in the mire and pit thou didst advance me into thy Fathers bosom I lay trembling under the jaws of the hellish Dragon thou gavest me a place in the heart of God I was unworthy of thy gracious Aspect and thou hast made me capable of being embraced by the Great and Terrible God I lay in a Dungeon thou didst promote me to a Throne thou hast done that for me which I durst not have hoped or wish'd for it had been enough to have deliver'd me from Hell but that would not content thee except I were raised above the Heavens and above Angels too it had been favour enough when my condition was so desperate if thou hadst parchas'd for me a suspension or forbearance of thy Fathers Anger but thou didst go further and didst purchase me a Pardon too and not satisfied with that thou didst incline thy Fathers love to me and as if that had not been enough thou didst procure me Gifts and Blessings too and not only Blessings in general but the greatest Blessing imaginable even thine own Kingdom and thine own Heritage How unworthy have I lived of this incomprehensible Love O that I might not be able to reflect upon my life without indignation Thou art the way the truth and the life direct me and I 'll strive to enter in at the strait Gate purify my Spirit wash my Soul with thy Bloud that 's the Eye-salve which will make me see that 's the Medicine which will cure my blindness O cleanse me and I shall be whiter than Snow O thou inexhausted Fountain of Goodness let me not goe away dry from thee let the light of thy countenance always shine about me and by that light let me discover not only my grosser sins but my more secret corruptions Draw me after thee and I shall run hide me in thy wounds be my Advocate and plead my Cause thou spreadest open thy Arms to all that desire Rest behold I come receive me Graciously love me Freely teach me to relye on thee My Joy my Treasure my Sovereign Comfort cause all the fruits of the Spirit to grow in my Soul O help me or else I perish O assist me or else I faint my Conscience terrifies me O do thou speak peace unto it the roaring Lion threatens to devour me O shew thy gliterring Sword and drive him away Gods anger burns against me O throw some drops of thy Bloud into that fire and it will goe out Let me be content to sell all for thee let me not scruple to part even with the best things I have for thy service set me as a seal upon thy Heart stream down the waters of Life upon me I 'll open my mouth wide O do thou fill it I will live to my self no more possess all my faculties and unite them to thee make me truly acquainted with my self let those joys thou hast promised to thy Saints support me in all my tribulations Come Lord Jesus come quickly O Thou Blessed and Eternal Spirit vouchsafe to breath upon me blow upon my Garden that the Spices may flow move powerfully upon my Soul that it may bring forth fruits meet for Repentance Let me be truly afraid to resist thy suggestions Sanctify and give success to all my attempts to make my Calling and Election sure when my stubborn heart would baffile thy designs to save me let thy Grace overcome and conquer me represent the love of God to me in that Glory that I may instantly throw down all I have at the feet of Christ O let my Soul be so dazled with its beams that I may desire and breathe after nothing so much as after a Glorious enjoyment of God Break the chains of my sins command the Fetters I have been bound in to fly asunder whatever good thoughts I have of God increase them enlarge my Soul that I may truly delight in thinking of thee let me feel the sweetness of Holiness let me taste those joys which thou dost vouchsafe to those that improve thy motions tempt me by a foretaste of Heavens Glory to lay force upon it Give me a glimpse of yonder Paradise that I may not faint in my journey give me arguments against my self that I may be deliver'd from my self Fill all the channels of my Soul with thy gifts while I sojourn here on Earth let my heart be in Heaven let not self-love in me hinder me from loving thee Take my heart away and give me thy self be thou my heart and all my delight wherever I am be thou my Director let thy word be my rule and enable me to live according to that rule O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity one God thou immense Sea of happiness make me to know what it is to be one with thee O thou everlasting Goodness O thou everlasting Wisdom O thou everlasting Sweetness grant I may see thee seeing may love thee loving may admire thee admiring may imitate thee and imitating thee may enjoy thee enjoying thee may never be separated from thee but live in thy Light and Love and Glory to all Eternity FINIS Acts 14.11 * Aen. Sylvius Psal. 18.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hagg. 1.5 7. 1 Sam. 15.14 * Tertullian Apolog. c. 50. * Id. Ibid. * Tertull. lib de patientia c. 14. Erumpentes bestiolas in eosdem specus pastus foraminosae carnis ludendo revocibat 1 Pet. 5.8 Matth. 4.3 Eph. 6 12. Sucton in Calig vid. Euseb. Nierem de ador lib. 1. c. 〈◊〉 seq
Soul Is this giving all diligence to make my calling and election sure when I am infinitely more concerned how to secure a small sum of Money than I am to secure those Treasures which fade not away Will God give a reward to Men that stand yawning and stretching themselves in his Vineyard unresolv'd whether they shall work or no A reward indeed they shall have but such a reward as hypocrites receive a reward from which Good Lord deliver us And am I so stupified that nothing of all this can move me neither the Glory of God nor the interest of my Soul nor all that can be said against my want of Zeal and fervency of Spirit Were these reason laid home by serious consideration it would rowze the Soul from her slumber and make her see how dangerous her rest is and how deer that sleep will cost her she is for the present lull'd in if it be not suddenly dispell'd and scatter'd but want of consideration makes the careless sinner fancy God such a one as himself one that is pleas'd with his indifferency in Religion as well as himself this is it makes him entertain very gross absurd and unreasonable conceits concerning that all Wise most Excellent and most lovely Being despise a Treasure of infinite value trample on the pearl of price and forget what the hope of God's calling is and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the Saints Had the Covetous but a Heart to think with himself vain foolish man How loath am I to confess my self guilty of this vice How do I deceive my self with the fair names of good Husbandry and Frugality but will these delusions stand the fire Will these Paper Walls be proof against everlasting burnings if there be such a sin as covetousness and that sin so odious to God and his Holy Angels as Christ and his Apostles make it and so great an impediment to everlasting happiness as the Scripture represents it it must needs be worth knowing whether I am infected with this plague especially since my behaviour and actions look as if I were why should the Apostle call this sin Idolatry but because it makes men set their affections on the World more than upon that which is to come and more on their Riches Estate or Incomes than upon God and everlasting Glory whereby God is robb'd of his Honor and that high Esteem and Love which is God's due as he is God is given to be creature which in Gods sight is Lighter than nothing and vanity and is not this my case How is my Soul fix'd upon this World How close doth my heart stick to the profits and advantages it affords How is my Soul bound up with my Corn and Wine and Oyl How do I fancy that all my happiness is gone when these outward comforts are gone Did sin ever grieve me a quarter so much as a temporal loss Did offending a Gracious God ever cost me the tenth part of the Tears I shed for being deprived of a little shining Clay How hearty is my joy under the blessings of Gods left hand How little am I affected with the blessings of his right How far greater satisfaction doth my thriving in the world give me than my thriving in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ How loath am I to honour God with my substance How unwillingly how grudgingly do I part with any thing considerable for Charitable uses How loath am I to part with any of this worlds Goods for Gods service How happy do I count my self when Religion doth cost me nothing How loath am I to be any at charges for Heaven How doth it grieve me when I spend any thing upon Religion How do I dote upon these sublunary vanities How far greater pains do I take to be rich than to be happy for ever How can I dispense with a sin for profits sake How little of my desires and breathings hath God and a bleeding Saviour How dull am I under the most lively descriptions of the joys of Heaven How dull under the stupendous offers of Grace and Mercy How dead under the joyful message of pardon How dull when tempted by all the ravishing arguments of Gods love to love him above all What means my unwillingness to take God for my greatest portion What means that quickness sagacity and wisdom when my Riches Plenty or worldly prosperity is concerned and that strange dumpishness when God courts and beseeches my Soul to lay hold on Eternal Life Are not these evident signs that the World draws and attracts my Heart most powerfully God sees my Heart is not upright with him he sees I am afraid to take up with him alone he sees how covetousness hath possess'd my Soul and can I cherish this root of an evil in my Breast and not tremble at the danger my Soul is in Am I by the Apostles verdict an Idolater and do I make light of so great a guilt if no Idolater must expect a Crown of Glory alas what can I look for but Eternal Darkness when I read that it 's easier for a Camel to enter through the eye of a Needle than for a rich man who sets his heart on his Riches to enter into Heaven am not I frighted with the expression I find how this sin deprives me of a Holy communion with God and shall I loose my greatest comfort and support and satisfaction for it If any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him and can I be contented without the love of God if God be not my friend what doth the friendship of the whole World signify When my Soul must leave this Tabernacle and appear before Gods Barr O God I shall have so many witnesses against me that I shall not know what to say or whether to betake my self for refuge the Poor will accuse me because I have not open'd my Hand and Heart to them my own Conscience will accuse me because I have not been a good Steward of the means God gave me the Ministers of God will accuse me because whatever was laid out upon my Pride and Lust was thought too little and the least kindness I shew'd to those that wait at Gods Altar too much The Devils will accuse me because having a Soul so great so noble so precious I did employ it chiefly in scraping a little Dross and Dung together nay the Lord Jesus will accuse me because his example of contentedness and Heavenly mindedness would not allure me into imitation God will accuse me because having furnish'd me with all the motives and encouragements imaginable to mind Heaven more than Earth I preferr'd this Earth before all the joyes of Heaven and how shall I bear up under all this weight Would the poor deluded Worldling but let such thoughts sink into his Heart what a damp would it strike on his strong desires after the World and how would it make his immoderate love
Man or can I spend too much time in commemorating so glorious a Favour when God allows me six dayes in the week to follow the business of my lawful Calling cannot I allow one day entire for his service Are the concerns of my Soul so trivial that they do not deserve one day in the week or is Salvation so easy a thing that to spend much time in the contrivance of it is altogether needless I can allow a whole day sometimes two or three for the recreation of my Body and must my Soul have none to feast it self upon God and endless Glory Alas how little do those flashes of contemplating God in the week days which are so often interrupted by worldly businesses warm the Soul how little are mens affections wrought upon by those sits of Devotion except they take a whole day to warm their Souls at the beams of the Sun of Righteousness Alas How little seriousness doe I see in those Families where this day is not Religiously spent where every person is permitted to use their liberty and where the publick Exercises in the Church are not seconded by private Discourses and Prayers and Celebrations of the goodness of God where is my self-denial if I cannot deny my self in my worldly discourses or thoughts one day how can I hope my Spiritual wants and necessities should ever be discover'd to me except I do in my closet apply what I have heard in the House of God and water the incorruptible Seed that is sown in my Heart by self-examination that it may grow and sprout and bear Fruit O the joy the comfort the satisfaction I might reap from the sincere sanctification of this day how quietly might I lye down at night after so sweet a converse with God all day how soft would my rest be having worked in God's Vineyard so many hours how joyfully might I rise next morning and comfort my self with the happy remembrance of the blessings my Soul hath receiv'd the day before Thus to observe and to improve this day would be a Prologue to my everlasting rest a Preface to my Eternal repose in Abraham's bosom a Presage that I should e'r long rest from all Tears and sorrow and pain and anguish and from all the temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil and be admitted into the Quire of Angels to praise him day and night who lives for ever and ever In this manner all other Duties may be compass'd the Beauty Glory usefulness of them thus spread before the Understanding Will and Affections are apt to work upon these Faculties and they being prevail'd upon the Eyes the Ears the Hands the Feet will quickly do their part and shew their readiness to obey the commands of their superior Officers II. It helps men to improve external objects into very comfortable contemplations When I take a view of the Sun and Moon and Stars or reflect on the Air Fire Earth and Water Consideration may furnish me with very excellent Truths and the noblest Lessons of Religion Consideration can metamorphose objects and spiritualize them and find out the secret designs of the Almighty in those Creatures which the sensual man looks upon and like a Beast passes by without any admiration for after this manner it may argue Take wings O my Soul fly up to yonder Heaven where the Almighty hath set a Tabernacle for the Sun which is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoyces as a Giant to run his race Behold how this glorious Planet when he rises revives every living thing with his kindly beams and will not the increated Sun from whom this bright star borrows his shining rays when he shall rise unto the Spirits of Men made perfect in the last day fill them all with unspeakable joy and gladness and as a dismal uncomfortable darkness succeds when this created Sun doth leave our Hemisphere so think how dreadful how full of horror and disconsolateness that darkness must be which must unavoidably fall on wretched impenitent sinners that would take no warning when the increated Sun shall withdraw from them his beatifical Presence for ever behold this created Sun how many thousand kindnesses it bestowes upon Mankind and doth not this put thee in mind of the Father of Lights from whom every good and perfect Gift descends how much bigger is this shining Body than the whole Earrh and dost not thou remember how before thy God all Mankind are as Grashoppers or rather as the dust of the Ballance nay lighter than nothing and vanity The Sun that he may enlighten the whole World is forced to go from one place to another but thy God at one and the same time without moving his station can fill Heaven and Earth with his Glory Behold O my Soul the next great Light the Moon which the nearer it approaches the Sun the brighter it grows in that part which looks toward Heaven though it becomes darker in that part which looks towards the Earth and when it is opposite to the Sun looses all that brightness it had in its conjunction with the Sun and is only clouded in that part which respects this lower World and dost not thou see a very lively emblem of a converted and an unconverted sinner in this luminary Behold the nearer thou approachest the Sun of Righteousness in purity and holiness the greater luster and the greater happiness thou receivest the Inhabitants of Heaven behold thy brightness and Innocence and applaud it though sensual Men may be think thee all darkness all obscurity because thou dost not wallow in Works of darkness with them they may be look upon thee as mad and distracted because thou art so busy so earnest so zealous to please thy God and spendest so much time in praising and magnifying and glorifying of him but those that dwell in yonder Region of Light and Bliss know that then and not till then thou art master of thy Reason and dost act like a person that 's capable of being made partaker of the Divine Nature On the other side when thou turnest thy back upon God walk'st opposite and contrary to him whatever respect and credit thou may'st have from the World God and his Holy Angels look upon thee as darkness thy understanding which is that part which properly looks towards Heaven looses all its brightness and no marvel for God alone can satisfy it and he being gone that part must needs be perfect night and no marvel if upon this darkness thy love runs altogether for the world and thy affections are altogether carried out after the dross and Dung of this transitory Earth if thy thoughts are all engaged about the World all thy Speeches employ'd about the World and thou becom'st Wise for the World and loosest all thy wisdom for God and for Salvation O my Soul canst thou look upon the Sun and Moon and not remember how differently God deals with Triumphing Saints in Heaven and his militant Church here on
Love and consequently of being too Religious art thou afraid of being too much enamoured with this Jesus art thou afraid that the sight of his broken Body will break thy Heart too much art thou afraid that the sight of his effused Bloud will make thee pour out too many Tears and Prayers and Praises of his Love considering how dull how dead thou art thou hadst need come frequently to the Cross to have thy Affections suppled and softned with this precious Bloud how frail is thy memory and hadst not thou need of refreshing it often with the sight of Christs incomprehensible love art thou afraid of renewing thy Repentance thy Faith thy Hope thy Charity too often The oftner thou dost resort to this blessed communion the greater will be thy acquaintance with thy best of friends the greater sense thou wilt get of the need and want of him the greater encouragement thou wilt find to imitate him in his Holiness Meekness Patience and Humility and the greater assurance thou wilt get of his Love and Favour and Pardon and everlasting Mercy and are these Blessings to be scorn'd and undervalu'd thou pretendest want of preparation but whose fault is it that thou art not prepar'd what can hinder thee from preparation but love to sin and shall love to a sensual careless life hinder thee from laying hold of the greatest Treasure will this Plea hold when thou shalt appear before the great Tribunal O my Soul this is to excuse sin by sin and to despise God's Ordinance because thou despisest his commands and how will this aggravate thy folly one day and fill thee with shame and horror O play not with everlasting mercy let not business hinder thee from advancing thy Spiritual and Eternal interest Remember what became of the men that pretended they had Farms to see and Oxen to try and Wives to marry when they were invited to the Supper of the Lamb canst thou think of the protestation of the Master of the Feast against these stubborn wretches and not conclude thy fate by their being excluded from Gods Favour forever if it be a sense of thy own vileness and unworthiness that keeps thee away thou mistakest and misrepresentest the goodness of thy Lord and Master No persons more welcome at this Table than the humble and broken-hearted none meet with a more favourable reception than the poor in Spirit these the Crucified Jesus prays for on his Cross Father forgive them and the everlasting Father hears and saith to them Be of good chear your sins are forgiven you V. It prepares a man for an Angelical life here on Earth for he that frequently considers and contemplates the Joyes the Triumphs the Scepters the Crowns the Diadems of yonder Kingdom the everlasting Love and Peace and Satisfaction which Angels and glorified Saints enjoy cannot but think himself during that consideration in Heaven and participating of that content and happiness which is possessed by the general Assembly of the First-born which are written in Heaven Indeed this is to make Earth a Heaven and to change this Wilderness into a Paradise a Closet into the Seat of Glory and a Desart into those Regions of Bliss and Happiness How like an Angel may that Man live that is often engaged in such considerations as these Heaven what do I hear Heaven the harbor of all laden and wearied Souls Heaven the end of all my sorrow and miseries Heaven the Port I have been sailing to these many years Heaven the inheritance of those that keep themselves uspotted from the World Heaven the rest of Gods Servants and the habitation of the Mourners in Sion Heaven the great mark of my Desires the anchor of my Hope the foundation of my Confidence Heaven the University where we shall know even as we are known how undisturb'd how quiet do all the Inhabitants of those blessed Mansions live there rest those Saints who were made as the filth of the World and as the off-scouring of all things how different are the thoughts of God from those of the World these men the world regarded not behold God remembers them and when he makes up his Jewels spares them as a man would spare his own Son that serves him There rests that Mary Magdalen that stood behind Christ at his feet weeping and washed his Feet with her Tears and did wipe them with the hair of her Head and kiss'd them and anointed his Head with ointment There rests that Lazarus who desired to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich mans Table There rest that David that made his Bed to swim and water'd his Couch with his Tears There rests all the Prophets of old who through Faith subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness obtain'd Promises stopp'd the mouths of Lions quench'd the violence of the Fire escap'd the edge of the Sword out of weakness were made strong wax'd valiant in fight turn'd to slight the Arms of the Aliens There rest all those Souls that look'd for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of their Saviour Jesus Christ. There rests all those Martyrs and Confessors that were ready not only to suffer but to dye also for the name of the Lord Jesus There they rest encircled with an Eternal calm There they rest incompass'd with an innumerable company of Angels There they rest surrounded with the Gracious Presence of a merciful God There they rest from all the calumnies and slanders of this poor envious world There they rest from all Darkness in Eternal Light and in the beams of the Sun of Righteousness forever Awake O my Soul awake advance into yonder regions of Glory retire into yonder Paradise leave this world and goe higher let thy thoughts transcend the Sun and Moon and Stars get before the Throne of God take a view of the still waters whereof the vast Armies of Glorified Spirits drink where they are there are no Wolves no Tygers no Bears no Lions as in this barren wilderness in those happy shades is no noise but that of Halelujahs no discontent no War no dissentions inhabit there there all agree there Ephraim is no more against Manasse nor Manasse against Ephraim nor they both against Juda but all are delighted with the everlasting Glory and Love of God there they hunger and thirst no more Wonderful change Here O my Saul thou art ever thirsting after God as the dry Land thirsteth after water there thou shalt be satisfied with him to all Eternity here thou longest after the hidden Manna there it will never be taken from thee here like Solomons Bride by night on thy Bed thou seekest him who is altogether lovely there his Beauty and Presence will ravish thee for ever Here though thy desires after the Blessings of Gods left hand be subordinate to thy desires after spiritual Mercies and thy esteem of God preponderates and is higher than thy esteem of any outward felicities yet while so nearly allied to Sense thou canst not so abandon Nature as to
Hosts my Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my Heart and my Flesh cryeth out for the living God when shall I come to appear before thee when shall I shake off this clogg of the flesh and praise thee day and night in thy Temple when shall I be freed from this Earth and Dross and do thy Will O my God without Lett or Interruption O my Soul dost thou believe such a Heaven where no good shall be absent and canst thou be hunting after the husks and empty shells of sensual pleasure how little do the Inhabitants of that New Jerusalem mind the pomp and grandeur of this world they have nobler objects to mind and more delightful employments to take up their minds and thoughts didst thou live more in this Heaven O my Soul how wouldst thou look down upon this Earth as an inconsiderable trifle how little wouldst thou regard what man can do unto thee how contentedly mightst thou part with all that the world counts dear and precious for Christ his sake as knowing that there is laid up for thee the Crown of Righteousness which the Righteous Judge will give to thee one day and not only to thee but to all those that love his appearance Look upon the Primitive Martyrs O my Soul they broyled in Flames but loo'kd upon that Heaven and smiled St. Stephen hath a thousand Stones flying about his Ears but looks upon that Heaven and the Glory of God appears upon his face Abraham sojourns in the Land of Promise as in a strange Countrey dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob but looks for a City which hath foundation and goes on triumphing Moses suffers affiiction with the people of God but hath respect unto the recompence of reward and esteems the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the Treasures of Egypt The Apostles are scourged and beaten for the testimony of Jesus but look upon this Heaven and depart from the Council rejoycing because they were counted worthy to suffer for the Name of the Lord Jesus St. Paul five times of the Jews receives forty stripes save one thrice is he beaten with rods once he is stoned thrice he suffers shipwrack a night and a day he is in the deep in journeyings often in cold and nakedness but what ails the Man he sings his heart dances for joy under all these troubles O my Soul he saw he saw that his light affliction which was but for a moment would work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory O my God give me but my portion in this Heaven and I desire no more Come what will come Sword Fire Imprisonment Hunger Thirst Nakedness Disgrace Reproach Perils by Sea and Perils by Land Enemies Devils Friends Poverty Sickness Exile c. Here is a Jewel will counterballance all O give me but a room in that great House made without hands Eternal in the Heavens and then cut burn torture and afflict let storms and tempests come I 'll fight against them with my Title to that Inheritance which fades not away this shall quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil this shall bear up my Head above water this shall hush all my discontented thoughts this shall be my refuge in a storm my hiding place in flames my portion in poverty my pillow in great anguish my liberty in prison my cordial in temptations my Elixir in a swound my prop when I stumble my Laurel when it thunders my Rock in persecution my Safeguard in destruction my Light in the midst of darkness my Goshen in this Egypt my Ship under the fiercest Billows my Shield when I am assaulted my Helmet when I am in danger my encouragement when I do resist my Crown when I conquer my Manna in the Wilderness my Food in the Desart my Rose to smell to in a Dungeon my Guide in my journey my Pole-Star in my voyage my Staff in my Pilgrimage my Song in my misery my All when Death and Hell conspire unto my ruine VI. It makes a man prudent and discreet in secular affairs and businesses Consideration as it is a very great improvement of Mans Reason so it cannot but be very useful to him in governing his secular affairs with discretion Consideration makes a man master of his Reason and that man must needs act more wisely that hath his reason at command than he that makes it a slave to every flattering passion and since it is confessed that the fear of God hath that influence upon all humane affairs that it disposes a man to a wise and prudential management of them Consideration must of necessity be of the same Virtue and Efficacy for this fear of God is the immediate product of Consideration I deny not but men wise in Spiritual are not always so in Temporal concerns for either their scrupulous Consciences or fear of having their hearts carried out too much after the world or their giving themselves wholly to Heavenly employments may make them careless and unmindful of things belonging to this world but still in its nature and tendency this circumspection in things which concern a Christians Soul is able to shed wisdom and discretion into his carriage and behaviour to things which appertain to this present life hence from a man who seriously considers he hath a Soul to be saved you may expect great order in his Family a prudent foresight of dangers and a moderate care to shun them great temper in discourse and exact justice in his dealings and rendring to all their Dues Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honor to whom Honor as the Apostle's phrase is Rom. 13. 7. In all probability it was the attentive consideration of his Spiritual concerns that made David both valiant and prudent in matters as he is call'd 1 Sam. 16. 18. and to what can we ascribe Joseph's and Daniel's discreet Government of themselves and their secular affairs but to that Piety and Goodness which by long and serious consideration they had setled in their Breasts When 〈◊〉 mans wayes please the Lord he makes even his very enemies to be at peace with him i. e. He doth not only by an extraordinary providence turn their hearts towards him but infuses wisdom and discretion into his Soul so to behave himself towards his enemies that they cannot but bury their hatred and return to their former friendship and civility Prov. 16. 7. He that considers his ways with reference to his Eternal state and condition his ways cannot but please the Lord and such wisdom if he stand not in his own light will surely fall to his share and hereof we need no other proof but common experience The man who truly minds his everlasting interest and so considers the account he must give to God when this life is ended as to provide for that great and dreadful Audit thinks himself obliged to use what cautiousness he can that he may not wrong
and indignation against all those that obstinately prefer their foolish desires before all the Dictates and Oracles of thy Holy Spirit O have not I reason to fear that thou wilt say of me Cut down this barren Tree why doth it cumber the ground and yet how free how full are thy promises to the truly penitent how full of Sweetness and Love are all thy Gracious Engagements to those that will have no more to doe with Idols that will cleave to thee alone that will renounce themselves and follow thee O my Lord these thy promises are my refuge were it not for these desperation would be my portion I doe in some measure see my folly I see what a gracious tender patient long suffering God I have offended I see how my Soul hath leaned on broken reeds what a sandy foundation I have trusted to how the world hath beguiled me how I have shunn'd thy company been glad when God hath been farthest from my thoughts rejoyced when I have been least of all reflecting on thy goodness I have nothing to plead for my self I have no apology to make the greatest charity cannot excuse my misdemeanors I have had light and darkened it convictions and smother'd them knowledge and abused it reason and perverted it heard thy word and scorn'd it enjoy'd the means of Grace and continu'd blind and hard under them Thy Mercy is my Sanctuary I am weary of my burthen I loath my transgressions I am willing to be rid of them I desire to abhor them but though I am thus willing my flesh is weak my understanding dark my will dull my affections to goodness faint my resolutions in constant Come O my Lord come down into my Soul come quickly O thou great preserver of Men teach me to answer all the reasons of Flesh and Bloud against a serious conversion arm me with arguments to beat down my carnal interest furnish me with motives to a truly Heavenly life motives which may break through all the devils suggestions motives which may invalidate and weaken the prophane motions of my Lusts. Come down thou Sun of Righteousness thou mighty Star of Jacob dispel the Clouds and Mists which are upon my Reason cleer the eyes of my understanding and enable me to see the arts of Sin the wiles of the Devil the snares of the World the stratagems of the Flesh and all the mischief that 's plotted against my Soul by my Spiritual enemies Convince me throughly that to follow thee is my greatest interest that to resist these enemies is my greatest safety that to watch against their charms is my greatest felicity O let me apprehend sin as it is the greatest evil let it appear very terrible to my mind represent unto me Heaven and thy Love and all that thou hast done for me in such lively colours that neither death nor life neither good report nor evil report may separate me from thy love O let thy kindness and the benefits of thy Sons death and passion and resurrection appear to me in such characters that I may long to be fill'd with all the fulness of God Thy Spirit is perfect Light and there is no darkness with him O let that glorious Light dissipate that gloominess those foggs that confusedness that is in my intellectual part make me conceive clearly and distinctly what I must do to inherit Eternal life and how I must carry myself to God and Man Give me such a sight of thy Glory as may lift me up above the world and engage me to have my Conversation in Heaven Bow my Will to conform entirely to thy Will I would not be mine so much as thine Come Lord and take the government of my Soul into thy hand I have too long suffer'd my self to be guided by merciless Tyrants art thou not my Master my Prince my Father thou hast the greatest right to rule me Incline my Will unto thy Testimonies and not to Covetousness when my Will would wander from thy Precepts cross it and put a stop to it that it may not goe beyond the limits of thy Law O heal my affections they hanker too much after this Earth O make them in love with Heaven chide them for deserting their highest and their chiefest good let my hatred pitch upon no other object but sin let my Love be carried out after nothing so much as thee and if I love any thing besides let me love it only for thy sake let my hopes be fixed upon immortality engrosse thou my desires let me fear none but thee let my chief delight be in thy ways and ordinances strengthen my resolutions O deliver me from that fickleness I have so long been guilty of make my purposes firm let them be as the Mountains of God which can never be moved let nothing be able to weaken my good intentions give me courage to fight the good fight O Lord in thy strength I 'll resist by thy Power I will conquer my heart hath lock'd the out O knock again and if it will not yield break open the door and let all my corruptions vanish at thy Presence O Lord I beg no Riches no Honours no Preferments if I have but Food and Raiment I will learn therewith to be contented it s thy Grace I want establish me with thy free Spirit give me spiritual Wisdom even that wisdom which makes me wise unto Salvation thou art nigh unto them that call upon thee yea unto all such as call upon thee faithfully O cast me not away from thy Presence I am thine O save me order my steps according to thy word when I read it let me read it with that attention as to observe and take notice of what thou dost command when I hear it let me hear it as if it were the last time that ever I should hear it let thy Oracles make deeper impressions on me than ever dash all those evasions and excuses I used to alleage when I have had no mind to obey thee let the good motions of thy Spirit prevail O that there should be such difficulty in conquering a poor sinner O that God should be forced to carress me to my happiness O that Heaven should attract me no more O that God should need to send out messengers to entreat me to come to the Supper of the Lamb Lord take away this dulness make me mount up with wings as Eagles Let me not be able to goe out of thy Presence till I have fully and unfeignedly resolved to give my self up to thy service O Jesu the light of the world who enlightenst every man that comes into the world where thou dwellest there Mercy dwells O dwell in my Soul and Mercy and Truth will kiss each other there teach me to hate my self not only for the hurt I have done to my self but for the injuries and indignities I have offer'd thee I was a horrid monster thou by thy death madest me a pleasing spectacle in the sight of Heaven I lay
Body A Soul that can build it's Nest among the Stars of Heaven walk through yonder Mansions and taste of the Rivers which make glad the City of God A Soul which can wing it self into the Clouds and survey the Crowns and Scepters laid up for those that dare despise the World and have their Conversation in Heaven A Soul which can enjoy a Paradise while the Body is in trouble and rejoice in him who is All in All while the fierce Winds are whistling about her ears The vast reach of these Souls we have their fitness to receive Divine illumination their strong desires after Immortality their secret actings without the help of a Body their hopes of Heaven their fears of Hell all proclaim the certainty of an eternal state or condition they are intended for This eternal state imprinted on our Natures discover'd to the Gentiles proclaim'd by the Son of God preach'd by Angels confirm'd by Apostles reveal'd to Christians believ'd in the World as it relates either to Bliss or Misery to Joy or Torment to Honor or Dishonor so how to enjoy the one and avoid the other must in all probability be the great object which God design'd Mens Souls should be chiefly employ'd about For as there cannot be a thing of greater moment than Eternity so he must be a Sot a Beast that can imagine that God who ever intends the noblest Creatures for the noblest Ends will give Men leave to busie themselves altogether about picking of straws and pleasing a few sensual Lufts when he hath given them Souls capable not only of labouring and seeking after but obtaining a Kingdom which fades not away And when we sweat and toyle and labour to make provision for twenty thirty forty years what do we do but proclaim our obligation to be infinitely more concern'd how to provide for that state which must never have an end And as it was the goodness and wisdom of God to make us capable of an everlasting duration so we should be injurious to both if we did not suppose that God hath order'd and appointed means whereby it 's possible to save our selves from the wrath to come He that takes a view of Gods proceedings and dealings with Men ever since the Creation of the World cannot but stand amaz'd at the cost and labour and pains and means and motives and arguments God hath us'd to make Men sensible of their everlasting interest and to engage them to a serious preparation for that World they must live for ever in This serious preparation must necessarily be a holy blameless spotless life for the means must ever be sutable and agreeable to the nature of the end And Heaven being a holy place perlect holiness reigning there it 's not to be imagin'd how perfection of holiness can be enter'd upon without a considerable progress in holiness here no man reaching the highest step of a Ladder without the lowermost and one might as well flatter himself that his Trade by such a time will bring him in Ten thousand pounds when he is so far from minding his Trade that he contrives only how to run with others into excess of Riot And indeed to plant this holiness in Men the means have been so various so numerous so potent before the Law under the Law and under the Gospel that one may justly admire the whole World doth not stand candidate for Heaven and all the Inhabitants of the Earth do not take the Kingdom of God by violence Before the Law the continual pleadings of the long-liv'd Patriarchs with sinful Men to improve the light of Nature that Primar of Divinity the many Visions Revelations Dreams Signs Wonders Voices from Heaven the Ministry of Angels Gods Patience Forbearance Long-suffering and sometimes Exemplary Justice the Examples of holy Men Gods love to those that honour'd him the signal blessings he bestow'd on those that made him their highest and chiefest good what were all these but so many calls and entreaties that Men would by holiness prepare for a future happiness Under the Law God was so far from being weary of using means and taking pains with Men in order to this end that he seem'd to have reserv'd those Ages for larger and fuller Demonstrations of his Power and Munificence and if the people of Lystra had any ground for their exclamation the Jews had far greater reason to cry out That God was come down to them in the likeness of men For while other Countries were left in darkness and like Moles suffer'd to wander in the shadow and vally of death they as if they had been made of purer Clay seem'd to be the Darlings of Providence and the Favourites of Heaven Heaven bow'd to them and under its protection they went as under a Canopy of State and might with greater reason than the Sultan have challeng'd that lofty Title The shadow of God And with that Persian Emperor stiled themselves Kinsmen of the Stars Their eyes saw Miracles almost every day and with their daily Bread they receiv'd daily Prodigies and in the midst of their Rebellion God like the Sun when smiling through a Cloud shew'd them a merciful Face not that he approv'd of their Impiety but because by these Beams he would warm their hearts into obedience Their Blessings came down upon them not in drops but in showers and their Prosperity like the Cinnamon Tree was so fragrant that strangers might smell it a great way off before they saw it The Waters of Life were continually flowing into their Bosomes and though God now and then frown'd upon them what Father would not sometimes chide his Son yet his Indignation which like Flints sent out Fire upon their penitential Tears strait way return'd to its former coldness The Rocks poured them out Rivers of Oyl they wash'd their Feet in Butter and one might say of their Land as he of the Isle of Rhodes They were bless'd with a continual Sunshine Their Prophets what mighty what powerful Men were they Men that like Lamps consum'd their own Oyl to light their Auditors to Heaven or like Silkworms spun out their own Bowels to deck their Hearers with Garments of Righteousness Where words could not prevail Tears were the means to supple and affect them and it seems there is not stronger Rhetorick in the World than these Here one Prophet spoke like an Orator there another like a Logician Here one endeavour'd by Eloquence to charm them there another by clear Reason to convince them Here one threatned there another promis'd Here one wooed there another thundred Here one came with a Scepter of Love there another with a Trumpet of War Here one offer'd his hand to save them there another made bare his arm of revenge Here one offer'd an Ark to those that desired mercy there another rain'd down floods of Curses to drown the obstinate Here one represented God with his Sword drawn a smoke going up out of his nostrils and devouring fire out of
his mouth there another follow'd sinners to the very gates of Hell with offers of mercy in his hand and while Vengeance was knocking at the door and the Sword was at their heatts call'd to them Turn ye Turn ye why will ye dye And what was all this but to lay invincible obligations on Men to Reform and by Reformation of their Lives to arrive at last to that Harbor of Bliss and Immortality which the great preserver of Men hath prepar'd for those that fear him Under the Gospel as if beyond this there were no other remedy to engage Men to holiness the Son of God himself comes down from Heaven and turns Preacher He that commands all the powers of Light and Darkness appears in a Pulpit He by whom the Worlds were made leaves the brightness of his Fathers glory to tell Men what a Monster Sin is how odious how loathsom in the eyes of God how lovely how amiable how beautiful the wayes of God are confirms the sayings of all the Prophets of old assures Men and certainly he could not tell a lye that all those Messengers of old were in the right when they profess'd That Iniquity would be Mens ruine and that at yonder gate no unclean thing should enter and that God must be prefer'd before all the Riches Honours and Pleasures of this World a favour for which we want expression and which we must draw a vail over as Timantes the Painter did over the face of Iphigenia's Father because we cannot reach it with our colours If a King should send a Messenger with a Pardon to a Malefactor that 's ready to be turn'd off of the Ladder there is no Man but a stranger to pity and compassion but would speak in commendation of the Royal mercy but should the King himself approach the place of Execution and absolve him it 's like the unexpected bounty would cast the Malefactor into a Swoon And then when the great God of Heaven and Earth made his favor exstatical went out of the common road of mercy stept beyond all precedents and examples encreas'd his kindness into perfect miracles miracles which the Ages before cannot parallel and the Son of God made his way through all the Clouds of Heaven to tell Men how God long'd for their society and happiness we cannot suppose a possibility of greater condescention And that which still encreases the Wonder this Son of God entreats wooes and beseeches Men to bethink themselves and dress up their Souls for the next Worlds glory He that might have come as one day most certainly he will with flames of fire and taken vengeance on the obstinate and terrified and startled them into seriousness and might without a Metaphor as it is Psal. 45.3 girded his Sword upon his Thigh and look'd stern on the Rebels that would not have him reign over them and frown'd them into Hell That this Son of God this Sovereign Prince whom all the Elements serve at whose command the Waters drown and the Fire burns and the Earth swallows up that he should come and draw near the City and instead of consuming weep over it as if he meant to quench the fire of Gods indignation against it and instead of dooming it outright to eternal vengeance wish O that thou hadst known in this thy day what belongs unto thy peace Call like a tender compassionate Father How often would I have gather'd you as a Hen doth gather her Chickens under her wings and ye would not That he should bear affronts and in the midst of those injuries entreat Men to be reconcil'd to him and seek for a Pardon That he should conjure Mankind by Tears and Wounds and his own Blood by those very Torments and Agonies he endured for them to have mercy on themselves to take a view of the burning Lake beneath and run away to look upon the joyes above and be ravish'd with the sight That he should court them by the sweetest invitations and the kindest calls by the greatest offers and the softest promises promises of assistance and of his holy Spirit of peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and seal his strong desires and longings after their holiness with his own death and after his death being risen again sends Apostles and whole Armies of Confessors and Martyrs to establish those desires ordain a Function of Men that might preach those Desires in Mens ears to the Worlds end this indeed is a condescention which the great ministring Spirits in Heaven stand amaz'd at and may justly be look'd upon to be one of those things the Angels desire to pry into By such astonishing means hath the great immortal God endeavour'd to effect that holiness in Men that Seriousness that Piety that Heavenly-mindedness which he hath appointed to be the only way to endless bliss Glorious means indeed But then they are no more but Pearls thrown before Swine where Men consider not how far they are concern'd in the heavenly Call And what can be the meaning of all these arts and stratagems of Divine compassion and what should make God thus sollicitous and careful to procure mans happiness and how dreadful it must be to neglect so great a salvation To lay all this labour and industry and indefatigable pains of God before their eyes where they will not fix their contemplations on the Remedies intended for their recovery what is it but to make a learned Oration to a flock of sheep to talk to a blind Man of Colours to discourse Mathematicks to one in a Fever and to prepare Elixirs and Cordials for Men depriv'd of life and sense Without Consideration we have little but shape and speech left us to distinguish us from Beasts and God clearly loses the virtue of his exhortations and entreaties except Consideration sets them home digests and applies them to the Soul and the inward thoughts like Sun-beams in a burning Glass unite and continue so long upon these spiritual objects till they set the heart on fire CHAP. II. Consideration no transitory view of spiritual things imports laying the heart and mind close unto spiritual Concerns resembles magnifying Glasses which discover things imperceptible by the naked eye The great Ingredients of it Self-Examination Expostulation and strong Resolution HOW Consideration Thinking Pondering Meditation Contemplation do differ is not material to enquire Consideration includes all these and is nothing but exercising and improving that rational Faculty the great Architect hath bestowed on us to the glory of God and the felicity of our immortal Souls The character St. Bernard gives of it may help to illustrate this Description It distinguishes saith he things confus'd collecteth such as lie dispers'd searches and dives into such as are conceal'd and hid examines probabilities reflects upon what is done resolves what to do and presses towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus The Schoolmen are in the right when they call it employing the whole understanding about a thing
world takes up their hearts and engrosses their affections when we see how all their Plots Designs Contrivances Desires are for the world and when they mind onely fleshly things as the Apostles phrase is Phil. 3.19 What I mean by the world none can be ignorant of that hath either read what wise men have written concerning it or hath heard the Word of the Gospel sounding in his ears For indeed it 's not the least part of our Commission to dehort and dissuade men from fixing their Affections on these sublunary objects and but that continual inculcating of the same thing would make our Auditors nauseate the most wholsom Lessons we could not do them greater service than by making such Dehortations the perpetual Subject of our Sermons All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life saith the great Divine 1 Joh. 2.16 Whatever outward object serves to gratifie sense whatever here below is most commonly desired and lusted after whatever makes for satisfaction of the flesh or of our sensual appetite all is comprehended under this name And indeed it is with these worldly comforts as it was with the garden of Eden some are for food some for tryal some to keep our bodies serviceable to our souls some to prove our souls whether they 'll rest on these broken Reeds or seek their rest and acquiescence in him that is the Creator of all And accordingly the Almighty thought fit to limit the use of these terrestrial felicities and to signifie in his Word that his intent in giving them was that they should be our servants not our masters that he design'd them as advantages to us not hinderances in admiring and adoring the immense goodness and bounty of God and that he appointed them for our use no farther than they would serve to promote his glory and the eternal felicity of our immortal souls But here we find men generally live the reverse of Gods designs and intentions and instead of using these visible comforts in order to a greater end make that their home which was intended only for their Inn and are for erecting Tabernacles to dwell there which God design'd only as a thorow-fare And to this unhappiness preposterous education which most men are subject to doth very much contribute For whereas we should be educated into Reason and a right apprehension of things we are usually educated into sense and deceptions and those that have the care of us and should teach us self-denial in these outward things and by that means engage our souls to fix on nobler objects do commonly present us with nothing but sensual satisfactions All their Discourses to us are of the World and of the magnificence greatness splendor and ravishing aspects of these outward gayeties and the first principles they teach us are how to please sense and to pamper our appetite and though now and then they teach us some little Notions of Divinity yet it is in such a sensual way that it amounts to no more than a formality and divertisement and being a thing that 's taught by the by it makes little or no impression upon our affections But whatever disadvantages men lie under upon the account of their sensual education one would think when they come to the full use of their reason and are capable of understanding the vanity emptiness unconstancy of these lower objects and of apprehending that they were only intended as Ladders to raise us into contemplations of our great Benefactor in heaven when they arrive to this ripeness of understanding come out of their apprenticeship set up for themselves become as it were their own masters and enter upon the possession of that estate which before was managed by others one would think I say they should then begin as there is commonly an alteration of our temper upon the alteration of our fortunes to rectifie those sensual principles which their Nurses and Tutors have shed into them and wash away the stains those fond Masters as indeed men may be kill'd by kindnesses and like that Olympian Victor be stifled with Posies have unluckily imprinted on their souls But alas there are so very few that having gone thus far stop and attempt to captivate their appetites to the obedience of Reason and Religion or seek to elevate their souls above the dung and trouble of the World according to the intent of their Maker that most men sink deeper and deeper into the gulf of sensual desires open the gates wider make the door larger for sensual satisfaction to enter in nay if it be modest and loth to enter compel it to come in and to give their spirits an infusion of carnality to water and keep warm the seed of worldly inclinations and find out wayes to encrease their Thirst to add heat to their Fever to provoke their sensual appetite to enlarge it self as Hell and fearing they have not been sufficiently or faithfully enough instructed in the enjoyment of these worldly felicities they try experiments and conclusions to find out new satisfactions and thus plunge themselves into the main Sea being charmed by the Sunbeams playing and glittering upon the water and the curling of the waves And the impressions which were made on the wax when soft and tractable remain when it 's grown harder by a continual hurry of worldly cares and businesses which they are content to admit of they make their souls the least object of their solicitude and were they ask'd as that profane Duke What they think of Heaven it's like they would answer in his language or think so or at least act as if they thought so That they have so much business on earth that they cannot think of Heaven Thus their very spirits become flesh and their souls turn to earth as well as their bodies Whence it comes to pass that their minds being altogether sensual impregnated with worldly cares and satisfactions and all their faculties employ'd in contriving how to get a greater share of earth than they have already or at least to keep and preserve what they have there is no room for this Consideration of their spiritual estate or condition They hearken to nothing with any zeal or attention or life that doth not carry either some worldly profit or pleasure with it and that which charms or wins them must be the musick of temporal interest Consideration how they shall be saved hereafter there is no Lands to be bought with it no Mannors to be purchas'd no Houses to be built no Countries to be conquer'd no Honours to be got by it It brings in no Riches it fills not their Coffers with gold and silver it doth not give them respect and credit with Princes and Men of Quality it doth not cover their Tables with dainties and delicacies it doth not furnish them with portions for their children It doth not feed their bellies nor put them into a condition to lie on beds of
ivory or to be clad like Dives with silk and purple It doth not maintain their great Retinue nor present them with soft Airs It doth not provide for their Families nor keep up their pomp and grandeur were it such a powerful thing as the Philosophers Stone is fabled to be and did it enable them to turn their Iron into Gold and did it make their Trade to flourish and did it make their garners full affording all manner of store and cause such fruitfulness among their flocks that their sheep might bring forth thousands and ten thousands in their streets Did it raise them to the power of Senacherib to the magnificence of Nebuchadnezar to the pleasures of Solomon Did it promise a Kingdom and whisper in their ears that they should enjoy ease and plenty without all peradventure nothing should have so much of their care or hearts as Consideration of their wayes But having none of these baits and their hearts being fix'd on the world they can find no time for this exercise Cannot did I say They will not allow themselves time to retire and consider that they have such things as souls or that these souls are capable of punishment and glory when they shake hands with their old companions their bodies They think that time mispent that is bestow'd upon Consideration of another world and what minutes or hours are taken from their fleshly satisfactions or from prosecuting their worldly concerns they look upon as flung away By worldly concerns I do not only mean businesses which an Estate or Trade or Family or office or sensual pleasures cause but business of study and learning too and one may be as much taken up with his study as another is with his Trade and consequently be very loth to allow any time for this Consideration we speak of To be studious and yet inconsiderate implies no contradiction and a man may contemplate God and Heaven and the whole Creation and yet not contemplate them in order to a holy preparation for another life or with an intent to mortifie his sins and corruptions and to imitate God in holiness without which it cannot be Consideration and the best name we can give it is an empty Speculation so that a spiritual Meditation may be but a worldly business if that which puts me upon it be my profession whereby I get a livelihood if that which makes me study and meditate be temporal profit or honour or applause if it be not undertaken with an intent to edifie my own soul as well as the souls of others if it be done either to please the fancy or to please the gentle Reader by publishing it to the world And indeed where worldly concerns fill all the channels of the soul there can be but very little employment for serious Consideration A continunl hurry of business sheds darkness upon the soul thrusts out that eye whereby it should reflect upon it self and makes it intent only on things which tickle and please the flesh and like Felix when any motions to serious Consideration arise replies Go thy way for this time and when I have a convenient season I will call for thee Acts 24.25 It fares much with Consideration as with that Princes invitation Luc. 14.16 worldly cares and businesses like those guests when the soul feels any suggestions or invitations to Consideration are presently ready with excuses and a thousand things are pretended why they cannot come or stoop to the gracious message or vocation and these bryars and thorns choak the good seed that 's thrown among them Thus earth keeps out Heaven and the world like shutters of a window excludes the light that would irradiate the room not but that the business of our worldly callings may lawfully be performed and follow'd and men ought to work with labour and travel night and day rather than be chargeable to others 2 Thess. 3.8 But where the World is made God and fills mens minds as well as their hands and all the time that can be got is spent in embracing and grasping of it it 's impossible Consideration should find entertainment there it 's like a heartless prayer may for that can be hudled up and requires not much time and leaves them as worldly as it finds them and doth not hinder or cross them in their fondness to the world which they are afraid Consideration will do And indeed they guess aright for Consideration would shake their love make them unquiet in their amours and unsettle their affections pull down that high esteem they have of the world and make them see that there is not that beauty that glory or that happiness in things below which their sickly fancy dream'd of before it would shew them that all these Gaudes are but a Pit cover'd with curious flowers where people may irrecoverably perish if taken with the treacherous flowers they smell on them and admire their odour and fragrancy It would shew them the vanity of heaping up riches when they know not who shall inherit them and represent unto them â—he folly of flattering their souls with an Ede Bibe Lude Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry thou hast much goods laid up for many years It would shew them how false how perishable all these outward comforts are and that they have something more than this deceitful world to look after Consideration like a faithful Counsellor would undeceive them in their fond opinions of this treacherous friend discover to them his base designs the mischiefs he drives at under all his smiles the Serpent that lies under those green herbs and bid them beware of him But such is the love they bear to the world that they are jealous of all things that would subvert their love and hate Consideration as an enemy because they are afraid it will discompose those embraces and break the league between them and these earthly satisfactions and put their hearts that lie close to the world out of their place dispossess them of their earthly mindedness and prompt them to lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come and lay hold on eternal life A strange fondness this which doth not only marry the heart unto the world and makes them two one flesh but sends out Spies to watch against all the endeavors of this faithful Monitor viz. Consideration that it may not break the match or dissolve the bond or make the heart sensible of its adulteries O God! How is thy similitude in Man defaced How is that glorious Image thou didst once shed into his breast blotted and defiled Is this the Man that receiv'd a Soul to mind Heaven most Is this the Man over whom thou didst spread thy skirts whose nakedness thou didst cover and with whom thou didst enter into an everlasting Covenant whom thou dost draw by cords of love whose soul thou didst betroth unto thee for ever in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in
I believe it for when in their riper years they reflect what time they have lost and how they have spent that age which was fittest for pleasure in retired devotion they cannot but turn profane out of despight and strive to redeem the time they have mispent in following the advice of melancholy Scholars Religion is a thing fit only for those who are either discontented or grown weary of the World for men who can sin no more and whom age hath mortified into forsaking of their Vices shall I forbear my mirth and amorous Songs and witty Talk my Railleries and modish Accomplishments for I know not what The men in black speak for their own interest and God sure is kinder to men than to give them an appetite to sensual satisfactions and then forbid them to use it what needs this haste and why should I apply my self to a religious life so early when I have some forty fifty threescore years before me and can shake off my follies any time hereafter Thus the weak Youngster pleads and embraces these motions as Cordials for his sickly passions as Elixirs for his heated blood Consideration would let him see that these Temptations are Messengers of the Devil Threads to lead him into darkness into captivity into perfect slavery and none but a mad man could forbear rejoycing at so happy a discovery When the gray and hoary head from his great age infers the greatness of his graces and from the multitude of his years concludes the multitude of his virtues flatters himself that God loves him because he hath had little or no affliction in the world and from his impunity here draws an argument to prove his impunity hereafter and sooths himself with Gods favour upon this account chiefly because he never discover'd his anger in signal judgments and bids his Soul trust to it that he stands fair in the good opinion and esteem of God because his labours in the world have been crown'd with success and because he hath a Garden of Eden here securely promises himself a Paradise hereafter and will not be persuaded to the contrary but that his plenty here is but an earnest of a fuller Vintage and richer Granary intended for him in the Land of Canaan and that his long life on earth is a pledge of his eternal Life in Heaven What are these but Temptations which Consideration would discover to be Impostures and consequently shed both light and joy into the Soul When the poor from their outward conclude their spiritual poverty and will needs think that they are in a state of grace because they are in a state of want and fancy they may securely pilfer because God hath made no other provision for them and that they shall receive their good things in the next world because they received their evil things in this that they shall be rich in Heaven because they were destitute of conveniences here on earth that they must necessarily be Lords hereafter because they were Beggars here and shall certainly rejoyce in the nex life because they mourn'd in this valley of Tears and cannot but be blessed for ever because they had a very large measure of misery here When the rich from their prerogative on earth conclude their prerogative in Heaven and because they are advanc'd above other men think they may use greater liberty in offending God than others and because they have greater estates than the meaner sort may therefore sin more boldly and more considently than they When from their power they infer the lawfulness of their extravigances and because they can stand it out and brave the World fancy they may oppress the poorer sort and may swear and curse more boldly than their Tenants and resent and affront and revenge injuries with greater justice than Clowns and Peasants when from the custom of the age they infer their priviledge of being more sensual than other men and because persons of the same quality are not argue that they need not be so cautious and circumspect in their words and ways as other men When the gentiler sort of people feel inclinations in themselves to be ashamed of the Gospel and to forbear professing any zeal or fervency for Religion in company where Christs blood and wounds are abus'd where God and Heaven are rallied where the precepts of the Almighty are laught at and the Gospel turn'd into ridicule when they find an unwillingness seize upon their spirits to reprove either their equals or inferiors for some notorious impiety they commit When they think it is below them to pray with their Families to exhort their Servants to seriousness and to shew a good example to those that are under their charge when they find a disposition to comply with lewd society to laugh and smile and consent to their frothy speeches and abusive reflections and to conceal the truth where it ought to be professed and spoken When the Tradesman thinks of putting off his naughty Commodities to the ignorant Chapman and of circumventing and deceiving his Neighbor where his Neighbor understands not what he buys when he is willing to put off his devotion upon every trivial worldly business that comes in his way and to create business rather than obey the checks of his Conscience that chides him for not minding his spiritual Concerns more When he is loth to do acts of Charity because he hath a Wife and Family to maintain and is afraid he may want himself When he thinks that Piety may procure Poverty and strictness of life may lose him his Customers and following the ways of God may make his acquaintance leave him and that to be idle in his shop is better than reading or meditating or employing his mind in contemplations of Gods goodness and mercy and the various blessings he hath bestow'd upon him When Parents are unwilling to correct and admonish their Children are persuaded to let them take their course abuse others despise those they have a grudge against When they are loth to instruct them in the fear of God loth to initiate them in the love of their faithful Creator are apt to be more angry with their Children and Servants for neglecting their commands than the service of God and apt to be delighted more with their industry and pains in Temporal concerns than with their attempts in the affairs of their everlasting salvation apter to teach them how to maintain the punctilio's of their honour than assert the glory of God and apter to encourage them in vindicating their credit and reputation than in securing their everlasting Treasures or making their Calling and Election sure When Children provided they are able are loth to relieve their Parents loth to administer unto them necessaries if in want unwilling to obey those wholsome counsels which their Parents guided and encourag'd by the Word of God impart to them unwilling to imitate them in their seriousness and heavenly-mindedness are apt to obey their Parents more than God and
his service But what can you expect from men that are resolv'd not to sâ—e and are so wedded to their gain that they are frighted with the very thoughts of a remedy that would clear their sight and shew them the fatal hand that gives them their prosperity and discover to them the Fiend that conveys the gain they get into their houses and bribes them into everlasting Tortures O poor besotted sinners And do you lose Heaven for this Is it for this you leap into destruction Is it for this you hazard the favour of God Is it for this you scorn the gold of the Sanctuary Is it for this that the riches of grace and mercy are vile and mean and despicable in your eyes Would any man think you had rational immortal Souls within you that sees you live thus Would any man imagine that you believe a reward to come that sees you so greedy after a present recompence so greedy that you fight your way through Oaths Curses Lyes Oppression Extortion Injustice Covetousness Uncleanness Blasphemy Flatteries Railings Slanders Abuses Drunkenness and through the most sneaking most sordid and most disingenuous sins to get it To see this what sober man would not bless himself What man of reason would envy such advantages Pity you he may but he can never wish for your happiness for that which you call happiness is misery in grain and must shortly die into endless lamentations Verily I say unto you you have your reward Mat. 6.5 VI. Impediment VI. Fear of being melancholy with so much seriousness is another Impediment And as the Devil ceases not day and night to instill this principle into mens minds so it usually prevails with the jolly Crew and such as are all for mirth and raillery and hate sadness as their most deadly Enemy Consideration they are afraid will strike them into dumps and a view of the odiousness and loathsomness of their sinful life deprive them for ever of that merry temper kind nature hath bestow'd on them Consideration of their danger they fear will put them in mind of the severe Duties of Religion and suggest something to them that will lie gnawing within and make them that they shall never enjoy a merry hour again They look upon men abroad who have applied themselves to Consideration of their wayes and studied how they shall be happy after death and find it had spoil'd their triumphs and caus'd them to walk about discouraged and dejected They see how some that think much of their salvation hang down their heads like a bulrush fold their arms and spend their days in tears and weeping They see how uncomfortable Consideration hath made their lives how it hath fill'd their hearts with sorrow and grief and anguish and they are afraid this will be their fate and the effects it hath wrought in others fright them lest they should be as disconsolate as they While they maintain their jolly temper they can live quietly and with content and while they have little or nothing to do with those serious things Divines do talk of they feel no disturbance and why should they meddle with Consideration which will certainly infuse sad thoughts into their minds and give them gall and vinegar to drink And are not these excellent Arguments against Consideration Are not these very lofty and pregnant Reasons to confute the necessity of so great a Duty Wretched deluded men Consideration would let you see that there is a great difference between melancholy and seriousness and that every man that looks grave and sober is not therefore dejected and discompos'd within and that it 's possible for men not to rant and tear and swagger and yet to enjoy great calm and quietness in their Souls That a man is not therefore sad because he will not swear and drink nor therefore Hypocondriack because his Conscience will not digest those sins which you can swallow down without chewing Consideration would let you see That you who allow your selves in sin and vanity of all men have least reason to be merry who have the King immortal and invisible for your Enemy and the blood of Jesus speaking against you and Gods Spirit bearing witness of your disobedience and know not how soon God will open the flood gates of his anger and how soon your portion will be in outward darkness who have no title to the benefits of Christs passion and are dead while you live who have your understandings darkned your inward and outward man polluted and your garments spotted by the flesh Consideration would let you see That your joy and mirth is but slight and superficial so far from being solid that oftentimes in your very laughter your heart is sorrowful and as fair as you carry things outwardly your Consciences cannot but fright you with an approaching storm sometimes and as merry as you seem to be you now and then feel terrors which make you flee when no man pursues you This would let you see how short your mirth and pleasures are and how they perish in the very enjoyment and are no better than Butterflies which when you have with great labour and industry got into your hands their curious colours decay with a touch and you can boast of nothing but a squalid Worm This would shew you how weak a thing it is with Lysimachus for a cup of cold water to lose a Kingdom and to hazard an eternity of joy for mirth which at the best is but as a morning cloud and as the early Dew which soon passes away Consideration would let you see That your mirth is worse than sadness and sorrow because it proceeds from a stupified Soul and from a hard heart and that it is rather a mans felicity to be a stranger to your mirth than unhappiness because your mirth is so vain your delight so frothy and your joy usually hath such a fearful end an end much like that of Belshazzar who made a Feast to his Lords drank Wine before them and to make the Deboshe complete and to make the blood of the grapes drink with greater briskness call'd for the golden Vessels which his Father had taken out of the Temple of Jerusalem as if it encreas'd the pleasure of drink to profane those Vessels by drunkenness which were consecrated to God and Wine out of a Bowl of the Sanctuary gave greater life to the spirits and reviv'd the heart more than a common Cup. But while their hearts danc'd and leapt for joy an unknown hand from Heaven writes the dreadful Mene Mene Tekel Vpharsin upon the Wall and on a sudden the Kings countenance changes and his thoughts trouble him so that the joints of his loins were loosen'd and his knees smote one against another Dan. 5.6 Consideration would let you see That your joy doth not deserve the name of joy and that your mirth is nothing but wantonness and how much below a great spirit such pleasures are how unworthy of a man created after Gods
Christ hath made it It 's that which Heaven is entailed on and without which Men if they dare take the word of that Jesus whom they do believe to be the Son of God can look for nothing else but everlasting destruction Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 18.3 are the express words of him who came from Heaven to reveal his Fathers Will words which do not only import the absolute necessity but represent the nature and manner of true Conversion And if the words added by way of Explication be thorowly weigh'd it will appear to any rational man that that laborious Conversion which the Ministers of the Gospel press and recommend is no other but what Christ requires in order to salvation for what can be the meaning of this phrase becoming as little children but that men must learn to be children in malice 1 Cor. 14.20 pull down their passions watch over their inordinate affections overcome themselves and harbor no grudge no hatred no revengeful thoughts in their hearts against those that have offended them and like new born Babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 i. e. with all humility and alacrity submit themselves to be guided and ruled and govern'd by the precepts and injunctions of Christ in the Gospel without disputing or contradicting his commands though levell'd against flesh and blood as much as children leave themselves to the guidance and direction of their Nurses and have neither strength nor will nor malice to oppose the will or order of those that do lead them Not that Christ forbids examining either the Divinity or reasonableness of his Doctrines and Injunctions No God is not afraid to have his Will tried and examin'd by right reason for as it is the effect of the highest reason so it must needs be most agreeable to reason it being impossible that truth can be inconsistent with truth and therefore Christ doth so little discourage men from trying the Divinity of his Sayings and Commands by the rule of right reason that in several places he bids the Pharisees and whoever were his Adversaries to judge impartially of the Arguments he gave for the divine original of his doctrine And without all peradventure this liberty every man hath to examine and satisfie himself whether the injunctions of Christ and his Apostles were things that dropt from heaven or no. But then where men are convinc'd or have sufficient reason to be convinc'd that these Precepts are the peremptory Will of God concerning their salvation as any person who is not a Changeling or meer Natural may find upon due examination and inquiry if he will there God expects most justly that all pretences and excuses and carnal reasonings should fall and the Soul submit readily to the yoke of Christ and resign its will to Christs Will though it cannot for the present comprehend the true reason of some commands and suffer itself to be acted and guided by these Laws without contradiction or opposition or tergiversation denying and renouncing every apprehension or suggestion that would sollicit or tempt it to start aside from sincere obedience and all discourses that would dash or impede its willingness and readiness to embrace them And indeed this is all we mean by true Conversion viz. ceasing to obey the dictates of the World the Flesh and the Devil and endeavouring seriously to live up to the precepts of the Gospel without asking our lusts or vain desires whether they are willing to it or no a sincere resolution to get from under the yoke of sin and to make the Lord Jesus who bought us with his own blood our Supreme Ruler and Governor And since there can be no Government without Laws and we never heard of any other Laws Christ gave but what we have in the Gospel we cannot and dare not but conclude that to live up to these Laws of the Gospel is true Conversion And indeed the primitive Christians took no person to be converted that did not make these Laws the great Rule of his Life and shew'd by his Actions that he priz'd and esteem'd and valu'd these Laws above all the Orders and Decrees and Constitutions of the greatest Monarchs When we do entreat and admonish men to be converted what do we do but persuade them to mortifie their members which are upon the earth Fornication Uncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry and to put off Anger Wrath Malice Blasphemy and filthy Communication of their Mouths and to put on Bowels of Mercy Kindness Humbleness of Mind Meekness Long-suffering so as to forbear one another and forgive one another To let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing with grace in their hearts unto the Lord and whatever they do in word or deed to do it all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks unto God and the Father through him To be poor in spirit to be meek to hunger and thirst after righteousness to purifie their hearts to follow peace with all men as much as in them lies To be patient under Slanders Reproaches and Persecutions To live in a sense of future Joyes and of an everlasting Recompence To avoid all apparent occasions of Evil even things that are harmless in themselves if they provoke or tempt to Sin To avoid Swearing in their ordinary Discourses and Communications to love their Enemies to do good to them that hate them to pray for them which persecute them and despitefully use them To give Alms without any sinister ends to pray without affectation of vain Applause or laying any stress upon the length of their prayers To fast without ostentation to lay up their treasure in Heaven to trust Gods Providence in their respective Callings and Conditions to love him better than the World to use the World as if they used it not to seek first Gods Kingdom and his Righteousness Not to judge rashly but to forsake their greater sins before they find fault with the lesser transgressions of their Neighbors To walk in the strait way and take pains for Heaven To avoid Hypocrisie and to manifest their Profession by their Lives both to hear and to do what they hear and to bring forth Fruits mete for Repentance and to let their Light so shine before Men that they may see their good Works and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven To be faithful unto Death and to hold out to the End and to suffer for the testimony of Jesus if God think fit to call them to it and to do good though they have no prospect of a present Recompence To feed the Hungry and cloath the Naked and visit the Sick and to hope and to believe that they shall be rewarded at the Resurrection of the Just. These are the
great Lessons we beg of men that they would hearken to these are the things we would have them labour after when we entreat them to turn or to be converted unto God and what are all these Performances but Duties enjoin'd by our Lord and Master upon pain of Damnation He hath protested that those who wilfully neglect these Laws and do not think themselves obliged to obey them when yet they profess themselves to be his Disciples shall find by woful experience what it is to tread under foot the Son of God and to turn away from him that speaks from Heaven He is unchangeably resolved where Men make light of his invitation and slight these reasonable terms of salvation and entertain his Message with contempt and neither repent of that contempt nor testifie their repentance by tears and sorrow and reformation and obedience for the future to let them have that eternal misery that unquenchable fire whereby he thought to fright and wean them from their Lusts and to drive them into Paradise and which is so far from terrifying of them that they run into it most greedily seem to invade those flames and be in love with endless Agonies And now let any man in his wits judge whether Coversion in that sense we speak of it both in publick and private be not indispensably necessary And whether Consideration how to be converted fall not under the same necessity Our Natures are not so very prone to goodness that we may yield to these Laws without examining and thinking what way we ought to take to work our hearts into a holy willingness to submit For its swimming against the stream climbing up a Hill running counter to our inclinations and therefore the Soul had need be season'd with thoughts of the admirable contrivance goodness profit benefit and advantages of these Laws and of the love and compassion of God that shines in them and of the harmony order calmness peace and satisfaction Obedience causes before we can conform our wills to his will who is resolv'd that Dogs and Swine shall not enter into Heaven But what shall we say when Men are resolved to live like Swine and will not believe that God demands that holiness of them the Scripture speaks of when they believe God to be altogether such an one as they themselves a friend to sin and false in his threatnings when they believe that Discourses of Divines about Conversion are no more but talk a cast of their Office and that themselves give no credit to the things they preach to others when they believe that God denies them nothing that their Nature prompts them to and is pleas'd with their Frolicks and Divertisements When they believe that the great end of their Creation is to get Money and that they have a Being given them in this world to fill their Bellies with all the Dainties they can get when they do not heartily believe a judgment to come and look upon the flames of Tophet but as painted Fire when they take worldly Felicity for their Heaven and wish there were no other Beatitude after this life but Mahomet's Paradise When they do so we had as good tempt them to knock their heads against a wall as persuade them into a serious Consideration of their wayes Without all peradventure its worth considering that God intends something by the aforesaid Precepts and that they are not design'd for Beasts and irrational Creatures that God doth not think so light of them as we do and hath a sense of Honour and will not let a wilful contempt of things so sacred and so venerable go unpunish'd that obedience makes men like unto God and causes them in some measure to approach the Holiness of his Nature that those certainly must be in a better condition when they come to dye who follow these Rules than the other that know no Laws but the dictates of their own licentiousness that these Laws enjoin nothing but what agrees with and promotes the prosperity of Mankind and that if we believe God to be jealous of his Glory to obey these Laws must in all probability be the most likely way to please him that these Precepts do signally advance the dignity of Humane Nature and shew the generosity and greatness of a Mans Soul who dares live above the common level of Mankind that to become subject to these Laws is the safest course and a Man can lose nothing considerable by that subjection if there were no other world that all those that submit to these Laws cannot be Fools and if the wisest of Men close with these Injunctions it must to speak moderately be very great imprudence to laugh at them But where Conversion is thought a thing superfluous no marvel if Consideration be look'd upon as a task fit only for Men who have nothing else to employ their time in When People despise the House they 'll have no great value for the Porch And when the end seems needless they 'll not trouble themselves much about using the means that lead to it And such persons we must leave to be convinced of the necessity of Conversion by their punishment Since Reason cannot persuade them judgment must take away the vail from their eyes What Exhortation cannot effect Thunder must produce What they will not believe upon the Word of God they must be forc'd to give assent to by the flames they shall ere long feel the rage and fury of and God who could not be glorified in their Conversion must glorifie himself in their everlasting confusion IX Impediment IX Mistaking the Nature of Consideration As the way to life is but one so the ways that lead to destruction are infinite and without number And such root doth a sinful life if not check'd betimes take in Men that if they can but find the shadow of an excuse they will not fail to lay hold of it that they may not part with what they love so dearly It 's from hence that all their little attempts to perform their duties pass with them for the duties themselves as if lifting up or moving a piece of Lead were as much as carrying of it from one place to another They would be angry with their servants if demanded what work they have done they should reply that they have executed their Masters commands when they have only touch'd the Plow with a finger or play'd with it to divert them and take it very ill of a Waterman that should ask money of them for carrying them to the place they intended for if he should but give a stroke or two with his Oar and so give over and laugh at that person that should pretend he hath made them a Fire when he hath laid but two or three sticks together The Folly they find fault with in others they practise themselves and while they attempt to take the Mote out of their Brothers eye they are insensible of the Beam that is in their own for thus we
errors of their wayes The truth is some are so civil as to send for us when the breath is going out of their body and give us leave to come and teach them what they must do to be sav'd when the Physitian gives them over and they ready to be summon'd to appear before the great Tribunal they are contented we should give them an Epitome of their Duties when they are past working in Gods Vineyard and furnish their minds with thoughts of Heaven and Eternity when their understandings are as weak as their bodies and their inward man as languid and feeble as their outward But there needs no great store of Arguments to convince any rational man That this is meer mocking of God and his Messengers It 's a sign they have a pitiful low esteem of another world who think Heaven worth no more than a feeble thought when they can serve the Devil and sin no longer It 's a sign they look upon eternal glory as some poor beggarly happiness who cannot vouchsafe it a serious look till their eyes grow dim and the Sun and the Moon and the Light and the Stars are darkned Eccl. 12.2 Would they but send for us or come to us while marrow is in their bones and blood brisk and lively in their veins their reason strong and their understanding in its full vigor and glory and advise with us about these everlasting things we would then tell them what eternal life means and how no man can be a man or be said to act with common prudence that doth not with all diligence make his Calling and Election sure we would then let them see how many thousands perish for want of thinking of Eternity We would let them see how miserable those mens condition must needs be who have their portion in this life who after this life must look for nothing else but everlasting chains of darkness We would prove to them that these are not things to be laught at but deserve their most serious contemplations and that the saving of a Soul is not so light a thing as they may imagine We would let them see that the pious Kings and Princes and Philosophers Confessors and Saints and Martyrs of old whose memories we adore were no Fools when they kept under their Bodies and brought them into subjection lest they should become Castawayes when they look'd upon all the losses and troubles and miseries that could befall them for Righteousness sake as things not worthy to be compared with the glory which ere long should be revealed in them when they did not count their own Lives dear for the Gospel of Christ and were ready to pass through the most daring flames to Heaven We would let them see that those men had brains and were men of wisdom and discretion as well as they and living so near the time of Christ and his Apostles could not possibly be ignorant of what was to be done in order to everlasting happiness and if they had not been very confident of the truth of Christs promises and known for certain that without strictness and contempt of the World and watching against Temptations there was no entring into their Masters joy they would never have striven so much to enter in at the strait gate as they did We would let them see how different mens thoughts are when they come to dye from those which they have while they enjoy strength and health and liberty and that a melancholy thought now and then concerning their sinful life is not repentance nor leaving such sins which would blemish their credit and reputation in the World doing whatsoever Christ commands them nor talking now and then of the vanity of the World using the World as if they used it not We would let them see what the Scripture means by working out their salvation with fear and with trembling and how dreadful that saying is If the righteous be scarcely saved where will the wicked and sinner appear We would let them see That the expressions the Holy Ghost uses concerning our Travelling to the Land of Promise imply very great care and industry and do plainly intimate that God will not part with his Heaven to men that do not think it worth seeking or being at any trouble about it We would let them see that if any thing in the World deserves their pains and care Heaven deserves it infinitely more as it is of infinitely greater consequence than the most boundless Empires or Principalities We would let them see that God is no respecter of persons and that as he hath fitted Religion for all mens capacities insomuch that though all cannot be wise or learned or great or rich yet all may obey him and keep themselves unspotted from the World so he will one day summon every man to give an account of his stewardship and bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or evil We would let them see that what satisfies men now will not give them any great content or satisfaction then and though now some sprinklings of Piety may lull them into good conceits of themselves and of their worth yet these like blown Balls will then be all upon the least touch shatter'd into Atoms By such discourses as these we might by degrees engage them to a serious Consideration of their spiritual Concerns and warm them into resolutions to lay by for some time their Farms and Oxen and ruminate on things which carry so much Terror and Majesty with them And indeed such things were they heard without prejudice they would in some measure confound and startle men in their courses and if they are not given over to a hard heart or to a reprobate mind rouze their spirits into nobler thoughts and contemplations But alas they shun our company except it be to talk of worldly affairs or to ask us about some nice Points of Divinity and are ashamed to make their condition known and to own themselves ignorant of the path that leads to glory They either excuse themselves with this that their Neighbors and their Friends will laugh at them for making Ministers their Oracles or plead that they know as much as the Man of God can teach them would God they did and that all the Lords People were Prophets But if they did is there not some difference between knowing these sacred Truths and having them set home upon the Conscience That shall stick in a familiar discourse which in reading we take no notice of and a word in private conference may drop from a holy man and may be spoke with that zeal and honesty as shall strike the Soul into a change or renovation of mind which perhaps many years study or a large stock of knowledge would not have effected so that if the question be ask'd Is there no balm in Gilead Is there no Physitian there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recover'd We may truly say
a heart that hath any sense of Religion or Honesty nor do I see that people believe me any whit the more for swearing but I render my self ridiculous and make people think me dishonest unfaithful and treacherous who make so little conscience of what I say How can any man trust me that hears me abuse the best and deerest friend I have or what credit can any man give to me that sees me so treacherous to God to whom I owe all I have Can there be greater ingratitude in the World than I am guilty of by this sin the Air I breathe in the Earth I tread upon the Ground which nourishes me the Fire that warms me are all the Gift of God and is this the return I make to take his Name in vain that supports and maintains me Do I make nothing of God's threatenings How often doth he manifest his displeasure against this sin in his Word and can I think I am not concern'd in the commination what hope can I have that Christ's Bloud will save me when I swear it away and thrust it from me with both Arms how justly may God damn me that do so often wish for it and is there any thing in nature so barbarous to it self as I am in praying to God as it were to deliver me up into the clutches of the Devil No Devil would wish himself so ill as I do my own Soul and is there nothing in the inhumanity and horror of the sin to discourage and terrify me from it Did the Swearer but ruminate on these disswasive arguments how would it cool his courage but neglecting that he neglects his restorative and speaks as if he would be revenged on his Maker for giving him a Tongue How soon would the bladder of Pride break did the proud man but consider that he is Dust and what a wretched sinful creature he is and how much worse than other men and how much he forgets the Humiliation of the Son of God who being in the Form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation becoming obedient to the death of the Cross how odious this lofty Spirit is in the sight of God how amiable Humility how God detests the one and embraces the other how pride keeps out the operations and influences of God's Spirit and how the Holy Ghost refuses to come and lodge in that Soul that swells with vain conceits of its own worth how pride keeps him a stranger to himself how it makes his neighbor hate him raises him enemies and makes him an object of contempt and scorn how all the gifts and blessings and priviledges he enjoyes are but the effects of God's charity how the stately Fabrick which his Soul doth animate must shortly return to the earth from which it was taken what condescension God uses towards him how God who commands Heaven and Earth becomes an humble suitor to his Creatures and instead of consuming courts them to yield to his requests and injunctions how noble and generous it is to imitate him who is eternally happy in himself how in the Grave all distinctions dye how unfit that person is to be a Christian that is a stranger to meekness and humility how those that have domineer'd in this World and trampled upon Men and have thought it their interest and glory to despise their equals and inferiors are now roaring in the burning Lake and how they would now be contented to be the poorest meanest and most contemptible creatures in the World provided that they might be but freed from that never-dying Worm that gnaws their Souls and how shortly this pride and haughtiness if not seriously and timely repented of will end in weeping and gnashing of Teeth Were but these things rightly and seriously ponder'd it would cause a very strange alteration in the lofty censorious Man's designes and resolutions but while these observables are passed by as things out of his element no marvel if he idolizes himself and like a Hedgehog wraps himself up in his own soft Down and turns the Prickles to all the world besides Let the Soul that 's careless of God's service and lukewarm neither hot nor cold but try it and reflect Lord And is this a service fit for him that is of purer Eyes than to behold iniquity Is this slovenly Devotion a sit Present for him who searches the Hearts and the Reins should my Servants serve me as I do God how ill should I resent it and dare I offer the blind and the lame to God which I would scorn to accept of from my Slaves and Vassals I would have my Prayers heard and answer'd but how can I hope they 'l pass for acceptable sacrifices in Heaven when they want the fire of the Sanctuary to give them Flame will God mind a Supplication in which I do not mind his Greatness Majesty and Holiness or can I think God is so fond of answering my requests that he matters not with what frame of Heart I approach his Throne when the Primitive Christians that certainly knew best what was to be done in order to Salvation as having converse with the Disciples and Apostles of our Lord when they consecrated that time when their spirits were most lively to pious exercises and look'd upon that Religion as dead that had not fervency for its ingredient shall I hope to come off at a cheaper Rate Is the King immortal invisible blessed for evermore to be put off with the chips and shavings of Devotion should not I give him the cream and marrow of my endeavours that hath greater power over me than my Master my Father or my Prince so great a God and so mean a Sacrifice so infinite a Majesty and so pittiful a Present How deliberate how circumspect am I in my addresses to my King and is not God a greater Prince than he what is my careless devotion but mocking of God and my drowzy Prayer what is it but playing with him at whose Presence the Mountains tremble Am not I afraid of vengeance or can I think God will suffer a wretch that lives upon his mercy and makes no better return go unpunished How justly may he deny me his Grace and assistance who do not seek it more earnestly How justly may he say Depart from me I know thee not who am so indifferent whether I enjoy the light of his countenance or no How justly may he refuse to be found by me who seek him as if his favour deserved no pains or trouble Strive as it were for your lives to enter in at the strait Gate saith the Great Redeemer of Man and is this taking the Kingdom of Heaven by force when I look upon it as a thing that may be had at any time upon a Lord have mercy upon me Is this wrestling and striving when I suffer any outward worldly concern though never so slight and trivial to take me off from minding the great concern of my
but purifies it doth not straiten the Soul but elevates it doth not clog it but refines it doth not confound it but sublimes it destroys the dross but preserves the Gold and burns away all unclean and inordinate passions and all immoderate cares of this world but raises the Soul above the world and engages it to fly above those things which serve only to fill mens hearts with anguish and vexation Let this object rest a little O my Soul and look upon that Earth thou walkest on this is the place our Bodies must necessarily rest in but when thou seest that center of of all heavy Bodies forget not to think who it is that is thy proper Center and Resting-place This is a groaning bleeding dying Saviour think O my Soul on Solomon what pains that Monarch took to find Rest for his Soul He gave himself to Wine laid hold on folly made him great Works built him Houses planted him Vineyards made him Gardens and Orchards and planted trees in them of all kind of Fruits got him Servants and Maidens procured great possessions of great and small cattel gather'd Silver and Gold got him Men-singers and Women-singers and all the delight of the Sons of Men and whatsoever his eyes desired he kept it not from them Eccl. 2 3 4. c. He withheld not his heart from any joy yet behold when he looked on at the works his hand had wrought he found it was nothing but vanity and vexation of Spirit in all this his Soul found no rest till it came to learn this great lesson Fear God and keep his Commandements and then Peace and rest did flow in upon his Soul with a Spring-tide God is thy rest indeed O my Soul and when thou canst hide thy self in the wounds of thy Great Redeemer then then thou art safe and the Gates of Hell are not able to prevail against thee Canst thou see how plentifully the Earth provides for Mankind and forget what provision God makes for thee that thou may'st not miss of the Crown of Righteousness hereafter and when thou seest how all things the Earth produces praise their Creator in their way and shew forth his Glory canst thou be silent or forbear to be perpetually extolling the goodness of that God that hath given thee a tongue on purpose to speak those praises whereof other creatures make but a dumb shew thou seest how this Earth produces Gold and Silver and if this Earth be so Glorious what will Heaven be if the House which God vouchsafes to his enemies be so splendid what will his own Palace be where none but himself and his Servants shall dwell for ever if the outward Court be so magnificent what must the Presence-Chamber of the King of Kings be if Gold and and Silver by their glittering dazle the eyes of spectators here what will the beatifical Presence of Almighty God doe which is beyond all the shine and luster that Gold and precious Stones afford From the Earth 0 my Soul launch out into the Waters how useful are the Lessons suggested to issue by this Element canst thou look upon water and not reflect on the grace of God which hath appear'd to all men how this washes the Souls of Believers from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit how it quenches the fire of sinful Lusts in men how it takes away mens thirst and greediness after there sublunary comforts how it cools the Soul under the greatest heat of misery how it makes many of one mind as the innumerable Atomes of Flower goe together in water to make up one loaf of Bread and unites millions of Men under one Head the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold the Springs and Fountains which like Pearls adorn the curious Fabrick of the Earth canst thou call them Fountains and doth not that name put thee in mind of the Fountain of life the Fountain of Wisdom the Fountain of living Waters and the Fountain open'd for the House of Juda and Jerusalem for Sin and for Uncleanness doe but think what riches flow from that everlasting Spring Thy God is the very Fountain of all Beings in him and to him and through him are all things he depends on no Causes he hath need of no assistance nothing can hurt him but all things depend upon him he is the beginning of all things without a beginning the end without end the great Cause without a cause infinite unlimited immense and incomprehensible Refresh thy self O my Soul in this never-fading and inexhaustible Fountain admire him serve him love him desire him despise all other things in comparison of him for he alone can supply all thy wants and necessities content thy affections here and fill thee with everlasting comforts hereafter III. It wonderfully supports men under afflictions for our impatience lies in our minds and when the disease begins then its fit the cure should begin but which way should the mind be cur'd but by Consideration it's this must answer all the objections that Flesh and Bloud suggest to the mind it 's this must silence all the arguments which seem to justify our murmures against the dismal providence we meet withal and the thoughts which cause our discontent must be expell'd by thoughts of our demerits and Gods justice and without all peradventure that man shall be able to bear his tribulation better that thus reasons the case with himself why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou so disquieted within me hath thy God a hand in this affliction or hath he not if he hath not where is his Providence if he hath why dost thou grumble Doth not thy God know better what is expedient for thee than thy self Is he all wise and doth not he know what medicines are fittest for thee thou art his creature and may not he do with his own what he pleases thou hast sinn'd against him and must not he correct thee thou hast affronted him and must not he use his Rod thou hast forsaken him and must not he shew his displeasure against thy ingratitude dost not thou correct thy Child when he is stubborn and dost thou let thy Servant goe without chiding that doth neglect the business thou hast recommended to his care may be thou hast serv'd thy God and led a sober life but was it a life so blameless that it had no defects and must not those defects endure that fiery Tryal that they may be burnt away Hast thou receiv'd the good at the hand of the Lord and shalt not thou receive the evil also how long hath God spared thee who might long ago have poured out the vials of his wrath upon thee hast not thou reason to thank him for chastising thee but now who might have done it much sooner Alas why shouldst thou think he doth thee wrong by sending this cross upon thee who hast deserved no less than damnation are not Rods gentler than Scorpions and drops of Gods anger more tolerable than flouds of his
own Bloud to this end thou eatest of his Bread and drinkest of his Wine and thus thou sealest the Covenant Dost not thou remember O my Soul how the world Was lost by eating of the forbidden Tree Behold by eating of this Tree of Life thou shalt be saved for ever in the breaking of the consecrated Bread thou seest how Christs Body was broke for thee in pouring out of the Hallow'd Wine thou seest how Christs Bloud was spilt for thee when the Holy Bread is reach'd out to thee thou seest Christ reaching out his crucified Body to thee that thou mayest see in his hands the print of the nails and put thy finger into the print of his nails and thrust thine hand into his side and shelter thy self under that wounded and mangled Body against the wrath and indignation of God When the sacred Wine is given thee thou seest how Christ offers thee his Bloud for the remission of thy sins canst thou behold so great a love and not loose thy reason in the admiration of its greatness when thou seest such condescension such kindness such compassion O canst thou forbear crying out O my Lord what do I see what mean these longings of Almighty God after my happiness what means this industry of that incomprehensible Being to be at all this charge and pains to make me blessed God that might sport himself with my everlasting groans what need he have cared whether I were saved or no God Who can be happy without company and needs no society but his own whence is it that this mighty God humbles himself thus to dust and ashes layes aside his Robes of Glory and wooes me to be content to lye for ever in his Arms and Bosom would no other remedy serve turn to recover me but the death of the Son of God God on whose Laws I have trampled Whose Authority I have slighted whose promises and threatenings I have undervalued that he should be thus concern'd for my welfare and contrive how to advance me unto Glory and contrive it by such stupendious means too will God suffer that I may not will the Eternal dye that I may not fall a prey to the second Death will God be crown'd with Thorns that I may wear an incorruptible Crown of Glory will God be affronted abus'd and scorn'd that I may inherit Glory and Honor and immortality what manner of love is this where is the spring of it what 's the impulsive cause of it how full of miracles is every circumstance here how pleasant is this contemplation What! God love a little slime and earth O my God! how wonderful is thy love it is all Ocean here is no shore to set my feet on be astonish'd at it O ye Heavens and tremble O thou Earth the Eternal the Immense Creator of Heaven and Earth stoops to a miserable creature the God who fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence bows down to a poor inconsiderable worm he that sits on the circle of the Earth and before whom all the Inhabitants of the Earth are as Grashoppers humbles himself to take notice of a poor forlorn wretch Here is love indeed Stay me with flaggons comfort me with apples my Head grows giddy with the Precipice here is an abyss of Love which I cannot fathom my head swims at the sight of it Sense can furnish me with nothing like it I am silenc'd here is a love answers all arguments that are brought for going on in sin Help me O thou blessed Spirit Help me O thou who art fairer than the Children of Men Help me thou who art all Love and Life Help me to admire thy Love In this Love are a thousand charms in this Love are omnipotent enforcives to love God above all the world Run O my Soul run into this Banqueting-house the Banner whereof is Love Is it so and must thou have perish'd and been undone for ever if the Son of God had not come in the Flesh and expiated thy crimes and doth not that Almighty love deserve thy Love see how the ambitious love the applause of men and wilt not thou love him who is brighter than the Sun see how the rich man is enamour'd with his stately Pallace and canst not thou love him who hath done that for thee which no Friend no Money no Gold no Silver could have purchas'd viz. reconciled thee to an offended God wilt thou slight this Love and hope to go unpunish'd wilt thou make this Love a refuge for wilful sins and hope for the light of Christs countenance will not he who loved thee beyond all presidents and examples double and treble his indignation upon thee if this Love cannot melt thee into a truly Spiritual life could the Devils but have such an offer of being partakers of the love of Christ how would they rejoyce and triumph and Love and Honour and Obey their God again as once they did when they were inhabitants of Heaven and wilt thou beworse than a Devil and spurn at that Love which Angels stand astonish'd at were it thine own case O my Sou wouldst not thou revenge such ingratitude with all the severity imaginable and doom the wretch that should affront such condescension to the direst Flames Be wise O my Soul and provoke not that God to swear in his wrath that thou shalt never enter into his rest who flees unto thee on the wings of mercy to embrace thee thou canst never have a more glorious sight of Gods love on this side Heaven than is discovered to thee in this Sacrament and if ever thou wouldst be perswaded to resign thy self entirely to thy Blessed Redeemer make his Will thy Will and desire what he desires and hate what he hates and love what he loves O come hither to the cross and see the Son of God weeping for thy sins come hither and see him sweat drops of Bloud for thy iniquities and offering thee pardon and reconciliation and peace with God and access to the Throne of Grace and union and communion with him and if this be not enough a title to Eternal Happiness or a right to that Throne himself doth sit on But why so backward O my Soul to come to the Table of thy Lord where thou mayst drink Wine and Milk without Money and without Price where thou mayst be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and eat of the living Bread whereof whoever eats shall live for ever hast thou forgot the peremptory command of Christ Do this in remembrance of me Is this remembring thy dearest friend to think of him solemnly but once or twice a year shouldst not thou remember him as often as thou hast an opportunity should thy Saviour remember thee no oftner than thou dost his death and passion how fearful would thy condition be canst thou represent his Love too often to thy mind and affections canst thou remember thy sins that brought him to the Cross too often art thou afraid of thinking too much of this
his God his Soul and his Neighbor and this cautiousness cannot but make him prudent in his Secular Vocation hence such a man hath commonly his Wife Children and Servants in better order than other men and mingles that sweetness and kindness with his gravity or severity that they may have encouragement to love him and dread offending a far greater Master in Heaven there is not that discontent that emulation that ill language that backbiting that luxury that extravagance that tumult in such a mans Family as is to be observed in Houses where little of God and Eternity is regarded Such a person spends in his house no more but what is decent and convenient and so provides for those of his own Houshold as not to forget doing good to the Levite and to the Widow and to the Fatherless his Speech is commonly with Grace seasoned with Salt full of meekness and gravity and therefore less offensive and he takes heed that it may not be laid to his charge that he hath bestow'd more to feed his pride and luxury than Christs distressed members and in publick affairs or places of great Trust such a man as minds first Heaven and then Earth usually discovers far greater wisdom in management of State affairs than those who first mind Earth and Heaven when they have nothing else to do for his Principles lead him so to carry himself to man as not to affront his God and to advise his King to nothing but what is truly great and glorious and beneficial for the Realm he governs and as a Prince may confide in such a person more than in a sensual Man so he hath reason to believe that all things will prosper better in his hand than in the others because he first seeks the Honour of God and then the happiness of his King and the Honour of that Nation he is a member of which is a thing so pleasing to God that there is nothing more frequent with him than to bless such honest endeavours and to crown them with success and prosperity And certainly he that can consider how to keep himself from the everlasting evil may with greater ease prevent temporal mischief and danger which depend upon the imprudence of his actions he that can row against the Stream may with greater facility row with it he that can chearfully goe up the Hill will find no great difficulty in going down he that can do that which his Nature hath more than ordinary aversion from may more easily doe that which his nature hath a strong byass and inclination to and he whose mind will serve him to turn away the ever-burning wrath of Almighty God cannot want judgement and prudence to prevent the wrath and anger of those men he converses withal and he that can by serious consideration make sure of a Seat in Heaven cannot want power to consider how to manage the Estate God hath given him in this world to Gods Glory and his neighbors good and though men that are very considerate in their Soul concerns doe not always use that prudence we have mention'd in the concerns of this present world yet it is sufficient that if they will make use of that light and those arguments which their reason thus improved by consideration doth furnish them withal they may most certainly arrive to this wisdom and discretion in secular concerns and businesses which we have been speaking of Indeed it 's very rational that he that exercises his reason much and examines the nature ends causes circumstances and consequences of things as he must do that seriously considers the things that belong unto his everlasting peace should arrive to more than ordinary wisdom in other things and that he that 's prudent in the greater should be able to proceed prudentially in lesser matters that he who is faithful in much should be faithful in a little also and that he who is just in the true Riches should be very just in the Mammon of unrighteousness too as we read Luk. 16. 10 11. CHAP. VII A pathetical Exhortation to men who are yet strangers to a serious religious life to consider their ways wilfulness of their neglect how dangerous it is How inexcusable they are how inhumane to God and their own Souls How reasonable God's requests are and how justly God may turn that power of consideration he hath given them into blindness and hardness of heart since they make so ill a use of it c. ANd now Reader whoever thou art that doest yet wallow or allow thy self in any known sin and art not sincerely resolved to close with the terms of Christs Eternal Gospel let me adjure thee by the mercies of God not to reject or superciliously to despise what here we have propos'd As thou art a man and owest civility to all creatures that have the signature of man upon them be but so kind and civil to this Discourse as to allow it some serious thoughts Either thou hast a rational Soul or thou hast not if thou hast let me entreat thee by the Bowels of Jesus to consider whether this present world be all the Sphere that God intended it should move in If it be not and if how to secure the happiness of the world to come be the chief thing this thy Soul is designed for why wilt thou frustrate God in his expectation why wilt thou goe contrary to all creatures and not prosecute the end for which thy Soul was made and shed into thy Body That there is such a thing as a life to come and an Eternity of joy and torment the one promised to a strict and Heavenly conversation the other threaten'd to a loose and careless or sensual life cannot be call'd into question by him that shall impartially reflect upon the premisses it 's certain the things which concern that other life are not discover'd by our sences and therefore thou canst not hope to be affected with them that way It 's thy reason only that can and must apprehend that future state and so apprehend it as to work upon thy affections But which way is it possible thy reason should so apprehend it as to fright thee from thy evil courses except it be improv'd by consideration Sinner I do here in the presence of God conjure thee by all that 's Good and Holy by the interest and welfare of thine own Soul by all the Laws of self-interest by the Revelations of the Son of God by all that God ever did for Mankind by that love which transcends the understandings of Men and Angels by the groans of those miserable Souls which are now in Hell by all the joys of Paradice by the testimony of thine own conscience by all the motions of God's Spirit in thy Heart by all the mercies thou dost receive from Heaven by that allegiance thou owest to God by that Faithfulness thou owest to thine own Soul I do most seriously conjure thee to tell me whether thou art not able to
thou putst upon thine own Soul and is thy Soul so inconsiderable a thing that thou makest nothing of deluding and circumventing it What thinkest thou Sinner suppose thou didst see a Senate or Parliament made up of very grave wise sober judicious men who should unanimously give their verdict in a Cause and determine it and while these men after serious deliberation give their judgement in the case propos'd to them in comes the malefactor against whom they have given sentence accuses the Decree of the Senate of injustice charges their Vote with a lye and takes a great deal of pains to make the world believe a tale of his own making whom wouldst thou believe that grave wise judicious Senate or the Malefactor the Senate sure and then when God Angels and Men the wisest the gravest the learnedst of them do all unanimously determine that without a serious consideration of thy Spiritual concerns thou canst not arrive to any sincere reformation of life canst never know the danger thou art in or what thou must do to escape unquenchable fire and that without it thou art a truly miserable man and dost take the way that leads to destruction hast thou the impudence to oppose thy sickly opinion which arises from a distemper'd ed head and a more distemper'd conscience to the grave sound and orthodox judgement of Men infinitely wiser than thy self when all with one consent affirm that thou art sick to death and nothing but consideration can recover thee wilt thou cancel their verdict by prescribing to thy self medicines of thine own making all cry out against thy inconsiderate course of life God doth not justify it Angels do condemn it the Preachers of the Gospel confute it Philosophers arreign it thy Reason hath arguments against it thy Conscience chides thee for it thy sober neighbors reprove it and wilt not thou subscribe to their sentence what insolence is it to think thy self more knowing than he that knows all things Behold sinner here lies the way to Heaven God is intreating thee to walk in it the Devil is busy to discourage thee from it God saith Here I will be found the Devil suggests that the Sons of Anack dwell there God wishes thou wouldst yield and live the Devil that thou wouldst stand out and dye God seeks to crown thee the Devil to rob thee of thy Diadem God assures thee that this is the Garden where thy Graces must grow the Devil argues that nothing but Weeds and Thistles grow there All the dispute is who shall have thy Soul God or the Devil think sinner for God's sake think who is the Rewarder and who is the Tormenter who is the King that can save thee and who is the Executioner that studies only to ruine thee shall not God prevail wilt not thou give him thy heart and shall Satan goe away with thy Soul shall he possess that Treasure which Angels are ambitious of for shame let not God goe away empty think what a condescension it is in God to be willing to accept of so inconsiderable a Present as thy Heart what is thy Soul to him what benefit doth he receive by offering thee his bosom if thou hast such a mind to be the Devils slave what need God take pains to rescue thee from that bondage dost thou think he cannot live without thee dost thou think thy being in his Heaven doth add any thing to his felicity cannot he as well be glorified in thy Torments as he can in thy Salvation cannot he make his Justice triumph over such a stubborn wretch as thou art wherein doth his advantage lye may not he be God and Great and Glorious and admired by Angels while thou friest in Hell thou hast very highly obliged him indeed that he need be at all this trouble to make thee in love with his ways shouldst not thou stand amazed at his Favour shouldst not thou wonder that this immense and infinite Majesty will vouchsafe a gracious look to so vile a worm as thou art and canst thou see a God court thee and grow coy doth God offer to kiss thee with the kisses of his Lips and dost thou scorn his embraces canst thou see him carress thee and turn away thy face wilt thou prefer the motions of a lying Devil before the Oracles of the Great God of Heaven hadst thou rather goe along with him that will murther thee than accompany him that will encircle thy Head with a Crown of Glory shall God magnify his Mercy upon thee and wilt thou fall in love with his enemy doth God intend by making love to thy Soul to give a character to the world of his infinite goodness and compassion and darest thou be so bold as to lessen that character by thy contempt and ingratitude Behold sinner God is willing to lay aside his Flaming Sword thou shalt hear of him no more in the Earthquake or in the Storm or in the mighty Wind that breaks the Rocks in pieces but in the still small voice the voice of Boanerges shall sound no more in thy ears he 'll blow his Trumpet of War no more all his frowns shall be done away he 'll fright thee no more with Hell-fire if his Grace his Mercy his Compassion can but allure thee to bethink thy self and close with him and so to consider the concerns of thy Soul as to resign thy self altogether to his guidance and direction his Aspect shall be kind his Countenance shall be nothing but smiles his Face shall be a perpetual Sunshine if by consideration of thy ways thou wilt become sensible of thy former folly and throw it away and take up with him alone if his kindly Beams can thaw thy frozen Heart if his calm can win thee and make thee prostrate thy self before the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Heaven and Earth shall be no longer in conspiration against thee and thou shalt not need to look any more for Thunders and Lightnings from that Heaven stand still sinner and see the Salvation of God behold Grace and Mercy lies weeping at thy Feet the free the soveraign the extensive the attractive Grace of God comes wooing to thy Soul and doth bespeak thee in this manner Hold Hold thou poor besotted creature whither dost thou run Hear hear I bring thee the joyfullest tidings that ever were brought to the ears of Men God will be thy Father the Lord Jesus thy Saviour the Holy Ghost thy Comforter the Angels thy Companions thy Life shall be a perpetual Holyday thou shalt be a friend of God an Heir of Heaven and Coheir with Christ thy sins shall all be done away thy iniquities shall be remembred no more all the promises of the Gospel shall be thine God will vouchsafe to live with thee the Holy Ghost will make thy Soul his Temple thou shalt have strength to overcome Hell and Devils Flames and Swords and be more than a Conqueror through him that loved thee the Lord Jesus Christ ask a Heaven and
and send his Spirit so to move upon her affections so to actuate her endeavours so to encourage her with promises that it may not lye in the power of the Devil nor in the power of her Lusts to gain-say or contradict or dash the resolutions she hath taken where the Soul doth with strong desires pour out these her requests before God the good Father opens the Gates of Heaven le ts in the Messenger makes him welcome smiles upon him and sends him back laden with Mercy and puts words into his mouth and bids him tell the Soul boldly from that God who heareth Prayer I have heard thee in an acceptable time in the day of Salvation have I succour'd thee I 'll pour out my Spirit upon thee I will open a river in high places and fountains in the midst of valleys I will make thy wilderness a pool of water and thy dry land springs of water I will plant in the wilderness the Cedar and the Myrtle and the Oil-tree I will set in the Desart that thou mayst see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy one of Israel hath created it 2 Cor. 6.2 Es. 41.18 19 20. Up then Christian who art resolved not to let the concerns of thy Soul lye at six and sevens who art afraid to hazard Eternity with the careless besotted world like another Lazarus beg Alms of the King of Heaven Cry aloud and spare not shew him thy wounds thy ulcers thy poverty thy want thy necessity let a greater fervency attend thy Prayer for Spiritual blessings than others use in begging for Temporal Mercies Prayer is the way to be enrich'd with all the Treasures of Heaven seek Gods assistance with tears in thine eyes remember thy Soul is infinitely more precious than thy Body and if a Beggar in the street is so earnest with those that pass by to give him something for the relief of his corporal wants oughtst not thou to be all fire to procure those blessings which will enrich thy Soul for ever Josephs Brethren were pinch'd with Famine because they knew not that their Brother reign'd in Aegypt why shouldst thou starve Christian when thy elder Brother reigns in Heaven who knows what thou wantest and is a faithful High Priest and is touch'd with the feeling of thy infirmities and was in all points tempted even as thou art Come boldly to the throne of Grace that thou mayst obtain mercy and find help in the time of need If God hath done good to others for his servants sake who have pleased him what will not God do for thee for his Sons sake in whom alone he is well pleased if God doth so highly esteem the Piety of Men that he professes for my servant Jacob's sake for my servant David's sake I will be kind to such a one will he derogate dost thou think from the merits and love of his own Son will he harden his heart or stop his ears or turn away his eyes when thou callest upon him for Christs sake to send down upon thee the day-spring from on high Christ is the very object of Gods delight nothing is sweet nothing is pleasing to him but through and in Christ what ever is amiable and acceptable in us it is for Christ his sake that God doth think it so Without light all colours are invisible there is no beauty in them the light shining upon them makes them look lovely and amiable without Christ nothing would appear pure or lovely or great or delightful He that looks on a green Glass fancies all things he looks upon to be green God looking upon our Holy endeavours in Christ Jesus they all appear to him lovely and good because all that Christ did was good and infinitely pleasing to him The world had perish'd ten thousand times if God had not look'd upon it through his Son and so supported it he that looks through a Glass upon a stinking carcass afar off doth not smell the ill scent of it so God through Christ looks upon our imperfections and he smells not the ill savour of our performances Take courage then and lay hold on the horns of this Altar and if thou knowest not what to say when thou hast taken a serious view of thy ways make use of this or some other Form Oh thou who art the Father of the Spirits of all flesh the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning here lies a poor miserable sinful wretch before thee not worthy to lift up his eyes and hands to Heaven I know not where to look for shame and confusion of face so long have I gone astray from thee so often have I provoked thee so often have I slighted thee so often have I turned thy grace into wantonness so long have I hunted after broken Cisterns which can hold no water forsaking the Fountain of living water that thou mayst justly absent thy self from me for ever so disingenuously have I dealt with thee so often have I endeavoured to blind thy all-seeing Eye and to cheat my self that thou mightst justly cause me to fall a prey to Satan look stern upon me and charge me never any more to see thy face O wretched creature that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Oh my Lord how often hast thou darted Rays of Light into my Soul and the impure fire of my Lusts hath prevailed against them how often hast thou suggested to my Soul the danger it hath been in and yet I have not trembled how often hast thou stung my heart prick'd it and goaded it into serious reflexions and how soon hath this vain world taken me off again and dull'd and dash'd those considerations how often hast thou sent sparks of Grace into my Soul while I have done what I could to smother that Holy fire how justly mightst thou say My Spirit shall no longer strive with thee O my God there is no plague no punishment that 's threatned in thy Law but I have deserved it I only stand amazed at thy patience that I have escaped so long without being consumed and ruined Wilt thou receive such a Prodigal into thy favour wilt thou be reconcil'd to so great a rebel wilt thou pass by unkindesses of so deep a Dye are the gates of Mercy open yet for so vile a wretch Doe not I come too late O my Lord to the throne of Grace will God be yet intreated for such a poor forlorn creature Is there yet compassion left for such a poor sinner O my God I question not thy Power but thy Will to pity such a Traitor as I have been I know thy Mercy is infinite it would be a disparagement to thy Glory and Perfection to deny the exceeding riches of thy Grace thou couldst not be God if my sins exceeded thy power to forgive but when I reflect on thy threatenings how justly thou denouncest wrath