be grievous to them 6. The very Bodily informities of Believers are a constant help to keep them humble They have all this treasure but is earthen vessels 2 Cor. 4. 7. Their souls are here so poorly lodged in corruptible Tabernacles of earth and so meanly cloathed with frail diseased mortal flesh that it is madness to be proud 7. And the many and great afflictions of the godly are medicines that are purposely given them by their Physicion to cure Pride and keep them humble Why else must their sufferings be so many and why must they daily bear the Cross but that they may be conformed to the image of Christ 8. And to the same end it is that God doth let loose upon them so many enemies All Satans temptations and the worlds allurements and vexations and all their disappointments here and all the scorns and mocks of the ungodly and the censures and slanders of wicked tongues and often bitter persescutions what are they but the bitter medicines of God permitted and ordered by him though cansed by the Devil and wicked men to save the servants of the Lord from the sin and danger of being lifted up Do you say that their Honour will make them proud Why you that thus oppose them and despise them are â—uring them of their pride and do not know it as Scullions scoure the rust off the vessels for their Masters use and as Leeches draw out the blood that causeth the disease and as the Jews by their sin promoted the Redemption of the world by the death of Christ When God seeth his servants in danger of being lifted up above measure he oft sendeth a messenger of Satan who may be an Executioner of Gods chastisements to buffet them 2 Cor. 12. 7. Sometimes by slanders sometime by reproaches sometime by imprisonments or greater sufferings and sometimes by horrid troublesom temptations 9. The very foresight of death it self is a humbling means and the last enemy Death is yet unconquered and our Bodies must corrupt in dust and darkness and be kept in the grave as common earth till the Resurrection that the soul may not grow proud that hath such a body 11. And the Day of Judgement is so described to us in the Scripture as tends to keep the soul in awe and in Humility To think of such a day and such a reckoning before such a God me 〈…〉 should humble us 11. And our Absolution and Glorification at that day is promised us now but conditionally though God will see that the condition be performed by all that he will save And therefore the poor soul is oft so far to seek about the certain sincerity of his own Faith and Repentance that most of the godly are kept in fears and doubtings to the death Yea and Humility and Self-denyal are part of this Condition And all their Honour and Glory with Christ is promised to the Humble only Humility is commanded them in the Precept Humility is it that they are exhorted to by the Ministers And Pride is threatened with everlasting wrath and described as the Devils image So that Holiness hath all the advantages against Pride that can be here expected 12. To conclude the Godly know that as they have nothing but from God so they have nothing but for God so that their own Honour is for him more then for themselves and it is essential to their Holiness to make God their end and set him highest and referr all to his Pleasure and Glory So that you see now that we may Honour them that fear the Lord Psalm 15. 4. without being guilty of making them proud and that we must not deny them the Honour that God hath given them as their due for fear of their being proud of it Though this as all things else must be prudently managed to particular persons according to their various states And therefore let me here warn all you that profess the fear of God Take heed lest you be proud of any thing that God hath Honoured you with For if you be you see what an Army of Reasons and Means you sin against and consequently how great your sin will be And your consciences and the world shall be forced to justifie God and his Holy wayes and to prove against you that it was not long of them that you were proud and that none in the world was more against it then God and Holiness and that it was not because you were so Religious but because you were no more Religious And if Pride of Knowledge Gifts or whatsoever be unmortified in you it will certainly prove that you are none of the sanctified when your profession of Sanctity will never prove that Sanctity was a cause or confederate in your sin AND now I have shewed you the Honour of Godliness let us briefly and but briefly consider of your Honour that reject it and see then whether the godly or ungodly are more Honourable 1. Ungodly men have the Basest Master in the world Would you know who Let Christ be Judge John 8. 44. Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father you will do 2 Tim. 2. 26. They are taken captive by the Devil at his will that is to do his will It is he that stirreth you up to filthy talking to speak against Godliness to curse and swear and you do his will His will is that you should neglect a holy life and you do his will His will is that you live not after the spirit but after the flesh and you do his will O poor souls Do you think it is only Witches that expresly Covenant with him that are his miserable servants Alas it is you also if you do his will For if you will believe either God or common reason to whom you yield your selves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness Rom. 6. 16. The godly themselves were the servants of sin till they obeyed from the heart the doctrine of the Lord v. 17. And are you not come to fair preferment to be the Devils drudges Though he should cloath your Bodies with Purple and fine linnen and feed you sumptuously every day yet indeed you are no better as the case of that miserable man may tell you Luke 16. It is the greatest Baseness to have so Base a Master 2. And it is but an ignoble Base de sign that the ungodly carry on in the world What is it but to provide for and please their flesh It aimeth at nothing beyond this life And a beast can eat and drink and sleep and play and satisfie his lust as much as they A swine can carry a mouth full of straw to his lodging and a bird can build a nest for her young ones And what do ungodly men more in the world whether Gentlemen or Beggars the flattered Gallants or the poor day-labourers if they be not such as first seek Heaven
Let him take all there is no living quietly by 〈…〉 A dog at his carrion or a swine in his trough is not more greedy then many of these sensualists that labour of the Caninus appâ—titus to their trash But to Holiness they have no appetite and are worse then indifferent to the things that are inâ—…sirable They have no covetousuess for the things which 〈…〉 commanded earnestly to covet 1 Cor. 12 31. They have â—…tle hunger and thirst after righteousness that a very little or none will satisfie them Here they are pleading alwayes for â—â—deration and against too much and too earnest and too long And all is too much with them that is above stark naught or dead hypocrisie and all is too earnest and too long that would make Religion seem a business or would engage them to seem serious in their own profession or put them past jeast in the worship of God and the matters of their salvation Let but their servants or children neglect their worldly business which I confess they should not do and they shall hear of it with both ears But if they sin against God or neglect his Word or Worship they shall meet with more patience then Eli's sons did A cold reproof is usually the best and it is well if they be not encouraged in their sin and if a child or servant that begins to be serious for salvation be not rebuked derided and hindred by them If on their dayes of labour they over-sleep themselves they shall be sure to be called up to work and good reason but when do they call them up to prayer When do they urge them to read or consider or conferr of the things that concern their everlasting life The Lords own day which is appointed to be set apart for matters of this nature is wasted in idleness or worldly talk Come at any time into their company and you may have talk enough and too much of news or of other mens matters of their worldly business sports and pleasures But about God and their salvation they have so little to say and that so heartlesly and on the by as if they were things that belonged not to their care and duty and no whit concerned them Talk with them about the renovation of the soul and the nature of holiness and the life to come and you shall find them almost as dumb as a fish or as dry as a chip or as erroneous or insensible as those that speak but words by rote to shew you how little they savour or mind the things of the Spirit The most understand not matters of this nature nor much desire or care to understand them If one would teach 〈…〉 personally they are too old to be catechized or to learn though not too old to be ignorant of the matters which they were made for and are preserved for in the world They are too wise to learn to be wise and too good to be taught how to be good â—…ough not too wise to follow the seducements of the Devil â—…he world nor too good to be the slaves of Satan and the deâ—…rs and enemies of goodness If they do any thing which theâ—… a serving of God it is some cold and heartless use of wordâ—…ake themselves believe that for all their sins they shall be saved so that God will call that a serving of their sins and abomination which they call a serving of God Some of them will confess that Holiness is good but they hope God will be merciful to them without it And some do so hate it that it is a displeasing irksom thing to them to hear any serious discourse of holiness and they detest and deride those as fanatick troublesome Precisians that diligently seek the One thing necessary So that if the Belief of the most may be judged by their practices we may confidently say that they do not practically believe that ever they shall be brought to Judgement or that there is any Heaven or Hell to be expected and that their confession of the truth of the holy Scriptures and their profession of the Articles of the Christian Faith are no proofs that they heartily take them to be true Who can be such a stranger to the world as not to see that this as the case of the greatest part of men And which is worst of all they go on in this course against all that can be said to them and will give no impartial considerate hearing to the truth which would recover them to their wits but live as if it would be a felicity to them in Hell to think that they came thither by wilful resolution and in despight of the remedy And is it not a sad prospect to a man that believeth the Word of God and the life to come to look upon such a distracted world O Sirs if Jesus Christ be wise that condemneth their course and them then certainly all these men are fools And if Christ knew what he said we must needs think that they know not what they do O what is the matter that reasonable men should have no more use of their reason in things of such importance then thus to neglect their everlasting state for a thing of naught Did God make them unreasonable or give them understandings uncapable of things of such high concernment Or rather have 〈…〉 not drowned their reason in sensuality and wilfully poisoâ—…th malicious aversness to God and Holiness What is â—…ter that the One thing needful is no more regarded Hath God made them believe that they shall dwell here for ever and never die No surely this is so gross a lye that the Devil himself cannot make them believe it They know that they musâ—… sure as they are alive And yet they prepare not but wâ—…eir dayes in scraping in this dunghill world as if they werâ—…o no further Did God never warn them by a Sermon or 〈…〉 to prepare for the life which they must live for ever Yes â—…y a time but they would take no warning Did God never â—â—ll them that after this life there is another where they must live in endless joy or torment Yes and they professed that they did believe it They heard it an hundred times over till they were weary of hearing it Did God make them believe that they shall die like beasts that have no further to go nor any other life to live No if they do believe this it is the Devil and not God that maketh them believe it What then is the matter that the One thing needful is no more regarded Hath God shut up their souls in desperation so that it is in vain to seek or trouble themselves for that of which there is no hope Oh no! his compassion hath provided them a full remedy by the death of his Son Redemption is procured and he hath made them a deed of gift of Christ and pardon and eternal life and tendred it to them that upon theâ—â— acceptance it may be
to hunger and thirst or cold or weariness or shame or pain nor any of the frailties that now adhere unto them but be made like the glorified body of Christ 7. The Souls of the Saints united to these Bodies shall also be Perfected having far larger capacity to know God and enjoy him then now we have being freed from all ignorance errour unbelief pride hard-heartedness and whatsoever sin doth now accompany us and perfected in every part of the Image of God upon us 8. The eyes of the Glorified Body shall in Heaven have a Glory to behold that is suitable to their Bodily capacity Heaven being not a place where the Essence of God is confined but where a prepared glory will be manifested to make Happy the Angels and Saints with Christ And whatever other senses the Glorified Bodies shall then have whether formally or eminently we cannot now conceive what they will be they will all be satisfied with suitable Delights from God 9. The Blessed person of our Redeemer in our Nature Glorified will there be the Everlasting object of our delightful iâ—â—uition and fruition An object suitable to the eye of the Glorified Body it self We shall for ever live in the sight of his face and in the sense of his unspeakable Love 10. The Glorified Soul whether mediately or immediately shall behold the Infinite most Blessed God and by knowing him be perfected in knowledge As we shall see the person of Jesus Christ and the glory of God with open face and not as in a glass as now we do so we shall know so much of the Essence of the Deity as we are capable of to our felicity 11. With the Knowledge of God and the Beatifical Vision will be joyned a perfect Love unto him and closure with his blessed will So that to Love him will be the everlasting employment of the soul 12. This Love will be drawn forth into everlasting praise and it will be our work before the Throne of his Glory to magnifie the Lord for ever 13. In all this Love and Praise and Glory and in the full fruition of the Eternal God we shall Rejoyce with full and perfect Joy and we shall have full content delight and rest 14. In all this Blessedness and Glory of the Saints the Glory of God himself will shine and Angels shall admire it and the condemned spirits with anguish shall discern it that God may be Glorified in our Glory 15. In all this Happiness of Believers and his own Glory the Lord will be well pleased and that Blessed Will which is the Beginning and the End of all will be accomplished and will have an Eternal complacency as the Saints shall have an endless complacency in God This is the Glory promised to the Saints This is that Good part which they choose I cite not the Texts of Scripture that prove all this because the things are all so plainly and frequently expressed in the premises And I shall have occasion to do somewhat of this anon And so in brief I have told you what the Good part is 2. We are next to enquire What it is that is put by worldly carnal men into the other end of the scales and is set up in comparison with all this Everlasting Glory Yea what it is that is preferred by ungodly men before it What is it that fin and the world will do for men What do they find that lose the Lord What do they get that miss of Heaven What do they choose tâ—â—â— refuse the Needful Better part And here I am even amazed at that which I must give you an account of O wonderful astonishing thing that ever such base unworthy trifles should by Reasonable men be put into any comparison with God! Wonderful that so much madness and wickedness can enter into the mind and heart of man as to let go all this Glory for a toy And yet more wonderful that this should be the case of the greatest part of men on earth And yet more wonderful that so mâ—â—y make so mad a choice even when the case is opened to them and plainly opened and frequently opened and when they are earnestly entreated to be wiser and importuned to make a better choice In a word All that is set against the Lord and All that is preferred before this Everlasting Life and All the Portion of ungodly men is no more then this The Pleasure of sin for a season The satisfying of the flesh A little ease and pelf and fair words from men as miserable as themselves and all this but for a little a very little time when Temperance is as sweet at least a little that is excessive or forbidden in wealth or meat or drink or cloathes or lust or other fleshly pleasures is the Joy and the Heaven and the God of the ungodly The fleshly pleasures which are common to the beasts and a little vain-glory among men and this for a short uncertain time and then to paâ—â— to everlasting punishment this is the chosen portion of the wicked This is All for which they refuse the Lord and for which â—â—â—y refuse a Holy life This is All 〈◊〉 which they part with 〈◊〉 and part with their Everlasting Peace This is All that they have for Heaven and their salvation and All for which they seâ—â— their souls To the everlasting shame of sin and sinners it shall be known that this was All To the abasing of our own soulâ— that sometime were guilty of this madness I shall tell you again that this is All To the humbling of the best to the conâ—ounding of the wicked and the amazement of us all I must say â—â—â—â— this is All This dirt this dream this cheat i◠〈…〉 wicked have for God and Glory This Nothing â—◠〈…〉 obstinately preferr and choose before him that 〈…〉 O wonderful madness stupidity and deceitâ— so 〈…〉 wilful and so uncureable till tender 〈…〉 cure it in them that shall be saved Well the ballance is now set before yoâ—… in the One end and in the other You see the 〈…〉 choose and the part that is chosen by the rest of the world And are you not yet resolved which is Best and which to choose TWo sorts I look to meet with here to whom I shall apply my self distinctly before I come to the comparative work First some will tell me that all these are needless words and that there is no man so senseless as to think that Temporal things are better then Eternal or the world then God or sin then Holiness Answ O that this were true how happy then were all the world I grant that many are superficially convinced that are not converted and that many have a slight opinion that Heaven and Holiness is best that yet have no Love to it and will not seek it above All. But their practical judgement doth not go along with their Opinions Thy relish the world as sweetest unto them In the prevailing deepest thoughts of their
life to come where some are happy and some are miserable and they commonly profess that all men should obey their Maker and make it their chiefest care and labour in this life to be happy in the next Heathens will confess this And yet I suppose you will easily confess that these men are none of the fittest Judges The way to Life by Jesus Christ they do not understand But that the world is vanity and nothing to be preferred before our happiness in the world to come this they will commonly acknowledge And if the lives of the most of them contradict this profession yet still they are forced to confess the truth and truth is not the less truth because they that confess it will not obey it Nay what greater testimony can you wish to silence your unbelieving thoughts then the witnesses of the enemies of the truth who as they condemn themselves by bearing witness to that which they refuse to practise so shall their witness aggravate your condemnation if you will live below it What are you Christians and yet refuse to come up in your choice and lives to the doctrine of Heathens and Infidels 7. I know you will think at least that those Hereticks that are daily here bawling against us will not be partial on our side â—f you think that this Doctrine is contrived by us for any ends and interests of our own hearken then to our enemies These railing Quakers that can scarce tell how to speak a word of the Ministers of Christ but what is the spawn of venemous fiery bitter malice do for all this cry up Holiness of life Though they corrupt the doctrine of Christ so odiously and speak like Heathens in many of their extasies and writings yet do they openly cry down your sensual worldly wayes Do you not hear how they rail at us for your sakes that are vicious and ungodly and tell us that you are the fruit and shame of our Ministry Though these words be the fruit and shame of their malicious Heresie for all the world may know that it is our daily work to procure your Conversion and that you keep your sins and refuse a holy heavenly life in despight of us yet I must tell you that these wretches shall condemn you The streets and Congregations have heard them cry out against your ungodly lives and yet you will not turn to God Must good and bad must Ministers and raging Hereticks give in their testimony against you and yet will you not be satisfied and come in 8. If yet you know not the better part to whom will you appeal Will you go to the Multitude and put it to the vote not only among Christians but throughout the world Truly there is no great reason for this when most men are so blind and wicked but yet if you should they would go against you twenty if not an hundred to One. I know well enough that when it comes to practice they will not live a holy Life and shew thereby a root of bitterness But if you ask them what their judgement is Whether God or the world whether Heaven or earth whether Holiness or sin be best and to be chosen most men are against you and would give it you as their judgement under their hands that God and everlasting life should be first sought Though by this Confession they condemn themselves yet is it their Confession As I told you before the Jews are for this doctrine the Turks and other Mahometans are for it most of the Heathen world is for it doctrinally though they will not practice it Only there are three sorts against it in the world that ever I heard of One sort are the Cannibals that eat mens flesh and go naked and live like beasts and never heard of another life and some such savages as they Another sort is a few of the Heathen Philosophers and and their followers that differ in this from all the rest A third sort is here and there a debauched apostate that by the righteous judgement of God are so far forsaken by his Grace for their pride and falshood against the truth that they have lost the belief of a Life to come and live under the visible plagues of God upon their souls as men that have sinned wilfully against the truth and have no more sacrifice for sin but a fearful looking for of judgement and fire that shall devour the adversary Heb. 6. 6 7. 10. 26. and are near the state of the Devils themselves that are reserved in the chains of spiritual darkness to the judgement of the great day Jude 6. Job 21. 30. And will you take the judgement of here and there a forlorn wretch a deplorate apostate an Epicure or a Countrey of inhumane Cannibals before the judgement of the most wise and godly and of almost all the world What excellency hath the understanding of these singular men that it should be so valued above all others You know partly in this place who they be that are of this Opinion And is their Number or Wisdom or Conversation such as should move you to be of their Opinion Shall half a dozen desperate apostates of ungodly lives seem wiser to you then all the world And yet I am perswaded that if you go to any even of these few apostates whatever they think they will confess that a Holy life is best And yet have you not witness enough against you 9. Who then shall be the Judge Shall we appeal to the very Things themselves and to the daily experience of the world You see that worldlings labour for the wind You see that all their care and pains will not avoid the stroak of death that turneth the proudest flesh into a clod and maketh dirt of the greatest Prince You see that wealth and honour do but mock men and leave them in the grave to darkness and corruption And when you are sure that this will be the upshot of all your fleshly pleasure and worldly gains are you not satisfied past all doubt that the smallest hopes or possibility of another life should be sought with far more care then this 10. If none of these witnesses be regarded by thee I know not whom to appeal to but thy self And wilt thou needs thy self decide the case Hast thou knowledge and experience honesty and impartiality enough to fit thee to be judge If thou hadst thou wouldst make no doubt of it but have been resolved for Heaven and Holiness ere this Thy unresolvedness proves thee blind and partial and very much forsaken by the spirit of light And should such a one be judge But go to I will much referre thy case to thy self reserving still the final judgement to the Lord upon these just and resonable conditions 1. Wilt thou first thy self but use those necessary means for knowledge in Reading Fasting Praying Watching Meditation Conference with the wise and such like as all those do that come to ripe and saving
Knowledge If I referr my health to thee as my Physicion thou must not refuse to try my pulse and see my urine and use the means to find out the disease Wouldst thou be my Lawyer and refuse to read my Evidences and study my case And wilt thou needs be judge thy self of the matters of thine own felicity or misery and yet refuse to read and hear and pray and meditate and use the necessary means of understanding Wilt thou lie in bed and work out thy salvation Wilt thou make use of no ones eyes but thy own and yet wilt thou wink or draw the Curtains or shut the windows and cast away thy spectacles and neither come into the sunshine nor use a candle This is but to say I will willfully condemn my soul and none shall hinder me 2. But yet another condition I must propose If thou wilt but as I said before of others a while make Tryal of a holy life and try in thy self what Faith and Hope and Charity are and try what selfdenyal is I will then referr the matter to thy self Go back from God if thou find any Reason for it and turn from Christ and Heaven and Holiness if thou do not like them But if thou wilt needs be the judge and wilt not be perswaded to try the thing thou art a partial self-deceiving judge 3. But it this much cannot be obtained at least be Considerate in thy judging If thou wilt but take thy self aside from the noise of wordly vanities and deceits and commune seriously with thy heart and bethink thee as before the Lord and as one that knows he must shortly dye Whether Heaven or Earth should be sought most carefully and Whether God or thy flesh should be served most resolvedly and diligently and if thou wilt but dwell so long upon these manlike thoughts till they are digested and Truth have time to shew its face I dare then leave the question to thy self The next time that the Sermon or any affliction comes near thee and awakeneth thy Conscience do but withdraw thy self into secret and soberly bethink thee of the matter what hopes thou hast from the world and what thou 〈◊〉 have from God what Time is and what Eternity is and give â—â—â— Conscience leave to speak and then I will venture the issue upon thy Conscience For thee I mean though I must stick to a better judge my self Doth not Conscience sometime tell thee that the Holyest persons are the wisest and that thy labour is liker at last to be lost and repented of than theirs Doth not Conscience sometime make thee wish that thou wert but in as safe a case as they and that thou mightest but die the death of the Righteous and that thy last end might be as theirs 4. But if all this will not serve the turn thou shalt be Judge thy self but it shall be when thou art more capable of judging If God by Grace shall Change thy heart I will stand to thy Judgement If he do not when thy graceless guilty soul shall pass out of thy pampered dirty flesh and appear before the dreadful God I will then leave the case to thy Conscience to judge of To all Eternity it shall be partly left to the judgement of thy Conscience whether sin or Holiness be better and whether Saints or careless sinners were the wiser and whether it had not been be ter sor thee to have spent that life in preparing for thy Endless life which thou spentst in slighting it and caring for the world and flesh Then thou shalt be Judge thy self of these matters but under a more severe and righteous judge And so as shall make thy tearing heart to wish with many a thousand groans that thou hadst judged wiselier in time But because that Judgement will be to desperation and too late for hope or any help let Conscience speak when thou lyest sick and seest that thou art a dying man Then judge thy self whether a Holy or a worldly life be better and whether it had not been thy wiser course to have sowed to the spirit that so thou maist reap everlasting life then to have sowed to the flesh from which thou now lookst to reap no better then corruption Be not deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Gal. 6. 6 7. But because it will be very late to stay till thy own Death draw so neer thee go but to thy neighbours that lie in sickness looking for the stroak of death Yea to thy companions in sin and folly and ask them then which way is better Ask them then which is the better part Whether now they had rather be the Holyest Saints or such as they have been Whether now they had not rather they had spent their time in the most careful seeking for Everlasting life then in doing as they have done Say to thy old companion now Brother I see you are near your end the mortal stroak of death is coming you are now leaving all the pleasures of this world I pray you tell me now your Judgement whether mirth and sport and feasting and drinking and wealth and honour be more to be sought then life eternal and whether Hearing and Reading the word of God and Praying and meditating and flying from sin be as bad or as needless a thing as we have formerly taken it to be Had you rather appear before the Lord in the case of those that we derided as Puritans and too precise for making such a doe about salvation or in the case that you and I have lived in Ask but this Question to thy old companions and try whether the Consciences of almost all that approach their end do not bear witness against ungodliness and do not justifie the holy diligence of the Saints It is but two days since a poor drunkard of a neighbour Parish being ready to pass out of this world did send hither and to other Parishes in the terrours of his soul to desire our Congregations to take warning by him and to strive with God if possible for some mercy for his soul that was passing in terrours into another world because of the guilt of his odious sin Well sirs I have gone along with you to all the creatures in this world that have any fitness to judge in this case and if all these will not serve we must go to another world for Judgement or stay till you come there 11. And really do you think if we could speak with Angels or departed Souls that they would not consent with God and all Believers in their Testimony O how they would rebuke their madness that make any doubt of so great so plain so sure a truth as this of the necessity and the excellency of a Holy life None are so fully resolved of this question as they that have tasted the End of both and past the righteous judgement of the Lord. They that are feeling the anguish of their
Consciences and the tormenting displeasure of Almighty God are satisfied by this time whether the Godly or ungodly were the Wiser men and whether sanctity or sensuality were the Better course They that are rejoycing with Christ in Glory are satiâ—fied perfectly of this question and are far from repenting of their choice Luk. 16. Christ tells you enough in the case of the Rich man and Lazarus how men judge in the life to come 12. But if all these witnesses will not serve you what shall we say to you Whom will you choose to be your Cousellor There is none left that I remember unless you will go the Devil for advice But against this I have told you enough before Will he speak for Holiness that is a spirit of uncleanness and will he shew thee Heaven that laboureth purposely to hide it from thee till thou have lost it Or will he let thee see the odiousness and danger of thy sin when it is the snare and bait by which he hopeth to undo thee But yet for all this let me tell thee that thou mayst learn even from the Tempting Enemy himself the Truth of that which I am now asserting For as the Devil himself believeth it when he perswadeth thee not to believe it so the very nature and manner of his Temptations may help thee to perceive that Heaven is attainable and Holiness is the only way Would he make so much ado about it to keep thee from the believing it and seeking it if there were not a Heaven for thee to find why is he so eager to draw thee unto sin if sin be not hurtful to thee Dost thou not feel the importunity of his Temptations It s easie to observe them Why is he so much much against a Holy doctrine and a Holy life and a Holy people if it were not that he knows the Necessity and worth of Holiness for thy good The actions of a Knowing Enemy may do very much to acquaint us with the truth Besides this he hath oft appeared in bodily shapes as I am able to prove by undenyable evidence sometime to entice men to sin and sometime to be Gods executioner to afflict them for it and sometime to make a Covenant with witches and Conjurers for their souls as many a hundred of them have confessed at their death And why should he be so desirous of thy soul if thou hadst none to lose or so desirous to deceive thee and deprive thee of salvation if there were none for thee to lose and if this were not the chief concernment of thy soul why should thy chief enemy so much regard it Thou seest that he is not so careful to deprive thee of thy fleshly pleasure He careth not how much thou hast of this The more the glutton is pleased with his chear and the more the drunkard delighteth in his cups and the more the fornicator is pleased in his filthiness and every voluptuous person in his voluptuousness the Devil is pleased so much the more He cares not if thou have all the Kingdoms of the world if he can deprive thee of the Everlasting Kingdom Nor will he grudge thee the glory and honour of the world if he can but keep thee from the heavenly Glory He will allow thee the Hypocrites Reward which is the applause of men if he can but keep thee from the Saints Reward which is the savour of God He cares not how much of thy Good things thou hast here if he can deprive thee of the Everlasting Good It is his desire that thou have thy Portion in this life that thou mayst miss of the Believers Portion in the next Certainly the Devil himself by his Temptations Apparitions and Contracts doth plainly tell us of a life to come and what it is that conduceth most to our Good or Hurt our Joy or Torment and consequently teacheth us what to choose by tempting us so palpably and eagerly to refuse it You see now what a Jury of Witnesses I have brought in to testifie which is the Better part The Devil and the wicked are added to the rest because you will hear no better witnesses If you will here are enow whose testimonies are unquestionable But when all is done it is the Lord that is and will be Judge All these are but witnesses to dispose thee to receive his sentence Thou art no Believer till the Authority of the Word of God will serve to satisfie and resolve thee CHAP. III. Full proof in twentie Queries from Reason it self that there is a Life to come and Holiness is the way to it and the Better Part And that the Gospel is the certain Word of God in fifteen Queries more with Answers to the Infidels Objections ANd by this time I come somewhat nearer to the Infidel and am ready to answer his fore-going Question Where shall I find the Judgement or Testimony of the Lord O saith the Unbeliever if I were but sure that there were a life hereafter where the godly and the wicked shall be differently Rewarded as the Scripture speaks then I must confess he were no better then a â—â—â— man that would prefer this world or wilfully live in sin and Would not seek Heaven with all his might and be as earnest iâ— Holiâ—… the strictest Saint But I am not sure that this is true and that there is any such difference after death to be expected Answ Alas poor wretch Art thou at that pass Hast thou so far lost the Knowledge of God and of thy self and of thy end and business here and of the word and works of God as to turn worse then Jew or Turk or Heathen even to think thy self a beast that hath no life nor happiness but this If this be thy case I cannot now stand to deal with thee according to thy necessity I am now dealing with them that confess a Life hereafter And because we cannot in all our writings repeat over the same things I desire thee to peruse what I have already written for such as thee in the Second Part of The Saints Rest and in a Treatise called The unreasonableness of Infidelity and at present take only some brief advertisments for thy conviction 1. And first whereas you say you are not sure of a Life hereafter I demand of you Whether you are sure that there is no such life I am sure you are not If you think you are which none but a debauched man can think that hath put out the eye of Natural Light let us hear your Proof and you shall soon be told the vanity of it But if you are not sure that there is no such life then I would know of you Whether a Possibility of such Everlasting things deserve not greater care and diligence then is used by the Holyest Saint on earth You say You are not sure that there is a Heaven for Saints But what if it prove true as nothing more true will you sit still and lose it for you know
Or if there were no Fear of that yet Man hath Reason to think before-hand of his Death and to think of his abode in Darkness which Beasts have not To think of being turned to â—â—tinking carrion and to a clod and so continuing for ever without any Hope of a Resurrection would be matter for continual horrour to a confidering man which Brutes are not molested with And wise men that can fore-see would be tormented more then fools All this is incredible that God should make his nobler creature to be Naturally most miserable and give him Knowledge and Affections and set a Certain Death and Possible Torment continually before his eyes to Torment him without any Remedy And besides the Hoped Life hereafter there is none Quer. 12. Do you think that the Belief of another life is needful or useful to the well governing of this world or not If you say no 1. Why then do Infidels and Brutists say that Religion is but the device of men for the Governing of the world and that without it subjects would not be Ruled You confess by this your frivilous objection that the world cannot be Ruled well without the Belief of a life to come 2. And it is most manifest from the very nature of man and from the common experience of the world 1. If man be well-governed it must be either by Laws containtng Rewards and penalties or without Not without For 1. All the world doth find it by experience that it cannot be and therefore every Common-wealth on earth is Governed by Laws either Written Customary or Verbal 2. If the Love of Vertue for it self should prevail with one of a thousand that would be nothing to the Government of the world 3. Nor could any man be effectually induced to love Vertue for it self according to the doctrine of the Brutists For Vertue it self is made no Vertue by them but a deformity of the mind while they overthrow the End and Object and Law that it is measured and informed by as I shall more fully open to you anon It is therefore most certain that no Nation is or can be Governed as beseemeth man without Proposed punishments and Rewards And if so then these must be either temporal punishments and benefits or such as are to be had in the Life to come That Temporal punishments and benefits cannot be Motives sufficient for any tolerable much less perfect or sufficient Government is a most evident Truth For 1. de facto we see by experience that no people live like men that be not Governed by the Belief of another life The Nations that believe it not are Savages almost all living naked and bestially and knowing nothing of vertue or vice but as they feel the commodity or discommodity to their flesh They eat the flesh of men for the most part and live as brutishly as they believe And if you say that in China it is not so I answer one part of them there believe the Immortality oâ— the soul and most of them take it as probable and so the Nation hath the Government which it hath from everlasting Motives And if you say that the antient Romans had a sufficient Government I answer 1. The most of them believed a life to come and it was but a few that denyed the Immortality of the soul and therefore it was this that Governed the Nations For those that believed another life had the Government of the few that did not believe it or else the Government it self had been more corrupt 2. And yet the faultiness of their belief appeared in the faultiness of their Government Every Tyrant took away mens lives at pleasure Every Citizen that had slaves which was common at pleasure killed them and cast them into the fish-ponds The servants secretly poysoned their masters and that in so great numbers that Seneca saith Epist 4. ad Lucul that the Number of those that were killed by their servants through treachery deceit or force was as great as of them that were killed by Kings which was not a few 2. It is apparent that the world would be a Wilderness and men like wild and ravenous beasts if they were not Governed by Motives from the Life to come 1. Because the Nature of man is so corrupt and vicious that we see how prone they are to evil that everlasting Motives themselves are too much uneffectual with the most 2. Every man naturally is selfish and therefore would measure all Good and Evil with referrence to themselves as it was commodious and incommodious to them And so vertue and vice would not be known much less regarded 3. By this means there would be as many Ends and Laws or Rules as Men and so the world would be all in a Confusion 4. If Necessity forced any to combine it would be but as Robbers and strength would be their Law and Justice and he that could get hold of another mans estate would have the best Title 5. All those that had but strength to do mischief would be under no Law nor have any sufficient Motive to Restrain them What should restrain the Tyrants of the world that rule over many Nations of the earth if they believe no Punishment after death but that their Laws and Practises should be as impious and bestial as their lusts can tempt them to desire What should restrain Armies from Rapes and Cruelty that may do it unpunished Or popular tumults that are secured by the multitude 6. And there would be no restraint of any villany that could but be secretly committed And a wicked wit can easily hide the greatest mischiefs Poysoning stabbing burning houses defaming adultery and abundance the like are easily kept secret by a man of wit unless a special Providence reveal them as usually it doth 7. At least the probability of secrecy would be so great and also the probability of sinful advantage that most would venture 8. And all those sins would be committed without scruple which the Law of man did appoint no punishment for as Lying and many odious vices 9. If one man or two or ten should be deterred from poysoning you or burning your houses or killing your cattle c. by humane Laws a thousand more would be let loose and venture 10. All the sins of the heart would have full Liberty and a defiled soul have neither cure nor restraint For the Laws and judgments of men extend not to the heart All the world then might live in the Hatred of God and of their neighbours and in daily Murder Theft Adultery Blasphemy of the heart Wit his they might be as bad as Devils and fear no punishment for man can take no cognizance of it And it is the heart that is the Mâ—n You see then what persons the Infidels and Brutists would have us all be What hearts and lives mankind should have according to their Laws Be Devils within and murder and deceive and commit adultery as much as you will so you have
the motion of the arrow that hits the white and to have none but a Physical goodness in them For there can be no proper obedience where there is no proper Government or Law 5. Hereby also they deny all Inward Virtue For this also can have but a Physical Goodness if Government and Laws be down 6. Hereby they deny the Being of sin For where there is no Law and Government but meer Physical necessitating motion there is no Transgression And therefore when they make a deal of talk about Purging away sin it is not sin indeed that they mean but a meer Physical disease to be Physically expugned 7. Hereby they deny all the proper Judgement of God by Christ at the last day and make his Judgement to be nothing but Execution Yea and 8. All proper Execution is denyed as Vindictive or Remunerative and so all Justice 9. The Authority of every Prince on earth is overthrown For there can be no Authority but from Gods Soveraign Authority any more then any Being without derivation from the first being They may talk to the ignorant of Contracts and Peoples Wills being the Original of Governing Authority and deifie the multitude and make them give that which they never had but a mean understanding may perceive their folly 10. Hereby they destroy all humane Laws that must receive their strength from Gods Laws or have none and so they absolve all subjects in the world from conscientious obligations to obedience If God have no proper Governing Laws but Physical motions then we are no further obliged to obey men by any Law of God then we are effectually moved to it and then we do obey them And if so then we can owe no more obedience to Parents Masters or Princes then they force us to If they can make us obey them well and good If not we break no Law of God by disobedience These and many such like are the consequents of that horrid doctrine that denyeth God to be the Soveraign Ruler of the world In a word it dasheth out at once all Government Laws Justice Obedience Good Works and all Morality dissolving the whole frame of the Universal Monarchy of the world and dâ—nying God to be our God and man to be man and his subject But if you yield that God is the Governour of the world it is then most evident that there 's a life to come For if he Govern us it is by Laws and Judgement And if by Laws which are they There is nothing known among Rational men by the name of a Law of God which containeth not Promises and Threatnings of Rewards and Punishments hereafter He hath no Laws for the Governing of this world that contain no Motives but from Temporal things And I shewed you before that he need not he cannot Govern the world by falshood and deceit And we see here by experience that there is no such Execution in this life of the Laws of God as are sufficient to the ends of Government The wicked prosper and destroy the just The best do most deny their flesh and are opprest by others You see this your selves and make it an Argument for your Infidelity But stay a little till the Assizes come It follows not that there is no Government or Justice because the Thief or Murderer is not hanged before the Assizes or as soon as he hath done the fact Eternity is long enough for their punishment If God then be the Governour of the world as most certainly he is then is there a Reward and Punishment hereafter and Gods Day will come when Mans is past Quer. 14. My next Question is Whether you think that God should be Loved and Obeyed or not If not then certainly none should be Loved or Obeyed For none deserves it if he deserve it not from whom we are and have all our benefits But if he be then I further Question you Whether it be likely or possible that any man or at least all the best people in the world should be losers by God and their Love and obedience to him And whether it be Credible that Goodness and Obedience to the Lord should be the constant certain way to mens undoing loss or misery I think you will say if you believe that there a God that this cannot be For certainly he that sets us a work will own us in it and save us harmless An honest man will take it for a disgrace to him that his service should be the shame and misery of his servants and he should make them no satisfaction If God be not Able to bear us out he is not God And his Wisdom and Goodness assure us that he Will do it So that there is no Possibility that Goodness should be mans loss and any should finally be losers by God On this assurance I am encouraged to lay out all my time and labour and dare boldly venture all that I have in the work of God For I am sure I cannot lose by him But be thou judge thy self whether his service would not make us losers if there were no life but this though I confess the loss would be small and short Who are so hated and persecuted as they that serve God best How many thousands of them have been fain to give up their bodies to Tormentors and their lives to the devouring flames The very work of God consisteth in flesh displeasing things To deny our selves and contemn this world and live soberly and righteously and godly in the world and to be for this the scorn of men is the lot of the obedient If you say This is not the Lot of any but those that are over-righteous I answer 1. We cannot be over obedient to God 2. You contradict the experience of all ages Even the form of Godliness is hated by the Profane and temperance by the drunkard and he shall be their scorn that runs not with them to excesses of ryot Seneca tells us that it was so even at Rome among the Heathens that he was their derision that would not be as bad as the rest If therefore in this life only we had hope we were of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 19. Not but that even here we have the far better life then wicked men But that is because it savoureth of the life to come to which it hath relation Otherwise we should lose onr credit ease pleasure profit in the world and have nothing for it Faithfully Labour for God O my soul and never fear being a loser by his work Quer 15. I further aske Whether you would be alone of this brutish Opinion or would you have all others of your mind If you would not have others Believe as you do it seems you think not well of your own opinion but take it to be naught for men to hold And why should not all men hold it if it were true But if you would have all of that mind it were time for you to look about
then if they had never heard the Gospel It is you and such as you that despise the mercies of the Lord that make it a bad world and then you impudently complain of it and charge it on them that will not be as bad as your selves and take away the candle and shut the windows that the light may not trouble you 2. Well! but say you the world was better when there was less preaching and less ado about the serving of God and our salvation I do not believe you and I will tell you why yea Why I am certain that your words are false 1. Because you contradict the Lord. God saith those times are best when there is most of the Light of the Gospel and most helps for our salvation and when the people are most Holy The increase of Light and Holiness is a principal part of the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ and of the Promises to the Gospel Church as you may see Isa 9. 2. 36. 26. 42. 6. 60. 3. Mat. 4. 16. Luk. 2. 32. Joh. 3. 19 20. The word of God is the greatest blessing under heaven together with a heart to obey and practise it Luk. 11. 28. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Psal 106. 3. 119. 1 2. 1. 1 2. God himself pronounceth them blessed that meditate day and night in his Law and that make it their whole delight and because of the increase of Light and Holiness extolleth the times of the Gospel far above those of the Law affirming the least in this Kingdom of God to be greater as to the honour and priviledge of his station then the Prophets or John Baptist Matth. 11. 11 12. And would you wish me to believe such ignorant men as you before the God of Heaven that contradicteth you 2. I will not believe you because your objection is nothing but a Blasphemous accusation of the Living God If it were true that Preaching is bad it is Christ then that is bad that doth command it But I am sure that Christ is not bad and that such as Blaspheme him do it to their cost It is he that hath laid a Necessity on us and woe be unto us if we preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. and that chargeth us to feed the flock of God 1 Pet. 5. 2. Yea the spirit chargeth us before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom that we preach the word and be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine If any one be to be blamed for all this preaching and stir for heaven it is Christ that chargeth it so strictly upon us And if thou dare lay the blame upon the Lord speak out and stand to it at judgement 3. I know it is false that you say that the world is the worse for all this preachig and Godliness because it is against the very office of Christ and of the Holy Ghost Christ was a diligent preacher himself and dare you accuse him for it He came into the world to bring us the Light of heavenly Truth and dare you say that it were better be without it It is the work of the Holy Ghost to illuminate and sanctifie men and do you think that he doth us hurt Christ dyed to wash and purifie by the word and Spirit the Church which is his Body that he might present it spotless to the Father Eph. 5. 26. 27. And darest thou say that Christ came to do us harm By this thy despising of his benefits thou shewest that thou hast yet no part in him or in his saving benefits but art in the gall of bitterness and bond of thy iniquities and thy heart is not right in the sight of God 4. Moreover you are not to be belived because you speak against the experience of all the Prophets and Apostles of Christ David had rather be a door keeper in the house of God then dwell in the tents of wickedness and judged a day in his Courts to be better then a thousand Psal 84. 10. and accounted them the blessed men that might even dwell in the house of God and be daily taken up in holy praise and worship Psal 65. 4. 92. 13. 23. 6. When he was forced from the house and publick worship of God it was his daily lamentation and he fainteth and panteth and longeth after the house and worship of God again Psal 42. 84. 2 3 4 5. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of hosts My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord My bea rt aad my flesh cryeth out for the living God Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praising thee Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are the ways of them The Prophet Isaiah saith In the way of thy judgements O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee with my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early This was the mind of all the Prophets and Apostles and God hath told us that it is the practice of all blessed men to Meditate in Gods word day night Psal 1. 2. And yet will you say that it was a better world when there was less of this O self-condemning Hypocrites Why do you so much profess to honour the Prophets Apostles and Martyrs of Christ if you think that they were the troublers of the world and that their doctrine and practice makes us worse Why do you honour them with the name of Saints and yet despise both their doctrine and practice in those that do but endeavour seriously to imitate them Why keep you Holy days in remembrance of the dead Saints and say that the world in the worse for the living Saints O horrible hypocrisie to honour their names and hate their doctrine and course of life and say that the world was never good since it was troubled with such as they Do we trouble you with our Preaching and praying and our stir for heaven How would Christ and his Apostles have troubled you that went so far beyond us in all these and made a greater stir then we and turned the world as their enemies charged them up side down Act. 17. 6. so busie wâ—s Christ in preaching and doing the work of God that he neglected to eat his meat for it Joh. 4. 34. and his fleshly kindred would have laid hands on him as if he had been beside himself Mark 3. 21. It seems if you had then lived you would have been among the wicked enemies of Christ and of his Disciples and have said It was never a good world since these busie fellows made so much a doe with their Religion 5. Moreover you speak against the inward feeling and
see that they are sober when some of you are drunken and that they are seeking heaven when you are seeking the world and that they are providing for their souls and pleasing God and imployed in the most sweet and heavenly works while you are pampering the flesh or making provision to satisfie its lusts Do we not hear their speeches are of God and their salvation and things that edifie while you curse or swear or talk filthily or idly and unprofitably like dreaming or distracted men And yet would you make us believe that you are as good as they and that Religion makes men worse But you say that for all this they are secretly as bad as others Foolish malice If it be secret how do you know it If you know it how is it secret and its marvail that you do not make it known Is it not easie to say so by a Job or a Samuel or by Christ himself if saying so may serve turn and a wicked tongue may pass for proof You may say that in secret I commit all the sins imaginable and how can I disprove you when I have no witness but only by desiring you to prove it if you can But O happy are the servants of the Lord that are even in secret alwayes in the presence of their Judge who will bear witness for them and justifie them against malignant tongues But you say that they are as covetous as other men though they are more Religious But this is as shameful a falshood as the former Do we not see the contrary in the open fruits Covetous men are the forwardest to call others Covetous because they would have no body hinder or cross them in their Covetous desires or designs And then they are saying O such a professor used me thus and such a one did thus and usually they partially relate the case as their own Covetous hearts encline them passionately to judge it And perhaps they may meet with a worldly hypocrite that seemeth Religious which is no more to the disgrace of Religion then Cham was in the Family of Noah or Absolom in the house of David or Judas in the Family of Christ Do not you call your selves Christians your selves And yet Christianity is never the worse because you are wicked that profess it But sure I am that the servants of Christ are not comparable to you in Coveteousness For as I find God describing them in his Word to be a people dead to the world whose conversation is in heaven so I see that they can spare time from worldly business while they and their housholds serve the Lord and so cannot you They are seeking Heaven when you are seeking earth And we may know what a man loveth if we know what he seeketh And again I must bear witness from my own experience that in this place where I live I have reason to believe that where other men of their ability give a penny to the poor for charitable uses those that you call precise and think too Religious do give six if not twice six and some of them much more then I will express There are few weeks but we have occasion to try it by voluntary collections for some needy persons or charitable uses and therefore we have much opportunity to know besides contributions at Sacraments and other publick occasions But you say that in former times there was more Love among neighbours then is now Then there was more familiarity and kindness and less hatred and malice and contention then now I answer Am I not sure by constant experience that there is far more love among the godly then among you Do I not see how dear they are to one another and how sweetly and familiarly they converse together and joyn in prayer and holy exercises and conferr about their everlasting state Do I not see that they are ten times more liberal to relieve each other in distress then you are Many and many a time I have seen them give ten or twenty shillings in collections to relieve godly people in distress when those of you that are richer give but two pence or a groat to your companions in the like Collections And what makes them be so much together if there be not Love among them I profess to you I never yet saw any thing that is worthy the name of Love and Peace among any other sort of men But perhaps you will say that there are contentions and differences among them about Religion which the world was never troubled with before To which I answer 1. What differences or contentions do you see among them in this Town or Parish Among five hundred people that you count Precise what one is there among us that is either Anabaptist or Separatist or Antinomian or Arminian or of any other sect What one that separateth from any Ordinance of publick Worship What differences do you know among us Is there here any more Churches then one Do you hear any contendings Do you see any thing like a difference among us all For my part I know of none Nor but of one in the Parish that is turned from us which is a simple ignorant harmless man that turned Anabaptist For as for the Apostate Infidels that joyn with you that are ungodly we have nothing to do with them but lament their misery 14. Another thing that hindreth our Belief of you is that we see that it is only ignorant or wicked men that are of this opinion and say that the world is the worse for Godliness or the Preaching of the Gospel Not a man saith so that knoweth what he saith and that ever felt the power and sweetness of the Gospel upon his soul But only those that are blinded by the world and serve the flesh and are drowned in lust and know not what they speak against And shall we regard the judgement of such men 15. And moreover when you say that the world was better when there was less Godliness and Teaching you contradict all history and therefore are not to be believed You know not well what is before you much less do you know what hath been in your fore-fathers dayes Be it known to you we have as full advantage to know that as you have Many and many a large Volume have I read concerning the state of the world before us which tell us of far greater wickedness in our fore-fathers daies then are in these If you will not believe me I will shew it to any of you that can read and understand at any time when you will come to me I will shew you the words of the Chroniclers and Historians of those ages that make more lamentable complaints of the vices of those times and tell us of far more evil then and of a far greater scarcity of good then can be truly spoken concerning us And are you that never saw those daies to be believed before them that saw them 16. And I am sure also that
2 8 9. Though the abode of the godly in the flesh is usually more needful to those about them yet to themselves their death is gain and therefore they have cause to desire to depart and be with Christ as being far better Phil. 1. 21 23 24. For sin which is the sting of death is mortified and the curse of the Law which is the strength of it is relaxed or null fied to us by the Gospel so that the Believer may triumph and say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. and to give thanks to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ vers 57. Verily I would not exchange my part though alas too small or dark a part in this one priviledge of true Believers for all the wealth and dominions on earth O the face of Death will soon make the Glory of all your greatness to vanish and the beauty of your flourishing estates to wither and all that you now glory in to appear as nothing And then how glad would you be to change Portions with the holy servants of the Lord whom you now despise When once you hear Thou fool this night shall they require thy soul and whose then are all those things that thou hast provided Luke 12. 20. then in a moment you will change your minds and cry out of the world as nothing worth and wish you had busied your hearts and hands in laying up a better treasure This is one difference O â—ngodly wretch between a holy servant of God and thee Death cannot undo him but it will undo thee It cannot take his Riches from him for his God his Christ his Holiness the Promises are his Riches but it will separate thee and thy wealth for ever It will put an end to all his troubles and fears and griefs and it will put an end to all thy prosperity and to all thy mirth and hope for ever A godly man dare die or if he ignorantly fear it yet shall it be the end of all his fears but thou darest not die and yet thou must or if thou ignorantly hope of a happiness after it yet will it nevertheless end all thy hopes O what a mercy is it to be ready to die 10. But the great unspeakable Riches of the Saints is in the Life to come We have here the Hope and the fore-taste but it is only there that we shall have our Portion You see what a poor Christian is according to his outward appearance But you see not what he will be to eternity There is the Kingdom for which we hope and for which we run and wait and suffer If God be true and his Gospel true then Heaven shall be the Portion of the sanctâ—fied But if it were otherwise then we would confess their hopes are vain Heaven is our Riches or we have none There have we laid up all our Hopes and in these Hopes we will live and die as knowing they will not make us ashamed Rom. 5. 5. 9. 33. 1 John 2. 28. We believe that we shall live with Christ in glory and shine as stars in the Firmament of our Father and be made like to the Angels of God and shall see his face and praise his name and live in his everlasting Love and Joy For all this he himself hath promised us 1 Thes 4. 17. 18. Daâ— 12. 3. Mat. 13. 43. Luk. 20 36. Rev. 22. 4. Mat. 25. 21. And now poor worldling what is all your Gain and Riches in comparison of the least of these Do you think in your judgements that there is any comparison Or rather doth not sin and the world even brutifie you and make you lay by the use of your reason and live as if you knew not what you know Your Treasure is all visible when ours is unseen and therefore I may bid you bring it forth and let us see it whether indeed it be better then the Treasure of the Saints Let us see what that is that is better then God and everlasting glory What! is a little fleshly ease or mirth a little meat and drink and pleasure a little more money or space of ground to use then your neighbours have are these the things that you will change for Heaven and preser before the Lord that made you O poor miserable sinners Are you not told that you have your good things here but what will you have hereafter when this is gone Luke 16. 25. When your wealth is gone and your mirth is gone your souls are immortal and therefore your misery and horrour will continue and never be gone As the wealth of the godly is within them and above the reach of their enemies and surer then yours so is it the more durable even everlasting When all your Riches are upon the wing even ready to be gone and leave you in sorrow when you are most highly valuing them you have it now but it is gone to morrow And what is the Hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him Job 27. 8 9. Let the words of Christ decide the Controversie if indeed you take him for your Judge Mat. 16. 2â— 25 26 27. If any man will come after we let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul For the Son of man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Well sirs you that are all for Getting and for wealth judge now if you have not lost your Reason whether a Holy or unholy â— Heavenly or an Earthly life be the more Profitable way I would not draw you to any thing that you should lose by If I speak not for your Gain reject my words as contemptuously as you please But if I do then be not against your own commodity Will such silly Gain as the world affords you do so much with you as it doth and shall not the Heavenly inheritance do more shall all this stir be made in the world for that which you are ready to leave behind you and will you not lay up a Treasure in heaven where rust and moaths corrupt not and where you may live for ever Matth. 6. 20. What profit now have all those millions of souls that are gone from earth by all the wealth they here possessed Hear sinners and bethink you in the name of God You are leaving Earth and stepping into Eternity and where then should you lay up your Riches Would you rather have your Portion where you must stay but a few days then where you must
Believer knows that as his life and soul so his worldly riches are nowhere sure but in the hand of God And therefore if they can procure his security and get him to receive it and return it them in Heaven with the promised advantage they have then secured it indeed All is lost that God hath not in one way or other and all is secured that he hath and for which we have his promise This is laying it up in heaven Matth. 6. 21. While we keep it we cannot secure it from thieves When we have disposed of it according to the Will of God upon the warrant of his promise it is then in his Custody and then it is safe Neither rust or moath can then corrupt it nor the strongest thieves break through and steal To be Good and do Good is to be likest unto God and therefore must needs be the sweetest life 2. Works of Justice also have their pleasure For they demonstrate the Justice of God himself from whom they do proceed That which is most Pleasant to God should be most Pleasant unto us And as he hath bid us not forget to do good and to communicate because with such sacrifice he is well pleased Heb. 13. 16. so he hath told us that he delighteth in the exercise of loving-kindness judgement and righteousness in the earth Jer. 9. 24. He hath shewed us what is good and what doth he require of us but to do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with our God Mich. 6. 8. And therefore he commandeth Israel Hos 12. 6. Turn thou to thy God Keep Mercy and Judgement and wait on thy God continually Private justice between man and man and family-justice between parents and children masters and servants and Political justice between the Magistrates and the people do all maintain the order of the world and procure both publike and private peace It is selfishness and injustice tyrannie oppression disobedience and rebellion that procure the miseries of the world But Righteousness is safe and sweet 2. You have heard of the Pleasure of Holy Actions both Internal and External The truth is evident also from the Objects of these Acts and the matter from which a believer may derive his Pleasures And O what an Ocean of delight is here before us Were our powers capacities and acts but answerable to the Objects we should presently have the Joyes of heaven 1. A Believer hath the ever blessed God himself to derive his comforts from He hath his Nature and Attributes to be his comfort He hath his near Relations to afford him comfort and this is more then to have all the world It is a God of Infinite Power and Wosdom and Goodness that we believe in that we Love and Worship and Obey It is also a Father Reconciled to us that hath taken us in Covenant to him as his people through Jesus Christ And where shall we find comfort if not in God It is in vain to look for that from any creature that is not to be found in him Poor worldlings you have nothing that is worth the having but the crumms that fall from the childrens table God is our Portion and the world is yours and yet you have less even in this world then we You have the shadow and we have the substance You have the shell and we the kernell You have the straw and chaff and true believers have the corn Your comforts are shaken with every storm and tost up and down by the Justice of God or the Pride of man But God that is our Portion is unchangeable Yesterday to day and the same for ever We have a Kingdom that cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. Persecutors cannot take our God from us nor can any thing separate us from his Love Rom. 8. 36. They may separate us from our houses from our Countries from our friends from our riches our liberties our lives from our Books our company and Ordinances but not from God who is our great Delight In poverty in persecution in sickness and at death we have still our interest in God A Christian is never in so low a state but he hath a God to whom he may go for comfort who is more to him then your sweetest pleasures Is it not a pleasure to have such a God as can cure all diseases supply all wants overcome all enemies deliver in all dangers and hath promised that he will do it so far as is for our good If he want water that hath the Sea or he want land that hath all the earth or he want light that hath the Sun yet doth he not need to want delight that hath the Lord to be his God if â—e do but keep in the pathes of grace And are you yet unresolved whether Godliness be the most Pleasant Life Take all your pleasures and make your best of them may I but have the Lord to be my God and I hope I shall never desire to change with you 2. A Holy life is therefore Pleasant because we have a full sufficient Saviour from whom we may daily fetch delight The Eâ—ernal Son of God is become the Healer of our wounds our Peace-maker with the Father the Conquerour of our enemies the Ransom for our sins the Captain of our salvation the Head of his Church and the Treasure of all our Hopes and Joyes Sin and misery are the works of Satan which Christ came into the world to destroy If Hypocrites can steal a little Peace to their Consciences from a false conceit that they have a part in Christ what comfort may it be to the true Believer that hath a sure and real interest in him That is the sad and miserable life when you are out of Christ and strangers to his Covenant and cannot say his benefits are yours but you are yet in your sins without his righteousness But when we have a special interest in him the foundation of our everlasting joy is laid and the heart of sin and misery is broken What fear or sorrow can you name that I may not fetch a sufficient remedy against from Christ What can the Prince of darkness say to our discomfort which we may not answer by Arguments from Christ By this judge of the Comfort of a Holy life If the Godly over-look the Grounds of Joy that are laid in Christ and live in a mistaken sorrow that is not for want of Reasons and warrant to rejoyce but for want of a right discerning of those Reasons But what have you that are ungodly to answer against all the terrours of the Law or to answer against all the accusations of your consciences or to comfort you against the remembrance of your approaching misery While you have no part in Christ you have no right to comfort One thought of Christ to a believing soul may afford more Delight then ever you will find in a sinful life 3. Moreover we have the Holy spirit of Christ that is purposely given us to be