easily take Air or be seen by them in the Family They are one Body and contentions between them are as if there should be a fight between the Members of the Body As if the mouth should bite the hand and the hand strike the mouth A wrathful temper is commonly gotten by conversing with angry men and therefore saith the Wise man Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go lest thou learn his wayes and get a snare to thy Soul Prov. 22.24 25. Beware of men of keen Spirits That man will never live comfortably that hath not learned to slight what others think and say of him that liveth not in the frequent consideration of other mens vertues and his own defects Epictetus in the 48 Chap. of his Morals saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any man tell you that such a man spoke against you do not so much stand in vindication of your self as ingenuously to confess that if that man had known the whole course of your life he had charged you with more faults Few men are so humble as to say The fault was mine though they certainly know it is so Kindness and Love is shewn as in forgiving injuries so in supplying necessities Here we may bewail the disparity that is between many poor mens pains and their wages Though common wages be paid yet the pay is according to custome more than desert Etiamsi stipendia usitata praestentur saith Ames de Consci consuetudini magis quam sufficientiae satisfaciunt Then for Charity to the poor No man that hath loved the world better than his duty or Christ in his Members Mat. 25.35 shall be found at the right hand of Jesus in the great day The saying of Salvian ad Ecclesiam Catholicam hath been of great use to me times without number Opes quas habes in hoc mundo temporarias bene utendo facies sempiternas Charity makes Temporal Riches to be Eternal We have the benefit of them for ever DIRECTIONS 1. Remember what God Commands you to give to the poor that you have no right to and it is theft to detain it as may be made clear by this plain comparison One man by a Carrier sends so much money or goods to another if that Carrier keep all because all came to his hands he is a Thief and is dealt with as such God hath sent so much to the distressed by you if you give not you wrong them Obj. God hath sent so much some may say How much Answ Ask God by Prayer Scripture by reading Conscience by Consideration Prov. 3.97 With-hold not good from him to whom it is due Luke 16.12 If ye have been unfaithful in that which is another mans 2. Conclude on it if the poor die for want of what we are bound to give them we are Manslayers and Murtherers before God He that sees a man in the water and will not help him out when he can with ease he is as really guilty of his death as if he had thrown him in How many poor men good men have perished for want of their right If God should say to some great men rich men as he did to Cain Where is Abel thy Brother So where is the poor man thy Brother It may be he would answer as he Am I my Brothers Keeper But the same reply shall be made by the Lord What hast thou done The Voice of thy Brothers Blood cryeth unto me from the ground and now thou art Cursed Gen. 4.9 10 11. 3. Remember what an honour it is to be Gods Almoner What if God in Scripture had named you as Josiah by name and call'd on you to the work would you not chearfully have set about the work How did Job rejoyce in the performance of this duty Job 29.13 14 15 16. He caused the Widows heart to sing That his Judgment was a Robe and a Diade That he was eyes to the Blind and feet to the lame and a Father to the Poor Some object Times are hard I answer Mens Hearts are so Obj. Money is scarce Answ How is it then you have so much to lay out in unnecessary Attire Dishes at your Tables in Pleasures How comes so much to be spent in Alehouses and Taverns This O vain man is but a Fig-leaf to cover thy nakedness Obj. Others do plead Few of the great Professors of Religion do mind this work Answ I answer But from the Beginning it was not so The Jews under the Old Testament did much Christians in Pauls time did much Do not what most Professors do but what the best do Many in our time have acted worthily The famous Mr. Gouge now in Glory he set up an Hundred and fifty Schools in Wales and went at least once a year to visit them gave away many Bibles and Catechisms and took great pains in instructing Children in the Principles of Religion and would often say That he had two Livings the one in Wales the other in Christ-Church Hospital in London where he had done much good that he would not part with for a world My never to be forgotten Friend the Reverend Mr. Fairclougb of Bristol his Purse was alwayes open for pious uses especially for educating young men in order to the Ministry I might say much of Mr. Henry Stubbes my Father-in-Law were it not that it seems better to become another mans Pen than mine There are yet alive many men that are forward for works of Charity Obj. Some say What shall I do for hereafter Answ If thou hadst Faith as a grain of Mustard-Seed thou wouldst say to this Mountain of Distrust be thou removed and cast into the Sea and it would be done Can you trust God for things eternal and not for things momentary Luk. 16.9 Make you friends with the Mammon of Vnrighteousness Riches are unrighteously gotten by some unrighteously spent by others but unrighteously kept by many more Many get that honestly which they do not honestly keep It is by Gods Law another mans right I say to the Covetous as Christ to that man Stretch forth thy withered hand We read of them Amos 6.4 5 6. That invent instruments of Musick drink wine in Boles and are not grieved for the Afflictions of Joseph Let such yet say as David when the Lord gave him rest 2 Sam. 7.1 2. When he sat in his house he said to Nathan the Propet I dwell in a house of Cedar but the Ark of God dwelleth within Curtains So I am at ease but many Saints in trouble Love to the Ungodly is also evidenced in mourning for their Sins 2 Pet. 2.8 would there were more Lots whose Righteous Souls in hearing and seeing are vexed from day to day for the Sins of the Wicked It is not how many tears there are in the eyes but how much sorrow there is in the heart Let your heart bleed because of them who are going merrily to the place of Lamentation Misery and Wo
about which we differ they will be saved We all grant Repentance Faith and a Holy Life necessary Mind these things Would to God I had spent some of the hours in enquiring how my Soul might be bowed down before God in Prayer that I have spent in enquiring whether I should Pray in my own words or the words of others that I had more enquired how I might come to the Lords Table Hungring and Thirsting after Righteousness and less what gesture I should there use You know my Brethren your own Judgments often change in the smaller matters of Religion which may make you moderate towards them that dissent from you seeing you so often dissent from your selves As the Body changeth in a few years old matter passeth away and there comes a succession of new so every enquiring thinking man knows that what he thought lawful at one time he hath thought unlawful at another and cannot help it Testifie my Brethren testifie against the formal men of all your perswasions who when they plead for the high things in Religion do it with so much coldness as if their words did freeze in their mouths but when for their little notions are so full of rage and fury as if wrath and envy had chosen their faces to discover their complexion to the world But remember you are Christians and Christians must love one another Germanicus in his Speech to the Souldiers when there was a mutiny among them Tacitus said Divus Julius seditionem exercitus uno verbo compescuit Quirites vocando that Julius Caesar ended a sedition in an Army by one word calling them Romans he bad them remember they were Romans so you are Christians If the hand have the Palsie and shakes much and can hardly hold any thing who is presently for Amputation or cutting it off Learn you of Paul Rom. 1â—1 2. Him that is weak in the Faith receive you but not to doubtful disputations For one believeth that he may eat all things another who is weak eateth herbs v. 13. Let us not therefore judge one another any more v. 19. Let us therefore follow after the things that make for Peace and the things whereby we may Edifie one another I know not how my counsel may take with some of you I know that he that cometh between two that are fighting to part them is sometime beaten by both I know that some on the one hand will be offended and charge me that I seem to countenance Superstition and others on the other hand will say that I favour Schism but I matter not The Protestant Church the Vessel in which we are is ready to sink Lord save us or else we perish God be merciful to those desperate Souls who because we cannot agree therefore reject all Religion as if a man at Sea seeing the waves urgent and hearing the winds roaring should say if this 't is to be in a Ship I will never here abide and so commit himself to the vast Ocean So are they that reject all Religion because of the Contentions that are in the Church of God and fall into Atheism and Prophaneness Accept kindly of this plain Discourse devoid of all Embellishments of fine words and Phrases and take up with the great things of Religion as you are directed by one that is of Pauls mind who saith of himself 1 Cor. 9.20 21 22. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews to them that are under the Law as under the Law that I might gain them that are under the Law to the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak I am made observe all things to all men that by all means I might save some Had some weak headed Christians among us seen him thus to do perhaps they would have said that Paul often changed his Religion or could not tell what Religion to be of that he was not fixt or a man of no Principles Hear what he says elsewhere 1 Cor. 10.33 Even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit but the profit of many that they might be saved As far as I can I am yours in your divers ways of worshipping one Lord Jesus Christ This I am resolved on that having been instrumental for the Conversion of many Souls and I hope shall of many more yet ungathered that I will Preach Repentance Faith and Obedience to the Gospel Grow my Brethren Grow in Grace that you may have that commendation given to the Church of Thyatira I know thy Works and Charity and Service and Faith and thy Patience and thy works and the last to be more than the first Rev. 2.19 But Oh! That my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of Tears that I might weep day and night not only for the Prophaneness of the Ungodly but for the backwardness of the Righteous to all good works I cry to you as in that Song Judg. 5.12 Awake awake Deborah Awake awake Set about the work to be more serious your selves and to sound an Alarm in the ears of a drowsie sleepy world that they may be saved That this may be your work is the hearty Desire and Prayer of him who is Your Brother And Servant in our Lord Samuel Young Gloucester Goal Feb. 2. 1683 4 TO ALL SEA-MEN THAT ARE Or would be Serious HAving in this Book spoken of the chief things in Religion I could not but call on you to mind these things your selves and to put others in mind of them I have you daily on my heart before the Throne of Grace that you that are serious may endeavour by Prayer by Admonitions by a good Example to make many so You that are Baptized have taken Christs Press-money have taken Christs Livery and are under an engagement to Fight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil testifie against the Drunkenness Swearing Uncleanness Sabbath-breaking Contempt of Prayer and Reading of Scriptures and other sins many among you are guilty of I know your great Objection is Obj. That you shall be derided if you so do this I have heard from many of you A. 1. Deride their Derision Remember what is said of Christ and when his friends heard of it they laid hold on him for they said he is beside himself Mar. 3.21 If you are accounted mad by them that are really so you have Christ for your Companion 2. It is better be derided by men now for the faithful discharge of your duty than be derided by Christ Angels and Saints another day for the neglect of your duty 3. The Derision of some may soon turn into imitation They that at first mock at good counsel may in time take it and give it to others I have seen an instance one laughing to see another minding secret Prayer and yet seeing constancy and resolution for that duty practised the same Remember if you mourn not if you pray not over the ungodly their sin is yours
piercing it is the voice of a God and I am but Flesh and Blood and I cannot bear it But did he not hear Gods voice before Gen. 2.16 17. when God gave him a charge not to eat of the Tree in the midst of the Garden I was naked was another Excuse Gen. 2.25 Were they not before both naked and not ashamed When God told Adam plainly of his Sin Gen. 3.11 Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat One would think now there is no room for an excuse verse 12. you read The woman thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree and I did eat He layes it on the woman but the woman could not compell though she did tempt Nay rather than take the blame to himself he layes it on God Thou gavest If thou hadst not given me the woman she had not tempted nor I eaten Few know or consider the hardning nature of Sin One might have expected he should have cryed Lord pity me Lord contrive a way to shew mercy if there be any or if none Lord thou art just in all the evil that shall come upon me So was man exposed to all Judgments temporal distempers troubles losses death and at last to eternal Judgments where the Worm dyeth not and the Fire is never quenched And now to these Meditations I shall add a few Directions DIRECTIONS 1. Mourn over your selves and Brethren fallen into sin and misery Complaints against Adam are in vain Complaints against God are worse It was necessary as Calvin sayes that the will of man should be flexibilis in utramque partem God having made man it was convenient he should put him on Tryal of Obedience God gave him but one Law not many an easie one not difficult a negative one not positive no thanks had been to Adam to obey if he could not have disobeyed Consider it and it fell out that he sinned What have we lost in losing Paradise and the blessings there When Ziklag was burnt what an outcry was there 1 Sam. 30.3 4. So David and his men came to the City and behold it was burnt with fire and their Wives and their Sons and their Daughters were taken Captives What follows Then David and the People that were with him lift up their Voice and wept until they had no Power to weep What was Ziklag to Paradise what was the Captivity of the Body to that of the Soul How sadly do men look back on a burnt House and Treasures there and weep bitterly 2. Cry against the Tempter that you may through Grace out-wit him Was he too hard for man in innocency how much more now If any man wants wisdom let him ask it of God James 5. Cry to God against Satan as David against Ahithophel that God would confound the Policy of Ahithophel so Lord 2 Sam. 15.31 confound the Devices of the evil one 3. Strive against all Objections against God in this matter Though the Act Physically considered is of God yet not Morally And though it is true that second Causes cannot act without the first aliquid Positioum yet they may aliquid delinquens We have learnt of Adam to lay all on God To them that deny any thing of Predetermination I humbly offer this to Consideration Whether it be rational to imagine that it depended upon so pitiful and weak and changeable a thing as Adams Will without Gods Determination Whether Christ should come into the World and dye and so be a Saviour Whether the Providences of God in the World should be such as they are Whether the greatest part of Mankind should be in Hell for ever and thousands before the Throne Praising God for a Redeemer However Let every Mouth be stopped before God Luther says I put off questions about Gods Predeterminations with that of Christ to Peter when he asked an unnecessary question about John Joh. 22.23 What is that to thee follow thou me Officium agamus said Melancton Loci Com. disputationes de Predestinatione Seponamus Rom. 11.33 How unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out Many would search out unsearchable Judgments and find out ways past finding out I will not cut a knot that I cannot untie We that cannot solve the Phoenomena of Nature how can we satisfie our selves about the great Mysteries of Religion We are by Nature Children of wrath Ephes 2.3 and let us not so curiously enquire how Original sin got into our Heart as carefully enquire how to get it out For that Objection against Sin in Infancy Obj. Omne peccatum est voluntarium Every sin is Voluntary Mel. in his Com. Places says that must be understood in civilibus Delictis in civil Offences among men and yet sin is voluntary in Infancy quia saith the same Author eo delectamur because we delight in it As for such foolish Questions Whether if Adam had begotten Children before he fell Sin had been imputed to those Children we will not waste time to consider them Catarinus affirmed Soto denyed Hist of the Council of Trent as F. P. says Run to Christ who by once Suffering can save you as Adam by once sinning hath destroyed you Rom. 5.19 For as by one mans Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made righteous Christ was obedient unto Death Phil. 2.8 even the Death of the Cross The Law is in full force against every ungodly man God hath still his Power of commanding though we have thrown away our Power of obeying God sees more sin in one wrathful thought than we do in actual Murther in one covetous thought than we do in open Theft Oh then run to Jesus that justifieth that sanctifieth that saveth He is our Joseph that hath all the Store-houses of Provision in a time of Famine As the distressed Egyptians said to him let us say to Christ Gen. 47.18 19. We will not hide it from my Lord our money is gone Give us bread let us be Servants unto Pharaoh We will not nay we cannot hide it from our Lord All is gone let us have Grace from him that we may serve our God and all Believers must say to Jesus as they to Joseph v. 25. Thou hast saved our lives let us find Grace in the sight of our Lord. When sin had slain us Christ had Compassion on us as David had on his Son when his own Folly had ruin'd him 2 Sam. 18.33 And the King was much moved and wept and as he went thus he said O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my Son my Son Yet Absalom sought his Fathers Crown and Life and we would be as Gods Christ feem'd to say over us Would to God I might dye for thee and indeed it pleased the Father to bruise Isa 53.10 I believe that Adam through this Christ was saved Gen. 3.16 God
to be named He was despised in his common converse with men Luk. 8.20 The Foxes had their holes and the Birds of the Air their nests but Jesus had not where to lay his head He was reviled as one that had a Devil Joh. 10.20 Mark 2.16 Luk. 22.44 and was made as a Friend of Publicans and Sinners In his Agonies in the Garden He sweat drops of Blood though it were such a cold season that one might think would have struck the Blood inward It was a cold time for Peter stood to warm himself Our Sin was the heavy burthen that lay upon him When and after he was Betrayed Betrayed he was by a Friend a Bosome-friend to be Betrayed and that in point of Life and all by an intimate acquaintance goes near the Heart What David said to him that betrayed might Christ say to Judas Had it been an Enemy Psal 11.13 14. I could have born it but it was thou my Companion we took sweet Counsel together and walked together as Friends He was severely handled by Souldiers who batter'd his Ears with Blasphemy as well as tormented his Body when he was on the Cross Mat. 27. v. 39 40. they waged their Heads tell him of what he was accused vers 41 42 43. The great men revile him when usually men that scarce pray all the year long for themselves if they see any infamous Criminal executed they never tell him in a way of scoffing of his Fault or Crime but say God be merciful to his Soul At last Christ cryes out Mat. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me We must warily understand this not as if God had forsaken Christ in respect of Strength for an Angel was sent to strengthen him Luk. 22.33 nor in respect of Essence nor of Complacency but God forsook him as to present comfort in a great measure Imagine you stood as the Devout Women at the Cross and saw this I now come to lay down a few Directions DIRECTIONS 1. Look on and wonder Are these things so 2 Tim. 3.1 Then great is the Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh If it be a Mystery it cannot be fathomed Wonder at what Christ is and at what he doth What he is Prov. 30.4 It was the wise mans Probleme or hard Question What is his name or his Sons name if thou canst tell His Name is called Wonderful Isa 9.6 Wonder that the Divinity did not swallow up the Humanity that the fire and the bush can so well agree together All the Attributes of God are given to Christ all the Works of God spoken of him as of Creation Sanctification Glorification Therefore Christ is God not only by name or secundum divi but God by Nature He was God that he might satisfie he was Man that he might suffer Wonder at what he doth Patereulus says that when the Lacedemonians opposed Attica the Pythian God told them that that Army whose General was taken should conquer Codrus deposita veste regia c. Codrus laying aside his Princely Robes went among his enemies and was slain by them Our King on Maunday Thursday so call'd as some say because of the Command of Love Christ gave his Disciples before his Passion Mandatum novum do vobis I say our King useth to wash the feet of as many poor People as he hath lived years and yet not the less a King for this humble act Our Lord Jesus the King of Kings and Lord of Lords dyed that we might live abased himself that he might exalt us Psalm 126.1 2. When God delivered the Church out of Babylon by Cyrus they were like men that dreamed How much more should we be Astonished at our deliverance from Sin and Satan by Jesus Christ 2. Let Love be attactive of Love Let the Love of Jesus to us make us to Love him I have read of Agilmond King of the Lombards that one day he went a fishing and saw a Babe sprawling in the Water perhaps a base child he took it up and made it his adopted Son and called him Lama and left him his Crown and Kingdom You may easily imagine what delight this Lama took in seeing of King Algilmond whilst he lived and in thinking and speaking of this King after he was dead How excellently doth God express his love to the poor Jews of old Ezek. 16.4 5 6. As for thy Nativity in the day thou wast born thy Navel was not cut neither wast thou washed in water None eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee to have compassion on thee but thou wast cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own Blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy Blood live And lest this should be soon passed over the Holy Ghost bids them as it were stand and hear it the second time Yoa I said unto thee when thou wast in thy Blood live When Tiberius was in a Village named Spelunca Stones fell from the house where he was Sejanus genu vultu manibusque super Caesarem suspensis opposuit sese satis incidentibus saith Tacitus Sejanus covered the Emperour that if the Stones fell where they were Sejanus might die and not the Emperour which as the Historian observes made the Emperour ever after to love Sejanus though he loved him not before The wrath of God fell from Heaven because of mans sin Christ hath embraced the Sinner and that wrath hath fallen on him that else had crushed us O let us love him let us not be satisfied till we find our hearts burning in love 3. Crucifie Sin that crucified Christ Be the death of those Sins that were the death of Jesus Pride Wrath Covetousness and every abominable thing which the Soul of God hates Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our Old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Sin is onely destroyed by his death had not Christ dyed for us we could no more have killed our Corruptions or been made Saints than the Devils can cease to be Devils and become Angels 4. Come to God as those that expect to be justified no other way but by Christ and his Righteousness In him is God well pleased with Believers The Names given to Christ are in Scripture given to a Christian as Son of God an Heir King yea the name Christ The Apostle saith 1 Cor. 12.12 As many Members make one Body even so is Christ Where it is understood not of Christ personally but mystically for Christians or the Church of Christ Now as Adams sins is imputed to us though he and not we disobeyed so Christs Righteousness is imputed to us though he not we obeyed 2 Cor. 5. last verse Though Adams Sin be imputed to us yet we were not the first sinners nor the involvers of all Mankind
III. Of Repentance and Faith MEDITATIONS THE Apostle Paul gives us a Compendium or Abridgment of his Doctrine and Preaching Repenarnce and Faith Acts 20.22 Repentance sheweth a man his sin When a Convert is in his Agonies and Pangs in his throws and conflicts then the heart the once hard heart falls a bleeding before God Faith sheweth a man his Saviour Acts 16.13 We are often call'd upon to believe in Christ Quest Why might it not be as well exprest to believe in the Father or in the Holy-Ghost as in the Son It is true the Father Son and Holy-Ghost save us but in a different way The Father by sending the Son The Holy-Ghost as sent from the Father and the Son in the Hearts of Believers but the Son by his Merits by his Death The Father contrived the Spirit applyed but Christ procured the Remedy This Repentance wounds and Faith heals By Faith we are said to be justified Rom. 5.1 and the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith Now when Christs Righteousness is imputed unto us by Faith it is not the Righteousness of Christ as God for that is his uncreated Righteousness and this essential Righteousness cannot be communicated to us and made our accidental Righteousness and this is the Righteousness of the Father and Spirit as well as of the Son And then Father and Spirit might be said to justifie us as well as the Son But it is the Righteousness of Christ the Mediatour who is God man Jer. 23.6 And this is his name whereby he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness DIRECTIONS Stay Reader ere thou goest any farther if thou art an unconverted man get and cherish a few Resolutions to put in Practice the few following Directions Lift up thine eyes unto that God whose dwelling is not with flesh that he would thus incline thy heart in hopes of this I direct 1. Go in secret sit down and consider the great sins of thy Heart and Life Allow time enough for this Are you guilty of the horrible Sins of the Age Try your selves by the Word by the Ten Commandments Can you not do this will you do it 2. Consider these things till you find your Hearts to ake and Countenance to change If you have such Convictions as to say O that I had not done these things Could I live over my time again things should be otherwise Thô such Convictions may not be saving yet they are too good to be thrown away Strike man whilst the Iron is hot 3. Fall down on the Ground pray to God for Pardon and Acceptance through Christ Say as Ezra Chap. 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face unto thee My God for our iniquities are increased over our Heads and our Trespass is grown up to the Heavens Cry as the Leper Mat. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Look to Jesus typified by the brazen Serpent John 3.14 15. that thou mayest be healed 4. Away to the minding of Secret and Family Duties Read the Scriptures call on God lest the sparks of Convictions you have gotten go out 5. Converse with them that Converse with God say as David Psal 119.115 Away from me you Evil-doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God Psal 119.63 I am a Companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy Precepts Tell them your Case beg their Prayers hear their Instructions I have lain down a few plain Directions Wherefore I pray thee O Sinner Let my counsel be acceptable in thy sight as an Ambassador of Christ I pray thee as in Christs stead as though God did beseech thee be thou Reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5.20 Will not this do Then I adjure thee by that God that made thee by that Jesus that shall judge thee another day Consider thy ways If any think a Death-bed-repentance will serve thy turn the famous Bolton saith that Oracle of his time in his Directions for distressed Consciences That he could not get proof of any man Converted on a sick Bed I knew one reformed three years upon sick bed Repentance but at last grew more vile than ever In some Respect we may bless God that blasteth such Convictions The World too much depends on them now what would they do if they saw them in any Persons sound and saving Mat. 20.7 12. If you say some were called at the last hour I answer But none were called at the last minute If a man in old age be converted which is very seldom will it follow therefore a man on a Death-bed may be so Dr. Hammond in his Discourse of Sick-bed Repentance tells us how we should deal with such Gods example saith he must be our rule Judg. 10. v. 13 14 16. to dispense comfort by Degrees When they cryed God seems to deny Deliverance and when they were greatly humbled the Lord was grieved for them He adviseth Ministers and others to shew such men the necessity of mourning and self-indignation If I be too forward to comfort them I ruine them saith he I would to God they were of his mind who are so forward to absolve upon dry Confessions and to Canonize in Funeral Sermons to the great hardning of the Hearers God will say by Conscience on a sick bed What I have written I have written The Soul that Sins shall dye Some are ready to say If they mind these things now they shall be out of their Wits Miserable Souls they have long since told the World by their Lives that they were never well in their Wits You know Physicians sometimes say to their Patients Had I come timely I might have cured you If a Patient say I will take no Physick I will not be confined to my Chamber I will eat and drink what I please this is to say I will not recover I will dye So to say in the heart I will not follow Directions is to say I will be damned Remember God that calls you needs you not Job 22.33 Is it any Pleasure to the Almighty that thou art Righteous or is it any gain to him that thou makest thy way perfect Let none deceive themselves and think they have repented and believed when it is not so They may say as Agag Surely the bitterness of Death is past 1 Sam. 15.32.33 and yet be hewed before the Lord. O Blessed God! what a dreadful Surprizal will it be in the time of Death to many great Professours that thought for twenty thirty years or more that they were in the Way to Heaven and then then find themselves mistaken who find themselves at the Gate of Hell when they thought themselves at the Gate of Heaven Have you Convictions now stifle them not bring them before God lest he say of you My Spirit shall no more strive with you O man Gen. 6.3 I take an everlasting Farewell of thee seeing thou wilt be unholy be
Like men that should go on singing and dancing and calling for their Cups and Musick to the place of Execution I have spoken of several Duties of reading Scripture Prayer Charity but we must remember all must be done in Sincerity and this is the next thing we shall consider CHAP VIII Of Sincerity MEDITATIONS MAny there are I doubt not whose Sincerity no man questions that will be found formal another day and many that few thought well of will be saved Snow covers Dunghils Gilt makes common Wood and Stones look like Gold So doth a Profession and some attainments make many Unconverted Men look like true Christians When Judas went up and down Preaching the Gospel if any one had said to him Judas thou art now perswading the world to close with Christ within a little time thou thy self wilt betray this Christ to death for thirty pieces of Silver would he have believed it or would he not rather have said as Hazael to Elisha 2 Kings 8.13 Am I a Dog that I should do this thing Many famous Ministers great Preachers men of great Parts and Zeal much followed by all and accounted Angels from Heaven I fear will in a little time Mat. 258. cry Our Lamps are gone out Many forward hearers that have done many things set on Reformation and minded reading and praying in their Families will I fear in a little time be found to be Cakes half baked Hos 7.8 On the other hand there are many Ministers and People that are taken but little notice of for Religion that I hope will be saved Their Heavenly Father sees that in secret hearts broken for Sin and breathing after Christ for which he will reward them openly Many that deceive themselves thus plead I can remember the time when the place where the Minister by whom I was Converted 1 Kings 21.27 28.29 When Ahab heard these words he rent his cloaths he fasted c. God takes notice of it to the Prophet Seest thou not how Ahab humbleth himself before me Then Ahab remembred the time when the place where the Prophet by whom he was terrifyed so as to pray fast and had a Promise from God on the doing this work Acts 8.13 Simon himself believed and was Baptized Verse 21. And yet his heart was not right in the sight of God Philips Doctrine and Miracles Converted seemingly him that had deceived many Simon might say I remember the time when the place where the Minister by whom I was convinced and awakened and yet he was in the gall of Sin and the bond of Iniquity Gal. 4.14 15 16. Once again many of them received Paul as an Angel of God even as Christ Jesus high words were ready to have plucked out their eyes and have given them to him and yet at last they accounted him their Enemy because he told them the truth No doubt many of them were but formal to whom he said Where is then the Blessedness you spake of These men could remember the time when the place where the Minister by wom they were reformed Many such men can say but little else but their first Convictions and Terrours Others plead That God hath heard and wonderfully answer'd their Prayers and that they are assured from the Scriptures of Truth John 19.31 That God heareth not Sinners but if any man be a Worshpper of God him he heareth And they will tell you of Extraordinary Providences that they have met with as an answer to Prayer I answer It may be God heard not your Prayers but your Murmurings as Numb 11. The Quails came at the peoples request here was a Providence but what was the close of all Some have desired Children Riches c. but unless these things have made them love and serve God they never were given in a way of Mercy but Judgment Or it may be God heard only the Cry of nature in you as he hears the cries of Young Lions and Ravens Gen. 21.17 19 20. God heard Hagar's and Ishmaels Cry When Hagar lift up her voice and wept an Angel calls to her and tells her God had heard the Cry of the Lad and it is said vers 21. God was with the Lad. Hagar and Ishmael might they say God hath heard and wonderfully answered our Prayers and God heareth not Sinners And yet both were cast out I doubt not but God doth work Wonders or Miracles for their Preservation or Deliverance that shall never be saved Some plead But I find I have Repentance I have Faith I yield Obedience to the Gospel c. Amen would to God it may appear to be so Yet hear the Word of the Lord Mat. 8.12 The Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out Conclude on it there is nothing in Art that doth more resemble a thing in nature than Legal Repentance resembles Evangelical Temporary Faith Saving Partial Obedience Universal Never was there the picture or Statua of a man that did more resemble a living man than common Grace doth Saving Never was any Brass Half-Crown more like one of good Silver than the life of a Hypocrite may the life of a Christian Have you so repented of Sin as to loath Sin as Sin for its malignity and evil nature Hath your faith made you to esteem of Christ his Ordinances and People more than of all Treasures Your Obedience unfeigned without reserves In the account we have of the sickness and death of Bellarmine done by C.E. the Jesuite one passage he hath to make him famous to the world which makes me more to hate the name and memory of Bellarmine than any thing recorded of him That when his Confessor came to him Such saith he was the innocency of the man that he could hardly tell what to confess insomuch that his Ghostly Father was in some perplexity wanting matter of Absolution till by recourse to his life past he found some small defects of which he absolved him The Author cryes O Zealous Mind O Noble Bishop but let the Christian poor in spirit that complains with Paul Rom. 7. of a Body of Sin and Death cry O stupid Soul O vile Hypocrite how secure was thy Conscience that at thy death hadst no scruple but the exchanging of one good work for another and that when commanded to it That was his leaving the Archbishoprick of Capua for better preserment What is related of him his lying on his bed with his eyes and hands lift up to Heaven his falling prostrate on the ground to receive the Sacrament his bestowing so much to feed the poor all these things signifie nothing when the heart is so proud so insensible of its own Gailt Then every man must try himself The Famous Divines in the Synod of Dort gave these Marks of Sincerity Dordrehti Synodus Vera in Christum fides filialis Dei timor dolor de peccatis secundum Deum sitis esuries justitiae A True Faith in Christ when a man humbly relies upon him for Life
and Salvation A filial Fear of God when we fear his displeasure as well as his Judgments a sorrow for Sin according to God when we hate Sin so as to fly from it to God a Hungring and Thirsting after Righteousness a desire of Grace more than any thing on earth DIRECTIONS 1. Conclude on the absolute necessity of Sincerity and beg the Prayers of Gods Sincere ones Say then to your Souls we must be upright If it were proclaimed from Heaven that but one man in a Town or City should be saved every man had reason to give all diligence that he might be the man knowing he cannot dwell with Eternal Burnings Are your doubts many beg the Prayers of the Faithful do as God commanded Jobs Friends Go to my Servant Job and he shall pray for you and him will I accept Job 42.8 Go to such a Minister such a Christian be not ashamed to go to them to knock at their doors to speak with them and enquire Acts 16 30. What must I do to be saved Cry as they in the Vision to Paul Acts 16.9 Come over into Macedonia and help us If a man be distempered or wounded in his body away he goes to the Physician or Chirurgeon Be as careful of your Souls as you are of your Bodies If there be any good desires cherish them Cant. 2.3 The Fig-tree putteth forth her Green Figs and the Vines with the tender Grapes give a good Smell Arise my Love my Fair One and come away Thy sincere though weak desires and breathings of Soul are pleasant to God and promise well Can any Babes in Christ say as the poor Indian when first awakened being asked what Sin was Oh said he it is the continual Sickness of my Heart It argues they are alive to God 2. Do not too soon shake off all fears and doubts Some come and tell Ministers how they cannot sleep some nights being terrified about Sin and wrath I am ready to tell them where they awake one night I would they did many They that have been so before them have no reason to wish they had slept the mean while Wounds must smart much before they can be cured Many break their sleep by night about loss of Children of Goods c. and make no great matter of it You may in a little time say of your hearts as Jacob of that place Gen 28.16 The Lord was here and I knew it not The first cry of the New Creature pleaseth God tormenteth the Devil If you are full of fears now the comforts of God will be sweeter to you when they come If you on a Journey were benighted on a Down darkness comes Rain pours down one Clap of Thunder and Flash of Lightning followed another and you were wet to the skin affrighted and every hour seems as long as ten and in the morning when light appeared and the Sun began to shine and you were brought into your Inne and had the comfort of a good Fire warm cloaths good provision and a good bed would you not be the more sensible of the sweetness of these things because of your nights misery O Christian Sorrow may continue for a night Psal 30. Isa 50.10 but joy cometh in the morning Are you in darkness and so see no light Hear you the Thundrings of the Law See you the Flashes of Gods Judgment Do the Terrours of God fall upon your Soul When God shines upon you then his Promises and Comforts will be sweet to your Souls 3. Never stick at any attainments but be alwayes going on Are you weak The strongest in Christ were once so One hath a good meditation upon this The greatest Giant was once a Babe in the Cradle The greatest Oak was once a Twig And the greatest Scholar was once in his Horn-book learning letters So saith he the greatest Christian was once a Babe in Christ and weak in grace All must grow sad it is for any to say if I have so much Grace as will bring me to Heaven I am content But who is content with just so much meat as will kill hunger and save life Or with just so much money as will keep him from debts and so from Goal Strive more and more against Sin Get greater power over Constitution Sins Company Sins and the Sins of your Callings If any should say our hearts are still bad after praying watching and striving remember still to go on If a man went to cut down an Oak the first blow with the Ax tends to the fall of the tree as well as the last if one should see one blow given and another and an hundred and the Oak seems as firm as ever and should say it is but in vain to strike any more what weakness were he guilty of At last down falls the Tree So the first acts of Repentance Faith Obedience tend to the pulling down of Sin as really as the last How many are prone to Pride Covetousness unchast desires revenge have found this to be true they have prayed many years and Fasted and striven against Sin and yet found as they thought but a little change and at last down hath fallen the Sin And God hath made them very humble very mortifyed very chast very patient Then take up the Ax strike strike and spare not Sin Sin shall be destroyed 4. If you find you are Sincere give God the glory through Jesus Christ When King Solomon was Crowned what rejoycing was there 1 Kings 1.40 They piped wâ—â—h Pipes and rejoyeed with great joy so that the earth rent with the sound of them Cant. 3.11 Go forth ye Daughters of Zion and see King Solomon with the Crown wherewith his Mother Crowned him in the day of his Espousaels and in the day of the gladness of his heart God that hath sanctifyed you hath Crowned you with a better Crown of Grace and will with a Crown of Glory The Angels rejoyced at your Conversion and therefore you should rejoyce God in heaven and those your friends there are glad for you Luke 15.32 and you should be glad for your selves You once were under the same Condemnation with the wicked God sometimes pardons Sinners of the greatest sort and pardons â—ot some of the lesser sort As if a King seeing two men whom the Law had Condemned the one for Murthering his Child and contriving to Murther him another onely for stealing of a few Cattel or a summ of Money he pardons the Traytor and lets the Thief go to Execution Even so Father Mat. 11 26 for so it seems good in thy Sight Paul runs up all to the Will of God Rom. 9.23 Yet says Calvin Neque tamen ingerinâ—us commentum absolutae potentiae He is not pleased with saying onely That God is a Law to himself It is Gods Will saith he that is true but why God wills is not for us to know why he would wrap up so many men in Adam and they all fell by his Sin Why
a Harp for Moab and my Inwards for Kirharesh When Men ran from God though God offer'd Grace and Mercy it is said Gen. 6.7 It repented the Lord that he had made Man and it grieved him to the heart Sin hath made him such a Monster that God loatheth him and the People of God are often in Anguish of Spirit because of him What aileth the Unconverted Man that though he knoweth he hath sinned and is exposed to eternal Judgments yet can eat and drink by day and sleep by night as if all were well Men condemned to die for Theft Murder how sad do they look but Sin is of a hardening nature Hence it is that their Hearts feel not the keâ—nest Considerations in Religion Ungodly Men are as one sayes Whately's Nâ—w-birth as little Devils and differ from the great Devil not in Parts of Corruption but Degrees as a Child differs from a Man But O man thou must die and if it be so thou dyest before thou art made a new creature thou art damned for ever Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming Isa 14.9 If there were a Sword a Pistol at thy breast how wouldst thou beg for life if thou hadst any hopes of being heard the Sword of Justice is drawn against thee and ready to be sheathed in thy bowels Cry cry aloud to the merciful God for Mercy How often in the night season is there a scrole before thine eyes of thy past iniquities and of judgments to come and thou turnest from one side to another Shall I shall I yet reform When shall it once be If any say I hope to be saved though I obey not the Gospel This is to say I hope God will prove false of his word or as if a man call'd to work and promised pay should say Though I sport or sleep but work not all day long I doubt not of my wages and should argue from the goodness of the nature of that man that imployed him If others say I will repent hereafter So thou shalt but I fear that hereafter will be in Hell for ever when there is no hope of mercy The Scripture calleth obstinate Sinners Sons of Belial 1 Sam. 2.12 2 Sam. 20.1 the Sept. read in one place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pestilent men infectious men in the other place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men yokeless against all Law And this is the case of men that were once glorious Creatures when in subjection to their Maker It is a comfortable consideration to them that are holy 1 Cor. 6.9 Rev. 21.27 That no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdom of God Your graceless Faces shall occasion no sorrow to them there When they see you in the great day yet they nor their God will have any pity upon you Fathers whose hearts were once ready to break for their ungodly Children or Husbands for their ungodly Wives or Brothers for their ungodly Brethren they will not wish in that day O that I could save them from the Wrath of God! They will be contented and not only so but will rejoyce that Justice is executed upon them that God hath honour upon them in their eternal Damnation who had none by them by any Reformation or good works Turn you Ezek. 33.11 turn you why will you die Mind the duties I have perswaded to before Let none complain for want of time when they know that many of as much business as they can find time to mind God and their duty in Jer. 13.17 But if you will not hear my Soul shall mourn in secret for your pride You that cry in Youth It is too soon to be serious or in Middle-age It is time enough will in old age say It is too late I turn from you to them that I know will hear me and with whom my pains are never lost To the Righteous Praise the Lord all ye his Saints whom God hath sanctified whom God will save You may sing that Song Exod. 15.21 The Horse and his Rider hath he thrown into the Sea So your vile affections and Satan hath God conquer'd for you Grow in grace as the Children of God and as the Brethren of the holy Prophets and Apostles Epictetus gives a direction to Philosophers to consider when about to do an action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What would Socrates or Zeno do So how would David Paul pray read or do the works of Religion if they were by you and were to do the same If your Brethren in Heaven could speak to you how would they perswade you to be zealous in good works as Children of the same Father and Heirs of the same Kingdom with themselves A strange sight would it be to see a King with a Crown on his Head taking in a Dunghill Sad is it to see the Christian that hath Grace and shall have glory to be immoderately concerned about the things of this life I perswade you to that which tends to make your lives happy on all accounts and which I have often spoken of Piety Industry Vsefulness and Chearfulness Piety be serious in Religion and seek for comfortable Perswasions of the Love of God Industry be laborious in your Callings Vsefulness do good to the Souls and Bodies of many Chearfulness flee all needless sorrow adorn the Gospel of Christ and let your Conversations invite others to receive it Faults in you are bad indeed The better the Garment is the worse is the rent the better the Cup the worse is the crack the better the man the worse the disorder For your encouragement to walk with God hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Rev. 2.7 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 7.16 17. They are before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple And he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them They shall neither hunger nor thirst any more Neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat for the Lamb that is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto the Fountain of living waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Rev. 22.1 There is that pure River of the water of Life clear as Chrystal proceeding out of the throne of God Rev. 22.6 and of the Lamb. These sayings are faithful and true And the Lord God of the holy Prophets hath shewn to his Servants the things which must shortly be done Blessed are they that do his Commandements Rev. 22.14 that they may have right to the Tree of life and may enter in through the Gates into the City I end all with this humble Address unto the Lord That he would come with all his Train of Graces and put an end to all our Heats and Contentions about the smaller things in Religion and make us zealous of all good Works and then bring us to himself in Glory Even so come Rev. 22.20 Lord Jesus That all the Saints may enjoy those Delights of which it shall never be said Here is THE END