certain experience of all true Christians in the world They all have tasted and found that excellencie in the holy ways and Ordinances of the Lord that they value them above all the world With David they esteem them above Gold and Silver Psal 119. 72. With Solomon they say that all the things that we can desire are not to be compared to them Prov. 3. 15. 8. 11. And with Job they value the word of God above their necessary food Job 23. 12. And with Paul they count all things Loss aud dung in comparison of the excellent knowledge of Christ Phil. 3. 7 8. They know that it is a thousand times better with them since God converted them to a holy life then it was before as well as you know that you are better in your health then you were in sickness Try whether you can make men that ever were among those where plague and war and famine raigned to believe that it was never a good world since this plague and war and famine ceased You may as soon make wise men believe this as make experienced godly men to believe that it is worse with them for their turning to the Lord and living holy heavenly lives You can never by all your doating and self-conceited prating make those believe whom God hath sanctified that they were in a better case before when they were the slaves of Satan and served sin were under the wrath and curse of God They feel that within them that will never suffer them to believe you The health of their recovered souls their experience of the Goodness of the ways of God the comforts they have had in the pardon of sin and the hopes of Glory do make them know that you talke distractedly when you tell them that they were better before or that the world is the worse for the grace of God 6. And we cannot believe you when you speak evil of a holy course because your words are against all Religion and common reason and much more destructive of the Christian faith If God be not to be Loved with all our hearts and served with our greatest care then he is not God or then there is no such thing as Religion to be regarded A God that is worse then the Creature is no God If we must not seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof Matth. 6. 33. as Christ hath commanded then it is in vain to seek it at all If there be no Heaven or Hell let us lay by all Religion But if there be that man that thinks it not worth his greatest care and diligence to be saved doth forseit the reputation of his reason with his soul Will you believe that man that saith he believeth that there is an Everlasting Glory to be sought and made sure of in this life of our pilgrimage and warfare and yet thinks it not worth our seeking for above all and worthy all our cost and labour He speaks a gross and blockish contradiction A Heaven no better then Earth is no Heaven A Heaven that is not worthy the labour of a holy life is no Heaven And a God that is not worthy of all that we can do is no God Either plainly say that you are Pagans and worse and believe not any life but this Or else live as Christians if you will be called Christians say not that you believe there is a Hell if you think a Holy life too dear to scape it 7. Yea this is not all but your words do tend to Brutishness it self Pagans did believe for the most part a life after this And Julian that Apostate Infidel himself doth prescribe to all his Idols Priests a very strict and Religious life according to the Religion which he owned and professeth that all care and temperance and piety should be used to please God and obtain the happiness to come And shall men called Christians take the very Infidels for Puritanes and be worse then Heathens If we have not another life to look after then what are we but beasts that perish If you think that you die like beasts call your selves beasts and never more own the name of men If you are not beasts but men that have you souls to save or lose to be happy or miserable for ever And is it not worth all our care labour to look after them 8. Another reason why I will never believe you that the world was better when there was less preaching and Religion is because you speak against the very end and nature of preaching and Religion For the word of God is written and preached to this very end to make men better And is that the way to undoe the world to perswade them to amend O Impudent malignant tongues What doth the word of God speak against but sin Doth it anywhere speak against any thing that is Good or doth it anywhere command you any thing that is bad Let the bitterest enemy of God upon earth say so and prove it if he can I here in defiance of the Devil and all his instruments and servants challenge them in their bitterest malice to say the worst they can of the Gospel or of true Religion and prove that ever it encouraged men to sin or that ever any was a loser by it O wonderful Must the God of heaven indite such Laws against all evil condemning it and threatning damnation for it and yet will these wretches have the faces to say that it is long of the Scripture or of Religion that the world is Evil What! Will preaching against your wickedness make you wicked If it do be it known to the faces of you that it is you and not preaching that shall be one day found to be the cause and be condemned for it Must Princes and Parliaments make Laws to hang thieves and murderers and when they have done will you say it is long of them and their Laws that men are robbed and murdered Why this is not yet so impudently unjust as you deal with God For they threaten but hanging and he threatneth everlasting damnation against sin and executeth it on all the unconverted as sure as he threatneth it And would you have him yet do more to testifie his dislike of sin Tell me thou that blasphemest the holy commands of thy Creator Wouldst thou have him do more then everlastingly to damn unconverted sinners to prove that he is no friend or cause of sin what should he do more Is there a greater plague then Hell to threaten Or wouldst thou have him do more to shew how much he loveth Goodness then to command it and perswade men daily to it and to promise Everlasting Glory for their Reward Is there any greater Reward to be promised I tell thee blasphemer to the Justifying of my Lord that all the world hath never done the thousandth part against mens faults as God hath done Never were there stricter Laws against them then his Laws And never
1 Pet. 1. 15 16. And how high a command and strait a Rule is that given us by Christ Matth 5. 48. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Well may it be called an exceeding Righteousness surpassing the Scribes and Pharisees which all have that enter into the Heavenly Kingdom Matth. 5. 20. There is nothing under Heaven that is known to man so like to God as a Holy soul Remember this the next time you reproach such All you that are the Serpents â—eed remember when you spit your venome against Holiness that it is the Image of God that your enmity is exercised against O what a strange conjunction of malignity and hypocrisie appeareth in the enemies of God among us A picture of Christ that is drawn by a Painter or a forbidden Image of God that is carved by an Image-maker in stone that hath nothing but the name of an Image of God these they will reverence and honour though God hath forbidden them to make such Images of him The Papists will 〈◊〉 before them and the prophane among us are zealous for them when in the mean time they hate the noblest Images of God on earth Forbidden Images of God have been defended by seeking the blood of his truest Images Do you indeed Love and Honour the Image of God Why then do you hate them and seek to destroy them And why do you make them the scorn of your continual malice Can you blow hot and cold Can you both Love and Hate both Honour and Scorn the Image of God Search the Scripture and see whether it be not the sanctified heavenly diligent servants of the Lord that are the Honourable Image which he owneth and magnifieth and gloryeth in before the world If this be not true then go on in your hatred of them and spare not These are not Images of stone but of Spirit not Images made by a Carver or a Painter but by the Holy-Ghost himself Not hanged upon a wall for men to look on but living Images actuated from Heaven by spiritual influence from Christ their head and shining forth in exemplary lives to the honour of their Father whom they resemble Matth. 5. 16. It is not in an outward shape but in spiritual wisdom and Love and Holiness of heart and life that they resemble their Creatour Whether you will believe it now or not be sure of it you malignant enemies of Holiness that God would shortly make you know it that you chose out the most excellent Image of your maker under Heaven to pour out your hatred and contempt against And in as much as you did it to his noblest Image you did it unto him 7. If all this be not enough to shew you the Honourable Nature of Holiness I will speak the highest word that can be spoken of any created nature under heaven and yet no more then God hath spoken even in 2 Pet. 1. 4. where it is expresly said that the Godly are partakers of the Divine Nature I know that it is not the Essence of God that is here called the Divine Nature that we partake of we abhor the thoughts of such blasphemous arrogancy as if that grace did make men Gods But it s called the Divine nature in that it is caused by the Spirit of God and floweth from him as the Light or sunshine floweth from the sun You use to say the sun is in the house when it shineth in the house though the sun it self be in the firmament so the Scripture saith that God dwelleth in us and Christ and the spirit dwelleth in us when the Heavenly Light and Love and Life which streameth from him dwelleth in us and this is called the Divine Nature Think of this and tell me whether higher and more Honourable things can easily be spoken of the sons of men 1 Joh. 4. 16. God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him O wonderful advancement high expressions of a creatures dignity Blessed be that Eternal Love that is thus communicative and hath so enobled our unworthy souls with what alacrity and delight should we exalt his name by daily praises that thus exalteth us by his unspeakable mercie Psal 75. 10. 89. 16 17. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance In thy name shall they rejoyce all the day and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted For thou art the glory of our strength and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted For the Lord is our defence and the holy one of Israel is our King Psal 148. 13 14. Let them praise the name of the Lord for his Name alone is excellent his Glory is above the Earth and Heavens He also exalteth the horn of his people the Praise of all his Saints He hath first exalted our blessed Head even highly exalted him by his own right hand and given him a name above every name Act. 2. 33. 5. 31. Phil. 2. 9. and with him he hath wonderfully exalted all his sanctified ones Heb. 2. 10. 11. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to Glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of One for which cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren 1 Cor. 12. 12. For as the Body is One and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ What greater honour can man on earth be advanced to And the Honour of the just is communicative to the societies of which they are members The Churches are called Holy for their sakes Prov. 11. 11. By the blessing of the upright the City is exalted but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked Prov. 14. 34. Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people Let therefore both the persons and Congregations of the Saints continually exalt the name of God O Bless the Lord for ever and ever and blessed be his glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise Neh. 9. 5. The Lord liveth and blessed be our Rock and exalted be the God of our Rock of our salvation 2 Sam. 22. 47. Psal 30. 1. I will extoll thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up Psal 27. 6. And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy I will sing yea I will sing praises unto the Lrrd. Psal 28. 8 9. The Lord is their strength the saving strength of his annointed He will save his people and bless his inheritance and feed them also and lift them up for ever Psal 147. 6. The Lord lifteth up the meek and casteth the wicked down to the ground Thus shall it be done to
perisheth in the using and flyeth from us when we have greatest need That is the good part which all men will say is good in the Conclusion which the wicked themselves that are now of another mind will confess at last to be the best and not that which is commended only in prosperity while the frensy or dream of sensuality doth beguile men â—â—â— which they will all cry out against at last If you would know which is the best part take counsel of God and see what he saith and ask men of wisdom and of greatest experience that have tried both and men that have staid the end and seen what fleshly pleasures and profits and honours can do for them For how can men make so true a judgement that do not either stay the end or else foresee the end by faith Do not take their judgements that are drunk with their sensual delights and that will confess they must repent themselves and therefore confess they must be of another mind Take not their judgements that neither have seen nor yet foresee the end the worst is yet to come with them Their states and minds are near a change The day is near when they will say that heaven was the better part and be convinced by punishment that would not be convinced by instruction Surely Sirs it is so easie a Question to reason it self where sin hath not blinded it whether God or the world be the better part that one would think there should be left no room for doubting Dare any of you speak out and say that earth is better then heaven or sin then grace or temporal pleasure then eternal happiness I think you dare not Shame will forbid you and Conscience will contradict you if you should say so And will you commend God by your words and discommend him by your lives Will you say heaven is best and yet seek the world before it and not let it have the best of your affections and endeavours Shall it be highest in your mouthes and lowest in your hearts and lives Shall it have the first place in your prayers and the last in your labours Why then you commend God but to his dishonour and your condemnation You extoll heaven and heavenly things but to the confusion of your own faces that your own confessions may be brought in hereafter as witnesses against you In the name of God therefore I charge you if you know which is the better part condemn not your selves by making choice against your knowledge 4. COnsider also that this good part is offered you and you have your choice whether God or the world whether heaven or earth shall be your portion It is not Purchasing or proper meriting but choosing the good part that you are called to It is not Mary hath purchased or merited the better part but hath chosen the better part Two things are here contained 1. That it is not matter of Impossibility that you are called to you are not excluded from the hopes of salvation by any exceptions that God hath put in against you in his promise but it is conditionally made as well to you as to others 2. And the condition is not any thing â—â—reasonable but your own consent Christ and salvation are offered to your choice If you will but prefer them before the trifles of the world you may have them The door of Grace is open to you as well as to others if you will but enter you may live you are not left in a remediless case nor given over to desperation you cannot say Repenting and Believing will do us no good we cannot have Christ though we were never so willing You cannot say We would fain have Christ and his Spirit to sâ—nctifie us but we cannot we are willing to be his Disciples but he is not willing to accept us and to be our Saviour you cannot say so and say truly you cannot say he is set to sale to you and that he expecteth such a price as you are unable to give for you are called to take him freely and though this be sometimes called buying yet it is a buying without money and without price Isa 55. 1 2 3 4. And though you must sell all you have for this unvaluable pearl Matth. 13. 46. yet that is but a Metaphorical selling a parting with your sin and fleshly pleasure as troubles and impediments that would keep you from salvation As a sick man sells his diseases for health or at least as he hath health by forbearing some hurtful things that please him Or as a prisoner purchaseth the liberty that is freely given him by consenting to come forth and cast off his fetters Your hands are full of dirt and God offers you gold and you cannot receive it till you throw away the dirt This is your Purchase You give God nothing as a valuable price for his mercy but you throw away the sin that is inconsistent with your happiness Still I shall tell you you may have Christ if you will pleasures and profits are flattering you to your destruction and God calls you from them and offereth you his son and everlasting life and intreateth you to accept them And here you have your choice The offer is whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely Rev. 22. 17. And if you will but chuse that happiness that is offered you and Christ the way to that happiness all the world cannot bereave you of your choice It is brought to your hand and urged on you You have now your choice whether you will have Christ or the flesh grace or sin heaven or hell As you chuse so you shall have And if you miss of life it will be because you did not chuse it Even because you would not come to Christ that you might have life John 5. 40. and would not have him to rule over you Luke 19. 27. and would not have the Lord indeed for your God Pâ—â—â—m 81. 11. and did not chuse the fear of the Lord Prov. 1. 29. yea when Christ would have gathered you you would not be gathered Matth. 23. 37. It is this turning away of the simple that doth slay them because they refuse when Christ calls them and regard not when he stretcheth forth his hand but set at naught his counsel and will have none of his reproof Prov. 1. 24 25 32. See therefore that you refuse not him that speaketh for if you turn away from him that speaks from heaven and neglect or make light of so great salvation how do you think it possible you should escape Heb. 12. 25. 2. 3. Mat. 22. 5. But perhaps some of you will think to excuse your selves for want of Free-will and say How is it in our choice when God must give us to will and to do and we can do nothing of our selves have we free-will or power to chuse the better part You must not set up the power or will of man too high Answ
is there yet remaining then that you quarrel with as too much preciseness Is it the strictness of mens lives in forbearing sin and not doing as their neighbours do in rioting and vain recreations and delights For this I need not stand to justifie them with any impartial sober man If sin be evil and displease God and deserve damnation he that most fully and carefully avoideth it is the honestest and the wisest man You will not blame your child or servant for being loth to offend and disobey you even in the smallest matter You like not him that offereth you the least abuse so well as him that offereth you none You had rather be well then have the least disease You will not take a little poyson nor would you feel a little of hell Why then should we not avoid the least sin so far as we are able If sinning be good then Devils are the best creatures and Angels and Christ in his manhood the worst But if sin be the greatest evil What will you call those men that do not only wilfully commit it but plead for it and reproach those that would fain avoid it Or what if some of those that you reproach are mistaken in some point and 〈◊〉 that to be a sin that is none Or what if you think it to be no sin which they scruple Will you blame a man that loves God to be afraid of that which he suspecteth may offend him Or will you blame him that cares for his salvation to make as sure of it as he can and to keep as far from the brink of hell as he able How is it that you observe not that your very reproaches do confute themselves What is it that you are offended at in the servants of the Lord Is it Good or Evil Surely it is some fault or other of theirs that you will pretend to be the cause For scarce any but the Devil himself will openly and professedly oppose Goodness under the name of Goodness And if it be a real or supposed fault that you speak against them for doth it not intimate that they should avoid all faults as far as they are able And yet will you at the same time reproach them for being too strict and fearful to offend as if it were their fault that they are unwilling to be faulty But let us hear what God saith of this Prov. 14. 9. Fools make a mock at sin vers 34. Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people And yet you would make the avoiding it a reproach Gen. 4. 7. If thou do well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou dost not well sin lyeth at the door Numb 32. 23. Be sure your sin will find you out Jam. 1. 15. Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death 1 Thes 5. 22. Abstain from all appearance of evil Matth. 12. 36 37. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Matth. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of the least of these Commandements and shall teach men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of heaven but whosoever shall do and â—eâ—â—h them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven vers 22. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement but whosoever shall say Thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire vers 28. I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already with her in his heart Vers 34 35 36 37. I say unto you swear not at all Neither by heaven for it is Gods throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool But let your communication be Yea Yea Nay Nay for whatsoever is more then these cometh of evil Jam. 4. 12. But above all things my Brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth nor by any other oath but let your Yea be Yea and your Nay Nay lest you faell into condemnation Epes 5. 3 4. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not once be named amongst you as becometh Saints Neither filthyness nor foolish talking nor jeasting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks An hundred such passages of Scripture I might recite that might quickly satisfie you what God expecteth and whether it be too much preciseness to fear the smallest sin 8. But perhaps it is the rigor of their Church discipline that maketh you offended with those that you count too pure and precise because they will not let other men alone but are reproving them and bringing them to open penitence and confession of their open sins and casting those out of the Communion of the Church which do refuse it Answ But do they do this of themselves or doth God command it them Do you think that the Communion of Saints is to be turned into a rabble of impiety and the Church into a swine-stye Do you not know that the Canons of the antient Churches for many hundred years after Christ are stricter in this Discipline by far then those that now offend you by their strictness And hear what he Holy-Ghost â—aith Lev. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy 〈…〉 thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and 〈…〉 Matth. 18. 15. 16 17. If thy brothâ—◠〈…〉 tâ—ll him his fault between thee and 〈…〉 gained thy brother But if 〈…〉 thee one or two more that 〈…〉 every word may be established And if 〈…〉 unto the Church but if he neglect 〈…〉 the Church let 〈…〉 be unto thee as an Heathen mar or a 〈…〉 â— Cor. 5. For I verily at absent in body but present in â—â—irit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this deed that in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump Purge out therefore the old leaven Now I have written to you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one no â—ot to eat therefore put away from among your selves the wicked person 2 Thes 3. 6 14. Now we command you Brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us And if any man obey not our word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be
clear in it self and much more clear how few do we prevail with Is not the Question Whether God or the Creature Holiness or Sin Earth or Heaven Short or Everlasting pleasures should be preferred as plain to a wise man as any of those that I mentioned before Is it not as plain a case to a man of judgement Whether Holiness with Everlasting joys be better then fleshly pleasures with damnation as whether a Kingdom be better then a Jayle or Gold then dirt or health then sickness Yet do your salvations lie upon this Question this easie Question I must again repeat it All your salvations lie upon the practical resolution of this easie Question Be but Resolved once that God is Best for you and Heaven is Best for you and accordingly make your Resolute Choice and faithfully Prosecute it and God will be Yours Heaven will be yours as sure as the Promise of God is true But if you will not Choose God and Glory as your Best but will Choose the world and simple pleasures as Better for you you shall have no better then you chose and shall suffer a double condemnation for neglecting and refusing so great salvation You hear now by mens talk and you see by their lives that the world is divided upon this Question What it is that is Best for a man and which is his Best and Wisest course One part and the greater think in their hearts that present prosperity is best because they think that the promised happiness of the life to come is a thing uncertain or iâ— there be such a thing they may have it after the pleasures of sin These are the Infidels Another part have a superficial dead Opinion that Heaven and Holiness are Best but the Love of the flesh and the world lyeth deeper at their hearts and beareth the greater sway in their lives and these are the Hypocrites that is Christians in Opinion and Profession and so much of their Practice as will stand with their fleshly interest but Infidels in their Practical estimation and at the Heart and in the reserves and secret bent of their lives Another part being illuminated and sanctified from above Believe the Certainty and Excellency of Glory and see the vanity and vexation of this life and taste the sweetness of the Love of God and perceive the Necessity and sweetness of that Holiness which others so abhor and hereupon give up themselves to God and set themselves to seek for the Immortal treasure and make it the principal care of their hearts and business of their lives to escape damnation and live with Christ in endless Glory All the world consisteth of these three sorts of men Infidels Hypocrites and true Believers Now the Question is Which of these three are in the right Both the other do condemn the Hypocrite that halteth between two opinions and One thinks that Baal is God that the World is Best and therefore he gives up himself to it and the other thinks that The Lord is God and Heaven is best and therefore he gives up himself to it And if it would do any thing with those that doubt towards the turning of the scales to tell you which side Christ is on it s told you here in my Text as plain as the tongue of man can speak One thing is Needful Mary hath chosen that Good part which shall not be taken away from her THe Doctrine which I am now to handle to you from the plain words of the Text is this Doct. That those that prefer the Learning of the word of Christ to guide them by Holiness to Everlasting Happiness before all the lower matters of this world are they that choose the Better part even that which shall never be taken from them If now the word of Christ alone would serve your turn I had done my work I needed not to go any further You would be now resolved that Heaven and Holiness is best and would set your hearts and lives to seek it and so it would be your own for ever But this Text hath long stood in the Gospel and men have heard and read it often and yet the most are not perswaded and therefore I must try to open it a little farther to you and plead it with you and work the Reason of it upon your minds Reader our business is but to enquire What it is that is Best for Man to set his heart on and seek after in his Life and Enjoy for ever I say it is the Everlasting Enjoyment of God in Heaven For Christ saith so If thou think otherwise let us debate the case If thou believe as I do Live as thou professest to believe If men did but deeply and soundly know what it is that is best for them it would set right their hearts and lives and make them happy But not knowing this is it that keepeth them from God and Holiness and everlastingly undoes them Though I have often opened this heretofore on other occasions yet my present subject now requireth 1. That I tell you What that is that here is called The Good part 2. What it is that is set against it and by fleshly minds preferred before it And having briefly opened these two things I shall come to the Comparison and shew you which is the better part 1. That which Christ calls here that good part is 1. Principally the end of man or our everlasting Happiness with God in Heaven 2. Subordinately the Means by which it is attained 3. That Happiness which is the end comprehendeth in it these particulars which if you distinctly apprehend you will much the better understand the nature and excellency of it 1. The true Believer hath the small beginnings and earnests and foretastes of the Everlasting Blessedness in this Life in his approaches to God and living upon him by Faith and Love and â—â— his believing apprehensions of the Favour of God the Grace â—â— Christ and the Happiness which in Heaven he shall enjoy for ever 2. At death the souls of true Believers do go to Christ and enter upon a state of Happiness 3. At the last day the body shall be raised and united to the soul and the Lord Jesus Christ will come in glory to judge the world where he will openly absolve and justifie the Righteous when he condemneth the ungodly and will be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe and the Saints shall also judge the world and be themselves adjudged to everlasting Glory 4. Their everlasting habitation shall be in the Heavens even near unto God and in the presence of his Glory 5. Their company will be only Blessed Spirits even the holy Angels and glorified Saints with whom we shall be One Body and constitute the New Jerusalem and be perfectly one in God for ever 6. Their Bodies shall be perfected and made immortal spiritual incorruptible and glorious bodies shining as the Stars in the Celestial Firmament No more subject
Consciences and the tormenting displeasure of Almighty God are satisfied by this time whether the Godly or ungodly were the Wiser men and whether sanctity or sensuality were the Better course They that are rejoycing with Christ in Glory are satiâ—fied perfectly of this question and are far from repenting of their choice Luk. 16. Christ tells you enough in the case of the Rich man and Lazarus how men judge in the life to come 12. But if all these witnesses will not serve you what shall we say to you Whom will you choose to be your Cousellor There is none left that I remember unless you will go the Devil for advice But against this I have told you enough before Will he speak for Holiness that is a spirit of uncleanness and will he shew thee Heaven that laboureth purposely to hide it from thee till thou have lost it Or will he let thee see the odiousness and danger of thy sin when it is the snare and bait by which he hopeth to undo thee But yet for all this let me tell thee that thou mayst learn even from the Tempting Enemy himself the Truth of that which I am now asserting For as the Devil himself believeth it when he perswadeth thee not to believe it so the very nature and manner of his Temptations may help thee to perceive that Heaven is attainable and Holiness is the only way Would he make so much ado about it to keep thee from the believing it and seeking it if there were not a Heaven for thee to find why is he so eager to draw thee unto sin if sin be not hurtful to thee Dost thou not feel the importunity of his Temptations It s easie to observe them Why is he so much much against a Holy doctrine and a Holy life and a Holy people if it were not that he knows the Necessity and worth of Holiness for thy good The actions of a Knowing Enemy may do very much to acquaint us with the truth Besides this he hath oft appeared in bodily shapes as I am able to prove by undenyable evidence sometime to entice men to sin and sometime to be Gods executioner to afflict them for it and sometime to make a Covenant with witches and Conjurers for their souls as many a hundred of them have confessed at their death And why should he be so desirous of thy soul if thou hadst none to lose or so desirous to deceive thee and deprive thee of salvation if there were none for thee to lose and if this were not the chief concernment of thy soul why should thy chief enemy so much regard it Thou seest that he is not so careful to deprive thee of thy fleshly pleasure He careth not how much thou hast of this The more the glutton is pleased with his chear and the more the drunkard delighteth in his cups and the more the fornicator is pleased in his filthiness and every voluptuous person in his voluptuousness the Devil is pleased so much the more He cares not if thou have all the Kingdoms of the world if he can deprive thee of the Everlasting Kingdom Nor will he grudge thee the glory and honour of the world if he can but keep thee from the heavenly Glory He will allow thee the Hypocrites Reward which is the applause of men if he can but keep thee from the Saints Reward which is the savour of God He cares not how much of thy Good things thou hast here if he can deprive thee of the Everlasting Good It is his desire that thou have thy Portion in this life that thou mayst miss of the Believers Portion in the next Certainly the Devil himself by his Temptations Apparitions and Contracts doth plainly tell us of a life to come and what it is that conduceth most to our Good or Hurt our Joy or Torment and consequently teacheth us what to choose by tempting us so palpably and eagerly to refuse it You see now what a Jury of Witnesses I have brought in to testifie which is the Better part The Devil and the wicked are added to the rest because you will hear no better witnesses If you will here are enow whose testimonies are unquestionable But when all is done it is the Lord that is and will be Judge All these are but witnesses to dispose thee to receive his sentence Thou art no Believer till the Authority of the Word of God will serve to satisfie and resolve thee CHAP. III. Full proof in twentie Queries from Reason it self that there is a Life to come and Holiness is the way to it and the Better Part And that the Gospel is the certain Word of God in fifteen Queries more with Answers to the Infidels Objections ANd by this time I come somewhat nearer to the Infidel and am ready to answer his fore-going Question Where shall I find the Judgement or Testimony of the Lord O saith the Unbeliever if I were but sure that there were a life hereafter where the godly and the wicked shall be differently Rewarded as the Scripture speaks then I must confess he were no better then a â—â—â— man that would prefer this world or wilfully live in sin and Would not seek Heaven with all his might and be as earnest iâ— Holiâ—… the strictest Saint But I am not sure that this is true and that there is any such difference after death to be expected Answ Alas poor wretch Art thou at that pass Hast thou so far lost the Knowledge of God and of thy self and of thy end and business here and of the word and works of God as to turn worse then Jew or Turk or Heathen even to think thy self a beast that hath no life nor happiness but this If this be thy case I cannot now stand to deal with thee according to thy necessity I am now dealing with them that confess a Life hereafter And because we cannot in all our writings repeat over the same things I desire thee to peruse what I have already written for such as thee in the Second Part of The Saints Rest and in a Treatise called The unreasonableness of Infidelity and at present take only some brief advertisments for thy conviction 1. And first whereas you say you are not sure of a Life hereafter I demand of you Whether you are sure that there is no such life I am sure you are not If you think you are which none but a debauched man can think that hath put out the eye of Natural Light let us hear your Proof and you shall soon be told the vanity of it But if you are not sure that there is no such life then I would know of you Whether a Possibility of such Everlasting things deserve not greater care and diligence then is used by the Holyest Saint on earth You say You are not sure that there is a Heaven for Saints But what if it prove true as nothing more true will you sit still and lose it for you know
secureth every Society and interesteth them in the most impregnable defence even in the Love and favour of the Lord and in his many sure and precious promises He hath engaged his Almightiness and Fidelity for such and rendreth them as the apple of his eye and hath promised that he will be their defence Zech. 2. 8. Psalm 5. 11. 7. 10. 59. 9 16 17. 62. 2. whereas the ungodly are under his curse Psalm 1. 6. 37. And which of these Societies is liker to be happy 18. Godliness is the surest way to furnish every Society with all the blessings that are truly good for them For they have the favour and promise of him that is the giver of them all Rom. 8. 28. Psalm 34. 10. 84. 11. 23. Godliness is profitable to all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. 6. 6. Mat. 6. 33. But wickedness is the certain way to ruine Even one sinner destroyeth much good Eccl. 9. 18. and one godly man hindreth much evil as the case of Joseph Moses Daniel and many others tells you 19 Moreover it is Godliness that is the honour of all Societies Without this their wisdom is meer folly and their Riches are but the â—etters of their slavery and canker to gnaw them and testifie against them and their greatest victories may be but murders which shall damn them and their splendour in the world is but the sign of their misery in the eyes of all fore-seeing men Prov. 14. 34 Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people What Glory can be equal to the Glory of our interest in God and of our being his people and doing his work and having his presence 20. Lastly How can that be worst on earth that is so good in Heaven The perfection of Holiness hereafter with the Holy Love and Praises and Enjoyments of the Saints will be their Glory If you think this worst in your Societies on earth what do you but renounce it If Heaven be worst for you come not thither If the participation of that which is the felicity of the glorified be not the felicity of all Societies I desire none of their felicity What if Saints from Heaven would come down and dwell among you here on earth I beseech you as men of reason answer me these two Questions 1. Whether you do not know or verily believe that they would be more Holy and Pure and Exact and strict and more averse to all sin then any of those are that now you dislike as too precise 2. Whether you would therefore call them Puritanes and hate them and cast them out or imprison them or take them for the troublers of your Countries or rather for the honour and blessing of your Countries What you would do by them that do by those that come nearest to them among you CHAP. V. Times of Holiness are the Best Times AND now I have given you all this Evidence I dare leave it to the judgement of any man that is fit to judge Whether it be the godly or ungodly that are the Better Magistrates or Better Pastors of the Churches or Better Members of the Common-wealth or of any Society Judge now whether the Places and Times are not Best that are most Godly And whether it be the Godly or the Ungodly that are the Troublers of the world And yet it hath ever been the practice of ungodly men to charge it upon them that Fear the Lord that all the troubles of the world are long of them We were all quiet say they before this Religion and preciseness troubled us and this is it that since it came among us hath set us all together by the ears But if these men be yet reasonable I desire them to consider 1. That this hath alwayes been the old complaint of the most wicked men which God himself hath testified against When Lot did but gently admonish the abominable Sodomites to forbear a villany not to be named Gen. 19. 7 8 9. I pray you Brethren do not so wickedly What said they to him and how did they take it Why they said stand back and they said again This One fellow came in to sojourn and he will needs be a Judge Now will we deal worse with thee then with them Is not this the case between us now How are we unpeaceable Because we are against sin If we would hinder men from wronging God and from condemning their own souls and others then forsooth we are their troublers and we judge them and we disturb their Peace Just like the Sodomites These precise fellows say they will neede be our Judges and we must be ruled by them before they came among us we had none of this ado But did not God think you decide the controversie aright He first took Lot and his family away that the Sodomites might be troubled with that precise and busie fellow no more and then he sent fire from Heaven on Sodom and consumed them all making them an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. Or as it is fully set forth by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 2. 6 7 8 9. Turning the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes he condemned them with an overthrow making them an example to those that after should live ungodly Mark this And delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust to the day of Judgement to be punished And now who is it that was troublesom and the cause of evil Was it Lot or was it Sodom Take heed lest God take the Lots that trouble you from among you and when you are rejoycing that you are rid of them he serve you worse then he served Sodom In the daies of Noah no question but that Preacher of Righteousness seemed to the world a singular and a self-conceited fellow But did not God decide the controversie whether it were Noah or they that were the troublers of the world Saith Peter 2 Pet. 2 5. God spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person a Preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly When Israel â—ell before the men of Ai it was a doubt who it was that was the cause of that calamity but God proved it to be Achan who is stoned upon this sentence of Joshua Josh 7. 25. Why hast thou troubled us the Lord shall trouble thee this day 2. And consider I pray you What a Quietness it is that you have before you are troubled by the Godly It is a Quietness in the high way to Hell You had the priviledge of damning your souls without disturbance from these precise controllers Hath not
them whom God doth delight to Honour He will Deliver them and Honour them Psal 91. 15. 4. And as the sanctified have the most Honorable dispositions so have they the highest and most Honorable Designs The End of their lives is incomparably above other mens The rest of the world though they may talk of Heaven and wish for it rather then Hell when they can live no longer do indeed drive on no greater trade then providing for the flesh and feathering them a nest which will quickly be pulled down and like the spider spinning themselves a web which death will shortly sweep away But the Design and daily business of the Godly is for everlasting Glory Heb. 11. 10. They look for a City that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God vers 13 14 15 16. They confess themselves strangers and pilgrims on earth thereby declaring that they seek a Countrey And truly if they were mindful of that deceitful world which they came out of and have forsaken they may have opportunities and too many invitations to return to it But now they desire a better Countrey that is an Heavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called Their God for he hath prepared for them a City This Noble End ennobleth both the persons and conversations of believers To Rule a Kingdom is a Nobler design then to play with children for pins or points But to seek the Everlasting Kingdom is far above all the highest designs that are terminated upon earth If Everlasting Glory with God in Heaven be a nobler state then a worldly life then must the seeking it be a nobler design Paul sheweth you the difference very pathetically Phil. 3. 18 19 20. For many walk of whom I told you often and now tell you weeping that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ Whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things But our Conversation is in Heaven that is we live as Citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem and not as those that are here at home It is Heaven that sanctified persons mind that they study and care for and labour and live for in the world And therefore though in their Natural capacity they are but as other men yet in their Moral and Relative capacity I think I may say without Hyperbole that they are much more advanced above the dignity of the great unsanctified Princes upon earth then Reason and learning and manly designs advance a man above a beast It is the Nobleness and baseness of the end that doth honour or abase the agent and therefore none are truly Honourable but those that seek the spiritual the high eternal Honour 5. The Employment as well as the Designs of the Godly do prove them to be the most Honourable Both the End and Matter do shew the excellency of their Work As the End Honoureth the person so doth it Honour all the works that are Means thereto The first thoughts of a Godly man when he awaketh and the last when he lyeth down if he observe his Rule are usually for Heaven When you are conversing with worldly men about these common worldly things they are in prayer or holy meditation conversing with God about the matters of his service and their salvation Their hearts are toward him their thoughts are on him They are devoted to him Their daily business is to serve him When I awake saith David Psal 139. 28. I am still with thee Psal 16. 7. 8. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel my reins also instruct me in the night seasons I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved The life of the Godly is called in Scripture a walking with God such was the course of Henock Noah and Abraham Gen. 5. 22 24. 6. 9. 17. 1. 24. 40. They walked before God Gen. 48. 15. and in his ways Deut. 28. 9. They love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul as to the sincerity of it and walk after him and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and serve him and cleave unto him Deut. 13. 3 4. And can an inhabitant of this world have a more honourable imployment then to serve the Lord and a more honourable state then to walk with God should we not have thought such words intolerable to be used of the best on earth if God had not been himself the author of them and put them into our mouths Hear more of his own expressions concerning the conversations of his servants 1 Cor. 1. 9. God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1. 3. And truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ By fellowship is not meant here a society of equals God forbid we should think so blasphemously But it is a Communion of the beloved sanctified Creature with his blessed Creator agreeable to his distance In their secret addresses his servants have communion with him Their Prayer is nothing else but a humble speaking to the living God for the supply of all their wants In their Praises and Thanksgivings it is God that they deal with and the words of their mouths and the meditation of their hearts are acceptable is the sight of their Redeemer Psal 19. 14. They poure out their souls before him and he openeth his ears and his bosome unto them Psal 62. 8. 10. 17. He will feed kis flock like a shepherd he will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young Isa 40. 11. And in the publick Worship of God in the holy Assemblies his servants also have communion with him It is him that they hear whoever be the messenger It is him that they adore and praise and magnifie Come say they and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his wayes and we will walk in his paths Come and let us walk in the light of the Lord Isaiah 2. 3 5. We have thought of thy loving kindness O God in the midst of thy Temple Psalm 48. 9. In his Temple doth every man speak of his glory Psalm 29. 9. Yea the common employments of the Godly are sanctified and thereby advanced above the highest actions of the wicked For it is God and Glory that is in all their ultimate End Whether they eat or drink or what ever they do they do it to his glory 1 Cor. 10. 31. That is They intend his Glory as their end and they do it in reverent obedience to his Will and in a holy manner behaving themselves as may honour him whose work they do And he that hath the face to say that Prayer Praise Thanksgiving Meditation holy conference and other works of Holiness and
maist regard it He is the wise man that God calls wise and he is the fool that God calls fool and that is every one that layeth up riches for himself and is not rich towards God Luke 12. 20 21. He is the Happy man that God calls Happy and he is a miserable man that God counts miserable and who those are you may see in Psalm 1. and many Scriptures before-cited Hear the words and you that are Believers lay up the blessed promise of Christ himself John 12. 26. If any man serve me him will my Father Honour And who cares then for the dishonours of all the wicked of the world Our tryed faith as preciouser then Gold will be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 7. See 2 Tim. 2. 21. We must learn therefore to imitate our Lord John 5. 41. and not to receive our Honour from men and not to imitate the wicked vers 44. that receive Honour one of another and seek not the Honour that cometh from God There is enough for us in Gods approbation And yet all his servants do imitate their Lord and his Judgement is their Judgement and whom he honoureth them do they honour Angels and Saints and all that enter into the Tabernacle of the Lord do contemn the vile and honour them that fear the Lord Psalm 15. 4. And though no mans Judgement or Praise be valuable in comparison of the Lords yet the Honour and Praise that is given by the wise and Godly is more then a thousand times as much from ignorant ungodly men If the Athenian Orator regarded the censure of Socrates more then of all the rest of his auditors we have cause to judge he Elogies of experienced holy men a greater honour then of thousands of the wicked greater then all their contempt or scorn is able to weigh down The applause of the wicked is oft-times a dishonour in wise mens eyes Was it not Balaams chiefest honour to hear from Balak I thought to promote thee to great Honours but the Lord hath kept thee back from Honour Numb 24. 11. The Honour that God keepeth a man from is no Honour but it is an Honour to be kept from such Honour by the Lord innocent poverty is incomparably more Honourable then Riches by iniquity which is the greatest shame 10. Lastly it is unspeakable everlasting Honour that holiness doth tend unto and which holy men shall enjoy with God The very Relation of a Godly man to his everlasting Glory is an Honour ten thousand times surpassing the Honour of all the Kingdoms of the world If you did but know that one of your poor neighbours should certainly be a King would you not presently honour him even in his rags You may know that the Saints shall raign with Christ as sure as if an Angel from heaven had told you so and more and therefore how should a Saint be honoured If God had but legibly marked out some among you for salvation and written in their fore-heads This man shall be saved would not all the Parish reverence that man Why a Heavenly mind and the Love of God and self-denyal and holy obedience are Heaven-marks infallible as true as the Gospel and written by the same hand as the Gospel was I mean by the Spirit of God himself If a voice from Heaven should speak now of any person in the Congregation and say This man shall raign in Heaven for ever would it not be an Honour above all your worldly Honours Why Holiness is Gods Image and the Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance and beareth witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God and we have the promise and seals and oath of God for our confirmed certainty yea and the Knowledge of God in Christ is the beginning of eternal life John 17. 3. and what would we have more The presence of Christ in a little of his Glory upon the Mount transported the three Disciples And the glympse of the Glory of God which Moses saw did make his face shine that the Israelites could not behold it The approaches of the Saints to God in holy Worship here on earth are exceeding Honourable because they participate of heaven and it is upward that they look 1 Chron. 16. 27. Glory and Honour are in his presence strength and gladness are in his place The soul that is beholding God by faith and conversing with the Heavenly inhabitants is quite above all earthly things and as Angels are more honourable then men and Heaven then Earth so are Believers that converse in Heaven with Angels yea with Christ himself by faith more honourable then terrestrial carnal men But the great Honour is behind yet near at hand when the promised Crown is set upon their heads O mark the Honour that is promised them by the Lord of truth The soul it self before the Resurrection of the body shall be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Even present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 1. 8. John 12. 26. If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be And at the Resurrection Christ that hath loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it will present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Eph. 5. 25 26. Will they not be Honourable even in the eyes of the ungodly world when they hear the sentence of their Lord Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Mat. 25. 34. and vers 23. Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord When Christ shall come to be Glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe 2 Thes 1. 10. Mark here that it is one end of the coming of Christ to be Glorified and admired in his Saints Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jud. 14. 15. Our hearts shall be established unblameable in holiness before God even our father at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints 1 Thes 3. 12 13. we shall then praise him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and made us Kings and Priests to God Rev. 1. 5 6. He that overcometh shall be cloathed with white rayment and confessed by Christ before the Father and the Angels of heaven Rev. 3. 5. Yea he shall be a Pillar in the Temple of God and go out no more and Christ will write on him the Name of God and the name of the City of God New Hierusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from God and his own name vers
and live to God what do they but make a pudder in the world about a little dirt or smoak and find themselves somewhat to do that is next to nothing instead of that for which they were created and busie themselves about nothing till their time is gone and the night is come when none can work If you would judge of a mans Designs fore-see his Attainments If you can tell what End it is that they come to you may know how to judge of their intentions and their course Their corpses you know have no greater a Happiness after a few foolish merry hours then to lie in the earth as filth or dust You can see no Honour attained there It is a child indeed that thinks a guilded Monument over a rotten carkase is any great matter of Honour or Benefit to it And if you look after the soul by the prospective of the Word of God alas it goeth to far greater dishonour And is this it that worldlings make such a stir for 3. The work also that they are employed in is like the Design Sin which is the Basest thing in the world is their employment The work of a Scullion or the basest honest trade you can imagine is a thousand times less dishonourable then sin Yet flattered Gallants believe not this when they can please their flesh without losing the teputation of worthy Gentlemen Nor will our common ungodly people be perswaded of it that are more ashamed to be found praying then sinning and to be called a Puritane then a Good-fellow or a Swearer and that think they are as good men as others when up to the ears in the drudgery of the Devil As if the filth of sin were no dishonour to them which nothing but the Spirit and blood of Christ is able to wash out These are the men that Paul mentioneth with weeping Phil. 3. 18. that mind earthly things whose God is their belly and who glory in their shame 4. Moreover it is a Base disposition that ungodly men are possessed with Though their Natures are essentially noble as being the work of God and capable of most glorious things yet have they made them Dispositively Vile They are fleshly-minded earthly-minded ignorant of Heavenly things not savouring the things of the Spirit but like the Serpent crawling on earth and feeding on the dust Grass is sweeter to a horse then junkets and a little money or vain-glory is sweeter to a fleshly mind then God and Glory and all the treasures of Saints and Angels A swine never thinks of God or Heaven but of his draffe and stie Ease and good chear and money and the flattery of men are the God and the Heaven of sensual men And are not these men of Base dishonourable spirits Unworthy men might you have an Everlasting life and will you preferre a few dayes fleshly pleasure As surely as you may know the Basenss of a swine or dog by what they feed upon so surely may you know the baseness of a carnal mind by the baseness of its desires and delights 5. It is also a Base Society that ungodly men are members of They are in the Kingdom of darkness Col. 1. 13. Acts 26. 18. and are dead in sin in which they walk according to the course of the world according to the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that now walketh in the children of disobedience among whom they have their conversations Eph. 2. 1 2 3. Devils are their invisible companions and wicked men their visible but they have none of the presence and favour of the Lord nor any communion with him in the spirit 6. The greatest Dishonour of the ungodly is that the God of Heaven refuseth to Honour them yea he despiseth them yea he dishonoureth them with most contemptuous titles And certainly God knoweth what he saith of them and it is impossible that he should do them wrong Yet doth he call them the seed of the Serpent that stand at enmity with his flock Gen. 3. 15. he calls them his enemies and accordingly will use them Luke 19. 27. He calls them Dogs and Swine and the Children of the Devil John 8. 44. Matth. 7. 6. They dishonoured and despised him and he will dishonour and despise them and hath resolved that their very names shall rot Prov. 10. 7. 7. But it is the Everlasting shame that will tell us what was the Honour of the ungodly When Christ shall be ashamed of them before his Father and the Heavenly Angels Matth. 8. 38. and shall tell them that he never knew them Matth. 7. 23. When all their former pomp and splendour will be turned into perpetual shame and sorrows then where is the Honour of the ungodly world Where then are their flatterers Who boweth to them and calleth them Right Honourable and Right Worshipfull any more Where now are their sumptuous houses and attendance Now they have other kind of servitours and other language and other usage then they had on earth And the poor wretches that stormed at a faithful Minister for foretelling these woeful changes to them and speaking so dishonourably of them as to tell them of their sin are at last saying an hundred fold worse of themselves then ever we did say against them Then they shall need none to call them fools and vile and wretches but their own Consciences that will speak it out and speak it again ten thousand times and never be bribed to forbear O how base a despicable Generation will the ungodly then be that now speak so stoutly and look so high when God shall everlastingly frown them into contempt and misery and the glorified Saints shall look down upon them without compassion even prasing the Justice that for ever doth torment them Then let the Kings and Nobles of the earth maintain their antient Honours if they can Or let them take comfort in the remembrance of their former dreams and try whether this will be to them instead of a drop of water Well Sirs I have faithfully told you from the Word of God of the Honour of the Godly and the Baseness of the ungodly that you may be resolved which is the Better part If yet you will not see you shall see and be ashamed Isa 26. 11. When you have heard your last and dreadful doom and seen the Lord make up his Jewels then shall you discern between the Righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Mal. 3. 17 18. CHAP. X. Holiness the most Pleasant Way I Have proved beyond all reasonable contradiction that Holiness is the Safe the Honest the Profitable and the Honourable state and course But my hardest task is yet to be done and that is to prove it the most Pleasant way And the difficulty of this is not at all from the matter but from the persons with whom I have to do For nothing is Pleasant unto men but what is sutable to their natures and apprehended by
eyes He discerneth not the Lords body He only quieteth and deludeth his conscience with the outward form He hath not faith to feed on Christ But to a lively faith what sweetâ— ness doth such a Feast afford We have here Communion with the blessed Trinity in thâ—… three parts of this Eucharistical Sacrament As the Father 〈…〉 both our Creator and the offended Majesty and yet he hath 〈…〉 his Son to be our Redeemer so in the first part which 〈…〉 the CONSECRATION we present to our Creator the creatures of Bread and Wine acknowledging that from him we receive them and all and we desire that upon our Dedication by his Acceptance they may be made Sacramentally and Representatively the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ In the second part of the Eucharist which is the COMMEMORATION of the sacrifice offered on the Cross we break the bread and pour forth the wine to Represent the breaking of Christs Body and shedding of his Blood for the sin of man and we beseech the Father to be Reconciled to us on his Sons account and to accept us in his Beloved and to accept all our sacrifices through him So that as Christ now in Heaven is Representing his sacrifice to the Father which he once offered on the Cross for sin so must the Minister of Christ Represent and plead to the Father the same sacrifice by way of Commemoration and such Intercession as belongeth to his Office The third part of the Eucharist is the OFFER and PARTICIPATION in which the Minister Representing Christ doth by Commission deliver his Bedy and Blood to the penitent hungry believing soul and with Christ is delivered a sealed â—â—â—don of all sin and a sealed gift of life Eternal All which are received by the true Believer An unbeliever knoweth not what transactions there are between the Lord and a holy soul in this Ordinance where the appearances are so small A bit of bread and a sup of wine are indeed small matters But so is not this Communion with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost What a comfort is it that the offended Majesty will accept a sacrifice at our hands and enter a treaty of Peace with the offendours Yea that he will provide the sacrifice himself and the preciousest in the whole world that he will signifie this his acceptance of the sacrifice and how he is pleased in his well-beloved Son and that he accepteth his Sons Intercession in the Heavens and his Ministers intercession and his Churches prayers on earth through Christ Seeing Christ 〈…〉 be glorified with his Father and not continue visible among 〈…〉 what could we desire more from him then the three fold Reâ—â—â—sentative which he hath left behind him to supply the room â—â— his Bodily presence Even the Representation of himself by 〈…〉 by his Ministers and by the Holy Ghost which is 〈…〉 substitute within for the efficacy of all O what unspeakable mysteries and treasures of mercy are here-presented to us in a Sacrament Here we have Communion with a Reconciled God and are brought into his presence by the great Reconciler Here we have Communion with our blessed Redeemer as Crucified and Glorified and offered to us as our quickning preserving strengthening Head Here we have Communion with the Holy Ghost applying to our souls the benefits of Redemption drawing us to the Son and communicating light and life and strength from him unto us increasing and actuating his graces in us Here we have Communion with the Body of Christ his sanctified people the heris of life When the Minister of Christ by his Commission Representeth a Crucified Christ to our eyes by the Bread and Wine appointed to this use we see Christ Crucified as it were before us and our Faith layeth hold on him and we perceive the Truth of the Remedy and build our souls upon this Rock When the same Minister by Christs Commission doth offer us his Body and Blood and Benefits it is as firm and valid to us as if the mouth of Christ himself had offered them And when our souls Receive him by that Faith which the Holy Ghost exciteth in us the participation is as true as that of our bodies receiving the Bread and Wine which represent him O do but ask a drooping soul that mourns under the fears of Gods displeasure how he would value a voice from Heaven to tell him that all his sins are pardoned and that he is dear to God and judge by his answer what is contained and offered in a Sacrament Ask him how he would take it if Christ should speak those words himself to him which he hath given his Minister Commission in his name to speak Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you It is the same Christ the same pardon and salvation that is offered us by the Messengers of Christ and which he personally offered himself to his Disciples When you must all appear at the Barr of God O what would you not give for a sealed pardon which in a Sacrament is given freely now to the believing soul Judge now by this whether it be a Joyous Ordinance When the poorest Christian this day receiveth that which the greatest Prince that is ungodly would then give all the world for it he had it For want of that pardon Christian which thou must now receive many thousands will tremble at the barâ— of God and be overwhelmed with his wrath for ever Ask a soul that groaneth under the languishings of his grace and the burden of any strong corruption how he would value the mortifying and quickning grace of the Holy Ghost that would break his bonds and give him light and life and strength and by his answer judge of the value of a Sacrament We have here the greatest mercies in the world brought down to us in sensible Representations that they might be very neer us and the means might be suited to the frailty and infirmity of our present state If the sealed message of Gods Reconciliation with us and a sealed pardon of all our sins and a sealed grant of Everlasting life be not more pleasant and desirable to your thoughts then all that earth and flesh can yield you it is because your are alive to sin and dead to God and want that spiritual sence and appetite by which you might be competent judges If God if Christ if grace if the foretasts of glory can afford no pleasure to the soul then Heaven it self would not be pleasant But if these are sweet the Sacrament is sweet that doth convey them Well poor stubborn carnal sinners you have been invited to this feast as well as others we are sent to call you and even compel you to come in though upon the terms and in the way of Christ but you have no great list but somewhat else doth please you better And will it prove better indeed to you at the end Well take your own choice If an Alehouse be better then the Table of the
our Comforter And if that be not a pleasant life that is managed by such a Guide and that be not likest to be a joyful soul that is possest by the Spirit of joy it self there is no joy then on earth to be expected Hath God promised his Spirit to comfort you that are wicked in your sin No it is the malicious deceiving spirit that is your Comforter that by his comforts he might keep you from solid spiritual everlasting comforts But the Repenting Believing soul that is united unto Christ and hath already had the spirit for his conversion it is he that hath the promise of the spirit for his consolation And if that be not the most comfortable life where the God of Heaven becomes the comforter we cannot then know the effect by the cause If Life it self will quicken if light it self will illuminate the comforting spirit will certainly comfort in the degree and season as God seeth meet and the soul is fitted to receive it 4. Moreover we have the whole treasurie of the Gospel to go to for our Delight And little doth the sensual unbelieving soul know what sweetness what supporting pleasures may be from thence derived I had rather have the holy word of God to go to for contents then the treasures of the rich or the pleasures of the sensual or the flatteries and vain glory of the ambitious man All that the world doth make such a pudder about which they ride and run for which they so much glory in will never afford them so much Content as one Scripture promise will do to a truly faithful soul I must profess before Angels and men that I had rather have one Promise of the Love of God and the life to come which is contained in the holy Scriptures then to have all the riches pleasures and honours of this world My God this was my Covenant with thee and to this I stand O blessed be the Lord that hath provided us such a Magazine of Delight as is this heavenly sacred Book The Precepts appoint us a pleasant work The strictest prohibitions do but restrain us from our own calamities and keep out of our hands the knife by which we would cut our fingers The severest threatnings do but deterre us from running into the consuming fire and hedge about the devouring gulf lest we should foolishly cast our selves therein And these are the bitterest parts of that holy word But when we read the promises of a Saviour and the wonderful history of his Incarnation and of his holy self-denying life his conquests miracles death resurrection ascension intercession and his promise to return when we read of the foundation which he hath laid and the building which he intends to finish of his rich abundant promises to his chosen what provision do we find for our abundant joys No strait can be so great no pressure so grievous no enemies so strong but we have full consolation offered us in the promises against them all We have promises of the pardon of all our sins and promises of heaven it self and what can we have more we have promises suited to every state both prosperity and adversity What do we need which we have not a promise of And the word of God is no deceit What but a promise can comfort them that are short of the possession May I not have more joy in sickness with a promise then the ungodly without a promise in their health A promise in prison sets a man as at liberty A promise in Poverty is more then riches A promise at death is better then life What I have a promise of I may be sure of but what you possess without a promise you may lose and your souls and hopes with it this night There is no condition on earth so hard to a man that hath interest in the promises in which he may not have plentiful relief We live by faith and not by sense And we reckon more on that as ours which we hope for then which we do possess We are sure that there is no true felicity on earth It then we have a promise of Heaven when Infidels lie down in the dust with desperation have we not a more comfortable life then they 5. Moreover we have Heaven it self to fetch our comfort from Not Heaven in sight or in Possession but Heaven in Promise and seen by faith And if Heaven will not afford us pleasure whence shall we expect it Even sensual men can rejoyce as well in what they see not if they are assured it is theirs as in what they see And why then may not Believers do so much more A worldling when he seeth not his money in his chest or at use or his lands and cattel that are far from him can yet rejoyce in them as if he saw them And should not we rejoyce in the certain Hopes of Heaven though yet we see it not when I am pained in sickness and role in restless weariness of my flesh if then I can say I shall be in Heaven may it not be the inward rejoycing of my soul You know where you are but you know not where you shall be The Believer knoweth where he shall be as truly as he knoweth where he is unless it be one that by his frailty hath not reacht unto assurance who yet hath reached unto Hope What great matter is it if I lay in greatest pain if I can say I shall have everlasting ease in Heaven Or if I lay in prison or in sordid poverty and can say I shall shortly be with Christ Or if I had lost the love of all men and could say that I shall everlastingly enjoy the Love of God Most of your comforts do come in by the way of your thoughts And what Thoughts should so rejoyce the soul as the thoughts of our abode with Christ for ever If a day in the Courts of God be so delightful what is ten thousand millions of ages in the Court of Glory and all then as fresh as at the first day There it is that our sin will be put off Our carnal enmity laid by our temptations will be over our enemies will all have done our fears and sorrows will be at an end Our desires will be accomplished Our differences be reconciled Our charity perfected and our expectations fully satisfied and Hope turned into full fruition O may I but be able with stronger faith and fuller confidence to say that Heaven is mine and when this tabernacle is dissolved I shall be with Christ my life and my death will be delightful and I need not complain for want of pleasure Let who will take the pleasures of the flesh may I but have this In prayer in meditation in holy conference in every duty it is the expectation of approaching blessedness that drops in sweetness into all No wonder if it can sweeten a course of duty when it can make light the greatest sufferings and turn pain into pleasure
and thy Will It proclaimeth thy pernicious Folly and Impiety If thou hadst no more wit then to be Pleased more with stones then gold with dung then meat with shameful nakedness then cloathing thou wouldst not be judged wise enough to be left to thy own dispose and government But the folly which thou dost manifest is unspeakably greater Darkness is not so much worse then Light and Death is not so much worse then Life as sin is worse than Holiness and the world than God And is the Worst more Pleasant to thee then the Best It is a fool indeed to whom it is a sport to do mischief Prov. 10. 23. and so great a mischief as sin is and yet hath no delight in understanding Prov. 18. 2. Delight is not seemly for such fools Prov. 19. 10. And how wicked is that Heart as well as Blind that is so averse to God and Holiness Doth not this shew thee 1. The absence of Gods holy image 2. And the presence of Satans image upon thy soul Nothing doth more certainly prove what a man is then the complacency and displacency of his Heart If you know what it is in your selves or others that pleaseth and displeaseth most you may certainly know whether you have the spirit and grace of Christ or not This is the durable infallible Evidence which Satan shall never be able to invalidate and which the weakest Christians can scarce tell how to deny in themselves Could they be more Holy it would please them better then to be more rich Could they believe more and Love God more and trust him more and obey him better it would please them more then if you gave them all the honours of the world They are never so well pleased with their own hearts as when they find them nearest Heaven and have most of the Knowledge of God and impress of his attributes and sense of his presence They are never so well pleased with their lives as when they are most holy and fruitful and may fullyest be called A walking with God They are never so much displeased with themselves as when they find least of God upon their hearts and are most dark and dull and undisposed to holy Communion with him They are never so much weary of themselves as when their lives are least fruitful holy and exact And this is a certain Evidence of their sincerty For it shews what they Love and what it is that hath their Hearts or Wills And it is the Heart or Will that is the man in Gods account God takes a man to be what he sincerely would be As he is so he Loveth and Willeth and as he Loveth and Willeth such he is His complacency or displacency are the immediate sure discoveries of his bent or inclination This certain Evidence poor doubting souls should have oft recourse to and improve And on the contrary it is as sure an Evidence of your misery when you savour not the things of the Spirit Rom. 8. 5 6 7. and when it pleaseth you more to be great then to be good to be rich then to be religious and righteous to serve your lusts then to serve the Lord When you set more by the applause of men then by the approbations of God and had rather be far from God then near him and be excused from a holy life then used to it and constant in it When you take the world and sin for your recreation or delight and a godly life for a melancholy wearisom and unpleasant course This certainly shews that you have yet the old corrupted nature and Serpentine enmity against the Spirit and Life of Christ and are yet in the flesh and therefore can no more please the Lord then his holy wayes are pleasing unto you Rom. 8. 6 7 8. and it proveth that you are yet in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of your iniquity and that your hearts are not right in the sight of God and that you are the slaves of Satan whose nature you partake of by which you are thus alienated from the Lord. Didst thou know God as Faith doth know him his Loving kindness would be better to thee then life it self Psalm 63. 3. If thou didst Love him as it is like thou wilt pretend thou dost it would be meat and drink to thee to enjoy his Love and do his Will And if thou know him not by Faith nor cleavest to him by unfeigned Love how canst thou pretend to have his Image How would you judge of that mans heart that were no better affected to his friend to his parents or children or other relations then you manifest your selves to be to God If he can take no pleasure in the company of his wife or children but is glad when he is far from them in the company of strangers or harlots or prodigals would you not say this man had a base unmanly disposition Express but such an inclination in plain words and try how honest sober men will judge of them Much more would it be odious to Christian ears if you should tell God plainly We can find no pleasure in thee or in thy holy wayes thy Word and Service are unsavoury and wearisom unto us We had rather be talking or busied about the matters of the world We have far more pleasure in recreations and sensual accommodations then in remembring thee and thy Kingdom and then we find in the life that is called holy Would not such words as these be called impious by every Christian that should hear them And is not that an impious heart then which speaketh thus or is thus affected and that an impious life that manifesteth it though dissembling lips are ashamed to profess it If God be not most to be loved and delighted in then any thing or all things else he is not God If Heaven and Holiness be not sweeter then all the pleasures of earth and sin let them have no more such honourable names Let sin and earth then be called Heaven but wo to them that have no better 2. What monstrous ingratitude is that man guilty of that when God hath provided and Christ hath purchased such high delights and freely tendred them to unworthy sinners will say I find no pleasure in them and take them for no delights at all When the Lord beheld thee wallowing in thy filth and laughing in thy misery and making a sport of thine own perdition he pittied thee and provided and offered to thee the most noble and excellent delights that thy nature is capable of enjoying And wilt thou cast them back unthankfully in his face and say They are unpleasant tedious things If your child did so by his meat or cloathes yea or a beggar at your door did so by his alms you would think it proved his great unworthyness If he throw away the best you can give him and say It is naught there is no sweetness in it would you not think it fit that want should help to
children fools or mad men use as long as you mind not and seek not after the One thing necessary What ever they may be to others they are no wiser or better to your selves This is my judgement yea this is the judgement of the Spirit of God Phil. 3. 8. If Paul was not mistaken your gain it self is to be accounted Loss and all but dung in comparison of the knowing and winning of Christ that you might be found in him and have his righteousness Think not the name of dung too base when God himself hath written it here upon your highest endowments and honours by his Spirit And indeed what will they all do more then dung to procure you the favour of God or the pardon of your sins If you offer him gold will it do any more then if you offered him so much dirt Is not the prayer of a beggar heard as soon as of a Lord or Gentleman If they would do any thing to buy you peace of Conscience or everlasting life or if they would but keep you alive on earth I should not marvail at your course But when they will do none of this but make your way to Heaven more difficult yea your salvation a thing impossible while you thus live after the flesh Rom. 8. 13. how then can any easier sentence be past upon your choice Be you the Greatest or the Wisest in your own esteem or in the esteem of others of your mind I believe yea I am sure that you are all this while but laboriously idle and honourably debasing your selves and delightfully tormenting your selves and wisely befooling your selves and thriftily undoing your selves for ever I have reason to say that your rising and honourable and voluptuous imployments are not only like childrens playing in the sand and making them houses with sticks and stones but so much more pitifull as the reason which you abuse exceedeth theirs And could you all attain to be Lords and Ladies I should look upon you but as a King or Queen upon a Chess-board as to any felicity that it bringeth to your selves whatsoever use the over-ruling providence of God may make of you for his Churches The wise Merchant is he that seeking pearls doth find this One of greatest price and selleth all that he hath and buyeth it even all the worldly treasures which you so highly value Mat. 13 45 46. There is more true Riches in this One pearl then in a thousand loads of sand or dirt If you will load your selves with mire and clay conceiting it to be your treasure your backs will be broken before you will have enough to make you rich O Sirs with what eyes with what hearts do you use to read such passages of Christ that speak so plainly to you as if he named you and so piercingly as one would think should make you feel Luke 12. 19 20 21. Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry But God said to him Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided so is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God Would you have Christ speak plainer to to you or closelyer apply it that you may perceive he speaks to you You have lost all the Labour of your lives but that 's not all 3. But furthermore consider that if the One thing needfull have been neglected whatever else you have been doing or whatever you have got unless as preparatory to this you have not only lost your labour but you have all this while been busily undoing your selves and labouring for your own perdition If it were but the loss of your Time and Labour you would then die but as brutes and be as if you had never been and to those that have brutified themselves this will seem more tolerable then to live in holiness to God But alas you have done much worse then this You have not only been digging your own graves but barring up against your selves the doors of heaven and kindling the unquenchable fire to torment you Mar. 9. 44. I beseech you give me a considerate hearing you ambitious Gentlemen you covetous worldlings and you that serve your lusts and pleasures Do you think you had been doing the the work of wisemen if you had all this while been burning your own fingers or cutting your own flesh or setting your own or your neighbours houses on fire What would you have us call that man that would live in such imployments as these and yet would be accounted wise or honourable Do I need to tell thee as Nathan did David that Thou art the man Do I need in so plain a case to tell you that you have been doing worse I speak not rashly a thousand times worse against your souls then this would have been which is supposed to be only against your bodies Alas self-destroyers what do you mean Did God send you hither on no better an errand than to kindle and blow the fire of his wrath and fall into it when you have kindled it Have you no better work in the world to do then to prepare your selves a place in hell and with a great deal of care and cost and stir to labour for damnation as if you were afraid of losing it I know you will say God forbid we hope better we intend no such thing But alas the question is not What you intend but what you are doing Not whether it be your desire that everlasting death should be the wages of sin but whether it be the Law and unchangeable will of God Rom. 6. 23. If you seek not first Gods Kingdom and his righteousness and look not after the One thing needful with your chiefest Estimation Resolution and Endeavours as sure as Christ is true this will prove your case at last though now you wink and wilfully go on and will not believe it As sure as the Gospel is true this is true There are but two Ends Heaven and Hell and if you miss the former you fall into the latter If you live after the flesh you shall die whatever you imagine and you must mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit if you will live Rom. 8. 13. If you see a man cutting his own threat and you ask him What are you doing man will you kill your self and he answereth you No God forbid I have no such meaning I will hope better Would you think that this would save his life or that his hopes and meanings would prove him ever the wiser man I tell you from the Word of God it is one of the plainest truths that is there contained that if you value not choose not and seek not the One thing Needful above all other things whatsoever you are all this while but sowing the seeds of endless misery whose fruit you must reap in outer darkness where will be weeping and
and an hundred times over would you go on to give it them because they cry for it O Sirs that you could but use your Reason in the matters for which it was given you by your Maker Either time and mercy is worth something or nothing If it be worth nothing never beg for it and never be sad when it is taken from you Why make you such a stir for that which is nothing worth I mean your corporal mercies for spiritual mercies you can be too well content to be without But if they be worth any thing why do you cast them away and make no better use of them What good do you with them or what good do they do you Believe it sinners God doth not despise his mercies as you do He will not alway give you meat and drink and health and strength and life to play with and do nothing with He will teach you better to value them before he hath done with you Not that he thinks them too good for you but he would have them be better to you then you will let them be He would have every bit you eat to be used to strengthen you in your walk to heaven and every hour of your time to help you towards eternal happiness and every present mercy to further your everlasting mercy that so by the improvement their value may be advanced and they may be mercies indeed to you Be ruled by God and you shall receive more in one mercy then you do now in a thousand But if you will do nothing with them blame him not if he take them from you and leave you destitute of what you knew not how to use Nay your sin is greater then meerly to cast away your mercies You do not only lose them but turn them all into a curse and undo your souls with that which is given for the sustentation of your bodies While you know no better use of mercies then to please your senses and accommodate the flesh and forget the One thing needful which is the End of all you turn them all into sin and fight against God by them and strengthen his enemy and your own and block up your way to Heaven by them and treasure up wrath for the dreadful day when your wealth shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire Jam. 5. 1 2 3. Rom. 2. 5. You contemptuously cast that bread to dogs which he giveth you to supply your own necessities You treacherously carry over his provision to the enemy Consider this you that say you hope to be saved because God is merciful You have found indeed that God is merciful by large experience But if you do not learn and quickly learn to make a better use of his mercies abused mercy will prove your everlasting misery O what a reckoning will you have What a load to press you down to Hell Unless you would have used them better it had been easier for you if these temporal mercies had been denyed you Can that man look to be saved by mercy that would not be intreated to consent that mercy should save him in the day of salvation in the accepted time but served the Devil with those very mercies that would have saved him God sendeth you his mercies to kill your sins and sanctifie you and engage you to himself and if you will feed your sins with them and make them your idols and forsake God for them and be false to him to your Covenant and your duty and neglect that One thing for which he gave them to you you do not only lose them but turn them to a curse And alas poor sinners what will you have to fly to to trust in or to comfort you when mercy abused hath not only forsaken you but falls upon you as a mountain and feedeth your aggravated endless misery 6. Moreover whilest you neglect the One thing necessary you neglect Christ himself and reject the saving benefit of his bloodshed and refuse the healing work of his Spirit and the precious benefits which he hath offered you in the Gospel And how can you escape if you neglect so great salvation Heb. 2. 3. How will you be saved when you refuse the only Saviour There is indeed enough in Christ to heal and save the humbled soul that thirsteth for his righteousness and salvation and valueth and seeketh him as a Saviour and if you would thus come to him you might have life John 5. 40. But whiles you give your selves to please the flesh and follow the world and look so little after Christ or after the ends and benefits of his sufferings and grace Christ is as no Christ to you and Grace is as no Grace to you and the Gospel is as no Gospel to you and you will be never the more saved then if there had no Saviour ever come into the world or there had never Grace been given to the world or there had never been promise made or Gospel preached to the world For Christ will not save them that continue to neglect him and set light by all the mercy that he offereth and the salvation which he hath purchased and do not esteem and use him as a Saviour and cannot find enough in God and Glory to take off their hearts from the pleasures and idols of the flesh If Christ would have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and you would not Matth. 23. 37. you will be as far from being saved by him as if you had never heard of his name And yet that is not all If you prevent it not by true Conversion you will wish a thousand and a thousand times that this were all But there is worse then this For Christ will not leave a man of you as he finds you If you are so far in love with worldly wealth and fleshly pleasure that you can taste no sweetness in his Grace and see no desirable glory in his Kingdom he will make you taste the bitterness of his wrath and feel the weight of his severest justice The most compassionate Saviour is the most dreadful Judge to those that will not be saved by his grace It will be easier for Sodome and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement then for those that were the obstinate refusers of his Gospel Matth. 6. 11 12. He that despised Moses Law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sure punishment shall he be thought worthy that hath trodden under foot the son of God Heb. 10. 28 29. See therefore that ye refuse not him that speaketh For if they escaped not that refused him that spake on earth how much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven Heb. 12. 23. 7. As long as you neglect the One thing Needful whatever good conceits of your selves you have entertained and whatever hopes or peace or comfort you have built upon those conceits they are all
every word of thy mouth and every penny of thy wealth in the way that he requireth it is it any more then is his due Should not he have all that is Lord of all Quest 2. Is it not the first and great Commandment Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and might And do not heathens confess this by the light of nature And hath not thy tongue confest it many a time And doth not thy conscience yet bear witness that it is thy duty And is it possible thou shouldst thus Love him with all thy heart and soul and might and yet not seek and serve him with all thy heart and soul and might Or can the most sanctified person do any more if he were perfect Quest 3. Dost thou not confess that we are all sinners And that the best is still too bad And that he that loveth and serveth God most doth yet come exceeding short of his duty And yet wouldst thou have such men come shorter and darest thou perswade them to do less Must not the best confess their daily failings and beg pardon of them from the Lord and be beholden to the blood of Christ and lament their imperfections And yet wouldst thou have them be such odious hypocrites as to think they serve God too much already while they confess that they come so short Shall they confess their failings and reproach those that endeavour to avoid the like Shall the same tongue say Lord be merciful to me a sinner and Lord I am good enough already What need there so much ado to please and serve thee any better What would you think of such a man Quest 4. Is it not an unquestionable duty to grow in grace and to press towards perfection as men that have not yet attained it 2 Pet. 3. 18. Phil. 3. 12 13 14. And must Paul and Peter and the holyest on earth still seek to grow and labour to be more holy and shall such a one as thou say What need I be any more holy that art utterly unsanctified Quest 5. Is it not one of the two grand Principles of faith and all Religion without which no man can please God Heb. 11. 6. Whoever cometh to God must believe first that God is that there is a God most powerful wise and good secondly that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him yea this is one of natures principles It is the Diligent seekers of God that he will reward And yet dare a fleshly negligent sinner reproach the diligent seeking of God and take it for a needless thing and say What needs all this ado Are not these the Atheists seconds even next to them that deny that there is any God or that blasphemâ— him And indeed if he be not worthy of all the Love and service that thou canst give him he is not the true God! Consider therefore the tendency of thy words and tremble Quest 6. Doth not that wretch set up the flesh and the world aboâ—â— the Lord that thinks not most of his thoughts and cares and words and time and labour for the world to be too much ado and yet thinks less for God and heaven to be too much And dost thou think in thy conscience that the flesh is better worthy of thy Love and care and labour then the Lord or that earth will prove a better reward to thee then Heaven Who thinkest thou will have the better bargain in the end The fool that laid up riches for himself and was not rich to God and shall lose all at once that he so much valued and so carefully sought Luke 12. 20 21. or he that laid up his treasure in Heaven and there set his heart and sought for the never fading Crown Matth. 6. 20 21 33. and counted all as loss and dung for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ Phil. 3. 8. Do you think that there is any thing more worth your care and time and labour or can you more profitably lay it out Quest 7. Have you not immortal souls to save or lose And are not your bodies for their service and to be used and ruled by them And should not your souls then have more of your care and diligence then corruptible flesh that must turn to dirt Quest 8. Dare any one of you say that you are wiser then the All-knowing God Is not thy wisdom less to his then a glow-worms light is to the Sun And hath not God most plainly and frequently in his Word commanded thee a holy life Yea every part and parcell of it is nothing else but the obeying of that Word For if it be not prescribed by the Lord it is not Holiness nor that which I am pleading for And when the living God hath told the world his mind and will shall a sinful man stand up and say I am wiser then my Maker I know a better way then this What need there all this stir for Heaven What dost thou less then thus blaspheme and set up thy folly above the wisdom of the Lord when thou condemnest or reproachest the holiness which he commandeth Quest 9. Dare you say that God is not only so unwise but so unrighteous and tyranical as to give the world unnecessary Laws and set them upon a needless work What King so tyranical as would require his subjects on pain of death to go pick straws against the wind What Master or Parent so foolishly cruel as to command their servants or children to weary themselves with hunting butter-flies and following their own shadows And darest thou impute such foolish tyrannie to the God of heaven as if he had made a world and set them upon a needless work and commanded them to tire themselves in vain Quest 10. Can a man be too diligent about that work which he was made for and is daily preserved and maintained for and for which he hath all the mercies of his life Thou hadst never come into the world but on this business even to serve and please God and prepare for everlasting happiness And are you afraid of doing this too diligently Why is it thinkest thou that God sustaineth thee Why dyedst thou not many years ago but only that thou mightest have time to seek and serve him Was it only that thou mightest eat and drink and sleep and go up and down and fill up a room among the living Why beasts and fools and mad-men do all this as well as thou Why hast thou thy Reason and understanding but to know and serve the Lord Is it only to know how to shift a little for the commodities of the world Or is it not to know the way to life eternal Look round about thee on all the creatures and on all the mercies which thou dost possess every deliverance and priviledge and accommodation every bit of bread thou eatest and every hour of thy precious time are all given thee for this One thing needful And yet wilt thou
and all right reason required of thee For surely he that made thee hath in wisdom proportioned thy time to thy work and hath not given thee an hour too much A long life is short enough to prepare for everlasting And shall a loytering Rebell that hath wasted so much of his little time cry out What needs so much ado Quest 25. Is it not the graceless miserable sort of men that cry out What needs all this ado Certainly it is For Scripture and Reason and Experience tell us that all that are godly are of another mind The more grace they have the more they would have The more they love God the more they would love him The more good they do the more they would do Do you not see how they labour after more grace and hear how they complain that they are no better O how it would glad them to be more Holy and more Heavenly It is therefore the strangers and despisers of grace that never knew by experience the nature and power and sweetness of it than say It is more ado then needs And is it not a most unreasonable thing for a man that hath no saving grace and holiness at all to cry out against excess of holiness And for a man that is in the captivity of the Devil and ready suddenly to drop into Hell if death do but strike the fatal blow before he be regenerate to talk against doing too much for heaven And for a man that never did God one hours pleasing service Heb. 11. 6. to prate against serving God too much O poor wretch were thy eyes but opened thou wouldst see that of any man in the Town or Countrey this language ill beseemeth thee When God hath been so long offended and thy soul is almost lost already and death and hell is hard at hand and may swallow thee up in endless desperation for ought thou knowest before thou hast read this Book to the end or before thou see another year or moneth or day is it time for such a one as thee to say What needs so much ado One would think if there be any life in thee thou shouldst stir as for thy life and if thou have a voice to cry thou shouldst cry out to God hoth day and night in the fervour of thy soul even now while mercy may be had lest time should over-slip thee and thou be shut up in the place of torment If Hell-fire will not make thee stir What will Should a weak Christian that is cast behind hand by his negligence but once speak against a diligent life he were exceedingly too blame But for thee that art yet in the gall of bitterness and the misery of an unregenerate state to speak against holy diligence for salvation when thou art in such great and deep distress and like a man that is drowning or a house on fire that must presently have help or perish this is a madness that hath no name sufficient to express it by which its a wonder that a rational soul should be guilty of Quest 26. Art thou not afraid of some sudden vengeance from the Lord for thus making thy self his open enemy and contradicting him to his face Mark his language and then mark thine Christ saith Enter in at the strait gate For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go iâ— thereat because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Matth. 7. 13 14. Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. See then that ye walk circumspectly or exactly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time Ephes 5. 15 16. For I say unto you thâ—â— except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribâ—s and Pharises ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven Matth. 5. 20. Wherefore brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Workout your salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting to the coming of the day of God 2 Pet. 3. 11 12. And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1 Pet. 4. 18. Lay not up for your selves a treasure on earth c. but lay up for your selves a treasure in heaven c. For where your treasure it there will your hearts be also Matth. 6. 19 20 21. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness Matth. 6. 33. Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that which endureth to everlasting life John 6. 27. The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Matth. 11. 12. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize So run that ye may obtain And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things Now they do it to obtain a corruptible Crown but we an incorruptible I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the air but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 24 25 26 27. Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness encline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you Isa 55. 1 2 3. Be servent in spirit serving the Lord. Rom. 12. 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and sanctifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 11 12 13 14. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully Jer. 48. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might For there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whether thougoest Eccles 9. 10. These and such like are the sayings of God by which thou mayst easily understand his mind concerning the necessity of a serious diligent holy life And shall a blind and wretched worm come after and dare to contradict him and unsay all this and say What needs so much ado What! darest thou thus openly resist God to his face What art thou and
hearts they set most by the pleasures of this world Why else is their Heart most towards them Why else do they choose them and refuse to Live a Holy life Why have they no delight in God and why have we so much ado with them to bring them to a heavenly mind and life and all in vain What! will not men be perswaded to choose that which they know is best for them Object Temptations are strong and men are weak and so men go against their knowledge Answ 1. What do Temptations prevail with you to do Is it not to think well of sinful pleasures and to think more hardly of the wayes of God Is it not to like a worldly fleshly life better then a Holy life If not how can you follow those temptations And if it be so then they draw you for that time to think that fleshly pleasures are the better part 2. But if indeed it be as you say you are the most unexcuseable miscreants in the world What! do you know that God is best for you and yet will you fly from him Do you know that heaven is the only happiness and yet will you seek this world before it Do you know what is Best for you and will not hâ—â—â— it and what is worst and yet will keep it Will you go to 〈…〉 and know whither you are going And will you run from â—…ven and damn your selves and know that you do so Yea 〈◊〉 that while we day by day entreate you to the contrary If this be the case of any one of you the God of Justice shall teach you to know what you are doing by his everlasting vengeance Heaven and earth shall be witness against you your own Consciences and such Confessions of your own shall bear witness against you that you justly perish and are damned because you would be damned and are shut out of Heaven because you would not be perswaded to come thither Object But we hope we may have Both Pleasure here and Heaven hereafter and that we may be saved by the mercy of God and the blood of Christ without the sanctification of the spirit and though we do not live a Holy life Answ And who gave you these hopes Is it God on whom you pretend to trust or the Devil that doth deceive you Certainly not God For he hath told you over and over that he will save none but the sanctified Acts 26. 18. and that except a man be born again even of the Spirit as well as of water he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 3. 3 5. and that without holiness none shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. And is it God that perswadeth you that his Word is false Doubtless it is the Devil When God had told Adam and Eve That in the day that they did eat the forbidden fruit they should die the death was it not the Serpent that gave them hopes of living and told them that they should not die If you be at that pass that you will take on you to trust in God and yet will not believe him but your trust is but trusting that God is a lyar you are as sottish in your presumption as Heathens are in their Infidelity For who is worse he that believeth that there is no God as Atheists do or he that believeth that God is a Lyar which is to be no God and worse If therefore you do believe indeed that Heaven is Best you must needs believe that Holiness is Necessary yea and Best too when Heaven consisteth so much in perfected holiness And therefore you must choose and seek with greatest diligence that Happiness which you confess is Best or never hope that it will be yours O did you at the heart believe it to be Best and that for you you would love it and seek it and be a holy people without delay You cannot so turn away from that which you heartily judge to to be Best for you indeed But the most that I have to deal with are they that cannot be perswaded at the heart but that feasting and drinking and lust and wealth and worldly honour are Better for them then a Holy life with such promises of Heaven as God hath left us For all or most ungodly men have this perswasion next their hearts whether they observe it and know of it or not Now with such deluded unbelieving souls I am next to plead this weighty cause If thou that Readest this be one of them that takest a worldly felicity with Gods threatnings to be Better and rather to be chosen then Holiness with his Promise of future happiness I will now debate the case with thee and undertake by the light of Christ to open the horrible folly of thy mistake And if I do not give thee such sound and weighty undenyable evidence that no man of Reason should resist to prove the choice of Holy persons to be the wisest and their part the best I will give thee leave to call me a Lyar and a deceiver for ever CHAP. II. What in Reason he must do that would be certainly resolved which is the best part and way And who shall be Judge BUt before we come to the debate I have two Questions to pâ—â— to thee that in Reason must be first resolved The first is Whether thou art willing to know the Truth and resolved to choose the best part when thou knowest it It is in vain for me or any man to Reason with thee if thou wouldst not kâ—â—â— and to shew thee the Truth if thou hate it and wilt not acknowledge it when thou seest it and to bring thee in the clearest light if thou be before hand resolved to shut thy eyes And if thou wilt not choose that which thy conscience shall be convinced thou shouldst choose as being absolutely best to what purpose then should it be revealed to thee Wouldst thou be a happy man or noâ— Wouldst thou have Joy or Sorrow Good or Evil stop here and before thou goest any further make me this Promisâ—… before the Lord That thou wilt not wilfully resist the lighâ—… that thou wilt choose and presently and resolvedly choose that 〈…〉 that thy conscience shall tell thee upon certain evidence is the 〈…〉 Promise but this which no man of Reason 〈…〉 and then we may make something of our debate My second Question is Who it is that shall be Judge between us in this debate or whose witness it is that you will take for currant I am willing to stand to the Judgement of any that understand the case and are impartial I hope you will consent that we shall take the most competent witnesses and Judge And if so 1. You know that the Devil is no competent Judge It is he that perswadeth you that present delights are the better part and rather to be chosen then a Holy life But he is Gods enemy and therefore no wonder if he speak against him He is your deadly enemy
not what or for want of a little care in seeking it You say You know not whether there be a Hell for ungodly men or no But what if it prove true as certainly it will where are you then Will you venture your selves upon the Possibility of such an Endless Loss and Torment which now you might on reasonable terms escape You will confess that a Possibility of a Kingdom should be more regarded then a Certainty of a pin or a feather And a Possibility of some Tormenting disease but for twenty years should more carefully be avoided then the Certain stinging of a Nettle Quer. 2. You say You are not sure that there is a life to come But are you sure to continue the life you have Or is it any great matter that you are called to lose for the obtaining of 〈…〉 that you are not sure of You know the contrary or easily may do You are sure that you have not long to be here Nothing more sure then that you will shortly die And your are not sure but it may be to morrow And while you are here it is nothing worth the naming but what hath reference to another life that you do possess What have you to your flesh but meat and drink and sleep and lust and such kind of beastial delights Which it is better be without then have if we could also be without the need of them Can you call these by the name of Happiness without renouncing your Reason and Experience You say You know not what God will do for you hereafter But you know what sin and the world will do for you here Even Nothing but hold you in a transitory dream and then dismiss you into rottenness and dust If you were not certain of another life as long as you are most certain of the vanity of this doth not Reason tell you that a Possible Everlasting Glory should be preferred before a Certain vanity If you were not sure to get any thing by God and a Holy Life yet as long as you are sure even as sure as you live that you can lose nothing by it that is worth the talking of is not the case then resolved which way is the Better If you say you shall lose your fleshly pleasures I answer They are not worth the having The pleasure doth not countervail the trouble no more then the delight of scratching as I said before doth countervail the trouble of the itch Moderation and temperance is sweeter then excess If too much be better then enough and that which hurteth nature better then that which helpeth it then self-destroying and fighting against your bodily welfare would be best Is not a temperate meal more pleasant then a gluttonous surfet that is worse to the feeling of the glutton the next day Is not common food that costeth not much and kindleth no troublesom itch in a mans appetite more pleasant then enticing costly dainties Is not so much drink as nature requireth much better then that which makes the stomack sick the brain witless if not the purse pennyless and breedeth many noysom diseases to the flesh and hasteneth death that hasteth of it self By that time the gawdy apparel the dainty fare and drink is paid for and by that time the flesh hath suffered all that pain and sickness that are the ordinary followers of excess me thinks you should say that if there were no Hell your sin were a punishment it self and that in this life it brings more pain then pleasure and that such kind of pleasure is noâ— worth the keeping to the hazard of the least Possibility of 〈◊〉 Everlasting life Wouldst thou under thy hand and seal give away thy hopes and possibility of everlasting life and run the hazzard of an everlasting Torment for the Pleasures of sin or to avoid the trouble of a Holy life Why then thou maist as well even sell it all for pins or points or childrens rackets Then thou art as foolish as the worst of Witches that sell their souls to a lying spirit that whatever he doth promise them doth pay them with nothing but calamity and deceit When thou comest to know better what it is that the world can do for thee thou wilt then confess there was nothing in it that should not have been sleighted for the smalest hopes of an Everlasting life Doâ—t thou think the world will be much better to thee for the time to come than hitherto it hath proved Deceive not thy self it will prove the same yea and worst at last Look back now upon all the pleasures of thy life from thy infancy to this day and tell me what the better thou art for them If this were the hour of thy death would all the profits or pleasures of thy life be any comfort to thee or make thy death a whit the easier Have the dust or bones of the Carkasses of Voluptuous sinners any comfort or benefit now by all the pleasure of their former sin Surely I need not all these words to a man of common understanding to convinee him that if Heaven were as uncertain as the Infidel doth imagine a man of Reason should venture all that he hath upon the meer Possibility because his All indeed is Nothing and he is sure he can be no loser by the bargain it being not so much as the venture of a pin for the Possibility of a Crown Quer. 3. But that 's not all What if I shall prove to thee past all denyal that even in this life Holiness is far the most delightful gainful honourable life and that the ungodly live in a continual misery Will not this serve turn to convince thee that a Holy life should be undertaken for a meer Possibility of Heaven if we had no more Read but the Proofs of this anon and if I make it not good to thee call me a deceiver But if I prove that Holiness is the sweetest life on Earth and Heaven the sure Reward hereafter and that sin is a misery it self to the sinner and Hell the certain punishment hereafter then see that thou confess that God is a good Master and the Devil a bad one for at last thou shalt be forced to confess it Quer. 4. Well You say You are not sure that there is another life for man But have you used the Means to make it sâ—â— to you and to be well-resolved If you have then you have impartially searched and prayed and meditated on the Word of God and heard what can be said by Wiser men for that which you say you are not sure of but if you have trusted to your own understanding and neglected Meditation Prayer Enquiry and other needful means what wonder then if you be uncertain Even whether there be a Heaven or Hell It s no disgrace to Physick or Astronomy or Musick or Languages or Navigation but to you if you say that you are uncertain of all their conclusions when you never studied them or at least
you speak falsly because you make the most barbarous Heathens to be most happy and the worst of men to be the best If it be best where there is least Religion and least Teaching or meddling with holy things then are the naked Indians the best and the Cannibals that live on the flesh of men These be they that are least troubled with Preaching and Religion And if you think that these miserable souls are best and happyest I pray you go to them and be happy with them And by my consent the Magistrate shall promote your happiness and send you thither 17. And would you have us believe you when you contradict your selves Out of your own mouthes will we silence or condemn you It is Christ that teacheth us to be Holy And do you not pretend your selves to believe in Christ That which you dislike as a troublesom or needless thing is nothing but serious Christianity it self And do you not say your selves that you are Christians Do not you profess the Articles of the Christian Belief And what do we but practice that which you profess We do but obey that God whom you say you believe in as the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth and all things We do but love the Lord our Saviour whom you say you believe in as your Saviour We do but obey the Holy-Ghost that sanctifieth all that God will save whom you also profess to believe in your selves We practise that Communion of Saints which you deride and yet profess that you believe We seek after the remission of sin and that life everlasting which you take on you to believe your selves And will you profess to Believe these things and yet say they are naught or that it was never a good world since they were regarded and practised And do you not profess to take the ten Commandments for the Law of God which all men should obey And what do we but endeavour to obey them All that which you hate as too much preciseness is nothing but the obeying of these ten Commandments And O that we could do it better And do you not use in the saying of the Lords Prayer to pray that the Name of God may be Hallowed and his Kingdom come and his Will be done yea even as it is done in Heaven And yet 〈◊〉 you say with the same mouth that it was never a good world since Gods name was Hallowed and since his Kingdom was â—â—vanced and his Laws so much regarded and his Will obeyed O hypocrites Is this your praying and do you look such prayers should be accepted which you hate and speak against your selves You pray that you may not be led into Temptation but delivered from evil and yet you run into temptation and take that Evil to be Good How oft have I heard men when the Commandments have been repeated which require us to take the Lord only for our God and not to take his Name in vain and to Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day to joyn to it as their prayer Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law and when they come home revile those people that are willing to keep it and that will not take Gods Name in vain and forbear the keeping holy of his day as they do themselves Either give over professing the Christian Belief and using the Lords Prayer and praying that you may keep the Commandments of God or else give over reviling those that do it Either say plainly that you are Heathens and no Christians or else never say that a Christian Life is hurtful to the world nor make it the matter of your reproach 18. And I must needs say that I am the more assured that your words against Religion are false because I know that they please the Devil who is the Father of lyes and are just such as he would have you speak and would speak himself if he had but liberty and his appearance would not marr hâ—â— cause When thou art railing at Godliness and saying that this Religion is the trouble of the world and that the servants of Christ are but a company of busie hypocrites just so would the Devil have thee speak I can prove it fully from the Scriptures and from his Nature and designs You could not speak more agreeably to his mind If he had hired you and written down every word which he would have you speak you could not more punctually obey him Do you plead against Holiness and for a careless and ungodly life Do you despise the righteous and justifie the wicked Just so would the Devil have you do If he stood by you and prompted you as indeed he doth though you do not know it those are the very words that he would have you say Indeed when he is compelled the Devil himself speaketh better then you as in Acts 16. 17. he saith These men are the servants of the most high God which shew unto us the way of salvation These are better words then yours But when he is left to himself and speaketh of his own he speaketh just as you do and shall we believe you when the Devil sets you on and you speak the words of the lying spirit 19. And I the less believe you when you say that the world is the worse for Preaching and Religiousness because I know from whence this comes You take that to be the best that is the worst and that to be the worst that is indeed the best You judge after the flesh and take those for the best times when you have most prosperity and may sin with least contradiction and molestation and be least troubled in your sensual course These are your good daies which wise men know to be your slavery and misery It is never a good world with you when your consciences are troubled and your sores are lanced and Satan cannot keep his garrison in peace and when you cannot be permitted to drink and swear and game and revell without controll And if this be your good world I had rather have a prison or a pair of stocks with Christ and the Gospel which you despise and with the means and hopes of the world to come then to have your good world which is but thee quietest passage to damnation You are not yet to be believed stay till you see the end and what comes of it and then tell us which was the good world 20. Lastly if all this will not serve I will silence you and shame you if you have any shame left If Religion and so much serving of God do make the world worse and those be the worst times where there is most of these then Heaven would be worse then Earth or Hell even the worst place in all the world For no place hath so much Holiness as Heaven Nowhere is there so much ado about the Praise and Service of God as there is in Heaven There they do nothing else but that which
you revile and that in highest fervour and perfection They Rest not day or night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Rev. 4. 8. Dost thou know the man on earth that is most precise and holy and diligent for God Why the lowest of the Saints in Heaven go quite beyond him And in good sadness dost thou take Heaven to be the worst place and think that so much Holiness will make it troublesom Bear witness then against thy self Out of thy own mouth art thou condemned How canst thou expect to be admitted into Heaven that takest it for so bad a place Thou teachest God to thrust thee back and say to thee Be gone here is nothing but Holiness which you could not alive You shall go to a place where Religion and Holiness shall not trouble you Well Sirs Consider now as men of Reason of all these twenty Reasons which I have given you and then tell me whether that be not the better world and the better soul where there is most Faith and Holiness CHAP. VI. Holiness is the only way of Safety I Have proved to you that Holiness is best for Common wealths and given you many General undenyable evidences to prove that it is Best for all men in particular I shall now come to the particular evidences and shew you wherein it is that it is Best for all men There are three sorts of Good that men have to look after The first is the security of their Life and Being the second is their moral well-being and the third is their Natural well-being This last also is divided into three branches and consisteth in our Profit our Honour and our Pleasure So that here are five several sorts of Goodness to be considered of and you will find that Holiness is Best beyond all comparison in each respect 1. In respect of Safety 2. In point of Honesty 3. In point of Gain 4. In point of Honour And 5. In point of Pleasure or Delight If I prove not every one of these then tell me I promised more then I could perform But if I do prove them I look that you that Read it should promise presently to come in to God and a Holy life and faithfully perform it 1. And that HOLINESS IS THE SAFEST WAY I prove thus 1. That man is in a safer state that is delivered from the power of Satan then he that is in his bondage and taken captive by him at his will But all the unsanctified are in this captivity and all the sanctified are delivered out of it as the Scripture most expresly tells us Ephes 2. 1 2. 3 And you hath be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the Power of the air the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom we also bad our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind c. So 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God eradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his will And Acts 26. 17 18. I send thee to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God And Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Satan is the Ruler and the Jaylor of the ungodly that leadeth them to sin and so to destruction and keepeth them for torments at the day of wrath And is he safe that is in the Devils power If he should appear to thee and lay hold of thee thou wouldst not think that thou were safe But his possession of thy soul is far more dangerous Thou dost not believe that thou art in his power But thy blindness sheweth it and thy enmity to the way of Holiness sheweth it and thy ungodly life doth fully shew it and the Scripture affirmeth it of all such and what need there any further proof But the sanctified are all dilivered from this slavery and though the Devil may rage against them he shall not prevail 2. Moreover those that are United to Jesus Christ and are become the living Members of his Body are certainly safer then those that are yet strangers to him and have no special interest in him But all that are sanctified are thus united to Christ and made his members and all the unsanctified have no part in him He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John 5. 12. John 15. 6 7 9 10. If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue in my love If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love Yee are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you v. 14. Eph. 5. 25 26 27 29 30. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and â—â—â—aâ—â—â— it with the washing of water by the word that be might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish No man ever hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cheri â—ath it even as the Lord the Church For we are Members of his Body of his flesh and of his bones Judge by these passages whether the sanctified are not safe If the Love of Christ and his Merits and his Power cannot keep them safe then nothing can If the Saviour cannot save them none can Is not the very flesh of Christ safe are not the members of his Body safe are not his friends his spouse and beloved safe If Christ can save us we are safe For who can conquer him Or who can take us out of his hands John 10. 28. If he be for us who shall be against us and if he justifie us who shall condemn us Rom. 8. 33 34 35. But is it so with the ungodly No they have no part nor lâ—t in this matter but are in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity because their heart is not right in the sight of God Act. 8. 21 23. 3. Moreover he that hath escaped the Curse of the Law and hath his sins forgiven him and is justified from all things that could by the Law be charged on him is safer then he that is under the Curse and hath all his sins yet lying on his soul But the first of
and Honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2 3. Indeed the Greek word here is that which signifieth gravity and seemliness of behaviour but that which is frequently translated good is it which signisieth the truly Honest And you know none of the ungodly are ever called Good in Scripture but clean contrary Prov. 11. 6. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them but transgressâ—rs shall be taken in their own naughtiness So vers 18. 19 20. The wicked worketh a deceitful work but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward As righteousness tendeth to life so he that pursueth evil doth it to his own death They that are of a froward heart are an abomination to the Lord but such as are upright in their way are his delight Everywhere you see how God abhorreth the ungodly and extolleth those that love and fear him Christ calleth the ungodly Evil men that â—â—t of the evil treasure of their hearts do bring forth evil things Matth. 12. 35. All is evil the life evil the heart evil and the man evil Prov. 12. 26. The Righteous is more excellent then his neighbour but the way of the wicked seduceth them And Psalm 16. David calleth the godly The excellent in whom is all his delight It is an excellent spirit that is in them Dan. 3. 12. 14 and 63. and an excellent way in which they go 1 Cor. 12. 31. and an excellent knowledge which the spirits illumination causeth them to attain Phil. 3. 18. Ephes 3. 18 19. You have Gods judgement of the case if that will satisfie you who it is that is the Best and Honestest man the Holy or the unholy 2. Do you think that man is an Honest man that will deny you your due and rob you of all that is your own Or rather is not the Just man the Honest man that will give every man his own I know you will give your voices for the latter O then take heed lest you condemn your selves If you be not Holy your own testimony doth condemn you For it is only the Godly that give God his own when the ungodly rob him of it Hast thou not thy Life and Time and Maintenance from God Hast thou not thy Reason and thy Affections and all thy faculties from him And should not all thou hast be employed for him Thou art a dishonest man that grudgest yea denyest him one day in seven when thou owest him all Thou art a dishonest man that givest away thy Makers due unto his vilest enemies That wastest thy means or strength on sin that spendest thy precious time on vanity that abusest his creatures to the satisfying of thy lusts and that livest to thy flesh when thou shouldst live to God Thou robbest him of all which thou givest to his enemies and of all which thou dost not use for his service It is less dishonesty to rob thy Master that trusteth thee with his goods then to rob the Lord that trusteth thee with thy time and parts and all things O blind unworthy sinners What makes you think him an honest man that robbeth his Maker or denyeth him his own when you call him a dishonest man that robbeth but such silly worms as you that in respect of God have nothing of your own Art thou better then God that it should be called dishonesty to wrong thee and no dishonesty to wrong him or deny him that which is his own God hath an absolute Title to you and that on more accounts then one You are his own as you are his creatures All souls are mine saith the Lord Ezek. 18. 4. And he hath Title to thee by Redemption as well as by Creation For to this end Christ dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord of the deâ—d and of the living Rom. 14. 9. We are not our own we are bought with a price and therefore should glorifie God in our bodies and our spirits which are his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. For if one dyed for all then were all dead that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. And as you your selves are Gods own as he is your Creator and Redeemer so all that you have is his own as the bestower or as your Master that trusteth it in your hands Exod. 19. 5. Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine And saith God to Job Job 41. 11. What soever is under the whole heaven is mine Psalm 50. 10 11 12. Every beast of the Forrest is mine the wild beasts of the field are mine the world is mine and the fulness thereof 1 Cor. 4. 7. What hast thou which thou didst not receive Thou hast not a minute of time which thou owest not to God nor a thought nor a word nor a farthing of thy estate And is it not the basest injustice and dishonesty to give these to thy flesh and deny them to him and think his service an unnecessary thing If thou wilt give the world and thy lusts any thing let it be that which thou canst truly call thine own As God saith to the Idolators Ezek. 16. 18 19. Thou hast set mine oyl and mine incense before them my meat also which I gave thee c. so may he say â—o thee It is his Time which thou hast consumed in idleness and in sinful delights and his Provision by which thou hast â—ed thy lusts But the sanctified man is devoted to God His study is to give him his own All the business of his life which you account his over-much strictness and preciseness is nothing but his Honesty to God in giving him his own You look your horse should travail for you and your Oxe should labour for you and your servant work for you because they are your own And shall not we give up all that we have to God that are much more his own Will you hang them that take your Own from you and count them Honest that deal worse with God Say not If Christ were here we would give it him For he hath told you how you should use all his talents in his Laws and if you deny them to the poor or any holy use that he requireth them you deny them unto him Read Mat. 25. 10. 40 41 42. 3. Do you think that an unnatural man is an Honest man One that will abuse his Father or Mother and scorn the bowels from which he sprung All the world is agreed on it that such are dishonest Honour thy Father and Mother is called the first Commandment with promise Exod. 21 17. He that curseth his Father or Mother shall surely be put to death See Prov. 20. 20. 30. 17. The eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young
Judgements of the Lord God hath begun to take away the reproach of Holiness and through his great mercy to us it is more Honourable in England then formerly it hath been Is it Honoured by you Or are you hardened to perdition Fearfull is the case of him whoever he be that after all the gentle and terrible warnings of the Lord dare think or speak reproachfully of a Holy life Yet hear the calls of the Eternal Wisdom Prov. 1. 20 21 22 c. How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn you at my reproof But mercies and judgements are lost on the hard-hearted Isa 26. 10 11. Let favour be shewn to the wicked yet will he not learn righteousness in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the Majesty of the Lord. When the hand of the Lord is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at his people and the enemies own fire shall devour them And then as they set at nought his counsell and would none of his reproof but mocked them that feared God so will he also laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord Prov. 1. 25 26 27 29. I will add but this one word of terror To scorn at Holiness is to scorn at the Holy Ghost whose office or work it is to sanctifie us As the Father hath commanded us to be Holy as he is Holy 1 Pet. 1. 16. and made it his Image on us and as the Son hath come to destroy unholiness 1 John 3. 8. and give us an example of perfect holiness and sanctifie to himself a peculiar people Titus 2. 14. so is it the undertaken work of the Holy Ghost as sent therefore from the Father and the Son to make Holy all that God will save And though I say not that it is the unpardonable Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost to scorn his very work and office yet I say it is a Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost so near that which is unpardonable that the thoughts of it should humble all that have been guilty and make men fear so horrible a sin But Bessed is he that walketh not in the Counsel of the Ungodly â—or standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked but he blesseth the habitation of the just Surely he scorneth the scorners but he giveth grace unto the lowly Prov. 3. 33 34. These are the true sayings of the Lord. I thought not meet to pass by this necessary reproof of the contempt of Holiness which this Land hath been so guilty of and which hath undone so many souls and made such desolations in the Land And now you shall see that I am able to make good the grounds of this reproof and that Holiness is no Dishonourable thing 1. The Holy servants of the Lord have the most Honourable Master in all the world This only is sufficient to weigh down all the Honours of the world if it were ten thousand worlds When the builders of the Temple were asked their names by the Officers of King Darius Ezra 5. 10 11. their answer was We are the servants of the God of Heaven and Earth No King on Earth no Angel in Heaven hath a more honourable Master To be the highest Officer of the greatest Prince is a Title as much more base then this as man is baser then the Infinite God If God can not put sufficient Honour on those that are Related to him tell us who can When Moses went to Pharaoh for the Israelites deliverance he was to speak in the name of the Lord and when Pharaoh spake contemptuously of the Lord as one that he knew not and would not obey how wonderously doth God vindicate his honour his people Let other men be called Knights and Lords and Kings and Emperours may I but be truly called the servant of the God of Heaven I shall not envy them their honours Our relation to so glorious a Majesty doth put an unexpressible Honour upon the poorest person and the lowest works A servant of the Lord is more Honourable in ragâ— in a smoaky cottage or the meanest state then the Emperour of Constantinople or Tartary is in all their Wealth and Worldly Glory And if you think not so your selves why do you so much honour them when they are dead What was Peter and Paul and the rest of the Apostles but poor despised men in the world that travailed about to preach the Gospel and what was their honour but to be the Holy Servants of the Lords Yet now they are dead you are desirous to keep Holy dayes in an honourable memorial of them and Kings and Princes reverence their names What were the Martyrs whose memories are now so Honourable with us but a company of hated persecuted men that were used by others as Butchers do their beasts and worse But because they were the servants of the Lord and suffered for his truth and cause their names are honourable and the names of their greatest persecutors do even stink It s said of Constantine the Great who himself was Greater by his Holiness then his Victories that he was wont to reverence the Bishops that had been sufferers for Christ and kissed the place where the eye abode that one of them had lost for the Gospels sake The Christian Princes that ruled the world were wont to Honour the poorest mortified retired servants of Christ that had cast off the world as perceiving that he is more Honourable that contemneth it then he that enjoyeth it The nearest to God undoubtedly are the most Honourable 2. Consider that as it is God that the Saints are thus Related to so their Relation is so near and their Titles so exceeding high which God himself hath put upon them that it advanceth them to the greatest height of Honour that men on earth can reasonably expect Yea with holy admiration we must say it so wonderful is the Honour which the Glorious God hath put upon his poor unworthy servants thar they durst not have owned it nor thought such Titles meet for men if God himself had not been the Author of them Nor could they have believed that God would so advance them if he had not both revealed it and given them faith to believe his revelation As if it were not enough for us to be his servants he calleth us his friends Joh. 15. 13 14 15. Greater Love hath no man then this that a man lay down his life for his friends Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Henceforth I call you not servants For the servant knoweth not what his Lord
this man will I look saith the Lord even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my Word Isa 66. 2. This is the Honourable entertainment of the Saints 7. And they are members of the most Honourable Society in the world The Church is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Luke 1. 33. Col. 1. 13. The Kingdom of God Luke 17. 21. 18. 17. The Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 3. 2. 13. 31 33 44. It is the School of Christ or his University in which Believers are his Schollars learning to know him and serve him and praise him for ever and trained up for everlasting life Acts 11. 26. Luke 6. 13. Mat. 5. 1 2 c. It is the family or houshold of God Eph. 2. 19. 1 Tim. 3. 15. Heb. 10. 21. 1 Pet. 4. 17. It is the Spouse yea the Body of Christ Eph. 5. 25. So loved by him that he gave himself for it becoming the price of our Redemption and thought not his life too dear a Ransom nor his blood too precious to cleanse and save us Eph. 5. 25 26. Tit. 2. 14. The Church which every godly man is a living member of is a Society chosen out of the world to be nearest unto God and dearest to him as the beloved of his soul to receive the choicest of his mercies and be adorned with the righteousness of Christ and to be employed in his special service 1 Pet. 2. 4 5 9. John 15. 19. Eph. 1. 4. Psalm 132. 13. 135. 4. Eph. 5. 1. The Lord that Redeemed them is their King and Head and dwelleth in the midst of them and walketh among them as the people of his special presence and delight Psalm 2. 6. 89. 18. 149. 2. 46. 5. Isa 12. 6. Jer. 14. 9. Zeph. 3. 5 15 17. Rev. 1. 13. 2. 1. Psalm 95. 2. The Church is a Heavenly Society though the militant part yet live on earth For the God of Heaven is the Soveraign and the Father of it The glorified Redeemer is their Head The Spirit of Christ doth guide and animate them His Laws revealed and confirmed from Heaven direct and govern them Heaven is their end and heavenly are their dispositions employments and conversations There is their portion and treasure Matth. 6. 20 21. and there is their very heart and hope They are risen with Christ and therefore seek the things that are above For their life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 2 3 4. Their Root is there and the noblest part of the Society is there For the glorified Saints and in some sort the Angels are of the same Society with us though they are in heaven and we on earth The whole family in Heaven and earth is named from one and the same Head Eph. 3. 15. Heb. 12. 22 23. 24. We are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling c. This is the Honourable Society of Saints the eye the pearl of the whole Creation 8. Moreover the Godly have the most Horourable Attendance The creatures are all theirs though not in point of Civil propriety yet as means appointed and managed by God their Father for their best advantage The Angels of God are ministring spirits for them not as our servants but as Gods servants for our good As Ministers in the Church are not the servants of men but the servants of God for men And so whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or to come all are ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. The Shepherds servant is not the servant of the sheep but for the sheep And so the Angels disdain not to serve God in the guarding of the weakest Saints As I formerly shewed from Heb. 1. 14. Psalm 91. 11 12. 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them For he giveth his Angels charge over us to keep us in all our wayes they shall bear us up in their hands left we dash our foot against a stone Sun and Moon and all the creatures are daily employed in our attendance O how wonderful is the Love of God to his unworthy servants in their advancement Remember it when thou art scorning at the servants of the Lord or speaking against them that those poor those weak despised Christians that thou art vilifying have their Angels beholding the face of God their Father in the Heavens Take heed therefore that you despise not the least of these It is the warning of Christ Matth. 18. 10. The same blessed spirits that attend the Lord and see his face in blissful Glory do attend and guard the meanest of the godly here on earth As the same servants use to wait upon the Father and the children in the same family or the bigger children to help the less 9. And it is the Honour of the Godly that they that are themselves most Honourable do Honour them To be magnified by a fool or wicked flatterer is small Honour but to be magnified by the best and wisest men this is true Honour We say that Honour is in him that giveth it and not in him that receiveth But it is God himself that Honoureth his Saints It is he that speaketh all these great and wonderous things of them which I have hitherto recited Search the Texts which I have alledged and try whether it be not he And surely to have the God of Heaven to applaud a man and put Honour upon him and so great Honour is more then if all the world had done it Yet we may add if any thing could be considerable that is added unto the approbation of God that all his servants the wisest and the best even his holy Angels are of the same mind and honour the godly in conformity to their Lord. And here Christian I require thee from the Lord to consider the greatness of thy sin and folly when thou art too desirous of the applause of men especially of the blind ungodly world and when thou makest a great matter of their contempt or scorn or of their slanderous censures What! is the approbation of the eternal God so small a matter in thy eyes that the scorn of a fool can weigh it down or move the ballance with thee If a feather were put into the scales against a mountain or the whole earth it should weigh as much as the esteem or dis-esteem of men their honouring thee or dishonouring thee should weigh against the esteem of God and the honour or dishonour that he puts upon thee as to any regard of the thing it self though as it reflecteth on God thou
your idle games or in spending the Lords day in idleness or sports as we have in the holy works of God Do you think our Delight is not more then yours To our shame but to the praise of God we must say that we have tryed both ways We know what it is to play away much of the Lords day and what it is to imploy it in waiting on the Lord. But since we knew the later we wish we had never known the former That 's our recreation which is your toile and that would be our prison and stocks and toile which is your sport and recreation 6. Another Delightful portion of our work is Holy Conference with the experienced servant of the Lord. There are many things considerable in holy conference that maketh it delightful 1. It is the conference of dearest friends the special Love that all the Godly have to one another doth exceedingly sweeten their communion The very presence of those that we most dearly love is a pleasure to us Much more their sweetest edifying discourse 2. Their conference proceedeth from the spirit of grace and therefore is gracious savouring of that spirit and all the breathings and manifestations of that blessed spirit are very acceptable to those that have the spirit themselves and so can savour spiritual things 3 Their conference is about the highest the most necessary the most excellent things About the most Blessed God and his several Attributes his will and works of Creation and disposing-Providence of nature and Grace about the wonderful mysteries of Redemption the person life and sufferings of the Redeemer his Offices and the performance of them on earth and in Heaven in his Humiliation and his Exaltation and of the sweet Relations that we and all his Church do stand in to Christ our Head our Saviour and Redeemer as also about the gracious workings of the Holy Ghost in first begetting and increase of holiness To open to each other the powerful workings of that Grace that hath raised them above all the creatures and brought them to a contempt of earthly glory and set their hearts on the invisible God and on eternal things that hath renewed them in the inner man and made them hate the things they loved and mortified their oldest strongest sins and quickned them in the exercise of every grace all this is edifying sweet discourse to gracious souls 4. And the rather because it is about the most pertinent affairs They are things that do so neerly concern us that we are glad to speak with those that understand them It is our own case which we hear our brethren open They speak our very hearts as if they had seen them because it is the same work of the same spirit that they describe Yea when they complain of their Infirmities it is with our complaints and they tell us of that which we are troubled with our selves and we perceive that we are not singular in our troubles but that our case is the case of other servants of the Lord. 5. And it is the more pleasant to converse with the Godly because they speak not by hearsay only but by experience They tell us of the discoveries that illuminating grace hath made to their own souls and of the many evils they have been saved from and the communion they have had with God and the prayers which he hath heard and the many and great deliverances he hath granted them They relate their conflicts with temptations and their conquests their strivings against their ancient lusts and how they have overcome them and the sweet refreshings which their souls have had in the exercise of Love and faith and hope They can dive into the Ocean of mercy and speak of the abundant kindness of the Lord and earnestly awaken and invite each other to praise him for his Goodness and to declare his wonderous works for the children of men They can direct each other in their difficulties and encourage each other in holy ways and strengthen one another in holy resolutions and comfort one another with the same comforts that they themselves have been comforted with by the Lord And may not our hearts rejoyce and burn within us while we discourse of such important things as these in such a serious experimental edifying manner They can discourse together of their meeting before the throne of Christ and of the blessed converse which they shall have in Heaven with the Lord himself and with the holy Angels and where they shall be and what they shall do to all eternity in the presence of God where is fulness of joy and before him where are the eternal pleasures O Christians did not your graces languish by your own neglects and your souls grow out of relish with these spiritual and most excellent things your speeches of them would be more savoury you would be more frequent lively and cheerful in your discourse of holy things and then your converse would be more edifying and delightful to each other We shew so little of Grace in our conference that makes it to be but little different from other mens And which is the commonest case and very doleful we most of us remain so ignorant and imprudent that we marr holy conference by our mixtures of unwise expressions and disgrace it to others by our injudicious weakness This is the bane of Christian discourse even the want of holy skill and wisdom and of understanding to speak of the things of God according to their transcendent worth and weight as much and more then the want of zeal But if we could discourse of these holy matters aright with wisdom and with seriousness how sweet how fruitful would the company of holy persons be We should be still among them as in the family of God and should hear that which our souls do most defire to hear and we should preach to one another the riches of grace in our familiar discourse and souls might be converted by the conference of Believers and not all left to the publike ministry Every man would be a helper to his neighbour For the tongue of the just is as choice silver though the heart of the wicked is little worth the lips of the righteous feed many but fools die for want of wisdom Prov. 10. 20 21. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge Prov. 15. 7. Righteous lips are the delight of Kings Prov. 16. 13. and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning v. 21. The lips of Knowledge are a precious Jewel Prov. 20. 15. A mans belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled Prov. 18. 20. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgement the Law of his God is in his heart Psal 37. 30 31. Tell me I beseech you you that can be so merry in an Ale-house or in any vain and idle company why should you think that it is not to us a
and death into life as being unworthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed But the wicked have none of these delights unless they steal a little by self-deceit They may make their best of their present pleasures and of the cup while it is at their mouths and of their wealth and honour while it is in their hands but its little pleasure that they can fetch from Heaven The thought of it may rather feed their terrours What pleasure they can pick out of the dirt let them make their best of But heavenly pleasures are above their reach So much for the Objects of a Holy life from whence a Believer may fetch his pleasure Object But you tell us only of the Pleasant part but the troublesome and bitter part you say nothing of Answ Come on and say your worst of a Holy life and tell us which is that bitter part Object 1. The scripture requireth us to mortifie the flesh to renounce the world to forbear our Pleasures to deny our selves and to take up our Cross and follow Christ and will you call this a pleasant life Answ And do you indeed think this so sad a business Here are three things contained in this objection as the matter that seemeth so displeasing to you 1. The parting with your sins 2. The sufferings that are principally for sin 3. The sufferings that are principally for the cause of Christ 1. And do you think that sin is so lovely a thing that a man cannot live merrily without it sin is the breach of the Laws of God and the injury of the Heavenly Majesty and the provocation of his hot displeasure and the poison and sickness of the soul And is it your sport to abuse the Lord Is your pleasure gone if you may not injure the God that made you What natures what sinful hearts have you that must have such pleasures Cannot a man live merrily unless he may provoke the God of Heaven and trample upon mercy and despise salvation Can you not live in pleasure unless you may drink poyson or keep your sickness or tumble in the dirt One would think that mischief to our selves or others should be small pleasure to an honest mind It s no pleasure to you to spit in the face of your dearest friends or to abuse your parents or to provoke your neighbours and is it such pleasure as you cannot forsake to abuse the Lord and wrong your souls The pleasures of sin do tend to pain some pain doth usually attend it here and much more hereafter God would prevent your pain and misery by preventing or destroying your sin And do you accuse his word because it would keep you from so costly so bitter so dangerous delights It is for your Pleasure that this pleasure is forbidden you The sweeeness of the poyson of sin will be soon gone when the gripings of the tormented Conscience do remain You will forbear the most delightful fruits or drinks if your Physicion tell you they will hazzard your life or torment you afterward You are short-sighted and short-witted and look but to the present relish of things and choose them if you taste them sweet but God looks to your everlasting pleasures So that you may well reckon it among the pleasures of a holy life that you have such preservatives against the greatest sorrows and that you are kept from the pleasures that will be bitterness in the latter end Yea at the present hath not drunkenness more trouble attending it then sobriety Reckon up the consuming of mens estates the troubles of their families the sicknesses of their bodies the shame and contempt that it bringeth on them here and the wounds of their consciences and tell me whether it were not more pleasure to forbear those cups then to drink them And hath not Gluttony more trouble attending it then temperance By that time the charge be paid the sickness that fulness breedeth be endured the physicion paid and all the effects of gluttony overcome you will find that the pleasure was little to the pain The like I may say of Uncleanness worldliness passion pride and all other sins that usually bring a punishment with them 2. And then for Castigatory sufferings it is not Godliness that is the cause of them as sufferings Sin less and suffer less Provoke not God and he will spare the rod. Do you hurt your selves like careless children and then blame God for bidding you Take heed God doth not punish men for Holiness and well doing It is for want of Holiness that you are punished I think therefore that it is part of the Pleasure of a Holy life that it keeps men out of the way of punishment You must have pain and unpleasant physick when once you have taken a surfet of sensual delight and made your selves sick with too much of the creature Holiness would have prevented this And when that 's too late it would cure it by the cheapest means that your health will bear Is it not then unreasonable when you have troubled your selves to blame your physicion for troubling you in order to a cure 3. And for those sufferings that are principally for Christ conâ—ider 1. That they are also originally from sin and therefore you may know what to blame for the bitter part Though the Time and place and manner and measure of your sufferings may proceed from the gracious providence of your Lord yet that supposeth that sin had brought you into a state of suffering in general before which Christ did not presently and plenarily remit and take off but disposeth of them by his wisdom as may make most for his Glory and your good 2. And will you grudge at a little transitory pain that is usually requited with comforts in this life and rewarded with pleasures unspeakable hereafter You grudge not to cast away your seed in hope of an increase at harvest nor do you murmur at your daily labour if it be but blessed with success And will you grudge to pass through sufferings to glory and to fow in tears that you may reap in joy It is but few that suffer Martyrdom or any great matter for the cause of Christ especially in our dayes And those few have usually more joy then sorrow If you knew the joyes of Martyrs you would never so shrink at the sufferings of Martyrs And for a few mocks and scorns of foolish men it is scarcely worth the name of a suffering Nor is it so much as wicked men suffer in their sin As Godliness is a shame among the foolish wicked men so wickedness is a shame among all that are pious wise and sober And why should not the shame of sin be more loathed then the undeserved shame of honesty Alas all this is nothing to the sorrows of the ungodly A little of the vinegar of affliction will make us relish our prosperity the better and through our frailtie is become a necessary sauce to that luscious state
the God of the whole earth For a small moment may he forsake us but with great mercy will he gather us In a little wrath he may hide his face from us for a moment but with everlasting kindness will he have mercy on us saith the Lord our Redeemer As he swore that the waters of Noah should no more goe over the earth so hath he sworn that he will not be wroth with his people nor rebuke them For the mountains shall depart and the hills shall be removed but his kindness shall not depart from us nor the covenant of his peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on us Isa 54. 5 to 19. For his anger endureth but for a moment in his favour is life weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psal 30. 5. Storms may arise that may affright us but how quickly will they all be over Come my people saith the Lord Isa 26. 20. enter into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment untill the indignation be overpast And as the momentany sorrow of the Godly is forgotten in everlasting Joy so the Joy of the wicked is but for a moment and is drowned in everlasting sorrows Job 20. 4 5 6 7 8 9. Knowest thou not this of old since man was placed upon earth That the triumphing of the wicked is short and the Joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment Though his excellency mount up to the heavens and his head reach unto the clouds yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung They which have seen him shall say Where is he He shall flie away as a dream and shall not be found Yea he shall be chased away as a vision of the night the eye also which saw him shall see him no more neither shall his place any more behold him Job 21. 12 13. They take the Timbrell and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organs they spend their daies in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave It would grieve a considerate believer to look on a worldly sensual gallant in the midst of his vain-glory or any unsanctified man in his mirth and pleasure and to think where that man will shortly be and how the case will be altered with him and where his sport and mirth will leave him As it would sadden our hearts to see one of them struck dead in the place or to see the Devil fetch them away and spoil the game so should it grieve us to fore-see the stroak of death and the condemnation of their souls to everlasting misery And can that man much value the pleasure of ungodly men that doth fore-see this end Would you not laugh at him that were a Prince but for a day and must be the scorn of the world to morrow or that would choose one day of mirth and pleasure though he knew it would fill the rest of his life with pain and misery If folly and stupidity were any wonder it were a wonder that ungodly men can be merry when their consciences tell them that they are not sure to stay one hour out of Hell nor to hold on their mirth till the end of the game But while they are saying Soul take thy ease eat drink and be merry they may suddenly be told from God Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and then whose is thy wealth and then where is thy sport and mirth Luke 12. 19 20. As the tender flowers and Roses of the Spring do fall before the nipping Frosts and will not live in Winter storms no more will your fading mirth endure the frowns of God the face of death nor scarce a serious fore-thought of the day that you are near And such matter of horrour is continually before you while you are under the wrath and curse of God in a carnal unregenerate state that you are beholden to folly security and stupidity for that ease which hindreth your everlasting ease So that all things considered I must seriously profess that however the ungodly have some pleasant dreams and may live a while in carelesness and stupidity or fleere in the face while the beginning of hell is in their consciences yet I must judge that a life of Faith and Holiness are unspeakably sweet if it were but for this that they save the Conscience from the gripes and fears and terrible thoughts that either sometime feed on the ungodly or are ready to devour their mirth and them So sad and frightful a thing it is to be unsanctified and in a state of sin that it is an high commendation of the delights of Holiness that they so much deliver us from those grievous terrours and are so powerful an Antidote to preserve the heart from the wickeds pangs and desperation Believe it when conscience death and judgement are the messengers to declare your endless sorrows you will then wish and ten thousand times wish that you had some of the Faith and Holiness of the Saints to be a Cordial to your sinking hearts and then you would take it as a matter of unspeakable joy to be found in such a state as you now count sad and melancholy Ask but a dying man whether fleshly pleasure or Godliness be the sweeter thing Now when the delusions of prosperity are gone which do men most relish and which is it that they would own By the consent of all the wise men in the world I may well conclude that a Holy life is incomparably the most pleasant BUT I know there are many things that seem to cross all this that I have spoken which will be the matter of the Objections of ungodly men and therefore must have an answer before we pass any further And the principal Objection is from the too common case of those that fear God who walk so sadly and doubt and complain and mourn so frequently and shew so little chearfulness and joy when many of the ungodly live in mirth that you will think I speak against experience when I say that a life of Holiness is so pleasant and therefore that it is not to be believed You will say Do we not see the contrary in the sadness of their faces and hear it in their sad lamenting words To this I must give many particulars in answer which when you have laid together you may see that all this makes nothing against the Pleasantness of the waies of God And 1. You must difference between the Entrance into holiness and the Progress and between a new beginner that is but lately turned from his ungodliness and one that hath had time to try and understand the wayes of God Those that are entering or but newly come in must needs have sorrow But what is the cause of it Not their Godliness but their ungodliness I mean It is their ungodliness which they lament though it be godliness that causeth them to
mend his rellish and cure his ingratitude And will you do so your selves by Christ and Holiness and say as those Mal. 1. 13. What a weariness is it Take heed lest you provoke the Lord to cast you into a state in which you shall have more cause to be aweary If you are weary of reading and praying and hearing and other holy exercises and weary of heart-searching penitent meditations will you not be wearyer of Hell-fire and of the dolorous reviews of this your folly and of the endless easeless remediless sense of the wrath of God and gripes of your own self-tormenting consciences How just is it with God to give those men somewhat that they have cause to be aweary of that will be thus aweary of his sweetest service and reject the greatest mercies he can offer them as if they were some burdensom worthless things 3. Will you have any pleasure at all or will you have none If any in what then will you place it and whence will you expect it if not from God in a holy life If God be thy trouble what then is fit to be thy delight Darest thou say in thy heart or with thy tongue that sin and sensuality is better Darest thou say that a good bargain or other worldly gain or cards or dice or other sports or ease or good chear or an Ale-house or a Whore are pleasanter things then walking with thy God in faith and holiness and expectation of the everlasting joyes Heaven and earth shall bear witness against thee and common Reason shall bear witness against thee for this inhumane impious folly and ingratitude if ever thou appear at the barr of God with the guilt of such unreasonable sin What! is God no better in thine eyes then a filthy brutish sinful pleasure and is the Love of God no sweeter a work then the Love of sensual delights Saith blessed Augustine He that will sell or exchange his soul for transitory commodities doth censure Christ to be a foolish Merchant that knew no better what he aâ—â— when he gave his Life for those souls that you will not lose a sin for So I may say here Hath Christ bought for you Holy and Everlasting pleasures at the price of his own most bitter pains and precious blood and do you now think them no better then your fleshly beastial delights Is it Christ or you think you that is mistaken in the value of them Did he shed his blood to purchase you that which is not worth the parting with a cup of drink for or the parting with your pleasure or unjust commodity for Sure he that judgeth thus of Christ is far from believing in him with any true Christian saving Faith 4. If you can find no pleasure in God and in a holy life you may be sure that he will have no pleasure in you Wonder not if you find in your greatest need that you are abhorred and loathed by the Lord when you loathed the very thoughts and mention of him in the day of your visitation Marvail not if the most Holy God do take no pleasure in a leathsem sinner when the sinner is so ungodly that he takes more pleasure in the most sordid fading trifles then in God You may offer the sacrifice of your heartless hypocritical prayers and praises unto God and he will count them abomination and cast them back as dung into your faces and tell you that he hath no pleasure in the sacrifice of such fools Read it in his own words Prov 15. 8. 21. 27. Isa 1. 13. Eccles. 5. 4. As you are weary of serving him so he is â—â—â—ary of your services and it is a trouble to him 〈…〉 them and when you spread forth your hands he will hide his eyes from you yea when you make many prayers he will not hear Isa 1. 14 15. When the Jews offered their lame deceitful sacrifices and said Behold what a weariness is it God sends them word that he hath â—o pleasure in them nor would regard their persons nor accept a sacrifice at their hands Mal. 1. 8 9 10. and their solemn feasts he counteth dung And dung would be no acceptable present or seast to your selves if it were offered you instead of meat Mal. 2. 3. My soul saith the Lord loathed them and their soul abhorred me Zech 11. 8. As he that despiseth him shall be lightly esteemed by him 1 Sam. 2. 30. So he that loatheth him shall be loathed by him If any man draw back saith the Lord my soul shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10. 38. For he is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him the foolish shall not stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity Psalm 5. 4 5. And little do you now imagine what a horrour it will be to you in the day of your extremity for God to tell you that he hath no pleasure in you When you look before you into an eternity of woe which you have no hope to escape but by the mercy of the Lord and he shall dash that hope by telling you that he hath no pleasure in you it will give your souls the deadly wound that never shall be healed In vain then shall you wish that you had chosen in time the durable delights and not the pleasures of filthy sin for so short a season and to your torment you shall know whether God or the world was more worthy of your sweetest affections and delights and how deservedly they are all damned that obeyed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2. 12. Who knowing the judgement of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them Rom. 1. 32. If you will count it your pleasure to ryot in the day-time rather then to walk and work by the light you must look to receive the due reward of such unrighteousness 2 Pet. 2. 13. If it be your sport to sin and to do mischief Prov. 10. 23. you shall have small sport in suffering the punishment of your willful folly 5. If God and Holiness seem not pleasant to you then Heaven it self cannot seem pleasant to you if you consider it truly as it is For the Heavenly felicity consisteth in the perfection of our Holiness and the perfect fruition of God himself by Sight and Love and Joy for ever If the little Holiness be unpleasant and irksom to you which appeareth in the imperfect Saints on earth what pleasure could you take in that supereminent Holiness which is the state and work of the celestial inhabitants If the thoughts and mention of God be unpleasant to you and his holy praises do seem to you as matters of no delight What then would you do in heaven where this must be your everlasting work And if Heaven seem a place of toyle and trouble to you how just will it be that
worse then the creature and Heaven then earth and so much worse as not to be endured in your thoughts and affections in comparison of them You will never know your friends till you forsake these deceivers Nor ever know the Pleasures of a Holy life till you will let go the poysonous pleasures of sin And then you may find that Sanctification destroyeth not but changeth and recovereth your Delights and giveth you safety for the greatest peril health for sickness friends for enemies gold for dross life for death and the fore-tasts of Rest for tiring vexation 2. THE second sort that are hence to be Reproved are Those weak and troubled servants of the Lord that live as sadly as if they found more grief then pleasure in the wayes of God Indeed it is to be lamented that few of the heirs of life do live according to the happiness and dignity of their Calling nor are the great things that God hath done for them so apparent in the cheerfulness and comforts of their lives as they should be But some that are addicted to dejectedness do in a greater measure wrong Christ and themselves being alwayes feeding upon secret griefs and torturing themselves with doubts and fears and acquainted with almost no other language but lamentations self-accusations and complaints These poor souls usually discover honest hearts that are weary of sin and low in their own eyes and long to be better and do not dis-regard the matters of their salvation as dead-hearted ungodly sinners do Their complaints shew what they would be and what they would be sincerely that they are in Gods account But yet they live so far below the sweet delights which they might partake of and so far below the provisions of their Fathers house and the riches of the Gospel that they have cause to lament their excessive lamentations and more cause to reform this sad distemper and no cause to indulge it as usually such do And though with the most of them some natural passions and weaknesses and some melancholy distempers are so much the cause as may much excuse them yet because it is an evil which must be disowned and Reason must be the means where people have the free use of Reason I shall lay down some of the great inconveniences of this sad distemper and beseech those that tender the honour of God and would do that which is most pleasing to him and love not their own calamity that they will soberly consider of what I say and labour to regulate their minds accordingly 1. I desire the dejected Christian to consider that by his heavy and uncomfortable life he seemeth to the world to accuse God and his service as if he openly called him a rigorous hard unacceptable master and his work a sad unpleasant thing I know this is not your thoughts I know it is your selves and not God and his service that offendeth you and that you walk not heavily because you are holy but because you fear you are not holy and because you are no more holy I know it is not of grace but for grace that you complain But do you not give too great occasion to ignorant spectators to judge otherwise If you see a servant alwayes sad that was wont to be merry while he served another master will you not think that he hath a master that displeaseth him If you see a woman live in continual heavyness ever since she was marryed that lived merrily before will you not think that she hath met with an unpleasing match You are born and new born for Gods honour and will you thus dishonour him before the world What do you in their eyes but dispraise him by your very countenance and carriage while you walk before him in so much heaviness The child that still cryes when you put on his shoes doth signifie that they pinch him and he dispraiseth his meat that makes a sower face at it And he dispraiseth his friend that is alway sad and troubled in his company He that should say of God Thou art bad or cruel and unmerciful should blaspheme And so would he that saith of Holiness It is a bad unpleasant hurtful state How then dare you do that which is so like to such blaspheming when you should abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5. 22. Canst thou find in thy heart thus to dishonour and wrong the God whom thou so much esteemest and the grace which thou so much desirest For a wicked man that is far from God to go heavily or roar in the horrour of his soul is a shame to his sin but no dishonour to God and Holiness But for you that are near him in relation engagement and attendance to walk so heavily reflects on him to whom you are Related and from whom you look for your Reward 2. Consider also What a lamentable hinderance you are hereby to the conversion and salvation of souls Your countenances and sad complainings do affright men from the service of the Lord and as it were call to them to keep off and fly from the way that you find so grievous You gratifie Satan the enemy of Christ and Holiness and souls and become his instruments though against your wills to affright men from the way of life As the Papists keep their deluded Proselytes abroad from Truth and Reformation by giving them odious descriptions of the Protestants as if they were Hereticks proud frantick mad and scarcely men and when they burn them they adorn them with pictures of the Devil even so doth Satan keep poor souls from entertaining Christ and Truth and entering the holy pathes by making them believe that the servants of Christ are a company of distempered melancholy souls and that Godliness is the way to make men mad and that he that will set his heart on Heaven must never look more for a merry comfortable life on earth Hence comes the proverb of the Malignant Formalists and Prophane that A Puritane is a Protestant frightened out of his wits And will you confirm this slander of the Devil and his instruments Will you entice men to believe him Will you make your selves such pictures of unhappiness and wear such a Vizor of calamity and misery as shall frighten all that look on you and observe you and discourage them from the way which they see accompanyed with so much sorrow As you hang up dead crows in your field to frighten the rest from the Corn and as murderers are hanged in irons to terrifie all that see them from that crime or as the heads of Traytors are set up to the same end as proclaiming to all passengers Thus must you be used if you will do as they Just so would Satan fill you with terrours and overwhelm you with grief and distract you with causeless doubts and fears that you may appear to the world a miserable sort of people and then all that look on you will be afraid of Godliness and think they see it
Sing unto the Lord sing Psalms unto him talk of all his wonderous works Glory ye in his holy name let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord Psal 105. 1 2 3. The Saints shall shout aloud for joy Psal 132. 9 16. Be glad in the Lord O ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Psal 32. 11. Behold my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed Behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall houle for vexation of spirit Isa 65. 13 14. Abundance such passages tell you what manner of persons it is that God delighteth in and what he would have you be and doe These I have recited to shame the godly out of their undecent troubles and dejectedness as you would shew a child his face in a glass when he cryeth that he may see how he deformeth it The very Kingdom of God consisteth in righteousness and Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost If you would live as is most pleasixg unto God and as beseemeth those that are indeed believers let the joy of believers be as far as is possible your ordinary frame And if by sin you wound your souls and bring smart upon your selves dwell not in that wounded smarting state but go to your Physicions and beg of God that he will restore to you the joy of his salvation and make you to hear the voice of joy and gladness that your broken heart and bones may rejoyce Psa 51. 8 12. And take notice throughout all the Scripture whether you find the servants of God so much complaining of their want of assurance and of their frequent doubtings of their own sincerity and his love I think you will find this a very rare thing in the ancient Saints They were sensible of sin as well as we and they were as sensible of Gods afflicting hand and oft as Job David Hezekiah c. complained under it perhaps with some excess and too much questioning Gods favour to them as if he had forsaken them But besides and without any such affliction to live in ordinary trouble of mind through the doubting of their sincerity and of Gods special love and to be exercised in the complaining and disconsolate way as now abundance of Christians are this I find little of the Scripture Saints The reason was not because they had more holiness and less sin than many that now are thus cast down For the Gospel time excelleth theirs in degrees of grace and I think the greater care that Christians have of their hearts and of inward rectitude and communion with God and their fuller apprehensions of the life to come and so of their greatest hopes and dangers is one great cause But yet there are worse concurring causes The Love of God and his readiness to shew mercy should not be more questioned now when it is so abundantly revealed by Christ then it was in times of darker revelation The servants of God did formerly conceive that nothing but sin could make man miserable and therefore when they had sinned they repented and instead of continuing doubts and fears they bent their resolutions against their sins and having cast away their gross and wilful sins and continuing the conflict against their unavoidable infirmities which they hated they knew that the door of mercy was still open to them and that if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father who is the propitiation The time that is now spent in doubting and complaining and asking How shall I know that I sincerely repent was then spent in Repenting and reforming and using the means that God hath appointed for the conquering of sin and then trusting to his grace and Covenant in the blood of Christ for pardon And it would be better with us if we did thus Judge now by all these Scriptures and by the course of former Saints how God would have you behave your selves Do you not read an hundred times of their joy and thanks and praising God and calling upon others to praise him for once that they perplexedly question their sincerity But perhaps youâ—le say that your strength is so weak and your sins and enemies so strong and all your duty so imperfect and unworthy that having such continual cause of trouble you cannot choose but walk in heaviness and in fears I answer you 1. But why do you not tell what you have as well as what you want Have you not greater cause to say My sins being mortified at the root and all forgiven and my soul renewed and reconciled unto God and I being made an heir of Heaven how can I choose but live in joy 2. Are you heartily willing to forsake your sins and overcome the things of which you so complain or are you not If you are not why do you complain of them and why will you not consent to let them go and use Gods means to overcome them If you are willing then they are but your pardoned infirmities For that 's the difference between infirmities and reigning sins Whatsoever sin consisteth with a greater Habitual willingness to avoid that and all other sin then to keep them is but an Infirmity for it stands with present saving grace and is always Habitually or virtually repented of and actually when grace by knowledge and consideration hath opportunity and advantage to produce the act 3. And when once you are truly ingraffed into Christ he is your worthiness and your righteousness and the treasury of your souls and what you want in your own possession you have in his hands and as what you have is but his gift so what you want he is able and ready to supply Look not too much to your selves as if your safety and happiness were principally in your own hand God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his son He that hath the son hath life 1 Joh. 5. 10 11. It is through him that we can do all things so far as he strenghteneth us and without him we can do nothing Make use of him therefore as the Lord of life and joyfully acknowledge all that you receive and stand not dejectedly lamenting that you need him If you would have the waters of life goe to the fountain and do not sit down and fruitlesly vex your selves with complaining of your wants instead of seeking for supplyes Is there not an all sufficient Physicion of souls at hand Doth he not freely offer you his help what though you are not suddenly cured wounds may be caused in an hour but they use not to be cured in an houre Stay his time and use his remedies and cheerfully trust him and you shall find the cure successfully go on though it will not be finished till death 5. Consider also that it must needs be the best and most desirable life which is likest to our life in Heaven And therefore as Heaven is a state of Joy so Joy
is the highest and best condition on earth He is the best and happyest man that is likest to the glorified Saints and Angels And judge your selves whether a dejected or a rejoycing Christian be liker to these inhabitants of Heaven Object But you will say by that rule we should not mourn at all for they do not Whereas God delighteth in the contrite soul Christ blesseth mourners and weepers Answ 1. Your resemblance of the Saints in Heaven must be propertionable in all the parts You must labour first to be as like them as you can in Holiness and then in Joy If you could be as far from sin as they you need not mourn at all But because you cannot you must have moderate regular sorrows and humiliation while you have sin But yet withall you must endeavour to imitate the heavenly Joyes according to the measure of your Grace received 2. And it is such a regular contrition consisting in humble thoughts of our selves and tending to restore us from our falls and sorrows unto our integrity and joy which God delighteth in And it is such mourners as these and such as suffer for righteousness sake from men that Christ pronounceth blessed But the inordinate troubles of the soul that exclude a holy delight in God though he pardon yet he never doth encourage 6. Consider also that a great part of your Religion yea and the most high and excellent part doth consist in the causes form and effects of this holy joy and chearfulness 1. As to the causes of it they are such as in themselves are requisite to the very being of the new creature Faith and Love which are the Head and Heart of sanctifying grace are the causes of our spiritual joy An unwilling heavy forced obedience may proceed from meeâ— Fears and this will not prove an upright heart But when once we Believe Everlasting Glory and Love Christ as our Saviour and the Father as our Father and felicity and Love a holy frame of heart and life as the image of God and that which pleaseth him then our obedience will be chearful and delightful unless accidentally we trouble our selves by our own mistakes If you can truly make God and his will and service your Delight you may be sure you Love him and are beloved by him as being past the state of slavish fear 2. And I have shewed you that Joy in the Holy-Ghost is it self one part of that grace in which Gods Kingdom doth consist Though not such a part as a Christian cannot possibly be without yet such as is exceeding suitable to his state and necessary to his more happy being 3. And without this holy Delight and Joy you will deny God a principal part of his service How can you be thankful for the great mercies of your Justification Sanctification Adoption and all the special graces you have received or for your hopes of Heaven it self as long as you are still doubting whether any of these mercies are yours or not and almost ready to say that you never received them Nay you will be less thankful for your health and life and food and wealth and all common mercies as doubting leâ—t they will prove but aggravations of your sin and misery And for the great and excellent work of Praise which should be your daily sacrifice but specially the work of each Lords day how unfit is a doubting drooping distressed soul for the performance of it You stiffle holy Love within you and stop your mouthes when they should be speaking and singing the praises of the Lord and disable your selves from the most high and sweet and acceptable part of all Gods service by your unwarrantable doubts and self-vexations And when all these are laid aside how poor and lean a service is it that is left you to perform to him Even a few tears and complaints and prayers which I know God will mercifully accept because even in your desires after him there is Love but yet it is far short of the service which you might perform Nay your Heavenly-mindedness will be much supprest as long as you are sadly questioning whether ever you shall come thither and it will be yours or not 7. Are you not ashamed to see the servants of the Devil and the world so jocund and your selves so sad that serve the Lord Will you go mourning so inordinately to Heaven when others go so merrily to Hell Will you credit Satan and Sin so much as to perswade men by your practice that sin affordeth more pleasure and content then Holiness 8. You could live merrily your selves before your Conversion while you served sin And will you walk so dejectedly now you have repented of it As if you had changed for the worse or would make men think so I know you would not for all the world be what you were before your change Why then do you live as if you were more miserable then before 9. You would be loth so long to resist the sanctifying work of the Spirit And why should you not be loth to resist its comforting work It is the same Holy Ghost that you resist in both Nay you dare not so open your mouthes for wickedness and plead against Sanctification it self as you open them on the behalf of your sinful doubtings and plead for your immoderate dejections If you should how vile would you appear 10. Lastly consider that God will lay sufferings enow upon you for your sins and suffer wicked men to lay enow on you for well doing and you need not lay more upon your selves You have need to use all means for strength to bear the burdens that you must undergo and it is the joy of the Lord and the hopes of Glory that are your strength And will you cast away the only supports of your soul and sink when the day of suffering comes How will you bear poverty or reproach or injuries how will you meet approaching death if you feed your doubts of your salvation and of the Love of God in Christ which must corroborate you O weaken not your souls that are too weak already Weaken not your souls that have so much to do and suffer and that of so great necessity and importance While you complain of your weakness encrease it not by unbelieving uncomfortable complaints Gratifie not the Devil and wicked malicious men so far as to inflict on your selves a greater calamity then all their malice and power could inflict It is a madness in them that will please the Devil to the displeasing of God though the pleasing of their own flesh be it that moveth them to it But for a man to please the Devil and displease God even when he displeaseth his own flesh by it also and bringeth nothing but sorrow to himself by it this is in some respects more unreasonable then madness it self Many cast away their souls for Riches and Honours and carnal accommodations but who would do it for poverty sickness or disgrace So