fright thee out of the Fold but to fright thee into a Sheep I shall do thee no harm if I can fright thee to Heaven 2. What 's one Man's Meat may be another Man's Poison and what 's one Man's Poison may be another Man 's necessary Meat All Christians are not of a like Spirit and what 's poison for some may be proper for others Same poor broken melancholick Souls are all fears and must have Comforts preached unto them others are secure confident and yet careless Ones and these have asmuch need of terror Comforts preached to the doubting and distressed Ones may be poison to the secure and careless and yet for the sake of the distressed they must be preached and terror preached to the secure may be poison to the distressed and yet they must be preached for the securers sakes The Ministers of the Gospel must be good Stewards giving to every one their Portion Luk. 12.42 Comfort to whom comfort belongeth and fear to whom fear On some have compassion making a difference others save with fear Jude 22 23. And as Ministers must give so People must take every one their own Portions as Ministers must divide so People must apply the Word of God aright Let every Man take his own Portion and not be catching at that which is another's There is too great an aptness in the distressed to lay hold on those words that are spoken to the secure if there be ever an afrighting word in a whole Sermon that 's my Portion saith the Distressed this Word belongs to me and so the secure are too ready to lay hold on those healing and comforting words which belong to the broken and distressed both these Evils must be heedfully avoided but whether People will apply the Word of God aright or no there 's no help for it but Ministers must divide it aright and give to every one their Portion 3. There is an awaking fear that quickens to our Duty and prepares for comfort and this will lightly hurt no Body and there is a disquieting and discouraging fear that disheartens to Duty and deprives of Comfort and this will do no Body any good 4. This Fear I am preaching to you will lead you to the better and surer hope These Doubtings will be of great use to put us in the way of getting above our Doubts As there is a Confidence which will end in terror so there are Fears and Doubtings the Fruit whereof will be Quietness and Assurance for ever This will more fully appear in the next Particular wherein I am to shew 2. How this Fear will work towards a farther search Hitherto I have been endeavouring to work this Fear upon Professors Hearts concerning their States and now I shall shew how this Fear will work The Fear lest our Souls should be yet unsafe will 1. Put hard to come to a certainty And to this end will 2. Put us close upon a more narrow search 3. Put in Objections in order to the making all clear and plain 1. It will put hard to come to a certainty nothing short will satisfie it Fear hath pain in it the fearing Christian is in pain till his Doubts be resolved and this pain will press him to make sure He will be thankful for Probabilities and will make the most of them as a drowning Man will catch at every Twig that may keep his Head above Water till he can get better hold A Christian that Fears will not make nothing of Probabilities nor yet will take up with them instead of Certainties The Confident Sinner will venture all upon conjecture if his Heart do but speak him fair and tell him he is safe that shall satisfie him 'T is an amazing thing to consider what broken Reeds Fools do stay themselves upon Fear will make all as sure as it can And there is some hope in that that we ae bent upon making sure He that will not rest in uncertainties is in the fairer way to come to a certainty 2. Fear will put us on close upon the narrowest search It will not take up with Reports or Opinions but will search the Records whence it may be like to get satisfactions And there are two Books of Records that will be enquired after and look'd into the Book of the Scriptures and the Book of Conscience In one the Book of the Scriptures it will examine what are the plainest and most certain Marks of Sincerity when it hath found a Mark it will enquire May not this be also in an Hypocrite and will not pitch on any thing but that which cannot be found in any Hypocrite in the World Then it enquires into Conscience and compares the two Books together The word tells me He that is in Christ is a new-Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 He that is born of God is a Believer 1 John 5.1 Is a lover of God 1 John 4.7 He that loveth doth keep the Commandments of God and his Commandments are not grievous 1 John 5.3 The Children of God are Children that will not lye are meek merciful holy harmless The Disciples of Christ are such as deny themselves take up their Cross and follow him These and such-like are found in the Scriptures to be the signs of the Children of God And what sayest thou O my Conscience are these things found in me Where is my Faith What Love have I for God What witness to my Love in my Obedience What Truth Mercy Meekness Humility Patience is to be discerned in me Come forth O my Graces where are you Shew your selves in the light of the Sun And what can you testify O my ways for me Speak Conscience what is the life which I have lived Is it a life of Faith a life of Love and Holy Obedience If Conscience speaks in the affirmative and gives in its answer through the Grace of God I find it thus with me Then 3. Fear will make Objections and put in farther Questions It 's true he that is a New-Creature is in Christ he that believeth and loveth and obeyeth the Lord is born of God and I find that there is something in me that looks like the New-Creature that looks like Faith and Love c. But may not all these be but the Images of Grace Is my Faith the very Faith of God's Elect Do I love the Lord Jesus in sincerity do I obey from the heart that form of Doctrine that is delivered to me May there not be as great a change upon an Hypocrite may not Hypocrites believe and love and obey as far as ever I have done And until the matter be brought to this issue that there is something found such a Faith such a Love such Holy Obedience as cannot be found in Hypocrites till then this Fear which will ever suspect the worst will nor give over but still will come on with question upon question How shall I know my Faith is right and how shall I prove my Love and Obedience to be sincere I am
but can I be too busie a too zealous for the Living God Can I say of my best this is too much Can I say of any thing less than my best this is enough 'T is the Lord God whom thou servest fear to be unworthy This is the advantage of our carrying this thought upon our Hearts I serve the Lord it will put us upon the best and highest Service Give me leave to add another Advantage though not of so proper consideration here This thought whilst it provokes us to the highest will yet comfort us touching the least and meanest of all our Services Some poor weak Christians are apt to discourage themselves in all they do from this that it is so very low and little that they do I am a poor Creature 't is but little that I have to serve the Lord withal I am ignorant and of weak understanding I have not the Parts nor Gifts that others have I might possibly serve the Lord better were it not for this Fear which is upon me I am afraid to speak of God or of the Things of God I am of slow Speech and rude Language I cannot express my self to any purpose I am ashamed of my teaching my Family of my praying in my Family I do it so brokenly and confusedly that I fear I do more hurt than good in it I but poor Man as weak as thou art and as weakly as thou dost what thou dost if thou do what thou canst This is serving the Lord and whether it be little or much if thou canst but truly say This is serving the Lord thou mayst be comforted in it If Sinners considered that their little Sins were serving the Devil 't would make them afraid of the very least transgression Some Sinners are not so great Sinners as others they are not guilty of those higher and more notorious Crimes that some others are and this quiets them and keeps off Fear from them Thou art no Drunkard thou sayest nor no Adulterer nor no Blasphemer I but dost thou not live a carnal vain careless earthly Life and is not this serving the Devil Though thou dost not serve the Devil in the Ale-house or the Whore-house though thou dost not serve the Devil with Oaths and Curses and Blasphemies yet is it not the Devil still thou servest Thou servest thy Covetousness thou servest thy Pride and thy sensual Appetite thou neglectest Christ and thy Soul and is not this serving the Devil Such a thought upon the most harmless of Sinners Hearts yet I serve the Devil would make him afraid Is it a light thing to serve the Devil Though I be not numbred among the chief of Sinners though there be others worse than I yet am not I under the same Master Though I be among the hindermost of the Company yet am not I one of them This Life I live is no serving God and therefore 't is doubtless the serving of the Devil Take heed O my Soul If the Devil can but hold thee 't will be all one whether it be by greater or smaller Cords the Devil is dragging thee to Hell and so he can but get the thither at last it will be upon the matter all one to him whether it be by greater or lesser Sins Though he can't perswade thee to ride post into the Pit yet if he can but toll thee in that shall suffice him though it be but by a slower pace Now as such a thought I serve the Devil would afright the least of Sinners so will such a thought I serve the Lord comfort the least of Saints But this by the way 4. Another Reason why we should Fear is because of the great Treasure we carry about with us whither-ever we go Christians are Travellers and they travel with charge about them This World is a dangerous World the Passengers through it are in danger of falling among Thieves which will spoil and rob them of their Treasure A Christian carries more Riches about him than the whole World is worth He hath the whole Gospel within him he hath the two Tables of the Covenant his Heart is the Ark in which they are laid up He hath Christ in him the Fruits of his Blood his Pardon and Reconciliation the graces and comforts of his Spirit his evidences for Heaven all the Records of the gracious Transactions betwixt God and his Soul the Pawns and Pledges of Divine Love the King's Broad-Seal and the Earnest for Glory all the Income of his Faith the Returns of his Prayers all that he hath gotten all the Manna he hath gathered the Hidden Manna the White Stone with the New Name he carries all his Riches up and down with him whither-ever he travels Hast thou any Divine Light in thine Heart any love for Christ any zeal for God and his Gospel any Tokens of his Love or Tenderness of his Honour Is there Peace or Joy or Hope within thee All this thou art in danger of being rob'd and spoil'd of This is the Design that Satan hath upon thee this is the Errand of every Worldly Lust of every Temptation every Companion every Carnal Relation every Change of Condition every Carnal Pleasure all thy Earthly Possessions the Devil hath set them in ambush and they lie in wait for thee to rifle thee and spoil thee of all that ever thou art worth Hast thou never fallen amongst these Thieves and suffered great loss by them Hast thou been rob'd and art thou not afraid thou mayest again Will not thy loss make thee more wise and wary How many Instances have there been of secure and unwary Christians who whilst they have been venturous upon Temptations have trusted themselves amongst their vain Companions indulged themselves a more free and jolly and easie a more remiss and flesh pleasing Life or a more busie drudgery for this VVorld have as to their sense at least lost all they had for the other VVorld VVho when they have come a little to themselves fall a mourning out Naomi's bitter Song Ruth 1.20 Call me no more Naomi but call me Marah I went out full but I returned empty Whilst mine Heart was tender and mine Eye jealous whilst I kept my watch and kept my distance from this World and its Temptations O what Light Love Peace Joy did then shine upon and possess my Heart then I had a God whom I could call mine own then I had a Jesus and could lean upon my Beloved then I could believe love serve delight in enjoy and praise the Lord. But wo wo to me how is it now Whilst I allowed my self a little more boldness with this Flesh and this World I have even lost all ere I was aware I am fallen among Thieves and what have they left me O mine Ease my Pleasures my Money my Lands which I have turned aside to how have you served me Whilst I have been loving and following and serving you how have you rewarded me Ah me they have taken away my
Sins strange and unaccustomed Sins there 's no Sin so gross but it may be thy Sin and there 's no Sin so small but it may be thy undoing there 's no Sin so great a stranger to thee but one time or other it may give thee a visit thou mayest be tempted to that Sin which thou wast never tempted to in all thy life thou mayest be over-come of that sin which thou never committedst all thy dayes before Say not of any sin this I fear not it may be the next that comes and if it come thou hast that within thee may bid it welcome Fear all Sin but especially fear thy Beloved Sin Fear what-ever thou lovest in all the World but especially the Sin of thy Love there be some Sins that that thou canst better spare and what thou canst better spare thou needest least to fear But what is this Beloved Sin or how may I know which it is 'T is worth your enquiry and I shall give you the following marks or discoveries of it by which you may understand both what Sin it is that is your Beloved Sin and how great reason you have to fear it 1. The Beloved Sin hath easie entrance The Apostle calls it Heb. 12.1 The Sin that doth easily beset us It layes Siege to the Soul and it hath an easie Siege of it it lies not long without the Walls the Gates are quickly thrown open to it when-ever it comes to the Door 't is usually let in at the first knock Strangers may be made to wait or be sent packing but this Friend must be fetched in and bid welcome the Devil may save his labour to tempt to this Sin it self is temptation enough It is the Familiar of the Heart one of its nearest Acquaintance 2. It hath the command of all The Beloved-Sin is the Master-Sin 't is by love that Sin rules what-ever hath gotten thy love hath therein gotten the dominion in thee Lovest thou God then at his command thou art Lovest thou Sin then this becomes thy Lord thou wilt deny or keep back nothing it will have This Herodias may ask what she will and she shall have it not half but all not the Baptist's Head but thine own Head and Heart and Soul and Life all must be sacrificed to it All the good thou hast and not only this but all other Sins and Lusts must stoop to it and serve it For instance If Pride be the Master-Sin the whole Man and all that ever he hath must be Servants to it yea and every other Lust must either serve it or give place to it Covetousness must get in Wealth to maintain it Envy must throw Dirt in others Faces that would eclipse it Curiosity must provide it of Ornaments all the parts and powers of the Soul all its vertues and inward Endowments all the actions of the Life must all be made use of to serve and uphold it Meekness Temperance Patience Charity Chastity Preaching Praying Fasting all our Religion must be press'd to do homage to this Idol and whatsoever would be a disgrace whether it be good or evil must be laid aside or trodden under-foot If it be a disgrace to be covetous Pride will be content to be poor if it be a disgrace to be quarrelsom Pride will be peaceable yea if it be a disgrace to be proud Humility must serve it for a Covering and Ornament If it be an honour to be Godly and Conscientious the Proud will be a Professor and if it be a disgrace or reproach then farewel to Religion Conscience hide thine head Every thing must be entertained or rejected according as it may serve or hinder it and this Pride must have the ordering and disposing of all If Covetousness be the Master-Sin then all we are or have must be at its command The Sensual Appetite must be denyed and Hunger and Thirst must be born for its sake Expensive Pride or Wasteful Prodigality must no longer be endured Slothfulness and Idleness must by no means be indulged to All our time wits parts strength all those vices injustice oppression unmercifulness must be hired to gather in Dust to feed this greedy Worm And the like may be said of any other Beloved Sin it hath the command of all 3. It must have no check nor controul The Beloved must dwell in quiet do what I will and none must say to it What dost thou Like that Fondling Adonijah of whom 't is said 1 Kings 1.6 His Father had not displeased him at any time nor said Why hast thou done so The Darling must be dandled but never corrected or questioned or if there be a necessity and it cannot be avoided that some check be given it then the same charge must be given as concerning that other of David's Fondlings Absalom 2 Sam. 18.5 Deal gently with the young Man Not too harsh not too close Nay my Sons 't is not well that I hear of you said Eli to his wicked Sons 1 Sam. 4.24 And that 's the hardest word that will be born 4. It 's the last that 's parted with Reuben shall go and Simeon shall go and Judah shall go but must Benjamin go to My Son shall not go down said once old Israel Gen. 42. this Pride let it go sayes the covetous Man and this Sloth and this Pleasure but must this Mammon and my Heart be parted it shall not go This Covetousness let it go saith the proud Man and this Ease and this Pleasure but shall this Honour and these Ornaments go If I be put to Labour I can bear it or if I be Poor I can bear it I can work hard or fare hard but I cannot be despised though my Estate be brought low and my Back be bowed down yet my Spirit will not come down this Pleasure I can spare and this Ease and this Honour saith the peevish but I cannot help it to be angry and impatient when I am provoked Nature will have its vent any thing but this but in this thing the Lord pardon me I cannot help it 5. It 's often the parting penny betwixt Christ and the Soul betwixt the Soul and Life 'T is the last that 's parted with and sometimes 't will never be parted with Christ must go and Life must go the Soul must die rather than this Sin not be saved alive Doubtless there are Souls in Hell that have parted with much and would have parted with all but this one thing their Beloved Sin and for the sake of this they perish everlastingly Was it not the care of that young Man that came to Christ for Eternal Life Mark 10.21 He was fair for Life only Christ tells him One thing thou lackest Get thee loose from the love of this Earth and Heaven shall be thine O sayes his Heart I have too much to lose and I love it too well to part with it so sorry I am I cannot I have a good will to thee I have a mind to live abate me
thou thoughtest and hath so chained it self to these and been so taken up in the service of them that hence 't is with thee as ' t is God hath opened his Store to thee and filled thine hand with good things and thou hast opened thy Mouth and so filled thine Heart with them that it 's even chok'd up by them and all Spiritual Good is even strangled within thee But wilt thou thus requite the Lord O unworthy Soul Shall he be a loser by his Bounty VVilt thou become worse for that he is so good VVilt thou abuse Love VVhat is an abuse of Love if not this that the more he loves the less he is beloved of thee the more he gives the less be returned what was given to draw thine Heart doe's carry it away from him Shall it be said thou wouldst have been a better Servant if he had not been so good a Master If he had not given thee so great an Estate so good a VVife so dear a Child thou wouldst have lov'd him more and serv'd him better than now thou dost Friends if what you Love be not also your Fear it will be like to be your Sin and your Misery 'T will draw your Heart from God and so 't will be your Sin and 't will provoke God to snatch it away from you and then 't will be your Misery What-ever thou over-lovest if the Lord mean thee good look for it to be strip't and bereaved of it He will touch thee in the Apple of thine Eye he will try thee in thine Isaac and will tear off that Jewel that entices thine Heart from him And by how much the more thou lovest by so much the greater will the parting torment be Good old Abraham had an Isaac and in this Isaac he must be tried and an hard tryal he had which how chearfully soever he went through yet consider the Circumstances of it and then think what piercing trouble thy love to Creatures may bring upon thee Gen. 22.2 Take now sayes God to Abraham thy Son thine only Son Isaac whom thou lovest and offer him up for a Burnt-Offering Hadst thou been in this Abraham's stead what a Dagger in thine Heart would this Word have been How would thy love to thine Isaac have risen up and reasoned with the Lord thus If the Lord will have a Sacrifice may not some other Creature be it All the Beasts of the Field are his and the Cattel upon a thousand Hills Is there none amongst all these wherewith the Lord will be pleased but must he have a Man for a Sacrifice If he will have me Sacrifice a Man may not a Stranger be the Man Or if he will have one of mine own House may not a Servant or one of their Sons be accepted If it must be a Son of mine own may not Ishmael the Son of the Bond-woman be he Must it be mine Isaac and none but he And why Lord is this word whom thou lovest added What yet more load 'T would be some ease if I could now forget my love and must this be now remembred This is the Dart that kills my Soul But if this Son of mine this only Son by my Wife this Isaac whom I love must go must I my self offer him up must mine own hand be upon him If this Isaac must be the Sacrifice must none but Abraham be the Priest O what will the Countrey say of me Is Abraham become a Murtherer And how shall I hold up my face to Sarah my Wife at my return What shall I say to her when she asks Where is the Child where is Isaac my Son O my Bowels my Bowels I am pained at mine Heart mine Eyes fail my Soul melts my Livey is poured out on the Earth How shall I say Isaac is not the Child is dead and dead by mine own hand How would Father and Mother fall together and swoon and die as wounded in the streets How chearfully and couragiously soever the good old Man behaved himself under all these astonishing Circumstances yet O think how it would have been with thee hadst thou been this Abrabam and let that thought put thee in fear concerning whomsoever thou dearly lovest Consider a little what the unhappy Fruits of thy own love are God sayes to thee Take now thy Child or thy Children not and offer them up to me for a Burnt-Sacrifice but take and bring them up for me for an Holy Seed Instruct them Govern and Educate them for me Whose are all these that are in thine House Are they not all mine my Sons and my Daughters and wherefore have I sent them thee Is it not with this charge Keep these Souls for me bring them up for me 'T is not for Bread only or for Clothes or for Trades or for Portions that they are come into thine House 't is that they may be instructed to the Kingdom of God and bred up to eternal Life Now how dost thou keep this charge of the Lord Dost thou Teach them Dost thou Govern them Or are they not left a rude and unruly Company But what is in the fault Is not thy love in fault Thou art so fond a Father that thou canst not find in thine Heart to impose upon them any thing that they like not nor canst be so strict or severe as is needful to them My Child is sickly or unapt to learn and I cannot put him so hard to it My Child is wayward and disorderly but I doubt how it would be with him if I should cross or correct him I am fain to let him have his Will more than I would for fear I should discourage or break his Spirit I have but one or but two and if these should miscarry what would become of me Why now thou sees what reason thou hast to fear thy love which is such a Tempter to thee to disobey thy God and to tender the honour of thy Child more than the honour of thy Maker If there be ever a one of thy Children that thou lovest above the rest that must be let alone to be the rebellious Child God sayes to thee Take not thy Child but thy Bread and thy Flesh and thy Money and Estate and offer these up to me Cast thy Bread upon the Waters Draw forth thy Soul to the hungry Give unto him that asketh lend unto him that would borrow of thee feed cloath harbour for my sake do it And yet how little goes out at his Word either to Beggars or Borrowers No thou lovest what thou hast too well to part with it so God sayes to thee Take but this Ram or this Goat thy Sins and thy Lusts slay them and offer them up No thou wilt not do it Thou lovest thine Enemies too and they also must be spared Though they will not spare thee nor any thing thou hast thy Time thine Estate thy Name and all that thou hast must be Meat for thy Lusts yet behold they are loved and must be
our selves to God Yet he will not take the account we give without trying whether it be a true account 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must be made manifest and laid open as the word imports that it may plainly be seen what we are And this severe search that shall be made in the Judgment the Apostle calls in the next verse the terror of the Lord. 'T would shake the securest Hearts to understand what a thorow search will be made of them in that day God will bring all things to light God will lay all in the Ballance What a dreadful Word was that to that King Dan. 5.27 Thou art weighed in the Ballance and found wanting What if that should be your case at last if God's Light should find you to be Darkness if God's Ballance should find you too light What if whilst you count your selves Children God should find you Bastards if whilst you count your selves Vines he should find you Thorns if while you count your selves Believers Beloved and Chosen of God that day should declare you to be Infidels and Reprobates What if it should be so you are stark Fools and worse than mad if you think such a question may not be put What if I should be mistaken Is such a mistake on which your eternal state depends of so little consequence with you as not to need such a question to be put about it Are you so little concerned how matters shall go with you in the Judgment Are you so little concerned what your final Sentence shall be which of you for Life and which for Death who for Blessedness and who for Burning What Rocks are those Hearts of yours if they do not rent and quake for fear And if you do fear to think what if I should be mistaken let that Fear set you a searching whether you have hitherto been mistaken or no. Beloved whether you fear or no give me leave to tell you I am afraid concerning you 1. Some of you I fear there are upon whom there hath been no good wrought no nor any thing done towards it not a Clod broken not a Thorn rooted out not a Grain of good Seed fallen upon your Hearts Upon whom the Lord hath been ploughing as upon Rocks sowing as upon Heaths hammering as upon Anvils hewing as upon Iron who with those Rebels Isa 48.4 have Brows of Grass and Iron Sinews who have hitherto resisted the Holy Ghost and put from you the Word of Life whom both the Seed and the Showers that have fallen upon you have left hard and barren bringing forth nothing but Briars and Thorns In whom Oaths and Lyes and Drunkenness and such like are all the Fruits that have been brought forth who are far from God and yet far from fear whom a very little search might be enough to convince you that you are in the Gall of Bitterness and the Bond of Iniquity If you would but cast an Eye upon God's Glass your foul Faces would quickly shew you what you are O Sinners if you your selves yet fear not let others fears concerning you thus far prevail with you as to cast a serious Eye upon your selves Make a little enquiry Is it not thus with me Is not my Soul in this very case If I should ask Where are my Sins Behold they compass me round about they are in mine Heart and in my Mouth and my whole Life is filled up with Iniquity But if I should ask Where is my Faith where is my Repentance where is the new Heart and the new Life Where is the Knowledg and Love and Life and Fear of God What could I say what answer could I give Make a little enquiry thus a very little to a Man in thy case me-thinks should be enough to convince and awaken thee 2. Others of you I fear there maybe upon whom the Lord hath been at work but the Work is not yet brought thorow Upon whom though the Plough hath entred and made some sign yet it hath not gone deep enough though the Thorns some of them are cut down yet their Root remaineth though the Seed of God hath fallen upon you and some Blades have sprung up yet it hath taken no root upon whom though there appear some dawning towards the Day yet you are not come to Sun-rising As for you it is a mercy that there is something done especially if there be still more a-doing It is a mercy that the Lord hath made a motion of Love to you and that he is not totally rejected that there is a Treaty for Peace whereof you have so far accepted as to yield to a Cessation of Arms and a forbearance of those open Acts of Hostility against God which have been that the Drunkards are become sober that the Swearers now fear an Oath that the Enemies of God and of all Righteousness are now content to hear of a Reconciliation This is a mercy Much more That any of you are so far convinced of the misery of Sin of the excellency and necessity of Religion and Godliness that you are wrought to some good liking of the Holy Wayes of God and are wishing and waiting and making out after the Lord. This is a Mercy because there is hope that he that hath brought you hitherto will bring you on farther and farther till he hath brought you home But yet there is matter of great fear too lest presuming you have already attained you should sit down short of Saving-Grace and so perish at last With a special respect to such as these I shall shew 1. How such Persons may be wrought to this Fear 2. How this Fear will work to a farther Search 1. To work this Fear in such let these following Particulars be considered 1. There are preparations to Grace that are not Grace 2. There are Images of Grace that are not Grace 3. There are some properties of gracious Persons that are no certain Evidences of Grace 4. There is no one Grace that is really so which will put us out of doubt 5. What-ever we have that is short of Saving-Grace it may go back and we may be reduced to a worse State than ever before 1. There are preparations to Grace that are not Grace God usually takes time and leads Men on to Christ by degrees we are not presently Converts as soon as we cease to Bedlams There may be awakenings of sleepy Souls there may be enlightnings of dark Souls there may be shakings of obdurate and hardned Souls which though they may have a tendency to farther good yet may be far enough short of it There may be the pangs of travel which may never bring to the Birth In particular 1. There may be Conviction of Sin and yet no Grace Conviction is not Conversion Ahab was once a Convinced Person and so was Judas also but never Converts 2. There may be a good Opinion of Grace where there is no Grace The Way
Drunkards Swearers c. to become Reformed Persons to see some see Men from Persecutors to become Pofessors of Religion these things are a good fight but they are no sure sign of Sincerity Men may Pray and Hear and be much reformed in their Lives and yet be short of Christ The neglect of Prayer and Hearing and the going on in a course of Sin are certain signs of a wicked Man Thou that prayest not and wilt not receive Instruction and hatest to be reformed art thou a Saint Thy gross neglects and thy evil doings are Satan's Marks upon thee Art thou still going on in thy wickedness How canst thou say or think but that thou art of the wicked One Yet the performance of these Duties Praying Hearing and somewhat of Reformation are no certain signs that thou art of God A total and thorough Reformation a withdrawing our selves from every evil way a resigning up our selves to the Government of Christ and the Conduct of the Spirit and an actual care and endeavour to walk uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel is the best and last proof of our Sincerity But much Reformation there may be in the Life and yet the Heart not right with God Beloved while we are comforted over you and rejoyce that there is so much done upon many of you as there is that there are so many Praying Ones among you who were wont to neglect Prayer that there are so many of you to be found at a Sermon who were once more like to have been found in an Alehouse blessed be God that there is such visible Reformation among you both of your Persons and Families Besides those of you that have given a good proof of an inward Saving-change even this that appears upon others of you is a comfort to us Yet beware how you venture your Souls upon this though hopeful yet I doubt but partial Reformation and all this notwithstanding fear lest you should and look diligently that you do not fall short of the Grace of God at last 4. There is no one Grace that is really so if it be alone that will put us out of doubt concerning our state There is no one Mark by which we can give a certain judgment of our selves without the concurrent testimony of other Marks with it The Graces of God in us must give mutual testimony each to other before any of them can give clear testimony to us Our Love must prove our Faith to be sincere our Holy Obedience must prove our Love to be sincere before either our Faith or Love will prove either themselves or us to be so If I have the very Faith of God's Elect and I yet question whether I love or no If I feel I love and cannot prove 't is in sincerity by my Obedience neither the one nor the other will give me confidence before God One Grace wanting will be an Objection against those that appear I believe but sure I fear 't is not with Faith unfeigned because I cannot find I love and so in the rest Not but that any one Saving-Grace where-ever it is found to be such is an infallible Evidence of Sincerity But still the doubt will be whether this Grace I find be Grace indeed and unless it be witnessed by the concurrence of other Graces that doubt is never like in an ordinary way to be clearly resolved Therefore that Exhortation of the Apostle Add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledg and to Knowledg Temperance c. 2 Pet. 1.5 6. is necessarily to be minded in order to the obtaining that Assurance which the Apostle in the following Verses directs and exhorts with diligence to follow after 5. What-ever you have and yet all short of Saving-Grace it may all go quite back and you may return to a worse estate than ever you were before The unclean Spirit that is at present gone out may return again and thy latter end may be worse than thy beginning Let us a little consider that Scripture Mat. 12.33 34 35. When the unclean Spirit is gone out of a Man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none then he saith I will return into my House from whence I came forth and when he is come he findeth it empty swept and garnished then goeth 〈◊〉 and taketh with him seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that Man is worse than the first Though this Text be parabolical and was intended against that wicked Generation yet is it applicable to particular persons still When the unclean Spirit goeth out of a Man That Sinners are so vile and abominable it is from that wicked Spirit Satan that dwells in them Every Sinner is a possessed Person possessed of a Devil When they are a little reformed they seem for the time to be dispossessed but there is difference betwixt the Devil's going out and his being cast out Satan may a little with-draw from Souls as to the Impetus or violence of his Suggestions and Operations whilst still he holds his Dominion He walketh through dry places What these dry places may be is not so easie to determine some by these loca arida understand loca vâ—â—na void and empty places the Desarts and Wastes of the Earth where he finds no Body to tempt or molest But could Satan think to find rest there where was no House for him to lay his Head in Would the Tempter wast time in seeking whom to devour in those wast places where he knew wel enough there were none to be found he knows too well where Sinners dwell to go to seek them where they are not more like to find the Devil in a Market than in a Wilderness This therefore seems not to be the sence May I give my conjecture Why may not these dry places be the Saints on Earth the Fountain of whose Blood is dryed up in whom the Sun hath dryed up their Dirt and Mire in which this Swine loves to wallow Satan may have his Walks through the best of Men but these are no Habitation for him The Devil with the Swine hath his Habitation in the filthy places in the Mud and Mire or with the Behemoth of whom 't is said Job 40.21 He lyeth under the shady Trees under the covert of the Reeds in the Fens He loves to be in the Shade where no Sun comes to disturb him in the Moors and in the Fens where he may have Mire enough to tumble in Miry moorish Hearts dirty Fennish Souls are the Dens of Devils the Saints in comparison of these are dry places He seeketh rest This notes two things 1. When the Devil is gone out of any Person he is never at rest till he is gotten in again either thither whence he went out or into some other Habitation where he may do mischief Like Children like Father as 't is said of them so 't is much more true of him he rests
heavenward to be as swimming against the stream but by how much the more grace hath over-powred nature by so much the more he hath now gotten the stream with him his following God is now become as swimming down the stream of that new nature which hath now gotten so much the better in him One of the hardest works of a Christian is Self-denyal to lay down our own wills to curb our appetites to go cross to our own dispositions interests and humours this goes near at first and will hardly be born but after we have us'd our selves a while to it and by degrees inur'd our wills to submission to the will of Christ and holding the bridle strait upon lust and appetite have made our hearts to feel themselves to be under authority a chearful and contented subjection will in time become habitual to us the more self-denyal we have exercised the less will there be afterwards needed He that hath been given to intemperance to gluttony or drunkenness at his first laying a restraint upon himself what a bondage is sobriety and temperance to him but after he hath used himself to a temperate life he finds it more sweet and easie to him and is better pleas'd with it than ever he was with his former excess and scarcely knows now what 't is to lust after his old licentiousness Now Brethren that which I would perswade you to is Make your Religion pleasant by making it easie to you make your Religion easie not by halfing your work or remitting your care but by increasing your strength and your diligence get your hearts strengthened and get them habituated to Religion this will make it easie and ease will make it pleasant What 's the reason that we see some Sinners go on with so much pleasure in their wicked wayes the service of sin is laborious enough and in some respects much more toilsome and expensive than the Service of Christ They have many Masters to serve and every one of them will be calling them to work they have the Devil to serve and the World to serve and divers lusts to serve they are like a servant of men who is at the command of more Masters than one one calls him this way another that way one hath this to be done another that to be done so that for one and another the poor Servant can never be at rest such is the case of Sinners their pride calls them one way their covetousness another their sensuality another their Souls are made meer Hackneys of though they change their rider yet one or other is still upon their backs And yet we see how roundly and merrily they go on their way without ever complaining of their Masters or their work When do you ever hear any such complaints among them O this Devil is an hard Master O this flesh of mine what a Tyrant is it O this feasting and sporting this drinking and rioting what an irksome Trade is it O this getting of Money this laying house to house and field to field I am quite weary of it When do you hear any such groanings or complainings amongst them No no they are strong Sinners they are accustomed to do wickedly and thereupon as very a drudgery as the service of Sin is they can go through it with ease and pleasure Friends get you to be strong in the Lord and you will run your race of duty with much more pleasure than sinners run their course of iniquity hold you close to your work a while and you will get to Heaven with as much ease as Sinners go to Hell O what fools are loytering trifling Christians who think to make their life easie by idleness what 's the reason that thou haltest thus after the Lord and art so slothful in thy way why dost thou not set thine heart and thy shoulders to the work of the Lord and give thy self in good earnest and wholly to it O I can't endure all labour all difficulty I must have a little ease 't is too tedious and painful to me to hold to such close and constant service But dost thou think to make thy work easie by trifling at it Foolish Soul thou takest the ready way to create thee the more difficulty once the work must be done or thou art undone and there 's no such way to do it easily as by doing it diligently the life of a trifler is the hardest life of all that profess themselves Christians doubtless Christ's yoke will sit easiest upon those necks upon which it sits the closest 4. The pleasure of Love He that hath not felt pleasures in love hath not felt what 't is to love This is one of the great pleasures of Heaven to love and to be beloved to receive the over-flowings of the divine love and to feel our hearts emptying themselves and flowing forth in returns of love to God Look how much you have of love so much of Heaven of the joy that is above 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love what follows Ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Joh. 4.16 God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and he that dwelleth in God dwelleth in joy Psal 37.4 Delight thy self in the Lord to love God and to delight in God are much the same love is the bud and delight is the blossome that grows out of it Love hath a pleasure in it and the love of God will put a pleasure into all Religion How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts Psal 84.1 It is good for me to draw near to God Psal 73.28 I delight to do thy will O my God Psal 40.8 Sing praises to his name for it is pleasant Psal 135.3 It is a pleasant thing for him that loves to please and praise the Lord It is good before the Saints Psal 52.9 Fear often brings us upon Service but 't is love that sweetens it fear brings us on especially in the dayes of our minority and it should do so as I have already shewed if love will not fear must We often pray and read and hear and search our hearts and look to our wayes because we dare do no other we strive and wrestle and watch against sin and its lusts against the world and its temptations because we are afraid what would become of us if we should not 'T is well that any thing will do either love or hope or fear whatever it be that will bring us upon our duty that will keep us from iniquity 't is well that something will do it 'T is better to pray because we are afraid to neglect it than not to pray at all 't is better to keep a good Conscience because we are afraid of an evil Conscience than to be licentious whatever it be that brings us upon a consciencious life better so than to be let alone to carnality and looseness But yet still 't is love that sweetens and thereby strikes the great and
Godly-Fear OR THE Nature and Necessity of FEAR And its Usefulness BOTH To the Driving Sinners to Christ AND To the Provoking Christians on in a Godly Life through the several Parts and Duties of it till they come to Blessedness By R. A. Author of Vindiciae Pietatis Heb. 12.28 Let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear LONDON Printed for Samuel Sprint and Brabazon Aylmer at the Bell in Little-Brittain and at the three Pigeons in Cornhil 1674. To the Reader READER THe following Sermons thô set together into one Treatise were preached upon divers Texts of Scripture and therefore thou wilt the better bear it if thou find not that exactness of Method nor that evenness of Stile which thou dost expect All the Parts of it concenter in the same Design thô some of them seem a little more remote from it Such as it is the Whole is offered thee for thy Use accompanied with the Author's Prayers for a Blessing from Heaven upon it and thee Thine in Christ R. A. The Contents THe Text opened Page 1 The Doctrine Propounded Page 3 The Doctrine Expounded in two particulars viz. 1. What that Fear is to which Blessedness is pronounced and what there is in it ibid. 1. It hath Vnderstanding in it Page 6 2. It hath Faith Page 9 3. It hath Love Page 11 4. Aversation from Evil. Page 13 5. It hath Foresight Page 14 6. It hath Forecast Page 17 2. What that Blessedness is that is pronounced to this Fear Page 24 The Man that feareth shall have Sufficiency Page 25 Security Page 26 Use Of Information Exhortation and Direction For the carrying on whereof Vnderstand I. The Opposites of this Fear these are 1. Rashness Page 32 2. Audacity Page 35 3. Security Page 36 Amos 6.1.3 Wo be to them that are at ease in Zion that put far away the Evil Day opened at large Page 40 II. The Grounds or Reasons why Men Fear not These are their 1. Ignorance Page 47 2. Vnbelief Page 50 3. Presumption Page 53 A two-fold Presumption 1. Of the goodness of Mens present state ibid. 2. Of the happiness of their future state what-ever their present state be Page 76 III. The Grounds or Reasons why we should Fear Page 84 These are 1. Because of our Ignorance ibid. 2. Because of the deceitfulness of our hearts Page 92 3. Because of the weight and importance of the Work we have upon our hands Page 109 4. Because of the great Treasure we carry with us whereof we are in danger of being rob'd and spoiled Page 127 IV. What things we should especially Fear Page 133 These are 1. Our Delilah's or our Beloved Sins ibid. How the Beloved Sin may be known Page 134 2. Our Jezebel's or our painted Sins Page 138 3. Our Isaac's or every Beloved Creature Page 140 4. The Cross or Affliction Page 146 1. How the Cross is not to be feared Page 147 1. Not out of tenderness to the Flesh ibid. 2. Not out of faintness of Spirit Page 151 Some Cordials to preserve from fainting Page 152 2. In what respects the Cross is to be feared Page 156 1. Fear a surprisal by the Cross ibid. 2. Fear the Temptations of the Cross Page 158 5. The Curse or Everlasting Damnation Page 159 The Fear of the Curse will 1. Quicken our Fear of Sin Page 164 2. Quench our sinful Fear of the Cross Page 169 The Fear of the Curse press'd in particular upon Vnconverted Sinners Page 171 By shewing 1. What the Curse is ibid. 2. That Vnconverted Sinners are at present under the Curse Page 177 3. That there is great hazard that they may never escape it Page 178 V. How we should improve this Fear Page 193 Answered in three Directions Direct 1. Fear and Search ibid. Search 1. What good thing there is in you whether there be sincerity in your Hearts towards God Page 196 1. How by searching to work to this Fear Page 200 Five Considerations to make afraid Page 201 1. There are preparations for Grace which are not Grace ibid. 2. There are Images of Grace which are not Grace Page 208 3. There are some properties of gracious Persons which are no certain Evidences of Grace Page 209 4. There is no one Grace which is really so which will put us out of doubt Page 212 5. What-ever you have short of Saving-Grace it may go back and you may be reduced to a worse State than ever you were in before Page 213 Objection against putting Christians in Fear answered Page 218 2. How this Fear will work towards a farther search Page 221 Three infallible Marks of Sincerity to settle the fearing Soul 1. A resolved choice of God for our Portion and Happiness Page 257 Five Marks to prove the sincerity of our chusing God Page 260 2. An actual embracing of Christ as he that shall bring us to God Page 272 The sincerity of our close with Christ evidenced by our hearty consent to him Discovered 1. By our approbation of him and his way of Salvation Page 273 2. By our acceptation of him Page 275 3. By our dedication of our selves to him Page 276 3. A giving up our selves to the practice of a Godly Life endeavouring to follow God in Holiness without 1. Allowing our selves in any known sin Page 281 2. Allowing our selves in the neglect of any known duty Page 283 2. Search what evils there are found in you Page 292 Direct 2. Fear and beware Page 297 1. Fear and hide ibid. 1. What we are to hide 1. Our Sins ibid. 2. Our Souls Page 303 2. Where we are to hide viz. in Christ Page 304 3. How we may hide our selves in Christ ibid. 2. Fear and flee Page 309 1. Flee out of a state of Sin Page 310 2. Flee all sinful practices Page 315 Direct 3. Fear and follow after Page 305 Applyed 1. To Vnbelievers to whom the general Direction is Follow after True and Saving-Grace in fear of falling short of it Page 306 Two particular Directions ibid. 2. To Believers to them the general Direction is Follow on towards Perfection in fear of falling back from or walking unworthy of that Grace wherein you stand Page 313 Particular Directions 1. Follow on the Work of Mortification in Fear lest whatsoever Wound Sin hath received it should recover and get head again Page 314 2. Nurse up the Grace that is in you and let it have its perfect Work in Fear of receiving the Grace of God in vain Page 343 That you may not receive the Grace of God in vain but may grow up to fruitfulness therein Follow after 1. Power Page 352 2. Activity Page 354 3. Severity Page 356 4. Simplicity Page 365 5. Ingenuity Page 370 6. Spirituality Page 372 7. Pleasure Page 376 ERRATA There are some Literal and Verbal Mistakes and some mis-pointings which by reason of the Author's absence the Reader is desired to correct with his Pen. Besides these P.
mens misery and it may be said with respect to these Happy is the Man that never feareth But what is the Blessed Fear or what is there in it In short it is this It is such on aversation of the Heart from all manner of future Evils whether of Sin or of Misery which we apprehend our selves in danger of as puts the Soul upon making the best Provision it can for its security against them The Matter or Object of this Fear is Sin together with all the Fruits of it The Form or proper Nature of it is an aversion or starting back or shrinking in from it The Effect of it is to put the Soul to its shifts for its own security against it There are implyed or included in it these following Particulars 1. There is Vnderstanding in it Psal 111.10 The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom a good Vnderstanding have they that do it They are wise and understanding Men that Fear As we Love not so neither do we Fear but whom or what we have some apprehension of our Affections follow our Apprehensions as our Love we cannot love but what we apprehend to be good so our Fear we cannot fear but what we apprehend to be evil Our mistakes are the ground of the inordinate workings of our Affections when we apprehend that to be good which is not good we love what we should not love when we apprehend that to be evil which is not evil we fear what we should not fear when we apprehend that to be good which is evil we love what we should fear and when we apprehend that to be evil which is good we fear what we should love The reason of our sinful Fear is our Ignorance Ignorance both causes us to fear when we should not and leaves us without fear of what we should fear 1. Ignorance is the reason why we fear what we should not How is it that there is so much Fear of Men in the World Why it is because we understand them not what a vain thing what a weak thing they are how short their power is and how little 't is that Man can do Did we know more how great the Power of God is how terrible the Wrath of God is sure there would be more fear of God in the World And did we know how little there is in the Power of Man and in the Wrath of Man we should ease our selves of much of that Carnal Fear which now torments our Spirits Isa 2.22 Cease ye from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Cease ye from Man as from trusting in him so from fearing him for wherein is he to be accounted of How little is it that he can do for or against you There 's little help in him and there 's little hurt that he can do Men pretend to be great and make great boasts of their Power So did Pilate to Christ John 19.10 Knowest thou not that I have power to Crucifie thee and I have power to Release thee What art thou so sullen and so stubborn that thou wilt not speak to me Consider Man the Power of Liberty and Bonds the Power of Life and Death are in my hands Dost thou not know me Yes I know thee well enough sayes Christ Thou hast no Power but what is given thee and therefore limited thee from Above It 's for those that know thee not to fear thee I know thee well enough 2. Mens Ignorance is the reason why they fear not what they should fear Why is it that the ungodly fear not S n O it 's because they know it not Psal 14.4 Have the workers of Iniquity no knowledg Sure enough they have none for they eat up my People as they eat Bread such Morsels would scald their Mouths they would not dare to be such Persecutors and Destroyers of the People of God they would be afraid to touch them if they did but know what they did How bold are Sinners upon Sin How venturously do they run on They Lie they Swear they commit Adultery they Covet they Defraud they Oppress they Persecute But how is it that they are not afraid to do thus O! they know not what they do They are the Men of Understanding that Fear to transgress Christians those whose Minds are enlightned dare not do as others do they see what Sin is they see it to be an unclean thing odious and abominable in the sight of God they see it to be a dangerous and deadly thing They know God and thereby understand Sin which is contrary to him They know the kindness of God and the terrors of the Lord and see that Sin is an unworthiness and abusing of kindness and disobliging of goodness that makes a forfeit of the Divine Love and exposes to his Wrath and Indignation They know the worth of a Soul they have learn'd from their Lord Matth. 16.26 that the whole World is not a price for it neither sufficient to be its Ransom nor to recompence its loss They live in the Invisible World and have taken a view both of that life which is the reward of the Righteous and of that Death which is the recompence of the Sinners They see that Sin is the loss and the death of the Soul the only poison that can kill that immortal part by this alone Immortality is swallowed up of Death They understand that sin as it is the Worm that gnaweth at the root of all their hopes for hereafter so it is the Wormwood which imbitters all their Comforts here this is the Rust that cats out all their Treasures the Moth that frets out all their Garments the Stain that marrs all their Beauty In fine this is it that hath fill'd the World with vanity and vexation of Spirit and Hell with torment And hence it is that they fear it and fly from it Dost thou not fear Sin Sure thou dost not know it O what a light thing doth the World make of it to sin against God! how open do our hearts lie to it how easily doth it beset us we are surpriz'd by it every day and hour Sin lies at the door lies in wait for us in our Fields in our Houses at our Tables in our Closets and how often doth it take us and carry us away for Captives and still we make nothing of it neither feeling the mischief it has done us nor fearing those ruines which it is further bringing upon us We can talk of the evil of Sin of the folly of it of the filthiness of it but we cannot tremble at it sure we do not know it whatever we talk The World would be all up in Arms against this Enemy or else betake themselves to their heels running away from it were it throughly understood 2. There is Faith in this Fear It is but little that we can see of the evil of Sin our understandings at the best have much dimness upon them the
weakness of our sight is helped out by Faith Faith helps us to see with God's Eyes it looks on all things as God looks on them The Lord hath told us what he sees in Sin what a Snare it is what a Serpent it is what a Plague it is and what a Womb it is big with all manner of Miseries and Mischiefs which it's bringing forth upon us God's Mouth is Eyes to Faith by Faith we understand that it is even as it hath been told us of the Lord. Faith helps us to a present view of Sin and to a foresight of all that is behind of all those Floods that this Serpent is casting out of his Mouth to devour the Soul that Woe and that Wrath it's bringing upon Sinners both here and hereafter Future Evils that depend not necessarily on certain Causes are no otherwise clearly to be discerned but by the Eye of Faith And from this Faith this Fear arises as the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.13 We have believed and therefore have we spoken so may it also be said We have believed and therefore fear Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet was moved with Fear Sinner art thou yet secure is the Evil of Sin yet unseen by thee and thereupon is it but a light thing to thee Canst thou make a mock of Sin Canst thou make a sport of Sin canst thou take thy rest in Sin and make a Tush at that Wrath that Sin is bringing upon thee Believe God What is it that the Lord hath spoken of it God sayes It is an evil and bitter thing Jer. 2.19 A Root bearing Gall and Wormwood Deut. 29.18 Like that Star which fell from Heaven Rev. 8.11 whose Name was Wormwood and which turned the Waters into Wormwood of which Men died because they were so bitter God says It is an heavy thing which hath brought the whole Creation into Bondage under which it groaneth and travelleth in pain Rom. 8.22 God sayes The Soul that sinneth shall die Ezek. 18.20 Though the Devil sayes He shall not die though Mens hearts say It is a matter of nothing and because it is a common thing count it but a very small thing and can flout at others Fears Yet God sayes They are Fools that make a mock of Sin Prov. 14 19. And God sayes thus not only concerning some particular Sins the most notorious and those of the deepest die Murthers Adulteries Blasphemies the World will say the same of these He that doth such things is worthy of death But God speaks it of Sin in Specie the whole kind of it little or great the least sinful words even vain words the least sinful thoughts yea even of Sin in semine the inward brood and spawn of Sin that lies in the heart the evil dispositions and inclinations of the Soul which have not broken forth into Act the word is general Rom. 6.23 The wages of Sin is Death Believe God believe and tremble 3. There is Love in it This Fear hath love lying in the bottom of it from whence it arises both the love of God and goodness and that natural and innocent self-love which God hath planted in us and it is not our Sin but our Duty to maintain There is a Fear concerning which the Apostle saith 1 John 4.18 Perfect Love casteth out Fear but of this it may be said sincere Love worketh Fear Fear is Love's Servant whose Office it is to preserve what and whom we love from being offended hurt or lost He that loves will fear to lose or grieve what and whom he loves Dost thou love God thou wilt fear how thou displease or offend God Dost thou love thy Soul thou wilt fear to lose it As in good things temporal Dost thou love thy Friend thou wilt fear to disoblige him Dost thou love thine Estate or thy Name or thy Health thou wilt fear what-ever may prejudice thee in them So in good things Spiritual our Love will set our Fear to be a guard about them It cannot be but where there 's Love and an hazard of losing what we love there will be Fear Sinners are without Fear about the Matters of God and of their Souls Tell them of losing God they fear it not Why so Why if they do they love not God so well but they can spare him well enough Tell them of the danger of displeasing and offending God It moves them not they bear him no such good will as to fear to grieve him An upright and honest Heart and a good Conscience they have no such regard to it as thence to be withdrawn from any course that may hinder or deprive them of it 'T is to little purpose to reason thus with them Take heed of Sin 't will rob thee of thy God 't will defile thy Conscience 't will disgrace thy Profession 't will break thy Peace This hath little weight with them nor ever will till they have more love for Spiritual Things 'T will hardly move them to tell them your Souls will be lost farewel to all your hopes of everlasting Life if you take not heed of Sin they love their Lusts better than their Souls They love this World they love their Money and their Ease and their Carnal Liberty and hereby it appears they do they are afraid of whatever may prejudice them in these things In times of Persecution for Righteousness-sake they Fear Religion as the Devil they Fear Holiness more than Hell they dare not be Godly for fear their Righteousness should be their ruine Our Love sets all our Affections on work What we love if it be absent we desire it if it be possible to be had we hope for it if we have it we joy if we lose it we grieve if we be in danger of losing it we Fear Friend Thou sayest thou lovest God thy Soul a good Conscience what and in such daily danger of losing all and yet art not afraid Thou sayest thou lovest not the World thou hast an Estate in the World and art eagerly hunting after more and wilt make any shift thou canst to secure and increase it but yet thou hopest thou dost not set thy heart upon it But why then art thou so often in Fears Thou art afraid of Christ afraid of Conscience thou dar'st not be an open Disciple a bold Professor because thou knowest not what it may cost thee and dost thou yet say thou lovest not the World Thy fear Man of what thou thinkest will prejudice thy worldly Interest this Fear is a sign thou lovest The Saints Fear Sin yea and all temptations to it Why so O 't is because they love their God and their Souls 4. There is in it an aversation from evil both from Sin and all the Fruits of Sin The three former Particulars are the causes of this Fear but this is in the Nature of it The Understanding discovers sin 1. To be an Evil a corruptive Evil that will defile and pollute
the Soul a destructive Evil that will undoe and destroy it 2. To be an evil hardly to be escaped It sees the Soul to be in danger of it every day and every hour Evil as Evil is not the Object of Fear but Evil that we are in danger of Evil as Evil is the Object of Hatred not so of Fear there 's no Fear of Sin in Heaven because there 's no danger of it To hear of the Plague or Sword or Famine or Earthquakes or Fire in the Indies or any other remote parts of the World this doth not move Fear it 's far enough off us we are in no danger of it But when the Plague is in the Town when the next House is on Fire then we are startled 3. To be an Evil not to be endured an intolerable Evil Hereupon the Heart shrinks back from it and is in pain till it can be secured against it 5. There is foresight in it Fear is of future Evil apprehended to be coming on Prov. 22.3 A prudent Man foreseeth the Evil. This prudent Man is the very same with this fearing Man as appears by the next words and hideth himself 't is Fear that makes Men hide A bold Sinner is blind and cannot see afar off 2 Pet. 1.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pur-blind that can see things very near but through the weakness of his Eyes cannot see at a distance he is but short-sighted Sinners are Men for the present and they look not to what comes after But sayes the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.18 We look on the things that are not seen as on the Good things so on the Evil not seen He that Fears God sees what 's out of sight to the blear-ey'd World He sees Evils in the beginning of them he sees Midnight in the Evening he sees the Winter in the Autumn He sees Evils in the causes of them he sees the Storms in the Cloud the Birth in the Conception James 1.15 Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death What is there in a Thought What is there in a Lust or an evil Motion Who would fright himself with Fancies saith the Pur-blind World I but what will this Thought or this Lust bring forth Who knows saith the Fearing Soul what a numerous Brood may spring forth out of this pregnant Womb Lust when it hath conceived brings forth Sin any Sin the worst that can be imagined multitudes of Sins all manner of Iniquities Lust will bring forth Sin and what will Sin bring forth Why Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death A prudent Man foreseeth all this sees Sin 's last in its first its Fruits in its Root he sees the product and issues of things that do appear the burning down of the House in the first Spark that kindles in the Thatch in the entrance of the Thief in at the Door he sees all the rifling and bloodshed that afterwards follows Sinner how is it that thou art so secure Friend what seest thou Some it may be will answer as the Prophet's Servant when he first went up to Carmel 1 Kin. 18.43 I see nothing Others will answer as he did at his last going up I see a Cloud but it 's but a little one no bigger than a Man's hand But the Prophet saw a great Rain in that little Cloud Sinner thou that yet seest nothing nothing to trouble thee nothing to make thee afraid look again and again even unto seven times Dost thou yet see a Cloud rising do not say it is a little one take heed if thy foresight do not thy sense will quickly tell thee what a Storm there is in it Christian how is it that thou art so secure where be thine eyes art thou blind also Dost thou not see the Spark in the Thatch Dost thou not see the Thief at the Door Hast thou a Treasure within hast thou a God a Conscience a Soul hast thou Grace hast thou Peace hast thou Hope And dost thou not see the Thief breaking in and the Fire breaking out that Lust that is in thine Heart and the Temptations that are at the Door ready to steal away or burn up every good thing thou hast How is it that there is no Cry heard within thee Fire Fire Thieves Thieves Look to thy self save thy self O my Soul from the mischiefs and miseries that are coming upon thee We may give a Judgment of what Sin is bringing forth by observing what it hath brought forth Fear will conclude that what hath been may be It 's like to be my case which hath been the case of others What hath Sin done upon the World How hath it filled them with all Vnrighteousness Fornication Covetousness Wickedness Maliciousness Envy Murder Debate Deceit Malignity c. Rom. 1.29 What Fools and Bruits and Stocks hath it made them fit for nothing but to be Fuel for the Eternal Fire And what hath it done even upon Christians or the Professors of Christianity How low hath it held many of them so low that they can hardly tell whether they are alive or dead and those that have seem'd to be gotten up a little higher how often hath it pull'd them down again even to Death's Door Some Professors it hath slain out-right The Christianity they seem'd to have is dead and buried O Friends when you see what Sin and the Temptations thereof have done to others is it not to be feared what it may do to you May I not say to you as Peter did to Saphira if you look not the more carefully to it Acts 5.19 The Feet of those that have buried thy Husband are at the Door to carry thee out The same Sins the same Temptations that have slain your Friends and buried them behold their feet are at the Door waiting for your Souls also Open your eyes a little and look who there are round about you Behold the Pleasures of Sin waiting for you behold the Gains of Unrighteousness waiting behold your Carnal Friends and Sinful Companions behold the Persecutions and Scoffs and Scorns the Bonds and Imprisonments that are waiting at the Door and what wait they for but to carry out your Souls also dead to those that you have seen slain before you Hast thou seen what hath become of others and dost not therein foresee what may become of thee and canst thou yet be secure Christians you are Men of like Passions and subject to the same Temptations with other Men there 's the same Pride the same Lust after the World the same love of Carnal Pleasures the same fears of Fleshly Sufferings rooted in your Natures And do you not feel these Evil Roots sometimes budding these Fires kindling And have you not often suffered loss by them Yet you hope you have a little Faith some Love to Christ some Hope towards God some Conscience of Sin some Affection for Things Above let Lust alone a-while venture on upon Temptations a-while and O what leanness of
Life becomes a Sacrifice to the rage of the cruel if he does but come off with the safety of his Soul that 's enough to make him abundant recompence for all As Christ saith Matth. 16.26 What shall it profit a Man to win the whole World and lose his own Soul So may it not be said What shall it prejudice a Man to lose all the World if he save his own Soul Thou knowest not what a Soul is what the Salvation of a Soul is thou knowest not what Eternity what that Life and Death means who canst not say Let me escape that Death let me obtain that Life and it is enough O study the World to come more secure to thy self the eternal Inheritance and then thou wilt say with the Psalmist what-ever thy condition be here I will lay me down in peace and take my rest for thou Lord makest me dwell in safety But more of this hereafter By what hath been said it appeareth that the Man that feareth is an happy Man and wherein his happiness lies It 's true that in this World he is but inchoatively and incompleatly happy but an happy Man he is As he that 's Heir to a great Estate even whilst he is under Age and hath little in possession may be said to be a Rich Man especially if he be under the care of a faithful Guardian no less may a Christian even in his non-age be said to be an happy Man There 's no happy Man in the World if this be not he When he is at lowest it 's better with him than with the best of Sinners Some Sinners will grant their Conscience tells them so that he that fears God will have the best of it in the other World but yet they conclude that themselves have the better of it here But they are mistaken even in this Life a Godly Man hath the better of Sinners He knows little of God he hath little understood the Joy of Faith the Pleasure of Love the Ease of Sincerity the Peace of Conscience the Gain of Godliness that would exchange lives with the best of Sinners here in this World The very hopes of the Saints fill them with more joy than the greatest possessions of the ungodly I had rather take my lot with Job on the Dunghil than with Nebuchadnezzar on his Throne with Lazarus in his Sores and Beggary than with Dives in his Purple and delicate Fare with Paul in his Bonds than with Agrippa and Bernice in their Pomp with that Prisoner at the Bar than his Judges at the Bench. He that is otherwise minded is guilty of one of these absurdities either to think that God is not better than Creatures or that the ungodly enjoy as much of God as those that are Godly If God be better than the World if God be the present Portion of the Godly and of them alone then he that feareth God is the happiest Man even in this Life But O what will his blessedness hereafter be What advantage will he have of Sinners in the other World When the comparison shall no longer be betwixt God and the Creatures betwixt the fulness of Heaven and the fatness of the Earth when the Question shall no longer be which is best peace of Conscience or the prosperity of the World the hopes of Glory or the pleasures of Sin the worst of Saints or the Sinners best But the question will then be Which is the best the Pleasures of the Saints or the Plagues of Sinners the Fruition of God or Reprobation from God the Joyes Above or the Pangs Beneath Then let it be considered then shall it be discerned who are the happy Persons those that Fear God or those that fear him not Vse The Application is that which I chiefly intend and this shall be by way of Information Exhortation and Direction I shall put them all together For the more effectual carrying on whereof I shall inform and warn you 1. Of the Opposites of this Fear 2. Of the Grounds or Reasons why men Fear not 3. Of the Reasons why you should Fear 4. What you should Fear 5. How you should improve this Holy Fear I. The Opposites of this Fear are 1. Rashness 2. Audacity 3. Security 1. Rashness Hastiness or Headiness in our way Fear will make Men consider 'T was good Counsel which the Town-Clerk gave in the Tumult Acts 19.36 that they did nothing rashly Eccles 5.2 Be not rash with thy Mouth neither let thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God The Apostle reckons hasty ones among the dangerous Persons 2 Tim. 3.4 Men shall be heady precipites running headlong on their course acting not upon Counsel but their suddain apprehensions or any strong impulses of their hearts at all adventures whether it be right or wrong Fear will make Men wary and advised what they do Christians if you would walk safely look before you speak nothing rashly do nothing rashly weigh your Thoughts and Intentions before you let them pass into action How many Evils doth rashness and headiness run us upon Those words which in an heat we have let fly some of our hasty Carriages and Actions have sometimes cost us many dayes sorrow and repentance which had we been cautelous and a little better advised might have been prevented Sometimes a sudden passion arises and out it goes in angry and froward words setting all in an uproar and combustion by and by our hearts recur upon us and then we wish O that I had bit my Tongue and not given it such an unbridled liberty Sometimes we break out into rash censures of those that it may be are better than our selves whereupon when we reflect we are ashamed that the Fool 's Bolt was so soon shot and wish we had been judging our selves when we were censuring our Brethren Take heed you mistake not rashness and headiness for Zeal I would not cool Godly Zeal there 's too little of it in the World We need the Spur more than the Bridle the Bellows nor the Bucket We may not quench true Zeal the Lord be merciful to us there is not so much of it to be found we had more need cast on Oil than Water upon that Holy Fire Zeal for Truth Zeal for Righteousness and Holiness how happy were it if there were more such Flames if all our shining were also burning Lights But Zeal must be regular as for the Matter of it it must be alwayes in a good thing Gal. 4.18 So it must be managed with good Counsel and Caution mistaken Zeal is a Fire that devours that good that it pretends to promote But as you may not run headlong upon that which hath the face of Good much less upon that which is apparently evil It 's dangerous to be heady in the Matters of God wherein in case we are right we can never over-do but much more mischievous to run headlong upon Sin Jer. 8.6 Every one turned to his course as the Horse rusheth into
the Devil what harm will it be to take his Money or his Pleasure Why this may be the case In all those little things as thou countest them there may be poison in the Cup there may be the Devil in the Company the Pleasures that are before thee the Money that is before thee these may be the price the Devil is offering thee for thy life May it be so I but I do not think 't is so my Soul may be safe enough for all that why therefore fear that there may be such danger and you never know or suspect it Nay this Devil lies still in wait not only in those places and wayes which look like suspicious places and suspicious ways but he 's every-where at hand even where he is least suspected When could Men think themselves more secure from the Devil than when they are with God in Duties and Ordinances But doth he never meet them there Hath the Devil never met thee in thy Closet or in the Congregation of the Lord How is it at this very hour Now that we are come together before the Lord now that the Lord is instructing us and warning us of the danger we are in Is there not one standing behind and out of sight either stealing away your hearts from minding the Warnings or else contradicting the Word of the Lord Come ccme these are but words and conceits the Devil is far enough off thou art in no such danger of him are there no such whisperings in none of your ears at this time Why whose Voice is this you little think whose 't is 'T is the Devil that thus speaks to the end you may lose this Warning and so he may have his advantage upon you Lord open the eyes of these Men to use that Prayer for you which the Man of God did for his Servant 2 Kings 6.17 So the Lord opened his eyes and he saw all the Mountains full of Angels Chariots of Fire and Horses of Fire If God should so open our eyes I trust we should see this House full of the Angels of God ministring to us but withal we should see this House full of Devils attempting to mischief us a Devil at every Ear a Devil at every Heart trying his skill to stop the one and harden the other from receiving this Word of the Lord. We are never an one of us more secure than Joshua the High-Priest of whom we read Zech. 3.1 That when he was standing before the Lord Satan stood at his right hand to resist him You 'l say again it may be you do not think 't is so why therefore Fear that the Devil should be so near and so busie with you and you neither understand nor will believe it though it be told you Such Ignorance is cause enough of Fear If any of you should have been told ten or twenty years ago how the Devil would serve you how he would hinder any word of Counsel or Instruction from prospering with you how he would hold you under this Ignorance of God and hardness and impenitence of Heart you would have been like enough to answer I hope not I hope to get more of the knowledg of God I hope God will bring me to Repentance one time or other I hope his Word will prosper with me And yet you see how 't is he hath sufficiently plaid the part of a Devil with you you were not so blind or so dead or so hard in your hearts many years ago but you are every way as bad or worse at this day and because you had not this foresight to discern that thus it might be had you not the more reason to Fear it would be so And what say you now as to the time to come If it should be said unto you at this day He that hath dealt thus by you hitherto will be like enough to deal as bad or worse by you to the end of your dayes so that you shall never be brought to Repentance nor ever recover your selves out of the snares of the Devil will you yet again say I hope not I fear it not that very word is enough to make you tremble If the God of this World had not blinded your Minds he could never have thus hardned your Hearts If you that have known Christ and have been in Christ many years ago If some of you should have been told that if you look'd not the better to it the Devil would meet you at the very threshold of Christianity and hold you there from making any farther entrance in would keep you Babes and Infants in the Grace of God that he would keep you all this time so weak in the Faith so cold in your Love so barren in your Life that all this while you should have gotten no more victory over this World and the fleshliness of your Minds and Hearts nor no more intimate acquaintance with God and your own Souls than some of you have at this day If when you had been told you were in danger of being serv'd thus If you had then answered I do not Fear it I should have made bold to tell you You do not know what a Devil he is with whom you had to do and now that you may know him better by observing how he hath dealt by you hitherto you will at length I hope learn to Fear What if the Devil should now appear to you in some bodily monstrous shape would it not fright you Why you may see his foot though you do not see his face you may see him in what he hath done in his temptations of you and the unhappy success of them upon you in that ruinous state your Souls are hereby in and surely Friends to those that understand him The Devil in a secret temptation is more formidable than the Devil in an Apparition the prints of his Hoofs are a more dreadful sight than the Horns of his Head 2. Another reason why we should Fear is because of the deceitfulness of our Hearts What-ever our dangers are from without what-ever designs or devices the Devil or the World have against us yet if all were true within us if our Hearts were true to us our hazard were not so great but saith the Prophet Jer. 17.9 The Heart of Man is deceitful above all things So that we may not only say with the Prophet Micah 7.5 Trust ye not in a Friend put not confidence in a Guide but with Solomon also Prov. 28.26 He that trusteth his own Heart is a Fool. The deceitfulness of the Heart stands 1. In its Treachery 2. In its Subtilty 1. In its Treachery The Heart of a Man is false to it self it is like the Devil a lying Spirit there is no believing it what-ever it speaks It 's full of all guile and will if left to it self betray it self into the hands of its Enemies 2. In its Subtilty It is a crafty Heart it hath many plots and devices to deceive Prov. 19.21 There are
that feelest it but would'st thou therefore fear to have thy Wound cured Christian wouldst thou have thy Lusts live Dost thou not pray for their Destruction Dost thou not sigh and groan under them Dost thou not wish and wait and hope and long for thy Redemption from them Dost thou count them as Enemies and art thou afraid of that Weapon that 's now put into thine hand to avenge thee of thine Enemies Objection I would be glad this Flesh might die but O may it not be put to an easier death 'T is not their death that I fear but those Instruments of death that are so tormenting Answer 1. Then save thy self that torment by laying thine own hand upon them Prevent thy need of the Cross by doing its Work thy self Let it be thy daily Work by Faith by Prayer by Watchfulness by Self-denyal by Temperance by Meditation by Resolution and such other gentle means by degrees to destroy thy Lusts thy self save the Cross its labour by doing its Work to its hands 2. Must they die an easie death What or else wilt thou not that they die at all Will it be so easie for thy Soul to die by their hand that thou wilt rather venture on that than a little present trouble Shall thy right hand or thy right foot cast thee and carry thee to Hell because it would be painful to cut them off and cast them from thee Is it become so easie to thee to be in bondage to these Egyptians that thou wilt rather serve at the Brick-kilns than venture for thy Redemption on the hazards of the Red-Sea or the hardships of the Wilderness Fear this Flesh more than thou dost and that Servitude it holds thee under and that future Misery it's dragging thee to Fear this more and then thou wilt not fear thy Redemption by what means soever it be brought about Thou wilt not say Deal gently with mine Enemy deal tenderly with this Flesh Let it die Lord let it die let me be delivered from the Body of this Death and I will not prescribe to thee for the way and means 2. Fear not the Cross out of faintness of Spirit-Faint not when thou art chastned saith the Apostle Heb. 12.5 much less before-hand before the chastning comes I shall put in a word or two as Cordials to preserve from fainting Let these two things be considered 1. The Lord is his Peoples God This is his Covenant with them Jer. 30.22 I will be your God and you shall be my People Let us consider a little what great support this Promise yields I will be your God What 's the meaning of that What is there in this more than every one may lay claim to Is he not the God of all the Earth Is he not the Sinner's God Is he not the Drunkard's God the Atheist's God the God of them that say in their Hearts there is no God He is so The God that made them the God that rules them the God that Judges and will Condemn them This is a word of terror to the ungodly World I am their God that is I am above them as high as any of them are I am higher than they and will bring them down to the Dust of Death But what is there in this word as to Believers What meaneth the most High when he speaks this word I will be your God to them The meaning is this I will be your God in Covenant I will be your Friend and your Father your Portion and Heritage your Rock and your Refuge for ever I am the Almighty God and able to save you from all your distresses I am the All-sufficient God and able to supply all your Wants and Necessities and whatsoever I am all is yours Now Friend when God sayes I am thine what matters it who or what can say I am none of thine Suppose the gods of the Earth should say to thee Away we are none of thine Suppose thine old Friends and Acquaintance should say Stand back we are none of thine Suppose thy nearest Relations thy Father or thy Brother or thine Husband or thy Wife should say We are none of thine Suppose thine House and thy Countrey should cast thee out and say neither are we thine Yet this one word from the Lord but I am thine how would it support and abundantly satisfie thy Soul 2. None so well know this ordinarily that the Lord is their God as his suffering People It may be thou wilt say Ah this word this word I am thine what a good word is here O were I but sure it were spoken to me what then should I fear Let the Lord but speak thus to my Soul I will be thy God and then let the World and the Devil too speak what they can we 'l be thine Enemies if God be thy Friend we 'l curse thee if God bless thee we 'l hunt thee if God harbour thee we 'l stick in thy sides if God be in thine heart we 'l lay thee low enough if God exalt thee we 'l be thy death if he be thy life Well even do your worst were I but sure the Lord hath said this word to me I will be thy God I will not fear though ye all be Devils unto me But O here 's my great trouble 't is this which sinks my Soul and makes mine Heart to faint within me I see the World running against me I see Troubles running upon me and I am in great doubt whether God hath spoken this word to me I will be thine Dost thou doubt Dost thou not know whether God be thine Why the day of Adversity that 's the time when thou mayest be most like to know it There are none ordinarily that so well know that the Lord is theirs as his suffering People For 1. God doth often shew himself in a Storm who hid himself in the Sun-shine 2. The Sufferings of the Saints will be the Proof of their Sonship 1. God doth often reveal himself in a Storm who hid himself from us in our Sunshine Our dayes of Darkness are often the times of Light and Love Light from Above is most needed and will be better accepted when 't is darkest below The hatred of the World doth usually usher in the tydings of Divine Love When thou art led into a Wilderness to be tempted and tryed there thou mayest expect he will speak comfortably to thee Hos 2.14 Why art thou afraid of Affliction Wouldst thou not be glad to know the Lord is thine Follow him into the Wilderness and that may be the Vineyard where he will shew thee his Loves 2. The Sufferings of the Saints will be a Proof of their Sonship Heb. 12.7 If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with Sons Our Sufferings for Christ will be the evidence of our Sincerity to him Prove that thou lovest Christ above all and thou therein provest that God is thine and what greater evidence that we love Christ above all than this
that we can part with all things for him But then indeed it is necessary that we be well assured that 't is from Love to Christ we suffer there are Carnal Motives that may carry Men far into a suffering State Pride may do much this way or we may take up our Crosses for company Some that are engaged with a suffering Party the fear of the reproach of deserting them may make them ashamed to desert them they may expose themselves to suffer reproach for fear of reproach That Idol their own Names may be the God for whose sake they suffer Such Suffering only as will prove thee to be Godly will prove that God is thine If you should suffer the loss of all things and be utterly ruined and undone in the World and all this upon the account of Christianity If you should suffer Death for the Name of Christ and yet not have the Love of Christ in you as 't is clear from 1 Cor. 13.3 Men may do though you should be thus persecuted and rejected of and troden under-foot of Men yet at last you may be reprobated of God and perish everlastingly This would be a dreadful thing in all your Sufferings to have such a thought upon your Hearts That you that profess Christ and those that persecute you for it you that come together to Pray and Hear and Fast and those that Curse and Swear against you for it may fall into the same Condemnation and yet doubtless so it will prove in the end If you love not the Lord Jesus in sincerity what-ever you suffer for him you and they must dwell in the same Fire together may be theirs may be the hotter but the same Hell must hold Persecutors and Hypocrites Bare suffering therefore will not be your evidence for Heaven But yet Christians that are sincere and knew it not before the Cross may prove their sincerity Grace is never so well known as when it is put to the tryal Your Sufferings will be your tryals the tryal of your Faith the tryal of your Love 1 Pet. 1.6 7. that so what lay in the dark before may now be found unto Praise and Glory What sayest thou now how canst thou faint under such Expectations Wilt thou fear to be comforted What greater comfort than to have it proved to thee that thou art of God And when will that proof be made with the greatest evidence but when thou art tryed in the Fire 'T is the Wind that discovers the Wheat and the Fire that proves the Gold 2. How we should fear the Cross To this I shall answer in these two particulars 1. Fear a surprisal by the Cross 2. Fear the temptations of the Cross 1. Fear a surprisal by the Cross Fear lest it should overtake you unawares The coming of the Lord to visit us is never so terrible as it is when 't is as the coming of the Lord of that evil Servant to reckon with him Luke 12.46 In a day that he looked not for him in an hour that he is not aware Luke 21.34 Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcharged and so that day come upon you unawares God sometimes summons before he smites Amos 4.12 Thus will I do unto you and because I will do thus prepare to meet thy God O Israel But sometimes he comes as he said he would to the Church in Sardis Rev. 3.3 I will come on thee as a Thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee This coming of the Lord finds some as the coming of the Bridgroom Mat. 25. found the foolish Virgins all asleep Others it overtakes as David and his Armies did the Amalekites 1 Sam. 30.16 it finds them eating and drinking and dancing and making merry On others it comes as the news of Sisera's death came to his Mother and her Ladies finding them full of expectations of prosperity and triumph Judg. 5.28 The Mother of Sisera looked out at a Window and cryed through the Lattess why is his Chariot so long a coming Why tarry the Wheels of his Chariot They answered Have they not sped Have they not divided the Prey To every Man a Damosel or two c. They were full of expectations of his return in triumph but the next news they heard of was of the Nail and the Hammer wherewith he was smitten dead to the ground O what confusion and astonishment did this bring upon them How few of us are there Friends that can say of the troubles that befal us as Job did of his Job 3.25 The evil that I feared is come upon me But how very few of us can say The Evil that I am prepared for is come upon me it found me on my Watch-Tower and standing upon the Guard I am ready I am ready ready for Sickness ready for Poverty ready for Bonds and Imprisonment or any thing else that may befal me O how unready do we mostly stand And what sad work do Afflictions make with us when they find us unready Then we take on and fret and murmur and despond and are at our wits end We can neither believe nor pray nor hope nor submit We that were just now full and at ease and at quiet basking our selves in that Sunshine that was upon our Tabernacle promising our selves that our Mountain is made so strong that it shall never be moved On a sudden we are all Earthquakes and Clouds and like the troubled Sea that cannot be at rest but casts forth Mire and Dirt. Every Wind that blows upon us from without raises such a tempest within that we forget that we are Christians or Men suffering our Hearts to boil up into Passions or Impatiencies or to sink into such Despondencies as if our hope were utterly cut off and perished from the Lord. These and such like are the Fruits of our Surprisals by the Cross Hath this never been thy case Fear lest it be 2. Fear the Temptations of the Cross There 's a double Temptation chiefly to be feared In our Troubles especially such as befal us for the Name of Christ we are in danger 1. Of Pride 2. Of a Fall 1. Of Pride As Men may be proud of their Grandeur in the World so also of their Poverty and Contempt As we may be proud of our Vertues and Services so also of our Sufferings The Souldiers Wounds and Scars are his Glory and Boasting It is an honour to suffer for Christ and some of us cannot bear this honour without being exalted above measure we cannot be cast down but we are apt to be puffed up Some of the Heathens have sacrificed their Lives for their Countreys good and yet not so much for their Countreys as for themselves to purchase to themselves a Name and Renown And is there no such vanity to be found amongst Christians Fear this wickedness which will both spoil you of the comforts of your Sufferings and lose you your reward 2. Of a Fall Afflictions such I mean as
of Christ may be right in your Eyes and yet your Hearts not be upright in his Eyes You may be perswaded in your Hearts concerning the Way of Godliness that this is the Good Way that this is the Right Way and an Excellent Way that the Life of a Christian led according to the Rules of the Gospel is an Excellent Life Rom. 2.18 Thou knowest his Will and approvest the things that are more Excellent And to this good Opinion Men may be wrought 1. From the Self-evidencing Light of that Holy Doctrine which prescribes and requires Godliness 2. From the convincing Lives of the Sincere Professors of Godliness 3. From the Self-condemnation that is to be observed in all other wayes 1. From the Self-evidencing Light of the Doctrine of Godliness The Doctrine of Christianity proves it self to be of God by that Divine Light that shines forth in it there is a stamp of Divinity imprinted upon it Is God an Holy God So is this Doctrine an Holy Doctrine Is God a Merciful and Gracious God So is this Doctrine a Doctrine of Mercy a Doctrine of Grace there is Grace and Mercy runs through the whole Body of it nay they are the very Soul and Life of it Is God a God of Wisdom The Doctrine of Christianity is the Wisdom of God in a Mystery Is God a God of Truth and of Righteousness Such is the Doctrine of the Gospel that not only is according to Truth and reveals the Righteousness of God but requires Truth and imposes Righteousness upon all that will embrace it What is more contrary to this Word of Truth than a Lye or than Hypocrisie and Guile What is more contrary to this Word of Righteousness than Unrighteousness Doth the Word of the Gospel allow any Iniquity Is there any guile found in it or any toleration whereof in its Professors Doth it not command all Righteousness and condemn all Unrighteousness even while it justifies the Sinner it condemns the Sin This Religion is pure Religion and undefiled before God Jam. 1.25 Teaching us that denying all ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live righteously soberly and godly in this present World Tit. 2.13 14. Now he that knows that God is an Holy and Wise God a God of Grace of Truth and of Righteousness and does but understand the Scriptures may without any great difficulty be led into a good opinion of that Godliness which is there held forth and required 2. From the Convincing Lives of the Sincere Professors of Christianity I do not say from the Lives of all Professors some Professors of Christianity there are who are not Christians Some such there are amongst Professors who are disorderly walkers whose Wayes are so evidently contrary to their Profession as if the Devil had led them into their Christianity on purpose to disgrace the Gospel and 't is like enough 't was his doing indeed to make Professors of them This Tempter may tempt Men into Religion as far as may sewe his own ends and Mens Lusts may make them Disciples Such I mean who while they pretend to the Spirit do walk after the Flesh who hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness Rom. 1.18 who are proud self-conceited self-willed heady giddy wandring and unstable Souls like crooked Lines that in some points touch with the Rule but for the most part do swerve from it on this hand and on that Who are scrupulous about some smaller Matters which they fancy to have an appearance of evil and yet allow themselves in apparent Evils straining at a Gnat and swallowing a Camel insisting much on some Circumstances and neglecting the weightier Matters of the Law like those Mat. 23.23 24. 'T is but little that Godliness is beholden for the good Opinion it hath obtained to such as these But to the sincere and single-hearted Professors whose Lives are a Copy or Pattern of wholsom Doctrine holding forth the Word of Life exemplifying the Holy Rules laid down in Scripture and shewing forth the Vertues of Christ before the World Who are in the World as he was in the World who live by Faith and walk in Love being humble meek peaceable merciful temperate true righteous and holy in all manner of Conversation These are the Persons whose Lives do commend Godliness to the World and force their very Hearts many of them to acknowledg Sure this is the Way of God that these Men walk it cannot be but God is in them of a very truth sure these are the Servants of the Living God this is Religion indeed if there be any way of Life this is the way It 's true this way is every-where spoken against by the malicious but the more like to be of God for that So 't was in the Apostles dayes Acts 28.22 As for this Sect we know it is every-where spoken against Mark it Christianity was counted by the malicious but a Sect or a Faction and Christians but Sectaries so they were counted and called about 1600 years ago and therefore 't is no disparagement if they be counted so still But sayes the considering Sinner let them be called what Men please Sectaries Seducers Hypocrites or what else malice can invent yet as it was said of Christ John 10.21 These are not the words of him that hath a Devil so it may be said of his Followers Call them what you will yet these are not the Lives of Schismaticks or Hypocrites these Men are the Servants of the most High God and their way is the way of Life 3. From the Self-condemnation that all other wayes carry in them If this be not the way of Life there 's none if these be not the Servants of God there are none such in the World For where are they else to be found Are the Ignorant and the Earthly and the Irreligious are these the Religious Are the Carnal and the Formal and the out-side Worshippers that will give Christ the Cap and the Knee and yet can Drink and Riot and Swear and Scoff are these the sincere Worshippers of God This must be the Good Way or which else can it with any tolerable probability be imagined to be Surely if this be not it we must even all count to be damn'd for there is no other that so much as looks like the Path of Life The Atheist must say I am not in the way to God this Fool hath said in his Heart There is no God The Pope with his Doctrine must say I am not the Way I am Antichrist 't is Christ only that brings us to God Formality must say I am not the Way for God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth John 4.24 Profaneness must say I am not the Way to God I am the Way of Death and my steps lead down to Hell If there be any Way of Death in the World profaneness is it Drunkards and Swearers and Revellers and Rioters if their Consciences may but have the priviledg of their
come and we are tempted to them they find the door left open to them we wink at them and swallow them down even this must be interpreted an allowance of them He that sees the Thief at the door though he do not say pray come in yet if he shut not the door against him is accessary to his own Robberie It is a vain thing for thee to say the evil which I do I allow not when thou do'st nothing to withstand it If thou wilt not resist thou do'st thereby invite the tempter and his temptations Grace in the nature of it is an enemy against Sin These two are contrary Gal. 5.17 and though it be too weak wholly to overcome yet will it make opposition against it It 's true that actual allowance especially of some lesser sin is not utterly inconsistent with the truth of grace in this our imperfect state but he that resolves not to watch against to strive against every sin that hath any standing reserve of a liberty for any one in this thing the Lord pardon me how dwelleth the grace of God in him Mens allowing themselves thus in any sin is an argument that they are in a league with sin and he that is in a league with any sin his heart is not right with God Our engaging our selves to the Lord doth necessarily include in it our breaking with sin and our walking in friendship with God is our living in the defiance of Sin Hast thou friendship with Sin where is then thy friendship with God Do'st thou say thou hast not friendship with Sin nor art in any league with it how is it then that it hath such free access to thee Consider it well didst thou maintain in thine heart an enmity against sin thou would'st take more heed how thou gavest it entertainment Wilt thou open thy bosom to a viper would'st thou spread forth thine arms to a Serpent sure thou art of kin to these venomous beasts or thou would'st never allow them such freedom with thee It is at least a shrewd suspition that thou art of the seed of the Serpent or thou would'st never take into thy bosome these young Serpents thy lusts to be thy play-mates And if thus thou do'st and thine heart will not hear of being totally shut of its liberty with them the case is then plain thou art in such a league with sin as will conclude thee out of Covenant with God 2. He that lives a Godly life doth heartily resolve and endeavour never to allow himself in the neglect of any known duty By duties I mean not only those special acts of worship Prayer Hearing c. but all acts of obedience to the will of God both those more general and complexe Duties of working out our salvation of walking as becometh the Gospel of making sure our Calling and Election c. and every particular duty comprehended under these those which have a more immediate respect to God our living in the faith fear and love of the Lord those also which have an immediate respect to our selves our living soberly temperately in patience c. and those which respect others doing good to all men admonishing reproving comforting shewing mercy c. as there is occasion and we have opportunity As we are Christians we are indebted to others to our Families to our Neighbours to our Friends and to our Enemies I instance in all these in special in second-table Duties both because there can be no proof made of the uprightness of our conversations without looking into particulars and because there are many professors who pretend to great heights in the matters of the first table who in second-table duties are sadly remiss and negligent Even these latter are so essential to true Godliness that whatever proofs we seem to have of our sincerity our neglects of these especially our allowed neglects will call all into question Those that will live Godly in Christ Jesus must live in all good Conscience towards God and towards men also God will have his people to stand compleat in his whole will that they may herein both approve themselves in his sight and also shew forth his vertues before men so that the world may see that the spirit of Christianity is not a fanatick and feeble thing but hath a power in it to make a visible and universal change in the manners and wayes of those that are possessed with it that Christians may appear to be the mercy and the blessings and the beauty of the world That Countries may see that Families may see that it is a mercy that there are some Godly ones among them that the unbelieving Wife may see that it is a mercy to have a believing Husband that Grace hath made him better natur'd more loving more gentle more tender of her good that the unbelieving Husband may see what a blessing it is to him to have a believing wife that grace hath made her both a better woman and a better Wife more meek more patient more careful to please her Husband that the unbelieving Families or persons may find that it is a comfort and advantage to them to have so good a Master to live by so good a neighbour that pities them that prays for them and even Preaches to them by his holy life and good example To be professors of Christianity and yet to be all one in our conversations towards others as quarrelsome as contentious as unmerciful as unsavoury and unuseful as those that pretend to no Religion to have those about us to say if there be grace in them 't is all one as to us as if there were none it had been all one for me if my Father or my Master or my Husband or my Wife or my Neighbour had never medled with any thing of Religion he is the same man she is the same woman as proud as pettish as unkind as unmerciful as negligent of my good that it could not have been worse with me if there had been no such thing as Religion in them What do'st thou think of all the Godliness thou hast if thou give occasion to have it thus said of thee Well all these particulars and every other thing required in the Word of God I understand by duties Now this is a man of a Godly life he who having chosen God and embraced Christ Jesus the Lord doth set his heart in all things to walk uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel without allowing himself in the neglect of any thing that he knows pro hic nunc to be his duty whose prayer it is Hide not thy Commandements from me whose study it is to know the whole will of God and whose endeavour it is to walk in all the Commandements of God blameless this is a man of a Godly life This is according to the plain intent and meaning of his covenant with God and this is his faithfulness in the covenant Then shall I not be ashamed when I
strong to run our course Then should we be seen to be a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people shewing forth the vertues of him that hath called us out of darkness into his glorious and marveilous light Then when the pricking briar and the grieving thorn that pride that earthliness and carnality shall be thus cut in their very root when all our fleshly fooleries and dotages and all the vexations pets and passions of persons and parties shall shrink in and wither then shall all those daughters of the morning Faith and Love and Mercy and Meekness and Humility Peace and Gentleness lift up their heads in our Gates and we that have been the reproach and dishonour shall appear the Children and Glory of our Father Go therefore presently to the Lord Jesus carry these Malefactors to the Cross get the Spear to be thrust through the heart and nail every member of this body of sin there let them perish and dye and then shall you see the beauty of holiness looking forth as the morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun and terrible as an Army with Banners Only to this I must add Nurse up the grace that is in you and let it have its perfect work in fear of receiving the grace of God in vain When the Lord gives grace he layes the same charge upon us as Paul on Timothy 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed to thee keep by the Holy Ghost Our grace is to be kept by us As Nurses As Stewards 1. As Nurses By our cherishing and improving of it the weeding of the Garden will be the thriving of the Flowers but they must be nourished as well as cleared of weeds rotten weeds will be soil for the Herbs but they must be warmed and watered also by the influences of the Sun and Clouds In order to our nourishing of grace are all our Receiving duties such as are Prayer Hearing Sacraments c. our being conversant aright in these duties are our sucking in and feeding upon that milk and that bread of life by which grace grows As pleasant as our food is and as great a delight as there is in feeding upon it we are froward Children and have need of the rod to fright us to the breast God that hath provided such food for us and hath made us under such a constant necessity of it will be angry with us if we slight it If the sense of your own need do not let the fear of the divine displeasure bring you carefully and diligently to attend on his means and so to attend that you may grow thereby Come to the Word come to Prayer and other Duties not only in obedience because you have a command for it but come in hope and expectation of growing by them because you have a promise Look not on them only as parts of that homage which you owe to God but as means to obtain from God and whereby you may grow up unto him Attend thus and attend with diligence be afraid to trifle worship God with reverence and Godly fear Fear as it is a bridle to sin so will it be a spur to every duty Christians Is there no fear you may be faulty here Consider how it hath been consider not only what you have done but how you have done it and what you have gotten I have been a Disciple of Christ an hearing Disciple a praying Disciple but cui bono what advantage hath it been to me Do I thrive doth my Soul prosper what discernable difference is there betwixt me that pray and hear and come to the Table of the Lord and them that hear not and pray not what have so many years duties brought me in no more than I had when I first began Am I as much a babe now as when I suck'd my first milk Have I lain at dry breasts at wells in which there is no water or what 's the matter that after all this time I find no more improvement Sure there hath been nourishment ministred they are full breasts they are the wells of Salvation that I have been at but foolish Soul that I am I have but play'd with the breasts instead of sucking and with the bucket instead of drawing and hence 't is that 't is no better with me Methinks the fruit thou find'st of such trifling methinks that lean and starveling Soul of thine should call upon thee to look to it and make a better use of such precious means as are before thee Shew me not the meat but shew me the man tell me not thou hast been waiting at the gates of Wisdome thou hast been feeding by the Shepheards tents tell me not how far or how often thou goest to hear tell me not that thy house is an house of Prayer that thy Closet that thy Family that thy Bible can witness for thee the blindness of thy mind the coldness and carnality and vanity of thy life do sufficiently evidence what a poor feeder thou hast been whatever good meals thou hast been at Tremble to think that such means as thou hast had should leave thee in such a case as thou art this day and since thy wonted course will not do to fetch thee up into a better case what remains but that thou bethink thy self and henceforth resolve to put on to another manner of care and diligence and never again satisfie thy self with any kind of performances whatsoever that do no more answer their end Awaken from thy drowsie Religion and henceforth pray not as at other times hear not as in the former dayes but stir up all thy powers engage all the grace thou hast call up all the faith the hope the love the desires thou hast make all the strength thou canst and bow thy self with thy might before the Lord open thy mouth wide and thus wait on him until he come and rain down righteousness upon thee and thy Soul become as as a well-watered Garden and as a Spring of waters whose waters fail not 2. As Stewards Keep what thou hast for use our receiving duties are for our returning duties Get in in order to laying out and be faithful in laying out well whatever you have received The Rivers must pay themselves as a tribute to the Ocean from which they arise and are filled To whom much hath been given of them much is required Luk. 12.48 and to whom any thing is given be it much or little so much must be returned those that are rich in grace are thereby enriched unto good works and those that are enriched unto good works must be rich in good works 1 Tim. 6.18 What hast thou that thou hast not received and what hast thou received that thou owest not for and what account wilt thou make if thou set not thine heart to pay what thou owest if our first enquiry be what have I received our next must be what have I done or what have I to do What do you more
than others said Christ to his Disciples Math. 5.47 I have not done by others as I have done by you they have not been taught as you have been taught they have not been fed as you have been fed they have not seen nor heard nor tasted what you have done think not that it can be born that you do no more nor no better than they Coloss 2.6.7 As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving Is Christ in thee let the life of Christ be made manifest in thy life as he was so be thou in the world he went about doing good go thou and do likewise Hast thou faith hast thou the love of Christ in thee where is thy work of faith where are thy labours of love hast thou been filled with the fruits of righteousness with meekness humility mercy patience let them all have their perfect work that thou may'st be entire lacking nothing Our first fruits must be brought forth upon our selves our first care and business must be to work out our own Salvation to keep every one of us our own vineyard Thou hast an heart of thine own to keep and a tongue to keep and eyes and hands to look to and govern well thou hast thy thoughts and thy passions and thine appetite and thy Conscience and thy conversation to take care of and the grace thou hast received is firstly to be exercised upon thy self But though thy work begin there yet it must not end there thou hast thy family to govern thou hast thy father's family the houshold of faith to look after yea and thou hast a larger charge than this as thou hast opportunity do good to all Gal. 6.10 thou art set to be a guide to the blind a light to them that are in darkness an instructer of the foolish a teacher of babes an example of the believers yea and of the unbelievers also in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity Now Christians know your work and set to your work serve the Lord with the best you have and serve the Lord with all you have and all this in fear lest you should receive the grace of God in vain I beseech you saith the Apostle take heed of that 2 Cor. 6.1 I beseech you that you receive not the grace of God in vain Then the grace of God is received in vain not only when nothing is done by it but in a degree it may be said to be received in vain when its fruits are not proportionable there is not so much done as might have been done When he that hath received ten talents brings forth no more fruit than might have been brought forth with five when he that hath received five talents hath done no more good than might have been done with two all our receivings that are over and above the proportion of our fruits all the over-plus of them is received in vain He that is a knowing Christian if he lives not to better purpose than a Christian of little knowledge he that is an ancient experienced Christian if he be no more useful in his life than he that is but a babe that which he hath received above what this babe hath received is received in vain and the Lord may say to him wherefore is this waste What art thou a man of knowledge and hast had such long acquaintance with God and such experiences of his special love and kindness to thee and do'st thou keep all so much to thy self that thou art of little more use in thy generation than a child Hath the Lord taken thee into his heart shewed thee his loves comforted thee in Prayer counselled thee in his Word feasted thee at his Table caused his grace so to abound towards thee and made thee glad with the light of his countenance and all for no more but this hath he furnished thee and fitted thee for every good work and yet art thou thus barren and unfruitful An unuseful and unactive spirit in a Christian is an unhappiness and an unworthiness which yet possibly some that are none of the lowest form for attainments may have reason enough to charge themselves withall and to conclude that though they have not altogether yet they have very much received the grace of God in vain Brethren beloved let us study and let us learn that wisdom which is from above which is full of good fruits dare not to be found among the barren of the flock nor of those trees which do little better than cumber the ground Once more let me put the spur to the side What if the Lord should come among his fig-trees and find so little fruit upon thee art thou not afraid thou might'st hear that word Cut it down why cumbreth it the ground Consider friend what fruits are there found upon thee the fruits of the flesh may be are still hanging on what clustres are there of them hatred variance emulation strife wrath envying pride covetousness what a vintage is there of these wild grapes but where are the fruits of the spirit what a small gleaning is there of them to be found and what shrivelings are those that are would'st thou that thy Lord should find it thus with thee we read Cant. 4.16 when the Church was in a thriving fruitful state she prayed Let my beloved come into his Garden and eat his pleasant fruits Do'st Thou make that Prayer O no I am afraid he should come and find me thus thy Prayer is more like to be Let my Lord delay his coming But how long must he stay thine heart would shake within thee to think that he should find thee thus but when O when shall it be better with thee Take this pruning hook fear will serve thee for such an use and lop off these evil fruits that the fruits of righteousness may spring up in their room When shall the Roses and the Pomegranates bud when shall the fragrant spices flow forth those blessed fruits of the Spirit love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance when shall these sprout once Christians do you not wish 't were better with you can you bear your own barrenness Is not this vain empty fruitless life an offence to you do you not confess 't is low water with you do you not complain of your uselessness and unprofitableness But shall this be all shall we never have better fruit to bring before the Lord but our confessions and complaints of our want of fruit but our self-bemoanings and self-judgings for our barrenness Better this than nothing but when shall it be better when shall we hear the voice of joy and praise and thanksgivings to the Lord for blessing our fields with increase when shall we be able to say See O Lord thy blood hath not been shed in vain thy spirit hath not been poured
brands out of the burning and rescuing them out of the power of the Devil in compelling the stragling and wandring Sheep into the Fold of the Lord or whatever else you have before you do it heartily as unto the Lord. What a world of good might a generation of hearty Christians do in the World how many Souls might be the better for them how many Families might bless God for them The blessing of Souls ready to perish might come upon them they may be the blessings of a whole Countrey they may be Lights to the World and Life to the dead Eyes to the blind Tongues to the dumb Feet to the lame and strength to them that have no might the Kingdom of God the Gospel of Christ would be advanced and adorned by them and the Synagogues of Sathan even depopulated and destroyed And how greatly would this both abound to their own account and tend to their own improvement in the Grace of God But wo to many of us yea and to the poor world also because an excuse must serve us instead of an heart we want time we want parts either opportunity or ability we have not thus we talk when 't is an heart only that 's wanting Hence 't is we stand so many of us like cyphers a company of useless and insignificant Souls which the Gospel and the Interest of Christ might spare and find little miss of in the world Friends do but find an heart and that will find you time and ability for other manner of service than hitherto you have done Well this is one thing implyed in Simplicity Heartiness 2. Singleness of heart Singleness of heart notes both plainness of heart without juggles and cheats or pretensions of what is not intended and oneness of heart as I may so speak that does not divide it self betwixt more Lords than one more Ends than one but runs out one way that has but one to serve and but one thing to do But of this having spoken largely elsewhere I shall say no more here 5. Ingenuity with good will doing Service Ephes 6.7 this good will notes that good nature which by grace we are wrought to inclining and disposing us to a more noble and free to a more chearful and ready serving the Lord. An ingenuous Christian doth not only serve the Lord really and without guile but readily and cheerfully it 's sweet to him to do good he bears good will to God for himself he feels the infinite goodness and worthiness of the Lord to melt and draw forth his Soul towards him the name and honour of God is in his heart and is so dear and precious to him that he feels something within him prompting him to all manner of expressions of love and duty to him He is become good natur'd and so not only in point of gratefulness he returns love for love good will for good will duty for kindness which he hath received but it is a pleasure to him to return good will for goodness love for his worthiness to be beloved The name of God he would have to be above every name it is his delight and therefore his desire that as the Lord is infinitely honourable so he should be abundantly honoured the very thing the magnifying and exalting the Lord is the great thing that sits upon his heart it is a pleasure to him that God is pleased and this he loves that God should be loved and served and hence is his care hence are his labours this is the spring-head of all his duties and God is the Ocean into which his streams do run He speaks for God and works for God and lives for God he studies to be holy and righteous he is busie and industrious he is watchful and painful and fruitful in good works that he may thereby shew forth the vertues of him that hath called him and glorifie his Father which is in Heaven He understands and feels that what he thus does for God is to himself also and will abound to his own account and everlasting blessedness and the good will he bears to his own Soul and the hopes he has of his own reward are as oyl to his wheels but his good will to his God is the main spring that sets them all a going O follow after this blessed frame get you such an ingenuous Spirit and then how sweet and easie will the very severities of Religion be The nearer you come up to this by so much the less need will you have of that fear which is so necessary to bring you hitherto Fear will now resign up to love to do its work more immediately by it self Not but that there may be still some use of it more or less so long as there is sin before us and any danger of our falling into it so long will love cause us to fear but as we are more grown up above the power of sin and are not so greatly in danger of it so fear abates By how much the more perfect love by so much the more hatred of sin and so much the less fear of it Love will now make as effectual a resistance against sin by Hatred as it did before by fear and for our course of duty we shall now run not with patience only but with chearfulness the race that 's set before us a chearful willing horse will the less need the rod or spur 6. Spirituality This and the former are twins and grows up together How fit is the spiritual man and how free will he be for spiritual work The new man is a spiritual man he is such from his birth Joh. 3.6 that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit but whil'st he is a child there is so little of spirit appearing in him that the Apostle sticks not to call him carnal 1 Cor. 3.1 I could not speak to you as to spiritual but as unto carnal even as to babes in Christ but as this Child grows up towards a perfect stature so he becomes more spiritual from day to day and accordingly he prospers in his work O Christians get you to be of a more elevated raised spirit through the more abundant diffusion of the spirit of Grace upon your hearts Live more in the contemplation of God Behold his face in righteousness and you shall be satisfied with his likeness Psal 17.15 2 Cor. 3.18 Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we are changed from glory to glory into the same Image Hereafter we shall be perfectly like him because we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 and by how much the more we see him here by so much the more like him Acquaint your selves with God divine converses beget intimacy in Heaven and none so Heavenly as God's intimates we are too great Strangers in Heaven to have much of Heaven upon our hearts distance breeds difference by being such strangers we become more alienated from the life of God There is nothing more ordinary