lay field to field he hath been loading himself with thick Clay he hath been very throng a getting that together that he knoweth not how soon he must leave behind him he cannot tell but before to morrow Ask another he will tell you he hath been at the Butterflies work painting his wings tricking and trimming and making himself fine and smooth and brisk and gay with a world of art and cost setting himself out to the view of beholders and to be thought handsom he was willing to wave all the real accomplishments of humanity and little thinks the poor spark how soon all his trimming must be laid aside and how courfly a fit of sickness and much more two or three days Lodging in the Grave will make him look Another or perhaps the same if you question him when he is in the right mood to give you an answer will tell you he has been Drinking Dancing Singing Feasting dallying all his days Ransacking all the avenues of pleasure and racking nature to make her confess some secret source of delight and trying untrodden Paths of Luxury that if it were possible some new mode of sensual gratification might be found on which the Preacher had not written Vanity of Vanities but know O fleshly wretch that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment Eccl. xi 9. Another hath been climbing hard to reach the topmost Pinacle of Honour Cringing Bribing Flattering to get an opportunity to wrong others and ruine himself for man being in honour abideth not he is like the Beasts that perish Psal Lix 12. Now alas what poor employments are these for that time on which Eternity depends And yet how few even among Christians lay out their time to any better purposes Well Sirs all your time that is not laid out for God's glory the good of others and the Salvation of your Souls is lost time you had as good nay better all that time have been out of Being Oh what a World of time do the most give away to Death People complain of the shortness of Life and yet act as if they thought it too long What cause have most of us to sit down and sadly say What have I been doing hitherto Am I not even a dying before I have begun to live And Oh that men would sit down and think seriously of it there might be then some hope that they would at last in earnest begin to do that which they should have been doing all this while Infer VI. What need have we to implore the Grace and Spirit of Christ to encline and enable us to direct and assist us in this necessary work We have a great deal of work to do and it must be done and we cannot do it of our selves what more reasonable then than that we should speedily and carefully look out for help The great Gospel promise is the Promise of the Spirit we ought therefore to plead it in Christ's name with God the Father since he hath said he will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke xi 13. If we have not the Spirit of Christ we are none of his Rom. viii 9. And without special relation to him and interest in him we cannot groundedly hope for assistance from him without whom yet we can do nothing Joh. xv 5. We are dark we therefore need the Spirit to enlighten us we are weak we need him to strengthen us we are wavering we need him to settle and fix us we are oft dejected and discouraged we then need him to comfort and confirm us Since then we so greatly need this blessing on all accounts how earnest and importunate should we be for it How observant of all the blessed Spirits accesses to and recesses from our Souls How careful to cherish his blessed motions How loath to grieve our guide If our Baptism in his name were not a nullity which many at least of our scoffers are not yet arrived at the impudence to assert our pretensions to his assistance cannot be justly charged to be Enthusiastical provided our claims be proportioned to the ends of our Baptismal Covenant relation to the Holy Ghost and our holiness of Life and Conversation manifest their reality As Enthusiasm though it seem to look another way leads to Infidelity so Infidelity too often and never more than of late masks it self under the veil of a vehement zeal against Enthusiasm But a good understanding of our Baptism and a practical experience of the main vital principles of Christianity therein contained would be an effectual cure of both When we know what it is to have the Spirit of Life living and working in our Souls as our Souls in our Bodies then and not till then shall we know what it is to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long Some forced motions in the externals of Religion we may have before but it is the Spirit that quickeneth Joh. vi 23. And where the Spirit of the Lord is there and there only is true Liberty 2 Cor. iii. 17. Even such as whereby we run the ways of God's Commandments with enlarged hearts Psal Cxix 32. Infer VII What care should Parents take to begin in a way of holy Education with their Children betimes that the best course in the World may not seem difficult and uneasie to them by disuse The wise man bids train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Prov. xxii 6. And undoubtedly one great reason why many frame so aukwardly in the matters of Religion is because they were so long suffered to be utterly unacquainted with them O what a difference do Ministers usually find as to the Success of their Preaching between catechised and uncatechised youth Oh how hard is it to get people in years that have been left in ignorance till then to learn to understand but the most plain and common principles of Religion through want of early instruction when we tell men of being in the fear of the Lord continually the most know nothing what we mean tell them of the necessity of Repentance Faith and Holiness in order to Eternal Life and they understand not what they hear speak to them of the blessed Trinity in whose name they were baptized of the necessity of the Spirits help and of regeneration and it is all one as if we spoke to them in Greek or Arabick their minds have never been used to such matters O you that desire it should be otherwise with yours take care of their early instruction tell them betimes of their duty in order to Salvation and Eternal happiness and acquaint them with the holy Scriptures teach them to pray set before them briefly and plainly the order of their daily duty to God their Neighbours and themselves help them to govern their appetites and passions by reason and the Word of God tell them what Christ hath suffered in their stead what benefits he hath
employment of our whole time And here I shall lay down the Reasons and Motives that are proper to enforce this Practice upon us and perswade us to it 3. I shall conclude with some Inferences and Practical Remarks upon the whole 1. To open to you this being in the Fear of the Lord all the day long And this I shall do by laying before you the several parts of your daily duty that so you may be directed in the orderly performance of it Many neglect the great business of Christianity because they do not well understand what it is or if they know something of it in general yet their notions are but confused and they know not how to place and order their duties For your help in this I shall lay before you the following Scheme of good employments for every day which whosoever Prudently Sincerely Cheerfully and Constantly observes does in some good measure come up to this Divine Rule of being in the fear of the Lord all the day long 1. If you will be in the fear of the Lord all the day long you must see that the fear of the Lord be in you Look well that a principle of Grace and Regeneration be wrought in your Soul A dead man cannot work or walk you must make the tree good or the fruit will be naught A graceless Soul cannot do a gracious action much less is it to be expected that he should engage and persist in a course of holiness How many in a pang of Conviction and under present fears of Death and Hell resolve that they will lead new lives they will be drunk no more they will leave their loose Companions they will Pray and Read and Hear and do no body knows what But their goodness is but like a morning Cloud and early Dew that soon passeth away they dream of leading new lives without getting new hearts Whereas if you will to purpose reform your lives you must begin with your hearts Get a deep sense of sin see your need of Christ cry to God for Pardon and Grace be restless till you feel your Souls possest with the Spirit of a holy Life Light and Love till you be made partakers of a Divine Nature new creatures in whom all old things are passed away and all things are become new A new heart is virtually a new life inasmuch as it will certainly produce it whereas a seeming new Life while the old unsanctified heart with its unmortified Lusis remains is but a dead Image a painted carkass a thing that as it does not live so it cannot last 2. Begin every day with God When I awake saith the holy Psalmist I am still with thee Psal 139. 18. Labour that your first thoughts may be of God and Christ and Heaven Use your Souls upon their first release from the Fetters of sleep to work towards God in thankful acknowledgments and deep admirations of his goodness with very humbling reflections on your own frailty and vileness Say Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou visitest him Psal viii 4. Lift up a Prayer for protection from sin and danger throughout the new day God is pleased to give you Think how many have passed the night in Pain and Misery and how many Souls may be this night gone into Eternity while you have slept sweetly and safely and bless God for his mercy to you and labour to make a wise and holy improvement of it Good thoughts at our first waking season our hearts for all day 3. Waste no time in needless sleep or waking sloth How many that are horribly afraid to die yet make no matter of giving away a vast proportion and that of the very best the flower of their time to deaths Image and Brother Sleep O think how many are suing out obtaining their pardon and making sure their Salvation while you lie Sleeping and Snoring and have not you Souls as well as they Have not you as much need of Christ and Grace and Heaven as they Remember excessive Sleep is neither good for Body nor Soul All cannot do with the like measure of Sleep but there are very few but might do with a great deal less than they do And of those that are not guilty of indulging the Body in this respect how many more are there that abridge themselves for the World than that do it for God and their Souls And is the World a better Master think you than God and Christ And is Gold a better purchase than Grace And then when you are awake slugg not as many do turning upon their beds like a door upon its hinges much less contrive not mischief upon your Beds let not contemplative wickedness find that time to steal into your hearts But shake off sloath and as soon as true necessity will give leave be stirring Remember morning hours are the cream of time more precious than the filings of Gold or dust of Pearl therefore throw them not away 4. Be not long in dressing and lose not even that time but think of some apparel for the Soul Be not like the gaudy Butter-flies and gay Peacocks of our days that spend their best hours between the Comb and the Glass and so their Bodies be but fine care not how filthy their Souls are Remember Cloaths came in to cover that nakedness of which sin had made us ashamed and therefore they should be a constant memorial to us of the fall of our first Parents and ours in them and to be proud of them or to make a great deal of stir and do about them is very foolish and absurd as well as wicked Count that fashion of apparel the best that being sufficient for Warmth and Decency truly so called requires least time in putting on To spend an hour every morning in Tricking and Trimming the Body and to think half an hour for Reading and Prayer too much is to me no very good sign than he or she whose ordinary practice is such is a real hearty Christian. And you whose apparel is really Grave and Decent the time that is spent in putting it on let it not be wholly taken up in that but let your minds be employed in suitable Meditations Think of putting oâ— the Lord Jesus Christ he is the only cloathing for your Souls that the shame of your nakedness may not appear You would be ashamed to go naked into the Company of your Neighbours O be ashamed of sin which is the Souls nakedness While you are dressing think what Temptations you are like to meet with in the day and labour to fence against them forelay the employments of the day meditate on some Scripture promise or the like 5. Go not out of your Chamber or Lodging Room without urgent necessity till you have offered up your morning Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise unto God He that is to travel among Thieves had need go armed Origen Complains that that day he
every day Luke xvi 19 24. Think how many want what you waste Remember their end is destruction whose God is their Belly Phil. iii. 19. Take heed of being bewitched with the love of strong drink Wine is a mocker strong drink is raging whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise Prov. xx 1. Remember what it did to Noah Gen. ix 21. And then be not content with meer Temperance in which it may be when you have done all you can some Heathens have out-stripped you but mix your meals with good discourse own God in bodily provisions beg his blessing on them and seriously bless him for them Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do let all be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. x. 31. 11. Be moderate in Recreations subordinate them to the great ends of your Life and see they be lawful and sâ—asonable Two Rules * Mr. Whateâ—â—y Redemption of Time an Eminent Divine gives about Recreations among others specially worth our notice 1. Never allow your selves any Recreation till you be come to some degree of weariness in some pious or honest employment Begin not the day with Recreation 2. Spend no more time in Recreation any day than you spend in the private or secret duties of Religion And this Rule though to some it may seem severe he thinks sufficiently warranted by that of our Saviour Mat. vi 33. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness I add Take heed of passion and the lâ—ss of Time Remember Recreation is no Mans business God hath not placed us in the World as Leviathan in the Sea to play therein We must but sip not drink of these dangerous sweets tanquam canis ad nilum a lap and away Take them as that we need not as that we love When once Recreations begin to inveigle our affections though in themselves they be never so lawful it is time to lay them aside 12. Every day rejoice with trembling Mix a humbling sense of our own sins with a thankful sense of Gods mercies Indulge not a sullen sorrow neither let our Joy degenerate into frothiness and levity Maintain an evenness of spirit between the immoderate carefulness of such as are swallowed up of over-much sorrow and the carnal jâ—llity of such as on light occasions are transported into ravishment or on greater ones forget the causes they have not to be puffed up but to be humbled rather When God gives you the greatest mercies think how little you deserve and when he exerciseth you with the greatest afflictions think he is before hand with you both in what he hath bestowed upon you what he offers to you and what he hath laid up for you 13. Let no day pass without some serious heart-affecting thoughts of your last day Pray Lord teach me so to number my days as to apply my heart unto wisdom Psal xc v. 12. One being asked what Philosophy was gave it this definition Philosophia est meditatio mortis and undoubtedly the thorow consideration of Death has a large place in the Christian Philosophy The Gospel Doctrine is Ars moriendi the Art of Dying viz. in and to the Lord. And how unpleasant soever this study may seem to corrupt nature there is none more necessary for us than it Serious thoughts of Death are very powerful to convince of the evil of sin of the vanity of the World of the excellency of Grace and the wisdom of laying up Treasure in Heaven O! did men think as they ought of their latter end they would not raise such a dust as they do in the World for applause and preferment there would not be such pride and pomp such bribery and oppression such luxury and sensuality among professed Christians as there is Serious thoughts of Death would be one of the most effectual cures of Hypocrisie in the World for who would very much care what men say or think of him that considers how soon he must lye buried out of their sight and forgotten by them as if he had never been When Hypocrites see they must die it makes them in earnest and if they had been so in time they had been sincere Who would trifle with God that knows and considers how soon he must be at his Bar It were impossible for men to live as they do did they but once every day seriously think they must die this thought would either reform them or torment them And that sinners seem to be aware of whence because they have no mind of either they do all they can to put Death out of their thoughts 14 Observe and improve the Methods of Providence and Grace every day and record your Experiences for future guidance and encouragement It is a great point of spiritual wisdom to notice aright Gods dealings in his Providence with our selves and others so as to make just Inferences therefrom and none but such And also to observe the secret approaches of the Divine goodness to our Souls in the way of gracious influence from the Spirit of Holiness Whatever God does in the ways of common providence or special grace he expects we should regard and consider and improve it when sin finds our selves or others out we should lye thereby warned how we meddle with that which Experience assures us will cost us dear when Obedience is rewarded we are to observe it for our encouragement to walk in such ways as God owns and in what ways we have found God approaching our Souls with the influences of special grace and spiritual consolation we are to be excited still to wait on him therein 15. Let no special opportunity of furthering your Salvation glorifying God or benefiting your Neighbour slip you unobserved or unimproved This is to redeem time Every hour of every day is to be made the best of but some are capable of a special improvement like a fair Wind to a Mariner or a fair day when we are at harvest-work if we let this slip such another may not come Post est occasio calva It may be now Christ stands at thy door in the person of a poor Beggar send him not away without an Alms see Mat. xxv at the latter end Perhaps a poor ignorant sinner is by providence cast into thy Family or thou meetest with such a one upon the Road or thou hast him upon a sick-bed willing to hearken to instruction O do thy utmost to save a Soul from Death and cover the multitude of sins Jam. v. 20. It may be thou art light into the Company of debauched Sensualists profane Ranters Infidel Scoffers now give a proof of thy loyalty and fidelity to thy great Lord and Master Perhaps thou art under a Cross and thou feelest thy heart sensible and tender now set to confessing thy sins and making supplication for the Life of thy Soul now thou hast a Sabbath a Market-day for Heaven store thy self with Soul-provision sic de caeteris 18. Share in the sufferings of the
cause were it possible to cancel and blot our every day of his Life each day having been only spent in treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of God's righteous Judgment Rom. ii 5. R. 10. By such a holy improvement of the short and troublesom days of time we shall secure to our selves an happy being thorowout the long and endless days oâ— Eternity If we sow to the Spirit we shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting Gal. vi 7 8. If we suffer with Christ we shall reign with him 2 Tim. ii 12. The good and faithful Servant shall enter into the joy of his Lord Mat. xxv 21. Wherefore my beloved Brethren be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. xv 58. God suffereth none of his faithful Servants to be losers by him or any thing they do for his honour and glory Our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory while we look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen for the things that are seen are Temporal but the things that are not seen are Eternal 2 Cor. iv 17 18. Surely if we believe an eternity of happiness for holy Souls we shall not think any pains in duty or any patience in suffering too much for it Our discouraging apprehensions of the difficulty of duty proceed much from the Wavering and Weakness of our Faith concerning the Reality and Excellency of the heavenly glory If we lived as seeing him who is invisible Heb. xi 27. And as foreseeing that glory which is eternal we should lead other manner of lives both in respect of grace and comfort than now we do Who would not Watch and Pray Toil and Labour Suffer and Wait that did soundly apprehend and firmly believe that the result of all would be the Souls being for ever with the Lord 1 Thes iv 17. Oh the glory purchased with the redeemers blood and which he hath as our forerunner taken possession of what will it not excite and enable us to undertake and perform Did we believe that the fervent effectual Prayer of a righteous man availeth much Jam. v. 16. to the gaining of Eternal blessedness we should not so often omit nor so lazily perform that duty as we do Did Faith enliven our Meditations of Heaven we should be oftner in them and continue at them longer and with more delight Did we look upon every alms given by us to the poor as a laying up treasure in Heaven we should labour to be rich in good Works Did we reckon that the more of the sufferings of Christ are fulfilled in us now the more of the glory of Christ shall be revealed in us hereafter we should even be ambitious of Martyrdom and esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt Heb. xi 26. But alas we think Heaven may be had with less ado or else we think so poorly of it as if it were scarce worth having So that there is too much cause to take up concerning us the complaint of one of the Ancients Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut nos non sumus Evangelici either this that we have in our Bibles is not the Gospel or we are not the Gospellers so wide is the difference between the Gospel of Christ and the Lives of Christians But be assured my friends we must bring our hearts and lives to the Gospel and make that the Rule of them if ever we will be happy For Christ will never bring down his Gospel to our hearts and lives If we will be saved it must be in his way and on his Terms and he hath said Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. xii 14. And the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. vi 9. For without are Dogs c. Rev. xxii 15. Consider therefore whether you will live a life of present ease and be hereafter cast out into eternal Torments or you will now painfully exercise your selves unto godliness and approve your selves Christ's Servants that you may hereafter be for ever with him and behold his glory John xvii 24. and share in that Rest that remaineth for the People of God Heb. iv 9. Having now shewn you what it is to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long and given you the Reasons which oblige every one of us to take care that we daily be so III. It remains that I point out to you those Inferences and practical Conclusions that follow upon and flow from the Truths we have hitherto been discoursing Inference I. Must we as you have heard be in the fear of the Lord all the day long What then shall we think of them that have no fear of God before their eyes that are so far from making Religion their daily business that they live every day as without God in the World Eph. ii 12. They say unto God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job xxi 14. If it be so necessary to our present peace and future happiness as hath been shewn to walk with God continually what a condition are they in that never took one step in Heavens way or so much as once set their faces Sion-ward Jer. L. 5. What shall we think of the Atheistical Crew that call in question God's Being and boldly deny his Providence The Infidel-scoffers that deny Jesus to be the Son of God and ridicule the sacred Records of Eternal Life that deride all pretensions to the assistance of the Holy Spirit and hold the intercourse and communion of Souls with the Father of Spirits to be no better than meer fancy and delusion How are we to account of the Hypocritical Race of pretenders to that Religion they never felt the power of upon their hearts who oft turn Infidels themselves and draw others into the same condemnation The malignant Enemies of practical Religion who profess to love God while they hate their Brethren to the very death for no other reason but because they indeed love him The lovers of this World Mammons Idolatrous Worshippers who know no godliness but gain 1 Tim. vi 5. and who have no end of living but to be rich and to compass that will deny God damn themselves and destroy their Brethren The sond admirers of ease and pleasure that are dead while they live 1 Tim. v. 6. and are willing to purchase a dying Life with eternal Death and exchange Angels fare for that of Swine lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God 2 Tim. iii. 4. The eager hunters after applause that value themselves by what others think of them without staying to consider what they ought to think of themselves Those who seldom worship God so much as in outward appearance and never in spirit and truth
partakers of a Divine Nature but that we should cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God and shewing forth the virtues and praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous Light 2 Pet i. 4. 2 Cor. vii 1. 1 Pet. ii 9. All which we can never do but by denying Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and living Righteously Soberly and Godly in this present World Tit. ii 12. So that while we live not to God we live beside the end of our being we lose our time and provoke God to strip us of a blessing we no better know how to value R. 2. This is the way to secure our present peace and future happiness There is no way to a setled grounded tranquillity of mind but by a holy Life Sin is the great make-bate in Kingdoms Churches Families and it will never let that Soul enjoy peace in which it resides unpandoned and unmortified And these two always go together unmortified sin is ever unpardoned sin and guilt still makes the Soul uneasie He must be an Atheist or a Brute that can be secure and jolly while sin lieth at the door Gen. iv 7. like a Bailiff ready to drag him before the Supreme Judge at whose Bar being condemned he must be forth with abandoned to Eternal Torments What comfort can Pleasures Honours or Profits yield to that man who is awake and knows not but he must be in Hell to morrow Besides it is easie to demonstrate that the happiness of rational Creatures consists in Communion with God of which we are altogether uncapable whilst we lie wallowing in the mire of sin God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity scil with approbation Evil shall not dwell with him Hab. i. 13. The conviction sinners have of this appears in their shiness to approach the Sovereign Majesty especially in secret acts of Worship after the commission of any grosser sin And if we be in such a case that we dare not come to God our Life must needs be very uncomfortable Hence the Prophet Isa Lvii. 21. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked And the Psalmist Psal Lxxiii 27 28. All they that are far from thee shall perish but it is good for me to draw nigh to God Many complain of their present restless uncomfortable condition but they neglect the true Method of cure they would have peace but they will not crucifie the flesh with its affections and lusts Sinner thou must either leave thy sinful courses or be a continual torment and vexation to thy self unless for a while thou shouldest in Judgment be given over to a spirit of slumber and then thou wilt shortly awake in unsufferable terrours But the way to peace is to walk humbly with God to be constant in the daily practice of true Piety See Psal cxix 165. Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Gal. vi 16. As many as walk according to this Rule peace be on them and on the Israel of God And as this is the wav to present peace so it is also to future everlasting Glory To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory honour and immortality God will render Eternal Life Rom. ii 7. There remains a Rest for the people of God Heb. iv 9. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. xii 14. They only who live to God here are capable of living with him for ever hereafter As ever therefore you value peace here or glory hereafter let it be your constant care to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long R. 3. Vnless we thus make Religion our daily delightful Employment we are ungrateful to God who daily loadeth us with his Benefits Who gave thee thy Being Who redeemed thy Life from Destruction and thy Soul from Damnation By whom are all the hairs of thy head numbred that not one of them fall to the ground without his will To whose care and kindness dost thou owe thy health liberty peace plenty quiet habitation comfortable Relations Gospel opportunities thy share in Publick National and Church Deliverances Is it not God that holds thy Soul in Life and suffers not thy feet to be moved Psal Lxvi 9. Is it not the Father of mercies that crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies Psal ciii 4 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases v. 3. Is it not his hand that holdeth thee out of Hell and supporteth thee from sinking into the bottomless Pit Is it not he that hath rescued thee as well as others of late from the devouring Jaws of bloody Papists from an horrible slavery of Body Soul and Conscience to such as worship graven Images from being compelled first to worship and then to chew and swallow a bit of Bread or a thin Wafer under the title and denomination of thy Lord God Maker and Redeemer And what return thinkest thou is due to God for such Mercies as these Can any less suffice than that which the Apostle exhorts unto Rom. xii 1. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And if we have once sincerely given up our selves to God we shall then walk with him and be in his fear all the day long and if we refuse this we are the most ungrateful wretches breathing What Monsters of Ingratitude are we if when God hath made us and redeemed us and still preserveth us we deny him our service especially when his service is perfect freedom and in keeping his Commandments there is great Reward Psal xix 11. God hath made nothing our Duty but what is equally our Priviledge And when as an acknowledgment of former kindnesses God only requires that we should receive more at his hands and yet we will not we thereby render our selves such a composition of folly and ingratitude as is beyond parallel Among Heathens Ingratitude to Benefactors is esteemed one of the most hainous crimes a man can be guilty of So that it 's become a common Proverb among them Ingratum dixeris omnia when you have called a man ungrateful you have said your worst of him And if Ingratitude to fellow-creatures deserve so black a brand what shall we think then of Ingratitude against our Sovereign Lord the great Creator and common Parent of Mankind Shun therefore this foul blot by diligence and constancy in a holy walk R. 4. By walking thus with God we set others a good Example and recommend Religion to the World Thus we become the Salt of the Earth the Lights of the World a City set on an Hill which cannot be hid our Light so shines before men that they see our good conversations and glorifie our Heavenly Father Mat. v. 13 14 16. A holy Life is a continual Sermon Thus you may all be
Preachers without invading that Office which it is the will of God should be peculiar to those whom he hath specially qualified for it and visibly separated to it When you are constantly and delightfully busied in the duties of Holiness you manifest to others that Religion is not an impracticable notion a meer pleasing speculation but that the Rules of it may be complied with Our Sermons here in the Pulpit would be much more effectual if you would but live them over in your Closets Shops Fields Families and mutual converses in the World O what a joy is it to Ministers what a glory to the Gospel of Christ when we can point with our Fingers as it were and say There and there and there are the Seals of our Ministry There an ignorant man or woman instructed a drunkard or swearer or sabbath-breaker or unclean person reformed a covetous muck-worm made free-hearted and open-handed a hypocritical Formalist awakened to thorow seriousness in Religion one that was formerly prayer-less of whom we can now say Behold he prayeth a Family of the Devils Slaves and Servants and the Worlds Drudges that is now become a Church of Christ having stated orderly Worship and ringing with the praises of God in emulation as it were of Heaven it self God's will being done in it as there it is done The holy Conversation of the Professors of Religion is an Instituted Means of the conversion of the Atheistical Infidel Impenitent World And if we deny them the benefit of this Means we little know what we have to answer for the Blood of how many Souls may be found in our Skirts Whereas on the other hand if by our holy Life and good Example we turn many to righteousness we shall shine as Stars or as the Sun in the Kingdom of our Father Dan. xii 3. Mat. xiii 43. By converting sinners thus from the evil of their ways we shall save Souls from death and cover the multitude of sins James v. 20. This going before others with the light of a good Example is a cheap yea a gainful way of promoting their Salvation which is certainly the best work we can do in the World and will yield us the most solid comfort in a dying hour Oh! be not content to give others a verbal commendation of Religion but let your lives tell them what an excellent thing it is R. 5. We had need thus to improve every day because we know not which shall be our last day Therefore if we would not lose our last day let us take heed that we do not lose any day We always carry as it were our lives in our hands Psal cxix v. 109. Our breath is in our nostrils and God can easily change our countenances and send us away Isa ii 22. Job xiv 20. We all know we must die but none of us knoweth the particular time the year month week day or hour when Our Lord 's coming in this respect is uncertain whether at evening or at midnight or at the Cock-crowing we ought therefore always to watch that we may be in readiness Mark xiii 35. How would we spend that day which we knew before hand would be our dying day Would we not be very serious Would we not labour to keep our minds very composed our hearts fixed our thoughts and affections heavenly I do not say we should spend the same time every day in immediate acts of Devotion as we would do if we knew it to be our dying day nor that we should converse always with the same solemnity as if we were under that apprehension But we should every day take as much care to keep our selves from all known sin and to be diligent in every positive instance of our duty as if we knew we must end the day and our life together for we do not know but it may be so Now tell me sinner couldst thou be content to die a drunken Beast so totally deprived of the use of thy reason as not to be able to utter with sense and seriousness but so much as Lord have mercy upon me Would it not be a terrible thing to go into Eternity as some have done with an Oath or Curse in thy Mouth What a case shouldst thou be in thinkest thou if the Dart of Vengeance should strike thorow thy Liver whilst thou art in the very act of filthy Lust and wallowing in impure Embraces If thy Breath should be stopped as thou art uttering a Lie or a dead Palsie should benum thy Limbs while thou art driving a cheating or oppressive Bargain Surely there is no man so brutish but he would most earnestly deprecate so sad a doom and yet sinners boldly venture on these courses daily notwithstanding they know not but they may thereby expose themselves to so dismal a calamity Whereas if Death find us in the way of our duty whatever that duty be let it lye in never so ordinary or mean an Employment we have cause of rejoicing and not of fear or sorrow When we have been most diligent in spending a day for God we shall then be most willing if the good pleasure of the Lord so be to die at night The weary Labourer hastens to receive his Wages and cheerfully lyes down to rest R. 6. The time is coming when we shall wish we had spent our days thus How irksom soever a Life of Strict Godliness may now seem to our carnal hearts and corrupted natures yet there is never a one of us but we shall shortly wish we had been as holy as the holiest that we had made Religion our business and been every day of our lives in the fear of the Lord all the day long You that are now strong and healthful and through the pride of your hearts forget God so that God is not in all your thoughts Who say to God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Psal x. 4. Job xxi 14. Who esteem fervent praying no better than whining and canting and conscientious strictness in the Government of our selves but needless preciseness and vain scrupulosity Who count him that feareth an Oath or refuseth an imposed Health a morose Melancholist an arrand Fanatick a silly Sneaksby Who pride your selves in the vainly assumed Titles of the Wits as being got above the fear of power invisible and disentangled from the Fetters wherewith Religion binds her Votaries Who can please your senses and gratifie your appetites in defiance of Almighty Justice the threatned Everlasting Torments and all the Jargon as with a sneering smile they are wont to call it of the man in black that as they would fain flatter themselves and glad are they at heart when they can meet with any one so vile as to give them a colour for it doth but talk vehemently against sin for an hour or two in the Week because it is his trade There is not one of all these I say but will shortly change his note and turn his
who make no conscience of Relative duties of diligence in their Callings or of justice in their dealings who know not how to govern either their Souls or their Bodies by the Rules of Religion or the Laws of Sobriety what can we think of all these but that they are evidently the Sons of Death They are in a sad and miserable condition they live at random and must die at a venture for there can be no grounded assurance to such of an eternal well-being Such as these make a hard shift to please themselves in the course but will undoubtedly fool themselves in the issue of their Life they will one day wish they had not lived at all rather than to have lived thus A Life void of care commonly ends in a Death void of hope As ever therefore you would die the death of the righteous see that you live the life of the righteous and then and not otherwise your last end shall be like his Numb xxiii 10. Infer II. If we must be in the fear of the Lord every day much more on the Lords day We have shewn you how you must in a sound sense make every day a Sabbath by working for God and resting in him and diligent preparing for an eternal Sabbatism with him but you are not to pretend this in excuse for your neglect of sanctifying strictly the Christian Sabbath the first day of the week the day which the Lord hath made Psal cxviii 24. in which he calleth us to rejoyce and be glad In which we celebrate the memorial of our Lord's Resurrection and consequently of the whole work of our Redemption by him If we must walk with God every day much more on this day to which a special blessing is annexed and on which we have special advantages for the service of God and the salvation of our Souls The cavils of any against the strict observation of the Lord's day are easily answered by any one that observeth the dependence of the Life of practical Religion hereupon I will be bold to say it The power of Religion lives or dies according as Sabbath-sanctification is kept up or let fall in Churches Families or Souls Of other days you are to consecrate a part to Religious exercises Acts of Devotion and Worship but this day is wholly to be taken up therein Only God indulgeth us in works of true necessity and obligeth us to acts of Charity thereon giving mercy the preference even to Sacrifice I will here briefly heap together a few Directions for Sabbath-sanctification 1. Discern your obligntion to it in point of duty and value it as your Priviledge That God have a seventh part of our time for his Solemn Worship is the kernel of the fourth Commandment and of perpetual obligation and seems to have been a part of Gods Law to Adam even in the state of Innocence God appointed and blessed the seventh day of the week before Christ's coming in the flesh for a weekly Sabbath in commemoration of the worldly Creation and added a Law of Ceremonious Rest to the Jews as a part of their Paedagogy and a shadow of things to come now done away Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week and after his Ascension on that day poured forth his Spirit on his Apostles to qualifie them to declare his Will to Man-kind in all things concerning Salvation They held and setled Church Assemblies on the first day of the week and called it by way of approbation The Lords day Rev. i. 10. And the Vniversal Church as far as appears from Church History without the least contradiction till our times see Dr. Young's Dies Dominica and Mr. Baxter's Divine Appointment of the Lords-day kept this day and no other as the day of stated weekly Solemnities and God was with them and owned and honoured their Assemblies with his gracious presence And therefore it seems the effect of strange weakness or intolerable perverseness for any now in these last days to question what the Universal Church hath so long on so good reason practised The Lords-day as the Christian-Sabbath I take to have been instituted by Christ if not while personally on Earth yet by his Spirit in his Apostles And as an attentive Reader of the Scriptures may there discern clear intimations of this so the current practice of the Christian Church in all times and places doth fully confirm it Nor ought we to esteem it any other than a very great Priviledge that we may have a day in seven to study the Works and Word of God to praise his holy Name to worship him in the Assemblies of his Saints to learn his Will for our Salvation A holy Soul must needs reckon it self in the Confines of Heaven while thus employed and bless himself that he may sometimes retire thus from the World and enjoy a holy freedom for spiritual delights and gladsome preparations for Eternal Joy 2. Prepare for this blessed day before it come Think of it and long for it every day but especially the Evening before rid your hands in good time of worldly business and your hearts of worldly cares Read pray meditate catechise your Families call your selves and yours to an account of what you and they heard the Lords-day before and if it may be get to bed sooner that night than you use to do of other nights that so you may be under no temptation to snore away that precious morning on which our Lord in testimony of the accomplishment of our Redemption rose so very early 3. Be sure to be up as early on the Lords-day morning as is consistent with your fitness for the blessed Employments of it And let the thoughts of Redeeming Love season your hearts at first awaking 4. Redeem time that you may add something to your daily Devotions both in Family and Closet and not be put to cut them short 5. Go with the first to Publick Assemblies but go with hearts prepared and behave your selves there with Reverence Attention and Affection Pray in prayer hear as for the Life of your Souls and praise God with joy and alacrity stay the Blessing and rush not into or out of Church Assemblies in a rude and hasty manner Consider God's Angels are there 1 Cor. xi 10. and view your behaviour nay the God of Angels he looks on 6. After Publick Worship retire to examine how you have behaved your selves there Call to mind what you have heard digest it by prayer and meditation and when you have opportunity fix it on your hearts and memories by conferring of it especially with your inferiours Children and Servants whom you may command thereto 7. Watch Sabbath time in the Intervals of it especially at Meals that they run not waste Quicken your selves and others to thankfulness and joy with the serious mention of Redeeming Love Take heed of vain talk and idle unprofitable musings Let the variety of holy employments maintain your delight in them 8. Close the day in
God's fear Reckon your Sabbaths gains consider your actions and the frame of your Souls in them fix the Word of the day upon your hearts and resolve by the Grace of God to be found in the sincere and speedy practice of it He who thus regardeth a day unto the Lord Rom. xiv 6. shall comfortably experience that the Lords-day hath the seventh days blessing transferred unto it and an additional blessing of its own conferred upon it Infer III. Seriousness in Religion is not more ado than needs Strictness is not Fanaticism Religion in all its parts is our reasonable service Rom. xii 1. We do not serve God for nought that true enough though once said by the Father of Lies Job i. 9. In keeping Gods Commandments there is great reward Psal xix 11. All this work you have heard laid open is of God's setting us and we may be sure he will not suffer us to be losers by our care to please him And besides the variety of Employments allotted to us which sinners count their burden and their cumber is indeed that which sweetens Religion unto holy Souls It is not the hardness of the work in it self but the unsuitableness of it to our Spirits that maketh it so uneasie to the most and when Grace hath removed that the Soul goes on with chearfulness in those ways which sinners cannot endure to tread and do all they can to discourage others from walking in When therefore sinners entice thee from the ways of godliness and tell thee What needeth so much ado sure God is more merciful than to damn men for neglect of secret prayer for vain thoughts for foolish speeches for taking now and then a Cup of Nimis for making the best of their own c. Sure God won't shut all out of Heaven but a few Puritans and Precisians so much reading and praying c. will but mope you or make you melancholy or mad take care of thy Body and make sure of thy Estate and trust God with thy Soul When I say sinners do thus entice thee consent thou not Prov. i. 10. Let no man deceive you with vain words Eph. v. 6. Tell them God knows better who he will save and who he will damn than any of they and he hath said Without holiness no man shall see the Lord He will pour out his fury upon the Families that call not upon his Name Life and Death are in the power of the Tongue Drunkards among others shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Covetousness is Idolatry It is a little Flock our Heavenly Father will give his Kingdom to The Righteous are scarcely saved The Kingdom of God consists in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost What is a man profited if he gain the whole World and lose himself or be cast away Tell them these are the true sayings of God see Heb. xii 14. Jer. x. 25. Prov. xviii 21. 1 Cor. vi 10. Col. iii. 5. Luke xii 32. 1 Pet. iv v. 18. Rom. xiv 17. Luke ix 25. And you should be a Fool indeed if you should believe the silly sayings of blind Earth-worms and prejudiced unexperienced Sots before the Word of the Living and True God the Infinite and Eternal Wisdom Infer IV. What cause have we to lament the Fall of our First Parents by which we are disabled for this excellent Life God Created Man holy and happy with wisdom to know his Duty and power to do it and holy Love to encline him to the performance of it It was easie for Adam to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long though it was possible for him by a faulty omission of Reasons government over the inferiour powers of the Soul to depart there-from And such was the mutability of his Will that being assaulted by Temptation he wretchedly yielded and so betrayed himself and his Posterity into a forlorn state of wretchedness and impotency so that now we have none of us by nature light enough to discern nor ability to perform aright our Duty in the most ordinary instances of Life Certain it is we have lost that Moral Liberty of Will which was the glory of Innocent Adam and had been our glory had he stood and remained in his Integrity But now the Crown is fallen from our Heads woe unto us that we have sinned Lam. v. 16. We may well name ours Ichabod for the glory is departed from us 1 Sam. iv 21. We are all shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin Psal Li. 5. In our flesh dwelleth no good thing when we would do good evil is present with us O wretched ones that we are who shall deliver us from the body of this death Rom. vii 18 21 24. By one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. v. 12. We have cause to look our hearts and lives in the glass of God's Law and cry out as once a good Man did after a long Sickness looking his Face in a Glass and beholding his pale Cheeks and meager Visage Ah! Adam saith he Adam what hast thou done Oh! what a condition are we who sinned in Adam fallen from and what a sad estate are we fallen into our Minds are dark our Wills perverse our Affections froward c. we cannot of our selves think one good thought if we might have Heaven and Eternal happiness for our pains 2 Cor. iii. 5. We cannot pray nor read nor hear nor do any spiritual Duty aright We have an hereditary Sickness that threatens us with death in that it makes us loath the means of Life Oh what a averseness to and unfitness for secret prayer and meditation and examining themselves do even awakened sinners find and feel till special Grace come in to their aid What shifting what shufling what excuses what slightness what slubbering over of Duties is there In a word Adam's Fall hath rendered us all utterly unable of our selves to do aright any duty to God our Neighbour or our selves Infer V. What cause have we all to lament our past days because they have been in too great a measure lost days If you look back upon the description that hath been laid before you of the everyday work and walk of a serious practical Christian and consider how every day of your Life hath been spent since you came to the use of reason I fear you will most of you have cause to cry out not only with the Emperour Augustus Hem amici diem perdidi Alas my Friends I have lost a day But Heu vitam perdidi Alas I have lost my whole Life Alas How have our days been squandered away and our time lavished out upon unprofitable vanities Ask one man what he hath been doing ever since he came into the World And he must if he say true tell you he hath been labouring for the meat that perisheth he hath been toiling and drudging to add house to house and
purchased for them by his death and how those benefits come to be applyed to the Souls of his chosen Labour to work things down into their hearts and get them to feel what they know This is Gods work but it is to be expected in Conjunction with your endeavour and Children thus initiated betimes rarely do amiss whereas a Child left to himself causeth shame Prov. xxix 15. Dishonours God grieves his Parents and damns himself Infer VIII What great need there is for us to keep the Christian hopes in constant believing view that by them we may be encouraged to so great and difficult work The Just shall live by his Faith Hab. ii 4. Now Faith is the Substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Heb. xi 1. Moses had respect unto the recompence of reward Heb. xi 26. And our Lord himself endured the Cross and despised the shame for the joy that was set before him Heb. xii 2. Christianity were not the best Religion if it did not propound to us the best Reward and that with the fullest and clearest evidence and we are not Christians if the hope of that reward act us not in our endeavours of conformity to its blessed Precepts So widely are they out that cry down diligence in the Christian Work and Race in expectation of the Rewards of Eternal Glory as mercenary and that talk of quenching Hell and burning Heaven to prove the sincerity of their obedience God help me to obey and suffer for the joy set before me and I doubt not but I shall be for ever in that Heaven where Jesus Christ now is and let those that hope to fare better in new-fangled ways of their own devising let them I say at long run bragg as they speed Man is a creature the very frame and constitution of whose Soul shews him made to be governed by Hopes and Fears And no hopes like those of a happiness compleat and everlasting The Apostolical Canon therefore is Heb. vi 11 12. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises He that will be an Active Useful Exemplary Persevering Christian must clear and settle well his hope of Everlasting Life as that which God who cannot lye hath promised and often review it by believing Meditation nothing quickens nothing supports like this Am I lazing and slugging and moving heavily in the ways of God What a Spur is such a thought as this Do I now act as becomes a Candidate for Eternal Glory an Expectant of Heavenly Felicity Would this pace content me if I now saw Heaven open to my bodily Eyes And is it not equally certain as if I did So when sinking into discouragement when drooping and desponding when horribly afraid of suffering or the like say O my Soul doth this become a Christian a Child of God an Heir a Coheir with Christ What a Kings Son the King of Heavens Son the Heir of a Kingdom and such a Kingdom And thus lean from day to day allusion to 2 Sam. xiii 4. Oh Sirs little do we think what a vigorous Instrument of an holy Life the Christian hope in our Souls would prove were we more careful to get it firmly rooted there and then to maintain it in its lively act and powerful exercise Infer IX How much is it the concernment of all that would be Christians indeed to get right notions of Religion That our Duty is our Interest a real pleasure and advancement to our Souls 'T is wrong conceits of Religion and the nature of the work it puts us upon that scareth so many from it Men will not hear of becoming Religious because they take it to be what it really is not and have no right understanding what indeed it is Men think Religion ties them up from all that is grateful and fills them continually with fear and sorrow and unhinges them for business unfits them for action and calls them to part with all that they at present count valuable and giveth them nothing or next to nothing in exchange This is the notion the World hath commonly of Religion and no wonder if in this dress it appear very terrible and be so far from alluring Lovers that it affright Spectators But I pray you Sirs you that labour under these prejudices come a little nearer and take a better prospect of Religion before you renounce her utterly It may be she is not what you take her for perhaps she hath charms you never yet discovered I hope you will not think it impossible but Solomon might be in the right when he said of Wisdom or true Religion All her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Prov. iii. 17. What if upon enquiry all your Objections against Religion prove calumnies What if upon a true opening of the case your Scruples all vanish and a little light of sober Reason dispel the mists you have endeavoured to benight her with I hope you will then come over to that side which hitherto you have so violently opposed and so malignantly derided Come then and let us reason together If Religion debar you of no true pleasure but call you to exchange sordid and perishing ones for those that are noble and durable will you then become her Votary Why so it is Religion teaches you Temperance in the use of bodily Pleasures which alone gives them their true relish and renders them safe to be enjoyed and which is of more important consideration makes their use consistent with the obtaining of those better Pleasures whereof she allows and offers you freer and fuller draughts and whereof you can never have too much and shall not finally want enough The pleasures of Knowledge and Love are ever perfecting till we come to glory immediately upon our entrance whereunto they are perfected to satisfaction though according to some see the ingenious discourse of a nameless Author called The Future State even there they are in a state of perpetual progress and advance Obj. But it may be you will say Surely Religion cannot be a state of Joy when men pass into it thorow so many fears and sorrows and when the great Author of it hath clad it in mourning saying Blessed are they that mourn Matth. v. 4. Sol. I answer Religion only calleth for so much sorrow as is consistent with or conducive to the greatest joy and debarreth us only of such joys as will end in everlasting sorrows For Religion's taking men off from business or unfitting them for it it is a vain cavil and contradicted by the Experience of all Ages For in every Age some of the most active and eminent have been jointly noted for Religion and for Wisdom Courage and Success in the management of Publick Affairs both in War and Peace as Abraham David Nehemiah and others The truth is Religion in these things changeth not mens natural Tempers and Endowments but taking them as it findeth them improves and perfects them And for what Religion obligeth us to forego it is demonstrable that it calleth us to quit nothing but what may well be spared and for what is not consistent with our happiness giveth us in exchange what is alone constituent of it And if its worst Enemies have no more to say against it but that which is so easily refutable who can wonder if notwithstanding all the scorns of profane wits heavenly Wisdom be still justified of her Children Matth. xi 19. as she will shortly more fully be by her great Author who is able to defend her against all her profane contemners and malignant opposers Infer X. Great cause there is for all such as know by experience how sweet and comfortable a thing it is to be daily taken up in the lively spiritual performance of Religious Exercises to pity and by counsel prayer and example do all they can to help the rest who are the most of Mankind yea of professed Christians that live as without God in the World having neither skill nor will to holy Employments or the due improvement of their Time It is a doleful thing to take a considerate view of the world and think what God made man and placed him upon the Earth for and what we are redeemed for and what large provision of help there is in the Gospel for lost Mankind and yet how few do in any measure answer the end of their Beings or act like persons that have any hope of saving benefit by Jesus Christ Not only the Heathen and Mahometan World and the obstinate Infidel Jews and the Idolatrous persecuting Papists but alas the generality of the Reformed Churches are a sight fit to make a sensible heart bleed abounding so with ignorance profaneness worldliness sensuality corruption in VVorship Church-tyranny Heresies Schisms Divisions Envyings and bitter Zeal that the Tares do in a manner hide the Wheat and the Faith even of good men is sometimes put to stagger at the Promise That the gates of Hell shall not prevail Mat. xvi 18. But oh that we did rather in our places all do our utmost to promote its accomplishment by personal Reformation by fervent Prayer by due instructing and calling upon others and setting them a good Example by mourning for the sins of the Times and pleading with God his Promises for the Remnant of his People If we thus hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord Lam. iii. 26. we may yet live to see the eminent returns of Prayer and the glorious accomplishment of Prophecies and Promises when Salvation shall be to God's Israel for VValls and Bulwarks Isa xxvi 1. and when Jerusalem's VValls shall be Salvation and her Gates praise Isa Lx. 18. Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen FINIS