the wil and the deed If the Lord in his free grace give the Will he wil enable to do if not what we should or would yet what he wil accept of Fourthly It supposeth thus much that it matters not whether thou hast such a power to Believe and Repent which some plead for For if thou hast a Wil to Believe and Repent thou shalt not miscarry for want of power Follow thy wil and thou mayest expect power confidently from the Lord. But if thou hast no wil toward these things and art resolved not to make use of what thou hast it is no matter whether thou hast more or lesse If thou hast no power of thy self yet if thou hast a Wil the Lord wil not let thee stand out for want of power And if thou hadst all this power in thy hand and hast no wil to employ and improve it for thy soul it is all one as to thy salvation Thou shalt perish Fifthly It supposes that the Lord doth not condemn men for what they cannot do although they cannot doe what he commands but because they wil not God commands thee to Believe to repent to be humbled for thy sins and to make thee a new heart to forsake thy very evil thoughts Thou canst no more do these things then the Blackamore can change his skin or the Leopard his spots Jer. 13.23 But this is not that which will damn thee that thou canst not do them but this will be thy condemnation that thou wouldest not do them It is true if thou wert sensible of thine inability thou mightest plead a cannot now and make good use of it thus Lord thou hast commanded that I should keep thy righteous judgements But I cannot Oh that my ways were so directed c. Thou hast commanded me to make me a new heart Ezek. 18.31 But I cannot Therefore Psal 51.10 Create in me a new heart and renew aright spirit within me Thou hast commanded me to Believe but Lord I cannot I find abundance of base unbelief within me Mar. 9.14 therefore Lord help my unbelief Thou hast commanded me to wash and make me clean but I cannot I can as soon wash off the spots from the Leopard Ez. 36.25 Therfore sprinkle clean water upon me and I shal be clean wash me and I shall be whiter then snow Psalm 51.7 Thou hast commanded me to love thee with all my heart and with all my strength But I cannot I find much of the love of the world creeps into my heart and intercepts my affections and I am ful of Backslidings Jerem. 32.40 Therefore Lord put thy Law in my heart that I may not depart from the in a word Thou hast commanded me to cease from evil and to do good But I cannot for I finde Rom. 7.23 a Law in my members rebelling c. Therefore Lord deliver me from the sin of this body or from this body of sinne This is the use thou shouldest make of thy cannot and thus improved and pleaded out with God in time it might be of singular advantage to thee But it wil be vaine to think to lay up this plea by thee until the last day and to think to stop Judgement by it then For the Lord wil proceed with thee upon other termes and so wil frustrate such a plea as this is For he wil not condemn thee because thou couldst not but because thou wouldst not believe And when thou art found guilty of stubborn and wilful disobedience it wil be in vain to plead inability Thy weakness was the reason why thou couldest not believe but it was not the reason why thou wouldest not believe If ever thou wouldst have pleaded insufficiency thou shouldst have done it whilst there was time for it when it might have been removed The business then to be proved wil be that thou wouldst not believe and for this thou shalt be condemned John 3.19 This is Condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness more then light Sixthly It supposes that a mans cannot is from his VVil not Therefore he cannot because he wil not There is a Twofold Cannot in unbelievers A first and a second The first is while the day of grace does continue of which I am now to speak and this is from his corrupt will While God is offering to him termes of peace and reconciliation he is wilful and shuts his eys and ears and wil not see nor hear what is for his good There is a second Cannot which follows this a Judiciary Cannot When man hath shut his eyes and therefore could not see the things of his peace the Lord seals them up and says From henceforth thou shalt not see any thing for thy good this is a dreadful Cannot and when men come to this they are almost in Hell But I am to speak of the former of these which is so much the more fearful because it leads to this the Cannot which arises from a mans own wil the wil and affections blinde the Understanding and therefore he cannot see The corruption of mandoth most of all appear in his wil for this is the very seat of it from whence it issueth forth into every part of him and defileth the whole man the will is the Ring-leader in good or evil And that is not misled by the understanding until the understanding hath been seduced by that A man is first prejudiced against spiritual things he wils them not and therefore he sees not the excellency that is in them Thus the will blindes the understanding and that leads the will aside and so the blinde lead the blinde till both fal into the dâ—tch Thus we see daily by sad experience how mens passions or interests do blinde them that they do not see things as they are Men love or hate things and then they judge them to be good or evil according to their affections The Natural man hates the wayes of Godliness and then fancies them to be hard and unpleasant he judges them foolishness because they crosse his lusts which have gotten his affections and therefore he cannot receive them Again he loves his lusts and therefore he fancies that they are comely and pleasant he is not willing to see the deformity of sinne Like some fond Mother who do ates so much upon her childe that she wil heare no evil of it she is so blinded by affection that she cannot see faults Thus it was with Balam who although he had assurance that Israel should be blest and not curst would faine perswade himself through the extream love of the wages of iniquity that he might curse Israel from such or such a place So also is it with men although the word of God flie in their faces for sin and tels them that if they let it not go their souls shall go for it yet the love of sin and their extream unwillingness to part with it puts them upon studying some excuse or other for it and they would
art chusing and when reason and judgement are quickest and least engaged least the engaging of these blinde thee that thou wilt not see the scale when it turns We have a Scripture which will give much light to this Heb. 11.24 25. Moses when he came to years refused to be called the son of Pharaohs Daughter and chose rather to suffer with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season when he came to weigh and consider things and to make his choice then he refused to be called the son of Pharaohs Daughter then he threw away the Court Honours and Pleasures but it was in judgement he chose rather to suffer with the people of God he saw something of greater importance to him Before this time he was pleased wel enough with AEgyptian toys and trifles of the Court but now comes his chusing time he must be seted in his spirit and he weighs all and upon a serious survey of both sides he throws away the Rattles which hee had played withall before and he makes another choice he chose rather to suffer Thus wee have the sum of the words in the dayes of thy choice Here is a second word to make it more full In thy choice dayes in the days that thou art fittest for Meditation or Action then set the Lord before thee do not put off the thoughts of God till a time when thou shalt be altogether unfit for him and his Service till a time wherein thou wilt be fit for nothing these are the choice days and thy youth is the chusing time We have the same word which in my text is rendered youth read chosen men 2 Sam. 6.1 David gathered together the chosen men of Israel the choisest and fittest men for action now thou art fittest for the Service of the Lord and this sense seemes to correspond much with the text for it agrees much with that which is but a Paraphrase upon these words before the evil dayes come when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Do not say in thy heart I will try what the world will afford me now and when I have sucked the breasts of her consolation dry and there no more to be had there then I will try what is to be had in Religion what the ways of God will yeeld this Religion is a thing only fit for old Men and Women that have nothing else to do whose palats are grown old and cannot rellish or taste the delights which youth affords or whose memories are grown weak and have forgotten the pleasures of their past days these may begin to think of Heaven now their blood is grown cold and their senses fail them that they can hardly distinguish between sweet and bitter when we have worn out our selves in the world and crippled our Bodies and worn out our Senses in turning every stone and sucking every flower which will afford us any comfort then will we creep to our Closets and cloyster up our selves there too and spend the remainder of our dayes in praying and sighing but for our youth you must excuse us we will take this time to our selves to eat drink and be merry and put death and Judgement and every troublesome thought from us O say not thus in your heart but in your choyse days begin thus work for no day nor time is too precious for the Lord. I have now briefly opened the words I shall propound such Observations as will naturally flow from them 1. That every man has a choice or chusing time 2 God expects that at that time we should chuse him 3 It is a great advantage to begin with the Loâ—d before we are too far engaged in other choyces 4. Remembring and considering or setting God before our eyes is a great Duty and a great help towards the feare of the Lord. 5. No time so fit for this great work as the youth I shal not handle all these distinctly but shall dravv them into one grand Conclusion and in handling that I shall touch and clear up all these as branches of that great Truth vvhich lyeth in the vvords vvhich is this DOCTRINE That nothing conduces more to the fear of the Lord as a means on our part then a seas nable and timely setting him before our eyes A serious and a solemn calling forth of the Attributes of the glorious God and comparing and weighing them with the vanity of the creatures does wonderfully conduce to the ballancing our spirits and to the setting and fixing them upon God as our and chiefest good and at least to over-awe our spirits with a fear of him if not to draw forth the heart unto a love of him For it is very clear that all the wickedness amongst men does arise from a forgetfulness of God David renders a reason of the wickedness of his enemies Psal 54.3 they did not set God before them For strangers are risen up against me and oppressors seek after my soul they have not set God before them And in that fore-mentioned place Deut. 8.11 12. the Lord clearly expounds disobeence and forgetfulness of himself one by the other I shal not spend time in proving this Truth generally but shal divide my discourse into these four parts 1. To enquire how and what of God is to be set before our eyes to help forward this work 2. How the setting of the Lord before us doth further this feare in our hearts 3. How to keep the Lord in our eye when we have him there 4. Why the young man especially must set upon this duty For the first How and what of God is to be set before our eyes to help forward this work Answ I le begin with that in the Text Consider him as thy Creator this doth surely reach thee this reaches Angels and Men and Devils in In ipsa voce creatoris occultum habetur Argumentum look to thy very being or to the beings of thy Creature-enjoyments and Nature wil tel thee by these That God is to be feared that thou dost ow him homage and service think what God may challenge from thee as thou art his Creature the Apostle condemns the Heathen that they did not walk up to this light Rom. 1.21 Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God God complains from hence of unjust measure from his people Ezek. 16.18 19. Thou hast set mine Oyl and mine Incense before them my meat also which I gave thee fine flower and oyl and honey where-with I fed thee thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour Hosea 2.8 For she did not know that I gave her wine and oyl and multiplied her silver and gold which they prepared for Baalim And may not the same complaint be made against us That we offer up our time and strength and parts to the World and Sin and Lust and Satan Did they give you these things Are these your Creators Did â—hey give you your being
mercy for these yet God saies he hath wrath and his wrath is revealed from Heaven against all such who hold the knowledg and truth which thou hast of thy duty under such unrighteousnesse 3 When men have had strong convictions of sin and these have made some Reformation in their lives and conversations and have given great hope of their conversion and afterwards they have fallen to grosse pollutions again 2 Pet. 2.20 the case is stated there very clear First there were persons who had been gross sinners they had walked in the pollutions of the world suppose those of drunkennesse and uncleannesse but these had gotten so much of the knowledg of Christ that they had escaped these pollutions they fled from them as it were But these intangled again not with other sins of another nature as the people of God may be and are who are troubled with secret inward corruptions such as the world takes no notice of and as they were never sensible of before as Spiritual pride in duties vain thoughts c. they are not intangled with these but with the same sins which they had escaped And that is not all for a child of God may be intangled in the same sins again that is for one act of sin or the like as David and Peter were But he says they are overcome Satan prevails so far over them that he carries them back to their former accustomed drunkenness and swearing uncleanness and the like If once it be thus with them there is little hopes of them you may judge what the latter end of them wil be it is worse than the former Those men are so visibly and suddenly changed by the strength of bare convictions and have not grace in the heart as wel as knowledge are in a miserable condition because they seldom hold it out long and when they do fal back it is a thousand to one but they fal foulely and when souls fal thus into their old sins which they had escaped it is a thousand to one but they are held under them and grow worse and worse to the end We have a notable passage Matthew 12.45 They enter in and dwel there they take up their rest there The uncleane Spirit went up and down seeking rest and could not find it But now he enters and hath what he was seeking for as intimating in that he pitches here to take up his abode Relapses in the distempers of the body are more dangerous then the first violence of the disease and so are such relapses dangerous to the soul for if thou art a relapsed drunkard Swearer Sabbath-breaker c. thou art in no more danger then those who have alwaies been such and there is more hopes of recovering one who never had any conviction nor pretended to any reformation then of such who have by the light and knowledge of Christ escaped these and are now returned again to their vomit and wallowing in the mire 4 When men after a high profession of Religion and of giving up themselves to Christ fal back to worldly interests and mind and care for that with neglect of the waies and people of God whom they have closed withal before Every one who hath made a profession of Religion and deserts it dos not fal into open prophanenesse and loosnesse it is possible they may retain so much of the light of Nature and the word as may restrain them from grosse evils and yet they may lose all the heat and warmth which seemed to be in their affections to the things of God so that although they wil not follow God and his people yet they wil not tread in the footsteps of the prophane but they strike in with the civiler part of men who do not openly oppose the ways of God although neglect them and they are for the world and their care is how to be great and rich Religion must lie by to attend upon this they are not such who bring forth no fruit but they bring forth nothing to perfection Luke 8.14 They pray sometimes and hear but the cares and love of the world wil not let them do any thing wel and perfectly it eats up the heart of every duty and in the end choaks their profession As we see it is with the Corn it grows up with the thorns next the thorns overgrow that and lastly the thorns destroy it So is it with such mens profession First it grows up with the World and the love and cares of it he prayes and he hears and he does many things which he did not do before but all this does not crucifie him to the world he loves that as formerly and his heart goes out strongly after it yet his convictions being fresh and strong his profession holds with the world Afterwards as his convictions begin to grow weaker and fainter the World prevails and he is less and less in the duties of Gods worship and he begins to plead excuse for his remisness and slightness in the service of God he cannot spare so much time for prayer and hearing from his Calling his imployments are many and therefore that cannot be expected from him which is from others Now the world hath gotten above his profession and in a little time it choaks it it dies away and comes to nothing Thus it was with Judas he had a covetous heart all the while he followed Christ but at last it got ground of him and he was bought out of all for thirty pieces of silver and thus Demas forsook the service of the Lord in the Gospel when he met with an opportunity of imbracing the present word 2 Tim. 4.10 How many be there in these days which have lost and given up all their profession of Christ this way and have turned back only to mind the things of this present life But such souls who fal off with Judas and Daemas to the World seldom return to Christ the day of grace seems near at an end to such as these Take heed that there be not found among you such as these are who after the pretended giving up your selves to the Lord do fal back to mind earthly things Ph. 3.19 It is a sad sign that God intends to give such their portion in this life 5 When men have sinned away their Convictions and conscience grows quiet this must needs be a symptom of a declining day because the more stupid and grosse conscience grows the nearer men come to hardness of heart and this is called in the Scripture a reprobate mind Rom. 1.28 it is the very mark and brand of a Reprobate of one who is set apart for ruine There is a light in the heart of every natural man which doth direct and counsel him until such time as it be extinguished but if it be not followed it wil go out by degrees Rom. 1.21 But to this light the Lord gives in the light of the Word and some help of the Spirit and if God do in