punishment which is the unworthy eating of the Communion For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many are fallen asleep Secondly the punishment inflicted for this sinne weaknesse sicknesse and mortality For it seems saith Peter Martyr that the Lord sent a sore plague and pestilence among them for to revenge himself of them for their abuse of the Sacrament for this cause Thirdly there is the delinquents which are you Corinthians Many are sick and weak among you and in them all others that come unpreparedly to the Sacrament Chrysostome notes here that our Apostle doth not fetch here an Argument or example of judgment from others as he had done in the former chapter but he brings it from themselves who sensibly felt the wrath of God upon them for this very sinne As if the Apostle should have said How is it O Corinthians that you dare venture to come unto the Communion so unpreparedly and that you have no more regard of so weighty businesse as is the receiving of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ See you not the wrath of God upon your dwellings and the curse of heaven to take hold of your towne you see it this very time that some are weak and very sick amongst you neer unto death and others have been struck with death before your eyes and the wrath of God is not removed but lies yet upon you What will you alwayes goe on and never cease to provoke the Lord to indignation and wrath against you for your sinnes untill his jealousie hath utterly consumed you and clean cut you off And howsoever many of you may think that this sicknesse weaknesse and mortality comes upon you by chance as from the infection of the aire or other secondary causes I tell you nay but it is for this cause onely even your unworthy comming to the Supper of the Lord. Whence we may observe this point of instruction Doct. 2 That God doth most severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper He punished the Corinthians here with sicknesse weaknesse feavers pestilence death temporal and God knows how many with death eternal Theodoret observes that the Apostle told them of a thing that was acted amongst them for if he had told them of such judgements as had been hid from them and not manifest before their eyes as if they had not felt the sicknesse in their bodies and heard the bels tolling daily in their ears they might have thought that the Apostle had but lied unto them So the people of Israel as we may read in 1 Cor. 1.2.3 verses they were baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea and they did all eat the same spirituall meat and drink the same spirituall drink yet as it is in the fifth verse with many of them God was not well pleased Nay God was so wroth with them that within the space of fourty yeares many thousands of them were destroyed by death here and God knoweth how many thousands of them in hell For God speaketh of hell as well as of death and their sin was so great that it made God confirme it with an oath that they should never enter into his rest And Saint Cyprian saith that the Lord hath shewed many miracles and declared many fearfull judgements upon the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament Judas who Ambrose thought received the Sacrament though Hilary and others that hee did not but only that he did eate the Passeover and was coming to this Sacrament also but see his doome John 13. as soon as ever he received the sop the Devill entred into him and so it is with all such as come to the Communion in their sinnes without repentance and unfained resolution of walking ever after worthy of the Sacrament I say unto all and every one of them that as soone as ever thou receivest the Bread and Wine into thy mouth thou receivest the Devil together with it as soon as ever it goeth down into thy body the Devill goeth after it and taketh more full possession of thy heart and soul Reas 1 Now the reason why the Lord doth so severely punish both with temporall judgements and with spirituall curses the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament is in regard of the author of the Sacrament who is Christ and that not onely as he was man as the Papists would make us beleeve but Christ as he was God did institute the same So saith the Apostle in the 23. verse The Lord Jesus Christ in the same night that he was betrayed â—ok bread and brake it when he had given thanks and said Take yee and eate yee for this is my body which is broken for you Now if the Lord Jesus did institute it what a cursed thing is it for any to defile it and so sin against Christ It is a damnable thing to sinne against God but to sin against God as he is God in Christ is damnably damnable The holy Ghost in the second Psalm exhorts to kisse the Sonne lest he be angry and so thou perish As if he should say Adore the Sonne Adore the Lord Iesus Christ and so come and eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup for if he be angry thou wilt surely perish and if thou sin against God and so go out of the way Christ upon thy repentance will set thee in again but if thou sinnest against God in Christ who is the Way the Life and the Truth thou shalt surely perish from the right way for there is no other way for to bring thee in again Acts 4.12 Therefore wofull is thy case and miserable is thy condition if thou sinnest against Christ prophaning his holy ordinances which he himself hath instituted and abusest and despisest that blessed Spirit of his that comes to seale unto thee the redemption that he hath purchased by his bloud Better had it been for thee that thou hadst never been born for if he be wroth blessed only are all they that put their trust in him and come preparedly unto his holy Ordinance and that by faith embrace the Lord Iesus Christ But woe unto all prophane persons that live in their sinnes if his wrath be but a little kindled then woe to all drunkards swearers and uncleane persons but blessed is that man that is come out of his sinnes For if his wrath be so terrible when it is but a little kindled O how much more fearfull will it be when it is deeply incensed Therefore if thou comest unto this holy Sacrament in thy sinnes without due preparation and examination what doest thou but even set the wrath of God burning upon thy soul and body from the very bottome of hell When the Lord Delivered the Law upon Mount Sinai he commanded the people to sanctifie themselves yea if a beast did but touch the mountain he must die for the same even be stoned to death or thrust through with a dart Heb. 12. Much more then now when
Minister after Minister to instruct them in the knowledge of my wayes I laboured to convert them and to bring them home unto my self and to work better thoughts in them but still they are a people that walk after their own thoughts that provoke me continually unto my face There is never a thought of thine but it is in the verse face of God both thought and imagined But some man may say I think of God and of Christ of faith and repentance and of calling on God of mending of this and that course I think of death and of my last account and every foot I have holy thoughts in my mind But beloved give me leave I pray you for to speak something unto you which it may be may stick by you while you live I will propound these foure things and distinctions unto you which I will use First what doest thou think of God and of heaven then tell me whether thy thoughts be injective thoughts into thy heart or thoughts raised by thy heart for there is a great deale of difference betweene thoughts injected and thoughts raised God casts good thoughts into a godly mans heart which being fit soyl it fructifies and brings forth fruit Again God casts good thoughts into a wicked mans heart but because his heart is not sanctified and therefore no fit soyl to harbour in they die and vanish God casts in and they cast out God casts in again and they cast out again therefore if thou hast good thoughts examine and try whether they be thoughts raised from thy heart or no see whether thy heart be a renewed heart a sanctified an holy heart fit to bring forth good thoughts every day Beloved a wicked man may have a thousand good thoughts and yet go to hell in the midst of them all God cast a good thought into the heart of the King of Babylon to go against Judah and Jerusalem for to punish his people for their sins and to avenge himself on them for the breach of his Covenant but what saith the text Reas 1 Howbeit he thought not so Isa 10. No his only ayme was how to get honour how to inrich to enlarge his territories and to bring down the Nations under him and to make his name and fame to be spread and declared through all the world So God casts many good thoughts into many a wicked mans heart to repent and to leave his drunkennesse his pride his swearing and whoring to be holy and religious howbeit he thinks not so but he thinks how to eate and drink how to be proud and haughty how to be rich and great in the world how to be vain and licentious yea thy thoughts are vile and vain all the day long Oh that men were wise truly to understand this the want whereof is the cause why many thousands go to hell and are damned for ever I will make it plain to you A wicked man reasons thus with himself I confesse and it is true I sinne every day against God and sometimes drink a pot with my friend though sometimes I let fall an oath and am overtaken in my infirmities yet I thank God he hath sanctified my heart for I think of God and of Christ and I oft call upon his name and let my thoughts run on good things God and heaven are many times in my mind and I am sorry when I do amisse and the Lord hath blest me with a large portion of outward things Besides I see these and these signes of grace in me and therefore I think my case to be happy And thus securely they live and so they go on and so they die and so go to hell and perish for ever and ever Here is the misery of it many think of God and of Christ of death and of their last account of heaven of hell of faith and repentance of leaving sinne of crucifying their lusts and practising of holinesse Now men think that their thinking of these things is a part of their discharge when indeed they are Additions to and peeces of their talents which increase their judgements God casts in a thought of repentance of holinesse of the remembrance of death and last account Dost thou find thy heart never the better and holier by them Then know it is only Gods haunting of thy heart and Gods calling upon thee and Gods inviting thee unto repentance to leave thy sinnes to come out of thy deadnesse and formality to prepare for thy death and judgment and therefore I say if thy heart now think not so if thy heart do not repent beleeve and grow more zealous and thou art not drawn the neerer to God I say then that the more of these good thoughts that thou hast had the greater thy doome will be if thou hast had ten thousands of them if they have beene onely Gods haunting of thy heart think thou then now of grace of God of thy poor soul which is not bettered by them nor made holy then know they are peeces of thy talent and it doth make thy torments in hell the greater Secondly thou hast good thoughts but the question is whether they be fleeting or abiding thoughts Many think of God of grace of heaven of the word of God and when they heare a Sermon they will think of God but these thoughts though they come into their minds yet they go away presently they are in and out at an instant in a trice they passe away and are gone Beloved there are two kinds of vaine thoughts 1. vaine because the substance and matter of them is vain and so all worldly thoughts are vain 2. or else for their want of durance and lasting and so are all thoughts of heaven of God and grace and of Christ it they vanish away they are all vain thoughts though they seeme otherwise Haer what God saith Gen. 6.5 God saw that the wickednesse of man was great upon the earth and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were only evill continually all the imaginations great is the emphasis of this word all all the thoughts yea all universally are only evill continually But you will say unto me Doth not a wicked man think that there is a God why that is a good thought doth he not think that this God is to be observed and worshipped why this is a good thought doth he not think that sin is to be forsaken that is a good thought doth he not think of heaven and of Christ how then are their thoughts only evill and that continually I answer because all the thoughts of a wicked mans heart are vaine that is vanishing thoughts not vaine for the matter which sometimes may be good and holy but vaine because they soone vanish away thoughts that come and tarry not that leave no impression in their hearts behind them these are all vaine thoughts according to that of the Apostle The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vaine 1 Cor.
the Lord doth deliver the Gospel especially the ground-work and master-peece thereof the Lord Jesus Christ and that in the most blessedest manner that ever God exhibited himselfe unto man how much more doth God require purity and holinesse that all such as come to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in the blessed Sacrament should be sanctified purging their hearts and cleansing souls from all their sin and uncleannesse Should not a beast touch the mountaine where God did appeare and darest thou touch the body of Christ and drink his blessed bloud in thy sinnes The very Angels of heaven will curse thee and the clouds of heaven will poure down showres of vengeance upon thee for God hath more severe punishments to inflict upon sinners under the Gospel then he used under the Law though then he struck them with more visible and sensible plagues and judgements then ordinarily he bringeth upon men now as Gebezi for his covetousnesse was strucken with leprosie Corah Dathan and Abiram the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up quick for their rebellion against the Lord Er and Onan were strucken dead for their wickednesse Jeroboam had his hand withered for stretching of it forth to strike the Lords Prophet And though the Lord bring not such sensible punishments now as he did then ye he knowes how to punish the world a thousand times more then he did then at this time As a father hath other kinds of punishments for his sonne when he is grown up then he had when he was in coates and but a child then a twigge or two would serve the turne but if he comes to mans estate and then rebell against his father it may be that he will disinherit him and cast him out of his family So in former time God did scourge and whip his people when they sinned against him but now he hath drawn out his Church to this age even to the age of the Gospel he hath severer strokes of plagues and curses wherewith to confound all prophane and impenitent sinners that dare to abuse that blessed Sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ The second Reason is in regard of the matter of the Sacrament which is Christ also who as he was the efficient cause so in regard of Sacramentall relation he is the matter of the Communion 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ and the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ Now the better matter any thing is of the more heynous is the defilement of it A master will not be so angry for casting his earthen vessels into the mire as he will be for casting his rich jewels The Bread and Wine in the Sacrament are the blessed Communion of the precious body and bloud of Christ and darest thou to defile them Knowest thou not that thou dost greatly increase the wrath of the Lord against thy soule thereby That soule whatever it was from Dan to Beersheba that came in his uncleannesse to partake of any of those holy things which the children of Israel hallowed to the Lord whether he were man or woman rich or poore that person was to be cut off from the presence of the Lord Levit. 12. whereto the Lord sets his seale for the confirmation thereof I am the Lord And as sure as I am the Lord so will I see it accomplished So my beloved let me say unto you of England from Dover to Newcastle or from the oâ—e end of the town unto the other that soul who toucheth any of these holy things with an impure heart and cometh to partake of them with his uncleannesse upon him living in his sinnes and wallowing in his lusts casting off the feare of the Lord and making no conscience to walk in Gods wayes that soule shall surely be cut off that cometh so unworthily unto the Table of the Lord not only the hand that taketh it and the mouth that eateth it but even the very soul of him that so cometh shall perish from the presence of the Lord. So Levit. 7.20 That soule that eateth of the flesh of the Sacrifices of peace offerings that pertaine unto the Lord having his uncleannesse upon him even that soule shall be cut off from his people Now you know that all those sacrifices had relation unto Christ but yet under the Law they were but shadowes and typicall relations and were not so lively and effectuall means for the exhibiting of Christ as the Lords Supper is And therefore if such as came in their uncleannesse unto them were punished with no lesse punishment then a cutting off from the fellowship with the Lords people what wrath and vengeance will the Lord bring upon thee that comest with thy uncleannes upon thee unto this holy communion Augustine saith that man that receiveth the Sacrament unworthily receiveth a greater plague to his own soule and a greater torment to his own conscience yea and heapeth up a store of wrath unto himself against the day of wrath Reas 4 Me thinkes thou that livest in thy sinnes and wilt not come out of them when thou hearest these words This is my body and seest the bread broken before thy face it should even make thee tremble and quake for to look upon it more for to touch it and most of all for to tast it for it is the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ and how darest thou come in thy sins for to defile it Reas 3 A third Reason is in regard of the forme of the Sacrament which is Christ too for as he is the efficient cause that instituted it and as he is also the matter of the Sacrament so in the third place Christ is the forme of the Sacrament also wherein the confirming grace of God is sealed up unto thee Now as it is treason for a man to offer contempt unto the Kings broad Seale so certainly is it high treason against this King of Kings to contemne this blessed Sacrament which is the Seale of the righteousnesse of faith If thou shouldst clip the Kings Coine I will say that thou art a Traytor Oh what a traitor art thou then yea an accursed traitor in the account of God and Christ if thou clippest his holy Communion if thou clip it of thy examination and due preparation and so come hand over head not regarding so holy an Ordinance Thou sinnest against the Court of heaven That which Saint James speaks in generall of the whole worship of God Draw neere unto God let me apply it in particular unto this drawing neere unto God in this holy Communion James 4.8 Cleanse your hands yee sinners and purifie your hearts yee double minded Draw neer unto God in the hearing reading and meditating on Gods word draw neer unto God in prayer and in this holy Sacrament and receive it for your amendment of life Draw neere to God I that I will saith the wicked man I will
converted him but he would not Gods goodnesse shall say Take him wrath I would have been kinde unto him but he hath abused me Gods patience shall say Take him wrath I have suffered him a great while that he might have time of repentance but he repented not in that time God smote Egypt in their first-borne Why For his mercy endureth for ever God overthrew Pharaoh and his hoast Why For his mercy endureth for ever Psal 136.15 He smote great Kings Sihon a King and Og a King for his mercy endureth for ever So will God damne thee that art a drunkard Why for his mercie endureth for ever God will confound thee that art a worldling Why for his mercy endureth for ever God will be revenged on thee that art a Luke-warmling Why for his mercy endureth for ever This may well make thee tear the haire of thy head rather then let thee go on in thy sinnes See Jerem. 7.29 Meditate on this The fourth ground meditate on the constancie of God As the Lord was an enemy to wicked men so he continues the same God still a constant enemy to them still As the Lord would not endure sinne heretofore so hee is constant hee still will not endure it Did the Lord once say Weep and howle yee drunkards Joel 1.5 he is constant so he saith still Did the Lord say he would burn up Sabbath-breakers Jer. 17.27 he is constant so he saith still Who ever hardned his heart against the Lord and prospered Job 9.14 as if he should say I put it to thee to meditate of it canst thou shew me a president did ever any man harden his heart against Gods Word in his sin that prospered Did Senacherib prosper in his will-worship Did Judas prosper in his coveteousnesse Did Jeconiah prosper in his stubbornnesse Where is the Scribe where is the receiver where is he that counted the towers saith the prophet Your fathers where are they saith Zachary Did not my words take hold of them and are they not all now in hell that have ever lived and died in their sin from the beginning of the world Thou canst not shew me one drunkard or one mocker or one profane person or one formaâ—l professor from the day that man was created upon the earth that is not now in hell if he be dead Meditate on this how canst thou expect to be the one onely in all the world that shall escape if thou livest and diest in thy sins If hell were opened and the bottomlesse pit were lookt into thou shouldest see every soul that ever lived and died in their sins even every soul there is not one soul missing Meditate on this when I die do I think I shall not be there nay I shall be there too unlesse aforehand I enter into the strait gate and walk in the narrow way of newnesse of life The Second SERMON OF The use and benefit of Divine Meditation HAGGAI 1.5 Now therfore thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your wayes NOw followes the manner how to follow Meditation home to the heart Here are foure things to be practised First weigh and ponder all these things in thy heart It 's said of Mary shee pondered Luke 2 19. and kept all these sayings in her heart verse 51. The words signifie two things First shee compared these things together Secondly she cast them all in the scales together Dost thou know God is mercifull ponder it with his justice Dost thou know that Jesus Christ died for sinners ponder it with the true drift of it how that it is not to let men go on in their sins but to save them from their sins Dost thou obey God in this or that Commandement O ponder thy life with the rest Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy wayes be established Prov. 4.26 A man that eates his meat well forty morsels well yet one crum going awry throttles him Thou walkest in these and these Commandements yea but there be other Commandments besides these dost thou walk in them too thou must if thou meanest to have thy wayes to be established The Jewes had their continers talents mind's sicles which were greater weights so they had also their gerahs and agorahs smaller measures and smallest of all so have thou greater and lesse weights great ones to ponder the great Commandments and lesse to weigh even the least of Gods Commandments and see thou make true Evangelicall weight or else all will not be well Suppose a man were to pay a 100 pound of good and lawfull money and in weight upon forfeiture of all that he hath if he weigh it not but the Creditor doth and finds it light he is undone If thou ponderest not thy wayes God will ponder them Prov. 5.21 the word signifies he weighs and ponders them in a ballance or scales he puts the Word of his Gospel in the one and thy goings and obedience in the other Thou art weighed and art found light thy kingdom is departed from thee saith God to Belshazzar Dan. 5.27 So if thou be light thou shalt be weighed and so found thou shalt lose the kingdom of heaven for ever Secondly strip sin and look upon it stark naked sin covers and disguiseth it self with pleasure profit ease and many a whorish garment and so inticeth the heart Even a toad if she were covered over with gold those that saw onely the gold would pocket it up if it were naked they would sling it in the kennell Why do men love covetousnesse Why its hooded with profit Why carding dicing hunting hawking tabring piping and more then the word alloweth Why they are cloathed with pleasure and delight It s the duty of Ministers to unmask and uncase sin and pluck off the vail that covers it from appearing unto men The not doing of this is the cause that men do not meditate on the vilenesse of their sins never are humbled never escape Gods wrath even because they do not discover mens iniquities Lam. 2.14 Alas the profit of thy sins shall cease the pleasure cease the ease cease and all these goodly suits shall vanish away when the soul comes to die or to stand before the judgement seat of Christ sin will remain but thy silver and thy gold where will that be then thy laughter and thy merriment what will become of that then thy delight will be gone Meditate therefore with thy selfe my sin is now gainfull and easie and pleasant but what will my sin become when I come to lie on my death-bed what good will it doe me when I have most need of succour I will never acknowledge him my freind that will turn against me when I have most need of him Alas I must die I must come to judgement I must goe either to heaven or to hell the profit that I get now by my sins will it bestead me then the pleasure the ease that I now find in sin will it help me there Alas no it will then be my
how doth he know but this one robbery may bring him to the gallows So the man that sins this day how doth he know but that this very dayes work may bring him to hell Deut. 32.35 To God belongs vengeance their feete shall slide in due time Therefore if a man sin against him he may stand to day and to morrow and many dayes but when the due time comes even the time which God hath set then up goes his heels he shall slide and break his neck thy houre-glasse runs in heaven and thou seest not when the sand comes to the bottome but when t is out then down thou goest to hell for ever There was one resolved to kill Julius Caesar such a day the night before a friend sent him a letter to acquaint him with it but being at supper and busie I will not look upon it now saith he to morrow is a new day The next day when he should have read his letter he was stabd Whence this Proverb came in Greece To morrow is a new day God sends thee a letter and a message from heaven to day hear his voice to day repent and come out of your sins or for ever to hell to day be converted and sanctified or for ever be hardned Dost thou refuse to bearken to day and puttest it off untill to morrow it may be to morrow may be a day of Gods wrath and then thou maiest be hardned seared and bound over unto the great day of Gods vengeance to morrow God may set the decree upon thy soul that thou shalt never repent Therefore if thou refuse this thou refusest all for what knowest thou but this very day may be thy day Reas 1 The reason is because Gods patience is in his own brest and who can tell how long it will last Hast thou Momus his glasse-window to look into Gods secret counsell hast thou a key-hole to look into Gods treasurie canst thou stand on tiptoe to look over Gods shoulder to look into Gods decree to see how long his patience will last It may be God hath suffered thee till this day thou art guilty of ten thousand sinnes and yet he is patient towards thee God hath stayed thus long for thee that hast sworne I know not how many oaths God hath born thus long with thee that hast told I know not how many lies prophaned I know not how many Sabbaths contemned I know not how many ordinances and sleighted I know not how many judgements yet Gods patience is in his own brest it is the long sufferance of God Thou mayest say I would fain have it to morrow and this seven yeers but alas it is his long sufferance and not thine and how dost thou know when he will conclude it it may be this day as well as to morrow Joel 2.13 Rent your hearts and not your garments saith the Prophet for the Lord he is gracious and mercifull This word for hath a great deal of force in it First It is a descriptivum for for he is gracious and a mercifull God therefore rent thy heart and let thy soul burst within thee that thou hast sinned against him for he is a mercifull God and it may be he will pardon all thy sins and heal all thy rebellions committed against him Secondly it is an upbraiding for upbraiding thee for thy sins rent thy heart therefore why he is a patient God wilt thou goe on in thy sins against such a patient God and rebel against such a loving Father that hath loved thee with so much compassion Rent thy heart for he is patient Thirdly it is a comforting and incouraging for rent thy heart for there is incouragement for thee to repent give over thy sins and go to the throne of grace For there is much mercie to welcome thee and great patience for to bid thee come home and abundance of grace for to incourage thee therefore rent thy heart and come home unto the Lord for he is patient and long-suffering Fourthly it is a forewarning for rent your hearts for the Lord is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse yet his mercie lasteth yet his patience endureth yet hee hath all his attributes and yet he is pleased to manifest the same still tendring grace and mercie unto thee Oh turn unto him while these endure or else thou shalt perish for ever Fifthly it is a threatning for now he is gracious now he is mercifull but his mercy will end his patience will end and then if thou hast not rent thy heart before it will be too late then Therefore as ever thou lovest thine own soule now rent thy heart and turn unto God It is Gods own proclamation The Lord the Lord slow to anger and of great mercie forgiving iniquity and sin Yea what man soever it be that humbles his soule before him he shall find grace and mercie with him yea abundance of mercie pardoning iniquity transgression and sinne yea any thing Let but a soul come prostrate before him humbling his soule he will pardon his sin But as it followeth in the words He will by no means clear the guiltie if notwithstanding all Gods patience and mercie thou go on in thy sins the Lord will never forgive thee but will visit thy sinnes upon thee unto the third and fourth generations because thou hast withstood the day of grace Beloved men run on in their sins as if so be an Angel from heaven should cry unto them and tell them yet God will be good unto them yet God will show them mercie and forbear them Beloved let your consciences answer if you ever heard the Lord God say to any of you thus long I will forbear you No Gods patience is in his own breast and therefore no man knows how long it will last Reas 2 A second reason is because Gods patience giveth no marks or inklings of it before it ends commonly when God strikes a man with death he giveth some signes of warnings of it before as sicknesse and pains and gray hairs and many sorrowes c. Now because thy life is in Gods hands thou carest not for it but venturest to go on in thy sinnes hoping to have some warning though thousands be cut off without it but the day of grace may come to an end and yet thou never have any inkling or warning of it before-hand commonly when God strikes a man with death he tells him of it before-hand by aches and pains as if the Lord should say Now thou shalt die now will I take thee out of the world But when the Lord taketh away the day of grace from a man though the spirituall man may take some notice of it yet there is no sensible apparition of it but after the day of grace is set upon a man he may be as strong and lustie as before he may come to Church as well after as before performe religious duties and do many good things as well after as
so good yet the manner of thinking them is evill 3. Efficientially when the man that thinks them is vain 4. When it is a thought that might become the best Saint upon the earth or a glorified Angel in heaven yet the drift of the soule being carnall and vain the soule thereby becomes vain also First then materiall vaine thoughts are all thoughts of the world of the works of thy calling of thy recreations eating drinking sleeping thoughts of thy wife and children and the like they are vain thoughts not sinfull necessarily yet they may come to be sinfull five manner of wayes Manner 1 First when we think of them primarily that is in the first place when we think of them before we think of God Tell me then what are thy first thoughts in the morning Hereby a man may know his thoughts whether they bee good or evill Consider I say what it is that first presents it selfe unto thy thoughts certainly that which the heart is most haunted withall and most taken up with is most naturall unto it If the heart be carnall and earthly it will have carnall and earthly thoughts if it be a godly and gracious heart it will labour to make God the first in his thoughts I know the godly man fails in many things and many unruly thoughts in him may rebell but it is the very griefe of his soule and he will never rest nor be at quiet till he hath got Balm from Gilead strength from Christ for the subduing and crucifying of them even of those vain and sinfull thoughts that stick closest unto their hearts and are most prone unto them naturally so that it is the practice of a godly man first in the morning to lift up his heart with his hand unto God and when he is up his thoughts are wholly upon God See this in David who considering that the Lord was present everywhere made this use of it When I awake I am present with thee Psal 139.18 His heart was lifted up to God he did endeavour to shake hands with God as it were in his holy meditations worshipping and adoring God with his first thoughts he would be sure to give God the flower and Maiden-head of his first service and thoughts as soon as ever he was awake his heart was in heaven This shewes that the thoughts of men that â—ive in their sins are damnable thoughts Thou that arâ— a drunkard a swearer a profane person a carnall worldling that never hast repented I tell thee that the very thinking of thy meat and drink is damnable the very thoughts of thy recreations and of thy sleep are damnable thoughts to think of the workes of thy calling yea of setting thy foot upon the ground or of any thing that God hath commanded thee for to doe are all damnable thoughts Why Because thou givest not God thy first thoughts Wilt thou think of thy belly and back before thou thinkest of God and how to be converted unto him Wilt thou think of thy Markets and Faires before thou â—hinkest of thy reconciliation with God The first thing that every soule is bound for to doe is to get in with God First seek the kingdom of God saith our Saviour and the righteousnesse thereof Matth. 6.35 Where our Saviour doth not forbid our taking of thought for the things of this life but that they should not be sought after in the first place so that our first thoughts and endeavours should be after the Kingdom of heaven Therefore all thoughts whatsoever which are conceived before a man bee converted and so thinks of God are all damnable thoughts Manner 2 Secondly all worldly thoughts are sinfull when we think of them too usually as Chrysostome speakes because we think of the universalitie of them Beloved it is lawfull to think of the world and to think of our trade and imployments to think of our corn of our catâ—ell fields barnes wives children for if God have commanded or commended these things unto us then surely he gives us leave to think on them that so we may accomplish our businesse the better but let us take heed they bee not too usuall with us for we have soules as well as bodies and there is a heaven as well as an earthly business to think upon thou art not to live here alwayes therefore take heed that thy thoughts be not too usuall and common upon the things of the world let not earth and earthly things have too much of thy thoughts As the Prophet David seeing the thoughts of wicked men wholly to run after the things of the world he tels them all their thoughts perish and so I tell you if that your thoughts on the world run together with heap and crowd and then you bundle them up in bundles as it were they all prove damnable and shall perish Manner 3 Thirdly worldly thoughts are sinfull and damnable if thou thinkest of them too savourly a carnall-minded man thinkes savourly of the things of the world the thoughts of earthly things are savoury unto them a wicked man hee will thinke of God and of the world but which is the savourest thought to him He will think of Christ of heaven and of the word of God and of such a Sermon he heard but alas hee finds no savour taste nor rellish in them he finds no sweetnesse joy or delight in them but when he thinkes of the world of his gold and silver of his lands and livings Oh these are merry thoughts unto him â—hese are sweet unto him and pleasant to him and his heart is not at home in his own nest he can think of these seven dayes nay seven moneths nay seven yeares together and yet never be weary but his thoughts as ful as fresh as at the first But bring him to a Sermon or to a prayer and he is jaded presâ—ntly his heart is empty and his thoughts are at an end For saith the Apostle they that are after the flesh savour the things of the flesh Rom. 8 5. It is a true note of an earthly carnall fleshly heart to be thinking on earthly and vain things savourly Thou maist think on the world but it must be onely with a cast of thy thoughtâ— as one that looks upon a thing with a squint eye but when thou art to think on God or on the things of God then thou must gather all thy thoughts and affections thou must lay all the powers of thy soule together and thou must imploy them only to this work Manner 4 Fourthly worldly thoughts become sinfull when we think of them without counsell then saith Solomon they come to nought when a man considers not afore-hand what thoughts are necessary and needfull and so restraines and keeps off all impertinent thoughts then his thoughts will prove distrustful carking thoughts caring for the morrow contrary to the rule of Christ Matth. 6.33 Take no care for to morrow let to morrow care for it self He doth not forbid here