should move you to seek to be acquainteâ— with it where it is 1. The knowledge of God is the most exceâ—â—lent knowledge and therefore the best sorâ— of creature knowledge is that which hath the most of God in it And undoubtedly theâ—â— is more of God in Holiness which is his Image then in common things Sins and 〈◊〉 have nothing of God in them They must be fathered on the Devil and your selves Anâ— therefore the knowledge of them is gooâ— but by Accident because the knowledgâ— even of evil hath a tendency to good Anâ— therefore it is commanded and made ouâ— duty for the good which it tendeth to It is the Divine nature and Image within you which hath the most of God and therefore â—o know this is the high and noble knowâ—edge To know Christ within us is our â—appiness on earth in order to the knowâ—edge of him in Glory face to face which is â—he happiness of heaven To know God â—hough darkly through a glass and but in â—art 1 Cor. 13.12 is far above all creaâ—ure knowledge The knowledge of him â—aiseth quickneth sanctifieth enlargeth â—nd advanceth all our faculties It is life â—ternal to know God in Christ John 17.3 Therefore where God appeareth most there â—hould our understandings be most diâ—igently exercised in study and observaâ—ion 2. It is a most delightfull felicitating knowledge to know that Christ is in you â—f it be delightfull to the Rich to see their wealth their houses and lands and goods â—nd money and if it be delightfull to the Honourable to see their attendance and hear their own commendations and applause how delightfull must it be to a true Believer to find Christ within him and to know his title to eternal life If the knowledge of full barns and much goods laid up for many years can make a sensual worlding say Soul take thy ease eat drink and be merry Luke 12.19 20. Me thinkâ— the knowledge of our interest in Christ anâ— heaven should make us say Thou hast 〈◊〉 gladness in my heart more then in the tiâ—â— that their corn and wine increased that 〈◊〉 more then corn and wine could put inâ—â— theirs Psal 4.7 Return unto thy Rest 〈◊〉 soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully wiâ—â— thee Psal 116.7 If we say with Daviâ— Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praysing thee Psal 84 â— much more may we say Blessed anâ— they in whom Christ dwelleth and the Holâ— Ghost hath made his Temple they should 〈◊〉 still praising thee Blessed is the 〈◊〉 whom thou choosest and causest to approâ—â—â— unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts 〈◊〉 shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy Temple Psal 65.4 But this 〈◊〉 upon supposition that he be first Blessed by Christs approach to him and dwelling in hiâ— If you ask How it is that Christ dwelleâ—â— in us I answer 1. Objectively as he is apâ—prehended by our Faith and Love As thâ— things or persons that we think of and Lovâ— and delight in are said to dwell in our 〈◊〉 or hearts 2. By the Holy Ghost who 〈◊〉 a principle of new and heavenly Life 〈◊〉 given by Christ the Head unto his members and as the Agent of Christ doth illuminate sanctifie and guide the soul He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us 1 Joh. 3.24 That of Eph. 3.17 may be taken in either or both senses comprehensively That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith 3. Did you know that Christ is in you by his spirit it might make every place and condition comfortable to you If you are alone it may rejoyce you to think what company dwelleth continually with you in your hearts If you are wearied with evil company without it may comfort you to think that you have better within when your have communion with the Saints it is your joy to think that you have nearer communion with the Lords of Saints You may well say with David Psal 139.18 when I awake I am still with thee Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at may right hand I shall not be moved 4. Did you know Christ within you it would much help you in believing what is written of him in the Gospel Though to the ungodly the mysteries of the Kingdom of God do seem incredible yet when you have experience of the power of it on your souls and find the Image of it on your hearts and the same Christ within you conforming you to what he commandeth in his word this will work such a sutableness to the Gospel in your hearts as will make the work of faith more easie Saith the Apostle 1 Joh. 4.14 16. We have seen do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world there 's their outward experience And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him There is their Faith confirmed by their inward evidence Nâ— wonder if they that have God dwelling 〈◊〉 them by holy love do believe the love 〈◊〉 God hath to them This is the great advantage that the sanctified have in the work 〈◊〉 faith above those that much excell them 〈◊〉 disputing and are furnished with more Arguments for the Christian verity Christ hath his witness abiding in them The fruits of the spirit bear witness to the incorruptible 〈◊〉 the word of God that liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1.23 The impress on the 〈◊〉 heard witness to the seal that caused i◠〈◊〉 it is not a weak uneffectual Argument for the Truth of the Gospel that Believer 〈◊〉 to fetch from within when they plead the effects of it on their souls Labour to know the Truth of your sanctification that you may be confirmed by it in the Truth of the word that sanctifieth you Joh. 17.17 and may rejoice in him that hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth 2 Thes 2.13 5. If you can come to the knowledge of Christ within you it will be much the easier to you to trust upon him and fly to him in all your particular necessities and to make use of his Mediatorship with holy confidence When others flie from Christ with trembling and know not whether he will speak for them or help them or have any regard to them but look at him with strange and doubtful thoughts it will be otherwise with you that have assurance of his continual Love and presence Nearness breedeth familiarity and overcometh strangness Familiarity breedeth confidence and boldness when you find Christ so â—â—er you as to dwell within you and so particular and abundant in his Love to you as to have given you his spirit and all his Graces iâ— will breed
What fears should disquiet him that is sure to escape the wrath of God What wants should trouble him that knoweth he is an heir of Heaven Why should the indignation or threatnings of man be any temptation to turn him out of the way of duty or dismay his mind who knoweth that they can but kill the body and dismiss the soul into his blessed presence whom it loveth and laboureth and longs to see what should inordinately grieve that man that is certain of eternal Joy What else should he thirst for that hath in him the well of living waters springing up to everlasting life Joh. 4.14 And what should deprive that man of comfort that knoweth he hath the Comforter within him and shall be for ever comforted with his masters joy And what should break the Peace and Patience of him that is assured of Everlasting Rest If the assurance of a happy death cannot make it welcome and cannot make affliction easie and fill our lives with the Joyes of Hope I know not what can do it But alas for those poor souls that know not whither death will send them or at least have not good grounds of hope what wonder if through the fear of death they be all their life time subject unto bondage Heb. 2.14 Methinks in the midst of their wealth and pleasure they should not be so stupid as to forget the millions that are gone before them that lately were as jovial and secure as they and how short their dreaming feast will be Methinks all the beauty of their fleshly Idols should be blasted with those nipping frosts and storms that in their serious forethoughts come in upon them from the black and dreadful regions of death Methinks at any time it should damp their mirth and allay the ebullition of their phrenetick blood to remember For all this I must die and it may be this night that the fool must deliver up his soul and then whose shall those things be which he hath provided Luk. 12.19 20. Then who shall be the Lord and who the Knight or Gentleman and who shall wear the gay attire and who shall domineer and say Our will shall be done anâ— thus we will have it Then where is thâ— pleasure of lust and merry company anâ— meat drink and sports Methinks Soloâ—mons memento Eccles 11.9 should brinâ— them to themselves Rejoyce O young maâ— in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee iâ— the days of thy youth and walk in the wayâ— of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes 〈◊〉 but know thou that for all these things Goâ— will bring thee into judgement And as thâ— sound of these words I must shortly die methinks should be always in your ears so in reason the Question Whether must I then go should be always aâ— it were before your eyes till your soulâ— have received a satisfactory answer to it O what an amazing dreadful thing it is when an unsanctified unprepared soul must say I must depart from earth but I know not whither I know not whether unto Heaven or Hell Here I am now but where must I be for ever When men believe that their next habitation must be everlasting methinks the Question Whether must I goe should be day and night upon their minds till they can say upon good grounds I shall go to the blessed presence of the Lord O had you but the hearts of men within you methinks the sense of this one Question Whither must I go when I leave â—he flesh should so possess you that it should give your souls no rest till you were â—ble to say We shall be with Christ because he dwelleth in us here and hath sealed us and given us the earnest of his spirit or at least till you have good hopes of this and have done your best to make it sure And thus I have told you of how great importance it is to believers to attain assurance of the love of God and to know that Christ abideth in them And now I think you will confess I have proved the necessity of Self-knowledge both to the unregenerate and the regenerate though in several degrees and having opened the disease and shewed you the need of a remedy I am next to direct you in the application for the cure I Doubt not but there are many of the Hearers that by this time are desirous to be instructed how this self knowledge may be attained For whose satsfaction and for the reducing of all that hath been spoken into practise I shall next acquaint you with the Hinderances of Self-knowledge the removing of them being not the least point in the cure and with the Positive Directions to be practised for the attainment of it And because the Hinderances and Helps are contrary I shall open both together as we go on The Hinderances of self knowledge are some of them without us and some within us and so must be the Helps I. The external Hinderances are these 1. The failing of Ministers in their part of the work through unskilfulness or unfaithfulness is a great cause that so many are ignorant of themselves They are the Lights of the world and if they are ecâ—lipsed or put under a bushell if they are darkened by the snuff of their own corruptions or if they feed not their light by the oile of diligent studies and other endeavours or if they will not go â—long with men into the dark and unknown corners of the heart what wonder if mens hearts remain in darkness when those â—hat by office are appointed to afford them Light do fail them It is not a general dull discourse or critical observations upon words or the subtile decision of some nice and curious questions of the schools though these may be useful to their proper ends nor is it a neat and well composed speech about some other distant matters that is like to acquaint a sinner with himself How many sermons may we hear that to others ends are not unprofitable that are levelled at some mark or other that is very far from the Hearers hearts and therefore are never like to convince them or prick them or open and convert them And if our congregations were in such a case as that they needed no closer quickening work such preaching might be born with and commended But when so many usually sit before us that must shortly dye and are unprepared and that are condemned by the Law of God and must be pardoned or finally condemned that must be saved from their sins that they may be saved from everlasting misery I think it is time for us to talk to them of such things as most concern them and that in such a matter as may most effectually convince awake and change them When we come to them on their sick-beds we talk not then to them of distant or impertinent things oâ— words or forms or parties or by-opinions but of the state of their souls anâ— their appearing before the Lord and hoâ—
and built your hopes upon his promises and can with a cheerfull contempt let go the world for the accomplishment of your hopes remember yet that there is a secret root of unbelief remaining in you and that this odious sin is but imperfectly mortified in the best and that its more then possible that you may see the day when the tempter will assault you with questionings of the word of God and trouble you with the injections of blasphemous thoughts and doubts whether it be true or not and that you that have thought of God of Christ of Heaven of the Immortal state of souls with joy and satisfied confidence may be in the dark about them affrighted with ugly suggestions of the enemy and may think of them all with troublesome distracting doubts and be forced to cry with the Disciples Luke 17.5 Lord increase our faith And as he Mark 9.24 Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Yea worse then so some upright souls have been so amazed and distracted by the Tempter and their distempered hearts as to think they do not believe at all nor yet are able sincerely to say Lord help thou my unbelief When yet at that time their Fears and their abstaining from iniquity shew that they Believe the Threatnings and therefore indeed believe the word Now if we did but throughly know our selves when faith is in its exercise and strength and consider whither the secret seeds of remaining unbelief may bring us being fore-warned we should be fore-armed and should fortifie our faith the better and be provided against these sad assaults And if the malignant spirit be suffered to storm this fortress of the soul we should more manfully resist and we should not be overwelmed with horror as soon as any hideous and blasphemous temptations do assault us when Christ himself was not exempted from the most blasphemous temptation even the worshipping of the Devil instead of God though in him there was no sinfull disposition to entertain it Mat. 4.9.10 John 14.30 O watch and pray Christians in your most prosperous and comfortable state Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation For you little think what is yet within you and what advantage the deceiver hath and how much of your own to take his part and how low he may bring you both in point of Grace and Peace though he cannot damn you I am troubled that I must tell you of so sad a case that even the children of God may fall into lest by troubling you with the opening of your danger I should do any thing to bring you into it But because self-ignorance and not being before hand acquainted with it may do much more I have timely shewed you the danger with the remedy 5. Another instance of the darkness even of a Heart that in part is sanctified is in the successes of the temptations of Adversity When we want nothing we think we value not the world and we could bear the loss of all But when poverty or danger comes what trouble and unseemly whining is there as if it were by a worldling that is deprived of his Idol and all the portion that ever he must have And by the shamefull moan and stir that we make for what we want we shew more sinfull overvaluing of it and love to it then before we observed or would believe O how confidently and piously have I heard some inveigh against the Love of the world as if there had been no such thing in them who yet have been so basely dejected when they have been unexpectedly stript of their estates as if they had been quite undone How patiently do we think we could bear affliction till we feel it And how easily and piously can we exhort others unto patience when we have no sense of what they suffer But when our turn is come alas we seem to be other men Suffering is now another thing and Patience harder then we imagined And how inclinable are we to hearken to temptations to use sinfull means to come out of our sufferings Who would have thought that faithfull Abraham should have been so unbelieving as to equivocate in such a danger and expose the chastity of his wife to hazzard as we read in Gen. 12.12 13 19. And that he should fall into the same sin again on the same occasion Gen. 20. to Abimelech as before he had done with Pharaoh And that Isaac should after him fall into the same sin in the same place Gen. 26.7 The Life oâ— Faith doth set us so much above the fear of man and shew us the weakness and noâ—thingness of mortal worms and the faithâ—fulness and al-sufficiency of God that oâ— would think the frowns and threatnings 〈◊〉 a man should signifie nothing to us whâ—â— God stands by and giveth us such ampâ—â— promises and security for our confirmâ—â—tion and encouragement And yet whâ—â— base dejectedness and sinfull complianceâ— are many brought to through the fear 〈◊〉 man that before the hour of this tempâ—tation could talk as couragiously as any This was the case of Peter before mentioned and of many a one that hath woundeâ— conscience and wronged their profession by too cowardly a disposition which if it were fore-known we might do more for our confirmation and should betake our selves in time to Christ in the use of means for strength Few turn their backs on Christ or a good cause in time of tryal that are jealous of themselves before hand and afraid lest they should forsake him Few fall that are afraid of falling But the self-ignorant and self-confident are careless of their way and it is they that fall 6. Another instance that I may give you 〈◊〉 in the unexpected appearances of Pride 〈◊〉 those that yet are truly humble Huâ—ility speaks in their confessions aggravaâ—â—ng their sin and searching heart and life â—r matter of self-accusation They call â—hemselves Less then the least of all Gods â—â—ercies They are ready with the woman of Canaan Mat. 15.27 even to own the name â—f dogs and to confess themselves unworthy â—f the childrens crums and unworthy to â—read upon the common earth or to â—reath in the air or to live upon the patiâ—nce and provisions of God They will â—pend whole hours and dayes of humiliaâ—ion in confessing their sin and bewailâ—ng their weaknesses and want of grace â—nd lamenting their desert of misery They â—re oft cast down so much too low that they dare not own the title of Gods children nor any of his special grace but take themselves for meer unsanctified hardened sinners and all that can be said will not convince them that they have any saving interest in Christ nor hinder them from pouring out unjust accusations against themselves And all this is done by them in the uprightness of their hearts and not dissemblingly And yet would you think that with all this Humility there should be any pride and that the same person should lift up themselves and resist theâ— helps to further
knowledge of our Interest sitteth us for his Praise Psal 118.28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art 〈◊〉 God I will exalt thee Psal 116.16 17 O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thâ— servant and the son of thine handmaid thou hast â—â—â—sed my bonds I will offer 〈◊〉 thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and wiâ—â— call upon the name of the Lord His Praisâ— is for the Congregation of his Saintâ— Psal 141.1 2. Let Israel rejoyce in him thâ—â— made him let the children of Zion be joyâ—ful in their King Psal 148.13 14 Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent his glory iâ— above the earth and heaven He also exalteth the horn of his people the Praise of all his Saints even of the children of Israel 〈◊〉 people near unto him Psal 132.16 I will also cloath his priests with salvation and his Saints shall shout aloud for joy Praise is a work so proper for the Saints and Thanksgiving must be fed with the knowledge of your mercies that Satan well knoweth what he shall get by it and what you will lose if he can but hide your mercies from you The height of his malice is against the Lord and the next is against you and how can he shew it more then by drawing you to rob God of his Thanks and Praise when he hath blessed and enriched you with the chiefest of his mercies Labour therefore Christians to know that you have that Grace that may be the Matter and Cause of so sweet and acceptable an employment as the Praises of your Lord. 13. Moreover you should consider that without the knowledge of your interest in Christ you cannot live to the honour of your Redeemer in such a measure as the Gospel doth require The excellency of Gospel mercies will be veiled and obscured by you and will not be revealed and honoured by your lives Your low and poor dejected spirits will be a dishonour to the faith and hope of the Saints and to the Glorious inheritance of which you have so full a prospect in the promises If you take the son of a Prince in his infancy and educate him as the son of a plowman he will not live to the honour of his birth which he is not acquainted with The heirs of Heaven that know not themselves to be such may live like the heirs of Heaven as to uprightness and humility but not in the triumphant Joy nor in the couragious boldness which becometh a Believer What an injury and dishonour is to our Redeemer that when he hath done and suffered so much to make us happy we should walk as heavily as he had done nothing for us at all Anâ— when he hath so fully secured us of eveâ—â—lasting happiness and told us of it so eâ—â—presly that our Joy may be full we shouâ—â— live as if the Gospel were not the Gospel 〈◊〉 such things had never been promised or râ—â—vealed When Heaven is the Object aâ—â— the promise of God is the groundwork 〈◊〉 our faith we should live above all earthâ—â— things as having the honours and pleasure of the world under our feet accountinâ— all as loss and dung for the excellency of 〈◊〉 knowledge of Jesus Christ Phil. 3.8 whoâ— we should love though we have not seen him in whom though now we see him not yet bâ—â—lieving we should rejoyce with joy unspeakaâ—ble and full of glory as those that 〈◊〉 receive the end of their faith the salvation oâ— our souls 1 Pet. 1.8 9. And how caâ— we do this if we are still questioning the Love of Christ or our interesâ— in it Believers should with undaunted resolution charge through the armies of temptation and conquer difficulties and suffer for the name of Christ with joy accounting it a bessed thing to be persecuted 〈◊〉 righteousness sake because that theirs iâ— the kingdom of Heaven Because of the greatness of the Reward they should rejoyce and be exceeding glad Matth. 5.10 12. And how can they do this that believe not that the Reward and Kingdom will be theirs The Joys of faith and confidence on the promise and strength of Christ should overcome all inordinate fears of man For he hath said I will never fail thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say The Lord is my helper and I wiâ—l not fear what man shall do unto me Heb. 13.5.6 And how can we do this while we are questioning our part in the Christ and promise that we should thus boldly trust upon 14. Lastly consider that the knowledge of your part in Christ may make all sufferings easie to you You will be so much satisfied in God your portion as will abate the desires and drown the Joys and sorrows of the world You will judge the sufferings of this present time unwâ—rthy to be compared to the Glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 You will choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of the world as having respect to the recompence of reâ—ward Heb. 11.25 26. All this must bâ— done and will be done by true believers that have an assurance of their own sinceâ—rity They must and will forsake all and take up the Cross and follow Christ in hopâ— of a Reward in Heaven as it is offered theâ— in the Gospel when they know their speciaâ— interest in it For these are Christs termâ— which he imposeth on all that will be hiâ— Disciples Luk. 14.33 18.22 24 25. But you may certainly perceive that iâ— will be much more easie to part with all and undergoe and do all this wen we have the great encouragement of our assured inetrest then when we have no more but the common offer To instance in some particulars 1. Do you live where serious Godliness is derided and you cannot obey the word of God and seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness without being made the common scorn and the daily jeast and by-word of the company Let it be so If you know that you have Christ within you and are secured of the everlasting Joys will you feel will you regard such things as these â— shall the jeast of a distracted miserable fool abate the joy of your â—ssured happiness Princes and noblemen â—ill not forsake their dominions or Lord-ships nor cast away the esteem and â—omfort of all they have because the poor â—o ordinarily reproach them as Proud â—â—merciful oppressors They think they may bear the words of the miserable while â—hey have the the pleasure of prospe And shall not we give losers leave to â—alke We will not be mockt out of the comfort of our health or wealth our habitaâ—ions or our friends and shall we be mockt â—ut of the comfort of Christ and of the presence of the comforter himself If they that go naked deride you for having cloaths and they
hath been the study of their lives The matters in question are such as they have had experience of in themselves and others They have judged as hardly of themselves and of their own case as now they do of yours when theirs was the same as yours is now Do they pronounce you miserable as being strangers to the spirit of Christ So they did by themselves when they saw their sin and therefore they are impartial They have had before them multitudes alas too many in your case And you will regard the judgement of a Physicion that hath had many hundreds in hand that had the same disease as you They are men that are not willing to deceive you They deny themselves in telling you of your danger They know that smoother words would please you better And they have natures that desire mens love and favour rather then displeasure and ill will They are more impartial then you are and have not your self-interest and passion to blind them They are not abused in their judgement by the temptations of evil company or of worldly fleshly things as you are For these temptations more hinder us from judging our selves then other men They are the messengers of Christ appointed to give to each their portion and should not their judgement be regarded in the business committed to their trust And it is not one man or two or a hundred only that are of this mind Open thy case to all the judicious faithful Ministers in the land or in the world and open it truly and they will all tell thee that if thou die without converting sanctifying grace thou art lost for ever and that all the world cannot save thee from the everlasting wrath of God Try as many of them as you will and see if all of them tell you not the same thing And is all this nothing to thee presumptuous sinner that in the judgement of all the most able faithful Minsters of Christ thy soul should be in a state of death Art thou wiser then all the best and wisest in the matters of their own profession If all the Physicions in the countrey should tell thee that thou hast a disease that will certainly be thy death unless thou take some ene effectual medicine in time I think thou wouldest not slâ—ght their judgement and say They are too censorious that thou knowest thy condition better then they I think it would affright thee to seek after the remedy And why should not the judgement of the faithful Ministers about the state of thy soul be so far regarded as to awaken thee to a more careful enquiry and stir up a preventing and remedying fear If the judgement of Christs officers be not regardable then there is no matter of terror in excommunication nor no matter of comfort in Ministâ—rial Absolution O the madness of a hardened sinner that when he sheweth by the fruits of an ungodly life that he is a stranger to sanctification and liveth in the sins which the Scripture threatneth damnation to and hath no evidence of true conversion to shew will yet be confident of pardon and salvation let God and all his Ministers say what they will against itâ—â— and will rather be offended with hâ—s spiritual Physicions for telling him of the danger of his state and rail at them as if they did him wrong then he will see his danger and prevent his misery Let such a one hear the word of God if he have eares to hear Deut. 29.19 20 21 Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall wormwood and it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven the Lord shall separate him to evil c. And on the other side Is there any soul among you that in doubts and trouble hath opened his case to the faithful Ministers of Christ and their judgement is that your state is safe Is this the judgement not only of the weakest but the wisest not only of strangers but of those that know you best not only of one or two but of all or most of the judicious Ministers that ever you opened you case to even of the most honest and impartial that would not flatter you nor deceive you Yea and perhaps when desertions or Melancholy or passion or ignorance do make you unmeet to judge of your selves And doth all this seem nothing to you or a small matter It is not nothing It is not small I confess it is no ground of certainty They are but men It is a humane testimony But yet it is a testimony that may weigh down many of your own surmises and take off much of your distressing fears and may give much ease to troubled souls while they are seeking after surer knowledge It is a ground of comfort not to be despised or made light of Till you can come to see your evidences your selves and to be acquainted with the indwelling spirit as your witness you may much quiet your minds and take much comfort in this judgement and witness of the servants of the Lord that have a spirit of discerning and have that grace which acquainteth them with the nature of grace in others and that have been long exercised in the discerning of mens states It is possible an Hypocrite especially one that wilfully giveth them a false relation of himself may deceive them but it is Probable that it is not one of many they are deceived in when they know or have a good description of the Person If in a Law suit all the ablest Lawyers tell you that your cause is good it is possible they may be deceived but it is not likely If in a Feaver all the ablest Physicions tell you the danger is past it is possible yet that they may be all deceived But yet I think you would take some comfort in such a testimony so should you here Though the Judgement of Ministers be not infallible it may be much better then your own though about your selves and it may be set against the jealousies and fears of a disquiet soul and against abundance of the molesting suggestions of the accuser I do not by all this draw you to lay too much on man I advance them not too high and make them not Lords of your faith but helpers of your Joy I draw you not to any deceitful course nor into any way of danger to your souls I bid you not fully and finally rest in the judgement of man I bid you not neglect any means to come to fuller knowledge and certainty of your own sincerity I bid you
excellency on the skie The Eternal God hath been your refuge and underneath are the everlasting armâ— Deut. 34.26 27. You may remembeâ— the mercies of your younger years of youâ— maried state and of your widdow-hood your comforts in your truly Noble Lord though troubled and interrupted by his death yet increased by the consideration of his feâ—licity with Christ your comfort in youâ— hopeful issue though abated by the injurâ— of Romish theft which stole one of the Roseâ— of your Garden that they might boast of thâ— sweetness when they called it their own 〈◊〉 may well say stole it when all the cheaâ— was performed by unknown persons in thâ— dark and no importunity by you or 〈◊〉 could procure me one dispute or conference iâ— her hearing with any of the seducers beâ—fore her person was stoln away Though comforts conveyed by creatures must havâ— their pricks yet your experience hath partly taught you and more will do that by all thâ— mixtures of sower and bitter ingredients your Father doth temper you the most wholeâ—some composition He chasteneth you foâ— your profit that you may be partaker oâ— his Holiness Heb. 12.10 and the leasâ— degree of Holiness cannot be purchased at too dear a rate His rod and staffe have comforted you and whatever are the beginnings the End will be the quiet fruit of Righteousness when you have been exercised therein And though man be mutable and friends and flesh and heart have failed you yet God is still the strength of â—our heart and your portion for ever Psal â—3 26 O the variety of learning that is â—ontained in the secret writings of a sanctified heart The variety of subjects for the most â—ruitful and delightful thoughts which you â—ay find recorded in the inwards of your â—oul How pleasant is it there to find the â—haracters of the special Love of God the â—â—eaments of his Image the transcript of 〈◊〉 Law the harmony of his gifts and graces â—â—e witness the seal and the earnest of his â—pirit and the foretasts and beginnings of â—ternal Life As Thankfulness abhors â—â—livion and is a Recording grace and keepâ—â—h Histories and Catalogues of Mercies so 〈◊〉 it a Reward unto it self and by these Reâ—â—rds it furnisheth the soul with matter for â—he sweetest employments and delights Is it 〈◊〉 pleasant to you there to Read how God â—â—th confuted the objections of distrust how 〈◊〉 he hath condescended to your weakness and pardoned you when you could not easily forgive your self how oft he hath entertained you in secret with his Love and visited you with his consolations How neer him sometimes you have got in fervent prayer and serious meditation And when for a season he hath hid his face how soon and seasonably he returned How oft he hath found you weeping and hath wiped away your tears and calmed and quieted your troubled soul How he hath resolved your doubts and expelled your fears and heard your prayers How comfortably he hath called you His Child and given you leave and commanded you to call him Father when Christ hath brought you with boldness into his presence How sweet should it be to your remembrance to think how the Love of Christ hath sometime exalted you above these sublunary things How the Spirit hath taken you up to Heaven and shewed to your faith the Glory of the New Hierusalem the blessed company of those Holy spirits that attend the Throne of the Majesty of God and the shining face of your glorified Head By what seasonable and happy Messengers he hath sent you the Cluster of Grapes as the first fruits of the land of promise and commanded you oft to Take and Eate the Bread of Life How oft he hath reached to your thirsty soul the fruit of the Vine and turned it sacramentally into his blood and bid you drink it in remembrance of him till he come and feast you with his fullest Love and satisfie you with the pleasure and presence of his Glory But the volumes of mercy written in your heart are too great to be by me transcribed I can easily appeal to you that are acquainted with it whether such Heart-employment be not more pleasant and more profitable than any of the entertainments that flashy wit or gaudy gallantry or merriments luxurit or preferments can afford Is it not better converse with Christ at home than with such as are described Psa 12. abroad To dwell with all that blessed retinue Gal. 5.22 23. than with Pride Vainglory Envy Dissimulation Hypocrisie Falshood time-wasting soul-destroying pleasures to say nothing of the filthiness which Christian years abhor the mention of and which God himself in time will judge Eph. 5.3 4 5 6. Heb. 13.4 and the rest recited Gal. 5.19 20 21. If ungodly persons do find it more unpleasant to converse at home no wonder when there is nothing but darkness and defilement and when they have put God from them and entertained Satan so that their hearts are like to haunted houses where terrible cries and apparitions do make it a place of fear to the inhabitants But if their souls had such blessed inhabitants as yours could they meet there with a reconciled God a Father a Saviour and a sanctifier had they souls that kept a correspondency with Heaven it would not seem so sad and terrible a life to dwell at home and withdraw from that noise of vanity abroad which are but the drums and trumpets of the devil to encourage his deluded followers and drown the cries of miserable souls Your dearest friends and chiefest treasure are not abroad in Court or Country but above you and within you where then should your delightful converse be but where your friends and treasure are Matth. 6.21 Phil. 3.20 Col. 3.1 2 3 4. When then is almost nothing to be found in the conversation of the world but discord and distraction and confusion and clamours and malice and treachery is it not better to retire into such a heart where notwithstanding infirmities and some doubts and fears there is order and concord and harmony and such Peace as the world can neither give nor take away O blessed be the hand of Love that blotted out the names of Honour and Riches and Pleasures and carnal interest and accommodations from your heart and inscribed his own in Characters never to be obliterate That turned out Vsurpers and so prepared and furnished your heart as to make and judge it such as no one is worthy of it but himself O what a Court have you chosen for your abode How high and Glorious how pure and holy unchangeable and safe How ambitiously do you avoid ambition How great are you in the lowliness of your mind How high in your Humility Will no lower a place than Heaven content you to converse in For Heart-converse and Heaven-converse are as much one as beholding both the Glass and Face Will no lower correspondents satisfie you than the Host of Heaven Cannot the company of imperfect mortals serve your
and so make the way of life more difficult if not impossible had they indeed the Keyes by multiplying of their supposed Necessaries Did they but know themselves aright it were impossible they should dare to pass the sentence of damnation on the far greatest part of the Christian world because they are not subject to their pretended Vice-Christ Durst one of the most leprous corrupted sort of Christians in the world unchurch all the rest that will not be as bad as they condemn all other Christians as Heroticks for Schismaticks either for their adhering to the truth or for errors and faults far smaller then their own Did they know themselves and their own corruptions they durst not thus condemn themselves by so presumptuous and blind a condemnation of the best and greatest part of the Church of Christ which is dearest to him as purchased by his blood If either the Protestants or the Greeks or the Armenians Georgians Syrians Aegyptians or Aethiopian Churches be in as bad and dangerous a case as these Vsurping Censurers tell the world they are what then will become of the tyrannous superstitious polluted blood-thirsty Church of Rome What is it but Self-ignorance that perverteth the unsetled among us and sends them over to the Romane tents No man could rationally become a Papist if he knew himself Let me prove this to you in these four Instances 1. If he had but the knowledge of his Natural senses he could not take them to be all deceived and the senses of all other as well as his about their proper object and believe the Priests that Bread is no Bread or Wine no Wine when all mens senses testifie the contrary 2. Some of them turn Papists because they see some differences among other Christians and hear them call one another by names of contumely and reproach and therefore they think that such can 〈◊〉 no true Churches of Christ But if thâ—â— knew themselves they would be acquainted with more culpable errors in themselves then those for which many others are reproached and see how irrational a thing it is to change their Religion upon the scolding words or slanders of another or which is worse upon their own uncharitable censures 3. Some turn to the Papists as apprehending their Ceremonious kind of Religion to be an easier way to Heaven then ours But if they knew themselves they would know that it is a more solid and spiritual sort of food that their nature doth require and a more searching Physick that must cure their diseases and that shells and chaff will not feed but choak and starve their souls 4. All that turn Papists must believe that they were unjustified and out of the Catholick Church before and consequently void of â—he Love of God and special grace For they receive it as one of the Romish Articles that out of their Church there is no salvaâ—ion But if these persons were indeed beâ—ore ungodly if they knew themselves they would find that there is a greater matter â—ecessary then believing in the Pope and â—urning to that faction even to turn to God by faith in Christ without which no opinions or profession can save them But if they had the Love of God before then they were Justified and in the Church before and therefore Protestants are of the true Church and it is not confined to the Roman subjects So that if they knew this they could not turn Papists without a palpable contradiction The Papists fugitives tell us we are us true Ministers nor our Ministery effectual and blest of God What need we more then imitate Paul when his Ministery was accused and call them to the Knowledge of themselves Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith Prove your selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates If they were ungodly and void of the Love of God while they were under our Ministry no wonder if they turn Papists For its just with God that those that receive 〈◊〉 the Love of the truth that they may be saved be given over to strong delusions to believe a lye 2 Thes 2.10 11. But if they received themselves the Love of God in our Churches by our Ministry they shaâ—â— be our witnesses against themselves And it is others as well as Papists thâ—â— would be kept from Church divisions if they did but know themselves Church Governours would be afraid of laying things unnecessary as stumbling-blocks before the weak and of laying the Vnity and Peace of the Church upon them and casting out of the Vineyard of the Lord and out of their Communion all such as are not in such unnecessary or little things of their opinion or way The words of the great Apostle of the Gentiles Rom. 14.15 so plainly and fully deciding this matter would not have stood so long in the Bible as non-dicta or utterly insignificant in the eyes of so many Rulers of the Churches if they had known themselves as having need of their Brethrens charity and forbearance Him that is weak in the faith receive you but not to doubtfull disputations For one believeth that he may eat all things another that is weak eateth herbs Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not much less destroy him or excommunicate him and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth For God hath received him Who art thou that judgest another mans servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth yea he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind ver 13. Let us not therefore judge one another any more but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way ver 17. For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost 18. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Chap. 15.1 We then that are strong ought to bear with the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves v. 7. Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God Self-acquaintance would help men to understand these precepts and be patient with the weak when we our selves have so much weakness and not to vex or reject our brethren for little or unnecessary things lest Christ reject or grieve us that have greater faults Self-acquaintance also would do much to heal the dividing humour of the people and instead of separating from all that are not of their mind they would think themselves more unworthy of the Communion of the Church then the Church of theirs Self-acquaintance makes men tender and compassionate and cureth a censorious contemptuous mind It also silenceth passionate contentious disputes and makes men suspicious of their own understandings and therefore forbiddeth them intemperately
Hearken then whether â—e think that God or the world Heaven or â—arth Soul or body be more worthy of â—ans chiefest care and diligence and then â—udge whether such men did know themselves â—n their health and pride when all this talk would have been derided by them as too preâ—ise and such a life accounted over-strict and â—eedless as then they are approving and wishâ—ng they had lived When that Minister or â—riend should have once been taken for â—ensorious abusive self-conceited and unsufferable that would have talkt of them â—n that language as when Death approacheth they talk of themselves or would have spoke as plainly and hardly of them as they will then do of themselves Doth â—ot this mutability shew how few men now have a true knowledge of themselves What is the Repentance of the living and the Desperation of the damned but a declaration that the persons Repenting and Despairing were unacquainted with themselves before Indeed the erroneous Despair of men while Grace is offered them comes from Ignorance of the Mercy of God and willingness of Christ to receive all that arâ— willing to return But yet the sense of sin and misery that occasioneth this erroneous Despair doth shew that men were before erroneous in their presumption and self-esteem Saith Bernard in Cant. Vtraqâ—â— Cognitio Dei scilicet tui tibi necessariâ— est ad salutem quia sicut ex notitia tui venit in te timor Dei atque ex Dei notitia itidem amor sic è contra de ignorantia 〈◊〉 superbia ac de Dei ignorantia venit desperatio that is Both the knowledge of God and of thy self is necessary to salvation because as from the Knowledge of thy self the Fear of God cometh into thee and Love from the knowledge of God so on the contrary from the Ignorance of thy self cometh pride and from the Ignorance of God comes Desperation Quid est sapientia inquit Seneca Semper idem Velle idem Nolleâ—â— At non potest idem semper placere nisi rectum Wisdom appeareth in alwayes Willing and alwayes Nilling the same thing but its only Right and Good that can alwayes please Poor men that must confess their sin and misery at last would shew a more seasonable acquaintance with themselves if they would do it now and say with the Prodigal I will go to my Father and say to him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son In time this Knowledge confession may be saving Even a Seneca could say without the Scripture Initium est salutis notitia peccati Nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult Ideo quantum potes teipsum argue Inquire in te accusatoris primuÌ„ partibus fungere deinde judicis novissime deprecatoris i. e. The knowledge of sin is the beginning of recovery or health For he that knows not that he sinneth will not be corrected Reprehend thy self therefore as much as thou canst Inquire into thy self First play the part of an Accuser then of a Judge and lastly of one that asketh pardon It is not because men are Innocent or Safe that we now hear so little confession or complaint but because they are sinfull and miserable in so great a measure as not to Know or Feel it Quare vitia â—ua nemo confitetur inquit Seneca Quia â—tiam nunc in illis est Somnium narraâ—e vigilantis est vitia sua confiteri â—anitatis judicium est i. e. Why doth no â—an confess his vices Because he is yet in â—hem To tell his dreams is the part of a â—an that is awake and to confess his faults is a sign of health If you call a Poor man Rich or a deformed person beautifull or a vile ungodly person vertuous or an ignorant Barbarian learned will not the hearers think you do not know them And how should they think better of your knowledge of your selves if any of you that are yet in the flesh will say you are spiritual and those that hate the Holiness and Justice and Government of God will say they love him or those that are in a state of Enmity to God and are as near to Hell as the Execution is to the Sentence of the Law will perswade themselves and others that they are the Members of Christ the children of God and the heirs of Heaven and take it ill of any that would question it though only to perswade them to make it sure and to take heed what they trust to when endless Joy or Misery must be the issue 7. Doth it not manifest how little men know themselves when in every suffering that befals them they overlook the Cause of all within them and fall upon others or quarrel with every thing that standeth in their way Their contempt of God doth cast them into some affliction and they quarrel with the Instruments and medle not with the mortall cause at home Their sin finds them out and testifieth against them and they are angry with the â—od and repine at Providence as if God himself were more to be suspected of the Cause then they Yea it is become with many a serious doubt Whether God doth not Necessitate them to sin and Whether they omit not duty meerly because he will not give them power to perform it and Whether their sin be any other then a Relation unavoidably resulting from a Foundation laid by the hand of God himself Do men know themselves that will sooner suspect and blame the most Righteous Holy God then their own unrighteous carnal hearts Man drinketh up iniquity like water but there is no unrighteousnes with God Saith Innocent Conceptus est homo in foetore luxuria quódque deterius est in labe peccati natus ad laborem timorem dolorem c. Agit prava quibus offendit Deum offendit proximum offendit seipsum agit turpia quibus polluit famam polluit personam polluit conscientiam Agit vana quibus negligit sana negligit utilia negligit necessaria Man is conceived in the filth or stink of luxury or lust and which is worse in the stain of sin born to labour fear and pain c. He doth that which is evil to the offence of God his neighbour and himself He doth that which is filthy to the polluting of his fame his person and his Conscience He doth that which is vain neglecting what is sound and profitable and necessary And is not such a frail and sinfull wight more likely to be the cause of sin then God and to be culpable in all the ill that doth befall us And it shews that men little know themselves when all their complaints are poured out more fluently on others then themselves Like sick stomacks that find fault with every dish when the fault is within them Or like pained weak or froward children that quarrel with every thing that toucheth them when the cause is in themselves If they want
if you â—ere ofter in your hearts Prayer would not â—eem needless if you knew your needs Know your selves and be prayerless if you can When the Prodigal was convinced he presently purposeth to Confess and Pray When Paul was converted Ananias hath this evidence of it from God Behold he prayeth Act. 9.11 Indeed the inward part of prayer is the motion of a returning soul to God saith Hugo Oratio est piae mentis humilis ad Deum conversio fide spe charitate subnixa Prayer is the turning of a pious humble soul to God leaning upon faith hope and love It is Oranti subsidium Deo sacrificium daemonibus flagellum The relief of the Petitioner the sacrifice of God the scourge of Devils And self-knowledge would teach men how to pray Your own hearts would be the best Prayer-books to you if you were skilfull in reading them Did you see what sin is and in what Relation you stand to God to Heaven and Hell it would drive you above your beads and lifeless words of course and make you know that 〈◊〉 pray to God for pardon and salvation 〈◊〉 not a work for a sleepy soul saith 〈◊〉 Ille Deo veram Orationem exhibet 〈◊〉 metipsum cognoscit quia pulvis sit 〈◊〉 videt qui nihil sibi virtutis tribuit 〈◊〉 He offereth the truest prayer to God 〈◊〉 knoweth himself that humbly seeth he is but dust and ascribeth not vertue to himself c. Nothing quencheth prayer more then to be mistaken or mindless about our selves When we go from home this fire goes out But when we return and search our hearts and see the sins the wants the weaknesses that are there and perceive the danger that is before us and withall the glorious hopes that are offered us here 's fuell and bellows to enflame the soul and cure it of its drowsiness and dumbness Help any sinner to a clearer light to see into his heart and life and to a livelyer sense of his own condition and I warrant you he will be more disposed to fervent prayer and will better understand the meaning of those words Luke 18.1 That men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint and 1 Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing You may hear some impious persons now disputing against frequent and fervent prayer and saying What need all this ado But if you were able to open these mens eyes and shew them what is within them and before them you would quickly answer all their arguments and convince them better then words can do and put an end to the dispute You would set all the prayerless families in Town and Country Gentlemens and poor mens on fervent calling upon God if you could but help them to such a sight of their sin and danger as shortly the stoutest of them must have Why do they pray and call for prayers when they come to die but that they begin a little better to know themselves They see then that youth and health and honour are not the things nor make them not so happy as befooling prosperity once perswaded them Did they believe and consider what God saith of them and not what flattery and self-love say it would open the mouths of them that are most speechless But those that are born deaf are alwayes dumb How can they speak that language with desire to God which they never learn't by faith from God or by knowledge of themselves And self-knowledge would teach men what to ask They would feel most need of spiritual mercies and beg hardest for them and for outward things they would ask but for their daily bread and not be foolishly importunate with God for that which they know not to be suitable or good for them Fideliter supplicans Deo pro necessitatibus hujus vitae miserecorditer auditur miserecorditer non auditur Quid enim infirmo sit utilius magis novit medicus quam agrotus saith Prosper It s mercy to be denyed sometimes when we pray for outward things Our Physition and not we must choose our Physick and prescribe our diet And if men knew themselves it would teach them on what terms to expect the hearing of their prayers Neither to be accepted for their merits nor yet to be accepted without that faith and Repentance and desire that seriousness humility and sincerity of heart which the very nature of Prayer to God doth contain or presuppose He that nameth the name of Christ must depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 and must wash himself and make him clean and put away the evil of his doings from before the eyes of God and cease to do evil and learn to do well Isa 1.16 17. As knowing that though a Simon Magus must Repent and Pray Acts 8.22 and the wicked in forsaking his way and thoughts and returning to the Lord must seek him while he may be found and call upon him while he is near Isa 55.6 7. and the prayers of a humbled Publican are heard when he sets his prayer against his sins Yet if he would cherish his sin by prayer and flatter himself into a presumption and security in a wicked life because he useth to ask God forgiveness iâ— he thus regard iniquity in his heart God will not hear his prayers Psal 66.18 and we know that such impenitent sinners God heareth not John 9.31 And thus the prayers of the wicked as wicked which are not a withdrawing from his wickedness but a bolster of his security and as a craving of protection and leave to sin are but an abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.8 28 9. Ferrum prius extrahendum The bullet the thorn must be first got out before any medicine can heal their wounds Saith Augustine Plus Deo placet latratus canum mugitus boum grunnitus porcorum quan cantus clericorum luxuriantium The barking of dogs the lowing of beasts the grunting of swine doth please God better then the singing of luxuriant Clergy men Did men know themselves and who they have to do with in their prayers they would not go from Cards and Dice and gluttony and fornication and railing lying or reviling at the servants of the Lord to a few hypocritical words of prayer to salve all till the next time and wipe their mouthâ— as if one sin had procured the forgiveness of another Nor would they shut up a day â—f worldliness ambition sensuality or â—rofaneness with a few heartless words of confession and supplication or with the words of penitence while their hearts are impenitent as if when they have abused God by sin they would make him amends or reconcile him by their mockery Nor would they think to be accepted by Praying for that which they would not have for holiness when they hate it and for deliverance from the sins which they would not be delivered from and would not have their prayers granted 7. If you know not your selves it will unfit you for Thanksgiving Your greatest Mercies will be least
esteemed And the lesser will be misesteemed And while you are unthankfull for what you have you will be absurdly thanking God for that which indeed you have not What inestimable Mercies are daily trodden under feet by sinners that know not their worth because they know not their own necessities They have Time to Repent and make preparation for an endless life But they know not the worth of it but unthankfully neglect it and cast it away on the basest vanities As if worldly cares or wicked company or fleshly lusts or Cards or Dice or revellings or idleness were exercises in which they might better improve it then the works of Holiness Justice and Mercy which God hath made the business of their lives Or as if the profits and pleasures and vain glory of this world did better deserve it then their Creator and their own souls and the Heavenly inheritance But if their eyes were opened to see where they stand and what they are and what are their dangers and necessities how thankfull would they be for one year one moneth one day one hour to Repent and cry to God for Mercy and how sensibly would they perceive that a hundred years time is not too long to spend in serious preparation for eternity They have now the faithfull Ministers of Christ inviting them in his name to come to him and receive the riches of his grace and beseeching them in his stead to be reconciled unto God Mat. 22. 2 Cor. 5.19 20. But they stop their ears and harden their hearts and stiffen their necks and love not to be disturbed in their sins but are angry with those that are sollicitous for their salvation and revile them as too precise and strict that tell them of the One thing needfull and perswade them to choose the better part and tell them where their sin will leave them They take them for their friends that will encourage them in the way that God condemneth and be merry with them in the way to endless sorrow and flatter them into security and impenitency till the time of grace be past but they hate them as their enemies that faithfully reprove them and tell them of their folly and call them to a safer better way Alas Sirs there would not be so many Nations Congregations and Souls now left in darkness and misery by their own doing having driven away the Mercy of the Gospel and thrust their faithfull Teachers from them if they knew themselves Men would not triumph in their own calamity when they have expelled their faithfull Teachers the dust of whose feet the sweat of their brows the tears of their eyes and the fervent prayers and groans of their hearts must witness against them if they knew themselves They would not be like a mad man that glorieth that he hath beaten away his Physition and his friends and is left to himself if they knew themselves When they have the earnest Calls of the Word without and convictions and urgings of the Spirit of God and their Consciences within they would not wilfully go on and cast these mercies at their heels if they knew themselves They have leave to joyn in the Communion of Saints and to enjoy the benefit of holy Society in prayer and conference and mutual love and spiritual assistance and in the publick worship of God but they pass these by as having more of trouble and burden then of mercy because they little know themselves And their inferior Mercies of Health and Wealth and food and rayment and friends and accommodations they misesteem and misuse and value them but as provision for the flesh and the satisfaction of their sensual and inordinate desires and not as their necessary provision for their duty in the way to Heaven And therefore they are most thankfull for their greatest snares For that honour and abundance which are stronger temptations then they can overcome For those fleshly contentments and delights which are the enemies of grace and the prison of their noblest faculties and the undoing of their souls If they could for shame speak out they would thank God more for a whore or a succesfull gain or the favour of their earthen gods or for preferment or commodity lands or houses then ever they did for all the offers of Christ and grace and all the invitations to a holy life For there is much more joy and pleasure in their hearts for the former then the latter And Self-ignorance will also corrupt your Thanksgiving and turn it into sin and folly Is it not shame and pitty to hear an unpardoned enemy of Holiness and of God to thank God that he is Justified and Reconciled to God and Adopted to be his child and made a member of Jesus Christ And to hear a carnal unregenerate person give thanks for his Regeneration and Sanctification by the Holy Ghost As it is to hear a leper give thanks for perfect health or a fool or mad man thank God for making him wiser then his neighbours Is it not pitty to hear a miserable soul thank God for the Grace which he never had and one that is near eternal misery to thank God for making him an heir of Glory O how many have thankt God Pharisaitally for the pardon of their sins that must for ever suffer for those sins How many have thanked him for giving them the assured hopes of Glory that must be thrust out into endless misery As I having known many that by their friends and by theâ—â—selves have been flattered into consiâ—â—â— hopes of life when they were ready 〈◊〉 die have thankt God that the were 〈◊〉 well and the worst was past which in 〈◊〉 eyes of judicious standers by was not 〈◊〉 least aggravation of their sad and deploâ—â—â—ble state Methinks it is one of the sadâ—dest spectacles in the world to hear a 〈◊〉 thanking God for the assurance of salvaâ—â—â—on that is in a state of condemnation and like to be in Hell for ever These absurdities could not corrupt your highest duâ—ties and turn them into sin if you knew your selves A man that knoweth his own necessitiâ—â— and unworthiness is thankfull for a little to God and man Mercy is as no mercy when there is no sense of need or misery Sapienti notum est quanti res quaeque taxanda sit saith Seneca Therefore God useth to humble them so low in the work of conversion whom he meaneth ever after to imploy 〈◊〉 the magnifying of his grace And then that which is folly and hypocrisie from a Pharisee will be an acceptable sacrifice from a humbled gratefull soul and he that by Grace is differenced from other men may modestly thank God that he is not as other men For had he nothing more to thank God for then the ungodly world he would be rejected and perish with the world And if he have more then the world and yet be no more thankfull then the world he would be guilty of greater unthankfulness then the world Non
Physicion And they must tell us themselves what medicine must be given them what doctrine and what administrations they must have But self-acquaintance would teach them to understand that of Augustine Novit medicus quid salutiferum quidve contrarium petat aegrotus Aegroti estis nolite ergo dictare quae vobis medicamnia velit opponere Yea they that will not be directed or healed by us will blame us if others be not healed and hit the Minister in the teeth with the errors and faults of his unteachable hearers Though we do our best in season and out of season and they cannot tell us what we have neglected on our part that was like to do the cure though I confess we are too often negligent and though we succeed to the conversion of many others yet must we be reproached with the disobedience of the impenitent as if it were not grief enough to us to have our labours frustrate and see them obstinate in their sin and misery but we must also be blamed or derided for our calamity Fecerit postquam quicquid jubet ipsa medendi Norma nisi valeat subitoque revixerit aeger Murmurat insipiens vulgus linguaq loquaci Et loquitur de te convitia talia jactans Hen mihi quam stultum est medicorum credere nugis As if they knew not the power of the disease and what a wonder of mercy it is that any and so many are recovered Non est in medico semper reveletur ut aeger Interdum docta plus valet arte malum None would die if Physicions could cure all And none would perish if Ministers could save all Rhetor non semper persuadebit nec medicus semper sanabat saith the Philosopher They cast away the medicine and then blame the Physicion Crudelem vel infalicem medicum intemeperans eger facit An intemperate unruly patient maketh the Physition seem cruel or unsuccesfull 12. Lastly consider but how many how great and necessary things concerning your selves you have to know and it will shew you how needfull it is to make this the first of your studies To know what you are as men with what faculties you are endowed and to what use for what end you live in what Relation you stand to God and to your fellow creatures what duties you owe what sin is in your hearts and what hath been by commission and omission in your lives what humiliation contrition and repentance you have for that sin Whether you have truly entertained an offered Christ and are renewed and sanctified by his spirit and unreservedly devoted to God and resolved to be entirely his Whether you Love him above all and your neighbours as your selves Whether you are Justified and have forgiveness of all your sins Whether you can bear afflictions from the hand or for the sake of Christ even to the forsaking of all the world for the hopes of the heavenly everlasting treasure how you perform the daily works of your relations and callings Whether you are ready to die and are safe from the danger of damnation O did you but know how it concerneth you to get all these questions well resolved you would find more matter for your studies in your selves then in many volumes You would then perceive that the matters of your own hearts and lives are not so lightly and carelesly to be past over as they ordinarily be by drowsie sinners To consider but Quid Quis Qualis sis Quid in natura Quis in persona Qualis in vita ut Bern. would find you no small labour And it would redound saith another in utilitatem sui charitatem proximi contemptum mundi amorem Dei to our own profit charity to our neighbour the contempt of the world and the love of God If you have but many weighty businesses to think on in the world you are so taken up with care that you cannot turn away your thoughts And yet do you find no work at home where you have such a world of things to think on and such as of all the matters in the world do nearliest concern you Having shewed you so much Reason for this duty let me now take leave to invite you all to the serious study of your selves It is a duty past all controversie agreed on by heathens as well as Christians and urged by them in the generall though many of the particulars to be knowne are beyond their light It brutifyeth man to be ignorant of himself Man that is in honour and understandeth not himself especially is as the beasts that perish Psal 49.20 saith Boetius Humana natura infra bestias redigitur si se nosse desierit Nam caeteris animantibus sese ignorare natura est hominibus vitio venit Its worse then beastly to be ignorant of our selves it being a vice in us which is nature in them Come home you wandering self-neglecting souls Lose not your selves in a wilderness or tumult of impertinent vaine distracting things your work is neerer you The country that you should first survey and travaile is within you from which you must pass to that above you when by losing your selves in this without you you will find your selves before you are aware in that below you And then as Gregory speakes he that was stultus in culpa a foole in sining will be sapiens in poena wise in suffering you shall then have time enough to review your lives and such constraining help to know your selves as you cannot resist O that you would know but a little of that now that then you must elss know in that overwhelming evidence which will everlastingly confound you And that you would now thinke of that for a timely cure which els must be thought of endlesly in despair Come home then and see what work is there Let the eyes of fooles be in the corners of the earth Leave it to men besides themselves to live as without themselves and to be still from home and waste that time in other business that was given them to prepare for life eternall Laudabilior est animus cui nota est infirmitas propria quam qui ea non perspecta mania muÌ„di vias syderum fundamenta terrarum fastigia caelorum scrutatur inquit August The soule is more laudable that knowes its own infirmity then he that without discerning this doth search after the compass of the world the courses of the starres the foundations of the earth and the heights of the heavens Dost thou delight in the mysteryes of nature consider well the mysteryes of thy own Mirantur aliqui altiudines montium ingentes fluctus mariâ— altissimos lapsus fluminum Oceani â—â—bitum gyros syderum relinquunt seipsos nec mirantur saith Augustine some men admeire the heights of mountaines the huge waves of the sea the great falls of the rivers the compass of the Ocean and the circuit of the stars and they passe by them themseves without admiration The compendium of all
Heart to Prayer or Holy conference but loathes them and is weary of them and had rather talk of fleshly pleasures to pretend that yet his Heart is Good and that God will excuse him for not expressing it and that it is his Prudence and his freedome from Hypocrisie that maketh his tongue to be so much unacquainted with the goodness of his Heart this is but to play the Hypocrite to prove that he is no Hypocrite and to cover his Ignorance in the matters of his Salvation with the expression of his Ignorance of the very nature and use of Heart and Tongue and to cast by the Lawes of God and his owne duty and cover this impiety with the name of Prudence If Heart and Tongue be not used for God what do you either with a Heart or Tongue The case is plaine to men that can see that it is your strangness to your selves that is the cause that you have little to say against yourselves when you should confess your sins to God and so little to say for your selves when you should beg his grace and so little to say of your selves when you should open your hearts to those that can advise you But that you see not that this is the Cause of your Dumbness who see so little of your owne corruptions is no wonder while you are so strange at home Had you but so much knowledge of yourselves as to see that it is the strangeness to your selves that maketh you so prayerless and mute and so much sense as to complaine of your darkness and be willing to come into the light it were a signe that light is coming in to you and that you are in a hopefull way of cure But when you neither know yourselves nor know that you do not know yourselves your Ignorance and Pride are like to cherish your Presumption and impiety till the Light of grace or the fire of Hell have taught you better to know your selves 2. And here you may understand the reason why people fearing God are so apt to accuse and condemn themselves to be too much cast downe and why they that have cause of greatest joy do somtimes walk more heavily then others It is because they know more of their sinfulness and take more notice of their inward corruptions and outward failings then presumptuous sinners do of theirs Because they know their faults and wants they are cast down But when they come farther to see their interest in Christ and grace they will be raised up againe Before they are converted they usually presume as being ignorant of their sin and misery In the infancy of grace they know these but yet languish for want of more knoledge of Christ and mercy But he that knoweth fully both himself and Christ both misery and mercy is humbled and comforted Cast downe and exalted As a man that never saw the sea is not afraid of it and he that seeth it but a farre off and thinks he shall never come neere it is not much afraid of it he that is drowned in it is worse then afraid and he that is tossed by the waves and doubteth of ever coming safe to harbour is the fearfull person he that is tossed but hath good hopes of a safe arrivall hath feares that are abated or overcome with hope but he that is safe-landed is past his feares The first is like him that never saw the misery of the ungodly the Second is like him that seeth it in generall but thinks it doth not belong to him the third is like the damned that are past remedie the fourth is like the humbled doubting Christian that seeth the danger but doth too much question or forget the helpes the fifth is like the Christian of a stronger faith that sees the danger but withall seeth his help and safety the sixth is like the glorifyed saints that are past the danger Though the doubting Christian know rot his sincerity and therefore knoweth not himself so well as the strong believer doth yet in that he knoweth his sinfullness and unworthyness he knoweth himself better then the presumptuous world These two Remarkes with the foregoing Caution having interposed some what out of place I now returne to prosecute my Exhortation that no matters may seem so sweet so honourable so great or necessary as to pass with you for excuses for the neglecting of the most diligent and impartiall study of yourselves All persons to whom I can address this Exhortation are either Godly or ungodly in the state of sin or in the state of Grace And both of them have need to study themselves I. And to begin with the unrenewed carnall sort it is they that have the greatest need to be better acquainted with themselves O that I knew how to make them sensible of it If any thing will doe it me thinkes it should be done by acquainting them how much their endless state is concerned in it In order hereunto let me yet adde to all that is said already these few considerations 1. If you know not yourselves you know not whether you are the children of God or not nor whether you must be for ever in Heaven or Hell no nor whether you may not within this houre behold the angry face of God which will frowne you into damnation And is this a matter for a man of Reason to be quietly and contentedly ignorant of It is a business of such unspeakable concernment to know whether you must be everlastingly in Heaven or Hell that no man can spare his cost or paines about it without betraying and disgracing his understanding you are sure you shall be here but a little while Those Bodies you all know will hold your souls but a little longer As you know that you that are now together here attending must presently quit this roome and be gone so you know that when you have staid a little longer you must quit this world and be gone into another And I think there is not the proudest of you but would be taken downe nor the most sluggish or dead-hearted but would be awakened if you knew that you must goe to endless misery and that your dying houre would be your enterance into Hell And if you know not your selves you know not but it may be so And to know nothing to the contray would be terrible to you if you well considered it especialy when you have so much cause to feare it O Sirs for a man to sit here sencelesly in these seats that knows not but he may burne in Hell for ever and knowes not because he is blind and careless how unsuitable is it to the principle of self love and self preservation and how much unbeseemiâ—â— the Rational Nature to have no 〈◊〉 or care when you looke before you unto the unquenchable fire and the utter darkness where as the Heathen Poet speakes Nec mortis poenas mors altera finiet hujuâ— Horaque erit tantis ultima nulla malis If any
fall their sin and misery of the Redeemer and the sure and free salvation which they may have if they will but come to him But alas we cannot make them believe that they are so sick as to have so much need of the Physicion and that they are dead and have need of a new creation as to the inclinations of their hearts and the end and bent and business of their lives We are sent to tender them the mercy of Christ but we cannot make them believe that they are miserable We are sent to offer them the riches and eye selve and white rayment of the Gospel but we cannot make them know that they are poor and blind and naked We are sent to call them to Repent and Turn that they may be saved and we cannot make them know that they are so far out of the way as to need a change of heart and life Here they sit before us and we look on them with pitty and know not how to help them We look on them and think alas poor souls you little see what death will quickly make you see You will then see that there is no salvation by all the blood and merits of Christ for any but the sanctified but O that we could now but make you understand it We look on them with compassion and think Alas poor souls as easily and quietly as you sit here a change is neer It will be thus with you but a little while and where will you be next We know as sure as the word of God is true that they must be converted and sanctified or be lost for ever and we cannot make them believe but that the work is done already The Lord knoweth and our consciences witness to our shame that we be not half so sensible of their misery nor so compassionate towards them as we ought to be but yet sometimes our hearts melt over them and fain we would save them from the wrath to come and we should have great hopes of the success if we could but make them know their danger It melts our hearts to look on them and think that they are so near damnation and never like to scape it till they know it till they know that their corruption is so great that nothing but the quickning spirit can recover them and nothing less then to become new creatures will serve the turn But if we would never so fain we cannot make them know it O that we knew how to acquaint them with their case O that we knew how to get within them and to open the windows that the light of Christ might shew them their condition But when we have done all we find it past our power We know they will be past help in Hell if they die before they are regenerate And could we but get themselves to know it we could not but hope that they would better look about them and be saved but we are not able it s more then we can do We cannot get the grossest worldling the basest sensualist the filthiest letcher the proudest child of the Spirit of pride to know that he is in a state of condemnation and must be sanctified or be damned much less can we procure the formal Pharisee thus to know himself We can easily get them to confess that they are sinners and deserve damnation and cannot be saved without Christ But this will not serve The best Saint on earth must say as much as this comes to There are converted and uncoverted sinners sanctifyed and unsanctified sinners Pardoned and unpardoned sinners Sinners that are members of Christ and the children of God and heirs of Heaven and sinners that are not so but contrary They must know not only that they are sinners but that they are yet unconverted unsanctified unpardoned sinners not only that they cannot be saved without Christ but that yet they have no special interest in Christ They will not Turn while they think they are turned already They will not so value and seek for Conversion and Remission and Adoption as to obtain them while they think they have them all already They will not come to Christ that they may have life while they think they have part in Christ already Paul after his Conversion was a sinner and had need of Christ but Paul before his Conversion was an unsanctified unjustified sinner and had no part in Christ This is the state of sin and misery that you must come out of or you are lost And how can you be brought out of it till you know that you are in it O therefore that we knew how to make you know it How should we make poor sinners see that they are within a few steps of everlasting fire that we might procure them to run away from it and be saved we cry so oft and lose our labour and leave so many in their security and self-deceits that we are too discouraged and remit our desires and lose our compassion and our selves alas grow dull and too insensible of their case and preach too oft as coldly as if we could be content to let them perish We are too apt to grow weary of holding the light to men asleep or that shut their eyes and will not see by it When alâ— that we have said is not regarded and we know not what more to say then hath been said so long in vain this flats our spirits this makes so many of us preach almost as carelesly as we are heard Regardless sleepy hearers make regardless sleepy Preachers Frequent frustration abateth hope And the fervour and diligence of prosecution ceaseth as hope abateth This is our fault Your insensibility is no good excuse for ours But it s a fault not easily avoided And when we are stopt at the first door and cannot conquer Satans out works what hopes have we of going further If all that we can say will not convince you that you are yet unsanctified and unjustified how shall we get you to the duties that belong to such in order to the attainment of this desireable state ANd here I think it not unseasonable to inform you of the reason why the most able faithfull Ministers of Christ do search so deep and speak so hardly of the case of unrenewed souls as much displeaseth many of their hearers and makes them say they are too severe and terrible preachers The zealous Antinomian saith they are Legalists and the prophane Antimonian saith they rail and preach not mercy but judgement only and would drive men to despair and make them mad But will they tell God he is a Legalist for making the Law even the Gospel Law as well as the Law of Nature and commanding us to preach it to the world Shall they escape the Sentence by reproaching the Law-maker Will not God judge the world and judge them by a Law and will he not be just and beyond the reach of their reproach O sinner this is not the smallest part of
Are these the men that lately in distress did seem so humble penitent and sincere that seemed so much above these vanities that could speak with so much contempt of all the glory and pleasures of the world and with so much pitty of those vertiginous men that they now admire O what pillars have been shaken by prosperity what promises broken what sad eruptions of Pride and worldliness What openings and sad discoveries of heart doth this alluring charming tryal make And why is it that men know not themselves when they are exalted but because they did not sufficiently know themselves when they were brought low nor suspected enough the purposes and promises of their hearts in the day of their distress 4. We would little think when the Heart is warmed and raised even to Heaven in holy Ordinances how cold it will grow again and how low it will fall down And when we have attained the clearest sight of our sincerity we little think how quickly all such apprehensions may be lost and the mis-judging soul that reckons upon nothinâ— but what it sees or feels at present maâ— be at as great a loss as if it had never peâ—â—ceived any fruits of the spirit or lineamenâ— of the Image of God upon it self Hoâ— confident upon good grounds is 〈◊〉 an honest heart of its sincerity How ceâ—â—tain that it desireth to be perfectly Holy 1. That it would be rid of the nearest deareâ— sin 2. That it loves the Saints 3. That 〈◊〉 loves the light of the most searching Miniâ—stry 4. And loveth the most practical sanctâ—â—fying truths 5. And loves the Ministry 〈◊〉 means that have the greatest and most powerâ—full tendency to make themselves more 〈◊〉 all which are certain evidences of sinceâ—rity How clearly may the Heart perceiâ—â— all these and write them down and 〈◊〉 ere long have lost the sight and sense 〈◊〉 them all and find it self in darkness anâ— confusion and perhaps be perswaded thâ—â— all is contrary with them And when they read in their Diary or Book of Heart acâ—counts that at such a day in examination they found such or such an Evidence and such a one at another and many at a third yet now they may be questioning whether all this were not deceit because it seemâ— â—ontrary to their present sight and feeling â—or it is present light that the mind discernâ—â— by and not by that which is past and 〈◊〉 and of which we cannot so easily â—â—dge by looking back They find in their â—ccounts At such a time I had my soul â—â—larged in ptayer and at such a time I â—as full of Joy and at another time I had â—rong assurance and boldness with God 〈◊〉 confidence of his love in Christ and â—oubted not of the pardon of all my sins 〈◊〉 the Justification or acceptance of my â—erson But now no Joy no Assurance no â—oldness or confidence or sense of Love â—nd pardon doth appear but the soul â—â—emeth dead and carnal and unrenewed â—s the same trees that in Summer are beauâ—â—fied with pleasant fruits and flowers in Winter are deprived of their natural ornaments and seem as dead when the life is â—etired to the root The soul that once â—ould have defied the Accuser if he had â—old him that he did not Love the brethren â—or Love the sanctifying word and means â—or desire to be Holy and to be free from Sin is now as ready to believe the accusation and will sooner believe the tempter â—hen the Minister that watcheth for them 〈◊〉 one that must give account Yea now it will turn the Accuser of it self and 〈◊〉 as Satan and falsly charge it self with thâ— which Christ will acquit it of And 〈◊〉 Christ be put to Justifie us against our selvâ—â— as well as against Satan The same woâ—â— that a well composed believer hath in coâ—â—futing the calumnies of Satan the saâ—â— hath a Minister to do in confuting the faâ—â— accusations of disturbed souls against theâ— selves And how subtile how obstinaâ—â— and tenacious are they as if they 〈◊〉 learned some of the Accusers art such 〈◊〉 the uncharitable and malicious are agaiâ—â—â— their neighbours in picking quarrels wiâ—â— all that they say or do in putting the woâ—â— construction upon all in taking everâ— thing in the most uncharitable sense in aâ—â—gravating the evil extenuating the gooâ— in faining things against them that they 〈◊〉 not guilty of and denying or hiding all that commendable just such are poor disquieteâ— souls against themselves so unjust and 〈◊〉 censorious as that if they dealt as ill 〈◊〉 others they would have the more cause foâ— some of these accusations of themselves And there is not a soul so high in joâ— and sweet assurance but is lyable to faâ— as low as this And it makes our case to 〈◊〉 much more grievous then otherwise it woulâ— be because we know not our selves in the hour of our Consolations and think not how apt we are to lose all our joy and what seeds of doubts and fears and grief â—re still within us and what cause we have â—o expect a change And therefore when â—o sad a change befalleth us so contrary â—o our expectations it surprizeth us with â—error and casteth the poor soul almost â—nto despair Then cryeth the distressed â—â—nner Did I ever think to see this â—ay Are my hopes and comforts come to â—his Did I think so long that I was a child â—f God and must I now perceive that he â—isowneth me Did I draw near him as 〈◊〉 my Father and place my hope in his â—elief and now must my mouth be stopt with â—nbelief and must I look at him afar off â—nd pass by the doors of mercy with despair â—s all my sweet familiarity with the godly â—nd all my comfortable hours under the preâ—ious means of grace new come to this O how the poor soul here calls it self 〈◊〉 O vile apostate miserable sinner O that 〈◊〉 had never lived to see this gloomy day It â—ad been better for me never to have known â—he way of righteousness then thus to have â—lapsed and have all the prayers that I â—ave put up and all the Sermons I have heard and the books that I have read 〈◊〉 aggravate my sin and misery O how maâ—ny a poor Christian in this dark mis-judgeâ—ing case is ready with Job to curse the daâ— that he was born and to say of it Let it 〈◊〉 darkness let not God regard it from aboâ—â— neither let the light shine upon it Let it 〈◊〉 be joyned to the dayes of the year let it 〈◊〉 come into the number of the moneths â—â—â—cause it shut not up the doors of the womb 〈◊〉 hid not sorrow from mine eyes Why dyâ— I not from the womb Why did I not give 〈◊〉 the ghost when I came out of the belly 〈◊〉 did the knees prevent me or why the 〈◊〉 that I should suck For now should I haâ—â— lain still and been quiet Wherefore is ligâ—â— given to him that is in misery
take ye thought for rayment If God so clothe the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you O ye of little faith So in Mat. 16.7 8. The seed that Christ likeneth his kingdom to Mat. 13.31 hath life while it is buried in the earth and is visible while a little seed but is not so observed as when it cometh to be as a tree Though God despise not the day of little things Zech. 4.10 and though he will not break the bruised reed or quench the smoaking flax Isa 42.3 yet our selves or others cannot discern and value these obscure beginnings as God doth But because we cannot easily find a little faith and a little Love when we are looking for it we take the non-appearance for a non-existence and call it none 3. Sanctification is oft unknown to those that have it because they do not try and judge themselves by sure infallible Marks the Essentials of the new man but by uncertain qualifications that are mutable and belong but to the beauty and activity of the soul The Essence of Holiness as denominated from the object is the Consent to the three Articles of the Covenant of Grace 1. That we give up our selves to God as our God and Reconciled Father in Jesus Christ 2. That we give up our selves to Jesus Christ as our Redeemer and Saviour to recover us reconcile us and bring us unto God 3. That we give up our selves to the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier to guide and illuminate us and perfect the Image of God upon us and prepare us for Glory The Essence of Sanctification as denominated from its opposite objects is nothing but our Renunciation and Rejection of the flesh the World and the Devil of Pleasures Profits and Honours as they would be preferred before God and draw us to forsake him The Essence of Sanctification as denominated from our Faculties which are the subject of it is nothing but this preferring of God and Grace and Glory above the said Pleasures Profits and Honours 1. By the Estimation of our Vnderstandings 2. By the Resolved habituate Choice of our Wills 3. And in the bent and drift of our Endeavours in our Conversations In these three Acts as upon the first three objects and against the other three objects lyeth all that is Essential to Sanctification and that we should judge of our sincerity and title to salvation by as I before shewed But besides these there are many desireable qualities and gifts which we may seek for and be thankfull for but are not Essential to our Sanctification Such are 1. The knowledge of other Truths besides the Essentials of Faith and duty and the soundness of judgement and freedom from error in these lesser points 2. A strong memory to carry away the things that we read and hear 3. A right order of our Thoughts when we can keep them from Confusion roving and distraction 4. Freedom from too strong affections about the creatures and from disturbing passions 5. Lively Affections and feeling operations of the soul towards God in holy duty and tender meltingt of the heart for sin which are very desireable but depend so much on the temperature of the body and outward accidents and are but the vigor and â—ot the Life and being of the new creature that we must not judge of our sincerity by them Some Christians scarce know what any such lively feelings are and some have them very seldom and I think no one constantly and therefore if our Peace or Judgement of our selves be laid on these we shall be still wavering and unsetled and tost up and down as the waves of the sea Sometimes seeming to be almost in Heaven and presently near the gates of Hell When our state doth not change at all as these feelings and Affectionate motions of the soul do but we are still in our safe Relation to God while our first Essential graces do continue though our failings dulness weaknesses and wants must be matter of moderate filial humiliation to us 6. The same must be said of all common Gifts of utterance in conference or prayer and of quickness of understanding and such like 7. Lastly the same must be said also of all that rectitude of life and those degrees of obedience that are above meer sincerity in which one true Christian doth exceed another and in which we should all desire to abound but must not judge our selves to be unsanctified meerly because we are imperfect or to be unjustified sinners meerly because we are sinners In our judging of our selves by our Lives and Practices two extreams must be carefully avoided On the left hand that of the Prophane and of the Antinomians The former cannot distinguish between sinners and sinners sanctified and unsanctified Justified and unjustified sinners and when they have once conceited that they are in the favour of God whatever they do they say we are but sinners and so are the best The latter teach men that when once they are justified they are not for any sins to doubt again of their Justified state lest they should seem to make God changeable On the other hand must be avoided this extream of perplexed doubting Christians that make all their sins or too many of them to be matter of doubting which should be but matter of humiliation I know it is a very great difficulty that hath long perplexed the Doctors of the Church to define what sins are consistent and what inconsistent with a state of Holiness and Salvation which if any distinguish by the names of Mortal and Venial taking the words in no other sense I shall not quarrell with them At the present I shall say but this for the resolving of this great and weighty question 1. It is not the bare Act of sin in it self considered that must determine the case but the Act compared with the Life of Grace and with true Repentance Whoever hath the Love of God and Life of Grace is in a state of Salvation And therefore whatever sin consisteth with the fore-described Essentials of Sanctification viz. The Habituall devotion of the soul to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and the Habitual renunciation of the Flesh ehe World and Devil consisteth with a state of life And true Repentance proveth the pardon of all sin And therefore whatever sin consisteth with Habitual Repentance which is the Hatred of sin as sin and hath Actual Repentance when it is observed and there is time of deliberation consisteth with a state of Grace Now in Habitual Conversion or Repentance the Habitual Willingness to leave our sins must be more then our sinfull Habitual Willingness to keep it Now you may by this much discern as to particular acts whether they are consistent with Habitual hatred of sin For some sins are so much in the power of the will that he that hath an Habitual hatred of them cannot frequently commit them
〈◊〉 with the heart and whether you have â—â—y special interest in him O what a damp 〈◊〉 casteth on the soul how it stifleth its â—â—pes and joys and turneth the Sacrament â—hich is appointed for their comfort into â—â—eir greater trouble It hath many a time â—â—ieved me to observe that no ordinance â—â—th cast many upright souls into greater â—erplexities and discouragements and â—â—stresses then the Lords Supper because â—â—ey come to it with double reverence and 〈◊〉 the doubtings of their title and questiâ—ning their preparedness and by their fears of eating and drinking unworthily their â—â—uls are utterly discomposed with perplexâ—â—g passions and turned from the pleasant â—â—â—rcise of faith and the delighful enterâ—ourse that they should have with God and â—â—ey are distempered and put out of relish 〈◊〉 all the sweetness of the Gospel And 〈◊〉 they are frightened from the Sacrament by such sad experiences and dare 〈◊〉 thither no more for fear of eating â—udgement to themselves And should â—oâ— Christians labour to remove the cause of such miserable distracting fears that so much wrong both Christ and them and 〈◊〉 recover their well-grounded peace and comfort 11. Your Love to God which is 〈◊〉 Heart and Life of the new creature 〈◊〉 so much depend upon your knowledge of 〈◊〉 love to you as should make you much 〈◊〉 desirous of such a knowledge Love is 〈◊〉 end of faith and faith the way to 〈◊〉 So much of Love as is in every duty 〈◊〉 much holiness is in it and no more Iâ— is the sum of the commandments 〈◊〉 the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13 â— Mat. 22.37 Mark 12.33 Though God 〈◊〉 us first as purposing our good 〈◊〉 we loved him 1 Joh. 4.9.10 And 〈◊〉 therefore Love him because he first 〈◊〉 us v. 19. Yet doth he Love us by compâ—â—â—cency and acceptance because we love 〈◊〉 Father and the son Joh. 16.27 〈◊〉 the Father himself loveth you because 〈…〉 loved me and have believed that I came 〈◊〉 from God And what will more effectâ—â—â— kindle in you the fervent Love of Chrâ—â—â— then to know that he loveth you and 〈◊〉 in you All this is exprest by 〈◊〉 himself in Joh 14.20.21 22 23. At 〈◊〉 day ye shall know that I am in my Faith and you in me and I in you He that 〈◊〉 my commandments and keepeth them he 〈◊〉 that loveth me and he that loveth me 〈◊〉 be loved of my Father and I will love 〈◊〉 and will manifest my self unto him If a man love me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him 1 Cor. 8.3 If any man love God the same is known of him with a knowledge of special Love and approbation This is no disparagement to faith whose nature and use is to work by Love Gal. 5.6 What a man Loveth such he is The Love is the man Our Love is judged by our Life as the cause by the effect but the Life is judged by the Love as the fruits by the tree the effects by the cause Mores auâ—em nostri non ex eo quod quisque novit sed ex eo quod diligit dijudicari solentinâ—â— faciâ—â—t bonos vel malos mores nisi boni vel mali amores saith Augustine that is Our manners are not used to be judged of according to that which every man knoweth but according to that which he loveth It is only good or evil love that maketh good or evil manners If Plato could say as Augustine citeth him lib. 8. de Civit. Dei Hoc est Philosophari scilicet Deum amare To be a Philosopher is to Love God Much more should we say Hoc est Christianum agere this is the doctrine and the work of a Christian even the Love of God Indeed it is the work of the Redeemer to recover the heart of man to God and to bring us to Love him by representing him to us as the most amiable suitable object of our Love And the perfection of Love is Heaven it self O jugum sancti amoris inq Bernard quam dulciter capis gloriose laqueas suaviter premis delectanter oneras fortiter stringis prudenter erudis that is The yoak of holy Love O how sweetly dost thou surprize how gloriously dost thou inthrall how plesantly dost thou press how delightfully dost thou load how strongly dost thou bind how prudently dost thou instruct O faelix amor ex quo oritur strenuitas morum puritas affectionum subtilitas intellectuum desideriorum sanctitas operum claritas virtutum faecunditas meritorum dignitas praemiorum sublimitas O happy Love from which ariseth the strength of manners the purity of affections the subtilty of intellects the sanctity of desires the excellency of works the fruitfulness of vertues the dignity of deserts the sublimity of the reward I appeal to your own consciences Christians would you not think it a foretaste of Heaven upon earth if you could but Love God as much as you desire would any kind of life that you can imagine be so desirable and delightful to you Would any thing be more acceptable unto God! And on the contrary a soul without the Love of God is worse then a Corpse without a soul If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be anathama maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 And do I need to tell you what a powerful incentive it is to Love to know that you are beloved It will make Christ much more dear to you to know how dear you are to him What is said of affective Love in us may partly be said of attractive Love in Christ Eccles 8.7 Many waters cannot quench Love neither can the floods drown it no riches can purchase what it can attract when you find that he hath you as a seal upon his arm and heart v. 6. and that you are dear to him as the apple of his eye what holy flames will this kindle in your breast If it be almost impossible with your equals upon earth not to Love them that Love you which Christ telleth you that even Publicans will do Matth. 5.46 how much more should the Love of Christ constrain us abundantly to Love him when being infinitely above us his Love descendeth that ours may ascend His Love puts forth the hand from heaven to fetch us up O Christians you little know how Satan wrongeth you by drawing you to deny or doubt of the special Love of God How can you Love him that you apprehend to be your enemie and to intend your ruine Doubtless not so easily as if you know him to be your friend In reason is there any likelier way to draw you to hate God then to draw you to believe that he hateth you Can your thoughts be pleasant of him or your speeches of him sweet or can you attend him or draw near him with delight while you think he hateth you and hath decreed your damnation you may fear him as he is a
terrible avenger and you may confess his judgements to be just but can you amicably embrace the consuming fire and love to dwell with the everlasting burnings O therefore as ever you would have the Love of God to animate and sanctifie and delight your souls study the greatness of his Love to you and labour with all possible speed and diligence to find that Christ by his spirit is within you It is the whole work of sanctification that Satan would destroy or weaken by your doubts And it is the whole work of sanctification that by Love would be promoted if you knew your interest in the Love of Christ 12. It is the knowledge of Christ dwelling in you and so of the special Love of God that must acquaint you with a life of holy Thankfulness and prase These highest and most acceptable duties will be out of your reach if Satan can hide from you that mercy which must be the chiefest matter of your Thanksgiving Will that soul be in tune for the high Praises of the Lord that thinks he meaneth to use him as an enemy Can you look for any cheerful thanksgiving from him that looks to lie in hell will he not rather cry with David Psal 6.5 In death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thanks Psal 30.9 What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit shall the dust praise thee shall it declare thy truth shall the damned praise thee or shall they give thee thanks that must be scorched with the flames of thine indignation Can you expect that Joy should be in their hearts or cheerfulness in their countenances or praises in their mouths that think they are Reprobated to the fire of Hell Undoubtedly Satan is not ignorant that this is the way to deprive God of the Service which is most acceptable to him and you of the pleasures of so sweet a life And therefore he that envyeth both will do his worst to damp your spirits and breed uncomfortable doubts and fears and wrongful suspitions in your minds Whereas the Knowledge of your interest in Christ would be a continual storehouse of thanksgiving and praise and teach your hearts as well as your tongues to say with David Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye Righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Psal 32.1 2 11. Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits Who forgiveth all thine iniquities Who healeth all thy diseases Who redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies Psal 103.1 2 3 4. O Lord my God I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me O Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit sing unto the Lord O ye saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness for his anger endureth but for a moment in his favour is life Psal 30.2 3 4 5. Thanksgiving would be the very pulse and breath of your assurance of Christ dwelling in you You would say with Paul Eph. 1.3 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in celestials in Christ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in Love having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved In whom we have redemption through his blood the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded toward us c. Thus faith and assurance as they have an unspeakable store to work upon so it is natural to them to expatiate in the praise of our Redeemer and to delight in amplifications and commemorations of the ways of grace Just so doth Peter begin his first Epistle Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of Goâ— through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time wherein ye greatly rejoyce c. No wonder if the Heirs of Heaven be inclined to the language and the work of Heaven I think there are few of you that would not rejoice and by your speech and countenance express your joy if you had assurance but of the dignities and dominions of this world And can he choose but express his Joy and Thankfulness that hath assurance of the crown of life What fragrant thoughts should possess that mind that knoweth it self to be possessed by the Spirit of the living God! How thankfull will he be that knows he hath Christ and Heaven to be thankfull for What sweet delights should fill up the hours of that mans life that knows the son of God liveth in him and that he shall live in Joy with Christ for ever How gladly will he be exercised in the praises of his Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier that knows it must be his work for ever No wonder if this Joy be a stranger to their hearts that are strangers to Christ or strangers to their interest in his love No wonder if they have no hearts for these celestial works that have no part in the celestial inheritance or that know not that they have any part therein How can they joyfully give thanks for that which they know not that they have or ever shall have or have any probability to attain But to that man that is assured of Christ within him Heaven and Earth and all their store do offer themselves as the matter of his Thanks and do furnish him with provisions to feed his Praises What a shame is it that an assured heir of Heaven should be scant and barren in comfort to himself or in Thanks and Praise to Jesus Christ when he hath so full a heap of Love and mercy to fetch his motives from and hath two worlds to furnish him with the preciousest materials and hath no less then Infinite goodness even God himself to be the subject of his Praise O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth for ever what ever others do Let Israel say let the house of Aaron say let them that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever Psal 118.1 2 3 4. The
for shame repine at the loss of temporal commodities that is secured of the eternal Joyes If assurance of the Love of God would not embolden you to patient suffering and to lay down life and all for Christ what do you think should ever do it But when you are afraid lest death will turn you into Hell What wonder if you timerously draw back When you know not whether ever you shall have any better no wonder if you are loth to part with the seeming happiness which you have Those doubts and fears enfeeble the soul and spoil you of that valour that becomes a souldier of Christ 5. All personal crosses in your estates your families your friends your health will be easily born if you are once assured of your salvation To a man that is passing into Heaven all these are almost inconsiderable things What is Lazarus the worse now for hâ—s sores or rags Or what is the Rich man the better for his sumptuonus attire and fare Luke 16. Whether you be poor or rich sick or sound whether you are used kindly or unkindly in the world are questions of so small importance that you are not much concerned in the answer of them But whether you have Christ within you or be reprobates whether you are the heirs of the promise or are under the curse are questions of everlasting consequence 6. Lastly you may comfortably receive the sentence of death when once you are assured of the Life of Grace and that you have escaped everlasting death Though nature will be still averse to a dissolution yet faith will make you cheerfully submit desiring to depart and be with Christ as the best condition for you Phil. 1.23 When you know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved you have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens you will then groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with your house which is from heaven not to be uncloathed for the union of soul and body is the constitution of the man which nature cannot but desire but to be cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life This God doth work you for who giveth you the earnest of the spirit therefore as men that know while you are at home in the body you are absent from the Lord and that walk by faith and not by sight you would be alwaies confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Though it be troublesom to remove your dwelling yet you would not stick upon the trouble if you were sure to change a cottage for a Court nor would you refuse to cross the Seas to change a prison for a Kingdom The holy desires of Believers do prepare them for a safe death but it is the assurance of their future happiness or the believing expectation of it that must prepare them for a death that is safe and comfortable The Death of the Presumptuous may be quiet but not safe The Death of doubting troubled Believers may be safe but not quiet The Death of the ungodly that have awakened undeceived consciences is neither safe nor quiet But the Death of strong Belivers that have attained assurance is both And he that findeth Christ within him may know that when he dyeth he shall be with Christ His dwelling in us by faith by Love and by his Spirit is a pledge that we shall dwell with him Christ within us will certainly carry us unto Christ above us Let Socinians question the happiness of such departed souls or doubt whether they be in heaven before the resurrection I am sure that they are with Christ as the fore-cited places shew 2 Cor. 5.7 8. and Phil. 1.23 and many other We are following him that when he had conquered Death and went before us did send that message to his doubting troubled Disciples which is to me so full of sweetness that me thinks I can scarce too oft recite it John 20.17 Go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and to your God O piercing melting words which methinks do write themselves upon my heart when ever I read them with attention and consideration Know once that you are his Brethren and that his Father is your Father and his God is your God and that he is ascended and glorified in your nature and then how can you be unwilling to be dismissed from the bondage of this flesh and be with Christ For in his Fathers house are many mansions and he is gone before to prepare a place for us and will come again and receive us unto himself that where he is there we may be also John 14.2 3. And that this is his will for all his servants he hath declared in that comfortable promise which also I have found so full of sweetness that I value it above all the riches of the world John 12.26 If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be If any man serve me him will my Father honour The Spirit of Christ within you is the earnest of all this Be assured of your Faith and Hope and Love and you may be assured to possess the Good believed and Hoped for and Loved The incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth for ever of which you are new born 1 Peâ— 1.23 doth tend to the incorruptible crown 1 Pet. 5.4 even the Crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge will give to all that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 And so shall we ever be with the Lord as the Apostle comfortably speaks 1 Thes 4.17 and seasonably annexeth the use of such a cordial vers 18. wherefore comfort one another with these words Whether we are to die by the decay of nature or by the storm of any violent disease or by the hand of persecutros or any other instruments of Satan the difference is small They are but several ways of landing at the shore of happiness which we were making towards through all the duties and difficulties of our lives May we by any Death be sent to Christ let them domineâ—r a while that stay behind and are conquerors and happy in their dream we shall neither miss nor desire their felicity May I die assured of the Love of God how little regardable is it whether I be poor or rich till then or in what manner Death shall do its execution and how little cause have blessed souls to envie them that are left on earth in a quiet and prosperous passage to damnation And what an ease and pleasure is this to a mans mind through all his life to be able with well-grounded comfort to think of death What cares can vex him that hath secured hiâ— everlasting state What losses should afflict him that is sure he shall not lose his soul and is sure to gain eternal life
they may be ready that death may b◠both safe and comfortable to them 〈◊〉 though a superstitious miserable fellow that knoweth no better things himself may talk to the sick of beads and relicts and o◠being on this side or that for this ceremony or the other and may think to conjure the unholy spirit out of him by some affected words of devotions uttered from a graceless senseless heart or to command him out by Papal authority as if they would charm his soul to heaven by saying ove◠some lifeless forms and using the Gospel 〈◊〉 a spell Yet Ministers indeed that know themselves what Faith and what Repentance is and what it is to be regenerate and to be prepared to die do know that they have other work to do The Gospe◠offereth men their Choice whether they will have Holiness or sin and be ruled by Christ or by their fleshly lusts and so whether they will have spiritual or carnal eternal or transitory Joys And our work is to perswade them to make that choice which will be their Happiness if we can prevail and which eternal Joy depends upon whether we come to them in sickness or in health this is our business with them A man that is ready to be drowned is not at leisure for a song or dance And a man that is ready to be damned methinks should not find himself at leisure to hear a man shew his wit and reading only if not his folly and malice against a life of Holiness Nor should you think that suitable to such mens case that doth not evidently tend to save them But alas how often have we heard such sermons as tend more to diversion than direction to fill their minds with other matters and find men something else to think on lest they should study themselves and know their misery And whereas there may be so much ingenuity in the sinner as to perceive that the discourse of idle tongues or the reading of a Romance is unsuitable to one in his condition and therefore will not by such toyes as these be called off from the consideration of his ways A preacher that seems to speak religiously by a sapeless dry impertinent discourse that 's called a sermon may more plausibly and easily divert him And has conscience will more quietly suffer him to be taken off the necessary care of his salvation by something that is like it and pretends to do the work as well then by the grosser avocations or the scorns of fools And he will more tamely be turned from Religion by something that is called Religion and which he hopes may serve the turn then by open wickedness or impious defiance of God and Reason But how oft do we hear applauded Sermons which force us in compassion to mens souls to think O what 〈◊〉 all this to the opening a sinners heart unto himself shewing him his unregenerate state What 's this to the conviction of a self-deluding soul that is passing unto Hell with the confident expectations of Heaven To the opening of mens eyes and turning them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God! what 's this to shew men their undone condition and the absolute necessity of Christ and of renewing grace what is in this to lead men up from earth to heaven and to acquaint them with the unseen world and to help them to the life of faith and love and to the mortifying and the pardon of their sins How little skil have many miserable preachers in the searching of the heart and helping men to know themselves whether Christ be in them or whether they be reprobates and how little care and diligence is used by them to call men to the tryal and help them in the examining and judging of themselves as if it were a work of no necessity They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying Peace Peace when there is no Peace saith the Lord Jer. 6.14 And Ezek. 13.10 11 12. Because even because they have seduced my people saying Peace and there was no peace and one built up a wall and lo others dawbed 〈◊〉 with untempered morter say to them that dawb it with untempered morter that it shall fall there shall be an overflowing showre and ye O great hailstones shall fall and a stormy wind shall rend it Lo when the wall is faln shall it not be said unto you Where is the dawbing wherewith ye dawbed it It is a plain and terrible passage Prov. 24.24 He that saith to the wicked Thou art Righteous him shall the people curse natives shall abhor him Such injustice in a Judge or witnesses is odious that determine but in order to temporal rewards on punishments Lev 19.15 Prov. 18.5 28.21 But in a messenger that professeth to speak to men in the name of God and in the stead of Jesus Christ when the determination hath respect to the consciences of men and to their endless joy or torment how odious and horrid a crime must it be esteemed to perswade the wicked that he is Righteous or to speak that which tendeth to perswade him of it though not in open plain expressions what perfidious dealing is this against the Holy God! what an abuse of our Redeemer that his pretended messengers shall make him seem to judge clean contrary to his Holiness and to his Law and to the Judgement which indeed he passeth and will pass on all that live and die unsanctified What vile deceit and cruelty against the souls of men are such Preachers guilty of that would make them believe that all is well with them or that their state is safe or tolerable till they must find it otherwise to their woe when diseased souls have but a short and limited time allowed them for their cure that a man shall come to them as in the name of their Physition and tell them that they are pretty well and need not make so much ado about the business and thus keep them from their only help till it be too late what shame what punishment can be too great for such a wretch when the neglect and making light of Christ and his salvation is the common road to Hell Heb. 2.3 Matth. 22.5 and most men perish because they value not and use not the necessary means of their recovery for a man in the name of a minister of the Gospel to cheat them into such undervaluings and neglects as are like to prove their condemnation what is this but to play the Minister of Satan and to do his work in the name and garb of a minister of Christ It is damnable treachery against Christ and against the peoples souls to hide their misery when it is your office to reveal it and to let people deceive themselves in the matters of Salvation and not to labour diligently to undeceive them and to see them live upon presumption and ungrounded hopes and not to labour with faithful
not forbear any means that tend to the getting of true grace If you have it and know it not the same means for the most part may increase it which you use to get it And if you have it not when it is thought you have it the means may work it that that are intended to increase it Do all that you can to Repent Believe and Love God and Live to him whether you ever did these before or not But yet let the judgement of your faithful Pastors the officers and experienced servants of the Lord keep of despondency and despair that would disable you from the use of means and would weaken your hands and make you sit down in unprofitable complaints and give up all as hopeless Let their judgement quiet you in the way of duty Lean on them in the dark till you come into the light Yea be glad that you have so much encouragement and hope from those that are by Christ appointed to subserve the spirit in the comforting as well as the sanctifying work and to shew to man his uprightness and to say to the Righteous It shall be well with him Isa 3.10 I tell you all the wealth of the world is not worth even this much ground of comfort Live upon this much till by diligent attendance and waiting on the spirit of grace and comfort you can get higher 2. THE second extrinsical Hinderance of self-knowledge is Prosperity and the Flattery that usually attendeth it The one disposeth men to be deceived and the other putteth the hood over their eyes and tells them the falshoods which deceive them When men prosper in the world their â—inds are lifted up with their estates and â—hey can hardly believe that they are inâ—eed so ill while they feel themselves so â—ell and that so much misery is joyned with â—o much content and pleasure They cannot â—aste the bitterness of their sin and Gods displeasure while the sweetness of worldly deâ—â—ghts honours is in their mouths The Rich â—an in Luk. 16. its like would have given 〈◊〉 man but an unwelcome entertainment â—hat had come to tell him that within a few days or years he should lie in hell and not â—e able to get a drop of water to cool his â—ongue What need we doubt of that when his five Brethren that he left on earth behind him would not be perswaded to know their danger of those flames and to use the necessary means to scape them though one had come to them from the dead Luk. 16.31 You plead against their feeling when you tell them of their misery when they feel prosperity Their fleshly appetite and sense which is in them the reigning faculty doth tell them they are well and happy and that which must confute this and tell them they are miserable must be an inward sense of the sin and diseases of their souls and a foreseeing Faith that must look before theâ— unto eternity and fetch its proofs froâ— the word of God and fetch its motive from another world And alas they havâ— no such inward sense nor no such Faith 〈◊〉 can prevail against their their sensual feelâ—ing And therefore it is a matter of lamenâ—table difficulty to make a prospering sinneâ— well acquainted with his misery He 〈◊〉 drunken with fleshly pleasures and conâ—tentments And when the drink is in a mans head you can hardly make him sensiâ—ble of his misery though he be a beggar or a prisoner or were to die within a week The Devil is therefore willing to reach hiâ— servants as full a cup of prosperity as hâ— can that their drunkenness may keep them from the true use of their reason Foâ— if they once come to themselves they wilâ— come home to God When misery brought the Prodigal to himself he resolveth presently of going to his Father Luk. 15. The bustle of his worldly business and the chattering vain discourse that is in his ears and the mirth and sport that takes him up will not allow him so much of reason as seriously to consider of his souls condition Alas when poor men that must labour all day for food and â—ayment can find some time for serious converse with God and with their Consciences the Great ones of the world have â—o such leisure How many are going â—pace towards Hell and say they cannot â—ave while to bethink themselves what â—ay they are in or whether it is that they are going That which they have all their time for they have no time for because they have no hearts for it Prosperity doth so please their flesh that they can give no heed to conscience or to reason It doth so charm their minds and enslave their wills to sense and appetite that they cannot abide to be so Melancholy is to prepare for death and judgement or to consider seriously how this will relish with them at the end nor scare to remember that they are men that should rule their senses and be ruled by God and that have another life to live And as Prosperity in it self is so great a Hinderance to the knowledge of your selves so Flatterers that are the flies of summer are always ready to blow upon the prosperous and increase the danger What miserable men are extolled as wise and virtuous and Religious if they be but Rich and Great Their vices are masked or extenuated and made but little human frailties Though they were swinish glutâ—tons or drunkards or filthy fornicatorâ— or meer flesh-pleasing sensual bruits thaâ— waste most of their lives in ease and sports and eating and drinking and such delights yet with their flatterers all these shall gâ— for prudent pious worthy persons if they can but seek when they have done to mock God and their consciences with somâ— lip-service and lifeless carcass of Religion O happy men if God would judge of them as their flatterers do and would make aâ— small a matter of their wickedness and as great a matter of their out-side Hypocritical heartless worship But they must be greater then men or Angels and higher then either earth or Heaven before God will flatter them When they can make him afraid of their high looks or threatnings or when they can him put in Hope of rising by their preferment then they may look that he should comply with their parasites and complement with his enemies and justifie the ungodly but not till then O did they consider how little flattery doth secure them and how little the Judge of all the world regards their worldly pompe and splendor yea how greatly â—heir greatness doth aggravate their sin and â—isery they would frown their flatterers out â—f doors and call for plain and faithful dealâ—â—s Of all the miseries of worldly greatness â—â—is is not the least that usually such want â—â—e necessary blessing of a glass that will â—â—uly shew them their faces of a friend at â—and that will deal plainly and justly with their souls Who tells them plainly of the odiousness and bitter
we only read a description of it Who could have known what Life is or what Reason is by bare reading or hearing their descriptions if he knew them not in himself and others by another kind of demonstration Many thousands can honour the name of a Saint and the Scripture description of a Saint that hate the life of holiness when it appeareth to them in practice and cannot endure a Saint indeed It will most convincingly tell you what you want when you see what others have To see how naturally they breath after heaven will most convincingly shew you the dulness and earthliness of your minds To see how easily they can love an enemy and forgive a wrong will acquaint you most sensibly with the ulcers of your passionate revengeâ—ul minds Do but lay by your prejudice and partiality and see whether there be not in serious Christians another spirit then in the world and whether they live not upon the things above which your belief and love did never reach Look upon believers and consider why they pray and watch and study to please God and then bethink your selves whether you have not â—s much cause to do so as they and so you may perceive your negligence by their diligence your senselesness by their tenderness of heart and conscience your fleshliness by their spirituality and the rest of your sins by the luster of their graces Saith Gregory Qui plenissime intelligere appetit qualis sit tales debet aspicere qualis non est â—t in bonorum forma metiatur quantur ipse deformis est that is He that would fully understand what he is must look on such as are better then himself that in the comeliness of the good he may take the measure of his own deformity As Isidore saith Minus homo seipsum ex seipso considerat Men know not themseves by themselves alone Hence therefore the servants of God may see how exactly they should live and of what consequence it is that they be eminently holy when it is they that by their heavenly excellency must convince the world of their sinfulness and misery O Christians do you live such exemplary and convincing lives Is there indeed that excellency of Holiness appearing in you which may shew men to the glory of your Redeemer how the heirs of heaven do differ from the world Alas our common careless living doth wrong to multitudes as well as to ourselves and is a cruelty to the souls whose salvation we are bound by our examples to promote What then do those men that by their vicious scandalous conversation do harden the ungodly and cause them to think contemptuously and to speak scornfully of the holy way O woe to them if they repent not by whom such offence cometh Especially Ministers should see that their lives be a continual Lecture As Hierome saith Episcopi domus conversatio quasi in speculo posita Magistra est publicae disciplina quicquid fâ—cerit id sibi omnes faciendum putant That is The house and conversation of a Bishop is set as in a glass or to be beheld as the teacher of publike discipline All think they should do whatever he doth And therefore Chrysostome concludeth that a Priest that is bad doth acquire by his priest-hood not dignity but disgrace For saith he thou fittest in judgement on thy self If thou live well and preach well thou instructest the people If thou preach well and live ill thou condemnest thy self For by living well and preaching well thou instructest the people how to live But by preaching well and living ill thou instructest God as it were how to condemn thee And hence it is also that the servants of God should have a care of their fame as well as of their conversation because the reputation of religion dependeth much on the reputation of the religious and reputation doth much to the encouraging or discouraging of the ungodly that are strangers to the things themselves Saith Augustine Conscientia necessaria est tibi fama proximo tuo Qui famam ancupans negligit conscientiam hypocrita est Qui confiâ—ens conscientiae negligit famam crudelis est that is Conscience is necessary for thy self and thy good name is necessary for thy neighbour He that hunteth after fame and neglecteth conscience is an hypocrite And he that so trusteth to a good conscience as to neglect his good name is cruel to others When we mind our fame for the good of others and the service of God and not to please a proud vainglorios mind and when we do it without immoderate care seeking it only by righteous means and referring the issue to the will of God as being prepared for evil report as well as good this is but to improve our talent to our masters use II. I Come next to the Internal impediments to self acquaintance especially in the worser sort of men 1. The first that I shall acquaint you with is that Natural deep rooted sin of Pride which strongly inclineth men to think well of themselves and to desire that all others do so too So that where Pride is not discovered and subdued by grace men will scarce endure to be closely questioned by Ministers or other friends about their sin and the condition of their souls what question them whether they are ungodly unsanctified the servants of sin and Satan in a state of death and condemnation Their hearts will rise with indignation against him that will put such questions to them What! question them whether they have any saving grace whether they are regenerate pardoned and have any grounded hopes of heaven They love not the searching word of God they love not the distinguishing passages of Scripture they love not a faithful searching Minister because they would dishonour and trouble them with such doubts as these A Proud man judgeth not of himself as he is but as his tumified distempered fancie representeth him to himself to be To think himself something when he is nothing and so to be wilfully his own deceiver is his disease Gal. 6.3 And as Pride is one of the deepâ—st-rooted sins in man and of greatest strength and hardliest extirpated and overcome so true self-acquaintance must be accordingly difficult it being carryed on but by such degrees as we get ground and victory against our pride As Melancholy men that are wise in all other things may be far from the right use of reason in some one point where the fantasie is crazed and the distemper lyeth so a Proud man how wise soever in any other matters as to the right knowledge of himself is like one that is crackt brained and hath not indeed the use of reason Pride was his first Tutor and taught him what to believe of himself so that Christ who comes after with a humbling doctrine cannot be believed nor scarce with any patience heard O what a disease is to be cured before a Proud person will well know himself What labour do we lose in all
discern the evil of it O how easie is it with the most to see and aggravate the faults of others How safe were we if we were as impartial to ourselves And also it will be very useful to desire often the help of more impartial judgements then your own Fit enim nescio quomedo inquit Cicero ut magis in aliis cernamus quam in nobis met ipsis siquid delinquitur Others can quickly spie our faults as we can quickly find out theirs Therefore as Poets and Painters do expose their works before they finish them to the common view that so what is blamed by many may be considered and amended so should we in order to the judging of our selves observe both what our friends and enemies say of us and the more suspiciously try what others blame But especially have some neer judicious friends that will prudently and faithfully assist you A true friend is an excellent looking-glass Saith Seneca Deliberate well first in the choosing of a friend and then with him deliberate of all things And if you would have the benefits of friendship discourage not plain dealing Magis amat objurgator sanans inquit August quam adulator dissimulans I know a reprover should be wise and love must be predominant if he will expect success for if he speak laceráto animo as Augustine saith it will seem but punientis impetus and not corigentis charitas But we must take heed of judging that we are hated because we are reproved that is that a friend is not a friend because he doth the office of a friend Of the two it is fitter to say of a reproving enemy He dealeth with me like a friend then of a reproving friend He dealeth with me like an enemy For as Augustine saith Accusare vitia officium est bonum quod cum mali faciunt alienas partes agunt It is a good office to speak ill of vice which when bad men do they play anothers part It is a happy enmity that helpeth you to deliver you from sin and hell and a cruel friendship that will let you undoe your soul for ever for fear of displeasing you by hindering it There are two sorts that deprive themselves of the saving benefit of necessary reproof and the most desirable fruits of friendship The one is the Hypocrite that so cunningly hideth his greatest faults that his friend and enemie never tell him of them He hath the happiness of keeping his physicion unacquainted with his disease and consequently of keeping the disease The other is the Proud that can better endure to be ungodly then to be told of it and to live in many sins then to be freely admonished of one Consider therefore that it will prove self-hatred in the effect which is now called self-love and that it would seem but a strange kind of love from another to suffer you to fall into a Cole-pit for fear of telling you that you are neer it or to suffer you to fall into the enemies hands lest he should affright you by telling you that they are neer If you love another no better then thus you have no reason to call your self his friend And shall this be your wisest Loving of your selves If it be Love to damn your souls for fear of knowing your danger of damnation the Devil loveth you If i◠be friendship to keep you out of Heaven for fear of disquieting you with the Light that should have saved you then you have no enemies in Hell The Devil himself can be content to grant you a temporal quietness and ease in order to your everlasting disquietness and woe Let go your hopes of Heaven and he can let you be merry a while on earth while the strong armed man keepeth his house the things that he possesseth are in peace If it be no◠friendship but enmity to trouble you with the sight of sin and danger in order to your deliverance then you have none but enemies in Heaven For God himself doth take this course with the dearest of his chosen No star doth give such light as the Sun doth No Minister doth so much to make a sinner know himself as God doth Love yeur selves therefore in the way that God loveth you Be impartially willing that God and man should help you to be throughly acquainted with your state Love not to be flattered by others or your selves Vice is never the more lovely because it is yours And you know that pain is never the more easie or desirable to you because it is yours Your own diseases losses injuries and miseries seem the worst and most grievous to you And why should not your own sins also be most grievous You love not poverty or pain because it s your own O love not sin because it is your own Hind 4. ANother impediment to self-acquaintance is that men observe not their hearts in a time of trial but take them always at the best when no great temptation puts them to it A man that never had any opportunity to rise in the world perhaps doth think he is not ambitious and desireth not much to be higher then he is because the coal was never blown when a little affront doth ferment their Pride into disquietness and desires of revenge or applause doth ferment it into tumor or self-exaltation they observe not then the distemper when it is up and most observable because the nature of sin is to please and blind and cheat the mind into a consent And when the sin seems past and they find themselves in a seeming humility and meekness they judge of themselves as then they find themselves as thinking that distemper is past and cured and they are not to judge of themselves by what they were but what they are And by that Rule every drunkard or whoremonger should judge themselves temperate and chaste as soon as they forbear the act of sin And what if poverty age or sickness hinder them from ever commiting either of them again For all this the person is a drunkard or fornicator still because the Act is not pardoned nor the heart sanctified and the habit or corrupt inclination mortified And thus passionate persons do judge of themselves by their milder temper when no temptation kindleth the flame But little doth many a one know himself what corruption is latent in his heart till tryal shall disclose it and draw it into sight Jam diu Diabolus inq August sopitum ignem sine ullis flammis occultat donec duas faculas jungens ambas simul accendat c. If these persons be not always sinning they will not take themselves for sinners But he that hath once sinned knowingly in Gods account continueth in the sin till his heart be changed by true repentance Yet on the other side I would not wrong any upright soul by perswading them to judge of themselves as they are at the worst in the hour of temptation for so they will be mistaken as certainly though