you ascend not by Ordinances if you get not up to have Communion with God in them this flesh and this world will be thrusting in upon you and steal your hearts away Christ hath been riding down to you this day as the chariots and horses of fire once were sent down for Elijah 2 Kin. 2.11 The Chariots came down to fetch up the Prophet in them the Ordinances of God that you have been at this day was the Chariot of God that was sent down on purpose that those hearts of yours might ride up in it into Glory I hope some of your hearts got up into the Chariot and are ascended with your Lord who came down to fetch them up What Christian is thine heart yet below where was it when the Chariot came down what are your Souls yet among the Sheep and the Oxen among the grass of the Field and the dust of the Earth what yet among the wormes what yet creeping upon this Earth and feeding upon Ashes do your Soules still dwell in these Tombs and Sepulchres I hope there may be some among you can say I thank the Lord mine heart is no longer here it is risen it is ascended with my Lord who came down for it and hath carried it up with him But man how is it with thee whose heart is left behind Christ hath been here and those that were wise took the Season and got up with him into the Chariot But is thine heart still upon this Earth and must it away again to its old trading to its old feeding on this dirt and trash hast thou been tasting of that Angels Food that hidden Manna the bread of God that came down from heaven and canst thou now return to thy Quailes or thy Husks sure thou hadst not a taste of that heavenly food if thou dost not yet disgust and disrelish thine old carnal Delights But are your hearts any of you yet left below behold yet a Chariot from God is before you this Ordinance of Preaching behold the same Jesus in this Chariot is come down again for those hearts that are not yet gotten up Thy Lord is loth to leave thee here wilt thou yet ascend with him Why is there not a cry among you Lord help me up into thy Chariot Lord take my Soul up with thee Lord let not me be left behind Let Christ hear that voice from you Lord take me up with thee here this poor wretched heart of mine lies at thy feet I can't lift it up 't is too heavy for me it hath weights but no wings yet it groans after thee it would not that thou shouldst go up without it Lord lift me up Lord carry up this poor and wretched heart from Earth to Heaven What must I yet dwell in Meseâ—◠〈…〉 mine heart amongst the tents of Kedar M◠〈…〉 amongst these Theives and Robbers O where 〈…〉 that hath brought thee down again for me 〈…〉 thou me O Lord and wilt thou yet leave me at 〈◊〉 â—â—stance from thee O take pity O take me up that I may from henceforth be with thee where thou art Christians O that I could set you even every one of you a crying thus after the Lord and a bemoaning these earthly and too carnal hearts that they are not yet ascended Let Christ yet hear that voice and let it come deep even from the bottom of thy Soul Let Christ hear not that mouth crying nor those eyes crying but that Soul crying Lord take me up also with thee and he will take thee up O get you into the Psalmists Posture and Spirit Psal 42.1 Psal 84.2 As the hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God My Soul longeth yea even fainteth for thee my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God When Lord O let this be the day take me this very hour and carry me up to the mountains of spices Christians be but unfeignedly willing that Christ should carry away those hearts from this Earth be but in good earnest with him when you say Lord take me up and he will not leave you behind Get these hearts to heaven and keep them there Get you up from Earth to Heaven and come not down again from Heaven to Earth Let that blessedness be antedated which is promised to be after the Resurrection 1 Thes 4.17 Then shall we ever be with the Lord. Say to the Lord even from henceforth as he sayes to his Church Psal 132.14 Thou shalt be my rest here will I dwell for ever Let it not be a Visit to Heaven that will satisfie you but a Conversation in heaven Phil. 3.20 Our Conversation is in heaven Let it not be a few heavenly hours or a short heavenly repast but an heavenly life that you design and follow after When you get you once thus near unto the Lord live as much as possible in the constant viewes of his Glory so continually beholding and feeding upon the foretastes and forethoughts of his Goodness and Grace that you may be changed daily from Glory to Glory into the same image Know friends that if there be any security in the world from the Robbers and the Spoilers from your Lusts and Temptations from suffering such losses again in your peace the only security you have is to keep your hearts still above Hast thou gotten thine heart to heaven keep thee where thou art keep you out of harmes way If the Devil can but catch those hearts again below catch you a roving catch you a wandring after your carnal things if he can but meet you declining from an heavenly to an earthly Conversation from a spiritual to a carnal Conversation O what sad spoiles of whatever good days you have had of whatever delights and satisfactions and joyes and comforts you have had what spoiles will he make of them all Christians when ever you can get or do feel your hearts in a better frame most full of the love and life and joy of the Lord O think what pity 't is what a sad fall it will be to make an exchange of this blessed state for the barren and brackish Pleasures of this world think with your selves shall I forsake the sweetness of the Fig-tree and the fulness of the Olive and go and browze upon brambles The design friends of all this is to perswade and invite you to live in constant Communion with God You have been received and entertained this day into special communion with God and the intent and meaning of this solemne communion is that by the sweetness and refreshing you find in it you may be set into a way of ordinary communion with him That your life may be a life of Communion with God a life of faith a life of love a life of Holiness and Joy that so you might prophesie to your selves with the Psalmist Psal 23.6 Surely goodness and mercy
and every abomination dwells Christ hath come and called to thee open to me let me come and dwell there and cast the Devil out How many knocks hath he given at thy door How many Messengers hath he sent to thee with this word Open those wretched hearts open the everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in And hast not thou slighted all this and put a contempt and a scorn upon an offered Jesus Who I God forbid I adore and honour that worthy name I acknowledge him to be the Son of the living God and the Saviour of the World and worthy of all acceptation I but hast thou accepted Hast thou opened unto him Hast thou received Christ Jesus the Lord Is Christ within thee Is the light of Christ the love of Christ the holiness of Christ in thee Hast thou resigned up the throne and dominion of thy soul to him and given him hearty leave to put all that is within thee in subjection to himself and to cast out what ever is an offence to him to cast the World out to cut the flesh down and the lusts thereof Hath he new made thee and new molded thee Is there another Spirit begotten in thee a new heart bestowed upon thee Hath he made a Christian of thee a sincere inward Christian not in word nor in tongue but in deed and in truth Art thou become his hearty Disciple and his follower in holiness Hath he given thee the understanding of a Christian Dost thou know God and art thou now acquainted with the mystery of the kingdom of God Dost thou know Christ and the mystery of Christ crucified Hath he given thee the heart and affections of a Christian Hath the World lost thine heart have thy companions lost thee thy carnal pleasures lost thine heart Is thine heart set upon Christ and upon all his holy ways Art thou now brought about from sinful pleasing of men or affecting to live in their good repute and good will to be all for pleasing God Is thy soul that was bent upon earth and the vanities thereof now bent for God and for heaven and for holiness the way to the Kingdom of heaven Sinner If thou hast received Christ into thy soul there are all these works begun there is such a change as this wrought upon thee 2 Cor. 5.17 He that is in Christ is a new Creature and if there be no such change if thine old ignorance thine old worldliness thine old delights in the lusts or friendship or fellowship of the World remain if thou hast not the inwards of a Christian an holy heart an heavenly mind yea and something of the outwards of a Christian an holy conversation an heavenly life If there be not such a change wrought in thee but thou art of the same life and the same spirit thou wert of thou hast not received Christ he hath been offered thee but thou wouldst none of him he hath come unto thee but thou hast refused him And what ever honour thou hast in thy mouth for Christ if thou hast refused to receive him thou art one of those that hast made light of Christ yea and set him at nought That which is rendred refusing Psal 118.22 The stone which was refused by the builders is exprest Acts 4 11. to be setting at nought This is the stone which was set at nought Sinners every one of you that have not received Christ into your hearts you have set Christ at nought you have despised and trampled him under your foot and if you go away from his word to day as you have used to do other days and return home without accepting of him you go on to set Christ at nought You that hear Christ preached and will not receive him if you should be asked when you come home what you have done at Church to day You must answer I have put a slight and contempt upon Christ he was preached to me and I was told of his wonderful excellencies and his worthiness but I have despised and neglected it all I have been at Church but to mock Christ and to set him at nought This do every one of you to whom Christ is preached and yet you will not receive him 2. Those that make light of Christ are not recovered by him This is so evident from what hath been said that I shall add no more concerning it but this if Christ be the only recoverer of lost souls then those that refuse him are not recovered He is our Redeemer and there is no other saviour He is our Physitian and there is no other helper neither is there salvation in any other Act 4.12 If there be no other Saviour but Christ Jesus the Lord if there be none recovered by Christ but those that prize and put such an high value on Christ as to embrace and accept of him then those that make light of Christ and refuse him are lost souls to this day These are the negative marks which evidence souls still lost If you are not grosly ignorant but have understood somthing of the doctrin of Christ If you have somthing of conscience If some prizing of Christ yet you may not be recovered but if not thou art a grosly ignorant soul and of no conscience to be sure thou art a lost soul to this day 2. Affirmatively 1. The man whose eyes are opened that is who hath recovered his understanding and the saving knowledge of God The first step towards the conversion of a sinner is the recovery of his sight Acts 26.18 To open blind eyes c. And it is not every little opening the eyes and the getting in a little knowledge that is a sure sign of conversion There are knowing sinners knowing hypocrites It is an enlightning of the mind and a renewing of the mind Rom. 12.2 Be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds The mind of the Convert doth not only see other things than it saw before but looks upon them with another eye as he hath another heart so he hath another eye a renewed mind a sanctified understanding that perceives the beauty and excellency of God and his ways of Christ and his graces that sees wisdom and goodness and an excellency and desirableness in them the carnal mind what ever it perceives of the things of God yet they are foolishness to him 1. Cor 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them Where see 1. What account carnal men have of spiritual things they look on them as foolish things poor and weak and contemptible things and look upon them all as a company of fools and giddy brain-sick folks that will have any thing to do with them 2. That whilst he looks on the things of God as foolishness as such contemptible and unworthy things he doth not know them nor can he know them whilst he continues to be such a foolish soul Thou takest upon thee to
come and make a Saint of thee Hath Sin made a very Devil of thee and art not thou willing that Christ should make thee a Saint What wouldst thou do in Heaven if thou wilt not be made a Saint or dost thou think thou mayest continue a Devil whilest thou livest on the earth and yet at last be a Saint in Heaven What say you sinners There be some it may be of you that have made a mock at holiness that have despised the saints that are on earth and made them the objects of your scorn rather than your desire but speaks man art thou yet willing that Christ should come this day and make thee a saint Wilt thou that he should humble thee and bring thee to repentance Wilt thou that he should wash thee and bring thee to holiness Wouldst thou who camest hither an ignorant sinner an hardned sinner an impenitent sinner be glad at thine heart if thou mayst r turn an enlightned a convinced yea a converted sinner a beleiver a sincere christian Wouldst thou carry home another heart than thou broughtst hither a new heart transformed and changed into the image of him that created thee or art thou content to go home as thou camest such an ignorant hardned polluted creature as thou camest hither If thou be heartily willing of such a change as this that is a great part of thy cure Art thou willing to be cured willing to be cleansed Then bring forth that leprous soul of thine lay it at the feet of Christ and speak to him as the leper did Mat. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean As vile a state as this soul of mine is in as deadly as my diseases are as very a Leper as my soul is become yet Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Let Christ hear such a word from thee Lord help me Lord heal me if thou wilt thou canst And then there is hope that thou maiest hear the same words from Christ as that poor Leper did I will be thou clean And immediately his Leprosie was cleansed 2. Take Christs medicines To what purpose is it that the physitian comes to a sick man and prescribes to him and adviseth him to what will recover him if he will not take what he prescribeth Christ hath medicines to recover sick souls but his medicines must be taken or they will not recover them Christs medicines are 1. His bloud His bloud is purging and cleansing bloud Heb. 9 14. 1 Joh. 1.7 Therefore he is said to wash us in his bloud By the bloud of Christ is meant the same with the death of Christ There is vertue in the death of Christ to destroy the life of sin Our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed Rom. 6.6 It is the body of sin that must be first laid at The inward pravity of our natures our original corruption Christs physick must be firstly applyed to the root and fountain of our disease those sinful natures those depraved habits and sinful dispositions within you must be changed The inward enmity must be slain and there is nothing will do that but the bloud of a crucified Iesus That is the soveraign medicine that must help and heal you But how must this medicine the bloud of Christ be taken 1. Christ himself must be taken Christ offers himself to you to be yours and you must accept of him for your own Your hearts must by faith consent unto Christ to put your selves into his hands to put your life into his hands expecting and depending upon him trusting your selves with him for your recovery It is Christ alone with whom I lay up all mine hopes upon whose sufficiency and faithfulness I will venture my soul If I die I le die under his hand and if I live I look for life only from him Put your selves thus into the hands of Christ and take Christ into your hearts Take him as your own he gives himself to you to be your own Christ offers to every sinner among you I will be thine own thine own Jesus thine own Saviour if thou be willing to have me Take him at his word Since he says to thee I will be thine own if thou wilt let thy heart lay hold on this blessed word and say content Lord since thou wilt thou shalt be mine own I accept thee with all my heart Now if Christ be once yours his bloud shall be yours his death shall be yours and all the benefits of his death Whereas nothing of Christ can be yours nor any fruit of his death if he be not first yours Let Christ be once imbraced by you and if there be any purging or cleansing or sin-killing ver ue in his bloud your sins shall be purged away If all that the bloud of Christ can do for thee will recover thee thou shalt be recovered 2. You must have frequent recourse to the bloud of Christ by renewed acts of faith Look up to this crucified Jesus Cast thy polluted soul into the fountain of his bloud Zach. 13.1 He is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness His bloud is the fountain cast thy soul into it You are come into the bloud of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 Christians are so and they may freely lay hold on it for their cleansing 1. Believe that there is such vertue in him to cleanse thy soul Say with the woman Mat. 9.21 If I may but touch him I shall be made whole 2. Believe that it is free for theâ— Thou mayst come with boldness to him Christ would have thee to be bold with him and to lay thine help upon him Believe that it is free for thee to lay hold on the bloud of Christ and 3. Come and lay hold upon it Lean upon him for his help and trust him for it 4. Lift up a prayer to him Lord here is a polluted dying soul that is even lost and choaked up in the mud and mire of my sins there is no help for me but I must die and perish in them if thou wilt not look upon me and save me In thy bowels I have hope in thy bloud I have hope and that is all the hope I have O sprinkle me with thy bloud wash me in thy bloud and my soul shall live Wherefore Lord didst thou die Wherefore didst thou shed that precious bloud Was it not for the recovery of lost souls for the cleansing of polluted souls Is not my poor soul one of the number of those for whom Christ died Have not I as great need of of thee as any Is it not thou thy self that hast brought this my soul to thy door crying for thine help Lord Jesus hear let some drops of that bloud some of the vertue of thy death be shed abroad upon my sinful heart and it shall live My sins must die Lord or my soul will never recover I must get this lust destroyed this enmity slain this proud and hard and stubborn
gone away hardned from many a Sabbath thou hast gone away hardned from many a Sermon and must this Day and this Word leave thee as all the rest have done When dost thou hope to be recovered if thou wilt not be broken Wilt thou say it is no matter though I never be recovered though I perish and die in this hardned state Wouldst thou fear to be let alone till thou be past recovery to be lost forever Then yield to the stroke of the Word and let thine heart be humbled and broken and brought to repentance 4. Get the temper of your hearts to be changed Let the Word work to the mollifying you and to the changing of you to the renewing you after the image of God in righteousness and holiness And what ever awakenings there have been of your sleepy consciences what ever light or understanding there may be conveyed into your minds yea and what ever wounds and breaches there have been made upon your hard hearts yet till you be renewed in the very frame and temper and dispositions of your hearts never count your selves to be recovered Thou art a lost soul till thou art a sanctified soul that is till thine heart be broken off and brought back from the love and lusts and ways of this World and brought about unto God and his holy ways till godliness be gotten into thine heart and formed into thy nature and thou hast a love of it and hearty good liking of it and the very bent of thine heart which was formerly towards sin and vanity be now towards holiness and heaven When thou art brought to this this new frame of heart then thou art recovered Now Sinners let this be that you have in your eye and upon your hearts let this be your endeavour let this be your prayer that God would so bless his Word to you that it may awaken your sleepy consciences enlighten your blinded minds soften and break your hardned hearts that you may be changed and renewed after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness that you may be wrought into a new temper changed into another spirit loving and savouring and delighting in the holy ways of God that Religion may become sweet and pleasant to you that your spirits may be made suitable to God and his holy ways that the food of God may relish with you and the work of God may be more easie to you Sick men can neither relish their food nor endure their work Dost thou find no relish in Religion Does the work of holiness seem contrary to thee Dost thou groan under it as that thou canst not bear Dost thou groan under this praying and repenting and watching and striving against sin and denying thy self and mortifying thy flesh Canst thou not endure to be held to such work It is a sign that thy sickness is still upon thee and thou art not recovered O get your hearts to be so changed and renewed by the Word and Spirit of the Lord that both the food of God may relish with you and his work may be pleasant 3. His Rod. Sinners are fools and the Rod is Physick for Fools The rod is for the Fools back Prov. 26.3 Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but the Rod reduced me now have I kept thy word Sinner thou hearest the awakening word but it doth not awaken thee thou sleepest on Thou hearest the mollifying and breaking word but it does not break nor mollifie thee thou art still a wilful stubborn soul and thine heart is so obstinately set upon thine own loose and wild ways that thou wilt not be broken off thy will nor broken off from thy course but God may bring some affliction upon thee bring thee into poverty cast thee on thy sick bed set death at thy beds foot to stare thee in the face and this will tame thee then thou mayest be spoken to then the Word there is hope will enter into thee and work upon thee Indeed some sinners are so desperately hardened that neither word nor rod will do What afflictions come they rather stupifie than awaken them They continue as very stocks under the smitings of God as they are under his teachings and therefore take heed the longer thou goest on to harden thine heart against the word there is the less hope that thou wilt be humbled by afflictions Dare not to encourage your selves and harden your hearts against repentance by hopes and purposes that when sickness comes and death looks thee in the face then thou wilt repent no no the longer thou hardnest thy self against the word the less hope there is that thine heart will be broken by afflictions But some hope there is that when the word awakens not the rod may But if that do not neither then God be merciful unto thee there is but one thing more and that will certainly do it the unquenchable flames will awaken thee Hell will do that which all the means under Heaven cannot do But that fire will not be thy physick to cure thee but thy plague to kill thy soul for ever The afflictions of this life are Gods physick for the recovering thy soul O take this cup at the hand of the Lord take this physick for thy soul But what is it to take this medicine so as it may be recovering physick 1. Submit to afflictions when God lays them on Be patient and contented that the Lord should afflict thee Do not fret nor murmur at the afflcting hand of God Some froward patients if their Physitian be forced to give any harder physick it will not down but they fret and fume against the physitian as if he were cruel and will not submit to take what he offers them Be patient under the hand of God and submit to what ever he layes on 2. Consider thine afflictions Eccl. 7.14 In the day of adversity consider Affliction is a considering time Sinners you will not consider now but you may have time enough to consider it afterwards You will neither consider what you do Ecles 5.1 They consider not they do evil Nor will you consider what the Lord speaks to you you hear our words that we speak to you from the Lord but we cannot perswade you to consider them Consider what we say and the Lord give you understanding in all things Think over the words that you hear It is a miserable plague that hath seized upon your hearts this inconsideration and that which hinders you from profiting by the word and holds you under your senselessness and hardness of heart Think of what you hear think what a wretched case the word declares you to be in When you hear such words He that committeth sin is of the Devil 1. Joh. 3.8 He that liveth after the flesh shall die Rom. 8.13 He that is not born again cannot inherit the Kingdom of God When you hear such words as these then consider then think with your self what a word have I heard to
things honestly in all things and at all times This exercise of keeping to conscience is a painful exercise you can never live a conscientious life unless you will be content to live a painful life to take pains with your hearts to take pains with your thoughts and affections to take pains with your tongues and all your members to hold them close to the rule of conscience this painful exercise will get you an heat will beget warmth in those cold and careless hearts The most conscientious Christians are the most warm and lively Christians and according as you get and keep your hearts warm so will your diseases waste the health of your souls return into you Remember what I have said if ever you would recover your lost souls recover conscience if ever you would recover conscience get the guilt the guile of conscience purged away by the bloud of Christ and water of repentance keep the eye of conscience open let conscience be the Supervisor of all your ways let the book of conscience be kept clear from blots and blurs and let there be a faithful record kept there of all your ways let the tongue of Conscience have leave to speak and warn you from day to day and submit to its Scepter and government be no longer govern'd by Will or by appetite or by lust or by the fashions and customs or examples of men but be govern'd by Conscience Do not give Conscience a Kiss and a Stab hearken to it in some things and wound it in other things but study to live in all good Conscience on your Sabbath-dayes on your working-dayes in the House of the Lord in your own houses in the houses of your Friends in the Field in the Market in the matters of God in the matters of the World when you are alone when in company when you are in good company when you are fallen into evil company wherever you are whatever you are a doing still have an eye upon Conscience an ear open to Conscience and let Conscience prescribe to you what you should do and how you should carry it in every affair 3. Beware of taking cold That 's a special rule Physicians use to give to the recovering Patient when Persons are upon recovery of their bodily diseases how ordinary is it that upon a little cold they relapse and sometimes die of their disease Is thy Soul upon recovery take heed of Colds Soul such there are who when they begin to be wrought upon and brought to any sence of Religion there appears a great heat and fervour of spirit upon them 't is with them as with the Prophet Jer. 20.9 Thy Word was in me like fire their love and desire and zeal for God seem all in a flame O what warm affections have they how warm in their Duties how warm in their converses they seem to be all Life and Soul and then after a time they grow stark cold and little life is left in them and some of them never recover again while they live Hath thy Spirit gotten an heat hath the Word heated thee and those Exercises of Prayer Repentance and keeping Conscience gotten thee into an heat then take heed of growing cold keep you constant to those Exercises that have begotten an heat in you Keep you in the Sun-shine all your heart-warmth is begotten and must be maintained from above live in the beholding the face of God live under the Sun-beams of the Sun of righteousness keep you close to God keep you near to Christ live in intimate communion with God Take heed of those clouds your sins that will obscure the Sun Isa 59.1 Take heed of an Eclipse see that this Earth do not interpose betwixt your Souls and Heaven take heed of the damp Influences of the dead that you live amongst We live in a cold World a cold Age that Age has overtaken us which Christ Prophesied of Mat. 24.20 Wherein the love many of should wax cold Those that are grown cold themselves will serve for nothing but to chill and damp the Spirits of others Be not unnecessarily conversant with this cold World trust not your selves in their Company have you never found how much your Souls have lost by carnal Correspondencies Professors how is it with you Do you still retain your first vigour as when you began to be recovered May not the Lord complain over some of us as of Israel Jer. 2.2 I remember the kindness of thy Youth and the love of thine Espousals I remember it as a thing that is past that now is not or as Ephesus Rev. 2.4 Thou hast lost thy first Love and what follows from this decay Hence is it that we are become a Company of sickly Professors of Carnal Professors of Earthly Professors the World hath return'd upon us the Flesh hath gotten head again in us the things that are Eternal and the influences of them upon us are even lost and swallow'd up of things Temporal our Stocks and our Businesses and our Trades how have they even choak'd up our Religion Friends it 's matter of astonishment to consider how very few lively Christians there are to be found amongst us Thus we every one talk what a General decay of Religion there is among us has not thine own Mouth complain'd of the coldness of this Age But whilst thou complainest of the Age how is it with thee Art not thou sick of the same Disease Look homeward look inward into thine own House into thine own Heart what Spirit of Religion is there going in thine own Family Hast thou not by thy negligence let all run to decay there What Life of Religion is there maintain'd in thine own Heart Friends feel you every man his own Pulse lay your hand every Man upon his own Heart and feel how faintly it beats Heaven-wards Sure Friends if we should examine our own Cases we should find enough to set us all a Weeping over our own decays and she should hear that voice within us Weep not for others but weep for thy self and thine own Children O take heed lest such of you as are fallen back among the Sick do not also return among the Dead and make your recovery again more hopeless at last than 't was at first You that stand be warn'd by those that are fallen stand with your Loyns girded and your Lights burning and you that are fallen fallen to decay fallen to a dead and flat and lifeless State you that are fallen remember whence you are fallen remember and repent remember and recover strengthen the things that remain if there be any sparks left blow off your Ashes blow up the Coals Let the Life of God and the love of Christ and a Zeal for Holiness be again kindled in you and if ever the Lord should recover you again there 's great hazard whether he may thou mayest die of the Cold thou hast taken the Consumption that hath Eaten up so much of thy Vitals may be unto
Death Eternal Death but if ever God should recover thee again and revive his work and enliven that almost Dead Carkass then at last learn from thine own miserable experience to take heed of taking Cold again as long as thou livest Thus much for the recovering the Heart which is pre-supposed to the keeping of the Heart The Heart thus recovered out of its lost State must be kept and well look'd to that it fall not back again and here 2. Now I shall shew you what it is to keep the heart or how it must be kept and so 1. It must be kept under Government 2. It must be kept under Guard 1. It must be kept under Government here I shall shew 1. The necessity of keeping the Heart under Government 2. How the Heart must be Governed 1. The necessity of keeping the Heart under Government that will appear by considering what an Heart it is and because the Heart is recovered in part and there is much of its Old and Original pravity remaining in it which will be apt to boil up and break forth again I shall a little open the wretched temper and disposition of it which will evidence how great a necessity there is to keep it under Government 1. It is a wicked mischievous heart Jer. 17.9 Desperately wicked Psalm 5.9 Very wickedness Rom. 8.7 Enmity against God It is the Fountain whence all the filthy streams that pollute and defile our lives do flow and are cast forth It is the Furnace whence all the stinking fumes and smoaks that annoy the World are sent forth It is the Nest where all the Cockatrices Eggs are Hatched It is the Sink that gathers in all manner of filth into it and then sendeth it abroad to do mischief Psal 41.6 His Heart gathereth iniquity to it self as the Sinks gather in all the filth of the Town and when he goeth abroad he telleth it only there is this difference between this and other Sinks other Sinks gather in the filth but 't is in order to the conveying it and carrying it away Into this evil evil Sink of the Heart all the filth is gathered and there it stops and stinks and casts it self back in its annoying streams Out of the Heart comes evil Thoughts Murthers Adulteries c. Mat. 15.19 All this Filth and Mudd all this Wickedness and Malignity as it Naturally dwells in every Heart so there 's much of it remaining even in renewed Hearts and will if there be not constant care to keep down and by degrees to cast it out will rise and swell and work up again in them Christians you may thank God that there is Salt cast into these filthy Fountains for the healing these muddy waters that there is a Spring of Living Waters broken in your Hearts by degrees to drain out your Dirt that there is Grace begotten in you to resist and repell the contagion of Lust but this little Grace will be choak'd up again if Lust be not kept under And as it is a Wicked so 't is a Mischievous Heart it 's set upon mischief Wickedness will be doing wickedly as 't is said of the Workers of Iniquity so 't is true of all as far forth as they are unrenewed Mischief is in their Hearts Psal 28.3 There 's the same Reason of keeping our Hearts under restraint as of keeping Mad-men in they will be doing mischief if they have their liberty Besides the mischief that our evil Hearts will be doing to others they will be mischiefing themselves Mad Men will tear their own Flesh will cut and wound themselves if they be let alone and there is no such danger of evil Hearts as in regard of that mischief they do themselves 1. Our evil Hearts will hinder us from doing good to our Selves or of receiving or laying up good for our Selves Rom. 7.19 The good that I would I do not why what hinders See Vers 21. I find a Law the Law of Sin in the Heart When I would do good evil is present with me Gal. 5.17 The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit so that we cannot do the things that we would Sometimes good Counsel is given us from the Lord but we do not take it How many good Counsels have you heard from the Ministry of the Word that are lost and forgotten and come to nothing Sometimes a good motion comes into the Heart to repent and amend our ways to pray or to Meditate or to search out Hearts to cease from this Earth and Flesh from serving our Sense and minding only the present and to lay up Treasure in Heaven and provide for the time to come have you never such motions Do you never hear such a voice within you Get you Baggs that wax not Old a Treasure in Heaven that faileth not Choose the good part lay hold on Eternal Life give your self to Praying keep a good Conscience take heed and beware of Covetousness use more diligence live with more heedfulness have your Conversation in Heaven and keep your self unspotted of the World keep your self in the love of God set the Lord alway before your Eyes behold his Face in Righteousness study to shew thy self approved of God and to walk so in all things that thou mayest be accepted of God are there not such motions as these come into your hearts You that are Christians sure you have many such good motions But how do they take What do they bring forth If you had obeyed all the good motions that you have sometimes felt within you O what manner of Christians would you have been What mortified what circumspect what raised and Heavenly minded Christians had you been But how do your good motions take What success are they attended with Do not you see that they are often strangled in the Birth and die away and come to just nothing Or at least do you not meerly halt and trifle in the pursuace of them If you Pray or hear or set your Hearts to humble your selves before the Lord how are you Distracted and Diverted and Deadned and all your duties spoiled in the doing so that you can have little comfort or real advantage by what yo do Do you not often mourn over your Prayers and Sermons and Sabbaths as meerly lost to you When you would work up your Hearts Heaven ward and fix above when you would love and del ght your selves in the Lord and Solace your selves in the contemplation of the Divine Love and Goodness when you would fain set your Hearts to live such a Godly Conscientious Circumspect Self-denying Life and comfort your selves with such thoughts I hope I shall never live such a Careless Carnal Useless Unsavory Earthly Life again I hope you have many such Thoughts Desires Hopes and Aims you are lamentable Christians if you have not but how do they succed What do they bring forth Do they not often prove Abortive and bring forth nothing May it not be said of you as of those Job 15.35 They conceive
that they may be quickned into the more strong desires unite them let all your desires be after this one thing the grace and good will of the Lord. Christians let me ask you What would you have What is it you desire O let the Lord be my God let me have grace from the Lord but what of God how much of the grace of God would content you It may be some of you would answer O! if it were never so little if I could have Faith though it were but as a grain of Mustard-Seed if I could get any thing of God in my Heart if by the grace of God in me this Heart of mine might be but as a bruised Reed and smoaking Flax if I might get any thing that God would not despise this should satisfie me 'T is true the least degree of saving grace the least Beam of the Divine Light the first springing of the Life of God in us the least Spark of his Holy Image our desires should be so far fixed on this that nothing short of this nothing short of the truth of Grace should in the least suffice us and we should be thankful for the very first grace if we should never have any more or rise no higher But are there not some that would have this and care for no more that bound and limit their desires to the first and lowest degrees of grace This desire is not the desire of the Children of God thou mayest go to Hell with such desires after God he that desires not to be perfectly Holy is not sincerely Holy Do you desire God do you desire grace Stir up and enlarge your desires let those narrow Hearts open their Mouths wide be covetous Christians covet much and covet earnestly these best of giâ—ts say with the Psalmist This one thing I desire nothing but God nothing but grace take Corn and Wine who will take the Gold and the Silver who will let the Lord God be mine and that shall suffice me Desire God only and follow after God fully as Psalm 63.8 My Soul followeth hard after thee Friends you have some Wishes and some weaker desires after the Lord O quicken up these fainty Hearts look oftner before you how worthy the Lord is of all your desires what a Jewel what a Treasure the grace of God is look oftner Heaven-ward get a sight of God and his glorious Treasures live more in the Contemplation of his glory and goodness it is the sight of the Object that must kindle and quicken desires you that have cold Hearts Heaven-ward 't is a sign your Eye is little in Heaven Believe it some clearer views of the Love and Goodness and Holiness and Kindness and Glory of the Lord would whet your Appetites would put Life into those dull Desires would make you hungry Souls and thirsty Souls and longing Souls O look oftner upward dwell in the Mountain of Spices get some Taste and Relish of the goodness of God by being more constantly conversant with him and this will set abroach all your Vessels your Souls would stream forth in the Words and Sighs of the Psalmist Psal 42.1 As the Hart panteth after the Water Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God 2. Curb and limit your desires after the good things below and desire them no more than you should particularly 1. Desire not over much of them The best Food the best Physick if we take too much of it becomes hurtfull and pernicious when the Stomach is overcharged and so when the Heart is overcharged it surfets and suffereth prejudice by what it hath received That Prayer of Agur Prov. 30.8 should be the desire of Christians Feed me with Food convenient a convenient Habitation a competent Portion of these Earthly things should be the Proportion of our desires O if Men knew what were enough and when they had enough it would prevent the extravagancy of our desires Jer. 45.5 Seekest thou great things to thy self Seek them not Thou canst not bear great things great Possessions are great Temptations Seek no greater things than thou canst bear a Ship that hath more than its Load will sink and drown The Journey or Voyage of the Heart is upwards you are Travelling Heaven-wards this Earth the more you have of it presses you down-ward and hinders your ascending O how much nearer Heaven might some of our Hearts have ascended how much nearer to God and Glory might we have gotten had we not been clogged with the things of this Earth Some Men are too Rich and too Prosperous in this World to be Spiritually-minded Great Estates bring great Cares and encumbring Business so that they cannot be at liberty nor at leisure to think on God or their Souls Desire only so much of the World as is best for you and that proportion is best for you which will help you Heaven-ward and least hinder you know what is a competency and desire no more That 's not a competency which is enough to satisfie your Appetite you will never say you have enough if you will stay till your Appetite say It is enough this is like those two Daughters of the Horse-Leach Prov. 30.15 that still cry Give give Get get and never say It is enough That is not a competency which will satisfie your Appetite but that which will comfortably serve your necessities know what is a competency and desire no more 2. Desire them not over earnestly be not over hungry and greedy Souls desire but a competency and desire it but moderately that you may not over-desire these Earthly good things do not over-prize them Carry it towards the good things below as Sinners carry it towards Christ and the good things above how do Sinners carry it towards Christ They make light of him Isa 53.2 They see no beauty in him that they should desire him See as little beauty in the World as Sinners see in Christ make as light of the good things of the Earth as they do of the good things of Heaven and then your desires will be as cold after these things as theirs are after Christ O if Christians did desire this Earth no more than Sinners desire Heaven how mortified would all their Earthly desires be Mortifie your inordinate desires after the World quench your thirst after the good things thereof or else these desires will mortifie and quench your thirst after God Christians you would fain love God more it is your Affliction that your Affections to things above are so dull and so flat that you have no more strong and working desires Heaven-ward abate your desires to things below and then they will rise more to the things above never look to love God more than you do till you love the World less than you do Do ye mean to hold up at this height in your Carnal desires Will you not set Bounds to your Earthly Appetites Then count upon it God is like to
over much in any of the good things below we may rejoice in our outward good things James 1.9 Let the Brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted that is let the Poor rejoice when he is made Rich Poverty is an Affliction and Riches are a Mercy and such a Mercy as we may rejoice in But though we may rejoice in every outward Mercy yet we may not rejoice overmuch in them particularly for the limits of this Joy they must be such as these 1. Joy not in any of these good things as if they were your happiness they may be Means to our happiness but must not be made the Matter of our happiness to make our Estates our happiness is to make them our God and the way to make us miserable he is a miserable Rich Man who maketh his Riches his Happiness 2. Joy not so much in them as to rejoyce ever the less in God You have so much need of God in the greatest Plenty and Prosperity as you have when you have nothing and you should so much thirst after the Joy of God in your greatest Worldly Joy as in your Sorrow Take not your Worldly Joy in stead of Joy in God think not to supply your want of Joy in God by the abounding of Worldly Joy You may as well feed your Souls with Meat and Drink you may as well provide for your Souls by your Money or Estates as comfort them by that Joy that ariseth out of these Earthly things Souls must have a God the Comfort of God the Joy of God to refresh them and support them that Soul is a Carnal Soul that can feed upon Carnal Joys you nevertheless need the Joy of God for any Worldly Joy and you must look to it that your Worldly Joys be never to that height as to lessen your esteem of the Joy of the Lord. The Joy of God will quench your thirst after the World and then the Joy of the World exceedeth it's Bounds when it quencheth your thirst after God and the light of his Countenance Thou art Rich thou art full and prosperest in the World thy Bull gendreth and faileth not thy Cow calveth c. thy Oxen are strong to labour thy Sheep bring forth Thousands and ten Thousands in the Streets and now thou hast Hearts Ease and rejoycest in thy Portion but how standest thou now in respect to God Is God ever the less needed Is God ever the less loved Is the Joy of God still thy chief Joy Or dost thou not even forget that thou hast a God or a Soul and leave it to them that have nothing below to rejoyce in God that is above What thinkest thou of thy self Hath this Earth eaten up Heaven Hath the Joy of this Earth swallowed up the Joy of the Lord Sure it hath transgressed its Bounds It may be thou wilt say as the Prophet Hab. 3.17 18. and it is well if thou canst say so Although the Fig-Tree doth not Blossom c Yet will I rejoyce in the Lord and Joy in the God of my Salvation When thou art Poor and in Want and hast nothing left thee in the World to comfort thine Heart in then thou wilt look to the Lord and he shall be thy Joy and thy Comfort but how is it with thee when the Fig-Tree doth Blossom when thou livest in the abundance of all things Dost thou then feel thou hast as much need of a God dost thou then take as much Joy in God canst thou say of all here below These are miserable Comforters if God be not my Comfort these are miserable Pleasures if God be not my Joy This is something and thus it should be 3. Rejoice with Trembling That 's the Psalmist's Counsel Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoice with Trembling in allusion to that let me say Seek the World with Fear and rejoice in the World with Trembling let fear be a Bridle to prevent the excess of your Worldly Joy Fear what should we fear Why fear lest you should forget God lest that which is your Joy become your Snare and turn you aside from God lest your Joy in the World should prove Worldly Joy and serve for nothing but to feed and heighten your Worldly Lusts fear lest this Joy of the World should do the same by you as sometimes the Sorrows of the World do which the Apostle says 2 Cor. 7. Worketh Death fear lest it kill your Souls there is nothing that does more corrupt and endanger the Soul than Carnal Mirth Eccle. 11.9 Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth c. but what followeth Know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment that is to Condemnation These Joys drag the Soul to the Bar of Justice and thence to Execution in the Fire There is scarce any thing that does Ripen Men faster for Ruin than the Mirth of the World Job 21.10 11. Their Bull gendreth and faileth not there 's the matter of their Joy their Children Dance they take the Timbrel and the Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ there 's the Measure and Expression of their Joy they are so lifted up that they must have the Musick and their Dancing to heighten their Mirth but what 's the end In a Moment they go down to the Grave and thence into the Bottomless Pit O the Madness of this Merry World That can see nothing in God to Joy them in and yet can rejoice in a thing of nought that undo themselves by their own Felicity their Joy and Mirth Joy is the sweetest Flower that grows in that Garden the Heart of Man and this Flower must be the Poyson to kill them and is never sweet to them but when it growes up out of a Dung-hill out of their Fleshly Lusts What Multitudes have surfeited and Died of their Carnal Mirth and yet foolish Souls will never fear it but this must be their only Heaven which leads to Hell what do these Carnal Joys serve for but to corrupt Men first and then to confound Men Worldly sorrow it 's said worketh Death but it may be said of Worldly Sorrow and Mirth as of David and Saul Saul hath slain his Thousands and David his ten Thousands Worldly Sorrow hath slain many but nothing so many as Carnal Mirth whilest that Saints wade through their Temporal Sorrows to everlasting Joy Sinners pass through their Worldly Joy to everlasting Sorrows Isa 50.11 Behold ye that kindle your Fires c. Here 1. Sinners have their Fires that is to comfort and chear and warm their Hearts these their comforting Fires are their Joy and Jollities 2. Sinners Fires are of their own kindling their comforts come not from God but they raise them up to themselves they comfort themselves and chear themselves but are not comforted of God 3. Sinners Fires are all but Sparks a Spark will not warm and will not last the Triumphing of the Wicked is short and the Joy of the Hypocrite is
have need of many washing dayes who have so many sinning dayes Every day should be a washing day to us Take that counsel of the Prophet Isa 1.16 Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings Make you clean and keep you clean Wash ye and watch ye put away the evil of your doings if you would that your hearts should long be kept clean Wash your hands and wash your face and wash your feet or these will defile your hearts Put away the Garment spotted with the flesh keep your outward man clean keep you unspotted from the World that so you may be blameless and unreprovable in the sight of God O Christians let us study every one of us to get to such a blameless and unrebukable Conversation that not only the world may have nothing to spot us with but that our Consciences may have nothing to spot us with that our hearts may not have wherewith to reprove us as little as may be of the common and unavoidable infirmities of our flesh but however we may be overtaken as to these yet be unreproveable as to any tolerated or allowed iniquities these are the great blots wherewith the heart is defiled Brethren beloved whoever among you that fear the Lord I would fain do what I can to prepare you an holy habitation for the holy one that whereas he hath said 2 Cor. 6.16 I will dwell with them and walk in them you may be such in whom his Soul may delight to dwell that he may say of you all as Psal 132.14 This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it It is a strange expression the holy God speaks this to all his holy ones to thee in particular to thine heart if it be but a clean heart the Almighty God says to thee there is my rest in that heart of thine will I dwell for I have desired it the Lord God hath a desire to be thy Guest hath a desire to that poor Soul of thine to take it up for his own dwelling I would that you may be presented at last unspotted and unreproveable in his sight and to this end that you may be presented holy at last I would that you may be preserved holy and without blame at present O look to those hearts keep you pure let there be written upon you holiness to the Lord they should be a little heaven into which nothing that defileth should enter O purge your selves of whatever may offend and then guard your selves against it This is my warning to you and this is my prayer for you that the very God of Peace will sanctifie you wholly and I pray God that your whole Spirit Soul and Body may be preserved blameless against the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And to him I commend you who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his Glory with exceeding joy to him be Gloro for ever Amen 3. Against Distempers A good temper of heart will be an advantage to us in any thing we have to do An heart out of temper is like a bone out of joint or like a Tempestuous Sea there 's no good sailing in it We cannot keep our way but shall be driven about this way and that way with every wind and wave An heart out of temper is like a door off the hinges or a Chariot off the Wheels it draggs and goes untowardly and heavily on O how often are our Souls unhinged our Chariots off the wheels or our wheels without oyl and then what pitiful work do we make at any thing we have to do when we have been in a crowd of worldly business or been foolishly merry and vain what a discomposure do we find upon our Souls and how unfit are we then for duty when we come to pray or to hear what labour doth it cost us to reconcile our hearts to our Duties or to get us into a praying or hearing frame We come to pray as a Musitian comes to play when his Instrument is out of Tune he must spend a good deal of his time in tuneing before one stroke can be strook How much work have we to tune our hearts at such times and it may be at last 't is more then we can do and so we must either let the duty alone or make such sad melody in the Ears of the Lord as a Musitian would do in ours who should play on his Instrument when every string is out of tune Get your hearts in temper and keep them so Be able to say with the Psalmist Psal 57.7 O God mine heart is fixed mine heart is fixed The good temper of the heart notes freedom and towardliness and disposedness for any thing God calls to and firmness and stability in that towardliness Let your hearts be established in Good Let there be an abiding holy temper upon your Spirits some of the distempers that we should guard our hearts against are 1. Slightness and vanity of Spirit A well tempered heart is a serious heart Seriousness of heart is as ballast to a Ship we shall go steadily whilst our hearts are serious 1 Pet. 1.13 Gird up the loyns of your minds and be sober Soberness here is the same with seriousness Christians are always engaged about serious and weighty things their Eternity is concern'd in every day they live and in every thing they do Every action of our Lives is a stroke at that work which must have an influence upon our Eternal State We have weighty work lying upon our hands every day and hour and how unsuitable is a slight and trifling Spirit to important affairs a slight heart is an empty and shallow heart and a shallow heart is unfit to meddle in the deep things of God Watch against slightness of Spirit Frothiness and Vanity becomes not a Christian at any time we may say of the frolicks and light and jovial lives of the carnal world as Solomon says of laughter Eccl. 2.2 I said of laughter it it is mad A Christian is besides himself when he indulgeth to a vain and frothy Spirit Friends 't is not for us to live in jest Eternal Life and Death are no jesting matters learn to live in good earnest those that are light and vain that are little else but froth and vapour in their ordinary Course do use to be but little better in their most serious Duties O what slight praying is there amonst us what shallow and empty Duties do our slight and trifling hearts satisfie themselves withal it may be some of us when we have spent a whole Sabbath with the Lord if we do reflect upon the temper we have been in may sometimes find that we have hardly had a serious hour in a whole day If they should be asked as Christ asked his Disciples Mat. 26.40 What could ye not watch with me one hour what could ye not be serious with me one hour what could we answer