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
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
hath said Mat. 10. 37. He that loves Father or Mother more then me he that loves Son or Daughter more then me is not worthy of me He that forsakes not Father and Mother cannot be my Disciple therefore I have no more to say my Friends are dear my Husband is dear my Wife is dear to me I rejoyce in their love and I would not their displeasure I would not worthily be counted unworthy or unkind or disrespectful or undutiful to any of them but God is more then all My friends if you will go along with me if you will to Christ with me if you will be for holiness with me and oh that you would come along let 's along to Christ together let me have your company to heaven oh that I could pray you thither oh that I could perswade you thither I love you so well that I am loath we should part companies if you will go along with me if I may be the Lords and yet be yours I am much more yours then ever but if this be the condition of your love you will love me so I love not Christ you will be my friends so the Lord be not my friend you will respect me and esteem me so I will despise and disrespect holiness you will be for my company so I be not for heaven or so I will not go so far or so fast that way if this be the condition of your love stay with us do as we do live as we live be merry be vain take thy pleasure take thy liberty as we do and we will love thee if you will not love me on other terms then farewell to you all and to all your love I have learn'd what this meaneth he that loveth Father or Mother more then Christ is not worthy of him he that loveth favour or respect more then Christ is not worthy of him and till you can make it out that you have oblig'd me more then Christ hath oblig'd me that your love will be better to me then the love of Christ that respect from men will be better to me then acceptance with God you must give me leave to run the hazard of losing such friends whom I cannot keep without losing God and my soul 4. Circumstance But when he went from Pharaohs Court whither went he when he left the bosome of Pharaohs Daughter to whom did he joyn himself why to a company of poor bondmen that were labouring at the brick Kilns and not to be a Taskmaster or Ruler among them but to take his lot of suffering with them chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God c. Now lay all these circumstances together Moses that had been bred up and liv'd in the Equipage of a Prince and might have so continued when he came to age and understood what the advantages of worldly greatness were when he had his senses quick about him and could make the highest experiment what the sweetness of worldly pleasures was in the highest Spring-tide of worldly lusts and temptations when 't was high water without and his youthful blood was most aflote within when he had time before him to make the most of the worlds favours who had never known what an harder and lower condition meant who had been so strangly obliged by signal favours and could not but be strongly prompted from principles of ingenuity not to slight such favoures in the midst of all these temptations for the service of his God and from his affection to his brethren he voluntarily not upon force but of choice disrob'd himself of all his glory and espoused the sufferings of his brethren esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures in Egypt v. 27. O brethren how may we be filled with wonder and which of the two wonders are the greatest Moses his self-denial or our denial of Christ Moses his comming off in so great a floud of temptations or our being so ordinarily overcome in those little temptations which daily occurre how little is it that we do or can deny our selves in for Christ what have we forsaken or what are we willing to forsake for Christ upon what inconsiderable termes have Christ and our Souls so often parted what cheap duties will we not do what cheap sins will we not abate what small temptations are hearkned to when Christ cannot be heard How often have we neglected to reprove a sin for fear of loosing a friend how often have we neglected to speak of God for fear of displeasing our company how often have we denyed conscience that we might not deny our lusts what sinful pleasures that our hearts have been lusting after what sinful gains that our eyes have been set upon what pleasant morsels that our appetites have been craving have we been able to deny them how do we let conscience lye at the mercy of every lust if lust will but crave it must be granted whatever become of conscience If the name of Christ should prevail no more in Heaven then it ordinarily doth on earth if God should so ordinarily deny those prayers we offer up in Christs name as we deny those precepts which in the same name are sent down to us we should have as little hopes towards Heaven as the Lord hath honour on earth We grudge we murmur we quarrel with God if he deny us in any thing cross us in any thing and yet how many denyals must he bear from us and be patient 2 King 5. 13. If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much more when he saith wash and be clean If it had been some great thing the Lord had required of us that it is not all we have is but a little if it had been some great thing t were a shame to deny it to God but when such little things can't be granted not a word spoken sometimes in a whole day together not an alms given not a vain pleasure abated not a wanton fashion laid aside not a proud look or a froward tongue or a wanton eye or a greedy appetite restrained at his word when we fail in such little things what should we have done had we stood in Moses his stead Brethren when we are led aside from a self-denying to a flesh pleasing life we are ready to say to those that reprove us for it Oh you do not know my temptations if you were in my circumstances you might have done the like But you do know Moses his temptations and if you had had more of Moses heart you would not have complained so much of great temptations Beloved you that dwell in your sieled houses lodg in your warm and easy beds are clothed in your soft and costly raiment fed at your full tables cheared by the countenance and courtesies of your friends compassed about with your accommodations of all sorts when you can choose rather a poor cottage an hard lodging rough or ragged
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
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
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
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
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
is accounted our sure refuge so that we fear not that the world can make us miserable then t will be all one as to our godliness whether the world be with us or against us He that can say God is my portion whether I want or abound I have never so much but I have need of a God I have never so little but a God will suffice He that can say God is my refuge whether I be in safety or in danger I am never in such hazards but in God I am secure I am never so out of hazard but I need his security how little is it that the world with all its glory on the one hand or all its fury on the other can do upon that Soul thou mayst then go on thy way rejoycing thou mayst serve the Lord without fear in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of thy life He that knows and feels what God is can want or suffer what ever is in the world in him he finds a supply of every vacuity and a salve for every sore He that knows what pinching want and piercing sufferings are will understand that nothing but God can hold him up or bear him through You are mistaken if you think that natural hardiness and self confidence will do without divine supports in pressing cases He that hath this power hath gotten it from above he that hath this power may be whatever the Lord will have him Then are we more eminently endued with this power when we have attained to 1. Self-denial under the greatest opportunities of self-seeking or self-satisfaction 2. Contentment under the greatest straits 3. Patience under the greatest pressures of affliction 4. Humility in the height of honour 5. Magnanimity in the depth of danger or difficulty 6. Equanimity in the greatest turns and changes of our outward condition 1. Self-denial under the greatest opportunities of felf-seeking and self-satisfaction Self-denial properly is the neglecting the interest and the crossing the inclinations of our flesh in order to service or the preventing of sin Then onely self-denial is a vertue or a duty when our allowance of our flesh in its liberty would be either a sin or an occasion of sin or an hindrance of duty when it would be a preferring the advantages of the flesh above the service and honour of Christ Now by how much the greater our opportunity to please our flesh by so much the greater vertue it is to deny it He that might be full and yet for Christs sake is content to be empty he that might be rich and yet is content to be poor he that might live at ease or in honour and yet for Christs sake is content to be vile or in trouble He that chooses rather to be serviceable then to be safe to be holy then honourable he that upon the account of Christ flyes from fleshly advantages when these fly after him this is the man T is a vertue to be quiet when Providence denies us to be content to be poor and in affliction when it comes unavoidably upon us t is something to be able to say I cannot help it and therefore will be quiet But when we can let Conscience deny us let love to Christ let zeal for God straiten us when Providence allows us our liberty and our fill this is something to purpose To neglect the world when the world neglects us or flyes from us not to seek great things for our selves when we have no hope of obtaining not to mind the pleasing our pride or our appetite when we have not wherewith to maintain them to spare from our flesh when we have nothing to spend upon it to fast when we have no bread to put on sackcloth when we have no better raiment not to contend for our wills when we see we cannot have our wills there is not so very much in all this though it be more then every one hath attained to But voluntarily to lay down all at the foot of Christ to part with all for the sake of Christ when we might have even what we would in a way of sin to keep our flesh short when it is in our power to make it a larger allowance this is a great testimony how high the interest of Christ is exalted and how low the world is brought in us One great instance of this self-denial you may read in Moses Heb. 11. 24. 25. By faith Moses when he came to years refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter chusing rathor to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Observe it fairer opportunities of flesh pleasing of living in the splendour of worldly glory and the Grandieur of a prime favourite in the court few of the sons of men ever enjoy'd he was adopted the Son of Pharaohs daughter nurs'd up upon her knee and in her heart and upon this account what his hopes and advantages might be t is easy to imagine But at once he forsook all he had a service to do for his God and such an affection to the people of God that away he goes puts himself out of Pharaohs favour and casts in his lot among his suffering brethren I shall consider divers circumstances which all heighten this noble instance 1. The circumstance of time When he came to years t was not a childish folly done when he was so young that he knew not what he did but when he came to age when he came to understand himself whilest he was a child he suffered himself to be dandled on the lap of these carnal pleasures but when he came to age and understood what these things were and had gotten those higher things of the other world in his eye when he came to age he put away these childish things this world is a paradise only to children and fools pictures and babies and rattles will please children men must have manly delights thou that art so taken with the embraces and dalliances of this world thou that makest thy self sport with images and rattles when thou comest to have the understanding of a man thou wilt wonder at thy childish folly 2. When he was upon the matter newly come to age a young man in the prime and vigour of his time when he had but begun to tast the sweet of his youthful pleasures the pleasures of this lâ—fe are most taking at the first tasting the first draught is the sweetest when they grow more common and ordinary they sour and become less savory Oh how rare a thing is it to see young men in their prime to disgust and despise the world Old men whose strength is gone whose spirits are dead who have been glutted and tired out with pleasure have lost their appetite 2 Sam. 19. 35. I am this day fourscore years old and can I discern between good and evil can thy servant tast what I eat or drink can I hear any more the voice of singing men
run upon dangers which it might without sin avoid that doth not unwarily create it self nor needlesly provoke enemies but fears not to meet them in his way nor will either turn aside or stand still to escape them Now put all these together he that is bold with the Lord who being reconciled by the bloud of Christ and walking before him in his integrity can with an holy boldness approach and make known his requests to the Lord for grace and mercy and help in the time of need He that is bold in the Lord whose heart is fixed trusting in God He that is in his name bold for the Lord bold to be faithful to God bold to be holy and righteous that will follow God and keep his way with the neglect of the highest worldly advantages on the one hand and the sharpest sufferings on the other that will choose the greatest of sufferings rather then little sins that will refuse the greatest advantages rather then neglect the least of duties that is meek and yet mighty through God that trembles at the word and yet stands against all the world that is tender as a bruised reed and yet stands against all the world that is tender as a bruised reed and yet not terrified at an army with banners whom a child may lead and yet a giant cannot drive an innocent dove with a serpents wisedom a patient lamb with a Lions heart who will not strive nor cry nor make a noise in the streets and yet in the strength of the Lord brings forth judgment into victory Here is the valiant Christian that triumphs over thrones and Dominions that in the name of Christ hath spoiled principalities and powers and hath led captivity captive Here is a man clothed with the Sun who hath the moon under his feet Christians where is this mighty spirit of the Gospel Behold some who seem sufficiently high flown are yet as weak as water whose hopes and whose comforts lye at the mercy of every temptation whose religion must strike sail at the fight of every enemy or tack about at every turn of the wind who are no body but in the sun-shine and the calm whose course must be steer'd by their commodity and safety who are for duty yet dare not pray to their loss who protest against iniquity yet will sin rather then suffer Is not this thy case wouldst thou not have been better if thou hadst dar'd thy conscience is for more praying and hearing and closs walking with God but thine heart will not serve thee the times will not bear it thy estate will be in hazard thy liberty yea and thy life too in danger thou darest not turn Apostate from Christ thou wouldst be one of the company still though thou be but a midnight Disciple and this must comfort thee under all thy disguised unfaithfulness thou haltest betwixt Christ and the World thou dar'st neither utterly to forsake him nor resolvedly to own him thou canst not tell what to be nor where to find thy self were it not for love of this World what a Christian wouldst thou be were it not for fear who should out-strip thee but as Matters are what to do thou knowest not and whose thou art who can tell to day thou art with the Disciples but who can tell where to find thee to morrow weak Soul hast thou good will for Christ why wilt thou not venture after him hast thou the name where is the Spirit of a Christian arise shake off thy fear and be bold Be bold for God Some are bold enough but 't is for themselves God hath the name but self is the mark that 's aim'd at beware that this be not it thou countest thy godly boldness Some are bold upon God upon the patience and forbearance of God bold to slight and affront the Lord bold to sin against him to stand it out against him against all his commands threatnings and judgments bold to continue unbelievers impenitent blasphemers unclean livers though God hath said that all such shall be damned to be thus bold is to be desperate they dare the Almighty to his face to bring his Counsel to pass and to perform all his words that he hath spoken against them Be bold but see that it be for God not against him Be bold for God but let it be also in the Lord. Be bold in the Lord but that you be not more bold then welcome look to it that you be the friends of God the boldness of strangers is sauciness or presumption The Lord upbraids his rebellious people with their confidence in him Mic. 3. yet they will lean upon the Lord they love me not yet they will lean upon me It s hard to say which is more dangerous the trust of the ungodly or their distrust God will be no Rock to those who will not that he be their Lord He will not accept of a testimony from a devil it disparages a good Cause to be pleaded by an evil mouth and as he will not regard thy confession so neither will he bear thee out in what it costs thee If thou wilt not submit to God confess him at thine own peril depend on me for my help expect countenance or encouragement from me lay hold on my power lay claim to my all-sufficiency or faithfulness how dar'st thou be so bold what art thou to me a stranger and yet so bold an enemy and yet so bold away Confident look to thy self stand on thine own bottom I have nothing for thee Art not thou he that wilt not be rul'd by me that wilt not accept of my love and peace that dissemblest with me that speakest me fair but thine heart is not with me art not thou he that dar'st continue in thy sin and to walk after the flesh and in friendship with this world whose heart goes after thy covetousness and thy companions and thy pride and thy pleasures and wilt thou lean on me and strengthen thy self in me I have offered to be reconciled to thee and thou wilt not I have offered to change thee to change thy mind and change thy way to make thee a new soul and a new life and still thou refusest and art the same man that ever thou wast may be thou hast gotten thee a new face and a new tongue and I have thy company sometimes thou draw'st nigh to me and comest in among my Saints but behold the same heart still that ever thou hadst thou wilt not be a Convert thou wilt not be brought into a Covenant of peace with me but are still in league with thy flesh and this world and how canst thou say I trust in God I will be no sanctuary for sin Brethren beware there be not any among you who make your trusting in God to serve you instead of turning to God your outward forwardness in the cause of God to serve instead of your hearty accepting the grace of God the Lord needs not nor will regard your
let faith and love and hope and prayers and praises which are the stairs to the other World and your weapons against this be your Sabbath-work and delight Let not finer cloaths and better fare let not idleness and ease no nor filling up a place in the Congregation be the only difference betwixt Sabbaths and other daies but this better work and meat for souls Provide against the dayes of scarcity provide against the dayes of temptation Let not the Manna fall besides your vessels Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches Catch at every word observe every look of your Lord upon you And whatever you receive lay up and ponder in your hearts Have you received a check or reproof lay up your reproof have you received a word of counsel or instruction lay up your instructions Hath he spoken peace to you lay up that word charily by you whatever transactions have passed betwixt the Lord and your Souls keep the records and when you go forth whither ever you go carry all this upon your hearts that whenever the World meets you again and tempts you again you may be thus well appointed and throughly furnished against its assaults Brethren put hard on every Sabbath for such an undisturbed attendance on the Lord single out the Lord for the object of your whole converse knit your hearts thus to him solace your selves thus in him get you thus elevated and raised in your spirits from earthly to heavenly and every inch of ground you get of your adversary maintain it carefully from Sabbath to Sabbath If this were seriously design'd and more generally attempted by Christians we should find both another face and another power of Christianity in the earth the children of the Kingdom would be more visibly differenced from the men of this World and both the guilt and reproach of earthliness and sensuality be wip'd off from the Professors and Profession of the Gospel 3. Improve Sacraments this way The advantage that we have in Sacraments against the World lies In our Preparation Participation 1. In our preparation One confessed preparatory duty is self-examination 1 Cor. 11. 28. A great security of this Idol is the secret of its tabernacle It s covert in which it lurks unseen Worldlings many of them if they knew what is within them their Conscience would so prick that they could have no rest or ease till this thorn were puld out but they are not aware that the World is within them Yet this enemy lies not so close but upon a privy search it may be discovered Sacramental trial should be close and thorow no corner within us should be left unransacked The reverence of this great Ordinance and the dreadful consequence of comming so solemnly before the Lord with a Traitor in our bosoms eating and drinking judgment will cry in our ears Make diligent search The evidence that this one thing an earthly mind carries in it of our treachery towards God is so notorious that he hath but little understanding in the matters of God that would not from this alone conclude himself an unworthy guest at the Table of the Lord were all things else never so specious and fair Dar'st thou say Surely the Lord will accept me for he hath but this one thing against me That I love the World more than I love God I can own his name and waies I join with the Assemblies of his people I can pray and hear and fast I am neither proud nor froward nor envious nor malicious there is no evil but this covetousness but I hope I can acquit my self of Dar'st thou say thus I am no drunkard I am no Adulterer I am no swearer I am nothing but an Idolater the Lord I hope will excuse me in this thing Dost think he will indeed And may it not be like enough that upon this diligent search thou mayst find this to be thy case Friends get the sense of these terrible truths upon your hearts He that eateth and drinketh unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself He that is an Idolater eateth and drinketh unworthily He that is covetous is an Idolater Let these things sink into your hearts and then see if you dare come without a narrow search make a narrow search and then you will see how great your unworthiness and danger is Certainly were there a due care taken of this duty it were not possible that men could go on from Sacrament to Sacrament under the power of their earthly hearts this would surely startle them This Ordinance would either make them afraid of their worldliness or this worldliness would make them afraid of Sacraments Worldly Professors what care is there ordinarily taken of this duty do you examine do you make diligent search do you make particular search for this evil It may be you enquire Am I in the faith am I in charity do I bear no malice hath no man a quarrel against me nay possibly you may go a little farther and ask Am I unjust am I an oppressor an extortioner have I done wrong to no man and if you can acquit your self here then an end But do you further ask Do I not love the world Is not mine heart too much upon it Am I not too busie for the world is not my time spent too much upon it are not duties neglected is not my soul or my families souls neglected for its sake am I not so bent upon growing rich in the world that I mind not how poverty grows upon my soul do I honor the Lord with my substance am I merciful am I bountiful do I seek no more nor no otherwise then God would have me seek do I aim at God do I entitle God to all I have do I know how to abound can I want if the Lord will have it so is God enough if I have nothing is not all the world enough if God be a stranger how can I bear crosses and disappointments in the world Speak friends are any of these things enquired after I doubt whether you be faithful in this matter oh might I prevail with you to put upon this closer and severer tryal you know not what it might gain you If you can but apprehend your Enemy at such a time as this when you are making this solemn approach to the Lord when it would be so dreadful to you to be found in league with it at what an advantage would you then have it Now is a time when if ever we are like to have you serious loose not the season beware of solemn triflings hide not now your eyes from seeing your disease beware of palliating and mincing be zealous to know the worst of your case put Conscience close to it what sayst thou Guilty or not guilty If Conscience plead Guilty then come before the Lord if thou darst without serious repentance and
rejoycing Are there any such things Is there any thing in them then let these suffice you will you have your conversation and take your portion with those who are strangers to Christ and the comforts of his Spirit I beseech you by the mercies of God that you do not Do you hope for mercy have you received mercy do you live upon mercy hath mercy pitied you spared you pardoned you doth mercy feed you cloath you and comfort you and will you not hearken to its beseechings Why what doth mercy speak is this it's word Continue in sin for grace hath abounded now follow thy pleasures and thy liberties God is reconciled thy sins are forgiven thy Soul is secure now thou mayst slight the Lord now thou mayst trample upon mercy now thou hast obtained it is this the lesson that mercy teaches or what doth it speak is not this the voice of all the kindnesses and compassions of the Lord come back from your vanities come away from following Idols he sacrifices to God and prostitute not your selves any longer to the lusts of your flesh come away for our sakes come as you love mercy come as you have received mercy come as you hope for mercy come Is not this the voice of mercy and shall it not prevail how shall mercy be heard when it pleads for you if it cannot be heard when it pleads thus with you Is this the rate and price you put upon the grace of God that you will deny it in those little things it demands of you not a carnal pleasure to be abated not a vain companion to be displeased not a few handfuls of earth to be troden under foot for its sake Doth all the interest that Christ and his grace hath in you come to no more then this Brethren where is ingenuity is not goodness obliging will you shew what power mercy hath with you how much you can do how much you can leave for love you at least that have obteined mercy methinks your hearts should be at your mouth ready to take their flight from this wilderness to the mountains of spices Hath God given himself hath God given me his Son and granted me mercy unto life now let him take all farmes and oxen silver and gold honours and pleasures let all go and thou O my Soul become a sacrifice to the most high my love where art thou my desires whither run you come back from these vanities and get you up to your God mercy hath descended let me ascend with it and no longer dwell in the dust 2. Do not the severities of God call you off what mean the Judgments of God which he executes on the earth but to drive us up from our cisterns to the fountain what mean the wormwood and the gall but to wean us from these dugs wherefore are our disappointments vexations distresses but to tell us this is not your rest what speak the winds and the storms the flouds and the fires the sword and the famine the thief and the moth but get you up get you up out of this place of what use is the cross but to crucifie to crucifie us to the world and to crucify the world unto us Brethren have we not sufficiently smarted for our folly what is it that makes us so many rods and makes the lashes of them to cut so deep but our unmortifiedness to this earth how easy would our crosses lye were we dead to the world That 's the voice of the cross Be mortified be crucified prevent the greater severities of God Be crucified or God will crucifie you Be crucified to the world or look to be crucified by the world Friends would you have but one cross in all your lives choose you whether you will have one or many get your earthly minds nayld to the cross of Christ and there 's an end of all your crosses every other cross that comes will thenceforth be so easy that it will even loose its nature 2. What is there in your denyal to hearken to these calls of God Is there any thing less in it then this I will not be reconciled to God! I choose rather that God be mine enemy then that the world be not my friend I had rather have the wormwood and the gall then not the milk and the honey God saies give me thine heart no he shall never have it I have bestowed it on the world and there let it go God saies Take me for thy portion no I will not let me have my portion in this life God saies take me for thy Lord no I will not I will not that God shall reign over me God saies as thou hopest for mercy hearken as thou hopest for mercy submit to me refuse at thy peril be a worldling at thy peril be a sensualist at thy peril well at my peril be it I will run the hazard of that mercy or no mercy I cannot hearken to that word which is so contrary to me Is not all this comprehended in your denyal to come off from the world O tremble and now at length come and give in your answer Are there any of you that will yet say to me as those Jews Jer. 44. 16. The word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not do or as those Jer. 2. 25. there is no hope as good hold thy peace speak no more to us about it for we will not hearken we have loved strangers and after them we will go we have loved our companions and after them we will go There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices we will walk after the imagination of our own evil heart Jer. 18. 12. Is there no hope indeed would you henceforth be given over as hopeless would you that the Ambassadours of the Lord keep silence and for ever give you over as lost men shall there be no more treaty with you about this thing would you that we should preach no more to you nor pray no more for you that you may be brought to a better mind May there not be yet hope concerning you may you not yet be convinced may you not yet be perswaded This once let me prevail with you Oh might we hear such a word from you We have done with all our Idols to the Moles and to the Batts with them all we have done with this vain earthly life no more such madness to venture eternity for minutes to stake the everlasting kingdom for pictures and shadows Come we will hearken to the Lord this day hitherto we have been written in the earth henceforth for the invisible world hitherto we have lived in pleasures we have been sowing to the flesh we have been labouring for the wind we have been laying up our treasure on earth we have been gathering in dirt and throwing away Manna we have fed upon ashes and trod upon pearls our life hath been either a meer play or a labour for bubles Henceforth for substance for the durable riches for the everlasting pleasures for the bags that wax not old the treasure in Heaven that faileth not What say you brethren shall this be your voice will you hearken to the Lord at length give in your answer will you now become enemies to the world will you indeed shall your Souls and it now be parted Then go and draw up a writing of divorcement carry it before the Lord and acknowledg it as your act and deed and giving your selves to him go presently and take your leave of all things under the Sun Bid farewell to those that are with you in the house farwel Father farewel Child farewel Husband farewel Wife Bid farewel to all within doors and without farewel Goods farewel Mony farewel Sheep and Oxen Lands and Livings farewel my pleasant habitation farewel my merry dayes and easy nights farewel my friends and dear acquaintance farewel love friendship credit in the world farewel liberty and life Go take your leave of all the world to day stay not till to morrow lest it again intangle you and bewitch you into another mind And this is the leave I would advise you to take of all you have Be able to say to them all I am none of yours you are none of mine I am none of yours I have given my self to the Lord you are none of mine with my self I have given away you all the Lord hath given you me and to him I return you and shall not henceforth count you any thing to me but what you are to him I have given him the right of you and when he calls for it I will give him possession I can enjoy you and I can want you I can be thankful for fruition and I can bear your loss with what I have I am content if I have not I will be patient whether I have or no I am still the same and henceforth I will seek you as if I sought you not I will use you as if I used you not while you are with me I will rejoyce as if I rejoyced not that I may weep as if I wept not when we must part and I must know you no more Go thus and take your leave to day or if you find it more then one dayes work as 't is like you may set to it every day let not your hearts be quiet till they and this world be thus parted And then arise put on thy sandals and after thy crucified Lord Deny thy self take up thy cross and follow him and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven FINIS
When I awake I am still with thee that is my thoughts are presently with thee my meditations are of thee and where my thoughts are there am I. When the thoughts are with God the soul is with God when the thoughts are in the earth and mud the soul is all bemired The soul goes forth to view to taste and to chuse for it self the thoughts take a view the affections and senses taste and take the relish and then accordingly the will chuses The will should nakedly follow the understanding and chuse only what the unbyassed judgment tells it is good but it does too ordinarily follow the affections and senses these blind the reason and so ingage the will we chuse what we love and what pleases rather then what upon an impartial deliberation we judge to be good The things of both worlds work upon hearts objectively by the good or evil that is apprehended in them they accordingly affect us our thoughts search into things what there is in them when our thoughts by searching find out God God is regarded and when they are in search after the world they make a shift to fancy this to be good and accordingly it is imbraced The thoughts are the feet and the eyes of the soul the feet Eccles 5. 1. keep thy feet when thou goest into the house of God that is keep and look well to thy thoughts The eyes Prov. 17. 24. The eyes of a fool that is his thoughts are in the ends of the earth the rovings of the thoughts are the souls compassing the earth and its walking to and fro to the ends thereof Keep your thoughts in by the Lord and you keep your souls in your thoughts will be in exercise will be walking daily and hourly some whither or other there 's no keeping them in they will abroad either to heaven or earth oh send them to heaven daily and hold them there let them have no leisure to wander in this earth Brethren think your selves up to heaven as we may pray our selves up and believe our selves up to heaven so we may think our selves thither worldly men think themselves into pride or think themselves into covetousness or think themselves into wantonness are so long thinking and thinking in fuel for lust till they have set it all in a flame as worldly men think themselves into wickedness so let Christians think themselves into holiness think themselves into humility sobriety contentation and heavenliness of mind call off your thoughts from this earth and you will cease to be earthly call them back from vanity and you will cease to be vain call them up to heaven and you call them off from what 's below Think on God more Christians and the everlasting Kingdome think on the way that leads to it on the dangers that lie in the way on the dread of perishing in the way on the beauty and pleasure and comfort of being upright in the way of the goal and prize that is at the end of the way Take up such thoughts as these Is not God better then the world that is is not all things better then nothing Is not grace better then sin that is is not fair better then foul Is not peace better then wrath peace with God then friendship with the world are not the fillings of Gold better then heaps of earth Is a little grace so good and is not more desirable can there be much grace where the desire is so divided betwixt it and vanity Is gold in the Our so precious as gold out of the fire Is the twilight pleasant O what is the day light Is a mixture of flesh and spirit of heaven and earth as desirable as all spirit all heaven If grace be so good if peace with God be so precious why do I not seek it if I have a little grace if I have a little peace why do I not press for more when shall I increase and grow rich towards God if I do not decrease towards this earth Be thinking thus on heaven and heavenly things and if you will be thinking of earth too think of the dark places of the earth and the dark side of its brightness think of the precipices the marishes the quagmires the barren Mountains and desolate Wildernesses the bryars and thorns and wild beasts of the earth my meaning is if you will study the world study its vanity and vexations the danger you are in of being lost or torn in pieces or swallow'd up of them How uncertain are these riches how vanishing is this mirth how unconstant are these friends what a blast are these honors what a flash are these pleasures what a bubble are these buildings how long will they lust what will be left of them a few years hence But O the thorns and the bryars the vexations the cares the fears the disappointments the crosses the sweat and the sorrows that are mingled with these pleasures and possessions But yet farther O the darts and the arrows and the stings that come after O the stabs and the wounds that they give to the soul the darkness and death and damnation that they are dragging it into If you will be thinking on the world let it be with such thoughts as these and then see if it would be so hard to make an exchange of earth for heaven Brethren the reason why it is so hard a work for the Ministry to perswade in souls to Christ is because we cannot get them to entertain any serious thoughts of Christ and of the blessedness that comes in with him the reason why we cannot fetch them off from the world is because we cannot perswade them to think as they should of it of the vanity of it of the bondage it holds them in and the misery it subjects them to If we could but set you a thinking once what harm would it be to me to hearken to Christ what will become of me if I do not hearken to him when shall I come to Christ if I still cleave to this present world what if I should never come but should stand at this distance from him to my dying day Can I ever hope for mercy from Christ if for the love of the world I now refuse him will he regard my cryes when hereafter I shall call Lord open to me Lord answer for me Lord save me if I reject him when he calls Soul open to me Soul submit to me How shall I stand in the Judgment if I have no Christ to stand with me will my estate will my pleasures will my friends be good Advocates for me in that day will this be a good Plea Lord Jesus appear for me let thy wounds plead let thy bloud plead for me let me stand as one of thine for I am he that would none of thee I set at nought thy counsels and despised thy Covenant and trampled upon thy bloud and preferr'd my house and my money and my pleasures and my lusts before