withholding us from Christ Christ comes to bring us back unto the Father 1 Pet. 3. 18. to reduce us to our duty and restore us to our happiness The world that withdraws us from God withholds us from Christ Particularly It holds us back from coming to Christ It holds us in from following of Christ 1. It holds us back from coming to Christ And this it doth by these four means By Darkning our sight Deadning our sense Hanging upon our hearts and about our necks Furnishing us with excuses 1. By darkning the sight that we cannot see either the excellency or the necessity of Christ Christ draws on Souls to him by love and fear First he frights us in by presenting the danger and misery that is falling upon us and we cannot escape if we stand out Look to thy self Sinner this world will betray thee to thy ruine thy pleasures are thy traitors thy carnal friends are thy traitors thy estate is thy traitor they are feasting thee and feeding thee but t is for the day of slaughter the butcher the butcher of souls is near thee into whose hands they are betraying thee they seek thy life thou art but a dead man death is already feeding upon thee the curse of God doth already cleave to thee and is ready to fall upon thee in its full weight thou wilt be devoured thou wilt be swallowed up ere thou art aware come away come to me and thou shalt be safe this house is falling on thine head escape for thy life the avenger of blood is at thy heels flee to the City of refuge I am thy City of refuge come unto me Thus he provokes by fear And this is such an argument to drive Souls into Christ as a clap of thunder or a storm of hail is to the Traviler to hasten him to shelter Then Christ draws by love presents himself and his salvation to the Soul displayes all his beautie and excellencies before it opens the Gospel wherein his grace and his glory appear and shine forth the Gospel is sent down full of Christ there are all the treasures and unsearchable riches of Christ and all held forth in open sight to invite sinners unto him Now the world dashes all this that it workes nothing on the Soul by blinding the eye that it cannot see what Christ sets before it what is either beauty or blackness to the blind soul 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which beleive not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them We are naturally born blind and if our eyes begin a little to be opened this earth is thrown as dust in our eyes that we may not see what 's before us The things of this world as the Moon interposed causeth an eclipse in our souls that we cannot see the Sun we cannot discern either light or darkness either the light of the glorious Gospel or the darkness of the Pitt either our hopes or our dangers this earth keeps both Heaven and Hell out of sight The things of the world should be a glass wherein we may behold the glory of the Lord we may see God in every creature The Heavens declare the glory of God Psal 19. 1. And so doth the earth also and all that is therein but that which God made a glass in which we might see his glory the Divel makes a cloud to take God out of sight what God made a window to let in the light the Divel makes a shut to keep it out Worldly men fix and terminate their eyes in worldly things they can neither look besides them nor through them It is not with them according to the course of nature The Sun dazles mens eyes that they cannot see the Earth but the quite contrary The Earth dazles their eyes that they cannot see the Sun Men usually carry their eyes in their hearts they will not look but where they love or if they should look heavenward yet they could not see the earth hath dazled their eyes Sinners take heed of these riches take heed of these pleasures these substances and these shadowes which your hearts are set upon they will not only be as clogs to keep you down from ascending heavenward but as clouds to hinder you from looking thither It may be they appear as bright clouds but a bright cloud will hide the Sun out of sight as well as a black 2. By deadning the sense they can neither see nor feel they see not the excellency nor can feel their need of Christ who are drunken with these worldly vanities they who altogether live by sense are without sense of any but the present things they can make a shift to live without Christ the less of Christ the better for their turns Christ and the things of Christ are the only things that stand in their way are their way to poverty not to wealth to reproach and shame not to honour they can well enough want Christ while they live but what need they may have of him after this life that enters not into their hearts they are so busy with what they find here that they look not so far as the grave much less beyond it 'T is hard dealing with such hearts but when you find them alone retired and withdrawn from the world and how long may we wait ere we meet with such a season find them in a croud among their carnal friends and companions find them among their Sheep or Oxen or at their pleasures and the noise of these will so drown all that can be said that its like to make as deep impression as a showre upon a stone cry out in their eares fire fire throw Death and Hell in their faces it moves them not so much as to draw forth such a question What may I do to escape We never will come to Christ till we see we need him and we never see our need of Christ till being withdrawn from the hurries of this World we have leisure to sit down and consider How seldom do carnal hearts ask What use is there of Christ wherefore is he come what want would there be of him if there were no Christ If God that spared not his Son but gave him a ransome for the world had spared all this cost it had been all one to them they could have liv'd as merrily and as plentifully here however and that 's all they mind or regard Or if they have any sense of their need of Christ at all it is so little that it will do nothing to the perswading them after him the wound is not so deep but the name of a Saviour will skin it over Seldome does it rise so high as to wring out such a serious question What may I do that Christ may be mine How many Houses and Markets and Shops and Companies may we come into ere we hear any such question Go into the
of the world lives in you Oh have you been so long professours of Christianity and have not yet gotten the Spirit of Christianity Is this the Spirit of Christ that leads you on in an earthly course did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to be such drudges to the world did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to plow and sow and buy and sell and hoord up treasures on earth what are your thoughts your designs your courses your ordinary talk and discourse what is it but earth earth are these the thoughts the wayes the language of the Spirit can any one that beholds our conversation that in the general bent and tenour of it is all about the world and but now and then a cold wish or a few heartless words about the things of God can any man that beholds us say I these are the persons that are dead to the world that are crucified that are mortified to things below these are they that have received the spirit of Christ indeed these speak like Christians and look like Christians and live like Christians like men of another world can it be said thus of us can we say thus of our selves my life is a spiritual life my course is an heavenly course my steps are all bending to another countrey can we say thus would not our daily course our daily discourse give us the lye if we should Oh we are yet of an earthly sensual Spirit the Spirit of this world is yet bearing rule in us our very Soul is but a lump of earth and flesh Oh for another Spirit a new Soul a more divine and cellestial frame O seek O wait for this better Spirit and then we should quickly see another life once let the world be thrust out of the heart and we shall quickly see more of Heaven breaking forth in the life 2. The strength of the world lyes in the God of this world Sathan gives strength to and marshals its temptations so as that the success of them depends much on him this he he doth 1. By over rating the good things present and underrating the good things to come 2. By sharpning the edge of the evil things present and blunting the edge of the evil things to come 3. By an active stimulating and provoking the Soul on any terms whaatsoever to pursue the present good and to escape the present evil 1. By over rating the good things present and under rating the good things to come He that looks on the world through the Devils glass shall see it double to what it is he gives the same prospect to us as he did to our Lord Matth. 4. 2. shews it in its Glory every Comet Shines as the Sun he makes the silver as gold the brass as silver stones as iron every thing hath a borrowed face and looks better then it is The Apple whereby he tempted our first parents Gen. 3. 5. he makes a deifying Apple In the day that you eat your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Sathans design is to blind and put out mens eyes knowing that they can never see the terrene glory till their eyes be out but his pretence is to open eyes to make such discoveries of the hidden excellencies in these earthly treasures as will transfigure Earth into an Heaven He presents the world as that which hath substance sufficiency contentment hearts ease satisfaction in it he sayes to his friends as the Lord sayes to his Prov. 8. 17. c. I love them that love me and them that seek me early shall find me riches and honours are with me yea durable riches and righteousness I will cause those that love me to find substance and I will fill their treasures thus the Lord speaks to his and the Devil gives the world a tongue to speak at the same rate I love them that love me I have riches and honours durable riches and I will fill them with treasures And as the world speaks so worldlings think it cannot boast greater things of it self then will be believed Hos 12. 8. I am become rich sayes Ephraim I have found me out substance the shadow is a substance in those eyes that see no better things Hence these things are taken up by the men of this world as their portion as their heritage as their happiness and hope thou givest them their portion in this life Psal 17. and they take them as their portion and now Lord what wait I for saith the Psalmist my hope is in thee and now world what wait I for what work I for what live I for truly my hope is in thee the worldling sayes God is my portion and in a sense he says true for the world is his God And on the other side as Sathan over rates this so he under rates the other world 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of of God should shine unto them The Gospel is a window through which the light and glory of the other world breaks in and shines down upon this here the pretended opener of eyes smites with blindness by a vail of unbelief he keeps the Gospel and all the glory of it out of sight unbelief gives the lye to all that the Gospel speaks calls all into question holds under uncertainties whether there be any such thing or no and what 's doubtful and uncertain whether it be or no will be vallewed there after What a low price do carnal hearts put upon the deep things of God upon the great things of eternity Glory and honour and immortality and eternal life what cheap things are they accounted whilest soul and conscience and peace and hopes and life are so ordinarily sold to purchase an earthly inheritance that 's the bargain that every where is driving in this earth how few are there that will deal for Heaven and Glory though it may be bought without mony and without price though it may be had for the seeking for though it be bought to their hands yet they will not take it Now what advantage is this to wordly temptations when the price of things to come is so beaten down when the price of things present is so hoised and raised as if the one could hardly be over-bought and the other were scarce worth the dealing for 2. By sharpening the edge of present evils and blunting the edge of evils to come The afflictions of this life are made to cut deeper than the vengeance to come The persecutions of men are more feared than the Plague of God Satan makes his Vassals to think there is no Heaven or Hell to those on Earth Poverty looks more dismally than eternal Fire Disgrace than Damnation the Wrath of man than the Cnrse of God Let Death and Damnation be preached to the World and this stirs them
Ballances may be said to be ballances of deceit in a double sense There are ballances where by men deceive others as those false ballances which unrighteous men use for their own advantage to buy or sell by which may be those there meant and there are false ballances whereby men deceive themselves Ungodly men as they weigh their commodities they sell in false ballances thereby to deceive others so they weigh their gains that they get to themselves in false ballances and thereby deceive themselves their bargains that they make they could never count them such good bargains unless they weighed them on their deceitful ballances If sense may be Judge the world is a good bargain when dearest bought though if faith may be Judge when the world may be had cheapest it is not over safe dealing for it Now when the worth of the world is understood the Divels market is spoiled No man will care to deal with such a pedlar whilest the Merchant stands by who will sell his inheritance for counters or his patrimony for dirt and dung who will spend his money for that which he knows is not bread or his labour for that which profiteth not the strength of the temptation is broken when once we understand of how little valew the things are we are tempted by Christians study the world more search the Scriptures and what these testifie of it believe the Scriptures which have written upon all under the Sun Vanity and vexation of spirit understand what an insignificant cypher this figure of the world is Believe your own words you can sometimes speak contemptibly of the world your selves Who of you will not say this world is but a shadow and the fashion of it passeth away do ye think as you speak do not dissemble either speak your minds plainly that this earth is your substance your treasure your portion and that its worth the venturing your Souls for it or if you go on to say this is not your rest you have here no continuing City ther 's no building on this sand here 's no contentment nor continuance here if ye go on to speak thus believe your own words and then Judg how wisely you deal for your selves in venturing your eternity for such empty perishing things 2. By Faith the soul pitches upon an eternal inheritance It s our choosing the good part Luke 10. 42. our laying hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6. 12. those believers Heb. 11. 14. are said to seek a countrey they were not mindful of this they confest themselves and were content to be strangers and pilgrims here their countrey was on the other side Jordan and thither they sent their hearts Faith descries a better countrey it sees into the invisible world Heb. 11 27. its the good spy that 's sent out to search the land of Canaan and finding it to be a good land there the Soul pitches It saies unto the Lord thou art my God thou art my portion for ever this is my rest here will I dwell If I can bear through this weary land and at last enter into that rest however matters go with me here I am not careful about that if I can but attain to the resurrection of the dead if I can but get to Heaven that 's all my desire and design Meet a believer where you will and ask him whether art thou bound Oh for the Holy Land whom seekest thou thou Jesus of Nazareth what runnest thou for what waitest thou for The incorruptible Crown Ask him again will nothing less content thee Look about through all the earth canst thou find nothing worthy thy love what is silver and gold and houses and lands and honours and pleasures are these nothing with thee may not these satisfie thee No no these are not God this is not Heaven there 's no rest here for the sole of my foot my house and my home is above my hope and my treasure is above and my Soul is above and cannot be content to dwell in the dust Ask him yet again But how wilt thou get into that good Land there are difficulties and dangers in the way thou hast a wilderness to go through a red Sea and a Jordan to pass over there are Lions in thy way there are Giants in thy way thou mayest be a prey to thine enemies torn in pieces of wild Beasts or swallowed up in the waters or at least thou mayst wander in the wilderness and loose thy way and never come into thy rest at last Well but however I must venture I am resolv'd for heaven how difficult or dangerous soever the way may prove I 'le venture all here Heaven or nothing Christ or nothing Henceforth let no man trouble me with other business for I bear in my heart the prints of the Lord Jesus he is gotten within me he is engraven upon my breast and on my soul and this heart can never be at rest till I be with him where he is Lord be thou my God and bring me into thine holy habitation lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and shew me thy salvation this one thing I desire let this be granted me and then my heart shall be glad and my glory shall rejoyce my flesh also shall rest in hope I have enough thou wilt shew me the path of life In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore And now world where art thou with all thy glory this earth is trodden to dirt when the heart is once in earnest for heaven Christians come pitch your Tents here where will you that your lot shall fall you have two worlds before you which will you chuse hang not betwixt both Will you get up to the Mountains or will you dwell in this Plain Come to a resolution you will never get clear of this world till you climb up to the other 'T is only the milk and honey of Canaan that will wean your souls from the Onions and Garlick of Egypt The flowers of the field will be beautiful till you see the Roses of the Garden The fatness of the earth will be your delight till you understand the sweetness of heaven you 'l never be content to loose from this shore till you see the banks of a better Land you will not part with your present purchases till you see where you may have a better bargain It s to no purpose to think to get off your hearts by common arguments This world is vain this world is troublesome uncertain fading a barren Land if that be all you can say 't will never do your hearts will answer A barren Land is better than none an house of Clay is better then no habitation If my soul may not dwell here where shall I be better Where mayst thou be better Come and see lift up your eyes to the hills look you towards Sion the City of the great King mark all her Bulwarks tell all her Towers behold
mind prepossessed and actually stâ—ff'd with the cares of this life Intus existens prohibet alienum How canst thou ascend with thy burthen upon thy back unload unload lay aside every weight and then go up and prosper Say to all thou hast stay you here whilest I go and pray before the Lord let the night before each Sabbath be as the grave betwixt the two worlds there let thy dust be buried and thy Spirit fly naked to thy God Let that night which is the partition betwixt thine own dayes and the Lords be thy Souls taking its leave of all thou hast any sinful thoughts works or pleasures thy lusts and thy evil wayes give them an eternal burial Be gone see my face no more for ever and for matters lawful and honest that concern this earth charge them not to thrust in before the Lord go you also your way for this time and when I have a convenient season I will send for you and if from Sabbath to Sabbath thy feet stand thus on the mountain of the Lord thou mayst find them all the week long on the tops of the mountains of the earth Brethren where is our Sabbath separation Is there not a fault among us upon this account let him that heareth enquire How it is with me Am not I faulty what are my Sabbath thoughts what are my Sabbath discourses If I be better employed in the house of God what do I in mine own house what are my morning and evening and midday thoughts what is my table talk my chimney talk If business if bargains or journeys be not admitted are not visits or complements or vain stories or impertinent news suffered to fill up the time is it thus or not with thee Is it well that it is thus O clear your Sabbaths of such worldly encroachments or you 'l never clear your hearts drive all the world into Pathmos into banishment and be wholly in the spirit on the Lords day Be abstracted from earthly things and earthly thoughts bring them with you neither to the house nor to the day of the Lord let your own houses and your own tables be as the house and table of the Lord have nothing to do from morning to evening but to wait on God 2. It is a day for special Communion with God Tbe meeting of God with his people on that day is like unto that meeting which is promised to Moses Exod. 25. 22. before the mercy seat There will I meet thee and commune with thee there will I shew thee all my mind and hear all thy requests It is a day of blessing thither the tribes go up to bless the Lord and there he comes down to bless his people It 's said Gen. 2. and Exod. 20. that God blessed the Sabbath day Gods blessing the day makes it a day of blessing a good day to his Saints he then comes unto them in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel Those that question whether the first day of the week be the Christian Sabbath let them consider which of all the dayes of the week the Lord hath since the death of Christ so exalted above the rest of the dayes that they can with most confidence say This is the day which the Lord hath blessed on what day were the gates of death broken the Lord Jesus declared to be the son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead on which day was the spirit of God most signally shed abroad on the Apostles and primitive Christians in those extraordinary gifts whereby they were made more capable of publishing the blessed Gospel to the ends of the earth and in that special grace which seized three thousand Souls in one day Act. 2. What day is it that hath been honoured to be the birth day of the greatest number of Saints ever since that hath been their feast day wherein their Souls have been most sensibly nourish'd and they have been increas'd with the increasings of God what meals have they had to their Lords-day meals what joyes to their Lords-day joyes Surely if this may determine the question which day is the Sabbath of the Lord the day that of all others God hath blessed and made a good day the experiences of Christians in all ages would bring in their vote for the first day This is the day that God hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it this by the way This day as is said before is the rest of God a little Heaven let down to us on earth God calls us up hither as he called Moses up to Pisgah to give us a view of the promised land The Sabbath is Heaven opened we may give a guess at the glory to come by those glimses and tastes we have of it now It is the day of interview betwixt the bridegroom and the bride wherein he beholds our faces and shewes us his loves wherein he comes down into his garden to eat his pleasant fruits and we behold his goings the goings of God in his Sanctuary The business of this day is to look into the Ark of the Covenant to review and renew the Covenant transactions betwixt God and our Souls to search out contemplate and admire the mercies and lovingkindness of the Lord to receive the overflowing of his goodness and to pour forth our Souls as an offering to him in our prayers and praises to give and receive mutual tokens and pledges of Love and faithfulness to seal to our fidelity to him and to receive farther assurances of his grace and good will to our Souls to obtain help from God against our enemies whereby we may execute upon them the vengeance written and upon this mountain ordinarily is the victory obteined there breaks he the arrowes of the bow the sword the shield and the battel Christians have you ever experimented this Sabbath Communion hath the Lord God appear'd thus unto you have there been such friendly and familiar intercourses betwixt him and your Souls Oh how contemptibly hath the world look'd in that day But oh what dark and cloudy dayes are our Sabbaths ordinarily to us Sundayes per antiphrasin the Sun not once appearing it may be for many dayes together no wonder our Souls are so earth'd all the week when they are so seldom in Heaven on the day of the Lord what dry feasts are our Sabbath feasts rather fasts then feasts real Communion with God is a strange thing to us even in the day of God Heaven is opened but our eyes are shut God comes down to meet us and to bless us but our hearts are not there the breasts of consolation are full but we have no skill or no list to draw at the breasts we come to the well but we do not let down the bucket we stand by the pool where the Angel comes down but our creeple Souls put not in to the waters we stand without in the outer court of the Lords house our Sabbaths are to us but
things thou knowest not what thou mayst find hereafter Who can tell what there is in another world whether there be any other state of blessedness then what our eyes do see But grant there be such an happy state what may this be to thee God knows whether ever thou mayst be the better for 't when thou hast done all thou canst and lost all thou hast and left thy self a poor and miserable and forlorn wretch an abject an exile from all thy comforts and contentments after all this thou mayst never come to Heaven at last foolish man loose not a certainty for an uncertainty know when thou art well and keep what thou hast what thou hast thou art sure of thine house is thine own thy estate is thine own thy friends and thy pleasures and thy liberties do not thine eyes see them dost thou not tast that they are good here thou hast something but what thou mayst have heareafter who can tell And what can a poor Soul answer to such temptations that 's held under unbelief I confess there 's no great wisdom in losing certainties for uncertainties I see I have something here and if I were sure it should be so well with me hereafter I could be content to venture all I have to follow Christ naked to follow holiness even to bonds imprisonment and death But what if there should be no such thing as Heaven or I should never come there But now Faith will reply what are thy good things thou countest so sure to thee what but vanity and vexation but were they better then they are and worth what thou countest them what is the assurance thou hast of them for how long are they thine for how many years for how many dayes what thine eye sees to day where may it all be by to morrow or suppose the most thou canst thou canst have but a lease of life in them when thou diest thy estate dies thy pleasures die thy friends dye to thee and here 's the assurance thou boastest of at present thou hast something that pleases thee and may be they may last for an hour or two longer or for a few dayes more but to be sure after a few years at utmost they will be gone and thou must know them no more This is thy assurance But is Heaven no more sure then this Is that enduring substance like these transient shadows can stability be removed or eternity expire or if the doubt be whether ever thou shalt obtain this blessed state what hath God said He that beleiveth shall be saved Is it uncertain whether God be true Hath God help'd me to beleive and therein told me I shall be saved and shall I yet question whether I shall or no At least this is sure beyond all contradiction Heaven may be had thou shalt certainly be saved if it be not thine own fault if thou wilt thou mayst The Gospel is a mockery if this be not true it apparently offers life to all that will and therefore to thee amongst the rest Rev. 22. 17. The Spirit and the bride say come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely there is this only uncertainty now remaining It s a question whether thou wilt or not If thou wilt thou mayst Now when a Soul is brought to this much more when a beleiver understanding that he beleives can read his own name in the book of life then let the world try its skill what an hard task will it have before it Come change thy God and thy glory for that which profiteth not forsake the fountain of living waters for these broken Cisterns purchase the pleasures of time with the loss of Eternity Come let the other world go what wilt thou give me then why what ever thine heart desires of all that thine eyes do see No no deceitful world I have better things then these and I will now use thine own words I will not loose a certainty for uncertainties God is mine but after a few dayes whose shall these things be that thou offerest me I mean not to be so put off as to take mine Heaven on Earth Let this earth be my prison my purgatory my Hell rather then my Heaven my life is bought into that eternal inheritance reserved in Heaven for me and I will not sell mine inheritance V. The Conquest of Faith over this conflicting world this I shall dispatch in shewing 1. How far forth or in what sence every believer hath overcome the world 2. Wherein the victory stands 1. How far forth or in what sence every believer hath overcome the world this in 4 particulars 1. He is actually interess'd in Christs victory 2. He is radically indued with Christs conquering power 3. He hath actually broken the head design of the world 4. He is effectually marching on in the pursuit of the victory 1. He is actually interess'd in Christs victory he hath overcome in capite a believer is in Christ and as such whatsoever Christ hath done as redeemer of the world is his and for him Joh. 16. 33. aforementioned Be ye of good comfort I have overcome the world Christs victory is a believers security I have overcome be ye of good comfort why what comfort is that to us If an unbeliever had ask'd what comfort is that to me it must have been answer'd none at all whilest thou continuest in unbelief thou hast no part in Christ nor art like to reap any profit by him while he is a conquerour thou art a captive still its lusts fetter thee its thorns choke thee its pollutions cleave to thee thou art at present and thou mayst dye a worldling and from this temporal it may carry thee down to an eternal bondage But if it be ask'd what comfort is it to a believer that Christ hath overcome its great comfort In him thou hast overcome his victory is thy victory Christ saies to thee not only as Joh. 14. 19. because I live ye shall live also because I have overcome ye shall overcome but because I have overcome ye have overcome 1 Joh. 4. 4. ye are of God little children and have overcome 2. He is radically endued with Christs conquering power he hath overcome in causa he hath that within him which will be the death of his enemies he is not only interess'd in Christ and what he hath done but Christ is in him the spirit of Christ which is the power of the living God is in him He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Rom. 8. 9. The same power by which Christ overcame is already communicated to the Soul of a believer and thence may he be said to have already conquered because he hath received that spirit of power which will certainly work for him the victory What can a living child new born do He is as weak as water he cannot speak he cannot stand he cannot conquer a flea but what may not this child do when he
This will give you good hope that Christ is yours and good evidence that he calls to you Come unto the waters 2. In this Well of Salvation there is water of life Ye shall draw water that is living water In this water is comprehended all things belonging to life and godliness Here is bread in this water he that is the Rock springing in the earth is the bread that came down from heaven Joh. 6. 48. 50. Here is bloud with the water out of his side came water and bloud Here is wine and milk in this water Is 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters come buy wine and milk Come to the waters why what shall we get there O there 's wine and milk in the waters come to the waters for wine and milk What case is there of any of the Saints but here 's that which is proper for it Here 's water for the filthy here 's bloud for the guilty here 's bread for the strong here 's milk for the weak here 's wine for the sad here 's for meat medicine and delight here 's the flower of the wheat the healing balm the sweetness of the fig-tree the fatness of the Olive the Tree of Life Christ is in these waters 3. This water of life is to be drawn out of this Well of Salvation Hence 't is that we must come every man with his Pitcher Faith is our Pitcher what need of a Pitcher if there were no water to be drawn unbelievers might then speed as well as believers 4. It s a joy to the Saints to work at the Well With joy shall ye draw c. We read 1 Sam. 7. 6. that the people of God once drew other waters and out of another Well they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. The Wells were their repenting sorrow-bitten hearts the waters were their tears which they poured out before the Lord these were bitter waters and drawn with sorrow the waters you are now come to are pleasant faith and love and joy and praise are here to be both your work and your waters the three latter are the pleasures of the other world the first Faith is your Pitcher to fetch them in and your mouth to drink them down God hath brought you hither to prove the sweetness of love to taste what 't is to love and be beloved God opens you a Spring of everlasting joy thereby to dilate and inlarge your souls in admirings and praises 4. The advantages we hence get against the world are amongst others these following The precious things of Christ thus exhibited in the Sacrament will 1. Quench our thirst 2. Renew our strength 3. Sharpen our weapons 4. Set the reward before our eye 1. They will quench our thirst after the world The world invites as Christ Ho every one that thirsteth come to my waters If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink God and the world are both for the empty souls he that 's empty of God there 's a man for the world he that 's empty of the world there 's a soul for God he that is surfeited of the pleasures of sin will nauseate the joys of Religion he that is satiated with the pleasures of Religion will slight the joys of the world John 4. 14. Whosoever drinketh of the waters that I shall give him shall never thirst that is either when he is come up to the Well head and shall have drank his full draught he shall thirst no more for ever he shall be satisfied for ever or else he that shall drink of my waters here that shall drink of the brook in the way shall not be thirsty after other waters he that hath drank of the upper springs will better spare the nether springs Our intimate converses with Christ and those gracious savours and divine impressions they leave upon our hearts do naturally weaken and allay our fleshly appetites and inclinations wisdome is not more necessarily expulsive of folly light of darkness holiness of sin then the love and joy of the Lord of the love and the lusts of this world Brethren whatever divine touches whatever peace and joy you seem to feel upon your hearts if the world be not a looser by them if it stand its ground and maintain its interest and esteem in you all that you seem to feel of God upon you look to it that it prove not a fallacy and a dream for my part I shall ever suspect that intimacy my soul hath seem'd to get in heaven and all the pleasure of it if I be not the more content to be a stranger in this earth O my God wilt thou draw forth the breasts to me let me suck and be satisfied let the Lord God be my satisfaction and then let the world try the strength of its temptation 2. They will renew our strength This staff of bread will be the strength of our hearts they are the weak souls whom the world conquers But of this having spoken in a former direction I pass it over here with the naming 3. They will sharpen our weapon We never are foil'd but when our faith fails This is our victory even our faith this weapon of our warfare is mighty through God By how much the more our faith is exercis'd on God by so much the more vigorous believe and you shall be established believe and you shall be strengthened believe and all that you see before you shall be meat for your faith to put it in heart But how shall I believe yea rather how shouldst thou but believe whose Table is this to which thou art come whose word was it that said This bread is my body which was given for you This cup is the New Testament in my bloud which was shed for you This bread is the communion of my body this cup is the communion of my bloud what is this body what is this bloud but virtually all the spirit and life of the Gospel what is the meaning of those words Take and eat and drink but that its the will of God if it be your will also that all this shall be yours would Christ say take what he meant not to give would Christ say eat that which is not bread will be feed souls with common bread did he bring you hither to mock you how should you but believe Believe and you shall find his flesh to be meat indeed his bloud to be drink indeed this bread to be Manna this cup to come to you full of the spirits of the Gospel which will so nourish and quicken your faith that as a mighty man refreshed with wine it will rejoyce to run its course and tread down your Enemy under you 4. The reward is set before our eye Rev. 2. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to câ—t of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth but he that
When I awake I am still with thee that is my thoughts are presently with thee my meditations are of thee and where my thoughts are there am I. When the thoughts are with God the soul is with God when the thoughts are in the earth and mud the soul is all bemired The soul goes forth to view to taste and to chuse for it self the thoughts take a view the affections and senses taste and take the relish and then accordingly the will chuses The will should nakedly follow the understanding and chuse only what the unbyassed judgment tells it is good but it does too ordinarily follow the affections and senses these blind the reason and so ingage the will we chuse what we love and what pleases rather then what upon an impartial deliberation we judge to be good The things of both worlds work upon hearts objectively by the good or evil that is apprehended in them they accordingly affect us our thoughts search into things what there is in them when our thoughts by searching find out God God is regarded and when they are in search after the world they make a shift to fancy this to be good and accordingly it is imbraced The thoughts are the feet and the eyes of the soul the feet Eccles 5. 1. keep thy feet when thou goest into the house of God that is keep and look well to thy thoughts The eyes Prov. 17. 24. The eyes of a fool that is his thoughts are in the ends of the earth the rovings of the thoughts are the souls compassing the earth and its walking to and fro to the ends thereof Keep your thoughts in by the Lord and you keep your souls in your thoughts will be in exercise will be walking daily and hourly some whither or other there 's no keeping them in they will abroad either to heaven or earth oh send them to heaven daily and hold them there let them have no leisure to wander in this earth Brethren think your selves up to heaven as we may pray our selves up and believe our selves up to heaven so we may think our selves thither worldly men think themselves into pride or think themselves into covetousness or think themselves into wantonness are so long thinking and thinking in fuel for lust till they have set it all in a flame as worldly men think themselves into wickedness so let Christians think themselves into holiness think themselves into humility sobriety contentation and heavenliness of mind call off your thoughts from this earth and you will cease to be earthly call them back from vanity and you will cease to be vain call them up to heaven and you call them off from what 's below Think on God more Christians and the everlasting Kingdome think on the way that leads to it on the dangers that lie in the way on the dread of perishing in the way on the beauty and pleasure and comfort of being upright in the way of the goal and prize that is at the end of the way Take up such thoughts as these Is not God better then the world that is is not all things better then nothing Is not grace better then sin that is is not fair better then foul Is not peace better then wrath peace with God then friendship with the world are not the fillings of Gold better then heaps of earth Is a little grace so good and is not more desirable can there be much grace where the desire is so divided betwixt it and vanity Is gold in the Our so precious as gold out of the fire Is the twilight pleasant O what is the day light Is a mixture of flesh and spirit of heaven and earth as desirable as all spirit all heaven If grace be so good if peace with God be so precious why do I not seek it if I have a little grace if I have a little peace why do I not press for more when shall I increase and grow rich towards God if I do not decrease towards this earth Be thinking thus on heaven and heavenly things and if you will be thinking of earth too think of the dark places of the earth and the dark side of its brightness think of the precipices the marishes the quagmires the barren Mountains and desolate Wildernesses the bryars and thorns and wild beasts of the earth my meaning is if you will study the world study its vanity and vexations the danger you are in of being lost or torn in pieces or swallow'd up of them How uncertain are these riches how vanishing is this mirth how unconstant are these friends what a blast are these honors what a flash are these pleasures what a bubble are these buildings how long will they lust what will be left of them a few years hence But O the thorns and the bryars the vexations the cares the fears the disappointments the crosses the sweat and the sorrows that are mingled with these pleasures and possessions But yet farther O the darts and the arrows and the stings that come after O the stabs and the wounds that they give to the soul the darkness and death and damnation that they are dragging it into If you will be thinking on the world let it be with such thoughts as these and then see if it would be so hard to make an exchange of earth for heaven Brethren the reason why it is so hard a work for the Ministry to perswade in souls to Christ is because we cannot get them to entertain any serious thoughts of Christ and of the blessedness that comes in with him the reason why we cannot fetch them off from the world is because we cannot perswade them to think as they should of it of the vanity of it of the bondage it holds them in and the misery it subjects them to If we could but set you a thinking once what harm would it be to me to hearken to Christ what will become of me if I do not hearken to him when shall I come to Christ if I still cleave to this present world what if I should never come but should stand at this distance from him to my dying day Can I ever hope for mercy from Christ if for the love of the world I now refuse him will he regard my cryes when hereafter I shall call Lord open to me Lord answer for me Lord save me if I reject him when he calls Soul open to me Soul submit to me How shall I stand in the Judgment if I have no Christ to stand with me will my estate will my pleasures will my friends be good Advocates for me in that day will this be a good Plea Lord Jesus appear for me let thy wounds plead let thy bloud plead for me let me stand as one of thine for I am he that would none of thee I set at nought thy counsels and despised thy Covenant and trampled upon thy bloud and preferr'd my house and my money and my pleasures and my lusts before
and fill'd your purses and fed your carkasses and provided for your Families but it hath starv'd your souls O my leannes my leannes my dry and withered soul my weak heart my wasted Conscience Oh how little truth or tenderness how little love or lise or warmth do I feel within me Oh how much pride and frowardness oh how much lust and liberty to sin hath there grown upon me I can fret and vex and chafe I can be false I can lye and dissemble all the Religion I have gotten into my soul after so long a time of profession is not enough to restrain these vile abominations Oh my soul how sad is it with thee how low is it with thee to this day how comes this to pass why this is thy good husbandry this is thy worldliness thy labouring so much thy hungring so much after the meat that perishes or thy being given to thy pleasure or thy ease this is it that hath held thee in such a poor case such an unfruitful and barren state such a dark and uncomfortable state as thou art in at this day for all this unhappiness thou art beholding to the world and thy worldliness Thus you have seen the enmity of the world against souls it holds back from Christ darkens the sight that we cannot see the excellency or the need of Christ deadens the sense and hinders from following Christ keeps Christ short c. Let this by the way be an argument to disswade from worldliness are you Christians or would you be so would you ever come to any thing in Religion would you prosper in holiness would you have the comfort of Christianity then take heed and beware of a worldly heart which will either hinder you from ever coming to Christ or else be a Canker and a Moth to devour and eat out the spirits of all that Christianity you have II. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails upon so many souls It is a wonder it should ever prevail so as it does that ever men of understanding endued with immortal souls should suffer themselves to be led up and down down as they are by such a pernicious and mortal Enemy that when they have seen so many lost and undone by it they should never take warning that it should ever be trusted as it is that it should ever be lov'd as it is that it should ever be hearkened to as it is especially considering how unreasonable its demands are and how inconsiderable its rewards What does the world demand what would it have This is it if it would speak out Come sell me thy God come sell me thy hopes that thou hast for the other world come sell me thy soul come give me thy heart love me and serve me But what shall be mine hire what wilt thou give me then if it would speak out this is the reward it gives Vanity and vexation death and destruction Hell shall be thine hire But suppose it should give what it sayes it will all the good things on this side the grave riches honors pleasures ease abundance of all these and all manner of contentment in the enjoyment of them yet what 's all this thou shouldst gain on this side the grave to what thou shalt loose and to what thou shalt suffer on the other side of the grave what 's Earth to Heaven what 's Time to Eternity Suppose it should say plainly come take thy good things here and thy evil things hereafter take thy riches in this and thy poverty in the other world take thy pleasures here and thy plagues beneath be full or be merry prosper flourish rejoyce for a few houres or for a few dayes and be miserable cry howl be in torments to Eternity If the World should speak out thus to Men this it designs if it should speak out thus into what madness must those Souls be bewich'd that would hearken to it and yet behold though this be the design its driving on and men might know it if they would but consider yet behold how the whole world almost are wondering after this beast and busy in making bargains with it to be its captives and servants yea not only suffering themselves to be perswaded and beguiled in o this bondage but also willingly offering themselves for servants I pray thee take me into the number of thy servants Take my Soul world saies one take my God saies another take my hopes saies another Let me be but a rich man let me be a great man let me have so much money or so much lands or so much pleasure or ease or honour let but this Moon shine upon me and take the Sunshine whoever will let me be this worlds favourite and I am content to be its servant and so along they go after it till they be lost for ever What a wonder is this and yet how many such prodigies are to be seen every day and in every place this is the case of every worldling thou that wilt be rich thou whose heart goes after thy covetousness thou who art given to thy pride or thy pleasures or thy ease thou art boring thine eare to the threshold of thy mortal enemy thou art doing away thy patrimony for husks thou art doing away thy Soul and its eternal inheritance to buy in thy life into an house or parcel of Land or for a bundle of crackling thorns to make thee blaze before which thou mayest dance and be merry for an hour or two and then go down to everlasting darkness This being such a marvelous thing that such an enemy that is so known and confest to be by the very men that suffer themselves to be led Captive by it for what worldling is there that will not confess that this world is an Enemy that such a known Enemy should still so easily prevail in the world as the Apostle in another case Gal. 3. 1. 3. O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that having begun in the Spirit ye will be made perfect in the flesh O foolish worldlings who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that being born to things Spiritual and Eternal you will be thus led captive by things Temporal and Fleshly this being such a marvelous thing it will be worth our time to enquire wherein the strength of the world lyes whereby it so strangely prevails And indeed it is a piece of the best policy and that which gives great advantage against an enemy to study and find out where his strength lyeth Judg. 16. 6. c. When Dalilah attemped the delivering of Sampson bound into the hands of the Philistimes she lyes at him day by day tell me where thy great strength lyeth tell me where thy great strength lyeth in vain did they assault him in vain did she bind him her Cords and her Wit hs and her webs could never hold him till at length she found out where his strength lay which when she had
once found out she quickly spoil'd him of it and delivered him a captive to his enemies find out the strength of the World what it is and wherein it lyes and then you will understand your way to the conquering of it But where lyes this strength of the World I answer In The Spirit of the World within us In the God of the World without us 1. In the spirit of the world within the world hath a strong party within man which sides with it 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God we have not we who have that spirit of God in us have not received the spirit of this world but all others have no other spirit In the whole generation of worldly men there is the same spirit as in the whole generation of the Saints there is the same divine spirit the same spirit of grace the same spirit of faith the same spirit of love the same holy spirit So in all the men of this world there is the same worldly spirit The spirit of this world is an earthly Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 47. the first man is of the earth earthy in his creation he had an earthy body and by sin he is come to have an earthy Soul Sin was his fall from Heaven to Earth as in his choice he made for himself he chose an earthly inheritance so in his temper and disposition and tendency his very nature now inclines and bends towards earthly things his Soul as well as his Body lusts after and feeds upon dust The spirit of the World is a short sighted spirit it cannot see afarr off 2 Pet. 19. Heavenly things are too far distant to be discerned by it it loves and gapes for and grasps things present things to come are far out of its sight The spirit of the world is a low and narrow spirit these poor and beggerly things that this earth affords are the highest of its ambition Seekest thou great things for thy self Yes I do what worldly greatness are these the great things thou seekest a great name a great estate great possessions thou mistakest thy self man these great things are but small things below the spirit of a man below a divine and immortal Soul meat and drink and mirth and money are these the best things thou findest for thy heart to be set upon for thy soul to take pleasure in sure thou hast changed Souls with the bruits that canst take up with such things as these The Spirit of the World is an homebred spirit it hath never been abroad but hath been born and bred in this worldly region it hath never set foot nor been acquainted in a better land the spirit which is of God carries up to the upper regions the regions of light and life and glory and immortality where it hath made discoveries of other manner of treasures and joyes and glories then are here to be found but the spirit of the world hath ever dwelt at home the souls of worldlings dwell in their houses of clay and never travail farther then they can with the snail carry their houses upon their heads their Souls travail no farther then their carkases This Spirit of the World by what hath been hinted of the make and temper of it you see hath a suitableness to worldly things and this is the great advantage the World hath upon us it tempts us to that we love and like all that the World perswades us to is to seek what we have a mind to to do what we have a mind to to follow our natures and dispositions to find out what will best please us and there to take our fill The difficulty of Christs victory over Souls lyes in this that he calls and commands them to things and to wayes contrary to their natures not to please but to deny themselves to kill their Flesh to cross their appetites to contradict their own mind to pursue an happiness which is so sublime and spiritual and so unsuitable to their carnal natures that it is altogether unsavory to them and hereupon he hath hard work to prevail and t is but here and there one amongst many that will be prevailed upon to hearken to him to how many houses may we come to how many souls may we bring the everlasting Gospel ere one will open and accept how many are call'd to Christ to one that comes O brethren you are witness how hardly any of your souls were perswaded to come along with Christ and may be some of you stand off and hang back and will not be perswaded to come fully in to this day What 's the reason of this Oh carnal men think that Christ calls them to their loss perswades them to their hurt that they have a better being whilest they are wallowing in their riches and their pleasures then ever they should find in following of Christ But now the advantage that the world hath on Souls is that it tempts them to things pleasing to them their natures joyn with the world and draw them the same way Whilest Christ calls if any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me this is all the world requires if any man will be my servant let him seek himself and shift for himself and please himself and shun the cross and follow his own heart and what great difficulty is there to perswade men to follow their own minds when worldly temptations meet with worldly spirits when temptations to pride meet with proud hearts when temptations to pleasure meet with flesh-pleasing hearts when temptations to vanity meet with vain hearts when temptations to covetousness meet with covetous hearts how mightily must they needs prevail From this suitableness of the spirit to worldly things it doth Readily take in of the World Greedily make out after the World 1. It doth readily take in of the World the world never knocks but the heart opens the world never offers but the hand is ready to receive yea though the terms upon which we must have it be never so unreasonable though for every draught of pleasure they must after drink the double in wormwood though with the gains of the world they must drink in a curse yet like men in a dropsie though to drink will be death their thirst must be quenched It may be when the world is a tempting the Soul conscience stands by and gives it warning take heed of these pleasures ther 's poyson in that cup or ther 's wormwood at the bottome take heed of these deceitful riches ther 's a snare lies under there 's a curse cleaves to them look to thy self Soul the world is but a playing the Devil with thee these pleasures and these riches it hath sent to fetch away thy Soul it holds thee so busy about thine earthly affairs that thou mayest the mean while loose the opportunity of making Christ thine of making the
filth and stench of Hell in their vile affections the smoke and flames of Hell in their reeking and burning lusts the darkness of Hell in their darkned and blinded minds and sometimes the torments of Hell in the anguish of their guilty and self revenging consciences And as sinners may find an hell so believers an heaven in the heart an heaven of light an heaven of love and joy and praise Thus it is with some and thus it might be with all were we stronger in Faith Oh what do we lose by living thus by Sense when we mighâ— live by Faith how have our carnal hearts by consuming and spinning out our daies in sloth and idleness sticking at the labour of duty whining under difficulties shrinking from sufferings indulging to our ease and our pleasure and liberties how have our carnal hearts robb'd us of the life of God the pleasures of Angels the joys of the Upper Region and left us little more of Christianity then its wounds and bruises its mournings and complainings its sighs and sorrows Oh foolish hearts that consult so unwisely for our selves that choose rather to live in Brakes among these bryars and thorns then among the Beds of Spices that will rather laze it in a Wilderness then get us up to the Garden of the Lord The life of Faith is an heavenly life The life of God Ephes 4. 18. though Faith shall never come into heaven it self yet thither it translates our hearts It came down from heaven it is the gift of God and though it must not return thither 't is love not Faith that shall dwell before the Throne of God yet thither it raises those hearts in which it lives Though it may not dwell there hereafter Faith shall then be lost in sight yet now its travelling thither going and returning every day and hour Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven there 's all our business where should a Christian be where does he live but where his business lies A Believer that had heretofore so many things to do dividing his heart and time hath now cast all his business into one hath brought all his business near his home he hath nothing to do abroad in the Tents of wickedness in the Camps of the Uncircumcised he hath done with serving flesh and lusts and times and tables and carkasses here his whole work did lye but no more of these now they must be all laid aside or at least made to come and serve with him in his higher business God and glory the loving and praising and serving and securing God to his soul is all he hath to do Phil. 3. 13. This one thing I do forgetting that which is behind and reaching forth to that which is before I press to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. These lower things his outward priviledges hopes and advantages were once the things before him but he 's now gotten beyond and hath left them all behind him not only his Jewish priviledge whereof he had boasted but much more all earthly things he hath cast off these weights and is now flying upon the wing of Faith ascending in flames of love winding up his soul by constant labour above this dung and darkness to the Regions of light and glory This is his business And hence is his blessedness heaven is his work and his meat his labour and his hire he will know nothing for a blessing or a comfort but what his Faith brings him down from above Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou so disquieted within me Bid him Hope in God tell him thou shalt yet praise him who is the light of thy countenance and thy God and this will comfort him Say to him while you will Man be of good comfort the fig-tree blossoms the labour of the Olive will not fail there is fruit in the Vines there are Flocks in the Folds there are Herds in the Stalls comfort thine heart what wouldst thou have more And how little will this ease him Oh where is my God how is it with my soul what tidings from above have I a treasure there doth God smile what tidings from within Is it peace there doth my soul prosper Is there grace there is truth in my inward parts this is good news Come in thou blessed of the Lord thou comest with good tidings this shall comfort me This is the life of Faith a conversation in heaven Thus we should and thus we might live more then we do but I doubt I have been here in telling you a Mystery whereof the most of us have but little experimental understanding Christians what acquaintance have you with this life of God Is this your business heavenly work are these your comforts heavenly supports we are yet carnal and walk as men Oh this earth earth how doth it hang on our spirits we live as if there were a middle Region betwixt heaven and earth a middle state betwixt Faith and unbelief Some little we have attain'd of this heavenly life and blessed be the Lord for any thing but oh how little is it Friends wonder not that you see no more of the Divine Glory conclude not that there is no more to be seen put it to the proof live more with God more purely more closely more constantly with him live in the daily exercise of Faith and you will get the sight of other manner of glorious things then can be told you What 's the reason that unbelievers are so wholly in the dark and can see nothing of God no more then they can despise and laugh to scorn O 't is because they come not near where God is they are alienated from the life of God their whole business is in the heart of the earth here they dwell and here is their whole converse Speak ye unbelievers where dwell ye what is your Occupation where is your Conversation far enough from heaven sure where ever it be Speak ye proud and haughty ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the air we feed on wind live upon breath honor and applause is all we work for and live upon Speak ye Covetous where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the earth we feed upon dust and ashes and in these our business lies Speak ye contentious quarrelsome ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the fire in storms and tempests Speak ye voluptuous Sensualists where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the mud and mire in lasciviousness wantonness and all manner of filthy lusts Speak ye Ranters Ruffians Swearers Cursers Blasphemers where is your Conversation our Conversation is in Hell in the Alehouse the Tavern the Brothel-house we live where Satans Throne is in the very Suburbs of Hell Oh what a difference hath Faith put betwixt Believers and all others in the world whilst they only live the life of God all others live the life of Bruits
or Devils Oh bless God for Faith even ye of little Faith at its first entrance it gives your soul a lift from heaven to earth There it lists your names no longer men of this world but henceforth Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God there it hath laid you up an Inheritance and thence it brings you your maintenance thither it turns your eyes and all your streams it shews you what you have there and by those beams it draws you up thither Those to whom it shews the least of that glory it shews enough to disgrace the glory of the world and as this Sun-light grows so doth all the beauty of the world fade and vanish out of sight By Faith our conversation is in heaven Now by how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts are there by how much the more our hearts are in heaven by so much the less on earth and when once the world hath lost our love it hath lost its power over us 1. By how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts and affections are there we ordinarily love to be where we use to be No such damp grows upon affection as by distance and estrangement when we loose our acquaintance we loose our delight in God Acquaint thy self with him and be at peace Joh 22. 21. Acquaint thy self with him and be in love there wants nothing to fix our affections on heaven but being better acquainted there Intimacy begets dearness Do you not love God t is a sign you have had little to do with him Is not your delight in Heaven t is a sign you are seldome there Is prayer and holy meditation and exercising your selves in the Scriptures and attendance on ordinances a weariness and altogether unpleasant to you sure you have little known what the spirit of Prayer and Communion with God in his word and ordinances mean those whose Souls dwell by the wells of salvation and often let down the bucket do taste that the waters thereof are sweet they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thine house and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of life Psal 36. Those that walking closely with God do dwell in the secret of his presence under the sweet dewes and influences of his grace the business of whose life is to behold and love and serve the Lord their hearts have found such rest there that they can find no rest elswhere 2. By how much the more our hearts are in Heaven by so much the less are they on earth worldly professours have all their religion in their mouths there 's little within whatever they talk If any man love the world the love of the father is not in aim If any man love the Father the love of the world ceases Heaven and Hell may meet as well as Heaven and Earth in the same heart Set your affections on things above and not on the earth on both you cannot your bodies as easily as your Souls may dwell in Heaven and Earth together You use to say I cannot be here and there too no sure enough you cannot whilest your Souls are the inhabitants of this they are exiles from the other world and when they have their dwelling in Heaven they are but strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth this world hath lost your hearts when God hath gain'd them 3. When once the world hath lost our hearts it hath lost its power over us who will be entic'd by what he hates or slights God and the world rule both by love If God hath our love he hath the command of all that ever we have if we love the world what can it not do with us whither can it not lead us If the world hath lost our love it were even as good lay down its weapons and let us alone let them follow God let them be holy let them to Heaven their hearts are gone and there 's no holding them back It may still hang in their heels and retard their motion Heaven-ward but their hearts being gone thither their main course will bend it self 6. Faith gives assurance of this better inheritance Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen It is an evidence not only that there is another world and a better world then this and that this better state may be obbtaind that there is an entrance into the everlasting Kingdom possible that these mortals may be clothed with immortality that these corruptibles may put on incorruption and these poor worms that creep on the dust may get them wings and fly away hence into everlasting bliss but it is also an evidence that all this shall be that there shall be a performance of all those glorious things which God hath spoken concerning his Saints Blessed is he that hath believed for there shall be a performance of all that hath been told him Luk. 1. 45. Faith hath taken bond for performance The Almighty God hath bound himself to us and lest through unbelief we should stick at taking his single bond he hath given security hath brought in his Son and heir the Lord Jesus Christ to stand bound with him Faith hath taken this bond and having it self sealed to the Articles or conditions on our parts upon the performance whereof the inheritance stands sure to us upon the greatest security that Heaven and Earth can give it keeps it by it and hath it ready to produce upon all occasions to stop the clamours of unbelief The Covenant of God that 's our security The Almighties bond and articles wherein he hath made over all that ever he hath by an immutable and irrevocable deed to his Saints Heb. 6. 17 18. Nay more Faith will shew a believer his own name in this deed If it can but shew it self to us can make it evident that it is what it is the Faith of Gods elect if it does but once appear that we do sincerely believe it therein shews us our names in the promise of God To say to any one that knows he believes to say to him He that believeth shall be saved is fully as much as if it had been said to him by name Thou O man even thou shalt be saved thy name is written in the book of life Unbelief will be staggering at the promise and will call in question all that the Lord God hath said And when this world comes upon us and tempts us opens its pack and shews us its wares and offers us our choice of whatsoever will please us Take it saies unbelief make sure of something let not go such penniworths they may be the best thou art ever like to have Mayst thou be rich mayst thou live in pleasure and in honour here Be not such a fool as to neglect thy self for a conceit of some strange
wares to lye on his hands then say they are good he that had rather have no blessing in his hand then no bowels to lay it out for God He that however he hath this world about him has an estate houses lands money in greatest abundance he that however he labours in all fair and innocent wayes to preserve and improve what he has yet chooses rather to be poor then not to be honest to have nothing then not to be a good steward of what he has he that will not be tempted to be false unrighteous or unmerciful for the getting or saving an estate the world hath not much in the heart of that man Oh brethren if this be to overcome the world then how many more captives hath it still then the most are aware of what trade is there driven almost any where in the world wherein the trade of lying hath not a great stock going Are there not even among men pretending to religion too many found who instead of using the Psalmists prayer Keep me from the way of lying will rather content themselves with the Syrians prayer The Lord pardon me in this thing the Lord forgive me I know not how to help it It 's true that men of great dealings have great temptations to it and is it not as true that they are taking temptations But how can you then take your selves to be any of Christs disciples or how can you stand here praying with the same mouth that it may be within a day or two will be found in the market lying Can the same fountain send forth sweet water and bitter Jam. 3. 11. Deceive not your selves you do but lye unto God in your duties that make it your practise to lye unto men in your dealings If any man seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue from lying as well as other ill language that mans religion is in vain Jam. 1. 26. And as little truth as there is in mens words is there not as little righteousness in their wayes the lying tongue and the oppressing hand are animated from the same heart How very few are there that weigh their actions on that unerring beam Do unto others as you would they should do unto you Wouldst thou be oppressed thou wouldst not why then doest thou oppress wouldst thou not be defrauded why then dost thou defraud wouldst thou not over-buy nor undersel why dost thou then in the same kinds go about to over-reach thy brother Brethren you do not know your own generation you live in if you do not understand how commonly and how greedily men are every where heaping up to themselves the gains of unrighteousness and for mercy there 's little hope of finding that where righteousness is departed And now Soul where is thy victory over the world thou pretendest to Christ takest thy self to be a beleiver and hopest thou hast chosen God for thy portion and renounced this present world what and yet lye for a little worldly advantage be unrighteous that thou mayst be rich sell thy conscience for a penny and bless thy self in thy good bargain Hath the world such power of thee that for its sake thou wilt be thus false and deceitful and cruel and yet hast thou overcome it Is this thy Faith is this your Christianity to be disciples of Christ so far as it may be for your profit was there any such reserve in your engagement to be the Lords I le be thine so thou wilt abate me lying I will serve thee in any thing so thou wilt allow me the gain of unrighteousness I le profess thy name and I le pray and I le hear and I le be godly in all things wherein my gain is not concerned In these things the Lord pardon thy servant in these things let me have the liberty to be as other men and in any thing else command me what thou wilt Brethren be plain hearted throughout be able to say with the Apostle Heb. 13. 18. We trust that we have a good conscience willing to live honestly in all things convince the world that you are none of theirs but are come out from among them and are of Christ indeed by being in all things as he was in the world who did no sin neither was any guil found in his mouth 3. Victory over the world stands in a power to use our worldly goods to their proper ends What is there on this side Hell sin onely excepted but being well us'd will prove our blessing Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God What is there on this side Heaven grace only excepted but being ill used may degenerate into a curse Psal 69. 22. Let their table be made a snare and that which was given to them for their wealth be an occasion of falling All things in the world as they have their various particular uses and intermediate ends so they have but one common end in which they all concenter God who made man hath made all things else also for himself and man only of all these lower creatures is made capable both of understanding the end to which all things are and of directing them to it and accordingly is oblig'd so to do Then only may we be truly said to enjoy what we have and are secur'd from the mischiefs of it when we have so much power over it as to use it aright he that hath not an heart to use what he hath and to use it well is rather possess'd by it then the possessour of it upon this account are worldly men the worlds servants servants of their estates rather then the masters of them will you call him a master that is under the command of his servant that cannot govern nor order nor dispose of himself and what he has but is alwaies governed by it when the world saies go he must go when this saies come he must come when it saies work he must work and till it saies sit still he must not rest who must neither eat nor drink nor give nor lend but where the world gives him leave who is a slave if this be a freeman He that understanding his dominion of all that is in his hand and his way to use it aright accordingly exercises his dominion this man is Lord and the world his servant Now as I hinted but now the proper end to which all we have should be lastly directed is God God made all things for himself and he hath put us in possession that we may use them for him for whom they are made All we have are our talents intrusted in our hands by our Lord with this charge Occupie till I come Luk. 19. 13. Occupie till I come as those that must give an account to me when I come that I may receive mine own with advantage v. 23. t will be but a lame account we shall give of what we have received if we bring not in every talent employed
Gen. 18. 19. Paul commends Timothy or rather his Mother in him that he had of a child known the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3. 15. David begun with Solomon whilest he was a young man 1 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Fathers And as the Lord charges parents to give holy education so is it the duty and the happiness of children to receive and submit to it a towardly and tractable childhood promises a gracious and fruitfull age When he is old he will not depart from it that is there 's hopes he will not t is true it does not alwaies prove so sometimes there 's too much truth in that proverb A young Saint and an old Devil Some there are whose youth is the winter that withers all the buds of their childhood or at least their age is the grave that buries all the flowers of their youth who however it was with them whilest they were under the influences of instruction and the restraint of discipline no sooner do they get their neck from under the yoke and feel the reins of government loosened but presently they grow wild and wanton and fall to pulling down what hath been built to rooting up what hath been planted and razing out those holy principles they have suck'd in and so letting themselves loose to all manner of rudeness and debaucherie these are monsters a degenerate brood and of all persons in the world most likely after this first step from Saints to brutes to take their next from brutes to Divels O let all such tremble whose youthful lusts have gotten the head of their religious education the Divel hath broken into Gods nursery and snap'd off those twigs to engraff them in his own Orchard among those trees that are only for the fire I say thus it may happen and look to it that this be the case of none of you that those who have been trained up whilest children in the good way of the Lord depart from it when they are come to age yet there is such a flexibleness in young ones and such an aptness to receive and retain the impressions of their holy education that there 's great hope it may abide by them all their daies If it should wear out it s usually worse with such then with those that have been born and bred up in the dark but there 's hope it will abide 2. Youth is more vigorous and sprightly of warm affection and full of action quicquid agit valde agit there 's life in its action it is not clog'd with the infirmities nor depress'd with the weakness and unweldiness that creeps on with age In this morning the Soul is free and fresh the spirits are quick and lively the edge is sharp and keen which in time grows more blunt and dull We may now both act more for God and taste more of God there would be more service and we should find more sweetness in it did we begin betime before our native warmth is cooled and our edge turned What work do rude young men make in the world how much service do they to the Devil in a little time laughing and mocking drinking and gaming rioting and revelling giving themselves to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness what haste do they make to undoe themselves how hot are they in their lusts how heady in their wayes how swiftly and violently does the torrent run down towards the burning lake in how little time are the plants and flowers rooted out which had been setting and nursing up all their time and how suddenly are their weeds sprung up and how rank are they grown what might not this heat and activity have brought forth to God had it been but set right how greatly might God have been honoured how much might Souls have been advanced what a treasure might have been layd up in Heaven had the stream in this spring-tide been running towards God as it hath been towards Hell You that have thus foolishly lost your season and run out the flower of your dayes oh be ashamed and bewail your loss you that have yet your day before you be warned let others folly make you wise know in your season what a price you have in your hand O 't is pity such a treasure should be lost and wasted what is God that he must have only the last and worst Sin and the world must have the first and best and only the lees and dregs left for him to whom all is due the Devil must have our marrow and if God will accept our dry and weary bones that 's all we ordinarily design for him Brethren how many of our morning hours are already run out and what hath the Lord had of them how few early Christians are there of us who of us are there that came along into the vineyard at the first hour of the day we think the last hour the best and enough for our work soon enough to come into the vineyard when we are going out of the world we will not bear the burthen and heat of the day but choose rather to come in the cool of the evening Unworthy Spirits wee le first make our selves good for nothing and then wee le be the servants of God 3. Young men have day before them he that hath a long journey to go had need set out early he that hath much work to do had need be at it betimes he that goes an Apprentice to a trade when he is old is not like to do any great matter at it either to get any great skill or to make any great gain they are never like to come to much who are so long ere they come to any thing the journey of a Christian is long vita brevis iter longum the work of a Christian is great Young men if you would come to Christ this day the youngest of you would find work enough to hold him the longest day he has to live these strong holds which have been so long a fortifying against Christ will not be batter'd down in a day your evil customs and evil habits which have been so long growing and rooting in you will require time to be well changed and rooted out grace and peace and assurance are ordinarily the fruits of many years labour and travail when you have wrought your selves out of work then wish you had staid longer out of the vineyard 3. The first time is the acceptable time 2 Cor. 6. 2. Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation The present season is the blessed season the accepted time that is the time wherein you may be accepted and which God will take well at your hands if you will accept Now you may be accepted for behold he calleth you t is a question whether hereafter you may or no if you will not accept to day it may be God will not accept to morrow It s very acceptable to the
hath said Mat. 10. 37. He that loves Father or Mother more then me he that loves Son or Daughter more then me is not worthy of me He that forsakes not Father and Mother cannot be my Disciple therefore I have no more to say my Friends are dear my Husband is dear my Wife is dear to me I rejoyce in their love and I would not their displeasure I would not worthily be counted unworthy or unkind or disrespectful or undutiful to any of them but God is more then all My friends if you will go along with me if you will to Christ with me if you will be for holiness with me and oh that you would come along let 's along to Christ together let me have your company to heaven oh that I could pray you thither oh that I could perswade you thither I love you so well that I am loath we should part companies if you will go along with me if I may be the Lords and yet be yours I am much more yours then ever but if this be the condition of your love you will love me so I love not Christ you will be my friends so the Lord be not my friend you will respect me and esteem me so I will despise and disrespect holiness you will be for my company so I be not for heaven or so I will not go so far or so fast that way if this be the condition of your love stay with us do as we do live as we live be merry be vain take thy pleasure take thy liberty as we do and we will love thee if you will not love me on other terms then farewell to you all and to all your love I have learn'd what this meaneth he that loveth Father or Mother more then Christ is not worthy of him he that loveth favour or respect more then Christ is not worthy of him and till you can make it out that you have oblig'd me more then Christ hath oblig'd me that your love will be better to me then the love of Christ that respect from men will be better to me then acceptance with God you must give me leave to run the hazard of losing such friends whom I cannot keep without losing God and my soul 4. Circumstance But when he went from Pharaohs Court whither went he when he left the bosome of Pharaohs Daughter to whom did he joyn himself why to a company of poor bondmen that were labouring at the brick Kilns and not to be a Taskmaster or Ruler among them but to take his lot of suffering with them chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God c. Now lay all these circumstances together Moses that had been bred up and liv'd in the Equipage of a Prince and might have so continued when he came to age and understood what the advantages of worldly greatness were when he had his senses quick about him and could make the highest experiment what the sweetness of worldly pleasures was in the highest Spring-tide of worldly lusts and temptations when 't was high water without and his youthful blood was most aflote within when he had time before him to make the most of the worlds favours who had never known what an harder and lower condition meant who had been so strangly obliged by signal favours and could not but be strongly prompted from principles of ingenuity not to slight such favoures in the midst of all these temptations for the service of his God and from his affection to his brethren he voluntarily not upon force but of choice disrob'd himself of all his glory and espoused the sufferings of his brethren esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures in Egypt v. 27. O brethren how may we be filled with wonder and which of the two wonders are the greatest Moses his self-denial or our denial of Christ Moses his comming off in so great a floud of temptations or our being so ordinarily overcome in those little temptations which daily occurre how little is it that we do or can deny our selves in for Christ what have we forsaken or what are we willing to forsake for Christ upon what inconsiderable termes have Christ and our Souls so often parted what cheap duties will we not do what cheap sins will we not abate what small temptations are hearkned to when Christ cannot be heard How often have we neglected to reprove a sin for fear of loosing a friend how often have we neglected to speak of God for fear of displeasing our company how often have we denyed conscience that we might not deny our lusts what sinful pleasures that our hearts have been lusting after what sinful gains that our eyes have been set upon what pleasant morsels that our appetites have been craving have we been able to deny them how do we let conscience lye at the mercy of every lust if lust will but crave it must be granted whatever become of conscience If the name of Christ should prevail no more in Heaven then it ordinarily doth on earth if God should so ordinarily deny those prayers we offer up in Christs name as we deny those precepts which in the same name are sent down to us we should have as little hopes towards Heaven as the Lord hath honour on earth We grudge we murmur we quarrel with God if he deny us in any thing cross us in any thing and yet how many denyals must he bear from us and be patient 2 King 5. 13. If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much more when he saith wash and be clean If it had been some great thing the Lord had required of us that it is not all we have is but a little if it had been some great thing t were a shame to deny it to God but when such little things can't be granted not a word spoken sometimes in a whole day together not an alms given not a vain pleasure abated not a wanton fashion laid aside not a proud look or a froward tongue or a wanton eye or a greedy appetite restrained at his word when we fail in such little things what should we have done had we stood in Moses his stead Brethren when we are led aside from a self-denying to a flesh pleasing life we are ready to say to those that reprove us for it Oh you do not know my temptations if you were in my circumstances you might have done the like But you do know Moses his temptations and if you had had more of Moses heart you would not have complained so much of great temptations Beloved you that dwell in your sieled houses lodg in your warm and easy beds are clothed in your soft and costly raiment fed at your full tables cheared by the countenance and courtesies of your friends compassed about with your accommodations of all sorts when you can choose rather a poor cottage an hard lodging rough or ragged
even wrought our selves out of work or else how quickly are we discouraged by the greatness of our work the least straw is a stumbling block the least Molehill a Mountain every duty is a difficulty and every difficulty an impossibility How shall I stand under so much work Who would venture on so great difficulties Am I God and not man spirit and not flesh the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak No no thy spirit is weak too this spirit is but flesh How weak is thine heart that it is so soon discouraged O Brethren where is the victorious spirit where are the Heroes of Christianity the Nobles that set their necks to the work of the Lord What designs have you for advancing in holiness for magnifying the grace of God in you for exalting his name in an heavenly life Where are the Trophies of your prowess bring forth the Captives you have taken Can you shew your lusts in Chains your pride in Chains your covetousness in Chains Here are the prisoners I have taken Behold houses and honors and dignities and pleasures behold my feet upon the necks of them all This little I have done for God Yet not I but the grace of God that was with me This little have I done for God the weights are laid aside and now will I run with patience the Race which is set before me Now for a fruitful life for labouring and abounding in the work of the Lord for growing rich unto God rich in good works I cannot sit down by that little I have done he is worthy he is worthy for whom I should do other manner of things then these for whom I should live another manner of life then this O were I all soul all wing all life all action how little would this my all be to what I would it were Rise up O my soul shake off thy ashes open thy sluces let run all thy streams what wilt thou do for thy good I have done for my flesh I have done for my family I have done for my friends what shall I do for my God Read O my soul in the Book of Records as that King did Ester 6. 2. and search what the Lord hath done for thee how he hath pardoned thee and sanctified thee and subdued thine enemies under thee how he hath brought thee out of thine house of bondage and redeemed thee from the house of servants And then ask What honour hath been done the Lord for all this O Brethren how are we straitned we walk as if we were still in our fetters if we were still Vassals to this earth we could hardly be less active for heaven Whilest we tell one another what the Lord hath done for our souls how little have we to tell what our souls have done for the Lord Empty vines we are that bring forth our fruit to our selves that sow for our selves and reap for our selves and thresh for our selves and live to our selves and how little to him And that little we do for God how hardly are we brought to it Am I bound to do this am I bound to do that bound to give so much to the poor bound to spend so much time in prayer bound to such constant care and labour May not less suffice will not less be accepted may I not be a Christian at a cheaper rate And if our flesh can but make us believe that less may serve how glad are we to sit down and save our labour Brethren is it not thus with the most of us must we not be drag'd and driven on to duty what do we more then bare necessity forces us to if fear would let us alone if Conscience would let us be quiet how little is it that love to Christ would put us upon Oh where are the large hearts to God the flowing souls that freely offer themselves to the Lord Woe to us this earth still sucks up our streams 2. Fortitude By this we stand against the fury of the world That 's a magnanimous spirit that delights in difficulties and despises danger a bold soul that not only loves to serve but dares to suffer that is not careful about this matter Dan. 3. Whom none of all these things move Act. 20. 24. that is strong and of good courage Victory attends the valiant and makes more valiant a little Conquest fleshes the faint This Christian fortitude comprehends in it these three things A boldness With God In God For God 1. A boldness with God A free and confident access to God a coming boldly before the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. 16. And this arises from a sense of Reconciliation with God from an inward acquaintance with God from a conscience of uprightness before the Lord Heb. 10. 19. 22. Having therefore boldness by the blood of Jesus let us draw near with a true heart with an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience There 's no coming before God with a guilty or guileful heart 't is Innocence that gives boldness the conscience of guilt or guile makes us afraid and ashamed to appear before God We are afraid of our Bibles asham'd to look towards our Closets when God hath a quarrel with us We go into our Closets as the Thief to the House of Correction We sneak in ashamed and afraid and shuffle over in haste and are glad when we get out again We cannot pray we scarce dare to lift up our eyes to heaven we blush before the Lord and cannot be free and open-hearted with him Guilt stops our mouths or at least the heart keeps silence where this cryes in its ears How can I go before the Lord What am I like to hear if I speak to him What will he answer me if I call upon him Why eryest thou to me Go to the Gods whom thou hast served go to thy pleasures go to thy companions go to thy Mammon which thou hast served thou art privy to thy treacheries to the Whoredomes thou hast committed with thine other Gods why cryest thou to me in thy distress go to the Gods after which thou hast loved to wander how will that heart hang down the head and give it self the repulse that 's conscious to such treachery When the soul can reply I have no other God to go to this Flesh is not my God this World is not my God my heart is with thee my desire is to thee and I have kept me by thee thou knowest Lord it hath been my care to keep me from the way and from the lusts of this world and to walk before thee in mine integrity then will it lift up its face with confidence in his presence Now he that can thus be bold with God that can with openness of heart make his appeal to God as the witness of his integrity and that can hereupon make his request to God make known his want and his straits and distresses and be bold to leave it upon him to relieve and support him he that
the whole thus far forth every Believer is willing to die though he still feel a natural dread of death though by reason of the remainders of flesh he be too much taken with the pleasure of an earthly life and being at some uncertainty and under some doubts what his future estate after death may be he may linger and hang back yet were these doubts removed and were he grown to an assurance that whenever his soul looses from this body it should immediately be received into the Paradise of God he so much prefers a life with God in perfect holiness and blessedness above the most prosperous worldly life that though his flesh could wish a longer stay yet his spirit would be willing when ever the Lord calls to depart and be with Christ which is far better And according as the mortification of his flesh his Crucifixion to the world and his assurance of salvation grow more compleat and clear so is his willingness heightned into more earnest desires and longings Come Lord Jesus why doth my Lord delay his coming when Lord when shall this dust return to the earth and this spirit to God that gave it make haste my beloved and come away Oh Brethren what an argument is here to press you to put hard for this Victory over the World when the World is Conquered death is Conquered the fear of death ceases Would you be delivered from this fear would you not count it a mercy better then life to be bold to die arise then and buckle on your armour treat this world no longer as a friend but deal with it as an enemy watch against it fight against it and what day you prevail over it you have both won the field of all your doubts and fears Victory over this world is a sure evidence for heaven and got the Mastery of your carnal hearts which alone make death formidable or unwelcome Brethren death comes you know and it may be upon you on a sudden do you not perceive its approaches do we not some of us already feel our Tabernacles to totter do not the walls moulder the windows grow dim do not our pillars shake and grow weak under us you that are youngest and strongest do you not know that death may be at the door do you know what a day or a night may bring forth are you ready to be gone are you bold to go forth and meet this last Enemy or do you not shake and shrink at the very mention of it Be mortified once and then let death do its worst Give the Word leave to kill this world give the spirit leave to kill this flesh and then you may give death leave to do its office Consider whither ever you go you carry your life in your hand and know not whether ever you shall bring it back O think with your selves when you are going forth into the field think with your selves I carry my life in my hand and God knows whether ever I may return with it whether ever I may come home alive when you go into the house think with thy self God knows whether ever I may come abroad when you arise in the morning God knows whether my next lodging may not be in the dust when you lye down in the evening God knows where my soul may be before morning I may awaken in another world and what if I should awaken in flames and feel this soul wrapp'd up in a winding sheet of fire Is there no fear it may be so Hath this world kept me from Christ all my life long and will it let me to heaven at last hath it held me in Chains all my time here how will it use me when it carries me hence Are you ready to die how shall I die when this earth is still my treasure take away my Gods and what have I more How shall I die when my soul hangs in doubt whither must I when I go hence can I follow this grisly Messenger when I know not whither he will lead me let mine Enemy die first let sin and the World die let mine Enemy be dead and let him that liveth be my friend let me cease from this earth and let heaven be my treasure and then I shall be willing to be gone Be it thus with you Friends and then you will be ready to be offered up Whatever Executioner be now sent to take away your life if old age be sent if a disease a Fever or Consumption if a distast a fall or a fire or any the like casualties if a son of violence a thief or a murtherer whatever Executioner be sent to take away your life and when ever he comes whether in the first second or third Watch you will say with the Apostle The time of my departure is at hand I am ready to be offered up I desire to depart and to be with Christ Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation And now at length Behold the man Here is the Conquerour and this is his Victory He that is come unto Christ to whom the world hath ceased to be his treasure and he hath accepted of God as his happiness and Heritage the moderation of whose affections to things earthly doth evidence that they are now only his means not his end He that can mannage his worldly affairs without the prejudice of his soul that whatever his hand finds to do hath still an eye to the main that overcharges not with business but makes business leave room for duty that so cares for the Oxen and the Asses that he neglect not the souls of his sons or servants that in all his dealings hath a due respect to truth righteousness and mercy that will be true though to his own hindrance that will be poor rather then dishonest or unmerciful whom the whole world cannot hire to lye or be unrighteous He that can use the world to its proper end all for God he that can want the worlds good things or suffer the worlds evil things and can keep his heart and his way whether he prosper or suffer that can deny his flesh when he hath to satisfie it that can want and be content suffer and be patient that is humble in the height of honour magnanimous in the depth of danger and difficulty that keeps in an even equal poise sober temperate serious in all the turns and changes of his life He that can thus live in the world and can die out of the world that is willing to be gone this is the Conquerour and here is his victory Use 1. The application that I shall make of the whole shall be by way of Information and Conviction Direction and Exhortation 1. By way of Information and Conviction Learn from what hath been said 1. That every Captive to the World is an unbeliever 2. That where there is but little power over the World there is but little Faith 1. Every Captive to
grace be grace high in knowledge and low in love strong in confidence and loose in conscience hot in affection and cold in practise in the solaces of the spirit and yet walking in the flesh Behold a Christian like Nebuchadnezzars Image the head of gold the feet of iron and clay desinit in piscem mulier formofa supernè 'T is strange to observe what contradictions some Professors of Christianity are they are what they are not they are not what they are whilest they would be the great reconcilers of flesh and spirit of earth and heaven and make the serving of God and their own bellies the same service behold how they are divided from themselves they love God and love him not they serve God and serve him not this they may do as well as love God and this present world Oh how different are many of us from our selves our practices from our principles our doings from our sayings and yet how little differing from others you pray as others do not you hear as others do not you swear not as others you curse not as others but do you not covet as others are you not carnal as others Consider your wayes who more intent upon their present commodity who more hot upon the chase of an earthly inheritance then some of those who profess to have laid up their treasure in heaven Are there none to be sound who pretend to the greatest confidence of Divine Love to the highest pitch of Spirituality and Divine Communion who seem to pant after the Lord and breath out their souls in their warm and passionate duties and yet are eaten out and swallowed up of the cares of this life It is an amazing thing to consider what a strange degree of earthliness is to be found among such what infatiable hunger what indefatigable labour after an encrease of their estates how little respect to soul or conscience where their gain is concerned how ordinarily dispensing with lying promise breaking and almost any unrighteousness when 't is for their advantage how many grains must there be allowed them e're charity it self can judge them honest And where is all bestowed that is thus gotten in how little goes out for God or any of his how many hypocritical bemoanings of the hard case of the poor to one liberal alms Some gather only that they may lay up others that they may have to spend upon their lusts to build them houses and furnish their tables to trim their carkasses to please their eye or their palats and all this either justified and allowed or at least made up with some such hypocritical complaints Woe is me this world is too hard for me O it eats up my time O it steals away mine heart how am I overcharged how is my soul even choaked within me what shall I do to help it And when the complaint is thus made the matter is mended now a good Christian now ease and joy and confidence returns and then on again the same course Brethren be serious consider your selves feel your own pulses view your own faces and ways observe your hearts see where their daily walks are may you not find them ten times walking to and fro through the earth to once or twice casting a look towards heaven What are their daily tasks what is the work you every day put them upon Instead of those higher and nobler Offices of Vessels of Honor waiting before the Throne of God standing in his Courts bearing his Name beholding his Face setting forth his Praises have not our hearts been made hewers of wood and drawers of water carriers of burthens servers of tables purveyors for the flesh caterers for the appetite servants to the back and the belly the great traders and merchants of the earth to buy in provision for lust Worthy employment for immortal Souls as if the utensils of the Temple the golden altar the golden table the candlesticks the bowls and the basons all of beaten gold should have been fetchd out and set up in a blind Inne or a dirty alehouse for the service and the pleasure of every drunken companion Have not your Souls none of you been thus dealt withall are not these your heart-works when any thing is to be done for God the body must do that the body must to the closet the tongue must pray the ear must hear the eye must read but the Soul must stay abroad when any thing is to be done for the other world that must be but bodily exercise but when this flesh must be served that 's the heart-work that 's work for the Soul If these Souls could be seen with bodily eyes a man that goes into the field or into a fair or to a feast might see an hundred Souls more there then bodies and he that went into the congregation of the Lord if there were never so great a throng may be he might see but a few hearts in the company Christians consider is this your faith is this your victory over the world is this to be mortified is this to be crucified with Christ or to have your conversation in Heaven or can you think your selves believers especially of so high a form when so earthly and carnal What think you of those Jews of whom the Lord speaks Ezek. 33. 31. They come unto thee as the people cometh they sit before thee as my people they hear thy words but they will not do them with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goes after their covetousness Are these the people of God all whose religion is to come to hear and to pray to have a mouth full of God a mouth full of love and an heart full of covetousness Give me leave to interpose a word or two to the carrying on the former conviction as to many professâ—rs of religion in order whereto let us a little consider that Scripture Philip. 3. 18. 19. Where the Apostle speaks of a sort of professours much of this earthly make and he speaks with tears in his eyes Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind erthly things In the former part of the chapter you may observe how 1. He gives an account of himself and his own Christianity and this in these particulars 1. He set such an high rate on Christ and an interest in his righteousness that in comparison hereof he counted all things else but loss and dung let this gain be loss this earth be dung troden under foot as dung cast out as dung so I may win Christ and be found in him 2. He unites interest in Christ with conformity to Christ they lye both together in the same heart and his Soul is making out after both in the same breath That I may win Christ and be found in him and that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death He would not only rejoyce in Christ he would not only live in Christ but be dead with Christ and then be raised with Christ above these earthly things he would have his interest in the death and resurrection of Christ witnessed by fellowship with him in both by the power of his death and resurrection made manifest in him he would that both the death of Jesus and the life of Jesus be made manifest in his mortal flesh 3. He sets his face and bends his whole course towards the obtaining of Christ I follow after I press towards the mark and this not in his prayers only but in his whole practice this one thing I do this one is all whatever I am doing this I am doing I have nothing else to do nothing else to do nothing else to seek but this interest and conformity to Christ 4. He turns his back upon all things else forgetting those things that are behind that is not only his pharisaical righteousness and his external priviledges to which this especially refers but much more all carnal and earthly things v. 8. Yea doubtless I count all things but loss he leaves all behind first he setts his feet upon them and treads them into dung and then he turns his back upon them and leaves them all bâ—hind and henceforth his whole conversation is heavenward v. 20. our conversation is in Heaven Lo this is the man who is bold to say of himself Galat. 6. 14. The World is crucified unto me and I unto the World 2. He proposes himself as a pattern to all beleivers v. 15. 17. Let us be thus minded I have told you my mind come let 's be all of one mind and be ye followers together of me let your heart be as my heart let your conversation be as my conversation my conversation is in Heaven come along and there let yours be also 3. He points with the finger at some among them who though they profess'd Christ with them and worshipp'd God with them and walk'd with them yet they walk'd not after them and setts this brand upon them They are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly who mind earthly things Here are the men and their censure here is their mark and their brand their mark or description whose God is their belly who mind earthly things their brand and their doom the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction Professour is thy face like the faces of these Is thy heart and thy way as the heart of these So shall the judgment be You say as the Apostle v. 3. We are the circumcision we are Christs we worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh But yet have you not fellowship with the flesh do you not walk after the flesh even whilest you pretend to rejoyce in Christ Jesus and to worship God in the Spirit Oh how many such mark'd and branded Disciples may we find among us whom while their lusts have marked for belly-gods and earthly minded the word hath branded for enemies and vessels of destruction whilst the Devil hath branded and the World hath branded the whole generation of the Saints for a proud deceitful earthly self-seeking generation Christ hath set this brand on thee earthly sensual devilish Oh brethren if we could speak of these with the the heart of the Apostle we should with his tears also we should speak weeping that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ the wounds and the sores and the scabs the shame and the reproach of the profession of the Gospel good had it been for the Gospel if never a good word of it had ever proceeded out of such mouths and better had it been for such souls if they had never known nor so much as heard of the Gospel of Christ Friends if you do not yet fall a weeping for your selves for your hypocrisie your carnality for your self-seeking and self-deceiving my soul weep thou in secret for them Oh that mine head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for you till either this earth be thrown out of your hearts or the name of Christ out of your mouths O for more of the Gospel or for less for more of the power or nothing of the name for more of its holiness or less of its hopes and boastings come ye and be crucified to this world or talk no more of the Cross of Christ Oh how many enemies hath the Cross of Christ made him oh how few friends have the severities of Christ left him are those the friends of Christ who are the enemies of his Cross are you the friends of Christ who are the intimates of the world will professing and praying and hearing baptize such into the name of Disciples If lying and promise breaking if serving of bellies and satiating of appetites if pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness or abundance of labour a little tip'd over with a silver tongue be the marks of Disciples we may find them walking on every side whole Towns whole Countries of them if these may be reckoned for the seed how great an herd would the little flock become if those Swine that are rooting in the earth or wallowing in the mire must go all for Lambs if these Sensualists and earth-creepers must all be thrown into the number if the wise of the world Polititians and Projectors must all pass under the same name to what a bulk would the Body of Christ swell But if all these these speckled and spotted must be set aside as none of the sheep oh what a small parcel will there then be left If of earth-worms and Epicures it must be said these are not they the next word may almost be where are they to be found But be not deceived God is not mocked as you sow so shall you also reap your sowing to the flesh even while you boast of the spirit is conviction enough whose you are and what your end will be whose end is destruction Ob. But I mean not for all this to cast away my confidence God forbid that I should think that I have professed in vain that I have heard and pray'd and believed all this while in vain I know whom I have believed I feel that I love God and I am perswaded that nothing shall separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord whatever corruptions I have yet the spirit witnesses with my spirit that I am the Child of God I am sealed by that holy spirit unto the day of Redemption and I will not cast away my confidence Sol. The meaning of all these good words may be no more but this you will hold your Opinion against the greatest evidence of Scripture
mark is this they mind earthly things of them that are saved or of them that perish and is not this the most proper character that can be given of thee see and take more perfect knowledge of thy self canst thou not see hast thou received the Spirit and yet not so much light as to discern betwixt earth and Heaven Is the Lord divided and become contrary to himself do not his hand and his seal agree does his word write this man no child and is that his Spirit that calls thee a child of God once again see and compare the writings that in the word and that in thy heart and if the voice within thee be not according call it not the witness of the Spirit but the false witness of the Devil If thou wilt yet understand thy self no better it 's much to be feared thou wilt not there 's too much dust in thine eye for thee to see it If thou wilt not see it yet there it stands written upon thee in most legible characters a minder of earthly things whose end is destruction But beloved I am perswaded better things of you to whom I am now speaking even you of little faith though it may be of a great name yet with you also must I plead a while and tell you from the Lord that I have somewhat against you and oh were it but a little somewhat that I have to speak even against you but sure there is very much to be spoken unless you will save me the labour and speak against your selves So much may be said as if it be duly considered may take you down many rounds lower then you imagine your selves to have ascended how few of you that are risen with Christ but are too often letting your affections run down again to this earth who though you have really counted this earth but dung yet are too greedily gathering up this dung into your bosomes that have your hands full and your mouths full of this dung and much more then you are aware of it is still in your hearts that are not able to loose what you have accounted loss In whom though Christ may be really formed yet there appears little conformity to his life or death To whom though it hath been long since said Lazarus come forth yet to this day you have scarce gotten your heads above ground whose bellies creep upon the dust whilest your eyes and your hopes are in Heaven in whom there is such a mixture of flesh and Spirit that it 's hard to discern which hath the predominance whose hearts seem still so divided betwixt Christ and the world that no body that knows you can tell which hath the better part whose time and whose care and whose labour run out so much on things below that without some great charity it may be judg'd your hearts are there also And yet by some clearer insight into the mysteries of the Gospel by some affectionate intercourses with God in your secret recesses and retirements from the world by your serious heats and inlargements in your duties with others by some tastes and relishes of the pleasure of ordinances by some raptures of joy and the seeming serenity and uncloudiness of your spirits by not considering what abatement the carnality and earthliness of your course must necessarily make upon you are grown to an hope and opinion that you are the highly favoured of the Lord and his greatly beloved But do you not blush then at your unworthiness are you not ashamed that such love and such hopes should no more wean your hearts from these breasts of vanity from which you suck nothing but filth or froth that you should defile such an heavenly treasure by lodging it in such earthen vessels that you should so disgrace that divine portion which you count is yours as that it should not be enough for you but leave you as hungry as if you had no God nor hope in him that you should so disgrace your Fathers table by your unnatural appetite after coals and dirt Is your profession that God is your happiness your treasure your all Is your none but Christ come to more then this Hath your covenanting with God for renouncing the world mortifying your flesh denying your self brought forth no better fruits then these Oh the impudence and disingenuity of our hearts that can carry the conscience of such treachery before the Throne of Grace without shame and consternation how can you lift up your face before the Lord without hanging down the head Nay do you not fear that your hearts also have deceived you and that matters may not be so well with you as you sometimes conclude that your hopes are but delusory that your joys are but dreams and all your comforts are but the lying divinations and prophesies of your own deceived heart Is it out of question with you that you are risen with Christ and ascended with Christ when these hearts are gotten no further up out of their graves Believe it Christians the severities of Religion will be a surer testimony to you then all its suavities an humble patient contented self-denying mortified Christian under all his doubts and fears under all his complaints of darkness and deadness is fairer for heaven then you all Those are the joys of faith which spring up out of the ruines of carnal joys those are the genuine comforts and delights of the Saints that arise up out of the ashes of earthly delights those are the confidences of true believers which grow out of their contempt of the world then will the world think better of our Religion and then may we hope better of our selves when the joy of the Lord is our strength and the joys of the earth are strangers to us and despised by us Oh Brethren let us no longer dishonour our God nor delude our selves let not the world any longer say in our reproach these men are even as we Let them see that our ways are not as their ways that our joys are not as their joys and then they will know our hope is not as their hope our Rock is not as their Rock Children of the Kingdome if I may be bold to call you so where is the proof of your heavenly extract where is your fathers spirit how can you be patient with your selves whilest you are such degenerate plants how can you satisfie your selves that you are the genuine off-spring of God when so unlike your father how can you without weeping behold the glory of these later Temples to fall so far short of those that were in the Ages before us where is the primitive spirituality the mortification and self-denial of the primitive Christians how have the stars chang'd their Orbs from moving in the Celestial Spheres how seem they now to be fixed in the earth how can you count your selves Stars and not Comets when your highest elevation is seldome above the middle Region you hang betwixt heaven and earth We take
up a general complaint one against another 't is in every ones mouth Oh how earthly are we become our gold is mixed with dross our wine with water behold a second but sad Incarnation our spirit is become flesh every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards how hard are we driving after bags of earth we assemble our selves for corn and wine and when riches encrease who is there almost that sets not his heart upon them who is there that labours to be holy as to be rich to thrive in grace as in purse though the Lord hath taken off our Chariot Wheels yet still we drive on though he hath been whipping us upward yet behold still we are all below though he hath burnt up our houses and fir'd us out of our Nests yet behold our hearts are still among among the rubbish though he hath mingled wormwood with our milk and gall with our honey yet we say 't is sweet and will not be weaned though he hath testified against our pride and testified against our covetousness and made such stains upon our beauty and such holes in the bottoms of our bags though we see plainly and say God is angry with us and angry for the iniquity of our covetousness yet who are they that have given off and are gone back from their so eager pursuit of the world Oh what 's like to become of us we are so set upon this Idol that it 's much to be feared desolation is determined upon us Do we not ordinarily hear and make such complaints but if we should with our complaints let fall a teare upon the guilty may they not return upon us weep not for us but for your selves for your own covetousness for your own carnality and what should we say for our selves if they do so Oh the Lord help me I am one of the company I even I also am guilty this Idol hath a tabernacle in this heart also though I considered it not But must our complaints suffice us is it enough to make all well to confess 't is so bad must this be all our heavenliness to bewail our earthliness will God take our acknowledgments for amendments is this your redemption to bewail your captivity But when shall it be better when shall it be said to these prisoners Go forth when for the other world when for God alone for nothing but the everlasting kingdom Arise O captive put off thy prison garments get thee up out of this house of bondage unclog unfetter thy Soul get thy foot out of the snare and away for the holy land leave this earth to its heirs let the men of this world take to their portion and be the only servants to it but go thou and serve the Lord let God and the world take their own whilest worldlings will not be the servants of Christ let it no longer be said that Christians are the servants of the world Brethren conclude upon it that you have no more of christianity then you have of spirituality that this spot of earthliness will unavoidably be a blot upon your evidences for Heaven Have you assurance that you are the Lords how can that be when you are so much the worlds What ever arguments you have that seem to conclude well for you yet how many objections are there also Oh how many Buts are there against us Such a one is a judicious understanding Christian But hee 's greedy upon the world such a one is of a savoury gracious behaviour But hee 's unmerciful to the poor such a one is much in prayer and will pray singularly well But there 's no trust to his word such a one is of a free and liberal Spirit But he is proud Shoot down these Butts if ever you would stand established in your confidence Have you not assurance Is this yet to be gotten Oh how can you so eagerly mind any other getting can you have such leisure for Earth when Heaven still hangs in doubt or do ye think that the same way does lead to both that the same labour will serve for both will the same wind and the same course carry you towards both the Poles can you at once be sayling Northward and Southward can you ascend and descend by the same motion when you are progging for your flesh building your houses enlarging your border laying you up treasure on earth and making it as sure as you can Is this your laying up treasure in Heaven your giving diligence to make God sure your calling and election sure once be bound in good earnest for glory and take the strait course thitherward and then farewel World thy kingdom is finished thy dominion is at an end Brethren receive this word of conviction and submit to it the summe whereof is that where there is so much of the Spirit of this World there is but little faith and where there is but little faith 't is more then you can tell whether there be any at all God is a convincing of us if his word does not his providences shall convince us and lay us yet lower in our own eyes what means his undoing and ruining providences but to try us what spirit we are of and to teach us with his briars and thorns to understand our selves better and to recover why is his face so against us why is his hand so heavy upon us what do the ashes of our wasted treasures speak to us If it do not speak out this to us Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead yet does it speak less then this Thou hast but a little strength thou hast but a few names that have not defiled their garments strengthen the things that remain that are ready to dye Is not this its word seekest thou yet great things for thy self when I am breaking down what I have built when I am plucking up what I have planted is this a time to seek great things for thy self yea or to think great things of thy self seek them not no nor think any more such great thoughts lay thee down in the dust be ashamed and confounded for what thou art and hast done and climb no more up those trees that are hewing down under thee Brethren when do ye think the Lord will cause his fury towards us to cease when will the flames be quenched when will his repentings be kindled what hope is there that our conflagrations should be at an end till our Idols be burnt up 't is vain to think that our prayers and fastings and weeping before the Lord will put out the fire of his jealousie Get thee up wherefore lyest thou thus upon thy face Israel hath sinned they have taken of the accursed thing I will not be with you any more except ye destroy the accursed from among you Josh 7. 10 11 12. The Lord hath broken us with a great breach the Lord hath smitten us with a very grievous blow and now we fall to fasting and praying and
prostrating our selves before him in hope that this may make up our breach and be the healing of our wound But will this do Get you up get you up why lye you thus upon your faces Is there not an accursed thing among you think not that the Lord will be with you till that be destroyed from among you hope not for any thing from those prayers or fastings that do no execution upon your accursed things Do your prayers leave your pride alive your covetousness alive your wantonness alive your selves are like to dye notwithstanding all such prayers God is either upon refining or rejecting he hath cast us into his furnace kindled his fires been blowing with his bellows if our dross may yet be consumed If that be not done the next word we may hear may be that of the Prophet Jer. 6. 29 30. The bellows are burnt the lead is consumed by the fire the founder melteth in vain for this dross is not taken away reprobate silver shall men call them for the Lord hath rejected them Use 2. Of Direction and Exhortation Brethren have I not yet said enough to fetch you off from your servitude will you go free or have I spent my labour in vain must I leave you at the Brick-kiln or will you go over to Canaan what are your thoughts Is it good to continue in your servile state is the vassalage of unbelief better then the victory of faith what are your resolutions have you sold your selves for servants and will you stand to the bargain may you go free and will you not have you not understood enough of the worlds enmity have you not felt enough of the worlds tyranny have you not sin'd enough and suffer'd enough already by it what say you are you for liberty or bondage for captivity or victory why what may we do to obtain the victory why will you hearken then are you willing of help will you take Gods counsel when 't is offered you well in hope that some of you will hearken I shall yet farther adventure these few directions In the first place I shall mind you of what hath been already spoken touching the wayes by which faith overcometh the world and shall turn them into these 6. counsels 1. Get a right judgment of both worlds study and get an understanding of Earth and Heaven and give not off this study till you be throughly convinc'd of the unspeakable transcendencies of things to come above things present 2. Choose your lot in the best of the two determine for Heaven that infinitely better inheritance Be unalterably at this point I am for the everlasting blessedness however it be with me here 3. Be convinc'd that the good things of this World cannot further nor can the evil things of this world hinder your eternal blessedness and esteem of all things temporal according to the respect they bear to the things that are eternal 4. Be convinc'd that the Design of all the temptations of this World is to deprive you of your eternal inheritance 5. By living more purely a life of faith get clear apprehensions and a deeper sense of the blessedness to come 6. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure by turning your eyes back upon what hath been already said you may make fuller improvement of these directions upon which I forbear any farther enlargement To these I shall add this one general direction Make your advantage of all those means by which your faith may gather strength and in which it's strength is to be put forth and exercised Particularly 1. Improve all your duties this way Let all your seekings of God be a wrestling with the World Put this great affair into every prayer put it into your dayly confessions put it into your daily petitions Carry the sense of your sore bondage into the presence of God let the misery and the danger it hath subjected you to be written upon your hearts and go and spread the writing before the Lord. Let the throne of grace be a Judgment seat where this traitor may be daily arraigned and condemned Take unto you words confess unto God Lord I have dealt very falsely with thee and foolishly for my self I have forsaken the Fountain of living waters for broken Cisterns wherein is no water I have taken the World into my bosom and thrown the Lord at my heels I have set the World on the Throne and trodden Christ under my feet I have served mine enemy and slighted the Rock of my Salvation I have sold my soul for silver and my hopes for handfulls of barley I have followed vanity and neglected alsufficiency I have been a true drudg to this muck a good husband for this flesh but what have I been to the Lord what an evil and slothful servant If I should say I were not a worldling or a sensualist mine own soul would call me lyar to my face but though I see what a fool and what a beast and what a slave I am this sottish heart will not yet be wise it hath loved these Idols and will follow them still Confess thus unto God and if one dayes confession will not shame you out of your folly to it again the next day and the next day and every day as long as you live Bring in new Indictments fill'd up with all the aggravations you can gather up I have been often told of the evil of a worldly heart and life of the danger of it of the unworthiness of it I have been counselled to take heed of it and I have known it has been good counsel I have been oblig'd against it by commands by kindnesses by covenants by interest by experiences of the gall and the Wormwood it hath still prov'd in my belly whatever it hath been in my mouth My judgment and Conscience hath been against it I have been offered a better service and a better reward and I have understood it was a good offer and worth the accepting I have been charged upon pain of death and everlasting damnation to take heed and beware of it and yet still I am where I was Counsels have been despised commands have been broken kindnesses have been slighted covenants have been violated reason and conscience have been baffled yea death and hell have been despised for the sake of this lust and love of the world so foolish am I and ignorant and as a beast before thee Thus quicken and sharpen your confessions with all the aggravations imaginable till if it be possible thy folly may depart from thee not being able to bear such an hot prosecution Deal thus roughly and thus closly with your earthly hearts when ever you have them before the Lord that they may not dare to meet you so there again Put it into your daily Petitions Speak unto the Lord let not thy soul keep silence till he hear Let thine oppressed heart lift up its voice to the most high tell him Oh I have surfeited of
immarcessible to which we are redeemed we have a survey of them all in this price that was paid for them The love of Christ his kindnesses and compassions do all look forth upon us His sweat his stripes his grief his groans his bloud do all speak Behold how he loved us behold what he hath laid up for those that love him Brethren will not this price buy off your Souls from this Earth which hath bought them from Hell will neither the price nor the purchase do it will not Heaven be taken in exchange for clay you have been at the table of the Lord but sure you do not use to see Jesus there if your Souls yet dwell in the dust Look ye to that tree the cross of your Lord that instrument of death behold how it is become a tree of life a tree of life hung with all manner of precious fruits there are all the curses naild and witherd there are all the flowers and fruits of the Paradise of God growing up and flourishing there is joy and glory there is life and peace Sursum Corda What are these Souls what moles and batts what no eyes to see this glory what see it and not desire it what still feeding with the worms Let these moles get them eyes let these worms get them wings look till you can see and see till you can love and then ascend and be satisfied When I am lifted up I will draw all men after me Joh. 12. 32. Is not the Son of Man lifted up dost thou not see him before thee what is thine heart that doth not yet begin to ascend O what is Christ what not worth the thirty pieces wilt thou again sell thy Lord for money once more look on him whom thou hast pierced and then say O my Soul whom wilt thou Jesus or Barabbas this World is a robber what do I here am I come to crucifie the Son of God afresh to set him at nought again to sell him the second time my mony perish from me rather then it should again become the price of bloud 2. The Sacrament is the New Testament sealed the use of a Seal is to secure and confirm therefore Seals are affix'd to writings bonds or covenants to give them their full force and ratification The writing to which this Seal is set is the Gospel the great and precious promises which are full of life and immortality and all the riches of the promised land The Lord in giving us the Sacramental Elements his Bread and his Cup doth therein deliver us the Covenant of Grace sealed to assure us of the truth and certainty thereof as if he should say This shall be a sign betwixt me and thee that if thou accept of my Gospel treasures upon Gospel terms if thou wilt have no other God but wiâ—t forsake all and follow me this shall be to assure thee that I will be thy God and all that I have is thine And as the Lord seals on his part so we set our seal to our part of the Covenant as the Covenant is mutual so is the sealing Gods giving is his sealing and our receiving is ours our receiving the Elements from the hand of the Lord our eating and drinking is our seal to witness our acceptance of God upon Gods terms let this be a sign betwixt me and thee that I accept Lord I accept of thee according to the tenor and terms of thy Covenant Our acceptance of these Elements is as a Servants taking Covenant money or a Souldiers taking Press money which binds the one to his Master the other to his Captain and our sealing in this manner doth in a sense ratifie Gods Seal as to our particular interest in the promise as upon a servants receiving his Covenant money the Covenant is confirmed not only on his own part but also on his Masters His Master is now engaged to own him provide for him protect him and reward him as his servant It s true Gods Seal alone fully confirms the truth of the Covenant in general but upon my sealing to the condition on my part provided it be sincere and unfeigned hereupon Gods Seal doth not only confirm the Covenant in general that he which believeth and obeyeth the Gospel shall certainly be saved but it now makes it sure to me and gives me a certain propriety in all the promises of God There 's not a man in the world that thus accepts and sets to his Seal but the Seal of God stands good to him he hath it under Gods hand and seal that he shall be pardoned he hath it under Gods hand and seal that grace and peace and all things necessary unto life and salvation are his Only it must be understood and remembred as before our acceptance is not to be only of what God promises a willingness to be pardoned and saved but of what God requires a willingness to serve him and forsaking all others to cleave only unto him as a Souldier takes his Press money not only in token that he accepts of his pay or a servant his Covenant money in token that he accepts of his wages but it is their taking pay upon terms to fight and taking wages on terms to work Now hence arises a double advantage in our war against the world an Encouragement Engagement 1. Gods Seal encourages us on The Covenant of God assures not only a Crown to the Conqueror but assistance to the Combatant He will be not only the rewarder but the helper of all those that diligently seek him He hath said Heb. 13. 5. I will never fail thee nor forsake thee And hereupon thou mayst boldly say The Lord is my helper He hath said Ezek. 36. 27. I will put my spirit within you and ver 26. I will give you a new heart This flesh will never prevail but what cannot the Spirit of the Lord do this old heart and the world will never part they were ever friends and ever will be but he will take away this and give you another heart Fright not thy self with the difficulties thou seest before thee from the strong party the world has within thee thy carnal nature with all thine earthly members from the Allies and Confederates it hath without thee Satan with all his instruments and temptations thou wilt be like to say How can I turn this stream of nature how can I stand against this floud of temptations Can I create me a new spirit or can I conquer whilest this old spirit lives can I command my love and my fear and my hatred as I please can I love what I will and hate what I will and fear what I will can I fly from what my heart follows after or fight against what I so love and desire How can I endure such hardness as not only the fight but the victory will bring upon me Can I be poor can I be hungry be naked be destitute can I be in reproach in disgrace and contempt will this
thy love I am he whom when thou calledst I would not come whom thou wouldst have turned but I would not turn when thou wouldst have pardoned and healed me I sold thy pardon and refused to be healed and wilt thou not plead for such a one as I I have chosen this world for my portion I have lov'd it and serv'd it and when I should have been praying or hearing minding my soul and laying up treasure in heaven I was loath to be such a bad husband I was busie in following my affairs looking to my Corn and my Cattel and my Trade and here I have gotten money and Lands and will not these plead for me Is not a rich mans Plea good will not my gold and my silver my honors or my ornaments get entrance into thy Kingdome if not Lord this is all I have to say for my self if this will not do who shall plead for me O Brethren if you would be perswaded to sit down daily and to think over some such thoughts as these then there would be hope If we could but preach you upon this thinking there would be hope that you might think you into Christ 2. Hold your affections under government Prov. 16. 32. He that ruleth his spirit is better then he that taketh a City and no wonder for he hath taken the whole world captive All victories imaginanable are summ'd up in this one victory the conquest of the heart By spirit we are here to understand the passions or affections the spirit of man is as the Apostle saies Jam. 3. the tongue of man is an unruly evil impatient of subjection and pressing for dominion God hath placed our affections under government under the government of our reason and those principles of heavenly wisdom faith righteousness and holiness which we are indowed with but these like an unbroken horse that will not go whither the rider but whither it self listeth do rise up and rebel against reason and will be the leaders and not followers and this unruliness of the passions is the root of the distempers and disorders of the life when men surrender up themselves to be lead by affection whither doth it carry them reason leads us up to God It is the Candle of the Lord that lights us our way to him our affections are blind guides love is blind desires are blind and whether will the blind lead us If we could live by faith nay if we could but live more by reason by right reason we should get us up out of this earthly country even reason will tell us that God is better then creatures and that the inordinate following of creatures is the forsaking of God For the better holding your affections right take these two directions 1. Keep your selves in the love of God 2. Whatever you love in the world let it be also your fear 1. Keep your selves in the love of God let affection follow the conduct of reason to Heaven and there let it dwell but till reason lead it down again keep your selves in the love of God Jude 21. keep up a right understanding of God and that will keep up your affections keep up your affections to God and that will keep them off from the world the heart will ever be in love and till it find a better this harlot must be its beloved deformity is as beauty whilest beauty is out of sight He saies in vain set not your affections on the earth that does not first say set your affections on things above He that saies set your affections on things above and not on the earth if he be heard in the first will not be denyed in the second keep you in the love of God and you keep you clear of the love of the world 2. What ever you love in the world let it be also your fear fear will be loves bridle and reason would teach you to fear what ever you love here nothing hath such an advantage upon us to steal away our hearts from God as the things we love The Lord is seldom such a looser as by his bounty when he lets down his silver cords of love to draw up our hearts we make chains of them to fetter us here below His gold and his Jewels his bracelets and earrings which he sends us to allure our love are often molten into an Idol and engross our hearts to them Whatever thou lovest in all the world hast thou a wife or a child that thou lovest hast thou a friend or companion that thou lovest hast thou an house a pleasant habitation hast thou gardens or orchards fields or vineyards that thine heart is pleas'd withall O be jealous of them Keep your distance come not too near thou commest for my Soul my child my house my mony my friends I must have an eye to you you come to steal away mine heart What a sad requital and yet how commonly is this the requital which we make for bounty and kindness I should have lov'd God better if he had not been so good to me I should have lov'd God better if he had not given me so good a wife so dear a child so fair an estate so many friends wilt thou fear such unworthiness then fear whatever thou lovest If what you love be not also your fear it 's like to be your loss and sorrow If Sampson had fear'd his Delilah whom he so loved he had sav'd his locks his God and his life his love to that harlot did him more mischief then all the armies of the Philistimes Solomons wives became his tears fondling children often revenge their parents dotage by becoming thorns in their sides and swords in their hearts whatever thou overlovest look for it to find it thy cross or thy curse what will thy friends or thy mony be when either thou hast lost them or thy soul by them what ever thou overlovest God will tear it from thine heart if ever he mean thee good he will touch thee in the apple of thine eye he will try thee in thine Isaac he will tear off that Jewel that entices thy Soul from him what thou canst not part with look for it that must go or thy soul 3. Set a strict watch upon your senses By these 't is that Satan with all his temptations hath such an easy passage to our hearts our senses are the doors of our hearts the outlets of corruption and the inlets of temptation they bring the outward objects and the inward lusts together when the fuel and the fire are layd together then there is a flame Both the Evil and the Good that is in us came in much by this way How came Sin and Death into this world and all the plagues and miseries we are labouring under or lyable to which way came they in By the eye they came in when the woman saw the fatal apple then she lusted and tasted Gen. 3. How came life and immortality grace and peace and all our
glorious hopes in again By the Ear they came in By this the promise entred by this Faith entred Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by hearing Nihil est intellectu quod non fuit prius in sensu saith the Philosopher there 's nothing in our understandings and as little in our affections whether good or evil but what made its way by our senses If God hath our eye and our ear he hath our heart if the Devil have gotten these once 't is not like to be long ere he be possessour of all of such mighty consequence is the keeping our senses as Heaven and Hell amount to Our senses are now vitiated and corrupted pre-occupated by sin and the Devil shut against God and open to iniquity Sin hath gotten the start of grace and having gotten possession of the house makes good the doors for it self and friends whatever knocks for entrance the word presently is who comes there and if it be a friend a friend of sin there 's free admission So that now in pleasing our senses or leaving them at liberty to please themselves we betray our Souls to the hands of Hell to be a Sensualist is next to being a Devil to leave our senses unguarded is to leave open the floudgates of Hell the Devil could not wish our Souls in other hands then to be given up to our senses neither Devil or World need doubt of entrance while they have a friend at the door these earthen gates like that iron gate will open of their own accord to them when ever they come Our depraved senses are the great adversaries to Christianity whatever is said of the enmity of the world of it's gains and fashions its pomps and pleasures all lyes upon this score as they are the objects that tickle and please the senses and by these deprave the mind and turn away the heart What is it that lyes in the way of the Gospel that obstructs it's passage and hinders it's work upon Souls why is it that Christ is not more gladly and generally receiv'd O this is it that hinders 't would deprive us of many a sweet morsell of many a pleasant draught 't would pull off our vain habits and wanton fashions 't would pare off our fleshly pleasures no more indulging to appetite no more pleasing our eyes and ears and palates if Christ be once entertained now we can take our liberty to make provision for the flesh and let the flesh take it's fill we can feed our selves with the finest cloath our selves with the best we can soke our selves in all sorts of sensualities we can fetch in load upon load and make the best of what 's before us we can milk every dug we can suck every bottel we can dig in every mine we can plough and reap in every field that the world hath there 's nothing but Christ can hinder us once give ear to him and that will spoil all our mirth and marre all our markets then we must keep within bounds and neither get nor spend more then he allows us we must keep to our allowance and but a short allowance neither such as will be too strait for flesh and bloud to submit to And hereupon our eyes and ears which are so open upon the World and it's vanities do as it were invite and call in all the help the world can make to resist Christ and his work do call in all the baits and temptations that the whole world is furnished with to divert and turn aside the heart from hearkning to Christ Help World help O my carnal friends help O my fleshly pleasures help O my house and money Christ is come for mine heart I am loath it should go there can you do nothing to stay it with you help or it 's gone Friends would you not that the world keep Christ out or draw you aside from him shut the doors against it make a covenant with your eyes and ears set a watch upon them put a bridle upon your appetite and keep the door of your lips shut the world out be deaf to it's flattery be blind to it's glory wink it into darkness shut the doors and keep the world out and then Christ will be the better accepted Live above the pleasures of sense What have you no higher pleasures no Nobler delights have you not a God to delight you in have you no soul delights or are these they wherein the Bruits have as great a share as you Is meat and drink and cloaths and sports the food of souls your heart delights must your immortal part live at the Trough and feed on swill and husks where is peace with God where is the fellowship of the spirit where is the joy of the Holy Ghost and the hope of glory where is the sweetness of sincerity and the peace of conscience are there no such things or is there no pleasure in them Are you content to take up with this mud whilest those pure streams run by or must you have both Is it not enough that your souls may rejoyce that your hearts may feast and sing unless your flesh also may frisk and frolick it out in it's brutish mirth and pleasure Go taste and see how good the Lord is drink of his rivers acquaint your selves with his pleasures and then see if an Heaven satiated soul can envy the brutes the pleasures of sense Lastly Make a solemn surrender of your selves and ull that you have to the government and disposal of God lay down all at his feet and resolve to take up nothing but with his leave and for his use Let the Lord have the whole ordering of you for your Getting Keeping Using 1. Seek no other things nor any greater abundance of them then God allows you to seek Buy not an house nor a field or a living but make God the purchaser go not into the fair or the market into the shop or over the seas but when God sends you drive not that trade or that bargain concerning which you cannot say I am herein trading for God let the Lord appoint you your work and your rest your labour and your profit be content with what comes in Seek not great things for your selves and quarrel not with providence if by all your seeking you get nothing Seek no more nor no other things then God would have you and seek them no otherwise then in Gods way and order God hath other works then these for you to do God hath other things then these for you to seek God saies seek my face seek my Kingdom first seek my kingdom and the righteousness thereof what is this done Is God sure Is the kingdom sure have you grace have you peace have you enough of these have you wrought your selves out of work here is there no more to be done no more to be gotten is there never a gulf yet fixed betwixt you and glory that needs your care how to get over are you past all danger of
difficulty that 's all the doubt whether thou wilt or no as hard as the victory is if thou perish by the world at last thy destruction will be laid at thine own door 't is because thou wilt not accept of deliverance if thou wilt thou mayst 4. Is not victory over this enemy desirable Is not liberty desirable is not life desirable be an enemy and live the world kills none but its friends Would it not be well with you if this spirit of the world were cast out and God had given you another spirit would it not be a good exchange if for this carking caring anxious earthly greedy heart you had obtained a contented patient mortified spirit an heavenly mind would not the matter be well mended with you if for your treasure on earth you could make God your treasure could you not wish it were so Can you say I thank God I am yet a worldling I thank God my heart is still below I can mind my pleasures and gains I can satisfie my lust and take my liberty and follow my affairs without troubling my self about these higher matters that I know not Hitherto I thank God this world hath been too hard for the Gospel the devil hath kept possession and hath kept Christ out whilest others have puzled and amused themselves with their thoughts and hopes and fears about another world have made an adventure for the unknown riches have been filling their heads and perplexing their hearts with cares for hereafter and have neglected and straitned themselves here I thank God I have been no such fool While you may say I thank God I have an estate in the world I have friends in the world can you also say I thank God this is my treasure these are my delights I can never trouble my self with thinking of or serving any other God but these I can take these in exchange for my soul I thank God for that unrighteousness or that unmercifulness which he hath left me to and let me alone in whereby I have gotten me an estate and preserved it entire to me it had been worse with me then 't is if I could not have ly'd and defrauded if I had made Conscience of Sabbaths of praying and hearing and spending so much time this way as others do I had been a poor man had I taken this course but I thank God I was wiser then so Can you say thus Christians may and will say I thank God I am crucified to the world I thank God for Faith and Prayers and Sabbaths for a new heart and a new life blessed be God that hath chosen me out of this world and called me by his grace blessed be God for a part in Christ and hope towards God blessed be the day wherein my soul was divorced from this world and espoused to another Husband I would not be in bondage to this earth again I would not be a flesh pleaser a self-seeker again if the devil would hire me with all the Kingdomes of the world there is not a Christian in the world but will say thus But where is the worldling that dares deliberately to say I thank God I am a worldling still God hath dealt well with me that he hath left me out and let me alone to follow mine own heart Speak worldling had it not been well for thee if thou also hadst been brought in to Christ would it not be well for thee if yet thou mightest mightest cease from this earth and be a Candidate for heaven mightest cease to be a drudge and a slave and be delivered into the liberty of the Sons of God would it not be well with thee if thou wert would it not be well with thee if yet thou mightest dost thou never wish O that my soul were in such a case why then wilt thou not in this thy day 5. Can this victory be bought too dear There 's nothing in this world but may be over-bought An Army may be so weakned in the fight that victory will not repair it Crowns and Kingdomes may be bought too dear all the royalties and revenues of the world may be purchas'd at such a rate that they may not be a saving bargain But can redemption from the world be over-bought will not the salvation of thy soul pay all thy charges It s true thy rescuing from this enemy may not be without much damage and loss not only of the ship and the lading but of thy life when thou conquerest this enemy thou wilt loose a friend in thy conquering thou wilt purchase enmity therefore the world hateth you Thou wilt not only create thee enemies by thy Conquest but wants and straits and labours and cares when thou ceasest to be a servant to this world think not to have an easie idle life thou wilt have more and harder work then ever the pursuing thine enemy that he rally not again upon thee the watching thine heart the guarding thine eye the governing thine appetite that they run not again after it the pleasing and following thy Lord in all things that he commands thee what day thou breakest with the world and joynest thy self to the Lord this life of labour and care thou puttest thy self upon thou must no more thirst after thy stoln waters nor taste of thy forbidden pleasures thou must no more traverse thy most pleasant ways nor stick at the most painful duties nay not thine ease only or thy pleasure but thy life also and all that thou hast must go when ever thy Lord calls thee to it What course short of this will either obtain or secure thee the victory but how will such a life down with thee how will thy spirit bear it when thy faint heart shrinks from it when thy proud or stubborn heart swells against it when thy old pleasures and liberties when thine old friends and companions when thy silver and thy gold cry after thee canst thou leave us thus can thy soul part with us for ever thou wilt then find that this victory costs thee dear But is not thy soul more worth then all this wilt say Better I were damn'd then sav'd at such an hard rate hell rather then this way to heaven 'T is hard to be a Christian 't is true but blessed be God my soul is escaped my foot is gotten out of the snare liberty liberty is brought to this captive and the opening of the prison to the bound he whom I now serve how hard soever his work is is no hard mâ—ster he gives good wages were his work harder then 't is yet 't is not worthy to be laid in the balance with salvation I will not die for an easie life 6. What if this enemy should reign till death how do you think your worldly life will look when you come to die do you think you shall then say I have done well to be a worldling it may be if God should ask you now dost thou well to be covetous dost thou
Lord he likes it and takes it well at our hands that we give him a present answer delaies are as unpleasing to him as they are dangerous to us Wilt thou say when he calls thee suffer me first to go and bid them farewell that are at my house yea wilt thou say when he saies come and be my servant suffer me first to go and serve my belly and my appetite and afterwards I will be thine suffer me first to get me an estate to get more money or lands and then I will be for getting grace how do ye think God will take such an answer The Lord loves to see a willing people of a ready and forward mind that will offer up their first fruits unto God T is recorded to the perpetual honour of that good King Josiah 2 Chron. 34. 3. That in the eighth year of his reign while he was yet young he began to seek after the God of David his father He was but 16. years old when he began to look heavenward and you may perceive how well the Lord took it by his recording the very year O it is a pleasant thing to see the buds of grace putting forth in the morning of nature to see men growing up in grace as they grow up in stature this is by so much the more beautiful by how much the more rare and seldom found A godly young man is a Jewel that sparkles forth a lustre among all the gravel and pebbles of the earth what a vast difference is there betwixt an humble meek sober gracious young man or woman and the rude proud wanton riotous brutish of that age Old age is a crown and this crown will be much more glorious if it be deck'd with the flowers of the spring 4. If the Devil hath the first time he 'l endanger to have the last too 'T is seldome seen that those that pass over their youth and their strength in the service of sin do ever become the servants of God at last those that stand out against Christ to their last day do mostly stand it out in their last day How seldome do we hear of an old overgrown sinner ever prove a sincere Convert at last The experiences of the Ministers of the Gospel do testifie that the success of their Ministery is ordinarily most upon the younger sort a twig is more easily bow'd or pluck'd up then an old tree if thy heart be too hard for the Word whilest it is young and tender how difficult will the case be when it s brawn'd and crusted by age Zophar in Job speaking of an old sinner sayes Job 20. 11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth which shall lie down with him in the dust Observe here these two things 1. That age doth often pay the scores of youth the pains of age are often the reward of the pleasures of youth the wantonness of youth is often revenged by the weakness and diseases of age mens aged bones do remember them of their wasted marrow Sinners though you think you can never fill your bellies with your lusts while you are young yet God will fill your bones with them when you are old and 't will be but a sad meeting when young sins and old bones meet together O what a strange difference will there be betwixt feeling our aged aking bones full of the duties of our youth our prayings watchings fastings labourings and sufferings and having them fill'd with our youthful lusts and lewdness 2. Where sin breaks its fast and dines it often sups and lodges it lies down with him in the dust If timely repentance do not lay thy sin in the dust when thou art young vengeance is like to lay it down with thee in the dust when thou art old It shall lie down with him in the dust A dreadful word the meaning is it shall never be pardoned or done away he shall carry his sins out of the world with him as he liv'd so he dies 'T is ill having sin thy bed-fellow 't is ill sleeping one night in unrepented sin but O what will it be to have all thy wickednesses thy companions in the grave 't is a wretched thing to live in sin but beware of dying in sin whilest the Worms eat up thy flesh these Vultures shall gnaw upon thy soul Young sinner take heed of going on in the hardness of thine heart If the Word of Life do not part thee and thy sins death shall not part you the grave shall not part you Death shall part betwixt thy body and thy soul betwixt thy sins and their pleasures betwixt thy sins and their gains but it shall never part betwixt thy sins and thy soul they die with thee and are buried with thee and they shall rise with thee and become the fuel of that fire that shall burn to the bottom of Eternity Well now at length what say you young men when for God and the other world when for wisdome sobriety chastity when for Religion in earnest now or not till hereafter will you yet be so unworthy as to give your marrow to the Devil and reserve nothing but dry bones for the Lord will you offer up your first fruits to Bacchus and Venus will you burn out your Candle to light you on in your noysome lewdness and never be sweet till you be consumed into a stinking snuff How few are there that will hearken what wild creatures wild Asses Colts are the most of the youth of the earth what a wanton wastful luxurious loose Age is this first Age It cannot be said as to Israel Jer. 2. 2. I remember the kindness of thy youth and the love of thine Espousals but I remember the lusts of thy youth the lewdness and the madness and the wantonness of thy youth art thou willing it should be hereafter thus said to thee Remember now thy Creator and see if that will not hold thee to another course Dost thou not want a bridle in this unruly age what bridle but the memory of a God Remember that there is a God Thou runnest on thy course as the horse rusheth into the battel thou art wilful and obstinate in thy way and wilt not be turned back thou sayest in thine heart my tongue is mine own my time is mine own my estate is mine own who is Lord over me But remember there is a God Thou committest thy wickedness it may be in secret thy way is in the dark thou makest thy advantage of the twilight and imboldenest thy self with this what eye shall see me but remember there is a God Thou despisest wisdome as folly thou hatest instruction seriousness is thy scorn sobriety thy derision thou makest a mock of holiness and laughest at the reproofs of thine iniquities Bid thee be wise and repent of thy wickedness as good speak to the wind or the stones of the earth tell thee of Death or of Judgment as good tell thee a dream Let a Parent advise thee
let a Minister or a Christian friend warn thee and how are they either slighted or laugh'd out of countenance But remember that there is a God Thou wilt know no other heaven but below thou blessest thy self in the earth in thy pleasures in thy companions and canst fancy no other happiness but thy fools Paradise But remember that there is a God Remember that this God is thy Creator and therefore thy Governour and Judge to whom thou owest thy self and thy time and to whom thou must give up thine account Remember and return to thy God remember and repent remember God and then run on if thou dar'st be a drunkard if thou dar'st be a wanton if thou dar'st be a worldling if thou dar'st Remember thy God and repent Remember thy Creator now in this day of thy youth If ever why not now Is not this the fittest time Is not this the accepted time May not this be the only time How know'st thou but that this may be the Word of the Lord to thee Now or never Wilt thou never learn wisdome till thy loss teach thee it Wilt thou never know thy day till thy Sun be set Young men reckon not upon the evening your Sun may be set at noon Consider what thou art to day as one of the fools in Israel a vile insipid useless thing the filth the refuse the off-scouring of the earth and if thou wouldst not be found thus at thy dying day let not this night overtake thee before thou hast run from thy self and thy sins unto thy God Such of you Brethren as have already return'd to the Lord and accepted of his Grace as have had the grace to consecrate your youth to the Lord Oh bless the name of God bless him while you live and have any being Who hath redeemed your life from death and crouned you with loving kindness and tender mercies who hath taken you out from among the dirt and rubbish and made you polished stones for his Temple who hath cur'd you of your madness and made you the children of Wisdome who hath separated the precious from the vile fetch'd you out from the rude Rabble and those Potsheards of the earth wherein there is no pleasure and mark'd you up for his Vessels of Honor What day the Lord goes forth among the wild Herd and takes out here and there one of the company he saith These shall be for me this young man or this young woman shall be mine they shall be mine in the day wherein I make up my Jewels and for the rest that will not hearken let them run till death seize upon them and the pit swallow them up Yet say young man of which number wilt thou be of the taken or the left wilt thou along after thy Creator or wilt thou stay with thy companions what wilt thou say to the Lord Take me or leave me let me be thine or leave me to my self let me this day repent and be sober or let me run mad still till there be no place for repentance Consider and be wise But to return to our matter in hand 2. The circumstance of his education He had been bred up from a child in a gallant Princely way he knew not what belonged to a low estate those that never had much forsake but little when they forsake all 't is but a short step from a little to nothing he can take no great harm in a fall who alwayes sits on the ground want will never much pinch those who never understood plenty 't is no such hard change to be cast from the Cottage to the dunghill we poor little ones if we had hearts might say we have not opportunities to leave much for God 't is those who dwell on high whose Mountains are exalted among the tops of the Mountains of the earth and that have had their Nest among the Stars 't is these are like to feel it when they must take up their dwelling in the dust and this was Moses case from the height to the depth from the height of ease and honour to the depth of affliction and hardship 3. The circumstance of his Obligations Pharaoh's Daughter had strangely oblig'd him had sav'd his life took him up an abject Infant and adopted him for her Child given him Princely breeding and set her heart upon him as her own and hereupon the ingenuity of his Nature could not but plead with him thus Unworthy unthankful creature what art thou meditating whither art thou going a running away from her whose pity gave thee thy life who pittied thee and loved thee who loved thee and took thee in who took thee in and bred thee up what art thou what hast thou that she may not justly call her own and wilt thou thus requite that pity love bounty which thou canst never recompence what a reproach wilt thou become mark'd out for infamous an unworthy unthankful disingenuous ill natur'd man whither wilt thou cause thy shame to go oh how would such suggestions gall and gravel an ingenuous spirit Well but Moses breaks through all let my fame be infamy let me be accounted any thing unworthy unkind foolish or any thing that 's worse God is worthy for whose sake I should bear all this and away he goes 'T is not the least of temptations which lies on some mens spirits and which unhappily keeps them from Christ that they shall discontent their friends disoblige their dear Relations seem to put a slight upon the love and kindness and dearest respects of those whom they have lov'd as their own souls if I take this course if I fall into this uncouth discountenanced reproach'd way what will they call me how will they look on me how shall I look my Father in the face or my Husband or my Wife in the face what will become of the esteem and affection and dearness which now I have with all my intimates and acquaintance what shall I be accounted with whom shall I be reckon'd how shall I bear up under those evil reflections and those unworthy imputations that I cannot but expect But now a resolved Christian will weigh the other side too But how shall I look God in the face how shall I look Christ in the face if upon such grounds I refuse to hearken to him who hath been such a friend as God hath been to me who hath loved me as Christ hath loved me who hath done for me as he hath done for me who hath laid down his life for me who must save my soul from death how shall I look God in the face if this be all I have to say I would have followed thee Lord I would have hearkened to thee but my Father and Mother would have been angry then my Husband or Wife would have taken it unkindly I should have displeased my friends they would have counted me a fool or a mad man or unkind or unthankful if I had hearkened to thee Oh I remember what he