by the soul there is the light of the Word shining in every Christian Secondly It is embraced approved consented to there is the love of the Law in the heart of a Christian the heart closes with it and all that it requires as a good word and worthy of all acceptation A Christian doth not only accept the Promises of the Gospel as good words and comfortable words but can heartily write Good is the Word of the Lord upon every precept he likes his Duties as well as his Priviledges his work as well as his reward This cowardliness of heart is set forth in those expressions of a willing mind a ready mind a forward mind And as his heart is towards his works so is it for any work the Lord calls it to he hath respect to all the Commandments he would not be without one leaf no nor one line of the whole Word of God he is ready to every good work he would not have one duty abated to him of all that God hath required he would not have one sin allowed to him of all that God hath forbidden him He that sayes concerning any one word in the whole will of God This I must have struck out or be dispensed within it ere I can be a Christian his heart is not upright He that would have any one sin to be no sin any one duty to be no duty any one sin to be allowed him or any one duty to be abated him is no Christian 4. This inward habitual Holiness is such as beares the sway and hath the perheminence in the heart though sin be there still yet where there is true Grace sin is an underling and brought into captivity it hath lost that power and interest which it had in the Sould before and the heart is now given up to God the stream runs Heavenward the stream of the thoughts the stream of the affections run that way God and the way of Holinesse hath a greater share and greater power in the heart than all the world there is more love to God stronger resolutions for following God than can be ballanced by the highest interest of the flesh God and the World stand as two suâ—tors for the heart but God carries it from the world so that as before it followed the world with the neglect of God now it will follow God with the neglect of the World before it would it may be mind God and godliness as far as it could without prejudice to its worldly interest so far as it could with honour or ease or safety but now it will mind the world and its â—leâ—hly interest so far only as is consistent with godliness and a good conscience this is sincerity and the clearest and most certain evidence of it Can we imagin that we love God sincerely when we love the World better wheâ—â— we love our ease or credit or pleasures or carnaâ—â— friends better When these can do more with us and command farther than God and golry Matth. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me Luke 14. 33. Whosoever he be of you that forsake not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple If there be any certain unquestionable Truths in the whole Doctine of the Gospel this is one of them That whosoever hath true saving Grace hath more love to God and holiness than to all things else whatsoever Though it be controverted Whether common grace and saving grace do not differ more than indegree yet this is without controversie That saving grace doth contain in it an higher degree of love to God than to all things else 5. This inward habitual prevailing holiness where ever it is will infallibly bring forth this strict precise and holy life For First That holiness in the heart will bring forth holiness of life is as naturally certain as that he that hath the life and reason of a man will act as a man as that a root will bring forth such branches and fruit as partake of the kind and nature of the root as that a fig-tree will bring forth figs that an olive-tree wil bring forth olives Secondly It is as certain that according to the proportion of holiness in the heart such will be the proportion of it in the life if holiness bear the sway in the heart it will bear the rule in the life if that little good that is in the heart be held as an underling in the Soul thereafter will the â—ife be this is as certain as that the Soul governs â—he Body Thirdly It 's no less certain that the lowest deâ—ree of prevailing holiness in the heart will â—â—ring forth this precise holy life In the sense I â—ave described it that is though there be not â—erfect holiness brought forth though he that â—ath a lower degree of true grace fall much shorâ—er of that perfection than he that hath an highâ—er degree though there be many failings and wandrings and weaknesses and turnings aside to â—niquity through corruption and temptation yet thus far the lowest of Saints have arrived That his â—ims desires endeavours are after a perfectly holy â—ife he hath a respect to every Commandment â—o every Duty he doth not habitually allow himself in any iniquity there is some change in his course actually appearing and this he purposes to himself and sets his heart upon it to grow up dayâ—y to a more thorow and universal conformity to all the principles of godliness laid down before him â—n the Scriptures and made manifest in his consciâ—nce This is as certain as the two former He that is â—incere would be perfect in the true love of holiness is necessarily included a love and longing for it in the perfection of it He that loveth holiness for it self will love it most when it is most it self in its perfection and love and longing will infallibly bring forth labouring and following after Therefore 6. Whosoever is not truely a person of a precise life is certainly in the state of damnation This so clearly follows from the former Propositions that it needs no further proof He that is not inwardly habitually universally sanctified he that loves any thing more than God or godliness that is he that is not converted and new born and so beâ—come a new Creature is actually in the state of damnation and he who is not a precise walker is not thus converted new born or sanctified for whoever is made this new Creature will infallibly make it appear as hath been proved by this newness of life You see Beloved to what issue this matter is brought either you must take up this strict way of holiness or be reprobates from God Whosoever there be amongst you that have the most rooted enmity in your hearts against this holiness of life and have cast the greatest slight and contempt on it and those that thus live and as Michael did David do despise them in your hearts whoever among you are most
what case they were you may see in the foregoing part of the Psalm Thou hast cast us off thou makest us to turn our backs upon our Enemies and they that hate us spoyle for themselves thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours a scorn and derision to them that are round about us c. Though all this be come upon us yet have we not c. Our hearts are not turned back We do not repent of our choice we do not wish our selves back amongst the prosperous world we think never the worse of the Lord or his way we have as good a will to the Lord high an esteem of his waies as ever we had before we were thus afflicted there 's not the least abatement of our love and affection If we were now to begin again if we were now to choose whom we would serve and know as much as we do now we should make the same choice our heart runs out the same way and in the fame strength that ever it did those many waters that have run upon us have neither quenched no not so much as cool'd our love neither have our steps declined from thy way We have neither been turn'd back in our affection nor turn'd aside in our practise through the grace of God our hearts have been kept upright and we have made strait steps to our feet Dan. 6. 10. We read that when a Decree was made That whosoever should ask any Petition for thirty days space either of God or man save of the King should be cast into the Lions Den Yet Daniel would not forbear to pray to his God When he knew that the Writing was signed he went into his house and his Windows being open in his Chamber he kneeled upon his kneee Three times a day and Prayed c. Carnal men would have been ready to have said What a precise Fool was this Daniel What great matter was it that he stood so much upon it was not the committing a sin that he was urged to but only the forbearance of a Duty he was not required to fall down before an Image as the three Chrildren were or to worship any false God but to forbear for a time to pray to the true God If it had been the worshipping before an Image that had been required some would have reason'd thus Why what great matter had that been to bow in the house of Rimmon to bow before an Image or an Altar this is not praying to them There is a great difference betwixt worshipping an Image worshipping God before an Image What is there in all this But this which Daniel stands upon hath not so foul a face t was only the forbearance of his duty to God and that only for a time Was this such a crime to forbear praying for a few weeks for the saving of his life Or if he would needs pray he might have done it secretly and kept his devotion to himself Must he needs keep his hours and open his windows too Yea he must do it and he will do it Daniel would not only continue his course of Prayer but he would not give his Adversaries occasion to think that he was afraid to pray he held it his duty being called out to a confession of his Religion to let his Adversaries know that he had not such a slight and low esteem of it that he was afraid to trust his God with his safety whilest he continued in the exercise of his duty It 's true that in matters circumstantial such wherein there may be variation without prejudice to the substantials of Godliness such which are not against their consciences which they may submit to without sining against God here they are not stiff nor refractory but for peace sake in order to the gaining upon the hearts of others they are willing with the Apostle 1 Cor. 9. 20. To become all things to all men in such things wherein they can satisfie themselves they are willing as far as may be to gratifie the minds of others But for the Substantials of Religion the matters of Faith the matters of Righteousness and Holiness the worshipping of God in Spirit and Truth according to his own Ordinances and Institutions or any thing else of the same import with these here they are resolved whatever come upon them on become of them not to relinqâ—ish or be drawn aside from them by any solicitations whatsoever they must obey God rather than men they must follow God though therein they forsake and provoke all the world In matters which God hath left to their liberty they are willing to use their liberty according as it may be behooveful for the Gospel In matters that concern their personal interest as men they list not they ought not to be contentious spare them but the liberty to keep a good conscience give them leave to fear God and worship God give thâ—â— leave to be holy and righteous and to walk before the Lord in their integrity and for any thing else you may perswade them to it with ease But if you entice them away from their God or impose upon them to the prejudice of a good conscience you were as good spare you labour speak no more to them in such matters they are at a point God they will follow a good Conscience they will maintain whatever come on them to the end of their days Thus I have given you a description of the Scripture-Precisians which is summarily this They are the same with sincere Goly men men fearing God who are inâ—â—â—dly renewed after the Image of God who are adventurers for another world are gotten into the way of life and are walking on carefully heedfully in that way whoâ—e aim and endeavour is to live not according to the wills lusts of men but according to the Word and Will of God not according to honour and fancy but according to conscience A people that will neither make the way to Heaven narrower than 't is by being scrupulous and nice where God hath given them liberty nor will make it broader than 't is by taking up looser principles or allowing themselves in loose Practices A People that dare not adventuâ—â—â— their souls upon that easie formal careless outward way of Religion that the most do but are willing to make sure work by walking to the exactness of their Rule and living up to the height of their Principles and who in this holy course are stedfast unmoveable will neither be bribed off by the Flatteries nor beaten off by the Frowns of the world but will retain their integrity hold fast their holy Profession and hold on in their holy course and this to the death Concerning these men I shall now prove â—nd make evident to the Consciences of all impartial Petsons in the second place That they are no fools but truly Wise men In order hereto I must first discover what 's meant by Fools A Fool is a man void of
World to be found where then are Gods Children God hath no Child if this be so You must write the God of all the Earth childless a Father without a Childe a King without a People if these wise men be true men and true men you can very hardly call them who having robbed the King of Saints of all his Subjects and the Father of Lights of all his Children You see now to what a plain issue this matter is also brought If you be in the right in this thing then the Spirit of God must be unfaithful in his Office God must be false in his promise the Devil doth more to the damning than the spirit of God doth to the saving of souls and one of these two things will follow hence either that the Devil is of more might than the Almighty Spirit or that the God of love hath not so much love as the Devil hath malice and lastly that God hath no People in the world But it may be sinners you will yet reply Well We will grant that this is true that there are those that are led by the spirit and walk in the spirit but when you talk of so much Spirituality in Mortal men of such high notions as living in the fellowship of the spirit living in Heaven when you tell us of such Glorious light such Raptures of Joy such Extasies of Spiritual delights here are the Fancies These are the things which we cannot but account the foolish Dreames of deluded hearts And now you think you have hit at last But is not this it which you say The Spirit enlightens but gives no light The enlightned see no more than the blinde The Spirit renews men and yet they are not changed The Spirit leades the Saints and yet they follow him just as fast as those that have no legs The Spirit dwells in them and yet they have no more fellowship or acquaintance with him than those that never saw him The Spirit assists and yet gives no help The Spirit comforts and yet gives no joy but after all he hath done leaves them just as other men and whatsoever they pretend to have more is a meer cheat and delusion The sum of all comes to this The Spirit doth and yet doth not doth something some great thing and yet that something is just nothing But is there no such life of God wherein the Lord having gotten the chief interest in the heart hath also the Dominion of the life Is there no such life the main dealings and business whereof is the pleasing and honouring of God and the seeking that glory and honour which is from him Must God be an underling to the World and be put off with our spare hours which the World will allow him We were even as good down-right to profess we own no God at all or if we must have one a Baal or an Ashtaroth a Nisroch or a Molech an Oxe or a Calf may serve us well enough for a God a God to be so trampled on or to be said unto stand aside when ever the World hath any thing for us to do Is there no such Spiritual life the comforts whereof are Spiritual comforts the pleasures and delights Spiritual pleasures and delights Are there no delights in God who is a Well of Life and the Fountain of all Blessedness Have the Creatures their several sweetnesses issuing from them the Sun its light the Fire its warmth the Fig-tree its sweetness the Olive-tree its fatness the Fruits of the Earth their pleasant tastes and smell the Instruments of Musick their melodious Ayres and sounds to gratifie and please our senses and is the Fountain onely a dry and unsavory thing when the Cisterns are so fresh and full Have fleshly exercises their several pleasures are the labours of the Husband-man the Travels of the Merchant so strangely sweetned by the gain and in-come of them Are May-Games and Morrice-Dances Sports and Playes so delightsome to men that they will sell their Souls for such Pleasures and are they the Exercises of Religion onely that have no juyce nor sweetness in them Is it Godliness onely that hath no bud the stalk whereof yields no meat Or are the delights and comforts hereof such flashy and airy things that we cannot tell when we taste them whether we be awake or in a dream Once more consider the Scriptures How excellent is thy loving kindeness O God therefore the Children of Men put their trust under the shadow of thy Wings They shall be aboundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House and thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasures for with thee is the Fountain of Life and in thy light we shall see light Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee thy hearts desire Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time when their Corn and Wine increased with Joy shall they draw Water out of the Wells of Salvation Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory The peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts Let him that readeth understand do all these speak the life of Saints to be such a dry and dark and impleasant life Let me farther ask you these two Questions 1. Are there any delights in Heaven Is there any joy before the Throne and in the face of God Are there any pleasures at his right hand Doth the Tree of Life that stands in the midst of the Paradise of God yield any pleasant fruit Doth the Chrystal River that runs through the City of God yield any pleasant streams Are the exercises of glory blessing praises and singing Hallelujah Hallelujah are there any pleasure in these Speak Sinners what do you think are there any delights in Heaven 2. Is there not something of that heavenly joy and delight let down to the Saints here Whilest they bear a part in the same exercises have they not a little share in the same pleasure What means then the earnest of their inheritance which is given here The Apostle tells us Eph. 1. 13 14. that the Saints after they had believed were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise which is the earnest of our inheritance An earnest is a part of that whereof it is an earnest given in hand The earnest of our inheritance is a part of the inheritance Believe it Sinners Gods Earnest is no Jest God will not mock his Saints though you do As sinners to their cost so Saints to their comforts feel that Gods Earnest is in earnest As the Lord sometimes though more seldome causes some flashings of his wrath to flie out in the faces to kindle in the souls and burn in the bowels of some incorrigible sinners as an earnest of those everlasting flames prepared for them beginning their hell upon earth so doth he let fall some handfuls of that Harvest some drops of
of the soul Reading of the word is not the exercise of the eye onely but of the understanding Prayer is not an exercise of the tongue onely but of the heart it sets all the faculties of the soul on work it sets the several graces on work iâ— sets faith on work it sets hope and holy desires on work and grace kept in action will be by so much the more active and powerful in the whole course 2 In Duties we have an intimate converse with God Therefore they are sometimes called Our drawing â—igh to God Lev. 10. 3. I will be sanctified in them them that come nigh me Sometimes Our meeting with God Amos 4. 12 Prepare to meet thy God O Israel to meet with a Present as Jacob met his angry Brother to meet him with a Prayer and supplication Exod. 25. 32. There will I meet thee when the Saints go up to meet the Lord the Lord comes down to give them a meeting Sometimes Our visiting of God Isay 26. 16. In their trouble they have visited thee When God visiteth his people with a Rod they visit him with a Prayer when we come to Duty as we ought we put our selves under Gods eye we set the Lord before our face it 's necessary to the right performance of Duties that we have right and clear apprehensions of God deep impressions of the Majesty of God of his Omnipotence Omnipresence Holiness Goodness and Faithfulness upon our hearts This is required in that forementioned expression I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me Now what an influence will this have upon the upholding and carrying on the life of God in us to have daily such a sight of God before our eyes and such a sense of God upon our hearts 3 In Duties we obtain new supplies and fresh influences from God The flourishing state of a Christian is set forth Isay 58. 11. by a well-watered Garden and Jer. 31. 12. it is promised They shall come and flow together to the goodness of the Lord for Wheat and for Corn and for Wine and for Oyl And their soul shall be as a well-watered Garden Where observe these three things 1 That the watering of the soul is from the goodness of the Lord all the dews and showers of Grace are from above our Springs do not rise in our own Gardrns All my Springs are in thee 2 All the influences of the grace and goodness of the Lord are gotten down by your applying your selves to him in duty That is the meaning of that expression They shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord they shall assemble and come together to seek the Lord. 3 The People of God in their addresses to him in Duty though it be but for a supply of things temporal do get something for their souls They shall come for Wheat and for Wine c. And their souls shall be as a well-watered Garden We never come to pray for any temporal mercy and pray as we should but our souls are gainers thereby A Christian cannot come near the Throne of Grace for any thing bot his heart hath a share in the Blessing And there are three Reasons for it 1 A Christian never prays for temporal mercies but he hath some words or other to speak for his soul 2 Prayer whatever it be for is the souls drawing nigh to God and exercising it self on God And the soul never goes to God but it brings back something of God upon it even then when it may be denied the temporal mercy it seeks As when a Saint is praying for a Sinner and God will not hear him for that Sinner yet he loses not that Prayer but hath it returned into his own bosome So when the soul is praying for the concernments of the outward man though it be denied in its particular request yet its prayer shall not be lost to it self 3 Temporal merâ—ies obtained as a return of prayer are soul-blessings But now when the matter of our requests is particularly for our souls When Grace is that we come for when love and life and zeal and spiritual strength is that we come for when the watering of a dry and barren and the refreshing of a weary heart is that we seek for shall our souls then be sent bâ—rren and weary and empty away Our hearts are as Cisterns which however sometimes they may be full of water yet if there be not a supply from the Well the waters and the Cistern will waste and mud and at length dry away Duties are our labouring at the Pump which will keep the Cisterns full Isa 12. 3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the Wâ—lls of Salvation Christian thou complainest thy heart is barrâ—n and dead and dry and fit for nothing Why is there not a Well by thee where there is water enough to refresh and fill thee Why doâ—st thou no oftner let down thy Pitcher or labour at the Pump why art thou no oftner with thy God Thy heart wants watering get thee oftner to the Well more praying more fasting more conversing with Christ studying the Gospel searching and sucking the Promises would quickly get thee into a better plight He that is much with God is rich in grace Thou art not so much straâ—â—ned thou canst not be brought so poor and Iean and out of case but thou knowest where there is enough to fetch thee up again thou knowest where there is a Well that hath not onely water enough healing water but Wine and Milk and Honey enough but thou must go oftner for it if thou wilt have the benefit of it Go therefore and let down thy Pitcher and thou needest not fear its coming up empty Onely in exercising thy self in duty take heed thou mistake not the Pitcher for the Well take heed thou fix not thine eye on duty as if this were thy Christ thy Fountain out of which thou mayest be supplyed Duties are but the pipes it is the Lord that is the Fountain from whence all the water comes 4 Duties are our conflicting with corruption or striving against sin When ever we are striving with God we are thereby striving against sin Duty and sin contend for the Victory whilest Duty holds up sin goes down when Duty flags sin gets up Holy Prayer will make us weary of iâ—â—quity or our iniquity will quickly make such praying a weariness unto us it is not for the interest of the flesh to suffer the heart to be much in prayer or other duâ—ies and therefore we find for the whole Generation of carnal men a little of it must serve their turn There is no such way for Christians to be revenged on sin and to see their desires on this Enemy as to bring it before the Lord. They never fight against it with greater zeal or with more success then upon their knees When the sinner kneels in earnest before his God his lusts must quickly kneel to him our confession of sin
The Lord calls thee this day calls thee to return and repent that thine iniquities may be blotted out bethink thy self what answer thou wilt return Wilt thou hearken or not III. Head concerning Christ Direct 1. FIrst Consider what the Scriptures speak 1. Concerning the Excellencie of his Person John 1. 14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Heb. 1. 3. Who being the brightnesse of his Glory and the expresse Image of his Person 2. Concerning the Glorie of the Mystery of Christ Crucified Isa 53. throughout He is despised and rejected of men a man of Sorrowes and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him He was despised and we esteemed him not Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrowes yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God But he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisements of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like Sheep have gone astray and have turned every on to this way and God hath laid on him the iniquities of all He was oppressed and afflicted yet he opened not his mouth Col. 1. 27. To whom God will make known what is the riches of the Glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of Glory Phil. 2. 6 7 8. Who being in the Form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the forme of a Servant and was made in the likenesse of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross The Gospel is a Mystery full of wonders 1. There is a wonder of Righteousnesse and Severitie That God should not spare but punish Sin though upon his own Son 2. A Wonder of wisdome That God should being Light out of Darknesse Life out of Death that God should bring about the Rising of the World by the Fall of the Lord the Riches of the Word by the Povertie of their Lord the Fulnesse of the Saints by the emptinesse of the King of Saints 3. A Wonder of Mercy That God should harden his Heart against the Crie of his Son and open his Bowels to the cry of Sinners 4. A Wonder of Love Love in the Father in giving his Son Love in the Son in giving himself his blood his life his Soul a Ransom for sin and all this for Worms Traytors Enemies Direct 2. Ask thy heart these Questions Quest 1. Oh what monster is sin What an Hell what a bottomless pit is it of malignity and wickednesse that none but God can expiate or purge it away that God cannot do it but by taking flesh that God manifested in the flesh could not purge away sin but by suffering that no suffering would serve but Death that no death could serve but such a cruel and cursed death Oh what a Monster is Sin that must have such blood the blood of God to take it away Quest 2. What strange Love is the Love of Christ 1. Strange in regard of the fruit and benefit of it All that Holinesse and Beauty that my Spirit is cloathed with all that peace and joy that possesses my heart all my glorious hopes and expectations for hereafter all that difference that is betwixt my state and the state of Cain Judas and the whole reprobate World this is the Love of Christ Where had I now been had it not been for the Love of Christ 2. Strange Love in regard of the fervency and ardency of it and that not onely to the whole generation of the Elect but to my Soul in particular To expresse this ask this one Question farther What if Christ had done and suffered all this for me alone What if there had been but one Sinner in the World and I had been that Sinner and Christ should have come down from Heaven cloathed himself with flesh giving himself to death given such a glorious Gospel sent forth such a multitude of Ambassadours to preach to to convert and save this one Soul this my Soul this had been strange love Such is the love of Christ to every Elect person that if there had been but one Sinner Christ would have done and suffered all this for one sinner rather then he should have perished Quest 3. Is Christ mine Have I a share in the Gospel is my name written in the Lambs Book All are not Israel though Christ died for all yet all are not made alive by him There are many from whom the Gospel is hid there are many that have rejected the Gospel that have put from them the Word of Life Whilest there are such multitudes that are lost and perish for ever is my Soul found found in Christ Hath he that hath died for me drawn me to himself Hath he that hath given me a liberty to lay hold on him given me a heart to lay hold on him Hath he given me his Spirit in my heart to sanctifie and cleanse me from my sins If I have not the Spirit of Christ in me I am none of his Vnless I wash thee thou hast no part with me If he be not mine then Quest 4. What may I doe to get Christ to be mine May I have him without seeking him Can I live by Christ without coming to Christ believing repenting and following of Christ is this ignorance this idleness is this earthly this Carnal course I take is this loose and vain life I live is this the way to get an interest in Christ if Christ be mine then Quest 5. How may I walk worthy of Christ Is it not by being made conformable to him Conformed to his image by being holy humble and meek Conformed to him in his obedience chearfully and readily doing the Will of God Conformed to him in his sufferings by being content to be brought down and laid low and made vile for his Name Conformed to his Resurrection and Ascension that this poor Soul which hath descended with Christ may also ascend with him Ascend in holy desires and affections ascend in holy praises and acknowledgements confessing to him Worthy is the Lamb that waâ— slain to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and blessing for thou hast redeemed my Life from Death and Crowned me with loving Kindness and tender Mercies IV. Head concerning the vanitie and miserie of a worldlie life BY a Worldly life understand any course or way of life which is short of a godly life That which the Apostle calls Ephes 2. 2. The course of this World Such a life the main business care and delight whereof lies in the managing our Worldly affairs and interests in buying selling working trading to get together this worlds good The main comfort whereof stands in
true heart Heb. 10. Let us be undâ—filed or upright in the way of the Lord Psal 119. 1 Let our works be found perfect before him Let us love in truth let us speak the truth in love let all our paths be mercy and truth Let our hearts be in every word in every step of our lives let the heart do all let the heart pray let the heart hear let the heart give and lend and forgive Let the grace of our hearts do all Let Faith pray and Obedience hear and Repentance celebrate our Fasts Let wisdom guide let Truth speak let Mercy give let Love forgive let Patience bear and Long-suffering forbear let Temperance feed us Humility cloath us and integrity preserve us Let Grace do all and let God have all let Pride have nothing Covetousness nothing and Envie nothing let Lust neither bear a part in our doings nor eat any of the fruit of our doing Let there be written on all we have or do Holiness to the Lord. Let us be more desirous to be holy than to be acounted so to be merciful and just and humble and patient than to be accounted such to have a good conscience in the sight of God than to obtain a name amongst the best of men If we be not reckoned amongst the ablest Christians for Gifts for Parts and Endowments let it content us that we are Christians If we be not the most skilful Christians if our fruits be not the fairest and most beautiful yet let them be fruits brought forth unto God the right fruit sound fruit If what we do be weakly done yet let it be â—onestly done Let us be Nathaniels Israelites indeed in whom is no guile So plain-hearted and single-hearted in all our ways that though our Adversaries do yet neither our God nor our consciences may call us Hypocrites Let us be able to appeal to God as the witness of our integrity Lord thou knowest that I love thee thou knowest that my heart is with thee Let us be able to commit our selves and our waies unto the Lord as he that shall plead for us against all the slights and censures of men My God shall plead my cause my God shall answer for me Brethren Sincerity will give us boldnesse before the Lord We shall be able to lift up our faces in his Presence and look in his Face in peace and he that can be bold with God may be bold with all the world He that can look God in the Face may look his accusers in the face his Despisers and Persecutors in the face He that can freely appeal to God can boldly appear before men The sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulness surprizeth Hypocrites The sense of their guilt and guile sides with every danger that they are in strengthen 〈◊〉 very feer that comes upon them makes their own hearts to fall upon themselves puts a sting into every cross starves them out of all their comforts To God they dare not look to Conscience they dare not remember they are forsaken of all their supports and left to shake and sink under every trouble that comes upon them 'T is innocency that hath boldness dare to be upright and fear nothing Go thy way ear thy bread with joy drink thy wine with a merry heart for God accepteth thy works II. Be steady and even in all your goings Be not off and on in and out Prov. 4. 24 26 27. Prov. 33 17. Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long Alone in company at home abroad in thy duties in thy business in thy recreations all the day and every day let tomorrow be as this day and next day as to morrow In this evenness and equality of our lives stand the beauty and comlinesse of them when all the several parts of them bear their due proportion each to other Let your wayes be conform to the Canon and let them be uniform be like unto God and then be ever like your selves be unchangeable We appear almost so many men as we live daies or come into companies We have more of the Moon than of the Sun little light but many changes and spots Let not your conversation be so checker'd let not Christians be speckled birds let there not be so many black among your whites sometimes something of God sometimes as much of the flesh What a deformitie is it to a new Garment to have here and there a companie of old rotten patches Now a little of God and then as much of the Devil now serious in the Spirit and then in the flesh now serious and savourie by and by frothie and vain this hour in a Divine Rapture and the next in a fleshly frolick now a little of Godliness and then a patch of sensualitie Be Christians â—â—nd be ever your selves do not change your Hearts with your Companie Be not of those vain ones who can cast themselves into any shape can suit themselves to any Times or Companies Who can weep with those that weep and mourn with them that mourn and pray with them that pray and can also laugh and be merry and jolly with those that are so Let all your goings be established be ever in the fear of the Lord. III. Be fruitful That ground is counted fruitful which bringeth forth good Fruit and which bringeth forth much Fruit. I have alreadie directed you how to bring forth good Fruit now let me presse you to see to it that your Fruits do abound 1 Cor. 15. 58. Alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord. Jam. 3. 17. The wisdom which is from above is pure and peaceable c. and full of good fruit John 15. 18. Here in is my Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit Rom. 6. 19. As you have yeilded your members servants to uncleannesse and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to Righteousnesse unto Holiness You have been the servants of sin be ye now the servants of Righteousnesse and be ye as free and as forward and as fruitful in the service of righteousnesse as ever you have been in the service of sin You have added sin to sin unrighteousnesse to uncleaness iniquity to inquity A sin hath abounded and multiplied its fruits sâ—â— let grace also abound and bring forth its fruits abundantly Let your lives be as much filled up with the works of righteousnesse and mercie and holinesse as they have been with the works of the flesh Brethren time was when a little sin could not suffice you a little sporting a little pleasure would not serve your turn you thought you would never have enough of the world and the lusts and vanities of it why prove your selves now to be as heartily the servants of Christ as ever you were the servants of sin by being fruitfully his as ever you were fruitful to sin If Christ be a better Master and a better Pay-Master let him have more and more chearful services Bring forth good fruits and
Oh Christians how many poor are there that fit down by their poverty who if they starve yet will not beg their emptiness hath taken away their Appetites These are sad Souls 't is a sad sight to behold a company of hunger-bitten Souls sit weeping and sighing seeking after the Bread and Water of life and finding none but to see empty and yet not hungry fainting and yet not panting Souls to see Souls even dying away for want and yet not desiring or craving a supply this is a much sorer spectacle A starving thirstless Soul is next to a Ghost Well if ever such Souls find who never seek water 't is more than God hath promised 'T is they that seek water to whom God will open a River 6. VVhatever difficulty there be to furnish the hungry Saints with a sufficiency of Provision yet one way or other it shall be done I the Lord will hear I the God of Israel will not forsake them Upon me be all their wants I am God and can I am their God the God of Israel and will provide for them They must and shall be provided for whatever course I be put to take I must not see them starve The Lord will not be wanting to them If his VVord be not heard his VVorks shall speak if Preachers cannot Providence shall preach to them if their friends cannot their enemies their stripes their wounds their rods shall instruct them Thy Rod and thy Staffe comfort me If they have no other the Sun Moon and Staâ—â— the Fouls of the Air the Beasts of the Field shall be their Prophets and Apostles If any should fail yet the Spirit of the Lord shall not fail to be their Teacher and Comforter 2. Extraordinary means have more in them than ordinary and no means more than means 1. Extraordinary means when ordinary cannot be had are sweeter and better feeding to the Saints than ordinary would be The less of the Creature the more of God the less of common Providence the more of special Grace Water out of the Rock was more precious than out of the River the Manna of the Wilderness was to them that understood it better than the Milk of Canaan Elijah never made better meales than what he got out of the Ravens mouth I have heard of a woman in great distress of Soul who received comfort when the Word was brought her by the mouth of a Child which she had failed of receiving from the mouthes of many excellent Ministers 2. No means often prove better than means when I say no means I do not understand simply none meanes they shall have of one kind or other their understandings their memories their secret duties Prayer Meditation c. but by no meanes I understand nothing from without no Ordinances Friends Societies Books c. Gods feeding of a Soul more immediately is much sweeter then when he sends provision by the hands of another the Samaritans hearing of Christs words from his own mouth was much more to them than the same words reported by the woman Duâ—cius ex ipso fonte Water is the purer the nearer the Fountain the Bread that comes down from Heaven is better Bread than that which grows up out of the Earth though that be originally from Heaven also By how much the more immediately our comforts come from Heaven by so much the more they have of Heaven in them If upon the failing of publick Communion it bâ— made up so much the more in secret sure the Saints have no reason to complain And whether this be not so let the Prisons into which the Saints have bin sometimes cast the Wilderness into which they have been sometimes banished let Elihu's Songs in the night Peters Pauls Silahs Songs in the Prison in the Stocks stand forth and testifie If Prison joyes and exile comforts have not been often both fuller and sweeter to them than when they have rolled in Manna and lived in the fulness and freedom of all helps and means then not a few Christians have either mistaken or mis-reported their experiences To pretend to live above Ordinances whilest God affords them is a wickedness that some men have to repent of but where God denies them he doth he will provide a better subsistance without them Now lay all this together and then you will see that even this also this most grievous of Judgements the famine of the Word when-ever it befalls shall work for good to those that love God Christians chear up your hearts whatever drought or dearth may fall upon the World your are provided for you shall have enough If the shours fail without you have within you that which shall spring up to eternal life If your streams should be dryed up if your Pastures should be trodden down you have a God that will be both your Pastor and Pasture If the River fail you the Rock shall supply you what you want in ordinary you may look to be made up in extraordinary means The drying up of the waters shall but drive you up to the Spring-head If ever the Stars fail you God shall but exchange Star-light for Sun-light while there 's light in the Sun you shall not walk in darkness See but to this make sure that this God is yours and he must find out a comfortable feeding for you if you can but say Davids first words after him The Lord is my Shepherd you may then with confidence say the whole Psalm after him I shall not want he will make me to lie down in green Pastures he will lead me by the still Waters though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil thy Rod and thy Staff shall comfort me Thou shalt prepare me a Table in the presence of mine Enemies Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever 2. There is another Objection that seems to have one difficulty in it Suppose a Saint to fall into Distraction and thereby to be deprived utterly of the use of his Reason and so to live and die How can it be imagined that this can work for his good either in this World or in the World to come Can any good arise out of an incapacity of any longer doing or receiving good or patiently suffering Evil Can either his Grace here or his Glory hereafter be increased or advanced by a mans being converted into a meer Bruit 1. There 's no doubt at all but this may make for the Churches good Is there nothing that others may learn out of such a sad Providence If others may reap good by my evil is it nothing to me May it not be said to be good for any particular Saint to bear the soarest affliction by which the Church may have benefit He hath not much of a Saint to whom if it were afore-hand proposed whether for the benefit of the Church he would be content if
compassionately that I might the better win upon them 3. Concerning Providences Q. 1. Have I diligently observed all the remarkable Providences of God towards me especially such as have come in as the returns of Prayer 2. Have I been thankful for my daily mercies 3. Have I born this dayes crosses 14. Concerning the use of your Liberty Q. Have I kept my self far enough within my bounds In Sum Q. 1. What have I done for God or my Soul this day have I not lost one day more 2. Have I led this day A Diligent Watchful Self-denying Life Directions for the Morning 1. If through necessity or carelesness you have omitted the reading and weighing these Questions in the Evening be sure to do it now 2. Ask thy self What Sins have I committed What duties have I omitted Against which of these Rules have I offended the day fore-going And renew thy repentance and double thy watch 3. Examine whether God were first and last in thy Thoughts Morning and Evening 4. Be careful to set thine ends right for all the day An Advertisement If you want time to make daily enquiry upon every one of the fore-mentioned particulars they being so many set a mark upon or write out such of them as most especially concern your case and let not them be forgotten Think not thy self excused from this course because 't is too long when if need be thou mayst thus make it shorter Better cut short than wholly give out For the help of the weaker I shall gather out these few of the chief Interrogatories which when they are straitned for time they may only use and to which they may add more as they have occasion and opportunity Q. 1. Was I serious and had I any sensible Communion with God this day in my secret and Family Duties 2. Hath it been my care to keep mine heart in an holy Frame from Duty to Duty 3. Have I been much in holy Ejaculations 4. Have I not given liberty to the working of Pride sinful Anger Discontent or Impatience nor so much as to vain thoughts 5. Have I not inordinately minded earthly things 6. Have I kept me from Mine iniquity and not lived in any known sin 7. Have I wronged no man in word nor deed 8. Have I been temperate and self-denying in the use of the Creatures 9. Hath the Law of the Lord been much in my mouth 10. Have I not sent Christ away without an Alms when I had it by me 11. Have I not lost an opportunity of doing or receiving good 12. Have I not neglected nor done any thing against my duty to my Relation 13. What have I done for God or my Soul this day have I not lost one day more 14. Have I been diligent and watchful Christian here is a course prescribed which by the ordinary assistance which the Lord doth not deny you may take up if you will and which if you conscientiously observe will be without doubt through the blessing of God attended with great success And those that do not take up this course or some other equivalent to it let them never think to ease their hearts by idle complaints I can't attain to such a holy even fruitful heavenly life as I desire I would but I cannot God will abhor such lazy complaints and look upon them as they are a meer device to keep you quiet under a slothful heart Set your whole Duty daily before your eyes charge it upon your hearts take an account of your selves how you discharge it set upon it as that which is no other than you have vowed to the Lord commit your selves and your wayes to him for success and if this doth not mightily conduce to advance you in point of holiness and establish you in point of peace then say that both the Precepts and Promises of the Gospel have deceived you And thus I have set before you that holy conversation which becometh the Gospel Take up this holy course let this be your Life you mean to lead and let it be carried on In an holy Union In an United Contention In an Holy Boldness 1. In an holy Union So the Apostle there adds stand fast in one spirit with one mind Never look to thrive in Grace if you do not live in peace The decays of Christianityly much upon the score of the divisions of Christians The Devil hath also taken up that Maxim Divide Impera Rent them and ruine them The reason why our Love is so cold is because our Differences are so hot The reason of so little zeal against sin hath been the great strife among Brethren The combinations of Sinners have not so much prejudiced the power of holiness as the contentions of Saints There are not a few who go under the name of Saints that have maintained disputes about Religion so long till they have disputed themselves out of all Religion their searching for truth hath been the loss of both love and life Christians if ever you would be any thing be one be of one heart of one mind holding the unity of the spirit in the bond of Peace It were greatly to be desired that the people of God were both of one heart and of one way But if this may not be if there cannot be Vniformity yet let there be Vnity betwixt all that fear the Lord in truth A few words I shall leave with you for your direâ—â—on herein 1. Divide not from the Head to unite with any pretended Members hold not with them that hold not with the Head Sell not Truth clear fundamental Truth to buy Peace 2. Divide not from real Members lest you hereby prove your division from the Head Christ hath but one body if you be not in union with the body you are divided from the Head 3. See the Head in every Member see Christ in every Saint 4. Prize Christ where-ever you see him Love Christ and love his Image if you will not slight Christ slight not any Saint See'st thou an humble mâ—â—â— patient broken-hearted self-denying mortified Christian in whatsoever unpleasing form as to matters circumstantial he appears despise him not reject him not 5. Prize Peace and Union aâ— the strength and honour of the body 6. Pursue Peace and Union with the utmost strength of thy soul And that you may obtain it 1. Let all parties that are named of Christ be humbled under former Divisions What peace so long as God is angry Oh how have we provoked the Lord by provoking one another Let him only who hath been without sin in this matter be without sorrow and shame Sure they are hard hearts who are not broken under such breaches Let us not mistake our selves nor mis-call that zeal for God which God will call pride and peevishness I speak not against our being offended either with errour or iniquity we may not call evil good or darkness light for peace sake but at our unreasonable passions against whom we suppose erring Brethren If
testimony of their own Consciences This is our rejoycing the testimony of our Consciences 2. A witness in the world Ye are witnesses your eyes have seen what our lâ—fe hath been be but true witnesses and then be you witnesses speak but what you have seen and speak the worst among you that believe the world will be ready to say you are too crafty to let us know what you do in secret when you are amongst your selves I but says he let them that believe speak those that have been with us publickly and privately what our conversation hath been if it be said they are of your own party and will not speak all they know then he appeals to a third witness a Witness in Heaven and God also he that seeth things before whom are all our ways he that seeth all things seeth our integrity and blamelesseness But here that I be not mistaken I must distinguish betwixt their aims or what they are pressing and reaching towards and their attainments or what they have reached to The aims of these cricumspect Christians in their whole course are at perfection Phil. 3. 14. I press towards the mark they would keep their way without the least wandring they would not tread one step awry they would not speak one word amiss they would not think one thought amiss they would not neglect any one duty nor commit any one sin but would be what the Apostle would have them to be Holy and harmless the children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked generation These are their Aims and as to their Attainments though they fall short of their desires they cannot do as they would The good that I would I do not yet they do their best they follow the Lord with the best of their understanding serve the Lord with the best of their strength and when they have done their best they mourn and grieve that 't is no better That I may more distinctly open this exact and upright walking in the way of the Lord which their hearts are set upon I shall consider it 1. As it hath respect to the Commandment 2. As it hath respect to Conscience 1. Their exact walking as it hath respect to the Commandment stands 1. In having respect to every Commandment to the whole Word of God Psal 119. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Mat. 28. 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you The life of a Christian is a busie life the Words of God finds us much work to do we have work for every faculty and member our understandings have their work our wills affections consciences tongues ears eyes hands have all their particulars works assigned them every grace hath its work faith hath its work love hath its work patience hath its work every lust makes us work to restrain deny watch crucifie them these are weights and clogs that will hang on and will hinder us from all other works if we let them alone these are working against us continually and apt to set us on work against our selves a working mischief and ruine to our souls if they be not continually looked to and kept under We havâ— work against us for every condition our prosperity finds us much work to keep our selves humble heavenly watchful in an holy fear and jealousie lest the contentments and pleasures of this life make an invasion and inrode upon our hearts and spoyle us of our graces and comforts Our afflictions find us work to keep our spirits from sinking and fainting from murmuring and envying at those whose way doth prosper We have all the set and solemn duties of Religion to attend upon we have praying work and hearing work and Sacrament work and reading work and heart-searching work and meditating work We have work to be done for others our neighbours and acquaintance our friends and our enemies our families our servants our children we have not only work to do for them as men but work to do for God with them God hath work for us to do among our neighbours God hath work for us to do in our families and for our friends and enemies instructing work reproving work praying work works of mercy and charity c. we have a continual succession of work every day hath its businesse Christians must have no sleeping dayes their very Sabbaths must be working dayes we must be at work for our souls even on those dayes wherein we must do no bodily work There remains a rest for the People of God such a rest wherein they shall work no more nor be weary any more wherein all their work shall be to eat of the fruit of their doings but on this side that rest there is no rest but we must be full of labour You see the Word hath provided much work for Christians now those that are circumspect and upright and in the way will be through pac'd and stick at nothing the Word requires they 〈◊〉 for any service ready for every good work they will not pick and choose they will not halt or baulk with God but as the Apostle Col. 4 10. Endeavour to stand compleat in all the Wills of God Those duties that have most pain in them those duties that have most hazard attending them those duties that have the greatest contrariety to their natural temper and dispositions if they be duties if the word sayes This must be done this is that which the Lord requires an upright heart will yield and stoop to them Brethren if there be any one thing required in the whole Book of God that you cannot consent to but allow your selves in the ordinary neglect of concerning which you say with Naaman The Lord spare me in this one thing whatsoever else you do you can have no comfort that your hearts are upright 2. In having respect to the most spirituall and inward part of the Commandment the Commandment contains fugienda and facienda sins to be avoided and duties to be performed and both these are either outward or spiritual 1. As there are outward sins to be avoided sins of the mouth sins of the eyes ears hands so there are inward sins spiritual wickednesses evil thoughts Jer. 4. 14. unclean lusts Mat. 5. 28. inordinate affections an evil conscience and the like now sincere Christians have an eye to and hold a strict hand upon these spiritual wickednesses 〈◊〉 to have their consciences purged their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience their affections and lusts mortified Gal. 5. 24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections an lusts their care is not only that they be no drunkards or swearers nor lyars nor railers nor oppressors nor of proud froward fretful impatient carriages and behaviours but they would not covet they would not lust they would not be of proud impatient fretful envious unpeaceable hearts they would not that an evil thought not a vain thought should
all its advantages preferments pleasures in its greatest Sun-shine of outward prosperity and glory And he is not a godly man he is not of the Psalmist's Spirit that is not able to say Give me this poor despised godly life before the most flourishing life of worldlings 3. Mark 3. Whosoever hath true Grace doth actually live a godly life The tree is best known by its fruits the sincerity of our purposes by our performances If you think you have chosen a godly life and yet do not live a godly life it is a sign you are mistaken and have not sincerely chosen it 1 John 3. 7 10. He that doth righteousness is righteous he that doth not righteousnese is not of God There is a two-fold Righteousness and there is a two-fold doing Righteousness First There is a two-fold Righteousness Righteousness is taken 1. In a strict sense for Justice properly so called which stands in the due observation of that Rule Whatsoever you would that men should do to you do you eâ—en so to them 2. In a larger sense for Holiness or an universal rectitude of all our actions To live according to our Rule the whole Word of God is to live righteously In this Scripture it is taken in this latter and larger sense He who carries himself holily and unblameably both in the things pertaining to God and also in the things pertaining to men he doth righteosness Secondly There is a two-fold doing Righteousness 1. In a Legal sense which stands in an exact obeying and fulfilling the Law And thus there is none righteous no not one because thus there is none that doth righteousness 2. In an Evangelical sense A walking uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel A sincere endeavour to observe all things which the Lord hath commanded us For the further clearing whereof I must make use of a two-fold distinction 1. I must distinguish betwixt a single good action and a series of good actions It is not one or a few single good actions but a continued course of holy actions that denominates us holy As there is no man so holy who doth not sometimes fall into sin so there are few men so wicked who do not sometimes fall in with that which is good and as every sin which a godly man through infirmity falls into doth not presently denominate him ungodly so neither will a few good actions done by another man prove him godly 'T is what the course and tenour of the life that must be diligently observed A godly man makes godliness the business of his Life Religion is a Christians trade and you may well call it his trade upon a double account 1. It is his living and livelihood men live upon their trades a mans trade is his maintenance his bread and his cloaths and his lodging all comes in from his trade Godliness is a Christians whole living he prayes and he lives by praying he believes and he lives by faith he loves and he lives by love all the supports succours comforts of this life come in this way A Christians livelyhood is all laid up in Christ and in the exercises of godliness he gets it down into his Soul Take away from a Christian his Religion take away Faith and Prayer and Hope and Love and the Labours and Exercises of them and you leave him a poor man indeed take away his house and his means and yet he lives take away his bread and yet he lives but take Faith and Hope and Prayer c. from him and he dies 2. Godliness is the business of his life A mans trade is his constant work not the exercise of now and then a day or an hour upon occasion but it is his every dayes work Godliness as it is a Christians daily bread so it is his daily work Judge not thy self by what thou art in some few Holy dayes of thy life when perhaps by falling into affliction or into some good society or being present at some good Duty or Ordinance thou seemest for a fit to be another man than thou art at other times Judge not thy self to be what thou art when thou art not thy self when thou art but in a fit but see what the trade and ordinary way of thy life is he that in his ordinary course does righteousness he is righteous 2. I must distinguish betwixt a Christians actions and his care about his actions the Holy actions of some that are really Godly especially of young beginners may be but few in comparison but their care is more continued what the Apostle saith of unmarried persons is true of all Christians every soul that is married to the Lord careth how to please his Husband though I do nor say that all carelesness doth conclude we have no grace yet this I say it is more than careless Christians can tell whether they have any grace or no though such may have grace yet they can have no assurance He that finds that the great care of his life is how to please the Lord is of God Try your selves by this Mark also do not enquire only about your affections what your desires are or what your joyes are what your comforts are or what your peace is but what your paths are when all comes to all this is the surest mark He that doth Righteousness is Righteous he that doth not Righteousness is not of God Put all these together and whosoever there is of you that is thus willing to part with sin doth thus esteem and hath thus chosen a godly life above all other lives and hath this attested by his actual care in his ordinary course to please God Oh! be thankful and bless God for ever there is that work of Grace begun in thy soul that doth undoubtedly prove thee to be of God and in the State of Salvation Having faithfully tryed your selves by these certain and infallible marks and proved your selves to be in the state of Grace for I would advise you to bring your trial to a clear judgment then proceed in the next place to examine 2. Whether you be in a thriving and flourishing estate or no whether you have made a comfortable progress in holiness or whether you be at a stand or behind hand To help you in this I shall only give you these two or three short directions 1. Compare your selves with your selves your present state with your former state Look back and consider what you were or have been at any time since you first believed and then see what ground you have gotten or lost 2. Compare your state with your time that you have had and your means and opportunities and the several talents that you have received See if your stature in grace be answerable to your standing if you are of seven or ten or twenty yeares standing in the Vineyard of the Lord consider if you also be of so many years growth See if your reckonings you have to bring in be answerable to your receipts
parting prayer The Lord be with you the God of peace be with you yet I cannot turn this prayer into a Promise nor give you any assurance that the God of Peace will be with you These things premised I shall now give you the full proof of the Doctrine in the following Reasons The Doctrine you remember is Those that obey the Gospel whatsoever or whomsoever they want shall ever be in a peaceful and blessed Condition The Reasons are 1. The God of peace shall be with them 2. If God be with them all things whatsoever befall them shall make for their good Reas 1. The God of Peace shall be with them these things do live in the obedience of the holy Doctrine which you have received and the God of Peace shall be with you This glorious Promise is pregnant with all the blessings that Heaven and Earth can afford If you ask why what is there in it I demand of you What is there in God God is in the Promise all that is in God is here assured to the Godly The Philosophers of old attained to some glimmerings of the excellencies that are in God by these 3. wayes 1. Per viam Negationis conceiving of him as a Being removed from all things signifying imperfection as ignorance impotence iniquity corruptibility composition alteration or any limits or bounds of this Essence Power and Glory 2. Per viam causalitatis conceiving of him as the Fountain of all other Beings and thence concluding that whatsoever Excellencies or perfections are scattered up and down in the whole Creation are all united in him from whom they had their Originall 3. Per viam eminentiae by way of Excellency so that whatever perfections whatever goodness is to be found in any Creature though it be not to be found in God formaliter yet there is that in him he being the first cause of all that doth infinitely superabundantly answer them all Though there be not the same Specifick Excellencies in him nor those very pleasures and delights issuing from him which the creatures yield yet there are such Excellencies such perfections as transcend and surpasse them all The Scripture tells us more positively and plainly that God is Almighty Omniscient Omnipresent Infinite Eternal Unchangeable All-sufficient Holy Righteous Gracious the Portion the Protection the Rewarder yea the exceeding great Reward of them that diligently seek him And this is he that is in the promise God is in the promise I must not enlarge in this spacious Field I shall keep nearer the Text and shall confine my self to these four particulars 1. God is in the Promise as the God of Peace as the Authour and bestower of Peace The greatest of Blessings is the Blessing of Peace Peace hath all blessings included in it It hath possession fruition and security it hath plenty pleasure and safety where there 's no peace there 's no security for the holding nor opportunity of enjoying what we have Whatever we have we have it as if we had it not Peace is the greatest of Blessings Peace with God is the most glorious of Peace What is there that 's excellent what is there that 's desirable that is not comprehended in this Peace with God Where there 's Peace there 's Pardon guilt cannot consist with this Peace being justified by Faith we have peace with God Where there 's Peace there 's Grace and holiness there 's no Peace saith my God to the wicked Where there 's Peace there 's Love and good will As love so peace is the union no lesse then this the Almighty God bears you good will These two peace and good will are Twins On earth peace good will towards men Where there 's peace there 's life everlasting ife Internal is the seed of eternal peace This peace is a Portion peace with God is our possession of the God of Peace This Peace is a Sanctuary if the God of Peace be with us the Peace of God will keep our hearts Christians in the World you must have trouble suppose you have yet in him you shall have peace who hath overcome the World Isa 26. 5. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace in peace peace as 't is in the Original whose mind is stayed on thee Psal 85. 8. I will hear what the Lord God will speak he will speak peace to the People and to his Saints What a clattering is there in the World what tumults and commotions are raised about the followers of Christ as if the World were falling about their eares The Devil speaks wrath evil men speak death and bonds to them breathing out threatnings reproaches persecutions against them In the midst of all this fearful noise I 'le hearken saith the Psalmist what the Lord God will speak Whatsoever men or Devils speak I 'le hearken if the Lord God speak at the same rate Oh no he will speak peace to his Saints Let the Sons of contention do what they can the Sons of God shall be the Sons of Peace they shall live in peace they shall dye in peace they shall dwell in peace for ever Isa 32. 17 18. The Work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the effect of Righteousness shall be quietness and assurance for ever And my People shall dwell in a peaceable Habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places Oh how great is the peace that they have who love thy Law Christians fear not to follow God let not that sad word nor the fulfilling of it scare you out of your duty All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution What if they do whilst you are able to say I am persecuted but I have peace I am poor but I have peace In a Prison but I have peace in a Wilderness but I have peace though all the World be against me God is at peace my Soul is in peace what discouragement should all that be to you 2. He that is the God of peace is the God of power He promises peace and he promises no more than he can perform He can create peace he can make their enemies to be at peace with them He can make a league for them with the Beasts of the field with the Lions with the Wolves with the most brutish among the people He can say to the proud Winds and Waves peace be still and they obey him He can give them rest from the dayes of adversitie he can give them rest in the dayes of adversity he can give his Beloved sleep upon the points of Swords and Spears 3. He that is the God of peace is the God of patience This is my great fear that though God gives yet I shall break my peace The God of peace with me oh this is he whom I dishonour and disoblige daily by my distrusts discontents impatiencies murmurings and what peace to such an hearr what peace so long as such unbelief so much iniquity as I find daily within me remaines upon me
Will he with whom no iniquity can dwell dwell in that heart where there is so much iniquity by which he is provoked every day but he that is the God of peace is also the God of patience who though he will not bear the iniquities of his adversaries yet he will bear much with the infirmities of his People Psal 89. 30. c. If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgements if they breake my Statutes and keep not my Commandements then will I visit their transgressions with a Rod and their iniquities with stripes Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail 4. He that is the God of peace is the God of hope I have not peace in possession whatever there be in the promise I live in the fire am born a man of contention What likelyhood is there that I should ever live to see a good day my comforts are broken my Estate is lost my libertie is gone friends I have none enemies I have many and mighâ—ty I dwell in Mâ—sech I have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar I am for peace they are for War whither ever I look round about me before me behind me on the right hand or on the left all speaks trouble and terrour to me I have no peace What noâ— no hopâ— of peace neither where is thy God maâ— hast thou a God in thee and yet no hope in thee the God of peace and yet no peace the God of hope and yet no hope the God of hope will yet fill thee with joy and peace in believing Rom. 15. 13. Why art thou cast down oh my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God Psal 43. 11. The God of hope will open a Window of hope in the darkest times a door of hope in the most desperate cases The God of hope will bear up the spirits of his Saints in hope against hope and this hope will never disappoynt them It shall never be said there is no peace there is no hope till it can be said there is no God in Israel But how or in what sence is it to be understood that this God of peace will be with us I answer in three particulars 1. The heart of God will be with you Joseph's blessing the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush will be thy portion Deut. 33. what was the Bush the Church or Israel of God What case was the Bush in 't was all in a light fire 't was all in a flame VVho was it that dwelt in the Bush God was in the Bush and that kept it from consuming though not from burning The good will of this God shall be with thee his love his favour his care I love them that love me Prov. 8. 17. The Lord loveth the Righteous Psal 146. 8. The Love of God is the womb of all good Hence sprang the morning Star from the love of God came the Son of God hence came that womb of the Morning the blessed Gospel which is so big with glorious grace with Light Life Pardon Peace Glory Immortality from the love of God came the glorious Gospel of God The upper Springs all spiritual and heavenly blessings the neither springs all earthly and outward blessings do all rise and bubble up out of this Fountain the love of God The precious things of Heaven the precious fruits brought forth by the Sun the precious Fruits put forth by the Moon the chief things of the ancient Mountains the precious things of the lasting Hills the precious things of the Earth and the fulness thereof All these flow in with the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush Love is all the Apostle tells us Rom. 13. our love to God is the fulfilling of the Law that is it will bring forth all that to God all that duty and obedience which the Law requires I may tell you that Gods love to us is the fulfilling of the Gospel that is it will powre down all that upon us it will do all that for us which the Gospel promises Look over the whole Gospel read and study every precious leaf and line of that blessed Book and if there be enough in all that to make thee blessed and to encourage thee on in thy holy course all this is thine Thou hast that love of God with thee which will fulfil the Gospel there shall not one jot or tittle fail thee of all that the Gospel promises The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this Isa 9. 7. 2. The help of God will be with you the Lord will be your helper in the day of your distresse Heb. 13. 5 6. He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say The Lord is my helper I will not fear what man can do unto me He hath said I will not leave thee and therefore we may say I will not fear He hath said I will be and therefore we may boldly say the Lord is my Helper He hath said he will not forsake he will help and who is he that shall say There is no help for thee iâ— thy God There 's no man whose Case may not be so desperate as to be above all humane help If he should cry out as the woman to the King of Israel Help O King the King must answer If the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee If he should cry out Help O Man of God the Man of God must answer If the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee If he cry out Help O my Friends my Wit my Policy my Purse all these must answer If the Lord do not help thee whence shall we help thee But what case is there wherein an Help Lord will not do Foolish men count their case desperate when they come to their God help that 's an usual expression to set forth the extreamity and helplesness of any mans case When we see men even lost in any misery and their case even utterly hopeless then to signifie our sense of such mens lost condition we cry out God help that man God help that woman they are lost Creatures I but if men did understand and consider what the help of the Lord is they would see there could be no case so desperate but an Help Lord might recover all 1 Sam. 30. 6. when David was greatly distressed and all was gone He encouraged himself in the Lord his God Consider here two things 1. What his Case then was he was in great distress he had lost all that ever he had his spoyls that he had taken were all gone his Corn and his Cattel his Wives and his City were all lost he had not an habitation in all the World he had nothing left him but a poor Army and these were worse than
the Palms of thine Hands and in the very prints of thy Feet whose Malice against God and his Holiness may be read in every look in every word in every Line of thy life needest thou any further proof that thou art not of God Thou mayst as well put me to prove that Hell is not Heaven that the Devil is no Saint as that thou art no Christian Dost thou love God art thou under the hope of the Promise Ask thy ways man and let these tell thee 2. Doest thou mean to keep at this distance from God to the Death Doest thou in earnest Is there nothing in those rich Promises that have been laid before thee which thou canst with 't were thine Is there no such word in thine hearâ— Oh that my Lot were here Art thoâ— content thy name should be left out for ever Is there so little in the peace of God that thou canst fell it for the pleasures of sin Art thou content that nothing should prosper with thee but that every thing should be a Gin and a Snare and a Curse to thee Art thou content that the Piâ— should be thy place Eternal Wrath thy Portion and that every Creature every Comfort every Cross that comes should give thee a pluck down from Heaven and a kick towards Hell canst thou think they mean thee any thing else when all does but harden thee in thy sin and make thee kick against thy God Art thou so unwilling to leave thy sins for the hope of the Promise of God that thou art content to give up thy hopes for the love of thy sins Darest thou say Let me have my part in the pleasures and contentments of this life and I am contented to relinquish my part in Christ Let God let me alone in my sins and let him damn my Soul Let me live at my ease and my liberty and let my name be blotted out of the Book of Lifo I am content to take my place and my lot among the damned in another world so I have my pleasure with them in this World And dost thou say less or other than this whilest thou refusest or resolvest against following thy God He that refuses to accept of the Redemption of Christ upon the holy Terms upon which 't is offer'd says in effect I am lost I am sold for a Captive to the Devil my first Father sold me for an Apple Christ would now buy me back again to my self but for my part I am contâ—nt that the first Bargain stand As to my interest I confirm the Bargain As for my Soul being sold to the Devil to the Devil let it go This is the voice of every wilful Refuser of the Terms of the Gospel Oh Wretch does not thy heart tremble does not thy hair stand on end do not thy knees shake and are not the Joints of thy Loins loosed to consideâ— what thou hast done and art still a doing Sinners I have but a little more to speak to you but shall that little be nothing Hither to you have stood it out and will rot be perswaded by ought that God hath spoken by me But oh must I leave you thus Why may not a word at parting do more than all that hath been spoken Oh that it might Shall neither my first nor last words prevail with you What if my last should be your last If the last that I must preach be the last that you must hear There is a day set that will be your last day There is a Sabbath that will be your last Sabbath There is Sermon that will be your last Sermon There is a VVarning that will be your last warning Oh what if this should be it If the Lord should take your this dayes denial for your final Answer and never ask your consent again for ever But whether it be your last or no I must be henceforth silent to you And oh will you send me away with so sad an Heart with the sorrow and shame of the disappointed Will you break my Heart by persisting to hearden yours Is this all I shall have to return to the Lord that sent me unto you I have declared thy Name unto them but they did not regard it I have invited them to come to thee but they would not follow me I have warned them to return from their sins but they would not hearken Are you willing that I shall give in this Answer and bear this Wiâ—ness against you at the Great Day sinners hearken is there not one blind person among you that is yet willing to have his Eyes open'd Is there not one Captive to Lust Vanity that 's willing to be set free from his Bondage Is there not one more that will be perswaded to be wise and to prefer an immortal Soul God Glory Eternity before his bruitish perishing pleasures Is there not one Drunkaad more that will yet be perswaded to be sober Not one vain person that will be perswaded to be serious Am I making my last Draught among you and shall I take nothing Not one Soul more If you will not yet be prevailed with then hear the Word of the Lord Ezek. 3. 19. If thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness he shall dye in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy soul But if there be any few relenting hearts among you who are brought but thus far to cry out Why what must I do I would leave with such these few words of counsel and oh that my counsel might be accepted by them 1. Get a deep sense of thy dreadful state What art thou sinner What is thy state at ease in peace out of fear in pleasure What and yet a sinner In the bond of iniquity Captive to the Devil without Christ without the Promise under the curse Study these Scriptures Joh. 8. 34. He that committeth sin is the servant of sin vers 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil 2 Tim. 2. 26. Held captive by him at his will Act. 8. 23. In the gall of bitterness and in the Bond of iniquity 1 Joh. 5. 19. The world lyeth in wickedness Ps 11. 6. Vpon the wicked he shall reign Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. Psal 49. 15. Like Sheep they are laid in the Grave Death shall feed upon them Rise Sampson the Philistims are upon thee awake sleeper the Devil is upon thee Death is at thy back the Gin is at thy heel the Curse is over thy head the very next step may be Hell Thou lyest in wickedness to day mayst be in fire and brimstone before to morrow Sure thou art in a dead â—leep that canst take thine ease in such a Lodging Is this the state thou art so loath to change Is this the state thou so boastest of and blessest thy self in When thine heart is merry with thy Wine swel'd with thy pride jollity amongst thy Companions put in such a
things He that hath the son hath not only with him but in himâ— all things Are all things nothing with thee What wouldst thou have more than all Thâ— Heathens acknowledged That vertue is sufficient Iâ— was a Maxime among the ancient Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue is self-sufficient A vertuous Man hath no need to be beholding either tâ— Friends or Fortune He hath enough in himself The Apostle tells us That Godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with its self-sufficiency is great gain 1 Tim. 6. 6. Solomon tells us Prov. 14. 14. A good man is satisfied from himself He hath that within him out of which his satisfaction grows A Christian hath the whole Gospel within him He hath Christ the Promise the everlasting God Heaven Glory within him As rich as he is he may truly say Omnia mea mecum porto He carries his All in his heart and can thence get out a living a Sufficiency for all Times Cases and Wants Cast him naked out of his Habitation out of his Countrey yet he carries all with him he leaves not an Hoof behind him Christians leave it to the poor of the Earth to carnal men the Riches of them is poor enough leave it them to be discontent A carnal Man hath so many to be beholding to to parch up his contentment that 't is no wonder he falls short of it the Sun the Clouds his Fields his Folds his Friends his Enemies his Honours his Pleasures his Meat his Drink his House his Mony yea the Devil all his lusts every Creature must come in with their part to contribute to his contentment if but one thing fails him there 's somthing wanting to make it up Nay if none fail but they all do their best to please him yet all will not do in the fulness of his sufficiency he is in straits When he hath all he can have his still hungring Heart cries out of what it hath Vanity of Vaâ—â—ties all is Vanity Leave it to these Christians who â—ave nothing but emptiness to fill their Souls withâ—â— leave it to them to be discontented Will you â—ay the same imputation upon the God of Glory The Discontent of a Christian is a kind of Blasphemy it proclaims concerning God also and all the Glory of the Gospel This also is Vanity Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity Christians study your Riches more count over your Treasures dwell more in your God and his Gospel Read over your Priviledges Promises and Hopes feed more on that Bread of Life drink more freely of those Living Springs which are broken forth to you Prove more what Godliness hath in it Get out the sweetness and the Pleasure of it none in the World live such a voluptuous Life as he that lives mâ—â—t with God get out the pleasure of Godliness lie more at the Breasts suck harder press the Clusters and the Wine and Milk will come make the most of Religion and you will have enough never blame it for empty or unsatisfactory while there is more to be had Gad not into other Pastures run not from Flower to Flower keep you Home Let not your God find you in another Field If you keep with God the less you have of Creature-vanities the more full will your Contentment be Christian Honour thy God and his Gospel let his Breasts satisfie thee and err thou alwayes in his Love Let the World read the Gospel-sufficiency in thy Souls pleasure and satisfaction with it alone 5. Let your Conversations answer the supports of the Gospel and its succours Live a patient life Jam. 5. 7. Be patient brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Patience is a Grace suited to our present Gospel state I will call it a Friend that 's born for the day of adversity If you are Christians you have need of Pâ—tience and if you have Patience you need no more Jam. 1. 4. Let Patience have her perfect work that you may be entire lacking nothing Patience is a submitting sedate and calm frame of spirit whereby a Christian from Gospel grounds it born up under all his Troubles and born through all his Duties Betwixt Patience and Contentedness there is this difference Contentedness is the quiet of the heart and its satisfaction with its smallest portion of good things Patience is the quiet of the heart under the greatest pressure of evil things A patient spirit is a submitting spirit It s heartily content that God should have his Will With whatsoever God is pleased it will not be displeased It 's the Lord lâ—â— him do whatsoever seems good in his Eyes What seems good in God's eyes shall not seem evil in mine It is a Calm and quiet spirit It will not strive noâ— cry nor lift up its voice in the streets it can mourn but it does not murmur it can feel but it will not fret at the hand of God A patient person is ever compos mentis has the command and government of his spirit keeps it sober and in due order doth not rave and rage Impatience is a kind of frenzy such persons are besides themselves In our patience we possess and by our impatience we lose our Souls we lose the rule and government of them the peace and the use of them An impatient man is besides himself both as a Man and as a Christian 1. He is besides himself as a Man Impatience turns Reason out of doors and for the Affections they are all in an uproar and will know no command or government 2. He is besides himself as a Christian turned quite out of course Duties Comforts Experiences Hopes all are laid aside Keep you quiet keep the peace in your heart and you keep your heart In this calmness and quietness it bears up under troubles Patience hath Fortitude in it it neither frets nor faints under all its burthens Christians must bear and patient Christians can bear any thing that comes on them The proper exercise of patience is enduring he endures not that suffers only but that can bear what he suffers It bears through its Duties The passion of a patient person doth not hinder his action He holds his course keeps on his way whatever load he hath on his back He runs with patience the race which is set before him he is not discouraged nor diverted from his holy course by any suffering it costs him And indeed Christian Patience stands not in a bare forced quiet in a biting in or keeping down our fretting aestuations from venting themselves in word or carriage or in a sullen silence or stupidity but in the maintaining such a tranquility of spirit under all we suffer as that we can still both enjoy and serve the Lord. He is a patient Christian that is as much a Christian in a storm as in a clam that can pray believe love bless God follow God and keep his way when he smites as when he smiles Lastly in all this a Christian is upheld and carried on from
Gospel Grounds 'T is not a natural hardiness or apathy 't is not the Spirit of a man that does sustain his infirmities 't is upon the everlasting Gospel that he stands There are three Things especially that bear him through His viewing The Hand of the Lord. The End of the Lord. The Help of the Lord. 1. He sees the hand of the Lord in all that befalls him Whence was Davids patience Psal 39. 9. I was dumb I opened not my mouth Because thou Lord didst it Whence was Eli's patience 1 Sam. 3. It is the Lord let him do what seems him good Whence was Job's patience Job 1. 21. The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. By the way note That a godly man is not only patient under his afflictions but thankful He is not only thankful for Mercies but for Chastisements 'T is not only the Lord hath given blessed be his Name the Lord hath built me up the Lord hath filled me the Lord hath hedged me blessed be his Name but also The Lord hath taken away the Lord hath humbled me broken me undone me left me naked left me nothing blessed be the Name of the Lord. This by the way 2. He sees the end of the Lord that God intends his good by all that comes upon him He knowes that all things and therefore this which is upon him whatever it be shall work to him for good 3. He feels the help of the Lord. When the hand of the Lord is upon him he feels also the hand of the Lord under him underneath the everlasting Arms Deut. 32. 27. The Gospel as it hath allotted him many Tribulation◠so it hath allowed him mighty supports A mighty God who is the Rock of Ages Isa 26. a merciful High-Priest who being tempted himself is able also to succour those that are tempted Heb. 2. 18. Precious Promises 2 Pet. 1. Gracious experiences Rom. 5. 4. Patience worketh experience This last support experience hath all the rest in it Experience is the whole Gospel proved A patient experienced Christian hath proved all things what they are hath proved the World and what it is and the worst it can do hath proved the Word and what there is in it hath proved what God is what Christ is what grace and peace and a good Conscience are Tribulation often takes away God and his Gospel and we never so well prove what God is as when we have him alone what grace is what a good Conscience is as when we have nothing else left us Our Religion never shews so much what is in it as when it 's most put to it When the Adversary hath gotten the greatest advantage of us of the Sun of the Wind of the Ground when he presseth with most violence with most fury upon us then we best know what the weapons of our Warfare are The comforts and supports of Religion are not known either of what strength or of what sweetness they are till they are thus proved Hezekiah had never such a tast of his integrity as when he received the Message of death Stephen had never such a sight of Heaven as through a storm of stones Christ is never so sweet as in a prison When God meets his Saints in a Wilderness then he speaks comfortably to them A patient Christian hath more or less experience of all this and hence is he supported keeps quiet under all his sufferings and carried with courage on in his way Be patient therefore Brethren unto the coming of the Lord. You have need of patience and no excuse for your impatience The sufferings of the Gospel call for patience and the supports of the Gospel will condemn your impatience If you will be godly count upon it that you have a great fight of afflictions to endure Venture not into the fight without your Armour An impatient creature is a naked Soldier How easily will Sathan destroy whom he hath once disarmed The more you can the less you shall suffer Secure your spirit and you save your self from harm There 's no Dart shall hurt you that does not hit your heart Keep your heart whole and the Devil loses all his shot Be patient and you possess your Souls keep your Souls and the enemy loses the day Christians 'T is of great consequence to you to be of a patient spirit and 't is a great Duty there 's much more in it than every eye observes When I perswade you to Patience know That 't is no small thing that I am perswading you to 'T is no less than 1. To the whole of Christianity 2. To the height of Christianity 1. To the whole of Christianity To be truly Patient hath as much in it as to be a Christian To be holy humble meek mortified self-denying crucified to the world heavenly minded all this you must be or you cannot be patient Patient and proud patient and peevish patient and unmortified earthly minded a self-seeker This is as great a contradiction as to be proud and humble fleshly and spiritual earthly and heavenly a Christian and no Christian If ever you will be possessors of this grace you must be partakers of all grace Get a believing broken self-denying heart get your spirits furnished with the love of Christ the hope of the Gospel the contempt of the World live above in the other World Let Christ Glory Honour Immortality be the portion of your Souls and the pleasure of your lives if ever you would be truly patient 2. To Christianity in the height of it In pressing you to patience I am herein pressing you to get Assurance Without assurance though patience be possible yet you 'l find it both difficult and very imperfect What Patience when I question whether my sins be forgiven whether God be reconciled and be not dealing with me as an enemy What Patience when I doubt whether my afflictions be not the pension of a bastard rather than the portion of a Son when I am not sure but my present sufferings are sent to carry me down to eternal sufferings I am in misery and perpetual torments never a day without 〈…〉 it may be never shall this or worse may last for ever 〈◊〉 if I were sure it would be well at last I could be quiet but for ought I know the Furnace I am in may be the very mouth of Hell The diseases the wounds I am under may be sent to let out my Soul into everlasting burnings how can I be patient under such doubts and fears Make God sure Christian make Heaven sure once and then thou may'st set thine Heart at rest then thou may'st almost as easily exercise as thine Enemies find thee Exercise of thy patience Christians if you will be patient you must be painful give diligence be diligent in making your Calling and Election sure be diligent in duty be vigilant against iniquity If you will be patient be impatient of sin and you will be
the Gospel and the more necessary and weighty Duties of Religion sufficiently understood and practised Are your Souls safe Is your Calling and Election sure Is the Love and Life and zeal of God grown up to that maturity that you need not mutual help this way Have you any spare time from those things to spend in perplexing controversies Build up one another in your most Holy Faith provoke one another to Love and to good works encourage establish and strengthen one another in the known wayes of holiness and if you find not this both better work and work enough for you then take your liberty These things do live in peace and love and the God of peace shall be with you Hear Oh â—ye freinds of Christ by what oblique Names soever unhappily distinguished will you come and be Friends one with another Are you for peace Your God is the God of Peace Your Jesus is the Prince of Peace Your Gospel is the Gospel of Peace and will you not be perswaded to be Sons of peace Your God is one your Mediator is one your Faith one your Baptism one your Hope one you are one Bodie one Spirit and will you not yet be one Soul Oh how hopeful would our condition be were our hearts generallie set upon peace We should certainly obtain did we more resolvedlie pursue it and what should hinder have you not yet enough of your contentions and quarrellings have not your Souls been sufficiently neglected your Lusts strengthened your Faith weakened your Love withered your comforts wasted your names blemished your holy Profession blamed Hath not your God been sufficiently provoked and the Devil sufficiently gratified are your bellies so filled with gall and your mouths with gravel and have you not yet enough of your contentions Christians Slight not these Counsels and Warnings As you would prove your selves the Friends of Christ be ye followers of peace Studie oh studie these things that make for peace Follow peace with all men as much as in you is but especially with the houshold of Faith Let there be no longer strife betwixt us for we are brethren Yet alwaies remember I am pressing you to an holy Union whilst I perswade you to follow peace I must still add and holiness I perswade you not to pursue peace upon tearms dishonourable or prejudicial to Truth They must have both together that will be blessed in either Truth without Peace is as a Jewel without its Cabinet Peace without Truth is as a Cabinet with nothing in it Peace without holiness is as a fair and promising shell with a rotten or worm-eaten kernel holiness without peace is as a pretious kernel under a crack'd and broken shell They that have peace without truth have nothing worth the securing they that have truth without peace have little security for what they have Peace without truth is beauty without worth Truth without peace is worth with its beauty marred Let both go together and then they will be both the Columina Ecclesiae the Pillar of the Church rendring it consistent within it self and the Corona Ecclesiae its Crown rendring it comely and glorious before the World Be it thus wiâ—h us and then Sathan look to thy self thy Kingdom shall down amain when thou canst no longer hold up division thou losest thy dominion Then Saints lift up your heads your Communion shall be sweet your glory shall be great your light shall shine your fruit shall abound the smell of your spices shall flow forth your adversaries shall envy and your King shall greatly delight to see your beauty Oh may this Grace this Peace be granted us from the Lord and let all that love the prosperity of Sions say Amen 2. In an an united Contention Striving together saith the Apostle for the Faith of the Gospel Unite but strive strive not one against another Christian against Christian but strive together Let your Contention be in Communion Strive together against sin and unbelief against Hypocrisie and earthliness strive against strife and debate and envyings and judgings strive together with God in your prayers and supplycations We often pray but our prayers do not agree by keeping at such distance we know not one anothers hearts and are so many men so many minds every one prayes according to his single apprehension and affections What one prayes another unprayes insomuch that we should put the Lord to do contradictions if he must give particular answer to all our prayers And possiblie that may be the reason why the Lord defers his answer so long he will stay till we are better agreed what we would have Matth. 18. 19. If two of you agree on earth touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven Strive together in all holy and united endeavours to comfort confirm and establish one another in the Faith of the Gospel Keep up the Communion of Saints and an united contention against sin and unbelief Remember Heb. 10. 25. 3. In an holy boldness in nothing terrified by your Adversaries In nothing that is either in no degree not at all terrified or else in nothing that you have to do be frighted out of no part of your duty or else at nothing that they do or threaten to do against you Be not afraid to be holy Tell your Adversaries when they have said and done their worst you must and you will make bold to serve your God Fear them not and they cannot hurt you they never hurt you unless they divert you from your duty To establish your hearts in this holy boldness and against your carnal fears 1. Consider That 1. By how much the more you fear God by so much the less you will fear men 2. By how much the more you fear sin by so much the less you will fear trouble 3. By how much the less your adversaries fear God by so much the less need you to fear them 2. Believe Psal 27. 13. I had fainted but that I believed Faith is a buckler against fears and faintings Ephes 6. 16. Above all take the shield of faith whereby you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the Devil The shield of faith A shield is a wall of partition interposed betwixt a person and harm 'T is only our apprehensions of harm that raise our fear Faith will save a Christian harmless and thereby preserve him fearless The shield is ordained for a security to all parts and against all assaults Some pieces of our armour are appropriated to one part only the Helmet is for the head the Breast-plate for the brest the Girdle for the loins the Shooes for the feet but the shield is a moveable that is to be lifted up where-ever the blow comes Faith is an universal security Faith may be said to be a Shield 1. Instrumentally As it provides us of a shield as it lifts up a sheild and sets a guard upon the Soul to secure it
yet for the discharge of my duty and for your own necessity bear with me I am afraid that whilst I have been preaching to you of an incorruptible Crown of an everlasting Rest a Kingdom of Joy and Glory I am afraid there are many of you That have no part nor lot in this matter but are still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity If the Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost And are there none among you from whom this Gospel is hid hid as to the light of it hid as to the saving power and efficacy of it I am afraid there are too many I am afraid there 's many a blind eye many a hard heart many a Spirit still in Prison under the Power of their Lusts and Bruitish Sensuality I am afraid there are many such among you and are not you afraid so too Oh that you were 2. I have a greater fear than this I am afraid of some of you that not only all my past Labour but this last will be lost also Those that stand it out to their last day do usually stand it out in their last day Blessed be God that there are amongst you those over whom my Soul is comfoâ—ted To whom I can speak in the words of the Apostle Rom 6. 17. God be thanked that ye were the Servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that from of Doctrine that hath been delivered unto you and being now made free from sin you are become the Servants of Righteousness Oh that I could thus speak Oh that I could thus rejoyce over you all But as the Apostle said to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 12. 20. I fear left when I come I shall find you such as I would not So must I say with a grieved hearâ— I feaâ— that now I am going I shall leave you such as I would not I would not leave one blind person one vain person one loose liver not one unbeliever or impenitent amongst you an Oh what a good day would this day of my departure be what Light would there be in this dark Evening were it thus with you If I might see you all recovered out of the Snares of the Devil every man's Eyes open'd every man 's Fetters off every man's Prison broken and his Soul escaped from that deadly bondage if every poor deadly Creature among you who yet lies bound hand and foot in his Grave Clothes might now at last stand up from the Dead and live the Life of God this would be mine and your great rejoycing But oh I fear with this Apostle 2 Cor. 12. 21. My God will humble me and grieve me and afflict me to see in what a woful plight I must leave divers of you Oh ye sons of the Night you poor ignorant and dark Souls upon whom the Light hath shined but your Darkness comprehendeth it not Oh you poor obstinaâ—e hardned Souls upon whom I have been ploughing as upon Rocks hewing as upon Adamants who still remain under as great hardness as if no Dew nor Rain had ever fallen on you Oh you poor half-bakâ—ed almost Christians that have taken up your stand in your present Attainments my Soul is under great fears and must weep in secret for you whilst my Tongue must be henceforth silent Oh every Soul that is without fear of himself my Soul is afraid for you the fearless Soul is in a fearful state Sinners let my fears be your fears What is there such astonishing guilt upon you and yet not afraid Such a dreadful Roll writ against you and yet not afraid So many Sabbaths Sermons Warnings lost and never to be recalled nor any Assurance left of one Sermon or Warning more and yet not afraid Such a subtil Devil such a deceitful heart such a tempting world that you have to deal withall such a black and bottomless Pit into which you are falling and yet not afraid Oh what Stocks and Stones hath the Gospel to deal withalâ— Beloved have laboured much with you both publickly and from house to house to bring you under a due fear and jealousie of your selves but hitherto your hearts have been too hard for me Oh yet for trembling hearts tremble and sin not fear and pray fear and hope fear and repent Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Oh if my fears were once become your fears your fears would become my hopes Oh what a Day-spring of hopes would arise from the shaking of secure hearts These fears would be as the thicker Darkness forerâ—nners of break of Day 2. My parting wishes and desires for you are 1. That the good Seed which hath been sown amongst you were well rooted in every heart I wish that my Twenty years Ministry among you may not be lost labour to any of your souls 2. I wish that your next Seeds-man may be more skilful and successful that the good Lord will provide you a man that may teach you in wisdom gain you in Love lead you on to life by an holy Example and if the Lord grant you this mercy I wish that such a one may be dearly priz'd and chearfully accepted by you God keep this Flock from a Ravening Wolf and a deceitful Shepherd 3. I wish that there may be no Root of Bitterness springing up amongst you that there be no Divisions or Contentions but that you may live in peace and love that the God of peace and love may be with you 4. I wish that this place where so much good Seed hath been sown may become a fruitful Field that the Fruits of Faith and Repentance the Fruits of Righteousness and Holiness may be in you and abound that you may be neither barren nor unfruitful that Religion in the power and practice of it may so visibly flourish in the several persons in the several Families of this Congregation that they that go by may see and say This is the Field which the Lord hath blessed 5. I wish that whatever Clouds may at any time gather over you may not fall down in a withering Storm or a sweeping Floud but may pass away in a Mist or dissolve into a fruitful Dew that no Persecutions or Temptations may ever carry you down the Stream with evil men nor blight any hopeful beginnings that are budding forth in any of your Souls If Tribulation should be any of your Lots I wish that it may not be to you as the Hail of Egypt but as the Dew of Hermon 6. I wish you a joyful Harvest that you may reap in Eternity what hath been sown in time may you now sow in Righteousness and therefore reap in Mercy May every one of you that is now sowing in Tears for ever reap in joy May you that go on your way weeping bearing pretious Seed return with joy and bring your Sheaves with you May the Showers of this day be the watering of your Seed that it may spring up to Eternal Life Brethren My