according to his Divinity and whence according to his Humanity what things he suffer'd and why what is the Vertue of his Resurrection what Gifts of the Spirit he promised and gave to the Faithful But it should also be taught what sort of Men the Members must be to whom he may and will be the Head What sort he requires and makes and loves and redeems and brings to everlasting Life When these things are insisted upon says he then Christ is preached Christus Evangelizatur Aug. de Fide Operibus Tom 4. This Preaching then does not take men off from relying upon Christ it does not tend to make them depend upon themselves for Salvation but it shews them in what way they must rely upon Christ for Salvation that they may certainly succeed in the doing it 2. To improve yet a little further what has been said we may thence learn the Vanity and Deceitfulness of their hopes of Salvation who lead wicked and ungodly Lives they that live in their Sins and yet hope to be saved expect to come to Heaven by the way to Hell they depend upon the Mercy of God and the Merits of Christ without taking the only course to have an Interest in them 3. There is not only folly and deceit in these Hopes but also there is great guilt and provocation in them For this is to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness which is that St. Jude Ver. 4. earnestly condemns when we encourage our selves in Sin from the undertaking of the Redeemer What is said of him in the Gospel is an encouragement for Men to forsake their Sins but not to continue in them This is the greatest abuse that can be of redeeming Love it is contrary to the end and design of it The Mediator took the Name Jesus to signify that his purpose is to save his People from their Sins And indeed his design had been a very strange one if he had come to procure a Dispensation for our Love of infinite Goodness for our Reverence of an infinite Majesty and of our Obedience to the Creator of all things if he had come to dispense with the Laws of Equity and Justice of Mercy and Charity of Truth and Faithfulness towards our Neighbour This is a design unworthy of the Holy Jesus this had not been to glorify the Father and how can it be but highly displeasing to impute to him such a Design as this Opinion and Practice must be reckon'd to do And yet further This is contrary to the Obligation of redeeming Love as well as to the Design of it and must needs be upon that account very displeasing It was the greatest Instance of divine Love to give his Only begotten Son to Die for us and then it is the greatest Obligation to the Love of God And is it not a most enormous and unjust requital to make this an encouragement to the living in hatred against him To live in constant rebellion and contempt This must needs give the highest and most guilty Aggravation to the Sins of Men that can be Let us consider then how much we are obliged by the Love of God to love him and that if we love him we must keep his Commandments The PRAYER OH most merciful and gracious God thy mercy is everlasting and thy truth endures from Generation to Generation Thou hast helped us in our low Estate through the greatness of thy Mercy When we had rendred our selves deserving of everlasting Misery and utter Rejection from thy favour and care thou didst then take care for us and laidst help upon One that is mighty and able to save to the uttermost Oh who can conceive or express the Love of God to us in Christ Jesus It passes knowledge We give thee O Lord most humble and hearty Thanks for this thy unspeakable Gift We thank thee for our Saviour's excellent Doctrins and Instructions whereby he shews us the way to happiness for his most holy and good Life whereby he leads us in the way to it and is become an encouraging Pattern and Example of Well-doing We bless thee for his meritorious Death whereby he has made an Attonement for our Sins has purchased for us thy sanctifying Grace and thy infinite eternal Favour Oh what reason have we to say what shall we render unto the Lord for all his Benefits How many ways O Lord hast thou deserved our highest praises our supream Affections and our best Obedience But Oh how unsensible have we ungrateful wretches been of this thy great Mercy How backward and slow to comply with the just and reasonable Terms of Salvation We are loth to part with our Sins even for the Love of Jesus or to wean our Affections from this World for the hopes of Heaven Yea we are apt to fall into the guilty and pernicious folly of turning the Grace of God into wantonness of encouraging our selves to continue in our Sins upon presumption on thy Mercy in Christ Jesus and of expecting Salvation by him while we have neglected the terms and conditions of obtaining it O Lord awaken us at length to a due and wise Care of our own Souls Of thy infinite Mercy pardon our past Neglects and give us for the sake of Jesus Christ what thou requirest that we may be partakers of the great Salvation Give us an unfeigned Repentance for all our past Transgressions stedfast and sincere purposes of new Obedience Give us an humble lively Faith in him such as may engage us to follow him make us love and chuse his Commands ready to deny our selves for his sake and to devote our selves entirely to him to live to him that died for us let it bring forth much fruit in a diligent and industrious Obedience and seek and expect our acceptance and reward only by Vertue of his Merits and spotless Righteousness Let such a Faith we pray thee be formed or promoted in us by the Ordinances we have this day enjoyed Let us lie down in peace with thee this Night and repose our selves under the protection of thy Providence If it please thee that we shall awake again in this World let our Hearts be full of a thankful Sense of thy Mercies and a Concern to shew forth thy Praise in the Course of our Lives We humbly recommend to thy Mercy and Favour all Mankind beseeching thee to enlighten those that sit in darkness and in the shadow of Death to bring into the way of thy Truth all such as have erred and are deceived To replenish thy Church abundantly with the Gifts and Graces of thy good Spirit to comfort and relieve any of thy Servants that are desolate and afflicted to prosper those that seek the Peace of thy Jerusalem We implore thy Mercy upon the Land of our Nativity Lord let Peace and Righteousness Charity and Piety setle and abound among us Rule and guide thou our Rulers in thy Fear Teach our Teachers Bless comfort and encourage thy Ministers both in Church and
Were there nothing in the Constitution of Man but that he could not be worthy to be compared with the vast bigness of the Earth and Heavens with the constant Motion the brightness and durableness of the Heavenly Bodies But the Soul of Man is in a Sense vaster and larger than these as it is capable to comprehend them It is of more unwearied motion than they it moves its self it is brighter far and far more durable than any of them It is then upon the account of the Spirit in Man that the making of him is thus set together with those great operations of the Creating Power Upon these grounds we may conclude that the Prophet Zachary does in our Text intimate the great excellency and dignity of the Soul of Man It shall be the business of this Discourse to insist upon some Proof and Application of this Truth And let us now perswade our selves for a little while to turn our Thoughts inward to view and consider our selves to know what a sort of Being God has given us Of all knowledge this may be reckon'd some of the most useful and important Hereby we shall come to understand what it becomes us to do what our true Interest is what great things we are capable of and should therefore pursue them To demonstrate the Excellency of the Soul of Man I shall insist only upon these two Heads of Discourse as containing what is sufficient for the present purpose They are the Nature of the Soul and the Capacities of it which do arise from and are the Consequents of such a Nature In the first place Let us consider the Nature of the Soul of Man And this I shall represent to you briefly under two Particulars 1. It is a Spirit 2. It is Immortal 1. The Soul of Man is a Spirit and therein it is an Excellent Being It is Invisible A thing that cannot be seen by the Eyes of the Body through the Excellency of it It is said of God in Praise of him that he cannot be seen The Apostle Paul calls him by way of Eminency the Invisible God 1 Tim. 1. 17. This then is an Excellency and does greatly recommend the Soul It is too pure and sublime a thing to fall under the gross apprehension of Bodily Senses It is a Pure Uncompounded and Unmix'd thing It is all the same is not made up of worse and better Parts It is in a sort all Light and has no Darkness is a bright celestial Ray sprung from the Great Father of Lights and Spirits Or at least it was very full of light and brightness in its Original State and before it was sullied with sinful Pollution in the Fall of our first Parents It has not diversity of Parts designed for divers Actions so as that what one Part can do another cannot which is the usual disparagement of Bodies But all the Soul can do whatever the Soul can do It can all of it understand and will apprehend or remember it can all chuse or refuse It has not some parts heavy and some active some to move and others to be moved but is all full of Action and is always working and busie It knows no weariness it needs no rest or refreshment It knows its own Actions and chuses what it does and acts freely and from its own Motion These are the Properties and Advantages that belong to it as it is a Spirit That the Soul of Man is a Spirit the Holy Scripture does abundantly declare When a man dies it says of his Body The Dust shall return to the Earth as it was and of his Soul The Spirit shall return to God that gave it Eccles 12. 7. This is a thing distinct from the Body it was not raised from the Dust as that was but came from God immediately nor does it return to the Dust but returns to God at our Death The Apostle says What man knoweth the things of a man that is the purposes wishes designs save the spirit of man which is in him speaking of the Soul of Man 1 Cor. 2. 11. And in the Fifth Chapter of that Epistle at the 5th Verse he directs the Corinthians to excommunicate an Eminent Person among them who had been Incestuous for the destruction of the Flesh that the Spirit might be saved in the Day of the Lord meaning his Soul I shall add no more to this particular but proceed 2. To what was next mentioned as declaring the Excellent Nature of our Souls which was that they are Immortal These Beings have a beginning indeed as every thing else has but One who is the first Cause and Author of all others But the Souls of men shall never come to an End When a man dies there is only a separation made for a while of his Soul from his Body with a dissolution indeed of the Body but the Soul remains the same that it was That lives still though not here and continues to be though it has changed its Habitation Do not imagine said the dying Cyrus to his Children That when I depart from you I shall be no where nor any longer For whilst I was with you ye could not see my Soul only ye knew by the Actions ye observed that it was in my Body Be assured then that it is still the same tho ye do never see it Thus the Learned Heathen could speak of the Soul And it is in the Nature of this to be Immortal as it is a Spirit It has nothing in its self to put an end to its being as it is an uncompounded thing It cannot be destroyed by any thing else but only by God that made it The Soul of man knows no decay it admits of no encrease of its Substance It remains always the same and is herein a Noble Image of the Unchangeable God It shall out-last the strongest works of Humane Art It shall endure longer than the Heavens and the Earth It shall weary time and then run on with Eternity This is a very great and important Excellency of it That it shall never cease to be and certainly if we are in any respect Immortal this deserves our very serious consideration And this also the Holy Scripture that source of all Saving-Knowledge and Wisdom does sufficiently teach us When it speaks of our Being after this Life and even before the Resurrection of our Bodies As when Christ said to the penitent Thief when he was dying This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He was to Be therefore his Soul was not to be dissolved with his Body and he was to be in Paradise in a happy State When the Scripture calls Death a Departure out of this World it seems to intimate this The Apostle Paul who was to leave his Body in this World as all other dying Persons do yet speaks of his Death as a Departure 1 Tim. 1. 6. And in Phil. 1. 23. He speaks of his Death as what he desired in these words I desire to
an Animal can have so great a sense of Pleasure or Happiness as a Spirit may if it be proper to say that it has any at all Matter the best of it is dull in comparison to a Spirit and must be moved but a Spirit is active and moves its self and what is most capable of Action is most capable of Happiness for all fruition consists in Action Further The Objects of our Happiness are all spiritual things By vertue of this Spirit in us we can delight in and enjoy such which are the noblest and most excellent things in themselves and are able to afford the greatest Pleasure Sensible Objects have not that force with them nor that Power to please which spiritual things have that are the delights and blissful enjoyments of wise and refined Spirits Hence it must be said that Mankind cannot fall into a greater or more unhappy mistake than to think that there is no pleasure but in gratifying the Senses and Appetites of their Bodies with sensual Enjoyments or that this is the greatest pleasure of any This in truth is not worthy the Name of Pleasure if it be compared with the delight which a rectified mind can take in spiritual Objects and Enjoyments Further it is doubtless the greatest thing in Happiness and that which adds much to it still how great soever it was before That the Being which enjoys it can reflect upon it and so can consider and know its self happy This the Soul of Man can do and none but a rational and spiritual Nature can do this But since I have spoken of spiritual Things as the chief Object of our Happiness I shall particularly mention some of them The Soul of Man can please its self highly in good and vertuous Actions In those which we do our selves and in those we see done by others It is incomparably pleasant to view and consider the reasonableness and the fitness of these to see how necessary and just they are to consider how much Gratitude towards God and the Obligations we have received from him do require them of Mankind to consider the wisdom and vast advantages of them Hence did a good man acknowledge to God Thy Law is sweet to my taste yea sweeter than hony to my mouth There is not any thing among men so pleasant and charming to a rectified Soul as are the vertuous and pious Actions and Behaviour of good Men while the sensual Minds of others dote on a fair outside and sine cloaths he sees and takes a more just and true delight in the glory that dwells within and darts out its rays in Religious and good Actions The Soul of Man can take delight in the converse of holy and wise and kind Angels those glorious Creatures that are the Beauty and Flower as we may say of the Creation It can delight in what they are in what they say and in what they do when it shall be admitted into their Society And it is mentioned in Scripture as a part of that Felicity to which our conformity to the Laws of the Gospel does intitle and will bring us That we shall enjoy hereafter the Society of an innumerable company of Angels as well as that of the spirits of just men made perfect and of God the judge of all Heb. 12. 22. And very delightful it must needs be to good men in this Life to consider these noble Creatures and to know that they are Ministring spirits upon all occasions sent forth to minister for the good of the Elect To consider that whilst he is holy and vertuous he is a delight to them they love to be about him and they have the charge of him to keep him in all his ways and he is accordingly the object of their continual Care and they are most willing to do for him all the Offices of kindness that he has occasion for Further the Soul can enjoy after a very pleasing and satisfying manner the ever-blessed God who is an infinite unmeasurable Good a boundless Ocean of Excellencies and Perfections It can delight in all the discover'd Glories of this Incomprehensible Being and in considering him it is transported with pleasure while it finds it self in the utmost stretch of its Faculties lost in the Infinite Incomprehensible Object And this Happiness the Enjoyment of God may in some measure begin in this Life A most ravishing Pleasure the Soul can take to consider what this Excellent Being has said of himself in Holy Scripture and what discoveries he daily makes of himself in his Works When it can view in some of these his wonderful Wisdom and Power in others large and bounteous Goodness in others awful and bright Justice and Righteousness And when to these Meditations it can add the sweet thought that this God is reconciled that it is a Favourite of Heaven then it must needs be as the Psalmist said My Meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. And then if to all this we add that this great Object of the Soul's Happiness will endure for ever and so will also the lesser ones that have been mentioned that being spiritual in their Nature they are all of them Eternal and Unchangeable they will never cease to Be nor cease to be delightful and pleasing If we consider that the Soul its self by its Immortal Nature is capable to be for ever blest with the Enjoyment of these Objects we shall from hence see that we are capable of an Everlasting Happiness of that which shall never be interrupted never decay nor diminish never come to an end We are capable of living beyond all reach of Thought beyond all measure of duration amidst unfading Pleasures unspeakable Joys and a pure unmix'd and perfect Felicity Oh that Men were so wise as to consider these things Thus much and more than we can now conceive our Souls are made capable to enjoy And these things all of them together at least I think do sufficiently prove the great Worth and Excellency of the Soul of Man Application And certainly if the things which have been now said were duly considered if they had their just and due Influence upon Mankind they would exceedingly alter and amend the lives and actions of a great many Men. They would make us act more suitable to the dignity and worth of our Souls and with more regard to their Interests and Happiness than we commonly do And in particular these things following the Influence of them upon us would effect and cause They would make us very Pious towards God and thankful for what he has made us they would make us prefer our Souls before our Bodies and ambitious of attaining those Divine and honourable Accomplishments which we are in our Nature capable of they would make us very Industrious to gain that Happiness which we were Originally and in our Nature designed for In these things I shall set before you the due Use and Improvement of what has been
said on this Subject 1. Let us with great Thankfulness acknowledge to the Creatour what he has made us and praise him for his Bounty towards us Let us consider and own it is God that hath made us and not we our selves It is one part of thankfulness to acknowledge the Benefits we have received Let us own this and endeavour to render to God all that which is due from us for it To shew forth his praise not only with our lips but in our lives by giving up our selves to his service Let each of us heartily say within himself Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits We may hereupon very justly thus expostulate with and admonish our selves Have I a power to think and shall my Thoughts neglect the excellent Being that gave it me Should he be seldom in my Thoughts by whom I constantly think How base and ungrateful a Character of a man is this That God is not in all his thoughts Am I capable of Knowledge and shall it not be my greatest Ambition to know him that made me so to know the most excellent of all Beings that I might thereby be inabled to render him the Homage that belongs to him Have I a Will to chuse good and shall I fix my choice on any thing before him Shall I not cleave to him by it who is the chiefest Good and who gave me this power for that Purpose Should I not always say it to him as the full Sense of my Soul Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I can desire besides thee Shall I not pay him the Homage of my Affections from whom I have them and the reason that I have wherewith to guide them I ought to love him above all things to fear him alone to entettain my Hope with the pleasing expectations of enjoying him I should be angry only with that which provokes his Anger and hate what he hates and forbids Thus ought we to admonish our selves upon this Foundation and to resolve accordingly Thus should we endeavour to honour him who hath crowned us with such Dignity and Honour 2. What has been said concerning the Excellency of our Souls should make all men prefer them before their Bodies and chiefly regard them The Soul of Man is plainly the chief and most important part of him as it is a Spirit and Immortal This ought then to have the chief Dominion in us All the Appetites and Passions of the Inferior Body ought to be subject to the Faculties of the Mind We should not suffer our Senses or the desires of the Flesh to force Objects and Thoughts upon the Mind but make it rather to chuse its own employment upon consideration and advice of our Judgment and Reason How much Folly and Sin would such a Course prevent And it highly becomes and concerns us to give this as absolute a Dominion in us as we can that it may not be clogg'd or biassed by particular Temper or Constitution The Obedience to Temper is a most effectual Hinderance both of Wisdom and Religion No man can govern himself well that does not set his Reason above his Constitution and make his Temper subject to the Rules of that and of Religion I confess that in some cases some severity towards the Body may be necessary to this purpose and a great deal of Self-denial and Mortification may be requisite to the bringing our selves to this But let us observe what our Saviour says to this Case If thy right hand says he offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to be cast into Hell Fire We were better wrong the Flesh if that must be than to endanger the Spirit and a little hurt the Body than damn the Soul To bring our selves to this State of the Bodies absolute and compleat subjection to the Mind is of so great use and advantage as that 't is worth all that it can cost us For so we shall become free and easy in all our Actions We shall possess and enjoy our own Souls we shall will to do what we should and shall do it the more readily and do it the better and the more perfectly Thus shall a man have the greatest Comfort in his Actions He shall exercise the brighter vertues and obtain by them the more praise and favour with God and Man Let us prefer our Souls above our Bodies and chiefly mind the Interests of them We should make the Interests of the Body stand by when they come into competition with those of the Soul We should govern our selves in all things as far as this can be done with a chief regard of these It were but just and fitting and due to our selves that we govern our selves so in what we chuse to love or hate in what we pursue or avoid and that it be the grand business of our Lives to promote the advantage of our Immortal Souls 3. Let us be greatly ambitious of those Divine and high Qualifications that we have been made capable to possess since we may be wise and holy just and good faithful and prudent let us earnestly endeavour to be so To be endowed with these Vertues is to put on the greatest excellency and worth The Scripture very justly says The righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour These Vertues in truth are the greatest and the most becoming Ornaments These make the brightest and most lasting Beauty such as Angels love and God himself takes delight in These will encrease and not fade or decay with Time and will last to Eternity These are the truest and the most useful Riches they do in a sense deliver the Soul from Hell and entitle it to everlasting Blessedness These are not uncertain Riches but are such a sure and durable Possession as Moth and Rust cannot corrupt nor can Thieves break through to and steal them These in the Exercises of them in good Works do lay up a treasure in Heaven Let it be consider'd that as we are capable of these Vertues we are also capable of being the Subjects of the contrary Vices And that if we are not vertuous and holy we must needs be vicious and impious He that is not just and true in his dealings must be unjust and persidious He that is not merciful and good must be hard-hearted and cruel And as we are acceptable and lovely to God by those Vertues in us so we are odious and detestable with these Vices The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but he loveth him that followeth after Righteousness The pure Angels abhor Sinners and do not care to be near them to see what is so odious and offensive as the sins of men are to them As Holiness and Vertue do exalt and honour and become us so does
we hew out to our selves broken cisterns that can hold no water and forsake Thee the Fountain of living waters In thee alone is true content and full satisfaction to be found O Lord as sensible of this our very guilty and very dangerous Errour we desire for the future to return unto thee to esteem thee our chiefest Good and to desire thee above all things Our Hearts are now ready to say each of us for our selves Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name We desire O Lord to praise and to honour thee with all the excellent Faculties and Powers that thou hast given us We devote our Reason and Understanding to thee to learn and meditate on thy glorious Excellencies thy wonderful works and the instances of thy obliging Goodness We devote all the power of our Wills to thee to chuse thee to fix upon thee as our chief Good to submit to thy will as the rule and law of ours We devote our Affections to love thee above all things to fear and reverence thee to hope and trust in thee to hate what thou hatest and love what thou dost love We devote all our Members unto thee to be governed by thy wise and righteous Laws We desire O Lord we purpose to love and serve thee the Eternal Infinite and most Bounteous Good with all our Heart and Soul and Strength O Lord strengthen we pray thee and confirm our too feeble and wavering Resolutions Create thou us again in Christ Jesus unto good works Let us not live estranged from thee whom we are made capable to enjoy both here and hereafter Make us in love with Holiness and Vertue as the health and rectitude of our Minds as our brightest and most advantageous Ornaments and the most useful and most durable Riches Renew in us most loving Father thy decayed Image and create us to righteousness and true holiness Learn us to see thy glorious Perfections in the visible things about us to make a religious Use of all that we enjoy in this World in loving thee for what is Good praising thee for what is Excellent in them and giving thee Thanks for whatever we enjoy of them We humbly recommend to thy infinite Mercies all Estates and Conditions of Men O Lord lover of Souls pity those that sit in darkness and bless them with the Knowledge of thee and of thy Christ whom to know is Life everlasting rescue them from their miserable Bondage under the Enemy of Mankind and bring them into the Kingdom of thy Son We pray thee bless and defend the Christian Church let the Gifts and Graces of thy good Spirit be abundantly poured out upon it purge it from all things displeasing to thee and give it peace and great enlargement Be merciful to that Part of it which thou hast planted amongst us in these Nations Water it plenteously with the Dew of thy Heavenly Blessing make it fruitful in all good Works and a Praise in the Earth We pray thee bless our King and Queen and all subordinate Magistrates and those that are the Ministers of thy holy Word and Sacraments make them all in their several Places and Stations useful to the promoting Piety and Vertue amongst us And make all those that are under them peaceable and obedient teachable and submissive to their Laws and godly Counsels Grant that we may all lead peaceable and quiet lives in all Godliness and Honesty Visit and relieve all those that are in any Trouble or Affliction Bless our Relations requite our Friends and Benefactors and forgive our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and turn their Hearts Finally O Father of Mercies we give thee Thanks for all thy Care of our Immortal Souls for all that thou hast done for their Happiness and Well-fare We pray thee bless to our spiritual Advantage those Ordinances of thine which we have this Day been partakers of Give us leave to commit our selves to thy Protection for this Night and reward our trust in thee with safe and comfortable Rest that being well refresh'd we may return the next Morning chearfully to our several Businesses and Duties and do thou accept us in all we pray through Jesus Christ in whose Name we present our selves and all our poor Services unto thee and in whose most comprehensive Words we conclude these our imperfect Prayers saying Our Father c. OF Vain Thoughts OR INCONSIDERATION With the Mischiefs and Remedies Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Psalm 119. 113. I hate Vain Thoughts but thy Law do I love OUR Care and Endeavour to live well must begin within us or it will prove vain and ineffectual We must keep the Heart with all diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life Solomon says Prov. 4. 23. According to which our Saviour teaches us That out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and out of the good or evil treasure there proceed good or evilactions We must then take notice what our Thoughts are if we would have our Life good and not neglect them as Men too commonly do and this is what the Psalmist plainly intimates in these Words I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love I shall not trouble you with long Criticizing upon the words lest I should be guilty my self of what I intend to discourse against It shall suffice to observe for the justifying of our translation that the Original word here translated Thoughts is used with that significancy in other places of Scripture Particularly 1 Kings 18. 21 Where it seems to signify unsetled and irresolute Thoughts such as could not determine them to a fixed and steady Obedience to the Truth and in Job 4. 13. where it signifies such Thoughts as the roving Imaginations of the Night are wont to be employed in In both these places it signifies such as are not well guided nor directed And by reason of this use of the word in those places I doubt not but it is very fitly done that our Translators have added the word Vain in the Text to determine and signify what sort of Thoughts the Psalmist meant by the use of the word here I shall therefore understand this Text according to the import of the word Vain in our Language and shall represent it as signifying thus much I hate all idle roving and useless Thoughts such as are not considerate and designed and directed to some good and worthy purpose all inconsiderate Thinking As there are a great many idle impertinent words spoken among Mankind many very useless and unprofitable conversations and as there are especially in the briskness and activity of Childhood and Youth a great many very idle and trifling actions done by
so happy as to gain an Interest in his Favour and to be in some measure Partakers of the Blessings of his Love it will be the Temper of our Minds to delight greatly in the things above highly will the Thoughts of our Happiness please us we shall be able to say of God as David did My Meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad or rejoice in the Lord Psal 104. This will be the chief delight and solace of the Heavenly Soul to think God loves me the most High has a peculiar favour for me This God is my God for ever and ever With highest Pleasure will the Soul say My Beloved is mine and I am his There is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness And if such be the most welcome and pleasant Thoughts it cannot be but they will be very frequent ones Oh how I love thy Law says David It is my Meditation all the Day Psal 119. 97. When we can let many Days pass over our Heads without one serious and sensible Thought of Heavenly things this is a Symptom of an Earthly and Carnal Mind The Heavenly Mind is necessitated and drawn to other Thoughts but it enclines to these And the Sabbaths and publick Worship of God are a great delight to such a Man When he may be separated from the Concerns of the World to contemplate the Riches of God's Love to taste the sweetness of it to consider the Beauty of Holiness and the Joys of Heaven The Sense of his Soul is the same with that which David expresses Psal 84. 10. A Day in thy Courts is better than a Thousand I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness And Solomon puts a mighty value and esteem for the Worship and Sacred Ordinances of God and an excessive delight in them into the Character of a devout Soul which he gives us in his sublime Song Cant. 2. 34. 5. where after he had made her say As the Apple-tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons She carries on the Metaphor and says I sate down under his Shadow with great delight and his Fruit was sweet unto my taste He brought me into the Banquetting-house and his Banner over me was love And being thus entertained with his Love she is transported with delight she is as it were overwhelmed with Joy Stay me with Apples says she Comfort me with Flaggons for I am sick of love Which is as much as to say Thy Love dear Lord is great like thy Self and far greater than my narrow Capacity When I consider when I feel it when I enjoy the exercises of it in Holy Communion with thee I am me thinks my self all Love I am transported in Extasies of Love and the Love I feel in my self and the delight I take in thine are a Pleasure even too great forme without thy assistance to bear it If our Mind and Heart were truly set on things above we should go from Publick Devotion to Private either in our Closets or Families Certainly he that loves those things and wishes to be employed to Eternity about them cannot think One whole Day in Seven too much to be separated entirely from the World for the enjoyment of them And the Heavenly Soul will be often discoursing of Heavenly things It is a Pleasure to speak of that we extreamly love The Holy Soul represented in the Canticles does so often extol her Beloved and so stay and dwell upon the Descriptions Commendations and Discourses concerning Christ as does sufficiently shew He is indeed her Beloved The Society therefore wherein such an one may best discourse of his Heart 's chief Joy will be always most acceptable and desirable to him Those that value highly the same things that we value and love will be most agreeable to us especially in such cases where there can be no rivalling of each other as it is in this Heavenly Souls will be most acceptable to the Heavenly And the Joy and Pleasure which attends the Thoughts and Remembrance of those heavenly Things which they are partly possest and partly in expectation of will be able in a little time at least to overcome every worldly Sorrow Lastly If we value and love Heaven and things above more than things on the Earth we must greatly desire to be in Heaven We must needs desire to be advanced to that State where we shall more perfectly enjoy those things than we can here where we shall be satisfied with the communicated likeness of God in our perfect and compleat Sanctification where we shall enjoy perfect Rest and Blessendness we cannot chuse but desire that State where as we shall have a fuller enjoyment of the things we mostly love so the enjoyment of them shall be more constant and uninterrupted where we shall have the light of God's Countenance always shining bright upon us where no Clouds no Eclipses shall hide or any Night ever take it from us but it shall make a continual joyful and glorious Day The Soul then that does truly relish and delight in these Divine things cannot be satisfied to be here but will with submission to the Will of God long for the time of his removal to that better State He will not think his Life on Earth too short but rather too long and be ready to say When will this my tedious Pilgrimage be over When shall I come and appear before God! He is not only contented but even desirous with St. Paul To depart and to be with Christ He can willingly forsake not only a poor mean and laborious State on Earth but even a rich prosperous and easy one for the better Enjoyments of Heaven For that which he enjoys of Heaven here is that which he chiefly delights in And since the second Coming of Christ is that which brings him his full Redemption and the perfect Fruition of all that he desires he will greatly long for that he will be one of those that love his Appearing He has the Spirit of the Bride in him who says Come Lord Jesus come quickly in Rev. 22. Or as the holy Souls before his first Coming in longing desire after that Cant. 8. 14. He will say for his Second Make haste my Beloved and be thou like a Roe or to a young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices Thus must our Will and Affections prefer the Things above 3. Those things must have also the Preference of our Actions and Course of Life And it is a certain consequent and fruit of the other two Particulars and the best Indication of them in us that we chiefly endeavour after and mostly seek and pursue the Things above It is necessarily included in the minding those Things that we seek them and endeavour to be Partakers of them We must strive to enter in at the strait gate we must give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure we must work out
our Salvation with Fear and Trembling Strong and true desires after any other things will excite suitable Endeavours therefore it must be so with us in this Case And thus it was with the good Soul whose Affections towards God Solomon describes who is represented by him as very Inquisitive after him She lov'd in his absence as restless in her enquiry and search till she had found him whom her Soul loved Cant. 3. 1 2 3 4. Lazy wishes are of no value Till we come to active Desires and very vigorous Endeavours we have not an Heart set upon the Things above We must very diligently use the Means that God has appointed and does afford us for the making us Partakers of those things The ordinary Means of attaining the Sanctification of our Nature the assured Pardon of our Sins the Beams of Divine Favour and a Title to Everlasting glory And they are Private and Publick Prayers the Preaching of God's Word and his Sacraments These must be valued as Means as I said before and also I say now they must be very diligently attended upon and used It must not be an indifferent Matter with us whether we enjoy them or not If we rightly and heartily desire heavenly Things we shall be very diligent and industrious in that Course of Duty which the Providence of God gives us whatever Station we are in we shall endeavour to adorn it to glorify God by our Behaviour in it VVe shall be steadfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord and ought to be so as knowing That our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord As believing that the glorious and eternal Rewards of Heaven deserve our greatest diligence and labour in our Duty And further if we rightly mind the things above we shall set our selves as much as we need to remove the Hindrances of attaining them We shall and ought to be ready to cut off a right Hand and pluck out a right Eyo that offends and that would hinder our entrance into Life We must not entertain or cherish any Sin but must industriously mortify weaken and subdue all carnal and corrupt Affections We must endeavour the weaning our selves as much as may be from the World and to be as indifferent about our outward Condition in it as we can be We must shake off all such Clogs and Weights that our freed Souls may without Incumbrance aspire towards Heaven And we must chiefly seek and pursue the Things above seek them with more diligence and endeavour with more earnest Application of Mind than we do the Things below This our Saviour expresly directs Mat. 6. 33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and this he seems to intimate we should do when he says Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled As the Heavenly things are to be the end so they are to be the Rule and Guide of our Actions We must value all other things according to their subserviency to those as has been said and then the things of this World are to be sought only in such circumstances or such kinds of them as they may have some subserviency to these For instance A man should chuse that Employment and State in the World in which he may best preserve his Innocence and keep a good Conscience and have frequent and chearful Communion with God rather than that which is more dangerous but is likely to have more of worldly Profit or sensual Pleasure attending it A man should rather chuse a Life of Labour and Employment wherein he may be serviceable to God and to the present or everlasting Well-fare of Mankind than to live in an useless Ease and Idleness Again the Things above must always be followed before these whenever there is any Competition between them We must when 't is necessary forsake these for them If we might enjoy the greatest Pleasures of this World or the most valued Advantages of it those which would give us the greatest Interest and Respect among Men but for the gaining of these we must do those things that would forfeit and lose the Favour of God those things which he forbids We must then forsake and abandon all those things for the sake of this and resolve never to enjoy even the greatest advantages of this World if we cannot have them with the Favour and Blessing of God Thus should we in the Course of our Life and Actions prefer the Things above before those below Motives Thus I have shewn you what it is which the Apostle exhorts to here in the full Latitude and Extent of it All this he intends we should do in minding the Things above It remains now that I urge your Obedience to this Advice by such Arguments and Motives as may justly prevail upon you 1. And in the first Place let this be one That unless we thus mind the Things above we shall never obtain them We are not to look upon our Text as only an Advice or Counsel but must receive it as a Law and Precept It is thus we ought to mind those things And it is the plain Import of divers other places of Scripture that God requires this of us This is meant when our Saviour says Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind Mat. 22. 37. And when he says If any man come unto me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple Luke 14. 26. That is in comparison to me he must hate and despise them He must love and value me more than he does them or he is not worthy of an Interest in the Favours and Blessings which I have purchased And there is another Scripture very express to this purpose but which has been wrested by bad Translation to a very different one which I shall therefore here endeavour to recover to its right use It is John 21. 15. Jesus saith to Simon Peter Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these The Original words would bear the rendering of them thus Lovest thou me more than these things that is more than thy Trade and worldly Business and Gains The generality of the Church of Rome chuse to render them thus Lovest thou me more than these do As if our Lord would seem to expect in Peter a greater Love to him than was in the rest of the Apostles and this must be the Foundation for Peter's Primacy among the Apostles and for the Pope of Rome his Supremacy in the Church But if we well consider the Context we shall find this a very weak Foundation we shall see no reason to think that the Question intimates our Lord's present or intended Preference of Peter to the rest of the Apostles but rather that it intimates an Admonition of Peter to prefer our Lord and his Interests
that thou hast been pleased to make us capable to know and meditate on thy Self to chuse and love thee to desire and enjoy thee who art an Infinite Eternal Good and in whose presence is fulness of Joy Oh how ready should our Hearts be at all times to say Whom have we in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that we can desire besides thee But alas we are degenerated we are fallen from our Original Excellency we are sunk into Sensuality we need to be put in mind and told wherein our true Happiness lies and to be excited urged and exhorted to pursue it We hover here below and seldom have any thoughts or desires moving upwards the objects of Sense detain us with them and we feed on Husks among Beasts we stay and abide upon the lowest and the smallest part of our Happiness Lord we are miserable we are undone and shall perish for ever if thy pity do not rescue us from the Love of these low Things Oh Pardon our guilty and heal our distempered Souls Discover thy self to us and make us love thee shed abroad thy Love abundantly in our Hearts Make us to rise by the Creature to the Creator Guide us by the streams to thee the Fountain of their Goodness and make us as we ought to love thee above all things Let us be governed by thy Love in the whole course of our lives and readily deny our selves to please thee and keep thy Commandments Let us firmly believe the glorious Things which thou hast prepared for them that love thee and draw our Hearts after them to endeavour that our Treasure may be in Heaven in Immutable things And direct us we pray thee so to pass through things Temporal as that we finally lose not the things Eternal Have mercy O Lord upon all Mankind Let the Earth be filled with Knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the Sea and all Men be directed and led in the way to true Happiness Give to all Nations Unity Peace and Concord Pour down an abundant measure of thy Spirit upon thy Church that the Gospel may run and be glorified from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same Let them prosper that love it and let not the Gates of Hell ever prevail against it We pray especially for that part of it which thou hast graciously placed in these Nations and hitherto wonderfully detended Lord make it a very fruitful Vineyard and purge out of it all that is contrary to true Doctrin and Godliness Bless we pray thee our Gracious King and Queen and the Royal Family with all Spiritual and Eternal Blessings and give them long and happy Possession of the Throne of these Kingdoms to thy Glory and our Comfort Bless all in Authority under them help them truly and indifferently to administer Justice to the punishment of Wickedness and Vice and to the maintainance of thy true Religion and Vertue Give grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops and Curates that they may both by their Life and Doctrin honour thee and guide thy People committed to them in the way of Blessedness Let all the Subjects of this Realm be subject to thee in Loyalty and Subjection and due Obedience to those that are over them in Church and State and let Piety Love Righteousness and Peace and Truth abound among us We commend to thy Fatherly goodness all that are in any Distress and Affliction all our Friends and Relations we pray for our Enemies do for all beyond what we are able to ask or think We humbly ask a comfortable and safe rest this Night and that it may please thee to make the out-goings of the Morning to rejoice Let thy word which we have heard this Day guide our Conversations and let us bring forth in them the Fruits of the Spirit let not the Cares of this World or the Deceitfulness of Riches choke the Word and render it unfruitful but grant we may live to the Glory of thy Name and to the Peace and Salvation of our own Souls by Jesus Christ in whose most comprehensive words we sum up our Requests saying OVR Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen THE Necessity of Obedience TO THE COMMANDS of GOD Proved and Stated Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Mat. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven HOW common a thing is it among those that have heard the glad Tidings of the Gospel for Men to take up a presumptuous reliance upon the Merits of Jesus Christ with neglect of Obedience to the Commands of God! Some of the most profligate and careless Sinners will hope to be saved And if one ask them how They will say by the Merits of Jesus Christ Many indulge themselves in their darling Sins and yet hope to be saved by the Merits of Christ And most certain it is that the Doctrins of some Teachers give occasion to this presumption They occasion Men to think there is nothing necessary to their Salvation but strong Believing and so to endeavour nothing but that and to rely upon the Righteousness of Christ so as to neglect all Endeavour after any Righteousness of their own And this Error and Delusion where it obtains does often prove able to harden a Man against the most earnest Exhortations to leave his Sins yea and even against the most plain Rebukes of Providence for them and to frustrate all other Means of Grace and Conversion whatever It is therefore of great Importance to remove it out of the way and this I shall endeavour by discoursing on these words of our Saviour which if they had been well considered together with many other plain Scriptures it had prevented the entertainment of such Imaginations in the Minds of Men. He had been in a long Discourse enforcing many of the Commands of the Moral Law And now towards the close of this Discourse he begins in this Verse to tell them of what importance and necessity it was to them to practise what he had taught He plainly teaches that no belief in him would avail them any thing if they did not together with it keep the Commands of God Not every one says he that saith to me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven
that is Not he that only believes I am the true Messiah and the Redeemer of the World not every one that pretends to rely upon me for Salvation shall be saved But he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven This is required to Salvation as well as the other I come not to save Rebels continuing such but to save them who set themselves to do my Father's Will and to obey his Commands And from hencesorth to the end of his Sermon on the Mount and to the end of this Chapter does our Saviour very evidently set himself to enforce and urge the same thing The following Discourse on this Subject I shall divide into these 3 Parts 1. I shall shew that it is necessary and required even now under the Gospel that we set our selves to obey and keep the Commands of God 2. I shall shew how far we are bound to do this 3. I shall make some Application In the first place I shall make it evident that it is necessary and required of Christians that they set themselves to keep the Commands of God This is required of all those who are grown Persons and are come to the exercise of their Reason they who have opportunity to do this must do it and they cannot be saved without this by any Merits or Mediation of Jesus Christ Indeed Infants baptized and dying in their Infancy may be saved by the Merits of Jesus Christ without the exercise and practice of good Works which they had not capacity or opportunity to perform but grown Persons cannot Good works or the keeping the Commands of God are necessary to our finding Favour and to Salvation as Conditions required to precede and concur tho they do not gain Favour and Salvation for us as efficient or meritorious Causes For proof of this I shall to make the Discourse as short as I can only insist upon two Arguments omitting many other which might be produced to this purpose and they that I shall insist upon are these 1. We shall find the Duties of the Moral Law frequently urg'd and enjoined to Christians by Christ and his Apostles 2. So far is the Gospel from excusing our Obedience to the Laws of God that it makes this the necessary Condition of our having an Interest in Jesus Christ or in the Benefits of the Covenant of Grace 1. We shall find if we look fairly into the New Testament that the Duties of the Moral Law are there very frequently urg'd and enjoin'd to Christians by our Lord and his Apostles Our Lord himself says He came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them Mat. 5. 17. How can it then be a Doubt but that Christians are obliged to keep the Laws of God when our Saviour says He came not to destroy but to fulfil them That is He came not to take away the Force and Obligation of any but to fulfil and obey them Himself and to enforce the Observance of them by his Followers His whole Sermon in the Mount contained in the 5 6 and 7th Chapters of Matthew is made up of Moral Instructions wherein he rescues these from the corrupt Glosses and Interpretations of the Pharisees and establishes and confirms the pure Precepts themselves Again our Saviour does enjoin at once the Observation of the whole Moral Law as necessary to Salvation under these two general Heads The Love of God and of our Neighbour In Luke 10. it is said Ver. 25. A certain Lawyer stood up and tempted him saying Master what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life Jesus answers in the next Verse What is written in the Law How readest thou He answering said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength and with all thy Mind and thy Neighbour as thy Self Jesus replies in Verse 28. This do and thou shalt live Intimating that he knew no other way to Life that he could take than by a diligent Endeavour and Application of himself to the keeping of the Commands of God That this was the way always appointed to the Jews and that he came not to teach or procure a new way of Salvation He therefore intimates that he might learn in what was then written the way of Salvation that is in the Writings of the Old Testament Jesus Christ came not to alter the terms and way to Salvation which had been appointed to all the World since the Fall of Man but only to teach that way more perfectly Further the Apostles also after Christ and by the Direction of the Holy Ghost poured upon them do urge and require the Obedience of Christians to the Precepts of the Moral Law Out of the many Instances which might be produced from every one of them to this purpose I shall content my self to take but one from the Writings of St. Paul and another from the Epistle of St. James to shew how well these two Apostles agree in this Matter and to contract this head The Apostle Paul in Eph. 6. 1. 23. says Chidren obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour thy Father and Mother which is the First Commandment with Promise that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the Earth We may see he presses there the same Duty which is enjoined in the 5th Commandment And we may observe moreover that he presses it as enjoin'd there He quotes the 5th Commandment as an obliging Law and a Rule still in force And herein he plainly allows and establishes the Force of all the Law that is Moral St. James also in the 2d Chap. to his Epist does enforce and urge the Obedience of Christians to the Moral Law Nothing less can be the meaning of the 8th Ver. If ye fulfil the Royal Law according to the Scripture Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Thou shalt do well And in the following Ver. he further urges the Obedience to this general Precept and says He that offends in one Point is guilty of all and brings his Discourse to this Point That he who despises his poor Neighbour and neglects works of Mercy transgresses the Law as well as he that should kill or commit Adultery which things are also forbidden still as he there intimates Thus we see that Jesus Christ and his Apostles have unanimously urg'd the Christian Church to observe the Precepts of the Moral Law 2. Another thing that proves the Necessity of Obedience and a good Life under the Times of the Gospel is this That even the Gospel its self makes this the necessary Condition of an Interest in Jesus Christ Good works indeed do not constitute a justified State but they are necessary to the attaining it as they are the necessary Conditions of our being justified by Christ We are certainly not admitted into the Covenant of Grace without a sincere Engagement to be the Lord's Or without a solemn Vow and Promise to keep
yet since what we have is more than we deserve we ought sure to be very thankful for this 4. Another ground of thankfulness common to all Men is there is none of us but have forfeited all the Mercies which God has ever bestowed upon us It is true that before we had a Being we could not deserve not to be made we could not offend God nor provoke him to deny us our Being for that which is not can do nothing But it may be consider'd that he who made us knew before with what perverseness and rebellion and ingratitude we would use the Beings he should give us He fore-saw all the Sins and Provocations of our Lives and yet he brought us into Being and has made us capable to be greatly Happy tho he knew we would deserve to be miserable And since we came to an ability of exercising the Powers he has given us we have not only laid no Obligations upon him to do us good but have also deserved the contrary We are all Sinners and fall short of the Glory of God we have not answered the End of our Being and so have render'd our selves utterly unworthy of all his Mercies We brought into the World with us at our Birth a sinful Nature possest with Enmity against God disposed to rebel and such as did deserve to be crusht in its Infancy He has notwithstanding that nourisht and brought us up and we notwithstanding his Favour have rebelled against him He took us into the tender Arms of his Providence when we first came into the World when he might have thrown us immediately into Hell as guilty in our first Parents He suffered us to be admitted into his Church and wash'd away that Guilt in the Laver of Baptism Let us consider how ill we have requited this Kindness How much we have forgotten him in whom we live move and have our Being How we have broke his just and good Laws despised to be like him in Holiness wilfully polluted our selves with Sin affronted his rightful Sovereignty over us abused his free Gifts and dishonoured him with what we ought to have used to his Glory I say let us consider these things and wonder that he does any thing for us rather than murmur at any time that he does no more Let us never think our selves hardly dealt with while we enjoy any thing that is good since we deserve none since we have actually forfeited all And thus I suppose it appears Every Man has Reason for the Practice of this Duty It is incumbent upon all to be contented and easy under God's Dispensation and to be thankful for the measure of good that they have not only is this due from the rich and prosperous but also even from the poor and afflicted I proceed now to the Second Part of the Discourse which is to direct to the right Expressions and Declarations of our thankfulness to God for his Benefits And this we must know is not fully performed in a short Ejaculation now and then lifted up to God But the Heart that is truly and habitually thankful will constantly endeavour and for the most part perform all that is contained in the following Particulars 1. We must take notice of and own the Divine Benefits We must acknowledge God's continual care of us and kindness to us Own it was he that made us to differ in all the advantages that we have above others When a Man prospers in the World he must not ascribe his Prosperity to his own Industry or Skill nor to a blind Chance but always to the Providence of God and be ready to say 'T is he gives him all things We must observe and value the Divine Benefits it is great unthankfulness to despise them we must take heed that we do not so regard and magnify our wants as to over-look our Mercies and to think that we are not beholden to God We must receive his Favours and Obligations as such reckon our selves beholden to him for what he gives us We must preserve a fresh and lively remembrance of God's Mercies and Deliverances as David charges himself to do Psal 103. 2. Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits Thus our Mind and Thoughts are to be employed about these 2. We must praise him for his Mercies in solemn and devout Thanksgivings In these we must express by words the former inward Sense of his Benefits and so be thankful in Heart and in our words Say to him as David Psal 30. I will extol thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made mine Enemies to rejoice over me when at any time he has delivered us from Enemies say O Lord my God I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me and brought up my Soul from the Grave thou hast kept me alive from going into the Pit when he has deliver'd from Sickness Say for daily Mercies It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy Name O most high To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night as in Psal 92. 1 2. The Book of Psalms as it was the Exercise of extraordinary and inspir'd Devotion is an excellent Repository of the best Expressions of all sorts for the exercise of our Devotion by Out of which we shall do well to furnish our selves with the wise and acceptable forms of Thanksgiving which are therein for the better performance of this Duty 3. We must express our Thankfulness in Deeds as well as in Thought and Word And this must take in an universal Obedience to his Commands we ought to charge our selves with this Task and constantly endeavour to perform it through the whole course of our Lives Nothing can be more absurd than for an habitual Sinner to pretend to any gratitude towards God Is he to be reckoned thankful who affronts him continually who lives in those Practices which he knows are most ungrateful and displeasing to him Is this the right way of acknowledging a Benefactor to do him all the Injury that we can Let us then study and learn his Laws that we may know what will please him and then apply our selves industriously to do it And whatever we have and are should be all devoted to him and employed as far as it is capable to be to the serving of his Honour and Glory 1 Cor. 10. 31. Whether ye eat or drink or whatever ye do says the Apostle Do all to the Glory of God This is the just End of all his Gifts and to serve that end must needs be the expected way of our Thanksgiving for them And that end may be served and another Obligation answered too and that when we employ as he requires we should do what he gives us as much as we can to the good of Mankind We must desire and endeavour to be useful to others not live to our selves alone We must not be proud of our advantges
this Exhortation we may consider that without doubt the Pleasures of Religion are the strongest and sweetest of any They sink deeper into a Man than any other and affect him more as they enter into his Mind and put all the inward Powers of that into a pleasing Exercise and Motion They possess more of a Man than those that touch only his Body and Senses The Mind of Man is the most and as we may say the greatest part of him It has most Desire and greatest Capacity of Pleasure It is much more sensible both of Pleasure and Pain than the duller Body The Psalmist speaks the greater Sweetness and Excellency of Religious Pleasure when he says of the Law of God If it sweeter than the Honey and the Honey-comb Psal 19. 10. He means the practice of Religion and Vertue the doing any Duties commanded by the Law of God afforded him a far greater Pleasure and Delight than e're he could by his Senses receive from the most pleasant things of this World 2. Since there is so much Pleasure in well-doing this may justly persuade Men off from the guilty Pursuit and Enjoyment of the Pleasures of this World Why should a Man suffer himself to be guilty for the sake of any Pleasure when he may enjoy that which is very Rich and Sensible without being so It is most certain that Guilt will greatly allay the briskest Pleasures of this World In the midst of guilty Laughter the Heart is sad These are always best and sweetest to him that regularly and soberly uses them that uses them according to the Rules of Religion Thus he shall hurt neither his Body nor his Soul nor his Estate nor his Neighbour while he pleases his Appetites and gratifies his Senses and so he avoids the unpleasing Farewell of a troubled Conscience He does not destroy the Appetite while he pleases it but keeps himself in a capacity to have always a very lively Relish and Sense of his Pleasures The irregular and intemperate Man makes a Drudgery of those of this World and turns their fine Relish eager and four And the other sort that is the high and delicate ones of Religion he utterly deprives himself of In a vertuous and religious Course of Life a Man may enjoy both sorts but in that which is guilty and irreligious he cannot well enjoy either This is the First Use may be made of this Discourse 2. A Second is this It ought to persuade Men to betake themselves steadily to a religious and good Course of Life It was said by the Spirit of God that the ways of Religion are ways of Pleasantness with Design to recommend them to the Sons of Men. He spoke this in a kind Condescention to our Nature and Inclination to make a Bait of Pleasure which we are so apt to dote upon And this surely should be a very powerful Argument to this purpose This ought much rather to induce Men to be Wise and Vertuous to act as becomes them and pursue their true Happiness than to make them guilty of Folly and Sin of what is shameful and hurtful to them and of what will incur their everlasting Misery And how great an Obligation to Obedience is it that the Laws of our Religion are thus contriv'd that the Universal Sovereign has made the Instances of our Duty so reasonable and so good that we may delight in our Duty and the Performance of it will reward it self They would exceedingly aggravate our Wickedness and shew a strange Obstinacy in Sin and Enmity to God if we should rather refuse all this Happiness and Pleasure than submit our selves to the Laws of Religion And thus I have far enough urg'd this Argument in our Text to shew that they who will do wickedly do obstinately refuse their own Interest And to furnish the Consciences of Sinners with such a Conviction as will at one time or other prove a sharp Sting and Torment if they will not suffer it now to restrain them from Wickedness THE PRAYER MOst Great and Glorious Lord God! the Infinite and Perfect Being The greatest Excellency among thy Creatures lies in their greatest Likeness and Conformity to thee We give thee Thanks O Lord for that thou hast made us capable of so great Honour as the resembling of thee in our Actions for that thou hast laid upon us such Laws as guide us to a noble Conformity to the Divine Nature Thou didst of thy bounteous Goodness make Man upright inclin'd to such Actions and suited to thy excellent Law But alass we have defiled and polluted our selves with Sin and are become averse and unwilling impotent and unable to keep thy Commandments Our carnal Minds are Enmity to thee and are not subject to thy Law nor can be till they be Renewed Sanctified and Created again in Christ Jesus unto Good Works O Lord open thou our Eyes to behold the wondrous and alluring Excellencies of thy Law Work in us to will and to do according to thy good Pleasure Rectify the Apprehensions the Relish of our Souls that we may find thy Commandments to be sweeter than the Honey and the Honey-comb Lord make us so steddy and diligent in our Duty so practised and inured to it and so in love with it that we may find thy ways to be to us as they are in themselves ways of Pleasantness Shew and convince us of the Equity and Reasonableness of all thy Service that it is perfect Freedom that it is our greatest Honour that the Wisdom of good Living is our best Ornament even as a Chain of Gold about the Neck Encourage us we beseech thee to our Duty with a constant Sense of thy Presence with us of thy gracious Eye and Regard to all we do Let us know thou dost accept our sincere Endeavours and imperfect Performances through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ Inable us to hope in thy Mercy and assure us that if we put our Trust in thee in Well-doing we shall not be confounded But especially we pray thee O Lord shed abroad thy Love abundantly in our Hearts Let Love possess us Love move Love direct and byass us make us to love thee with all our Hearts and our Neighbours as our selves so shall we be reconcil'd to thy Commandments so shall we run and not be weary we shall ever walk before thee and not faint in that blessed way Renew us O Lord after thine Image and make us Holy as thou art Holy and Good as thou art Good Merciful as thou our Heavenly Father art Merciful and Forgiving as thou art ready to Forgive Let our Lives and Conversations shew forth the Vertues of him that has called us to his Kingdom and Glory Look down in Mercy upon all Mankind rescue the miserable Slaves of the Devil who is the Ruler of the Darkness of this World from their sad Bondage under him and bring them into the happy Liberty of the Children of God Save thy People O Lord and bless thine
Heritage govern them and lift them up for ever And make all that name the Name of Christ duly concern'd to adorn the Doctrin of God our Saviour in all things Let thy gracious Presence dwell in the Land of our Nativity bless us with Peace and Plenty with the Means of Grace and the Efficacy of them to enlighten our Minds to cleanse our Hearts to heal our Divisions to teach us all from the Highest to the Lowest our several Duties towards thee Give Health and Happiness to our King and Queen and teach us and all their Subjects our Duty towards them Bless and direct all inferiour Magistrates make them a Terror to evil Doers and a Praise to them that do well Let those that Minister in Holy things be a good Example to the Flock and make us Followers of them as they are of Christ We Implore thy Mercy upon all that are in Affliction especially upon those who are persecuted for Righteousness Sake give them Patience under their Sufferings and a happy Issue out of all their Afflictions Accept our humble Sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving which we have this day offer'd to thee in thy Sons Name And make the Word which we have heard to have such Influence upon our Hearts and to bring forth such Fruit in our Lives as thou dost expect from it Give us a Night of safe and comfortable Rest preserving us from Fear and Danger And when we awake in the Morning let us chearfully return to our Duty in all our ways acknowledge thee and do thou graciously direct our Steps for the Sake of Jesus Christ In whose Words we conclude these our poor imperfect Addresses OVR Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen THE Easiness of Religion EXPLAINED and IMPROVED Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Mat. 11. 29 30. Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart And ye shall find rest to your Souls For my Yoke is easie and my Burden is light IT is a strange and wonderful Degeneracy that the Humane Nature is fallen under as appears from the wonderful Aversness that is in all Mankind to a religious and a vertuous Life Religion is the greatest Ornament and Glory of the Humane Nature It is the Cure of all our Defects and Disparagements It is our true and compleat Perfection And yet we commonly appear to be most easily withheld from the Practice of it We devise Excuses to neglect it we receive the most false and unreasonable Prejudices against it without any Examination of them We do often obstinately persist in Wickedness against the most weighty Inducements to do well These Words of the Blessed Jesus who came into the World to save Sinners and to that Purpose has taught us as well as died for us do meet with one of the Prejudices against an Holy Life which he knew to be very common in the Hearts of Men And that is the Imagination that Religion is a Task too hard for Humane Nature and utterly impossible to be perform'd Because we must indeed take some Pains to be Religious our lazy and unwilling Souls magnify the little Oppositions into Mountains of Difficulties and make us think we shall never be able to get over them and the way down to the bottomless Pit seems easie and smooth is strow'd with Pleasures Riches and Worldly Honours and these things easily allure and engage us to follow that Against this fatal and discouraging Prejudice our Saviour says in the Words of our Text Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart And ye shall find rest unto your Souls For my Yoke is easie and my Burden is light Take my Yoke upon you That is charge your selves with the keeping my Commands submit to my Government For this Meaning the Word Yoke is wont to have in Scripture For my Yoke is easie and my Burden is light It shall be possible to you to keep my Commands you shall find I do not require of you that which you cannot perform that the Difficulties you may meet with are not invincible And further to encourage the taking up his Yoke he adds Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart If ye take up this Yoke ye but take up that which I have born my self I am of a meek and submissive mind I do not disdain to be subject to the Laws of Religion I then command you nothing but what I have practised my self and your Obedience to these Laws will be your Imitation of me And he adds further Ye shall find rest to your Souls This shall be Peace and Happiness to you In discoursing upon these Words I think it may be useful for the better promoting the Design of them to insist upon these Three Heads 1. To shew in what Sense it may be said that the Commands of God are easie to be observ'd Which will be both Explication and Proof of our Saviours Words 2. To suggest by what means we may best render this easie to our selves 3. To urge by some proper Motives the Use of those Means In the First place I shall shew you in what Sense we may understand this that 't is easie to keep the Commands of God And this will be sufficiently represented in the Three following Particulars 1. This is easie to a vigorous and earnest Endeavour ' Tit true there will be continual Opposition made against it by that Corruption that has gotten Possession in our Souls and by the frequent Assaults of Temptation from the World and the Devil But yet these are Difficulties that shall be overcome by an earnest and diligent Endeavour Our Saviour says Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. By the strait Gate he means the way of Religion which the Opposition of our Spiritual Enemies and our own unworthy Averseness do render a strait Gate This we cannot pass without Striving and a good Endeavour but with this he intimates we may do so This will ccomplish what we desire but many seek to enter in and shall not be able To lazy Wishes 't is exceeding difficult indeed invincibly Difficult to be Religious He that cannot persuade himself to strive with Earnestness and Patience shall never become so And this
very Vanity Convince us we pray thee O Lord steadily and effectually of these things let us not sell our Souls for nought let us not spend our Life in the pursuit of shadows and neglect substantial things teach us that he who sows unto the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption And make us to believe that in keeping thy Commands there is great Reward to believe that thou art and art a Rewarder of those that diligently seek thee that we shall not serve God for nought But if we do by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality we shall obtain eternal Life Let thy bounteous and faithful Promises effectually allure us from the ways of Folly and Perdition O that we were so wise as constantly to take thy Testimonies for our heritage to desireabove all things the Happiness which thou hast prepared for them that love and serve thee O turn thou we humbly pray the Byass and Propensity of our Souls that way Give us not up to the choice and pursuit of this World condemn us not to have all our Portion in this short miserable and transitory Life Strengthen and encrease our Faith of unseen things that it may be in us the Evidence of things not seen and the Substance of things hoped for and let this quicken let this encourage us at all times to our Duty by assuring us that our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. By alluring us of everlasting Rest to reward our Labours in well-doing of our having fulness of Joy in thy Presence and Rivers of Pleasures at thy Right hand for evermore Deliver us O Spirit of Truth from all the deceits of the World the Flesh and the Devil lead us into all Truth necessary for us to know in order to Salvation and make us to pursue the things which make for our everlasting Peace Give us we pray thee a Treasure in Heaven through the merits of Jesus Christ In whose Name we humbly make our Prayers and Supplications for all Men Give O Lord to all Nations Unity Peace and Concord and pour out thy Spirit upon all Flesh that they may all know thee from the least to the greatest Bless thy Church and prosper it and make it yet more Holy and more Universal Bring in all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks into the way of thy Truth and into the way of Salvation We pray thee pour down thy abundant Blessings upon these Nations wherein we live deliver us from those that hate us continue to us thy true Religion establisht among us in the Administrations of it and continue us in the due and universal Practice of what it teaches and requires of us Bless we pray thee our King and Queen and Magistrates be thou their Guide and Defence and make them useful Instruments to promote thy Glory amongst us and our Happiness Let us know those that are over us in the Lord and admonish us those who are thy Ministers in Holy things and esteem them very highly in Love for their Works sake and follow their Godly Counsels and good Examples Grant we beseech thee that the means of Grace which we have this Day enjoy'd may be effectual upon us to the Salvation of our Souls Pardon the imperfections of our Services and graciously accept them through the merits of Jesus Christ In whose Name we present and dedicate our selves to thee we recommend our Relations and Friends to thy Mercy and all that are desolate and afflicted and we pray for the pardon and conversion of our Enemies We commit our selves to the Care of thy Providence this Night beseeching thee to keep us in safety while we are not in a Condition to look to our selves And if it shall please thee to add yet more days to our Lives we desire to spend them all in thy excellent Service to which purpose we humbly implore the continual Guidance of thy Spirit to whom with the Father and the Son one Infinite and Eternal God we ascribe all Praise and Glory for ever and ever Our Father c. GOD's Hatred of Sin Demonstrated and Improv'd Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Prov. 15. 9. Former Part. The Way of the Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord. IT is in the Heart of most Sinners that God takes little or no notice of what is done by us here below or if he does take notice that 't is without any concern about what we do They do not think those things offend him which they encline to and which are pleasing to themselves nor will believe that he is so displeased as some represent him to be with any of their Actions And from hence it is so small and light a matter with many to do those things which are sinful It is that which many are accustomed and habituated to do and are contented to be so The smallest temptation is able to make a man commit a Sin Yea without any temptation they will readily run into it and instead of avoiding and repelling temptations they industriously seek them and delight to entertain them It is become so common a thing to do wickedly that men have no horrour at any but the very grossest crimes such as would lessen a man's reputation in the World or expose him to Penal Laws and they are but very few But these things come to pass for want of a due consideration of such Truths as that which the Wise-man here delivers in saying The way of the wicked is an Abomination to the Lord. The most Holy and Almighty God takes notice of the Actions of men is acquainted with all our ways and resents with Infinite dislike and hatred whatever we do that is contrary to his most excellent Commands It is not an indifferent thing to him what our Actions are But as he that made us has given us Laws for the direction of our Actions so every transgression of those Laws and Rules which is that which is call'd Wickedness is odious and abominable to him A very terrible Consideration this is to those that have not taken any notice of it before and so have liv'd carelesly but it is therefore necessary to such to reclaim them from these offensive ways And if any man does so well lay it to his heart as to give it power to do so he shall find it as happy and comfortable in the fruits and effects of it To put you in mind of this I shall at present fix my Discourse upon it and to give it the more force I shall insist upon these Heads of Discourse concerning it 1. To confirm and prove what is here said 2. To shew you the Inferences which we may raise from it 3. To make
Interest require and begin to treasure up joys to lay up rewards and happiness for our selves These are things surely that cannot be done too soon If there be good reason to forsake a wicked Life at all 't is unreasonable in the least to delay the doing so When we come to condemn our selves in earnest for our Sins we shall condemn our selves too for continuing so long in them Let us all then be able to say with David at least from this time I made hast and delayed not O Lord to keep thy Commandments THE PRAYER O Lord the eternal God Creator and Owner and Sovereign Lord of all things By thee the Heavens were framed and all the Host of them by the breath of thy Mouth Thou hast made the Earth and the Sea and all that is in them and all that thou hast made is thine the World is thine and the fulness thereof all is of thee and through and to thee We who are now before thee here are a small handful of Creatures whom thou hast brought into Being from the Ground thou raisest our living Bodies and by thy mighty Power hast formed the Spirit within us And we Lord are thine thy Right and Property we are in nothing our own our Tongues are not our own our Thoughts are not our own the Members of our Bodies the Faculties of our Minds are not our own but thou art Lord over us We owe thee the entire Homage of our Souls and Bodies which are thine for we are thy People O Lord and the Sheep of thy Pasture We are those whom thou hast oblig'd to Love and Honour thee by innumerable benefits Thou hast fed and clothed and nourisht and protected us thou hast given us all our Enjoyments and thou holdest our Soul in Life We humbly acknowledge O Lord thy Right in us and we now own the Obligations thou hast laid upon us And we here present to thee our Bodies to be a Holy and living Sacrifice which is our just and most reasonable Service O Lord let us be accepted with thee through Jesus Christ We Confess that we have deserved thou shouldest reject and abhor us who have been hitherto so little concern'd to please thee who have so often and so exceedingly polluted our selves with that which is most odious and offensive to thee We are exceeding guilty and obnoxious to thy wrath and vengeance in that we have been Rebels against thy Sovereignty over us We have been unjust to thy Propriety in us we have been ungrateful to thy Goodness towards us We judge we condemn we abhor our selves for these things O do not thou enter into Judgment with us for in thy sight shall no Man living be justifyed We are heartily sorry for all our mis-doings the remembrance of them is grievous to us the burden of them is intollerable but thou O Lord whose Property is always to have mercy who hast promised Forgiveness to all that with a penitent Heart and true Faith in the Blood of Christ turn unto thee have mercy upon us Deal not with us after our Sins neither reward us according to our Iniquities Have mercy upon us O Lord according to the multitude of thy tender Compassions and blot out all our Transgressions We fly from thy Justice to the Footstool of thy mercy and there prostrate our selves in the Name of Jesus Christ O Lord for his Sake forgive us all that is past and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in Newness and Holiness of Life to thy Honour and Glory Do thou make us sincere in the Dedication of our selves again unto thee in this renewal of our Resolutions to serve thee Create in us O Lord a clean Heart and renew in us a right Spirit Do thou make us to love thy Law and to hate every false Way Cause us without delay to turn our Feet unto thy Testimonies and make us to delight in the way of thy Testimonies more than in all Riches O Lord rescue us we pray thee from the Bonds of our Beloved or habitual Sins save and deliver us from the Pollutions of a wicked World let us be blameless and harmless the Children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation Deliver us from all the Craft and Subtilty and from all the fiery Darts of the wicked One And let us never be hardened by the deceitfulness of any Sin We pray also O Lord for the Conversion of others as well as of our selves O Let thy Gospel run and be Glorified from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same and let many be turned from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God That the Dominion of the Enemy may be diminisht and the happy Kingdom of thy dear Son may be enlarged We especially pray for the good Estate of thy Catholick Church that thou wouldest purge out of it all that does offend thee and Grant that all who profess and call themselves Christians may hold the Faith in Unity of Spirit in the Bond of Peace and in Righteousness of Life Look in Mercy upon these Nations to which we belong forgive our crying Sins and turn us from every evil way Bless us with the continuance of pure Ordinances and with a mighty Efficacy and Effect of them for the promoting of Piety Righteousness Charity and Sobriety amonst us Bless we pray thee our most Gracious King and Queen our Subordinate Magistrates those that Minister to thee in Holy things amongst us and all Ranks and Degrees of Men besides make us to fear thee to depart from all Iniquity to serve to thy Glory and to the Happiness and Welfare of each other and defend us all from all foreign or domestick Enemies of our Peace We commend also to thy infinite Mercies all our Friends Relations or Enemies those that have done us kindness we pray thee O Lord abundantly to requite them and those that have done us any Injury Father forgive them Let thy Word which we have this day heard have power to sanctifie and cleanse us from all unrighteousness We humbly hope for the mercy we have sought of thee this Day and desire we may commit our selves to thy careful and gracious Providence this Night and for evermore Lord bless and keep us lift up the Light of thy Countenance and guide us by thy Counsel till thou hast brought us to thy Glory All we humbly ask upon the Merits of Jesus Christ beseeching thee to hear us for his Sake and further in his own Words saying Our Father c. The MEANNESS of THIS PRESENT LIFE Prov'd and Apply'd Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Job 14. 2. He cometh forth like
that it is kindly and exactly suited to our Natures and so is altogether fit to promote all our true Interests and our Happiness To comply with this is our Wisdom and Honour it is Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones it has length of days and good repute and Wealth and Peace to reward us with In keeping thy Commands there is great reward Blessed then are the undefiled in the Way who walk in the Law of the Lord. It is good for us to keep thy Precepts they are sweeter than Honey and the Honey Comb and more to be desired then Gold yea then much fine Gold they best adorn and accomplish us they are the Happiness of our Souls as well as of our Bodies they rectifie and compose the Mind they give us Peace and Strength within great Peace they have which Love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Then shall we never have occasion to be ashamed when we have respect unto all thy Commandments Thou art good O Lord and dost good O do thou teach us thy Statutes O that our Ways were directed to observe them Lord make us as early as we can to remember thee our Creator to remember and turn unto thee to consider and know and do the Duties which we owe to thee as such We have gone astray like lost Sheep Oh seek thou thy Servants and save us that we do not forget thy Commandments That we may never forget them or thee we pray thee to write thy Law in our Hearts and to put thy fear in our inward Parts for thy fear is a good Principle of this Wisdom of good and vertuous Living Make us to reverence thy Greatness and Glory which is so bright in all thy Works and so wonderful in the Creation of our selves for we Lord are fearfully and wonderfully made Make us sensible of thy continual Presence with us that thou dost thereby continue our Beings and observe our Actions we depend upon thee while we provoke thee we are in thy hand at all times to do with us whatsoever thou pleasest thou who art our Creator art the Supream and invincible Disposer of us O let us stand in awe that we may not sin against thee Make us concern'd to please thee who art the Fountain of our Beings and the bestower of all our Good that thou mayst delight in us to do us good and that we may according to thy Design in making us be happy O Lord forgive us we pray thee all our past wandrings from thee forgive us all our sins of negligence and ignorance and endue us we beseech thee with the Grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend our Lives according to thy Holy word Be reconciled to us by the Blood of thy Son Jesus through Faith in which we humbly seek thy Favour We pray thee turn from us all those Evils that we most righteously have deserved in time past and grant us hereafter to serve and please thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our Life Lord let us be planted in thy House and abide in the Communion of thy Church and there flourish like the Palm Tree and if we live to old Age let us be even then fruitful in good Works to thy Praise and Glory We make our humble Supplications to thee O Lord for all Men. Let the Earth be filled with Knowledge of the Lord as Waters cover the Sea Prosper thy Church and give it great encrease of all Grace and give it in thy due time Tranquillity and Peace deliver it from intestine Disturbance and outward Enemies We humbly implore thy mercy upon these Kingdoms in General Lord grant that all things well-pleasing to thee may flourish and abound among us and do thou by thy Almighty Providence watch over us and direct our publick Affairs for our good Particularly we pray for our most Gracious King and Queen Grant them in Health and Wealth long to live strengthen them to vanquish and overcome all their Enemies Teach us and all their Subjects duely to consider whose Authority they have and so to serve honour and humbly obey them in thee and for thee according to thy most Blessed word and Ordinance that so they may be the Ministers of God to us for good Do good to all amongst us beyond what we can ask or think Let thy Blessing upon the words which we have this Day heard make it to dwell and take root in us and bring forth Fruit even to an hundred fold And let the same Gracious mercy which has blest us this Day with things necessary for Life and Godliness watch over us this Night and give us safe and comfortable Rest and if it shall please thee to add still to our Lives make us steady and persevering in well-doing to the end of our Days all which we humbly crave in the Name of Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Our Father c. OF A Death-Bed Repentance SHEWING How unreasonable it is for any Man to rely upon it Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Numb 23. vers 10. Latter Part. Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his BAlaam a famous Sorcerer and Fortune-teller among the Midianites was sent for by Balak King of Moab to curse Israel when they were upon his Borders The Messengers came to him with this Complement from the King For I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed and he whom thou cursest is cursed Chap. 22. vers 6. Such an esteem had he raised of himself among the ignorant Heathens And very fain would the wicked wretch have done that which Balak desired for the sake of the wages of Iniquity which he loved This appears by his seeking of enchantments against Israel as he several times did as the 1st verse of the 24th Chapter intimates but it pleased God constantly to over-rule and hinder him And when he sought to utter his direful and mischievous Charms which before perhaps could blast the Fruits of the Earth and cause Thunder and Lightning and raise an Hurricane and throw down Buildings He can now do nothing of all this but the Spirit of God constrains him to utter only things honourable and favourable of Israel In a deep sence which this possest him with of the favour of God to that People and being so far enlightned for the present though against his Will as to understand that they should be happy not only in this Life but also in that to come if they would keep the Commandments of their God he therefore concludes his first Parable or sententious and prophetick Speech concerning them in the words of our Text Let
this case And now methinks this should be sufficient to deter any man from relying upon a Death-Bed Repentance especially any man that has time and opportunity in his hands to perform a more sure one This is at the best but an uncertain and uncomfortable one no man can tell whether it will be accepted of God or not because no man can certainly tell whether it be true or not And though a Sinner ought not to despair in such a case yet he can have but little and that a very wavering hope Such a one may be saved but neither he nor any one else can be assured that he shall be so There is so much ground of hope in this case as may encourage a wretched Sinner who has neglected himself all his days at his last hours to try what Repentance will then do for him it is the only remedy he has left and if that fail nothing will help him But there is not so much ground of hope as may give any man who is now in health any reasonable encouragement to put off his Repentance till that time Certainly it is very unreasonable for a man to build the Hopes of his Salvation upon that which cannot secure his Salvation to him To conclude If the Gospel affords any small encouragement to them that repent upon a Death-Bed yet it gives no man any at all to defer and put off his Repentance till then He is guilty of great folly and presumption that shall do so In this wilful deferring of our Repentance we do greatly provoke Almighty God not to grant us the benefit of this remedy at last How justly may God say to such a man then as Wisdom speaks Prov. 1 24 25 26. Because I have caled and you have refused I have stretched out my hands and you would not regard me but have set at naught all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh Now you shall call and I will not answer and though you seek me early you shall not find me He may most justly cut a man off in his Sins by a sudden Death and not give him any warning or space to repent He may very justly put an end to our days by some such Disease as shall hinder our Repentance He may very justly give a man up to a final hardness and so let him die in his Sins who would needs live in them And he may let the Sinners remorce and trouble be as his false heart enclines to make it but false and dissembled Such as cannot amount to a true Repentance and then all his Cries and Tears all his Vows and Protestations shall be vain and not accepted But he shall go to feel what he fears and from the torment of fearing that he is undone to that of finding he is so These things may in God's just Judgment befall him who had much time given him to repent in who was often called to it by Ministers and Friends and perhaps warned by some Afflictions but would needs put it off to the End of his Life And when God cuts off such a man in his carriere of Sin without giving him space to reform his Life it may well be suspected he has rejected all the Sorrows Vows and Protestations that attended his departure It is not a favour promised that a man shall have the grace of Repentance given him then who has refused it often before Though God out of his Sovereign grace may give a good and safe Death to him that has lived all his Life wickedly yet he has no where bound himself to this he has not given us any express or intimated allowance to depend upon or expect any such favour And then it is altogether unreasonable to expect it Lot us then to make sure that we shall die the Death of the Righteous repent while we are in health and may have time to prove the truth of our Repentance in a good Life and so to assure the acceptance of it with God Let us repent when we are called to it and when the grace of God is ready to assist us and to give us a true Repentance Let us endeavour to live the Life of the Righteous for as long time as we can before we come to die and then we shall be sure to make a good End Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace THE PRAYER O Most Holy and most righteous Lord our God the Judge and Governour of all the World thou lovest Righteousness and hatest Iniquity With shame and self abasement we present our selves before thee at this time who are vile Earth and miserable Sinners Who have broke thy Laws and done evil against thee what we could who have followed the corrupt Inclinations of our Natures and the evil Customs and Practices of the World rather than the way of thy just and good Commandments If we should say we have no Sin we should deceive our selves and the Truth were not us We therefore humbly confess our Sins before thee which it were in vain for us to endeavour to conceal from thee for we know that to the Lord our God belong Mercies and Forgivenesses tho' we have rebelled against thee Thou art he who delightest not in the Death of a Sinner but had rather that he should turn to thee and live We thank thee O Father of Mercies that thou allowest us the benefit of Repentance we bless thee for the great Propitiation Oh that Men would praise the Lord for his Goodness towards the Children of Men whom he has not excluded from all hopes of Favour and Mercy as he has done the Apostate Angels And we give thee most humbly and hearty Thanks O Lord for thy Goodness to us in particular who are here before thee In that thy Forbearance and Long-suffering does yet afford us space and time for Repentance that we are not now at this time among the Damned in Hell as we have greatly deserved to be that we have time allow'd us to consider our ways and turn our Feet unto thy Testimonies that we have space to secure our Repentance to practice it and to enjoy the Comfort of it to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance Lord if we are truely grieved for our Sins past we must needs be greatly desirous of leading a new and different course of Life from that we have sometime done Give us therefore we pray thee the Grace of true Repentance and let us have that to praise thee for added to all thy other Goodness towards us Make us to know in this our Day the things that belong to our Peace before they are hid from our Eyes suffer us not to harden our Hearts against the Invitations and Warnings of thy word Let all of us that are here present be seeking the Lord while he may be found and calling upon him while he is nigh and without delay