〈◊〉 the terrible threatnings of God do men Most of them little believe or consider what Scripture saith But fewer consider what Conscience hath to say within when once it is awakened and the curtain is drawn back and the light appeareth The first Proposition inferreth not the conclusion And the Assumption they overlook Did all that read and hear the Scriptures know themselves I 'le tell you how they would hear and read it When the Scripture saith To be carnally minded is death and if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Rom. 8.8 13. the guilty hearer would say I am carnally minded and I live after the fleshe therefore I must Turn or Die When the Scripture saith Where your treasure is there will your hearts be also Mat. 6.21 The guilty conscience would assume My heart is not in Heaven therefore my treasure is not there When Scripture saith Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 18.3 and Except a man be regenerate and born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 3.3 5. and If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 and If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8.9 The guilty hearer would assume I was never thus converted regenerate born again and made a new creature I have not the Spirit of Christ therefore I am none of his and cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven till this change be wrought upon me When the Scripture saith Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge Heb. 13.4 The guilty hearer would say How then shall I be able to stand before him Yea did but Hearers know themselves they would perceive their danger from remoter principles that mention the dealing of God with others When they hear of the judgement of God upon the ungodly the enemies of the Church they would say Except I Repent I shall likewise perish Luke 13.3 5. When they hear that Judgement must begin at the house of God They would infer What then shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God And when they hear that The Righteous are scarcely saved They would think Where then shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1 Pet. 4.17 18. 3. If you know not your selves you cannot be Christians you cannot have a practical belief in Christ For he is offered to you in the Gospel as the remedy for your Misery as the ransome for your enthralled souls as the propitiation for your sin and your peace-maker with the Father without whose merit satisfaction righteousness and intercession your guilty souls can have no hope And can you savingly value him in these respects if you know not that sin and misery that guilt and thraldom in which your need of Christ consisteth Christ is esteemed by you according to the judgement you pass upon your selves They that say they are sinners from a general brain-knowledge will accordingly say Christ is their Saviour and their hope with a superficial Belief and will honour him with their lips with all the titles belonging to the Redeemer of the world But they that feel that they are deadly sick of sin 〈◊〉 the very heart and are lost for ever if he do not save them will feel what the name of a Saviour signifieth and will look to him as the Israelites to the brazen Serpent and cast themselves at his feet for the 〈◊〉 of grace and will yield up themselves 〈◊〉 be saved by him in his way An uneffectual knowledge of your selves may make you believe in a Redeemer as all the City do of a Learned able Physicion that will speak well of his skill and resolve to use him when necessity constraineth them but at present they find no such necessity But an effectual sight and sense of your condition will bring you to Christ as a man in a Dropsie or Consumption comes to the Physicion that feels be must have help or die Saith Bernard Filium Dei non reputat Jesum qui ipsius non terretur comminationibus c. You will not take the Son of God for a Saviour if you be not affrighted by his threatnings And if you perceive not that you are lost you will not heartily thank him that came to seek and save you Non consolantur Christi lahcrymae cachinnantes◠non consolantur panni ejus ambulantes in stolis non consolantur stabulum praesepe amantes primas Cathedras in Synagogis saith Bernard Christs tears do not comfort them that laugh his rags do not comfort them that love to walk in robes his stable and manger comfort not them that love the highest seats in the Synagogues Can you seek to Christ to take you up till you find that you have fallen and hurt you Will you seek to him to fetch you from the gates of hell that find not that you are there But to the self-condemning soul that knoweth it self how wellcome would a Saviour be How ready is such a soul for Christ Thou that judgest thy self art the person that must come to Christ to Justifie thee Now thou art ready to be healed by him when thou findest that thou art sick and dead Hast thou received the sentence of death in thy self Come to him now and thou shalt have life John 5.40 1 John 5.11 Art thou weary and heavy laden Come to him for rest Come and fear not for he bids thee come Matthew 11.27 28. Dost thou know that thou hast sinned against Heaven and before God and art not worthy to be called a Son Do but cast thy self then at his feet and tell him so and ask forgiveness and try whether he will not welcome and embrace thee pardon and entertain thee cloth thee and feast thee and rejoyce over thee as one that was lost and is found was dead and is alive Luke 15. For he came to seek and to save that which was lost Luke 19 10. While thou saidst I am rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing and knewest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked thou wouldst not buy the tryed Gold that thou mightest be rich nor his whiterayment that thou mightest be cloathed that the shame of thy nakedness might not appear nor Christs eye salve that thou mightest see Rev. 3.17 18. But now thou art poor in Spirit and findest that thou art nothing and hast nothing and of thy self canst do nothing that is acceptably good John 15.5 and that of thy self thou art insufficient to think any thing that is good 2 Cor. 3.5 now thou art readier for the help of Christ and a patient fit for the tender healing hand of the Physicion Whilst thou saidst God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers nor as this Publican thou wast further from Christ and
Hearken then whether â—e think that God or the world Heaven or â—arth Soul or body be more worthy of â—ans chiefest care and diligence and then â—udge whether such men did know themselves â—n their health and pride when all this talk would have been derided by them as too preâ—ise and such a life accounted over-strict and â—eedless as then they are approving and wishâ—ng they had lived When that Minister or â—riend should have once been taken for â—ensorious abusive self-conceited and unsufferable that would have talkt of them â—n that language as when Death approacheth they talk of themselves or would have spoke as plainly and hardly of them as they will then do of themselves Doth â—ot this mutability shew how few men now have a true knowledge of themselves What is the Repentance of the living and the Desperation of the damned but a declaration that the persons Repenting and Despairing were unacquainted with themselves before Indeed the erroneous Despair of men while Grace is offered them comes from Ignorance of the Mercy of God and willingness of Christ to receive all that arâ— willing to return But yet the sense of sin and misery that occasioneth this erroneous Despair doth shew that men were before erroneous in their presumption and self-esteem Saith Bernard in Cant. Vtraqâ—â— Cognitio Dei scilicet tui tibi necessariâ— est ad salutem quia sicut ex notitia tui venit in te timor Dei atque ex Dei notitia itidem amor sic è contra de ignorantia 〈◊〉 superbia ac de Dei ignorantia venit desperatio that is Both the knowledge of God and of thy self is necessary to salvation because as from the Knowledge of thy self the Fear of God cometh into thee and Love from the knowledge of God so on the contrary from the Ignorance of thy self cometh pride and from the Ignorance of God comes Desperation Quid est sapientia inquit Seneca Semper idem Velle idem Nolleâ—â— At non potest idem semper placere nisi rectum Wisdom appeareth in alwayes Willing and alwayes Nilling the same thing but its only Right and Good that can alwayes please Poor men that must confess their sin and misery at last would shew a more seasonable acquaintance with themselves if they would do it now and say with the Prodigal I will go to my Father and say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son In time this Knowledge confession may be saving Even a Seneca could say without the Scripture Initium est salutis notitia peccati Nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult Ideo quantum potes teipsum argue Inquire in te accusatoris primuÌ„ partibus fungere deinde judicis novissime deprecatoris i. e. The knowledge of sin is the beginning of recovery or health For he that knows not that he sinneth will not be corrected Reprehend thy self therefore as much as thou canst Inquire into thy self First play the part of an Accuser then of a Judge and lastly of one that asketh pardon It is not because men are Innocent or Safe that we now hear so little confession or complaint but because they are sinfull and miserable in so great a measure as not to Know or Feel it Quare vitia â—ua nemo confitetur inquit Seneca Quia â—tiam nunc in illis est Somnium narraâ—e vigilantis est vitia sua confiteri â—anitatis judicium est i. e. Why doth no â—an confess his vices Because he is yet in â—hem To tell his dreams is the part of a â—an that is awake and to confess his faults is a sign of health If you call a Poor man Rich or a deformed person beautifull or a vile ungodly person vertuous or an ignorant Barbarian learned will not the hearers think you do not know them And how should they think better of your knowledge of your selves if any of you that are yet in the flesh will say you are spiritual and those that hate the Holiness and Justice and Government of God will say they love him or those that are in a state of Enmity to God and are as near to Hell as the Execution is to the Sentence of the Law will perswade themselves and others that they are the Members of Christ the children of God and the heirs of Heaven and take it ill of any that would question it though only to perswade them to make it sure and to take heed what they trust to when endless Joy or Misery must be the issue 7. Doth it not manifest how little men know themselves when in every suffering that befals them they overlook the Cause of all within them and fall upon others or quarrel with every thing that standeth in their way Their contempt of God doth cast them into some affliction and they quarrel with the Instruments and medle not with the mortall cause at home Their sin finds them out and testifieth against them and they are angry with the â—od and repine at Providence as if God himself were more to be suspected of the Cause then they Yea it is become with many a serious doubt Whether God doth not Necessitate them to sin and Whether they omit not duty meerly because he will not give them power to perform it and Whether their sin be any other then a Relation unavoidably resulting from a Foundation laid by the hand of God himself Do men know themselves that will sooner suspect and blame the most Righteous Holy God then their own unrighteous carnal hearts Man drinketh up iniquity like water but there is no unrighteousnes with God Saith Innocent Conceptus est homo in foetore luxuria quódque deterius est in labe peccati natus ad laborem timorem dolorem c. Agit prava quibus offendit Deum offendit proximum offendit seipsum agit turpia quibus polluit famam polluit personam polluit conscientiam Agit vana quibus negligit sana negligit utilia negligit necessaria Man is conceived in the filth or stink of luxury or lust and which is worse in the stain of sin born to labour fear and pain c. He doth that which is evil to the offence of God his neighbour and himself He doth that which is filthy to the polluting of his fame his person and his Conscience He doth that which is vain neglecting what is sound and profitable and necessary And is not such a frail and sinfull wight more likely to be the cause of sin then God and to be culpable in all the ill that doth befall us And it shews that men little know themselves when all their complaints are poured out more fluently on others then themselves Like sick stomacks that find fault with every dish when the fault is within them Or like pained weak or froward children that quarrel with every thing that toucheth them when the cause is in themselves If they want
Heart to Prayer or Holy conference but loathes them and is weary of them and had rather talk of fleshly pleasures to pretend that yet his Heart is Good and that God will excuse him for not expressing it and that it is his Prudence and his freedome from Hypocrisie that maketh his tongue to be so much unacquainted with the goodness of his Heart this is but to play the Hypocrite to prove that he is no Hypocrite and to cover his Ignorance in the matters of his Salvation with the expression of his Ignorance of the very nature and use of Heart and Tongue and to cast by the Lawes of God and his owne duty and cover this impiety with the name of Prudence If Heart and Tongue be not used for God what do you either with a Heart or Tongue The case is plaine to men that can see that it is your strangness to your selves that is the cause that you have little to say against yourselves when you should confess your sins to God and so little to say for your selves when you should beg his grace and so little to say of your selves when you should open your hearts to those that can advise you But that you see not that this is the Cause of your Dumbness who see so little of your owne corruptions is no wonder while you are so strange at home Had you but so much knowledge of yourselves as to see that it is the strangeness to your selves that maketh you so prayerless and mute and so much sense as to complaine of your darkness and be willing to come into the light it were a signe that light is coming in to you and that you are in a hopefull way of cure But when you neither know yourselves nor know that you do not know yourselves your Ignorance and Pride are like to cherish your Presumption and impiety till the Light of grace or the fire of Hell have taught you better to know your selves 2. And here you may understand the reason why people fearing God are so apt to accuse and condemn themselves to be too much cast downe and why they that have cause of greatest joy do somtimes walk more heavily then others It is because they know more of their sinfulness and take more notice of their inward corruptions and outward failings then presumptuous sinners do of theirs Because they know their faults and wants they are cast down But when they come farther to see their interest in Christ and grace they will be raised up againe Before they are converted they usually presume as being ignorant of their sin and misery In the infancy of grace they know these but yet languish for want of more knoledge of Christ and mercy But he that knoweth fully both himself and Christ both misery and mercy is humbled and comforted Cast downe and exalted As a man that never saw the sea is not afraid of it and he that seeth it but a farre off and thinks he shall never come neere it is not much afraid of it he that is drowned in it is worse then afraid and he that is tossed by the waves and doubteth of ever coming safe to harbour is the fearfull person he that is tossed but hath good hopes of a safe arrivall hath feares that are abated or overcome with hope but he that is safe-landed is past his feares The first is like him that never saw the misery of the ungodly the Second is like him that seeth it in generall but thinks it doth not belong to him the third is like the damned that are past remedie the fourth is like the humbled doubting Christian that seeth the danger but doth too much question or forget the helpes the fifth is like the Christian of a stronger faith that sees the danger but withall seeth his help and safety the sixth is like the glorifyed saints that are past the danger Though the doubting Christian know rot his sincerity and therefore knoweth not himself so well as the strong believer doth yet in that he knoweth his sinfullness and unworthyness he knoweth himself better then the presumptuous world These two Remarkes with the foregoing Caution having interposed some what out of place I now returne to prosecute my Exhortation that no matters may seem so sweet so honourable so great or necessary as to pass with you for excuses for the neglecting of the most diligent and impartiall study of yourselves All persons to whom I can address this Exhortation are either Godly or ungodly in the state of sin or in the state of Grace And both of them have need to study themselves I. And to begin with the unrenewed carnall sort it is they that have the greatest need to be better acquainted with themselves O that I knew how to make them sensible of it If any thing will doe it me thinkes it should be done by acquainting them how much their endless state is concerned in it In order hereunto let me yet adde to all that is said already these few considerations 1. If you know not yourselves you know not whether you are the children of God or not nor whether you must be for ever in Heaven or Hell no nor whether you may not within this houre behold the angry face of God which will frowne you into damnation And is this a matter for a man of Reason to be quietly and contentedly ignorant of It is a business of such unspeakable concernment to know whether you must be everlastingly in Heaven or Hell that no man can spare his cost or paines about it without betraying and disgracing his understanding you are sure you shall be here but a little while Those Bodies you all know will hold your souls but a little longer As you know that you that are now together here attending must presently quit this roome and be gone so you know that when you have staid a little longer you must quit this world and be gone into another And I think there is not the proudest of you but would be taken downe nor the most sluggish or dead-hearted but would be awakened if you knew that you must goe to endless misery and that your dying houre would be your enterance into Hell And if you know not your selves you know not but it may be so And to know nothing to the contray would be terrible to you if you well considered it especialy when you have so much cause to feare it O Sirs for a man to sit here sencelesly in these seats that knows not but he may burne in Hell for ever and knowes not because he is blind and careless how unsuitable is it to the principle of self love and self preservation and how much unbeseemiâ—â— the Rational Nature to have no 〈◊〉 or care when you looke before you unto the unquenchable fire and the utter darkness where as the Heathen Poet speakes Nec mortis poenas mors altera finiet hujuâ— Horaque erit tantis ultima nulla malis If any
their sin and misery that now are Pharisaically confident of their integrity How many would seek to faithfull Ministers for advice and enquire what they should do to be saved that now deride them and scorn their counsell and cannot bear their plain reproof or come not near them How many would ask directions for the cure of their unbelief and pride and sensuality that now take little notice of any such sins within them How many would cry day and night for mercy and beg importunatly for the life of their immortall souls that now take up with a few words of course instead of serious fervent prayer Doe but once know your selves aright know what you are and what you have done and what you want and what 's your danger and then be prayerless and careless if you can Then sit still and trifle out your time and make a jeast of holy diligence and put God off with lifeless words and complements if you can Men could not thinke so lightly â—nd contemptuously of Christ so unworâ—hily and falsly of a holy life so delightfully of sin so carelesly of Duty so fearlesly of Hell so senslesly and atheistically of God and so disregardfully of Heaven â—s now they do if they did but throughly know themselves ANd now Sirs me thinks your consciences should begin to stir and your thoughts should be turned inwards upon your selves and you should seriously consider what measure of acquaintance you have at home and what you have done to procure and maintain such acquaintance Hath Conscience no Vse to make of this Doctrine and of all that hath been said upon it Doth it not reprove you for your self neglect and your wanderings of mind and your aliene unnecessary fruitless Cogitations Had you been but as strange to your familiar friend and as regardless of his acquaintance correspondencie and affaires as too many of you have been of your Own you may imagine how he would have taken it and what Use he would have made of it some such Use it beseemeth you to make of estrangedness to your selves Would not he ask What is the matter that my friend so seldom looketh at me and no more mindeth me or my affaires What have I done to him How have I deserved this What more beloved company or employment hath he got You have this and much more to plead against your great Neglect and Ignorance of your selves In order to your conviction and reformation I shall first shew you some of those Reasons that should move you to Know your selves and consequently should humble you for neglecting it and then I shall shew you what are the Hinderances that keep men from self-acquaintance and give you some Directions necessary to attaine it In generall consider it is by the Light of knowledge that all the affairs of your souls must be directed And therefore while you know not your selves you are in the dark and unfit to manage your own affairs your Principall error about your selves will have influence into all the transactions of your lives you will neglect the greatest duties and abuse and corrupt those which you think you do performe While you know not yourselves you know not what you do nor what you have to do and therefore can do nothing well For instance 1. When you should Repent of sin you know it not as in yourselves and therefore cannot savingly Repent of it If you know in generall that you are sinners or know your gross and crying sins which Conscience cannot overlook yet the sins which you know not because you will not know them may condemne you How can you Repent of your Pride Hypocrisie Self-love Self-seeking your Want of love and feare and trust in God or any such sins which you never did observe Or if you perceive some sins yet if you perceive not that they reign and are predominant and that you are in a state of sin how can you Repent of that estate which you perceive not Or if you have but a sleight and superficiall sight of your sinfull state and your particular sins you can have but a superficiall false Repentance 2. If you know not yourselves you cannot be duely sensible of your misery Could it be expected that the Pharisees should lament that they were of their Father the Devill as long as they boasted that they were the Children of God Joh. 8.41 44. Will they lament that they are under the wrath of God the curse of the Law and the bondage of the Devill that know not of any such misery that they are in but hope they are the heirs of heaven What think you is the reason that when Scripture telleth us that few shall be saved and none at all but those that are new creatures and have the Spirit of Christ that yet there is not one of many that is sensible that the case is theirs Though Scripture peremptorily concludeth that They that are in the flesh cannot please God and that To be carnally minded is death Rom 8.6 7 8. and that Without holyness none shall see God Heb. 12.14 and that all They shall be damned that believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes. 2.12 and that Christ will come in flaming fire takeing vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorifyed in his saints and admired in all them that do believe 2 Thes 1.7 8 9 10. And would not a man think that such words as these should waken the guilty soul that doth believe them and make us all to look about us I confess it is no wonder if a flat Atheist or Infidel should sleight them and deride them But is it not a wonder if they stir not those that profess to believe the word of God and are the men of whom these Scriptures speak And yet among a thousand that are thus condemned already I say by the word that is the Rule of Judgement even condemned already For so God saith Joh. 3.18 how few shall you see that with penitent tears lament their misery How few shall you hear with true remorse complain of their spiritual distress and cry out as those that were pricked at the heart Act. 2.37 Men and Brethren what shall we do In all this Congregation how few hearts are affected with so miserable a case Do you see by the tears or hear by the complaints of those about you that they know what it is to be unpardoned sinners under the wrath of the most holy God! And what is the matter that there is no more such lamentation Is it because there are few or none so miserable Alas no. The Scripture and their worldly fleshly and ungodly lives assure us of the contrary But it is because men are strangers to themselves They little think that its themselves that
state and that a state of Holiness is better He is a monster of stupidity that finds himself in such a state and doth not feel it but mâ—â—â—th light of it And he is monster 〈…〉 fulness that will not stir when he 〈◊〉 himself in such a case and seek for 〈…〉 and value the remedy and use the 〈…〉 and forsake his sinfull course and 〈…〉 till further mercy take him up and 〈◊〉 him home and make him welcome 〈◊〉 one that was lost but now is found was 〈◊〉 but is alive I do not doubt for all these expostulations but some men may be such monsters as thus to see that they are in a state of wrath and misery and yet continue in it As 1. Such as have but a glimmering insufficient sight of it and a half-belief while a greater belief and hope of the contrary that is Presumption is predominant at the heart But these are rather to be called men ignorant of their misery then men that know it and men that believe it not then men that do believe it as long as the Ignorance and Presumption is the prevailing part 2. Such as by the rage of appetite and passion are hurried into deadly sin and so continue when ever the tempter offereth them the 〈◊〉 against their Conscience and some apâ—â—ehension of their misery But 〈…〉 commonly a prevalent self 〈…〉 within encouraging and 〈…〉 them in their sin and telling 〈…〉 the reluctancies of their consciâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 the spirits strivings against the 〈…〉 their fits of remorse are true 〈…〉 and though they are sinners they 〈◊〉 they are pardoned and shall be 〈◊〉 so that these do not know themselves 〈◊〉 3. Such as by their deep engagements to the world and love of its prosperity and a custom in sinning are so hardened and cast into a slumber that though they have a secret knowledge or suspicion that their case is miserable yet they are not wakened to the due consideration and feeling of it and therefore they go on as if they knew it not But these have not their knowledge in exercise It is but a candle in a dark lanthorn that now and then giveâ— them a convincing flash when the right side happens to be towards them or like lightning that rather frightens and amazeth them then directeth them And as I said of the former as to the act their self-ignorance is the predominant part and therefore they cannot be said indeâ—â— to know themselves Now and then a â—â—â—vinced apprehension or a fear is not 〈…〉 of their minds 4. Such as being in youth or 〈…〉 do promise themselves long life 〈…〉 others that foolishly put away 〈◊〉 day 〈◊〉 death and think they have yet 〈…〉 before them and therefore though◠〈…〉 convinced of their misery and knâ—â—â—hey must be Converted or Condemned 〈◊〉 yet delay and quiet themselves with purposes to Repent hereafter when Death â—raâ—es neer and there is no other remedie but they must leave their sins or give up all their hopes of Heaven Though these know somewhat of their present misery it is but by such a flashy uneffectuall knowledge as is afore described and they know little of the wickedness of their hearts while they confess them wicked Otherwise they could not imagine that Repentance is so easie a work to such as they as that they can performe it when their hearts are further hardened and that so easily and certainly as that their salvation may be ventured on it by delayes Did they know themselves they would know the backwardness of their hearts and manifold difficulties should make them see the madness of delayes and of longer resisting and abusing the grace of the spirit that must convert them if ever they be saved 5. Such as have light to shew them their misery but live where they heare not the discovery of the Remedie and are left without any knowledge of a Saviour I deny not but such may go on in a state of misery though they know it when they know no way out of it 6. Such as Believe not the Remedie though they heare of it but think that Christ is not to be believed in as the Saviour of the world 7. Such as Believe that Christ is the Redeemer but believe not that he will have mercy upon them as supposing their hearts are not qualifyed for his salvation noâ— ever will be because the day of grace iâ— past and he hath concluded them under a sentence of reprobation and therefore thinking that there is no hope and that their endeavours would be all in vaine they cast off all endeavours and give up themselves to the pleasurs of the flesh and say It is as good be damned for some thing or for a greater mattter as for a lesse So that there are three sorts of Despaire that are not equally dangerous 1. A Despaire of pardon and salvation arising from Infidelity as if the Gospell were not true nor Christ a Saviour to be trusted with our soules if predominant is damnable 2. A Despaire of pardon and salvation arising from a mis-understanding of the Promise as if it pardoned not such sins as ours and denyed mercy to those that have sinned so long as we this is not damnable necessarily of it selfe because it implyeth faith in Christ and not Infidelity but misunderstanding hindereth the applyâ—â—â—g comforting act And therefore this â—ctuall personal despaire is accompanyed â—ith a General actual Hope and with a partiâ—ular personal vertual Hope 3. A Despaire 〈◊〉 pardon and salvation upon the misunâ—erstanding of ourselves as thinking both â—â—at we are gracless and alwaies shall be so â—ecause of the blindness and hardness of our â—earts of this Despaire I say as of the forâ—er it is joyned with faith and with General â—nd Virtual Hope and therefore is not the Despaire that of its self condemneth Many may 〈◊〉 saved that are too much guitly of it But if either of these two later sorts â—hall so far prevaile as to turne men off â—â—om a Holy to a fleshly worldly interest and â—â—fe and make them say Wee will take â—ur pleasure while we may and will have â—â—â—thing for our soules before we lose them â—nd do accordingly this kind of Desperatiâ—â— is damnable by the effects because it â—akes men off the meanes of life and giâ—eth them up to damning sinnes Thus I have shewed you of seven sorts of persons that may know themselves â—heir sin and danger with such an uneffectuall partiall knowledge a I have described and yet continue in that sin and misery And in two cases even sound Believer many possibly go on to sin when they 〈◊〉 the sin and not only see the danger of 〈◊〉 but despairingly thinke it greater then it iâ— As 1. in case of common unavoidable faâ—â—ings infirmites and low degrees of grace we are all imperfect and yet we all knoâ— that it is our duty to be perfect as perfectâ—â—on is opposed to sinfull and not to innâ—â—cent imperfection And yet this knowledâ—â— maketh us
fall their sin and misery of the Redeemer and the sure and free salvation which they may have if they will but come to him But alas we cannot make them believe that they are so sick as to have so much need of the Physicion and that they are dead and have need of a new creation as to the inclinations of their hearts and the end and bent and business of their lives We are sent to tender them the mercy of Christ but we cannot make them believe that they are miserable We are sent to offer them the riches and eye selve and white rayment of the Gospel but we cannot make them know that they are poor and blind and naked We are sent to call them to Repent and Turn that they may be saved and we cannot make them know that they are so far out of the way as to need a change of heart and life Here they sit before us and we look on them with pitty and know not how to help them We look on them and think alas poor souls you little see what death will quickly make you see You will then see that there is no salvation by all the blood and merits of Christ for any but the sanctified but O that we could now but make you understand it We look on them with compassion and think Alas poor souls as easily and quietly as you sit here a change is neer It will be thus with you but a little while and where will you be next We know as sure as the word of God is true that they must be converted and sanctified or be lost for ever and we cannot make them believe but that the work is done already The Lord knoweth and our consciences witness to our shame that we be not half so sensible of their misery nor so compassionate towards them as we ought to be but yet sometimes our hearts melt over them and fain we would save them from the wrath to come and we should have great hopes of the success if we could but make them know their danger It melts our hearts to look on them and think that they are so near damnation and never like to scape it till they know it till they know that their corruption is so great that nothing but the quickning spirit can recover them and nothing less then to become new creatures will serve the turn But if we would never so fain we cannot make them know it O that we knew how to acquaint them with their case O that we knew how to get within them and to open the windows that the light of Christ might shew them their condition But when we have done all we find it past our power We know they will be past help in Hell if they die before they are regenerate And could we but get themselves to know it we could not but hope that they would better look about them and be saved but we are not able it s more then we can do We cannot get the grossest worldling the basest sensualist the filthiest letcher the proudest child of the Spirit of pride to know that he is in a state of condemnation and must be sanctified or be damned much less can we procure the formal Pharisee thus to know himself We can easily get them to confess that they are sinners and deserve damnation and cannot be saved without Christ But this will not serve The best Saint on earth must say as much as this comes to There are converted and uncoverted sinners sanctifyed and unsanctified sinners Pardoned and unpardoned sinners Sinners that are members of Christ and the children of God and heirs of Heaven and sinners that are not so but contrary They must know not only that they are sinners but that they are yet unconverted unsanctified unpardoned sinners not only that they cannot be saved without Christ but that yet they have no special interest in Christ They will not Turn while they think they are turned already They will not so value and seek for Conversion and Remission and Adoption as to obtain them while they think they have them all already They will not come to Christ that they may have life while they think they have part in Christ already Paul after his Conversion was a sinner and had need of Christ but Paul before his Conversion was an unsanctified unjustified sinner and had no part in Christ This is the state of sin and misery that you must come out of or you are lost And how can you be brought out of it till you know that you are in it O therefore that we knew how to make you know it How should we make poor sinners see that they are within a few steps of everlasting fire that we might procure them to run away from it and be saved we cry so oft and lose our labour and leave so many in their security and self-deceits that we are too discouraged and remit our desires and lose our compassion and our selves alas grow dull and too insensible of their case and preach too oft as coldly as if we could be content to let them perish We are too apt to grow weary of holding the light to men asleep or that shut their eyes and will not see by it When alâ— that we have said is not regarded and we know not what more to say then hath been said so long in vain this flats our spirits this makes so many of us preach almost as carelesly as we are heard Regardless sleepy hearers make regardless sleepy Preachers Frequent frustration abateth hope And the fervour and diligence of prosecution ceaseth as hope abateth This is our fault Your insensibility is no good excuse for ours But it s a fault not easily avoided And when we are stopt at the first door and cannot conquer Satans out works what hopes have we of going further If all that we can say will not convince you that you are yet unsanctified and unjustified how shall we get you to the duties that belong to such in order to the attainment of this desireable state ANd here I think it not unseasonable to inform you of the reason why the most able faithfull Ministers of Christ do search so deep and speak so hardly of the case of unrenewed souls as much displeaseth many of their hearers and makes them say they are too severe and terrible preachers The zealous Antinomian saith they are Legalists and the prophane Antimonian saith they rail and preach not mercy but judgement only and would drive men to despair and make them mad But will they tell God he is a Legalist for making the Law even the Gospel Law as well as the Law of Nature and commanding us to preach it to the world Shall they escape the Sentence by reproaching the Law-maker Will not God judge the world and judge them by a Law and will he not be just and beyond the reach of their reproach O sinner this is not the smallest part of
likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God 3. All those are unregenerate that depend not upon God as their chiefest Benefactor and do not most carefully apply themselves to him as knowing that in his favour is life Psal 30.5 and that his loving kindness is better then life Psal 63.3 and that to his judgement we must finally stand or fall but do ambitiously seek the favour of men and call them their Benefactors Luke 22.25 Matth. 23.9 whatever become of the favour of God He is no child of God that preferreth not the Love of God before the Love of all the world He is no heir of heaven that preferreth not the fruition of God in Heaven before all worldly glory and felicity Col. 4.1 2 3. If ye be risen with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God set your affection on things above not on things on the earth The Love of God is the summ of Holiness the Heart of the new creature the perfecting of it is the perfection and felicity of man 4. They are certainly unregenerate that Believe not the Gospel and take not Christ for their only Saviour and his promises of Grace and Glory as purchased by his Sacrifice and Merits for the Foundation of their hopes on which they resolve to trust their souls for pardon and for peace with God and endless Happiness Acts 4.12 Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved 1 John 5.11 12. This is the record that God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life When our Happiness was in Adams hands he lost it It is now put into safer hands and Jesus Christ the second Adam is become our Treasury He is the Head of the Body from whom each member hath quickning influence Eph. 1.22 The life of Saints is in him as the life of the tree is in the root unseen Col. 4.3 4. Holiness is a Living unto God in Christ Though we are dead with Christ to the Law and to the world and to the flesh we are alive to God So Paul describeth our case in his own Gal. 2.19 20. I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Rom. 6.11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is the Vine and we are the branches without him we can do nothing If you abide not in him and his words in you you are cast forth as a branch and withered which men gather and cast into the fire and they are burnt John 15.1 5 6 7. In Baptism you are married unto Christ as to the external solemnization and in spiritual Regeneration your Hearts do inwardly close with him entertain him and resign themselves unto him by Faith and Love and by a resolved Covenant become his own And therefore Baptism and the Lords Supper are called Sacraments because as Souldiers were wont by an Oath and listing their names and other engaging Ceremonies to oblige themselveâ— to their Commanders and their Vow waâ— called A Sacrament so do we engage ouâ— selves to Christ in the holy Vow or Covenanâ— entered in Baptism and renewed in the Lords Supper 5. That person is certainly unregenerate that never was convinced of a Necessity of Sanctification or never perceived an excellency and amiableness in Holiness of heart and life and loved it in others and desired it himself and never gave up himself to the Holy Ghost to be further sanctified in the use of his appointed means desiring to be perfect and willing to press forward towards the mark and to abound in grace Much less is that person renewed by the Holy Ghost that hateth Holiness and had rather be without it and would not walk in the fear and obedience of the Lord. The Spirit of Holiness is that Life by which Christ quickneth all that are his members He is no member of Christ that is without it Rom. 8.9 According to his Mercy he saveth us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 6. That person is unregenerate that is under the Dominion of his fleshly desires and mindeth the things of the flesh above the things of the Spirit and hath not mortified it so far as not to live according to it A carnal mind and a carnal life are opposite to Holiness as Sickness is tâ— Health and Darkness unto Light Rom. 8.1 to 14. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if by the spirit ye mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murders Drunkenness revellings and such like of which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God But the fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against such there is no Law And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Galat. 5.18 to 25. 7. Lastly that person is certainly unregenerate that so far valueth and loveth this world or any of the carnal accommodations therein as practically to prefer them before the Love of God and the Hopes of Everlasting Glory seeking it first with highest estimation and holding it fastest so as that he will rather venture his soul upon the threatned wrath of God then his body upon the wrath of man and will be religious no further then may consist with his prosperity or safety in the world and hath something that he cannot part with for Christ and heaven because it is dearer to him then they Let this man go never so far in Religion as long
knowledge of our Interest sitteth us for his Praise Psal 118.28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art 〈◊〉 God I will exalt thee Psal 116.16 17 O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thâ— servant and the son of thine handmaid thou hast â—â—â—sed my bonds I will offer 〈◊〉 thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and wiâ—â— call upon the name of the Lord His Praisâ— is for the Congregation of his Saintâ— Psal 141.1 2. Let Israel rejoyce in him thâ—â— made him let the children of Zion be joyâ—ful in their King Psal 148.13 14 Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent his glory iâ— above the earth and heaven He also exalteth the horn of his people the Praise of all his Saints even of the children of Israel 〈◊〉 people near unto him Psal 132.16 I will also cloath his priests with salvation and his Saints shall shout aloud for joy Praise is a work so proper for the Saints and Thanksgiving must be fed with the knowledge of your mercies that Satan well knoweth what he shall get by it and what you will lose if he can but hide your mercies from you The height of his malice is against the Lord and the next is against you and how can he shew it more then by drawing you to rob God of his Thanks and Praise when he hath blessed and enriched you with the chiefest of his mercies Labour therefore Christians to know that you have that Grace that may be the Matter and Cause of so sweet and acceptable an employment as the Praises of your Lord. 13. Moreover you should consider that without the knowledge of your interest in Christ you cannot live to the honour of your Redeemer in such a measure as the Gospel doth require The excellency of Gospel mercies will be veiled and obscured by you and will not be revealed and honoured by your lives Your low and poor dejected spirits will be a dishonour to the faith and hope of the Saints and to the Glorious inheritance of which you have so full a prospect in the promises If you take the son of a Prince in his infancy and educate him as the son of a plowman he will not live to the honour of his birth which he is not acquainted with The heirs of Heaven that know not themselves to be such may live like the heirs of Heaven as to uprightness and humility but not in the triumphant Joy nor in the couragious boldness which becometh a Believer What an injury and dishonour is to our Redeemer that when he hath done and suffered so much to make us happy we should walk as heavily as he had done nothing for us at all Anâ— when he hath so fully secured us of eveâ—â—lasting happiness and told us of it so eâ—â—presly that our Joy may be full we shouâ—â— live as if the Gospel were not the Gospel 〈◊〉 such things had never been promised or râ—â—vealed When Heaven is the Object aâ—â— the promise of God is the groundwork 〈◊〉 our faith we should live above all earthâ—â— things as having the honours and pleasure of the world under our feet accountinâ— all as loss and dung for the excellency of 〈◊〉 knowledge of Jesus Christ Phil. 3.8 whoâ— we should love though we have not seen him in whom though now we see him not yet bâ—â—lieving we should rejoyce with joy unspeakaâ—ble and full of glory as those that 〈◊〉 receive the end of their faith the salvation oâ— our souls 1 Pet. 1.8 9. And how caâ— we do this if we are still questioning the Love of Christ or our interesâ— in it Believers should with undaunted resolution charge through the armies of temptation and conquer difficulties and suffer for the name of Christ with joy accounting it a bessed thing to be persecuted 〈◊〉 righteousness sake because that theirs iâ— the kingdom of Heaven Because of the greatness of the Reward they should rejoyce and be exceeding glad Matth. 5.10 12. And how can they do this that believe not that the Reward and Kingdom will be theirs The Joys of faith and confidence on the promise and strength of Christ should overcome all inordinate fears of man For he hath said I will never fail thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say The Lord is my helper and I wiâ—l not fear what man shall do unto me Heb. 13.5.6 And how can we do this while we are questioning our part in the Christ and promise that we should thus boldly trust upon 14. Lastly consider that the knowledge of your part in Christ may make all sufferings easie to you You will be so much satisfied in God your portion as will abate the desires and drown the Joys and sorrows of the world You will judge the sufferings of this present time unwâ—rthy to be compared to the Glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 You will choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of the world as having respect to the recompence of reâ—ward Heb. 11.25 26. All this must bâ— done and will be done by true believers that have an assurance of their own sinceâ—rity They must and will forsake all and take up the Cross and follow Christ in hopâ— of a Reward in Heaven as it is offered theâ— in the Gospel when they know their speciaâ— interest in it For these are Christs termâ— which he imposeth on all that will be hiâ— Disciples Luk. 14.33 18.22 24 25. But you may certainly perceive that iâ— will be much more easie to part with all and undergoe and do all this wen we have the great encouragement of our assured inetrest then when we have no more but the common offer To instance in some particulars 1. Do you live where serious Godliness is derided and you cannot obey the word of God and seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness without being made the common scorn and the daily jeast and by-word of the company Let it be so If you know that you have Christ within you and are secured of the everlasting Joys will you feel will you regard such things as these â— shall the jeast of a distracted miserable fool abate the joy of your â—ssured happiness Princes and noblemen â—ill not forsake their dominions or Lord-ships nor cast away the esteem and â—omfort of all they have because the poor â—o ordinarily reproach them as Proud â—â—merciful oppressors They think they may bear the words of the miserable while â—hey have the the pleasure of prospe And shall not we give losers leave to â—alke We will not be mockt out of the comfort of our health or wealth our habitaâ—ions or our friends and shall we be mockt â—ut of the comfort of Christ and of the presence of the comforter himself If they that go naked deride you for having cloaths and they
they may be ready that death may b◠both safe and comfortable to them 〈◊〉 though a superstitious miserable fellow that knoweth no better things himself may talk to the sick of beads and relicts and o◠being on this side or that for this ceremony or the other and may think to conjure the unholy spirit out of him by some affected words of devotions uttered from a graceless senseless heart or to command him out by Papal authority as if they would charm his soul to heaven by saying ove◠some lifeless forms and using the Gospel 〈◊〉 a spell Yet Ministers indeed that know themselves what Faith and what Repentance is and what it is to be regenerate and to be prepared to die do know that they have other work to do The Gospe◠offereth men their Choice whether they will have Holiness or sin and be ruled by Christ or by their fleshly lusts and so whether they will have spiritual or carnal eternal or transitory Joys And our work is to perswade them to make that choice which will be their Happiness if we can prevail and which eternal Joy depends upon whether we come to them in sickness or in health this is our business with them A man that is ready to be drowned is not at leisure for a song or dance And a man that is ready to be damned methinks should not find himself at leisure to hear a man shew his wit and reading only if not his folly and malice against a life of Holiness Nor should you think that suitable to such mens case that doth not evidently tend to save them But alas how often have we heard such sermons as tend more to diversion than direction to fill their minds with other matters and find men something else to think on lest they should study themselves and know their misery And whereas there may be so much ingenuity in the sinner as to perceive that the discourse of idle tongues or the reading of a Romance is unsuitable to one in his condition and therefore will not by such toyes as these be called off from the consideration of his ways A preacher that seems to speak religiously by a sapeless dry impertinent discourse that 's called a sermon may more plausibly and easily divert him And has conscience will more quietly suffer him to be taken off the necessary care of his salvation by something that is like it and pretends to do the work as well then by the grosser avocations or the scorns of fools And he will more tamely be turned from Religion by something that is called Religion and which he hopes may serve the turn then by open wickedness or impious defiance of God and Reason But how oft do we hear applauded Sermons which force us in compassion to mens souls to think O what 〈◊〉 all this to the opening a sinners heart unto himself shewing him his unregenerate state What 's this to the conviction of a self-deluding soul that is passing unto Hell with the confident expectations of Heaven To the opening of mens eyes and turning them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God! what 's this to shew men their undone condition and the absolute necessity of Christ and of renewing grace what is in this to lead men up from earth to heaven and to acquaint them with the unseen world and to help them to the life of faith and love and to the mortifying and the pardon of their sins How little skil have many miserable preachers in the searching of the heart and helping men to know themselves whether Christ be in them or whether they be reprobates and how little care and diligence is used by them to call men to the tryal and help them in the examining and judging of themselves as if it were a work of no necessity They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying Peace Peace when there is no Peace saith the Lord Jer. 6.14 And Ezek. 13.10 11 12. Because even because they have seduced my people saying Peace and there was no peace and one built up a wall and lo others dawbed 〈◊〉 with untempered morter say to them that dawb it with untempered morter that it shall fall there shall be an overflowing showre and ye O great hailstones shall fall and a stormy wind shall rend it Lo when the wall is faln shall it not be said unto you Where is the dawbing wherewith ye dawbed it It is a plain and terrible passage Prov. 24.24 He that saith to the wicked Thou art Righteous him shall the people curse natives shall abhor him Such injustice in a Judge or witnesses is odious that determine but in order to temporal rewards on punishments Lev 19.15 Prov. 18.5 28.21 But in a messenger that professeth to speak to men in the name of God and in the stead of Jesus Christ when the determination hath respect to the consciences of men and to their endless joy or torment how odious and horrid a crime must it be esteemed to perswade the wicked that he is Righteous or to speak that which tendeth to perswade him of it though not in open plain expressions what perfidious dealing is this against the Holy God! what an abuse of our Redeemer that his pretended messengers shall make him seem to judge clean contrary to his Holiness and to his Law and to the Judgement which indeed he passeth and will pass on all that live and die unsanctified What vile deceit and cruelty against the souls of men are such Preachers guilty of that would make them believe that all is well with them or that their state is safe or tolerable till they must find it otherwise to their woe when diseased souls have but a short and limited time allowed them for their cure that a man shall come to them as in the name of their Physition and tell them that they are pretty well and need not make so much ado about the business and thus keep them from their only help till it be too late what shame what punishment can be too great for such a wretch when the neglect and making light of Christ and his salvation is the common road to Hell Heb. 2.3 Matth. 22.5 and most men perish because they value not and use not the necessary means of their recovery for a man in the name of a minister of the Gospel to cheat them into such undervaluings and neglects as are like to prove their condemnation what is this but to play the Minister of Satan and to do his work in the name and garb of a minister of Christ It is damnable treachery against Christ and against the peoples souls to hide their misery when it is your office to reveal it and to let people deceive themselves in the matters of Salvation and not to labour diligently to undeceive them and to see them live upon presumption and ungrounded hopes and not to labour with faithful