of the world lives in you Oh have you been so long professours of Christianity and have not yet gotten the Spirit of Christianity Is this the Spirit of Christ that leads you on in an earthly course did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to be such drudges to the world did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to plow and sow and buy and sell and hoord up treasures on earth what are your thoughts your designs your courses your ordinary talk and discourse what is it but earth earth are these the thoughts the wayes the language of the Spirit can any one that beholds our conversation that in the general bent and tenour of it is all about the world and but now and then a cold wish or a few heartless words about the things of God can any man that beholds us say I these are the persons that are dead to the world that are crucified that are mortified to things below these are they that have received the spirit of Christ indeed these speak like Christians and look like Christians and live like Christians like men of another world can it be said thus of us can we say thus of our selves my life is a spiritual life my course is an heavenly course my steps are all bending to another countrey can we say thus would not our daily course our daily discourse give us the lye if we should Oh we are yet of an earthly sensual Spirit the Spirit of this world is yet bearing rule in us our very Soul is but a lump of earth and flesh Oh for another Spirit a new Soul a more divine and cellestial frame O seek O wait for this better Spirit and then we should quickly see another life once let the world be thrust out of the heart and we shall quickly see more of Heaven breaking forth in the life 2. The strength of the world lyes in the God of this world Sathan gives strength to and marshals its temptations so as that the success of them depends much on him this he he doth 1. By over rating the good things present and underrating the good things to come 2. By sharpning the edge of the evil things present and blunting the edge of the evil things to come 3. By an active stimulating and provoking the Soul on any terms whaatsoever to pursue the present good and to escape the present evil 1. By over rating the good things present and under rating the good things to come He that looks on the world through the Devils glass shall see it double to what it is he gives the same prospect to us as he did to our Lord Matth. 4. 2. shews it in its Glory every Comet Shines as the Sun he makes the silver as gold the brass as silver stones as iron every thing hath a borrowed face and looks better then it is The Apple whereby he tempted our first parents Gen. 3. 5. he makes a deifying Apple In the day that you eat your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Sathans design is to blind and put out mens eyes knowing that they can never see the terrene glory till their eyes be out but his pretence is to open eyes to make such discoveries of the hidden excellencies in these earthly treasures as will transfigure Earth into an Heaven He presents the world as that which hath substance sufficiency contentment hearts ease satisfaction in it he sayes to his friends as the Lord sayes to his Prov. 8. 17. c. I love them that love me and them that seek me early shall find me riches and honours are with me yea durable riches and righteousness I will cause those that love me to find substance and I will fill their treasures thus the Lord speaks to his and the Devil gives the world a tongue to speak at the same rate I love them that love me I have riches and honours durable riches and I will fill them with treasures And as the world speaks so worldlings think it cannot boast greater things of it self then will be believed Hos 12. 8. I am become rich sayes Ephraim I have found me out substance the shadow is a substance in those eyes that see no better things Hence these things are taken up by the men of this world as their portion as their heritage as their happiness and hope thou givest them their portion in this life Psal 17. and they take them as their portion and now Lord what wait I for saith the Psalmist my hope is in thee and now world what wait I for what work I for what live I for truly my hope is in thee the worldling sayes God is my portion and in a sense he says true for the world is his God And on the other side as Sathan over rates this so he under rates the other world 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of of God should shine unto them The Gospel is a window through which the light and glory of the other world breaks in and shines down upon this here the pretended opener of eyes smites with blindness by a vail of unbelief he keeps the Gospel and all the glory of it out of sight unbelief gives the lye to all that the Gospel speaks calls all into question holds under uncertainties whether there be any such thing or no and what 's doubtful and uncertain whether it be or no will be vallewed there after What a low price do carnal hearts put upon the deep things of God upon the great things of eternity Glory and honour and immortality and eternal life what cheap things are they accounted whilest soul and conscience and peace and hopes and life are so ordinarily sold to purchase an earthly inheritance that 's the bargain that every where is driving in this earth how few are there that will deal for Heaven and Glory though it may be bought without mony and without price though it may be had for the seeking for though it be bought to their hands yet they will not take it Now what advantage is this to wordly temptations when the price of things to come is so beaten down when the price of things present is so hoised and raised as if the one could hardly be over-bought and the other were scarce worth the dealing for 2. By sharpening the edge of present evils and blunting the edge of evils to come The afflictions of this life are made to cut deeper than the vengeance to come The persecutions of men are more feared than the Plague of God Satan makes his Vassals to think there is no Heaven or Hell to those on Earth Poverty looks more dismally than eternal Fire Disgrace than Damnation the Wrath of man than the Cnrse of God Let Death and Damnation be preached to the World and this stirs them
or Devils Oh bless God for Faith even ye of little Faith at its first entrance it gives your soul a lift from heaven to earth There it lists your names no longer men of this world but henceforth Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God there it hath laid you up an Inheritance and thence it brings you your maintenance thither it turns your eyes and all your streams it shews you what you have there and by those beams it draws you up thither Those to whom it shews the least of that glory it shews enough to disgrace the glory of the world and as this Sun-light grows so doth all the beauty of the world fade and vanish out of sight By Faith our conversation is in heaven Now by how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts are there by how much the more our hearts are in heaven by so much the less on earth and when once the world hath lost our love it hath lost its power over us 1. By how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts and affections are there we ordinarily love to be where we use to be No such damp grows upon affection as by distance and estrangement when we loose our acquaintance we loose our delight in God Acquaint thy self with him and be at peace Joh 22. 21. Acquaint thy self with him and be in love there wants nothing to fix our affections on heaven but being better acquainted there Intimacy begets dearness Do you not love God t is a sign you have had little to do with him Is not your delight in Heaven t is a sign you are seldome there Is prayer and holy meditation and exercising your selves in the Scriptures and attendance on ordinances a weariness and altogether unpleasant to you sure you have little known what the spirit of Prayer and Communion with God in his word and ordinances mean those whose Souls dwell by the wells of salvation and often let down the bucket do taste that the waters thereof are sweet they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thine house and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of life Psal 36. Those that walking closely with God do dwell in the secret of his presence under the sweet dewes and influences of his grace the business of whose life is to behold and love and serve the Lord their hearts have found such rest there that they can find no rest elswhere 2. By how much the more our hearts are in Heaven by so much the less are they on earth worldly professours have all their religion in their mouths there 's little within whatever they talk If any man love the world the love of the father is not in aim If any man love the Father the love of the world ceases Heaven and Hell may meet as well as Heaven and Earth in the same heart Set your affections on things above and not on the earth on both you cannot your bodies as easily as your Souls may dwell in Heaven and Earth together You use to say I cannot be here and there too no sure enough you cannot whilest your Souls are the inhabitants of this they are exiles from the other world and when they have their dwelling in Heaven they are but strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth this world hath lost your hearts when God hath gain'd them 3. When once the world hath lost our hearts it hath lost its power over us who will be entic'd by what he hates or slights God and the world rule both by love If God hath our love he hath the command of all that ever we have if we love the world what can it not do with us whither can it not lead us If the world hath lost our love it were even as good lay down its weapons and let us alone let them follow God let them be holy let them to Heaven their hearts are gone and there 's no holding them back It may still hang in their heels and retard their motion Heaven-ward but their hearts being gone thither their main course will bend it self 6. Faith gives assurance of this better inheritance Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen It is an evidence not only that there is another world and a better world then this and that this better state may be obbtaind that there is an entrance into the everlasting Kingdom possible that these mortals may be clothed with immortality that these corruptibles may put on incorruption and these poor worms that creep on the dust may get them wings and fly away hence into everlasting bliss but it is also an evidence that all this shall be that there shall be a performance of all those glorious things which God hath spoken concerning his Saints Blessed is he that hath believed for there shall be a performance of all that hath been told him Luk. 1. 45. Faith hath taken bond for performance The Almighty God hath bound himself to us and lest through unbelief we should stick at taking his single bond he hath given security hath brought in his Son and heir the Lord Jesus Christ to stand bound with him Faith hath taken this bond and having it self sealed to the Articles or conditions on our parts upon the performance whereof the inheritance stands sure to us upon the greatest security that Heaven and Earth can give it keeps it by it and hath it ready to produce upon all occasions to stop the clamours of unbelief The Covenant of God that 's our security The Almighties bond and articles wherein he hath made over all that ever he hath by an immutable and irrevocable deed to his Saints Heb. 6. 17 18. Nay more Faith will shew a believer his own name in this deed If it can but shew it self to us can make it evident that it is what it is the Faith of Gods elect if it does but once appear that we do sincerely believe it therein shews us our names in the promise of God To say to any one that knows he believes to say to him He that believeth shall be saved is fully as much as if it had been said to him by name Thou O man even thou shalt be saved thy name is written in the book of life Unbelief will be staggering at the promise and will call in question all that the Lord God hath said And when this world comes upon us and tempts us opens its pack and shews us its wares and offers us our choice of whatsoever will please us Take it saies unbelief make sure of something let not go such penniworths they may be the best thou art ever like to have Mayst thou be rich mayst thou live in pleasure and in honour here Be not such a fool as to neglect thy self for a conceit of some strange
the World is an unbeliever without Christ and in the state of damnation Oh think not light of your worldliness 't is a death token upon you and such as marks you up with those that perish that this is certainly so that every worldling is an unbeliever and unconverted I shall make evident by these infallible demonstrations 1. Can that man be a believer who is a lover of the world more then a lover of God Art thou a believer who lovest not canst thou say thou lovest God when the better part of thine heart is with the world will this be accepted when thou canst only say Lord I bring thee half mine heart and but the least half neither here 't is divided let the world I pray thee have the first choice and take thou all that the world leaves give me leave first to mind my earthly things and next to these God shall be regarded Speak Conscience will God accept such a gift such a little piece of a soul when the main is bestowed on another Will God say Surely this is my Child surely this is my Servant next to the world he loves me best of all Do ye think he will what saith the Scripture Mat. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother mâ—re then me is not worthy of me he that loveth Son or Daughter more then me is unworthy of me Find if you can a more convincing argument of an unbeliever then that of the Apostle 2 Tim. 3. 4. A lover of pleasure more then a lover of God He that loveth the world more then God is none of his that cannot be deny'd And art thou not the man dost thou love God as thou lovest the world let thy life speak what seekest thou whom servest thou where dost thou bestow thy self in whom dost thou bless thy self what is the chief pleasure and comfort of thy life Is God he Is it God whom thou seekest and servest and blessest thy self in does not thine heart know that thy Mammon is the God whom thou servest that thou lovest to be rich and to prosper in the world more then ever thou lovedst to be holy and righteous before God Dost thou love God where are thy labours of love what hast thou done for God ever since thou wert born where are thy fruits thou hast brought forth unto the Lord hast thou been serving God all thy daies and yet hast nothing to shew of all that thou hast done thou hast son ething to shew for thy serving the world this house thou hast gotten or that Farm or these Sheep and Oxen or this stock of money something thou hast to shew to prove thee a servant of the world but hast thou been serving God all thy time and hast nothing to shew for it Sure Brethren worldly men are either very fools or very false to themselves if they do not condemn themselves here I confess I have done little for God all my time I have been busie for this world but I confess I have but loytered and neglected the things of the other world I must never lye for the matter mine own Conscience tells me 't is thus Foolish soul Hast thou serv'd the world more then God and canst thou yet make thy self believe thou lovest God more then the world to say thou lovest God above all though thou hast but little sought or serv'd him is to say I love him above all but I care not much for him if another man should have said so would not thine own heart have laugh'd at him for a fool or condemn'd him for a lyar Tremble Worldling and hear this first evidence against thee thy whole life tells thee thou lovest the world more then thou lovest God and God himself tells thee that he that loveth the world more then God is none of his 2. Is he a believer that is not come to Christ Coming to Christ and believing in Christ are the same Joh. 6. 35. Art thou come unto Christ whence art thou come from the world what and yet thine heart still in the world art thou come to Christ who art still where thou wert when thou wert without Christ canst thou be here and there too deceive not thy self thou mayst as well be at once in heaven and hell as thine heart be in Christ and in the world Are Christ and the world friends are God and Mammon become but one Master are the two kingdomes united and may the same persons at once be subjects of them both Hath Christ ever said be mine and then stay where thou art list thy name under me for a Disciple and then go and serve the world still be proud be covetous be sensual be in all things as the men of this world are only be my Disciple Is not the renouncing of the world included in our coming to Christ doth not he that saith to thee Come first say depart and is not thy comming to Christ in the very nature of it a departing from the world thy choosing of him a refusing of it when Christ and the world are offered to thy choice canst thou choose both must thou not necessarily take to the one and let the other go And hast thou renounc'd the world who art stil a worldling what hast thou renounc'd of it or how far forth hast thou renounc'd it Is it not thy treasure still is it not thy Lord still Is not this it which thou still takest as thy governour and reward Doest thou love it as thy God and serve it as thy God and hold it fast as thy God and yet hast thou renounc'd it does every one that knows thee point with the finger at thee there goes an earth-worm there goes a Mammonist there lives a true drudge to the world and wilt thou yet say I have done with the world Is thy lust and thine appetite after more as greedy and insatiable as ever is thy love and delight and rest in what thou hast as great as ever is it so hard to get any thing out of thine hand for God so that that little which comes must be wrung as so many drops of bloud from thine heart art thou so pinching and sparing that scarce any without thine own belly is ever the better for thee and hast thou yet renounc'd the world Art thou so crucified and vexed and tormented when thou art cross'd or miscarriest in any little of thy worldly interest and canst thou yet say I am crucified to the world Can the world make thee lye and dissemble and play the knave when t is for thy advantage can it command thy conscience and thy religion and thy hopes to do obeysance to it can it keep thee out of thy closet out of the Church must prayers and sabbaths and sermons and Sacraments be neglected when the world hath any business for thee and hath it still so much business for thee that thou canst scarce have one prayer or one sabbath clear of its encroachment doth it follow thee
figures of Sabbaths the ordinances of them are to us as wells without water lamps withoul Oyle meer shadows of good things we go up from week to week to meet one with another but how seldom do we see God in the company and hereupon Sabbaths come and goe and leave us still as we were the Devil may well enough trust us with such Sabbaths the world may give us leave to go thus before the Lord and be no looser by it Brethren get you into the inner court which on these dayes especially was to be set open Ezek. 46. 1. there is an entry through the house of the Lord that leads in to the heart of the most high get you into that sanctum sanctorum and there let be your rest as often as the morning of that blessed day looks forth upon you get your vessels ready and go you forth to meet the bridegroom open your eyes with these thoughts this is the day which the Lord hath made I will rejoyce and be glad in it climb up betimes and let every duty be a stair by which you ascend to your Lord let divine contemplation let prayers and praises c. be the whole work let the blessings of Divine Communion be the whole expectation of that day and when you find your hearts refreshed with his presence and filled with the company of your God and he sends you away laden with the tokens of his love and with the impress of his face upon your hearts and the relish of his goodness fresh upon your palats when you thus go hot out of the presence of the Lord then you will learn to despise that day of small things with which the World entertains you Shall I forsake my sweetness saith the figtree shall I forsake my fatness saith the Olive and become King over the trees let the bramble take that honour farewell dignities and dominions farewell pomps and pleasures farewell houses and lands I have enough I have seen the face of God 3. It is a day of special provision for Souls whereon the Lord brings forth out of his treasury his spiritual provisions to keep the Soul in heart Hunger-starv'd souldiers are but poor fighters they are the weak souls whom the World hath vanquished Sabbaths are the Souls Market dayes Men have their Markets whence to be supplied with necessaries for their bodies and on this day God keeps a Market for Souls He hath his Milk and his Honey his Wine and his Oyl his Bread and his Water of Life and on this day in special he makes Proclamation Ho every one that thirsteth come to the Waters and he that hath no money Come ye buy and eat yea buy Wine and Milk without money and without price The bread which comes down from Heaven though it be to be had every day our Week-dayes may in their measure be all Sabbaths yet on this day it falls more plentifully The Jews had their corporal Manna on the six dayes and none on the Sabbath but the hidden Manna falls more thin and more sparely on our other dayes and on this day more abundantly They were to gather double on the sixth day that they might have to supply them on the Sabbath but for the Spiritual Manna all our other dayes are to be supply'd from our Sabbath provision A Christian who is not fit to meet the Bridegroom is neither fit to meet his adversary without Oyl in his Lamp T is the great commodity that 's set to sale in this Market Oyle for our vessels Come bring your empty vessels here 's Oyl to fill them The Ordinances which are this day administred are the pipes opened those golden pipes by which the golden Oyl is emptied forth and conveyed down from the living Olive Zech. 4. T is no wonder that men hunger after this world who know no better feeding An Asses head or a kab of Doves dung are of great price when there is no bread 2 King 6. 25. T is for want of bread that worldlings can make such a feast of their Locusts and wild Honey Those that have eaten of the hidden Manna will not lust after Quails the Worlds dainties will come out at their nostrils whose bellies have been filled with this hid treasure Those whom God hath fed in his green Pastures those whom God hath led by his still waters they cannot live in these salt Marishes or stubble fields Those whose souls God hath made well watered Gardens will not need the Pools of the Wilderness It s no wonder that the World beats us when we go for many daies together without making one good meal When our souls are famished into weakness then are we our enemies prey they are the hunger starved sheep that are a prey to Crows and Kytes If Sathan can but keep us low if he can either keep the Manna from falling about our Camps or keep us idle when we should be gathering he may then lead us after his lure at pleasure T is not a little strength that will suffice us against his great temptations and t is not a little bread by which we are like to gather any great strength we had need feed well if we will be strong and we had need be strong or we shall never fight well A Soul that uses to come before the Lord with an appetite that feeds hungrily and is as the thirsty earth that drinks up the showers that come oft upon it whom the Lord satisfies with the fatness of his house you may turn him loose to the World flesh and Devil the life of God within him maintained by influences from above will much secure him against all their assaults Christians know your Sabbath priviledges the advantages of Sabbath separation Sabbath communion and Sabbath provision Understand your advantage and make your advantage of them Be ye seperate Remember your Creator and rest from your works as God did from his Remember your Redeemer and rise from your dust as Christ did from his Let this day of his Resurrection be the day of your Resurrection and Ascention Let Sabbaths be Sabbaths indeed holy to the Lord and wholly his Divide not the day betwixt flesh and Spirit God and Mammon but let it be entirely the Lords day Let every duty and Ordinance of this day be a Communion Prepare to meet your God and go up to meet him Seek his face in hope to see his face see and love see and rejoice see and admire and praise him in his excellent greatness Hearken what the Lord God will speak and let him hear your voice Confirm your friendshâ—p renew your acquaintance in Heaven repeat your Covenant transactions Have you chosen the Lord for your portion tell him you stand to your choice have you renounc'd your flesh and the World promise him not to return to folly Have you made the Lord your trust put forth fresh acts of faith upon him Look to him lean on him for his righteousness and strength Let such as these
immarcessible to which we are redeemed we have a survey of them all in this price that was paid for them The love of Christ his kindnesses and compassions do all look forth upon us His sweat his stripes his grief his groans his bloud do all speak Behold how he loved us behold what he hath laid up for those that love him Brethren will not this price buy off your Souls from this Earth which hath bought them from Hell will neither the price nor the purchase do it will not Heaven be taken in exchange for clay you have been at the table of the Lord but sure you do not use to see Jesus there if your Souls yet dwell in the dust Look ye to that tree the cross of your Lord that instrument of death behold how it is become a tree of life a tree of life hung with all manner of precious fruits there are all the curses naild and witherd there are all the flowers and fruits of the Paradise of God growing up and flourishing there is joy and glory there is life and peace Sursum Corda What are these Souls what moles and batts what no eyes to see this glory what see it and not desire it what still feeding with the worms Let these moles get them eyes let these worms get them wings look till you can see and see till you can love and then ascend and be satisfied When I am lifted up I will draw all men after me Joh. 12. 32. Is not the Son of Man lifted up dost thou not see him before thee what is thine heart that doth not yet begin to ascend O what is Christ what not worth the thirty pieces wilt thou again sell thy Lord for money once more look on him whom thou hast pierced and then say O my Soul whom wilt thou Jesus or Barabbas this World is a robber what do I here am I come to crucifie the Son of God afresh to set him at nought again to sell him the second time my mony perish from me rather then it should again become the price of bloud 2. The Sacrament is the New Testament sealed the use of a Seal is to secure and confirm therefore Seals are affix'd to writings bonds or covenants to give them their full force and ratification The writing to which this Seal is set is the Gospel the great and precious promises which are full of life and immortality and all the riches of the promised land The Lord in giving us the Sacramental Elements his Bread and his Cup doth therein deliver us the Covenant of Grace sealed to assure us of the truth and certainty thereof as if he should say This shall be a sign betwixt me and thee that if thou accept of my Gospel treasures upon Gospel terms if thou wilt have no other God but wiâ—t forsake all and follow me this shall be to assure thee that I will be thy God and all that I have is thine And as the Lord seals on his part so we set our seal to our part of the Covenant as the Covenant is mutual so is the sealing Gods giving is his sealing and our receiving is ours our receiving the Elements from the hand of the Lord our eating and drinking is our seal to witness our acceptance of God upon Gods terms let this be a sign betwixt me and thee that I accept Lord I accept of thee according to the tenor and terms of thy Covenant Our acceptance of these Elements is as a Servants taking Covenant money or a Souldiers taking Press money which binds the one to his Master the other to his Captain and our sealing in this manner doth in a sense ratifie Gods Seal as to our particular interest in the promise as upon a servants receiving his Covenant money the Covenant is confirmed not only on his own part but also on his Masters His Master is now engaged to own him provide for him protect him and reward him as his servant It s true Gods Seal alone fully confirms the truth of the Covenant in general but upon my sealing to the condition on my part provided it be sincere and unfeigned hereupon Gods Seal doth not only confirm the Covenant in general that he which believeth and obeyeth the Gospel shall certainly be saved but it now makes it sure to me and gives me a certain propriety in all the promises of God There 's not a man in the world that thus accepts and sets to his Seal but the Seal of God stands good to him he hath it under Gods hand and seal that he shall be pardoned he hath it under Gods hand and seal that grace and peace and all things necessary unto life and salvation are his Only it must be understood and remembred as before our acceptance is not to be only of what God promises a willingness to be pardoned and saved but of what God requires a willingness to serve him and forsaking all others to cleave only unto him as a Souldier takes his Press money not only in token that he accepts of his pay or a servant his Covenant money in token that he accepts of his wages but it is their taking pay upon terms to fight and taking wages on terms to work Now hence arises a double advantage in our war against the world an Encouragement Engagement 1. Gods Seal encourages us on The Covenant of God assures not only a Crown to the Conqueror but assistance to the Combatant He will be not only the rewarder but the helper of all those that diligently seek him He hath said Heb. 13. 5. I will never fail thee nor forsake thee And hereupon thou mayst boldly say The Lord is my helper He hath said Ezek. 36. 27. I will put my spirit within you and ver 26. I will give you a new heart This flesh will never prevail but what cannot the Spirit of the Lord do this old heart and the world will never part they were ever friends and ever will be but he will take away this and give you another heart Fright not thy self with the difficulties thou seest before thee from the strong party the world has within thee thy carnal nature with all thine earthly members from the Allies and Confederates it hath without thee Satan with all his instruments and temptations thou wilt be like to say How can I turn this stream of nature how can I stand against this floud of temptations Can I create me a new spirit or can I conquer whilest this old spirit lives can I command my love and my fear and my hatred as I please can I love what I will and hate what I will and fear what I will can I fly from what my heart follows after or fight against what I so love and desire How can I endure such hardness as not only the fight but the victory will bring upon me Can I be poor can I be hungry be naked be destitute can I be in reproach in disgrace and contempt will this
there any empty souls among you hungring and thirsting after the bread and water of life what if Christ should come down and meet you here and feed you with these good things would you not say O this is sweet feeding O this is a sweet morning O this is a pleasant meal If you could see all the blessed fruits of the gospel spred upon this table if you saw pardons sealed before you for every one of your souls if grace and peace if love and joy if holiness and power and every thing your souls want or wish for if you should see them here on the table if you should hear a voice from Heaven calling unto you Eat O friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved you that want a pardon there 't is for you you that want holiness humility patience power assurance here 't is for you take it It may be the full souls among you would be nothing moved it would better please them to hear there 's a penny for you there 's a sheep or an house or a living for you But every hungry soul would cry out O this is sweet ' its good to be here 3. That these fruits of Christ are exhibited and given forth in the sacrament The sacrament is a communion the Communion of the body of Christ the Communion of the bloud of Christ 1 Cor. 10. 16. wherein we come not only to see but to receive Christ crucified to receive of his fulness grace for grace Isa 12. 3. we have a promise with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation here note 1. That the Church of Christ hath her wells of salvation without is death and destruction sinners have their pits and their pools and their cisterns but no wells There is a fountain and a fountain opened Zech. 13. 1. but 't is to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the Israel of God not to his enemies to these the fountains opened is a fountain sealed Christ shall profit them nothing Christ is the Churches inclosure no common for aliens If you ask what are those wells I answer the word is a well the ordinances are wells in particular this ordinance this sacrament to which we are come this day to draw this is a well it hath the depth of a well this ordinance is a deep mystery 't is not every hand no nor every eye that can reach the water 2. It hath the spring of a well wells have not a standing and underived fulness but they have a spring that feeds them Christ is the spring that fills this well 3. It hath the fulness of a well cisterns will hold little water in the well there is store all Christ is here in whom all fulness dwells This well is the Churches it belongs only to those that belong to God 1 Cor. 3. 22. 23. whether Paul Apollos or Cephas whether ministers or ordinances all are yours because you are Christs and Christ is Gods Rom. 9. 4. who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants to whom the adoption and the covenants belong theirs are the seals The things that are without are yours sinners sin is yours guilt is yours temptations snares woes death is yours because ye are none of Christs this well of life is none of yours It will be demanded of you as Math. 22. 12 Friend how camst thou in hither what hast thou to do to take my covenant or the bloud of my covenant into thy mouth since thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee Psal 50. Such may not come to the well or if they come it may prove a well of damnation to them not of salvation and so the Apostle tells them it will prove 1 Cor. 11. 29. This water of life may prove as the water of jealousie that bitter water that will cause their belly to swell and their thigh to rott may be a curse and not a blessing Look to it sinners you may be drown'd in this well when you come to drink you may drink flames and fury instead of the water of life Oh how many have been drown'd in these waters who rushing unpreparedly upon this dreadful ordinance have drown'd all that little good they seem'd to have something possibly they formerly had that was hopeful but by the just judgment of God upon them for abusing such an ordinance they have lost all at first they came it may be with some little tenderness and trembling of heart but not being upright in the main they have at length lost all their sense and have been smitten with deadness and hardness O consider what you are and how 't is with you now you come here are you Christs are you sincerely his are you resolvedly his if you have not assurance that you are his what probable evidences have you that you are are your souls wishing for Christ waiting for Christ thirsting and panting and following after love to Christ likeness to Christ subjection to Christ evidences that he is yours are you resolved never while you live to turn back and give over your pursuit of Christ nor to sit down by any thing short of an universal conformity to his image and will Are you crucified with Christ Is the world crucified to you and you unto the world Is the old man slain and all your earthly members feel every limb of the old man if there be not life still found in them feel the heart of the old man is there not self-will self-self-love and the love of this present world yet alive feel the head of the old man is not pride and self-conce it alive what plottings and contrivances what great designs are there carrying on for the flesh and the world feel the gall and the spleen of him is not bitterness and wrath envy and malice yet alive observe the eyes and the ears and the tongue and the habit and the way doth not the old man live in all these are not the eyes pleas'd with beholding vanity the ears itching after fleshly fooleries Is not the sound of him upon the tongue the shew of him in the countenance the habit and whole way of life feel the pulses of the old man his breathings and pantings is it not after earth still Brethren if there be any sad remains of this earth and flesh in you as doubtless there are yet is there an abatement of the power and vigor of them if the old man be not quite dead yet is he in a Consumption are the waters of lust fallen yea and still falling lower are you in good earnest for mortification for the death of every lust and are you impatient while they live are you come to this point you 'l never be the friends of your flesh you 'l never take its part again against warnings against reproofs you 'l never live in peace with it but will wrestle and fight and wait for the victory as long as you live
thy love I am he whom when thou calledst I would not come whom thou wouldst have turned but I would not turn when thou wouldst have pardoned and healed me I sold thy pardon and refused to be healed and wilt thou not plead for such a one as I I have chosen this world for my portion I have lov'd it and serv'd it and when I should have been praying or hearing minding my soul and laying up treasure in heaven I was loath to be such a bad husband I was busie in following my affairs looking to my Corn and my Cattel and my Trade and here I have gotten money and Lands and will not these plead for me Is not a rich mans Plea good will not my gold and my silver my honors or my ornaments get entrance into thy Kingdome if not Lord this is all I have to say for my self if this will not do who shall plead for me O Brethren if you would be perswaded to sit down daily and to think over some such thoughts as these then there would be hope If we could but preach you upon this thinking there would be hope that you might think you into Christ 2. Hold your affections under government Prov. 16. 32. He that ruleth his spirit is better then he that taketh a City and no wonder for he hath taken the whole world captive All victories imaginanable are summ'd up in this one victory the conquest of the heart By spirit we are here to understand the passions or affections the spirit of man is as the Apostle saies Jam. 3. the tongue of man is an unruly evil impatient of subjection and pressing for dominion God hath placed our affections under government under the government of our reason and those principles of heavenly wisdom faith righteousness and holiness which we are indowed with but these like an unbroken horse that will not go whither the rider but whither it self listeth do rise up and rebel against reason and will be the leaders and not followers and this unruliness of the passions is the root of the distempers and disorders of the life when men surrender up themselves to be lead by affection whither doth it carry them reason leads us up to God It is the Candle of the Lord that lights us our way to him our affections are blind guides love is blind desires are blind and whether will the blind lead us If we could live by faith nay if we could but live more by reason by right reason we should get us up out of this earthly country even reason will tell us that God is better then creatures and that the inordinate following of creatures is the forsaking of God For the better holding your affections right take these two directions 1. Keep your selves in the love of God 2. Whatever you love in the world let it be also your fear 1. Keep your selves in the love of God let affection follow the conduct of reason to Heaven and there let it dwell but till reason lead it down again keep your selves in the love of God Jude 21. keep up a right understanding of God and that will keep up your affections keep up your affections to God and that will keep them off from the world the heart will ever be in love and till it find a better this harlot must be its beloved deformity is as beauty whilest beauty is out of sight He saies in vain set not your affections on the earth that does not first say set your affections on things above He that saies set your affections on things above and not on the earth if he be heard in the first will not be denyed in the second keep you in the love of God and you keep you clear of the love of the world 2. What ever you love in the world let it be also your fear fear will be loves bridle and reason would teach you to fear what ever you love here nothing hath such an advantage upon us to steal away our hearts from God as the things we love The Lord is seldom such a looser as by his bounty when he lets down his silver cords of love to draw up our hearts we make chains of them to fetter us here below His gold and his Jewels his bracelets and earrings which he sends us to allure our love are often molten into an Idol and engross our hearts to them Whatever thou lovest in all the world hast thou a wife or a child that thou lovest hast thou a friend or companion that thou lovest hast thou an house a pleasant habitation hast thou gardens or orchards fields or vineyards that thine heart is pleas'd withall O be jealous of them Keep your distance come not too near thou commest for my Soul my child my house my mony my friends I must have an eye to you you come to steal away mine heart What a sad requital and yet how commonly is this the requital which we make for bounty and kindness I should have lov'd God better if he had not been so good to me I should have lov'd God better if he had not given me so good a wife so dear a child so fair an estate so many friends wilt thou fear such unworthiness then fear whatever thou lovest If what you love be not also your fear it 's like to be your loss and sorrow If Sampson had fear'd his Delilah whom he so loved he had sav'd his locks his God and his life his love to that harlot did him more mischief then all the armies of the Philistimes Solomons wives became his tears fondling children often revenge their parents dotage by becoming thorns in their sides and swords in their hearts whatever thou overlovest look for it to find it thy cross or thy curse what will thy friends or thy mony be when either thou hast lost them or thy soul by them what ever thou overlovest God will tear it from thine heart if ever he mean thee good he will touch thee in the apple of thine eye he will try thee in thine Isaac he will tear off that Jewel that entices thy Soul from him what thou canst not part with look for it that must go or thy soul 3. Set a strict watch upon your senses By these 't is that Satan with all his temptations hath such an easy passage to our hearts our senses are the doors of our hearts the outlets of corruption and the inlets of temptation they bring the outward objects and the inward lusts together when the fuel and the fire are layd together then there is a flame Both the Evil and the Good that is in us came in much by this way How came Sin and Death into this world and all the plagues and miseries we are labouring under or lyable to which way came they in By the eye they came in when the woman saw the fatal apple then she lusted and tasted Gen. 3. How came life and immortality grace and peace and all our
eyes and the pride of life And also the objects of these lusts as they are such the pleasures the profits and the pomps of the world together with all worldly tribulations and afflictions By Faith understand a living saving Faith which unites to Christ and thereby engages him in our Combat with us This is the Victory even our Faith Faith is said to be our Victory 1. Formally The world hinders and holds us back from Christ Faith is our coming to Christ our coming to Christ is our Victory over all that which held us back 2. Instrumentally This is the Victory that is this is our arm or our hand this is the weapon of our warfare that hath gotten for us the Victory Divers observations lye in the words Doct. 1. The world is a Christians Enemy A Conquest supposes a Combat and a Combat supposes an Enemy Doct. 2. A Believer hath his Enemies under his feet even whilest he is in the fight He is a Souldier as soon as he is a Believer and he is a Conquerour as soon as ever he is a Souldier His very taking up Arms is his Victory Doct. 3. A Christian overcomes the world by his Faith In the prosecution of this third Doctrine whereon I intend to bottom the following discourse I shall shew 1. Wherein the enmity of the world against Souls stands 2. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails against our Souls 3. Wherein the strength of faith lies whereby it overcomes the world 4. The conflict of faith with this warring world or the several ways in which faith so maintains the fight that it obtains the victory 5. The Conquest of Faith over the conflicting world or wherein this victory stands 1. Wherein the enmity of the world against souls stands or discovers it self The world is an Enemy as before It pretends to be a friend but its friendship is enmity enmity against God Jam. 4. 4. and therefore against souls its kindnesses are darts its kisses are swords and arrows its very peace is war against the soul But what is this Enmity or wherein is it discovered For the better understanding of this I shall premise these four things 1. Every creature of God is good The whole Creation in their Original were mans friends or servants there was nothing hurtful that was made 2. The enmity that is came in by sin Sin was the only Make-bate as betwixt God and Man so betwixt Man and the rest of the Creatures all the Enemies which man hath in Heaven or Earth he may thank his sin for 3. There is no malignity in the creature properly against man in his lapsed state They are yet all capable of being good and serviceable to him 1 Tim. 4. 4 5. Every creature of God is good it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer Riches are good yea and honors and pleasures may be good and useful to man 4. It is by accident and not from the nature of the things that the creatures are become enemies to us Sinful man is a distempered diseased creature distempered in his mind and hereupon he misapprehends and mistakes the world and looking for that good that is not in it he looses that which is making it his happiness it becomes his undoing He is distempered and diseased in his heart yea and his whole man And hereupon as in bodily diseases the best of creatures which would be nourishment to the healthy are to the sick the nourishment of their diseases and as such are apt to lust after those things which are most noxious so is it with diseased souls our appetites are vitiated and whilest we lust after either that which we should not or more then we should have those very things which are good in themselves become mischievous and hurtful to us the maintaining and encreasing our disease These things premised I shall now shew wherein the enmity of the world against our souls stands and that is in these two things especially 1. In withdrawing our souls from God Particularly 1. In withdrawing our affections from God as our Portion 2. In withdrawing us from our Allegiance to God as our Soveraign 1. In withdrawing our affections from God as our Portiâ—n The world by the advantage of our distempered minds and appetites sets up it self as our God as our happiness or chiefest good it proposes its self for a portion to us and that both as a richer portion and more suitable then God would be it perswades us to take our portion in hand and to take up with what 's before us as our happiness and not to be so unwise as to make an adventure for an unknown happiness with the hazard of that present felicity and contentment which we tast and see to be so good God calls Come unto me and I will give thee rest I will be thy portion and reward come up to the other world there 's an Inheritance for thee No no saith the world stay with me dwell here below thou seest what thine entertainment is here there thou knowest not what thou shalt find here thou hast substance here thou hast Sun-shine here thou hast hearts ease here thou art full and aboundedst thou hast thy house full and thy hands full and thy belly full and thy heart full thou knowest what thou hast thou canst tast thou canst see how good this world is the Treasures of the other world though they be called Treasures of Light yet to thee they are but Treasures of Darkness thou knowest not what they are be content dwell here below where thou art well 2. In withdrawing us from our Allegiance to God as our Soveraign When it hath once drawn away the heart it will with ease pull away the shoulder if Gods Crown be despised his Yoke will quickly be shaken off we break our faith with God when once we are fallen in love with the world if it become our treasure we yield our selves to it for servants the strength of its temptations lies in the esteem we have of it and the affection we bear it What will the Authority of the Lord do with us when he hath lost our hearts and we have chosen us another God! What cannot the world command us to if we have once set it before us as our Goal and Prize if it be our end it will appoint us our means and way no unrighteousness but will be right in our eyes that will serve our worldly designs farewell faith truth mercy honesty and all conscience of sin further then we can make a gain of godliness And by withdrawing us from our love and obedience to God to this I might add 3ly It exposes us to his wrath and displeasure when we will none of him he will none of us when he is forsaken by us he sets himself against us by despising the riches of his goodness we fall under his fury and fiery indignation This is the state into which the world is leading us 2. In
withholding us from Christ Christ comes to bring us back unto the Father 1 Pet. 3. 18. to reduce us to our duty and restore us to our happiness The world that withdraws us from God withholds us from Christ Particularly It holds us back from coming to Christ It holds us in from following of Christ 1. It holds us back from coming to Christ And this it doth by these four means By Darkning our sight Deadning our sense Hanging upon our hearts and about our necks Furnishing us with excuses 1. By darkning the sight that we cannot see either the excellency or the necessity of Christ Christ draws on Souls to him by love and fear First he frights us in by presenting the danger and misery that is falling upon us and we cannot escape if we stand out Look to thy self Sinner this world will betray thee to thy ruine thy pleasures are thy traitors thy carnal friends are thy traitors thy estate is thy traitor they are feasting thee and feeding thee but t is for the day of slaughter the butcher the butcher of souls is near thee into whose hands they are betraying thee they seek thy life thou art but a dead man death is already feeding upon thee the curse of God doth already cleave to thee and is ready to fall upon thee in its full weight thou wilt be devoured thou wilt be swallowed up ere thou art aware come away come to me and thou shalt be safe this house is falling on thine head escape for thy life the avenger of blood is at thy heels flee to the City of refuge I am thy City of refuge come unto me Thus he provokes by fear And this is such an argument to drive Souls into Christ as a clap of thunder or a storm of hail is to the Traviler to hasten him to shelter Then Christ draws by love presents himself and his salvation to the Soul displayes all his beautie and excellencies before it opens the Gospel wherein his grace and his glory appear and shine forth the Gospel is sent down full of Christ there are all the treasures and unsearchable riches of Christ and all held forth in open sight to invite sinners unto him Now the world dashes all this that it workes nothing on the Soul by blinding the eye that it cannot see what Christ sets before it what is either beauty or blackness to the blind soul 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which beleive not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them We are naturally born blind and if our eyes begin a little to be opened this earth is thrown as dust in our eyes that we may not see what 's before us The things of this world as the Moon interposed causeth an eclipse in our souls that we cannot see the Sun we cannot discern either light or darkness either the light of the glorious Gospel or the darkness of the Pitt either our hopes or our dangers this earth keeps both Heaven and Hell out of sight The things of the world should be a glass wherein we may behold the glory of the Lord we may see God in every creature The Heavens declare the glory of God Psal 19. 1. And so doth the earth also and all that is therein but that which God made a glass in which we might see his glory the Divel makes a cloud to take God out of sight what God made a window to let in the light the Divel makes a shut to keep it out Worldly men fix and terminate their eyes in worldly things they can neither look besides them nor through them It is not with them according to the course of nature The Sun dazles mens eyes that they cannot see the Earth but the quite contrary The Earth dazles their eyes that they cannot see the Sun Men usually carry their eyes in their hearts they will not look but where they love or if they should look heavenward yet they could not see the earth hath dazled their eyes Sinners take heed of these riches take heed of these pleasures these substances and these shadowes which your hearts are set upon they will not only be as clogs to keep you down from ascending heavenward but as clouds to hinder you from looking thither It may be they appear as bright clouds but a bright cloud will hide the Sun out of sight as well as a black 2. By deadning the sense they can neither see nor feel they see not the excellency nor can feel their need of Christ who are drunken with these worldly vanities they who altogether live by sense are without sense of any but the present things they can make a shift to live without Christ the less of Christ the better for their turns Christ and the things of Christ are the only things that stand in their way are their way to poverty not to wealth to reproach and shame not to honour they can well enough want Christ while they live but what need they may have of him after this life that enters not into their hearts they are so busy with what they find here that they look not so far as the grave much less beyond it 'T is hard dealing with such hearts but when you find them alone retired and withdrawn from the world and how long may we wait ere we meet with such a season find them in a croud among their carnal friends and companions find them among their Sheep or Oxen or at their pleasures and the noise of these will so drown all that can be said that its like to make as deep impression as a showre upon a stone cry out in their eares fire fire throw Death and Hell in their faces it moves them not so much as to draw forth such a question What may I do to escape We never will come to Christ till we see we need him and we never see our need of Christ till being withdrawn from the hurries of this World we have leisure to sit down and consider How seldom do carnal hearts ask What use is there of Christ wherefore is he come what want would there be of him if there were no Christ If God that spared not his Son but gave him a ransome for the world had spared all this cost it had been all one to them they could have liv'd as merrily and as plentifully here however and that 's all they mind or regard Or if they have any sense of their need of Christ at all it is so little that it will do nothing to the perswading them after him the wound is not so deep but the name of a Saviour will skin it over Seldome does it rise so high as to wring out such a serious question What may I do that Christ may be mine How many Houses and Markets and Shops and Companies may we come into ere we hear any such question Go into the
Field where Men are busy a plowing and sowing or reaping and there you may hear them enquiring how may I keep off the Birds or how may I keep out the Beasts from hurting my field when will it be rain or when will it be like to be fair weather Come into the Market where men are buying and selling and trading and there you may hear them asking how goes the price of Corn or of Cattel where are the best Commodities where is the best choice Come into the houses where they are eating and drinking or working and there you may hear them enquiring what must we have for the next meal what for to morrow c. But oh how seldom do we hear amongst them all any such questions How is my Soul provided for how how doth my soul prosper No no when the world is gotten into the heart there 's no sense of Souls or the concernment of them where the world is in the heart Death and Hell may be there too and never regarded Could we once make men deeply sensible how great their need of Christ is what they are without Christ in what slippery places they stand in what jeopardy they go daily what a dreadful gulf of woe and misery the wind and tide of their worldly prosperity are carrying them down into and how suddenly they may be swallowed up in perdition and destruction and what miserable comforts their past pleasures and plenty will then be to them were they sensible that nothing but Christ and a part in him would stand them in any stead to save them from that gulf that the casting anchor on that rock of ages would alone secure them from splitting on those fatal rocks from perishing by those tumbling waves and billows that are hurrying them down to the lake beneath were they sensible that t is Christ only that can secure them from these dangers their need would be argument enough to drive them to him But being drunken with the pleasures of sin whilest this wine is in the wits are out they will not consider they do not perceive the danger they are in When the Prodigal Luk. 15. had spent all that he had in his riotous living when his whole stock was wasted and not an husk left then he had time to consider and bethink himself what a case he was in and the pinching sence of his necessitous state to which his folly had reduced him this brings him to his wits again he comes to himself and then away he will to his father If you had met him a little before in his cups and amongst his whores if you had found him at his riotous table and in the heat of his lust and should there have preach'd to this Prodigal Friend this life will not last alwaies t will be thy wisest course to consider in time what thou dost Be sober be temperate run from these Harlots and return to thy Father how would he have laughed and scoffed at such a sermon at least the next cup would have wash'd it off his heart but when his hunger and thirst preach thus to him Get thee home to thy Father then away he goes 3. It hangs upon our hearts and about our necks The world hath gotten hold of our hearts and there it will keep its hold while it can It s gotten so much within us and hath so twisted and twined it self about our affections that it will be very hard getting it off We cannot close with Christ but we must break with the world we must be divorc'd from this ere we can be married to our second husband worldlings see what work Christ makes in those hearts where he gets possession he whips out the buyers and sellers and their merchandise out of his Temple he changes the customes and pleasures and business of the heart Its dealings and its delights Its love and its labour must be no longer bestow'd and consum'd upon meat and drink and money and mirth he hath other delights for it and other work to keep it doing These things must be minded in their place and in their season but they must keep their place Stand off Farms and Oxen stand off Lands and money keep your distance get you down and take the lower room give this man place who is more honourable then you all Christ and the world contend for the place which shall sit uppermost and go foremost in the soul Christ will not come in to be an Underling he will have the chief room the chief respect and esteem he will have the command of all that is in the house herein stands Christianity or our conversion to Christ in surrendring up the Throne to Christ 't is not the question whether thou canst find a corner in thine heart to entertain Christ in but who sits in the Throne who hath the government of thy soul who hath the right hand within thee Canst thou say to the Lord Jesus Sit thou on the right hand let all thy foes be made thy foot-stool All sinful pleasures all sinful gains must depart and come no more where Christ dwells and those which are lawful must come under and be brought into subjection to him no more sensuality or carnal mirth no more covetousness or oppression no more pride or self-exalting away with these cast them out and never take them in for ever if thou meanest that Christ shall take up his habitation in thee And no more zeal for the lawful concernments of this life no more pleading business against Religion no more pleading safety against duty no more pleading credit against conscience no more pleading gain against godliness preserve and improve thy estate maintain thy credit provide for thy safety follow thy business thou mayest and thou must but bring all under make all to stand aside and give place to Christianity and Conscience Christ will be no underling he resolves for the Throne where ever he dwells And the world that hath already gotten the Throne is loath to become the foot-stool 't is who shall be King 't is who shal be God that the great Contest is about and the world that hath King'd it so long knows not how to be content to be a subject it sees it must come down if Christ come in there cannot be two Kings in one Kingdome it must come down this pride must come down this credit these pleasures this carnal mirth this covetousness must be laid in the dust if Christ set footing here And therefore it does all it can to resist Christ stops the ears blinds the eye turns away the heart from hearkening to him Christ stands at the door and knocks Christ cryes and calls Come unto me open to me Christ promises and offers Come and I will receive you open and I will come in unto you and dwell with you If the soul begins to listen to the call of Christ the world steps in and objects What dost thou mean simple soul What art thou doing whither art
thou going hearken to Christ hearken to this Word hearken to this Conscience and what then shall become of me What shall become of thy estate what shall become of thy esteem what shall become of thy liberty what shall become of all thy love and friendship and pleasure thou hast in the world art willing to be poor art willing to be in bondage art willing to be in reproach and disgrace open that door once let Christ in have any thing to do with Conscience and thou art undone all that ever thou hast all that ever thou lovest in all the world must thenceforth become strangers to thee Hast thou not given me thy heart have not I lyen in thy bosome hast thou not cherished me and cared for me as thine own soul and have not I deserv'd thy care and respect have not I been thy food and thy rayment and thy joy and all the comfort of thy life What wilt thou be when I have left thee when thy estate hath left thee thy pleasures have left thee thy friends have left thee I know thou lovest me thou lovest to be rich and to be great and to be at thy ease and thy liberty as thou lovest thy life I know I have thy heart and thou art loath to leave me I but therefore consider and take heed if thou hearken to Christ once if thou meddle too far with Religion and wilt be dealing for another world once then farewell this But canst thou find in thine heart to leave me have I been a Wilderness to thee or a Land of darkness hath it not been well with thee hast thou wanted any thing hast thou not been full and abounded hast thou not flourished and prosper'd hast thou not had thy belly full of meat and thy belly full of mirth and thy bones full of rest and thy heart full of ease and content what hast thou wanted whilest thou imbracedst my love and canst thou now find in thine heart to part look to thy self what day thou strikest hands with Christ thou must shake hands with all the world Look for no more favour from me thou dost not know when thou art well when thou hast enough but henceforth if thou take this course thou shalt have little enough If Christ carry thee he shall carry thee naked thou shalt leave all thy good things behind thee and look for it I have not been so great a friend but now I 'le be as great an enemy I 'le persecute thee and plague thee and vex thee and if I may no longer sleep in thy bosome I 'le stick in thy sides if I may no longer be the treasure of thine heart I 'le be a dart in thy liver But consider be advised foolish soul let us not part thus stay stay with me go not after thou knowest not what forsake not an old friend for a new believe it the old is better if thou wilt be wise stay as thou art and mind thy present commodity lay by the thoughts of the other world let hereafter take care for it self never stand amuzing thy self about thou knowest not what I have not been so good to thee but I will be better to thee then ever come let 's take our fill of love eat drink and be merry gather keep lay up what 's before thee and cast away care And thus it wooes and flatters and bewitches it into a neglect of Christ so long till it hath smitten the soul under the fift rib and stab'd it to death and drown'd it in perdition and destruction 4. It will help men to excuses for their neglect of Christ Men are asham'd to play the Fools but they would have something to say for 't to stop mouths withall to stop the mouth of Conscience to stop the mouths of Men to stop the mouth of their Judge if it be possible Luk. 14. 18. Those that were invited to come to Christ it s said they all began to make excuses they were asham'd to say they would not come that had been too gross but they excuse themselves we cannot come Ruth 4. 6. The Kinsman of Ruth that had the offer of redeeming the Inheritance of his deceased Kinsman answered no I cannot redeem it lest I mar mine own Inheritance He would not say I will not redeem it no an excuse must be found out I cannot redeem it I should mar mine own Inheritance if I redeem my Brothers So these here they do not say I will not but I cannot come Why what 's the matter you cannot come to Christ what excuse have you whence have you your excuse Oh the world furnishes them with an excuse I have a Farm sayes one I have Oxen to look to sayes another I have a Wife to mind sayes a third I pray thee have me excused I cannot come Christians have your hearts never made this use of the world to make it your excuse for your neglecting Christ and your souls it hath hindred you many a time from coming to Christ and then excused you for not coming How many prayers hath it lost you how many Sabbaths hath it lost you the loss of these may be the loss of Christ the loss of your souls How much of these spiritual advantages hath the world lost you and when they are lost when you have lost a praying time or hearing time lost a Sabbath or a Sermon or a Sacrament this must serve for an excuse I was busie and could not come An excuse is a pretence or a shift that men find out to save themselves from blame for all their neglects of Christ and their souls as if they should say it s a shame for men to neglect Christ that have nothing else to mind in his stead it s a shame for men to neglect their souls that have nothing else to look to I have no mind to Christ and his wayes this looking after my soul and my Conscience and the matters of the other world are things that I like not and list not to be medling withall but what shall I say for my self if I neglect them I am asham'd to say I care not for Christ I care not for my soul I care not for heaven and everlasting glory I care not though I perish and die I dare not say thus and yet these things that Christ calls to me are so contrary to me that I have no mind to meddle with them But what shall I say for my self if I do not some excuse or other I must have what may be my excuse Why hast thou never a Farm to look to never a Wife nor Family to look after or hast thou not an house or an horse or a companion hast thou no sports nor pleasures no Hawks nor dogs to follow hast thou nothing to do hast thou nothing to say tell Christ tell Conscience thou hast other business to do thou hast thy friends or thy pleasures that call thee another way any thing may serve a bad excuse
is there done for Christ how little is Christ serv'd or sought Judge ye every one in your own selves how little hath been done for Christ or is now a doing look back and summe up all that you have done and gather together all concerning which you can say this hath been done for Christ this day or this houre was spent in seeking of Christ and see into what a narrow room all will be brought look into your hearts and see how many shops and feilds you may find there to one sanctuary how how many Markets and Fairs have been kept there to on Sabbath how many servants hath Christ at work for him within you all that is within you have the name of the servants of Christ every faculty is his servant your thoughts affections understandings consciences every member your hands eyes tongues have all the name of the servants of Christ but are these at work for Christ are your understandings veiwing Christ are your thoughts searching after Christ are your affections working up towards Christ are your consciences pleading for Christ are your tongues speaking for Christ are your hands laying up or laying out for Christ the Devil hath his servants busy a working for him our carnal thoughts our fleshly lusts our earthly affections all our earthly members are hard at work for the Devil to harden us against Christ to entice us from Christ to defile and destroy our Souls but how little is done for Christ t would make our hearts to tremble if we did consider how little may be there may be divers of our souls in which there hath not been one stroke of work done for Christ since they had a being and in whom there 's any thing done oh how little is it What footing hath Christ gotten in your hearts what faith or love or fear or honor hath he in you how goes his sanctifying work his mortifying work on in you how fares it with his enemies in you your lusts and passions and carnal affections are not these still Lording it in his room Oh how little is it that is yet done for Christ within us how little power and authority hath he in us how low is it with us both in point of grace and peace how little is he minded or lov'd or prais'd in us how little pleasure or delight do we take in him how little care take we for him any little good thing that he hath committed to us how hath it been cherish'd and nourish'd and improv'd doth it not languish and pine away whilest our faces shine our flesh flourishes our outward man thrives in what a withering perishing case is our inner man Think with your selves are matters with you within as you could wish they were is it with your souls as Christ would have it do you think he will say to you in the case you are in well done thou hast been a faithful servant a good Steward of my manifold graces how is it without you what are your duties what are your wayes what praying or hearing or walking oh what shuffling over duties what halting in your goings what do you more then others are you not carnal and vain as others are you not proud and froward as others are you not unsavoury and unprofitable as others of what use are you to those you walk amongst what examples are you to them wherein are they the better for you does your light shine do ye provoke them to love and good works what do you for your Relations for your friends for your families or any of the members of Christ What mourning is there under the dishonor of Christ what sense of the sufferings of Christ doth not Christ suffer much in the world in his Ministers in his Members in his Worship in his Sabbaths and Ordinances how fares it abroad with Christ how fares it with his Gospel with his Saints is all well is it peace doth the Church prosper doth Religion flourish or doth it not suffer and mourn and bleed and is even ready to vanish away and yet who is there almost that cares for any of these things how few are there that lay them to heart where are the hearts that tremble for the Ark of God that ask how fares it with the Israel of God Oh Brethren its lamentable to see how little upon any account whatsoever the things of Christ are any where minded But what 's the reason why look abroad every where in the world and you may see reason enough what is there a doing every where go into one Town go into another go into one house and another and another and what are they doing how busie are we in buying and selling and building and planting ploughing and sowing marrying and giving in marriage this is it we are so busie for this world that Christ and the things of Christ are little regarded by us 2. It holds us short of that grace and true peace which we might receive from him The cares of this world choak the Word that it cannot prosper in such souls that it can neither quicken us nor comfort us Grace is a flower that will grow best in those Gardens where it hath least of earth A worldly-minded Christian a worldly-minded Professor will never be but a Dwarf will be but an Infant in Religion at forty years old How many may we see among us that have liv'd many years under the profession of Religion and have had some hope towards God and some confidence that Christ is in them of a truth who if they should take an account of themselves what increase have I made in the grace of God all this while What hath been added to me to my faith or love or zeal of God to my knowledge of God to my acquaintance with mine own heart how much humility spirituality mortification what power over my corruptions my pride my passion my peevishness my fleshliness have I obtained what evidences have I gotten for heaven what clearness and grounded confidence and assurance am I grown up to now more then I was seven or ten or twenty years agone what have I gotten how much and wherein have I improv'd in all this time Oh how may most of us sadly answer What have I gotten how have I grown oh the Lord he merciful to me have I not lost have I not sunk and decayed is it not worse with me now then many years ago my faith grown my love grown my holiness and my hope grown my comfort and my confidence grown the Lord help me rather my fears and my doubts my darkness and my deadness and my sins are grown upon me I have less life and less love and less joy and less peace then when I first look'd after Christ Let worldly-minded Professors prove and consider themselves narrowly if this such a lean starveling lifeless state of soul be not all the kindness they are beholding to their worldliness for it hath built you houses and bought you Lands
and fill'd your purses and fed your carkasses and provided for your Families but it hath starv'd your souls O my leannes my leannes my dry and withered soul my weak heart my wasted Conscience Oh how little truth or tenderness how little love or lise or warmth do I feel within me Oh how much pride and frowardness oh how much lust and liberty to sin hath there grown upon me I can fret and vex and chafe I can be false I can lye and dissemble all the Religion I have gotten into my soul after so long a time of profession is not enough to restrain these vile abominations Oh my soul how sad is it with thee how low is it with thee to this day how comes this to pass why this is thy good husbandry this is thy worldliness thy labouring so much thy hungring so much after the meat that perishes or thy being given to thy pleasure or thy ease this is it that hath held thee in such a poor case such an unfruitful and barren state such a dark and uncomfortable state as thou art in at this day for all this unhappiness thou art beholding to the world and thy worldliness Thus you have seen the enmity of the world against souls it holds back from Christ darkens the sight that we cannot see the excellency or the need of Christ deadens the sense and hinders from following Christ keeps Christ short c. Let this by the way be an argument to disswade from worldliness are you Christians or would you be so would you ever come to any thing in Religion would you prosper in holiness would you have the comfort of Christianity then take heed and beware of a worldly heart which will either hinder you from ever coming to Christ or else be a Canker and a Moth to devour and eat out the spirits of all that Christianity you have II. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails upon so many souls It is a wonder it should ever prevail so as it does that ever men of understanding endued with immortal souls should suffer themselves to be led up and down down as they are by such a pernicious and mortal Enemy that when they have seen so many lost and undone by it they should never take warning that it should ever be trusted as it is that it should ever be lov'd as it is that it should ever be hearkened to as it is especially considering how unreasonable its demands are and how inconsiderable its rewards What does the world demand what would it have This is it if it would speak out Come sell me thy God come sell me thy hopes that thou hast for the other world come sell me thy soul come give me thy heart love me and serve me But what shall be mine hire what wilt thou give me then if it would speak out this is the reward it gives Vanity and vexation death and destruction Hell shall be thine hire But suppose it should give what it sayes it will all the good things on this side the grave riches honors pleasures ease abundance of all these and all manner of contentment in the enjoyment of them yet what 's all this thou shouldst gain on this side the grave to what thou shalt loose and to what thou shalt suffer on the other side of the grave what 's Earth to Heaven what 's Time to Eternity Suppose it should say plainly come take thy good things here and thy evil things hereafter take thy riches in this and thy poverty in the other world take thy pleasures here and thy plagues beneath be full or be merry prosper flourish rejoyce for a few houres or for a few dayes and be miserable cry howl be in torments to Eternity If the World should speak out thus to Men this it designs if it should speak out thus into what madness must those Souls be bewich'd that would hearken to it and yet behold though this be the design its driving on and men might know it if they would but consider yet behold how the whole world almost are wondering after this beast and busy in making bargains with it to be its captives and servants yea not only suffering themselves to be perswaded and beguiled in o this bondage but also willingly offering themselves for servants I pray thee take me into the number of thy servants Take my Soul world saies one take my God saies another take my hopes saies another Let me be but a rich man let me be a great man let me have so much money or so much lands or so much pleasure or ease or honour let but this Moon shine upon me and take the Sunshine whoever will let me be this worlds favourite and I am content to be its servant and so along they go after it till they be lost for ever What a wonder is this and yet how many such prodigies are to be seen every day and in every place this is the case of every worldling thou that wilt be rich thou whose heart goes after thy covetousness thou who art given to thy pride or thy pleasures or thy ease thou art boring thine eare to the threshold of thy mortal enemy thou art doing away thy patrimony for husks thou art doing away thy Soul and its eternal inheritance to buy in thy life into an house or parcel of Land or for a bundle of crackling thorns to make thee blaze before which thou mayest dance and be merry for an hour or two and then go down to everlasting darkness This being such a marvelous thing that such an enemy that is so known and confest to be by the very men that suffer themselves to be led Captive by it for what worldling is there that will not confess that this world is an Enemy that such a known Enemy should still so easily prevail in the world as the Apostle in another case Gal. 3. 1. 3. O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that having begun in the Spirit ye will be made perfect in the flesh O foolish worldlings who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that being born to things Spiritual and Eternal you will be thus led captive by things Temporal and Fleshly this being such a marvelous thing it will be worth our time to enquire wherein the strength of the world lyes whereby it so strangely prevails And indeed it is a piece of the best policy and that which gives great advantage against an enemy to study and find out where his strength lyeth Judg. 16. 6. c. When Dalilah attemped the delivering of Sampson bound into the hands of the Philistimes she lyes at him day by day tell me where thy great strength lyeth tell me where thy great strength lyeth in vain did they assault him in vain did she bind him her Cords and her Wit hs and her webs could never hold him till at length she found out where his strength lay which when she had
other world sure to thee look to it thou wilt never have any part in Christ thou wilt never have any hope towards God if thou be tampering thus and trading thus greedily for this present world it may be Conscience doth thus stand by and give warning to the worldly heart but all 's one for that come what will come the heart is so set upon it that it will not be warned 2. Hence it is that they so greedily make out after the world Oh what hast doe they make to be rich how doe their Souls hunger after worldly greatness they covet greedily all the day long Prov. 21. 26. They enlarge their desire as Hell and are as death and cannot be satisfied as it was said of the Caldean Hâ—b 2. 5. they enlarge their desire as Hell of which t is said he hath made it deep and large they have deep desires the bottom of their Soul comes up they have large desires they never have enough Ezek. 33. 31. Their heart goeth after their covetousness that is either after those earthly things which are the objects of their covetousness or after the ductus or leading of their covetousness their covetousness leads on and their heart follows their heart goes yea it runs after it their heart out runs their feet their heart out works their hands when I awake I am still with thee saith the Psalmist and when the worlding awakes where is his heart presently in the field in the shop in the market his heart is there before his body can get there it may be that must stay a time in the house after he awakes and put on his clothes or take his breakfast or may be to make a short prayer for a fashion but his heart goes presently abroad as soon as ever he awakes and leaves only his tongue behind to pray But whence is this eagerness this hungring and riding post after the world why t is his love to the world that makes him gape so wide after it he loves to be rich he loves give ye Christ is propos'd and set before his eyes the bread of life the water of life the windows of Heaven are opened the fountains above are broken up the durable riches the everlasting pleasures life and peace and rest and joy and glory are sett forth in open sight before the world and as Psal 14. 2. God looks down to see if any would understand and seek God to see who amongst all the world had a mind to his riches to his treasures who was for Christ who was for Grace who was for Heaven but behold they are all running another way there 's none that understands none that will seek God every door is shut every heart 's asleep when God passeth by If he should never give till many ask if he should stay till they seek him how long might he stay he must come and call and knock and break open their doors and pour into their mouths and t is well if Heaven will down with any at last whilest full tables and full draughts of this world will down and never stick now and then a crumb now and then a drop from above is all that will be taken in Oh this agrees not with our stomack t is the world that is our favoury meat Oh what abundant proof is there brethren of this difference of our appetites to things spiritual and things carnal Oh what thriving and what grown Christians had we been had we been as hungry after grace as after greatness in this world had there been so much craving and catching after God as after Mammon had there been such good husbandry among us for things to come as for things presen What 's the reason that our Souls are such dwarfs and babes and starvlings Are they not so is it not very poor and very low with us what treasures have you gotten how little knowledge or Faith or love or power or vigour of spirit have you attain'd how is death still feeding upon us Death in our understandings Death in our affections Death in our Consciences Death in our duties we walk up and down more like the Ghosts of Christians then like living Christians pale and wan and weak and cold mere carkases of Christianity when the Soul and Spirit of religion is not Look about enquire among you and see how many such dead carkases there are to one living lively Soul how many empty caskes that make a little sound to one full vessel The Lord be merciful to us though the name and shell of Religion be among us and upon us yet the spirit and kernel of it seems to be almost quite vanished out of the earth It was once said Revel 3. 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis that have not defiled their garments But oh may it not be said thou hast but a few names neither in Sardis not Thiatira nor Philadelphia nor any where among all the Churches thou hast but a few names any where that have any more then a name that they live Brethren how is it with us who are here before the Lord turn in every one his eye upon his heart goe down and ask every one of you Soul how fares it with thee how art thou fed oh my Soul how art thou clothed what hast thou by thee what what grace what peace what hope to comfort thee who is there within thee is Christ there is the holy spirit there quickning thee and cleansing thee or is not the world there preying upon thee and consuming thee Ask your Souls art thou in health O my Soul dost thou live and thrive and hold up thy head and hold on thy way and thy work or art thou not sick head sick and heart sick and weak and poor and blind and naked look in each one of you step down and take an account of your state If you would do so I doubt there are few of us but would find all within in a very pitiful and lamentable case What 's the reason of all this the Lord God hath offered to feed us and nourish us and nurse up these languishing Souls the Lord God hath stood among us with his baskets of bread and his bottles of wine hath put such meat to our mouths that would have nourished us up from babes to be men from such weaklings to be strong in the Lord but there is such an unsuitableness betwixt the things of God and our carnal hearts that we have no appetite to them and so they will not down whereas the things of the world do find such a Spirit of the world in us that of any thing that it hath to offer us nothing comes amiss we not only readily take it in but greedily hunger and make out after it By the way Christians learn that if ever you would get victory over the world you must first get you another spirit in vain do you think to live other then a worldly life whilest the spirit
stopped the mouth of Conscience quenched the heat of zeal slain holiness with the edge of the sword put to flight the hopes of the Saints left for dead those whom God hath raised up to life left the Church that living vineyard as a field of dead carkasses their peace slain their comforts slain the Spirit of light and life within them vanished into dimness and deadness and all this because our Faith hath so much fail'd what are we become to what a low ebbe are we brought O we of little faith well but yet there is hope concerning this thing This stump if there be but life in the root will spring again and recover again you that have but a little faith blow up that living sparkle and your sick and spoiled and half dead Souls will revive again let your faith once out of weakness be made strong and it will recover all you have lost Beleive more nourish and cherish and exercise Faith more lean on the rock of ages look unto Jesus lay hold on the Covenant live in the word of promise hang upon the shoulders feed upon the fulness of the Lord and there let your Faith gather strength again and this will be the strength of your hearts will renew your life recover your love enflame your zeal set your holiness and your hopes again upon the wing and bring the world and its temptations again under your feet the strenth of a Christian is his Faith 2. The strength of Faith is Christ Christ is the mighty one the mighty God If. 9. 6. The rock of ages in whom is everlasting strength If. 26. through Faith this mighty God is our God this rock of ages is our rock 1 Joh. 4. 4. Ye are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world who is he that is in you t is Christ that is in you who is he that is in the world the Devil is in the world Christ is greater then the enemy and therefore you have overcome He that is in the world is great but he that is in you is greater he that is in the world is strong and subtil but he that is in you is stronger and wiser then he little Children ye have overcome what are a company of poor children to a mighty giant But behold the childrens Champion and you will quickly see on which side the victory will go There are 2. things in Christ which are the strength of faith His Power Victory 1. His power he is a mighty one as before I have layd help on one that is mighty Psal 89. 19. he hath power Temptations To prevent To deaden To succour those that are tempted 1. He hath power to prevent temptations 1 Cor. 10. 13. he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able You may conclude from the promise of Christ to his power he will not promise more then he can doe when he saies he will not suffer us to be tempted you may be sure he hath power to restrain the tempter Christ hath all our tempters and temptations in his power the Devil in his power the World in his power they must have leave ere they can strike a stroke If he say the word the Assyrian shall not come against Jerusalem nor dig a trench about them nor shoot an arrow against them he hath his hook in the nose and his bridle in the Jaws of all his enemies As the Devil could not tempt Christ so neither any of his servants unless the Spirit lead them into the wilderness to be tempted therefore he directs us to pray Lead us not into temptation 2. He hath power to deaden temptations to take off the edge of them that so though they come yet they shall not enter though Sathan strikes yet his arrows shall not stick Gal. 6. 14. By him the world is crucified to me and I am crucified to the world Christ by his Cross hath slain the world it s now become to the Saints as a dead thing It s beauty and glory is dead dried up and withered Christ by his cross hath discovered the glory of the other world life and mortality are hung forth in open sight on the Cross of Christ and that sunshine hath withered all the flowers here below who will play at such small games that sees the invisible Crown which the Cross of Christ hath set before his eyes And as the beauty and glory so the power and wrath of the world is slain Christ by his death kill'd all the powers of darkness a Christian sees that the world can now doe him neither good nor hurt it can neither befriend nor mischief him who would be enticed by a dead Carrion or affrighted by a dead Lyon And I am crucified unto it Christ hath slain the World without us and our worldly Lusts within us Our old man is crucified with Christ Rom. 6. 6. ye are dead saith the Apostle Col. 3. 3. dead to this World Set your affections on things above for ye are dead to things below I am crucified to the World that is worldly temptations are no more to me than if I were a dead man What are meat and drink and cloaths and pleasures and honours to a dead man If the Devil should go and preach among the tombs and call out to the dead hearken to me and I will feed you with delicates cloath you in scarlet enrich you with silver and gold exalt you to honour what skull or bone would be moved the same success will he have in his tempting crucified Saints were they totally thus mortified the highest temptations would move them nothing at all no more than a Carkass in the grave and according to the degree of that mortification they have attained to so far forth is the edge of temptation blunted 3. He hath power to succour those that are tempted Though the Tempter be let loose and temptation come thick and strike deep as by reason of our imperfect mortification they may our experiences sadly restifie how much the World is often too hard for us how often we are intangled and led away by it what breaches it makes on our peace what wounds in our hearts and what fears and misgivings hereupon arise in our souls how we shall stand for the future thus are we weary and distressed and hard bestead but though it be thus with us in the midst of all these there 's this to support us Heb. 2. 18. In that he suffered being tempted he is able also to succour those that are tempted 2. His Victory over the world Christ hath power over the World to restrain it from tempting to deaden its temptations to succour those that are tempted yea more than that he hath already overcome the World and thereby secur'd our fifinal victory John 16. 33. In the world ye shall have tribulation but be ye of good comfort I have overcome the World Why
filth and stench of Hell in their vile affections the smoke and flames of Hell in their reeking and burning lusts the darkness of Hell in their darkned and blinded minds and sometimes the torments of Hell in the anguish of their guilty and self revenging consciences And as sinners may find an hell so believers an heaven in the heart an heaven of light an heaven of love and joy and praise Thus it is with some and thus it might be with all were we stronger in Faith Oh what do we lose by living thus by Sense when we mighâ— live by Faith how have our carnal hearts by consuming and spinning out our daies in sloth and idleness sticking at the labour of duty whining under difficulties shrinking from sufferings indulging to our ease and our pleasure and liberties how have our carnal hearts robb'd us of the life of God the pleasures of Angels the joys of the Upper Region and left us little more of Christianity then its wounds and bruises its mournings and complainings its sighs and sorrows Oh foolish hearts that consult so unwisely for our selves that choose rather to live in Brakes among these bryars and thorns then among the Beds of Spices that will rather laze it in a Wilderness then get us up to the Garden of the Lord The life of Faith is an heavenly life The life of God Ephes 4. 18. though Faith shall never come into heaven it self yet thither it translates our hearts It came down from heaven it is the gift of God and though it must not return thither 't is love not Faith that shall dwell before the Throne of God yet thither it raises those hearts in which it lives Though it may not dwell there hereafter Faith shall then be lost in sight yet now its travelling thither going and returning every day and hour Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven there 's all our business where should a Christian be where does he live but where his business lies A Believer that had heretofore so many things to do dividing his heart and time hath now cast all his business into one hath brought all his business near his home he hath nothing to do abroad in the Tents of wickedness in the Camps of the Uncircumcised he hath done with serving flesh and lusts and times and tables and carkasses here his whole work did lye but no more of these now they must be all laid aside or at least made to come and serve with him in his higher business God and glory the loving and praising and serving and securing God to his soul is all he hath to do Phil. 3. 13. This one thing I do forgetting that which is behind and reaching forth to that which is before I press to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. These lower things his outward priviledges hopes and advantages were once the things before him but he 's now gotten beyond and hath left them all behind him not only his Jewish priviledge whereof he had boasted but much more all earthly things he hath cast off these weights and is now flying upon the wing of Faith ascending in flames of love winding up his soul by constant labour above this dung and darkness to the Regions of light and glory This is his business And hence is his blessedness heaven is his work and his meat his labour and his hire he will know nothing for a blessing or a comfort but what his Faith brings him down from above Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou so disquieted within me Bid him Hope in God tell him thou shalt yet praise him who is the light of thy countenance and thy God and this will comfort him Say to him while you will Man be of good comfort the fig-tree blossoms the labour of the Olive will not fail there is fruit in the Vines there are Flocks in the Folds there are Herds in the Stalls comfort thine heart what wouldst thou have more And how little will this ease him Oh where is my God how is it with my soul what tidings from above have I a treasure there doth God smile what tidings from within Is it peace there doth my soul prosper Is there grace there is truth in my inward parts this is good news Come in thou blessed of the Lord thou comest with good tidings this shall comfort me This is the life of Faith a conversation in heaven Thus we should and thus we might live more then we do but I doubt I have been here in telling you a Mystery whereof the most of us have but little experimental understanding Christians what acquaintance have you with this life of God Is this your business heavenly work are these your comforts heavenly supports we are yet carnal and walk as men Oh this earth earth how doth it hang on our spirits we live as if there were a middle Region betwixt heaven and earth a middle state betwixt Faith and unbelief Some little we have attain'd of this heavenly life and blessed be the Lord for any thing but oh how little is it Friends wonder not that you see no more of the Divine Glory conclude not that there is no more to be seen put it to the proof live more with God more purely more closely more constantly with him live in the daily exercise of Faith and you will get the sight of other manner of glorious things then can be told you What 's the reason that unbelievers are so wholly in the dark and can see nothing of God no more then they can despise and laugh to scorn O 't is because they come not near where God is they are alienated from the life of God their whole business is in the heart of the earth here they dwell and here is their whole converse Speak ye unbelievers where dwell ye what is your Occupation where is your Conversation far enough from heaven sure where ever it be Speak ye proud and haughty ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the air we feed on wind live upon breath honor and applause is all we work for and live upon Speak ye Covetous where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the earth we feed upon dust and ashes and in these our business lies Speak ye contentious quarrelsome ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the fire in storms and tempests Speak ye voluptuous Sensualists where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the mud and mire in lasciviousness wantonness and all manner of filthy lusts Speak ye Ranters Ruffians Swearers Cursers Blasphemers where is your Conversation our Conversation is in Hell in the Alehouse the Tavern the Brothel-house we live where Satans Throne is in the very Suburbs of Hell Oh what a difference hath Faith put betwixt Believers and all others in the world whilst they only live the life of God all others live the life of Bruits
Lord he likes it and takes it well at our hands that we give him a present answer delaies are as unpleasing to him as they are dangerous to us Wilt thou say when he calls thee suffer me first to go and bid them farewell that are at my house yea wilt thou say when he saies come and be my servant suffer me first to go and serve my belly and my appetite and afterwards I will be thine suffer me first to get me an estate to get more money or lands and then I will be for getting grace how do ye think God will take such an answer The Lord loves to see a willing people of a ready and forward mind that will offer up their first fruits unto God T is recorded to the perpetual honour of that good King Josiah 2 Chron. 34. 3. That in the eighth year of his reign while he was yet young he began to seek after the God of David his father He was but 16. years old when he began to look heavenward and you may perceive how well the Lord took it by his recording the very year O it is a pleasant thing to see the buds of grace putting forth in the morning of nature to see men growing up in grace as they grow up in stature this is by so much the more beautiful by how much the more rare and seldom found A godly young man is a Jewel that sparkles forth a lustre among all the gravel and pebbles of the earth what a vast difference is there betwixt an humble meek sober gracious young man or woman and the rude proud wanton riotous brutish of that age Old age is a crown and this crown will be much more glorious if it be deck'd with the flowers of the spring 4. If the Devil hath the first time he 'l endanger to have the last too 'T is seldome seen that those that pass over their youth and their strength in the service of sin do ever become the servants of God at last those that stand out against Christ to their last day do mostly stand it out in their last day How seldome do we hear of an old overgrown sinner ever prove a sincere Convert at last The experiences of the Ministers of the Gospel do testifie that the success of their Ministery is ordinarily most upon the younger sort a twig is more easily bow'd or pluck'd up then an old tree if thy heart be too hard for the Word whilest it is young and tender how difficult will the case be when it s brawn'd and crusted by age Zophar in Job speaking of an old sinner sayes Job 20. 11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth which shall lie down with him in the dust Observe here these two things 1. That age doth often pay the scores of youth the pains of age are often the reward of the pleasures of youth the wantonness of youth is often revenged by the weakness and diseases of age mens aged bones do remember them of their wasted marrow Sinners though you think you can never fill your bellies with your lusts while you are young yet God will fill your bones with them when you are old and 't will be but a sad meeting when young sins and old bones meet together O what a strange difference will there be betwixt feeling our aged aking bones full of the duties of our youth our prayings watchings fastings labourings and sufferings and having them fill'd with our youthful lusts and lewdness 2. Where sin breaks its fast and dines it often sups and lodges it lies down with him in the dust If timely repentance do not lay thy sin in the dust when thou art young vengeance is like to lay it down with thee in the dust when thou art old It shall lie down with him in the dust A dreadful word the meaning is it shall never be pardoned or done away he shall carry his sins out of the world with him as he liv'd so he dies 'T is ill having sin thy bed-fellow 't is ill sleeping one night in unrepented sin but O what will it be to have all thy wickednesses thy companions in the grave 't is a wretched thing to live in sin but beware of dying in sin whilest the Worms eat up thy flesh these Vultures shall gnaw upon thy soul Young sinner take heed of going on in the hardness of thine heart If the Word of Life do not part thee and thy sins death shall not part you the grave shall not part you Death shall part betwixt thy body and thy soul betwixt thy sins and their pleasures betwixt thy sins and their gains but it shall never part betwixt thy sins and thy soul they die with thee and are buried with thee and they shall rise with thee and become the fuel of that fire that shall burn to the bottom of Eternity Well now at length what say you young men when for God and the other world when for wisdome sobriety chastity when for Religion in earnest now or not till hereafter will you yet be so unworthy as to give your marrow to the Devil and reserve nothing but dry bones for the Lord will you offer up your first fruits to Bacchus and Venus will you burn out your Candle to light you on in your noysome lewdness and never be sweet till you be consumed into a stinking snuff How few are there that will hearken what wild creatures wild Asses Colts are the most of the youth of the earth what a wanton wastful luxurious loose Age is this first Age It cannot be said as to Israel Jer. 2. 2. I remember the kindness of thy youth and the love of thine Espousals but I remember the lusts of thy youth the lewdness and the madness and the wantonness of thy youth art thou willing it should be hereafter thus said to thee Remember now thy Creator and see if that will not hold thee to another course Dost thou not want a bridle in this unruly age what bridle but the memory of a God Remember that there is a God Thou runnest on thy course as the horse rusheth into the battel thou art wilful and obstinate in thy way and wilt not be turned back thou sayest in thine heart my tongue is mine own my time is mine own my estate is mine own who is Lord over me But remember there is a God Thou committest thy wickedness it may be in secret thy way is in the dark thou makest thy advantage of the twilight and imboldenest thy self with this what eye shall see me but remember there is a God Thou despisest wisdome as folly thou hatest instruction seriousness is thy scorn sobriety thy derision thou makest a mock of holiness and laughest at the reproofs of thine iniquities Bid thee be wise and repent of thy wickedness as good speak to the wind or the stones of the earth tell thee of Death or of Judgment as good tell thee a dream Let a Parent advise thee
good words whilest your hearts are not with him go and be reconciled to your adversary for such the Lord is yet to you go and be reconciled to God accept of his grace resign to his Dominion set him up as Lord and Ruler within you let his Law and his love be in your hearts and then you may be bold both upon his acceptance of whatever service you do for his Name and upon your security in it Be the Lords in truth and then fear not to make the Lord your trust 5. Aequanimity in all the changes of his outward condition An equal steady fixed frame in all turns and changes If prosperity alone if afflictions alone will not corrupt or discompose us they are often made to take their turns sometimes one sometimes another if that may do it Though all wet or all dry will not yet sometimes wet and sometimes dry will rot the sturdy Oak He is a strong man indeed upon whom great and sudden changes of weather air diet and his whole course and way of life doth make no change Those souls are often toss'd with turns of fair weather and foul which can ride at anchor in constant tempests we can hardly be long the same whilest matters go not with us after the same way As the Psalmist Psa 55. 19. Because they have no changes so sometimes may it not be said Because they have many changes therefore they fear not God we may be so long emptied from vessel to vessel till we have lost our savour He is a Christian indeed whose soul is not tost out of its peace whose feet are not turn'd out of course by all the tossings and turnings of his outward state whose heart is not moved within when every day proves that all he has without are moveables Inward changes there are and ought to be according to the vicissitudes and varieties of providential occurrences every providence should make impression upon our spirits proportionable to it a due and different sense there ought to be of our outward mercies and crosses a sad sense of paternal displeasure is as necessary under corrections as a chearful sense of bounty and kindness when all things prosper with us We may not be as stocks or stones upon whom the Summer or Winter makes no difference God looks that worldly changes be seen and felt in hearts we may and must have our light and dark our joys and sorrows our hopes and fears there 's need and use of all But now in all these outward and their corresponding inward changes a Christian as to the main changes not his heart is fixed trusting in God he is not out of frame though he be in another frame to day then yesterday he was both in his prosperity and in his patience he possesseth his soul he is the same to Godward and towards sin still in motion heavenward and in defiance with iniquity As 't is on the other side with the wicked though they are as a troubled Sea yet they are still at rest in their iniquity whatever changes pass over them their hearts as to the main are not changed ever besides themselves and yet ever themselves wicked still emptied from vessel to vessel and yet their sent goes not forth out of them Ungodly still hardned still for sin and the devil still let their condition be what it will let them be in health let them be sick let them be full let them be empty let their steps be wash'd with Butter or sprung with Vinegar let their way be straw'd with Rosebuds or hedg'd with Thorns let them be merry let them be sad all 's one they are the same men and holding the same course wicked under mercies wicked under judgements wicked in their joys wicked in their sorrows O how do we see the providences of God thrown away lost upon the ungodly world Let the Lord do what he will with them shine upon them or thunder upon them deal gently or deal roughly with them cloath them or strip them feed them or famish them it comes all to one their hearts will not be broken nor turned to the Lord. Oh what strange changes hath the Lord of late made upon this wicked age what turns and returns have we seen smitings and healings scatterings and gatherings wars and peace sickness and health and yet behold the world still where they were lying in wickedness So for the Saints let the world do what they can upon them let them shine or thunder upon them deal gently or deal roughly feed or famish them they are still where they were their heart is fixed trusting in God And he that by all this feels the least disturbance upon his spirit he that sails most steadily in all winds and weathers whose heart is not unhinged by all his turnings who is not inordinately exalted nor depress'd by his fair weather and foul nor hurried out of himself by passionate and troublesome transports on the one hand or the other but holds his soul in such an even equal poise that his moderation appears unto all men there 's another that rides in triumph over earth and hell Oh Brethren how is it with us upon this account If we have made over our selves to the Lord and have ceased to be numbred among the men of this World if we no longer seek our treasure on earth and have laid hold on that better treasure above yet are we gotten so clear of things below that they have not still too great a power upon us Hath not this Moon a mighty influence upon our waterish spirits do not these ebb and flow according as it waxes and wanes are we the same men when things are not with us after the same manner are we the same in summer and winter can we keep our hearts and hold our course in all weathers Is it come to be all one with us as to our inward state which way matters go with us without can we want and yet be quiet can we be full and not be wanton can we be full and not forget God and be hungry and not fret our selves against him can we love God when he smites and fear him when he smiles Is it peace longer then there is plenty have we sunshine in cloudy dayes do we keep warm in the winter and not sleep in the summer how small a sunshine will steal off our garments and how little a wind will blow us off our legs Consider brethren it may be whilest the Lord hath prospered you and matters outward have gone according to your hearts then you could love and serve and praise and rejoyce in the Lord then you could be active and lively and fruitful and chearfully go on your way but the next cross providence hath been as water upon all your fire a little storm that hath risen hath put out all your light turned you besides all your duties and comforts turn'd you besides praying and rejoycing in God to vexing and fretting and
grace be grace high in knowledge and low in love strong in confidence and loose in conscience hot in affection and cold in practise in the solaces of the spirit and yet walking in the flesh Behold a Christian like Nebuchadnezzars Image the head of gold the feet of iron and clay desinit in piscem mulier formofa supernè 'T is strange to observe what contradictions some Professors of Christianity are they are what they are not they are not what they are whilest they would be the great reconcilers of flesh and spirit of earth and heaven and make the serving of God and their own bellies the same service behold how they are divided from themselves they love God and love him not they serve God and serve him not this they may do as well as love God and this present world Oh how different are many of us from our selves our practices from our principles our doings from our sayings and yet how little differing from others you pray as others do not you hear as others do not you swear not as others you curse not as others but do you not covet as others are you not carnal as others Consider your wayes who more intent upon their present commodity who more hot upon the chase of an earthly inheritance then some of those who profess to have laid up their treasure in heaven Are there none to be sound who pretend to the greatest confidence of Divine Love to the highest pitch of Spirituality and Divine Communion who seem to pant after the Lord and breath out their souls in their warm and passionate duties and yet are eaten out and swallowed up of the cares of this life It is an amazing thing to consider what a strange degree of earthliness is to be found among such what infatiable hunger what indefatigable labour after an encrease of their estates how little respect to soul or conscience where their gain is concerned how ordinarily dispensing with lying promise breaking and almost any unrighteousness when 't is for their advantage how many grains must there be allowed them e're charity it self can judge them honest And where is all bestowed that is thus gotten in how little goes out for God or any of his how many hypocritical bemoanings of the hard case of the poor to one liberal alms Some gather only that they may lay up others that they may have to spend upon their lusts to build them houses and furnish their tables to trim their carkasses to please their eye or their palats and all this either justified and allowed or at least made up with some such hypocritical complaints Woe is me this world is too hard for me O it eats up my time O it steals away mine heart how am I overcharged how is my soul even choaked within me what shall I do to help it And when the complaint is thus made the matter is mended now a good Christian now ease and joy and confidence returns and then on again the same course Brethren be serious consider your selves feel your own pulses view your own faces and ways observe your hearts see where their daily walks are may you not find them ten times walking to and fro through the earth to once or twice casting a look towards heaven What are their daily tasks what is the work you every day put them upon Instead of those higher and nobler Offices of Vessels of Honor waiting before the Throne of God standing in his Courts bearing his Name beholding his Face setting forth his Praises have not our hearts been made hewers of wood and drawers of water carriers of burthens servers of tables purveyors for the flesh caterers for the appetite servants to the back and the belly the great traders and merchants of the earth to buy in provision for lust Worthy employment for immortal Souls as if the utensils of the Temple the golden altar the golden table the candlesticks the bowls and the basons all of beaten gold should have been fetchd out and set up in a blind Inne or a dirty alehouse for the service and the pleasure of every drunken companion Have not your Souls none of you been thus dealt withall are not these your heart-works when any thing is to be done for God the body must do that the body must to the closet the tongue must pray the ear must hear the eye must read but the Soul must stay abroad when any thing is to be done for the other world that must be but bodily exercise but when this flesh must be served that 's the heart-work that 's work for the Soul If these Souls could be seen with bodily eyes a man that goes into the field or into a fair or to a feast might see an hundred Souls more there then bodies and he that went into the congregation of the Lord if there were never so great a throng may be he might see but a few hearts in the company Christians consider is this your faith is this your victory over the world is this to be mortified is this to be crucified with Christ or to have your conversation in Heaven or can you think your selves believers especially of so high a form when so earthly and carnal What think you of those Jews of whom the Lord speaks Ezek. 33. 31. They come unto thee as the people cometh they sit before thee as my people they hear thy words but they will not do them with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goes after their covetousness Are these the people of God all whose religion is to come to hear and to pray to have a mouth full of God a mouth full of love and an heart full of covetousness Give me leave to interpose a word or two to the carrying on the former conviction as to many professâ—rs of religion in order whereto let us a little consider that Scripture Philip. 3. 18. 19. Where the Apostle speaks of a sort of professours much of this earthly make and he speaks with tears in his eyes Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind erthly things In the former part of the chapter you may observe how 1. He gives an account of himself and his own Christianity and this in these particulars 1. He set such an high rate on Christ and an interest in his righteousness that in comparison hereof he counted all things else but loss and dung let this gain be loss this earth be dung troden under foot as dung cast out as dung so I may win Christ and be found in him 2. He unites interest in Christ with conformity to Christ they lye both together in the same heart and his Soul is making out after both in the same breath That I may win Christ and be found in him and that I may know him
his Will Worship and Waies is preserved and propagated to wit the holy Scriptures Isa 8. 20. to the Law and to the Testimonies c. 2. Fixed Officers To interpret expound and give the sense of the Word and to publish and preach it to the World Nehem. 8. 4. 8. Mal. 2. 7. 3. Fixed Ordinances Wherein the Lord is to be solemnly worshiped the Observing and keeping pure and entire whereof is required as in many positive Precepts so also in all those Scriptures which forbid Idolatry Superstition and Will-worship 4. A fixed time for instruction in the Law of God and for his more solemn Worship This fixed time is the Sabbath day Isa 66. 23. c. The Adversaries of Religion have attempted its destruction by heaving at these Pillars npon which it is supported and the opposition which hath been made against them hath been carried on some part of it at least much after the same way The Authority of the Scriptures hath been inunded by pretences to other rules besides to be added to them as unwritten Traditions or enthusiastical Revelations Ordinances have been assaulted by the addition of humane Inventions to Divine Institutions The destruction of the Ministry hath been by some of its Adversaries attempted by making all Teachers and Sabbaths have been undermined by others by pleading for an every day Sabbath First enclosing the six daies to the Lord and thereby at length laying the Sabbath in common to the World Upon these four pillars is Religion upheld let these be removed and what becomes of it and the destruction of this one this fixed time how greatly will it endanger all the rest An every-day Sabbath will soon bring us to no Sabbath and from no Sabbath we shall quickly come to no Ordinances no Ministery and from no Ministery how long will it be ere we arrive at No Scriptures no Religion no God But whatever the adversaries of Religion and their waies to supplant it be that which makes them adversaries and engages them in this wicked design are the lusts of this World Religion levels at the flesh its affections and interest and these set themselves to make their batteries upon Religion and all its supports and foundations Keep up Sabbaths and you are like to keep up Scriptures Ministery Ordinances Religion keep up Religion and the World falls under you But the more immediate influence the due sanctification of the Sabbath will have upon the conquering the World will appear if you consider that this day is 1. A day of separation for God 2. A day for special communion with God 3. A day of special provision for souls 1. A day of separation for God The people of God as such are a separated people separated from the lusts of men to the Law of their God Neh. 10. 28. Ezra 6. 21. In their first day their day of Grace they separate themselves from the evils of the World in this day they are to separate themselves from the affairs yea and the thoughts of the World Isa 58. 13. This day is an Hallowed day sanctified by God and to be sanctified by his Saints Gods sanctifying it is his setting apart the day for an holy use our sanctifying it is our setting our selves apart thereon for his holy service This day is a priviledged day nothing that 's common or unclean may encroach upon it The day of the Lord is as the house of the Lord a kind of meeting betwixt heaven and earth wherein God calls us up to the Mount and comes down to give us a meeting And as when he came down on Mount Sinai he required that his people who yet were to come no nearer him than the foot of the Mount should by washing their clothes and separating themselves from their Wives make ready against his comming down Exod. 19. 11 15. So doth he here give us as strict a charge Remember be ye also ready Be ye wash'd and be ye separate Wash your hearts empty your hands come in from your fields come out of your shops lay by your work leave this earth below come up to meer your God There are two things that give to objects their greatest efficacy and advantage upon us Their nearness to us and the remoteness of their contraries The World on this day loses both these advantages wherein we are called to stand aloof from it and to draw nigh to God We are then fairest for victory over the World when we are farthest off it 't is ill fighting a Cock on his own Dung-hill while the world is at our elbow there 's little like to be done against it whilst it is in our eye or our hand 't is not easie to keep it out of our heart when the Lord hath gotten our company alone and the World hath nothing not an Oxe nor an Ass not a business nor a pleasure to sollicit our love or labour When we are gotten out of sight and out of hearing of the wooings of this Harlot and its cries after us then is it most like to lose its hold of us The reason why we ordinarily make no more advantage of Sabbaths this way is because however we pretend to draw nigh unto God yet we do not with-draw from the World we come into the Sanctuary as Israel went out of Aegypt we carry not our Wives and our little ones only but our Flocks and our Herds and all our Substance we carry all we have with us when we come before the Lord. The lowing of the Oxen the bleating of the Sheep the sound of the Mill-stones is so still in our ears the Butter and the Hony the wine and the oyle the silver and the gold are so continually in our eye that we cannot hearken what the Lord God doth speak nor see his face Brethren who is there with you at this houre here you are before the Lord but who is there with you search every room look into every corner Is there none within that should not be there is there no messenger of Satan hath the World no agitatour now at work within you O behold whilest the Lord is a treating with our cares what a mixed multitude are there within cares and thoughts and lusts and projects for this world and what a stirr do they all make that God may not be regarded The Devil will be most most busy in such a time he doubts how matters might go with him if he now keep silence Doubtless many a Soul more might have been gain'd over to Christ had not Satan stood by and hindred and had those ever near us who forbad the match use to be alone with God out of the company and out of the noise of these harlots and then there 's hope the Lord may gain your love What wonder that that seed dies and becomes unfruitful that falls into a brake of thorns or amongst such birds as stand watching to catch it all away what hope that the counsel of the Lord be accepted of a
in his bloud and then you are clean though your iniquity be searched for yet it shall not be found this righteousness shall answer for you for all your unrighteousness this righteousness shall purchase for you the eternal inheritance O methinks we should hear you all crying out with those Jews though with another heart and in another sense His bloud be upon us and upon our children 2. Peace That 's another fruit of Christs bloud he hath made peace by the bloud of his Cross Col. 1. 20. He hath made peace not only betwixt Jew and Gentile reconciling them both into one body but betwixt God and men reconciling both Jew and Gentile in one body unto God Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God This peace hath all blessings in it love good will pardon grace life as the wrath of God hath all woes in it all the plagues and miseries both of this world and that to come you need say no more to mark out any person for an unhappy and lost person but this The wrath of God abideth on him you have said enough you need not smite him the second time as the wrath of God hath all woes so the peace of God hath all blessings in it 2. The fruits of his spirit The former fruits righteousness and peace which I call the fruits of the bloud of Christ are in a sense the fruits also of the spirit as also these latter which I call the fruits of the spirit are in a sense the fruits of his bloud the spirit convinces of righteousness and preaches peace Joh. 16. 14. He shall take of mine and shew it unto you The spirit first indeed takes of our own and shews that unto us that same Gospel spirit that brings life and immortality brings first death and mortality to light he that convinces of sin is the same spirit that convinces of righteousness He shall take of our own and shew it unto us Look thee here soul what a vile and unclean thing thou art what a wretched and unhappy thing thou art what a Leper what a Viper what a devil in flesh thou hast made thy self what an Egypt what a Sodom what an hell thou hast within thee what a portion what a treasure thou hast laid up for thy self Serpents and Scorpions and Dragons Bloud and Wrath and Fire these must be the portion of thy cup. Secure sleepy soul jolly merry soul that art quiet and at ease sporting thy self with thy pleasures loading thy self with riches decking thy self with ornaments open thine eyes soul look thee here all that 's thine I here set in order before thee these sins and this guilt and these curses and these plagues these are all thou canst call thine own these shall dwell with thee these shall stick and cleave to thee as thy flesh to thy bone as thy body to thy soul this sad and amazing sight the spirit shews us takes of our own and shews it unto us But then says Christ he shall take of mine of my righteousness and peace and shew it unto you I say even these fruits of the bloud of Christ may be also called the fruits of the spirit But besides these there are others that the Scripture expresly calls the fruits of the spirit what these are you may read Gal. 5. 22 23. But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance all the graces and the comforts of the spirit issuing from them these are the fruits of the spirit 2. That these fruits of Christ are sweet 1 Pet. 2. 7. To them that believe he is precious He and all his root and branches tree and fruit he is pleasant to the eye the thoughts of Christ are precious Psa 104. 3. My meditation of him shall be sweet It is a pleasant thing to behold this Sun he is sweet to the ear his words are sweet sweeter then the honey and the honey comb Psa 19. 10. His house and his dwelling is sweet Psa 84. 1. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord. How might I inlarge here But more close to the matter in hand because sense will give us the fullest proof of sweetness let me ask 1. How sweet have you found the fruits of the bloud of Christ Ask the guilty if righteousness be not sweet if pardon be not sweet ask the prisoner if liberty be not sweet ask the debtor how he would receive his discharge from all his debts Dost thou know what bloud guiltiness means I need not commend to thee the bloud of attonement 2. How sweet are the fruits of his Spirit would it not be a pleasure to you to be holy and humble and meek is not love sweet is not holy joy sweet that is is not sweetness sweet nay is not godly sorrow sweet the mournings and meltings for sin have more sweetness in them then the sportings and laughings of sinners Is not the sense of integrity clearness and uprightness is not peace of conscience the assurance of divine love are not these sweet Ask those that labour under the gripes and pangs of a wounded conscience or are stung with the conscience of guile and treachery how they would prize peace of conscience ask those who have received the sentence of death in themselves and lye roaring like bulls in a net full of the fury of the Lord how pretious assurance of the love of God would be Ask those whose souls do dwell at ease who walk in the light of the Lord and have tasted that the Lord is gracious what they would take in exchange for those comforts wherewith they feel themselves comforted of God I appeal to some of your experiences whether ever you have had so much pleasure in all your lives as when you have found your hearts ascending Heaven ward in your flames of love and receiving testimony from the Lord that you are accepted with him surely your souls have tasted how good the Lord is But here note that these fruits of the Spirit some of them especially are sweet only To the Souls Healthy Hungry 1. To the healthy Soul that is to the holy Soul to the sick every pleasant thing is bitter is grace unfavoury is holiness harsh to thee doest thou find no relish in it are thy gourds and thy husks thy locusts and wild hony the pleasures of thy flesh only grateful to thy palate O thou art a sickly Soul there is no health in thee 2. To the hungry Soul The hungry he fills with good things and the hungry will relish his good things the full Soul loaths the honey comb canst thou not tast the sweetness O thou art a full Soul Satan hath filled thine heart thou hast an heart full of dirt and trash the Divel hath made a very stable or barn or dung pot of thine heart meat and drink and mony and mirth have chok'd up thy soul and that 's the reason that Christ is no more savoury Are
This will give you good hope that Christ is yours and good evidence that he calls to you Come unto the waters 2. In this Well of Salvation there is water of life Ye shall draw water that is living water In this water is comprehended all things belonging to life and godliness Here is bread in this water he that is the Rock springing in the earth is the bread that came down from heaven Joh. 6. 48. 50. Here is bloud with the water out of his side came water and bloud Here is wine and milk in this water Is 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters come buy wine and milk Come to the waters why what shall we get there O there 's wine and milk in the waters come to the waters for wine and milk What case is there of any of the Saints but here 's that which is proper for it Here 's water for the filthy here 's bloud for the guilty here 's bread for the strong here 's milk for the weak here 's wine for the sad here 's for meat medicine and delight here 's the flower of the wheat the healing balm the sweetness of the fig-tree the fatness of the Olive the Tree of Life Christ is in these waters 3. This water of life is to be drawn out of this Well of Salvation Hence 't is that we must come every man with his Pitcher Faith is our Pitcher what need of a Pitcher if there were no water to be drawn unbelievers might then speed as well as believers 4. It s a joy to the Saints to work at the Well With joy shall ye draw c. We read 1 Sam. 7. 6. that the people of God once drew other waters and out of another Well they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. The Wells were their repenting sorrow-bitten hearts the waters were their tears which they poured out before the Lord these were bitter waters and drawn with sorrow the waters you are now come to are pleasant faith and love and joy and praise are here to be both your work and your waters the three latter are the pleasures of the other world the first Faith is your Pitcher to fetch them in and your mouth to drink them down God hath brought you hither to prove the sweetness of love to taste what 't is to love and be beloved God opens you a Spring of everlasting joy thereby to dilate and inlarge your souls in admirings and praises 4. The advantages we hence get against the world are amongst others these following The precious things of Christ thus exhibited in the Sacrament will 1. Quench our thirst 2. Renew our strength 3. Sharpen our weapons 4. Set the reward before our eye 1. They will quench our thirst after the world The world invites as Christ Ho every one that thirsteth come to my waters If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink God and the world are both for the empty souls he that 's empty of God there 's a man for the world he that 's empty of the world there 's a soul for God he that is surfeited of the pleasures of sin will nauseate the joys of Religion he that is satiated with the pleasures of Religion will slight the joys of the world John 4. 14. Whosoever drinketh of the waters that I shall give him shall never thirst that is either when he is come up to the Well head and shall have drank his full draught he shall thirst no more for ever he shall be satisfied for ever or else he that shall drink of my waters here that shall drink of the brook in the way shall not be thirsty after other waters he that hath drank of the upper springs will better spare the nether springs Our intimate converses with Christ and those gracious savours and divine impressions they leave upon our hearts do naturally weaken and allay our fleshly appetites and inclinations wisdome is not more necessarily expulsive of folly light of darkness holiness of sin then the love and joy of the Lord of the love and the lusts of this world Brethren whatever divine touches whatever peace and joy you seem to feel upon your hearts if the world be not a looser by them if it stand its ground and maintain its interest and esteem in you all that you seem to feel of God upon you look to it that it prove not a fallacy and a dream for my part I shall ever suspect that intimacy my soul hath seem'd to get in heaven and all the pleasure of it if I be not the more content to be a stranger in this earth O my God wilt thou draw forth the breasts to me let me suck and be satisfied let the Lord God be my satisfaction and then let the world try the strength of its temptation 2. They will renew our strength This staff of bread will be the strength of our hearts they are the weak souls whom the world conquers But of this having spoken in a former direction I pass it over here with the naming 3. They will sharpen our weapon We never are foil'd but when our faith fails This is our victory even our faith this weapon of our warfare is mighty through God By how much the more our faith is exercis'd on God by so much the more vigorous believe and you shall be established believe and you shall be strengthened believe and all that you see before you shall be meat for your faith to put it in heart But how shall I believe yea rather how shouldst thou but believe whose Table is this to which thou art come whose word was it that said This bread is my body which was given for you This cup is the New Testament in my bloud which was shed for you This bread is the communion of my body this cup is the communion of my bloud what is this body what is this bloud but virtually all the spirit and life of the Gospel what is the meaning of those words Take and eat and drink but that its the will of God if it be your will also that all this shall be yours would Christ say take what he meant not to give would Christ say eat that which is not bread will be feed souls with common bread did he bring you hither to mock you how should you but believe Believe and you shall find his flesh to be meat indeed his bloud to be drink indeed this bread to be Manna this cup to come to you full of the spirits of the Gospel which will so nourish and quicken your faith that as a mighty man refreshed with wine it will rejoyce to run its course and tread down your Enemy under you 4. The reward is set before our eye Rev. 2. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to câ—t of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth but he that
receiveth it Chap. 3. 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne There 's the Conquerours reward the hidden Manna the white stone the new name the Throne Now all these are here set before us we taste of the Manna we have a sight of the stone and of the Throne what encouragement is it to the heart to have the reward in the eye It was said concerning our Lord Heb. 12. 2. that for the joy that was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame And we are exhorted in the foregoing words Let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking to Jesus Let us run looking to Jesus let us bear looking to Jesus let us watch let us wrestle let us fight looking to Jesus looking to Jesus who endured the Cross and is set down on the Throne This Cross is here presented to us and in the Cross the Throne if we suffer with him if we overcome with him we shall also be glorified with him Lift up the hands that hang down confirm the feeble knees behold the Captain of your Salvation whose reward is with him and his work before him Dost say 't is hard to follow Christ 't is hard to forsake all for Christ canst thou now say so when he shews thee the treasure he hath for his followers open thine eyes look again upon that treasure and then see if all the labours straits losses sufferings of this life be worthy to be compared to that glory which he hath revealed 4. Improve worldly prosperity this way turn the world upon it self beat it with its own weapons As the Lord Judg. 7. 22. set Midian against Midian every mans Sword against his fellow so let Christians set the world against the world let its own hand be against it self The prosperities of the world are the keenest and most deadly weapons in all its quivers if these might be turn'd against its own breast what a slaughter would be made But how may this be done hearken to me and I will tell you how Receive all the good things of the world As Talents Temptations 1. Receive all the good things of the world as Talents for which you must give an account Consider your selves as Stewards of all that you have you have nothing under your hand but what is your Masters and for which you must be responsible This is a truth written in nature as well as in Scripture you may as well reckon your selves your own Makers as your own Lords and you may as well reckon your selves your own Lords as unaccountable for what you have If you have an estate if you have friends if you have great offices honors and dignities if you have a larger proportion of bodily health better parts and endowments of mind you have so much the more to reckon for as your riches encrease as you are advanc'd higher in the world so your work and your care and your Obligation thereto encreases the more you have committed to your trust the harder will your task be to mannage it well and the more dreadful will be your doom if you miscarry If the doom for one talent hid in a Napkin be so dreadful Mat. 25. 30. Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth what will thy judgment be for ten talents all spent upon Harlots or in riotous living The sense of this will both still your flesh from craving what you have to be bestowed upon it and kill your desires after more Give what you will to it upon such terms to use it all for God and to be lyable to a severe account for whatever is otherwise imployed and your very flesh will be ready to turn it back upon your hands Say to thy covetous heart here 's an opportunity for thee to be rich work as hard as ever thou wilt get as much as ever thou canst but when thou hast done know that whatever thou hast gotten is none of thine thou dost but get that thou mayst have so much the more to use for God or to loose for God not an house not a field not one peny of all that thou hast laboured for must be spent upon thy flesh thy pride or thy appetite or thy covetousness shall have never the more for all thy store but all must go another way tell thy heart thus that thy flesh must not have the spending of it and then see how little pleasure 't will have in gathering Tell thy slothful heart here 's an estate for thee here are honors here is the love and good will and good opinion of men for thee if thou likest it take it but know that this is all to set thee the harder on work they are all thy Masters goods which he gives thee with this charge Occupy till I come Hast thou an estate look to it for he will look for it that thou honor the Lord with thy substance and the more thou hast the more care will it cost thee and the more labour to use it well Hast thou dignities and art thou set in authority take heed and see to it that thou be good in thine office woe to thee if thou neglect the charge of the Lord and what wilt thou do to fulfill it Hast thou the love and good will of men this gives thee the fairer opportunity and thereby imposes on thee the greater necessity to deal roundly with them in counselling admonishing and reproving them as occasion shall require they will take that from thee which they will not from another and upon that account there 's none in the world that owes them so much of that service nor shall pay so dearly for his neglect as thou and so whatever else thou hast wisdome learning natural parts bodily health the more thou hast of them the more work they will find thee Tell thy slothful heart thus and what thank will it give thee for such advancements whatever they be Tell thy voluptuous heart here are pleasures for thee here 's meat and drink and fine cloaths and sports and pastimes here are Gardens and Orchards Apes and Peacocks but what wilt thou do with them now thou hast them so much as will help thee to be more useful and serviceable to the ends of thy being to glorifie thy God to promote the salvation of thy soul so much thou mayst take but take more at thy utmost peril tell thy sensual heart the more thou hast of these things the more wilt thou be put to that hard duty of self-denial thou must vex and torment and crucifie thy flesh the more by how much the more thou hast to satisfie it whatever thou hast before thee and how much soever thou lustest after it thou must not touch more then thy allowance though thou hast it in thine hand yet thou must rather put a knife to thy throat then thine hand to thy mouth What sayes the
in the joy of the Lord or in the terrours of the Lord What shall be your sentence Come or depart come ye blessed or depart ye cursed inherit the kingdom or away into the fire what say you consider and speak will you be damned or are you for the saving of your Souls If you say you are for salvation then let me farther ask you 2. Is not the world an enemy to your salvation Is salvation possible without a victory over it Is it not against the declared will and purpose of God Rom. 8. 30. Whom he did predestinate them he also called whom he called them he also justified whom he justified them he also glorified who are the justified and glorified is it not onely the called is there ever another man of the number And who are the called of God is it all those that are bid to come is he of them that makes light of it that saies I cannot come that saies no Lord I pray thee call some other guests and let me alone as I am to follow my oxen and my farm and my wife I pray thee have me excused is this one of the called of God If not what hope of his salvation will God change his purpose and baulk his way to gratify thy carnal mind and reconcile lust and eternal life Is there not an inconsistency in the nature of the things to be saved and left under the power of the world is to be saved and yet left under the power of the Devil to be saved and yet left unsanctified to be made free and yet left in bonds Doth it not enervate and resist all the means of salvation Doth not the world hinder the word that that cannot prosper with you is not this it the lusts and love and cares of this life that choke the word that it becomes unfruitful Math. 13. 22. Hath not the world hitherto dealt by you as in the beginning of this discourse I told you it would darkned your eye that you could not see deadned your sense that you could not fear hung upon your hearts and about your necks that you could not come to Christ Have you seen have you feard are you come to Christ or are you not yet in your sins why what is it that hath hindred you and kept you back from Christ hitherto but either the cares of this life or the deceitfulness of riches or the pleasures and lusts of this present world Doth not the world hinder prayer hold you back from going to God to seek your lives at his hands while you should be with God to seek your lives the world calls you abroad to seek your livings a little praying must suffice a worldly heart when the tribes go up to pray before the Lord how often is the worldlings place empty If I were to go in search for a worldlings heart I would seek all the places of the earth first ere I would seek him before the throne of grace he is so seldom there that you may as well seek an idle shepherd in the pulpit as a worldly heart in the closet O if worldly men did no more diligently seek the world then they use to seek God what poor men would they be Get you asunder worldlings let your Souls and this harlot part that Satan tempt you not for your incontinence that your prayers be not hindred what praying whilst the world is still with you and what hope of salvation whilest no praying 3. Is this enemy invincible Is not victory over it possible is it not possible for thee to become an enemy to this world if thou art an enemy thou art a conquerour It 's true thou hast an hard field to fight and there 's great hazard thou mayst be eternally lost by it It hath slain so many Souls and laid them up in everlasting chains there have been so very few have escaped with their lives that it 's a great question whether thy life may not also go Thou hast been so long a captive that it is much to be doubted whether ever thou mayst be set at liberty Thou bearest such a love to the world thou wilt so hardly be perswaded that 't is thine enemy and art so apt to take it to be a better friend then God is to thee thou art so hardly perswaded that he is a friend to thee that doth but tell thee the world is an enemy and art so angry at any that offers to assist thee against it or but perswades thee to take heed of it thou art so apt to take all the counsels warnings reproofs that are given thee to put thee upon thy watch against it to be injuries unkindnesses that it 's much to be feared how it may go with thee There have been so many charges made against it without success the axe hath been so often layd at the root of this tree God hath been hewing at it conscience hath been hewing at it may be all thy life long the word hath been fighting against it prayer hath been wrestling with it meditation hath been considering about it Thou hast been so often warned Take heed and beware of covetousness Love not the world nor the things of the world mortify thy members which are upon the earth Flee youthful lusts Get thee up from the tents of these men set not thine affections on the earth Thou hast been so often told That the fashion of this world passeth away those that will be rich fall into a snare the friendship of the world is enmity against God and after all this there is so little done thy heart is so much upon it still it holds to this day so strong an hand over thee thou art still siding with it and taking its part against God and thine own Soul thou art so loath to hear that 't is a sin to be worldly minded or to be convinced that thou art a worldling that I must tell thee 't will be hard work for thee to obtain the victory and to escape with thy Soul Look to it such a disease which hath been so long rooted in thy nature such an enemy that hath so long lien in thy bosome that thou wilt not be perswaded that 't is thy disease that 't is thine enemy such a disease will hardly be cured such an enemy will hardly be conquered But yet is not a victory possible Is this disease unto death and is there no remedy Is there no balm in Gilead is there no Physitian there Is the field lost and is there no recovery who is it that hath bid thee fight against this enemy Is it one that had a mind to mock thee Look upon the Captain of thy Salvation hath not he overcome the world Hath not he said Be of good comfort look unto me and be saved come unto me and ye shall have rest Doth he not call to thee Wilt thou not be made clean wilt thou not be made free If thou wilt thou mayst there lies all the