same course That which hath hindred doth hinder thee that which hath deceived doth deceive and will deceive thou canst never be secure from it whilst thou continuest in this World Wherefore O my Soul since I cannot be out of danger let me never be out of fear Let Fools be secure and at rest but as for me Let me pass the time of my Sojouring here in Fear 3. Another reason why we should Fear is because of the weight and importance of that work which we have to do in the World What is our Work here wherefore are we born and live upon this Earth 'T is to serve the Lord in the saving of our Souls The Lord that made us may and does require our whole Service as there is none besides him to whom we owe our Being so is there none other to whom we owe our Service Him only shalt thou serve Mat. 4.10 And God hath so ordered the matter that we cannot better serve our selves than by serving of him this is the Work of God which he requires of us to work out our own Salvation Phil. 2.12 The best Men are the greatest self-seekers 'T is a piece of self-denyal which God never requires of any Man To neglect his own Soul God would have all Men to be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 There are two Lords that are served in the World God and the Devil The great Service that the Devil hath to be done is to destroy Souls his Name is the Destroyer Rev. 9.11 and his work is to destroy and this is it which he imposes upon all his Servants to destroy every Man his own Soul God is the Saviour so call'd Isa 45.15 and his whole work that he has to be done by his is Salvation-work Friends the first and great Service that God hath for every one of you to do is to look well to those Souls of yours to recover your selves out of the Snares of the Devil that you may obtain everlasting Salvation if you can but acquit your selves so in this World that you get safe to Heaven when you die God will say to you Well done good and faithful Servant 'T is true we have every one of us more Souls than our own to look too I not only Ministers whose special work it is but every one should do what he can to save the Souls of others but our first Service is to look to our own Souls Our Charity and so our whole care must begin at home Deut. 4.9 Take heed to thy self and keep thy Soul thine own Soul diligently As Christ sayes Luk. 16.12 He that will not be faithful in that which is anothers who shall trust him with that which is his own May we not much more say here he that is not faithful in that which is his own will be much less faithtul in that which is anothers He that serves the Devil in destroying his own Soul is not like to serve God in the saving of others Souls Well this is your work you have to do in the World To serve the Lord And this is the Service that God expects That you save your own Souls What-ever you are faithfully doing this way you are therein serving God You may be saving your Estates and therein serve the Devil you may save your Names and save your Lives and therein serve the Devil but when you are saving your Souls you are still serving the Lord. The working out of our Salvation is not only the business of our Religious Duties but of all the Actions of our whole course We are not only to Believe and Repent and Hear and Fast and Pray for our Lives but to be carrying on our Salvation-Work in every thing we do As we may say whether you Believe or Repent or Pray or Hear so also whether you Eat or Drink or whatsoever else you do do all to the Glory of God and your own Salvation Our future state whether we are for Life or for Death is not to be determined by some few of our better Deeds but by the tenour of our whole course look what thy Life is in this World so shall thy Judgment be We are here in this World upon our good behaviour for the other World and the short time we have here is all we have for Eternity our Everlasting Life or Death will be determined by this little inch of time Do in your day the Work you were sent into the World for and you live and are blessed for ever spend your time in idleness or impertinencies live in the neglect of God or your Souls let your great Work be left undone or but half-done and done deceitfully and you die without remedy die eternally And do you not yet see what cause you have to Fear If you were doing any thing of this World's Business and knew your Life lay upon it 't would make your hand shake Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with Fear Phil. 2.12 Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Why should we Fear why should we Trembie Why because there is so great a Work lying upon our hands What if this Work be done and well done Then you are made for ever What if you neglect or miscarry in this Work Then you are lost irrecoverably 'T is a matter of Life and Death that you are every day and hour upon how can you think such a thought without a trembling Heart What a mighty influence would this consideration have upon your Duties When you go to Pray whether in the Closet or in the Family or in the Congregation were you perswaded that your eternal state were so much concern'd in it would you not fear how you trifled in so great a Duty and would not this Fear command in all your Powers to joyn in so important a Service how would it stand at the door and keep out all those stragling thoughts that at such times use to be thrusting in Would such hasty and cursory Praying such a flat and formal Devotion which you ordinarily take up with then suffice you you would sooner sweat than sleep at Prayer your Hearts would burn within you and not freeze as they too often do Tongue-Prayers and Knee-Prayers and Eye-Prayers would be of as little account with you as they are with God all the Males in your Flock would be brought in you would not dare to offer to the Lord a corrupt thing You would take your best time and time enough you would put forth the utmost of your strength you would not make your Souls to wait the leisure of your Flesh or to take its leavings It must not then be what you can spare from the World what you can spare from your business or your pleasures that will do the turn your eating time your sleeping time your working time must be taken up this way rather than want time for God and your Souls Dost thou complain of sleepiness in Prayer of wandrings in Prayer of want of time for Prayer Think Man
in particular that he is our Prophet and Teacher sent to us from God to shew us the path of life that he is our Priest and Sacrifice that he is our King and Ruler A knowledge of the conditions that he imposes and the Laws he gives to them that will be his Disciples and that expect salvation by him as to believe and obey the Gospel to repent and be converted These things must be first distinctly known otherwise in consenting to Christ we do we know not what we subscribe to a blank Our close with Christ must be an understanding close otherwise it signifies nothing This being premised I shall now shew 1. That our consent to Christ notes our approving and good liking of Christ Therefore we read that Peter in his Preaching Christ to the Jews that he might Preach them to Christ endeavours first to gain their approbation of him and that he might be approved of them he tells them that he was approved of God Act. 2.22 Ye men of Israel here these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by signs and miracles If he could not have assured them of Gods approbation of him there had been little hope of gaining their approbation and if he had not their approbation there had been no hope of their acceptance The same Apostle tells us 1 Pet. 2.4 that he was disallowed of men and those that disallowed despised and rejected him He was to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness 1 Cor. 1.23 But as for them that are called they had other manner of thoughts of him to them he is Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God They might have been invited long enough before they would have come if they had not been first perswaded that he is the Power and Wisdom of God Wilt thou consent unto Christ he must have thy approbation or he can never have thy consent There must be an approving and liking of his Person of his personal excellencies and worthiness to be embraced Men must be well satisfied both of his sufficiency that he is able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him and of his faithfulness that he will do it He that is not satisfied that 't is safe venturing upon Christ will never be perswaded to it There must be an approving and good liking of his whole way of Salvation of all that he hath done of all that he hath suffered of all that he demands and requires in order hereto And as they must be able to say He hath done all things well so must they say also concerning what he requires Good is the Word of the Lord. What doth the Lord require will he be trusted will he be loved will he be obeyed will he have me for his servant my estate my time my strength my body my soul to be all at his Service Good is the Word of the Lord it is but right it should be so it 's best thus to be his 2. Our consent to Christ notes our accepting him Approving is not all he may be approved and yet rejected video meliora proboque c. there are who approve the things that are excellent and yet will not embrace them Rom. 2.18 there must be an accepting of Christ as well as an approving There is An assent to a Proposition and A consent to a Proposal 1. There is an assent to a Proposition As to instance in that of the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.15 Christ came into the world to save Sinners There may be an assent to this that this is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation which is short of accepting 'T is one thing to say I believe and am perswaded in my heart that Christ is a Saviour of Sinners and is worthy of all acceptation and another thing to say I accept him 2. There is a consent to a Proposal Christ is not only declared in the Gospel to be the Saviour of Sinners that chosen one that mighty one upon whom their help is laid but there is an offer made of this Jesus unto Sinners who are all invited to look unto him to come unto him and be saved Matth. 11.28 and also assured that whosoever come unto him and believe in him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.6 In the Preaching the Gospel the Lord not only gives us this record concerning his Son that in him is Eternal life and that he that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh. 5.11 12. but withall makes this proposal to every Sinner wilt thou have this Jesus shall this Saviour be thy Saviour if thou wilt have him thou shalt Do not say now sure he is worth the having if redemption from death if everlasting life be worth the having then Christ is worth the having but say on wilt thou have him shall it be a match betwixt Christ and thy Soul shall he be thine and wilt thou be his Does thine heart say I will I accept I henceforth take him for mine own and will trust my self with him I put my life into his hands here my Soul shall pitch Upon this stone which is laid in Sion will I adventure all Does thine heart say to all this I will this is thy sincere consent to Christ provided that there be 3. A dedication and giving up the Soul to Christ. The matter that is to be consented to is not only that Christ be ours but that we be his Our consent that he should be ours is our taking him and our consent that we should be his is our giving our selves to him It is said of the Macedonian Christians 2 Cor. 8.5 they gave themselves to the Lord. This giving our selves to Christ hath in it the giving him The right of us The possession of us 1. The giving him the right of us He hath indeed a right to us already whether we give our selves to him or no he hath bought us and paid for us we are his by purchase 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Ye are not your own ye are bought with a price And yet though we be his already he expects that we give our selves to him he loves the claim by gift above that which comes only by purchase and therefore he requires Prov. 23.26 My Son give me thine heart Thou may'st say it is not mine to give what have I to give to the Lord All is his already I am his with all that I have The Father hath given all to the Son and he hath paid dear enough to purchase the Lordship of me Well though thou be his own already canst thou not say Take me then Lord take me as thine own 'T is more than rebellious Sinners will say though they be his by right yet they will rob him of his right and hold back his own from him They give themselves away from Christ to the Devil and to the World They might say to these when they demand give me thine heart it is not mine to give
3. That you may not fear the severities of Religion fear the severity of Christ against Irreligion Thou canst not bear the work of Righteousness but how wilt thou bear the wages of Unrighteousness if thou canst not be tied up so strait by the cords of his Discipline how wilt thou endure the chains of his indignation If the severities of his service be to thee a stumbling-stone the wrath of the Lamb will be a mill-stone if this stone fall upon thee it will grind thee to powder Matth. 21.44 Sinners let their tongues run at a wild rate I must have my ease I must have my liberty I was never in bondage and cannot now endure it to come under such a severe restraint But thou that professest thy self to be one of his Disciples wilt thou say as these say I cannot bear it I cannot endure it Canst thou burn what thinkest thou of the everlasting severity Consider what thou dost either submit to Christs Pastoral Rod or fall for ever under his Iron Rod wherewith he will crush thee to pieces like a Potters Vessel Why is this the case must I bow or burn must I come under his Government or be ground under his Milstones O I have done no more reasoning with flesh and blood no more picking quarrels with Religion whatever there be in it I dare not but submit to it all for fear a worse thing come unto me Well but wilt thou submit then wilt thou set thine heart to all his words wilt thou set thy Neck to all his works This is the third thing now I exhort you to follow after Severity and strictness in the wayes of the Lord which because it hath something more of asperity and roughness in it than those that follow there will be so much the more need of Fear to bring us to it 4. Simplicity Severity may be in Hypocrisie the Scribes and Pharisees were severe severe in their Fasts disfiguring their faces looking with sad and dejected countenances severe in the observation of the Rites Customs and Traditions of their Fathers yea and of the Letter of the Law of God there were very strict sects of them Act. 26.5 and yet they were Hypocrites Simplicity notes The Heart in our work Singleness of heart 1. Simplicity notes Heartiness in our Work nothing is plain and honest but that which is hearty doing the Will of God from the heart Ephes 6.6 Ye have obeyed from the heart Rom. 6.17 My Son give me thy heart Prov. 23.26 What is it to give God the heart This is one thing comprehended in it to give him the heart for a servant or to serve him with the heart He that gives God the heart gives him the best he hath and gives him all he hath the heart will command the tongue and the hands and the time and the Estate to be all at his service which way the heart goes all goes Serving the Lord with the heart is serving him in good earnest we do but play with duty we do but mock God where the heart is not 't is only serving him in spirit that is serving him in truth Friends be real and in good earnest in what you doe let all your Religion come deep let your Prayers and your Prayses and all the exercising your selves to Godliness of life be the streamings and issuings forth of your hearts to the Lord. Whatever you doe do it heartily as unto the Lord. Serve the Lord as you have been used to serve your flesh in good earnest What you have done for your Estates what you have done for your Names or for your safety you have done it heartily and shall that only which we do for God and for our Souls be done without an heart what is God what are our Souls and the concernments of them that they should be thus put off Is this heartless service all that God is worthy of will he accept it at our hands or is it no matter whether he accept it or no Is this spiritless service answerable to the worth of our Souls and the weight of Eternity will you venture all upon shadowes and lyes Are we but in Jest when we talk of a God or a Christ or a World to come Are our hopes and fears about hereafter but delusions and dreams Do you believe from the heart and dare you not obey from the heart How can you say you believe there is a God indeed that of a very truth there is such an Heaven and such an Hell in one of which your immortal Souls must dwell for ever how can you believe such things and not feel your very inwards even all the Powers of your Souls engaged about them Am I speaking to those that believe not is it not to you that believe that I now direct my words Consider friends The God in whom you believe is a Spirit and will be served in Spirit and in Truth God is a great God and infinitely worthy of the best and of all you have your Souls are precious eternal Life and eternal Death are serious things and which of these two will be your lott is a serious question and sure these most serious things do call for your most serious and hearty attendance upon them Away with all guile and hypocrisie provoke not the jealous God fool not away your Souls by trusting to lyes Worship God in the Spirit lift up your Souls in your Prayers chasten your Souls in your Fastings And as your Souls must be in your Lips in your Eyes in your Ears while you are solemnly worshipping of God so let your Hearts be in you Hands too in all that you have to doe Let your heart have an hand in all the actions of your lives Eccles 9.10 Whatever thine hand findeth to doe do it with thy might that is do it with all your heart the heart is the might of the man God is the strength of the heart and the heart is the strength of the man Sinners when they go forth upon service for the Devil they carry their heart in their hands Micah 7.3 They do evil with both hands earnestly Earnestly there 's the heart in their hands They do their worst that God will suffer them Thou hast done iniquity as thou couldest Jer. 3.5 as much as ever thou wert able As Sinners do their worst so let Christians do the best they can Whatever thou hast to do for thine own Soul by gathering in and treasuring up against the time to come do the most and the best thou canst be as hearty in laying up treasure in Heaven as ever thou hast been in laying up treasure on Earth Whatever service thou hast to do for God in thy generation by doing good to others do it with all thine heart In your instructing admonishing counselling reproving in your working righteousness in your shewing mercy in your promoting and encouraging any good work or preventing evil in your propagating serious Religion in your pulling poor sinners as
doth Lust lead but to Sin and whither doth Sin lead but to Death and to Hell Be not mistaken that 's the Lake that this whole Herd of Swine being driven by the Devil are running headlong into Friends this is the very case that the World is brought into it lyeth in Wickedness and runneth upon Vengeance And yet behold all at quiet all secure no news nor noise nor fear of danger but all in peace Dost thou not find Sinner that none of these things move thee or put thee to any trouble or care And is this sleepy Evil the Disease only of the World Are there none to be found in the Churches of God sick of the same Disease Is there that watchfulness that jealousie that should be upon those that profess themselves Christians and to have escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Do these Virgins alwayes stand with their Loins girded and their Lights burning Do not our Souls also lie open to the temptation is not our foot often taken in the snare What means the dimness of our Light the damp that is upon our Love the spots upon our Faces the clouds that we sometimes find upon all our Comforts What means our poverty and leanness our frequent decayes and backsliding How hath this World crowded in with so much of its Cares and Lusts and hath seated it self so near the Throne of God Are there no worldly Professors no covetous greedy Professors Is it a sign thou hast stood upon thy Guard that there are so many Thorns sprung up so many Thieves stollen in before thou wert aware Dost thou not see how thou art surprized daily and met with at every turn Dost thou not often confess this to the Lord and complain against thy self what an uneven unstable Soul thou art and how many and how great thy Falls and Corruptions are and hast thou not still abundant matter of the same Complaints to make Who would think 't were possible that such a soul should yet be secure and careless Hast thou catch'd so many a Fall for want of fear of falling how then canst thou but Fear And yet after all this after this sinning and falling and confessing and complaining how quickly is all forgotten and about the World again we go to our Businesses to our Recreations to this Company to that any whither whither our Hearts or Occasions lead us leaving our selves as open to every Temptation that meets us as if we had never suffered by it This Evil as 't is a common so it is a dreadful Evil there 's a Woe denounced against it Amos 6.1 Wo to them that are at ease in Zion To them that are at ease that is to th m that are secure as you have it in the Margin In Zion in the Church of God Woe to the secure Israelites to secure Professors there 's no Priviledg there 's no Profession that will secure the Secure from the Woe and Wrath of God 'T is a wretched thing to behold a secure Worldling secure Aliens and Strangers from God who know not the Judgments of God but to see a company of secure Israelites of secure Christians to whom it hath been said Awaken thou that sleepest stand up from the Dead save thy self from that misery that is coming upon the World this is indeed a woful and a wonderful thing Thou that hast been warned so often that hast been preached to and prayed over and hast been as a Brand pull'd out of the Burning and yet no more to dread the Fire thou that hast tasted of the bitterness of Sin and felt the smart of it and hast had thine Eyes opened to see what it is preparing for thee thou that canst talk sometimes of tenderness of watchfulness of care and heedfulness and of the constant necessity thereof art thou a secure careless Soul Wo be unto thee Vers 3. We have a particular Instance of one piece of this Security that put far away the evil day which because it hath an influence upon the maintaining of this whole Disease I shall enlarge a little upon it By the Evil Day understand the day of retribution or recompence whether it be the day of tribulation in this World or the day of Death and of Judgment There is a double putting this evil day afar off There is a putting it 1. Far from our Reins 2. Far from our Loyns 1. Far from our Reins That is from our Thoughts and Consideration as Jer. 12.2 Thou art near in their Mouth and far from their Reins Thou art much spoken of but little thought on Thus Men put the Evil Day far off when they do not think of such a day it 's out of sight and out of mind with them 't is the least of all their Thoughts that there is an evil day coming The thoughts of such a day would have the same effect as that cry that was made at the coming of the Bridegroom Matth. 25.6 At midnight there was a Cry made Behold the Bridegroom cometh and this cry turn'd Midnight into Morning all the Sleepers awakned and arose and trimmed their Lamps How is it Friends that there is not such a Cry made every Day and every Night How is it that your Hearts do not still cry in your Ears The Day of the Lord is near the Judg is at the Door the Avenger is at the Heels Behold the Bridegroom cometh O this seldom enters into our Hearts this Day of the Lord is far from our Reins If the Evil Day were kept nearer us 't would make Evil Works keep farther off If when Men are jolly and merry and mad after their Lusts and drunken into a dead sleep in their Sins If whilst others are idle and slothful are retchless and supine in their Spirits and Ways laying by all care and circumspection over themselves giving themselves up to the heedlesness of their sluggish hearts and hereby led out into those sins vanities which are the Fruits of such Security if such Thoughts should arise in their Minds and sit close upon their Hearts How shall I answer for this in the Day of the Lord Is not the Day of the Lord coming Is it not near May not the very next day be the Evil Day And if it should prove to be so indeed what a case am I in if my Judg should find me thus How would such Thoughts scatter away Iniquity and scare such drowsie Souls out of all their ease and slothfulness Friend consider thou knowest what a life 't is thou ordinarily livest Art not thou one of those that art at ease in Zion art not thou the Man that dwellest careless that art quiet and secure hast not thou left thy Soul like that City that hath neither Gates nor Bars is not that heart of thine left open Night and Day let the Tempter come when he will he may find easie entrance Is not thine heart open to Temptations yea and open
there can be nothing whether Good or Evil that can be hid from his Eyes If there be a God he is Almighty able to save and to destroy As his Eye will find out so by his Power he can revenge all ungodliness and wrong If there be a Judg one that is Holy Righteous All-seeing and Almighty if there be a Judg then there shall be a Judgment wherein every Man must give an account of himself and receive the reward of his doings whether they be good or evil Rom. 2.6 2 Cor. 5.10 'T is Mens Atheism that lies at the bottom of their Security in sinning The Devil would have found it hard work to have fill'd the World with so much wickedness if he had not first filled it with Atheists and Infidels Sinner how is it that thou darest be as thou art and live as thou dost How canst thou eat or drink or sleep for very fear Dost thou not see how much wickedness thou compassest thy self about withal What are thy Sins but so many Devils or worse and art not thou afraid of the Devil Whether thou art or no Remember that there is a God Can that Holy One but hate such a Beast as thou art Does not the All-seeing One see thee will not his Eye find thee out Will not the Almighty one be too strong for thee Art thou stronger than he and able to stand it out against him Is there not a Judg to sit upon thee before whose Bar thou must be brought forth to answer for all thine ungodliness Shall not the Judg of all the Earth do right Will he either destroy the Righteous with the wicked or will he spare the wicked with the Righteous There is a God Sinner there is a God believe and fear The belief of the very being of a God would make Sin to be feared But what will the belief of what God hath said The Word of God hath more plainly and fully declared beyond what might be gathered out of the bare notion of a God what the Sinners of the Earth must expect to receive from his hands Why what is it that the Lord hath spoken Search the Scriptures that 's a Book as to impenitent Sinners like Ezekiel's Roll Ezek. 2.10 Written all over with Lamentations Mourning and Wo. Herein is the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men Rom. 1.18 Who hath appointed a day wherein he will judg the World Acts 17.31 Who will appear in flaming Fire rendring vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power 2 Thess 1.8 9. Who shall be cast into the Lake of Fire Rev. 20.15 These and many more like words are written against Sinners in the Scriptures of God O were this Word believed that it is indeed the Word of God O were this God believed that he is not as Man that he should lye or as the Son of Man that he should repent but will certainly perform and do according to all things that are written in this Book This would make the stout-hearted to faint and the strong Sinner to bow down at his Feet But because of Mens unbelief therefore the Hearts of the Sons of Men are fully and fearlesly set in them to do evil O what Mettal are believing Sinners hearts made of What dost thou believe the Scriptures and yet not afraid to transgress Believest thou that God resists the Proud and yet does not thy Pride make thee afraid Believest thou that by thy lying and covetousness and oppression or but by thy vain life thy walking after the flesh and fulfilling the lusts thereof thou art treasuring up Wrath for thy self against the Day of Wrath and yet darest thou go on canst thou be quiet and secure Sure that heart of thine is a very stone within thee One would think it were not possible for such Sinners as believe the Scriptures but we should find them all fallen upon their Faces smiting upon their Thighs shivering and quaking for fear of the Wrath of God and the Judgment of the Great Day But canst thou hold up thine Head and keep on thy way and mock at Fear Sure either thy Belief is Unbelief thou believest not what thou thinkest thou dost or else thy heart is as the nether Milstone 3. Another Reason why Men Fear not is their Presumption As Mens Unbelief so some Mens Belief is the Reason why they do not Fear Presumption is Belief without a Bottom an House built upon the Sand a Spider's Web spun out of their own Hearts strong confidence founded on the weakness of a conceit or the belief of a lye This Presumption may be either 1. Of the goodness of Mens present State Or 2. Of the happiness of their future State what-ever their present State be 1. There is a Presumption of the goodness of their present State It is some Mens unhappiness that they believe themselves to be happy their great danger that they believe themselves to be out of danger Some Unbelievers and impenitent Sinners take themselves to be Believers and Converts to Christ some that are the Children of Hell believe themselves to be the Children of God This was the case of those Jews John 8.39 who said with great confidence Abraham is our Father we are the Children of Promise and vers 41. We have one Father even God What-ever thou accountest us we are the Children of God And this Confidence Men sometimes grow up unto upon little search or examining whether it be so or no. Nay it may be the Reason is their not examining at all how 't is with them Their case may be so extreamly bad and unsound that a very little search would break down all their confidence There are multitudes that are perswaded 't is well with them upon no other ground but because they cannot tell how bad 't is with them and therefore they understand not their misery and danger because they never search'd nor look'd into themselves nor ever spent a serious thought about the state of their Souls It is a wonderful thing that Men can so easily satisfie themselves in so great a case as multitudes do Let a Minister of Christ come to deal with such Persons let him go from House to House from Man to Man amongst the rude and ignorant Multitude how far may he go how many may he enquire of e're he meet with one that is so much as in doubt but all is well Let him ask How is it with your Soul what hope have you in God Why I doubt not but by the Grace of God my condition is good I hope in God all is well with me Let him go farther and ask But are you not mistaken are you sure you are not No I do not question but by the Grace of God my Soul is in a good condition Let him
yet enquire What ground and reason can you give of the hope that is in you and it may be all the answer that will be given amounts to no more than this I hope because I hope I am perswaded because I am perswaded my Mind gives me so mine Heart tells me so I can have no other thought but that it is well and shall be well with me There 's many a Man that 's like unto that Man pointed out Deut. 29.19 who though he heareth the words of God's Curse blesseth himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of mine own heart Though God speaks never a good word though the Scriptures speak never a good word of such though God curses such a Man yet his own heart blesses him Though God sayes to him Thou Fool thou Belial thou Infidel thou Child of the Devil yet not a word is heard from his own heart but an honest Man a good Christian and a Child of God There is sometimes to be found a poor trembling Christian whom the Devil sets a cursing himself when God doth bless him that calls himself Hypocrite Unbeliever a Cast-away and Reprobate from God though God calls him Beloved and highly favoured and so there is that blesses himself whom God hath cursed It 's vain to tell him Thus saith the Lord or to bid him search the Scriptures hearken to what the Lord God will speak or to say to him as Jehoshaphat to the King of Israel 1 Kings 22.7 enquire of the Prophet of the Lord. Doth God his Scriptures his Ministers speak any good concerning thee It 's vain to speak thus to him Thus saith mine heart is more with him than Thus saith the Lord. Thus my mind gives me is enough to make him dis-believe the God of Truth he will rather make God a lyar than not believe his lying heart Consider this Sinners whether this be not your case God sayes The Ignorant the Unbelievers Liars Swearers the evil Workers and Impenitent are the Children of the Devil and shall never inherit the Kingdom of God And yet thou though thou canst not say but that thou art ignorant impenitent an evil worker given up to thy hearts lusts and hardned in thy way wilt not be perswaded but thou art a Child of God God sayes thou art none of his and thou wilt still say thou art to his Face Just thus was it with those Jews afore-mentioned John 8.44 Christ tells them to their Faces Ye are of your Father the Devil and proves it to them for saith he The Lusts of your Father ye do and you are just like your Father he was a Murtherer from the beginning and a Liar and the Father of it and what else are you And yet behold the confidence of the Men No we are Abraham's Seed and the Children of God Sinner who-ever thou art that art doing the Lusts and working the Works of the Devil Christ speaks this very word to thee which he here spake to those Jews Thou art of thy Father the Devil If yet thou sayest I hope not God is my Father and I am his Child there is that Presumption that may keep thee from fearing till thou too late feel the Wrath of God seizing upon thee This Presumption that 't is so well with thee already that if it be possible I may make thee afraid of that which keeps thee from fear know for a certain it will endanger so to hold thee in thy wretched state that 't is never like to be better with thee than ' t is This is it which hardens thee against Counsels and Reproofs slights the tenders of Mercy and out-faces the terrors of the Lord this shuts up thine Ears and thine Heart against the word of Reconciliation and does non-plus all the importunities of the Ministers of the Gospel Let them bid thee believe thou art a Believer already Let them command thee to repent Thou hast done it let them warn thee to flie from the Wrath to come and this is all the Fruit thou tellest them thou art already passed from Death to Life The confidence that thou art well enough already is like to make the Preaching of Christ to be of none effect to thee And because this is such a brazen Wall as keeps Christ and Grace out of the Heart and resists and repels all those Arguments which the Word makes use of to perswade to Christ and Life I shall make some batteries upon it as I pass along The first step to Conversion is Conviction Conviction is Presumption broken down and the breaking in of that Fear which makes way for Faith There are in Conviction these three things 1. Illumination 2. Redargution 3. Consternation 1. Illumination the enlightning of the Mind the opening of Sinners eyes and making their Sin and the danger that it exposes to known unto them the convincing Spirit brings the Commandment before them by which is the knowledg of Sin Rom. 7.7 and vers 9. When the Commandment came Sin revived and appeared to be Sin and exceeding sinful vers 13. It could be no longer hid nor any longer be look'd on as a light thing but a very dreadful thing to be a Sinner the truth is we none of us know Sin as it is some Light hath broken in upon our Hearts but 't is but little in comparison and thereupon we can be venturous so far upon it and too easily go out with it and lick our selves whole when we have sinned but if we knew the Heart and the Tail of this Scorpion what malignity there is in it and what comes after 't would make us tremble and take heed When the Spirit of the Lord brings the Commandment to us and layes Sin by that 't will look with another face than now it does 2. Redargution The Spirit of God not only shews what Sin is and what a fearful thing it is to be under Sin but withal proves and demonstrates to Sinners what-ever their confidence hath been of the contrary that they are under Sin when the Commandment hath done its work to discover Sin and the evil of it then Conscience is brought forth to do its work to witness the Sinner guilty Hast thou not sinned let Conscience speak does not thine own Heart tell thee of thy Lying and of thy Swearing and of thy Coveting and of thy company-keeping and a World more of such evils that thou hast lived in And hast thou ever been purged from thy Sins hast thou repented and turned from thy evil Wayes thou knowest thou hast not thou art in love with Sin in a league with Sin and livest to this hour in the practice and under the power of it Is this the Man that hath been so confident of the goodness of his state whose heart hath blessed him and promised him that no evil shall befal him What a Sinner and yet at peace What an impenitent Sinner and yet so confident thou shalt have peace Thou must
the Heavenliness of Mind are all but a varnish The Leprosie that hath fretted and eaten into the Wall will break out through the Plaister wherewith it 's whited over It 's possible it 's true that others may be deceived in them also these Pictures may be so drawn to the Life that every one may take them to be living Souls and yet while they have a Name that they live they may be dead Rev. 3.1 Grace is Truth a real thing not a shadow or paint This Truth is in the inward parts originally Thou lovest Truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 thou lovest Truth not Shadows or Images but Realities thou lovest Truth in the inward parts inside Truth a true Heart a pure Conscience he is a Christian which is one inwardly Rom 2.29 Grace is Life the Life of God 't is called Ephes 4.18 It is a Vital Power that forms the Heart into the Image of God that spirits and acts the whole Man and that exerts and produces those Vital Operations which are according to God and resists and works out that corruption which is contrary to God Grace is a Law a Law in the Heart Jer. 31.33 that commands and governs both it and the Life contradicts and overcomes that evil Law the Law of Sin that wars in the Members Grace is the fixing of the Heart upon God the returning and coming back of the Soul from that vanity after which it had lusted and gone awhoring and the pitching of it upon him as the Center of all its Hopes Aims Desires and Motions It comes down from Above even from the Father of Lights and it fetches up the heart to him Grace is the healing of Nature our participation of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 a Principle of Holiness in the Heart which is the health of the Soul and whereby it purgeth it self of all that corruption wherewith it was leavened and infected and is reduced to that better Temperament from which by Sin it fell Grace is the establishment of the Heart in Good Heb. 13.9 the firmness of the Soul it s being wrought to a good consistency it does not leave the Soul hovering and wavering and hanging betwixt Good and Evil but unalterably though not perfectly settles it upon Holiness and Righteousness Though there be degrees in firmness some weaker Christians are but unstable Souls in comparison of those that are more deeply rooted and more strongly fixed upon God and Godliness yet the very weakest of real Christians are so unalterably fixed upon God and his holy Wayes that nothing in the World can so far change their Minds as wholly to bring them back but the main bent of their Hearts and Course is still for Holiness and Righteousness Now are there none among the Professors of Religion that know all this and much more yea and feel something within which they judg to be the Babe springing in the Womb the Life of God begotten in them the New Creature brought to the Birth and brought forth in whom all this is but a false Conception and proves an Abortion at last Brethren since there may be such mistakes either the taking that for Faith or Grace which is not so or the taking your selves to have it within you when it is not there many have been thus mistaken damnably mistaken have gone down to the Chambers of Death full of the hopes of Eternal Life since it may be thus beware that none of you be thus mistaken Beware of taking that for the Faith which will save your Souls which doth not save you from your Sins Beware of venturing your Lives upon the strongest perswasion that Christ is your Life especially while you find that Sin is not dead Beware of trusting to an out-side Christianity that dwells in the Head or upon the Tongue whilst the Flesh and the World still have the possession of the Heart Beware of trusting to that Godliness which hath somewhat touched and affected the Heart but is but slight and shallow and is not gotten deep into the Soul Beware of trusting to that for Godliness that is but a weak and feeble thing that hath no life nor power in it but is a dead thing that doth not put forth it self in Vital Operations that is over-top'd and held captive by the Law of your Members that is made use of to comfort you but is not suffered to govern you but is kept as an underling and made to stand aside and give place to the Pleasures and Inclinations of your Flesh that is laid up to help you in your need and till then laid by that it hinder you not in your Carnal Interests or Designs Take heed of counting that your Grace which leaves you under the power of your old depraved Natures Is not thy natural pride and haughtiness subdued Dost thou continue froward envious of a fleshly and earthly heart as thou wast used to be doth the old Stream run still or if it be at times bayed up doth it ordinarily break down the Bay and run its wonted course Fear that Grace that is thus overpowred by Nature Trust not to that for Grace which is a wavering in and out thing that hath no consistency in it but leaves thee a ductile sequacious Soul carried about hither and thither with every Wind and apt to be variously snap'd according to the several temptations or circumstances thou art in Some Mens Godliness keeps pace with the Times is upon the Wing or hangs the Wing according to the encouragement or discountenance of the dayes they live in If Religion hath gotten the Wind on its side then they go on prosperously and hang forth all their Sails and will as soon strike Sail when the Wind is contrary Some are Holy only in Affliction when they are low and in trouble when they are sick and in pain and like to die then O what complaining of Sin what pretendings to Repentance what breathings after Grace then Reading and Praying and Meditations and Discourses about the other World come in request but when they prosper again and are in health all their Religion is laid by and forgotten Others are Godly only when they are pleased and all goes smoothly on with them Every little gust of Affliction blows all their Grace off its legs Some Mens Religion is much according to what their Company is Who more zealous and savoury and lively when they fall in amongst the Zealous and yet at other times as flat and as carnal and as vain as others scarce a Thought or a Word of any thing that good is when it will disgust the Company If this be all the Religion thou hast take heed of venturing thy Soul upon it or of growing confident that this is Grace or Godliness And that which is Grace indeed that Truth in the Inward Parts that Life of God that new Law in the Heart that fixedness upon God that health and that firmness of the Soul in Good Beware you count not your selves to
have attained it before you have Be sure before you be confident whilst the case is doubtful suspect your selves whilst you hope the best fear the worst Put it out of doubt by searching more narrowly and a more diligent improving True Grace where 't is weak is hardly discernable the narrowest search will not do it What-ever Arguments there may be for there will be so many Objections against it that will darken the evidence of them The Confidence of a truly gracious Soul that is but weak may be a kind of Presumption though he doth not presume he hath what he hath not though he hath it indeed yet his Confidence that he hath it may be a kind of Presumption because the Evidence is not so clear that he can rationally bottom a peremptory conclusion upon it To conclude this matter Art thou perswaded that thou hast Faith and that there is a gracious saving change wrought upon thee Fear that thou mayest be mistaken and in this Fear search whether thou art mistaken or no lest thou also at last should be found and have thy portion with the Presumptuous and self-deceiving Souls But of this more in its place 2. There is a Presumption on future Mercy how bad soever Mens present condition be There are some self-condemned Persons the Die of whose Sins is so deep that it cannot be varnished over nor hid from their own eyes their Consciences pass Sentence upon them for Hypocrites and Ungodly and yet though they see they be stark naught abominable Branches reprobate Silver at present they are still without Fears but it shall be well with them hereafter Though their Consciences condemn them yet they hope God will justifie them Conscience charges them as God did those ungodly ones Psal 50.17 Thou batest Instruction and casteth the Word of the Lord behind thee when thou sawest a Thief thou consentedst to him and hast been partaker with the Adulterer Thou hast been a Thief an Adulterer a Lyar a Scoffer a Slanderer these things thou hast done Canst thou deny it Or as Jer. 2.23 How canst thou say I am not polluted How canst thou say I am not a Transgressor See thy way in the Valley trace thy Foot-steps consider the course of thy Life and see if all thy wayes do not speak thee a wicked Man But though Conscience charges them thus and they cannot deny the Charge but are forc'd to acknowledg all is true and to confess if there be ever a wicked Man in the World I am one if there be ever a vile Person in the Earth I am one if there be ever a graceless one under Heaven I am the Man yet though they know that they are wicked Ones and have no Grace at present they still presume they shall have Mercy at last God is a God of Pardons if he should be extream to mark Iniquities who then shall stand God is a merciful God for whom did Christ die but for Sinners Wo be to the World if God were no more merciful if Christ were no more gracious than Men speak This was the Confidence of those pointed at before Deut. 29.19 Who bless themselves in their Hearts saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine own heart and add drunkenness unto thirst Mich. 3.11 The heads of the People judg for Reward the Priests thereof teach for Hire the Prophets thereof divine for Money they build up Zion with Blood and build up Jerusalem with Iniquity Here were a wicked Generation Perverters of Judgment Covetous Oppressors Bloody Men. What could these Men think of themselves Could they be ignorant that they were abominable in the sight of God What hope can they have of themselves Yes they have hope yet they will lean upon the Lord yet they trust in God no evil shall come upon them This is a more common case than is imagined Men could not be so hardy nor so venturous upon a course of known Iniquity as we see them to be did they not maintain in their hearts a secret hope of Mercy yet I shall have Pardon yet I shall have Peace the Lord I trust will spare me notwithstanding all that I have done But let such Men consider that by this their hope of obtaining Mercy in a state of Sin 1. They make the Scriptures a lye 2. They make Christ to do the Work of the Devil 1. They make the Sciptures a lye Thou doubtest not but that thou shalt be saved But what art thou It may be thou art an ignorant Soul all this while one that knowest not God nor his Gospel But what sayes the Scriptures of such Look into Job 18.21 Surely such are the Dwellings of the Wicked this is the Place of him that knoweth not God Where is his Dwelling what is his Place Look back into the former verses vers 14 c. His Confidence shall be rooted out it shall bring him to the King of Terrors Brimstone shall be scattered upon his Habitation he shall be driven from Light to Darkness and chased out of the World This is the place of him that knoweth not God Thou sayest no this is not my place my Confidence shall never be rooted out it shall bring me to the King of Glory I shall go out of Darkness into Light I shall see the Salvation of God What dost thou herein say but Scripture thou lyest this is not my place this dark and dismal Habitation shall be none of my Dwelling I shall dwell with God in the Land of the Living It may be thou art one that walkest after the Flesh a Person of a carnal worldly Life a Drunkard an Epicure an Earth-worm given to thy pleasure and ease and mirth a vain Person yea and one of the most vile of the Earth and what saith the Scriptures of such Why look into Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die Colos 3.5 6. Mortifie therefore your Members which are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleanness inordinate Affections evil Concupiscence and Covetousness for which things sake the Wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience Rom. 2.8.9 Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth evil Psal 9.17 The Wicked shall be turned into Hell with all the Nations that forget God Thou art a wicked Man thou canst not say but thou art and yet thou art perswaded thou shalt to Heaven when thou diest What then dost thou make of the Scriptures dost thou not herein say 't is a lying Word there is no heed to be given to what it speaks Whilst the Saints build their hopes on the Truth what are thy hopes built upon but on a supposition of the falshood of the Scriptures And so this Word must prove the Word of that God that cannot lye must prove a false Word or thou wilt be damned for ever 2. They make Christ to do the Work of the Devil to help to fill the World with wickedness Whilst God sent Christ
to repent at last who wilt not now accept of it And thus you have the Grounds and Reasons why Men Fear not It is from their Ignorance Unbelief and Presumption III. The Grounds and Reasons why we should Fear These are such as follow 1. We have reason to Fear because of our Ignorance Mens Ignorance is the reason why they Fear not as before and yet it 's a great reason why they should Fear Who have so great reason to fear as the Blind Every Bush may be a Thief every Sheep may be a Wolf every Lamb may be a Lion for ought he sees to the contrary every step may be into the Ditch or into the Fire or into the Water where-ever he stands or sits or dwells he knows not who or what may be near him and have not such Men reason to Fear Particularly by reason of Ignorance 1. We know not our way 2. We know not the Dangers that are in our way 1. We know not our way John 12.35 He that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth Whither art thou bound Soul Thou art a Traveller but to what City to what Countrey art thou travelling O I am going to Canaan to the New Jerusalem I am travelling Heavenwards But dost thou know the way to that good Land Some of the most ignorant will answer as Christ said to his Disciples Wither I go I know and the way I know when the truth is they neither understand the one nor the other The way to God though it be a strait way and leads directly on by a line yet it 's hard to hit upon If I were to give but one general direction for finding the way to Heaven this should be it Take your first turning upon the right hand and then keep strait on without turning either to the right hand or to the left The way that thou art now going is to Hell but there is a turning on the right hand just before thee Repentance which is our turning out of the way of Death into the way of Life take that turning and then turn no more but keep strait on to the end of thy Life But as strait a way as the way of Life is it is not so easie to keep us in it There are many turnings out on either hand and at every Turning stands a Deceiver calling to Passengers as they go Turn in hither this is the way walk in it The Pharisee stands at one Turning and sayes This is the way The Law of Carnal Commandments the formal and superstitious observation of the Externals of Religion The Hypocritical Zealot stands at another and sayes This is the way The Spirituals of Religion believe in Christ love God and then live to thy self The Sectary of whatsoever Sect he be sayes Here is Christ this is the way of Life turn in hither be one of Us and thou shalt do well The Flesh stands and cries Hearken to none of these they are all blind Guides and will lead thee into their own Ditch come take this great and beaten Road in which thy Fore-fathers have gone before thee Follow the Wise Men and the Learned Men and those multitudes that thou seest going before thee Trust in the Mercy of God and trouble thy self no farther And the Devil stands at every one of these Turnings and if he can but perswade thee to take one of them it comes much alike to him which it be Now what shall a poor ignorant Soul do in this case to hit the right when there are so many false wayes He does not know the way himself and he is like to meet with so many false Guides how can he but Fear he may be misled and lost It fares with these Ignorant Souls as with the Hosts of the Syrians that were going to Dathan to slay Elisha 2 Kings 6.19 Elisha smites them with blindness and then leads them whithersoever he pleases Out he goes to them and tells them This is not the way neither is this the City come along with me and I will bring you to the Man whom you seek but he led them to Samaria This blind Host thought they had been right and going to Dathan but when their eyes were opened they saw themselves betrayed into Samaria into the hands of their Enemies Poor blind Soul thy hope is Heaven that 's thy journeys end thy Home to which thou sayest thou art travelling and thou perswadest thy self thou art in the way thither but for all this thou mayest be mistaken thou mayest be going to Samaria to Sodom to Hell and not to Heaven thou art in darkness and knowest not whither thou goest thou dost not know thy way how then canst thou but fear whether thou art in the right way or the wrong 2. By reason of Ignorance we know not the dangers in our way If we have some apprehension that the way is dangerous yet we know not in particular where the danger lies and so ere we are aware may fall into it Some young Travellers though they be told they be going a dangerous Road yet know not the dangerous Places nor the dangerous Persons that they fall upon a Thief starts up out of a Bush where they never suspected him and when he comes by his fair Language and Carriage they take him for a Friend and suspect not he comes upon any evil Intention till their loss too late teach them what he is What harm is there in such a vain fashion in such a questionable recreation in Cardings Dicings Dancings What harm is there in a little carnal Mirth or in vain and merry Company they be not Drunkards nor Swearers nor Adulterers there 's nothing amongst them but honest mirth and pleasantness what hurt is there in that why what harm is there in falling among Thieves what harm is there in being rob'd of all thou hast hast thou never been a loser by such friendly Thieves hast thou lost none of thy precious Time amongst them which thou couldst ill spare nay have they not stollen away thy heart It may be thou hast found thou wert of a better Spirit when thou camest amongst them thou hadst some sense and savour of God and Religion upon thine heart and some holy seriousness and tenderness and when thou returnest thou seest it's lost thou hast left all thy Religion behind thee Is this no harm when thou hadst been serv'd so once wouldst thou be content to be serv'd so again If thou hadst a cup of pleasant Wine before thee and one should tell thee Take heed there 's poison in the Cup wouldst thou say what harm is it if there be If one should meet thee in a Wood or a Desert and should offer thee Money or Pleasure or what-ever thou wilt if thou wilt be rul'd by him and do what he would have thee and a Friend should tell thee this may be the Devil that comes to truck with thee for thy Soul wouldst thou say what harm is it if it be
past in their self-reflections and reckonings 2. About matters present in their Judgments or Opinions of their present case 3. About matters to come or their Determinations and Resolutions for the future 1. Mens Hearts deceive them about matters past in their self-reflections and reckonings It may be sometimes an eye may be cast back upon what is past and such a word may be heard within Soul what hast thou done how hast thou lived all thy time hitherto what Evil hast thou done or what Good hast thou done The Heart presently makes its return and though it hath not the Conscience will make bold with the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.4 I know nothing by myself I know no hurt that I have done or it may be like those unfaithful Officers who bring in their presentment Omnia bene it will answer I have done all things well I have liv'd an harmless and an honest life The little good that hath been done looking on it by a false Glass it sees it double to what it is every Mite is a Shekle ever Shekle is a Talent here it will be sure to over-reckon And all the Evils that have been done for an hundred or a thousand it takes the Bill and writes down ten or it may be but one and that a little one and perhaps it buries them all in the land of forgetfulness As Sin had an Act for Toleration before so it must now have an Act of Oblivion And by this hiding of Sin it comes to pass that Repentance also is hid from Mens eyes No Man repented nor said what have I done Jer. 8.6 The not-saying what have I done much more the saying I have done nothing amiss will be a Bar against Repentance And that 's the usual issue of this falshood of the Heart about matters past it holds under Impenitence 2. Mens Hearts deceive them about Matters present or in their judgment of their present states What art thou a Child of God or a Child of the Devil a Believer or an Unbeliever a sound Believer or an Hypocrite Mens hearts will be civil with them and give them good language A Child of the Devil a Reprobate These are hard words that will not be born and shall not be uttered whether it speaks true or no it will be sure to speak good to them O a Child of God no doubt an honest and therefore an happy Man Though perhaps it neither knows what God is or what a Child of God means nor what the difference is betwixt the Children of God and the Children of the Devil A faithful Heart will be as I said before a self-suspecting Heart and such it should be The Word tells us there 's Chaff in the Floor as well as Wheat there are Tares in the Field as well as good Corn. Now when the question is put which is the Chaff who are the Tares Mens Hearts should answer as the Disciples did when Christ told them there was a Traytor among them Mat. 26.21 they all answered Lord is it I Lord is it I Men and Brethren there are Infidels among you there are Hypocrites among you If I should speak thus from the Lord to this Congregation this Question should run even through the whole Company Lord is it I am not I an Hypocrite am not I one of these Unbelievers But what do your Hearts say to you O I thank God it is not I I am none of them Hypocrites there are but my Soul is upright If a whole Congregation should be thus spoken to one by one may be some of the best among them that had least reason to suspect themselves would cry out Lord is it I I doubt I may be an Hypocrite I fear how it may be with me but for the most and possibly the very worst among them they would never stick to answer I am none of them I thank God I have an honest Heart and am upright before God Whence comes this now to pass Why that Heart of thine hath plaid the Devil with thee and deceived thee 3. About Matters to come If the case be so plain that the naughtiness of the Life past and the unsoundness of the present state cannot be hid then the Heart promises better things de futuro I 'le look better to it hereafter though I cannot at present yet after a while I mean to become a new Man stay but a while and I will be sober stay but a while and I mean to have done with this vain or worldly Life and to live in all things as becometh a Christian Thus it promises and its Promises must be taken If I turn at last 't will be well enough and turn I will shortly I mean no other and this must satisfie and be instead of present Repentance How much credit there is to be given to such a Promise the experience of many sufficiently tells But though it hath been a known Deceiver yet still it 's trusted You that profess Religion that own Christ and hold Communion with his Saints and are visibly walking in the way of Righteousness If you should be ask'd How long wilt thou hold this course wilt thou hold out to the end To day thou art with Christ but where wilt thou be tomorrow Now with the Disciples but wilt thou never go over to the Scribes and Pharisees Thou mayest feel the smart of Christianity thou mayest become a Reproach and made a Prey The Shepherds may be smitten and the Flocks may be scattered wilt thou not then forsake Christ and run over to the Tents of the Uncircumcised God forbid sayes the heart presently Turn from the Holy Commandment deny Christ No though I die with him I will never deny him I but there was one spake as much before you 't was the word of Peter's Heart Mat. 26.35 And yet you know what follow'd Consider him and fear how it may be with you 2. By what will our Hearts deceive us By any thing in the World there 's nothing comes a-miss to them but some evil use or other they can make of it either to intice to Sin or to harden against Repentance or to lay a-sleep in Security or to build us up in Presumption The Heart is such an Adversary that can fight at any Weapon such a Mountebank that can make its Composition of any Ingredients that can make a Poison of any Medicine some way or other it can make use of any thing to serve it in its deceiving work By what did Eve's Heart deceive her By an Apple By what did Achan's Heart deceive him By a Wedg of Gold By what did Sampson's Heart deceive him By a Whore By what was Esau deceived By a Mess of Pottage By what do poor Mens Hearts deceive them By their Want and Penury By what do rich Mens Hearts deceive them By their Abundance and Variety By what do evil Mens Hearts deceive them By their Lusts they are drawn aside and inticed By what do good Mens
to deal thus with me I dare trust it it is a plain and honest heart there 's no deceit or guile found in it Is there ever a one of you that dare say thus What complaints are there every-where heard against it even amongst the best of Christians But O what do Sinners hearts deceive them of What a price is there in Sinners hands if they had an heart to it There 's the Blessed Gospel before them exhibiting Christ and Pardon and Life to them they have the Scriptures before them they have Sabbaths and Ordinances amongst them but behold they can make nothing of them The Gospel is opened and yet it is hid from them Christ is preached but 't is not accepted by them they can live ander the preaching of the Word be conversant at Prayers Fasts Sacraments a whole Age together and get nothing by them they can dwell by the Wells of Salvation and get not one drop of Water live by the richest Mines and get not a dust of Silver walk in the Sun-beams and see never a gleam of Light come into the Store-houses and yet starve for want of Bread can get neither Grace nor Knowledg but remain blind and dead under all that Light that hath shined unto them But how is it Sinner that it 's thus with thee Whom hast thou to blame but thine own Heart This hath been telling thee either that thou hast no need of Christ or his Grace or that thou hast time enough before thee or else hath diverted thee from giving heed to the Word of Life by finding thee so much other work to do and hereby thou seest how it hath left thee It hath hitherto lost thee a Christ lost thee a Gospel lost thee Sabbaths and Ordinances and is just losing thee thy Soul This Heart is it that would not suffer thee when thou hast been commanded to accept of Christ or deliver thy self up to him Any else that comes to demand it thy Soul is presently delivered up Let Lust come and require Deliver up thy Soul to me Let thy Companions come and demand Deliver up thy self to us Let the World or let the Devil demand Deliver up thy Soul to me let me have the rule and the government of it and up thou resignest it presently any but Christ may have thee for asking Will the Men of Keilah deliver me up said David once 1 Sam. 23.11 Will they Lord or may I trust my self with them Trust them not sayes God they will deliver thee up Dost thou ask will mine Heart deliver me up deliver me up to Lust or to the World or the snares of the Devil or may I trust it Trust it not it will deliver thee up But to Christ it will not deliver thee up It will be telling thee that Christ is an austere Man and thou shalt find him an hard Master 't will shew thee the Yoke and the Cross How severe is his Government how short his Allowance how hard will be the usage thou must expect of him or for his sake And thereupon it will suggest how much it doth befriend thee in refusing to deliver thee up to him It will never tell thee of thy need of Christ of the gain that will come in by him thou must not be suffered so much as to think of that if thou turn aside at any time to commune with him or to look within the Vail where his Treasures lie it calls thee off presently or throws in the World its Cares or its pleasures upon thee to thrust out and turn thee aside from all such thoughts lest he should gain thy consent and good liking Thus thine Heart hath serv'd thee all thy dayes so that hitherto thou wilt none of Christ and thus 't is like to serve thee to the end of thy dayes till there be no Christ nor Mercy nor Salvation to be had for ever And thus have I given you a short hint of the deceitfulness of the Heart and is not such an Heart to be feared Is such an Heart to be trusted an Heart that will deceive you about every thing that you are concern'd to mind about matters past present and to come that will neither let you consider what you have done nor know what you are nor think what 's like to become of you herafter that will deceive you by every thing you have to do withal that can make every Relation every Companion every Condition every Comfort every Cross every Creature a Gin and a Trap to take your Souls that will deceive you of all that ever you have that like those Locusts and Caterpillars the Plagues of Egypt will not leave any green thing in you that will deceive you of your selves of your lives of that Christ of that Gospel which is all you have for Eternity that will lie at you every day every hour as Delilah at Sampson to betray you into the hands of the Philistines and cast you into the eternal Prison Have you such an Heart have every one of you such an Heart have you prov'd by so long experience what mischief it hath done you already and yet not afraid O Christians let us get more acquaintance with these Hearts of ours if we do not fear them 't is because we know them no better Let us observe them daily at their work what colours and fair pretences they have to palliate and lead unto Sin what shifts and excuses they make for the neglect of Duty what delayes and puttings off from the minding our necessary and most weighty concerns and what wiles and devices they have to lull us and hold us fast asleep whilst our opportunities of obtaining Mercy steal by us and are lost Know this Heart of thine more thorowly and then tell me if thou dost not fear it If there be an Absalom in the Court a Sheba in the City a Judas in the Company a Thief in the House is there not cause of fear Thou hast a Judas in thy Breast a Thief in thy Bosom thou hast not an Heart within thee if thou hast not a mortal Enemy that seeks thy life As I said before so I say again Study and observe your Hearts more believe the Truth of what hath been said or if you will not believe your Ears believe your own Eyes believe your Experiences and Observations if you have been so wise as to make any Observations upon your selves Indeed that 's the reason why we are so hard to believe our Hearts are so bad because we have no more observed them Have you observed have you considered how they have dealt with you Who is it that hath kept you back from Christ and short of the Grace of God or at least Who is it that hath kept you so low and so barren and such aa ill Steward of that Grace which you have received has not thine own Heart had the great hand in it Be not deceived it is the same Heart still and is like to take the
what Prayer is for how much there is depending on the faithful discharge of it and see if this doth not work such a Fear upon thine Heart as will both find thee time and keep thee waking When you go to hear the Word if you considered I am now hearing for my Life the Lord God hath brought me before him that he may tell me words whereby I may be saved the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven are now opening to me the most High comes down to shew me the Path of Life that Word that falls from the Preacher's Lips is the Word by which I must be saved and the Word by which I must be judged 't is the Everlasting Gospel I come now to hear which is all I have for Eternity I must stand or fall live or die according to the success of this Word upon me As this is the only Word of Life so this may be the only time of Life God knows whether this may not be the last Warning the last Instruction the last Tender of Grace and Mercy that I may have for ever whether my hearkning to or letting slip what I shall hear from the Lord this day be not that which must give the final determination of mine Everlasting State What would such thoughts did they sit close upon our Hearts when we come to hear the Word what would such thoughts work would they not command thee take heed how thou hearest give heed to the things thou hearest fear how thou let them slip Would a deaf Ear a wandring Eye a roving Imagination be then endured by thee Wouldst thou then suffer as ordinarily thou dost those wandring Birds to catch up the incorruptible Seed as it falls upon thee would it not send thee home with a trembling Heart at all such times when thou hast left all thou heardst behind thee Consider Friends where are you at this present what makes you here this day Let me reason with you a little before the Lord How is it that all your Spirits are not standing upon the Watch-Tower whilst the King of Glory passeth by How is it that all your Ears and Eyes and Hearts are not waiting for him why sit you here all the day idle Do you not understand what Work 't is you are upon O take heed to your selves Salvation and Damnation are before you and one of the two you are certainly working out Is it indifferent to you which of the two it be is it all one to please God or to provoke him to get you nearer or to put you farther off from the Kingdom of God What think you of such praying and such hearing as you content your selves with Will the living God be serv'd with such spiritless Duties Is Death your way to Life Are these dead and heartless Duties Is this dead praying and dull hearing that upon which you will venture your Souls Will you pray your selves into Hell While you have in your hands the Key of the Kingdom of Heaven will you lock the Door with it and shut your selves out Whilst others are swearing and lying and coveting and cursing themselves to Hell will you be hearing and praying your selves thither whither else will such dead Duties carry you certainly such blessing is as cursing such hearing is as hardning the Ears such praying is as blessing an Idol Will God regard Mockers Will God be served with Wind and Words O tremble fear lest you not only lose all your Duties but be irrecoverably lost by them Again what an influence would this Consideration have upon all the actions of your Life if you understood and were sensible that all that ever you do hath such a respect to your eternal state that according to it your final Sentence will be Where-ever you are what-ever you are doing you are serving God or the Devil you are working for Life or for Death There are no indifferent actions considered in individuo and with their Circumstances that make neither one way or other all our motions are either upward or downward Our Life is our Race and every Action of our Lives is a step backward or forward our going in or out of our way Nay onr very doing nothing is doing something if our ease or rest be idleness it 's serving the Devil if it be a refreshing for our Work it 's serving God We may be in a sense serving God when we be a-sleep and we may also by our sleep be serving the Flesh and the Devil We are ever either laying aside our Weights or laying on more Weight we are making us Wings or making us Chains helping our selves on or hindering us in our way We are in this World as Merchants trading for Eternity Our whole Life is a treasuring up good or evil for our selves against the last day We are alwayes either buying or selling buying the Truth of selling our Souls we are upon the Exchange every day and hour either changing better for worse or worse for better every inch of our time is our Talent to trade withal and we are still laying it out to our gain or our loss Our Lives are our Seed-time we are still sowing to the Harvest what we sow in Time we must reap in Eternity Our Eating and Drinking our Working and Playing our Talking and our Silence will one way or other spring up to our hands hereafter Do you understand this Friends Do you consider it O what manner of Persons should we then be what wary and circumspect Lives should we live Would not this if it were considered dam up that stream of Iniquity that runs down through all our course Would our covetous practices our fraudulent and unrighteous dealings would that lying and scoffing that self seeking and flesh-pleasing which take up so much of our time would this hold up the head against such a sense of the influence they must have upon our eternal State Should we then spend so much of our time in doing wickedly or doing nothing would it not find us other Work and work enough for our Time our Tongues and our Hands and our Heads and all our Powers But we do not consider or understand When you are walking in the vanity of your Minds after the Lusts of this World what do you use to think of this or do you think nothing of it I so 't is indeed you will not then think what you are doing but stand and pause awhile when you are serving your flesh can you think now I am serving the Lord now I am working out my Salvation now I am providing for my Soul and laying up against the time to come Dare you say now I am sowing for Eternity this is that which I would reap in the other World This Mirth and this Jollity this Pride and this Idleness this Laughter and these Lyes Let these and the Crop they will bring forth be my Harvest hereafter Would not the thoughts of such a Harvest make you dread such a Seed-time Or else can
you say The time that I spend thus I can spare from my Soul that care 's taken already Christ is sure Heaven is sure to me Now for the flesh and mine ease and my pleasure now for this present World I have done enough for that to come Or else will you say These dayes of my Vanity and Earthliness will I hope be left out of my Reckoning my Prayers and my Alms the good that I have done is so much that my evil Deeds and Dayes will be over look'd and past by But must not every Day must not every Work be brought to Judgment Doth not the Righteous and All-seeing God book down all Is not the Sin of Judah written as well as their Tears and Duties Is not every thing noted in his Book And must not all things that are written therein be read in that day Canst thou look on this and not fear continually every day 1 Pet. 1.17 If ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth according to every Man's Work pass the time of your sojourning here in Fear If you had to do with a God that would never call you to a Reckoning whether you serv'd him or not or how much or how little you serv'd him or whom else you serv'd besides him if you had to do only with such a God the matter were not then so much how you liv'd and spent your time But if ye call on the Father if you serve such a God who will reckon with every one of you and for every thing you have done you had need look better to it Pass the time the whole time of your Sojourning here in Fear Beloved if your own Souls were not so highly concern'd yet this Consideration That the Work of your Lives is to serve the Lord would work you to Fear If you were upon some Service for a Prince or a great Man of the Earth suppose it were but to make him a Garment would you not fear how you sullied it or bungled upon it Or if it were but to keep his Garden would you not fear how you let it run to ruine What is this God whom you serve Is he not a great God the King of all the Earth Is he not an Holy God and a Jealous God that looks to be sanctified and to be the Fear and the Dread of all those that serve him Isa 8.23 The Service of God is often exprest in Scripture by fearing of God Cornelius Acts 10.2 was said to be a Man fearing God that is the same as a Man that served the Lord And the Apostle exhorts Heb. 12.28 That we have Grace in our Hearts whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly Fear Thou servest the Lord but wouldst thou that thy Service be accepted with God Then serve him with Fear Therefore to the end to hold this Fear upon you I shall add this Counsel Through your whole course and all the parts of it carry this express Notion upon your Hearts That you are serving the Lord in all that you do Do all you do as the Servants of the Lord and look on every Duty as the serving of him What the Apostle requires of the Servants of Men is the Duty of every one of the Servants of God Col. 3.23 24. What-ever you do do it heartily as unto the Lord for ye serve the Lord Christ When you go to pray think with your selves this is a Duty which I ow to God I am going into my Closet upon a Service I have to do for God there When you give an Alms or when you teach or instruct your Families think with your selves these are Services which I have to perform not only to my poor Brethren to my ignorant Family but I ow them to the Lord and to him I will perform them I have a Service to do for God amongst the Poor I have a Service to do for God in my Family God hath bid me Feed the one and Teach the other and to whomsoever I do it I 'le do it as unto the Lord. And in like manner in all the matters of your Life in the ordering of your whole Conversation let this be still in your Eye and upon your Heart God hath sent me forth as his Servant into the World I have no business here but for the most High I am born for him I am fed I am clothed I live for him all that ever I have are the Talents of my Lotd committed to me to use and improve for him I am Debtor to no other I am Servant to none else what-ever goes out any other way this is no less than unfaithfulness to him whose I am and now I go bound for him for his pleasure I was made and to him I am devoted this Life of mine and every day of it and every breath of it I consecrate to the Lord his Servant I am and 't is no Work for me that I cannot call serving the Lord. What would such a Sentiment upon the Heart bring forth What care yea what watchfulness yea what fear would it produce What shall I serve the Lord with that which cost me nothing Shall cheap-Service and easie-Service and lazy-Service and eye-Service be all that the Lord God shall have of me I dare not serve my Governour so and how will my God take it But what shall I divide my Service betwixt the Lord and any other Master shall my Flesh be serv'd shall my Pride be serv'd shall my Covetousness shall Men be serv'd shall this Heart or this Time or this Estate be divided betwixt the Lord and them How if the Lord find me in another Field in another House or upon other Work than whither he sent and appointed me How if he find any of his Talents wasted his Goods conveyed away to another Master how will he bear it Yea how shall I bear it Art thou not afraid O my Soul how this will be born and what a Reckoning thou mayest be brought to for it O let me fear to be such an evil Servant that I may not fear the evil Servant's doom let me continually fear every day that I may prevent the fear of the Reckoning-Day Such a standing Impression would this Notion of our being engaged in Service for God kept constantly upon the Heart produce This Notion mingled with all our Thoughts Duties and Wayes and the Holy Fear it will bring forth will not only hold us to constant Service but will put us upon the highest and best Service What is the Lord whom I serve Is he not one who looks for all I have and is he not worthy of all I have What an honour is it to be the Servant of God and what a terror to be none of that number He is the best Master he is worthy he is worthy of the very best I have Fear and be ashamed O my Soul to put him off with any thing that is not worthy of him What will an
but can I be too busie a too zealous for the Living God Can I say of my best this is too much Can I say of any thing less than my best this is enough 'T is the Lord God whom thou servest fear to be unworthy This is the advantage of our carrying this thought upon our Hearts I serve the Lord it will put us upon the best and highest Service Give me leave to add another Advantage though not of so proper consideration here This thought whilst it provokes us to the highest will yet comfort us touching the least and meanest of all our Services Some poor weak Christians are apt to discourage themselves in all they do from this that it is so very low and little that they do I am a poor Creature 't is but little that I have to serve the Lord withal I am ignorant and of weak understanding I have not the Parts nor Gifts that others have I might possibly serve the Lord better were it not for this Fear which is upon me I am afraid to speak of God or of the Things of God I am of slow Speech and rude Language I cannot express my self to any purpose I am ashamed of my teaching my Family of my praying in my Family I do it so brokenly and confusedly that I fear I do more hurt than good in it I but poor Man as weak as thou art and as weakly as thou dost what thou dost if thou do what thou canst This is serving the Lord and whether it be little or much if thou canst but truly say This is serving the Lord thou mayst be comforted in it If Sinners considered that their little Sins were serving the Devil 't would make them afraid of the very least transgression Some Sinners are not so great Sinners as others they are not guilty of those higher and more notorious Crimes that some others are and this quiets them and keeps off Fear from them Thou art no Drunkard thou sayest nor no Adulterer nor no Blasphemer I but dost thou not live a carnal vain careless earthly Life and is not this serving the Devil Though thou dost not serve the Devil in the Ale-house or the Whore-house though thou dost not serve the Devil with Oaths and Curses and Blasphemies yet is it not the Devil still thou servest Thou servest thy Covetousness thou servest thy Pride and thy sensual Appetite thou neglectest Christ and thy Soul and is not this serving the Devil Such a thought upon the most harmless of Sinners Hearts yet I serve the Devil would make him afraid Is it a light thing to serve the Devil Though I be not numbred among the chief of Sinners though there be others worse than I yet am not I under the same Master Though I be among the hindermost of the Company yet am not I one of them This Life I live is no serving God and therefore 't is doubtless the serving of the Devil Take heed O my Soul If the Devil can but hold thee 't will be all one whether it be by greater or smaller Cords the Devil is dragging thee to Hell and so he can but get the thither at last it will be upon the matter all one to him whether it be by greater or lesser Sins Though he can't perswade thee to ride post into the Pit yet if he can but toll thee in that shall suffice him though it be but by a slower pace Now as such a thought I serve the Devil would afright the least of Sinners so will such a thought I serve the Lord comfort the least of Saints But this by the way 4. Another Reason why we should Fear is because of the great Treasure we carry about with us whither-ever we go Christians are Travellers and they travel with charge about them This World is a dangerous World the Passengers through it are in danger of falling among Thieves which will spoil and rob them of their Treasure A Christian carries more Riches about him than the whole World is worth He hath the whole Gospel within him he hath the two Tables of the Covenant his Heart is the Ark in which they are laid up He hath Christ in him the Fruits of his Blood his Pardon and Reconciliation the graces and comforts of his Spirit his evidences for Heaven all the Records of the gracious Transactions betwixt God and his Soul the Pawns and Pledges of Divine Love the King's Broad-Seal and the Earnest for Glory all the Income of his Faith the Returns of his Prayers all that he hath gotten all the Manna he hath gathered the Hidden Manna the White Stone with the New Name he carries all his Riches up and down with him whither-ever he travels Hast thou any Divine Light in thine Heart any love for Christ any zeal for God and his Gospel any Tokens of his Love or Tenderness of his Honour Is there Peace or Joy or Hope within thee All this thou art in danger of being rob'd and spoil'd of This is the Design that Satan hath upon thee this is the Errand of every Worldly Lust of every Temptation every Companion every Carnal Relation every Change of Condition every Carnal Pleasure all thy Earthly Possessions the Devil hath set them in ambush and they lie in wait for thee to rifle thee and spoil thee of all that ever thou art worth Hast thou never fallen amongst these Thieves and suffered great loss by them Hast thou been rob'd and art thou not afraid thou mayest again Will not thy loss make thee more wise and wary How many Instances have there been of secure and unwary Christians who whilst they have been venturous upon Temptations have trusted themselves amongst their vain Companions indulged themselves a more free and jolly and easie a more remiss and flesh pleasing Life or a more busie drudgery for this VVorld have as to their sense at least lost all they had for the other VVorld VVho when they have come a little to themselves fall a mourning out Naomi's bitter Song Ruth 1.20 Call me no more Naomi but call me Marah I went out full but I returned empty Whilst mine Heart was tender and mine Eye jealous whilst I kept my watch and kept my distance from this World and its Temptations O what Light Love Peace Joy did then shine upon and possess my Heart then I had a God whom I could call mine own then I had a Jesus and could lean upon my Beloved then I could believe love serve delight in enjoy and praise the Lord. But wo wo to me how is it now Whilst I allowed my self a little more boldness with this Flesh and this World I have even lost all ere I was aware I am fallen among Thieves and what have they left me O mine Ease my Pleasures my Money my Lands which I have turned aside to how have you served me Whilst I have been loving and following and serving you how have you rewarded me Ah me they have taken away my
flesh can do to hinder thee can prevail thou wilt never be converted Consider here two things 1. Thy Flesh is against it 2. Thy Flesh hath great power with thee 1. Thy flesh is against thy Conversion Rom. 8.7 The Carnal Mind is enmity against God It is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Particularly 1. The Interest of the Flesh is against it 2. The Inclinations of the Flesh are against it 1. The Interest of the Flesh is against thy Conversion By the Flesh I mean corrupt Nature called often Flesh in Scripture Our carnal Minds the Will of the Flesh our fleshly Desires and Dispositions and all the Lusts of it This Flesh is concerned against God and the Lord Jesus Christ Christ comes to Crucifie the Flesh Rom. 6.6 1 John 3.8 For this cause the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil No more Gluttony no more Drunkenness no more pleasing our Eyes or our Throats or our Appetites Christ will have Lust starv'd and no longer pampered Christ will allow Necessaries but his way is to keep the Flesh low he will allow good Bread and Bread enough but often 't is but coarse and such as Lust will never be contented with nor ever prosper by Hereupon the Flesh is concerned against Christ to resist him and to do what-ever it can to keep him out Who comes there sayes the Flesh when Christ knocks Who is it that calls after thee To whom art thou joyning thy self What to Christ Wilt thou hearken to him then farewel all No more Mirth and Pleasure no more Ease or Jollity no more Credit or Gain Look to thy self all 's a going and will be gone if Christ once sets footing in thee Christ tells me saith the fleshly Heart I shall find favour with God I shall obtain the pardon of my Sins and all the good things of the other World if I will hearken to him But who will keep me alive in this World I must have Money and Meat and Drink and Credit and Friends or else I am like to have but a poor Life of it here The blessings of the other World will never help me to live and prosper in this World I can't feed my self nor cloth my self nor provide for my Family with the promises and hopes of good things to come and God knows how little else Christianity will leave me I am like to be but a poor hunger-bitten melancholick forsaken Soul if I hearken to Christ Away saith the Flesh no more treaty about any such thing which doth so evidently tend to thy prejudice and undoing 2. The Inclinations of the Flesh are against it The Flesh hangs towards Earth and Sin and is contrary to God and Holiness Rom. 8.5 Those that are after the Flesh do mind or savour the things of the Flesh and so do hang back from things Spiritual and Heavenly What is this way of Life that Christ calls me to It 's quite contrary to me my very Nature disgusts it my temper and genius is against it I was never acquainted with nor accustomed to such a way and I cannot abide it This preciseness and this scrupulosity and tenderness I have more mind to laugh at it than submit to it It even turns my Stomach to see the folly of it in others and I hate to be such a fool my self I should be glad of the Salvation of Christ but sure I shall never endure his Discipline I am willing to save what I have and to make the best of what 's before me and that I am sure Christ will never suffer me and therefore run after him who will he must have me excused Dost thou know O vain Man what 't is to swim against the Stream and dost thou not feel thine inward Stream running against Holiness and serious Christianity O when art thou like to come to it Art thou not yet afraid it may never be especially when thou considerest That 2. The Flesh hath great power with thee In Sinners the Flesh is the great governing Principle it bears rule in the whole Man 'T is their Lord and their Law and hence they are called the Servants of Sin Joh. 8.34 and said to live after the Flesh Rom. 8.13 What-ever wickedness is done by them it is the Flesh that commands them to it When-ever the Heart works to Envy or works to Wrath or to Pride or to Covetousness 't is the Flesh that sets it thus on work It is no more I that do it but Sin that dwells in me Rom. 7.17 And what-ever good Works are hindred 't is the Flesh that hinders them Rom. 7.19 I find a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me so that the good that I would I do not 'T is said of the Regenerate much more true is it of Sinners Bid a Sinner Repent alas he cannot bid him Pray he cannot Pray Bid him turn to Christ and trust in Christ and follow him alas poor Man he cannot his Flesh is against it and hath such a rule over him that he cannot resist it The Devil rules without and the Flesh rules within and who can act against two such potent Rulers By the way Sinners are in a poor case the while that are under two such potent Governours the Devil and Sin How is it possible O Sinners you should be so secure when the Devil is your King and hath set up that young Devil Sin to be his Viceroy If you saw a poor Man cast into a Den and there committed to the custody of a Lion and his Whelp would it not pity your Heart to think in what a case that poor Man were betwixt two such Keepers Sinner Sinner Look to thy self Behold the Lion and his Whelp thy Soul is in a more dreadful case under the command of Sin and of the Devil than thy Carcase would be under the Paw of those Ravenous Beasts Save thy self from these Murtherers 3. If all that the World can do to hinder Sinners Conversion will do it they will never be Converted The World is against it the evil Men of the World I here mean they are all against the Conversion of Sinners Particularly 1. The Spirit of the World is against it 2. The Examples of the World are against it 1. The Spirit of the World is against it The whole World is of the same Spirit which the Scribes and Pharisees are said to be of Mat. 23.13 They shut up the Kingdom of God against Men and neither will enter in themselves nor suffer those that are entring to go in They are all of another Kingdom and thereby Parties against Christ and his Kingdom they are for making Proselites but 't is for Hell not for Heaven This Spirit of the World is a Spirit of Envy and Hatred against Christ and his Followers Joh. 15.19 And this evil and envious Spirit is that which vents it self in those Scoffs Reproaches and Persecutions which they let fly
of Christ may be right in your Eyes and yet your Hearts not be upright in his Eyes You may be perswaded in your Hearts concerning the Way of Godliness that this is the Good Way that this is the Right Way and an Excellent Way that the Life of a Christian led according to the Rules of the Gospel is an Excellent Life Rom. 2.18 Thou knowest his Will and approvest the things that are more Excellent And to this good Opinion Men may be wrought 1. From the Self-evidencing Light of that Holy Doctrine which prescribes and requires Godliness 2. From the convincing Lives of the Sincere Professors of Godliness 3. From the Self-condemnation that is to be observed in all other wayes 1. From the Self-evidencing Light of the Doctrine of Godliness The Doctrine of Christianity proves it self to be of God by that Divine Light that shines forth in it there is a stamp of Divinity imprinted upon it Is God an Holy God So is this Doctrine an Holy Doctrine Is God a Merciful and Gracious God So is this Doctrine a Doctrine of Mercy a Doctrine of Grace there is Grace and Mercy runs through the whole Body of it nay they are the very Soul and Life of it Is God a God of Wisdom The Doctrine of Christianity is the Wisdom of God in a Mystery Is God a God of Truth and of Righteousness Such is the Doctrine of the Gospel that not only is according to Truth and reveals the Righteousness of God but requires Truth and imposes Righteousness upon all that will embrace it What is more contrary to this Word of Truth than a Lye or than Hypocrisie and Guile What is more contrary to this Word of Righteousness than Unrighteousness Doth the Word of the Gospel allow any Iniquity Is there any guile found in it or any toleration whereof in its Professors Doth it not command all Righteousness and condemn all Unrighteousness even while it justifies the Sinner it condemns the Sin This Religion is pure Religion and undefiled before God Jam. 1.25 Teaching us that denying all ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live righteously soberly and godly in this present World Tit. 2.13 14. Now he that knows that God is an Holy and Wise God a God of Grace of Truth and of Righteousness and does but understand the Scriptures may without any great difficulty be led into a good opinion of that Godliness which is there held forth and required 2. From the Convincing Lives of the Sincere Professors of Christianity I do not say from the Lives of all Professors some Professors of Christianity there are who are not Christians Some such there are amongst Professors who are disorderly walkers whose Wayes are so evidently contrary to their Profession as if the Devil had led them into their Christianity on purpose to disgrace the Gospel and 't is like enough 't was his doing indeed to make Professors of them This Tempter may tempt Men into Religion as far as may sewe his own ends and Mens Lusts may make them Disciples Such I mean who while they pretend to the Spirit do walk after the Flesh who hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness Rom. 1.18 who are proud self-conceited self-willed heady giddy wandring and unstable Souls like crooked Lines that in some points touch with the Rule but for the most part do swerve from it on this hand and on that Who are scrupulous about some smaller Matters which they fancy to have an appearance of evil and yet allow themselves in apparent Evils straining at a Gnat and swallowing a Camel insisting much on some Circumstances and neglecting the weightier Matters of the Law like those Mat. 23.23 24. 'T is but little that Godliness is beholden for the good Opinion it hath obtained to such as these But to the sincere and single-hearted Professors whose Lives are a Copy or Pattern of wholsom Doctrine holding forth the Word of Life exemplifying the Holy Rules laid down in Scripture and shewing forth the Vertues of Christ before the World Who are in the World as he was in the World who live by Faith and walk in Love being humble meek peaceable merciful temperate true righteous and holy in all manner of Conversation These are the Persons whose Lives do commend Godliness to the World and force their very Hearts many of them to acknowledg Sure this is the Way of God that these Men walk it cannot be but God is in them of a very truth sure these are the Servants of the Living God this is Religion indeed if there be any way of Life this is the way It 's true this way is every-where spoken against by the malicious but the more like to be of God for that So 't was in the Apostles dayes Acts 28.22 As for this Sect we know it is every-where spoken against Mark it Christianity was counted by the malicious but a Sect or a Faction and Christians but Sectaries so they were counted and called about 1600 years ago and therefore 't is no disparagement if they be counted so still But sayes the considering Sinner let them be called what Men please Sectaries Seducers Hypocrites or what else malice can invent yet as it was said of Christ John 10.21 These are not the words of him that hath a Devil so it may be said of his Followers Call them what you will yet these are not the Lives of Schismaticks or Hypocrites these Men are the Servants of the most High God and their way is the way of Life 3. From the Self-condemnation that all other wayes carry in them If this be not the way of Life there 's none if these be not the Servants of God there are none such in the World For where are they else to be found Are the Ignorant and the Earthly and the Irreligious are these the Religious Are the Carnal and the Formal and the out-side Worshippers that will give Christ the Cap and the Knee and yet can Drink and Riot and Swear and Scoff are these the sincere Worshippers of God This must be the Good Way or which else can it with any tolerable probability be imagined to be Surely if this be not it we must even all count to be damn'd for there is no other that so much as looks like the Path of Life The Atheist must say I am not in the way to God this Fool hath said in his Heart There is no God The Pope with his Doctrine must say I am not the Way I am Antichrist 't is Christ only that brings us to God Formality must say I am not the Way for God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth John 4.24 Profaneness must say I am not the Way to God I am the Way of Death and my steps lead down to Hell If there be any Way of Death in the World profaneness is it Drunkards and Swearers and Revellers and Rioters if their Consciences may but have the priviledg of their
Tongues will tell you we are all out of the Way we must take another course than the Devil and our Lusts will yet suffer us or else wo to us that ever we were born We would be loth to die in the Way we live in we must turn a new Leaf or we are undone These do not so much as pretend to be in the Way of Life Well thus far now a Sinner may come by beholding the Self-evidencing Light that is in the Doctrine of Godliness the convincing Lives of the Sincere Professors thereof the Self-condemnation that is in all other Wayes he may be led into a good Opinion of Sincere-Godliness And this Good Opinion is but a little ground gotten towards it It is not Godliness to think well of it 3. Sinners good Opinion of Godliness may beget good Inclinations towards it and good wishes after it Happy are those Souls that are in Christ who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit O that my Soul were among them I could even find in mine Heart to be one of his Disciples I am in a strait between two as the Apostle said in another case Phil. 1.21 and what I shall chuse I wot not fain I would be a Christian in earnest I see it would be best for me to be so and O that I were But on the other side how shall I bear the Labours and Sufferings of that way What shall I do what shall I chuse I would be a Disciple of Christ but I am afraid what may come of it 4. Sinners good Opinions and good Inclinations may bring forth some ineffectual Attempts and Endeavours they may set forth after Christ their enlightned Minds may set their Hearts upon them and cause them to fall a reasoning thus with themselves If this be the good way why should not I walk in it Is a Godly Life such an Excellent Life can I approve it in others can I pronounce them blessed who so live Come my Soul put in for a part in Christ resolve once what thou wilt do stay not in these Uncertainties hang no longer betwixt Heaven and Hell speak the word once Wilt thou be for Christ Shall the Sincere Christians God be my God their Hope 's my Hopes their Life my Life Shall I cast in my Lot among them and take up my Lot with theirs Come along venture after the Lamb venture for the Blessedness to come set to Praying set to Hearing give thy self to the study and practice of that blessed course which thou knowest will have its Fruit unto Holiness and its end Everlasting Life And yet after all this little or nothing may be done These now are fair Preparations to Grace but this is not Grace Conviction is not Conversion the approving and liking and wishing for and making some ineffectual Attempts and Offers at Godliness this is not chusing and embracing it 2. There are Images of Grace which are not Grace There is a form of Godliness which is not Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 An Image is not the same an Image of a Man is not a Man the Image of a Christian is not a Christian The Image of Christ is a Christian but the Image of a Christian is no Christian as great a likeness as there is yet there is as great a difference also as betwixt Living and Dead There is something like Faith which is not Faith something like Repentance which is not Repentance something like the New Man and is not it but the Old Man new dressed up and so like it may be in Complexion in Language in Carriage that it is often taken to be the same The Pangs of Travel may bring forth but when all comes to all it may be but a dead Child there may be all the Parts the Head the Eyes the Hands and every Limb but no Life and yet when it is but newly brought forth it may be hard to discern whether it be alive or dead so difficult is it to discern between Common and Special Grace so many Counterfeits have there been found which have both been Deceivers and deceived as is enough to make the Hearts of many Christians indeed to shake 3. There are some Properties of Gracious Persons which are no certain Evidences of Grace but may be found also in Hypocrites Nothing can evidence the Truth of Grace but that which is so adaequately proper to Saints that it cannot be found in an Hypocrite What-ever maybe found in an Hypocrite can never certainly prove me to be no Hypocrite Assuring Marks must be distiguishing Marks such as separate betwixt the Precious and the Vile and nothing can distinguish the Sound from the Unsound but that which the Unsound cannot attain As 't is said of some Sinners Deut. 32.5 Their Spot is not the Spot of his Children So may it be said of all Saints Their Grace is not the Grace of his Enemies and we can never come to give a clear and comfortable Judgment of our selves till we find something in us which is not to be found in any Hypocrites in the World But some Properties there are of Sincere Christians which may be found in Hypocrites which yet some Divines have some-what unwarily made use of and proposed for Peoples Tryal of their States Indeed it is much to be wished that we were more exact and cautelous in this Matter than many of us are at this day Though good use may be made of probable Evidences yet should we declare to our People which are but probable Marks and which are certainly concluding Of those Properties of Christians which some Divines have formerly given as Marks of Sincerity I shall mention three 1. Prayer 2. Hearing the Word 3. Reforming the Life 1. Prayer This is a property of a Sincere Christian He is praying Person Behold be prayeth 't was said of Paul when he was a young Convert Acts 9.11 The whole Generation of the Saints are called Psal 24.6 a Generation of Seekers This is the Generation of them that seek thee But are there no praying Hypocrites as well as praying Believers See Mat. 6. Will he alwayes call upon God saith Job Chap. 27.10 But though he will not pray alwayes yet will he never pray 2. Hearing the Word This also is the property of Christians they are Hearers of the Word Joh. 10.27 My Sheep hear my Voice 3. Reforming the Life 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you that is Drunkards Revilers Covetous Fornicators c. but ye are washed Ye are now reformed Persons and are there no reformed Hypocrites Every Reformation is not Sanctification 'T is a good sight to see Men that once lived like Heathens and never called upon God to set upon a course of serious Prayer 'T is a good sight to behold others that not only neglected the Word but mocked at and persecuted those that heard it to be now become constant Hearers themselves 'T is a good sight and a comfortable to behold those that were once loose livers
fright thee out of the Fold but to fright thee into a Sheep I shall do thee no harm if I can fright thee to Heaven 2. What 's one Man's Meat may be another Man's Poison and what 's one Man's Poison may be another Man 's necessary Meat All Christians are not of a like Spirit and what 's poison for some may be proper for others Same poor broken melancholick Souls are all fears and must have Comforts preached unto them others are secure confident and yet careless Ones and these have asmuch need of terror Comforts preached to the doubting and distressed Ones may be poison to the secure and careless and yet for the sake of the distressed they must be preached and terror preached to the secure may be poison to the distressed and yet they must be preached for the securers sakes The Ministers of the Gospel must be good Stewards giving to every one their Portion Luk. 12.42 Comfort to whom comfort belongeth and fear to whom fear On some have compassion making a difference others save with fear Jude 22 23. And as Ministers must give so People must take every one their own Portions as Ministers must divide so People must apply the Word of God aright Let every Man take his own Portion and not be catching at that which is another's There is too great an aptness in the distressed to lay hold on those words that are spoken to the secure if there be ever an afrighting word in a whole Sermon that 's my Portion saith the Distressed this Word belongs to me and so the secure are too ready to lay hold on those healing and comforting words which belong to the broken and distressed both these Evils must be heedfully avoided but whether People will apply the Word of God aright or no there 's no help for it but Ministers must divide it aright and give to every one their Portion 3. There is an awaking fear that quickens to our Duty and prepares for comfort and this will lightly hurt no Body and there is a disquieting and discouraging fear that disheartens to Duty and deprives of Comfort and this will do no Body any good 4. This Fear I am preaching to you will lead you to the better and surer hope These Doubtings will be of great use to put us in the way of getting above our Doubts As there is a Confidence which will end in terror so there are Fears and Doubtings the Fruit whereof will be Quietness and Assurance for ever This will more fully appear in the next Particular wherein I am to shew 2. How this Fear will work towards a farther search Hitherto I have been endeavouring to work this Fear upon Professors Hearts concerning their States and now I shall shew how this Fear will work The Fear lest our Souls should be yet unsafe will 1. Put hard to come to a certainty And to this end will 2. Put us close upon a more narrow search 3. Put in Objections in order to the making all clear and plain 1. It will put hard to come to a certainty nothing short will satisfie it Fear hath pain in it the fearing Christian is in pain till his Doubts be resolved and this pain will press him to make sure He will be thankful for Probabilities and will make the most of them as a drowning Man will catch at every Twig that may keep his Head above Water till he can get better hold A Christian that Fears will not make nothing of Probabilities nor yet will take up with them instead of Certainties The Confident Sinner will venture all upon conjecture if his Heart do but speak him fair and tell him he is safe that shall satisfie him 'T is an amazing thing to consider what broken Reeds Fools do stay themselves upon Fear will make all as sure as it can And there is some hope in that that we ae bent upon making sure He that will not rest in uncertainties is in the fairer way to come to a certainty 2. Fear will put us on close upon the narrowest search It will not take up with Reports or Opinions but will search the Records whence it may be like to get satisfactions And there are two Books of Records that will be enquired after and look'd into the Book of the Scriptures and the Book of Conscience In one the Book of the Scriptures it will examine what are the plainest and most certain Marks of Sincerity when it hath found a Mark it will enquire May not this be also in an Hypocrite and will not pitch on any thing but that which cannot be found in any Hypocrite in the World Then it enquires into Conscience and compares the two Books together The word tells me He that is in Christ is a new-Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 He that is born of God is a Believer 1 John 5.1 Is a lover of God 1 John 4.7 He that loveth doth keep the Commandments of God and his Commandments are not grievous 1 John 5.3 The Children of God are Children that will not lye are meek merciful holy harmless The Disciples of Christ are such as deny themselves take up their Cross and follow him These and such-like are found in the Scriptures to be the signs of the Children of God And what sayest thou O my Conscience are these things found in me Where is my Faith What Love have I for God What witness to my Love in my Obedience What Truth Mercy Meekness Humility Patience is to be discerned in me Come forth O my Graces where are you Shew your selves in the light of the Sun And what can you testify O my ways for me Speak Conscience what is the life which I have lived Is it a life of Faith a life of Love and Holy Obedience If Conscience speaks in the affirmative and gives in its answer through the Grace of God I find it thus with me Then 3. Fear will make Objections and put in farther Questions It 's true he that is a New-Creature is in Christ he that believeth and loveth and obeyeth the Lord is born of God and I find that there is something in me that looks like the New-Creature that looks like Faith and Love c. But may not all these be but the Images of Grace Is my Faith the very Faith of God's Elect Do I love the Lord Jesus in sincerity do I obey from the heart that form of Doctrine that is delivered to me May there not be as great a change upon an Hypocrite may not Hypocrites believe and love and obey as far as ever I have done And until the matter be brought to this issue that there is something found such a Faith such a Love such Holy Obedience as cannot be found in Hypocrites till then this Fear which will ever suspect the worst will nor give over but still will come on with question upon question How shall I know my Faith is right and how shall I prove my Love and Obedience to be sincere I am
be many that say God is my portion I have chosen him for my inheritance and they think as they speak and yet do but deceive themselves I hope I have sincerely chosen the Lord but yet am in fear lest I also may be deceived How may I know whether it be so or no To this I answer you may know that you have sincerely chosen the Lord 1. If you have chosen him deliberately 2. If you have chosen him absolutely 3. If you carefully pursue your choice 4. If you measure your present happiness by the communion you have with him and the clearness of your title to him 5. If you be willing and resolved to forsake all things for his sake 1. If you have chosen God deliberately if your choice be not in a sudden fit but be the result of the deepest consideration Suddain bargains are often as suddenly repented of A light unadvised choice is not like to hold and while it holds there 's no great heed to be given to it Some men are such unstable Souls that their whole life almost is nothing else but choosing and changing when we choose understandingly and deliberately when we have throughly considered the great reasons for our choosing God his worthiness and excellency and our own necessity and have also weighed all the inconveniencies thereof and all the objections against it and do find that the reasons for do infinitely over-ballance all that can be said against it and hereupon determine for God that 's like to be found a sincere choice 2. If you have chosen him absolutely as that which you will stand to to the last whatever inconveniencies may follow When there are no ifs nor ands no reserves in your heart nor place lest for repentance When your choice runs not as Jacob's conditional vow Gen. 28.20 If the Lord will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go and give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I return to my Fathers house in peace then the Lord shall be my God but without any such if's whether he will feed me or no cloth me or no let him do with me as he will for that I am resolved however the Lord shall be my God And indeed so was Jacob too however the words sound This was never intended by him as the condition of his Religion there 's no other condition of that but if or since the Lord will be my God he shall be my God Jacob was in bond to God before and here he enters into a new bond layes a new obligation upon himself every one of these Mercies shall be so many new cords to bind me fast to the Lord but whether these new cords were added or no whether the Lord would keep or feed or cloth him or no 't was never his intent but his old bond should stand however that the Lord should be his God And as there are no reserves nor conditions in this our choice of God so is there a resolution against repenting of our choice whatever should happen A Christian chooses once for all chooses and changes not His choice of God is like to Gods choice Psal 110.4 I have sworn and will not repent sayes he concerning Christ The gifts and calling of God much more the Election of God are without repentance Rom. 11.29 where we choose God absolutely we leave no place for repentance 3. If you carefully pursue your choice Thus was it with Paul who had chosen for himself above and taken his aim at the right mark the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus he sayes Philip. 3.12 13. I follow after I reach forward I press to the mark Some vain men perswade themselves that they have chosen God and yet seldom or never look after nor take any care to obtain and make sure of him whom they have chosen they choose God but never follow God nor take the way that leads to the blessedness to come Sincere choice takes in both end and means When the choice of our hearts doth govern the course of our lives and doth effectually bend our course towards the obtaining of him whom we have chosen when this becomes our main drift and scope This I pray for this I wait for this I labour for this I live for I have nothing else to do but to serve and make sure of God if I can but so live as to please God here and get to Heaven when I dye whatever I miscarry in 't is all I look for this argues such a choice of God as will certainly argue us to be of God To choose God and yet to live to our selves to choose Heaven for our portion and yet to have our conversation in the earth an idle and inefficacious choice that doth not effectually command us after him whom we have chosen but let us run our old carnal course is a vanity and a delusion 4. If you measure your present happiness by the communications of God to you and the clearness of your title to him He that hath chosen God for his happiness look how much he possesses and enjoys of God and to what degree of clearness he is come concerning his Evidences for Heaven to such a degree of happiness he counts himself to have arrived whilst he can love and please and serve the Lord and maintain a confidence of his acceptance with him so long he can rejoyce when he is estranged from God he is as a man undone Therefore is it that Christians set themselves to get as much of God here and as sure a claim to the inheritance of the Saints in light as possibly they can Every one would make as sure of happiness as he can and would be happy as soon as he can would get as much as may be into present possession Hence are those breathings and thirstings and rejoycings of the Saints which we read of in Scripture As the hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God Psal 42.1 2. My Soul thirsteth for thee my Flesh longeth for thee thy loving kindness is better than life My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness when my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips Psal 63. O that my wayes were so directed to keep thy Statutes O let me not wander from thy Commandments Psal 119.5.10 For in keeping them is great reward Psal 19. I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved therefore mine heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth Psal 16.8 9. Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me thou hast put gladness in my heart Psal 4.6 7. Christians can never have good dayes longer than they are walking with God and beholding his face in righteousness this is their Heaven on Earth The reflection of the face of God in his Holy Image that appears upon them
the irradiations of his Holy Spirit and the light of his countenance whilest they are walking in the Law of the Lord the prospering of their Souls in the grace of God and the comforts of the Holy Ghost this is the sunshine of their lives Their countenance is fallen their heart is sick they reckon themselves among the dead when God and their Souls are parted He hath no part in God that can live comfortably without him It 's true the pleasure that the Saints take in God is more or less according to the different degrees of their love to God and accordingly will the sense of his absence be more or less There is a desiring love which is the highest attainment of some weaker Christians and there is a delighting love which is the attainment of the more grown Christians The purer and stronger the love the greater pleasures comes in from the object of it and the more impatience follows from its distance and estrangement from it The love of weaker Christians puts forth in thirstings after the Lord but they taste but little of the sweetness but the more grown can sit down under his shadow with great delight yet neither the one nor the other can be at ease or contented without him Again there is a difference in the Natural temper and constitutions of Christians some are naturally of lively and warm affections and of a chearful and serene Spirit others are of more flat and dull and heavy spirits and this will make a difference upon their sence of things Spiritual Yea and the same persons at several times may be differing from themselves by reason of bodily distempers or occasional discomposures which may have such an influence upon their Spirits that they may at such seasons not only have lost the sweetness of Divine communion but the sence also of its want and those very duties wherein they were wont to have delightful converse with God may seem the most uneasie and wearisome work of their time But yet whoever he be that in ordinary can be satisfied at ease and be merry whilst he is a stranger from God and neither finds pleasure in him nor takes comfort in pleasing of him this man can never conclude that God is his portion He that is least in the Kingdom of God will doubtless be able to say Lord whom have I in Heaven yea or in Earth besides thee Sinner thou sayest that thou also hast chosen the Lord but how is it that he is no more look'd after or regarded by thee How is it that thou canst live so much without God in the world and find no miss of his presence Art thou content to be miserable whil'st thou livest here or hast thou chosen two portions this world to be thy portion here and God only for hereafter I that 's the truth of the case thou foreseest that this world will not last alwayes but thou must after a while be gone and leave all behind thee whil'st these things will last thou wilt take up with them but when they fail thee thou countest upon God at last and so he must only stand by as thy last refuge when all else is gone then God must be thy happiness Is this thy choice of God when thou canst only say Rather God than nothing So I may be sure of thee hereafter I care not for thee now He that hath not chosen God for his happiness in both worlds hath sincerely chosen him for neither Canst thou say thou hast chosen him for thy happiness in this world also when thou canst count thy self happy without him canst thou want communion with him and yet be at hearts ease canst thou take the prosperities of this world to supply the want of a God the smiles of fortune instead of smiles from Heaven will thy twilight or candle-light serve thee instead of Sun-light Canst thou quiet and comfort thy self thus God is none of my acquaintance but I have good acquaintance enough in the world God is angry with me but I have many good friends about me that bear me good will My work for Heaven goes but sadly on but yet I prosper and thrive in the Earth I have none of the best hearts I confess but yet I have a good House and a good Estate 't would be sad indeed if I had nothing either above or below either within or without me if both Heaven and Earth had cast me out but whil'st one of them holds 't is well mine own Cisterne is full and so long I can spare the Fountain Canst thou comfort thy self thus Deceive not thy self God is not the portion thine heart hath chosen thou wilt never find rest in any thing else who hast pitch'd on him as thine only happiness and till thou hast made him alone thou hast not made him at all the portion of thy Soul 5. If you are willing and resolved to forsake all things for his sake God and this world are proposed to our choice and this is included in the very nature of choosing that one be taken and the other left 't is not choosing to take both one of the two must be parted with or neither can be said to be chosen and so the word tells us Luk. 14.33 Whoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple This seems to be an hard word but is it so indeed Is it hard to part with all our Brass and to receive it in Gold to exchange our rags for better clothing our husks for better seeding What is Earth to Heaven Is all thou hast in the world too great a price to redeem thy Soul from Death and to instate it in everlasting blessedness If these things could redeem thee would'st thou say 't is too much to give this Earth is more than Heaven is worth But farther consider It is not so hard as it seems to be for what is it to forsake all that we have God would not have us to throw away our Estates and make our selves voluntary Beggars to give away our Houses and take up our Habitation in Dens or Caves to give away all our bread and our clothes and leave our selves to hunger and nakedness God would not have us to break the peace with the world to disoblige and fall out with all our friends and to become strangers to our own flesh God would not have us studiously to offend Father and Mother to despise Brethren and Sisters to be undutiful or unnatural to be surly and rude and uncivil to any and thereby create our selves enemies and trouble 't is for the honour of Christianity that we behave our selves sweetly and courteously and dutifully towards all and 't is the Interest of Christianity that those that fear God be good Husbands and provident and have Estates to serve him withall in their generations This is not the meaning of our forsaking of all to cast our selves into voluntary poverty or studiously to make our selves
but they will not say so here but whether it be theirs or no away they give it But Christ expects that thou which hast given away his right to another hast given thy self to the world and the lusts of thy flesh shouldst fetch thy self back again from these and restore thy self to him And indeed our giving our selves to the Lord is but our acknowledging his right to us and our making restitution our restoring to him his stollen goods Go carry home thine heart to him and deliver it up and when he sayes to thee it is not thine own take the word from his mouth true Lord it is not mine own it is thine and here it is for thee take it to thee and till thou dost this he will none of thee He will be thy Lord and thy Judge whether thou wilt or no but he will not be thy Saviour without thy consent thou shalt be his vassal but canst never count thy self his Disciple till thou pass over thy self to him by thine own act and deed Sinner thou sayest that thou art Christ's but how camest thou to be his O! he hath redeemed and bought me thou sayest But is this all So he did Judas he bought that Traytor that sold his Master what hast thou no better claim to Christ than that Son of perdition and will this comfort thee Consider man though Christ hath bought thee hast thou not gone under hand and sold thy self away from him hast thou not let in Sin and the Devil into Christ's right and wilt thou yet say I am the Lords the Devil will tell thee thou art mine the world will tell thee thou art mine and thine own Conscience may tell thee I fear 't is too true I am the Devil 's indeed I am the World 's indeed for I have given my self to them and I never yet fetch'd my self back and restor'd to Christ his right which yet thou must do before he will own thee for his Disciple 2. The giving him the possession and the use of us Christians are called the possession of Christ Ephes 1.14 the purchase and possession and 't is we our selves that must put him into possession Therefore are we required to yield up our selves to him Rom. 6.13 to yield up our selves to the Spirit of Christ that he may sanctifie us and fit us for our Masters use to yield up our selves to the authority and government of Christ to be used and employed in his Service Rom. 6.16 His servants ye are to whom ye obey Thus to give our selves to Christ is to give our selves to Christianity to give our selves to God is to give our selves to the practice of Godliness to be actually employed and used by the Lord in all that he hath for us to do Christ thou sayest hath the right of thee but who hath the possession of thee Thou hast given thy self to Christ but hast thou given thy self to Christianity thou callest thy self his Servant but dost thou obey him as his Servant art thou given to the works of Christ given to Praying given to Hearing given to Holiness he hath thy name but who hath the use of thee to him thou hast devoted thy self but by whom art thou employed thou hast parts thou hast strength thou hast an estate thou hast time but upon whom or upon what are all these actually bestowed wilt thou say thou hast given thy self to Christ when the Devil hath still the possession or the world and thy flesh have still the use of thee and of all that thou hast Dost thou serve this world and walk after the flesh and yet wilt comfort thy self with this that thou hast given thy self to Christ Brethren there may be a damnable mistake here and you that are professors look to it that none of you be thus mistaken to your everlasting ruine It may be thou hast sometimes gone into thy closet and there falling upon thy knees hast said possibly with some affection Lord I am thine I here give my self to thee Body and Soul and all that I have to be thine for ever and when thou hast thus done away thou goest rejoycing and comforted But shortly after the sence of this transaction is worne off and the power of it utterly lost and about the world thou goest as aforetime walking at the same vain carnal and careless rate as thou wert us'd to do What dost thou think of such a dedication Hast thou sincerely dedicated thy self to Christ when thou sufferest sin and the world still to have the possession and the use of thee Art thou sincerely given to Christ when thou art not given to Christianity art thou given to Christianity who art still so given to thy flesh given to thy will given to thine appetite given to pleasure and ease and idleness Trust not to any closet-Transactions how solemn or affectionate soever they be that have not so much power as to bring thee in and deliver thee up and actually engage thee in the Service of him to whom thou hast thus passed thy self over But of this indeed it is most proper to speak in the next mark The third Mark 3. A giving up our selves to the practice of a Godly life That a Godly life is necessary to prove the sincerity of our choice of God and our close with Christ is sufficiently evident from what hath been said in the two former marks now it remains that I add something for farther trial whether the life which we live be indeed a Godly life I have spoken to this in the third mark of the truth of Grace which I have given in my Vindiciae pietatis to which I must refer you and shall now only add That he that lives a sincere Godly life hath such a standing care to please God in all things that he resolves and endeavours 1. Not to allow himself in any known sin 2. Not to allow himself in the neglect of any known duty 1. He that lives a sincere Godly life makes it his care and endeavour never to allow himself in any known sin Rom. 7.15 the evil that I do I allow not Now there may be a double allowance of sin 1. Positive when we have such a lust after any iniquity that our hearts not being able to bear a restraint do give themselves a toleration for it 2. Interpretative when we commit or live in any known sin and connive at our selves in it and though we do not peremptorily resolve for continuing this liberty for it yet neither do we resolve against it Non-resolution against sin is the door left open to it when we do not hate nor resist it when we pray not watch not strive not against it It may be we wish in the general that we could overcome and avoid every iniquity and are content that God should effectually restrain us by his grace so it be without putting us to the trouble and labour of laying any painful restraint upon our selves yet when any particular sins
full and setled purpose of mine heart and O that this my resolution may be attended with such an effectual power that may make a present actual change upon my whole course and way of life Well I will go in the strength of the Lord and let me find the presence and the power of the Almighty with me O that I might not go out of this house nor be seen in the streets but the tongues of those that see me might say where hath this man or this woman been this day what hath been done to them whence is this strange change Is not this the man that was born blind Is not this the cripple that sate for alms at the beautiful gate of the Temple said they once is not this the man that lived in blindness and in ignorance of God is not this he that was such a lame halting trifling vain walker how do we see him to have his eyes open and living in the grace and power of God what a change is here how comes this to pass surely this man hath been with Jesus surely he is become one of the Lords and the spirit of the living God is in him What say you friends are you now for such a change come and give your selves thus to the Lord and then fear not to commit your selves to his custody trust him for your pardon trust him for protection leave the care of your souls upon him for ever Faithful is he that hath called you and will take care of you Now you have a sure title to him and are hid in his blood and this blood of the lamb shall be to you as the scarlet line on the window of Rhahab was to her Josh 2.18 or as the blood of the Paschal lamb sprinkled on the lintels and door-posts of Israel Exod. 12. your certain security that the indignation shall passe over you and the destroyer shall not hurt you for ever 2. Fear and flee the ordinary effect of fear is flight and the reason of flight is fear There are three things in flight 1. There is departure in it be gone get thee up out of this place said the Angels once to Lot Gen. 19. 2. There is haste in it Flight is a departure in haste Haste thee stay not in all the plain 3. T is in order to an escape escape for thy life escape to the mountains Flee sinner flee away from thy sins and live What day thou hidest thee in Christ thou must leave thy sins behind thee or if thou carriest them to Christ with thee which comes all to one it must be only to be crucified particularly 1. Flee out of thy state of sin 2. Flee from the practice of sin 2. Flee out of thy state of sin to say no more in this place to fright thee to thy heels know that thy state of sin is a state of bondage Act. 8.23 thou art a mere bondslave to the devil and thy lusts Dost thou not feel the chains on thy neck the fetters on thy feet art thou not made to serve under thine enemies whom thou canst not find in thine heart but to obey tho it be to the cutting of thine own throat Thou art not left at liberty to act as a Christian according to the Gospel no nor as a man according to thine own reason and conscience but art made a mere brute of to serve the pleasure of the devil and thy lusts Art thou content to live and die such a slave behold the whole world is for liberty what groanings are there under oppression what outcries against impositions and invasions upon rights and priviledges and what impatience of vassalage and servitude and canst thou be so patient of the impositions of lust and thy vassalage under the devil canst thou dwell for ever under the usurpers is there any tyranny like that of thy will and lust is the worst of servitudes onely easie to be born arise thou slave shake off thy fetters get thee up out of thine house of bondage It is not barely a cessation from the acts of sin that I am now pressing you to let him that stole steal no more let him that was a swearer or a lyar or a drunkard swear no more put away lying and turn away from the wine and the strong drink but get you free from your state of sin get you up out of prison cease not only from doing the work but continue not under the dominion of the divel be no longer the practiser no nor the prisoners of sin Christ came not to make your prison more clean or more easie to cast out some of your filth or to get you an abatement of some of your drudgery work but to bring forth the prisoners out of prison Isaiah 42.7 Christ calls not to the prisoners to take their rest or to do their masters work by halves no nor barely to let it all alone but he saies to the prisoners go forth Isa 49.9 Sinners are not only employed and set on work by sin and the devil but they are sold under sin held under sin shut up under unbelief They are prisoners not only by constraint but by consent also they are voluntary prisoners they have made a league with sin and are its covenant-servants they are not onely prisoners to Satan but to their own hearts the heart of man is become so very a devil that it is its own gaoler the devil cannot commit a sinner into safer custody than by making his own heart his keeper Sinners those hearts of yours are become such Devils incarnate so desperately set against Christ so deeply engaged in soul-damning works that if God should leave you to the custody and conduct of your own natures these will lead you on to your damnation 'T is now become natural to sinners to hate the Lord and his way of life Sin hath made such changelings of them from what they originally were that 't is their nature to play the fools and the beasts 't is their nature to be proud to be froward to be malicious 't is mens corrupt nature that so strongly enclines them to follow the Devil and flee from Christ The Chicken doth not more naturally follow the Hen and flee from the Kyte than Sinners do follow that Kyte the Devil and flee from Christ As 't is said of the Devil Joh. 8.44 When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own so may it be said of sinners when they do wickedly they do of their own when they lye and swear and mock and riot they do of their own Their inward part is very wickedness Psal 5.9 Their hearts are a fountain of iniquity Jer. 6.7 As a fountain casteth forth waters so she casteth forth wickedness She casteth forth her wickedness not only continually as a fountain casts out waters the fountain runs night and day Summer and Winter from year to year but with the same freedome also there 's no need of the Pump or the Bucket to fetch
any thing thou apprehendest to be praise-worthy this must be meat for thy pride It may be thou prayest against thy covetousness or sensuality but as soon as thou art off thy knees away thou goest to work for the one or to thy play to please the other When some of thy last words are lead us not into temptation it may be thy very next steps may be running into temptation this is but mocking of God and deluding thy self If thou would'st prosper against this enemy whil'st thou stormest it by seeking to God starve it by denying thy self 3. Put a bridle on its Jaws My meaning is restrain it from its actings if thou canst not prevent its conception strangle it in the birth if the fire be kindled within yet give it no vent allow not the lust of thine heart the priviledge of thy mouth or the command of thine hand if thou canst not restrain thy covetous desires yet hold in from covetous practices if thou lovest the wine and the strong drink yet withhold the cup from the lip if thou canst not so easily rule thy spirit yet bridle thy tongue the fire of passion doth not waste by spending but rather increases the ordinary preventing and restraining the acts of sin will weaken its habits I have heard some persons vainly speaking at this rate when I have anger in mine heart out it must and then I am friends and so take it for their vertue rather than their sin that they cast out all their mire and dirt in a storm because then a calm follows Thou fool hast thou conquered thine unruly spirit by suffering thy self to be thus conquered by it what do'st thou think of him that conquers his lust by going to an Harlot when thou hast eas'd thy stomach by thy Bedlam-language then there is a calm but thou neither considerest the sin of letting fly thine angry words nor yet wilt mind that the fire will kindle the sooner for that it finds so easie a vent Damme up the furnace and that 's the best way to quench the coals 4. Set thy foot on the neck of Sin Have any of thy lusts fallen before thee make them sure tread them under thee that they rise not up again do not slight them as conquered enemies which now thou needest no more to fear those which are now under thy foot if thou look not well to them may be Lords over thee again Hath the Lord humbled thy proud heart broken thy unruly spirit and seem'd to turn a Lyon into a Lamb whilest thou sayest I hope I shall never be proud again never be so froward or peevish again whil'st thus thou hopest thou shalt not yet still fear lest thou should'st whil'st sin hath any life in it thou art still in danger as we use to say of dying men whil'st there is life there is hope so may it be said of these dying beasts while there is life there is fear Let that fear be as the foot upon their necks to prevent their rising and return upon thee Well thus set upon sin let it be destroyed reward it as it would serve thee and because it will be long a dying let it be killed all the day long draw not back thine hand whil'st its life is left in it O what an advantage will the death of of sin be to the life of holiness when the body of sin is dead 't will stink dead bodies will do so and all the issues of it will be noisome and loathsome to thee Lust is never deadly but when it lives and is sweet and pleasant when it dies and stinks and is become an annoyance to thee it will be the less thine hindrance it hath now done its worst the more it offends the less it will hurt Do'st thou find sin sweet Is it still a pleasure to thee beware of it 't is a sign 't is still alive it would stink if it were dead thou would'st nauseate it thy stomach would rise against it O this stinking pride this stinking covetousness these stinking pleasures away with them my very soul is sick with the stench they make and when sin stinks then holiness will be pleasant and the work of holiness a delight the very severities of Religion will be sweet when the pleasure of sin ceases The death of sin is all our diseases cured the lean and consumptive Soul will now revive and recover and be strengthened for its work The crucifying of sin is the casting off our weights that hang on to hinder us in our way Heb. 12.1 2. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth easily be set us and run with patience the race that is set before us 't is ill running with weights upon our backs Lust is such a weight upon the Saints as Conscience is upon sinners some sinners Consciences make them drive heavily on in their way of sin when they can once knock off this weight when they can kill Conscience and get themselves rid of its checks and controuls then they rush on upon iniquity as the horse rusheth into the battel let the Saints serve their Lusts as Sinners do their Consciences and then they may run with patience the race which is set before them There is a sore evil that is seen under the Sun Sinners all upon the Tantivie riding post towards Hell O how sprightly O how hot are they upon their chace of sin and vanity and poor creeple-Christians but barely wagging on by a Snail-creeping motion heavenward O 't is a sign that the weights do yet hang on thou art yet heavy loaden thou carriest too many bundles of thorns upon thy back too many burthens of earth and flesh upon thine heart to make any hast heaven-ward lay aside these weights tread down these worldly lusts throw off these worldly cares and carnal desires and delights yea get this carnality which is the body of Sin and the very soul of that body to be slain and crucifyed with Christ and when thou art dead with Christ thou shalt live the better to him He that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 and vers 18.22 Being made free from sin ye then become the Servants of Righteousness and so shall have your fruit unto holiness and your end everlasting life O what a visible improvement should we quickly see on the professing world did we prosper more in our mortifying work then would the languid and pale-fac'd Saints have blood in their cheeks and more spirits in all their veins the young man within would be fresh and ruddy were the old man once well laid then would the Plants grow up into Trees and the Shrubs into Cedars then will the lame man leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb be loosed then would this vile image of earth and flesh vanish and disappear and the Spirit of Glory and of God would more visibly rest upon us and we should go forth as the Sun out of his Chamber and rejoyce as the
thine heart that canst so easily keep it within O what wonders are sluggish Christians Life without motion Fires that burn not Suns standing still Souls condens'd into the gravity of Carkasses the winged Spirits become as the creeping things of the earth when shall these immortal sparks recover and come to themselves Christians be impatient with these your slothful hearts let there be no sleep in your eyes till your sleepy Souls be awakened Be asham'd that you who talk what God hath done for you should have no more to say of what you have done or are ready to do for him Set every wheel in motion and thereby fit them for more easie motion let them stand no longer still fear lest your rust should eat out all your strength Be henceforth for an active life bethink the time that hath been run out in sleep and now awaken and begin to live in good earnest 3. Severity or strict and painful holding our selves to our rule Christians must be men of action but they must not act wildly or loosely and at all adventures but their actions must be regular they must be punctual and strict to their rule Christ's commands some of them are hard sayings and will put the flesh hard to it but whatever they be they must be submitted to Matth. 28.20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you As Christ is severe in his impositions upon us so Christians must be severe in their impositions upon themselves and must not abate to themselves a title of their hardest duty Christians must be rigid to be rigid in the way of any party of them that are or that call themselves Christians is an evil A rigid Presbyterian a rigid Independent or Anabaptist are such in the wrong of their brethren but it is a duty and an excellency to be a strict and rigid Christian provided that our rigor be more to our selves and to our own flesh than to all the world besides Now to bring you to this Severity let me exhort you to these three things 1. Fear to be offended at the severities of Religion 2. Fear to baulk any thing of the severities of Religion 3. That you may not fear the severities of Religion fear the severity of Christ against Irreligion 1. Fear to be offended at the severities of Religion Blessed is he that shall not be offended in me Matth. 11.6 The fear of Christian strictness is that which keeps back many a Soul from Christ A Christian who that understands what 't is to be a Christian will ever be able to bear it 'T is too hard service for me to yield my self to to put my self under such a Law as ties me up so short from all that mine heart desires and holds me so close to things so contrary to me how can I endure it The attempting an universal change of the scope the customs the pleasures and the whole way of my life how grievous are the thoughts hereof the matter of my design the nature of my work the temper of my society to whom I must joyn my self being all spiritual and heavenly how contrary are they to me The forsaking my Friends and Companions the abandoning my pleasures the bounding my liberty the bridling mine Appetite and Passions the laying a law upon my senses the watching every word of my mouth and every thought of mine heart the holding my self on by line and by rule in a way of constant painfull duty without any allowance of the least turning aside to the right hand or the left no though it were to the saving of my life who can with patience think of it All these things are against me How many Souls have there been in the World whom such forethoughts of Christianity have kept back from Christ and held under the power of the Devil But though it doth not prevail thus far upon thee thou wilt adventure after Christ however though thou dost not say in thine heart this yoke is not to be born and so throw it away yet possibly thou mayst say 't is hard to be born and think much of it that less might not suffice Thou wilt yield to it in the general but too often when it comes to be a Case that thou thy self art put harder than ordinary to it thy flesh flings and throwes and murmurs and thou art for the time ready to bethink and repent of thy Christianity Hath it never been thus with thee Fear lest it should and still remember Blessed is he that shall not be offended in me That is not so only as not to renounce me but not so much as to complain or groan or drive heavily under me Good is the Word of the Lord that 's a word becoming the heart and tongue of a Disciple 2. Fear to baulk any of the severities of Religion 'T is one thing to say even in the heart Good is the Word of the Lord and another thing to submit chearfully to it when it comes to the pinch By severity I mean not unreasonable roughness or rigour to our selves the unnecessary afflicting or macerating our bodies by self-whippings and scourgings or Penances going barefoot or in sordid and vile raiment as 't is used in the Church of Rome but by severity I mean strictness and exactness to our Rule whatever pain or prejudice it may cost us or expose us to Our holding our selves closely to every duty in special to those harder duties of self-denyal and mortification the taming of our flesh the beating down our bodies and bringing them in subjection by temperance and necessary abstinence those ungratefull duties admonishing reproving withdrawing from offenders and whatsoever else our Lord hath imposed upon us Particularly there is 1. Severity in imposing upon our selves when we are not partial in the Law taking only Christs easier words and leaving out the harder but do charge our whole duty upon our selves and when we do not deal too gently or remissely with our selves onely telling our hearts this is thy duty and it would be good for thee to observe it but do deal more closely and charge it home See to it O my Soul that thou keep the charge of the Lord It must be done dare not for thy life to favour thy self or spare thy flesh by neglecting thy duty 2. Severity in observing and performing our whole Duty When we are not onely not like the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 23.4 Who bind heavy burthens and lay them on other mens shoulders no nor such as bind heavy burthens for our own shoulders and yet not touch them with one of our fingers but whatever Conscience bids us do that we observe and do 'T is one thing to lay good Lawes and prescribe good Rules to our selves and another thing to observe them We must yoke our selves to our work and go on diligently under the yoke We must not only not quarrel with our rules as too strait for us but keep touch with them and not indulge
an hopeful crop to see all green and fresh and hearty and strong this is not such a pleasure to the Husbandman as 't is to a Christian to see a spring of Grace in his Soul Now I see 't is not in vain to sow to the spirit to serve and wait on God Where is all thy praying where is all thy labouring God knows where 't is saith the barren Soul I doubt 't is all lost I can see no sign of it remaining that 's a sad Soul But ask thus of the thriving Christian where is all thy praying and thy labouring and he can answer O I thank God 't is here to be seen This field of mine a few years since lay all fallow rough and hard and nothing that was good was to be found upon it but now O how it joyes mine heart to find it so the good seed that hath been buried here is not dead 't is gotten up above ground the Lord hath let me see something of his grace breaking forth and it encreases and grows up daily in me The hard and stubborn is now become a melting and broken heart the proud and froward is now become an humble and quiet spirit It hath cost me something many a sad thought many a sigh many a tear but though I came hardly by it here 't is by the grace of God the barren hath brought forth this dry tree hath blossomed this sluggish heart to which the very thoughts of a laborious fruitful life were once so irksome that I doubted that I should never have come to any thing but should have liv'd and died a drone O what a comfort it is to me to see it thus hopefully come on A diligent Christian will have such successes his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 and when he sees what good success he has then let him speak what a pleasure it is to him Christian Thou hast been at thy work but what fruit hast thou found hast thou prospered hast thou sped well dost thou see of the travail of thy Soul Is thy sin weakened is the world conquered is grace quickened in thee Is it so and is it not a pleasure to thee to find it so Doth it not please thee that thou art not so vain nor so earthly nor so proud as thou hast been Doth it not glad thee at the heart to find that the Lord hath been with thee and blessed thee and helped thee in what thou hast set thine heart unto And how lookest thou now on thy remaining works wilt thou any more drive so heartlessely and so heavily on as thou wast wont to do wilt thou any more cry out Hard service a weary life Sure thou canst not what thou findest coming in will make thy very labour and thy sweat to be sweetness to thee 3. The pleasure of Ease Ease hath a pleasure in it not only ease or rest from our work but ease in our work when we can carry it on with ease by how much the harder our work is in it self by so much the greater pleasures will it be when we can go easily through it Christ tells us Matth. 11.30 that his yoke is easie and his burthen light Christ's yoke is an hard and an heavy yoke to Sinners and such which they are in no wise able to bear but he makes it easie to his Saints A yoke may be made easie three wayes 1. By making the burthen of it lighter 2. By making the neck stronger 3. By accustoming the neck to the yoke 1. By making the burthen of it lighter by paring it or taking off something of it a great yoke may be pared and pared till at length it come to be a little on Thus Christ's yoke will not be made easier he will pare nothing off he will not abate any thing of his work there 's the same Law for Saints and for Sinners there 's the same duty impos'd on the weak as the strong Matth. 5.17 18. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets till Heaven and Earth pass one jott or title shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled The same Law which was from the beginning shall be Law to the end Christ will never make that to be no sin which once was sin nor that to be no duty which once was a duty nor will he ever dispense with duty or sin he says not to any less shall serve for thee than for others he requires all of every one But here by way of caution take notice of two things 1. Christ's yoke is in this sense easier than Moses ' s yoke there is an abatement of the burthen of Ceremonies and legal Rites that Law of the carnal Commandment as 't is call'd Heb. 7.16 is vanished and taken out of the way no more of that chargeable service of Sacrifices no more Bulls or Goats or Lambs out of our flocks or herds the service of Christians is in this respect cheaper Service than that of the Jews of old 't is only our Moralls whereof nothing will be abated 2. Though Christ requires the same duty of all and imposes the same things and as much upon the weak as upon the strong yet he will accept that of the weak which he will not from the strong Nothing less than perfection is due from the weakest but sincerity will be accepted whatever imperfection there be God will take those weak and maimed Services from the weak which he will not from the strong He that hath a Male in his flock and Sacrificeth a corrupt thing Cursed be that deceiver Mal. 1.14 2. By making the neck stronger That 's an easie yoke to a man which a Child is not able to wagge A labouring man that 's weak and sickly will find his ordinary work to be too hard for him when he recovers his strength he can go through it with ease Weak Christians will ever find Christianity to be hard Service as they grow up to be stronger they will find it grow more easie day by day 3. By accustoming the neck to the yoke The yoke at first putting on wrings and galls and wearies those that are unaccustomed to the yoke are impatient of the yoke 't is use that makes it easie An Apprentice to a Trade though at his first entrance he do not half so much work as afterward yet 't is with twice so much pains The first hour is ordinarily with him the burthen and heat of the day his morning is hotter than his noon The tediousness of Religion meets us at the threshold our hardest task is to begin well nature will make the strongest opposition against grace at the the very birth of the new creature our first charge against lust is usually the hottest charge the travail of the birth hath more pain in it than all the after care of bringing up the child A Christian at his first setting out after Christ feels all his motions