or by Policy they would rob you of your Portion they cannot do it For which way should they do it They cannot turn the heart of God against you nor make him break his Covenant with you nor repent him of his Gift and Calling which he hath extended to you For he is unchangeable and loveth you with an everlasting love Mal. 3. 6. Jer. 31. 3. Isa â—â—â— 8. Jer. 33. 20 21 23. 50. 5. Rom. 11. 29. They cannot undermine the rock that you are built upon nor batter the fortress of your souls nor overcome your great Preserver and Defence nor take you out of the hands of Christ Psal 73. 26. 31. 2 3. 62. 2. 59. 9 16. Joh. 10. 28. Cast not away the salvation that is offered you and then never fear least it be taken from you See that you chuse the better part and resolvedly chuse it and it will be certainly your own for ever For man cannot take it from you nor Devils cannot take it from you and God will not take it from you Rust and moths will not corrupt this Treasure nor can thieves break through and steal it from you Mat. 6. 19 20. But you cannot say so of worldly riches If you chuse to be Lords and Princes on the earth you cannot have your choice but if you could you cannot keep it If you chuse the wealth and credit of the world and were sure to get it you were as sure to leave it For naked you came into the world and naked you must go out Job 1. 21. If you chuse your ease and mirth and pleasure these will be taken from you If you chuse the satisfying of your fleshly desires and all the delight and prosperity that the world can afford you yet all must be taken from you Yea quickly and easily taken from you Alas one stroak of an Apoplexy or a few fits of a Fever or the breaking of a small vein or many hundred of the like effectual means are ready at the beck of God to take you from all that you have gathered for your flesh And then whose shall all these things be None of yours I am sure nor will they redeem your souls from death or hell Luke 12. 20. Psalm 49. 7. If you be in honour you abide not in it but are as to your body as the beasts that perish If you think to perpetuate your houses and your names this your way is but your â—olly though your posterity go on to approve your sayings and succeed you in your sins Psalm 49. 11 12 13. The worldly wise man doth perish with the fool as sheep they 〈◊〉 laid in the grave Death shall feed on them and the upright shall have Dominion over them in the morning ver 10 14. They shall soon be cut down like the grass and whether as the green herb Psal 37. 2. I have seen the wicked in great prosperity and spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed away and loe he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found v. 35 36. You think it a fine thing to have the fulness of the creature to be esteemed with the highest and fed and cloathed with the best and fare deliciously every day as the rich man Luke 16. but hath he not paid dear think you for his riches and pleasure by this time His feeding and fulness was quickly at an end but his torment is not yet ended nor ever will be You think it a brave thing to clamber up to riches and that which you call greatness and honour in the world but how quickly how terribly must you come down Go into the Sanctuary of God and understand your end Surely God hath set them in slippery places and casteth them down into destruction How are they brought to desolation as in a moment They are utterly consumed with terrours As a dream when one awakeneth so at the awakening shall their Image or shadow of honour be despised Psalm 73. 17 18 19 20. How short is the pleasure and how long is the pain How short is the honour and how long is the shame What is it under the Sun that is everlasting You have friends but will they dwell with you here for ever You have houses but how long will you stay in them It is but as yesterday since your houses had other Inhabitants and your Towns and Countries other Inhabitants and where are they all now You have health but how soon will you consume in sickness You have life but how soon will it end in death You have the pleasure of sin you say unto your selves Eat drink and be merry but how soon will all the mirth be mar'd and turned into sadness everlasting sadness When you hear Thou fool this night shall they require thy soul and then whose shall these things be Luke 12. 20. Oh miserable wretch If thou hadst chosen God instead of thy sin and the everlasting Kingdom instead of this world thou wouldst not have been thus cast off in thy extremity God would have stuck better to thee Heaven would have proved a more durable Inheritance For it is a Kingdom that cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. The day is near when thy despairing soul must take up this lamentation My dearest friends are now forsaking me I must part with all that I laboured for and delighted in I have drunk up all my part of pleasure and there is no more left My merry company and honours and recreations are past and gone I shall eat and drink and sport no more but God would not have used me thus if I had set my heart upon him and his Kingdom Oh that I had chosen him and made him my portion and spent these thoughts and cares and labours for the obtaining of his love and promised Glory which I spent for the pleasing and providing for my flesh Then I should have had a happiness that death could not deprive me of and a Crown that fadeth not away Neither life nor death nor any creature could have separated me from his love I need not then have gone out of the world as a prisoner out of the Gaol to the â—â—rr and to the place of execution My departing soul should not then need to have been afraid of falling into the hands of an unreconciled God and so into the hands of the Devils as his executioners nor of passing out of the flesh to hell Oh poor sinners for how short a pleasure do you sell your hopes of everlasting Blessedness and run your selves into endless pains O what comparison is there between the time of your pleasure and the everlastingness of your Punishment How short a while is the cup at your mouthes or the drink in your bellies or the harlot in your embracements or the wealth of the world in your Possession And how long a time must you pay for this in hell How quickly are your merry hours past but your torments will never be past
When your corpses are laid in the grave men can say Now he hath done his satisfying the flesh and following the world but never man can truly say Now he hath done suffering for it Your life of sin is passing as a dream and your honours as a shadow and all your business as a talc that is told but the life of Glory which you rejected for this would have endured for evermore Suppose as many thousand years as there are sands on the Sea or piles of grass on the whole earth or hairs on the heads of all men in the world yet when these many are past the Joy of Saints and the Torments of the wicked are as far from an end as ever they were The eternal God doth give them a duration and make them eternal When our joyes are at the sweetest this thought must needs be part of that sweetness that their sweetness shall never have an end If our short fore-taste be Joy unspeakable and full of glory what shall we call that Joy which flows from the most perfect fruition and perpetuation 1 Pet. 1. 7 8. We have Joy here but alas how seldom Alas how small in comparison of what we may there expect Some Joy we have but how oft do Melancholy or crosses or losses in the world or temptations or sins or desertions interrupt it Our sun is here most commonly under a cloud and too often in an Ecclipse and we have the night as often as the day Yea our state is usually a Winter Our dayes are cold and short and our nights are long But when the flourishing state of glory comes we shall have no Interscissioâ—s nor Ecclipses Tâ—â— path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. And the perfect day is a perpetual day that knows no interruption by the darkness of the night For there shall be no night there nor need of candle or Sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever Rev. 22. 5. This is the life that fears no death and this is the feast that fears no want or future famine the pleasure that knows nor fears no pain the health that knows nor fears no sickness this is the treasure that fears no moth or rust or thief the building that fears no storm nor decay the Kingdom that fears no changes by Rebellion the friendship that fears no falling out the Love that fears no hatred or frustration the Glory that fears no envious eye the possessed Inheritance that fears no ejection by fraud or force or any failings the Joy that feels or fears no sorrow while God who is Life it self is our life and while God who is Love is the fountain and object of our Love we can never want either Life or Love And whiles he feeds our Love our Joyful praises will never be run dry nor ever go out for want of fewel This is the true perpetual motion the câ—rculation of the holy blood and spirit from God to man and from man to God Being prepared and brought near him we have the blessed Vision of his face by seeing him and by the blessed emanation of his love we are drawn out perpetually and unweariedly to Love him and Rejoyce in him and from hence uncessantly to praise and honour him In all which as his blessed Image and the shining reflections of his revealed glory he taketh complacency which is the highest end of God and man and the very term of all his works and wayes I Thought here to have ended this First Part of my Discourse but yet compassion calls me back I fear lest with the most I have not yet prevailed and lest I shall leave them behind me in the bonds of their iniquity I daily hear the voice of men possessed by a spirit of uncleanness speaking against this Necessity of a holy life which Christ himself so peremptorly asserteth I hear that voice which foretelleth a more dreadful voice if in time they be not prevailed with to prevent it One saith What need all this ado This strictness is more ado then needs Another saith You would make men mad by poring so much on matters that are above them Another saith Cannot you keep your Religion to your selfe and be Godly with moderation as your neighbours be Another saith I hope God is more merciful then to damn 〈…〉 that â—â— not so precise Another saith I shall never endure so strict a life and therefore I will venture as well as others The summe of allis They are so far in love with the world and sin and so much against a holy life that they will not be perswaded to it and therefore to quiet their consciences in their misery they make themselves believe that they may be saved without it and that it is a thing of no Necessity but their coming to Church and living like good neighbours may serve the turn without it for their salvation And thus doth the malicious Serpent in the hearts of those that he possesseth rise up against the words of Christ Christ saith that this is The One thing needful And the Serpent saith It is more ado then needs and What needs all this ado Though I have fully answered this ungodly objection already in my Treatise of Conversion sect 36. pag. 284. c. and more fully in my Treatise of Rest Part 3. Chap. 6. yet I shall once more fall upon it For death is coming while poor deluded souls are loytering and if Satan by such sensless reasonings as these can keep them unready in their sin till the â—atal stroak hath cut them down and cast them into endless easeless fire alas how great will be their fall and how unspeakably dreadful will be their misery Whoever thou be whether hâ—gh or low learned or unlearned that hast disliked opposed or reproached serious godly Christians as Puritanes and too precise and that thinkest the most diligent labour for salvation to be but more ado then needs and hast not thy self yet resolvedly set upon a holy life I require at thy hands so much impartiality and faithfulness to thy own immortal soul as seriously to peruse these following Questions and to go no further in thy careless negligent ungodly course till thou art able to give such a rational answer to them as thou darest stand to now at the Barr of thine own Conscience and hereafter at the Barr of Christ Quest 1. Canst thou possibly give God more then is his due Or love him more then he deserveth Or serve him more faithfully then thâ—â— art bound and he is worthy of Art thou not his creature made of nothing and hast thou not all that thou art and hast from him and if thou give him all dost thou give him any more then what is his own If thou give him all the affections of thy soul and all the most serious thoughts of thy heart and every hour of thy time and
no relief 3. Another duty that Holiness consisteth in is Thanksgiving and Praise to the God of our salvation He that knows not that this work is Pleasant is unacquainted with it If there be any thing Pleasant in this world it is the praises of God that flow from a believing loving soul that is full of the sense of the mercies and goodness and excellencies of the Lord Especially the â—â—animous conjunction of such souls in the high praises of God in the holy Assemblies Is it not pleasant even to Name the Lord to mention his Attributes to remember his great and wonderous works to magnifie him that rideth on the Heavens that dwelleth in the light that cannot be approached that is cloathed with Majesty and Glory that infinitely surpasseth the Sun in its â—rightness that hath his Throne in the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him and yet he delighteth in the humble soul and hath respect to the contrite yea dwells with them that tremble at his Word Is any thing so pleasant as the Praises of the Lord How sweet is it to see and praise him as the Creator in the various wonderful creatures which he hath made How pleasant to observe his works of providence to them that read them by the light of the Sanctuary and in Faith and Patience learn the interpretation from him that only can interpret them But O how unspeakably Pleasant is it to see the Father in the Son and the God-head in the man-hood of our Lord and the Riches of Grace in the glass of the holy Gospel and the manifold wisdom of God in the Church where the Angels themselves disdain not to behold it Ephes 3. 10 11. The praising of God for the incarnation of his Son was a work that a chore of Angels were employed in as the instructors of the Church Luke 2. 13 14. There is not a promise in the book of God nor one passage of the Life and Miracles of Christ and the rest of the History of the Gospel nor one of the holy works of the spirit upon the soul nor one of those thousand mercies to the Church or to our selves or friends that infinite Goodness doth bestow but contain such matter of Praise to God as might fill believing hearts with Pleasure and find them most delightful work Much more when all these are at once before us what a feast is there for a gracious Soul O you befooled fleshly minds that find no pleasure in the things of God but had rather be drinking or gaming or scraping in the world awaken your souls and see what you are doing With what eyes do you see with what hearts do you think of the Works and Word and Wayes of God and of the Holy employments that you are so much against For my own part I freely and truly here profess to you that I would not exchange the Pleasure that my soul enjoyeth in this one piece of the holy Work of God for all your mirth and sport and gain and whatever the world and sin affords you I would not change the delights which I enjoy in one of these holy dayes and duties in the mentioning of the eternal God and celebrating his praise and magnifying his Name and thinking and speaking of the riches of his Love and the glory of his Kingdom no not for all the pleasure of your lives O that your souls were cured of those dangerous diseases that make you loath the sweetest things You would then know what it is that you have set light by and would marvail at your selves that you could taste no sweetness in the sweetest things Can you think that your work or your play your profits or your sports are comparable for pleasure to the Praises of the Lord If Grace had made you competent Judges I am sure you would say There is no comparison Hear but the testimony of a holy soul yea of the Spirit of God by him Psal. 147. 1. Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing Praises to our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely Psalm 149. 1 2. Praise ye the Lord sing unto the Lord a new song and his Praise in the Congregation of Saints Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyful in their King For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud upon their beds Let the high Praises of God be in their mouth c. Psal 95. 1 2 3. O come let us sing unto the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise to him with Psalms For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods Psalm 96. 1 2 3 4. O sing unto the Lord a new song Sing unto the Lord all the earth Sing unto the Lord bless his Name shew forth his salvation from day to day Declare his glory among the Heathen his wonders among all people For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised Honour and Majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his Sanctuary Did not this holy Prophet find it a Pleasant work to Praise the Lord Yea all that Love the Name of God should be Joyful in him Psalm 5. 11. Every one of his upright ones may say with the Prophet Isa 61. 10. I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord My soul shall be joyful in my God For he hath cloathed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robes of righteousness as a Bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her self with her Jewels For as the earth springs forth her bud and as the Garden causeth the things sown in it to spring forth so the Lord will cause Righteousness and Praise to spring forth before all the Nations It is a promise of Joy that is made in Isa 56. 6 7 8. To the sons of the stranger that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my House of Prayer What a joyful thing is it to a gracious soul when he may see the reconciled face of God and feel his Fatherly reviving Love and among his Saints may speak his Praise and proclaim his great and blessed name even in his Temple where every man speaketh of his Glory Psalm 29. 9. If the Proud are delighted in their own praise how much more will the humble holy soul be delighted in the Praise of God! When the Love of God is shed abroad in the heart and Faith doth set us as before his Throne or at least doth somewhat withdraw the veil and shew us him that lives
Believer knows that as his life and soul so his worldly riches are nowhere sure but in the hand of God And therefore if they can procure his security and get him to receive it and return it them in Heaven with the promised advantage they have then secured it indeed All is lost that God hath not in one way or other and all is secured that he hath and for which we have his promise This is laying it up in heaven Matth. 6. 21. While we keep it we cannot secure it from thieves When we have disposed of it according to the Will of God upon the warrant of his promise it is then in his Custody and then it is safe Neither rust or moath can then corrupt it nor the strongest thieves break through and steal To be Good and do Good is to be likest unto God and therefore must needs be the sweetest life 2. Works of Justice also have their pleasure For they demonstrate the Justice of God himself from whom they do proceed That which is most Pleasant to God should be most Pleasant unto us And as he hath bid us not forget to do good and to communicate because with such sacrifice he is well pleased Heb. 13. 16. so he hath told us that he delighteth in the exercise of loving-kindness judgement and righteousness in the earth Jer. 9. 24. He hath shewed us what is good and what doth he require of us but to do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with our God Mich. 6. 8. And therefore he commandeth Israel Hos 12. 6. Turn thou to thy God Keep Mercy and Judgement and wait on thy God continually Private justice between man and man and family-justice between parents and children masters and servants and Political justice between the Magistrates and the people do all maintain the order of the world and procure both publike and private peace It is selfishness and injustice tyrannie oppression disobedience and rebellion that procure the miseries of the world But Righteousness is safe and sweet 2. You have heard of the Pleasure of Holy Actions both Internal and External The truth is evident also from the Objects of these Acts and the matter from which a believer may derive his Pleasures And O what an Ocean of delight is here before us Were our powers capacities and acts but answerable to the Objects we should presently have the Joyes of heaven 1. A Believer hath the ever blessed God himself to derive his comforts from He hath his Nature and Attributes to be his comfort He hath his near Relations to afford him comfort and this is more then to have all the world It is a God of Infinite Power and Wosdom and Goodness that we believe in that we Love and Worship and Obey It is also a Father Reconciled to us that hath taken us in Covenant to him as his people through Jesus Christ And where shall we find comfort if not in God It is in vain to look for that from any creature that is not to be found in him Poor worldlings you have nothing that is worth the having but the crumms that fall from the childrens table God is our Portion and the world is yours and yet you have less even in this world then we You have the shadow and we have the substance You have the shell and we the kernell You have the straw and chaff and true believers have the corn Your comforts are shaken with every storm and tost up and down by the Justice of God or the Pride of man But God that is our Portion is unchangeable Yesterday to day and the same for ever We have a Kingdom that cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. Persecutors cannot take our God from us nor can any thing separate us from his Love Rom. 8. 36. They may separate us from our houses from our Countries from our friends from our riches our liberties our lives from our Books our company and Ordinances but not from God who is our great Delight In poverty in persecution in sickness and at death we have still our interest in God A Christian is never in so low a state but he hath a God to whom he may go for comfort who is more to him then your sweetest pleasures Is it not a pleasure to have such a God as can cure all diseases supply all wants overcome all enemies deliver in all dangers and hath promised that he will do it so far as is for our good If he want water that hath the Sea or he want land that hath all the earth or he want light that hath the Sun yet doth he not need to want delight that hath the Lord to be his God if â—e do but keep in the pathes of grace And are you yet unresolved whether Godliness be the most Pleasant Life Take all your pleasures and make your best of them may I but have the Lord to be my God and I hope I shall never desire to change with you 2. A Holy life is therefore Pleasant because we have a full sufficient Saviour from whom we may daily fetch delight The Eâ—ernal Son of God is become the Healer of our wounds our Peace-maker with the Father the Conquerour of our enemies the Ransom for our sins the Captain of our salvation the Head of his Church and the Treasure of all our Hopes and Joyes Sin and misery are the works of Satan which Christ came into the world to destroy If Hypocrites can steal a little Peace to their Consciences from a false conceit that they have a part in Christ what comfort may it be to the true Believer that hath a sure and real interest in him That is the sad and miserable life when you are out of Christ and strangers to his Covenant and cannot say his benefits are yours but you are yet in your sins without his righteousness But when we have a special interest in him the foundation of our everlasting joy is laid and the heart of sin and misery is broken What fear or sorrow can you name that I may not fetch a sufficient remedy against from Christ What can the Prince of darkness say to our discomfort which we may not answer by Arguments from Christ By this judge of the Comfort of a Holy life If the Godly over-look the Grounds of Joy that are laid in Christ and live in a mistaken sorrow that is not for want of Reasons and warrant to rejoyce but for want of a right discerning of those Reasons But what have you that are ungodly to answer against all the terrours of the Law or to answer against all the accusations of your consciences or to comfort you against the remembrance of your approaching misery While you have no part in Christ you have no right to comfort One thought of Christ to a believing soul may afford more Delight then ever you will find in a sinful life 3. Moreover we have the Holy spirit of Christ that is purposely given us to be
pretend to believe the Gospel it would help to the recovery of the understandings of the Ambitious and make the proud ashamed of their glory and settle the drunken aspiring minds of those that think it worth more than their salvation to sit upon the highest pearch It would call off the covetous worldling from his immoderate seeking provisions for the flesh and save them that are drowned in the cares of this life by shewing them the true and necessary treasure It would spare them many a vexatious thought and a great deal of unnecessary labour and prevent the shame and horrour that must befall them when in the end they find their labour lost and all their expectations frustrate It would quickly stop the mouthes which prejudice ignorance malignant enmity and deliration have opened against a life of faith and serious Godliness and cause them that scorn it as a Needless thing to make it their daily business and delight It would tell the sluggish sensless sinner that he hath work of everlasting confequence upon his hand and that it is no time to dream or loyter And it would tell the brutish sensualist that there are more sweet and durable delights and the time-wasting fool that time is precious and he hath none to spare and cast away having so great a work to do It would set men on seeking with greatest diligence the Kingdom which before they did but dream of and would turn the very stream of their hearts and lives on that which before they minded but as on the by In a word it would make the earthly to become heavenly and the fleshly spiritual and the sloathful to be diligent and rotten-hearted sinners to become renewed SAINTS as all must do that ever will be saved And if these words of Christ be not thus received by you and work not such wonders on mens hearts it is not because there is any want of fitness in the Text but because mens hearts are hardned into a wilful contempt of the most precious truths which in themselves are apt to change and save them Of all waies of Teaching History is accounted One of the most effectual because it hath the greatest advantage on our apprehensions as setting our lesson before our eyes in the great character of Example and not only in the smaller letter of a naked precept And of all History What can be more powerful then I Where one of the actors is the eternal son of God and that not above our reach in Heaven but here in our flesh on the stage of this sublunary world 2. And the other actors are such as most â—itly represent the different actions of all the world at least that live within the sound of the Gospel and lay open the great question about which the world is so much divided 3. And when the matter it self is of the greatest consequence that can be imagined even concerning the present choice and resolution of our hearts and that expending of our Time and that business and employment of our lives on which our Endless life dependeth All this you have here set out even to the life before your eyes in the glass of this example in my Text And the Lord of Life doth call you all to see your faces in it and here plainly sheweth you what will be expected from you and what you must be and do and trust â—o and this not in any long and â—edioâ—â— discourse that might overcharge your memories or weary your attentions but in very brief though full expressions As Jesus entred into Bethany Martha who it seems was the Owner of the house received and entertained him No doubt but a great company followed Jesus or his Disciples that ordinarily accompanyed him at the least Martha thinks that having entertained such a guest it were a great neglect if she should not provide for him and for his followers and therefore she is busie in doing what she can but the number is so great that she is oppressed with the care and trouble and findeth that she hath more to do then she is able Her sister that she thought should have helped her in such a case is sitting with the Disciples at the feet of Christ to hear his Word Martha seeing this is offended at her sister and seems to think that Christ himself is too neglective of her or partial for her sister and therefore thus â—â—eâ—â—s her cause with Christ Lord dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone bid her therefore that she help me As if she had said Is it a fit thing that both thy self and all this company should be unprovided for and have neither meat noâ— drink Oâ— is it fit that all should be laid on me even more then I can do while she sits hearing with the Disciples Deal equally and mercifully and bid her help me And indeed most people would think that this was but a reasonable motion and that when Christ was made the Judge between them he should have decided the case on Martha's side But he did not so But 1. instead of commending Martha for her care and diligence he sheweth her errour by a gentle but yet a close reproof Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things 2. Instead of reproving Mary for negligence of her duty in the house he highly commendeth her for the seasonable doing of a greater work Mary hath chosen the good part 3. He groundeth the Reason of his Judgement on the different Nature and Use of their employments One thing is Needful in comparison of which the rest were all unnecessary things and such as then might have been neglected 4. And so he passeth sentence on Marie's side that the good part which she hath chosen shall not be taken away from her In which â—e not only answereth Martha with an express denyal as if he should say I will not take off Mary from the work which she hath chosen but also on that occasion doth point out the durable nature of the Good which she had chosen and promise the continuance of it Concerning Martha some expositors run into two extreams â—…e think that she was an unregenerate worldling and savourâ—… only fleshly things and that these words of Christ describe 〈…〉 state as one that had not yet made choice of the one thing â—…edful and the better part But it is only her present action that Christ doth reprehend and censure and not her state Her entertainment of Christ and speeches to him and other passages â—…we us great probability that she was a true disciple as after it is â—aid that Jesus loved her John 11. 5. On the other side One Learned Annotator thus Paraphraseth â—…e words of Christ to Martha Thou takest a great deal of unnecessary though not culpable pains as if Christs words were â—o reprehension of her nor her course blame-worthy But the plain truth lieth between these two extreams Martha though most probably a true Disciple was
not be desired simply and ultimately for it self As you must pray but for your daily bread and be content with food and rayment so you must see that these be but for better things even in order to the doing of the Will of God the promoting of his Kingdom and the Hallowing of his Name which must be first and most desired The order of your duty is to seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then other things are promised with it Matth. 6. 33. and therefore for it must be desired and sought And if your very food and life must be desired but for this everlasting End then it is still but one thing that is necessary and finally to be desired For the Means is willed but with an imperfect willing because not for it self and that only hath our full and perfect Love which is Loved for it self Even in the act of Love unto the Means it is more properly the End that is Loved then the Means and the Means is chosen for that End So that you see that for all the necessity of creatures and of diligence in our Callings the truth is still clear that it is only One thing that is truly Necessary Use THE understandidg is the subservient faculty to let in that light which may by direction and excitation guide the will Having shewed you the Truth I am next to shew you how you may improve it and so to apply it as may best help you to apply it to your selves And if I should here fall upon things impertinent or make it my work to claw your ears or exalt my self in your esteem by an unseasonable ostentation of learning or eloquence or carry on any such corrupt design while I should faithfully do the work of God my Text it self would openly condemn me If One thing be needful it is that One that I must do my self while I am exhorting you to do it And woe be to me if I should lay by that to do any other unnecessary work even to fish for the applause of Carnal wits while my very subject is the Reproofs of Christ against a much more tolerable error And as to the manner of my admonition if One thing be needful I hope you will allow me to be as plain and serious as I can about this One And my first address to you shall be for tryall And I shall make it now my earnest request to you that you â—ill bethink you how much you are concerned to compare your â—arts and lives with this passage and judge your selves by the Word of God that is now before you And for your own sakes â—â— it seriously and faithfully as passengers that are hasting to the â—â—eat Assize What say your Consciences Sirs to this Question Have you indeed lived in the world as men that believe that One thing is necessary Hath this One had your chiefest care and labour and have you chosen rather to neglect all other things then â—is Look behind you and judge of the course that you have taken by the light of this one text I do not ask you Whether you have heard that One thing is Necessary nor whether you have talked of it and confessed it to be true nor whether you have been called Christians by your selves and others and have come to Church and forborn those sins that would have most â—â—emished your honour in the world This is nothing to the question Thus many thousands do that were never acquainted with the One thing Necessary Nor do I ask you Whether you have used to allow God half an hours lip-service or formal â—rowsie prayer at night when you have served the world and â—â—esh all day Nor whether you have been Religious on the by and given God some lean devotion which cost you little and which your flesh can spare without any great diminution or deâ—iment in its ease and honour and profit and sensual delights Nor whether you run to some kinde of duties of Religion to make all whole when you come from wilful reigning sin and so make Religion a fortress to your lusts to quiet your Consciences while you serve the flesh I confess such a kind of Religioussess as this the world is acquained with But this is unanswerable to the Rule before us But the question is Whether this One thing hath been the Treasure and Jewel of your estimation the darling of your affections the prize of your most diligent endeavours and the only felicity of your souls Sirs as lightly as you hear this question now you will One day find that your lives yea your salvation lyeth upon your answer to it Can you say truly as before the searcher of hearts that it is he that hath had your hearts That this One thing hath been more esteemed by you than all the world besides That other things have all stooped unto this One and served under it And that this hath had the stream of your heartiest affections and the drift of your endeavours and hath been the matter that you have had first to do and the thing for which you have lived in the world If this be not so never talk of your Christianity for shame Your Religion is vain if this be not your Religion Alas I know that we have all of us yet too much of the flesh and are too cold in our affections and too slow and uneven in our endeavours for our end But yet for all that I must still tell you as I have often done because it is necessary that here lyeth the difference between the truly sanctified soul and all the hypocrites and half-Christians in the world Every true Christian is devoted unto God and hath made an hearty and absolute resignation of himself and all that he hath unto him and therefore loveth him with his superlative most appretiative love and serveth him with the best he hath and thinks nothing too good or too dear for God and for the attainment of his everlasting Rest Christ hath the chiefest room in his heart and the bent and drift of his life is for him He studyeth how he may best serve and please him with his time his interest and all that he hath and if he fall as it is contrary to the habitual resolution of his soul and contrary to the scope and current of his heart and life so he riseth again by repentance with sorrow for his sin and loathing of himself and sincerely endeavours to amend and goeth on resolvedly in his holy course This is the state of every one that is in a state of life But for all hypocrites and half-Christians their case is otherwise The world and flesh is dearest to them and highest in their practical estimation though not in their speculative and it hath their highest affections of Love and Delight and the very bent and stream of heart and life while God is served heartlesly on the by for fear lest they be damned when they can enjoy
and all right reason required of thee For surely he that made thee hath in wisdom proportioned thy time to thy work and hath not given thee an hour too much A long life is short enough to prepare for everlasting And shall a loytering Rebell that hath wasted so much of his little time cry out What needs so much ado Quest 25. Is it not the graceless miserable sort of men that cry out What needs all this ado Certainly it is For Scripture and Reason and Experience tell us that all that are godly are of another mind The more grace they have the more they would have The more they love God the more they would love him The more good they do the more they would do Do you not see how they labour after more grace and hear how they complain that they are no better O how it would glad them to be more Holy and more Heavenly It is therefore the strangers and despisers of grace that never knew by experience the nature and power and sweetness of it than say It is more ado then needs And is it not a most unreasonable thing for a man that hath no saving grace and holiness at all to cry out against excess of holiness And for a man that is in the captivity of the Devil and ready suddenly to drop into Hell if death do but strike the fatal blow before he be regenerate to talk against doing too much for heaven And for a man that never did God one hours pleasing service Heb. 11. 6. to prate against serving God too much O poor wretch were thy eyes but opened thou wouldst see that of any man in the Town or Countrey this language ill beseemeth thee When God hath been so long offended and thy soul is almost lost already and death and hell is hard at hand and may swallow thee up in endless desperation for ought thou knowest before thou hast read this Book to the end or before thou see another year or moneth or day is it time for such a one as thee to say What needs so much ado One would think if there be any life in thee thou shouldst stir as for thy life and if thou have a voice to cry thou shouldst cry out to God hoth day and night in the fervour of thy soul even now while mercy may be had lest time should over-slip thee and thou be shut up in the place of torment If Hell-fire will not make thee stir What will Should a weak Christian that is cast behind hand by his negligence but once speak against a diligent life he were exceedingly too blame But for thee that art yet in the gall of bitterness and the misery of an unregenerate state to speak against holy diligence for salvation when thou art in such great and deep distress and like a man that is drowning or a house on fire that must presently have help or perish this is a madness that hath no name sufficient to express it by which its a wonder that a rational soul should be guilty of Quest 26. Art thou not afraid of some sudden vengeance from the Lord for thus making thy self his open enemy and contradicting him to his face Mark his language and then mark thine Christ saith Enter in at the strait gate For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go iâ— thereat because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Matth. 7. 13 14. Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. See then that ye walk circumspectly or exactly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time Ephes 5. 15 16. For I say unto you thâ—â— except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribâ—s and Pharises ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven Matth. 5. 20. Wherefore brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Workout your salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting to the coming of the day of God 2 Pet. 3. 11 12. And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1 Pet. 4. 18. Lay not up for your selves a treasure on earth c. but lay up for your selves a treasure in heaven c. For where your treasure it there will your hearts be also Matth. 6. 19 20 21. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness Matth. 6. 33. Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that which endureth to everlasting life John 6. 27. The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Matth. 11. 12. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize So run that ye may obtain And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things Now they do it to obtain a corruptible Crown but we an incorruptible I therefore 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 that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 24 25 26 27. Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness encline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you Isa 55. 1 2 3. Be servent in spirit serving the Lord. Rom. 12. 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and sanctifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 11 12 13 14. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully Jer. 48. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might For there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whether thougoest Eccles 9. 10. These and such like are the sayings of God by which thou mayst easily understand his mind concerning the necessity of a serious diligent holy life And shall a blind and wretched worm come after and dare to contradict him and unsay all this and say What needs so much ado What! darest thou thus openly resist God to his face What art thou and
you proud and self-conceited sinners that will plead for your ungodly ways and plead against a holy life and quarrel with the most faithful administrations of youâ— Pastors It is a matter of Everlasting moment that you and we do differ about and which of us is liker to be in the right I confess I am a weak and ignorant man but is the sottish ungodly quarreller any wiser then I am How camest thou man to thy knowledge that thou thinkest thy self wiser then me and all the Pastors of the Church My Knowledge that is but little hath cost me almost forty years hard study Hast thou read and meditated and studied more Hadst thou better helps and means of Knowledge God usually giveth his gifts in the painful use of means If I should think my self wiser in thy trade and able to control thee thou wouldst judge me a self-conceited fool What hast thou done for thy knowledge that I have not done Hast thou prayed for it day and night So have I. Hast thou had any private way of Learning that no man knoweth Truly I have marvelled at the â—aces of many ignorant careless men that they do not blush when we have thus expostulated with them when they quarrel with their Teachers and set against them with as brazen a face as if they were all Doctors or had studied forty years and we were as they are Yea as if they were wiser thâ—n all the Apostles Doctors and Pastors of the Church Were it not a wonder indeed if God should give more knowledge about the matters of salvation to a sensual voluptuous Gentleman or to an idle droan or a fellow that scarce ever read over the Bible and to such as live a worldly fleshly and ungodly life then to all his Ministers and Servants that love his Laws and meditate in them day and night and live in Prayer and other holy exercises and make it their daily care and business to conform their hearts and lives to the holy Doctrine which they study Surely God will sooner reveal his mind to a diligent searcher that feareth and loveth him then to a lustful Epicurâ— or a drunken swearing worldly sot He that every day abuseth the Holy Ghost that should be his Teacher is not so likely to come to Knowledge as he that humbly learneth and obeyeth him It is â— strange evidence that most wicked men do give us to prove themselves wiser then their Teachers when they can scarce give 〈◊〉 wise account of the Principles of Religion contained in a Catechisâ—â— they will prove themselves wise by despising wisdom and railing at the Wise They prove themselves Learned by reproaching the learned They prove themselves godly enough to be saved by hating and scorning them that are Godly and prove themselves the servants of Christ by speaking against his service They prove themselves wise enough to Teach or quarrel with their Teachers by refusing to Learn and to be any wiser and by babling out their sinfull folly And when they have done they prove that their hearts for all this are as good as the precisest by prating against that Holiness which is the only health and goodness of the heart and by shewing us to our grief that they neither know what Goodness is nor what is in their hearts They prove to us that they have Hopes for all this of being saved and seeing the face of God by hating them that are Pure in heart that have the promise of seeing his face Mat. 5. 8. and by reviling or forsaking the way of salvation and by shewing us on their souls the open Marks of the wrath of God and of a state of condemnation This is the Devils Logick And this is the wisdom of the wicked They may next go further and prove that they are chaste by reviling chastity and prove that they are sober by speaking against sobriety and by wallowing in their vomit or prove that they know all arts and trades and sciences by reviling them And as they now prove that they are the freemen of Christ by shewing us the Devils fetters upon them so if they hold out they will shortly have nothing to prove themselves in Heaven but by shewing us the flames of Hell which they endure If therefore all the Holiest and wisest men on earth may be admitted to be witnesses then Holiness must be your Best and all things else be nothing worth in comparison of it 5. Moreover if yet you would have more witness shall those be heard that have tryed both states the state of Sin and the state of Holiness and that have gone both wayes and therefore are able to speak to us by experience If you were to take advice about any worldly business you would choose a man of Experience for your Counsellor an experienced Physicion for your bodies and an experienced Tradesman for your work You will sooner believe a Traveller that â—ath seen the places that he speake of if he be honest then another godly men have tryed both wayes Alas they have known and too much known the way of sin and they have tryed the Holy way that you dislike I think therefore that they are competent Witnesses And if their witness be worth any thing the cause must go against the ungodly For their Lives tell you their Judgement Their hatred to sin their diligent seeking after God their constant endeavours in a Holy course their suffering any thing rather then forsake this Holy way when once they have sincerely chosen it all these do fully acquaint you with their judgement Do you think it is for Nothing that the holy servants of the Lord do stiek so close to him and labour so constantly in his work surely if they had not found that this way is beyond comparison the best you might draw them from it into a state of ungodliness again at least fire and sword and torment might perswade them to forsake it Something he findeth in it that is good that will let go his life and all the world for it What say you now have you any just exceptions against the testimony of these Experienced men The ungodly cannot be competent witnesses for they have tryed but one side They have had experience of a prophane a fleshly worldly life but they never yet tryed a Holy life And therefore how should they be fit to tell you what Good is in the way of God which they never travelled in Or what Gain is in the Heavenly Treasure which they never traded for Or what Beauty is in the face of Christ and Glory which they never had an eye of faith to see Or what sweetness is in the Hidden Manna which they never tasted If you say that many that have tryed the way of Godliness have turned from it and are against it I beseech you weigh my answer 1. It is not One of a hundred that doth so no not in these apoâ—â—â— tizing times when all seducers are let loose And is one mans
not what or for want of a little care in seeking it You say You know not whether there be a Hell for ungodly men or no But what if it prove true as certainly it will where are you then Will you venture your selves upon the Possibility of such an Endless Loss and Torment which now you might on reasonable terms escape You will confess that a Possibility of a Kingdom should be more regarded then a Certainty of a pin or a feather And a Possibility of some Tormenting disease but for twenty years should more carefully be avoided then the Certain stinging of a Nettle Quer. 2. You say You are not sure that there is a life to come But are you sure to continue the life you have Or is it any great matter that you are called to lose for the obtaining of 〈…〉 that you are not sure of You know the contrary or easily may do You are sure that you have not long to be here Nothing more sure then that you will shortly die And your are not sure but it may be to morrow And while you are here it is nothing worth the naming but what hath reference to another life that you do possess What have you to your flesh but meat and drink and sleep and lust and such kind of beastial delights Which it is better be without then have if we could also be without the need of them Can you call these by the name of Happiness without renouncing your Reason and Experience You say You know not what God will do for you hereafter But you know what sin and the world will do for you here Even Nothing but hold you in a transitory dream and then dismiss you into rottenness and dust If you were not certain of another life as long as you are most certain of the vanity of this doth not Reason tell you that a Possible Everlasting Glory should be preferred before a Certain vanity If you were not sure to get any thing by God and a Holy Life yet as long as you are sure even as sure as you live that you can lose nothing by it that is worth the talking of is not the case then resolved which way is the Better If you say you shall lose your fleshly pleasures I answer They are not worth the having The pleasure doth not countervail the trouble no more then the delight of scratching as I said before doth countervail the trouble of the itch Moderation and temperance is sweeter then excess If too much be better then enough and that which hurteth nature better then that which helpeth it then self-destroying and fighting against your bodily welfare would be best Is not a temperate meal more pleasant then a gluttonous surfet that is worse to the feeling of the glutton the next day Is not common food that costeth not much and kindleth no troublesom itch in a mans appetite more pleasant then enticing costly dainties Is not so much drink as nature requireth much better then that which makes the stomack sick the brain witless if not the purse pennyless and breedeth many noysom diseases to the flesh and hasteneth death that hasteth of it self By that time the gawdy apparel the dainty fare and drink is paid for and by that time the flesh hath suffered all that pain and sickness that are the ordinary followers of excess me thinks you should say that if there were no Hell your sin were a punishment it self and that in this life it brings more pain then pleasure and that such kind of pleasure is noâ— worth the keeping to the hazard of the least Possibility of 〈◊〉 Everlasting life Wouldst thou under thy hand and seal give away thy hopes and possibility of everlasting life and run the hazzard of an everlasting Torment for the Pleasures of sin or to avoid the trouble of a Holy life Why then thou maist as well even sell it all for pins or points or childrens rackets Then thou art as foolish as the worst of Witches that sell their souls to a lying spirit that whatever he doth promise them doth pay them with nothing but calamity and deceit When thou comest to know better what it is that the world can do for thee thou wilt then confess there was nothing in it that should not have been sleighted for the smalest hopes of an Everlasting life Doâ—t thou think the world will be much better to thee for the time to come than hitherto it hath proved Deceive not thy self it will prove the same yea and worst at last Look back now upon all the pleasures of thy life from thy infancy to this day and tell me what the better thou art for them If this were the hour of thy death would all the profits or pleasures of thy life be any comfort to thee or make thy death a whit the easier Have the dust or bones of the Carkasses of Voluptuous sinners any comfort or benefit now by all the pleasure of their former sin Surely I need not all these words to a man of common understanding to convinee him that if Heaven were as uncertain as the Infidel doth imagine a man of Reason should venture all that he hath upon the meer Possibility because his All indeed is Nothing and he is sure he can be no loser by the bargain it being not so much as the venture of a pin for the Possibility of a Crown Quer. 3. But that 's not all What if I shall prove to thee past all denyal that even in this life Holiness is far the most delightful gainful honourable life and that the ungodly live in a continual misery Will not this serve turn to convince thee that a Holy life should be undertaken for a meer Possibility of Heaven if we had no more Read but the Proofs of this anon and if I make it not good to thee call me a deceiver But if I prove that Holiness is the sweetest life on Earth and Heaven the sure Reward hereafter and that sin is a misery it self to the sinner and Hell the certain punishment hereafter then see that thou confess that God is a good Master and the Devil a bad one for at last thou shalt be forced to confess it Quer. 4. Well You say You are not sure that there is another life for man But have you used the Means to make it sâ—â— to you and to be well-resolved If you have then you have impartially searched and prayed and meditated on the Word of God and heard what can be said by Wiser men for that which you say you are not sure of but if you have trusted to your own understanding and neglected Meditation Prayer Enquiry and other needful means what wonder then if you be uncertain Even whether there be a Heaven or Hell It s no disgrace to Physick or Astronomy or Musick or Languages or Navigation but to you if you say that you are uncertain of all their conclusions when you never studied them or at least
Conscience sake And though the errour and commands of Councils and Parliaments excuse not à tote an illiterate Laicke that understandeth not those matters yet surely à tanto it is some excuse And sometime oppression maketh a wise man mad Eccles 7. 7. And sometime impatience prevaileth with the weak to do things unwarrantable humane passion blindeth Reason sometime Temptations prevail in this as in other cases And sometimes Hypocrites that never had any true Religion do shew their carnal dispositions and unmortified lusts and passions and pride by their rebellion against their lawful Governours and then Religion must bear the blame of the actions of those that counterfeit Religion and of those crimes which it doth most prohibite and condemn In a word Be the accusation against any particular person just or unjust nothing is more sure and clear then that he is most unjust that will charge the Christian Religion as guilty of Countenancing any Rebellions Conspiracies sedition disobedience faction or divisions Christ went before us in his own example to pay tribute to Casar and commanded us to give to Caesar the things that are Câ—sars and their false accusing him and condemning him as an offender against Caesar did no whit move him from the duty of his state of humiliation What can be more against all Treason and perfidiousness then that holy doctrine which commandeth us the exactest performance of every lawful promise much more of our Oaths and duties of Allegiance what can be more against Rebellions then that holy doctrine which teacheth us a life of patience and meekness condemning private revenge and commanding us rather to turn the other cheek to him that smiteth us and to give our coat to him that taketh away our cloak and go two miles with him that would compell us to go one that is to suffer yet more rather then revenge our selves or break peace or order or raise wars to escape such injuries It is a crucified Christ that conquered by suffering that is your example And our Religion is but our Conformity to him in his sufferings and his holiness He hath made it part of our duty to himself to obey Kings and Rulers and all Superiours not only the good but the froward and to take it patiently if we suffer for well-doing and not to return so much as a reviling dishonouring word or murmuring rebellious thought It is not fighting for our selves but following him with the Cross and forsaking all that we have that Christ hath made the work of his disciples and the necessary condition of his promise of salvation Luke 14. 33. There is no Master in all the world that so strictly commandeth Patience and forbearance and forgiving and Love and Peace and submission to one another as Jesus Christ doth He sets the hearts of all his servants on another Kingdom and tells them they have greater things to mind then riches or honours or domination upon earth He taketh the bone of contention from before them and bids them leave such things as these to the men of the world that have their portion in this life You may as honestly say that the Sun is the greatest cause of darkness as that Christ and holiness are the cause of seditions rebellions treasons or perfidiousness in the world All the world set together hath not done so much as he hath done against them If men threaten hanging and quartering to such offences Christ threatneth damnation in hell fire to them And would you wish him to inflict a sharper punishment or more severely to manifest his hatred of the crimes I tell you therefore if you should find Rebellion and Sedition among Christians it is but as you may find corruption in the bodies of the living which is contrary to life and health and to be found much more among the dead I am not here pleading for individual persons but for Christianity and Godliness If any professed Christians forsake the way of Patience and Subjection and turn to Rebellion and disloyalty they do far forsake Religion and Godliness and much more wrong and offend their heavenly master then their King and Governours Plead who will for the wickedness of such men for my part I will not I am sure Christ will not plead for their sin which he condemneth He may justifie them from it upon repentance but he will never justifie them for it and in it It is not because they are godly but for want of Godliness that any men have ever been guilty of rebellions or resisting Lawfull powers As Dr. Ward hath fully proved in his Sermon on Rom. 13. 2. Nothing more tendeth to the ruine of Rulers and people then to hearken to the Devil and the Enemies of Holiness that would perswade the world into a conjunction with them in the Enmity against the way of Godliness and the faithful servants of the Lord upon pretence that they are adversaries to Governours and Government It is a weighty truth that the foresaid Doctor begins his Sermon with Among all the stratagems of the Devil tending to the undermining of Religion and the subversion of the souls of men though there cannot be any more unreasonable yet there was never any more unhappily succesful then the creating and fomenting an Opinion in the world that Religion is an Enemy to Government and the bringing sincerity and zeal in Religion into jealousie and disgrace with the Civil Powers It was by this Jealousie blown into the heads of the High Priests and the Sanhedrim amongst the Jews and of Herod and Pontius Pilate that Christ himself was accused condemned and executed on a tree By this the Apostles were haled before the Governours of Provinces forced from one City to fly to another for this they endured bonds and sundry kinds of death It was through this fancy that the Christians for three hundred years together endured the rage of Heathen Emperours being destitute afflicted and tormented Our Lord Christ was traduced as an enemy to Caesar a man refractory to the Roman Laws and a Non-conformist to the Religion and Laws of his Countrey Thus and more that Author So that it is no new thing for the most innocent and holy and excellent persons to suffer as enemies to the Government where they lived nay it hath been the common case nor is it strange to hear Religion and Holiness charged with these crimes which they are most against As for the malicious slanders of the Papists against the Reformed Churches as if they had promoted all their Reformations by Rebellion they have been confuted sufficiently by many At this time I shall only desire the Reader that would be satisfied in this and understand the Protestant doctrine in these points to read Bishop Bilsons Difference between Christian subjection and unchristian Rebellion Especially pag. 382. and from 494. to 522. Also Hookers Eccles Polit. the last Book lately published And if he would know whether it be an Article of the very Religion of the
necessary things doth Grace acquaint the Christian with He knoweth him that is the cause of all things else having himself no cause He knoweth him that is knowledge it self and that knoweth all things He knoweth him that is Eternal that never began and shall never end That is Greater then the whole world that is more glorious then the Sun that can do all things because he is Almighty and yet can do no evil because he is most Good and Holy He knoweth him that made the world and all things and holdeth them in the hand of his Omnipotency and Ruleth them by his wisdom and doth all things according to the good pleasure of his will He knoweth him that is mans felicity to know whom is eternal life He knoweth the Redeemer and the Riches of his Grace and Promises He knoweth the diseases of his own soul and their danger and cure He knoweth what end he hath to aim at and the work that he was made and Redeemed for to do the Temptations which he must resist the enemies which he must conquer the duties which he must perform He knoweth his Redeemers Laws and Covenants What he commandeth promiseth and threatneth and to whom He knoweth what will be hereafter and where he shall live when this life is ended and what he shall do ten thousand years hence yea unto all eternity He knoweth what will become of all the Godly and ungodly that die such in the world and where they shall be for evermore In a word he knoweth whence he came whithet he is going and which way he must go He knoweth God as his Maker Governour and End He knoweth that God that he must Please and how to Please him and how to be saved and to live with God for ever This is the honourable Knowledge of the Sanctified which no men have but they alone The cunning Polititians of the world have none of it as such The Speculators of nature the great Mathematicians the Learned Doctors famous for their skill in Languages Philosophy and the Theorie of Divinity are oâ—t without it They have more of the words and notions and forms and methods then unlearned Saints have but they want the Thing that these are made for They have the signs and the Godly have the thing signified They have the Body of Theologie and the Godly Christian hath the Soul The ungodly Doctors have better skill to break the shell but the Godly Christian only knows how to eat the kernel The Learned may be better at the office of a Cook to dress the meat but only the Godly do feed on it and digest it Knowledge is to be valued as all creatures are according to its usefulness As it is more Honourable to know how to Govern a Kingdom Command an Army or Navy or save mens lives then to make a fiddle or an hobby horse so is it ten thousand-fold more Honourable to know how to Order our hearts and lives and to walk with God and obtain the everlasting Glory then to know how to get the riches and pleasures and vain-glory of the present world 3. The sanctified are made Alive to God when other men are Dead in sin Rom. 6. 11 13. Eph. 2. 1 2. And the poorest man alive is more Honourable then the carkase of an Emperour Eccl. 9. 4. A living dog is better then a dead Lyon 4. The sanctified are cleansed from the filthyness of their sins which are the most odious defilements in the world and they are purified by the blood and spirit of Christ 1 John 1. 7 9. Ephes 5. 26. 2 Cor. 7. 1. The word of Christ hath made them clean John 15. 3. Their hearts are purified by faith Acts 15. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 22. 1 John 3. 3. And therefore the most odious part of their dishonour is removed sin is a reproach to any people Prov. 14. 34. Whatever it may seem before ungodly men it is sin that is your shame before the Lord And this reproach the godly are now cleansed from Though it be a dishonour to them that they were ungodly once it is their honour that now they are not such and that they are cloathed with the righteousness of Christ 5. The Holy nature of the Saints disposeth their hearts and â—nclineth their wills to the highest and most Honourable things As in their Knowledge so in their Inclinations they are above the baseness of the world The nature of man is not to feed as beasts and horses and dogs do he is above their food and above their converse and kind of life that will not content him that contenteth them And the new nature of a sanctified man is above the delights and contents of the ungodly His heart cannot endure to take up with their kind of life To mind nothing but this world and to have no pleasure but to the flesh and live as an utter stranger to God and not to feed on the Heavenly delights and riches of the Gospel but live as if there were no such things this sensual life is below his Inclination â—s feeding on dross or conversing only with swine or cattle is below the nature of a man The noble soul is that which is inclined to the noblest objects even to God and Holiness and everlasting life and cannot endure the poor and low and sordid life of men that have their portion here Psalm 17. 14. Nothing that is corporeal or transitory yea nothing below God can satisfie a holy soul It is this Holy Disposition that fits men for holy Duties and that is their fitness for eternal Happiness If Angels were not Holyer then Devils and godly men then the ungodly Heaven could not hold them nor could they any more see or enjoy the Lord then they that are cast into outer darkness And therefore if you dare say that the Holy are no more Honourable then the unholy you must say that the Holy Angels are no more Honourable then the devils which sure you will scarce be so desperate as to speâ—â— 6. Holiness in the godly is the Image of God in which we were created and according to which we are renewed by the Holy Ghost Eph. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10. Gen. 1. 27. And what can be spoken more Honourable of a creature then that he hath his Makers Image unless as to the Degree that some have more of it then others It is the honourable Title of the Son himself that he is the Brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his person This is above the honour of any or of all the Saints But to have the Image of God in Wisdom and Holiness as all have that are sanctified is a wonderful dignity to be given to a creature and so low and unworthy creatures as we are His commands tell us what are the qualifications of his people As he which hath called you is Holy so be ye Holy in all manner of conversation For it is written Be ye Holy for I am Holy
them whom God doth delight to Honour He will Deliver them and Honour them Psal 91. 15. 4. And as the sanctified have the most Honorable dispositions so have they the highest and most Honorable Designs The End of their lives is incomparably above other mens The rest of the world though they may talk of Heaven and wish for it rather then Hell when they can live no longer do indeed drive on no greater trade then providing for the flesh and feathering them a nest which will quickly be pulled down and like the spider spinning themselves a web which death will shortly sweep away But the Design and daily business of the Godly is for everlasting Glory Heb. 11. 10. They look for a City that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God vers 13 14 15 16. They confess themselves strangers and pilgrims on earth thereby declaring that they seek a Countrey And truly if they were mindful of that deceitful world which they came out of and have forsaken they may have opportunities and too many invitations to return to it But now they desire a better Countrey that is an Heavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called Their God for he hath prepared for them a City This Noble End ennobleth both the persons and conversations of believers To Rule a Kingdom is a Nobler design then to play with children for pins or points But to seek the Everlasting Kingdom is far above all the highest designs that are terminated upon earth If Everlasting Glory with God in Heaven be a nobler state then a worldly life then must the seeking it be a nobler design Paul sheweth you the difference very pathetically Phil. 3. 18 19 20. For many walk of whom I told you often and now tell you weeping that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ Whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things But our Conversation is in Heaven that is we live as Citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem and not as those that are here at home It is Heaven that sanctified persons mind that they study and care for and labour and live for in the world And therefore though in their Natural capacity they are but as other men yet in their Moral and Relative capacity I think I may say without Hyperbole that they are much more advanced above the dignity of the great unsanctified Princes upon earth then Reason and learning and manly designs advance a man above a beast It is the Nobleness and baseness of the end that doth honour or abase the agent and therefore none are truly Honourable but those that seek the spiritual the high eternal Honour 5. The Employment as well as the Designs of the Godly do prove them to be the most Honourable Both the End and Matter do shew the excellency of their Work As the End Honoureth the person so doth it Honour all the works that are Means thereto The first thoughts of a Godly man when he awaketh and the last when he lyeth down if he observe his Rule are usually for Heaven When you are conversing with worldly men about these common worldly things they are in prayer or holy meditation conversing with God about the matters of his service and their salvation Their hearts are toward him their thoughts are on him They are devoted to him Their daily business is to serve him When I awake saith David Psal 139. 28. I am still with thee Psal 16. 7. 8. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel my reins also instruct me in the night seasons I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved The life of the Godly is called in Scripture a walking with God such was the course of Henock Noah and Abraham Gen. 5. 22 24. 6. 9. 17. 1. 24. 40. They walked before God Gen. 48. 15. and in his ways Deut. 28. 9. They love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul as to the sincerity of it and walk after him and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and serve him and cleave unto him Deut. 13. 3 4. And can an inhabitant of this world have a more honourable imployment then to serve the Lord and a more honourable state then to walk with God should we not have thought such words intolerable to be used of the best on earth if God had not been himself the author of them and put them into our mouths Hear more of his own expressions concerning the conversations of his servants 1 Cor. 1. 9. God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1. 3. And truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ By fellowship is not meant here a society of equals God forbid we should think so blasphemously But it is a Communion of the beloved sanctified Creature with his blessed Creator agreeable to his distance In their secret addresses his servants have communion with him Their Prayer is nothing else but a humble speaking to the living God for the supply of all their wants In their Praises and Thanksgivings it is God that they deal with and the words of their mouths and the meditation of their hearts are acceptable is the sight of their Redeemer Psal 19. 14. They poure out their souls before him and he openeth his ears and his bosome unto them Psal 62. 8. 10. 17. He will feed kis flock like a shepherd he will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young Isa 40. 11. And in the publick Worship of God in the holy Assemblies his servants also have communion with him It is him that they hear whoever be the messenger It is him that they adore and praise and magnifie Come say they and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his wayes and we will walk in his paths Come and let us walk in the light of the Lord Isaiah 2. 3 5. We have thought of thy loving kindness O God in the midst of thy Temple Psalm 48. 9. In his Temple doth every man speak of his glory Psalm 29. 9. Yea the common employments of the Godly are sanctified and thereby advanced above the highest actions of the wicked For it is God and Glory that is in all their ultimate End Whether they eat or drink or what ever they do they do it to his glory 1 Cor. 10. 31. That is They intend his Glory as their end and they do it in reverent obedience to his Will and in a holy manner behaving themselves as may honour him whose work they do And he that hath the face to say that Prayer Praise Thanksgiving Meditation holy conference and other works of Holiness and
this man will I look saith the Lord even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my Word Isa 66. 2. This is the Honourable entertainment of the Saints 7. And they are members of the most Honourable Society in the world The Church is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Luke 1. 33. Col. 1. 13. The Kingdom of God Luke 17. 21. 18. 17. The Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 3. 2. 13. 31 33 44. It is the School of Christ or his University in which Believers are his Schollars learning to know him and serve him and praise him for ever and trained up for everlasting life Acts 11. 26. Luke 6. 13. Mat. 5. 1 2 c. It is the family or houshold of God Eph. 2. 19. 1 Tim. 3. 15. Heb. 10. 21. 1 Pet. 4. 17. It is the Spouse yea the Body of Christ Eph. 5. 25. So loved by him that he gave himself for it becoming the price of our Redemption and thought not his life too dear a Ransom nor his blood too precious to cleanse and save us Eph. 5. 25 26. Tit. 2. 14. The Church which every godly man is a living member of is a Society chosen out of the world to be nearest unto God and dearest to him as the beloved of his soul to receive the choicest of his mercies and be adorned with the righteousness of Christ and to be employed in his special service 1 Pet. 2. 4 5 9. John 15. 19. Eph. 1. 4. Psalm 132. 13. 135. 4. Eph. 5. 1. The Lord that Redeemed them is their King and Head and dwelleth in the midst of them and walketh among them as the people of his special presence and delight Psalm 2. 6. 89. 18. 149. 2. 46. 5. Isa 12. 6. Jer. 14. 9. Zeph. 3. 5 15 17. Rev. 1. 13. 2. 1. Psalm 95. 2. The Church is a Heavenly Society though the militant part yet live on earth For the God of Heaven is the Soveraign and the Father of it The glorified Redeemer is their Head The Spirit of Christ doth guide and animate them His Laws revealed and confirmed from Heaven direct and govern them Heaven is their end and heavenly are their dispositions employments and conversations There is their portion and treasure Matth. 6. 20 21. and there is their very heart and hope They are risen with Christ and therefore seek the things that are above For their life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 2 3 4. Their Root is there and the noblest part of the Society is there For the glorified Saints and in some sort the Angels are of the same Society with us though they are in heaven and we on earth The whole family in Heaven and earth is named from one and the same Head Eph. 3. 15. Heb. 12. 22 23. 24. We are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling c. This is the Honourable Society of Saints the eye the pearl of the whole Creation 8. Moreover the Godly have the most Horourable Attendance The creatures are all theirs though not in point of Civil propriety yet as means appointed and managed by God their Father for their best advantage The Angels of God are ministring spirits for them not as our servants but as Gods servants for our good As Ministers in the Church are not the servants of men but the servants of God for men And so whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or to come all are ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. The Shepherds servant is not the servant of the sheep but for the sheep And so the Angels disdain not to serve God in the guarding of the weakest Saints As I formerly shewed from Heb. 1. 14. Psalm 91. 11 12. 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them For he giveth his Angels charge over us to keep us in all our wayes they shall bear us up in their hands left we dash our foot against a stone Sun and Moon and all the creatures are daily employed in our attendance O how wonderful is the Love of God to his unworthy servants in their advancement Remember it when thou art scorning at the servants of the Lord or speaking against them that those poor those weak despised Christians that thou art vilifying have their Angels beholding the face of God their Father in the Heavens Take heed therefore that you despise not the least of these It is the warning of Christ Matth. 18. 10. The same blessed spirits that attend the Lord and see his face in blissful Glory do attend and guard the meanest of the godly here on earth As the same servants use to wait upon the Father and the children in the same family or the bigger children to help the less 9. And it is the Honour of the Godly that they that are themselves most Honourable do Honour them To be magnified by a fool or wicked flatterer is small Honour but to be magnified by the best and wisest men this is true Honour We say that Honour is in him that giveth it and not in him that receiveth But it is God himself that Honoureth his Saints It is he that speaketh all these great and wonderous things of them which I have hitherto recited Search the Texts which I have alledged and try whether it be not he And surely to have the God of Heaven to applaud a man and put Honour upon him and so great Honour is more then if all the world had done it Yet we may add if any thing could be considerable that is added unto the approbation of God that all his servants the wisest and the best even his holy Angels are of the same mind and honour the godly in conformity to their Lord. And here Christian I require thee from the Lord to consider the greatness of thy sin and folly when thou art too desirous of the applause of men especially of the blind ungodly world and when thou makest a great matter of their contempt or scorn or of their slanderous censures What! is the approbation of the eternal God so small a matter in thy eyes that the scorn of a fool can weigh it down or move the ballance with thee If a feather were put into the scales against a mountain or the whole earth it should weigh as much as the esteem or dis-esteem of men their honouring thee or dishonouring thee should weigh against the esteem of God and the honour or dishonour that he puts upon thee as to any regard of the thing it self though as it reflecteth on God thou
them to be for their good or in it self more excellent then their good That is Pleasant to one man that is loathsom to another As the food and converse is delightful to a beast that is loathsom and as â—ad as death to man So one mans Pleasure is anothers Pain Even about the common matters of this life variety of complexions educations customs dispositions doth cause a variety of affections the difference between the sanctified and unsanctified the spiritual and the carnal mind doth cause a greater contrariety If therefore the errour of wicked minds or the distemper of your souls do make the Best things seem the worst and the sweetest things to seem most Bitter this is no confutation of my Argument that proves the way of Godliness most Pleasant If I would prove that wine is pleasanter then Vinegar or Bread then dirt or ashes I mean not to appeal to the appetites of the sick It is the sound and healthful that must be judges If a man will suffer his mind to be possessed with prejudice and base thoughts of God himself no wonder if he cannot love him nor take any delight in him And if men have a malignant enmity to Godliness no reason will perswade them that it is most pleasant but what perswades them from that enmity No Reason will perswade a sloathful person that Labour is better then sleep and idleness no Reason will perswade a drunkard glutton or voluptuous wretch that abstinence and continence are the sweetest life Could we change their Hearts we should change their Pleasures Such as men are such are their delights But the thing that I undertake is to manifest to any competent discerner that Holiness is the most Pleasant course and that all the Pleasures of the Earth are Nothing to the Pleasures which the Godly find in God and in a Holy life and if any be not of this mind it is because his souls diseases have made him an incompetent judge And that Godliness is the Pleasant State of life will appear to you 1. From the Nature of the thing it self 2. From the encouragements and helps with which it is attended 3. From the effects and fruits I. The Nature of Holiness is to be found 1. In the Understanding 2. In the will and affections and 3. In the Practice of mens lives And in all these I shall shew you that it is the most Delightful course 1. Knowledge in it self is a pleasant thing to humane nature Ignorance is the blindness of the soul It is not so pleasant for the eye to behold the sun as for the mind of man to discern the truth To Know Good and Evil had never been the matter of so strong a Temptation to Adam if Knowledge had not been very desirable to innocent nature How hard do many even ungodly persons study to know the mysteries of Nature And nothing hath more strongly tempted some wretches to witchcraft or contracts with the Devil then a desire of knowing unrevealed things which by his means they have hoped to attain A studious man hath far more natural valuable Delight in his reading and succesful studies then a voluptuous Epicure hath in his sensual Delights But it is a special kind of Knowledge that Holiness doth initially consist in which transcendeth in true Pleasure all the common wisdom of the worid For 1. How Pleasant a thing must it needs be to know things of so high a Nature To know the Almighty Living God to behold his wisdom goodness and power in his glorious works to be led to him by all the Creatures and hear of him by every Providence and find his Holy Blessed Name in every leaf of his sacred word how sweet and pleasant a thing is this To know the Divine Nature Persons Attributes and Will to know the mystery of the Incarnation of the person natures undertaking performance of the blessed Mediator Jesus Christ to know his birth his life temptations conquests his righteousness his holy doctrine and example the Law and promise the Law of Nature and the Covenant of Grace the sufferings Resurrection ascension glorification and intercession of our Lord to know his Kingdom Laws and Government and his Judgement with his Rewards and punishments to know the sanctifying works of the Holy Ghost by which we are prepared for everlasting life and to know that life though but by faith for which we are here prepared how high and pleasant a thing is this If it be pleasant to know the course of nature in those higher parts that are above the vulgar reach what is it to know the God of Nature and the true use and End of Nature What high things doth the poorest Christian know He knoweth the things that are invisible Think not that faith is so void of Evidence as not to deserve the name of Knowledge We Know the things which we do believe Nicodemus could say from the Evidence of Miracles Joh. 3. 2. We know that thou arâ— a Teacher come from God for no man could do these miracles that thou dost except God be with him Joh. 9. 29. We know that God spake to Moses say the Jews We know that the Scripture testimony is true Joh. 21. 24. 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know even by believing that if this earthly house of our tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 1 Joh. 3. 2. We know that when we shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Joh. 14. 20. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you We know that no whoremonger 〈…〉 such like shall inherit eternal life Eph. 5. 5. We know that â—â—â— Labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. Many such passages of Scripture tell us that Faith is a certain Knowledge and that Invisible things revealed by God are certainly known We know what Saints and Angels are now doing in the highest heavens for God hath told us We know the most high and glorious things revealed by God which we never saw And is not the Pleasure of such knowledge greater then the Pleasure of all the wealth the honour and sensual enjoyments in this world I durst almost refer the case to one of you that are most befooled by your own sensuality If you could go tomorrow and meet with a soul from Heaven or with an Angel that could tell you what becomes of souls and what is done in another world Would you not rather goe to such a conference then go as far to a drinking or a bowling or some such recreation I think you would if it were but to satisfie your curiosity and desire of Knowing Why then should not the servants of Christ more Delight in the reading and hearing the words of Christ that came from the bosome of the Father that hath seen God and is with God and is God himself that telleth them
soul may well be fullest of Delight that is most Happy And that soul is nearest and likest unto God whose Will is most conformed to his Will The trouble of the Heart is its unsettledness when it is not bottomed on the Will of God When we feel that Gods Will doth Rule and satisfie us and that we would fain be what he would have us be and rest in his Disposing Will as well as obey his Commanding Will this gives abundant Pleasure and quietness to the soul 2. The holy workings of Charity in the soul are exceeding Pleasant All the acts of Love to God and man are very sweet This is the holy work that is its own wages 1. The â—â—â—â— of God is so sweet an exercise that verily my soul had rather be employed in it with sense and vigour then to be Lord of all the earth O could I but be taken up with the Love of God how easily could I spare the Pleasure of the flesh Might I but see the Loveliness of my dear Creator with a clearer view and see his glory in his noble works Might I but see and feel that saving Love which he hath manifested in the Redeemer till my soul were ravished and filled with his Love how little should I care who had the Pleasures of this deceitful world Had I more of that blessed spirit of Adoption and more of those filial affections to my heavenly Father which his unutterable Love bespeaks and were I more sensible of his abundant mercy and did my soul but breath and long after him more earnestly I would pitty the miserable Tyrants of the world that are worse then Beggars while they domineer and tast not of that Kingdom of Love and Pleasure that dwelleth in my breast All the Pleasures of the world are the laughing of a mad man or the sports of a child or the dreams of a sick man in comparison of the Pleasures of the Love of God 2. And the Love of Holiness the Image of God hath its degree of Pleasure And so hath the Love of the Holy servants of the Lord. There is a sweetness in the soul in its goings out after any Holy object in spiritual Love Yea more our very common Love of men and our Love of Enemies hath its proportion of pleasure far better then the sensual Pleasure of the ungodly To feel so much of the operations of grace and to answer our holy pattern in Loving them that hate us doth give much ease and pleasure to the mind The exercises of Love to God and man and that for his sake are the exceeding Pleasure of a gracious soul And here by the way you may take notice of one reason why Hypocrites and ungodly men find no such sweetness in the exercises of Religion Because they let alone the inward Pleasant work of Love which is the soul and life of Outward duty This inward work is the Pleasant work while they are strangers unto this their outward duties will be but a toll 〈…〉 seem a drudgery or a wearysome employment There is a Pleasure even in Holy Desires When a Christian feeleth his heart enlarged in longing after the wellfare of the Church and the good of others Though the absence of the thing desired be aâ—…e yet the exercise of holy desire which is an act of Love is pleasant to us If the Lustfu have a pleasure in their vile Desires and the Ambitious and the Covetous have a pleasure in their vain and delusory desires the wise well-guided desires of a true believer must needs be pleasant 4. Especially when Desire is accompanied with Hope All the Pleasures of this world are far short of affording that Rest and quiet to the soul as the Hope of Glory doth to the believer O happy soul that is acquainted by experience with the lively Hopes of the everlasting Happiness It is not the Hope of corruptible Riches nor of a fading inheritance but of the Crown that sadeth not and of the precious certain durable treasure It is not a Hope in the promise of a deceitful man but in the word of the everliving God! The soul that hath this Anchor needs not be tossed with those fears and cares and anxieties of mind that worldly men are subject to This Hope will never make them ashamed If a man were in a consumption or sentenced to Death would not the Hopes of Life upon certain Grounds be pleasanter to him then sport or mirth or lustful objects or any such present sensitive delights Much more if with the hopes of Life he had the hopes of all the felicities of Life and of the perpetuity of all these O may I but be enabled by faith to lift up the eye of my soul to God and view the everlasting mansions and by hope to take possession of them and say All this is mine in Title even upon the Promise of the faithful God! what greater Pleasure can my soul possess till it enter on the full Possession of those eternal Pleasures O poor deluded worldly men What is the Pleasure of your wealth to this O brutish sinners what is the Pleasure of your mirth and jollity your meat and drink your pride and bravery your lust and filthiness in comparison of this O poor Ambitious dreaming men that make such a stir for the Honour and Greatness of this world What is the Pleasure of your Idol-honour and short vainglory in comparison of this while you have it you have no Hope of Keeping it you are troubled with the thought of leaving it Had we no higher Hopes then yours how miserable should we be 5. The Trust and repose of the soul on God which is another part of the life of grace is exceeding Pleasant and quieting to the soul To find that we stand upon a Rock and that under us are the everlasting arms and that we have so full security for our salvation as the promise and Oath of the immutable God what a stay what a Pleasure is this to the Believer The troubles of the godly are most from the remnants of their unbelief The more they believe the more they are comforted and established The life of faith is a Pleasant life Faith could not conquer so many enemies and carry us through so much suffering and distress as you find in that cloud of testimonies Heb. 11. if it were not a very comfortable work Even we that see not the salvation ready to be revealed may yet greatly rejoyce for all the manifold temptations that for a season make us subject to some heavyness 1 Pet. 1. 5 6. And we that see not Jesus Christ yet Believing can love him and rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory v. 8. The God of Hope doth sometimes fill his servants with all Joy and peace in believing and makes them even abound in Hope through the Power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. 6. Yea Joy is it self a part of the Holy qualification of the Saints and of
give 3. Holiness removeth fears and troubles and therefore must needs be a Pleasant state It removeth the fears of the wrath of God and of damnation and the fears of all destructive evils It tends to heal the wounded soul and pacific the clamorous conscience and abate all worldly and groundless sorrows for which the wicked have no true cure 4. Holiness is the destruction of sin and sin is the cause of all calamities and therefore Holiness must needs be Pleasant 5. Holiness doth consist in rejoycing Graces that are exceeding pleasant in the exercise as Faith Hope Love Patience c. yea it consisteth in Joy it self Rom. 14. 17. 6. It fits the soul for Communion with God who is the fountain of Delights and it brings us near him and acquaints us with him as a God of Love and therefore must needs be a Pleasant state 7. You see by experience that when once men have tryed a Holy life they think they can never have enough of it The more Holy they are the more Holy they would be He that hath most would fain have more And the weakest desireth no less then to be perfect And do you think men that have tryed it would so long after more and more if it were not pleasant Judge also by the labour and diligence of the godly who seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and make it the principal business of their lives Would they make all this ado for nothing Or for that which is a matter of no delight Judge also by the delights which they voluntarily forsake when they let go all their sinful pleasures and renounce all the glory of the world would they make this exchange if they had not found a more pleasant course and that which tends to everlasting pleasure 8. You see also that the truly Godly when once they have tryed a holy life will never go back again to their former pleasures but loath the very remembrance of them It is not all the honours and riches and pleasures in the world that can hire them to forsake a holy life Sure therefore they find it the most pleasant course if not in sensible delights yet at least in easing their consciences and securing their minds from the terrours that sinful pleasures would produce If they found that Godliness answered not their expectation they have leisure enough and temptations too many to turn back into the state from whence they came But how would they abhorr such a motion as this 9. If Holiness were not a Pleasant thing it could not help us to bear up under all afflictions nor make us rejoyce in tribulation as it doth That which can sweeten gall and wormwood must needs be very sweet it self That which can make reproach and scorn and poverty and imprisonment either sweet or tolerable is sure it self a pleasant thing 10. Lastly if Holiness were not pleasant it could not make Death it self so easie nor take off its terrours nor cause the Martyrs to suffer so joyfully for Christ Death is the King of terrours and so bitter a cup that it must needs be a pleasant thing indeed that can sweeten it BEsides all this that hath been said let me briefly have some general aggravations of the Delights of Holiness And compare it as we go with the Delights of the ungodly 1. The Delights of Holiness are the most Great and Glorious and Sublime delights They are fetcht from the most Great and Glorious things It is God and his Grace and everlasting glory that feed our pleasures Whereas the Delights of sensual men are fed with trifles What do they rejoyce in but the fooleries of sin and the filthyness of their own transgressions What is it that contenteth them but a dream of honour or the good will and word of mortal men or a brutish sportfulnesse or the pleasing of the itch of lust or the provision that they have laid up for the flesh The treasures of a Kingdom excell not the treasure of a childs pin-box the thousandth part so much as Heaven excells the treasure of the ungodly Judge therefore by the matter that feeds their pleasure which of the two is the more pleasant life to sport in their own shame and laugh at the brink of misery with the ungodly or to delight our selves in the Love of God and rejoyce in the assured hope of Glory with the true believer 2. The Delights of Holiness are the most rational well-grounded sure delights They are not delusory nor grounded on mistakes or fancies They are warranted by the truth and All-sufficiency of God and the certainty of his promise and the immutability of his counsels and the sure Reward prepared for his Saints None but a lying malicious Devil or his instruments that participate of his nature or a blind corrupted partial flesh will ever go about to question the foundations of our faith and comforts The hopes and comforts that are built upon this Rock will never fall nor make us ashamed But the ungodly rejoyce in their own delusions It is ignorance and errour that they are beholden to for their mirth They laugh in their sleep or as mad men in their distraction Did they know that Satan rejoyceth in their joyes and that an offended God is alwayes present and how poor a matter it is that they rejoyce in it would marr their mirth If they saw the Hell that they are near or well-considered where they stand and what a case their souls are in they would have little list to play or laugh If they knew aright the shortness of their pleasures and the length of their sorrows and in what a doleful case their wealth and fleshly delights will leave them it would turn their laughter into mourning and lamentation So that they rejoyce but as a sick man in a phrensie or as a fool upon some good news to him that is false upon meer mistake 3. The Delights of Holiness are the most pure Delights and most entire and compleat There is no Evil in it mixed with the Good and therfore nothing to interrupt the joy Our joyes indeed are too much interrupted but that is not from any hurt that is in a holy life but by the contrary sin which Holiness must work out If men take poyson let them not blame nature that strives against it if they are sick but let them blame themselves and the poyson that puts nature to expell it In Holiness it self there is nothing but Good and therefore nothing that should grieve us But it is far otherwise with sensual delights As they are sinful they are wholly evil As they are natural feeding upon the creature alone they are as it is a mixture of Vanity and Vexation Every creature hath its unsuitableness and imperfection by which it disturbeth even where it pleaseth and troubleth where it comforteth and frustrateth and disappointeth more then it satisfieth The more we Love it usually the more we suffer by it That
and thy Will It proclaimeth thy pernicious Folly and Impiety If thou hadst no more wit then to be Pleased more with stones then gold with dung then meat with shameful nakedness then cloathing thou wouldst not be judged wise enough to be left to thy own dispose and government But the folly which thou dost manifest is unspeakably greater Darkness is not so much worse then Light and Death is not so much worse then Life as sin is worse than Holiness and the world than God And is the Worst more Pleasant to thee then the Best It is a fool indeed to whom it is a sport to do mischief Prov. 10. 23. and so great a mischief as sin is and yet hath no delight in understanding Prov. 18. 2. Delight is not seemly for such fools Prov. 19. 10. And how wicked is that Heart as well as Blind that is so averse to God and Holiness Doth not this shew thee 1. The absence of Gods holy image 2. And the presence of Satans image upon thy soul Nothing doth more certainly prove what a man is then the complacency and displacency of his Heart If you know what it is in your selves or others that pleaseth and displeaseth most you may certainly know whether you have the spirit and grace of Christ or not This is the durable infallible Evidence which Satan shall never be able to invalidate and which the weakest Christians can scarce tell how to deny in themselves Could they be more Holy it would please them better then to be more rich Could they believe more and Love God more and trust him more and obey him better it would please them more then if you gave them all the honours of the world They are never so well pleased with their own hearts as when they find them nearest Heaven and have most of the Knowledge of God and impress of his attributes and sense of his presence They are never so well pleased with their lives as when they are most holy and fruitful and may fullyest be called A walking with God They are never so much displeased with themselves as when they find least of God upon their hearts and are most dark and dull and undisposed to holy Communion with him They are never so much weary of themselves as when their lives are least fruitful holy and exact And this is a certain Evidence of their sincerty For it shews what they Love and what it is that hath their Hearts or Wills And it is the Heart or Will that is the man in Gods account God takes a man to be what he sincerely would be As he is so he Loveth and Willeth and as he Loveth and Willeth such he is His complacency or displacency are the immediate sure discoveries of his bent or inclination This certain Evidence poor doubting souls should have oft recourse to and improve And on the contrary it is as sure an Evidence of your misery when you savour not the things of the Spirit Rom. 8. 5 6 7. and when it pleaseth you more to be great then to be good to be rich then to be religious and righteous to serve your lusts then to serve the Lord When you set more by the applause of men then by the approbations of God and had rather be far from God then near him and be excused from a holy life then used to it and constant in it When you take the world and sin for your recreation or delight and a godly life for a melancholy wearisom and unpleasant course This certainly shews that you have yet the old corrupted nature and Serpentine enmity against the Spirit and Life of Christ and are yet in the flesh and therefore can no more please the Lord then his holy wayes are pleasing unto you Rom. 8. 6 7 8. and it proveth that you are yet in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of your iniquity and that your hearts are not right in the sight of God and that you are the slaves of Satan whose nature you partake of by which you are thus alienated from the Lord. Didst thou know God as Faith doth know him his Loving kindness would be better to thee then life it self Psalm 63. 3. If thou didst Love him as it is like thou wilt pretend thou dost it would be meat and drink to thee to enjoy his Love and do his Will And if thou know him not by Faith nor cleavest to him by unfeigned Love how canst thou pretend to have his Image How would you judge of that mans heart that were no better affected to his friend to his parents or children or other relations then you manifest your selves to be to God If he can take no pleasure in the company of his wife or children but is glad when he is far from them in the company of strangers or harlots or prodigals would you not say this man had a base unmanly disposition Express but such an inclination in plain words and try how honest sober men will judge of them Much more would it be odious to Christian ears if you should tell God plainly We can find no pleasure in thee or in thy holy wayes thy Word and Service are unsavoury and wearisom unto us We had rather be talking or busied about the matters of the world We have far more pleasure in recreations and sensual accommodations then in remembring thee and thy Kingdom and then we find in the life that is called holy Would not such words as these be called impious by every Christian that should hear them And is not that an impious heart then which speaketh thus or is thus affected and that an impious life that manifesteth it though dissembling lips are ashamed to profess it If God be not most to be loved and delighted in then any thing or all things else he is not God If Heaven and Holiness be not sweeter then all the pleasures of earth and sin let them have no more such honourable names Let sin and earth then be called Heaven but wo to them that have no better 2. What monstrous ingratitude is that man guilty of that when God hath provided and Christ hath purchased such high delights and freely tendred them to unworthy sinners will say I find no pleasure in them and take them for no delights at all When the Lord beheld thee wallowing in thy filth and laughing in thy misery and making a sport of thine own perdition he pittied thee and provided and offered to thee the most noble and excellent delights that thy nature is capable of enjoying And wilt thou cast them back unthankfully in his face and say They are unpleasant tedious things If your child did so by his meat or cloathes yea or a beggar at your door did so by his alms you would think it proved his great unworthyness If he throw away the best you can give him and say It is naught there is no sweetness in it would you not think it fit that want should help to