into their very hearts and it will be an help to the begetting and warming affections in others when once you have experimentally tasted the sweetness and are thereby deeply affected with Religion then you are like to hold to it and prosper in it This tast and relish of Religion is not to be gotten but by our inward and experimental acquaintance with it whilst it dwells but in the head and upon the tongue it will be but a dry and insipid thing to you whilst you dwell upon the surface and out-side and are but smatterers and triflers in Religion you may say of all your Religion as it was said of Samaria's Idolatry Hos 8.7 It hath no Stalk the Bud yields no Meal or if it hath any stalk or seems to yield any meal yet neither stalk nor meal hath any sweetness in it Friends you must go deeper in Religion if ever you will tast the sweetness of it Get your hearts to be so leavened and seasoned with it get Religion to be so Naturalized to you drink in the spirit of Religion into you that you may be metamorphised and changed into its own Image and Nature and then you will find how pleasant it will be to you 3. To solidity in Religion Particularly 1. To solid substantial Religion 2. To be more solid in Religion 1. Get up to solid and substantial Religion VVhat the substance of Religion is I shall shortly hint to you from two Scriptures Phil. 3.3 We are the Circumcision which Worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Tit. 2.12 Teaching us that denying all ungodliness and wordly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present world Out of these two Scriptures you may learn wherein the substance of Religion lyes viz. 1. In worshipping God in the Spirit or as Joh. 4.24 in Spirit and in Truth This Notes 1. The inward worshipping God our loving fearing praising the Lord c. 2. Our being real and spiritual in the outward worship of God our hearing with understanding our praying with our Spirits c. Our taking heed to it that our acts of worship be not barely bodily exercise but the works of our souls be not shaddows and Images of worship but the very thing they pretend to be 2. In rejoyceing in Christ Jesus That is as our Mediator by whom as we exhibit all our worship so we expect its acceptance and all the comforts and fruits of it 3. In shunning of Iniquity Denying all ungodliness and worldly Lusts This Notes 1. The abstaining from the practise of sin that we do no Inity Psal 119.3 2. The mortifying the Lusts of sin the killing of sin within the Crucifying the flesh with the affections and Lusts Gal. 5.24 4. In the practise of Holiness and Righteousness Our living Soberly and Righteously and Godly in this present world These are the substance of Religion he that worships God in Spirit and in Truth that thus rejoyces in Christ Jesus that denying all Ungodliness and wordly Lusts lives Righteously and Soberly and Godly in this present world he is a substantial Christian There may be great growth in these substantials in this solid Religion where there seems but little in affection there may be much affection in others that are not solid Christians there may be Christians that can't weep for sin as some others can but yet they can take more heed of sin they can fear it and shun it and conquer the power of it more than those that can more passionately weep for it There are some that cannot so passionately melt under the VVord but yet the VVord sticks more upon them and hath more power over their practise There are that can't feel so much of the warm and lively workings of love to God but they are more tender how they offend or displease God more bent upon being Serviceable and Faithful to God And sure there 's more of solid Religion in these than in some others in whom it works more passionately Friends look to this if you be wanting in affection let it be made up in circumspection what you want of the delights of Religion let it be made up in diligence If you feel not so much of the warm workings of love to Christ yet can you but keep you close to Christ and the obedience of his will if whilst you are less lively you be yet more tender and heedful and watchful in your goings if whilst you can't melt nor passionately mourn for sin yet you carefully shun and beware of sin if though you be not elevated and raised to those heights and raptures of joys as some others yet you are more mortified to sin the world if you be dead with Christ dead to the Fashions and Lusts and Pleasures and Riches of this world if ye be dead with Christ though your life and the comforts of it be yet but hidden you have gotten the substance of Christianity in you In these and such like instances stands the solidity of Christianity wherein he that groweth most is the best Christian It 's true when affection and solidity go together where we are both substantial Christians and also warm and lively Christians that 's incomparably best and most desireable Follow after both but especially take heed that what-ever be wanting in affection be made up in solidity Get to be more understanding experienced Christians get to be more Conscientious tender strict and close followers of Christ in all the known and weighty matters of the Law Be mortified to sin be crucified to the World be bent upon doing all the good you can in your Generations this is it I mean by solid Religion O Friends what a deal of light and frothy Religion have we known some years since in our Land which made a great noise and a fair shew and appear'd in a great flush of affection and had but little it What tryumphing in Christ what boasting of the Spirit what magnifyings of free grace what pretentions to great joyes and confidences were there amongst many hot and hasty Professors which have since vanished into meer wind How comes this to pass Why there was not the substance of Religion at bottom the sounding Vessels were hollow and had nothing in them Be as affectionate as you can be as zealous and lively as possible but be sure that there be substance under all your shews Be diligent Christians be doing Christians be mortified Christians 't is this which will hold out and therefore let this be it you are reaching up unto to keep you from Iniquity to keep you close to duty and hence to be built up through Faith unto Salvation 2. Get to be solid in Religion to more firmness to be more deeply rooted in the Faith and more firmly resolved for the obedience of the Gospel this the Apostle expresses by groundedness and settleness Col. 1.23 If ye continue in the Faith grounded and setled
c. and wilt continue so then look to thy self God will not stay with such a Soul what love your pleasures more than God what love this World more than God even take them for me says the Lord I 'll be no more a God to them This is the first every allowed sin provokes God to depart 2. Stirring Religion will work out sin especially every allowed sin The life of a Christian is a warfare there is a continual conflict betwixt the flesh and spirit Gal. 5.17 The Flesh lusteth lusteth that is fighteth sin fighteth against grace and grace fighteth against sin Sin fights for the Devil to set him up and to lay the governement on his Shoulder and grace fights for God to lift the Lord up and to give him the preheminence in the Soul God will no longer stay in the heart than he may have the preheminence God will not be kept as an underling if he may not have the preheminence he 'll be gone and leave you to the Devil never talk that you hope God is within you where Sin or the World bears rule God is not there Now where the flesh is let alone in its fight against grace much more where the heart takes part with the flesh and nourisheth and cherisheth and maketh provision for it and grace is let lye asleep there sin rises and increases and abounds both in heart and life Where sin is stirring and that little grace that is is let lye and quite out of heart what can be expected how can it be otherwise but the Devil must carry it against God But when grace revives and the heart falls off from sin and takes part with grace nourishing and cherishing and abetting the better part then sin will be put to it and must away Christians your hearts would quickly be too hot for your sins if the grace that is in you be once well rouzed up when the live Coals are blown up into a Flame the Smoke is consumed and vanisheth Do not sluggishly lye down and complain that you cannot master your sins you are proud and cannot help it you are earthly and worldly and cannot help it you are froward and passionate and peevish and cannot overcome your passions Do not say you cannot overcome you cannot prevail if there be grace in your hearts and you will set to it to stir up the grace that is in you this would overcome What do you think if your love to Christ were blown up into a flame would it not quench the flame of lust Friends 't is a sign that religion is asleep grace is asleep conscience is asleep when your carnality and earthliness do thus ride in triumph over you this little David that little good thing that is within you if it gets on its Armour and go forth to the fight will not only put to flight but put to death the Champion of the Philistines Put your grace to it let it but engage heartily and lively in the fight and sin will run the field Loytering and idleness and laziness do beget and nourish evil humours and diseases exercise and activity will subdue and work them out he that lives a stirring life is usually the most strong and healthful Christians if you would be hearty and healthful and overcome those corruptions that are the diseases of your Souls and the offence of your God if you would overcome resolve upon a stirring life pray and let no praying satisfie but stirring prayer sleepy prayers will stand you in no stead let your thoughts be stirring let your affections be stirring let conscience be stirring let your conversations be stirring conversations be not the carkases of Christians that have no life shew forth the Spirit of Christianity as much as possible be all soul and life and spirit and keep you in lively action and then let your sins stand before yov if they can The quick running Rivers keep themselves pure they are the dead and standing Pools that gather most mud and dirt Certainly Friends our Skie would be clearer and more serene if our Spirits as the Wind did rise higher Our thick Mists and unwholesome Fogs that infest and annoy us would much be dispelled if Grace the rays of the Sun of Righteousness did once break forth more in us What will ye do Friends your light grows dim and your day misty your waters are mudded we are a company of dark souls polluted souls such as the Lord can take little pleasure in what must ye do to help it if you will bestir your selves you may help all get Religion to be aflote let that living stream be running let the coals be blowing and then you shall see your mud will be cleansed and your dross will be purged away Never think 't will be better by sitting still and complaining how bad 't is To work Friends to work with these lazy hearts to work with those earthly minds rouze ye up out of sleep up and be doing and see if you find not the same success against your sins as the Lord promised against the Devil Jam. 4.7 Resist the Devil and he shall fly from you resist Sin and it shall fall under you Now Friends if ye can but get your sins out if ye can subdue your iniquities so far as that not one of them be allowed and all of them have their power broken and weakned in you if those that are by a specialty your iniquities if your special sins your most beloved lusts those that have most of all taken with you and carried your hearts captive those evils that have been your special hinderances either in holiness or comfort and that your hearts have been most apt to go a whoring after if you get these to be mortified and brought under stirring Religion will do it get it to be done once let nothing be left that offends God but that it also offends you and you shall not be like to have reason to complain the Lord is departed from me that which would have driven him away is now removed 2. Stirring Religion will work up and improve and increase those good things which the Lord will delight in and will not forsake As it will work out iniquity so it will work up grace and holiness There is not the poorest and weakest of Saints but by diligence and industry will be improved Stirring Christians will be thriving Christians 't is for want of action and industry that our souls are in this poor case As they said Gen. 43.10 Except we had lingred we had returned the second time or twice by this time Friends if we had not lingered and loitered we might have had twice so much grace twice so much holiness as now we have 't is our lingering that keeps us so poor we may thank our sloth and our carelesness that there is so little of God in us by our industry we shall advance Stirring lively Christians will be thriving Christians the best of Christians can never keep their stand
the kindness of your youth and the love of your Espousals when your hearts were tender when your love was keen when your affections were quick and lively when the VVord and Ordinances of God were sweet and powerful when you came from far and would go through thick and thin to hear the word of the Lord when your Meditations when your Communications by the way as you went and returned were so savoury and so pleasant to you Such a time there has been with some of you such a time of love and of life there has been are you fallen from this O recover recover and let it be with you as in the days of old 3. Both those that are fallen and every one should strive to get up to the highest pitch of Religion that is attainable You should level at perfection of Holiness and no mark short of Perfection should limit or bound your aims 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God Though perfect Holiness cannot be attained yet it must be aimed at though we cannot reach unto it yet we must be reaching towards it though we cannot obtain yet we must be still following after Because we cannot obtain all that is desirable but there will be still while we live something that is before which we are yet short of therefore our motion in Religion must be constantly a progressive motion we must still be going forward and reaching out to that which is before that our works may be more and our hearts may be better at last then at first Prov. 4.18 The Path of the Just must shine more and more unto perfect day Grace must be growing up till it be swallowed up of Glory 2. Particularly 1. To an hunger and thirst of soul after more of Religion to a stirring Appetite Sick men when their Stomacks come to them 't is a good sign of recovery Hunger and Thirst are eager Appetites that put us to pain and are impatient till satisfied the keenness or eagerness of the Appetite after the Grace of God is express'd by Coveteousness earnest Coveteousness 1 Cor. 12.31 Covet earnestly the best gifts The Coveteous are greedy souls but there are degrees of greediness the hearts of some Covetous ones are more sharp set upon the world than others that are greedy enough Covet earnestly let your hearts be as hungry and thirsty after Grace and the gifts of Grace as the most greedy Men on earth gapes after the world Hunger and Thirst are imperious Appetites that will command men upon any thing any labour any difficulties for the obtaining satisfaction Hunger will break through Stone walls A graciously thirsty soul will not sit still and only say I Thirst give me to drink but he will rise and about to seek where he may be satisfied he will out to the Springs and the Brooks and the Wells of Salvation where he may draw and drink of the VVater of Life He will refuse no pains nor no hazard in order to the satisfying his desire Then you are hungry after Religion then your souls are Athirst for God when you are so sharply set that you must have it and will stick at no labour and difficulties for the obtaining The hunger and thirst of Souls after God is an attainment which is the way to an higher attainment Mat. 5.6 Blessed are they that hunger after Righteousness for they shall be filled Are you hungry after Grace Are you thirsty after God and Godliness Blessed are you for ye shall be filled ye shall have enough Grace enough for you Religion and Righteousness enough your souls shall be satisfied with the goodness of the Lord He will fulfil the Desires of them that fear him Psal 145.19 O Christians were we a more hungry Congregation were we a more thirsty People Spiritually hungry Spiritually thirsty what an Holy People what a company of gracious souls should we quickly become The Lord will fill his hungry souls with his good things we should be full and abound and have all things even all Grace abundantly towards us and in us 'T is one misery of consuming decayed souls that they have lost their Appetites Some Consumptive bodys will be hungry and eat till they dye but Consumptive souls do neither hunger nor thirst 'T is an ill sign that thou art dangerously gone in a Consumption who hast lost thine Appetite after God in whom thy desire fails 't is one of the Death-Tokens mentioned by Solomon Eccles 12.5 That desire shall fail Thou hast lost much of thy strength and thy spirits the life of Grace is fallen much to decay in thee but doth thy desire after Grace fail to Hast thou lost thine hunger and thy thurst after Righteousness doth thy soul cease to pant after the Water-brooks Canst thou not say I am athirst for God for the living God That soul of thine is nigh unto death if it be not suddenly recovered O Friends how many such dying souls are there among us Grace hath failed and desire hath failed in too many among us Do not deceive your selves with saying I desire I desire to be a more Holy and Heavenly hearty Christian do not say you desire nor think you desire what you do not Appetitus determinator ad hoc If you truly desire Grace an improvement herein then this is the one thing you desire Grace and nothing but Grace Holiness and nothing but Holiness will satisfie And if you can say this one thing I desire then you will also say this one thing I will seek 'T is not a dull and idle and ineffectual wish that can be accounted a sincere desire but such a keen and eager Appetite and Thirst after God as will not let you be quiet or suffer you to rest in such a case Those that are heartily hungry they can't sleep for hunger their hunger will keep them waking What are you such drowsie sleepy souls Can you take any rest in that poor and empty state you are in Sure what-ever you think you have little thirst for God 't would keep you waking if you had your souls would have no ease you could not be in quiet till you obtain O what a case is this that thou art in What to have so little of God in thee and yet no greater desire after more What art thou like to come to whose Bread fails and when hunger fails to whose Grace is sunk and whose desire after Grace fails What neither to have nor to wish thou had'st or to have so very little next to nothing and not to wish for more What to have lost so much and not to weep over thy loss and wish for thy recovery Friends how stands the case with you Sure you do not know your state if some of you do know that it 's but very low with you But what pantings or thirstings or workings of your hearts are there after an increase Do
not thus with some of you that are Professors of Religion Consult your own experiences how freely and how chearfully can you follow your Trades and worldly business you can Work and Travail and Buy and Sell and follow it night and day can rise early and go to Bed late and eat the Bread of Carefulness enduring heat and cold and never complain but when you come to Praying and communing with your own hearts or taking a walk by Holy Meditation into the other VVorld when you come to have to do in any of the matters of God and serious Religion O how like Drones and Sleepers do you go on A little of this is enough and more than you can well bear your VVheels drug your Spirits tire and thereupon you hastily over with this work and are glad when you have done How seldom is it that you go into your Closets as willingly as you come out How well were it if you did as freely fall upon your knees as you use to rise from them when you have done How comes this to pass O you are yet carnal carnally disposed carnally inclined your fleshly habits do dispose you to your fleshly ways and fetter you and hang on your heels when you should be doing for God and your Souls O to work Christians to work work off these carnal dispositions and work up your hearts to Spirituality and Heavenliness Get you to be better temper'd and better disposed and the way to habituate your selves to Religion is to hold you closer to the exercise of Religion if you would but use a little more force upon your selves for a time and hold you to diligence in your Holy ways this would by degrees by the co-operation of the spirit of Grace with you which you might boldly look for to come into your help this your forceing your selves upon a diligent holy life for a while would bring you to go on after you had been inured to it with more freedom and alacrity Heb. 15.14 Those that were strong Christians steady and established Christians how came they to be so O 't is said That by reason of use by having their senses exercised by this means they grew up to it Friends be perswaded to make tryal exercise your selves more to Godliness use your selves to a strict conscientious Life If you find it hard at first yet force your selves upon it hold your selves hard to it and by that you have accustomed your selves to this course a while look for it you will find it sweet and easie and when you have thus gotten the habit of Religion when by reason of use and having your senses exercised to Godliness you become Holily disposed and inclined then what Christians think you are you like to be what thriving Christians what flourishing Christians what fruitful Christians are you then like to become then your hearts will be streaming hearts and flaming hearts and will mount up and ascend in those flames of holy Love and Zeal above this Earth and Flesh and a Unity to live in the Light and Love and Joy of the Lord. O Friends would you set your hearts to be reaching out towards this holy frame would the Lord be pleased by the more abundant influences of his Spirit upon us to work us up to and settle us in this habit of Holiness this Spiritual and willing and ready mind then we should become a beautiful Congregation then we should become a blessed People and should grow up as Trees of Righteousness which the Lord hath Planted and which the Lord hath Blessed What Friends doth not all this stir you Is there such a Blessed state and frame to be had and is it not worthy your striving after Come my Beloved let 's bestir our selves let us follow after let us be reaching on with our might to this holy Prize Be not discouraged at difficulty be doing and the Lord will help you VVe are workers together with God for you be you workers together with us for your selves set your hearts to it and the Lord will work in you both to will and to obtain of his good pleasure And thus I have shew'd you what that solidity in Religion which I am stirring you up to be reaching after is to be well-grounded and settled in the substantials of Christianity He that worshippeth God in the Spirit rejoyceth in Christ Jesus and heedfully shunning all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts hath given himself to a Righteous Sober and Godly life he that being deeply resolved for Christ and firmly trusting in Christ doth with full purpose of heart cleave unto him sticking fast to the Lord and keeping him close by him till he hath by reason of use gotten Holiness to be habitual to him This is a Pattern that I would you would have much before your eyes 4. To fruitfulness in Religion There is a readiness to good works mentioned Tit. 3.1 standing in the preparation or propension or bent of the soul upon holy action whereof before and there is a fruitfulness in good works or the souls putting it forth in holy action All Religion stands in action either the inward action of the Soul or the outward action of the Life 'T is the doing Christian that is the excellent Christian the fruitful field which hath a Blessing in it There is amongst our Corn some that looks fresh and strong and grows up ranker and taller than the rest but at best proves to have but little in the Ear 't is grown up all in Stalk and hath little fruit we can't say of it as Hos 7.8 It hath no Stalk 't is all Salk and hath no Ear 't is the full Ears of the Field that are its fruitfulness That is fruitfulness where there is good fruit brought forth and much fruit That ground which either bringeth forth no good fruit or but very little we count barren ground Will you call that a fruitful field which brings forth but here and there an Ear a few handful of Ears to whole Sheaves of Tares and VVeeds VVill you call that a fruitful Tree which hath but two or three Berries in the top of the uppermost bough four or five in the outmost fruitful branches It is precious fruit and plenty of it that will give us the account of fruitful Christians Fruitfulness in Religion is the Honour of Religion Herein is my Father Glorified that ye bring forth much fruit Joh. 15 8. And what Glorifies God God will make glorious before the VVorld Barrenness is a Reproach 't is matter of sorrow and shame Such Christians which stand as dry Trees should not stand with dry Eyes VVe read that Barren Wombs have been the matter of great Affliction How did Sarah and Rachel take on that they had no Children And Hannah when she Prayed for a Child having yet none said 1 Sam. 15. I am a Woman of a sorrowful spirit out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken But however it be upon the account of
perpetually rising up to hinder any good that 's going in your hearts and bringing it to just nothing O how many good motions are quenched good purposes vacated good desires and hopes frustrated good beginnings discouraged your duties spoiled your peace broken your comforts clouded and lost and all by the malign influences of the Body of sin and the impetuousness of your lusts its members Here are those outcries that we sometimes hear from the tender-hearted wo is me that I am constrained to dwell in Mesech to have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar I am for peace but they are for war I am for peace yet not by a League but by a conquest of mine Enemies let them dye that I may be at rest but still they live and are mighty whilst I am for peace they are for war I can have no rest in my Spirit I am weary of my life because of these Daughters of Heth Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me Hear Lord cut down cast out these Sons of the Bond-woman that they be no longer a Plague or a Snare unto me Remember these Children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem happy should I be could I reward them as they have served me happy should I be if I could take these Children and dash them against the stones And now you see another ground why you have great need to bestir your selves because of these stirring lusts that hinder and mischief you Let me here put in a word of application You will say But what should the consideration of these stirring lusts stir me up unto Why you have it hinted to you already to deal by them as they have dealt and will deal by you Have they given you a fall wrestle with them again till they fall before you Are they for war let them have enough of it war against those lusts that war against your Souls Doth the Flesh lust against the Spirit let the Spirit lust against the Flesh Stretch forth the Spear and draw not back your hand till they become as the Midianites which perished at Endor and became as the Dung of the Earth Mortifie mortifie them as lust hath even mortified your Religion so let your Religion mortifie Corruption Take the Apostle for your Patern O how did that great Apostle Paul bestir himself upon this account what compassionate complaints did he make against his lust Rom. 7. aforementioned The good that I would I do not the evil that I hate that do I when I would do good evil is present with me I find a law in my members war ring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death What earnest prayers did he make For this I besought the Lord thrice 2 Cor. 12.8 I was often upon my knees begging the Lord that these Thorns in my flesh might be pulled out What assaults and batteries did he make upon them 1 Cor. 9.26 27. So fight I not as one that beateth the Air but I keep under my body and bring it to subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should become a Cast away What will become of me if I let these Lusts live O they will damn me at last After all my preaching of Christ to others I shall be a Reprobate from Christ a Cast away if I conquer not mine own sins one of the two they or I must die Paul was a chosen Vessel and by the Election of God secured from coming into condemnation but this necessary means must be used his sins must be slain or his soul cannot be saved Acts 27.31 Though God had promised him his life and the lives of all in the Ship yet says he unless the Mariners abide in the Ship ye cannot be saved And in the case of Jonah if Jonah had not been cast out of the Ship the Mariners had all been drowned Friends how often must I tell you this Whatever Faith and Hope in Christ you have whatever profession of Christ you have made whatever security you think you have for your Salvation yet if these Jonahs be not cast over board you will all be drowned in perdition and destruction your lusts will never leave enticing and tempting you from one sin to another from one degree of Apostasie to another till they have damned your Souls If you give them Rope and let them alone they will become such a Rope about your Neck as will drag you to the Pit How near have they brought you to it already are not some of you even become as dying men have not your souls and your hopes one foot in the Grave And if you die thus daily what can you expect but to be buried in flames See what your lusts have already done and tremble to think what they are still a doing you die outright if you save them alive And will you not yet stir have they eaten up your hearts and drunk up your spirits and left such leanness upon your souls Have they withered your branches and rotted your fruit and are these worms still gnawing at your root How can you but cry out Lord what am I come to Lord whether am I falling save Lord or I perish Arise O my Soul cut off the Limbs and smite through the Loyns of the Old Man nothing but his Death can secure his Life Friends how do these words take with you what do they work what nothing moved for all this Or do the Sleepers begin to wake O that it might be so Lord waken them 3. From the difficulty of holding on and getting on the way for those that stand It 's hard to keep our way and much more to make speed on in it and so hard that unless we bestir our selves to purpose we shall never come roundly on The way of Religion is an uphill-way Prov 15.24 The way of life is above to the Wise to depart from Hell beneath The Mark we are making toward stands upon a Hill there the City of God in which alone that perfection we are reaching after is to be found is situate The Holy Hill of Zion Jerusalem which is above Our Mark we are pressing to stands upon an Hill and our way to it is all rising ground and if we put not our selves hard to it we shall never get up Sinners are all running downward and therefore 't is they run so fast Behold how the whole herd of Sinners are all like that herd of swine of the Gaderens running headlong down and never like to stop till they be choked and drowned in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone and the same way are Backsliders running these also are running down after the herd of Swine But now a Christians way is upwards as 't is said Eccl. 3.21 the Spirit of a Man so much more the Spirit of a Christian ascends and goes upwards he does so
when he dies as the meaning there is and he must do so while he lives that 's his duty Col. 3.1 and his duty is his way that he should go his course is to be from bad to good and from good to better from weakness to strength yea and from strength to strength from a little to an increase of strength Christians you are all bound for Heaven Travellers to the Holy Hill your progress in holiness is your ascending and climbing up the Hill you are getting up the Jacobs Ladder which reaches the Hill-top Every Holy Day you live every Holy Duty you perform every little degree of Grace that 's added to you is your getting up so many rounds higher upon that Holy Ladder And this is it you have to do to be climbing and climbing higher and higher in the Grace of God and in the Works of Grace And this now is the reason of our so slow motion he that goes up the Hill takes the more time and the shorter steps yea and as one foot goes up the other slides back Our goings up at Hill are more painful Facilis descensus at revocare gradum hic labor hoc opus est And hence is it that there is so much need of the Goad and the Spur to prick us on Down at hill there 's more need of the Bridle than of the Spur. Even Christians have need of the bridle in this respect we need not be driven down to the lower Valleys which we have left we are too apt to be running back to the gains and the pleasures here below 't is to hasten our motion upward that we so much need the Rod and the Spur. Yea and we need to be quickned and warned to look well to the Bridle to restrain us from our cross and contrary motions Sure Friends our so eager running still after this world running after the riches and pleasures of this life evidence it sufficiently what need we have to be stirred up to look well to the Bridle As the Psalmist says Ps 39.1 I will hold my mouth so have we all need to hold our hearts as with a bridle to hold the bridle upon our wills affections and appetites Do not you see how apt you are to run too fast this way with what speed are some Professors riding downwards what haste do they make to be rich and to be great in this world The very Mountains of this Earth the Mountains of Pride and worldly Greatness and Glory the very Hill tops of Worldlings are but as low Valleys to a Christian he is still going down at hill while he is climbing up these worldly Mountains and therefore he needs the bridle to hold him in Consider it do we not still want to be warned and called upon and to call upon our selves to lay hold upon the bridle Behold Friends how many of us do suffer our carnal hearts to run their course how seldom do we give check to our fleshly desires how seldom do we speak such a word to our selves Stay O my heart not too fast O my Soul How little pains do we take to restrain our intemperate affections How very few self-bridling Christians self-checking Christians are here among us When we do hear such words I am afraid I am making too much haste to be rich I am afraid I allow my self too much liberty for the pleasing my flew Or if such a word be now and then let fall yet how little is it hearkned to Though we sometimes fear we run too fast this way yet on we let our selves run and do not lay a due restraint upon our selves Or if we do a little check our motions earthward yet do we effectually restrain them 'T is not enough that you say My heart needs a Bridle you must make use of the Bridle when you have stopped your hearts in their carnal course then you have done something Friends when you have considered and tried the difficulty of preventing your motions downwards and of speeding your way upwards then you will see farther what need you have to bestir your selves Lay altogether Is it certain that those that fall short of Religion or fall off from the Religion they have will be lost at last Is there such a distance betwixt what we are and what we should be Is it so hard to raise those that are fallen Is it so hard to discern the Soul-consumption till it be almost past cure Is there such an indisposition in consuming Souls to seek and such an opposition made by a stirring Devil and their stirring lusts against their obtaining their cure Is it so hard for those that stand to get on their way then certainly every one of us had need to awaken and look to our selves Thus much for the 2d General 3. What it is to take hold of God In answer to this 3 things 1. Our great Happiness is in this that the Lord is in us 2. Our Happiness is in this that the Lord is among us 3. Our taking hold of God is our continuing the Presence of God with us and our preventing his Departure 1. Our great Happiness is in this that the Lord is in us God is then in us 1. When the Fear of God is within us 2. When the Face of God is upon us 1. When the fear of God is within us When the Spirit of the Lord the Image and Holiness of the Lord is within us which come all to one That Promise Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear into their hearts is the same as those Jer. 31. and Ezek. 36. I will put my spirit within you A new heart will I give you Or as Luke 17.21 The Kingdom of God is within you When God takes up his Habitation sets up his Throne in the hearts of his People undertakes the Government of them bp his Word and Spirit subdues them to himself reigns in righteousness in their Souls and makes them his voluntary Subjects and willing People when the Grace of God prevails and bears rule in their Hearts 'T is not Gods being in their Mouths the Grace of God in their Lips but his being in their Hearts his dwelling and living in their Hearts the real and inward Sanctification of them by his Holy Spirit that dwelleth in them This is the being of God in his People and this is the blessedness or happiness of his People When God is within us the Devil is cast out sin is thrown down the Kingdom of Satan is destroyed where the Kingdom of God is set up It is peoples misery to have the Devil in them to have Sin bear rule and therefore 't is there blessedness to have these Tyrants cut down and cast out and the Kingdom of God set up in their stead 2. When the Face of God is upon us when we live in his fear and live also in the light of his Countenance when he shines and smiles upon our hearts when he loves his Saints and shews them his Loves when
he reveals his good will and good liking of them and lets them know that they are accepted with him when he is their Friend and lets them have the countenance of their Friend towards them when he is their Father and causes them to feel the Bowels of their Father the Compassions and Kindnesses of their Father and hereby makes them to joy in his Love and to rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God This is Blessedness indeed these are Blessed Ones whose God is thus their Lord. Blessed are the people who are in such a case blessed are the people whose God is the 〈◊〉 Ps 144.15 Christians you need not complain whatever you want if you have no bread in your houses no money in your purses no health in your Bodies no rest in your bones yet have you the Lord God in your hearts it is enough you are blessed Souls Sinners ye need not boast your selves and lift up your heads so high you have money in your purses you have friends in your houses you have health in your bodies you have marrow in your bones you can hardly tell what you lack that would please you and yet miserable souls are you all God is not in you and that to him that knows what it is is misery enough to blast all your comforts and your joys The Devil is where God is not Sin bears rule where God doth not and this is the upshot of your boasting and blessing and comforting of your selves this is all you can say matters of this World go well with me I can live a plentiful and pleasant and merry life the Sun shines on my Tabernacle I have the Wind on my side I am on the warm side of the Hedge I prosper I flourish in the Earth all things go well with me I have but this one thing to trouble me my Soul is in the hands of the Devil there 's nothing of God in me and where God is not there the Devil bears rule This if ye knew it is misery enough for you that whatever you have God is none of yours and this is happiness enough for the Saints that God is in them of a truth 2. Our happiness is that the Lord is among us that we have the visible tokens of his presence that the Ark of his presence is among us that we have his Statutes and his Ordinances and his Worship among us that the Doors of his House are open and the Glory of the Lord filleth his House that the Ordinances are among us and are not as a miscarrying Womb or dry Breasts but are fruitful to the propagating an Holy Seed bringing forth abundance of Children to the Lord and nursing up those that are to be fat and flourishing This was that Glory of the Lord which the Psalmist so thirsts and longs to see Ps 63.2 That I might see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary This was that happiness of the Church which was prophesied Is 60.2 c. The Lord shall arise upon thee and his Glory shall be seen in thee v. 4. Thy Sons shall come from far and thy Daughters shall be nursed up at thy side then shalt thou see and flow together and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged v. 8. Who are those that flee as a Cloud and as the Doves of the Windows v. 14 15. They shall call thee the City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel and I will make thee an everlasting Excellency a Joy of many Generations v. 21. Thy People shall be all righteous the Branch of my Planting the Work of my Hands that I may be glorified This you will acknowledge must needs be an happy time and all this is the fruit of the presence of the Lord among his People When the Glory of the Lord fills his House and the off-springs of the Lord are numerous and prosperous when the Golden Candlesticks are set up and the Son of man walks in the midst of his Candlesticks when there are not only here and there a flourishing Believer but when there are flourishing Churches flourishing companies of Believers when there are not only a throng of People crowding the Doors of the Lords House but a throng of Saints worshipping at his Feet and walking in the Name of the Lord Happy would such days be blessed are the People that are in such a case by the presence of the Lord among them Yea and every degree towards such a State is so far forth a degree of peoples happiness when the Lord gives his Prophets and Teachers and Ordinances and any freedom to attend upon them and any little success to the propagating of holiness and the sincere Professors of it This is a Token and a Fruit of the presence of God with them 'T is a mercy for people to enjoy their civil advantages fruitful times and seasons for the good things of the Earth plenty of Bread free and flourishing Trades freedom from Oppression c. These are Mercies but these may be where the Lord is not as to his gracious Presence 't is freedom and encouragement for Religion the plentiful raining down of Manna the bread that comes from Heaven and our thriving by our Bread 't is this that evidences that the Lord is among us 3. Our taking hold of God is our continuing this Presence of the Lord with us and preventing his departure where I shall shew 3 things 1. God may depart from a people with whom he hath been present 2. 'T is wo with that people from whom God departeth 3. This is to take hold of God to prevent his departure 1. God may depart from his People with whom he hath been present And that 1. From particular persons from whom he may then be said to depart 1. When he hides his Face from them 2. When he suspends the influences of his Grace 3. When he loosens the reins of Government 4. When he denies them the benefit of his protection 5. When he turns away his Heart from them and rejects them 1. When he hides his Face from them and withdraws the light of his Countenance Thus he withdrew from that precious Servant of his David Ps 30.7 Thou didst hide thy Face and I was troubled whom we find praying Ps 4.6 Lord lift up the light of thy Countenance upon me and Ps 51.12 Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit Gods Holy Ones may forget God may grow secure and careless and wanton Children and the Lord will not countenance the best of them in their sins If they forget God he finds a way to remember them of him by conveying himself out of their sight the clouds upon his Face the darkness upon their own Spirits make them remember the light which once they had and to look the better to it when the light returns 2. When he suspends the Influence of his Grace witholds his Spirit from them This
or can who have nothing of Christianity in them nor profess nor pretend to any such thing He is a covetous worldling indeed who doth love the world and wish for the world and work harder for it than some of these do which profess religion It is a shame and a reproach to the Gospel that it should be so and wo be to them by whom the reproach cometh But yet 't is too true there are amongst the number of Professors some though not so many as the world say God forbid there should for they say all are such yet some such there are whose hunger and labour after the world can hardly be overmatch'd by any of those whose names are written in the earth and have no part nor portion in Christ nor name in his Churches Friends I pray deal faithfully in this matter every one of you with your selves ask your hearts How stand I affected to this world are my desires after this earth moderated and limited by my Religion or are they not so high and impetuous that they have even swallowed up my desires after God are you as impatient when you sink and grow to decay in religion as you think you should be if you were sunk and fallen to decay in your outward estates Can you truly say I am not so much athirst to grow rich in this world but I am more athirst to grow rich towards God nay can you say this I am so much athirst for God that this hath quenched my thirst and allayed my desires after this world I am become more indifferent what I have here whether more or less my heart sits loose from all below through the strength of my desires after God can you say so O that you could more of you than I doubt can Well know that 't is impossible that you should intensely desire God and this World together one of the two must fall you must strike sail as to your earthly affections or your souls will never hoise up sail heavenwards And this is the first direction for the kindling and quickning your desires heavenward suppress and allay your carnal and earthly desires 2. Be sensible of your necessity Necessity kindles desire Ps 63.1 My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee Whence is this thirst and longing O 't is from his necessity I am in a dry Land where no water is I have need of thee Lord need of thy water Brooks for out of thee I have none 't is all a dry Land there 's no water below thee to quench my thirst Friends would you be quenched in your desires after more Grace be sensible of your barrenness and your want do you not want to be in better case than you are have you grace enough to supply your necessities those that are very poor outwardly whose poverty pinches them their necessity will make them beg How is it there are so many poor so many necessitous souls and yet so few begging souls even ready to starve for want of bread and yet cry no more after it Why 't is because however we are in great necessity yet we have not a due sense of our necessity our soul poverty doth not pinch us men that are extreamly poor in the world their poverty pinches them but for souls the poorer they are the less they are pinched with it O friends if you were more pinched with your spiritual poverty if those dry and lean souls did but feel how lean you are if you were touched with a feeling of your necessities if your cold wishes I would I had more grace were come to I must have more I must be more holy I must be more heavenly-minded I must be more zealous for God and more busie and active in following him a necessity lies upon me and wo is me if I continue as now I am the sense of your necessity of getting up into a better case would enlarge your desires after it 3. Be practically convinced of the excellency of a prosperous state in the grace of God All the world how eagerly are they wishing after prosperity men have such high thoughts of worldly prosperity that every one would be glad to prosper as Mal. 3.15 they count the proud happy so generally do worldly men count the rich happy the prosperous happy When we hear of men grown up to that plentiful estate described Ps 144.13 14. Whose garners are full affording all manner of store whose sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in their streets whose Oxen are strong to labour and there 's no complaining in the streets who have plenty of good things and nothing ailing them how do worldlings cry out Happy are the people that are in such a case and hence 't is that their very Souls are all upon the wing making all the haste they can after this earthly prosperity And what if Christians had as great thoughts of soul prosperity O what a case are they in whose hearts are full of all manner of store full of wisdom and spiritual understanding full of faith and of power full of the hidden treasures of eternity whose mouth is full that have grace in their hearts and grace in their lips whose life is full of all the fruits of righteousness what an excellent spirit are they of what an excellent life do they live happy are the people thrice happy are the souls that are in such a case Do worldlings call the proud happy the rich happy the great ones happy ones Yea rather Happy are the Souls whose God is the Lord and those especially who have the grace of God so abounding towards them and in them What if you were practically convinced of this of the excellency of the happiness of a flourishing prosperous state in the grace of God If you did not only notionally conclude it so in the general for that every Christian will do but with a particular respect to your selves O how happy were it for me if I were one of these prospering souls if I could get my soul to be filled with God and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus O if I could love as the best of Saints love O if I could live as I see some Christians live if from creeping on the earth and having my foundation on the dust my soul might get upon the wing and have its conversation in Heaven if in stead of having fellowship with sinners I might have fellowship and live in communion with the Father and the Son if instead of serving my flesh I might spend my days in serving the living God if from being such a sluggard such a cold and lazy soul I might get up to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord O what if there should be such a change made upon me if from this dead and dry and barren case I am in I might be brought to be a living lively fruitful heavenly zealous Christian O what a blessed change would this be O how should mine heart be filled
of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up Charity begins at home and so must all Religion Religion must begin at home in thine own heart first and then in thine house and thence thou wilt get more ability and aptness to diffuse it abroad Consider Beloved how is it with you at your homes upon this account what Religion is there going in your Families how often do your Children and your Servants hear any gracious words from you O Friends do all you can to make all yours Partakers of the Grace you have received Is the word of the Lord in thine own heart let your whole houshold hear oftner of it as you sit at your Tables as you sit at your fires or are walking in your houses 't is not now any stated way of instruction by reading the word repeating Sermons catechizing c. that I am dealing with you about but that in a way of familiar discourse you would be often dropping down some gracious words Friends have you a conscience towards God What conscience is that that will suffer you to live in the neglect of so known and necessary a duty can you with any conscience withhold bread or cloths from your own with what conscience then can you withhold counsel and instruction will you make yours partakers of all you have in the world only they shall have no benefit by the knowledge or the grace you have received Let your bowels instruct you to be kind to their souls and if you will by any arguments be perswaded to be thus kind to your own you will thereby be prepared and get such an holy habit as will make it more familiar and easie to you to live profitably amongst others Beloved Hearken to me in this thing will you hearken and try what you can do if ever you would stand up in your Generations as persons of any use or serviceableness to Christ and the interest of his Gospel if you would not stand in the companies you come into as insignificant Cyphers or as dumb Idols that have mouths and speak not be perswaded to use your tongues to better purpose at your homes 3. Next speak unto your Brethren and fellow Christians to those that fear the Lord. Mal. 3.16 Those that feared the Lord spake often one to another Ps 66.16 Come to me ye that fear the Lord and I will tell you We took sweet counsel together said the Psalmist Ps 55.14 That is we that were the Friends of the Lord or took our selves to be such we consulted together or counselled one another in the matters of God It may be you may be more abashed and afraid to speak to those that are without you know not how they will take it you doubt they may be dogs that will tear and rend you or at least that they may be swine and trample under feet and scorn and despise those holy words you speak unto them they may laugh at you and scoff at your counsels But now with your Brethren in the Lord you may be more free in confidence that they will accept and take in good part the good words you speak and will also be tender to you and bear with your infirmities if any be in speaking Labour for a more profitable converse Christians with Christians Believers with Believers this will be more easie because you may presume one another to be of the same Spirit your good words will be unto them acceptable words and the sense of that will invite you to speak Christians have mutual need one of another to help each other in the Lord and yet there is a great fault amongst us that we are not thus mutually helpful Like those foolish Quakers we have too many of our silent meetings as to our main concern scarce a serious or savoury word comes from us when we meet together Christians learn to amend this fault Let us as we have opportunity edifie and build up one another in the most holy Faith Jude 20. Let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works Heb. 10.24 Friends do not tempt one another as perhaps too often you do to be vain as you are vain to be carnal as you are carnal Do not chil and damp each others spirits by your carnal and frothy and impertinent discourses but quicken one another do what you can to whet and set an edge upon each others spirits and holy affections What have you nothing to talk of when you come together but of your trades and your fields or of news or of the weather and such-like impertinences Have you not a God have you not Souls have you not a Country whether you are traveling are you not upon a Journey to that blessed Land have you not Friends and Kindred above that are worth the speaking of have you not enemies and temptations here below an evil world to travel through many corruptions and afflictions to conflict withal and have you not need of mutual counsel comfort encouragement and establishment one from another How is it that you can find room for so much idle talk when you have matters of such weight and moment to fill up your time when do you use to return with most comfort and satisfaction upon your spirits when you have been vainly merry together or when you have been edifying one another in the most holy faith 4. Then in the next place speak to those which are without to poor sinners that are yet in their sins Ps 51.13 Then will I teach transgressours thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee Your special work possibly may lye amongst the houshold of faith but as you have opportunity you must do good to all Gal. 6.10 All that need you must be made partakers of your spirituals as well as of your temporal things Those that fear God it may be may sometimes hear some good words from you but have you never a word for those that fear not God O pity your poor unconverted neighbours and in your compassion do what you can to pull them out of the fire convince them of their sins warn them of their miseries perswade them back from the Devil invite and allure them in to Christ let them hear often of grace and sin of heaven and hell of death and judgment from your lips See how the compassions of the Church work towards the Heathen world Cant. 8.8 We have a little sister that hath no breasts what shall we do for our sister The poor Gentiles they have no Scriptures no Prophets no Ordinances no breasts of consolation we have a poor sister that hath no breasts what shall we do for her they pitied the poor Gentiles and in their pity they consider what they might do for them And why do not we carry it alike to unconvered sinners we have poor children poor neighbours that have no eyes no heart that have no Christ
fire left from the evening to kindle the morning Sacrifice O Friends how often is it that though at our morning Sacrifice a fire be kindled that it 's quenched and lost before the evening through the carelesness and negligence of our hearts Sin and the World have a whole days time to quench and put out what an hours duty hath been kindling and so at the return of our duty-seasons we find our hearts at the same loss in the same deadness and hardness as before Beloved these two Directions of getting up our hearts into a lively frame in duty and of keeping up that holy frame from duty to duty though there be some difficulty and it will cost you pains to practise them to purpose yet the advantage you will hereby gain will be abundantly worthy all your pains and therefore I pray remember them if you do in good earnest intend an advancing in Religion let these two Directions be before your eyes every day you have them preached to you and you have them written for your use the Lord write them upon your hearts and hold them before your eyes This course will be as the whetting our Instruments and keeping them keen for our work how much work may be done and with much more ease by a cutting than a blunted Instrument Eccl. 10.10 If the Iron be blunt and he do not whet the edge he must put to more strength 't will cost you much more pains to make any work in your Religion whilst your edge is blunted a dull heart will do little and that little not without much pains By the course prescribed whet your spirits and keep them with a good edge and then all your work will be the more easily carried on To this I shall add 3. Let your prayers be pursued in your practice Whatever Grace you pray for whatever Sin you pray against follow after the one and fight against the other in your daily practice Let Prayer and Practice joyn hand in hand and both drive the same way Think not you have done your whole days work when you have prayed morning and evening Religion must be the business of your whole time be thou in the fear of the Lord be thou at the work of the Lord all the day long Prov. 23.17 and not the business of an hour or two When you have been praying for an heavenly mind that God would help you to live in the spirit to set your affections on things above to have your conversation in Heaven when you have ended your Prayer what should ye now do Why then to thinking on heavenly things let your thoughts run upon and be working more throughout the day upon these holy things to pray for an heavenly mind and never to think more of heavenly things all the day long till you come to pray again what will such praying come to When you pray for a willing obedient and fruitful life what should you do Go and take pains with your hearts to bring them on and to hold them close to your several duties When you have been praying against Sin for power over a proud heart or a froward heart or a covetous worldly heart what should you now do Why then set your watch against your sins take heed of every proud thought of every froward word take heed and beware of all covetous practices set your selves to the mortifying of these sins to restraining your selves from the actings of them to pray against pride or to pray against covetousness and as soon as you have done to leave your hearts loose for them to carry it as proudly or as frowardly as before to be as busie for the world as eager in hunting after it what 's this but to set your Prayers and your Practices together by the ears to destroy the things you have been building to destroy by your Practices what you have been building by your Prayers And whilst this hath been the voice of your Prayer Lord deliver me from a proud or froward or covetous heart your Practices say I care not whether this Prayer be heard or no I had rather be let alone and left under the power of them If ever you would that your praying should come to any thing let your Prayers and Practices drive the same way Let it not suffice you to pray for a more gracious and fruitful heart and life to pray for a more mortified heart a more self-denying course but set to it to put your Prayers into practice Let the stream of your care the stream of your endeavours run the same way with the stream of your prayers and desires and that 's the stirring Prayer I would have you give your selves to such as may effectually overpower the stream and course of your life and carry it on according to the stream of your Prayers O Friends If of all that I have said these three last words might be remembred and observed if in every Prayer you henceforth make you would diligently strive to get you up into a spiritual and lively frame If 2. you would carefully maintain this blessed frame afterwards from duty to duty If you would 3. set to the practice of those things you pray that God would enable you to what do you think would be the success O what a cure would be wrought O what a blessed change might we expect to appear upon you and all your Religion 2. Fasting and Prayer In the former particular I spake of Prayer as an ordinary duty here as an extraordinary as annexed to that extraordinary duty of Fasting and Humiliation We may say of that evil spirit that Spirit of slumber and of a deep sleep that 's fallen upon us as Christ said of that Devil Mat. 17.21 This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting Extraordinary Diseases must have extraordinary Remedies Hitherto I have spoken mostly to our personal Cases now I shall speak with more respect to the publick Case of our People and Age and shall direct you 1. How you may most effectually stir up a spirit of Prayer in your days of Humiliation 2. How you may most successfully perform this duty 1. How you may most effectually stir up a spirit of Prayer in your days of Humiliation And so 1. There 's something in the very abstinence that conduceth to the stirring up the spirit of Prayer Abstinence is pinching upon the flesh and should be so much in such days as may afflict the body first and thereby the soul The abstinence of a Fast should be afflicting abstinence as far forth as the body will bear it without prejudice to its health and so becoming an hindrance rather than a furtherance of the duty There 's a two-fold failing too common in our days of Humiliation 1. In the time Mostly what we call a Day of Humiliation comes to no more but a few Hours of Prayer It 's said of a Fast Lev. 17.31 It shall be a Sabbath of Rest to you that is 1.
with joy and my mouth with praise Brethren such sensible apprehensions of the excellency and blessedness of that prosperity in religion which I have been pressing you to what would it work what would it bring forth less than such strong desires O let my soul be in such a case What would I desire more how would I despise and trample on the beauty and glory of the world and leave such dotages upon the best to be found here to the men of this world who know no better things O how heartily could I then say with the Apostle Phil. 3.7 8 9. What things were gain to me I now count them loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I am content to suffer the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him and may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death Such ardent desires would a sense of the excellency of Christ and a prosperous Christian life bring forth O that I might apprehend O that I might attain to such a blessed state and such ardent desires would bring forth a zealous prosecution and following after if by any means possible we might attain and get up unto it O friends that you would set to it thus to stir up your desires You say I desire I desire I desire to please God and to follow God more fully and more freely than I do but it is so dully and so coldly that you desire it that it comes to nothing and for ought I know such cold desires may burn with you in Hell at last O get an abatement of your carnal desires never look to desire heartily after an heavenly life till you have crucified and conquered your earthly desires Consider more thorowly your necessities consider the miserable poverty of your souls and barrenness of your lives the great power that this World hath still upon you and your necessity of getting it conquered and do not barely say I could wish it were better with me wishing will never do it but bring your hearts to it to say in good earnest I must I must get mine heart into a better frame I must get me to a better life a necessity lies on me to look to it and labour for it and then look upon the blessedness and comfort of such a prosperous flourishing state of soul and look till your hearts be enamoured of it and this is it that will engage you mightily in the effectual following after it 4. Stir up hope Maybe you 'll say I do desire it were better with me I see it would be happy for me if I could obtain but the Lord help me I have little hope of it I have desired so long and waited so long and yet it comes not but my poor and barren soul after all still abides in the same dead and lifeless state as ever and is so far short and at so great a distance from that blessed state that I am even quite discouraged and am in doubt I shall never obtain Be not discouraged hope in God To stir up this hope consider 1. The promise of God 2. The earnest that you have already received 1. Consider the promise of God The hope of the Saints is called Acts 26.6 the hope of the promise of God The promise which is the foundation of our hope is our encouragement against all despondencies Amongst the many promises that we have for our encouragement I shall mention one Matth. 7.7 c. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth c. What man of you if his son ask bread will he give him a stone c. If ye being evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask it of him Here I shall shew 1. The matter of the promise or what God will give that is good things In Luke 11.13 't is expressed give the holy spirit there 's all that you need in one word In giving the holy Spirit is included the giving all good things What is it you want to help up your weak and languishing souls Is it a spirit of Wisdom and Understanding that you want is it a spirit of Holiness is it a spirit of Grace and Supplication is it a spirit of Faith and of Power is it the teachings the motions the quicknings the conduct of the Spirit How is it with them that are taught by the Spirit led by the Spirit worship God in the Spirit walk in the Spirit So shall it be with you if ye obtain the holy Spirit upon your asking of him This grace the grace of the Spirit shall be sufficient for you to make the dry tree to sprout and the barren to bring forth fruit 2. The means of obtaining this promise Ask seek knock this notes prayer importunity in prayer and the use of all means that must go along with prayer Ask seek knock pray and pray instantly and follow on after the Lord and ye shall have ye shall obtain this gracious this all-sufficient â—pirit shall be yours 3. The assurance of prevailing This is 1. From the Promise ye shall have ye shall find it shall be opened Heaven shall be opened the heart and the hand of the all-sufficient God the bowels of Christ the Covenant all the Treasures of the Gospel shall be opened to you Thou that art in fear that the heart of the Lord is streightned towards thee that the bowels of his compassion are shut up against thee that the treasures of the Gospel are all lock'd up from thee ask and knock and all shall be opened If all the help that is in Heaven if all the riches of Christ if all the treasures of the Gospel will recover and raise up that weak and withering soul of thine take the right course and thou shalt have it all these treasures shall be opened thou hast my word for it the word of promise which God that cannot lye hath given thee to put thee out of doubt 2. From experience Every one that asketh receiveth c. There 's no man in the world that hath taken this course that ever failed find out any one man if thou canst that can say God hath been worse to me than his word and surely thou mayest boldly say He that never failed any one of his Servants I have good hope he will not fail me 3. From the relation of God to his Saints He is their Father whence he reasons thus If the Fathers of their flesh will not deny the Children of their own bowels which of you if his Son ask bread c. if the Fathers of our flesh will not deny the
Children of their bowels any good thing they need and ask how much less will your Father in Heaven who is a God of bowels of infinite compassion deny his Holy Spirit to those that ask it of him Christians study this Promise trust upon this Promise and whatever your fears and discouragements are that you shall never obtain use Gods means ask and seek and knock follow on instantly and earnestly in Gods Way and then hope in God and be no longer dismayed 2. Consider the earnest that you have already received what pledges God hath given you for the performance of his Promise What is nothing of this Promise performed to thee O I hope there is something I have gotten from it but it is so very little that this discourages me Why this little thou hast received is a great encouragement to hope for more I say though you have asked and sought and knock'd and yet but little comes yet that very little which you have obtain'd is great ground for you to hope for all that you need Every little that you receive from the Promise of God is an earnest to assure you of all that is behind Have you received but the first fruits of the Spirit a little Grace a little Strength a little improvement in Grace Is it a little better with you than it hath been this is a pledge to you from the Lord that if ye follow on ye shall have more and more There is hope in what the Lord hath given you in what he hath done for your souls 2 Cor. 1.10 He that hath delivered and doth deliver we trust that he will deliver He that hath supply'd and doth help you hence you may hope that he will supply all your needs out of the riches of his grace by Christ Jesus If the clouds from above have yet but dropped upon you and that grace which your parched Souls like the thirsty earth hath received hath come in but drop by drop you may from those drops have the more hope of a shower that shall rain down righteousness upon you until your souls become as a well-water'd Garden and as a spring of waters whose waters fail not Christian is thy Soul as the chapp'd ground opening and gasping after the influences of the Lord and hath it begun to drop is there something come down art thou a little quickned a little revived those very drops are the forerunners of a shower that will fill all thy furrows O look about you Friends see after all the means that God hath been using to quicken and improve your Souls see if any drops be fallen upon you if it be a little better if there be something done to your recovery be not discouraged that 't is no more be humbled that 't is no more but be not discouraged he that hath begun there 's so much the more hope that he will perfect a cure upon you Thus stir up your hope in God by considering the Promise and any little degree of its performance But beware I cannot too often give you this caution use not this hope to make you secure and careless say not for your lives as bad as 't is with me I hope it will be better and thereupon sleep on and neglect to follow after There is no hope for such a Soul let not your hope secure you in your negligence but establish you against your discouragement let it not secure you against diligence but encourage you unto diligence Since the matter stands thus as great a distance as there is betwixt your present state and that prosperous state of Soul which you desire and wish for and as great difficulty as you imagine it ever for you to get up to such a state since both the Promise and Experience gives you such ground of hope that even you also with whom 't is so very low may get comfortably up therefore be encouraged to take all the pains possible hereto Look on Acts 26.7 and there see how hope will work Vnto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God night and day hope to come Observe it God gave them a promise the promise gave them hope and their hope encourages and provokes them on instantly to serve the Lord and this instant serving God is their way to the possession of the Promise Friends let all this that hath been spoken engage you to all manner of diligence and fortifie you against all manner of discouragements come on Christians come on in the name of the Lord you have heard many directions that I have given you and some more there are that yet remain O set your hearts to the practice of all these words and how hard soever it may seem to be take the way prescribed to you and then commit your way to the Lord hope in him and he will bring it to pass and give you your hearts desire only when you have done all and no success appears yet still wait for the Lord. As there must be the expectation of hope so there must be the patience of Hope Wait on the Lord and keep his way be not weary of well-doing and in the end ye shall reap if ye faint not O Friends follow on after the Lord and encourage your selves on by your hope in God Pray for more grace pray for more life and more power and pray as men of hope Strive and stir up your sleepy hearts and strive as men of hope that as low as 't is with you yet there 's hope for you to get up Be encouraged by the promise be encouraged by every little that you have received Hath the Lord but begun to awaken you let that be his security to you that he will do more and better things for you Are you yet a great way short are there many difficulties yet before you to break through are there any fears and misgivings of heart that ye shall not obtain yet do not discourage your selves hope in God hope in the promise of God and in the help the promise offers be not dismayed put you on after the Lord and hope in God Say to your hearts in the words of the Psalmist Ps 43. ult Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou discouraged O my soul Hope in God and thou shalt yet praise him who will be the health of thy countenance and thy God Though my flesh and mine heart fail me yet he is the strength of mine heart and in him shall be my hope and my trust there is a promise before me and unto this promise if I can but instantly seek and serve the Lord I have hope to come 4. Get a stirring Conscience God hath made conscience overseer and ruler in the heart he hath advanced conscience in the heart to the same dominion that Potiphar advanced Joseph in his house Gen. 39 4. he made him overseer of his house and put all that he had into his hand Or as Pharaoh Gen. 41.40 advanced him in his