destruction of the Ministry hath been by some of its Adversaries attempted by making all Teachers and Sabbaths have been undermined by others by pleading for an every day Sabbath First enclosing the six daies to the Lord and thereby at length laying the Sabbath in common to the World Upon these four pillars is Religion upheld let these be removed and what becomes of it and the destruction of this one this fixed time how greatly will it endanger all the rest An every-day Sabbath will soon bring us to no Sabbath and from no Sabbath we shall quickly come to no Ordinances no Ministery and from no Ministery how long will it be ere we arrive at No Scriptures no Religion no God But whatever the adversaries of Religion and their waies to supplant it be that which makes them adversaries and engages them in this wicked design are the lusts of this World Religion levels at the flesh its affections and interest and these set themselves to make their batteries upon Religion and all its supports and foundations Keep up Sabbaths and you are like to keep up Scriptures Ministery Ordinances Religion keep up Religion and the World falls under you But the more immediate influence the due sanctification of the Sabbath will have upon the conquering the World will appear if you consider that this day is 1. A day of separation for God 2. A day for special communion with God 3. A day of special provision for souls 1. A day of separation for God The people of God as such are a separated people separated from the lusts of men to the Law of their God Neh. 10. 28. Ezra 6. 21. In their first day their day of Grace they separate themselves from the evils of the World in this day they are to separate themselves from the affairs yea and the thoughts of the World Isa 58. 13. This day is an Hallowed day sanctified by God and to be sanctified by his Saints Gods sanctifying it is his setting apart the day for an holy use our sanctifying it is our setting our selves apart thereon for his holy service This day is a priviledged day nothing that 's common or unclean may encroach upon it The day of the Lord is as the house of the Lord a kind of meeting betwixt heaven and earth wherein God calls us up to the Mount and comes down to give us a meeting And as when he came down on Mount Sinai he required that his people who yet were to come no nearer him than the foot of the Mount should by washing their clothes and separating themselves from their Wives make ready against his comming down Exod. 19. 11 15. So doth he here give us as strict a charge Remember be ye also ready Be ye wash'd and be ye separate Wash your hearts empty your hands come in from your fields come out of your shops lay by your work leave this earth below come up to meer your God There are two things that give to objects their greatest efficacy and advantage upon us Their nearness to us and the remoteness of their contraries The World on this day loses both these advantages wherein we are called to stand aloof from it and to draw nigh to God We are then fairest for victory over the World when we are farthest off it 't is ill fighting a Cock on his own Dung-hill while the world is at our elbow there 's little like to be done against it whilst it is in our eye or our hand 't is not easie to keep it out of our heart when the Lord hath gotten our company alone and the World hath nothing not an Oxe nor an Ass not a business nor a pleasure to sollicit our love or labour When we are gotten out of sight and out of hearing of the wooings of this Harlot and its cries after us then is it most like to lose its hold of us The reason why we ordinarily make no more advantage of Sabbaths this way is because however we pretend to draw nigh unto God yet we do not with-draw from the World we come into the Sanctuary as Israel went out of Aegypt we carry not our Wives and our little ones only but our Flocks and our Herds and all our Substance we carry all we have with us when we come before the Lord. The lowing of the Oxen the bleating of the Sheep the sound of the Mill-stones is so still in our ears the Butter and the Hony the wine and the oyle the silver and the gold are so continually in our eye that we cannot hearken what the Lord God doth speak nor see his face Brethren who is there with you at this houre here you are before the Lord but who is there with you search every room look into every corner Is there none within that should not be there is there no messenger of Satan hath the World no agitatour now at work within you O behold whilest the Lord is a treating with our cares what a mixed multitude are there within cares and thoughts and lusts and projects for this world and what a stirr do they all make that God may not be regarded The Devil will be most most busy in such a time he doubts how matters might go with him if he now keep silence Doubtless many a Soul more might have been gain'd over to Christ had not Satan stood by and hindred and had those ever near us who forbad the match use to be alone with God out of the company and out of the noise of these harlots and then there 's hope the Lord may gain your love What wonder that that seed dies and becomes unfruitful that falls into a brake of thorns or amongst such birds as stand watching to catch it all away what hope that the counsel of the Lord be accepted of a
This will give you good hope that Christ is yours and good evidence that he calls to you Come unto the waters 2. In this Well of Salvation there is water of life Ye shall draw water that is living water In this water is comprehended all things belonging to life and godliness Here is bread in this water he that is the Rock springing in the earth is the bread that came down from heaven Joh. 6. 48. 50. Here is bloud with the water out of his side came water and bloud Here is wine and milk in this water Is 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters come buy wine and milk Come to the waters why what shall we get there O there 's wine and milk in the waters come to the waters for wine and milk What case is there of any of the Saints but here 's that which is proper for it Here 's water for the filthy here 's bloud for the guilty here 's bread for the strong here 's milk for the weak here 's wine for the sad here 's for meat medicine and delight here 's the flower of the wheat the healing balm the sweetness of the fig-tree the fatness of the Olive the Tree of Life Christ is in these waters 3. This water of life is to be drawn out of this Well of Salvation Hence 't is that we must come every man with his Pitcher Faith is our Pitcher what need of a Pitcher if there were no water to be drawn unbelievers might then speed as well as believers 4. It s a joy to the Saints to work at the Well With joy shall ye draw c. We read 1 Sam. 7. 6. that the people of God once drew other waters and out of another Well they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. The Wells were their repenting sorrow-bitten hearts the waters were their tears which they poured out before the Lord these were bitter waters and drawn with sorrow the waters you are now come to are pleasant faith and love and joy and praise are here to be both your work and your waters the three latter are the pleasures of the other world the first Faith is your Pitcher to fetch them in and your mouth to drink them down God hath brought you hither to prove the sweetness of love to taste what 't is to love and be beloved God opens you a Spring of everlasting joy thereby to dilate and inlarge your souls in admirings and praises 4. The advantages we hence get against the world are amongst others these following The precious things of Christ thus exhibited in the Sacrament will 1. Quench our thirst 2. Renew our strength 3. Sharpen our weapons 4. Set the reward before our eye 1. They will quench our thirst after the world The world invites as Christ Ho every one that thirsteth come to my waters If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink God and the world are both for the empty souls he that 's empty of God there 's a man for the world he that 's empty of the world there 's a soul for God he that is surfeited of the pleasures of sin will nauseate the joys of Religion he that is satiated with the pleasures of Religion will slight the joys of the world John 4. 14. Whosoever drinketh of the waters that I shall give him shall never thirst that is either when he is come up to the Well head and shall have drank his full draught he shall thirst no more for ever he shall be satisfied for ever or else he that shall drink of my waters here that shall drink of the brook in the way shall not be thirsty after other waters he that hath drank of the upper springs will better spare the nether springs Our intimate converses with Christ and those gracious savours and divine impressions they leave upon our hearts do naturally weaken and allay our fleshly appetites and inclinations wisdome is not more necessarily expulsive of folly light of darkness holiness of sin then the love and joy of the Lord of the love and the lusts of this world Brethren whatever divine touches whatever peace and joy you seem to feel upon your hearts if the world be not a looser by them if it stand its ground and maintain its interest and esteem in you all that you seem to feel of God upon you look to it that it prove not a fallacy and a dream for my part I shall ever suspect that intimacy my soul hath seem'd to get in heaven and all the pleasure of it if I be not the more content to be a stranger in this earth O my God wilt thou draw forth the breasts to me let me suck and be satisfied let the Lord God be my satisfaction and then let the world try the strength of its temptation 2. They will renew our strength This staff of bread will be the strength of our hearts they are the weak souls whom the world conquers But of this having spoken in a former direction I pass it over here with the naming 3. They will sharpen our weapon We never are foil'd but when our faith fails This is our victory even our faith this weapon of our warfare is mighty through God By how much the more our faith is exercis'd on God by so much the more vigorous believe and you shall be established believe and you shall be strengthened believe and all that you see before you shall be meat for your faith to put it in heart But how shall I believe yea rather how shouldst thou but believe whose Table is this to which thou art come whose word was it that said This bread is my body which was given for you This cup is the New Testament in my bloud which was shed for you This bread is the communion of my body this cup is the communion of my bloud what is this body what is this bloud but virtually all the spirit and life of the Gospel what is the meaning of those words Take and eat and drink but that its the will of God if it be your will also that all this shall be yours would Christ say take what he meant not to give would Christ say eat that which is not bread will be feed souls with common bread did he bring you hither to mock you how should you but believe Believe and you shall find his flesh to be meat indeed his bloud to be drink indeed this bread to be Manna this cup to come to you full of the spirits of the Gospel which will so nourish and quicken your faith that as a mighty man refreshed with wine it will rejoyce to run its course and tread down your Enemy under you 4. The reward is set before our eye Rev. 2. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to câ—t of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth but he that
When I awake I am still with thee that is my thoughts are presently with thee my meditations are of thee and where my thoughts are there am I. When the thoughts are with God the soul is with God when the thoughts are in the earth and mud the soul is all bemired The soul goes forth to view to taste and to chuse for it self the thoughts take a view the affections and senses taste and take the relish and then accordingly the will chuses The will should nakedly follow the understanding and chuse only what the unbyassed judgment tells it is good but it does too ordinarily follow the affections and senses these blind the reason and so ingage the will we chuse what we love and what pleases rather then what upon an impartial deliberation we judge to be good The things of both worlds work upon hearts objectively by the good or evil that is apprehended in them they accordingly affect us our thoughts search into things what there is in them when our thoughts by searching find out God God is regarded and when they are in search after the world they make a shift to fancy this to be good and accordingly it is imbraced The thoughts are the feet and the eyes of the soul the feet Eccles 5. 1. keep thy feet when thou goest into the house of God that is keep and look well to thy thoughts The eyes Prov. 17. 24. The eyes of a fool that is his thoughts are in the ends of the earth the rovings of the thoughts are the souls compassing the earth and its walking to and fro to the ends thereof Keep your thoughts in by the Lord and you keep your souls in your thoughts will be in exercise will be walking daily and hourly some whither or other there 's no keeping them in they will abroad either to heaven or earth oh send them to heaven daily and hold them there let them have no leisure to wander in this earth Brethren think your selves up to heaven as we may pray our selves up and believe our selves up to heaven so we may think our selves thither worldly men think themselves into pride or think themselves into covetousness or think themselves into wantonness are so long thinking and thinking in fuel for lust till they have set it all in a flame as worldly men think themselves into wickedness so let Christians think themselves into holiness think themselves into humility sobriety contentation and heavenliness of mind call off your thoughts from this earth and you will cease to be earthly call them back from vanity and you will cease to be vain call them up to heaven and you call them off from what 's below Think on God more Christians and the everlasting Kingdome think on the way that leads to it on the dangers that lie in the way on the dread of perishing in the way on the beauty and pleasure and comfort of being upright in the way of the goal and prize that is at the end of the way Take up such thoughts as these Is not God better then the world that is is not all things better then nothing Is not grace better then sin that is is not fair better then foul Is not peace better then wrath peace with God then friendship with the world are not the fillings of Gold better then heaps of earth Is a little grace so good and is not more desirable can there be much grace where the desire is so divided betwixt it and vanity Is gold in the Our so precious as gold out of the fire Is the twilight pleasant O what is the day light Is a mixture of flesh and spirit of heaven and earth as desirable as all spirit all heaven If grace be so good if peace with God be so precious why do I not seek it if I have a little grace if I have a little peace why do I not press for more when shall I increase and grow rich towards God if I do not decrease towards this earth Be thinking thus on heaven and heavenly things and if you will be thinking of earth too think of the dark places of the earth and the dark side of its brightness think of the precipices the marishes the quagmires the barren Mountains and desolate Wildernesses the bryars and thorns and wild beasts of the earth my meaning is if you will study the world study its vanity and vexations the danger you are in of being lost or torn in pieces or swallow'd up of them How uncertain are these riches how vanishing is this mirth how unconstant are these friends what a blast are these honors what a flash are these pleasures what a bubble are these buildings how long will they lust what will be left of them a few years hence But O the thorns and the bryars the vexations the cares the fears the disappointments the crosses the sweat and the sorrows that are mingled with these pleasures and possessions But yet farther O the darts and the arrows and the stings that come after O the stabs and the wounds that they give to the soul the darkness and death and damnation that they are dragging it into If you will be thinking on the world let it be with such thoughts as these and then see if it would be so hard to make an exchange of earth for heaven Brethren the reason why it is so hard a work for the Ministry to perswade in souls to Christ is because we cannot get them to entertain any serious thoughts of Christ and of the blessedness that comes in with him the reason why we cannot fetch them off from the world is because we cannot perswade them to think as they should of it of the vanity of it of the bondage it holds them in and the misery it subjects them to If we could but set you a thinking once what harm would it be to me to hearken to Christ what will become of me if I do not hearken to him when shall I come to Christ if I still cleave to this present world what if I should never come but should stand at this distance from him to my dying day Can I ever hope for mercy from Christ if for the love of the world I now refuse him will he regard my cryes when hereafter I shall call Lord open to me Lord answer for me Lord save me if I reject him when he calls Soul open to me Soul submit to me How shall I stand in the Judgment if I have no Christ to stand with me will my estate will my pleasures will my friends be good Advocates for me in that day will this be a good Plea Lord Jesus appear for me let thy wounds plead let thy bloud plead for me let me stand as one of thine for I am he that would none of thee I set at nought thy counsels and despised thy Covenant and trampled upon thy bloud and preferr'd my house and my money and my pleasures and my lusts before
eyes and the pride of life And also the objects of these lusts as they are such the pleasures the profits and the pomps of the world together with all worldly tribulations and afflictions By Faith understand a living saving Faith which unites to Christ and thereby engages him in our Combat with us This is the Victory even our Faith Faith is said to be our Victory 1. Formally The world hinders and holds us back from Christ Faith is our coming to Christ our coming to Christ is our Victory over all that which held us back 2. Instrumentally This is the Victory that is this is our arm or our hand this is the weapon of our warfare that hath gotten for us the Victory Divers observations lye in the words Doct. 1. The world is a Christians Enemy A Conquest supposes a Combat and a Combat supposes an Enemy Doct. 2. A Believer hath his Enemies under his feet even whilest he is in the fight He is a Souldier as soon as he is a Believer and he is a Conquerour as soon as ever he is a Souldier His very taking up Arms is his Victory Doct. 3. A Christian overcomes the world by his Faith In the prosecution of this third Doctrine whereon I intend to bottom the following discourse I shall shew 1. Wherein the enmity of the world against Souls stands 2. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails against our Souls 3. Wherein the strength of faith lies whereby it overcomes the world 4. The conflict of faith with this warring world or the several ways in which faith so maintains the fight that it obtains the victory 5. The Conquest of Faith over the conflicting world or wherein this victory stands 1. Wherein the enmity of the world against souls stands or discovers it self The world is an Enemy as before It pretends to be a friend but its friendship is enmity enmity against God Jam. 4. 4. and therefore against souls its kindnesses are darts its kisses are swords and arrows its very peace is war against the soul But what is this Enmity or wherein is it discovered For the better understanding of this I shall premise these four things 1. Every creature of God is good The whole Creation in their Original were mans friends or servants there was nothing hurtful that was made 2. The enmity that is came in by sin Sin was the only Make-bate as betwixt God and Man so betwixt Man and the rest of the Creatures all the Enemies which man hath in Heaven or Earth he may thank his sin for 3. There is no malignity in the creature properly against man in his lapsed state They are yet all capable of being good and serviceable to him 1 Tim. 4. 4 5. Every creature of God is good it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer Riches are good yea and honors and pleasures may be good and useful to man 4. It is by accident and not from the nature of the things that the creatures are become enemies to us Sinful man is a distempered diseased creature distempered in his mind and hereupon he misapprehends and mistakes the world and looking for that good that is not in it he looses that which is making it his happiness it becomes his undoing He is distempered and diseased in his heart yea and his whole man And hereupon as in bodily diseases the best of creatures which would be nourishment to the healthy are to the sick the nourishment of their diseases and as such are apt to lust after those things which are most noxious so is it with diseased souls our appetites are vitiated and whilest we lust after either that which we should not or more then we should have those very things which are good in themselves become mischievous and hurtful to us the maintaining and encreasing our disease These things premised I shall now shew wherein the enmity of the world against our souls stands and that is in these two things especially 1. In withdrawing our souls from God Particularly 1. In withdrawing our affections from God as our Portion 2. In withdrawing us from our Allegiance to God as our Soveraign 1. In withdrawing our affections from God as our Portiâ—n The world by the advantage of our distempered minds and appetites sets up it self as our God as our happiness or chiefest good it proposes its self for a portion to us and that both as a richer portion and more suitable then God would be it perswades us to take our portion in hand and to take up with what 's before us as our happiness and not to be so unwise as to make an adventure for an unknown happiness with the hazard of that present felicity and contentment which we tast and see to be so good God calls Come unto me and I will give thee rest I will be thy portion and reward come up to the other world there 's an Inheritance for thee No no saith the world stay with me dwell here below thou seest what thine entertainment is here there thou knowest not what thou shalt find here thou hast substance here thou hast Sun-shine here thou hast hearts ease here thou art full and aboundedst thou hast thy house full and thy hands full and thy belly full and thy heart full thou knowest what thou hast thou canst tast thou canst see how good this world is the Treasures of the other world though they be called Treasures of Light yet to thee they are but Treasures of Darkness thou knowest not what they are be content dwell here below where thou art well 2. In withdrawing us from our Allegiance to God as our Soveraign When it hath once drawn away the heart it will with ease pull away the shoulder if Gods Crown be despised his Yoke will quickly be shaken off we break our faith with God when once we are fallen in love with the world if it become our treasure we yield our selves to it for servants the strength of its temptations lies in the esteem we have of it and the affection we bear it What will the Authority of the Lord do with us when he hath lost our hearts and we have chosen us another God! What cannot the world command us to if we have once set it before us as our Goal and Prize if it be our end it will appoint us our means and way no unrighteousness but will be right in our eyes that will serve our worldly designs farewell faith truth mercy honesty and all conscience of sin further then we can make a gain of godliness And by withdrawing us from our love and obedience to God to this I might add 3ly It exposes us to his wrath and displeasure when we will none of him he will none of us when he is forsaken by us he sets himself against us by despising the riches of his goodness we fall under his fury and fiery indignation This is the state into which the world is leading us 2. In
and fill'd your purses and fed your carkasses and provided for your Families but it hath starv'd your souls O my leannes my leannes my dry and withered soul my weak heart my wasted Conscience Oh how little truth or tenderness how little love or lise or warmth do I feel within me Oh how much pride and frowardness oh how much lust and liberty to sin hath there grown upon me I can fret and vex and chafe I can be false I can lye and dissemble all the Religion I have gotten into my soul after so long a time of profession is not enough to restrain these vile abominations Oh my soul how sad is it with thee how low is it with thee to this day how comes this to pass why this is thy good husbandry this is thy worldliness thy labouring so much thy hungring so much after the meat that perishes or thy being given to thy pleasure or thy ease this is it that hath held thee in such a poor case such an unfruitful and barren state such a dark and uncomfortable state as thou art in at this day for all this unhappiness thou art beholding to the world and thy worldliness Thus you have seen the enmity of the world against souls it holds back from Christ darkens the sight that we cannot see the excellency or the need of Christ deadens the sense and hinders from following Christ keeps Christ short c. Let this by the way be an argument to disswade from worldliness are you Christians or would you be so would you ever come to any thing in Religion would you prosper in holiness would you have the comfort of Christianity then take heed and beware of a worldly heart which will either hinder you from ever coming to Christ or else be a Canker and a Moth to devour and eat out the spirits of all that Christianity you have II. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails upon so many souls It is a wonder it should ever prevail so as it does that ever men of understanding endued with immortal souls should suffer themselves to be led up and down down as they are by such a pernicious and mortal Enemy that when they have seen so many lost and undone by it they should never take warning that it should ever be trusted as it is that it should ever be lov'd as it is that it should ever be hearkened to as it is especially considering how unreasonable its demands are and how inconsiderable its rewards What does the world demand what would it have This is it if it would speak out Come sell me thy God come sell me thy hopes that thou hast for the other world come sell me thy soul come give me thy heart love me and serve me But what shall be mine hire what wilt thou give me then if it would speak out this is the reward it gives Vanity and vexation death and destruction Hell shall be thine hire But suppose it should give what it sayes it will all the good things on this side the grave riches honors pleasures ease abundance of all these and all manner of contentment in the enjoyment of them yet what 's all this thou shouldst gain on this side the grave to what thou shalt loose and to what thou shalt suffer on the other side of the grave what 's Earth to Heaven what 's Time to Eternity Suppose it should say plainly come take thy good things here and thy evil things hereafter take thy riches in this and thy poverty in the other world take thy pleasures here and thy plagues beneath be full or be merry prosper flourish rejoyce for a few houres or for a few dayes and be miserable cry howl be in torments to Eternity If the World should speak out thus to Men this it designs if it should speak out thus into what madness must those Souls be bewich'd that would hearken to it and yet behold though this be the design its driving on and men might know it if they would but consider yet behold how the whole world almost are wondering after this beast and busy in making bargains with it to be its captives and servants yea not only suffering themselves to be perswaded and beguiled in o this bondage but also willingly offering themselves for servants I pray thee take me into the number of thy servants Take my Soul world saies one take my God saies another take my hopes saies another Let me be but a rich man let me be a great man let me have so much money or so much lands or so much pleasure or ease or honour let but this Moon shine upon me and take the Sunshine whoever will let me be this worlds favourite and I am content to be its servant and so along they go after it till they be lost for ever What a wonder is this and yet how many such prodigies are to be seen every day and in every place this is the case of every worldling thou that wilt be rich thou whose heart goes after thy covetousness thou who art given to thy pride or thy pleasures or thy ease thou art boring thine eare to the threshold of thy mortal enemy thou art doing away thy patrimony for husks thou art doing away thy Soul and its eternal inheritance to buy in thy life into an house or parcel of Land or for a bundle of crackling thorns to make thee blaze before which thou mayest dance and be merry for an hour or two and then go down to everlasting darkness This being such a marvelous thing that such an enemy that is so known and confest to be by the very men that suffer themselves to be led Captive by it for what worldling is there that will not confess that this world is an Enemy that such a known Enemy should still so easily prevail in the world as the Apostle in another case Gal. 3. 1. 3. O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that having begun in the Spirit ye will be made perfect in the flesh O foolish worldlings who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that being born to things Spiritual and Eternal you will be thus led captive by things Temporal and Fleshly this being such a marvelous thing it will be worth our time to enquire wherein the strength of the world lyes whereby it so strangely prevails And indeed it is a piece of the best policy and that which gives great advantage against an enemy to study and find out where his strength lyeth Judg. 16. 6. c. When Dalilah attemped the delivering of Sampson bound into the hands of the Philistimes she lyes at him day by day tell me where thy great strength lyeth tell me where thy great strength lyeth in vain did they assault him in vain did she bind him her Cords and her Wit hs and her webs could never hold him till at length she found out where his strength lay which when she had
Ballances may be said to be ballances of deceit in a double sense There are ballances where by men deceive others as those false ballances which unrighteous men use for their own advantage to buy or sell by which may be those there meant and there are false ballances whereby men deceive themselves Ungodly men as they weigh their commodities they sell in false ballances thereby to deceive others so they weigh their gains that they get to themselves in false ballances and thereby deceive themselves their bargains that they make they could never count them such good bargains unless they weighed them on their deceitful ballances If sense may be Judge the world is a good bargain when dearest bought though if faith may be Judge when the world may be had cheapest it is not over safe dealing for it Now when the worth of the world is understood the Divels market is spoiled No man will care to deal with such a pedlar whilest the Merchant stands by who will sell his inheritance for counters or his patrimony for dirt and dung who will spend his money for that which he knows is not bread or his labour for that which profiteth not the strength of the temptation is broken when once we understand of how little valew the things are we are tempted by Christians study the world more search the Scriptures and what these testifie of it believe the Scriptures which have written upon all under the Sun Vanity and vexation of spirit understand what an insignificant cypher this figure of the world is Believe your own words you can sometimes speak contemptibly of the world your selves Who of you will not say this world is but a shadow and the fashion of it passeth away do ye think as you speak do not dissemble either speak your minds plainly that this earth is your substance your treasure your portion and that its worth the venturing your Souls for it or if you go on to say this is not your rest you have here no continuing City ther 's no building on this sand here 's no contentment nor continuance here if ye go on to speak thus believe your own words and then Judg how wisely you deal for your selves in venturing your eternity for such empty perishing things 2. By Faith the soul pitches upon an eternal inheritance It s our choosing the good part Luke 10. 42. our laying hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6. 12. those believers Heb. 11. 14. are said to seek a countrey they were not mindful of this they confest themselves and were content to be strangers and pilgrims here their countrey was on the other side Jordan and thither they sent their hearts Faith descries a better countrey it sees into the invisible world Heb. 11 27. its the good spy that 's sent out to search the land of Canaan and finding it to be a good land there the Soul pitches It saies unto the Lord thou art my God thou art my portion for ever this is my rest here will I dwell If I can bear through this weary land and at last enter into that rest however matters go with me here I am not careful about that if I can but attain to the resurrection of the dead if I can but get to Heaven that 's all my desire and design Meet a believer where you will and ask him whether art thou bound Oh for the Holy Land whom seekest thou thou Jesus of Nazareth what runnest thou for what waitest thou for The incorruptible Crown Ask him again will nothing less content thee Look about through all the earth canst thou find nothing worthy thy love what is silver and gold and houses and lands and honours and pleasures are these nothing with thee may not these satisfie thee No no these are not God this is not Heaven there 's no rest here for the sole of my foot my house and my home is above my hope and my treasure is above and my Soul is above and cannot be content to dwell in the dust Ask him yet again But how wilt thou get into that good Land there are difficulties and dangers in the way thou hast a wilderness to go through a red Sea and a Jordan to pass over there are Lions in thy way there are Giants in thy way thou mayest be a prey to thine enemies torn in pieces of wild Beasts or swallowed up in the waters or at least thou mayst wander in the wilderness and loose thy way and never come into thy rest at last Well but however I must venture I am resolv'd for heaven how difficult or dangerous soever the way may prove I 'le venture all here Heaven or nothing Christ or nothing Henceforth let no man trouble me with other business for I bear in my heart the prints of the Lord Jesus he is gotten within me he is engraven upon my breast and on my soul and this heart can never be at rest till I be with him where he is Lord be thou my God and bring me into thine holy habitation lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and shew me thy salvation this one thing I desire let this be granted me and then my heart shall be glad and my glory shall rejoyce my flesh also shall rest in hope I have enough thou wilt shew me the path of life In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore And now world where art thou with all thy glory this earth is trodden to dirt when the heart is once in earnest for heaven Christians come pitch your Tents here where will you that your lot shall fall you have two worlds before you which will you chuse hang not betwixt both Will you get up to the Mountains or will you dwell in this Plain Come to a resolution you will never get clear of this world till you climb up to the other 'T is only the milk and honey of Canaan that will wean your souls from the Onions and Garlick of Egypt The flowers of the field will be beautiful till you see the Roses of the Garden The fatness of the earth will be your delight till you understand the sweetness of heaven you 'l never be content to loose from this shore till you see the banks of a better Land you will not part with your present purchases till you see where you may have a better bargain It s to no purpose to think to get off your hearts by common arguments This world is vain this world is troublesome uncertain fading a barren Land if that be all you can say 't will never do your hearts will answer A barren Land is better than none an house of Clay is better then no habitation If my soul may not dwell here where shall I be better Where mayst thou be better Come and see lift up your eyes to the hills look you towards Sion the City of the great King mark all her Bulwarks tell all her Towers behold
her Foundations Is it not a strong City walk through the midst of her behold the Tree of Life bearing all manner of fruits of which whosoever eats shall live forever Behold the River those streams of everlasting pleasures that run through the City of God of which whosoever drinks shall never die Behold the Palms and the Robes and the Crowns the rest the joy and the glory of the Inhabitants of this City God is in the midst of her the all-blessed all-glorious all-sufficient God he is their light and their life there shall be no Clouds nor storms no night nor darkness no wants nor fears no sorrow nor complaining in her street everlasting joy shall be upon their heads and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Look towards this holy City live in the view and contemplation of the glory to come and then look down and see what a dark Mist will becloud the worlds most glorious Sun-shine And then demand Now soul which wilt thou chuse where wilt thou pitch both Lands are before thee which shall be thine Inheritance art thou for God or the world for heaven or earth What shall I say I wot not what I shall chuse why is the choice so hard Is it such a difficulty to determine whether light or darkness joy or sorrow life or death be the better choice Well jacta est alea the lot is cast God shall be my portion and the lot of mine inheritance O my God wilt thou be mine shall my dwelling be with thee The matter is ended the lines are fallen to me in a pleasant place and I have a goodly Heritage Remember me O Lord with the favour thou bearest to thy children and visit me with thy salvation let me see the good of thy chosen let me rejoyce in the gladness of thy Nation let me glory with thine Inheritance and I have no more to ask Brethren when once you have by Faith made this choice there 's an end of the Devils hopes Look up therefore look up to that blessed Country cry unto God Lord open mine eyes and let me see Lord reach down thine hand and help me up take up this heart to thee and there let it fix Oh what clods of earth what dead lumps of flesh are these hearts that do not yet begin to rise Lord let this flesh become Spirit let our ashes flame and ascend to thee once for all let us come to thee and never return to this dust again 3. By Faith we understand that the good things present cannot further and the evil things present cannot hinder our eternal happiness We are apt either to be pleas'd or distasted with the various objects and occurrences we meet withall according as they serve or cross our end He that hath made God his end and Eternal Glory his end doth value all things according to their tendency thitherward as any thing hinders or helps heaven-ward so is it regarded 'T is a sign thou hast made thy flesh thy end when flesh-pleasing objects and courses are the taking things with thee and every thing is a cross that touches upon thy fleshly interest what is a furtherance to thy soul thou canst want it what is an hindrance to thy soul thou canst bear it and find no trouble but what serves or disserves thy flesh these are the things that move thee Let such souls never talk of making God their end If God be your end indeed if you be for heaven in earnest 't is what will please God and what leads heavenwards that are the only considerable things Now by Faith we understand that the things of the world in themselves make neither one way nor other as to our future happiness The good things of the world cannot further our happiness there 's no man the nearer heaven for being rich or honourable the Palaces of Princes are not the porch to glory Believe it Christians to be rich in this world and to be rich towards God are two things the favour of Princes is no mark of divine honour nor medium to it the pleasures of the flesh are not of kin to the pleasures above nor subservient to them These things may undo us our gold may sink us we may break our necks from our high mountains our temporal prosperities and advantages may shut us out from the everlasting Kingdom Matth. 19. may be the death and damnation of souls and do they not often prove so but never their salvation And so on the other side The troubles and afflictions of this world cannot hinder or happiness Faith sees as open and near a way to heaven from the dunghill as from the Pinacle of the Temple from the Prison as from the Palace from the Cross as from the Crown The gate of heaven shall never be shut against any because he is poor or persecuted 't is not a Purple Robe or a Gold Ring that shall procure entrance nor are they rags or sores or reproaches that shall shut the door We read Jam. 2. 2 3. that there was such a practise among men If any one come into your assembly with a gold ring or goodly apparel or in a poor habit and vile rayment they were entertain'd thereafter they had their different respect according to the pomp of the one or the poverty of the other But ' will not be so in the great Assembly above 'T will never be demanded when you knock for entrance into glory what Estate have you gotten in the world in what honor and grandieur did you live where are your Bags and your Barns your Mansions and Mannors that you have gotten Will the Lord think you ever say to him that comes and knocks and calls Lord Lord open to me will he ever say No friend you are a poor man here 's no place for you you were so greedy after grace and holiness that you never minded the getting an estate in the world you have wasted your time in reading and praying and fasting you have wasted your Estate in giving and lending in feeding and cloathing others you are a poor man away from me here 's no place for thee will the Lord ever say thus at last Men covet and labour and hoard up these earthly things as if this were the condition of everlasting blessedness as if their souls and eternal life lay on them men shift and shun affliction as if these were the way to the Pit But Faith sees that these things will not be so No man shall be disowned because he bears in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus Well may the Cross be a Ladder by which we may ascend into glory but it shall never be a clog to detain us from ascending These things being by Faith understood the world looses a believers heart the good below he can spare and the evil below he will not fear There 's the same ground why believers sit so loose from the world and the things thereof as there is why unbelievers sit
so loose from God and the things of God Carnal men can want the presence and favour of God can spare Religion and the duties and comforts thereof and never find any miss of them why so why because these things do not at all serve their design they can be as rich and as great and as merry without minding God or holiness or any such thing And upon a like ground a Believer can want his ease or his pleasure or any of his outward comforts why so why because these if he had them would as little serve his design as Religion will the Worldlings Hearken to me saith Satan and whatever the world doth afford shall be thine Why will this world stand me instead in reference to the world to come Can my soul feed upon this earth and ashes Shall I be ever the better man for being a rich man Will these earthly things commend me to God Is he a respecter of the rich above the poor of the honorable above the despised Is this following after riches or pleasures thou perswadest me to Is this my way to life Avoid Satan thou comest but to mock me and beguile me 4. By Faith we understand that the design of temptations is to deprive us of our Inheritance A Believer knows that the Devil owes him no good will how fair soever he treats him he sees that all his promises are cheats that all his gifts are bribes to corrupt us first and then to destroy us he marks him for his mortal Enemy whose drift is to keep him out of the Paradise of God he hath learn'd from the Scriptures who 't was that at first thrust him out thence This Serpent was he Gen. 3. and now he has him out that his work is to keep him from ever recovering in And he observes how his particular temptations do serve his general design to destroy souls whatever the voice is this is the meaning of every temptation Thou shalt never see God thou shalt never get to heaven if I can help it Faith understands what use the Devil hath made of the world whither did the rich mans Purple and fine linnen and delicious fare lead him Luk. 16. 19. 23. If you had seen him in the state he was in v. 19. in his gorgeous apparrel at his voluptuous Table what carnal heart but would have bless'd him O this is an happy man but where do you find him v. 23. Oh how sadly is the Scene changed Behold this brave Gallant in hell torments A Believer would have seen him in hell in his first view whilst in the midst of all his Gallantry and Gluttony Psa 73. 17. When I went into the Sanctuary I saw the end of these men How was it with them when he saw their end where were they why in the midst of all their prosperity in the heighth of their pride in the heat of their lust in the heaps of their wealth fat and flourishing as full of mirth and jollity as their hearts could wish and out of all fear of a fall even then he sees their end in their very noon-tide he espied their night Where shall we have you a few hours hence But what end was it he saw these men would come to v. 18. Thou hâ—st set them in slippery places thou castest them down to destruction how are they brought to desolation in a moment that 's the end he saw was hastening upon them Desolation and Destruction But how came he so soon to see their end I went into the Sanctuary there I understood their end When I consulted with God about it when I left consulting with Sense and consulted with Faith about it then I understood how matters were like to go with them Believers while they consult with flesh and bloud are to apt to be envious at the foolish to fret themselves at the ungodly whose way doth prosper and to call the proud happy yea and to murmure and think hardly of the Lord who suffers his enemies to eat up the fat and drink the sweet and feeds his people with hunger and thirst I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked But when they come to understand themselves what the meaning of all this plenty and prosperity of the ungodly is and where it layes them at last no more envy then much good may doe them with all their glory and greatness by that the fruit of all their doings comes up they 'le pay for all their pleasure dearly enough Christians do ye see the proud insulting oppressing ruffling world do you see the vile of the earth scrambling for wealth climbing up to honour dividing the spoils and sharing among themselves the preferments and pleasures of the world beware you envy them not Look a little farther and you will see no matter of envy but of pity and praise Pity over them who are but fatting for the slaughter and praise on the behalf of your selves that you Souls are not gathered with them But this by the way Faith understands from those many instances it finds in Scripture what use the Divel hath made of the world what mischiefs and ruines he hath hereby brought on Souls and when this is understood then sure its bewitching face notwithstanding all its paint will not look so beautiful and amiable 5. Faith makes experimental and fuller discoveries of the glory of that inheritance the Soul hath pitchd upon As I said before there 's no way possible to divide the heart from this world till you can shew it a better that 's the voice of every heart which is said Psal 4. 6. to be the voice of the worldlings heart Who will shew us any good and whatsoever it finds and apprehends to be good that it graspes and will hold till an higher good come in sight This world is apprehended to be the worldlings good and t is the best he knows and he must be bought out of it ere he will let it go he must be bought out of his house bought out of his livings and pleasures by something that is or is apprehended to be a valuable price at least ere he will quit what he has It s vain to perswade the rich to voluntary poverty unless you can present him with a reward that will compensate his loss All the arguments in the world from the unsufficiency instability vanity vexation in these earthly things will be easily answered But where shall I have better better half a loaf then no bread a short meal is better then starving the heart will not let go this world but upon the discovery of a better And according to the degree of the manifestation of those better things above so will there be more or less an abatement of our affection to things below A little light from Heaven will make the world look dimme and as the Sun rises higher all our stars creep into darkness at the first entrance of God upon the Soul the world looses the
filth and stench of Hell in their vile affections the smoke and flames of Hell in their reeking and burning lusts the darkness of Hell in their darkned and blinded minds and sometimes the torments of Hell in the anguish of their guilty and self revenging consciences And as sinners may find an hell so believers an heaven in the heart an heaven of light an heaven of love and joy and praise Thus it is with some and thus it might be with all were we stronger in Faith Oh what do we lose by living thus by Sense when we mighâ— live by Faith how have our carnal hearts by consuming and spinning out our daies in sloth and idleness sticking at the labour of duty whining under difficulties shrinking from sufferings indulging to our ease and our pleasure and liberties how have our carnal hearts robb'd us of the life of God the pleasures of Angels the joys of the Upper Region and left us little more of Christianity then its wounds and bruises its mournings and complainings its sighs and sorrows Oh foolish hearts that consult so unwisely for our selves that choose rather to live in Brakes among these bryars and thorns then among the Beds of Spices that will rather laze it in a Wilderness then get us up to the Garden of the Lord The life of Faith is an heavenly life The life of God Ephes 4. 18. though Faith shall never come into heaven it self yet thither it translates our hearts It came down from heaven it is the gift of God and though it must not return thither 't is love not Faith that shall dwell before the Throne of God yet thither it raises those hearts in which it lives Though it may not dwell there hereafter Faith shall then be lost in sight yet now its travelling thither going and returning every day and hour Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven there 's all our business where should a Christian be where does he live but where his business lies A Believer that had heretofore so many things to do dividing his heart and time hath now cast all his business into one hath brought all his business near his home he hath nothing to do abroad in the Tents of wickedness in the Camps of the Uncircumcised he hath done with serving flesh and lusts and times and tables and carkasses here his whole work did lye but no more of these now they must be all laid aside or at least made to come and serve with him in his higher business God and glory the loving and praising and serving and securing God to his soul is all he hath to do Phil. 3. 13. This one thing I do forgetting that which is behind and reaching forth to that which is before I press to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. These lower things his outward priviledges hopes and advantages were once the things before him but he 's now gotten beyond and hath left them all behind him not only his Jewish priviledge whereof he had boasted but much more all earthly things he hath cast off these weights and is now flying upon the wing of Faith ascending in flames of love winding up his soul by constant labour above this dung and darkness to the Regions of light and glory This is his business And hence is his blessedness heaven is his work and his meat his labour and his hire he will know nothing for a blessing or a comfort but what his Faith brings him down from above Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou so disquieted within me Bid him Hope in God tell him thou shalt yet praise him who is the light of thy countenance and thy God and this will comfort him Say to him while you will Man be of good comfort the fig-tree blossoms the labour of the Olive will not fail there is fruit in the Vines there are Flocks in the Folds there are Herds in the Stalls comfort thine heart what wouldst thou have more And how little will this ease him Oh where is my God how is it with my soul what tidings from above have I a treasure there doth God smile what tidings from within Is it peace there doth my soul prosper Is there grace there is truth in my inward parts this is good news Come in thou blessed of the Lord thou comest with good tidings this shall comfort me This is the life of Faith a conversation in heaven Thus we should and thus we might live more then we do but I doubt I have been here in telling you a Mystery whereof the most of us have but little experimental understanding Christians what acquaintance have you with this life of God Is this your business heavenly work are these your comforts heavenly supports we are yet carnal and walk as men Oh this earth earth how doth it hang on our spirits we live as if there were a middle Region betwixt heaven and earth a middle state betwixt Faith and unbelief Some little we have attain'd of this heavenly life and blessed be the Lord for any thing but oh how little is it Friends wonder not that you see no more of the Divine Glory conclude not that there is no more to be seen put it to the proof live more with God more purely more closely more constantly with him live in the daily exercise of Faith and you will get the sight of other manner of glorious things then can be told you What 's the reason that unbelievers are so wholly in the dark and can see nothing of God no more then they can despise and laugh to scorn O 't is because they come not near where God is they are alienated from the life of God their whole business is in the heart of the earth here they dwell and here is their whole converse Speak ye unbelievers where dwell ye what is your Occupation where is your Conversation far enough from heaven sure where ever it be Speak ye proud and haughty ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the air we feed on wind live upon breath honor and applause is all we work for and live upon Speak ye Covetous where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the earth we feed upon dust and ashes and in these our business lies Speak ye contentious quarrelsome ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the fire in storms and tempests Speak ye voluptuous Sensualists where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the mud and mire in lasciviousness wantonness and all manner of filthy lusts Speak ye Ranters Ruffians Swearers Cursers Blasphemers where is your Conversation our Conversation is in Hell in the Alehouse the Tavern the Brothel-house we live where Satans Throne is in the very Suburbs of Hell Oh what a difference hath Faith put betwixt Believers and all others in the world whilst they only live the life of God all others live the life of Bruits
is grown up there is the spirit of a man in him there 's a Soul in him which in time will do wonderous things a dead child neither can do any thing neither is there hope that ever he should but a living child hath a soul hath that within him that in time will do much How small are the appearances of the Saints in the Infancy of their New-birth how low are their hopes that they should ever come to any thing 't is a weak Enemy indeed and a weak assault that is not too strong for them a little wind may blow away a small twig but despise not this day of small things consider their Root the Spirit of Christ that is in them and thence you may expect great things Are there any of you that are grown Christians strong in the Lord and in the power of his might that are able for service and mighty for sufferings that can stand against the temptations of Satan and endure the contradictions of sinners and not be weary and faint in your minds yet look back and consider what you were in your original time was when it was as low water with you as with others when you were as weary and weak as the weakest But behold what that mighty Spirit that was in you is at length grown up to the same spirit is in every new-born Saint What contemptible things were Joshua and Gideon and Sampson and David when they were children but when they were grown and the Spirit of the living God came upon them what Victories did they obtain the Sons of Anak the Armies of the uncircumcised the great Goliah were then but children to them You that are yet little children but of little time and but of little strength that are newly begotten by the Gospel and brought forth into a tempestuous world let not the greatness of your work nor the potence of your enemies nor those astonishing tempests that meet you at the threshold of Christianity discourage or dismay you as weak as you are as many fears and faintings as you are surprized by as many doubts as arise in your hearts what shall I do how shall I stand how shall I go through yet comfort your hearts greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world ye are of God little children and have overcome them Mat. 13. 31 32. The Kingdome of heaven is like to a grain of Mustard-seed which is indeed the least among seeds but when it is grown is the greatest among herbs This greatest of herbs is virtually in this smallest of seeds Who knows what a little grace may grow to what is there in that bitter root of sin all those monstrous wickednesses and prodigious villanies which infest this earth and fill up hell all the drunkennesses adulteries murthers rapines and most barbarous inhumanities which are the plague of this earth and the fuel of that Furnace they all lye in that little bitter root Jam. 1. 15. And so on the other side all the beauty and glory of holiness all the powers victories and triumphs over sin the world and the devil are seminally contained in the first grace begotten in the heart The whole Harvest of Glory is in the least seed of grace The least drop from the Fountain of Life is a Well of water springing up to life eternal Joh. 4. 14. Beloved are you in Christ hath the day-spring from on high visited you is the Spirit of the living God within you then whatever your doubts difficulties hazards temptations or weaknesses are the victory hath already passed on your side Death where is thy sting sin devil world where is thy victory Here are thy Armies here is thy power here are thy policies thy fury thy fawnings on every hand before us behind us on the right hand and on the left here are thy Armies but where is thy victory Thanks be to God that hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Thanks be to God who maketh us alwayes to triumph in Christ Jesus from the first time in the worst time when we are hardliest bestead hotliest pursued nearest to a fall yea even when we fall for though we fall we shall rise again thanks be to God whâ—ch causeth us alwayes even when we despair in our selves to triumph in Christ Jesus 3. He hath broken the Head design of the world this is to keep Christ and the soul apart to keep the soul from ever coming to Christ Herein as hath been said already stands the deadly enmity of the world against souls in holding them under its dominion and thereby under the damnation of hell When we are once come over to Christ this great design is broken when we are conquered we are Conquerours A soul subdued unto the Lord is the world conquered to the soul every Convert to Christ is a Captive set at liberty a soul broken out of prison that 's the word that Christ hath to preach Isa 49. 9. To say to the prisoners go forth and to them that are in darkness shew your selves And that 's the work that Christ hath to do To bring forth the prisoners out of prison Isa 42. 7. Every Convert to Christ is a prisoner broken loose It is a sufficient Conviction that thou art a worldling still that thou art no Convert to Christ and it is a sufficient Conviction that thou art no Convert if thou be still a worldling he that is come to Christ is come off from the world Joh. 15. 19. and he that is still under the world is not come to Christ That 's the great contest betwixt Christ and the World who shall carry the heart Come along with me sayes Christ give me thy heart be my servant be my Disciple No no saith the World stay with me be my servant or at least if thou wilt not any longer be wholly mine then it sayes as the Harlot be neither his nor mine but suffer thy self to be divided let him take one half and let the other half be for me halt betwixt Christ and the world keep both worlds what hinders but thou mayst have thy gains and thy pleasures here and yet have Christ too When the heart is convinc'd that there is no compounding betwixt Christ and the world that Christ is the better Master and that it cannot serve two Masters but must necessarily take to the one and let the other go and hereupon yields it self to Christ Lord I am thy servant and will follow thee whatsoever become of the world whether I sink or swim want or abound prosper or suffer whatever my condition be here thine I am and thee will I love and serve when the soul is come to this there 's conversion there 's the Head design of the world broken 4. He is effectually marching on in the pursuit of his victory he is overcoming So the word in the Text he overcometh the world he hath already gotten the better and he is pressing
let a Minister or a Christian friend warn thee and how are they either slighted or laugh'd out of countenance But remember that there is a God Thou wilt know no other heaven but below thou blessest thy self in the earth in thy pleasures in thy companions and canst fancy no other happiness but thy fools Paradise But remember that there is a God Remember that this God is thy Creator and therefore thy Governour and Judge to whom thou owest thy self and thy time and to whom thou must give up thine account Remember and return to thy God remember and repent remember God and then run on if thou dar'st be a drunkard if thou dar'st be a wanton if thou dar'st be a worldling if thou dar'st Remember thy God and repent Remember thy Creator now in this day of thy youth If ever why not now Is not this the fittest time Is not this the accepted time May not this be the only time How know'st thou but that this may be the Word of the Lord to thee Now or never Wilt thou never learn wisdome till thy loss teach thee it Wilt thou never know thy day till thy Sun be set Young men reckon not upon the evening your Sun may be set at noon Consider what thou art to day as one of the fools in Israel a vile insipid useless thing the filth the refuse the off-scouring of the earth and if thou wouldst not be found thus at thy dying day let not this night overtake thee before thou hast run from thy self and thy sins unto thy God Such of you Brethren as have already return'd to the Lord and accepted of his Grace as have had the grace to consecrate your youth to the Lord Oh bless the name of God bless him while you live and have any being Who hath redeemed your life from death and crouned you with loving kindness and tender mercies who hath taken you out from among the dirt and rubbish and made you polished stones for his Temple who hath cur'd you of your madness and made you the children of Wisdome who hath separated the precious from the vile fetch'd you out from the rude Rabble and those Potsheards of the earth wherein there is no pleasure and mark'd you up for his Vessels of Honor What day the Lord goes forth among the wild Herd and takes out here and there one of the company he saith These shall be for me this young man or this young woman shall be mine they shall be mine in the day wherein I make up my Jewels and for the rest that will not hearken let them run till death seize upon them and the pit swallow them up Yet say young man of which number wilt thou be of the taken or the left wilt thou along after thy Creator or wilt thou stay with thy companions what wilt thou say to the Lord Take me or leave me let me be thine or leave me to my self let me this day repent and be sober or let me run mad still till there be no place for repentance Consider and be wise But to return to our matter in hand 2. The circumstance of his education He had been bred up from a child in a gallant Princely way he knew not what belonged to a low estate those that never had much forsake but little when they forsake all 't is but a short step from a little to nothing he can take no great harm in a fall who alwayes sits on the ground want will never much pinch those who never understood plenty 't is no such hard change to be cast from the Cottage to the dunghill we poor little ones if we had hearts might say we have not opportunities to leave much for God 't is those who dwell on high whose Mountains are exalted among the tops of the Mountains of the earth and that have had their Nest among the Stars 't is these are like to feel it when they must take up their dwelling in the dust and this was Moses case from the height to the depth from the height of ease and honour to the depth of affliction and hardship 3. The circumstance of his Obligations Pharaoh's Daughter had strangely oblig'd him had sav'd his life took him up an abject Infant and adopted him for her Child given him Princely breeding and set her heart upon him as her own and hereupon the ingenuity of his Nature could not but plead with him thus Unworthy unthankful creature what art thou meditating whither art thou going a running away from her whose pity gave thee thy life who pittied thee and loved thee who loved thee and took thee in who took thee in and bred thee up what art thou what hast thou that she may not justly call her own and wilt thou thus requite that pity love bounty which thou canst never recompence what a reproach wilt thou become mark'd out for infamous an unworthy unthankful disingenuous ill natur'd man whither wilt thou cause thy shame to go oh how would such suggestions gall and gravel an ingenuous spirit Well but Moses breaks through all let my fame be infamy let me be accounted any thing unworthy unkind foolish or any thing that 's worse God is worthy for whose sake I should bear all this and away he goes 'T is not the least of temptations which lies on some mens spirits and which unhappily keeps them from Christ that they shall discontent their friends disoblige their dear Relations seem to put a slight upon the love and kindness and dearest respects of those whom they have lov'd as their own souls if I take this course if I fall into this uncouth discountenanced reproach'd way what will they call me how will they look on me how shall I look my Father in the face or my Husband or my Wife in the face what will become of the esteem and affection and dearness which now I have with all my intimates and acquaintance what shall I be accounted with whom shall I be reckon'd how shall I bear up under those evil reflections and those unworthy imputations that I cannot but expect But now a resolved Christian will weigh the other side too But how shall I look God in the face how shall I look Christ in the face if upon such grounds I refuse to hearken to him who hath been such a friend as God hath been to me who hath loved me as Christ hath loved me who hath done for me as he hath done for me who hath laid down his life for me who must save my soul from death how shall I look God in the face if this be all I have to say I would have followed thee Lord I would have hearkened to thee but my Father and Mother would have been angry then my Husband or Wife would have taken it unkindly I should have displeased my friends they would have counted me a fool or a mad man or unkind or unthankful if I had hearkened to thee Oh I remember what he
hath said Mat. 10. 37. He that loves Father or Mother more then me he that loves Son or Daughter more then me is not worthy of me He that forsakes not Father and Mother cannot be my Disciple therefore I have no more to say my Friends are dear my Husband is dear my Wife is dear to me I rejoyce in their love and I would not their displeasure I would not worthily be counted unworthy or unkind or disrespectful or undutiful to any of them but God is more then all My friends if you will go along with me if you will to Christ with me if you will be for holiness with me and oh that you would come along let 's along to Christ together let me have your company to heaven oh that I could pray you thither oh that I could perswade you thither I love you so well that I am loath we should part companies if you will go along with me if I may be the Lords and yet be yours I am much more yours then ever but if this be the condition of your love you will love me so I love not Christ you will be my friends so the Lord be not my friend you will respect me and esteem me so I will despise and disrespect holiness you will be for my company so I be not for heaven or so I will not go so far or so fast that way if this be the condition of your love stay with us do as we do live as we live be merry be vain take thy pleasure take thy liberty as we do and we will love thee if you will not love me on other terms then farewell to you all and to all your love I have learn'd what this meaneth he that loveth Father or Mother more then Christ is not worthy of him he that loveth favour or respect more then Christ is not worthy of him and till you can make it out that you have oblig'd me more then Christ hath oblig'd me that your love will be better to me then the love of Christ that respect from men will be better to me then acceptance with God you must give me leave to run the hazard of losing such friends whom I cannot keep without losing God and my soul 4. Circumstance But when he went from Pharaohs Court whither went he when he left the bosome of Pharaohs Daughter to whom did he joyn himself why to a company of poor bondmen that were labouring at the brick Kilns and not to be a Taskmaster or Ruler among them but to take his lot of suffering with them chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God c. Now lay all these circumstances together Moses that had been bred up and liv'd in the Equipage of a Prince and might have so continued when he came to age and understood what the advantages of worldly greatness were when he had his senses quick about him and could make the highest experiment what the sweetness of worldly pleasures was in the highest Spring-tide of worldly lusts and temptations when 't was high water without and his youthful blood was most aflote within when he had time before him to make the most of the worlds favours who had never known what an harder and lower condition meant who had been so strangly obliged by signal favours and could not but be strongly prompted from principles of ingenuity not to slight such favoures in the midst of all these temptations for the service of his God and from his affection to his brethren he voluntarily not upon force but of choice disrob'd himself of all his glory and espoused the sufferings of his brethren esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures in Egypt v. 27. O brethren how may we be filled with wonder and which of the two wonders are the greatest Moses his self-denial or our denial of Christ Moses his comming off in so great a floud of temptations or our being so ordinarily overcome in those little temptations which daily occurre how little is it that we do or can deny our selves in for Christ what have we forsaken or what are we willing to forsake for Christ upon what inconsiderable termes have Christ and our Souls so often parted what cheap duties will we not do what cheap sins will we not abate what small temptations are hearkned to when Christ cannot be heard How often have we neglected to reprove a sin for fear of loosing a friend how often have we neglected to speak of God for fear of displeasing our company how often have we denyed conscience that we might not deny our lusts what sinful pleasures that our hearts have been lusting after what sinful gains that our eyes have been set upon what pleasant morsels that our appetites have been craving have we been able to deny them how do we let conscience lye at the mercy of every lust if lust will but crave it must be granted whatever become of conscience If the name of Christ should prevail no more in Heaven then it ordinarily doth on earth if God should so ordinarily deny those prayers we offer up in Christs name as we deny those precepts which in the same name are sent down to us we should have as little hopes towards Heaven as the Lord hath honour on earth We grudge we murmur we quarrel with God if he deny us in any thing cross us in any thing and yet how many denyals must he bear from us and be patient 2 King 5. 13. If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much more when he saith wash and be clean If it had been some great thing the Lord had required of us that it is not all we have is but a little if it had been some great thing t were a shame to deny it to God but when such little things can't be granted not a word spoken sometimes in a whole day together not an alms given not a vain pleasure abated not a wanton fashion laid aside not a proud look or a froward tongue or a wanton eye or a greedy appetite restrained at his word when we fail in such little things what should we have done had we stood in Moses his stead Brethren when we are led aside from a self-denying to a flesh pleasing life we are ready to say to those that reprove us for it Oh you do not know my temptations if you were in my circumstances you might have done the like But you do know Moses his temptations and if you had had more of Moses heart you would not have complained so much of great temptations Beloved you that dwell in your sieled houses lodg in your warm and easy beds are clothed in your soft and costly raiment fed at your full tables cheared by the countenance and courtesies of your friends compassed about with your accommodations of all sorts when you can choose rather a poor cottage an hard lodging rough or ragged
garments hungry meals hard usage from friends and enemies when you can choose all this rather then sin against Christ when upon a little sin all your comforts might be continued to you there 's that self-denial that will prove that you can live without being beholding to the world for its good will or without fear of its ill will 2. Contentment in greatest straits Phil. 4. 11 12. I have learned in whatsoever estate I am to be content In whatever estate whether I have little or much something or nothing still content contentment is the heart at ease our well pleasedness with our condition without quarrelling at our lott without murmuring against God and without self-tormenting vexations Those whose God is the world cannot long be quiet the world like the moon waxes and wanes the world like the Sea ebbs and flowes and the heart of the worldly is like their God Isa 57. 20. The wicked are as the troubled sea that cannot be at rest when t is full sea there 's a little stand but when the tide turns away their rest swims down the stream The world is too little when at fullest to fill the heart this Sea is to narrow when at broadest to extend it self paralel to our expatiating desires Isa 28. 20. The bed is shorter then that a man can stretch himself on it the covering narrower then that he can wrap himself in it The wide Ocean to the heart of man is but as the narrow Seas he can drink it up and be thirsty still when it hath spent its store upon him that 's the voice what no more Is this all But what is the world to content a Soul when t is low water What rest can there be when ever and anon the banks will be empty God is the same enough and he changeth not the manifestations of God are unequal sometimes bright and sometimes dimmer sometimes he is seen and sometimes out of sight and hereupon there is sometimes less quiet in the hearts of the Saints then at other times but whilest the heart feels that God is there there 's no want Disquiets there may be but t is not whither the world ebbs or flows but whether God be present or absent that makes the change upon the Spirit let God be with me and then let the world be with whom it will let me have an houseful or but an handful t is all one as to my Soul contentment A Christian is as little beholding to the world for his contentment as he is for his godliness and that sure is little enough as he will be godly without asking leave of the world so he will be contented whether the world will or no godliness and contentment grow both together as much as you find of the one so much of the other if contentment be but small godliness is not great they grow both together and the same root bears them both Godliness comes down from Heaven and never did contentment spring up out of the earth they have the same fountain both come from the Father of lights Jam. 1. 17. You that are ordinarily male contents look to it that you be not strangers from God if there be any thing yet sure there 's but little of God in you that need so much of the world to keep you quiet if this be it that can only still you look to it this is still your God Oh what restless Spirits for the most part have you never well never at rest what 's the matter what is there wanting what would quiet you A better house a greater estate better trading kinder neighbours And can you not be content as you are content without all these must you be rich must you have all to your mind or you will still be thus angry go serve the world then and take it for your God say no more the Lord is my portion if he be not enough to content you Contentment in God will be one of the best evidences of your conquest over the world he is a Christian of proof that cannot be content with the world and yet can be content without it that cannot be contented with the world when he hath most of it and yet can be content when he hath the least of it yea can be content without it if God be his If the world can content you to be sure it can command you if you make it your pay-master it will be your task-master whither will not men go what will they not do for contentment Why run we so often from God but for our contentment what seek we in our fields in our beds or among our companions but our contentment company to please us pleasure to content our minds We mistake the ground contentment does not grow in any of these fields but however there we are digging for it and we never bethink our labour for any thing that will promise us I le content thee for thy pains this the world promises I 'le content thee I 'le content thee and as long as we dare take its word it has us sure enough for servants once find your mistakes hear riches say 't is not in me hear pleasures saying 't is not in me hear friends saying God help thee to a contented mind we cannot hear the whole world saying there 's no such plant in all my gardens thou mayst go from plant to plant from flower to flower till thou hast tryed all my store and never find contentment amongst them all t is in another field in the other world the paradise of God send thy heart thither for it purchase that field and there dwell and satisfy thy Soul Once hear every creature every condition telling thee thus t is not in me to content thee t is from within t is from above that thy contentment must come and then when thou seest that all the world cannot content thee what wants of any thing the world hath will discontent thee whatever it be the fruition whereof cannot content its want need not discontent us O what a constant calm and serenity should we feel in our spirits what steadiness would appear in our lives what triumph over the World and all its changes did we feel this truth in our hearts In God alone my contentment lies Oh how much below the excellency and the sweetness of such a life do we live how hard to be pleas'd how soon out of patience what a small matter will put our hearts upon the Rack Some there are that are ever male-contents there 's no condition that can keep them quiet if they be the greatest Candidates of Providence they are still murmuring they not only know not how to want or to be cross'd or to be in straits but neither how to abound they are never well fâ—ll nor fasting but will be still picking quarrels even with their most plentiful and prosperous state they will be vexing and fretting themselves for they know not what though they can
even wrought our selves out of work or else how quickly are we discouraged by the greatness of our work the least straw is a stumbling block the least Molehill a Mountain every duty is a difficulty and every difficulty an impossibility How shall I stand under so much work Who would venture on so great difficulties Am I God and not man spirit and not flesh the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak No no thy spirit is weak too this spirit is but flesh How weak is thine heart that it is so soon discouraged O Brethren where is the victorious spirit where are the Heroes of Christianity the Nobles that set their necks to the work of the Lord What designs have you for advancing in holiness for magnifying the grace of God in you for exalting his name in an heavenly life Where are the Trophies of your prowess bring forth the Captives you have taken Can you shew your lusts in Chains your pride in Chains your covetousness in Chains Here are the prisoners I have taken Behold houses and honors and dignities and pleasures behold my feet upon the necks of them all This little I have done for God Yet not I but the grace of God that was with me This little have I done for God the weights are laid aside and now will I run with patience the Race which is set before me Now for a fruitful life for labouring and abounding in the work of the Lord for growing rich unto God rich in good works I cannot sit down by that little I have done he is worthy he is worthy for whom I should do other manner of things then these for whom I should live another manner of life then this O were I all soul all wing all life all action how little would this my all be to what I would it were Rise up O my soul shake off thy ashes open thy sluces let run all thy streams what wilt thou do for thy good I have done for my flesh I have done for my family I have done for my friends what shall I do for my God Read O my soul in the Book of Records as that King did Ester 6. 2. and search what the Lord hath done for thee how he hath pardoned thee and sanctified thee and subdued thine enemies under thee how he hath brought thee out of thine house of bondage and redeemed thee from the house of servants And then ask What honour hath been done the Lord for all this O Brethren how are we straitned we walk as if we were still in our fetters if we were still Vassals to this earth we could hardly be less active for heaven Whilest we tell one another what the Lord hath done for our souls how little have we to tell what our souls have done for the Lord Empty vines we are that bring forth our fruit to our selves that sow for our selves and reap for our selves and thresh for our selves and live to our selves and how little to him And that little we do for God how hardly are we brought to it Am I bound to do this am I bound to do that bound to give so much to the poor bound to spend so much time in prayer bound to such constant care and labour May not less suffice will not less be accepted may I not be a Christian at a cheaper rate And if our flesh can but make us believe that less may serve how glad are we to sit down and save our labour Brethren is it not thus with the most of us must we not be drag'd and driven on to duty what do we more then bare necessity forces us to if fear would let us alone if Conscience would let us be quiet how little is it that love to Christ would put us upon Oh where are the large hearts to God the flowing souls that freely offer themselves to the Lord Woe to us this earth still sucks up our streams 2. Fortitude By this we stand against the fury of the world That 's a magnanimous spirit that delights in difficulties and despises danger a bold soul that not only loves to serve but dares to suffer that is not careful about this matter Dan. 3. Whom none of all these things move Act. 20. 24. that is strong and of good courage Victory attends the valiant and makes more valiant a little Conquest fleshes the faint This Christian fortitude comprehends in it these three things A boldness With God In God For God 1. A boldness with God A free and confident access to God a coming boldly before the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. 16. And this arises from a sense of Reconciliation with God from an inward acquaintance with God from a conscience of uprightness before the Lord Heb. 10. 19. 22. Having therefore boldness by the blood of Jesus let us draw near with a true heart with an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience There 's no coming before God with a guilty or guileful heart 't is Innocence that gives boldness the conscience of guilt or guile makes us afraid and ashamed to appear before God We are afraid of our Bibles asham'd to look towards our Closets when God hath a quarrel with us We go into our Closets as the Thief to the House of Correction We sneak in ashamed and afraid and shuffle over in haste and are glad when we get out again We cannot pray we scarce dare to lift up our eyes to heaven we blush before the Lord and cannot be free and open-hearted with him Guilt stops our mouths or at least the heart keeps silence where this cryes in its ears How can I go before the Lord What am I like to hear if I speak to him What will he answer me if I call upon him Why eryest thou to me Go to the Gods whom thou hast served go to thy pleasures go to thy companions go to thy Mammon which thou hast served thou art privy to thy treacheries to the Whoredomes thou hast committed with thine other Gods why cryest thou to me in thy distress go to the Gods after which thou hast loved to wander how will that heart hang down the head and give it self the repulse that 's conscious to such treachery When the soul can reply I have no other God to go to this Flesh is not my God this World is not my God my heart is with thee my desire is to thee and I have kept me by thee thou knowest Lord it hath been my care to keep me from the way and from the lusts of this world and to walk before thee in mine integrity then will it lift up its face with confidence in his presence Now he that can thus be bold with God that can with openness of heart make his appeal to God as the witness of his integrity and that can hereupon make his request to God make known his want and his straits and distresses and be bold to leave it upon him to relieve and support him he that
good words whilest your hearts are not with him go and be reconciled to your adversary for such the Lord is yet to you go and be reconciled to God accept of his grace resign to his Dominion set him up as Lord and Ruler within you let his Law and his love be in your hearts and then you may be bold both upon his acceptance of whatever service you do for his Name and upon your security in it Be the Lords in truth and then fear not to make the Lord your trust 5. Aequanimity in all the changes of his outward condition An equal steady fixed frame in all turns and changes If prosperity alone if afflictions alone will not corrupt or discompose us they are often made to take their turns sometimes one sometimes another if that may do it Though all wet or all dry will not yet sometimes wet and sometimes dry will rot the sturdy Oak He is a strong man indeed upon whom great and sudden changes of weather air diet and his whole course and way of life doth make no change Those souls are often toss'd with turns of fair weather and foul which can ride at anchor in constant tempests we can hardly be long the same whilest matters go not with us after the same way As the Psalmist Psa 55. 19. Because they have no changes so sometimes may it not be said Because they have many changes therefore they fear not God we may be so long emptied from vessel to vessel till we have lost our savour He is a Christian indeed whose soul is not tost out of its peace whose feet are not turn'd out of course by all the tossings and turnings of his outward state whose heart is not moved within when every day proves that all he has without are moveables Inward changes there are and ought to be according to the vicissitudes and varieties of providential occurrences every providence should make impression upon our spirits proportionable to it a due and different sense there ought to be of our outward mercies and crosses a sad sense of paternal displeasure is as necessary under corrections as a chearful sense of bounty and kindness when all things prosper with us We may not be as stocks or stones upon whom the Summer or Winter makes no difference God looks that worldly changes be seen and felt in hearts we may and must have our light and dark our joys and sorrows our hopes and fears there 's need and use of all But now in all these outward and their corresponding inward changes a Christian as to the main changes not his heart is fixed trusting in God he is not out of frame though he be in another frame to day then yesterday he was both in his prosperity and in his patience he possesseth his soul he is the same to Godward and towards sin still in motion heavenward and in defiance with iniquity As 't is on the other side with the wicked though they are as a troubled Sea yet they are still at rest in their iniquity whatever changes pass over them their hearts as to the main are not changed ever besides themselves and yet ever themselves wicked still emptied from vessel to vessel and yet their sent goes not forth out of them Ungodly still hardned still for sin and the devil still let their condition be what it will let them be in health let them be sick let them be full let them be empty let their steps be wash'd with Butter or sprung with Vinegar let their way be straw'd with Rosebuds or hedg'd with Thorns let them be merry let them be sad all 's one they are the same men and holding the same course wicked under mercies wicked under judgements wicked in their joys wicked in their sorrows O how do we see the providences of God thrown away lost upon the ungodly world Let the Lord do what he will with them shine upon them or thunder upon them deal gently or deal roughly with them cloath them or strip them feed them or famish them it comes all to one their hearts will not be broken nor turned to the Lord. Oh what strange changes hath the Lord of late made upon this wicked age what turns and returns have we seen smitings and healings scatterings and gatherings wars and peace sickness and health and yet behold the world still where they were lying in wickedness So for the Saints let the world do what they can upon them let them shine or thunder upon them deal gently or deal roughly feed or famish them they are still where they were their heart is fixed trusting in God And he that by all this feels the least disturbance upon his spirit he that sails most steadily in all winds and weathers whose heart is not unhinged by all his turnings who is not inordinately exalted nor depress'd by his fair weather and foul nor hurried out of himself by passionate and troublesome transports on the one hand or the other but holds his soul in such an even equal poise that his moderation appears unto all men there 's another that rides in triumph over earth and hell Oh Brethren how is it with us upon this account If we have made over our selves to the Lord and have ceased to be numbred among the men of this World if we no longer seek our treasure on earth and have laid hold on that better treasure above yet are we gotten so clear of things below that they have not still too great a power upon us Hath not this Moon a mighty influence upon our waterish spirits do not these ebb and flow according as it waxes and wanes are we the same men when things are not with us after the same manner are we the same in summer and winter can we keep our hearts and hold our course in all weathers Is it come to be all one with us as to our inward state which way matters go with us without can we want and yet be quiet can we be full and not be wanton can we be full and not forget God and be hungry and not fret our selves against him can we love God when he smites and fear him when he smiles Is it peace longer then there is plenty have we sunshine in cloudy dayes do we keep warm in the winter and not sleep in the summer how small a sunshine will steal off our garments and how little a wind will blow us off our legs Consider brethren it may be whilest the Lord hath prospered you and matters outward have gone according to your hearts then you could love and serve and praise and rejoyce in the Lord then you could be active and lively and fruitful and chearfully go on your way but the next cross providence hath been as water upon all your fire a little storm that hath risen hath put out all your light turned you besides all your duties and comforts turn'd you besides praying and rejoycing in God to vexing and fretting and
if this will not keep thee in frame Put on more weight Christians and your wheels will run more even and more constant let the importance of your eternal state be much in your eye and upon your heart Look often into the blessed eternity that is before you steep your hearts in Divine Contemplation and when you are transported into admirings of that glory then ask your hearts what little things are the Sun-shine or the storms of this lower Region tell me not of pleasures of plenty and prosperity here tell me not of crosses or disappointments here how shall I get to heaven Oh may I come there once no matter how it be here Look also into the black and dreadful eternity put your finger into the eternal fire think and think over and over of those flames of the gripings and gnawings of the Infernal Worm think of these things till you feel them to smart and begin to scorch and burn in your hearts and then say What if this should be my place if this fire and this Worm if these gnawings and this burning should be my portion for ever may I but escape this death only what is there else should trouble me Take a view thus of Eternity and then set down This is the work I have upon me this is the business of my day to make sure for Eternity Let this sink into your hearts hang on this poise and see if it do not hold your souls in such constant and vigorous motion heaven-ward that all the noises of this world which now so amuse and confound you will be but whispers that will be little regarded 3. Reckon upon nothing but God Make sure of God and reckon upon nothing else Reckon on no good thing but God and reckon on all the troubles and miseries on this side hell What you look for and count upon will work the less disturbance when it comes count upon all losses but the loss of God him if you be his you shall never loose Count upon all woes but the last woe upon all sufferings but hell God would never have thee count upon these if thou be his these shall never come upon you bless God for that so long 't is well enough any thing else the worst you can think of may come reckon upon it and you will the better bear it 4. Put your flesh upon the frequent tryal of a voluntary restraint and self-crossing Restrain your selves and you will the better endure when God straitens you He whose flesh is ordinarily curb'd by his Christian prudence will be less mov'd when cross'd by Divine Providence allow not thy flesh what it craves though thou hast to satisfie it think not opportunities of satisfying thy flesh to be a divine allowance count it not thy Warrant to allow thy self whatever pleases thee that thou hast wherewithall opportunities are often but temptations God sometimes does as a wise Master who lays an apple or a piece of money in the way to try his child or servant Use to give thy heart no more then God bids thee and thou shalt find that God will never give it less then will content thee Inure thy self to live daily at the allowance of Religion and thou shalt never want thy allowance When thou usest to have no more then thou shouldst have thou wilt be like to be content with what thou shouldst have and when thou art content with what thou shouldst have thou wilt ever be content to have what thou hast Though it be often said of some of the servants of men yet it shall never be said of any of Gods servants that they have not what they should have And he who whatever falls whatever his portion or condition be in every turn or change that comes can find his heart saying still 't is with me as it should be yesterday it was so this day it is so to morrow it shall be so he whose heart sayes thus of every condition he is in It is with me as it should be will say It is well and so sit down quietly in his lot 5. Lastly Victory over the world stands in a willingness to be gone from this and to take our flight to the other world in a willingness to die Worldly men if they could help it would never die they would rather live among the dead then die into a better life they are dead while they are alive dead in sin and they would that this might be their eternal death Oh might they be allowed an everlasting day to sin in to drink and swear and whore and curse and covet in what other heaven would they wish for Were there a message brought down to the World that their houses of Clay should stand for ever that this buying and selling and building and planting and getting wealth and rolling themselves in pleasures should be their everlasting imployment that all the noise and fear of graves and tombs and death and mortality should be for ever silenc'd what a Gospel would this be to them how would the word then be changed not the poor but the rich receive the Gospel Worldlings if Ministers were sent this day to preach to you that you should never come to heaven but that you should abide here in your houses in your fields in your pomp and peace and wealth eternally O what a Jubilee would this day be unto you what ringings and bonfires and shoutings and triumphs would there be at the news Oh this would be the best Sermon that ever you heard in your lives this would be the best tidings in your account that ever came into the world Death is a terror the great dread of the world the King of terrors Job 18. 14. the hopes of heaven would willingly be parted with so the fears of death might be no more How do the expectations and approach of death appale the faces weaken the hands shake the hearts sowre the pleasures damp the jollities cool and cow the spirits of the mighty ones of the earth If it should be said this day to any of the Worldlings among you Set thine house in order for thou must die if you should see a Tekell written on these walls thy day is finished this night shall thy soul be taken from thee thou hast eaten thy last morsel hast drank thy last draught thy last sand is running out were this my message to you this day what a sad Funeral Sermon would this be to such But now a Christian is willing to be gone Luke 2. 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Said old Simeon I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Said Paul the aged Phil. 1. 23. Egredere O anima go forth O my soul linger not these fourscore years thouhast served the Lord fear not now to go and receive thy wages It s true there is even in the Saints a degree of unwillingness to die but
this is the meaning of it thou hast all the good that thou art like to hsve for ever an end an end is come upon all thy comforts the Sun is set upon all thy good daies not one good day not one merry hour more for ever and ever thou hast had thy day henceforth nothing remains to thee but an eternal night the blackness of darkness for ever thy temporal joyes are swallowed up of everlasting sorrows thy honors are expired into everlasting contempt thy riches have taken wings and now thy poverty is come upon thee as an armed man which thou shalt not escape All this is included in this word which will be thy word Thou hast received thy good things What eyes have ye O ye sons of the earth if you do not yet see what hearts have you if you do not yet tremble The Lord be merciful to me if these things be so what 's like to become of me I have spun a fair thread Oh I have coveted an evil covetousness I have been busie in gathering dirt and building my Nest and providing for my young but whither is my soul taking her flight If the rest of my daies be as the daies that are past and God knows whether after so long an Apprentice I may ever go out free if the rest of my daies be as the daies that are past what remains but a fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation which will devoure me for ever I have kindled a fire and compass'd my self about with sparks and after I have walk'd a while in the light of my fire and of the sparks that I have kindled this shall I have of the hand of the most High I shall lye down in sorrow O ye worldlings shake up out of your stupendious security will you yet receive the Word of the Lord and suffer your selves to be convinced will you yet believe your selves to be unbelievers What say you Do you not believe that Worldlings are unbelievers can you have any other thought but you are Worldlings Open your eyes upon all your wayes view the whole course of your life what it hath been from your first time until now and let Conscience speak freely If these two things might stick in your hearts that you are Worldlings and that Worldlings have no part in Christ then there were hope that you would accept of those counsels which I shall give you from the Lord in order to your escape after I have first urg'd the second word of Conviction 2. That where there is but little power over the world there is but little Faith As the first Conviction will overthrow the Faith of some and prove it a meer nullity so this will call in question the confidence of others and at least take them some degrees lower There are some Professors who have a name among the first three of the Worthies of our Lord have the site and the aspect of stars of the first magnitude and are ranked among the chief of Saints who have risen high in the easier and sweeter but less significant parts of Religion who have gotten the language and tasted as they imagine of the milk and honey of Canaan and learned much of the more pleasing manners of that good Land who seem to be of the more intimate acquaintance of the sublimer spirit and power of the Gospel and to be much elevated in the spirituality of their notions and duties above the attainments of vulgar Christians and hence are grown up in their own and others apprehensions to be as the Cedars of the Lord among the lower shrubs whom yet if we enquire into about those severer points of mortification self-denial and crucifixion to the world possibly they may be found in these things as low as the least of Saints The faith of these if it prove to be the faith of Gods Elect at all yet sure it will be found to be by many degrees less then it appears and these arietes gregis must yet for the real spirit of faith and holiness come behind the littles ones of the flock where there is but little power over the world there is but little faith In order to the mannaging and carrying home this Conviction consider that 1. According to the truth or falshood of our faith so are we either Conquerours or Captives to the world 2. According to the proportion of our faith so will this victory over the world be more compleat or imperfect 1. According to the truth or falshood of our faith so are we either Conquerours or Captives to the world Every unbeliever is a Captive every believer is a Conquerour of the world both these have been already proved Faith is our chusing and laying hold on another portion our resigning our selves to the dominion of another Lord the world is gone when it may no longer be our Ruler or reward Faith changes the heart Act. 15. 9. it kills the Spirit of this World and that other Spirit that rises up in its room is this Spirit of faith By faith Christ is form'd upon the heart the old Soul is made new renewed after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness this new Soul is suited to a new treasure earthly things wax old and old things pass away when the soul is made new 't is argument enough that thou art an unbeliever and an enemy to the Cross of Christ that thou still mindest earthly things Philip. 3. 19. 2. According to the proportion of our faith so will this victory over the world be more compleat or imperfect We may best take the height and degree of our faith by observing the elevation of our spirits above the earth a low and earthly spirit whatever shew it makes is but of little faith Faith hath a general influence upon every grace and lust as to the nourishing of the one so to the withering of the other lust and the world run parallel where one is there you shall find the other on the Throne or at the footstool Faith lays lust in the dirt and the world ever falls with it Faith is our arm and according as this arm grows stronger so is the blow it gives to our Enemy more mortal The power of God is revealed in us from faith to faith there is a more abundant communication and a more vigorous exerting of this Divine Power where faith is grown where we are but of little strength its certain we are but weak in faith and where our adversary is so strong 't is argument enough that we are weak Growth in grace is then prov'd to be most real when 't is most equal and universal 't is an imperfection in Nature where one member out-grows the rest as grace and peace so grace and grace have their due proportions each to other great peace and little grace will make it questionable whether that peace be peace something of one grace and nothing of another will make it as doubtful whether that
grace be grace high in knowledge and low in love strong in confidence and loose in conscience hot in affection and cold in practise in the solaces of the spirit and yet walking in the flesh Behold a Christian like Nebuchadnezzars Image the head of gold the feet of iron and clay desinit in piscem mulier formofa supernè 'T is strange to observe what contradictions some Professors of Christianity are they are what they are not they are not what they are whilest they would be the great reconcilers of flesh and spirit of earth and heaven and make the serving of God and their own bellies the same service behold how they are divided from themselves they love God and love him not they serve God and serve him not this they may do as well as love God and this present world Oh how different are many of us from our selves our practices from our principles our doings from our sayings and yet how little differing from others you pray as others do not you hear as others do not you swear not as others you curse not as others but do you not covet as others are you not carnal as others Consider your wayes who more intent upon their present commodity who more hot upon the chase of an earthly inheritance then some of those who profess to have laid up their treasure in heaven Are there none to be sound who pretend to the greatest confidence of Divine Love to the highest pitch of Spirituality and Divine Communion who seem to pant after the Lord and breath out their souls in their warm and passionate duties and yet are eaten out and swallowed up of the cares of this life It is an amazing thing to consider what a strange degree of earthliness is to be found among such what infatiable hunger what indefatigable labour after an encrease of their estates how little respect to soul or conscience where their gain is concerned how ordinarily dispensing with lying promise breaking and almost any unrighteousness when 't is for their advantage how many grains must there be allowed them e're charity it self can judge them honest And where is all bestowed that is thus gotten in how little goes out for God or any of his how many hypocritical bemoanings of the hard case of the poor to one liberal alms Some gather only that they may lay up others that they may have to spend upon their lusts to build them houses and furnish their tables to trim their carkasses to please their eye or their palats and all this either justified and allowed or at least made up with some such hypocritical complaints Woe is me this world is too hard for me O it eats up my time O it steals away mine heart how am I overcharged how is my soul even choaked within me what shall I do to help it And when the complaint is thus made the matter is mended now a good Christian now ease and joy and confidence returns and then on again the same course Brethren be serious consider your selves feel your own pulses view your own faces and ways observe your hearts see where their daily walks are may you not find them ten times walking to and fro through the earth to once or twice casting a look towards heaven What are their daily tasks what is the work you every day put them upon Instead of those higher and nobler Offices of Vessels of Honor waiting before the Throne of God standing in his Courts bearing his Name beholding his Face setting forth his Praises have not our hearts been made hewers of wood and drawers of water carriers of burthens servers of tables purveyors for the flesh caterers for the appetite servants to the back and the belly the great traders and merchants of the earth to buy in provision for lust Worthy employment for immortal Souls as if the utensils of the Temple the golden altar the golden table the candlesticks the bowls and the basons all of beaten gold should have been fetchd out and set up in a blind Inne or a dirty alehouse for the service and the pleasure of every drunken companion Have not your Souls none of you been thus dealt withall are not these your heart-works when any thing is to be done for God the body must do that the body must to the closet the tongue must pray the ear must hear the eye must read but the Soul must stay abroad when any thing is to be done for the other world that must be but bodily exercise but when this flesh must be served that 's the heart-work that 's work for the Soul If these Souls could be seen with bodily eyes a man that goes into the field or into a fair or to a feast might see an hundred Souls more there then bodies and he that went into the congregation of the Lord if there were never so great a throng may be he might see but a few hearts in the company Christians consider is this your faith is this your victory over the world is this to be mortified is this to be crucified with Christ or to have your conversation in Heaven or can you think your selves believers especially of so high a form when so earthly and carnal What think you of those Jews of whom the Lord speaks Ezek. 33. 31. They come unto thee as the people cometh they sit before thee as my people they hear thy words but they will not do them with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goes after their covetousness Are these the people of God all whose religion is to come to hear and to pray to have a mouth full of God a mouth full of love and an heart full of covetousness Give me leave to interpose a word or two to the carrying on the former conviction as to many professâ—rs of religion in order whereto let us a little consider that Scripture Philip. 3. 18. 19. Where the Apostle speaks of a sort of professours much of this earthly make and he speaks with tears in his eyes Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind erthly things In the former part of the chapter you may observe how 1. He gives an account of himself and his own Christianity and this in these particulars 1. He set such an high rate on Christ and an interest in his righteousness that in comparison hereof he counted all things else but loss and dung let this gain be loss this earth be dung troden under foot as dung cast out as dung so I may win Christ and be found in him 2. He unites interest in Christ with conformity to Christ they lye both together in the same heart and his Soul is making out after both in the same breath That I may win Christ and be found in him and that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death He would not only rejoyce in Christ he would not only live in Christ but be dead with Christ and then be raised with Christ above these earthly things he would have his interest in the death and resurrection of Christ witnessed by fellowship with him in both by the power of his death and resurrection made manifest in him he would that both the death of Jesus and the life of Jesus be made manifest in his mortal flesh 3. He sets his face and bends his whole course towards the obtaining of Christ I follow after I press towards the mark and this not in his prayers only but in his whole practice this one thing I do this one is all whatever I am doing this I am doing I have nothing else to do nothing else to do nothing else to seek but this interest and conformity to Christ 4. He turns his back upon all things else forgetting those things that are behind that is not only his pharisaical righteousness and his external priviledges to which this especially refers but much more all carnal and earthly things v. 8. Yea doubtless I count all things but loss he leaves all behind first he setts his feet upon them and treads them into dung and then he turns his back upon them and leaves them all bâ—hind and henceforth his whole conversation is heavenward v. 20. our conversation is in Heaven Lo this is the man who is bold to say of himself Galat. 6. 14. The World is crucified unto me and I unto the World 2. He proposes himself as a pattern to all beleivers v. 15. 17. Let us be thus minded I have told you my mind come let 's be all of one mind and be ye followers together of me let your heart be as my heart let your conversation be as my conversation my conversation is in Heaven come along and there let yours be also 3. He points with the finger at some among them who though they profess'd Christ with them and worshipp'd God with them and walk'd with them yet they walk'd not after them and setts this brand upon them They are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly who mind earthly things Here are the men and their censure here is their mark and their brand their mark or description whose God is their belly who mind earthly things their brand and their doom the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction Professour is thy face like the faces of these Is thy heart and thy way as the heart of these So shall the judgment be You say as the Apostle v. 3. We are the circumcision we are Christs we worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh But yet have you not fellowship with the flesh do you not walk after the flesh even whilest you pretend to rejoyce in Christ Jesus and to worship God in the Spirit Oh how many such mark'd and branded Disciples may we find among us whom while their lusts have marked for belly-gods and earthly minded the word hath branded for enemies and vessels of destruction whilst the Devil hath branded and the World hath branded the whole generation of the Saints for a proud deceitful earthly self-seeking generation Christ hath set this brand on thee earthly sensual devilish Oh brethren if we could speak of these with the the heart of the Apostle we should with his tears also we should speak weeping that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ the wounds and the sores and the scabs the shame and the reproach of the profession of the Gospel good had it been for the Gospel if never a good word of it had ever proceeded out of such mouths and better had it been for such souls if they had never known nor so much as heard of the Gospel of Christ Friends if you do not yet fall a weeping for your selves for your hypocrisie your carnality for your self-seeking and self-deceiving my soul weep thou in secret for them Oh that mine head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for you till either this earth be thrown out of your hearts or the name of Christ out of your mouths O for more of the Gospel or for less for more of the power or nothing of the name for more of its holiness or less of its hopes and boastings come ye and be crucified to this world or talk no more of the Cross of Christ Oh how many enemies hath the Cross of Christ made him oh how few friends have the severities of Christ left him are those the friends of Christ who are the enemies of his Cross are you the friends of Christ who are the intimates of the world will professing and praying and hearing baptize such into the name of Disciples If lying and promise breaking if serving of bellies and satiating of appetites if pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness or abundance of labour a little tip'd over with a silver tongue be the marks of Disciples we may find them walking on every side whole Towns whole Countries of them if these may be reckoned for the seed how great an herd would the little flock become if those Swine that are rooting in the earth or wallowing in the mire must go all for Lambs if these Sensualists and earth-creepers must all be thrown into the number if the wise of the world Polititians and Projectors must all pass under the same name to what a bulk would the Body of Christ swell But if all these these speckled and spotted must be set aside as none of the sheep oh what a small parcel will there then be left If of earth-worms and Epicures it must be said these are not they the next word may almost be where are they to be found But be not deceived God is not mocked as you sow so shall you also reap your sowing to the flesh even while you boast of the spirit is conviction enough whose you are and what your end will be whose end is destruction Ob. But I mean not for all this to cast away my confidence God forbid that I should think that I have professed in vain that I have heard and pray'd and believed all this while in vain I know whom I have believed I feel that I love God and I am perswaded that nothing shall separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord whatever corruptions I have yet the spirit witnesses with my spirit that I am the Child of God I am sealed by that holy spirit unto the day of Redemption and I will not cast away my confidence Sol. The meaning of all these good words may be no more but this you will hold your Opinion against the greatest evidence of Scripture
up a general complaint one against another 't is in every ones mouth Oh how earthly are we become our gold is mixed with dross our wine with water behold a second but sad Incarnation our spirit is become flesh every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards how hard are we driving after bags of earth we assemble our selves for corn and wine and when riches encrease who is there almost that sets not his heart upon them who is there that labours to be holy as to be rich to thrive in grace as in purse though the Lord hath taken off our Chariot Wheels yet still we drive on though he hath been whipping us upward yet behold still we are all below though he hath burnt up our houses and fir'd us out of our Nests yet behold our hearts are still among among the rubbish though he hath mingled wormwood with our milk and gall with our honey yet we say 't is sweet and will not be weaned though he hath testified against our pride and testified against our covetousness and made such stains upon our beauty and such holes in the bottoms of our bags though we see plainly and say God is angry with us and angry for the iniquity of our covetousness yet who are they that have given off and are gone back from their so eager pursuit of the world Oh what 's like to become of us we are so set upon this Idol that it 's much to be feared desolation is determined upon us Do we not ordinarily hear and make such complaints but if we should with our complaints let fall a teare upon the guilty may they not return upon us weep not for us but for your selves for your own covetousness for your own carnality and what should we say for our selves if they do so Oh the Lord help me I am one of the company I even I also am guilty this Idol hath a tabernacle in this heart also though I considered it not But must our complaints suffice us is it enough to make all well to confess 't is so bad must this be all our heavenliness to bewail our earthliness will God take our acknowledgments for amendments is this your redemption to bewail your captivity But when shall it be better when shall it be said to these prisoners Go forth when for the other world when for God alone for nothing but the everlasting kingdom Arise O captive put off thy prison garments get thee up out of this house of bondage unclog unfetter thy Soul get thy foot out of the snare and away for the holy land leave this earth to its heirs let the men of this world take to their portion and be the only servants to it but go thou and serve the Lord let God and the world take their own whilest worldlings will not be the servants of Christ let it no longer be said that Christians are the servants of the world Brethren conclude upon it that you have no more of christianity then you have of spirituality that this spot of earthliness will unavoidably be a blot upon your evidences for Heaven Have you assurance that you are the Lords how can that be when you are so much the worlds What ever arguments you have that seem to conclude well for you yet how many objections are there also Oh how many Buts are there against us Such a one is a judicious understanding Christian But hee 's greedy upon the world such a one is of a savoury gracious behaviour But hee 's unmerciful to the poor such a one is much in prayer and will pray singularly well But there 's no trust to his word such a one is of a free and liberal Spirit But he is proud Shoot down these Butts if ever you would stand established in your confidence Have you not assurance Is this yet to be gotten Oh how can you so eagerly mind any other getting can you have such leisure for Earth when Heaven still hangs in doubt or do ye think that the same way does lead to both that the same labour will serve for both will the same wind and the same course carry you towards both the Poles can you at once be sayling Northward and Southward can you ascend and descend by the same motion when you are progging for your flesh building your houses enlarging your border laying you up treasure on earth and making it as sure as you can Is this your laying up treasure in Heaven your giving diligence to make God sure your calling and election sure once be bound in good earnest for glory and take the strait course thitherward and then farewel World thy kingdom is finished thy dominion is at an end Brethren receive this word of conviction and submit to it the summe whereof is that where there is so much of the Spirit of this World there is but little faith and where there is but little faith 't is more then you can tell whether there be any at all God is a convincing of us if his word does not his providences shall convince us and lay us yet lower in our own eyes what means his undoing and ruining providences but to try us what spirit we are of and to teach us with his briars and thorns to understand our selves better and to recover why is his face so against us why is his hand so heavy upon us what do the ashes of our wasted treasures speak to us If it do not speak out this to us Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead yet does it speak less then this Thou hast but a little strength thou hast but a few names that have not defiled their garments strengthen the things that remain that are ready to dye Is not this its word seekest thou yet great things for thy self when I am breaking down what I have built when I am plucking up what I have planted is this a time to seek great things for thy self yea or to think great things of thy self seek them not no nor think any more such great thoughts lay thee down in the dust be ashamed and confounded for what thou art and hast done and climb no more up those trees that are hewing down under thee Brethren when do ye think the Lord will cause his fury towards us to cease when will the flames be quenched when will his repentings be kindled what hope is there that our conflagrations should be at an end till our Idols be burnt up 't is vain to think that our prayers and fastings and weeping before the Lord will put out the fire of his jealousie Get thee up wherefore lyest thou thus upon thy face Israel hath sinned they have taken of the accursed thing I will not be with you any more except ye destroy the accursed from among you Josh 7. 10 11 12. The Lord hath broken us with a great breach the Lord hath smitten us with a very grievous blow and now we fall to fasting and praying and
mind prepossessed and actually stâ—ff'd with the cares of this life Intus existens prohibet alienum How canst thou ascend with thy burthen upon thy back unload unload lay aside every weight and then go up and prosper Say to all thou hast stay you here whilest I go and pray before the Lord let the night before each Sabbath be as the grave betwixt the two worlds there let thy dust be buried and thy Spirit fly naked to thy God Let that night which is the partition betwixt thine own dayes and the Lords be thy Souls taking its leave of all thou hast any sinful thoughts works or pleasures thy lusts and thy evil wayes give them an eternal burial Be gone see my face no more for ever and for matters lawful and honest that concern this earth charge them not to thrust in before the Lord go you also your way for this time and when I have a convenient season I will send for you and if from Sabbath to Sabbath thy feet stand thus on the mountain of the Lord thou mayst find them all the week long on the tops of the mountains of the earth Brethren where is our Sabbath separation Is there not a fault among us upon this account let him that heareth enquire How it is with me Am not I faulty what are my Sabbath thoughts what are my Sabbath discourses If I be better employed in the house of God what do I in mine own house what are my morning and evening and midday thoughts what is my table talk my chimney talk If business if bargains or journeys be not admitted are not visits or complements or vain stories or impertinent news suffered to fill up the time is it thus or not with thee Is it well that it is thus O clear your Sabbaths of such worldly encroachments or you 'l never clear your hearts drive all the world into Pathmos into banishment and be wholly in the spirit on the Lords day Be abstracted from earthly things and earthly thoughts bring them with you neither to the house nor to the day of the Lord let your own houses and your own tables be as the house and table of the Lord have nothing to do from morning to evening but to wait on God 2. It is a day for special Communion with God Tbe meeting of God with his people on that day is like unto that meeting which is promised to Moses Exod. 25. 22. before the mercy seat There will I meet thee and commune with thee there will I shew thee all my mind and hear all thy requests It is a day of blessing thither the tribes go up to bless the Lord and there he comes down to bless his people It 's said Gen. 2. and Exod. 20. that God blessed the Sabbath day Gods blessing the day makes it a day of blessing a good day to his Saints he then comes unto them in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel Those that question whether the first day of the week be the Christian Sabbath let them consider which of all the dayes of the week the Lord hath since the death of Christ so exalted above the rest of the dayes that they can with most confidence say This is the day which the Lord hath blessed on what day were the gates of death broken the Lord Jesus declared to be the son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead on which day was the spirit of God most signally shed abroad on the Apostles and primitive Christians in those extraordinary gifts whereby they were made more capable of publishing the blessed Gospel to the ends of the earth and in that special grace which seized three thousand Souls in one day Act. 2. What day is it that hath been honoured to be the birth day of the greatest number of Saints ever since that hath been their feast day wherein their Souls have been most sensibly nourish'd and they have been increas'd with the increasings of God what meals have they had to their Lords-day meals what joyes to their Lords-day joyes Surely if this may determine the question which day is the Sabbath of the Lord the day that of all others God hath blessed and made a good day the experiences of Christians in all ages would bring in their vote for the first day This is the day that God hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it this by the way This day as is said before is the rest of God a little Heaven let down to us on earth God calls us up hither as he called Moses up to Pisgah to give us a view of the promised land The Sabbath is Heaven opened we may give a guess at the glory to come by those glimses and tastes we have of it now It is the day of interview betwixt the bridegroom and the bride wherein he beholds our faces and shewes us his loves wherein he comes down into his garden to eat his pleasant fruits and we behold his goings the goings of God in his Sanctuary The business of this day is to look into the Ark of the Covenant to review and renew the Covenant transactions betwixt God and our Souls to search out contemplate and admire the mercies and lovingkindness of the Lord to receive the overflowing of his goodness and to pour forth our Souls as an offering to him in our prayers and praises to give and receive mutual tokens and pledges of Love and faithfulness to seal to our fidelity to him and to receive farther assurances of his grace and good will to our Souls to obtain help from God against our enemies whereby we may execute upon them the vengeance written and upon this mountain ordinarily is the victory obteined there breaks he the arrowes of the bow the sword the shield and the battel Christians have you ever experimented this Sabbath Communion hath the Lord God appear'd thus unto you have there been such friendly and familiar intercourses betwixt him and your Souls Oh how contemptibly hath the world look'd in that day But oh what dark and cloudy dayes are our Sabbaths ordinarily to us Sundayes per antiphrasin the Sun not once appearing it may be for many dayes together no wonder our Souls are so earth'd all the week when they are so seldom in Heaven on the day of the Lord what dry feasts are our Sabbath feasts rather fasts then feasts real Communion with God is a strange thing to us even in the day of God Heaven is opened but our eyes are shut God comes down to meet us and to bless us but our hearts are not there the breasts of consolation are full but we have no skill or no list to draw at the breasts we come to the well but we do not let down the bucket we stand by the pool where the Angel comes down but our creeple Souls put not in to the waters we stand without in the outer court of the Lords house our Sabbaths are to us but
figures of Sabbaths the ordinances of them are to us as wells without water lamps withoul Oyle meer shadows of good things we go up from week to week to meet one with another but how seldom do we see God in the company and hereupon Sabbaths come and goe and leave us still as we were the Devil may well enough trust us with such Sabbaths the world may give us leave to go thus before the Lord and be no looser by it Brethren get you into the inner court which on these dayes especially was to be set open Ezek. 46. 1. there is an entry through the house of the Lord that leads in to the heart of the most high get you into that sanctum sanctorum and there let be your rest as often as the morning of that blessed day looks forth upon you get your vessels ready and go you forth to meet the bridegroom open your eyes with these thoughts this is the day which the Lord hath made I will rejoyce and be glad in it climb up betimes and let every duty be a stair by which you ascend to your Lord let divine contemplation let prayers and praises c. be the whole work let the blessings of Divine Communion be the whole expectation of that day and when you find your hearts refreshed with his presence and filled with the company of your God and he sends you away laden with the tokens of his love and with the impress of his face upon your hearts and the relish of his goodness fresh upon your palats when you thus go hot out of the presence of the Lord then you will learn to despise that day of small things with which the World entertains you Shall I forsake my sweetness saith the figtree shall I forsake my fatness saith the Olive and become King over the trees let the bramble take that honour farewell dignities and dominions farewell pomps and pleasures farewell houses and lands I have enough I have seen the face of God 3. It is a day of special provision for Souls whereon the Lord brings forth out of his treasury his spiritual provisions to keep the Soul in heart Hunger-starv'd souldiers are but poor fighters they are the weak souls whom the World hath vanquished Sabbaths are the Souls Market dayes Men have their Markets whence to be supplied with necessaries for their bodies and on this day God keeps a Market for Souls He hath his Milk and his Honey his Wine and his Oyl his Bread and his Water of Life and on this day in special he makes Proclamation Ho every one that thirsteth come to the Waters and he that hath no money Come ye buy and eat yea buy Wine and Milk without money and without price The bread which comes down from Heaven though it be to be had every day our Week-dayes may in their measure be all Sabbaths yet on this day it falls more plentifully The Jews had their corporal Manna on the six dayes and none on the Sabbath but the hidden Manna falls more thin and more sparely on our other dayes and on this day more abundantly They were to gather double on the sixth day that they might have to supply them on the Sabbath but for the Spiritual Manna all our other dayes are to be supply'd from our Sabbath provision A Christian who is not fit to meet the Bridegroom is neither fit to meet his adversary without Oyl in his Lamp T is the great commodity that 's set to sale in this Market Oyle for our vessels Come bring your empty vessels here 's Oyl to fill them The Ordinances which are this day administred are the pipes opened those golden pipes by which the golden Oyl is emptied forth and conveyed down from the living Olive Zech. 4. T is no wonder that men hunger after this world who know no better feeding An Asses head or a kab of Doves dung are of great price when there is no bread 2 King 6. 25. T is for want of bread that worldlings can make such a feast of their Locusts and wild Honey Those that have eaten of the hidden Manna will not lust after Quails the Worlds dainties will come out at their nostrils whose bellies have been filled with this hid treasure Those whom God hath fed in his green Pastures those whom God hath led by his still waters they cannot live in these salt Marishes or stubble fields Those whose souls God hath made well watered Gardens will not need the Pools of the Wilderness It s no wonder that the World beats us when we go for many daies together without making one good meal When our souls are famished into weakness then are we our enemies prey they are the hunger starved sheep that are a prey to Crows and Kytes If Sathan can but keep us low if he can either keep the Manna from falling about our Camps or keep us idle when we should be gathering he may then lead us after his lure at pleasure T is not a little strength that will suffice us against his great temptations and t is not a little bread by which we are like to gather any great strength we had need feed well if we will be strong and we had need be strong or we shall never fight well A Soul that uses to come before the Lord with an appetite that feeds hungrily and is as the thirsty earth that drinks up the showers that come oft upon it whom the Lord satisfies with the fatness of his house you may turn him loose to the World flesh and Devil the life of God within him maintained by influences from above will much secure him against all their assaults Christians know your Sabbath priviledges the advantages of Sabbath separation Sabbath communion and Sabbath provision Understand your advantage and make your advantage of them Be ye seperate Remember your Creator and rest from your works as God did from his Remember your Redeemer and rise from your dust as Christ did from his Let this day of his Resurrection be the day of your Resurrection and Ascention Let Sabbaths be Sabbaths indeed holy to the Lord and wholly his Divide not the day betwixt flesh and Spirit God and Mammon but let it be entirely the Lords day Let every duty and Ordinance of this day be a Communion Prepare to meet your God and go up to meet him Seek his face in hope to see his face see and love see and rejoice see and admire and praise him in his excellent greatness Hearken what the Lord God will speak and let him hear your voice Confirm your friendshâ—p renew your acquaintance in Heaven repeat your Covenant transactions Have you chosen the Lord for your portion tell him you stand to your choice have you renounc'd your flesh and the World promise him not to return to folly Have you made the Lord your trust put forth fresh acts of faith upon him Look to him lean on him for his righteousness and strength Let such as these
let faith and love and hope and prayers and praises which are the stairs to the other World and your weapons against this be your Sabbath-work and delight Let not finer cloaths and better fare let not idleness and ease no nor filling up a place in the Congregation be the only difference betwixt Sabbaths and other daies but this better work and meat for souls Provide against the dayes of scarcity provide against the dayes of temptation Let not the Manna fall besides your vessels Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches Catch at every word observe every look of your Lord upon you And whatever you receive lay up and ponder in your hearts Have you received a check or reproof lay up your reproof have you received a word of counsel or instruction lay up your instructions Hath he spoken peace to you lay up that word charily by you whatever transactions have passed betwixt the Lord and your Souls keep the records and when you go forth whither ever you go carry all this upon your hearts that whenever the World meets you again and tempts you again you may be thus well appointed and throughly furnished against its assaults Brethren put hard on every Sabbath for such an undisturbed attendance on the Lord single out the Lord for the object of your whole converse knit your hearts thus to him solace your selves thus in him get you thus elevated and raised in your spirits from earthly to heavenly and every inch of ground you get of your adversary maintain it carefully from Sabbath to Sabbath If this were seriously design'd and more generally attempted by Christians we should find both another face and another power of Christianity in the earth the children of the Kingdom would be more visibly differenced from the men of this World and both the guilt and reproach of earthliness and sensuality be wip'd off from the Professors and Profession of the Gospel 3. Improve Sacraments this way The advantage that we have in Sacraments against the World lies In our Preparation Participation 1. In our preparation One confessed preparatory duty is self-examination 1 Cor. 11. 28. A great security of this Idol is the secret of its tabernacle It s covert in which it lurks unseen Worldlings many of them if they knew what is within them their Conscience would so prick that they could have no rest or ease till this thorn were puld out but they are not aware that the World is within them Yet this enemy lies not so close but upon a privy search it may be discovered Sacramental trial should be close and thorow no corner within us should be left unransacked The reverence of this great Ordinance and the dreadful consequence of comming so solemnly before the Lord with a Traitor in our bosoms eating and drinking judgment will cry in our ears Make diligent search The evidence that this one thing an earthly mind carries in it of our treachery towards God is so notorious that he hath but little understanding in the matters of God that would not from this alone conclude himself an unworthy guest at the Table of the Lord were all things else never so specious and fair Dar'st thou say Surely the Lord will accept me for he hath but this one thing against me That I love the World more than I love God I can own his name and waies I join with the Assemblies of his people I can pray and hear and fast I am neither proud nor froward nor envious nor malicious there is no evil but this covetousness but I hope I can acquit my self of Dar'st thou say thus I am no drunkard I am no Adulterer I am no swearer I am nothing but an Idolater the Lord I hope will excuse me in this thing Dost think he will indeed And may it not be like enough that upon this diligent search thou mayst find this to be thy case Friends get the sense of these terrible truths upon your hearts He that eateth and drinketh unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself He that is an Idolater eateth and drinketh unworthily He that is covetous is an Idolater Let these things sink into your hearts and then see if you dare come without a narrow search make a narrow search and then you will see how great your unworthiness and danger is Certainly were there a due care taken of this duty it were not possible that men could go on from Sacrament to Sacrament under the power of their earthly hearts this would surely startle them This Ordinance would either make them afraid of their worldliness or this worldliness would make them afraid of Sacraments Worldly Professors what care is there ordinarily taken of this duty do you examine do you make diligent search do you make particular search for this evil It may be you enquire Am I in the faith am I in charity do I bear no malice hath no man a quarrel against me nay possibly you may go a little farther and ask Am I unjust am I an oppressor an extortioner have I done wrong to no man and if you can acquit your self here then an end But do you further ask Do I not love the world Is not mine heart too much upon it Am I not too busie for the world is not my time spent too much upon it are not duties neglected is not my soul or my families souls neglected for its sake am I not so bent upon growing rich in the world that I mind not how poverty grows upon my soul do I honor the Lord with my substance am I merciful am I bountiful do I seek no more nor no otherwise then God would have me seek do I aim at God do I entitle God to all I have do I know how to abound can I want if the Lord will have it so is God enough if I have nothing is not all the world enough if God be a stranger how can I bear crosses and disappointments in the world Speak friends are any of these things enquired after I doubt whether you be faithful in this matter oh might I prevail with you to put upon this closer and severer tryal you know not what it might gain you If you can but apprehend your Enemy at such a time as this when you are making this solemn approach to the Lord when it would be so dreadful to you to be found in league with it at what an advantage would you then have it Now is a time when if ever we are like to have you serious loose not the season beware of solemn triflings hide not now your eyes from seeing your disease beware of palliating and mincing be zealous to know the worst of your case put Conscience close to it what sayst thou Guilty or not guilty If Conscience plead Guilty then come before the Lord if thou darst without serious repentance and
pray Lead us not into temptation He knew well enough what work the tempter would make with you if he could but get you within the reach of his net and therefore taught you to pray to be kept out Have you never prov'd your own weakness do you not remember how you use to come off when you have been tempted have you no sad experiences by you your broken peace your wounded spirits your wasted Consciences to remember you of it do you not still use to come off by the loss Consider friend it may be thou art of a Covetous heart and an earthly mind and this when it meets thee in the presence of God what a shame and sorrow is it to thee thou bewailest it and abhorrest thy self for it thou confessest it to God prayest against it covenants against it and by that thou hast stood a while before the Lord and tasted of the delights of his love thou hast gotten thine heart a little raised to things above thou canst scorn this earth and hopest thou shalt never be so taken with these beggarly things again and yet no sooner hath the Devil gotten thee abroad into thy house among thy treasures into thy field among thy sheep and oxen but thine heart is gone presently after them all the prayers and tears and vows are forgotten and thou art as busy and eager upon the world as ever It may be thou art possessed of a slight and frothy spirit given to vanity carnal mirth and jollity and when thou comest to pray or to humble thy self when thou art alone and hast freedom to be conversant about the matters of thy soul thou art for the time gotten to be a little serious the sense of eternity falling upon thee thy soul taking a walk to the grave and looking over to those deeps that are on the other side thy spirit is hereby consolidated and gotten into a more sober frame and then presently thou hopest thou shalt never evaporate into such froth and folly again and yet behold as soon as ever thou fallest into company with vain persons and hast been entertained a while with their unsavoury merriments thou quickly becomest as one of them It may be thou art of a pettish and froward spirit and this hath cost thee dear many tears and troubles of heart and sometimes possibly thou hast prayed and humbled thy self into more meekness and patience and quietness of spirit and yet the next cross that comes if but a very look a disrespectful word nay may be but a surmise or a jealousie of a slighting thought will put thee besides all thy patience and set thee all in a flame How many such experiences hast thou of thy self hast thou not often found it thus must thou not acknowledg it hath been thus again and again Have not these been sometimes thy groans before the Lord at such times when thou hast felt thy self in a better frame Oh that it might be ever thus O that this might hold that I might never sink into this earthliness that I might never swell with this froth or fury again O this slippery and unstable heart I fear it I doubt how it will serve me if the world or this flesh do but call me away if any temptation comes either to court me or to cross me I fear me all this calm and serenity will quickly become clouds and tempests Speak Christian hath it not been thus many a time O what a weak thing art thou And what is temptation that you do not fear it if you know not I will tell you there are these four things in it Deception Infection Seduction Perdition 1. Deception temptation is an artifice contriv'd on purpose to beguile and deceive us Gen. 3. 13. The serpent beguiled me and I did eat 't is a juggle or a cheat that carries a stinging tayle under a fair face that promises a kindness or advantage but either hath nothing in it or a mischief there 's no temptation but its outside and inside its head and tayle hath as much difference either as substance and shadow or as bait and hook 2. Infection the heart by reason of its filth and rottenness is apt to take infection 't is dangerous for persons abounding with ill humours to come into ill aires and temptation is as the air from a plague sore that conveyes infection temptation does so ferment innate corruption that it putrifies into the more deadly malignity our being conversant with the pleasures and fashions and lusts of this World our living in such evil airs do leave such corrupt impressions and dispositions upon us as do suffocate our spirits and destroy the very vitals of religion in us See it in experience look what mens outward condition and their ordinary converses are such are their tempers and complexions you may see in their faces and smell in their very breaths where they use to live Those that are dwelling and have their whole occupation in the earth are they not mostly earthen souls those that dwell at ease and with the careless and idle are sluggish and sleepy souls those that live in pleasure in mirth and jollity what are their Souls but bladders of froth and vanity He that dwells in the pomps and glories of the world proud and haughty scorner is his name and according to his name so is the man he that is the companion of drunkards and partaker with the adulterer his very inwards often become debauchery possibly their wayes of life at first found them in sounder tempers but behold now they are all infected persons this earth hath infected them their ease hath infected them their pleasures and their pomps and their companions have infected them leavened them into their own natures Oh what sad metamorphoses do we sometimes see even of the most promising ingenuous natures by their overbold or unwary converses spoil'd not only of their most gracious inclinations but of all tinctures of good nature grown proud and wanton and froward and rude and perverse who were once loved for their humility sobriety and meekness and all this by the infection they have received from their ways or companions Those that will run into temptations that will adventure themselves any where whither their lust leads them that will not first enquire Is it good for me to be here is it safe for me to walk thus are as mad and foolish as those that will run into a Pesthouse or lodge amongst Lepers Dost thou not see what thy boldness hath already cost thee Is not the hew of thy Society already grain'd into thy face art thou not become as one of them thou conversest withall has not the Infection seiz'd on thine heart and does not the Leprosie appear in thy forehead take heed foolish soul if it be not already in how little time may this disease be incurable 3. Seduction Leading aside to errors and mistakes to believe a lye there are temptations that corrupt the judgement as well as the
thy love I am he whom when thou calledst I would not come whom thou wouldst have turned but I would not turn when thou wouldst have pardoned and healed me I sold thy pardon and refused to be healed and wilt thou not plead for such a one as I I have chosen this world for my portion I have lov'd it and serv'd it and when I should have been praying or hearing minding my soul and laying up treasure in heaven I was loath to be such a bad husband I was busie in following my affairs looking to my Corn and my Cattel and my Trade and here I have gotten money and Lands and will not these plead for me Is not a rich mans Plea good will not my gold and my silver my honors or my ornaments get entrance into thy Kingdome if not Lord this is all I have to say for my self if this will not do who shall plead for me O Brethren if you would be perswaded to sit down daily and to think over some such thoughts as these then there would be hope If we could but preach you upon this thinking there would be hope that you might think you into Christ 2. Hold your affections under government Prov. 16. 32. He that ruleth his spirit is better then he that taketh a City and no wonder for he hath taken the whole world captive All victories imaginanable are summ'd up in this one victory the conquest of the heart By spirit we are here to understand the passions or affections the spirit of man is as the Apostle saies Jam. 3. the tongue of man is an unruly evil impatient of subjection and pressing for dominion God hath placed our affections under government under the government of our reason and those principles of heavenly wisdom faith righteousness and holiness which we are indowed with but these like an unbroken horse that will not go whither the rider but whither it self listeth do rise up and rebel against reason and will be the leaders and not followers and this unruliness of the passions is the root of the distempers and disorders of the life when men surrender up themselves to be lead by affection whither doth it carry them reason leads us up to God It is the Candle of the Lord that lights us our way to him our affections are blind guides love is blind desires are blind and whether will the blind lead us If we could live by faith nay if we could but live more by reason by right reason we should get us up out of this earthly country even reason will tell us that God is better then creatures and that the inordinate following of creatures is the forsaking of God For the better holding your affections right take these two directions 1. Keep your selves in the love of God 2. Whatever you love in the world let it be also your fear 1. Keep your selves in the love of God let affection follow the conduct of reason to Heaven and there let it dwell but till reason lead it down again keep your selves in the love of God Jude 21. keep up a right understanding of God and that will keep up your affections keep up your affections to God and that will keep them off from the world the heart will ever be in love and till it find a better this harlot must be its beloved deformity is as beauty whilest beauty is out of sight He saies in vain set not your affections on the earth that does not first say set your affections on things above He that saies set your affections on things above and not on the earth if he be heard in the first will not be denyed in the second keep you in the love of God and you keep you clear of the love of the world 2. What ever you love in the world let it be also your fear fear will be loves bridle and reason would teach you to fear what ever you love here nothing hath such an advantage upon us to steal away our hearts from God as the things we love The Lord is seldom such a looser as by his bounty when he lets down his silver cords of love to draw up our hearts we make chains of them to fetter us here below His gold and his Jewels his bracelets and earrings which he sends us to allure our love are often molten into an Idol and engross our hearts to them Whatever thou lovest in all the world hast thou a wife or a child that thou lovest hast thou a friend or companion that thou lovest hast thou an house a pleasant habitation hast thou gardens or orchards fields or vineyards that thine heart is pleas'd withall O be jealous of them Keep your distance come not too near thou commest for my Soul my child my house my mony my friends I must have an eye to you you come to steal away mine heart What a sad requital and yet how commonly is this the requital which we make for bounty and kindness I should have lov'd God better if he had not been so good to me I should have lov'd God better if he had not given me so good a wife so dear a child so fair an estate so many friends wilt thou fear such unworthiness then fear whatever thou lovest If what you love be not also your fear it 's like to be your loss and sorrow If Sampson had fear'd his Delilah whom he so loved he had sav'd his locks his God and his life his love to that harlot did him more mischief then all the armies of the Philistimes Solomons wives became his tears fondling children often revenge their parents dotage by becoming thorns in their sides and swords in their hearts whatever thou overlovest look for it to find it thy cross or thy curse what will thy friends or thy mony be when either thou hast lost them or thy soul by them what ever thou overlovest God will tear it from thine heart if ever he mean thee good he will touch thee in the apple of thine eye he will try thee in thine Isaac he will tear off that Jewel that entices thy Soul from him what thou canst not part with look for it that must go or thy soul 3. Set a strict watch upon your senses By these 't is that Satan with all his temptations hath such an easy passage to our hearts our senses are the doors of our hearts the outlets of corruption and the inlets of temptation they bring the outward objects and the inward lusts together when the fuel and the fire are layd together then there is a flame Both the Evil and the Good that is in us came in much by this way How came Sin and Death into this world and all the plagues and miseries we are labouring under or lyable to which way came they in By the eye they came in when the woman saw the fatal apple then she lusted and tasted Gen. 3. How came life and immortality grace and peace and all our
miscarrying for ever is your way cleared of all your difficulties and hazards have your souls no enemy left alive Are your lusts dead the world vanquished and the Devil troden under foot have you as much grace as you need as much faith and love and patience as you need Are you past that prayer Lord increase our Faith Are you past those counsels Hold fast that thou hast Grow in grace follow after press to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus have you hit the mark have you wonne the prize Is there not much of this work to be done which God would have first to be done yea with some of you is it not all behind hand nothing done for your Souls no knowledg no grace gotten nothing of the work of conversion nothing of the work of repentance done the first stone of the new building yet to be layd yea not so much as the old rubbish removed not a lust cast out your carnal hopes not yet thrown down the hard heart not so much as touch'd What is there nothing done for the other world by so many of you and so little done by the best of you and are you yet so busy for this world Is this as God would have it is this to seek the world as God would have you seek it Go and ask counsel of God Lord what wouldst thou have me to do how far forth for this world how far forth for the other world which shall be first minded which shall be chief and what ever the Lord doth speak let this be thy resolve I will first seek the kingdom of God and for other things I must do as I may 2. Keep and lay up no more by you then God would have you Say of all you lay up This is Gods stock this is his treasure whatever you have let God keep the purse when he saies Bring no more into the treasury stay your hand bestow it elsewhere as he shall appoint you Let no stollen goods be found with you all 's stollen stollen into your purse stollen into your house which the Lord would have otherwise disposed of Be not then laying up when God saies lay out be not then sparing when God would have you spending God saies Cast thy bread upon the waters be ready to distribute What saith he to those rich men Jam. 5. 2 3. your riches are corrupted your garments are moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered the rust of them shall be a witness against you you have heaped up treasure an evil treasure against the last days what do you treasure up for the moth and the canker and the rust no more such heaping up bring forth out of your treasure 3. Use what you have as God would have you use it bring forth but only by Gods order Be good stewards remember your account book down all your expences let nothing go any way but what you are willing should be book'd and let nothing be book'd but what you would have read in your reckoning day Let your flesh have no more then the Kings allowance feed it as a servant let it not want what 's necessary but feed it not into wantonness or idleness let it have never a meal nor a morsel more then is fit for a servant Let it not have the command of your estate or be it 's own carver but let it be at the finding of conscience let never a penny be laid out upon it either for food or raiment but what conscience allows Let your families be provided for your friends entertained so as that nothing be wanting nothing be wasted Be provident but not penurious use hospitality but hate to be prodigals give to all their due and no more and whilest your flesh hath it's due your friends and families their due let not Gods friends want theirs whomever he sends to you for an alms send them not away empty send portions to those for whom nothing is provided feed cloath harbour lend give according as God hath communicated to you and shall command from you and in giving thus to all the things that are theirs you give unto God the things that are Gods Remember carefully this last direction Lay down all you have at the feet of God and neither seek nor use any thing but according to his order and will Never let lust set you on work and leave nothing to its dispose feed not your eye or your appetite feed not your pride or your covetousness till God bids you feed them and then you shall find your lusts to starve under your hands and when worldly lusts are dead the enmity of the world is slain it's temptations vanquished and from being your Lord it 's henceforth become your servant now you may make your friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness and when these fail you shall be received into everlasting habitations For a close of all let me yet a little farther perswade you to press hard for this victory over the world and to this end let me ask you these following questions 1. Are you for the saving of your Souls 2. Is not the World an enemy to your Souls and the salvation of them 3. Is not victory over this enemy possible 4. Is not victory over this enemy desirable 5. Can this victory be bought to dear 6. What if this enemy should reign to death 7. Wil you henceforth become enemies to this enemy 1. Are you for the saving of your Souls what are you for for Heaven or Hell 't is the same question as are you for Heaven or Earth speak friends where would you that your lot should fall will you be written in the earth or amongst the living in Jerusalem will you have your good things here or will you wait for them till hereafter which do you most regard the joynt and eternal interest of your bodies and Souls or the single and temporal interest of your bodies In a word will you be saved or damned Do you so verily believe a resurrection from the dead and a judgment to come that there is another world that this world shall vanish away and the other world shall abide for ever that there is an eternal state of blessedness and misery into one of which states your Souls must immediately enter as soon as they are loosened from this body that the future blessedness is unspeakable that the future misery is intollerable Are you Atheists or Infidels or else do you so verily believe this that it is the great aim and desire of your hearts to obtain this blessedness and to escape those torments Descend into your hearts consider the choice that 's set before you and come to a resolution what do you choose light or darkness life or death ease or anguish rejoycing or howling lifting up of the head or gnashing of teeth eternal pleasures or eternal fire With whom will you dwel with the Saints or with Serpents with Michael or the Dragon
in the joy of the Lord or in the terrours of the Lord What shall be your sentence Come or depart come ye blessed or depart ye cursed inherit the kingdom or away into the fire what say you consider and speak will you be damned or are you for the saving of your Souls If you say you are for salvation then let me farther ask you 2. Is not the world an enemy to your salvation Is salvation possible without a victory over it Is it not against the declared will and purpose of God Rom. 8. 30. Whom he did predestinate them he also called whom he called them he also justified whom he justified them he also glorified who are the justified and glorified is it not onely the called is there ever another man of the number And who are the called of God is it all those that are bid to come is he of them that makes light of it that saies I cannot come that saies no Lord I pray thee call some other guests and let me alone as I am to follow my oxen and my farm and my wife I pray thee have me excused is this one of the called of God If not what hope of his salvation will God change his purpose and baulk his way to gratify thy carnal mind and reconcile lust and eternal life Is there not an inconsistency in the nature of the things to be saved and left under the power of the world is to be saved and yet left under the power of the Devil to be saved and yet left unsanctified to be made free and yet left in bonds Doth it not enervate and resist all the means of salvation Doth not the world hinder the word that that cannot prosper with you is not this it the lusts and love and cares of this life that choke the word that it becomes unfruitful Math. 13. 22. Hath not the world hitherto dealt by you as in the beginning of this discourse I told you it would darkned your eye that you could not see deadned your sense that you could not fear hung upon your hearts and about your necks that you could not come to Christ Have you seen have you feard are you come to Christ or are you not yet in your sins why what is it that hath hindred you and kept you back from Christ hitherto but either the cares of this life or the deceitfulness of riches or the pleasures and lusts of this present world Doth not the world hinder prayer hold you back from going to God to seek your lives at his hands while you should be with God to seek your lives the world calls you abroad to seek your livings a little praying must suffice a worldly heart when the tribes go up to pray before the Lord how often is the worldlings place empty If I were to go in search for a worldlings heart I would seek all the places of the earth first ere I would seek him before the throne of grace he is so seldom there that you may as well seek an idle shepherd in the pulpit as a worldly heart in the closet O if worldly men did no more diligently seek the world then they use to seek God what poor men would they be Get you asunder worldlings let your Souls and this harlot part that Satan tempt you not for your incontinence that your prayers be not hindred what praying whilst the world is still with you and what hope of salvation whilest no praying 3. Is this enemy invincible Is not victory over it possible is it not possible for thee to become an enemy to this world if thou art an enemy thou art a conquerour It 's true thou hast an hard field to fight and there 's great hazard thou mayst be eternally lost by it It hath slain so many Souls and laid them up in everlasting chains there have been so very few have escaped with their lives that it 's a great question whether thy life may not also go Thou hast been so long a captive that it is much to be doubted whether ever thou mayst be set at liberty Thou bearest such a love to the world thou wilt so hardly be perswaded that 't is thine enemy and art so apt to take it to be a better friend then God is to thee thou art so hardly perswaded that he is a friend to thee that doth but tell thee the world is an enemy and art so angry at any that offers to assist thee against it or but perswades thee to take heed of it thou art so apt to take all the counsels warnings reproofs that are given thee to put thee upon thy watch against it to be injuries unkindnesses that it 's much to be feared how it may go with thee There have been so many charges made against it without success the axe hath been so often layd at the root of this tree God hath been hewing at it conscience hath been hewing at it may be all thy life long the word hath been fighting against it prayer hath been wrestling with it meditation hath been considering about it Thou hast been so often warned Take heed and beware of covetousness Love not the world nor the things of the world mortify thy members which are upon the earth Flee youthful lusts Get thee up from the tents of these men set not thine affections on the earth Thou hast been so often told That the fashion of this world passeth away those that will be rich fall into a snare the friendship of the world is enmity against God and after all this there is so little done thy heart is so much upon it still it holds to this day so strong an hand over thee thou art still siding with it and taking its part against God and thine own Soul thou art so loath to hear that 't is a sin to be worldly minded or to be convinced that thou art a worldling that I must tell thee 't will be hard work for thee to obtain the victory and to escape with thy Soul Look to it such a disease which hath been so long rooted in thy nature such an enemy that hath so long lien in thy bosome that thou wilt not be perswaded that 't is thy disease that 't is thine enemy such a disease will hardly be cured such an enemy will hardly be conquered But yet is not a victory possible Is this disease unto death and is there no remedy Is there no balm in Gilead is there no Physitian there Is the field lost and is there no recovery who is it that hath bid thee fight against this enemy Is it one that had a mind to mock thee Look upon the Captain of thy Salvation hath not he overcome the world Hath not he said Be of good comfort look unto me and be saved come unto me and ye shall have rest Doth he not call to thee Wilt thou not be made clean wilt thou not be made free If thou wilt thou mayst there lies all the
difficulty that 's all the doubt whether thou wilt or no as hard as the victory is if thou perish by the world at last thy destruction will be laid at thine own door 't is because thou wilt not accept of deliverance if thou wilt thou mayst 4. Is not victory over this enemy desirable Is not liberty desirable is not life desirable be an enemy and live the world kills none but its friends Would it not be well with you if this spirit of the world were cast out and God had given you another spirit would it not be a good exchange if for this carking caring anxious earthly greedy heart you had obtained a contented patient mortified spirit an heavenly mind would not the matter be well mended with you if for your treasure on earth you could make God your treasure could you not wish it were so Can you say I thank God I am yet a worldling I thank God my heart is still below I can mind my pleasures and gains I can satisfie my lust and take my liberty and follow my affairs without troubling my self about these higher matters that I know not Hitherto I thank God this world hath been too hard for the Gospel the devil hath kept possession and hath kept Christ out whilest others have puzled and amused themselves with their thoughts and hopes and fears about another world have made an adventure for the unknown riches have been filling their heads and perplexing their hearts with cares for hereafter and have neglected and straitned themselves here I thank God I have been no such fool While you may say I thank God I have an estate in the world I have friends in the world can you also say I thank God this is my treasure these are my delights I can never trouble my self with thinking of or serving any other God but these I can take these in exchange for my soul I thank God for that unrighteousness or that unmercifulness which he hath left me to and let me alone in whereby I have gotten me an estate and preserved it entire to me it had been worse with me then 't is if I could not have ly'd and defrauded if I had made Conscience of Sabbaths of praying and hearing and spending so much time this way as others do I had been a poor man had I taken this course but I thank God I was wiser then so Can you say thus Christians may and will say I thank God I am crucified to the world I thank God for Faith and Prayers and Sabbaths for a new heart and a new life blessed be God that hath chosen me out of this world and called me by his grace blessed be God for a part in Christ and hope towards God blessed be the day wherein my soul was divorced from this world and espoused to another Husband I would not be in bondage to this earth again I would not be a flesh pleaser a self-seeker again if the devil would hire me with all the Kingdomes of the world there is not a Christian in the world but will say thus But where is the worldling that dares deliberately to say I thank God I am a worldling still God hath dealt well with me that he hath left me out and let me alone to follow mine own heart Speak worldling had it not been well for thee if thou also hadst been brought in to Christ would it not be well for thee if yet thou mightest mightest cease from this earth and be a Candidate for heaven mightest cease to be a drudge and a slave and be delivered into the liberty of the Sons of God would it not be well with thee if thou wert would it not be well with thee if yet thou mightest dost thou never wish O that my soul were in such a case why then wilt thou not in this thy day 5. Can this victory be bought too dear There 's nothing in this world but may be over-bought An Army may be so weakned in the fight that victory will not repair it Crowns and Kingdomes may be bought too dear all the royalties and revenues of the world may be purchas'd at such a rate that they may not be a saving bargain But can redemption from the world be over-bought will not the salvation of thy soul pay all thy charges It s true thy rescuing from this enemy may not be without much damage and loss not only of the ship and the lading but of thy life when thou conquerest this enemy thou wilt loose a friend in thy conquering thou wilt purchase enmity therefore the world hateth you Thou wilt not only create thee enemies by thy Conquest but wants and straits and labours and cares when thou ceasest to be a servant to this world think not to have an easie idle life thou wilt have more and harder work then ever the pursuing thine enemy that he rally not again upon thee the watching thine heart the guarding thine eye the governing thine appetite that they run not again after it the pleasing and following thy Lord in all things that he commands thee what day thou breakest with the world and joynest thy self to the Lord this life of labour and care thou puttest thy self upon thou must no more thirst after thy stoln waters nor taste of thy forbidden pleasures thou must no more traverse thy most pleasant ways nor stick at the most painful duties nay not thine ease only or thy pleasure but thy life also and all that thou hast must go when ever thy Lord calls thee to it What course short of this will either obtain or secure thee the victory but how will such a life down with thee how will thy spirit bear it when thy faint heart shrinks from it when thy proud or stubborn heart swells against it when thy old pleasures and liberties when thine old friends and companions when thy silver and thy gold cry after thee canst thou leave us thus can thy soul part with us for ever thou wilt then find that this victory costs thee dear But is not thy soul more worth then all this wilt say Better I were damn'd then sav'd at such an hard rate hell rather then this way to heaven 'T is hard to be a Christian 't is true but blessed be God my soul is escaped my foot is gotten out of the snare liberty liberty is brought to this captive and the opening of the prison to the bound he whom I now serve how hard soever his work is is no hard mâ—ster he gives good wages were his work harder then 't is yet 't is not worthy to be laid in the balance with salvation I will not die for an easie life 6. What if this enemy should reign till death how do you think your worldly life will look when you come to die do you think you shall then say I have done well to be a worldling it may be if God should ask you now dost thou well to be covetous dost thou
rejoycing Are there any such things Is there any thing in them then let these suffice you will you have your conversation and take your portion with those who are strangers to Christ and the comforts of his Spirit I beseech you by the mercies of God that you do not Do you hope for mercy have you received mercy do you live upon mercy hath mercy pitied you spared you pardoned you doth mercy feed you cloath you and comfort you and will you not hearken to its beseechings Why what doth mercy speak is this it's word Continue in sin for grace hath abounded now follow thy pleasures and thy liberties God is reconciled thy sins are forgiven thy Soul is secure now thou mayst slight the Lord now thou mayst trample upon mercy now thou hast obtained it is this the lesson that mercy teaches or what doth it speak is not this the voice of all the kindnesses and compassions of the Lord come back from your vanities come away from following Idols he sacrifices to God and prostitute not your selves any longer to the lusts of your flesh come away for our sakes come as you love mercy come as you have received mercy come as you hope for mercy come Is not this the voice of mercy and shall it not prevail how shall mercy be heard when it pleads for you if it cannot be heard when it pleads thus with you Is this the rate and price you put upon the grace of God that you will deny it in those little things it demands of you not a carnal pleasure to be abated not a vain companion to be displeased not a few handfuls of earth to be troden under foot for its sake Doth all the interest that Christ and his grace hath in you come to no more then this Brethren where is ingenuity is not goodness obliging will you shew what power mercy hath with you how much you can do how much you can leave for love you at least that have obteined mercy methinks your hearts should be at your mouth ready to take their flight from this wilderness to the mountains of spices Hath God given himself hath God given me his Son and granted me mercy unto life now let him take all farmes and oxen silver and gold honours and pleasures let all go and thou O my Soul become a sacrifice to the most high my love where art thou my desires whither run you come back from these vanities and get you up to your God mercy hath descended let me ascend with it and no longer dwell in the dust 2. Do not the severities of God call you off what mean the Judgments of God which he executes on the earth but to drive us up from our cisterns to the fountain what mean the wormwood and the gall but to wean us from these dugs wherefore are our disappointments vexations distresses but to tell us this is not your rest what speak the winds and the storms the flouds and the fires the sword and the famine the thief and the moth but get you up get you up out of this place of what use is the cross but to crucifie to crucifie us to the world and to crucify the world unto us Brethren have we not sufficiently smarted for our folly what is it that makes us so many rods and makes the lashes of them to cut so deep but our unmortifiedness to this earth how easy would our crosses lye were we dead to the world That 's the voice of the cross Be mortified be crucified prevent the greater severities of God Be crucified or God will crucifie you Be crucified to the world or look to be crucified by the world Friends would you have but one cross in all your lives choose you whether you will have one or many get your earthly minds nayld to the cross of Christ and there 's an end of all your crosses every other cross that comes will thenceforth be so easy that it will even loose its nature 2. What is there in your denyal to hearken to these calls of God Is there any thing less in it then this I will not be reconciled to God! I choose rather that God be mine enemy then that the world be not my friend I had rather have the wormwood and the gall then not the milk and the honey God saies give me thine heart no he shall never have it I have bestowed it on the world and there let it go God saies Take me for thy portion no I will not let me have my portion in this life God saies take me for thy Lord no I will not I will not that God shall reign over me God saies as thou hopest for mercy hearken as thou hopest for mercy submit to me refuse at thy peril be a worldling at thy peril be a sensualist at thy peril well at my peril be it I will run the hazard of that mercy or no mercy I cannot hearken to that word which is so contrary to me Is not all this comprehended in your denyal to come off from the world O tremble and now at length come and give in your answer Are there any of you that will yet say to me as those Jews Jer. 44. 16. The word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not do or as those Jer. 2. 25. there is no hope as good hold thy peace speak no more to us about it for we will not hearken we have loved strangers and after them we will go we have loved our companions and after them we will go There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices we will walk after the imagination of our own evil heart Jer. 18. 12. Is there no hope indeed would you henceforth be given over as hopeless would you that the Ambassadours of the Lord keep silence and for ever give you over as lost men shall there be no more treaty with you about this thing would you that we should preach no more to you nor pray no more for you that you may be brought to a better mind May there not be yet hope concerning you may you not yet be convinced may you not yet be perswaded This once let me prevail with you Oh might we hear such a word from you We have done with all our Idols to the Moles and to the Batts with them all we have done with this vain earthly life no more such madness to venture eternity for minutes to stake the everlasting kingdom for pictures and shadows Come we will hearken to the Lord this day hitherto we have been written in the earth henceforth for the invisible world hitherto we have lived in pleasures we have been sowing to the flesh we have been labouring for the wind we have been laying up our treasure on earth we have been gathering in dirt and throwing away Manna we have fed upon ashes and trod upon pearls our life hath been either a meer play or a labour for bubles Henceforth for substance for the durable riches for the everlasting pleasures for the bags that wax not old the treasure in Heaven that faileth not What say you brethren shall this be your voice will you hearken to the Lord at length give in your answer will you now become enemies to the world will you indeed shall your Souls and it now be parted Then go and draw up a writing of divorcement carry it before the Lord and acknowledg it as your act and deed and giving your selves to him go presently and take your leave of all things under the Sun Bid farewell to those that are with you in the house farwel Father farewel Child farewel Husband farewel Wife Bid farewel to all within doors and without farewel Goods farewel Mony farewel Sheep and Oxen Lands and Livings farewel my pleasant habitation farewel my merry dayes and easy nights farewel my friends and dear acquaintance farewel love friendship credit in the world farewel liberty and life Go take your leave of all the world to day stay not till to morrow lest it again intangle you and bewitch you into another mind And this is the leave I would advise you to take of all you have Be able to say to them all I am none of yours you are none of mine I am none of yours I have given my self to the Lord you are none of mine with my self I have given away you all the Lord hath given you me and to him I return you and shall not henceforth count you any thing to me but what you are to him I have given him the right of you and when he calls for it I will give him possession I can enjoy you and I can want you I can be thankful for fruition and I can bear your loss with what I have I am content if I have not I will be patient whether I have or no I am still the same and henceforth I will seek you as if I sought you not I will use you as if I used you not while you are with me I will rejoyce as if I rejoyced not that I may weep as if I wept not when we must part and I must know you no more Go thus and take your leave to day or if you find it more then one dayes work as 't is like you may set to it every day let not your hearts be quiet till they and this world be thus parted And then arise put on thy sandals and after thy crucified Lord Deny thy self take up thy cross and follow him and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven FINIS