as obedient Children and Servants forthwith do the same Agreeable hereunto was the practice of God's Servants of old Time as Noah Lot Abraham and Jacob they did Serve and Worship God and did many things purely out of his Command without reasoning and mercinariness That is without knowing wherefore and also without a particular Promise of any more Reward from the hands of God With such Obedience or Service God was well pleased and they are recorded for our admonition and ensample upon whom the ends of the World are come That albeit Glory and Immortality and Eternal Life are more clearly discovered and made known unto us than they were to our Fathers yet we should be altogether as zealous and diligent in the Work of the Lord as they were without so much consideration had to what is further promised and assured unto us but we should do it only because the Lord requires it and then leave it unto him whether he will make any Recompence yea and be contented if he should give none We should acknowledge our selves unprofitable Servants we have done only what was our duty to do It was God who brought us into being and gave us power thus to act so it is but a due return of our being formed by him even for the Engine to move as he would have it It is just to comply with the End of our Maker or if this be left to our choice and freedom it is better when so performed of a willing and ready mind for God loves such a disposition of Soul And if there be such an Heart in People all the future Discourse would be in vain for they would both offer and act willingly without being pressed to it Let the way be only shewed they will both walk yea and run in it without being pricked forward let it be declared what they have to do and they will forthwith actually do it without so much argument and persuasion If any one throughly assures and clearly demonstrates unto them That the Lord hath said and enjoyned them thus there is need of no more words for we will do it Truly God is good and all things shall work together for good to them that love God and that are called according to the purpose of his Will Rom. 8. 28. And we will trust in the general without being particularly told how the several things are so We will commit our way unto the Lord and keep stedfast in his Covenant come Life or Death Shame or Dishonour good Report or evil Report Loss or Advantage being assured that God will so over-rule things in his Providence that even these contrary things shall tend yet more to our real and enduring Happiness Those Saints of old who were hungry and thirsty are now come to that place where they are filled and they do enjoy the fulness and fatness of God's House It is a greater degree of Happiness to have been miserable to reflect that the contrary Evil is done away and there succeeds in the room a greater good and fulness so that even Self-denial and Hardship do make way for more Enjoyment and Rest Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus who went about doing good whose Meat and Drink it was to do the Will of his Heavenly Father who did not much regard the perishing Comforts of this World as to be fully employed in and faithfully discharge that Message he was sent about So Job did more regard the Words of God's Mouth than his necessary Food For the one was of more Concernment and greater Advantage to himself than the other as it was found at last And though this might not be at first apprehended yet the sense of his Duty to God did make him give the Esteem and Preference Where is Love and Good-will towards God this makes that his Commandments do not seem grievous They are indeed represented so by the Tempter who would keep off from the Observance of them but they are not so in themselves And this hath been at sundry times cleared and manifested both by the inspired Men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and also by other Labourers in God's Vineyard who out of their VVritings and from the very Reality and Reason of things have brought out the Truth The like also we have endeavoured by God's Grace and Assistance to shew and even to demonstrate unto the most natural and ungodly Man VVho keeps off because of this Frightning and Temptation and therefore we addressed unto him if he would but judge of what he is vainly afraid to practise for then his former Fear and Aversation would wear off and he would experimentally find the Truth and Reality of things as they are there spoken of The Subject is Of Happiness wherein it is fully and particularly manifested that the greatest Happiness of this Life consisteth in the Fear of God and keeping his Commandments in Opposition to the Pleasures of Sin or the pretended Conveniency of Disobedience By Richard Stafford VVhich is shewed as to the present Evil and Pain of several Sins there named and also of the Good and Excellency of the commanded Duties there instanced in And the like may in the same manner be demonstrated of all the rest either mentioned in the VVord of God or ever heard of even as to all the Actions and Doings of Men whatever they are concerned in so it is differently of the Good and Evil Duty and Sin of what is commanded or what is forbidden Therefore I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false Way Psal 119. 128. The like Nature runs through them all that they are really good and desirable yea and to be observed So in every false VVay there is Destruction and Misery which should be avoided And was there a like Observance of all God's Precepts and an abstaining from all Appearance of Evil any one would both judge and experimentally find the same as the Man after God's own Heart did But by reason of that abundant Sin and Corruption which is every where and hath spread it self over all Nations and Men yea and there is also a reserved Iniquity in those who seem to be VVorshippers and Servants of God which like the Herb that caused Death in the Pot so this occasions Sowerness and Misery And therefore this great Truth is scarce discernable O that thou hadst hearkned to my Commandments then had thy Peace been as a River and thy Righteousness as the Waves of the Sea Isa 48. 18. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have Respect unto all thy Commandments Psal 119. 6. I shall not live in Doubt and Misery I shall not be disappointed of so much pretended Good or Conveniency as may be thought to be had in the Transgression of this or that Commandment as the Sinner thinks expedient In the forementioned Place of Isa 48. 18. It is first said Thy Peace had been as a River and then
the Mist of Ignorance He shall be thrust down to the lowest Dungeon and be confined unto utter Darkness For the former seeming Ease and Stupidity there will succeed continued self-indignation His Soul was then employed about somewhat and if not about that Talent intrusted with him by the God of the Spirits of all Flesh yet he had some little Thought or seeming excuse for his Refusal and Disobedience The knowledge was conveyed in the Obligation and Necessity thereof was considered in the Mind and there was a willing delay and putting it off In those debates and reasonings within there is a manifest thinking this or that way Now the Scale turns on this side and then on that And as there is a capacity to think freely so there is a power to do accordingly or a contrary froward going on in his way or a wretched doing nothing at all The Lord knoweth our frame Psal 103. 14. the disposal and tendency of each part of our Nature and accordingly in his VVord and Truth application is made to the Children of Men. To this end are those several kinds of Expostulation in the Psalms Prophets and throughout the Old and New Testament Some things are to inform and teach the Understanding others are to subdue and bring over the VVill and the several Affections are particularly spoken unto So that read where you will you may find some part of your Soul moved And then there is the example of Saints recorded who were Men of like Passions and Infirmities with our selves that we also might do the same which others have done before us God addresseth himself to us as we are Men to judge of the equality of his ways and of what he saith and commandeth us He bringeth us up and implants a capacity to know the Good and refuse the Evil. He giveth Senses to discern between one and the other He acquaints us over and over with the very Nature of things at present and also forewarns us of things to come Survey the whole Dispensation and Exercise of God's Dominion over us Consider each part and method thereof Look into the mystery of the Kingdom Remember his doings of Old Time Think upon what he doth now and also take in the Consummation of all what he hath said and sworn he will yet perform Then thou mayest understand that as he made People free so he would govern them as such He would have them serve him with joyfulness and gladness of Heart and what they do it should be with a willing and ready Mind for the Lord loves the answer of such a Soul when he saith Seek ye my Face Thy Face Lord will I seek That comes at first as soon as he is called and afterwards is in a continual readiness to receive further Direction and Command and then is in an actual and speedy performance of the same VVhere is a willing Mind there is no seeking out Excuses and Delays There is no shifting and trying to put it off There is no Controversie or Dispute of Mind whether I should serve God presently or not For if there is a right Knowledge of him and of the Terms upon which we are to enter into his Service we come as readily to him as one that was hired to the best of Masters according to the Flesh who will give the greatest VVages and most kind Usage Saith our Saviour unto his Disciples and Followers Henceforth I call you not Servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Lord doth But I have called you Friends John 15. 15. Here is yet a nearer Relation and Honour to be admitted into Friendship with him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Faith apprehends this exceeding Priviledge and esteems of it more than to have for assured Friends the King all the Nobility and Gentry of this or the Neighbour Nations Or if Love is lessened when it is divided into so many Particulars it is better than to have two three or a few only of the greatest and wisest Personages on Earth Christ unto the Believers Soul is the chiefest of Ten Thousand nay he is more to her than all the Persons and Things in the VVorld Now where is an intimate Love and Union as we expect his Grace and Benefits and hope for Gifts from him so likewise we must do the things he saith and whatever he doth require Our Voice and Desire is Come Lord Jesus come quickly and his Answer is again to the Church And behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give to every Man according as his work shall be Rev. 22. 12. And seeing the time allotted for that VVork is short though it was spoken to the Traytor Judas it may be also applied to his faithful Disciples and Followers What thou hast to do do quickly VVe have his own Example and Words for it I must work the Works of him that sent me while it is Day The Night cometh when no Man can work John 9. 4. Accordingly he did go about doing good and preaching the Kingdom of God making known all things he had heard from his Father The Wise Man calleth upon us Whatsoever thy Hand findeth thee to do do it with all thy Might For there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledge nor Wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest Eccles 9. 10. So whatever God and his Christ commandeth and requireth of thee do it with all convenient Speed and as soon as thou canst before the Opportunity slip from thee or the Means be taken away or thy self be cut off for thou art but Flesh and always dying After this is done God may have more for thee He will proportion thy Reward according to thy Labour If thou diminishest ought from that thou wilt lose so much of a greater Recompence The more thou dost at this present the more thou wilt receive for all Eternity What is done each Day or Hour is laying up a Treasure for many Ages There may be somewhat of this signified in the Words of our Saviour who speaketh the same to us as he did to the Disciples Ye say that there are Four Months and then cometh Harvest Lift up your Eyes for the Fields even now are white unto Harvest John 4. 35. And he that reapeth gathereth Fruit unto everlasting Life We may think and deceive our selves that such a Work is to be done hereafter when if we consider throughly all things are now ready for the Performance of the same But admitting it were not to be done until then yet such good Acts may be done in the mean while which are preparatory to that as the Husbandman fits all things in the mean while or we may in the Space between serve God to some other End and Purpose That no Day pass over our Head without doing some thing to the Glory of God and to the Benefit of Souls Every thing here is in order to eternal Life and as we are here always going towards that and the Life we
better lay the Law before them and then themselves may consider their variation from it Sometimes they are at a stand and as it were amazed and they know not what to do they may first see and fully perceive and then acknowledge according to that Example in Ezra 10. 2. We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange Wives of the People of the Land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing So of every Iniquity Transgression or Sin whether it is complicated or single whether many or few are concerned therein still there is hope that God will do what he declares which he also will as certainly as he is God For he is abundant in goodness and truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin But then they must make a Covenant with their God to forsake their sins for the time to come and hence forward to tremble at his Commandments and to do according to the Law But if they cover their sins if they keep and hold fast to them then they are still guilty whom the same Truth hath here said That he will by no means clear Exod. 34. 7. The word Forgiving respects what is past but doth not allow for the present or future What then Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid That God may shew the more mercy in our manifold and greater sins that we may love much when much is to us forgiven But this and such like is a perverse wicked proud and disdainful way of Reasoning Because God will forgive we will sin yet more because he is Gracious therefore we will provoke him because he is Good we will presume to offend him yet more because he will pass by the Transgression of the remnant of his Heritage and make it up again we will break and at no time continue stedfast in his Covenant And knowing that he will pass it over we will forget the Name of the Lord and hold up our hands to strange Gods we will idolize and labour to please Men without any regard had to him Shall not God search this out for he knows the secrets of the heart He doth see and discern all such kind of Imaginations which shoot forth into alike practices We should do well to consider with our selves Wherefore do we desire any forgiveness at God's hands Because we would partake of his Mercy and avoid his Wrath. We would be happy and are unwilling to be miserable Why know we not that the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them Psal 103. 17 18. And the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Rom. 1. 18. and Disobedience Colos 3. 6. And therefore we must fear God if we would partake of his gracious Attribute and carefully eschew all the other that we do not fall under the severity of his Vengeance If we would be happy we must be holy and to prevent misery the only way is to sin not We are but meer Creatures All that we have is from God and so is all that we expect further We are but perishing and imperfect at present and we shall be yet somewhat more as our hopes and desires our fears and aversations give us notice of So that if we would have the good-will and love of God the consequent is natural and easie for our selves to shew love and good-will towards him in the mean while And then we must sin as little against him as possible Ye that love the Lord bate evil Psal 97. 10. And ye are to decline every false way we are to endeavour to set forth his glory and to honour him which shuts out all manner of stubbornness and the least despising of him Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12. 28. We have the Promise and Assurance of that Kingdom and to us is committed in the mean while what is preparatory to that The work and service is given and shewed that we may do it and as we are put in the condition of Servants to so great and honourable a Master as he is in Heaven so it is required of us that we be faithful and willing that is true in the management of what is committed unto us and ready in the performance of the same Another Character that belongs to a Servant is That he be Wise whereof our Saviour speaks and promises to set such over his Houshold Accordingly the Apostle intimates as much negatively See that ye be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Eph. 5. 17. This must be in order to do the will of the Lord And also we are to be in a readiness against his time of coming to demand an account By doing of God's Will we learn to know it better and the performance is more easie we can correct what was amiss heretofore and perform it more exactly for the time to come From the quality of Servants we come to a more intimate Relation of Sons which the Scripture to assure us of God's Love and Familiarity to Mankind doth more often make use of than the other comparison of Servants I will spare them as a Man spareth his own Son that serveth him Mal. 3. 17. Now former miscarriages are passed over and forgotten when there is a sincere and actual service for the time to come where there is a constant desire to please and be accepted with God Agreeable hereunto is the stile of the promises and calls to Repentance Thus saith the Lord shall they fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual back-sliding They hold fast deceit they refuse to return Jer. 8. 5. But if they do return they have forthwith assurance of Pardon and Forgiveness according to what is written But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die Ezek. 18. 21. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Isa 55. 7. There are innumerable Promises scattered up and down in the Old Testament and also in the New to give hope and encouragement unto sinners to return unto the Lord their God which do answer all their particular doubts and fears Whatever be their multitude and aggravation If they have played the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord Jer. 3. 1. Or if their sins be as scarlet or crimson of the deepest die and guilt he will make them white as
to the Rest which the Lord hath promised And that will be more sweet and refreshing the more pain and difficulty we have sustained in these few and evil days of our Pilgrimage If they were good and pleasant they sensibly fly away as a Post and it is melancholy and regret to find that what delights should pass away It is yet more anguish and sorrow that it must be at length wholly determined and come to an utter End It is the utmost Despair and inexpressible Vexation That for the unlawful use of those good things he had in this Life he must when that is ended come to the Place where he shall be tormented But now on the other hand to Rest from their Labours to be comforted for the evil things they had here this indeed is the Great and True Blessedness This should teach us to use the things of this World as if we used them not but above all carefully to observe every tittle and part of our Duty to abstain from all appearance of Evil for it may be all continually done from time to time with a very little irksomness trouble and loss and there is a most happy End of all This third time citing that place is the more to enforce the observance thereof Blessed are they that keep Judgment and he that doth Righteousness at all times Psa 106. 3. In keeping of them there is great Reward Psa 19. 11. The word keep denotes a constant adhering to them come what will thereof Who is resolved with full purpose of Heart to cleave unto God and to observe all his Statutes notwithstanding any Temptation Difficulty or Hindrance to the contrary The Temptation may be overcome for it might indeed please a little but that would be sudden at the Time and unsatisfactory in the Conclusion thereof and consequently the not yielding to it can be no great loss or misery But then is a content and approbation of Mind afterwards and also the vast consideration of the time to come Also the difficulty may be conquered and the hindrance taken away without much trouble or pain without diminution or lessening of present Happiness but it exceedingly furthers as to the Future and Eternal Blessedness If it was throughly inculcated and continually repeated upon our mind How that the best things which happen here will not make us happy nor the worst miserable If we had a right knowledge of all things in their own nature not heightned in Imagination we might easily go through all parts of Duty and avoid the several Instances and Acts of Sin as the one doth occur and the other present themselves Indeed such a thing being the Will and Mind of God should presently silence all other considerations drawn from selfishness or the love of our selves But as was before somewhat hinted to shut out all boasting and merit That the Lord alone may be exalted in that day we do little or nothing purely for him but all out of respect had to our selves and if we were sufficiently convinced it would as much redound to our own good and benefit we would then obey the Lord our God and walk in all his ways This is evident For the very reason why People walk in their own ways is because of the supposed advantage and conveniency thereof Now alike and greater Profit would turn them into the right way Present Peace and Future Glory do surmount all the Pleasure and Profit which can be had here and Glory and Immortality are rather to be sought after than blind dangerous inconsideration or the fearful expectation of the end of those things which is Death It is better to sin not and be innocent than to give way unto the doing of those things whereof we must give account for hence arises doubt and fear We may quickly find and perceive the utmost good and delight which spring up from Disobedience and Transgression the same hath been had before It melts away like dross leaving a foulness behind which turns into nothing This may be observed of the several Acts of Sin and Temptation which go out like the snuff of a Candle in noisom darkness How can men expect Happiness from those things by which they die and become miserable What Fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed It it is all but trash which instantly perishes in the going down and doth not nourish which is as insignificant as a mere Tale that is told or expires as a Dream when one awaketh which is but faint and languishing in the Act and bitter in the Remembrance If there was previous Thought and Consideration of these Things Men would not so much yield to them But alas They discern it most commonly by the Effects and Consequents and that not throughly till it is too late When the time of Tryal is over then they know how they should behave themselves and when he will prove them no longer then they would approve themselves unto God The Matter is understood at the End but not at the beginning whereas this is too late if it is but once laid before us as such are the concernments of Eternity We being proved in this Life only but many other Things of this Life are often and successively laid before us and this should reach us to amend our former Errors and carry our selves Right at the next Opportunity and Trial. To have the free use of our Reason and Faculties and our Senses continually exercised to discern between Good and Evil That we may seek after and embrace all that can be had of the one and as studiously decline all the hurt and defilements of the other To know and practice all those things for which we shall have the Voice of our Lord Well done good and faithful Servant And again carefully avoid and leave undone all those things which tend to sad account and condemnation What profit is there of all the Labour that a Man taketh under the Sun In Truth none at all unless it be in order to future Life And when we come to fully know and perceive as much We should direct all our Actions accordingly That like as the Men of this present Time do think in whatever they take in hand What Good or Profit will accrue to my self hereby So the same may be continually thought of as to the time to come What advantage or stead will this Thing stand me in when I shall come to give account of my self to God The consideration of Things to come by reason of their so much exceeding Greatness and Duration should swallow up all the care and concern of this present Time We do not so much value how things go with us now so it may be well with us hereafter We are not so much concerned for whatever we may miss of in this Time and Place so we may lay hold of Eternal Life It is no matter whatever Trouble Pain or Striving we endure if we may hy any means