Lord be merciful to me a sinner and when he had done this he was careful afterwards for the Text saith Luk. 18. 14. As he had prayed for mercy so he was careful to carry it along with him He prayed that he might be justified and as he prayed for it so he was careful to carry home justification in his bosome So when we are at a Sermon we should watch that we may go home quickned and bettered and when we are at conference we should watch that we may return home with the firuit and benefit of the duty So for all other Ordinances we should be careful and watchful that we may not lose the reward for the Divel is crafty and our own hearts are ready to betray us therefore we had need be watchful and that is the second thing we should watch the duties of Religion Thirdly We should watch times and seasons God knows what miserable things are a coming therefore what time the Lord allots us we had need improve it to the best advantage that we may redeem the time How many hours do run from us before we are aware How many dayes and months and years have we let slip away and we are little the better Our time is a special thing and therefore we had need to watch it that we may improve it to the best advantage that we may be no longer fools but wise in the imploying of it Secondly We should watch all the times of Gods anger and displeasure it is a miserable thing when a man passeth on like a fool and Gods anger come forth and a man is not provided hath not a defence for it There be dayes of anger and visitation when God comes to visit people for their sins to visit a parish to visit a family to visit a person and what a woful thing is it for a man to be drowzy and negligent when Gods anger bursts forth and so he hath no evidence of comfort to his soul he knows not how to meet God in the field But when the wrath of God breaks out in any kind upon his Goods or Wife or Children or Body or Friends or any thing he is at a losse and knows not what to do he is fain to sink under the hand of God and hath no refuge to flie unto therefore we should watch against the day of Gods anger Thirdly We should watch over the times of Grace for there be gracious and acceptable times as the Apostle calls them 2 Cor. 6. 21. Many times good motions come in Now if we do not watch to keep them and nourish them in our hearts the Lord will passe us by at another time and we shall not be moved Sometimes God affects thy heart at a Sermon and puts in a good resolution to forsake sin and lead a new life now have a care to keep these resolutions and let them not perish in thee and go out like lightning The Lord hath given many a blessed season and oportunity of mercy the water was moved if he would have but stepped in if he would but have taken hold of the mercy he might have had it but afterwards he may go mourning and thirsting and longing and never have the mercy offered more and it is well if he can be humbled for missing of that mercy by his neglect and watch for the future the times of Grace Again we should watch the times of Death we are all mortal men must die and Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find him so doing Mat. 24. 5. If any of us should dye before we are converted and brought home to God we perish for ever Whosoever thou art if thou die in thy sins with thy dead hard unsanctified unregenerate heart thou art damned thou goest to Hell Therefore watch for the coming of death that so when it comes it may not be the King of Terrours and an amazement to thy heart Againe We must watch for the day of Judgment as Death leaves us so Judgment will find us Therefore we should consider with our selves seriously the strictnesse of the account we are to give at the dreadful day of the Son of man when all works shall be brought to a Touch-stone and all secrets shall be Preached on the House top It is an excellent thing when a man doth consider these things before hand when a man hath looked upon his thoughts for they shall be Judged and upon his speeches and upon all his wayes for they shall all be brought before the Judgment Seat of God and according as a man hath done such reward he shall receive for evermore The next thing is the Reasons why we are to Watch. And the First Reason is Because we are marvellous prone to be Drowzy in Spiritual things In temporal things we are watchful enough for Covetousnesse and Pride and the like we are very watchful but in Spiritual things how subject are we to Drowzyness Paul himself was fain to complain I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. Is thy heart better then Saint Pauls If he were left to himself he should be as miserable and proud and untoward as another and have as vile an heart as another and therefore that made him watch Therefore we had need to watch for how loath are we to be brought to watch and how unwilling to take such an hard piece of service to do we are marvellous apt to be secure If Jonah had watched if he had had a watch over his heart he would have gone to Nineveh but for want of watchfulnesse he ran away Cant. 5. 2. I sleep saith the Church it was not like the sleep of the wicked and ungodly for her heart waked but she was asleep she was proud and marvellous secure there was a great deal of untowardnesse of spirit grew upon her And as we are untoward to that which is good so we are prone to that which is evil we are glued naturally to the world and the things of this life it is an easie thing to draw us away into evill therefore we had need to watch As it is said of the Disciples of Christ in regard of temporal drowziness so it is with us in regard of Spiritual drowziness Mat. 26. 43. He came and found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy Though Christ had awakened them and jogged them yet they were asleep again for their eyes were heavy So though the Lord hath awakened us even now we were awakened by a Crosse by Sicknesse by a Sermon by a Reproof something or other God hath been pleased to waken us by but all on the suddain we fall asleep again for our hearts are very heavy as it is with an heavy brain what a doe he hath to keep himself awake though he pinch himself and rowze up himself yet he hath much adoe to keep his eyes open so the heart of
man it makes his heart to burst under the weight of his sins and it beats him to powder but a man that is onely legally dead he is heart-whole still and his spirit is as stout against the kind working of the Gospel as ever it was nay worse a great deal there are none more hardened then those that see themselves dead damned creatures by the power of the law without the power of the Gospel But when the Gospel comes it breaks the heart to powder Isa 57. 15. Thus saith the high and lofty one He that inhabiteth Eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place and with him who is of an humble and contrite spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart This man is the object of Mercy that is evangelically dead he is the formal object of mercy why because he is dead with such a kind of death as hath gotten power over him power to break his heart to make it an humble and contrite heart now saith the Lord I will revive such a man This man is the formal object of mercy and into him eternal life will come 2. The Second thing I promised to shew you is the difference between these two between legal and evangelical Privation Between one that is legally dead and one that is dead as the Gospel deads a man before it quickens him 1. First He that is legally dead lies all along in his death but when the Gospel makes a man a dead man it makes him stand up that he might have life Ephes 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee life He doth not mean stand up from being dead but stand up from the dead and then Christ shall give thee life he means such a standing up from the dead as before Christ gives him life the Gospel doth thus far awaken a man though he be more dead a thousand times then he that is dead by the law yet thus far it quickens him that he stands up from his secure estate when the law comes and shews a man that he is a dead man he still lies under his sins he is a dead man and cannot stand up that Christ may give him life That is the First thing 2. Secondly He that is legally dead made dead only by the law he is deaf to the Gospel but when a man is evangelically dead it boors his ears and makes him hear the voice of the Word and not only so but the voice of Christ in the Word Isa 55. 3. Incline your ears and come unto me hear and your soul shall live He calls those that were evangelically dead hear and your soul shall live they are made able to hear Let their profits and old courses and old companions come and tempt them to walk as they have done they are deaf of that ear they cannot go that way to work no now their ears are open heaven-wards seek the Lord and you shall live Amos 5. 6. They are made to seek the Lord thus much life they have though they are more dead in regard of their own misery then one that is dead by the law yet thus much life they have put into them that they will go and seek unto God in the use of the means and follow him up and down and nothing will satisfy the heart but Christ they leave no stone unroled they seek up and down everywhere 3. Thirdly He that is legally dead it is a kind of death to love but he that is evangelically dead it is a death of love when the Church in the Canticles was but sensible of the countenance of Christ she was presently sick of love I charge you O ye daughters of Jerusalem if ye find my wel beloved tell him that I am sick of love Cant. 5. There is a great deal of difference between sicknesse and death death is a total privation of life sicknesse is but a partial privation now when the Gospel hath wrought upon a man that he hath some of Christ and is not deprived of all that privation makes him sick of love but when the Gospel makes a man see he is dead and altogether deprived of Christ now he is dead of love when a man is legally dead this is his death that he is damned and must go to hell this is his death that he hath no mercy not that he hath not grace and holiness and Christ but if a man be evangelically dead this is his death that he hath not Christ The Use is this If there be any that the law hath made dead rest not there but labour that the Gospel may make you dead also when thou art humbled by the law thou mayest think that mercy is prepared for thee but thy lusts may recover again and that damned life that is in thee may recover again therefore labour to be more deaded by the Gospel that thou mayest have a total death begun in thee that thou mayest have thy deaths wound given thee deep not only to be in a swoond but to be dead indeed Joh. 11. Christ staid four dayes after Lazarus was dead before he would raise him because he would have him irrecoverably dead before he would raise him Lord saith Martha he stinstinketh for he hath been dead four dayes vers 39. If he had raised him sooner his glory had not been so great so thou must labour to be dead indeed and to be buried and to be loathsome and abominable and then Christ will quicken thee It is certain that Gods Children have some of this death wrought in them before they are quickned at all for death is before quickning in order of nature there must be a corruption of one thing before there can be a generation of another there must be a privation of one form before there can be an introduction of another A child of God must be dead before he can be quickned Now then if he will have more life he must labour to be dead more and more now thou must labour to have this death truly begun to be wrought in thee thou must labour to have the love of this world and self-conceitednesse altogether dead in thee Hos 6. 2. After two dayes will he revive us and the third day will he raise us up and we shall live in his sight A man may be alive though he have been seemingly dead twenty four hours therefore it is a good custom among us to keep men near two dayes before we bury them that we may be sure they are throughly dead for there are many have been buried alive so after two dayes he will revive us and the third day he will raise us up when a man is dead indeed and hath his liveliness throughly killed in him then God will revive him if he should revive him before his glory would not be so great if he should revive him
Life in them We may see it Acts 13. 50. there it is said that the Jews stirred up certain devout and honourable women and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their Coasts Though they hated Paul and Barnabas yet they are said to be devout and honourable women They imagined they were very Devout they conceived they were Religious How many men and women are there that think they are righteous and they will do many duties and take many good courses in so much that it would pity a man to think they should goe to hell they will be very Zealous they will be very Earnest against Drunkennesse and cry out against the abominations of the times they are marvellous devout and godly and yet a man that is Devout and godly in truth and in deed they cannot abide him but hate him Now if the Law should come home unto them and discover how indeed it is with them it would humble their souls and pull down their spirits and make them dead so that this presumptuous hope that men are in good terms with God and that God will be merciful to them and forgive them their sins this makes them to be alive 2. We come now to the Second thing and that is the Effect of this livelynesse what Effects it works in the heart and the Effects of this Livelynesse are Four 1. First It makes them sound and heart-whole like a boyl unlaunched it is yet sound The true sight of sin and wrath of God in the soul is able to break the heart of any man it is able to dead his spirit and kill all the livelynesse that is in him and make him have little life to go on as he doth But so long as the Law of God is not come home to a man though he have no title to heaven though hell be the portion of his cup yet he is as sound as can be as heart-whole as may be let carnal comfort come he can take it let pleasures come he is able to delight himself therewith and go on in his course as if he ailed nothing Prov. 18. 14. the Wise man saith the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear When the Lord comes to wound a mans heart with the sight of his sins and the fearful condition he is in what a cursed creature he is having no mercy and being out of Christ having no pardon no grace no holinesse but lyeth under the curse of God If the Law thus come home and wounds his Conscience he is not able to bear it this man let carnal comforts come he is not able to take them it kills the heart Look as it is with the Stomack if it can take meat and digest it it must needs be alive for if the Stomack be dead it can digest nothing So for the tast if a mans palat and all the instruments of the tast be dead he takes no delight in any meats so there is a kind of soundnesse in the Soul that is the reason why a man can delight in carnal pleasures in Drinking and Sporting and in Profit and Gain There is a kind of soundnesse and livelinesse in the heart the heart is not yet broken If the Law come and take the hearts life away this wil pull down the heart it will make a mans heart even break it will pull down his spirit But a man whom the Law hath not yet humbled and shewed him his damned estate his heart is yet whole and sound When the Law of God had but a little killed Ahabs heart you might see it in his very gate he went softly he could not tread so confidently upon the ground as he was wont to do it tamed his very steps it is wonderful how his heart was broken it appeared in his very going up and down When the Law comes home to a man it is able to kill his heart and makes him Soul-sick and makes him cry out O the wretchednesse of my heart it makes a man sick at the heart it lyes like a heavy Plague upon the heart and conscience it will make a man sick of his sins it will make him even at deaths door with his sins it will make him say with Paul when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed But another man though he hath evident demonstration that he is a dead man yet the Law of God hath not pulled down his heart sicknesse will pull down a mans Stomack so when the Law of God comes home to a mans Conscience and makes him sick it makes him yield and pulls down his Stomack Many men are crazy and sickly and yet they lye not by it but walk up and down and go abroad but if they were heart sick it would pull them down and make them lye by it So many a carnal man may have some qualms of sin but yet their hearts can go abroad after profits and pleasures after vanities and delights they can goe abroad for all this But when the Law comes home it will pull down a mans spirit and make him heart-sick This is the meaning of that place The whole need not a Physician but the sick Mat. 9. 12. Every carnal man so long as he is not humbled and broken under the sight of his sins his heart is yet whole his spirit is yet sound he is not yet wounded as the Prophet Isaiah speaks Isa 1. 6. from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot there is nothing but wounds and swellings and sores full of corruption there is no soundnesse in him He is indeed full of wounds but the skin is yet sound it is not broken he feels it not the Law hath not yet discovered his estate unto him This is the first effect of this livelynesse it makes men to be sound and heart-whole 2. The Second effect of this livelynesse when a man is alive in the non-appearance of his dead and damned estate alive in performance alive in presumption and self-justifying and self-hopes The effect of it is that he is fearless the more lively the more fearless First the Object must dead the heart before it can make the heart fear so long as the heart is stout the livelynesse that is in the heart is able to keep out fear So the livelinesse of a sinner makes the heart fearlesse and secure A man would wonder how any creature durst provoke God it is almost beyond the reach of true reason how any creature should dare to provoke God to consider what infinite danger he is in to have the wrath of the God of heaven and earth to hang over his head to be under the hand of revenging Justice to pull down all the Woes and Plagues and Comminations of God upon the Soul that a man should do this and yet be secure it would make a man wonder at it But a man that hath this livelynesse he can provoke God and yet be
man must be naked before he can be cloathed a man must be lost before he can be found there are none of you that live in your sins but you must be stripped of all the forms that are in you there must be a Privation come into you before true Grace can be formed in you Privation is one of the Principles of Religion and unlesse you be deprived of all other forms you cannot have the essential form of Religion come into you it is the poor that receive the Gospel when a man is deprived of all other forms then is he fit to receive the form of the Gospel When a man is deprived of his own wisdom he may then receive the wisdom of the Gospel when a man is deprived of his own self-confidence of his own strength and sufficiency then he may receive the strength of the Gospel when a man is deprived of all other contrary livelinesse and contrary forms that are opposite to all these when a man is deprived of all these he is capable of the true life of Christ and the Gospel I will Instance only in one thing which I named before and that is poverty a man can never receive Christ or any impression of the true form of Christianity till first his Heart be emptied and his Will and his Mind be emptied and his Conscience be emptied till all other forms be voyded out and he begins to be made poor and nothing in himself till every room in the soul be naked and empty there is never a room for the kingdom of God to come into the soul the kingdom of God is a great thing and will take up a great deal of room where it comes therefore the Heart and the Mind and the Will and the Affections must be emptied the soul must be rid and void of all other things or else there is no room for the Kingdom of God As our Saviour saith Mat. 5. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall receive the Kingdom of God Then there is room for the Kingdom of God when the heart is made poor and all is voided out the world and the flesh and all carnal delights and pleasures and all self-conceitednesse which the heart was full of When it was full of the world there was no room for Gods Kingdom but when a man is made poor in Spirit when he hath a Privation of these things wherewith his soul was filled now there is room for the Kingdom of God the reason is because a man can never be brought to Christ till he is pinched with these Privations before he can never come to Christ his heart can never be brought to bid so much and stake down so much for Christ as he must do if ever he come to attain him unlesse his heart be pinched with poverty unlesse his heart be void of all these high imaginations he had of himself he will never come to Christ It is plenty that brings down the market and scarcity that makes it rise plentiful years will make Corn of no price almost but if there be famine and scarcity and no bread almost to be had but men are ready to dye for hunger then they wil give any thing they will give ten shillings a bushel twenty nay fourty shillings hath been given for a bushel of Corn as I have read in Chronicles it is poverty that makes men come to a price So must the heart be pinched with Spiritual poverty else it will not come to Christ men will give nothing for the Kingdom of God they will not part with a single groat for Christ the prophane Gallant will not part with a lock for Christ the proud vain fool will not part with a foolish lace a foolish fashion for Christ the drunkard will not foregoe a pot for Christ men will not part with any thing for Christ they will not part with a paultry lust or base affection for Christ People will not stir they will not open their purses they will not open their hearts to give any thing for Christ the reason is their hearts are full already People count their profits and pleasures and lusts and vanities and delights their Jewels a man must be poor before he will part with his Jewels but if a man be throughly pinched with poverty he will part with his old Gold and Rings and Jewels and all but he will never part with his Jewels till he be forced to it by extremity So all the lusts of the heart all the things of the world that the mind and affections run upon men account them their Jewels and they will not part with them till they be pinched with poverty Thus it was with the Jaylor Acts 16. 30 when he was pinched with this poverty he cryes out Men and brethren what shall I do to be saved When his heart was pinched with this poverty he was content to part with any thing he was willing to do any thing to hearken to any terms that he might have mercy So that it is necessary for a man to have all these Privations wrought in his heart and be made poor else he will never take Christ upon those terms whereupon he is offered Secondly Suppose a man should conceive worth to be in Christ suppose he should put a great price upon him yet if a man be not under these Privations if he be not pinched with poverty with Spiritual need and want he will never use all means for the attaining of the Kingdome of God He will never take himself to all those courses that God hath commanded himself to be sought in It was need that made Ahab send up and down all Countries and Soiles for water it was need that made the rich Woman of Sâ—unem to hazard her self and her family and houshold in a forraign Country she would not have gone a mile of that Journey but for her poverty as Divines use to speak Let two men go to the Market the one hath need the other hath not he that hath need will go whatsoever the weather be though the weather be never so foul he will go bread he wants and bread he must have and bread he will have and if he cannot have it at an easie rate he will part with any thing he will pawn his very cloaths from his back for it Why because he and his wife and his children want it But the other he will go according as he likes the weather if the weather be answerable to his mind it may be he will go it may be not and when he is there it may be he will buy and it may be not according as the price goeth because he hath no need of it So it is in Grace let two men be called upon to seek out for Grace one doth not feel any great need he is not pinched with the want of Faith and Repentance and Pardon and Peace of Conscience though he want these yet he is not pinched with the want
his heart is yet full he is not yet come to this Spiritual poverty It may be he will come to a Sermon it may be not it may be he will part with a Lust and it may be not it is according as the bargain pleaseth him he will never use all means nor take up all courses that are prescribed But a man that is ready to starve for want of Christ as Sisera said Give me drink or else I perish so give me Christ or else I perish This man will take any course use any means he must have Christ and will have him when he comes to the Word Christ he wants and Christ he will have and must have all Sermons and all hearing are but as Oile to the fire they do but pinch his Soul so much the more till Christ comes he must have Christ in his Ordinances because he is sensible of his Spiritual poverty So that it is he which is lost that will be found it is he which is a captive that will be freed it is he that is blind that must have his sight and it is he that is naked that must be cloathed he that lies under these woful Privations he must have the form he looks after it he cannot be without it Thus we see that Privation is necessary for Religion the true life of Religion can never come into a man till he be layed under all these woful Privations we read of in Scripture But now here is a question which will arise which those that are godly would be glad to have resolved and that is this Whether these Privations that the Apostle here speaks of makes a man the formal Object of mercy St. Paul was alive once before the Law came but when the law came and was charged upon his Conscience it deprived him of his livelynesse and made him a dead man I dyed saith he Now the Question is this Whether is such a man the formal Object of mercy When the Law hath deprived a man of his conceited riches and made him a poor man and hath proclaimed him a bankrupt and a begger and made him a captive that he is not able to stir one foot he is not able so much as to think a good thought but he lyeth under wrath and is not able to get out Whether is such a man the formal Object of mercy I mean whether is he such a one as the Gospel hath promised deliverance unto When a man by the law is made a dead Creature and is altogether deprived of life and health he hath no life actually and there is no life actually to be had for him for so the law leaves him without any hope of getting any life Whether is this man the formal Object of mercy whether is he such a one as the Gospel doth make promise to of quickning and enriching and gathering and finding and saving and comforting and the like whether is this man the formal Object of mercy Every man is the Object of mercy but whether hath this man got those properties that belong to the actual Object of mercy The reason why I propound this Question is this Because the Scripture seems to make such a one the formal Object of mercy such a one as mercy is promised to such a one as the Gospel looks upon as the proper and actual Object of mercy for the Gospel is said to quicken the dead and to give them life it is the Letter that killeth and the Spirit that giveth life 2 Cor. 3. 6. It giveth life to him that was before a dead man to him that was killed by the letter So for poverty Luke 4. 18. To the poor the Gospel is preached the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath annointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me that I should heal the broken hearted and preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind So that when the law hath made a man a poor man hath stripped him of all his conceited riches and hath made him a begger it seems that Christ is anointed to preach mercy to such a one it seems that such a one is the formal Object of the Gospel See Psalm 147. 2. He gathers the out-casts of Israel when the Law hath made a man an out-cast it seems he is the formal Object of mercy The Gospel undertakes to gather such people so far lost The Son of man is come to save that which is lost Matth. 18. 11. he is come for that purpose it is his Commission he is sent to save that which is lost when the law hath made a man to be a lost man that he seeth he is utterly undone without mercy Christ is come to save such people and to look upon them as the formal Object of mercy So for death it self when a man is made dead by the Law The hour shall come saith our Saviour and now is that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that do hear it shall live John 5. 25. It seems that the Scripture makes such as are made dead by the law and poor and blind and naked and wretched and miserable by reason of the Law being pressed upon them and pulling them down with terrours and conviction it seems such a one is the formal Object of mercy such a one to whom mercy is promised I do not mean that he is the formal Object of the invitations of the Gospel that is most certain there is no question of that Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and you shall find rest to your souls Come unto me all you that are poor and blind and naked and dead and I will give you life have you a hard heart that you cannot free your selves from come unto me and I will free you from it have you no power to repent and believe come unto me and take mercy upon my terms and believe in me whatsoever weaknesse is in you I will strengthen you whatever discomforts and wants lye upon you I will relieve and chear you This is certain the more a man seeth himself a dead man the more he is the formal Object of the invitation of the Gospel But the Question is Whether he is the formal Object of the promises of the Gospel I Answer No There is a great deal of difference between legal Privations and these Privations as they are evangelical as the Gospel makes them before it quickens a man there is a great deal of difference between a man that is dead and poor and blind and naked and miserable by reason of the law and a man that hath these privations wrought in him by the power of the Gospel when a man is made dead by the law and sees himself a lost creature by reason that the law plainly shews him his estate and condition this man may be a reprobate for all this and go to hell there
is no promise in the Word that God will quicken him and raise him up Christ is free from any promise in this kind he may quicken him if he will and not quicken him if he please I may say in this sense as Christ himself saith Joh. 5. The Son of man quickens whom he will He is free to quicken whom he will though a man be made a dead man by the law and cry out he is a dead man and a damned man though he hath the works of the law and be terrified and gastered and humbled by the law yet Christ is free from any promise he hath made to these people there is never a promise in all the Word that Christ hath bound himself by to these people to quicken them they cannot say there is such a promise in the Word that Christ will quicken them There are plain places in the Scripture wherein the Lord invites such people upon condition they will come and believe and submit to the Gospel there is a conditional invitation upon these terms But that these people shall be quickned and shall have eternal life given them there is no such promise the Lord is free the Lord hath not bound himself to it but when a man is dead according as the Gospel makes a man dead before it quickens him and when a man is poor according as the Gospel makes him poor and when a man is blind according as the Gospel makes him blind now a man is within the compass of Gods promises he is one that is the formal object of Mercy he is one that shall have Mercy and shall have Salvation and Redemption by Jesus Christ these dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall live the tongue of these stammerers shall speak plain the eyes of these blind shall see these out-casts shall be gathered these naked shall be cloathed these lost shall be found these poor shall be enriched when a man is dead so as the Gospel deads a man before it quickens a man for the Lord damns a man before he saves a man and kills a man before he quickens him like a good Surgeon that cuts before he cures or like a good Physician that kills a man almost with Physick so the Lord doth bring a man to deaths door before he quickens him it is the Gospel that truly humbles him and works these privations and now he is within the compasse of the promise now he hath a promise that he shall be quickned and have supply in regard of all these Privations but so long as these Privations are only legal he hath no promise that he shall be quickned for many are humbled and made dead as it were by the law and yet shake it off again and go to their proâ—â—ts and pleasures and delights and hardnesse of heart again many a man hath been gastered by the law and cryed out of his damned estate and condition and yet hath got up again and recovered himself by the world and the things of the world and it was ever so of old as we may see in Cain the law had discovered him to himself to be a dead man and a damned man I see my sins are greater then can be forgiven or are forgiven or shall be forgiven he saw his punishment was intolerable his condemnation was more then he was able to bear From thy presence am I cast out and a Vagabond shall I be upon the face of the earth Gen. 4. 14. Yet he was not the formal Object of mercy the Gospel did not quicken him nor convert him he was not the formal Object of mercy for he shook off these terrours again as we may see in the very same Chapter and went to building of Cities and inventing of musick and other arts and sciences and this quickned and revived him again but he never came to true life So it is with many men though they be terrified and gastered and humbled and cast down by the law yet they get up again and run after the world and after security and hardnesse of heart again so that such a man is not the formal Object of mercy 2. Again we see that many though they be wrought upon thus by the law and their eyes be enlightned and their Consciences awaked and they see that they are in a wretched and damned estate yet they scrape together a company of vain hopes and so heal themselves again When they have been terrified by the law they seek presently for promises and how they may get up again and they would fain get up and they lye at catch at every Sermon and at every Chapter and at every Word which a good man speaks and if they can get any hold they catch at it and so get up a gain and go on And when they have got a little comfort and think they shall do well they are as carelesse and as stubborn and as secure as ever they were they may go on in the profession of Religion but yet their latter end is worse then their beginning The unclean Divel may be cast out but the Divel transforms himself into an angel of light and enters into them and they go on in doing good duties but they never have the power of Religion Again Thirdly Many that are humbled by the law they run away and never come to Christ as Judas when he saw he was condemned he went and hanged himself Matth. 27. 3 5. Some expound it of Christ when he saw Christ was condemned but others expound it of himself when Judas saw himself was condemned and that seems to be the meaning of the place for Christ was not condemned nor so much as accused there came not any witnesse against him till Judas had hanged himself as we may see if we read that Chapter But whether that be the meaning or no this is true and certain he saw he was a dead man he saw he lay under the guilt of his sins and he despaired of mercy and went and hanged himself Again Lastly If such a man were the Object of mercy then all the damned in hell were the formal Objects of mercy for there is never a man in hell but the law hath its work to the uttermost upon him it can work a man no lower it can sink a man no deeper it can make a man no more miserable then those that are in hell Now if a dead man by the law should be the formal Object of mercy then the damned in hell should be the formal Object of mercy which cannot be for from thence there is no Redemption Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his angels there is no quenching of that fire So that we see the legal killing of the law doth not make a man the formal Object of mercy But yet such a man hath a great deal of advantage he is before a world of other men that live secure if men were in this estate
they were in a thousand times more likelyhood to be saved If I could hear of people that were gastered and cast down by the law that saw themselves without Christ and without mercy in the power of Satan and in the bond of iniquity if they cryed out I am a dead man and a damned man if I dye now at this present I shall go to hell if people were in this estate and condition there were more hopes of them a thousand times there is no hope of people that doe live secure in their sins so long as the Trumpet of the Law hath not sounded in their ears so long as the Hammer of the Law hath not sounded upon their hearts there is no hope of mercy for them Therefore now for the clearing of this a little more let me shew you First What it is to be dead according as the Gospell makes a man to be a dead man Secondly What is the difference between Legal Privation and Evangelical and when these Privations are Evangelical and put a man under the actual Title to mercy under an actual interest in the promises Thirdly What Use we are to make of it For the First What it is to be Evangelically dead To be legally dead is not to be half a quarter so much dead as to be Evangelically dead so as the Gospel makes a man dead before it quickens him When a man is Evangelically dead it makes him more dead by a thousand degrees then all the law in the world can make him it makes him more dead by odds when a man is Legally dead and sees himself to be a damned creature and whereas he hoped to have mercy he seeth now he hath none and whereas he hoped to go to heaven he now seeth the gates are shut against him and whereas he hoped he had some good in him now he sees he hath nothing in him a man would think this were a dead man but his livelynesse is only in a swound the law lying upon him will not let his livelynesse appear and if the law should lie upon him for ever it would never let his livelynesse actually appear but yet he is not throughly dead all this while as for example 1. Self-conceitednesse it is not deaded when a man is killed by the law you would think his conceitednesse were gone he was conceited he was a good Christian but now he sees no such matter he was conceited before that he would repent and God would be merciful to him but now he seeth he is utterly deprived of mercy and lies under the wrath of God you would think now that all his conceitednesse was gone but it is but only in a swound all this while he lies for dead as it were but he is not dead So take a man that is in hell all his good conceits of mercy and of himself and his profits and pleasures and vanities and delights they are all gone now What doth pride profit me what good do riches do me what have all my pleasures and delights done me good all my labour is vanity and all my delights folly one would think all his conceits were clean gone but they are only in a swound If a damned man were out of hell if the Lord should take off the lash of his law from him he would have as good a conceit of his profits and pleasures and riches again as ever he had and he would have his carnal reasons against the strictnesse of Religion again as rief as ever he had they are only laid in a swound indeed there they shall lie a man can never get up again because the law lies continually upon him he is continually under the lash of the law and the law holds this picture before his eyes and shews him his damned estate and condition but upon such a supposition that he might come out of hell his conceits would rise up again Prov. 5. 12 13. Solomon there brings in a man wrought upon by the law the law discovered him to be a dead man How have I hated instruction and despised correction and have not obeyed the voice of them that taught me nor inclined my eare to them that instructed me His carnal reasons are now all gone they are in a swound they were true instructions that I have hated they were true reports that I have despised and they were base and damned courses which I have followed How have I lived one would think all his foolish conceits now were gone they are in a swound indeed and cannot get up But the Gospel will give a man his deaths wound a man can never have that good conceit of himself he had before nor of his lusts and vanities and profits and delights his self-conceitedness hath now got his deaths wound Secondly For self-confidence when the law hath humbled a man his self-confidence is only in a swound when he lyeth in hell under the lash of the law he seemeth to have no power in himself no life or activity to any duty He sees that he is poor and weak and rotten and wretched A poor creature he is he seeth it plainly and all his self-confidence seems to be gone but yet there is a great deal of self-confidence actually in hell for though they are in hell yet they think if they were alive again what they would do I would hear the Word and call upon God I would repent and not live insin and not do as I have done they think they would do thus and thus as it was with Dives Luke 16. 30. I have five brethren saith he if one should come to them from the dead they would repent and not come where I am If they knew but as much as I know they would repent I am sure if they were in my case they would if they were in hell where I am if they knew how certain it is that they shall come to hell where I am when they dye unless they doe repent at the preaching of the Prophets and hearken to the voice of Gods Ministers and yield and submit to God they would do it I would if it were my case This is self-confidence for self-confidence is only laid asleep in hell and it cannot rise again It is true the law may dead a man and give him three deaths wounds There are three wounds that the law gives a man First It makes it appear that a man is worthy of death and guilty of death the law makes him see his guiltiness Secondly The law pronounceth upon a sinner the sentence of death as Paul saith of natural death I received the sentence of death 2 Cor. 1. 9. that is I was a dead man I took my self to be a dead man So the law doth make a man to be a dead man it pronounceth the sentence of death upon him it doth not only make it appear that he is worthy of death for so it may do and yet he may have hope of mercy but it makes a man
near to the end and hath a great dea to write he writes his lines close and crowds them together So now when we are coming towards an end we cannot look that God should alvvayes strive with us we should now therefore labour to write close and to make our Duties thick and to be enquiring after Grace wheresoever we come we think the time is long but we may justly fear it is shorter then we imagine as when an hour-glass is almost out a man that sits below will think there is a great deal to run but the sand is hollow and is run out before a man is aware so the Lord so carries himself towards people that they may think there is a great deal of Patience more and a great deal of Mercy more to be extended towards them but when all comes to all they shall find it lyes hollow and will be out before they are aware Secondly Consider how sickly and diseased our Souls are how apt they are to fall into sin Sickly men are most careful Now our Souls are sick of sin sick of Pride sick of Covetousnesse and Earthly-mindednesse easily carried away with the sins of the times they are sick of pronenesse to do evil and indisposednesse to that which is good therefore we had need to watch over our souls we had need be our own Porters Matth. 13. 34. our Saviour Christ doth compare every Christian to a Porter The Lord of the house takes a great journey and commands the Porter to watch We should all be Porters and keep the gates of our Souls for we are alwayes in danger Thirdly Consider that God hath awakened many of us already and therefore it is a miserable thing for us to sleep again wicked and ungodly men that were never converted and healed and awakened and wrought upon they go to Hell and damnation in a sleepy security but when a man hath been once awakened and hath shaken off sleep and God hath made him look about him to see how he might be saved if this man fall a sleep again it is a most miserable thing the latter end of that man will be worse then his beginning Fourthly Consider the badnesse of the Times and Places and Families we live in they are all secure and therefore we had need be so much the more vvatchful and you knovv it is a very hard thing for a man not to do as others do therefore the Apostle 1 Thess 5. 6. vvould not have them sleep as others do as vvho should say Others do so and therefore you have so much the more need to look to your selves that you may not do as others do THE NEW BIRTH Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit MY Purpose is to speak of the several VVorks of Gods holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of his chosen they are Gods peculiar people and therefore he vvill vvork greater Mercies for them then for any else Novv the First grand distinguishing vvork of the Holy Ghost in the Elect is Regeneration he is the Author of Spiritual life in them they are born of him though by nature they are born of the flesh and so are flesh and in that estate can never enter into the kingdom of God yet vvhen the Spirit of God comes to regenerate them they come to be Spirit they come to have a nevv life and the Spirit of God gives it them it is true that Christ is the Author of this life he procured it by his death he quickens whom he will as he told his Disciples Joh. 14. 19. Because I live ye shall live also Life is derived by Christ to all the Members of Christ for as all in Adam died Adam is the general root of all in his loins and by him they come to be dead in sin so Christ is the Second Adam and all that are in his loins all that are in him he is a quickning Spirit to them 1 Cor. 15. 45. The first man Adam was made a living Soul the second Adam was made a quickning Spirit Christ is the second Adam and is a quickning Spirit to all that are in him God the Father hath appointed him to be the Prince of Life as Peter tells his Hearers Act. 3. 15. The Lord Jesus Christ he is the Prince of life to all the people of God and therefore Saint John saith He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh. 5. 12. He is the Father of this new Birth and he is the daily and continual Father of it He is not a Father for one or two or divers years but Isa 9. 6. he is called an everlasting Father to regenerate a people to God and he doth it by his Resurrection 1 Pet. 1. 3. This must needs be granted That Christ must be the Author of this new Life Now you will say Then why is it attributed to the Spirit The Text gives it to the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost now if Christ be the Author of this new Birth and the giver of this new Life and God the Father hath appointed him to be so Why is it then here said That the Spirit doth it I Answer It is given to the Spirit for Three Reasons First Because Christ doth it by the Spirit Whatsoever Christ doth without he doth it by the Spirit when he cast out Divels here upon Earth he did it by his Spirit all the outward VVorks that he wrought he wrought them by his Spirit and therefore the Spirit is called the Finger of God Luk. 11. 20. Now if Christ do this VVork by his Spirit if he do Regenerate all his people by his own Spirit there is reason why they should be said to be born of the Spirit Secondly Another Reason is Because though this life be all from Christ it is he that begets it it is he that is the soul of every Believer as I may so speak yet it is the Spirit that is the Bond of Vnion it is the Spirit that joyns Christ and them together it is the Spirit that tyeth the knot it is the Spirit that unites and puts them together into one though Christ be life and eternal life yet notwithstanding they are all Aliens from Christ they are all out of Christ that the Spirit doth not joyn together with Christ they that have not the Spirit of Christ they are none of his they are all out of Christ they are like dead branches out of the Vine it is the Spirit that is the bond of Vnion between Christ and those that are Christs Thirdly Another Reason is Because the Spirit quickens the Word whereby this is done The people of God the thing that they are born of again it is the immortal seed of the VVord 1 Pet. 1. 23. You are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible Now this
seed is sowen in all mens hearts scattered among all the Congregation but yet it doth not Regenerate all the Congregation the Reason is where the Spirit comes that makes it fruitful and that makes it to quicken the heart and thus you see the meaning of the words That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Now here are Two Points First That the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost Regenerates all the people of God whosoever is born again is born of the Spirit The Second Point is this That all that are Regenerate all that are born of the Spirit they are Spirit that is they are spiritual they are like the Spirit The First is That it is the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost that doth Regenerate all the people of God this is that which makes them to be new Creatures to be new men to be altogether different from that they were before this is that which doth distinguish them from themselves even as much as white from black this is that which doth alienate them from the courses of the world this is that which doth make them to be singular and odde fellows as if they were of another mould this makes them lead a different kind of life and follow a different kind of way from all their neighbors because the Spirit of God works in them as Ishmael and Isaac though Ishmael was born after the flesh yet Isaac was born after the Spirit as the Apostle alludes Gal. 4. 23. that is one took one kind of course the other another one was born one way the other another way the Spirit begat one the Flesh the other and this made Ishmael to persecute Isaac because Isaac could not abide his courses they were of different Natures and Dispositions one was born after the Spirit the other after the Flesh Now here be Six Things I would shew unto you First What Regeneration is Secondly Why it is so called Thirdly Wherein it consists Fourthly The Reasons why the Spirit of God only works this work Fifthly How he works it And Lastly The Vses First What Regeneration is And it is thus much namely The renewing of the whole man and by degrees completed after the Image of God in Jesus Christ This is Regeneration and there be Five Things to be opened in it First That it is the renewing of a man It is not every change there may be abundance of changes and alterations and yet a man for the main may be the same man he is a man may be changed from a Drunkard to be sober from an Adulterer to be chaste yet still he is the same man he was before though there be changes wrought in him but Regeneration is the renewing of a man the making of a man another man as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5. 17. Old things are passed away and all things are become new The Lord doth take away the old frame and the old affections and the old inclinations the old acquaintance the old course and conversation all these things passe away and the Lord puts in new things in the room thereof till all things become new thus it is in this work as the Apostle speaks Tit. 3. 5. According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost the Lord removeth the old rubbish and puts a new fabrick in the room as a Goldsmith he takes a vessel of dishonour and melts it and makes it a vessel of honour God doth undo the old workmanship and makes a new as David saith Create in me O Lord a clean heart c. Psal 51. 10. David thought he had lost all therefore he prayeth to God that he may be new cast that he may be taken all to pieces as a VVatch-maker takes a VVatch that is out of order he takes it all to pieces and sets it together anew again so he prayes God to deal with him he had lost all in sense and feeling and would have God make him a new workmanship it is called the renewing of a man Ezek 11. 19. there is an excellent place I will give them a new heart c. The Lord puts out and he puts in even just as a Suister doth when she works cut-works she puts out the cloths own threds and puts in needle-work so the Lord puts out the old heart and puts in a new heart he takes out that which was stark naught and puts in that which is good and agreeable to his mind the old heart is corrupt and the old man is stark naught there is nothing good in it these the Lord takes out and puts in all new A man is altogether naught and reprobate before what poor creatures are all people that are not Regenerate they are all proud and vain and foolish and wordly and earthly and harden their hearts and are carelesse of Gods wayes they have no fear of God before their eyes they are altogether rotten how ill-favouredly do they pray how worldly do they go on in their callings how unfruitfully do they come to Church they are all rotten and refractory they do nothing that right is now when the Spirit of God doth make them up he puts out all old things and makes them new This is the First thing Regeneration is the renewing of a man Secondly As it is the renewing of a man so it is the renewing of the whole man It is not only in some things for Saul was another man in some sense but Regeneration is the renewing of the whole man as the Appostle saith The God of peace sanctifie you throughout in body soul and Spirit 1 Thess 5. 23. it is a work upon the whole man our Saviour Christ compares it to leaven which a woman took and leavened the whole Lump It is like unto Original sin as Original sin infects the whole man so Regeneration doth repair and renew the whole man it is as general and universal as original sin the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodnesse Ephes 5. 9. It is in all goodnesse in the goodnesse of a mans mind and in the goodnesse of a mans affections in the goodnesse of the inclination and disposition in the goodnesse of the whole man the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness indeed it begins in the goodnesse of the mind as the Apostle speaks Ephes 4. 23. Be renewed in the Spirit of your minds Where he calls upon them for this new work Put off the old man saith he and be renewed in the Spirit of your minds that is the First thing when a man hath a new mind given unto him a new knowledge put into his understanding a man is renewed in knowledge Col. 3. 10. This is the first thing when God reneweth a mans knowledge and apprehension of things when a man begins to know the plagues of his own heart and the evils of all his own wayes now a man begins to see through these things and now he begins
we cannot do every day for we have Children to look after and Families to provide for and there be an hundred occasions to call a man away it may be a man thinks to go into his Closet and seek God in private and one occasion or other calls him aside that he cannot go on but the Lord will have a little emblem and expression of the kingdom of heaven upon the Sabbath day therefore the Apostle saith It remains for us scil in the life to come The Second Reason why the Lord will have a set day for his Worship and Service besides the every day Sabbath is because the honour of God doth so require it doth require that there should be a solemn day for Gods Service as Kings though their subjects are to obey them every day and keep their Laws every day and if a subject transgress the Laws at any time he is in danger of the displeasure of the King but he will have one day of solemnity to his Majesty So God Almighty though every day we are to tremble before him and stand in aw of his Word and take heed we do not err from his Commandments yet he will have one solemn day for the honour of his Name he will have a solemn day wherein his people shall have nothing else to do but to set themselves apart for his Worship therefore this set day is called The honourable of the Lord Isa 58 13. that is we must count the Sabbath day an honourable day a day of honour wherein Gods Servants should from morning to evening fall down before him and confess that great is the Lord God We should wholly dedicate it unto him seeking of him in Publick and in Private that we may store up holy affections for all the week following Thirdly Because God sometimes calls for an extraordinary day and an extraordinary day hath ever relation to an ordinary if I say this is my extraordinary food and diet I imply that I have ordinary diet so if the Scripture tells us that God calls for extraordinary dayes it is an evident Argument that there be ordinary dayes which he calls for Now that God calls for extraordinary dayes it is plain 1. First He calls for extraordinary dayes of rejoycing when God compasseth us about with songs of Deliverance and works wonderful Mercies for us we ought to set a part a day for rejoycing and delighting in his goodness and favour towards us and this day is to be an holy day as Nehemiah 8. 9. This day is holy unto the Lord your God mourn not nor weep So that when we are to rejoyce towards God for any spiritual favour towards us we ought to keep this day an holy day we ought to employ the hours of the day in labouring to affect our hearts with his kindnesse and labouring to make his goodness to have impression upon us that we may with cheerfulness run over all our dayes afterwards that we may adhere unto him the better all our life time 2. Secondly As he calls for extraordinary dayes of rejoycing so he calls for extraordinary dayes of Fasting and Humiliation and that in Four Cases 1. First When we fear some heavie judgement to come upon us or else when some judgement is already upon us may be some heavie judgement is upon us or else we fear it to come upon us and now we are to set an extraordinary day apart to seek the Lord as 2 Chron. 20. Jehosaphat proclaimed a Fast when the Land was in danger Suppose the Lord should take away the Gospel and the feet of those that bring glad tydings should be turned from us then should we Fast in those dayes we should grieve before God and bewail the loss of his Mercies and Favours that we may have his Goodnesse to quicken us and keep us and uphold us in the want of them 2. Secondly In case that we want some Mercy that we cannot well be without in such a case as this if ordinary seeking will not do the deed we ought to set apart an extraordinary time to prevail with God as Ezra he was in danger of the enemy and if he should go to Jerusalem the enemy would set upon him now thought he if I should go to the King though he were very great with the King of Persia at that time yet thought he if I should go to the King for a Band of Souldiers he would think our God were a weak God I have told him what a strong God we have and that he is ready to help all those that trust in him now if I should go to him for a Band of Souldiers he might think that our God were not able to deliver us and it would be a great dishonour to God therefore he set a day a part for a Fast and laboured to get aid and help from heaven Ezra 8. 21. So when a Child of God is exceedingly afflicted with any crosse or temptation and he shall wonderfully dishonour God and cast a snare upon them that fear his Name in this case he is bound to seek God extraordinarily and if the ordinary means that God hath appointed will not prevail he is to set a part a Fast to seek him extraordinarily 3. Thirdly If we be assaulted from hell and Satan and our own hearts with strong temptations then we are to seek God extraordinarily as it was with Paul when the Messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him when he lay under some heavy temptation either unto Pride or Lust or Uncleannesse some prick in the flesh that the Lord sent upon him and let him be encountered withal then Paul sought God in a solemn manner more then ever he did at other times 2 Cor. 12. 8. For this I besought God thrice 4. Fourthly In case a man is to do some notable service he is to enter into some new Calling or if the Lord doth put him upon some new service that doth require some more then ordinary help now a man is to seek God by Fasting and Prayer as you may see it was with Barnabas and Paul when they entred into the Ministery Acts 13. 3. Now the reason why I name these things is to shew you that sometimes God will have an extraordinary set day for his immediate worship and service when we are to lay aside all other businesse and set our selves apart to call upon his Name and seek him The thing I gather from hence is this If there be an extraordinary set day then there must be an ordinary set day for Gods immediate Service Another Argument is taken from the Equity of it and that stands Two wayes 1. First It is very equal when as we have six dayes to provide for our selves and for the maintenance of our bodies God gives us divers dayes for that now Equity doth require that we should give one day to him we having several dayes it is equity that he should have at least one for himself Therefore
be infected by what is spoken we should have an hedge about our ears to stop them from unsavoury things Doth not the ear taste words saith Job we should have tasting ears that should be able to tast and relish the good words that are spoken and hate the contrary and distast them Lastly We should watch our selves over the whole man Only take heed to thy selfe Deut. 4. 9. As who should say This is the only thing have a care of watch over thy self lest thy self undoe thy self there is no enemie so dangerous unto us as our selves the Divel in hell cannot do us so much mischief How many corruptions are there in us to draw us from God and incite us unto sin There are abundance of corruptions lying in the heart of man to make a man unfit for any thing that is good that is idlenesse in the understanding it cannot abide to take pains and exercise it self in Divine matters There is in the will and affections covetousness and abundance of corrupt inclinations that if a man look not to it will break forth So that this is the thing we must watch over our selves Secondly We are to watch over the duties of Religion as for example we are to watch unto prayer as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 4. 7. we are to watch to meditating and reading and hearing of the Word of God Otherwise though we do them for the matter of them yet we cannot for the right form and manner of them though our hearts be in a pretty good tune for the present yet we cannot hold this frame if we watch not thereunto Rev. 3. 3. is an excellent place If you will not watch saith the Text and hold fast I will come against thee as a thief in the night As who should say Stir up thy self and watch that thou maist hold fast if thou hast got any hatred of sin in thy heart hold it fast if strength against corruption hold it fast How shall I do that why watch saith he or else Christ wil come against thee as a thief If a book be in a mans hand when he is drowzy it will fall out he cannot hold it fast So when a mans heart is drowzy and secure it will let go comfort and any thing that God hath bestowed for the good of the soul therefore we ought to watch if we have any sweet disposition of heart to go on in the Service of God and in the duties of Religion we may go on if we be watchful And now to branch this into particulars First We must watch before the Duty Secondly We must watch in the Duty Thirdly We must watch after the Duty First We must watch before the Duty Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Exod. 20. 8 So I may say remember Prayer to keep it holy remember Meditation to keep it holy remember all the duties of Religion to keep them holy and perform them in an holy manner think of them before you go about the performance of them we cannot pray unless we watch unto prayer unless we be careful and have our eyes in our heads before we go about the duty In the morning as soon as we awake we should think of prayer and when tempted to sin we should think of prayer If I sin how can I pray unto God I have ever and anon need to poure out my prayers before God now if I commit these and these sins how can I look up to heaven when my conscience doth reproach me for sin So when we hear the word of God look to thy foot when thou comest into the house of God Eccles 5. 1. that is Before thou goest into the House of God to hear the Word of Salvation see into thine own heart think whose word it is thou hearest and that thou goest to hear the Word that shall judge thee at the last day When thou comest into the presence of God take heed lest thou hearest as fools hear and take heed lest thou prayest as fools pray and comest to the Sacrament as fools use to come we should watch before the duty that all things may be in a readinesse before we come to the performance of it that we may prevent all things that may hinder us be fitted with all things that may help forward the duty that time place and all advantages may meet together for the better doing of it Then secondly We must watch in the duty as well as before the duty As the Apostle speaks concerning prayer so I may say concerning all other duties Continue in prayer and watch therein with thanksgiving Col. 4. 2. As we are to watch before that we may have preparation so we must watch in the duty that we may rightly discharge it for though a man hath been watchful before the duty and hath been prepared in some measure and fitted yet you are not without danger But when you are in prayer and when you are at the Lords Table or any other duty for all your former preparation if you be not watchful now you may fail in some kind or other and so mar the duty therefore we should watch in the duty that our hearts may be waking in it and our mind attentive upon it that our hearts may be fixed upon that we are about my heart is fixed my heart is fixed saith the Prophet David he was a joyful man he repeats it again and again as if a man should be jocund and say I have got it I have got it We should get hearts fixed upon the duty that so we may not have wavering hearts half off and half on the duty but that the whole man may be employed about it Thirdly We should be watchful after the duty that we may not lose the benefit and reward of the duty lest the subtilties of Satan and the wiles of our own hearts do rob us of the fruits of it though a man hears very attentively and pray and perform all other duties very enlargedly yet when he hath done all he may lose the comfort and reward of the duty Therefore when we hear the word we should watch over our hearts that the souls of the ayre may not pluck it out again that if we have any quickning we may not lose it again if we have heard any thing that hath helpeld us forward in Grace we should take heed that we lose not the ground again As the Publican as soone as he had prayed to God and performed an Ordinance aright how careful was he not to lose the benefit thereof He went to the Temple to pray and he was watchful before the duty thinking I am now going to pray and power out my soul before God He was watchful in the duty for you may see how humbly and feelingly and penitently he did pray standing a far off and smiting upon his brest and not lifting up his eyes to heaven bewailing the hardness of his own heart and rowzing it up