had so grosly neglected to provide when he might have had it and knew he ought to have had it when he ask'd him Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment he was speechless He had nothing to say for himself not a word to offer for arresting the severest Judgment He that after several Admonitions goes on to sin is to be rejected of God and man being condemned of himself Tit. 3.11 And they who have means to know God and will not know him and when they do know him will not glorifie him nor bring forth the Fruits by which others might be provok'd to glorifie him are without excuse Rom. 1.20 Eightly But if they add impudence to their obstinacy and will presume to call upon him and their extremity extort and wring from them a prayer at last and they howl to him on their Beds as God speaks reproachfully of such mens prayers Hos 7.14 and their fears fright them into a pang of heartless devotion and the sense of approaching ruine scare them to cry to that God who hath so long call'd earnestly on them to turn but all in vain it shall now be as much iâ— vain on their parts for he is resolv'd he will not hear them Prov. 1.28 They shall seek me early but they shall not find me because they hated knowledge and despised reproof When you spread forth your hands I will hide wine eyes and when you make many prayers I will not hear Isa 1.15 Read on and see the reason Eze. 8.18 I will deal in my fury mine eye shall not spare neither will I have pity and tho they cry in mine ears with a loud voice I will not bear And Zach. 7.11 12 13. They refused to hearken and pull'd away the shoulder and stopt their ears that they should not hear yea they made their hearts as an Adamant Stone lest they should hear the Law and the words which the Lord of Hosts sent by his spirit in the former prophets therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of Hosts therefore it is come to pass that as he cryed and they would not hear so they cryed and I would not hear saith the Lord of Hosts Consider this ye that forget God And in the days of your youth and health and strength go on securely in the ways of your own hearts and despise admonition and refuse to return and think in your selves if you have but time to cry Lord have mercy upon me at last all shall be well and you shall be as safe as they that soonest turn to God and sought him timely with their best endeavours and sincerest hearts Ninthly God will take away the very means from them who trust in the formal customary fruitless use of them We find this Sentence four times recorded From him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath twice in the parable of the Sower as the doom of the barren ground Matth. 13.12 Luke 8.18 twice in the parable of the pounds and talents as the punishment of the slothful unprofitable servant Matt. 25.19 and Luke 19.26 The kingdom of heaven shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Mat. 21.43 which plainly sheweth the reason to be their not bringing forth such fruits And the Church of Ephesus is threatned Rev. 2.5 Repent and do thy first works or I will come upon thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of its place except thou repent You may sin away a good Religion by your unfruitfulness but the best Religion will not keep away vengeance from those who are unfruitful but draw it on the faster Tenthly or he will take his blessing from the means his spirit shall not accompany them and then they will be but a dead Letter without life and quickning For the word preach'd will not profit them in whom 't is not mixt with faith and faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit and he will not work it in those who resist him quench him grieve him provoke him nor strive longer with them who set themselves to strive against him and harden their hearts as it were on purpose to withstand and hinder his making any impressions on them those who have long received God's Grace in vain and turned it into wantonness may sit under the sound of it but shall find no efficacious influence by it and tho to others as Christ speaks Cant. 1.16 Our bed is green fruitful and Children are begotten unto God yet to them the Ordinances have a miscarrying womb and dry breasts Eleventhly God will turn the means thou injoyest to thy hurt and to thy ruine to become a curse a snare and stumbling block and occasion of falling to the aggravating of thy condemnation Rom. 11.9 David saith Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompence unto them As meat which is not digested to yield good nourishment breeds crudities and turns to be occasion of Diseases So doth Spiritual Food when not improv'd to growth and strength As the Manna corrupted bred worms so spiritual Manna breeds the most stinging worm of Conscience when abused The sincere milk of the word curdled in the sour stomach of an hard heart breeds the most dangerous and deadly Obstructions and becomes the savour of death Vnworthy Receivers eat and drink their own damnation and turn the Seal of God's precious promises into a Seal of his dreadful Threatnings yea which is most fearful to consider Christ Jesus himself becomes a stumbling to some men even to those who seek righteousness not by faith but as it were mark the phrase as it were by the works of the Law not downright seeking Justifications by the works of the Law but turn the Gospel into a Law to be justified by Evangelical Works as if they were to be justified by a Law requiring Work not by the Gospel offering Righteousness of God's meer Grace in Christ to be received by saith And 1 Cor. 1.23 Christ crucified is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness And 1 Pet. 2.8 A stone of stumbling and rock of offence to them who are disobedient to the word And it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have refused to walk in it Not to have had Christ offered to them than to have rejected him not to enjoy the means than to have them blasted and cursed to them through their own default and provocation Twelfthly God will avenge your sinful hardning your selves in your willful neglecting and deferring to repent and bring forth the fruits of true Christianity by a penal and judiciary hardning not by infusing any malice and wickedness into your hearts The holy God neither can nor will do that for he is not the Author of that of which he is the uâ—tour and punisher But by leaving you to your own corruptions without restraint and to those temptations
becomes of the dispute of the Original of the Soul 'T is without dispute that Grace in the Soul is not by traduction but by infusion and acquisition Secondly Not good Nature or the sweetest disposition I deny not but there is a vast difference betwixt the tempers of men As great as any thing can make but the Soveraign Grace of God Some are such Ishmaels such Nabals Caligulas Others such Jonathans Titus's the darlings and delights of mankind So sweet so affable kind obliging ready to good that nothing below the Image of Christ is more lovely than the impress of such a temper But still the best of Nature is but Nature and the Fruit of the unpâ—un'd Vine will be but wild Grapes and by Nature we are all Children of Wrath. Not Sons of God or Heirs of Heaven Thirdly Not being Baptised and injoying and using all the means of Grace I tell you therefore first 't is a very great Mercy and Favour of God to allow thee these priviledges I tell you secondly 't is thy duty and thou dost very well to attend constantly on them 't is well thou wert Baptized thou dost well to hear the the Word pray to God keep thy Church c. Yet I tell thee thirdly thou mayest go to Hell after all this yea and have a hotter place there than one of Tyre and Sidon than the men of Sodom and Gomorrah who never heard of or injoy'd such things Nay I tell thee fourthly 't is one of the commonest and most dangerous practical errors of them within the Church to think to Compound with God and excuse themselves for the neglect of the Duties those Priviledges oblige them to by a formal using of these Priviledges And therefore there is nothing in which the Scriptures are more express and copious than in warning men against this mistake And that both in the Old Testament and New Jeremiah tells them they trusted in lying words who cryed the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord. And continued in their sins Jer. vii 4. to the 12. and Chap. ix 26. He levels Judah and Israel for being Vncircumcised in heart with Egypt Ammon and Moah who were Vncircumcised in Flesh I beseech you read with attention yea with fear and trembling the second Chapter to the Romans especially from the 17. verse and you will find that Circumcision may become Vncircumcision and so Baptism as no Baptism And that he is not a Jew who is one outwardly but he that is one inwardly And Circumcision which profits is not the outward in the Flesh and in the Letter but in the Heart and in the Spirit And St. Peter tells expresly that the Baptism which saves is not the washing of the flesh but when we can answer with a good Conscience the questions usually propounded in the Administration of it 1 Pet. iii. 21. So for Prayer Isaiah supposes they may make long Prayers whose hands are full of blood And David that some mens Prayers may be turned into sin And Soloman tells you that the Prayer of the wicked and of him that turns away his ear from hearing the Law shall be abomination The blind man John ix 31. could see the truth that God heareth not sinners such as allow themselves in sin And David saith of himself if I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear my Prayer If thou hast gifts to Pray like an Angel and yet livest like an Incarnate Devil thou mayst indeed be Gods remembrancer But 't is but to put him in mind to take vengeance on thee As the Philosopher said smartly to the wicked marriners who began to Pray when a storm arose Hold your peace hold your peace for the Gods will certainly destroy us if they take notice you are hear Not that I would discourage a Simon Magus to Pray to God Acts viii 22. But then let him repent of his wickedness And take Eliphaz's Counsel Job xxii 23 26. Put iniquity far from 〈◊〉 Tabernacle So mayst thou lift up thâ— Face unto God and Pray unto him aâ—â—he shall hear thee tho sincere Prayer 〈◊〉 make thee leave sinning or sin will make thee leave Praying sincerely Yet many cry Lord Lord who shall never go to Heaven So for Hearing Rom. ii 13. Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified For whosoever heareth Christs sayings and doth them is like to a wise man who buildeth his House upon a Rock But he that Heareth and doth them not is like a foolish man which builds his House upon the Sand and when the Floods beat upon it it will fall and great shall be the fall of it Matth. vii 24 27. For they only are blessed who hear the word of God and keep it Nor will the approving and praising of the Preacher but the practice of his Doctrine render your selves approved or turn to your praise with God see Ezech. xxxiii 31 32. So for the receiving the Holy Sacrament tho that blessed Ordinance be too much and too shamefully neglected yet â—ayst thou eat Christs Body and drink â—â—s Blood Sacramentally and swallow down the pledges of thy own Damnation in so doing 1 Cor. xi 29. and bring upon thy self the guilt of Christs Body and Blood verse 27. Consider well 1 Cor. x. 2.5 For both the Sacraments They were all Baptised unto Moses in the Câ—â—â—d and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they all drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ But with many of them God was not well pleased And seeing the means are so evidently appointed for the sake of the end and to lead us to the attainment of it 'T is matter of just wonder how men can so impose upon themselves as to rest in the means instead of the end The Stairs are the means by which you ascend to your Lodging Chamber but if any man should therefore strip himself and lye down upon the Stairs he might find both a cold and hard Lodging how warm and soft soever the Bed is which stands in â—he Chamber at the Stairs head Fourthly Not outward Conformity to the Letter of the Law in the practice of Moral Vertues and Duties Not but that this is very amiable and very necessary and cursed be the man that will dispence with himself or others to neglect it and it cannot without great ignorance or greater malice be charged on any because they shew the insufficiency of this and urge you to more I confess an Vngodly honest man is half a Contradiction But I declare a Godly Knave is a whole one For he may be sincerely Just and Honest in his Dealings with men who wants a sence of Religion towards â—od But he is a gross Hypocrite towards God who pretends to Religion and allows himself to deal unjustly with his Neighbour Not that I exclude the Duties of the first
so that I might finish my Course with Joy and the Ministry which I have Received of the Lord Jesus to Testify the Gospel of the Grace of God Act. 20.24 Yea our Lord himself counted this His Meat and Drink and refus'd his bodily Food even when He was Hungry to Feed on this St. John 4.32 34. Yea He esteem'd it so necessary that He came down from Heaven endured the Cross and Bore the Law 's Curse and his Father's Wrath to Accomplish it In a word The End is more necessary than all the Means conducing to it and next to God's Glory our own Salvation is the ultimate End of all we have or are or do and therefore more necessary than them all put together When some told good Dr. Reignolds He would Kill himself with Studying and Preaching advis'd him to spare himself He reply'd Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causam He would not to save Life neglect that for which God gave him Life and for which alone it is worth while to Live Good Lord That Men can find time for every thing else and account the most trivial Matters worthy of their Care and can find neither for this great this necessary Work 'T was a smart Sarcasm which the Great Augustus cast upon the Gaulish Ladyes when He saw them playing with their Dogs in their Laps Have the Women in this Country no Children Implying that 't was a shame to neglect their Children and to prefer their Dogs into their Place So may I say with Wonder and Amazement Have these Men no God to Serve no Soul to Save no greater no better Work to do than to mind their Pleasures and their Profits their Follies and their Lusts As if nothing might be slighted but what of all things ought least so to be the Work God sent you into the World and call'd you into His Church for your only Necessary Business O besottted Sinners Who hath bewitch't you thus to pervert the Design of God and to misunderstand your own Interest Awake awake Rouse up your selves shew your selves Men and make that your Business in good earnest which God hath made your great your only necessary Work Secondly Because 't is Work it claims Precedency it must not be Post-pon'd thrust back but first dispatcht and not give place to our By-business this is your Method in all other Cases First Work then Recreation if any time be spare when Work is Finish't You send not your Children to their Play in the Morning and bid them go to School when they have play'd enough but first to school and let them play when they have learn't their Lesson The Heathen could say A Jove principium we must begin with God and our Lord bids Vs first seek God's Kingdom and its Righteousness Christ is Alpha and Omega The First and the Last Rev. 1.11 And we must begin and end with Him make His Service our first Care and His Glory our last End And Reason saith Work must be First because that may be wisely left longest undone which will occasion least Prejudice if it be left quite undone for Ever Now if this Work be done thou art safe and well though you have no time to do the rest yea if time fail you will not need the rest for time and the use of Temporal things dye both together and are rak't up in one anothers Ashes and when thou art got to Heaven thou 'lt want neither House nor Land nor Meat nor Mony nor secular Knowledge nor Honour nor Wife noâ— Children but God and Christ will be enough and more than All to thee and 't will never grieve thee there that thou hadst not got this or the other thing to leave behind thee but on the other side if beginning at the wrong end thou hast accomplish't all thy designs brought all thy Ends together and obtained more than Heart could wish and wantest nothing but an Interest in Christ and readiness to Dye and then be snatcht away to Hell like the Rich Foot in the Gospel who never dreamt of that amidst his Plenty The Remembrance of what thou once was Master of will yield thee no more Relief than Dives's faring Deliciously on Earth contributed to the cooling of his Tongue when he was tormented in those Infernal Flames Thirdly Because 't is Work 't is difficult all Work hath something hard in it else 't were miscall'd to call it Labour All Arts require painful Study and all Study causes Wearyness But Omnium I â—fficillima ars faecilitatis The Art of being Happy is of all the Hardest because of all the most Excellent The Righteous are hardly saved 1 Pet. 4.18 The Way to Hell is broad and smooth of easie Descent But the Way to Heaven is strait and rugged and must be climb'd with Labour I say not this to fright you out on 't but to provoke your Diligence 'T is a Greek Proverb The Gods give Nothing but sell All that's Good The Price they sell it for is Labour When a Leader tells his Souldiers before a Storm or Battle how Valiant and Stout their Enemies are and what Men of Mettle they must grapple with 't is not to daunt them or give them an Excuse to turn their backs and run away but to inflame their Courage and whet their Valour So when the Scripture tells us Our Adversary the Devil is a Roaring Lyon 't is not to scare us but make us watchful and to provoke us to Resist him Manfully And when it tells us We wrestle not with weak Flesh and Blood but Principalities and Powers Eph. 6. 't is to mind us to gird on our Armour and bestir our selves with becoming Boldness and stand our Ground with Resolution The things Religion is compar'd to and the Emblems of a Christian speak it to be hard A Fighting Souldier a Contending Racer a Wrestling Combatant a Laborious Husbandman a Trading Travelling Merchant Many Corruptions must be mortify'd Right Eyes pluck't out Right Hands cut off Many Temptations must be resisted many Enemies must be vanquish't many Graces must be acquired many Duties must be learnt and practis'd And Who can reckon all this Easy and like to cost no Pains but he that never tryed never considered what 't is to be a Christian indeed Therefore flatter not your selves that you can attain it how and when you please But learn this Discipline betimes Exercise your selves to Godlyness continually stand upon your Guard take to your selves the Whole Armour of God But above all betake thy self to Christ's Protection and God's Assistance That when thou art weak in thy self thou may'st be strong in Him that thou may'st Do all Things through Christ that strengthens thee tho thou could'st do nothing in thy self That thou may'st be Strong in the Lord and the Power of his Might Yea may'st be more than Conqueror through Him that loved thee and bids thee Be of good Chear because He hath over-come for thee Fourthly Because 't is Work it must be carryed