making they were intended to good works this was Gods minde and meaning he fore-ordained that they should walk in them He did not set up such a light in man to be put under a bushel he bestowed not such a talent on man to be bound up in a Napkin 2. That in their new making they were fitted to good works created to good works that is they were brought forth in such an holy nature indued with such a Divine light such holy principles powers affections dispositions and inclinations as fitted them for an holy active life And this Divine and excellent structure of this new creature do both signifie what life it is intended to and that this life to which it is intended is indeed an excellent life there is something sure in this godly life God did not new make men for nothing and something of worth and real excellency or else he would not have been at such cost in preparing men for it if there were no other godly life than that which the carnal world count godliness there needed no new Creation to fit men for it What is there in the whole frame of the Religion of the vulgar but a carnal man may reach to For the devotional part of it Saying or hearing of a prayer observing of dayes rites and customes c. What great difficulty is there in that May not a Publican do the same Yea may not a Harlot a Drunkard an Idiot do the same Such devotions will neither disturb their lusts nor yet will their lusts distate or disable such devotions and for the righteousness of it to love those that love them to be good neighbours to be no Extortioners no Adulterers c. there is not so very much in that do not even the Pharisees do the same What do you more than others said Christ to his Disciples What singular or excellent thing do you God hath done singularly well by you you are fearfully and wonderfully made as 't is true of the natural so much more of your new birth and curiously wrought not in the lower parts of the earth but in the highest heavens you are born from above God hath done more for you than for others what do you more than others Some it may be would have answered What do you more than others Why there 's no more to be done all that 's done more than others do is meer fancy or conceit But beloved when you look upon that sapless lifeless empty way of Religion which others are content with methinks your reasons should demand What hath God new-made me made me partaker of the Divine Nature of the life of God for no more but this hath God given such a glorious Gospel raised up such a mighty Saviour who hath shed such precious blood sent forth such a glorious spirit given commission to such multitudes of heavenly Ambassadors to Preach perswade beseech exhort to travel in birth with me till Christ hath been formed in me and all this to bring me to no better a life than this Surely there is something farther that the Lord hath been at all this cost and built this structure for Study this new birth study the new Creation more throughly and if you see not the most holy heavenly spiritual conversation that is pleaded for radically and seminally in the bowels of it then let godliness pass for a fancy for ever Let the Regenerate but live according to their new nature and if that be not the very godly life we contend with you about then call us what you will 5. Faith is no fancy Hebr. 11. 1. Faith is the ground or the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen It hath a sure foundation on which it 's bottom'd that sure word of promise 2 Pet. 1. 19. To the which saith the Apostle ye do well that ye take heed There is a believing on Christ for Salvation and a believing that we shall be saved by Christ the former is called the direct act of faith and is the Souls accepting of Christ for Lord and Saviour and an adventuring anâ— resting upon him for life this is founded on the Rock of Ages on the veracity and faithfulnesse of that God that cannot lye who hath said John 3. 16. Whâ—soever believeth on his Son shall not perish but have everlasting life The latter in the Saints is called The Râ—flex of Faith and hath its Foundation partly on the Word of God without them partly on the Work of God within them And this Faith or rather this Act of Faith if the former hath been first put forth is such also as will never deceive As those that trust in God because they have the Word and Oath of God in which two immutable things it is impossible for God to lye shall not be confounded but have strong consolation So those that believe they shall be saved because they find their hearts purified who believe that their names are written in Heaven because they find the Law and Image of God written and engraven in their hearts who believe that they shall not come into condemnation because they are in Christ and walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit who believe they shall overcome death because they have overcome the World that they shall reap in mercy because they have sown in righteousnesse that they shall reap in joy because they have sown in tears that they shall receive the inheritance of Sons because they have received the Adoption of Sons who finding themselves firmly knit and joyned to the Lord are perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus their Lord. Those that on such grounds as these believe they shall be saved it shall certainly be unto them according to their faith if it be thus with them indeed if they be in Christ if they walk not after the flesh but after the Spâ—â—it if their hearts be purified c. The Word of the Lord stands good and sure to them that they shall not come into condemnation and they shall as infallibly be saved as if their particular names had been written in the promises The veracity of God stands as firmly engaged to make good conditional promises where the condition is fulfilled as if the promise had been absolute There is a faith which is a meer fancy The faith of Enthusiastsâ— who believe upon unscriptural Revelation who believe above and besides what is â—ritten the fâ—ith of Ignorants whose belief is according to the Athenians workship on the unknown God the faith of Idlers who believe they shall rest with Christ though they never laboured with him The faith of the profane who believe they shall be saved though they be not sanctified such faith is meer fancy opinion or presumption you may call
that it might have the same good speed as Peter's last had Luke 5. 6. It would then pay the Charges though the Net break God hath sent me among you as an Husbandman to plow and to sow and I am now come to cover what hath been sown What is my aim in Preaching let be yours in Hearing Oh that both Preacher and Hearers might heartily joyn in this Desire This once more God speed the Plow In this Desire and hope I drive on In the Text observe A Precept A Promise An Entail of the Promise on the Precept In the Precept we have 1. An Act Do. 2. An Object The things that ye have learned received heard and seen The Promise is in these words The God of Peace shall be with you The Entail of the Promise on the Precept you have in the Connective Particle And which knits them up together Do the Work and have the Reward Obey the Precept and enjoy the Promise Do what you have received and heard and the God of Peace shall be with you Be careful of the former and be not careful about the latter If the Precept be performed the Promise shall be made good Doct. 1. Christians must be Learners before they can be Doers What you have learned that do Doct. 2. He hath learned well that hath learned to do well Doct. 3. Christians Eyes as wel as their Ears 〈…〉 Religion Or The Holy Examples 〈…〉 should be living Sermons to peopleâ— What you have seeâ— in me Therefore the Apostle â—xhorts Phil. 3. 17. Mark them which so walk as you have us for an example and 1 Cor. 11. 1. Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ that is either I have been a Follower of Christ be ye therefore Followers of me or else Be ye Followers of me as far â—orth as I have been a follower of Christ Those Ministers may go off the Stage with Honour and Coâ—â—â— who have left behind them the good Seed of â—ouâ—d Doctrine and the good savour of an Holy Example For mine own part what my Doctrine and manner of life hath been among you you are witnesses and God also And however I have great reason to judge and condemn my self before the Lord and to bewail it that my Conversation hath been less exemplary and useful than oh that it had been yet I go off from you with this Testimony upon my heart that I have not been of those who bind heavy Burthens and lay them on other mens shoulders but will not touch them with one of their fingers but my endeavour hath been to press on mine own Soul and to hold out in my own practice that Word of Life which I have preached to you and therefore am bold in this sence to exhort you in the words of the Apostle Be ye followers of me as far forth as you have seen me a follower of Christ Doct. 4. Godly Ministers when they are parting from their People would fain leave God behind them Though it be not unusual when the Lord sends them away he goes with them God and his Messengers do not seldome take their farewel of people together yet their earnest desire is that though they must away yet the Lord would stay Doct. 5. Faithful Ministers would be Messengers of Peace going as well as coming As the Apostles first words were to be Peace be unto you Math. 10. so some of this Apostles last words were The God of peace shall be with you Doct. 6. When-ever Ministers part with their People if they can but leave Godliness in them they shall certainly leave God with them Or Those that obey the Gospel whatsoever or whomsoever they want shall ever be in a peaceful and blessed condition These things do that is live in the practice and power of that Doctrine of Godliness which you have received and heard and then fear not the God of Peace shall be with you This Doctrine I shall fully prove to you after I have premised That the Doctrine which I have preached to you is the Doctrine of Godliness the sum whereof take in these four particulars 1. That Jesus Christ who came into the VVorld to save sinners came also to sanctifie and purge them from their sins 2. That those that believe in Jesus must be careful to maintain good works or to live a Godly Life That this Godlinesse is not such a flight and easie and empty thing as the mistaken VVorld imagine but stands in an exact conformity of the whole Man Heâ—â—â— and Life to the whole VVill of God 4. That as whosoever believeâ— not in Jesus so whosoever is short of this true sincere Godliness cannot be saved This is the summe of that Doctrine which I have preached unto you which being the eternal Truth of God I herein imbarque my own Soul and Life desiring to be found in that same Jesus and to be found walking in that same way of Righteousness which I have declared unto you 2. That my Design and Aim in preaching this Doctrine to you hath been to beget in you and through the influence and assistance of the Eternal Spirit to bring you to this true Godliness I have travelled in birth with you that Christ might be formed in you that I might leave you possessors and partakers of that Grace which accompanies Salvation that your Faith might stand not in the VVisdome of men but in the power of God That your Repentance might be Repentance unto Life not to be repented of that you might obey from the heart that Form of Doctrine that hath been delivered unto you that you might stand compleat in all the VVill of God that you might be holy and harmless the Children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked Generation amongst whom you must shine as Lights in the VVorld holding forth the VVord of Life that being rooted and grounded in love you might comprehend with all Saints what is the height and depth and length and breadth and might know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge and be filled with all the fulnesse of God To this end have I taught every one and warned every one that I might present you perfect in Christ Jesus 3. That as far forth as the success hath answered my Design and aim upon any of your Souls so far forth stand you entitled to this glorious Promise in the Text The God of peace shall be with you Look how many Souls there are amongst you that live in the power and obedience of those Truths you have received to so many can I with confidence give this Farewel of the Apostles without Its or And 's the God of peace shall be with you To whomsoever the Lord hath been a God of Grace to them will he be a God of Peace Whoever amongst you have this God of Grace dwelling and ruling in you shall certainly find this God of peace dwelling and abiding with you As for all others though I can heartily make this my
two distinct ways but are one and the same way faith in Christ and obedience to the Law of God are the one way of Life He that walks in God walks in Christ it is through Christ and our Union with him that we are strengthened and enabled to do the will of God it is through Christ that what we do is accepted of God there is no act of obedience be it never so excellent for the matter of it that is a step to the Kingdom of God that hath not something of Christ in it that is not done through his Spirit and sprinkled with his Blood and so on the other side whatever faith and hope and confidence we have in Christ if it be not such a faith such an hope as brings forth obedience to the will of God it cannot save us this way of faith and obedience this is the â—ight way and the one and only way of Life In all that general Assembly and Church of the first-born that are already in Heaven there is not one soul but entred by this one way Abel and Enoch and Abraham and Moses and David and Peter and Paul with the whole generation of Saints now in glory they all went the same way they walked with God and lived and dyed in Faith and now inherit the Promises And all the residue of Saints that are yet in their Pilgrimage yea whoever shall be in the Ages to come must by this one way enter into the Kingdom of God This is the good and old way which was from the beginning this is the new and living way which shall be to the end Tit. 2. 8. These things I will that thou affirm constantly That they which have believed in God might be carefull to maintain good works these things are good and profitable for men If this be so if this be the one and only way of Life then in what case are the sinful unbelieving world Whither are ye going Oh ye sons of folly You tell us you hope to be saved what in your unbelief and folly Search and see if in the whole Book of God you finde any other way of Salvation but Faith in Christ and obedience to the Gospel 3. How can one and the same way be old and yet new I answer 'T is old and yet not antiquated 't is new and yet no Innovasion 't is old because it was from the beginning 't is new because now in the latter end of the world it hath been newly cast up made more plain easie and open Thirdly The strait and narrow Way Matth. 7. 14. Strait is the Gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life Christians must go by a line there is no Elbow-room for Lust to expatiate every step on this hand or on that is a deviation it is a Way that is hedged in the Commandment is the hedge which limits us within a very narrow path Christians must live by Rule they must not eat nor drink but by Rule they must not buy nor sell but by Rule they must not work nor â—it still they must not speak nor keep silence but by Rule Gal. 6. 16. As many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them 'T is also a narrow Way the word might have well been translated a troublesome or painfull way the Verb from which the word comes signifies to oppress there are many pressures and afflictions to be met withall in this Way the Cross is a Christians Way-mark Through many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God The way of sin is a plain there is neither hedge nor ditch to limit them there is neither bush nor brake to discourage them Now this is the way which circumspect Christians take this Good and Old Way this New and Living Way this Strait and Narrow way this is the Right Way and this is also the most Excellent Way For 1. It is the Way of Truth Psal 11. 30. I have chosen the way of truth John 14. 6. I am the Way and the truth and the life It is the Way which the Truth or Word of God doth prescribe to us it is the true Way that is indeed in all the parts of it that which it declares it self to be The way of sinners is a lye a way made up of lyes The evil works of sinners are lyes Prov. 11. 16. The wicked work a deceitfull work the work of a lie the words signifie their words are lying words their very duties are a lye Hos 11. 12. Ephraim compasseth me about with lyes that is with lying Duties lying Prayers lying Sacrifices lying Praises their Prayers are no Prayers their Sacrifices are no Sacrifices they do but dissemble with God and deceive themselves in all their performances their hopes are a lye their comforts are a lye their Refuges are a lye the way of sinners is wholly made up of lyes But the way of Christians is a true way their Duties their Comforts their Joyes their Hopes have truth and reality in them Psalm 25. 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that keep his Covenant Now look what excellency there is of truth above a lye so great is the Excellency of this way of Christians above all other wayes 2. It is the way of Righteousness and Holiness Holiness hath a glory in it every thing by how much the more pure it is by so much the more precious in its kind What other excellency have the Angels of light above the Devils but their holiness What was it that transformed the Angels that fell into Devils but the loss of their holiness Wherein stands the Reasonable creatures likeness to the God of glory but in their holiness This is the divine Nature they are made partakers of the Spirit of God and of Glory resting upon them 1 Pet. 4. 14. Holiness hath such a self-evidencing excellency that the consciences of carnal men do often whether they will or no give their testimony to it Who is there almost whose lust hath transformed into so very a Brute but many times even when his tongue is reproaching it his Conscience gives his Tongue the lye Who is there whose Lust hath so totally put out his Light that doth not in his serious Judgment conclude That a gracious humble meek merciful sober heavenly life is really more excellent though not so sutable to his brutish appetite than lewdness and sensuality There is such a beauty and Majesty in holiness that doth command an acknowledgment of it from all sorts of knowing men 3. It is the way of God not only the Way wherein the Lord hath commanded them to walk but wherein the Lord appears to them wherein they have the Vision and Fruition of God and therefore a godly life is often expressed by walking with God by living in followship or communion or acquaintance with God Psal 16. 8. I have set the Lord alwayes before me Psal 17. 15. I will behold thy face in
peremptorily resolved against hearkening to any farther Treaties about this thing casting them off with the greatest scorn and indignation I must be bold to tell you from God That if you live and die in this mind God must cease to be true the Scriptures must be proved to be a lye the Doctrine of the Gospel a meer forgery or faâ—shood or you will be shut for ever out of the Kingdome of God And do you not yet see enough to perswade you to come in and be of this number Are you not yet convinc'd that 't is your duty that 't will be your wisdome to be such That none but Fools and Brutes will continue to be Libertines Whilst you charge folly on the Saints will you at last prove your selves to be the onely fools And will you verifie that Proverb Bray a fool in a Mortar and yet his folly will not depart from him Shall it be said of you Let them be instructed let them â—e convinced let them be warned yet still all 's â—â—ne fools they are and fools they will be Oh ye â—ools when will ye be wise Search the Scriptures â—nd learn of them come unto Christ and learn of him and if he do not speak the same things which here have been spoken if he do not teach you the same Lesson which here you have been taught then go on and take your liberty still but if Christ sayes Be holy if Christ sayes be circumspect if Christ sayes Be perfect and you still refuse to hearken then carry this inscription upon your foreheads We have rejected the Word of the Lord and what wisdom is there in us John 1. 47. Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there iâ— no guile VVE need not go far back to find ouâ— the sense of these words which they fully enough contain within themselves â—he occasion of them was this Philip calls Nathaniel to come to Christ Nathaniel being called comes and coming to Christ our Lord gives his Judgment of him In the words we have 1. A note of Observation Behold This hints to us two things 1. That a Nathaniel a true Israelite is a worthy Sight worth the observing Behold an Israelite 2. That a Nathaniel is a rare Sight We do not use to put a Behold on that which we see every day 2. A Description of Nathaniel and in him of aâ— sincere godly man 1. He is an Israelite Israel was the first name of Jacob who upon his wrestling and as a Prince prevailing with God in Prayer had this new name given him of God and was thenceforth called Israel from him afterwards the whole generation of the Jewes were called Israel in the new Testament all the People of God were called Israel Gal. 6. 16. Both 〈◊〉 the Old Testament and the New Israelites weâ—â— such as had the account of the People of God whom God hath separated and set apart for himself as his peculiar people out of all the rest of the world so that an Israelite here notes one that belongs to God a good man 2. An Israelite indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that 's truely an Israelite not after the flesh but after the Spirit not in shew and appearance not in conceit or his own or others Opinions but in reality 3. An Israelite without deceit in whom is no guile who is no Jugler or crafty Dissembler that did only personate bear the face and act the part of an Israelite but an honest down-right plain-hearted Israelite In all this we have a full description of a sincere godly man â—e is an Israelite one separated to God an Israelite indeed not in conceit or fancy but in truth not in deceit or guile but in singleness of heart That which I intend for the foundation on which to build my discourse is An Israelite indeed Thence let the Doctrine be Doct. A sincere godly man is no Phanatick or Godliness is no fancy As there is an Israelite in conceit so there is an Israelite indeed as there is Godliness in shew so there is Godliness in truth Godliness is no fancy The great design of Satan and his Instruments is against Godliness to resist it disgrace it and if it were possible to root it out from under Heaven And because whilst Godliness appears to be what indeed it is in its own lustre glory and excellency all such attempts against it are like to be â—â—ain and ineffectual therefore the plot is to cast â—mist before the eyes of this Pur-blinde World and to make them believe that there is no such â—hing or that it is not what it is that 't is a meer fancy there is nothing in it That which Men call Godliness is but a conceit a meer dream of some brain-sick persons who thinking themselves wiser and holier than the rest of the World and being strongly opinionated of their ways aud intoxicated with their own imaginations whilst they would perswade others that they are in the dark and under strong delusions are most of all mistaken and deluded themselves Now because this is such a mischievous Engine to hinder the propagation of the Gospel and to hold men back from that true Godliness which is necessary to salvation and without which they perish everlastingly I shall through the gâ—â—ce of God prove and make as evident as the light the truth of the Doctrine proposed That Godliness is no fancy and that the sincerest and strictest Godly men are most unjustly and unreasonably termed Fanaticks of any persons in the World By Godliness I mean that sincere and strict profession and practice of Religion which is above the size and beyond the measure of the common sort of people who call themselves Christians that which the Scripture calls pure Religion the power of Godliness walking with God walking in Spirit living in all good conscience By a sincere godly man accordingly I understand the same person which I in the foregoing Discourse meant by a precise or circumspect Christian one that will not adventure his soul on that cheap easie outward careless way of Religion which the most do but labours to make sure and thorow work by setting himself to live up to the height and exactness of those principles of Religion which he hath received from the Scriptures When I say That Godliness is no fancy by a Fancy I mean that which hath no being but in the imagination that which hath no foundation in the Scriptures but is a meer conceit or airy Notâ—on a figment of mens owns brains This is the reproach that the prophane world caâ—â— upon strict godliness That it is a meer fiction or a dream of mens own hearts that the inward likeness to God the exact walking with God living in fellowship and communion with God the joy of God the life of faith the Souls exercising it self upon God and the Lord Jesus and the like are meer conceits there are no such things but they are mens own dreams and delusions Now this is that which I
World to be found where then are Gods Children God hath no Child if this be so You must write the God of all the Earth childless a Father without a Childe a King without a People if these wise men be true men and true men you can very hardly call them who having robbed the King of Saints of all his Subjects and the Father of Lights of all his Children You see now to what a plain issue this matter is also brought If you be in the right in this thing then the Spirit of God must be unfaithful in his Office God must be false in his promise the Devil doth more to the damning than the spirit of God doth to the saving of souls and one of these two things will follow hence either that the Devil is of more might than the Almighty Spirit or that the God of love hath not so much love as the Devil hath malice and lastly that God hath no People in the world But it may be sinners you will yet reply Well We will grant that this is true that there are those that are led by the spirit and walk in the spirit but when you talk of so much Spirituality in Mortal men of such high notions as living in the fellowship of the spirit living in Heaven when you tell us of such Glorious light such Raptures of Joy such Extasies of Spiritual delights here are the Fancies These are the things which we cannot but account the foolish Dreames of deluded hearts And now you think you have hit at last But is not this it which you say The Spirit enlightens but gives no light The enlightned see no more than the blinde The Spirit renews men and yet they are not changed The Spirit leades the Saints and yet they follow him just as fast as those that have no legs The Spirit dwells in them and yet they have no more fellowship or acquaintance with him than those that never saw him The Spirit assists and yet gives no help The Spirit comforts and yet gives no joy but after all he hath done leaves them just as other men and whatsoever they pretend to have more is a meer cheat and delusion The sum of all comes to this The Spirit doth and yet doth not doth something some great thing and yet that something is just nothing But is there no such life of God wherein the Lord having gotten the chief interest in the heart hath also the Dominion of the life Is there no such life the main dealings and business whereof is the pleasing and honouring of God and the seeking that glory and honour which is from him Must God be an underling to the World and be put off with our spare hours which the World will allow him We were even as good down-right to profess we own no God at all or if we must have one a Baal or an Ashtaroth a Nisroch or a Molech an Oxe or a Calf may serve us well enough for a God a God to be so trampled on or to be said unto stand aside when ever the World hath any thing for us to do Is there no such Spiritual life the comforts whereof are Spiritual comforts the pleasures and delights Spiritual pleasures and delights Are there no delights in God who is a Well of Life and the Fountain of all Blessedness Have the Creatures their several sweetnesses issuing from them the Sun its light the Fire its warmth the Fig-tree its sweetness the Olive-tree its fatness the Fruits of the Earth their pleasant tastes and smell the Instruments of Musick their melodious Ayres and sounds to gratifie and please our senses and is the Fountain onely a dry and unsavory thing when the Cisterns are so fresh and full Have fleshly exercises their several pleasures are the labours of the Husband-man the Travels of the Merchant so strangely sweetned by the gain and in-come of them Are May-Games and Morrice-Dances Sports and Playes so delightsome to men that they will sell their Souls for such Pleasures and are they the Exercises of Religion onely that have no juyce nor sweetness in them Is it Godliness onely that hath no bud the stalk whereof yields no meat Or are the delights and comforts hereof such flashy and airy things that we cannot tell when we taste them whether we be awake or in a dream Once more consider the Scriptures How excellent is thy loving kindeness O God therefore the Children of Men put their trust under the shadow of thy Wings They shall be aboundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House and thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasures for with thee is the Fountain of Life and in thy light we shall see light Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee thy hearts desire Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time when their Corn and Wine increased with Joy shall they draw Water out of the Wells of Salvation Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory The peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts Let him that readeth understand do all these speak the life of Saints to be such a dry and dark and impleasant life Let me farther ask you these two Questions 1. Are there any delights in Heaven Is there any joy before the Throne and in the face of God Are there any pleasures at his right hand Doth the Tree of Life that stands in the midst of the Paradise of God yield any pleasant fruit Doth the Chrystal River that runs through the City of God yield any pleasant streams Are the exercises of glory blessing praises and singing Hallelujah Hallelujah are there any pleasure in these Speak Sinners what do you think are there any delights in Heaven 2. Is there not something of that heavenly joy and delight let down to the Saints here Whilest they bear a part in the same exercises have they not a little share in the same pleasure What means then the earnest of their inheritance which is given here The Apostle tells us Eph. 1. 13 14. that the Saints after they had believed were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise which is the earnest of our inheritance An earnest is a part of that whereof it is an earnest given in hand The earnest of our inheritance is a part of the inheritance Believe it Sinners Gods Earnest is no Jest God will not mock his Saints though you do As sinners to their cost so Saints to their comforts feel that Gods Earnest is in earnest As the Lord sometimes though more seldome causes some flashings of his wrath to flie out in the faces to kindle in the souls and burn in the bowels of some incorrigible sinners as an earnest of those everlasting flames prepared for them beginning their hell upon earth so doth he let fall some handfuls of that Harvest some drops of
First Set apart some time more than once to be spent in secret before the Lord. 1. In seeking earnestly his special assistance and gracious acceptance of you 2. In considering distinctly all the Termes or Conditions of the Covenant as they have been laid before you in the Directions already given you and are also expressed in the form hereafâ—er proposed 3. In searching your bearts whether you either have already or can now freely make such a closure with God in Christ as you have been exhorted to In special Consider what your sins aâ—e and examine whither you can resolve to forgo them all Consider what the Lawes of Christ are how holy strict and spiritual and whether you can upon deliberation make choice of them all even those that do most crosse your worldly interests beloved sins and corrupt inclinations as the rule of your whole life Be sure you be clear in these matters see that you do not lye unto God Consider whether however corruption will play its part and be pulling you back yet the prevailing part of you will be for God and Christ and all his holywayes Secondly Compose your spirits into the most serious frame possible sutable to a transaction of so high importance Thirdly Lay hold on the Covenant of God and rely upon his promise of giving grace and strength whereby you may be enabled to performe your promise Trust not to your own strength to the strength of your own resolutions but take hold on â—â—nstehigâ—s Fourthly resolve to be faithful Having engaged your hearts opened your mouths and subscribed with your hands to the Lord resolve in his strength never to go back Lastly Being thus prepared on some convenient time set apart for the purpose set upon the work and in the most solemn manner possible as if the Lord were visible present before your Eyes fall down on your knees and spreading forth your hands towards Heaven open your hearts to the Lord in these or the like words O Most dreadful God for the passion of thy Son I beseech thee accept of thy poor prodigal now prostrating himself at thy door I have fallen from thee by mine iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Death and a thousand-fold more the Childe of Hell by my wicked practice but of thine infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn to thee with all my heart Therefore upon the Call of thy Gospel I am now come in and throwing down my Weapons submit my self to thy mercy And because thou requirest as the condition of my peace with thee that I should put away mine Idols and be at defi-ance with all thine enemies which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against thee I here from the bottom of my heart renounce them all firmelie covenanting with thee not to allow my self in any known sin but conscientiously to use all the meanes that I know thou hast prescribed for the death and utter destruction of all my corruptions And whereas I have formerly inordinately and idolatrously let out my affections upon the world I do here resigne my heart to thee that madest it humblie protesting before thy glorious Majestie that it is the firm Resolution of my heart and that I doe unfeignedly desire Grace from thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practice this my resolution through thy assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this world rather then to turn from thee to the wayes of sin and that I will watch against all its Temptations whether of prosperity or adversiâ—y least they should withdraw my heart from thee beseeching thee also to help me against the Temptations of Satan to whose wicked suggestions I resolve by the Grace never to yield my self a Servant And because my own righteousness is but menstruous rags I renounce all confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone creature without righteousness or strength And forasmuch as thou hast of thy bottomless Mercie offered most Graciouslie to me wretched sinner to be again my God throug Christ if I woul accept of thee I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I do here solemnly avouch thee for the Lord my God and with all possible veneration bowing the neck of my Soul under the feet of thy most sacred Majestie I do here take thee the Lord Jehovah Father Son and Holie Ghost for my portion and chief good and do give up my self bodie and soul for thy servant promising and vowing to serve thee in holiness and righteousness all the daies of my life And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the onely means of coming unto thee I do here upon the bended knees of my Soul accept of him as the onely new and living way by which sinners may have access to thee and do here solemnly joyn my self in a marriage covenant to him O blessed Jesus I come to thee hungry and hardly bestead poor and wretched and miserable and blinde and naked a most loathsome polluâ—ed wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly married to the King of Glorie But 〈◊〉 such is thine unparallel'd love I do here with all my power accept thee and do take thee for my head and husband for better for worse for richer for poorer for all times and conditions to love and honour and obey thee before all others and this to the death I embrace thee in all thine offices I renounce mine own worthiness and do here avow thee to be the Lord my Righteousness I reâ—ounce mine own wisdome and do here take thee for mine onely Guide I renounce â—ine own will and take thy will for my Law And since thou hast told me that I must â—uffer if I will reign I do here covenant with thee to take my lot as it falls with thee and by thy grace asisting to runne all hazzards with thee verily supposing that neither life nor death shall part between thee and me And because thou hast been pleased to give me thy holy Laws as the rule of my life and the way in which I should walk to thy Kingdome I do here willingly put my neck under thy yoak and let my shoulder to thy burden and subscribing to all thy Laws as holy just and good I solemnly take them as the rule of my words thoughts and actions promising that though my flâ—sh contradict and rebell yet I will endeavour to order and govern my whole life according to thy direction and will not allow my self in the neglect of any thing that I know to be my duty Onely because through the frailty of my flesh 〈◊〉 am subject to many failings I am bold humbly to protest That unallowed miscarriages contrary to the setled bent and resolution of my heart shall not make void this Covenant for so thou hast
The Lord calls thee this day calls thee to return and repent that thine iniquities may be blotted out bethink thy self what answer thou wilt return Wilt thou hearken or not III. Head concerning Christ Direct 1. FIrst Consider what the Scriptures speak 1. Concerning the Excellencie of his Person John 1. 14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Heb. 1. 3. Who being the brightnesse of his Glory and the expresse Image of his Person 2. Concerning the Glorie of the Mystery of Christ Crucified Isa 53. throughout He is despised and rejected of men a man of Sorrowes and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him He was despised and we esteemed him not Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrowes yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God But he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisements of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like Sheep have gone astray and have turned every on to this way and God hath laid on him the iniquities of all He was oppressed and afflicted yet he opened not his mouth Col. 1. 27. To whom God will make known what is the riches of the Glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of Glory Phil. 2. 6 7 8. Who being in the Form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the forme of a Servant and was made in the likenesse of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross The Gospel is a Mystery full of wonders 1. There is a wonder of Righteousnesse and Severitie That God should not spare but punish Sin though upon his own Son 2. A Wonder of wisdome That God should being Light out of Darknesse Life out of Death that God should bring about the Rising of the World by the Fall of the Lord the Riches of the Word by the Povertie of their Lord the Fulnesse of the Saints by the emptinesse of the King of Saints 3. A Wonder of Mercy That God should harden his Heart against the Crie of his Son and open his Bowels to the cry of Sinners 4. A Wonder of Love Love in the Father in giving his Son Love in the Son in giving himself his blood his life his Soul a Ransom for sin and all this for Worms Traytors Enemies Direct 2. Ask thy heart these Questions Quest 1. Oh what monster is sin What an Hell what a bottomless pit is it of malignity and wickednesse that none but God can expiate or purge it away that God cannot do it but by taking flesh that God manifested in the flesh could not purge away sin but by suffering that no suffering would serve but Death that no death could serve but such a cruel and cursed death Oh what a Monster is Sin that must have such blood the blood of God to take it away Quest 2. What strange Love is the Love of Christ 1. Strange in regard of the fruit and benefit of it All that Holinesse and Beauty that my Spirit is cloathed with all that peace and joy that possesses my heart all my glorious hopes and expectations for hereafter all that difference that is betwixt my state and the state of Cain Judas and the whole reprobate World this is the Love of Christ Where had I now been had it not been for the Love of Christ 2. Strange Love in regard of the fervency and ardency of it and that not onely to the whole generation of the Elect but to my Soul in particular To expresse this ask this one Question farther What if Christ had done and suffered all this for me alone What if there had been but one Sinner in the World and I had been that Sinner and Christ should have come down from Heaven cloathed himself with flesh giving himself to death given such a glorious Gospel sent forth such a multitude of Ambassadours to preach to to convert and save this one Soul this my Soul this had been strange love Such is the love of Christ to every Elect person that if there had been but one Sinner Christ would have done and suffered all this for one sinner rather then he should have perished Quest 3. Is Christ mine Have I a share in the Gospel is my name written in the Lambs Book All are not Israel though Christ died for all yet all are not made alive by him There are many from whom the Gospel is hid there are many that have rejected the Gospel that have put from them the Word of Life Whilest there are such multitudes that are lost and perish for ever is my Soul found found in Christ Hath he that hath died for me drawn me to himself Hath he that hath given me a liberty to lay hold on him given me a heart to lay hold on him Hath he given me his Spirit in my heart to sanctifie and cleanse me from my sins If I have not the Spirit of Christ in me I am none of his Vnless I wash thee thou hast no part with me If he be not mine then Quest 4. What may I doe to get Christ to be mine May I have him without seeking him Can I live by Christ without coming to Christ believing repenting and following of Christ is this ignorance this idleness is this earthly this Carnal course I take is this loose and vain life I live is this the way to get an interest in Christ if Christ be mine then Quest 5. How may I walk worthy of Christ Is it not by being made conformable to him Conformed to his image by being holy humble and meek Conformed to him in his obedience chearfully and readily doing the Will of God Conformed to him in his sufferings by being content to be brought down and laid low and made vile for his Name Conformed to his Resurrection and Ascension that this poor Soul which hath descended with Christ may also ascend with him Ascend in holy desires and affections ascend in holy praises and acknowledgements confessing to him Worthy is the Lamb that waâ— slain to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and blessing for thou hast redeemed my Life from Death and Crowned me with loving Kindness and tender Mercies IV. Head concerning the vanitie and miserie of a worldlie life BY a Worldly life understand any course or way of life which is short of a godly life That which the Apostle calls Ephes 2. 2. The course of this World Such a life the main business care and delight whereof lies in the managing our Worldly affairs and interests in buying selling working trading to get together this worlds good The main comfort whereof stands in
all its advantages preferments pleasures in its greatest Sun-shine of outward prosperity and glory And he is not a godly man he is not of the Psalmist's Spirit that is not able to say Give me this poor despised godly life before the most flourishing life of worldlings 3. Mark 3. Whosoever hath true Grace doth actually live a godly life The tree is best known by its fruits the sincerity of our purposes by our performances If you think you have chosen a godly life and yet do not live a godly life it is a sign you are mistaken and have not sincerely chosen it 1 John 3. 7 10. He that doth righteousness is righteous he that doth not righteousnese is not of God There is a two-fold Righteousness and there is a two-fold doing Righteousness First There is a two-fold Righteousness Righteousness is taken 1. In a strict sense for Justice properly so called which stands in the due observation of that Rule Whatsoever you would that men should do to you do you eâ—en so to them 2. In a larger sense for Holiness or an universal rectitude of all our actions To live according to our Rule the whole Word of God is to live righteously In this Scripture it is taken in this latter and larger sense He who carries himself holily and unblameably both in the things pertaining to God and also in the things pertaining to men he doth righteosness Secondly There is a two-fold doing Righteousness 1. In a Legal sense which stands in an exact obeying and fulfilling the Law And thus there is none righteous no not one because thus there is none that doth righteousness 2. In an Evangelical sense A walking uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel A sincere endeavour to observe all things which the Lord hath commanded us For the further clearing whereof I must make use of a two-fold distinction 1. I must distinguish betwixt a single good action and a series of good actions It is not one or a few single good actions but a continued course of holy actions that denominates us holy As there is no man so holy who doth not sometimes fall into sin so there are few men so wicked who do not sometimes fall in with that which is good and as every sin which a godly man through infirmity falls into doth not presently denominate him ungodly so neither will a few good actions done by another man prove him godly 'T is what the course and tenour of the life that must be diligently observed A godly man makes godliness the business of his Life Religion is a Christians trade and you may well call it his trade upon a double account 1. It is his living and livelihood men live upon their trades a mans trade is his maintenance his bread and his cloaths and his lodging all comes in from his trade Godliness is a Christians whole living he prayes and he lives by praying he believes and he lives by faith he loves and he lives by love all the supports succours comforts of this life come in this way A Christians livelyhood is all laid up in Christ and in the exercises of godliness he gets it down into his Soul Take away from a Christian his Religion take away Faith and Prayer and Hope and Love and the Labours and Exercises of them and you leave him a poor man indeed take away his house and his means and yet he lives take away his bread and yet he lives but take Faith and Hope and Prayer c. from him and he dies 2. Godliness is the business of his life A mans trade is his constant work not the exercise of now and then a day or an hour upon occasion but it is his every dayes work Godliness as it is a Christians daily bread so it is his daily work Judge not thy self by what thou art in some few Holy dayes of thy life when perhaps by falling into affliction or into some good society or being present at some good Duty or Ordinance thou seemest for a fit to be another man than thou art at other times Judge not thy self to be what thou art when thou art not thy self when thou art but in a fit but see what the trade and ordinary way of thy life is he that in his ordinary course does righteousness he is righteous 2. I must distinguish betwixt a Christians actions and his care about his actions the Holy actions of some that are really Godly especially of young beginners may be but few in comparison but their care is more continued what the Apostle saith of unmarried persons is true of all Christians every soul that is married to the Lord careth how to please his Husband though I do nor say that all carelesness doth conclude we have no grace yet this I say it is more than careless Christians can tell whether they have any grace or no though such may have grace yet they can have no assurance He that finds that the great care of his life is how to please the Lord is of God Try your selves by this Mark also do not enquire only about your affections what your desires are or what your joyes are what your comforts are or what your peace is but what your paths are when all comes to all this is the surest mark He that doth Righteousness is Righteous he that doth not Righteousness is not of God Put all these together and whosoever there is of you that is thus willing to part with sin doth thus esteem and hath thus chosen a godly life above all other lives and hath this attested by his actual care in his ordinary course to please God Oh! be thankful and bless God for ever there is that work of Grace begun in thy soul that doth undoubtedly prove thee to be of God and in the State of Salvation Having faithfully tryed your selves by these certain and infallible marks and proved your selves to be in the state of Grace for I would advise you to bring your trial to a clear judgment then proceed in the next place to examine 2. Whether you be in a thriving and flourishing estate or no whether you have made a comfortable progress in holiness or whether you be at a stand or behind hand To help you in this I shall only give you these two or three short directions 1. Compare your selves with your selves your present state with your former state Look back and consider what you were or have been at any time since you first believed and then see what ground you have gotten or lost 2. Compare your state with your time that you have had and your means and opportunities and the several talents that you have received See if your stature in grace be answerable to your standing if you are of seven or ten or twenty yeares standing in the Vineyard of the Lord consider if you also be of so many years growth See if your reckonings you have to bring in be answerable to your receipts
which bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously c. Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 16 18. For the which cause we faint not while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen Before he had declared how hard 't was with them troubled perplexed persecuted cast down always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus c. Notwithstanding saith he we faint not while we look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen Brethren look on the things not seen and take from them both direction in your way and encouragement to go in it 1. Take Direction from Heaven when you are travelling and see the place before you whither you are going your eye will tell you your way When you are entring upon any Course then look up and consider Is this my way to God When you are eagerly and greedily pursuing the world ask your hearts Is this my way to Heaven Am I now working out my salvation When you are walking in the way of carnal pleasure or liberty then look up to the Lord and look in upon your heart and say if you can Now Lord I am hastening to thee now Soul I am taking care for thee my sports and my pleasures and my lusts are the way to mak God sure and Heaven sure to me Can you say so Will not your own heart tell you that is not the way If Heaven be it that I intend if Salvation be it I mind sure then I am not out of my way 2. Look Heaven-ward and take encouragement thence to go on View the glory that is above and consider what happy men you would be if you were once safely there and let such thoughts press you to hasten on and encourage you against all the labours and difficulties you must first pass through Think with your selves when you are setting upon any duty If I can get well through this duty I shall be one step nearer Heaven When you come to the beginning of every day well I shall this evening be gotten one dayes journey nearer home when you are falling into any trouble or affliction if I can cut my way well through this wave I shall be so much nearer Harbour Every new degree added to your grace is another stone laid up upon the building of glory every holy Duty you have rightly performed you are gotten one round higher in Jacob's Laddeâ— look how many dayes you have walked with God so many dayes journey you are nearer your rest Look how many troubles and temptations you have gotten Christianly through so many gulfs have you shot so many rocks have you passed by towards your harbour Oh! if such thoughts and considerations were continually upon your hearts and before your eyes how strangely would they quicken you and encourage you on your way Consider Christians and thence take courage after a few dayes more a few duties more a few wayes more you will be safely landed in your Countrey Lift up your eyes and see and then lift up your heads and rejoyce to see how by every duty and difficulty your redemption draweth nigh A traveller in his journey that 's almost spent and tired if he once comes within sight of home and be almost there this adds new strength and life and on he goes again amain Let your eye be more on your home and there will be less loytering or weariness in your way II. Walk on your way in the name of Christ Or live by faith Gal. 2. 20. The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God The strength of a Christian is his Faith the strength of Faith is Christ the strength of Christ is put into the Promises If you would live to God live by Faith if you would live by Faith go often to the Promises 1. Study the Promises the freeness of them there 's Grace in the Promise The fulness of them there 's Christ in the Promise and with him all things there 's wisdom righteousness strength there 's bread and cloaths and lands and friends and safety study the sureness of the Promises there 's an Yea and Amen set to them All the Promises of God are Yea and Amen 2. Set thy Seal to them Believe that God is true 3. Clear up thine interest in them and thereby make it out that they are sure to thee 4. Treasure up in thy memory a stock and store of particular promises which may answer every case of thy life that so thou may'st have a word alwaies at hand to rely upon And then 5. Upon the credit of that word venture on after thy Lord in any duty through any sufferings he calls thee to whatsoever difficulty thou seest in thy work whatsoever danger thou seest in thy way whatsoever want or weakness thou seest growing upon thee go on resting upon Christ for success in thy duties and support under thy trouble and supply of thy wants according to his Word It may be when thou lookest before thee upon an holy life thou wilt say This is indeed a beautiful and blessed life if I could attain to it but oh I see there is so much to be done and so much to be born that I am in great doubt how I shall ever be able to go through it The Lord requires me if I will come after him to deny my self This first step puts me to a stand I doubt I shall stumble and fall at the very Threshold of Christianity Deny my self Alas I cannot deny my friend or companion I cannot deny mine Enemy that entices me to sin If Satan do but speak a word to me to draw me aside to iniquity he presently prevails and must I yet deny my self when I see how unable I am to deny mine enemies I cannot I câ—â—not do it Why here thy faith if thou wilt conâ—lit with it will furnish thee with this encouragement Though thou art able to do nothing of thy self yet though may'st be able to do all things through Christ which strengtheneth thee Phil. 4. 13. Again thou sayest The Lord requires me to make me a clean heart to purge my conscience to crucifie my lusts But who am I that ever I should think of doing such great works I could as easily make a new world as a new heart I can as well stop the Sun in its course as stop my lusts in theirs I can as easily dry up the fountains of the great Deep as cleanse the fountain of my corrupt heart and purge my self from an evil conscience I but now thy faith will tell thee He that bids thee cleanse thy heart hath said to thee Ezek. 36. 25. That he will sprinkle clean water upon thee and thou shalt be clean from all thy filthiness Thy faith will carry
Vindiciae Pietatis OR A VINDICATION OF Godliness In the greatest Strictness and Spiritualitâ— of it From the Imputations of FOLLY FANCY Together with Several Directions for the Attaining and Maintaining of a Godly Life By R. A. London Printed in the Year 1665. To my dearly Beloved in Christ the inhabitants of the Parish of B. in the County of S. My dearly beloved Brethren THe ensuing Sermons as they had their Birth for your sakes so are they now offered into your hands and they come unto you upon the same important errand upon which their Authour hath been sent among you viz. to shew you the Path of life and to bring you into and establish you in that holy state and way that leads to everlasting Blessedness The chief hindrances of Sinners eternal Happiness next to that innate enmity against God and Godleness which is rooted in their hearts are their prejudices against and their ignorance of the good wayes of the Lord. Sathan and his Instruments have made it their businesse by those vollies of reproaches and unreasonable calumnies which they are continually discharging against holinesse to render it in the judgement of the World an empty and contemptible thing Two things there are amongst many others which they lay to the reproach of it The one that it is folly whatever there may be in this Godlinesse yet it is attended with so many difficulties dangers and hazards and will be such an unsufferable prejudice to all that will have much to do with it that it is a foolish thing upon such hazards and disadvantages to adventure upon it If this will not do but the consciences of Men whilst they apprehend the real worth and excellency of it stand convinced that it is not Folly but wisdom to adventure on any difficulties to run any hazards for so glorious a prize then comes in the second reproach That it is but a device a specious contrivance to take up eager heads to amuse and divert the busie and keep in awe weak souls when if it be enquired into notwithstanding its glorious pretences it will be found nothing else but imagination meer fancy and no reality at all in the heart of it These impressions I have endeavoured according to my might to wipe away from your hearts and the hearts of such as read what you have heard in the ensuing discourses where I hope you will see both sufficient reason whence to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men to establish your hearts in the firm belief and resolved embracing of it and abundant encouragement to hold on your holy course to the end The other hindrance of a Godly Life is mens ignorance They walk not in the way of the Lord because they know not the way of the Lord some rude and dark notions of Religion possibly they may have but wherein the Spirit and life of Godliness stands and how to set upon an holy and heavenly course they cannot tell This hindrance I have in part prevented in that Description I have given of a godly man and more fully removed in those Directions which I have subjoyned for the obtaining and carrying on a godly Life Brethren my hearts desire and Prayer for you is that what I have done may be successful to your souls that you may be saved as the Apostle speaks that you may be brought into and established in the way of truth and may be found walking in the way of Righteousness And if the Lord shall be pleased so to follow these my endeavours with his Blessing that they may contribute any thing to this end if the Lord shall so animate these otherwise dead words by his quickening Spirit that any souls of them that are without may be added to the Church that any cubits may be added to the stature of those that are within it shall be a Crown to me and exceeding Cause of rejoycing Let the Lord Almighty have the praise for ever as from all such who shall reap any benefit hereby So from the soul of Your Servant in the Gospel R. A. The Contents of the Sermons on Ephes 5. 15. THe Text opened Page 2 The Doctrine propounded Precisians are no fools ibid. The Doctrine explained 1. Precisians are described 1. Negatively to be 1. No Pharisee 3 2. No Phanatick ib. 3. No Phrenetick ib. 2. Positively 1. By their make or constitution They are formed after the image of God 5 2. By their way or conversation Where is considered 1. The end of their conversation Where they are described to be men that are travelling to another world 8 2. Their course I. They take the right way Which is 1. Described to be The Old and Good The New and Living The Strait and Narrow Way ib. 2. Proved to be the most excellent Way It is 1. The way of Truth 14 2. The way of Holiness 15 3. The way of God 16 4. The way of the Kingdom 17 II. They are upright in the way 19 Their uprightnesse is considereed as it hath respect To the Commandement To Conscience 21 Their uprightness as it respects the Commandment stands 1. In their having respect to every Command 23 2. In having respect to the most spiritual and in ward part of every Command 24 3. In the endeavour to observe every Command to the utmost 25 1. They endeavour to get up to the highest pitch of affection care and activity ib. 2. They study and seek out after opportunities for service 26 3. They shun occasions and temptations to sin 27 4. They obstain from all appearance of evil 28 Two things added 1. When they have done all that they can they acknowledge themselves unprofitable servants 30 2. Whatever they have done they dare not trust upon it or be found in their own righteousness 32 Their uprightness as it respects Conscience exprest in two particulars 1. They take great care of Conscience 34 1. About the instructing and informing conscience ib. 2. About keeping Conscience tender 35 2. They give good heed to Conscience hearkning to and following in without turning aside 1. To the right hand either 1. By putting Religion in those things wherein God hath put none 43 2. By putting more Religion in any thing than God hath put in it ibid. 2. To the left hand 45 1. By making sins no sin duties no dutie ib. 2. By making bold with known sins and duties ib. III. From this way they will not be drawn aside by any fears or dangers on the one hand or by any flatteries or advantages on the other 46 1. A Summary description of these Precisians 51 2. Precisians are proved to be no fools from four Reasons Reas 1. God accounts them no fools 54 Reas 2. They will not be accounted fools at last neither by God nor men 55 Reas 3. The properties of wise men are found in them 58 1. They understand themselves aright They understand 1. Their Interest ib. 2. Their way 60 2. They build sure 64 Reas 4.
Righteousness Enoch walked with God Noah walked with God Good company will make any way pleasant how craggy or dirty soever our way may be under foot it 's pleasant to see the Sun shine over us Psal 50. 23. To him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God The Lord meets his people in his Wayes and causes all his goodness to pass on before them proclaiming his Name The Lord gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness This Vision of God makes all the labours and difficulties of this way sweet pleasant to them certainly this is a blessed way for God is in it Where is blessedness to be had but in God how is blessedness to be had in God but in beholding and enjoying of him wherein stands the blessedness of Heaven but in the Vision and Fruition of God Christians let all the ungodly world say all they can to disgrace and disparage the way of Righteousness as a wretched disconsolate and contemptible way yet till they can confute your senses and make you not to believe what you taste and see be not discouraged neither let them delude you into any better opinion of their ways of sin from any pleasure credit ease or gain that is in them God is in the way of Righteousness and there alone to be found and enjoyed and therefore this is the most blessed and excellent way 4. It is the way of the Kingdome the proper excellency of the means stands in this That it will certainly bring about its end that 's our best way that will bring us safely home This way is called the way of life Psal 16. 11. Thou wilt shew me the path of life 2 Pet. 1. 5 11. Add to your faith vertue to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance patience godliness c. For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom If there were no other excellency of this way yet this is enough to commend it and exalt it above all other ways that it 's the way to Heaven If the way of Holiness and Righteousness were in all other respects as despicable and uncomfortable a way as the world imagine it If Godliness were in it self as great a burden and bondage as carnal men account it If all the reproaches and slanders and calumnies and lying reports that ungodly men cast upon the way of the Lord were true yet this that it 's the way to everlasting blessedness would answer all that is spoken against it If you were to go to London upon a business wherein your life and all that ever you had were concerned you would not stand reasoning thus Is not the way to York a better and more pleasant way Whatever the way to London be how long or how dirty or how dangerous or how hard to finde soever it be yet your life estate depending on your going thither leaving all other wayes disputes about them you would take the way that leads thither The way of the Lord whatever you have to say against it to discourage or make you unwilling to travel it yet 't is the only way you have to save your souls the only way to eternal blessedness when you have made all your objections and all your excuses you must take up this holy course of life or you can never come into the Kingdom of God The way of carnal Jollity and Merriment is as you think a more pleasant and delightful way But is this your way to Heaven The way of covetousness and worldliness you count a more gainful and profitable way but is this the way of life The way of sloth fulness and idleness is you think an easie way but is this the way of the Kingdom The strict and severe way of Holiness hath little carnal delight ease and worldly profit in it but is not this the way to everlasting life Heb. 12. 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God Now if all this be so search sinners search and consider if it be not so consult the Scriptures consult your Reasons and Consciences and see if you find them not all bearing witness to this Truth and if these things be so as hath been said then come all ye foolish and vain-hearted persons and judge of the unreasonableness of these scoffing demands of the looser sort to the people of God who in scorn and derision will be often asking of them why must you be so nice Why so precise Why so strict and making so much ado about every small matterâ— Why cannot you be content to do as others and take the same liberty as others Why 't is all one as if they should demand of them Why will you keep your way the way of Life Why will you be saved Why can't you be content to be damned as well as others Is there not a great deal of wisdom and reason in such questionings and scoffing demands If you stood by a dangerous mighty Bogue through which there was one narrow tract of firm ground and should see a company of poor Creatures even sunk and almost swallowed up and choak'd in the mud and mire on the one hand and the other and yet should you see them laughing and mocking and jeering at those who keep the narrow tract of firm ground that would bring them safely over Would you not say they were all mad or bewitched This is the case of foolish Worldlings they are sunk in the Mud they are even swallowed up and choaked with their lusts and ready to perish and yet they fall a laughing and deriding of them who will keep the sure way Sinners what do you mean you are sinking you are sinking a few steps further and you will be swallowed up Why will you not come back and get into this safe way Leave your scoffing at the Saints and learn of them leave your judging and censuring and follow them in the same holy steps that they are going in before you II. They are upright and exact in the way they walk on in the straight way with a staight foot Psal 119. 1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way or the perfect or entire in the way Psal 32. 1. I said I will take heed to my wayes that I offend not It 's said of Caleb Numb 14. 24. That he followed the Lord fully Luk. 1. 6. 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoycing the testimony of our Conscience that in all simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world 1 Thes 2. 20. Ye are witnesses and God also how holily and justly and blamelesly we behaved our selves among you Observe it they lived a holy harmelesse blamelesse life and that holinesse which appeared upon them was not a cheat or juggle to ' deceive the world but was really what it appeared to be and for this they appealed to a threefold witness 1. A witness in their breasts the
Carnal men are ignorant of the way though they understand in general that Religion is the way to salvation yet poor miserable creatures they mistake their Religion any little smatterings of the knowledge of God with some profession of Faith and Repentance especially if it be joyned with some little outward devotion now and then calling upon God for mercy this they count Religion enough to bring them to Heaven and any thing that 's more than this they think it more than needs these are the fools indeed if we may believe the Scripture Jer. 5. 4. Surely they are pâ—or they are foolish they know not the way of the Lord. Sinners are wise enough in their own wayes the way of sin they know the way of lying and oppression and unrighteousness the way to health and honour and temporal preferments they sufficiently know they have studied and travelled these ways and are well acquainted with them but all this while they are foolish Children surely they are foolish they know not the way of the Lord. Christians are wise and herein their wisdom stands they know the way of the Lord they have a light without them shewing to them this good way they have a voice behind them telling them this is the way walk in it they have made it their business to enquire and study and travel this way surely these are wise they know the way of the Lord they know their way to heaven if they know not the way to be rich in this world yet they know the way to be rich towards God if they know not how to live honourably in the World yet they know how to live honestly if they know not how to please men yet they know how to please God if they cannot keep a fair correspondence with the World yet they know how to keep a good conscience in the World if they know not how to escape Trouble and Affliction they know how to suffer it if they know not how to escape the wrath of men yet they know how to escape the wrath to come if this be wisdom to be skilled in the matters of Religion and Righteousness in the matters of faith and a good conscience to have found out the way of life by which to escape from hell beneath then these godly men are wise men surely they are wise they know the way of the Lord. Object But you will say Why may not we be in the right way as well as they Why may not our way of Religion be as good a way and as wise a way and as safe a way as theirs Sol. Will you make use of your Reasons if you will you shall answer this Objection your selves their Religion and yours are not two wayes of Religion but as to the principles of it are but one and the same the difference betwixt you and them is this you take up a little part of that Religion which you both profess and you will have but a little to do with that little of Religion which you do take up you little mind or study or are exercised in that which you count your Religion these precise ones take up the whole of Religion and they give themselves wholly to the study and practice of it they make it their business to search the Scripture that they may understand the will and way of the Lord and to govern their hearts and order their lives in all things according to it So that now if you will answer two easie questions you shall thereby be able your selves to answer the Objection the first question is Who are most like to be in the right either these who endeavour to practise all that they profess or those who though they profess the truth do practise scarce any thing of it but a small part of it and that the lower and less considerable part of it the bare outside of it This is no hard question I hope you 'l acknowledge to be resolved and the second question shall be as easie Who is like to be in the right the diligent Christian that makes it his business to study his Religion or the careless Christian that seldom spends a serious thought about it Answer but these two questions and then your selves will be able to give a reason why it 's more like they should be in the right than you Brethren shew your selves men here are a company of poor creatures of you who have spent your time in ignorance and idleness as to the matters of God and your souls who little meddle with that of Religion which your selves say you must do if you will be saved you say you must believe you must repent of your sins you must pray to God for forgiveness and yet what great strangers are many of you from these things it may be if you consider it you have often gon whole daies and weeks together and have scarcely ever prayed no not so much as after your own fashion nor scarce had any thoughts of Repentance or asking God forgivenesse you eat and drink and go forth and come in and lie down and â—ise up and never so much as look up to God for his mercy and blessings these others in the mean while make praying and reading and hearing and minding God and their Souls and eternal state their daily study and businesse now what an unreasonable thing is it to imagin that those who so little meddle with any Religion or any thing of Religion should be as like to understand it as those that make it their daily work Oh beloved how can you be confident you are in the right when you never seriously enquire whether you be or no and how can you think you have any wisdom in you when you trust a matter of such weight and importance upon a meer presumption you are strongly conceited that you are as wise as others and in as good a case and in as good a way anâ— upon this conceit you venture your souls Friends you are a sad wonder to me and I do so much wonder that men should think that carelesness is as good as diligence licentiousness as good aâ— strictness that that loose and blind and easiâ— way which men take up is as good and as sureâ— nay a better and more certain way of life thaâ— the strict and industrious way of the dispiseâ— Saints that I very much wonder how men thaâ— believe and know any thing of the Scriptures can make themseves to think that that sottish dull lifelesse way which they satisfie themselves in can give any of them the least hopes of salvation 2. They build sure so that whosoever or whatsoever falls they stand sure for ever They are those wise bullders of whom Christ speaks Mat. 7. 24. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him to a wise man which built his house upon a Rock and the rain descended and the floods come and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it
fell not Psal 26. 12. My food standeth in an even place All other persons and parties stand upon slippery places and have but an uncertain standing When they are in the height of all their glory and confidence they are often gon in a moment A Christian stands sure which way ever the wheel of Providence moves it moves in favour of the upright he is still uppermost when he is undermost he hath the better when he hath the worst all the vicissitudes and returns of Prosperity and affliction do make no change upon him as to the main he is as happy under all his outward losses as in his greatest gains he 's as honourable under the greatest contempt that 's poured out upon him as under the highest humane applause he 's as safe in the greatest dangers as when there is no danger appearing he 's built upon that Rock whence the greatest winds and waves can never beat him down he 's built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Ephes 2. 20. He hath Religion Righteousness Innocency yea the Truth and Strength of the Almighty God to uphold him if ever a Christian falls Christ must fall with him if ever a Christian falls the Scripture must fall with him That Word concerning which Christ hath said Matth. 24. 35. Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Word shall not pass away He shall never be disappointed of his hopes unless faithfulness can disappoint he shall never be deceived till Truth becomes a lye he shall never wholly be overcome unless Almightiness become weakness The carnal world built all their hopes and comforts on the sand on the wisdom of the flesh on the riches strength and multitude of their partakers on the successes of their carnal counsels they bottom their very souls upon meer facies and presumptions upon that wood hay and stubbble the Doctrines Inventions and Traditions of men nay they have their foundation in the dirt and mire they strengthen themselves in their wickedness If iniquity be able to support them if Unrighteousness be able to exalt them if Unrighteousness can secure them they have something to lean upon but if Righteousness be it that must carry it if a good conscience simplicity and godly sincerity if the favour and faithfulness of God an interest in Christ be the only sure refuge then where are the generation of the ungodly When they are in the height of all their glory 't is but one turn of the wheel and they are thrown off their legs their hopes and their joys vanish and all their thoughts perish If God and Christ and Scriptures and Conscience be of any Consistency Christians have enough If unrighteousness and wickedness should carry it in this world never so clearly and constantly yet if righteousness and holiness will but carry it in the world to come Christians are safe enough Carnal men who build their hopes on this earth when the earth is shaken their hopes are shaken their hearts are shaken and they are even at their wits ends But saith the Psalmist Psal 112. 7 8. The heart of the righteous shall be established he shall not be afraid of any evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 46. 2 3. Therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into the Sea though the waters thereof roar and be troubled though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof Though all the earth should be in an uproar though the whole world should be turned topsie turvy yet we will not fear though the mountains shake yet our hearts shall not shake Are they not wise men that are gotten into such a case Reaf 4. The treasures of wisdom are found with them You will yet it may be be ready to say What have they gotten by their Wisdom Where is the Income and Revenue that all their wisdom hath brought them in If you were to give us an account of their losings you might easily bring in a long Bill some of them have had so little wit as to lose all they have but will you take your Bill and write down their gains Why if you will hearken to me a while I will shew you what they have gained They have gotten great treasure as poor as any of them seem to be they are the richest men in the world Particularly 1. They have gotten the Pearl Christ is theirs they are those Merchants Mat. 13. which have â—ought goodly Pearls and they have found the Pearl of greatest price Cant. 2. 6. My beloved is mine that Corner stone which is laid in Sion which is a precious stone 1 Pet. 1. he is theirs that Pearl which is the price of Souls the Ransom that was paid for them which is the food of Souls their bread and water thâ— living bread the water of life of which who so eateth and drinketh shall live for ever He is theirs God hath given them him whom they have sought Isa 9. 6. To us a Child is born to us a Son is given He is become their own and they call him their own My Lord and my God said Thomas My Saviour said Mary This is the richest of treasures that comprehends all treasures in it this will supply all their necessities make up all their losses they want nothing that have Christ to be theirs Other men have riches and I have none saith the Saint I but Christ is mine Other men have Friends in the world and I have none Oh! but I have Christ to be my friend Other men live at ease in their pleasures but it is not so with me but Christ is mine and I find rest and pleasure enough in him When I look upon the pomp and the glory and gallantry of the World I must say These are none of mine when I look upon the rich fields the pleasant Vallies the fruitful Hills the Oxen and the Sheep the Gold and the Silver of the Earth I must say These are none of mine but yet the Pearl is mine and that is all things to me 2. They have gotten the Whtie Stone the stone of absolution Râ—â— 2. 7. I will give him the White Stone which is a Token of absolution It was a custom among the Heathens to absolve Persons by giving them a White Stone and to condemn by giving a black Stone Rom. 5. 10. We have received the Atonement God is reconciled our sins are forgiven our Souls are absolved from those black Bills of Inditement which were laid in against us we have received the Signal of this Atonement the holy Dove â—he Spirit of the Lord in our hearts and the sence of this Atonement hence arising the peace of God possesseth our hearts we taste and see what it is to be at peace with God in those smiles from his face in those dawnings of the light of his countenance and the shedding abroad his Love in our hearts Sinners whilst you carry with you every one his black stone his
evil men If they be hypocrites any of them and you know them to be such call them hypocrites but do not take the name of Saint or Precisian or holy Brother and put them as marks of disgrace and scorn upon them he that calls a Saint hypocrite reproaches the Christian he that in scorn calls an hypocrite Saint or holy Brother reproaches Christianity it self Vse 2. But I have yet a greater request unto you then to have a good opinion of these men and no longer to reproach them my request to you farther is That you would come in and be of this number Some of you it may be will be ready to reply he shall have hard work that will perswade me to be a Precisian and truly I am afraid so too if all that the Devil can do will hinder it if all that your carnal reason and fleshly lusts can do if all that your sinful companions can do will hinder it I shall be sure enough not to prevail with you yet know that the motion which I make to you is from the Lord and if you deny me you therein deny him and if you deny him you must come upon it there 's another day coming when he will deny you You say you will not be perswaded but what is it you will not be perswaded to Why this is it you will not take the Yoke of Christ upon you you will not be advis'd nor be rul'd by him so as to live as he would have you live but you will have your liberty still to walk according to your own mind and hâ—â—rt that is you will not be Christians Will you not Are you in good earnest Are you content that the Lord should take you at your word and for ever give you up to your hearts lust and let you alone to walk in your own counsels Are you content from henceforth to give up your hope in Christ are you content to be damn'd Brethren this is the choice you are put to either an holy Life or everlasting Death either you must submit to the Yoke of Christ or you can have no benefit by the Cross of Christ either you must kiss his golden scepter or be broken in pieces with his Rod of Iron refuse to follow him in his Kingdom of Grace and you thereby shut your selves out of the Kingdom of Glory Whereof that I may the more effectually convince you I shall yet farther prove to you both by Scripture and reason that this strict and precise way of life is so undoubtedly and absolutely necessary to salvation that whosoever doth not thus walk cannot escape the damnation of hell I know carnal men are confident that they shall be saved without so much ado and this is that which hardens them in their sins their strong conceit that the way is not so strait and narrow as many would make them believe they doubt not but they have found out a shorter and easier way than this and what is this easier way Why 't is but call upon God for mercy keep thy Church do no body any wrong be no drunkard no swearer no adulterer or if thou be sometimes overtaken ask God forgiveness cry God mercy and then hope well never despair of Gods mercy fear not thou shalt be safe enough Now I shall make it plain to you that this loose and easie way of Religion will certainly leave every soul that goes no further to perish everlastingly and that this strict holy life which hath been described is indispensably necessary to salvation Beloved the matter I am upon is weighty a mistake in your Religion is mortal if that which you have taken up for the way of life be not so you are undone for ever and that this your easie way is not it I shall now make evident 1. From Scripture Let us but seriously examine and weigh those many high expressions which we find in Scripture in the Commands Exhortations Instructions Instances Promises and Prayers recorded in it in all which the one way of life is described and then let any reasonable man judge if all this amount to no more than that poor and pitiful and empty thing which carnal men count their Religion 1. For Scripture-commands consider these Strive to enter in at the strait gate looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God Work out your salvation with fear and trembling not sloathful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord Put off concerning the conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Wash thine heart from thine iniquities that thâ—â— mayst be saved How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee â—et no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but speak ye that which is good to the use of edifying that may minister grace to the bearers Walk in love love one another love your Enemies bless them that curse you pray for them which persecute you render to no man evil for evil but overcome evil with goodness mortifie your members which are upon the Earth walk in the spirit abstain from all appearance of evil be watchful stand with your loyns girded and your lights burning 2. For Scripture-instructions consider these The Grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live righteously godly and soberly in â—his present World pure Religion and underfâ—led before God and the Father is this To visit c. and to keep himself unspotted of the World They that be Christs have crucified the flesh with affections and lusts He that is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement He that looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her in his heart Of every idle word men shall give account at the day of Judgment If any Man seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue that Mans Religion is vain 3 For Scripture-instances David is said to be a man after Gods own heart did that which was right in the sight of the Lord turned not Aside from any thing that the Lord had commanded him all the dayes of his life save only c. Of Josiah it is recorded That his heart was tender and perfect with the Lord his God and that he turned not aside to the right hand or to the left Paul professes that he served the Lord instantly night and day that forgetting those things which are behind he reached forth to the things that are before pressing to the mark c. The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God To me to live is Christ to dye is gain I so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the air but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest
preaching to others I my self should become a cast-away For Scripture-promises consider these Blessed are the poor in spirit bessed are the meek the merciful they that hunger and thirst after righteousness the pure in heart they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for they shall see God theirs is the Kingdom of heaven they shall be comforted filled and great is their reward in heaven For Scripture-prayers consider these The God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God that your whole spirit soul and body may be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight Multitudes of such like Scriptures might be added but these may suffice Now wherefore are all these things written Wherefore are these strict commands given these holy lives of Saints left upon Record these promises made and these prayers kept upon the file Are they not all written for our learning to let every man and woman understand what manner of persons they must be what manner of Lives they must live if they will be saved If less or a lower Religion would serve to what purpose is this waste If it be so People may forbear to charge Precisians with keeping more ado than needs and lay in their charge against the Scriptures for requiring more than needs But do you think indeed that the Scriptures have spoken these things in vain If it be not in vain if all this be comprehended under the one thing needful if all this do but shew us the one and only way of Life if we must be thus renewed and changed in our minds and must thus holily and unblameably order our Lives or else we cannot be saved as the Scriptures mentioned many of them expresly affirm then what will become of that poor confident multitude we are now dealing with Does all this amount to no more than keeping your Church saying your prayers learning and saying over the Creed and the Ten Commandments living peaceably with your Neighbours paying every man his own crying to God for mercy when you have committed a fin and the like Can you call this cold lifeless way your striving to enter in at the strait gate Is this your working out your salvation with fear and trembling Is this all that is meant by fighting the good fight of Faith by wresting against Flesh and Blood against Principalities and Powers by being instant in Prayer fervent in Spirit watching and running and pressing towards the mark Brethren if there be one way of Life if all this which hath been represented to you out of the Scriptures be to shew you from the Lord what â— strait way this one way of life is and if you will compare your way you depend upon with it methinks you shall need no more to convince you of your dangerous mistake hitherto and to leave you more ready to embrace the exhortation I am pressing upon you namely To come in among the number of and take upon the holy course of these circumspect Christians But if this be not sufficient I shall yet make it more evident by Reasons drawn from the Scripture which I shall give you in these Six Propositions 1. The Gospel requires as indispensably necessary to salvation inward holiness or the renewing of the heart or inner-man Needs this any proof to them that understand the Scriptures There must be another Spirit Numb 14. 24. A new heart Ezek. 36. 26. A clâ—an heart Psal 73. 1. A true heart or an upright heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience Hebr. 10. 22. Ezek. 18. 31. Make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye dye Jer. 4. 14. Oh Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved What do these Scriptures especially the addition in the two last For why will ye dye And that thou mayest be saved What do these import less than this That there is no salvation possible there is nothing but certain death and destruction to those whose hearts are not washed and made new John 3. 3. Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Except ye be converted ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God What is the product of this new birth or this conversion but a new creature Some there are it is true that interpret this Conversion which is made so necessary to Salvation to be nothing else but the coming of persons from Judaism or Paganism to Christianity to the owning and embracing the Christian Faith But if this be true then all that believe Christ to be the Messiah and are baptized and live in the profession of the Christian Faith shall be saved Come ye Drunkards come ye Adulterers Lyars Covetous with all the profane Root of Nominal â—â—ristians and keep an Holy-day to the memory of these two Doctors who bring you such a large and easie Gospel as will carry you all to Heaven with all your lusts and lewdness upon your backs But is this true Is this Gospel Is this all the conversion that is necessary to Salvation It cannot be For First There are many that embrace the Christian Faith that are Hypocrites and shall Hypocrites be saved Secondly There are many such Converts that walk disorderly whose God is their belly whose glory is their shame who minde earthly things Phil. 3. 18. Of whom the Apostle here tell us that their end is destruction 2. This inward Holinesse which the Gospel requires stands not in some sudden and unconstant good thoughts or some transient good affections but is an holy frame or habit thus much is intimated in the fore-mentioned expression Another Spirit a new Heart a new Creature An holy thought a good desire is another thing from a new heart they cannot so much as evidence that the heart is renewed as in a renewed heart there may be some evil thoughts and evil lusts arising and working so some good thoughts and affections may spring up in an evil heart true holiness is not a fit but a frame there may be fits of passion or of pride or of envy too often in a Saint and yet in the main he may be a Saint still There may be fits of devotion fits of zeal sometimes in a â—inner and yet he is a sinner still Holiness is the temper and constitution of a Christian his new nature that abideth in him 3. This inward â—â—bitual Holiness stands in an universal compliance of the heart with the whole Will of God the heart that is formed after the Image of God is conformed to the Will of God Psal 40. Thy Law is within my heart not a piece but the whole every word and tittle of it The Law is within me The Law is said to be within the heart of a Saint in a double senâ—e First It is published and revealed and made known in the heart it is understood
my trust in Christ that I shall be saved What trust in Christ and not turn to Christ Hope to be saved by Christ and refuse to be sanctified Will Christ redeem those from the Curse who will not be redeemed from iniquity Jer. 7. 9. Will ye steal and murther and commit Adultery and swear falsly c. And come and stand before me in my House and say we are delivered to do all these abominations Will you do wickedly walk in all manner of wantonnesse lasciviousnesse lust excesses c. and then come and take hold of a Redeemer as if you were delivered to do all this wickednesse Is my House become a Den of Robbers Are the Redeemed of the Lord a generation of Rebels Enemies of all Righteousnesse Lyars Proud Covetous Blasphemers Are these the followers of the Lamb 'T is true the Apostle sayes Such were some of you 1 Cor. 6. 11. Yet he adds But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Christianity without Godliness this is a fancy indeed Let every one that nameth the Lord Jesus depart from iniquity either turn from iniquity or talk no more of Christ a Christian and an Infidel are not more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than a Christian and a Libertine Take heed sinners and let not the Gospel undo you let not Mercy damn you put not your Faith to do the sad office of infidelity Beloved let it never be said while the Just live you must die by your Faith this is like to be your case you would never have dared so to have slighted Holiness and persisted in sin had it not been for your trust in Christ You must count Christ to be no Christ no Redeemer or but an half or deceitful Redeemer if you count your selves good Christians while you are yet in your sins You must have another Christ another Gospel ere ever you can be saved in your sinful state Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit This is Gospel wherein you have the Redeemeds Charter and the Redeemeds Character His Charter He shall not come into condemnation His Character He walks not after the flesh but after the Spirit that is He is a man of a godly life Whom doth the Gospel secure from condemnation Why those that are in Christ But who are they Why only those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit those that walk otherwise can have no benefit by the Gospel You all stand as convicted malefactors guilty of death you have sinned and what have you to say why you should not dye and have your sentence of condemnation past upon you May be you will call for a Psalm of mercy my Book Lord my Book the Gospel will I hope secure me No sinner thou canst not have it thou art one that livest after the flesh and canst not have the benefit of the Gospel This is the Law and the Gospel says not one word to reverse it If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Christ never intended the benefit of his Redemption to any of you whether you would repent or no be holy or no you may as well write for Gospel this He that believeth shall be damned as this He that obeyeth not the Gospel shall be saved And you may as well say that sinning is serving of Christ as that those that live after the flesh obey the Gospel 4. The Doctrine of Regeneration is a real truth There are three things most evident concerning this 1. That there is such a change and that necessary to salvation 2. That this is a great and mighty change 3. That this is an inward and Soul-change 1. That there is such a grace as Regeneration and that necessary to salvation 1 Joh. 3. 3. Verily verily or truly truly or certainly except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God 2. That the change that is wrought by Regeneration is a great and a mighty change it is as great as the making something of nothing Regeneration is a new Creation it is as great as the raising up of persons from death to life Regeneration is a Resurrection You hath he quicked who were dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. 1. There is as great a power as much of Divinity manifested in quickning a dead soul as in raising a dead body When God would confirm the faith of the Jews concerning their Conversion and Restauration after their cutting off which the Apostle tells us shall be as life from the dead he evidences that he was able to accomplish it by his making dry bones to live Ezek 37. 3. Can these bones live Son of man prophesie unto â—ese bones say unto them Oh ye dry bones hear the Word of the Lord 'T was a strange service the Prophet was put upon but yet â—e prophesies and behold there was a great shaking and bone came to his bone and they were covered with sinews and with flesh and the breath of life was breathed into them and they stood upon their feet a great Army These bones saith the Lord are the house of Israel and Judah That is as they lay in their state of rejection from God and if the Lord could not have made the bones to live he had failed of his confirmation of their faith touching the Redemption of this dead people When the Ministers of the Gospel are sent forth to preach to sinners it is even as likely a service as if they had been sent among the Tombs and the Graves to prophesie to the Skulls and the Bones and the dust of the dead And if there were not a Divine and Almighty power accompanying their Ministry their successe would be the same as if they had been preaching the beasts of â—he field into Men or of Stones attempting to raise up Children unto Abraham 3. It is an Inward Soul change Regeneration is â—he uniting of dead Souls to Christ Gal. 4. 19. My little Children of whom I travel in birth untill Christ be formed in you Here note three things 1. That the result of this union with Christ is a new Life 1 John 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath Life Generatio unius est corruptio alterius In this Generation there is a Death and a Life 1. A Death Colos 3. 3. Ye are dead that is Your sins are dead your old man is dead Our old man is crucified with him Rom. 6. 2. A Life There is new sense and motion there is a living power communicated to souls united to Christ whereby they are enabled to move and act in such an holy spiritual and heavenly way as was impossible before Grace is a living thing that spirits and animates all the Faculties a new that puts life into all the duties and performances of the Saints which though for the matter of them they might
have been done before yet they were but the dead carcasses of duties rather than the things themselves 2. This new Life is a nâ—w Nature the Saints participation of the Nature of Christ a change of the qualities of the soul they are new Creatures that have passed the new Birth The second Adam as well as the first brings forth his Children in his own likeness The divine Birth is the bringing forth of the divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. As they said vainly the Gods are come down in the likeness of men It may be here said truly Men are raised up in the likeness of God renewed after his Image made partakers of his holiness Those that put any thing less in this charge than the new creature make Regeneration to be as very a contradiction as the Popish Transubstantiation Bread is made a God and yet bread is still a brute is made a Saint and yet remains a brute still A God under the accidents of bread and a Saint under the qualities of a Swine 3. This new nature is a glorious nature comprehending in it that divine light whereby the Saintâ— are inabled to understand and look into the depths of eternity the invisible things of God the mysteries of the glorious Gospel that divine love and faith and hope and the whole train of glorious graces together with those principles of righteousness Truth Mercy Charity c. whereby they are made capable of injoying fellowship and communion with God of bearing his Name shewing forth his Vertues and Praises before the world and doing his will In sum it is the Image of God the Epistle of Christ written upon the Tables of their hearts And thus much those Scriptural expressions New creatures partakers of the Divine Nature partakers of his holiness children of light with the life do signifie and import What a strange piece of vanity should we make of the Scriptures if all these high and various expressions should signifie no more than that empty and pitiful thing that carnal men do count their Religion or godliness that ever that ignorant Sottish formal brutish generation which have no more of the knowledge of God than an Heathen no more of the life of God than a Stock no more of Religion than to say over a Prayer by rote So far from being partakers of the new Nature that they know not whether there be any such thing or what it is That ever such a blind senseless multitude should be imagined to be the persons whom the Scripture means by new Creatures the Children of God the Children of Light the Images of God Much more that those that live after the flesh who are proud covetous sensual filthy beastly in their conversations yet if they have been baptized and passed under that sacramental Regeneration and do but say now and then I repent or God forgive me that these also are the children of God and have all that new Birth which is necessary to their seeing the Kingdom of God Who can with any colour of reason imagine Such as can make themselves believe this have made such a forfeiture of their understandings that they may be like in time to believe that the Devil is God and that Hell is Heaven and may even take up the Alcoran for their Bible and let the Scriptures go for a Fable Sinners consider with your selves is there any such thing as the new Birth Can there be a New Birth without a New Life Doth Christ bring forth Dead Children or do dry bones live Doth the Gospel bring forth monstrous births Children without eyes without an head without an heart or with the heart of a beast under the face of a man Doth it bring forth Serpents Vipers Dogs Swine for its Children and must the Kingdom of Heaven be peopled with such Inhabitants as these If these be the Children of the Kingdom where or who are the Children of this World are the Nathaniels the Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile Are these the true seed and the Saints spurious are these the sons and the Saints bastards Or if you will let these vile ones of the earth go as none of the seed take the best of carnal men that have the fairest face of Religion and form of holiness without the in-side the new nature are these they Is the shadow the substance and the substance but a shadow To say that the inward life of godliness the spirit and soul of Christianity is but a conceit and this out-side is all this Christianity is as good reason as to affirm that a picture is a man and that a living man is but a picture and as good Divinity as I my self heard Preached at Oxford about thirty years since by a zealous Advocate for the lawfulness of Sports on the Lords Day who Preaching about the observation of the Sabbath and distinguishing betwixt the Substantial and the Circumstantial duties of that day said That Preaching is a Religious Ceremony Praying is a Religious Ceremony but bowing at the Name of Jesus standing at the Creed and Gospel Holy and Religious Feasting Holy and Religous Dancing these are the Substantials Hence it follows 1. That Regeneration is not a Suppositious change or the counterfeit of a change there is some difference hereby put betwixt persons and persons the Regenerate and the Unregenerate are not one and the same no more than the living and the dead 2. It is not a bare Relative change as Justification and Adoption are held to be there is a change of nature wrought by it and not barely of Relation 3. It is not a Superficial change or meerly outward that goes only skin-deep it is not as 't is said concerning Baptism only the washing away of the filth of the flesh the cleansing of the out-side and leaving lust to reign within Regeneration is the change of the man and not barely of the manner 4. In this change we may read all godliness we may read the use of things very much in their beings we may know wherefore they are much the better if we understand what they are Gods expectations may he read in his operations we may understand much of our work by observing Gods work upon us As God in making men living souls does thereby tell us he expects other things from them than from dead stocks and stones and in making them reasonable souls intimates that he expects they should live other lives than dogs or swine so in making them Christians making them partakers of the Divine Nature he makes it evident that he expects they should live another life than other men The new life or life of godliness may be read in our new birth or new natures The Regenerate are said Eph. 2. 10. To be created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God had before ordained that they should walk in them Created unto good works that notes two things 1. Intended to good works 2. Fitted to good works 1. That in their new
of their time on the Devil but all on God Or is this the conceit That this well-doing is necessary to our well-being Let this be granted that there is no fancy in all this and I have at once dispatched my whole undertaking and if I had no more to say have sufficiently made it good to you that strict godlinesse is no fancy For this doctrine of good works which I have laid before you this is Godlinesse godlinesse in the greatest severity and strictnesse of it grant a necessity of such a life as this and you grant all that is desired And can any of this be denied Must we serve the Lord To be doing good is the same with serving God Must we serve the Lord only and wholly may not sin claim a share and now and then something to be done for the Devil Must we serve the Lord with all our might or may less serve Consider that Scripture Luke 17. 10. When you have done all that you can say we are unprofitable servants we have done no more than is our duty to do When we have given unto God all that we owe him then let the flesh and the Devil take the rest Beloved consider what I have said and observe whether all that diligence faithfulness zeal tenderness and preciseness which the strictest Christians either do or profess be not included in these three things to serve the Lord with all our might to the end of our dayes and in a constant and continued course of godliness Christians now that you see that little weight or reason hitherto there appears in this charge of the world against us let us be encouraged to hold fast and hold on our holy course let our practises be exact according to our principles and let our principles alone to plead for themselves God will plead for them against all the world Let us noâ— give occasion to evil men to charge us with looseness and then we may give them leave to charge us witâ— overmuch strictness But oh how much reason have we to blame ouâ—selves on the one hand whilest they injuriously blame us on the other Too strict too precise too painful in the work of the Lord Oh how sadly deficient rather are we How spare are our duties how little is our care how uneven are our goings We need not fear any excess where we feel so many defects Oh how scanty are our services for our God how barren are our fields how thin do our good fruits spring up Sinners charge us with our barrenness and we will joyn with you in the charge The Lord pardon us it is but little that we have brought forth our good fruits are but like the gleanings of the harvest here and there an ear or a poor handful or like the gleanings of the Olive tree Is 17. 6. Two or three berries in the top of the uppermostboâ—gh four or five in the outmost fruitful branchesâ— Blessed be God for any thing but woe to us that there is no more it is but here a little and there a little here a line and there a blank that we have to shew Oh how many Chasms and Vacuities are there to be found in our course how many empty hours and empty dayes have we lived concerning which if we should have asked Anima quâ—d fecisti â—odie Soul what account canst thou give of this dayes work Instead of giving in our Bill we must give in a Blank and write down nothing but Perdidi Perdidi I have lost a day more Oh Brethren let us take heed of giving in any more such blank accounts lest from our Perdidi we should at last come to write down Perii perii I am lost I am undone I have lost so much time that now I am afraid I have lost my Souâ— Beloved whilst others bespatter our diligence let us bewaile our negligence let us bewail it and amend If to be strict and watchful and fruitful be to be vile and foolish let us resolve with that holy King We will be more vile then this we will be more foolish then this if this be folly whilst men charge us that our Religion is fancy we have no such way to vindicate it and prove it a reality but by being more Religious more strictly so more fruitfully so our fruitfulness in good works will be the proof of our sincerity and will silence our adversaries calumnies Object But is there so much in this Doctrine of good works and all necessary to Salvation who then can be saved May not a good will serve to make 〈◊〉 the defects of good Works We have heard that God accepts the will for the deed and we hope that though we have done little yet that this will be accepted that we have a willing minde Sol. Though this be a truth and may administer comfort of Christians in many cases that a willing minde is accepted with God where there is little done yet because it hath been by divers much mistaken and abused and this miâ—â—ke hath probably proved fatal to many a Soul being made use of to serve for an excuse of a lazy heart and bâ—rren life give me leave before I proceed any farther to turn aside a little and make some stay upon the consideration hereof and to shew you in what sense the will may be accepted where the work is not done There is a question put amongst the School-men whether a will to sin where the Act follows not conracts not as great a guilt in the sight of God as both the will and the Act and Durandus determines it thus The reason why the will to sin brings not forth the Act may be twofold either Propter incompletam impersectam voluntatem because the will is not so fully and peremptorily resolved set upon it or else Propter impedimentum aliquod because though the will be fully resolved upon it yet there is something that hinders the execution as it may be want of power or opportunity to commit it now in the first case says he where the reason of the nor acting the sin is the incompleatness of the Will therâ— the will without the act is not as great a sin as the will and act together but if the will were so fully resolved that it would have brought forth the act if it had not been hindred there the guilt is as great if the sin be not committed as if it had been committed There may be use of this to the determining the present quâ—â—on where there is a will to perform a duty and yet it is not â—â—â—ne if the reason of the failing be not from the â—â—mpleatness of the will but from some unavoid â—â—inderance there the will is accepted as if the wâ—â—k had been done where the will is so strongly set upon a duty as that it would have brought forth the performance had it not been for some invincible hindrance it shall not fail of acceptance the reason is because where
the defect is not in the will God hath the heart and wheresoever God hath the heart there is certain acceptance with God where the heart is ingaged against any particular lust and is resolved upon it this lust I must mortifie and through the help of God will seek its destruction though it cannot yet compass it yet this resolution evidences that the heart is on Gods side it doth not side with lust against God but â—â—des with God against lust and so in all other the like cases 2 Cor. 8. 11. If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not He that gives according to what he hath he that does according to what he hath and does it heartily shall be accepted undoubtedly It may be thy case may be such sometimes that to will may be all thou hast towards a Duty As for instance when thou hast a will to shew mercy to give an Almes if thou hast nothing to give thy will is all thou hast 'T is true there may be mistakes and we are too apt to such mistakes to impute our failings in duty to want of ability when they are from want of will How ordinarily do men thus excuse their grossest neglects even when they yield themselves over to an universal careless and idle life wherein there is not the least care or pains taken to please or follow God Why I do what I can I can do no more than I can â—ould live a better life but I cannot when yet the will is onely in fault though you can do 〈◊〉 than you can yet if you had a good will to it you â—ight do more than you do But still the great question â—â—â— be How may I knovv in case of failings of persâ—â—â—ance whether my will be so fully set upon my duty that there would be performance if it were not hindred if it were not for vvant of povver or opportunity I answer 1. There is no pleading want of ability to excuse a total neglect of godliness if the pretence be of want of ability to live a godly life in general I am willing to live a godly life but cannot there 't is certain the defect is in the will the Spirit of Sanctification is a Spirit of power and where the will is once savingly renewed by that mighty Spirit there is certainly such a power communicated as will infallibly bring on the soul to follow God in a course of Godliness whatever particular weaknesses and failings there may be 2 Tim. 1. 7. God hath not given us a spirit of feâ—r but of power and of love and of a sound mind Jer. 42 20 21. Ye dessâ—mble in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God saying pray for us and whatsoever the Lord our God shall speak we will do it Here was a fair promise what could be said more whatever the Lord shall say we will do and like enough they might have some intention to it but sayes the Prophet Ye dissemble with me all the while why how does that appear why in the next verse sayes he I have this day declared it to you but you have not done any thing for which the Lord your God sent me to you If your hearts had been right there would have been something done but you have done nothing Beloved you that say you fain would follow God but cannot you would fain live a godly life but do nothing towards iâ—â— you would willingly leave off your worldly lifeâ— or your fleshly life or your idle life you would fain leave off your drinking and gaming and wantonness and betake your selves to praying and repenting and denying your selves and minding your souls and the things of eternity but you are not able the meaning is this you are not willing you cannot find in your hearts to take up such a course you have some velleities some wishes and weak inâ—linations to godliness but no will to it if there were a willing mind within doubtless there would be some sign of it in your course without 2. For particular duties when we are willing to them and yet fall short of performance we may know that the will would bring forth the acts were it not for some great impediments 1. When the non-performance of duty brings forth sorrow and trouble of heart when it is a grief of mind to us that we cannot doe what we would Rom. 7. 18 19 24. To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I finde not the good that I would doe c. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death That which hindred him was a sore â—urthen to him under which he groans and pasâ—ionately wishes for his redemption and deliverance from it those who in case of â—ailings are quiet and well enough contented much more those who are glad of an excuse as too often 't is to be observed in many who when they are put upon â—ifficult or displâ—asing Duties are glad they have so much to say for themselves that they are not able or have not opportunity 't is â—n argument that little would have been done â—ad they had never so great ability 2. When if we cannot doe the duty we do what we can towards it A man that â— poor and can't give an alms to his Brethren in distresse yet he can pitty them pray for them make their case known to others that can relieve them if he do not what he can if he do not open his bowels to them though he cannot open his hand though he had never so much his poor brother would be like to be little the better The poor Widow that cast in her Mite into the Treasury which was all she had 't was a sign she had a large heart though she gave so small a gift 1 King 8. 17. David had it in his heart to build an House for God and yet did it not the Lord hindred him How may it be known that David would indeed if he might have built it why by this it appeared though he might not do it yet he did what he might towards it though he might not build yet he prepared materials for the building If thou art but a babe in Christ hast had but a little time hast yet but a little understanding a little strength though thou canst not follow the Lord in such exactnesse not attain to such a fruitful life as those that are grown and experienced Christians have attained to yet if whilst thou art but a child thoâ— dost follow the Lord as a child according to the measure of thine understanding and ability thou art yet unskilful and performest thy duties in a broken manner but yet thou dost perform them thou art weak as a child but yet art tractable as a child willing to be led where thou canst not go if it be thus with thee thou netdst
worship to be the Soul and the Soul to be nothing Be not conceited that the outward part is the worship and the inwaâ—â— but a conceit Brethren the living God will have living services the God of our spirits will have the service of our spirits the worshipping God in spirit this is the true worship God will not be and take heed you be not cheated with shews When all the men of the world with their wits parts and interists have commended garnished and magnified the carcass of Religion and decryed and disgraced its soul and life yet this shall still stand as an irrefragable Truth They are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh 2. Worshipping God through the spirit through the help and assistance of the Spirit of God as to instance in prayer Jude 20. Praying in the Holy Ghost Rom. 8. 26. The Spirit it self helpeth our infirmities The Spirit of God affords a three-fold help in prayer 1. He indites our requests suggests matter of Prayers to us who as the Apostle there tells us Know not what we â—â—â—uld pray for as we ought Carnal mens lusts do often make their Prayers and then no wonder they ask amiss when they should be seeking the death of their lust they ask meat for their lusts we often not knowing what we ought to ask do ask we know not what we ask a stone a Serpent a Scorpion somtimes when we think we ask bread If God should alwaies give his people their prayers their prayers would undo them When we are poor we ask riches and it may be if God should give us them our riches might undo us Somtimes we ask ease or credit or liberty and if we had what we ask it might be our ruine the Spirit of God knows what 's fit for us and accordingly guides our prayers He helps us to understâ—â—â— our sins and so teaches us what confession to make carnal men will confess sins but any sins rather then their own He helps us to understand our wants and so teaches us what to ask He helps us to understand our mercies and so teaches us what to give thanks for carnal men often come before the Lord with mock praises give thanks for their election justification sanctification hope of glory when it may be the power of sin and the wrath of God abides upon them and they remain without Christ and without hope and without God in the world the Spirit of God if they had him would make their devotions more reasonable and regular 2. He excites and quickens and enlarges their hearts in prayer The Spirit of God comes in and influences upon the heart and draws forth the soul and this is the import of the following words The Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered that is he sets up a groaning and sighing after the Lord. Groaning notes the strentgh and ardency of desire which through the servency of it puts the Soul to paine and an holy impatience till it be heard in which sence it s used verse 21. For we our selves who have received the first fruits of the spirit groan within our selves waiting for the adoption even the redemption of our body It works such groanings as cannot be uttered it sometimes makes the hearts of Christians too big for their mouths their desires more larger then their expressions as much warmth and life and strength of affection as there does appear without there 's more withinâ—t Oh how flat and dead are our hearts oftentimes how much are we straitned in our prayers we stand as men struck dumb when we come before the Lord or if there be words in our mouths there is scare any word in our hearts sometimes we cannot speak and if we can speak we cannot groan the Spirit doth either put words in our mouths or else supply the want of words by kindling and enlarging inward desires helping us to groan out a prayer when we cannot speak it out and silent groans will sound in the ears of the Lord when the loudest cryes may not be heard 3. He encourages and emboldens the heart in prayer enables us to call God Father to pray to him to cry to him to be confident of audience and acceptance with him upon this ground Gal. 4. 6. God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father And hereby he furnisheth us with a mighty Argument to plead with God Father hear me Father forgive me Father pity me Father help me Am not I thy childe thy Son or thy Daughter To whom may a childe be bold to go With whom may a child have hope to speed if not with his Father Father hear me The Fathers of our Flesh are full of bowels and full of pity to their Children and know how to give good things to them when we ask them when they ask Bread will they deny them when they ask cloaths or any thing they want will they deny them And is not the Father of Spirits more full of bowels more full of bounty than the Fathers of our Flesh Father hear me This is praying in the Spirit and if this be a fancy with you I must tell you sinners that it is such a fancy as experienced Christians that have most proved it would not lose for all your substance But will you stand to it Is this Fanatical praying indeed then bring your Index expurgatorius and expunge these Textâ— out of the Scriptures or else if you let them stand and look over them again you will next say Their Bible is as Fanatical as themselves But let me add one word to convince you from your own judgement if you understand what you doe that praying in the Spirit is no fancy and this by putting this one Question to you Dare any of you all when you goe to God in Prayer deliberately refuse to begge the assistance of his Spirit Whether you use a Form or Pray without a Form that is not so material The assistance of the Spirit is needed as well of those that use a Form as of those that pray without it Nor dare you I say when you goe to pray deliberately refuse to beg the assistance of the Spirit Dare you say Lord I need not nor desire any such assistance I will not ask it of thee that thy Spirit may be given into me to help mine infirmities If you beg the assistance of the Spirit you hope to have it and if you have it there is that praying in the Spirit which you cry down for a fancy Judge now whether you do not condemn the things which your selves allow and in your Judgement and Practice justifie the reallity of that Duty which with your mouths you decree for Fanatical Will you also be his Disciples Will you also be Fanaticks 2 Walking in 〈◊〉 Spirit this is no fancy Gal. 5. 25. If we live in the Spirit let
us also walk in the Spirit In the prosecution of this I shall shew 1. What is meant by the Spirit 2. What by walking in the Spirit 3. That it is no fancy 1. What is meant by the Spirit here That being something that is opposed to the Flesh or corruption as appears verse 16 17. must of necessity be one of these two things possibly both either the Holy Ghost and the influence assistance and operations of that holy Spirit or else that New Nature which is begotten in us by the Spirit the Grace of the Spirit infused into our hearts and abiding in us which of the two we understand it of the difference will not be considerable 2. What is meant by walking in the spirit Some there are that by Spirit understand the Doctrine of Christianity and accordingly would have this walking in the Spirit to be nothing else but the embracing the Christian Religion But if this be so then what is to be understood by flesh which verse 17. is said to be contrary to this Spirit Why by flesh they will tell us we are to understand Judaism but then let me ask 1. What is meant by the lusting of this flesh which was now dead against the Spirit Is that the meaning of it Judaism lusteth against Christianity 2. How can this dead flesh have such a numerous off-spring as is mentioned verse 10. The works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleannesse Lasciviousnesse Idolatries Witchcraft Hatred Variance c. Must all these brats be laid aâ—â—he door of the Synagogue are these the brood of that Ceremonious Law of Carnal Commandments or are they not manifestly the fruits of that corrupt Law of Carnal Concupiscence I know not with what shadow of reason we can understand by the flesh any thing else but Lust or Concupiscence and then by the Spirit we must understand grace or the Spirit of Grace which bid defiance and are contrary to it Let us consider further What is meant by that expression of being led by the Spirit Rom. 8. 14. Why possibly the same men will tell us there is no more in this then in the former it implores no more than the Spirits leading us into all Truth the truth of the Gospel as the Star led the Wise men of the East to the Messiah If this be granted to be all yet here we have gotten somthing viz. That the Spirit of God is acknowledged to be our leader but let us consider one Scripture more Ezek. 36. 27. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes What are those Statutes of God but the whole Will and Word of God One or two of them I shall mention If any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his Cross and Follow me Work out your salvation with fear and trembling Quench not the Spirit Abstain from all appearance of evil See that you walk circumspectly c. Are not these and many more such found and unrepeal'd in this great Statute Book What is it to walk in these Statutes other then to live in the sincere obedience of the whole Will of God Now saies the Lord I will give my Spirit and he shall cause them or help them to walk in my Statutes to live an holy life Let these things be considered and see if they will not help us to a better interpretation of those words Walk in the Spirit Why what is the meaning then of them I shall give you the Judgment of one who was no Phanatick Cornelius A Lapide who in his Commentary on ver 16. of this Chapter interprets the same words thus Walk in the Spirit that is Vitam actiones mores instituite secundum dictamen instinctum impulsum spiritus ac gratiae immissae inditae vobis à spiritu sancto qui suadet monet ut spiritualiter vivamus To walk in the Spirit signifies 1. To live under the conduct of the Spirit 2. To live in the power of the Spirit 3. To live a Spiritual life 1. To live under the conduct and guidance of the Spirit Rom. 8. 14. As many as are led by the Spirit are the Sons of God There is a double Guide whereby the Lord leads his people The Guide of his Word Psalm 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel And the guide of his Spirit John 16. 13. He shall lead you into all truth There are two things which the Spirit doth in leading on his People First He enlightens their Eyes opens their Understandings that they may understand the Scriptures which point out to us our way Luke 24. 45. Then opeued he their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures Secondly He takes them by the hand as it were and leads them Isa 40. 11. He shall gather the Lambs with his arm and carry them in his Bosome and shall gently lead those that are with young 2. To live in the power of the Spirit or of that inherent and assisting Grace which we receive from him to be carried on in an holy course and all the Duties of it both from the intrinsâ—cal power of the Life of God begotten in us and by the concurrent Influences and assistance of the Holy Ghost whom God hath given us to help our infirmities As in the Duty of Prayer Rom. 8. 26. So in all other Christian Duties John 15. 5. Without me sayes Christ that is without the assistance of my Spirit ye can do nothing Therefore the Psalmist resolves Psalm 71. 16. I will goe in the strength of the Lord and by thee I will make mention of thy Name And this living in the power of the Spirit is no other then is signified if we did understand what we say in those common expressions which we ordinarily have in our mouths By the grace of God or by the help of God I will do this or that What the Apostle speaks of himself as Minister is applicable to Christians 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more abundantly then they all yee not I but the Grace of God which was with me Thus to walk in the Spirit is to follow those directions and intimations of the Will of God which he gives us out of the Word and those impulses of the Spirit upon our hearts whereby as by a gale of Wind filling onr Sails he moves and helps us on When you find any clear light breaking in from the Word upon your Consciences and thereupon some stirrings upon your hearts either by the way of check restraining and calling you back from any irregular or disorderly walking or quickening and encouraging you on in a way of duty this you may safely take to be from the Spirit and when you entertain this light obey these checks and follow these holy impulses this is your walking in the Spirit 3 To live a spiritual Life In whom the Spirit hath begotten another heart those he leads on in another life He that is
born of the Spirit is a spiritual man and those that are led by the Spirit walk on in a spiritual course that is they live a more noble and raised life then the rest of the world Carnal men who are governed and ruled by that evil spirit that is in the world live an evil and carnal life worldly spiritual men a worldly life sensual men a sensual life Ephes 2. 2 3. Wherein in time past ye walked after the course of this World according to the Prince of the power of the Air the spirit that now worketh in the children of Disobedience among whom we also had our conversations in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind Whilest we were in the common state we took the common road whilest we were in the flesh fleshly men we lived a fleshly life To serve ouâ— bellies to serve our appetites to serve our pride and covetousness and other lusts this was our life And this life was sutable to that Spirit which was within them and that evil Spirit the Prince of this world without them that govern'd and steer'd their course Accordingly the Saints having a new heart within and a new leader without do lead a new life as the flesh and the Devil carry evil men on in a course sutable to their leaders so the Spirit and Grace of God carry on the Saints in a course sutable to theirs an holy spiritual and heavenly lifâ— So that this is to walk in the Spirit to live holily and spiritually this is that life which is called The life of God Ephes 4. 19. The Conversation in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. Our Conversation is in Heaven And a Spiritual and Heavenly Life this may be called upon a three-fold account 1 Their dealings are about Spiritual and Heavenly things 2 Their delights are Spiritual and Heavenly 3 By these Spiritual dealings and delights themselves become daily more Spiritual 1 Their dealings are about Spiritual and Heavenly things God and Heaven and everlasting Glory and those spiritual Exercises whereby God is served and Glory obtained these are the matters about which this life is spent They live with God they hold daily intelligence with Heaven they are much in the contemplating and admiring and adoring the infinite beauty and incomprehensible perfections of God and his unspeakable love and gracâ— and goodness towards them They are searching into the Mysteries of Christ studying out the riches of the glory of the Mystery of the Gospel They live amongst Angels their hearts and their eyes are dayly in that general Assembly and Church of the first-born When they sleep they lay them down under the wings of their Lord no sooner are they awake but they get them up to the top of Pisgah to take a view of the Promised Land When I awake I am ever with thee says the Psalmist When the covetous man awakes he is with his God when the Epicure awakes he is with his God when the Adulterer awakes he is with his Goddess Christians are presently above the clouds above the stars falling down before the Throne of the Almighty Their work is to seek and serve and praise and please the Lord to carry themselves so that they may be accepted to God to be washing their robes and making them white in the bloud of the Lamb to be minding their souls consciences affections thoughts that these may all in their several capacities exalt and enjoy the Lord Their Trading is for the Pearl whilest the Merchants of the Earth are trading for Gold and Silver and Spices whilest the Muck-worms of the world are dealing in Corn and Sheep and Oxen and Asses whilst the vâ—luptuous wantons of the earth are dealing about fashions and feasts and sports trading in Toyes Feathers Apes and Peacocks Christians are trading in Promises and Prayer in Faith and Repentance in Patience and Humility in Mercy and Charity that by these they may make their Calling and Election sure and so an entrance may be administred unto them abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ These are the businesses of Christians lives their dealings are about spiritual things 2 Their delights are in spiritual things The Lord is the delight of their hearts Delight thy self in God sayes the Psalmist Psal 37. 4. And what he bids others do he does himself Psal 16. 8 9. I have set the Lord always before me therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth The thoughts of God are dear and precious to them The Word and Law of God is their delight Psal 1. His delight is in the Law of his God The Courts of the Lord his Ordinances Worship Sabbaths are their delight Psal 84. 1. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts Their work is their delight Psal 40. I delight to do thy will Their hardest works Fasting and Watching and Wrestling and Fighting against Sin and Temptations crucifying and mortifying their own flesh denying themselves mourning for sin there is much sweetness they find in their very travels and tears and sorrowings as sorrowing sayes the Apostle yet alwayes rejoycing As Solomon speaks of Carnal Mirth Prov. 14. In the midst of laughter the heart is sad so it may be said of spiritual Mourning in the midst of sorrow the heart is joyful the heart of a Saint is never in so sweet a frame as when it is melted into godly sorrow but especially Christ is their deleght he is the deliciae Christiani orbis Canticleâ— 2. 3. I sate down under â—is shadow with great delight Carnal men are ready to say to them as the Daughters of Jerusalem to the Spouse Cant. 5. 9. What is thy beloved more â—en another beloved What beauty is there in him that thou shouldest thus desire him or take such pleasure in him They see no beauty in him he hath no Form nor comeliness in their eye and therefore they think there is none Oh Sinners you do not know Christ you have had no acquaintance with him you have not tâ—sted of the fruits of this Tree of the clusters of this Vine I sate me down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweeâ— to my taste Saints have tasted of the sweetness of Christ tasted that the Lord is gracious and therefore can take great delight in him The delight they take in Christ is that which puts such a delight into every Ordinance into every Duty therefore Praying and Reading is so pleasant to them because there they meet with their Beloved Christ appears to them in his Word Christ meets his Saints in their Prayings and Fastings and this makes all sweet to their souls Carnal men think the life of Saints to be an heavy a sad and most troublesome life they count that themselves have the onely merry and pleasant lives that their Hawks and Hounds their Carding and Dicing and Drinking and Dancing their Seews and Plays that these are the onely Heaven This
reproached Mean you still to hold your course be it right or wrong come life come death Is there any among you whose heart smites him on the mouth and whispers him thus in the ear Blasphemest thou God revilest thou his servants and wilt thou still go on to pervert the good ways of the Lord Is there any among you that doth enquire what must I do to get into this way of life Let such of you hearken unto me whilest I give you these following directions Consider that I am now dealing with you about your entrance upon a godly life my present business is to help you over the threshold to get you within the straight gate you must first be Christians ere you can follow Christ you must first enter into the strait gate e're you can walk on in the narrow way Now if ever you would attain to the beginning of godliness take this course I. Get these three principles to be deeply fixed in your heart 1 That the things which are eternal are unspeakably more considerable than the things which are but temporal 2 Thaâ— things not sâ—en are as infallibly certain as the things which are seen 3 That according to your present choice must be your eternal lot 1 That the things which are Eternal are unspeakably more considerable then the things which are but temporal It 's nothing so considerable what men enjoy or suffer 〈◊〉 this world as what they shall enjoy or may suffer in the world to come There are good things temporal and good things Eternal and there are evil thinâ—s temporal and evil things Eternal the â—ood things Temporal are Meat and Drink and Money and Cloaths and Ease and Pleasures and Credit c. and the good thing Eternal aâ—e Gâ—ory and Joy and Best and everlasting blessedness the evil 〈◊〉 Temporal are the sufferings the losses and wants the sorrow and shame and scorn and torments that men fall under or lye under in this life the evill things to come are in one word the Vengeance of Eternal Fire The good things and the evil things of this life are more perceptible having the advantage of their presence and obviousness to our senses the good things and the evil things to come are less understood having the disadvantage of their distance and those clouds that do yet keep them out of fight and hereupon those are slighted and despised and these are looked upon as the onely considerable things till men be set right in their apprehensions of these things it will be a vain and fruitless attempt to perswade them to Christ mistakes and misapprehensions here are the grounds of mens miscarriages The difficulty of perswading sinners to Christ lies mainly here There is so much to be lost and left for Christ there is so much to be suffered undergone so much labour so much hardship and trouble that they cannot see how Christianity and Godliness can ever make them amends for what they are like to suffer they will not be made sensible that the things Eternal will ballance the things that are before them they will not easily be perswaded but that they shall be great losers by hearkning to Christ Now whence is it that men are thus foolish If they did but clearly understand and were deeply affected with the vast difference that is betwixt the vain glory of the world and the weight of that glory that is to come betwixt the light afflictions of this life and the astonishing torments of the other world they would sure be of another mind the great objections against godliness would then be all answered and removed Thou sayest Sinner it is hard to part with thine ease and thy pleasure and thy liberty and thy carnal contentments and delights which if thou wilt follow Christ thou seest must all go But how wilt thou bear it to be shut out of the everlasting Kingdome to be shut out from the presence of God Art thou indeed in the mind of that Atheist that said He would not leave his part in Paris for his part in Paradise Thou canst not indure the trouble and persecution of this world but how wilt thou endure the torments and plagues of the other world Oh if thou were but sensible what that exceeding eternal weight of glory is what thou wilt find everlasting death and darkness to be then what significant things would all things that are now before thee appear to be Satan would then want arguments to disswade sinners from Christ his tempting trade would quickly grow to be a poor trade if the concernments of Eternity were clearly understood and duly regarded When the Lord hath once shewed you the wonderful things of Eternity the true riches the enduring substance the lasting joys his rivers of pleasures together with the worm that never dieth and the fire that never shall be quenched When the Lord hath shewed you what a heaven he hath prepared for the Saints what an Oven he hath prepared for sinners then neglect Christ if you can then neglect holiness if you dare then look down and see what poor contemptible things the pleasures and the sufferings here below will appear to be Oh study things Eternal more lanch forth into these Deeps dwell upon the meditation of them till your hearts and all that is within you acknowledge and confess that things present are nothing to things to come 2. That the things that are not seen are as infallibly certain as the things that are seen There is much Atheism and Infidelity in the hearts of men and more then they are aware of if they do not peremptorily conclude there are no such things yet are there not many whose hearts do question at least Whether there be any such things or no We have read and heard of another World but no Mortal ever saâ— it who ever hath ascended up to Heaven and hath brought us word what he hath seen there Who ever hath descended into the Deep and brought us up tidings thence It may be there may be no such matter as another world If we could speak with one that hath been there that would be something to assure us But what if it appear that you may have as great certainty of these things as if one should rise from the dead and come and tell you Do not the Scriptures tell you of such things The Scriptures are a sure Word and there is unquestionable evidence of the truth of what they speak and you have as great reason to believe them as if you had the Testimony of one raised from the dead Luke 16. 31. They have Moses and the Prophets if they will not hear them neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Beloved if you should see before your Eyes persons rising from the Dead if one should come down from Heaven and come in here into this Congregation in all his Glorious Robes with with his Palm in his hand his Crown on his head the joy and glory
of the Lord shining forth in his Face and should declare to you the wonderful things that his Eyes had seen and his Heart had been satisfied and ravished with in the presence of God If you should see another coming up out of the Deep with his Chaines of Darkness upon him with the smell of that Infernal Fire and Brimstone about him with the print of the Dragons clawes appearing in his Flesh and the blackness of that smoaking Furnace stricking on his Face and hidgeously roaring out the anguish he felt burning in his Bowels should tell you This is the state of them that know not God If you should see to such sights appearing this hour here in the midest of you would you not think you had reason to believe there were an Heaven and an Hell This word which is before you is a far greater and a more certain Evidence then if Tidings were thus brought to you by persons rising from the Dead And if you will not give credit to this Testimony of God neither would you give credit to any such Testimony Sinners believe God and believe him who was once on Earth and now daily speaks to you from Heaven believe that Word which is before you in which appear such Beames of Divine Light such an impress of Divine purity which hath been so attested by a Divine power in mighty Signes and Wonders that you may as well question Whether the Sun hath light as whether his Word hath truth believe this Word to be certain and then question if you can whether the things not seen are certain or no. Let these two things sink into your hearts Sinners be once setled and established in your hearts about the importance and about the truth and certaiâ—â—ty of these Eternal things and then you are goâ—ten fairly onwards in your way towards Christ and a Godly life If men were as sure that there is an Heaven and an Hell such unspeakable Glory and such intollerable misery and an Eternity of both if men were as sure of this and did as verily believe it as they are sure of what their Eyes have seen and their Ears have heard and their hands have handled What a flying would there be out of the way of Death and Hell and what a flocking would there be into the way of Life Half the work of Preachers and the hardest half their perswading work would then be at an end There would be as much knocking at their doors for counsel as now there is at sinners doors for their acceptance Oh Brethren if you were once brought to this pass if your unbelief were removed your darkness taken away your Souls awakened your Eyes opened to see these marvellous things as unquestionable Truths would you then scoffe at pureness would you then mock at godliness would you then slight reproofs or need any further conviction of your folly You would have an Admonisher within you a Remembance within you a Reprover within you your own Consciences would plead with you for your entertaining of Christ and embracing his Word and would continually cry in your Ears What meanest thou O fool Doest thou not see a Kingdome before thee which may be thine and art thou willing to lose it Dost thou see that Gulf of Misery and Perdition with open mouth gaping for thee to devour thee Arise sluggard look to thy self least thou be undone before thou art aware 3. That according to your choise in this World your lot must be for ever in the world to come Your chusing or refusing Christ and his holy ways is that which doth determine your Eternal state chuse Christ and you make Heaven sure to you refuse Christ here and you will be rejected of him for ever God doth offer you this choice either the strait and the narrow way with that life of blessedness which is at the further end of this way Or the broad way with that Death and Destruction to which it leads Christ with his Yoak his Cross and his Eternal Crown or the Devil with his golden mines his Paradise and eternal Prison and all the parts of each of these offers are linked together Chuse the Devils golden Mines and fleshly Paradise and you must have his Prison too Take Christs Yoak and his Cross and you shall have his Crown you cannot take the Devils Paradise and Christs Crown if you will have his Pleasures you must have his Prison You cannot obtain life but you must chuse the narrow way that leads to it Here is the choise sinners that God puts you to this is the business of this World to choose for Eternity And that which is the business of this life is the business of this hour This very little piece of your time and the choice you make now may be it that will give a final determination what your Eternal state shall be If you make an evil choice now you may never have a minutes time to choose again for ever Oh if your hearts were sensible of this that there is so much depending upon every houre of your lives as Life or Death Heaven or Hell Eternity sure you could not but reason thus with your selves Is it a time for me to stand all the day idle To be laughing or sporting or to be drudging and scraping for the muck of this Earth Is this a time for me to stand trifling with Christ and the Gospel to make so many delayes to make so many excuses The tearms are too high the way is too strait the yoak is too heavy this I cannot part with that I cannot bring my heart to subscribe to Is this the business that is now under debate what my everlasting state must be In which of the two Regions of Eternity my Lot shall fall whether I shall be a Saint or a Devil a vessel of honour or a vessel of wrath whether my dwelling shall be in everlasting blessedness or in everlasting burnings which way the scales do turn now either for Christ or the world Do they turn for everlasting Sure if matters stand thus I had need be serious and consider what I do This is the first direction get these three principles fixed in your hearts that things Eternal are much more confiderable then things Temporal that things not seen are as infallibly certain as the things that are seen that upon your present choice depends your Eternal lot Chuse Christ and his wayes and you are blessed for ever refuse and you are undone for ever And then II. Make your choice Put your hearts to it to turn either to the right hand or to the left lay both parts before you with every link of each Christ with his Yoak his Cross and his Crown or the Devil with his wealth his pleasure and his curse And then put your selves to it thus Soul Thou seest what is before thee what wilt thou do Which wilt thou have either the Crown or the Curse If thou chuse the Crown remember that the day
said Now Almighty God searcher of hearts thou knowest that I make this Covenant with thee this day without any known guile or reservation beseeching thee that if thou espiest any flaw or falshood therein thou wouldst discover it to me and help me to do it aright And now glory be to thee O God the Father whom I shall be bold from this day forward to look upon as my God and Father That ever thou shouldest find out such a way for the recovery of undone sinners Glory be to thee O God the Son who hast loved me and washed me from my sinnes in thine own blood and art now become my Saviour and Redeemer Glory be to thee O God the Holy Ghost who by the Finger of thine Almighty power hast turned about my heart from sin to God O dreadful Jehovah the Lord God omnipotent Father Son and Holy Ghost thou art now become my Covenant friend and I through thine infinite Grace am become thy Covenant-servant Amen So be it And the Covenant which I have made on earth let it be ratified in Heaven The Authors advice THis Covenant I advise you to make not onely in heart but in word not onely in word but in writing and that you would with possible reverence spread the writing before the Lord as if you would present it to him as your Act and Deed. And when you have done this set your hand to it Keep it as a memorial of the solemn transactions that have passed between God and you that you may have recourse to it in doubts and temptations And now Beloved having shewed you the way the Father give me leave to be instant with you in pressing you to hearken to me herein to come and joyn your selves thus to the Lord. And if you will not be perswaded to this solemn and express way of Covenanting with him which I believe you will find a great advantage and do therefore make it my great request unto you yet if you will not do that take heed you refuse not to engage your hearts to the Lord and make a full closure with Christ upon all the particular terms laid before you till that be done I must be bold to tell you again as I have told you already that you are short of Christianity strangers from the Covenant of Promise and Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel Brethren the Lord God hath sent me amongst you upon the same Eâ—â—and as Abraham sent his servant Gen. 24. To take a wife for his Son to espouse you to Christ I am not without â—ear as that servant was not that some of you will not follow me but if the Lord see it good to send his Angel before me to make my way prosperous if the Lord give me success in this great thing that I may thus bring you into Covenant with him I shall therein have performed the main part of my Ministerial work among you I shall have espoused you to Christ maâ—ried you to that one Husband I shall have brought you within the strait gate and set your foot safe into that narrow way that leads to life and have laid the foundation of your following the Lord in holiness and comfort here and of living with him in blessedness for ever For 1 When once you are sincerely in Covenant from thenceforth you have a God that you may call your own to whom you may have free access with whom you may be sure to find grace to help in all times of need How blessed is his condition who is able to say I have no friâ—â—â— in the world but I have a God in Heaven I have many enemies but I have a God I have no house nor money nor lands but I have a God I have troubles I have sins that are a daily torment and vexation to me but I have a God a God to feed me a God to succour me God to shelter me a God to pardon me a God to sanctâ—fie me to â—ave me 2 From the time of this your Covenant Union with Christ you have the blessing of communion with him 〈◊〉 Whatsoever is Christs is now become yours the husband gives the wife leave to set heâ— name on all his goods and all that Christ hath you may now write your name upon it say boldly All this is mine his prayers his tears his obedience his blood his spirit all are mine because he is mine 2. Whatsoever is yours is his your sufferings your sins your debts your wants are all upon your husband Christ says to you as the old man Judg. 19. 20. to the Levite Let all thy wants be on me and so all thy debts and straits and fears and troubles let them all be on me 3 Christ and you shall have your lot together God deals with Christ and a Believer as one and the same party who must be absolved and condemned stand or fall live or die together In Christs being justified your justification is secured in Christs Resurrection your Resurrection in Christs Glorification your Glorification is secured for ever Because I live ye shall live also This is the portion this is the Inheritance of all Gods Covenanting-Servants You that are yet in your sins in your old Covenant with Death and agreement with Hell Will you yet be perswaded by what hath been said to say one to another Come let us break these bonds asunder and cast these cords from us come let us go over to Christ let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that never shall be forgotten You that are sincerely come within the bonds of this Covenant of the Lord the Lord is henceforth become your God Christ is henceforth become your Saviour you have shot the Gulf that good work is begun which the Lord will perform to the day of Christ you are gotten within the gate you are entred into the Path of Life 2 In the next place therefore I shall give some advice to the godly or those that are already in Christ whom I shall direct 1 To a right performance of holy duties these four duties especially Prayer holy Meditation Self-examination and renewing their Covenant 2 To a right improvement of holy Duties 3 To the carrying on an holy course In all which though I shall apply my self especially to those that are in Christ yet I shall also give some farther helps to those that are yet out of Christ Before I shall enter upon the Directions for the right performance of holy Duties it will not I hope be lost labour if I prefix a word of encouragement to duty by laying before you the influences which holy duties will have upon the carrying on a holy life which I shall dispatch in these four particulars 1 Duties are the exercise of Grace Grace out of exercise grows quickly out of case Idleness breedâ— ill humours and diseases in the body and no less in the soul stirring keeps us warm and healthful Now Duties are the stirrings and exercises
to sinners Bring me no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination to me Sinners not onely your wickedness but your very prayers will undo you If you make them a shelter for sin your very prayers will be turned into sin 2. Returning Prayers When a Sinner being struck with a sense of his sin and of his necessity of changing his way and of his utter inability to turne of himself under the fears and troubles of his heart goes to God and cryes out Lord what shall I do I see I am in an evil case my soul is running on in sin and they curse and wrath I behold running on upon me Lord save me Lord help me Lord pardon Lord convert me break me off from my sins break me off from my sinful companions I cannot get loose my heart is too hard my lusts are too strong my Temptations are too many for me to overcome of my self Lord help me turn me and I shall be turned pluck my foot out of the snare that I be not utterly destroyed forgive mine iniquity make me a clean heart make me thy childe make me thy servant that I may never again yield up my self a servant to sin Such a prayer as this if it be hearty and and in earnest if there be no promise of audience yet at least there is an half promise Who can tell Or it may be the Lord may hear Though it cannot be properly said the Lord doth accept neither can any man say he will reject it as an abominable thing This being premised 2. I answer to the question That sinners if they have but anâ— heart to it have also a price in their hand God hath put arguments into their mouths also to plead with him for mercy As 1. The grace of God or his gracious Nature his readiness to shew mercy this even strangers may lay hold upon Benhadad's encouragement to beg his life of the King of Israel may be the sinners plea in the begging of his We have heard that the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings Go Sinner to the Lord and speak thus in his ears Lord I have heard that the King of Glory is a merciful King Thy name is the Lord merciful and gracious and thy Nature is according to thy Name It is thy Nature to pity and in thy heart there is plenteous compassion Oh I am a miserable creature a poor undone helpless wretch do for me according to thy Nature do for me according to thy Name will the God of mercy send away such a wretch that comes for mercy will the God of Grace send me away without Grace The God of Mercy hear me the God of Grace grant me to find grace in his eyes 2 Gods Call or gracious Invitation Isa 55. Ho every one that thirsteth come to the Waters and he that hath no Money come ye buy and eat buy Wine and Milk without Money and without â—rice Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the Earth Come unto me all that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Rise sinner he calleth thee Go to the Lord and when thou goest tell him Lord thou hast bid me come and behold here I am I come Lord at thy Word I come for a little Water I come for thy Wine and thy Milk I have brought no price in my hand but thou hast bid me come and buy without Money and without Price Though I have no grace yet behold at thy word I come for Grace though I have no Christ yet I come for Christ though I cannot call thee Father yet being called I come to thee as Fatherless With thee the Fatherless shall finde mercy And is it only those that want the Fathers of their Flesh is it not also those that want the Father of Spirits Shall earthly Orphans find pity and onely Spiritual Orphans be left Orphans If I am not thy child may I not be made thy Child Hast thou not a childs Blessing left yet to bestow upon me Thou hast bid me come come for a Blessing bless me even me also O Lord. Wherefore hast thou sent for me Shall I be sent away as I came I come at thy word do not say again be gone be gone out of my fight I cannot go at thy Word I will not go for Whither shall I go from thee Thou hast the Words of Eternal life Since thou wilt have me speak Lord answer Though I dare not say Be just to me a Saint yet I do say I will say I must say Lord be merciful to me a sinner 3. Christ And there are two things in Christ upon which sinners may plead with God 1. His Sufficiency There is enough in Christ in his obedience and death to save the worst of sinners to save the whole World of Sinners There is a fulnesse in Christ Col. 1. 19. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell There is a fulnesse of Merit to obtain pardon to make reconciliation for whoever comes a fulnesse of the Spirit to Sanctifie and cleanse them from their sins He 's able to save unto the uttermost all those that come unto God by him From this Sinners may reason thus with the Lord. O Lord I do not come to beg that of thee that cannot be had Thou hast enough by thee Look upon Jesus that sits at thy right hand 〈◊〉 there not Righteousnesse enough in him to answer for all my uâ—righteousnesse Are there not riches enough in him to supply my povertie Oh shall I die for want of a pardon when there is such blood continually before thee pleading for pardon Oh shall I lie down in my own vomit and wallow in the mire of my filthie lusts when there is such a Fountain by thee that 's still open for sin and for uncleannesse Oh sprinkle me with this blood O wash me in this Fountain Hear Lord send me not away without an Almes when hast it by thee 2. His Office which is to bring sinners to God to make reconciliation for sinners to make intercession for Transgressors Isa 53. Psal 68. 18. Thou hast received gifts for men yea even for the rebellious also What a strange and mighty Plea is here for poor sinners Oh it is true Lord I am a Transgressor and have been from the Womb I have played the Traytor and been a Rebel against thee all my dayes But is there none in Heaven that will iâ—tercede for a Transgressor Hath the Lord Jesus received no gift for this poor Rebel that falls down before thee Though I am a Rebel Lord yet I am a returning Rebel Though I am a Rebel yet let me recieve a Rebels gift not a Rebels reward Lord that would be dreadful but some of those gifts which Christ received for the Rebellious Doth Christ make intercession for Transgressors and shall not he be heard If thou wilt not hear me who am a sinner yet wilt thou not hear him that speaks for sinners
to be feared believed in and chosen for my portion and trust Some chuse riches for their portion some pleasures some put their trust in worldly friends but will it not be well with me if I can bring my heart to chuse and can obtain the Lord to be my friend my refuge and my portion Quest 2. Is it not good for me to draw nigh unto God To get acquaintance and intimacie with God to dwell in his Presence and to live in the light of his Countenance is there any life so full of true pleasure and satisfying delight as to enjoy and behold the Face of God in Righteousness Quest 3. Is the Lord mine Is he reconciled to me is his love and mercie made sure to me Some are confident the Lord is theirs but they are mistaken Am not I mistaken Is the Lord mine indeed My God and my Portion and my Friend indeed If he be not then Quest 4. How may I obtain the Lord to be mine What pains should I refuse What course should I count too hard what price too great to lay out for such an inheritance Oh how happily were I provided for what a sufficiency had I laid up for me for my body for my soul for this life for everlasting were the Lord once sure to me What shall I do to obtain him if he be mine then Quest 5. What shall I render to the Lord Oh the height and depth and length and breadth of the Love and Goodness of God to my Soul that he should bestow himself on such a worm 'T is much that he should give me a being in his sight that he should give me bread or cloaths that he should feed me with the crumbs that fall from his Table 'T is a wonder he should not feed me with Ashes with Gall and Wormwood with Fire and Brimstone that he hath not cloathed me with flames with fury and vengeance 'T is a wonder he should give any of his good Creatures to comfort me his Earth to be mine inheritance and my portion but that he should give himself to me that ever a poor Creature should be so provided for as to feed upon his God to live upon his God to possess his God for a portion Oh come unto me all ye that fear the Lord come unto me and I will tell you what he hath done for my Soul He that is mighty hath done for me great things and holy is his Name Oh that I could love thee more Oh that I could please thee and praise thee and honour thee and rejoyce and triumph and make my boast of my God and speak good of thy Name while I have any being The Lord is my portion the lines are fallen to me in a pleasant place and I have a goodly heritage II. Head concerning Sin Direct 1. EXercise your thoughts on the evil nature of sin and consider what the Scriptures speak concerning 1. The Malignity that is in Sin 2. The Guilt of Sin 1. Concerning the malignity which is in sin calling it by the name of plague leprosie gangrene poison death hell enmity treachery rebellion filthiness rottenness vomit c. All which are Scripture expressions which also tell us that it hath made us in Gods account fouls beasts dogs swine serpents vipers devils c. What a Monster is sin that must have so many and such names to express the malignitie that is in it 2. Concerning the guilt of sin Rom. 3. 19. All the World is become guilty before God Mat. 5. 22. Guilt hath two things in it First A merit of everlasting wrath Every sinner is worthy to die worthy to be damned Secondly An Obligation or binding over to wrath Act. 8. 23. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitternesse and the bond of iniquity Sinners are bound under a curse bound over to eternal vengeance Direct 2 Consider your own particular sinnes both the special prevailing sins of your Hearts as ignorance unbelief stubbornness obstinacy pride passion covetousness malice c. And the evils of your practice lying swearing drunkennesse oppression Reckon up as near as you can and write down in a Roll or Catalogue all the several wickednesses you have been guilty of and can remember together with your sins of Omission neglects of Prayer Hearing c. your neglect of Christ and the Gospel c. Direct 3. Ask thy heart these Questions Quest 1. Am I not a sinner Quest 2. Is all this which the Scriptures speak of sin and sinners in general true of me Am I by my very nature such a serpent such a viper such a dog such a beast in the sight of God Is there all this enmity and treachery and rebellion rooted in my nature Am I this guilty creature worthy to die Am I in this gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity If this be my case oh how can I lift up my face in the presence of God without shame and blushing and self-loathing and self abhorrence Quest 3. Is my filth and guilt done away This was once my condition is it not still Is the Enmity slain is my corruption subdued is my conscience purged my soul washed are my sins pardoned is my guilt removed If not then Quest 4. What if this corruption should never be purged this guilt never be removed What if I should die in this case If all this sin and this guilt should stand and stare me in the face when I come to look death in the face What if I should appear in this woful plight before the Judgment Seat May I not fear it may be so My sin hath been so long growing and rooting in my heart I have stood it out so long against the Gospel I have had so many warnings so many convictions and yet mine iniquitie remains unpurged that I have reason to fear that it may never be purged And Oh what if it should not Quest 5. What must I do to be saved from my sins I see I am in an evil and woful case buâ— is there no Balm in Gilead is there no Physitian there that can heal such a desperate disease Is there no ransome to be fonnd that may redeem such a captive Is there no blood shed that may cleanse me even me from all my unrighteousnesse Is not Christ exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to this very purpose that he might give Repentance and Forgivenesse of Sinnes Wherefore is the Gospel preached to me Doth not Christ therein call to me and bid me come to him and be saved Is such an opportunitie to be slighted Is Redemption from such a state worth the making after May I obtain Redemption by Christ whether I seek it or not whether I repent or not Must I not believe or be damned repent or perish Is it a time for me to delay or linger in a matter of such importance Awaken O my Soul put away thy sloth lay aside thy excuses and be think thy self what thou wilt do
the enjoying these Earthly things when as for Souls and the things of another World little or no care is taken about them and as little pleasure taken in them Direct 1. Consider what the Scripture speakâ— concerning the vanity and misery of such a life Psal 30. 6. Surely man walketh in a vain shew he is disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them Matth. 16. 26. For what is man profited if he should gain the whole World and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Jam. 5. 1. 2 3. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you Your Riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat you as it were fire ye have heaped up treasures together for the last dayes Luke 12. 16 17 18 19 20. And he spake a parable unto them concerning a certain rich man whose ground brought forth very plenteously and he thought within himself saying What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits And he said this I will do I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry But God said to him Thou fool this night shall thy soul â—e required of thee then whose shall those things be that thou hast provided So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God Direct 2. Ask thy heart Quest 1. Is not my life a worldly life What have I done for hereafter What have I laid up for the World to come Have I been trading for Heaven have I been trading in faith repentance prayer have I been sowing in righteteousness and mercy following of holiness and purity What labour and pains have I taken in seeeking Knowledge Grace an interest in Christ reconciliation with God c. that it might be well with my soule hereafter My body is cared for I have enough laid up for that my Wife and Children are all cared for I have made sufficient provision for them but is not my poor soul uncared for Quest 2. How long will this life and the comforts of it last My soul is immortal and must never die I must have a being some where or other to all Eternity Is the happiness which I have chosen and pursued an everlasting happiness Are my Money and my Corn and my Land everlasting Quest 3. What shall become of me when this life and the comforts of it fail Will this golden or silveâ—â—â—ey open the gate of Heaven to me Will my money buy me an inheritance in the Land of Promise will my thriftiness and good husbandry for this world plead for me before my Judge or excuse my neglect of my soul Will the memory of my plenty or my pleasure or my ease in which I have lived here be a comfort and refreshing to my soul hereafter Can all my carnal friends and companions with whom I have lived so merrily and spent so many a jolly hour can their good word stand me in stead then Will God own me or Christ plead for me then Is not this he whom I have despised and refused to hearken to and will he not then say to me Go to the Gods whom thou hast chosen Go to thy Money and thy pleasures and thy companions let these save thee if they can Oh what shall I do and where shall I dwell for ever if I continue in this vain course Quest 4. Shall I now set upon a better course Shall I in earnest wilt thou oh my Soul wilt thou now in earnest become an adventurer for another World A Traveller to the holy City which is above Wilt thou cast in thy lot with Christ and the everlasting Gospel Wilt thou at last fall to labour for the true Riches and enduring substance Wilt thou provide the bags that wax not old a treasure in Heaven that faileth not Shall I take this course or shall I continue as I am V. Head concerning the excellency blessednesse and necessity of a Godly Life Direct 1. COnsider what the Scriptures speak concerning The Entrance Nature Blessedness Necessity of a godly Life 1. Concerning the Entrance of a godly Life or the way by which we come to be godly that is exprest by being born of God John 3. by being converted to God Acts 3. 19. Repent therefore and be converted by having Christ formed upon our hearts Gal. 4. 19 My little children of whom I travel in birth again until Christ be formed in you A new birth must go before a new life conversion before an holy conversation 2. Concerning the Nature of a Godly Life which the Scripture sets forth in these and such like expressions Walking with God walking in the fear of God and the Comforts of the Holy Ghost living by Faith having our Conversation in Heaven and as it becometh the Gospel being holy harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked Generation shining forth as lights in the world denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts living righteously soberly and godly keeping our selves unspotted from the world walking circumspectly keeping a good Conscience c. By all which expressions and many such like it appears that there is more required to a true godly life than is ordinarily imagined 3. Of the Blessedness of a Godly life Psal 1. 1 2. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the way of sinners but his delight is in the Law of the Lord Psal 4. 4. The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself hath taken him out from the rest of the world to be his own peculiar possession his Favourite his Servant his Child on whom he intends to bestow himself for an Inheritance Direct 2. Ask thy heart Quest 1. Am I converted to God Is there any supernatural change wrought upon me Is this change a thorough change Conversion is not a slight but a great and marvellous change Am I become a new Creature Is there a new light set up in me a new life begotten in my heart Am I become a man of quite another constitution temper disposition then formerly I was Am I born from above and is my heart now set upon things above Quest 2. Is my life a godly life Do I think in my Conscience that the course of life which I live is that which the Scriptures mean by walking with God living by Faith having the conversation in Heaven keeping a good Conscience walking circumspectly c. Can this fleshly idle easie trifling life which I live be possibly accounted a truly godly life Quest 3. Is a godly life necessary Can I be saved without it Do not the Scriptures entail everlasting blessedness in
Grace there is an hearty willingness to part with every sin The first work of the sanctifying Spirit upon the soul is the discovering of sin making it appear to be an enemy and the first saving work is the dividing betwixt sin and the soul making an utter breach betwixt them The Spirit of God makes us first to look on sin as an enemy and then to deal with it as an enemy to hate it to fear it to be impatient at the presence of it Rom. 7. 24. Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death When the good Spirit enters into the heart from that day forward the Soul looks on sin as Saul look'd on David when the evil spirit fell upon him It 's said he eyed David from that time forward he looked on him with an evil eye with an envious eye Oh! that I were once well rid of this David Oh! saith a Convert that I were once well rid of this Lust It 's now become to the Soul as the Daughters of Heth were to Rebeccah Gen. 26. 35. A grief of mind to it a weariness to it I am weary of my life because of these daughters of Heth. When there is this breach made betwixt sin and the Soul it 's grace that hath made it when sin hath lost the will it hath lost the man when Christ hath gotten the will he hath gained the man The will is the heart give me thy heart is the same as be willing to be mine the will is the strong hold of the soul this is it that holds out last against God when this is won all is won Sin may have lost the understanding and lost the conscience these may plead for God and for holiness and may cry out against sin Away with it away with it Crucifie it crucifie it there is Death and Hell in the bowels of it away with it But as long as sin hath the will for it it still hath the man Reason saith I ought to tura Conscience saith I must turn but yet nothing follows but when the heart sayes I will turn then the work is done Reason saith these Idols ought not to stand Conseience saith these Iusts must be subdued these my sinful pleasures these my sinful wayes these my sinful companions must be left but when the will sayes to them Get you hence there 's a work of Grace begun But now this willingness to part with or turn from sin that it may infallibly prove grace to be in us must be 1. Universal A willingness to be rid of all sin The enmity against sin that 's wrought by grace is against the whole kind against all sin Root and Branch Body and Members A true Israelite would not have one Canaanite left in the Land would have the whole generation rooted out Psal 119. I hate every false way Psal 139. Search me O Lord and see if there be any wickedness in me 2. Habitual It must not be onely for the time that the heart is set against sin when it is under some terrour or trouble but there must be an abiding willingness Pharaoh when the Thunder and the Hail and the Fire and the Frogs and the Flies were upon him for the time was willing to let Israel go but presenrly after he meant no such thing 'T is not what thou art in a fit in a fright or sudden passion in sickness or under the apprehensions of death that will give thee any certain light by which thou mayest judge of thy state but what thou art in the standing and abiding disposition and bent of thy soul A Godly man is never unwilling when he is himself to be rid of every sin 3. Prevalent The willingness must be greater than the unwillingness A gracious heart is more willing to be rid of sin than to continue in sin He had much rather if it were put to his choice live without all sin than to be allowed to live in any sin Whatever the pleadings and reasonings of his flesh are for an indulgence to any particular sins whatever the advantages of yielding to the flesh herein mîght be whatever dammages or prejudices might follow upon his parting with them yet he had much rather whatever comes of it be freed from them all If the Lord should come to such a soul and give him as large â—grant as he did to Solomon Ask what I shall give thee ask what I shall do for thee write down what thou wilt and thou shalt have it this is that which he would have Lord take away mine iniquittes 'T is not the lives of mine enemies or a revenge upon them that I desire 't is not freedom from trouble or affliction that I desire make me a clean heart O Lord purge me from my sins let my lusts die my corruptions die and then though mine enemies live and their malice lives and my troubles live yet if my sins be once dead I have my desire And this willingness will discover it self to be prevailing by bringing forth 1. Resolution 2. Resistance against sin 1. Where a man is truly willing to be rid of sin there will be resolution against it he will not only be patient and content to give God leave to crucifie all his beloved lusts and darling corruptions and give the world leave to hew and strike home at the root of them without hiding them or warding off the blow or wishing they might be spared to him but stands stedfastly on Gods side and taking part with him against sin resolves to use all his means for the conquering and overcoming of them 2. This resolution will bring forth resistance An heart that 's weary of sin will fall to striving against sin Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these two are contrary the one to the other Contraries are naturally expulsive each of other Such a pair as a Jacob and an Esau such Twins as an Isaac and an Ishmael cannot lie quietly togethâ—â— in the same womb no nor live quietly together in the same house but there will be a mutual prosecuting and persecuting each of other fire and water may as well agree in the same vessel as grace and sin in the same heart A gracious heart will be restraining curbing and withstanding it in all its workings It 's a mere vanity for men to talk of being willing to be rid of sin when they let it live and work and rule and run in its course without ever laying the hand to the bridle to restrain it Let me add one word more if you strive against sin and your striving be attended with success if you have gotten any degree of victory the evidence will be much more full and clear This now is the first Mark by which you may try your selves whether there be the truth of grace in you or not He that is willing to be freed from all sin habitually willing prevailingly willing
he that 's more willing to be freed from sin than to be allowed to live in sin and hereupon is resolved to use all God's means for the conquering of it and accordingly strives prayes watches and wrestles against it especially if he finds his lusts begin to fall before him undoubtedly there is grace in that mans heart As Haman's Wife said to her Husband If this Mordecai be of the seed of the Jâ—ws before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevail against him I shall be bold to say to such a person without any ifs or ands this Mordecai is of the seed of the Jews this grace before which thy lusts have begun to fall is the Seed of God and therefore thy sins shall never totally preval against it but shall finally fall and be destroyed by it 2. Mark 2. Wheresoever there is true grace there is a preferring in the esteem and choice of a strict and sincere godly life above any other life in the world A godly man loves all godliness and he loves it above all Psal 19. 9 10. The fear of the Lord is clean and endureth for ever the Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than the honey and the honey-comb that is than all the world more to be desired are they that is the fear of the Lord and the Judgements of God deserve more respect from men are of more value more worth the desiring and looking after than gold or honey Here are all the advantages of a worldly life put together in two words The profits of it and the pleasures of it and the fear of the Lord preferr'd before them all Than Gold Gold is all things Gold much gold hath greatness following it Gold hath glory all the glory of the world attending it Lands and livings and honours and friends and all things that a carnal heart can desire are hidden in the golden Mines Honey notes all the sweetness pleasures and delights of a worldly life Now saith the Psalmist put all this together all the revenues and incomes of a worldly life together with all it's pleasures and delights and the fear of the Lord will weigh them down all Though this foolish world run a madding after money and pleasure spend their dayes waste their lives prostitute their consciences throw away their souls upon these things yet one dram of godliness one day spent in the fear of the Lord is better than all this this the Psalmist gives as his Judgment Let us next consider what his Choice is Psal 4. 6. There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us thou hast put gladness in mine heart more than in the time when their corn and wine encreased Psal 17. 14 15. The men of the world have their portion in this life their bellies thou fillest with thy hid treasure they are full of Children and leave the rest of their substance to their babes but as for me I will behold thy face in Righteousness The men of this world as they seek so they have their portion in this life they have a glorious and a gallant time of it here great portions great possessions great prosperity their bellies full of pleasure enough to spend upon themselves and to leave to their Children after them this they have and much good may it do them Let me but behold the face of God in Righteousness walk before the Lord in my integrity keep a good conscience live in the obedience of his Will and in the light of his Countenance and then let them take the corn and wine and what else they can get let the Lord be mine and I shall never envy them their portion Psal 84. 10. I had rather be a door-keeper in the House of the Lord than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness The meanest condition of those that live in the presence and favour of God I more desire and would rather have than the highest condition of others Let me be a door-keeper among the Saints rather than a dweller with the wicked So Moses Heb. 11. 25. Chusing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the Reproaches of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt Psal 119. 30. 111. I have chosen the way of Truth c. Thy testimonies have I taken as mine heritage for ever Where observe 1. How he came into the way of Truth that is not by chance but by choice I have chosen the way of truth There are some that stumble in upon Religion who being cast into such places or societies where Godliness is in fashion and credit joyn in to do as others do and yet their hearts have never chosen Religion but I have chosen the way of truth saith the Psalmist 2. What it is he chose of Religion The way of Truth the Testimonies or Precepts of the Lord. Some there are that have chosen the wages of Righteousness but not the way of Righteousness the Promises but not the Precepts of the Lord as much as you will of the sweet but none of the sweat of Religion But I saith he have chosen the way of Truth 3. What account he hath of what he hath chosen He accounts it as his heritage There be some that choose Religion but it is only for a covering or a cloak to hid their wickedness making the same use of it which a Whore doth of her paint to hide the deformity that is under Others take up Religion for their last Refuge something they must have to which they may have recourse at last but they will not have much to do with it nor take much pleasure in it at present But he chooses it not only as his Refuge bur as his Riches not only to be the ground of his future hopes but to be the matter of his present joy From all these Scriptures observe 1. That a godly mans settled Judgment is That a godly life is the best and happiest life 2. That a godly mans choice is according to his Judgment He esteems the fear of the Lord above Gold and he chooses it before gold He is better pleased and doth rather take up with the meanest and most afflicted condition in a way of holiness than with the most plentiful and prosperous estate in a way of sin he prefers the poverty of Christ before the riches of the World 3. Godly men and worldly men are distinguished and may be known the one from the other by their choice they make for themselves He that makes a worldly choice is a worldly man and he is a godly man that makes a godly choice Take Godliness with all its inconveniencies with all its difficulties and distresses when it is most under a cloud of reproach and contempt and take a worldly life with
worse if I go on a little longer 4. The Renewing of our Covenant will revive the Obligation of it Though there be not a stricter yet there is another Tye There is a new link added to the old cord Men are more afraid and ashamed to break their word as soon as it is gone forth out of their mouths The seriousness wherewith such a sacred duty should be performed will leave some impressions upon the heart The very considering over our Covenant-breaches which is necessary to our renewing of it will awaken our hearts to more care and watchfulness These things being premised I shall give you this double Direction for the performance of this Duty 1. For the time when 2. For the manner how Touching the former there are some special times when this Duty is especially seasonable As 1. Upon your falls into any greater sins Great sins make great breaches and 't is not safe to let them lie unmade up Breaking of Covenant makes a breach upon Conscience and this will prove as the breaking down the banks of the Sea which if they be not presently made up there may be no stopping them 2. In great straights and Afflictions We have then our hearts at the advantage to bring them back or to bind them the faster to the Lord when we stand in any special need of comfort or help from God Gen. 28. 20 21. when Jacob fled from his Fathers house for fear of his Brother Esau he vowed If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and rayment to put on so that I come again to my Fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God Times of straights and difficulties are a special season for this Duty though it be too ordinary that those vows which we make in the dayes of our distress are quickly forgotten in the dayes of our prosperity Sickness-promises are in our health like Sampsons Wit hs broken as Tow when it toucheth the fire 3. In case of any declinings to a careless remiss and sensless frame of heart or life 4. At our approaches to the Table of the Lord. These are some of the special times for the performance of this Duty 2. For the manner how 1. Remember your Covenant read over and consider distinctly the terms of it and weigh diligently the strictness and great solemnity of your engaging to God therein that your hearts may be the more deeply affected herewith 2. Remember your faults Read over and consider distinctly the sins you have fallen into since your engaging to the Lord together with the several aggravations of them and repent and be humbled under them Isa 50. 4 5. 3. Especially consider how your hearts have stood towards the Lord in the main whether your falls have not been such as give you occasion to suspect that you were not upright in your first engaging Consider whether such a life as you have led since such sins as you have been overcome by since are consistent with sincerity 4. Resolve upon more care watchfulness and faithfulness for the future Verbal promises though there appear some affection at the time if they be not joyned with a resolution to take more care are like to come to nothing 5. Have a special eye in your engaging to the Lord at your special sins failings and neglects that you have found your selves more enclined to and more ordinarily overtaken by I will through the help of God watch against every sin but especially against covetousness passion or lying c. This is my sin herein I am apt to be faulty here my hardest work lies I will watch to every Duty but especially to temperance or patience or self-denial herein I have been most wanting 6. Lay hold on the Covenant or Promise of God for the renewing of his Grace towards you for the renewing of your strength whereby you may be more enabled to perform your promises and pay your vowes It may be your former experiences of your unfaithful hearts have quite discouraged you I have found this heart of mine so fickle and so false and so feeble that I dare not trust it so far as to engage any further for it I have found my work so hard my lusts so strong my temptations so many my strength so small my attempts to follow God so successess that I am afraid I shall never come to any thing I doubt I shall but mock God and bring more guilt upon my self by adventuring to promise any thing farther for this sinful infirm and unfaithful heart Why though thou darest not trust thy heart yet trust thy God who hath said That he will put his fear into thee that thou shalt not depart from him that he will renew thy strength and that his grace is sufficient for thee Depend upon God for the renewing of thy strength and then fear not to renew thy Vows 7. In this strength of the Lord go into his presence and with sorrow in thine heart and shame in thy face falling down before him humbly confess and acknowledge thy falls and failings and then in the like solemn manner as thou hast been before directed engage thy self again to the Lord in the same Covenant 2. I shall next direct you to make right improvement of Duties Godliness doth not stand barely in Praying Meditating or Examining there is something farther that these Duties have a respect and must be useful to 'T is an holy life that is the end to which our holy Duties are to lead and help us on That they may do so take these two following Directions 1. Whenever you set upon Duties resolve to put hard for it to enjoy such sensible Communion with God in them that you may come off in a better and more spiritual frame of heart than you came on 2. Having gotten up your hearts to any better frame in Duty be careful to keep it up after Duty Whenever you set upon Duties resolve to put hard for it to enjoy such sensible Communion with God that you may return from them with some advantage upon your spirits Resolve with him Nunquam à te absque te recedam whenever I come before the Lord I will never go away without him The reason why we thrive no more by Duties is because we do not meet our God in them God never meets with his Saints but he sends them away with some marks of his Goodness upon them The reason why we do seldome meet with God in our Duties is because we do not so wishly look for his appearance God waits for thy coming Soul and if it be not thy fault thou mayest see his face before thou departest and if thou see God in a Duty thou wilt not then return without some impressions of God upon thy heart When Moses came down from the Mount where he had seen the Lord his face did shine there was something of the glory of God upon his
countenance Israel might plainly see that Moses had met with God they might see the beams of divine Glory in his face Oh! how sad is it that Christians should return from duty with no more of God in their faces or upon their spirit than for the most part they do We come many times with no other spirits from our Bibles or our Closets than we come out of our Shops or out of our Barns no body would ever think we had been praying or conversing with God there is so little savour of God upon our hearts that we bring back with us Brethren whenever you let down your Pitchers into the Wells of Salvation be not content to bring them up empty be so conversant with God in your Duties that you come off laden as the Bee from the Flower with the honey and sweetness of your duties And this I advise you to endeavour after not only in your secret duties not only in your solemn publick duties on Sabbaths Humiliation-dayes or Thanksgivings but in your daily family-duties your Reading Singing Praying yea even in those shorter Prayers and Praises which you use before and after Meals Whenever you draw nigh to God look to see God to taste of God and to get down something of God upon your hearts And then 2. Whatever you have gotten from God in Duty what life what warmth what refreshing what enlargement of heart be careful to maintain and keep it alive afterwards See that your Spirits do not presently sink and cool again after they have been thus raised and warmed Do not satisfie your selves with this that you have some comfortable entertainment with God and feel some warm and lively works of your heart towards God and some refreshings from him in Duty but look to it that you keep that holy fire that is there kindled from being presently quenched again You do not eat and drink for an hour only that you may have the comfort of your food while your meal lasts but you eat for afterwards that the spirits and strength which you get by one meal may hold you out to the next meal Duties are the set-meals of the soul wherein it so feeds it self upon God that in the strength of what it receives it may afterwards walk with God more comfortably and chearfully The Lord promiseth to his people Lev. 26. 5. The Threshing shall reach to the Vintage and the Vintage to the Seed-time And Amos 9. 13. The Plough-man shall overtake the Reaper and the treader of Grapes him that soweth Seed The meaning is Your old store shall be so much and last you so long as till new com again you shall not only reap enough for the time of Harvest you shall not only gather enough to serve you during the time of the Vintage but your corn shall last from Harvest to Harvest your Wine shall serve you from Vintage to Vintage your Old store shall not be spent till New come to supply you Duties are the Harvests and Vintages of our souls Oh! what blessed lives should we live did we so improve and husband what we get in one Duty that it might last us out to another that the Vintage might reach to the Vintage the Harvest to the Harvest that the life and warmth and refreshing we get in one Duty might hold by us till the next and so we might be carried on in an holy lively heavenly Frame from Duty to Duty as Israel walked on from strength â—o strength till they came and appeared before God in Sion That which holds us so low and barren in Religion is that whatever we have obtained from the Lord in Duties and Ordinances we presently lose it when we have been weeping sometimes before the Lord and wrestling with him and pleading hard for some quickning or comforting influences of his Spirit upon our hearts and the Lord hath heard us and given us our desires yet then as soon as duty is over we go away and forget all and bury all that we have thus obtained in a confused heap of worldly thoughts and businesses we unbend and let down our spirits and lay aside all thoughts of God till we come to duty again we conrent our selves to live in such an estrangement from God all the rest of our time that sin and the world have a whole dayes time to pull down what an hours duty hath been building a whole weeks time to destroy and steal away what a Sabbath hath gotten in and so at the returns of duty we find our hearts at the same loss in the same deadness and hardness that they were before In the Old Testament though the Sacrifices were offered but morning and evening yet the fire that kindled them was not to go out night nor day there must be fire kept alive from the Morning-Sacrifice to kindle the Evening-Sacrifice and fire left from the Evening to kindle the Morning-Sacrifice Oh! Behold how often is it that though at our Morning-Sacrifice a fire is kindled yet we let this fire lie all day under the ashes and take so little care to keep blowing at it that it goes quite out before the Evening and when we come to offer our Evening-Sacrifice we have no fire to kindle it Brethren hath the Lord visited you and quickned and comforted you in duty Oh! think with your selves what a sweet life should I live might it be thus with me alwayes What pity is it that such light should ever go out that such grace should be so short liv'd Why if I do not look to my self the better this Sun-shine will last but a little while and how will the Lord take it if I suffer such sparks that he hath kindled so suddenly to be quenched How is my Soul ever like to prosper if such precious food pass away from it as soon as it is received Is this a fast that I have chosen for a man to afflict his Soul for a day Is this a prayer that God regards for a man to afflict his heart for an hour to be in the Mount with God to be raised up to Heaven for the time and within a few minutes after to be sunk into the dirt of the earth What a sad change is this How can you bear such a loss as this When will your souls come to any thing if you have only some few such lucida intervalla and all the rest of your time are covered over with clouds and darkness Beloved as ever you expect to prosper in grace or be settled in peace be chary of maintaining your duty in-comes do not think to make use of your prayer-comforts to save you the labour of an after care but to help you to be more careful and fruitful But how may we do to keep this Holy and lively frame 1. Be watchful Nehem. 4. 9. Nevertheless we prayed and set a watch against them night and day Beloved it is with you as it was with those Jews whatever you have gained you have Adversaries
lying in wait to steal it away whatever you have built you have adversaries lying in wait to pull down again I have heard of some inchanted places where what men built in the day the Devil pull'd down at night and this danger you are continually in what 's built at one prayer the Devil labours to pull down before the next Let your eye be much upon your hearts observe diligently how they hold up or sink that if there be the least damp or decay growing upon you you may espie it before it be gone too far 'T is no wonder we lose all upon such a sudden when ordinarily as soon as ever our duties are done away we goe and think no more where we have been or what we have been about as if we were well content to take our leave of our duties and our God together When you depart out of your Closets leave your hearts behind you Worldlings seldom bring theit hearts thither when they come to pray they leave their hearts behind them Let Christians never carry them thence when you have done praying and must abroad to your earthly affairs let your hearts stay behind with your God Let your thoughts be much upon the entertainment you have had see to it that the temptations you meet with do not so easily divert you from minding what you have been begging or wrestling for 2. Make present use of what you have obtained God gives Grace and Strength and Life for use and use will preserve it Hath the Lord warm'd thy heart goe warm thy Brothers heart and that will keep thine from cooling Hath God spoken comfortably to thy soul goe and speak of thy God and what he hath done for thee to others Hath God inclined and thereby fitted thee for action take the season thou may'st do more for God and for thy soul in such an hour than in many dayes beside be doing with what thou hast received and thou need'st not fear losing it when we are idle then we fall asleep and grow cold Instruments do not rust while they are in use We never more spend our strength than when we spare our labour 3. Life up your hearts to the Lord often every hour in some short Ejaculations No business no company can hinder this duty and this will be of special advantage to you therefore neglect it not every sigh or breathing of your souls Heaven-wards will fetch down fresh influences from Heaven upon you 4. Charge this whole course actually upon your selves every morning and examine every evening how you have kept to it 5. If you cannot otherwise bring or hold your selves 〈◊〉 this course bind your selves to it for some time by special vow till being a while inured to it it may become at length more easie Being thus entred upon and prepared for a godly life I shall give you some directions 3. How to carry it on and for your help herein take these following counsels I. In your whole course pursue and as much as possible eye your end God and your own salvation Consider often wherefore you live and what it is you would have and if this be it that God may be honoured and your souls saved let this be pursued and prosecuted in all the parts of your life Take not that course do not that action that hath not some tendency that way and that which hath a tendency let it be directed to that glorious end Let every arrow be levell'd at your mark The reason why the end is no more attained is because it is more intended 't is no wonder we shoot short or beside our mark when our eye is not upon it The eying our end will both direct our course and quicken and encourage us on Set the Lord much before your eyes dwell upon the contemplation of his Glory and glorious Excellencies consider how worthy the Lord is to be exalted and what an honour it is to poor creatures to be any way serviceable to his Honour what pity it is that any of your time any of your strength should be spent upon vanity which might be so improved to so worthy aud high an end Begrutch every minute of your time that is not bestowed on God Consider the blessedness of living for ever in the presence and enjoyment of God Look towards the holy City enter by faith into the Holy of Holies set your selves before the Throne of God view as much as at this distance you are capable that everlasting light those blessed and glorious joyes those rivers of pleasure that exceeding eternal weight of glory which is there possessed by the Saints And then say to your hearts Come on soul come on here 's that thou art praying for here 's that thou art labouring for here 's the Country the Kingdom the Crown that thou art fighting for and wrestling for and running and suffering for The setting this glory before your eyes will both quicken and sweeten your holy course and take off your hearâ—â— from any other courses The end puts a beauty upon the means and a blackness upon all the hinderances of its attainment A sight of Heaven will make a holy life a beautiful life There are two things that make an holy life beautiful 1. That it 's the Image of an Heavenly life 2. That it 's the way to it All the labours difficulties sufferings of a godly life are therefore pleasant and beautiful because they are the way of the Kingdom And on the other side a sight of Heaven will make the wayes of sin to be unpleasant to be dark and black wayes There are two grounds upon which sin is odious to the Saints 1. It 's Opposition and unlikeness to God it bears the Image of Hell upon it not of Heaven 2. It 's Interposition betwixt them and their end Nothing else can ever keep them from God There 's no danger of their falling short of Everlasting blessedness but by sin This is the only Gulf that 's fixed between them and Glory And hence 't is that the way of sin with all its pleasures ease and delights is to the Saints a dark and dismal way The pleasures of sin are black pleasures the gains of sin are black gains the jollity and liberty and prosperities of sin are all dark and black in their eye These clouds whatever brightness there seems in them do keep the Sun from shining on them Oh! what progress might you make in the way of Life where Holiness with all its difficulties become beautiful and Sin with all its delights become odious What would there then be wanting that might encourage you on what would there be then left to hinder you Why let God and Glory be more in your eye and then Sin will be more odious Holiness will be more precious in your eye you would then neither want encouragements to lead you on nor be incumbred with such temptations as now keep you back Tit. 2. 11 12 13. The Grace of God
thy fountain of sin to that fountain that is opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13. 1. Wherein thou may'st wash and be clean thy faith will tell thee Thy old man is already crucified with Christ Rom. 6. 6. By whom the body of sin is destroyed that is hath received its deaths wound that thou mayest not serve sin and that the same mouth that commands thee Let not sin reign in thy mortal body the same mouth hath promised thee Sin shall not have dominion over thee But yet thou addest The Lord commands me to keep my heart to keep my tongue mine eyes to make strait steps to my feet that I turn aside to no iniquity that I turn aside from all temptations to sin â—â—stain from all appearance of evil and many 〈◊〉 the like words hath he given me in charge requiring me to walk in all his Commandments and to keep all his Statutes and Judgements to do them these are hard sayings who can hear them I but he that said this saith Faith said one word more that will make all this easie Ezek. 36. 37. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and do them Once more thou repliest but Christ commands me to take up my Cross to suffer with him to part with all I have to lay down my life for his Name Can I do so little for his Name and am I ever like to be able to suffer for his Name Am I put so hard to it in every light affliction that befalls me and is it possible I should be able to resist unto blood The Lord pardon me I have found that a little shame or reproach is more than I can well bear a scoff or a scorn for Christ to what impatience hath it often put me Have I run with the foot-men and have these wearied me how then shall I contend with horses But God is faithful 1 Cor. 10. 13. who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able The Lord will lay on thee saith Faith no more than thy load either he will encrease thy strength or not encrease thy burthens He that hath given thee a little strength to go through small trials hath said he will and thou mayest trust him if he lay more load on thee give thee more strength to bear it The Lord will either enable thee to die for his Name or he will not call thee to it Christians believe God to him that believes all things are possible and if you believe they shall be so to you He hath said he will be and therefore you may boldly say The Lord is my helper Trust in the Lord and keep his way trust in the Lord and be doing good and verily you shall be fed verily you shall be assisted verily you shall be supported commit your way to him and whatever difficulty there be in your work he shall bring it to pass commit the keeping of your selves to him and you shall be kept by his power through faith unto salvation Faithful is he that hath called you and will do it Distrust your selves as much as you will but distrust not your Rock you are weak creatures but you have a strong God you have empty hearts but a full Saviour you have but a poor stock in your selves but a rich stock in the Promise whence you shall have such a continual supply that your barrel of meal shall not waste nor your cruse of oyl spend till you have finished your work and your course Hang on your crucified Lord take hold on his Covenant take hold on his Strength go forth in his Strength and Name and then fear not your difficulties shall vanish your way shall prosper your Souls shall flourish you shall have your fruit unto Holiness and your end everlasting Life III. Deny your selves Matth. 16. 24. If any man will come after me let him deny himself Remember your Covenant you have given your selves to the Lord and are now no longer your own you are not debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh you owe your flesh no observance you have already paid it more than its due let him that liveth live to the Lord let them for whom Christ died live no longer to themselves but to him that died for them and rose again Christ and Self are contrary you cannot serve these two Masters If you will not deny your selves you cannot but deny your Lord and if you can deny your selves in any thing you will deny Christ in nothing If you can heartily say Not my will you will easily add but thine be done But what is this Self we must deny I answer as Christ said to the Woman of Samaria He whom thou hast for thy Husband is not thy Husband That which thou holdest for thy self is not thy self thou callest it and countest it thy self and lovest and cherishest it as thy self but it is not thy self That which is here called thy self is elswhere in Scripture called thy flesh thy corrupt or carnal part that corruption that is gotten into thy understanding and sits there giving thee evil counsel That corruption which is gotten into thy will and sits there swaying thee in all things to choose thy hurt that is gotten into thy appetite and makes thee to fall a lusting after all things that are pernicious to thee and a resisting all that would do thee good This is thy self to he denied the corruption of thy nature that hath insinuated it self into all thy parts and powers and governs thee in all thy actions This is it which carries thee from God keeps thee from Christ resists the Word of Life leads thee out of the way of Life leads thee about after thy pleasures and sports and companions holds thee down to this earth and is dragging thee to Hell This is it which makes sinners say concerning the Word of Life The Word that is spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not do but will do whatsoever proceeds out of our own mouths That makes them say concerning Christ We will not have this man to Reign over us Let the World reign if it will let the Devil reign if he will let Pride and Envie and Malice reign if they will but whosoever reigns this man shall not reign over me 'T is this that layes so many blocks creates so many difficulties in the way of Holiness makes this way seem too strait and narrow the duties of it impossible the troubles of it intolerable Were it not for this the way of Christ would be easie and his burthen light This is that Self which must be denied if you will follow Christ If you ask what it is to deny self In short it is to shake off its government to resist its reasonings to disobey its commands to refuse to follow its inclinations or satisfie its lustings Brethren whatever Christ counsels you to or commands as I
told you this Self will be reasoning against it and counter-manding it When Christ sayes Be humble be watchful be circumspect be perfect labour run strive suffer Your flesh will contradict this is an hard Master these are hard sayings all this is both needless and intolerable Shake off thy heavy yoke and take thy liberty turn out of this straight way and take thy course pity thy self spare thy self and put not thy self to such hard service when thou mayest be free at least thou mayest abate something of this strictness If thou wilt be holy what need so much care and labour about it Allow thy self some liberty some ease some pleasure And if you yield in a little then it will counsel you to take a little more and a little more and never give over till it hath reasoned you out of all Christianity and commanded you into very Brutes or Devils But what shall we do or how shall we deal with this Self when it is thus set upon us Why return the same Answer to it as Christ did to Peter when he gave him the like counsel Master pity thy self Get thee behind me Satan saies he Hold thy peace Devil Speak no more thus to me Say to this Flesh as the men of Sodom said to Lot Gen. 19. Stand back This fellow came in to sojourn and he will needs be a Judge or a Ruler Thou art stollen in I know not how stollen into my head stollen into my heart and now thou thinkest to be a Counseller to be a Ruler Stand back Flesh hold thy peace for I may not hearken to thee Say to it as the King of Israel said concerning the Prophet I hate him for he never speaks good to me but evil Say to this wicked Flesh as those wicked ones said against the Lord The word which thou hast spoken to me I will not do The liberty thou demandest thou shalt not have the pleasure and the ease which thou cravest I will not allow thee my Lord whom thou counsellest me against shall be my Lord him will I love him will I obey him will I follow in all that he shall say to me I will not pamper this Flesh but pinch it the more I will not humour this fleshly mind but cross it the more I will not feed this fleshly appetite but hold it the shorter for its cravings and lustings I will not Pray the less or Fast the less or Hear the less because this Flesh is against it but will Pray the more and Fast the more and beat down this bodie and bring it into subjection with the more care and diligence I will starve this proud beggar and weary it out of its imperious demands it shall get nothing if I can help it by all this ado it makes but shall rather be held the shorter I will the rather deny my self what I may allow my self because I will not feed or foster such an enemy Oh Christians What an exact life might we live and with what ease might we go on our holy course if this enemy were once well laid What an uncontrouled dominion might our Lord have over us if this Self were pulled down from sitting with him in the Throne And how much might be done to the destroying of it by our constant denying it Keep the Flesh low and by degrees you kill it But woe to us what Friends are we of this Enemy how gently do we deal with this old man What provision do we make for this Flesh What we have a mind to we must have what we have a mind to do we will do whither we have a mind to go we will go and seldome give our Reasons or our Consciences liberty to say to us What dost thou or once to judge whether it be good for us or fit for us or safe to us or no We are just like some fond Parents if their Child cry though it be but for a knife or a handfull of dirt it must have it to still it A wise Parent will rather give his Child a Rod than that which will hurt it and knows that this will be hurt enough that a Child should alwayes have its will Oh check and whip this Brat and let not thy Soul spare for its crying Better the Child cry than the Parent better the Flesh cry than the Soul and Conscience But oh what a sad wonder is it to observe how strangely indulgent too many Christians are this way who suffer their flesh to leave them almost to any thing who in a self-seeking flesh-pleasing life have equalled and even out-gone many of the carnal world What a liberty have many that seem to be Christians even of the highest form often taken in the dayes of their prosperity Some seeking great things for themselves driving so hard after estates honour high places c. as if they meant to return and take their portion with the men of this world Others living in pleasure with Solomon Eccles 2. 10. Whatever their eyes desire they keep not from them they withhold not themselves from any joy VVho as if they hoped to charm their flesh out of its enmity or to kill it bd kindness or if this were the Enemy which when it hungers they must feed when it thirsts they must give it drink and thereby heap devouring coals upon its head will not say it nay whenever it craves Oh what liberty have we seen taken by many such for excessive feastings costly attire vain fashions frothy light and carnal merriments yea and despisings and condemnings of the stricter and more self-denying way of more severe and mortified Christians as if this proceeded out of an affectation of a voluntary humility or an ignorance of their Christian liberty But is this indeed the way to crucifie the flesh Or have you gotten it so much under command already that now you can securely trust it with any thing it would have without fear of its getting head and making war against Christ or your Souls again Look to your selves Christians look back and consider whether your Souls have not suffered whilst your flesh have been thus surfeited whether there have not been some abatements made to Christ for every such allowance granted to the flesh and whether God hath not been provoked whilst self hath been thus pleased Think sadly whether this abuse of our liberty be not something that the Lord is now pleading with us about and scourging us for We have even put the Lord to it to cast us into the house of mourning thereby to repair the breaches that have been made upon our Souls in our Houses of Feasting And our Lord Jesus puts us the harder to the second Lesson Take up your Cross because we did no better learn our first Deny your selves IV. Order your selves aright Beloved if you will observe the former Rules well all that remains will be the more easie and I shall be the shorter in it Order your selves aright iu those things
leave these evil fruits to grow only on evil trees where we can expect nothing else Whilst we cannot look to gather Grapes of Thorns or Olive-berries of Thistles let not the fruit of the Bramble or the â—rickles of the Thistle be found sprouting out of â—he root of the Olive Let the Saints still be found what they were of old Doves Lambs Lillies â—mong Thorns Let there be nothing that hurts or â—ffends in all the Mountain of the Lord. Let the â—ricking briar and grieving thorn be rather in our sides than in our mouths Let blessing and praising and praying and intreating take up all the room that there be no place left for wrath and contention And whilst we take this care about our words let us take as great a care about our works Let there be no virulence in our â—ongues nor violence in our hands Let there be no deceit in our Lips nor falshood in our dealings Let us speak the words of truth and sobernesse and let us keep the way oâ— righteousnesse and peace Let us walk humbly with God and let us do justly and love mercy and live peaceably with men Let good words and good works meet together let Religion and Righteousnesse kiss each other let peace spring up out of the Earth as Grace hath looked down from them Let us add to our Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godlinesse to Godliness brotherly Kindnesse to brotberly Kindnesse Charity Finally whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely what so ever things are of good report if there be any Vertue if there be any Praise think on these things Brethren so speak ye and so walk these things do live in peace and love and the God-peace shall be with you 2. In special Carry your selues well in anâ— towards your Families You that are Governour of Families you have more souls than your own to look to You have curam animarum the chargâ— of souls lying upon you You are not only to look to your Families in matters civil but in matters of Religion In the Law the Master of the Family was by the appointment of God to circumcise all the males in his house In the fourth Commandment the Master of the Family is charged not only to keep the Sabbath himself but to see that his whole Family kept it Thou shalt do no work therein and no only so but neither thy Son nor thy Daughter c. Parents are required Ephes 6. 4. To bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord to nurse them up for God to nourish them up in the words of Faith and good Doctrine to suckle their souls with the milk of the Word as well as their bodies with the Milk of the breasts Now where there is a charge of Souls there must be an account given of Souls When there is a Child brought forth or a Servant brought into thy Family God sayes to thee as the man in the Prophets parable 1 King 20. 39. Keep this man look to this man if he be lost Thy Life shall go for his Life If any in the house perish through thy neglect thy Life shall go for his life thy Soul shall go for his Soul This is thy charge and if thou be not faithful so shall thy Judgment be But what must we do for the right ordering and governing our Families Why 1. Instruct your Families teach them the way of the Lord dwell in your Houses as men of knowledge and make God known to all yours by reading and acquainting them with the Scriptures which are able to make them wise unto Salvation by Catechizing them c. 2. Endeavour their Conversation to God by speaking often to them of the faithfulnesse and misery of their natural state of the nature and necessity of conversion by enquiring often into the state of their Souls 3. Bring them into Covenant with God as you have already done it vertually in bringing thâ—m to be baptized so when they are grown up and well instructed in the principles of Christianity and made sensible of their baptismal Engagement endeavour to bring them to an express dedicating and engaging themselves to the Lord according to those directions that have been formerly given to Christians in general 4. Teach them to pray and call upon them often and see to it that they neglect it not 5. Pray for them and pray with them 6. Dispense your favours and frowns your corrections and encouragements not only as they are more or less towardly to you-ward but as they are more or less tractable and careful in the matters of God 5. In your disposal of them either to callings or in marriage have a special regard to the advantage of their Souls I can now but name these particulars which I have formerly more largely insisted on and pressed upon you 8. Be examples of holinesse to them walk in the midst of your house with a perfect heart do not unteach them by your practice what they have learned from your instructions do not teach them to slight your words by the unsuitableness of your wayes to them For a conclusion of the whole observe farther these four general directions 1. Be Sincere 2. Be Steady 3. Be fruitful 4. Be Stedfast I. In your whole course and all the particular actions of it be sincere Sincerity is not a distinct grace but notes the truth of every grace and gracious aicton There is a sincerity of Our State Our Actions 1. There is a sincerity of our state That notes the uprightness of our hearts in the main and hath been already desoribed in the directions I have given in the duty of self-examination 2. There is a sincerity of our actions This is two-fold either such as respects particular and single actions or the series of our actions our whole course 2 Cor. 11. 12. This is our rejoycing the testimony of our Conscience that in all simplicity and godly sincerity not in fleshly wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the world in all simplicity and godly sincerity There is a natural sincerity and a godly sincerity natural sincerity imports no more but simplicity or plain-heartedness when there is no guile or deceit in any action no purpose to deceive no pretence of what is not intended no Conscience of any evil in what we do nor any evil intent in it In this sense God bears witnesse of Abimelecks integrity Gen. 20. 6. Testifying concerning his taking Abrahams Wife that he did it in the integrity of his heart that is he knew no evil in it He knew not that she was another Mans Wife nor intended any wrong to her Husband in it Then there is also a godly sincerity this supposes the sincerity of our state He cannot have his conversation in godly sincerity that is not first a godly man It concludes in
and he shall have nothing else to feed upon there is meat for him to eat and a place prepared for him such as it is his place shall not be on the Throne but under the Foot-stool Now put all this together and you may see the woful state of Apostate Professors they are Monuments of Vengeance Though they have lost their savour yet they will serve for Pillars of Salt a standing dread and terror and warning to others on whose foreheads is written Let him that thinks be standeth take heed lest be fall They are cloathed with curses must feed upon fire and have their dwelling under the foot-stool in scorn and everlasting contempt Apostates are the worst of men Those that have lost their Religion have lost by their Religion 2 Pet. 2. 21. Better had it been for them not to have known the way of Righteousness than having known to turn from the holy Commandment Religion which is a wing to Saints whereby they rise up into Glory is become a weight to hypocrites to sink them so much the deeper in wrath Apostates are in the worst case of all men 1. They are the worst in Gods account The Lord hath a double quarrel with them not only for being found under the Enemies colours but that ever such varlets should have marched under his colours A quarrel with them for their Profession for their Prayers wherein they have but abused his Name and Gospel God and his waies have suffered from none so much as from Renegado disciples 2. They are the worst in the account of men both good men and evil men there are none that can speak well of Renegado's they are the sorrow of Saints and the sport of sinners good mens shame and evil mens scorn and the hate of all 3. But especially they are the worst and most miserable of men considered in themselves they have not only lost their Religion but they have arm'd it against themselves All the profession and prayers that they have made together with all the hopes and joys and comforts that once seemed to grow up out of them the remembrance of them I mean when ever they come to remember themselves will be as many darts in their livers and stings in their hearts All their hopes and joys and comforts have given up the Ghost and these ghosts do haunt them and torment them with such thoughts as these Wretched creature that I am where am I what an exchange have I made Light for darkness Wisdom or folly Righteousness for wickedness Gain for godliness Conscience for credit Heaven for hell I was once as I thought in the way of Life and I had hopes I should have seen life I made profession of Religion and took pleasure in Religion I walked after the Lord and the thoughts of God were precious to me I found comfort in Christ I took sweet counsel with the Saints and went to the house of God with them in company Sabbaths were a delight Ordinances were a refreshing to me I have tasted of the good Word of God and the powers of the World to come and whilst it was thus with me I had great peace and was full of hopes that I should once see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living But wo is me where am I now How hath my treacherous heart that I never suspected turned me aside from God and spoiled me of all my hopes and comforts I must now bid adieu to all farewel â—rofession farewel Religion farewel Conscience farewel Duties Sabbaths Ordinances Saints the sweet delights I took in them farewel Joyes and Hopes for ever Welcome Drunkards Swearers Lyars welcome Turk or Pope or Devil I must now be of your side and take up my lot with you for ever Oh whither am I fallen Study well the misery of such persons and let that be a warning to you IV. Be Circumspect See that you do not unnecessarily pull sufferings on your selves especially look to it that you suffer not as evil doers If your sin lead you into sufferings God may leave you in them and then what is like to become of you There is a suffering for our faults there is a suffering for our righteousness without our fault and there is a suffering for our righteousness through our fault We sometimes run our selves upon trouble when we need not as when by our unwary and imprudent managing and ordering our selves in some duties we lay our selves open to those sufferings which a little prudence might have prevented We must be wise as well as innocent Christians should never ordinarily expose themselves to suffering till God hath so hedg'd up all lawful waies of escape that they must either suffer or sin Be so wary in your course that you may not faultily suffer for the good that is in you but especially see to it that you suffer not as evil-doers and for the evil that is found in you to this end be careful 1. That you speak not nor do any thing in the matters of Religion rashly 'T was good counsel which the Town-Clark gave the Ephesians when they were in a tumult and uproar about their Goddesse Diana Acts 19. 36. Seeing that these things cannot be spoken against ye ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly Christians should be considerate and well advised in what they speak or do should mark and weigh their words and actions themselves which they know will be so narrowly observed and weighed by others 2. That you speak not nor do nor refuse to do any thing obstinately or out of stomack or animosity Let your wayes be guided not by passion or a spirit of contradiction but by conscience and meekness of spirit be not self-willed let nothing be done through strife c. Phil. 2. 3. Be stedfast but not stubborn be faithful but not wilful be zealous but not contentious 3. That you neither do nor suffer any thing out of pride or vain-glory as the Apostle exhorts Phil. 2. 3. Do nothing so suffer nothing out of strife or vain glory Take heed that an affectation of popular applause of gaining the repute of active Christians of bold and resolved Christians be not it that leads you on Your pride may cost you much but will never bear your charge may bring you into trouble but will never bear you out 4. That you do nothing ignorantly or upon mistake Be clear especially in those things which may be costly Study your duty throughly labour to see your way plain before you to see the pillar of fire and of the cloud going before you Give heed to the word of the Scriptures which is a light to your feet and a Lanthorn to your steps Where you are clear you will be bold but take heed of suffering upon a mistake Your troubles will be like to open your eyes and shew your mistake and thereby put out your lights destroy your supports and comforts 5. Do not suffer unpeaceably Suffer not for
How can this be Must we disbelieve our Senses lay down our Reasons ere we can believe the Scriptures Must we call evil good and good evil Must we count darkness light and light darkness Is pleasure pain and pain pleasure Is loss gain and gain loss Is ease torment and torment ease Doth Religion make things cease to be what they are and to be what they are not or at least Must we believe that darkness is the Mother of light that good is the Daughter of evil Can we hather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles Can darkness give light or death it self bring forth life Must we say that contraries no longer destroy but produce each other and that the womb brings forth its own destruction How can these things be But must God give a Reason of his actions or else they are not though evil cannot bring forth good darkness cannot bring forth light yet Cannot God bring forth good out of Evil light out of darkness Though darkness cannot bring forth light evil cannot bring forth good by a natural causation yet Cannot God make evil an occasion of good Though it do work efficiently yet can it not work objectively neither to it Though the torment the Medicine puts men to be not ease yet may it not work towards ease May not the storm though it help not yet hasten the Labourer on his work the Tâ—aveller on his way May not the darkness of the night make more diligent in the day May not sickness teach men more temperance and poverty more frugality But to proceed more distinctly How can the Saints evil things work to their good That they do so cannot be denied unless we will deny not only Scripture but common Sence and Experience but how comes it to pass I answer in 4. Particulars 1. The Affliction and Tribulations of the Saints are the way that leads them on to the possession of that good which God hath intended to them afflictions are the way of the Kingdom the Cross is the way to the Crown Acts 14. 22. Through many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God Psal 66. 11 12. Thou broughtest us into the net thou hast laid affliction upon our loyns thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went through fire and water thou broughtest us into a wealthy place Observe it Their troubles are their way to their Triumph their very falling into the net their way to escape Their Enemies boast Escape Arise yes let them free themselves with such hopes while they will we have them sure enough we have them under foot we have them in the net If this be their way wee 'l keep them in their way long enough Now we have them down they shall not be able to rise I but yet it appears through all this the Lord led them forth into a wealthy place The High-way of the proud is not their more ready way to the dust than the dust of Saints is their sure way to honour When Israel were to go to Canaan they must take the Brick-Kilnes the Red Sea the Wilderness Jordan in their way could any one have imagined that the bondage the straits they were under the doubling their Tasks the cruelty of their Task-Masters their enclosure at the Red Sea did mean any good to them yet how fell it out at last their darkest dispensations had light in their latter end Their greatest bondage leads on to their greatest liberty Every cross Providence is a step to the accomplishment of the Promise The Wheel is ever moving on to its end it moves still forwards even when it seems to go quite backwards As the River by its many turnings and windings forwards and backwards is still in motion to the Sea when it seems to be running quite contrary Christians if ever the Salvation of God seems to be removed farther off from you If the work of God should at any time seem to go backwards if cross winds should turn the whole course so that you appear rather to be marching back to Egypt than on to Canaan yet be not discouraged though your way be an unlikely an unpromising way though you be led about forwards and backwards yet still you are making on though the lesser Wheels be never so cross and contrary in their motions yet the great Wheel is still moving Right on to your blessed and hoped end God intends your good your spiritual good here your eternal good hereafter and believe it now for he will let you see it hereafter that those very things which most threaten your miscarriage and a total abortion of your hopes are made all to concur to the bringing them about and to your more full and speedy possession of them Note farther here two Things 1. All things work not they shall work de futuro but de praesenti they do work as the Apostle says The Mystery of Iniquity so we may say The Mystery of the Saints Redemption doth already work the work is already on the wheel and every wheel is in its motion for you not only your Brethren the Saints and Angels who are all praying for your peace and seeking your good but your Enemies also the Dragon with all his Armies are at work for you all the Councils of this world are already sitting upon the very matter God hath call'd them together for this purpose The Pope with all his Conclave the Jesuits Preists Monks and Friars with all their Covents yea the Devil with all his Conclave of Hell are all at work for the good of Saints It 's true they mean not nor intend any such thing their designs are against you they count they are working for themselves as 't is said concerning the Assyrian Isa 10. 6 7. God sent him forth upon a Design of his own to execute his Counsel in the punishing of Hypocrites to purge out the Chaff from the Wheat nevertheless he meaneth not so nor doth his heart think so the Assyrian minds not what God's Design is but follows his own Design fights for himself and spoils for himself but God's Design is still carried on by him though he think not of it All the Events in the World are driving the same way every Disease or Infirmity that comes upon you every Loss that you sustain every Scoff or Reproach that you suffer the shame in your Faces the Sorrow of your Hearts the Torment in your Bowels the Aches in your Bones are all working your good All the changes of your Conditions your fair Weather and your foul your Sun-shine and your Clouds your Plenty and your Wants your Eases and your Pains your Liberties and your Prisons are all making for you your good is already working by all these Things See Christians what an Harvest of Blessedness is growing up to you out of this Promise the Seed is already sowing your good is already working God is at work the whole Creation is at work Men and Angels good men and evil men
setteth up Kings he makes War and creates Peace he bendeth the Bow and breaketh the Bow and cutteth the Spear in sunder and burneth the Chariots in the fire Peace and War Health and Sickness Plenty and Famine Life and Death are all the disposures of his hand He orders all the events and casualties of the World even from the greatest to the smallest Without him not a Sparrow shall fall nor a hair of the Head shall perish though there be to men yet to the Lord there are no casualties or contingencies But all things come to pass according as his Hand and Counsel had before determined 2. The design of Providence as it respects the Elect is the accomplishment of Gods good purpose and promise Providence governs the World and the purpose and promise governs Providence All the works of Providence have rationem mediorum ad finem God doth nothing in vain it is not consistent with the wisdome of God to do any thing for nothing God would have his People look farther than the things that are before them because all those things have a farther aspect themselves All the works of Providence have a double aspect they look backward to the purpose and promise and they look forward to the end for which they are as they look backward so they have truth in them exactly answering the purpose and promise from which they have their birth As they look forward to their end so they have good in them and that good their subservience to their end is the reason of their being Here note 2. things 1. That the subserviency of things to their end is the goodness of them if the end be good the means must as such be good also If what God hath purposed and promised be good then all things that fall in between having the respect of means to their accomplishment must upon that account be good If our crosses and afflictions do subserve the bringing about of Gods good will and good word we must say concerning them Good are the works of the Lord. It is not how any thing looks or feels at present but what it means and to what it tends If the potion be bitter and yet it tends to health if the Messenger be ill-looked and ill-favoured and yet comes upon a good errand you may bid them welcom And thus all the Providences of God are good If you should ask of any Providence wherefore art thou come comest thou peaceably comest thou for good they must all answer yes peaceably for good and no hurt 'T is but to help all that good into thy hand which hath been in the heart and hath proceeded out of the mouth of thy God that loves thee There is not a Messenger of Sathan that comes to buffet thee but is also a Messenger from God that comes to thee for good The very thorns in thy flesh shall serve thee for Plaissers thine eye-sores shall be thine eye-salve and thy very Maladies thy Medicines 2. That this relative goodness of all the works of Providence is the reason of their Being Therefore God doth what he doth that hereby he may do what he hath said and intended I do not say that the reason of Gods taking this or that means is alwayes from any thing in it self or for his natural tendency to such an end above any thing else God hath his choyce of means he can chuse here or there at pleasure can make use of what he will to serve his design but the reason why things are is this God in his Wisdom saw their ordinability to this good end and thereupon in his Providence he orders and brings them to pass So that now whatever befals a Christian he hath this to allay and take off the grievousness and sharpness of it This had never been but for the good will and good word of the Lord to me The Lord God hath said he will bless me and do me good he will heal and sanctiâ—ie and save me and now he is about it by this he is working that Salvation for me Christians you have no reason to say If the Lord be with me why am I thus why so poor why so pained so persecuted so scorned and trampled upon sure if the Lord had meant my good it would have been better than 't is with me No no 't is because the Lord is with thee and means thee well that he deals in this manner with thee The Design of his Providence towards thee is the accomplishment of his Promise 3. The Providence of God shall never fail of accomplishing its end There is nothing wanting that might give us the fullest assurance hereof For 1. The Providence of God hath power with it He is Almighty that hath promised he that ruleth in the earth dwelleth in the Heaven and doth whatsoever he will Our God is in heaven and doth whatsoever he will I will work and who shall lett it Is 43. Who can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou were it not for our unbelief our case would be still the same in greatest difficulties as when the Coasts are most clear We might say of difficulties as the Psalmist of darkness there is no darkness with thee to thee day and night are both alike Difficulties are no difficulties with thee nor is there difference betwixt hard and easie He can save with many or with few and with none is as well as with some We once read he had too many but never that he had too few to bring about his wosk Oh how we do desparage the power of God when our difficulties make us doubt Is he God and not man Is he spirit and not flesh Wherefore then dost thou doubt What-ever God hath said he can do Believe he is a God and thou wilt never say How can these things be 2. The Providence of God hath wisdom with it he is the only wise he is the all-wise God He knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations 2 Pet. 2. 9. He knoweth what is good for his Saints and when 't will be in season he understandeth what is proper and pertinent to every case What 's proper to every purpose to every people to every person and for every season he knows when 't is a season to abase and when to exalt when to afflict and when to deliver when to put on the yoak and when to take off the yoak when to pull down and when to build up every thing is beautiful in its season If mercies come out of season mercies would be no mercies and if troubles come in their season troubles should be no troubles He knows the best method and means to his end the fittest means he sees somtimes the unfittest to be the fittest the most unlikely unpromising means do often best serve Gods end Christians if you would receive every dispensation as coming from the hands of the wise God you would never quarrel with your lot nor say of any thing
not for the worse 1. For who knows when-ever the Ministry is removed but it may be in order to a greater Glory at it's Return Perhaps God's sending away Pastors from a People may be as Paul's absence from the Romanes that they may return in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel Or as Onesimus his departing from Philemon Perhaps they therefore depart for a season that they may be received for ever Or if this should not be the case of any particular Church if they should return no more yet 2. Their want of means shall supply their want of means their want of means shall be their means When they have no Preacher their empty Pulpits shall preach to them this most smarting of Rods will have its voyce If they have no longer the Light with them their darkness shall instruct them if they want their burning Lights the very Cold shall preserve and increase their inward vigour the wickedness of others shall make them more holy the violence of evil men upon sin shall enkindle their zeal for God the darkness that 's here below shall make them to live more above and all this shall make to their fuller reward 'T is a greater vertue to keep up the heart to keep on our way where there is a want than where there are abundance of means and helps and an higher vertue shall have a greater reward 3. The failing of the Word will bring back to their Memories and upon their own hearts that which they have received and as the emptiness of the Stomack will cause a second and better Concâ—ction and turn it into better nourishment when there are no more Loaves they 'l gather up the Fragments that nothing be lost the less there is more to be had the more reckoning the better use they will make of what they have their present want will be a rebuke of their former wantonness their want of remembrancers will help their Memories whet their Appetites Every old truth that hath been too much laid by will then be precious 4. Whenever ordinary means fail God will either find extraordinary or else will feed them more immediately on himself Psal 34. 9. God hath promised that those that fear the Lord shall want no good thing If that be meant of temporal good things yet sure it will yield us an argument that will reach the present case If God will provide for their Carkases much more for their Souls If God will supply them with less necessaries then doubtless he will not be wanting in what is absolutely necessary Psal 23. 1 2 3. The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want and so on through the Psalm Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Here we have the Psalmists conclusion and it's foundation or his confidence and its ground his foundation or ground is the Lord is my Shepheard his conclusion and confidence is I shall not want that is neither the Body nor Soul as appears by the following part of the Psalm If Davids Logick and his Faith too does not fail him the conclusion is firm let the Lord be his Shepherd and he shall not know famine or want Gods Relation to his people is their security for a sufficient provision in all times If the Lord be their Shepherd he must see them fed he must either find them those that shall or do it himself He must either find them Pastors or be their Pastor he must either provide them or be their Pasture If ordinary means fail he must find extraordinary if both fail he must be instead of means to them Here two things 1. That God stands engaged as the Shepherd of his people where ordinary means fail either to provide them extraordinary or to feed them more immediately from himself 2. That extraordinary means or no means when God brings his people to it will be better than their ordinary means 1. That God stands engaged as the Shepherd of his people where ordinary means fail either to provide them extraordinary or to feed them more immediately from himself Feed them he must or he cannot be faithful and if means fail he must supply that want one way or other Now God is faithful and will not see his Sheep to starve Isa 41. 17 18. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them I will open Rivers in high places and Fountains in the midst of the Vallyes I will make the Wilderness a Pool of water and the dry Land Springs of water Oh what a good Word is here for the poor Saints to live upon in hard times It is interpreted to have an immediate reference to the outward and yet a special respect also to the spiritual wants and distresses And it will appear if we compare it with the like expressions Chap. 44. 3. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit on thy Seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring From the former Scriptures note 1. That the poor people of God may somtimes be as to the visible Soul-provisions but in a poor case Needy and hungry and thirsty their hearts fainting their tongues failing for thirst and their waters dryed up If they seek water and there be none 2. All the wants and straits of the Saints are before the Lord. I the Lord will hear Christians though those that should will not yet he that can will hear the cryes of your Souls all your faintings and pâ—ntings and longings for the water of life are before your eyes and come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath 3. God hath more wayes than one to relieve the wants and refresh the bowels of his hungry ones He hath extraordinary means for extraordinary cases If they can find no common Rivers he will open or make new Rivers The high places the dry places the very Rock will yield a River when God commands it 4. Gods extraordinary Provisions shall not be scanty and penurious but rich and plentiful 'T is not some drops or now and then a draught a little to stay the longing or barely enough to keep them alive he prepares them Rivers Fountains Pools Springs of water I will open Rivers in the high places Fountains in the Vallies c. Where-ever they be cast in the high Places in the Vallies in the Wildernesse in the dry Lands where-ever they be cast I will cause provision enough to meet them though they have neither bag nor bottle nor any thing to carry with them they shall not want the Rivers shall meet them Springs shall arise and break forth to them 5. They are not the wanting but the thirsting the seeking Souls whom God will supply When the poor and needy seek water and there is none
Oh Christians how many poor are there that fit down by their poverty who if they starve yet will not beg their emptiness hath taken away their Appetites These are sad Souls 't is a sad sight to behold a company of hunger-bitten Souls sit weeping and sighing seeking after the Bread and Water of life and finding none but to see empty and yet not hungry fainting and yet not panting Souls to see Souls even dying away for want and yet not desiring or craving a supply this is a much sorer spectacle A starving thirstless Soul is next to a Ghost Well if ever such Souls find who never seek water 't is more than God hath promised 'T is they that seek water to whom God will open a River 6. VVhatever difficulty there be to furnish the hungry Saints with a sufficiency of Provision yet one way or other it shall be done I the Lord will hear I the God of Israel will not forsake them Upon me be all their wants I am God and can I am their God the God of Israel and will provide for them They must and shall be provided for whatever course I be put to take I must not see them starve The Lord will not be wanting to them If his VVord be not heard his VVorks shall speak if Preachers cannot Providence shall preach to them if their friends cannot their enemies their stripes their wounds their rods shall instruct them Thy Rod and thy Staffe comfort me If they have no other the Sun Moon and Staâ—â— the Fouls of the Air the Beasts of the Field shall be their Prophets and Apostles If any should fail yet the Spirit of the Lord shall not fail to be their Teacher and Comforter 2. Extraordinary means have more in them than ordinary and no means more than means 1. Extraordinary means when ordinary cannot be had are sweeter and better feeding to the Saints than ordinary would be The less of the Creature the more of God the less of common Providence the more of special Grace Water out of the Rock was more precious than out of the River the Manna of the Wilderness was to them that understood it better than the Milk of Canaan Elijah never made better meales than what he got out of the Ravens mouth I have heard of a woman in great distress of Soul who received comfort when the Word was brought her by the mouth of a Child which she had failed of receiving from the mouthes of many excellent Ministers 2. No means often prove better than means when I say no means I do not understand simply none meanes they shall have of one kind or other their understandings their memories their secret duties Prayer Meditation c. but by no meanes I understand nothing from without no Ordinances Friends Societies Books c. Gods feeding of a Soul more immediately is much sweeter then when he sends provision by the hands of another the Samaritans hearing of Christs words from his own mouth was much more to them than the same words reported by the woman Duâ—cius ex ipso fonte Water is the purer the nearer the Fountain the Bread that comes down from Heaven is better Bread than that which grows up out of the Earth though that be originally from Heaven also By how much the more immediately our comforts come from Heaven by so much the more they have of Heaven in them If upon the failing of publick Communion it bâ— made up so much the more in secret sure the Saints have no reason to complain And whether this be not so let the Prisons into which the Saints have bin sometimes cast the Wilderness into which they have been sometimes banished let Elihu's Songs in the night Peters Pauls Silahs Songs in the Prison in the Stocks stand forth and testifie If Prison joyes and exile comforts have not been often both fuller and sweeter to them than when they have rolled in Manna and lived in the fulness and freedom of all helps and means then not a few Christians have either mistaken or mis-reported their experiences To pretend to live above Ordinances whilest God affords them is a wickedness that some men have to repent of but where God denies them he doth he will provide a better subsistance without them Now lay all this together and then you will see that even this also this most grievous of Judgements the famine of the Word when-ever it befalls shall work for good to those that love God Christians chear up your hearts whatever drought or dearth may fall upon the World your are provided for you shall have enough If the shours fail without you have within you that which shall spring up to eternal life If your streams should be dryed up if your Pastures should be trodden down you have a God that will be both your Pastor and Pasture If the River fail you the Rock shall supply you what you want in ordinary you may look to be made up in extraordinary means The drying up of the waters shall but drive you up to the Spring-head If ever the Stars fail you God shall but exchange Star-light for Sun-light while there 's light in the Sun you shall not walk in darkness See but to this make sure that this God is yours and he must find out a comfortable feeding for you if you can but say Davids first words after him The Lord is my Shepherd you may then with confidence say the whole Psalm after him I shall not want he will make me to lie down in green Pastures he will lead me by the still Waters though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil thy Rod and thy Staff shall comfort me Thou shalt prepare me a Table in the presence of mine Enemies Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever 2. There is another Objection that seems to have one difficulty in it Suppose a Saint to fall into Distraction and thereby to be deprived utterly of the use of his Reason and so to live and die How can it be imagined that this can work for his good either in this World or in the World to come Can any good arise out of an incapacity of any longer doing or receiving good or patiently suffering Evil Can either his Grace here or his Glory hereafter be increased or advanced by a mans being converted into a meer Bruit 1. There 's no doubt at all but this may make for the Churches good Is there nothing that others may learn out of such a sad Providence If others may reap good by my evil is it nothing to me May it not be said to be good for any particular Saint to bear the soarest affliction by which the Church may have benefit He hath not much of a Saint to whom if it were afore-hand proposed whether for the benefit of the Church he would be content if
things He that hath the son hath not only with him but in himâ— all things Are all things nothing with thee What wouldst thou have more than all Thâ— Heathens acknowledged That vertue is sufficient Iâ— was a Maxime among the ancient Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue is self-sufficient A vertuous Man hath no need to be beholding either tâ— Friends or Fortune He hath enough in himself The Apostle tells us That Godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with its self-sufficiency is great gain 1 Tim. 6. 6. Solomon tells us Prov. 14. 14. A good man is satisfied from himself He hath that within him out of which his satisfaction grows A Christian hath the whole Gospel within him He hath Christ the Promise the everlasting God Heaven Glory within him As rich as he is he may truly say Omnia mea mecum porto He carries his All in his heart and can thence get out a living a Sufficiency for all Times Cases and Wants Cast him naked out of his Habitation out of his Countrey yet he carries all with him he leaves not an Hoof behind him Christians leave it to the poor of the Earth to carnal men the Riches of them is poor enough leave it them to be discontent A carnal Man hath so many to be beholding to to parch up his contentment that 't is no wonder he falls short of it the Sun the Clouds his Fields his Folds his Friends his Enemies his Honours his Pleasures his Meat his Drink his House his Mony yea the Devil all his lusts every Creature must come in with their part to contribute to his contentment if but one thing fails him there 's somthing wanting to make it up Nay if none fail but they all do their best to please him yet all will not do in the fulness of his sufficiency he is in straits When he hath all he can have his still hungring Heart cries out of what it hath Vanity of Vaâ—â—ties all is Vanity Leave it to these Christians who â—ave nothing but emptiness to fill their Souls withâ—â— leave it to them to be discontented Will you â—ay the same imputation upon the God of Glory The Discontent of a Christian is a kind of Blasphemy it proclaims concerning God also and all the Glory of the Gospel This also is Vanity Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity Christians study your Riches more count over your Treasures dwell more in your God and his Gospel Read over your Priviledges Promises and Hopes feed more on that Bread of Life drink more freely of those Living Springs which are broken forth to you Prove more what Godliness hath in it Get out the sweetness and the Pleasure of it none in the World live such a voluptuous Life as he that lives mâ—â—t with God get out the pleasure of Godliness lie more at the Breasts suck harder press the Clusters and the Wine and Milk will come make the most of Religion and you will have enough never blame it for empty or unsatisfactory while there is more to be had Gad not into other Pastures run not from Flower to Flower keep you Home Let not your God find you in another Field If you keep with God the less you have of Creature-vanities the more full will your Contentment be Christian Honour thy God and his Gospel let his Breasts satisfie thee and err thou alwayes in his Love Let the World read the Gospel-sufficiency in thy Souls pleasure and satisfaction with it alone 5. Let your Conversations answer the supports of the Gospel and its succours Live a patient life Jam. 5. 7. Be patient brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Patience is a Grace suited to our present Gospel state I will call it a Friend that 's born for the day of adversity If you are Christians you have need of Pâ—tience and if you have Patience you need no more Jam. 1. 4. Let Patience have her perfect work that you may be entire lacking nothing Patience is a submitting sedate and calm frame of spirit whereby a Christian from Gospel grounds it born up under all his Troubles and born through all his Duties Betwixt Patience and Contentedness there is this difference Contentedness is the quiet of the heart and its satisfaction with its smallest portion of good things Patience is the quiet of the heart under the greatest pressure of evil things A patient spirit is a submitting spirit It s heartily content that God should have his Will With whatsoever God is pleased it will not be displeased It 's the Lord lâ—â— him do whatsoever seems good in his Eyes What seems good in God's eyes shall not seem evil in mine It is a Calm and quiet spirit It will not strive noâ— cry nor lift up its voice in the streets it can mourn but it does not murmur it can feel but it will not fret at the hand of God A patient person is ever compos mentis has the command and government of his spirit keeps it sober and in due order doth not rave and rage Impatience is a kind of frenzy such persons are besides themselves In our patience we possess and by our impatience we lose our Souls we lose the rule and government of them the peace and the use of them An impatient man is besides himself both as a Man and as a Christian 1. He is besides himself as a Man Impatience turns Reason out of doors and for the Affections they are all in an uproar and will know no command or government 2. He is besides himself as a Christian turned quite out of course Duties Comforts Experiences Hopes all are laid aside Keep you quiet keep the peace in your heart and you keep your heart In this calmness and quietness it bears up under troubles Patience hath Fortitude in it it neither frets nor faints under all its burthens Christians must bear and patient Christians can bear any thing that comes on them The proper exercise of patience is enduring he endures not that suffers only but that can bear what he suffers It bears through its Duties The passion of a patient person doth not hinder his action He holds his course keeps on his way whatever load he hath on his back He runs with patience the race which is set before him he is not discouraged nor diverted from his holy course by any suffering it costs him And indeed Christian Patience stands not in a bare forced quiet in a biting in or keeping down our fretting aestuations from venting themselves in word or carriage or in a sullen silence or stupidity but in the maintaining such a tranquility of spirit under all we suffer as that we can still both enjoy and serve the Lord. He is a patient Christian that is as much a Christian in a storm as in a clam that can pray believe love bless God follow God and keep his way when he smites as when he smiles Lastly in all this a Christian is upheld and carried on from
come upon them without taking part with them in their sufferings then lust is conquered Lust no longer lives nor maintains its power and interest in us than whilest in all its afflictions we are afflicted when we feel its sufferings as our sufferings its disappointments and dissatisfactions as our own and flie out against whatsoever falls upon it as it fell upon our Souls When we can say 't is my passion that suffers but not I 't is my Covetousness that suffers my pride that suffers but not I and let them suffer for me let them be pinch'd and pain'd and starv'd and die none of all this shall move me nay herein I do and I will rejoyce There 's Patience Patience is Lust conquered Christians you complain of Corruption you tell one another sad stories what a burden what a bondage 't is you are under whilest Lust hath such power in you whar Briars and Thorns what plagues and stings they are in your hearts You pray and you mourn and groan and sigh in your selves waiting for your redemption from this bondgae and misery Oh for an humble heart Oh for a broken mortified spirit oh this earthliness this envy this peevishness this sloathfulness I am weary of my life because of these Daughters of Heth. Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Why would you be delivered Be patient under Afflictions they are the Executioners sent from God to slay your Enemies the Medicines sent from your Physician to cure your Diseases Never quarrel with Affliction unless you resolve to befriend Corruption What will you be so foolish as not to be patient of your Disease nor your Remedy either bear the Cross or else never make your selves believe but you can bear your sins well enough Whatever your complaints are 't is a sign they come not very deep 'T is an Argument that sin sits light where the Cross lies so unsupportably heavy 4. Your patient suffering will be your Triumph over Temptation A patient Christian is a Conqueror over all the World By this alone naked Job overcame the Devil When Sathan and his Instruments have persecuted you into patience they have therein brought their Necks under your Feet This Brazen wall will make their shot recoil on their own heads and hearts Your Patience will be a Shield to yours and a Sword in your Enemies Souls Be patient and you have won the field and gotten the day They will have no hope to drive you to sin where they see you can suffer This was Job's Triumph and shall be yours In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly You may now make your boast in the words of the Apostle Rom. 8. 35. Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword In all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us 5. Your patient suffering will be the improvement of your sanctification Heb. 12. 9 10. We have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them Reverence Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live For they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness The Fathers of our flesh corrected us and so doth the Father of Spirits they at their pleasure he for our profit You 'l say it may be for what profit What profit is there in our Blood in our Bonds in our poverty Why there is this profit we are hereby made partakers of his holiness There 's seldome any towardliness in a child till it be whipt into him Gods School of affliction is a Nursery for Heaven Were it not for his House of Correction Sion would quickly become as Sodom Seldom does any come out thence but their complexion shews where they have been 'T is with them that feel the Hand of the Lord as 't was with him that saw his Face his Face did shine his very spitting in their Faces doth wash them the cleaner Of all Saints there are none raised so high towards the third Heaven as those that have been in the Deep No Providences give such a lift to the soul as those that most humble Christians What-ever pains you travel under believe it the Births may be such as will make you forget your sorrow I have heard of an holy woman who used to compare her afflictions to her children they both put her to great pain in the bearing but as shew knew not which of her children to be without notwithstanding her trouble in the bringing forth so neither which of her afflictions she could have wanted notwithstand the sorrow they put her to in the bearing Heb. 12. 11. No chastning for the present is joyous but grievous but afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness to them that are exercised thereby Oh when you see the Fruit where then will your Sorrow be John 16. 21. A Woman when she is in Travail hath Sorrow because her hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of the Child she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a Man-child is born into the world If the Joy of the Birth will make you forget why should not the hope of the Birth make you to bear the pain Beloved would you bring forth fruit unto God and will you not bear the Plow and the Harrow Will you expect an Harvest and yet must God let you lye fallow and still sow among Thorns Let me ask you and answer deliberately would you be more holy than you are more fruitful than you are or would you not If you would not you are no Christian Si dixeris sufficit defecisti If you would is that desire conditional You would increase so it cost you not over-much labour and pain that desire comes to just so much as no desire at all Or is your desire of an increase absolute would you be more holy what-ever it cost you Do you so prize and love an holy and fruitful life that you are heartily content that God should take his own course with you should take any course that 's needful to bâ—ing you on to it Can you freely say O Lord I am weary of this trifling I am weary of this dead and barren life Lord quicken me Lord enlarge me Lord perfect thy work and fulfil in me all the good pleasure of thy will So thou wilt but hear she in this thing I freely put it into thy hand to take thine own way and use thine own means Use the Word or the Rod. Command me or chastise me spare not this flesh for all its crying strip me of what thou wilt inflict on me what thou wilt throw me whither thou pleasest let me not want the most bitter Pill that 's needful any thing any thing Lord I hope I can be poor if thou wilt have
me so I can be in pain in disgrace If thou wilt have me But I cannot be unholy I cannot bear it to be such a starveling in the state of my Soul Lord for more holiness Lord for more life and care and zeal and fruit let me have it upon what terms thou pleasest only let me have it Can you say thus to the Lord I hope you can what and yet be displeased it he take you at your word can you pray thus and yet repine and murmur that the Lord hears your prayers Christian when the Lord comes to deal roughly with thee entertain his chastisements whatever they be with this thought Now the Lord is about to give me my hearts desire now is my day of hope This distress this sorrow and anguish the Lord hath brought upon me may be come to perform that work which I have long'd to see What the Word hath been so long a doing and yet is not done What Sacraments Prayers Mercies have been so long a doing and yet is not done Now is the time this may be the means to bring it about This bitter Cup hath health in the bottom this Plough and these deep furrowes it makes look towards an Harvest The work is doing that I have been so long a begging This froward this senseless this sloathful this earthly barren heart which I feel to day I hope now in a little time I shall be rid of for ever If this be the meaning of my troubles as I hope it is I will wait I will wait for the fruit and if this be the fruit oh welcom welcom this blessed Providence 6. Your patient suffering shall be the advance of your glory Remember what I have told you already Your suffering shall go into your reward according to your deep poverty so shall your riches be As 't was said concerning Babylon Rev. 18. 7. How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much sorrow and torment give her So shall it be said concerning you How much they have been abased and afflicted for me so much Joy and Glory give them As sure as the persecuâ—ings of the ungodly shall meet them in hell so certainly shall the Persecutions of the Righteous meet them before the Throne of God This shall be written on their everlasting Crowns Here is the Patience of the Saints By this time you see Christians that a suffering state is not so formidable nor patience under it so impossible nor your impatience so excusable as your hearts are so apt to tell you Sufferings you cannot avoid but you may abide them your carnal hearts will cry out I can't endure and therefore whatever shift I make I must avoid them The Gospel tells you You may endure but if you will be Christians you can't avoid them All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution Well since it 's thus Gird up the loins of your Minds and follow your Lord. Consider him that endured such contradictions of Sinners and be not weary noâ— faint in your minds The Captain of your salvation was made perfect through sufferings and if you will be patient so shall you his followers Turn to your strong hold ye Prisoners of hope prove to the world that your Faith is no fancy nor your Rock a refuge of lies that your profession of holiness is not a meer talk or vapour Fear not to bear yours and thankfully accept your Lords Testimony when the Lord hath fulfilled his sad Predictions let your faith and patience seal to the fulfilling his promises When-ever the hand of the Lord touches to the quick and you feel in earnest that 't is hot service to be a Christian when your flesh begins to fly in your face and cries out against your Soul either as Zippâ—rah against Moses a bloody Husband hast thou been to me or as Job's Wife to him Curse God and dye chide it into silence Thou speakest like one of the foolish Women If it will still kick and â—ling and groan out to thee dost thou still retain thy integrity hearken not to it leave it to groan alone as the flesh hath left thy Soul to groan alone under sin so let thy Soul leave thy flesh to groan alone under affliction While thy Soul is quiet there 's the glory of patience though extremity of torment make thy flesh to roar nay the more the flesh roars and the Soul yet keeps silence the more patience If your fears affright you and prophecy to you before hand Oh I shall never be patient if the fore-sight be so dreadful what will the encounter be Yet be not discouraged You say you could be content to suffer if you were sure you could be patient that is you would venture into the water if you had first learn'd to swim why when you are in then you will learn and not before Tribulation worketh patience where it findeth none when you are in the fight you 'l find your weapons your very sufferings will learn you to bear 'T is the flesh that flings and frets but by that it hath been tamed in the house of affliction it will be quieter Be jealous of your selves while you will let not fore-hand presumption hinder fore-hand preparation But whilst you suspect your selves distrust not your God follow the Cloud of Witnesses and lean on the Rock of Ages and when you are put hardest to it let your soul take Sanctuary here When my flesh and my heart faileth me God is the strength of mine heart and my portion for ever Lastly As that wherein I shall take in most of these former particulars Let your lives answer that Spirit of holiness which the Gospel hath powred forth upon you Let your lives be gracious and holy lives Particularly 1. Let the Grace of the Gospel be visible and perspicuous in your lives shew forth the vertues of him that hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light Let your lives be the image of thot holy Doctrine or the holding forth of that word of Life which you have received Admire that grace of God which hath appeared to you and let his Grace appear and be admired in you let Grace appear in you in its Purity Power 1. In its Purity represent your God and your Christ and your Religion in its holiness to the world Teach the World to love or at least to reverence holiness by letting them see it before their eyes Holiness hath such a Glory in it that it will command respect and reverence when it is clearly seen Let your paths be pure as God hath separated you to separate your selves from the lusts of men to the Law of your God Keep your selves upright in the sight of God keep your selves unspotted of the world If they will be spotting you let it be only with your beauty spots your Wisdom Truth Holiness Mercy Meekness Patience the Excellencies and Vertues of your God appearing upon you Let this that you are too pure
to have no Assurance that he hath any at all If thou wouldest have power over Corruption if thou wouldest stand in the Day of temptation if thou wouldest not starve in the day of Famine if thou wouldest have the comfort of the Grace thou hast let it grow up to its fuller stature Grace when it is come to Age will speak for it self and shift for it self the better which whilest it is in its Infancie neither knows nor can help it self Christians let your Grace grow and let the Fruits of it increase Let your Fields ripen to the Harvest I may say concerning Sinners not as our Lord said Behold the Fields are already white to the Harvest but behold the Fields are already black to the Harvest The Word is ready to be given Come put in thy Sickle the Harvest is ripe the wickedness is great The Fields of Tares are already black to the Harvest But oh when shall it be said of you Behold the fields are white to the Harvest shall evil weeds grow so fast and shall only the good Corn be at a stand Brethren Let your Fruits grow more plentiful and more perfect daily Let that Scripture be verified in you Pro. 4. 18. The path of the Just is a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Let your hearts be so filled with the fulness of God that your pathes may drop fatness Let it be said of you as of the Spouse Cant. 4. 18. and Chap. 5. 5. Her lips dropped as the Honey Comb and her hands dropped sweet smelling Myrrh Let your lips drop as the Honey Comb as you have drunk in the Milk and Honey that comes down from above so be ever droping it down to others Let something of the fatness something of the fatness that you have received from above be alwayes dropping down Be dropping according to what you have drank as you see sinners of whom 't is said They drink iniquity to be alwayes dropping iniquity dropping Oathes dropping Lies dropping Scoffs and reproaches So let it be said of you They drink the Dew of Heaven and this they are dropping down Let no Child no Servant no Friend come into your Company and go away without some sweet drops from your lips A word of heavenly instruction a gracious admonition a word of encouragement or a quickening word let them have or lift up a prayer and drop down a blessing upon them Something or other of the Dew of Heaven let them feel flowing from your Lips Let your lips drop as the Honey Comb and your Hands drop sweet smelling Myrrh Let your Holy Practises your holy Examples second and set on your wholsom counsels and instructions Let your words be savoury and your works be gracious Let lip and life speak the same things and lead on the same way Christians By your nursing up the Souls and Fruits of others you will ripen and encrease your own If you should look on all the Fruit as little which your selves have brought forth to God you will have this to comfort you That you have born more upon your Brethrens knees the Fruits of those Fields which you have planted or watered will abound to your account Bring forth much Fruit unto God and be much in immediate converse with God Phil. 3. 20. Our Convetsation is in Heaven Be more elevated and raised in your Spirits daily above things sensual and carnal Above Carnal Delights Above Carnal Discouragements 1. Above Carnal Delights live more purely in the Spirit let your Hearts be wrought up to such a spiritual frame that all the joyes pleasures and comforts of your lives may be spiritual Let the Lord be all your delight Psal 37. 5. Let it be with you as much as may be as it is with the Saints already in glory to whom God is all who being changed into his Image and dwelling in his presence are satisfied in him Let God alone be as much to you as God and all the world Let the Fashions and Pleasures and delights of this world be so much beneath your Spirits that it may neither be an abatement of your joy to want nor an addition to your content to possess them Let the light of all these lower sparks be swallowed up in God when the Sun shines all the Stars dis-appear and are not needed Lift up thine eyes Christian and see what pleasures there are within the Veil Come drink thy fill of this new wine let thy Faith draw the Curtains of Eternity and take a view of those heights and depths and lengths and breadths of that Glory and Joy which there it may discover Look on him that fits on the Throne and those everlasting Treasures of Light Holiness Goodness and Mercy which are streaming from his Face on those over-flowing Bowels of kindness and compassion on those Rivers of pure and eternal Pleasures Rest Peace that rise from that glorious Throne and run through the City of God Behold the Tree of life and feed thy Soul on its precious fruit whose very leaves are for the healing of Nations Hearken to and fill thine Ears and Heart with those Tryumphs and Exultations those Raptures and Extasies of unspeakable and glorious joyes those blessings and praisings those Hallelujahs that are tuned upon the hearts and tongues of the Heavenly Chore the glorious Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect by the vision and fruition of thy God the God of Glory Look on and possess this Joy and Glory say to thy Soul as God to Abraham Gen. 13. 14. Lift up thine eyes and look from the place where thou art Northward and Southward and Eastward and Westward through all the Coasts and all the Dimensions of the blessed Land of Promise and holy City and then say Come Soul take up thy rest here all this is thine Look and love love and long long and hope hope and rejoyce in hope of this glory of God Look on thy God and never leave looking till thou art changed into his Image and satisfied with his Image And here let thy delight and thy dwelling be 2. Above all carnal discouragements from any adversaries or dangers wherewith you are baited and affrighted as you walk in the Lord let the joy of the Lord be your strength let your Sun be your shield let your hope be your confidence and fear not your dutie nor danger Look to your hope and you will laugh at fear Dwell in your reward and you will not be afraid to dwell in your dutie But of this a word more by and by Thus much for general Directions 2. I shall next give you some special Directions for you daily work General necessarilie depend on and subsist in particulars As there can be no Religion in a Kingdom unlesse it be first in particular Families nor none in Families unlesse it be in particular persons so a general course of Christianity there cannot be unless it be supported in our particular daily walk The advice I
yet for the discharge of my duty and for your own necessity bear with me I am afraid that whilst I have been preaching to you of an incorruptible Crown of an everlasting Rest a Kingdom of Joy and Glory I am afraid there are many of you That have no part nor lot in this matter but are still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity If the Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost And are there none among you from whom this Gospel is hid hid as to the light of it hid as to the saving power and efficacy of it I am afraid there are too many I am afraid there 's many a blind eye many a hard heart many a Spirit still in Prison under the Power of their Lusts and Bruitish Sensuality I am afraid there are many such among you and are not you afraid so too Oh that you were 2. I have a greater fear than this I am afraid of some of you that not only all my past Labour but this last will be lost also Those that stand it out to their last day do usually stand it out in their last day Blessed be God that there are amongst you those over whom my Soul is comfoâ—ted To whom I can speak in the words of the Apostle Rom 6. 17. God be thanked that ye were the Servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that from of Doctrine that hath been delivered unto you and being now made free from sin you are become the Servants of Righteousness Oh that I could thus speak Oh that I could thus rejoyce over you all But as the Apostle said to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 12. 20. I fear left when I come I shall find you such as I would not So must I say with a grieved hearâ— I feaâ— that now I am going I shall leave you such as I would not I would not leave one blind person one vain person one loose liver not one unbeliever or impenitent amongst you an Oh what a good day would this day of my departure be what Light would there be in this dark Evening were it thus with you If I might see you all recovered out of the Snares of the Devil every man's Eyes open'd every man 's Fetters off every man's Prison broken and his Soul escaped from that deadly bondage if every poor deadly Creature among you who yet lies bound hand and foot in his Grave Clothes might now at last stand up from the Dead and live the Life of God this would be mine and your great rejoycing But oh I fear with this Apostle 2 Cor. 12. 21. My God will humble me and grieve me and afflict me to see in what a woful plight I must leave divers of you Oh ye sons of the Night you poor ignorant and dark Souls upon whom the Light hath shined but your Darkness comprehendeth it not Oh you poor obstinaâ—e hardned Souls upon whom I have been ploughing as upon Rocks hewing as upon Adamants who still remain under as great hardness as if no Dew nor Rain had ever fallen on you Oh you poor half-bakâ—ed almost Christians that have taken up your stand in your present Attainments my Soul is under great fears and must weep in secret for you whilst my Tongue must be henceforth silent Oh every Soul that is without fear of himself my Soul is afraid for you the fearless Soul is in a fearful state Sinners let my fears be your fears What is there such astonishing guilt upon you and yet not afraid Such a dreadful Roll writ against you and yet not afraid So many Sabbaths Sermons Warnings lost and never to be recalled nor any Assurance left of one Sermon or Warning more and yet not afraid Such a subtil Devil such a deceitful heart such a tempting world that you have to deal withall such a black and bottomless Pit into which you are falling and yet not afraid Oh what Stocks and Stones hath the Gospel to deal withalâ— Beloved have laboured much with you both publickly and from house to house to bring you under a due fear and jealousie of your selves but hitherto your hearts have been too hard for me Oh yet for trembling hearts tremble and sin not fear and pray fear and hope fear and repent Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Oh if my fears were once become your fears your fears would become my hopes Oh what a Day-spring of hopes would arise from the shaking of secure hearts These fears would be as the thicker Darkness forerâ—nners of break of Day 2. My parting wishes and desires for you are 1. That the good Seed which hath been sown amongst you were well rooted in every heart I wish that my Twenty years Ministry among you may not be lost labour to any of your souls 2. I wish that your next Seeds-man may be more skilful and successful that the good Lord will provide you a man that may teach you in wisdom gain you in Love lead you on to life by an holy Example and if the Lord grant you this mercy I wish that such a one may be dearly priz'd and chearfully accepted by you God keep this Flock from a Ravening Wolf and a deceitful Shepherd 3. I wish that there may be no Root of Bitterness springing up amongst you that there be no Divisions or Contentions but that you may live in peace and love that the God of peace and love may be with you 4. I wish that this place where so much good Seed hath been sown may become a fruitful Field that the Fruits of Faith and Repentance the Fruits of Righteousness and Holiness may be in you and abound that you may be neither barren nor unfruitful that Religion in the power and practice of it may so visibly flourish in the several persons in the several Families of this Congregation that they that go by may see and say This is the Field which the Lord hath blessed 5. I wish that whatever Clouds may at any time gather over you may not fall down in a withering Storm or a sweeping Floud but may pass away in a Mist or dissolve into a fruitful Dew that no Persecutions or Temptations may ever carry you down the Stream with evil men nor blight any hopeful beginnings that are budding forth in any of your Souls If Tribulation should be any of your Lots I wish that it may not be to you as the Hail of Egypt but as the Dew of Hermon 6. I wish you a joyful Harvest that you may reap in Eternity what hath been sown in time may you now sow in Righteousness and therefore reap in Mercy May every one of you that is now sowing in Tears for ever reap in joy May you that go on your way weeping bearing pretious Seed return with joy and bring your Sheaves with you May the Showers of this day be the watering of your Seed that it may spring up to Eternal Life Brethren My
hearts desire for you all is that you may be saved and if there be any persons that bear evil will to me my particular wish for them is The Good-will of him that dwelt in the Bush be those Men's Portions for ever These are some of my Wishes for you will you joyn your Wishes with mine will you turn your Wishes into Prayers and let this be your prayer The Lord grant thee thine hearts desire and fulfill all thy Mind Brethren do I wish you any harm in all this If not if it be to be wished that the word of Christ were rooted in your hearts and your Souls thereby rooted in the Grace of God if it be to be wished that your Lusts were rooted out your sins dead and dried up your foot gotten out of the Snare your Souls brought into the Fold your fruits of righteousness and holiness abounding and growing up unto eternal life If all this be to be wished then give in your votes with mine wish and pray pray and press on press on and wait for the accomplishment of this grace in you all I tell you again I wish you well and not only I but the Lord God that hath sent me to you The Lord Jesus wishes you well he wishes and wooes woes and weeps weeps and dyes that your Souls might live and be blessed for ever He hath once more sent me to you even to the worst amongst you to tell you from him that he 's unwilling you should perish that he hath a kindness for you in his heart if you will accept it He hath Blood and Bowels for your Blood to expiate you guilt to wash away your filth and Bowels to offer you the benefit of his Bloud with this wish Oh that it were theirs Oh that they would hearken and accept Only I must add That the Lord hath two sorts of Wishes concerning sinners The first is Oh that they would hearken Oh that they would come in be healed and be saved Deut. 5. 29. This wish is an Olive Branch that brings good â—idings and gives great hopes of Peace and Mercy His last Wish is Oh that they had hearkened that they had accepted Ps 81. 13. O that my People had hearkened to me Luk. 19. 42. Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that concern thy peace This Wish hath nothing but Dread and death in it it is the Black Flag hung out that proclaims External Wars The sence is Israel had once a fair time of it a time of Love a time of Grace a time of Peace Oh that they had hearkned then that they had known the things that concern their peace But wo wo to them 't is too late the door is shut the Season is over the Day is past But now they are hid from thine Eyes There are three deadly darts in this Wish oh that thou hadst it includes in it these three cutting words Thou hast not Thou mightest Thou shalt not for ever 1. There is this in it Thou hast not What have I not why thou hast not known the things that belong to thy peace Thou hast had the door of Glory the Gate of Heaven open to thee and hast been call'd for and invited in but thou hast lost the opportunity Thou knewest not when thou werâ— well offered nor would'st take notice what a day was before thee what a price was in thine hand thy peace the Gospel of peace the Prince of peace a Kingdome of peace was set open offered and brought home to thy doors but thou hadst so many other matters to look after that thou tookest no notice of it but hast let it slip There 's one Dart. Thou hast not known There 's a Gospel gone there 's a Christ gone there 's a Soul a Kingdom lost 2. There is this in it Thou mightest Oh that thou hadst why Might I Ye thou mightest if thou wouldst thou mightst Thy God did not mock thee when he preach'd peace to thee he was willing and wish'd it thine if thou wouldst thou mightst have made it thine own but whilst he would thou wouldest not There 's another Dart. I might have known I have none to thank but my self for the loss mine undoing was mine own doing There are no such torments as when the Soul flies upon it self and takes revenge on it self oh the gashes that such self reflections make Soul how camest thou in hither into all this misery oh 't is of my self my self that my destruction is The door was open and I was told of it and was bid come in but I would not That I am lost and undone was not my Fate which I could not avoid but my Fault and my folly It seems to give some ease of our torment when we can shift off the fault It was not I but the Woman said Adam It was not I but the Serpent said the Woman if it had been true it would have given ease as well as serve for an excuse This thought 'T was mine own doing tears the very caul of the heart Oh I have none to blame but my self mine own foolish and froward heart This is my ignorance this is my unbelief this is my willfulness my lusts and my pleasures and my Idols that I was running after that have brought me under this dreadful loss 'T was my own doing 3. There is this in it Thou shalt not for ever Oh that thou hadst why may I not yet Is there no hope of recovering the opportunity not one word more not one hour more may not the Sun go one degree backward No no 't is too late too late thou hast had thy day from henceforth no more for ever There 's the last Dart Time 's past there 's the death the Hell the anguish the Worm that shall gnaw to eternity This one word Time 's past sets all Hell a roaring and when it s once spoken to a sinner on Earth there 's Hell begun Go thy way wretch fill up thy measure and fall into thy place The Gospel hath no more to say to thee but this one word Because I have called and thou refusedst I have stretched out my hand and thou regardedst not but hast set at nought all my Counsels and wouldst none of my reproofs I also will laugh at thy calamities and mock when thy fear cometh when thy fear cometh as desolation and thy destruction cometh as a whirle-wind when distress and anguish cometh upon thee then shalt thou call but I will not answer thou shalt seek me early but shalt not find me Beloved my hopes are and I am not able to say but that you are yet under the first wish Oh that they would Christ is yet preaching you to faith and sends his Wish along with his Word Oh that they would believe Christ is yet preaching Repentance and Conversion to you and wishes O that they would repent that they would be converted and to this wish of my Lord my Soul and all that is