Thirdly from Satan Fourthly from a mans own sluggishnesse For the first The best children of God have corrupt natures and when they have done what they can distractions will fasten on them They would perform good duties better if they were able saying with Paul The good which I would I do not c. Secondly from nature as it is curbed The more grace binds nature to its good behaviovr the more rustling it keeps Even a Bird being at liberty keps no stir but being in a cage it flutters about because it is abridged of its libertie so when thou hast curbed thy corrupt flesh it will be skittish in every good dutie thou goest about and hence it is that the Apostle useth this phrase viz. I find another law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind c. When grace curbs the law of sin then nature rebels Thirdly from Satan as in Job Satan stands at his right hand as a Plantiffe as Aegidius compares it which puts in all Cases to hinder the Defendant Even so the Devil puts in all bie-thoughts that he can devise to hinder a mans suit for going on before the throne of grace But thou must do as Abraham did when he was sacrificing when the birds came he drave them away so must thou do by thy bie-thoughts if thou wilt have fruit of thy supplications before God Fourthly they come from spiritual sluggishness that creeps on the best if they take not heed And this was the reason the Apostle cryed O wretched man that I am c. I speak not now to the children of God who are troubled with bie-thoughts in their praiers For they the more bie-thoughts they have the more earnest they are in prayer they mourn with David in their prayer Consider O Lord saith he how I mourn Psal 55. There was something in the Prophets prayer that did vex him and that made him so much the more to mourn before God But as for you that can have bie-thoughts in prayer and let them abide with you your praiers are not importunate the Heathen shall rise up against you and condemn you I remember a storie of a certain Youth who being in the temple with Alexander when he was to offer incense to his god and the Youth holding the golden Censer with the fire in it a coal fell on the Youths hand and burnt his wrist but the Youth considering what a sacred thing he was about for all he felt his wrist to be burnt yet he would not stir but continued still to the end This I speak to shame those that can let any thing though never so small to disturb them yea if it were possible lesser things then nothing for if nothing come to draw their hearts away they themselves will employ their hearts Baals Priests shall condemn these who did cut themselves with knives and all to make them pray so much the more stronglie What a shame is it then that we should come on life and death to pray for our souls and yet come with such loose and lazie praiers Think you that a male factor when he is crying at the Bar for his life will be thinking on his Pots and Whores c Was it ever heard of that a man at deaths-door should be thinking on his Dogs can he then think on them Do you think that Jonah prayed on this fashion when he was in the Whales belly or the Thief on the crosse or Daniel in the Lions den or the three Children in the fierie furnace or Paul in Prison Do ye think that these prayed thus What shall I be at praier and my mind in the fields No no if I will pray I must melt before God and bewail my sins and be heartily affected in prayer But as long as I pray thus I pray not at all And as God said to Adam where art thou so may he say to thee Man where art thou art thou at prayer and thy mind at mill is thy mind on thy Oxen and art thou at prayer before me what an indignitie is this Should a man come to sue to the King and not mind his suit will not the King say Do you mock me know you to whom ye speak The Lord takes this as a haynous sin when men come into his presence with such loose hearts Now seeing these things are thus take a word of exhortation to labour for importunate Prayer Prayer is the art of all arts it enables a man to all other duties it is the art of Repentance c. Samuel confessed if he had not had the 〈…〉 Prayer he could not have had the art of preaching 2 San. 12. 2â— See the antithesis between these two words God forbid as if he should say God forbid that I should cease to pray for you for then I should not teach you the right way A Minister can never preach to his people that prayes not for his people It is the art of Thanksgiving a man cannot be thankful if he cannot pray Psal 116. 12. It was the means whereby the Prophet David would be thankful to God he would take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. A man hath not a good servant unlesse he can pray for his master see the story of Abrahams servant Gen 24. Prayer helps to perform all other good duties How dost thou think to have benefit by the Word unlâ—sse thou be fervent in prayer with God to get a blessing upon it We can do nothing but by begging Secondly as Prayer is the art of all arts so it is the Compendium of all divinitie Therefore to call zealously on the name of the Lord is to be a Christian Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord c. It includes repentance humiliation sorrow for sin joy in Gods goodnesse thanksgiving for mercies obedience to his commandements yea the whole dutie man therefore we must labour to be importunate in prayer A Reasonable soul is eminently all souls so Prayer is eminently all good duties Psal 72. The prayer of David the son Jesse that is all his repentance in all passages he did humble himself before God all Davids duties are included by the name of the prayer of David the son of Jesse And therefore thou hadst need to make much of Prayer for thou canst never repent unlesse thou pray well Thirdly Prayer is a mans utmost refuge a man cannot have Christ but only by Prayer 'T is bad enough for a man to be a Drunkard or to live in any other sin but yet after all this if a man have the spirit of prayer there is hope of this man if after all his sinnes committed he can pray to God there is hope But for a man to sinne and not to be importunate in prayer is dangerous What saith the Psalmist They are corrupt and become abominable they have not called on the name of the Lord Psalm 14. 4. Oh fearfull condition Fourthly Prayer is that which Gods
have they besought you to be zealous and meek and holy and you will not thou art techie and revengefull in speeches how often hast thou been sought to leave it thou art proude and stout-hearted how oft hast thou been fought for to be humble thou art carnall and worldly how often hast thou been besought to be spirituall and heavenly Thou hast no assurance of Christ in thy soule how oft hast thou been besought for to get him Ministers beseech thee every Sabbath Ministers intreate thee every week They breake their braines and breake their sleepe and spend their lung and all to invent and speake acceptable words to prevaile with your â—oules with heart-cutting intreaties they beseech you if not withstanding all this you will not be intreated to part with your sinnes then it is evident you hate reformation If we did not hate a thing we would doe it though we were never besought to doe it if thou didst not hate a reformation of thy sinnes thou wouldest have been reformed without these beseeches but if beseeches and intreaties cannot wooe thee thou hatest it indeed which beseeches cannot reconcile The Lord Jesus sent his Ministers in his Name we are Gods Embassadours in Christ his stead we pray you to be reconciled to God We have besought you by the bloud of Christ we have intreated you by the Bowel of Gods mercies to become new men we beseech you in the Bowels of the Lord Jesus Christ to give over your sins We beseech you as you love your soules give over your sins we beseech you as you are men as you know what is what give over your sinnes we beseech you let the drunkard give over his drunkennesse the swearer his oathes and blasphemies the Idolater his Idolatry and wilworship let the idle talker give over his fruitlesse communication the covetous person give over his covetousnesse the secure Christian and luke warme professor and deadharted server of God come out of his security and dead-heartednesse c. I beseech you by the mercies of God saith Saint Paul present your bodies a living sacrifice holy c. Rom. 12. 1. Sacrifice your tongues unto God we beseech you and speake holy conference sacrifice your hearts we beseech you and use holy meditations sacrifice your eares unto God and suffer not idle language to be spoken in your hearing we beseech you doe this yea by all the mercies of Christ we beseech as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ his stead and will you not yet Certainly you hate the light if all these beseeches cannot reconcile you we have besought you that there be no disorders in any of your families and yet there are we have besought you that there be no losse of time in your meetings that there be no root of bitternesse in your hearts and yet there is we have besought you to mend your repentance and to better your obedience and to repent of your rotten formality and to come out of your sandy and quagmire bottoms and not to consent your selves with this beggerly form of religion onely but as ever you love your soules and would be loved to get the power of grace and a thousand more things have we besought you Is it done no God knows all the beseeches and intreaties under heaven have not yet done it Now therefore you must needs stand convinced in your consciences that you hate the light if all these beseeches cannot bring you to it They must needs be saide to hate one another when neither money nor price nor any thing can make friends That is inveterate cankerous hatred which can never be out-bought which can never be hired to â—ease I make no question but that the Dâ—mosels Master at the first did hate that his Maide should be possessed with a divell but when he saw that it brought him in great gaine he took off his hatred he could then be content that the divell might have stayed in his house so he might have gained by it and therefore we read that he was angry at the Apostle for dispossessing the devill out of her Act. 16. 19. It must be a grievous haâ—red that profit cannot mollifie Brethren you know that God offereth you pardon of your sins he offers you mercy he offers you a Kingdom if you wil come out of your sins If thou wouldst rather lose father mother wife and children houses and lands goods and livings rather then shake hands with such a one as thou art fallen out with I am sure thou hatest him with a witnesse and if thou wouldest rather hazard thy owne mercy hazard the love and favour of God hazard the Kingdom of heaven let Christ goe and mercy goe and heaven go rather then let thy sinnes goe surely thou hatest to be reformed I will give you a kingdome saith God if you will be new men I will give thee a Kingdome if thou wilt take up Christ his Cross and be pure I will give thee a kingdome If thou wilt walk precisely and circumspectly But you will not though you might have a kingdome for it Repent saith Christ for the Kingdome of heaven is at hand Matth. 3. 2. Repent and here is a Kingdome at hand for thee Down with thine old lust thou knowest what I mean and here is a Kingdome at hand for thee Repent of your formall repentance repent of your fashionary prayers repent of your overly performances of holy duties and behold here is a Kingdome for you Wilt thou hazard the very Kingdome of grace and of glory rather then thou wilt steppe out of thy old wont thou hatest repentance if a Kingdome cannot hire thee to love it They must be said to hate one another whom all the dearest love in the world can never unite and soder together Love is able to burst all the hatred in the world if the divell be not in it love is more forcible then hatred and therefore that hatred is most cankerous that love cannot overcome What is so pleasing or delightfull to the flesh of a man but love may command it the love of God hath given thee the bloud of his own Sonne if thou wilt part with thy corrpptions thou mayest have it That is hatred indeed which the bloud of thy owne Sauiour cannot disswade thee from The Apostle Peter thought he had used an excellent argument to perswade men to holinesse when he setteth forth the love of God to us 1. Pet. 1. 18. 19. For asmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb undefiled and without spotte What doth Christ give his bloud to thee to redeem thee from thy vain conversation hath he given his bloud for thee that thou shouldest part with thy sinnes with thy drunkkennesse with thy oathes thy pride security luke warmnesse earthlinese prophanenesse from thy vain
of the seventh SERMON on 2 Cor. 11. 28. The words of the Text explained Doct. 1. WE must not rush upon the Sacrament 102. There are none of the Ordinances of God that a man may rush upon without examination ibid. Three Reasons hereof 1. Naturally we are not invited guests to the Sacrament ibid. 2. Though we are invited yet it may be we are not disposed for naturally we are strangers to God and the covenant of God all this indisposition must be wrought off before we can come comfortably to the Sacrament 103. 3. This is a solemn Ordinance and therefore an Ordinary disposition will will not serve the turn ibid. Many a reprobate may eat and drink in Christs presence ibid. Use To forewarne men lest they unpreparedly rush upon any of Gods Ordinances especially upon the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ. 104. The text divided into four parts The matter of the duty ibid. The manner how to be performed ibid. The rule of direction concerning it ibid. The benefit of following that rule ibid. Doct. 2. There is a necessity that we should receive the Lords Supper and receive it often 105. Doct. 3. The manner of performance of duties is to be regarded ibid. Five Reasons hereof 1. The Lord commands the manner as well as the matter 106. 2. Circumstances overthrow actions if they be not rightly and duly observed ibid. Its instanced 1. In grayer ibid. 2. In preaching ibid. 3. In receiving the Sacrament 107. 4. In brotherly reproof ibid. 5. In eating drinking and marrying ibid. 3. Because only the manner of doing duties gets the blessing 108. 4. Because Christ himself is an example unto us in this he did not only obey his Father in the matter of his commands but in the manner of them ibid. 5. Because otherwise we cannot glorifie God ibid. Use 1. First to condemn that natural Popery that is in the hearts of men c. 109. Use 2. For discovering why people are so willing to doe duties for the matter and not for the manner 110. The Reasons of it are these 1. Because the matter of duties is easie but the manner is difficult ibid. 2. Dutres for the matter of them may be done with a proud heart 111. 3. They may be done with an unholy life 112. 4. The matter of duty bringeth not the crosse and may zealous for the matter and persecutors of goodnesâ—e ibid. Use 3. To exhort men to labour and perform duties aright 113. Three Motives to perswade people to perform duties after a right manner 1. Because no Ordinance at all else can be effectuall unto us ibid. 2. All is but hypocrisie if the manner be not regarded ibid. 3. It is only the right manner of duing duties that pleaseth God 114. Doctrine 4. Every man mast prepare himself before he come to the Lords Table 115. Four Reasons hereof 1. Because the Sacrament is Gods ordinance ibid. 2. Because the Lord Christ hath made great preparation in providing it 116. 3. Because Christ in this ordinance offers to come into the soule and he looks for good entertainment ibid. 4. Because the Sacrament is a part of Christs last will and Testament therefore when we know our Lords will we must prepare for the doing of it 117. The Contents of the eighth SERMON upon Proverbs 29. 1. 1. A double exposition of the Text. Doctrine FRom the first exposition viz He that reproveth another and is guilty himself in the same kind or in any other kind and hardeneth his own heart in it that man shall be destroyed without remedy 122. Seven Reasons hereof 1. Because the office of a reprover bindeth him to be blamelesse ibid. 2. Because such a reprover as is guilty himself can never reprove to a right end ibid. 3. Neither can he doe it in a right manner 123. 4. Such a reprover is an hypocrite ibid. 5. Such a reproving of another mans sin makes him inexcusable in his own 124. 6. It is an absurd thing for a person to reprove another for that whereof he is guilty himself ibid. 7. Such a reproving is a sign of impudency ibid. Objection Shall not a wicked Magistrate or Minister reprove others c 125 Answ He is bound to reprove in regard of his office but it bound in conscience to amend himself first ibid. Use 1. For instruction first Let every reprover take heed lest he make himself inexcusable ibid. 2. Let him endeavour to walk unblameable and inoffensive ibid. Two Doctrines from the second Exposition of the Words viz. Doctrine 1. The Lord doth not not destroy man willingly but for sinne 127. Doctrine 2. It is a great mercy for man to be reproved for his sinne 128. Three Reasons of second Doctrine 1. Because reproofs primarily come from love ibid. 2. They tend to the good of a mans soule 129. 3. It s brutish not to take reproofs in good part 130. Use 1. First for information that God is bringing destruction upon a Kingdome when he takes away reprovers from them ibid. Use 2. For the reproof of those that despise the reproof of the wise they despise not men but God 131 The grievousnesse of their sin who stand out against reproof is aggravated under severall heads 132. Doctrine 3. The Lord proportions punishments to mens sins ibid. Three Reasons of the third Doctrine 1. Because hereby a mans punishment appears to be so much more equal and worthy ibid. 2. This stops mens mouths and convinceth their consciences ibid. 3. All the standers by may see the equity of it when the punishment is according to the sin 133. Use 3. For instruction 1. To teach men notto complaine of Gods dealing with them if their punishment be for the the kind of it according to their sin but rather let them learn to see Gods immediate hand in it 134. 2. To teach men to consider how God many times proportions punishments to sin 1. For Kind ibid. 2. For Quantity ibid. 3. For Quality 135. 4. For Time ibid. 5. For Place ibid. The Contents of the ninth SERMON Isaiah 55. 7 Doct. 1. THose whose minds or thoughts run habitually on earthly things are yet in the state of misery 139. Four Reasons 1. Because a man is in the state of misery till he hath repented and untill a man hath forsaken his vaine thoughts he hath not repented ibid. 2. Because a man is in a state of misery untill he is in Christ and a man is not in Christ till his thoughts be sanctified ibid. 3. Because a man is in the state of misery that doth not love God and a man can never love God untill he forsake his vaine thoughts 140. 4. Because that man is in a state of misery that doth not forsake sin and a man can never forsake sin till he leave his vaine thoughts ibid. 1. Because vaine thoughts are great sins ibid. 2. They are sins of the highest part of man ibid. 3. They are the breach of every Commandement ibid. 4.
conversion there Christ and his Spirit in one closet there all his Jewels in that and that box all is manifest within doors Fourthly it labours to affect the heart it doth not only labour to know more and more of the truth but also it labours to bring it home to the heart The good woman considers a field and buys it Prov. 31. 16. This is saith Ambrose the good Christian soul if in civility then much more in Divinity he considers the truth and buyes it he taketh it as his own and appropriates it unto himself Lo this saith Eliphaz we have searched out so it is hear it and know it for thy self Iob 5. 27. When thou canst say of the truth lo this is it we have searched it out I have dived into it perused it so it is even so indeed all this is that thou mayest apply it unto thy self and know it for thy good The first Reason is because meditation musters up all weapons and gathers all forces of arguments for 〈◊〉 presse our sins and lay them heavy upon the heart This usury is 〈…〉 good when meditation like usurers who grind and suck 〈…〉 of the needy and are not content with their Principal bu◠〈…〉 have consideration for every pound they lay out yea for every shilling and that for every week and every moneth and every quarter and every yeer the poor man could be content to pay the principall but to exact use upon use this kills him so meditation exacteth upon the soul and holdeth it to use upon use You have committed evil in a corner but you shall â—â—t carry it away so Item it was against the knowledge of God revealed Item against many mercies received Item against many Judgements threatned against many checks of conscience against many Vows and Promises remember that O my soul Item for that and Item for this Item for every lust and every circumstance thus oft and in this place and at that time in that manner So meditated the prodigal Look as it is in warrs were there but many scores come against an Army they might be conquered or many hundreds they might be resisted but if many thousands should come against a smal Army it would be in danger indeed Meditation leadeth a whole Army of arguments a whole Army of curses miseries judgements commandments against the soul how ever one misery or plague will not knock it down but the soul may brook it and goe away with it but meditation brings a great Armado of arguments and tels the soul God is against thee and against thy wayes God is against thee where ever thou art or what ever thou doest Then the heart begins to cry out as Elisha his servant did Master what shall we do 2 Kings 6. 15. So many horses against us so many charets and so many men against us Master what shall we do so many sins and so heinous so many judgements and so heavy and so many evils and spiritual maladies Oh what shal I do to be saved that I should commit sin against a God that hath damned innumerable Angels millions of Kings Princes and Nobles that I should commit it against this God so mercifull to me so gracious so patient so good to my soul that I wretched rebel should for a cup of drink refuse heaven for a lust not worth a straw under my foot cast off Christ and grace and all how shal I do Then the soul stands in a maze The second Reason is because meditation having hundled up all Items against the soul and brought it in all bils of account it fastens sâ—â— upon the soul I mean it makes the soul feel it so that it must needs be convinced without any evasion Meditation deals with a man as Elisha dealt with the messengers of the King Joram the murderer he was coming to do mischief to the Prophet and the prophet did shut the door and held him fast at the door 2 Kings 6. 32. and then he made him know that the evill was from the Lord before he could stirr so meditation when the soul would fain out of doors into its old course again it shuts the door upon it and holds it fast Meditation tels the soul this evil is from the Lord upon thee O my soul if thou stirr in or out upon this or that lust any more this evill that course that vengeance and damnation if ever thou stir forth thou losest thy mercy thou losest Christ thou losest all possibility of comfort Stir not out if thou dost thou wilt rue it Sometimes when men hear the Word they go away touched they resolve not to commit sin again as they have done yet when they are gone it works not but the heart recoyls again and turns to its old passe The reason is because they meditate not upon the Word they fasten it not upon their consciences It is with the word as it is with a salve if a man that hath never so good a salve that will heal any thing in four and twenty hours if a man should do nothing but lay it to the wound take it off lay it on and take it off it will not heal the wound and no marvel Why he will not let it lye on the best salve will not heal the soare nor eat out the corruption unlesse it be bound on and let lye so it is with the Word many a soul hears it heart conscience affections all toucht but when he is gone out of the Church all is gone his affections dye his heart dyes and his conscience becomes unfruitful Why he is still removing of the salve and will not let it lye on and therefore the Word over-powers not his corruptions the Word is like the salve conviction of conscience is like the laying on of the salve meditation the binding of it to the soare St. James compares a slight hearer to a man that looks into a glasse who soon forgets his visage but a good hearer doth two things First he stoops down and looks into it to take a perfect view of his estate Secondly he continues looking into it Iames 1. 25. he doth not leave the glasse behind him but he carrieth away the glasse with him This man shall be blessed in his deed If the pills be never so bitter yet let a man swallow them speedily there is no great distaste but if a man chew a pill it will make him deadly sick Thy sins are like those pills they go down very pleasingly because thou swallowest them thou swallowest down thine oaths lies ignorance pride thou swallowest down the threats of the Lord but if thou wouldest chew these bitter pills and meditate and ruminate and chew the cud drunkennesse would be as bitter as hell swearing and security and Saboath breaking would be as bitter as wormwood thou durst not go on in them they would make thee look sourely upon them for ever like a man that hath chewed a pill he can hardly ever
the Mount Go return what dost thou here Eliah this is not a place for thee So let Meditation wait thee what dost thou here O sinner what dost thou here drunkard in thy Cupps or in thy prophanenesse what dost thou here this is not a place for thee unlesse thou mean to perish It may be thou art now scar'd out of these sins and art run into civil honesty let Meditation still track thee What dost thou do here O sinner Civilitie is not a case fit for thee unlesse thou wert better thou shalt be torn in pieces It may be thou art driven out of thy civility and art gone further to the profession of Religion though it be without the power of it let meditation still wait thee What dost thou do here O sinner this sorry kind of profession is not a race fit for thee unlesse thou be godlier than so thou shalt be devoured with everlasting fire Meditation is like the coursing of a Hare in the snow the Hare fearing to be taken by the dogs Here she stops there she leaps here she interleaps there she goes backward and forward upward and downward and all to deceive the dogs that they may not find her but they goe smelling winding and turning and track her step by step till they find her so meditation is the coursing of the soul the heart hath a thousand fetches a thousand Meanders and labyrinths a thousand crosse windings and compassings and deceits and all to puzle Meditation But Meditation must track the heart as God dealt with Job he counted his steps step by step Iob 14. 16. Meditation is the souls bloud-hound it will never leave howling the wrath of God till he hath taken the hearts sin for a prey Meditation haunts it out of one sin and it runs into another Meditation haunts it out of that and it runnes into a third Meditation is a good pursevant it prosecutes the sinner and attaches him Now because the heart is most cunning and hardest to be trackt by its sent when the heart hath taken up abundance of good duties and attained unto sundry graces these good duties and common graces drown the sent of the hearts wickednesse As Huntsmen observe that the hounds cannot well hunt in the Spring as Theophrastus and Pollux and others observe the sweet odors of the flowers and herbs sayes Oppian hinder the hounds from smelling the hare so it is with Meditation it is hard for it to track the heart in the green Spring-time of civill honesty and formality And therefore let Meditation make deligent search saith he The third duty hale thy heart before God and let Meditation bring it before his throne and there powre out thy complaint against it before God out with all thy villany there and article against thy self and bring as many complaints against thy self before heaven as there be drops in a bucket full of water So doe the godly I powred out all my complaints before him Psal 102. in the preface I powred out my complaints as a man powreth out water out of a vessel generally men are willing to call for mercy but they are not so willing to bring complaints unto God against themselves ye shall have them whisper after the Minister as he is begging for pardon and mercy but they will not do so whiles he is complaining of their sins the hellish and develish abominations of their heart These are men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith and shall never have mercy till they be as forward to complain of their sins as to be plaintiffs for mercy When a man in Meditation meets with a hard matter that he cannot sufficiently dive into he breaks it to another so do thou to God break all thy heart to God tell him of thy hardnesse of heart of the pride of thy heart of the desperate prophanenesse of thy heart but take these rules with thee First thy complaint must be full of sorrow Psal 55. Secondly it must be a full complaint of all thy sins and of all thy lusts Lam. 2. 18 19. Poure aut thy heart like water before the face of the Lord. Water runs all out of a vessel when you turn the mouth downward never a spoonfull will stay behind The wicked will not complain of their sins fully they make hypocriticall professions If it be a sin I am sorry for it says one if it be naught I cry God mercy saith another when their own consciences tell them it is is a sin yet they will not complain of it absolutely Thirdly thy complaint must be with aggravation thou must aggravate thy sins by all the circumstances that may shew it to be odious as Peter did When he thought thereon he wept Mark 14. 72. the Originall hath it he cast all these things one upon another Wretch that I was Christ was my master and yet I denyed him such a good master that he called me before any of my fellow-Apostles and yet I denyed him I was ready to sink once he denyed not me I was to be damned once he denyed not my soul and yet I denyed him he told me of this sin before-hand that I might take heed of it and yet I denyed him I said I will not commit it nor forfake him and yet I denyed him yea this very night no longer ago did I say and say again I would not deny him and yet I denyed him yea I said though all others denyed him yet would not I and yet worse than all others I denyed him with a witness before a maid before a damsel nay more filthy beast that I am I said I did not know the man nay more I sware I did not know him nay more than all this I did even curse my selfe with an oath that I did not know him nay more all this evill did I not above five or six strides from my Lord and Saviour nay more even then when if ever I should have stood for him I should have done it then when all the world did forsake him O wretch that I was I denyed him he cast up all these circumstances together and meditating on them he went out land wept bitterly Fourthly thy complaint must be a selfe-condemning complaint thou must condemn thy self and lay thy selfe at Hell gates and set the naked point of Gods vengeance at thy throat Thus and thus have I lived damned cast-away as I have deserved to be So did Ezra in the behalfe of the Jews Ezra 9. For 1. He fell on his face he did not bow down on his knees but like a man astonished he fell on his knees ready to fall on the ground in amazement 2. He spread out his hand unto the Lord verse 5. as if he should say here is my heart-blood Lord here is my breast Lord we deserve thou shouldst stab us with thy wrath 3. He blushes to looke Heaven in the face verse 6. so vexed to think on the sins of his people that he is even confounded
shalt be found out and the Lord will keep thee out by his spirituall plagues and thy sin shall never be done away but be required at thy hands and stand in everlasting record against thee O my brethren that you would but seriously consider it and look about you it being so weighty a thing that so nearly concerns every one of you But I would not have any poor broken heart and humble Soul to mistake me and so thereby be discouraged but give me leave I pray you to use the words of the Prophet though spoken in another sense Psal 115. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the glory So let me apply this doctrine unto the comfort of all poor broken-hearted sinners and beate off all carnal prophane wretches that live in their sins not unto you O drunkards swaggerers not unto you whoremasters and unclean persons that wallow in ungodlinesse I say not unto you but unto the poor afflicted soul and contrite spirit that lieth bleeding and gasping under the weight of his sin and that trembles and fears being opprest with the sense of its own unworthiness panting and breathing after Christ Jesus and suing earnestly unto the Throne of grace for mercy and forgivenesse unto thee only belongs this comfort and therefore take it home to thee and know it for thy self Art thou troubled with a hard heart and an unbeleeving soul and art even wearyed and tyred out with thy many sins and infirmities Come thou with comfort unto this holy Communion for thou shalt be sure to find saving good by it to thee it shall be a spirituall medicine to heal all thy diseases and to cure all thy strong and prevailing corruptions and if thou come unto this holy Table of the Lord it shall make thee as it is recorded of Saint Laurence able to suffer Martyrdom and to get victory over all thy unruly affections yea at last thou shalt tread Satan thy arch-enemy under thy feet Thefore be not dismayed for the Lord Jesus invites thee to come What if thy infirmities be many yet the mercies of God which he tenders to thee in this Communion are many more Samson who was the strongest Souldier and Companion in his time that was in Israel to overcome the Philistims he yet began his strength in weaknesse being at the first overcome by a woman So though the Lord intend to make thee a strong Christian he will make thee to begin in weaknesse to perfect thy power to begin in sin and misery that he may make thee to end in glory I know Gods children here may receive temporal punishments and bring temporal scourges upon themselves as we may see amongst the Corinthians here but it shall be for their good and amendment namely for their correction and not for their ruine and destruction that so being chastened by the Lord they might not be condemned with the world Therefore if thou comest carelesly and unprofitably God will chastise thee with the rods of men as he did Peter who receiving the Sacrament with his Master over night yet the next day thrice denyed him but God whipt his soul and scourged his conscience for it and beat him black and blew so that he went out and wept bitterly Nay he could scarce with off that sin and recover himself again whilst he lived Wherefore let us take heed of unprepared coming to the Sacrament for God will not hold such guiltlesse Yea if his own sonnes or daughters transgresse thereby he will make them to feel the smart of it But now to come to all such as come moneth by moneth hand over head without any examination and repentance in their uncleannesse and abomination making no conscience of their reformation let me tell them that it shall be one of Christs demands of them in the day of judgement How oft hast thou been at my Table How oft hast thou been partaker of that holy Communion which I gave unto thee Hast thou come preparedly or received worthily or no Hast thou eat bread at my Table with me and lift up thy heel against me Did I command and thou wouldest not obey Did I send my Ministers to thee to reform but thou wouldest not be reformed Did I check and reprove thee for thy pride blasphemies drunkennesse covetousnesse anger wrath malice fornication hypocrisie and prophanenesse in the matter of my worship and yet wouldest thou still live in these sins Where are all the Sacraments that thou hast received How hast behaved thy self Where are the sins that thou hast forsaken and pleasing corruptions that thou hast abhorred What grace and holinesse hast thou received by the means thou hast enjoyed and how hast thou manifested the same through thy whole conversation Oh! woe woe unto thee yea and a world of woes unto thee and unto all such as shall be silent and speechlesse to those or the like demands of Christ for they cannot say they have come out of their sins and have been reformed by the means of grace and have received spirituall nourishment and refreshing from the heavenly banquet of the Communion of the body and bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ A man will especially regard the last words of a dear friend who is as a mans Soul when he is to speak upon his death-bed and will be carefull to remember them and dost thou not more regard the last Will and Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ we count it a horrible sin to alter the last Will of a man that is dead Beloved the Lord Jesus before he left this world instituted this blessed Sacrament as his last Will and Testament and hath given us a charge that as we would not eat and drink our own damnation by bringing the guilt of his body and bloud upon our Souls so that we should discern the Lords body and not come unpreparedly in our sins and abominations without reverence and respect of such holy and high mysteries as if there were nothing more to be received and looked for after then the bare and naked element of bread and wine or as if we did come to communicate with unclean Devils O my brethren if you had but faith you would be able to discern Christ in the Sacrament and therefore when thou comest unto it thou must prepare and sanctifie thy selfe to communicate with him in those holy Ordinances and heavenly mysteries of his most pretious body and bloud for if so be that thou retainest thy sins and so come unworthily unto this holy Table of the Lord thou art a great Covenant-breaker with God For thou never comest unto the Communion but thou makest and renewest thy covenant with God wherein thou promisest thus much or the like in effect Lord I have been formerly a drunkard but now I promise to give it over and never to be a drunkard more I have been a scoffer at Religion and a mocker and derider of thy children but now I faithfully promise Lord that I
required reproving you see lest he should wrong his own soul how he laboured to bee unblameable saith he I beat my bodie down when I preach to others lest I become a cast away Again as a man wrongs his own soul so he dishonours God It cannot be unknown what an unthankfull office the office of a reprover is the world cannot abide reproof The wicked hate the reprover in the gate Isa 29. 21. The world is full of scorners that hate reproof Prov. 15. 12. Though some men be not so wicked as to hate reproof yet at least they think hardly of them that reprove they think they usurp authority over them and crow over them or they undertake to be their betters as a reprover undertakes in that thing to be a mans better Now when a man is reproved he is apt to think that his neighbour crows over him and excerciseth authority upon him as if he would grow on him and be his Judge You see Lot when he reproved the Sodomites though as gently as ever he could My brethren do not so wickedly presently for all that they thought hardly of him What will this fellow be a judge that came but the other day to sojourn Gen. 19. Presently they thought hardly of him So we see the Prophet doth but find fault with Amaziah for his fault and presently the Kings eyes are blinded and his heart heardened Who made you of the Kings counsell 2 Chron. 25. 15. he thought him a medler that pried into State-affairs and into the Court and Kingdom A man cannot reprove his brother for his sinne but it is a thousand to one if his brother be not ready presently to pry into him and to look narrowly into his wayes to espy a hole in his coat if he can or to make one if he cannot all mens eyes are upon him and they look strictly and straightly and if any thing in the world be amisse they will be sure to mark it and to make more of it to make mountains of Mole-hills When the blind man did but find fault with the Pharisees and reprove them a little for persecuting of Christ what say they Art thou altogether conceived and born in sin and wilt thou teach us John 9. 34. Presently they looked on his blindnesse and birth Certainly he is a viler sinner than other men and shall he go find fault with them If we mean to reprove another let us labour to be unblameable to be Godly and holy to reform our own wayes let us be sure to purge our own families to cleanse our own souls to rid our own hands of all the wayes of sinne and iniquity lest God be dishonoured The word of God will be flung in his own face back again and the reproof if it be never so sweet and never so wise it wil be retorted in a mans own teeth if he be not unblameable himself And a man had need to be humble and lowly and gentle and meek and to put on all bowels and gentlenesse of heart if he will reprove All sins are not to be reproved alike some with sharpnesse some with lenity He is a Mountebank that will open a vein for every wheal and pimple The reprover is like them in Isaiah when they deal with the Cummin and Fetches a little rod will beat them out but when they come to the Corn Wheat and Rye they beat them out with the Cart-wheel So when we meet with a hard-hearted spirit we must use stronger corrosives to them and gentler admonitions and rebukes towards others that sin with a lesser and a weaker hand But this is a thing that a man must be marvellous carefull of that reproves Nay let a man be unblameable for the present if he have been faulty before if it were seven or ten or twenty years before if it be known it is a thousand to one but he shall be hit in the teeth with it when he reproves you committed adultery and you did steal at such a time if it were never so long agoe Therefore St. Paul would not consent to take Mark with him in the ministery Acts 15. because he had been offensive to the Church before We had need to be marvellous careful and wary if we will reprove I had thought to have named other Uses but I leave this exposition and take it as it is passively interpreted He that being often reprov'd hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy THough it may be expounded the other way yet I rather incline to this The Reason is Because this is the constant current of all interpreters generally I meet but with one or two that expond it the other way but all passively He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck c. Secondly because the word in the original is A man of reproofs that hardeneth his own neck Now though it be indifferent whether it be active or passive yet look in the scripture and you shall find it more often passive then active A man of reproofs that is a man often reproved in the passive As in Isaiah 53. 3. Christ is a man of sorrows not making others sorry but made sorry passively And so in Dan. 9. 23. It is said Daniel was a man of desires that is not a man desiring other men or other things not actively desiring but passively desired beloved of God exceedingly So it is said of Jeremiah Jerem. 15. 10. he was a man of strife not a man striving with others but a man striven with So in 1 King 2. 26. A man of death that is not killing others but to be killed himself It is taken more frequently in the passive sense and we may more boldly take it so A man of reprofs that is reproved again and again that hath received divers reproofs and yet hardeneth his own neck shall suddenly he destroyed and that without remedy Here I might observe by the way this point of Doctrine That The Lord doth not destroy man willingly He saith not A man shall be destroyed without remedy but a man when he hath sinned against God when he had committed sinne and not only so but when he is reproved for his sin and goeth on The Lord doth not destroy a man nakedly but upon consideration of sin Willingly the Lord doth not afflict any Lament 3. Mercy and punishment they flow from God as the honey and the sting from the Bee the Bee yeildeth honey of her own nature but she doth not sting but when she is provoked So the Lord is gracious and good and favourable and kind and blesseth his people from his own nature but he doth not punish and plague and destroy but being provoked by sin and iniquity I will not stand to follow this point I let it go The text it self contains the great mercy of God in lending a man a reproof And what a great sin it is what a great ill it is for a man to sin
against his reproof The greatnesse of the ill is set down two wayes First by the great sinfulnesse of the thing it is called the hardening of a mans own neck Secondly by the greatnesse of the punishment that God inflicts upon this sin and that is he will destroy him and that without remedy For the first namely what a great mercy it is for God to let a man be reproved for his sins It may be proved by many places of Scripture only I find Scripture is to be brought as an aggravation of sin when they sinned against reproof Hosea 5. 1. saith he they are profound to commit sin though I have been a rebuker of them all As if he should say Though I have been so mercifull as to shew them the danger of sin to tell them what would become of their wretched courses though I have called them to repentance and have given them warning what would be the issue of these things yet for all this for all my mercy they have gone on in their sinnes though I have reproved them This Though is a word of aggravation as we see in the speech of Daniel to Belshazzar Thou O King hast not humbled thy self though thou knewest this as if he had said though the Lord let thee know the punishment upon thy father and the plagues of Nebuchadnezzar thy grandfather though the Lord have let thee understand what it is for thee to exalt thy self against him yet thou art not humbled he aggravates his sin So this aggravates a mans sin when he goes on notwithstanding he is reproved The Reasons are First because when God reproves a man of sinne the reproof primarily comes out of love therefore when he reproved Laodicea and told her she was luke-warm and said I would thou wert either hot or cold and since she was neither he would spue her out of his mouth he tells her whence the reproof flowed because I love I reprove As many as I love I rebuke Revel 3. 19. It is not out of ill will that I tell thee of thy lukewarmnesse and threaten to spue thee out of my mouth I tell thee these things that thou mayst avoid that ill I say Gods reproofs flow primarily from love to men whereby he would have them lay aside their wretched courses and avoyd the judgements Nay it is an argument of hatred when a man doth not reprove his brother of sin If God let a man go on in sin and never tell him of his drunkennesse nor never find fault with his pride and security never convince him or wound or touch him nor deal with him about his unsetled estate and his rotten conditions It is a sign God hates the man But when God reproves a man from day to day Man thou art a proud creature thou shalt to hell for thy pride and hypocrisie and security and hardnesse of heart When the Lord reproves a man from day to day this is an argument of love the other is an effect of hatred not to reprove Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart saith Moses but shalt in any wise reprove him and not suffer sin to be upon him Levit 19. 17. Thou hatest thy brother when thou seest him sin and doest not warn him and knowest he is guilty of sinfull courses and doest not reprove him and when thou hast time and place and opportunity and fit circumstances to reprove and yet thou wilt not do it it is a sign thou hatest thy brother it is the greatest degree of hatred on them If a man deny food for the body and let a man rather dye of hunger than he will give him meat or let a man fall into a pit rather than he will prevent the mischief a man is guilty of bodily murder but thou art guilty of the soul of thy brother if thou let him fall into sin Thou thinkest thy brother is harsh he will not bear with thee he is hasty and testy no thou art in an error That man that hates reproof erreth saith Solomon Indeed a man should not be too sharp but first tell his brother in private that he is in an error for reproof is a means of grace it flows from great love it is the providence of God that hath cast it about that thou shouldest have reproof given thee if thou have a heart to take it It is an argument of love Another reason is taken from the primary end of reproof which is to bring a man to good to reduce him into a right way to convert a man to save his soul that is the primary end of reproof aud admonition therefore to go in sinnes contrary to it must needs be a great evill As Solomon brings in the wisdome of the Father Jesus Christ calling upon people O yee fools how long will ye love folly turn at my reproof Mark what follows to what end I will pour my spirit on you There is the end he tells them O ye fools wretched people without understanding that go on in sinne and harden your own hearts that repent not nor turn not to God that will not submit to his wisdom nor imbrace his word yee fools that wrong your own souls Oh turn at my reproof Why This is the reason that God reproves a man on this fashion it is that a man may have the Spirit of God granted him If thou have an ear to hear reproof and a heart to drink it in and to wear it as a crown of gold on thy head and as a chain about thy neck thou shouldest have the Spirit of God for thy labour the Lord reproves thee that thou mightest return back and have the Spirit and have mercy and forgivenesse This is all the ill-will that Gods Ministers bear thee and all the hatred that reprovers shew when they tell thee of thy sinnes whatsoever they be that they may stop thy steps from going down to Hell When the Lord sends thee Sermon upon Sermon Preacher after Preacher thou art called on day by day as you hear in this place This is the infinite goodnesse of God towards your souls therefore your sin is infinite great if you do not amend as the wise man saith He that hates reproof shall surely dye Prov. 15. 10. there is no remedy for that man That man that puts off repentance God reproves him from day to day on the Sabbath day and on the week dayes he goes to this man and here he is reproved and to another and there he is reproved and yet he goes on in his deadnesse and formality in the ordinances of God that man shall surely dye there is no remedy he sins against the infinite mercy of God Thirdly there is no reason in the world why reproof should be taken otherwise than with all willingnesse and thankfulnesse and chearfulnesse If a man have but the reason of a man in him he must needs take reproof in good part he must be a beast that doth
us and so falls aboard and he thinks that God must needs sanctifie them unto him and after supper he goes to prayer and so to bed and thinks that he shall be heard for his much babling sake Mat. 6. they think God will have mercy on them But poor souls if they knew how unseemingly they prayed how unfitly and what want there is in seeing their own estate they would say is this to pray for my soul for such infinite mercy Lord how do I abuse the throne of grace how do I abuse thy sabbaths thy house thy name and all the holy ordinances which I go about A man that is importunate in prayer is ashamed but when they think highly of their prayers they are insolent their prayers are damned and they too Secondly as men have high conceits of their prayers so they have mean conceits of their sinnes they think not their sins so bad as they are These men are like Abner who said Let the young men arise and play before us 2 Sam. 2. 15. They account murder a sport and dancing and musiking little worse then Davids playing on the harp Amos 6. 5. And if they commit adultery they say that's but a trick of youth if they tell a lie it is only at a dead lift when they have no other shift That man that doth not think of every sin he commits as David did of his even to make his heart to ake for it that man shall never speed well before God Thirdly as men have mean thoughts of their sins so they have base thoughts of God They cannot think that God should damn a man for drinking a pot with his friend I cannot think God will be so strict No no I love God with all my heart say they and they think that God is of their mind and if they were as God they would not be so strict So Psal 50. They thought I was such an one as themselves they think God will pardon â—â—em and therefore because of this men are not importunate with God God hath sent me a crosse saith one but I hope to rub it off well enough Why God will not keep his anger for ever Jer. 3. 5. Suppose a man be absent from Church or break out into some unsavoury speech will God be angry for this Suppose a man be negligent in a good duty will God require every dayes work Tush tush God will not Psal 10. 13. A company of Puritans say he will but I know he will not and hence it is that men will not be importunate Lastly because they have wrong conceits of importunity If a man knock once or twice or thrice and none answer presently he will be gone this is for want of manners thou wilt knock seven times if thou be importunate with them They within may say Hold thy peace be gone c. but thou wilt not so be answered Beloved men are close-handed they are loth to give and they are close-hearted too they are loth to take the pains to ask of God they are loth others should be importunate with them and therefore they are loth to be importuate with God Examine your selves then in this duty for importunate prayer is evermore the prayer of an importunate man THE EFFICACIE Of Importunate PRAYER The Second SERMON By that laborious and faithful Messenger of CHRIST WILLIAM FENNER Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Ministers of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford THE EFFICACY OF Importunate Prayer LUKE 11. 9. Ask and it shall be given unto you Seeke and you shall finde Knock and it shall be opened unto you TO proceed then There be six signes to know whether our Prayers be importunate or no. First importunate prayer is evermore the prayer of an importunate man and the man is importunate if his praier be importunate but how can a man importune God for mercy when his person importunes God for vengeance It must be the prayer of a godly heart Preserve my soul for I am holy Psal 86. 1 2. David makes a prayer and he was holy when he made it his prayer could tell him that he was one that laboured to work in holinesse Therefore when thou goest to God in praier consider whether thou canst say Lord hear me foâ— I am holy and I would fain be holy but if the saying of these words châ—ak thee tâ—en thy prayer condems thee Of all begging it is a great matter who it is that begs at the door Who is that saith the indweller and when he opens the door and sees it is a thief c. Oh is it you saies he you may stand long enough you shall never have alms of me So in praier it is all in all who it is that prays The woman in the Gospel having an issue touched our Saviour he looking about asked who touched him and when he saw the woman Oh is it you saies he be of good chear Luke 8. 48. So when a man praies to God Who is that saies God that would have these mercies And when the Lord sees it a Drunkard or a covetous man c. is it you saies the Lord you may stay till Dooms day and yet never find mercie The spirit of supplication and the spirit of prayer is called the spirit of grace Zach. 12. 10. If them thou hast not the spirit of grace thou canst not pray The text saith not Whosoever asketh the Father in my name but whatsoever you ask the Father in my name there is many a man may use the name of Christ at the throne of grace but certain it is none but those that are in Christ can pray and with them every thing operates A man that will walk with God in obedience to his lawes must be a holy man hence is that saying of our Saviour John 15. 7. a place fit for the purpose If you abide in me and my word abide in you c. as if he should have said You may ask what you please and intreat God all the daies of your life yet unlesse you abide in me you cannot speed That man that walks not in holinesse of life can never be an importunate orator as was Moses the man of God but a wicked mans prayer as Augustine speaks is tanquam latratus canum c. no better then the barking of dogs or the grunting of swine therefore you whose consciences tell you that you live in sin your prayers never speed at the throne of grace for eternall mercy Secondly an importunate praier is the praier of a pure conscience Suppose a man doth not see that he lives in sin yet if his conscience crie guilty if he have a foul conscience his prayer never prevails with God If I regard wickednesse in my heart the Lord will not hear my prayer saith David Psal 66. 18. that is If I can say or my conscience can tell me that I regard iniquitie in my heart the Lord will not hear
will never set themselves to work So many there be that if they can get pardon of sin for begging then they wil have it but let such know that the Lord will not give it for such lazie kind of praying but if thou wilt have pardon of sin thou must labour for it thou must get it with thy fingers ends God gives not men Repentance Faith c. by miracles but by means Thou must then use the means and keep watch and ward over thine own soul that so thou maist get the grace thou praiest for Secondly a praier that is not a full praier never speeds with God but an importunate prayer is a full praier it is a pouring out of the heart yea of the whole heart Psal 62. 8. the Psalmist saith poure out your hearts before him trust in him at all times poure out your hearts the addition is made in the Lamentations of Jeremy like water It may be thou powrest out thy praier like tar out of a tar-box halfe sticking by the sides but when thou praiest thou must out with all before God When thou givest thanks dost thou labour to remember all the blessings of God when thou dost petition to God dost thou poure out all thy heart before him dost thou cast all thy care on God Thirdly Snatch-prayer is no importunate prayer when men pray by snatches or peecemeals by breaking off a limme of their prayer because of sluggishnesse or because their hearts are eager about other businesse it is not good to trust fits of devotion 't is a base kind of praying when men gallop over their prayers that so they may come to an end quickly Should I accept this at your hands saith God by his Prophet when they brought a sheep it wanted a lim they were loth to give God a whole offering Mal. 1. 13. Many pray a peece of a prayer in the mornig and then they go after the world he down's on his knees and gives God a rag of a prayer a companie of ragged ends And God counts it an indignitie shall I accept this saith he What a lame prayer No no the Lord looks for a prayer that hath its full grouth it is a shame to speak in the congregation what men do in secret before God which many have confessed after they have been converted how they have gone into Gods presence and have shuffled over their prayers thinking every hour seven untill they had done Fourthly Silent prayers are never importunate I mean by silent prayer when a man is silent in that which God looks he should most insist upon David made a prayer Psal 32. and the Lord looked that he should stand much upon his adultery and murther which he had committed to see what shame he took on him for it but he shuffled it over and what saith the Text When I kept silence what did the Prophet roare and yet keep silence these are contradictions Yea the Prophet roared and kept silence as if he should say the Lord counted his prayer but roaring so long as he laid not open that sinne which the Lord lookt he should have stood on the Lord let him roare and roare he might long enough but saith he I brake my silence I said I will confesse my transgressions and then thou forgavest the wickednesse of my sin So many go to God and tell God they must needs have mercy and fain they would have mercy and yet they are silent in confessing the sinne they should I say the Lord will never hear that man he may pray to God all his life and yet go to hell in the end Hast thou been a drunkard and dost thou think that the Lord will forgive thee for crying Lord forgive me c No no thou must insist on it and say Against thy word I have been a drunkard my conscience told me so but I would not hear I have felt the motions of thy holy spirit stirring against me and I regarded not Now if thou shouldest turn me into hell I were well requited so many Sermons have I neglected I have wronged others in this kind and I have been the cause why many are now in hell if they repented not I have prayed for mercie yet with the dog to his vomit have I returned and therefore for all my prayers thou mayest cast me into hell for ever and now I have prayed yet it is a hundred to one but I shal run into my old sin again yet as I expect forgivenesse so I desire to make a covenant to give over all my sinful courses and I am justly damned if I go to them again Such a kind of prayer the Lord loves Fifthly Seldome-prayer is no importunate prayer when the soul contents it self with seldome coming before the throne of grace an importunate soul is ever frequenting the way of mercie and the gate of Christ he is often at the threshold before God in all prayer and humiliation The reeling'st Drunkard in the world sometimes can do so too the basest Adulterer in the world sometimes can be chast the Devil is quiet so long he is pleased and the wicked may sometime have a fit in prayer But this is the condition of an importunate heart he is frequent at the throne of grace The Prophet David prayed seven times in a day and Hannah continued in prayer night and day Sixthly Lukewarm prayer is not an importunate prayer when a man prais but is not fervent when a man labours not to wind up his soul to God in prayer That man that prayes outwardly only that man teaches God how to denie his prayer Though you make many prayers saith God yet I will not hear you why Your hands are full of blood Qui frigidè or at docet negare They are like luke warme water that never boils out the blood So they have been guilty of murder and abundance of other sins and they did indeed pray against them but they were never but luke-warme they have never boiled away the blood of their sins Thou must pray fervently with a seething hot heart if thou meanest to get pardon for all thy sins as securitie and deadnesse of heart c. And as it is in Jonah 3. let every man crie mightily unto the Lord. Seventhly and lastly Bie-thoughts in prayer keep prayer from being importunate as when a man prayes and lets his heart go a wool-gathering I remember a storie of an unworthy O ratour who being to make an acclamation O earth O heaven when he said O heaven he looked down to the earth and when he said O earth he looked up to heaven So many when they pray to God in heaven their thoughts are on the earth these prayers can never be importunate When a man praies the Lord looks that his heart should be fixed on his prayer for our hearts will leake and the best child of God do what he can shall have bie-thoughts in prayer And that First from corrupt nature Secondly from nature curbed
thou dost not beleeve that God will hear thee if thou dost not believe that thou shalt prevaile that God will deliver thee out of these corruptions and that lust that thou praiest against that God will give thee this grace oâ— that grace if thou dost not beleeve that God will own thee if thou hast these doubtfull discouragements O he will not grant me I shall never get this or that how canst thou call on him thou mayest call so and so but never canst thou call to any purpose if thou dost not beleeve in him A begger though he be never so well able to begge yet if when he comes to the House-keepers dore he be perswaded that he shall not speed that let him beg as long as he will he shall get nothing this blunts his begging and makes him give over his suit without any great importunity So it is impossible that ever a soul should hold out and pray that is discouraged in prayer Secondly thou canst not pray unlesse thou use all thy strength in prayer If thou bee discouraged thou canst not use thy strength A discouraged man his strength melts into feare and whatsoever strength he hath he cannot put it forth How came Jacob to prevaile and to have power with God Why he used all his strength with God and so prevailed Hosea 12. 3. Thou canst never prevaile with God by thy prayers unlesse thou putrest forth all thy strength in prayer If Jacob had reasoned I am but dust and ashes how can I strive with God I am sinfull and evill how can I contend with my Maker and so have been discouraged in his wrastling he could not have used all his strength with God and so had never prevailed with God No Jacob he gathers all the arguments that he could make he gathers together all the promises he could finde in Gods Book or that he could heare of he displaies all the wants that he could shew he petitions all the graces that he could name he used all his strength and by his strength he had power with God If thy confession of thy sins be strengthlesse if thy petitions and thankesgiving for grace be strengthlesse if thou use not all thy strength in prayer thou canst never prevaile nor have any power with God For how can that man prevail and have power with God that hath no power with himselfe Thirdly thou canst never pray and have a fearfull apprehension of evill in prayer thou canst not It is good to have a deep apprehension of thy sinnes apprehend them to be as many hells as thou eanst thou canst never apprehend them deeply enough but if thou hast a fearfull apprehension of them thou canst never pray When the Apostle would exhort the Philippians to continue in one Spirit and in one minde fighting together through the faith of the Gospell he exhorts them that in nothing they fear Phil. 1. 27 28. For if a man be terrified with his adversary with the power of his adversay and fears he shall never be able to withstand him but must fall before him through his subtilty that he can never be wary enough for him Alas he can never strive with hope and courage against him So beloved if we have a fearfull and discouraged kind of apprehension of evill we can never pray so as to prevail Apprehend thy sinnes to be as hellish and as damnable as thou canst Feele even the fire of hell in every one of them but take heed of a fearfull apprehension of them so to apprehend the evill of them as to thinke with thy selfe that because thou art guilty of these and these sinnes that thou shalt never get in with God again God will never be reconciled to thee these will eate out thine heart in prayer Fourthly we can never pray if we have any secret despair that there is any difficulty too hard for us to grapple withall or to get through in our prayers Howsoever a man praies yet if he have any spice of these fears in him to think now I have taken a great deale of paines but am never the better I have prayed and prayed but have got no good I may goe on and doe thus and thus but shall never prevail or speed all my labours all my prayers and indeavours will be lost this takes away the very spirit and life of a mans prayers Judas after he had betrayed the Lord Jesus he was discouraged from ever praying for mercy Why because he thought it was impossible for him to get it I have betrayed innocent blood saith he Matth. 27 3. as if he should say I shal never outwrastle this sin this sin is my death I have brought the blood of the Son of God on me I shall never claw off this sin now Judas thus despayring we never read one letter of any prayer that he made to God to get out of it no he thought it too hard for him to get mercy Despaire drives a man from that he did hope for because now he thinks there is an impossibility in getting of it Beloved mistake me not there is a double desperation First there is a desperation of infidelity and that deads and drawes the soule from God Secondly there is a desperation of extremity And if ever you mean to come to God and to get any grace from God you must come with desperation of extremity this desperation puts life into a mans prayers and indeavours As a Souldier when he seeth nothing but to kill or be killed that he sees his state desperate why this will compell a very coward to fight this will make a coward fight as if he would kill the Devil saith the Proverb it will make him fight like a spirit he will be afraid of nothing Take a Souldier that fights desperately for his life with a kill or be killed he feares nothing neither Pike nor Sword nor Gun why he fights for his life Therefore one notes that sometimes it is the nearest way to victory to be desperate in attempts and in fight Therefore when William the Conquerour came first into England at Hastings he sent back his Ships again that so the Souldiers might have no hope of saving themselves by flying back And so at Battle at one encounter a little Army of the English slew a great Army of the French Why they grew desperate So could men pray desperately could they pray with a pray or be damned begge with a begge or be damned seek to God for grace that you want with a speed or be damned then would their prayers be more earnest and powerfull to get grace O did men pray thus they would pray otherwise then they doe Men pray but they pray deadly coldly and lazily as if they had no need of prayer or as if they had no need of the grace they pray for they pray for grace but get it not they pray for zeale but have it not for repentance and holinesse but obtaine it not Beloved either
contented that God should doe with thee what he will and submit thy selfe to God in the hardest blows and say Good Lord if thou seest no remedy to purge this land and Church but by desolation and the removing of the Gospell good Lord doe what thou wilt if thou wilt have my liberty take it if thou wilt have my children spoiled by the enemy and pitched upon speares points doe it Lord if there be no remedy to purge a sinfull land but by taking the Gospell out of it even I Lord submit my selfe unto it good Lord sacrifice us or burne our Cities doe what thou wilt with us onely save our soules at the last I have knowne some could have no quietnesse at all till they came to this pitch and then they had peace in their minds When Isaac saw that he was to be bound then he yeelded to it and our Lord Christ did this in the garden when he did bear the wrath of God then he said if it be possible let this cuppe passe from me and this he did three times yet not my will but thy will be done if thou wilt have me to drinke of the cuppe I will suck off the dregges and all Also come and lay thy head upon the block and let God doe what he will with thee Ezek. 20. 43. They shall loath themselves for all their abominations and this is the practise of an humble soule and this will bear through all Thirdly pray and cry mightily to God before thou dyest even all the time thou hast to live for mercie and for the peace of the Church of God and for the poor people and posterity Esay 62. 16. I have set watchmen upon the walles of Hirusālem that never hold their peace day nor night You that make profession of the Lord keep not silence let not God rest till he helpe and shew mercy unto our poore land wives and children I am perswaded if dumbe Zachary were here he would open his mouth to pray and crie for this miserable land But alas poor soules many of you are so bound in the chaines of your sinnes that you cannot finde any leisure to pray you save your prayers and teares till you come to hell and then they will doe you no good Oh thy Mother lies a dying and wilt thou not mourne for her O dead and drie-hearted wretches me thinkes the poor Church of England is like the shippe of Jonas and he fast asleep in it the Gospell and all are drawing into a sea of troubles and thou poor wretch art asleepe and canst not pray The Church is like a sick man upon his bed and the Parliament is like a Colledge full of Physitians they cast the state of the Kingdome and then give it over for lost The Lord knows how soon the bell may ring out and yet thou canst not pray nor weep Ah the Lord be mercifull to the hardnesse of our hearts Hast thou but one rear in thine eyes but one prayer in thy heart then spend them now for the poore Church of God Make all sound within and get sound faith in the bloud of Jesus Christ that may support and hold you up as the Ark did Noah in the floud O my dear people of this Parish a fearefull floud is come upon this land therefore make you an Arke of Gopher and pitch it within and without get in it hang not about it but get into your Lord Christ and shut up your selves in him as Noah did in the Arke and never come out This is your safegard if you be in him you shall be supported against all troubles and so shall the case go well with you For as the Prophet said to Ahab High thee hence for here is a sound of much rain and there came a shour indeed So say I high you away to Christ for it may be you shall not hear many Sermons more there is a sound of many punishments and stormes falling downe upon us O thrice happy are we that have Christ upon good termes and good grounds if a floud come it doth me good to see how safe I am for the higher troubles arise the higher the Arke will arise and the higher your faith and comfort will arise and you shall sit like Noah in the Cabin Isai 26. 20. Come my people and enter into the chamber and shut the doores about thee and hide your selves as it were for a little moment untill the indignation be overpast What would Noah have been hired to come out of the Arke no by no meanes nothing would have got him out I may even pitty you my people that have no Faith What will you doe and whither will you flie all you that have not gotten into the Arke and have not made sure worke if the floud should come to morrow you must certainly be drowned If you look to God he is your Enemy if you look within there your consciences dogge you and if thou lookest for comfort to the Minister there is none for thee in all Gods word if thou hang on a Minister he must say as Samuel said to Saul since the Lord hath forsaken thee I can doe thee no good Oh thinke on this and get all thy friends into the Arke with thee as Noah did Let me begge this at your hands get a poor husband into the Ark with thee with thy poor children and shut them all up into the Arke with thee Would it not grieve thee when thou sittest in the Arke to see a poore husband or a child drowning in the floud and going to Hell For the Lords sake O my deere Brethren spare no paines to doe them good Fifthly and lastly get a more strong faith then ordinary deep dangers must have a stronger Faith a man cannot row upon the maine ocean in a paire of scullers but he must have a good ship well ballasted and a good Pilot so doe you think to row upon the maine ocean of Gods wrath in a paire of scullers therefore labour to strengthen your Faith and to get a good ship wel pitcht and ballasted and substantia'l Faith for the wind will trie it whether it be so or not a Summers dublet will not serve the turne in a winters srost so a little strength and comfort will not serve the turne in the storms that are coming on us but we must get winter garments the East wind will try a mans clothes Though a weak Faith may carry thee to Heaven yet not with so much comfort as a stronger especially if it be but a little before the downfall of the Pope for then there will be the greatest combustions that ever was or ever shall be and by all likelihoods the time is now at hand Then thy Faith had need to be greater then ever it was As the Angell said to the Prophet up and eat for thou hast a great journey to goe so say I to thee thou fainting soule make a good meale of Faith strengthen thy Faith upon the
maist say The Lord knowes what a deale adoe he hath had with me this heart was as hard as the neaher mil-stone but the Lord in some measure hath mollified it this heart was as proud as the devill but blessed be Gods name he would let me see it at the last goe home and say Who am I and what is my fathers house that the Lord hath brought me hither Oh that God should thus stoope to man the Lord hath stood and knockt thus many yeares and he might have given over but blessed be his name I have received mercie I lived under the means but that prevailed not with me the Lord sent such and such sicknesse but that wrought not on me at the last I went to hear a Minister and methought that Minister spake nothing but what he spake to me and then the Lord set conscience on worke and that affrighted mee Looke to it the Lord will either breake thy necke or thy heart doe not thinke to goe to heaven by good meanings no it will cost thee somewhat more before thou come there Another time the Lord set on me and then I set on good duties I would have Christ to justifie and sanctifie me and blessed be his name he was not wanting unto me in any meanes the Lord make me thankfull c. I tell thee thou wilt be in deede and God shall have all let the voluptuous man have his pleasures c. what is that to thee so thou have Christ For the just reproofe of all such as are yet in the gall of bitternesse and in the bonds of iniquity there will come a time when God will strive with thee no more the old man thinks he hath time enough to repent in and the young man thinks he needs not so much as enter into a Parley with godlinesse Esau went away when he had eat and drunk he esteemed not his birth-right I have heard some goe away with this resolution when they are married then they will live thus and thus c. Suffer me first to go bury my Father c. Master Minister you speak well I like your counsell but I have a rich Uncle and he hath no childe and I am likely to be his heire but he cannot abide a Puritan of all the men in the world and if I do not humour him I shall never have a Foot of his Land let me bury him first when Father and Friends are dead then the children must provide for themselves and then they will seek after God and repent and by this time they grow old and though they cannot make so good a shew as others yet their hearts are as good as the best But stay a while all is not gold that glisters alas poor souls they were given over many years ago this is also the sin of young men and women for the most part and this is the great sin of England the sin of many Gentlemen and Gentlewomen God must pardon when they call and that must not be till they be old and then in all post-haste send they to and for master Priest and he must bring God to them or them to God but the God of Heaven and earth cannot endure this mockerie For terrour to all wicked and ungodly men woe woe woe that ever they were borne that are thus given over and of these there are two sorts Some are insensible and some sensible The insensible are they who die like stones as did Nabal We have many King Harry Protestants Others are sensible God hath opened the eye of their soules and hath let them read the red letters of the Gospell It is a heavie thing for old friends to part so Acts 20. 38. They grieved most in that he said you shall see my face no more so when soule and body part it is heavie but when the soul and God part it is lamentable when God takes his leave never to be seen more then whether thou look upward or downward there is nothing but amazement and astonishment If thou look upward there is the anger of God if downward there is the bottomlesse pit if on the right hand thou shalt see all his mercies which could not allure thee if on the left hand all his Judgements which could not terrifie thee if before thee the black day if behind thee the Devils this will be fearfull I remember a Story of an adulterate woman her Conscience pricking her she determined to repent but God in the mean time did visit her so sore that she lay crying out oh my time my time Another time a covetous woman her House being on fire she to save her goods left her child in the Cradle but a neighbour of hers hearing it crie tooke it away she afterwards remembring her child ran about crying Oh my childe my childe and would not be comforted So when the fire and indignation of the Lord breaks out if not now yet at the last day it will then the parties against whom it breakes will crie Oh my soul my soul what will become of thee my soul It had been better I had never been born for neither Mercies Judgements nor the Word could allure me oh woe is me Now the condition of such is miseracle in three respects First because if God forsake thee all forsakes thee when thou liest a dying thou sendest for the Minister and thou wouldest faine have a word of comfort from him but alas if thou dost not receive comfort from Heaven how can the Minister comfort thee If thy outward Estate faile Friends may help but if they faile there is a God in Heaven and he will help but if he go away then all help is gone Secondly when God goes restraining grace goes this was Sauls case and you may observe that such as have been enlightened and fall away fall into one of these three sinnes either into the hands of the world and that is their Master or else into the sinnes of uncleannesse or into the spirit of malice to persecute them that are holy Thirdly if God leave us then common protection leaves us we are left to the clutches of all things both in Heaven and earth your houses are left unto you desolate Matth. 23. 38. All the creatures are up in armes against us the stiles we goe over look up to Heaven and say Master shall we break his neck the Horse we ride on says Master shall I throw him down to destruction thou knowest that he hates thee and thine So the aire we breath in and all Creatures are readie when the Lord gives the watchword to lay us in the goal Conscience will witness against us oh what will become of such men I will tell you either the world heales them up or else some carnall companion saith you have been a good neighbour you have kept a good house amongst us c. tush tush man it may prove a lye for all this I but the Minister tells me so pish pish as
shall lye with the Kid and the Calfe and the Lion and the fat beast together and a little child shall-lead them and the Cow and the Beare shall feed their young ones shall lye together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the Bullock and the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the Aspe and the weaned Child shall put his hand upon the Cockatrice hole This is the mighty work of God therefore goe unto Gov and say O God thou that canst thus change the naturall disposition of beasts change my beastly disposition thou that couldest call a Lazarus out of the grave where he lay rotting Oh deliver me from a dead heart that have laine a long time rotting in sin thou that didest make the lame to goe make me to run the way of thy commandements which thou hast set before me thou that didst open the eyes of the blind open my eye that I may see to runne the race that thou hast set before me thou that didst cure the deaf bore my eares that I may heare and learn to feare thee Thus goe to God and pray unto God waite upon God and expect deliverances from him for there is none in Heaven or in earth that can give a deliverane but he alone intreat the Lord according to your need to work on your soules this grace of reforming under the rod goe to God and say father if thou wilt thou canst alter me and change me oh turne me and I shall be turned convert thou me and I shall be converted say Lord thou canst take away all transgression all sin and iniquity doe it for thy mercy sake say Lord thou canst pull out my right eye sin cut of my right hand sin there is no power but the power of an omnipotent God can doe it that can thus pull me out of sin and make me reformed doe it fot thy Goodnesse sake Lastly Are you all willing to enter into a covenant with God seeing we are all under the rod I doe not speak of any particular covenant but of a generall covenant will you now promise the Lord that you will reforme and sin noe more this is that that the Lord expects of us now we are under the rod this it is that the Lord doth both command and commend unto us this let us all bind our selves to performe that so we may with some boldnesse put up our prayers to God as well for others as our selves FINIS â— Doct. 1. Reas 1. Luke 5. 17. Use â— Let. 1. Let 2. â— 3 4 Use 2. Meanes 1. Meanes 2. Means 3. Means 4. Use 3. Object Answer Motive 2. Reason 1. â— Means 1. Manner 1. Manner 2. Manner 3. Manner 4. Manner 5. Object Answer Doctrine Object Answer Reason 1. Reason 2. Reason 3. Reason 4. Object Answer Use 1. â— Use 3. Doctrine 1. Reason 1. Reason 2. Reason 3. Use 1. Use 2. Use 3. Use 4. Object Answer Object Answer The sum of the Text. Observation 1. We must not rush upon the Sacrament Reason 1. Naturally we are not invited guests Simile Reason 2. We are indisposed Reason 3. Solemn preparations required to the Sacrament Use To take heed of rush performance of duties 2 Sam. 15. 17. Parts of the Text. Necessity of receiving the Lords Supper The Lords Supper to be received often Observ The manner of performance of duties to be regarded Reason 1. The Lord commands the manner as well as the matter Reason 2. Circumstances overthrow actions as in Prayer 2 Preaching 3 Receiving the Sacrament 4 Brotherly reproof 5 Eating and drinking Objection Answer Simile Reason 3. The right manner of doing duties gets the blessing Reason 4. Christs example Reason 5. From Gods glory Use 1. To reprove those that barely do duties without looking to the manner Use 2. The reason why men regard the matter and not the manner of duties Reason 1. The matter of 〈…〉 Reason 2. The matter of duties may be done with a proud heart Reason 3. The matter of duties may be done and yet a man be unholy Reason 4. The matter of duties brings not the crosse Use 3. To labour to do duties aright Motives to perform duties in the right manner 1. Motive 2. Motive 3. Motive Simile Observation 1. Eevery man must prepare himself before he come to the Lords Table Reason It is Gods ordinance Simile Reason 2. Christ hath made preparation for us in the Lords Sup Reason 3. Christ looks for good entertainment Observation 1. A guilty hardened reprover shall be destroyed Reason 1. It is against his office Reason 2. He cannot reprove to aright end Reason 3. Not in a right manner Reason 4. It is hypocrisy Reason 5. It mâ—kes inexcusable Reason 6. It is absurd Reason 7. It is impudency Use 1. Use 2. To be unblamable ere we reprove Simile The second exposition The Lord doth not destroy men willingly God destroys not but for sin Simile Observation 1. A great mercy to be reproved Reason 1. Reproofs come from love Prov. 10. 17. Reason 2. They tend to good Reason 3. It is brutish to reprove them Simile Use 1. The misery to want reprovers Or Angel Use 2. Against despisers of reproof The grievousnesse of standing out against reproof Doct. God proportions punishments to sins Reas 1. To shew the equity of punishment Doctrine Objection Answer Use Object Sol. Object Answer Object Answer Obj. Answer 〈…〉 Use Doctrine 1. Object Ans Use 1. 2 Gen. Object Answ Vox conscientiâ— est vox Dei Object Ans Object Answ Doctr. Quest. Answ Use 3. Reason 3. Universalia non operantur Doctrine 2. Reason 1. Reason 2. Reason 3. Doctrine Matth. 19. Use Doctrine Use 1. Use 2. Use 3. Doctrine Use 1. Use 2. Use 3. Doctrine 3. Use Ob. Answ Doctrine 1. Reason 1. Use 1. 2 Doctrine Object Answ Use 3. Doctrine Object Answer Use 1. Use 3. Use 4. Doct. 1. Object 1. Sol. Object 2. Sol. Object 3. Sol. Use 2 Use 3. The Authors Exhortation Parts Doctrine Reason 1. Reason 2. Reasan Use 1. Use 2. Use 3. Object Sol. Use 4. Doctrine 1. Use Doctrine
by his labours already published yet if any shall desire a further Testimonie of either these Sermons will give it in full measure pressed down and running over and therefore I subscribe their publication for common good Joseph Caryl The Authors Preface upon these ensuing SERMONS THe cause of that little Heavenlinesse which is in the profession of Christianity is the want of Meditation Many can meditate cursorily but that is not enough it must be a sticking meditation that must affect the heart That place in a Pet. 2. 8. is marvellous pregnant it was the meanes why Lot was so touched with the abominations of Sodom That righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing and hearing their ungodly deeds vexed his righteous soul from day to day Many heard and saw too besides Lot and were not vexed Why Other matters stuck in their thoughts they ne're throughly meditated on it but he vexed himself that is the meditation of those evils and bringing them home to his Soul vexed him The word is a fit word implying two things First the searching and examining of a thing his meditating heart examined their sins how many they were how grievous how damnable how likely to pul down some vengeance or other upon them Secondly the wracking or vexing upon tryall so it was with Lot he observed all their evills and weighed them in his soule and then he wrack'd his spirit with the considertaion of them The Evangelist useth this very word for tossing this word that is here put for vexing he puts for tossing a ship on the seas Matthew 14. 24. The ship was tossed with the waves so meditation did tosse his soule with vexation sometimes down to the deep O miserable wretches that we are or How brutish host beastly and how hellish are our sins Sometimes up O that the Lord would humble us and spare us Sometimes over head and ears in the storm O fool that I was to chuse my dwelling amongst such men These meditations vexed his soul Many have studied meditations and yet yet are not acquainted with this cordiall meditation many Ministers that study Divinity all the day that study the Word all the week that study their Sermons all the yeare may yet for all this be carnall Ministers why Because their meditation is but inventing and mentall meditation this meditation is a practicall meditation the thing meditated feeds the heart that meditation is like a fluttering Pheasant that flutters before their eyes it feeds their eyes indeed but never feeds the stomack as long as they neither catch or eat it The saving mystereis of God flutter before their eyes and before their understandings they feed their eyes with knowledge but never feed their soules unto everlasting life unlesse they fowl for it dresse and digest it in their hearts There is an apt word Genesis 24. 63. Isaac went out to meditate in the field the originall hath it to signifie â—â—â—nall conference his minde conferred with the truth and the truth with him a mutuall working he wrought upon the truth by meditating of it and it wrought upon him by leaving an impression upon his soule this is a rare practice in the world and yet as necessary as most it is the art of the soule in being heavenly it is the inuring of thee to every good duty for by meditation a man comes to have his minde and heart fixed upon every thing that he would would he pray he that hath inured his heart to meditate his minde is fixed in his prayer Would he receive the Sacrament He that hath inured his heart by meditation his minde is fixed in the Ordinance David that was excellent at meditation had a fixed heart Psalm 57. 7. Psal 112. 17. The Contents and Heads of the following SERMONS The Contents of the first SERMON Haggai 1. 5. THe Preface shewing the usefulnesse of Meditation together with the danger in neglecting it The opening of the Teâ—t in severall particulars page 1. Doctrine Serious Meditation of our sins by the word is an especiall means for to make us repent 2. The definition of Meditation in four particulars ibid. 1. It is an exercise of the mind ibid. 2. A setled exercise of the mind ibid. 3. It is to make a further enquiry into all the parts of the truth ibid. 4. It labours to affect the heart 3. Two Reasons 1. Because Meditation presseth all Arguments home to the heart ibid. 2. Because Meditation fastens sin close upon the soul and makes the soule to feel it 4. 1. Use For the reproof of several sorts of men that are loth to put in practice this so necessary a duty 5. Four le ts of Meditation 1. Vaine company 6. 2. Multitude of wordly businesse ibid. 3. Ignorance 7. 4. That naturall aversnesse that is in the heart of man unto it ibid. This aversenesse of heart consisteth in three things 1. In the carelesnesse of the heart ibid. 2. In the runnings and revings of the heart ibid. 3. In the wearisomenesse of the heart in meditation 8. 2. Use For terror unto all those that dare sit down in security never at all regarding this soule-searching dutie ibid. Four means or helps to Meditation 1. With all seriousnesse tell the soul that thou hast a message from the Lord unto it 9. 2. Observe fitting times for meditation viz 1. The morning ibid. 2. The night 10. 3. The evening ibid. 4. When the heart is after some extraordinary manner touched with Gods word or providences ibid. 3. Call to mind what evill thou hast done ever since thou wast born ibid 3. Rouse up thy heart and thoughts as high as heaven ibid. 3. Use For reprehension of those that meditate upon their sins and how they may with the more freenesse to commit sin 11. Four grounds upon which Meditation must be raised 1. Meditate on the goodnesse mercy and patience of God that you have oft abused by your sins 12. 2. Meditate on the justice of God that you have so oft provoked 13. 3. Meditate on the wrath of God that you have so oft kindled ibid. 4. Meditate on the constancie of God who is a constant hater of all sin 14. Four directions how to carry Meditation home to the heart 1. Weigh and ponder all the foregoing things in thine own heart 15. 2. Strip sin and look upon it stark naked and in it's own colours 16. 3. Dive into thine ownsoule and search thine heart to the quick ibid. 4. Prevent thine own heart by meditation and tell thy soule that it will one day wish that it had not neglected this so necessary a duty 17. Four duties to be discharged that we may put life to Meditation 1. Let Meditation haunt and dog thy heart with the promises and threatnings mercies and judgements of God 18. 2. Let Meditation trace thy heart in the same steps and run over all thy duties discharged 19. 2. Let Meditation hale thy heart before Gods Throne there to powre out thy complaints before
the Almighty p. 20. And let thy complaint be 1. Full of sorrow 21. 2. A full complaint of all thy sins ibid. 3. A complaint aggravating all thy sins by all their circumstances ibid. 4. A self condemning complaint wherein the complaint of Ezra is illustrated in eight particulars 22. 4. Let meditation when it hath searched out thy case and made it appear how wofull it is cast thee down before God 23. Four Motives to stir up the soul to Meditation Consider it is the part of a fool not to meditate It is madnesse for a man to walk on in a course and not to consider whither it will tend 24. 2. Consider not to meditate is the brand of a Reprobate ibid. 3. He that meditates not robs God of his honour 25. 4. All the service that a man performeth unto the Lord will be abominable if he meditate not before it and after it ibid. The reason why we have so many vain thoughts in our holy exercises is because we prepare not our hearts thereunto by meditation The Contents of the third SERMON Proverbs 1. 28. 1. THe opening of the context in five particulars 29. 2. The opening of the words of the Text in four particulars 30. 1. Doctrine Those that will not hear the Lord when he calleth upon them by the ministry of his word and voyce of his Spirit the Lord will not heart them when in their misery they call upon him 21. Three Reasons of the point 1. The law of Retaliation of rendring like for like requires it ibid. 2. Because Gods two Attributes of Mercy and Justice have their season in this life and when Mercy hath acted her part then cometh Justice upon the stage for to act her part 32. 3. Because it is Gods manner for to do so in temporall things and therefore much more in matters of grace and salvation 33. God giveth to men a day and no Man nor Angel knoweth how long this day lasteth or when this season of grace shall have an end 35. And as there is a personall day so there is a Nationall day 36. Objection 1. A man may be called at the eleventh or twelfth hour of the day 37. Answer Those that were called at the first hour came in at first hour those that came in at the twelfth hour were not the same that were called at the first hour ibid. Objection 2. The day of grace lasteth as long as the day of life ibid. The Objection is cleared under three particulars Answer And it is answered that the day of grace may end to a particular man long before his death 1. Because God may harden a mans heart 38. 2. Because God may sear mens consciences ibid. Objection 3. Suppose I go on in my sin and repent upon my death bead will God hear me Answer The answer is negative 39. Objection 4. Suppose I humble my self by fasting and prayer will not God hear that The answer is negative if thou neglect the day of grace ibid. Object 5. At what time soever a sinner repents he shall find mercy Ans It is true if he repent from the bottom of his heart but a man may have many a degree of repentance and yet never repent from his heart ibid. Self love may make a man do much ibid. 2. Doctrine It may be this very day even this particular Sermon this instant hour may be thy day that art now in thâ— sins that if thou repent not at this very one Sermon thou neglectest eternal life for ever 40. Four Reasons of the point 1. Because Gods patience is in his own breast and who can tell how long it will last ibid. Wherein Joel 2. 12. is opened in five particulars ibid. 2. God usually giveth some signes of death beforehand 41. But the day of grace may end and a man never have any warning of it Because Gods patience giveth no marks or inkling of its ending before it ends ibid. 3. Because God keepeth a strict account how many opportunities he hath vouchsafed 42. 4. Consider it is a wonder that the day of grace is not ended already and that thou art not now in hell 43. The Contents of the fourth SERMON upon upon Philip. 3. 18 19. 1 AN Explaination of the severall parts of the Text in five particulars 43. Doctrine That those whose minds and thoughts run habitually on earth and earthly things their end must needs be destruction 44. 6. Reasons 1. The curse of God is the desert of vain thoughts ibid. 2. The curse of God is the event of vaine thoughts ibid. 3. The man whose thoughts are habitually on the things of the world can never truly repent 47. 4. Because that man whose thoughts run habitually on earthly things hath no part in Jesus Christ 48. 5. Because so long as a mans thoughts run habitually on things of the world that man hath no true love of God in him ibid. 6. Because so long as a mans thoughts run after the world he can never depart from his sins 49. 2. Uses 1. For humiliation because these vain thoughts bearing sway in the heart they make that mans end to be destruction 50. 2. For the terrour of those men who suffer their hearts to be taken up with vain thoughts 51. Objection But I think of God and of Christ of faith and repentance 52. Answ 1. Consider whether thy good thoughts be meerly cast into thy heart or whether they be raised by thy heart ibid. A wicked man may have a thousand good thoughts and yet goe to hell in the midst of them 53. 2. Thou hast good thoughts but consider whether they be fleeting or abiding thoughts 54. There are two kinds of vaine thoughts 1. vaine because the matter and substance of them is vaine 2. vaine for want of durance and lasting though not vaine for the matter of them ibid. 3. Thou thinkest of God but consider whether thy thoughts be studied or accidentall thoughts 55. A godly man not only thinketh of God but he studieth how to think of God ibid. 4. Thou thinkest of God but consider whether thy thoughts of God be profitable or unprofitable thoughts ibid. Thoughts how free and not free Free from mens knowledge and mens Courts Not free 1. From Gods knowledge ibid. 2. They are not free from Gods word ibid. 3. They are not free from the wrath of God 57. Three meanes in the use whereof we may rid our selves of vain thoughts 1. Love the word of God ibid. 2. Go unto God by prayer ibid. 3. Consider thou hast not so learned Christ 58. All vaine thoughts arise from these three Heads 1. From the variety and abundance of the thoughts of the world ibid. 2. From the Fountain of corruption that is in mens hearts ibid. 3 From the damned malice of Satan and his temptations both within and without ibid. Thoughts become vain four manner of wayes In respect of the Matter In respect of the Forme In respect of the Efficient In respect of the
see a pill but his stomack riseth against it Behold I wil hedge up thy way with thorns Hos 2. 6. I wil not be so precise saith the heart I wil go on as I have done I wil go after these and these courses I will hedge up thy way with thorns saith God meditation is Gods instrument and sets a thorn in the way to every sin to bring the heart back again Would the heart lash out into luke-warmnesse Meditation sets a thorn in the way God will spue thee out of his mouth Would the heart sally forth into any sin Meditation sets a thorn in the way Cursed art thou if thou dost err from Gods Commandements The heart cannot step forth into any lust but meditation meets it with a thorn this curse and that curse this plague and that plague Would the heart reach at mercy in its sin Meditation pricks it mercie is vengeance unto thee so long as thou hankrest after sin Would the heart reach after Christ in his sin Meditation pushes it back with a thorn no Christ for thee but a severejudge so long as thou itchest after thy vanities What shal we think of them then which are loth to practice this duty Most men are loth though they be willing enough to meditate on their worldly affairs The Mariner meditates and considers his course by his Compasse or else he might soon runne on the quick-sands a Pilgrim is full of thoughts what am I in my right way He never comes to a doubtfull turning but he stands in a study and muses O which is my right way The Merchant meditates and his mind runs on his Count-book or else he is soon bankrupt The voluptuous man his thoughts run on his pleasure the drunkard on his cups the proud man on his credit But it is one thing to look to that which is thine and another thing to look to thy self Take heed to your selves saith the Lord Deut. 11. 16. Deut. 12. 30. Deut. 4. 9. Exod. 34. 12. as if he should say think on thy self of thy poor soul let thy Meditation run on thy poor soul The heart is untoward unto this duty and as unwilling as a Bear to be brought to the stake the Bear would rather be rambling abroad then be baited so men had rather let their hearts ramble about any thing then bait them for their sins yea men scoff at it saying shall we alwayes be poring on our sins shall we run mad shall we drive our selves to despair cannot men keep themselves well while they are well The poor man he hath no time for this tedious duty the rich man he needs it not the wicked they dare not so no man will No man repented him of his wickednesse saying What have I done Jer. 8. 6. no man would meditate and think with himself what is my case how stands my condition before God what evil have I done in the Ark and in the old Law if there were any beast that chewed not the cud it was a sign of an unclean beast the word implies the bringing up of their meat into their mouths again and sitting down to chew it again But now men like unclean beasts swallow down the food of their souls unchewed and will not meditate thereof that it may turn to good nutriment but like Cormorants they take it down by whole-sale and are never the better So the Word is to them as the Quails to the Israelites while the flesh was yet between their teeth ere it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them and smote them them with a very great plague Num. 11 33. So the Word of God sticks in their teeth ere they chew it or meditate upon it the wrath of God falls upon them and strikes them with a very great plague of hardnesse of heart and leanness of soul But the truth is you that will not now see your sins nor meditate on them you shall see them and meditate on nothing but on fear Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed Isaiah 26. 11. Now the Lets of serious meditation are First vain company When Peter saw the people touched Acts 2. 37. he said unto them Save your selves from this untoward generation verse 40. as if he should say If you love your selves God hath touched your hearts suffer not Satan and these wicked instruments to steal away these impressions of terrour from your Souls If ever you love your souls sort not your selvs with this untoward generation See as it humbles you so let meditation follow upon it so that it may still humble you Ill company brings a man to the gallows as the proverb is and ill company will bring a man to hell say I and meditation cannot be admitted to it David would not have a wicked man to abide in his sight when he was to meditate he wisht that there were never a wicked man in the world much less would he keep company with them My meditation of him shall be sweet let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more Bless thou the Lord O my soul ps 104. 35. The second Let is multitude of worldly businesses A dream saith Solomon comes through multitude of businesses Eccles 5. Multitude of businesses causeth the mind so to run on them that they do even dream of them in their sleep as Lucretius Seneca Claudian and many others of the hearthens haue observed He that over-imploys himself his meditations of heaven are dreaming meditations his thoughts dreaming thoughts he can never seriously meditate on the good of his soul Many ingrosse businesses into their hands never thinking they have enough they are so greedy after the world and so carelesse of heaven So they make their hearts like high-way-ground the word sown in their hearts is like seed sown in the high-way where is such a throughfare and a broad Carriers road of earthly affairs that all the word and meditation thereof is trodden down as the grasse in the high-way which cannot grow so neither meditation in a busie-bodied heart For a good meditating mind Nemo ad illam pervenit occupatus saith Seneca no man ever came to it surfeited with imployments David although he had abundance of State-affairs both his hands ful yet he would not to be over-charged but that he might meditate in Gods word My hands also not all down to businesse only in the world but also up to thy Law will I lift up to thy commandements which I have loved and I wil meditate on thy statutes Psal 119. 48. Take not too much upon thee like those grasping worldlings that wil have a finger in a hundred things Martha Martha thou art cumbred about many things but one thing is needfull and Mary hath chosen the better part Luke 10. 41. and what was that one thing Mary was sitting and meditating in and pondring Christs words not
matter though we not be so strict Christ is enough Think not thus saith Christ but rather think and meditate that I am come to fulfill it may self and to see it fulfilled in those I mean to save so as to make it a rule of their lives Themistocles said he could not sleep in his bed for continual thinking and meditating on Miltiades his Tryumphs And how canst thou sleep in thy bed if thou wouldest but meditate on these places of Scripture Retire thy self apart there is no casting up of mans account in a croud Let me alone I am busie so we use to say when we would be private Thou must do with thy soul as Ehud did to Eglon who said I have a secret errant to thee O King and so all went out and he said I have a message from God to thee and so stabd him at his heart Judges 3. 19. So for Ehud was a type of Christ saith Lavator I have a secret errant to thee O my soul and so let all go forth I have a message from God to thee a message of wrath for thy Pride a message of wrath for thy vain hopes Thus saith the Lord Cursed art thou O my soul stab it to the heart with this spirituall Dagger wound it with the blade and haft and all till thou have let out the fat and the dirt the filth and iniquity all out The Prophet speaking of mens looking on Christ whom they have pierced this meditating and laying to heart that they have crucified the Lord Jesus saith that they shall mourn every one in private the house of David apart and their wives apart the house of Nathan apart and their wives apart the house of Shimei apart and their wives apart every family apart and their wives apart Zach. 12. 2. The second meanes if thou wouldest meditate aright observe the times of privacy First the morniug that is the best time for study David chose the morning for meditation Psal 5. 1. 3. Let them hear this saith Chrisostome that arise betimes in the morning to serve their Hoggs and their Doggs their bellies and their backs before they serve God in meditation or prayer unlesse it be the mumbling and roaring a few Lord have mercy upon us that pray not till after many other businesses it may may be not then neither David prayed and meditated in the morning In the morning thou washest thy face and thy hands but thy soul hath more need which thou washest not in the morning thou puttest thy cloathes on thy body but thou puttest not on afresh the new man upon thy soul in the morning thou shakest off sleepinesse from thine eyes but thou shakest not off drousinesse from thy soul Thou lookest into the glasse in the morning to see if thy face be as it should be but thy soul is not composedly looking into the glasse of Gods word In the morning loook up in prayer look up in thansgiving look up in meditation Secondly the night too O Lord I meditate on thee in the night watches Psal 93. not as carnall ones doe when they cannot sleep then their mind runs on their Cow and their Calf their markets and vanities this neighbour and that neighbour like Petronius his dogge that was hunting while he lay asleep in his kennel Thirdly In the evening I prevent the night watches that I might meditate Psal 119. 148. he did not as wicked men doe sleep like a horse in the stable on his litter with his neck tyed to the manger they did go to bed with their hearts roped to the world worldly thoughts this thought and that thought and God knows what Fourthly when the heart is touched at a Sermon or Sacrament or observing of any judgement or mercy or act of Gods providence it is best striking when the Iron is hot David when his heart was touched at the reproches of the wicked then he meditated Psall 119. 23. When the Instrument is in tune then it is good playing upon it when a Churl is in a good mood then it is fittest to deal with him Oft will thy heart be out of tune oft churlish and in an ill mood if thou lettest the good opportunity goe thou knowest not when thou shalt have such another When the fish is nibling at the bait then it is good twiching at the angle-rod when the heart is a nibling at grace then gave a pluck at it by meditation See Acts 17. 11. now while the time lusts see thou maist get into heaven Thirdly Rub up thy self and thy memory call as much to mind as thou canst what evill thou hast done ever since thou wast born what in the womb what in the cradle childhood youth age what a servant what a Master what as a servant what as a son what as a neighbour what as an inferiour what as a superiour either in thought or word or deed how often thou hast omitted good duties or done them by halvs Item for this and Item for that They shall remember themselves and turn unto the Lord Psal 22. 27. First they shall remember themselves and say what have I done O wretch how carelessely have I lived Secondly so meditating they shall turn unto the Lord. Many say Oh! they cannot remember their sins They lye in a thousand particulars for they can remember to commit them well enough See Lam. 3. 19. 20. 21. our Greek translation turns it I spake to my self and meditated as if they should say O what a rebell have I been how unthankfull how unprofitable under all the means of grace I may thank my sins for all the plagues of the Almighty that are upon me if he had damned me I had been well served What follows The heart bowed and was humbled as it is in the text The fourth means Rouze up thy heart As it is with the eye of the body so it is with the eye of the Soul when a man would look wistly upon a thing as if he would look thorow it he sets his eye on it as Paul set his eyes on Elymas Ah thou child of the Devill thou c. Acts 13. 9. Meditation is the setting of the eye of the soul upon a thing set thine eye upon thy selfe and say Ah thou childe of the wicked why hath Satan filled thy heart O wretched heart whence hadst thou thy selfe-love hadst thou not it from the Devill God might do well to send thee to the Devill if thou lovest so to be his Broker Set thine eyes stedfastly upon thine own wayes and thou shalt see infinite hellish evils in thy sins The third Use is for Reprehension What is more usual than this that men make slight account of their sins Nay when God tels them in their hearts Thou shalt not do this thou shalt not doe that yet they meditate and think Why may I not Samuel bid Saul stay for directions from him before he sacrificed unto God It seems that God spoke to his
heart Stay till Samuel comes to direct thee yet Saul forced himselfe to disobey and to do Sacrifice 1. Sam. 13. 12. he was bold as Vatable turns it he confirmed himselfe as Pagnin translates it he thrust himselfe upon the doing of it God forbad him he would do it God urged him in his conscience not to doe it yet he would do it God again whispered to him not to do it yet he forced himselfe to do it as if he should say I hope I may do it I have stayed seven days wanting an hour or a piece of an houre and a little piece breaks no square No God rejected Saul for that venture God would have forced him by meditation O no doe it not by no means he made him think Oh it is against Gods commandements I may not do it No but neverthelesse he forced himself to do it Thus God deals with thousands and millions in the world Be not a drunkard God flings the meditation into the conscience yet a drunkard thou wilt be Be not a drunkard again a drunkard notwithstanding thou wilt be Be not again they force themselves they will go to the Ale-house And so of all other sins If men will cast off this work of meditation darted into their souls they cast off their own mercy God tels them pray not hear not offer not without directions from me they dread not the commandment they will I trust prayers are good I will say them Thus they will not meditate or if they do they break it off before it comes to any strength or perfection yea Gods own servants that desire to look towards Sion is not this your complaint oft I cannot finde sinne heavy I confesse the word discovers it to me but I cannot be troubled for it Look as it is with men in the world if five hundred pound weight be laid upon the ground if a man never pluck at it he shall never feel the weight of it Your sinnes are not many hundreds but many thousands yea many ten thousands selfe-love security hardnesse of heart base fears c. it is impossible to reckon them The least vain thought that ever you imagined the least vaine word that ever you uttered were weight enough to presse your souls down to hell Therefore what are so many sins and so great and so often committed What are they they are as heauy as rocks and mountains yet ye feel them not so heavy Why Ye weigh them not if ye did yee should finde them heavier than the sand as David did when his sinne was ever before him Psal 51. 3. that is his sinne was ever in his thoughts and in his meditation his sin was ever like a huge Milstone before him and he was ever tugging and pulling to remove it out of his way I but you will say How shall I come to feel my burden I answer three things are here to be discovered First the ground upon which our meditation must be raised Secondly the manner how to follow it home to the heart Thirdly how to put life and power into it The ground I referre to these foure heads First meditate on the goodnesse patience and mercy of God that hath been abused by any of your sins the greater they have been to you the greater is every sinne this maketh them out of measure sinfull because God is out of measure mercifull There are many sinnes in one when a man sinnes against many mercies See Judg. 2. 2 3. Why have ye done thus I have done thus and thus mercifully unto you why have yee done thus unthankfully to me Why was my mercy abused Why was my goodnesse sleighted Why was my patience despised as if the Lord should say I speak to your owne conscience think of it meditate of it why have ye done this Doe ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father Meditate of it first and tell me then For it is a question put to thy meditation to answer Do ye thus requite the Lord ye foolish people Wert thou ever in want but God supplyed thee Wert thou ever in weaknesse but God strengthened thee Wert thou ever in straits but God delivered thee When thou wert in sicknesse who cured thee when thou wert in poverty who relieved thee when thou wert in misery who succoured thee Hath not God been a gracious God to thee Every soul can tell never poor sinner hath had a more gracious God than I poor sinner have found to my soul All my bones can say Lord who hath been like unto thee This heart hath been heavy and thou hast cheered it this soul hath been distressed and thou hast eased it many troubles have befallen me and thou hast given me a gracious issue This poor man saith David pointing to himselfe this poor man cryed and the Lord heard him Psal 34. 9. And shall I thus reward the Lord shall I sinne against his goodnesse Then what shall I say Hear O heavens and hearken O earth Sunne stand thou still and thou Moon be amazed at this and be avenged on such a heart as this The Oxe knows his owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but here is a heart that will not remember to know the Lord. Hear O heavens this villany cryeth so loud that your ears may hear it Hear all ye Angels add be astonished here is villany to make your ears glow yea hear hell hear Devils if ever there were worse committed by you When men are but ingenuous if they haue received any kindenesse from a friend they were never in want but he relieved them never harbourlesse but he housed them never to seek but he found them Let a man deal thus kindly with a man if this man should deny him any ordinary favour he will be ashamed of himselfe ashamed to come into his presence What will he think his house was mine his cupboard was mine and his purse was mine and his friends were mine and that I should deal thus unkindly with him even nature rebukes me This serious meditation will help to break thy heart The second ground of meditation is to mediate on the justice of God God is a just God as well as mercifull Speak all ye Devils in Hell Doe ye not feel that he is a just God Speak Sodome Speak Gomorrah your fire and brimstone can testifie that he is a just God Speak Adah Zillah and all ye that were drowned in the old world your deluge can testify he is a just God His judgements are all in the world 1. Chro. 16. 14. What is become of drunken Nabal and swearing Saul and covetous Ahab and proud Jesabel and mocking Jehu and envious Shimei What is become of all blind Jebusites and parting cavilling Diotrepheses Justice hath taken hold on them What is povertie What is nakednesse What is famine sicknesse the gout the stone Feaver plague These are the little arrows of Gods justice What is shame disgrace crosses afflictions
unseasonable rains dangerous weather wars rumours of wars What are all the evils under the Sun They are the little finger of Gods justice Thou spiest them here and there in every Town and in every Parish in every Country do they not all witnesse that he is a just God Read Psalm 7. 11 12 13. God hath bent his â—ow already saith David the arrow is ready to flie out of the string It wil not be long before it hit thee if thou meditate not upon amendment God is angry with the wicked every day as an angry man useth to say I will be revenged on thee Wilt thou not give over thy sins I will be revenged on thee Read Psal 11. 5 6 7. Meditate on this he will neither spare King nor subject nor rich nor poor nor noble nor base nor Judges nor Justices yet Judges and Justices may spare but God will not spare they may be bribed to pardon but God will not be fee'd to spare them that go on in their wickednesse and do I think to escape Nay my soul thou canst never escape except thou obeyest The third ground is Meditate on the wrath of God O! what wrath is it Can I stand against it It burns like an oven and all the proud and all that doe wickedly shall be as stubble and the day of wrath shall burne them up Behold this saith the Text Malac. 4. 1. Behold it and meditate on it Can I goe naked in a hot fiery Oven Can I lift up my hands against it My hands will be scorched Can I kick against it My legs will be baked Can I blow upon it with my mouth My mouth is fiered Did I ever see lime burned were I in the limes room could I endure that boyling and yet if I live in my sinnes I shall be as the burning of lime I say 33. 12. Let thy heart meditate terror Who among us shall be able to dwell that is the meaning of it as Montanus sheweth who among us shall dwell with devouring fire who among us shall burn with everlasting burning verse 14. Gods mercie shall say Take him wrath I would have converted him but he would not Gods goodnesse shall say Take him wrath I would have been kinde unto him but he hath abused me Gods patience shall say Take him wrath I have suffered him a great while that he might have time of repentance but he repented not in that time God smote Aegypt in their first born Why For his mercy endureth for ever God overthrew Pharaoh and his hoast Why For his mercy endureth for ever Psal 136. 15. He smote great Kings Sihon a King and Og a King for his mercy endureth for ever So will God damn thee that art a drunkard Why for his mercy endureth for ever God will confound thee that art a worlding Why for his mercy endureth for ever God will be revenged on thee that art a Luke-warmling Why for his mercy endureth for ever This may well make thee â—eare the hair off thy head rather than let thee go on in thy sinnes See Ierem. 7. 29. Meditate on this The fourth ground Meditate on the constancy of God As the Lord was an enemy to wicked men so he continues the same God still a constant enemy to them still As the Lord would not endure sinne heretofore so he is constant he still will not endure it Did the Lord once say Weep and howl ye drunkards Joel 1. 5. he is constant so he saith still Did the Lord say he would burn up sabbath-breakers Jer. 17. 27. he is constant so he saith still Who ever hardned his heart against the Lord and prospered Job 9. â—4 as if he should say I put it to thee to meditate of it canst thou shew me a president did ever any man harden his heart against Gods Word in his sinne that prospered Did Senacherib prosper in his will-worship Did Judas prosper in his covetousnesse Did Jeconiah prosper in his stubbornnesse Where is the Scribe Where is the disputer Where is he that counted the towers Your fathers where are they saith Zachariah Did not my words take hold of them and are they not all now in hell that have ever lived and died in their sin from the beginning of the world Thou canst not shew me one drunkard or one mocker or one prophane person or one formall professor from the day that man was created upon the earth that is not now in hell if he be dead Meditate on this how canst thou expect to be the one onely in all the world that shall escape if thou livest and dyest in thy sins If hell were opened and the bottomlesse pit were lookt into thou shouldest see every soul that ever lived and died in their sins even every soul there is not one soul missing Meditate on this when I dye do I think I shall not be there nay I shall be there too unlesse aforehand I enter in to the strait gate and walk in the narrow way of newnesse of life The Second SERMON OF The use and benefit of Divine MEDITATION HAGGAI 1. 5. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your wayes NOw follows the manner how to follow Meditation home to the heart Here are four things to be practised First weigh and ponder all these things in thy heart It 's said of Mary she pondred Luke 2. 19. and kept all these sayings in her heart verse 51. The words signifie two things First she compared these things together Secondly she cast them in the scales together Dost thou know God is mercifull ponder it with his justice Dost thou know that Jesus Christ dyed for sinners ponder it with the true drift of it how that it is not to let men go on in their sins but to save them from their sinnes Dost thou obey God in this or that Commandement O ponder thy life with the rest Ponder the path of thy feeet and let all thy wayes be established Prov. 4. 26. A man that eats his meat well forty morsels well yet one crum going awry throttles him Thou walkest in these and these Commandements yea but there be other Commandments besides these dost thou walk in them too thou must if thou meanest to have thy ways to be established The Jews had their continers talents minaes sicles which were greater weights so they had also their gerahs and agarahs smaller measures and smallest of all so have thou greater and lesse weights great ones to ponder the great Commandements and less to weigh even the least of Gods Commandements and see thou make true Evangelical weight or else all will not be well Suppose a man were to pay a 100 pound of good and lawful money and in weight upon forfeiture of all that he hath if he weigh it not but the Creditor doth and finds it light he is undone If thou ponderest not thy wayes God will ponder them Prov. 5. 21. the word signifies he weighs and ponders them in a ballance or
scales he puts the word of his Gospel in the one and thy goings and obedience in the other Thou art weighed and art found too light thy kingdom is departed from thee saith God to Belshazzer Dan. 5. 27. So if thou be light thou shalt be weighed and so found thou shalt lose the Kingdom of heaven for ever Secondly strip sin and look upon it stark naked sin covers and disguiseth it self with pleasure profit ease and many a whorish garment and so inticeth the heart Even a toad if she were covered over with gold those that saw only the gold would pocket it up if it were naked they would fling it in the kennel Why doe men love covetousnesse Why its hooded with profit Why carding dicing hunting hawking tabring piping and more than the word alloweth Why they are cloathed with pleasure and delight It s the duty of Ministers to unmask and uncase sin and pluck off he vail that covers it from appearing unto men The not doing of this is the cause that men do not meditate on the vilenesse of their sin never are humbled never escape Gods wrath even because they 〈◊〉 discover 〈◊〉 iniquities Lam. 2. 14. Alas the profit of thy sins shall cease the pleasure cease the ease cease and all these goodly suits shall vanish away when the soul comes to dye or to stand before the judgement seat of Christ sin will remain but thy silver and thy gold where will that be then thy laughter and thy merâ—iment what will become of that then thy delight will be gone Meditate therefore with thy self my sin is now gainful and easie and pleasant but what will my sin become when I come to lye on my deathbod what good will it do me when I have most need of succour I will never acknowledge him my friend that will turn against me when I have most need of him Alas I must dye I must come to judgement I I must go either to heaven or to hell the profit that I get now by my sins will it bestead me then the pleasure the ease that I now find in sin will it help me there Alas no it will then be my break neck it will be a Devil unto me the more I have been delighted with it the more it will gall â—e the more I have gotten by it the more it will damne me the sin which I most of all loved will most of all torment me Eccles 11. 9. look thus upon sin The third means Dive into thy own soul and heart There is a tough brain over thy heart that it feels not its sins Now Meditation must look through and come to the heart at the quick and cause the truth to dive into the deep places of the soul When the timber is hard the workman cannot thrust in the nail with the weight of his hand no he must hammer it in Meditation is the hammering of the heart It 's a pertinent phrase Jer. 23 24. Is not my word like a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rocks in pieces There be two similitudes first of a hammer the Word of God is the hammer meditation is the hand that taketh this hammer and knocks the nail into the rocky heart and makes it enter Wilt thou not feel I 'le make thee feel saith Meditation wilt thou not take notice of thy wretched estate Meditation comes with blow after blow and makes us take notice Secondly of fire the word is like fire Meditation kindles it about the heart A man benummed with cold is senselesse the water frozen with cold though the least pebble would have sunk in it before now a great milstone is able to lye upon it and not sink the water is able to bear it so is the heart be it's sins never so heavy as the hill of Basan yet it bears it and feels no weight but Meditation thawes the heart and then every sin pincheth and oppresseth Is not my word like fire as if he should say think of it and muse of it and meditate of it and thou shall feel it as a fire Meditation is the often smiting of the heart with this hammer so did Ephraim smite upon his thigh Jer. 31. 19. like a man in a miserable agony he thumps his own breast and in a vexation strikes his hand on his thigh Oh miserable wretch that I am So did Ephraim Oh what an unruly Oxe am I how unwilling am I to bear the yoke of the Lord Oh and oh the hardness of my heart oh that I could tell how to beat thee black and blue Many men smite their hearts but they smite them not often enough When Elishah bad Joash smite upon the ground he smote thrice and stayed The man of God said to him in anger Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times for then thou hadst smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed them whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice 2. King 13. 19. So men smite their hearts twice or thrice or so but they will not smite their sins dead it may be they break the head of their sins but they recover again and grow strong upon them as at first Thou must smite five or six times yea fifty times five times till thou hast quite broken the impostume of thy heart Meditate on the mercies of God and with them smite it often and often Meditate on the justice of God and with it smite it again and again Meditate on the wrath of God which is as a consuming fire and with it smite it soundly Meditate on the truth of the Lord this threatning and that threatning this commandement and that commandment this promise and that promise and with all these smite it to powder The fourth means Anticipate and pâ—â—ventthine own heart meditate what thy heart will one day wish if it be not humbled and tell thy Soul as much thou wilt one day wish Oh that I had been humbled under the reproofs of the Lord Oh that I had been wise to have understood my own mercy Cursed be the day that ever I neglected the means of grace so the Lord brings in a foolish obstinate sinner cursing and banning his own soul sobbing and howling at the last O how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof and have not observed the voyce of my Teachers nor inclined mine care to them that instruct me Prov. 5. 12 13. I had Ministers to preach to me but I would not come at them or if I did I cared not for their doctrine I had friends that advised me well but woe is me damned wretch I heeded them not Thus thou wilt cast the fool into thine own teeth and fling a thousand curses into thine own face because of thy madness I might have learned but I would not I might have been humbled but I would not I was almost in an evill in the midst of the assembly of the congregation verse 14. I lived where the Saints of God were
in whole assemblies but I mockt them I hated them I misliked them for being too precise I was not ashamed of my security no not in thy sight Thus thou wilt cry out one day if thou wilt not yeeld unto meditation which must make this as present with thee Know thou O my soul the time of thy visitation is at hand thou wilt curse thy selfe hereafter if thou dost not now be moved by Gods mercies thou shalt never see mercy more Now be awaked by Gods judgments or else thou shalt feel them for evermore now or for ever thou shalt â—oar for them Then thou shalt curse thy gains and thy profits that bewitched thee thou shalt curse thy pleasures and delights that besorted thee curse thine one heart and thine own soul and thine own conscience that have damned thee Meditation may tell thee thus it will be with thee unlesse thou obeyest now Hear ye me now Oh yee Children and depart not from the words of my mouth verse 7. hear the word now and obey it let it not depart out thy meditation Now be humbled with grace or then thou shalt be humbled with horrour then thou shalt wish Oh that I had been ruled When thou art in hell then thou shalt meditate Oh it was good counsel that such and such a Minister gave me good counsel that such a friend and such a brother gave me but wretch that I was I had not grace to follow it I had more mind of my pleasures more mind of my vanities than of grace Oh if it were to do again I would not do so for a thousand worlds but alas it is now too late Therefore let Meditation presse this upon thee before-hand Now follows the third thing how to put life to Meditation Four duties are to be done to this purpose 1. Let Meditation haunt the heart let meditation dog thee with the hellish looks of thy sinnes and follow it with the dreadful vengeance of God haunt it with promises haunt it with threatnings haunt it with mercies and haunt it with judgements and haunt it with Commandments The heart is like the Beaver when it perceiveth it cannot possibly escape from the Huntsman it cuts off the Member for which it is hunted and flings it down and so escapes saith Aesop So pursue thy heart with its sins with the hue and cry of Gods mercies pursue it with the bubbub of Gods judgements let meditation haunt it and let thy soul see it shall never be rid of the haunt at last it will be content to part with its lusts Let Meditation say Wilt thou forsake thine own mercies If thou livest thus and thus If thou prayest thus and thus dead-heartedly thou kickest against thine own mercy wilt thou rush upon the prickâ— This mercy thou mayst have if thou wouldst amend that vengeance thou shalt have if thou do not amend Either cut off thy sins or else God will cut off thy soul Return O Shulamite return return it s the voice of Christ to thee Let Meditation say Return O my soul return return and thou mayst be saved return or else thou shalt be condemned Now what was the effect of this haunting meditation Or ere I was aware my soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab verse 12. That is my soul musing and meditating on these and these commandments it so humbled my soul that it made me yeeld yea and made me run as fast as the Chariots of Aminadab freely and willingly to Christ Deal with thy heart as Iunius his father dealt with him he seeing his Son was Atheistical he laid a Bible in every room that his son could look in no room but behold a Bible haunted him upbraiding him Wilt thou not read me Atheist Wilt thou not read me And so at last he read it and was converted from his Atheisme So let meditation haunt thy heart hold forth the commandements promises threatnings of the Lord that thy heart may see them let meditation haunt thee in thy luke-warmnesse prayest thou thus luke-warm This prayer will break thy neck one day Repentest thou This luke warm repentance will cause God to spue thee out of his mouth Hearest thou speakest thou thinkest thou These lukewarm duties wil confound thee ere long if thou lookest not to it Let meditations haunt thee as they haunted Nehemiah with warnings ten times saith the Text they sent to Nehemiah they will be upon thee Nehem. 4. 12. Beware of the danger the enemy will be upon thee ten times they warned him never giving over till Nehemiah looked about him verse 13. So do thou haunt thine own heart they will be upon thee this curse this wrath that hardnesse of heart this security wil be upon thee Ten times yea a thousand times ten times never give over thine own soul untill thou hast made it to submit Indeed there be some let God send Meditations to haunt them and follow them saying Repent leave this or that sin why wilt thou be damn'd with this sin Oh forsake it presently they will gagge the mouth of meditation and of conscience and strike them stark dead as Abner when Azahel would haunt him and follow him and turn neither to the right hand nor to the left but follow him at the heels Turn aside saith Abner but he would not turn aside from following him Turn aside from me sayes Abner again or I will kill thee but he would not turn aside he would follow him close Then he up with his Spear and slew him 2. Sam. 2. 19. 20 21 22 23. So many deal with the Meditation of conscience when conscience would dogg them and weary them out of their sins they will not when conscience would haunt them they will not be haunted therewith when conscience would follow them up with their desperate wilfulnesse they gall and wound and murder conscience to be quiet But David haunted his heart and would have it haunted The second duty Let Meditation trace thy heart as it should haunt thee so also let it trace thee in the same steps So would the Church Let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord Lam. 3. 40. The word in the originall sayes Buxtorf signifies track her steps step by step this step was in the ditch that in the mire that step awry track them all that we may undergo them all again and turn unto the Lord. Never pray but let Meditation track thy prayer this passage was right that passage was amis Never keep a Sabbath but let Meditation track thy keeping of it this duty was sincere that was rotten Never do any thing but let Meditation track it This thought this word this action was warrantable that was out of the way track thy heart as the Lord tracked Eliah he trackt him in the wildernesse he trackt him under the juniper tree he trackt him in the cave What dost thou here Eliah go forth 1. Kings 19. What dost thou here Eliah go return He tract him in
to beg mercy 4. He is as it were dumb and speechlesse before God And now our God what shall we say after all this for we haue forsaken thy commandements verse 10. Shall I excuse the matter alas it is inexcusable What shall we say after all this Shall we call for thy patience Wee had it and yet were little the better Shall we call for mercy Why we had it and yet our stubborn hearts would not come down I know not what to say for our selves for we have sinned against thee 5. He declares Gods truth that he had warned them by his Prophets vers 11 12. but no warning can better us 6. He shews how God had punished them yet they would not be humbled for all that God had brought upon them lesse evils than they deserved and wrought deliverance for them wich they could not have expected What shall we say should we for all this break thy commandements verse 13 14. What can we expect but hell and confusion 7. He is sensible of Gods Judgements and righteousnesse O Lord thou art righteous as if he should say How canst thou spare us for this sinne How can it stand with thy righteousnesse How is it that such hell-hounds as we are should live above ground when thou art so righteous a God It is a wonder that the earth opens not her mouth for to swallow us up quick for O Lord thou art righteous 8. He layes down his soul and all the peoples souls at Gods feet as if he should say here we be thou maist damn us if thou wilt Behold we are all here before thee in our trespasses for we cannot stand before thee because of this verse 15. Behold here are we rebels we are here are our heads and our throats before thee if now thou shouldst take us from our knees unto hell and from our prayers unto damnation we cannot ask thee why thou doest so Oh it 's mercy it 's mercy indeed that we have been spared Thus Meditation must bring our hearts before God and there complain against them before heaven Meditation should deal with the heart as the Father did with his possessed child who carried him to Christ saying Master my child is possessed THE DANGER Of Deferring REPENTANCE DISCOVERED In a SERMON preached at Maidstone in Kent By that Reverend and Faithfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B. D. Sometimes Fellow of ` Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Pastor of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford A SERMON OF M. WILLIAM FENNERS at Maidstone PROVERBS 1. 28. Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me THere is a good English Proverb among us that he that neglects the occasion the occasion will neglect him Solomon wisely begins his Proverbs with it for he bringeth in the wisdome of his Father in these five particulars First making a generall Proclamation in the 20. verse Wisdome crieth without she uttereth her voice in the streets He compareth God unto a Cryer going up and down the City from street to street and from door to door crying his commodity even the richest that ever was which is a Christ a Christ for redemption a Christ for sanctification a Christ to enlighten those that walk in darknesse and in the shadow of death Ho every one that thirsteth here is a Christ for you Secondly here is a mercifull reprehension in the 22 verse O ye foolish how long will ye love foolishnesse and ye scorners take pleasure in scorning Foolish indeed to be without Christ foolish to be without grace foolish to chafer away our souls for sin How long ye scorners will ye take pleasure in scorning will you still persist in your wickednesse and never have done with your sins will you never turn back again but damn your souls for ever O ye foolish how long will ye love foolishnesse Thirdly here is a gracious exhortation in the 23. verse turn you at my correction lo I will pour out my mind unto you and make you to understand my words As if he should say Do you not see how you are going a pace to confusion and that the way you take leadeth unto destruction turn ye therefore turn ye back again for there is a Christ behind you O turn ye for if ye go on in your sins you perish for ever Fourthly here is a yearning promise made unto the world in the end of the 23. verse Lo I will pour out my spirit unto you and cause you to understand my words As if he should say Return back again with me and you shall have better welcome than you can possibly have if you go on in your sins the Devil will never let you gain so much by your living in your lusts as you shall do by repentance for them and forsaking of them For behold I will prour out my spirit upon you whereby you shall be farr greater gainers than you shall be by your sins Fifthly here is a gratious threatning against the world even all those that have loytered out the day of grace As time and tyde will stay for no man no more doth the day of grace Because I have called and you refused I have exhorted but you have not regarded I have denounced judgements against you for your sins but you have hardened your hearts now a day of woe and misery shall come upon you a time of vengeance and desolation shall over take you there will a day come wherein there will be weeping and crying Mercy Lord mercy but I tell you beforehand what you shall trust to let this be your lesson now I call and you will not hear now I stretch out my hands but you will not regard you shall seek me early but you shall not find me and shall cry but you shall not be heard The words are underclapt against all those that procrastinate their repentance and returning home unto God wherein note first the parties them selves that do prolong this day of grace they that is they who when God cals on them will not hear when God invites them by his mercies patience and forbearance by his Ministers and servants by his corrections and judgement by all fair means and foul means yet withstand the means of grace they are the men they shall call but God will not answer Secondly here is their seeking after God they shall call upon me Thirdly here is their earnest and diligent seeking after God they shall not only call but seek too and not only seek but seek as to labour to find nay they shall seek me early even strive to go about it with all haste and flye to repentance but they shall not find me Fourthly here is the unseasonablenesse of the time of their seeking then that is a demonstrative then even a time which the Lord appoints at as if he should say you shall see then these men will be of another mind
then they shall be glad to be converted then they shall be glad to come out of their sins then they shall be glad to get grace and seek reconciliation with God but alas they saw not this then but God foresaw it well enough then shall they call but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me Lastly here is the frustration of their hope which hath two things in it First in regard of themselves in regard of the flaw in their seeking it being not aright Secondly in regard of the Justice of God who rewards every man according to their works But I will not hear them Whence observe this point of Doctrine Those that will not hear when he calleth them God will not hear them when they call unto him Those that will not hear the Lord when he calleth upon them by the ministery of his Word and voyce of his Spirit the Lord will not hear them when in their misery they call upon him Thus the Lord dealt with the people in Ezekiels dayes the Lord called them to repentance and obedience but when they stood out and neglected the opportunity of grace and seasons of conversion see how God deals with them though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice yet I will not hear them saith the Lord. When men have gone beyond the time of Gods mercy and out rowed the tyde of Gods forbearance and will not returne the Lord sets it down with himselfe that his wrath shall return upon them he will no longer forbear they had a time wherein the Lord did pity them and offered grace and mercy unto them but they neglecting this season and withstanding this proffer of grace God resolves with himselfe they shall never have it again There was a time wherein God did pity them but now he will not pity them any more twenty five years he called unto them and sought to bring them home but because they stood out and refused the Lord saith I will love Ephraim no more Beloved there is a double day a white day and a black day there is a day of salvation Isa 49. 9. this is the day in the which the Lord said to the prisoners Come forth and to those that lye in their sins repent and beleeve Now if any man will come forth and humble his soul before the Lord let him come and welcome for it is a day of salvation But there is another day of damnation which is a dark day a black and a duskie day wherein the Lord will visit the sinnes of the world and revenge the quarrell of his Covenant Hos 9. 7. The day of visitation is come yea the day of recompence the people shall know it the Prophet is a fool and the spirituall man is mad Beloved we are fools and all the spirituall men under heaven are mad that lay not this day to heart For the day of the Lord is a day of visitation and all the world shall rue it though now men sleep in securitie If once mercie be rejected and God turn away his ear from a man then grace shall be no more the door of life shall for ever be shut up against him and when once this day comes he hath lost his own place and deprived himselfe of eternall happinesse Now there are three reasons of this point the first is the law of retaliation of rendring like for like which is the justest law that can be made with man for to give unto every man according to his works to make him take such as he brings as the Heathen calls it to give a man quid for quâ— Now if God call upon thee and thou wilt not hear it is righteousnesse with God yea equity with God that is more that when thou callest on him he should not hear thee For thus runs the tenor of Gods Word Prov. 28. 9. He that turns away his ear from hearing the Law euen his prayers shall be abominable He that turns away his ear from Gods Law God will turn away his eare from his prayer He that turns it is spoken in the present tense that is he that now turns away his ear his prayer shall be abominable in the future tense that is the Lord marks what master or servant what father or mother what husband or wife what man or woman it is that turns away the ear of his head or the ear of his heart from hearing his will and obeying of his Commandements the Lord takes speciall notice of it and sets it down in his Calendar and records it in his Memoriall keeping a strict account thereof as if God should say Well is it so I now call and will not this man or that woman answer Do I now stretch out my hands and will not they take care to obey me Well let them alone saith God there is a day coming that I shall be a hearing of them times of sorrow and misery will take hold of them and then they in their affliction will cry unto me but I will not hear they will beg for mercy but I will not regard they will seek me early but they shall not finde me It was one of the Articles of high Treason brought in against Cardinall Woolsey that he had the pox and a stinking breath and yet durst come into the Kings presence So it shall be an Article against thee of high treason before the King of heaven if thou come into his presence with the stinking breath of thy sins living in thy lusts and wallowing in thy filthinesse all thy prayers are but as so many stinking breaths in the nostrils of the Lord and every dutie that thou performest unto the Lord shall be as so many Articles of high treason against thee to condemne thee because thou livest in rebellion and a Traitor against God His prayer shall be abominable he doth not say I will turn away mine ear from hearing his prayer which turns away his ear from hearing my law that is the true exposition of the words no but like for like is sometimes injustice for if a man should strike a Magistrate a box on the ear it were not justice for him to give him another for it is a greater sin to strike a Magistrate than any other common person and therefore a greater punishment the Law requireth So God doth not say he will turn away his ear from hearing his prayer but will serve him in a worse kind he will count it abominable yea abomination in the abstract it shall be loathsome yea lothsomnesse it selfe in the worst manner Galat. As a man soweth so shall he reap if thou sow sparingly thou shalt sparingly if thou sow a dull ear to Gods Word thou shalt reapaâ—dull ear from God to thy praier for God will reward every man according to his works Secondly because of the time of Gods Attributes both mercy and justice VAIN THOUGHTS ARRAIGNED At the Barre of Gods JUSTICE SET FORTH In a
and it becomes sinfull not regarded and abominable in Gods eyes For hearing of the Word of God the godly manâ— hears and the wicked man hears the matter in both is the same the godly man he casteth the Word into a godly mould he hears the Word and he trembles at it he hears the Word and beleeves it he hears the Word and his heart bowes to it and resolves to practise it a wicked man he hears the Word too but he casteth it into a dishonouraâ—le mould he hears it with deadnesse and dulnesse without trembling without faith and obedience So a godly man may think thoughts of God and so may a wicked man think thoughts of God the matter of both is good yet the thoughts of the wicked are vain though he thinks of God yet because he casteth it into his dishonourable frame he fears not God his heart trembles not at God but his heart is as full of dead earthly affections as before he thinks of hearing the Word but it is after this own fashion he thinks of praying but he prayes with his own spirit and not with the spirit of Adoption The Psalmist tells us that the whoremaster the drunkard and the thief thinks of God it is after his own fashion Psal 50. 21. These things hast thou done saith God and I held my tongue and then thoughtest that I was even such a one as thy self A wicked man goes on in his sins and thinks that they are not so devillish and abominable as some say they are and he thinks that God thinks so too he is earthly carnall luke-warm and dead-hearted and if he repent at the last he thinks all will be well and he thinks God is of the same mind too he goes on in his drunkennesse swearing pride and hypocrisie and he thinks if he do but remember to ask God mercy and to cry Lord receive my soul when he is going out of the world he thinks he shall not go to hell but be carried to the joyes of heaven and he thinks God is of his mind that God thinks so too But mark what the Lord saith I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thee O consider this you that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Thirdly mens thoughts are vain when the heart that thinks upon them is earthly and vain wherefore if all the wicked men in the world should lay their heads together to think a good thought yet they cannot for their hearts are vain hearts sinfull hearts they may think of excellent propofitions concerning God his worship his word and service but so long as the heart that thinks upon them is carnall and vain they cannot speak that which is good as saith our Saviour Maithew 12. 34. How can you speak good things Why may some men say â— may not a wicked man read a Chapter in a Bible are the words so hard to be understood and pronounced cannot a wicked man take a Sermon and read it and hear a Sermon and repeat it What are Letters and syllables so hard to be pronounced I answer beloved that is not the meaning of our Saviour How can ye that are evill speak good things no no a wicked man may read Gods word and propound good questions as well as a true Christian but he cannot speak good words that is he cannot speak them from a good heart and therefore his heart being carnall and vain good words in his mouth are as a Jewell in a swines snout it is a word indeed but not a speech when he reads or pronounceth Gods word Aristotle saith that speech is nothing but the expression of that that is within the heart Now then if the word and truth of God be not ingraffed in thy heart if thy heart be not heavenly when thou speakest of heavenly things thou dost pronounce them but not speak them But when thou speakest of earthly things then thou speakest to the purpose because thy heart is set upon them and thy mind and thy tongue go together there is no jarre not discord betwixt them but if thy heart be not pure though thou speakest good things or holy things yet in Christs sense thou speakest them not For say I how can a vain evill corrupt heart think good thoughts An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit saith our Saviour he doth not say that an evill tree cannot be made good for it may be grafted into another stock divers ways there are to make it good but so long as it is a corrupt tree it cannot bring forth good fruit Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles Dost thou go to a drunkard and thinkest there to find any religion in him or to a whore-master to find grace in him Dost thou go to a swearer or a prophane person and thinkest thou to finde any fear of God in them Indeed sometimes there may be some morall good found in them but they are as a pearl in a dunghill out of its place Fourthly all mens thoughts come to be vain when the drift and end of the heart and soul in thinking of them is vain But thou wilt say unto me The end of my thoughts is Gods glory What is it not to Gods glory that we go to the Word and Sacrament that we pray and give almes I Answer The end of every good work in it selfe is Gods glory but is it the end of the worker speaker or thinker I make no question but the end of a good action in it selfe is the glory of God so the end of prayer is the glory of God the end of all preaching and Sermons is the glory of God the end of giving of almes and of all good thoughts is the glory of God but the end of the man that prayes and preaches what is that the end of the hearer and giver of almes what is that the end of him that speaks well what is that Beloved most men have false and corrupt ends which we will branch out into these three heads For the first men will be thinking and plodding from morning till night of their wordly businesses Now because they know they must think on God to make God amends perhaps they will think on him at night when they have dishonoured him all the day So men will swear and swagger drink and be drunk and when they have done say Lord have mercy upon me and so they think to make God amends What beloved will yee swear swagger drink be drunk and lye be secure and worldy and and then ask God forgivenesse to make him amends This is to break Priscians head that you may give him a plaister Will you trespasse your neighbour that you may ask him forgivenesse This is a damned and devillish religion yet this is the religion of many men in the world you shall have them keep daies and weeks and years in the observation of the times of Gods
this it not enough This is a solemne Ordinance of God and an ordinary disposition will not serve the turn Though every child of God be ordinarily disposed to every good word and work to pray and to hear the word of God he is prepared and furnished to every well-doing ordinarily and habitually but a man must be disposed farther There is a solemne preparation required to the Communion as in Deut. 16. 15. there were solemn feasts in the Law so there is this solemn feast in the Gospel and there are solemn preparations required thereto When we come to the Communion to eat the Lords Supper it is not eating and drinking in Christs presence for so may any reprobate do and yet Christ may say to him Depart from me thou worker of iniquity It is not to come and sit in your Pewes and wait till the Bread comes and take it and till the Cup comes and drink it so many a Reprobate may doe as the Corinthians did that did eat and drink their own damnation But there must be a solemn preparation to it to be sealed with the Spirit of Promise to be righteous by faith in the body and bloâ—d of Christ For a man to be humble and empty of his sin to be â—â—â—â—sâ—y aâ—â—â—â— the precious bloud of Christ to be fed and built up in the promises It is a weighty thing to come to the Communion a man must be a worthy man or else he hath nothing to do here As Solomon said of Adonijah if he be a worthy man not a hair shall fall from his head but if wickednesse be found in him he shall dye 1 Kings 1. 52. So if we be worthy men and women not a hair of our heads shall fall to the ground none of the curses shall light on us that light on unprepared persons but if wickednesse be found in us if we be guilty of any sin if we live in any lust not mortified if there be any prophanenesse in our lives in our families in our courses and callings though we catch hold of the horns of the Altar though we partake of these holy mysteries yet we shall be so far from having any mercy as that we shall hasten our own ruine we set a seal on our own judgement and make our case worse than it was before Let us take notice of it and never dare to rush on any of Gods Ordinances You know what became of the foolish man in the Gospel that when they were invited to come to the marriage supper he thought it was nothing but to come with them that came to crowd in with them and sit down among the rest he considered not what he went about that he might be prepared accordingly the event was this he was cast out into utter darknesse Matth. 22. 13. It is dangerous rushing on any of Gods ordinances To rush upon prayer for a man to fall down upon his knees and to utter any thing before the Lord hastily with his mouth not considering that God is in heaven and he on the earth A mans word may damn his own soul and pull vengeance on his own pate his prayers may prove a curse his prayer for mercy may be turned into vengeance So the higher the service the greater the danger As the servants of Abigail said to her Consider what you do when evill was determined against them so consider what you do when you come to the Sacrament you come to a weighty thing to that that will either set you neerer to the Kindome of God or hell and condemnation But I let this passe and come to the words themselves Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. In these words observe First the matter of the duty commanded that is to eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Secondly the manner of doing the duty not only to eat of that bread but so to eat and not only to drink of that cup but so to drink Thirdly the rule of direction how to come in a right manner to partake of it that is by examining of our selves Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Fourthly and lastly the benefit following that direction and that is in this word But let a man examine himself He had said before He that eats and drinks unworthily is made guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord and he discerneth not the Lords body verse 27. But saith he as if he should say if a man would prevent this if a man would take order that he be not guilty of the body and bloud of Christ that he do not come undiscerningly to these heavenly mysteries but with comfort and title to the promises with hope and confidence and speeding there of the benefits of Christ exhibited then let a man examine himselfe and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Now I will passe over some of these points namely that we are to eat that bread and drink that cup. There is a necessity that we should receive the Lords supper I need not stand on this you know it sufficiently proved by the Sacrament of the Law which was the fore-runner of this Sacrament that soul that did not partake of that was to dye the death he was to be cut off from Gods people Num. 9. 13. If the Lord was so carefull of those Sacraments that were inferior to these and yet they were of the same substance as these that the man that neglected to come to them to partake of them was to be cut off to be excommunicated from the people of God and to be rent off from the congregation of the Saints then how much more for these heavenly and weighty and glorious Ordinances of the Gospel which are farr more glorious than them of the Law But I will not stand upon that I might here take notice too of the frequency of the duty for so it hath dependence on those words formerly As oft as you eat this bread and drink this cup ye shew the Lords death and so that is as oft as ye eat do it in this manner This is the command of God that we oft receive the Lords Supper In the Primitive times St. Basil observes that they eat it three or four times in a week on Wednesdays Frydays and on the Lords day but that was a time of persecution I will not stand upon that I think it not neeedfull But it should be often we should not thurst it only upon Easter and Whitsuntide and Christ-tide three or four times in the year Again I might observe here from this mystery received in that he calls it Bread I might observe against the Papists Transubstantiation that the bread received is not transubstantiated but is bread still and against that of receiving in one kind So let him eat of that bread and drink of that
not judge well of him that reproves him There is an excellent place Prov. 12. 1. He that puts off reproof is brutish he that hates reproof is the brute that man hath no reason in him Art thou a swearer and art reproved for it thy brother tells thee thou wilt be damned for it Dost thou chafe at that man thou art a beast thou hast no more understanding than an Oxe or an Asse As it is with a horse when the Ostler comes to rub him he kicks with his heel when he only beats of the dirt he lifts up his hinder leg on him and it may be wounds him so thou hast no more understanding than a beast that finds fault with one that reproves thee for thy sins So that whatsoe'r thy sin be he that tels thee of it there is no reason in the world but that he should be a dear man to thee Me thinks of all men under heaven godly Ministers that are faithfull in their place and calling should be the dearest men to you upon the face of the earth Why because they reprove you and tell you of your sins and what will become of your souls what will be the issue and Catastrophe of all you wayes You that come to Church every day may read a Lecture in the Word of God what will be your doom at the last day you are told of your pride and adultery of your whoredom and oaths carnall Gospellers of their secure and carnal condition and common professors of their formality and other lusts that men are given to you are told of all I say the feet of Gods messengers should be beautifull you should hug the messengers and put their reproofs in your bosomes and let them have power and efficacy on your souls and go and put them in practice The Use of this is First is it so that it is the infinite mercie of God to reprove men of their sins to tell them of whatsoever is amisse in their hearts and lives let me tell you First see here what an infinite punishment God is bringing upon that kingdom when he is taking away reprovers from them when God takes away reprovers he takes away all mercy and loving kindnesse Therefore God when he threatned to deliver up Judah to curse that Kingdom to plague them for their rebellion and utterly to give them over he saith he will take away the reprover saith he to the Prophet Thou shalt be dumb and not open thy mouth thou shalt not be a reprover to this people Ezek. 2. 26. When the Lord would curse that people and bind them over to a reprobate sense and deliver them to wrath the Prophet shall not be a reprover he silences the Prophet Or as Piscator thinks the anger of God silenced him or confin'd him to his house that he should not prophesie So when God silences his Ministers that he takes them from a place or threatens to take them away it is a sign of heavy vengeance towards such a people It may be wicked people laughed at them and made it a matter of nothing they were glad that Ezekiels mouth was gagged and it were no matter if the country were rid of a company of Puritans though they had no such word then they had as bad they think all is well but the time will come that they will curse the day that ever they provoked God to take away their Ministers we enjoy them by the mercy of God other places have lost them God knows how soon we may lose ours In Hosea 4. 4. the Lord there when he would set out the desperate estate of the children of Ephram delivers them up to such a state and condition that none should reprove them Let none reprove another If they will sinne let them if they will go on in Idolatry let them If they will harden their own hearts let them if they will dye in sinne let them if they will perish and be damned for ever let them Let no man reprove another It is a lamentable state Generally people are glad when the Land is swept of all the good Ministers and the good servants of God they had rather hear a fine song in a pulpit of one that preacheth morally or it may be preacheth his own selfe or the like but the time will come when they shall say as Solomon saith It is better to hear the reproof of the wise than the song of fools Ecclesiastes 7. 5. people love alife to hear the song of fools When a fool comes up and preacheth At what time soever a sinner shall repent him of his sinne And be not just overmuch and what need such a do Here is more puther than need and abuse places and wrest Scripture As for example the thief on the Crosse was saved at the last with a word or two and they bring the example of the Publican that cryed God be mercifull to me a sinner and went justified to his house rather than the Pharisee that made long prayers And rush what need men be so zealous and precise and puritanicall Whosoever calls upon the name of God shall be saved people love alife such songs of fools but the time shall come when peoples eyes shall be opened and their consciences awakened and then they will wish O that we had heard the reproof of the wise The second use makes against those that despise the reproofe of the wise ye despise not men but God ye have despised me Prov. 1. 30. You thinke you despise a poor Minister he is strict and harsh with your souls and presseth these things upon your consciences and it may be more than he hath warrant to do so you think you do not despise God but only the Minister Nay saith Christ you have despised my reproof When you despise them that Christ sends you despise him This is an expresse and an explicite sign of a mans everlasting destruction when he despiseth reproof as in that speech of the Prophet to Amaziah I know that the Lord hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast not hearkened to my reproof 2. Chron. 25. 16. So I may say I know that God hath determined to destroy a Nation a City or people when they will not take counsell of Gods Messengers when they will not hearken to instruction They have been called upon nationall sinnes have been ripped up parochiall sinnes have been spoken of yet when they are told they will not be reproved We that are the Ministers of God know that God will destroy as many as turn not at reproof I let this pass I should now shew the grievousnesse of this ill of standing out against reproof it is expressed two ways First in the sinfulnesse of it to harden a mans heart Secondly in the punishment He shall be destroyd without remedy And in the destruction you may see here First the unexpectednesse of it He shall be destroyed suddenly Secondly the totalnesse of it He
of vain thoughts but he must wash his heart clean with this Emphasis That he may be saved No salvation without this How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee 2. As a man is in the state of misery till he have repented so also till he is in Christ Now when a man is led by his own vain thoughts his thoughts being not sanctified so long that man is not in Christ If he were in Christ Christ would sanctifie his thoughts I but may some man say He hath wronged me ergo I will think thus and thus Nay but Christ casteth down the strong holds and if thou wilt not yield Christ will cast thee off but if thou belong to Christ he will cast all down before thee 3. That man is in the state of misery that doth not love God that walks not with God in his thoughts Thou shalt love the Lord thy God c. Mat. 22. 37. So I do sayes one and yet I think on my vanities too And thus carnal men think they love God But if thou love God with all thy heart thou lovest him with all that is in thy heart for what is a mans heart but the purposes of his heart Now if a man give not over vain purposes he loves not God with all his heart 4. That man that cannot forsake sinne is in the state of misery and can never enter into life see the Text the wicked must forsake his wayes A man must deny his own words and speak according to Gods own warrant the actions of mens lives are the wayes of their thoughts the Tongue must not only forsake his way but the Heart his way also else a man is a wicked man Prov. 13. 26. He is wicked whose thoughts are not sanctified But what will men say shall we be condemned for a thought words are small sins and thoughts are lesse Must a man then so strictly look to his thoughts I will make it plain that for a man to be vain-thoughted is a grievous sin 1. Because if the sin of vain thoughts be pardoned it will ask abundance of mercy Mark the Text Abundantly pardon No repentance no mercy no abundance of it ergo it is not so small as the world takes it to be 2. Thoughts are the sins of the highest part of a man for they are the sins of the heart and surely the sins of the chiefest part are greater then any other A King counts it not much for a Rogue to steale by the wayes side but for a Knight or a Noble-man it is a foul matter So the Lord would not have the lordly part to sin against him He would not have the tongue much lesse the heart that is the Kingly part of a man to transgresse And this is the reason why Deborah calls them great thoughts of heart Judg. 5. 15. Sins in thought are great sins the Heart is the Lady the mistresse or highest part of a man and He that hath made us looks that we should serve him with the Master-part That must be afforded him 3. Because thoughts are breaches of every Commandement Other sins are but against one but all the Commandements condemn vain thoughts The first Commandement saith Thou shalt have no others Gods but me But thou setâ—est an Image up in thy heart when thou thinkest of thy pleasures c. So Thou shalt keep holy the sabbath day Now if thou think thine own thoughts that day thou breakest this commandement and so of all the rest The sinne of thought is therefore a hainous sinne 4. Because they are the strength of a mans heart and soul the first-born of originall corruption A man by nature is a child of wrath a soul and a body of death Now what doth the heart first break out in It first shews it self in its thoughts and if it be the first-born it must needs be the strengh as Jacob said to Ruben his first-born he was his strength and therefore all Lord-ship lies in the heart A man may more easily part with all other sins then with this because the bent of the heart runs this way the heart will part with any sin rather then with his pernicious thoughts 5. Because they are the dearest acts of men We count a man preferred when he is preferred to the thoughts of a man Gen. 40. 14. Think on me saith Joseph to Pharoahs Butler I count it thanks enough if thou preferre me to thy thoughts We prize that most which we think most oâ— That which a man scorns he scorns to bestow his thoughts on but that which a man sets his heart on that is his dearling Now that any thing should be dear to a man save God this is a horrible sin when a man makes his dogs his dearling his whore his dearling c. For look what thou most thinkest on that is thy dearling Why Because thou dandlest it in thy heart therefore it is a horrible sin for a man not to set his heart upon God But can a man live without thoughts doth Grace call us to leave thinking then a man must cease to be Non tollit sed attollit naturam it takes them not away but it takes them up He doth not say Let the wicked forsake thoughts but his thoughts let him set them on other matters When God cals men unto him he is so far from taking away mens thoughts as that he will rather increase them If thou be a new creature thou must have more thoughts Thou art full of thoughts now but then thou wilt be fuller Psal 119. 59. When David turned to God his heart thought upon his wayes the word in the original is He thought on his wayes on both sides The curious work of the Sanctuary was wrought on both sides Common works are wrought only on one side but on the other side are full of ends and shâ—eds So the Prophet looks on his way on both sides he strives to walk curiously precisely and accurately to turn himself to Gods testimonies Ergo God cals not to forsake thoughts but our thoughts it is a hard duty for men to forsake their own thoughts I will make it appear thus First Because it is a hard thing to reform ones self one thing may reform another but here is the difficulty for a thing to reform it self it is an easie matter for a mans heart to reform his tongue but it is hard for the heart to reform it self in correcting its own thoughts it is hard for a man to deny himself Ahel-hound may reform his tongue but here is the difficulty for his heart to reform it self for thoughts are the heart Phil 3. 19. who mind earthly things thoughts of earthly things are called the mind a mans thoughts and his mind are all one so that if it reform thoughts it must reform it self 2. It is hard to reform thoughts because they are partiall acts if they were full acts a man might reform them rather then being partiall acts my
of the heart such as wherein the heart shews its own nature As for example the Univocal act of Light is to lighten the room but now you cannot judge of the Light by the heat so well as you may by the shining So an ill savour must be judged of by the stinking which is the univocal act of it It causeth abundance of other effects but this is the proper act whereby it shews it self So the thoughts of men are the univocal acts of their hearts therefore in Scripture called the way of the heart just as the heart is so are the thoughts if the heart be proud so are the thoughts just according to the nature of the heart so are the thoughts 5. They are the swiftest acts of the heart If I judge of a Scholar I will judge him by that which he doth extempore if a fool study he may speak to purpose but look what a man doth by his own inclination that a man discovers himself to be Thoughts are the extempore acts of the heart if thy heart be heavenly it will scatter out heavenly meditations if carnal then thy thoughts are carnall thoughts are as the visions in the night ergo we use this proverb his thoughts are gone a sutering If then they be the swiftest acts of mens hearts then are they most â—it to expresse the nature of the heart 6. Thoughts are the peculiar acts of the heart peculiar to God only the world may see what thy outward life is but thy thoughts God only sees neither Angel Devil nor Man can see them and as they are peculiar to Gods eye so he most regards what mens thoughts are and therefore the best way for a man to judge himself is to judge himself that way which God doth even by his thoughts The The Lord knows the thoughts of man Psal 94. 11. Examine your selves in this then concerning your thoughts whether they be metamorphosed or no a man may say he hath good thoughts of God but let him examine himself whether it be so or no. 7. Thoughts are the conscionable acts of the heart they are the greatest accusers or excusers of the heart they are Consciences Nose as we may so speak True it is the words of the tongue and the actions of the hands are all in the light and â—ight of the conscience but the neerer a thing is unto the conscience the more able it is to judge of the conscience And therefore St. Paul puts the accusing or excusing especially on the thoughts Rom. 2. 15. We grant a wicked man may have good thoughts but they are thoughts descending not ascending they are cast into the heart by God not raised out of the hear Moses thought in his heart to visit his brethren Acts 7. verse 23. Good thoughts grow out of the heart of the godly they come from the bottom of it a wicked man may have good thoughts cast into his minde but he will fling them out again Secondly we grant wicked men may have good thoughts but examine whether they close with the heart or no all the proper thoughts of a man are the possessions of the heart Job 17. 11. They take hold of the heart and they are at home in the heart Here then examine thy heart whether the thoughts of God close with thy heart Doth repentance close with thy heart dost thou think of death and do the thoughts thereof make thee die daily Or dost thou think of death and dost thou not love to be holden with that thought Dost thou think of hel and wilt thou not be holden with that thought of hell but thy thoughts are on thy pleasures So then if thy thoughts close not with thy heart it is nothing to the purpose Thirdly there may be good thoughts in thy heart but t is questionable whether good thoughts or no if they come out of due season it is nothing to the purpose If a Printer print never so well and make never so good letter yet if he place one word where another should stand he marrs all So good thoughts if they be seasonable and in their proper place they are the effects of the Spirit but if out of season they may be the thoughts of reprobates As if thou be at at Prayer and then to be thinking of a Sermon is nothing to the purpose They must be seasonable and bring forth fruit in due season Psal 1. 3. When thou art at prayer thou must have thy thoughts suteable to thy prayer for if thy thoughts be never so good yet if they be not seasonable and sutable to the action thou hast in hand they are not actions of grace grace cannot away with them Fourthly thou hast good thoughts in thy heart but the question is whether they be counselled thoughts such as thou hast determined to think on Thoughts are called the counsels of a mans heart 1 Cor. 4. 5. it may be thou maiest stumble on a good thought now and then it may be when thou art swearing thou wâ—lt say God forgive me when thou hast been drinking all the day it may be a good thought steps in and cries God mercy but thou goest not to schoole to learn the art of meditation or the science of holy thinking or to say with David O God my heart is fixed Now if that sin in thought be so great a sin this should teach us what a horrible sin it is to sin indeed therefore thoughts are the smallest sins in respect of scandal and the Psalmist makes it an argument of Gods quick-sighted power to see thoughts thou seest my thoughts afar off you will say that man is quick-sighted that can see a pins head a 100 myles off even so God sees thoughts if a pins point can stab a man then a sword can much more Now if thoughts be so haynous and capitall a sin how fearfull a sin is it to commit sinne in deed for thee to swear to lye to commit adultery to keep wicked company to mock at Gods people to live in coveteousnesse c. this is to commit in deed if small sins be so damnable what then are the greatest If the chockatrice in the egge be such poyson what will it be when it is hatcht thought sins are imperfect compared with words or acts following them yet are they perfect in their kinds T is a wicked distinction to say that some sins are Contra legem or Praeter legem for all sins are against the Law as St. James saith when lust is conceived it bringeth forth sin and â—in when it is finished it bringeth forth death thou that art a drunkard thy sin is finished thou art a true sinner in deed if thou livest in the execution of any sin Again sins in thought are simple sins but sins in deed are compounded if after thoughts follow sutable act but when it is in deed it may be the cause of a 1000 sins for a man to think too much of his bellie is a sin but for
glad of it c. and it is said there that Jesus rejoyced c. I rather rejoyce that thou hast sent me to poor souls such as are the off-scouring of the world c. but he that is selfe-conceited is wiser forsooth then so Christ tels thee that thou must take up his crosse but thou thinkest that thou hast more wit thou canst go a wiser way to work thou hast an easier way to heaven thou wilt none of the Crosse and I tell thee then that Christ wil none of thee but he will be glad to see thee damned Fourthly and lastly he is in the broad way to hell that is selfe-conceited there be many wayes to hell the covetous goes one way the Drunkard goes another there are a thousand wayes to hell though there be sundry wayes to hell yet they all meet in selfe-conceit there is the broad high way where all meet selfe-conceit is not only the way to hell but it is the brood way where all wayes meet There is a way saith the wise man that seems right c. Prov. 14. 12. but the end of it is death there is the wages there all the wayes meet Oh then examine your selves I should give you signes and tokens to make it appeare unto you but the time will not give me leave I will only name one or two That man that selfe-swears is conceited of himself that is one sign As I am an honest man As God shal help me by my faith and troth As I look that the Lord should save my soul c. these men are highly conceited of themselvs they think that their salvation is sure yea so sure that they may swear by it but these are devillish and damnable self conceits it is Gods prerogative only to sweare by himself Heb. 6. 13. 14. I speak this because I know it is a common practise among men and a hellish brand of a cursed self-conceited man THE EFFICACIE Of Importunate PRAYER In tvvo SERMONS By that laborious and faithful Messenger of CHRIST WILLIAM FENNER Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Minister of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford THE EFFICACY OF Importunate Prayer LUKE 11. 9. Ask and it shall be given unto you Seeke and you shall finde Knock and it shall be opened unto you OUr Saviour CHRIST being demanded by one of his Disciples how they should pray He here teaches them these two things First a Platform of prayer in the 2 3 4. verses Say Our Father c. Secondly he teaches them the Importunity of Prayer which he sets forth by the similitude of a man who having a guest come to him at midnight and had nothing to set before him he went to his friend to intreat him to lend him three loaves and at the first he nakedly intreats Lend me three loaves The door is shut sayes his friend and I cannot open it now Secondly he falls to intreat and to beseech him to do him this favour He had a guest come to him and he knew not what to do Why 't is midnight saies he is there no other time to come but now Thirdly he begins to knock he must needs have them though it be at an unreasonable hour Why I tell you I am in bed Then he intreats him as a friend Friend me no friends sayes he again Yet the man would not leave knocking at last with much adoe the man rises saying Will you never be answered and he lends him three loaves because of his importunity Now saith our Saviour I say unto you though he would not give him as a friend yet because of his importunity he will The similitude is this Thou art that man oh Christian soul this guest is thy self Now then come home to thy self with the Prodigall who when he was come to himself goes to his father and friend This friend is Christ that thou art to pray unto these three loaves are grace mercy and peace These thou art to pray for it may be Christ answereth thee in thy conscience It is midnight thou commest too late there is no mercy for thee The soul prayes still Oh Lord awaken and help me it may be the Lord will answer thee by terror in thy soul The door of mercy is shut thou shouldest have come rather Yet Lord open unto me sayes the soul Nay saith the Lord all my children have mercy already now mercy is asleep I have converted them already they came in due season thou commest at midnight there is no mercy for such a hell-hound as thou art Up Lord have mercy on me sayes the poor soul and look on me c. Look me no looks saith the Lord I came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel there was a time when I would have converted thee when I called unto thee early and late But now I am asleep and my mercy is asleep it hath been awake as long as it could well hold open its eyes and comest thou now Oh the soul cries still and will never give over if mercy be to be had at the throne of grace he will have it Even as a begger being at a gentlemans door they bidding him be gone there is nothing to be had nay sayes the begger I will not be gone here is something to be had and I will have something or else I will die at the door The gentleman hearing him say so thinks it would be a shame for him if he should die at his door and gives him somewhat So when the soul is thus importunate because of importunity it shall be granted Verily I say unto you if you thus ask it shall be given unto you These words contain in them the main duty of importunate prayer Ask if asking wil not serve turn seek if seeking will not serve turn then knock try all meanes Another parable our Saviour put forth Luke 18. 1 2. that men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint There was a poor woman wronged by her adversary and there was no Judge to right her but a wicked one so that she had but poor hopes yet she resolves to go or else she shall be undone therefore if she perish she will perish at his feet He cals her all to naught Oh for Gods sake help me sayes she I care not for God nor man sayes the Judge Nay good my Lord saith the woman The Judge seeing her thus importunate said I shall be troubled with her if I do her not justice How much more saith the text shall not God avenge his elect that cry day and night Obj. But some man may demand what is importunate prayer Ans I answer it is a relstess praier which will take no nay nor contumelious repulse but is in a holy manner impudent until it speed and there are in it four things First it is restlesse he that is importunate cannot rest till he speed in his suit before God as the poor woman of
Canaan she sought the Lord God of Heaven and earth she was of the cursed stock of Cham whom the Lord commanded to destroy yet she repented and became of the faith of Abraham to see if the Lord would own her but the Lord seemed to reject her and suffered the devil to possess her daughter Now what might not this poor woman think she had made a sorry change of religion seeing that God the author of it would not own her but suffered the devil to possesse her daughter But see the importunity of this woman she would not be quiet untill she had found Christ Mark 7. 24 25. Christ could not be hid No What could he not hide himself in some corner No. no thinks she there is a Christ and if he be to be had under the cope of heaven I wil have him Even so it is with the soul that is importunate in prayer it is restlesse What if Christ do hide himself in the Word c. and will not own a poor soul yet the poor soul knowes there is a Christ and if he be to be found in the whole world he wil have him I wil saith he turn over all duties I will go to all the Ministers that are neer I will use all the means Now Christ cannot be hid from such a soul that is thus importunate Now as it is a prayer that will take no nay so first it will take no privative nay of silence Secondly no possitive nay of denial First no privative nay of silence A man that is importunate in prayer must and will have some answer he is not like Baals Priests that could get no answer 1 King 18. 26. nor like wicked men that pray in their pewes they know not what nor whether God hears them or no but an importunate prayer will have an answer like the woman of Canaan Have mercy on me O Lord saith she but Christ answered her not a word Hath she done then No she cries so much the more Have mercy on me O Lord yea she was so importunate that his Disciples were ashamed to hear her yet she cried Have mercy on my daughter the devil hath my daughter and misery will have me unlesse thou wilt have mercy on us Christ answered her never a word It was much trouble to her to have her daughter vext with a devil but this troubled her much more that Christ in whom all her hope was would not hear her nor lend her one look What might she think Is this the merciful Saviour that is so ful of pitty compassion Is this he that hath made proclamation to all the world saying Come unto me all ye that are weary c and I am tyred and wearied by reason of the devil that possesses my daughter c. yet he regards me not Thus she might have said yet these discouragements could not put her off but she cried so much the more yea so that the Apostles were ashamed that Christ should let her stand on that fashion yet she stood it out and prevailed Secondly it will take no positive nay of deniall For when she had an answer and that flat against her it was like bellowes to the fire she was so much the more inflamed she doubles her forces Have mercy on me O Lord c. Chist put her off with a deniall I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel I come for sheep not for goats you are of the Canaanites on whom I have set a brand of damnation a servant of servants a slave of hell and darknesse These are all of your blood but I come to save them of the house of Israel But the deniall of an importunate soul is like the stop in a passage of water the more it is stopt the more violent it is so this poor woman is so much the more eager with Christ she did but cry before now she worships him verse 24. 25. as if she should have said Lord help me now I am one of thy lost sheep I confesse I am a Canaanite I am of that damned blood yet Lord help me I am perswaded that thou canst take a course whereby to help me Thou canst cast some mercy on a Canaanite Thus you see an importunate soul will take no deniall but will renew its forces at the Throne of grace Thirdly an importunate Prayer will take no contumelious repulse suppose God should answer never a syllable of thy prayer yet thou wilt pray suppose he do answer and that against thee yet still thou wilt pray Nay suppose he call thee all to naught making thy conscience tell thee of all thy sins and abominations making thee think that heaven is shut up against thee and God hath shut his ears calling thee Dog hell-hound and wretch c. yet nothing can break thee off if thou be importunate indeed So this woman was not beaten off with Christs sending the Devill into her Daughter nor with Christs hiding himselfe when she sought him nor with Christs answering never a word nor with the Apostles frumps nor with his deniall nor contumelious repulse for he called her dog vers 26 Hence dog I had as lieve â—ling my mercy on a dog as on thâ—e What creature but an importunate one could have gone so far But see here the nature of importunity it gets within Christ and takes advantage she confest the cause saying Truth Lord thou hast hit me right I am a dog or a wicked woman let me then have the priviledges that dogs have though dogs may not be equal with children at the cable yet they may wait under the table I acknowledge that thy children are so plentifully fed that some crummes fall from the table therefore let me have the priviledge of a dog Naaman the Syrian was a dog as well as I Rahab the harlot was a dog as well as I Ruth a dog as well as I yet these got câ—ums truth Lord I am a dog yet thy mercy can metamorphose a dog Of these stones thou canst raise children to Abraham Thus it is with an importunate soul though God call it all to naught and cast all ignominious terms upon it as I had as lieve thou shouldest offer me swines blood as to speak in my hearing yet if thou be importunate thou wilt bear any contumelious repulse Fourthly an importunate prayer is impudent in an holy manner And as an impudent begger that is needy counts it no manners to hold his peace from begging although he be bidden Or as a poor petitioner to the King the King bids him hold his peace yet he will not but still he goes on The officers say Thou filthy fellow wilt thou never have done dost thou not see that the King is angry Yet he still cries Help me Lord ô King So the Canaanitish woman or an Importunate prayer is an impudent prayer yet in a holy manner I remember a story of a poor woman in Essex condemned to die she falls to
crying and screeching as if she meant to pierce the heavens the Juge and those on the bench bid her hold her peace O my Lord said she it is for my life I beg I beseech you it is for my life So when a soul comes before God and begs for mercy he must consider that it is for his life O Lord it is for my life Now though the Lord will not answer and though he call the soul all to naught letting it go up and down with a heavy heart yet the soul crying out 'T is for my life If I must go to hell I will go to hell from the throne of grace weeping and waâ—ling for my sins and catching hold on the horns of the altar this soul shall finde mercy I have wondered at the story in the 5. chapter of Luke it is a strange passage where this godly kind of impudencie was seen Our Saviour Christ was preaching in the house to the people and there was a poor man that could not tell how to come to Christ so the poor man got some to lift him up to the top of the house and to untile it and so to let him down now the rubbish could not choose but fall either on Christs head or on the heads of some of his hearers Was not this an impudent action could not this man have staied until the sermon had been ended But importunity hath no manners And although he did interrupt Christ yet Christ ask'd him not why he did so but says Man be of good comfort thy sins be forgiven thee Let us therfore come with boldness unto the Throne of grace Heb. 4. 16. with freedom to talk any thing Not as if God had given us leave to be irreverent but as to a loving generous man of whom we use to say He is so kinde you may say any thing unto him come to him at dinner he will rise up and hear you or what businesse soever he be about yet he will hear you Even so it is with God he is such a God that all poor souls may be bold before him to speak what they will they may lay open their cases and shew their estates Now when souls come boldly and give the Lord no rest till he establish them Esai 62. 7. then saith God How now cannot I be at rest for you c. This holy kinde of impudencie is in prayer and it will give the Lord no rest Reasons why we must seek importunately are three First in regard of Gods majesty he loves to be sought unto and it is fit he should be sought unto Among men we account it a matter of too much statelinesse to be much intreated and we use to say he loves to be intreated this is a fault among men yet for all this Quis vestrum c as Seneca speaks what man of us can be content to be but once or slightly intreated when a man comes to intreat a kindnesse of a man there is I sing and Anding and shall I c. nothing but importunity can get a kindnesse of a man and this is a sin among men because men are bound to do good but the Lord is not bound to us If we sin he is not bound to pardon us therefore the Lord being a God of majesty lookes to be sought unto of us for his mercy and he lookes that we should be importunate and hence it is that God saith I will give you a new heart Ezech. 36. I will vouchsafe you all these favours yet I will look to be inquired for of you verse 76. I will look that they shall send to me for these things Suppose a man should need a 1000 pound What saith the gentleman doth he think a thousand pound is nothing I will have good security for it So when we come for such high mercies as these for such infinite compassions these are somewhat and God looks to be sought unto for them and Christ the Son of God is a great heir and those that are faulters to him must be importunate with him if they mean to be at peace with him If one will marry a rich heir who hath all the preferment and dignity that the country can afford he looks to be well sued unto So the Lord Jesus is a great heir heir of the whole world if thou goest to be married unto him thou must sue unto him and he looks for prayer he loves to heare his children crie this is one of his titles though he be a God yet he is the hearer of prayer Psal 65. 2. Again we have wronged his Majestie Suppose thy servant wrong thee thou wilt say thou wilt pardon him but first thou wilt make him humble himself unto thee he shall and must know that he hath wronged a good master So God is willing to pardon thee but yet he will make thy bowels know that thou hast sinned against a good God he will make it appear by thy prayer he will make thy spirit melt he will fill thy face with shame and confusion he will make thee know what a patient God thou hast rebelled against or else the Lord will never pardon thee Doest thou think to pacifie God with a lazie prayer with coming to Church and saying Have mercy upon me most mercifull Father Doest thou think that the Lord will have mercy upon thee for this No no he may send thee quick to hell for all this he will make thee cry and cry again with groans he will make thee cry out and pray on another gates fashion and he will make the soveraignty of his mercy to be seen in thy salvation therefore in regard of Gods majesty he loves men should be importunate Secondly in regard of Gods mercy it is a disgrace for Mercy to be begged frigidly 't is a disgrace to Gods bounty for a man to beg it with lukewarm importunity What makest thou of the mercy of God dost thou think that it is not worth a groan with the running over of a Pater-noster dost thou make Gods mercy of such base reckoning this is a disgrace to Gods goodnesse to be so cold or frigid in prayer Thou hast offered many offerings yet I scorn them saith God Isaiah 43. 23. Thou hast not honoured me with them thou hast not called on me thou hast been weary of calling on me thou hast too short a breath in thy prayers thou carest not how soon thou comest to an end Do you come and lay lazie prayers upon my altar Thou hast not honoured me It was a custom among the Romans when any was condemned to die if he looked for mercy he was to bring father mother and all his kinsmen and acquaintance and they should all come with tears in their faces and with tattered garments and kneel down and beg before the Judge and cry mightily and then they thought Justice was honoured Thus they honoured justice in man for a man condemned to die and so the Lord loves his mercy
should be honoured c and therefore he will have prayer to be importunate that it may appear by groans how highly we esteem of grace our soules must pant and gasp after grace the breath of the Lord being the soul of our souls our hearts will die without it This is to the honour of mercy therefore the Lord will have us Importunate Thirdly as importunity must be in regard of Gods mercy so it must be in regard of our selves else we cannot tell how to esteem it Soon come soon gone lightly gotten suddenly forgotten I have it come let us be jovial and spend it when this is gone I know where to have more But if he had wrought for it and also must work for more if he mean to have more he would better esteem it The world little esteems Mercy what 's the reason The greatest covetous men are they that once were poor when a poor man hath gotten store of riches he is more coverous than he that was born to hundreds or thousands they are carelesse of it and spend lavishly whilst a covetous mans teeth water at it and the reason is because they come lightly by it Therefore the Lord loves that we should come hardly by our mercy not as if he sold mercy for our pains but for our good yet we are not capable of it See Jer. 31. 9. where the Lord speaks thus to his people They come with weeping and with supplication will I lead them This is a fine phrase God leads a soul up and down with supplication before he grants his request just as a begger on the high-way a gentleman coming by he begs of him the gentleman goes on his way as if he took no notice but the begger goes on crying For Gods sake sir bestow something on me yet he goes on still till at last the gentleman comes to his house and then he gives him his desire Even so God leads a soul up and down from one good duty to another till he have brought the soul to that passe that he would have it to be and then he hears it and sayes What is thy suit I will pardon thee What then is the reason may some man say why so few are importunate in prayer I answer first because men count Prayer a penance there is a naturall kind of Popery in mens breasts the Papists when men sin their Priests enjoyn them penance as pilgrimages and scourgings so many Pater noster's and so many Ave-Marie's where they reckon Prayer to be a pennance This naturall Popery is in mens breasts they count Prayer laborious unto them and they are weary of it they are not eager upon prayer they look not on Prayer as a blessing but as a yoak behold what a wearisome thing it is Mal. 1. 13. They were weary of the service of God Oh saâ— they that the Minister would once had done they had rather be in an Ale-house or about their busines all good duties are as penance unto carnal men If a man be to do penance he care not how little he does of it a Rogue cares not for to much whipping Secondly men content themselvs with formality Many men pray as Haman spake the Kings words before Mordecai for he had rather have led him to the gallows than to have said Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the King wil honour but he thought it would be the worse for him if he spake them not and therefore he only spake them for forme And so men for the most part go to Church to hear the Word to Pray to receive the Sacraments c. even for forme or because it is the fashion and they think if they do not thus and thus they shall not be saved You shal have the Drunkard say I am sorry for my drunkenesse but he lies for the next day he will be at the Alâ—house again so the Whoremaster sayes Lord I am sorry that I have sinned against thee but he lies for the next Quean that he meets with having opportunity he falls to whoreing again So the Covetous man will say I am sorry I am sorry I am so full of earthly thoughts yet he lies he is not sorry for you shall have him carking and caring all the day long and he hath a thousand proclamations in his head He only prayes for forme with the rest they only say prayer they pray not I deny not saying of prayer if they pray Our Saviour Christ saith When you pray say Our father The proud man dishonours Gods name saying Thy will be done whereas he should be humble for that is Gods will it is Gods will he should be zealous yet he prayes not He sayes Forgive us our trespasses c. but he prayes not so for he wrongs his neighbour and his neighbour wrongs him and he does not forgive those that trespasse against him He sayes Lead us not into temptation but he prayes it not for he runs presently into temptations and hath no care to avoyd them And this is the reason why men are not importunate viz. because they do make formality of it Thirdly because they are gentlemen-beggers Of all the beggers in the world I would be loth to meet with a gentleman begger for he is proudest of them all if a man tell him that he hath been an ill husband and hath abused himself presently he sets his hands to his side saying I am not as every begger I am thus and thus descended am as good a man by birth as your selfe a gentlemen-beggers heart will not stoop So men â— gentlemen beggers to God they were say they borne of Christian parents and they have been baptized the children of God already What are none the children of God but a company of Puritans We are descended as well as the best of you all These are proud and not as yet brought to a sense of their own miserie When John did preach to and baptize the Scribes and Pharisees he calls them all to nought O ye vipers and full of poison who hath forewarned you to flee from the anger to come Vipers saie they Viper in thy teeth we are the children of Abraham we are better descended then so we are Believers and do you call us vipers then indeed we might crie out Oh we are damned then we had need crie for mercie And in this sense men are Gentlemen-beggars Another reason why men are not importunate is because they have wrong conceits of Prayer I will tell you the sundrie conceits of men First they have high conceits of their own prayers they cannot pray in a morning between the pillow and the blankets halfe asleep and halfe awake but they think that they have done God good service so that he cannot afford to damne them At night he saies Lord have mercy upon me and so goes to sleep and then he thinks God must keep him untill the morning So when he goes to dinner he sais Lord bless these creatures unto
people have though they have nothing else it is the beggers dish as I may so call it A begger hath no way to live but by begging therefore he had need beg hard so we have nothing to live on but praying I mean nothing that is to be done on our side all the promises of God are to be gotten by prayer Suppose a man have nothing to live on but his fingers ends no house nor land nothing left to maintain his wife and children but his fingers ends will he not be toyling all the day he is a day-labourer as we use to say So to pray earnestly is a Christians fingers ends When a house stands but upon 〈…〉 will not a man be fearful and carefull of that pillar why 〈…〉 falls all the hope of salvatio◠〈…〉 unprofitable servants that Mercie will not meddle with us unlesse it be commanded Patience is loth to bear we have so provoked God that Mercie is loth to make or meddle with us for unlesse it have command from God it will not admit of any soul When David begged for loving kindnesse he was importunate else mercie and loving kindness would not look on David Psal 42. 8. Sixthly Prayer is Gods delight The supplication of the wicked is abomâ—ation to God but the prayer of the upright is his delight Prov. 15. 8. The Lord must have something to please him Kings you know must bâ—â—leased so the King of heaven would be pleased by all that come unto â—im Now nothing is more pleasing unto him than prayer Seventhly Importunate prayer is a willing praier There be many that pâ—â—y to God for mercy and yet they are loth to have it why because tâ—y are not importunate When a mans lust runs on the world and worldlâ— pleasures c he speeds not When the woman of Canaan was importunâ—â—e Christ saith unto her Woman be it unto thee as thou wilt she had a â—â—l to grace Matth. 15. 28. Eighthly Importunate prayer is the only faithfull prayer A begger never â—es away from a gentlemans door so long as he believes he shall have â—alms so as long as a soul is importunate with God it is a signe that it 〈…〉 a believing soul O woman saith Christ great is thy faith Why Because her importunity was great therefore Christ concludes her faith was â—â—eat The means to get importunity in prayer are these First Labour to know thine own misery See Ephes 6. 18 19 20. They â—ould not have praied importunately unlesse they had known how it had stood with Paul so unlesse thou know thy misery thou canst not be â—mportunate If a Drunkard or Whoremaster or Sabbath-breaker or Swearer c. knew that they should be damned they would get out of their sins Secondly You must be sensible of your misery Simon Magus knew his miserie yet because he was not sensible of it he sayes Pray ye to the Lord for me Acts 8. 24. If he had been sensible he would himselfe have fallen down before the congregation and he would have confessed how he had committed that sin in a more apprehensive manner Thirdly Observe the praiers of Gods people as here the disciples of Christ did they hearing Christ pray say unto him Master teach us to pray they were so affected with Christs prayer that they said Oh that we could pray thus Oh that we had such a spirit Master teach us to pray So I say consider Gods people how they pray they can pray as if they would soâ—re up to God in supplication they pray as if they world read the heavens If men did but consider this it would quicken them Fourthly Get a stock of prayer That man must needs be rich that hath a rock in every market So if a man have a stock of prayer it is a signe he is â—ke to speed as 1. Cor. 4. 2. If God did lend his ears to the Corinthian when they were crying for Paul then certainly Pauls prayers were importunate Fifthly If thou wilt be importunate labour to be full of good works Qui benè operatur benè erat as Acts 10. Cornelius his alms and prayers were come up to God now if he had committed drunkennesse that had ome up to God with his prayer therefore was it happy for Cornelius tâ—at he was full of good works so thou canst not be importunate unlesse thâ—u be full of good works take heed that swearing and lying c. crie no louder in Gods ears then thy prayers Sixthly If thou wilt be importunate in prayer labour to reform thy â—oushold When Jacob was to call on God he said to his houshold Put away your strange gods Gen. 35. THE SOVERAIGNE VERTUE OF THE GOSPEL In a SERMON By that laborious and faithful Messenger of CHRIST WILLIAM FENNER Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Minister of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford THE SOVERAIGNE VERTUE OF THE GOSPEL PSAL. 147. 3. He healeth them that are broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds HEre are two things contained in this Text the Patients and the Physitian First the Patients the broken in heart Secondly the Physitian Christ it is he that healeth and bindeth up their wounds The Patients here are felt and discerned to have two wounds or maladies First brokenness in heart Secondly woundednesse He binds up such Brokennesse of heart presupposeth wholenesse of heart Wholenesse of heart is twofold either wholeness of heart in sin or wholenesse of heart from sin First wholenesse of heart from sin is when the heart it without sin and so the blessed Angels have whole hearts and so Adam and Eve and we in them before the fall had whole hearts Secondly wholenesse of heart in sin so the devils have whole hearts and all men since the fall from their conception til their conversion have whole hearts and these are they that our Saviour intends The whole need not a physitian but they that are sick The hearts that are whole need not the physitian but they that are broken and sick Sinne is in the godly and they are sick of it even as when poyson is in a man it makes him sick why because the poyson is contrary unto him But sinne is in the wicked and they are not sick of it as poyson is in a toad and the toad is not sick because a toad is of that nature which the poyson is and therefore he needs not a Physitian Will a Physitian go to cure a Toad surely no he will rather kill it he will not cure it So as long as a man is not sick at the heart of his sin Christ will rather kill him than cure him When a man sayes he is sick and yet can sleep eat drink and work and look as well as ever he did feels no pain nor any thing to trouble him what need hath this man of a Physitian So when a man lives in sin yet never breaks his sleep for it but minds his pleasures his
profits hath never the more pain nor anguish in his soul he is soule-whole and heart-whole what need hath he of a Physitian This is a man whole in his sins The wholenesse of the heart is called fallow ground Jerem. 4. 4. for it is like an unbroken field not tilled nor manured there can be no harvest because the ground doth lie fallow so there can be no harvest of grace in that man whose heart is fallow and unbroken and therefore to repent and to break the heart in Scripture is called the putting of ones hand to the plough Luke 9. 62. to plough up the fallow ground of the heart Brokennesse of heart may be considered two wayes First in relation to wholenesse of heart in sin so brokennesse of heart is not a maladie but an inchoative cure of a desperate maladie Secondly in relation to wholenesse of heart from sinne and so it is a maladie or sicknesse and yet peculiar to one blood alone namely Gods elect for though the heart be whole yet it is broken for its sinnes as a man that hath a barbed arrow shot into his side and the arrow is pluckt out of the flesh yet the wound is not presently healed so sinne may be pluckt out of the heart but the scar that was made with plucking it out is not yet cured The wounds that are yet under cure are the plaugues and troubles of conscience the sighs and groanes of a hungring soule after grace the stinging poyson that the blow hath left behind it these are the wounds Now the heart is broken three wayes First By the Law as it breakes the heart of a Thief to heare the sentence of the Law that he must be hanged for his robbery so it breakes the heart of the soule sensible to understand the sentence of the Law Thou shalt not sin if thou do thou shalt be damned If ever the heart come to be sensible of this sentence Thou art a damned man it is impossible to stand out under it but it must break Is not my word a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces Jer. 23. 29. that is Is not my word my Law a hammer Can any rock heart hold out and not be broken with the blowes of it Indeed thus far a man may be broken and yet be a reprobate for they shall be all thus broken in hell and therefore this breaking is not enough Secondly by the Gospel for if ever the heart come to be sensible of its blow it will break all to shatters Rent your hearts for the Lord is gracious c. Joel 2. 12. When all the shakes of Gods mercy come they all cry rent Indeed the heart cannot stand out aginst them if it once feel them Beat thy soul upon the Gospel if any way under heaven can break it this is the way Aristotle observes that a hammer may easily break a hard stone against a soft bed but if it be laid on an anvil which will not give way underneath strike it as hard as you will with the hammer on the top the anvil underneath props it from breaking or if it do break it will not break into shatters for the anvil below helps the stone to hang fast together but if you smite it against a soft bed it breaks it all to shatters So smite thy soul upon the Gospel preach the law as much as as you will preach hell and damnation as much as you will let that be the hammer but then be sure lay thy soul on the Gospel drive it to the Gospel smite against this soft bed and then if ever it will break If you strike a stone against a hard anvil though the parts thereof would fall asunder yet how can they flie off when as the hard anvil will not give way the hard anvil on the one side and the hard hammer on the other side stop up its way from falling asunder So strike the soul with the blows of Gods wrath as much as you will and let it be upon the Law alas whither should the Law open it self that it might break the Law doth but fear it on the one side and the wrath of God doth terrifie it on the other yet all this while it is not broken the soule all this while knows not what it shall doe but smite it on the Gospel and this with the Law rents it and breaks it indeed So Joel he preached hell and damnation to the people of the Jews and laid their hearts upon mercie and then the hammer crie rent for he is merciful c. he laid them on the soft bed of the Gospel and then he smites them Thirdly the heart is broken by the skill of the Minister in the handling of these two the Law and the Gospel God furnisheth him with skill to presse the Law home and gives him understanding how to put to the Gospel and by this means doth God break up the heart For alas though the Law be never so good a hammer and although the Gospel be never so soft a bed yet if the Minister lay not the soul upon it the heart will not break he must fetch a full stroke with the Law and he must set the full power of the Gospel at the back of the soul or else the heart will not break It is a pretty observation of Aristotle Lay saith he an axe upon a block and a great and mighty weight upon it yet it will not enter into the block to cleave it but if you lift up the axe and fetch a full blow at the block then it enters presently So if the Minister have not skil to fetch a dead blow at the heart alas he may be long enough ere he break it but let him fetch a full blow at the soule then doth he break it if ever I took unto me two staves saith the Prophet the one I called beauty the other I called bands and with these I â—ed the flock Zach. 11. 7. There is the course of a true feeder of the flock he feeds them with the Law and the Gospel he takes his two staves and he layes about him till the hearts of his hearers feel him and this is the way to feed them and to breake them off from their sins Thus you see the meanes that God useth to breâ—k your hearts He healeth the broken in heart Hence observe That Christ justifies and sanctifies For that is the meaning First because God hath given Christ grace to practise for the sakes of the broken in heart and therefore if this be his grace to heal the broken-hearted certainly he will heal them The spirit of the Lord is upon me c. He hath sent me to heal the broken in heart c. Luke 4. 18. If he be created master of this art even for this purpose to heal the broken in heart he will verily heal them and none but them He is not like Hosander and Hippocrates whose father appointed them both to be Physitians he
taken from among you for who knowes whether God spared this congregation even for this good mans sake for it is the righteous only that God respects and for their sakes he will spare a whole people therefore surely as Solomon saith the righteous is better than his neighbour yea though never so poor and despised in the eyes of the world yet are they precious in Gods account when I make up my Jewels saith God I will spare them Mal. 3. 17. so that the righteous are Gods Iewels the excellent of the earth are precious in Gods sight and have we not great cause then to lament for the losse of such Seeing then it becometh all Gods children to lament the death of the righteous O how farre then are all such from the spirit of God who are so farre from lamenting that on the contrary they rejoyce at the death of the godly man because he stood in their way they could not follow their works of darknesse as they would but he hindered them he stood in their light they could not run on in sin and wickednesse but he would be reproving admonishing and telling them of their faults and this makes them long for the good mans end and to rejoyce in it when it doth come these do not consider that when the righteous is taken from the earth then they lie open unto the judgements of God But as the Sodomites thrust out just Lot out of their city that so Gods vengeance might fall the sooner upon them for till he was gone the Lord would not destroy them Gen. 19. 21. Even so doe these men desire to be rid of the righteous and rejoyce when they are taken away from them not considering that they are open to Gods vengeance which hangeth over their heads ready to devour them We ought then to be most grieved for the death of the righteous when any of the Saints are taken away by death Oh what a comfort is a righteous man to the children of God what a feeling of grace is there in such a one what comfortable words come there from the mouth of such men how full of comfortable speeches was this poor man alwayes ministring comfort to those that came to visit him what a loss is this then unto us it is more than if thousands of the wicked had gone together and shal we not mourn for the loss of such a one If one of our family or friends dye we can mourne for them and good reason and shall we not mourne for the losse of one of Gods Saints one of the spirituall family one of our fellow-members In this then examine thy self how it is with thee when thou hearest of any of the faithfull that are taken away art thou grieved for it dost thou lament and mourn for it if thou doest not surely thou art no true Christian for the children of God cannot choose but lay it to heart and lament when any of the righteous is taken from among them As Israel lamented the death of Samuel 1 Sam 25. 1. Now concerning the sin of the people in not regarding nor laying it to heart this was a great sin of security in them in that they did as it were rest on their pillows and cryed peace unto themselves notwithstanding Gods judgements upon them in taking away the righteous and freeing them from the evill to come we note that When God will bring any great judgement upon a People or Nation he will ordinarily take away his faithfull servants from among them that so they may be freed from the evil to come Thus good Josiah must perish in his young years that so he might not be taken with the evill to come I will gather thee unto thy fathers saith God and thou shalt goe to thy grave in peace and thy eyes shall not see all the evill that I will bring upon this place 2 King 22. 20. So when God told Abraham of the bondage and captivity whereunto he would bring his posterity he saith thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace Gen 15. 13. And thus it was with the ancient Father St. Augustine when the cruel Vandals besieged his crity he prayed that the Lord would either take him away or cause them to leave the siege and the Lord heard him and took him a way and presently after the Vandals destroyed the city So Luther writing upon this text saith that the Lord after his death would bring great affliction upon Germany and two years after it so fell out indeed Thus ordinarily God takes away his servants from the evill to come See here the mercy of God unto his children in that he takes them away from among the wicked he calls them out of this world that they may not partake of the evill to come shall any one then think it a curse to be taken away betimes in his young years nay happy is he that is taken away from these miserable and fearfull times wherein the judgement of God for our sins hangeth over our heads and is ready every day to seize upon us Secondly seeing that God when he means to bring any heavy judgement upon a people doth ordinarily take away the righteous from the evil to come this shews that when the righteous are taken from amongst us we are certainly to expect some judgement of God upon us For these are they which stood in the gap and kept off the fire of Gods wrath from us that it should not consume us but now being gone we lie open to the judgements of God and therefore when any righteous men are taken from us the losse of them ought to drive us to repentance least Gods judgements come presently upon us and consume us therefore we must forsake our sins and evil wayes and performe new obedience unto God so will he be mercifull unto us yea he will be a shield of defence unto us and a wal of fire about us and he will turn away his judgements from us THE SIGNES OF GODS forsaking a People Preached By that laborious and faithful Messenger of CHRIST WILLIAM FENNER Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Minister of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford THE SIGNES OF GODS forsaking a People JER 14. 9. And we are called by thy Name leave us not TWo things Brethren and beloved in Christ Jesus are intended and expressed by the holy Prophet from the first verse to the 13. verse There is first a denomination of a judgement and that is dearth or famine from the first verse to the seventh Secondly the sword is threatned to the thirteenth verse he will send the famine then the sword and he will not be intreated Then in the eighth and ninth verses we have the importunate prayer of the Church to turne away these judgements And the praier is marvellous sweet in confession where they confesse their sinnes and seek to God for succour First they desire God that he would not take
all that he would speak it is a signe that the King means to grant that man his petition because otherwise the King would never have endured to have heard him so long but would have commanded him to be gone So it is with the soule at the Throne of grace if it come with a petition and prayer to God if God dispatch the soul out of his presence so that the soul hath no heart to pray nor to continue its suit but prayes deadly and dully and is glad when he hath said his prayers and hath done it is a fearful sign that God never means to heare that mans prayers but if thou prayest and prayest and haâ—t not done in thy prayers but God by casting in a spirit of praier and zeal and fervency in prayer imboldens thy heart in its petition it is a sign that God will hear thee and grant thee thy prayers Blessed be God saith the Prophet that hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me Psal 66. 20. How could the Prophet say that the Lord did not turne away his mercy from him How because he turned not away his prayer from him Many Expositors expound it of not turning away his prayer from his heart as if he should say Lord thou continuest my heart to pray thou hast not taken away my prayer from my heart therefore I know that thou continuest thy mercy unto me Secondly the preparednesse of the heart to pray is a sign that God means to hear When the Merchant stretcheth his bagge wider and wider it is a signe that he means to put something in it so when God opens the heart of a poor soul it is a signe that he means to fill it when God prepares the soule with more hunger and thirst after grace with more longings and breathings it is a sign that God hath already prepared his eare to hear that prayer it is a signe that heart shall speed with God in prayer Psal 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine eare to heare First God prepares the heart to pray and then he bows his eare to hear Examine thy soul then art thou more and more prepared to pray hath God spoken with a powerfull voice to thy soul to open it selfe wide it is a signe that God meanes to fill thy soul with his graces But if thou canst rush into Gods presence and leave thy preparednesse behind thee leavest thy soul and thy thoughts and thy affections behind thee and comest with a straightned heart in thy deadnesse and luke warmnesse this is a fearefull signe that God will not heare thee Thirdly Gods gracious looke is a signe that he will hear thee for sometimes beloved God answers his people by a cast of his countenance with a gratious smile of his face Psal 22. 24. He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither hath he hid his face from him but when he cryed unto him he heard Hereby was the Prophet able to know that God did hear his prayer because he did not hide his face from him when his poor soule saw God smile on him and set a favourable eye upon him this made him say that God heard his cry This is a riddle to the world If you should ask the men of the world what the meaning of Gods gratious countenance is or what they see of it alas they can say nothing of it they know not what it means onely the godly man understandeth Psal 34. 15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open unto their cry These two go together their prayers enter in Gods eares and they know it why because they see it in his countenance upon them as a Petitioner may read his speeding with the King by his countenance towards him so a poor soul may see how prayers prevaile by Gods countenance and look upon him If thou then art a stranger to Gods countenance if God never admitted thee into his presence to see his face and countenance it is a signe that God little regards thy prayers and hath no mind to hear thee A wicked man is like a varlet that stands without dores and begges an almes but is not suffered to go into the Gentlemans presence and therefore knowes not how he speeds whether the Gentleman will give him an almes or whether he be providing a cudgell to beat him away so a wicked man prayes and puts up his petitions to God but he is not able to come before God he cannot see whether God look as if he meant to hear his prayers yea or no he knows not but that God may be providing a curse and plague for him in stead of a blessing But a child of God comes within the list of Gods countenance he can tell when God smiles on him and when he takes another looke he is able to come into Gods presence Job 13. 16. He also saith Job shall be my salvation for an hypocrite shall not come before him A strange verse Job saith God is his salvation and he gives this reason why he was able to say so for an hypocrite shall not come before him One would think that this were no reason but yet it is an undeniable reason as if Job had said I come into his presence and he lookes like a Saviour a Redeemer upon me but an hypocrite shall not come before him he stands like a rogue and begs without the gate Indeed a wicked man comes into Gods presence in regard of Gods Omnipresence but this is not enough thy Oxe and thine Asse stands in Gods presence yea so the very Devils themselves are in Gods presence But if thou come not into Gods presence of grace if God do not admit thy soule into the list of his Throne it is a sign that God hears thee not Men should therefore examine their consciences what face or presence of God they come into or see when they pray in their prayers whether they come before God yea or no. Beloved no wicked man under heaven can come before God this is made the marke of a godly man onely Psal 140. 13. The upright shall dwell in thy presence mark here dwelling in Gods presence is onely determined to the righteous the upright shall dwell in thy presence And here I appeale againe to the hearts and consciences of wicked men what presence of God doe they find in their prayers they see their Pews and the walls or hangings c. before them they see the heavens and the clouds above them they know nothing within dores Do they see Gods presence and countenance no it is the upright man onely that dwells in Gods presence He sees how God lookes on him how his face smiles on him and therefore it is not a wicked mans coming to Church and falling on his knees and uttering the words of prayer that is a coming into Gods presence then this
Isaiah 27. 11. He that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will not pitty them It is commonly beleeved if men come to Church heare the Word and call upon God that then presently they are good Christians Beloved it is not so Mat. 7. 21. Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Men are ready when they can but call Lord have mercy on me O sweet Saviour pitty me most mercifull Lord Jesus have compassion on me if they can pray in their families and pray at Church c. to think now all is well with them and Christ cannot but save them and give them the Kingdome of Heaven but our Saviour puts a not upon it and saith not every one that saith Lord Lord it is noâ— a Lord a Lording of Christ with the tongue onely it is not a taking up of an outward profession of Christ only that is sufficient for a man that shall inherit the Kingdome of Heaven no saith Christ but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven But of this by the by Secondly there are needlesse discouragements which doe much hurt in prayer Nee lesse discouragements do much hurt to many a poor soule that hath forcible wouldings and wracked desires after grace and holinesse and yet is held by discouragements yea many a Christian heart lieth a long time under it wrestling and striving under its wants and yet kept out from grace and from growing in grace because of discouragements yea the best and strongest of God Saints have been kept off and have hung much on discouragements Fear not saith God to Abraham Gen. 15. 1. So fear not Joshua saith God to Joshua Josh 1. 9. Intimating that both Abraham and Joshua were afraid of discouragements they were afraid that many evils would befall them that they should meet with many rubs and difficulties that would be too hard for them therefore the Lord calls to them fear not be not djsmayed nor discouraged I â—ou saidst fear not Hence observe That God would not have any Christian soul to be discouraged in prayer Thou saidst fear not For our clearer prooceeding herein first let me shew you what discouragement is and secondly how it comes to be dangerous and hurtfull in prayer What is discouragement It is a base dismayment of spirit below or beneath the strength that is in a man under the apprehension of some evill as if it were too hard for him to grapple with it There be foure things in this diffinition First I say it is a base dismayment of spirit and so I call it to distinguish it for there is an humble dismayment which a Christian is commanded A man is bound to be dismayed for his sinnes I say 32. 11. Tremble ye carelesse women that are at ease be troubled ye carelesse ones these carelesse ones went on in their sinnes and feared not God calls to them and bids them to be dismayed But the dismayment and the discouragement I speak of it is a base dismayment of spirit which is either when he is dismayed that ought not or he is dismayed at that whereat he ought not to fear where no cause of fear is As he that riding along upon the high way spying a mans shape thought it was some Spirit and thereupon he sickened and died So many a poor soul looking in the perfect Law of God and seeing his own uglinesse and filthinesse he is discouraged and thinks himself undone his heart waxeth cold within him and he begins to fear that he is but a dead and damned man Secondly it is down beneath the strength that is in a man that man is properly said to be discouraged not that he hath no strength at all in him nor no courage at all for such a one is an infeebled man not a man discouraged but a discouraged man is a man put besides the courage that is in him when a man hath strength enough to grapple with the evill before him but through dismayment of spirit he cannot put it forth Have not I commanded thee saith God to Joshua Be strong and of a good courage be not afraid neither be thou dismaied Iosh 1 9. God had given Joshua strength enough whereby he was inabled to observe and do according to all that Law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded him God had now doubled his Spirit upon him yet he commands him be not afraid neither dismayed as if he had said Joshua if thou beest dismayed and discouraged though thou hast strength and power to go through the businesse that I have called thee unto yet thou wilt not be able to use it nor to put it forth if thou beest discouraged Thirdly it is at the apprehension of some evill I say not at the sight of some evill for a man may be dismayed at the apparition of good as Mary when she saw nothing but a good Angell Luke 1. 29. she saw nothing but a glorious Angel neverthelesse she was afraid and discouraged Why because she had a secret apprehension of some evill either of some evill proceeded in the salutation or some unworthinesse in her selfe to receive such a gracious salutation it cannot be the apprehension of any good that discourageth a man but the apprehension of some evill Fourthly not of every evill neither for if the evill be but small courage will stand it out but it is of such an evill as he fears he is not able to grapple withall If the evill before him be inferiour to him he scornes it as the barking of a toothlesse Dog If it be but an evill equall to his strength then he makes a tush at it because he knowes or thinkes himselfe able to encounter with it But if it be an evill above his strength then his spirit melts and droops before him See this in Saul 1 Sam. 17. 11. and his people When they saw the Champion of the Philistims coming against them when they saw him so hugely and marvelously armed and heard him speake such bigge words they thought they were not able to stand and to encounter with him and therefore saith the Text when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistim they were dismayed and greatly afraid Thus you see what discouragement is Now we come to the second question to shew how discouragements come to be hurtfull in prayer such discouragements the Lord would not have our hearts to be in when we pray unto him For first God cannot give ear to that man that is out of heart in his prayers Thou canst never pray if thou beest dismaied in prayer When the soul begins to feare and reason O I am so unworthy that God will not looke at me I am so sinfull so blockish so dead and dull to all good that God will never regard me Thou canst never pray Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call on him in whom they have not beleeved If
the wildernesse for here is neither bread nor water and our soule loatheth this light bread So beloved if we suffer our soules to be discouraged we shall soone come to murmure against God wherefore hath he brought me up to this strictnesse and precisenesse when I was a drunkard a worldling when I followed the lust of my flesh and liberty then I enjoyed onions garlick and the flesh-pots of Egypt pleasures and delights for my soule then I had a good hope in God and a good perswasion that my soul should goe to heaven and then Preachers told me that if I would give over such and such sinnes and look after Heaven a little more and doe such and such things O then I should come to a Land flowing with milke and honey then I should not misse of glory and salvation But alas I see nothing but Gyants and Anakims I am in a wildernesse now now I see a man may have a great deal of repentance and yet be a cast away A man may have a great deal of faith and yet be but a reprobate A man may give over a great many sins and yet perish in hell now I see a man may live civilly and well and have and do a great many good things and yet be damned when he hath done all A man may even go to Heaven Gates and yet the gates be shut against him and he turned into hell Alas my poor soul is in a wildernesse now I know not which way to goe I am ready to lose my selfe I see nothing here now but huge Gyants the sons of Anack strong corruptions inclining and forcing me to evill most fearefull and violent suggestions and temptations of the Devill ready to thrust me into the gulfe of wickednesse and despaire And now the soule begins to thinke that it is good for it to returne again into Egypt to fall to its old courses again for certainly God looks for no such matter he requires no such strictnesse and precisenesse And so it falls a whining and repining at the Word and Ministers of God that have call'd men to it and laid it upon them and hath no heart now to do thus and thus any longer And thus it falls into discouragements because of the way and into a thousand quandaries whether it may not go back again or no. And all these murmurings and repinings are because men suffer themselves to be discouraged Thirdly discouragements will cause thee to think that God hates thee When the soul like Baals Priests 1. Kings 18. 26. hath been crying from morning to noon ten twenty thirty yeeres it may be and yet hath no answer now it will begin to think if God did love me then he would grant me my petitions Then hereupon comes into a mans secret thoughts and feare that God hardly loves his soule So was it with Israel when they were discouraged they said because the Lord hated us therefore he brought us out of the Land of Egypt Deut. 1. 27. Because that they were discouraged and because that their Brethren that went for spies had disheartned them therefore they were apt to say the Lord hated them Beloved it is a miserable thing when the soule calls the love of God into question Consider that as thou canst not have a friend if thou beest suspitious and jealous of his love to thee So thou canst never have the love of God settled on thy heart so long as thou art jealous of his love to thee Fourthly If thou root them not out it is to be feared that they will bring thee to despair Melancholy thoughts and feares and discouragements drive the soul to despaire For when the soul sees it selfe still disappointed of its hopes at the last it growes hopelesse If it have waited one day and the next day too if it have prayed this weeke this moneth this year and yet still it seeth it selfe held off and disappointed it will at last grow hopelesse Take heed therefore I beseech you of all needlesse discouragements to fear because that thou findest not that that thou wishedst or prayedst for to day or to morrow in thine own time that therefore thou shalt never get it that now thou shouldest for ever despaire of the grace and love of God and think that now God will never hear thee that thou shalt never get grace and power over thy corruptions Men think that the preaching of the Word of God brings men to despaire the preaching of such strict points and the urging such precise doctrines makes men despaire men are loth to be at the paines to root out their discouragements It is rather a cold or dead preaching of the Word that is the cause of this for when the soule is instructed by holinesse humbled by holinesse converted by holinesse at the last when it comes to be thorowly awakened when it sees that this and this is required in a true conversion of the soule to God that herein true repentance must declare and demonstrate it selfe by these and these fruits or else it is but false and rotten Why now the soul must needs be brought to despaire because it seeth that though it have been thus and thus humbled though it have praied fasted and mourned in this and this manner yet it sees it hath not a soundesse of grace There is such a grace in it such a worke and such a fruit of Gods Spirit in it that yet he could never finde in himselfe this makes the soule to despaire Indeed Preachers may be to blame if they speake and preach onely the terrours and condemnations of the Law without the promises of the Gospel for these should be so tempered that every poore broken soule may see mercy and redemption for him upon his sound and unfeigned repentance and humiliation But if men doe despaire they may thanke themselves for it their owne sinnes for it their owne discouragements for it because they suffer these to continue in them Cain his heart grew sad his conntenance fell he was wroth and disquiered in his minde and heavily discouraged why Gen. 4. Sin lay at the dore what dore the dore of his conscience rapping and beating upon his heart Beloved when the soule lets sin lie at the dore drunkennesse pride and worldlinesse security hardnesse and deadnesse of heart lie at the dore when a man lets his negligent and fruitlesse hearing of the word lie at the dore when a man lets his vaine and dead praying his temporizing and fashionary serving of God lie at the dore of conscience to tell him that all his hearing of the word of God profits him nothing that his praiers are dead and vain that his mourning fasting and all his humiliation is counterfeit and rotten and that he hath no soundnesse of grace in him but that for all this he may fall into hell when sin lâ—eth thus at the dore thus rapping at the conscience it is no wonder if the soule fall into desperation as it was here Cain let
were but now you cannot help it these things and times are gone and cannot be recalled such a one hath been a drunkard a swearer a worldling c. but he cannot help it now True he might have helped it and because he did not his heart shall bleed for it if he belong to God but doe not stand poaring too much upon it but consider now what you have to doe now you are to humble your selves now you are to strive with God in all manner of prayer for more grace and more power of obedience and assurance and be not discouraged Fourthly If the soule be discouraged it will breed nothing but sorrow What is the reason that many Christians are alwayes weeping and mourning and sighing and sobbing from day to day all their life time and will not be comforted because of these discouragements 1 Thes 4. 13. Sorrow not saith the Apostle as those that have no hope as if he had said sorrow if you will but do not sorrow as they that have â—o hope How is that it is a sorrow with nothing but sorrow from which they have no hope of inlargement or freedome O then my brethren suppose you have dead hearts suppose you want zeale you want assurance suppose it be so yet labour to attain these grace sorrow and spare not weepe and mourne and powre out whole buckets of teares for your sinnes if you can but sorrow not with nothing but sorrow be not discouraged suppose that thou hast a dead heart that thou art an hypocrite that thou hast a rotten heart it is a heavy thing and a fearful case indeed for which thou hast great cause of humiliation and sorrow but yet sorrow not desperately as men without hope be not wholly discouraged but as you sorrow for your sinnes so also labour with incouragement to get cut and be rid of your sinnes Fifthly Discouragements breed and procure a totall perplexity They leave the soul in a maze that it knows not whither to turne it self When men come to be discouraged O what shall I do saith one I am utterly undone saith another I know not what will become of me saith a third Oh I am utterly lost I shall perish one day one day God will discover me and be avenged on me for this and that sin I were as good go to he lat the first as at the last for that will be the end of me I have gone to prayer but that doth not helpe me I have gone to Sacraments but I find no help still my soule lies under the power of sinne still my sinnes are as strong in me as ever Thus the soule is discouraged and cries out Oh what shall I doe I know not what to doe What shall I doe sayest thou Alas thou hast things enough to doe if thou wert not discouraged Utterly undone No man thou mightest see that thou art not utterly undone but that thou art discouraged Dost thou not know what will be come of thee yea poore soule there is mercy grace and peace for thee if thou wilt not be discouraged Sixthly Discouragements whisper within a man a sentence of death and an impossibility of escaping As far as the discouragement of life goeth so far goeth the sentence of death We despaired of life and had the sentence of death in our selves saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. 8. 9. he despaired of life in himselfe and therfore had the sentence of death in himself this was good but he did not despaire of life in God for then he should have had likewise the sentence of death from God in his conscience If you despaire in the Lord you have the sentence of death and damnation from God in your conscience take heed of this my beloved be not discouraged in God do not despaire in the Lord that will work a miserable effect in your souls it will secretly whisper a sentence of damnation in your soules It is strange to consider how many poore soules rub on with these whispering sentences in their bosomes suffering their consciences day by day to tell them that they are rotten to tell them that they were never yet converted to tell them that they are yet in the state of damnation and yet they will not root out these discouragements O goe to the Throne of grace begge for grace and for mercie and for power against sinne and bee not discouraged What wilt thou carry thine owne sentence of death in thy breast if thou wilt not rouze up thy soule and pray with more affection and confidence and shake off discouragements take heed least thou carry the sentence of thine owne death and damnation in thy bowels Oh therefore once more let mee beseech you to take heede of these discouragements and now hearken unto the voice of God which calleth upon you Feare not Thou drewest nigh in the day that I called upon thee Thou saidest Feare not THE MISERY OF THE CREATURES BY The Sinne of Man In a SERMON By WILLIAM FENNER Minister of the Gospel sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Lecturer of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford They are accusing groanes They are judging and condemning groanes First they are upbraiding groanes Give ears Oh ye heavens and I will speak and hear Oh earth the words of my lips Deut. 32. 1. as if God had said mark O ye heavens and let all the whole world hear what I testify against this people as if the heavens and the earth did upbraid them of their unthankfulnesse God commands the Sun to shine and it shineth the earth to fructify and it obeyeth But this wicked people he commands to repent and forsake their sins and they will not Chrysostome saith wicked men although they have naturall reason in them are more senceless than sencelesse creatures the rocks and the flints the flye and the gnats may upbraid them the rocks rent in sunder but this people will not rent their hearts swarmes of flies were hiss'd for to come and they yielded obedience and the livelesse creatures groan under the slavery of sin but they will not obey they will not be brought to groan for their sins How do all the creatures upbraid man Do ye thus requite the Lord O ye foolish people and unwise Beloved how do the heavens and the earth upbraide thee for unthankfulnesse wert thou ever in sickness and God did not deliver thee wert thou ever in misery and God did not comfort thee wert thou ever in any straight and God did not direct thee in sickness who was life unto thee in poverty who supplyed thee in danger who delivered thee was it noâ— God that hath done all for thee And shall the Lord command thee obedience and wilt thou not grant it him doth he command thee to part with thy lust and crucify all thy corruptions and wilt thou not obey him doth the Lord command thee to be meek humble patient and dost thou refuse then hear O heavens
of Christs comming into the world to redeem us for our justification and then to be an example of life to us for our sanctification saith Saint Basil Christ was set for a signe to all nations I say 11. 10. A land marke to all people to take their aim how to thinke how to speake how to walke how to live As men at Sea if they see a Land-mark or the Pole-starre thereby know how to guide the Ship so Christ he is a signe to all Nations a signe of zeale in prayer a signe of reverence in the Temple of perseverance in holinesse of piety in life and of unspotted purity and constancy in death Yea to winde it up a little higher to walk as Christ walked is an As of participation We must not onely walke as Christ walked with an as of proportion for so the beasts may walk every creature the Sunne the Moone c. walke according to their rule wherein God hath set them as Christ did walke in his course that God set him in but this is not enough he that is in Christ must walke as Christ walked with an As of participation he must pattake of the same life with Christ and be led by the same Spirit of Christ guided by the same grace of Christ Even as lesse white is like more white though not alike in the same degree yet in the same nature there is the same nature in the lesser that there is in the bigger So we must have the same life obey the same commandements be guided by the same rule swayed by the same motions led by the same Spirit that was in Christ If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 9. What saith one can there be any man that is none of Christs doth not he say that every beast in the field and the cattell on a thousand hils are his Psal 50. 10. and doth he say that there are some men that are none of his Yea saith the Apostle If any man be not led by the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Indeed he is Christs as the beasts are his by creation and preservation c. but thou art none of Christs by grace and redemption unlesse thou hast the same Spirit that was in Christ to live in thee What is it to walk as Christ walked it is to contemne the same gain and pleasures and vanities of the world that he contemned to yield to the same precepts that he obeyed to yield to the same repproaches hatred and persecutions that he endured to take up the same duties to preach the same truths to live in the same rule and in all to be led by the same Spirit Thus you see the explanation of the doctrine come we now to the Reasons which are principally these foure The first reason is taken from the scope and end for which the Lord did send his Son into the world as to justifie the ungodly so also to conforme all those that are justified to the image of Christ You may read that this was Gods purpose that he laid downe in himselfe from all eternity before the foundation of the world was laid when he predestinated that his Son should come into the world he predestinated that all that should be redeemed by him should be conformable to the image of his Son Rom. 8. 29. whomsoever he did foreknow with the fore knowledge of Love and predestination them he did predestinate to be made like unto Christ that looke what Christ was by nature they might be by grace If this be the end of Gods predestination then it is impossible that any man should be in Christ and not have the image of Christ Chrysostome saith that as Christ was holy by nature so those that are predestinate should be holy by grace God shall never be frustrated of his end and purpose If God have purposed it who shal frustrate it Man indeed may be frustrated of his end because of his weaknesse and inability to accomplish by himselfe what he purposeth some other person or thing prevents him of his end But God as he hath a purpose in himselfe so he is powerfull and able to bring his purpose to passe We may conclude that that man that prayeth for mercy and wisheth Oh that I might have redemption by Christ Oh that I might go to heaven and yet lives in his sinnes and slavery to his lusts he prayeth to have benefit by Christ and to goe to Heaven in spight of God against the will and purpose of God Our owne consciences may tell us that God cannot be frustrated of his end and purpose but that thus we must be made conformable to Christ or else we shall never have benefit or salvation by him or else Gods purpose would be frustrated and in vain That thing must be frustrated and in vaine that attains not its end if this be the end that God hath purposed in himselfe in the giving of Christ for life and salvation to the world that all that are redeemed and saved by him should be made conformable to him either all such as are not conformable to the Image of Christ shall never be saved but shall perish for ever without Christ or else Gods purpose must be frustrated and in vaine The second reason is taken from the practice of Christanity saith Leo in vain are we called Christians if we be not imitators of Christ and live as he lived The Disciples are called Christians Acts. 11. 26. The very name tells us that we must be followers of Christ or else we are not in Christ if any man be in Christ he must really be a Christian As a man if he be of a trade he must set up that trade all his layings out and travell and pains must be in that trade why it is his profession so if a man be in Christ all his conversation must be Christian his labours and endeavours must be in the trade of Christianity he must walke as Christ walked He must be a Christian in all his courses in all his ways or else he is not in Christ As the Plaâ—onists are denominated from Plato so are Christians from Christ The Franciscans from Francis the Dominicans from Dominick these were bound to follow the rules of their Order or else superstition would not suffer them to be of that Order much less canst thou be of the Order of Christ if thou observe not his rules if thou live not as he lived Christ hath given thee a law for thy mind for to govern thy thoughts Thou wilt not busie thy thoughts with holy meditations thy heart is not christian Christ hath given a law to thy affections thou wilt be fretful and impatient malitious proud and ambitious and carnal thy passions are not christian Christ hath given a law to thy life that thy life may be holy therefore if thy life be not according to the Gospel of Christ thy life is
not Christian neither will Christ own thee for his but will slay thee with curses as an enemy of his crosse and not as a follower of his death These mine enemies that will not that I should reigne over them saith Christ Luke 19. 27. Bring them hither and slay them before me Thou canst not look for a Saviour to have mercy on thee if thou wilt not be ruled as a Disciple of Christ but thou shalt be damned in the presence of Christ Slay them before me saith Christ Christ Jesus which is the Saviour of the World will damne thee and see thee confounded before his face he himselfe will see thee in hell thou mayest cry for mercy and for the blood of Christ yet if thou wilt not live as Christ lived but wilt rebel and sin against Christ Christ will see thee in hell and though he look on thee yet he will destroy thee without mercy If ever thou beest in Christ thou must walke as Christ walked thou must be a Christian like to that good Martyr who to all demands answered that he was a Christian When they asked him what his name was he answered it was Christian his thoughts were Christian his words and actions Christian his countrey his hopes his aime all that ever he did they could get nothing out of him but all was Christian and so he gave testimony to the Lord Jesus So I tell thee thou must be a Christian all over a Christian in thy thoughts in thy words a Christian in thy calling and in all thy imployments being swayed by the Gospell of Christ or else thou art not in Christ The third reason is taken from the essentiall or rather rather from the integrall union that is between Christ and all these that are in Christ they are all members of his most gracious body Ye are the body of Christ and members in particular 1 Cor. 12. 27. now we know that all the members have the same life and are quickened by the same soule the soule is whole in the whole body and whole in every member of the body so if Christ be our head we are his members and the christian life of Christ must be diffused thorough us so that one man cannot be a drunkard another a worldling another an Epicure another a swearer another a whoremaster another a lyar another a lukewarmeling another a mocker another a vaine-Jester another a man-pleaser and yet be a member of Christ All the members of Christ must have one life As in a mans body there be veines arteries and nerves that are the channels to convey life and motion and sense to every member that all the members may have the same life dispersed through the body So it is in the body of Christ every member of Christ hath faith for his veines to convey the same life and the same spirits and the same gratious motions to all the body that it is not now the member that lives but Christ that lives in it Gal 2. I live not saith the Apostle but Christ liveth in me As in the body it is not the eye that seeth if we speak proporly but the man that seeth with the eye it is not the ear that heareth but the man that heareth with the ear so in the body of Christ it is no more the man that speaketh but the truth of Christ speaking in him We have the minde of Christ saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 16. if we be in Christ Christ thinkes in us Christ speakes in us Christ walkes in us Christ doth all in us As in the same body the soule rules and quickens every member The body of Christ cannot be a monster like those Locusts spoken of Revel 9. 7. that had shapes like horses heads as it were like crownes of gold and their faces like the faces of a man and had haire like women and teeth like Lyons this is a monster and not a simple body such a one cannot the body of Christ be a mocker for one member an ignorant sot for another an hypocrite for another a carnall gospeller for another a covetous worldling for another As in the body of a man every member in this mans body must be this mans member and not the member of another man As for example Peter must have Peters legs and not Simon Magus his legs Peter must have Peters eys not Alexanders eyes Peter must have Peters hands and not Judas hands you cannot take the eye of an Horse the leg of a Dog and the paw of a Beare and put them together and say here 's a man no this would be a monster every perfect body must have its own members So it is in the body of Christ every member in Christ his Body must have Christ his Members every member in a mans body acts with reason so every member of Christ acts with direction of Christ it is informed by Christ his minde is quickened by Christ his life so that a man cannot be a member of Christ but he must walke as Christ walked I know the best Christian may fall seven times a day though he be in Christ it doth not therefore follow that every particular action savours of Christ but as every member in the body lives the life of the whole body or else it is a dead member so thou must live the life of Christ or else thou canst never be saved You know that all the actions of a man are guided by reason yet there are some particular actions that he doth and not by reason as it may be he shakes his head or moves his hand and jogs his foote and considers not what he doth they are the actions of a reasonable man though not reasonable actions so there may be many actions that are the actions of Christians though not Christian actions The sinnes of the godly they are the actions of a Christian but they are not Christian actions there may bee stoppings in the body though the same life and quickening runnes through the whole body yet through the stopping of the liver and the pipes distempers and ill humours may be raised in the body so it may be in the body of Christ and so many a Christian may fall through infirmity but the course of a Christian the life of a Christian the ordinary trade of a Christian the walke of a Christian is to live with the same spirit that lived in Christ to walke in the same way that Christ walked in The last reason is taken from the neere relation that is to be betweene Christ and every member of Christ They are not onely the Servants and Disciples of Christ but they are the children of Christ by his begetting of them If all that are in Christ are the children of Christ they must needs walke as Christ walked Like begets the like Indeed a godly man may beget a wicked child a gracelesse sonne the reason is because he begets his sonne not as he is a godly man
judgements upon this Land If a man lie sick and they see death in his face they call it the foretelling signe so the Ministers of God may foresee the death and destruction of a Kingdome I am sure we have better grounds then the Physicians can have And therefore why may not the Ministers which are Gods Physicians doe it The signes of Gods punishments that are coming upon us are these The first is of Gods Ministers which with one voice doe foretel judgements to come Then this is a signe that God hasteneth to battel Amos 3. 7. Surely the Lord will doe nothing but he revealeth his secrets to his servants the Prophets but especially when they agree all in one thing then the Kingdom is dangerously gone Luke 1. 70. The Lord giveth one mouth as he spake by the mouth of all his holy Prophets I will say nothing in this but let me appeale to your consciences whether all good Ministers in the Church of England have not declared by Gods word that judgements are coming out against this Land and us for many yeares together And as our Saviour saith Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in beaven Secondly when sinnes of all sorts doe abound frequently and with a bold face and whorish forehead For when the harvest is ripe then cometh so many sickles to cut it down so when the sinnes of a Kingdome are ripe then it is time to cut that Kinddome down Genes 6. 12. The earth was filled with violence all flesh had corrupted their wayes therefore make an Arke for the end of all flesh is come God will wash away their filthinesse Consider whether it be not thus with England or no. Was ever drunkennesse and blasphemie and scoffing at religion and prophaning Gods Sabbaths nay liberty given so to do was it ever come to that height that now it is were ever great ones as Bishops and Ministers so defiled as now they are our Land hath often been overcome when men were grown desperately wicked then they were destroyed Now what sinnes what blasphemies what hating of God lyeth raging in our times I think there is none in this Congregation but sees and heares how City and Countrey are venomed and benumned and defiled with sinnes of all sorts Thirdly when the devill and wicked men cast bones of dissention that is a signe of ruine When there was a dissention between Rehoboam and the people then God pulled away ten Tribs and much bloud was shed So when King and Commons and all are divided Ephraim against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim but both against Judah then it is a fearfull signe that that Nation shall be destroyed I say to apply this if ever a Kingdome were divided then this is if we could all accord then we might expect something but now our best bloud is gone and our hearts are gone the Lord in mercie raise us up from dead ashes O consider this I beseech you and lay it to heart Will God deceive his Ministers and make them all blindfold no no. When God puts his Spirit into his Ministers and makes them all with one mouth to call and cry desolation and when all manner of sinnes so fearfully abound and when there is such divisions in the State then let us look for desolation Fourthly the fourth signe of Gods anger on a Nation is when all the hearts of men faile then it is a signe that vengeance is at the door when there is a kinde of Cowardise through the guilt of the conscience Josh 2. 11. It was a certaine signe of destruction when the peoples hearts failed them thus it is with every man almost amongst us every mans heart is faint and sick Iudges 7. 13. When Gideon was to goe against the Midianites being a wonderfull Army one dreamed that a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host and overthrew them Then Gideon said be of good courage for I see that the Lord hath given them into our hands because their hearts were feareful so he took three hundred men and put a trumpet in every mans hand with empty pitchers and lamps and they cried the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon and in the twelfth verse see what followed All the host ran and cried and fled Even so it is with us we faint upon every occasion Gods spirit is gone from England While Sampson had the Spirit of God upon him he was too hard for the Philistins but when the Spirit of God was gone from him he had no heart no spirit no courage then every man was too hard for him and then he was taken and had his eyes pulled out So when the Spirit of God was with this Nation we had courage and got the day but now alas every slavish Nation is too hard for us and every bug-beare scares us O poore England heavy is thy case therefore we may expect nothing but miserie one way or another Now I might set down a Comment or Theame with many teares for this cause that every one may reade his own destruction from this point I am not a Prophet nor the sonne of a Prophet but from the word of the Lord I speak this thing unto you and upon these grounds I can say so That where these signes are destruction and calamities follow at the heeles of them We having all these signes in our State certainely destruction is at our heeles therefore let me giue you some directions what to doe in these dangerous times First let every man knock off the love of the world of houses of lands and corne and flockes they shortly shall leave thee or thou them O therefore cast them quite out of thy heart I would to God I could bring my heart and yours to this pitch that we could give wife and children and all as lost I confesse it is hard so to doe but God will fire us out shortly from these things if we part not from them in these our deepest afflictions Ier. 45. 5. Baruch was so much glued to the world that he began to feather his nest and therefore the Prophet said seekest thou great things for thy selfe seeke them not for behold I will bring evill upon all flesh So let me say to you as the Prophet said to Gehazi Is it now a time to build Therefore at night when thou goest to bed take thy leave of thy wife and children and of thy houses and all and say this house may be mine enemies before the morning or may be set on fire this is not my wife these are not my children As Doctor Taylor said when he was going to his execution when he saw his wife and children he embraced them and blessed them in the name of the Lord and set them down again and made no bones of them and so do you pluck away your hearts from all these things here below and give them all for lost Secondly get divine submission to the will of God let thy heart be
know them you would not doe it for had they knowne the Lord of life they would not have crucified him 1 Cor. 2. 8. so if such as doe persecute Gods children did but know their worth and that they were his children they would not do it Let us esteem godly men and women as persons of great worth The Saints of God have alwaies done so Saint Lawrence being demanded by his persecutors wherein the worth of the Church lay the story saith he gathered a companie of poor people together and pointed at them and said there lies the worth of the Church so I have read of an ancient King who made a great feast and invited a company of poor people which were Christians and he bade his Nobles also now when the Christians came he had them up into the Presence Chamber but when the Nobles came he set them in his hall Being of the Nobles demanded the reason he answered I doe not this as I am their Kyng here for I respect you more then them but as I am a King of another world I must needs honour these because God doth most honour them and then they shall be Kings and Princes with me soe doe you esteeme of them according to their worth and shew it If they be persons of such great worth here you may be directed how to get a name of worth in the world to be honoured of God This is the way labour to be beleevers serve God and close with the godly be of one minde and of one heart with them Honour is the thing that all desire according to that of Saul to Samuel Honour me before the Elders of my people so we are all ready to say oh that I could be honoured in the heart of those that I converse withall I say then thou must labour to serve and honour God in thy heart let that be thine honour It is a meere folly for men to think to get honour by swearing by lying by cutting and slashing and drunkennesse c. The sweet ointment of a good name is not compounded of stinking ingredients That should serve to comfort the godly that seeing they are of so great worth what though they be disgraced here let this suffice thee God that knows the true worth of every thing he accounts thee worthy what though dogs bark and crie out against thee for thy holinesse let them alone and know thou this that the time will come when never a curre of them all but will wish oh that mine end might be like his and that they might goe as thy dogge to heaven with thee when they shall see thee sitte at his right hand where are pleasures for evermore Lastly you that approve your selves to be of the number of the godly labour to walke worthy of the Lord. Colos 1. 10. Doth God thus advance you then strive you to honour him with inward and outward worship God hath not done these things for you that you may live as you list no you are a chosen generation c. 1 Pet. 2. 19. Ergo you must shew forth the vertue of him that hath called you You that are parents of children the more you doe for them the more you look they should honour you the more God hath done for you the more you ought to feare him God hath drawn you out of darkenesse into a marvellous light and will you yet walke as vassals of Satan This was that kept Josoph from committing adultery even the favour of advancement and how then can I doe this great wickednesse saith he so thou art advanced to honour from a childe of the devill to be the son of God how then canst thou commit wickednesse Consider I say how God hath advanced thee from being a slave of Satan to be his adopted son and shall I now become a covetous person shall I be a companion of Gods enemies when you are enticed by the divell or wicked men to any sin say what shall such a man as I consent shall I flie from my colours what a Kings son and flie Consider this THE TIME OF GODS GRACE Is limited In a SERMON By WILLIAM FENNER Minister of the Gospel sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Lecturer of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford THE TIME OF GODS GRACE Is limited GEN. 6. 3. The Lord said My Spirit shall not alway strive with man because he is but flesh and his dayes shall be a hundred and twenty yeares IN this Chapter is continued the History of the decay of the World wherein is described Gods purpose of destroying mankind in which are these two parts First the meritorious deserving Cause wherein God gives an account what he doth how inexcusable the world is and how just God is unto the. 14 verse Secondly a direction unto Noah to make an Arke where we may see that God in his judgement remembers mercy The meritorious deserving cause is described first from the quantity of those persons in those evill dayes a great many verse the first men began to multiply in places populous where there are some good there are many bad Secondly by the quality of those persons the Sons of God when they saw the daughters of men the sonnes of God viz. the posterity of them that maintained Religion they began to be carelesse and carnally confident they did looke after the profits and pleasures of this life and then it was high time for God to enter into Judgement Thirdly by the kind of sinne They lusted after unlawfull Marriages c. and the root of this was originall corruption the Imaginations of mans heart were onely evill and that continually verse 5. These words are a Proclamation of Gods purpose to bring it to an end in which are four things First the Lords complaint in these words The Lord said Secondly the proclamation it selfe in these words my Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man Thirdly the reason because he is but flesh Fourthly the limitation of the time a hundred and twenty years in which time if they repent I will repent but if they will not my Spirit shall not alway strive As if the Lord had said I have tried all conclusions and used all means partly by Mercies to allure them partly by Judgements to terrifie them partly by my word to recall them and by all meanes possible to bring them to my selfe yet they remaine incorrigible I now am resolved to strive with them no more From the words thus opened there will naturally arise these two points First that the Lord of Heaven and earth doth strive mightily with a company of poore Rebells and all to bring them unto himselfe but on this I intend not to insist The seond is this viz. that there is a time when God will strive with men â—o more and that in this life The scope of this aimes at the whole world but what is said in generall may also be said
in particular Well then there is a time in this life and not when we are dead and gone for then it is certain there is no more comming unto God but in this life there is a time when God will strive with men no more neither for their good here nor for their everlasting happinesse hereafter For unto every thing there is an appointed time Eccles 3. 1. Now the Lord calls lovingly to allure us but there will come a time of Goe ye cursed the good Spirit of mine which thou hast abused shall never come to thee more this is a marvailous troublesome truth yet most true for men now will have their wills and God must be at their leisure and come forfooth when they please They will live as they list doe as they list and God must shew mercy on them as they list and when they list c. So there is a time when God will strive but when that time is gone God will strive no more To make this plaiue I will lay downe these six things First I will let you see that it hath been so by Testimonies of Scripture Secondly I will shew in or after what manner God deals with a soul in giving it over these fashions leave off cards and dice c. saies the Spirit of God and whatsoever is of evill report yea but I will not for what will Sir John and my Lady say then Turne you unto me saith the Spirit of God no I will not saith the stubborn walker Put him on in a good course yet he will not walk therein speake the truth saith the Spirit of God for all lyars shall be turned out yea but not yet I have got thus much wealth by lying and I will not yet leave it Fourthly Such as have a common base vile and contemptible esteem of the Gospell and Ministers thereof They mocked the Ministers till the wrath of God broke out against them and there was no remedy 2 Chron. 36. 16. A Minister cannot be plaine but wicked men will abuse him in their hearts I called and cried saith Wisedome but you set at nought all my counsell Prov. 1. 24 25. and going away they make a tush at it I saith one Master Minister you mette with mens hearts to day but I beleeve yours is as bad as anothers else how could you have hitte them so right see what the Spirit of God saith of such Isa 22. 21. In that day did the Lord call to weeping c. the text told them of a judgement and nothing to be expected but misery but they make a tush of it and say Come we shall all die ergo let us eate and drink and be merrie while we may the Minister tells us we shall all to hell then let us have the other pot and the other pipe if it must needs be so Oh my beloved can the God of heaven indure to be thus disgraced in his Gospell and Ministers Another sayes care I what the Minister saith I will goe and drinke at every Ale-house and see whether these judgements will come or no. Now I come to the fourth thing which is the grounds of it viz. Why the Lord in this life doth give men over and strive with them no more This truth is troublesome and cursed hearts cannot abide it The grounds of this point arise from these two Attributes of God his Justice and his Wisedome First from the Justice of God God is a just God and is it not just that those who have rejected him that he should reject them I have called but you answered not Jer. 7. 13. c. Now as it is just with God to fulfill every word that he hath spoken and to fulfill all his promises to the faithfull so is it just with God to bring judgement on them that have sleighted him and to fulfill all his threatnings Secondly From the Wisedome of God and his long-suffering and this is because his compassious faile not else the first day of our sinning had been the first day of our rejection yea it is his goodnesse that we have any favour but Oh our God is a wise God A man that knocks at the dore if he be wise will not alwaies lie knocking if none answer he gives over and goes away so the Lord knocks at our hearts by mercies to allure us by judgments to terrify us yet he can find no entrance Is it not wisdom then to be gone Why should I smite you any more saith God Isa 1. 5. As if he should say t is to no purpose I know not what to do with you with you it is wisedome to give over when there is no good to be done on you What could I have done more for my Vinyard c Isa 5. There is no wise man that will alwayes water a dâ—y stake And do you think that God wil alwayes be sending Paul to plant and Apollos to water No our God is a wise God and our mercifull God is a just God you that will have your wayes and wills take them and get you to hell and perish everlastingly Now in the fiâ—t place we come to the Objections Some say If we shall be damned then we must be damned if we shall be saved then we shall be saved why then neede we pray and keepe such a quoile as the Minister speaks of Secret things belong to the Lord but revealed things to us and to our children Deut. 29. 29. ergo doe thou use the meanes and be thou humbled according to the word of God and thou shalt be exalted according to the word of God see what God hath said to thee in his word for neither I nor thou nor the Angels of heaven can tell what the will of the Lord is concerning thee if not revealed in the word Another saith Why do you limit God you take too much upon you you sons of Levi. The Lord saith At what timy soever a sinner doth repent c. yet will you limit God T is true at what time soever a sinner doth repent but thy heart may be given over as Rom. 2. 4 5. c. and what if thou then livest twenty years or more and have not a heart to repent Another saith But I hope my time is not past for the Lord hath given me a tender heart Hath he so it is well and wilt thou then harden it thou mayest repent when it is too late and ergo I tell thee that good and holy desires are joyned with honest endeavours neede makes the old wiâ—e trot as we say so a soft heart will make thee use all good and honest means Seeing that God strives with many and at last gives over goe thou home and blesse God that he hath not dealt so with thee it is enough that the Lord hath brought thee home to himselfe many may say with Paul I was a persecutor I was injurious c. 1 Tim. 1. 14. but I received mercy so thou
if all were true the Minister speakes I but the Scripture says it Is all true that is in the Scripture the Lord have mercy upon us and thus like fooles they build with untempered morter therefore I exhort all such as are yet in the gall of bitternesse to listen to what I say Redeeme the time yeild to the motions of Gods Spirit and blesse God for Mercy offered unto you in the meanes and if any affliction be laid on you intreat the Lord that he will doe you good by it If thy Conscience speake or the Spirit work doe as Joseph did who got him into a corner and there wept his belly full so intreat the Lord that he will breake the Heavens and come downe on thee to thy comfort put not off till thou art old A gentleman will not alwayes wait at the gate neither say thou as Felix to Paul I will send for thee at another time but say with Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Meanes First consider the fearfull condition of such as are given over Suppose one should come from Hell with the fire about his eares you would aske what is the newes the cry is my time my time Oh my people sayes the Minister Oh my Minister sayes the People The young man cries oh my time Doe not make a tush at this lest thou say the word was preached but I scorned it the spirit said this is the way walk in it the means of grace was sent unto me but I refused Mercie and now for ever I am in Hell to be tormented Secondly consider the great danger of putting off If thy will be stubborne to day it will be worse to morrow Thirdly consider the time 1. Pet. 4. 3. It is enough for the time of our life we have lived that we have wrought the works of the Gentiles let us live no longer in sinne it is too much that you have resisted the Gospell so much say then oh that the Lord would break this heart of mine Fourthly and lastly though God should be calling and egging you all the day long yet your lives are but short and therefore crie out with the Psalmist teach me O Lord to number my dayes that I may apply my heart unto wisdome do not say it is too late as one did once say of Prayer doe you thinke that I can pray now which never prayed in my life I am sure it will be too late when God comes to Judgement for then the Divell will stand on tip toe and say what dost thou now thinke to goe to Heaven the Lord did waite on thee untill he was weary but here is a company of Drunkards I did but hold up my finger and they presently followed me Heaven came down to them but they would none of it they could not hear of that ear and would you now go to heaven Therefore goe now for the Lord Jesus Christs sake and when Mercie is offered refuse it not but blesse God for it A SERMON FOR Spirituall Mortification Delivered By WILLIAM FENNER Minister of the Gospel sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Lecturer of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford A SERMON FOR Spirituall Mortification COLOS. 3. 5. Mortify therefore your Members which are upon the earth Fornication Uncleanness Inordinate affection evill Concupiscence and Covetousnesse which is Idolatry THE Apostle having in the Chapter foregoing shewed that the Colossians were buried together with Christ in his death and that they were also risen with him maketh two speciall uses thereof First in regard of the resurrection if then yee be risen with Christ seeke those things that are above The second is in regard of their buriall with Christ in these words Mortify therefore your members c. There be many men that look for participation in Christ yet notwithstanding mortifie not themselves they would fain live with Christ yet are loth to dye to sinne but we may say to these men as Paul to the Atheist Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickened unlesse it first die so unlesse the seed of the word be sowen upon thy heart thou canst not be quickned unlesse thou fist die The things to be mortified are described two manner of waies either in generall the members or else in particular Fornication uncleannesse evill affections c. or as in the tenth verse all the fruits of the old man The words containe in them these three parts or truths First He that ever means to have Christ must have him with a therefore As if he should say if you look to have benefit by the death of Christ looke to have a therefore with it for no man can have Christ without a condition Secondly this condition consists in mortification we must mortifie our earthly members this is the qualification of all those that partake of the death of Christ even mortification Thirdly those that are made partakers of the death of Christ are enabled thereto so as the Apostle may well put this exhortation unto them Mortifie therefore your members c. He doth not say civilize your members many there be that civilize their earthlie members as from mortifying to purifying of them they come out of prophanenesse and enter into Civility and a formall kinde of profession but the Apostle saith mortifie and not civilize your members doe not pare the nailes of your corruptions but cut them quite off and give them their deaths wound that so your sins may breath out their last breath in you Sin may be civilized five wayes First when it is laid asleepe Pharaohs sinnes were asleepe but not dead Many mens sinnes are asleepe in them though they seeme to be dead in them for a time A man while he is asleepe is like a dead man yet he is alive yea and his sinnes are alive in him also but when temptation comes to awaken him out of his sleepe though before he seemed to be patient and meeke and hardly to be provoked yet let a temptation come and rouze him then he will finde his old wrath anger and impatiencie So likewise for a covetous man though he seeme to mortifie that sinne yet it is but asleepe in him for let a temptation come and he will quickly finde out his covetousnesse again so that here sinne is not mortified but it is with these men as it was with Sampson all the while he was laide to sleepe the coards and fetters held him but when they said Sampson the Philistines are upon thee and awaked him out of his sleepe the Pinne and Webbe was not strong enough to hold him Thus it is with many men when temptations are downe and they are not provoked all this while they seeme to have their sinnes mortified and thus the devill is of a good temper when he is not stirred so it is with many whom you would thinke to be good Christians while the windes are downe and the stormes doe not
is meet to be said unto God I have borne chastisements I will not offend any more This is pleasing unto God in this he thinks himselfe much honoured This shall serv to have spoken to these seven arguments in relation to God Now for those arguments of the second sort in relation to our selves of these I will speake under a two fold head Some are drawing some are driving some are forcing some alluring my meaning is some suggest sadness to them that will not reforme under the rodde these I call driving or forcing again some hold forth sweetnesse pretious prerogatives to them that will amend and reforme when the Lord smites and these I call alluring and drawing arguments You see I am in a large field but I doubt I shall have time to goe over but a little ground First for driving arguments Not to reforme under the rod it fastens a blacke marke of shamefull ignominie and reproach upon the heart of a sinner how is Jeroboam markt in this regard with a black coale what reproach is cast upon the back of that man though he was a King and woare a Crowne and the main reason of this was because he reformed not under Gods hand Kings 1. 13. 4. he stretched out his hand against the Prophet his hand dried up so that he could not pluck it in again yet for all this saith the Text verse 33. Yet for all this Jeroboam turned not from his wicked way Here is a Monster of nature a hopelesse wretch God smites him with one rodde after another takes away a limbe a hand and yet he will not be reformed Here consider two things by way of argumentation First not to be reformed under the rodde is a signe of unspeakable foolishnesse as it is Jeremy 5. 3 4. Thou hast stricken them but they have not sorrowed thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction therefore I said surely they are poore they are foolish for they know not the way of the Lord. It is a strange thing that men should be no more sensible of the rodde then the Iron of the hammer Like some sturdy villains that will not stirre at their Masters bidding he strikes with one hand after another till he hath wearied himselfe yet he is dogged and will not goe soe God is upon men in estate in name in Children inwardly and outwardly Oh the rockishnesse of mens hearts when all these roddes will not move them to bee reformed herein they shew egregious folly Secondly not to be reformed under the rodde is a signe of extraordinary bruitishnesse Pro. 27. 22. Though thou shouldest bray a foole in a morter amongst wheat brayed with a pestle yet will not his foolishnesse depart from him Marke he is like a bruit beate him strike him he amends not like a foole he will not be reformed We use to say Children shew themselves foolish for they might save many a blow the father calls he regards not againe come he comes not goe he goes not untill he comes himselfe beates him and makes him goe Oh foolish Child might not this have been saved So God calls from the world from our pleasure we will not hear him he pulls away blessing after blessing and gives us blow after blow yet we will not regard him oh foolish people and unwise marke it those people that will not reforme under the rod of the Lord they do expose themselves poore soules themselves know not to what an encrease and augmentation of misery Doe but observe it in Pharaoh let my people go saith God no not he therefore God is upon him with one plague after another one judgement after another yet not reformed then the first borne in every family dyeth yet when he had let the Israelites goe he pursues after them and will not leave till he sinke as the text saith like a stone in the mighty waters You know what God threatens Levit 26. If ye will not hearken and be obedient unto me yet seaven times more yet seven times more will I plague you so Amos 4. yet have ye not returned I have afflicted you time after time yet have you not returned therefore I will doe thus unto you How is that I will bring some unexpected and miserable-making judgement If I should say that incorrigiblenesse under the rodde causeth God in wrath to give up people as in a condition hopelesse I could easily prove it know for certaine that God will say why should I smite any more the more I smite they more they sinne therefore I will take no more paines with them just as many a father will say of his incorrigible childe I will spend no more stripes upon him no more time about him I will packe him out of dores let him be gone and trouble my selfe no more with him so will God say to those that will not be reformed under the rodde this is a sad thing to be considered Hosea also will prove this Further consider this is that that provokes the Lord what shall I say for to remove his ordinances from amongst us Isa 13. bring no more vaine oblations incense is an abomination unto me I cannot suffer your new-moones nor sabbaths nor solemne assemblies All this was because ye reformed not for saith the Lord ver 15. Your hands are full of bloud remember what Christ saide Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish These are the driving considerations and why should we not all from hence learne to be reformed under the rod Now followes those that are drawne from the gaine that you and I may get by labouring for to attaine unto this frame of soule when the Lord shall be pleased to accept of us What shall I say this is the way for to gaine the comfort of the Lord the tender bowels of his compassion when wee are under the bitterest calamity that can befall us Oh beloved doe but suppose a father had torne the flesh of his child or broke a vein and the child should sobbe and sigh oh would I had not done so or so to provoke my father I will be better as long as I live how would the father and mother sorrow and even weepe to heare him So it is with God Jer. 31. 18 20. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoake you know offer to yoak a Bullock and she strikes one with her horn another with her foot so it was with me saith Ephraim yet then the Lord loves him see v. 20. Is Ephraim my deare sonne is he a pleasant child for since I spake unto him I doe earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Again know that if you endeavour thus to reforme under the rodde of the Lord you may be confident that the worst things you may or can suffer for God and his cause they shall according