sentence of death thus to employ his Pen when he cannot his Tongue for the good of thy Soul Every particular Chapter will if God add his blessing prove a compleat Soul-saving Treatise I shall add no more to perswade thee to Come and see but this that nothing but unwillingness to see what is here to be seen and unperswadableness to make such improvement of such Sights can make thy Case desperate Be sure only Before In and After thy serious perusal of these Chapters of so much worth that thou beg earnestly of God that he would be pleased with some of his Sons Eye-salve to open thine eyes that thou mayest see and by his Spirit move so upon thy spirit that thine eye may suitably affect thine heart with what so much tends to the promoting of thine eternal welfare The Sins of Professours CHAP. I. Their regardlesseness of Souls 1. HOw Careless are we of our own Souls 1. Ignorance of their preciousness O how few do believe they are men having bodies that must dye but Souls that will never dye How few do believe that their bodies were given them to be serviceable to their Souls Their heads their hearts their eyes their ears their hands their feet c. were all to attend upon their souls and to help them to Heaven But this is not believed by many As they are ignorant of the blessed God who made them and of Jesus Christ who came to redeem them and know not whether there be an Holy-Ghost or no So they are ignorant of the preciousness of their Souls Christ hath not given them eyes to read and understand that a man is not cannot be profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul Christ's questions what will it profit a man c. What shall a man give in exchange for his Soul Matth. 16.26 Put it out of all question Alas many who carry the name of Christians deserve not the name of men When you begin to value your Souls you begin to be men Oh that men would value that which once they shall they must value The damned Spirits know now the worth of their Souls How many will not 2. Inconsiderateness How few consider the worth and preciousness of their Souls When do such thoughts as these possesse you Here in this earthly tabernacle in this house of booths dwells a thing that I never said that is worth a world though here I crawl up and down like a worm of two or three Cubits long and am in danger to be thrown into an hole every day yet I carry with me a Jewell the loss whereof the whole world cannot repair How seldome do nominal Professours consider sadly and seriously what will become of their souls when their excellency Job 4 21. which is in them shall go or journey away as Eliphaz speaks Examine your thoughts all the day long from morning to Evening and few are laid out for the Soul 3. Caring â—â—â—e for the body â—han the 〈◊〉 Are not all the thoughts and cares laid out upon the body though the body be but clay and the soul is a spirit the body must dye but the soul shall never dye How frequently do we think of our â—odies what their wants burthens necessities are but not so of our souls How much of every day is spent in providing for thy body but how little for thy souâ— The body should be but the soul's servant yet men feed the slave and starve the child The body must be fed every day clad every day yea adorned every day and â—hysick'd if distempered but the soul needs food rayment phyâ—ck continually yet lyeth unregarâ—ed is left miserable naked starved c. A servant hath two talents to keep the child and the child's cloaths will the Master thank the servant if he plead I have kept the cloaths but I have neglected the life of the child Thy body is but thy souls outward garment How often have your Ministers told you that the soul was better than the body and that your souls needed dayly care more than your bodies and yet you look after the one with the neglect of the other A day is coming when thou wilt wish thou hadst been bred in the Field among the beasts and worms for that thou regardest thy soul no more than if thou hadst but the life of a beast thou wilt wish thou hadst been made a toad a serpent a worm a dog a swine c. for then thou shouldst not have suffered to eternity as now thou wilt unless the eyes of thy understanding be opened to see consider and make provision for thy precious but perishing soul Thy body is perishing every day and thy soul is upon the borders of eternity it must live for ever and yet all thy care is for the body which likely will not live threescore years and ten but the soul is neglected that must live threescore millions of years in hell without repentance and then when that date is over thou art as far from the end of thy misery as thou wast the first day thou wast thrown among the damned 4. Strangeness towards our souls How many will not speak with their souls They are greater strangers to them than the Londoners are to their next Neighbours Didst thou ever ask thy soul such questions O my soul how is it how will it be with thee O my soul in what state art thou O my soul what will become of thee O! what will become of thee in the next world 5. Niggardlyness towards our souls At what cost were we any time for our jeoparded souls The Physitian is consulted with if there be an ache upon the body we will with the woman part with all beggar our selves to recover health of body When did you know a man starve himself if he could have bread and water what ever it cost We will be at any expence of time labour and charges to keep our bodies from starving but how are the Ordinances of God the Word and Sacraments the spiritual food of the soul neglected The flesh must be satisfied as for the soul there is little regard to its well-being 1 Pet. 2 2. We cannot endure to see a Cat a Dog a Beast want meat but how easily do many digest the want of that milk whereby they should be maintained and grow God saith one gives to these their requests he gives them quailes but sends leanness into their souls 6. How fearless are many of soul-losses Fearlessness of souls losses how common is it for people to draw back from the service of Christ O! what is the matter I shall lose my estate liberty pay such a fine c. They little consider what their souls will lose if they do not persevere if they live not up their light Professours pardon me that I miscall you though you are blind and mad and see not the worth of your souls yet know that
your souls are the most considerable Jewels you stand possessed of All the world will not weigh with one soul Thy money may ransome thy body nothing save Christs blood thy soul Pause a while Reader and reflect on all thy sinfull neglects of thy immortal Soul lest on thy death-bed thou shriek and cry O my soul whether art thou going 2. Carelessness of others souls How little are the souls of others valued and cared for how many masters are there that care no more for their servants souls than for the dogs nay not so much Perhaps some of you are carefull that the bodies of your families be cloathed be fed c. but the souls lie unprovided for Soul-poysoners not censured as they ought to be Make nothing to lay poyson for souls more care is taken for the pigs than for the souls 1. How do we justly censure them as worthy of Capital punishments that murther the bodies of men but not so others who poyson and destroy thousands of souls How do you hate to have an hand in murthering the bodies of any to lay poyson for the destruction of any and yet how commonly do men lay the poyson of ill councell and ill example before others to cause them to fall into the pit of hell and are not affected with this great evil 2. Not troubled at soul-murtherers How troubled are we at any that kill bodies or that murther others but not so at the millions that destroy their own and others souls that have an hand in ruining in damning themselves and others 3. If any neglect means that might have continued the life of their husbands children c. how are they dejected how do the wring their hands and beat their breasts whereas if by carelessness if by the neglect of their duties if by evil example they have destroyed their souls they are not troubled about these matters 4. Low esteems of those that prize their souls How do you account meanly of all that take pains for their souls that wait at the pools of Bethesda that consult Ministers and books and attend on the Ordinances for their souls whilst you account it your wisdome to lay out the most if not all of your time for your bodies Hast thou the name of a Christian I pray God to let one word to sink into thine heart thou hast not Christ thou hast not the Spirit of Christ in thee he knows how to value souls and therefore shed blood for them and sends his Spirit in the Gospel to be importunate for their salvation CHAP. II. Their want of saving Conviction and Compunction HOw many Professours like Paul Alive without the Law Rom 7.9 Rev. 3.1 are alive without the Law How many like Sardis have a name to live imagine they are alive when they are dead How many are alive in their own conceit and perhaps in the conceit of others and yet are void of the true super-natural life How many are contented with their being baptized They see no need of Christ they were born of Christian Parents Luke 3.3 they are of the stock of Abraham We have Abraham to our Father They do not consider how many baptized persons are deadly enemies to Christ and to their souls and averse to the wayes of holiness they will not consider that Swearers Drunkards and Adulterers have as good claimes to Christ and heaven as these have How many also please themselves with the Religion of Education God hath not moulded their hearts though Parents their lives their Parents have taught them some Principles of Religion but they are strangers to the wonderful operations and teachings of the Holy Ghost they have not the Unction from above they know not what it is that teacheth all things and yet such as these are alive i. e. merry jocund jovial confident if any goe to heaven they shall be of the number But to speak more particularly First Few convinced of original sin imputed How many are there that were never convinced of original sin imputed or imparted 1. How few are convinced that Adam was a common person and that we sinned in his loynes that if he had stood we had stood and that it is just with God that he ship wracking himself we should be counted sinners in him We did eat of the forbidden fruit in Adam we in Adam believed the Devil rather thaâ— God we in Adam broke with God for toyes and trifles we were ungrateful disobedient in him we apostâ—tized in him and broke covenant with God in him hence by one mans offence sin entred into the world Rom. 5.12 and death by sin for that as Levi paid tithes in Abraham so we becâ—me rebells against the Majesty of Heaven in our first Parents when did you shed a tear for Adam's sin for your and his grand provocation 2. Few convinced of original sin inherent Psal 5.9 How few see Adam 's sinful nature imparted to them They see not their inward part is very wickedness nothing but wickedness Few see what a sad Apostacy from the perfection of mans nature Sin hath brought into the world and how black an Image of Sathan it hath drawn upon the soul they never saw what filthy dirty loathsome things they are in the eyes of God they never saw their noysomeness and venome the garbage and malignity of their hearts How few see a general defect of all righteousness and holiness wherein at first they were created How few are convinced of an antipathy to all that is good That they are haters of God by nature Eph. 2.1 that they are dead in trespasses and sins a more dreadful estate than if they were rotting in their graves that they have an Ocean of corruption within them that will never be dried up in this life that they have a worse Leprosie than that among the Jewes which got into the walls and would never out till the house was demolished who almost thinks so sadly of themselves They bless God their hearts are good though they be the worst of men pray not slight Ordinances closet duties and family worship lies neglected yet the Devil perswades them all is well their hearts are good though the heart of man by nature be like hell it self whose fire of lust is unquenchable though it be like Peter's great sheet which he saw in the Vision full of all unclean things Acts 11.6 though it be a receptacle of all impiety yet how few turn their eyes inward to see their natural deformities Alass All the venome the Snake sends forth is nothing to the poyson that lies in its nature And all those monstrous impieties which the lives of men are taunted with are not to be compared with the venome that lurks in the heart of every man by nature Men would not glory in their blood and descent did they but believe how sin descended and was conveyed Men could not content themselves to walk heavily under some actual
the chiefest among ten thousand his head is as the most fine gold his locks are bushy black as a Raven his eyes are as the eyes of Doves by the Rivers of waters washed with milk and fitly set his cheeks are as a bed of spices as sweet flowers his lipps like Lillies dropping sweet smelling myrrhe his hands are like gold Rings set with the Berill his belly is as bright Ivory overlaid with Saphires his legs are as Pillars of Marble set upon sockets of sine gold his countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the Cedars his mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely This is my Beloved c. I 'le praise thee with uprightness Psal 119.7 164. Septies i. e. Saepissime Psal 148. I 'le praise thee seven times a day Yea David thought seven times a day too little and therefore he call'd in all the Creatures of Heaven and Earth Air and Sea to praise God the Dragons in the deep must not be silent True Lovers praise God as much as they can they exalt God to the utmost of their power and then from a sense that God is above all their praise they would have every thing that hath breath to praise the Lord yea and inanimates too for to joyn in the Quire Doth Praise wait for God 11. Did you love God Not loving all of God and Christ Jo. 13.34 35. 1 Jo. 4.19 you would love every thing of God Do you love his Omnipresence his Justice his Holiness True love to Christ sticks not barely in the Person of Christ but reacheth to all that have an Union with him Do we love Christ mystical as well as personal Are we of Catholick Spirits The Apostle is peremptory and brandeth them all as Liars that pretend to love God and Christ and do not love Saints 12. Not thirsting after nearer Communion True Lovers of God thirst after nearer Commuion with God My Soul followeth hard after thee The Soul still encroacheth upon God Let me see thy Glory saith Moses though he saw more than Mortals were commonly permitted to behold yet Semper avarus eget Much would have more Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God A true Lover of God is under an holy impatience till he ceaseth to see darkly in a glass He would fain see with open face O! saith such a Soul the distance between Christ and me is too great O! I cannot but groan earnestly when I consider I am absent from the Lord whilst present in the body Lord saith Austin I will dye that I may enjoy thee I will not live but I will dye I desire to dye that I may see Christ and refuse to live that I may live with Christ The broken Rings Contracts and Espousals content not the true Lover but he longs for the Marriage day Here are Clouds that oft pass 'twixt God and my Soul O that I were above them Here if I see and enjoy the fear of losing so sweet a sight abates the comfort of fruition but then welcome an eternal day that shall never have a night 13. Being weary of his Commands If you loved God his Commandements would not be grievous to you Love cannot be easily poised Love hath a kind of Almightiness in it so that heavy burdens are made light 1 Jo. 5.3 and almost impossible things become feasible But of how many things do we say Mal. 1.13 What a weariness is it How are you haled by Governours by Conscience and by the terrours of the Law unto Duties How like Slaves chain'd to Gallies you must work though sore against your wills Did you love God you would count nothing tedious Hebr. 12.1 save dulness in his service Sin would only be the Weight O the burden of Formality Pride c But O the pleasures of the wayes of God! His yoak is easie his burden light 14. Did you love God Not fearing how it goes with Gods affairs 1 Sam. 4.13 you would be jealous lest it should goe ill with Gods affairs The loving Mother trembleth lest the Child should suffer when she is off from it But alas how few Elies are there whose hearts tremble beause of the Ark Do you really fear lest Formality should eat out the Power of Godliness lest Traditions should make void the Commandements of God lest your Trades should spoyl your Communion with God You may easily imagine Considerations tending to humble us for want of Love to God the want of Love to God must needs be a great Provocation O to pretend love and yet Judas-like betray Christ with a kisse to say Hail Master and yet preferr a base Lust before him What an indignity is it to the Husband that the Wife loves the Slave before him The World should be your Slave but it hath got the heart the bosome and Christ must stand without doors till his locks are wet Cant. 5. O that God should stoop so low as to love you as to make you the birth of his everlasting counsels of love that he should carry you long in the womb of his eternal purpose This goodly Fabrick of Heaven and Earth had not been erected but as a Stage whereon he would shew his love to you And did he not in the fulness of time purchase you by the blood of his First-born yea of his only begotten Son and for this very end that he might gain your love as well as reveal his own love And yet that your love should not be like an Eccho which returneth what it receiveth Sure you should cast back Gods beams of love upon himself This is all he expects My Son give me thine heart All the command he layes upon you Mat. 22 36 37. is in one word To Love him God might have commanded our Children to be sacrificed to pass through the Fire O! what a favour is it to love the Lord That God will honour us so farr as to suffer us to love him And yet we love any thing any sordid base Lust rather than God We would count it a favour if a Prince would give us a privy Key to come to him when we please Here is more honour we may have recourse to the bosom of God when we will God would have us to love him with all the heart with all the soul The Lord would not lose one grain of our love O that we should deny him that which he with reverence be it spoken and thought on is so fond of Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord require of thee but to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul God requires not now Cattle upon a thousand Hills or Rivers of Oyle Only Love me Love me Love me heartily constantly chiefly and yet we deny him our
There is no other way but by this Ark to escape drowning and the longer they wander in this Wilderness the more hard it will be at last to enter into Canaan the longer they keep off from the promise the more corrupt will their hearts grow and the more corrupt they grow the work of the heart-purifying-faith will be the more difficult 12. Eyeing Providences more than Promises How many of us eye Providences more than Promises and make the Providences rather than the Promises of God the Ground of their Faith One saith well The Star-light of one single Promise is of more use to Christians than a Constellation of many Providences both to assure them in their wayes and to support them under any difficulties 13. Do not we pretend to eye the Promises using indirect means for getting what is promised and yet use indirect means to bring our devices to pass We have pretended to live the Life of Faith but God knows what shifts men have had and wicked at least questionable courses men have taken how much evil hath been done that good may come Have not we to help Gods Promises to bring forth turned out of Gods way resisted Dignities offered Violence to known Laws wronged Conscience forgot all Obligations upon us Not looking that they attain their ends in our Souls 2 Pet. 1.4 1 Jo. 3.3 regarded nothing that stood in our way of compassing our designes 14. How little do we exmaine the Fruits of Gods Promises in our own Souls The exceeding great and precious Promises are given that we might be partakers of the Divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust that we might purifie our selves even as God is pure But do we look for these ends to be attained by the Promises in our Souls Do we look not only for a Change from Looseness to Civility but a through Sanctification in Body Mind and Spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 Alas which of us can say Having these Promises we do cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and are perfecting holiness in the fear of God CHAP. XVII Their Abuse of Providence 10ly Professors Abuse of Providence ABuse of Providence is another branch of Ungodliness too much spreading among Professours God is to be honoured not only as the chiefest Good and as the supream Truth and Authority but as the first Cause that giveth Beeing to all things and therefore ordereth and disposeth of all things as he pleaseth having absolute Dominion over all events But O! how is God dishonoured by abusing his Providence The blind World are not only guilty who do not acknowledge God at the other end of Causes as swaying all things by his Wisdome and Power but set up an Idol called Chance but even Professours eminent Professours are herein very guilty 1. Evidenced in their non-observing it How seldome do we observe Gods Providence The Finger of God is in all the Creatures not only We but all Creatures live move and have their beeing from God and in God The whole course of Nature moves as it is turned by the hand of God and directed by his counsel It is not with the work of God as with the Artificers Clock which put into a frame and hang'd with weights will goe though the Artificer be off from it but though God set all the Creatures in frame yet the motion of every wheel depends on God There is not a drop of rain falls till God utter his voice Jer. 10.13 and cause the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth Yet how is God not minded We see not his footsteps We may say in this He passeth this way and that and we see him not Our eyes are held to secondary Causes We look when the Wind or Moon will change but we are so short-sighted that we reach not God How seldome do we consider that though Gods Providence doth deliver up his choicest Friends into the hands of his and their Enemies yet doth it not deliver them up unto their will they cannot do what they please but only what pleaseth God Such of Gods own are still engraven on the palmes of his hands though turned over into the hands of the Ungodly they are Gods Favourites still though the wicked say Persecute them and take them for God hath forsaken them How little do we mind that our times are in Gods hands and that as Satan is in a Chain so are his Instruments We fear Men more than God O! when shall we hear that Word of God Say not a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy Isa 8.12 13 14. neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread And he shall be for a Sanctuary c. 2. Not being affected therewith How little are we affected with the continual course of Providence though it guards and keeps us every moment The Stars in their courses would fight against us the Sea would swallow us up and break in as a devourer the Beasts of the Field would arm against us if God did not check them and bound them yea one man would eat up another were it not for the Lord who sets bounds to the rage of all the Creatures It is the eye of jealousie that is still wakeful for us it is the Lord that puts the hook into the nose and the bridle in the lips of the Senacheribs of the World and yet how little are our hearts affected how little are they comforted and born up how little do they cleave unto the Lord On the contrary But distrusting â—t How distrustful are we of Gods Providence in a time of seen dangers though we are wonderfully delivered from invisible ones every day Who can number the legions of Devils so many deliverances hast thou by Gods Providence every moment and yet how diffident and doubtful are we upon all new imminent outward dangers How little do we believe that God will bring in good to us by such Providences as are ungrateful to Sense to Flesh and Blood Though nothing is more usual than for God to take away some comforts and lay in better comforts to take away an Abel and make it up in Seth to deprive Noah of the comforts of the whole World for a while and then to wash it from its filthiness and to deliver him the possession of it with manifest proofs of his singular distinguishing care of him and his Family whilst all the rest of the Creatures perished in the waters to deprive Mary and Martha of their Brother Lazarus and to return him from the dead unto them with great advantage to deprive Job of his Children and Estate to make his last dayes better than his first Job 1.3 compared with Ch. 42.10 12. and to give him twice as much as he had before for seven thousand Sheep
not Child-hood and Youth the time wherein Solomon adviseth the Children of men should be trained up in the way wherein they should goe O Parents Prov. 22.6 If God be worth your own acquaintance is he not worth the acquaintance of such as are so near and dear unto you Can you without trembling think that as soon as Death breaks up your house you may to Heaven and your Children must to Hell and thither through your default But if you should dye in this neglect of instructing your Children you will be miserable as well as they And O! What a greeting will there be hereafter between ungodly Parents and Children What an hearing will it be to your tormented Souls to hear your Children cry out against you All this that we suffer was long of you you should have taught us better and did not What an addition will such out-cries be to your misery 4. Suffering Children to fall out with one another By not redressing the disorderly carriages of your Children towards one another How few Reboccah's are there She was carefull to remove jars and mischiefs that might arise between her two Sons 5. Not praying for â—hem By not praying for your Childrens Souls and against those very particulars which their natural constitution leads them mostly to 6. Not correcting aright By not correcting them aright as to time not early enough He that loveth him correcteth him betimes not whilst the fault is fresh in his thoughts with all the aggravating circumstances thereof Not with compassion enough You have reason saith Mr Dod to be angry with your selves rather than to be bitter to your Children for you correct your own sin in your Children If the Child be curst and froward hath he not seen his Parent brawling and contentious c not ushering correction with Prayer that God would bless word and rod. Commonly Parents correct in an high passion whereby Prayer is hindered and the Medicine becomes invalid 7. Being over-angry By being angry without a cause or above the desert Anger must be let out according to the nature of the offence If Parents be always chiding or correcting they make their Children resolute like Hagar and Ismaei to take up their heels and into the Wilderness will they any where to be delivered from such hard usages Provoke not your Children to wrath Eph. 6.4 Some Parents want natural affections are too severe Correction like Physick if too frequent will work no more with Children than our meat with us 8. By loving your Children more than God Loving inordinately loving them as they are yours not as they are Gods as they bare your Image not Gods for their beauty and parts rather than for their graces loving a beautifull Child that is voyd of grace more than a deformed Child though eminent in grace loving one excessively as Jacob Joseph hence Joseph is envyed by the rest prodigal favours to some especially if without reason are offensive to others who are less respected Loving so as loth to let them go when God calls for them you cannot say as Eli it is the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 let him do as seems him good God pulls and you pull and you quarrel with God about the goard and you think you do well to be angry Job blessed God when God took all away at once by one blow 9. Not providing callings for them or not the best By not devoting them to some honest calling but letting them live in idleneness and so they grow up monuments of your neglect Some Gentlemen train up their Children to hold an Hawk to follow a Dog and commonly they dye in an Alehouse or shorten their lives thereby But if you do provide a calling for your Children is it not what is most gainfull rather than what will be most usefull to the good of the Soul Had you not rather have them rich Factours among Idolaters where they learn the manners of the Heathens then to have a meaner calling at home where the Gospel is preached in power and purity 10. Not matching them aright By not matching them to godly persons but rather to the rich Hereby ye shew that the silver shrines are in higher repute than grace and Godliness 11. Giving away all to them By giving all to your Children though the Church of God hath more need of it Hereby you evidence that you prefer not Zion before your chiefest joy that you love the outward grandeur of your Children more than the prosperity of the Church It is a wonder saith Mr. Baxter how so many seemingly holy can quiet their Consciences in such a sin as this is If one of you have two or three hundred pounds per annum it is a wonder if you leave an hundred pounds a year of it to pious or charitable uses Nay do not Parents leave all to their Children when they have apparent proofs that they will spend it in the service of Hell O! Let Parents tremble What wilt thou inable and strengthen thy Children to rebell against God put fuell to the fire put swords into their hands to sight against the most high Parents I beseech you look diligently to your duties be humbled for these and such like miscarriages O! look about you and you will see a sad Apostasy in Children Parents civil the Children debauched Parents godly the Children formall or loose Parents eminent for grace Children notorious for lewdness Let your bowels turn within you to see so great a degeneracy Double your diligence that there may be an holy seed Knock off the chains of Hell from your Children what you may lay not out all your time how they may be rich It is no time to seek great things for your selves seek them not Pitty the Souls of your Children that are slaves to the Devil How can ye mind your trades fields bodies whilst the Souls of your Children are in danger of perishing How can ye see the Devil driving your Children to Sin and Hell and ye stand still with a gallio-Gallio-Spirit Go to your Closets and ask your hearts whether the Soul be not the principal part of the Child and whether that needs not your care more than the body Do not throw away the Blade to preserve the Scabbard God hath set you to watch their Souls to train up their Souls to provide for their Souls if you do not what is your love more than a Pagans a Turks towards your Children You think you should be unnatural if you should not lay up for your Children though many Professours upon pretence that God will provide indulge to the flesh pamper their bodies and starve their Children but here is the best laying up to lay up a stock of Prayers for them and a stock of Counsell and Instruction in them O Parents Once more I beseech you put on bowels of pitty and compassion Pitty the perishing Souls of your own Children Command your Children to keep the way of
neglected to talk of what you have heard Have not some Not talking of it as soon as dismiss'd from the Sermon fallen into impertinent discourses about news and trifles or into worldly business Mat. 13.7 22. and so the thornes choak'd all the convictions which they received under the Ministry They consider not that the Word they have heard hath been the savour of life or of death 2 Cor. 2.16 and that every one that goes from a Sermon goes off either with God or the Devil in his company Have not you been hearers of the Word only Not practising it Jam. 1.22 and not doers of it Have not you so deceived your own selves Your Ministers have prest you to secret Prayer and to constancy in it but have not you gone away and continued in the neglect of that wherein the power of godliness and heart-sincerity mainly consists Blessed are they that hear the Word of God Luke 11.28 and keep it i. e. that are good Practitioners that have a conscionable care to regulate heart and life according to what they hear and know They are rather blest than the Mother of Christ was for bringing him into the World Christ puts a rather upon the good Practitioner than upon the Virgin Mary But alas Let it be for a Lamentation that so many Professours have been for hearing but for doing only what they listed Amos 8.5 6 7 8 9. Saying When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell Corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth Wheat Making the Ephah small and the Shekel great and falsifying the Ballances by deceit That we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shooes yea and sell the refuse of the Wheat The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob Surely I will never forget any of their works Shall not the Land tremble for this c The Kingdome of God shall be taken from you Mat. 21.43 Luke 12.43 and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof But Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing When did you find the Glasses to discover and amend your Spots Have you been cast into the Form of the Doctrine which ye have received Have you obeyed from the heart the Form of Doctrine delivered to you Hath your profiting appear'd answerable to the many months and years you have sate under the Dews of Heaven What do you know more than you did before What do you believe love and hope for more than you did Have your hearts and lusts stooped more and more to this Scepter of Christ Believe it Sirs If Sin be not more odious and Christ more sweet and precious after you have been in the Shepheards Tents you have lost your hearing hours yea contracted more guilt to your Souls That you have not been chang'd from glory to glory is a great stain to the Ministry and a great ground of sadness to the poor Ministers who fear they have laboured in vain And yet have not you been such unprofitable hearers that Seekers Ranters and Quakers have took occasion to cry down the Office of the Ministry as a Cheat as an old Almanack out of date because they have seen how unsuccessful the labours of Christs Ministers have been upon your Souls If you had come down from these Mounts with your faces shining if you had received more of God upon your hearts and lives you had more credited the Ministry and put to silence these foolish men What shall I say A worse Famine is coming on Professours than what happened to Egypt and if you have laid up no store what will ye do in the years of lean Kine 7. Have not you greatly miscarried Their miscarriages as to consulting with their Ministers Mat. 16.19 as to consulting with them Though one great work of your Ministers was to deal personally with your Souls and God intrusted them with the power of binding and loosing doctrinally at least and hath promised to loose in Heaven what they loosed on Earth and to confirm the Word of his Servants Isa 44.26 and perform the Counsel of his Messengers yet how little weight have you laid upon their judgements Have not you more credited the Physicians opinion of your Bodies Laying little weight on their Judgements Not consulting with them at all and the Lawyers about your Estates than you have your Ministers concerning your Souls How seldome are Ministers consulted with about the business of the Soul and Eternity Will not they in the Acts rise up to condemn this Generation They repaired to Christs Ministers with Men and Brethren What shall we do to be saved Acts 2.37 But alas How many have sate 30 40 50. Years under a Minister and never advised with him what to do They have been no more moved Through hard Heartedness Bride than the Rocks were that Bede preached to Or else through the Pride of their hearts they have thought to heal themselves They have been so puff'd up with their own knowledge that they have not cared to hear what their Ministers could declare unto them If they be to take a Journey they will ask the Way of every one they meet but so unreasonably consident are they of their knowing the Way to Glory though there be many Wayes Prov. 14.12 that do indeed lead down to Hell yet seem the right Way to Heaven that they will not so much as ask the Way thither-ward of any Guide Prov. 26.16 The Fool is wiser in his own conceit than seven men thas can render a reason Or else they have thought as well of their Souls as some doe of their flesh Thinking the wound will heal of it self that the wound will heal of it self And hath it not so done no body knows how Can you tell how the troubles and impressions made by the Ministry in your own Souls have worn away have not Ministers sound after the House hath been swept and garnished that seven worse Spirits have entred into the Souls of many convinced and terrified Professors and their latter end was worse than their beginning Many saith famous Hooker in a stupid kind of sottish senselessness wear out the blow and so wast away to nothing as many out of sorrow have become like senseless blocks How oft hath Satan like a Cut-purse drawn thee into solitudes disswaded thee from going near thy Minister that he may rob thee of thy Convictions and the better to effect this hath he not perswaded thee to look on the Minister as proud high scorning to condescend to hear thy Soul grievances and complaints whereas he hath many and many a time with the greatest importunity beg'd this trouble of dressing thy sores If you have consulted with your Ministers Not consulting with them soon enough Acts 24.25 have not you delayed going to these Soul-Physicians When the wound was newly given and bleeding you should have
and Atheisme grows exceedingly O that mine head were as waters c. CHAP. X. Their want of Love to God 3ly WAnt of Love to God is another great branch of ungodliness abounding amongst Professours Professors want of Love to God in Christ This is â—o great a branch of ungodliness that Jesus Christ hath reduced all the Commandements of the first Table concerning the Worship of God to this great one Matth. 23.36 thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and all thy Soul and all thy Might Indeed every one pretends to love God I hardly ever met with a person but said he loved God He that hateth dissembleth with his lips Prov. 26 God may say truly How canst thou say I love thee when thy heart is not with me God is loved but not for himself but for what he brings God is used and the World is embraced If God comes empty handed or with his hands full of trouble misery c. Farewell God is loved 2 Tim. 3.4 Job 21. but with a secondary love Professours are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God God must stand by and give place to sensuality therefore they say unto God depart c. They like God whilst they may enjoy their pleasures too whilst they may not be infringed Let but a few things be considered and we will see how much want there is of love to God in Christ 1. Whom we love we are not ashamed of Evidenced in being ashamed of a Relation to him The Mothers is such to her Child and Gods to us he is not ashamed to be called our God But do not we conceal our Title to God in some Companies that hate him How do we throw off our Livery Mar. 8.38 and dare not to be known to have walked with God Remember he that is ashamed of me c. 2. Not troubled for his dishonour 2 Pet. 2.8 Psa 119 53. 158. Not hating Gods Enemies Psal 139.21 Not hating self for not loving God Parents are troubled when their Children are dishonoured and so Children when their Fathers but are our Souls vexed racked with the filthy couversations of Sodomites Where are the Rivers of waters Where is thy horrour because men keep not Gods Commandements 3. Those we love their Enemies are ours Parents Enemies are the Childrens Enemies But do we hate them that hate God yea with a perfect hatred 4. True lovers of God hate themselves for not loving God enough How oft do they thus sigh Wretch that I am to grieve God to estrange my self from God so seldome to be with God to stay with him no longer How can I content my self with these transient glances with these sudden casts of mine eye and to be instantly wheel'd off from my God again O this fleeting mind of mine when will it fix on God and abide with him O this gadding heart of mine when will it center in its true and perfect happiness When I turn mine eye from earthly objects either I am displeased with them or there is some better thing that draws off my mind and heart But dare I say so of God that be is unlovely and yet I have been weary of him 5. Not trusting him Did we love God we would trust him we dare trust our very lives in a Friends hands But we dare not so trust God What would a carnal man give that he had but his life and health in his own dispose When he is poor he had rather it were in his own hands to supply his wants than in Gods for he thinks it would go better with him We trust God for little We think our selves quite undone when we have nothing save a God and a Promise to trust to 6. Not joying nor grieving as they ought How little do we joy in the presence of God and Christ and grieve for their absence Is God all in the want of all and is God the All in the enjoyment of all Can we say shew us the Father and it sufficeth us When we have no Fig-tree left can we rejoyce in the God of our Salvation Can we say Take all Ziba now that my Lord is come now that the Lord stoops to dwell in houses of clay O worldlings take your riches and make the best of them I envy you not I have enough in God Do we so grieve for the absence of God and Christ that nothing but God and Christ can make amends O that our happiness life comforts were folded up in God and Christ Can we live no more without God and Christ than a Beam without the Sun 7 Not thoughtful to please him Rom. 12.2 Ephes 5.10 True Lovers are thoughtfull to please the Beloved But is there any thing that we think less of than pleasing of God A true lover of God is alwayes proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. He is still searching that he may know more wherein he may please God as willing always to be more useful for God What have I to do more but how seldom do we ask our hearts what way may we walk in all well pleasing How seldom do we design for the glory of God 8. True Lovers are open handed and bountiful to God they bestow readily and freely any thing they have on him they will part with their Isaaks their dearest things with Limbs c. Rutherford that man of God wish'd every limb a man every bone a man yea every hair a man to set forth the praises of God When God calls for limbs can we say Farewell to them Are there not some things so dear to us that we cannot spare them to Christ Are we so taken with Christ that our hearts are dis-ingaged from the love of other things is every thing vile but Christ Is all you part from instantly supplyed in the loves and smiles of Christ 9. True Lovers of God are contented with nothing by way of return from God save only love from him returns of love they must have They do not pray save for love they go not in before God for Corn Wine Oyle c. but for love for God to open his heart to take off his mask from his lovely face and shew them the light of his countenance They are not like the Raven that came to Noah more for necessity Isa 26.8 9. than delight Yea in the way of thy Judgements O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our Soul is to thy Name and to the Remembrance of thee With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night yea with my Spirit within me will I seek thee early 10. Not praising him True Lovers are wont to praise each other But how seldom do we set forth the praises of Christ Love is witty full of eloquence Cant. 5.10 11 12 13 14 15 16. witness the Spouse My Beloved is white and ruddy
Church doth commend Christ but seldome are Wives careful herein to imitate the Church of God How many do blazon their infirmities more frequently than commend their graces The Church is careful to please Christ in all things 1 Cor. 7.34 The married Woman should care study to please her Husband by her attire behaviour words She should goe speak and do so Eph. 5.24 as may render her most acceptable in his sight in every thing How many cross Wives are there that love to vex rather than to delight their Husbands They will cloath and adorn their bodies to make them lovely to strangers rather than to their own Husbands The Church bears patiently rebukes and blows from Christ so should Wives as Sarah was commended for her meekness 1 Pet. 3.4 5 6. The ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit is in the sight of God of great price for after this manner in the old time the holy Women adorned themselves being in subjection to their own Husbands even as Sara c. The Church gives Christ reverend Titles of honour and esteem but alas Wives are so proud so self-conceited of their own worth and merit that they cannot but disrespect all others even their own Husbands Hereby they shew not themselves to be the Daughters of Sarah Gen. 18.12 1 Pet. 3.6 She having occasion to think of her Husband presently this title Lord came out of her heart into her mouth and the Holy Ghost takes notice of it yea a second time sure it was for some high end and proves that she obeyed Abraham because She called him Lord. Perhaps the Wife will tell me these are but trifles that I cross my Husband in I must tell thee to break the order of God for toyes and trifles will greaten thy sin at the day of accounts What wilt thou darest thou for so slender a matter tread down the Law of thy God and hazard the ruine of thy Soul O! consider this and turn not your duties to your Husbands into matter of talk and pastime as the manner of most Women is CHAP. XXX The miscarriages of Professing-Parents and Children PArents As Parents O! how little do you plot for the good of future generations how little do you care whether God hath a Name when you be dead and gone that Christ survive and holiness flourish when you shall be rotten in your graves O! 't is through your default that the name of Christ is not had in everlasting remembrance if you were faithfull how would the generations to come bless the Lord in your behalf If you were active and diligent you might convey holiness down to your posterity as you have been unhappy instruments to convey down a stock of sinne you have been instruments to convey down the curse but are not you careless to convey down grace The World would soon meâ—â— the Church of Christ would soon regain its antient lustre and beauty if ye did but faithfully discharge your duties to your Children you might suffer little Children to come to Christ yea you might fill the Kingdom of Heaven but do not you rather fill the Kingdom of Hell And as Jereboam made Israel to sin do not you instead of leading them the way to Heaven lead them the way to Hell O! consider seriously and sadly how farr you are guilty with respect to the Souls of your Children 1. By giving them bad examples Giving their Children bad examples Chams not covering his Fathers nakedness was a sin conveyed down to all his race and therefore God chargeth the Church of the Jews against that sin under the expressions of walking in the manners of the Nations Levit. 20.11 23. compar Ye shall not walk in the manners of the Nations which I cast out before you for they committed all these things Your pride sensuality carelesness in the worship of God your passions towards your Wives and Wives towards their Husbands your frowardness toward servants c. teach your Children so to carry themselves towards others One check't his Son and said never Parent had so wicked a Child yes said the Son My Grandfather had 2. Cockering them in sin By humouring and cockering your Children in their Sins Teaching them early to be proud of their fine clothes and to revenge Come give me a blow saith the Mother to the Child whilst it sits on her lap By indulging to his voluptuous course of life it is thought Isaack smarted in his Son 's future disobedience even by suffering him to sport and hunt away too much of precious time Many like Apes kill their Children with culling them Austin tells a sad Story of one Cyrillus who loved an only Son immoderately and let him do without correction what he would afterwards this cockered Son in a fit of drunkenness offers violence to his Mother killed his Father wounded mortally two of his Sisters and would have ravished another Through foolish pity Parents especially Mothers give the reines unto their Children when they are young and thereby they grow head-strong Prov. 29.15 and are a shame to the Mother that bore them The sparing of the Rod is the ruine of the Child Do not you reprove your Children as old fond Eli did Thereby he brought a plague upon himself and upon his posterity What saith one never cease convincing or correcting till thou hast subdued the spirit of thy Child if he contends with thee You pretend such harshness is inconsistent with love but I say from the Lord such fondness and indulgence is consistant with hatred and I am sure the Lord is on my side in this Prov. 13.24 He that spareth his rod hateth his Son he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes Is it love to suffer a wound in thy Child to fester and thereby to destroy him rather than to apply a painful corrosive for the expediting the cure But what saith the fond Mother O! If the Child should be the worse for my correction it would be a trouble to me whilst I live O that such a doting Mother would hear the Lord himself Correct thy Son Prov. 29.17 Prov. 23.13 and he shall give thee rest yea he shall give delight to thy Soul With hold not correction from the Child for if thou beatest him with the Rod he shall not dye Foolishness is bound in the heart of a Child Prov. 22.15 but the rod of correction shall drive it farr from him 3. By not acquainting them with the Lord Not instructing them and his wayes and that betimes Hath not God commanded that his Laws should be whetted by you upon your Children Deut. 6.7 Thou shalt teach them diligently Hebr. whet or sharpen unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up Some conceive that Catethiling of Children is not obscurely hinted in this ancient Precept And is
c. How seldome have we had any great conflict for those whose faces in the flesh we never saw Have not we been like Jacobs Children unmercifull enough sate down to eat and drink and forgot Joseph in the Pit Have not we had a late instance of this our hard-heartedness when the Plague so forraged in London and the parts adjacent How little did we mourn with them that mourned Perhaps fear lest the Flying Role might visit us caused us a little to put finger into the eye I must tell you I wish I could weeping that iniquity abounds and the love of many waxeth cold 17. Insulting over them 1 Cor. 13.4 Have not we been so far from sympathizing with them that we have insulted over them Reall love vaunteth not it self is not puffed up But how have we vaunted over fall'n Brethren fall'n into misery that is bad but fall'n into sin that is abominable How oft have I known some high Professours making it an entertainment a banquet for their Friends to speak of the Spots Vanities Gestures c. of others different in some Opinions or Practices from them when their laughture hath given evident proof what contentment they took in the infirmities of their Brethren Ye are puffed up 1 Cor. 5.2 and have not rather mourned c. said Paul to the Corinthians and may not I say so to English-Professours Have not we been worse than Dives's dogs seeing they licked the soars of Lazarus whilst we have rub'd and fretted them and insulted over his miseries 18. Publishing their secrets Have not we very unfaithfully published their secrets We are wont to keep the secrets of those we dearly love especially when they charge us and we promise so to do But how many of us are swift to hear but not slow to speak of what we hear even under the rose Few faithfull Spirits Prov. 11.13 that conceal the matter How many are there that creep into houses yea farther into bosomes to know secrets that they may inslave them to their wills for fear of their publications or else when they have got what they can of them most wretchedly betray the trust reposed in them This makes me even to cry out trust not in a Brother 19. Selfishness 1 Cor. 13.5 Have not we been selfish in our love Charity seeketh not her own Observe it the most love that is going is Publican-love we are careless of their company or to have any intimacy with them from whom nothing is likely to be returned if a Professour be rich he hath many Friends such as they be but the poor is despised of his Neighbour O! how base and mercenary is our love Even your Ministers to whom you have pretended dear and high affections yet if they be laid by or removed at a distance from you that you cannot have them as a pleasant song to you how strange are you instantly to them How soon do you forget them Judas may kiss you but he hath a design upon you Joab may salute but he is working nothing but his own base design 20. Inconstancy Hath not our love been inconstant Real love is abiding but do not we quickly exchange Friends Do we keep them as long as an Almanack to the end of the year Do not new pickt flowers tempt us to throw by the old 1 Cor. 13.4 Charity suffereth long But how soon is our love quenched It makes a blaze but soon is out soon kindled soon quench'd like Children won with an Apple lost with a Nut How have we been at swords point for every trifle Those seven ones one Body one Spirit one Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all should have been as so many quoines to lock together all parts of the building into one But alas every extravigant or extrinsecal opinion hath broken us and our hearts to pieces Have not we been humourish peevisn lovers Our love is dearly bought and more hardly kept Humour is like tinder as soon on fire as touched no love without conformity in every thing we could hardly bed board or house together unless we all said the same thing we loved only whilst pleased and our humours were not crost but the least unkindness the least difference though our agreemenss were more by hundreds than our differences would quench or at least abate our love Charity is not easily provoked 1 Cor. 13.5 Gal. 6.1 And to fullfil the law of love its requisite in the Apostles Judgement that we bear one anothers burthens But O! ever since I can remember what a rigid imperious and tyrannical commanding of an Uniformity in every punctilio hath there been Though the pretence be love to Christs Church yet if men would consult their own hearts 't is love of their own power and rule and Lordship over their Brethren and therefore the same party of men when in the Saddle when uppermost have cryed for this rigid Conformity away with cursed tolleration c. and when reduced and brought lower have as much commended Charity Love Forbearance in matters less momentous Now when these things are thus amongst us The greatness of this evil shall we sit still in silence and stupidity and suffer the sweet and soft fire of love quite to expire and the wild-fire of passion and contention to spread and prevail without moving a tongue or hand towards the repressing of the one and reviving of the other This were enough to make the dumb to speak and therefore may justifie my writing when I may not speak yea my expatiating a little in venting my thoughts about this great evil and the desires of my heart to redress it Is it nothing to us In its disobedience See Williams transcendency of Christs love Chap. 9. Sect. 3 4 5. John 13.33 34 35.14.12.15.12 17 that hereby we are in a special manner guilty of disobedience to Jesus Christ That all Christians would love one another was our Lord Jesus his dying charge which he frequently inculcated sweetly insinuated and powerfully enforced it as a Commandement not a bare advice and counsel It is a Commandement of Christs own prescribing A Commandement I give unto you It is a Commandement given as a special Love-token in his last Will and Testament It is a new Commandement A new Commandement I give unto you It is a most excellent Commandement in a new Edition corrected and amended from the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees and enlarged from his own example Before it was only Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self now it is Love one another as I have loved you This new Commandement is not once only given but given again and again and again by our dying Lord to intimate that as he had one Disciple who went by the name of the Disciple whom Jesus loved So he would have a darling Commandement and that this should be it Love one another Yea he calls it These things as
et vis coram pluribus arguere non es Corrector sed Proditor Augustin but not privately though Christ be so expresâ— for it If thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone though the Law of Charity binds us to cover our Brothers nakedness as much as we can Love covereth all sins yet some Doeg-like backbite their Neighbour and tell it to every one save him who should hear of it How few modestly affectionately and humbly in the most private manner communicate their fears of sins decayes and infirmities to the supposed delinquents Are not most too forward sinfully and wickedly to divulge their undue suspicions to others whereby the names of some suffer Souls lye neglected prejudices and heart-burnings are promoted Schisme is made in the body of Christ Though the Law of Wisdome bind us not to use more means than needs must if gentle private reproofs will serve to reclaim not to blazon infirmities yet Professours through pride envyâ— want of Charity at least want of wit publish on the house top what is done in a corner Herein we do as we hate to be dealt with were it our own concernment Hereby we make the Offendor to hate us and beget in him due prejudices against us viz. 〈◊〉 we thâ—â—â— to draw the blood of his Nameâ— yet how many Church-Members are peâ—canâ— herein It will be hard to make him believe thou comeâ— to heal 〈◊〉 Soul if thou haâ—â— already wounded his Name Have not some Church-Member 〈◊〉 â—or bringing it immediately to the 〈◊〉 Hereby innumerable evils ensue many are grieved many offended the party that is impeached stands on his guard pleads for his sin extenuates it or is strengthned in his sin by the uncharitable proceeding and irregular acting of the Brother who first took cognizance of the miscarriage and so Judah justifies Samaria Others reprove that those injuries that have been offered to the 〈◊〉 may be recompenced Reproveing selfishly rather than thaâ— their Brothers Soul may be healed and it appears â—erein if the wrong done them may be remidied little do they heed whether there be any other Repentance They reprove not to gain their Brother but to make gain of him and therefore Jehu-like they drive furiously in their own cases but in Gods they are dumb and dull enough Other busie-bodies would be thought very tender of Christs honour Reproveing only for disputable things they tithe Mint and Annise c. they reprove such things as are disputable and neglect to teprove where there are too many just accusations to lay in They will be very severe in censuring their Brethren for their Hair Cloathes or some controverted recreations and yet let them alone to live in worldliness sensuality lukewarmness pride sloth c. Others are so Magisterial in their reproofs Reproveing Magisterially as if they had forgotten that they are in the body as if they had no native corruption remaining in them they want the Spirit of meekness they have forgotten the Apostles Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault Gal. 6.1 ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the Spirit of meekness c. O! how haughtily do some carry it towards offending Brethren I wish you would sling the first stone at your selves If you are not guilty of the same offence yet you are of others at least you have the seed of the same Sin within you O that offending Brethren might know that it is only Conscience of duty that brings you to them and that it is love to their Souls puts you upon such displeasing work to your flesh But wo and alas How few will condescend The work is not managed with that humility as it ought and therefore no Brother is gained Others are so light frothy Reproveing lightly and unserious in this business that they spoyl all They do not invocate God to accompany them in the work they do not cry out who is sufficient They forget it is Soul-work they are imployed in they forget how abortive such labours have been they do not set upon it with that fear and trembling which they should Few rebuke with authority as having Gods Glory and mens Everlasting Salvation in their eye and hence when they come off from this work their Conscience smites them that they have been no more serious and fervent in a matter that concerns life and death Few continue their admonitions Putting an end to Reproof too soon and follow them till the Delinquent be brought to conjession repentance and amendment We soon tire and put the ill names of Doggs and Swine upon our offending Brethren to excase our sloth and to take off that diligence about their Sou's which their dulness and hardness of heart calls for We should in meekness instruct them though they oppose themselves We should bear with their present stubbornness and abuses and wait if God peradventure will give them repentance We forget how many years God waited on us though we were stout stubborn and refractory how patient and long-suffering he was unto us Though the more we love the less we are beloved though men even flye in our faces yet we should do as our Lord and his Ministers not presently shake off the dust of our feet against them 4. Not bearing Reproof Christianly How few behave themselves Christianly under Reproof When men come to you from the great God to discharge the duties they owe to your Souls your behaviour is such that none will meddle with such Patients to dress their wounds if the Lord had not charged them with this Commission How few receive a Reproof kindly and affectionately Not lovingly This makes me fear that there are more Hâ—pocrites in Churches than we are aware of It is a great mercy to be reproved As many as I love 〈◊〉 rebuke Rev. 3.19 To sin against Reproof is aggravated wickedness The revolters are profound 〈◊〉 make slaughter Hos 5.2 though I have been a râ—buker of them all It is an argument of â—atred not to reprove Levit. 19.15 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour c. Yet how are they counted turbulent pragmatical void or affection rigâ—d and censorious who will not let them goe on in their sin He that hates reproof Prov. 15.10 shall surely dye There is not a sadder Omen that God hath an endless controversie with thee I know saith the Prophet to Amaziah the Lord hath determined to destroy thee 2 Chron. 25.16 because thou hast not hearkened to my reproof Others seem to earken to the Reprover and give him verbal thanks for his plain dealing but from that day their hearts boyl inwardly and they are fill'd with prejudice which will express it self when ever it meets with a fair opportunity How few do engage some Friend to be a faithful Monitor to them to be open-hearted to them
house that is falling we would endeavour to save our selves from this untoward generation The Apostle would not so have adjured them so charg'd so intreated them had he not known the danger of wicked company Psa 7.11 God is angry with the wicked every day his bow is bent his arrows are on the strings the instruments for their ruine are all prepared And is it safe to be there where the Arrows of God are ready to fly about our ears How was the Apostle afraid to be in the Bath with Cerinthus Numb 16.26 Depart saith God by Moses from the tents of Korah Dathan and Abiram lest you be consumed in all their sins How have the baskets of good figs suffered with the bad Is it not prejudicial to the gold to lye with the dross Lot had been ruined by his Neighbourhood to the Sodomites if God had not wrought wonderfully for his deliverance Will you put God to work miracles to save you from your ungodly company It is dangerous being in the road with thieves whilst Gods hue and cry of Vengeance is at their backs Prov. 13.20 A Companion of fools shall be destroyed The very beasts may instruct you to consult better for your security the very Deer are afraid of a wounded chased Deer and therefore for their preservation thrust him out of their company How few believe their own experiences From not believing that they have suffered from them what they have suffered by the company of the Ungodly It had been better we had gone to the Pest-house and eat and drank with persons infected with the Plague even whilst the soar and botch was running on them than to accompany with wicked men our bodies would have been endangered only by the one but our Souls are by the other Is not the poyson of Asps under their tongues Doth not the Devil act them Eph. 2.2 Doth he not work effectually in the Children of disobedience Doth he not inform them Is there any breath that is not infections coming from their lips How soon could Joseph rap out an Oath by living with Pharaohs Courtiers It was not long time that Peter was â—nnecessarily without a Call in the High-Priests Hall and how quickly do we hear him Curse and Swear and deny his Lord and Master We are insensibly insnared and defiled by wicked men as we are black'd and discoloured by lying long under the hot and scortching Sun-beams Do not we yet know and feel how a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump and that one sinner destroys much good and that those that were mingled among the Heathen learned their wayes Have not you found after such company-keeping how your hearts have been dead dull straitned loth and unwilling to come into Gods presence It is difficult saith a late ingenious Writer even to a miracle to keep Gods Commandements and evil company too How suddenly after your Soul-refreshments in your Closet Communion have you lost all your heats and spiritual fervencies which you had in secret and have instantly cooled by going forth into cold and corrupt air When a Saint hath been in private ravished with the love of God and the joys of Heavenâ— and afterwards meets with company which neither doth nor can speak one word of such matters what a damp is it to him What a quenching as it were of the Spirit of God in him Nay is not that true which one saith that the people of God do generally lose more by worldly men that are of a blameless conversation before men than they lose by wicked and profane men O! how oft hath communion with carnal men been at least an occasion of blotting your evidences and of your suspecting the truth of your own graces whilst you have omitted the duties of admonition and reproof when there was a call thereto O! how oft have you said If I cannot suffer such a mans frowns and displeasure and therefore have omitted my duty to their Souls and durst not appear for God against their sins how shall I deny my self in greater matters How shall I suffer at a stake for Christ How shall I resist to blood fighting against sin You hold the Wolfe by the Ear whilst among them If you reprove them you get a blot if not you fear you are too cowardly to be inrolled among the Saints I will acquaint you with an Observation of mine When I have seen a Christian fall into an intimacy with vain and erroneous company I have counted it a mark of a back-sliding heart and have found it so too too oft And no wonder for we our selves count it a disgrace to us to accompany with them who associate with people suspected for uncleanness and dishonesty and so doth the Spirit of God who will not partake in the scandal of such Association Verily He will not be a Partner with you when you are not choice of your Fellowship How few consider From not considering how hereby they harden them in their wickedness how they harden wicked men by an intimacy with them Whereas withdrawment from them might be a means to make them ashamed Whilst we are merry and jovial with them we make them believe their condition is not deplorable their danger is not great whereas if we shunned them as we would a Bowed-Wall whilst they remain enemies to the Lord this might do them good for the startling of them and rouzing of them out of their unhappy security and strong delusions wherein they are held Not discharging Duty in their company Secondly May not neglect of discharging the Duties owed to wicked men whilst in their company be also justly charged upon Church-Members Professours carelessness of the perishing condition of the Souls even of the vilest is a sin much to be lamented It is an Iron Age we live in and mens hearts are strangely hardned as to any pitty they shew to the multitudes who are in a natural and damnable condition Me-thinks you should reflect on the misery of an unconverted state whilst you your selves were so lately in it Are not you convinced Several weighty Considerations to perswade Professors to be treating with Souls about their eternal Estate what-ever company they are in that those with whom you converse daily have reasonable immortal Souls capable of eternal life or misery Have not they the same common Nature with you Are there not at least many civil bonds wherein you stand related to them Doth not their misery call aloud for your compassions Are they not in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity Have they yet any part or fellowship in the pardon of their Sins The endeavouring to heal the back-slidings of Christians though a very necessary work is not so necessary for they will surely be pardoned and healed they are not in such hazard of damnation as to endeavour to open the eyes of these poor blind wretches and to turn them from the power of Satan unto God Would you not