THE VVorld Conquered OR A Believers Victory over THE WORLD Layd open in several Sermons on 1. John 5. 4. By R. A. LONDON Printed in the year 1668. The Contents THE Text opened Pag. 1. The main doctrine laid down p. 2. The doctrine explained and confirmed in the resolution of 5. queries I. Wherein the enmity of the world against Souls stands or discovers it self 4. Things premised to the answering this question p. 3. The Enmity of the world against Souls discovers it self 1. In withdrawing the Soul from God p. 4. 1. In withdrawing our affections from God as our portion Ibid. 2. In withdrawing us from our allegiance to God as our Soveraign p. 5. 2. In witholding it from Christ p. 6. 1. It holds us back from coming to Christ and this 1. By darkning our sight Ibid. 2. By deadning our sense p. 9. 3. By hanging upon our hearts and about our necks p. 12. 4. By furnishing us with excuses p. 16. 2. It hinders us from following of Christ p. 24. Particularly 1. It cuts Christ short of that service and of those fruits that he should reap from us p. 26. 2. It holds us short of that grace and true peace which we might receive from him p. 30. II. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails upon so many Souls p. 32. The strength of the world lyes 1. In the Spirit of the world within us p. 35. 2. In the God of the world without us Satan who gives strength to and marshals the temptations of the world 1. By over rating the good things present and under rating the good things to come p. 44. 2. By sharpning the edge of present evils and blunting the edge of evils to come p. 47. 3. By an active stimulating and pressing us on whatever becomes of us hereafter to pursue the present good things and to prevent the present evil things p. 48. III. Wherein the strength of faith lies whereby it overcomes the world p. 56. Here 2. things 1. The strength of a Christian is his faith p. 57. 2. The strength of faith is Christ p. 61. There are two things in Christ which are the strength of faith his Power Ibid. Victory 64. IIII. The conflict of faith with the tempting world or the ways and means by which faith overcomes the world These are p. 66. 1. It gives a right judgment of the world p. 67. 2. By faith the Soul pitches upon an eternal inheritance p. 69. 3. By faith we understand that the good things present cannot further and the evil things present cannot hinder our eternal happiness p. 73. 4. By faith we understand that the design of temptations is to deprive us of our inheritance p. 77. 5. Faith makes experimental and fuller discoveries of the glory of that inheritance the Soul hath pitched upon p. 79. 6. Faith gives assurance of this better inheritance p. 91. V. The conquest of Faith over this conflicting world p. 95. Where 1. How far forth or in what sense every believer hath overcome the world answered in 4. particulars Ibid. 2. Wherein this victory stands p. 103. Answered 1. Negatively in 4. particulars Ibid. 2. Positively And thus our victory over the world stands in our having obtained I. A power to possess the things of the world without placing our happiness in them p. 105. II. A power to mannage our worldly affairs and businesses without the prejudice of our Souls p. 107. III. A power to use this worlds goods to their proper ends p. 124. IIII. A power to want the worlds good things and to suffer the worlds evil things and to keep our hearts and our way whether we prosper or suffer p. 133. Then are we eminently indued with this power when we have attained to 1. Selfdenyal under the greatest opportunities of self-seeking or self-satisfaction p. 135. 2. Contentment under the greatest straits p. 159. 3. Patience under the greatest pressures of Affliction p. 171. 4. Humility in the heighth of honour Ibid. 5. Magnanimity in the depth of danger or difficulty p. 174. 6. Aequanimity in the greatest turns and changes of our outward condition p. 192. V. A willingness to leave the world to be gone from this and to take our flight to the other world p. 203. 3. Grounds why worldly men are unwilling to dye p. 205. The Application USe 1. of Information and conviction learn hence 1. That every captive to the world is an unbeliever p. 213. 2. That where there is but little power over the world there is but little Faith Ibid. Use 2. Of Direction and exhortation p. 247. In Order to the obteining this victory Direct 1. Improve duties this way p. 248. Direct 2. Improve Sabbaths this way p. 253. Direct 3. Improve Sacraments this way p. 268. Direct 4. Improve worldly prosperity this way p. 297. Direct 5. Keep your thoughts affections and senses under constant government p. 312. 1. Keep your thoughts under government Ibid. 2. Keep your affections under government p. 317. 3. Keep a strict watch upon your senses p. 320. Direct 6. Make a solemn surrender of your selves and all that you have to the government and disposal of God p. 324. Arguments perswading to press on for this victory proposed in several questions 1. Are you for the saving of your Souls p. 328. 2. Is not the world an enemy to your salvation p. 329. 3. Is this enemy invincible p. 331. 4. Is not victory over the enemy desirable p. 333. 5. Can this victory be bought to dear p. 335. 6. What if this enemy should reign to death p. 337. 7. Will you now become enemies to the world p. 339. 1 JOHN 5. 4. This is the Victory that overcometh the world even our Faith IN this former part of the Chapter we have a double description of them that are born of God 1. A Priori from that which is the primum vivens the heart of the New Creature that 's faith v. 1. Whosoever believeth is born of God 2. A Posteriori from one special fruit of the New Birth Victory over the world v. 3. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world In this whole verse wherein the Text lies we have A Proposition It s Exposition 1. A Proposition Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world A Christian is a Conquerour a great Conquerour greater then he that for his Victories was sirnamed Magnus or The Great He hath conquered all the world 2. An Exposition of this Proposition But what is this Conquest of a Christian and how is it obtained why it is a spiritual Conquest and obtain'd by Faith This is the Victâ—ry that overcometh the world even our Faith For the opening of the words By the world understand whatsoever is in the world that hinders us in that Race which Christ hath set before us and holds us short of our Crown Those three things which the Apostle tells us 1 Joh. 2. 16. are in the world the lusts of the flesh the lust of the
is better then none An excuse is a pretence to have reason for what we do no man can have reason to neglect Christ no man can have reason to continue in sin and yet there are few cases wherein men will not pretend to have reason for it especially the worldling whoever wants he will be sure to find reason enough for his worldliness Though the Drunkard can hardly say I have reason to be drunk though the Adulterer can hardly say I have reason to follow Harlots though the Swearer can hardly say I have reason to swear or blaspheme though the Prodigal can hardly say I have reason to wast and spend my Estate yet the worldling will easily say I have reason to get an Estate to keep what I have reason to be a good Husband and to be provident who shall keep me when I am old who shall take care of my Family I have reason to take care for my self who will take care for me if I do not take care of my self And though this may be look'd on as a miserable Plea for the neglect of Christ I am following a Whore and I cannot come I must to the Ale-house or the Tavern and I cannot come yet this will pass for a fair excuse I have a Wife or a Family or a Farm and I cannot come I pray thee have me excused For what that thou dost not come to Christ and hearken to and follow him that is excuse me that I undo my self that I stab or drown or hang my self that I go to the Devil and damn my soul If I go to hell and there perish for ever I pray do not blame me for it I have reason for what I do I must take care of this world whatever becomes of me in the other world as for those that have nothing else to do but to mind Christ and Salvation if they neglect it let them answer for themselves if they can for my part I have reason enough to do as I do Hast thou reason to go to hell reason to be damn'd go then and bear thy burthen for ever till thy sense too late teach thee better reason Oh what wise men are the men of this world what very fools are the worldly wise they destroy their souls to please and provide for their carkasses they count the world their happiness and this their happiness must have the killing of them some mens businesses must have the killing of them some mens money must do it some mens pleasures must do it some mens friends must have the killing of their souls some are too rich some are too busie some are too merry some are too high some are too civil and courtly to come to Christ and save their souls Behold the wisdome of this world Consider this Brethren if some of you do not find it thus how is it with your souls in what case are your souls are you in Christ are you converted to God have you gotten any saving knowledge or any thing of the Grace of God in your hearts or are you not still without Christ without Grace without God in the world what is it that hath hindred you but your fleshly and worldly hearts which have held you under the power of these fleshly and worldly things it may be you might have had grace in your hearts if you had not had so much money in your purse if you had not had so much to do in this world you might have done more for the world to come whilest you have been busie here and there as the man in the Prophets Parable 1 King 20. 40. your souls are lost the Kingdome is lost if you had not had so many sheep and oxen and trades to be look'd after it may be your souls had been better look'd to if you had not had so many carnal friends about you it may be Christ had been entertained by you these are they which you have taken in exchange for Christ these are they for which you have sold the Gospel these are they for which you have sold your souls to the devil You wonder at those poor miserable creatures the Witches who for a little money or a few years pleasure do by express bargain and sale make over their souls to the devil and yet will do the same things your selves Where are your souls in whose hands are they who hath the possession who hath the dominion of them are they with Christ doth he govern doth he rule them hath he taken possession of them do you think he hath indeed are the ignorant the idle the simple the sensual the earthly the careless the barren souls of the world are these the possession of Christ would Christ have left you in such a carnal sensless state if you had ever come into his hands do ye think he would who are they that are without Christ if you are in Christ who are the sinners if you are the Saints who are the children of this world if you be the children of the Kingdome are you they whom God hath chosen out of this world to be a peculiar people to himself are you they that have forsaken all for Christ who have forsaken Christ for this world are you the Châ—ldren of Light Vessels of Honor the Images of God his mortified ones his crucified ones his sanctified ones Will Christ leave his chosen vessels to be such wooden and iron and earthen vessels as your Souls are at this day What a poor and low and miserable thing do you make of Christianity if this be it which you have attain'd to look to it if you have any such thought sure you have deceived your selves to this day Are you not in Christ what is it that hath hindred you Christ hath invited you in the Gospel of Christ hath been preach'd to you the everlasting door hath been set open to you the servants have been sent out among you to call you and compel you to come in but the world hath kept you back your friends have hung about you your business have lyen upon you your estates have call'd you another way and would not suffer you to enter in And that these are they that have done it it is apparent since these are they that must serve you for an excuse I have had so many encumbrances and entanglements and diversions every day that I could not doe for my Soul as others may And oh how glad have you often been of an excuse that you have had something to say for your self and to silence Conscience under the neglect of Christ more glad of an hindrance then of an opportunity there is such an ungratefulness and unpleasingness of Christ and his wayes to carnal hearts that when Christ hath been dealing with them and perswading and awakening them to look after them the world seems to do them a kindness in stepping in and calling their hearts back and putting all out of mind When Christ calls to a duty to an
ordinance to bring us near to him that he might deal with us and treat with us about the matters of eternity whilest some rejoyce to come in to appear in his presence to hear his voice to pour out their Souls to him in prayer or fasting c. Others are glad that they have something to say that they could not be there glad of a business or of a friend that kept them off glad of a temptation that the Devil laid a block in their way that the world cal'd them out another way not considering what an eternal losse they may have hereby sustain'd Behold now the friend of sinners the Idol the god whom they serve this present world this is your beloved this is your friend But what is its friendship to you what kindness hath this world for you you love it and seek it and serve it and work for it it hath your time and your strength and your hearts bestow'd upon it for this you live and labour and sweat and toyl out all your dayes but when all is done what kindness doth it shew you what reward have you it feeds you and cloaths you and pleases and pampers your flesh but it kills your Souls It blinds it hardens it holds you in a sottish sensless carnal state and course keeps Christ and your hearts apart holds your Souls in death and shuts you out from the kingdom of God This is your God whom you hugge and worship and bless your selves in and busy your selves for this is your beloved here is the kindness of your friend and is not this friendship of the world enmity What can the Devil do more then keep you from Christ and what doth the world do less hitherto it hath kept you off and when do you think if you hearken to it will it give you leave to go over to him when will it say unto you thou hast served me long enough thou hast serv'd thy pleasures and thy estate and thy friends long enough now go thy way and serve thy God now go to Christ and look after thy Soul how how long will it be ere the world will thus give thee leave or if it will not give thee leave how long will it be ere thou take thy leave Be not deceived that which hath hindred doth hinder and will hinder thee from ever making a saving close with Christ till thy Soul and it be parted Depart depart depart from your worldly wayes depart from your worldly pleasures and let a worldly heart depart from you and then welcome Christ and his Gospel then welcome Grace and Holiness then welcome God and the everlasting kingdome 2. The enmity of the world shewes it self in hindering the Soul from following of Christ If it cannot quite keep us off from Christ it will hold us back that Christ shall have but little service of us 2 Tim. 2. 4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a Souldier Christs servants are all Souldiers and the world is one special enemy we are to fight against there 's like to be but heartless fighting where we are in league with the enemy whilest we should be charging it we shall be like enough to be treating for peace if not quite to forsake our colours and run over to the enemies camp Christ entertains none but those that are free and disengaged persons and by how much the more free by so much the more fit for his service no man that warreth entangleth himself a Souldier that fights in fetters fights thereafter we must put off our fetters if we will put on our armour In the affairs of this life the work that Christ hath to put his servants upon lyes in the affairs of the other life he that is intangled in the affairs of this will do little about the affairs of the other life That he may please him who hath chosen him to be a Souldier The servant must so serve his master as to please him he that is Christs servant must devote himself to the pleasing of his Lord he must not please men he must not please himself his appetite his pride his covetousness is this thy pleasing of Christ to be serving his enemies If you be Christs indeed you herein displease your selves in being self pleasers He that is not angry with himself for his flesh pleasing he that can humour and favour and gratifie his earthly and sensual heart and be pleased with himself and be patient with himself for so doing Christ hath little in that man and if your pleasing your self cannot stand with the pleasing of your Souls which have devoted themselves to Christ much less will it stand with the pleasing of your Lord who hath chosen you for his Souldiers But more particularly the world discovers its enmity here 1. In cutting Christ short of that service and those fruits which he should reap from us 2. In cutting us short of that service and peace that we might receive from him 1. The world cutts Christ short of that service and those fruits which he should reap from us Hos 10. 1. Israel is an empty vine he bringeth forth fruit to himself Israel is an empty vine that is to his Lord t is but a poor vintage little or no fruit he brings forth to God he is his vine he hath planted he hath watered and he hath fenced him and he looks for grapes but finds none why what 's the reason of it Oh he hath brought forth all his fruits to himself he hath store of fruit but no such fruit as God looks for he brought forth so much to his flesh that ther 's none for his God Phil. 2. 2. All seek their own and not the things of Christ Here 's little seeking of Christ among you saith the Apostle the worship and service of Christ the honour and interest of Christ is little regarded there 's a general neglect of him None that is there are scarce any among you none in comparison that mind the things of Christ but why is Christ so neglected Why because every man is for himself and all seek their own that is their outward and earthly things Their own things Why are not the things of Christ so much thine own as the things of the world are thy carnal friends more thine then Christ is thine are thy earthly possessions thy earthly pleasures thy meat and thy drink and thy money the things of thy body more thine then thy Soul and the concernments of it thou art a pitiful Christian if the things of Christ be not more thine then the things of this world if the things of Christ and thine own things be not the very same but yet thus our fleshly hearts count our carnal things are our own things and the more we seek our own the less the things of Christ the most careful Worldling is the most careless Christian Brethren how little
and fill'd your purses and fed your carkasses and provided for your Families but it hath starv'd your souls O my leannes my leannes my dry and withered soul my weak heart my wasted Conscience Oh how little truth or tenderness how little love or lise or warmth do I feel within me Oh how much pride and frowardness oh how much lust and liberty to sin hath there grown upon me I can fret and vex and chafe I can be false I can lye and dissemble all the Religion I have gotten into my soul after so long a time of profession is not enough to restrain these vile abominations Oh my soul how sad is it with thee how low is it with thee to this day how comes this to pass why this is thy good husbandry this is thy worldliness thy labouring so much thy hungring so much after the meat that perishes or thy being given to thy pleasure or thy ease this is it that hath held thee in such a poor case such an unfruitful and barren state such a dark and uncomfortable state as thou art in at this day for all this unhappiness thou art beholding to the world and thy worldliness Thus you have seen the enmity of the world against souls it holds back from Christ darkens the sight that we cannot see the excellency or the need of Christ deadens the sense and hinders from following Christ keeps Christ short c. Let this by the way be an argument to disswade from worldliness are you Christians or would you be so would you ever come to any thing in Religion would you prosper in holiness would you have the comfort of Christianity then take heed and beware of a worldly heart which will either hinder you from ever coming to Christ or else be a Canker and a Moth to devour and eat out the spirits of all that Christianity you have II. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails upon so many souls It is a wonder it should ever prevail so as it does that ever men of understanding endued with immortal souls should suffer themselves to be led up and down down as they are by such a pernicious and mortal Enemy that when they have seen so many lost and undone by it they should never take warning that it should ever be trusted as it is that it should ever be lov'd as it is that it should ever be hearkened to as it is especially considering how unreasonable its demands are and how inconsiderable its rewards What does the world demand what would it have This is it if it would speak out Come sell me thy God come sell me thy hopes that thou hast for the other world come sell me thy soul come give me thy heart love me and serve me But what shall be mine hire what wilt thou give me then if it would speak out this is the reward it gives Vanity and vexation death and destruction Hell shall be thine hire But suppose it should give what it sayes it will all the good things on this side the grave riches honors pleasures ease abundance of all these and all manner of contentment in the enjoyment of them yet what 's all this thou shouldst gain on this side the grave to what thou shalt loose and to what thou shalt suffer on the other side of the grave what 's Earth to Heaven what 's Time to Eternity Suppose it should say plainly come take thy good things here and thy evil things hereafter take thy riches in this and thy poverty in the other world take thy pleasures here and thy plagues beneath be full or be merry prosper flourish rejoyce for a few houres or for a few dayes and be miserable cry howl be in torments to Eternity If the World should speak out thus to Men this it designs if it should speak out thus into what madness must those Souls be bewich'd that would hearken to it and yet behold though this be the design its driving on and men might know it if they would but consider yet behold how the whole world almost are wondering after this beast and busy in making bargains with it to be its captives and servants yea not only suffering themselves to be perswaded and beguiled in o this bondage but also willingly offering themselves for servants I pray thee take me into the number of thy servants Take my Soul world saies one take my God saies another take my hopes saies another Let me be but a rich man let me be a great man let me have so much money or so much lands or so much pleasure or ease or honour let but this Moon shine upon me and take the Sunshine whoever will let me be this worlds favourite and I am content to be its servant and so along they go after it till they be lost for ever What a wonder is this and yet how many such prodigies are to be seen every day and in every place this is the case of every worldling thou that wilt be rich thou whose heart goes after thy covetousness thou who art given to thy pride or thy pleasures or thy ease thou art boring thine eare to the threshold of thy mortal enemy thou art doing away thy patrimony for husks thou art doing away thy Soul and its eternal inheritance to buy in thy life into an house or parcel of Land or for a bundle of crackling thorns to make thee blaze before which thou mayest dance and be merry for an hour or two and then go down to everlasting darkness This being such a marvelous thing that such an enemy that is so known and confest to be by the very men that suffer themselves to be led Captive by it for what worldling is there that will not confess that this world is an Enemy that such a known Enemy should still so easily prevail in the world as the Apostle in another case Gal. 3. 1. 3. O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that having begun in the Spirit ye will be made perfect in the flesh O foolish worldlings who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that being born to things Spiritual and Eternal you will be thus led captive by things Temporal and Fleshly this being such a marvelous thing it will be worth our time to enquire wherein the strength of the world lyes whereby it so strangely prevails And indeed it is a piece of the best policy and that which gives great advantage against an enemy to study and find out where his strength lyeth Judg. 16. 6. c. When Dalilah attemped the delivering of Sampson bound into the hands of the Philistimes she lyes at him day by day tell me where thy great strength lyeth tell me where thy great strength lyeth in vain did they assault him in vain did she bind him her Cords and her Wit hs and her webs could never hold him till at length she found out where his strength lay which when she had
once found out she quickly spoil'd him of it and delivered him a captive to his enemies find out the strength of the World what it is and wherein it lyes and then you will understand your way to the conquering of it But where lyes this strength of the World I answer In The Spirit of the World within us In the God of the World without us 1. In the spirit of the world within the world hath a strong party within man which sides with it 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God we have not we who have that spirit of God in us have not received the spirit of this world but all others have no other spirit In the whole generation of worldly men there is the same spirit as in the whole generation of the Saints there is the same divine spirit the same spirit of grace the same spirit of faith the same spirit of love the same holy spirit So in all the men of this world there is the same worldly spirit The spirit of this world is an earthly Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 47. the first man is of the earth earthy in his creation he had an earthy body and by sin he is come to have an earthy Soul Sin was his fall from Heaven to Earth as in his choice he made for himself he chose an earthly inheritance so in his temper and disposition and tendency his very nature now inclines and bends towards earthly things his Soul as well as his Body lusts after and feeds upon dust The spirit of the World is a short sighted spirit it cannot see afarr off 2 Pet. 19. Heavenly things are too far distant to be discerned by it it loves and gapes for and grasps things present things to come are far out of its sight The spirit of the world is a low and narrow spirit these poor and beggerly things that this earth affords are the highest of its ambition Seekest thou great things for thy self Yes I do what worldly greatness are these the great things thou seekest a great name a great estate great possessions thou mistakest thy self man these great things are but small things below the spirit of a man below a divine and immortal Soul meat and drink and mirth and money are these the best things thou findest for thy heart to be set upon for thy soul to take pleasure in sure thou hast changed Souls with the bruits that canst take up with such things as these The Spirit of the World is an homebred spirit it hath never been abroad but hath been born and bred in this worldly region it hath never set foot nor been acquainted in a better land the spirit which is of God carries up to the upper regions the regions of light and life and glory and immortality where it hath made discoveries of other manner of treasures and joyes and glories then are here to be found but the spirit of the world hath ever dwelt at home the souls of worldlings dwell in their houses of clay and never travail farther then they can with the snail carry their houses upon their heads their Souls travail no farther then their carkases This Spirit of the World by what hath been hinted of the make and temper of it you see hath a suitableness to worldly things and this is the great advantage the World hath upon us it tempts us to that we love and like all that the World perswades us to is to seek what we have a mind to to do what we have a mind to to follow our natures and dispositions to find out what will best please us and there to take our fill The difficulty of Christs victory over Souls lyes in this that he calls and commands them to things and to wayes contrary to their natures not to please but to deny themselves to kill their Flesh to cross their appetites to contradict their own mind to pursue an happiness which is so sublime and spiritual and so unsuitable to their carnal natures that it is altogether unsavory to them and hereupon he hath hard work to prevail and t is but here and there one amongst many that will be prevailed upon to hearken to him to how many houses may we come to how many souls may we bring the everlasting Gospel ere one will open and accept how many are call'd to Christ to one that comes O brethren you are witness how hardly any of your souls were perswaded to come along with Christ and may be some of you stand off and hang back and will not be perswaded to come fully in to this day What 's the reason of this Oh carnal men think that Christ calls them to their loss perswades them to their hurt that they have a better being whilest they are wallowing in their riches and their pleasures then ever they should find in following of Christ But now the advantage that the world hath on Souls is that it tempts them to things pleasing to them their natures joyn with the world and draw them the same way Whilest Christ calls if any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me this is all the world requires if any man will be my servant let him seek himself and shift for himself and please himself and shun the cross and follow his own heart and what great difficulty is there to perswade men to follow their own minds when worldly temptations meet with worldly spirits when temptations to pride meet with proud hearts when temptations to pleasure meet with flesh-pleasing hearts when temptations to vanity meet with vain hearts when temptations to covetousness meet with covetous hearts how mightily must they needs prevail From this suitableness of the spirit to worldly things it doth Readily take in of the World Greedily make out after the World 1. It doth readily take in of the World the world never knocks but the heart opens the world never offers but the hand is ready to receive yea though the terms upon which we must have it be never so unreasonable though for every draught of pleasure they must after drink the double in wormwood though with the gains of the world they must drink in a curse yet like men in a dropsie though to drink will be death their thirst must be quenched It may be when the world is a tempting the Soul conscience stands by and gives it warning take heed of these pleasures ther 's poyson in that cup or ther 's wormwood at the bottome take heed of these deceitful riches ther 's a snare lies under there 's a curse cleaves to them look to thy self Soul the world is but a playing the Devil with thee these pleasures and these riches it hath sent to fetch away thy Soul it holds thee so busy about thine earthly affairs that thou mayest the mean while loose the opportunity of making Christ thine of making the
other world sure to thee look to it thou wilt never have any part in Christ thou wilt never have any hope towards God if thou be tampering thus and trading thus greedily for this present world it may be Conscience doth thus stand by and give warning to the worldly heart but all 's one for that come what will come the heart is so set upon it that it will not be warned 2. Hence it is that they so greedily make out after the world Oh what hast doe they make to be rich how doe their Souls hunger after worldly greatness they covet greedily all the day long Prov. 21. 26. They enlarge their desire as Hell and are as death and cannot be satisfied as it was said of the Caldean Hâ—b 2. 5. they enlarge their desire as Hell of which t is said he hath made it deep and large they have deep desires the bottom of their Soul comes up they have large desires they never have enough Ezek. 33. 31. Their heart goeth after their covetousness that is either after those earthly things which are the objects of their covetousness or after the ductus or leading of their covetousness their covetousness leads on and their heart follows their heart goes yea it runs after it their heart out runs their feet their heart out works their hands when I awake I am still with thee saith the Psalmist and when the worlding awakes where is his heart presently in the field in the shop in the market his heart is there before his body can get there it may be that must stay a time in the house after he awakes and put on his clothes or take his breakfast or may be to make a short prayer for a fashion but his heart goes presently abroad as soon as ever he awakes and leaves only his tongue behind to pray But whence is this eagerness this hungring and riding post after the world why t is his love to the world that makes him gape so wide after it he loves to be rich he loves give ye Christ is propos'd and set before his eyes the bread of life the water of life the windows of Heaven are opened the fountains above are broken up the durable riches the everlasting pleasures life and peace and rest and joy and glory are sett forth in open sight before the world and as Psal 14. 2. God looks down to see if any would understand and seek God to see who amongst all the world had a mind to his riches to his treasures who was for Christ who was for Grace who was for Heaven but behold they are all running another way there 's none that understands none that will seek God every door is shut every heart 's asleep when God passeth by If he should never give till many ask if he should stay till they seek him how long might he stay he must come and call and knock and break open their doors and pour into their mouths and t is well if Heaven will down with any at last whilest full tables and full draughts of this world will down and never stick now and then a crumb now and then a drop from above is all that will be taken in Oh this agrees not with our stomack t is the world that is our favoury meat Oh what abundant proof is there brethren of this difference of our appetites to things spiritual and things carnal Oh what thriving and what grown Christians had we been had we been as hungry after grace as after greatness in this world had there been so much craving and catching after God as after Mammon had there been such good husbandry among us for things to come as for things presen What 's the reason that our Souls are such dwarfs and babes and starvlings Are they not so is it not very poor and very low with us what treasures have you gotten how little knowledge or Faith or love or power or vigour of spirit have you attain'd how is death still feeding upon us Death in our understandings Death in our affections Death in our Consciences Death in our duties we walk up and down more like the Ghosts of Christians then like living Christians pale and wan and weak and cold mere carkases of Christianity when the Soul and Spirit of religion is not Look about enquire among you and see how many such dead carkases there are to one living lively Soul how many empty caskes that make a little sound to one full vessel The Lord be merciful to us though the name and shell of Religion be among us and upon us yet the spirit and kernel of it seems to be almost quite vanished out of the earth It was once said Revel 3. 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis that have not defiled their garments But oh may it not be said thou hast but a few names neither in Sardis not Thiatira nor Philadelphia nor any where among all the Churches thou hast but a few names any where that have any more then a name that they live Brethren how is it with us who are here before the Lord turn in every one his eye upon his heart goe down and ask every one of you Soul how fares it with thee how art thou fed oh my Soul how art thou clothed what hast thou by thee what what grace what peace what hope to comfort thee who is there within thee is Christ there is the holy spirit there quickning thee and cleansing thee or is not the world there preying upon thee and consuming thee Ask your Souls art thou in health O my Soul dost thou live and thrive and hold up thy head and hold on thy way and thy work or art thou not sick head sick and heart sick and weak and poor and blind and naked look in each one of you step down and take an account of your state If you would do so I doubt there are few of us but would find all within in a very pitiful and lamentable case What 's the reason of all this the Lord God hath offered to feed us and nourish us and nurse up these languishing Souls the Lord God hath stood among us with his baskets of bread and his bottles of wine hath put such meat to our mouths that would have nourished us up from babes to be men from such weaklings to be strong in the Lord but there is such an unsuitableness betwixt the things of God and our carnal hearts that we have no appetite to them and so they will not down whereas the things of the world do find such a Spirit of the world in us that of any thing that it hath to offer us nothing comes amiss we not only readily take it in but greedily hunger and make out after it By the way Christians learn that if ever you would get victory over the world you must first get you another spirit in vain do you think to live other then a worldly life whilest the spirit
on after a total victory he hath his foot on the neck and his hand still in the fight He keeps his enemy in his eye and stands upon his guard daily he dispatches messengers his prayers his sighs his tears to fetch down fresh supplies from above his prayers speak his sighs cry his tears have a tongue and all go up with the same message as the Gibeonites sent to Joshua Josh 10. 6. Slack not thine hand from thy servant come down to me quickly save and help me He sets all his graces his faith his love his hope his patience in battel array against it He is still making sure the party that the world hath within him keeps lust under keeps pride and covetousness and sensuality low that is more or less according as he acts as a Believer He secures the strong hold keeps his heart keeps his Farms and his oxen and his pleasures at the greatest distance he can from his heart he sends his heart far enough away out of their reach he conveys it into the other world where it dwells and builds and plants and sows and gathers and lays up a better treasure where it rejoyces and recreates it self where it hath better work and better company and better pleasures to wean it from these below he lives in the view and contemplation of God in the Society and Communion of Saints and Angels and is so satisfied with the Fountain of Living Waters that he be neither thirsty after the waters nor choak'd with the mud of these broken cisterns He studies the world more and comes to a better understanding of it of its vanity of its enmity of its treachery power and policy and the more he knows it the more he fears it the more he knows of God the more he loves and thirsts and longs after him the more he knows of the world the less he loves and the more he fears it He fears not so much its anger as its kindness he fears his worldly pleasures his carnal friends his earthly businesses and his prospering in them he carries a sence of the danger he is in by them and a fear of the snare they may be to him where-ever he goes whilest he is necessarily detained and busied here he carries this fear as his guard to secure his Soul whither ever he walks to his table to his bed to his shop in his journeys he feeds with fear and works with fear and travels with fear and trades with fear lest whilest he is thus necessarily conversant in the world he be again intangled with its temptations And in this warfare he grows and gathers strength daily is more able to contemn the world it becomes every day less and less to be a temptation to him Time was when whenever the world came enticing him after it hearken to me mind thy earthly concernments and thou shalt be rich and prosper and abound follow Christ and this holiness and t will be thine undoing time was when these were arguments of great weight with him that could command his heart controul conscience conjure his affections and perswade him to any thing but now they come too late they are scarce temptations to him his heart is so set upon the securing his eternal interest and so transported with the sense of the importance of that great concernment those higher things are so great in his eye and so much upon his heart that it seems but a very small thing to be possessour of all things here and to make but a small difference upon his condition whether he hath or wants 2. Wherein this victory stands which I shall answer Negatively Positively 1. Negatively and this in 4. particulars 1. A believer hath not so overcome the world as to be above all need of the world though man lives not by bread onely as Math. 4. Yet he must have bread yea and must work for his bread and therefore must diligently follow his calling wherein he may provide things honest provide him an honest livelihood 2. Not so but that he is still free to use the world in his need every creature of God is good good for use being sanctified by the word of God and Prayer 1 Tim. 4. 4. Both necessaries and the abundance of the things of this life are a blessing from God and the free use of them so far as to fit us for service is not onely lawful but a duty that self denyal that over-sparing use of the creatures which impaires our strength or dulls our Spirits is not a virtue but usually is either the fruit of a melancholique distemper or a temptation 3. Not so as to be for ever freed from all noxious temptations of the world This world is an enemy still and this enemy will be still fighting against the Soul A Christian will never be such a conquerour here but he must still keep on his armour and stand upon his guard hereafter when the victory shall be compleat he shall sit down Rev. 3. 21. To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me in my throne at present we must stand Ephes 6. 13. And having done all to stand stand upon our watch stand to our arms but hereafter we shall sit down we are yet in our march with our Lord in his Chariot of war for our place in his triumphal Chariot for sitting down with him in the throne we must wait till hereafter 4. Not so as to be for ever free from all surprisals and falls by these temptations The world will assault us and in these assaults too often gets the better of us though it cannot command us quite back from Christ yet it may turn us aside and much hinder us in our following of him though it cannot now destroy us yet it may distract and disturb us though it cannot recover its absolute dominion over us yet it may lay our feet again in the Stocks We may love it too much and fear it too much and mind it too much and follow it too hard and our souls may become great loosers by it God may be forgotten Souls may be neglected Conscience may be defiled Duties omitted or shuffled over and all sense of Eternity for a time buried in an heap of worldly cares or delights We have experience enough to give in evidence to this and much more 2. Positively and thus our victory over the world stands in our having attained 1. A power to possesse the things of the world without placing our happiness in them 2. A power to manage our worldly affairs without the prejudice of our Souls 3. A power to use this worlds good things to their proper ends 4. A power to want this worlds good things and bear the worlds evil things and to keep our hearts and our way whether we prosper or suffer 5. A willingness to be gone from this and to take our flight to the other world 1. Victory over the world stands in our having attain'd to a power to possess
the things of the world without placing our happiness in them The Supremacy of the world is founded in its apprehended sufficiency to bless us and make us happy Whilest we hold it our treasure we resign our selves to it as our Governour Mat. 6. 21. Where the treasure is there the heart will be also The heart will never dwell in or serve this world when it hath chosen another treasure the world can never hold the dominion of a Lord longer then it can hold the reputation of our God The soul will not be governed or commanded by it unless it be content to take it as its reward when the heart hath said to the Lord Thou art my portion it can say to the world Stand thou as my footstool when we neither promise our selves contentment in our expectations nor feel our selves at rest in our possessions of the world when the heart is fixed on an higher good and so strongly working upward that it will not be detained from the pursuit of it by any thing it either hath or hopes for here then the world is vanquished Now in this is included 1. Our making God our happiness It s vain for any man to say or think the world is not who cannot truly say The Lord is my happiness and Heritage It s natural to man to desire happiness and to pitch some where or other where he hopes 't is to be had what he apprehends to be the best of all he knows most suitable and most satisfactory to his desire and appetite there he fastens Worldly men that know no better promise to themselves a worldly happiness and here they fix and it is impossible for them to loosen hence till they discover and close with some higher good till God comes in the World will not out The Psalmist could never but have envied and Idolized the portion and prosperity of the ungodly had not God been his portion First he must say Whom have I in heaven but thee and then he can add There 's none in earth that I desire besides thee Psal 73. 2. The due limiting our desires after and moderating our delights in the things of this world and a subordination of them all to our great end If the world be not our happiness we shall love it and seek it thereafter The world if it be any thing to us it must be either our end or our means if God be our portion he is our end if God be our end the world ceases to be such two last ends no man can have till he have two souls if the world be not our end it must be either our means or nothing to us Our desires and delights are proportionable to our conceits of and our expectations from the objects of them that which is apprehended and accepted as our end is desired accordingly hath the stream and strength of the soul running out after it there it desires and loves without limit that which is apprehended only as a means is so far only amiable and desired as it subserves our end When ever the world ceases to be accounted our happiness it will necessarily be judg'd only as a means to it and thence will follow this limiting our worldly desires and moderating of our worldly delights we shall desire them no farther nor delight in them otherwise then as they are conducible to God 2. Victory over the world stands in a power to mannage our worldly affairs and businesses without the prejudice of our souls Psal 112. 5. He will guide his affairs with discretion and his discretion herein appears 1. That in the multitudes of the thoughts he hath in his heart and the businesses he hath in his hand he hath still an eye to the main He 's a discreet man that rightly understands and duly minds his great concernment the world must be minded the Plough must be followed the seed must be sown the Flocks must be kept the Oxen and the Asses must be cared for But what is the world to my soul what is my food to my life this must be chiefly look'd to that I perish not that I run not upon an eternal undoing that my soul may live and it may be well with me hereafter I must first seek the Kingdome of God and then let other things be minded as they may He that said Be diligent to know the state of thy flocks and to look well to thy herds Prov. 27. 23. said also with an Emphasis Deut. 4. 9. Only take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently above all keeping keep thy heart Prov. 4. 23. And therefore to this he hath a most special eye his eye looks most inwards it s well with me without or whether it be or no how is it within how goes the work of Faith and Repentance on how goes the work of Mortification and Sanctification on here he bestows his special labour in working out his salvation in laying up treasure in heaven I shall never count my self to prosper whilest my soul prospers not I shall never count my self a good husband whilest mine own Vineyard hath not been kept and I shall never count my self poor while I am growing rich unto God I shall never count my self an ill husband whilest I have been wise and busie for Eternity 2. That to this end he overcharges not pulls no more of business upon him then he can go through with without neglecting his soul though he must imploy himself yet he will not intangle himself in the affairs of this life 2 Tim. 2. 4. His Lord hath given him fair warning Luke 21. 34. Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with the cares of this life and he 's willing to take the warning He 's wary how he undertakes more business then God calls him to if God put him upon a more busie life and lays on a greater load of work or care upon him he chearfully sets his shoulders to it knowing that where God sets him on work he will be with him in the work and help him out but he would have no more to do then God sets him about Christians besides the Call of God there are too often other Masters call us to work 't is not seldome that mens lusts set them on work as their lusts call them off from work call them to play or to sleep or to be idle so sometimes also mens lusts call them to work Some mens pride sets them on work many an hard daies work they have to get something to maintain it Some mens prodigality sets them on work that they may have to spend on their throats their bellies or companions but most of all mens covetousness sets them on work this is an hard and cruel Master oh what a labourious weary life do such men live their life is a meer drudgery rising early going to bed late eating the bread of carefulness How many irons hath the covetous man in the fire how many cares how
the whole thus far forth every Believer is willing to die though he still feel a natural dread of death though by reason of the remainders of flesh he be too much taken with the pleasure of an earthly life and being at some uncertainty and under some doubts what his future estate after death may be he may linger and hang back yet were these doubts removed and were he grown to an assurance that whenever his soul looses from this body it should immediately be received into the Paradise of God he so much prefers a life with God in perfect holiness and blessedness above the most prosperous worldly life that though his flesh could wish a longer stay yet his spirit would be willing when ever the Lord calls to depart and be with Christ which is far better And according as the mortification of his flesh his Crucifixion to the world and his assurance of salvation grow more compleat and clear so is his willingness heightned into more earnest desires and longings Come Lord Jesus why doth my Lord delay his coming when Lord when shall this dust return to the earth and this spirit to God that gave it make haste my beloved and come away Oh Brethren what an argument is here to press you to put hard for this Victory over the World when the World is Conquered death is Conquered the fear of death ceases Would you be delivered from this fear would you not count it a mercy better then life to be bold to die arise then and buckle on your armour treat this world no longer as a friend but deal with it as an enemy watch against it fight against it and what day you prevail over it you have both won the field of all your doubts and fears Victory over this world is a sure evidence for heaven and got the Mastery of your carnal hearts which alone make death formidable or unwelcome Brethren death comes you know and it may be upon you on a sudden do you not perceive its approaches do we not some of us already feel our Tabernacles to totter do not the walls moulder the windows grow dim do not our pillars shake and grow weak under us you that are youngest and strongest do you not know that death may be at the door do you know what a day or a night may bring forth are you ready to be gone are you bold to go forth and meet this last Enemy or do you not shake and shrink at the very mention of it Be mortified once and then let death do its worst Give the Word leave to kill this world give the spirit leave to kill this flesh and then you may give death leave to do its office Consider whither ever you go you carry your life in your hand and know not whether ever you shall bring it back O think with your selves when you are going forth into the field think with your selves I carry my life in my hand and God knows whether ever I may return with it whether ever I may come home alive when you go into the house think with thy self God knows whether ever I may come abroad when you arise in the morning God knows whether my next lodging may not be in the dust when you lye down in the evening God knows where my soul may be before morning I may awaken in another world and what if I should awaken in flames and feel this soul wrapp'd up in a winding sheet of fire Is there no fear it may be so Hath this world kept me from Christ all my life long and will it let me to heaven at last hath it held me in Chains all my time here how will it use me when it carries me hence Are you ready to die how shall I die when this earth is still my treasure take away my Gods and what have I more How shall I die when my soul hangs in doubt whither must I when I go hence can I follow this grisly Messenger when I know not whither he will lead me let mine Enemy die first let sin and the World die let mine Enemy be dead and let him that liveth be my friend let me cease from this earth and let heaven be my treasure and then I shall be willing to be gone Be it thus with you Friends and then you will be ready to be offered up Whatever Executioner be now sent to take away your life if old age be sent if a disease a Fever or Consumption if a distast a fall or a fire or any the like casualties if a son of violence a thief or a murtherer whatever Executioner be sent to take away your life and when ever he comes whether in the first second or third Watch you will say with the Apostle The time of my departure is at hand I am ready to be offered up I desire to depart and to be with Christ Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation And now at length Behold the man Here is the Conquerour and this is his Victory He that is come unto Christ to whom the world hath ceased to be his treasure and he hath accepted of God as his happiness and Heritage the moderation of whose affections to things earthly doth evidence that they are now only his means not his end He that can mannage his worldly affairs without the prejudice of his soul that whatever his hand finds to do hath still an eye to the main that overcharges not with business but makes business leave room for duty that so cares for the Oxen and the Asses that he neglect not the souls of his sons or servants that in all his dealings hath a due respect to truth righteousness and mercy that will be true though to his own hindrance that will be poor rather then dishonest or unmerciful whom the whole world cannot hire to lye or be unrighteous He that can use the world to its proper end all for God he that can want the worlds good things or suffer the worlds evil things and can keep his heart and his way whether he prosper or suffer that can deny his flesh when he hath to satisfie it that can want and be content suffer and be patient that is humble in the height of honour magnanimous in the depth of danger and difficulty that keeps in an even equal poise sober temperate serious in all the turns and changes of his life He that can thus live in the world and can die out of the world that is willing to be gone this is the Conquerour and here is his victory Use 1. The application that I shall make of the whole shall be by way of Information and Conviction Direction and Exhortation 1. By way of Information and Conviction Learn from what hath been said 1. That every Captive to the World is an unbeliever 2. That where there is but little power over the World there is but little Faith 1. Every Captive to
heart ever bear the watchings the fastings the labours together with the distresses and afflictions of this warfare I shall surely perish one day or other by the hand of this Enemy Discourage not thy self thus what cannot God do what will not God do who hath said who hath seal'd to it I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Behold his Seal Is it not in thine hand and in thy mouth Trust in God set to thy Seal that God is true and then say Though my flesh and my heart fail God is the strength of mine heart and my portion for ever I will go in the strength of the Lord through him I shall do valiantly he shall tread down mine enemies and my difficulties 2. Our Seal engages us on Hast thou sealed to the Lord and not bound thy self to him Hast thou set thy seal to a blank hast thou engaged thy self to be the Lords and not therein to be no longer the worlds Canst thou serve these two Masters Is not thy renouncing the world necessarily included in thy Covenant Obligation Brethren that the tye may the more sensibly lie upon you I advise that as often as you come before the Lord in this Ordinance you put this expresly into your engagement Father I am sensible of the plague of this earthly heart and of the tyranny of these worldly lusts how impetuously they set upon me and how imperiously they lead me on after them how false and unfaithful have they made me to my God how ordinarily am I led away by them against my Covenant and my conscience But I here bewail it I detest it it is my grief and my shame that ever I have been so false and unworthy Behold now again in thy fear I open my mouth to the Lord I take hold of thy word I hang upon thy help let the Lord my righteousness be my strength and in his Name I again lift up mine hand to the most High solemnly protesting before the Lord that I so avouch thee to be my God and so entirely and unreservedly make over my self unto thee that through the grace of God with me I will henceforth and while I live be the avowed enemy of a worldly heart and life I will use all thy means for the overcoming of it I will study I will watch I will pray against I will rate and check and restrain and resist all the motions lustings and temptations by which I have been so often led aside and overcome I give my self my estate my strength my parts my time all that I have unto the Lord Lord take me at my word and all that I have for thy servants I am thine save me Thou that knowest all things knowest that I would not lye unto God but that I sincerely intend in thy strength to stand to this word in testimony whereof I here take this holy Sacrament from thine hands I have opened my mouth to the Lord help me and I will not go back And now O my soul look to thy self Shall I again break my Covenant shall I wickedly repent and alter the word that is gone out of my lips shall I any longer walk after the course and in the lusts of this world fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of my mind shall mine heart still go after my covetousness shall I study and project and plot and prog for this flesh at that rate as if the world were still my God shall it climb up from the footstool to the Throne shall it again give Laws to my heart and set limits to my Religion shall interest Lord it over Conscience and carnal inclination bear down devotion shall I suffer this Robber to break in again into the Sanctuary of the Lord shall it eat up my Sacrifices steal away my Sabbaths curtail my duties and enervate Ordinances shall the Lord have no more of me then the world will spare him shall business be ever again pleaded against duty or gain against godliness shall my soul take up its dwelling in my shop or in my fields and only give some short visits to heaven at its leisure But oh shall lying and promise breaking shall fraud and oppression shall unrighteousness or unmercifulness be nothing with me or but excusable failings Are these things according to the vows of God that are upon me Look to thy self O my soul be not found a lyar against God O Brethren were there this solemn and express transaction betwixt our souls and the Lord at every Sacrament and did we thus live in the conscience of this Obligation and the dread of being found false to God from Sacrament to Sacrament what might it not bring forth what a wound would be given to the head of this deadly Enemy 3. The Sacrament is the New Testament blessings exhibited The new wine broached this Conduit runs with Gospel Wine Our partaking in the Sacrament is our coming into the Garden of our Lord to eat his pleasant fruits We read Cant. 2. 3. I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste I shall stay a while here and shall gather a bundle of these fruits and present them to your eye I shall in short shew 1. What the special fruits of Christ are 2. That these fruits are sweet and pleasant and then I shall add 3. That these fruits are exhibited in the Sacrament 4. The advantages we hence have against the world 1. What the special fruits of Christ are which I shall reduce to these two heads The fruits of His Bloud His Spirit 1. The fruits of his Bloud These are especially two in which all others are comprized Viz. Righseousness Peace 1. Righteousness He is therefore called the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. Joh. 16. 8. He shall convince the world of righteousness that is of the righteousness of Christ he shall evidence and make manifest unto the world who all lye in wickedness that in him there is righteousness not only that he is righteous as an individual person but as a publick person that he hath in the name and on the behalf of all those that believe on him fulfilled all righteousness and hath hereby a stock and treasure of righteousness to bestow and wherewith to cloath all those that come unto God by him to whom he is made wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. Beloved are there any guilty souls among you any unrighteous ones do you know what 't is to be guilty do you know the dread and terrour of the Lord do you consider what the face of a righteous incensed God will be to an unrighteous soul do you understand how naked you lye and open before everlasting vengeance how can you endure or how can you escape the wrath to come righteousness of your own you have none and that which you seem to have is not your righteousness But behold here 's righteousness for you come to Christ put in here dip you
When I awake I am still with thee that is my thoughts are presently with thee my meditations are of thee and where my thoughts are there am I. When the thoughts are with God the soul is with God when the thoughts are in the earth and mud the soul is all bemired The soul goes forth to view to taste and to chuse for it self the thoughts take a view the affections and senses taste and take the relish and then accordingly the will chuses The will should nakedly follow the understanding and chuse only what the unbyassed judgment tells it is good but it does too ordinarily follow the affections and senses these blind the reason and so ingage the will we chuse what we love and what pleases rather then what upon an impartial deliberation we judge to be good The things of both worlds work upon hearts objectively by the good or evil that is apprehended in them they accordingly affect us our thoughts search into things what there is in them when our thoughts by searching find out God God is regarded and when they are in search after the world they make a shift to fancy this to be good and accordingly it is imbraced The thoughts are the feet and the eyes of the soul the feet Eccles 5. 1. keep thy feet when thou goest into the house of God that is keep and look well to thy thoughts The eyes Prov. 17. 24. The eyes of a fool that is his thoughts are in the ends of the earth the rovings of the thoughts are the souls compassing the earth and its walking to and fro to the ends thereof Keep your thoughts in by the Lord and you keep your souls in your thoughts will be in exercise will be walking daily and hourly some whither or other there 's no keeping them in they will abroad either to heaven or earth oh send them to heaven daily and hold them there let them have no leisure to wander in this earth Brethren think your selves up to heaven as we may pray our selves up and believe our selves up to heaven so we may think our selves thither worldly men think themselves into pride or think themselves into covetousness or think themselves into wantonness are so long thinking and thinking in fuel for lust till they have set it all in a flame as worldly men think themselves into wickedness so let Christians think themselves into holiness think themselves into humility sobriety contentation and heavenliness of mind call off your thoughts from this earth and you will cease to be earthly call them back from vanity and you will cease to be vain call them up to heaven and you call them off from what 's below Think on God more Christians and the everlasting Kingdome think on the way that leads to it on the dangers that lie in the way on the dread of perishing in the way on the beauty and pleasure and comfort of being upright in the way of the goal and prize that is at the end of the way Take up such thoughts as these Is not God better then the world that is is not all things better then nothing Is not grace better then sin that is is not fair better then foul Is not peace better then wrath peace with God then friendship with the world are not the fillings of Gold better then heaps of earth Is a little grace so good and is not more desirable can there be much grace where the desire is so divided betwixt it and vanity Is gold in the Our so precious as gold out of the fire Is the twilight pleasant O what is the day light Is a mixture of flesh and spirit of heaven and earth as desirable as all spirit all heaven If grace be so good if peace with God be so precious why do I not seek it if I have a little grace if I have a little peace why do I not press for more when shall I increase and grow rich towards God if I do not decrease towards this earth Be thinking thus on heaven and heavenly things and if you will be thinking of earth too think of the dark places of the earth and the dark side of its brightness think of the precipices the marishes the quagmires the barren Mountains and desolate Wildernesses the bryars and thorns and wild beasts of the earth my meaning is if you will study the world study its vanity and vexations the danger you are in of being lost or torn in pieces or swallow'd up of them How uncertain are these riches how vanishing is this mirth how unconstant are these friends what a blast are these honors what a flash are these pleasures what a bubble are these buildings how long will they lust what will be left of them a few years hence But O the thorns and the bryars the vexations the cares the fears the disappointments the crosses the sweat and the sorrows that are mingled with these pleasures and possessions But yet farther O the darts and the arrows and the stings that come after O the stabs and the wounds that they give to the soul the darkness and death and damnation that they are dragging it into If you will be thinking on the world let it be with such thoughts as these and then see if it would be so hard to make an exchange of earth for heaven Brethren the reason why it is so hard a work for the Ministry to perswade in souls to Christ is because we cannot get them to entertain any serious thoughts of Christ and of the blessedness that comes in with him the reason why we cannot fetch them off from the world is because we cannot perswade them to think as they should of it of the vanity of it of the bondage it holds them in and the misery it subjects them to If we could but set you a thinking once what harm would it be to me to hearken to Christ what will become of me if I do not hearken to him when shall I come to Christ if I still cleave to this present world what if I should never come but should stand at this distance from him to my dying day Can I ever hope for mercy from Christ if for the love of the world I now refuse him will he regard my cryes when hereafter I shall call Lord open to me Lord answer for me Lord save me if I reject him when he calls Soul open to me Soul submit to me How shall I stand in the Judgment if I have no Christ to stand with me will my estate will my pleasures will my friends be good Advocates for me in that day will this be a good Plea Lord Jesus appear for me let thy wounds plead let thy bloud plead for me let me stand as one of thine for I am he that would none of thee I set at nought thy counsels and despised thy Covenant and trampled upon thy bloud and preferr'd my house and my money and my pleasures and my lusts before
in the joy of the Lord or in the terrours of the Lord What shall be your sentence Come or depart come ye blessed or depart ye cursed inherit the kingdom or away into the fire what say you consider and speak will you be damned or are you for the saving of your Souls If you say you are for salvation then let me farther ask you 2. Is not the world an enemy to your salvation Is salvation possible without a victory over it Is it not against the declared will and purpose of God Rom. 8. 30. Whom he did predestinate them he also called whom he called them he also justified whom he justified them he also glorified who are the justified and glorified is it not onely the called is there ever another man of the number And who are the called of God is it all those that are bid to come is he of them that makes light of it that saies I cannot come that saies no Lord I pray thee call some other guests and let me alone as I am to follow my oxen and my farm and my wife I pray thee have me excused is this one of the called of God If not what hope of his salvation will God change his purpose and baulk his way to gratify thy carnal mind and reconcile lust and eternal life Is there not an inconsistency in the nature of the things to be saved and left under the power of the world is to be saved and yet left under the power of the Devil to be saved and yet left unsanctified to be made free and yet left in bonds Doth it not enervate and resist all the means of salvation Doth not the world hinder the word that that cannot prosper with you is not this it the lusts and love and cares of this life that choke the word that it becomes unfruitful Math. 13. 22. Hath not the world hitherto dealt by you as in the beginning of this discourse I told you it would darkned your eye that you could not see deadned your sense that you could not fear hung upon your hearts and about your necks that you could not come to Christ Have you seen have you feard are you come to Christ or are you not yet in your sins why what is it that hath hindred you and kept you back from Christ hitherto but either the cares of this life or the deceitfulness of riches or the pleasures and lusts of this present world Doth not the world hinder prayer hold you back from going to God to seek your lives at his hands while you should be with God to seek your lives the world calls you abroad to seek your livings a little praying must suffice a worldly heart when the tribes go up to pray before the Lord how often is the worldlings place empty If I were to go in search for a worldlings heart I would seek all the places of the earth first ere I would seek him before the throne of grace he is so seldom there that you may as well seek an idle shepherd in the pulpit as a worldly heart in the closet O if worldly men did no more diligently seek the world then they use to seek God what poor men would they be Get you asunder worldlings let your Souls and this harlot part that Satan tempt you not for your incontinence that your prayers be not hindred what praying whilst the world is still with you and what hope of salvation whilest no praying 3. Is this enemy invincible Is not victory over it possible is it not possible for thee to become an enemy to this world if thou art an enemy thou art a conquerour It 's true thou hast an hard field to fight and there 's great hazard thou mayst be eternally lost by it It hath slain so many Souls and laid them up in everlasting chains there have been so very few have escaped with their lives that it 's a great question whether thy life may not also go Thou hast been so long a captive that it is much to be doubted whether ever thou mayst be set at liberty Thou bearest such a love to the world thou wilt so hardly be perswaded that 't is thine enemy and art so apt to take it to be a better friend then God is to thee thou art so hardly perswaded that he is a friend to thee that doth but tell thee the world is an enemy and art so angry at any that offers to assist thee against it or but perswades thee to take heed of it thou art so apt to take all the counsels warnings reproofs that are given thee to put thee upon thy watch against it to be injuries unkindnesses that it 's much to be feared how it may go with thee There have been so many charges made against it without success the axe hath been so often layd at the root of this tree God hath been hewing at it conscience hath been hewing at it may be all thy life long the word hath been fighting against it prayer hath been wrestling with it meditation hath been considering about it Thou hast been so often warned Take heed and beware of covetousness Love not the world nor the things of the world mortify thy members which are upon the earth Flee youthful lusts Get thee up from the tents of these men set not thine affections on the earth Thou hast been so often told That the fashion of this world passeth away those that will be rich fall into a snare the friendship of the world is enmity against God and after all this there is so little done thy heart is so much upon it still it holds to this day so strong an hand over thee thou art still siding with it and taking its part against God and thine own Soul thou art so loath to hear that 't is a sin to be worldly minded or to be convinced that thou art a worldling that I must tell thee 't will be hard work for thee to obtain the victory and to escape with thy Soul Look to it such a disease which hath been so long rooted in thy nature such an enemy that hath so long lien in thy bosome that thou wilt not be perswaded that 't is thy disease that 't is thine enemy such a disease will hardly be cured such an enemy will hardly be conquered But yet is not a victory possible Is this disease unto death and is there no remedy Is there no balm in Gilead is there no Physitian there Is the field lost and is there no recovery who is it that hath bid thee fight against this enemy Is it one that had a mind to mock thee Look upon the Captain of thy Salvation hath not he overcome the world Hath not he said Be of good comfort look unto me and be saved come unto me and ye shall have rest Doth he not call to thee Wilt thou not be made clean wilt thou not be made free If thou wilt thou mayst there lies all the
eyes and the pride of life And also the objects of these lusts as they are such the pleasures the profits and the pomps of the world together with all worldly tribulations and afflictions By Faith understand a living saving Faith which unites to Christ and thereby engages him in our Combat with us This is the Victory even our Faith Faith is said to be our Victory 1. Formally The world hinders and holds us back from Christ Faith is our coming to Christ our coming to Christ is our Victory over all that which held us back 2. Instrumentally This is the Victory that is this is our arm or our hand this is the weapon of our warfare that hath gotten for us the Victory Divers observations lye in the words Doct. 1. The world is a Christians Enemy A Conquest supposes a Combat and a Combat supposes an Enemy Doct. 2. A Believer hath his Enemies under his feet even whilest he is in the fight He is a Souldier as soon as he is a Believer and he is a Conquerour as soon as ever he is a Souldier His very taking up Arms is his Victory Doct. 3. A Christian overcomes the world by his Faith In the prosecution of this third Doctrine whereon I intend to bottom the following discourse I shall shew 1. Wherein the enmity of the world against Souls stands 2. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails against our Souls 3. Wherein the strength of faith lies whereby it overcomes the world 4. The conflict of faith with this warring world or the several ways in which faith so maintains the fight that it obtains the victory 5. The Conquest of Faith over the conflicting world or wherein this victory stands 1. Wherein the enmity of the world against souls stands or discovers it self The world is an Enemy as before It pretends to be a friend but its friendship is enmity enmity against God Jam. 4. 4. and therefore against souls its kindnesses are darts its kisses are swords and arrows its very peace is war against the soul But what is this Enmity or wherein is it discovered For the better understanding of this I shall premise these four things 1. Every creature of God is good The whole Creation in their Original were mans friends or servants there was nothing hurtful that was made 2. The enmity that is came in by sin Sin was the only Make-bate as betwixt God and Man so betwixt Man and the rest of the Creatures all the Enemies which man hath in Heaven or Earth he may thank his sin for 3. There is no malignity in the creature properly against man in his lapsed state They are yet all capable of being good and serviceable to him 1 Tim. 4. 4 5. Every creature of God is good it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer Riches are good yea and honors and pleasures may be good and useful to man 4. It is by accident and not from the nature of the things that the creatures are become enemies to us Sinful man is a distempered diseased creature distempered in his mind and hereupon he misapprehends and mistakes the world and looking for that good that is not in it he looses that which is making it his happiness it becomes his undoing He is distempered and diseased in his heart yea and his whole man And hereupon as in bodily diseases the best of creatures which would be nourishment to the healthy are to the sick the nourishment of their diseases and as such are apt to lust after those things which are most noxious so is it with diseased souls our appetites are vitiated and whilest we lust after either that which we should not or more then we should have those very things which are good in themselves become mischievous and hurtful to us the maintaining and encreasing our disease These things premised I shall now shew wherein the enmity of the world against our souls stands and that is in these two things especially 1. In withdrawing our souls from God Particularly 1. In withdrawing our affections from God as our Portion 2. In withdrawing us from our Allegiance to God as our Soveraign 1. In withdrawing our affections from God as our Portiâ—n The world by the advantage of our distempered minds and appetites sets up it self as our God as our happiness or chiefest good it proposes its self for a portion to us and that both as a richer portion and more suitable then God would be it perswades us to take our portion in hand and to take up with what 's before us as our happiness and not to be so unwise as to make an adventure for an unknown happiness with the hazard of that present felicity and contentment which we tast and see to be so good God calls Come unto me and I will give thee rest I will be thy portion and reward come up to the other world there 's an Inheritance for thee No no saith the world stay with me dwell here below thou seest what thine entertainment is here there thou knowest not what thou shalt find here thou hast substance here thou hast Sun-shine here thou hast hearts ease here thou art full and aboundedst thou hast thy house full and thy hands full and thy belly full and thy heart full thou knowest what thou hast thou canst tast thou canst see how good this world is the Treasures of the other world though they be called Treasures of Light yet to thee they are but Treasures of Darkness thou knowest not what they are be content dwell here below where thou art well 2. In withdrawing us from our Allegiance to God as our Soveraign When it hath once drawn away the heart it will with ease pull away the shoulder if Gods Crown be despised his Yoke will quickly be shaken off we break our faith with God when once we are fallen in love with the world if it become our treasure we yield our selves to it for servants the strength of its temptations lies in the esteem we have of it and the affection we bear it What will the Authority of the Lord do with us when he hath lost our hearts and we have chosen us another God! What cannot the world command us to if we have once set it before us as our Goal and Prize if it be our end it will appoint us our means and way no unrighteousness but will be right in our eyes that will serve our worldly designs farewell faith truth mercy honesty and all conscience of sin further then we can make a gain of godliness And by withdrawing us from our love and obedience to God to this I might add 3ly It exposes us to his wrath and displeasure when we will none of him he will none of us when he is forsaken by us he sets himself against us by despising the riches of his goodness we fall under his fury and fiery indignation This is the state into which the world is leading us 2. In
withholding us from Christ Christ comes to bring us back unto the Father 1 Pet. 3. 18. to reduce us to our duty and restore us to our happiness The world that withdraws us from God withholds us from Christ Particularly It holds us back from coming to Christ It holds us in from following of Christ 1. It holds us back from coming to Christ And this it doth by these four means By Darkning our sight Deadning our sense Hanging upon our hearts and about our necks Furnishing us with excuses 1. By darkning the sight that we cannot see either the excellency or the necessity of Christ Christ draws on Souls to him by love and fear First he frights us in by presenting the danger and misery that is falling upon us and we cannot escape if we stand out Look to thy self Sinner this world will betray thee to thy ruine thy pleasures are thy traitors thy carnal friends are thy traitors thy estate is thy traitor they are feasting thee and feeding thee but t is for the day of slaughter the butcher the butcher of souls is near thee into whose hands they are betraying thee they seek thy life thou art but a dead man death is already feeding upon thee the curse of God doth already cleave to thee and is ready to fall upon thee in its full weight thou wilt be devoured thou wilt be swallowed up ere thou art aware come away come to me and thou shalt be safe this house is falling on thine head escape for thy life the avenger of blood is at thy heels flee to the City of refuge I am thy City of refuge come unto me Thus he provokes by fear And this is such an argument to drive Souls into Christ as a clap of thunder or a storm of hail is to the Traviler to hasten him to shelter Then Christ draws by love presents himself and his salvation to the Soul displayes all his beautie and excellencies before it opens the Gospel wherein his grace and his glory appear and shine forth the Gospel is sent down full of Christ there are all the treasures and unsearchable riches of Christ and all held forth in open sight to invite sinners unto him Now the world dashes all this that it workes nothing on the Soul by blinding the eye that it cannot see what Christ sets before it what is either beauty or blackness to the blind soul 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which beleive not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them We are naturally born blind and if our eyes begin a little to be opened this earth is thrown as dust in our eyes that we may not see what 's before us The things of this world as the Moon interposed causeth an eclipse in our souls that we cannot see the Sun we cannot discern either light or darkness either the light of the glorious Gospel or the darkness of the Pitt either our hopes or our dangers this earth keeps both Heaven and Hell out of sight The things of the world should be a glass wherein we may behold the glory of the Lord we may see God in every creature The Heavens declare the glory of God Psal 19. 1. And so doth the earth also and all that is therein but that which God made a glass in which we might see his glory the Divel makes a cloud to take God out of sight what God made a window to let in the light the Divel makes a shut to keep it out Worldly men fix and terminate their eyes in worldly things they can neither look besides them nor through them It is not with them according to the course of nature The Sun dazles mens eyes that they cannot see the Earth but the quite contrary The Earth dazles their eyes that they cannot see the Sun Men usually carry their eyes in their hearts they will not look but where they love or if they should look heavenward yet they could not see the earth hath dazled their eyes Sinners take heed of these riches take heed of these pleasures these substances and these shadowes which your hearts are set upon they will not only be as clogs to keep you down from ascending heavenward but as clouds to hinder you from looking thither It may be they appear as bright clouds but a bright cloud will hide the Sun out of sight as well as a black 2. By deadning the sense they can neither see nor feel they see not the excellency nor can feel their need of Christ who are drunken with these worldly vanities they who altogether live by sense are without sense of any but the present things they can make a shift to live without Christ the less of Christ the better for their turns Christ and the things of Christ are the only things that stand in their way are their way to poverty not to wealth to reproach and shame not to honour they can well enough want Christ while they live but what need they may have of him after this life that enters not into their hearts they are so busy with what they find here that they look not so far as the grave much less beyond it 'T is hard dealing with such hearts but when you find them alone retired and withdrawn from the world and how long may we wait ere we meet with such a season find them in a croud among their carnal friends and companions find them among their Sheep or Oxen or at their pleasures and the noise of these will so drown all that can be said that its like to make as deep impression as a showre upon a stone cry out in their eares fire fire throw Death and Hell in their faces it moves them not so much as to draw forth such a question What may I do to escape We never will come to Christ till we see we need him and we never see our need of Christ till being withdrawn from the hurries of this World we have leisure to sit down and consider How seldom do carnal hearts ask What use is there of Christ wherefore is he come what want would there be of him if there were no Christ If God that spared not his Son but gave him a ransome for the world had spared all this cost it had been all one to them they could have liv'd as merrily and as plentifully here however and that 's all they mind or regard Or if they have any sense of their need of Christ at all it is so little that it will do nothing to the perswading them after him the wound is not so deep but the name of a Saviour will skin it over Seldome does it rise so high as to wring out such a serious question What may I do that Christ may be mine How many Houses and Markets and Shops and Companies may we come into ere we hear any such question Go into the
Field where Men are busy a plowing and sowing or reaping and there you may hear them enquiring how may I keep off the Birds or how may I keep out the Beasts from hurting my field when will it be rain or when will it be like to be fair weather Come into the Market where men are buying and selling and trading and there you may hear them asking how goes the price of Corn or of Cattel where are the best Commodities where is the best choice Come into the houses where they are eating and drinking or working and there you may hear them enquiring what must we have for the next meal what for to morrow c. But oh how seldom do we hear amongst them all any such questions How is my Soul provided for how how doth my soul prosper No no when the world is gotten into the heart there 's no sense of Souls or the concernment of them where the world is in the heart Death and Hell may be there too and never regarded Could we once make men deeply sensible how great their need of Christ is what they are without Christ in what slippery places they stand in what jeopardy they go daily what a dreadful gulf of woe and misery the wind and tide of their worldly prosperity are carrying them down into and how suddenly they may be swallowed up in perdition and destruction and what miserable comforts their past pleasures and plenty will then be to them were they sensible that nothing but Christ and a part in him would stand them in any stead to save them from that gulf that the casting anchor on that rock of ages would alone secure them from splitting on those fatal rocks from perishing by those tumbling waves and billows that are hurrying them down to the lake beneath were they sensible that t is Christ only that can secure them from these dangers their need would be argument enough to drive them to him But being drunken with the pleasures of sin whilest this wine is in the wits are out they will not consider they do not perceive the danger they are in When the Prodigal Luk. 15. had spent all that he had in his riotous living when his whole stock was wasted and not an husk left then he had time to consider and bethink himself what a case he was in and the pinching sence of his necessitous state to which his folly had reduced him this brings him to his wits again he comes to himself and then away he will to his father If you had met him a little before in his cups and amongst his whores if you had found him at his riotous table and in the heat of his lust and should there have preach'd to this Prodigal Friend this life will not last alwaies t will be thy wisest course to consider in time what thou dost Be sober be temperate run from these Harlots and return to thy Father how would he have laughed and scoffed at such a sermon at least the next cup would have wash'd it off his heart but when his hunger and thirst preach thus to him Get thee home to thy Father then away he goes 3. It hangs upon our hearts and about our necks The world hath gotten hold of our hearts and there it will keep its hold while it can It s gotten so much within us and hath so twisted and twined it self about our affections that it will be very hard getting it off We cannot close with Christ but we must break with the world we must be divorc'd from this ere we can be married to our second husband worldlings see what work Christ makes in those hearts where he gets possession he whips out the buyers and sellers and their merchandise out of his Temple he changes the customes and pleasures and business of the heart Its dealings and its delights Its love and its labour must be no longer bestow'd and consum'd upon meat and drink and money and mirth he hath other delights for it and other work to keep it doing These things must be minded in their place and in their season but they must keep their place Stand off Farms and Oxen stand off Lands and money keep your distance get you down and take the lower room give this man place who is more honourable then you all Christ and the world contend for the place which shall sit uppermost and go foremost in the soul Christ will not come in to be an Underling he will have the chief room the chief respect and esteem he will have the command of all that is in the house herein stands Christianity or our conversion to Christ in surrendring up the Throne to Christ 't is not the question whether thou canst find a corner in thine heart to entertain Christ in but who sits in the Throne who hath the government of thy soul who hath the right hand within thee Canst thou say to the Lord Jesus Sit thou on the right hand let all thy foes be made thy foot-stool All sinful pleasures all sinful gains must depart and come no more where Christ dwells and those which are lawful must come under and be brought into subjection to him no more sensuality or carnal mirth no more covetousness or oppression no more pride or self-exalting away with these cast them out and never take them in for ever if thou meanest that Christ shall take up his habitation in thee And no more zeal for the lawful concernments of this life no more pleading business against Religion no more pleading safety against duty no more pleading credit against conscience no more pleading gain against godliness preserve and improve thy estate maintain thy credit provide for thy safety follow thy business thou mayest and thou must but bring all under make all to stand aside and give place to Christianity and Conscience Christ will be no underling he resolves for the Throne where ever he dwells And the world that hath already gotten the Throne is loath to become the foot-stool 't is who shall be King 't is who shal be God that the great Contest is about and the world that hath King'd it so long knows not how to be content to be a subject it sees it must come down if Christ come in there cannot be two Kings in one Kingdome it must come down this pride must come down this credit these pleasures this carnal mirth this covetousness must be laid in the dust if Christ set footing here And therefore it does all it can to resist Christ stops the ears blinds the eye turns away the heart from hearkening to him Christ stands at the door and knocks Christ cryes and calls Come unto me open to me Christ promises and offers Come and I will receive you open and I will come in unto you and dwell with you If the soul begins to listen to the call of Christ the world steps in and objects What dost thou mean simple soul What art thou doing whither art
thou going hearken to Christ hearken to this Word hearken to this Conscience and what then shall become of me What shall become of thy estate what shall become of thy esteem what shall become of thy liberty what shall become of all thy love and friendship and pleasure thou hast in the world art willing to be poor art willing to be in bondage art willing to be in reproach and disgrace open that door once let Christ in have any thing to do with Conscience and thou art undone all that ever thou hast all that ever thou lovest in all the world must thenceforth become strangers to thee Hast thou not given me thy heart have not I lyen in thy bosome hast thou not cherished me and cared for me as thine own soul and have not I deserv'd thy care and respect have not I been thy food and thy rayment and thy joy and all the comfort of thy life What wilt thou be when I have left thee when thy estate hath left thee thy pleasures have left thee thy friends have left thee I know thou lovest me thou lovest to be rich and to be great and to be at thy ease and thy liberty as thou lovest thy life I know I have thy heart and thou art loath to leave me I but therefore consider and take heed if thou hearken to Christ once if thou meddle too far with Religion and wilt be dealing for another world once then farewell this But canst thou find in thine heart to leave me have I been a Wilderness to thee or a Land of darkness hath it not been well with thee hast thou wanted any thing hast thou not been full and abounded hast thou not flourished and prosper'd hast thou not had thy belly full of meat and thy belly full of mirth and thy bones full of rest and thy heart full of ease and content what hast thou wanted whilest thou imbracedst my love and canst thou now find in thine heart to part look to thy self what day thou strikest hands with Christ thou must shake hands with all the world Look for no more favour from me thou dost not know when thou art well when thou hast enough but henceforth if thou take this course thou shalt have little enough If Christ carry thee he shall carry thee naked thou shalt leave all thy good things behind thee and look for it I have not been so great a friend but now I 'le be as great an enemy I 'le persecute thee and plague thee and vex thee and if I may no longer sleep in thy bosome I 'le stick in thy sides if I may no longer be the treasure of thine heart I 'le be a dart in thy liver But consider be advised foolish soul let us not part thus stay stay with me go not after thou knowest not what forsake not an old friend for a new believe it the old is better if thou wilt be wise stay as thou art and mind thy present commodity lay by the thoughts of the other world let hereafter take care for it self never stand amuzing thy self about thou knowest not what I have not been so good to thee but I will be better to thee then ever come let 's take our fill of love eat drink and be merry gather keep lay up what 's before thee and cast away care And thus it wooes and flatters and bewitches it into a neglect of Christ so long till it hath smitten the soul under the fift rib and stab'd it to death and drown'd it in perdition and destruction 4. It will help men to excuses for their neglect of Christ Men are asham'd to play the Fools but they would have something to say for 't to stop mouths withall to stop the mouth of Conscience to stop the mouths of Men to stop the mouth of their Judge if it be possible Luk. 14. 18. Those that were invited to come to Christ it s said they all began to make excuses they were asham'd to say they would not come that had been too gross but they excuse themselves we cannot come Ruth 4. 6. The Kinsman of Ruth that had the offer of redeeming the Inheritance of his deceased Kinsman answered no I cannot redeem it lest I mar mine own Inheritance He would not say I will not redeem it no an excuse must be found out I cannot redeem it I should mar mine own Inheritance if I redeem my Brothers So these here they do not say I will not but I cannot come Why what 's the matter you cannot come to Christ what excuse have you whence have you your excuse Oh the world furnishes them with an excuse I have a Farm sayes one I have Oxen to look to sayes another I have a Wife to mind sayes a third I pray thee have me excused I cannot come Christians have your hearts never made this use of the world to make it your excuse for your neglecting Christ and your souls it hath hindred you many a time from coming to Christ and then excused you for not coming How many prayers hath it lost you how many Sabbaths hath it lost you the loss of these may be the loss of Christ the loss of your souls How much of these spiritual advantages hath the world lost you and when they are lost when you have lost a praying time or hearing time lost a Sabbath or a Sermon or a Sacrament this must serve for an excuse I was busie and could not come An excuse is a pretence or a shift that men find out to save themselves from blame for all their neglects of Christ and their souls as if they should say it s a shame for men to neglect Christ that have nothing else to mind in his stead it s a shame for men to neglect their souls that have nothing else to look to I have no mind to Christ and his wayes this looking after my soul and my Conscience and the matters of the other world are things that I like not and list not to be medling withall but what shall I say for my self if I neglect them I am asham'd to say I care not for Christ I care not for my soul I care not for heaven and everlasting glory I care not though I perish and die I dare not say thus and yet these things that Christ calls to me are so contrary to me that I have no mind to meddle with them But what shall I say for my self if I do not some excuse or other I must have what may be my excuse Why hast thou never a Farm to look to never a Wife nor Family to look after or hast thou not an house or an horse or a companion hast thou no sports nor pleasures no Hawks nor dogs to follow hast thou nothing to do hast thou nothing to say tell Christ tell Conscience thou hast other business to do thou hast thy friends or thy pleasures that call thee another way any thing may serve a bad excuse
is there done for Christ how little is Christ serv'd or sought Judge ye every one in your own selves how little hath been done for Christ or is now a doing look back and summe up all that you have done and gather together all concerning which you can say this hath been done for Christ this day or this houre was spent in seeking of Christ and see into what a narrow room all will be brought look into your hearts and see how many shops and feilds you may find there to one sanctuary how how many Markets and Fairs have been kept there to on Sabbath how many servants hath Christ at work for him within you all that is within you have the name of the servants of Christ every faculty is his servant your thoughts affections understandings consciences every member your hands eyes tongues have all the name of the servants of Christ but are these at work for Christ are your understandings veiwing Christ are your thoughts searching after Christ are your affections working up towards Christ are your consciences pleading for Christ are your tongues speaking for Christ are your hands laying up or laying out for Christ the Devil hath his servants busy a working for him our carnal thoughts our fleshly lusts our earthly affections all our earthly members are hard at work for the Devil to harden us against Christ to entice us from Christ to defile and destroy our Souls but how little is done for Christ t would make our hearts to tremble if we did consider how little may be there may be divers of our souls in which there hath not been one stroke of work done for Christ since they had a being and in whom there 's any thing done oh how little is it What footing hath Christ gotten in your hearts what faith or love or fear or honor hath he in you how goes his sanctifying work his mortifying work on in you how fares it with his enemies in you your lusts and passions and carnal affections are not these still Lording it in his room Oh how little is it that is yet done for Christ within us how little power and authority hath he in us how low is it with us both in point of grace and peace how little is he minded or lov'd or prais'd in us how little pleasure or delight do we take in him how little care take we for him any little good thing that he hath committed to us how hath it been cherish'd and nourish'd and improv'd doth it not languish and pine away whilest our faces shine our flesh flourishes our outward man thrives in what a withering perishing case is our inner man Think with your selves are matters with you within as you could wish they were is it with your souls as Christ would have it do you think he will say to you in the case you are in well done thou hast been a faithful servant a good Steward of my manifold graces how is it without you what are your duties what are your wayes what praying or hearing or walking oh what shuffling over duties what halting in your goings what do you more then others are you not carnal and vain as others are you not proud and froward as others are you not unsavoury and unprofitable as others of what use are you to those you walk amongst what examples are you to them wherein are they the better for you does your light shine do ye provoke them to love and good works what do you for your Relations for your friends for your families or any of the members of Christ What mourning is there under the dishonor of Christ what sense of the sufferings of Christ doth not Christ suffer much in the world in his Ministers in his Members in his Worship in his Sabbaths and Ordinances how fares it abroad with Christ how fares it with his Gospel with his Saints is all well is it peace doth the Church prosper doth Religion flourish or doth it not suffer and mourn and bleed and is even ready to vanish away and yet who is there almost that cares for any of these things how few are there that lay them to heart where are the hearts that tremble for the Ark of God that ask how fares it with the Israel of God Oh Brethren its lamentable to see how little upon any account whatsoever the things of Christ are any where minded But what 's the reason why look abroad every where in the world and you may see reason enough what is there a doing every where go into one Town go into another go into one house and another and another and what are they doing how busie are we in buying and selling and building and planting ploughing and sowing marrying and giving in marriage this is it we are so busie for this world that Christ and the things of Christ are little regarded by us 2. It holds us short of that grace and true peace which we might receive from him The cares of this world choak the Word that it cannot prosper in such souls that it can neither quicken us nor comfort us Grace is a flower that will grow best in those Gardens where it hath least of earth A worldly-minded Christian a worldly-minded Professor will never be but a Dwarf will be but an Infant in Religion at forty years old How many may we see among us that have liv'd many years under the profession of Religion and have had some hope towards God and some confidence that Christ is in them of a truth who if they should take an account of themselves what increase have I made in the grace of God all this while What hath been added to me to my faith or love or zeal of God to my knowledge of God to my acquaintance with mine own heart how much humility spirituality mortification what power over my corruptions my pride my passion my peevishness my fleshliness have I obtained what evidences have I gotten for heaven what clearness and grounded confidence and assurance am I grown up to now more then I was seven or ten or twenty years agone what have I gotten how much and wherein have I improv'd in all this time Oh how may most of us sadly answer What have I gotten how have I grown oh the Lord he merciful to me have I not lost have I not sunk and decayed is it not worse with me now then many years ago my faith grown my love grown my holiness and my hope grown my comfort and my confidence grown the Lord help me rather my fears and my doubts my darkness and my deadness and my sins are grown upon me I have less life and less love and less joy and less peace then when I first look'd after Christ Let worldly-minded Professors prove and consider themselves narrowly if this such a lean starveling lifeless state of soul be not all the kindness they are beholding to their worldliness for it hath built you houses and bought you Lands
of the world lives in you Oh have you been so long professours of Christianity and have not yet gotten the Spirit of Christianity Is this the Spirit of Christ that leads you on in an earthly course did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to be such drudges to the world did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to plow and sow and buy and sell and hoord up treasures on earth what are your thoughts your designs your courses your ordinary talk and discourse what is it but earth earth are these the thoughts the wayes the language of the Spirit can any one that beholds our conversation that in the general bent and tenour of it is all about the world and but now and then a cold wish or a few heartless words about the things of God can any man that beholds us say I these are the persons that are dead to the world that are crucified that are mortified to things below these are they that have received the spirit of Christ indeed these speak like Christians and look like Christians and live like Christians like men of another world can it be said thus of us can we say thus of our selves my life is a spiritual life my course is an heavenly course my steps are all bending to another countrey can we say thus would not our daily course our daily discourse give us the lye if we should Oh we are yet of an earthly sensual Spirit the Spirit of this world is yet bearing rule in us our very Soul is but a lump of earth and flesh Oh for another Spirit a new Soul a more divine and cellestial frame O seek O wait for this better Spirit and then we should quickly see another life once let the world be thrust out of the heart and we shall quickly see more of Heaven breaking forth in the life 2. The strength of the world lyes in the God of this world Sathan gives strength to and marshals its temptations so as that the success of them depends much on him this he he doth 1. By over rating the good things present and underrating the good things to come 2. By sharpning the edge of the evil things present and blunting the edge of the evil things to come 3. By an active stimulating and provoking the Soul on any terms whaatsoever to pursue the present good and to escape the present evil 1. By over rating the good things present and under rating the good things to come He that looks on the world through the Devils glass shall see it double to what it is he gives the same prospect to us as he did to our Lord Matth. 4. 2. shews it in its Glory every Comet Shines as the Sun he makes the silver as gold the brass as silver stones as iron every thing hath a borrowed face and looks better then it is The Apple whereby he tempted our first parents Gen. 3. 5. he makes a deifying Apple In the day that you eat your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Sathans design is to blind and put out mens eyes knowing that they can never see the terrene glory till their eyes be out but his pretence is to open eyes to make such discoveries of the hidden excellencies in these earthly treasures as will transfigure Earth into an Heaven He presents the world as that which hath substance sufficiency contentment hearts ease satisfaction in it he sayes to his friends as the Lord sayes to his Prov. 8. 17. c. I love them that love me and them that seek me early shall find me riches and honours are with me yea durable riches and righteousness I will cause those that love me to find substance and I will fill their treasures thus the Lord speaks to his and the Devil gives the world a tongue to speak at the same rate I love them that love me I have riches and honours durable riches and I will fill them with treasures And as the world speaks so worldlings think it cannot boast greater things of it self then will be believed Hos 12. 8. I am become rich sayes Ephraim I have found me out substance the shadow is a substance in those eyes that see no better things Hence these things are taken up by the men of this world as their portion as their heritage as their happiness and hope thou givest them their portion in this life Psal 17. and they take them as their portion and now Lord what wait I for saith the Psalmist my hope is in thee and now world what wait I for what work I for what live I for truly my hope is in thee the worldling sayes God is my portion and in a sense he says true for the world is his God And on the other side as Sathan over rates this so he under rates the other world 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of of God should shine unto them The Gospel is a window through which the light and glory of the other world breaks in and shines down upon this here the pretended opener of eyes smites with blindness by a vail of unbelief he keeps the Gospel and all the glory of it out of sight unbelief gives the lye to all that the Gospel speaks calls all into question holds under uncertainties whether there be any such thing or no and what 's doubtful and uncertain whether it be or no will be vallewed there after What a low price do carnal hearts put upon the deep things of God upon the great things of eternity Glory and honour and immortality and eternal life what cheap things are they accounted whilest soul and conscience and peace and hopes and life are so ordinarily sold to purchase an earthly inheritance that 's the bargain that every where is driving in this earth how few are there that will deal for Heaven and Glory though it may be bought without mony and without price though it may be had for the seeking for though it be bought to their hands yet they will not take it Now what advantage is this to wordly temptations when the price of things to come is so beaten down when the price of things present is so hoised and raised as if the one could hardly be over-bought and the other were scarce worth the dealing for 2. By sharpening the edge of present evils and blunting the edge of evils to come The afflictions of this life are made to cut deeper than the vengeance to come The persecutions of men are more feared than the Plague of God Satan makes his Vassals to think there is no Heaven or Hell to those on Earth Poverty looks more dismally than eternal Fire Disgrace than Damnation the Wrath of man than the Cnrse of God Let Death and Damnation be preached to the World and this stirs them
gain be let Men or Conscience clamour against thee call thee Earth-worm unjust extortioner oppressour let them alone thou shalt increase in substance and that will make thee amends for all and for conscience if that be sore or troublesome a little repentance at last will heal that sore Others are of aerie Spirits proud and ambitious and for these he hath the breath of popular applause respect and esteem in the world honour and reputation Others are of a timorous and fearful heart and with these he deals in thunder and storms threatnings persecutions bonds and banishments reproaches and cruel mockings Look before thee foolish creature what art thou a doing what art thou preparing for thy self see what rods I have in brine for thee knowest thou not that I have power to make thee or to undoe thee art thou able to stand against all the world See how all my Armies are confiderate against thee and running upon thee to devour thee and swallow thee up consider the rage of their hearts the fury in their faces the violence of their hands behold them already on their march against thee they are many they are terrible they are potent they are near that seek thy ruine Awake from thy folly be not accessary to thine own undoing save thy self go and make thy peace with them cast in thy lott amongst them joyn with the multitude be as they are let thy voice and thy way be as theirs let go this pride and singularity and be as others and it shall be well with thee Thus subtilly doth our adversary deal with us with every man according to his humour according to the several dispositions of their hearts and in this subtilty his strength lyes and thereon his success depends What wonder that the fearful are frighted that the proud are lifted up that the greedy gape so wide that the full draughts of the worlds stollen waters do so easily down with such whose Souls are panting after them Christians let 's learn wisedom of this Serpent Doth he make advantage of our Tempers doth he observe our dispositions and accordingly order his temptations Let us learn this wisdom to know our own hearts and to observe our own inclinations and accordingly there to stand most constantly on our guard where we find the adversaries most like to assault us and to have a special eye to those enemies that are most like to make a breach upon us Art thou a person given to pleasure Is a merry jolly frolick wanton luxurious life grateful to thee art thou given to appetite to indulge thy throat to study thy belly are meats and drinks curiosities and varieties of them the things thou mindest Art thou given to pride is honour or applause is the highest place the finest cloaths the newest fashions are these thine hearts delight Is merry company lightness vain jesting wanton or amorous books or discourses are these the delight of thine heart When ever thou seest them before thee tell thine heart how pleasing soever these be to thee these things I must never allow thee When ever thou seest such objects before thee and opportunities inviting thee to satisfie thy lust when thou fallest into company that are of the same spirit when sports and pastimes when delicates and dainties or any other voluptuous Objects are before thee then say Now I must look to my self the Devil stands in the crowd to steal away my soul these are the flies with which he uses to bait his hook for me he hath catch'd me with them many a time and now he is come angling for me again O my soul I know thou hast a lust to be nibing these are the things thou naturally lovest here thy great danger lyes and I must look the more narrowly to thee here An heart given to pleasure should hold it self under a greater restraint and allow it self less liberty than others that are not thus enclined that may be safe for them which would prove fatal to thee Art thou an earthly minded person and dost thou see substance before thee a Field or an House that may be gotten does the world come crowding and flowing in upon thee Hast thou good trading rich merchandise gainful bargains before thee and is thy soul in chase of them Take heed to thy self these are the things by which thou art like to be lost thou art never in such danger of becoming poor as by growing rich When are Worldlings hearts so ready to take their leave of God and Heaven as when they are entertained with the flatteries of a smiling World their gains are usually their greatest losse they never decline or go back so much as when they have the best trading How hardly shalt rich men enter into the Kingdom of God When riches increase how hard is it for such not to set their harts upon them How little are the Counsels or Promises of God regarded whilst we have the World at will how little is it regarded that God Promises I will be thine Christ shall be thine the Kingdom shall be thine whilst the World stands by and saies I will be thine Money sayes I will be thine Sheep and Oxen say we will all be thine The Lord is hereupon often put to it to take away our money to drive away our cattel to burn down our houses to turn our fruitful Land into a Wilderderness to bring us to wants and straits ere he can be regarded Hos 2. 14. I will bring her into the Wilderness and there will I speak to her heart speak to her any where else and she will give me the hearing in the Wilderness my Word will reach her heart Oh that men were sensible of this that they are never so like to starve as upon their heaps that their prosperous times are the Devils seasons to impoverish their souls that the abundance that is set before them are the Devils tokens whereby he is enticing their hearts after him I am rich and have found me out substance now I shall be happy No no foolish soul these riches are Satans Milstones which he hangs about thy neck to drown thee in perdition and destruction if any thing sink thee 't is this load upon thy back thy Golden age is like to be thine Iron age Satan knows thy mind and what will please thee he 's trucking with thee for thy life He knows thou hast a greedy heart and that there 's nothing so dear unto thee but he can buy it for money and that 's the bargain he 's driving with thee Sell all that thou hast thy God thy Hopes thy Soul and come and follow me and thou shalt have treasures on Earth Christians stand ever upon your Watch but especially when there 's any thing before you that your carnal hearts like and are apt to fall a lusting after if ever you would fear the Devil fear him then when he is tickling your flesh he never does us more mischief than by doing us good turns God
stopped the mouth of Conscience quenched the heat of zeal slain holiness with the edge of the sword put to flight the hopes of the Saints left for dead those whom God hath raised up to life left the Church that living vineyard as a field of dead carkasses their peace slain their comforts slain the Spirit of light and life within them vanished into dimness and deadness and all this because our Faith hath so much fail'd what are we become to what a low ebbe are we brought O we of little faith well but yet there is hope concerning this thing This stump if there be but life in the root will spring again and recover again you that have but a little faith blow up that living sparkle and your sick and spoiled and half dead Souls will revive again let your faith once out of weakness be made strong and it will recover all you have lost Beleive more nourish and cherish and exercise Faith more lean on the rock of ages look unto Jesus lay hold on the Covenant live in the word of promise hang upon the shoulders feed upon the fulness of the Lord and there let your Faith gather strength again and this will be the strength of your hearts will renew your life recover your love enflame your zeal set your holiness and your hopes again upon the wing and bring the world and its temptations again under your feet the strenth of a Christian is his Faith 2. The strength of Faith is Christ Christ is the mighty one the mighty God If. 9. 6. The rock of ages in whom is everlasting strength If. 26. through Faith this mighty God is our God this rock of ages is our rock 1 Joh. 4. 4. Ye are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world who is he that is in you t is Christ that is in you who is he that is in the world the Devil is in the world Christ is greater then the enemy and therefore you have overcome He that is in the world is great but he that is in you is greater he that is in the world is strong and subtil but he that is in you is stronger and wiser then he little Children ye have overcome what are a company of poor children to a mighty giant But behold the childrens Champion and you will quickly see on which side the victory will go There are 2. things in Christ which are the strength of faith His Power Victory 1. His power he is a mighty one as before I have layd help on one that is mighty Psal 89. 19. he hath power Temptations To prevent To deaden To succour those that are tempted 1. He hath power to prevent temptations 1 Cor. 10. 13. he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able You may conclude from the promise of Christ to his power he will not promise more then he can doe when he saies he will not suffer us to be tempted you may be sure he hath power to restrain the tempter Christ hath all our tempters and temptations in his power the Devil in his power the World in his power they must have leave ere they can strike a stroke If he say the word the Assyrian shall not come against Jerusalem nor dig a trench about them nor shoot an arrow against them he hath his hook in the nose and his bridle in the Jaws of all his enemies As the Devil could not tempt Christ so neither any of his servants unless the Spirit lead them into the wilderness to be tempted therefore he directs us to pray Lead us not into temptation 2. He hath power to deaden temptations to take off the edge of them that so though they come yet they shall not enter though Sathan strikes yet his arrows shall not stick Gal. 6. 14. By him the world is crucified to me and I am crucified to the world Christ by his Cross hath slain the world it s now become to the Saints as a dead thing It s beauty and glory is dead dried up and withered Christ by his cross hath discovered the glory of the other world life and mortality are hung forth in open sight on the Cross of Christ and that sunshine hath withered all the flowers here below who will play at such small games that sees the invisible Crown which the Cross of Christ hath set before his eyes And as the beauty and glory so the power and wrath of the world is slain Christ by his death kill'd all the powers of darkness a Christian sees that the world can now doe him neither good nor hurt it can neither befriend nor mischief him who would be enticed by a dead Carrion or affrighted by a dead Lyon And I am crucified unto it Christ hath slain the World without us and our worldly Lusts within us Our old man is crucified with Christ Rom. 6. 6. ye are dead saith the Apostle Col. 3. 3. dead to this World Set your affections on things above for ye are dead to things below I am crucified to the World that is worldly temptations are no more to me than if I were a dead man What are meat and drink and cloaths and pleasures and honours to a dead man If the Devil should go and preach among the tombs and call out to the dead hearken to me and I will feed you with delicates cloath you in scarlet enrich you with silver and gold exalt you to honour what skull or bone would be moved the same success will he have in his tempting crucified Saints were they totally thus mortified the highest temptations would move them nothing at all no more than a Carkass in the grave and according to the degree of that mortification they have attained to so far forth is the edge of temptation blunted 3. He hath power to succour those that are tempted Though the Tempter be let loose and temptation come thick and strike deep as by reason of our imperfect mortification they may our experiences sadly restifie how much the World is often too hard for us how often we are intangled and led away by it what breaches it makes on our peace what wounds in our hearts and what fears and misgivings hereupon arise in our souls how we shall stand for the future thus are we weary and distressed and hard bestead but though it be thus with us in the midst of all these there 's this to support us Heb. 2. 18. In that he suffered being tempted he is able also to succour those that are tempted 2. His Victory over the world Christ hath power over the World to restrain it from tempting to deaden its temptations to succour those that are tempted yea more than that he hath already overcome the World and thereby secur'd our fifinal victory John 16. 33. In the world ye shall have tribulation but be ye of good comfort I have overcome the World Why
what comfort 's that that he hath overcome Why 1. 'T is some encouragement that our enemy is not invincible he that hath been beaten may be beaten 2. There 's this farther comfort to us that in his victory we have overcome Who is it that hath overcome Our Captain our Champion hath overcome he hath overcome and overcome for us he hath overcome and we in him We are more than Conquerours through him that loved us Rom. 8. Faith unites to Christ and thereupon 1. All the Power of Christ is engaged to our help and assistance We are hereby interess'd in his Victory Christs Victory is our Victory and also in his Power he is now concern'd to protect and help us we are his own the attempts that are made against us are made against him the spoil that is made upon us is made upon him as in all our afflictions he is afflicted so in all our temptations he also is tempted our enemies are his enemies our sufferings are his sufferings our temptations are his temptations Is not Christ concern'd to look to his own Isa 63. 15. 19. Look down from Heaven and behold from the habitation of thine holiness and thy glory where is thy Zeal and thy Strength Why what have you to do with me or with my strength O we are thine say they ver 19. So are not our enemies thou never barest rule over them nor are they called by thy Name Psal 119. 94. I am thine save me I am thy Child saith the Believer thy Servant a Lamb of thy Flock thou art my Shepherd I have committed my self to thee and thou hast undertaken for me If Satan prevails upon me he prevails upon thee if the World steal away my heart it robs thee of thy due I am thine save me 2. By vertue of this Union there is a diffusion and shedding forth of the strength of Christ into the soul strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3. 16. Believers as they have the mighty hand of Christ over them so they have the mighty Spirit of Christ in them whereby they wax strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Christians be ware of excusing your falls by pleading want of strength as sometimes some do I could not help it I am not able to stand in the day of temptation the cares of this life are too hard for me either to bear or to deliver my self from there 's no man knows what a load they are to me how they run upon me like a flood which I am no way able to withstand I cannot keep my heart free I cannot mind my God and my Soul as I would and desire to do one business or other one care one trouble or other is still upon me dividing distracting me so that I cannot do as I would 't is no comfort to me to live at the rate I do but I can do no more then I can I cannot help it Others it may be will make the same complaint concerning the pleasures of this life I know a severe and self denying life would be much more comfortable to me if I could bring my heart to it I am troubled at my self and angry with my self that I am so often led aside to fleshly liberty I find mischief enough and sorrow enough afterwards that my vain mirth and my vain company bring upon me I have many a sad night after my merry dayes but yet there is such an unhappy proness of my nature and disposition to such a life that when ever I have temptations before me I have no power to forbear It hath cost me something I have pray'd and hop'd for more seriousness and circumspection but still I am overcome and how to help it I cannot tell But art thou a Christian where is thy Faith man hast thou Faith and no Christ hast thou Christ and no strength Is the world too hard for Christ Is the flesh to strong for the spirit hast thou the spirit of the living God in thee and yet canst thou say I can't help it to be thus earthly and thus fleshly Mistake not thy self thou hast reason to fear lest thy cannot help it be a will not help it or a care not to help it thou art too willing of this carking caring life thou art too willing of this vain and looser life and it may be art glad thou hast so much to say as I cannot help it thou art inexcusable O man who pleadest inability when all the power of Christ is before thee and he hath said to thee if thou believest thou maâ—st IIII. The conflict of Faith with the tempting world or the wayes and means by which faith over comes the world These are 1. It gives a right Judgment of the world It discovers its true valew what the world is worth By faith we understand Heb. 11. 3. as whence the world was we understand its original so what the world is we understand its worth and its power what it can do for us or against us what help there is in it and what hurt it can do us and we understand its end too of what durance it is as well as its beginning Faith takes its estimate of the world from the word and gives its judgment of it according to the Scriptures The word speaks of every thing as it is of God as he is of Sin as it is of the present World as it is and of the world to come as it is what the word speaks God speaks and whatever Faith speaks it hath it from the word What a poor and contemptible thing doth the Word make the World a figure a shadow an image a dream vanity a lye things that are not of no consistency or endurance When the word speaks of the world to come how highly doth it speak what a wonderful and glorious report doth it make of the promised land and the new Jerusalem that state of blessedness prepared for the Saints a Kingdom a Crown an eternal weight of glory an inheritance incorruptible underfiled that fades not away Riches rest joy pleasures such as neither tongus can express nor hearts conceive And how dreadfully doth it speak concerning the miseries of the other world A prison a place of darkness a bottomless pitt a lake of fire where is weeping and howling and gnashing of teeth Faith seals to the Judgment of the Scriptures Joh 3. 33. He that believeth hath set to his seal that God is true when the word speaks most highly of things to come Faith saith it is even as it hath been told me of the Lord and it cannot speak so contemptibly of things present but Faith will believe its report Unbelievers will not be perswaded that the world is so poor a thing as it is Hos 12. 7. He is a merchant the ballances of deceit are in his hand the unbeliever will not weigh things in the ballance of the sanctuary but in his own deceitful ballances
Ballances may be said to be ballances of deceit in a double sense There are ballances where by men deceive others as those false ballances which unrighteous men use for their own advantage to buy or sell by which may be those there meant and there are false ballances whereby men deceive themselves Ungodly men as they weigh their commodities they sell in false ballances thereby to deceive others so they weigh their gains that they get to themselves in false ballances and thereby deceive themselves their bargains that they make they could never count them such good bargains unless they weighed them on their deceitful ballances If sense may be Judge the world is a good bargain when dearest bought though if faith may be Judge when the world may be had cheapest it is not over safe dealing for it Now when the worth of the world is understood the Divels market is spoiled No man will care to deal with such a pedlar whilest the Merchant stands by who will sell his inheritance for counters or his patrimony for dirt and dung who will spend his money for that which he knows is not bread or his labour for that which profiteth not the strength of the temptation is broken when once we understand of how little valew the things are we are tempted by Christians study the world more search the Scriptures and what these testifie of it believe the Scriptures which have written upon all under the Sun Vanity and vexation of spirit understand what an insignificant cypher this figure of the world is Believe your own words you can sometimes speak contemptibly of the world your selves Who of you will not say this world is but a shadow and the fashion of it passeth away do ye think as you speak do not dissemble either speak your minds plainly that this earth is your substance your treasure your portion and that its worth the venturing your Souls for it or if you go on to say this is not your rest you have here no continuing City ther 's no building on this sand here 's no contentment nor continuance here if ye go on to speak thus believe your own words and then Judg how wisely you deal for your selves in venturing your eternity for such empty perishing things 2. By Faith the soul pitches upon an eternal inheritance It s our choosing the good part Luke 10. 42. our laying hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6. 12. those believers Heb. 11. 14. are said to seek a countrey they were not mindful of this they confest themselves and were content to be strangers and pilgrims here their countrey was on the other side Jordan and thither they sent their hearts Faith descries a better countrey it sees into the invisible world Heb. 11 27. its the good spy that 's sent out to search the land of Canaan and finding it to be a good land there the Soul pitches It saies unto the Lord thou art my God thou art my portion for ever this is my rest here will I dwell If I can bear through this weary land and at last enter into that rest however matters go with me here I am not careful about that if I can but attain to the resurrection of the dead if I can but get to Heaven that 's all my desire and design Meet a believer where you will and ask him whether art thou bound Oh for the Holy Land whom seekest thou thou Jesus of Nazareth what runnest thou for what waitest thou for The incorruptible Crown Ask him again will nothing less content thee Look about through all the earth canst thou find nothing worthy thy love what is silver and gold and houses and lands and honours and pleasures are these nothing with thee may not these satisfie thee No no these are not God this is not Heaven there 's no rest here for the sole of my foot my house and my home is above my hope and my treasure is above and my Soul is above and cannot be content to dwell in the dust Ask him yet again But how wilt thou get into that good Land there are difficulties and dangers in the way thou hast a wilderness to go through a red Sea and a Jordan to pass over there are Lions in thy way there are Giants in thy way thou mayest be a prey to thine enemies torn in pieces of wild Beasts or swallowed up in the waters or at least thou mayst wander in the wilderness and loose thy way and never come into thy rest at last Well but however I must venture I am resolv'd for heaven how difficult or dangerous soever the way may prove I 'le venture all here Heaven or nothing Christ or nothing Henceforth let no man trouble me with other business for I bear in my heart the prints of the Lord Jesus he is gotten within me he is engraven upon my breast and on my soul and this heart can never be at rest till I be with him where he is Lord be thou my God and bring me into thine holy habitation lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and shew me thy salvation this one thing I desire let this be granted me and then my heart shall be glad and my glory shall rejoyce my flesh also shall rest in hope I have enough thou wilt shew me the path of life In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore And now world where art thou with all thy glory this earth is trodden to dirt when the heart is once in earnest for heaven Christians come pitch your Tents here where will you that your lot shall fall you have two worlds before you which will you chuse hang not betwixt both Will you get up to the Mountains or will you dwell in this Plain Come to a resolution you will never get clear of this world till you climb up to the other 'T is only the milk and honey of Canaan that will wean your souls from the Onions and Garlick of Egypt The flowers of the field will be beautiful till you see the Roses of the Garden The fatness of the earth will be your delight till you understand the sweetness of heaven you 'l never be content to loose from this shore till you see the banks of a better Land you will not part with your present purchases till you see where you may have a better bargain It s to no purpose to think to get off your hearts by common arguments This world is vain this world is troublesome uncertain fading a barren Land if that be all you can say 't will never do your hearts will answer A barren Land is better than none an house of Clay is better then no habitation If my soul may not dwell here where shall I be better Where mayst thou be better Come and see lift up your eyes to the hills look you towards Sion the City of the great King mark all her Bulwarks tell all her Towers behold
her Foundations Is it not a strong City walk through the midst of her behold the Tree of Life bearing all manner of fruits of which whosoever eats shall live forever Behold the River those streams of everlasting pleasures that run through the City of God of which whosoever drinks shall never die Behold the Palms and the Robes and the Crowns the rest the joy and the glory of the Inhabitants of this City God is in the midst of her the all-blessed all-glorious all-sufficient God he is their light and their life there shall be no Clouds nor storms no night nor darkness no wants nor fears no sorrow nor complaining in her street everlasting joy shall be upon their heads and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Look towards this holy City live in the view and contemplation of the glory to come and then look down and see what a dark Mist will becloud the worlds most glorious Sun-shine And then demand Now soul which wilt thou chuse where wilt thou pitch both Lands are before thee which shall be thine Inheritance art thou for God or the world for heaven or earth What shall I say I wot not what I shall chuse why is the choice so hard Is it such a difficulty to determine whether light or darkness joy or sorrow life or death be the better choice Well jacta est alea the lot is cast God shall be my portion and the lot of mine inheritance O my God wilt thou be mine shall my dwelling be with thee The matter is ended the lines are fallen to me in a pleasant place and I have a goodly Heritage Remember me O Lord with the favour thou bearest to thy children and visit me with thy salvation let me see the good of thy chosen let me rejoyce in the gladness of thy Nation let me glory with thine Inheritance and I have no more to ask Brethren when once you have by Faith made this choice there 's an end of the Devils hopes Look up therefore look up to that blessed Country cry unto God Lord open mine eyes and let me see Lord reach down thine hand and help me up take up this heart to thee and there let it fix Oh what clods of earth what dead lumps of flesh are these hearts that do not yet begin to rise Lord let this flesh become Spirit let our ashes flame and ascend to thee once for all let us come to thee and never return to this dust again 3. By Faith we understand that the good things present cannot further and the evil things present cannot hinder our eternal happiness We are apt either to be pleas'd or distasted with the various objects and occurrences we meet withall according as they serve or cross our end He that hath made God his end and Eternal Glory his end doth value all things according to their tendency thitherward as any thing hinders or helps heaven-ward so is it regarded 'T is a sign thou hast made thy flesh thy end when flesh-pleasing objects and courses are the taking things with thee and every thing is a cross that touches upon thy fleshly interest what is a furtherance to thy soul thou canst want it what is an hindrance to thy soul thou canst bear it and find no trouble but what serves or disserves thy flesh these are the things that move thee Let such souls never talk of making God their end If God be your end indeed if you be for heaven in earnest 't is what will please God and what leads heavenwards that are the only considerable things Now by Faith we understand that the things of the world in themselves make neither one way nor other as to our future happiness The good things of the world cannot further our happiness there 's no man the nearer heaven for being rich or honourable the Palaces of Princes are not the porch to glory Believe it Christians to be rich in this world and to be rich towards God are two things the favour of Princes is no mark of divine honour nor medium to it the pleasures of the flesh are not of kin to the pleasures above nor subservient to them These things may undo us our gold may sink us we may break our necks from our high mountains our temporal prosperities and advantages may shut us out from the everlasting Kingdom Matth. 19. may be the death and damnation of souls and do they not often prove so but never their salvation And so on the other side The troubles and afflictions of this world cannot hinder or happiness Faith sees as open and near a way to heaven from the dunghill as from the Pinacle of the Temple from the Prison as from the Palace from the Cross as from the Crown The gate of heaven shall never be shut against any because he is poor or persecuted 't is not a Purple Robe or a Gold Ring that shall procure entrance nor are they rags or sores or reproaches that shall shut the door We read Jam. 2. 2 3. that there was such a practise among men If any one come into your assembly with a gold ring or goodly apparel or in a poor habit and vile rayment they were entertain'd thereafter they had their different respect according to the pomp of the one or the poverty of the other But ' will not be so in the great Assembly above 'T will never be demanded when you knock for entrance into glory what Estate have you gotten in the world in what honor and grandieur did you live where are your Bags and your Barns your Mansions and Mannors that you have gotten Will the Lord think you ever say to him that comes and knocks and calls Lord Lord open to me will he ever say No friend you are a poor man here 's no place for you you were so greedy after grace and holiness that you never minded the getting an estate in the world you have wasted your time in reading and praying and fasting you have wasted your Estate in giving and lending in feeding and cloathing others you are a poor man away from me here 's no place for thee will the Lord ever say thus at last Men covet and labour and hoard up these earthly things as if this were the condition of everlasting blessedness as if their souls and eternal life lay on them men shift and shun affliction as if these were the way to the Pit But Faith sees that these things will not be so No man shall be disowned because he bears in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus Well may the Cross be a Ladder by which we may ascend into glory but it shall never be a clog to detain us from ascending These things being by Faith understood the world looses a believers heart the good below he can spare and the evil below he will not fear There 's the same ground why believers sit so loose from the world and the things thereof as there is why unbelievers sit
so loose from God and the things of God Carnal men can want the presence and favour of God can spare Religion and the duties and comforts thereof and never find any miss of them why so why because these things do not at all serve their design they can be as rich and as great and as merry without minding God or holiness or any such thing And upon a like ground a Believer can want his ease or his pleasure or any of his outward comforts why so why because these if he had them would as little serve his design as Religion will the Worldlings Hearken to me saith Satan and whatever the world doth afford shall be thine Why will this world stand me instead in reference to the world to come Can my soul feed upon this earth and ashes Shall I be ever the better man for being a rich man Will these earthly things commend me to God Is he a respecter of the rich above the poor of the honorable above the despised Is this following after riches or pleasures thou perswadest me to Is this my way to life Avoid Satan thou comest but to mock me and beguile me 4. By Faith we understand that the design of temptations is to deprive us of our Inheritance A Believer knows that the Devil owes him no good will how fair soever he treats him he sees that all his promises are cheats that all his gifts are bribes to corrupt us first and then to destroy us he marks him for his mortal Enemy whose drift is to keep him out of the Paradise of God he hath learn'd from the Scriptures who 't was that at first thrust him out thence This Serpent was he Gen. 3. and now he has him out that his work is to keep him from ever recovering in And he observes how his particular temptations do serve his general design to destroy souls whatever the voice is this is the meaning of every temptation Thou shalt never see God thou shalt never get to heaven if I can help it Faith understands what use the Devil hath made of the world whither did the rich mans Purple and fine linnen and delicious fare lead him Luk. 16. 19. 23. If you had seen him in the state he was in v. 19. in his gorgeous apparrel at his voluptuous Table what carnal heart but would have bless'd him O this is an happy man but where do you find him v. 23. Oh how sadly is the Scene changed Behold this brave Gallant in hell torments A Believer would have seen him in hell in his first view whilst in the midst of all his Gallantry and Gluttony Psa 73. 17. When I went into the Sanctuary I saw the end of these men How was it with them when he saw their end where were they why in the midst of all their prosperity in the heighth of their pride in the heat of their lust in the heaps of their wealth fat and flourishing as full of mirth and jollity as their hearts could wish and out of all fear of a fall even then he sees their end in their very noon-tide he espied their night Where shall we have you a few hours hence But what end was it he saw these men would come to v. 18. Thou hâ—st set them in slippery places thou castest them down to destruction how are they brought to desolation in a moment that 's the end he saw was hastening upon them Desolation and Destruction But how came he so soon to see their end I went into the Sanctuary there I understood their end When I consulted with God about it when I left consulting with Sense and consulted with Faith about it then I understood how matters were like to go with them Believers while they consult with flesh and bloud are to apt to be envious at the foolish to fret themselves at the ungodly whose way doth prosper and to call the proud happy yea and to murmure and think hardly of the Lord who suffers his enemies to eat up the fat and drink the sweet and feeds his people with hunger and thirst I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked But when they come to understand themselves what the meaning of all this plenty and prosperity of the ungodly is and where it layes them at last no more envy then much good may doe them with all their glory and greatness by that the fruit of all their doings comes up they 'le pay for all their pleasure dearly enough Christians do ye see the proud insulting oppressing ruffling world do you see the vile of the earth scrambling for wealth climbing up to honour dividing the spoils and sharing among themselves the preferments and pleasures of the world beware you envy them not Look a little farther and you will see no matter of envy but of pity and praise Pity over them who are but fatting for the slaughter and praise on the behalf of your selves that you Souls are not gathered with them But this by the way Faith understands from those many instances it finds in Scripture what use the Divel hath made of the world what mischiefs and ruines he hath hereby brought on Souls and when this is understood then sure its bewitching face notwithstanding all its paint will not look so beautiful and amiable 5. Faith makes experimental and fuller discoveries of the glory of that inheritance the Soul hath pitchd upon As I said before there 's no way possible to divide the heart from this world till you can shew it a better that 's the voice of every heart which is said Psal 4. 6. to be the voice of the worldlings heart Who will shew us any good and whatsoever it finds and apprehends to be good that it graspes and will hold till an higher good come in sight This world is apprehended to be the worldlings good and t is the best he knows and he must be bought out of it ere he will let it go he must be bought out of his house bought out of his livings and pleasures by something that is or is apprehended to be a valuable price at least ere he will quit what he has It s vain to perswade the rich to voluntary poverty unless you can present him with a reward that will compensate his loss All the arguments in the world from the unsufficiency instability vanity vexation in these earthly things will be easily answered But where shall I have better better half a loaf then no bread a short meal is better then starving the heart will not let go this world but upon the discovery of a better And according to the degree of the manifestation of those better things above so will there be more or less an abatement of our affection to things below A little light from Heaven will make the world look dimme and as the Sun rises higher all our stars creep into darkness at the first entrance of God upon the Soul the world looses the
place as was said before and it s thrust lower and and lower still as God rises higher till at length it be brought quite underfoot It s impossible that God and the world should be intensely lov'd together that both should be our God our end and chiefest good is a contradiction It s irrational for any to conclude that they have any great respect for God who are strongly affected to the world Many professours of religion may be convinc'd that their religion is vain by this that to what ever height it seems to be rais'd its still overtop'd by their earthly mindedness 1 Joh. 2. 15. If any man love the world intensely chiefly the love of the Father is not in him Never talk of Christianity till you cease to be worldings and never look to be lesse worldlings till you understand better what Heaven is Faith in its first entrance into the Soul brings this tidings that God is better then the world and according as it grows higher so is its testimony to this truth more clear and full As the Apostle saith concerning the righteousness of God Rom. 1. 17. so is it true of his Goodness kindness mercy alsufficiency the goodness and kindness of God is revealed from faith to faith that is according as faith grows so is God and all the excellencies of his glorious name more known Every cubit added to the stature of our faith is a new beam of light sprung forth from the face of God and God known is Heaven known our blessedness our inheritance known God is our inheritance Faith as was said before is the good Spie Num. 13. sent forth to view the land of promise The two Generals Christ and Sathan have each of them their Spie which they send forth Christs Spie is Faith the Devils Spie is Sense The Devil will be sending forth his Spie Sense must go and view the inheritance of the Saints But this being short-sighted and not able to travail far must take up all its tidings upon hearesay and finding no good report amongst all its acquaintance sensual men will never speak well of the things of God it hereupon returns with an evil report It s a dark land and a dry and barren land there 's nothing of all that thou lovest to be found in it and it is uncertain whether there be any such land or no everlasting joy and rest are represented as fancies and conceits to carnal hearts It s better here here are houses and lands and pleasures we know there are we see there are but what there is in the other world is altogether dark and uncertain to us Beloved hath your sense never dealt thus by you what apprehensions have you of the glory to come have not your blind senses disparag'd and disgrac'd the things of the Kingdome of God to you You take every thing to be as sense Judgeth it and what is the Judgment of sense of these glorious things It speaks highly of things temporal this world is good a land flowing with milk and honey But what saies it concerning things eternal Are none of you the men and women whose carnal hearts have told you and you have believed them that t is uncertain whether there be an Heaven or no or if there be yet the happiness of it is so much unknown that if you might it would be more to your content to live your eternity among these sheep and oxen in these gardens and orchards in the possession of your earthly delights and pleasures then ever to be carried hence to that unknown world Your opinions of these higher things we may guess at by the care you take about them What care is there taken about the things of God what is there a doing in your houses in your closets or any where about these matters Have you taken up any design for Heaven are you taking any effectual course for eternal blessedness Are you as hearty and serious in seeking God as in seeking this world whilest your hearts are so hot and so zealous and busy in pursuing things temporal is it not upon the matter indifferent to you whether you do any thing or no or how you do it in seeking the Kingdome of God do you pray and labour and watch for your Souls with as good a will as ever you did work for your living do you hunger and thirst after the knowledge and grace of God after a part in Christ after the pardon of your sins as ever you do after your appointed food What enquiries do you make How is it with me what evidences have I for Heaven have I any right to the tree of life Is there no fear I may fall short of the rest and be shut out of the Kingdom of God how may I know whether Christ be mine or no Consider are there any such enquiries no no your sense hath so much disparag'd things to come that they are to you even as if they were hardly worth the inquiring after But now Faith is the good Spie that makes a good report of that Holy Land it makes more diligent search after the riches of it and finds out its hidden treasures and then speaks as it finds faith hath a glass wherein it can behold and whereby it doth reveal to the Soul the glory of God The gospel is its glass 2 Cor. 3. 18. the promises are its glass those great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1. The promises are the deeds and conveyances by which this inheritance is made over Now as among men in their Deeds there is a recital of all the particulars made over by them The houses the lands the gardens the orchards the rivers the royalties and all the immunities belonging thereto so is it here the promises are a Map or Survey of Heaven and Faith is often looking into these deeds reading over the writings and thence understands what a glorious purchase it hath Nay more Faith brings down some of the fruits of this good land this good Spie comes in loaden with some clusters from Canaan A believer that walks with God God le ts fall to him now and then some handfuls of that harvest some drops of that vintage which is ripening for him above what are those beams of divine light that sense of divine love those intimations of divine acceptance those communications of the divine image in the increases of holiness and righteousness that joy of faith and peace in believing what are these but a Specimen of Heaven the first fruits of glory By Faith the Kingdom of Heaven is within us there 's God within us and Christ within us and glory within us Those believers that live in the power of Faith and holiness need not travail far in search for Heaven t is but looking inward there they may find it say not who shall ascend in search for Heaven t is in thine heart Sinners need not go down to the deep to search for Hell there 's an Hell within them The
or Devils Oh bless God for Faith even ye of little Faith at its first entrance it gives your soul a lift from heaven to earth There it lists your names no longer men of this world but henceforth Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God there it hath laid you up an Inheritance and thence it brings you your maintenance thither it turns your eyes and all your streams it shews you what you have there and by those beams it draws you up thither Those to whom it shews the least of that glory it shews enough to disgrace the glory of the world and as this Sun-light grows so doth all the beauty of the world fade and vanish out of sight By Faith our conversation is in heaven Now by how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts are there by how much the more our hearts are in heaven by so much the less on earth and when once the world hath lost our love it hath lost its power over us 1. By how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts and affections are there we ordinarily love to be where we use to be No such damp grows upon affection as by distance and estrangement when we loose our acquaintance we loose our delight in God Acquaint thy self with him and be at peace Joh 22. 21. Acquaint thy self with him and be in love there wants nothing to fix our affections on heaven but being better acquainted there Intimacy begets dearness Do you not love God t is a sign you have had little to do with him Is not your delight in Heaven t is a sign you are seldome there Is prayer and holy meditation and exercising your selves in the Scriptures and attendance on ordinances a weariness and altogether unpleasant to you sure you have little known what the spirit of Prayer and Communion with God in his word and ordinances mean those whose Souls dwell by the wells of salvation and often let down the bucket do taste that the waters thereof are sweet they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thine house and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of life Psal 36. Those that walking closely with God do dwell in the secret of his presence under the sweet dewes and influences of his grace the business of whose life is to behold and love and serve the Lord their hearts have found such rest there that they can find no rest elswhere 2. By how much the more our hearts are in Heaven by so much the less are they on earth worldly professours have all their religion in their mouths there 's little within whatever they talk If any man love the world the love of the father is not in aim If any man love the Father the love of the world ceases Heaven and Hell may meet as well as Heaven and Earth in the same heart Set your affections on things above and not on the earth on both you cannot your bodies as easily as your Souls may dwell in Heaven and Earth together You use to say I cannot be here and there too no sure enough you cannot whilest your Souls are the inhabitants of this they are exiles from the other world and when they have their dwelling in Heaven they are but strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth this world hath lost your hearts when God hath gain'd them 3. When once the world hath lost our hearts it hath lost its power over us who will be entic'd by what he hates or slights God and the world rule both by love If God hath our love he hath the command of all that ever we have if we love the world what can it not do with us whither can it not lead us If the world hath lost our love it were even as good lay down its weapons and let us alone let them follow God let them be holy let them to Heaven their hearts are gone and there 's no holding them back It may still hang in their heels and retard their motion Heaven-ward but their hearts being gone thither their main course will bend it self 6. Faith gives assurance of this better inheritance Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen It is an evidence not only that there is another world and a better world then this and that this better state may be obbtaind that there is an entrance into the everlasting Kingdom possible that these mortals may be clothed with immortality that these corruptibles may put on incorruption and these poor worms that creep on the dust may get them wings and fly away hence into everlasting bliss but it is also an evidence that all this shall be that there shall be a performance of all those glorious things which God hath spoken concerning his Saints Blessed is he that hath believed for there shall be a performance of all that hath been told him Luk. 1. 45. Faith hath taken bond for performance The Almighty God hath bound himself to us and lest through unbelief we should stick at taking his single bond he hath given security hath brought in his Son and heir the Lord Jesus Christ to stand bound with him Faith hath taken this bond and having it self sealed to the Articles or conditions on our parts upon the performance whereof the inheritance stands sure to us upon the greatest security that Heaven and Earth can give it keeps it by it and hath it ready to produce upon all occasions to stop the clamours of unbelief The Covenant of God that 's our security The Almighties bond and articles wherein he hath made over all that ever he hath by an immutable and irrevocable deed to his Saints Heb. 6. 17 18. Nay more Faith will shew a believer his own name in this deed If it can but shew it self to us can make it evident that it is what it is the Faith of Gods elect if it does but once appear that we do sincerely believe it therein shews us our names in the promise of God To say to any one that knows he believes to say to him He that believeth shall be saved is fully as much as if it had been said to him by name Thou O man even thou shalt be saved thy name is written in the book of life Unbelief will be staggering at the promise and will call in question all that the Lord God hath said And when this world comes upon us and tempts us opens its pack and shews us its wares and offers us our choice of whatsoever will please us Take it saies unbelief make sure of something let not go such penniworths they may be the best thou art ever like to have Mayst thou be rich mayst thou live in pleasure and in honour here Be not such a fool as to neglect thy self for a conceit of some strange
is grown up there is the spirit of a man in him there 's a Soul in him which in time will do wonderous things a dead child neither can do any thing neither is there hope that ever he should but a living child hath a soul hath that within him that in time will do much How small are the appearances of the Saints in the Infancy of their New-birth how low are their hopes that they should ever come to any thing 't is a weak Enemy indeed and a weak assault that is not too strong for them a little wind may blow away a small twig but despise not this day of small things consider their Root the Spirit of Christ that is in them and thence you may expect great things Are there any of you that are grown Christians strong in the Lord and in the power of his might that are able for service and mighty for sufferings that can stand against the temptations of Satan and endure the contradictions of sinners and not be weary and faint in your minds yet look back and consider what you were in your original time was when it was as low water with you as with others when you were as weary and weak as the weakest But behold what that mighty Spirit that was in you is at length grown up to the same spirit is in every new-born Saint What contemptible things were Joshua and Gideon and Sampson and David when they were children but when they were grown and the Spirit of the living God came upon them what Victories did they obtain the Sons of Anak the Armies of the uncircumcised the great Goliah were then but children to them You that are yet little children but of little time and but of little strength that are newly begotten by the Gospel and brought forth into a tempestuous world let not the greatness of your work nor the potence of your enemies nor those astonishing tempests that meet you at the threshold of Christianity discourage or dismay you as weak as you are as many fears and faintings as you are surprized by as many doubts as arise in your hearts what shall I do how shall I stand how shall I go through yet comfort your hearts greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world ye are of God little children and have overcome them Mat. 13. 31 32. The Kingdome of heaven is like to a grain of Mustard-seed which is indeed the least among seeds but when it is grown is the greatest among herbs This greatest of herbs is virtually in this smallest of seeds Who knows what a little grace may grow to what is there in that bitter root of sin all those monstrous wickednesses and prodigious villanies which infest this earth and fill up hell all the drunkennesses adulteries murthers rapines and most barbarous inhumanities which are the plague of this earth and the fuel of that Furnace they all lye in that little bitter root Jam. 1. 15. And so on the other side all the beauty and glory of holiness all the powers victories and triumphs over sin the world and the devil are seminally contained in the first grace begotten in the heart The whole Harvest of Glory is in the least seed of grace The least drop from the Fountain of Life is a Well of water springing up to life eternal Joh. 4. 14. Beloved are you in Christ hath the day-spring from on high visited you is the Spirit of the living God within you then whatever your doubts difficulties hazards temptations or weaknesses are the victory hath already passed on your side Death where is thy sting sin devil world where is thy victory Here are thy Armies here is thy power here are thy policies thy fury thy fawnings on every hand before us behind us on the right hand and on the left here are thy Armies but where is thy victory Thanks be to God that hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Thanks be to God who maketh us alwayes to triumph in Christ Jesus from the first time in the worst time when we are hardliest bestead hotliest pursued nearest to a fall yea even when we fall for though we fall we shall rise again thanks be to God whâ—ch causeth us alwayes even when we despair in our selves to triumph in Christ Jesus 3. He hath broken the Head design of the world this is to keep Christ and the soul apart to keep the soul from ever coming to Christ Herein as hath been said already stands the deadly enmity of the world against souls in holding them under its dominion and thereby under the damnation of hell When we are once come over to Christ this great design is broken when we are conquered we are Conquerours A soul subdued unto the Lord is the world conquered to the soul every Convert to Christ is a Captive set at liberty a soul broken out of prison that 's the word that Christ hath to preach Isa 49. 9. To say to the prisoners go forth and to them that are in darkness shew your selves And that 's the work that Christ hath to do To bring forth the prisoners out of prison Isa 42. 7. Every Convert to Christ is a prisoner broken loose It is a sufficient Conviction that thou art a worldling still that thou art no Convert to Christ and it is a sufficient Conviction that thou art no Convert if thou be still a worldling he that is come to Christ is come off from the world Joh. 15. 19. and he that is still under the world is not come to Christ That 's the great contest betwixt Christ and the World who shall carry the heart Come along with me sayes Christ give me thy heart be my servant be my Disciple No no saith the World stay with me be my servant or at least if thou wilt not any longer be wholly mine then it sayes as the Harlot be neither his nor mine but suffer thy self to be divided let him take one half and let the other half be for me halt betwixt Christ and the world keep both worlds what hinders but thou mayst have thy gains and thy pleasures here and yet have Christ too When the heart is convinc'd that there is no compounding betwixt Christ and the world that Christ is the better Master and that it cannot serve two Masters but must necessarily take to the one and let the other go and hereupon yields it self to Christ Lord I am thy servant and will follow thee whatsoever become of the world whether I sink or swim want or abound prosper or suffer whatever my condition be here thine I am and thee will I love and serve when the soul is come to this there 's conversion there 's the Head design of the world broken 4. He is effectually marching on in the pursuit of his victory he is overcoming So the word in the Text he overcometh the world he hath already gotten the better and he is pressing
many projects is he ever loaden withall he never rests his hands are ever full his thoughts are ever busie whatever he hath done or gotten already yet there 's still more work coming in more load laying on tother house or tother field is in his eye tother groat or tother peny more to be gotten the Ephah is not yet full his large heart that daughter of the Horse-leech is still a crying upon him Get get Gather gather But whilest thou hast been so busie here and there what 's done for thy soul how does that work prosper what trade has been driven for Eternity O the Lord forgive me I never thought of that I had so many other things to do that I had no time to mind it But who set thee on work about these other things who hath hired thee oh my necessities have hired me my back and my belly and the necessities of my family God hath set me on work I but consider art thou not mistaken it may be 't is the Devil that hath set thee on work thy pride or thy covetousness that hath put thee upon this busie life all the while But now a Christian resolves I will hearken what the Lord God will speak when he sayes go I will go when he sayes do this I will do it I will have nothing to do but what I may answer for it this is that which the Lord would have done God sayes Look diligently to thy soul Deut. 4. 9. God sayes What will it profit a man to win the whole world and to loose his own soul Matth. 16. 26. God sayes Lay up in store for thy self a good foundation against the time to come Provide thee bags that wax not old a treasure in heaven that faileth not God sayes Mat. 6. 33. First seek the Kingdome of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto thee God never said first seek food and rayment and the Kingdome of heaven shall be added to thee Christ shall be added righteousness shall be added salvation shall be added to thee but first make sure the principal and the appurtenances shall be cast in And hereupon a Christian will do accordingly will look to the main whatever become of any thing else and will not engage further in any other affairs then will consist with the securing his great concernment whatever business he hath he must have room for duty he must have his praying times and reading times and hearing times he must have his daily seasons for special converse with God for communing with his own heart he must duly set his watch and walk the rounds through his thoughts affections conscience and all the powers of his soul and finding so much work and of so great consequence of this kind whatever wants this must have his daily attendance I must have bread I must have cloaths I must not starve I and I must have Christ I must have grace whether I have bread or no cloaths or no whether I starve or no I must not be damn'd a praying time is more necessary then an eating or drinking or sleeping time and therefore much more then a working time 'T is not the least part of a Christians Victory over the world to have the command of himself in his lawful affairs and businesses In licitis perimus omnes When he hath such power over himself that he can assign to every thing their proper places measures and seasons then he is Conquerour Christians how sadly doth this speak concerning many of you what say you Conquerours or Captives Let your care of duty speak Do not your oppressed and curtail'd duties cry out We are beaten we are beaten we are beaten out of the field we are not regarded when the world hath any work to be done Is this your care of the main Believe it Brethren when business gets the upperhand of duty the world hath gotten the upperhand of the soul Consider therefore how is it with you Do you allow duties their proper time and place Do you first seek the Kingdome of God Is the world made to give place to prayer or is prayer ordinarily made to give place to the world Do you set your times for daily duty and do you allow sufficient time do you not put the Lord off with short and hasty duties and then tell him Lord this is all the time I can spare thee Soul this is all the time I can allow thee Hasty duties are next to none Do you allow your souls room to make the best of their suits room for enlargement and importunity or are they not mostly forc'd to shuffle over and shut up almost as soon as they have begun Is there not too great a fault among Professors on this account do not their businesses borrow of their duties borrow but never pay Conscience I pray thee lend me this praying hour Soul I pray thee spare me this reading time I want time to dispatch my business hereafter I 'le pay it again How little of your time must ordinarily serve the turn for your attendance on God a short prayer short meditations are all you will allow and your souls ordinarily fare thereafter you are too much in hast to speed well God will be waited on and wrestled with ere he will hear We read Gen. 34. 26. when Jacob was wrestling with God he held at it so long that God said Let me go enough Jacob let me go for the day breaketh but he resolv'd I will not let thee go unless thou bless me But is it not with us the quite contrary By that we have been at it a little while Let me go Lord I must be gone Whether thou hear me or not whether thou bless me or not let me go I am in hast and must be gone give me leave quietly to depart and that shall serve for this time instead of a blessing Oh Brethren if we would trace our selves into our Closets and observe our short stay there the slight and hasty work we make before the Lord and our quick returns we make to the world sure methinks it should make us say I am afraid this world is still too hard for me I am afraid it hath me still under its dominion it will not trust me to be long alone with my God it s presently calling me off and when it calls once I must presently take my leave away I must Consider this Brethren do you allow your selves sufficient time for duty If you have appointed your set times and sufficient time do you keep your times does not the world ordinarily steal away your hours of prayer when the time draws nigh for the worship of God does not the world use to step in But I must be first serv'd my Cattle must be first serv'd my Customers must be first serv'd I have a friend that must be first waited on and when one business is dispatch'd another falls in and another and another till it be too
late and time to go to bed and so God and the Soul must wait their time till to morrow and when to morrow comes that is as this day and much more busie Judge Brethren whether it be not too ordinarily thus with us and then tell me which do ye think hath the greater interest God or the world Prayer is one of our weapons wherewith we are to maintain the fight against the world Ephes 6. 18. Exod. 17. 11. When Moses hands are lift up this Amalek falls And can you think the world hath you not sure enough when it can at pleasure command your weapons out of your hands or if it leave them with you can so blunt their edge that they are good for nothing No man that is a Souldier will lay aside his weapons but one of these either a Conquerour or a Captive or a Fool. A Conquerour whose victory is compleat needs his Arms no longer the work is done the Enemy is fallen and shall no more be able to rise A Captive who is totally and irrecoverably lost hath no further use of his Arms they will now stand him in no stead 't is too late to fight the field is lost He that is yet in the fight and will lay down his Arms is a fool in laying by his weapons he gives his enemies the day he is a fool that thinks to stand in the fight and will not stand to his Armes In heaven when our warfare is accomplished no more need of praying then no more watching no more fighting no more exercises of faith and patience then the Enemy is under our feet the triumph is all that then remains the Robes and the Palms and the Crowns singing and shouting and rejoycing no more need of praying and watching In Hell when the captivity is irrecoverable there 's no more use of weapons t is too late then they 'le stand them in no stead t is too late to pray and watch and wrestle the day is lost The shame the contempt the prison the mill the dungeon the torments of their captivity is all that there remains Prayer that men now make to give place to lust and vanity to laughing or labouring God will then make it to give place to cursings and ravings and roarings to tearing of hairs and gnawing of tongues and gnashing of teeth you that now count it a trouble and a cumbrance to attend on praying and fasting and such like duties if you ever fall into that prison you shall have your liberty from these burthens you shall live an eternity of dayes and nights and never be put to the trouble of one Prayer more of one Sermon more of one exercise of religion more there 's an everlasting end of Prayer in Heaven and Hell But now though the perfect conquerour may though the perfect captive must lay by his weapons have done with prayer for ever yet he that is yet in the fight is a fool if he stand not to his arms either he triumphs before the victory or else cares not on which side the victory goes Thou art a fool with a witness that either slightest such a potent enemy or holdest thy self little concerned in the victory May all his cost and labour be spared canst thou stand in thine own strength needest thou not be beholding to the Lord for his help or is the help of the Lord so cheap as to he had without seeking for or will any slight seeking now and then serve serve thy governour so Will the world give thee leave to take sufficient time for seeking God if thou wilt not take whether it will or no Brethren learn hence forth not to put God off with the worlds leavings but let the world be content to take Gods leavings if time fall short for any thing see that it be not for your Souls let God have his daily due and your Souls have theirs whatever goe without Let not the world any longer say give place Bible stand aside Prayer I have no leisure for you but let your Souls daily say stand aside world business trade I must serve the Lord. Never look to be other then worldlings whilest any thing below hath so much power with you as to keep God and your Souls asunder to hold you either under a total neglect or ordinary remisness in your religious duties whilest it can keep you either so busy or so slothful that you restrain prayer it hath you sure enough if the Divel can but keep you out of your closets he will not fear to meet you in the field he will not doubt your standing on your feet if he can but keep you from falling on your knees Because there is so much depending on this both as to the issue of our conflict and the evidence of our victory over the world give me leave to press you the closer to it by giving you a short view of the summe of what I have here suggested in these following propositions and advice 1. The death of the world will never be either compassed or witnessed but by the life of religion 2. The life of religion cannot be maintained but by keeping up the life of duties no prayer no holiness little prayer and but little holiness The vigour of grace is maintained from above and nothing will come down unless we often look up 3. The life of duty will not be kept up unless there be set and sufficient time allotted to it occasional duties will be but short and seldom 4. Seldom recesses from the world and suddain returns to it short and hasty prayers the Devil will allow us and the world will be no looser by them 5. If business or slothfulness ordinarily get the upper hand of duty whatever time be allotted for it little enough will be bestowed on it If we never pray but when we have list or leisure there will be but little done the world will either fill us with work or weary us into sloth Therefore 6. Resolve whatever the countermands of the world or Devil of your busy or weary Spirits are to set and keep up your daily duties if time fall short yet let not your Souls fail of their due be constant be instant in prayer If this counsell be not accepted I look not that any other of the counsels of God should prosper with you Are you worldlings are you in bondage to your carnal and earthly hearts there I look to find you to your dying day if constant and instant prayer do not fetch you off 3. That in the multitude of his businesses he neglect not the Souls of his Relations He that neglecteth his families Souls sinneth against his own Soul Worldlings hold all they have in the same bondage with themselves the sons of these bondmen are seldom suffered to be freemen like the Scribes and Pharises Math. 23. 13. They neither enter into the kingdom of God themselves nor suffer those that would to enter in Like Pharaohs task-masters Exod. 5. 17. Ye
are idle ye are idle is their word when any of theirs will worship God an hour spent in prayer or reading by such as belong to them is as great a crime as so much time wasted in play or idleness to your work to your work any work that 's done for God is counted lost to them He that fears God would have God served by all his and never counts himself served when God is neglected He sees that the education of those that are under him in the knowledg and worship of God is necessary work and excellent work a godly family is a nursery for Heaven he counts it his best husbandry to be husbanding up such choice plants as will afterwards be for trees to be here and there transplanted in the vineyard of the Lord he would train up a new generation that may rise up in his room to bear the name of God in their generations whereby the Lord may have a seed preserved to shew forth his praises from generation to generation Gen. 18. 17. I know Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. It may be written over the sayings of the seed of the righteous as Prov. 31. 1. The words of King Lemuel the prophecy which his mother taught him over others it may be written not the prophesies but the prophaness the oathes the lyes the scoffes that his mother taught him the covetousness and the oppression that he hath learned of his Father What 's the reason of that rudeness and those debaucheries that Ignorance Atheism and Irreligion that abounds in wordly families t is all they have been bred up to they have learn'd to be wicked of Children the iniquity of their Fathers covetousness would not allow them time to teach them better things He whos 's own foot is escaped out of the snare would not leave any of his in prison behind him T is a vain argument for the Devil to use with such thou wilt never thrive if thou spendest so many thoughts and words and hours about such matters thou wilt if thou takest this course bring thy self to a morsell of bread and wilt teach all thine the way to the same poverty and make them all as bad husbands as thy self this would do something with earthly minds but he that fears God if it must be had rather be undone then to preserve or increase his estate by the murther of Souls This may be my way to increase my store for what is labour without a blessing and what blessing where God is not known this may be my best husbandry for this world but whether it be or no God must be served Oh what dark and dismal holes are the dwellings of worldlings their habitations are full of violence cruelty and bloud lodges in them they live by murther and rapine the bloud of Souls is their meat and drink the lives of their Children must be sacrifices to their lust they buy them livings and raise them portions out of their own ruine all the purchases they make for them they may call the Potters field for they are the price of bloud they will suffer them to run down to Hell for fear they should leave them beggers on earth they 'le make them too good husbands to be ever good Christians they are bondmen themselves and they sell all theirs for servants to the same master Christians you that hope you are gotten free prove that you are so by being zealous of getting that freedom entail'd upon your posterity leave them no longer at the brick kiln but bring them away with you to serve the Lord. 1. Bring them with you before the Lord lay them often at his feet pray over them Here be my blind Lord and my lame my creeples and my captives Lord open their eyes and bring forth these prisoners out of prison behold the Souls which thou hast given me here they are before thee Oh that they might live in thy sight let all mine be thine Hast thou delivered thy servant O let all these be as the Soul of thy servant hast thou brought me out of bondage O let me not leave a Child behind 2. Bring the Lord to them let these poor prisoners hear of a redeemer make Christ known to them and that they may accept of his redemption make them first known to themselves Instruct them often make them to know their sin and their misery the dreadful bondage that they are under at present and the dreadful pit they are hastning to and then tell them of that redeemer that is come out of Zion 3. Bring them over to the Lord be an Embassadour for Christ to them cease not to warn them to command perswade beseech them in Christs stead till they consent and be reconciled to God Be industrious be at pains with them lye at them from day to day bethink not your time and labour And if the world step in and reprove you this is not the way to thrive these houres spent in thy trade or calling would turn thee and them to more profit then prove thy self to have broken its yoke from off thy neck by turning away thine ear from its suggestions 4. That in all his dealings in the world he have respect to truth righteousness and mercy He would not live by lying he would not get by unrighteousness nor save by unmercifulness The worlds vassals must stick at nothing that will serve their turns must lye defraud oppresse extort grind the faces starve the bowels break the bones of their poor brethren this is for their interest 1 Tim. 6. 10. The love of money is the root of all evil whence is it that there is so little faith or truth or righteousness or mercy among men so little truth in their words so little faith in their promises so little righteousness in their dealings no more bowels of compassion we may be ashamed to think how little we may fear and tremble to think how little so much praying and hearing and professing and yet so much falshood and wrong so much knowledg of God and yet so little conscience towards men such pretences to faith and yet so little exercise of charity this is dreadful but whence is all this the love of money is the root of all evil this is the lyar this is the oppressour this is the barbarian the love of money there had been more faith and more truth and more mercy had there been less of this love where this root is dried up where the world is no longer lov'd it will be no longer serv'd or obey'd nothing of it will be regarded but what comes in in a way of truth and righteousness He that loves truth above the best trading righteousness above the greatest riches that counts mercy the best good husbandry he that had rather stand to a bad bargain then break promise make a bad market then advance his gain by a lye suffer bad
is accounted our sure refuge so that we fear not that the world can make us miserable then t will be all one as to our godliness whether the world be with us or against us He that can say God is my portion whether I want or abound I have never so much but I have need of a God I have never so little but a God will suffice He that can say God is my refuge whether I be in safety or in danger I am never in such hazards but in God I am secure I am never so out of hazard but I need his security how little is it that the world with all its glory on the one hand or all its fury on the other can do upon that Soul thou mayst then go on thy way rejoycing thou mayst serve the Lord without fear in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of thy life He that knows and feels what God is can want or suffer what ever is in the world in him he finds a supply of every vacuity and a salve for every sore He that knows what pinching want and piercing sufferings are will understand that nothing but God can hold him up or bear him through You are mistaken if you think that natural hardiness and self confidence will do without divine supports in pressing cases He that hath this power hath gotten it from above he that hath this power may be whatever the Lord will have him Then are we more eminently endued with this power when we have attained to 1. Self-denial under the greatest opportunities of self-seeking or self-satisfaction 2. Contentment under the greatest straits 3. Patience under the greatest pressures of affliction 4. Humility in the height of honour 5. Magnanimity in the depth of danger or difficulty 6. Equanimity in the greatest turns and changes of our outward condition 1. Self-denial under the greatest opportunities of felf-seeking and self-satisfaction Self-denial properly is the neglecting the interest and the crossing the inclinations of our flesh in order to service or the preventing of sin Then onely self-denial is a vertue or a duty when our allowance of our flesh in its liberty would be either a sin or an occasion of sin or an hindrance of duty when it would be a preferring the advantages of the flesh above the service and honour of Christ Now by how much the greater our opportunity to please our flesh by so much the greater vertue it is to deny it He that might be full and yet for Christs sake is content to be empty he that might be rich and yet is content to be poor he that might live at ease or in honour and yet for Christs sake is content to be vile or in trouble He that chooses rather to be serviceable then to be safe to be holy then honourable he that upon the account of Christ flyes from fleshly advantages when these fly after him this is the man T is a vertue to be quiet when Providence denies us to be content to be poor and in affliction when it comes unavoidably upon us t is something to be able to say I cannot help it and therefore will be quiet But when we can let Conscience deny us let love to Christ let zeal for God straiten us when Providence allows us our liberty and our fill this is something to purpose To neglect the world when the world neglects us or flyes from us not to seek great things for our selves when we have no hope of obtaining not to mind the pleasing our pride or our appetite when we have not wherewith to maintain them to spare from our flesh when we have nothing to spend upon it to fast when we have no bread to put on sackcloth when we have no better raiment not to contend for our wills when we see we cannot have our wills there is not so very much in all this though it be more then every one hath attained to But voluntarily to lay down all at the foot of Christ to part with all for the sake of Christ when we might have even what we would in a way of sin to keep our flesh short when it is in our power to make it a larger allowance this is a great testimony how high the interest of Christ is exalted and how low the world is brought in us One great instance of this self-denial you may read in Moses Heb. 11. 24. 25. By faith Moses when he came to years refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter chusing rathor to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Observe it fairer opportunities of flesh pleasing of living in the splendour of worldly glory and the Grandieur of a prime favourite in the court few of the sons of men ever enjoy'd he was adopted the Son of Pharaohs daughter nurs'd up upon her knee and in her heart and upon this account what his hopes and advantages might be t is easy to imagine But at once he forsook all he had a service to do for his God and such an affection to the people of God that away he goes puts himself out of Pharaohs favour and casts in his lot among his suffering brethren I shall consider divers circumstances which all heighten this noble instance 1. The circumstance of time When he came to years t was not a childish folly done when he was so young that he knew not what he did but when he came to age when he came to understand himself whilest he was a child he suffered himself to be dandled on the lap of these carnal pleasures but when he came to age and understood what these things were and had gotten those higher things of the other world in his eye when he came to age he put away these childish things this world is a paradise only to children and fools pictures and babies and rattles will please children men must have manly delights thou that art so taken with the embraces and dalliances of this world thou that makest thy self sport with images and rattles when thou comest to have the understanding of a man thou wilt wonder at thy childish folly 2. When he was upon the matter newly come to age a young man in the prime and vigour of his time when he had but begun to tast the sweet of his youthful pleasures the pleasures of this lâ—fe are most taking at the first tasting the first draught is the sweetest when they grow more common and ordinary they sour and become less savory Oh how rare a thing is it to see young men in their prime to disgust and despise the world Old men whose strength is gone whose spirits are dead who have been glutted and tired out with pleasure have lost their appetite 2 Sam. 19. 35. I am this day fourscore years old and can I discern between good and evil can thy servant tast what I eat or drink can I hear any more the voice of singing men
or singing women are these any longer a pleasure to me the world ceases to be such a temptation to old men it is a dead and a dry tree to them in the winter of their age which look'd so green and so beautiful in the spring of their youth But behold Moses whilest he was a young man whilest all look'd fresh and green yet even then he rejects it Young men you whose wanton and sprightful hearts cry in your ears in the words of the Preacher Eccl. 11. 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thine heart chear thee in the daies of thy youth walk in the way of thine own heart and in the sight of thine own eyes eat drink be merry take thy pleasure take thy liberty Behold here 's an instance that preaches another Doctrine to you and what does it preach the next Text you find after the former Chap. 12. 1. Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth Remember my Creator so I will in time I intend it hereafter 't is for old men to be serious the Grave will teach gravity I cannot be old while I am young time enough to think of the other world when I am leaving this I am but newly come into the world I cannot receive my welcome and my farewell together I mean to think on God hereafter but you must give me leave to mind my self and please my self a while No no 't is another manner of Doctrine then this Moses though dead yet speaketh Remember now thy Creator in the daies of thy youth make thy present choice and let this be it Chuse rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Oh that young men would set this Copy before their eyes see what this young Moses did and do likewise Give me leave to take the hint and in a short digression to speak a few words to young men to perswade them to make Moses his choice betimes to renounce the world and to remember their Creator in the daies of their youth and to consecrate their first time to God This I shall press to by the following arguments 1. Otherwise this is like to be the worst time of their lives Such is the heat and strength of their lusts that nothing but a God will be a bridle to them Jam. 3. 3. Behold we put bits in the horses mouths What ruling an horse without a bridle what bridle will hold these wild horses but the memory of a God Some young men are so head-strong that they catch the bit in their teeth and run on their course with full career though God be set before their eyes and all the terrors of the Lord be put as a bridle in their jaws yet all will not do to stop them but on they run as the horse rusheth into the battel Young men living without God are as Esau wild men wild-headed and wild-hearted they run a wild Race Young men will do more work for the Devil in a day then afterwards is done in many daies and therefore Satan uses to hire his labourers in the first hour of the day when they are but newly started out of the shell he stands ready to press them for hell And O what haste do they make on their way like swift Dromedaries like the wild Ass which none can tame or turn her back Youth is the Devils seed time All the tares that grow ripe in thine age these were the seed of thy youth all the Frogs and Toads of the Summer were from the Spawn of the Spring O friends this world hath been afore-hand with Christ and is gotten first in and there its busie in complementing your hearts shewing you its treasures entertaining you with its carnal delights insinuating into your affections captivating and intangling your souls building Forts and strong holds against Christ that he be not suffer'd to enter and filling you with all wickedness that you may become a loathing and abhomination to him O hearken and open to the Lord make room for the King of glory who stands at the door and knocks Will you say to him Go away to day and come again to morrow let Christ stand a while longer let his Enemy be first served let me be wanton and foolish and fleshly a while longer I am not vile enough yet not wretched enough yet a little more of this madness let me be a fool and a beast a little longer let this Lust and this Devil alone yet a while let me be laid faster in the Stocks let my prison be double locked let my soul and my life and the everlasting Kingdome be brought to more desperate hazards a few daies more of bondage and misery no Redemption yet no Reconciliation yet no pardon nor grace nor hope no God nor Christ come here a while will you speak thus to the Lord O open to Christ this day open while sin is yet but a youngling while the world is yet but a new Comer before you be rivetted into such acquaintance and friendship with it as may never be broken off 2. Youth is the fittest time Young men have many advantages which old men have lost and will never recover they have this threefold advantage 1. Youth is more docile and tractable Old men are more dull and hard to learn more refractory and hard to be perswaded therefore you know its the practise of men to put theirs to Schools and to Trades in their younger time Prov. 20. 6. Train up a child in the way that he shall go and when he is old he will not depart from it What 's the reason that old men are so tenacious of their customes and wayes O they were train'd up in them of children That which is learned in youth is easier gotten and longer retained Old mens capacities are dull and their memories slippery they are hard of hearing and as hard to remember what they hear Old mens hearts are preoccupated the Devil as before hath been before-hand with them they are so over-grown with tares that the good seed comes too late to be like to take any root in them And therefore the Lord charges Parents Eph. 6. 4. To bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In the morning sow thy seed our evening is usually the harvest of our morning seed the lusts of youth are ripe in age and the graces of the Aged are ordinarily the fruits that are grown up out of the seed of their youth Hence is it that 't is such a blessing to be the children of godly Parents they have not only the blessing of the Covenant the promise entail'd upon them To Abraham and his seed was the promise made and therefore it was a blessing to be a child of Abraham but they have also the blessing of holy Education I know Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord
garments hungry meals hard usage from friends and enemies when you can choose all this rather then sin against Christ when upon a little sin all your comforts might be continued to you there 's that self-denial that will prove that you can live without being beholding to the world for its good will or without fear of its ill will 2. Contentment in greatest straits Phil. 4. 11 12. I have learned in whatsoever estate I am to be content In whatever estate whether I have little or much something or nothing still content contentment is the heart at ease our well pleasedness with our condition without quarrelling at our lott without murmuring against God and without self-tormenting vexations Those whose God is the world cannot long be quiet the world like the moon waxes and wanes the world like the Sea ebbs and flowes and the heart of the worldly is like their God Isa 57. 20. The wicked are as the troubled sea that cannot be at rest when t is full sea there 's a little stand but when the tide turns away their rest swims down the stream The world is too little when at fullest to fill the heart this Sea is to narrow when at broadest to extend it self paralel to our expatiating desires Isa 28. 20. The bed is shorter then that a man can stretch himself on it the covering narrower then that he can wrap himself in it The wide Ocean to the heart of man is but as the narrow Seas he can drink it up and be thirsty still when it hath spent its store upon him that 's the voice what no more Is this all But what is the world to content a Soul when t is low water What rest can there be when ever and anon the banks will be empty God is the same enough and he changeth not the manifestations of God are unequal sometimes bright and sometimes dimmer sometimes he is seen and sometimes out of sight and hereupon there is sometimes less quiet in the hearts of the Saints then at other times but whilest the heart feels that God is there there 's no want Disquiets there may be but t is not whither the world ebbs or flows but whether God be present or absent that makes the change upon the Spirit let God be with me and then let the world be with whom it will let me have an houseful or but an handful t is all one as to my Soul contentment A Christian is as little beholding to the world for his contentment as he is for his godliness and that sure is little enough as he will be godly without asking leave of the world so he will be contented whether the world will or no godliness and contentment grow both together as much as you find of the one so much of the other if contentment be but small godliness is not great they grow both together and the same root bears them both Godliness comes down from Heaven and never did contentment spring up out of the earth they have the same fountain both come from the Father of lights Jam. 1. 17. You that are ordinarily male contents look to it that you be not strangers from God if there be any thing yet sure there 's but little of God in you that need so much of the world to keep you quiet if this be it that can only still you look to it this is still your God Oh what restless Spirits for the most part have you never well never at rest what 's the matter what is there wanting what would quiet you A better house a greater estate better trading kinder neighbours And can you not be content as you are content without all these must you be rich must you have all to your mind or you will still be thus angry go serve the world then and take it for your God say no more the Lord is my portion if he be not enough to content you Contentment in God will be one of the best evidences of your conquest over the world he is a Christian of proof that cannot be content with the world and yet can be content without it that cannot be contented with the world when he hath most of it and yet can be content when he hath the least of it yea can be content without it if God be his If the world can content you to be sure it can command you if you make it your pay-master it will be your task-master whither will not men go what will they not do for contentment Why run we so often from God but for our contentment what seek we in our fields in our beds or among our companions but our contentment company to please us pleasure to content our minds We mistake the ground contentment does not grow in any of these fields but however there we are digging for it and we never bethink our labour for any thing that will promise us I le content thee for thy pains this the world promises I 'le content thee I 'le content thee and as long as we dare take its word it has us sure enough for servants once find your mistakes hear riches say 't is not in me hear pleasures saying 't is not in me hear friends saying God help thee to a contented mind we cannot hear the whole world saying there 's no such plant in all my gardens thou mayst go from plant to plant from flower to flower till thou hast tryed all my store and never find contentment amongst them all t is in another field in the other world the paradise of God send thy heart thither for it purchase that field and there dwell and satisfy thy Soul Once hear every creature every condition telling thee thus t is not in me to content thee t is from within t is from above that thy contentment must come and then when thou seest that all the world cannot content thee what wants of any thing the world hath will discontent thee whatever it be the fruition whereof cannot content its want need not discontent us O what a constant calm and serenity should we feel in our spirits what steadiness would appear in our lives what triumph over the World and all its changes did we feel this truth in our hearts In God alone my contentment lies Oh how much below the excellency and the sweetness of such a life do we live how hard to be pleas'd how soon out of patience what a small matter will put our hearts upon the Rack Some there are that are ever male-contents there 's no condition that can keep them quiet if they be the greatest Candidates of Providence they are still murmuring they not only know not how to want or to be cross'd or to be in straits but neither how to abound they are never well fâ—ll nor fasting but will be still picking quarrels even with their most plentiful and prosperous state they will be vexing and fretting themselves for they know not what though they can
scarce tell what they would have more or otherwise then they have yet they are angry that 't is thus what pleases them to day they nauseate to morrow these are their own pests the most miserable of men But vvhen vve are in straits indeed vvhen Providence does frovvn upon us and keeps us lovv and short of vvhat our minds desire then hovv fevv of us can say It is well Brethren look not on discontent as a little evil that vve should count it but a small thing for God to save our souls unless he vvill please our senses that vve should count it but a small thing that God should give us our lives unless he also give us our vvills as if nothing vvould please us unless the Lord vvill set us on the Throne and let us carve for our selves and be Governours of the vvorld A discontented person sayes 'T is but little that God hath done for me 't is but little that God hath given to me he hath but given Christ to me he hath but pardoned my sins he hath given me nothing but Heaven and everlasting glory what Blasphemy is here Ah Wretch dost make a But of Christ a But of Pardon and Salvation thou hast reason enough to fear that Christ and Life is none of thine who makest so little account thereof Think not that mischief little which discontent will bring forth how great things will this little thing do Whence are all our wandrings from God after sin after vanity but from a present discontent with our condition whence is envy whence is covetousness whence are frauds oppressions robberies but from hence that we are not content with our own Whence is that lusting and running out after fleshly liberty after unlawful pleasures after an easier and looser life but from this that we think to mend our condition and to make our selves happier then Religion allows us to be Is that little which makes God little and Christ little and the everlasting Kingdome little and sends us to the Devil to inlarge our quarters which God allovvs us To close up this I shall give you a short and more distinct vievv 1. Of the evils and mischiefs of discontent 2. Of the excellencies and svveetness of contentment 1. The evils and mischiefs of discontentment as hath been already in part hinted are these follovving 1. It denies Gods sufficiencie it sayes In the fulness of his sufficiency I am in straits Discontent argues want or else 2. It impeaches Gods goodness and bounty Whatever is with him in the house yet there 's no good house-keeping If in my Fathers house there be bread enough yet he keeps me short enough I have but little the Lords hand hath been shortned to me As we go along consider Brethren whether you would not be ashamed thus to speak and yet is not this the voice of your discontented hearts If God should challenge us as he did Israel Jer. 2. 5. What iniquity have ye found in me Or as Micah 3. 6. O my people what have I done to thee wherein have I wearied thee how have I used thee Come forth testifie against me Or as Pharaoh ask'd Hadad 1 King 11. 22. What hast thou lacked with me that thou wilt be gone If the Lord should ask us thus Discontent would answer Yes I have lacked thou hast been an hard Master to me thou wilt not let me have my will this I have lacked and that I have lacked I have been straitned in the Lord he hath been a Wilderness and a Land of darkness to me Though Conscience must say with David The Lord is my Shepherd I want nothing yet this male-contented heart will still be complaining 3. Hereupon it rebels and will not stand to Gods allowance When God will not satisfie we fall to sharking and shifting for our selves Discontent with our lot as I said before lies at the bottom of all our unlawful carving for our selves hence is covetousness hence is fraud oppression c. because we are not content with Gods allowance 4. It disgraces godliness Whatsoever is boasted of it that its wayes are the wayes of pleasantness and all its paths are peace that the merchandise thereof is better then silver and its gain then gold that its a tree of life that length of daies riches and honours attend upon it as Prov. 3. Whatever the Scriptures speak and mens mouths speak of the excellencies the sweetness and satisfaction that a godly life brings in a discontented heart denies all and tells the World there 's little in it Peace and joy and gain and satisfaction where is it there is not enough to keep the heart in any tolerable quiet there is not enough to still the soul from murmuring and complaining What do our discontents speak less in the ears of the World 5. It is its own plague and punishmont it eats out and devoures the good and the comfort of all we have the want of Mordecai's Cap and Knee made all the honour that Haman had in the Kings Court to be as nothing to him Ahabs whole Kingdome could not keep him in health while he wanted Naboths Vineyard Discontent is such a sickness of the heart as makes it disrelish whatever else it hath to delight and please it Discontented persons are apt to think that all their troubles are from without one thing is wanting and another thing is amiss as he that hath a tender foot complains of his shoe 't is too strait or too hard or as a sick man of his meat or his drink or his bed his bed is hard or not well made his meat is not good or not well dress'd but the fault all the while is in his foot or his stomach in his weakness and weariness his tender foot makes his shoe wring his sick stomach makes his meat unsavoury his weary bones make his bed uneasie 't is this evil sickness of thine heart that makes thee angry with thy state and makes the very comforts of thy life uncomfortable to thee this thou wantest or that thou likest not and that vexes thee why if this want were supplied and that vexation were removed thy sickly heart would ever find something or other to torment thee thou wilt never want a plague whilest thou carriest this evil heart about thee 6. It Idolizeth the world and argues captivity to it What could the World do if thou hadst it that which God cannot do without it Could the World content thee or canst thou not find contentment when any thing of that is wanting who then is thy God 2. The excellencies and sweetness of contentment 1. There is a chearful submission in it a resting in Gods allowance and a well-pleasedness with our condition let the Lord deal out to me and keep back from me whatsoever he will it s the Lord let him do whatsoever seems him good God is pleas'd it should be thus and therefore I am pleas'd O what a sweet life were this all the perturbations of our
lives arise from the clashing of Gods Will and our wills when ours is swallowed up in his Will then there 's rest Nothing comes amiss to us there 's nothing to grieve or offend when we like what ever God wills Brethren this we pray for Thy will be done this we profess Not my will but thine and when our hearts consent that our prayers should be heard and will come in and subscribe our Petitions how sweetly will all run on When we can heartily say Not my will but his be done we shall be also able to say Because his will mine is done 2. There is satisfaction in it satisfaction with God Prov. 14. 14. A good man is satisfied satisfied from himself from within him God is within him and thence his satisfaction there 's no true contentment but what 's bottom'd on God Thou hast many wants and many wishes and many hopes if these were once answered then thou thinkest all would be well No no it would not do if thou hadst thy wish and thy hopes there would still be something wanting till thou comest to take up with thy God When thy soul can dwell at ease in the midst of straits and wants that 's a sign thou hast taken God as thy sufficient portion 3. Independence from the world I mean wholly as to matters of Religion and Conscience thou canst now be happy with or without the World and he that can be happy with or without it can be holy which way soever the world goes as long as thou canst be content thou wilt dare to be conscientious For 4. It s an Antidote against temptations 't is the hungry Hound that follows his game when he 's full he will not hunt When thou findest this self-sufficiency thy soul will not bite at the Worlds baits 5. It s its own reward It s both our duty and our comfort Let us be content this is one of those Commandments In keeping whereof there is great reward this is the sweet of thy life contentment this is the sauce of thy meat the sugar of thy cup the crop the cream of all thy enjoyments Oh Christians Would you be happy be content and you are happy Would you not be in want be content and you have enough Would you not be poor be content and you are rich Would you have your houses and your businesses and all your concernments according to your mind be content and it is done Would you be free from trouble and passions and perplexities of mind be content and they all vanish Would you live at hearts ease and carry all things sweetly and smoothly on be content and then soul take thine ease Would you be content I there 's the difficulty this would heal all my sores But how shall I be content seek not for it here in any thing below thee or without thee seek for it within seek it from above take up with God and in him thou shalt find rest Only that you may find contentment in God 1. Make God your own Look not for content in the World and look not for content in God without a propriety in him Look not for content and dare not to be content without God It is a shame not to be content with God but it is a madness to be content without God and an interest in him May be some of you will say I thank God I am none of these male-contents I am of a sedate and quiet spirit I am well pleas'd with my state what and yet a stranger from God Is God none of thine and yet content It s well with thee to day but where mayst thou be to morrow Is it no matter where Will these bubbles and shadows will Death and Hell content thee art thou content to go down into the Pit and perish everlastingly God would not have thee to be patient of his wrath much less to be contented Oh Brethren let your spirits boil up while you will into the highest extremities of impatience under sin and wrath how can you be quiet whilest God is angry beware of having one good thought of your state suffer not your hearts to have one hours rest till God be yours make God sure and then be content with any thing but dread that contentment that is where God is not Psal 16. The Lord is my portion the Lord is at my right hand therefore mine heart is glad saith the Psalmist But wilt thou say The World is my portion the Lord is not my portion yet my heart is glad 2. Advance in godliness What is God to the contenting of a soul without godliness you can neither understand nor tast of God without godliness Contentation arises from communion and by how much the higher our communion with God by so much the more full our contentment Godliness is the proof of God of his riches and satisfying excellencies Rom. 12. 2. Be ye not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God You that are but young beginners in Christianity you yet but little know what a treasure the Lord is no man knows but he that hath it and no man hath much of this treasure but he that 's rooted and grounded in the love of God and raised and inlarged in the experimental exercises of godliness 1 Tim. 6. 6. Godliness with contentment is great gain When godliness rises so high as to bring in contentment a little will not do it then you shall find it great gain Never look to find the gain of godliness but according to the proportion you find of contentment and never look for great contentment nor count that content you have any great vertue where there is but little godliness 3. Patience in the greatest distresses Patience as I have elsewhere noted is the flesh mortified and the flesh mortified is the world vanquished the flesh while it is alive will quickly feel and when it smarts t will kick and fling and put the whole Soul into a combustion when the world with all its fury either cannot make the flesh to smart or not so but that the Soul can bear it and still keep quiet there 's patience When the world hath not only made some lighter onsets by its vollies of reproaches and mockings but persecuted us to Bonds and Imprisonments prepared for us its instruments of death and forced us to resist unto bloud when scourging and stocking and stoning and starving and sawing a sunder as t was the case of those believers Heb. 11. are all put to it and not pleas'd and cannot force a murmuring or repining thought against God nor an unworthy reflection on those holy wayes which have cost us so dear but the Soul still keeps silence and with our Lord Isa 53. we lye as lambs dumb before the shearer yea before the butcher when we are in such great patience in so great sufferings when the
world hath done its worst by us and yet cannot have its will of us there 's the victory shall I say nay there 's the triumph of faith over the world 4. Humility in the height of honour When the world can neither depress nor sinfully exalt us neither sink nor swell us when it can neither beat us on the lower ground nor on the pinnacle of the Temple Some Christians have been highly exalted in the world have been raised from the dust to sit with the Princes among the people have been numbred among the great and the honourable and made to ride on the high places of the earth Joseph from the Prison is lifted up to be the second in the Kingdom Mordecai from the threshold of the Kings house to be the man whom the King delights to honour David from the sheepfold to the Throne Others have had the nobler advantages of inward worth and accomplishment Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians Paul brought up at the feet and furnished with the learning of Gamaliel too great a disputant for the Philosophers of his age Apollos an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures Others have been had in great renown for their noble acts and mighty works which they have done How was it with David upon his slaughter of the Philistine with Daniel upon his interpretation of the Kings dream with the Apostles sometimes upon the miracles that they wrought Such a state as this a state of honour and renown is a keen weapon in the hand of the world whereby it often stabs the Soul of all vertue and grace those that are blown up to the top of the mountains are often blown away by the winds of pride and popular applause Those who can keep humble in such heights whose hearts still keep their dwelling on the lower ground who are little ones in all their greatness little in their own eyes and willing to be little in the eyes of others who can take their crowns and their garlands that are set on their own heads and translate them on the head of their Lord who account it their honour to decrease to his increasing here are the persons whose humility signifies something What is it to be humble when we have nothing whereof to be proud to be low when we cannot climbe high when the conscience of our poverty and penury that we have no worth in our selves and are of no value with others checks every aspiring thought what is it not to boast when we have nothing nor have done any thing whereof to boast Some are so foolish as to be proud of meer conceits to dream themselves something and then to be proud of their dreams but those that are not thus madly proud what great matter is it if they be not When there is store of fewel for this lust to feed upon and the bellows of popular breath blowing it up and yet it burns not this is something Dost thou not know thy self what thou art and what thou hast and how thou art esteemed every one loves thee and admires thee and applauds and speaks well of thee and thou hast merit enough in thee to deserve it all why shouldst thou not accept of all this respect and be of the same mind with all that know thee why shouldst thou not think as well of thy self and prize thine own worth and know thine own place as well as they Then to have all check'd and repell'd with such thoughts as these But who am I that I should lift up my self what have I that I have not received I have wisdom I have strength I have riches but whose are all these are they mine own of mine own getting Have I done any thing more then others through whose strength was it in whose name was it this is humility indeed Act. 3. 12. Why look ye on us so earnestly The Apostles Peter and John had done a great cure upon the lame man and the people were greatly taken with it they ran together to see these men and wondred at them and the cure which they had done These are strange men Gods rather then men by whom such a mighty cure was wrought But behold they are not at all transported with the peoples wonderment nor will accept of their applause Ye men of Israel why look ye so upon us as though we by our own power had made this man to walk You are mistaken in us we are not the men you take us to be we could no more have cur'd this man by our own power then any of you could have done wonder not at us give glory to God give glory to God God hath magnified his Son Jesus 't is his name and through faith in his name by which this man is made whole 4. Magnanimity in greatest difficulties and dangers Magnanimity notes Generosity Fortitude 1. Generosity A Soul abstracted from the world is a generous Soul eximiae virtutis vigorous and sprightful it s a Soul restored to it self grown up towards its original vigour which was lost and chok'd in the mud of this world It is for great action for higher and more noble atchievements It is of the Berean extract of whom t was said Acts 17. 11. they were more noble then they of Thessalonica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more generous then they such large Souls it will not satisfie to have done some little and lower things The Spirit of this world is a poor and narrow Spirit ignavae animae quae ambire magna non nôruut sluggish dull and heavy Souls whom either a little action must suffice or if there be more it is about these little things this world conquering Spirit is a Soul upon the wing that being unclog'd of earth flies high pursues higher things and by a swifter and more vigorous motion Math. 5. 47. what singular thing do ye God hath done great things for it and this great mind is for great returns It wills great things and it dares to attempt great things It will not despond or be discouraged with difficulties This is to much or this too hard Difficulties are the delight and the proof of a generous mind What shall I do for him whom my Soul honours what would I not do what would I refuse for his sake Oh what little things are my great things even the greatest that I can do how much have I received how little have I to return Oh for more work for God for more strength for work I can never do enough when I have done all and therefore I will never say 't is enough whilest there is more to be done Oh how little must suffice a carnal heart and how much is every little accounted a magnanimous Spirit does much but thinks all but little others do little but over reckon A little praying or praysing or speaking or thinking or working for God must serve and how much is that little reckoned How soon are we at our Lands end and have
even wrought our selves out of work or else how quickly are we discouraged by the greatness of our work the least straw is a stumbling block the least Molehill a Mountain every duty is a difficulty and every difficulty an impossibility How shall I stand under so much work Who would venture on so great difficulties Am I God and not man spirit and not flesh the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak No no thy spirit is weak too this spirit is but flesh How weak is thine heart that it is so soon discouraged O Brethren where is the victorious spirit where are the Heroes of Christianity the Nobles that set their necks to the work of the Lord What designs have you for advancing in holiness for magnifying the grace of God in you for exalting his name in an heavenly life Where are the Trophies of your prowess bring forth the Captives you have taken Can you shew your lusts in Chains your pride in Chains your covetousness in Chains Here are the prisoners I have taken Behold houses and honors and dignities and pleasures behold my feet upon the necks of them all This little I have done for God Yet not I but the grace of God that was with me This little have I done for God the weights are laid aside and now will I run with patience the Race which is set before me Now for a fruitful life for labouring and abounding in the work of the Lord for growing rich unto God rich in good works I cannot sit down by that little I have done he is worthy he is worthy for whom I should do other manner of things then these for whom I should live another manner of life then this O were I all soul all wing all life all action how little would this my all be to what I would it were Rise up O my soul shake off thy ashes open thy sluces let run all thy streams what wilt thou do for thy good I have done for my flesh I have done for my family I have done for my friends what shall I do for my God Read O my soul in the Book of Records as that King did Ester 6. 2. and search what the Lord hath done for thee how he hath pardoned thee and sanctified thee and subdued thine enemies under thee how he hath brought thee out of thine house of bondage and redeemed thee from the house of servants And then ask What honour hath been done the Lord for all this O Brethren how are we straitned we walk as if we were still in our fetters if we were still Vassals to this earth we could hardly be less active for heaven Whilest we tell one another what the Lord hath done for our souls how little have we to tell what our souls have done for the Lord Empty vines we are that bring forth our fruit to our selves that sow for our selves and reap for our selves and thresh for our selves and live to our selves and how little to him And that little we do for God how hardly are we brought to it Am I bound to do this am I bound to do that bound to give so much to the poor bound to spend so much time in prayer bound to such constant care and labour May not less suffice will not less be accepted may I not be a Christian at a cheaper rate And if our flesh can but make us believe that less may serve how glad are we to sit down and save our labour Brethren is it not thus with the most of us must we not be drag'd and driven on to duty what do we more then bare necessity forces us to if fear would let us alone if Conscience would let us be quiet how little is it that love to Christ would put us upon Oh where are the large hearts to God the flowing souls that freely offer themselves to the Lord Woe to us this earth still sucks up our streams 2. Fortitude By this we stand against the fury of the world That 's a magnanimous spirit that delights in difficulties and despises danger a bold soul that not only loves to serve but dares to suffer that is not careful about this matter Dan. 3. Whom none of all these things move Act. 20. 24. that is strong and of good courage Victory attends the valiant and makes more valiant a little Conquest fleshes the faint This Christian fortitude comprehends in it these three things A boldness With God In God For God 1. A boldness with God A free and confident access to God a coming boldly before the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. 16. And this arises from a sense of Reconciliation with God from an inward acquaintance with God from a conscience of uprightness before the Lord Heb. 10. 19. 22. Having therefore boldness by the blood of Jesus let us draw near with a true heart with an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience There 's no coming before God with a guilty or guileful heart 't is Innocence that gives boldness the conscience of guilt or guile makes us afraid and ashamed to appear before God We are afraid of our Bibles asham'd to look towards our Closets when God hath a quarrel with us We go into our Closets as the Thief to the House of Correction We sneak in ashamed and afraid and shuffle over in haste and are glad when we get out again We cannot pray we scarce dare to lift up our eyes to heaven we blush before the Lord and cannot be free and open-hearted with him Guilt stops our mouths or at least the heart keeps silence where this cryes in its ears How can I go before the Lord What am I like to hear if I speak to him What will he answer me if I call upon him Why eryest thou to me Go to the Gods whom thou hast served go to thy pleasures go to thy companions go to thy Mammon which thou hast served thou art privy to thy treacheries to the Whoredomes thou hast committed with thine other Gods why cryest thou to me in thy distress go to the Gods after which thou hast loved to wander how will that heart hang down the head and give it self the repulse that 's conscious to such treachery When the soul can reply I have no other God to go to this Flesh is not my God this World is not my God my heart is with thee my desire is to thee and I have kept me by thee thou knowest Lord it hath been my care to keep me from the way and from the lusts of this world and to walk before thee in mine integrity then will it lift up its face with confidence in his presence Now he that can thus be bold with God that can with openness of heart make his appeal to God as the witness of his integrity and that can hereupon make his request to God make known his want and his straits and distresses and be bold to leave it upon him to relieve and support him he that
run upon dangers which it might without sin avoid that doth not unwarily create it self nor needlesly provoke enemies but fears not to meet them in his way nor will either turn aside or stand still to escape them Now put all these together he that is bold with the Lord who being reconciled by the bloud of Christ and walking before him in his integrity can with an holy boldness approach and make known his requests to the Lord for grace and mercy and help in the time of need He that is bold in the Lord whose heart is fixed trusting in God He that is in his name bold for the Lord bold to be faithful to God bold to be holy and righteous that will follow God and keep his way with the neglect of the highest worldly advantages on the one hand and the sharpest sufferings on the other that will choose the greatest of sufferings rather then little sins that will refuse the greatest advantages rather then neglect the least of duties that is meek and yet mighty through God that trembles at the word and yet stands against all the world that is tender as a bruised reed and yet stands against all the world that is tender as a bruised reed and yet not terrified at an army with banners whom a child may lead and yet a giant cannot drive an innocent dove with a serpents wisedom a patient lamb with a Lions heart who will not strive nor cry nor make a noise in the streets and yet in the strength of the Lord brings forth judgment into victory Here is the valiant Christian that triumphs over thrones and Dominions that in the name of Christ hath spoiled principalities and powers and hath led captivity captive Here is a man clothed with the Sun who hath the moon under his feet Christians where is this mighty spirit of the Gospel Behold some who seem sufficiently high flown are yet as weak as water whose hopes and whose comforts lye at the mercy of every temptation whose religion must strike sail at the fight of every enemy or tack about at every turn of the wind who are no body but in the sun-shine and the calm whose course must be steer'd by their commodity and safety who are for duty yet dare not pray to their loss who protest against iniquity yet will sin rather then suffer Is not this thy case wouldst thou not have been better if thou hadst dar'd thy conscience is for more praying and hearing and closs walking with God but thine heart will not serve thee the times will not bear it thy estate will be in hazard thy liberty yea and thy life too in danger thou darest not turn Apostate from Christ thou wouldst be one of the company still though thou be but a midnight Disciple and this must comfort thee under all thy disguised unfaithfulness thou haltest betwixt Christ and the World thou dar'st neither utterly to forsake him nor resolvedly to own him thou canst not tell what to be nor where to find thy self were it not for love of this World what a Christian wouldst thou be were it not for fear who should out-strip thee but as Matters are what to do thou knowest not and whose thou art who can tell to day thou art with the Disciples but who can tell where to find thee to morrow weak Soul hast thou good will for Christ why wilt thou not venture after him hast thou the name where is the Spirit of a Christian arise shake off thy fear and be bold Be bold for God Some are bold enough but 't is for themselves God hath the name but self is the mark that 's aim'd at beware that this be not it thou countest thy godly boldness Some are bold upon God upon the patience and forbearance of God bold to slight and affront the Lord bold to sin against him to stand it out against him against all his commands threatnings and judgments bold to continue unbelievers impenitent blasphemers unclean livers though God hath said that all such shall be damned to be thus bold is to be desperate they dare the Almighty to his face to bring his Counsel to pass and to perform all his words that he hath spoken against them Be bold but see that it be for God not against him Be bold for God but let it be also in the Lord. Be bold in the Lord but that you be not more bold then welcome look to it that you be the friends of God the boldness of strangers is sauciness or presumption The Lord upbraids his rebellious people with their confidence in him Mic. 3. yet they will lean upon the Lord they love me not yet they will lean upon me It s hard to say which is more dangerous the trust of the ungodly or their distrust God will be no Rock to those who will not that he be their Lord He will not accept of a testimony from a devil it disparages a good Cause to be pleaded by an evil mouth and as he will not regard thy confession so neither will he bear thee out in what it costs thee If thou wilt not submit to God confess him at thine own peril depend on me for my help expect countenance or encouragement from me lay hold on my power lay claim to my all-sufficiency or faithfulness how dar'st thou be so bold what art thou to me a stranger and yet so bold an enemy and yet so bold away Confident look to thy self stand on thine own bottom I have nothing for thee Art not thou he that wilt not be rul'd by me that wilt not accept of my love and peace that dissemblest with me that speakest me fair but thine heart is not with me art not thou he that dar'st continue in thy sin and to walk after the flesh and in friendship with this world whose heart goes after thy covetousness and thy companions and thy pride and thy pleasures and wilt thou lean on me and strengthen thy self in me I have offered to be reconciled to thee and thou wilt not I have offered to change thee to change thy mind and change thy way to make thee a new soul and a new life and still thou refusest and art the same man that ever thou wast may be thou hast gotten thee a new face and a new tongue and I have thy company sometimes thou draw'st nigh to me and comest in among my Saints but behold the same heart still that ever thou hadst thou wilt not be a Convert thou wilt not be brought into a Covenant of peace with me but are still in league with thy flesh and this world and how canst thou say I trust in God I will be no sanctuary for sin Brethren beware there be not any among you who make your trusting in God to serve you instead of turning to God your outward forwardness in the cause of God to serve instead of your hearty accepting the grace of God the Lord needs not nor will regard your
murmuring against him and to questioning his love and goodness to you all the flowers that your sunshine hath nurs'd up how doth one frosty night wither away Or else if your Souls have been prospering in the winter how hath the next summers day chok'd them up with weeds Sometimes God hath brought thee into the house of mourning girded thee with sackcloth layd thee in ashes proved thee in the furnace of affliction and then how humble and serious and mortified then what praying and repenting and covenanting with God and strengthning thine heart in him then dead to sin crucified to the world living by faith walking in fear nothing but God and holiness and glory in thy heart and in thy tongue but no sooner hath he turn'd thy captivity put off the garments of thy widowhood brought thee out of darkness into light and redeem'd thy Soul out of trouble but all is presently forgotten and fleshliness vanity and security returns upon thee Oh how little is there yet done to what must be done ere we shall come to any steadiness whilest every wordly change does so rout and disorder us Christians let us be like our God holy and unchangeable get you chang'd into his image and then be unchangable Oh that my Soul were in such a case but how may I obtain Why 1. Seek earnestly after a more abundant diffusion of the establishing Spirit of grace Let the Psalmists prayer be yours Psal 51. 12. Uphold or establish me with thy free Spirit The Spirit of this World is as Reuben Gen. 49. 4. Unstable as water the Spirit of grace is an establishing Spirit Hast thou received this Spirit hast thou a little grace open thy mouth yet wider enlarge thy desire as Heaven A double portion a double portion of thy Spirit O Lord. Consider these two things 1. The greater measures of grace are the portion of those that are the most importunate seekers of grace 2. Those are the most established Souls to whom grace hath abounded 1. The greater measures of grace are the portion of those that are the most importunate seekers of grace To his Saints the Lord giveth his Spirit by measure to some a lesser to some a fuller measure they have all drank in the same Spirit but not all a like draught our Heavenly Father will give his Spirit to those that ask it of him and every man hath according to his asking 't is not with this as with the Manna in the wilderness He that gathered much had nothing over he that gathered little had no lack He that asketh much hath never the more he that asketh little hath never the less 't is not thus but God gives to every man according to his asking The reason why we go on from day to day from year to year with our vessels so empty with so little grace is because our little suffices us we are content and sit down by our little If the Widow had brought more or larger vessels she had had more oyle 2 King 4. 6. The largest hearts go away with the richest loading Do ye see Souls that ply at the bucket that are often letting down into the well of salvation that dwell at the throne of grace whose very breath is prayer that are every day and every night wrestling with the Angel for a blessing whom one blessing will not suffice but are still for more and for more these are the thriving Souls full of prayer and full of the Spirit 2. Those are the most established Souls to whom grace hath abounded 't is not every little measure of true grace that will bring the heart to a comfortable consistency poor weakling Christians sadly prove how even Disciples may be so toss'd in the waves that they know not where to find themselves We are reeds shaken with the wind Oh how are our hearts thrown up and down hither and thither by a perplexing succession of hopes and fears joys and sorrows comforts and crosses and scarce ever at rest sometimes lifted up sometimes depressed sometimes all upon the wing by and by in the dust sometimes in a fever anon in a cold ague yea sometimes breathing out prayers and praises and at the very next minute flameing out in passion and impatiencies thus it is and there is no hope it should be otherwise whilest so low in grace what wonder if whilest we are such children we be carried to and fro with every wind those that are grown up to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might these will have strength to sit still O be aspiring Christians be making up to the highest form and be not content here to take a lower room Be filled with the Spirit follow on follow hard after the Lord and look not to be long your selves till you be fuller of him Brethren do not go about to excuse your sinful perturbations when there is a way before you to cure them You are ready to say do not blame me for it I cannot help it I know 't is very sad to be in a perpetual storm but how can I mend it you know not my tryals none knows where the shooe wrings but he that wears it Do not blame you for it why do not you blame your self for it are you willing of such a troublesome life and to be let alone in it Is the ease of an excuse all the cure you desire Is there not a remedy for your disease I cannot help it what would not more grace help it would not more faith and more patience and more mortification help it You mistake your self you are yet carnal your proud flesh your fretful angry flesh is too hard for that little grace you have get more grace and the cure is done 2. Let your hearts be more strongly intent upon God By how much the more intensely God is minded by so much the less impression will any thing that occurs make upon our spirits when the Scales are but just turned every little dust falling in will make them hover A Bowl that runs strongly towards the mark 't is not every little rub that will turn it out of its course When the soul is making a main heavenward and intends all its powers in the more vigorous pursuit of the Invisible Crown when the heart is possessed and much taken up with its more weighty and glorious concernments when the thoughts affections resolutions are all deeply ingaged and busily working towards God the greatest occurrences of this life are past over as little things 't is because we are so weakly moving heavenward that we are so moved with every trifle Thou complainest of the frequent distractions and fluctâ—ations of thy mind wave upon wave billow upon billow come rolling in upon thee and invincibly roll thy soul out of it self wouldst thou be cur'd of this palpitation of thine heart mind thy God more mind thy business more set thine heart on thy home and upon hasting on thy journey thitherward and see
it is chiefly because their Victory over the world is not perfect and compleat There are three grounds of mens unwillingness to die 1. From a natural abhorrence of death 2. From a lothness to part with their treasure here 3. From an uncertainty whither they shall go when they go hence 1. From that abhorrence of death which is implanted in the natures of all living And upon this account there may be even in the best of Saints an unwillingness to die Our Lord himself who was without sin discovers something of it when he cried out Matth. 26. 39. Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me It s true in his case there was more in it there was wrath in the Cup there was a curse in the Cup there were all the sins of the World wrung in to mingle him a bitter draught but this was also something of it there was death in the Cup. He that said a little before Luke 12. 50. I have a Baptisme to be baptized with this Baptisme of Bloud was it and how am I straitned till it be accomplished I think long ere that day come yet when it came his Innocent Nature you see how it was put to it Christians you that seem to have triumph'd over the fears of death that upon good grounds have said unto it in the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 55. Death where is thy sting grave where is thy victory yet when it comes to it in earnest you know not how this flesh may shrink and if it do yet be not discouraged possibly this very instance of our Lord may be left upon Record to this very end to comfort his Saints when they shall be thus troubled It will be your wisdome to whatever confidence you are arrived that your death is already swallowed up in victory that you shall entertain your dying day as the most joyful day of your life though in this confidence your hearts pant after the approach of that day Make haste my beloved come Lord Jesus yet will it be your wisdome to buckle on all your armour all your hopes all your graces all your evidences all your experiences and comforts and to expect that the conflict of that day may be such as may need your utmost preparations for it 2. From a lothness to part with their treasure here What men have they cannot carry it with them and they are loth to leave it behind them When men die can they carry their money with them can they carry their houses or Lands with them they covet they purchase they build they lay up with so much care and zeal as if they could ship over all they have into the other world but yet they know that as they came naked in so naked they must go out of this world Job 1. 21. But now a Christian that hath Conquered the World the World from thenceforth ceases to be his treasure A Worldling what he has here 't is his treasure for 't is all he has God is a treasure but he 's none of his Christ is a treasure but he 's none of his heaven is a treasure but man 't is none of thine this earth is all thou hast a Christian hath another treasure he hath not his hopes in his hand that 's to come But yet in regard we have hitherto conquered but in part there may be some unwillingness upon this account also even in the Saints to die-Woe to us there are still such remains of the spirit of this world in us our hearts are still carnal to such a degree so suited to an earthly and fleshly life taking such large allowances of our fleshly delights and finding such pleasure in the enjoyment of them that this makes us linger and hang back when God calls away And indeed such Christians who indulge themselves the pleasures of the flesh and are overgrown with an earthly mind is not this the case of too many such Christians do but deceive themselves and others while they say they are willing to die Thou saist if I were sure that Christ were mine I would not care to live a day longer I want assurance and that 's the only reason I would yet a while longer abide in this Tabernacle No no there 's something more in the matter the world hath still such hold of thy heart thou findest such pleasure in an earthly life thy friends and thy estate and thy contentment thou hast herein are so taking with thee that yet thou canst not find in thine heart to part Search Christians narrowly if you find not the matter to be thus with you I never look to be more willing to die till I find mine heart more loose from the pleasure of an earthly life 'T is the mortified Christian he whose soul is already dead to this world who is ready to die out of this world Those who live most with God whose souls being weaned from this milk and honey can keep their distance from it whose self-denying course hath made the pleasures of the flesh to loose their gratefulness to them whom their communion with God their converse with Eternity their delightful fore-views of the pleasures above have already carried up their hearts these are the Christians that are ready to be gone I will believe such an one that he is in earnest when he sayes Make hast my beloved 3. From an uncertainty whither they shall go when they go hence what world they shall find when they leave this Upon this ground I cannot blame worldlings to be afraid to die art thou afraid thou mayst well enough for whither will thy death carry thee O the Lord knows I know not whither nor where it will lay me Dost thou not know whither death will carry thee thou mayst be sure into no good place if it find thee thus Captives to the world are Captives to the Devil and whither will the Devil carry his prisoners Who would be willing to leave his Country his habitation and acquaintance for an unknown Land especially when he had a jealousie he should be sold for a Bondman Is this thy case Worldling I wonder not that thou sayest It s better to abide here A Christian may know whither he is going when he goes hence 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens And hence sayes the Apostle v. 2. We groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven Whatever our dwelling be here we know where we shall have a better when this fails we groan not under the ruines of this but in hopes of a better building earnestly desiring that joyful day It s true Christians may be at some uncertainty through the weakness of their faith and in doubts what their place and portion hereafter may be and therefore also may fear to be gone But however upon
the World is an unbeliever without Christ and in the state of damnation Oh think not light of your worldliness 't is a death token upon you and such as marks you up with those that perish that this is certainly so that every worldling is an unbeliever and unconverted I shall make evident by these infallible demonstrations 1. Can that man be a believer who is a lover of the world more then a lover of God Art thou a believer who lovest not canst thou say thou lovest God when the better part of thine heart is with the world will this be accepted when thou canst only say Lord I bring thee half mine heart and but the least half neither here 't is divided let the world I pray thee have the first choice and take thou all that the world leaves give me leave first to mind my earthly things and next to these God shall be regarded Speak Conscience will God accept such a gift such a little piece of a soul when the main is bestowed on another Will God say Surely this is my Child surely this is my Servant next to the world he loves me best of all Do ye think he will what saith the Scripture Mat. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother mâ—re then me is not worthy of me he that loveth Son or Daughter more then me is unworthy of me Find if you can a more convincing argument of an unbeliever then that of the Apostle 2 Tim. 3. 4. A lover of pleasure more then a lover of God He that loveth the world more then God is none of his that cannot be deny'd And art thou not the man dost thou love God as thou lovest the world let thy life speak what seekest thou whom servest thou where dost thou bestow thy self in whom dost thou bless thy self what is the chief pleasure and comfort of thy life Is God he Is it God whom thou seekest and servest and blessest thy self in does not thine heart know that thy Mammon is the God whom thou servest that thou lovest to be rich and to prosper in the world more then ever thou lovedst to be holy and righteous before God Dost thou love God where are thy labours of love what hast thou done for God ever since thou wert born where are thy fruits thou hast brought forth unto the Lord hast thou been serving God all thy daies and yet hast nothing to shew of all that thou hast done thou hast son ething to shew for thy serving the world this house thou hast gotten or that Farm or these Sheep and Oxen or this stock of money something thou hast to shew to prove thee a servant of the world but hast thou been serving God all thy time and hast nothing to shew for it Sure Brethren worldly men are either very fools or very false to themselves if they do not condemn themselves here I confess I have done little for God all my time I have been busie for this world but I confess I have but loytered and neglected the things of the other world I must never lye for the matter mine own Conscience tells me 't is thus Foolish soul Hast thou serv'd the world more then God and canst thou yet make thy self believe thou lovest God more then the world to say thou lovest God above all though thou hast but little sought or serv'd him is to say I love him above all but I care not much for him if another man should have said so would not thine own heart have laugh'd at him for a fool or condemn'd him for a lyar Tremble Worldling and hear this first evidence against thee thy whole life tells thee thou lovest the world more then thou lovest God and God himself tells thee that he that loveth the world more then God is none of his 2. Is he a believer that is not come to Christ Coming to Christ and believing in Christ are the same Joh. 6. 35. Art thou come unto Christ whence art thou come from the world what and yet thine heart still in the world art thou come to Christ who art still where thou wert when thou wert without Christ canst thou be here and there too deceive not thy self thou mayst as well be at once in heaven and hell as thine heart be in Christ and in the world Are Christ and the world friends are God and Mammon become but one Master are the two kingdomes united and may the same persons at once be subjects of them both Hath Christ ever said be mine and then stay where thou art list thy name under me for a Disciple and then go and serve the world still be proud be covetous be sensual be in all things as the men of this world are only be my Disciple Is not the renouncing of the world included in our coming to Christ doth not he that saith to thee Come first say depart and is not thy comming to Christ in the very nature of it a departing from the world thy choosing of him a refusing of it when Christ and the world are offered to thy choice canst thou choose both must thou not necessarily take to the one and let the other go And hast thou renounc'd the world who art stil a worldling what hast thou renounc'd of it or how far forth hast thou renounc'd it Is it not thy treasure still is it not thy Lord still Is not this it which thou still takest as thy governour and reward Doest thou love it as thy God and serve it as thy God and hold it fast as thy God and yet hast thou renounc'd it does every one that knows thee point with the finger at thee there goes an earth-worm there goes a Mammonist there lives a true drudge to the world and wilt thou yet say I have done with the world Is thy lust and thine appetite after more as greedy and insatiable as ever is thy love and delight and rest in what thou hast as great as ever is it so hard to get any thing out of thine hand for God so that that little which comes must be wrung as so many drops of bloud from thine heart art thou so pinching and sparing that scarce any without thine own belly is ever the better for thee and hast thou yet renounc'd the world Art thou so crucified and vexed and tormented when thou art cross'd or miscarriest in any little of thy worldly interest and canst thou yet say I am crucified to the world Can the world make thee lye and dissemble and play the knave when t is for thy advantage can it command thy conscience and thy religion and thy hopes to do obeysance to it can it keep thee out of thy closet out of the Church must prayers and sabbaths and sermons and Sacraments be neglected when the world hath any business for thee and hath it still so much business for thee that thou canst scarce have one prayer or one sabbath clear of its encroachment doth it follow thee
into thy closet and follow thee into the congregation and so fill thine head and take away thine heart that thou canst make nothing of thy religion or whatsoever transactions there have been sometimes betwixt the Lord and thy Soul doth the World still meet thee at the door and make all void and null Hath it held thee in such ignorance and Atheism that under all the means of knowledge and grace thou still livest without God in the World and canst thou yet say thou hast shaken off its yoke Stand worldling and hear this farther evidence Thy greediness thy penuriousness thy lying and defrauding thy neglected duties thy neglected sabbaths thy neglected Soul and all upon the Worlds account these will tell thee thou hast not renounc'd the World and that will convict thee that thou art not come unto Christ nor hast be lieved on him 3. Is he a believer who hath absolutely chosen this world and hath onely conditionally chosen Christ who will first seek his own things and in the second place the things of Christ who will model his christianity into a consistency with his carnal interest Is he a believer who will have both if it may be Christ and this World too but if he cannot have both will let Christ go Is he a christian that sayes I 'le serve Christ though it cost me nothing I 'le be for him when I have nothing else to do he shall have all my spare hours if that will content him is this to give Chhrist the preheminence or is he a Christian that will take in Christ to be an underling to the world What are the terms on which Christ is offered hath he given thee leave to make thine own terms or must thou not stand to his what are Christs terms but that thou take him absolutely that is purely on his own terms without putting in any of thine Dost thou understand what his conditions are Is it only that he shall be second in the kingdom that he shall be obeyed in all things provided the world do not contradict it Is this Christianity that the world should be suffered to give check to the authority and interest of Christ And is not this all thy Christianity thou saiest indeed thou hast chosen Christ absolutely God forbid that I should prefer any thing before Christ that I should mind any thing more then Christ I mind the World t is true and I ought so to do but Christ hath my heart and I had rather loose all that ever I have then at last be found out of Christ But consider thou mayst best judge of thine heart by thy life as I said before so I demand of thee again whither does the course of thy life mainly bend what art thou doing all the year round what proportion hath Christ of thy daily care and labour speak truth would not thine heart tell thee thou lyest if thou say thou art more earnestly and more constantly caring for the things of Christ then of the world Again thou mayst best Judge of thy choice by observing thy critical hours How is it ordinarily with thee when Christ and the World stand in competition when it comes to be a case that one of the two must be neglected which of the two then use to carry thee Thou knowest thou hast often neglected Christ for the world thou knowest that thy businesses or thy pleasures or thy companions have often lost thee a prayer or a sabbath or a sermon thou wouldst have pray'd oftner or heard oftner but thou couldst not have leisure thou knowest it hath been too often thus and consider if it be not commonly thus How seldom is it that thou canst remember that thou hast carried thy self as a Christian to thy loss that thou hast followed Christ in any duties when thou knewest it would have been more to thy profit to have put Christ off to another time Many a time have thy gains or thy friends or thy pleasures lost thee thy conscience but how often couldst thou ever say My conscience hath lost me a friend my conscience hath lost me a good bargain Whatever Christ hath at any time call'd thee to If thou couldst say it is not for mine ease it is not for my credit it is nof for my safety to hearken hath not this been counted argument enough to hold thee back and excuse sufficient to save thee from blame And wilt thou yer say thou hast chosen Christ absolutely or canst thou think thy self a true believer who hast chosen him only conditionally Is this the Christianity on which thou wilt venture thy Soul I will be for Christ as far as the world and this flesh or which is all one as far as the Devil will give me leave I have known some poor ignorant wretches whom when I have been pressing to a serious minding of God and their eternal concernment they have answered me why I do as far as God will give me leave No no wretch thou mistakest t is onely as far as the Devil will give thee leave and this is the common case of Worldlings thou that wilt be a Christian no farther then the World will give thee leave wilt be such no farther then the Devil will give thee leave and sure thou that wilt be a Christian no farther then the Divel will give thee leave when he will give thee leave thou shalt to Heaven Wanton when wilt thou be chast when my flesh will give me leave Drunkard when wilt thou be sober when my companions will give me leave Earthworm when wilt thou to Christ when the World will give me leave how much of Christianity wilt thou take up what the world will allow me how much is that as much as please the Devil But when wilt thou to Heaven then why when the flesh and the World and the Devil are all agreed to send me thither Stand Worldling this once more stand and hear thy whole evidence Thou art a lover of the world more then a lover of God thou art not come unto Christ or if thou seem to be come thou hast accepted of him only on condition that though thou be his Disciple yet thou mayst still continue a servant to this world Surely if the God of this world who hath blinded thy mind that thou believe not had not so blinded thee that thou canst not see thine unbelief thine own heart would condemn thee and thine own hand would subscribe thy sentence and this is thy sentence That thou art yet under the dominion and therefore under the damnation of the world Thy soul abideth in death and the wrath of God abideth on thee Thou art a man of this world thou hast taken thy portion in this life and art like to have no better then thou hast chosen If thy day run out thus thy word at last will be that which was the rich mans Luke 16. Son remember thou hast received thy good things Oh what 's the meaning of that word why
this is the meaning of it thou hast all the good that thou art like to hsve for ever an end an end is come upon all thy comforts the Sun is set upon all thy good daies not one good day not one merry hour more for ever and ever thou hast had thy day henceforth nothing remains to thee but an eternal night the blackness of darkness for ever thy temporal joyes are swallowed up of everlasting sorrows thy honors are expired into everlasting contempt thy riches have taken wings and now thy poverty is come upon thee as an armed man which thou shalt not escape All this is included in this word which will be thy word Thou hast received thy good things What eyes have ye O ye sons of the earth if you do not yet see what hearts have you if you do not yet tremble The Lord be merciful to me if these things be so what 's like to become of me I have spun a fair thread Oh I have coveted an evil covetousness I have been busie in gathering dirt and building my Nest and providing for my young but whither is my soul taking her flight If the rest of my daies be as the daies that are past and God knows whether after so long an Apprentice I may ever go out free if the rest of my daies be as the daies that are past what remains but a fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation which will devoure me for ever I have kindled a fire and compass'd my self about with sparks and after I have walk'd a while in the light of my fire and of the sparks that I have kindled this shall I have of the hand of the most High I shall lye down in sorrow O ye worldlings shake up out of your stupendious security will you yet receive the Word of the Lord and suffer your selves to be convinced will you yet believe your selves to be unbelievers What say you Do you not believe that Worldlings are unbelievers can you have any other thought but you are Worldlings Open your eyes upon all your wayes view the whole course of your life what it hath been from your first time until now and let Conscience speak freely If these two things might stick in your hearts that you are Worldlings and that Worldlings have no part in Christ then there were hope that you would accept of those counsels which I shall give you from the Lord in order to your escape after I have first urg'd the second word of Conviction 2. That where there is but little power over the world there is but little Faith As the first Conviction will overthrow the Faith of some and prove it a meer nullity so this will call in question the confidence of others and at least take them some degrees lower There are some Professors who have a name among the first three of the Worthies of our Lord have the site and the aspect of stars of the first magnitude and are ranked among the chief of Saints who have risen high in the easier and sweeter but less significant parts of Religion who have gotten the language and tasted as they imagine of the milk and honey of Canaan and learned much of the more pleasing manners of that good Land who seem to be of the more intimate acquaintance of the sublimer spirit and power of the Gospel and to be much elevated in the spirituality of their notions and duties above the attainments of vulgar Christians and hence are grown up in their own and others apprehensions to be as the Cedars of the Lord among the lower shrubs whom yet if we enquire into about those severer points of mortification self-denial and crucifixion to the world possibly they may be found in these things as low as the least of Saints The faith of these if it prove to be the faith of Gods Elect at all yet sure it will be found to be by many degrees less then it appears and these arietes gregis must yet for the real spirit of faith and holiness come behind the littles ones of the flock where there is but little power over the world there is but little faith In order to the mannaging and carrying home this Conviction consider that 1. According to the truth or falshood of our faith so are we either Conquerours or Captives to the world 2. According to the proportion of our faith so will this victory over the world be more compleat or imperfect 1. According to the truth or falshood of our faith so are we either Conquerours or Captives to the world Every unbeliever is a Captive every believer is a Conquerour of the world both these have been already proved Faith is our chusing and laying hold on another portion our resigning our selves to the dominion of another Lord the world is gone when it may no longer be our Ruler or reward Faith changes the heart Act. 15. 9. it kills the Spirit of this World and that other Spirit that rises up in its room is this Spirit of faith By faith Christ is form'd upon the heart the old Soul is made new renewed after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness this new Soul is suited to a new treasure earthly things wax old and old things pass away when the soul is made new 't is argument enough that thou art an unbeliever and an enemy to the Cross of Christ that thou still mindest earthly things Philip. 3. 19. 2. According to the proportion of our faith so will this victory over the world be more compleat or imperfect We may best take the height and degree of our faith by observing the elevation of our spirits above the earth a low and earthly spirit whatever shew it makes is but of little faith Faith hath a general influence upon every grace and lust as to the nourishing of the one so to the withering of the other lust and the world run parallel where one is there you shall find the other on the Throne or at the footstool Faith lays lust in the dirt and the world ever falls with it Faith is our arm and according as this arm grows stronger so is the blow it gives to our Enemy more mortal The power of God is revealed in us from faith to faith there is a more abundant communication and a more vigorous exerting of this Divine Power where faith is grown where we are but of little strength its certain we are but weak in faith and where our adversary is so strong 't is argument enough that we are weak Growth in grace is then prov'd to be most real when 't is most equal and universal 't is an imperfection in Nature where one member out-grows the rest as grace and peace so grace and grace have their due proportions each to other great peace and little grace will make it questionable whether that peace be peace something of one grace and nothing of another will make it as doubtful whether that
grace be grace high in knowledge and low in love strong in confidence and loose in conscience hot in affection and cold in practise in the solaces of the spirit and yet walking in the flesh Behold a Christian like Nebuchadnezzars Image the head of gold the feet of iron and clay desinit in piscem mulier formofa supernè 'T is strange to observe what contradictions some Professors of Christianity are they are what they are not they are not what they are whilest they would be the great reconcilers of flesh and spirit of earth and heaven and make the serving of God and their own bellies the same service behold how they are divided from themselves they love God and love him not they serve God and serve him not this they may do as well as love God and this present world Oh how different are many of us from our selves our practices from our principles our doings from our sayings and yet how little differing from others you pray as others do not you hear as others do not you swear not as others you curse not as others but do you not covet as others are you not carnal as others Consider your wayes who more intent upon their present commodity who more hot upon the chase of an earthly inheritance then some of those who profess to have laid up their treasure in heaven Are there none to be sound who pretend to the greatest confidence of Divine Love to the highest pitch of Spirituality and Divine Communion who seem to pant after the Lord and breath out their souls in their warm and passionate duties and yet are eaten out and swallowed up of the cares of this life It is an amazing thing to consider what a strange degree of earthliness is to be found among such what infatiable hunger what indefatigable labour after an encrease of their estates how little respect to soul or conscience where their gain is concerned how ordinarily dispensing with lying promise breaking and almost any unrighteousness when 't is for their advantage how many grains must there be allowed them e're charity it self can judge them honest And where is all bestowed that is thus gotten in how little goes out for God or any of his how many hypocritical bemoanings of the hard case of the poor to one liberal alms Some gather only that they may lay up others that they may have to spend upon their lusts to build them houses and furnish their tables to trim their carkasses to please their eye or their palats and all this either justified and allowed or at least made up with some such hypocritical complaints Woe is me this world is too hard for me O it eats up my time O it steals away mine heart how am I overcharged how is my soul even choaked within me what shall I do to help it And when the complaint is thus made the matter is mended now a good Christian now ease and joy and confidence returns and then on again the same course Brethren be serious consider your selves feel your own pulses view your own faces and ways observe your hearts see where their daily walks are may you not find them ten times walking to and fro through the earth to once or twice casting a look towards heaven What are their daily tasks what is the work you every day put them upon Instead of those higher and nobler Offices of Vessels of Honor waiting before the Throne of God standing in his Courts bearing his Name beholding his Face setting forth his Praises have not our hearts been made hewers of wood and drawers of water carriers of burthens servers of tables purveyors for the flesh caterers for the appetite servants to the back and the belly the great traders and merchants of the earth to buy in provision for lust Worthy employment for immortal Souls as if the utensils of the Temple the golden altar the golden table the candlesticks the bowls and the basons all of beaten gold should have been fetchd out and set up in a blind Inne or a dirty alehouse for the service and the pleasure of every drunken companion Have not your Souls none of you been thus dealt withall are not these your heart-works when any thing is to be done for God the body must do that the body must to the closet the tongue must pray the ear must hear the eye must read but the Soul must stay abroad when any thing is to be done for the other world that must be but bodily exercise but when this flesh must be served that 's the heart-work that 's work for the Soul If these Souls could be seen with bodily eyes a man that goes into the field or into a fair or to a feast might see an hundred Souls more there then bodies and he that went into the congregation of the Lord if there were never so great a throng may be he might see but a few hearts in the company Christians consider is this your faith is this your victory over the world is this to be mortified is this to be crucified with Christ or to have your conversation in Heaven or can you think your selves believers especially of so high a form when so earthly and carnal What think you of those Jews of whom the Lord speaks Ezek. 33. 31. They come unto thee as the people cometh they sit before thee as my people they hear thy words but they will not do them with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goes after their covetousness Are these the people of God all whose religion is to come to hear and to pray to have a mouth full of God a mouth full of love and an heart full of covetousness Give me leave to interpose a word or two to the carrying on the former conviction as to many professâ—rs of religion in order whereto let us a little consider that Scripture Philip. 3. 18. 19. Where the Apostle speaks of a sort of professours much of this earthly make and he speaks with tears in his eyes Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind erthly things In the former part of the chapter you may observe how 1. He gives an account of himself and his own Christianity and this in these particulars 1. He set such an high rate on Christ and an interest in his righteousness that in comparison hereof he counted all things else but loss and dung let this gain be loss this earth be dung troden under foot as dung cast out as dung so I may win Christ and be found in him 2. He unites interest in Christ with conformity to Christ they lye both together in the same heart and his Soul is making out after both in the same breath That I may win Christ and be found in him and that I may know him
and Reason For what is that which thou callest the witness and the seal of the spirit but an Opinion of thine own a voice within thee or a strong perswasion of thine own heart that thou art of God which because it is attested by some gifts of the spirit and some affectionate workings of thine heart at times heavenward thou takest to be the voice of the Divine Spirit though it be never so contradictory to the Word of God and so wilt hold thy confidence notwithstanding what the Word speaks to the contrary But that thou mayst no longer thus deceive thy self know and consider That the Spirit witnesses and seals in this double way By being the mark of the Lord upon us By being the light of the Lord in us whereby we come to discern the mark of the Lord upon us 1. By being the mark of the Lord upon us 1 Joh. 3. 24. he that keepeth his commandements dwelleth in him and he in him hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us By the Spirit we are to understand the graces of the Spirit that holiness and heavenliness of mind which the Spirit hath wrought upon us The spirit of God forms us into his own likeness and this image of the Spirit is Gods mark upon us As mens so Christs sheep may be known whose they are by their masters mark upon them whose mark is an earthly mind Is it of Christ or is it not the mark of the God of this world Holiness and spirituality is the mark of Christ earthliness and sin is of the Devil To whom does thy Soul belong The Spirit thou sayest witnesseth that thou belongest to God I but whose mark is it that is upon thee is this covetousness and greediness upon the world is this lying and defrauding this unrighteousness and unmercifulness which the world can ordinarily command thee to is this the mark of God or the Devil the Devil is this thy master for behold his mark still upon thee It 's true Christ buyes all his sheep out of the Devils flock but whatever sheep he buyes and brings home he scrapes out the old and claps on his own mark upon it and though there be some prints of the old yet remaining till we have put off flesh some dirt will stick yet the new mark which Christ hath set on now carries it Say not thou art seal'd with the Spirit whatever thy comforts or confidences have been unless thou seest his mark upon thee say not thou art mark'd by the Spirit whilest the Devils mark an earthly mind is the most visible and conspicuous upon thee 2. By being the light of the Lord within us whereby we are able to discern our Lords mark upon us 1 Cor. 2. 12. The Devil so amuses and deludes Souls that they often know not what to make of themselves but conclude themselves to be quite another thing then they are and this he doth by this threefold device by Counterfeiting Christs mark Pulliating his own mark Blurring and blinding the mark of Christ 1. By counterfeiting Christs mark and setting it on his own sheep Christ marks his sheep especially in the heart that 's the throne of the Spirit that 's the seat of Grace the heart the Devil can do something to the counterfeiting of this he can make common grace look like saving grace he can paint the face of a Saint upon the heart of a beast But he can more easily dissemble the outward marks of Christ Christ hath his outward marks his earmark Joh. 10. 27. My sheep hear my voice His mark in the forehead the owning or confessing of Christ before men Luk. 12. 8. He that confesseth me before men him will I confess before my father which is in Heaven His mark in the mouth he circumcises their lip and makes them a people of a pure language Zeph. 3. 9. All these the Devil can counterfeit with more ease he can bring his sheep to hear Christs preaching he can bring them to own and confess Christ before men he can teach his to pray and to be expert in the language of Disciples and when he hath done thus then he tells them see thou art one of Christs for behold thou prayest and hearest and confessest Christ and what are these but Christs marks upon thee when whatever is upon the tongue or the forehead the image of the Devil is still upon the heart 2. By palliating his own mark Christs mark upon thee I but whose is that this earthly mind that stands above it O he hath a device for that too he hath a cloke for covetousness 't is but providence or good husbandry nay this gain is godliness all this carking and caring and drudging for the world is but in obedience to the will of God to provide things honest in the sight of all men And in this the Devil is so damnably successful that it is one of the hardest tasks to help poor worldlings to the sight of what 's under this cloke though all that know thee do see that thou art an earthworm yet thou wilt not be brought to see thy self And as the Devil thus deceives his own so he distresses the Saints 3. By blurring Christs mark that it cannot easily be seen or known to be his As he can make a meer paint look like sincerity so he can make sincerity look like hypocrisie as many carnal confidents bless themselves in the opinion of their uprightness so many mortified broken upright hearts condemn themselves for hypocrites though Christ be in them and hath set his seal upon their hearts yet the Devil raises up so many black mists of melancholique thoughts and fears that they cannot see what there is of Christ in them and thereupon they judge very sadly of their case I doubt I am an hypocrite and none of Christs for what is there of the grace of Christ found in me But now the Spirit of the Lord as it works grace in the heart so it gives light to the eye it brings mens perswasions and opinions to the word and compares them with that it searches the scriptures and shews the Soul what Christs mark is it irradiates the heart and shews the very same mark which is written in the word stamp'd upon the Soul and thereby establishes it in power if there be no such mark found there but the quite contrary to it the peace that 's spoken is not of the Spirit of God but of the Devil Worldly professour dost thou not see the scripture death-mark upon thee or if thou doest not does not every one that knows thee behold it Doth not this earthly mind appear upon thy forehead upon thy tongue upon the palms of thine hands and the prints of thy feet may not thy love of the world be read in every look in every word in every line of thy life and wilt thou yet say it 's the Spirit of the Lord that speaks peace to thee whose
up a general complaint one against another 't is in every ones mouth Oh how earthly are we become our gold is mixed with dross our wine with water behold a second but sad Incarnation our spirit is become flesh every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards how hard are we driving after bags of earth we assemble our selves for corn and wine and when riches encrease who is there almost that sets not his heart upon them who is there that labours to be holy as to be rich to thrive in grace as in purse though the Lord hath taken off our Chariot Wheels yet still we drive on though he hath been whipping us upward yet behold still we are all below though he hath burnt up our houses and fir'd us out of our Nests yet behold our hearts are still among among the rubbish though he hath mingled wormwood with our milk and gall with our honey yet we say 't is sweet and will not be weaned though he hath testified against our pride and testified against our covetousness and made such stains upon our beauty and such holes in the bottoms of our bags though we see plainly and say God is angry with us and angry for the iniquity of our covetousness yet who are they that have given off and are gone back from their so eager pursuit of the world Oh what 's like to become of us we are so set upon this Idol that it 's much to be feared desolation is determined upon us Do we not ordinarily hear and make such complaints but if we should with our complaints let fall a teare upon the guilty may they not return upon us weep not for us but for your selves for your own covetousness for your own carnality and what should we say for our selves if they do so Oh the Lord help me I am one of the company I even I also am guilty this Idol hath a tabernacle in this heart also though I considered it not But must our complaints suffice us is it enough to make all well to confess 't is so bad must this be all our heavenliness to bewail our earthliness will God take our acknowledgments for amendments is this your redemption to bewail your captivity But when shall it be better when shall it be said to these prisoners Go forth when for the other world when for God alone for nothing but the everlasting kingdom Arise O captive put off thy prison garments get thee up out of this house of bondage unclog unfetter thy Soul get thy foot out of the snare and away for the holy land leave this earth to its heirs let the men of this world take to their portion and be the only servants to it but go thou and serve the Lord let God and the world take their own whilest worldlings will not be the servants of Christ let it no longer be said that Christians are the servants of the world Brethren conclude upon it that you have no more of christianity then you have of spirituality that this spot of earthliness will unavoidably be a blot upon your evidences for Heaven Have you assurance that you are the Lords how can that be when you are so much the worlds What ever arguments you have that seem to conclude well for you yet how many objections are there also Oh how many Buts are there against us Such a one is a judicious understanding Christian But hee 's greedy upon the world such a one is of a savoury gracious behaviour But hee 's unmerciful to the poor such a one is much in prayer and will pray singularly well But there 's no trust to his word such a one is of a free and liberal Spirit But he is proud Shoot down these Butts if ever you would stand established in your confidence Have you not assurance Is this yet to be gotten Oh how can you so eagerly mind any other getting can you have such leisure for Earth when Heaven still hangs in doubt or do ye think that the same way does lead to both that the same labour will serve for both will the same wind and the same course carry you towards both the Poles can you at once be sayling Northward and Southward can you ascend and descend by the same motion when you are progging for your flesh building your houses enlarging your border laying you up treasure on earth and making it as sure as you can Is this your laying up treasure in Heaven your giving diligence to make God sure your calling and election sure once be bound in good earnest for glory and take the strait course thitherward and then farewel World thy kingdom is finished thy dominion is at an end Brethren receive this word of conviction and submit to it the summe whereof is that where there is so much of the Spirit of this World there is but little faith and where there is but little faith 't is more then you can tell whether there be any at all God is a convincing of us if his word does not his providences shall convince us and lay us yet lower in our own eyes what means his undoing and ruining providences but to try us what spirit we are of and to teach us with his briars and thorns to understand our selves better and to recover why is his face so against us why is his hand so heavy upon us what do the ashes of our wasted treasures speak to us If it do not speak out this to us Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead yet does it speak less then this Thou hast but a little strength thou hast but a few names that have not defiled their garments strengthen the things that remain that are ready to dye Is not this its word seekest thou yet great things for thy self when I am breaking down what I have built when I am plucking up what I have planted is this a time to seek great things for thy self yea or to think great things of thy self seek them not no nor think any more such great thoughts lay thee down in the dust be ashamed and confounded for what thou art and hast done and climb no more up those trees that are hewing down under thee Brethren when do ye think the Lord will cause his fury towards us to cease when will the flames be quenched when will his repentings be kindled what hope is there that our conflagrations should be at an end till our Idols be burnt up 't is vain to think that our prayers and fastings and weeping before the Lord will put out the fire of his jealousie Get thee up wherefore lyest thou thus upon thy face Israel hath sinned they have taken of the accursed thing I will not be with you any more except ye destroy the accursed from among you Josh 7. 10 11 12. The Lord hath broken us with a great breach the Lord hath smitten us with a very grievous blow and now we fall to fasting and praying and
prostrating our selves before him in hope that this may make up our breach and be the healing of our wound But will this do Get you up get you up why lye you thus upon your faces Is there not an accursed thing among you think not that the Lord will be with you till that be destroyed from among you hope not for any thing from those prayers or fastings that do no execution upon your accursed things Do your prayers leave your pride alive your covetousness alive your wantonness alive your selves are like to dye notwithstanding all such prayers God is either upon refining or rejecting he hath cast us into his furnace kindled his fires been blowing with his bellows if our dross may yet be consumed If that be not done the next word we may hear may be that of the Prophet Jer. 6. 29 30. The bellows are burnt the lead is consumed by the fire the founder melteth in vain for this dross is not taken away reprobate silver shall men call them for the Lord hath rejected them Use 2. Of Direction and Exhortation Brethren have I not yet said enough to fetch you off from your servitude will you go free or have I spent my labour in vain must I leave you at the Brick-kiln or will you go over to Canaan what are your thoughts Is it good to continue in your servile state is the vassalage of unbelief better then the victory of faith what are your resolutions have you sold your selves for servants and will you stand to the bargain may you go free and will you not have you not understood enough of the worlds enmity have you not felt enough of the worlds tyranny have you not sin'd enough and suffer'd enough already by it what say you are you for liberty or bondage for captivity or victory why what may we do to obtain the victory why will you hearken then are you willing of help will you take Gods counsel when 't is offered you well in hope that some of you will hearken I shall yet farther adventure these few directions In the first place I shall mind you of what hath been already spoken touching the wayes by which faith overcometh the world and shall turn them into these 6. counsels 1. Get a right judgment of both worlds study and get an understanding of Earth and Heaven and give not off this study till you be throughly convinc'd of the unspeakable transcendencies of things to come above things present 2. Choose your lot in the best of the two determine for Heaven that infinitely better inheritance Be unalterably at this point I am for the everlasting blessedness however it be with me here 3. Be convinc'd that the good things of this World cannot further nor can the evil things of this world hinder your eternal blessedness and esteem of all things temporal according to the respect they bear to the things that are eternal 4. Be convinc'd that the Design of all the temptations of this World is to deprive you of your eternal inheritance 5. By living more purely a life of faith get clear apprehensions and a deeper sense of the blessedness to come 6. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure by turning your eyes back upon what hath been already said you may make fuller improvement of these directions upon which I forbear any farther enlargement To these I shall add this one general direction Make your advantage of all those means by which your faith may gather strength and in which it's strength is to be put forth and exercised Particularly 1. Improve all your duties this way Let all your seekings of God be a wrestling with the World Put this great affair into every prayer put it into your dayly confessions put it into your daily petitions Carry the sense of your sore bondage into the presence of God let the misery and the danger it hath subjected you to be written upon your hearts and go and spread the writing before the Lord. Let the throne of grace be a Judgment seat where this traitor may be daily arraigned and condemned Take unto you words confess unto God Lord I have dealt very falsely with thee and foolishly for my self I have forsaken the Fountain of living waters for broken Cisterns wherein is no water I have taken the World into my bosom and thrown the Lord at my heels I have set the World on the Throne and trodden Christ under my feet I have served mine enemy and slighted the Rock of my Salvation I have sold my soul for silver and my hopes for handfulls of barley I have followed vanity and neglected alsufficiency I have been a true drudg to this muck a good husband for this flesh but what have I been to the Lord what an evil and slothful servant If I should say I were not a worldling or a sensualist mine own soul would call me lyar to my face but though I see what a fool and what a beast and what a slave I am this sottish heart will not yet be wise it hath loved these Idols and will follow them still Confess thus unto God and if one dayes confession will not shame you out of your folly to it again the next day and the next day and every day as long as you live Bring in new Indictments fill'd up with all the aggravations you can gather up I have been often told of the evil of a worldly heart and life of the danger of it of the unworthiness of it I have been counselled to take heed of it and I have known it has been good counsel I have been oblig'd against it by commands by kindnesses by covenants by interest by experiences of the gall and the Wormwood it hath still prov'd in my belly whatever it hath been in my mouth My judgment and Conscience hath been against it I have been offered a better service and a better reward and I have understood it was a good offer and worth the accepting I have been charged upon pain of death and everlasting damnation to take heed and beware of it and yet still I am where I was Counsels have been despised commands have been broken kindnesses have been slighted covenants have been violated reason and conscience have been baffled yea death and hell have been despised for the sake of this lust and love of the world so foolish am I and ignorant and as a beast before thee Thus quicken and sharpen your confessions with all the aggravations imaginable till if it be possible thy folly may depart from thee not being able to bear such an hot prosecution Deal thus roughly and thus closly with your earthly hearts when ever you have them before the Lord that they may not dare to meet you so there again Put it into your daily Petitions Speak unto the Lord let not thy soul keep silence till he hear Let thine oppressed heart lift up its voice to the most high tell him Oh I have surfeited of
this flesh I am sick of this World these briars and thorns yea and these Lillies and Roses are a grief of mind to me I must have them out ere I can be at rest Make these thorns to scratch me these flowers to stink in my nostrils Beg a new heart beg a better spirit that may neither find pleasure nor so much as ease in such things as these Oh for mortification oh for a more raised spirit where is the life of faith where is the power of the Spirit help Lord help Lord a renewed heart a chaste spirit when shall it once be let not my soul be held any longer an adulteress from thee let not these husks be my meat these ashes be my bread this earth be my treasure while God stands by Let not Christ and my soul be kept strangers whilest I am the familiar of this flesh and the servant of vanity Plead with the Lord for relief Plead with him upon his own interest Who is it O Lord that 's must wronged whose right is it that 's most invaded whose am I Am I not thine Lord Is not my love and my labour and my strength and my time and my body and my soul is it not all thy right shall thine enemy command and carry away that which is thine recover recover thy due Take this heart and all that I have take possession Lord set thy name upon my door and suffer not these strangers to enter or encroach upon thy right Plead with him upon the bloud of his Covenant Whence is the Covenanted Redemption is it only from Hell is it not from lust also can it be from one if it be not from both a total redemption Lord an universal redemption from every Plague from every enemy I cannot escape the pit if I be held in the snare if I break not this outer I shall fall also into the inner Prison by the bloud of the Covenant send forth thy Prisoner out of this Prison What doth this bloud speak Doth it only say Deliver them from the pit for thou hast found a ransome Doth it not also say Whilest thou keepest them in the World keep them from the evil and will not God hear the cry of such bloud Cry unto the Lord. Be instant be importunate with him Try the strength of Prayer Be uncessant resolve against denyals Cry unto him day and night avenge me of mine adversary Rid my soul out of thraldom whilest thou livest give not over if thou wilt not thou shalt not be denyed Has thou gotten a little ground take the same way to maintain what thou hast gotten Does the Conquered World rally upon thee and do thy affections begin to stoop to it Pray them up again Doth thine heart begin again to wander after it Pray it in again Do thy corruptions and temptations begin to get head again and to prevail Pray them down again meet them with a Prayer at every turn The Lord rebuke thee false heart The Lord rebuke thee deceitful World The Lord uphold thee oppressed Soul Beloved your Victory over the World can neither be gotten nor maintained but by power from above T is God only that 's able to give battel to the flesh In vain do you engage unless he engage with you Prayer will set faith on work and faith will engage the promise and the promise will engage Christ with you and Christ will engage the Father to your help If Heaven be too hard for earth the World shall fall before a Praying soul Brethren will you take this counsel put it thus into every Prayer you make and if you find this to be your Great enemy Bend the main force of every Prayer against it Fight neither against small nor great in comparison but against this King of Evils This is the great Thief Lord that meets me at every turn and is robbing me every day that robs the Lord of his due and my Soul of its peace this is the Moth that eats out all my Strength this is the Murtherer that kills my Soul O let this Strong be bowed down this is the Heir kill him and the Inheritance shall be mine And when ever you have made your prayer judge of the acceptance of it by the success it hath on this Adversary When at any time you have found your souls most melted and inlarged in prayer and greatliest refreshed by sensible illapses and incoms from above at such a time presently return into your heart and demand But how goes it now with the interest of the World in me How stands my heart now affected to my carnal things am I weaned Is my clog fallen off What hath my flesh lost by what my spirit seems to have gained What hath my earthly-mindedness my covetousness lost in this prayer Can I now go away and be contented and be patient in any condition hath this Divine warmth left a chill upon my fleshly appetite can I the better want the Quails now I have tasted of the Manna am I less careful and less concerned which way the World goes with me or can I go down presently into my shop or forth into my fields and be as hungry and as much swallowed up of my earthly cares and delights as if I had never tasted any thing of God Can I so Oh this is not the Prayer I took it to be I may not sit down by this I must to my knees again to my God again and again while I live I will not give over thus I will wrestle I will wait I will enquire to day to morrow next day after every prayer Is it yet better yet more mortified yet more weaned Yet more humble and contented I can never I will never satisfie my self with any praying with any answer whilst my flesh thus holds up its head This is the first Direction the stress whereof I lay upon these two things Bend the main force if every Prayer against this evil level your Arrow against the face of this enemy And then judge of the acceptableness of your prayer by the success it hath upon it 2. Improve Sabbaths this way The Sabbath is the test of God Heb. 4. Our holy keeping of Sabbaths is our entring into his Rest our recess from the World and our retiring to the Lord to take our Rest with him The end of the Sabbath is the preservation and propagation of Religion it is for the continuing in memory the Redemption of Christ for the more abundant diffusion and shedding abroad of the Spirit of Christ for the more solemn Celebration of his Worship and so consequently for the maintaining the power of Holiness all which the World would destroy and bury with him in his Grave aud roll it self as a stone upon it all that it might never be remembred There are four special means by which Religion is kept up in the World and transmitted from Generation to Generation 1. A fixed Rule or Standard of Religion whereby the knowledge of God
his Will Worship and Waies is preserved and propagated to wit the holy Scriptures Isa 8. 20. to the Law and to the Testimonies c. 2. Fixed Officers To interpret expound and give the sense of the Word and to publish and preach it to the World Nehem. 8. 4. 8. Mal. 2. 7. 3. Fixed Ordinances Wherein the Lord is to be solemnly worshiped the Observing and keeping pure and entire whereof is required as in many positive Precepts so also in all those Scriptures which forbid Idolatry Superstition and Will-worship 4. A fixed time for instruction in the Law of God and for his more solemn Worship This fixed time is the Sabbath day Isa 66. 23. c. The Adversaries of Religion have attempted its destruction by heaving at these Pillars npon which it is supported and the opposition which hath been made against them hath been carried on some part of it at least much after the same way The Authority of the Scriptures hath been inunded by pretences to other rules besides to be added to them as unwritten Traditions or enthusiastical Revelations Ordinances have been assaulted by the addition of humane Inventions to Divine Institutions The destruction of the Ministry hath been by some of its Adversaries attempted by making all Teachers and Sabbaths have been undermined by others by pleading for an every day Sabbath First enclosing the six daies to the Lord and thereby at length laying the Sabbath in common to the World Upon these four pillars is Religion upheld let these be removed and what becomes of it and the destruction of this one this fixed time how greatly will it endanger all the rest An every-day Sabbath will soon bring us to no Sabbath and from no Sabbath we shall quickly come to no Ordinances no Ministery and from no Ministery how long will it be ere we arrive at No Scriptures no Religion no God But whatever the adversaries of Religion and their waies to supplant it be that which makes them adversaries and engages them in this wicked design are the lusts of this World Religion levels at the flesh its affections and interest and these set themselves to make their batteries upon Religion and all its supports and foundations Keep up Sabbaths and you are like to keep up Scriptures Ministery Ordinances Religion keep up Religion and the World falls under you But the more immediate influence the due sanctification of the Sabbath will have upon the conquering the World will appear if you consider that this day is 1. A day of separation for God 2. A day for special communion with God 3. A day of special provision for souls 1. A day of separation for God The people of God as such are a separated people separated from the lusts of men to the Law of their God Neh. 10. 28. Ezra 6. 21. In their first day their day of Grace they separate themselves from the evils of the World in this day they are to separate themselves from the affairs yea and the thoughts of the World Isa 58. 13. This day is an Hallowed day sanctified by God and to be sanctified by his Saints Gods sanctifying it is his setting apart the day for an holy use our sanctifying it is our setting our selves apart thereon for his holy service This day is a priviledged day nothing that 's common or unclean may encroach upon it The day of the Lord is as the house of the Lord a kind of meeting betwixt heaven and earth wherein God calls us up to the Mount and comes down to give us a meeting And as when he came down on Mount Sinai he required that his people who yet were to come no nearer him than the foot of the Mount should by washing their clothes and separating themselves from their Wives make ready against his comming down Exod. 19. 11 15. So doth he here give us as strict a charge Remember be ye also ready Be ye wash'd and be ye separate Wash your hearts empty your hands come in from your fields come out of your shops lay by your work leave this earth below come up to meer your God There are two things that give to objects their greatest efficacy and advantage upon us Their nearness to us and the remoteness of their contraries The World on this day loses both these advantages wherein we are called to stand aloof from it and to draw nigh to God We are then fairest for victory over the World when we are farthest off it 't is ill fighting a Cock on his own Dung-hill while the world is at our elbow there 's little like to be done against it whilst it is in our eye or our hand 't is not easie to keep it out of our heart when the Lord hath gotten our company alone and the World hath nothing not an Oxe nor an Ass not a business nor a pleasure to sollicit our love or labour When we are gotten out of sight and out of hearing of the wooings of this Harlot and its cries after us then is it most like to lose its hold of us The reason why we ordinarily make no more advantage of Sabbaths this way is because however we pretend to draw nigh unto God yet we do not with-draw from the World we come into the Sanctuary as Israel went out of Aegypt we carry not our Wives and our little ones only but our Flocks and our Herds and all our Substance we carry all we have with us when we come before the Lord. The lowing of the Oxen the bleating of the Sheep the sound of the Mill-stones is so still in our ears the Butter and the Hony the wine and the oyle the silver and the gold are so continually in our eye that we cannot hearken what the Lord God doth speak nor see his face Brethren who is there with you at this houre here you are before the Lord but who is there with you search every room look into every corner Is there none within that should not be there is there no messenger of Satan hath the World no agitatour now at work within you O behold whilest the Lord is a treating with our cares what a mixed multitude are there within cares and thoughts and lusts and projects for this world and what a stirr do they all make that God may not be regarded The Devil will be most most busy in such a time he doubts how matters might go with him if he now keep silence Doubtless many a Soul more might have been gain'd over to Christ had not Satan stood by and hindred and had those ever near us who forbad the match use to be alone with God out of the company and out of the noise of these harlots and then there 's hope the Lord may gain your love What wonder that that seed dies and becomes unfruitful that falls into a brake of thorns or amongst such birds as stand watching to catch it all away what hope that the counsel of the Lord be accepted of a
mind prepossessed and actually stâ—ff'd with the cares of this life Intus existens prohibet alienum How canst thou ascend with thy burthen upon thy back unload unload lay aside every weight and then go up and prosper Say to all thou hast stay you here whilest I go and pray before the Lord let the night before each Sabbath be as the grave betwixt the two worlds there let thy dust be buried and thy Spirit fly naked to thy God Let that night which is the partition betwixt thine own dayes and the Lords be thy Souls taking its leave of all thou hast any sinful thoughts works or pleasures thy lusts and thy evil wayes give them an eternal burial Be gone see my face no more for ever and for matters lawful and honest that concern this earth charge them not to thrust in before the Lord go you also your way for this time and when I have a convenient season I will send for you and if from Sabbath to Sabbath thy feet stand thus on the mountain of the Lord thou mayst find them all the week long on the tops of the mountains of the earth Brethren where is our Sabbath separation Is there not a fault among us upon this account let him that heareth enquire How it is with me Am not I faulty what are my Sabbath thoughts what are my Sabbath discourses If I be better employed in the house of God what do I in mine own house what are my morning and evening and midday thoughts what is my table talk my chimney talk If business if bargains or journeys be not admitted are not visits or complements or vain stories or impertinent news suffered to fill up the time is it thus or not with thee Is it well that it is thus O clear your Sabbaths of such worldly encroachments or you 'l never clear your hearts drive all the world into Pathmos into banishment and be wholly in the spirit on the Lords day Be abstracted from earthly things and earthly thoughts bring them with you neither to the house nor to the day of the Lord let your own houses and your own tables be as the house and table of the Lord have nothing to do from morning to evening but to wait on God 2. It is a day for special Communion with God Tbe meeting of God with his people on that day is like unto that meeting which is promised to Moses Exod. 25. 22. before the mercy seat There will I meet thee and commune with thee there will I shew thee all my mind and hear all thy requests It is a day of blessing thither the tribes go up to bless the Lord and there he comes down to bless his people It 's said Gen. 2. and Exod. 20. that God blessed the Sabbath day Gods blessing the day makes it a day of blessing a good day to his Saints he then comes unto them in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel Those that question whether the first day of the week be the Christian Sabbath let them consider which of all the dayes of the week the Lord hath since the death of Christ so exalted above the rest of the dayes that they can with most confidence say This is the day which the Lord hath blessed on what day were the gates of death broken the Lord Jesus declared to be the son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead on which day was the spirit of God most signally shed abroad on the Apostles and primitive Christians in those extraordinary gifts whereby they were made more capable of publishing the blessed Gospel to the ends of the earth and in that special grace which seized three thousand Souls in one day Act. 2. What day is it that hath been honoured to be the birth day of the greatest number of Saints ever since that hath been their feast day wherein their Souls have been most sensibly nourish'd and they have been increas'd with the increasings of God what meals have they had to their Lords-day meals what joyes to their Lords-day joyes Surely if this may determine the question which day is the Sabbath of the Lord the day that of all others God hath blessed and made a good day the experiences of Christians in all ages would bring in their vote for the first day This is the day that God hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it this by the way This day as is said before is the rest of God a little Heaven let down to us on earth God calls us up hither as he called Moses up to Pisgah to give us a view of the promised land The Sabbath is Heaven opened we may give a guess at the glory to come by those glimses and tastes we have of it now It is the day of interview betwixt the bridegroom and the bride wherein he beholds our faces and shewes us his loves wherein he comes down into his garden to eat his pleasant fruits and we behold his goings the goings of God in his Sanctuary The business of this day is to look into the Ark of the Covenant to review and renew the Covenant transactions betwixt God and our Souls to search out contemplate and admire the mercies and lovingkindness of the Lord to receive the overflowing of his goodness and to pour forth our Souls as an offering to him in our prayers and praises to give and receive mutual tokens and pledges of Love and faithfulness to seal to our fidelity to him and to receive farther assurances of his grace and good will to our Souls to obtain help from God against our enemies whereby we may execute upon them the vengeance written and upon this mountain ordinarily is the victory obteined there breaks he the arrowes of the bow the sword the shield and the battel Christians have you ever experimented this Sabbath Communion hath the Lord God appear'd thus unto you have there been such friendly and familiar intercourses betwixt him and your Souls Oh how contemptibly hath the world look'd in that day But oh what dark and cloudy dayes are our Sabbaths ordinarily to us Sundayes per antiphrasin the Sun not once appearing it may be for many dayes together no wonder our Souls are so earth'd all the week when they are so seldom in Heaven on the day of the Lord what dry feasts are our Sabbath feasts rather fasts then feasts real Communion with God is a strange thing to us even in the day of God Heaven is opened but our eyes are shut God comes down to meet us and to bless us but our hearts are not there the breasts of consolation are full but we have no skill or no list to draw at the breasts we come to the well but we do not let down the bucket we stand by the pool where the Angel comes down but our creeple Souls put not in to the waters we stand without in the outer court of the Lords house our Sabbaths are to us but
figures of Sabbaths the ordinances of them are to us as wells without water lamps withoul Oyle meer shadows of good things we go up from week to week to meet one with another but how seldom do we see God in the company and hereupon Sabbaths come and goe and leave us still as we were the Devil may well enough trust us with such Sabbaths the world may give us leave to go thus before the Lord and be no looser by it Brethren get you into the inner court which on these dayes especially was to be set open Ezek. 46. 1. there is an entry through the house of the Lord that leads in to the heart of the most high get you into that sanctum sanctorum and there let be your rest as often as the morning of that blessed day looks forth upon you get your vessels ready and go you forth to meet the bridegroom open your eyes with these thoughts this is the day which the Lord hath made I will rejoyce and be glad in it climb up betimes and let every duty be a stair by which you ascend to your Lord let divine contemplation let prayers and praises c. be the whole work let the blessings of Divine Communion be the whole expectation of that day and when you find your hearts refreshed with his presence and filled with the company of your God and he sends you away laden with the tokens of his love and with the impress of his face upon your hearts and the relish of his goodness fresh upon your palats when you thus go hot out of the presence of the Lord then you will learn to despise that day of small things with which the World entertains you Shall I forsake my sweetness saith the figtree shall I forsake my fatness saith the Olive and become King over the trees let the bramble take that honour farewell dignities and dominions farewell pomps and pleasures farewell houses and lands I have enough I have seen the face of God 3. It is a day of special provision for Souls whereon the Lord brings forth out of his treasury his spiritual provisions to keep the Soul in heart Hunger-starv'd souldiers are but poor fighters they are the weak souls whom the World hath vanquished Sabbaths are the Souls Market dayes Men have their Markets whence to be supplied with necessaries for their bodies and on this day God keeps a Market for Souls He hath his Milk and his Honey his Wine and his Oyl his Bread and his Water of Life and on this day in special he makes Proclamation Ho every one that thirsteth come to the Waters and he that hath no money Come ye buy and eat yea buy Wine and Milk without money and without price The bread which comes down from Heaven though it be to be had every day our Week-dayes may in their measure be all Sabbaths yet on this day it falls more plentifully The Jews had their corporal Manna on the six dayes and none on the Sabbath but the hidden Manna falls more thin and more sparely on our other dayes and on this day more abundantly They were to gather double on the sixth day that they might have to supply them on the Sabbath but for the Spiritual Manna all our other dayes are to be supply'd from our Sabbath provision A Christian who is not fit to meet the Bridegroom is neither fit to meet his adversary without Oyl in his Lamp T is the great commodity that 's set to sale in this Market Oyle for our vessels Come bring your empty vessels here 's Oyl to fill them The Ordinances which are this day administred are the pipes opened those golden pipes by which the golden Oyl is emptied forth and conveyed down from the living Olive Zech. 4. T is no wonder that men hunger after this world who know no better feeding An Asses head or a kab of Doves dung are of great price when there is no bread 2 King 6. 25. T is for want of bread that worldlings can make such a feast of their Locusts and wild Honey Those that have eaten of the hidden Manna will not lust after Quails the Worlds dainties will come out at their nostrils whose bellies have been filled with this hid treasure Those whom God hath fed in his green Pastures those whom God hath led by his still waters they cannot live in these salt Marishes or stubble fields Those whose souls God hath made well watered Gardens will not need the Pools of the Wilderness It s no wonder that the World beats us when we go for many daies together without making one good meal When our souls are famished into weakness then are we our enemies prey they are the hunger starved sheep that are a prey to Crows and Kytes If Sathan can but keep us low if he can either keep the Manna from falling about our Camps or keep us idle when we should be gathering he may then lead us after his lure at pleasure T is not a little strength that will suffice us against his great temptations and t is not a little bread by which we are like to gather any great strength we had need feed well if we will be strong and we had need be strong or we shall never fight well A Soul that uses to come before the Lord with an appetite that feeds hungrily and is as the thirsty earth that drinks up the showers that come oft upon it whom the Lord satisfies with the fatness of his house you may turn him loose to the World flesh and Devil the life of God within him maintained by influences from above will much secure him against all their assaults Christians know your Sabbath priviledges the advantages of Sabbath separation Sabbath communion and Sabbath provision Understand your advantage and make your advantage of them Be ye seperate Remember your Creator and rest from your works as God did from his Remember your Redeemer and rise from your dust as Christ did from his Let this day of his Resurrection be the day of your Resurrection and Ascention Let Sabbaths be Sabbaths indeed holy to the Lord and wholly his Divide not the day betwixt flesh and Spirit God and Mammon but let it be entirely the Lords day Let every duty and Ordinance of this day be a Communion Prepare to meet your God and go up to meet him Seek his face in hope to see his face see and love see and rejoice see and admire and praise him in his excellent greatness Hearken what the Lord God will speak and let him hear your voice Confirm your friendshâ—p renew your acquaintance in Heaven repeat your Covenant transactions Have you chosen the Lord for your portion tell him you stand to your choice have you renounc'd your flesh and the World promise him not to return to folly Have you made the Lord your trust put forth fresh acts of faith upon him Look to him lean on him for his righteousness and strength Let such as these
let faith and love and hope and prayers and praises which are the stairs to the other World and your weapons against this be your Sabbath-work and delight Let not finer cloaths and better fare let not idleness and ease no nor filling up a place in the Congregation be the only difference betwixt Sabbaths and other daies but this better work and meat for souls Provide against the dayes of scarcity provide against the dayes of temptation Let not the Manna fall besides your vessels Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches Catch at every word observe every look of your Lord upon you And whatever you receive lay up and ponder in your hearts Have you received a check or reproof lay up your reproof have you received a word of counsel or instruction lay up your instructions Hath he spoken peace to you lay up that word charily by you whatever transactions have passed betwixt the Lord and your Souls keep the records and when you go forth whither ever you go carry all this upon your hearts that whenever the World meets you again and tempts you again you may be thus well appointed and throughly furnished against its assaults Brethren put hard on every Sabbath for such an undisturbed attendance on the Lord single out the Lord for the object of your whole converse knit your hearts thus to him solace your selves thus in him get you thus elevated and raised in your spirits from earthly to heavenly and every inch of ground you get of your adversary maintain it carefully from Sabbath to Sabbath If this were seriously design'd and more generally attempted by Christians we should find both another face and another power of Christianity in the earth the children of the Kingdom would be more visibly differenced from the men of this World and both the guilt and reproach of earthliness and sensuality be wip'd off from the Professors and Profession of the Gospel 3. Improve Sacraments this way The advantage that we have in Sacraments against the World lies In our Preparation Participation 1. In our preparation One confessed preparatory duty is self-examination 1 Cor. 11. 28. A great security of this Idol is the secret of its tabernacle It s covert in which it lurks unseen Worldlings many of them if they knew what is within them their Conscience would so prick that they could have no rest or ease till this thorn were puld out but they are not aware that the World is within them Yet this enemy lies not so close but upon a privy search it may be discovered Sacramental trial should be close and thorow no corner within us should be left unransacked The reverence of this great Ordinance and the dreadful consequence of comming so solemnly before the Lord with a Traitor in our bosoms eating and drinking judgment will cry in our ears Make diligent search The evidence that this one thing an earthly mind carries in it of our treachery towards God is so notorious that he hath but little understanding in the matters of God that would not from this alone conclude himself an unworthy guest at the Table of the Lord were all things else never so specious and fair Dar'st thou say Surely the Lord will accept me for he hath but this one thing against me That I love the World more than I love God I can own his name and waies I join with the Assemblies of his people I can pray and hear and fast I am neither proud nor froward nor envious nor malicious there is no evil but this covetousness but I hope I can acquit my self of Dar'st thou say thus I am no drunkard I am no Adulterer I am no swearer I am nothing but an Idolater the Lord I hope will excuse me in this thing Dost think he will indeed And may it not be like enough that upon this diligent search thou mayst find this to be thy case Friends get the sense of these terrible truths upon your hearts He that eateth and drinketh unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself He that is an Idolater eateth and drinketh unworthily He that is covetous is an Idolater Let these things sink into your hearts and then see if you dare come without a narrow search make a narrow search and then you will see how great your unworthiness and danger is Certainly were there a due care taken of this duty it were not possible that men could go on from Sacrament to Sacrament under the power of their earthly hearts this would surely startle them This Ordinance would either make them afraid of their worldliness or this worldliness would make them afraid of Sacraments Worldly Professors what care is there ordinarily taken of this duty do you examine do you make diligent search do you make particular search for this evil It may be you enquire Am I in the faith am I in charity do I bear no malice hath no man a quarrel against me nay possibly you may go a little farther and ask Am I unjust am I an oppressor an extortioner have I done wrong to no man and if you can acquit your self here then an end But do you further ask Do I not love the world Is not mine heart too much upon it Am I not too busie for the world is not my time spent too much upon it are not duties neglected is not my soul or my families souls neglected for its sake am I not so bent upon growing rich in the world that I mind not how poverty grows upon my soul do I honor the Lord with my substance am I merciful am I bountiful do I seek no more nor no otherwise then God would have me seek do I aim at God do I entitle God to all I have do I know how to abound can I want if the Lord will have it so is God enough if I have nothing is not all the world enough if God be a stranger how can I bear crosses and disappointments in the world Speak friends are any of these things enquired after I doubt whether you be faithful in this matter oh might I prevail with you to put upon this closer and severer tryal you know not what it might gain you If you can but apprehend your Enemy at such a time as this when you are making this solemn approach to the Lord when it would be so dreadful to you to be found in league with it at what an advantage would you then have it Now is a time when if ever we are like to have you serious loose not the season beware of solemn triflings hide not now your eyes from seeing your disease beware of palliating and mincing be zealous to know the worst of your case put Conscience close to it what sayst thou Guilty or not guilty If Conscience plead Guilty then come before the Lord if thou darst without serious repentance and
This will give you good hope that Christ is yours and good evidence that he calls to you Come unto the waters 2. In this Well of Salvation there is water of life Ye shall draw water that is living water In this water is comprehended all things belonging to life and godliness Here is bread in this water he that is the Rock springing in the earth is the bread that came down from heaven Joh. 6. 48. 50. Here is bloud with the water out of his side came water and bloud Here is wine and milk in this water Is 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters come buy wine and milk Come to the waters why what shall we get there O there 's wine and milk in the waters come to the waters for wine and milk What case is there of any of the Saints but here 's that which is proper for it Here 's water for the filthy here 's bloud for the guilty here 's bread for the strong here 's milk for the weak here 's wine for the sad here 's for meat medicine and delight here 's the flower of the wheat the healing balm the sweetness of the fig-tree the fatness of the Olive the Tree of Life Christ is in these waters 3. This water of life is to be drawn out of this Well of Salvation Hence 't is that we must come every man with his Pitcher Faith is our Pitcher what need of a Pitcher if there were no water to be drawn unbelievers might then speed as well as believers 4. It s a joy to the Saints to work at the Well With joy shall ye draw c. We read 1 Sam. 7. 6. that the people of God once drew other waters and out of another Well they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. The Wells were their repenting sorrow-bitten hearts the waters were their tears which they poured out before the Lord these were bitter waters and drawn with sorrow the waters you are now come to are pleasant faith and love and joy and praise are here to be both your work and your waters the three latter are the pleasures of the other world the first Faith is your Pitcher to fetch them in and your mouth to drink them down God hath brought you hither to prove the sweetness of love to taste what 't is to love and be beloved God opens you a Spring of everlasting joy thereby to dilate and inlarge your souls in admirings and praises 4. The advantages we hence get against the world are amongst others these following The precious things of Christ thus exhibited in the Sacrament will 1. Quench our thirst 2. Renew our strength 3. Sharpen our weapons 4. Set the reward before our eye 1. They will quench our thirst after the world The world invites as Christ Ho every one that thirsteth come to my waters If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink God and the world are both for the empty souls he that 's empty of God there 's a man for the world he that 's empty of the world there 's a soul for God he that is surfeited of the pleasures of sin will nauseate the joys of Religion he that is satiated with the pleasures of Religion will slight the joys of the world John 4. 14. Whosoever drinketh of the waters that I shall give him shall never thirst that is either when he is come up to the Well head and shall have drank his full draught he shall thirst no more for ever he shall be satisfied for ever or else he that shall drink of my waters here that shall drink of the brook in the way shall not be thirsty after other waters he that hath drank of the upper springs will better spare the nether springs Our intimate converses with Christ and those gracious savours and divine impressions they leave upon our hearts do naturally weaken and allay our fleshly appetites and inclinations wisdome is not more necessarily expulsive of folly light of darkness holiness of sin then the love and joy of the Lord of the love and the lusts of this world Brethren whatever divine touches whatever peace and joy you seem to feel upon your hearts if the world be not a looser by them if it stand its ground and maintain its interest and esteem in you all that you seem to feel of God upon you look to it that it prove not a fallacy and a dream for my part I shall ever suspect that intimacy my soul hath seem'd to get in heaven and all the pleasure of it if I be not the more content to be a stranger in this earth O my God wilt thou draw forth the breasts to me let me suck and be satisfied let the Lord God be my satisfaction and then let the world try the strength of its temptation 2. They will renew our strength This staff of bread will be the strength of our hearts they are the weak souls whom the world conquers But of this having spoken in a former direction I pass it over here with the naming 3. They will sharpen our weapon We never are foil'd but when our faith fails This is our victory even our faith this weapon of our warfare is mighty through God By how much the more our faith is exercis'd on God by so much the more vigorous believe and you shall be established believe and you shall be strengthened believe and all that you see before you shall be meat for your faith to put it in heart But how shall I believe yea rather how shouldst thou but believe whose Table is this to which thou art come whose word was it that said This bread is my body which was given for you This cup is the New Testament in my bloud which was shed for you This bread is the communion of my body this cup is the communion of my bloud what is this body what is this bloud but virtually all the spirit and life of the Gospel what is the meaning of those words Take and eat and drink but that its the will of God if it be your will also that all this shall be yours would Christ say take what he meant not to give would Christ say eat that which is not bread will be feed souls with common bread did he bring you hither to mock you how should you but believe Believe and you shall find his flesh to be meat indeed his bloud to be drink indeed this bread to be Manna this cup to come to you full of the spirits of the Gospel which will so nourish and quicken your faith that as a mighty man refreshed with wine it will rejoyce to run its course and tread down your Enemy under you 4. The reward is set before our eye Rev. 2. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to câ—t of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth but he that
flesh Is this all that I gain by having so much about me only so much the more labour and vexation at present and the heavier account hereafter May I have an estate or honors or pleasures and when I have them must they be none of mine shall I be never the better for them never the richer for all my store never the higher for all mine honor never the merrier for all my pleasures I had even as good go without them as have them on such terms as these even take them back again Any man of understanding would reason thus why should I so eagerly wish for more then I have have I not trouble enough already labour enough and care enough already have I not enough to answer for already is it so hard to be faithful in my little how then shall I do if I be ruler over much Is it so hard to deny my flesh when I have not to satisfie it how shall I say it nay when it lusts for what I have in mine hand will this be an advance to my contentment to have and not to enjoy to see and not to eat not to tast what is at my mouth nor to look on what is before mine eyes and yet must it be thus with me and the more I have the more thus Well the Lord who knows my frame and what condition I am best able to use proportion out to me according to the good pleasure of his will no more talents then he gives me power to use well no more money no more honours no more love and respect from men then will furnish me for the work of God and further me in the way of life and abound to my account another day away with that load though of gold or greatness which is more then I can bear without the neglect of God or my Soul let me be intrusted with nothing but what I am able to steward well and what ever I have let me be such a good steward of it that I may give up mine account with joy and not with grief which would be unprofitable for me O brethren if we did see Talent written upon every worldly comfort and a redderationem to be the Motto upon every talent our flesh would be suffered to make but short meals on what we have and yet would be less hungry after a larger allowance What is it that makes prosperity so pleasant to carnal minds O here 's a feast for my flesh eat drink be merry here 's enough for many years belly take thy fill here 's a full table before thee Pride spare not for charges put on thy attire deck thy self with ornaments crown thy self with garlands fear not thou shalt not want to maintain thee Soul take thy pleasure arise choose what will delight thee withold not thy self from any joy the sun shines upon thy tabernacle put away sorrow from thee see the store thou hast about thee varieties of all that thou lovest go feed thy self on what ever best likes thee squeeze out the juice of all thy fruits fill thy cup and be merry But what shall I do in the day of reckoning Give an account of thy stewardship how will that word sound oh that will be such an ill look'd lace on every garment such sour sauce to every dish such a stinging spice to every cup that the flesh would rather have no garment meat or cup then thus lac'd sauc'd or spic'd If the rich men and mighty if the greedy horse-leaches the oppressing extortioners if the riotous ruffians the proud wantons those sons of Bacchus and spawn of Venus that debauch their Consciences and prostitute their Souls to their filthy lusts whose life is nothing else but either a raking together of fuel to maintain their fires or a dancing before them and sacrificing all their vertue modesty yea and humanity in those flames if these most brutish among the people would for a few houres put off beast and put on man and view their reckoning they have to make of their masters goods all either hoorded up in the dark or spewed out into the draught and pissed against the wall and consider how this account would pass in the great day this would rust out the comfort of all their treasures stain the beauty of all their pleasant wayes and cool their lustings after them 2. Receive the prosperities of the world as temptations What God bestows as Talents the Devil makes temptations what God intends as instruments for service the Devil makes forage and weapons of war provision for lust which fight against the soul God saies Make ye friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when these fail you may be received into everlasting habitations Luk. 16. 9. Make God thy friend make conscience thy friend make Gods poor thy friends make thee friends for hereafter with what thou hast The Devil saith make thee friends here make the rich thy friends make thy companions thy friends make thee friends here with what thou hast fear not for hereafter for when will these things fail thee God saies Honour the Lord with thy substance Prov. 3. 9. Thou hast received much now think what to return The Devil saies now thou mayst kick against God and spurn with the heel now thou mayst be merry and mad 't is for poor men to be honest and sober to pray and seek God thou needest no such wayes to supply thee wherefore is it better with thee then with others wherefore hast thou mony and houses and lands is it that thou shouldst bury all under a bushel or hide them in a napkin was it ever intended thou shouldst be poor whilest thou art rich that thou that hast should be as those that have not why doth thy way prosper what 's the meaning of all thy abundance doth it not call to thee eat that which is good and let thy soul delight it self in fatness 1 Tim. 6. 9. They that will be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction He that falls into the hands of his riches falls into the hands of his foolish and hurtful lusts he that falls into the hands of these falls into the hands of the Devil into temptation and snare and a he that falls into temptation is swimming down the stream into perdition and destruction He that dreads not temptation knows not himself nor it What art thou what is temptation dost thou know what thou art what a weak and silly thing thou art how ignorant of Sathans devices what a ductile sequacious soul thou art apt to be led away with every lust what a dry tree what tinder thou art apt to take fire of every spark Brethren if you know not your own weakness if you are not sensible how hard t is for you to resist how easily you are overcome of temptation you are strangers from your selves Christ knew you better when he bid you
pray Lead us not into temptation He knew well enough what work the tempter would make with you if he could but get you within the reach of his net and therefore taught you to pray to be kept out Have you never prov'd your own weakness do you not remember how you use to come off when you have been tempted have you no sad experiences by you your broken peace your wounded spirits your wasted Consciences to remember you of it do you not still use to come off by the loss Consider friend it may be thou art of a Covetous heart and an earthly mind and this when it meets thee in the presence of God what a shame and sorrow is it to thee thou bewailest it and abhorrest thy self for it thou confessest it to God prayest against it covenants against it and by that thou hast stood a while before the Lord and tasted of the delights of his love thou hast gotten thine heart a little raised to things above thou canst scorn this earth and hopest thou shalt never be so taken with these beggarly things again and yet no sooner hath the Devil gotten thee abroad into thy house among thy treasures into thy field among thy sheep and oxen but thine heart is gone presently after them all the prayers and tears and vows are forgotten and thou art as busy and eager upon the world as ever It may be thou art possessed of a slight and frothy spirit given to vanity carnal mirth and jollity and when thou comest to pray or to humble thy self when thou art alone and hast freedom to be conversant about the matters of thy soul thou art for the time gotten to be a little serious the sense of eternity falling upon thee thy soul taking a walk to the grave and looking over to those deeps that are on the other side thy spirit is hereby consolidated and gotten into a more sober frame and then presently thou hopest thou shalt never evaporate into such froth and folly again and yet behold as soon as ever thou fallest into company with vain persons and hast been entertained a while with their unsavoury merriments thou quickly becomest as one of them It may be thou art of a pettish and froward spirit and this hath cost thee dear many tears and troubles of heart and sometimes possibly thou hast prayed and humbled thy self into more meekness and patience and quietness of spirit and yet the next cross that comes if but a very look a disrespectful word nay may be but a surmise or a jealousie of a slighting thought will put thee besides all thy patience and set thee all in a flame How many such experiences hast thou of thy self hast thou not often found it thus must thou not acknowledg it hath been thus again and again Have not these been sometimes thy groans before the Lord at such times when thou hast felt thy self in a better frame Oh that it might be ever thus O that this might hold that I might never sink into this earthliness that I might never swell with this froth or fury again O this slippery and unstable heart I fear it I doubt how it will serve me if the world or this flesh do but call me away if any temptation comes either to court me or to cross me I fear me all this calm and serenity will quickly become clouds and tempests Speak Christian hath it not been thus many a time O what a weak thing art thou And what is temptation that you do not fear it if you know not I will tell you there are these four things in it Deception Infection Seduction Perdition 1. Deception temptation is an artifice contriv'd on purpose to beguile and deceive us Gen. 3. 13. The serpent beguiled me and I did eat 't is a juggle or a cheat that carries a stinging tayle under a fair face that promises a kindness or advantage but either hath nothing in it or a mischief there 's no temptation but its outside and inside its head and tayle hath as much difference either as substance and shadow or as bait and hook 2. Infection the heart by reason of its filth and rottenness is apt to take infection 't is dangerous for persons abounding with ill humours to come into ill aires and temptation is as the air from a plague sore that conveyes infection temptation does so ferment innate corruption that it putrifies into the more deadly malignity our being conversant with the pleasures and fashions and lusts of this World our living in such evil airs do leave such corrupt impressions and dispositions upon us as do suffocate our spirits and destroy the very vitals of religion in us See it in experience look what mens outward condition and their ordinary converses are such are their tempers and complexions you may see in their faces and smell in their very breaths where they use to live Those that are dwelling and have their whole occupation in the earth are they not mostly earthen souls those that dwell at ease and with the careless and idle are sluggish and sleepy souls those that live in pleasure in mirth and jollity what are their Souls but bladders of froth and vanity He that dwells in the pomps and glories of the world proud and haughty scorner is his name and according to his name so is the man he that is the companion of drunkards and partaker with the adulterer his very inwards often become debauchery possibly their wayes of life at first found them in sounder tempers but behold now they are all infected persons this earth hath infected them their ease hath infected them their pleasures and their pomps and their companions have infected them leavened them into their own natures Oh what sad metamorphoses do we sometimes see even of the most promising ingenuous natures by their overbold or unwary converses spoil'd not only of their most gracious inclinations but of all tinctures of good nature grown proud and wanton and froward and rude and perverse who were once loved for their humility sobriety and meekness and all this by the infection they have received from their ways or companions Those that will run into temptations that will adventure themselves any where whither their lust leads them that will not first enquire Is it good for me to be here is it safe for me to walk thus are as mad and foolish as those that will run into a Pesthouse or lodge amongst Lepers Dost thou not see what thy boldness hath already cost thee Is not the hew of thy Society already grain'd into thy face art thou not become as one of them thou conversest withall has not the Infection seiz'd on thine heart and does not the Leprosie appear in thy forehead take heed foolish soul if it be not already in how little time may this disease be incurable 3. Seduction Leading aside to errors and mistakes to believe a lye there are temptations that corrupt the judgement as well as the
thy love I am he whom when thou calledst I would not come whom thou wouldst have turned but I would not turn when thou wouldst have pardoned and healed me I sold thy pardon and refused to be healed and wilt thou not plead for such a one as I I have chosen this world for my portion I have lov'd it and serv'd it and when I should have been praying or hearing minding my soul and laying up treasure in heaven I was loath to be such a bad husband I was busie in following my affairs looking to my Corn and my Cattel and my Trade and here I have gotten money and Lands and will not these plead for me Is not a rich mans Plea good will not my gold and my silver my honors or my ornaments get entrance into thy Kingdome if not Lord this is all I have to say for my self if this will not do who shall plead for me O Brethren if you would be perswaded to sit down daily and to think over some such thoughts as these then there would be hope If we could but preach you upon this thinking there would be hope that you might think you into Christ 2. Hold your affections under government Prov. 16. 32. He that ruleth his spirit is better then he that taketh a City and no wonder for he hath taken the whole world captive All victories imaginanable are summ'd up in this one victory the conquest of the heart By spirit we are here to understand the passions or affections the spirit of man is as the Apostle saies Jam. 3. the tongue of man is an unruly evil impatient of subjection and pressing for dominion God hath placed our affections under government under the government of our reason and those principles of heavenly wisdom faith righteousness and holiness which we are indowed with but these like an unbroken horse that will not go whither the rider but whither it self listeth do rise up and rebel against reason and will be the leaders and not followers and this unruliness of the passions is the root of the distempers and disorders of the life when men surrender up themselves to be lead by affection whither doth it carry them reason leads us up to God It is the Candle of the Lord that lights us our way to him our affections are blind guides love is blind desires are blind and whether will the blind lead us If we could live by faith nay if we could but live more by reason by right reason we should get us up out of this earthly country even reason will tell us that God is better then creatures and that the inordinate following of creatures is the forsaking of God For the better holding your affections right take these two directions 1. Keep your selves in the love of God 2. Whatever you love in the world let it be also your fear 1. Keep your selves in the love of God let affection follow the conduct of reason to Heaven and there let it dwell but till reason lead it down again keep your selves in the love of God Jude 21. keep up a right understanding of God and that will keep up your affections keep up your affections to God and that will keep them off from the world the heart will ever be in love and till it find a better this harlot must be its beloved deformity is as beauty whilest beauty is out of sight He saies in vain set not your affections on the earth that does not first say set your affections on things above He that saies set your affections on things above and not on the earth if he be heard in the first will not be denyed in the second keep you in the love of God and you keep you clear of the love of the world 2. What ever you love in the world let it be also your fear fear will be loves bridle and reason would teach you to fear what ever you love here nothing hath such an advantage upon us to steal away our hearts from God as the things we love The Lord is seldom such a looser as by his bounty when he lets down his silver cords of love to draw up our hearts we make chains of them to fetter us here below His gold and his Jewels his bracelets and earrings which he sends us to allure our love are often molten into an Idol and engross our hearts to them Whatever thou lovest in all the world hast thou a wife or a child that thou lovest hast thou a friend or companion that thou lovest hast thou an house a pleasant habitation hast thou gardens or orchards fields or vineyards that thine heart is pleas'd withall O be jealous of them Keep your distance come not too near thou commest for my Soul my child my house my mony my friends I must have an eye to you you come to steal away mine heart What a sad requital and yet how commonly is this the requital which we make for bounty and kindness I should have lov'd God better if he had not been so good to me I should have lov'd God better if he had not given me so good a wife so dear a child so fair an estate so many friends wilt thou fear such unworthiness then fear whatever thou lovest If what you love be not also your fear it 's like to be your loss and sorrow If Sampson had fear'd his Delilah whom he so loved he had sav'd his locks his God and his life his love to that harlot did him more mischief then all the armies of the Philistimes Solomons wives became his tears fondling children often revenge their parents dotage by becoming thorns in their sides and swords in their hearts whatever thou overlovest look for it to find it thy cross or thy curse what will thy friends or thy mony be when either thou hast lost them or thy soul by them what ever thou overlovest God will tear it from thine heart if ever he mean thee good he will touch thee in the apple of thine eye he will try thee in thine Isaac he will tear off that Jewel that entices thy Soul from him what thou canst not part with look for it that must go or thy soul 3. Set a strict watch upon your senses By these 't is that Satan with all his temptations hath such an easy passage to our hearts our senses are the doors of our hearts the outlets of corruption and the inlets of temptation they bring the outward objects and the inward lusts together when the fuel and the fire are layd together then there is a flame Both the Evil and the Good that is in us came in much by this way How came Sin and Death into this world and all the plagues and miseries we are labouring under or lyable to which way came they in By the eye they came in when the woman saw the fatal apple then she lusted and tasted Gen. 3. How came life and immortality grace and peace and all our
glorious hopes in again By the Ear they came in By this the promise entred by this Faith entred Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by hearing Nihil est intellectu quod non fuit prius in sensu saith the Philosopher there 's nothing in our understandings and as little in our affections whether good or evil but what made its way by our senses If God hath our eye and our ear he hath our heart if the Devil have gotten these once 't is not like to be long ere he be possessour of all of such mighty consequence is the keeping our senses as Heaven and Hell amount to Our senses are now vitiated and corrupted pre-occupated by sin and the Devil shut against God and open to iniquity Sin hath gotten the start of grace and having gotten possession of the house makes good the doors for it self and friends whatever knocks for entrance the word presently is who comes there and if it be a friend a friend of sin there 's free admission So that now in pleasing our senses or leaving them at liberty to please themselves we betray our Souls to the hands of Hell to be a Sensualist is next to being a Devil to leave our senses unguarded is to leave open the floudgates of Hell the Devil could not wish our Souls in other hands then to be given up to our senses neither Devil or World need doubt of entrance while they have a friend at the door these earthen gates like that iron gate will open of their own accord to them when ever they come Our depraved senses are the great adversaries to Christianity whatever is said of the enmity of the world of it's gains and fashions its pomps and pleasures all lyes upon this score as they are the objects that tickle and please the senses and by these deprave the mind and turn away the heart What is it that lyes in the way of the Gospel that obstructs it's passage and hinders it's work upon Souls why is it that Christ is not more gladly and generally receiv'd O this is it that hinders 't would deprive us of many a sweet morsell of many a pleasant draught 't would pull off our vain habits and wanton fashions 't would pare off our fleshly pleasures no more indulging to appetite no more pleasing our eyes and ears and palates if Christ be once entertained now we can take our liberty to make provision for the flesh and let the flesh take it's fill we can feed our selves with the finest cloath our selves with the best we can soke our selves in all sorts of sensualities we can fetch in load upon load and make the best of what 's before us we can milk every dug we can suck every bottel we can dig in every mine we can plough and reap in every field that the world hath there 's nothing but Christ can hinder us once give ear to him and that will spoil all our mirth and marre all our markets then we must keep within bounds and neither get nor spend more then he allows us we must keep to our allowance and but a short allowance neither such as will be too strait for flesh and bloud to submit to And hereupon our eyes and ears which are so open upon the World and it's vanities do as it were invite and call in all the help the world can make to resist Christ and his work do call in all the baits and temptations that the whole world is furnished with to divert and turn aside the heart from hearkning to Christ Help World help O my carnal friends help O my fleshly pleasures help O my house and money Christ is come for mine heart I am loath it should go there can you do nothing to stay it with you help or it 's gone Friends would you not that the world keep Christ out or draw you aside from him shut the doors against it make a covenant with your eyes and ears set a watch upon them put a bridle upon your appetite and keep the door of your lips shut the world out be deaf to it's flattery be blind to it's glory wink it into darkness shut the doors and keep the world out and then Christ will be the better accepted Live above the pleasures of sense What have you no higher pleasures no Nobler delights have you not a God to delight you in have you no soul delights or are these they wherein the Bruits have as great a share as you Is meat and drink and cloaths and sports the food of souls your heart delights must your immortal part live at the Trough and feed on swill and husks where is peace with God where is the fellowship of the spirit where is the joy of the Holy Ghost and the hope of glory where is the sweetness of sincerity and the peace of conscience are there no such things or is there no pleasure in them Are you content to take up with this mud whilest those pure streams run by or must you have both Is it not enough that your souls may rejoyce that your hearts may feast and sing unless your flesh also may frisk and frolick it out in it's brutish mirth and pleasure Go taste and see how good the Lord is drink of his rivers acquaint your selves with his pleasures and then see if an Heaven satiated soul can envy the brutes the pleasures of sense Lastly Make a solemn surrender of your selves and ull that you have to the government and disposal of God lay down all at his feet and resolve to take up nothing but with his leave and for his use Let the Lord have the whole ordering of you for your Getting Keeping Using 1. Seek no other things nor any greater abundance of them then God allows you to seek Buy not an house nor a field or a living but make God the purchaser go not into the fair or the market into the shop or over the seas but when God sends you drive not that trade or that bargain concerning which you cannot say I am herein trading for God let the Lord appoint you your work and your rest your labour and your profit be content with what comes in Seek not great things for your selves and quarrel not with providence if by all your seeking you get nothing Seek no more nor no other things then God would have you and seek them no otherwise then in Gods way and order God hath other works then these for you to do God hath other things then these for you to seek God saies seek my face seek my Kingdom first seek my kingdom and the righteousness thereof what is this done Is God sure Is the kingdom sure have you grace have you peace have you enough of these have you wrought your selves out of work here is there no more to be done no more to be gotten is there never a gulf yet fixed betwixt you and glory that needs your care how to get over are you past all danger of
miscarrying for ever is your way cleared of all your difficulties and hazards have your souls no enemy left alive Are your lusts dead the world vanquished and the Devil troden under foot have you as much grace as you need as much faith and love and patience as you need Are you past that prayer Lord increase our Faith Are you past those counsels Hold fast that thou hast Grow in grace follow after press to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus have you hit the mark have you wonne the prize Is there not much of this work to be done which God would have first to be done yea with some of you is it not all behind hand nothing done for your Souls no knowledg no grace gotten nothing of the work of conversion nothing of the work of repentance done the first stone of the new building yet to be layd yea not so much as the old rubbish removed not a lust cast out your carnal hopes not yet thrown down the hard heart not so much as touch'd What is there nothing done for the other world by so many of you and so little done by the best of you and are you yet so busy for this world Is this as God would have it is this to seek the world as God would have you seek it Go and ask counsel of God Lord what wouldst thou have me to do how far forth for this world how far forth for the other world which shall be first minded which shall be chief and what ever the Lord doth speak let this be thy resolve I will first seek the kingdom of God and for other things I must do as I may 2. Keep and lay up no more by you then God would have you Say of all you lay up This is Gods stock this is his treasure whatever you have let God keep the purse when he saies Bring no more into the treasury stay your hand bestow it elsewhere as he shall appoint you Let no stollen goods be found with you all 's stollen stollen into your purse stollen into your house which the Lord would have otherwise disposed of Be not then laying up when God saies lay out be not then sparing when God would have you spending God saies Cast thy bread upon the waters be ready to distribute What saith he to those rich men Jam. 5. 2 3. your riches are corrupted your garments are moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered the rust of them shall be a witness against you you have heaped up treasure an evil treasure against the last days what do you treasure up for the moth and the canker and the rust no more such heaping up bring forth out of your treasure 3. Use what you have as God would have you use it bring forth but only by Gods order Be good stewards remember your account book down all your expences let nothing go any way but what you are willing should be book'd and let nothing be book'd but what you would have read in your reckoning day Let your flesh have no more then the Kings allowance feed it as a servant let it not want what 's necessary but feed it not into wantonness or idleness let it have never a meal nor a morsel more then is fit for a servant Let it not have the command of your estate or be it 's own carver but let it be at the finding of conscience let never a penny be laid out upon it either for food or raiment but what conscience allows Let your families be provided for your friends entertained so as that nothing be wanting nothing be wasted Be provident but not penurious use hospitality but hate to be prodigals give to all their due and no more and whilest your flesh hath it's due your friends and families their due let not Gods friends want theirs whomever he sends to you for an alms send them not away empty send portions to those for whom nothing is provided feed cloath harbour lend give according as God hath communicated to you and shall command from you and in giving thus to all the things that are theirs you give unto God the things that are Gods Remember carefully this last direction Lay down all you have at the feet of God and neither seek nor use any thing but according to his order and will Never let lust set you on work and leave nothing to its dispose feed not your eye or your appetite feed not your pride or your covetousness till God bids you feed them and then you shall find your lusts to starve under your hands and when worldly lusts are dead the enmity of the world is slain it's temptations vanquished and from being your Lord it 's henceforth become your servant now you may make your friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness and when these fail you shall be received into everlasting habitations For a close of all let me yet a little farther perswade you to press hard for this victory over the world and to this end let me ask you these following questions 1. Are you for the saving of your Souls 2. Is not the World an enemy to your Souls and the salvation of them 3. Is not victory over this enemy possible 4. Is not victory over this enemy desirable 5. Can this victory be bought to dear 6. What if this enemy should reign to death 7. Wil you henceforth become enemies to this enemy 1. Are you for the saving of your Souls what are you for for Heaven or Hell 't is the same question as are you for Heaven or Earth speak friends where would you that your lot should fall will you be written in the earth or amongst the living in Jerusalem will you have your good things here or will you wait for them till hereafter which do you most regard the joynt and eternal interest of your bodies and Souls or the single and temporal interest of your bodies In a word will you be saved or damned Do you so verily believe a resurrection from the dead and a judgment to come that there is another world that this world shall vanish away and the other world shall abide for ever that there is an eternal state of blessedness and misery into one of which states your Souls must immediately enter as soon as they are loosened from this body that the future blessedness is unspeakable that the future misery is intollerable Are you Atheists or Infidels or else do you so verily believe this that it is the great aim and desire of your hearts to obtain this blessedness and to escape those torments Descend into your hearts consider the choice that 's set before you and come to a resolution what do you choose light or darkness life or death ease or anguish rejoycing or howling lifting up of the head or gnashing of teeth eternal pleasures or eternal fire With whom will you dwel with the Saints or with Serpents with Michael or the Dragon
difficulty that 's all the doubt whether thou wilt or no as hard as the victory is if thou perish by the world at last thy destruction will be laid at thine own door 't is because thou wilt not accept of deliverance if thou wilt thou mayst 4. Is not victory over this enemy desirable Is not liberty desirable is not life desirable be an enemy and live the world kills none but its friends Would it not be well with you if this spirit of the world were cast out and God had given you another spirit would it not be a good exchange if for this carking caring anxious earthly greedy heart you had obtained a contented patient mortified spirit an heavenly mind would not the matter be well mended with you if for your treasure on earth you could make God your treasure could you not wish it were so Can you say I thank God I am yet a worldling I thank God my heart is still below I can mind my pleasures and gains I can satisfie my lust and take my liberty and follow my affairs without troubling my self about these higher matters that I know not Hitherto I thank God this world hath been too hard for the Gospel the devil hath kept possession and hath kept Christ out whilest others have puzled and amused themselves with their thoughts and hopes and fears about another world have made an adventure for the unknown riches have been filling their heads and perplexing their hearts with cares for hereafter and have neglected and straitned themselves here I thank God I have been no such fool While you may say I thank God I have an estate in the world I have friends in the world can you also say I thank God this is my treasure these are my delights I can never trouble my self with thinking of or serving any other God but these I can take these in exchange for my soul I thank God for that unrighteousness or that unmercifulness which he hath left me to and let me alone in whereby I have gotten me an estate and preserved it entire to me it had been worse with me then 't is if I could not have ly'd and defrauded if I had made Conscience of Sabbaths of praying and hearing and spending so much time this way as others do I had been a poor man had I taken this course but I thank God I was wiser then so Can you say thus Christians may and will say I thank God I am crucified to the world I thank God for Faith and Prayers and Sabbaths for a new heart and a new life blessed be God that hath chosen me out of this world and called me by his grace blessed be God for a part in Christ and hope towards God blessed be the day wherein my soul was divorced from this world and espoused to another Husband I would not be in bondage to this earth again I would not be a flesh pleaser a self-seeker again if the devil would hire me with all the Kingdomes of the world there is not a Christian in the world but will say thus But where is the worldling that dares deliberately to say I thank God I am a worldling still God hath dealt well with me that he hath left me out and let me alone to follow mine own heart Speak worldling had it not been well for thee if thou also hadst been brought in to Christ would it not be well for thee if yet thou mightest mightest cease from this earth and be a Candidate for heaven mightest cease to be a drudge and a slave and be delivered into the liberty of the Sons of God would it not be well with thee if thou wert would it not be well with thee if yet thou mightest dost thou never wish O that my soul were in such a case why then wilt thou not in this thy day 5. Can this victory be bought too dear There 's nothing in this world but may be over-bought An Army may be so weakned in the fight that victory will not repair it Crowns and Kingdomes may be bought too dear all the royalties and revenues of the world may be purchas'd at such a rate that they may not be a saving bargain But can redemption from the world be over-bought will not the salvation of thy soul pay all thy charges It s true thy rescuing from this enemy may not be without much damage and loss not only of the ship and the lading but of thy life when thou conquerest this enemy thou wilt loose a friend in thy conquering thou wilt purchase enmity therefore the world hateth you Thou wilt not only create thee enemies by thy Conquest but wants and straits and labours and cares when thou ceasest to be a servant to this world think not to have an easie idle life thou wilt have more and harder work then ever the pursuing thine enemy that he rally not again upon thee the watching thine heart the guarding thine eye the governing thine appetite that they run not again after it the pleasing and following thy Lord in all things that he commands thee what day thou breakest with the world and joynest thy self to the Lord this life of labour and care thou puttest thy self upon thou must no more thirst after thy stoln waters nor taste of thy forbidden pleasures thou must no more traverse thy most pleasant ways nor stick at the most painful duties nay not thine ease only or thy pleasure but thy life also and all that thou hast must go when ever thy Lord calls thee to it What course short of this will either obtain or secure thee the victory but how will such a life down with thee how will thy spirit bear it when thy faint heart shrinks from it when thy proud or stubborn heart swells against it when thy old pleasures and liberties when thine old friends and companions when thy silver and thy gold cry after thee canst thou leave us thus can thy soul part with us for ever thou wilt then find that this victory costs thee dear But is not thy soul more worth then all this wilt say Better I were damn'd then sav'd at such an hard rate hell rather then this way to heaven 'T is hard to be a Christian 't is true but blessed be God my soul is escaped my foot is gotten out of the snare liberty liberty is brought to this captive and the opening of the prison to the bound he whom I now serve how hard soever his work is is no hard mâ—ster he gives good wages were his work harder then 't is yet 't is not worthy to be laid in the balance with salvation I will not die for an easie life 6. What if this enemy should reign till death how do you think your worldly life will look when you come to die do you think you shall then say I have done well to be a worldling it may be if God should ask you now dost thou well to be covetous dost thou
well to be a self-seeker you would answer him as Jonah did Jonah 4. 9. when God ask'd him Dost thou well to be angry it may be you would answer as he yes I do well to be angry I do well to be covetous or proud or sensual but do ye think you shall say thus at death shall you then think you say I have done well I have done wisely for my self I have coveted a good covetousness 't is well for me that I did not hearken to these preachers that I have lived in pleasure that I have heaped up treasure for these last daies if I were to begin the world again and were to live over my life the second time I would take the same course I have taken and I could wish every friend I have in the world every companion I have every child I have to take example by me and to live as I have lived would you say thus would you wish thus in that day Sometimes we hear a dying Worldling to wish all his friends Take warning by me O take heed as you love your souls that you spend not your daies as I have done but do you ever hear them say Take example from me follow my steps now I find the comfort of my earthly-mindedness now I find the comfort of my lusts and pleasures O that you might all have the comfort at your dying day wherewith I am now comforted when did you hear of such an instance Speak worldling let thy Conscience speak when death comes to arrest thy soul and to carry it hence immediately before thy Judg there to receive thy sentence according to what thou hast done in the body is this the state thou wouldst be found in reeking in thy worldly lusts soaked in sensuality eaten out of worldly cares loaden with worldly goods and as empty of the knowledg and grace of God as thou art at this day wouldst thou be content to say in respect of divine grace as thou must in respect of worldly goods Naked I came into this world and naked I must go out of the world would you that death should carry you thus before your Judg would you have that written on your forehead when you come to stand before that dreadful Tribunal which was written on the Tomb of that Edomite Psa 52. 7. Lo this is the man that took not God for his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness Do not your hearts tremble when ever you give them leave to think of that day do not the fore-views of death and those anticipations of Judgment you sometimes feel in the Court of Conscience use to shake you But how will it be when it comes when the pale horse comes to your door and you are just mounting for the other world when your Judge whose eyes are as flames of fire his feet as burning brass with his sharp two edged sword in his mouth when your Judge shall be set on the bench and your guilty Souls be brought to the Bar when he shall make inquisition for bloud for the bloud of Christ which hath been trampled under foot for the bloud of the poor which hath been suck'd out of their hearts for the bloud of your Souls which hath been sold and sacrificed to lust when all your oaths and lyes your frauds and oppressions your unrighteousness and unmercifulness when your profaned sabbaths your neglected duties your wasted consciences when either the rust and the canker of your riches which you have wickedly gotten or the wast and the ashes of them which you have as wickedly spent when the roul wherein all these things are written shall be spred and read before the Lord and your Souls struck dumb and speechless in his presence Judg Oh Judg what your thoughts will then be of your present wayes Lastly will you now become enemies to the world Be enemies and you are conquerours will you deal with the world as an enemy will you fear it as an enemy will you fly from it will you fight against it as an enemy shall the Lord be your God shall the Lord be your friend shall the Lord be your treasure will you cast away all your Idols and will you come and be reconciled to God what say you will you be crucified to this and make an adventure for the other world Now becavse this is so great a question and such as on the answering thereof the whole issue and success of all that hath been said depends I shall give you the opportunity to pause a while here and deliberate upon it ere you give in your answer Before you answer this question consider yet farther 1. Doth not God call you off from the world 2. What is there in your denyal 1. Doth not God call you off from the world who is it that said 1 Joh. 2. 15. Love not the world nor the things of the world Consider and compare these two Scriptures 2 Cor. 5. 20. Now then we are Ambassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God and Jam. 4. 4. The friendship of the world it enmity against God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God What is the errand upon which the Ministers of the Gospel are sent from the Lord unto you I it not to perswade you to be reconciled to God the word which they preach is therefore called the word of reconciliation Can you be reconciled to God whilest you hold in with the world Can any thing be spoken plainer then this He that will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God when we therefore warn you be ye reconciled to God do we not therein call you to make war with the world and doth not God himself call you by us warn you by us But besides the call of the word do not both the goodness and severity of God call upon you 1 Doth not the goodness the mercy and kindness of God call upon you Rom. 2. 4. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and long suffering and forbearance not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Rom. 12. 1 2. I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and be ye not cenformed to this world Worldly men mind worldly things having their conversation in the flâ—sh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind But will you be conform to them I beseech you be not I beseech you by the mercies of God be ye not conformed to this world If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels of mercies be ye otherwise minded You profess that Christ is your consolation that the love of God is your comfort that the fellowship of the Spirit is your
rejoycing Are there any such things Is there any thing in them then let these suffice you will you have your conversation and take your portion with those who are strangers to Christ and the comforts of his Spirit I beseech you by the mercies of God that you do not Do you hope for mercy have you received mercy do you live upon mercy hath mercy pitied you spared you pardoned you doth mercy feed you cloath you and comfort you and will you not hearken to its beseechings Why what doth mercy speak is this it's word Continue in sin for grace hath abounded now follow thy pleasures and thy liberties God is reconciled thy sins are forgiven thy Soul is secure now thou mayst slight the Lord now thou mayst trample upon mercy now thou hast obtained it is this the lesson that mercy teaches or what doth it speak is not this the voice of all the kindnesses and compassions of the Lord come back from your vanities come away from following Idols he sacrifices to God and prostitute not your selves any longer to the lusts of your flesh come away for our sakes come as you love mercy come as you have received mercy come as you hope for mercy come Is not this the voice of mercy and shall it not prevail how shall mercy be heard when it pleads for you if it cannot be heard when it pleads thus with you Is this the rate and price you put upon the grace of God that you will deny it in those little things it demands of you not a carnal pleasure to be abated not a vain companion to be displeased not a few handfuls of earth to be troden under foot for its sake Doth all the interest that Christ and his grace hath in you come to no more then this Brethren where is ingenuity is not goodness obliging will you shew what power mercy hath with you how much you can do how much you can leave for love you at least that have obteined mercy methinks your hearts should be at your mouth ready to take their flight from this wilderness to the mountains of spices Hath God given himself hath God given me his Son and granted me mercy unto life now let him take all farmes and oxen silver and gold honours and pleasures let all go and thou O my Soul become a sacrifice to the most high my love where art thou my desires whither run you come back from these vanities and get you up to your God mercy hath descended let me ascend with it and no longer dwell in the dust 2. Do not the severities of God call you off what mean the Judgments of God which he executes on the earth but to drive us up from our cisterns to the fountain what mean the wormwood and the gall but to wean us from these dugs wherefore are our disappointments vexations distresses but to tell us this is not your rest what speak the winds and the storms the flouds and the fires the sword and the famine the thief and the moth but get you up get you up out of this place of what use is the cross but to crucifie to crucifie us to the world and to crucify the world unto us Brethren have we not sufficiently smarted for our folly what is it that makes us so many rods and makes the lashes of them to cut so deep but our unmortifiedness to this earth how easy would our crosses lye were we dead to the world That 's the voice of the cross Be mortified be crucified prevent the greater severities of God Be crucified or God will crucifie you Be crucified to the world or look to be crucified by the world Friends would you have but one cross in all your lives choose you whether you will have one or many get your earthly minds nayld to the cross of Christ and there 's an end of all your crosses every other cross that comes will thenceforth be so easy that it will even loose its nature 2. What is there in your denyal to hearken to these calls of God Is there any thing less in it then this I will not be reconciled to God! I choose rather that God be mine enemy then that the world be not my friend I had rather have the wormwood and the gall then not the milk and the honey God saies give me thine heart no he shall never have it I have bestowed it on the world and there let it go God saies Take me for thy portion no I will not let me have my portion in this life God saies take me for thy Lord no I will not I will not that God shall reign over me God saies as thou hopest for mercy hearken as thou hopest for mercy submit to me refuse at thy peril be a worldling at thy peril be a sensualist at thy peril well at my peril be it I will run the hazard of that mercy or no mercy I cannot hearken to that word which is so contrary to me Is not all this comprehended in your denyal to come off from the world O tremble and now at length come and give in your answer Are there any of you that will yet say to me as those Jews Jer. 44. 16. The word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not do or as those Jer. 2. 25. there is no hope as good hold thy peace speak no more to us about it for we will not hearken we have loved strangers and after them we will go we have loved our companions and after them we will go There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices we will walk after the imagination of our own evil heart Jer. 18. 12. Is there no hope indeed would you henceforth be given over as hopeless would you that the Ambassadours of the Lord keep silence and for ever give you over as lost men shall there be no more treaty with you about this thing would you that we should preach no more to you nor pray no more for you that you may be brought to a better mind May there not be yet hope concerning you may you not yet be convinced may you not yet be perswaded This once let me prevail with you Oh might we hear such a word from you We have done with all our Idols to the Moles and to the Batts with them all we have done with this vain earthly life no more such madness to venture eternity for minutes to stake the everlasting kingdom for pictures and shadows Come we will hearken to the Lord this day hitherto we have been written in the earth henceforth for the invisible world hitherto we have lived in pleasures we have been sowing to the flesh we have been labouring for the wind we have been laying up our treasure on earth we have been gathering in dirt and throwing away Manna we have fed upon ashes and trod upon pearls our life hath been either a meer play or a labour for bubles Henceforth for substance for the durable riches for the everlasting pleasures for the bags that wax not old the treasure in Heaven that faileth not What say you brethren shall this be your voice will you hearken to the Lord at length give in your answer will you now become enemies to the world will you indeed shall your Souls and it now be parted Then go and draw up a writing of divorcement carry it before the Lord and acknowledg it as your act and deed and giving your selves to him go presently and take your leave of all things under the Sun Bid farewell to those that are with you in the house farwel Father farewel Child farewel Husband farewel Wife Bid farewel to all within doors and without farewel Goods farewel Mony farewel Sheep and Oxen Lands and Livings farewel my pleasant habitation farewel my merry dayes and easy nights farewel my friends and dear acquaintance farewel love friendship credit in the world farewel liberty and life Go take your leave of all the world to day stay not till to morrow lest it again intangle you and bewitch you into another mind And this is the leave I would advise you to take of all you have Be able to say to them all I am none of yours you are none of mine I am none of yours I have given my self to the Lord you are none of mine with my self I have given away you all the Lord hath given you me and to him I return you and shall not henceforth count you any thing to me but what you are to him I have given him the right of you and when he calls for it I will give him possession I can enjoy you and I can want you I can be thankful for fruition and I can bear your loss with what I have I am content if I have not I will be patient whether I have or no I am still the same and henceforth I will seek you as if I sought you not I will use you as if I used you not while you are with me I will rejoyce as if I rejoyced not that I may weep as if I wept not when we must part and I must know you no more Go thus and take your leave to day or if you find it more then one dayes work as 't is like you may set to it every day let not your hearts be quiet till they and this world be thus parted And then arise put on thy sandals and after thy crucified Lord Deny thy self take up thy cross and follow him and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven FINIS
filth and stench of Hell in their vile affections the smoke and flames of Hell in their reeking and burning lusts the darkness of Hell in their darkned and blinded minds and sometimes the torments of Hell in the anguish of their guilty and self revenging consciences And as sinners may find an hell so believers an heaven in the heart an heaven of light an heaven of love and joy and praise Thus it is with some and thus it might be with all were we stronger in Faith Oh what do we lose by living thus by Sense when we mighâ— live by Faith how have our carnal hearts by consuming and spinning out our daies in sloth and idleness sticking at the labour of duty whining under difficulties shrinking from sufferings indulging to our ease and our pleasure and liberties how have our carnal hearts robb'd us of the life of God the pleasures of Angels the joys of the Upper Region and left us little more of Christianity then its wounds and bruises its mournings and complainings its sighs and sorrows Oh foolish hearts that consult so unwisely for our selves that choose rather to live in Brakes among these bryars and thorns then among the Beds of Spices that will rather laze it in a Wilderness then get us up to the Garden of the Lord The life of Faith is an heavenly life The life of God Ephes 4. 18. though Faith shall never come into heaven it self yet thither it translates our hearts It came down from heaven it is the gift of God and though it must not return thither 't is love not Faith that shall dwell before the Throne of God yet thither it raises those hearts in which it lives Though it may not dwell there hereafter Faith shall then be lost in sight yet now its travelling thither going and returning every day and hour Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven there 's all our business where should a Christian be where does he live but where his business lies A Believer that had heretofore so many things to do dividing his heart and time hath now cast all his business into one hath brought all his business near his home he hath nothing to do abroad in the Tents of wickedness in the Camps of the Uncircumcised he hath done with serving flesh and lusts and times and tables and carkasses here his whole work did lye but no more of these now they must be all laid aside or at least made to come and serve with him in his higher business God and glory the loving and praising and serving and securing God to his soul is all he hath to do Phil. 3. 13. This one thing I do forgetting that which is behind and reaching forth to that which is before I press to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. These lower things his outward priviledges hopes and advantages were once the things before him but he 's now gotten beyond and hath left them all behind him not only his Jewish priviledge whereof he had boasted but much more all earthly things he hath cast off these weights and is now flying upon the wing of Faith ascending in flames of love winding up his soul by constant labour above this dung and darkness to the Regions of light and glory This is his business And hence is his blessedness heaven is his work and his meat his labour and his hire he will know nothing for a blessing or a comfort but what his Faith brings him down from above Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou so disquieted within me Bid him Hope in God tell him thou shalt yet praise him who is the light of thy countenance and thy God and this will comfort him Say to him while you will Man be of good comfort the fig-tree blossoms the labour of the Olive will not fail there is fruit in the Vines there are Flocks in the Folds there are Herds in the Stalls comfort thine heart what wouldst thou have more And how little will this ease him Oh where is my God how is it with my soul what tidings from above have I a treasure there doth God smile what tidings from within Is it peace there doth my soul prosper Is there grace there is truth in my inward parts this is good news Come in thou blessed of the Lord thou comest with good tidings this shall comfort me This is the life of Faith a conversation in heaven Thus we should and thus we might live more then we do but I doubt I have been here in telling you a Mystery whereof the most of us have but little experimental understanding Christians what acquaintance have you with this life of God Is this your business heavenly work are these your comforts heavenly supports we are yet carnal and walk as men Oh this earth earth how doth it hang on our spirits we live as if there were a middle Region betwixt heaven and earth a middle state betwixt Faith and unbelief Some little we have attain'd of this heavenly life and blessed be the Lord for any thing but oh how little is it Friends wonder not that you see no more of the Divine Glory conclude not that there is no more to be seen put it to the proof live more with God more purely more closely more constantly with him live in the daily exercise of Faith and you will get the sight of other manner of glorious things then can be told you What 's the reason that unbelievers are so wholly in the dark and can see nothing of God no more then they can despise and laugh to scorn O 't is because they come not near where God is they are alienated from the life of God their whole business is in the heart of the earth here they dwell and here is their whole converse Speak ye unbelievers where dwell ye what is your Occupation where is your Conversation far enough from heaven sure where ever it be Speak ye proud and haughty ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the air we feed on wind live upon breath honor and applause is all we work for and live upon Speak ye Covetous where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the earth we feed upon dust and ashes and in these our business lies Speak ye contentious quarrelsome ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the fire in storms and tempests Speak ye voluptuous Sensualists where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the mud and mire in lasciviousness wantonness and all manner of filthy lusts Speak ye Ranters Ruffians Swearers Cursers Blasphemers where is your Conversation our Conversation is in Hell in the Alehouse the Tavern the Brothel-house we live where Satans Throne is in the very Suburbs of Hell Oh what a difference hath Faith put betwixt Believers and all others in the world whilst they only live the life of God all others live the life of Bruits