for ever If I whet my Sword and my Hand take hold on Judgment I will render Vengeance to mine Enemies and reward them that hate me I will make mine Arrows drunk with Blood and my Sword shall devour Flesh Deut. 32.39 40 41 42. Thus I have shewed that when God will punish Men for their Sins no Means they can make use of shall secure them against his Judgments Neither their high Quality in the World nor the Eminency of their Rank and Condition nor their Honours nor their Power nor their Policy nor their Riches nor their Interests nor their Friends nor any thing else that can be named shall do them any Good or stand them in any stead to interpose between them and the Wrath of God and skreen off his Judgments from them I come now to apply this Point briefly Vse 1. Let no Man therefore let no impenitent Sinner be incouraged to go on in his evil Ways by the vain Hopes of going unpunished and of escaping the Judgments of God A Man that shall thus flatter himself that makes account he shall be able to find Means to escape the Judgments of God whoever be punished such an one above all others shall be sure to be punished most severely Consider how dreadfully God hath threatned such hardned secure and fearless Sinners He that blesseth himself in his Heart saying Deut. 29.19 20. I shall have Peace though I walk in the Imagination of my Heart to add Drunkenness to Thirst The Lord will not spare him but the Anger of the Lord and his Jealousy shall smoke against that Man and all the Curses that are written in the Law shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven Such secure Sinners were those whom God threatned It shall come to pass that I will search Jerusalem with Candles Zeph. 1.12 and will punish them that are settled on their Lees and that say is their Hearts The Lord will not do Good neither will he do Evil. As if they had said The Lord is in Heaven and regards not what is done by us here below he will neither reward us if we do well nor punish us if we do ill Such obdurate and secure Sinners as these God would find out wheresoever they should be he would search Jerusalem with Candles for them that he might punish them Not one of them that upon the narrowest Search could be found out should escape his righteous Judgments So again God threatned that such as did put far away the evil Day Amos 6.3 4 5 7. did make account that the Day of Visitation when God would reckon with them for their Sins would never come or that it would be long enough before it would come and that thereupon caused the Seat of Violence to come near gave themselves to Rapine Oppression and Injustice and moreover glutted themselves with sinful Pleasures and Delights addicting themselves to all manner of Riot and Excess I say God threatned these secure Sinners that they should go captive with the first that should go captive So then none are more sure to be punished and to be punished severely and speedily than they who least fear it and who are most confident of their Safety and Security Vse 2. Let all impenitent Sinners therefore be perswaded and exhorted to labour to make their Peace with God and to do it speedily lest the Judgments of God overtake them and come upon them before they have done it Let them not be slack herein and put it off from Day to Day as if there were no Danger in delaying it They may perhaps think there is very little in those Threatnings and Denunciations of Judgments which they often hear and that such an evil Day as they have been frighted with shall never come or if it do come that they shall be able to make a shift to secure themselves well enough They have such and such Advantages above other Men and therefore whoever suffer they hope they may find Means to be exempted from suffering But let none deceive themselves these are but idle Dreams and vain Fancies When God comes to visit Mens Sins upon them he comes irresistibly All the Means in the World for keeping off God's Judgments all their Advantages for securing themselves will signify nothing Whatever they may seem to have to safe-guard and protect themselves against the Wrath of God their Sins have made them naked Exod. 32.25 as Moses said of the Israelites They lie as open and as much exposed to the Judgments of God as if they were perfectly stripp'd of whatever might promise them any Protection or Security in an evil Day 'T is true Mens Riches and Power and Policy and Interests may help them to withstand many a Shock and to weather out many a Storm But when the Day comes which God hath set and appointed for reckoning with them then all these things in which they trust shall afford them no Relief at all It may be instead of relieving and protecting them they may contribute to their Ruine So we know God often curseth Mens Policies Job 5.13 and causeth the Wise to be taken in their own Craftiness as Eliphaz speaks And their Riches do them no other Service than only to make them a more desirable Prey to the Enemy When the time comes that they are to be punished in vain shall they hope to escape whatever they have to protect and defend themselves withal and to ward off those Evils that are coming upon them The Prophet Jeremiah fore-telling and prophetically describing the Overthrow of Pharaoh's Army and all his hired Forces by the Army of Nebuchadnezzar and the sore Distress of Egypt attending that Overthrow saith Jer. 46.21 Her hired Men in the midst of her are like fatted Bullocks for they are turned back and are fled away together they did not stand because the Day of their Calamity was come upon them and the time of their Visitation When the time of Mens Calamity and the Day of Mens Visitation is come nothing shall help them or deliver them out of the Hands of God This Insignificancy and Unavailableness of all Means for affording of Relief God emphatically sets forth when speaking to Egypt Ver. 11. he saith Go up to Gilead and take Balm O Virgin the Daughter of Egypt in vain shalt thou use many Medicines for thou shalt not be healed I say therefore make your Peace with God and do it speedily before it be too late Isa 55.6 Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near as the Prophet exhorts Seek him for the Pardon of your Sins seek him for the averting of those Judgments which by your Sins you have deserved and which are hanging over your Heads To the same Effect is that Exhortation of the Prophet Zephaniah Zeph. 2.1 2 3. Gather your selves together yea gather together O Nation not desired before the Decree bring forth
himself both Soul and Body In short Afflictions are a kind of spiritual Eye-salve whereby our Sight is cleared and we are enabled to see what we saw not before we were afflicted and to see those things more clearly and distinctly which before we saw darkly and confusedly Afflictions help us to see those Sins in our selves which before we discerned not or if we had some obscure and imperfect Sight of them if we had a dark and confused View of them before we were afflicted our Afflictions help us to see them and to discern the Evil and Danger of them more clearly 4. Afflictions put us upon the great and necessary Duties of Humiliation and Prayer Afflictions make us humble our selves for our Sins by which we have brought our Afflictions upon us and they make us earnest Suitors to God in Prayer for the Pardon of our Sins and for the Removal of those our Afflictions which have been the bitter Fruit of our Sins Afflictions have often taught Men to humble themselves and pray who were mere Strangers to those Duties before and never had any Acquaintance with them till God's afflicting Hand was upon them Even the Mariners a Generation of Men that for the most part do not much addict themselves to Devotion will pray and call upon God in a Tempest as we may see Psal 107. where both their Danger and their Carriage therein is thus described Psal 107.25 26 27 28. He commandeth and raiseth the stormy Winds which lift up the Waves they mount up to the Heavens they go down again to the deep their Soul is melted because of Trouble they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken Man and are at their Wits and Then they cry unto the Lord in their Trouble and he bringeth them out of their Distresses So Jonah 1.5 The Mariners being afraid by reason of a mighty Tempest cried every Man unto his God So the Prophet saith of the Jews Isa 26.16 Lord in Trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy Chastning was upon them And this is that which God aims at in afflicting his People I will go and return to my Place Hos 5.15 that is I will withdraw from them saith he till they acknowledg their Offence and seek my Face This here in my Text was the Effect which Affliction took upon Manasseh When he was in Affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers and prayed unto him This Course St. James directs the Afflicted unto Is any among you afflicted let him pray Jam. 5.13 To the like Purpose is the Exhortation of St. Peter to such as are cast down under the afflicting Hand of God 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty Hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 5. Afflictions make Men willing to forsake their Sins and induce them to take up Resolutions to forsake them and cast them off The beloved Sins of Men are sweet to them and they are most unwilling to leave them as long as they can enjoy them without Trouble or Molestation as long as they suffer nothing and as they smart not upon the account of their Sins But when they are chastned and afflicted for their Sins this makes Sin bitter to them and makes them resolve to part with it to cast it off and abandon it this makes them bind and oblige themselves by the most solemn and sacred Bonds never to return to it any more This is that which God's People were to do in the time of their Affliction they must resolve upon other Courses they must promise and vow to renounce and forsake those Sins by which they had drawn down the Judgments of God upon them they must return to the Lord and say unto him Asher shall not save us Hos 14.3 we will not ride upon Horses neither will we say any more to the Works of our hands Ye are our Gods These Resolutions their Afflictions should produce and such Resolutions they would produce when their Sufferings being sanctified to them should effectually reduce them and bring them home to God And the like Resolutions did David's Afflictions produce in him as we may gather from the frequent mention there is of the Vows which he then made unto God Thy Vows are upon me O God I will render Praise unto thee Psal 56.12 Thou O God hast heard my Vows Psal 61.5 Prepare Mercy and Truth which may preserve me So will I sing Praise unto thee for ever that I may daily perform my Vows ver 7 8. I will pay thee my Vows which my Lips have uttered and my Mouth hath spoken when I was in Trouble Psal 66.13 14. Now by these his Vows no doubt but he obliged himself to testify his Thankfulness unto God when he should deliver him out of his Troubles not only by offering Sacrifices which were the usual Testifications of Thankfulness in those times but also by a more careful Endeavour to forsake all Sin and to give up himself to God more intirely in a way of constant and universal Obedience without which all their Sacrifices and Oblations had in God's Account signified little The Sum of all that hath been spoken is this Afflictions will work upon Men and prevail with them to return to God from whom they have gone astray when all other Means are ineffectual That 't is not from any natural Property or inherent Virtue in Afflictions themselves that they produce this Effect but from the Grace of God and the Operation of his Spirit accompanying Afflictions and sanctifying them to us That Afflictions sanctified Afflictions contribute towards the reclaiming of Sinners 1. By making them more serious and by causing them to reflect upon themselves and consider 2. By bringing them to the sight of their Sins which they do several ways 3. By acquainting them with the great Evil and Hainousness of Sin and with the Danger thereof 4. By putting the Sinner upon Humiliation and Prayer 5. By making him willing to forsake his Sins and by causing him to take up Resolutions to forsake his Sins and never to return to them any more Now I come to apply what hath been spoken Vse 1. If Afflictions will work upon Men and prevail with them to return to God when all other-Means are ineffectual this may inform us how entremely bad we are what sinful Natures we have how disingenuous we are how much our Hearts are set upon Sin and how fondly in love with it we are 'T is a very bad Child that will be wrought upon and be made better by nothing but the Rod if no Perswasions no wholsom Counsels no Admonitions no Promises no Threatnings will do him any good if he must be beaten and smart soundly or he will miscarry and undo himself This is our natural Temper this is the very Case of us all by Nature nothing but Blows and the Smart of the Rod will
influences of that light they have lived As soon as they came into the World they were in Baptism dedicated to Christ in that Ordinance they gave their Names to Christ and listed themselves among his Followers and Soldiers and they never afterwards renounced him but made profession of him all their days What reason therefore have they to make any question but that Christ will own them They have not been Heathens or Mahumetans Wherefore though Christ should turn those wretched Infidels into Hell by thousands yet as for themselves being Christians they hope they may well expect more favour from him Should he deal with them as with Heathens as with those who never wore his Livery who never made profession of him who never knew him or heard of his Name This were hard measure and such as they think they need not fear at the hands of so merciful a Saviour Who should go to Heaven if not such as themselves whom should Christ save if not Christians Alas poor Souls You think to plead as those who make account that Christ is much beholding to you for vouchsafing to be called by his Name But forasmuch as professing to know Christ in your Works you deny him forasmuch as while you call him your Saviour you refuse to be ruled by him as your Lord forasmuch as notwithstanding all the love you pretend to have for him and his Gospel your Actions are such as proclaim you to be those who love darkness rather than light and who hate true Christianity the reality and power of that which you make profession of had not Christ been more beholding to you if you had never so much as in external profession owned him If you had never been called by that blessed Name which by your unholy lives you have reproached and profaned Many Heathens were never in a capacity of dishonouring that Name as having never had the knowledge of it and your knowledge of Christ hath been of no other advantage to you than only to enable you knowingly to slight him and trample his precious Blood under your feet Thus you throw dirt in you Saviour's face while you would seem to honour him Quid est aliud sanctum vocabulum sine merito quà m ornamentum in luto saith Salvian in his 4th Book de Gubernatione Dei The sacred Name of Christian without faith and holiness what is it but an Ornament trodden under foot in the mire or a precious Jewel which you have taken and drawn along the Kennel But you debaucht and vicious Persons you wild Ranters rather than sober Christians speak out your inmost thoughts Do you really make account of claiming special interest in Christ and do you in earnest expect to be owned by him With what face can you do it while you continue to be as you are Caesar being at a Banquet where he was but meanly entertained and no way so as was suitable to the dignity of so great a Person when the entertainment was over instead of thanking him who had invited him he only gave him this check in his ear Non put abam me tibi tam familiarem I had not thought that we two had been so familiar And will not Christ thank you much in the like manner for having been called by his Name and for reckoning your self among those that belong to him and have a special interest in him Do you not know how he will at the last day entertain you and in what manner he will declare the sense he hath of your kindness Thou lewd and profligate Person who callest me Lord who numbrest thy self among my Disciples and the most intimare of my Retinue how long have we been so well acquainted Thou â—mmon Swearer thou intemperate and unclean Person thou scoffer at Religion thou nominal Christian but real Enemy to the Gospel and all that sincerely profess it how durst thou make mention of my Name and take my covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed and castest my words behind thy back Be it known unto thee thou hast been much mistaken in me I own no such Friends or Followers as thou art Depart from me thou worker of iniquity I know thee not Oh most sad and terrible Disappointment when you shall be thus condemned and turned into Hell by him from whom all your Expectations of Salvation were But yet this is not all you shall not only be adjudged to Hell with the Heathen that know not God and all the Families that call not on his Name but you shall be more severely handled in that place of Torment than the very Heathens The Condition of a sober and temperate Heathen shall then be more tolerable than that of a lewd and vicious Christian And is it not a most righteous thing with God that it should be so The Pagan World never had the light that you have been blest with Pagans never had those many gracious Calls and Invitations to Faith and Repentance which you have had Pagans never had the tenders of those glorious things which have in the Gospel been proffer'd you The Terrors of the Law and the torments prepared in Hell for all the people of the World that forget God were never laid open and set before their eyes as they have been before yours Pagans never had experience of those strong Convictions of those inward Motions and Strivings of the Spirit of God with their Souls which you have had And yet after all this you are in many respects much worse than many Heathens And will you still think to plead We are Christians and should Christ deal with us as with Heathens I tell you once more no he will not deal with you as with Heathens As the Aggravations of your Sins have been incomparably greater Matth. 11.22 23 24. so shall your Punishment be It shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment for heathens than for you VSE 2. In the second place I shall speak unto those who know much and are still in the pursuit of more knowledge but make little conscience of practising what they know From what hath been delivered we may also infer how much it concerns these to add conscientious practise to their knowledge and to endeavour that all their Gifts may be seasoned with grace The more knowledge any graceless Person hath the greater without repentance will his future Torments be and the more intolerable his misery You whose Spirits are with much fervour and intention carried out after knowledge and yet possibly so much slight and undervalue Grace as that you grudge to spend one hour in a serious enquiry into your spiritual Estate I beseech you consider what you are a-doing While you are adding Notion to Notion and Conclusion to Conclusion you are but heaping up matter for your more just and heavy Condemnation you are but preparing Whips for your own backs For he that knows his masters will Luke 12.47 and doth it not shall be beaten with many
must not expect that patience and forbearance at his hands which he was pleased to exercise towards those who lived in darker Ages and times of Ignorance Barren Trees might long stand before Mat 3.10 but now the Ax is laid to the root of the tree and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewen down and cast into the fire The main Errand and Design of the Gospel is that men be turned from darkness to light Acts 26.18 and from the power of Satan unto God To this purpose is that of the Apostle Rom. 13.12 13 14. The night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof And again Tit. 2.11 12. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present sent world 2 Tim. 2 19. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity But this is that which the corrupt Heart of man can least of all endure Men are unwilling to see their sins but much more unwilling to forsake them Whence else are those excuses which many frame when they are invited to come unto Christ One is ingaged in this business and it must be dispatched he must be dispensed with till it be over Another is ingaged in that Affair Luke 14.18 19 20. and he is not at leisure Whence else are those downright and peremptory Refusals Joh. 5.40 Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Yea you would not be gained and prevailed with to come by the largest Proffers by the most rich and excellent Promises The greatest Love and Tenderness the most Compassionate Solicitations and Importunities are not able to overcome them into a willingness what to do To be undone No to be made for ever to be gathered under the Wings of Christ's most tender Care and Love that they might be everlastingly Happy in the Fruition of him That sin is the cause of this peremptory refusal cannot be denied for nothing but sin could so bewitch and transport them that they should with so much obstinacy stand in their own light wilfully thrust away from themselves Everlasting Life and forsake their own Mercies 'T is agreed on that all men naturally desire happiness 't is Nature's Language Who will shew us any good Psal 4.6 Could men therefore reject Eternal Happiness and Glory upon any other Consideration than that the Terms on which 't is offered seem to be too hard They must part with their sins if they will be happy and O how hard a saying is this to Flesh and Blood The Friendship which is between the heart of man and sin being so strict and entire can that light of the Gospel be welcome to him whose Errand from Heaven is to make an everlasting separation between him and his sins Most clear it is that wicked men while such cannot abide the light and that however they may endeavour to cover over their Enmity against it with other pretensions yet the true reason why they hate it is the wickedness of their hearts and lives they therefore hate it because their deeds are evil as our Saviour gives us an account of the ground of their hatred thereof But it may here be objected That the Holy Scriptures elsewhere seem to give other reasons of mens not entertaining the light of the Gospel Sometimes they seem to impute it to the sublimity and to the mysterious Nature of the great Truths contained in the Gospel 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Sometimes the Scriptures impute it to the subtilty and malice of Satan darkening the minds of men 2 Cor. 4.3 4. If our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them And lastly otherwhile the Scriptures speak of God's concealing the Mysteries of the Gospel from some men so our Saviour speaking to his Father saith Mat. 11.25 Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent There being also these other reasons of mens not embracing the light of the Gospel how is it that our Saviour seems to lay the whole stress of this matter upon this that mens deeds are evil To this I answer 1. That it is not necessary that we should so understand our Saviour as if he intended to make man's sin the sole or only cause why he hates the light but one principal cause And that 't is a principal cause thereof hath already appeared from what hath been spoken and will yet more fully appear by what shall be further spoken in answer to the Objections Wherefore 2. Though there may be some other causes of mens hating the light and preferring darkness before it yet they may for the most part be some way or other resolved into this which our Saviour here mentioneth Other things may concur sometimes but there is scarce any thing that hath so general and almost so perpetual an influence upon mens hating declining running away from opposing and rejecting the light as mans sin That mostly all other causes may be resolved into this I shall endeavour to shew in answer to the forementioned Objections As to the first of them 't is most true that in Spiritual things there is a great disproportion between the Intellective Faculty as now 't is since the Fall and the Object The Mysteries of the Gospel are high and sublime our understanding is dark weak and shallow But 1. Whence came this disproportion Was it not very much from the sin of man at first who put out his own Eyes wounded his Intellectuals and weakened his natural Powers It cannot be denied but that Adam in the state of Innocency and Integrity though he could not have found out those deep Mysteries of the Gospel concerning our Redemption by Christ and the things relating thereunto they being things that have no natural cause from whence the highest created reason might deduce or collect them and many of them being things above Nature and such as depend meerly upon the good pleasure of God unknown to us until by himself revealed I say though Adam could not by the strength of his Reason and Natural Abilities have found out these deep things yet it cannot be denied but that if these things had been propounded to Adam to be assented to and believed
redeem time and which the Apostle chiefly aims at in this place as hath been said 3. Time must be redeemed for performance of the duties and offices of love to our Neighbours whether they be such as concern their Souls or their Bodies 1. With relation to their Souls time must be redeemed for teaching instructing counselling advising comforting admonishing and reproving them as there shall be cause for it and as their conditions shall require it 2. With relation to their Bodies time must be redeemed for looking after them providing for them and ministring such reliefs and succours to them as they shall stand in need of But above all time must be redeemed for our own Souls and for the things that refer to our spiritual and everlasting welfare 3. How is the time to be redeemed A. By using our utmost diligence to make the best improvement of it that we can And for our help and furtherance therein it will concern us 1. To be careful that we rightly divide and distribute our time allotting such a proportion of it for attending the duties of our particular Callings so much for necessary refreshings so much for holy duties and so for the rest of those things which necessarily require some part of our time 2. To be ever watchful against all Incroachers upon our time and the principal Thieves of our time which will be every day attempting to steal away some part of it What these Thieves of time are every one best knows who is best acquainted with his own Temptations and the circumstances of his Condition 3. He should daily call himself to an account and enquire how he hath imployed his time and what use he hath made of it And where he finds he hath mispent any part of it he should be humbled for it and resolve to make amends by greater care in husbanding his time for the future And this he should especially be careful to do where through his carelesness he hath misimployed or vainly squandred away that time which should have been spent in the Service of God and in the Duties that more immediatly refer to his Soul and more directly tend to the promoting of the good thereof But you will say If a man should every day thus reckon with himself and call himself to an account concerning the imploying of every part of his time this would be a very irksome and tedious course Who would endure to be so strict and severe to himself as to be accountable to himself for every hour in the day This were an intolerable burthen a yoke too heavy to be born To this I answer 1. That whether we be willing to be accountable to our selves for our time daily or no we must be accountable to God for it for every hour of it And the best way to render our Account to God more easie is to be daily calling our selves to an account He that doth this and doth it as he ought makes even Reckonings between God and his own Soul every day 2. We may not think to get to Heaven so easily as to undergo nothing in our way thither that may be tedious and unacceptable to our corrupt Nature They who may hope to go to Heaven must deny themselves and cross the sinful Inclinations of their Nature they must ever and anon be rigid and severe to themselves they must be willing to take pains Luk. 13.14 â— Pet. 1. â—0 Pail 3.13 14. and to strive to enter in at the strait gate They must give all diligence to make their calling and election sure Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before they must press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God If men dream of getting to Heaven without labour and difficulty without offering some violence to their depraved and sinful Natures they are not likely to come thither Undoubtedly 't is not for nothing that our Saviour hath declared Matth. 7.14 That narrow is the way and strait is the gate that leadeth unto life 'T is a severe passage that we have and deserving to be seriously considered by all slothful Christians that would go to Heaven so as it might cost them nothing If the righteous scarcely be saved 1 Pet. 4.18 where shall the ungodly and sinner appear If the most righteous man after all the care and diligence which he hath used and the pains which he hath taken to secure his Soul be scarce saved at last if all that he could do be but just enough to bring him to Heaven shall any man think to loiter away his time here and wast it as he pleaseth and yet make account to get to Heaven as well as those who have been most careful and sollicitous most diligent and industrious in the use of all good means to prevent the everlasting miscarrying of their Souls Let no man so deceive himself whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap As men have been sollicitous and diligent or careless and slothful about the concernments of their Souls here so must they expect to fare hereafter They that sow to the flesh Gal. 6.7.8 shall of the flesh reap corruption And they that sow to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting But you will say My Condition is such that how careful soever I be about what concerns my Soul I can redeem but a very little time for things of that nature My particular Calling so continually takes me up that I can hardly gain one quarter of an hour in a day from it to be spent upon any thing else I answer 1. This may sometimes be through a man 's own fault Perhaps he takes more upon him and incumbers himself with more business than he ought No man should so intangle himself with the Affairs of this World as to shut out better things Better let part of the World go than indanger the loss of your Soul By so grasping the World as to lose your Soul you would be a sorry gainer in the end 2. But supposing a man's Calling to be such as very little time can be redeemed from it for heavenly things yet he must remember Luke 10.42 that one thing is needful absolutely and indispensably necessary and therefore he must find time for that one great thing whatever else he omitted Earthly things must so far give way to heavenly things as that our Souls and eternal concernments be not neglected 3. But yet however it must be considered That God doth not require the same portion of time from all men Persons whose Condition is low and strait as to outward things and some others also whose time is necessarily and unavoidably taken up with the duties of their particular Calling may satisfy themselves in allowing much less time for spiritual things than others who are less straitned and more at liberty But as for such as have more leisure they may not think that no more is expected of
God in the exact frame due lineaments right proportions and features strength and beauty of perfect Creatures So the poor strait and indigent condition of some so much the more commends the Bounty and Goodness of God to others and provokes them at least should provoke them to so much the greater love and thankfulness to that God who hath been so bountiful to them and hath been pleased to put such a difference between them and others and this albeit they have deserved at the hands of God no more than those their inferiours who are in the most necessitous condition 2. This difference which God hath put between men affords the Rich opportunities of exercising their Charity Pity and Compassion towards the Poor and gives the Poor occasion of exercising their Faith and Trust in God for supplies of Necessaries Patience Humility Contentment with their mean condition quiet submission to the good pleasure of God in thus dealing with them and thankfulness to God for those helps and assistances which he is pleased to reach forth to them by the hands of those with whom he deposited more of the things of this World on purpose that they might be helpful to those who have less 3. God hath been pleased to put this difference between men in regard of the necessity there is of different Stations and Conditions different Services and Imployments for procuring and carrying on the good and welfare of the Community of Mankind Some must govern and others must be governed or else we shall quickly be ruined and all things will run into confusion Some must labour in the Field others must grinde at the Mill others handle the Distaff some must be imployed in meaner other in higher Services in order whereunto it was fit that men's conditions should be suited to those Imployments in which they are to be serviceable to God and their Generation Now the Application of what hath been spoken follows and this will concern all I shall first speak to the Rich and then to the Poor As for the Rich or those whom God hath been pleased to intrust with a larger portion of Temporal things they may hence be minded of their Duty several ways If the Rich and the Poor meet together in all those respects before mentioned and God be the Maker of them all both as men and as considered under the different Adjuncts of Riches and Poverty then may the Rich hence be cautioned and admonished 1. Not to despise the Poor This is that which men who even wallow in plenty and abound with the good things of this Life are very subject to A poor man is many times a contemptible thing in their eyes and as he hath occasion to come near them he scarce meets with those civilities from them that are due to Mankind And usually none are more faulty this way than such as have the greatest obligation to civility and condescension I mean such as were not long since in a mean condition themselves and have but newly been advanced to an higher Station But these and whosoever else may be blame-worthy in this respect should consider what hath above been discoursed of 1. That the poorest and most forlorn Creature who is most despicable in their eyes hath as noble and excellent a Soul as they have themselves or as the greatest Potentate in the World hath and as for his very Body though cloathed with nasty Rags the exquisite Workmanship thereof is no less admirable than that of his that is cloathed with Scarlet and adorned with Gold and Pearls and whatever Nature or Art could contribute to make it beautiful and lovely 2. That the poorest man in the World is as dear to God as they are and as much under the Care and gracious Providence of God for fine Cloaths and Riches and Honours commend no man to God high and low rich and poor are alike to him for he is no respecter of persons Act 10.34 neither doth he rate or value any man according to these things 'T is grace and holiness that he looks after and accordingly proportions his esteem for men The Lord seeth not as man seeth man looketh upon the outward appearance but the Lord looketh upon the heart 1 Sam. 16.7 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous Psal 34.15 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 But as for wicked and ungodly men of what rank or quality soever they may be in this World the Lord hates and abhors them Psal 5.5 3. They should consider that the poorest man in all the World is as capable of being admitted to the blisful Vision and Fruition of God in the World to come is as capable of glory and eternal happiness as the richest As God hath given the same Rational and Immortal Soul to Rich and Poor whereby they are both capable of the sight and enjoyment of God so hath Christ died for both and paid the same invaluable price for the Redemption of both and so he hath commanded his Gospel to be published alike to both and therein the same terms of Salvation to be indifferently propounded to the one and the other There is not one Gospel for the Rich and another for the Poor nor are the terms of peace with God and reconciliation to him more easy and favourable for the one than for the other The Gospel puts no difference between men with reference to those different circumstances as to outward things under which they may be It speaks the same Language to all Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.15 16. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Except ye repent ye shall all perish Luke 13.3 Except ye be converted ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven Mat. 18.3 Now if God values the Souls of Rich and Poor alike hath taken the same care of and made the same provision for the Salvation of both if Rich and Poor meet together stand both upon even ground and are upon equal terms as to the matters that are of highest importance and everlasting concernment to the one and the other should any man despise his poor Brother upon the account of these temporal things these poor and worthless trifles that signify as good as nothing 2. The Rich may hence be cautioned Not to count the Poor a grievance or heavy burthen to them I mean the honest sober humble modest and industrious Poor As for wicked loose idle and unprofitable Persons whether they be Poor or Rich they are not only a grievance but the very Pests of the places where they live as exposing them to God's wrath and drawing down his Judgments upon themselves and others 1. While you count the Poor a grievance and think how much happier the World would be if all men were Rich as you are you
be coming on the Nation We read Ezek. 9. that God commanded a Mark to be set upon the Fore-heads of the Men that sighed and cried for all the Abominations that were done in the midst of Jerusalem that the Executioners of his Wrath might pass them by and spare them And 't is also the best Course that we can take for obtaining Mercy for the Land and for averting those Judgments which the Sins thereof cry aloud to Heaven for By the Intercessions of a few thus humbling themselves for their own Sins and mourning for the Sins of others the Wrath of God is sometimes turned away from the Places where they live But however they are sure to deliver their own Souls though they cannot obtain Mercy for others as we may gather from Ezek. 14.14 And this may suffice to have been spoken concerning the Lord's bringing upon Manasseh and his People the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria What these Captains did and with what Success they managed their Business is express'd in the Words following They took Manasseh in the Thorns and bound him with Fetters and carried him to Babylon They took Manasseh in the Thorns it was as it seems a Place of Thorns or Thickets whither Manasseh in the Dread and Consternation of Spirit under which he was had fled to hide and shelter himself from the Enemy So we read in 1 Sam. 13.6 that the Israelites being greatly distressed by the Philistines that oppressed them did hide themselves in Caves and in Thiekets and in Rocks and in high Places and in Pits Now whereas Manasseh though a King was brought into that Distress that he was constrained to hide himself in the Thorns from his Enemies we may observe That great Men and Persons of high Places and great Dignity may sometimes be reduced to great Extremities and be put to make use of hard Shifts to preserve themselves Sisera the Captain General and Commander in chief of the Army of Jabin King of Canaan Judg. 4.15 16 17. was forced to light off his Chariot and on his Feet to betake himself to the House of Heber the Kenite to save his Life which yet he could not do but lost it there by the Hand of a Woman Zedekiah King of Judah and his Nobles were constrained to dig through a Wall to make way for their Flight in the Night Ezek. 12. Jer. 39. that they might not fall into the Hands of the Chaldees and yet was Zedekiah taken by them and being bound with Fetters saw his Sons slain before his Eyes and then after that lamentable Spectacle the last that ever he saw had his Eyes put out All Ages and even our own times have been full of the like Instances of the Mutability and Uncertainty of all earthly things The Consideration hereof may be useful to us several ways 1. Hence may such as are in Places of Eminency above others or enjoy more of the things of this World than others do learn not to trust in their Riches Honour Power Greatness or whatever else it is in which they excel others All these things are fading and transitory they are inconstant and unstable they have their Turns and Revolutions he that is full to Day may be empty to Morrow he that is now uppermost may e're long be nethermost How high soever any Man be God can bring him low enough before he dies Obad. 4. Although thou exalt thy self as the Eagle and though thou set thy Nest among the Stars yet thence will I bring thee down said the Lord to Edom. Of this sad Change Jeremiah complains and laments over it Lam. 4.5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the Streets they that were brought up in Scarlet imbrace Dunghills A remarkable Instance we have of the Instability and Uncertainty of these temporal things in Belisarius a great and famous Commander of the Forces of Justinian the Emperor This renowned and victorious General after that he had subdued the Persians overcome the Goths and vanquished the Vandalls and by these his Victories raised himself so high as that he became the Object both of the Fear and Envy of Equals and Inferiours was at length reduced to that Want and Misery that he was constrained to beg by the High-way-side crying out to Travellers that passed by Date Obolum Belisario give a Half-penny to Belisarius Let no Man therefore make Account that he stands so fast and firm but that his Feet may slip and he may take a Fall and the higher he is the more dangerous will his Fall be Neither is there any thing that threatens a Man more with a Fall than carnal Security and a vain Confidence of the Firmness and Stability of his present Station and the Unchangeableness of that prosperous Condition in which he is When David said Psal 30.6 7. In his Prosperity I shall never be moved Lord by thy Favour thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong God did but hide his Face and he was troubled 1 Thess 5.3 When Men shall say Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction cometh upon them as Travail upon a Woman with Child and they shall not escape Rev. 18.7 8. When Mystical Babylon saith I sit as a Queen and am no Widow and shall see no Sorrow Then shall her Plagues come in one Day Death and Mourning and Famine and she shall be utterly burnt with Fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her 2. Hence you may also learn not to insult over those who having formerly been in a better Condition are now brought low their present Condition may be your own you have no absolute Security against being emptied from Vessel to Vessel as they have been or against being subjected to the same Changes which they have undergone The Consideration hereof should beget in you Moderation towards Sufferers and such a compassionate Sense of their Adversities as becomes them who remember that they themselves are still in the Body Heb. 13.3 as the Apostle speaks 3. Seeing the Highest may be brought low and none are exempted from being obnoxious to Changes and Adversities it concerns all to prepare for Changes and to be always in a readiness to entertain them And those whose Condition hath elevated them above the common Sort and set them on high have so much the greater reason to be prepared for Changes because they are most in danger of them they being more exposed to Concussions and Shakings as the tall Oaks and lofty Cedars are more exposed to the Violence of Storms and Tempests than the lower Shrubs are Again it concerns these above others to labour to be prepared for Changes because they are so apt to think themselves to be above the reach of them For this fond Conceit is attended with two great Mischiefs 1. Their fancying themselves above the reach of Changes exposeth them to Changes so much the sooner for the evil Day is so much the nearer unto Men by