few considerations to presse thee to put a stop unto thy sinnings hoping that though thou hast gone far yet thou mayst return while thou art out of Hell thou art within our call and within the reach of Exhortation and reproof God hath called often to thee to return and yet thou hast not returned but art going on unto destruction The Son of God hath called to thee and said How long wilt thou goe on in thy Rebellion against him that would redeem and save thy soul he hath told thee if thou dost proceed thou must be damned and said the Mercy of God will not save thee and my Merits they will not they shall not save thee but if thou wilt return to God and come to me here is mercy for thee here is pardon for thee and I will give eternal life unto thee The Spirit of God hath often moved upon thy heart he hath been often knocking at thy doore that thou wouldest open thy heart and let him in and he would apply the blood of Christ unto thee and he would fill thee with better joyes and better pleasures and better comforts than thou ever foundest in the way of sin But hitherto thou hast stopped thine ears and stiffened thy neck and hardened thy heart and wouldest not hearken nor obey The Ministers of God have often wooed thee and beseeched thee with tears in their eyes and sorrow in their hearts as if their happiness had been wrapped up in thine and as if they could not have gone to Heaven and been saved without thee while patience waited upon thee they have been earnest with thee and now at last one unworthy to preach the Gospel is a suiter to thy soul that thou wouldest be divorced from thy sin and be married unto Christ as yet thou art out of hell and art not yet reckoned among the dead nor numbred amongst the damned as yet thou art not irrecoverably lost this day Christ is once more tendred to thee in the name of God I once more offer thee pardon and eternall life upon thy repenting of thy sin and turning unto God Oh that I could perswade thee or if I cannot as indeed I cannot oh that God would yet perswade thee If I might be serviceable to thy soule oh how should I rejoyce if I did but know where thou dost dwell that hast been wicked all thy dayes and now art reading of these lines having a purpose in thy heart to come to Christ I would come to thee as opportunity was offered and beg upon my knees that thou wouldest cherish those purposes and be perswaded to what conduceth to thy eternall happiness if teares and prayers would do it I would endeavour though my heart is hard to shed them for thee if putting my hands under thy feet and stooping to the meanest office of love unto thy soule would excite thee to let Christ into thy heart how readily by the grace of God would I be willing to it I beseech thee by the mercies of God by the death of Christ by the coming of our Lord by the love thou bearest to thy self as ever thou wouldest see the face of Christ with comfort as ever thou wouldest escape the damnation of Hell return at last and though it be late yet return at last But if thou wilt not let God be my witness let as many as read these lines be my witnesses let thy own Conscience be my witness that thou hast been asked entreated yea earnestly entreated to reform and mend and turn to God But in hopes that I may prevail I beseech thee in the fear of God give in a sober and deliberate answer unto these following Questions First Whether art thou going while thou art waxing worse and worse Dost thou know that Hell is at the end of the way in which thou art daily walking Dost thou know that if thou dost proceed a little further a little longer in this course thou wilt be among the Devils those cursed Fiends of Hell Or dost thou know it and yet wilt venture to dance about the brink of a bottomless pit who hath bewitched thee or what hath made thee mad that thou seest thou art going unto Hell and yet wilt venture on Secondly Dost thou believe the Scripture to be the Word of God or dost thou not And are the threatnings contained therein true thinkest thou or are they not Wilt thou say they be false or that they were found out by some Precisians or are the workings of some melancholly brain or that they were found out by some Politician to keep the world in awe I would have thee know that to thy eternal sorrow thou shalt finde them all true even to a tittle and to thy everlasting woe shalt know the truth of Gods Word When thou art shrieking in the flames of Hell and roaring hideously among the damned because of Gods eternal wrath thou shalt be convinced that the wicked shall be turned into Hell that the Unbeliever shall be damned and that it was true which thou wast told that without repentance there was no deliverance from eternal condemnation But if thou dost believe this Word to be true what aileth thee then to live as thou dost that thou actest quite contrary to what is contained in the Word of God Doth not the Word of God in a thousand places cry down sin and press to holiness doth it not tell thee the drunkard the covetous the unbelieving the lyar shall be damned If thou never didst observe such places take thy Bible and turn unto them 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Rev. 21.8 Heb. 12.14 Gal. 5.20 to 25. Col. 3.5 6. Eph. 5.5 6. Mar. 16.16 Mat. 18.3 Luk. 13.3 5. Canst thou read and believe these Scriptures to be true and yet goe on in the practice of those things that the eternal holy God doth forbid upon pain of eternal torments Wilt thou be worse than thy very beast which thou canst not force into the fire when he seeth it before him Shall I call out thy Neighbours to behold a dreadful sight viz. A man that knowes he is in the way to Hell and yet will goe on Thirdly With what face or heart canst thou hope as thou dost that God will pardon thy sin or save thy soul while thou persistest in thy wickedness and encreasest therein Shew me an instance of any one man in all the Word of God that was pardoned and saved who repented not and I will be thy slave for ever I know great sinners have been saved and I know those that have gone far have obtained mercy Manasseh did 2 Chron. 33.12 13. Mary Magdalene did Luk. 7. But then they turned unto God Canst thou say there is any one now in Heaven that did not repent and believe before he dyed or dost thou think that thou shalt be the only man Fourthly Whom dost thou set thy self against Or who is it that thou dost provoke whose anger and indignation art thou daily kindling against thy self What
would improve this Mercy that God hath spared you you must live to God and walk in newness of life DIRECTION IX HAth God spared you in time of so great Contagion Then keep upon your heart a constant sense of Gods distinguishing Providence in his preservation of you Let not length of time if God give it you wear off the greatness of this his Mercy towards you if you forget Gods goodness you will not walk worthy of it This was the sin of the People of Israel for whom God did such great things Psal 78.10 They kept not the Covenant of God and refused to walk in his Law Vers 11. And forgot his Works and his Wonders that he had shewed them Psal 106.21 They forgot God their Saviour which had done great things in Egypt God hath done great wonders for you in preserving of you in the valley of the shadow of death God hath not given you over unto death God hath not laid you in the Grave where you would soon have been forgotten do not you lay Gods Mercy towards you in the grave of oblivion nor bury his mercy of saving you alive in forgetfulness David laid a charge upon his Soul that he should not forget the benefits of the Lord towards him Psal 103.2 Set down therefore and Record your danger what it was Such a Moneth in such a Year the Plague was nigh my dwelling it came into my house it took away so many of my Children and Servants but God spared me he took away the Wife the Husband of my bosome but God spared me yea it was upon my Body so many Plague-Sores were running at once and God delivered me from the Grave and from the very jawes of death and will you forget this while you live That you may have and keep a sense of Gods mercy to you in preserving of you consider these few particulars 1. Consider you had deserved the Plague and death by the Plague as well as those that have fallen into their Graves thereby and it may be more too do not think that those that have died were greater sinners than you Luke 13.2 And Jesus answered and said unto them suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things Vers 3. I tell you nay but except you repent ye shall all likewise perish Vers 4. Or those eighteen upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell and slew them think ye that they were sinners above all Men that dwelt in Jerusalem Vers 5. I tell you nay but extept ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Do you think that those whom the Plague hath slaughtered that they were greater sinners then all that dwelt in London Take heed of such conceptions Or if many have fallen in this judgment that were of worser Lives than you yet none have fâ—llen that had worser Hearts than you naturally hâ—ve Nay have not your sins been capable of greater â—ggravations than the sins of many Dâ—unkards and Swearers and prophane Peâ—sons that did never sin against a God that pardoned their sins that did never sin against such love nor after such experiences of the working of Gods Spirit upon their hearâ—s as you have had Nay consider that you are not likely â—o do God that service nor bring to God that Glory that some of them might have done that are now in their Grâ—ves if God had spared them and yet God hath lengthened out your life Oh what an Obligation should this be to you to remember Gods Mercy that you had Plague-deserving-sins but yet you had not the Plague that you have death-deserving-sins and yet you are not dead 2. Consider you had a Body as liable to Infection as many others had There were such natural causes in your Body that might have laid you in your Grave if God had not prevented it and did not you suck in the same Aire as others did yea as others breathed out and yet God hath kept you 3. Consider you had no better Preservatives nor Cordials then many others had that yet by the Plague are laid silent in the Grave and are now resting in the dust and others that now are dead used the same meanes as you did and it may be more and better too and yet God denyed his blessing to the use of those meanes that were more probable to prevent Infection then yours were by this you may be convinced that it was the hand of God that hath preserved you and therefore by this you should be obliged to remember and keep upon your heart a sense of Gods mercy towards you 4. Consider you have been in more visible danger and when you were called did venture further then many others did some were more reserved and kept from Company more than you have done being called to Duty where Visited Persons have been as to help them that were sick of this Distemper c. and yet some that lived more retiredly and kept themselves more close were Visited and are dead and yet you have escaped this is the finger of Divine Providence and will you let the sense of this weare off from your heart 5. Consider that you have been more weakly and more infirme of Body then many of them that the Plague hath removed Many that were more likely to out-live you are cut down before you Many that were strong and of healthful constitutions are laid in the Dust while you that have been waiting for your dissolution many Moneths or Years because of the infirmity of your Body and the frequent distempers that have been upon you are preserved 6. Consider how great a Mercy your praservation is not onely to your self but to those to whom you are related You have many little Children that are not able to help themselves nor to provide for themselves that in all likelihood would have been exposed to hardships and to want if God had taken you from them They are sharers in this Mercy of your Preservation and the more are concerned in it the greater the Mercy is and the deeper and more lasting sense it should make upon your heart The thoughts of your Children did increase your feares and trouble when you were in danger and should not the consideration of this advance the greatness of the Mercy of being continued to them DIRECTION X. HAth God spared you in time of Pestilence when he hath taken away many of your own Relations then the fewer objects you have for your love now the stronger let your love be towards God then it was before In steâ—d of murmuring against God that you have lost those whom you did love the greater let your love be to God since you hâ—ve not so many for to love Love lâ—id out upon many objects is the weaker buâ— love united and spent upon one object is tâ—e stronger As those that have but one only Son love that more then those that have more do love any because their love is divided
thankful and to give to God the Glory of your Preservation 3. Retain in your memory the greatness of this Mercy when you have apprehended how great it is a forgetfull person will be an unthankful person When David would have his Soul to bless God for his Mercy he layes a charge upon himself not to forget the Benefits he had received Psal 103.2 Bless the Lord oh my Soul and forget not all his benefits Record Gods Mercy to you herein and get it imprinted on the Table of your heart forgetfulness is a great hinderance to every duty as some Men forget their sins and they will not be humbled for them Some Men forget Gods Mercies and they will not be thankful for them some forget both and are neither penitent nor thankful So to remember some things and forget others is very injurious to Mens Soules as Some remember Gods Mercy and forget their sins and these presume Some remember their sins and forget Gods Mercy and these despaire But it is best to remember both our sins and Gods Mercy the one will make us humble and the other thankfull 4. Let the Relations that God hath continued unto you have a roome in your heart and affection according to the measure that God commands He that hath Children spared and hath not sutable affections for them will not cannot be thankful unto God for the continuance of their lives and so Husbands and Wives but then you must love them and your own life but according to the measure that God allowes For to love any of these your Relations or your Life immoderately will not be to be thankful for them but to abuse them and make Idols of them Let your own Life and your Relations have their allowance of your love but no â—re 5. Pray to God for a Praising Thankful heart for this Mercy God gives us all our Mercies and God must give us a Thankful heart for these Mercies else we cannot give to God the glory of them When you were in your danger you were afraid least God should deny you life when you Prayed unto him for it but are you as afraid least you should not have an heart thankfully to improve it when he hath granted it unto you You Prayed for life now Pray to God to make you thankful and thankfully to improve it 6. Labour to keep your Graces lively and vigorous To Praise God is a lively Work and a dull heart cannot do it You must love God for his Mercy if you would Praise him for his Mercy You must delight in God if you would Praise him the more lively your graces are the more sweet and comfortable your Life will be and the more comfort you have in life the more your heart will be engaged to give God the glory of it and so shall you be found amongst those few that do endeavour to live in some measure answerably to so great a Mercy as Preservation from the grave in a time of Plague FINIS The first pâ—rt of the first Direction contains 7 Questions Question First Six things premised for explication * Peâ—deâ— haec peccati differentia graduum 1 A respectu personae a qua admittitur 2 A gâ—nere natura rei 3 Ah intensione remissione actus 4 ratione et modo patrandi 5 A circumstantiis loci temporis c. Ames â—ed p. 65. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Vitam â— Dei appellat vitam illam qua deus vivit in suis quamque praecipit approbat Beza in loc * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opera quaestus * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. quasi agatur de luâ—â—n ita ut â—liuâ— alium superare conteâ—dâ—t Beza in loc Scriptures shewing many wax worse Nemo repente sit turpissimus sed sensim sine sensu Psal 1. v. 1. opened a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tam id quod consulitur quam quod consilio efficitur by th b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mos consuetudo studium quae sunt quasi viae per quas incedunt versonturque by th * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambulavit metaphoricè usurpatur de vita moribus actionibus * Nomen plurale absque singulari ex conjugatione Pihel deductum idcoque significationem intendit ac Habitum denotat â—iâ—lmer in Psal Arguments proving wicked men wax worse From sin Sin disposeth the heart to sin Sin begets sin Sin is linked to sin Rom. 6.6 Sin infects the sinner Sin is unsatiable Oculi sunt in amore duces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Satan Absence of Grace Question Second 10 rounds in the sinners Ladder to hell Natural Concupiscence Temptation Inclination â—am 1.14 is inticed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifiâ—th baiting as men doe bait for fishes Rom. 7.7.14 15 16 17. Consent Action Iteration Habit. Hardness contracted * Peccata sive sint commissionis sive omissionis per multiplicationem diuturnam in consuctudinem ducta inveterata pravum habitum gignunt ac quasi callum obducunt voluntati simuâ—â—c menti Ames Med. p. 67. Hardness judiciall 7 things about Gods hardning mens heaâ—ts Deus concurrit ad actum non ad malitiam actûs * Excaecatio activa tribuitur Deo Satanae homini scipsum excaecanti satanas Homo in ista actione gravissimè peccant deus autem justissimè agit Strangius de volun Dei circa peccatum p 819. Modi notandi sunt quibus dicitur Deus indurâ—re 1 Quia Deus juste deserit eos a quibus desertus est suumque auxilium subtrabit aut denegat privatque eos donis suis quibus illi perverse abusi sunt idem p. 824. 2 viam eis aperit objecta occasiones subministrans quibus illi flagitia exequantur ut in perniciem suam ruant 826. 3 Offert confert aut facit ea quae sua natura hominem ad bonum converterent atque ad illustrandum emollieadum volerent sed abutentium vitio fit ut magis obdurentur p. 827. 4 flagella flagellorum remotio adversa impiorum indurationem promovent iisque pulsati inster ineudis sub malleo magis indurescunt p. 828. Finall impenitence Question Third Prosperity makes the wicked worse * Psal 50.18 19 20 21. Adversity makes wicked men worse Deliverances make wicked men worse Wicked men are worse By the Word * Sciendum est Evangelium non perimere quenquam sed evangelii contemptum Bez. in 2 Cor. 2.16 By the Sacrament Grande id nefas quando remedium non modo non proficit aegro sed in venenum vertitur Par. in 1 Cor. 11. Question Fourth Reasons are 1. From God 2. From the Elect converted 3. From Elect unconverted 4. From Reprobates Question Fifth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnium quo qui laborat ad quodvis scelus paratus est Joh. 8.44 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In crastinum recondere quo significatur homines dum cupiditatibus suis quotidie indulgendo
them still The sins that were offensive unto God at first are amongst us still the sins continue the Judgement removed Oh stand and wonder at this that when Justice hath cut down so many that Mercy yet hath spared so many especially if you seriously consider Gods holiness and purity Gods justice and severity Gods infinite hatred unto sin and that it is not the death of thousands that can satisfie Gods Justice nor the death of those that are gone down into the grave that have pacified Gods wrath for us that do yet remain alive What may be the Reasons 1. God hath done this for his own Names sake If you goe to the Church-yards and Burial places in and about the City and see the heaps of dead bodyes and ask Why hath God done this We must answer We all have sinned If you goe into your houses and dwelling places and finde so many living after so great a Mortality and ask why hath God done this We must answer It is for his own Name sake The Plague was inflicted because we had displeased him but it is removed because Mercy hath pleased him We had deserved the inflicting of it but could not merit the removing of it In this late Providence Justice and Mercy have been wonderfully magnified Justice in removing so many thousands and laying them in their graves Mercy in sparing so many thousands and maintaining them in life that have been so long walking in the Valley of the shadow of death This is because God in the midst of Judgement hath remembred Mercy Ezek. 36.21 But I had pity for mine holy Name ver 22. Therefore say unto the house of Israel thus saith the Lord God I doe not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for mine holy Name sake So when God gives good things as well as when he removeth evil it is for his Name sake God hath taken away your sickness and plague-sores and given you health Vers 31. Then shall ye remember your own evil wayes and your doings that were not good and shall loathe your selves in your own sight for your Iniquities and for your Abominations V. 32. Not for your sakes doe I this saith the Lord God be it known unto you be ashamed and confounded for your own wayes O house of Israel Oh if you have been spared for his Names sake then let all the praise of your life be unto his holy Name But then you must not be worse but better than you were 2. God hath removed his Judgement in answer to the Prayers of his people Prayer hath been an ancient Antidote against the Plague and many have been preserved from the grave as a return to prayer and so it hath of old been prevalent for the removing of the Plague And therefore Magistrates commanding the people to fast and pray proceeded in Solomons course to have it removed 1 King 8.37 If there be in the Land Famine if there be Pestilence whatsoever Plague whatsoever sickness there be What must they do then Vers 38. What prayer and supplication prayer you see is a Panpharmacum a remedy for every disease soever be made by any man or by all thy people Israel which shall know every man the plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands towards this house Vers 39. Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place and forgive Prayer is the remedy prescribed by Solomon But what are the persons whose prayers shall prevail for the removing of so sore a judgement Not those that have Plague-wishes so often in their mouthes but the prayer of any man that knoweth i. e. seeth and is sensible of the Plague of his own heart 3. God may remove judgements for the benefit of his Elect that yet may be unconverted and in mercy to them who may be yet in their sins God may stay this Plague it might be for some yet unborn that may proceed from the Loyns of some that are now worse than they were before The patience and long-suffering of God is conducible to the conversion and salvation of Gods Elect 2 Pet. 3.15 And doth lead men to repentance Rom. 2.4 Many peradventure have not yet repented whom God will bring to glory and he that hath designed them to the end will preserve them in life till the means have been effectual to fit them for that end 4. God may spare some that are worse by removing judgements because as yet they are not ripe enough for slaughter The Oxe is spared longer time because not yet fit for the Shambles Thus God spared Jerusalem till they had filled up the measure of their sins Mat. 23.32 And so God exercised patience towards the Amorites till their iniquity was full Gen 15.16 God may remove and keep off judgement from some and this may be in judgement to them as he may in mercy deny some mercies unto some SECT XII What are the aggravations of this great impiety to be worse after Gods sorest judgements than they were before THat many wicked men are so we have shewed before and given the proof and reasons of it But wo to you whose case this is Is this the return you make to God Is this the fruit of his patience and forbearance to you Do you thus requite the Lord Oh foolish people and unwise Deut. 32.6 Will you seriously consider this evil frame of heart and this ungodly practise in your lives in these following particulars I. Are you worse then you were before then you are more like unto the Devil than you were before and the more unlike to God that made you A man full of all sin and bent to every wickedness is called a childe of the Devil Act. 13.10 The Devil sins as much as he can and thou dost as wickedly as thou canst Jer. 3.5 It is a folly in men to picture things immaterial and invisible and living by things without life material and visible never send a man to view the picture of the Devil with a cloven foot drawn by Art the most exact and accurate lively picture of the Devil as a Devil that is as a sinner is the worst of wicked men and who are worse than thou that neither mercy can draw nor judgement drive to God and Christ II. The worse you grow and the further you proceed in sin the more impudent you will be in the commission of it The beginnings of sin are often done with blushings of face but the progress in sin is voide of all modesty then you will be drunk and glory in it then you will swear and not be ashamed of it Jer. 6.15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush Pro. 7.13 III. The further thou proceedest in making progress in thy sin the more it is to be feared thou wilt never return but if thou shouldest the more thou hast to sorrow for It is but very rare that God bringeth
to get a thankful heart for so great a mercy SECT I. HOw or with what must those that are preâ—erved give thanks to God This must be done three waies 1. You must praise God with your tongues Your lips must shew forth his praises Psal 51.15 Your tongue must sing aloud of Gods righteousness and mercy For this end God hath preserved you Psal 30.11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing thou hast put off my sackcloath and girded me with gladness Ver. 12. To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever By glory David means his tongue The Tongue is the glory of a man it being his priviledge above all Creatures with the tongue to form articulate words having distinction of sound for the communicating of the conceptions of his mind unto others Thus we should praise God by speaking of his excellencies and perfections of his nature of his works and waies of his dealings with us of the danger he hath delivered us from of the good he hath given to us of the salvation he hath wrought for us 2. You must praise God with your heart as well as with your tongue for as prayer for mercy with the tongue without the heart will not be profitable to us so praises with the tongue for mercy received without the heart will not be acceptable unto God To praise God with the heart is the very heart of our praises Thus David that before called upon his tongue to bless God doth also elsewhere call upon his soul to do it Psal 103.1 Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name God blesseth us by giving good things unto us Eph. 1.3 We bless God when we do thankfully acknowledge the good things we receive from God You must then stir up your soul and all that is within you unto this great work of praise for so great Preservation 3. You must praise God in your lives and by your works and conversations You must not only speak Gods praises but you must live to his praise you must do it with life and in and by your life Life is the mercy I call upon you to praise God for and you must do it by your life You may praise God with your lips and not with your hearts but if you do indeed praise God with your heart you will also do it by your life If you will give thanks indeed you must live thanks The best thanks-giving is thanks-doing Thus if you would be thankful for the life of your children shew it by your religious care in their holy Education That God might not say of you I spared such a mans Children in time of Plague and afterwards he brought them up to dishonour me and to sin against me if you would be thankful for your own life then lay it out in holy walking with God SECT II. WIth what Arguments should the people of God urge their own hearts thus in tongue in heart and life to praise and glorifie God for his preserving of them Work your heart hereunto with these following Arguments Consider 1. Should not you thus praise God for your preservation from danger by the Plague Who did make this one of your Arguments to prevail with God by prayer in time of danger to preserve you Did not you reason thus with God in time of sickness Lord lengthen out the life of thy servant O Lord deliver my soul O save me for thy mercies sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thanks What profit is there in my bloud when I go down into the pit Shall the dust praise thee Shall it declare thy truth The grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth The living the living he shall praise thee Were not these your pleadings at the throne of grace And did not you promise to God and purpose in your heart that if God would spare you you would celebrate his praises And shall not there be a correspondence betwixt your actions when you were in fears and your actions when your great danger by the Plague is over 2. Should not you thus praise God for your preservation Who have such examples for your practice recorded in the Scripture When Hezekiah had been sick and was recovered he sang forth the praises of the Lord Isa 38.19 20. When David had been in danger of death and was delivered he deliberates with himself what he should return and render to the Lord Psal 116.12 13 c. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the cup of Salvation and will call upon the name of the Lord. Ver. 17. I will offer unto thee the sacrifice of thanks-giving For your imitation consider Davids practice 1. He propounds a case of conscience Since I was brought low and the Lord hath helped me since the sorrows of death have compassed me about and God hath delivered me what shall I render What must I do What return must I make And he presseth himself to this by four forcible Arguments in these words for all his benefits towards me He considered First Benefits received Kindnesses call for acknowledgments favours are obliging We must give thanks in and for afflictions much more when we are delivered I deserved judgments but benefits have been my receipt Secondly The Author of them His benefits The kindnesses of men should not be forgotten much less the benefits of God Your life is a benefit and God is the Author of it Thirdly The Number of them All his benefits they were many not a few Three things are innumerable Gods mercies to us Our sins against God The evils that good men suffer Psal 40.5 12. Fourthly The Person to whom they were given For all his benefits to me Hath God indeed given such mercy to me Hath God continued life to me so vile so unworthy Oh what shall I render 2. He resolves this case propounded I will take the Cup of salvation I will offer the sacrifice of praise God hath taken from you for the present the Cup of death which was to so many a Cup of trembling he hath removed your Cup of affliction and instead thereof hath given you a Cup of Consolation and a cup running over with variety of mercies and will not you take the Cup of Salvation and offer the Sacrifice of praise Do you see David in the like case so diligent and inquisitive what to render and so peremptory and resolute to offer praise to God and will not you go and do likewise 3. Is not this the noblest work you can engage in to praise God and to celebrate with thankfulness the greatness of his mercy and goodness It is the work of Angels to be praising
God and when you take your flight into heaven and are perfectly removed from sin sorrow suffering temptation wants you shall do nothing else but love and praise and admire God And will you not in the mean while accustome your self to that work on earth which shall be your imployment in heaven And will you not take occasion hereunto by so great a mercy as God at such a time as this hath vouchsafed you 4. Is not God most worthy of your highest and your heartiest praises You were not worthy of Gods mercies you were not worthy of life but God is worthy of the best of your praises were they as perfect as the Hallelujahs of the Saints in heaven God indeed is above all praise Neh. 9.5 But yet he is pleased with his peoples praising of him 5. Will you praise the efficacy of your Antidotes and the skill of your able Physitian by whose help you have been under God preserved And will you not be much more in praising of God for your safety when without his blessing all had been ineffectual Will you praise the Instrument and means and say I had an able Doctor and not the principal cause of your preservation and say I had a good God 6. Will not you praise God for his mercy towards you no not for your life when this is all that God requireth at your hands that you should be thâ—nkful for your life and thankfully improve it for his glory You cannot make a requital but God expecteth some return you cannot make a retaltation but God looketh for some retribution And will not you think an alms ill bestowed upon that beggar that will not give you thanks And will not life be continued to the aggravation of your sin if you are not thankful for it 7. Is not this a duty that will well become you A Christian doth then act most like a Christian when he is praising God in tongue in heart and life Psal 33.1 2. and 147.1 Praise is comely for the upright Three things are very comely To weep as a Sinner to walk as a Saint to rejoyce as a Son 8. Will not you give to God the glory of his preserving providence when if you do not that are Gods people none else will The wicked that are spared they will not they cannot praise God they will dishonour him they will speak to Gods dishonour and act to Gods dishonour so that if you do not praise God for his sparing so many alive none else will And shall God be without all thankful acknowledgments of his remembring mercy in the midst of judgment God forbid That amongst all the thousands that are spared there should be none found making some thankful return to God This number will be but small amongst the Ten Lepers that were cleansed there was but one found thankful If you would not have God to lose the glory of his providence then you must be the men that must honour him for it Many wicked men were not found praying to be preserved much less will they be found praising when they are preserved 9. Have you more cause to bless God for life than others have and yet will not you do it Your life is more sweet and comfortable to you than the lives of wicked men are or can be forasmuch as you have those comforts with life and that Communion with God in life that wicked men have not They live only a natural life and have only the sweetness of natural life but you with this life have also the comforts of an higher life and yet will not you bless God for it They are delivered from the Grave for a while but not from the wrath of God too from the Grave but not from the danger of hell too but so are you And have you so much cause to bless God for life and will you want an heart to bless him 10. Is this the most effectual way to have life continued to you and yet will not you do it To have life continued will be to be thankful for it else God finding you unthankful when the Plague is over might commission death by some other distemper to take that from you which you would not be thankful for 11. Is not life the sweetest of all earthly mercies and more to be prized and yet will not you be thankfull to God for it that hath so signally continued it unto you Skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life And yet will not you give thanks to God for life What earthly thing will you be thankful for â—nd what mercy upon earth will you make returns to God for if not for life 12. Do you finde unthankful Men placed amongst the greatest rank of sinners and yet will you be unthankful Unthankful Persons are numbred among Blasphemers Covetous Disobedient to Parents such as are without Natural affection false Accusers Despisers of those that are good c. 2 Tim. 3.2 3 4. and will you yet be unthankful and that for your Life Thus by these considerations you should press your heart to give Praises to God for this so great Preservation SECTION III. III. WHat is the course that those that remain after this Judgment should take to be thankful to God and to render Praises to him for the Preservation of themselves and those of their Relations continued to them Take these Rules 1. If you would render Thankes to God in Tongue in Heâ—rt and Lâ—fe for this Mercy then get a right judgment of the worth and greatness of the Mercy that you and some of yours are continued after this Visitation Those that do not prize a Mercy will never be thankful for it What a Mercy is life to you that are not yet assured of the love of God What a Mercy is life to you that are not yet certain of the Salvation of your Soules or if you are sure of Heaven yet is life to you a great Mercy that you have time to do the Works that God hath appointed you to do Consider also what a Mercy it is to have your Children continued that you may yet Instruct them and Pray for them that you may see Christ formed in them before you or they do die 2. If you would be thankful for life and have an heart to render Praises to the Lord for your own and your Relations consider how uncomfortable your Life had been had God continued you and taken away your neerest Relations and how uncomfortable your Life would have been had God continued them onely and taken you away from them You may consider while you live the Discomforts of your Relations and the sorrow of their hearts if God had removed you by death What an uncomfortable Widow would your Wife now have been what uncomfortable Orphans would your Children now have been You have enough before you and amongst you that are sad Instances of this Oh consider this and it will be a meanes to make you
make an alteration or a change in the heart of a sinner from worse to better except God sanctifie it The Plague upon the body is not a remedy in it self to cure the Plague of the heart for men love more the plague of their hearts than they loathe the plague of the body Possibly outward Judgements may put a stop to some mens sinnings for the present but they will return to them afterwards except God speak effectually to their hearts and consciences as well as lay his heavy stroaks upon the body Judgement to a sinner may be as a Barre to a Thief it may stop him from the present act but doth not change his heart or as a storm to a Mariner may make him cast Anchour for the present but still he retains his purpose of sayling in his Voyage when the storm is over they are oftner salve for their eyes to shew them their sin than physick for their hearts to purge them out sinners in Judgements might declaim against their sin but without a setled purpose in their hearts to decline their sin where there is Grace Afflictions work patience and submission but where there is nothing but corruption they often work passion and repining not Repentance the more God sent his Judgements and his Plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians the more they hardened themselves against God and his people and by Gods Judgements were not the better but the worse Exod. 7.19 to 23. Isa 1.5 Why should ye be smitten any more ye will revolt more and more Psal 78.30 They were not estranged from their Lusts but while their meat was in their mouths v. 31. the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them V. 32. For all this they sinned still and believed not for his wondrous works And as it was with the woman that had an Issue of blood twelve years in respect of her bodily distemper after great cost and charge and use of means she was nothing bettered but rather grew worse Mar. 5. 25 26. so under Gods Judgements it is with most wicked men in respect of their spiritual state they are nothing bettered but rather grow worse And this appears First Because in time of Judgment they are not separated from their dross Ezek. 24.13 In thy filthiness is lewdness because I have purged thee i. e. God used purging Judgments and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee God hath been purging our houses but many have not been purging their hearts but retain their heart-filthiness stil and their life-wickedness stil If God in Judgement say to such You shall not be purged their case is irrecoverably miserable Secondly Because they are not more serious in Religion than they were before either they omit it wholly as before or are as dull and formal as they were before Thirdly Because they are not brought nearer unto God but are rather removed were it possible at a further distance from God than before And the Reasons of this are 1. Because When Gods hand is lifted up they will not see Isa 26.11 they look more to second Causes than to God 2. Because they search not after the sins that provoked God to so great indignation 3. Because if they do see their drunkenness and whoredoms and Sabbath-breaking yet they will not be humbled for them nor forsake them SECT IX III. WIcked men are oftentimes worse by Gods delivering them from Judgements and calamitous distresses Take a wicked man upon his sick bed when God is shaking him over the Grave and threatning him with death and affrighting him with the terrours of Hell you shall hear him acknowledge his sin confessing his drunkenness his neglect of his soul and you shall hear him it may be with tears in his eyes promising if God will raise him from his sickness and trust him with life and time a little longer he will forsake his wicked company and prophane the Sabbath no more If God will but try me saith the sick dying man how will I live and what will I doe and how obedient will I be to the Commands of God And when God answereth his desires in his restoration he performeth not his Promise in his reformation but is more wicked and more vile than before You might see this in Pharaoh when the Plagues were upon him Oh then send for Moses and let him entreat the Lord for me and then I will let Israel goe then he confesseth I and my people have sinned but the Lord is righteous Though many wicked men will not acknowledge nor confess their sin in times of Judgement so much as an hardened Pharaoh did But yet when the Plagues were removed he hardened himself more against God still Read Exod. 8.8.15.24.28.32 and 9.23.27 So Nehem. 9.27 28 29 30. And the Reasons are 1. Because after Judgements removed they are more secure and think the bitterness of death is past 2. Because they break their promises made to God in time of Judgements and so their sin is greater and their guilt is greater and therefore they the worser of this more under another Direction 3. Because Judgement is removed from them before they are purged from their sin When the Plaister is taken off before the sore is healed it will be worse the course of physick is not continued till the vitious humours are dispersed and purged away but Gods people desire the cure may be wrought before the Affliction be removed But Pharaoh was for the removing of the Plagues but not the hardness of his heart 4. Because they adde Incorrigibleness unto all their former sins and must answer for all those Judgements that were lost upon them Wicked men shall not only answer for their Mercies but for the Judgements God sent upon them to reclaim them Sinner God sent the Plague into thy house and then he looked thou shouldest have hastened to have thrown sin out of thy heart but thou hast not done it God did cast thee upon a bed of sickness but thy bed of sickness was not to thee a bed of sorrow for thy sin thou howledst and cryedst our of thy loathsom running-sores but not of thy filthy heart and more loathsome sins thy body was pained but thy heart not broken thou hast been punished and delivered but art not reformed but know the more thou hast sinned and the more thou hast been punished here and yet sin still the more shalt thou be tormented in hell For these thou shouldest look upon as means which God doth use to bring thee to himself and the more means thou hardenest thy self against the more is thy sin and the more shal be thy misery Thus wicked men are oftentimes the worse by Gods Providences But if this be thy case that readest these Lines that wast a drunkard before and wilt be drunk more frequently now that wast a lukewarm Formalist before the Plague begun but now
those back that are come up to an height of sin sometimes he doth that none might despair but very rarely that none might presume It is to be feared thou art forsaken of God and he hath left thee to thy self when word nor rod can reclaim thee from thy sin nor put a restraint upon thee from waxing worse IV. The worse thou art after such a judgement The sooner God will be provoked to hast on thy destruction by some other God hath not spent all his arrows in the late judgement he hath his Quiver full still and if thou go on when God giveth thee yet a space to repent after so great a warning by the Plague he will ere long cast thee into a bed of trouble Rev. 2.21 22. Thy increased wickedness is to Gods wrath as the blast to the fire will quickly blow it up into a flame though thy conscience is asleep yet thy damnation slumbereth not 2 Pet. 2.1.3 while thou lingerest in thy sin Gods judgements do not linger but are upon the wing and the worse thou art the sooner will they befall thee and be more heavy when they come Jer. 48.16 The calamity of Moab is near to come and his affliction hasteth fast V. The worse thou growest the more thou heapest up treasures of wrath and every sin is adding to the pile of that fire by which thou must eternally be burned temporal judgements might quickly befall thee but if they do not eternal damnation shall overtake thee and the higher thou goest in wickedness the lower thou shalt sink and lye in hell God will proportion thy degrees of torments to thy growth and progress in sin Now thou hast a treasure of sin Mat. 12.35 And God hath his treasures of wrath Deut. 32.34 And as thou layest in sin to the treasury of sin so God layeth in wrath to the treasury of wrath Rom. 2.5 Thy present preservation is but a reservation to greater indignation then is discovered in a Plague Tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensabit deus He will recompence the delay of thy misery and punishment with the weight and load of it Job 36.13 VI. To be worse and more wicked after so great a judgement will be to slight and set at nought the justice of God when you have seen with your eyes the dreadful heaps of dead Corpse that it hath made in every Church-yard Have you not seen that God is displeased with sin and will you go on to do worse as if you would bid defiance to God even when he is angry and displeased Have you not seen that there is wrath in God and that justice will call sinners to his barre by dragging them out of this world And will you after all this go on to sin against a just God and as it were say let justice do its pleasure I will have mine this doth aggravate your sin VII To be worse after such a judgement will be to sin against the Patience and the mercy of God that hath spared thee and waiteth to see what thou wilt do after such a visitation The mercy of God is the attribute thou intendest to appeal to it is that which thou hopest in but by this thy wickedness thou wilt turn mercy it self against thee that which thou wilt make thy request unto must be the mercy of God but this will plead against thee and patience will plead against thee Lord will Mercy say when thousands dyed weekly in London I had pity upon this sinner and did spare him when the Angel went through the Streets and Lanes in London I Mercy marked out this man for longer life but he abused me and sinned the more And I shall Patience say waited some moneths or years after the Plague to see if the mercy shewed him would any thing work upon him but I was abused too as well as Mercy The longer I Patience did lengthen out his life the more he added to his sins and therefore now we both Patience and Mercy deliver him up into the hands of Justice to deal with him according to his sins and according to the wrong he hath offered unto us Oh how will thy mouth be stopped when Mercy and Patience shall plead against thee sins against Mercy and protracted Patience are aggravated sins and the pleadings of Mercy and Patience against a man will be the most piercing cutting pleadings VIII The worse thou art the more thou wilt have to answer for and the greater accounts thou wilt have to make when ever thou shalt dye The more thou sinnest the more sins shalt thou finde in the book of Gods remembrance and in the book of thine own Conscience when thou shalt be brought before the Barr of God So many sins committed before the Plague begun and so many while the Plague continued and so many when it was stayed and this sinner spared When it shall be set down in the book of God such a sinner was drunk so many times while the Plague was round about his habitation so many Oaths he swore when he saw multitudes buryed every day so long the Plague was in the Parish where he dwelt and in the house in which he lived and he never made one hearty prayer unto God all that time And such notorious sins in and after a time of a sweeping Plague will multiply thy account and aggravate thy misery IX To be worse after such Judgements will be to adde Incorrigibleness to thy former wickedness As before thou didst shew that thou hadst an unteachable heart so now thou declarest thou hast an incorrigible heart Thou wouldest not be instructed by Gods Word neither wilt thou be corrected by Gods Rod thou didst stop thine ears against Gods Word and thou hardenest thy heart against his Rod. But if thou wilt not be corrected by a Plague thou shalt be tormented in the Infernal Pit X. To be worse after such a Judgement will be high Ingratitude Thy life was the dearest thing thou hast in the world except the sin in thy heart for skin for skin and all that he hath he will give for his life except his sin and he will venture his life and lose it too before he will part with his sin and hath God kept thee and is this thy thanks to God to dishonour him more and to provoke him more As if he had spared thee for no other end but to sin against him Oh what is Ingratitude if this be not Oh now for Gods sake and for thy precious souls sake that as thy body hath hitherto escaped the grave so thy soul may if possible escape the damnation of hell Be entreated Sinner to consider the evil of thy present practice after such a narrow escape of death and the grave Oh wilt thou that art but briars and thorns set thy self against God that is a consuming fire Dost thou sleight the wrath of the Almighty or despise his power or contemn his Judgements Dost thou think that thou canst grapple with
no better be you better and you will have the lesser trouble within though the better you are the more trouble you might have from men but that 's not so great matter 14. The better you are the more glory you will bring to God Herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit Joh. 15.8 And what is your design in the world but to glorifie God and to do that and be that which tendeth most thereunto 15. The better you are the more you will credit Religion and realize the wayes of God it will appear that Religion is a real thing when it hath made bad men good and good men better If there were nothing else to disgrace the ways of sin this would be abundantly sufficient to behold the great wickedness of those men how bad they be that walk most therein 16. The better you are while you live the more undaunted you shall be when you come to dye The reason why we are so troubled in our sickness is because we were no better in our health conscience then remembers at such a time I sinned and at such a place I fell and in such company I defiled my soul be better in Health you will be the better in sickness and death 17. The better you are upon earth the weightier your crown shall be in heaven Those that be truly good shall have sure glory but those that are better shall have more There shall be no want of any thing to any one in heaven but yet some shall shine more eminently in glory than others Thus I have dispatched this particular also that you be better after such a signal providence as this for if you be not this very thing will be a greater Plague than the Plague upon the body and if you ask me wherein you should be better you must gather up that in the following Directions which shall be more particular and such as may be useful to prevent men from growing worse which was the first thing and helpful to promote this duty of being better which was the second thing I have spoken to DIRECTION II. HAth God spared you in time of Plague that you live in some measure answerably to so great a mercy carefully endeavour to live up to the purposes and resolutions and vows which you made to God in time of danger and distress Good purposes and holy resolutions when observed and put in practice are great helps to an answerable return to God for his mercies conferred upon us but holy Religious vows being something more than single purposes and resolutions being a promise made to God with due deliberation of something lawful in it self and in our power to perform as a testimony of our thankefulness unto God for some extraordinary mercy received or expected or deliverance from some great evil in extraordinary danger and distress do much promote a holy life whereby we may the better be inabled to walk in some measure worthy of what the Lord in mercy hath done for us or given to us In time of extraordinary danger or when we are in expectation of some extraordinary Mercy we have the example of the holy men of God in Scripture to binde our selves to endeavour to walk more close with God So Jacob Gen. 28.20 And Jacob vowed a vow saying if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on Vers 21. So that I come again to my fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God And this he was careful to perform Gen. 35.2 Then Jacob said unto his houshold and to all that were with him put away the strange gods and be clean and change your garments Vers 3. And let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me in the way which I went Thus David made a vow to God when he was in danger of his life Psal 56.12 Thy vows are upon me O God I will render praises unto thee Vers 13. For thou hast delivered my soul from death And in the like danger Psal 116.3 The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell gate hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow Vers 4. Then called I upon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul Vers 6. The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me Vers 8. Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling Vers 12. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me Vers 14. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people And hath not this been thy case Christian Reader did not the sorrows of death compass thee about Didst thou not finde trouble and sorrow Wast thou not brought very low and received the sentence of death within thy self Didst thou not then call upon the name of the Lord and resolve thou wouldst walk before the Lord if he would restore thee and hath not God delivered thy soul from death and thy feet from falling Then pay thy vows to God and perform to him thy promise and live up unto thy resolutions Tell me what were thy purposes when thou heardest the Plague had entered into thy Neighbours house when it came unto the family nearest unto thine What were thy resolutions when the Plague did enter into thy house and took one away and then another What were thy holy deliberate lawful vows when it seized upon thy body When thou betookest thy self unto thy bed to sweat out thy distemper When thou foundest Risings on thy Body Swellings and Carbuncles in several parts when the apprehensions of death did fill thy minde and the terrors of the Lord did fill thy heart when thou thoughtest thou hadst not many days to live and that thou wert near to death and another world and shouldest certainly dye if God did not preserve thee What didst thou think then And what didst thou purpose then and resolve upon then Didst thou not determine with thy self if God would spare thy life if God would give thee health again and try thee a little longer in the world that thou wouldest walk more holily and act for God more zealously That thou wouldest pray more frequently and more fervently That thou would minde the world less and heaven more That thou wouldest make Religion thy business as long as thou shouldest live Didst thou not resolve that God and Christ and things above should have more of thy heart and hearty love That thou wouldest then forsake loose and carnal company and associate thy self with those in whom thou couldst discern most of God and walked most conscientiously before him That thou wouldest no more take a cup too much nor club in the Ale-house and Tavern to the neglect of duties of thy family
allure your will into a consent first not to be so severe next to indulge it then to countenance it and then to renew its acquaintance till it again become familiar to you 3. That Satan will assault you and set in with sin for its re-admission If he cannot keep you from resolving yet he will lay hard at your heart to break your resolution He will lay his snares and baits and use his stratagems in sins behalf and come to you as he did to our first Parents Gen. 3.1 He i. e. Satan said unto the woman Yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden So Satan cometh unto thee and saith Yea hast thou said thou wilt not be kinde unto thy sin any more hast thou said thou wilt be so severe against thine Iniquity If thou reply I have said I will not keep my sin lest God be angry with me and send some soret Judgement upon me he will return to thee and say God will not surely be angry with thee to plague thee it may be thou mayst escape or if thou yield now thou mightest repent and renew thy resolution against it again do it but this once take but the other Cup play but the other game If you be not carefull to look to your Resolutions when sin Satan and your own heart do set against you you will certainly break them 4. The World will interrupt you that you may not live up to your Resolutions made to God in time of danger This is another powerful Assaultant for your heart and affections and will plead If thou didst resolve against sin that was unlawful but the things that I have saith the World are good my Riches are good and my Pleasures are not absolutely evil and my Profits are not unlawful if thou wouldest turn off thy drunkenness why should I be resolved against and if thou wilt shake off thy wicked company yet what have I done that I must not be loved Company-keeping saith the World did impoverish thee but I will enrich thee that did consume what was necessary for thy Family but I come with supplyes for them I will cloathe their backs and I will furnish their Table and I will bring in Portions for thy Children I will make thee honourable and esteemed and I will lay up in store for thee against thy old age when thy labour will be past Thus will the World come in for entertainment in your heart again that though you resolved to spend so much time in secret Prayer every day if God would suffer you to live yet this worldly business cometh to divert you and another cometh to take you off from your resolved practice If you consider what earnest suiters Satan sin and the World will be for your heart and how your heart is as ready to yield as these are to solicit your heart is as willing to have them as these are to have your heart then without diligent care it is impossible to live up unto good and holy Resolutions made in time of danger 5. The difficulty of the things you have purposed and resolved to do calls for your greatest diligence if you would live up unto them The more excellent and difficult the work is we resolve to do the more apt we are to flag and faint and come short in performance Now it will appear that these things are difficult because They are Praeter Super Contra Naturam First The things you have purposed and resolved to do are preternatural These things are that you will love God more and that you will delight and joy in God more Now those things are praeternatural which are added to another thing as an adjunct to its subject so that it doth not constitute the nature of it nor destroy it but perfect it Such a thing is Grace that you have resolved to get greater degrees of Grace and Holiness doth not constitute the Nature of man for a man without grace is a man neither doth grace and holiness destroy but perfect Nature Grace doth not destroy the affection of Love but doth correct it and place it upon its proper Object nor destroy our Joy but turns the stream of our Joy to empty it self in God or rather to fetch our Joyes from God Secondly The things you have resolved to do are supernatural above Nature it is not in the power of Nature to enable you to do what you have resolved upon You resolved in your time of fears and danger to pray to God more fervently but Nature cannot help you to do this To believe more stedfastly to love God more ardently to walk with God more holily but all these are above the power of Nature and must be wrought in you by the supernatural and almighty power of God and yet you did well to resolve to endeavour to do all these if you did remember to make your resolution in the strength of Christ to do this by whose strength we can do all things Philip. 4.13 Thirdly The things you have resolved to do are contra-natural against Nature i. e. against corrupt nature For our love to God doth not destroy the faculty or affection of Love but perfect it and Innoble it but it doth destroy our love to sin and our love to the World and the things of the World Now to do that which is against corrupt Nature is very hard you will finde it exceeding difficult it is swimming against the stream and rowing against the tide that if you do not ply your Oar you will be carryed back 6. The opposition you may meet withall from your nearest Friends will make it evident that there is need of your greatest diligence to make good your good resolutions You have purposed in your heart to spend more time for God and your soul and for the life to come if you do so as you have resolved it may be thy father the Wife of thy bosom thy fellow-servants will scorn thee and deride thee and set themselves against thee Thou hast purposed in thy heart to reprove sinners for their Oathes and Drunkenness and Prophaneness and if thou do so they will envy thee for thy pity and hate thee for thy love it may cost thee dear it may expose thee to trouble from men and from those that by bonds of Nature are nearest to thee if thou wilt indeed come up in thy practice in time of health and safety to thy Resolutions which thou didst believe was thy duty to make in time of sickness and danger 7. The necessary concurrence of many difficult duties that you may perform the purposes of your heart in living in some measure answerable to the mercy of divine protection in time of plague calls for your utmost diligence and care else you will undoubtedly fail and come short of what you did resolve upon Where many Duties are to meet and to be done as necessary Requisites to another duty that makes this duty
and fall against the inclination of your will and purpose of your heart 18. Pray much to God for strength and power to perform your Purpose You resolved to pray more importunately unto God for mercy but then you must pray to God to enable you to pray as you have resolved Resolution is our duty but strength to perform them is not in our selves but must be fetched from God and that must be by fervent frequent Prayer Pray that God would not leave thee to thy self that he would not forsake thee Psal 119.8 I will keep thy statutes there is Davids Purpose Oh forsake me not utterly there is Davids Prayer As you must not purpose in your own strength but in the strength of Christ so you cannot perform in your own strength but in the strength of Christ If your resolution be strong against sin and you rest in the strength of your Resolution and think you shall not sin because you have strong Resolutions against it you will fail 19. Mortifie Carnal self-love and be very much in the exercise of self denyal If you cannot deny your self of what is pleasing to the flesh you will deny a holy life You must often deny your own wills and your own desires and delights your own judgements and reasonings your sensitive appetite and your profits in the world and hate all these in comparison of better things and when they stand in competition with God and Christ If you love your pleasures inordinately and love your Liberty and your Life inordinately your resolutions for strictness of holy walking with God will not abide nor be accomplished The love of self as well as of sin is a great enemy to holy resolutions 20. Often urge your heart with the Examples of the holy men of God recorded in the Scriptures They purposed and were carefull to perform Jacob vowed unto God and payd it David vowed unto God and payd it Job made a Covenant with his eyes that he would not look upon Objects that should irritate his sinful nature and said why then should I do it Job 31.1 So do you say When I thought my self to be near the grave I purposed to honour God more than I did before if he should spare me why then should I not do it I purposed to watch against my sin why then should I be careless Thus I have given you the Considerations to press you to be careful of your Purposes and Helps to the performance of them next I come to the Aggravations of neglecting to live according to your engagements in the time of sickness and danger SECT III. III. THe Aggravations of the breach of your Vows and Resolutions made against sin and for holiness when fears of death were upon you do exceedingly heighten and increase your sin and because sick-bed Promises are so seldom made good and sick-bed Resolutions usually prove so ineffectual I shall desire you who have the Vows of God upon you and who have resolved if God would continue to you lâ—fe as God and Conscience and it may be others are witnesses of that you would weigh seriously as in the presence of God the evil of breaking your Vows and being careless of your Resolutions 1. This is great hypocrisie to purpose and not perform You seemed in your affliction to be affected with your condition and to be afflicted for your transgression and to approve of an holy conversation then you could weep for sin and now you work it you could then lament it and now commit it then you seemed to be changed from what you really were before when you lived in some known sin but now it appears that you have really lost that good which you did seem to have and made profession of in time of your sickness It is usual with Hypocrites to be best when they are ill and to be worst when they are well Hypocrites have their good moods are good by fits sometimes pray but not alwayes Job 27.8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite V. 10. Will he delight himself in the Lord will he alwayes call upon God i. e. He will not at all times and in all conditions pray to God when he is sick he may but when his sickness is removed his Prayers are abated It is a sign thy goodness was as a morning cloud and as the early dew it 's gone away Hos 6.4 2. This is double Iniquity it is twisted wickedness It is one sin woven with another it is not onely double dealing but it brings double guilt if thou hadst not made thy vow and resolution to pray frequently it had been but a single sin if thou hadst been seldom in it but now it is a double sin and hath double guilt that thou dost omit to pray this is one sin that thou dost omit it after thou hast promised and resolved and vowed to do it this is the other sin and indeed is this thy mending in thy sickness and dangers to be doubling thine iniquity 3. This is great folly Eccles 5.4 When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay tâ—â—oâ— he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed It is folly to do that which is better be undone than done Vers 5. Better it is that thou shouldest not vow then vow and not pay In thy affliction thou shouldest have learned wisdom and not committed folly 4. This is to lye to God to men A vow is a promise made to God Deut. 23. â—3 That whâ—ch is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform even a free will offering according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God which thou hast promised with thy mouth What is first called a vow is after called a promise if thou madest this promise with thy mouth and didst not really intend the fulfilling of it but didst it either to deceive thy self or others or had it been possible God himself what is this but a lye If the words of thy mouth were not conformable to the thoughts of thy minde that thou spakest one thing in thy sickness and didst intend another thou spakest not as thou thoughtest thou art guilty of a lye ethical But forasmuch as thy words do not agree to the things thou spakest of thou art guilty of a falshood logical both are bad though the first is worst And is not this an aggravation of thy wickedness to lye to God when thou art under his rod Do not parents deal more severely with their children if they finde them lying when they are under the rod Are we not like to children when they are scourged will promise any thing to be spared but presently be found in the violation of their promise But take heed how thou liest unto God Remember the fearful instance of Ananias and Sapphira Act. 5.3 Peter said Ananias why hath Satan filled thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part
of the price of the land Vers 4. Whiles it remained was it not thine own and after it was sold was it not in thine own power Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart that thou hast not lied unto men but unto God Vers 5. And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost The like I might say of thy vow before thou hadst made it it was in thy power Deut. 23.22 But if thou forbear to vow it shall be no sin in thee but if thou hast vowed God will surely require it of thee and to slack to pay would be sin in thee Vers 21. Why then hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost in making a vow and not paying thou liest not to men but unto God Oh fear and tremble least death should seize thee presently and thou fall down and give up the ghost In thy vow thou liest unto God if thou dost not pay because we must vow onely to God for sacred vows are a part of Religious worship which must be given onely unto God Deut. 23.21 Eccles 5.4 But in thy promises thou hast made to men thou hast lied unto men and all this doth aggravate thy neglect of coming up to thy vows and promises in time of sickness and fears 5. To Neglect the keeping of thy resolutions and purposes against sin and for an holy life is it not a sinning against conscience and against knowledge It seems thy conscience hath told thee when thou resolvedst to pray more fervently that luke-warmeness in prayer was a sin and yet now thou dost not strive against it thy conscience told thee that the ways of God were the best ways and best for thee to walk therein and yet now thou dost not do it thy conscience hath been so far inlightned to dictate this unto thee and yet thou goest against the dictates of thy conscience thou dost not onely sin with knowledge but against it and sins against knowledge and conscience are aggravated sins and such a sinner is an inexcusable and self-condemned sinner Rom. 2.1 didst thou not condemn thy self in time of Plague that thou hadst taken no more pains for heaven and for thy soul that thou hadst prayed no more and lived no better And what need we any further witness when thine own conscience will come in against thee 6. This will make death terrible indeed unto thee when it comes in good earnest to seize upon thee and then thou shalt finde that the same purposes and resolutions will not quiet thee when in former sickness thou hast had them and in after recovery thou hast neglected to perform them Thy last sickness will come and death at last will come and then thou wilt remember what vows thou hast made and how thou didst not pay them unto God how thou hast resolved against sin and a wicked life but hast made no conscience of living answerable unto them and this will make thee much afraid to dye 7. This will be great unthankefulness unto God for his preservation from or restoration out of sickness To God belong the issues from death but you deny it to him When Hezekiah was restored from his sickness its thought the plague he was thankful unto God for his restoration Isa 28.19 The living the living he shall praise thee as I dâ— this day the father to the children shall make known thy truth Vers 20. The Lord was ready to save mee therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. And is this to give thanks to God for preservation for restoration from sickness Hath God given you your life from the very borders of the grave and is this the fruit you return to God not onely not to be so good as you ought to be but not so careful as you purposed to be Or do you give thanks to God with your mouth that God hath kept you from the grave and contradict it in your life Your orall thankesgiving is nothing without practical thankes doing Or do you praise God in words and dishonor him in your works and do your lips acknowledge you are engaged to God for his protecting providence and do you so live as if you had received no such mercy from him and that your dependance were not now upon him Is this your thanks to God to break your word with him 8. This will make you loose the spiritual benefit of your sickness and affliction to be worse by the mercies of God is to have mercies in judgement to be better by judgement is to have judgements in mercy But when you live no better and are no better nor endeavor to walk according to your resolutions in time of sickness it is a sign your affliction hath not been sanctified to you that as to spirituals you are not benefited by it God hath put you into the furnace but you are not purified your dross remaineth God hath corrected you but you are not amended If affliction had worked for your good if you had been bad if would have made you good if you had been good it would have made you better David could say Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have learned to keep thy commandment Psal 119.67 But you might say in my affliction I purposed to walk close with God but after I have been afflicted I go astray Surely your heart is very bad when afflictions made you not better and when mercies makes you worse 9. What is this but to like of sin and disapprove of stricktness of holiness after you have professed your dislike of sin and approved of closest walking with God In your affliction you seemed to be sorry for your sin but now the affliction is over you seem to be sorry that you were sorry for your sin in your affliction you seemed to repent that you had sinned else why did you resolve against it When your affliction is removed you seem to repent of your resolutions against sin else why do not you live and do as you did resolve what is this but to smile upon sin after your deliverance which you seemed to frown upon in time of danger of death and the grave What is this but to finde sweetness in sin after you have tasted something of the bitterness of it To re-imbrace that which you seemed to have cast from you and this is an aggravation of the evil frame of your heart 10. What if thou hadst dyed in thy affliction thou hadst gone to hell upon a mistake and perished for ever when yet thou hadst some hope though upon false grounds that thy condition was good and that thou shouldest have obtained mercy When thou wast sick or in danger thou thoughtest thy condition was good because thou foundest thy heart to resolve to forsake thy sin and purpose to close with the closest wayes of holiness
danger 5. Sickness and diseases do take away mens delight in those things which men in perfect health do take pleasure in Sick men have no delight in the pleasures of the world and in the riches of the world which other men finde So sin takes away that delight in God and spiritual duties and in heavenly things which those whose souls are cured do experience 6. Sickness and diseases do spoyl the beauty of the body They spoil the fairest complexion and make the ruddy cheeks to become pale and many diseases bring deformity in the room of beauty So sin doth spoyl the soul of that spiritual beauty wherewith it was adorned in its first Creation which did consist in likeness unto God so that now instead of the likeness of God there is nothing but blackness and deformity that the soul that was comely and amiable in the sight of God is now become loathsome and abominable SECT II. II. Wherein doth it appear that Soul sickness and spiritual Judgements upon mens hearts are worse thâ—n sickness and temporal Judgments upon mens bodyes THough most men in the World look upon bodily sickness and corporal Judgments to be more dreadful than sin upon their souls yet if we take a right estimate and make a true judgment of both spiritual Judgements are the greater evils In respect of the 1. Cause or manner of conveyance 2. Signs of greater wrath 3. Subject in which they do reside 4. Number being many 5. Effect that they do produce 6. Difficulty of cure 7. Want of sense 1. Spiritual Judgements and soul-sicknesses are greater evils than temporal Judgements and sickness upon the body in respect of the cause or manner of Conveyance which is by natural propagation and so unavoidable Sin is born with us it is derived from Parents to Children from one generation to another There are some diseases that are conveyed from Parents to Children but this is not general nor perpetual to all generations But the propagation of spiritual diseases is universal and general it is constant and perpetual The seed of all sin is derived from Adam to all his Posterity 2. Soul-sicknesses and spiritual Judgements upon mens hearts are Signs of greater wrath than bodily sicknesses are You may be sick of the Plague and yet God may love you you may have bodily afflictions and God may be at peace with you and because he loves you he may afflict you But spiritual Judgements as judicial hardness blindness are signs of Gods anger yea his sorest displeasure yea which is more they are signs of Gods Hatred to such a man that lyeth under them Now that which doth alwayes argue Hatred in God to a sinner is worse than those things that might proceed barely from his Anger and sometimes from his Love God loathes and abhorres that man the plague of whose heart is not at all cured 3. Spiritual Judgements and soul-sicknesses are greater evils than temporal and corporal sicknesses are because they be spiritual and have the heart and soul for their seat and subject As mercies are better that are spiritual and that are soul mercies so Judgments and sicknesses spiritual are the greater evils because they are the disease of the better and more noble part of man that which doth corrupt the soul must be worse than that which doth corrupt the body by how much the soul is more excellent than the body 4. They are worse because they are more numerous there is more diseases in the soul than in the body If the body be diseased in one part it may be well in all the rest if in more yet not in all if in all yet your case is not so bad But there is no sinner but is diseased in every part there are spiritual distempers in all the faculties and powers of the soul in the Understanding Will Affections Conscience Memory Phantasie In the members of the body no part free Nay there are many spiritual diseases in every faculty in the Understanding there are many ignorance errour c. in the Will many stubbornness choosing the Creature and sin before God c. In every affection of the soul there are swarms of sin In the heart there are innumerable distempers evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts blasphemies false witness Maâ— 15.19 Spiritual diseases naturally be all in every man and be in every part of every man 5. They are worse in regard of the Effects The effects of bodily sickness at the utmost and the greatest is but the death of the body it brings the body to the dust and the grave it doth but separate from friends and betwixt the body and the soul But the effects of spiritual soul-sicknesses except they be healed are dreadful and inconceivably great great and dreadful in this world but greater and more dreadful in the world to come they cause Gods anger they deprive the sinner of communion with God they will separate betwixt God and him for ever they will bring the soul to the place of Devils and the torments of the damned 6. They are worse in regard of difficulty of Cure Bodily distempers may be cured by the skill of man in the use of natural means but the sickness of the soul with nothing but the blood of Christ Of which more afterwards 7. They are worse in regard of the want of sense Where one man cryes out of the hardness of his heart and complains of the unbelief and earthliness of his heart there are many cry out of the sickness of their bodyes If their finger doth but ake they are sensible of it but though the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint and exceedingly distempered yet they are not sensible of it Therefore though God hath cured the Plague of thy body and not the Plague of thy heart if thy bodily disease is removed but the sickness of thy soul remain without cure thy case is deplorable And while thou art rejoycing that thou hast escaped the Plague thou hast more cause to goe unto thy Chamber and be deeply humbled and mourn before God for the Plagues and Judgements that remain upon thy Soul SECT III. III. How may a man know whether he be healed of Soul-sickness THe cure of these distempers are but partial yet so far are they healed that they shall not be the death of the soul The cure will not be perfect till we die Death we say cures all distempers and so it doth those of the soul There is a double wound that sin doth make there is the wound that doth certainly destroy the soul by hindring it from salvation and eternal life and there is the wound that destroyes the peace and comfort of the soul So there is a double Cure which Christ doth work the one for the safety and happiness of the Soul the other for the peace and comfort of the Soul The first of these we enquire after 1. Every man that is healed of Soul-sickness hath been
do not Preach the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 and are described to be such as are apt as well as able to Teach 1 Tim. 3.2 And if they do forbear to warn Men of their sins those Men shall die but God will require their blood at their hands Ezek. 3.18 And though God in Judgment to a People may make his Ministers dumb and cause their Tongues to cleave to the roofe of their mouthes that they should not be Reprovers to them because of their sin Ezek. 3.26 Yet such as are dumb through Ignorance that they cannot or through Negligence that they will not speak to Men to save their Soules is a great charge of God against them Isa 56.10 His Watchmen are blind they are all ignorant they are all dumb Dogs they cannot bark sleeping lying down loving to slumber Vers 11. Yea they are greedy Dogs which can never have enough and they are Shepherds that cannot understand they all look to their own way every one for his gain from his quarter Vers 12. Come ye say they I will fetch Wine and we will fill our selves with strong Drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant And God sharply reproveth such for this neglect Ezek. 34.2 Son of Man Prophesy against the Shepherds of Israel Prophesy and say unto them Thus saith the Lord God unto the Shepherds Woe be to the Shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves should not the Shepherds feed the Flock Vers 3. Ye eate the Fat and ye cloath you with the Wool ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the Flock Vers 4. The Diseased have ye not strengâ—hened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken neither have ye brought again that which was driven away neither have you sought that which was lâ—st but with force and cruelty have ye ruled them Vers 18. Seemeth it a small thing to you to have eaten up the good pasture but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures and to have drunk of the deep waters but ye must foule the residue with your feet Vers 19. And as for my flock they eat that which ye have troden with your feet and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet Ministers diligence in Preaching the Word which such should be awakened to much more by Gods late Providence is pointed at by God in those several Names and Appellations with which they and their Work is Metaphorically set forth as they are 1. Labourers Mat. 9.38 Therefore must not loyter but should work as day-labourers 2. Builders 1 Cor. 3.10 Must repair Gods Buildings 3. Husbandmen 1 Cor. 3.9 Must Plow up the fallow ground that they sow not among thornes they are Gods harvest-Men and that is hard work 4. Watchmen Ezek. 33.7 Must see the danger and indure the cold and give warning 5. Stewards 1 Cor. 4.1 2. Must deal to every one their portion 6. Fathers 1 Cor. 4.15 1 Thes 2.11 In begeting and bringing up Spiritual Children for God 7. Guides Rom. 2.19 Must direct lost Men into their way 8. Nurses 1 Thes 2.7 Must seed the Babes in Christ 9. Physitians Jer. 13.12 13. Must heale the Spiritual Sickness of Mens Soules 10. Embassadours 2 Cor. 5.20 Must Parley with Sinners to make Peace betwixt God and them After such a Providence as this those in this Office should labour to be more in the most effectuall manner of Preaching as 1. In Preaching with more self-denial not seeking themselves nor their own Applause but more the Glory of God and the good of Soules 2 Cor. 12.14 For I seek not yours but you 1 Tim. 3.3 Not greedy of filthy lucre 1 Thes 2.5 For neither at any time used we flattering words as ye know nor a cloak of covetousness God is witness 2. With more plainness to the capacity of the People Not with enticing words of Mans Wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power 1 Cor. 2.4 Lest such seem to Preach themselves and not Christ and to speak one word to shew the excellency of Christ and ten to shew the excellency of their own Parts 3. With more experience of the things they Preach upon their own hearts 4. More particularly coming down to the particular cases of the Peoples Soules Dolus latet in universalibus 5. More compassionately if possible shewing the greatest desire after the Soules of them they Preach unto When you stand in your Pulpit remember many of them you Preached to the other day are now in their graves and are entred into Eternity and those that are before you must shortly follow after you have not long to Preach unto them those that are now alive before you must shortly die and be damned or saved be received to Glory or thrust down to Misery such actuâ—l believing thoughts as these woulâ— move great compassion in Ministers hearts unto their People 6. More Livelily as those that believe the things themselves which they Preach unto others remember you are Preaching to Men that must shoâ—â—ly die and yet eternally Live and for ought you know if you do not prevâ—il with them by this Sermon they may perish for ever and will you be luke-warm in such a case of so great importance 7. What is most necessary to the salvation of their Soules Press more the misery of Man by Nature the necessity of seeing the evil and be sensible of the burden of their Sin the necessity of Christ of Regeneration of Holiness of heart and Life of Justification by Faith in the blood of Christ of Judgment to come of the happiness of Heaven of the torments of Hell SECTION VI. MInisters whom God hath spared from the Grave in thâ— time of great Morrality should improve this Mercy in the manner of their holy Conversation i◠〈◊〉 Mens Lives should be the Application of their Doctrine should press to Holiness and live shoâ—tly press the People to Mortification of Sin and Self-denial and be Examples to the People in this else the People will not believe that they think what they say if they do not in some measure Live as they say Drunkards will not believe that that Minister is in good earnest in telling them that Drunkards shall be damned if he be one himself Look therefore to your Life and copy out that pressed upon you 1 Tim. 4.12 Let no Man despise thy youth but be thou an example of believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity 1 Tim. 3.2 For a Bishop must be blameless the Husband of one Wife sober vigilant of good behaviour a lover of Hospitality apt to Teach Vers 3. Not given to wine not a striker not greedy of filthy lucre SECTION VII THe People whom God hath kept alive should improve their Life in attending upon their Ministers in inquiring the Law of God at their Lips in mingling the Word with Faith in
can you not mourn for them upon your knees when you consider they are lost children except mercy find them that they are damned children except free grace save them Can you not mourn abundantly and pray servently for them Can you consider they are by Nature without the Image and Likeness of God and not be grieved at the heart that your child is a little Traitor against the King of Heaven a little Rebel against the glorious God and will you not pray that his heart may be changed Could you weep and grieve if your Child were a Monster if it had a body of one kind and an head of another if it had an Arme too much or a Leg too much or little why its misery is more by Nature then all this and yet can you not mourn in your Prayers for him Fourthly In Choosing for them some lawful Calling and putting them forth unto some Religious familie Choose not a Calling that hath more snares and temptations attending it then usually others have and place them in such families where they may learn the way to Heaven as well as the way to be rich in the World If you put them forth to an ungodly family you may loose all your former labour in Instruction Correction and Prayer for will you give your Childe an Antidote and then care not if he run into a Pest-house among persons that have running Plague Sores or would you not judge it presumption in any so to do without a special call but the former is greater and higher and more dangerous presumption than the latter in as much as the death of the Body of your Child is endangered by the one but the damnation of his Soul is endangered by the other Fifthly In careful disposing of them in Marriage That you Match them to godly Persons and if you can into a godly family or to one that hath Religious Relations Take heed of Marrying them to the children of the Devil though their outward advantage be never so much Thus Abraham took care that his son Isaac should not take a Wife of the Daughters of the Canaanites amongst whom he dwelt Gen. 24.3 If you thus take care for your children whom God hath continued to you in this great Mortality you act in this respect in some measure answerably to so great a Mercy SECTION XVII Secondly Children if they would live answerably in their Relation to so great a Mercy as is Gods sparing their Parents and continuing them unto them must be careful of filling up the Duties of their Relation and the Duty of Children is set down in Col. 3.20 Children obey your Parents in all things for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord In which observe 1. The Charge Obedience 2. The Persons charged Children younger elder poor or rich 3. The Persons to whom this obedience is to be given Parents Father Mother whether Poor or Rich. 4. The extent of this obedience In all things 5. The limitting and enforcing Reason for this is well-pleasing to the Lord therefore the all things are to be limitted to things lawful else it would not please the Lord but they must in those things because it pleaseth God Now if you that are Children would walk worthy of Gods Mercy in sparing your Parents to you in this contagious times you must obey them in these Particulars 1. In receiving Instructions from them in hearkning to their wholsome Counsel and Advice Prov. 3.1 My son forget not my Law but let thine heart keep my Commandments Prov. 4.1 2 3 4. and 5.1 2 7. and 6.20 c. and 7.1 2 3. 2. In submitting to their Correction without murmuring and repining 3. In being content with your Diet and Apparel that your Parents provide for you 4. In yeilding them sustenance and Maintenance if they come to Poverty if you be able to supply them they gave you maintenance when you could not provide for your selves do you so for them if they need though you work hard to help them 1 Tim. 5.4 But if any Widow have Children or Nephews let them first learn to shew piety at home and to requite their Parents for that is good and acceptable before God Though Children can never fully requite their Parents for they had their being by them and what if they have help by you in outward things you had your being by them and that is more Take heed of being ashamed of your Parents if they be poor and you are raised to an higher degree in the World than ever they were but to disown them would be impious 5. In submitting to their choise of a Calling for you 6. In disposing of you in Marriage Change not your Condition without their Consent as Isaac Gen. 24. and Sampson Judg. 14.1 2. Nay Ishmael obeyed his Mother in his Marriage Gen. 21.21 and will you be worse than Ishmael 7. In all things though they be cross to your humour though it might not please you yet if it please your Parents you must do it But that I may not lay a snare for Childrens Consciences and put a Staff into ungodly Parents hands to drive their Children to Hell you must take this distinction of things viz. Things are either Simply good and necessary and these must be done though your Parents forbid you as Praying Reading Scripture c. Simply evil and unlawful and these must not be done though your Parents command you as to play or work upon the Lords day to lie and defraud in dealing Neither good nor evil in their own nature though every thing is good or evil considered in all circumstances and in all these you must obey your Parents And the reasons of this obedience to your Parents are such as these 1. Gods command Ephes 6.1 Children obey your Parents in the Lord. V. 2. Honour thy Father and Mother which is the first Commandment with Promise That is the first Command with Promise in the second Table for there is a Promise in the second Command of the First Table of shewing Mercy unto thousands c. 2. This is right or justice Ephes 6.1 Thou hadst thy being and thy education by thy Parents therefore it is justice thou shouldest obey them 3. Christs Example He was obedient to his Parents Luke 2.51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them 4. Gods Judgments upon disobedient Children Absalom Rebelled against his Father and God cut him off in the very act of his Rebellion 5. It is pleasing to God If it were in any thing that would displease God you must not do it for you must please your Heavenly Father rather than your Earthly but if it be pleasing unto God you must not deny it you please God when you please your Parents in things lawful 6. God might punish you with disobedient Children hereafter if you are disobedient to your Parents now Thus Children also will walk so farr answerably to so great a Mercy as
from them yet they may sin by suffering their Masters Goods to be wasted as Food to be cast away and many things to be spent and consumed when there is no need this is not to shew all fidelity to your Masters So Jacob Gen. 31.36 37.38 39 40. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee I bare the loss of it of my hands didst thou require it whether stollen by day or stollen by night 10. They must not answer again out of a murmuring spirit nor give word for word that if their Master rebukes them for their sin they must not speak as fast as he nay though a Master should speak Wrathfully and in unjust Anger yet they must not Answer Perversely to them again but with meekness and silence except they require or give leave go about their Imployment committing their cause to God who will right them if their Masters wrong them Col. 3.25 But he that doth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done and there is no respect of Persons God regards not Mens outward conditions he regards not the Mistriss more than the Maid nor the Master more than the Man but judgeth righteously betwixt the greatest and the meanest 11. They must remember when they are obedient in their Masters Service they are serving the Lord Christ What a poor servant doth in servile Labour in the meanest lowest imployment he is serving of God and this might sweeten to him more difficult and unpleasing Work Thus I have done with this direction in which all Men in one capacity or other herein considered are concerned to make improvement of Gods Preserving of them in time of so great Contagion by being eminently exemplary in the Conditions Capacity Relations wherein they stand which if they do caeteris paribus they live in some measure answerable to so great a Mercy DIRECTION V. HAth God spared you in a time of Pestilence then if you would live answerable diligently watch against secret sins and let your special care be about the hidden and secret things in Religious Duties God hath kept you in his Chambers Isa 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment untill the indignation be overpast God hath hid you from Judgment in the secret Chambers of his Protection and will you hide your sins in the secret corners of your hearts Or will you allow your self to sin because you are in your secret Chambers Or will this be to live worthy of Gods secret Protection of you to commit secret sins against God That you are preserved this is visible all that see you walking in the streets know this But Gods way of preserving you was not only by visible means as Antidotes and Cordials but by the invisible Guard of holy Angels Psal 91.10 There shall no evil befall thee neither shall any Plague come nigh thy dwelling Ver. 11. For he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy waies Ver. 12. They shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone The reason why you have been preserved is because God hath caused you to dwell in the secret place of the most high and hath made you to abide under the shadow of the Almightie Psal 91.1 When the Pestilence was walking in darkness and the Arrows of the Almightie were secretly shot and flying abroad He kept you in the secret of his Pavilion Psal 37.5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his Pavilion in the secret of his Tabernacle he shall hide me he shall set me upon a rock As all visible means would not have been effectual for your preservation without Gods secret and invisible watching over you So abstaining only from visible sins and performing only that of duty which is visible will not be a sutable nor answerable return for this great mercie Therefore my advice unto you is that as Gods goodness to you hath been in a secret way of preservation so your care should especially be about secret things and that in two respects In abstaining from secret sins In maintaining secret duties First Be careful to abstain from secret sins Do not cherish sins in your hearts and thoughts though they should never proceed to outward act For a man whom God hath kept in time of Plague might be no open Swearer no visible Drunkard nor live in open wickedness and yet might walk unworthy of Gods mercy to him And here I shall answer these two Questions 1. What are those Considerations whereby a man should urge his heart to abstaine from heart and secret sins 2. What are the helps and means for inabling of a man to abstain from heart and secret sins Quest 1. What are those Considerations whereby a Christian should urge his heart to abstain from heart sins and secret sins not to let into the secrets of his heart what he can by watchfulness prevent and not to allow that which notwithstanding all his diligence he cannot prevent For there is great difference betwixt having sin in the heart and regarding or allowing sin in the heart Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me A Christian may have yea cannot in this life but have sin in his heart but this not allowed but groaned under and lamented for shall not hinder the audience of his prayers nor the salvation of his soul But the regarding and allowing of it will prevent both SECT I. Considerations to keep you from secret sins GOD sets your secret sins in the light of his countenance Psal 90.8 You can never sin so secretlie as to hide your sins from God Study well these Scriptures Psal 139.1 to 17 vers Jer. 23.24 Heb. 4.13 Prov. 5.21 For the waies of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings Whether your waies are good or evil open or secret they are before the eyes of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rectà è regione right over Gods eyes He pondereth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He weigheth them in scales and many of our actions he findeth to be too light There are some sins so secret that other men might not know them and some are so secret that a man might not know them himself as sins of Ignorance Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errours Cleanse thou me from secret faults But no sin can be said to be secret in respect of God Others see some sin in you you may see more in your self But God seeth all because he is omniscient But there â—re many sins which are so secret that we our selves see them not The causes of this are 1. Imperfection of self-knowledge 2. Excess of self-love 3. Deceiâ—fulness of sin 4. Closeness of sin 5. Want of watchfulness But there is no sin can be hid from God for God seeth the Nature Number and Aggravations
should walk in newness of life Ver. 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin In which Scripture are set down these things viz 1. The parts of Sanctification Mortification Vivification 2. The cause of our Sanctification viz. communion with Christ in his Death Burial and Resurrection 3. The Testimony and Pledge of it our Baptism 4. The growth and progress of Mortification we should aime at the total destruction of the body of sin by the Crucifying Destroying and Burial of sin You have seen the death of thousands and you have seen the Burial of thousands to all these add one more Funeral and that is the Funeral of your sins Do you out-live this Judgment and shall your sins do so too God forbid This would be to live altogether unanswerably to so great a mercy You live but your sins should be dead in you and you unto your sins Rom. 6.11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Though you live yet must you be buried Now Believers are buried in three respects 1. In respect of their good names as they are reproached by the wicked The throats of the wicked are the Sepulchres or burial places of the good names of Gods people this is part of a Believers sufferings 2. In respect of Self-denial Believers must be no more taken with the things of this World so far as to draw them from God than a person dead and buried and lying in his grave 3. In respect of the Mortification of sin and these two last are our duty and of this last I would speak a little following the Metaphor in which there is some difference and some agreement in the burial of our sin and in common burial The difference in these Respects First We bury our friends weeping for their death desirous of their life wishing oâ— that this my Friend had not died oh that I could have kept him in life But we must bury our sin rejoycing as those that are glad of its death Not weeping because sin is dead but that it once did live Secondly We bury our Friends with hopes that they shall rise again and live again But we must bury our sins with hopes they shall never live more never return to them more The resemblance holds in these particulars 1. The Burial of sin supposeth the death of sin Never any man yet buried his sins alive For while sin doth live it is in the heart as in a Throne and not as in a Grave 2. The Burial of sin supposeth the ceasing of the love of sin that we see not that beauty and comliness in sin as we did when it was alive A man that loves his Relation while he lived put him in his bosome yet will not do so when he is dead a man while he loves his sin will never bury it 3. The Burial of sin includeth the removal of it out of our sight and as much as may be out of our thoughts We love not to look upon dead friends nor many times to think or talk of them who while they lived were pleasing objects to our eyes and the delightful matter of our discourse While Sarah lived she was beautiful in Abrahams eyes but when dead he desired to have her removed out of his sight Gen. 23.4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you give me possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight The presence of sin is a trouble to you when it is dead and you would have it out of your sight and this removal of sin when dead and buried hath these three properties First It is a total removal the whole body of sin and all the members of it are buried Death might arise from the disease of some particular part but burial covers all He that makes a shew of the burial of sin and yet keeps any in his heart as his love and delight hath indeed buried no sin For who doth so bury his friend as to keep any of his members in his house Secondly It is a voluntary removal when one is dead we make it matter of our choice to have him buried Yea we look upon it as a sore evil and great annoyance to have burial denied to our dead friends So it is your choice to bury your sins and the thoughts of not having them buried is a great trouble to you Thirdly It is a perpetual removal we bury our friends so that we would not have them taken up again and brought into our house So you bury sin never to have it brought back to live again in your heart One that hath buried his sin doth earnestly desire it might be removed out of the sight of God by free pardon out of the sight of his own eyes by the evidence of the pardon and out of the sight of others by leading a contrary Conversation 4. The Burial of sin includes the rotting of the old man in its grave the mouldring of it and the daily wasting of it as dead Corps buried in the earth do consume and wast daily Though a body buried doth not presently totally consume Many years after the burial if the grave be opened you may find the bones and the skull the reliques of sin in the heart of a Child of God are but as the bones and the skull but the body of sin is destroyed 5. The Burial of sin includes the loss of the power and authority that sin had in the heart while it was alive Though a man were never so potent while he lived yet when he is dead and buried he hath no more power nor jurisdiction Though thy sin did sit as a Lord and rule in thy soul while it lived yet being dead and buried its dominion ceaseth Now if you are buried with Christ these things will be a comfort to you viz 1. Those that are buried with Christ are most comely in the sight of God A man that is naturally dead and buried is not so with us but he that is spiritually dead to sin is beautiful in the eyes of God 2. Those that are buried with Christ have converse and Communion with God those that are naturally dead have no more converse with us but a man hath no Communion with God till he is buried with Christ 3. Those that are buried with Christ are past the hurt of death As those that are naturally dead have past through all that death can do unto them if you are buried with Christ though you must come under the stroke of death yet the sting of death is taken out 4. Those that are buried with Christ shall be raised at the last day and shall for ever live with God and Christ and with holy Angels and Saints in the Kingdom of God Rom. 6.8 Now if we be dead
amongst them all It may be God had too little of your love and it was â—n offence and griefe unto your God that the Creaâ—ure should have that love which wâ—s due unto himself and therefore he hath cut off the Sâ—reâ—es that you may get nearer to the Fountain Thy Relation had more of thy affection then came unto his share and therefore in stead of Murmuring be more in loving of thy God and this will be to live answerably to Gods Correcting and Afflicting of thee in the loss of thy Relation and to his Mercy in sparing of thy self And look what Relation it is that is taken from thee while thou survivest and get clearer evidences that God will be in stead of that Relation to thee and be better to thee than that was Hast thou thy Husband removed by this Contagious Disease now make out more to God that he would be an Husband to thee Hast thou lost thy Children or thy onely Son see more diligently that God hath bestowed his onely Son upon thee and this will much satisfie and quiet thy heart Hath God done thee any wrong if he hath taken thy onely Son from thee and hath given his onely Son to thee Thus since you did survive others that are taken from you improve your Affliction and your Mercy in being advantaged in Spirituals and this will be to live in some measure answerably to Gods dealing with you DIRECTION XI HAth God spared thee in time of Plague then see what it was that thy Conscience did most accuse thee or commend thee for when the Plague was nigh thy dwelling or thou wast in fear and danger and order thy life accordingly What sin was it that thy Conscience did reproach thee for in a time of danger and in feares of death whether of omission or commission publick or secret of what nature soever it was and let it be the design of thy heart in the course of thy life to mortifie that sin and keep it under that thou carefully avoid the occasions thereof that when death shall certainly come and conscience shall have no more occasion or just ground to reproach thee thou mayest see that God in mercy did prolong thy dayes till thou hadst got the victory over and the pardon and the evidence of the pardon of that sin What was it in thy feares and when thou wast in expectation of death that Conscience did approve in thee it did then approve thy diligence in thy Family go on in this still it did approve of thy strickt and holy walking with God go on in that which was good and thy rightly inlightned Conscience did commend in thee and this will be to live in some measure answerably to so great a mercy as is Gods preserving of you in a time of such a wasting Plague DIRECTION XII HAth God spared you in such a time of so great Mortality and Contagion then learn to trust your self and all your Affairs with God for the time to come You have lived in time of danger and have been in hazard of your life and yet God hath preserved and kept you God hath called some to abide in the City because they could not remove their habitation without neglect of duty for where our duty lies and where our work is that God calleth us unto there we may trust God though our danger be never so great because while we are in our duty we are in our way and God hath promised to keep us in all our wayes in time of Plague Psal 91.11 Many had opportunity of retiring into the Country without neglect of duty without running away from duty those that went from their duty and work which God expected they should there have done have cause to be humbled for their slavish feares of death and great distrust in God and the use of meanes for preservation is not inconsistent with trusting in God but is supposed and included in it else it is not trusting in God but presumption but many were obliged to abide upon the place and God hath preserved you amongst them Oh what an obligation and encouragement is this for you for the time to come to put your trust in God in the use of meanes in a way of duty and the more you are able to commit your self to God in future dangers the more you do improve this Providence of God in preserving of you But because we need all helps and supports for putting our trust in God I shall lay down some considerations to help you more and more to trust in God premising first the nature of it that you may perceive what it is that you are exhorted to when perswaded to trust in God Trusting in God is a special fruit of faith and hope whereby the soul looking upon God in Christ through a Promise is in some good measure freed from fretting feares and cutting cares about the removing or preventing of some evil or the enjoying or procuring of that which is good 1. It is a fruit of faith for therefore a Man trusteth in God because he believeth and is perswaded of the truth of what God saith and believeth the performance of his promise and so it is called fiducia fidei 2. It is a fruit of hope for therefore I trust in God because I hope it shall be with me according to his Word If I had no hope of this I could not trust in God and so it is called fiducia spei 3. This trust hath God in Christ through a Promise for its object We trust in God through Christ eying the Promise For the Promise of God is the foundation of our trust in God and the Promise of God draws forth the hearts of his People to trust in him Psal 119.42 I trust in thy Word 4. The effect of this trusting in God is the quietation of the heart and a freeing of the Soul proportionably to the degree of his trust from fretting feares and cutting cares about good and evil to be avoided or procured Psal 56.3 What time I am afraid I will trust in thee Vers 4. In God will I praise his Word in God I have put my trust I will not fear what Flesh can do unto me The Arguments for the moving you to trust in God for the future are such as these 1. Will not you trust in God after such rich and full experience that you have had of Gods taking care for you Hath God cared for your life and will not you trust him for Food and Raiment experience is a great support for confidence in God 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us When David had had experience of Gods delivering him from the Lion and the Bear he trusted in God to deliver him from the hands of the uncircumcised Philistine 1 Sam. 17.37 When thou hast been in danger God hath kept thee and when thou hast
been in sickness God hath restored thee and if it be good for thee he will do so again 2. Will not you trust in God that is All sufficient and Allmighty able to deliver you from any evil able to bestow upon you any thing that is good He can remove your feares and he can fill your desires According to your perswasions of a Mans ability to help you caeteris paribus will your trust be in him 2 Cor. 1.9 For we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead That God that can raise the dead may be trusted in any case or condition You have found him able 3. Will not you trust in God that is so willing to do you good you may acknowledge Gods all-sufficiency to be a support for your trusting in him but the doubts that you find in your Soul whether God be willing to do you good is a cause of your too frequent distrust in him You must believe that God is a God of mercy and ready to do for his People whatsoever he seeth conduceth to his glory and their good and you may know his willingness by his promises which are various according to the condition that you are or may be in You have found him willing and yet will you not trust him 4. Will not you trust in a God that is faithfull in all he saith He declares his willingness to do you good to supply your wants to preserve you in dangers by his promise for a Promise of God is a declaration of his will for the bestowing of some good thing upon his People through Christ and his will and purpose he will never change and his Promise he will not suffer to faile Will you trust a Man that is faithful to his word and not God especially after you have found him faithful in performing promise unto you 5. Will not you trust in God that is infinite in Wisdom and knowes how to order all your affaires when your condition is altogether intricate and you know not how to winde your self out of difficulties then your wise God can do it 2 Pet. 2.9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation And will you not trust a God that is able and willing and faithful and wise especially after you have experienced all these in God in the late dangers and feares of death that you have been in or shall these qualifications of power willingness faithfulness and wisdom in Men in their measure be a ground of your putting civill trust in them and shall not all these that be in God without measure be a ground of your putting Religious trust in him 6. Will not you put your trust in God since it is his due it belongs to him of right it is a part of your Spiritual Homage which you owe to God Religious trust doth so belong to God that it will be Idolatry to place it in any thing besides Psal 115.7 8 9 10 11. It doth so properly and solely belong to God that it is a Periphrasis of God to be the confidence of all the ends of the earth Psal 65.5 Give to God the things of God and give to the Creatures no more than belongs unto them You have nothing else to trust to you must not place Religious trust in men not in great Men and Nobles Psal 118.8 9. nor in Riches 1 Tim. 6.17 not in Horses and Chariots Psal 207. not in your own Righteousness and Religious duties Ezek. 33.13 7. Will not you trust in God who is so nearly related to you Men are apt to trust too much in thâ—ir eâ—rthly Friends and Relations We put civil trust and confidence in our neer Relations because of the affection that they bear unto us Thus Children trust to their Parents and Wives in their Husbands and one Friend in another God is your Father your Husband and your Friend and yet will you not put your trust in him 8. Will not you put your trust in God for smaller things since you trust him for the greatest you trust in God to deliver you from the torments of Hell and will not you trust him to deliver you from farr lesser evils you trust in him for Pardon and for eternal life and will you not trust in him for smaller matters Will you trust him wiâ—h your Soul and not with your Body for Eternal Life and not for Temporal would you trust a Man for thousands and not for Pence especially when the Providence of God extends to the smallest concernments of his children even to an hair of their heads Mat. 10.30 When must we put our trust in Goâ— In general I answer At all times Psal 62.8 Trust in him at all times ye People pour out your hearts before him God is a refuge for us In Particular trust in God 1. In time of Sickness and Affliction upon your Body Job 13.15 Though he slay me yet will I trust in him 2. In time of outward Wants in the losse of all things 1 Sam. 30.3 to 7. Hag. 3.17 3. In time of Desertion when you have not the smiles of his Face Isa 50.10 4. At the hour of death commit your Soules to him trust him with your Soul Psal 31.5 6. 5. In times of greatest inconstancy Psal 46.1 2 3. 6. In times of Evil Tidings Psal 112.7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. Thus if you trust God more because of the experience you have had in Gods keeping of you you do in this improve this Mercy DIRECTION XIII HAth God spared you in time of so great Mortality Then give thankes to God and the Praises that are due unto him for so great Preservation Every Person should be very thankful unto God that hath kept him alive and every Family should sound forth his Praises You spent time extraordinary in seeking God by Prayer in your Closet in your Family that he would preserve you and hath God done so in answer to your Prayers and will you not spend some time extraordinary in and with your own Family in thankful acknowledgments of Gods love unto you and his care over you Oh set some time apart every Family whom God hath preserved or so many that are left in every Family in solemn praisings of God for his signal preservation vouchsafed unto you In the time of your trouble you called upon God he hath delivered you and now you should glorifie him Psal 50.15 and God is glorified by you when you offer praises to him Ver. 23. In the pressing you to the practice of this Direction I shall do three things 1. How or with what must those that are preserved from death in time of Plague give thanks to God or glorifie God for this mercy 2. With what Arguments should the people of God that are spared press themselves to give praises to God 3. What course must such take
existimant se aliquod bonis suis adjicere tandem pro the sauro inventuros dei indignationem Bez in loc Question Sixth Question Seventh Corollaries from the first part of this Direction The second part of the first Direction Ten Lessons to be learned in this City that hath been a great house of mourning Verity of divine threatnings Desert of sin Mans mortâ—lâ—ty The worlds vanity The uncertainty of all relatiâ—ns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When they set forth to Sea Vâ—la daâ—t when they have done their voyage vela contra hunt Humility Parity in â—â—t â—â—d afflictions Difference â—n the â—anner Folly of delays Mortification Ten Aggravations of Gods Peoples sin if they be worse Seventeen Arguments to Gods People to be better Perform your purpose pay your vows Seven Arguments for care to keep oâ—r resolutions made in time of fear and sickness The heart is deceitful Sin is encroaching Satan will assault The world will interrupt You will meet with opposition Concurrence of many duties re-qui-red Twenty Helps for keeping our Resolutions Watch against your Darling sin Signs of a beloved sin And against Temptation Sin is as odious to God when you are well as when you were sick Holiness in acâ— pleasing to God more than in purpose Sin is prejudicial â—hâ—n you are well as when you were sick Holiness in act will be sweeter to you than onely in purpose When you are well you are stil mortal Believe judgment to come Gods eye is upon you Keep conscience tender Choose a choise friend Gods purpose always the same to you Holy courage Zeal Frequent Self-reflexions Renew your Purpose It will bring great benefits Pray for strength Mortifie self-love and use self-denial Examples Fourteen Aggravations of neglect to live up to our holy Resolutions It is great hypocrisie Double Iniquity Creaâ—â—olly It is to lye to God * Oratio quando non est conformis menti dicentis dicitur falsa ethice quando non est conformis rebus est salsa logice To sin against conscience It will make death terrible It is great unthankfulness for your life It will make you loose the benefit of affliction It is to approve of sin after dislike If thou hadst dyed in thy sickness thou hadst been damned It encourageth the devil to tempt It provoketh God Hinders Prayer Begets doubtings Since you live look after the cure of soul-sickness Sin is the souls sickness Sickness of the Soul more dreadfull than of the Body Signs of the cure of soul-sickness How to be cured of soul-sickness Christ the soul-â—hysician Directions to give to God the glory of our souls cure The Reader is desired to make the following Direction the Fourth Be Eminent in your place and Relation Subjects Duties to Magistrates Ministers should be more in Studying Praying Preaching 10 Appellations shewing the work of Ministers Living exemplarily The Peoples Duty in hearing the word Governoâ—s of families must set up Gods Worship in their houses Why Wherein In praying Four Reasons for daily prayer in families Râ—adiâ—g the Word of God 4 Reasons for reading Scripture in Families Repeating things delivered in publick In Catechizing 4 Reasons for Catechizing in Families In singing Psalms How 〈◊〉 Really For five Reasons Livelily Chearfully Constantly Duties of husbands wives whom God hath spared in this Plague The properties of their love Superlative Constant Holy Tender Forgiving love The Reasons of their love Wherein they should manifest this love ☜ Duties of Parents whom God hath continued to children viz. Instruction Correction Prayer Choosing them a Calling Disposing them in Marriage Duties of Children whom God hath continued to their Parents Reasons for these Duties Duties of Masters whom God hath continued to Servants Duties of Servants whom God hath continued to Masters Watch against secret sins Abstain from secret sins Considerations to watch against secret sins God setteth secret sins in the light of his countenance Masked sins detected 4 Properties of Gods view of secret sins Secresie is no security It is a sign of sincerity God judgeth not by outward appearances To allow secret sin is great â—mpâ—iety Secret sins provoke God And grieve the Spirit And destroy your peace Hâ—nder grace And fervent prayer and prevent audience Do harden Stop communications of Gods secrets If you make conscience of secret sin you shall have an open reward In these you have least help from others Que. 2. Helps against secret sins God his eye Eâ—e judgment to come Deep hatred True fear Uprightness of heart Design Gods approbation Be watchful Suppress first motions of sin Sense of Gods love Secret duties Secret duties Secret things in Publick duties Secret evils in publick duties to be avoided Since you live after the Plague be dead to the World To the Profits of the world Are corruptâ—ble Hurtful Unprofitable Hurtful Uncertain Easily valued Unsatisfying To the Honours of the World To the pleasures of the World To the wisdom of the World ☜ Signes of a Man that is dead to the world Since you live after this Plague be dead to sin and be buried with Christ Believers are buried in 3. respects 2 Differences between the burial of our friends and our sins 5 Resemblances Comfort to those that are buried with Christ Since you live after this Plague walk in newness of life What newness of life doth not consist in In what consisteth newness of life The excellenâ—ies of a new life Hindrances of walking in newness of life Since you live after this Plague keep upon your heart a sense of this Mercy Helpes to be sensible of the Mercy of life If you have fewer objects of love left you love God so much the more Since you live remember what were the actings of conscience in time of danger and live accordingly Since you live after you have been in such danger trust God for the future Description of trust 8 Arguments to trust in God Six special times to trust in God Since you live after this Plague give thanks to God 3 Wayes you must Praâ—se God with your Tongue Heart Life 12 Arguments to thankfulness for life Psal 6.4 5. Psal 30.9 Isa 3â— 18 19. Mat. 20.22 23. Jer. 16.7 Psal 16.5 6 Helpes to thankfulness for life
perform thy promise unto God when thou canst never break it but when God is looking on 10. Keep a lively and a tender conscience and diligently hearken to its admonitions that thou keep thy purpose cominations while thou art purposing to come short of thy purpose and accusations afterwards if thy conscience is not faithful unto thee thou wilt be false unto thy promise and fail of thy purpose but if it be do not choak the voice of conscience for it is thy monitor and remembrancer to put thee in minde of the bond â—nd obligation that lies upon thee to a holy life by virtue of thy own resolutions and vows in time of great mortality 11. Make a prudent choise of some wise and holy Christian for thy most intimate associate One that knows thy ways and practise most that is most acquainted with the manner of thy life and hath most occasion to be most in thy company supposing him to be faithful prudent pious tell him what hath been the purpose of thy heart when the terrors of the Lord were upon thee not onely against sin in general or in respect of holiness in general but what was the purpose of thy soul and the resolution of thy heart against this sin if it be convenient in particular which thou hast been most prone unto and the particular duty thou hast resolved to be constant and diligent in which thou hast found thy heart most backward to and engage him as he loves thy soul and the promoting of the work of God in thy heart that he will carefully observe thee and if he discern thee to be backward to thy duty that he would admonish thee if forward to thy sin that he would reprove thee and in all deal faithfully with thee this would be an exceeding help to perform our promises and purposes of holy living and such a friend as this is to be prized above his weight in gold and such a friend as this is better than a brother if you finde him let him not go 12. Seriously consider and work upon your heart till you feel your soul affected with it that Gods purposes concerning you and your good and eternal peace is the same at one time as at another and he performes all his promises which he maketh unto you God doth not one time purpose for to save you and another time purpose to condemn you and why should you then be unconstant in your purposes towards God one time to purpose that you will serve him more and glorifie him more and at another time be careless to order your life according to the intention of your heart When you finde your hearts begin to slink and goe from the purpose and promise that you have made press your self with affecting thoughts of the Immutability of Gods purposes to you and this might help you to constancy in your purposes towards God 13. Steel your heart with an holy courage against all oppositions in your way of performance Take heed of slavish fears which enfeeble your resolutions and put a stop in the way of an holy life you have resolved upon fear of danger and of death made you to resolve to keep close to God and yet your fear of death and fear of danger for holiness sake will hinder your living up to those Purposes and Resolutions Fear of death natural and from God was the occasion of your resolving to practise an holy life but fears of death violent and from men will be the cause of your breach of promise so to doe Therefore resolve to live up to your Resolutions though loss of Estate Liberty or Life should attend you for so doing 14. Fill your heart with an holy Zeal for Gods glory and if you be zealous for the glory of God you will be couragious against all Impediments and Obstructions of an holy conversation Courage is opposed to slavish Fears and Zeal is opposed to Lukewarmness And Lukewarmness is inconsistent with the practice you have resolved upon You have purposed to pray more fervently than you were wont to do but if your heart be as lukewarm in Religion you cannot do it you have purposed to lay out your self more for the good of souls to endeavour to help others in their way to heaven but if you be as lukewarm as before you cannot do more than you did before But if your heart be enflamed with zeal for God more than before you will perform all your Religious undertakings with more life than before you will pray with more life and preach with more life and speak to men about the things of God and another world than you did before and this is the performance of your Purpose 15. Be much in daily Reflexions whether you live up to your Resolutions or no. Review your life every night reflect upon your Duties and the manner of performance of them Survey at night before you sleep the actions of the day whether they have been according to the Rule of Gods Word what temptations did assault you and how you did resist them what corruptions did rise in your heart and how you did subdue them what Ordinances of God you have sate under and how you did improve them what Talents God hath entrusted you with and how you have employed them what company you have been in and how you did behave your self If you do not call your self frequently to account you will live below your Purposes and not perceive it 16. Be often renewing your Purposes and Resolutions for an holy life Frequent acts do beget and strengthen habits Actually renew your Purpose to pray to God to walk circumspectly to discourse of the things of God and it will at length be habitual to you so to do If you finde upon reflection and self-examination that your Purposes are weakened and your heart draws back from that pitch of holiness you did intend to labour after binde your heart thereto by the renewal of your Purposes If you finde you have broken your Resolutions do not resolve to continue so to do but repair them If the Mariner be driven back by windes and storms yet he keeps and renews his purpose of sailing unto his intended Harbour If a Traveller fall in his Journey he gets up and resolves to hold on his way 17. Presse your heart with the evils of coming short and with the benefits of living up unto your Resolutions The evils of this I shall speak to in the third general Head that follows next in order The Benefits of keeping the purpose of your heart are many and great Your sins will not be so many your sins will not be so strong for Resolutions against sin that are firmly made and carefully kept do exceedingly weaken sin and if you should sometime sin your sin will not be so great when God doth see you keep the firm purpose of your heart against it though sometimes you are overborn and bowed down yea
Contagion would resolve to live together you would so far as concerns you in this respect live in force measure answerably to so great a mercy else you cannot Hath God spared you to be more unkind one to another To be bitter one against another To grieve one another Or do you think this is the Improvement you should make of this mercy God forbid SECT XVI SEcondly The next Relation I consider in a Family is between Parents and Children whom God hath continued after this great Mortality God hath taken away Parents from others and they are lest Orphans but God hath continued thy Parents Both or one to thee What doth God require from thee in answer to a sutable return for this mercy God hath taken away Children from others and bereaved them of those that were dear to them but God hath continued thine all or some to thee what doth God require at thy hands in answer to a sutable return for so great a mercy It is that Parents and Children should fill up the duties of this relation else you can never walk worthy of this mercy But more particularly First Parents if they would live answerable to his mercy of Children continued to them must be careful First In instructing of them in the things of God and training them up in the waies of God this is the duty of both Parents Pro. 1.8 My son hear the instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy mother Prov. 31.1 The words of King Lemuel the Pâ—ophesie that his mother taught him This mothers might do when they are dressing of their Children Do not think you do enough if you make provision for your children and get a portion for them Let me tell you that is the leâ—st part of your duty as hard as you think it is but you must give them instructions and that 1. Timelily before they are accustomed to evil they are born in natural hardness and by frequent acts of wickedness they will contract habitual hardness and then if God clap upon their hearts judicial hardness your Children are undone for ever Children before they can goe can run from God and before they can speak plainly can speak wickedly Teach them not to be proud of their fine Clothes teach them not Revenge by giving you a stroak to beat others these be the buddings of Pride and Revenge in little Infants 2. Instruct them frequently They are apt to learn evil but backward to learn any thing that is good There must be Line upon Line Deut. 6. 6 7. You must whet the things you speak unto them that they may pierce their hearts frequently inculcate the same things upon them and instil the knowledg of God into them by little and little 3. Instruct them affectionately Let them perceive when more grown up that they are matters of Weight and Moment that you speak to them about When you speak of Heaven and Hell of God and Sin let them see that your hearts are affected with what you say Secondly In Correcting of them for the evil of Sin He that spares the Rod spoiles the Childe better you correct them here than God damne them hereafter The Rod is as needful for your Children as their Food Prov. 22.15 Folly is bound in the heart of a Childe the Rod of Correction shall drive it far from him Do this 1. Timelily a young Twigg is flexible and easie to be bent break them of wicked Words and Wâ—ies betimes or else they may break your heart when they are bigger Adonijah was Davids Dâ—â—ling an â—he was wanting in correcting of him and he Rebelled before he died and usurped the Kingdom before his Fathers death 1 King 1.5 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself saying I will be King and he prepared his Horsmen and Chariots and fifty Men to run before him Vers 6. And his Father had not displeased him at any time in saying Why hast thou done so Too much indulgence will make undutiful and disobedient Children 2. Proportionably to their fault Do not Correct a small offence over sharply nor an hainous sin too slightly if you are too severe for a small offence they will hate you if you are too indulgent in a great offence they will despise you This was Elyes sin that he did not correct the hainous sin and reprove the abominable practise of his Sons with greater severity 1 Sam. 2.23 And he said unto them Why do ye such things for I hear of your evil dealings by all this People Vers 24. Nay my Sons for it is no good report that I hear ye make the Lords People to transgress It is no good report that was too good a word for so hainous wicked Works it was an abominable thing that was reported by others and committed by his Sons But see what God saith to Ely Vers 29. Thou honourest thy Sons above me and God severely punished his Children for their vile offence and the Father for his so cold reproof as you may read in the following Verses 3. Compassionately do not Correct your Children in the heate of Passion but with bowels of compasion when the Rod is in your hand let there be tender love in your heart 4. Discreetly Observing the temper and disposition of your Childe which you correct if you Scourge and frown upon one as much as is needful for another you will discourage him if you scourge not another more than this that is more tender spirited you will not break him Correction is like a Medicine in which the Physitian hath respect to the constitution of the Patient Children are like Herbs some if you cut and tread will grow again but if you do as much to other Herbes you kill them 5. Seasonably There is much wisdom in Parents in timeing their Correcting of their Children if you correct them for some faults before others you will discourage them take the fittest season 6. Penitently When you correct your Children judge your self first and repent for your own sin or else you do but beat your self 7. Believingly When you exercise your child with the Rod do you exercise faith upon the Promise Thirdly In Praying much for them many pray for Children before they have them but neglect to pray for them when God hath given them as though their being were a greater blessing than their well-being you must add Prayer to Instruction and Correction for it is not onely your Instruction nor Correction but Gods blessing given in to servent Prayer that will make your Children good When you look upon your little Infants as they are sucking at your breasts or laughing in your faces or playing in your armes oh consider the seed of sin that they have in their hearts that they by Nature are the children of wrath and when you go to pray for them use such considerations that might make your heart to mourn over them and for them When you consider they are enemies to God