much toilsome travel and various agitations is now at Troas a City in the lesser Asia where not having long time to tarry for he made it his design if possible to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost and much ground was to be trod and many places to be passed thorough and something for the furtherance of the Gospel to be dispatched in those places ere he could get thither he is resolved to do as much good as he can in a little time We may not conceive him idle any day but surely on the Lords day he was more then ordinarily diligent and industrious The Disciples or the owners of the way of the Christian Religion being on the First Day of the Week met together in order to the hearing of the Word and partaking of the Ordinance of the Supper Paul continued his discourse until midnight being hereunto incouraged and urged 1. By the peoples raised and unwearied attention 2. By his own resolution to depart on the morrow ver 7. In these Primitive Times the Lord was wont to accompany the word of his mouth with the wonderful works of his hand witness the many Miracles then effected whereby the Lord would 1. Convince Aliens 2. Confirm Disciples to whom such props were of great advantage because the Doctrine embraced was 1. Novel and therefore attended with squint-eyed suspitions 2. Contrary to carnal reason and therefore invaded with puzling Objections 3. Destructive to the interests of the flesh and therefore assaulted with a keen and desperate opposition not only from without but also from within A considerable and seasonable Miracle was this in the Verse succeeding the Text of which Paul was the moral cause or instrument Eutychus the recipient Subject who whilst asleep stands in need of a bed and being now dead is fit for nothing but the grave But the Lord had mercy on him and did not only awaken but revive This young man was quite tired out with Pauls protracted and uninterrupted discourse which being spun out to an unexpected length deep sleep seizes on him and he fals from such an heighth that there remains nought else of the man but a breathless trunk There is no reason why we should bitterly inveigh against him under the notion of a lazy Lozel and muddy headed Disciple for he sought not out a blind nook and obscure corner wherein unobservedly to take a nap and by this means gratifie the flesh only through the infirmity of the flesh he is overcome However he is not wholly to be excused The activity of grace must oppose and make head against the inclinations of nature and doubtless had he not been wanting unto himself he might have been inabled to hold up his head as well as others at least he might have prevented a total overwhelming and succumbing under this drouzy distemper The Point that I would hence observe is this Doct. Sleeping in Church-Assemblies is a great sin and of dangerous consequence Many are mens miscarriages about the word Heb. 10.25 Some forsake the assembling of themselves together and turn their backs upon the Ordinances as if they were not worth the attending on Ezek. 33.21 Others indeed come as the people cometh and with their lips they shew much love Esay 29.13 They draw nigh unto God with their mouths and honour him with their lips so that the address seems to be accompanied with a flaming affection and a deep devotion but their hearts are far from him going after their covetousness there is some base lust or other doted on and cockered with wantonnest indulgence notwithstanding the clear convictions of the word and their own professed subjection to it Others again entertain the word with a slighting unbelief Jer. 44.16 peevish contradictions and a desperate declared resolution not to stoop to its authority and yeeld obedience to its commands But it is the sleepy Hearer whom I have to deal with at this time and against whom I must spend some arrows and discharge some cannons to awaken him In the prosecution of the Point in hand I shall only do these two things 1. I shall propose severall considerations by way of diswasion from the sin and provocation to the contrary practise 2. I shall propose severall directions by way of remedy and prevention The considerations are these that follow 1. Well weigh with your selves in whose presence you are First you are in the presence of God who though he be from no place excluded yet surely he is in the Assemblies of the Saints especially present Exod. 20.24 In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee In acts of worship we are said to draw nigh him Lev 10.2 There are severall things in God which bespeak your attention 1. His transcendent excellency and incomprehensible greatness The presence of Majesty doth awaken meanness and keeps all the faculties intent upon so furpassing an Object If the awe and dread of an infinite and all-glorious Being were upon us it would not only somewhat affect but even affright and cause you to lay aside all deadness and drouziness of spirit Me thinks the brightness and splendour of that royal throne before which you present your selves and lie prostrate should awaken you even to astonishment and consternation and keep your eyes open beyond all possibility of putting them together 2. His Omniscience Though you sleep yet God doth not so much as slumber though your eyes be shut yet his are not Though you sneak behind a pillar or sink down to the bottome of the Pew yet you are still in his eye The Lord is in his holy Temple the Lords throne is in heaven his eyes behold and his eye-lids try the children of men Psal 11.4 He beholds the frame of your souls and takes exact notice of the posture of your bodies What servant would dare to sleep whilsth is Master stands by and looks on One sleepy Hearer cannot scape Gods observation in the most condensed and crouded Congregation 3. His Holiness whereby he must needs be highly displeased with the undecent and unbeseeming behaviour of those who are ingaged in his worship The sleepy Hearer is a mote in Gods bright eye and very offensive to his sight 4. His Justice which being awakened by his holiness is wont to make deep dints and impressions of revenge upon the objects of his displeasure Will a Lamb dare to sleep within the paw and reach of an inraged Lion In the next place consider the ends on the account of which you come into Gods presence 1. To speak to him in Prayer I have heard of some that have talked in their sleep I doubt whether these drouzy dreamers we are speaking of do or can pray in their sleep A Prince would look upon it as an unsufferable affront if a Subject should be found sleeping in the Presence-Chamher when he should be presenting his Petition Christs Disciples were sleeping when they should have been praying now
The Church-Sleeper AWAKENED OR A DISCOURSE On Act. 20.9 being the Substance of two Sermons Composed and Preached at Corke in Ireland By Joseph Eyres Master of Arts and a Servant of God in the Gospel of his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 26.40 LONDON Printed by W. Godbid for Joseph Cranford at the Sign of the Kings-Head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1659. To his much Honored and dearly beloved Friends the Inhabitants of Cork both Magistrates and People those especially that are his usual Hearers at Christ-Church JOSEPH EYRES Dedicateth this insuing discourse as an expression of his thankfulness for their owning of him in the worst Times And wisheth increase of grace here and fulness of glory hereafter Worthy and Christian Friends TIme was when men of Anti-Magistratical and Anti Ministeriall Principles were very imposing and imperious being as sharp thorns in the tender eyes of those to whom settlement and order in Church and State were very dear yet in Times of greatest Ataxie Apostacy Confusion the Lord-hath still had a remnant in this place that have sighed in secret for all the abominations blasphemies and boisterous oppositions against the Truth that have been in the midst of us Some of those melting mourners the Lord hath called home and taken to himself and for the briny brook that they have drunk of in the way hath given them to drink of the river of his pleasure Others have lived to see better dayes and are not without some budding hopes that it shall at length go well with Sion which they have performed before their choicest comforts and their chiefest joy O how welcome is that hand of heaven that begins to lift up the poor out of the dust and to wipe away the teares from the swolne eyes and blubber'd cheeks of the Daughters of Jerusalem giving unto them beauty for ashes and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Your condition you looked upon as deplorably sad whilest without power in your own hands to reform the abuses and redress the evils you laboured under Providence hath restored unto you your Charter with your several Ornaments of honour and Badges of authority and hereby put you into a capacity of being Reformers Repairers of breaches and Executioners of justice so that if you will but quit your selves like men appear against the growing and prevailing corruptions of the Times and give a check to the insolency of mens unruly lusts you may expect to be carried as on Eagles wings to be preserved under the shadow of the mightiest grace and to have the blessing of peace within your wals and plenty within your palaces Let not your present outward meanness in the world and want of an incouraging Revenue to support your state retard your motions discourage you in your duty make you loth to intermeddle much in matters of Government and take you off from an Heroick and Magnanimous managing of that High Trust that is reposed in you Do but lay out your selves wholly for God be warm and vigorous in the prosecution of those designes that tend to his glory execute justice impartially upon offending ones that the mouth of iniquity may be stopped the most daring transgressors daunted and constrained to hide themselves through fear and shame and you shall find that the Lord will sweetly smile and shine upon your Tabernacles 1 Sam. 2.30 and compasse you about with his loving kindness as with a sheild 2 Chron. 15.20 The Lord will honour those that honour him The Lord will be with you whilest you are with him Besides I charitably hope and am verily perswaded did the State but hear of your renowned zeale severe reformation and thorough owning of the wayes of God their hearts would be much drawn forth to mind your concernments and to incourage you in the Lords work by bestowing upon you some signal expression of favour and respect and the rather because of your former never to be forgotten kindness in seasonably opening your gates to receive and releive their Army harassed and worn out with wants and weakness A few words of wholsome advice I shall intreat you candidly to interpret and accept You who are now incorporated into a Civil Society labour to be incorporated into Christ and to be free Denisons of the new Jerusalem that is above John 8.36 If the Son make you free you shall be free indeed Purge your own Hearts and reform your own Families and hereby give a good example unto others to do the like Let your Houses be little Churches in which God shall be duly worshipped and his name dayly called upon Live in subjection to the Laws of Christs Kingdome and call upon others to stoop with their neck to the same Yoke Your incorporation and conjunction cals loudly on you for union and unanimity Keepe therefore the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Ephes 4.3 Let your hearts be seasoned with the salt of grace and be at peace among your selves Beware of being divided in your consultations and transactions It was well observed by Nazianzen That Dissolution is the Daughter of Dissention As the conflict of contrary humours causeth diseases and destructive distempers in the body naturall so the clashings and contests of men who are armed with contrary principles and aime at different ends and in stead of promoting the good of the Community make it their business to advance the interest of a Faction will prove fatal and of dangerous consequence to the body politick Maintain a cordiall close and comfortable correspondence with your Church-Guides whom you see a clear Providence making your Overseers Peoples taking liberty to themselves to disown and desert at pleasure their own Pastours and hankering after novel both Preachers and Opinions hath turned the Church into a confused Chaos discomposed Christs mystical Body and afflicted its members with distortions and dislocations Time was when the breath of a Minister was abhorred and would hardly be indured in Corke and his coming to the City as much dreaded as the Invasion of an enemy Blessed be God that your eyes do again behold your Teachers that the number of them in this County is increased and they incouraged with the refreshing influence of Authority You cannot be ignorant how long you were constrained to wait and how many difficulties were waded through ere an Order could be procured for my establishment and setling among you by reason of the undermining suggestions of some whispering Contrasentients For the space of six years I have been your unworthy Teacher and preached the Gospel unto the Inhabitants of this City I hope not altogether without success Though I must pofess that I cannot but with grief take notice of the fewness of those sheaves that are gathered into Christs barn How hard are mens hearts under the continual beating of the hammer How do they harden their hearts like the adamant against the clear convictions of the Word How do men stand out against Christ when
summoned to come in and entertain his Message with perpetual quarrels and endless contradictions This is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation Let me passionately beseech you in the bowels of Christ Jesus your Lord and mine to be wise in this your day and mind the things that do belong unto your peace Let the sounding of the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel awaken you and cause you to shake off that unweldy frame of spirit that makes men dull and indisposed to the duties of Religion Let your hearts be upright with God and be you faithfull to the Truth in giddy and declining Times Buy the Truth at any rate Prov. 23.3 but part with it at no rate whatsoever It will be your safety and honour to retain and hold fast the form of wholesome words delivered to you and to remain unshaken in your Principles though stormy winds of temptation and persecution should arise and blow upon you with a formidable and affrighting fury Though all men should forsake Christ yet do not you forsake him There are many windfals in Christs Orchard be you like those few remaining berries in the top of the uppermost bough abhorring disunion and defection and resolving not to be rent though with a violent hand from your Renowned Root Mortifie throughly and betimes all itching desire after novelty lest it break forth into the spreading and crusty scab of Apostacy Beg wisdome of God whereby you may be able to distinguish betwixt the voice of Christ and the voice of a stranger Be not taken with the flaring light of every blazing Comet and ignis fatuus that would slock you into by-wayes and dangerous paths Keep your heads and hearts from being fly-blown with the unsavoury breath of every rotten-hearted Preacher Take heed of going forth and dancing after their delusive pipe who the better to deceive and draw you into the snare pretend to rare and rich discoveries lest you come home with a vertigo in your heads and be troubled with the staggers in Religion ever after I shall conclude with pressing upon you that serious and savoury advice which his Excellency the Lord Deputy when at Corke in his late Progress gave to the Chief of you with some Justices of Peace of the Country that were then present You may remember that you were commanded and incouraged 1. To put a stop to the overflowing flood of prophaneness by putting in execution the severall wholesome Lawes that are in force against swearing drunkenness uncleanness and the like enormous practises 2. To provide for the sanctification of the Sabbath by making use of that power that is put into your hands in punishing and suppressing its too frequent and Atheistical violation Let it not lie as a reproach on Corke that Ordinance-despisers and Sabbath-breakers cannot be so secure from the stroke and dint of Justice in any place in Ireland as in this 3. To make use of provided and proscribed means for the conversion of the Popish Irish within your Jurisdiction The work is desirable and of grand concernment conducing whereunto among many other are the following expedients 1. The bringing of the Natives to the Puklick Worship Compel them to come in that Gods house may be full Bring them within the compass of the net if ever you expect they should be caught Let not their rooted and peevish lothness to attend upon the Ordinances deterre you from doing your duty They that now quarrel and contend with you as being too severe and harsh will in the day of visitation glorifie God and call you blessed 2. The removeing and transplanting of such as to use his Excellencies own words are stiffe and sullen in their way and are not only possessed themselves with grinning prejudices against the Protestant Religion but do likewise make it their design to create and continue the like prejudices in the rest of their Brethren who possibly might otherwise be reclaimed and brought unto the knowledge of the truth Remember the Oath of God with which you are bound to act and rule according to Law and be you faithful unto your Trust Yield Obedience to his Excellencies Commands in the expressed instances and buckle in good earnest to the business of Religion and Reformation that so we may at length become amountain of holiness an habitation of righteousness in which the Lord will delight to dwel which shall be promoted by the prayers and indevours of From my Study in Corke Sept. 7. 1658. Your Servant in the Lords work JOSEPH EYRES THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Courteous Reader A Christian how plausible soever his pretences may be cannot be right at root so long as the bare bulk of duty satisfies without regard had to the manner of the performance The iniquity of holiest things and the sinful adherencies of the best duties are highly provoking and sufficiently ponderous to depress and sink the soul into the lowest hell so that it neerly concerns us to enter upon spiritual employments and ingage in holy services with much caution and circumspection for fear of a miscarriage It 's not without cause that the Spirit adviseth us to keep our feet when we go to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools The eare is the cunduit-pipe thorough which grace comes flowing in to the soul and therefore should be kept open which cannot be done whilest the eye is shut My design is to apply the smarting eye-salve of the Spirit that so the peccant and concerned may be cured of the wonted winking of their eyes The Subject in hand seems to be ordinary and to have little of sublimity in it But when I considered that every Pew almost hath its Eutychus and that our Congregations do generally abound with luke-warm Laodiceans and are little better many of them than so many Consorts of snoring Sleepers which make sweet Musick in the Divels eares whose designe doubtless in mens present snorting is their future howling I thought it my duty as a Watchman to do something that might awaken I am willing to stir up and startle those who whilest they should be smiting on their thighs and laying their hands upon their hearts are in a yawning posture and rubbing their eyes being ing possessed with a confused stupor and it 's a pretty while ere they can recover themselves and understand where they are and what about I wish this small Treatise may prove a mote at least in the eye of the sleepy Hearer and make it water which is the way to be more watchful Christian Reader be a diligent Hearer and I have my end who desire to approve my self Thy faithful Monitor and Soul-Friend Joseph Eyres THE Church-Sleeper Awakened ACT. 20.9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus being fallen into a deep sleep and as Paul was long preaching he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third Loft and was taken up dead THE Apostle Paul after
raised spirituall Bodies the sublime employment of eternal Hallelujahs will not tire or cause in us the least inclination to a drousie despondency It should be our desire and endeavour to serve God here as Saints and Angels serve him in heaven without weariness and deadness Having thus dispatched the considerations by way of motive I now come unto the directions by way of remedy and prevention of this sinfull distemper declared against 1. Set your selves as in Gods presence Labour to see him by the eye of Faith who is invisible to the eye of sense Being not aware before whom we are and with whom we have to do we are the more easily overtaken If in the Congregation we were in the presence and close by the side of earthly majesty and were surrounded and observed by Princes and Nobles I dare say there would be such an awe upon us that we should not dare to sleep or be guilty of the least incivillity and undecency of deportment O then why doth not the approach and presence of the God of glory before whom the Divels tremble ble and the Angels veil not daring to behold with unmasked faces worke in us far deeper impressions of awefulness and ingage us to the utmost attention and watchfulness The truth of it is God is not minded and hence it is that his work is so slightly slubbered over If God were in our eye our eyes eares hearts would all be open to attend and entertain him 2. Bring your Bibles with you and that not for a vain shew and ostentation to be taken notice of for a pious devout respect to sacred Writ but keep pace with the Minister whilst he reades the Word and turn to those Texts of Scripture that he quotes If this laudable course were generally and duly observed Truths delivered would better be remembred and the unhansome inconvenience of sleeping in Church Assemblies would be prevented It 's reported of the Scots by those who have been present at their Assemblies that when the Preacher names a place of Scripture the people presently and nimbly turn to it so that there is heard in the Congregation a rushing noise or sound like the fluttering of a mighty flock of birds that are hastily rising and getting upon the wing But many may say unto me Alas Sir woe and alas what shall we do we for our parts can not reade a word O! how willingly would we make use of the Bible both in publick and in private provided we were book-learned as others are And cannot you reade indeed the more to blame are those who have had the charge and care of your education and the more to blame your selves this ignorance of yours being possibly the product of a lazy neglect and lothness to take pains And here now because 't is seasonable let me lay a strict charge and severe injunction on Parents especially and Masters of Families to provide for the instruction of their children and servants that so they may be able to discern a difference betwixt a Bible and a Block not only by the shâ—pe and external figure but also by the internal and comfortable contents 3. Be exhorted to write Sermon-Notes you that can and you that cannot learn to do it It prevents not only a sleeping eye but a wandring eye It has been my observation of some that whensoever they have omitted taking notes they have been as sure to sleep as if high noon were midnight and their Pew a soft bed Flatter not your selves with a vain conceit that your extraordinary and almost invincible proneness to sleep by reason of your natural temper shall hold you excused so long as you obstinately refuse to make use of Bible and Pen by which this so great a mischief might undoubtedly be be prevented I hope you do not count it a disparagement and undervaluing to you to take notes after the Minister King Edward the Sixth did not and to peruse them and meditate on them afterwards for the fixing and ingraving of truth in his mind and memory 4. Have you not houses of your own there you may sleep with lesse scandal and inconvenience to your selves and others If there be no no remedy but you must needs take a nap in the day time which some can hardly refrain being thereto necessitated by a continued custome it 's better you should do it in private then in publick But because men are too prone to gratifie the flesh and indulge the ease of the outward man I shall intreat you to be very spare and temperate and allow your selves as little liberty as may be Far be it from you that you should be of the number of those Swine rather then Saints those Hogs rather then Christians who lye grunting yawning stretching in their beds the forenoon of the Sabbath and are hardly up and drest by dinner time or of the number of those sordid slow bellies who are wont to reserve the afternoon of the Lords day for rest and a lazy retirement 5. Principiis obsta stop the beginnings When you perceive in your selves an inclination to nod and that a soft slumber begins to seise upon you presently start up as one astonish'd at the apprehension of some grand approaching evil stand upon your guard and keep the incroaching enemy at a distance 6. Feed sparingly especially on the Lords day Great Eaters are usually great Sleepers From an over full stomach ascend obnubilating fumes which oppress the brain and lock up the passages of the spirits and thereby dispose to sleep Where the heart is overcharged with drunkenness and excess it produceth sadness searedness stupidity blockishness inadvertency forgetfulness dulness in duty and a supine negligence in soul-concernments They that fast much can watch best Hence sobriety and watchfulness are joyned together 1 Pet. 5.8 Be sober be vigilant 7. Let not sorrow too much seise upon you and prevail over you it 's of a stupifying and besotting nature the Disciples in the Garden found it so Luk. 22.45 Griefe contracts the heart and hinders the egress of spirits to the several Organs in which they move yea it exhausts the spirits and hinders concoction so that gross and black vapours invade the brain which are the cause of sleep Gerherd in his Harmony is of the opinion that Jonah's profound sleep in the side of the Ship was occasioned by grief he knowing full well that for his flying from the presence of the Lord the tempest was raised and the Ship indangered 8. Take heed of a lolling and lazy posture of body it argues irreverence and doth dispose to drouziness Standing I would commend as a more watchful posture and to be preferred before sitting especially in Prayer They that bow down their heads and rest them upon their hands will not long be awake 9. Let your eye be much upon the Minister It 's said of Christs Hearers Luk. 4.20 That their eyes were fastned on him A good help against distractions Trap in loc Our hearts
are fickle and fugitive if not hard held to it The sight of the eye affects the heart It 's the Prisoners seeing as well as hearing of the Judge that makes him attentive to astonishment When the heart is stirred and awakened the eye cannot easily be closed 10. Ingage your neighbour that sits by you to have a watchful eye upon you and to pluck you by the sleeve if occasion be It s pity that any should be in danger of sleeping the sleep of death for want of a faithful friend to rouse up and awaken If your Brothers Oxe be fallen into a ditch you will put to an helping hand and pluck it out and shall your Brother himself lye lolling and snoring in the Divels lap and you not so much as jogge him by the elbow and make him sensible of his danger 11. Betake your selves to rest the night before in good time Sitting up late the Saturday nights doth wonderfully deadden and indispose to the duties of the following day Sleep in your beds that you may not sleep in your Pews Sleep in the night that you may not sleep in the day Coming home at midnight from dispatching businesses visiting Friends or which is worse from drinking gaming revelling puts the body and mind out of order and is a bad preparative for the approaching Sabbath 13. Come to the word with expectation Whensoever you attend upon the Ordinances look for something yea for greater things from the hands of God They are vigilant who are in a waiting posture Beggers are not wont to sleep before the gates of those from whom they expect an almes The eyes of servants look unto the hand of their Masters and the eyes of a Maiden unto the hand of her Mistriss when some boon and bounty is expected Psalm 123.2 If out of a clear sight and deep sense of our own unworthiness weakness wretchedness we came unto God for supply of wants assistance in service satisfaction in doubts assurance of his love solace in midst of sorrows or the like we should be more yare and full of life in managing our addresses than we are 14. Pray hard unto God and be very importunate with him 1. That he would chain up Satan and rebuke the Tempter who sneakingly and maliciously haunts the Assembles of the Saints as a sligh observer and busie disturber standing at their right hands ready to resist them 2. That he would affect your hearts with truths delivered Stirring affections are attended with a sharp attention Men do not look upon themselves as highly concerned in the commands promises menaces of the word and hence ariseth that listless and sluggish frame that is upon them If with Peter's Hearers we had the keen arrow of conviction sticking fast in our sides and making us to blush and bleed the flood-gates of our eyes would be open for swelling streams of penitential teares to come gushing out amain and in stead of sleeping and snoring there would be sighing sobbing lamenting moan-making smiting on the thigh and curious inquiring after a remedy for this malady On the other side if at the hearing of the word the Spirit should be pleased to come in and breath upon us with a fair and fresh gale of comfort if the love of God should be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost if some bright beam of heavenly light should be darted into the inner man after a dark dismal stormy tempestuous night of temptation desertion disconsolation dejection it would undoubtedly scatter those clouds of sleep and security that are wont to hang upon our dull and depressed browes A warmed heart is a waking heart Sorrow duls the eye but joy makes it lively and sparkling I have read of a gracious woman Mr. Clarks Mirror pag. 508. who at the Supper-Ordinance being abundantly refreshed with the joyes of the Spirit gat home as she professed she knew not how and for the space of a fortnight these raptures and ravishing joyes continued and filled her mouth with Songs of praise so that she could neither sleep nor eate more then she forced her self to do out of conscience of duty It 's impossible we should sleep with a full cup of consolation in our hands and at our mouths 3. That he would bestow upon the Minister a quick and powerfull delivery which is wont to draw forth attention and affection A dull heavy unchearful delivery in the Minister doth little better then invite a drouzy disrespect and is attended with a careless and undecent oscitancy in the Hearers 15. If prone to miscarry in this kind and to be oppressed with a spiritual lethargy you shall do well to humble your selves before God with fasting and prayer possibly this sleepy Divel will not go out but in the use of such means which do not infeeble and render unfit for service but rather strengthen and exhilarate FINIS