errors of their wayes The truth is some are so civil as to send for us when the breath is going out of their body and give us leave to come and teach them what they must do to be sav'd when the Physitian gives them over and they ready to be summon'd to appear before the great Tribunal they are contented we should give them an Epitome of their Duties when they are past working in Gods Vineyard and furnish their minds with thoughts of Heaven and Eternity when their understandings are as weak as their bodies and their inward man as languid and feeble as their outward But there needs no great store of Arguments to convince any rational man That this is meer mocking of God and his Messengers It 's a sign they have a pitiful low esteem of another world who think Heaven worth no more than a feeble thought when they can serve the Devil and sin no longer It 's a sign they look upon eternal glory as some poor beggarly happiness who cannot vouchsafe it a serious look till their eyes grow dim and the Sun and the Moon and the Light and the Stars are darkned Eccl. 12.2 Would they but send for us or come to us while marrow is in their bones and blood brisk and lively in their veins their reason strong and their understanding in its full vigor and glory and advise with us about these everlasting things we would then tell them what eternal life means and how no man can be a man or be said to act with common prudence that doth not with all diligence make his Calling and Election sure we would then let them see how many thousands perish for want of thinking of Eternity We would let them see how miserable those mens condition must needs be who have their portion in this life who after this life must look for nothing else but everlasting chains of darkness We would prove to them that these are not things to be laught at but deserve their most serious contemplations and that the saving of a Soul is not so light a thing as they may imagine We would let them see that the pious Kings and Princes and Philosophers Confessors and Saints and Martyrs of old whose memories we adore were no Fools when they kept under their Bodies and brought them into subjection lest they should become Castawayes when they look'd upon all the losses and troubles and miseries that could befall them for Righteousness sake as things not worthy to be compared with the glory which ere long should be revealed in them when they did not count their own Lives dear for the Gospel of Christ and were ready to pass through the most daring flames to Heaven We would let them see that those men had brains and were men of wisdom and discretion as well as they and living so near the time of Christ and his Apostles could not possibly be ignorant of what was to be done in order to everlasting happiness and if they had not been very confident of the truth of Christs promises and known for certain that without strictness and contempt of the World and watching against Temptations there was no entring into their Masters joy they would never have striven so much to enter in at the strait gate as they did We would let them see how different mens thoughts are when they come to dye from those which they have while they enjoy strength and health and liberty and that a melancholy thought now and then concerning their sinful life is not repentance nor leaving such sins which would blemish their credit and reputation in the World doing whatsoever Christ commands them nor talking now and then of the vanity of the World using the World as if they used it not We would let them see what the Scripture means by working out their salvation with fear and with trembling and how dreadful that saying is If the righteous be scarcely saved where will the wicked and sinner appear We would let them see That the expressions the Holy Ghost uses concerning our Travelling to the Land of Promise imply very great care and industry and do plainly intimate that God will not part with his Heaven to men that do not think it worth seeking or being at any trouble about it We would let them see that if any thing in the World deserves their pains and care Heaven deserves it infinitely more as it is of infinitely greater consequence than the most boundless Empires or Principalities We would let them see that God is no respecter of persons and that as he hath fitted Religion for all mens capacities insomuch that though all cannot be wise or learned or great or rich yet all may obey him and keep themselves unspotted from the World so he will one day summon every man to give an account of his stewardship and bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or evil We would let them see that what satisfies men now will not give them any great content or satisfaction then and though now some sprinklings of Piety may lull them into good conceits of themselves and of their worth yet these like blown Balls will then be all upon the least touch shatter'd into Atoms By such discourses as these we might by degrees engage them to a serious Consideration of their spiritual Concerns and warm them into resolutions to lay by for some time their Farms and Oxen and ruminate on things which carry so much Terror and Majesty with them And indeed such things were they heard without prejudice they would in some measure confound and startle men in their courses and if they are not given over to a hard heart or to a reprobate mind rouze their spirits into nobler thoughts and contemplations But alas they shun our company except it be to talk of worldly affairs or to ask us about some nice Points of Divinity and are ashamed to make their condition known and to own themselves ignorant of the path that leads to glory They either excuse themselves with this that their Neighbors and their Friends will laugh at them for making Ministers their Oracles or plead that they know as much as the Man of God can teach them would God they did and that all the Lords People were Prophets But if they did is there not some difference between knowing these sacred Truths and having them set home upon the Conscience That shall stick in a familiar discourse which in reading we take no notice of and a word in private conference may drop from a holy man and may be spoke with that zeal and honesty as shall strike the Soul into a change or renovation of mind which perhaps many years study or a large stock of knowledge would not have effected so that if the question be ask'd Is there no balm in Gilead Is there no Physitian there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recover'd We may truly say
image and similitude how empty they leave your souls and how like the Sea when ebbing in muddy places leave nothing but stink and filth and nastiness behind them Consideration would let you see That none can rejoyce so heartily as those who make it their business to please God and to be happy for ever This would shew you That light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal. 97.11 And that no persons in the World have greater reason to rejoyce than they whose great care and study is first to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness as being persons who are acquainted with a lively faith and know by blessed experience what that hope means whereby men purifie themselves even as God is pure and what it is to be strengthen'd with all might unto all patience and long-suffering and what the constraining love of God implies and what it is to be married to him who is altogether lovely and what it is to have union and communion with him Consideration would shew you that peace of Conscience and honour with God and the Spirits making intercession for us with groans unutterable and pardon of sins priviledges which attend a serious preparation for a better World are a continual Feast and consequently afford matter for greater joy than all the rarities and curiosities of this present life This would let you see That that one blessing pardon of sin which a serious man enjoys is a mercy which he may justly rejoyce and triumph in more than the greatest Monarch of this world in his boundless Empire This would lead your thoughts to take a view of the present condition of the unhappy spirits in Hell to whom pardon of sin would be a greater comfort and refreshment than all the pleasures of this World distill'd into quintessence Should a Proclamation be made in that dismal Vault by some Angel sent from Heaven that all the Prisoners are freed from their guilt by the new and living way even by the blood of Jesus and that God hath condescended at last and is prevail'd withall to forgive their iniquities what leaping what dancing what joy what gladness what exultation of spirit what serenity of face what a chearful air would appear in every corner of that loathsom Prison How would one Wretch jog the other and bid him break out into praises and celebrations of his Maker for so great a favour How like Heaven would Hell look on a sudden and all their exclamations which grief and anguish did draw from them change into exclamations of gladness How would their hearts swell and dilate themselves and transport them into an extasie of joy How sordid how mean how pitiful how inconsiderable would all their former sensual delights seem to this pleasure or satisfaction Consideration would let you see That whatever men that are become vain in their imaginations may prate there is no pleasure no felicity like that which flows from walking in the wayes of God that in this Garden are the sweetest Roses the most odoriferous Flowers the most fragrant Plants Roses which have no prickles underneath like your carnal delights flowers which wither not away like that frothy mirth which the laughter of Fools affords Plants which feed and nourish and heal and poyson not like those airy satisfactions which flow from making provision for the flesh This would represent to your minds the examples of millions of Saints Who are able from their own experience to affirm that the ways of seriousness are truly ways of pleasantness and that all her paths are peace that they have found more satisfaction in being door-keepers in the house of God than they have done in being Masters of the most glorious Tents of wickedness that they have had more joy from contemplation of Heavens glory and from reflecting on the beauty of holiness in one hour than ever they received from running up and down many years together after the things the vain World is enamor'd withall that they would not be in that miserable unregenerate estate again if they might have whole Kingdoms to entice them and that there is no condition in all the World so full of Bryars and Thorns and Anguish and Pain and Disquietness and Trouble and Vexation as a sinful life and an unconverted state Consideration would let you see That those serious persons who look dejected and melancholy have joyes within which no stranger intermeddles withall and as little shew as they make of chearfulness they carry that within their breasts as can make their life a perpetual Jubilee So far is Consideration from making men melancholy that it points at the things where the greatest joy is to be found and as Consideration it self is a pleasure as we prov'd before so it is a guide to lead men into such a Paradise as they would be content to lose themselves in and desire no greater felicity on this side Heaven VII Impediment VII Fear of going distracted with poring on things too high for their capacities The aversness from a truly serious circumspect life in most men is so very great that they 'll entertain the absurdest silliest and most childish pretences rather than be persuaded to that course God and his holy Angels Scripture Conscience Ministers and all the Providences of God do call and invite them to And such a shift is that we have before us a plea so impertinent that we might justly ask the question Whether those that make use of it are not distracted already Men had as good give us a downright answer and tell us plainly That they will not take their everlasting state into Consideration and will have nothing to do with salvation as make us conclude so much from their unsteddiness and tergiversations They love to leave God and themselves and their Neighbors in the dark and we find they halt between two opinions unresolv'd whether they shall follow God or Baal They would neither displease God nor the Devil The Devils favour they keep and maintain by their secret aversness from a serious preparation for another life and Gods good will they court by pretending that they would follow him were it not for such and such obstacles and impediments And indeed their flesh does no sooner suggest an excuse to their minds but they presently flatter themselves that that shift will be a sufficient Apology for neglect of their duty And though going distracted with Consideration be a thing very unlikely next to impossible yet a pitiful shift being better than none this comes in with the rest and helps to rock the Soul into a sleeping slumber it seems their brains are strong enough to contrive how to promote their own fall but will not serve them to ponder how to keep themselves from ruine One would think they could not be worse mad than they are already and therefore they might venture upon a serious Consideration of their wayes without danger Take a view of thy actions sinner
Soul Is this giving all diligence to make my calling and election sure when I am infinitely more concerned how to secure a small sum of Money than I am to secure those Treasures which fade not away Will God give a reward to Men that stand yawning and stretching themselves in his Vineyard unresolv'd whether they shall work or no A reward indeed they shall have but such a reward as hypocrites receive a reward from which Good Lord deliver us And am I so stupified that nothing of all this can move me neither the Glory of God nor the interest of my Soul nor all that can be said against my want of Zeal and fervency of Spirit Were these reason laid home by serious consideration it would rowze the Soul from her slumber and make her see how dangerous her rest is and how deer that sleep will cost her she is for the present lull'd in if it be not suddenly dispell'd and scatter'd but want of consideration makes the careless sinner fancy God such a one as himself one that is pleas'd with his indifferency in Religion as well as himself this is it makes him entertain very gross absurd and unreasonable conceits concerning that all Wise most Excellent and most lovely Being despise a Treasure of infinite value trample on the pearl of price and forget what the hope of God's calling is and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the Saints Had the Covetous but a Heart to think with himself vain foolish man How loath am I to confess my self guilty of this vice How do I deceive my self with the fair names of good Husbandry and Frugality but will these delusions stand the fire Will these Paper Walls be proof against everlasting burnings if there be such a sin as covetousness and that sin so odious to God and his Holy Angels as Christ and his Apostles make it and so great an impediment to everlasting happiness as the Scripture represents it it must needs be worth knowing whether I am infected with this plague especially since my behaviour and actions look as if I were why should the Apostle call this sin Idolatry but because it makes men set their affections on the World more than upon that which is to come and more on their Riches Estate or Incomes than upon God and everlasting Glory whereby God is robb'd of his Honor and that high Esteem and Love which is God's due as he is God is given to be creature which in Gods sight is Lighter than nothing and vanity and is not this my case How is my Soul fix'd upon this World How close doth my heart stick to the profits and advantages it affords How is my Soul bound up with my Corn and Wine and Oyl How do I fancy that all my happiness is gone when these outward comforts are gone Did sin ever grieve me a quarter so much as a temporal loss Did offending a Gracious God ever cost me the tenth part of the Tears I shed for being deprived of a little shining Clay How hearty is my joy under the blessings of Gods left hand How little am I affected with the blessings of his right How far greater satisfaction doth my thriving in the world give me than my thriving in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ How loath am I to honour God with my substance How unwillingly how grudgingly do I part with any thing considerable for Charitable uses How loath am I to part with any of this worlds Goods for Gods service How happy do I count my self when Religion doth cost me nothing How loath am I to be any at charges for Heaven How doth it grieve me when I spend any thing upon Religion How do I dote upon these sublunary vanities How far greater pains do I take to be rich than to be happy for ever How can I dispense with a sin for profits sake How little of my desires and breathings hath God and a bleeding Saviour How dull am I under the most lively descriptions of the joys of Heaven How dull under the stupendous offers of Grace and Mercy How dead under the joyful message of pardon How dull when tempted by all the ravishing arguments of Gods love to love him above all What means my unwillingness to take God for my greatest portion What means that quickness sagacity and wisdom when my Riches Plenty or worldly prosperity is concerned and that strange dumpishness when God courts and beseeches my Soul to lay hold on Eternal Life Are not these evident signs that the World draws and attracts my Heart most powerfully God sees my Heart is not upright with him he sees I am afraid to take up with him alone he sees how covetousness hath possess'd my Soul and can I cherish this root of an evil in my Breast and not tremble at the danger my Soul is in Am I by the Apostles verdict an Idolater and do I make light of so great a guilt if no Idolater must expect a Crown of Glory alas what can I look for but Eternal Darkness when I read that it 's easier for a Camel to enter through the eye of a Needle than for a rich man who sets his heart on his Riches to enter into Heaven am not I frighted with the expression I find how this sin deprives me of a Holy communion with God and shall I loose my greatest comfort and support and satisfaction for it If any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him and can I be contented without the love of God if God be not my friend what doth the friendship of the whole World signify When my Soul must leave this Tabernacle and appear before Gods Barr O God I shall have so many witnesses against me that I shall not know what to say or whether to betake my self for refuge the Poor will accuse me because I have not open'd my Hand and Heart to them my own Conscience will accuse me because I have not been a good Steward of the means God gave me the Ministers of God will accuse me because whatever was laid out upon my Pride and Lust was thought too little and the least kindness I shew'd to those that wait at Gods Altar too much The Devils will accuse me because having a Soul so great so noble so precious I did employ it chiefly in scraping a little Dross and Dung together nay the Lord Jesus will accuse me because his example of contentedness and Heavenly mindedness would not allure me into imitation God will accuse me because having furnish'd me with all the motives and encouragements imaginable to mind Heaven more than Earth I preferr'd this Earth before all the joyes of Heaven and how shall I bear up under all this weight Would the poor deluded Worldling but let such thoughts sink into his Heart what a damp would it strike on his strong desires after the World and how would it make his immoderate love
apparently dangerous Thus it is with me why should I deny it Why should I call light darkness and darkness light put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Whom do I cheat all this while is it not my own Soul And what shall I gain by it in the end Shall I think my self sufficiently holy when I am so little acquainted with the first rudiments of Holiness Shall I think my self a Child of God when that which I do is fitter for a Child of the Devil than for a Favourite of Heaven Conversion or turning to God which the Holy Ghost doth so often and with that vehemence and earnestness inculcate implies an universal change of my disposition and inclinations And where is that alteration that renovation of the Mind Will and Affections My Affections are carried out after Froth and smoke as much as ever My Love is set on Trifles and is regardless of the highest and chiefest good as much as ever I hate Seriousness and delight in childish impertinent Gayeties as much as ever The promises of the Gospel are as inconsiderable in my eyes and the riches of this World as glorious and ravishing as ever and I can dispense with the want of spiritual consolations while I have but my share in these outward comforts My feet run in the wayes of destruction and my eyes are dazled with external pomp and grandeur as much as ever An amorous Song is more pleasing to me than the most harmonious Psalm The Word of God is but a dead Letter to me while a Romance or a Book that Treats of Folly and Vanity Transports me into more than ordinary content and satisfaction And what I must eat And what I must drink And wherewithall I shall be cloathed Are questions I have a far greater desire to be resolved in than to know what I must do to please God and to be happy for ever If I have made light of the Thunders and Threatnings of Scripture I do so still If I have prefer'd my secular Interest before Gods Honour and Glory I do so still If I have feared Men more than God I do so still If I have been loth to do good with the Temporal blessings God hath confer'd upon me I am so still And what Sins I leave it 's more because I have no inclination to them or because I am afraid they 'll spoil and blemish my Reputation in the World than because I love that God who made me and hath obliged me by a thousand Favours to esteem and prize him above all And is this the Coat of the Sons of God Is this the Livery of a Christian indeed Is this done like a Man that lives upon Gods Bounty is fed by his Charity supported by his Alms and maintain'd from his Store-house and cannot subsist one moment without his Concourse and hath not a better Friend in all the World than him who is the Fountain of living Waters Consideration one great design of it being to know how the case stands between God and our own Souls such a Self-examination must of necessity be the Corner stone of this spiritual Building and comparing our Lives with the Rules of the Gospel and the proper characters of such as are in a likely way to enjoy God for ever may justly challenge the first Seat in this intellectual Paradise But then as building of a stately Gate without a House answerable to it doth but expose the Builder to derision and contempt so Self-Examination without a serious Expostulation with our own hearts is but to make the Accuser of our Brethren laugh at our vain attempts and God scorn the endeavour that could be crusht in the Bud and tired before half its Race is run II. Expostulation rouzes the Soul from her Slumber and drives it away from the soft Doune it would have rested and repos'd it self upon and gives the first blow for Self-Examination only threatens it to that Tree of Death I mean to the reigning power of Sin and I see not how Sin can shelter it self any longer or what excuses it can make for its stay and continuance where the Soul doth summon it to appear before the Bar of Conscience and enters into such reasonings and interrogations as these Are these things so and do I stand trifling with my salvation Do I run the hazard of everlasting flames and do I lie playing in the Suburbs of destruction Either I believe an eternity of Torments that shall attend a careless sinful life or I do not If not why dare not I profess my denial Why do I play the Hypocrite and make the World think I do believe it What 's the reason that I cannot shake off the fears of it if I would never so fain Why does something within me check me when I would be so profane as to deny it Can I ever be serious and not believe it But then if I believe it what a mad Man am I to loyter when the Candle I am allow'd to work by is almost burnt out and I know not how soon it may please my great Master to extinguish it Do I lead a life which is the readiest way to eternal Vengeance and shall I not step back and prevent it Can I imagine God will blow out that everlasting Fire to gratifie my vicious temper or destroy that Tophet out of tenderness to my Lusts and Corruptions Can I conceive it possible that God will go from his Word to please a stubborn Sinner or prove a Lyar that I may go with greater ease to Heaven Do I know that I shall be miserable if I continue in that course I have held on in hitherto and am I in love with eternal ruine Am I certain that Iniquity will be my confusion and am I resolv'd to dye I have all the reason in the World to believe that it was the Son of God that was the Author of those Threatnings and Comminations I find in the Gospel Do I believe him to be the Son of God and can I imagine that the least tittle of his words will perish I have run up and down in the World these many years and hunted-after those Vanities which sensual Men do dote upon But will these save me when I dye Will not the remembrance of my eager pursuit after these Butterflies and Gaudes fill me with anguish and sorrow Have I liv'd in the World all this while and am not I nearer Heaven than I was some years ago Must my body engross all my endeavours and must my Soul be starved I have a Soul that cannot dye and must not dye and must shortly appear before Gods Tribunal and shall not I study its safety and happiness as much as I am able Lord God! should Death arrest me before I have made my Calling and Election sure how fearful how wretched would my condition be should it fall to my share to howle in outward Darkness how should I curse the day that ever I was born should those Tortures the
their Souls for ever It 's very probable that God wherein all goodness all mercy and of infinite pity and hath made this world to serve man and endow'd him with a capacity of knowing and adoring God would not leave him destitute of such helps and means as might best promote his knowledge of him but find out a way to manifest himself to him especially when it 's evident that without some better directions than Nature gives men are so very apt to fall into errors and misapprehensions of his glory and majesty Whether this Book contain therefore the true Revelations which God hath been pleas'd to make to mankind is the question Upon examination I find That there is nothing in this Book either promised or threatned or commanded but what is Deo dignum fit for a God to promise and threaten and command Whatever is deliver'd here seems to be very agreeable to his Majesty and Sovereignty and Divine Nature The rewards as well as punishments are Godlike and the Duties pressed here are but the necessary consequents of his Goodness and Justice and Government and Supremacy which consequences because man by reason of his corruption was not able to deduce from the Notion of a God God thought fit to reveal and manifest to him by various Passages Histories Prophecies Parables Precepts and Conclusions Upon inquiry I perceive that the designs of this Book are at least very harmless its great aime being to make men good and just and honest and live like men of reason Whatever verity or truth the light of Nature or Reason dictates is here to be found and this Book is so far from contradicting or abolishing any thing of that nature that it improves and refines it If I search all the Volumes of the ancient Heathen Philosophers men who ransackt Nature and tryed what Nature would discover of God and anatomized the Law written upon mens hearts If I peruse all the Lessons and Rules of Morality they gave and prescribed to Mankind I find them all deliver'd in this Book much purer and much clearer than those Philosophers were able to propose them The Sacred Writers whoever they were for ought I see were men of very noble and generous spirits for their great endeavor is to instruct and edifie mankind and to teach them such delights as are fit for a rational Soul to embrace I see they exhort men to live like themselves like persons capable of conversing with God I see they are all for preservation of humane Societies and to this end they speak against all that 's evil and encourage Justice and Peace and Unity and Charity and Obedience to Governors and all that 's good and holy and condemn al Hypocrisie commend upright dealing and sincerity of heart and proscribe even those sins which the world can take no notice of sins of thoughts sins of the heart and sins of secresie and urge a hearty unfeigned love to our Neighbor Their great care and sollicitude is that men may not be kept unacquainted with themselves and though they liv'd in different Ages at different Times and were of different Educations yet they all agree in their great endeavor and design to purifie mens hearts and to keep their Consciences void of offence towards God and towards men They would have God worship'd and honour'd like a God in Spirit and in Truth and require the cream and marrow of our endeavours our dearest and tenderest love to be given to him which indeed is a worship fit for him that is our Supreme Ruler and Governor in whom we live and have our Being They condemn all Sensuality which makes men live like Beasts and all impatience and discontent which makes their Lives miserable and all Pride and Haughtiness which makes their near Neighbors hate and despise them and all base Selfishness which makes them uncompassionate They prescribe the greatest Cordials against Crosses and Afflictions for they promise a better life after this a life of everlasting joy and bliss and suppose there were no such life yet would the fancy of it be mighty pleasing in distress and calamities and serve to bear us up under the greatest burthens and should we find nothing of that nature when we come to dye to be sure there would be no body to laugh at us They represent God as infinitely merciful to wretched men and willing to accept of those that repent and turn and sincerely fear him and to make them everlastingly happy and yet that men may not presume and turn the grace of God into wantonness they represent him just withall that will take vengeance on those who provoke his patience and mock his compassion and abuse his mercy into contempt of his Laws They represent him as a very reasonable Master that layes upon his servants no more than they are able to bear and expects returns answerable to the favors he bestows on them and such services as are in some measure proportionable to the means he hath afforded them which is no more but what we expect from our servants All which is highly rational and I must needs imagine since no men that ever liv'd in the world could give the world such exact Rules for the improvement and advancement of a rational Soul as these Writers do that they must have had some Divine Spirit to guide them To exalt the Soul and to elevate it above Sense and Earth and Dross and Dung and to make it fit to be admitted to familiarity with its Maker seems to be the very drift and design of this Book and if it were not Divine or Inspired it might however deserve the reputation of maintaining the greatest and most generous designs that ever were carried on by mankind But sure its original is more than humane and the persons who deliver these things had certainly a Divine Commission When I look either upon Moses and the Prophets in the Old or upon Jesus and his Apostles in the New Testament Men who were the chief Promulgers of the Truths deliver'd in these Books methinks there appears something extraordinary in them and I cannot but see the Finger of God that did direct and help them If I believe any thing that I never heard or saw my self I have the greatest reason in the world to believe that that Moses whom both Jews and Heathen call the great Leader and Captain General of the Jews was inspired from above when he gave his Law to the whole Nation of the Jews That he wrought those stupendious miracles which are recorded in Scripture the Jewish Nation hath firmly and constantly believed ever since they were wrought and how 600 000 men before whom they were wrought and who did feed upon many of those Wonders and who have delivered the real performance of those Miracles down to their Posterity and so imprinted it on the hearts of their Progeny that neither Sword nor Fire could ever make them deny it How I say this vast multitude of men could be