make more haste to cure a man that is taken with a swooning fit than one that hath a little swelling in his singer I wonder you are no more affected with the miseries that attend your Unregenerate Friends and Acquaintance who must suddenly be Converted or Damned Me-thinks you should pitty them the more because they pitty not themselves Me-thinks the value that Christ hath put upon Souls by bleeding for them the ransome that he hath given for miserable man and the unwearied pains he takes for the reducement of fall'n man should teach us to open our lips to give some directions and counsels to them who are within a stride of Hell but a breath between them and eternal ruine And yet how are Gods people straitned towards these forlorn and miserable undone condemned Creatures Though they are under the curse of the Law though the sentence of death be past against them and is ready to be executed every moment yet you exhort them not to flye from wrath to come If they will perish they may perish for any spiritual contribution that you will afford them It grieves me sometimes to see how Gods people eat up their own and others time with vain frothy and unsavory words When they should be speaking some rouzing startling words of Hell and Damnation of the necessity of Regeneration of Eternity of the foolish choice men make in preferring the pleasures of sin which are but for a season before eternal joyes of the deceits of the heart of the cheats of the Devil of the malignity of sin of the curse of the Law c. they are talking of this fashion or of that they are perhaps censuring one another but endeavouring nothing for the undeceiving their deluded Companions You cannot but know what advantages you have by your intimacies with them to deliver that to them which they will receive from you when Satan perhaps hath imbittered them against their Ministers so that all Pulpit-counsels and reproofs are lost upon them Besides You are in private with them and you know by your selves how loth how backward you were to apply the truths of God to your own Souls but you as Nathan to David may goe and say Thou art the Man thou the Woman You may hear their pleas for themselves and so have an opportunity to confute them whereas they are reserved to their Ministers though they have been friendly earnestly and frequently invited to a Christian conference And yet how do you neglect all these Opportunities of serving the Necessities of your Friends You pretend love unto them but how can ye see the blind before your eyes tumbling into the Lake of Hell and yet not call on them to return and live It is admirable that you should think you have the Divine Nature within you and yet be void of compassions to these miserable Objects who lye wounded before you where-ever you goe or come O! Me-thinks when you enter the house of an Unregenerate you should thus meditate Now have I an opportunity to save a Soul from Hell to have a greater conquest than Caesar or Alexander could boast of Now may I shew my self a Friend of God by pleading his right to the Creature Now may I have an occasion to make all the Angels of Heaven laugh and sing and all the cursed Devils to roar by saving a lost Son And will you see these wounded in your way and pass them by with an unmerciful Spirit If you see your Brother have need of outward things much more if needing Grace the Image of and Peace with God and you shut up your bowells of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in you You have some pitty left when you see a man fall'n under his horse or strugling for life upon the waters or in an house fired your bowells are turned within you But alas here are they that are dropping into the Lake of Fire every moment that are dragged up and down from one Lust to another by the Devil a sorer bondage by farr and yet you do not pitty them O! Pitty them pitty them Goe over to Macedonia and help them It is a grief to my Soul to consider how dull how useless Christians are in the Towns and Villages where Providence hath cast them If they meet with a man they will not so much as ask whether he be bound for Heaven or Hell whether he knows the necessity of the new Birth yea or no whether he hath left Sin as his greatest burden whether he be willing of Christ and Salvation by him upon his own terms Nay Professours will not so much as counsel them to read a good Book or lend them one if they are poor and unable to buy they will be at no cost to save a Soul that is really of more worth than a World How is it that you account your selves Christians whilst you have no higher esteems of Souls Or how can you have any assurance that you hate Sin whilst you labour not the removal of it in whomsoever you find it If you see men trifling away their time why do you not put them upon redeeming their time If you find them lovers of pleasures why do you not invite them and press them to look after cordial joy and mirth and the true pleasures that are at Gods right hand If you are the Subjects of Christ how can you endure Treason against him and not suppress it I 'le never believe that man ever mourned for sins of his own that doth not for sins of others or that he ever hated sin in himself that doth not endeavour to ruine it in others Souls as well as in his own Be ashamed at your pretensions as if you had hearts of flesh when you have hearts of stones the hearts of Tygers the hearts of Infidels or else you would pitty the miserable unconverted Souls And what if they desire not your help the more need you have to pitty them the less awakened they are out of their cursed security the more miserable and dangerous is their state O! Put on the bowells of Jesus Christ carry not your selves in an high proud way in a lofty magisterial way towards these poor Souls Do not think thou hast discharged duty towards them by running into a corner and backbiting them for blindness hardness contempt of Christ c. but rather help them to some of your eye-salve that they may see Consider you have Tallents and account you must for them and be-think your selves whether you may not give a better account by endeavouring to reduce these poor Souls that are straying to Hell than by letting them alone to damn themselves Consider sadly what answer you will make when Christ shall arise and plead with you when Christ shall say Where is thy Brother Will Cain's answer serve Am I my Brothers keeper Will not Christ reply on you Did not I come from Heaven on purpose to redeem these perish Souls Did not I charge you to
farr lest they should see what they are unwilling to see and so be put upon judgeing and condemning themselves for that which they love beyond an Eye or an Hand 5. The sad consequences of the neglect of this duty O the sad consequences of the neglect of this duty By this neglect your hearts will become careless for that they are not call'd to an account as Servants and Factors are wont when their Masters neglect to examine them Hereby Sins will grow bolder with you and the more easily beset you for that you examine not wherein their strength lies and which way they oftnest prevail over you Hereby the work of Repentance will be obstructed for that innumerable Sins which you are daily guilty of will pass away unobserved with those circumstances attending them which make them of the greater magnitude Hereby your uncertainties about your spiritual estate will remain it may be converted it may be not it may be a Son of God it may be not but a Child of Hell it may be a Believer it may be an Enemy to God and â—â—e of Gods curse Hence will follow great dejectedness under every Providence of God no condition will please you whilst doubting and staggering you will be apt to fear whether your food be in mercy your dayes in mercy your liberty yea the Gospel in mercy to you you will sink under adversity for you cannot say the Lord is my portion you know not whether God will be your strong Tower Fortress c. you cannot manage any duty well whilst this lies neglected Mica 6.8 How can you walk before God with an humble heart when you know not what your hearts are How can you serve him with an upright heart whilst a stranger to this duty The very Heathens knew how necessary this was to all their duties and therefore discreetly caused to be writ over the Temple at Delphos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy self Miserable are the disappointments that will attend English Professours unless they fall into a compliance with this duty you will dye deluded like the foolish Virgins you will not know your undone condition till it be too late you lie deceived in matters of the greatest and highest concernment you are cheated hitherto in things of eternity you are vexed when deceived by a Friend when supplanted by a Neighbour O! how will it pierce your Souls to be cheated by your selves When we would exclaim against a Knave we say he will cozen his Father the nearer the Relation the more sordid the Cheat O! but here is one that lies in thy bosome and thou and it go to cheat each other continually Let no man deceive himself 1 Cor. 3.18 it seems we are apt to do so But O! how great will your confusion be when this deceit shall be manifested when you shall see your selves frustrated of all your hopes and the glory your hearts promised you How will you be confounded when you shall say we looked for Heaven but behold Hell we looked for Salvation but behold Destruction we looked to be made perfectly Happy but O how our hearts have cheated us we must be damned we thought we had as good hearts as any as true Faith as sound Repentance as cordial love to God as any of our Neighbours as any Precisians of the Countrey we fools counted their life madness c. O! what daggers and swords will these frustrations be to you 6. We and our hearts shall not alwayes be strangers If you be loth to see how it is with you now how will you be able to behold what shall be seen at the day of Judgement Though you now will not know your hearts though you are so stately as not to speak with them or loth to examine the dirty Corners yet God is coming with his Fan the books must be opened and every page of thy heart will be unfolded for God will bring to light every hidden work of dishonesty God will pluck off the rough garment which thou wearest to deceive thy inward parts which are very wickedness shall be made manifest and then thou shalt be speech-less as if thou hadst a muzle put upon thy mouth as the word signifieth Well seeing murder will out as we say the secrets of the Soul must be brought forth is it not better by judging our selves by a severe tryall and sentence on our selves to prevent the wofullness of the last day Judged we must and shall be is it not then thy wisdome to judge thy self here in thy Closet that thou mayst be judged by God with a judgement of Absolution and not of Condemnation Is it nothing to have all thy unrepented and unforgiven sins published on the house-top made known to all the World Ezek. 22.14 at the great day How will thine heart endure then when the Lord shall come to deal with thee You will not see but you shall see Isa 26.11 You will not retire the World lyes in your hearts Business comes in and takes up all your time and spirits God is about to strip you to ease you of your Callings you shall come naked to the Barr of God you shall have no Family business to distract you a fair tryal there shall be but a sad one for thee Your sins shall find you out Numb 32.23 You have had many Calls once more I call upon you in the Name of Christ to examine your hearts by the words of this Book which you have or shall read And be sure of it If you will not nor try your selves by the Word God will try you by his Works Thus saith the Lord Jer. 9.7 I will melt them and try them But how will God melt them and try them Shall I not visit them for these things saith the Lord v. 9. Shall not my Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing v. 10. and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation because they are burnt up so that none can pass through them neither can men hear the voice of the Cattel both the Fowl of the Heavens and the Beasts are fled they are gone And I will make Jerusalem heaps v. 11. and a Den of Dragons and I will make the Cities of Judah desolate without an Inhabitant CHAP. XXI Their Pride BEhold Professors Pride Ezek. 16.49 Evidenced in Irreverence in addresses to God Gen. 18.27 This was the iniquity of thy Sister Sodom Pride c. And is not this Devillish Sin become our National Sin 1. With what a bold and impudent face have we come and appeared before God Who hath sensibly exprest himself in Abraham's words Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes Instead of a reverential fear of God our behaviour hath been stout against God and we have not trembled in his presence no not whilst we have been terribly
A GOSPEL-GLASSE Representing the MISCARRIAGES OF English Professors BOTH In their Personal and Relative Capacities for which God is contending with them by the Sword Plague c. and since the writing of the greatest part of the following Treatise for the Press by the dreadful Fire in London OR A CALL FROM HEAVEN To SINNERS and SAINTS By Repentance and Reformation to prepare to meet God Levit. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Jer. 2.35 Yet thou sayest Because I am innocent surely his anger shall turn from me Behold I will plead with thee because thou sayest I have not sinned LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXVII THE Authors PREFACE WHEN it is a day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness then saith the Prophet Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion Joel 2.1 2. and found an Alarum in my holy Mountain Let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble Lam. 2.1 How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of Zion with a Cloud in his anger and cast down from Heaven unto the Earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his Foot-stool in the day of his anger He hath violently taken away his Tabernacle as if it were of a Garden V. 6 he hath destroyed the Places of the Assembly The Lord hath caused the solemn Feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and hath despised in the indignation of his anger his Priests V. 7 Yea the Lord hath cast off his Altar he hath abhorred his Sanctuary the Law is no more her Prophet also find no Vision from the Lord. O that now mine eyes could fail with tears V. 9 and my bowels were more troubled within me O that my Liver were poured upon the Earth for the destruction of the Daughter of my People V. 11 because the Children and the Sucklings swoon in the streets of the City We see not our Signes there is no more any Prophet Psal 74.9 neither is there among us any that knoweth How Long. When we 2 Sam. 6.1 2. like David were restoring the Ark of God I mean the presence of Christ in his Worship and Ordinances what Stumblings of the Oxen have we seen What miserable Disappointments have we met with And what sad breaches have there been made How hath God stopt our way and branded our Enterprises with wonderful remarks of his sore displeasure Hear therefore the word of the Lord Hos 4.1 ye Children of Israel for the Lord hath a Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land We poor Ministers have pleaded with you till we can plead no more the Lord hath bid us stand by whilest he himself takes up the Controverste O is it not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Hebr. 10.31 Are you not sensible what Arrows God hath begun to shoot amongst us How many thousands Psal 58.9 Isa 5.25 and ten thousands hath he taken away as with a whirlwind by the Pestilence For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still How hath God shaken our Heavens Hag. 2.6 and our Earth the Sea as well as dry Land How doth he contend still by the Sword And how much precious blood hath the Earth and Sea drunk up For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still O! Come Psal 46.8 Behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the Earth Every Providence of God especially his more notable Acts hath a reason written upon it could mans eye read it When the Church complained that God was as a stranger in the Land Jer. 14.8 10. and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night The Lord replyes to them Thus have they loved to wander c. The Controversie began on their side they may see their Sin in the Punishment as in a Glass Do they winder I grow strange to them The estrangement began on their part Nothing appears more our instant Duty than to enter a serious scrutiny What have we done Wherein have we offended Lam. 3.40 41 44. Let us search and try our wayes saith the afflicted Church of Judah upon this very occasion of the Lords covering himself with a Cloud that their Prayers could not pass through and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the Heavens O! Hag. 1.5.7 Consider your wayes The Lord doubled it Your iniquities have seperated between you and your God Isa 59.2 and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear I find men will easily subscribe to this that Sin is the procuring cause of all misery but I find an aptness to transferr the guilt from one to another from one party to another and though people do even sell themselves to work wickedness yet so predominant is Self-love that it sees no spots in it self Ahab is not the troubler of Israel but Elijah Nay a good man Aaron excuseth himself Exod. 32.22 and layes the blame on others The Sin is theirs not mine Men have a natural desire to justifie themselves and their desire is so strong that they care not whom they bespatter or burden so they may but ease and acquit themselves And indeed Sin is such an ugly Monster that no man will own it if he can choose but had rather lay this Child of Darkness at any mans door yea at Gods than Father it himself My Design in this Enterprize is to obviate this Distemper and to bring you all of you to own your iniquity that you may say resolve upon it that you will confess your iniquity Psal 32.5 that so God may forgive the iniquity of your sin My Place and Duty as a Minister though wholly unworthy of that Relation to God and you binds me to cause Jerusalem to know her abominations Ezek. 16.2 and therefore I have descended to Particulars that if it be the will of God I might hit the humour 1 Kings 8.38 and shew to every man the plague of his own heart The Lord knoweth I take no pleasure to rake in these Dunghills I dread the ill uses that the Sons of Belial may make of this Enterprize I expect various Censures from them who should be otherwise minâ—ed but my record is on high that the great Design of this Publication is to reduce Professours to a more aweful humble serious Repentance towards God and singular Conversation before men I thank God for the freedome that a Reverend Brother hath taken with the ejected Ministers Vox clamantis in Deserto and I must profess that since the perusal of that most seasonable Piâ—ce I have had no quiet in my Conscience till I entred upon this Labour Though my bodily Distempers pleaded loud for my silence though I was
misdemeanours were they convinced of the body of sin within them their greatest sorrows would be for their sinful propensities Neither would you wonder at any impieties and enormities in the Earth but would admire at the restraints of Heaven that they are no greater Alass If the Reader were left to himself he would presently lay hands on his nearest relations and on himself Certainly the reason why we turn not Cannibals why every man is not a Sodomite a Murtherer an Oppressour c. is because God hath a rein on the heart and curbs it for the continuation of mankind that otherwise would soon be destroyed The great boundary of the Seas and of the Ocean of corruption is the Soveraign above But O! how do we commend Nature such a man hath a good nature such a man you may trust him he will never commit such abominations You may as well believe a Toad will not poyson or the Sea will not overflow the Earth if God leave it to its self But to descend to particulars 1. Few convinced of the minds corruption Rom. 8.7 How few see the corruption of their mind How few are convinced that the carnal mind is enmity against God and is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be How are our minds delighted with tales and toyes more than with the serious mysteries of God How few are sensible that they are as foolish and mad as any Bedlams in that they please themselves with that which should be their greatest burden namely Sin They are worse than the Bee or Ant for these prepare for a severe hard Winter these provide for hereafter whilst most people mind present things present pleasure present profit c. with the neglect of heaven and future glory They mind more what to eat and drink here what to have at present for this life than what to lay up for eternity They busie themselves to know what is of no consequence but careless of momentous and eternal matters How few employ their minds to know God and how he is to be worshipped and pleased but employ themselves in needless and unprofitable speculations in this like fools and children who preferr painted glass before jewels of value they more set by a little mirth and pleasure than the matters of their salvation How are our minds enslaved to our affections to the more bruitish inferiour and ignoble parts of the soul and we love to have it so Through this corruption of our minds how do we justifie sin excuse it and plead for it Hence also there are swarms of idle confused impertinent foolish ridiculous thoughts that fill our souls and duties seldome in the day week or year any conceptions of God suitable to his majesty and holiness How unstable are our minds and judgements so that we are as reeds shaken with every wind now for duty then soon wheel'd off again now for repenting and humbling work then tired and soon diverted And if we know the out-side of truths yet how often is that a barr to our closing with Christ and walking in him And yet though these poor blind deluded Bartimeus's fill all our wayes and paths so that where ever we goe we meet with them yet how seldome are any convinced of this how seldome do any cry for eye salve that they may see 2. Few convinced of the corruption of the Conscience Tit. 1.15 And though not only the mind but the conscience is defiled though there be a blindness upon it whereby it mis judgeth and calleth darkness light and though it be senseless and stupid as a stone yet few do believe this corruption hence they take sanctuary in their consciences their consciences bear them witness though it be bribed and corrupted and they have a good conscience though they know not what conscience is 3. How few are convinced of the corruption of their Will Few convinced of the corruption of their Will How do they wish that drunkenness uncleanness c. were no sins How do they choose to live a merry rather than an holy life to be the servants of the Devil rather than of God to commit sin and thereby hazard their damnation rather than to suffer and through many tribulations to enter into the Kingdom of God And how gladly would most Professours enter and take up their rest in somewhat below God if they could but enjoy the world according to their will Few convinced of the corruption of their Affections 4. Few are convinced of the pollution of their Affections Though they hate what they should love and love what they should hate though they love sin which they should hate and hate and slight God to whom they should give the precedency of their love though all be in disorder all be mis-placed though God be dethroned and Sin Sathan and the World be set up above all that is called God yet few do really believe that such a miserable Chaos is upon them 5. Few convinced of the corruption of their Memories How few are sensible of the corruption of their Memory Though they are especially charged to remember God and how to get a possession of him and to remember duty and how to practise and to remember sin and how to shun it yet how soon do they forget such truths and lodge in their memories injuries that they may avenge them and vanities foolish jests unprofitable toâ—es and tales to please themselves therewith You can remember how merry you were such a time how vain how your sensualities were abounding but you soon forget a Sermon or if you remember any thing delivered by the Preacher it is that which either concerns others conditions rather than yours or which yields you the least advantages heaven-ward We can remember the fall of Peter much easier than the repentance of Peter than his bitter weepings we can remember David's Adultery but not his Repentance and how it broke his bones and made his bed to swim Few convinced that sin iâ— the greatest evil Secondly How few have been convinced that sin is the greatest evil How few have seen it in its perfect odiousness in its naked face as that which makes Men Devils fighting against God How are most strangers to its pedigree Joh. 8.44 and consider not the Devil to be its Father We would be thought to have nothing to do with the Devil nor that he hath any thing to do with us we can live in sin and yet hypocritically enough defie the Devil and all his works We can make more moderate constructions of our sins and call them the frailties of our flesh but he that commits sin is of the Devil i. e. the Devil's drudge Sathan works in him and by him If men were convinced of this they would not drink in the Devil's piss Sin it comes from the Devil it is the Devil's excrement and yet this is rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel O! with what greediness is the
the chiefest among ten thousand his head is as the most fine gold his locks are bushy black as a Raven his eyes are as the eyes of Doves by the Rivers of waters washed with milk and fitly set his cheeks are as a bed of spices as sweet flowers his lipps like Lillies dropping sweet smelling myrrhe his hands are like gold Rings set with the Berill his belly is as bright Ivory overlaid with Saphires his legs are as Pillars of Marble set upon sockets of sine gold his countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the Cedars his mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely This is my Beloved c. I 'le praise thee with uprightness Psal 119.7 164. Septies i. e. Saepissime Psal 148. I 'le praise thee seven times a day Yea David thought seven times a day too little and therefore he call'd in all the Creatures of Heaven and Earth Air and Sea to praise God the Dragons in the deep must not be silent True Lovers praise God as much as they can they exalt God to the utmost of their power and then from a sense that God is above all their praise they would have every thing that hath breath to praise the Lord yea and inanimates too for to joyn in the Quire Doth Praise wait for God 11. Did you love God Not loving all of God and Christ Jo. 13.34 35. 1 Jo. 4.19 you would love every thing of God Do you love his Omnipresence his Justice his Holiness True love to Christ sticks not barely in the Person of Christ but reacheth to all that have an Union with him Do we love Christ mystical as well as personal Are we of Catholick Spirits The Apostle is peremptory and brandeth them all as Liars that pretend to love God and Christ and do not love Saints 12. Not thirsting after nearer Communion True Lovers of God thirst after nearer Commuion with God My Soul followeth hard after thee The Soul still encroacheth upon God Let me see thy Glory saith Moses though he saw more than Mortals were commonly permitted to behold yet Semper avarus eget Much would have more Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God A true Lover of God is under an holy impatience till he ceaseth to see darkly in a glass He would fain see with open face O! saith such a Soul the distance between Christ and me is too great O! I cannot but groan earnestly when I consider I am absent from the Lord whilst present in the body Lord saith Austin I will dye that I may enjoy thee I will not live but I will dye I desire to dye that I may see Christ and refuse to live that I may live with Christ The broken Rings Contracts and Espousals content not the true Lover but he longs for the Marriage day Here are Clouds that oft pass 'twixt God and my Soul O that I were above them Here if I see and enjoy the fear of losing so sweet a sight abates the comfort of fruition but then welcome an eternal day that shall never have a night 13. Being weary of his Commands If you loved God his Commandements would not be grievous to you Love cannot be easily poised Love hath a kind of Almightiness in it so that heavy burdens are made light 1 Jo. 5.3 and almost impossible things become feasible But of how many things do we say Mal. 1.13 What a weariness is it How are you haled by Governours by Conscience and by the terrours of the Law unto Duties How like Slaves chain'd to Gallies you must work though sore against your wills Did you love God you would count nothing tedious Hebr. 12.1 save dulness in his service Sin would only be the Weight O the burden of Formality Pride c But O the pleasures of the wayes of God! His yoak is easie his burden light 14. Did you love God Not fearing how it goes with Gods affairs 1 Sam. 4.13 you would be jealous lest it should goe ill with Gods affairs The loving Mother trembleth lest the Child should suffer when she is off from it But alas how few Elies are there whose hearts tremble beause of the Ark Do you really fear lest Formality should eat out the Power of Godliness lest Traditions should make void the Commandements of God lest your Trades should spoyl your Communion with God You may easily imagine Considerations tending to humble us for want of Love to God the want of Love to God must needs be a great Provocation O to pretend love and yet Judas-like betray Christ with a kisse to say Hail Master and yet preferr a base Lust before him What an indignity is it to the Husband that the Wife loves the Slave before him The World should be your Slave but it hath got the heart the bosome and Christ must stand without doors till his locks are wet Cant. 5. O that God should stoop so low as to love you as to make you the birth of his everlasting counsels of love that he should carry you long in the womb of his eternal purpose This goodly Fabrick of Heaven and Earth had not been erected but as a Stage whereon he would shew his love to you And did he not in the fulness of time purchase you by the blood of his First-born yea of his only begotten Son and for this very end that he might gain your love as well as reveal his own love And yet that your love should not be like an Eccho which returneth what it receiveth Sure you should cast back Gods beams of love upon himself This is all he expects My Son give me thine heart All the command he layes upon you Mat. 22 36 37. is in one word To Love him God might have commanded our Children to be sacrificed to pass through the Fire O! what a favour is it to love the Lord That God will honour us so farr as to suffer us to love him And yet we love any thing any sordid base Lust rather than God We would count it a favour if a Prince would give us a privy Key to come to him when we please Here is more honour we may have recourse to the bosom of God when we will God would have us to love him with all the heart with all the soul The Lord would not lose one grain of our love O that we should deny him that which he with reverence be it spoken and thought on is so fond of Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord require of thee but to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul God requires not now Cattle upon a thousand Hills or Rivers of Oyle Only Love me Love me Love me heartily constantly chiefly and yet we deny him our
never desire any privacy between God and thy Soul a Saint and yet find no errand to invite thee to speak with God alone Sure thou rather seekest to approve thy self to men than to God Thou mayest for a time be the worlds Saint but God will at last un-case thee and present thee before the eyes of all the world for an Hypocrite Mat. 6.5 6. The trâ—e Lover delights to visit his Friend when he may find him alone like that good man who when the set time for his closet-Prayer was come would break from any compony he was in with this handsome speech I have a Friend that stayes for me Farewell Others put off this duty by pretending they pray alwayes every hour they are darting up Ejaculations to Heaven As the pretence of every day-Sabbath saith one comes just to no Sabbath so the continual Prayâ—â— of some carnal Professours is not Praying aâ— aâ—â— Eâ—aculatory Prayer should not hinder but rather fit for solemn set Praying Fire must be kept upon the Altar continually but that must not hinder the Morning and Evening Sacrifice True Christians cannot be satisfied with a bit and away but they must â—â—ve their set meals Others look at Closet Prayer to be at the best but a Free will Offering as they term it which they may offer if they will but will not own it a duty Surely such are little sensible of their heart-plagues or else they would alone one by one make Prayers 1 Kings 8.38 39. Zech. 12.10 11. and Supplications Such either have 〈…〉 Spirit at all or else but little very little of the Spirit or else they would be Praying apart In all my observation â—â—e raines of Christians have begun in their Closeâ— neglects either by omitting the duty totally or by â—areless formal customary management of it The truth is saith a late neat Writer this is the first step towards Apostacy Back-sliders grow first out of acquaintance with God in secret then delight in this duty declineth by little and little then are they less frequent in their visits upon which followeth a casting off the duty and yet they may appear great sticklers and zealous in publick Ordinances but if they recover not what they have lost in their secret Trade they will ere long break here also No surer sign of an Hypocrite than to neglect secret Prayer it turns thee into a Nebuchadnezzar into an Heathen nay into a Nebuchadnezzar Jer. 10.21 a Beast They are become bruitish and have not sought the Lord. Thou pretendest a love to God didst thou love him thou wouldst love to be with him yea lovers covet to be alone where they may more freely impart their mutual affections perhaps in thy family Religious worship of God by Prayer is yet kept up to keep up thy credit with men that thou mayst not be thought an Atheist that thou mayst be trusted an hundred things may keep thee and hold thee to publick duties but herein is the tryal of thy uprightness what thou dost in secret for God and with him when the Masters part the two great ones God and World then is the trial of thee whose Servant thou art but oh when the Master is alone then he is mostly neglected When alone thou art fittest for this duty of calling upon God when the World is shut out then thou hast a discharge from the cumbers of the Earth an Heathen Scipio will tell the I have never better company than when I have no company for then can I freely entertain my own thoughts and converse with all the learned that have been in former ages But thou art called to greater honour to improve thy solitude Joh. 16.32 to converse with God when alone to have thy Father with thee Yea God like a modest lover communicates most of his affections to his people when they are in secret Psa 63.6 when David was in the night watches then his Soul was filled with marrow and fatness not that he wanted Gods presence in the day for seven times a day he praised God but his day-sacrifices yielded him not that marrow and sweetness as he tasted in the night when he was sequestred from all company and business O! the hidden Mannah is the sweetest Cant. Hos 2.14 The Church leaneth on the breast of Christ in the Wilderness and there he speaks to her heart Unhappy Soul innumerable are thy losses by neglecting Christs calls Come my Beloved Cant. 7.12 let us goe forth into the Fields there will I give thee my loves That God should so lovingly invite thee to take a turn or two with him every day inorder to his opening his breast to thee and yet be denied Again When alone and not with God thou art lyable to Sathans foulest Temptations to Atheism Discontent or Pride of heart When the Devil finds the house empty he will furnish you with company enough seven other worse Spirits if worse may be you shall be employed Fear a Rape at least if God be not engaged to be a little Sanctuary in thy Closet and retirements Sathan frequents the high wayes and that Robber takes men aside into a corner and then pillageth them of their treasure He thought so to have dealt with Christ and therefore takes him into a Mountain alone Mat. 4.8 When alone your dangers are greatest therefore should your cries to Heaven be most vehement How few Professours have observed the fittest time for secret Prayer Not early enough in the Closet Mark 13.33 God would have us in this sense Watch unto Prayer God would have us early to tell the world whose Servants we are and that we dare not undertake any business without first engaging God with us Mark 1.35 that we dare not enter on Sathans territories without Christ our great Champion with us This Post should be sent to Heaven in the beginning of the day for no sooner in the morning do we begin to live and stirr but we need fresh succours and Auxiliaries from Heaven True Christians count that the sweetest air they breath in which is the fruit of Prayer and all things relish well with him that 〈◊〉 through this golden Pipe of Prayer and therefore he is up early in his Closet that 〈◊〉 may receive all this way from the Lords bounty and faithfulness Therefore 〈◊〉 sooner doth he open his eyes but he opens his heart to God and before he puts onâ— ragg he must to Heaven in secret Ejaculations at least before he goes to his Closet to pour out his Soul more plentifully before God He expecteth no good day unless iâ— be begun with a good duty and therefore my voice shaleâ— thou hear in the morning Psa 5.3.119.147 in the morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee David prevented the dawning of the morning naâ— he prevented God i. e. his Providences and Favours which he expected he loved to have them in the Channel of Prayer But alas how do Professours shuffle
Psa 4.4 1 Cor. 11.28 Lam. 3.40 Their omitting the Duty altogether hold intelligence with it Let a man examine himself Let us search and try our wayes But yet notwithstanding these Injunctions 1. How many are there that never set about this Duty They will Pray c. but will not be perswaded to look inward They are as great strangers to their own as to others hearts They are at no pains to try in what state they are They will not try Nor examining their Estates whether they are new-born or not whether sanctified or not whether a saving change hath past upon them or not They will not compare themselves with the Characters which are given by Ministers and Books to see whether they be in the gall of bitterness or not in the bond of iniquity or not They never examine what Justification and justifying and saving Faith be and whether they are justified and shall be saved like Gallio Little caring for these things They examine which way they may be greater in the World how to add to the heap how to load themselves with thick clay how to escape the wrath of man how to prolong their dayes but not how to prepare for Eternity and how to make sure of Heaven You ask one another what news from Navies from Armies from Court from Country but when did you spend one hour to ask your hearts this serious question O my Soul what will become of thee when thou leavest this earthly Tabernacle We travel any where but where we should We are better read in any Book than in the sealed Book of our own hearts We are not at all for a personal treaty with our own Consciences We are too much prying into other mens hearts but our eyes turn not inward We know not how it is with our Souls and what will become of them and we have no mind to know such matters As we commune not with our hearts about our States Nor Actions so we do not commune with them about our Actions neither before nor after the doing of them Before we act we do not advise with our Consciences whether what we be about to do be lawful or unlawful and if lawful whether expedient or inexpedient After we have acted whether our actions be good or evil How many are contented so the matter be good but examine not themselves about the manner principles ends and motives Though the Children of Israel knew by the Word of the Lord and from Abraham their Father that Canaan was a Land flowing with milk and honey yet they sent Spies and searched it and thereby were confirmed If men had never so much confidence of the goodness of their Prayers c. yet for Confirmation-sake they should send down Spies into their hearts to see the Clusters of their Zeal and Affections the utmost of the goodness of them But alas how many wholly neglect this necessary and possible Duty If all were like these God might take up his old complaint No man cryed out Jerem. 8.6 What have I done Or O my heart What hath God done for thee 2. The backwardness of the best hereunto How backward are a more refined sort of Professours to a compliance with this Duty How oft have your Ministers invited you beseeched you to hold intelligence with your own hearts and yet cannot prevail How backward are the best to keep a strict eye upon their little house within to see what is done within those doors We are apter to study others lives yea hearts than our own If the best knew how much work lies within doors they would not be so much abroad as they are 3. If we do examine our hearts Not making use of the Word as the Rule yet not by the Word of the Lord. God would have us to try and prove our selves then there must be some measuring Line some Standard some Rule to try our selves by but herein we are hugely defective We try our selves by some sudden pangs or by the good opinion of others concerning us or by the lives of others we being in an Hospital where every one almost is lame and defective or by some other easie Rule that we our selves frame unto our selves and so miserably cheat our selves O! how loth are we that the light of Gods Word should be let down into the dark Cells of our hearts for want whereof there is much dust unobserved and not swept away How loth to try states or actions by the Scripture though thereby they must be tryed at the last day He is a good Text-man that compares Scripture with Scripture and he is a good Christian that compares the Scripture and his own heart together that credits his own heart only when it hath the consent of the Prophets and Apostles making them Umpires in the decision of all his Soul-controversies Have recourse to the Light that shines in a dark place 2 Pet. 1.19 But alas Who obeys this form of wholesome words 4. Being superficial therein How overly and superficial are many in the examining themselves by the Word How few do examine their State or their Actions fully Though our hearts be very great Impostours Jer. 17.9 deceitful above all things great Supplanters full of guile though there be thousands and thousands of Lusts that lye hid in our hearts and Deceits like the Sands on the Sea-shore yet how carelesly do we set upon this work We take no pains in it 5. Being too seldome in it How seldome are we in this work Some deferr it till a Sacrament and then perhaps the house is searched for the leaven whereas we should keep a petty Sessions in our hearts every day and do what we can to know the bottom of the projects devices workings of our heats When going to Prayer we should examine our selves whether we have clean hands and pure hearts whether we are double-minded James 4.8 if so there is no drawing nigh to God And when we come off from the Duty we should conferr with our hearts what enlargements quicknings meltings humblings we had in the Duty what promises what threats were applyed by the Spirit whether we saw the face of our Beloved or not When going to a Sermon we should examine in what posture we are to meet with God what Oyl we want that we may be supplyed When going to our Beds we should examine our hearts how the day hath been spent what sins were committed what Duties and how discharged what temptations were resisted what mercies received and what growth and increase of grace we have obtained When going to Visit this Duty should be taken up before and after Before thus Wherein may I honour the Lord my God in such company what are their wants that I may endeavour to supply them what are their temptations and discouragements that I may labour to support them what are their graces and best attainments that I may profit by them After thus O my
threatned by God yea when his dreadful threatnings have been terribly executed upon us Even in such times we have irreverently rush'd into his Presence 2. Not stooping to the Will of God How have our Wills risen up against the Will of God The humble Soul stoops to Gods Preceptive and Providential Will but we have wretchedly thwarted God in all his Counsels and Dispensations The great Controversie betwixt God and man is Whose Will shull stand God or mans O! How impudently have we contended with the Lord about this We have even thought our selves too great to be crost How many think it even a disgrace to their noble Spirits to be still and silent even under the hand of God but they must be clamorous and speaking against the very Heavens They are ready to say This was not well done by God he might have given or continued to us this and the other mercy They mislike many of Gods Dispensations of Providence they cannot heartily say that God holds the reins best and and guides all his affairs with the greatest wisdome they think if they were the Orderers of matters in the World things would be better governed like proud Absolon 2 Sam. 15.4 who wished he were in David's stead they wish they were in Gods stead A proud man would have others under him yea he would have the great and glorious God subject to his will to do what he pleaseth to yield to his desires Whence are all your disputings and quarrellings with God save from the Pride of your hearts The humble Soul cryes Not my will but thine be done It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good But so over-grown are we with an opinion of out own wisdome and worth that we must limit the Holy One and order him how to rule the World God must stoop to our prescriptions or else we swell and break with discontent O! Is not God wiser than man Shall the clay say to the Potter Why hast thou shaped me thus Rather let the potsheards strive with the potsheards wormes with wormes about the preeminence of wills than we contend with God O! When will your proud hearts stoop to God when shall his Will be the Rule when will you be willing to be dealt withall as God pleaseth 3. Lothness that God should be exalted unless they be instruments and sharers How loth are we that God should have any glory in the World unless we share in it or unless we be the immediate instruments of exalting of him We are willing God should have some glory so we may share with him content that Free-will and Free-grace should divide the spoyles the honour of our salvation shall be ascribed partly to our endeavours and the honesty of our wills in choosing the way of life and partly to Christs merits We are willing God should be exalted so it be by our selves so that we may be famous in promoting the design else we are discontented Few are contented that Gods work should be carried on by any hand save their own that some glory may descend on them Most are like the proud Senatours of Rome that could have been contented that Christ should have been numbred among their Gods but that the Motion began not with themselves O! Think with your selves how many good motions tending to the edification of the body of Christ have miscarried upon this account because others should not have the honour of beginning them Whence can it be save from the Pride of our hearts that we have so little rejoyced when God hath been advanced by others and we had no hand therein We are afraid that others glory will ecclipse ours 4. Scorning some Dâ—vine Commande How scornfully do we look on some of the Lords Commandements To reprove Offendours to visit the Poor and conferr with them yea to be seen in the company of poor Christians is accounted a disgrace we think it an abasement to our Spirits and a discredit to us to be known in any relation to them Who can bow to the meanest services of the Sanctuary 5. How unwilling are we to come to Christ unwillingness to come to Christ till worthy of him till we have our double money in our sacks till we have fitted and prepared our selves and made our selves worthy of him Hence all the offers of Christ are neglected till the Soul hath wrought it self into a better disposition for Christs embraces and loves and therefore when we can weep bitterly and pray fervently we will come to Christ but will not be beholding to him to work both to will and to do We would be the Alpha and he shall be the Omega We would begin some glorious work and then tye him to our performances and oblige him by our great and glorious services and reformations We hate to be Almes-people To begg I am ashamed We are loth to receive all from God we would purchase and merit somewhat 6. How Unthankfull are we unthankfulness A Proud man is alwayes an Unthankful man and an Unthankful man is alwayes a Proud man He thinks he deserves all that is conferr'd upon him The humble man counts himself less than the least of all Gods mercies but the proud man reckoneth all that he enjoyeth too little Do not we think God is beholding to us for our Duties and Services more than we are to him for Life Breath and all our Possessions 7. Setting upon great works in their own strength Dare we not set upon the highest Services in our own strength without calling in the help of the Almighty The Proud man seldome believes his own insufficiencies to think a good thought He can rush upon Prayer reading the Scriptures Meditation and such difficult works of Christianity without imploring the aid and succours of Heavens Influences 8. Being hasty Beggars Are we not hasty Beggars If we petition for Pardons or Holiness and God comes not to the door at the first or second knock away we are flinging There is no hope why should I wait on the Lord any longer We dare prescribe God a day and by thus limiting God our Pride appears as if we knew the fittest seasons for deliverance and mercy Were we of an humble heart we would wait all our dayes with patience yea we would resolve to be exalting of God whatever becomes of our selves and to pay him the homage of duty though he for just reasons be pleased to frown upon our Prayers and to deny us all the requests of our Souls I hear some say they would pray hear read wait upon God all their dayes so they were sure God would accept them and smile upon them in the last hour I say to these You ought to serve God with all your time and strength you are bound to God in duty though God were under no obligations by promise unto you O the Pride of our Spirits that we dare tell God We will not serve thee unless thou humour us
neglected to talk of what you have heard Have not some Not talking of it as soon as dismiss'd from the Sermon fallen into impertinent discourses about news and trifles or into worldly business Mat. 13.7 22. and so the thornes choak'd all the convictions which they received under the Ministry They consider not that the Word they have heard hath been the savour of life or of death 2 Cor. 2.16 and that every one that goes from a Sermon goes off either with God or the Devil in his company Have not you been hearers of the Word only Not practising it Jam. 1.22 and not doers of it Have not you so deceived your own selves Your Ministers have prest you to secret Prayer and to constancy in it but have not you gone away and continued in the neglect of that wherein the power of godliness and heart-sincerity mainly consists Blessed are they that hear the Word of God Luke 11.28 and keep it i. e. that are good Practitioners that have a conscionable care to regulate heart and life according to what they hear and know They are rather blest than the Mother of Christ was for bringing him into the World Christ puts a rather upon the good Practitioner than upon the Virgin Mary But alas Let it be for a Lamentation that so many Professours have been for hearing but for doing only what they listed Amos 8.5 6 7 8 9. Saying When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell Corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth Wheat Making the Ephah small and the Shekel great and falsifying the Ballances by deceit That we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shooes yea and sell the refuse of the Wheat The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob Surely I will never forget any of their works Shall not the Land tremble for this c The Kingdome of God shall be taken from you Mat. 21.43 Luke 12.43 and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof But Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing When did you find the Glasses to discover and amend your Spots Have you been cast into the Form of the Doctrine which ye have received Have you obeyed from the heart the Form of Doctrine delivered to you Hath your profiting appear'd answerable to the many months and years you have sate under the Dews of Heaven What do you know more than you did before What do you believe love and hope for more than you did Have your hearts and lusts stooped more and more to this Scepter of Christ Believe it Sirs If Sin be not more odious and Christ more sweet and precious after you have been in the Shepheards Tents you have lost your hearing hours yea contracted more guilt to your Souls That you have not been chang'd from glory to glory is a great stain to the Ministry and a great ground of sadness to the poor Ministers who fear they have laboured in vain And yet have not you been such unprofitable hearers that Seekers Ranters and Quakers have took occasion to cry down the Office of the Ministry as a Cheat as an old Almanack out of date because they have seen how unsuccessful the labours of Christs Ministers have been upon your Souls If you had come down from these Mounts with your faces shining if you had received more of God upon your hearts and lives you had more credited the Ministry and put to silence these foolish men What shall I say A worse Famine is coming on Professours than what happened to Egypt and if you have laid up no store what will ye do in the years of lean Kine 7. Have not you greatly miscarried Their miscarriages as to consulting with their Ministers Mat. 16.19 as to consulting with them Though one great work of your Ministers was to deal personally with your Souls and God intrusted them with the power of binding and loosing doctrinally at least and hath promised to loose in Heaven what they loosed on Earth and to confirm the Word of his Servants Isa 44.26 and perform the Counsel of his Messengers yet how little weight have you laid upon their judgements Have not you more credited the Physicians opinion of your Bodies Laying little weight on their Judgements Not consulting with them at all and the Lawyers about your Estates than you have your Ministers concerning your Souls How seldome are Ministers consulted with about the business of the Soul and Eternity Will not they in the Acts rise up to condemn this Generation They repaired to Christs Ministers with Men and Brethren What shall we do to be saved Acts 2.37 But alas How many have sate 30 40 50. Years under a Minister and never advised with him what to do They have been no more moved Through hard Heartedness Bride than the Rocks were that Bede preached to Or else through the Pride of their hearts they have thought to heal themselves They have been so puff'd up with their own knowledge that they have not cared to hear what their Ministers could declare unto them If they be to take a Journey they will ask the Way of every one they meet but so unreasonably consident are they of their knowing the Way to Glory though there be many Wayes Prov. 14.12 that do indeed lead down to Hell yet seem the right Way to Heaven that they will not so much as ask the Way thither-ward of any Guide Prov. 26.16 The Fool is wiser in his own conceit than seven men thas can render a reason Or else they have thought as well of their Souls as some doe of their flesh Thinking the wound will heal of it self that the wound will heal of it self And hath it not so done no body knows how Can you tell how the troubles and impressions made by the Ministry in your own Souls have worn away have not Ministers sound after the House hath been swept and garnished that seven worse Spirits have entred into the Souls of many convinced and terrified Professors and their latter end was worse than their beginning Many saith famous Hooker in a stupid kind of sottish senselessness wear out the blow and so wast away to nothing as many out of sorrow have become like senseless blocks How oft hath Satan like a Cut-purse drawn thee into solitudes disswaded thee from going near thy Minister that he may rob thee of thy Convictions and the better to effect this hath he not perswaded thee to look on the Minister as proud high scorning to condescend to hear thy Soul grievances and complaints whereas he hath many and many a time with the greatest importunity beg'd this trouble of dressing thy sores If you have consulted with your Ministers Not consulting with them soon enough Acts 24.25 have not you delayed going to these Soul-Physicians When the wound was newly given and bleeding you should have
fainting endeavour not to restore them to set the bones again that are unhappily dislocated Ye which are Spiritual restore Gal. 6.1 c. Are ye all Carnal are none of you Spiritual If there be one here is work for him as he will answer the contrary at his peril 9. Groundless separation On how uneasie and sinful because unwarrantable accounts do many withdraw from the Communion of their Brethren What have not they read or heard Forsake not the assembling of your selves together Hebr. 10.25 as the manner of some is It was then dangerous not to seperate but it was more dangerous to seperate Not to seperate was dangerous to the outward 〈…〉 to seperate was dangerous to the inward man When ever you hear of Demas that he hath left us the next news you will hear of him is he hath embraced this present World If the Devil can like a subtle Cutter on the road draw thee off from thy company he will soon cut the throat of thy Profession It 's no wonder to hear an house is robbed that stands alone from Neighbours Two are better than one The Church of God is compared to a City the weak walls of the houses therein would never endure a blustering wind but by their Neighbour-hood and Contiguity they succour each other But when one stands divided the next news you may expect to hear of is a sall and if it be a towring-house the fall is great And yet alas upon every prejudice and discontent if one Brother falls out with another presently the whole Congregation is threatened with the loss of the prejudiced and discontented party's company and condemned for the miscarriages of one and perhaps the supposed Offendour hath not the liberty to know his Offence in order to his Repentance nor the Church regularly acquainted therewith 10. Not seperating from Persons under Censure The last great Evil among Church-Members that I shall mention is Their not withdrawing from every Brother that walks disorderly when under Censure How solemnly is this required by the Apostle Now we command you Brethren 2 Thes 3.6 in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every Brother that walks disorderly Who can tell what blessed effects of Gods own Censures their eyes might have seen had not Professours been herein guilty By a general dislike the person censured might soon be convinced and humbled Undoubtedly it was your duty to have added weight unto the Discipline of Christ what you could and to discountenance those whom the Lord had discarded Instances are not wanting of such as God hath brought to repentance by the strangeness of such as were once their Fellow-members Possibly you may be condemned for such a carriage but if ever God bring such Censured persons to Repentance though it be upon their death bed though it be in a forraign Country God will not suffer them to dye quietly till they have acquitted yea justified your carriage towards them CHAP. XXXVI Their miscarriages towards Sinners 1 MAy not too much familiarity with profane wretches be justly charged upon Church-members Church-members associating with the Profane I know man is a sociable creature but that will not excuse Saints as to their carelessness of the choice of their company The very Fowls of the Air and Beasts of the Field love not Hererogeneous company Birds of a Feather flock together I have been afraid that many who would be thought eminent of an high stature in grace and godliness yet see not the vast difference there is between Nature and Regeneration Sin and Grace the Old and the New Man Whence From not believing the enmity that is in the feed of the Serpent against the feed of the Woman Psal 14.4 Prov. 28.15 Isa 51.20 Psal 22.12 Mat. 7.6 Ezek. 2.6 Prov. 4.16 seeing all company is alike unto them And is it not thus with thee Is it not all one whether thou art with a Child of God or with a Child of the Devil Are not those fit Companions for thee who slight and rebel against God every day O! How few consult and believe the Scripture's setting forth the enmity of wicked men against Gods people The Scripture tells us They eat up Gods people as bread which implyes a strange inclination in them to devour the Saints and that they take as great delight therein as an hungry man in eating and that it is natural to them to molest them The Scripture compares them for their hurtful qualities to Lyons and Bears to Foxes for subtilty to wild Bulls to greedy Swine to Scorpions to Bryars and Thornes grievous and vexing things The Scripture represents them as industrious and unwearied in their bloody Enterprizes they cannot sleep without doing mischief Herodias had rather have the blood of a Saint than half of a Kingdom Haman would pay a great Fine to the King so the scattered Jews who keep not the Kings laws may be cut off Wicked men will run the hazard of damning their own Souls rather than not fling a dagger at the Apple of Gods eye though they know what one word Aha cost yet they will break through all natural civil and moral obligations to ruine Gods people The Holy-Ghost calls them implacable men 2 Tim. 3.3 fierce and headstrong they are like the hot Oven for fury like the Sea for boundless rage yet who hath believed this Scripture Report Did we believe what Enemies all wicked men are unto all Saints Evidences thereof We should not lean to our own prudence and discretion to secure us from any danger by these men we would get an Ark to secure us from the deluge of their wrath If at any time we be cast among them and delivered we would bless God with the three Children that the hot fiery Oven did not consume us we would not wonder when we hear of any of their barbarous cruelty but rather wonder at Gods restraining them every day we would be suspicious of receiving hurt when cast among light and frothy Companions we would shun their company as we do Lyons and Scorpions we would never commit any trust or secret into their hands we would not be light hearted whilst in their Society we would not rely on their promises any more than we would on the promise of the Devil their Father we would long for Heaven to be delivered from the tents of Kedar we would not count any of the Saints secured from danger though related to any great wicked man we would not twist our selves with them by matching our selves or Children to these Sons and Daughters of Belial neither would we make choice of Devils to be our Servants How few do believe what a quarrel God hath with wicked men From not believing Gods quarrel with them Act. 2.40 And that not only with the loose but the formal and hypocritical also If we did we would tremble as much to be among them as to be in an
exhort one another daily to do good to all Did not I furnish you with wisdome and experience that you might be able and ready to help others Did not I by wonders of Providence prolong your dayes that you might be useful Did not I give you an interest in the affections of your Neighbours that you might be as the Dew and as the Rivers of Waters to the parched ground that you might be the Light and Salt of the Earth Nay did not I remove the Ministry among other weighty grounds to try your affections to perishing Souls And is this your answering all my designs and expectations to rail at them as the ungodly party and not to endeavour to make them better O! Consider how sad your case will be if the blood of thousands of Souls shall be lain at your doors for your neglects for your carelessness for your being worse than Balaams Ass for he once reproved perhaps you have never How do you know but a few words of yours might be as forcible as Jonah's to Nineveh as the Samaritan woman's was to the City Is this to love thy Neighbour as thy self Do'st love thy self and not regard thy Soul And canst thou love thy Neighbour and not endeavour to save him from perishing to pull the brand out of the fire Have you so learned Christ When our Lord dwelt in flesh among us was he dumb before sinners as you are when he saw the multitude wanting bread did not he deal forth the bread of life to them did not he prefer this work before his meat and drink had not he compassion for the ignorant did not he enlighten poor ignorant Souls and reprove the Hypocrisie of others When he went into the Publicans houses did not he preach of the Kingdome of God unto them And hath not he given you an enample that you should do as he hath done Should not you make it a matter of Conscience to write after so great so safe so glorious a Copy to follow so worthy a Leader and Pattern Add withall what stumbling blocks you have laid in the wayes of sinners how many have been offended by your conversation And will you send so many hundreds to Hell and not endeavour the conversion of some You pretend the want of parts But alas you want bowels you want affections you have not a real sight and deep sense of eternal matters If you had you would with tears in your eyes beseech your Neighbours to mind their perishing Souls Have not you so many parts as to say to your Neighbours Repent and Pray if perhaps your sins may be forgiven Go into thy Closet Professour and there mourn over thy hard heartedness and unmercifulness to the Souls of thousands of whom thou might'st have been an instrument of Conversion if thou hadst but attempted it Or could you not have gone and beseeched your Ministers to lay to heart the perishing estate of such a man or woman Or might you not have entreated those Souls to consult some Minister about their Everlasting State You have not done what you could you pretend you cannot convert them but you will not you will not try whether you can work them over from sin to God You say they are dead in sins and trespasses they have hearts of stone as insensible as stones as stupid as blockish as impenetrable as stones And wast not thou so some years ago Hast thou forgot the rock out of which thou wast hewn Nay is there not too much stone in thy heart that thou canst see thy God so dishonoured Christ so reproached by those who are baptized in his Name and wear his Livery and yet not endeavour to pull them out of the fire Thou relievest thy self with the mercy thou shewest to the bodies of the poor that beg at thy door when thou seest their soars their lean cheeks and naked shoulders thou succourest them there things thou oughtest to do but not to lay aside the Spiritual Almes that were due unto them thou shouldst have counselled them admonished them enlightned them and now if they perish in their ignorance will not their blood be required at thy hands O! tremble at your blood-guiltiness The Lord of Heaven and Earth who layes his claim to Souls All Souls are mine hath charged thee not to hate thy Brother in thine heart not to suffer sin to rest upon him but to reprove him And yet thou lettest him alone to perish in his iniquity You are so taken up with your own temporal or eternal good that you little regard what becomes of others to all eternity How do some hope to slink to Heaven alone Perhaps they seek their own profit 1 Cor. 10.33 but not the profit of many that they may be saved O that men would cast their eyes abroad saith one the very dumb inanimate Creatures would teach them better every Creature assimulates Fire turns what is near it into Fire Earth converts into Earth Flowers will be scattering of their seed and scent How canst thou hope the blessing of the new Creation rests upon thee when thou dost not increase and multiply O that you would be prevailed with to help counsel and direct others to Heaven If you have found the way thither be pleased to shew others the way to life the way to glory O! Pitty them as Christ pittied you Christ hath led you out of the wilderness of sin and trouble Be you eyes to the blind direct them the right way to the Land of Promise tell them what course you took declare unto them what God hath done for your Souls Do not you see how industrious Christs enemies are to diffuse their poyson Do not Turks and Papists endeavour to proselyte Will they not compass Sea and Land to spread and diffuse their Leaven Do not all people besides you labour to win to their Gods Do not unclean persons and drunkards entice others to the same wickedness shall Satans Vassals be filling Hell and will you not labour to fill Heaven Is it not your Honour to bring many Sons and Daughters unto God What will become of the next Generation How few Servants if any will Christ have if others take no more pains than you do to convince to allure to convert I fear Christ will take up the old complaint Mat. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the Birds have Nests but the Son of Man will not have where to lay his head Consider how oft your poor Ministers have beseeched you to enter on this work lest other-mens-sins prove your damnation and yet how hath a dumb Devil possessed you O that yet you would commune with your own hearts whether you are willing that thousands should perish and go to Hell and if they answer No Ask them a second question why do not you use the means to prevent it Namely Exhortation Reproof and Counsell You have covered over your want of Zeal and tenderness with a pretence that you have not the gifts of Ministers
who have lost your Virgin affections to Christ who have gone a whoring from your God who are covetous to a wonder and over run with carking cares and sinful despondencies who break out daily into scandalous passions who by divisions envies animosities over-reachings perjuries and hypocrisie have made Religion vile Know from Christ's mouth Mat. 18.6 it had been better for you that a Milstone had been hang'd about your necks and that you had been drowned long agoe in the depth of the Sea than to live so offensively towards men as you have done Jer. 34.16 because hereby the Name of God is polluted It had been better you had never known the wayes of God 1 Pet. 2.20 21. than after Profession and Knowledge to depart and to be as Doggs and Swine If you had never profess'd Gods Name you had never polluted it but God will reckon with you about it I am bold to say that a Drunkard Adulterer Robber c. doth not so provoke the Lord to wrath as a Professour may even by an impatient discontented word and for this compare two Scriptures In the former there is unbelief and quarrelling with God face to face as it were and yet God pass'd that by Numb 11.21 22. with Numb 20.10 and Deut. 32.51 it being in secret with a short check Is the Lords hand waxed short But in the other place Because ye believed not c. to sanctifie me in the eyes of the Children of Israel c. therefore ye shall dye in the Wilderness and never set foot on the Land of Promise One scandalous Professour doth more hurt and more stain Religion than hundreds of Drunkards and therefore their Hell shall be the standard to that of all other sinners Atrocius sub nominis Christi Professione peccat Salvian Mat. 24.51 Appoint him his portion with Hypocrites Thousands in Hell will curse the day wherein they saw your looseness on Earth for thereby they have blasphemed Christ as a Friend of Publicans and Sinners and as if he countenanced you secretly in your Lusts though for state and form he hath spoken great things against such courses in his Word O! how frequently have you made boasts of God Rom. 2.23 24. and the Law but by breaking of it ye have caused his Name to be evil spoken of When you should have been leading others to Heaven you have by your example lead them to Hell How deep shall their Hell be who are plunged thither with their own and other-mens sins also Though God should give you repentance and pardons yet how oft will your Souls bleed to consider how many you have compell'd by your example to sin and blaspheme who are actually in the chains of darkness Gal. 2.14 or hastning thither in a full career O that you would no longer be like the body of Amasa to cause others to stand still or go back from the wayes of Holyness O thou scandalous Professour What account must thou pass with God shortly before perhaps thou hast turned thine eye to the next page Will not the blood of multitudes who perish by thy means be required at thy hands One sin may become many millions of offences as the Numbers may be that shall hear of it No wonder that men are emboldned to sin that the Adulterer cares not for the Curtains of the Night nor the Drunkard for the shadows of the Evening no wonder that the Swearer can spit the Name of God so impudently out of his mouth these have been incouraged by thy revolts backslidings careless and seldome duties and violent earthly seekings O! if you would consider you bore the Ark of the Lord you were entrusted with his honour but you have let it fall yea cast it in the dirt O! tremble at what the God of Heaven hath made a standing decree upon this occasion 1 Sam. 2.30 them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed And though it somewhat comforts me that God will wipe off whatsoever can be cast on him yet know to your sorrow you shall not so easily discharge your selves of the Plagues that are ready to be powred out upon you God expected that you should have been Kings and Priests to him Rev. 1.6 Jo. 3.35 you should have been burning and shining lights you should have been like Innes which have their Signes on both sides you were of the King guard you should have had the Arms of the Crown on your Breasts and on your Backs so that if any had viewed you had met you or had followed you they might have known you for Gods Servants by the stamp and cognisance of Heaven upon you But you have rather been like those Pictures that if you look on one side you may see an Angels face but on the other the Devils O my Soul how canst thou write of these speak or think on them without weeping O Reader retreat retreat quickly to thy Chamber and spend some considerable time to reflect on thy scandalous Words and Actions and how much the Name of God hath thereby been blasphemed and thousands endangered to stumble and fall through thy occasion How many that should have â—een as Shields to ward off those blows of reproach that would fall on God and Religion have proved Swords in the hands of the wicked wherewith the Name of God is wounded and whereby multitudes are in danger of perishing yea and the poor reall Christians are even ashamed to look up and to shew their faces and profession to the world because there have been such Spots in their communion Jude v. 12. such unclean scabbed and unsavoury Sheep that have walked among them CHAP. XXXVIII Their sinning against Knowledge and impenitently notwithstanding all means to bring them to Repentance for their Sins 3ly Against much light YOur Sins are yet further accented by being committed not only against such means of Knowledge but against much Knowledge got thereby You have had the most powerfull Ministry under the whole Heavens And believe it sirs if you had not heard him that spake from Heaven to you If Christ had not come Joh. 15.22 you had had no sin comparatively But now you have no Cloak for your sin You have sinned against more light than the rest of the World You know that covetousness is a sin Isa 57.17 Isa 45.5 Tit. 3.2 and that for the iniquity thereof God hath been wrath and yet you seek great things for your selves still you know that you are to speak evil of no man and yet you bespatter every man almost to set off your selves by staining and blotting of others reputations Isa 58.5 Luk. 12.47 Ezek. 21.10 you know God abhors them that for a day only hang down their heads like bull-rushes and yet this hath been your manner from the beginning of your Profession you know your Masters will you know you should not make mirth when the Lord is angry
razing down our Jerusalem to the foundation thereof rejoyce God will remember them and make them desolate and lay his vengeance on Edom And if any of the bordering Philistines shall deal by revenge V. 15 16 17. and take vengeance with a despightfull heart God knows how to stretch out his hand upon them and to destroy the remnant of the Sea coast and to execute great vengeance upon them And if any of our Neighbours round about shall with Tyrus say against Jerusalem Aha she is broken Ezek. 26.2 3 4. that was the gates of the people she is turned unto us we shall be replenished now that she is laid wast God can soon stoop these Mountains by causing many Nations to come up against them as the Sea causeth his Waves to come up and scrape their dust from them and make them like the top of a Rock Amos 3.2 God cannot bear it that the Heathen should be insulting whilst he is correcting his own and therefore God hath confirmed it by an Oath that he will deal severely with such Mockers Zeph. 2.8 9 10. I have heard of the reproach of Moab c. therefore as I live saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel surely Moab shall be as Sodom c. Zech. 1.15 And I am sore displeased with the Heathen that are at ease for I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction Leave we these to the Righteousness of God and let us return to our selves whilst they are insulting Isa 64.4 Numb 16. Job 31.3 may we be on humbling and repenting Work God is come down and hath done terrible things that we looked not for we have been visited but not with the common visitation of all people God hath strange punishments for the workers of iniquity And no wonder when strange Oaths have been minted of later times that our Forefathers never heard of there have been strange wayes of Epicurisme and Gluttony strange wayes of uncleanness strange unknown fashions in apparel and for Fraud cheating and Tricks of Legerde main they have fresh and new and frequent every day Hath not God then a just controversie with his people If the Lord draw out Judgements that were never heard of before and make us signs and wonders to the world and an astonishment to all Nations may we not justifie his proceedings If we exceed our Forefathers Sins what wonder is it if we feel Judgements that they were never sensible of CHAP. XXXIX What use Professours should make of this Gospel-Glass ANd now Professour to all thy former Sins Quarrel not with the Glass do not add this great abomination that having had the Glass of the Word so faithfully revealing many of thy sins to thee thou shouldst go away and strait forget what manner of man thou hast been Let not Satan tempt thee to quarrel with the enterprise for that the Glass is not broad enough to shew to thee all thy stains and deformities know here are enough presented to thy view to lay thee low enough in Hell without Repentance Perhaps also by thy corrupt reason thou canst plead for one or two particulars or bring it under debate whether they are stains or not But know to the confusion of thy face here are spots unquestionable spots discovered and such as are not the spots of Gods Children But wouldst thou improve this or any other such Glass for the good of thy Soul Let Gods Honour and thy precious Souls everlasting welfare perswade thee to receive in meekness and love the following Counsels 1. Reflect on all the particulars Improve it for promoting Consideration and Meditation that thou may'st see what are thine iniquities Do not behold only and so goe away be not contented with slight apprehensions but muse that the Fire may burn Consider how oft in the Bill of Attainder thy Conscience tells thee thou art guilty O! ponder these things in thine heart chew the Cud recoyl upon thy self Let the Lord hear one the more for thee crying out what have I done How have I provoked the Lord By meditation retain the memory of thy sins with all their aggravations as much as thou canst set past sins in present view and possess the sins of thy youth as if they were just now committed now track the abominations of your lives charge this duty upon thy own Soul as that which must be done as thou wilt answer it at thy peril before God and Angels Perhaps hitherto you have forgot your corrupt lives and hearts as you have your natural faces forthwith but let it be so no more for Christs sake Consider not only how many of these sins you have been guilty of but how frequently and for how many dayes or years thou hast lived in some of these abominations having oft been guilty of the same sin though perhaps thou knew'st it to be a sin and hast prayed and resolved against it And because the particulars may seem little sins though in a sense there is no little sin because there is no little God and sins have their accents and aggravations from the person who is affronted yet because it is with sin as it is with stones you may carry this stone and that stone without trouble with much case but when many little stones are heared together they become weighty and heavy to bear therefore I advise that by serious meditation you sum them up joyntly till your backs or rather your hearts be broken and you take up the language of the Prophet My sins are passed over my head Psal 38.4 they are become too heavy for me to bear Reflect not only on thy Pride and carelessness and other particular miscarriages but put all the Items into one main Sum that it may stoop thy heart 2. Confession Away now and present thy self before the great and holy God whom thou hast provoked by these by all these great abominations and upon thy knees give glory to him by confessing to him as many of thy sins as thou canst remember with all their aggravating circumstances Josh 7.19 It is the same advice that Joskuah gave to Aâ—chan tell God what thou hast done and what thouâ—â—ast left undone Hide it not from him Confess to God all thy low unworthy thoughts of him all thy enmity against him his Laws and People c. Go and confess what envy what malice what ranckour hath lain in thine heart against thy Neighbour Confess to the Lord how oft thou hast spoke evil of dignities of the blood-royal of the favourites of Heaven of the Sons and Daughters of the most High who were more righteous than thy self Many times thou hast brag'd with the Pharisee what sins thou hast not been guilty of now confess what thou hast been guilty of I know if thou art an Hypocrite thou art loth to bring it forth thou thinkest it will be a shame to thee But let me tell thee it is a shame
attended these whereby they have sallen in that esteem which once they had above you There is no Envy in God Disliking their own enjoyments and his holy Angels they rejoyce at our advancement and at the glory of the humane Nature that it is so exalted above theirs but unhappy we that cannot see any excellency in another but we dislike our own enjoyments and are more vexed at the welfare of our Neighbours than we would be at our own calamities The Beasts do not envy one another Considerations to withdraw the heart from Envy Gal. 5.20 but Men do yea the Devils envy not one another some Professours are herein worse than Devils No wonder if there have been hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions and heresies whilst envyings have abounded amongst us You know the miserable effect of Envy in the first man that was born of a woman through Envy Cain hated Prov. 27.4 and then kill'd his Brother Abel Wrath is cruel and Anger outragious but who is able to stand before Envy This is so filthy so shameful a sin that few will own it Observe the confessions of men in Prayer and Conference and you will hardly find a Professour acknowledge Envy The malignity of this sin appears in that it strikes directly at the Providence of God who disposeth of the inequality of mens conditions according to his soveraignty and wisdome It hath a tacit accusation of God for raising up some so high and laying others so low It is deeply unsatisfied with Gods bounty to the Children of men that he gives so liberally to some whereas he is not bound to any Whilst others complain against God for making the World no better the envious man is troubled that he hath done so well for some of his Creatures Gal. 5.19 20 21. No wonder the Apostle reckoneth Envy among the gross sins of Murder Uncleanness Idolatry Witchcraft c. and concludes Heaven is no place for such They which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdome of God This is a sin so damnable and so ugly making you so much like the Devil that it is high time you watch against it mourn for it and seek its ruine O! When shall we hear the Exhortation Let us not be desirous of vain-glory provoking one another envying one another When shall we in honour preferr one another When shall we like Barnabas Acts 11.23 When we see the grace of God rejoyce When shall Ministers reprove the Joshuahs that are envying for their sakes in Moses words I would to God all the people of the Lord did prophesie When shall we like John the Baptist be contented to decrease so that Christ may increase and to be laid by if others more able may be substituted to do Gods work When shall we rejoyce if God useth others to convert by them more than by us and with famous Mr. Dod I would to God saith he that I were the worst Minister in England his meaning was that all should excel him in gifts and graces We pretend to evidences of our conversion from our love to the Saints but let us hear what the effects of true love are 1 Cor. 13.4 5. Love seeketh not her own love envieth not love is not puffed up As love is the fulfilling of the Law so envy is the dissolution of it O! when shall we instead of envying our Brother bless God for him If he hath more than we have more strength parts riches honours graces c. the account he must pass with God is the greater let us pity him rather than envy him Believe it God is wiser than we are and if his distributions are various we have as many talents as we can well improve Let us look to our own duty in the places wherein God hath set us and pray for them that have ten tallents more than we have that they may serve the Lord ten times more than we can O that thine eye might affect thine heart that thine eye should be evil because Gods is good CHAP. XXVIII The sins of Family-Governours Professours miscarriages in their Families As Governours Not commanding their houshold to serve God Gen. 18.19 1. HOw guilty are such of you as have families to govern of not commanding your houshold to serve God Of how few can God say as he did of Abraham by way of approbation I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to justice and judgement that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him By your Authority you should command them to subject their hearts wills and consciences to the will and pleasure of Jehovah but alas how many of you have been careless in this your Children and Servants yea Wives must know your Authority upon worldly accounts you command them imperiously enough to fullfill your will and pleasure to serve you but how Gallio-like are you little caring whether they obey the Lord 2. Being Zealous against disobedience to themselves not to God How much passion have you discovered when Children and Servants yea and Wives too submit not to your will and pleasure But when do they see so much Zeal against their neglects of Gods work as they find in you when they neglect your secular commands These passions are of a scandalous nature and may make your inferiours to believe that you value more your Authority than Gods the having your own will to be obeyed than that Gods requiries should be observed 3. Not caring for the Souls of their Families How many Professing-Governours are there that shew great care for the bodies of their Families but not for their Souls Meat and drink and clothes or money to buy them they shall have but none or little instruction How little do you Chatechise your Families Not Chatechising them Heb. 6.1 Prov. 22.6 How seldome do you ask them any questions concerning the first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ If you do Chatechise your Children as you ought in obedience to those Divine commands Train up a Child in the way wherein he should go Bring up your Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephes 6.4 Yet how few of you do Chatechise the rest of your houshold your Servants and Wives Heb. 6.1 though they be but Babes in Religion Children in Understanding and this Milk is appointed for Children in Understanding as well as Age Neither doth the work of Chatechising them belong only unto Ministers to them indeed it doth belong as such as watch for their Souls but unto you Heb. 13.17 for it belongs to all that have the charge of Souls and you are charged not only with your Children's but with your Servant's and with your Wives Souls Whatever any of you may fancy there never comes a Wife a Child or Servant into any of your Families but with this warrant from the great
Lord of Heaven and Earth keep the Soul of this Wife this Child this Servant for if it be missing amongst the number of my sheep at the great day through thy neglect in instructing c. thy Soul shall go for it Hence not only should your Children be taught by you but your Wives and Servants The Wife is commanded to learn of her Husband at home and the Husband to walk with her as a man of knowledge and your Servants should be trained by you in Religion Gen. 14.14 as Abrahams Servants were by Abraham thus some of the Hebrew Rabbins think that Abraham's trained Servants are therefore so called Not conversing personally with them abâ—ut their Souls How seldome do you converse personally with every one in your Families concerning the practical part of Religion How seldome do you ask them any questions how it is with their Souls and what they think will become of them to all Eternity Are you not as great strangers to the inwards of their Souls as you are to the Souls of the Indians If their bodies be in danger meat physick attendance are procured but their Souls may perish in formality and carelessness for any help you will afford them Some Professing-Governours never treat with their housholds about their Spiritual Estate from one year to another Hence comes the great Apostasy of our times The Lord humble us and deliver us from bloud-guiltiness Many an Husband may cry out O my Wife's Soul is like to perish through my default many a Parent may shriek O! I am verily guilty of the bloud of my Child and many a Master may impute to his own account all the disorders of his Servants for that they have no personal conference with them about Original Corruption Regeneration Justification Sanctification Glorification c. Perhaps thou prayest in thy Family every day but not knowing the inward lusts and workings of their hearts towards God or Sin thou knowst not how to pray as thou oughtest thou knowst not what to confess and what to pray for nor what to bless God for 4. Not walking with gravity Have you walk'd with that gravity before your Wives Children and Servants as ye ought Have you not made your selves vile by lightness frothiness and unseemly carriages Governours of Families are the Viceroy's of God they are in the place of God and therefore should keep up their Authority and not sinfully run into such vanity and familiarity with their inferiours as to breed in them contempt of the Ordinance of God 5. Not giving them time to serve God in You have given your Children and Servants time to work for your selves but have you afforded them time to serve their God in Too too many use their Inferiours just as they use their Beasts they work and feed their Beasts but never instruct no more do they instruct their Inferiours When do you call your Wives Children Servants into your Closet and not only press them to look after their Souls and in order thereunto to spend some time in Prayer Reading Meditation c. but tell them how God wrought on you how he awakened you what corruptions prevail'd with you and how God help'd you to crucisie them How do you know but the same motives might melt reduce and turn their hearts too 6. Have not you miscarried as to the time Taking undue time for Family-Duties In the Morning too early for the management of your religious work in your houses Some Governours Pray in the Morning too early so early with a small part of their Family whilst others are in Bed or in the service of the World so that they worship not God together as they ought and this is past over with silence but if they miss of their Servant in the Shop or Field O! how doth the fire of Hell break forth at their lips How angry is the Governour he cries out O! I shall be undone by the unfaithfullness of my Wife Children Servants but sees not a greater danger a more probable ruine falling on him for not having his Family to worship God with him Others deferr Morning Prayer till it be almost Noon Too late They will adventure into all worldly imployments as we say without fear or wit they see no need of God to protect them from outward or inward dangers no need of Gods blessing till they are ready to fill their panch and then some Collects must be said some short Prayers it is the Custome of their fore Fathers it is the Religion of their Ancestours or Conscience will trouble at the total neglect of the Morning Sacrifice and therefore the Prayer shall be run over with more hast than the boy that saith his lesson that they may rise up to eat drink and play And as some are unseasonable in their duties in the Morning At Evening too late so at Evening Whilst their strength lasts to serve the world they attend it some 'till even midnight and then come let us go to Prayer when the poor Wife Children and Servants had rather be in bed than on their knees The Governour Prays dully enough 1 Sam. 2.17 Putting off family Prayer with a long grace and that while the poor family sleep or nauseate the duty and so like Elies Sons these Sons of Belial cause their people to abhorre the offering of the Lord. Are there not also some Professing-Governours unworthy of the name of Christian who think to please God and the family with a long grace before meat which shall be in lieu of all the service of the day 7. Not reading Scripture and good books How few are there that read the Scriptures and good books in their houses O! this will take up too much time as if God had given men all their time to neglect him in and to indulge to the services of the Flesh World and Devils CHAP. XXIX The sins of Husbands and Wives HUsband 's and Wives are call'd to reflexion on their miscarriages joyntly Husbands and Wives sins severally Joyntly for their not being so carefull of their choice as they should have been not seeking God enough in a matter of so great consequence which was for tearm of life and wherein the Souls of each other were so highly concerned 1 Cor. 7.39 The Wife is bound by the Law as long as her Husband liveth but if her Husband he dead she is at liberty to be married to whom she will only in the Lord. 2 Cor. 6.14 Be ye not unequally yoaked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness That they came together upon low earthly and lustfull motives for profit pleasure beauty rather than to further the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ The Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men that they were fair Gen. 6.2 and they took them Wives of all which they chose That they did not by Prayer and Fasting