or as a Garment which will wax old and wear away or like a Watch oâ— any other Motion only to continue so long and no longer even whilst the Pulse beats and whilst the Springs and Wheels of Life within do continue in Motion and Circulation I have often thought and admired within my self how the ever-living God unto whom all Flesh shall come doth summon and call for us severally through thâ— Postern-door and Gate of Death And when I have enquired and my Heart hath searched diligently out of the Scriptures of Truth what will become of us when we come to die searching what or what manner of thing it is to die truly the best and most intelligible account that I can give of it is this I find in the â—criptures that it is always expressed by these five or six manner of words Dying Deceasing Departing Yielding up the Ghost Gathering to his Fathers Falling asleep All which tend to one and near the same signification and so it doth if there be any other Phrase or Form of speech to express Death by And it came to pass as her Soul was in departing for she died Gen. 35. 8. which was spoken of Rachel And so when Elijah was to raise the Widows dead Son He streched himself upon the Child three times and cried unto the Lord and said O Lord my God I pray thee let this Child's Soul come into him again 1 Kings 17. 21. In the Margent there it is into his inward parts Besides these two plain and express Scriptures which do prove and confirm the matter in hand to this give all the Prophets and Scripture witness That Death is nothing else but a going out or departue of the Soul from the Body When the Soul or Ghost or Spirit is yielded up and committed and returns to that God who gave it And when the Holy Ghost Phraseth it by falling asleep thereby it would set forth that little pain or difficulty which is therein For they die in like manner and make no more of it than when we take our ordinary rest by sleep in our Beds This is commonly the Portion and distinguishing Character of the Godly and Righteous that they go out of this Body with Peace of Conscience and Peace towards God in which same sence that saying of the Disciples is true Lord if he sleepeth he shall do well Which will be so as to the future State if it be real Sleep and perfect Peace and not the Slumberings only of false Presumption But then as in Sleep we do not speak or act as when we are awake nor yet do we think clearly for Dreaming is but a kind of confused Imagination inasmuch as Death also doth take away the use of those faculties which in sleep are only suspended for a time therefore because that in this respect and for this reason it hath some resemblance and likeness to sleep the Spirit of God doth sometimes so compare and call it In Death the Soul is actually gone out of the Body but in sleep it seemeth only to lie a little more still Again the Body is as the House or Tenement but the Soul is the Inhabitant or Tenant thereof and as when that leaves it there is nothing seen but bare Walls and not any thing that hath life within So the Body is evidently seen to be but a meer Trunk Carcase or Lump of Clay when the Soul which is the life and did give it Beauty and ruddy colour which also doth vanish with it is gone out and departed from it Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace according to thy Word Luke 2. 29. This one Scripture sâ—ews forth and confirms all those two or three Truths â—fore-spoken of The blessedness and desirableness of â—eparting in Peace that is Peace towards God Hereby again Death is shewn to be and is properly called a departure According to thy Word Hereby is shewn foâ—th and gathered that the Soul is only Tenant at Will to the Great Landlord of Heaven and Earth whâ—n she inhabits here in one of his little Houses or Cottages viz. the Body here on Earth And it is as much as if God should say to her at first Soul I allow thee to inhabit such an exact time in that little Tenement of Clay and when that time is expired thou must come out of it again But now The Sâ—cret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psal 25. 14. It sometimes happens that the Godly and Righteous do perceive and guess about the time God will have them to live here on this Earth It was revealed by the Holy Ghost to Simeon that he should not see Death before he had seen the Lord's Christ And so besides â—he example of Jacob Moses and Aaron and others Registred in the Book of the Lord I have read and heard of several of the Saints and Servants of God who have had it revealed unto them a considerable time before in their foregoing life near about what time and at what year of life they should die which hath accordingly so came to pass I my self have had a forebode for several years past that I should die about the three and thirtieth or the three and thirtieth year and an half of my life God knows whether it will be so And when the time draws nigh that Israel and so they that are of Israel must die they do with a willing mind resign and offer up their Soul unto God as in a readiness a little before that time comes Which is a thing plâ—asing and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour the God of the Spirits of all Flesh as we see by the example and good temper of this Simeon who was Just and Devout waiting for the Consolation of Israel And so we should wait beforehand for the Consolation which God will give unto his Servants if we do indeed serve him after that we are passed through this Vale of Tears and World of Misery It was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see Death It is very proper and pertinent to the matter in hand to open and explain this manner of Speech of seeing Death The Infidel Ungodly Igâ—orant or Brutish Person may at first look upon it as a nonsensical and false kind of saying to see Death For Death closes and destroys the Eye sight that it can see nothing at all But to answer him Thou Fool that which thoâ— sowest is not quickened except it die Thou Ignorant Person I do here say and affirm then it is that we see most of all when Death hath destroyed all our Opticks and power of seeing and our Eyes are sunk into our Head I will prove and demonstrate it from this very Similitude of Things Do not we see more when we have the full and whole sight of a thing than when we look at or upon it only through a Crevice Hole or Chink Do not they see more who are at full liberty in
we have a cunning Adversary to deal withal the Devil and his Legions for they are many and He will not bring them all forth at once for it is now seen that by our conquering one Sin or Lust by the help of our God it is somewhat like cutâ—ing off Hydra's Head another presently springs up and sâ—cceeds in the Room thereof And so it is odds that when Dominion is got over one Sin even the Sin that doth so easily beset us another Sin will succeed and easily beset us also Here we are to do with that as we did with the first and so on if twenty or more should succeed one after another For this is our business and our whole Life was therefore given and lent us on this Earth to be at perpetual War against Sin in all the several kinds and sorts thereof and so to wound one kind and then another that it shall not be able to â—ise This verily is hard Work for here to instance in Lust in the Time of Youth Health and Strengâ—h it may be wounded and mortified for a Time but it will be apt to rise again And so to beat them as small a Dust before the Wind to cast them out as the Dirt in the Streâ—ts This is sooner said then done as to all the Sins and motions of Sins and Lusts that are in our Members Neither is this a Work of one day or two for we are many that have transgressed in this thing Ezra 10. 14. It is a Work of Months and Years yea of all our Life long for we have many Enemies to deal withal and it is a long Time before we can conquer one as it should be even so to wound it that it shall not be able to rise The Method of God's working by his Gracâ— in the Souls of Men in driving out the Canaanites from thence is By little and little By little and little I will drive them out from â—â—â—ore thee until thou be increased and inherit the Land â—â—od 23. 30. And so it is elsewhere written The Lâ—â—d shall increase you more and more Psalm 115. 14. Which He doth so of his Saints and Servants till they iâ—heâ—it the Land that is enter into Heaven which is tâ—e best Land of Inheritance In Exod. 23. 29. it is said I will not drive them out before thee in one Year lest the Land become desolate and the Beast of the Field multiply against thee So it may be râ—asoned and supposed that God will not fit us quite for Heaven in one Year lest it should be said we live all the other Years here on Earth to no purpose Lest that Igâ—orant Beast of the Field Pride and Boasting multiply in the Soul and it become desolate of the Graces of Humility and working out our Salvation with fâ—ar and trembling I have reâ—d of an Heathen who came to a Christian Man to learn a Lesson of good Instruction and saith He when I have learned that I will come again and accordingly a Lesson of Instruction was given unto him which was this I said that I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my Tongue Psalm 39. 1. it was no less then seventeen Years before He came again for He had not throughly learned so as to practice this Lesson sooner But one half of this is enough for us to learn and practice not only in sâ—veâ—teen but in seventy Years which is all the Life of Man The half I mean is this I will take heed to my wayâ— this little is more then many People will observe if they were to live to the days of Methusaleh And if I should Preach unto ye seventy Years I could not recommend unto ye a better and more useful Word of Instruction than that ye would once unfeignedly resolve and do accordingly to take heed to your ways that ye sin not neither with your Tongue Heart or Hand neither in Thought Word or Deed nor with any Member that ye have Let this be the Doctrine and Use the Drift and Design the Application and Benefit of all this whole foregoing Sermon Remember and carry this Word away with ye I beseech ye Take heed to your ways that ye sin not And I would to God that some of ye would come to me or send Word to me where-ever I am whither it be a Month or Year or seven Years hence if God in whose Hand our Breath is should suffer us to live so long or even in the Place of departed Souls for they may Remember Luke 16. 25. what they were in such a Place and at such a Time put in mind of and exhorted unto by such an ones Ministry and then and there tell me that you have learned throughly and practised continually that short Word of Instruction to take heed to your ways that ye sin not And then indeed if ye do so ye will be my Beloved my Hope my Joy my Crown in the Lord. I have no greater Pleasure thaâ— that ye walk in the Truth I have no greater Comfort in the World and satisfaction of my Preaching than that notwithstanding all those several inconveniencies and loss which attend me for it but these I matter not ye obey the Word which is preached and made known unto ye The summ of our whole Disâ—ourse and Word of Exhoâ—tation from the foregoing Sermon is to this purpose and Effect Though I am no Prophet neither am I a Prophet's Son as to pretend unto immediate and extraordinary Revelations from God for to know more of his Secret than others for I am as one of ye although perhaps I have had a little better Education and I have given my self up more wholly unto spiritual things than such as follow after Worldly Trades and Employments yet this I gather from the sure Word of Prophesie as also from the common Observation of things that after all my Preaching unto ye till my Strength fails on this Subject or rather â—â—til no more Words do recur to my Mind concerning it yet I foresee and foretel that several of ye perhaps one or a veâ—y few may I am not sure of that neither will not lay aside every weight and the Sin that doth so easily beset ye and ye will not resist unto Blood striving against Sin Yet nevertheless the Scripture cannot be broken That hath commanded and directed ye all yea and my self likewise to do so This I teach and affirm constantly For I gather it from out of the same Scriptures that until all this be done throughly effectually and constantly there will be something even what is Essential Principal and Necessary wanting in our Souls and so they will not be set in order before we die As it is written The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preachâ—d before the Gospel unto Abraham In thee shall all Nations be blâ—ssed Even so in like manner the Scripture which is very Pure and Holy and was given to make us wise unto
to Breathe forth Herâ—by is shewn forth the wonderful Workmanship and contrâ—vance of God that the Soul like the Godhead himself is purely an invisible Being We are to admire and say it is wonderful and to believe and be most fully satisfied that it is so although we cannot comprehend it And the Angel did wonderously and Manoah and his Wife looked on For it came â—o pass when the flame went towards Heaven from off the Altar then the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the Altar Judg. 13. 19 20. Even so here it may be reasoned and supposed for it is a wonderful thing of God and his doing wonderously the thing is most true that when we stand by the Bed-side of our dying acquaintance we see nothing but a little struggling gasping or such like And yet it comes to pass that as the Creature lies upon his back or side his Soul goes up towards Heaven it returning to the God that gave it And as the Angel ascended in the flame even so the Soul expires and goes out in the Breath and we see it not But the dâ—ceasing Soul or rather after it is a deceased Soul sees it and this is a seeing Death The Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but thou dost not see it and canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth So it may be truly reasoned and conceived of the Soul or Spirit The Soul did actuate the Body whilst it was therein and we did Hear See Taste hear and feel the Operations and Life thereof but we cannot tell exactly the particular Place from whence it came from God and Heaven in the General neither can we tell the particular Place where it goes only in the General that it is to return to God and to appear before him in Judgment and from thence to go away into Everlasting Punishment or into Life Eternal Mat. 25. 46. But further as to the exact Place Manner Time we cannot tell so as to describe it particularly as it is Again As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit nor how the Bones do grow in the womb of her that is with Child even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all Eccles 11. 5. We know not which way the Spirit came into the Infant whilst it was in the Womb by Creation and Infusion from God in the General neither do we know which way it takes as now we know Roads or Paths When the Breath of Man goes forth and he returns to his Earth his Spirit or Soul ascends up above the Clouds into the upper Parts of the World as may be understood from the Light and ascending Nature thereof as the same is in Smoke or Fire We may also perceive somewhat thereof whilst she is in the Body by liftings up of Spirit As Ecclesiastes saith Thou knowest not the Way of the Spirit nor yet the Works of God who maketh all Even so it is not to be expected that I should so make it known even from the Law and the Testimony and from the Light that is given me from thence and so describe what it is to see Death as People will find when they come severally to see and feel Death indeed Then they shall more clearly perceive the Truth of what hath been afore written when they shall in their individual Persons be brought down to the People of old Time It is well if in our Searching and Learning thereof we come somewhat near to the Truth By what hath been aforesaid a clear Apprehension Notion or Knowledge may be had what Death is or what it is to dye even for the Soul to go away of out of the Body And because it must after Death go to Judgment and from thence it shall go further into Everlasting Punishment or into Life Eternal Hence doth arise that doubt and fear of Soul which of these places it shall go away into As to this how to obtain the one and avoid the other to partake of the Blessing and escape the Cuâ—se to enter into Heaven and not fall into Hell to go away into Happiness and pass by Misery all Scripture is therefore given us of God for to Teach Instruct and Guide us herein even to make us wise unto Salvation The same and this only is or ought to be the end of all Books or Sermons I am sure it is the only intent of the present Treatise According to the Method and Favour which God afforded unto old Simeon we gather hence that it is a very great Blessing and distinguishing Mercy of God for he doth not vouchsafe this favour unto all but only to his Elect neither doth he deal so with every sort of People to have this revealed and manifested unto them that they shall not see Death before they see the Lord 's Christ It is reported of Julius Caesar that a little before he was Murdered in the Senate-Hoase that he did see the Apparition of himself in the form of a dead Man at which sight although he was a Mighty Man of Valour he was strangely astonished and struck with fear For so terrible was this sight of Death unto him that he did exceedingly fear and quake And truly well he might for he was an Heathen and Infidel and we can apprehend by the Gospel Revelation what will becomâ— of such after Death But our good old Simeon hy having seen the Lord's Christ before was sufficiently fore-armed and fortified against the sight of Death The reason whereof stands on this wise for as when the Chick sees the Kite or Hawk that would devour it if she can then run under the Hens wings into the Cub she is safe for as the Hen was instrumental at first to give it Life and Being so she will preserve it Even so it is here by seeing the Lord 's Christ who is appositely called the Prince of Life Acts 3. 15. The faithful Soul or the Soul that is Christ's runs and makes to Christ who promises and will perform it also I will gather my Children togethâ—r even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings Mat. 23. 37. He shall cover thee with his Feathers and under his wings thou shalt trust his Truth shall be thy Shield and Buckler Psal 91. 3. Then let Death and the Devil come to destroy that Soul if they can Here Christ is greater in Power and Might for asmuch then as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life-time subject to Bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. Simeon was one example to confirm this Truth for he being by the Lord Christ delivered from the fear thereof was not so astonished thereat as Caesar was or as other natural ungodly People now-a-days are Who though they name of Christ yet
whereby we must be saved For such an one as Socrates who died a real Martyr for the One God in opposition to that Error of Polutheism so common among the Gentiles may be saved by the name of Christ at the last day And so such of the Gentiles which have not the Law but do by Nature the things contained in the Law Rom. 2. 14. although they were before or since Christ or in other Countries there is good ground of Hope from the Mercy Goodness and Truth of God for they are his Creatures as well as we that some of these will be actually saved by the name of Jesus Christ also whom as soon as they shall hear of they shall obey him Psal 18. 44 In the day when God shall judge the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel For indeed those Genâ—iles or Mahometans did obey Jesus Christ all along although they never heard of his outward Name when they did by Nature the things contained in the Law they having not seen any written Revelation But this I do Teach and Affiâ—m constantly That inasmuch as Christ is become the Aâ—thor of Eternal Salvation to all that obey him And to them only For God hath Anointed him to be a Prince and a Saviour to be a Prince to give Laws for us Subjects to obey as well as to save us from our sins by yielding and complying with him we do also obey him And inasmuch as the same Jesus Christ hath said If thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments Matth. 19. 17 from hence it appears that of all the Sorts and Sects of Christianity such of them and they only will be saved who confirm all the words of his Law which includes both the Law of God and the Law of Christ both the Old and New Testameâ—â— to do them Deut. 27. 26. Fâ—r as every one is cursed that doth not confirm all the words of the Law to do them And as the Prophet David saith They are cursed that err from his Commandments And so unless they confirm that particular Commandment of Christ to do it Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you Matth. 28. 20. they will never be saved by Christ And so if they should break one of his least Commandments and teach Men so they will not be saved by Christ But whosoever shall do even to the very least and to every one of them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven And this is to have Christ formed within them and not in part but throughout and both Body and Soul and Spirit may be preserved blameless unto the coming of Jesus Christ This is to take and receive Christ in all things and not in some things only as the manner of many is who call themselves Christians but they are not but do lye as all such do who name the name of Christ and yet do not depart from Iniquity I will make so far bold with those words of Scripture Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shait be saved which was said to the Penitent Jaylor as to affirm That to believe with an Historical Faith that Jesus Christ was the Messias sent by God will not save any one For suppose a Drunkard or an Unrighâ—eous Man or a Fornicator or any of that black Catalogue which are excluded from the Kingdom of God in Cor. 6. 9. 10. 11. should believe all that as none do commonly deny it will this Historical Faith save him In no wise This makes against that Error and Deceit of the Solifidians and some Dissenters among us have bordered upon and came near to the same Error and Deceit The bare name of Christ will not save any one but it is the thing for several name the name of Christ who have not Christ nor yet the thing signified by him SERMON V. Isaiah 38. 1. Set thine House in Order for thou shalt Die and not live IT was the saying of Abigal unto David Yet a Man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy Soul but the Soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of Life with the Lord thy God 1 Sam. 25. 29. So the case stands as to us all One is risen up to pursue us and seek our Souls even our Adversary the Devil of whom Saul was a kind of Type and Signification in Hunting after and Persecuting of David or rather the Devil acted through Saul in it As a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking whom he may devour And he hath Death and Hell for his Companions or as two Dogs the one to catch and the other to destroy or make miserable But here if we see the Lord 's Christ or have Christ formed within us he is appositely and truly stiled the Prince of Life So that then of certain consequence our Souls are bound in the bundle of Life with the Lord our God This is a great expression containing in it self an unspeakable benefit Then it is that we dying Creatures if we have seen the Lord's Christ or have Christ formed within us we are bound up in the bundle of Life with the ever-living God So that of necessity as fire warms all things that are next unto it and which are capable of warmth we must live also For with thee is the Fountain of Life and in thy Light shall we see Light So it may be truly reasoned also in thy life shall we have life Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we be with the Lord. But when we once see the Lord 's Christ or rather feel him formed within us and we thus have our Souls bound with the Lord our God in the bundle of Life with the Lord our God then we which are now dying and going off from the Stage of this Earth as soon as ever we move off from thence The Eternal God is our Refuge and underneath are the everlasting Arms and he shall thrust out the Enemy before thee Deut. 33. 27. This Enemy is the Devil who was afore spoken of to be risen to seek our Souls Behold how in a wonderful manner all Scripture is consonant to it self at the greatest distance of place and how the goodness of God provides beforehand for the safety and salvation of Israel that is his People and Servants For he hath provided everlasting Arms to reach receive and catch the Soul in just upon its flight and being let out from the Body And whereas it is said That be rideth upon the Heaven in thy help and in his Excellency upon the Sky so that he is above the Prince of the power of the Air who with his Evil Spirits hath his Residence or Habitation thereabouts But we shall also meet the Lord in the Air and so we shall ever be with the Lord To partake of his Life and Happiness his Good and Blefsedness And so
SIX SEVERAL SERMONS Preached on Isaiah 38. 1. WHEREIN THAT GREAT DUTY OF Setting our BODY and SOUL in Order For we shall Die is at large opened and Explained Wherein also many DIVINE TRUTHS ARE Made known relating to the same Matter And now Published because of the exceeding Importance and Concernment of this Subject unto all People whatsoever For Man also knoweth not his time as the Fishes are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the Snare so are the Sons of Men snared in the evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Eccles 9. 12. For Precept must be upon Precept Precept upon Precept Line upon Line Line upon Line here a little and there a little Isa 28. 9. London Printed and are to be sold by Ralph Simpson at the Harp in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. TO THE READER IF I were to Judge of all others by my self I should think that all People of whatever Age or Condition of Life should earnestly catch at and be very desirous to look into and read all Books concerning Death and Mortality if perhaps they might light upon any thing therein which may either mitigate or lessen that fear of Death which even in the midst of and throughout their Life is sensible in all Mens minds Which same fear hath Torment and doth afflict them But more especially if they may find any thing in their reading of this kind which may Teach Instruct and Direct them what they must do to be Happy after Death and to make sure of it all one as it is desired to live comfortably and happy before Death for if People are so very much concerned as we see they are what they sâ—all eat and what they shall drink and wherewithal they shall be clothed for this short time because these things are present and sensible they should also take care beforehand nay they must and will unavoidably think when the end is come the end is come Ezek. 7. 6. which is doubled because the thing is established by God and for the certainty thereof whether it shall go well or ill with them throughout all Eternity for then these things will be present and sensible also And it being the highest Wisdom to do those things whilst living especially since those things are to be only done in our Life-time I must work the Works of him that sent me whilst it is day the night cometh when no Man can work which we shall wish and desire we had done when we come to die this should influence and actually persuade People even in the midst of their Youth Health and Vigour when they are Lusty and Strong yea throughout all their Life here on Earth to be continually employed about this one thing needful of setting their Soul in Order against the time it shall go out of this Body and to make sure that when their Earthly House of this Tabernacle shall be dissolved they may have a Building of God not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens This is the difference between the Godly and Sinners between Wise Men and Fools the Godly and Wise do only those things in time besore it be too late or the Door is shut which the Sinners and Fools do at last bethink themselves and wish it is the part of Fools to say I never thought it would come to this when it is too late and the time is over and past As Christ said the People of Nineveh will rise up in Judgment against the People of this Generation and condemn them So I testifie in this my day that the Heathen may rise up in Judgment against the People of this Generation and condemn them For they especially the wiser sort some of them defining Wisdom to be a Meditation of Death did search and enquire diligently and think continually what should become of them after Death albeit they knew nothing certainly concerning Immortality and future Life but they had only a little glimmering and conjecture thereof And yet this did put them upon the practice of Moral Virtue and the doing of Good Actions that thereby they might be Happy after Death But now in this Christian Countrey there is a most clear Gospel-Light and Revelation concerning it yet to most People herein Death is like a Damp which puts out all their Lights of Pleasure and through Satan's acting with all deceivableness in them that perish the greatest part of Men and Women do concern themselves but very little about it But notwithstanding their Supineness and Negligence which is the miscarriage of the whole Woâ—ld the Children of God the Heirs of Life and Immortality in all their several Generations and Countries were always and all along even in the midst of Life Health and Prosperity great Meditators of Deaâ—h O that I my self might be of their number but as some little Hope and Evidence thereof I did always as for my part even from my Tender Years think very much of Death and what would follow thereon I now call to remembrance my Thought and searching of Heart which was in the days of old when I was but a Stripling I did then Commune with mine own Heart and my Spirit made diligent search What will becâ—me of me after that this Body of mine which I carry about me is laid in the Earth For I did â—ind then that my Spirit would live and abide elsewhere as truly God hath shewn this unto me from within my self ever since I was a Child and had the least Knowledge of Good and Evil that there was another Life and a succeeding State which People should enter upon and go into after they were gone off from this Earth I was all along for the greater part and I am still as verily persuaded and ascertained of it as I am sure of this Life which I now live or that I now write down these words And thereupon revolving and pondering many things in my mind how that all here is but vain little and passing away as a Shadow and doth not signifie much afterwards fâ—in would I be Happy and Safe as to that succeeding and Eternal State of things into which my Soul must be launched forth out of this Body Accordingly I have made it my business to read all Books and Sermons that I could light upon which treat of this matter But especially I have searched and enquired diligently into the Scriptures in the which we think that we have Eternal Life But we know assuredly that the way to Eternal Life is taught and shewed therein And I desire that what things I have in the following pages brought forth out of that Treasury of Heavenlâ— Truths may be published for the Benefit and Instruction of others For I do not write these things out mine own Head nor yet from mine own Imagination and Invention but only from the Scripturâ—s which are given to make us wise unto Salvation and what is rightly inferred from Truth is Truth likewise And although this
Scripture way of writing is not so much liked of and received by the Wise and Disputer of this World or by those who would be thought â—earned according to Mode and Fashion Yet all other Books and Sermons whether they steal every Man his word from his Neighbour and borrow it from other Mens Writings or if it be the meer Product of their own Wit and Knowledge if it doth not arise from and is bottomed on this Pillar and Ground of Truth it is all but as so much Chaff in comparison to the Wheat I have more Vnderstanding than all my Teachers for thy Testimonies are my Meditation I understand more than the Antients because I keep thy Precepts Many People think that they have the least need of Books of any thing in the World but they must necessarily have Food and Raiment for the Body or Physick against or in the time of Sickness But if such had Faith and Knowledge they would apprehend that when the Commandment of God is Buy the Truth and sell it not also Wisdom and Instruction and Vnderstanding Prov. 23. 23. It was equally and alike necessary to buy such Books which contain Propositions of Truth and Wisdom and Instruction and Vnderstanding as to buy Food and Raiment for the Body or the things which Minister unto sensual Pleasure For the Incorruptible Seed of the Word doth all one feed up the Soul unto Eternal Life and is as necessary for her unto this end as Meat and Drink doth feed and nourish the Body and preserve it in Temporal Life The Word and Truth of God being that Bread which cometh down from Heaven and giveth Life unto the World So that it is the best way of laying out our Money for that which is Bread indeed As so it will appear when People must give account for every Talent received and how they used and expended the same Hereby also may be justified the Wisdom of our Nation in giving a settled and established Maintenance to such as Preach Sermons and also herein the Labourer is worthy of his Hire Luk. 10. 7. If they did divide the Word of Truth aright giving to every Man his Portion Tho' here again is need of a distinguishing Judgment which can separate between the Precious and the Vile But he that is Spiritual Judgeth all things To know and discern between what Books are really Good to the Use of Edifying and what are not so as to receive the one and reject the other He that hath my Word let him speak my Word faithfully What is the Chaff to the Wheat saith the Lord Jer. 23. 28. As all Scripture is profitable so all Divine Truth is profitable and such Books as contain most of this sort and affect the Heart and Conscience Instructing and Exhorting the Soul to the Things which belong to her Peace and how to make her Calling and Election sure these are to be preferred before all others and accordingly those People do think so who are renewed in the Spirit of their Mind and take delight in the Things of God I had rather be faithful to him that appointed yea and employed me in the Ministration of his Word as Moses was faithful in all his House As we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel even so we speak not as pleasing Men the but God who trieth the Hearts although for this cause my Books should be rejected by the Multitude of this Hypocritical and Corrupt World for the Time is now come when they will not endure sound Doctrine Then seek to please Men for if I yet pleased Men I should not be the Servant of Christ and so have my Writings received and approved off by them But I do not altogether so much Regard the Censure of Men for surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God Isa 49. 4. which Work may be nevertheless Good and Right and Acceptable in his sight although as to the outward and visible success thereof I have seemed to labour in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain It is one thing to be worldly wise but another to be wise unto Salvation As Balaam said Behold I have received Commandment to Bless and he hath blessed and I cannâ—t reverse it So we ought to assert the Commandments and Sayings of God in the very same manner as they stand Recorded in his Statute Book the Bible and not otherwise However too many do corrupt and handle the Word of God deceitfully by their Prophesying not right Things but smooth Things and Deceits Yet stiâ—l they cannot Revâ—rse it So as to alter the Truth and Signification thereof nor yet to make one titâ—le of the Law to fail T is not so much what true Prophets or Writers preach or make known not yet at all what false Prophets or Writers preach or pretend to make known but whom the Word of God who is judge himself Psal 50. 6. Blesseth they are Blessed and he or they whom the Word of God Curseth they are Cursed THE CONTENTS The Contents of the First Sermon ALL People in the midst of Health and Age are Sick unto Death Page 3. The true and right preparation for Death is by a constant course of Righteousness and Holiness all the Days of our Life p. 7. From that Branch of the Text Isaiah the Prophet the Son of Amos came unto him and said It is discoursed against the Non-hearers or Rejecters of the Word of God p. 12. Grace and Holiness are Principles of Immortality and Eternal Life abiding in us whilst we are in this dying Body p. 19. The Vse and Application of this Sermon is If we have served God a little in the foregoing part of our Life to serve him much towards the close and period thereof p. 21. The Contents of the Second Sermon To set our House in Order doth denote to set our Outward Estate in Order to set our Body in Order but chiefly to set our Soul in Order p. 25. The Resurrection clearly proved from those words of dying Joseph God shall surely visit you p. 29. To set the Body in Order is to have it ordered according to God's Word which requires directs and enables that it become free from sin and that Holiness be engrafted into it p. 36. A Digression wherein is shewed the very Reason why God Almighty is so often stiled the Lord of Hosts in the Old Testament especially The Greatness of God and of his Works of Creation is somewhat described p. 42 43. To set the Soul in an Order is that it be in a readiness and that nothing be wanting in her p. 46. The Contents of the Third Sermon Throughout which is Discoursed of that Principal and Essential Thing wanting in the Souls of Men that they do not lay aside every Weight and the Sin that doth so easily beset them and that they do not Resist unto Blood striving against Sin And that they do not strip themselves off from
taught it unto us by that common knowledge which he hath given unto us as his reasonable Creatures But yet God willing more abundantly to acqnaint us with a lesson of so very great Importance as indeed it is to every one of us And seeing that the same hath a much further meaning and requiring than to order the Disposition of our Lands Houses Money and Goods For it hath a much more Noble even a Spiritual Sence and Signification to set our Souls which dwell in this Earthly House of the Body in order for we shall dye or yet more properly we shall leave these Habitations of Clay Therefore I say that God hath ordered the same for further security and to bring it yet more to our Knowledge and Remembrance to be written in his Statute Book the Bible as also we may find the same Engraven in the Word that is nigh us even in our Heart for we may also perceive a still Voice speaking from thence Set thine House in order for thou shalt dye and not live Isaiah the Prophet the Son of Amos came unto him and said From hence we may also consider How God who at sundry Times and in divers Manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son For in those days it was not so much Isaiah but God himself who spake this by Isaiah unto Hezekiah To which agree those words of our Saviour unto his Apostles and Disciples For'tis not yeÌ„ that speak but the Spirit of my Father which speaketh in you Mat. 10. 20 And so God spake by Moses David Job and by all the Prophets But now he speaks by Christ who is the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God in whom all the others do meet and concenter Searching what or what manner of Time the Spirit of Christ whâ—â—h was in them did signify 1 Pet. 1. 11. The Spirit of Christ in them In whom Why In the Prophets mentioned in the foregoing Verse Whose Spirit did actuate them all just like as the Soul doth actuate the Body Although Christ was than in Heaven and they were here on Earth in their several Generations long before God did send his Son in the fulness of Time for to become Flesh The Spirit of God and of Christ are near one and the same and so God and the Word of God are one and the same according to that common Maxim Nothing is in God but what is God himself So that we are not to look upon those words which we find written in the Bible as the words of Moses Samuel Job David and the Prophets or those in the New Testament as the words of the Evangelists and Apostles who yet did write and speak them but we should consider of it higher and further as the word of God and Christ which God and Christ spake by them As when we send a Letter to one at a Hundred Miles distance whom we have known or heard of we do by that same Letter speak to him in effect yea and as much to their knowledge and understanding as if we were in the same Room together and we did talk to them face to face So I have often thought that the Scriptures are as the Letter or Epistle of the Most High God which is sent unto us the Inhabitants of this Earth for hereby God doth speak unto us from Heaven the Habitation of his Holiness which is more than a Thousand or a Million of Miles distance from us all one as if we heard outwardly his Voice which in that sence no Man hath seen God at any time nor heard his Voice or as if the Lord did dwell Visibly amongst us which he doth not Is it so Yes verily Then this is a mighty Argument and terrible Consideration against those who refuse to Read or Hear the Word of God See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Heb. 12. 25. It was the Angel on Mount Sinah and Moses and the Prophets that spake on the Earth but it is Christ the Son of God that now speaketh from Heaven For though Jesus Christ is long since ascended on High and Sits on the Right Hand of the Father yet he speaketh to us from Heaven even now in his Word and in the Preaching and Ministry thereof For as Moses of old time hath in every City them that Preach him being Read in the Synagogues every Sabbath Day Even so now Christ hath those who continually Preach him as Moses had â— by how much he is not only greater than Moses but even greater than the very Angels of God And who will not hear the Ministers of Christ who preach him or who Preach the Word of God for whosoever Preacheth the Word of God Preacheth Christ in as much as Christ is the Word of God Neither would such be perswaded if Christ should come once again into the World after the same manner as he did which will not be so for his next coming will be unto Judgment which Will be in Glory and in Power and in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ But in the mean while he hath gave the Word and there are those who Preach it He hath sent forth Labourers into his Harvest with full Power and Commission He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth him that sent me Luke 10. 16. Even the Great God himself who made the World and all things therein What do ye think will become of those who despise God As they who despise his Word either preached or spoken written or printed do despise God himself Why God hath fortold us what will become of such They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2. 30. This is not all neither for God will answer requite and punish them in very like manner They shall go forth and look upon the Carkasses of the Men that have Transgressed against Me and they shall be an abhorring unto all Flesh Isa 66. 24. Observe here the slighting kind of Phrase Carkasses the Holy Ghost makes use of That such little despicable and vile Beings who even in the midst of Life are but Men and Women in Carkasses Notwithstanding some have Jolly and Red looks Aâ—e inclosed in their own Fat according to the Psalmiâ—â—'s Phrase or are arrayed in fine Cloaths should ever behave themselves contemptuous or disdainful towards a most Excellent Infinite and Glorious Majesty as the Invisible God is If there should come any Letter to me or any order concerning me under the Great Seal of England with the Royal Signet and Arms and I would not Read nor look into it nor hear what it was but take and stamp it under my Feet or Burn
sickness there is Pain and Weakness enough to grapple withal which will employ the Mind and Sence so that it is best to be troubled or perplexed as little as possible about Worldly and outward things so from that manner of Speech of the Apostle Paul No Man that Warreth Entangleth himself with the Affairs of this Life 2 Tim. 2. 4. It is not said he doth meddle at all but not Entangle that is not involve or Plunge himself in for this is a mighty hindrance to the Things of God So his real Servant who is Faithful and Spiritual as he doth not that throughout his Life so from hence I have often thought that it is not only Godly Discrâ—tion and Soul-saving Wisdom but indeed it is a happy and blessed condition so to have ordered and settled all Worldly things before that when we come to Die indeed then we may have nothing to do but to Die As Grace and Holiness should not then be for us to get just as we come to Die but they should be gotten and had long before Even so in like manner as to the disposition of this Worlds Goods it will be expedient not to be distracted then about that business but care also as to them should have been taken some considerable time before For when one lies upon the Bed of sickness or in the Extremity and point of Death there are other important things both of Body and Soul for to Mind and be busied about then 2dly The Second Branch of that Duty enjoyned set thine House in order is to set our Body in order In 2 Cor. 5. 1. the Body in express words is called an Earthly House For we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building of God an Hoâ—se not Built with Hands Eternal in Heaven So this allows and justifies for our taking and interpreting the words of our Text in this sence also Set thine House in order that is set the Earthly House of this Tabernacle viz. the Body in order Now indeed there cannot be much said as to this inasmuch as the Body is but as the husk or shell and as a tenement of Clay And how can it then be set in order just as it is going to dissolve and moulder into the Dust But when the Holy Ghost doth in so particular a manner record And when Jacob had made an end of Commanding his Sons he gathered up his Feet into the Bed and yielded up the Ghost Gen. 49. 33. By Faith Joseph when he died gave Commaâ—dment concerning his Bones Heb. 11. 22. Gen. 50. 25. Now the Scripture saith nothing in vain But hereby we learn that the Body is not only to be set in order throughout the courâ—e of its Life by endeavouring to keep it in a state of Health Sobriety Temperance Purity and Charity But even after its dissolution care is to be taken and order to be given beforehand concerning a decent Interment and Burial thereof As these Bodies of ours are the Workmanship of God for indeed to those who understand and consider them throughly they do appear to be a Noble Excellent and Admirable Structure I am fearfully and wonderfully made But then especially as these Bodies of ours have a further Pre-eâ—inence and Honour as to be the Members of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you And therefore Proportionably respect and concern is to be had unto them that these Members of Christ and this Temple of the Holy Ghost may be set in order before and after that we die When the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews takes particular notice By Faith Joseph when he died gave Commandment concerning his Bones hereby he would shew forth unto us Joseph's belief at that very time concerning a future State and of the Resurrection How that he had then a Faith and expectation that those very Feet which his Father Jacob had gathered up into the Bed as also his own Bones of his Body though now they were to become Dust and to be Buried yet as he saith in the Original place God will surely Visit you he means his Kinsmen the Stock and Children of Israel and ye shall carry up my Bones from hence Gen 50. 25. As much as if he should have said God will surely Visit us all both my Kinsmen Brethren my self and all that shall descend from us which afterwards were like the Stars in the Heaven or the Sand on the Sea-shore for Multitude and so all the Generations and Persons of Mankind when He that turneth Man to Destruction shall say Return ye Children of Men Psal 90. 5. This is Visiting and doing somewhat more for them and then those very same Bones of mine which I now take an Oath from ye that ye shall carry them up from hence God will lay Sinews upon them and bring Flesh upon them dâ—d cover them with Skin and put Breath in them and ye shall live and know that I am the Lord Ezek. 37. 6. Which will be Literally fulfilled at the last Day When this same Body and these same Bones which is now seen to be lain and Buried in the Ground and turns to Corruption and dissolution shall be raised up and be made whole and intire again in like manner though it will be done more suddenly for it shall be done in a moment in a twinkling of an Eye for the Trumpet shall Sound and the Dead shall be raised Incorruptible and we shall be changed as they were corrupted and dissolved The Scripture all along and throughout is so very full and clear as to the Resurrection of the Body in a Literal sence that it is to be admired how any that Name the Name of Christ or call themselves Christians can deny or disbelieve it Though I have heard and talked with some now-a-days who just like Hymeneus and Philet as have Erred as concerning the Resurrection saying that it is already past For the only Resurrection as some Erroneous People would have it is a rising again to Newness of Life and in a Spiritual sence True indeed there is a rising to Newness of Life here that they mâ—y rise to the Resurrection of Life hereafter And Blessed are they which have their part in this first Resurrection upon them the second Death hath no Power But besides this the Scriptures do in divers places speak expresly and clearly of the Resurrection of the Body and what God hath joyned together let no Man put asunder So that they must be infidels â—â—d deny the Faith who shall gainsay or disbelieve it As Jesus Christ proved the Resurrection of the Dead from that general expression in the Old Testament I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob then comes the Reasoning and Inference God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living And so if any one should go about to prove the Resurrection of the Body from this saying of Joseph upon his Death
she goes out from the Body she is then stripped off from that Garment of Flesh in the general that is the Body For the Soul goes upwards and gets out from and lays aside the Body which then seems as the Mantle that fell from Elijah at his going up to Heaven and then she becomes all and pure Spirit Now as aforesaid the Flesh in it self simply and abstractedly is not Sinful nor Evil. For it was not so in its Original and first Creation But after that Adam fell into the transgression all his Children and Descendants from his Loyns are conceived in Sin and brought forth in Iniquity And they are polluted in their own Blood Ezek. 1â— 6. as soon as they are brought forth from their Mothers Womb. So that this Flesh of ours is become a Seed plot of all manner of Sin and Evil Like Leaven doth leaven the whole lump so it hath spread and diffused it self throughout the whole Flesh and every part thereof From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores Indeed Man was at first the work of God's own hands and truly a noble Creature Yet had I planted thee a noble Vine wholly a right Seed how then art thou turned into the degenerate Plant of a strange Vine unto me Jer. 2. 21. But since that by his Fall he is turned topsie-turvy over what he was then For now he is become Universally corrupt throughout Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually So that until he is renewed again after the Image of him who Created him which is in Righteousness and true Holiness he stands not only distinguished from but as it were in perfect contrariety unto God Said our Saviour to one of his Disciples Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savourest not the things that be of God but those that be of Men. As if the things which did only savour of Men were a stink and evil smell and a smoke in his Nose Isa 65. 5. which he could not endure and would have behind and far from him And so it is all one of the things which savour of the World and the things â—hat savour of the Flesh the infinite Holiness and Uprightness of God is in no wise reconcileable unto them nor yet doth approve of them For they are all bad and nought they being either the receptacle of Sin and Evil or at least they have a smell taste and tincture thereof which the Holy and Pure God doth not like In this sence it is not as some of the ignorant and foolish Popes did from thence forbid Priests to Marry That they that are in the Flesh cannot please God Rom. 8. 8. for the Flesh as it is now is either Sinful or Evil it self or it hath a savour of Sin and Evil. And it is the Will of God that we should come out even from that By what hath been aforesaid it may be understood what it is to hate and strip off from us the Garment spotted by the Flesh that is spotted by the Sin or Evil which doth usually lodge and dwell in the Flesh And care should be all one taken as to this as we would not willingly have next to our Skin any linnen cloth wherein some poysonous Herb or Flower hath been lately wrapped up or as we would not of our good will and choice wear the innermost Garments soon and immediately afterwards of one that hath died of the Plague or as we would not drink out of a Glass before it is throughly washed and rinsed in which we knew there was immediately before yellow Arsneck or any other most deadly Poyson As we naturally fear and avoid all these so if we were Spiritually minded we would take as much heed of the World and of the Flesh although we are in the midst of the one and wrapped up and encompassed about with the other But to be in the World and not of the World That by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corâ—â—ption that is in the World through Lust From whence it follows that it is imposâ—â—ble to be a Partaker of the Divine Natureâ— unless one hath first escaped the Corruptioâ— that is in the World through Lust So again as long as we are in the Body we are in one sence in the Flesh and accordingly the Scripture calls the time of this life the days of our Flesh But as long as we do not obey yield nor give way unto the motions of sins that are in the Flesh If we keep under and crush even Concupiscence which is the beginning of Lust and so the beginning of each sin or the tendency to each sin if we make not Provision for the Flesh to fulfil thâ— Lusts thereof It is not here said to satisfie the necessities thereof but the Lusts which are excrescencies and superfluities and needless things so long we are safe enough as to the Flesh for though we are in the Flesh yet we walk not after the Flesh The World and the Flesh for the most part in Scripture sence are taken for the Evil thereof for the Reasons afore assigned Because Sin and Evil hath its Root Being and Dwelling in them and they are the occasion thereof God hath therefore suffered yea and placed us in the midst of them both for our greater Proof and Tryal to prove us to know what is in our heart whether we will keep his Commandments or no. By our being in the World and the Flesh and yet to be kept innocent and free from the Evil thereof is just like treading upon Coals and not be burnt which requires much and constant speed skill and care Now for a season God having thought fit that it should be so we are encompassed about with and very near to manifold Temptations arising from the World and the Flesh and the things thereof That the Tryal of our Faith Obedience Holiness and Innocency might be had Which if it be retained for all It is much more precious than of Gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire and so it will be found unto Fraise and Honour and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ The Word of God is very Spiritual and Heavenly for it doth teach us as we may find by the Instructions scattered up and down therein that when a great deal of our life is spent and the day of Immortality is at hand and we begin to move off from the Stage of this Earth like as when Soldiers have a mind to draw off from besieging a City of their own accord thinking that either they cannot obtain or it is not worth their while to obtain it then they draw off their Carriages Burdens and Instruments of War before they march off themselves So it is where they do it with advisedness and deliberation and they have sufficient strength Even so many of the
most Holy Precise and Religious kind of Life by the Dream of a Night Vision or by a Voice speaking unto him in his Sleep that such an Acquaintance of his naming him by his Name was really damned Now he that had this Vision was an outward Worshipper Religious at the common Rate Standard or Measure as it goes ordinarily in the World with the Generality and Multitude But the other Person whilst he lived was more religious and strict than People usuâ—lly are And if such an one should be really damned for his defects and comings short in matters of universal and inward Religion how should this quicken and exhort others and my self as yet living to the utmost preciseness and circumspect walking in all things For if I may so express it a little preciseness and circumspect walking in all things is much better and beyond the utmost and greatest preciseness and circumspect walking only in some things as the manner of too many is who seem to be Religious But if such an one whom the World accounted very Religious should perish Good God! What will become of us who are not Religious perhaps to the tenth degree as he was This should indeed stir us up so to run that we may obtain as we do desire it and foolish are they who do not endeavour all that they can after it to be in all things what God commandeth us very circumspect and to abound in all Holy Conversation and Godliness as is possible for Mortal Creatures whilst in the Flesh and in this Life to be For truly if we consider throughly the great displeasure God Almighty hath to Sin as is set forth in 2 Pet. 2. 4 5 6. He spared not the Angels that sinned And how that for one single Act of Disobedience he entailed a Curse on Adam and all his Posterity Of six hundred thousand of his own People whom he had brought out of the Land of Egypt there were but two only which went into the promised Land and Moses himself who before had so often stood in the gap between an enraged God and a provoking People yet He was not admitted into the promised Land of Canaan because he had provoked his Spirit and spoke unadvisedly with his Lips hereupon misgiving and fearful thoughts have arose in my Mind that if Moses such a precious Servant of God unto whom there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face Deut. 34. 10. yet if this very Man so familiar with and beloved of God was not admitted to enter into the promised Land for but one unadvised Speech of his Lips much more may I a sinful Creature and so may others also tremble and fear that after I have done all to get into Heaven which is the promised Land yet I may not be admitted there for really my self have and it is well if ye have not also done many more and worse things than to let fall one unadvised Speech of our Lips I have been guilty of an Omission of Duty which as I sensibly perceived at the very time did shut Heaven against me although at the very same time I went to Worship the Lord in the Congregation when at the very same time He commanded and directed me to give forth Testimonies of his Law and Truth unto the Rulers and chief of the People who were then met together in another Congregation for outward Worship But through my neglect and failure herein I had smitings of Conscience and Revelations of his Wrath against me in that manner as here spoken of Have a care of Sins of Omission for 't is these which shut Heaven against us as may be seen from the latter end of the twenty-fifth Chapter of Matthew Truly after all the things we have done in order to God throughout all this our Life after all our Prayers and hearing the Word preached after all our Acts of Publick Family and Private Worship and whatever we have done pertaining to Religion or what is câ—mmonly called good Works yet it is possible and to be feared that we may perish and miscarry for all throughout Eternity Where the Psalmist Prays by the Spirit Remember all thy Offerings and accept thy burnt Sacrifice Selah The Lord fulfil all thy Petitions Psalm 20. 3 5. Thereby is shewn forth and made known unto us that if the Lord should not remember nor accept nor fulfil as we are to strive earnestly with him in Prayer on this behalf and so it is of whatever we have done as pertaining to God and Religion it will not stand in stead nor avail to the saving of the Soul What shall we do then the safest way and rule is that as Christ our Saviour saith after ye have done all things that are commanded say that we are unprofitable Servants We have done only what was our Duty to do So in the Name of God let us do all things whatever we can instantly continually and diligently remember all these three Adverbs for to find Acceptance with our God and to get to Heaven and to say after we have done all this we deserve to be rejected by him and to be cast into Hell My Life for yours I will venture my immortal Soul upon this Point It shall never go one Jot the worse with us for thus speaking For after that the disobedient and Prodigal Child had said Father I have sinned against Heaven and am no more worthy to be called thy Son yeâ— the Father said unto his Servants bring forth the best Robe and put it on him and put a Ring on his Hand to diâ—tinguish him from and to put him into a Condiâ—ion above hired Servants and Shoes on his Feet It is no absurdity and contradiction in things pertaining to God though it may seem as a Paradox and strange Doctrine to the Proud Self-justifying and Ignorant Pâ—arisee to acknowledge and confess for so doth the Church in Isa 64. 6. that our Works are not meet for God's Acceptance and yet God will accept of them washed over with the Blood and covered with the Righteousness of his Son It is a great matter and very desirable but withal it is somewhat difficult to hit upon because that so many miss thereof Who seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. for to please and find Acceptance with Almighty God For we are not to think now as we shall see and know at last that either the much speaking of the Heathen nor yet the Superstition of the Jew nor yet the Mâ—mbling of the Papist over his Beads although all these do therein seek to please God will receive any thing from the Lord as to future Good and Salvation God looks and hath more respect unto the quality than the quantity of our Services how good they are and not so much to the length and number of Words And so it is of all meer formal Prayers Lip-labour when the Heart is far from God with all the
out at such a time here it is his Wisdom and Business in the mean while to seek out and provide for himself another good Bargain or way of Livelyhood that he may be at no loss or disappointment This is but what is usually done every day Why all we Inhabitants of the Earth are Tenants at will or Rack-renters God having let out to us Husbandmen this his Vineyard of the Earth and he sits above afar off and out of sight and he sends his Servants to us Husbandmen that he might receive from the Husbandmen of the Frâ—it of the â—ineyard Mark 12. 1. But alas Most of them do not make so good returns thereof as he expects to the great Landlord of Heaven and Earth and we must be â—â—â—ned out for here we are not suffered to continue by â—eason of Death Is it not then our Business and Wisdom all the mean while that we are on this Earth that we may be received up into the Heavens above This leads to the second point heretofore proposed to be spoken unto and that is to shew what mighty force Reasoning and Exhortation is in this Consideration Thou shalâ— die and not live to the intent that we may set all our Worldly concerns Body and Soul in â—rder because that we shall die and not live The whole that Man desires and would have is Happiness and Salvation for if there be any other good thing which he would have or doth wish for it is all comprehended under this word to be Happy and to be made sure of it One defines Happiness to be a gathering or heaping together of all good things Now if one had all the Happiness which this World can give all the Plenty and Variety in each thing the Blessings of Solomon Understanding in the first place and then Riches and Honour and length of Days even what may seem good for the Sons of Men and whatever his Eyes desired I kept not from them I with-held not my Heart from any Joy besides that it is all Vanity and Vexation of Spirit For it doth not at the very time give the Heart and Soul a full and sincere satisfaction for all those good things put together do not yield it at the very instant of Enjoyment But then farther the Spirit is vexed that if they did fully thoroughly and sincerely satisfie her for the time as they do not that she must be at length taken away from all these things And she being an Immortal Essence noâ—â—ing but what is Immortal and Eternal also will indeed content and satisfie her For in her very Thought that can be no Happiness which hath an end For she knows that her self though she began to be will have no end and therefore she craves earnestly and groans within her self and travaileth in pain like unto that Speech of Rachel Give me Children or else I die give me a Happiness abiding as long as my self and commensurate to me or else I had rather die cease to be and return unto my first nothing But this is impossible from the Decree of God who whatever he doth in this kind he doth it for ever and it shall therefore continue in being as long as himself is God which is for ever and ever As Jesus Christ the Lover and Saviour of Souls did once say My Kingdom is not of this World for then would my Servants fight for me So the Soul may truly say my Happiness is not of this World for then would my Servants my Faculties and Powers seek for it here But the former part is evident for the two reasons afore assigned because the utmost Happiness of this World is neither satisfactory nor yet enduring And the Soul would fain have that which is both And therefore it is not worth while to give Command or Direction to my Servants my Powers and Faculties my Reason and Understanding to be wholly employed in seeking after them For indeed we should be no otherwise employed about them at all but only in subserviency and subordination to the greater things to come The time would fail me to mention all those manifold Scriptures which do most discover the Nature of things of any Book of the World For who can better know the very Nature and Order of things than the Word it self which made and established them which contain this very same Reasoning and Exhortation that the Soul is not to have her Happiness in this World but to seek for it in God and what he will do for her in the World to come let us instance in two or three for by the Mouth of two or three Witnesses shall every word be established The first to manifest and shew forth this same Truth is Heb. 13. 14. For here we have no continuing City but we seek one to comâ— From which words it may be truly reasoned and inferred for here we have no continuing Happiness but we seek one to come And then if we consider Mich 2. 10. to which this place of the Hebrews hath reference Arise ye and depart for this is not your rest Both these Scriptures put together confirm these two Reasons wherefore Man's Happiness is not of this World because that in the Hebrews saith it is not his Rest for all the things of this World do not give truerest and full content to the Soul Again another parallel place to this is Deut. 12. 9. For ye are not yet come to the Rest and to the Inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you Which though it was spoken as to the Land of Canaan as a less Type and Signification of Heaven and of that Rest which remaineth to the People of God yet from this same place it may be surely gathered and inferred that it hath relation principally to that Rest which is to be had only on the other side of the Grave and that Inheritance Iâ—corruptible Undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in the Heavens for them which God giveth only unto his People And we are not as yet come to that Rest neither shall we ever arrive to that Rest as long as we are on this Earth As to this the inference is Natural and Reasonable seeing that we cannot have Rest here let us seek for Rest elsewhere For we may sensibly observe that our Spirits are always restless or dissatisfied about one thing or another The Wicked are like the troubled Sea which cannot rest whose Waters cast up mire and dirt and their restlesness is because of Sin and Guilt The Godly also are restless because as Job saith The Wicked cease not from troubling them And also we are restless because People are not so good as they should be Because as yet it doth not go so well with the concernments of God and his Truth so as to reform and bring the corrupt World into Subjection and Obedience to him as we would have it and because through that abundant Opposition of Satan we cannot bring our good devices to pass and for
do Of this sort may be conceived all that Custom and Fashion and Outside in Matters of Religion or when People go to hear the Word of God preached by such an one only out of Novelty and Cuâ—iosity In a Word whensoever People are not so seriously and awfully affected in the Worship of the Lord God as they ought to be The Ancient Gentiles did use to have their Temples in Caves or Grots or Shady Groves that there might be a kind of Darkness in them on purpose to beget and raise a kind of awfulness and horrour in the Worshippers towards the Objects of their Idolaâ—ry and Superstition But as one observes they borrowed all their Superstition and kind of Worship from the Jews So probably that might have been in Imitation and Resemblance of the thick Darkness spoken of in 1 Kings 8. 12. which the Lord said He would dwell in For there was a shew and Representation thereof in the Jâ—wish Temple made with hands But the Holy Ghost did hereby signifie Holiness becometh thine House for ever So in like Manner it may be truly reasoned great awfulness and seriousness and intentness of Mind becometh all those who enter into any place for to Worship the Lord God or to hear his Word For it is not a vain thing for them because it is your Life Deut. 32. 47. People had need be serious and in good earnest about the concernments of their Life And through this thing they are to go to Heaven when they go over the Jordan of this Life to possess it According hereto the Scripture speaks and directs Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling God is greatly to be honoured in the Assembly of the Saints and to be had in Reverence by all them that are round about him Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be â—oved let us have Grave whereby we may serve God acceptâ—bâ—y â—iâ—h Râ—vâ—rence and Godly Fear I have many times thought what a brave World we should have if all Ministers and Preachers were as Godly and Holy and did stand in God's Counsel and on his side as it becometh his Ambassadours all one when they are out of their Pulpits as they seem when they are in them And so if all other People were as Good and Religious at their several Houses throughout each Week-day as they appear to be in the Church or Congregation on Sabbath-days such indeed should be the Christian Life For though indeed to our shame be it spoken even the Religious also give themselves over to a worldly kind of Spirit and to a worldly kind of Talk and Discourse that they may become all things to all Men. And when we converse with the People of the World they cannot bear with and relish Divine and Heavenly Things to be commonly talked of with them but they are Melancholy and Irksome thereat So that we must come over to their kind of talk or have in a Manner no talk with them But here it were rather to be wished and desired that their Hearts were so renewed and sanctified that their chief delight was in that Discourse which relates to their betâ—er Part and to that Life whicâ— shall never End And that they did or could once come to find more real satisfaction in what is good to the use of edifying than in the other kind which recreates only for the present and is concerning those things which in a short time are to be done away As the Man is so is his Talk If he is one of this World whose Name shall be written in the Earth I pray God deliver me from that Doom then according to our Saviour's Aphorism He speaks of the World They are of the World therefore speak they of the World But if he doth indeed belong unto Heaven then his Conversation is in Heaven his Delight and his Heart is there even before his Soul is admitted or doth enter therein And if so and their Affections are once set on things above and they know the difference they neither do nor yet can shew forth the like rejoicing as the Children of this World do at the common Accidents and little things here below Neither are the Children of Light therefore bereaved of all Joy and Delight herein for it is not taken away but only changed and placed upon another Object as to them For they take more satisfaction and Pleasure in speaking to one another of God and of their fear towards him and of the things pertaining to his Kingdom than others do in foolish Talking and Jesting which are not convenient Eph. 5. 4. nor yet so throughly satisfactory to the Heart of Man as that is Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may Minister Grace unto the Hearers Alas How little is this observed in the ordinary Communication and Conversation in the World And though we know how to approve the things that are excellent and how to behave our selves in the solemn Meetings for the Worship of the Lord God even with great Awe and Dread thinking and saying with Jacob How dreadful is this Place this is no other than the Gate of Heaven Worship is a very solemn and serious thing for by this if it be Right and Acceptable in the sight of God it is the Gate by which People are to enter into Heaven Yet alas People are not so awful and devout and in good earnest as they ought to be at their Worship and they are yet ten times worse even ungodly disobedient and turning aside when they are from it O that we were always in all Companies and in all places such as we are now and then in our most solemn and near approaches to the Lord God in Prayer or as when we are most afâ—â—â—cted under the Ordinance of Preaching the Word O that Ishmael might live before thee O that even the remainder of the Worldly Corrupt Nature that is in us might be thus subdued sanctified rendred obedient so as to live before God that the invisible God which is over us may be to us at all times and in all things All in All. The second Practical Use and Inference which I would draw from those words Isaiah the Son of Amos came unto him and said unto him Thus saiâ—h the Lord is this namely as it is written all his Saints set down at thy feet every one shall receive of thy words Deut. 33. 3. which was litterally fulfilled when Jesus Christ the Word of God sat down so very often and taught the People And as Cornelius said of himself and of those that were there assembled Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God Acts 10. 33. Even so my self and all ye that hear me this day should sit down before God which may be done whilst we are Walking and Meditating in the Field or whether we are on a Journey or at