So let these Confiderations quicken you lest you be be-nighted and find too soon the Folly of your coming too late to enter into the City of God But Man hath a Door too into which God must enter and this will be shut at Night Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the Door and Knock if any Man open to Me I will come in and Sup with him and he with Me. There is a Door of Knowledge The Key of Knowledge Opens it When the Eyes of our Understandings are enlightned opened to know God in Christ and to receive the Knowledge of His Will God comes into the Heart through this Door when the Eyes of our Minds are so opened as to know God and Christ a right so as to Know them is Eternal Life Joh. 17.3 And a Door of Faith through which Christ comes when He enters to dwell in our Hearts by Faith Ephes 3.17 And there is a Door of Repentance by which Sin is turn'd out and God is admitted into our Souls And Lastly There is the Door of Holy Affections Love Desire Delight in God These are at least the Hinges upon which the Door of our Hearts turn Now these Doors may all be opened to let in God while the Day lasts and He will come in and make His Abode with us John 14.23 Jesus said If any Man love Me he will keep My Words And My Father will love him and We will come unto him and make Our Abode with him But when Night comes they will be shut for ever Hasten therefore to open them while you may lest when you would it prove too hard for you and be above both your Skill and your Power You know a Door that is opened dayly opens easily But Doors which stand long shut 't is hard to make them stir or open them without great Violence that shakes them and even breaks them in pieces The Timber will swell the Hinges will rust the Wards of the Lock will be cankered and the Bolts will even grow into the Staples And so will it by Proportion be with your Hearts if you keep the Door long shut against God Nay He may in Anger clap on a Padlock on the other side shut thee up Judicially in Unbelief and Impenitency nail and barracado up the Door for ever because He knock't and call'd so long and woo'd so earnestly in vain Cant. 5.2 Open to Me My Sister My Love My Dove My Vndefiled for My Head is fill'd with Dew and My Locks with the Drops of the Night Then after many idle Excuses for her Delay Vers 6. I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved had with-drawn Himself and was gone My Soul failed when He spake I sought Him but I could not find Him I called Him but He gave me no Answer Take heed lest this or worse be thy Case Refuse not to open at the first Knock the first Call the Motions of His Spirit the Checks of thy Conscience the Admonitions of the Word lest He Knock no more or refuse when thou shalt open at thy own Leasure to come near the Door The Servants which shall be blessed are They that wait for their Lord and when he cometh and knocketh open to him immediately Luk. 12.35 Rouze up your selves therefore and speak to your Souls in David's Language and as much as may be with David's Zeal Psal 24.7 9. which he witnessed by the Ingemination of them Lift up your Heads Oh ye Gates and be ye lift up ye Everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in Who is this King of Glory The Lord of Hosts He is this King of Glory And take heed that dreadful Place be not fulfilled upon you Isa 6.10 the most dreadful Word God can speak till he say Depart ye Cursed Make the Heart of this People fat and their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes lest they be Converted and I Heal them A Place Six times repeated in the New-Testament to make us mind it lest by our sinful Shutting the Door we provoke God Judicially to shut it up for ever Sixthly No Man can work when this Night cometh because 't is an abiding Night There is no Day on the other side of it We say To Morrow is a New Day what we cannot do to Day we may do to Morrow But there is no Morrow beyond the Night of Death 'T is appointed to all Men once to Dye but once and after that the Judgment Heb. 9.29 No Second Day of Life allowed to them who have mis-spent and lost the First Job said long since There is Hope of a Tree that if it be cut down it will sprout again and that the tender Branch thereof will not cease Though the Root thereof wax old in the ground and the Stock thereof Dye yet through the Scent of Water it will bud and bring forth Boughs like a Plant. But Man dyeth and wasteth away yea Man giveth up the Ghost and Where is he As the Waters fail from the Sea and the Flood decayeth and dryeth up so Man Lyeth down and Riseth not till the Heavens be no more They shall not awake or rise out of their Sleep Job 14.7 12. And the Heathen Poet long ago observed the like of the Sun The Sun 's Set and Rise Set and Rise again But We when We Set are covered with Eternal Night No repeated Light or Day succeeds O therefore timely and wisely Improve the Present That had need be done well which can be done but once and admits no doing it again to remedy the Errours of doing ill at first And such above all things is the Work of Dying and finishing our Dayes Work before the Night surprize us The Proverb tells us Three Things require greatest Caution and most prudent Circumspection Marriage Battle Death Upon this Account Because their Consequents are like to last Yet the First of these excludes not all possible Relief Good Counsel may reclaim Patience may bear and Wisdom may improve the Inconvenience or the Death of the Party which makes the Yoke unequal and uneasy may take it off the Grieved Party's Neck that it shall not alwayes gall here And at farthest Death will Dissolve the Bond that it shall not be alwayes troublesome And the Second though dangerous is not wholly desperate He that hath lost a Battle suffer'd a Defeat and Rout may Rally and Recruit and though it cost him Dear may learn Experience for more wary Conduct and may expect a more Propitious Fortune But he that Dyes Unpardoned and Ungodly that is before his Work is done he is undone to all Intents and Purposes no Remedy or Hope of Remedy remains to all Eternity And as the fore-nam'd Reasons shew it impossible to Work when this Night hath actually overtaken us so the Last which follows should excite and quicken us to the uttermost to be before-hand with it For Seventhly This Night makes hast The Text tells you It cometh and I tell you and Experience tells you and Christ in effect
his Candle Not with an Enemy but wilt Heap coals of fire on his head to melt him or oblige him with preventing kindness not with a Beast but if it Low for Food wilt serve it or if it fall into a ditch be it an Ox or Ass wilt straightways pull it out tho on the Sabbath day Luke xiv 5. Nay you will not make the Devil dance attendance at the rate you trifle with Almighty God if he but whistle to you you know his meaning and obey it a nod a beckon of his finger is enough you are dry Tinder to the first spark of Temptation he cast on you and you are quickly in a flame But to Gods Holy motions tho they be hot as coals of Juniper you are like green wood no blowing will suffice to dry or make you kindle Nay would I could say that too many were not too quick and nimble for the Devil himself save him the charge and trouble of a temptation run to his work before he bids them like high mettled Horses start before the sign can be given and run full speed without either Switch or Spur. And yet mean-while quite foundred and down right lame in the ways of God that neither Spur nor Whip can mend their pace God hath not left himself without witness that he might leave thee without excuse his grads are in thy sides his hand hath fixed them in thy very soul for as he hath planted punitive affections in thee to be his rods to whip thee for thy past offences such as shame and grief So hath he quickning affections to excite thee to thy duty such as hope and fear and yet thou wilt kick against these pricks be it never so hazardous never so hard to do so How often hast thou felt these stings strike to thy very heart and yet like a restive Horse thou wilt rather winch or kick or run backward or fall down than go forward as thou oughtest When sickness hath assaulted thee and grim Death hath stared thee in the face with its gastly visage how have thy knees smote against each other like Belshazers Thy Countenance wax'd pale and trembling seized thy joynts and anguish and horror surprized thy Conscience Like Cain apprehending that Every thing that met thee would kill thee and what killed would damn thee Yet after all this thou returnest to thy old security yea like heated water thou becomest more cold or softned Iron more hard than e're before Ninteenthly If there be any spark of Ingenuity left in thee let 's try to blow up that Christ went not thus lingringly about the work He undertook for thy sake But he left the Mansions of Glory and came down from Heaven more willingly than thou canst be persuaded to go thither Lo I come to do thy will O my God In the volume of thy look it is written of me He came leaping over the hills skipping over the mountains Conquering all difficulties in the way With desire he desired to eat that Passover he knew was to be his last and himself immediately to succeed it I have a Baptism to be Baptized with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished And when his hour was come he delays not one hour longer but went to Jerusalem where he was to dye When they sought to take him he called the Traytor friend which kist him into their hands yea offered himself to them of his own accord whom seek ye I am he and when that word had struck them down he let them rise and bind and carry him away tho he had more than twelve legions of Angels ready for his Rescue 'T were endless to reckon up those many Arguments you meet with in History to shew how readily he went about that dreadful work and how active he was in his Bloody Passion Read Believe Consider these things well and for shame make more hast to be ready to attain that blessedness with him for the procuring which he was so ready to be made a curse for thee Twentiethly This thy delay wounds God in his tenderest part his Eye his Heart his Bowels A wound is troublesome where ere 't is fixt but neither so painful nor so mortal in an Arm or Leg as in some vital part To wound God in the Foot of his Providence the Arm of his Power or Hand of his Justice is a provocation but not like wounding him in the Eye of his Pitty Heart of his Grace and Mercy and the Bowels of his tender Compassions All the most amiable and endearing Attributes of God shine most resplendently in this work of God to give his Son for sinners and for sinners to refuse this Gift despise this Love make light of it as not worth receiving or preparing to receive it what can be more provoking But set aside at present the consideration of all the rest and think what the abuse of his patience alone amounts to Rev. ii 21. I gave her space to repent and she repented not was the most killing Article in Christs charge against Jesabel Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance Rom. ii 4. This is the sin by which men Treasure up wrath against the day of wrath For as Gods long suffering should be Salvation to us the abuse of it becomes the surest and the sorest Damnation Laesa patientia fit furor abused patience turns into fury And God swears in his wrath at last They shall never enter into his rest who had grieved him by refusing the tenders of it forty years together Twenty firstly This delay turns thy light into darkness thy very Prayers into sin for either thou canst not Pray as thou oughtest for the coming of Christ to Judgment come Lord Jesus come quickly or thou Prayest against thy own life and so against thy own heart and dost but mock God and wouldst not have hiâ— take thee at thy word as St. Augustinâ— bewaylingly confest when he Prayed foâ— Continence before his Conversion Anâ— domine sed non modo Lord hear me buâ— not yet because he was afraid to lose hâ— pleasing Lusts So when thou sayest Thâ— Kingdom come either thou considerest noâ— what thou sayest or only sayest it in câ—stom and formality for neither would thou have the Kingdom of his Grace come which thou willfully opposest nor thâ— Kingdom of his Glory for which thou râ—fusest obstinately to be ready and not hiâ— would afright thee more than pregnaâ—â— symptoms of its near approach and speâ—dy coming and wouldst as in a by worâ— men say Witches do say thy Prayers bacâ—ward let not thy Kingdom come bâ— stay I pray thee till I be ready for it Twenty secondly Tho thou delay and loyterest yet other things do no Time tarrys not that 's in perpetual Flâ— and sliding on thou mayest take off tâ— Weights of thy Clock and stop its Motioâ— but thou canst not stop the Course of tâ—
Table from being Moral but in common speaking those of the Second are chiefly understood And they are Naturâ notiora more easily discerned by the light of Natural Conscience and he may see his duty in what is easily known who sees it not in what is harder to discover How shall he love God whom he hath not seen who loveth not his brother whom he hath seen But he is without excuse who pretends to know and do the hardest And will neither know nor do the easiest A sober and honest Conversation in the fight of men is a fair body of a Christian but there must be a Soul and Spirit to enliven it as he said to him who wondered that a Statue with such perfect lineaments could neither go nor stand Deest aliquid tnius There wants a living Principle within With the putting off the Old man according to the Conversation and putting on the new there must be a renuing in the Spirit of the mind Eph. iv 23. Many Heathens excelled in the exercise of Vertues Aristides Cato Regulus And yet if you will believe St. Augustine they were but splendida peccata shining sins they wanted both right Principle and end and the sprinkling with Christs Blood We must add Faith to our Vertue as well as Vertue to our Faith See that you do the great things of the Law but besure you leave not undone the greater things of the Gospel A lively work of Faith to purifie your hearts unite you to Christ and make you partakers of his Spirit for sound Regeneration and through Conversion without this you are undone for ever Fifthly Not being of the true Church or of this or that Party or Persuasion 'T is a wonder so many should be cheated with so groundless an error not only Papists who have an Hypothesis which tempts them to it That the Faith of the Church and Treasury of the Church may be Communicated to them by being Members of it But many others crying I am of Paul I of Appollo I of Cephas A true Son of the Church one of the Godly Party one of the Friends But I beseech you take notice 'T is not being of the truest and best Religion in the world will save you but being true to that Religion and living up to it Salvation was of the Jews Theirs was the Religion God dispenc'd Salvation in yet all Jews were not saved All are not Israel who are of Israel nor all the children of Abrahams Faith who were the children of his flesh Surely Judas was of the true Church when he was of our Lords own Family and yet went thence to his own place a place to which you would be loath to follow him Be thy head never so Orthodox as to the Articles of Faith if thy life be Hetrodox as to the Rule of Practice the goodness of thy Faith will be so far from excusing the badness of thy Life that it will greatly aggravate thy Condemnation and the more clearly thou knowest thy Masters will and the more firmly thou believest it with more stripes shalt thou be beaten for disobeying it Tho bad Company occasions many mens damnation and good Company may be an help to yet never was it never shall it be a cause of any mans Salvation I mean that he should be saved meerly for professing the same Religion with them who are saved tho not for the Professing but Practising of their Religion Lastly Not believing in Christ or presuming rather they do so without any Fruits of Faith to prove it true and lively God forbid I should make any sinister reflections on the Doctrine of our Church and a Doctrine so clear in Scripture as that of the Justification and Salvation of sinners by Faith in Christ yea by Faith alone God who regarded the lowliness of his hand maid when his Son was Conceived hath had regard to this humble lowly Grace as to the Conceiving Christ in our Hearts That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith 'T is appointed to receive Christ Jesus and to make us the Sons of God by so doing And whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life John iii. 16. I know no other way of Salvation for my self I teach no other way to you yet after all I say to you look well to your selves that your Faith be Faith indeed not a dead faith not a bold presumption not a self delusion The stronger and purer the Liquor is with which the Poyson is mixed the more dangerous will its Operation be I fear the Poyson the Devil infuses in this Holy this pure Doctrine of the Gospel kills multitudes for want of caution I beseech you therefore be very cautious lest you be deceived in your Faith The question is not whether Faith will save thee and makes thee ready for Christ But whether thou indeed have Faith that is true Faith 'T is certain Faith alone justifies a sinner but as certain that that Faith which is alone justifies no sinner The Eye alone sees The Hand alone works but if the Eye or Hand be alone that is separated from the Body they neither see nor work Tho Faith justifies us as a passive Grace receiving Christ and the gift of Righteousness by and with him and Sanctifies as an active Grace yet 't is the same Faith that doth both and if it do not both it will do neither With the same Hand we receive what is given us and with the same Hand we work what is injoyned us The same Faith that receives Christ as a Saviour engages you to serve him as your Lord and King And the same Faith which justifies your Persons must Sanctifie your Natures Act. xxvi 18. And purifie your hearts Act. xv 9. And work by love and make you new Creatures in Christ 2 Cor. v. 17. if it ingraft you into him and will constrain you to live to him if you do in good earnest believe he dyed for you and if your Faith have not these Fruits to prove it true and living it makes you not ready for Christ thou rather dreamest thou believest in Christ than dost so really and whilst thou art in this stumber thy Lamp will go out like the foolish Virgins Matth. xxv 8. and thou wilt have nothing to meet Christ with when ever he comes Thus have I shewed you negatively what will not make you ready for Christ tho too many flatter and befool themselves that it will and will not suffer themselves to be convinc'd of their error till it be too late to redeem and mend it I earnestly exhort you and most heartily beg of God you may never be found in that number And now I proceed to the positive part to shew wherein Readiness for Christ consists And First To be ready for Christ is to be a Good man a Righteous man an Holy upright Godly Man One who desires to do the whole will of God sincerely both by ceasing to do evil and learning to do good
denying and abstaining from all known sin and applying himself to perform all known Duties with a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men To be heartily Religious Just and Sober Crucifying the Flesh with its affections and lusts Walking before God with respect to all his Commandments in a word to be Christs true and faithful servant For the Scripture is express and plain that God will do good to them that are good and upright in their hearts Psal cxxv 4. That he will give eternal life to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and Immortality Rom. ii 7. and Christ himself hath told us that Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Matth. vii 21. and St. Paul If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye by the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. viii 13. And again Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life eve lasting Gal. vi 7 8. And the terms upon which St. Peter assures you of entrance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are that ye abound in Faith Vertue Knowledg Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly kindness Charity 2 Pet. i. And David in Psalm xv gives the description of a Citizen of Sion who shall dwell in Gods Holy Hill by the same measures And in Gods name saith Psalm l. 23. To him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God And lastly 't is Christs promise Where I am there shall also my servants be John xii 26. And indeed it is the Scope and import of the whole Scripture both Old Testament and New to shew that wicked and bad men shall go to Hell and only Righteous and good men shall go to Heaven Psalm iv 3. Know that God hath set apart him that is Godly for himself But Psalm ix 17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell Ezech. xviii 20. The Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him John v. 29. They that have done good shall come forth to the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation For we must all appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. v. 10. And I beseech you neither to censure nor misinterpret this method of proceeding by beginning to declare in such general terms wherein Readiness for Christ consists But consider the wisdom of God leads me in it for tho the Scriptures do treat of these things some times more accurately and distinctly yet for the most part they speak of them in these general expressions And that for Wise and Holy Reasons For the Scriptures were written not only for the Wise and Learned but for the unwise and Ignorant for Babes in Christ and beginners as well as for grown men and Proficients For the Lamb to waid in as well as for the Elephant to swim in Now for the sake of the first sort who are not able to discern critical differences of things nor to comprehend the more mysterious and intricate expressions nor to understand Artificial and Figurative words in which some times the Truths of the Gospel are wrapt up and veiled It seems very agreeable to the goodness of God to condescend to the weakness and capacities of those to whom he speaks And to propound the way of Life and Death to Heaven and Hell in such general and easie terms as all may understand And such as are suited to affect a Natural Conscience and to be an initial and leading way to the receiving what the Gospel speaks more distincly and accurately to those who are awakened to be inquisitive and rendered capable of what is more high and difficult by the use of general words and easie to be understood Such as these are with which I have begun To be ready for Christ is to be a good man for none but such shall go to Heaven Secondly To be ready for Christ is to be a good Christian And what that implies we shall best understand by our Baptismal Covenant in which we enter upon the profession of Christianity Now as in that God promiseth to accept us as Members of his Son to own us for his Children and make us Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven so we on our parts engage and promise three things first to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil Secondly to believe all the Articles of the Christian Religion viz. with an Applicatory Faith Thirdly to keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of our life and he that keeps this Covenant is a good Christian and as a Child of God shall inherit his Kingdom and is ready to go to it when ever Christ comes Now these three answer the three great Graces which are the condition of the New Covenant Repentance Faith and new Obedience And tho the last is included in and be reduceable to the first because no man truely repents of past disobedience who resolves not and who endeavours not to yield unreserved obedience for the future and therefore the two former are oft put alone for the full and whole condition of the Gospel Covenant The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand repent and believe the Gospel Yet I hope we may inoffensively reckon them all three distinctly especially considering that tho they all have a general respect to the whole Holy Trinity yet they may not improperly be said to have a peculiar reference to the distinct Persons to whose name we are expresly Consecrated in our Baptism The Father Son and Holy Ghost Repentance towards God that is the Father Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ So St. Paul expresly speaks Acts xx 21. New Obedience towards the Holy Ghost who is the immediate Author of Sanctification and to walk in newness of life is to walk in the spirit Gal. v. 25. And to be led by the spirit Rom. viii 14. If therefore thou wouldest be a good Christian and as such ready for Christ First With Holy shame and Godly sorrow turn from sin and creatures in which thou hast too long sought satisfaction to God as thy all-sufficient portion and happiness Secondly Come to him by Christ the great and only Mediator who hath made our peace with him and wrought that reconciliation by which alone thou art capable of injoying him Thirdly yield up thy self to the conduct of the Holy Ghost as thy Sanctifier to inable thee both to believe and to bring forth the Fruits
attain to what he can not do In order to be ready for Christ some thing a man can do some thing he can not do He can Read Hear Pray Consider stir his Natural affections Love Fear Hope Desire by weighing what he knows Some things as yet he can not do Repent turn to God believe Savingly for these are the gifts and work of God Now God hath set the first in the way to the second as it were in the middle betwixt what he can do and what he can not that by doing what he can at present he may gradually come to ability to do what he cannot yet do and by degrees may ascend thither whither he could not reach per Salâ—um at once I will make this plain by an easie comparison A man cannot at one stride step up into the Room above him ten foot higher than the floor he stands on but if there be a Pair of Stairs he can set his Foot first on the lowest than on the second third and by degrees ascend a second third fourth Story tho ten or twenty Foot above the place from whence he first began Just thus there is a Jacobs Ladder of many Rounds set up between Heaven and Earth We cannot step at once from Nature to Grace from Earth to Heaven but we may begin at the foot of this Ladder and climb from the first Round to the second and then the third and so to the top and gradually by the help of this Ladder and the hand of the Spirit leading us up we come to that which without this we could not reach by the means of Grace we attain Grace and by Grace as a means we attain Glory I therefore again press you to Read Hear Pray Meditate with honest industry and an humble expectation of Gods blessing upon his own Institutions and thy labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Sixthly Allow your selves due time and leisure for these things Be good Husbands of time no thrift is more commendable Eternity depends upon it And as I would specially commend unto you the strict Sanctifying the Lords day a thing much out of use which is one of the most visible Causes why the power of Godliness withers and dwindles so much away For 't is easily observable that Religion thrives and prospers proportionably to the improvement of this day and flourisheth or is troden down according as this Fence is kept up or neglected So let me earnestly commend to you the setting apart some Portion of time every day for God and your souls That as God hath the Tribute of a Day-Sabbath out of the Week He may have as it were an Hour-Sabbath out of every Day As there was a continual Morning and Evening Sacrifice dayly under the Law so there should be at least Morning and Evening time allowed for Spiritual Sacrifice under the Gospel And here I cannot I dare not forbear to caution you of this great City against the over lavish spending of whole Evenings in Publick Houses and at your Clubbs Tho 't is easiy to foresee it may offend both those whose guilt and whose interest it toucheth for both these are teachy things not that I am so rigid as to censure moderate Diversion and Friendly Conversation But I fear yea I greatly fear there is a fault yea a great fault in this matter If after your Shops your Counting-House and Business and the Change have taken all the day the Coffee-House the Tavern and the Clubb shall take up all your Evening What 's left for God for Souls and for Eternity And thou returnest home so late that thy Family is in Bed or half asleep and thy head full of Stories and News at least if not of something worse How slenderly cursorily and uncomposedly is God like to be served in Family and Closet if not shut out of both And what if Christ should come and find you doing thus Could you expect his Euge bone serve well done good and faithful servant or not rather his frown with why hast thou served me thus Seventhly If thou wouldest be ready for Christ get thy heart furnish'd and prepared as that Room was where he eat his last Passover Mark xiv 15. Cast out all thy Lusts and cast off every weight but above all keep thy self from thine own iniquity foster no bosome sin enter into league with none Tho 't will be hard enough to get rid of others yet thou'ld be easilier quit of twenty others than of such an one A darling sin a bosom sin a peccatum in deliciis is of all sins most offensive to God most dangerous to our selves One Dalilah was too strong for Sampson himself and he could not stand before her before whom a thousand men fell at one time but she cost him his Eyes and his Life Every sin is a snare and a cord to intangle men but none so much as his Own sin His Own iniquities there 's the Emphasis his Own shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the Cords of His sins Prov. v. 22. Whether it be the sin of thy Natural Constitution or thy Calling and Profession of life or the time and place thou livest in or that long usage and custom hath indeared to thee For from these four quarters this blasting wind usually blows upon men and made as a right Hand or a right Eye or as the spots to a Leopard or skin to an Ethiopian This sin what ever it be is the plague of thy heart the most Mortal Disease of thy Soul and thou must set thy self with all thy might both to find it out and cast it out and mortifie it 'T was Davids Argument for his uprightness that he kept himself from his own iniquity Psal xviii 23. I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity And so must thou if ever thou expect acceptance with God 'T is bad to be forced or ravished by Sin and Satan 't is worse to yield consent to one act of defilement or Spiritual Uncleanness but 't is worst of all to be married to them and this thou art by fostering a Bosome darling sin This yields the constant use of Soul and Body to his impure embraces This keeps Possession for him and opens the Door as often as he knocks and he enters in and dwells there Davids lust to Bathshebah tho very foul is called a Way-faring man and a Traveller 2 Sam. xii 4. But where a darling sin is harboured there Satan is at Home in his own House This makes thy condition almost desperate and nothing but a speedy Divorce can prevent its being altogether so Eighthly Disintagle and unchain thy heart from the inordinate love and cares of the things of this world Account thy self a Stranger and a Pilgrim here Know that this is not thy rest thou hast here no continuing place But especially take Gods Counsel to Hezekiah Isa xxxviii 1. Set thine house in order for thou shalt die
of folly which men are so impatient of He that was so very busie in taking care for many years â—ears presently Thou fool this night And â—o the Foolish Virgins who had Lamps and Vessels to hold Oyl yet filled them not And indeed what folly greater than for men to go to Hell with their Eyes open To know their danger and yet to play and dally with it till it surprize and snap them and to stand where the Bullets fly thickest and yet neither get an Armor nor hasten their escape to be out of reach of Gun-shot What will if this will not prove men to be indeed foolwardly Third Use Examination Expect not from me here a large enumeration of the signs of Grace I design not that But a brief tryal of thy readiness for Christ Try thy self therefore as to that whether you be ready as the Text requires There is no knowledg more necessary or more worthy of a wise mans pains than the knowledg of himself and his Estate towards God It hath obtained the Authority of a Celestial Aixome even amongst Heathens Know thy self è coelo descendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And questionless it may be obtained if we believe either St. Peter or St. Paul for the first bids us give diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. i. 10. Therefore surely he thought it feasible The second injoyns us thus Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves know you not your own selves how that Christ is in you except you be Reprobates 2 Cor. xiii 5. Doubtless therefore he judged we might without special Revelation even by serious self-examination know this of our selves First Therefore try it by the verdict of thy own Conscience ask it soberly and let it answer freely and it will speak and not lye Great is the force of Conscience on either side both to acquit and to condemn Rom. ii 15. Their Conscience bearing witness and their thoughts accusing or excusing one another And if the blind Consciences of the darkned Gentiles had this power how much more the Consciences of Christians enlightned by the Gospel and assisted at least by the common influences of the Holy Spirit Bring in thy Bill therefore to this Grand Inquest before these mille testes thousand Witnesses 'T will not write Ignoramus on it 'T is Magni Judicii prejudicium a Petty Sessions to the great Assize a previous Judgment to the last and most awful one Neither bribe it nor stop its mouth and it will speak as he would have it whose Deputy it is The spirit of a man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly Prov. xx 27. That which is most hid and secret this light will discover find out and manifest The things of a man the spirit of a man which is in him knows tho none else can 1 Cor. ii 11. And therefore the Testimony of our Conscience yields great rejoycing when it witnesses our Simplicity and Godly Sincerity 2 Cor. i. 12. And St. John tells us If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 1 Eph. iii. 21. Weigh not thy self therefore in the false ballance of other mens Opinions Nec te quaesiveris extra as Persius could advise But get into thy Closet retire be still Commune with thine own heart Psal iv 4. and let it speak freely 't will answer like an Oracle of God Interrogate thy heart in this or such like manner Have I with desire desired Have I with a thirsty Appetite panted after this readiness for Christ Have I with constant and restless diligence endeavoured to attain it Have I arrived at least at some setled hope that if Christ should now come I should be found of him in peace Secondly By the scope and tendency of thy life by the Fruits thou bearest Examine whether thou art a Tree which if now cut down must be Fuel for the fire which shall burn for ever or building Timber for the House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens If others may know us and we may know them by the Fruits which either bear why may we not much rather know our selves by them the frame of our hearts and the scope of our lives are great indications whither we are going If our hearts be in Heaven and our Conversation be in Heaven our soul shall be received there If thou fix thy choice thy delight and love on right-hand blessings thou shalt stand at Christs Right hand at the last day If thou walk in the straight and narrow way it will lead thee to and into the straight gate which gives entrance into Life But the broad way of Hell will never lead any man to Heaven Thirdly By thy willingness to dye thy looking for and hastning to the day of God and loving the appearance of Jesus Christ Not but that Nature may recoil and shrink and the flesh may draw back and be loath to part for even where the Spirit is willing the Flesh is weak but upon sedate recollection the willingness of the Spirit will fortifie the weakness of the Flesh and cry out Go forth my Soul for he is a gracious Lord thou art going now to meet Fourth Use Exhortation I hasten to that in which I designed the chief improvement of this truth that is to exhort and quicken you to the speediest diligence and care to get ready for Christs coming And tho I desire to work both upon your Consciences and your Affections to set before you your Obedience and your Interest to urge you in point of duty and in point of wisdom and to press you to avoid both the sin and danger procrastination will involve you in yet I shall not curiously distinguish the motives to rank each Series by themselves But as God hath twisted his glory and our happiness so close together in great wisdom and mercy that we cannot promote the one but we advance the other nor neglect the one but we destroy and lose the other So is it in our sin and danger they are prevented or incur'd together and therefore I may well wreath into one chain the motives which concern either of them to draw you out of your delay and twist them into one cord wherewith to quicken and accelerate your motion And not to heap up here the many Scriptures which speak so home and plainly to this matter but to leave them to fall in to inforce each motive to which they more properly belong I shall begin with that which stands so near the Text that it is urged in the same verse as a reason to inforce the duty Be ye therefore ready for or because The Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not The first Motive is taken from the uncertainty of the time of our death and our Lords coming And the Inference is so obvious that the Light of Nature and common Reason hath clearly discovered it and excellently
Servant for ever not by Constraint but Choyce No Work is Hard no Commands is Grievous to him that Loves 'T is a mighty VVeight and excites both quick and constant Motion It offers a pleasing welcom Violence and constrains to follow whithersoever it leads without Strugling or Resisting Love fulfils the Law and keeps the Commandments yea is a Law unto it self and the strongest Scepter to rule and bow Men to Obedience and when 't is Perfect Obedience will be so too Get therefore thy Heart possess'd with Love to God These Cords will bind thee will Charm thee to thy Work and there 's no fear but thou wilt be Diligent Thirdly Wisdom This is the Soul of Diligence A Man may make a great Bustle to very little yea to very ill purpose if he be Destitute of Wisdom to Contrive and Manage his Work to the best Advantage The Ant which is the Natural Emblem of Diligence is said to be Exceeding Wise Prov. 30.24 25. Torpet robor sine Prudentia Strength is good for little without good Contrivance to direct and Wisdom is profitable to Direct Eccles 10.10 and it Strengtheneth the Wise more than Ten mighty Men that are in the City Eccles 7.19 Which made Wise Solomon conclude That Wisdom is better than Strength Eccles 9.16 What will a well-rigg'd Ship do with a full Gale without a Pilot but dash against the Rocks or run upon the Sands Or a Hot-mettled Horse without a Sober Rider but heat and melt himself to his own Ruin Wisdom will many wayes assist Diligence for it will contrive and find out fit means to bring Purposes to pass or will readily close with them when they are discovered There is a Diligence in the Head as well as of the Hand to Forecast and Contrive as well as Execute And it will know fit Seasons and fasten on them and improve them There is a Season for every Thing and a Time to every Purpose under the Sun And 't is Wisdom which both knows these Seasons and knows how to use them Labour well tim'd is the Life of Labour One Blow upon the Heated Iron will do more than Twenty while it is Cold. It will also fore-see Hinderances and prevent and obviate them It will make Suppositions and put Cases and provide accordingly And carry with it what it hopes it shall not have Occasion for yet would not want it in case there should It will sit down and consider what it has to do and what it will cost to finish it and then provides accordingly Prepare thy Work without and make it fit for thy self in the Field and after Build thy House And lastly It will proportion Labour to Strength that it may hold out and not be tired Fourthly Speed and timely Application to thy Work is neither the Least nor the Last Help to Diligence Expedition is the Life of Action 'T is next to doing no Time to resolve not to do till next Time You would count him no Diligent Servant who lingers and trifles and has not begun when others have half done their Dayes Work I made haste and prolonged not the Time to keep thy Commandments Alexander being ask't How he Conquered the World so soon so young by Thirty Years Old Answered By Deferring nothing And Caesar Emulous of his Glory pursued it in the same Methods and us'd to be quicker in his Marches than the Wings of Fame and prevent the Report of his Coming by being the First Messenger of it That his Enemies saw him comâ— before they heard he was coming and fell on immediately That he often came upon them and over-came them all at once and the Battle was often hot before the Day was so Speed hath the Promise of Success They that seek Me early find Me Prov. 8.17 Speed Rises at the First Call and the Diligent Man bespeaks the Watch-man to awake him that he may not over-sleep himself And neither cheats it Self nor mocks God with the Uncivil Civility I 'le go Sir by and by Modesta negatio procrastinatio Delay is but a mannerly Denyal at the best and but a Mask for the Rudeness of a flat Refusal of Duty And those who are asham'd bluntly to say We will not disguise their Disobedience by saying We will here-after But this Language is never found in the Mouth of Diligence God charges us concerning our Brother Say not to him Go thy way and come again to Morrow when thou hast it by thee Prov. 3.28 Speed layes no Blocks in its own way invents no Occasions of Delay seeks no Excuses like idle Boys who lose their Books or hide their Hats to have some Pretext to play the Truants and stay from School 'T is the Slothful Man who saith There is a Lyon in the way a Lyon is in the Streets Prov. 26.13 When he is quickned to his Work cryes out Would you have me run into the Lyon's Mouth Would you have me undo my Self and Family and be swallowed up with Poverty by neglecting my Shop to run to Church and my own Calling to mind God's Work The Way of the Slothful is an Hedge of Thorns Prov. 15.19 He would go if he could if he durst but he dare not stir for pricking his Legs He shall be call'd Fool or Phanatick be Jeer'd and Laugh't at by his Old Companions and made the Drunkard's Song and Talk of all the Town 'T is safer to take Time and Leisure Fair and Softly goes far in a Day That 's soon enough that 's safe Thus Idle Men will frame Excuses as Idle as themselves but the Diligent doth not so Nay he 'll remove the Real Ones he meets with to his Power he 'll set Hand and Shoulder both to work and try in earnest to remove Impediments When Men are in haste they 'll break open that Door with the Foot which cannot be unlocked with the Hand The Nightingale that Diligent Singer porches with her Breast against a Thorne that Sleep may not hinder her Melody Aristotle that Diligent Student sat with a Brazen Ball in his Hand over a Bason that if he chanc'd to nod the falling Ball might alarum and raise him to his Study Yea he is grieved at the very Heart when he meets with those he cannot overcome and Sits or Stands as upon Thorns and could even bite the Chain which holds him Thus a Man that is preparing to Worship God or to set a-part a Day to retire to spend in Devotion in Prayer and Fasting in Examining his Heart and Wayes and Trying his Estate towards God If some Occasion intervene to hinder him some Company surprize and unseasonably interrupt him it saddens and makes him Melancholly all the Day and he sends his Heart into his Closet where he would be himself and stayes where he is held against his Will dumpish and without an Heart And secretly cryes out against the Violence he suffers O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from it And looks and longs and sighs secretly When
our All. And if it Honour Him so much it cannot Please Him a little and therefore shall not fail of a Sure an exceeding Great and an Everlasting Reward For that He is a Rewarder of them that Diligently seek Him is the First Principle and the very Corner-Stone on which Religion is Built Heb. 11.6 The Next Head from whence we might draw Motives to Diligence is the Evil of Sloath For Contraries expel each other Now Sloathfulness is out of measure Evil. The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malus Wicked as we commonly render it in its Primary Signification is Ignavus Sloathful to intimate to us that Sloath is the Root and Mother of all Evil. Matth. 25.26 Thou Wicked and Sloathful Servant The Sloathful Servant is the Wicked Servant Sloath is the Devil's Anvil He Forges and Fashions all his Temptations on it And thence produceth and by it induceth Men into the greatest Sins and Dangers As of Idleness comes no Goodness so all Evil issues from it When the Devil had been cast out yet upon return finding the House empty he re-entred with Seven worse than himself Matth. 12.44 And the Last End of that Man is worse than the First If thou hast been Convinc'd and begun to leave thy wicked Wayes and set thy self to be Religious but art Cold Remiss Formal Sloathful in it the Devil will return upon thee with a kind of Revenge for quitting his Work and making an Escape and will clap more Bolâ—s and stronger Irons on thee If a Prisoner should break the Goal and as soon as he is out stand begging at the next Door fit tipling at the next Ale-house lye down and sleep by the High-way-side What would his Escape avail him but cause him to be lock't up faster and be watch't more narrowly and be us'd more hardly Tho thou hast escaped from them who live in Errour and beest of the True Religion and hast a Form of Godliness and resolvest to become a good Man yet if thou be either afraid or asham'd to be Zealous in Religion wilt not add the Power to the Form wilt not be true in thy Practice of thy true Principles it will avail thee nothing Read with Attention 2 Pet. 2. Three last Verses If after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and over-come The Later End is worse with them than the Beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the Way of Righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them But it is happened to them according to the True Proverb The Dog is turned to his own Vomit again and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire I will touch the Evil of Sloath as I did the Good of Diligence with respect to Our Selves to Others to GOD. First 'T is most certainly Mischievous yea Destructive to thy Self to be Sloathful in Religion and deal in God's Work with a slack Hand Ther 's a Passage in Prov. 18.9 which well considered may mightily awaken us He that is sloathful in his Work is Brother to him that is a great Waster Let us understand this as a Spiritual Aphorism with respect to the Work which concerns our Souls and then it implys thus much By the great Waster is to be understood a Flagtious Wicked sinner who lives in Sinâ— which waste Conscience as the Schools expresly call gross scandalous Sins committed against common Light Peccata vastantia Conscientiam Blasphemy Swearing Damning Whoredom Debauchery Malicious Slandering those who are Good c. By the Sloathful in Business is meant one who though he be free from Prophaness and the open Excesses of the great Waster yet hath no Heart no Life no Love no Care to be Religious in good Earnest or mind the Work of God but goes on a Dreaming Pace performs a few Customary Duties of Religion for fashion-sake To be Brother to one signifies to be in the same Condition born to the same Inheritance Children of the same Father Members of the same Family Now the Result of this is to let us know that the Condition of both these is alike Miserable alike Hateful to God and Dangerous to themselves alike I mean for Kind though it may be not for Degrees He that is busy in the Devil's Work and he that is sloathful in GOD's Work The Tree which brings forth bad Fruit and the Tree which bears no good Fruit He that is against GOD and he that is not for GOD He that Prophanes His Name and he that will not Glorify His Name are both of the Black Regiment though they may be of different Degrees And their Pay may be more or less yet they have the same Quarters provided for them The One may go to Hell with more Infamy entring the Fore-gate in the View of all Men the Other may slip in at the Back Door with less Noise or Notice but they 'll certainly meet there They are own Brothers and have Title to the same Inheritance Though the Spiritual Hector which hath cast off all Restraints and Sense of GOD may be admitted to an Elder Brother's that is a Double Portion yet the Other will undoubtedly come in for a Child's Portion also Now this Negligence will hurt yea ruin Men Two wayes Naturally or Necessarily Morally or Meritoriously First The Natural and Necessary Consequent of Negligence is Poverty and Want The Desire of the Sloathful killeth him for his Hands refuse to Labour The Sluggard will not Plough by reason of Cold therefore shall he beg in Harvest and have nothing The Grashopper which sings away its Summer dyes for Hunger when the Cold comes I went by the Field of tke Sloathful and by the Vineyard of the Man void of Vnderstanding And lo it was grown over with Thorns and Nettles had covered the Face thereof and the Stone-wall thereof was broken down Then I saw and considered it well I looked upon it and received Instruction Yet a little Sleep a little Slumber a little Folding of the Hands to sleep So shall thy Poverty come as one that Travelleth and thy Want as an Armed Man Prov. 25.30 31 32 33 34. Secondly It ruins Meritoriously It provokes God to destroy as a Just Punishment of Disobedience to the Command that requires Diligence If any Man will not Labour neither let him Eat 2 Thes 3.10 He deserves to be burned who will not hasten out of that House which is on Fire about him There is a dreadful Place Jer. 48.10 Cursed be he that doth the Work of God deceitfully And Mal. 1. is so large and so full to this purpose as nothing can be more 'T is too large to Transcribe I intreat you to turn your Bibles and read it considerately to the End especially from the Sixth Verse It concludes thus after Rebuking them for despising His Name in offering polluted Bread and the
let them slip Heb. 2.1 We must be Zealous and Repent We must Believe with all our Hearts We must Love Christ in Sincerity We must Obey from the Heart the Form of Doctrine delivered to us In a word We must do all God's Work as in His Sight remembering He stands by and looks on and as near as may be as the Saints and Angels do in Heaven And to be sure that is Diligently indeed 'T is our Duty Secondly We are bound by Gratitude and Ingenuity which Bond like Silken ones should be the Stronger for its Softness If a Friend lend Money or a Stock to Trade with which he that wanteth cannot Trade at all this is a great Engagement upon those who Receive it to Trade the more Industriously Thus God hath dealt with us hath Trusted us with Talents and with Opportunities and expects the best Improvement of them Why is there a Price put in the Hand of a Fool to get Wisdom seeing he hath no Heart there-to Prov. 17.16 When God sets up His Tabernacle 't is to this End That Men may seek him in it Act. 15.16 17. The Kindness of that Benefactor is abused basely who furnisheth him with Tools who will not use them Leave Opportunity Help to do our Work is as great an Obligation as can be laid on any Ingenuous Man to make him Diligent How oft doth Christ say He that hath Ears to Hear let him Hear Luk. 8.8 10. As we commonly ask What did God give you Eyes and Ears and Hands for but to See and Hear and Work Thirdly We are bound by Interest and 't is our Wisdom to Promote this Work for the Advantage redounds to our selves If thou be Wise thou shalt be Wise for thy self and if thou Scornest thou alone shalt bear it Prov. 9.12 God sets us not to Work as Pharaoh did the Israelites to Make Brick for his Buildings But we work for our selves though He sets us our Work and we shall Suffer Loss if our Work abide not Blessed is the Man that heareth Me watching daily at My Gates waiting at the Posts of My Doors For whoso findeth Me findeth Life and shall obtain Favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own Soul all they that hate Me love Death Prov. 7.34 35 36. Men are greatly Ambitious to be accounted Wise and 't is the Greatest Wisdom to be Wise to Salvation And so is that Man who understands his own Interest so well as to do his Work with Diligence Do it therefore so and it Shall be thy Wisdom and Vnderstanding Deut. 4.6 The Last Head from which I shall draw Motives to excite your Diligence is Example Than which none can be more fit and proper in this Subject Man is naturally prone to be led by Example especially in Working and the Principal Force of the Text depends upon our Saviour's urging our Duty by His own Example I must work the Works of Him that sent Me. Now we have great Variety and Multitude of Examples to draw us yea provoke us unto Diligence no less than the whole Creation nay more For all the Creatures and the Creatour Himself are our Examples herein God Himself is Purus Actus as the Schools call Him a Spirit an Active Quickening Spirit all Life Activity and Motion who is Eternally Busie never Idle Unimploy'd or Acting Wearily or Faintly My Father hitherto Worketh and I Work saith our Lord. And the whole Creation like its Maker had naturally na Sloathful Piece 'till Sin and Vice had taught them to be such and even since the Worst are Busie in their Wickedness and Diligent in doing Mischief which should Shame us and Provoke us to out-do them in our Better Work But I 'le briefly touch this Argument by Parts And First The Inanimate Creatures What David calls upon them to do Psal 148. they do most Diligently Obey the Law of their Creation Fulfil their Maker's Will and Do the Work He made them for The Sun the Moon and Stars and all the Host of Heaven give both their Light and Influence move Swiftly Regularly and Constantly measure to us Time and Seasons by their Equal Revolutions and never stop unless He bids them and yet one Word of His checks them in their full Career and they Stand or go Back as He commands them The Wind the Rain the Hail the Snow the Storms and Tempests and the Meteors do the like The Sea Ebbs and Flows raises its Billows or smooths its Face at His least Beck The Earth gives forth its Strength for Man and Beasts rests and is quiet or Quakes and Trembles at His Word yea Cleaves asunder under those He bids it swallow down The Trees bring for their Fruit or cast their Leaves at His Appointment and know their Spring and Autumn And all the Bruit Creatures are Strangers to Sloath and Enemies to Disobedience but Patterns of Diligence and Wisdom The Ant the Turtle the Crane and the Swallow keep their Seasons and do their Work in them and the Stolid Ox and Stupid Ass know their Owner and their Master's Crib and will wear His Yoke who Feeds them Secondly The Devil and Wicked Men For Fas est ab hoste Doceri Satan Compasses the Earth and walks about in it goes about continually seeking whom he may devour is alwayes contriving Mischief by his Wiles Depths Methods Stratagems or acting it by Temptations which he multiplyes one after another that if one succeed not another may as he did with our Lord Himself for Forty Dayes together Beelzebub the God of Flyes is more importunate than any Fly desiring to winnow even the Disciples as Wheat is winnowed To sift Men to the Bran a Phrase importing utmost Diligence Alwayes restless never weary and gives not over till Restrain'd and Chain'd up by a strong Hand And Wicked Men are like him They accomplish a Diligent Search they weary themselves to commit Iniquity and cannot Sleep unless they cause some to fall Commit their Wickednesses with both Hands greedily And take more pains to go to Hell than would suffice if well imploy'd to bring them to Heaven And Oh! What a Shame is it that Satan's Envy against God and Malice against Man should make him more Diligent in his Work than our Zeal for God's Glory and Love to our own Souls can make us in the Work of God for our own Salvation And What pity is it that so bad a Master as wicked Men serve should be served with more Vigor Industry and Life than the Lord of Glory whom we pretend to serve and profess we believe to be the Best of Masters Thirdly The Saints and Angels in Heaven They Cease not Day or Night to give Glory to Him that sits upon the Throne crying Holy Holy Holy The Cherubims in Ezekiel's Vision were represented by Wheels and there and alwayes having Wings both Emblems of Velocity and Speedy Diligence And as they be set for our Patterns in the Lord's Prayer while we are taught to
Vines Deut. xxii 9. Thou shalt not sow thy Vineyard with divers seeds And also to plant Trees of another kind partly to support their Vines which are a weak and tender Plant and partly to make the better improvement of their Ground and none more commonly than Fig trees Which makes it so frequent to name them together sit every man under his Vine and under his Fig-tree The planting this Fig-tree in the Vineyard signifies the calling any Nation to the knowledg and profession of the Gospel and making them a Church as a part of the Universal Church or it is the receiving a man or woman into the Church by Baptism See the expression in the very Letter Rom. vi 3 4 5. Know ye not that as many of us as were Baptised into Jesus Christ were Baptised into his death and if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death c. So that he useth the Phrases of being Baptised and Planted as signifying the same or explaining one the other So that every one of you who have been Baptised are thereby Planted in Gods Vineyard admitted to partake of the Ordinances and Priviledges of the Gospel-Church and thereby obliged to the Duties Consequent upon those Priviledges As a Tree which stands in the Orchard is bound as I may say to bear part of that Fruit which the Master and Owner of the Orchard looks for His coming to look for Fruit is a most obvious Allusion to the custom amongst men to go into their Gardens and Orchards to fee what Fruit the Trees bear or whether they bear any which they have caused to be set in them Cant. vii 12. Let us go early into the Vineyards let us see if the Vine flourish whether the tender Grapes appear and the Pomegranates put forth And is the same with Isa v. 2. where God saith He lookt for Grapes which verse 7. he interprets He lookt for judgment and righteousness and which he speaks in plain words without any Parable Psal xiv 2. The Lord lookt down from Heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God and is equivalent to what is exprest by another sence viz. of hearing Jer. viii 6. I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no man repented of the evil of his doings saying what have I done and might were it needful be illustrated by many other Scriptures In a word it is as much as if it were said God comes to look after every man whether they fulfil their Covenant of Christianity which they made with him when they were Baptised and planted in his Church Lastly His finding no Fruit is Gods disappointment as to what he greatly desires looks for yea even longs for No true Repentance no sound Faith no sincere Obedience no Reformation of Life no hearty turning unto God no Holiness and Righteousness no serious care nor vigorous Zeal to glorifie God and save their own souls or as it is Hos iv 1. No truth no mercy no knowledg of God in the land but swearing lying killing stealing committing adultery and breaking out till blood toucheth blood and no man reproveth one another for these evils but are ready to strive with the Priest if he reprove them for them verse 2 4. Such rotten and vile Figs are all the Fruit they bear or at best a few leaves of empty Profession and some cheap formal duties and lip labour and drawing near to God with the body while their hearts are left behind and are far from God being set upon other objects and God hath no true nor real love or fear or acceptable service And in that 't is said a Fig-tree in the singular number it implies that every particular Church every individual and particular person shall be strictly lookt after they shall not be hid in the thickness of the Trees not lost in the croud nor escape or remain less discovered then Adam and his Wife who in vain attempted to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the Trees of the Garden Gen. iii. 8. Which I only point to by way of Allusion Every Tree every person shall be particularly inquired after and sought out if there be but one unfruitful Tree it shall be discovered the Lord of the Vineyard will certainly find it out and so will he every one that is so one by one be they never so many that are such You have heard what the Lord and owner of the Vineyard did Planted a Tree a Fig-tree which is naturally capable of bearing Fruit in his Vineyard a good soyl apt to nourish it and as 't was just he should came and sought Fruit but was unjustly disappointed Hear now what he saith Then said he to the dresser of the Vineyard behold these three years I come seeking Fruit on this Tree and find none cut it down why cumbreth it the ground I shall explain these words with the like brevity and then sum up the improvement of them together And here four particulars must be explained First Who is to be understood by the Dresser of the Vineyard and why he is told of the Fig-trees unfruitfulness Secondly What is meant by the three years in which he came seeking Fruit of it Thirdly What is meant by the Sentence to Cut it down and why the Execution of it is injoyned to the Dresser of the Vineyard Fourthly What is meant by the Cumbring of the Ground which contains the reason to justifie the severity of the Sentence of cutting down First who is to be understood by the Dresser of the Vineyard the most general opinion is that it is the Minister or in complex consideration the Ministers of the Gospel Coetus Apostolorum as a good Expositor expresseth it But I meet with other Opinions of which I shall name four First 'T is Jesus Christ In various Parables God and Christ sustain various persons as St. John xv 1. God himself is the Vine-dresser Christ the Vine and particular Believers the Branches I am the true vine my Father is the husband-man ye are the branches But here Christ is the Dresser of the Vineyard to whom God hath committed the care of his Church To be sure 't is he who is the great and prevailing Intercessour and by reason of the Intercession that the Dresser here makes Lord let it alone this year Some Interpreters refer it to him as St. Ambrose bonus cultor in quo ecclesiae fundamentum c. And Theophilact This Dresser is Christ who would water them with his Doctrine and his Passion who had been fruitless under the Law and Prophets Secondly The Civil Magistrate in a Christian State who is to be the keeper of both Tables to see to the maintenance of the true Religion towards God as well as civil honesty amongst men Who are promised to be Nursing-Fathers to the Church Isa xlix 23. and therefore must look to the Children of it One principal branch of a Fathers