he answered that when he was a common Friar he went dejected by looking downward for the keys of the Abby which now he had found and therefore left that posture So when an hypocrite hath the temporal good thing he desireth for that usually is most desired by him he hath his ends and his prayer an end too Or if God do not hear him presently he will not submit patiently but often flingeth away in a rage with that wicked King Why should he wait upon the Lord any longer If there come not in present profit he will give over his trade as Tully said to his Brother That he would pray to the Gods but that they have given over to hear Whereas a godly man will cry in the day and not be silent in the night he will direct his prayer to God und look up Psal 5.3 He will pray and wait wait and pray as you see beggars in some places they will beg and knit knit and beg and continue still begging and knitting So a right beggar at Gods door he will pray and work work and pray he will believe and pray hope and pray read and pray wait and pray he knoweth that it is not good to limit the holy One of Israel but it is good that a soul should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God Lam 3.26 A Divine giveth me this Simile which doth excellently illustrate our present subject Take some draught horse Mr. Car. on Job 27. and he will draw when the load is coming Of Carolus Magnus it is said Carolus plus cum deo quam hominibus loquitur but if he feel it not coming he will trample and not draw but take a horse of a right breed and put his traces to a tree or a post he will strain and strain and die upon the place before he will give over though nothing comes So a rotten Christian if he find no present gain coming he gives over duty fearing all is lost but a right Christian will pray continually 1 Thess 5.17 whether God hear him presently or no he knoweth that both the command of God and his own wants call upon him never to give over Besides this spirit of prayer abides in him for ever John 4.14 and 16. Examine thy heart by these marks faithfully and do not by flattery or self-love or rather self-hatred deceive thy soul no deceit like soul-deceit but passe sentence upon thy self impartially and if thou findest thy condition good blesse God keep close to Jesus Christ and labour that thou mayst walk worthy of the Lord Col. 1.10 even unto all well-pleasing The great and extraordinary priviledges bestowed on thee do call aloud for gracious and extraordinary practices from thee How exemplary shouldst thou live among men who art to live eternally with God What singular things wilt thou do for that God for that Saviour that hath done such singular things for thy soul Can any love be too much Can any labour be too great Can any honor be too high Can any service be too holy for that God to whom thou art by millions of eternal obligations thus infinitely infinitely bound O let the fruitfulness of thy heart and life in holiness proclaim thine abundant thankfulness for such mercies as for weight and worth exceed the very thoughts of Men and Angels How abundant shouldst thou be in the work of the Lord when thou knowest that thy labour shall not be in vain in the Lord When thou art confessing thy sins meditate on the choosing calling love of that God against whom thy sins are committed and try whether the heat of that burning love will not thaw thy heart and dissolve it into tears when it is most hard and icie When thou art backward to a duty that hath some difficulty in it consider Jesus Christ was not backward to his bitter bloody sufferings for thy sins As the Souldier told Augustus when he denied his petition I did not serve you so at the battel of Actium So say to thy soul Jesus Christ did not serve thee so when he was to drink the cup of his Fathers fierce wrath for thee and see whether such melting perswasions will not prevail with thee to subject thy self to the hardest precept When thou art departing away from â—od by any sinister course or insincere carriage remember who thou art one that art called not to sin but sanctity not to uncleanness but holiness As Antigonus being invited to a place that might probably prove a temptation to sin asked counsel of Menedemus what he should do He bade him only remember he was a Kings Son So do thou remember thine high and heavenly calling and do nothing unworthy of the God that hath enrolled thy name in the Book of Life that hath ransomed thy soul with the precious blood of his Son and hath sanctified thee by the effectual operations of his Spirit but walk worthy of the vocation wherewith and whereunto thou art called Eph. 4.1 It is an excellent meditation of Eusebius Emissenus Though the Devil saith he should be damned for many sins and I but for one yet mine would exceed the Devils impiety they never sinned against a God that became an Angel for them they never sinned against a Mediator that was crucified for them but miserable and wretched I and it s wonderful that my heart melteth not when it thinketh on it I have sinned against a God that became a Man for me against a God that died an ignominious death for me against a God that hath left me an example of love and holinesse I am more unworthy then the Devils Consider it Friend no sins admit of higher aggravations nor are matter of deeper provocation then the sins of those that are interested in Gods special distinguishing affection In a word for I had not thought to have told thee so much it was for the sake of others principally that I penn'd this piece since it shall be thy reward to be like an Angel in happiness ever to behold the face of the Father let it be thy work and endeavour to be like an Angel in holiness to do the will of God readily heartily and universally But if thou find upon a thorough search that thou art a stranger to this spiritual life if conscience sent to enquire bring in its verdict that this purifying praying Spirit dwelleth not in thy soul Let me beseeth thee in the fear of the Lord to bethink thy self what is like to become of thee for ever One of the Martyrs put his finger into the candle to try how he could endure the fire in which he was afterwards to be burnt do thou but read over again the former use of information and consider whether thou art able to undergo that losse and that terrible intolerable eternal wrath of an omnipotent God which is therein declared and by Scripture proved to be the portion of all that live and dye in thy condition Suppose thou shouldst
pardoning directing preventing mercy every day nay every moment and is not all this worth a prayer Upon no account neglect the offering up of these morning and evening sacrifices let thy prayers and of the rest in the family come up before the Lord in the morning like incense and the lifting up of thine hands at night as an evening sacrifice Do not say as sometimes I have heard of thee that thou canst not spare time for these duties thy family is great and thou canst not get them altogether thy business is great and a little time spent this way may wrong thee I answer thee Canst thou get all thy family together twice a day to set meals for their bodies and canst thou not get them together twice a day for set meals family duties for their souls 2. What greater or weighter business canst thou have then the working out the salvation of thy own and the souls committed to thy charge are not the most important affairs thou canst possibly deal about but toys and trifles to this 3. Was not Davids family greater then thine and his occasions weighter and yet he could find time though a King for family duties Psal 101.9 He and his Queen did both instruct their child in the things of God 1 Chron. 28.9 Pro. 4.3 to 10. Pro. 31. If thou art poor and saist thou art to provide for thy family see an answer to that in this book pag. 187.188.189 Though God will give you both another manner of answer to your foolish pretences when ye appear at the judgement seat of Christ Have a special care also of the sanctification of the Lords day in thy family remember the living God commandeth thee that thou thy son thy daughter thy man-servant and thy maid-servant and all within thy gate keep that day holy Do not make the sins of others thine by thy pattern or permission let not that queen of days be defloured or prophaned by idleness earthly thoughts words or actions spend the whole time which thou sparest from the publike Ordinances in secret and private duties as praying reading singing chatechising taking an account of thy children and servants what they know of the mysteries of Christ and particularly what they have learned that day Esteem it a special priviledge a great mercy that thou and thine may upon that day sequester your selves wholly from worldly imployments and enjoy communion with the blessed God in the means of grace This I shall be bold to tell thee that Religion and the service of the most high God in thy family dependeth much yea very much upon thy observation of the Lords day thou mayst expect its increase or decrease according to thy sanctification or prophanation of it In the Primitive times when the question was Servasti Dominicum the answer was Christianus sum omittere non possum Thou pretendest to be a Christian make conscience of every minute of that day of Christ Be sure that thou and as many of thy family as can possily be spared attend with all diligence and reverence at the publike place of worship there God receiveth the greatest praises and there he bestoweth the choicest mercies O blessed are they that dwell in his house blessed are they that wait at Wisdoms gates that watch at the posts of her doors Prov. 8. In all things shew thy self a pattern to them that are under thy care and charge the peop e committed to thy government will sooner imitate thy doings then obey thy sayings Sin cometh in at first by propagation but is increased exceedingly by imitation thou that hast thy children and servants following thee either to heaven or to hel hast need choose a right path even the narrow way that leadeth to life Weigh thy words considering that they will learn thy language avoid those sinful expressions of Faith and Troth let your yea be yea and your nay nay for whatsoever is more is evil of repeating others oathes of speaking irreverently of the great God and his word of wishing evil on any man for the command is Bless them that curse Mat. 5.44 let no evil communication proceed out of thy lips but let thy speech be seasoned with grace that it may administer good and be exemplary to the hearers Look well to thy works that they be agreeable to the word of God In thy Religious performances especially manifest all reverence fervency seriousness that thy children and servants may see that thou art in earnest about soul-affairs about eternity-concernments thou little knowest how profitable such a pattern may be unto them Do thy utmost use all means commanded thee to save thy self and them that dwell with thee Be confident that shortly Christ will say to thee as Eliah to David With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness What is become of the children and servants which I intrusted thee with will it be enough thinkest thou for thee then to answer Lord For my children I brought them up without any charge to the Parish or Lord I bred them Gentlemen or I put them out to trades or I left them competent estates And for my servants I paid them their wages gave them their meat and drink according to my agreement with them When Christ shall reply Man what is become of their souls which I created capable of the immediate fruition of my self which I redeemed with my precious blood what shame will then cover thy face and what horror fill thy heart when the blood of their souls shall be required of thee O therefore let Joshuahs practice and resolution be thine That thou and thy house will serve the Lord Josh 24.15 Fourthly Make Religion and the worshipping and glorifying the great God the great business of thy whole life Improve all thy time power estate interests and talents whatsoever to the utmost for the honor of God and thine own everlasting good Look on thy self as created preserved supplyed with nightly daily hourly mercies not for the service of thy flesh no that end were mean and low but that thou mightest be enabled unto and encouraged in the service of the glorious God Surely saith that noble Lord Du Plessiâ— In the epistle before Veritaes Christia Relig. If all the world were made for man then man was made for more then the world All the favors thou enjoyest are but baitslaid by God to catch thy soul as they come all from him so let them be improved all for him It is godliness alone that will hold out when thou comest to the greatest hardships at the day of affliction and the hour of thy dissolution The good man and his godliness are like Saul and Jonathan lovely in their lives and in their deaths they are not divided therefore exercise thy self unto godliness It may be thou art one to whom God hath given much in the world I must tell thee that much will be required of thee the greater thy receipts are the greater thy returns must be
man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God And Hebr. 12.14 Follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Consider Friend this is the Word of the true and living God and this Law this standing Law of Heaven is like the law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered not one iota or title of it can possibly go unfulfilled Math. 5.18 Darest thou think that the God of truth will be found a lyar for thy sake as he must be if he save thee in thy sinful unconverted state I tell thee the God of holiness and justice will send millions of such carnal wretches as thou art to hell there to suffer the vengeance of the unquenchable fire before he will stain his honour in the least No he is more tender of his glory then so though thou carest not how much thou tramplest his honor in the dust by the wilful breach of his Commands yet he is exceeding jealous of his great Name and when his very being is engaged for the accomplishment of his Word he will not ungod himself to glorifie thee in an unsanctified condition and therefore do not delude thy soul in presuming that he that made thee will not damn thee for he saith himself that unless thou art new made and hast that true understanding to fear his Majesty and depart from iniquity He that made thee will not save thee and he that formed thee will shew thee no mercy Isai 27.11 I hope therefore thou art fully convinced that it highly concerneth thee to be night and day with the greatest diligence imaginable labouring for this spiritual life when thine everlasting comfort in the other world thine eternal life dependeth so much upon it Art thou rich hearken to this word of counsel from God look after these durable riches Prov. 6.18 thy earthly riches are not for ever Prov. 27.24 though thy heart possibly is more set upon thy houses and hoards then upon heaven yet thou must take thine everlasting leave of them ere long when these unsearchable riches in Christ which I am perswading thee to mind out-live the dayes of heaven run parallel with the life of God and line of eternity Prov. 8.18 Nay till thou livest this spiritual life all thy wealth is want all thy glory is ignominy all thy comforts are crosses yea curses to thee Prov. 1.32 Psal 69.22 All thy outward comforts like the Rainbow shew themselves in all their dainty colours and then vanish away or if they stay with thee till death then they die with thee Oh how hath the Moon of great mens plenty often been eclipsed at the full and the Sun of their pomp gone down at noon Through the corruption of thy heart they prove but fuel for thy lusts on earth if thou shouldst die having only this worlds goods they will feed the eternal fire in hell It is storied of Heliogabalus that he had silken halters to hang himself with ponds of sweet water to drown himself in and gilded poyson to poyson himself Truly more hurtful are the worlds trinity riches honors and pleasures to them that have great estates in the world but no estate in the Covenant Poyson worketh more furiously in wine then in water and so doth corruption many times bewray it self more in plenty then in poverty It is sad that thou shouldst not be led to God by that which came from God But O how lamentable is it that thou shouldst Jehu like fight against thy Master with his own Souldiers like the dunghill the more the Sun shineth on it it sends forth the more stinking savour The Poet feigned Pluto to be the god of riches and Hell as if they had been inseparable Homer that thou shouldst by the riches which his Majesty hath given thee only have this cursed advantage to be the greater Rebel Many good works hath Christ done for thee for which dost thou stone him John 10.32 for which of them dost thou stone him out of thy house by oaths or drunkenness or gaming or by atheisme and irreligion or at least by putting him off with a few short cold formal prayers and that but now and then neither Many good works hath he done for thee for which of them dost thou stone him out of thy heart by letting the world and the things of the world have the highest seat there the throne thy chiefest esteem warmest love and strongest trust What sayest thou is it not thus and is this to be led by his goodness to repentance Oh consider thy bodies mercies are holy baits laid by God to catch thy soul He tryeth the vessel with water to see whether it will hold wine do not like the foolish flie burn thy self in this flame of love turn not his grace into wantonnesse but let the kindnesse of God be salvation unto thee thou shouldst by those cords of love be drawn nearer unto him and by those bands of mercies be tied closer to his commands How shouldst thou gather if the streames of creatures be so sweet what sweetnesse is there in God who is the Fountain If he be so good in temporals surely he is better in spirituals and best of all in eternals How unsatisfied shouldst thou be with all these outward gifts which may consist with his everlasting hatred and resolve with Luther not to be put off with the blessings of his left hand Valde protestatus summe nolle sic ab eo satiari Melch. Aâ— in vit Luth. of his foot-stool Thou hast the more cause to look about thee because few of thy rank are truly religious a little godliness will go a great way with great men though of all men they have most obligations from God see James 2.5 God chooseth the poor of the world rich in faith and heirs of his Kingdom And Christ telleth us It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 19.24 Our Saviour indeed doth not speak of an impossibility but of the difficulty of it and the rarenesse of it Job unfolded the riddle and got through the needles eye with three thousand Camels but it is hard to be wealthy and not wanton too too often are riches like bird-lime hindering the soul in its flight towards Heaven a load of earth hath sunk many a soul to hell and the inriching of the outward occasioned the impoverishing of the inward man A rich man is a rare dish at heavens table Blessed be God there are some but surely few rich of those very few that shall be saved 1 Cor. 1.26 The weighty burden in a vessel though it consisted of the most precious commodities hath not seldom caused its miscarriage when otherwise it had arrived safely at its desired haven As the Moon when she is at the full is farthest from and in most direct opposition to the Sun so t is the temper of most in thy condition to
and ten thousand times more Besides for what reason dost thou suppose God to have given thee these things Surely thou canst not be so brutish as to think that the great God made thee and serveth thee in daily with such variety of mercies health strength food raiment influences of heaven and fruits of the earth onely or chiefly that thou should eat and drink and follow thy calling and provide for thy family were such low ends the ground of his kindness or is it not that thou mightest ravish that pure and virgin inheritance by an holy and heavenly violence that thou mightest imploy them and improve them to the utmost about his service and thy own salvation Reader I must desire thee to consider and grant me these two or three suppositions in prosecution of this my second request to thee 1. Suppose thou hadst seen the Son of man who now sitteth at his Fathers right hand rising from his place and attended with the thousand thousands that are before him and with the ten thousand times ten thousand that minister to him coming and sparkling so gloriously through the firmament that he dazaleth the very eyes of the Sun and makes him to hide his head for shame and sitting down in the cloudes with the glory of his Father a fire devouring before him and behind him a flame burning Conceive now with me that thou hearest him call to the Archangel Sound the last Trump that the dead may arise and come to judgement Harke to the sound of the Trump how it rendeth rocks melteth mountains breaks in pieces the bands of death and bursts asunder the gates of hell how it pierceth the ocean and fetcheth from the bottom of the sea the dust of Adams seed how it descendeth into the belly of the earth and forceth it to vomit up all the bodies which it had ever taken down how it openeth the marble tombs of Princes and Potentates and makes their Highness and Majesty stoop as low as the meanest to the King of glory Dost thou not see the bodies of the Saints look how they flie upon the wings of the wind to their souls and both to the bosom of their beloved Saviour See how the spirits of unregenerate ones leave for a little while the dark vault of hell and enter though most unwillingly into the stinking carrion of their bodies and both haled by angels to the judgement seat of Christ When the Court is thus set conceive the Commission read wherein Jesus Christ is authorized in his humane nature by his Divine Power to be Judge of the quick and dead the law is produced both of nature and Scripture the books are opened hoth of Gods omniscience and mans conscience by which all men are to be tryed for their everlasting lives and deaths The holy ones are now called their persons through the righteousness of Christ acquitted by publike proclamation before God Angels and men their performances duties graces services sufferings punctually related to their glory and infinitely rewarded in their perfect freedom from all evil and eternal fruition of the chiefest good Behold how the unholy are with violence draged to the bar examined strictly by the covenant of works have all their sins secret open personal relative of nature and practice in thoughts words and deeds revealed publikely and aggravated fully with all their crimson crying bloody circumstances heark how pitifully they plead what poor evidences they had for salvation what sorry excuses for their Atheisme and abominations their conscience instead of a thousand witnesses accuseth them the law casteth them the Judge pronounceth against them a most severe sentence of condemnation the devils feise on them for its speedy execution Now what confusion and shame of face what lamentation and forrow of heart possesseth them what doleful screechings what bitter yellowâ—ngs are heard among them Here is body cursing the soul for being so ungodly a guide and soul cursing the body for being so unready an instrument and both cursing the time that ever they met together and wishing though in vain that they might for ever be parted asunder Now the worldling curseth his flocks and his Farm his gold and his silver that had more of his heart and of his care and time then his precious soul Now the lazy Christian curseth his madness and folly that he should think a little formal preparation were sufficient for such a strict examination A bloody husband hast thou been to me saith the wife thou mindedst provision for me for a little time and never regardedst my instruction about the things of eternity A cruel father hast thou been to me saith the child for generating me a child of wrath an heir of hell and never endeavoring my regeneration whereby I might have been a child of God and an heir of heaven and thus cursing crying roaring raging they are sent to the place where is mourning without mirth sorrow without solace darkness without light death without life pure wrath without mixture perfect pain without measure nothing but weeping and wailing sighing sobbing and gnashing of teeth for ever ever ever Suppose I say that thou hadst heard and seen all this and God should after it try thee in this world fourty years wouldst thou not night and day be strugling and striving with God by prayer watching over thy own heart waiting upon thy Saviour With what earnestness wouldst thou pray with what seriousness wouldst thou read and hear with what exactness and exemplariness wouldst thou live how diligent and laborious wouldst thou be in a faithful improvement of all thy time talents and opportunities that thou mightest find mercy at such a day even the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Wouldst thou after such a sight think any time too much or any pains too great for thy eternal good Couldst thou give the world and the flesh the choicest place in thy heart and the chiefest part of thy life as now thou dost shouldst thou dare to be nibbling again at the devils baits or to be playing with the eternal fire or to put off God with a few cold formal prayers and that by fits in stead of hearty fiery continual supplication or to put off Jesus Christ with a complement that thou wearest his livery and professest thy self a Christian in stead of a sincere resolved dedication of heart and life to his word and law What saist thou man And why wilt thou not be as diligent and as holy now thou maist in the glass of Scripture see all that I have spoken for the substance of it at least if thou hast but an eye of faith and without question the sight of faith is as sure and true as a sight of sense what reason canst thou have why thou shouldst not work as industriously to escape hell and obtain heaven as if thou hadst known these things experimentally when the word of the living and true God speaketh it so expresly look 2 Cor. 5. 10. Acts
then it runneth most freely and plentifully None might approach the King of Persia's Court in sackcloth and mourning Est 4.2 but no wandring sinner may draw near to the King of Heaven without it Aut paenitendum aut pereundum Except ye repent ye shall perish God is resolved to break the sinners heart on earth or his back in hell He will have the wound search'd and the pain of it felt before it be bound up and cured The wicked Prodigal must come to his Father with compunction in his soul as well as confession in his mouth Look therefore O sinner into the book of thy conscience and read over the black lines that still are in thy cursed heart and the bloody leaves of thy wicked life how long thou hast lived to little purpose yea to the killing of thy soul for ever how farre thou hast been from accomplishing the end for which thou wast born and the errand for which thou wast sent into the world Keep a petty Assize in thy heart preferre a large Bill of Indictment against thy self accuse and condemn thy self not only verbally but cordially if ever thou wouldst have Christ to acquit thee Thou hast spent many years in sinning and shouldst thou not spend some hours in sorrowing Thou didst make the soul of Jesus Christ sorrowful unto death shall not therefore thy soul be sorrowful when thy sorrow may be unto life Did the Rocks rent when he died for sin shall not thy rocky heart that thou hast lived 〈◊〉 sin He bled for thee and wilt not thou weep for thy self Thou hast filled Gods a Iob 14.17 Bag with thy fins and hast thou no tears for his b Psal 46.8 Bottle Hast thou so long broken the holy Commandements of God and shall not thy heart now at last be broken The damned feel sin it lyeth heavy on their souls couldst thou lay thy ear to the mouth of that bottomlesse pit thou mightst perceive by their yellowings and howlings that sin is sin in hell how lightly soever it is regarded by men upon earth The Lord Jesus felt sin Hadst thou been in the garden and seen his blessed body all over in a goar blood beheld those drops yea clods of blood that trickled down his face surely thou wouldst have believed that it was some heavy weight indeed which caused such a bloody sweat in a cold winter night And art not thou yet weary and heavy laden Do I speak to a man or a beast to a living creature or to a rock that will never be moved If thou hast a disease in thy body thou canst greive and complain and why not for the diseases of thy soul Are not they farre more deadly more dangerous If thou losest a child O what crying and roaring what wringing of hands and watering of cheeks nay if thou losest a place of profit an house or a beast thou canst mourn and think of it often with sorrow And doth it not greive thee that thou hast lost not thy child or cattel but thy Christ thy Saviour thy Soul thy God to eternity If thou missest a good bargain that was offered thee whereby thou mightst increase thy estate or if thou buyest or hirest at too dear a rate how dost thou beshrew and befool thy self for it Hast thou not ten thousand times more cause to be really and highly displeased with thy self and to abhor thy self in dust and ashes that thou shouldst have all the riches and glory and pleasures of the eternal Kingdom tendered to thee with many intreaties and yet thou hast refused them for the lying vanities of this world and for the pleasures of sin which are but for a season Thou hast denyed Heavens happinesse for a bubble a butterfly all things for nothing Did ever any fool buy so dear and sell so cheap Like Saul busie himself in seeking Asses when a Kingdom sought him Like Shimei seek his servant and thereby lose himself No fool like the sinner that embraceth a shadow which will certainly flee from him and neglecteth the substance which endureth to eternity Honorius the Emperor hearing that Rome was lost cried Alas alas very mournfully fearing it had been his hen so called which he exceedingly loved but hearing it was the famous City of Rome that was become a prey to his cruel enemies he made a tush at it Thus too too many can greive sufficiently for the losse of vanities riches but not at all for the losse of God and Christ and enduring felicities Well Friend repent timely and truly of this thy folly for I must tell thee shortly it will be too late if repentance be hid from thy heart now repentance will be hid from Gods eye then by whose Law thou art now a condemned man already if thy heart be hardened now in sinning the heart of God will ere long be hardened in sentencing thee to an eternity of suffering It is an infinite mercy that God yet alloweth thee liberty for second thoughts that notwithstanding thou hast shipwracked thy soul yet thou mayst swim out safe upon the plank of repentance O therefore think no pains too great to break thy stony heart it is worth the while when free grace hath promised a vast reward to that heaven-born work Hadst thou once offered up to God the sacrifice of a spirit truly sorrowful out of love to God and self-loathing because of fin I could tell thee as good as joyful news as ever thine ears heard The Father of mercies and God of comforts will be reconciled to thee in the Lord Jesus Thy prayers for pardon and life will pierce Gods ears and find acceptance if they proceed from a broken heart from sincere repentance A penitent tear is a messenger that never went away without a satisfactory answer Prayers with such tears are prevalent yea in Luthers phrase omnipotent Musick upon the waters sounds most pleasantly Thou hast heard the voice of my weeping saith David Psal 6.8 Augustus Caesar having promised a great reward to any that could bring him the head of a famous Pirate did yet when the Pirate heard of it and brought it himself and laid it at his feet Suet. in vit not only pardon but teward him for his confidence in his mercy As * Plutarch in vâ—t Alex. Antipater was answered by Alexander Thou hast written a long Letter against my Mother but dost thou not know that one tear of hers will wash out all her faults When the returning sinner weeps the tender-hearted Father smi es As he rejoyceth and laugheth at obstinate sinners destruction and ruine Quodâ— Deus loquiâ—ur cum risu tu legas cum fletu Aug. Proverbs 1.26 so he rejoyceth and smileth at the penitent sinners conversion He will do something for an hypocritical humiliation to assure us that he will do any thing upon a sincere humiliation Seest thou saith God how Ahab humbleth himself this judgement shall not be in his dayes but in his Sons
Kings 1â— 17 18. Did not my Lord promise thus thus is it thy mind that thy word should go unfulfilled Lord are not these thy own words thine own hand writing whose staffe and bracelet is this If thou hadst not promised I should not have found in my heart to pray And if thou shouldst not perform where would be the glory of thy truth Thy mercy O Lord is great unto the heavens and thy truth unto the clouds Psal 57.10 My soul cleaveth unto the dust quicken thou me according to thy word Psal 119.25 Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope Psa 119.49 Beseech him to consider thy misery like a beggar uncover thy nakednesse shew thy sores and wounds to move him to pity Tell him that in regard of thy spiritual condition Rev. 3.17 thou art at present wretched miserable poor blind and naked without God without Christ without hope an alien from the Common-wealth of Israel and a stranger from the Covenants of promise and that thine eternal state is like to be the worm that never dieth the fire that never goeth out amongst devils and damned ones in blacknesse of darknesse for ever Say Lord open thine eyes and see thy poor creature weltring Ezek. 16. wallowing polluted in his own soul blood and now I am in my blood open thy mouth and say unto me Live yea now I am in my blood say unto me Live Since no eye pitieth me to do any good unto me open thine heart let thy bowels yearn towards me Let this time be my time of love spread thy skirt over me and cover all my nakednesse Enter into a covenant with me and enable me to become thine for ever Since thou beholdest all the wants and necessities of my poor soul open thine hand and supply all my spiritual need There is bread enough and to spare in the Fathers house O let not my dying soul perish for hunger Open thine eares and hear the prayers and supplications which thy servant poureth out before thee night and day Thou hast the key of David and openest and no man shutteth Open the iron gate of my heart which will never open of its own accord that the King of glory may enter in Thou didst open the rock and cause it to send forth water Bow the heavens and come down Break open this rockie heart and come in and take an effectual universal eternal possession of my soul Consider thy bottomless mercie Christs infinite merits my unspeakable misery and let thine heart be opened in pitie and thine hand in bounty that my lips may be opened and my mouth may everlastingly shew forth thy praise Only in thy prayers be instant constant and look up to Jesus Christ Beg hard though humbly when thou art begging for heaven Hast thov never heard a Malefactor condemned to be hanged begging for a reprieve or pardon with what tears and prayers what bended knees watered cheeks strained joynts he intreateth for his mortal life Thou hast much more cause to be earnest when thou art begging for spiritual life Think of it thy soul thy eternal condition are engaged and at stake in thy prayer O how should all the parts and faculties of thy body and soul work and unite in prayers that are of such concernment What fervencie shouldst thou use considering that if thou art denied thou art undone if thy prayers be lost thy God is lost thy soul is lost thy happinesse is lost for ever Pray constantlie resolve to give God no rest day nor night till he give thee rest in his Son Besides set times every day for which thou canst not offer so little as two hours a day it being soul-work God-work eternitie-work and in which I would desire thee to be as serious and solemn as is possible thou mayst often in the shop or in the field in thy journying on thy bed thou mayst turn up thy heart to heaven in some ejaculations it is thy great priviledge where ever thou art thou mayst find â—od out such as these O when wilt thou come unto me Psa 101.2 Hear me speedilie O my God make no tarrying Ps 40.17 Shall I never be made clean good Lord when shall it once be Save me Master or I perish But be sure in all thy addresses to God thou look up to Jesus Christ as thine Advocate with the Father as the only Master of requests to present and perfume all thy prayers and thereby make them prevalent Through him we have access with confidence unto the Father Eph. 2.18 It is possible thou mayst have seen a Child going to be scourged for its faults by a stern Mother the tender Father sitting by and how the Child seeing the rod taken down and the Mother in earnest casteth a pitiful lamentable look upon its Father both longing and expecting to be saved by his mediation Go thou and do likewise and know for thy encouragement that if David heard Joah whom he loved but little for rebellious Absalom and if Herod heard Blastus a servant for those of Tyre and Sidon who had offended him then without doubt God will hear the Son of his infinite love for thee And if thou art but sensible of thy soul-sicknesse thou mayst be confident that thy spiritual Physitian who is authorized by his Father to practice and delighteth exceedinglie in the imployment will come and heal thee thy sicknesse shall not be unto death but for the glorie of God and thine eternal good I shall in the next place only annex three properties of this spiritual life as motives to encourage thee to a laborious endeavouring after it Si daretur mihi optio eligerem Christiani rustici agreste opus praeomnibus victoriis Alexandri Magni â—ulii Caesaris Luth. in Gen. 39. and then leave both thee and this exhortation to the blessing of God First This spiritual life is the most honorable life No life hath so much excellencie in it as the life of godlinesse If I had my wish saith Luther I would choose the homely work of a rustical Christian before all the victories of Alexander the great and Julius Caesar The excellencie and dignitie of every life dependeth upon the form which is its principle and its specificating difference Therefore the life of a man is more noble than the life of a beast because it hath a more noble form a rational soul which distinguisheth it specifically from and enableth it to act more nobly and highly than a beast And truly therefore the life of a Christian is more honorable and excellent than the life of any other man because he hath a more noble form which is the principle of it and differenceth it specificallie from the life of gracelesse men Jesus Christ the Lord of life and glory dwelling in his heart by his Spirit as the principle of his spiritual life If there be an excellencie in that body which is united to a soul what
yet he doth not see the wealth the infinite riches that lye buried in them So wicked men see the waters the afflictions the conflicts but not the wealth the comforts the inward joy of the children of God Thirdly as this spiritual life is the most honorable and comfortable so it is the most profitable life no calling bringeth in such advantage as Christianity godliness is profitable unto all things 1 Tim. 4.8 There is an universal gainfulness in real godliness Plutarch telleth us that the Babylonians make above three hundred several commodities of the Palme-tree but there are many thousand benefits which godliness bringeth no Merchant ever had his vessels returned so richly laden as he that tradeth heaven-ward Observe Reader after the Apostles affirmation his full confirmation of it Godliness saith he is profitable unto all things It hath the promise of this life and that to come i. e. It hath heaven and earth entailed on it and therefore it must needs be profitable It giveth the Christian much in possession the promise of this life but infinitely more in reversion the life that is to come The promises of God are exceeding great for their quantity and precious for their quality promises and they all belong to a godly man he is called an heir of the promises Heb. 6.17 Whensoever the tree of the Scripture is shaken whatsoever fruit of those precious promises falleth down it falleth into the lap of a godly man If at any time that box of costly ointment be broken and sendeth forth its fragrant sent and vertue it is to the refreshment only of the Saints Godliness is profitable to thy self If thou art wise thou art wise for thy self and if a scorner thou alone shalt bear it Prov. 9.12 The sinner is no bodies foe so much as his own the murdering peices of sin which he dischargeth against God miss their mark but do constantly recoyle and wound himself The Saint is no bodies friend so much as his own others fare the better for his great stock of grace but the propriety in all the comfort of all and the profit by all is his own It enables him to give away the more at his door but how rich a table doth he thereby keep for himself Godliness is profitable for thy children the just man walketh in his integrity and his children are blessed after him Prov. 20.7 personal piety is profitable to posterity yet not of merit but mercy Though grace come not by generation but donation and though God hath mercy on whom he will yet the seed of the Saints are visibly nearer the quickning influences of the spirit then the children of others When God saith he will be a â—od to the godly man and his children I believe he intendeth more in that promise for the comfort of godly parents then most of them think of Acts 2.36 Gen. 17.7 The children of believers are heirs apparent to the covenant of grace in their parents right Godliness is profitable in prosperity it giveth a spiritual right to temporal good things a gracious man holdeth his mercies in capite in Christ that is his tenure as Christ is a co-heir of all things he being married to him by this spiritual life is a co-heir with him he enjoyeth earthly things by an heavenly title and one peny enjoyed by special promise is far more worth than millions which ungodly men enjoy by a general providence as the beasts of the field do their provender It is godliness that causeth a sanctified improvement of mercies Grace alone like Christ turneth water into wine corporal mercies into spiritual advantages The more God oiles the wheels the more chearfully and swiftly he moveth in the way to heaven the more showers of heaven fall down upon him the more fruitful and abundant he is in the work of the Lord as we see in that gracious King Iehosophat 2 Chron. 17.5 6. The Lord established the Kingdom in his hand and all Iudah brought presents unto him and he had riches and honor in abundance and his heart was lift up in the wayes of God Mark the more Gods hand was enlarged in bounty the more his heart was enlarged in duty The more highly God thinks of David the more lowly he thought of himself 2 Sam. 7.18 Outward mercies to a believer are a ladder by which he mounteth up nearer to heaven Thus godliness like the Philosophers stone turneth iron and every thing into gold but the want of this spiritual life causeth a cursed hellish use of mercies ungodly men like the spider suck poison out of those flowers out of which the Bees the Saints suck honey Their mercies are like cordials to a foul stomach which do but increase the peccant humor He feedeth on such plenty that he surfeits himself because of their abundance Job 21.7 8 9 to 14. Therefore they say unto the Almighty Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes like the Israelites they make of the jewels which God giveth a golden Calf and worship that in stead of God Godliness is profitable in adversity it maketh a Christian like a Rabbit to thrive the better in frosty weather The child of God learneth the better for the rod Before he was afflicted he went astray but now he keepeth Gods word Psal 119.67 Well may grace be called the divine nature for it can bring not onely light out of light spiritual comfort and good out of outward good things but also light out of darkness good out of evil gain out of losses life out of death It will like Sampson fetch meat out of the eater like the Ostrich digest stones like Mithridates fetch nourishment out of poison When wicked men like Ahaz in their distress sin more against the Lord as fire the more it is kept in in an Oven the more it rageth so doth corruption but godly men far otherwise are by the fire of affliction the more refined and purified for their masters use Godliness is profitable to thee while thou livest In doubts it will direct thee as a light to thy feet and a lanthorn to thy paths In dangers it will protect thee by setting thee on high and giving thee for a place of defence the munition of rocks in wants it will supply thee by affording thee bread in the word when thou hast none on the boord and money in the promise 1 Tim. 4.8 which is by thousands the better when thou hast none in thy purse in thy pain it will ease thee in disgrace It will honor thee in sorrows it will comfort thee in sickness it will strengthen by causing thee to count the crosses of this life as nothing and unworthy to be compared to the pleasures and glory which shall revealed in all distresses it will support thee and make thee more then a conqueror over all through him that loveth us Rom. 8.37 Lastly godliness will be profitable to thee when thou diest death which is the terrible of terribles to
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HEAVEN and HELL EPITOMIZED THE TRUE CHRISTIAN Characterized AS ALSO An Exhortation with Motives Means and Directions to be speedy and serious about the work of Conversion By George Swinnocke M. A. sometime fellow of Baliol Colledge in Oxford and now Preacher of the Gospel at Rickmersworth in Hertfordshire I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live Deut. 30.19 Accidiosi erubescere possunt qui non tam diligenter laborant ad impetrandum gaudium coeli sicut multi impiorum laborant ad impetrandum poenam inferni Fabritius indestruct Vitior part 5. cap. 2. Crede Stude Vive Pinge Aeternitati Cor. A Lapid London Printed by E. M. for Tho. Parkhurst and are to be sold at the Sign of the three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside over against the Conduit 1659. TO THE WORSHIPFUL And my esteemed Friend RICHARD BERESFORD Esquire Justice of the Peace for the Liberty of St. Albans in the County of Hertford and Clarke of the Pleas in his Highness Court of Exchequer Worthy Sir THis small Treatise part whereof was lately preached in your eares at the Funeral of your dear Mother presenteth it self to your eyes not for your protection Divine Truths desire none from men and humane errors deserve none from any but for your direction It containeth that in it which is able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus You have a double right to the dedication of this book partly in regard of the occasion of it partly in regard of the Authors obligation unto you which is great for your liberality but farre greater for your encouraging of and exemplariness in the truth and life of Christianity I did not think my self a little bound to that Providence which gave you Relation to our Parish and I suppose not without cause when the power of godliness hath few such considerable Patrons There is scarce one of a thousand cui praesens faeticitas si arrisit non irrisit Bern. lib. 2. de consolat Men of your rank though sometimes to stop the mouth of conscience or for their credit they take up a form and profession yet do usually neglect if not cursedly deride the strictness and power of Religion They are too often like the Moon farthest from and in most direct opposition unto the Sun of Righteousn sse when they are at the full of outward plenty and receive most light of Divine bounty from him their carnal hearts as the Sea turn the showers of mercies from heaven and fresh streams from the earth into the salt waters of corruption In our natural bodies the more fat there is the lesse blood in the veines and by consequence the fewer spirits Greatnesse and Goodness are beautiful and happy Quies hath no plural number God seldom giveth two Heavens Tamen aliquando Christus voluit Reginam in coelum vebere saith Luther of Elisabeth Queen of Denmark Luth. in Epist ad Jo Agric. but rare conjunctions You know who hath said Not many such are called 1 Cor. 1.26 And experience teacheth us that they are like Stars of the first Magnitude thinly scattered in the Firmament of a Country How much therefore are you engaged to that distinguishing love which enableth you to look after the things of a better life I shall take the liberty which I know you will give to speak a few words to you in your twofold capacity First as you are a Christian and herein my counsel will be that you would more and more ensure your effectual calling We say where men intend to live long they build strong I am confident all that you are worth for your endless condition in the other world dependeth under Christ upon your inward change And if ever any wyers had need to be firm and strong then questionlesse they upon which such heavy weights hang as your eternal unchangeable estate You have a large room in the hearts of many that are holy But alas Sir the best mans confidence of me would prove but a bad evidence for heaven He is not approved whom man commendeth but whom the Lord commendeth The great affection which you bear to the souls of the people amongst whom you were born is worthy of imitation And so is your care and cost in scattering some practical home-treatises in several families whereby souls may be converted and wherein you may have comfort at the day of Christ for soul-charity is the soul of charity but the best charity begins at home though it never ends there your main business lyeth within your own doors to make sure that good work within you which shall be perfected hereafter The ordinary security which most men trust to will not serve when they come in the other life to lay their claims and shew their deeds for the inheritance of the Saints in light Many flaws will then be found in their evidences which now through their wilful blindness they neither see nor fear Paâ—lens aurum melius est quâ—m fulgens aurichalcum Bern. He had need to have armour of proof that would enter the list with his enemy Death and not be foiled The heart not ballasted with renewing grace may hold out in the calm of life and shallows of time but when it meets with the storm of death and launcheth into the Ocean of eternity it suffereth a desperate and everlasting shipwrack The want of this is the leak which sinketh many a precious vessel soul I mean in the gulph of perdition There is as much difference between a nominal and a real Christian as between a liveless picture and a living person True Christianity which consisteth in the souls humble unfained acceptation of and hearty resolved dedication unto Christ as Saviour and Soveraign is a Paradox to most There are many Christians as Salvian complained in his time without Christ Christiani sine Christo Salv. but they which know experimentally what the sanctification of the holy Ghost meaneth are few indeed The Moralist in his best dresse of civility the Formalist in his gaudy attire of ceremonies and the hypocrite in all his royalty is not arrayed like one of these I do not write these things as in the least suspecting your sincerity but to quicken you to a godly jealousie over your own soul If the Apostles and Disciples needed such rousing cautions Take heed least that day come upon you unawares Luke 21.34 Take heed least any man fail of the grace of God Heb. 12.15 then much more you and I who are more drowsie and prone to slumber do require awakening considerations Secondly As you are a Magistrate And that relation calleth upon you to be very exemplary among men and exceeding active for God Man is a creature which is led more by the eye than the ear by patterns than precepts Great men
God offereth thee heaven thou choosest earth and notwithstanding he assureth thee that now is the only acceptable time now is the only day of salvation yet thou wilt not hear when he calleth I tel thee the day is near when thou wouldst but God wil not when thou shalt call but he wil not hear and then thou shalt find no place for repentance though Esau like thou seek it carefully with tears When once thy particular judgement is pass'd 't wil be in vain to beg a Psalm of mercy 3. Thou shalt at death lose the society of all the godly even of those excellent ones in whom is the delight of Christ Prov. 8.31 and all the delight of Christians Psa 16.3 It is a blessing to thee upon earth did the Lord but sanctifie it to thee that thy lot is cast in a Land in a Parish in a family where those holy ones are that thou mayst hear their gracious prayers see their pious patterns and enjoy their precious precepts Homo boni pedis A Saint is as the Proverb is in Africa A man whose coming is prosperous this churlish Laban could confesse Gen. 30.27 and the Heathenish Egyptian found by experience Gen. 39.2 All the Countrey fareth the better for a good and rich Christian he eateth not his morsels alone but keepeth open house for all comers He both desireth and endeavoureth that others might be not almost but altogether as he is None are more spiritually covetous to make Proselites then the true Israelites As the wall which receiveth heat from the Sun reflecteth it on the passengers so he wisheth so wel to the worst that they were partakers of the same grace that they may have fellowship with the Father and Jesus Christ his Sonne John 1.1 Like the Bee he goeth to this and that flower to this and that Ordinance and sucketh some sweetness some spiritual good and carrieth all home to his house to his hive As sin is diffusive a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump 1 Cor. 5. 6. Some say they that have the plague are very desirous to infect others so is grace like oil spreading the gracious desire to go to an innumerable company of Angels with a numerous company of Saints Their examples are amiable and sometimes instrumental for the conversion of others 1 Pet. 3.1 1 Cor. 7.16 Justin Martyr confesseth of himself that beholding the Saints piety in life and patience at death he gathered their doctrine to be the truth and was converted their prayers are desirable and that in the esteem of prophane and ungodly men Exod. 8.28 Exod. 9.28 Acts 8.24 In a word The Saints are clouds which water the earth Heb. 12. the salt which keepeth the world from putrefaction Mat. 6. That place Prov. 10.25 But the righteous is an everlasting foundation The Hebrews expound the righteous are the foundation of the world which but for their sakes would soon shatter and fall to ruine Sanctum semen statumen terae Isa 6.13 Absque stationibus non staret â—undus I beare up the pillars thereof saith David Psalm 75.9 It is for the sake of the good that the bad are spared Acts 27.24 All that sailed with Paul were saved for his sake How many a time have they stood in the gap and diverted a flood of wrath from breaking in Psal 106.30 Numb 14.20 How many a mercy hath come flying to the world upon the wings of their prayers But O sinners herein wil be a part of thy misery that thou shalt for ever be banish't their company now possibly thou thinkest the Parish the worse for such strict inhabitants thy dwelling the worse for such precise Neighbours thy family the worse for such an humble zealous child or servant now thou do'st not know what thou gainest when thou hast their society but thou shalt know what thou losest when thou hast lost them to eternity If Cicero did so bewail his banishment from the Romane Moralists that though the Countries through which he travelled did him much honour yet he would often look towards Italy with sighs and tears and if the Disciples wept so much for the losse of Paul they fell about his neck and kissed him and wept sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake that they should see his face no more in this world Acts 20.37 38. how wilt thou sigh and sob weep and wail when thou shalt be parted from them in the other world Did the devout men make suck great lamentation for the losse of one good man for a little time Act. 8.2 what lamentation shalt thou make for the losse of all good men to eternity Surely as in Ramah there wil be a voice heard lamentation weeping and mourning for the losse of these children of God 4. When thou diest thou shalt lose all thy hope or presumption rather Thy dead hope for Saints only have a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 wil fail thee at death As thou hast no true holiness so thou canst have no true hope but something 't is likely thou hast upon which thou reliest as to thy future estate It may be thou hast the good things of this life and thence concludest thy right to a better life as if because the great House-keeper of the world throweth some bones to the dogs therefore he must love them with a paternal love thou do'st not consider their houses may be full of gold whose hearts are empty of grace and whose souls shall assuredly come short of glory Job 22.17 18. Psal 17.13 14. It may be it is thy profession of Religion that holds thee up by the chin and keepeth from sinking as if because a stage-player is drest in the Robes and for a quarter of an houre acteth the part of a King he must therefore have a real right to the Dignity Dominions and Revenues of the Regal Office not believing that those colours of the form which are not laid in oyl in the power of godlinesse wil be wash't off at death Matth. 25.8 Or it is likely thou enjoyest the priviledges of the Gospel Sabbaths Sacraments and the seasons of grace are the bladders with the help of which without an inward change thou thinkest to swim to heaven do'st thou not know that many go to hel fire with Font-water on their faces and from the table to the tormentour Matth. 22.13 that Esau a cast-away and Ishmael an out-cast had both Abram to their father and so had they whom truth it self assureth that they were of their father the divel John 8.44 Circumcision availeth nothing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Gal. 6.15 All such things are but lying words where an internal work of grace is wanting Jer. 7.4 5 6. Or possibly thou art a man of many performances thou mindest secret family relation-duties which too too many neglect praying reading hearing Christian communion like the spider thou weavest a curious web out of thine own bowels and therewith makest thee a house in which thou
thence it is that spiritual things are so natural and delightful to his regenerate part as we see in David I delight to do thy will O my God how cometh this to passe but from an inward principle Thy Law is within my heart Psal 40.8 or as it is in Hebrew Thy Law is in the midst of my bowels But now an hypocrite usually acteth from some outward principle as the Pharisees did Matth. 23.14 27. Matth. 6.1 5. the wind from without makes their Mill to go some goads or whips force them forward hence it is that like tired Jades they are presently weary and desire nothing more then to rest and cease from such unpleasant labour 2. Ask thy soul what is the pattern of thy life whom dost thou labour to imitate is it Christ or thy Neighbour Do'st thou set thy watch by the Town Clock or by the dial of Scripture because that never faileth of going according to the Sun of Righteousnesse A man dead spiritually like dead fish ever swimmeth down with the stream of the times will follow a multitude to do evil cannot endure to be singular like the Planet Mercury at best if in conjunction with good he is good if with bad he is bad or like water taketh the figure of the vessel what ever it be into which it is put But now a living Christian doth not dresse himself by the glasse of the times whil'st he is in the Wildernesse of this world he may follow the cloud of faithful Witnesses but it must be no farther then they follow Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Christ is the great standard by which he measureth and trieth and which he endeavoureth to imitate in his thoughts words actions He doth uti verbis nummis praesentibus vivere moribus praeteritis use such words and money as is currant at present but lives after that example which was in times past the patterns of godly men bear much sway with him but he knoweth there are some things in their lives Admonet non omnes promiscue esse imitandos Calv. in Phil. 3. which are sea-marks to be avoided and not Land-marks to direct us therefore like the Eagle he looketh most at the Sun Christ himself Now Christian examine thy selfe whom dost thou look upon for thy pattern is it thy desire and care to regulate thy Family and life as such a Knight or Esquire or Gentleman in the Parish where thou livest ordereth his or as thy prophane irreligious Neighbours do theirs or do'st thou look upon and labor to resemble Jesus Christ to govern thy house and heart as he did his praying with his Apostles instructing them in the Mysteries of the Kingdome of heaven and the like Matth. 6. walking humbly inoffensively and worthy of the Lord even unto all well-pleasing Heb. 7.26 1 Pet. 1.19 It is reported of Hierom that having read the Religious life and death of Hilarion he cried out holding up the book Well Hilarion shall be the Champion whom I will follow So when thou readest in the Scripture of the heavenly pious life and holy patient death of the Redeemer how he did all things well and none could convince him of sin is thy soul so ravish't with the beauty and lustre of those many graces which shined so eminently in him that it breatheth out O that I were like him O that I could be as meek and lowly as Christ that I could deny my self and despise the world and glorifie God as much as Christ did Christiani à Christâ— nomen acceperunt operae pretium est ut sunt haeâ—edes nominis ita sint imitatores sanctitatis Bern. Sentent p. 496 that the same mind were in me that was in Christ Jesus and though to thy hearty sorrow thou seest how far short thou comest of a perfect conformity to him yet thou resolvest to use all means appointed that thou mayst be more like him and concludest Well Christ shall be the only Champion whom I will follow Answer thy conscience within thee whether it be thus or no for if thou art a living Member thou wilt resemble thy Head Those whom God did fore-know he did predestinate to be conformable to the Image of his Son Rom. 8.29 As the Image in the glasse resembleth the face in figure feature and favour so doth the true Christian after his proportion resemble Jesus Christ 3. Is Christ the comfort of thy life when trouble like frosty weather overtaketh thee which is the fire at which thou warmest thy heart is it this friend or that place of preferment or any outward comfort whatsoever or is it thy Relation to Christ and his affection to thee when damps arise out of the earth is it the joy of thy soul that light springs down from heaven or do'st thou trust to the Candle of the creature which will burn blew and go out Is Christ man or the world the door through which thy joys come in the dish on which thou feedest with most delight If Christ should give thee the long life of Methuselah the strength of Sampson the beauty of Absolom the wisdome wealth and renown of Solomon and deny himself to thee canst thou contentedly bear his absence or wouldst thou say as Haman in another case and Absolom 2 Sam. 14.32 All this availeth me nothing so long as I may not see the Kings face Xenophon As Artabazus when Cyrus gave him a cup of gold and kissed Chrysantas told the King The cup thou gavest to me was not half so good gold as the kisse thou gavest Chrysantas so saith the living Saint when Christ blesseth him outwardly and with-draweth himself from the soul Lord the cups the wife and children the food and raiment the pleasures and treasures all the earthly mercies thou givest to me are not a quarter so good gold as the kisses of thy love which thou givest unto thy favourites O kisse me with the kisses of thy mouth for thy love is better then wine Cant. 1. Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy children O visit me with thy salvation that I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladnesse of thy Nation that I may glory with thine inheritance Psal 106.4 5. Look thou upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do unto those that love thy Name Psal 119.132 These are the holy Petitions of a gracious soul for a childs portion Common mercies will never content them that have special grace nor satisfie them that are sanctified indeed As the needle toucht with the Load-stone is restlesse till it points toward the North so the Saint that is toucht effectually by the Spirit of God is unquiet till he turn unto and have fellowship with Jesus Christ He may flutter up and down like the Dove over the waters of this world but can find no rest for the soles of his feet till he return to Christ the true Ark till Christ put forth his hand
they are of such exceeding importance that if thou art once perswaded to them my work will be half effected and because delayes and laziness are the two great gulphs in which such multitudes of souls are drowned and perish I shall speak the more to them My first request to thee is that thou wouldst presently set about the affairs of thy soul We say of things that must be done De rebus necessariis non est deliberandum there needeth not any deliberation about them Is not this the one thing necessary to prepare for the last hour to make sure of thine everlasting well-fare In re tam justa nulla est consultatio If thou believest the word of God thou wilt not give the flesh so much breath as to debate it muchless wilt thou as Felix did put off the thoughts of righteousness and judgement to come till thou art at better leisure till thou hast a more convenient season What more weighty work hast thou to do then to work out thy own salvation Is the following thy calling hoarding up an heaps of earth feeding cloathing that flesh which shall shortly be food for worms is any of these half so necessary as thy provision for eternity If thou art old its high time to begin to prepare for thy latter end Thou hast the feet of thy body almost already in the earth in the grave and hadst thou not need have the feet of thy soul thy affections in heaven Thou hast but a little time to converse with men doth it not behove thee to be much in communion with God Death often possibly knocketh at thy door by the hand of sickness and warneth thee to look after another habitation for thou art to be turned out of thy house of clay Dost thou take warning what wilt thou do if thou shouldest dye before thou didst ever begin to live If the Sun of thy life should set before the Sun of righteousness hath arisen on thee all the while thou livest thou art dead and thou livest long to add to thy torments as others have died soon to hasten them Thou art but like stubble laid out a drying to burn the better in hell all the while thou continuest a stranger to the new birth Thou hast every day been treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath been gathering as it were more wood to increase those flames in which thou if thou thus diest shalt live for ever Because judgement against an evil work is not speedily executed therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged it shall not go well with the wicked Eccles 8 11 12 23. The sinner an hundred years old shall be accursed Isa 65.20 I have read of the Circassians a kind of mungrel Christians that they divide their time betwixt the Devil and God dedicating their youth to robbery and their old age to repentance How much time hast thou spent in the service of sin how little time hast thou left the service of God and thy soul Is it not high time for thee to number thy dayes and to apply thy heart unto wisdom speedily Old sinner dost thou not tremble to think that there is but a step betwixt thee and death nay betwixt thee and hell O the time and talents and opportunities which thou hast to reckon for more then others Happy happy had it been for thee to have been turned out of the wombe into hell rather then to dye an old man and not a babe in Christ If thou hast a sparke of love to thy self mind thine inward change presently least thy change come even death and send thee to unchangeable misery If thou art young Honor adolescentum est timorem Dei habere Ambros de offici mind the gathering the Manna of godliness in the morning of thine age present the first fruits of thy life to that God who desireth the first ripe fruits Exod. 3.19 The firstlings are his darlings Gen. 4.4 and that cloth will keep colour best that is died in the Wool the vessel will sente longest of that liquor with which it is first seasoned let thy soul like Gideons Fleece drink up betimes the dews of grace As young as thou art thy life is every moment at the mercy of the Lord There is a saying that in Golgatha there are skulls of all sizes In the Church-yard thou mayest see graves of all sorts and some of thy very length thou art concerned therefore to remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth Aquinas telleth us the young man hath death at his back the old man before his eyes and that is the more dangerous enemy that pursueth thee then that which marcheth up towards thy face This calleth for the greater care and watchfulness In the Isle of Man the maides spin their winding sheets the first thing they spin do thou in youth and health ponder and prepare for thy death lest as young and strong as thou art death trip up thy heels and throw thee and it prove thine everlasting overthrow Besides canst thou imagine that such a sinner deserveth favor who cometh in to serve God at last when he can serve his lust no longer Is it equal be thy own judge to give the flower of thine age the spring of thy life the best of thy time thine health and strength to the devil and thy brutish flesh and to give the dregs the snuffe the bottom of all this to the infinitely glorious God whose creature thou art at whose cost and charge thou livest every day and night and who calleth upon thee for thy service not for the need he hath of thee but because of the need thou standest in of him all whose happiness doth consist in the pleasing and enjoying his Majesty Whoever thou art of what age soever either set speedily about thy soul-work or answer these few questions the Lord shall put to thee or be speechless and without excuse at the day of Christ First Hath not God waited upon thee long enough already wouldst have him whom the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain who hath millions of glorious Angels waiting on his Majesty to wait on thee miserable worme alwayes I tell thee all the while thou art sinning his eyes behold thee his heart is incensed against thee and his hand can reach thee and avenge him on thee every moment How many hath he sent into hell that never tasted of his patience as thou hast done The angels sinned and were not waited upon one hour for their repentance yet how many years hath he endured thee with much long-suffering and still waiteth upon thee that he may be gracious unto thee Isa 30.18 The last oath thou didst swear he could have cursed and rotted thy tongue The last time that thou wentest prayerless to thy rest he could have sent thee to little ease to the place
17.13 Eccles 12.2 ult vers 2. Suppose thou wer 't sure to die this day come moneth and take possession of thine eternal estate to do that which thou never didst before nor shalt ever do again even to throw thy last cast for eternity wouldst thou not then lay aside all other matters and make it thy onely business to ensure an interest in Christ and to make sure of a regenerated sanctified nature wouldst thou not then think Well now there is no daubing no dallying any longer I am now going to my long long everlasting home if I now deceive my self with any thing in stead of the power of godliness and mistake at death I shall miscarry for ever if I be not then right I shall be wrong for ever Now or never now and ever Wouldst thou not highly prize every week of that moneth every day of those weeks every hour of those dayes yea and every minute of those hours and say Ah desperate folly to leave a work of such infinite weight for which my whole life was little little enough to so short a space and yet O infinite mercy that I have any seasons of grace left wherein I may yet work out my salvation with fear and trembling How wouldst thou labor as for life in this duty and that ordinance hanging on those brests and tugging hard for some spiritual good Wouldst thou not with Jacob wrastle with God weep and make supplication wouldst thou not with the Ninivites cry mightily unto God for mercy How would thy prayers proceed from the very bottom of thy heart and with what force would they pierce the very heavens how wouldst thou with the Bereans search the Scriptutes and see upon what termes Christ and heaven may be had Wouldst thou not strive to break thy heart with the hammer of the law and to melt it with the Sun shine of the Gospel that thou mightest repent Wouldst thou not encourage thy soul from the freeness of Gods mercy the fulness of Christs merit to believe O what sad thoughts wouldst thou now have of thy soul and thy sins what serious thoughts wouldst thou have of God and Christ of hell and heaven of death and judgement Surely other manner of thoughts then now thou hast Thus friend it would be with thee if thou wert to leave this world within a month or thou wert worse then a mad man And why shall it not be thus with thee now when thou art so far from ensuring thy life for a moneth that thou canst not promise thy self the next hour dost thou not believe that thy foundation is in the dust Job 4.19 that man at his best estate is altogether vanity Psal 32.5 that one dyeth in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts being full of milk and his bones moistned with marrow Job 21.23 24. Thou art not a tenant at thy own will whilst thou dwellest in thy house of clay Thou cuttest large thongs of Gods time if thou assurest thy self another week But look Reader dost thou not see that eternity is at the very threshold of thy house Mortalium nemo est qui crastinum sibi audeat pollireri Euripid that there is but a step a thin paper wall of life between thee and eternity Is there not much more reason that thou shouldst be more industrious for thy soul and salvation when thou art not sure to live a day than if thou wert sure to live a moneth There is a bird peculiar to Ireland called the Cock of the wood remarkable for its fine flesh and folly all the difficulty to kill them is to finde them they flie in woods in flocks and if one be shot the rest remove not but to the next tree and there stand staring at the shooter till the whole covey be destroyed yet as foolish as this bird is it may be the Embleme of most wise men in point of mortality death sweeps away one and one and one and another and all the rest remain no whit moved till at last they are destroyed and then their folly is though too late bewailed 3. Suppose thou couldst speak with thy carnal unregenerate neighbors or friends that are now under endless remorse frying in those unquenchable flames and shouldst ask them what caused them to miscarry for ever and how they came to that place of torment and they should tell thee O friend I thought heaven might have been had without so much ado that there had been no need of that seriousness and laboriousness which a few precise ones practised and which Ministers so much pressed I thought I might do well enough with a formal lazy outside serving of God because my neighbors did no better I presumed that because God was merciful and Christ meritorious I enjoyed the outward priviledges of the Gospel and gave God some of the time I could spare from the world and the flesh in a little heartless devotion that I should be saved never looking at that inward renovation and outward reformation which I see now to my sorrow are required in all to whom the special mercy of God and merit of Christ shall be extended and now wo and alas I am tormented in these flames After such an hearing from hell wouldst thou not be diligent to prevent thy damnation wouldst thou not take heed of those knives of negligence idleness and formality resting in a few good means which did cut the throate of others souls wouldst thou after this jest at heaven and hell or trifle about regeneration or the new birth Wouldst thou again mock God or cozen thy self with a form a shell a carcasse of Religion Would not the words thou hadst lately heard be alwayes sounding in thine ears and piercing thy heart and quickening thee to be sedulous and industrious about thy soul affairs And why wilt thou not do as much now when I can assure thee from the mighty possessor of heaven and earth that this is as true namely that many souls are eternally sunk by reason of those quick-sands as if thou hadst heard it from the mouth of hell nay it is possible a damned wretch may deceive thee but it is impossible that the blessed God who speaketh as much with his own mouth should deceive thee Look 1 Thess 5.3 Mat. 7.21 22 23. 4. Suppose thou hadst with Moses had a sight of the back parts of the infinite God about whose service I am perswading thee to be diligent or with Isaiah hadst seen some extraordinary manifestation of his glory or hadst been with the disciples at the transfiguration of Christ Or suppose thou hadst been in heaven and seen the royalty and majesty of God in those glorious Angels and Saints which continually wait upon him and in the glorified Saviour who sitteth at his right hand and representeth him as lively and fully as is possible to the eyes of men Suppose thou hadst taken strict notice of the number how many millions and order of Gods servants
there how high and noble their works how holy and pure their worship and hadst known the infinite power holiness wisdom and justice of God as they do and God should turn thee again into this world wouldst thou slubber over thy duties and play with his Ordinances as now thou dost wouldst thou pray to this God as if thou prayedst not or hear from his Majesty as if thou heardest not or attend on him so carelesly as if thou didst not attend on him at all or wouldst thou not rather think I can never be too serious in the service of such a God I can never wait on him with humility enough and with watchfulnesse enough with uprightnesse enough and with care and diligence enough Shouldst thou not be laborious in the service of such a good God Give me leave to urge this thought a little farther and to give thee a Scripture or two which through the free grace of God have sometimes helped me against deadness and dullness in duties The one is 2 Chron. 2. and 5. where Solomon telleth us The house I am to build must be great mark the reason for great is our God above all gods If God be so great a God how greatly is he to be reverenced canst thou do too much service for him or give too much glory to him Can thy love to him be too great or can thy fear of him be too great or can thy labor for him be too great when this God is so great That he measureth the ocean in the hollow of his hand and meteth out the heavens with a span and comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure and weigheth the mountains in scales and the hills in a ballance Behold the Nations are as a drop of the bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering All Nations before him are as nothing and they are counted to him as lesse then nothing and vanity Isa 40.12 15 16 17. God is a great God and therefore greatly to be feared Psal 89.7 God is a great God and therefore greatly to be praised for his greatness is unsearchable Psal 145.3 If he be a great God he may well require a great house to be his material temple and if he be a great God may he not justly call for a great part of yea all thy heart to be his spiritual temple It is likely the Son Solomon learned this of his father David who giveth us this as the reason why he danced before the Arke of the Covenant of the Lord of the whole earth with all his might 2 Sam. 6.14 21. It was saith he before the Lord as if he had said Had it been before men only or in their service I might have been cold and careless slothful and sluggish but it was before the Lord the infinite incomprehensible and holy God to whom I am unspeakably obliged for his distinguishing mercy and therefore all my might and all my strength was little enough for such a God I might mind thee further that thou hast wrought hard in thy slavery to the world and thy flesh in thy drudgery to the devil and thy lusts whose reward and wages is nothing but disappointment and vexation hell and damnation and shouldst thou not be fervent fiery seething hot as the word signifieth in spirit when thou art serving the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11.12 Rom. 11.12 I might also ask thee to whom thou owest thy whole strength and thy whole heart if not to God Art thou so much indebted to the world and thy flesh those enemies of thy salvation as thou art to the blessed God and who will at last pay thee best for thy strength and time God or the world Christ or the flesh But I may speak more to this in another place Well Reader have I yet or rather the Lord by me perswaded thee to set about this great business upon which thy eternal felicity dependeth timely that is presently throughly that is withal thy strength as the main chief and onely work thou hast to do Art thou resolved to do thine utmost endeavor and through the strength of Christ faithfully to follow the directions which I shall commend to thee from the Lord in order to thy recovery out of that bottomlesse misery into which thou hast plunged thy self Is there not abundant reason in what thou hast read Are they the words of a sinfu◠dying man or of the jealous everliving God Is it I only that call upon thee to mind this spiritual life or do not the daily and nightly mercies which thou unworthy wretch injoyest do not the dreadful judgements which others feel and thou hast too much cause to fear do not thy sweet babes thy dear children cry often and aloud in thine ears O thar there were an heart in our Father in our Mother to fear the Lord and keep all his Commandements alwayes that it might go well with them and with their children for ever Deut. 5.29 Nay doth not the Almighty God who observeth all thy wickednesse in whose hands thou art every hour who can with a word speak thee into that place of wo where the worth of grace and holinesse is better known and where the weight of sin and ungodlinesse is more felt In hope that thou wilt not be such an enemy to the God that made thee that thou wilt not do that despight to the Spirit that moveth thee that thou wilt not be such a wilful murderer of thy precious soul as to neglect them I shall set them down the Lord set them home to thy heart Come along with me and I will shew thee the Bride the Lambs Wife how she must be trimmed and adorned for the marriage First Get thine understanding inlightned in the knowledge of thy sins and misery 1. Direction Illumination The knowledge of thy disease and danger must precede thy recovery and cure O how many thousand souls have miscarried in the dark of ignorance Did men know surely they would not daily by their sins crucifie the Lord of glory Did they know their misery they would not be so merry as they are in wayes of iniquity they rush into sin as the horse rusheth into the battel not knowing it will be to their death to their destruction I have sometime read a story of a King that was ever pensive and never seen to smile and being asked by his Brother the cause of it he put him off till the next day for an answer and in the mean time caused a deep pit to be made commanding his servants to fill it half full with fiery coals and then causeth an old rotten board to be laid over it and over the board to hang a two-edged sword by a small slender thred with the point downwards and close by the pit
to set a table full of all manner of delicacies His Brother coming next day for an answer was placed at the board and four men with drawn swords about him and with all the best musick that could be had to play before him Then the King called to him saying Rejoyce and be merry Brother eat drink and laugh for here is pleasant being But he replied O my Lord and King how can I be merry being in such danger on every side Then said the King Look how it is now with thee so it is alwayes with me for If I look above me I see the great and dreadful Judge to whom I must give an account of all my thoughts words and deeds if I look under me I see the endlesse torments of hell whereinto I shall be cast if I die in my sins if I look behind me I see all the sins which I have committed and the time which I have spent unprofitably if I look before me I see death every day drawing nearer and nearer unto me if I look on my right hand I see my conscience accusing me of all the evil I have done and good I have left undone in this world and if I look on my left hand I see the creatures on their Makers behalf crying out for vengeance against me a Rebell Now then cease hereafter to wonder why I cannot rejoyce in the things of this world This is the condition of every unsanctified man and woman and did they but know it they would see but little cause to spend their dayes in pastimes and pleasure but what the eye seeth not the heart greives not Had Haman known he had been so nigh his funeral he would hardly have boasted so much to his friends but it is the policy of the God of this world to blind mens eyes least they should see and avoid damnation As when a Malefactor is for some capital crime cast at the Assize Diogenes being demanded what burthen the earth did dâ—d beaâ— most heavy answered An ignorant man he is then carried into a dark dungeon and thence to execution So the Devil knowing that all the Sons and Daughters of Adam are cast by the Law of God the Law shutting them all up under sin and wrath endeavoureth to keep them in the dungeon of ignorance till the day of their execution When Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Zedekiah 2 Kings 25. and 7. he put out his eyes bound him in fetters and then carried him away to Babylon Thus Satan as soon as he entereth into the soul laboureth to put out the eyes of the understanding and so to lead them hood-winkt to hell Did men know what they had done against God and how they had undone themselves they would be restlesse till they attained a remedy Did the sinner but know the purity jealousie power and justice of that God whom he daily provoketh Did he but know the love and kindness the blood and bowels of that Saviour whom he undervalueth Did he but know the pleasures and joy and happinesse in heaven which he neglecteth Did he but know the beauty and amiableness the delights and comforts of grace and holinesse which he despiseth Did he but know the emptinesse and vanity of this deceitful world which he so heartily embraceth Did he but know where sin is in the premisses sorrow and hell without faith and sanctification must be in the conclusion Did men I say but know these things how quickly would they turn from sin unto God giving a bill of divorce to their most beloved lusts and entring into a most solemn covenant with the Lord But having their understandings darkned they are alienated from the life of God that is a life of holinesse through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse of their hearts Eph. 4.18 Observe how expresly the Spirit of God speaketh ignorance to be the reason why men are such strangers to the power of Religion Reader thou mayst by all this see the necessity of knowledge if ever thou wouldst be converted and saved The Devil as I said before carrieth men hood-winkt to hell but God will never carry thee blindfold to heaven The end of a Saint is the inheritance in light Col. 1.12 and the way thither is a way of light The path of the just is as shining light Prov. 4.18 and surely in respect of knowledge as well as in other respects Do not please thy self that though thou art not book-learned yet thou hast as good an heart as others as thy foolish ignorant neighbors will prate for when thou thus speakest thou speakest beside thy book for the Book of God telleth us otherwise The soul without knowledge is not good Proverbs 19.2 There may be a clear head without a clean heart the light of knowledge without the heat of grace but a gracious heart in a grown person not distracted was ever accompanied with a competency of knowledge in the head And indeed knowledge is so near a kin to grace that it is often in the Word of God put for it John 17.3 It is life eternal to know thee to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent So 1 Cor. 2.2 Phil. 3.8 Isai 53.11 If thou would be sanctified and saved get knowledge seek knowledge as silver and search for it as for hid treasure Prov. 2.3 4. This is the first thing to be done it is first in the Ministers Commission Acts 26.18 I send thee saith God to Paul to open the eyes of the blind and to turn men from darkness unto light and this is first in the Spirits operation on the soul It convinceth the man of his sins John 16.10 11. It presenteth to the understanding a catalogue of its many and bloody provocations Imprimis thus Guilty in Adam of high treason against Heavens Majesty and thereby of want of original righteousnesse and of a deep deadly pollution in the whole nature Item so many hundred ungodly actions so many thousand unholy and idle expressions so many millions of evil thoughts and suggestions Item so many omissions and so many commissions Item so much precious time mis-spent a moment of which cannot be recalled or purchased with the revenues of the world Item so many talents of health strength food rayment esteem riches and the like misimployed Item so many Sacraments Sabbaths seasons of grace mis-improved Item so much uncorrigiblenesse under afflictions so much unprofitablenesse under mercies Thus the Spirit inlighteneth the sinners mind to see his sins with their circumstances and black aggravations as also what is like to be the fruit and effect of sin even nothing lesse than suffering everlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord. It may be the Spirit may cause him as it were to see the smoak that ascendeth from the bottomlesse pit to smell the scent of that infernal brimstone and fire to hear the roarings and howlings of the damned nay possibly to feel a very hell in his own conscience
men come to be prickt at the heart Acts 2.37 That thou must believe or perish and how shalt thou believe on him of whom thou hast not heard Rom. 10. As ships will ride a long time in a road-steed when they might be in the haven for this end that they may be in the winds way to take the first opportunity that shall be offered for their intended voyage So do thou ride in the road of Gods Ordinances waiting for the gales of the Spirit thou knowst not how soon that wind may blow on the waters of the Sanctuary and drive the vessel of thy soul swiftly and land it safely at the haven of happinesse of Heaven Direction If thou wouldst attain this spiritual life be frequent and fervent at the throne of grace Prayer that the God of all grace would infuse grace into thee and breath into thy soul the breath of this spiritual life As Abram pleaded for Ishmael Gen. 17.18 O that Ishmael might live before thee so do thou for thy soul O that my soul might live before thee And â—s the Ruler for his son Lord come down quickly ere my soul die yea ere it die eternally Go to God with a sense of thy own unworthiness and iniquities that though thou comest to his Majesty for the greatest favours yet thou art lesse than the least of all his mercies acknowledging that thou hast sinned hainously against heaven and before him and art unworthy to be called his son Confesse thy original actual heart life sins with their bloody aggravations and intreat him to pardon and purifie thee O with what humility reverence and self-abhorrency should such a guilty prisoner approach the Judge of the whole earth Arraign accuse and condemn thy self and thy sins if ever thou wouldst have God to acquit thee Pray also with a sense of thy own impotency and weaknesse That though there be a necessity of humiliation if ever thou wouldst escape damnation yet thou canst as soon fetch water out of a rock as teares from thine eyes or sorrow from thine heart for thy sins till the wind of the Spirit bloweth those waters will never flow It is God that must give to thee a poor Gentile repentance unto life Non minus difficile est nobis velle credere quam cadaveri volare Beza Confess p. 22. Acts 11.18 That thou must believe or thou canst not be saved yet thou canst as easily cause iron to swim as thy soul to believe in the Son of God Faith is the gift of God Phil. 1.29 Zeph. 8. It is as hard a work to believe the Gospel as to keep the Law perfectly Nothing lesse than omnipotency can enable the soul to either As thy first birth and generation so is thy second birth and regeneration from the Lord. Men and meanes may be instrumental and subservient but their efficacy and successe dependeth on God As Protogenes when he saw a line curiously drawn in a Painters shop cried out None but Apelles could draw that line so when thou seest the new Creation thou mayst say None but a God could doe that When thou hast through the strength of Christ wrought thy heart to some sense of thy weakness and unworthiness then look into the Scriptures and fetch arguments from Gods own mouth weapons from his own Armory whereby thou mayst prevail with him and overcome him Beseech him to consult his glorious Name and gracious Nature mind him that he is the Lord the Lord God gracious merciful long-suffering abundant in goodness and truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34.6 Tell him that he delighteth not in the death of sinners that he taketh more pleasure in unbloody conquests in the chearful services than in the painful sufferings of his Creatures That he had much rather have trees for fruit than for the fire Say Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness and after the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out mine offences Psal 51.1 O thou that art rich in mercy for the great love wherewith thou lovest souls quicken me in Christ that by grace I may be sanctified and saved Since thou delightest in mercy be pleased Lord to delight both thy self and thy servant by extending thine hand of mercy to pluck me out of this bottomlesse depth of misery Intreat God to consult his own Honor as well as his gracious Nature Mind him that if he condescend to convert and save thee he shall have the glory of his patience in waiting thus long to be gracious the glory of his providence in causing all things to work together for thy good the glory of mercy in pitying and pardoning such a greivous sinner the glory of his justice in that noble satisfaction it shall have from the death of his Son the glory of his power in bringing such a rebellious heart into subjection unto Jesus Christ Intreat his Majesty to consider that he may pardon and cleanse thee through Christ without the least diminution to his glory nay that far more revenues will come to his crown from thy salvation then from thy damnation That the forced confessions of them that perish as of Malefactors upon a wrack do not sound forth his praises so much nor so well as the joyful hearty acclamations of his saved ones Say Lord if thou suffer me to continue in my filth and pollution and never wash me by the blood and spirit of thy Son and suffer me to perish eternally thou art righteous but Lord if I perish I shall not praise thee thy glory will rather be forced out of me with blows as fire out of a flint thou delightest to see poor creatures volunteers in thy service The damned do not celebrate thy praise Psal 30.9 they that go into the infernal pit give thee no thanks The living Psal 88.10 11. Isa 38.19 the living they shall praise thee they that live spiritually and they that live with thee eternally O what Hosanna's and Halelujah's what honor and glory and blessing and praise do they give to the Lord and to the Lamb that sitteth upon the throne for ever O let my soul live and it shall praise thee Thine is the kingdom and power do thou work within me by thy grace and thine shall be the glory Desire God to consider his own promise as well as his praise Urge his own word That they that ask shall receive that seek shall find that knock shall have heaven opened That if men know how to give good gifts to them that ask how much more will the Father in heaven give his holy Spirit to them that ask That he will circumcise the hearts of men and women to love him Deut. 30.6 That he will put his fear into their hearts and they shall never depart away from him Jer. 32.40 That he will write his Law in their hearts Ezek. 31.33 Go in to him when thou art full of heaviness as Bathsheba did to David and say 1
eyes to see him Thus the joys of a Saint are invisible to the wicked because they are inward spiritual joys though they are joys unspeakable and glorious Austines confess They have such joy as thou art not to intermeddle with Prov. 14.10 They have meat to eat which thou knowest not of Their life is an hidden life Col. 3.3 and their comforts are hidden comforts their secret meals fatten their souls and their bread eaten in secret how pleasant is it The kingdom of God which is this spiritual life consisteth not in meats and drink but in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 And besides it cometh not with observation Luk. 17.20 the world taketh no notice of it It doth not consist in the laughter of the face in the smiles of the brow but in the tranquillity of the mind solid contentment in the brest Christ takes his Spouse apart from the crowd of the world and then gives her the sweetest kisses the dearest embraces yea her very fill of love Many a loving visit hath the Saint from his Saviour when Christ came in at the backdoor the neighbors neither saw when he came nor when he went away A true Christian hath the most heart-chearing wine though he hangs out no bush maketh no shew of it in the world the wealthy Merchant that is worth thousands doth not cry his commodities up and down the City The parlor wherein the spirit of Christ entertains the Christian is an inner room not next the street for every one that goeth by to smell the feast the stranger doth not meddle with his joy Prov. 14.10 Christ and the soul may sit at supper within Mr. Gurnal Arm. 2 part pag 343. and thou not see one dish go in nor hear the Musick that sounds so sweetly in the Christians ears Perhaps thou thinkest he wants peace because he doth not hang out a sign in his countenance of that peace and joy within Alas poor wretch may not the Saint have a peaceful conscience with a solemn yea sad countenance as well as thou and thy companions have a sorrowful heart when there is nothing but fair weather in your faces Whether they have the greatest comfort or no do thou judge Sure I am there are none in this world that have so much ground to be comfortable as they have They have the most delightful company they walk with God they suppe with Christ their fellowship is with the Father and Jesus Christ his Son which is the onely good fellowship 1 Iohn 1.3 They have the most delightful food they eat of the bread that came down from heaven and drink of that love which is better than wine Psal 36.8 They are abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Gods house and made to drink of the rivers of his own pleasures and are bidden welcome with eat O friends drink abundantly O beloved These are exceedings indeed but if it be not their own fault they have them often besides their every hours fare of a good conscience which is a continual feast They have the most delightful Musick they hear the joyful sound of the Gospel of peace the glad tidings of pardon adoption salvation and so may rejoyce in hope of glory many a time surely their hearts are warmed and their ears ravished at the hearing of the affection which Christ beareth to them and the benefits he hath bought for them They have the most delightful lodging they lie all night between Christs arms in the chamber of the great King They have the richest mercies the special love of the Father the precious blood of the Son and the divine graces of the spirit when others have onely the blessings of the footstool of the left hand such giftless gifts as one calleth them as may consist with an eternal separation from God they have the mercies of the throne of the right hand the blessings of his own children and such as do accompany salvation No wonder that they sit under Christs shadow with great delight and his fruit is sweet unto their taste Can. 2.3 The child of God by vertue of a good conscience in the midst of the waves of affliction is as secure as that child which in a shipwrack was upon a plank with his mother till she awaked him then securely sleeping and then with his pretty countenance sweetly smiling and by and by sportingly asking a stroak to beat the naughty waves at last when they continued boystrous for all that sharply chiding them as if they had been his play-fellows O the innocency O the comfort of peace of conscience Dr. Stoughton It is likely indeed that when they wander from Christ they may come home by weeping-cross as out-lying Deer are full of fear and therefore t is observed seldom fat but they run the waies of Gods commandments with enlarged hearts And what ever be the cause of their sorrow whether their own sins or thine or others or the afflictions of the church whatever it be their mourning is better then the carnal mirth And this I dare undertake for them that in their most disconsolate condition they shall not change with the most prosperous Prince in the world that is out of Christ Alas the comfort of a sinner as it is but short like the crackling of thornes under a pot so it is but shallow skin deep at most like a sudden storm of rain which wetteth the surface of the earth Caeterae hilaritates non implent pectus sed frontem reâ—mittunt Sen. epi. 23 but never sinketh to the root their joy may smooth the brow but cannot warm the breast their looks may be sometimes lively but their hearts are alwaies heavy For there is no peace to the wicked saith my God Isa 57.20 Their mirth is like some juicy plumbs which have stones with a bitter kernel The stateliest and best accommodated houses of unsanctified men I is not the great cage that maketh the bird sing nor the great estate that bringeth real comfort are but like the nests of Wasps where there may be curious combs but no honey many outward mercies but no true inward mirth no sweetness when the voice of joy and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous Psal 118.15 They onely have the strong consolations Heb. 6.18 The joy unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1.8 The peace of God which passeth all understanding to garrison their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Phil. 4.7 As they have more afflictions than others the disciple of Christ must take up his cross so they have more consolations than others and their soul comforts are not seldom the sweetest when their bodily crosses are greatest as the sweetest Roses grow nearest the most stinking weeds although the blind world see them not As a man standing saith a Divine upon the sea-shore seeth a great heap of waters one wave riding upon the neck of another and heareth loud roarings thereof but though he seeth the waters
others will be the comfortable of comfortables to thee Thou needest never fear ill news in thine ears having Christ and grace in thy heart others shall not be such unspeakable loosers by death but thou shalt be as great a gainer When thou liest on thy death bed where all thy friends and riches and earthly comforts will fail thee this spiritual life is the good part which shall never be taken from thee Thou maist look upward and see as it were God smiling on thee in the face of Christ and hear him call to his angels to go and fetch thee his childe who hast been all this while at nurse home to the fathers house Thou mayst look downward on thy relations and with much faith and chearfulness commit thy fatherless children to God and bid thy weeping widdow trust in him who will be infinitely better to them than ten thousand of the richest tenderest fathers and husbands in the world Thou maist look without thee into Scripture and behold it as a garden full of sweet flowers comforting cordials refreshing heart-reviing promises and though it be an inclosure to others its open and free to thee thou maist pick and choose cull and gather where thou pleasest and needst not fear to be chidden In the multitude of those perplexing thoughts which at that time may be within thee thou mayest finde choice comforts there to refresh thy spirit If thou look within thee thou shalt not have thy conscience like an unquiet wife frowning on thee and scolding at thee but thou shalt hear a little bird singing merrily and sweetly in thy breast Lord Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seeen thy salvation How joyful maist thou leave thy dearest wife to go to thine infinitely dearer husband How willingly maist thou forsake thy lovely children to go to thy loving God and Father How freely maist thou part with all thy friends honors and pleasures to go to the Congregation of the first-born those rivers of pleasures and eternal weight of glory How chearfully maist thou bid adieu to nothing for all things to stars and streams at best for a full immediate eternal enjoyment of the Sun himself of an immense Ocean of happiness With what a lively colour in thy face and true comfort in thy heart maist thou behold that pale-faced messenger death the thought of whom though a far off is death to others entering into thy Chamber and coming up to thy bed-side how heartily welcome maist thou bid him as knowing that he cometh purposely to give thee actual possession of fulness of joy unspeakable delights a Kingdom of glory that is eternal in the heavens O the gain of godliness the profit of piety surely the price of this pearl is scarce known in this world A Merchant will in a morning gain five hundred pound by a bargain whereas poor people work hard a whole day for a shilling such a rich trade driveth the godly man godlinesse brings in thousands and millions at a clap when the moral and civil yet unsanctified man may work hard and yet earn but some poor businesse some outward blessing God may give them and his eternal wrath at last Now Reader consider if here be not abundant encouragement for thee presently and diligently to labor for this spiritual life Is it not the gainfullest calling that ever was followed the richest trade ever was driven Why dost thou spend thy strength for what is not bread and thy labor for that which will not satisfie Hearken to me and eat thou that which is good and let thy soul delight it self in fatnesse As Saul said to his servants Hear now ye Benjamites will the son of Jesse give you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds 1 Sam 22.7 So say I to thee hearken O friend will a sensual fleshly life give thee such honor as to be the son of the infinite God such comfort as to drink of the pure rivers of Gods own pleasures and will it make thee bold at death and confident at judgement an heir of heaven and so happy in every condition Can it do this Can it give thee as godliness can so much in hand and infinitely more in hope If it can I will give up my cause and leave thee to thy choice but if it cannot as doubtless thou art convinced so unlesse thou art an Heathen among Christians why dost thou labour so much and so eagerly for the pampering and pleasing thy flesh for the food that perisheth and so little and so lazily for this food which will endure unto everlasting life It was an excellent answer of one of the Martyrs when he was offered riches and honors if he would recant Do but offer me somewhat that is better than my Lord Jesus Christ and you shall see what I will say to you Reader Could the world or the flesh shew thee any thing that were equal nay that were but ten thousand degrees inferior to Christ and godliness thou mightst have some colour for thy gratifying the flesh and unwillingness to walk after the Spirit but when the disproportion is so vast that the one is not worthy in the least to be compared with the other when the difference is as great as between a sea of honey and a spoonful of gall a whole world of pearles and a little heap of dirt an heaven of happiness and an hell of horror Is it not unconceivable madness and inexcusable folly to choose that life which is after the flesh and refuse that which is after the Spirit Reader if thou wouldst be truly honorable in the esteem of God himself who is the fountain of all honor If thou wouldst have those spiritual consolations which can warm the heart in the coldest night of affliction If thou wouldst be profitable to thy dear children to thy own soul be a reall gainer in prosperity in adversity while thou livest when thou dyest If thou wouldst when thy wealth and friends and flesh and heart shall fail thee have God in Christ to be the strength of thy heart and thy portion for ever If thou wouldst in thy greatest extremity when thy soul shall be turned naked of all earthly delights out of thy body escape the fury of roaring Devils and unquenchable burnings If thou wouldst in that hour of thy misery find mercy and be received into the place of endlesse blisse then get this spiritual life this true wisdom to fear God and depart from evil Get wisdom get understanding forget it not above all thy gettings get wisdom Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold She is more precious than rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand
art young It was a wise answer of one that wa invited to dinner on thâ— morrow saith he A multis annis crastinum non habui thou deferrest it till to morrow but suppose thou dye to day and God say to thee as to the rich fool This night thy soul shall be required of thee Boast not thy self of to morrow thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Pro. 27.1 It is a good saying of Aquinas That though God promise forgiveness to repenting sinners Waldus he the fâ—tâ—er of the Walden es seeiâ— one suddenly fâ—ll â—own dead was converted wenâ—â—ome and â—ecame a new maâ— yet God promiseth not to morrow to repent in think how many hundred casualties thou art liable to how many others dye suddenly and take the counsel of Michal to David Save thy self to night to morrow thou mayest be slain Save thy soul today to morrow thou maist be damned 6. Art thou sure that God will accept thee hereafter if thou shouldst now delay and dally with his Majesty It is good seeking the Lord while he may be found and calling upon him while he is near Psal 55.6 There is a time when men shal call but God will nor hear cry but he will not answer and that because when God called they would not hear but set at naught his counsel Prov. 24. to 29. Whilst thine eyes are open the things which concern thy peace may be hid from them Luke 19.41 Thou maist live to have thy soul buried long before thy body Ezek. 24.13 14. God would purge thee now and thou wilt not take heed he clap not the same curse upon thee which he did on some others that thou shalt never be purged till thou diest The Spirit of God probably now stirreth thee to turn presently and offereth thee its help if thou lovest thy soul do not now deny it least the spirit serve thee as Samuel did Saul Saul disobeyed him and Samuel came no more to Saul to the day of his death 1 Sam. 15. ult i. e. never So take heed of quenching this motion of the holy Ghost least it depart in a distaste taking its everlasting leave of thee and thou never feel it more to the day of thy death Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 This day if thou wilt hear his voice harden not thy heart least he swear in his wrath that thou shalt never enter into his rest Psal 95.7.11 My second request is that thou wouldst make the attaining this spiritual life the whole business of thy natural life that thou wouldest esteem it as the great end of thy creation preservation and of all the mercies and means of grace which God bestoweth on thee as the great end why God is so patient towards thee so provident over thee so bountiful unto thee that thou mightest repent and return unto him from whom thou hast gone astray Shall I intreat thee for the sake of thy poor soul to let thy greatest labor be for thine eternal welfare Is not this a business of the greatest necessity of the greatest excellency It is the unum necessarium Luk. 10. ult The primum quaerendum Mat. 6.33 The totum hominis Eccl. 12.13 and of the greatest commodity and profit that thou didst ever undertake To be everlastingly in heaven or in hell to enjoy endless and matchless pain or pleasure are other manner of things than men dream of Good Lord that men did but believe what it is to be happy or miserable for ever how then would they flie from the wrath to come and strive to enter in at the strait gate Mat. 7.14 Surely things of the greatest weight call for the strongest work matters that concern thine unchangeabe felicity require the greatest industry Demost Non taâ—ti emam poenitere The Philosopher would not buy repentance at too dear a rate Sure I am thou canst never buy this inheritance too dear though thou spendest all thy time and strength and sellest all thou hast to purchase it Friend if ever thou art saved thou must work out thy own salvation Phil. 2.12 God giveth earth to the meek and patient but heaven to the strong and violent Mat. 5.5 Mat 11.12 It is a saying of Lombard God condemns none before he sins nor crowns any before he overcomes The blind carnal world thinks that a man may go to heaven without so much ado as Judas said of the ointment so they of diligence in duties To what purpose is this waste Mat. 26.8 They tell us it is waste time to pray so frequently and it is waste strength to pray so fervently to what purpose is this waste They presume that godly men might spare a great deal of their pains heavenward As Seneca told the Jews that they lost a seventh part of their time by their sanctification of the Sabbath So the earthly-minded man will tell us that such and such men spend all their time almost in reading or hearing or praying or instructing their families or neighbors and they count it but lost time These men if you will believe them have found out an easier and a nearer way to heaven then ever Jesus Christ did they are the right brood of wicked Jeroboam that told the people 1 King 12.28 It was too much to go up to Jerusalem to worship he had found out a cheaper and an easier way of worship The Calves at Dan and Bethel would save them much labor and in his conceit serve to as much purpose Thus they delude themselves that their lazy cold trading God-ward their slight indifferent prayers will bring them in as much gain as the most zealous performances of the Saints But Reader I hope thou wilt obey the voice of God and not of men in this Consider his promise is to the laborious They that seek him early shall finde him Prov. 8.17 He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 So Prov. 2.3 4. His precept is for labor Agaâ—hocles gâ—t to be King of Sicily by his industry so may the Chrstian by violence attain the kingdom of heaven Mat. 7.13 Strive to enter in at the strait gate be diligent to makâ— your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 So John 6.27 nay he curseth them that put him off with their lame sacrifices For I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts and my name is dreadful Mal. 1.13 14. Further he is peremptory that the slothful shall be for utter darkness Mat. 25.26 The Egyptian King would have men of activity and industry to be his servants and will God thinkest thou who is a pure act accept of those that are not active Canst thou imagine that he should ever bestow pardon of sin eternal life the sanctification of the spirit the precious contents of his own promise the invaluable fruits of Christs purchase upon those those do not judge them worthy of all their strength and time and hearts and pains