he reveals his good will and good liking of them and lets them know that they are accepted with him when he is their Friend and lets them have the countenance of their Friend towards them when he is their Father and causes them to feel the Bowels of their Father the Compassions and Kindnesses of their Father and hereby makes them to joy in his Love and to rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God This is Blessedness indeed these are Blessed Ones whose God is thus their Lord. Blessed are the people who are in such a case blessed are the people whose God is the 〈◊〉 Ps 144.15 Christians you need not complain whatever you want if you have no bread in your houses no money in your purses no health in your Bodies no rest in your bones yet have you the Lord God in your hearts it is enough you are blessed Souls Sinners ye need not boast your selves and lift up your heads so high you have money in your purses you have friends in your houses you have health in your bodies you have marrow in your bones you can hardly tell what you lack that would please you and yet miserable souls are you all God is not in you and that to him that knows what it is is misery enough to blast all your comforts and your joys The Devil is where God is not Sin bears rule where God doth not and this is the upshot of your boasting and blessing and comforting of your selves this is all you can say matters of this World go well with me I can live a plentiful and pleasant and merry life the Sun shines on my Tabernacle I have the Wind on my side I am on the warm side of the Hedge I prosper I flourish in the Earth all things go well with me I have but this one thing to trouble me my Soul is in the hands of the Devil there 's nothing of God in me and where God is not there the Devil bears rule This if ye knew it is misery enough for you that whatever you have God is none of yours and this is happiness enough for the Saints that God is in them of a truth 2. Our happiness is that the Lord is among us that we have the visible tokens of his presence that the Ark of his presence is among us that we have his Statutes and his Ordinances and his Worship among us that the Doors of his House are open and the Glory of the Lord filleth his House that the Ordinances are among us and are not as a miscarrying Womb or dry Breasts but are fruitful to the propagating an Holy Seed bringing forth abundance of Children to the Lord and nursing up those that are to be fat and flourishing This was that Glory of the Lord which the Psalmist so thirsts and longs to see Ps 63.2 That I might see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary This was that happiness of the Church which was prophesied Is 60.2 c. The Lord shall arise upon thee and his Glory shall be seen in thee v. 4. Thy Sons shall come from far and thy Daughters shall be nursed up at thy side then shalt thou see and flow together and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged v. 8. Who are those that flee as a Cloud and as the Doves of the Windows v. 14 15. They shall call thee the City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel and I will make thee an everlasting Excellency a Joy of many Generations v. 21. Thy People shall be all righteous the Branch of my Planting the Work of my Hands that I may be glorified This you will acknowledge must needs be an happy time and all this is the fruit of the presence of the Lord among his People When the Glory of the Lord fills his House and the off-springs of the Lord are numerous and prosperous when the Golden Candlesticks are set up and the Son of man walks in the midst of his Candlesticks when there are not only here and there a flourishing Believer but when there are flourishing Churches flourishing companies of Believers when there are not only a throng of People crowding the Doors of the Lords House but a throng of Saints worshipping at his Feet and walking in the Name of the Lord Happy would such days be blessed are the People that are in such a case by the presence of the Lord among them Yea and every degree towards such a State is so far forth a degree of peoples happiness when the Lord gives his Prophets and Teachers and Ordinances and any freedom to attend upon them and any little success to the propagating of holiness and the sincere Professors of it This is a Token and a Fruit of the presence of God with them 'T is a mercy for people to enjoy their civil advantages fruitful times and seasons for the good things of the Earth plenty of Bread free and flourishing Trades freedom from Oppression c. These are Mercies but these may be where the Lord is not as to his gracious Presence 't is freedom and encouragement for Religion the plentiful raining down of Manna the bread that comes from Heaven and our thriving by our Bread 't is this that evidences that the Lord is among us 3. Our taking hold of God is our continuing this Presence of the Lord with us and preventing his departure where I shall shew 3 things 1. God may depart from a people with whom he hath been present 2. 'T is wo with that people from whom God departeth 3. This is to take hold of God to prevent his departure 1. God may depart from his People with whom he hath been present And that 1. From particular persons from whom he may then be said to depart 1. When he hides his Face from them 2. When he suspends the influences of his Grace 3. When he loosens the reins of Government 4. When he denies them the benefit of his protection 5. When he turns away his Heart from them and rejects them 1. When he hides his Face from them and withdraws the light of his Countenance Thus he withdrew from that precious Servant of his David Ps 30.7 Thou didst hide thy Face and I was troubled whom we find praying Ps 4.6 Lord lift up the light of thy Countenance upon me and Ps 51.12 Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit Gods Holy Ones may forget God may grow secure and careless and wanton Children and the Lord will not countenance the best of them in their sins If they forget God he finds a way to remember them of him by conveying himself out of their sight the clouds upon his Face the darkness upon their own Spirits make them remember the light which once they had and to look the better to it when the light returns 2. When he suspends the Influence of his Grace witholds his Spirit from them This
't is to be feared it will then be said concerning you They are not asleep but dead dead in their sins O how many of the dead are there already amongst these sleepy Souls Sinner art thou yet asleep in thy Sins O thou art in a dead sleep and if this night overtake thee thus its like to close up thine eyes as the eyes of the dead are closed never again to be opened And you that hope you have life in you and yet will not be awakened by the day light but will sleep on still whom neither the lightning nor the thunder of the Word will awaken pray tell me what dead sleepers you also are like to continue in the dark and silent night This I say is like to be the misery of people if such a night overtake us they are like to be sensless Souls that will not lay it to heart nor be affected nor moved at all with the darkness that comes upon them but will dye away in a sleep Become of the Gospel of the Ordinances of the Gospel of the Sabbath and all the means of Grace what will they will not be much moved or lay it to heart 5. Night is no time for work John 9.4 night cometh when no man can work Work there is that lyes upon every one of you and such work wherein your life is concerned I will not say only with the Apostle 2 Thes 3.10 He that will not work shall not eat but he that will not work shall not live thou shalt dye the death who dost not in the day work out the work which God hath committed to thee to do You have every one of you your work to do and 't is great work and of great consequence You are to work for your living for an eternal livelihood you are to work out your Salvation that 's your work in the general And in this there are many particular works comprehended there is the work of Repentance and Mortification of Sin c. There 's Grace to be gotten and improved there 's your Peace with God to be made have you done these works have you repented are your sins mortified have you grace in your hearts have you made your peace with God you that have there 's still all this to be maintained and carried on that ye lose not the things which you have wrought But are all these things yet to do with so many of you are you yet without repentance are you yet to seek for grace have you gotten never a drop of the Holy Oil into your Vessels are you without the Knowledge of God without faith in Christ without repentance is your peace with God yet to make doth the wrath of God still abide upon you what and yet asleep what and yet such idle careless loytering souls What if this work should never be done if you should never have more of Christ nor his Grace never have more of Faith and Repentance than you have now why then you must go down among the dead Look ye down cast an eye down on those chambers of darkness that place of pitch and brimstone that place of fire and everlasting burnings look ye down into that horrible pit and see where you must lie what your place and your portion must be for ever if you arise not and work these works of God ye cannot live but must die and that 's the death you must die you must burn you must be tormented night and day for ever and ever Well now you see here 's great work to be done and to be done by every one of you you see what will follow if it be not done you must die the death O methinks now this word should be a stirring word to you awaken every one of you arise and to your work the night cometh when no man can work And let it not suffice any of you to say I hope this work is done and therefore no such danger if I be fallen asleep but know 1. That if the grace you seem to have does make you grow secure if you grow bold to be idle and careless upon the confidence that the work is done that you are converted have repented and are made partakers of the grace of God that confidence of yours is a deadly sign that the work is not done no nor savingly begun upon you 2. Whatever work there be done upon you your life lieth upon it upon your careful and vigorous carrying it on if you do not hold out to the end keep working to the end ye cannot be saved And is not this a stirring word to you also that are sleeping and loytering professors Awake or perish to your work or be damned And is not this stirring word seconded by a stirring providence the appearance of such a night approaching upon us the light being even ready to vanish from amongst us If I should not say concerning such a night in the words of Christ A night comes wherein no man can work yet this I may be bold to say in such a night few men will work What does our experience speak to this The shadows of the evening have been stretched out over us it hath been evening and almost Sunset with us for divers years and O what lamentable influence has this evening wherein the word of the Gospel has been more scarce had upon us what a woful change is there visible upon the greatest number of Professors in England are there not multitudes among us whose Religion is fallen and almost lost since it is grown darker is it not also grown much colder with us and what sleepy loytering souls are we already become Friends if there be such a fall of lively Religion amongst us while it is but evening do you not tremble to think how much more t is like to be when the thick darkness of the night hath overshadowed us 2. Put upon stirring thoughts Our thoughts are apt to be busie and too busie where they should not like little Children which will be busie from morning till night about doing nothing Keep your thoughts imployed and well imployed there are wandring thoughts which are too busie roving and flying up and down this way and that which like the eyes of a Fool Prov. 17.24 are in the ends of the Earth There are the wandrings of our thoughts after sin and vanity and impertinences we are thinking too much and too often of what we should not think and sometimes there are wandrings after good things sometimes our thoughts wander to Heaven wander up and down about things Spiritual and Eternal though we think sometimes of these better things 't is but with wandring thoughts though we light upon them yet we fix not we are not like the Bee which wanders from flower but pitches and stays upon each flower till it hath gotten the Honey but we are more like the Fly that leaps up and down that 's here and there and every where sometimes upon a Wall sometimes
over you we can hardly keep life in you the little good that remains is weak and even ready to vanish away But what then will become of you in the Day of Famine when your Manna shall cease and your Waters fail O tremble to hear this word spoken concerning you you shall not mourn nor weep you won't be much troubled nor lay it to heart but ye shall pine away for your iniquities If in such a day of plenty as you have had you are such pining Souls what can you expect but you may pine to death in days of want 2. Especially 't is woful to those that have no Religion in them that are blind and hard and dead Souls that remain still without Christ and without God in the World Sinners if ye be not brought in to be Believers whilst the Word of Faith is preached to you if ye be not converted whilst the Word of Repentance is preached among you if you continue such blind and ignorant Souls whilst you have the light with you what will ye be in the days of darkness Sinners concern not themselves about any such thing let the Gospel shine or be under a cloud let Religion flourish or vanish let God be amongst them or be gone let there be preaching or no preaching 't is all one to them they are like Gallio Acts 18.17 they are for none of these things But Sinners let me tell you as little as you regard it how it goes with the Church of God and the Ordinances of God whether there be liberty or restraint a plenty or a famine of the word when ever the Gospel departs when ever a famine of the word comes 't is you are the men that are like chiefly to have the misery of it 'T is an affliction to the Saints and they may be great losers they may languish and grow to a decay but you are like to lose your Souls you are like to dye in your Sins and to perish for ever if you are thus hardned under the word how are you like to be won to Christ without the Word If the Devil hath such power with you to lead you on in your sins in your drunkenness and swearing and lying and covetousness and to hold you under your impenitence notwithstanding all the instructions and warnings and reproofs you have from the word how fast will he hold you when there 's none to resist him If you never be converted and brought to repentance you know you must to Hell and what hope will there be of your conversion when the converting word is no more preached to you Sinners you had need make better use of the Word while you have it among you you had need look for another manner of work of God than hitherto hath been upon you Of all men in the World you especially had need pray Lord take not the Word of thy Truth from among us or at least Lord delay that dark day O let my Soul be first wrought upon O let it first lay hold on me and recover me from my sins and from the power of the Devil let me become a Convert to Christ a Disciple of Christ before that day come you had need pray thus and you had need hearken more to the Word while you have it and hasten in to Christ That day will stay for none of you when 't is coming and O! what if it should come upon you if the Gospel should be carried away and leave you in that sinful guilty state that now you are in Look to it Sinners in the name of God look to it strike in with Christ presently make thorow work for your Souls instantly while it is called to day harden not your hearts don 't any longer stand shall I shall I one day or other I hope I shall For ought you know God may be even about to pack up his Treasure to take down his standing and ready to be gone and then where are you O carry this thought upon your heart if God should go and his Gospel should go and leave my Soul at this pass wo wo to me poor wretched Soul what shall become of me for ever O if the preaching of the Word leave me under the power of the Devil sure the Famine of the Word is like to seal me up under the hardness of my heart to everlasting condemnation Look to it Sinners pray that such a Day may not overtake you thus and O hasten and take the present season and this day break off your sins by repentance and yield your selves to the Lord be converted that ye may be saved Fear not but Christ will accept you if you will now come in he is yet willing he stands stretching his hands to you he lifts up his Voice to you and calls Come ye poor sinful souls come unto me make an adventure for Heaven come and be my hearty Disciples let the wicked among you forsake his wickedness let him return to the Lord and he shall have mercy Fear not but if you will now come in you shall be accepted but dare not for your lives delay any longer lest the days of darkness overtake you lest the Gospel be removed from us and leave you bound in your sins and then you be carried down bound hand and foot into the everlasting Prison The Lord grant that this be not the dismal lot of any of your Souls and look you to it in time that it be not lose not the present season the Sun seems to grow low it 's almost night O see to it that it be not Sunset among us before it be Sunrising in any of your Souls I hope the day is even now dawning upon some poor Sinners among you that some of your Souls are looking towards Christ and making towards Christ and making your escape from your Sins Is it so with thee art thou awakened from thy Sins art thou wishing and waiting for Christ Even this is the dawning of the day upon thee O for the Sun rising for the forming of Christ upon thine heart look that the work that is go not back again but come on and hold on that thy little morning light may increase and grow up to perfect day and that the Evening and the Morning meet not 3. Our taking hold of God is our continuing the Lord among us and our preventing his departure This was their Sin in the Text they did not take hold of God that is they took no course to continue the Lord amongst them God was going from them and they let him go and look'd not after him they were too willing to part with God And this is the case of Backsliders in heart they are too well contented that God and they do part their heart is withdrawn from God and they matter it not though God withdraws from them Our laying hold on God imports these 3 things which are necessary to our continuing him with us 1. Our letting go our Idols or false
and return to be faithful but hold you at the same pass look for nothing else but this that the Soul of the Lord will be utterly loosened from you and he will say concerning you Give them a Bill of Divorce and send them away let them alone let them pine away in their iniquities till they be past recovery or redemption And let me add this farther if the rest of the Professors of England which are in the same case will not see it will not confess will not speedily return and recover what can be expected but that the Lord who hath been for these many years so visibly departing from us and after many returns seems at this time again to be removing from us what can be expected if we speedily repent not but that he will never return but utterly reject us and leave us as a dark Land make us a desolation and astonishment and write his Ichabod upon the Doors of our Congregations and Habitations The Glory is departed from England But if you will yet see and and will confess and return I will say to you as Shecaniah said to Ezra concerning that revolting people when they were upon reforming Ezra 10.2 There is yet hope in Israel concerning this thing There is yet hope in England concerning these poor Souls that the Lord will return and continue to dwell in them and among them as in the former days his Covenant is your hope lay hold upon it 3. Our recovering our Communion with God Our Communion with God stands much in these things 1. In our mutual Acquaintance God with us and we with him God is acquainted with his People and he requires them to come into his Acquaintance Job 22.21 Acquaint thy self with God Acquaintance stands in our Knowledge of God We cannot be said to be acquainted with them we know not in such experimental knowledge as is gotten by converse together We cannot say we are acquainted with every one we know converse or walking together is necessary to our being acquainted The nearer and more intimate our Acquaintance with God is and of the longer continuance by so much the more hold we have of God God will not easily lose his Acquaintance and those that are acquainted with God have tasted so much of the sweetness of walking with him that they will take the more heed how they lose that Acquaintance Those that are intimately acquainted by their friendly converse together this Acquaintance knits their Hearts together as David's to Jonathan so that they will not easily be seperated Hast thou used thy self to intimate converse with God and thereby gotten into experimental Acquaintance with him O thine heart will be hereby knit to the Lord and the Lords Heart knit together with thine Acquaintance cannot bear strangness it 's grievous to us when our Acquaintants become Strangers to us and we are unwilling to be strangers from them Friends do you suffer your hearts to be estranged from the Lord can you forget God and keep at a distance from him can you lose your Intimacy in Heaven are your delightful thoughts of God restrained and is not this grievous to you 'T is a shrewd sign that God and you were never well acquainted You that are the Friends of God keep your acquaintance take heed of wandrings take heed of distances and enstrangments get the experimental delights that arise from your intimacy with him and that will hold you near him And you that have lost your Acquaintance O recover and revive your old Intimacy in Heaven 2. In mutual Acceptance This is a special part of our Communion with God our Complacency in God and his Complacency in us Acquaintants take mutual pleasure in one another their company is grateful and acceptable God is accepted of his Saints they have an hearty goodliking to him and are glad of his Presence not only all the intimations of his Love and Kindnesses to them not only such a word spoken to their Hearts I love thee mine Heart is towards thee thou art mine the dearly beloved of my Soul I am at peace with thee my delight is in thee O how acceptable O how pleasant are such gracious words but not only these but the manifestations of the Will and Counsels of God to them they accept his Commands they love that the Lord should tell them of their Duty His Statutes are my delight Ps 119.77 and they accept his Rebukes and Corrections and his Punishments of them for their Sins Levit. 26.41 knowing that he corrects them in love and that they cannot want his Chastizements that the very Rebukes of his Countenance are sometimes as necessary for them and as beneficial to them as the Light of his Countenance 2. They are accepted with God he accepts their Persons Ephes 1.6 He hath made us accepted in the Beloved he accepts their approaches to him Ezek. 20.40 41. In mine Holy Mountain of the height of Israel there will I accept them I will accept you with your sweet Savour Offer your Offerings lift up your Voices pour forth your Prayers they shall be a sweet Savour a Savour of Rest to me Now whilst God finds rest in a People he will not depart Ps 132.14 This is my rest here will I dwell for ever Acceptance with God and rejection from God are so contrary that whilst we have the one we need not fear the other and whilst God is accepted with us to be sure we are accepted with him whilst Gods ways please us our ways will please the Lord Prov. 16.7 When a mans ways please the Lord he will make his Enemies be at peace with him and so long we may be secure that our Friend will not become our Enemy but will live in love and continue his abode with us 3. In mutual Correspondence In frequent and friendly entercourses God will be sending down to his Saints Tokens of his Love his Saints will be sending up Presents to the Lord Tokens of their Love to him There is a Jacobs Ladder betwixt Heaven and Earth this Ladder is Christ by which there is constant coming and going There are Spiritual Blessings the Blessings of Grace the Blessings of Peace that are sent down from God to his Saints and there are Spiritual Duties Holy Affections Holy Desires Holy Prayers and Praises which by the hand of Christ are sent up before the Lord. 'T is the very Life of Christians to be either receiving down or sending up to Heaven they must hear often from God or they cannot live I will hearken what the Lord God will speak Ps 85.8 And whilst they live God shall hear often from them there are Messengers and Messages that pass daily betwixt God and them They are often sending up and the best Present they have is their Hearts I lift up my Soul to thee Ps 25.1 They will be sending up their Desires to the Lord and their Sighs after him if they have nothing better they will be sending up their Tears
done Now this is your way to level your accounts concerning your sins to repent and amend all your evils and to sue out your pardon through Faith in the bloud of Christ And now you see what 't is to lay hold on God to continue his presence with us by casting away our Idols by laying hold on his Covenant by recovering into Communion getting into an holy acquaintance with God living so that you will both accept of God and be accepted with him maintaining a frequent entercourse betwixt the Lord and your souls letting him hear often from you and listening and longing to hear as often from him by keeping even reckonings betwixt the Lord and you keeping a reckoning of your mercies and a reckoning of your sins by levelling your accounts by walking worthy of your mercies by getting the scores of your sins crossed washed away by repentance and pardoned by the bloud of Christ Here 's that you have to do if you would take hold of God and continue his presence with you Friends is the Lord within you I hope he is in many of you would you that he abide and continue with you I know you would you that are Christians I know you would all say Wo to me if the Lord depart from me I know it is the desire of every sincere heart among you let the Lord dwell in me and walk in me as he hath said he will let Christ dwell in mine heart by faith Lord leave me not take not thy Holy Spirit from me if all the Friends I have in the world forsake me if all the comforts I have under Heaven fail me if mine house must go and mine estate go and my health go and my life go yet let not the Lord depart from me let the Lord still dwell in my soul dwell in me as my Teacher and Instructor dwell in me as my governour and my guide dwell in me as my portion and treasure dwell in me as my Refuge and Protector let but the Lord God continue with me and influence me by his Grace and quicken me by his Spirit and guide me by his Counsels and hold me by his Right Hand and lift up the light of his Countenance upon me and so long mine heart shall be glad and my glory shall rejoyce my flesh also shall rest in hope in this hope that he will shew me the Path of Life I shall behold his Face in Righteousness and when I awake I shall be satisfied with his Likeness Why is this your mind is this your desire that it may be thus with you why now you know what you have to do that it may be so Beloved you have much the more reason to hearken to these instructions and hereby to secure the continuance of the Lord in your own hearts in such a time as this wherein there are so many tokens of his being about to depart out of our Congregations to shut up the Doors of his House against us O how will it be if when the days shall come wherein we shall lose our opportunities of meeting the Lord in the Congregation how very sad will it be if we should in such a time not find him within us if the Word of the Lord should be thrust out from his House and the Spirit of the Lord should be withdrawn from our Hearts if with our publick communion we should lose our secret communion if instead of finding comfort in our retirements to God he should hide his Face from our Souls if instead of speaking comfortably he should speak roughly to us if this should be his Word to us in such a day Now see what thou hast done now remember thy wantonness and thy worldliness thy hypocrisie and thy backslidings and triflings out thy day of grace of these things thou hast been warned aforehand but wouldst not lay them to heart and now reap the fruit of thy folly think not to have countenance from me and comfort from me in the day of distress whom thou hast so mocked and slighted in thy prosperity If men be angry let them be angry if men will persecute let them persecute and look for no relief from me O what if the Lord should speak thus to any of your Souls in the days of darkness that may come how dreadful dark will it then be or what if he should say nothing but leave thee a blind and hardned and senseless Soul wasting away and growing worse and worse and not at all affected with his severe providences How if it should be thus O Friends that this may not be your case that God should depart from his House and your Souls together know that you are so much the more concerned to give special heed to the Instructions you have received for the laying such hold upon him that he may continue with your hearts if he should not be intreated but depart from his House and Congregations 4. Stirring Religion will take hold of God What might have been said to this is in great part prevented by what hath been said already yet something I shall add and shew 1. What 's meant by stirring Religion 2. That stirring Religion will continue the Presence of God with us 1. What 's meant by stirring Religion 1. Negatively not headiness in Religion an hot and mistaken Zeal about the lower and more uncertain things of Religion not such a Spirit of Fire which was in those Disciples Luke 9.54 who would needs call for Fire from Heaven to destroy and consume those that were not Followers of them not a stirring up of strife and contention a making breaches and divisions and propagating of our own Opinions by censuring and judging those that are otherwise minded and are not in every thing according to our own Size Such as these are some of those perilous persons which the Apostle warns Christians not to imitate but to take heed of of whom he says 2 Tim. 3.2 they are Proud Boasters False Accusers or make-bates fierce despisers of them that are good heady highminded and after all their blustering against others have but a form of Godliness denying the power thereof from such says he turn away take heed of them and take heed of being leavened with such a Spirit This then this headiness and fierceness and hot censoriousness upon the account of Religion this is not the stirring Religion I mean 2. Positively An humble active lively zealous prosecuting or pursuing that which is Religion indeed or the substance of sincere Christianity Some vain ones there are who upon the hearing this headiness and fierceness this hot and mistaken zeal blamed and decryed will turn the edge of such Reproofs against Godly Zeal and all fervour and activity for God and every one that goes beyond the drowsie sleepy multitude of Professors is cried out against as one of these heady highminded ones Such is the craft of the Devil that if he cannot blow up coals of wildfire that under the pretence of kindling
be fear what unbelievers and in no danger what hypocrites and in no danger what backsliders what Apostates and yet in no danger what can you say there 's no danger to men in my case can you say I thank God whoever be in danger my Soul is out of danger There 's not one of you dares say so you have lost the understandings of men if you confess not The Lord be merciful to me my Soul is in great danger What are you in danger and yet not in fear what in such great danger and yet not afraid not afraid of the Devil not afraid of Death not afraid of Hell when in such great danger of it When Christ says Luke 12.4 Fear not them that kill the body wilt thou say no nor will I fear him that can destroy body and Soul O poor stupid Souls awaken your fears open your eyes and see your danger the Lord open your eyes before it be too late and make you to see the fearful case you are in and so make you afraid If I could rouze up your fears it would be as the stirring up a nest of Hornets about your ears which sure would make you run for it Prov. 28.14 Happy is the man that feareth if there were more fear in you there were more hope of you Friends I should have done God and your Souls good service this day if I could but preach you into fear if I could but make you afraid of your selves if this word might run through all the 3 sorts of you I am dealing with the Impenitent the Loyterers and the Backsliders wo is me wretched creature I am afraid I am afraid what will become of me I am afraid I shall to Hell I am afraid the Devil will have me at last if such a word might come through all your hearts the next word I should hope to hear would be this Well I see there is no safe abiding thus I am undone if I continue as I am arise O my soul flee away out of this sinful state and get thee into Christ shake thee out of this sloth recover out of this languishing state recover thy first love return to thy first works or I shall lose my Crown and my Soul O Friends stir up such a fear in your selves do not hide your danger from your own eyes till it be too late dare not to say such a word I trust my Soul is in no danger but deal plainly with your selves and come to understand the truth and the worst of your case give not over to study your danger till you have stirred up your fear and when your fear is once up this there is hope will stir up all within you to make out after an escape 3. Stir up desire Desire is the thirst of the Soul and thirst is a stirring appetite as I have already shew'd and therefore shall need to speak the less here Desire will stir up to labour therefore 't is that Solomon says Prov. 21.25 The desire of the slothful killeth him 'T is death to the slothful to labour and yet his desire will prick him on upon it One thing have I desired that I will seek after Ps 27.4 One thing have I desired that notes a stirring desire when the motions of the soul run in one chanel all after one thing then they run more strongly and impetuously and this strong desire puts him upon an earnest seeking the satisfaction of it Prov. 13. 12. When the desire cometh it is a tree of life And what is so sweet when it comes will be the more earnestly pursued before it comes Would you be zealous followers of God and followers of Holiness get stronger desires after the Lord and his Holiness Strong desires will pour forth strong cries your Souls will go on crying after the Lord crying after his Grace and the power of his Spirit if ye do in earnest desire it Cold desires or none at all leave the soul as a Ship becalmed that stirs not on when the Wind is quick and the Sails are filled its motion is more swift but when the Wind lies it moves not at all Our slight and slow endeavours in following of God if you inquire into the reason of them 't is because desire fails Stir up your desires get you quick and strong desires and these will not suffer you to be so sluggish But how must we stir up our desires after God 1. Suppress and keep under your carnal desires Desire Earth less than you do and you will desire Heaven more than you do A River that is divided into several Chanels runs more weakly in either when our streams are united and run all in one Chanel they are much the stronger Vnite mine heart to fear thy name says the Psalmist Ps 86.11 Let me fear God and let me fear none but God So let your Souls say Unite mine heart to love thy name and to desire after thee let me love nothing but God let me desire nothing but God let me be able to say as the Psalmist Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there 's none on earth that I desire besides thee Thou hast all my love and all my desire is towards thy name When you love nothing but God when you desire nothing but God O this will be strong love these will be strong desires What you inordinately love or desire besides the Lord this will abate your love and your desires after him Friends your desires after this World your appetite after Meat and Drink and Money and carnal Pleasures are too eager to have any strong desires after the Lord. Quench your carnal thirst if you would have your Souls to pant after God and spiritual things Be more indifferent what you have or how 't is with you in respect of these carnal things whether you have more or less whether it be better or worse with you in respect of these leave it to God to do with you what he will to let forth these nether streams or to dam them up to make you rich or poor prosperous or afflicted and the more patient you are of wanting the nether streams the more impatient will be your thirst after the upper streams Whereas 't is hard to find any persons in the World that have a greedy appetite to things below who have any great or strong desire upwards If any man love this world 1 Jo. 2.15 that is with an ardent and intense love the love of the Father is not in him And so if any man desire this world with his most eager and greedy desire the desire after God is not in him Methinks this word should shake the hearts of some professors there are I doubt many that go under the name of Christians that are as excessively hungry after this world whose Souls are hunting after and heaping up whatever they can catch of this earthly muck with as great zeal and ardency of mind as any of those do
or can who have nothing of Christianity in them nor profess nor pretend to any such thing He is a covetous worldling indeed who doth love the world and wish for the world and work harder for it than some of these do which profess religion It is a shame and a reproach to the Gospel that it should be so and wo be to them by whom the reproach cometh But yet 't is too true there are amongst the number of Professors some though not so many as the world say God forbid there should for they say all are such yet some such there are whose hunger and labour after the world can hardly be overmatch'd by any of those whose names are written in the earth and have no part nor portion in Christ nor name in his Churches Friends I pray deal faithfully in this matter every one of you with your selves ask your hearts How stand I affected to this world are my desires after this earth moderated and limited by my Religion or are they not so high and impetuous that they have even swallowed up my desires after God are you as impatient when you sink and grow to decay in religion as you think you should be if you were sunk and fallen to decay in your outward estates Can you truly say I am not so much athirst to grow rich in this world but I am more athirst to grow rich towards God nay can you say this I am so much athirst for God that this hath quenched my thirst and allayed my desires after this world I am become more indifferent what I have here whether more or less my heart sits loose from all below through the strength of my desires after God can you say so O that you could more of you than I doubt can Well know that 't is impossible that you should intensely desire God and this World together one of the two must fall you must strike sail as to your earthly affections or your souls will never hoise up sail heavenwards And this is the first direction for the kindling and quickning your desires heavenward suppress and allay your carnal and earthly desires 2. Be sensible of your necessity Necessity kindles desire Ps 63.1 My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee Whence is this thirst and longing O 't is from his necessity I am in a dry Land where no water is I have need of thee Lord need of thy water Brooks for out of thee I have none 't is all a dry Land there 's no water below thee to quench my thirst Friends would you be quenched in your desires after more Grace be sensible of your barrenness and your want do you not want to be in better case than you are have you grace enough to supply your necessities those that are very poor outwardly whose poverty pinches them their necessity will make them beg How is it there are so many poor so many necessitous souls and yet so few begging souls even ready to starve for want of bread and yet cry no more after it Why 't is because however we are in great necessity yet we have not a due sense of our necessity our soul poverty doth not pinch us men that are extreamly poor in the world their poverty pinches them but for souls the poorer they are the less they are pinched with it O friends if you were more pinched with your spiritual poverty if those dry and lean souls did but feel how lean you are if you were touched with a feeling of your necessities if your cold wishes I would I had more grace were come to I must have more I must be more holy I must be more heavenly-minded I must be more zealous for God and more busie and active in following him a necessity lies upon me and wo is me if I continue as now I am the sense of your necessity of getting up into a better case would enlarge your desires after it 3. Be practically convinced of the excellency of a prosperous state in the grace of God All the world how eagerly are they wishing after prosperity men have such high thoughts of worldly prosperity that every one would be glad to prosper as Mal. 3.15 they count the proud happy so generally do worldly men count the rich happy the prosperous happy When we hear of men grown up to that plentiful estate described Ps 144.13 14. Whose garners are full affording all manner of store whose sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in their streets whose Oxen are strong to labour and there 's no complaining in the streets who have plenty of good things and nothing ailing them how do worldlings cry out Happy are the people that are in such a case and hence 't is that their very Souls are all upon the wing making all the haste they can after this earthly prosperity And what if Christians had as great thoughts of soul prosperity O what a case are they in whose hearts are full of all manner of store full of wisdom and spiritual understanding full of faith and of power full of the hidden treasures of eternity whose mouth is full that have grace in their hearts and grace in their lips whose life is full of all the fruits of righteousness what an excellent spirit are they of what an excellent life do they live happy are the people thrice happy are the souls that are in such a case Do worldlings call the proud happy the rich happy the great ones happy ones Yea rather Happy are the Souls whose God is the Lord and those especially who have the grace of God so abounding towards them and in them What if you were practically convinced of this of the excellency of the happiness of a flourishing prosperous state in the grace of God If you did not only notionally conclude it so in the general for that every Christian will do but with a particular respect to your selves O how happy were it for me if I were one of these prospering souls if I could get my soul to be filled with God and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus O if I could love as the best of Saints love O if I could live as I see some Christians live if from creeping on the earth and having my foundation on the dust my soul might get upon the wing and have its conversation in Heaven if in stead of having fellowship with sinners I might have fellowship and live in communion with the Father and the Son if instead of serving my flesh I might spend my days in serving the living God if from being such a sluggard such a cold and lazy soul I might get up to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord O what if there should be such a change made upon me if from this dead and dry and barren case I am in I might be brought to be a living lively fruitful heavenly zealous Christian O what a blessed change would this be O how should mine heart be filled
with joy and my mouth with praise Brethren such sensible apprehensions of the excellency and blessedness of that prosperity in religion which I have been pressing you to what would it work what would it bring forth less than such strong desires O let my soul be in such a case What would I desire more how would I despise and trample on the beauty and glory of the world and leave such dotages upon the best to be found here to the men of this world who know no better things O how heartily could I then say with the Apostle Phil. 3.7 8 9. What things were gain to me I now count them loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I am content to suffer the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him and may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death Such ardent desires would a sense of the excellency of Christ and a prosperous Christian life bring forth O that I might apprehend O that I might attain to such a blessed state and such ardent desires would bring forth a zealous prosecution and following after if by any means possible we might attain and get up unto it O friends that you would set to it thus to stir up your desires You say I desire I desire I desire to please God and to follow God more fully and more freely than I do but it is so dully and so coldly that you desire it that it comes to nothing and for ought I know such cold desires may burn with you in Hell at last O get an abatement of your carnal desires never look to desire heartily after an heavenly life till you have crucified and conquered your earthly desires Consider more thorowly your necessities consider the miserable poverty of your souls and barrenness of your lives the great power that this World hath still upon you and your necessity of getting it conquered and do not barely say I could wish it were better with me wishing will never do it but bring your hearts to it to say in good earnest I must I must get mine heart into a better frame I must get me to a better life a necessity lies on me to look to it and labour for it and then look upon the blessedness and comfort of such a prosperous flourishing state of soul and look till your hearts be enamoured of it and this is it that will engage you mightily in the effectual following after it 4. Stir up hope Maybe you 'll say I do desire it were better with me I see it would be happy for me if I could obtain but the Lord help me I have little hope of it I have desired so long and waited so long and yet it comes not but my poor and barren soul after all still abides in the same dead and lifeless state as ever and is so far short and at so great a distance from that blessed state that I am even quite discouraged and am in doubt I shall never obtain Be not discouraged hope in God To stir up this hope consider 1. The promise of God 2. The earnest that you have already received 1. Consider the promise of God The hope of the Saints is called Acts 26.6 the hope of the promise of God The promise which is the foundation of our hope is our encouragement against all despondencies Amongst the many promises that we have for our encouragement I shall mention one Matth. 7.7 c. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth c. What man of you if his son ask bread will he give him a stone c. If ye being evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask it of him Here I shall shew 1. The matter of the promise or what God will give that is good things In Luke 11.13 't is expressed give the holy spirit there 's all that you need in one word In giving the holy Spirit is included the giving all good things What is it you want to help up your weak and languishing souls Is it a spirit of Wisdom and Understanding that you want is it a spirit of Holiness is it a spirit of Grace and Supplication is it a spirit of Faith and of Power is it the teachings the motions the quicknings the conduct of the Spirit How is it with them that are taught by the Spirit led by the Spirit worship God in the Spirit walk in the Spirit So shall it be with you if ye obtain the holy Spirit upon your asking of him This grace the grace of the Spirit shall be sufficient for you to make the dry tree to sprout and the barren to bring forth fruit 2. The means of obtaining this promise Ask seek knock this notes prayer importunity in prayer and the use of all means that must go along with prayer Ask seek knock pray and pray instantly and follow on after the Lord and ye shall have ye shall obtain this gracious this all-sufficient â—pirit shall be yours 3. The assurance of prevailing This is 1. From the Promise ye shall have ye shall find it shall be opened Heaven shall be opened the heart and the hand of the all-sufficient God the bowels of Christ the Covenant all the Treasures of the Gospel shall be opened to you Thou that art in fear that the heart of the Lord is streightned towards thee that the bowels of his compassion are shut up against thee that the treasures of the Gospel are all lock'd up from thee ask and knock and all shall be opened If all the help that is in Heaven if all the riches of Christ if all the treasures of the Gospel will recover and raise up that weak and withering soul of thine take the right course and thou shalt have it all these treasures shall be opened thou hast my word for it the word of promise which God that cannot lye hath given thee to put thee out of doubt 2. From experience Every one that asketh receiveth c. There 's no man in the world that hath taken this course that ever failed find out any one man if thou canst that can say God hath been worse to me than his word and surely thou mayest boldly say He that never failed any one of his Servants I have good hope he will not fail me 3. From the relation of God to his Saints He is their Father whence he reasons thus If the Fathers of their flesh will not deny the Children of their own bowels which of you if his Son ask bread c. if the Fathers of our flesh will not deny the
Kingdom to whom he said Thou shalt be over mine house and according to thy Word shall all my people be ruled onely in the throne will I be greater then thou Conscience is subject to none but God God is greater then Conscience 1 Joh. 3.20 God is greater then our hearts that is then our Consciences But next under God Conscience hath the supreme dominion in the Soul and as the Centurion to his Souldiers so Conscience where it maintains Authority says to all the faculties of the Soul to one go and it goeth to another come and it cometh and to every one do this and it must be done Now as Conscience is faithful and diligent or as it is careless and negligent so do matters go in the Soul a faithful watchful conscience sets the whole soul in good order a negligent sleepy conscience lets all run to ruine when God hath given men up to a spirit of slumber when conscience slumbers the whole soul falls asleep or which is worse runs out into all manner of disorders When God will awaken sleepy souls he begins with conscience awakens conscience first and that will awaken all their powers God awakens conscience mostly by frights as the Gaoler by an earthquake and Saul by an affrighting voice from Heaven Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Soul Soul what art thou doing why slightest thou the Lord why fightest thou against God There 's nothing but such thunder from Heaven that will rouse a sleepy conscience But though there 's none but God that can awaken conscience yet God ordinarily does it by our selves sets the soul on work upon its self to its own awakening a word or it may be but a thought comes into the heart which is made to stick into conscience and to sting it out of sleep and when conscience is stung and begins to stir there 's no more sleep no more quiet in the soul When the Master of the house is up and about once he rouzes all the Servants O Friends get your consciences to be awakened get your consciences to be stirring and then all your faculties will up and be doing That conscience may be a stirring conscience 1. Let Conscience open its ears and hear 2. Let it open its eyes and see 3. Let the mouth of Conscience be open and speak 4. Let it be quick and tender 1. Let Conscience open its ears and hear what the Lord speaks Let the voice of the Lord have an impression upon conscience when the Word comes into the thoughts onely it 's quickly gone and does nothing or when it hath some sudden work upon the affections that wears off but when it enters into the conscience when conscience hears the Word of the Lord when the Word which we preach from God is as the Apostles word 2 Cor. 5.11 made manifest in the conscience then it is in a way to prosper Let conscience open its ears first and 2. Let conscience open its eyes and see see how it is with the Soul how sad and miserable the state and way of the Soul is see how it 's like to be to grow worse and worse see how it should be and what is to be done that it may be better 3. Let Conscience have its mouth open Sleepy consciences are silent consciences those that see nothing will say nothing Let your consciences speak to you whatever the Word preaches to conscience let conscience preach it to the whole heart O Friends if we could so preach to you as to set your consciences a preaching to you the same things if when we preach to you repent and recover your selves out of the snares of the Devil we could get your consciences to preach repentance to you if there were such a voice heard within you I see I must repent I am lost and undone if I repent not if when we give a rebuke to you out of the Word your consciences also would rebuke you if the Word calls you thou unbeliever thou child of the Devil thou hypocrite thou loyterer thou backslider let but conscience say the same 't is true what the Word speaks I am an unbeliever I am an hypocrite a child of the Devil an idler a backsliding soul I cannot deny it 't is too true what the Word speaks concerning me If the Word threatens thou shalt have thy portion with unbelievers and hypocrites thy place among the children of the Devil if thou speedily repent not let conscience say the same this must be my place and my portion if I amend not there 's no help for me there 's no hope for me if I continue and go on as I am If the Word exhorts you Be converted thou unbelieving soul put away thine hypocrisie arise sluggard return O backsliding soul remember whence thou art fallen and recover thy first love and do thy first works let conscience speak the same words go to Christ O my soul turn from thy sins make thy peace with God get thee a new heart be upright with God be sound in the Faith follow the Lord thorowly follow the Lord fully as ever thou lookest for mercy do it as ever thou hopest for pardon do it wouldst thou ever see the salvation of God thou must count upon it to seek after the grace of God and increase and abound therein unto the end and then something would be like to be done 4. Let Conscience be quick and tender 1. Let the ears of Conscience be open and let it be quick of hearing 2. Let its eyes be open and let it be quick sighted 3. Let its mouth be open and let it speak quick home 1. Let its ears be open and let it be quick of hearing Be not of those fat and gross souls which are dull of hearing How many deaf ears do we preach to that hear nothing whose hearts will hear no more then the stone of the wall or the beam of the timber and of those that will hear something how many that are dull of hearing we have much work and hard work to beat any thing into them O get an hearing ear and be quick of hearing Swift to hear as Jam. 1.19 2. Let the eyes of Conscience be open and let it be quick sighted so that it may espy and observe the smallest matter of duty and sin and let it be tender eyed and not able to bear the least of evils some mens eyes can see none but the grossest of evils can see drunkenness to be evil or swearing or gross lying to be evils but for ordinary intemperances and excesses so they do not eat and drink themselves into very beasts and sots though they sit with the Drunkards and waste time with them and their estates with them and be foolish and jolly and carnally merry with them so they be not downright drunk they 'll tell you they see no evil in it Other men though they can see smaller evils yet their consciences can swallow them though conscience be never so quick
sighted yet it wants tenderness and they can dispense with themselves in smaller matters you will never be Christians of any proof you will never come to much in religion unless your hearts be tender of the smallest evils 3. Let the mouth of conscience speak quick and home I will not say concerning Conscience as the Apostle concerning the Tongue Be swift to hear slow to speak but let it be swift to hear and swift to speak Let it speak quick and speak home Let it speak home and speak aloud let not your consciences be muzled or meal mouthed let them speak and speak closely and deal plainly with you let them not whisper out a warning or a reproof but if they may not otherwise be heard let them do as the Prophet was to do Isa 58.1 Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet Let conscience never leave speaking and crying till it be heard such a conscience as this is like to be a stirring conscience That 's a stirring conscience which will maintain its authority and integrity whatever difficulties or pains it cost which will be faithful in instructing admonishing and rebuking and will not that its word or authority be slighted which will not suffer its self to be slighted and abused nor to be baffled or put off with shifts and excuses or delays such a conscience will be obeyed you shall have little ease it will not suffer you to have any rest or quiet in your minds if you will not hearken to it As the Apostle said he will not 2 Cor. 13.2 so neither will conscience it will not spare them that have sinned If conscience gives an admonition or a warning take heed of pride take heed and beware of covetousness or frowardness or suppose but loytering and coldness in matters of Religion if conscience gives warning take heed of this worldly carnal lazy trifling life and a warning will not do it will check and chide and rebuke and scourge the heart if its voice may not be heard 't will set in its teeth 't will bite and sting and worry the soul if once speaking or chiding or scourging will not do 't will hold on and lie at the soul from day to day and give no rest till it prevail O what stirring Christians should we be had we such stirring consciences the reason why we sin and sink as we do shuffle in our Religion turn aside after the world play the hypocrites or the formallists in our duties let all run to ruine within us and suffer our selves to continue asleep this is much our consciences faults conscience lets us alone and either does not speak but keep silence or if it speak 't is too softly it does not chide or scourge us it does not come to us with a rod to smite us for our faults You that can go on in your sins or go so coldly on in your Religion you with whom the World is so much risen and godliness is so much fallen you can't but confess that this is the case of many of you how is it with your consciences mean while what says conscience to you in this case it may be just nothing conscience is asleep as well as you O if we could but awaken your consciences out of sleep if the stirring words the Lord sends among you might have but this effect to stir up conscience this would awaken you all to another manner of life and activity in Religion Friends what 's become of all those words those awakening words that have been spoken on this subject have they stirred up any thoughts of heart within you and set these on work have they stirred up your affections and set these aworking in you if they have not 't is a sign they have not stirred up conscience and what hearers have you been if conscience hath been asleep all this time when shall we ever stir your hearts or mend your ways if we cannot stir your consciences If your consciences will yet hear then let them speak and give their judgment on these particulars 1. If it be not a wretched thing to be most remiss and negligent in those things which are your highest concernment to be so busie and intent about those small matters about Meat and Drink and Money which all perish with the using and to be so remiss and heedless and heartless about the most weighty and important affairs What says conscience to this Do not you think in your consciences that this is a wretched thing and a piece of extream folly 2. If the matters of this world be not all but small matters in comparison of the matters of Religion the matters of God and the other World what says conscience to this Do not you think in your consciences 't is so that the most prosperous state in this world is a Toy in comparison of prospering in your Souls and the matters of Salvation If that Question be put to you Mat. 16.26 What shall it profit you if you win the whole world and loose your own souls would not your consciences say It would profit me nothing O 't is a miserable gain that 's gotten by such an eternal loss every mans conscience I doubt not but must speak thus if it will speak at all 3. If yet this be not many of your cases Is it not the plain truth that you are more remiss and heedless and cold in the matters of Religion than in the matters of this World do not some of your consciences tell you O'twere well for me if I were but as hearty and lively in Religion as in my worldly concernments if I could serve the Lord as hotly and as heartily as I serve my flesh but I cannot say 't is so well with me my conscience tells me and I cannot deny it I am much more intent about Earth than about Heaven 4. If it be not better for you to rouze up and recover your selves out of your remisness and coldness in the matters of God and to abate your zeal for the World would it not be well for you if this word might have this effect to make such a change do not you think in your consciences ' t would 5. If it be not necessary for you thus to rouze your selves up and recover doth not conscience tell you you are in hazard of being undone for ever if you continue at this pass 6. If Conscience judges thus in all these particulars and will but speak one word more then it would be well if conscience would hereupon give the word of command awaken sleepers arise sluggards put away your sloth from you hearken to the word of the Lord take his warning stir up your selves bethink your selves recover your selves from this dulness and deadness of heart seek the Lord earnestly serve the Lord instantly no more such idling and creeping on be zealous run the good race fight the good fight make sure the good treasure lay hold on eternal life live not
is not wither'd away Were it only a few backsliding persons the matter were not so sad but is it not a backsliding Age may we not be called a backsliding People for the multitude of Backsliders that are amongst us scarce living enough to serve for mourners over the dead As I said in the beginning were it only the Wilderness and Commons of the world and the Tents of the uncircumcised that we had to complain of it were sad enough but O the Field of the Lord his Floor his Fold his Family his Vineyard What tares are there in his Fields what a deal of Chaff in his Floor what a general bane and rot is there among his Flock few sound ones left What an Hospital is his House of blind and lame and sick Souls what wild Vines do fill up his Vineyard Quis talia fando Temperet à lachrymis Friends should you see your own Houses fallen into ruinous heaps your fruitful Fields become a prey to the Locusts and the Caterpillars your Flocks dying away of the rot if you should see among your poor children that were once strong beautiful healthful hopeful one bewitched into a Changeling another a Cripple another a Lunatick a Fool or Idiot others possessed of a Devil O how would such a sight rend your bowels and tear the very caul of your heart And is not this lamentable case the case of the Houshold of God But is this all may we not go on with the complaint And yet there is none very few that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold on Thee O what hard work have the poor Ministers of Christ to stir any of these miserable Souls to bring them to their senses to bring them to their knees to awaken them to seek out after their recovery They will not stir up themselves no they will not be stirred up by us by all our cries and callings upon them though we call upon them yet we cannot bring them to it to call upon God Some of them will not be brought to know their disease and those that can't but know it yet will not consider it nor concern themselves so much about it as to seek their cure but there poor wretches they lye dying away in their sleep themselves and every one infecting others with the same Lethargy and going on to rock one another till even a whole Countrey become a generation of Sleepers How often have I heard some of these sleepy Souls complaining of this dull and declining age and yet have not had the Heart to say am not I one of the sleepers how many have I known that have confessed their own declinings and yet away they go and quickly forget their own confessions and to day is with them as yesterday and to morrow is like to be as to day O England England thou which wert once as Jerusalem great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces how art thou fallen where is thy Glory thou hast the light still with thee but where is the love and the life where is thy beauty the beauty of Holyness where is thy zeal and thy strength what are thy Sabbaths and thy solemn meetings and ordinances become to thee but even as a miscarrying Womb and dry Breasts how few Children are brought forth within thee and how many of them that are ready to famish at thy feet What silly Doves without an Heart what wandring stars hollow vessels what sounding brass and tinkling Cymbals are most of those become who boast themselves to be thy Glory thou hast a few names who have not defiled their garments nor stained their Glory nor reproached the Name of their God but Lord how few How sadly is that Scripture fullfiled in thee 2 Tim. 3.1 c. have not those perillous times overtaken thee wherein Men are lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce-brakers false accusers or make-bates incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitors Heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof O how art thou fallen Yea and whither art thou falling thy righteousness is become as filthy rags the yoke of thy transgressions is bound upon thee they are wreathed and come upon thy Neck thou art faded like a leaf and dost thou not see that thine iniquities like the wind are taking thee away thou mayest say this day where is my beauty where is my Glory and how suddenly mayest thou be forced to take up this for thy lamentation O now where is my God! for these things I weep mine Eye mine Eye runs down with water because the comfort that should relieve me is gone far from me How hath the Lord covered me with a cloud in his anger and cast down from Heaven to Earth the beauty of England and remembred not his foot-stool in the day of his anger the Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob and hath not pityed he hath brought us down to the ground he hath polluted the Kingdom and the Princes thereof he hath cut off in his fierce anger the Horn of England and he burneth against it like a flaming fire which devoureth round about He hath violently taken away his tabernacle he hath destroyed his places of the Assembly he hath caused the solemn Feasts and Sabaths to be forgotten he hath cast off his Altar he hath abhorred his Sanctuary he hath given me up into the hands of the Enemy and made me a desolation Friends open your Eyes and see if the Symptoms of such desolation be not visible amongst us go into the City go into the Villages go into the Sanctuary go into our Habitations and see if Death be not come up into our windowes and desolation ready to enter how is it that you that have the Hearts of Christians your mouths should not be sounding with such Lamentations My bowels my bowels I am pained at my very Heart my Heart maketh a noise within me mine Eyes do fail with tears my Liver is poured out O that my Head were waters and mine Eyes were a fountain of tears that I might weep day and Night for the fallen daughter of my People O do not now any longer go about to palliate or mince the matter O let not the blind Eye or the hard Heart whilst it goes about to excuse aggravate our Sin and our shame Our diseases are too great to be palliated and too many to be hid He is a stranger in our Israel that sees not how deadly sick we are Friends consider it and make not light of it ponder the state we are in and give not over till your Hearts break and bleed within you and so go and pray before the Lord. Methinks it should stir you O when ye go to pray carry a deep sense upon your Hearts and hear the cry in your Ears of the Sin
and the misery of those you are praying for Hear the cry of the poor blind and hardned Sinners amongst us these stones cry out their misery does let fall a tear over us lift up a Prayer for us Hear the cry of your Enemies who curse you and persecute you for Religion sake their case calls upon you bless us that curse you pray for us that despitefully use you and persecute you hear the cry of your brethren in the Lord especially your Sin-sick brethren your Soul-sick brethren your decayed and backsliding brethren do not their cases cry loud in your Ears Help help us by your Prayers hear your poor Children and Families crying what shall we do What will become of us if there should be a going on in this sinning and sinking 'till the Gospel be taken from us For our sakes try what ye can do besiege the Throne of Grace take hold of the God of Grace that he leave us not to die for want of Instruction Hear Magistrates and Ministers crying We need your help as much as any cry mightily unto the Lord for us Hear a whole Kingdom yea hear the whole World crying Pray to the Lord for us O Brethren how much matter of Prayer have we how many moving and heart-breaking cases have we before us Set them before your eyes lay them deeply to heart and this will quicken you in Prayer All these cases and multitudes more send in their Bills and passionately cry in your ears now try what you can do to help in a time of need to help a poor languishing Nation to help poor Magistrates and Ministers to help poor sinning and dying Souls you that make mention of the Lord now keep not silence bow your knees call up all your sighs and groans pour out your tears pour out your souls set heart to heart and prayer to prayer unite your strength and cry in the ears of the Almighty O Lord behold for we are very vile we are very low arise and save us save Lord or we perish 2. How you may most successfully perform this Duty In answer to this take these few following Directions 1. Make God your Friend and see that there be no standing controversie betwixt Him and your Souls See that you be sincere Converts to God and have a good conscience towards God see that ye be reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus and be not aliens and enemies and that matters be kept fair and clear betwixt God and your Souls Is it peace betwixt the Lord and you or is there not a particular controversie that he hath with you Consider if the Lord hath not somewhat against you and such as hath provoked him to anger against you Get the controversie to be taken up make your own peace first and then you will be fit to be Intercessors for others If I had a Petition to present to the King I would not put it into the hands of a Rebel no nor into his who were under his Princes frown I would put it into the hands of a Favourite and so should have the more hope to speed If you would do your friends a kindness in Heaven see that you hold your own friendship there If I regard iniquity in mine heart God will not hear my Prayer Ps 66.18 Pray for whom you will for your self or your friends 't is like to come to all one as if you held your peace God will not hear you whilst you regard iniquity in your hearts Hast thou Sin in thee and Sin that thou allowest in thy self what ever it be great or little open or secret purge it away and cast it from thee or God will not hear thee Prov. 15.8 The prayer of the upright is his delight Give me the holy Souls the humble the tender the watchful the Jacobs the Daniels the Noahs the plain-hearted them that walk with God and are highly favoured of the Most High to appear before the Lord for me Those that are in their Sins and utterly Strangers from God and those that have declined in Godliness and are become Wanderers from the Lord what hope is there of any service that their Prayers will do God heareth not Sinners but if any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth John 9.31 Beloved a poor languishing Nation calls upon you for the help of your Prayers but alas what help is there in them To have a company of poor hard-hearted impenitent and dead Sinners or of sick and loose and carnal Professors to have such a company gather'd together to pray there is as much hope in it as if the Blind and the Lame and the Bed-ridden of a Nation should be gathered together into an Army to fight as great success is like to be obteined by such a sinful congregation assembled to pray as would be by such an impotent Army gather'd together to fight One sincere upright hearted Saint will do more than a whole congregation of praying Sinners Acts 27. we read of a Ship in a Storm and a desperate hazard of being cast away all visible hope of its being saved was cut off the Mariners could do little more in the Ship and such a company of profane Wretches could do nothing in Heaven But behold one Paul he prays and he prevails the Lord gave him his life and the lives of all them that sailed with him the Mariners and the Soldiers might have prayed while they would but the Ship had been never the more secured from sinking if Paul had not been with them Indeed it 's the duty of Sinners to be present in days and in the exercises of Humiliation and there may be this advantage of it They may by this means be converted and so 1. There 's one more added to the number of God's Remembrancers there 's one more Souldier added to the Praying Army If there were hundreds or thousands of Converts more brought in so many would there be added to joyn in their strength to wrestle with God 2. By every new Convert God's Interest is increased in such a people by how many more Converts there are by so much the more hath God to lose if such a people should miscarry Well this is the first Direction if you would that your praying should be to any purpose Make God your Friend 2. Make often use of your Friend in your personal cases live a Praying life those that are much in Prayer are most like to be mighty in Prayer He that deals much with the Lord in prayer will have many experiences of God's gracious dealings with him in answer to his Prayers You will hereby prove that Prayer is not such an helpless and insignificant Duty as those that disuse themselves to it are apt to distrust it to be you will never give off your cases for hopeless whilst there is this way open to go to God He that uses to go before the Lord will be the more able to go with boldness and confidence