may suggest to us where I shall grant what men presume that is that they will repent hereafter and further yet that all their sins shall be forgiven and they intitled to life eternal upon repentance But I must not grant what they imagine that it is as well to retrieve a sin by true repentance for it as to prevent the sin it self that it is no loss in the mean time to have delayed their reformation It is a loss of precious time spent to the great dishonour of God and no true advantage to the Sinner 'T is a loss of growth in wisdom and vertue which might have improved to higher measures if they had been earlier applied unto 'T is a loss of higher degrees of Glory unless the time that hath been mispent be retrieved by a very singular diligence and excellent improvement afterward 'T is the loss perhaps of the souls of others who may have been misled and prejudiced by the worse part of a mans example namely by his sin and vanity but not amended by the better that is to say his reformation For no man can ever assure himself that the example of his repentance shall be as effectual to reform as that of his sin was to mislead and corrupt his Neighbour Besides all this the delay of repentance and newness of life renders the Duty far more irksome and fills it with greater pangs and sorrows and makes a mans birth a new life like that of a Child overgrown in the Womb infinitely grievous and full of trouble Moreover it gives very great occasion of such reflections wherein a mans guilt recoyls upon him in bitter remorses and regrets even after repentance and reformation It gives advantage to the Devil and he is very apt to take it to upbraid the Conscience with sharp remembrances of former sins although they be already pardoned It gives him advantage to raise many scruples fears and doubts of the sincerity of a mans repentance and of the acceptance it finds with God And to say no more late repentance is apt to leave the souls of men under many weaknesses and distempers just like a recovery from an obstinate long disease of Body which though it be a recovery indeed yet generally leaves it ever after under many infirmities and decays All these things may the thoughts of our ways offer to us and these suggestions plainly shew us That to continue in sin at present with purpose to reform hereafter is as if a man should wound himself out of presumption of a cure or break a limb with purpose to have it set again or throw himself into a sharp Feaver with resolution to use the methods for a recovery afterwards Seeing then the prevention of farther sin by speedy amendment of our lives is by many degrees better for us than to retract it by repentance and that although we were as certain we should repent and amend hereafter as we are sure we now design it let the serious consideration of this and of all I have said to the same purpose disswade the delay of reformation And because that frequent recollection is a thing so indispensably necessary to render the motives to repentance effectual upon our hearts and lives let us often retire into our closets and withdraw our selves from the noise and hurry both of business and diversion and then diligently apply our minds to the consideration of our ways Let us consider what they have been in former times as well as what they are at present let us call to mind our many omissions and neglects our many frailties and infirmities as well as chosen and wilful sins let us remember how much we have suffered or yet may possibly suffer by them for nothing of real satisfaction let us weigh the differences of good and evil and their different issues and effects let us remember that all these things and many other call loudly upon us to amend what we find amiss in our selves and that the patience of God towards us the uncertainty of our own lives the great disadvantage of delay in a work of such concernment to us press us to do it without delay And the God of all Grace and Mercy so assist our thoughts and Meditations by the operation of his Spirit that they may succeed to the reformation of our sins to the improvement of our Vertues and to our eternal peace and happiness in the great day of the Lord Jesus To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be all Glory Honour and Praise now and for evermore The Seventeenth Sermon 1 John 3.7 Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous THE Gospel had not been long preached unto the World but there arose a sort of persons who though they professed the name of Christ yet lived quite contrary to his precepts Such was the Sect of the Nicolaitans who took occasion from certain words of Nicolas the Deacon the sense whereof they did mistake see Grot. Hammond ad Revel 2.6 to indulge themselves in sensual lusts and to live in filthiness and impurity and hence it was that this reflection is made upon them in the words of Christ to the Church of Ephesus This thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate Rev. 2.6 Like unto these were those that are mentioned by St Peter 2 Ep. 2.18 when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonness those that were clean escaped from them that live in errour And by St Jude verse 8. of his Epistle Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh despise dominion and spak evil of dignities and afterward at the 10th v. what they know naturally as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves These were the Gnosticks a Sect of Libertines who as Irenaeus tells us lib. I. did practise all forbidden things without any modesty shame or blushing as believing it lawful so to do and thinking themselves nothing less acceptable unto God for so doing which is the errour which our Apostle obliquely touches in these words Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous Little children so he stiles those persons who were less knowing or less stable in the true Doctrine of Christianity so he stiles them cap. 2.13 although he seems in another place namely cap. 2.1 to give that title to all Christians Little children let no man deceive you that is to say suffer not your selves to be deceived by them that tell you that you may be righteous in Gods account and grateful and acceptable to him although you do not do righteousness that is although your lives and actions be not habitually just and holy for as Christ himself was righteous in the eyes of God because he was really so in himself so those only that do righteousness that yield sincere and true obedience to
very nature of things themselves that peace and war strength and weakness health and sickness are as consistent each with other as quiet times with restless lusts peace with wickedness and irreligion The wicked are like a troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isaiah 57.20 21. Sin is uneasie to it self a constant disease a daily vexation to the sinner and it is so to a Nation likewise when it is national and universal And sure it is one of the greatest vanities to hope that God should preserve by miracle where people wilfully serve those lusts which naturally work their own destruction Whensover providence works a miracle to preserve a person or a Nation it is to preserve those that cannot not those that will not preserve themselves but wilfully rush upon their ruine But is there any man in the world that wilfully studies his own destruction do we not all wish and long for such stability in the times as may give us easie and quiet minds secure our Affairs succeed our labours confirm our strength and deliver us from all those fears and dreads that have given us so much pain and sorrow I make no doubt but that we do desire such days with all our hearts I make no question but there are many of such a Spirit that they would willingly undertake the greatest labours to procure them I do not question but that the generality of the Nation if they were assaulted by an Enemy would hazard their fortunes expose their lives adventure what was dearest to them to maintain their ancient rights and liberties And would it not be as easie for us and more efficacious to these ends to reform our lives to forsake our sins and turn from the evil of our ways Why should a man be willing to spill his very blood and unwilling to reform his sins for the security of his Country Why are we willing to use those means that are more grievous and less effectual for our welfare namely to hazard life and fortune for securing these very things themselves and neglect the easie and efficacious the reformation of our lives Would it be a burden to love God with all our hearts to place our hope and trust in him to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all our days Would it be troublesome and uneasie to love our neighbours with sincerity and to be so beloved by them to be freed from mutual fears and jealosies from all animosities each to other O how blind are the minds of men not to see the things that concern their peace not to observe that Christs commands are a light an easie a gentle yoke but rather to study their own security by those very things that overthrow it by fraud or violence or worldly craft than by the practice of those vertues which would ease their minds secure their fortunes succeed their labours and make them happy as well in the life that now is as in that to come How blessed and happy might we be if we would follow Gods directions how easily might we spend our days even in this frail and mortal life how firmly might we settle the times which are now so wavering and uncertain if we would spend but half that time in the subduing of our lusts that we do in the gratification of them if we would but take half that pains to possess our hearts with love to God and mutual Charity each to other and in fervent Prayers in humble thanksgivings in Holiness Righteousness and Sobriety that we do in the service of our lusts This would undoubtedly amend the days settle our Interests and bless us with quiet and stable times This would be a fair return to God Almighty for the favour which we now commemorate for restoring our Prince our Laws and Religion after we were deprived of them by former Ruines and Confusion Thus God of his mercy open our eyes that we may timely understand and practise the things that concern our peace then should there be no breaking in nor going out no. complaining in our streets and happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Psal 144.14 15. God of his mercy grant c. The Second Sermon PSALM 68.28 Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us The whole verse is thus Thy God hath commanded thy strength Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us THIS Psalm as judicious men conceive was written by David when he removed the Ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to Sion Which may be the reason why it begins with these words which Moses used on the like occasions namely when he removed the same Ark which are recorded Numb 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee So David here in the first verse Let God arise and let his Enemies be scattered and let them that hate him flee before him And having lived to see the day wherein the holy Ark of God the Symbol of his especial presence was to be fixed in its own place which God himself had chosen for it he thought it meet to recollect the many other favours and mercies which God had granted the Jewish Nation and to render him hearty thanks for them namely for his singular Providence in conducting the People thorough the Wilderness after their deliverance out of Egypt 6 7 8. verses for his planting them in the promised land a land flowing with Milk and Hony and fruitful even to a miracle so at the ninth and tenth verses for the powerful Aids of his gracious Providence in dispossessing the former Inhabitants in scattering the Armies of their Kings that his people might possess their Countries 12 13 14. And having then in the following verses largely returned his thanks to God for all the great and admirable things which he had wrought for the Jewish Nation in order to their strength and settlement he prays for the continuance of his favour and of their present peace and welfare Strengthen O God what thou hast wrought for us In which words you may observe these two generals 1. An acknowledgement made to God that it was he and he alone who had planted and settled them in the land and wrought those great and mighty works whereby they were planted and settled in it Whath hath been done saith he hast wrought for us 2. An ardent Prayer to God to strengthen that is to continue what he had pleased to work for them Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought for us 1. I begin with the first which is the acknowledgement made to God that it was he who had planted and settled them in the land and wrought those great and mighty works whereby they were planted and settled in it where I must not omit to take some notice that divine
can we hope that we shall preserve it unless there be zeal opposed to zeal unless we be concerned for truth as they concern themselves against it can we reasonably judge we can secure it No if they find that we our selves are cold and indifferent in our Religion that we shew no hearty affection for it that we value our ease love our pleasure esteem the smallest concerns and interest more than we prize and value that may they not then justly conclude that we shall easily part with it And will not this excite their diligence and encourage attempts to take it from us May I speak what I verily think is true It is our indifference in our Religion the gross neglects that very many and the foul contempts that some others have clearly shewed unto this profession that hath given encouragement to our enemies to design and attempt its extirpation If they can say and I wish they may not they have no concernment for their Religion they have no regard for the Ministers of it they neglect they despise it in life and practice many of them very seldom appear in their publick Assemblies and Congregations very few frequent that holy Sacrament which is the great and solemn profession of joyning in Communion with it They give no evidence of any zeal or affection to it and therefore no doubt they will part with it upon very cheap and easie terms bring their Estates or ease and safety bring the advantages of this world into a competition with it and there is no doubt but they will abandon and quit the one that they may quietly enjoy the other They will rather chuse to enjoy their Estates ease and safety without their Religion than their Religion without these If we could penetrate into the hearts of those that design the extirpation of our Religion I fear we should find these thoughts in them and that these have encouraged that design which cannot otherwise be resisted than by letting them know they are deceived that we have as great and warm a zeal for the preserving our Religion as they for its ruine and destruction 2. To this zeal we must add endeavour it is not the goodness of a cause that is sufficient to defend it If it be true and just and reasonable it must be evidenced so to be and endeavour used for its defence If it be true it is so much fitter to be pleaded If it be just it is just to appear and labour for it it doth still so much the more deserve the use of reason in every private Prosessor of it the use of Authority in every Magistrate for its advancement and preservation The wisest Laws will not secure the best Religion if they themselves be not secured They can neither plead nor execute themselves They rather excite contempt and scorn and irritate enemies to opposition where they are left to shift for themselves without any countenance from the Magistrate Now therefore it would still retain the Reformed Religion reformed I say by the blessing of God upon the pains of our Forefathers and at the expence of the very blood of many of them if we desire to deliver it down to our posterity as they transmitted it unto us we must upon every fair occasion profess our hearty belief of it profess our zeal for its defence maintain its truth against opposers give no occasion to them to think that fraud or force hopes or fears rewards or punishments in this world shall ever chase or remove us from it And may not the diligence of our enemies for the subversion of our Faith awake our minds excite our diligence to maintain it If they insinuate and intrude into all societies all places all degrees and ranks of men and use the utmost of their skill to seduce them and impose upon them to move them both by hopes and fears to embrace their errours and delusions shall we be idle or remiss in the mean time in the securing of real truth Have they so much of zeal and fervor for meer vanities and superstitions And have we none for real piety Are they so active as that they compass Sea and Land to make men Proselytes unto them And have we no care to secure our selves at least at home Do they neglect no opportunity do they omit no endeavours no not the foulest and most unlawful to promote and propagate their Religion And are we asleep are we in a maze are we in a dream while we should defend and secure ours Awake we then from that security and from that coldness and indifference from that remisness and neglect which gives encouragement to our enemies to attempt the destruction of our Religion and may if not in time reformed exceeding justly provoke God to deliver us up into their hands 3. Let us all awake while it is day and unite our selves in joynt endeavours the third particular I proposed to defend and propagate our Religion Let us joyn together in the clear and open profession of it Let us coustantly attend the Worship of God in the publick Assemblies where the Religion is professed Let us frequently joyn in the Celebration of that holy Sacrament which is not only a Communion with Christ our Head but the aptest and clearest signification of our Communion each with other Let us mutually counsel and advise let us encourage one another to retain and hold fast that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints striving for the faith of the Gospel and in nothing terrified by our adversaries 4. Which is the fourth of these methods which our Apostle here propounds for the defence of the true faith and so is that which we profess Our Faith is that which our blessed Lord came down from Heaven to reveal to men he confirm'd it by many mighty Miracles he died on the Cross he rose again he ascended to Heaven he gave the Spirit to his Apostles and holy Fellows to preach and propagate it in the world These and several after them for divers Ages laid down their lives for its defence and made it victorious in the world notwithstanding all the oppositions that the powers of the world and the lusts of men made against it and why should we fear the wit or malice the craft or strength that any enemie can use against it if we will be faithful our selves to it We can at most but die for it And have we not reason to encourage us so to do if ever the times which God forbid should call for that What saith our Lord in this case Luk. 12.4 5. Be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him Fear God and nothing but God only Fear him and you shall not need to fear any other thing but him only He can discover the
is in Heaven He is adorned with an excellent Character in the words immediately following those And I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church which priviledge although it was not peculiar unto S. Peter but common to the other Apostles with him yet being first declared of him adds to the Dignity of his Character and yet detracts nothing at all from the power of the rest of Christs Apostles upon whom as upon a sure foundation S. Paul assures us the Church was built Ephe. 2.20 It was built on them together with him whom our Saviour mentions in this place it was most firmly built upon them for so it appears from these words and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it For the better understanding of which words we must 1 consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Hell is frequently used in the holy Scriptures as well as prophane Authors to signifie the grave to denote the place and state of the dead so it is used in these words Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption And then further 2 We must consider that the grave or place and State of the dead is sometimes compared unto a house If I wait the grave is mine house Job 17.13 and to a house with gates or dores shut up and locked with bars and locks and hence that saying of Hezekiah Isa 38.10 I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave Hence mention is made of the bars of the pit Job 17.16 and of the keys of hell and death Revel 1.18 and of the keys of the bottomless pit Revel 9.1 3 Being then that the grave being that the place and state of the dead is compared to a house with gates and doors shut up and fastned with bars and locks from hence likewise it comes to pass that Death or Destruction is described by entering into the gates of the grave for so you find in the words which I have already cited Isaiah 38.10.11 I said in the cutting off of my days when God told me that I should dye I shall go to the gates of the grave am deprived of the residue of my years I said I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world where entering into the gates of the grave plainly signifies death it self or entring into the place of the dead as all the other expressions shew 4. This being so if the Church be taken for Gods people not considered as a Society being together in Communion but as single Members of Christs Body then these words that are before us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church imply no more than that the Members of Christs body shall overcome death and the grave by a Resurrection to Immortality But then if the Church in this place be taken as it usually is and as I judge it ought to be for the general Society of Believers considered as they are a Church living together in Communion in the use of all Christ's Institutions then are the words we have in hand which tell us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church a promise that there shall be a Church professing the true Faith of the Gospel and living in the use of its Institutions in visible Fellowship and Communion till the second Coming of our Lord. Then when it is said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church the meaning will be that the Church shall never enter into those gates which is as much as if it were said that it should never be destroyed Having thus interpreted the words before us I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall shew what Church this is which is designed in these words 2. And then secondly how far this promise of our Lord made to that Church in these words secures it from errour and defection 1. It is needful to understand what the Church is which is designed in these words where it is promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it And the reason is because the Patrons of the Roman Church have assumed this promise unto themselves with as much confidence and presumption as if it had been expresly said That the Church of Rome should never fail but always continue firm and stable nay absolutely infallible in the Faith in the true Doctrine of Christianity whereas in truth this is as well a great arrogance as a most wide and foul mistake For certain it is that our Saviour here speaks not of any particular Church planted in this or the other place but only of the Universal Church the whole Society of those persons who profess the Doctrine of the Gospel He speaks indefinitely of his Church Vpon the rock will I build my Church and speaking indefinitely of his Church cannot possibly understand any particular part of it the Church of any particular place but the Catholick Universal Church The truth is the Church of any particular place seated in any particular Country may utterly fail and be extinguished How many great and excellent Churches have failed and perished long ago How many others have so decayed that they seem near unto destruction Where are those many famous Churches which once flourished in the Coast of Africks Where are those seven Churches of Asia largely mentioned by St. John in the three first Chapters of the Revelations Where are those many other Churches which formerly flourished in the East How many of them are extinguished utterly ruined and destroyed with the very Cities where they were planted How many others are decayed almost to a total dissolution Be it then concluded that this promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church belongs to the Church Universal only and not to any Society of Christians seated in any particular place not unto any particular Church Which being so I cannot dismiss this point without an Inference and a Caution 1. The Inference is That seeing this promise of our Lord that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church belongs to the Church Universal and not to any particular Church The consequence which the Romanists draw from these words namely that the Church of Rome is indefectible and infallible is most inconsequent and unreasonable This promise belongs to the whole Church of which the present Church of Rome is but a part and a part infected with strange corruptions This promise belongs to the Universal Church of Christ the Church of Rome was never more than only a particular Church that is a member of the universal and is now what it hath long been a most corrupt and unsound member And as that Church hath strangely sunk into heathenish and barbarous Superstitions so may it utterly fail and vanish and disclaim the
higher powers the Princes and Potentates of the World exercised all external violence to destroy and kill the professors of it No reproaches were thought too foul to blacken no tortures too cruel to destroy the professours of the Gospel of Christ for the three first ages of Christianity insomuch that they had but little time to breathe in the intervals of persecution while they continued under heathen Emperours 2. No sooner did the supreme power owne the profession of Christianity no sooner did peace dawn upon the Church by the favour of Constantine the Great but that the professors of Christianity broke and divided amongst themselves Then was the Church as much troubled by the Errours and Heresies by the Schisms and Factions of them that professed the name of Christ as it had been in former ages by the open violence of persecution 'T is true indeed there had been Errours there had been factions amongst the Christians before that time but now they grew to greater height especially concerning the person of Christ for the repressing of which errours the four first general Councils were called 3. Next after the mutual strifes that arose among the Professors of the Gospel they fell into the sleep of ignorance dark and stupid and profound ignorance which began in the sixth and seventh Ages and continued for divers Ages together And then it was that all the follies and superstitions entred into the Christian Church which are still retained in the Church of Rome Then were Images set up in Churches and great Veneration given to them then came in the Invocation of Saints then the Adoration of Angels also then the opinion of Transubstantiation then infinite forgeries of Epistles forgeries of large and great Volumes fictions of the Lives of Saints fictions of the Miracles done by them to advance the Glory of the Church of Rome which were no sooner disclaimed and baffled by the Reformation that still continues but they of that Chuch presently fell to practise the very same cruelties the same bloody Arts upon the Reformed that the Heathen Emperours had formerly practised upon the whole Church of God Such were the methods that have been used to prevail against the Church of Christ violence from without divisions within the troubles of danger the temptations of ease all the cruelties and arts of Satan to bring confusion and ruine upon it and yet behold it still continues and will continue in the world either in one place or another by virtue of the promise of Christ that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church 2. Seeing that Christ our Lord hath made it the matter of a promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church that is to say that there shall always be a Society professing the Faith of Christianity and living together in communion in the use of all Christs Institutions this may serve for an admonition to all Christians to study Unity amongst themselves to make no breach in the Church of Christ where it is possible to keep together with piety and good conscience He that promised there should be a Church to the end of the world promised the unity and Christian communion of its members amongst themselves without this there is no Church And he that doth any thing directly tending to break this unity and communion doth what is in him to frustrate the very promise of Christ and to destroy that Church which he hath founded upon a rock In the mean time I must profess that I am much more than well satisfied in our separation from the Church of Rome or rather in their separation from us and from the Catholick Church it self by their infinite variations from it But on the other hand I cannot but tremble to think of the many grievous divisions amongst them that are divided from the Church of Rome These if not timely cured and removed will certainly bring confusion amongst us and then will that old Enemy enter in the smoke and darkness of that confusion I wonder to see how little regard how little value many men have for the preservation of peace amongst us I wonder to see what little exceptions what groundless cavils are made pretences to separate from us Certain it is that these men are infinitely wanting either in knowledge or sincerity If they do not understand that the peace of the Church is a thing of most important value for the preservation of Faith and love and the very essence of Christianity if they do not understand how weak and trifling all their Arguments against us are and that it is next to an impossibility to find a Church against which nothing shall be objected if they do not understand all these things they are guilty of very great ignorance but if they do understand these things and yet persist in separation they are guilty of equal insincerity The duty of every good Christian in these distractions and divisions that so much trouble the Christian World is to put up constant prayers to God and also to use his best endeavours for the peace of the whole Church of Christ They are short sighted in Christianity and very mean and narrow spirited that mind or study peace no further than concerns a particular Congregation nay the Church of any particular Nation Christ hath a care of his whole body and requires an unity and communion not only of the particular Members of any Church but of all particular Churches also These make up the Catholick Church and the Catholick Church is Christs body There is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Eph. 4.4 5 6. There is saith he one body one universal Church the unity and the peace whereof he recommends unto our study Now therefore study the peace and unity of this Church as much as possibly lies in you adorn it by your Faith and Piety labour its purity and its peace For to this end did Christ our Lord give himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it might be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 26 27. The Sixth Sermon 1 Cor. 14.15 What is it then I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also OUR Blessed Lord having a while before his death promised his Apostles another comforter who should for ever abide with them John 14.16 that is to say the spirit of truth to lead them into all truth renews this promise again unto them a little before his ascension into Heaven Act. 14. and commands not to depart from Jerusalem but there to wait for the promise of the Father And long it was not before this promise was fulfilled
this he accepts also This is really prayer in Faith in belief of the promises God hath made and certainly God accepts such prayer This is a prayer put up to God with devour and humble and holy affections for so I state the nature of it and such was that the Apostle required Eph. 6.18 and therefore supposed to be grateful to God and so will every one believe who knows that the heart is in such prayer and that it is the heart which God requires And to say no more such prayer as this although it doth not proceed from an immediate Inspiration a present dictate of the holy Spirit yet is it the mediate effect of the Spirit as being the effect of that Faith that Hope that Love and Charity and Humility which is the fruit of the Spirit of God It is the fruit of these Graces and. whatsoever else is of the same nature and these are the fruits of the Spirit of God Gol. 5.22 23. 2. The second thing which I must observe concerning this way of praying by the Spirit is that it is applicable to a form of prayer The words of Scripture are a form of words and will any men say that he cannot read or hear those words read unto him and heartily believe what he hears or reads and be as heartily affected with it If he cannot do this let him confess that he doth not believe the Word of God when he hears it read and that he is nothing affected with is but if he will not confess this let him confess that faith and zeal faith and pious and holy affections may be applied to a form of words and consequently to a form of prayer 2. Most of those persons who disallow a form of Prayer and thanksgiving to God allow and practise a certain form in singing Psalms and what are such Psalms but certain forms of Praying and rendering thanks to God and if men can heartily pray to God in verse or meeter why not in prose as well as in verse 3. All the Protestant Churches of other Nations all the Christians Churches in the World have set forms for their publick Offices and so hath the whole Church had for fourteen hundred Years at least and therefore certainly it was and is the sense of the universal Church not only that it was very lawful but most expedient and useful also that the publick Offices of the Church should be performed in a set form and that men might pray in a set form and pray by the spirit at the same time that is to say in Faith and Hope and with holy and devout affections 4. Add hereunto that there are divers forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture a form of benediction whereby the Priest was to bless the People Numb 6.23 24 25 26. a form for the offering of the First-fruits Deut. 26.5 6. c. That David composed many of the psalms as the titles of them expresly shew to be used as publick forms of Prayer in the solemn worship of God in the Temple That our Saviour himself gave that which is called the Lords Prayer as a form of Prayer to his Disciples according to the custome of the Jewish Doctors and John the Baptist who did the like for their Disciples Now had it not been a possible thing for men to use a form of Prayer with faith and zeal and holy affections as every man always ought to pray we should have had no forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture 5. And to conclude the present point were not faith and zeal and devout affections applicable to a form of Prayer no man could heartily joyn in a Prayer which he hears uttered by another person for all such prayers whatsoever they be to him that speaks are certain forms to them that hear them to them they as are limited forms when they are spoken as if they had been printed and read for the words are still the very same and all the sense contained in them And so I conclude the second observation that is that a man may pray by the spirit that is in Faith and holy Zeal and pray by a Form at the same time 3 I must further observe unto you that as the way of Praying by the Spirit is applicable to a form of Prayer so that it ought in very truth to be applied to every Prayer we make to God whether it be with or without a form God hears no Prayers accepts no service offered to him where there is no attention of mind no Zeal and Affection in the heart It is a great neglect of God a dangerous irreverence to our Maker not to attend to what we speak or what is spoken in our name when we make our addresses to him by Prayer doth any man speak unto a Prince not minding what he speaks unto him doth any man make an address to a King without giving heed to his own address and if we judge it a great irreverence to speak to a Prince without attending to what we speak what shall we judge of that affront men do to God when they atend not to those Prayers which they themselves offer to God or are offered by others in their names in their presence and behalf And then for Faith and Zeal and Fervour these are the very life of Prayer Prayer is but sound and noise without them Men may pray and pray acceptably where they do not utter express words Rom. 8.26 but the most excellent words in the World are not true and real Prayer where there is nothing of desire nothing of affection added to them Confess your faults one to another faith S. James cap. 5.16 and pray one for another that ye may be healed The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man avai leth much 'T is the fervent Prayer that is effectual the effectual Prayer that is useful to us and who can wonder that God should not hear those Petitions which are void of affection and desire if we our selves neglect our Prayers those very Prayers we seem to make how much more will God neglect them why should he grant what we our selves do not desire especially since it is an affront a mocking of God to ask of him what in truth we do not really desire what we have no mind to receive from him which is indeed the very case when our Prayers have nothing of attention nothing of zeal and affection in them What then shall we say to all that coldness all that remisness which appears in our publick and solemn worship of God By this we lose those spiritual joys those sensible warmths and feeling comforts which always attend fervent Prayer and tend to the strengthning of Faith and Hope and all other Virtues and Christian Graces By this we fail of Gods acceptance and of gaining the things we ask of him By this we give scandal to other persons who take occasion from our remissness and want of zeal in our
he hath given greater knowledge and greater abilities to obey him who can deny either of these and if these cannot be denyed certain it is that there is now since the Revelation of the Gospel a greater degree of natural duties required from men where that Gospel is revealed than was accepted or required before the Revelation of it 3. To all this add in the third place that there are now some certain duties enjoyned unto us which the light of nature can in no wise discover to us such are the Sacraments of the Gospel Baptism and the Supper of our Lord such is the worship of Jesus Christ as Mediator and such no doubt is the invocation of the Holy and ever blessed Trinity all which duties purely depend upon Revelation and are not in any wise suggested by natural light howsoever improved If it be said that these duties are not required where the Gospel is not revealed and published this is no answer no excuse for those persons who live where the Gospel is revealed They are required to practise these as well as any natural duties and sure the wilful neglect of them is wilful disobedience to God and therefore renders the guilty person liable to death eternal from all which instances it appears that a belief in Jesus Christ a full belief of his Gospel is absolutely and indispensably necessary for the full and perfect understanding of the duties which God requires from us 2. And secondly it is equally necessary for the clear and full and perfect knowledge of the great motives to those duties namely 1. that of eternal life and 2. the admirable love of God to men declared and evidenced in Jesus Christ and 3. the express and clear promises of the assistance of his Spirit to enable us to perform our duties 1. Certainly the promise of life eternal upon condition of Faith and Holiness is the highest motive to obedience but such a motive as is so far from being clear to the light of nature that there was a sect amongst the Jews who had not only the light of nature but the Law and Prophets to inform them that is to say the sect of the Sadducees who denyed the being of Angels or Spirits and the immortality of mens Souls Nor was there any one sect amongst the Philosophers but either flatly denyed this as the Epicureans and some others or else spake doubtfully in the point as the Academicks or those of Plato's School or had infinitely false as well as useless conceptions of it as the Pythagoreans had of old who held the transmigration of mens Souls out of one body into another yea into the bodies of brute Creatures so that this chief and principal motive to obedience the very immortality of mens Souls much more that of their bodies also was either doubted or disbelieved or else believed in such a manner as rendered it useless to that end amongst the wisest of the Heathen And as for the common sort of people who were led by the fictions of the Poets those did at best no more than fansie a sensual Paradise after death which could no more purge and cleanse them from sensual appetites than the hope and desire of a carnal happiness can make men holy pure and Spiritual 2. But then further what shall we say of the incomparable love and kindness that God hath declared to mankind in the Gospel of our blessed Lord which all the skill of humane wisdom the most improved natural light could never have discovered or imagined That God should send his beloved Son into the world to take our nature upon himself and reveal eternal life to men and shew them the way to attain unto it by the example of his life that he should give him to dye for us to make expiation for our sins that he should raise him from the dead and give him power to raise us and make our very Redeemer himself to become our Head and give him authority to be our Judg who knows our frailties by his own experience and sense of them are demonstrations of such an incomparable love to us such a concern for our salvation as would never have entred into the thoughts of mortal men had it not been thus revealed unto us These were mysteries hid from Ages discoveries of a greater love than natural light could have imagined Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Herein is love saith St John 1 Ep. 4.10 not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins And so St Paul Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us Now the Gospel having clearly revealed infinitely more of the love of God to mankind than the light of nature could discover hath likewise given us infinitely greater and stronger motives to love God and trust in him and consequently to obey him than the light of nature could afford 3. Add hereunto the express promise which God made us in the Gospel of giving his Holy Spirit to us to strengthen our faith to confirm our hope to inflame our love to enable us to perform the Duties which we cannot perform by the strength of nature So our Saviour Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Could all the skill of humane wisdom or the best improved natural light give us such assurance of God's assistance in order to a holy life as this express Promise gives us Did the Philosophers ever speak at this rate Did they dream of Divine assistance to make them wise and just and holy What saith Tully in the name of Cotta on this Point lib. 3. de natura Deor. Virtutem nemo unquam acceptam Deo retulit No man ever judged he had Vertue from God And afterwards Nunquis quòd bonus vir esset gratias Diis egit unquam At quòd dives quòd honoratus quòd incolumis Did ever any man thank the Gods because he was a good man No but because he was rich and honourable and safe These were the things they ascribed to God but they never dreamed of his assistance to give them Vertue that they ascribed unto themselves Now how could men that never expected God's assistance in the purifying of their hearts and lives ever attempt to arrive at equal degrees of piety with those that expect and verily hope for that assistance How could they hope to overcome their inordinate lusts and inclinations or whatsoever they might hope how could they really overcome them without the assistance of God's Spirit which was a thing they did not only not expect but flatly rejected and denied judged it absurd to look for it Whereas now on the other hand
mans mind whether these things be his will or not And though the Gospel in some cases that is when truth is contradicted require us rather to suffer for it than to forsake or to deny it yet seeing suffering in this case evidently tends to confirm the truth to the glory of God to the good of the World and hath also the promise of life eternal This very love of patient suffering in this case cannot offend the minds of any but those that are prejudiced by their lusts those who will not do Gods will although sufficiently propounded to them 2. As for those Articles of our faith that do not contain matter of practice since there is nothing of contradiction nothing at all of absurdness in them since those that declare matter of fact as that our Lord lived and dyed and rose again and sent the Spirit to his Apostles are attested by universal consent of those that could not but know the truth and had no reason to abuse it since all the rest were clearly confirmed by evident and undeniable miracles there is no cause we can imagine why any man should doubt or disbelieve them save only prejudice against the precepts against the Laws of the same Gospel wherein these Doctrines are revealed so that whosoever is so disposed as that he is willing to do Gods will is under an effectual preparation to believe and entertain the Gospel whensoever duly propounded to him 3. Add hereunto in the third place that God hath promised his holy Spirit to assist the upright and sincere and that a willingness to do Gods will whensoever we know and understand it is the very nature of sincerity Ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knocks and it shall be opened unto you Luk. 11.9 and afterwards at the 13th verse If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy spirit to them that ask him To whom is this promise of the Spirit made if unto all that pray for it much more to them that sincerely ask it to these at least or else to none to these although to no other persons The meek says David will he guide in judgment the meek will he teach his way Psal 25.9 and more expresly at the 14th verse The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his covenant them will he bless with his assistance them will he guide by his Holy Spirit them will he govern and direct for as he sometimes offers his grace to them that refuse to entertain it so he never denies it to them that do sincerely desire and use it Now then to conclude the point in hand being they that are willing to do Gods will are willing to use the best endeavours to understand it being they are free from those prejudices that hinder the understanding of it being they have the promise of God to guide and assist them to this purpose hence we conclude what we have observed that a hearty and sincere inclination to do Gods will is a most effectual preparation to understand and believe the Gospel Now for the uses of this point 1. Hence you see that God is not wanting to those persons who can reasonably expect assistance from him to those that are willing to do his will when it is duly discovered to them whosoever he is that is thus disposed may assure himself of Gods assistance to guide him into all needful truth into all things necessary to salvation whosoever is not thus disposed cannot justly expect assistance from him for why should God make known his will where it is certain before hand that it will it not be complyed withall why should he discourse his will to them who are resolved to serve their lusts whatsoever the will of God should be nay to them who will scarce believe any thing that contradicts their lusts and passions though never so duly propounded to them which is the case of every false insincere person who is resolved to believe nothing which doth not comply with his own corruptions God hath not promised that they shall fee who suffer their lusts to shut their eyes who are not willing to have the light nor was their reason for such a promise This fully acquits Gods providence that he hath token sufficient care so to recommend the Gospel in all things needful for Salvation to give such evidence of its truth that whosoever is disposed to do whatsoever God commands which the light of nature it self suggests shall easily know and entertain whatsoever is necessary to Salvation such is the course that God hath taken in the revelation of the Gospel and of all things necessary to Salvation that none will complain of want of evidence but only those that want integrity those who will not do Gods will although they know and understand it And for this they are to blame themselves and consequently for the effects of it their infidelity or misbelief 2. But then secondly seeing they that are willing to do Gods will find the Gospel so attested as that they who will give credit to it shall know and understand whatsoever is necessary to Salvation hence we may guess at the great cause of infidelity and misbelief wheresoever the Gospel is revealed The Gospel forbids the Gospel threatens the sinful lusts and lives of men and therefore they who resolve to continue in their sins cavil and quarrel and contradict it they hate that Doctrine which reproves them and will not believe what they hate although it flash in their very faces These men seeing see not and hearing they hear not saith our Lord and in them is fulfilled the Prophecie of Isaiah which saith by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive Matt. 13.14 And as there are some who disbelieve the whole Gospel meerly in favour of their lusts so others upon the same account grosly mistake and misunderstand it They will admit no sense of it but what is consistent with their sins what gives them leave to enjoy their lusts and hope for pardon notwithstanding Men who resolve to retain their lusts who will not part with their darling sins upon any conditions whatsoever must search out easie ways to Heaven find out other terms of Salvation than what the Gospel hath propounded Let the Gospel be never so express in the denunciations of Gods displeasure against those sins they live in they must find out some arts and shifts to evade and escape the plainest truths by some reserves or false glosses by clouding what is plain and evident Let it be never so expresly said and that by our blessed Lord himself If thy right eye offend thee pluck if out and cast it from thee and if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy
as they were from the beginning of the creation but as it follows v. 9. Because God is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance yea even those very persons themselves that injure his patience and long-suffering In the mean time I cannot deny that there is some shadow of an objection against Gods providence in the World to them that measure him by themselves and judge of him by their own model For that he should readily pardon our frailties and long forbear our wilful sins that he should continue those very mercies which men abuse and turn into weapons of unrighteousness feed the mouth that blasphemes his name support the arm that works iniquity preserve that very life and strength which is spent and wasted to his dishonour and patiently wait for a Sinners return while the Sinner abuses that very patience to an encouragement to impenitence is such an example of long-suffering as is no where found but in God only But I consider that Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts nor his ways as our ways that one day as St Peter affirms is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day that he hath appointed and fixed a day wherein he will judge the World in righteousness and therefore firmly still believe that his patience to Sinners in the mean time designs their repentance and reformation and that his mercies in Jesus Christ are so great that he will pardon the hearty Penitent after the greatest provocations And this is that which himself suggests Isai 55.7 8 9. Let the wicked forsake his way and the righteous wan his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon And lest we should disbelieve this as a thing improbable for God to do because unusual amongst men he presently addes in the following words For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts From whence I conclude That it is not indifferency to good and evil nor want of concernment for mankind which causes God to delay punishment but merely his patience and long-suffering waiting for the Sinners return to him And may not the consideration of this when deeply fixed upon the mind so powerfully affect the hearts of Sinners as to urge them to speedy reformation May it not produce a great indignation against themselves to remember their many misbehaviours and also their long continuance in them under all the patience of God towards them May not the thoughts of that patience where there is any ingenuity left provoke the hearts of men to gratitude and gratitude unto speedy repentance Could any man think it safe or reasonable still to trespass against that patience which he had already long abused and to provoke that very goodness which he had forfeited long ago did he seriously reflect upon these things I hope there are few so void of sense of their own concernments and of love and gratitude towards God whom serious thoughts of their own evils under the patience of God towards them would not move to speedy reformation Saint Paul I am sure represents the contrary as a despight to the mercies of God and a dangerous cruelty to our selves in that severe expostulation Rom. 2.4 5. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God which is so clear a demonstration that the consideration of Gods patience and of his ends and designs in it should perswade to speedy reformation that it would be needless to add any more to this Argument Secondly Proceed we therefore to the second thing which cannot easily escape our thoughts while we reflect upon our ways and the effects and issues of them which is the uncertainty of our lives in this state of frailty and mortality Which is so clear and evident to us both from what we feel within our selves daily decays of natural strength and from what we see in many others short life and sudden death that there is nothing in all the world no not the denial of a God nor the making of one of the Trunk of a Tree reproached in Scripture as a greater folly than a presumption of long life and of ease and joy and pleasure in it Observe how this is represented in the Parable of a certain rich man who having had so plentiful and so large a Harvest that he had not where to bestow his fruits thus deliberates with himself Luke 12.17 18 19. Verses What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits And he said This will I do I will pull down my Barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods And I will say to my soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and he merry But what 's the next thing he hears from God Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee The sharpness and bitterness of which rebuke joined with the sudden confutation of this mans promises made to himself represents the folly sin and danger of the like presumptions in other men Let us therefore while we consider our ways the number and nature of our sins with all their several aggravations the ill effects that will attend them unless prevented by repentance the absolute necessity of this Duty for the prevention of those effects let us I say together with these consider the frailty of our lives and in the consideration hereof never defer a necessary Duty to a time uncertain to a day we may never live to see and that not only because long life is a thing uncertain in it self but because the expectation of it especially being generally used as an encouragement to delay repentance may very justly provoke God to blast it with sudden disappointment God doth not only hate the delay of reformation grounded on presumption of long life as a neglect of duty to him but reproaches the very folly of it styles him a fool who so presumed which puts me in mind of that of Solomon Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest Thirdly But now because many men may purpose future amendment although they neglect it at the present and will believe that these purposes shall take effect notwithstanding all that can be said to shew the uncertainty of this event give me leave to add a third Particular which the thoughts of our ways
in any condition or rank of men more than in any other Now being God so plainly threatens death eternal unto the impeitent and disobedient can there be any so great an errour as for these men to presume of pardon and to expect eternal life while they continue so to be The Gospel denounces death upon them they promise life unto themselves and is not then this promise of theirs expresly contrary to the Gospel The Gospel tells them that they must die they say no but we shall live and do they not contradict the Gospel The Gospel saith that they are under Gods displeasure but they presume they are in his favour and where do you think lies the truth in the Gospel or in their presumptions We must believe what the Gospel saith whatsoever it be that they presume and so the Apostle himself believed when he put this truth upon record 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad for what doth he add to these words Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men we labour to instruct the ignorant we labour to convince the obstinate we labour to awake the drowsy we strive to stir up every person to escape from the wrath which is to come by timely repentance and reformation we know the terrour of the Lord we do not guess but we are assured that it will overtake the impenitent when he shall return to judge the World and therefore use our utmost power to perswade repentance and reformation 5. And now because that impenitent persons even those that abide in wilful sin are wont to ground their hopes of pardon and life eternal on the death of Christ and the satisfaction made by him it will he sit in the last place to shew that his death and satisfaction is so far from giving any countenance to this errour that it doth utterly overthrow it nor need we any further argument to convince and perswade us that this is so than that the death of our blessed Lord is always used in the holy Scripture as a mighty motive to obedience For certainly that very same thing can be no motive unto obedience that gives any just and true encouragement for a man to continue in his sins yet so it is the death of Christ is always represented in Scripture as a mighty motive to obedience unto all obedience to the Gospel and so designed by Christ himself He gave himself for us says the Apostle that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 He bare our sins in his own body upon the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 He gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world that is from the lusts and corruptions of it Gal. 1.4 He gave himself for his Church or Body that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 c. And that you may see that he was really understood to design this in his dying for us and that his death tends effectually to this purpose with them that understand it aright hear what the Apostle himself speaks upon this point 2 Cor. 5.14 15. The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again From whence observe that the death of Christ was so apprehended and understood by the primitive followers of our Lord that they took their very greatest motives their strongest arguments to obedience from it so far was it from giving them any grounds or reasons to cherish and indulge their sins If any man ask what then hath the death of Christ done for the remission of our sins My answer is that the satisfaction thereby made hath gained the pardon of all those sins we repent of not of those whereof we do not repent It operates to the remission of sin of all degrees and kinds of sin when we abandon and forsake them not while we cherish and indulge them and thus it becomes not an encouragement to live in them but to abandon and cast them off 3. Having thus shewed that for God to accept men in their sins to pardon them while they live in them is flatly contrary to his nature contrary to his own decree declared and published in the Gospel I may now very justly conclude the thing which I propounded at the first that a presumption of his pardon while a man continues in his sins is a very great and dangerous errour for so of necessity must that be which is so manifest a mistake both of the nature and will of God and that in a matter of no less moment than that of eternal life and happiness Add hereunto that this is an errour which makes men stupid and secure in the midst of the very greatest dangers lulls them asleep under Gods displeasures charms them with the hope of peace while it is far removed from them They speak peace unto themselves the Gospel speaks quite contrary they judge themselves in Gods favour the Gospel pronounces that they are not so they promise themselves remission of sins eternal happiness and Salvation the Gospel threatens death and judgment In the mean time having reconciled the hopes of Heaven to the fruition of their lusts they enjoy themselves they enjoy their sins without any fear of danger from them for such is the nature of this errour that it infatuates the mind it self removes the force and power of Conscience le ts the corruptions of nature loose leaves no restraint leaves no check at all upon them and so exposes them to destruction till it be discovered and removed 3. I have said enough of the propositions which are implyed in the words before us namely 1. that men may presume of Gods favour while they continue in their sins 2 That this presumption of theirs is a very great and dangerous errour and shall now conclude with what is expressed He that doth righteousness is righteous that is to say he that is hearty and sincere in the practice of all the several duties prescribed unto us in the Gospel he is acceptable unto God he is in grace and favour with him nor will God charge him with the guilt of such lapses and inadvertencies as flow from the frailty of humane nature And what is the use we should make of this It is to awake and excite our selves to all diligence to all sincerity in our duties And
weeping that they are enemies to the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things And then further many others study to find out easie ways to life eternal and rather chuse to lose their end in the use of false and deceitful means than to attain it by those endeavours that seem more difficult although they be more certain likewise If they can think of any method whereby they may hope to gain a pardon and yet notwithstanding retain their sin if they can find out any arts to reconcile the hopes of heaven to the enjoyment of their lusts if any such method offer it self as promises everlasting happiness and yet permits them in their sins or admits a commutation for them a penance instead of reformation this is the method which they will chuse this is a Religion they will embrace so they chuse their own delusions and study to cheat and deceive themselves Our Lord hath left this caution with us as necessary for our eternal Salvation Matt. 5.29 30. If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell And who would think but that such a caution should firmly settle this belief that every reigning that is every habitual lust excludes a man from the Kingdom of Heaven yet such is the folly of infinite numbers who do profess the Gospel of Christ that they do both permit their lusts to reign in them and hope to attain to life eternal they suffer themselves to be deluded with false and deceitful arts and shifts pretending to be the way to heaven but so do not they that make the World their great end they chuse the means that are true and proper although more difficult in Execution than those that are not so effectual 2. Add hereunto in the second place that they who make this World their end having once concluded of the means that are most proper most effectual for this purpose use no delay in Execution They sleep not over their opportunities of serving their interest and advantage they do not defer that till the morrow which had been better done to day but carefully improve every moment for the gaining of that they have designed But Lord what tedious delays are used by many professing Christianity before they will seriously apply themselves to gain the end of that profession or lead their lives according to it How many trifling arts are used to put of the practice of their duties to secure their darling beloved lusts What mean excuses are pretended to defend and justifie their delays How many resolutions are made and broken how many times are set and put off for this great work this necessary business of reformation How many convictions must they suffer How often must Conscience be awakened what pangs and regrets must it endure what flames must God kindle upon it before they will seriously apply themselves to consider their end and the way unto it shake of their lusts and practise the Duties of Christianity See how our Lord represents this case Luk. 9. at the latter end where when he commands one to follow him his answer is Lord suffer me first to go and bury my Father Another receiving the like command presently returns a like answer I will follow thee but let me first go and bid them farewell which are at home at my house So we even too too many of us being urged to mind our great end to secure our everlasting happiness resolve indeed upon repentance and reformation but delay to practise our resolutions this men put off so oft so long with such oppositions to their own reason such contradiction to their Conscience till at last they utterly lay aside the very design and purpose of it and never think any more of it unless perhaps the arrest of sickness or the sense of approaching near to death revive their former resolutions and then the Minister is called for then the Sacrament then Absolution is desired with what success God only knows I will not undertake to say However thus much I may pronounce that the weakest and most imprudent persons do not manage the affairs of this life with so little prudence and foresight as these the concernments of life eternal 3. As the Children of this World use no delays in the Execution of the means which they judge most proper for their ends so they are not heedless and incogitant but strangely diligent in the execution They do entirely give up themselves to serve the end which they have chosen They mind they pursue this one thing only they do not halt between two opinions but sacrifice every other thing for the service of their main design They will deny their ease and pleasure they will deny their reputation they will bridle their natural lusts and passions they will do any violence to themselves to attain the end they have propounded as the great design and end of life But how do they many of them behave themselves who profess the hope of life eternal and the attaining of that life to be their chief and principal end do they submit all ends to this do they consecrate all their labours to it do they entirely yield themselves to the service of God and their own Souls do they not halt between Christ and Belial is it no part of their design to serve any other end but one do not God and Mamon divide their thoughts hath not Mamon a share with God is there no darling beloved lust that cools their affections checks their endeavours after heaven how shall we answer these questions alas they are answered by our experience experience shews how much the men that make profession of the Gospel and of the hope of life eternal mind and endeavour other ends even more than that one needful thing that chief principal end of all of attaining to eternal happiness For these men while they make profession of serving this design only in the mean time sacrifice to their lusts sacrifice to their ease and pleasure sacrifice to their pride and avarice divide their hearts and share their endeavours between the present and future things and do not so heartily seek for heaven as the Children of this present World seek the advantages of the World 4. Lastly the Children of this World pursue their ends and interests in it without cessation or interruption nothing shall divert nothing interrupt nothing break off their labours after it They do not stand to gaze on trifles to please their eyes to fill their ears with things wherein they are not concern'd but still persist and persevere in steady pursuit of their designs But they that seem they that pretend to seek after the Kingdom of God and his