scales he puts the word of his Gospel in the one and thy goings and obedience in the other Thou art weighed and art found too light thy kingdom is departed from thee saith God to Belshazzer Dan. 5. 27. So if thou be light thou shalt be weighed and so found thou shalt lose the Kingdom of heaven for ever Secondly strip sin and look upon it stark naked sin covers and disguiseth it self with pleasure profit ease and many a whorish garment and so inticeth the heart Even a toad if she were covered over with gold those that saw only the gold would pocket it up if it were naked they would fling it in the kennel Why doe men love covetousnesse Why its hooded with profit Why carding dicing hunting hawking tabring piping and more than the word alloweth Why they are cloathed with pleasure and delight It s the duty of Ministers to unmask and uncase sin and pluck off he vail that covers it from appearing unto men The not doing of this is the cause that men do not meditate on the vilenesse of their sin never are humbled never escape Gods wrath even because they 〈◊〉 discover 〈◊〉 iniquities Lam. 2. 14. Alas the profit of thy sins shall cease the pleasure cease the ease cease and all these goodly suits shall vanish away when the soul comes to dye or to stand before the judgement seat of Christ sin will remain but thy silver and thy gold where will that be then thy laughter and thy merâ—iment what will become of that then thy delight will be gone Meditate therefore with thy self my sin is now gainful and easie and pleasant but what will my sin become when I come to lye on my deathbod what good will it do me when I have most need of succour I will never acknowledge him my friend that will turn against me when I have most need of him Alas I must dye I must come to judgement I I must go either to heaven or to hell the profit that I get now by my sins will it bestead me then the pleasure the ease that I now find in sin will it help me there Alas no it will then be my break neck it will be a Devil unto me the more I have been delighted with it the more it will gall â—e the more I have gotten by it the more it will damne me the sin which I most of all loved will most of all torment me Eccles 11. 9. look thus upon sin The third means Dive into thy own soul and heart There is a tough brain over thy heart that it feels not its sins Now Meditation must look through and come to the heart at the quick and cause the truth to dive into the deep places of the soul When the timber is hard the workman cannot thrust in the nail with the weight of his hand no he must hammer it in Meditation is the hammering of the heart It 's a pertinent phrase Jer. 23 24. Is not my word like a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rocks in pieces There be two similitudes first of a hammer the Word of God is the hammer meditation is the hand that taketh this hammer and knocks the nail into the rocky heart and makes it enter Wilt thou not feel I 'le make thee feel saith Meditation wilt thou not take notice of thy wretched estate Meditation comes with blow after blow and makes us take notice Secondly of fire the word is like fire Meditation kindles it about the heart A man benummed with cold is senselesse the water frozen with cold though the least pebble would have sunk in it before now a great milstone is able to lye upon it and not sink the water is able to bear it so is the heart be it's sins never so heavy as the hill of Basan yet it bears it and feels no weight but Meditation thawes the heart and then every sin pincheth and oppresseth Is not my word like fire as if he should say think of it and muse of it and meditate of it and thou shall feel it as a fire Meditation is the often smiting of the heart with this hammer so did Ephraim smite upon his thigh Jer. 31. 19. like a man in a miserable agony he thumps his own breast and in a vexation strikes his hand on his thigh Oh miserable wretch that I am So did Ephraim Oh what an unruly Oxe am I how unwilling am I to bear the yoke of the Lord Oh and oh the hardness of my heart oh that I could tell how to beat thee black and blue Many men smite their hearts but they smite them not often enough When Elishah bad Joash smite upon the ground he smote thrice and stayed The man of God said to him in anger Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times for then thou hadst smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed them whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice 2. King 13. 19. So men smite their hearts twice or thrice or so but they will not smite their sins dead it may be they break the head of their sins but they recover again and grow strong upon them as at first Thou must smite five or six times yea fifty times five times till thou hast quite broken the impostume of thy heart Meditate on the mercies of God and with them smite it often and often Meditate on the justice of God and with it smite it again and again Meditate on the wrath of God which is as a consuming fire and with it smite it soundly Meditate on the truth of the Lord this threatning and that threatning this commandement and that commandment this promise and that promise and with all these smite it to powder The fourth means Anticipate and pâ—â—ventthine own heart meditate what thy heart will one day wish if it be not humbled and tell thy Soul as much thou wilt one day wish Oh that I had been humbled under the reproofs of the Lord Oh that I had been wise to have understood my own mercy Cursed be the day that ever I neglected the means of grace so the Lord brings in a foolish obstinate sinner cursing and banning his own soul sobbing and howling at the last O how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof and have not observed the voyce of my Teachers nor inclined mine care to them that instruct me Prov. 5. 12 13. I had Ministers to preach to me but I would not come at them or if I did I cared not for their doctrine I had friends that advised me well but woe is me damned wretch I heeded them not Thus thou wilt cast the fool into thine own teeth and fling a thousand curses into thine own face because of thy madness I might have learned but I would not I might have been humbled but I would not I was almost in an evill in the midst of the assembly of the congregation verse 14. I lived where the Saints of God were
by his labours already published yet if any shall desire a further Testimonie of either these Sermons will give it in full measure pressed down and running over and therefore I subscribe their publication for common good Joseph Caryl The Authors Preface upon these ensuing SERMONS THe cause of that little Heavenlinesse which is in the profession of Christianity is the want of Meditation Many can meditate cursorily but that is not enough it must be a sticking meditation that must affect the heart That place in a Pet. 2. 8. is marvellous pregnant it was the meanes why Lot was so touched with the abominations of Sodom That righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing and hearing their ungodly deeds vexed his righteous soul from day to day Many heard and saw too besides Lot and were not vexed Why Other matters stuck in their thoughts they ne're throughly meditated on it but he vexed himself that is the meditation of those evils and bringing them home to his Soul vexed him The word is a fit word implying two things First the searching and examining of a thing his meditating heart examined their sins how many they were how grievous how damnable how likely to pul down some vengeance or other upon them Secondly the wracking or vexing upon tryall so it was with Lot he observed all their evills and weighed them in his soule and then he wrack'd his spirit with the considertaion of them The Evangelist useth this very word for tossing this word that is here put for vexing he puts for tossing a ship on the seas Matthew 14. 24. The ship was tossed with the waves so meditation did tosse his soule with vexation sometimes down to the deep O miserable wretches that we are or How brutish host beastly and how hellish are our sins Sometimes up O that the Lord would humble us and spare us Sometimes over head and ears in the storm O fool that I was to chuse my dwelling amongst such men These meditations vexed his soul Many have studied meditations and yet yet are not acquainted with this cordiall meditation many Ministers that study Divinity all the day that study the Word all the week that study their Sermons all the yeare may yet for all this be carnall Ministers why Because their meditation is but inventing and mentall meditation this meditation is a practicall meditation the thing meditated feeds the heart that meditation is like a fluttering Pheasant that flutters before their eyes it feeds their eyes indeed but never feeds the stomack as long as they neither catch or eat it The saving mystereis of God flutter before their eyes and before their understandings they feed their eyes with knowledge but never feed their soules unto everlasting life unlesse they fowl for it dresse and digest it in their hearts There is an apt word Genesis 24. 63. Isaac went out to meditate in the field the originall hath it to signifie â—â—â—nall conference his minde conferred with the truth and the truth with him a mutuall working he wrought upon the truth by meditating of it and it wrought upon him by leaving an impression upon his soule this is a rare practice in the world and yet as necessary as most it is the art of the soule in being heavenly it is the inuring of thee to every good duty for by meditation a man comes to have his minde and heart fixed upon every thing that he would would he pray he that hath inured his heart to meditate his minde is fixed in his prayer Would he receive the Sacrament He that hath inured his heart by meditation his minde is fixed in the Ordinance David that was excellent at meditation had a fixed heart Psalm 57. 7. Psal 112. 17. The Contents and Heads of the following SERMONS The Contents of the first SERMON Haggai 1. 5. THe Preface shewing the usefulnesse of Meditation together with the danger in neglecting it The opening of the Teâ—t in severall particulars page 1. Doctrine Serious Meditation of our sins by the word is an especiall means for to make us repent 2. The definition of Meditation in four particulars ibid. 1. It is an exercise of the mind ibid. 2. A setled exercise of the mind ibid. 3. It is to make a further enquiry into all the parts of the truth ibid. 4. It labours to affect the heart 3. Two Reasons 1. Because Meditation presseth all Arguments home to the heart ibid. 2. Because Meditation fastens sin close upon the soul and makes the soule to feel it 4. 1. Use For the reproof of several sorts of men that are loth to put in practice this so necessary a duty 5. Four le ts of Meditation 1. Vaine company 6. 2. Multitude of wordly businesse ibid. 3. Ignorance 7. 4. That naturall aversnesse that is in the heart of man unto it ibid. This aversenesse of heart consisteth in three things 1. In the carelesnesse of the heart ibid. 2. In the runnings and revings of the heart ibid. 3. In the wearisomenesse of the heart in meditation 8. 2. Use For terror unto all those that dare sit down in security never at all regarding this soule-searching dutie ibid. Four means or helps to Meditation 1. With all seriousnesse tell the soul that thou hast a message from the Lord unto it 9. 2. Observe fitting times for meditation viz 1. The morning ibid. 2. The night 10. 3. The evening ibid. 4. When the heart is after some extraordinary manner touched with Gods word or providences ibid. 3. Call to mind what evill thou hast done ever since thou wast born ibid 3. Rouse up thy heart and thoughts as high as heaven ibid. 3. Use For reprehension of those that meditate upon their sins and how they may with the more freenesse to commit sin 11. Four grounds upon which Meditation must be raised 1. Meditate on the goodnesse mercy and patience of God that you have oft abused by your sins 12. 2. Meditate on the justice of God that you have so oft provoked 13. 3. Meditate on the wrath of God that you have so oft kindled ibid. 4. Meditate on the constancie of God who is a constant hater of all sin 14. Four directions how to carry Meditation home to the heart 1. Weigh and ponder all the foregoing things in thine own heart 15. 2. Strip sin and look upon it stark naked and in it's own colours 16. 3. Dive into thine ownsoule and search thine heart to the quick ibid. 4. Prevent thine own heart by meditation and tell thy soule that it will one day wish that it had not neglected this so necessary a duty 17. Four duties to be discharged that we may put life to Meditation 1. Let Meditation haunt and dog thy heart with the promises and threatnings mercies and judgements of God 18. 2. Let Meditation trace thy heart in the same steps and run over all thy duties discharged 19. 2. Let Meditation hale thy heart before Gods Throne there to powre out thy complaints before
see a pill but his stomack riseth against it Behold I wil hedge up thy way with thorns Hos 2. 6. I wil not be so precise saith the heart I wil go on as I have done I wil go after these and these courses I will hedge up thy way with thorns saith God meditation is Gods instrument and sets a thorn in the way to every sin to bring the heart back again Would the heart lash out into luke-warmnesse Meditation sets a thorn in the way God will spue thee out of his mouth Would the heart sally forth into any sin Meditation sets a thorn in the way Cursed art thou if thou dost err from Gods Commandements The heart cannot step forth into any lust but meditation meets it with a thorn this curse and that curse this plague and that plague Would the heart reach at mercy in its sin Meditation pricks it mercie is vengeance unto thee so long as thou hankrest after sin Would the heart reach after Christ in his sin Meditation pushes it back with a thorn no Christ for thee but a severejudge so long as thou itchest after thy vanities What shal we think of them then which are loth to practice this duty Most men are loth though they be willing enough to meditate on their worldly affairs The Mariner meditates and considers his course by his Compasse or else he might soon runne on the quick-sands a Pilgrim is full of thoughts what am I in my right way He never comes to a doubtfull turning but he stands in a study and muses O which is my right way The Merchant meditates and his mind runs on his Count-book or else he is soon bankrupt The voluptuous man his thoughts run on his pleasure the drunkard on his cups the proud man on his credit But it is one thing to look to that which is thine and another thing to look to thy self Take heed to your selves saith the Lord Deut. 11. 16. Deut. 12. 30. Deut. 4. 9. Exod. 34. 12. as if he should say think on thy self of thy poor soul let thy Meditation run on thy poor soul The heart is untoward unto this duty and as unwilling as a Bear to be brought to the stake the Bear would rather be rambling abroad then be baited so men had rather let their hearts ramble about any thing then bait them for their sins yea men scoff at it saying shall we alwayes be poring on our sins shall we run mad shall we drive our selves to despair cannot men keep themselves well while they are well The poor man he hath no time for this tedious duty the rich man he needs it not the wicked they dare not so no man will No man repented him of his wickednesse saying What have I done Jer. 8. 6. no man would meditate and think with himself what is my case how stands my condition before God what evil have I done in the Ark and in the old Law if there were any beast that chewed not the cud it was a sign of an unclean beast the word implies the bringing up of their meat into their mouths again and sitting down to chew it again But now men like unclean beasts swallow down the food of their souls unchewed and will not meditate thereof that it may turn to good nutriment but like Cormorants they take it down by whole-sale and are never the better So the Word is to them as the Quails to the Israelites while the flesh was yet between their teeth ere it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them and smote them them with a very great plague Num. 11 33. So the Word of God sticks in their teeth ere they chew it or meditate upon it the wrath of God falls upon them and strikes them with a very great plague of hardnesse of heart and leanness of soul But the truth is you that will not now see your sins nor meditate on them you shall see them and meditate on nothing but on fear Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed Isaiah 26. 11. Now the Lets of serious meditation are First vain company When Peter saw the people touched Acts 2. 37. he said unto them Save your selves from this untoward generation verse 40. as if he should say If you love your selves God hath touched your hearts suffer not Satan and these wicked instruments to steal away these impressions of terrour from your Souls If ever you love your souls sort not your selvs with this untoward generation See as it humbles you so let meditation follow upon it so that it may still humble you Ill company brings a man to the gallows as the proverb is and ill company will bring a man to hell say I and meditation cannot be admitted to it David would not have a wicked man to abide in his sight when he was to meditate he wisht that there were never a wicked man in the world much less would he keep company with them My meditation of him shall be sweet let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more Bless thou the Lord O my soul ps 104. 35. The second Let is multitude of worldly businesses A dream saith Solomon comes through multitude of businesses Eccles 5. Multitude of businesses causeth the mind so to run on them that they do even dream of them in their sleep as Lucretius Seneca Claudian and many others of the hearthens haue observed He that over-imploys himself his meditations of heaven are dreaming meditations his thoughts dreaming thoughts he can never seriously meditate on the good of his soul Many ingrosse businesses into their hands never thinking they have enough they are so greedy after the world and so carelesse of heaven So they make their hearts like high-way-ground the word sown in their hearts is like seed sown in the high-way where is such a throughfare and a broad Carriers road of earthly affairs that all the word and meditation thereof is trodden down as the grasse in the high-way which cannot grow so neither meditation in a busie-bodied heart For a good meditating mind Nemo ad illam pervenit occupatus saith Seneca no man ever came to it surfeited with imployments David although he had abundance of State-affairs both his hands ful yet he would not to be over-charged but that he might meditate in Gods word My hands also not all down to businesse only in the world but also up to thy Law will I lift up to thy commandements which I have loved and I wil meditate on thy statutes Psal 119. 48. Take not too much upon thee like those grasping worldlings that wil have a finger in a hundred things Martha Martha thou art cumbred about many things but one thing is needfull and Mary hath chosen the better part Luke 10. 41. and what was that one thing Mary was sitting and meditating in and pondring Christs words not
light of the Gospel JOHN 3. 20. For every man that doth evill hateth the light neither cometh he to the light least his deeds should be reproved p. 331 Gods Impartiality in his Judgements ISAIAH 42. 24. Who gave Jacob to the spoile and Israel to the Robbers Did 〈…〉 I the Lord 〈…〉 The great dignity of the Saints HEB. 11. 28. Of whom the world was not worthy p. 363. The time of Gods grace is limited GEN. 6. 3. And the Lord said My spirit shal not always strive with man because he is but flesh and his days shall be an hundred and twenty years p. 377. A Sermon for spiritual Mortification COLOS. 3. 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affection evill concupiscence and covetousnesse which is Idolatry p. 393. The sinfulnesse and danger of Hypocrisie ISAIAH 58. 58. 4. the later part Ye sha'l not fast as ye do to day to make the voyce to be heard above p. 407. Reformation under Correction the way to prevent desolation JOB 34. 31. 32. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have borne chastisements I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do it no more p. 417. A SERMON OF The use and benefit of Divine MEDITATION HAGGAI 1. 5. Now therefore saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your wayes THe Prophet reproveth the people because they could find in their hearts to mind their own houses and yet were careless of the house of the Lord the Lord had sent a drought a famine and sundry punishments upon them for this thing and yet they laid it not to heart and therefore he sends Haggai the Prophet unto them to call them to repentance and which is an admirable course and little thought of in the world he begins with holy meditation and consideration Now therefore thus saith the Lord consider your wayes that is both in regard of the course of them your wicked wayes and also in regard of the bitter fruit of them your wretched and unprosperous wayes Here be two things very remarkable according to the Text 1. The repetition and inforcing of it again for he urgeth it again Consider your wayes in the seventh verse 2. The benefit that came by it it brought them to repentance for they all obeyed the voice of the Lord and the words of the Prophet verse 12. So that the Doctrine from hence is this That Serious meditation of our sins by the Word is a speciall means to make men repent Meditation is a setled exercise of the mind for a further inquiry of the truth and so affecting the heart therewith and therefore their be four things in meditation The first is an exercise of the mind not barely closing with the truth and assenting unto it and seeing it and there rests but it looketh on every side of the truth I thought upon my wayes and turned my feet unto thy testimonies Psal 119 59. saith David that is I looked on my wayes on both sides above and beneath it 's taken from curious works which are the the same on both sides so that they which work them must often turn them on every side used Exod. 38. 33. as being works with two faces as one well observes so it was with David I turned my wayes up-side down and looked every way upon them thou never meditatest unlesse thou look on thy wayes on both sides with all circumstances An elegant phrase we have Dan. 12. 4. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall abound and be increased Run to and fro what is that It is not the bodily removing of man from one place to another so much as busie stirring of the mind from one truth to another so that it seeth the whole selvedge and compasse of the truth thou wilt never get the truth to be meditated of till thou run to and fro in it meditate it on this side and meditate it on that side look on it in every nook of it Meditation is like perambulation when men go the bounds of the Parish they go in every part of it and in every skirt of it so meditation is the perambulation of the soul when the soul looks how far sin goes how far the flesh goes how far the wrath of God against it goes Secondly as it is an exercise so it is a setled exercise it is not a sudden flash of a mans conceit but it dwels upon a truth When a man is in a deep meditation upon a thing he neither sees nor hears nor attends any thing else the stream of the heart is setled upon the truth received The word of God abides in you and you have overcome the world 1 John 2. 14. How came these young men to overcome Satan not by looking into the word or only thinking of the word but by letting the word abide in them When a man hath been offered an injury his heart is alwayes setled upon it when he eats his mind runs on the injury when he walks and talks still his mind runs on the injury so thy heart must go on the truth 2. Tim. 3. Continue in things thou hast learned that is take up thy mansion house in them A wicked man may turn into the word sometimes to think of it but it is as a man goes into another mans house there is not his dwelling Thirdly it is to make a further inquiry Meditation doth not only settle upon the truth known but it also would fain know more of those truths that are subject to it as a man without may see the out-side of the house but he cannot see the rooms within unlesse he come nigh and draw the latch and come into the house and go into the rooms and look about them Meditation pulls the latch of the truth and looks into every closet and every cupboard every angle of it Here is my sin here is my uncleannesse and here is Gods anger here is the woful evil that will follow upon it and here is a remedy against it Meditation searches into all the lofts and closets of the truth The entrance of thy word giveth understanding unto the simple Ps 119. 30. The ingress as one expounds it or going into thy word gives understanding the wicked stand looking upon the truth without the doors but it is the ingresse or going into the truth that gives understanding Indeed the truth is like a neat Palace saith Chrisostome the Spirit of God is like the light of the Sunne that shineth into it the wicked they stand without like fools peeping in at the windows and there be many thousand of pearls that are not manifest unto them the house seems dark to them that stand without Thou must enter into the word and into every particular truth in it and go up stairs and down stairs and have an eye into every room There thou shalt find humility there contrition there
conversion there Christ and his Spirit in one closet there all his Jewels in that and that box all is manifest within doors Fourthly it labours to affect the heart it doth not only labour to know more and more of the truth but also it labours to bring it home to the heart The good woman considers a field and buys it Prov. 31. 16. This is saith Ambrose the good Christian soul if in civility then much more in Divinity he considers the truth and buyes it he taketh it as his own and appropriates it unto himself Lo this saith Eliphaz we have searched out so it is hear it and know it for thy self Iob 5. 27. When thou canst say of the truth lo this is it we have searched it out I have dived into it perused it so it is even so indeed all this is that thou mayest apply it unto thy self and know it for thy good The first Reason is because meditation musters up all weapons and gathers all forces of arguments for 〈◊〉 presse our sins and lay them heavy upon the heart This usury is 〈…〉 good when meditation like usurers who grind and suck 〈…〉 of the needy and are not content with their Principal bu◠〈…〉 have consideration for every pound they lay out yea for every shilling and that for every week and every moneth and every quarter and every yeer the poor man could be content to pay the principall but to exact use upon use this kills him so meditation exacteth upon the soul and holdeth it to use upon use You have committed evil in a corner but you shall â—â—t carry it away so Item it was against the knowledge of God revealed Item against many mercies received Item against many Judgements threatned against many checks of conscience against many Vows and Promises remember that O my soul Item for that and Item for this Item for every lust and every circumstance thus oft and in this place and at that time in that manner So meditated the prodigal Look as it is in warrs were there but many scores come against an Army they might be conquered or many hundreds they might be resisted but if many thousands should come against a smal Army it would be in danger indeed Meditation leadeth a whole Army of arguments a whole Army of curses miseries judgements commandments against the soul how ever one misery or plague will not knock it down but the soul may brook it and goe away with it but meditation brings a great Armado of arguments and tels the soul God is against thee and against thy wayes God is against thee where ever thou art or what ever thou doest Then the heart begins to cry out as Elisha his servant did Master what shall we do 2 Kings 6. 15. So many horses against us so many charets and so many men against us Master what shall we do so many sins and so heinous so many judgements and so heavy and so many evils and spiritual maladies Oh what shal I do to be saved that I should commit sin against a God that hath damned innumerable Angels millions of Kings Princes and Nobles that I should commit it against this God so mercifull to me so gracious so patient so good to my soul that I wretched rebel should for a cup of drink refuse heaven for a lust not worth a straw under my foot cast off Christ and grace and all how shal I do Then the soul stands in a maze The second Reason is because meditation having hundled up all Items against the soul and brought it in all bils of account it fastens sâ—â— upon the soul I mean it makes the soul feel it so that it must needs be convinced without any evasion Meditation deals with a man as Elisha dealt with the messengers of the King Joram the murderer he was coming to do mischief to the Prophet and the prophet did shut the door and held him fast at the door 2 Kings 6. 32. and then he made him know that the evill was from the Lord before he could stirr so meditation when the soul would fain out of doors into its old course again it shuts the door upon it and holds it fast Meditation tels the soul this evil is from the Lord upon thee O my soul if thou stirr in or out upon this or that lust any more this evill that course that vengeance and damnation if ever thou stir forth thou losest thy mercy thou losest Christ thou losest all possibility of comfort Stir not out if thou dost thou wilt rue it Sometimes when men hear the Word they go away touched they resolve not to commit sin again as they have done yet when they are gone it works not but the heart recoyls again and turns to its old passe The reason is because they meditate not upon the Word they fasten it not upon their consciences It is with the word as it is with a salve if a man that hath never so good a salve that will heal any thing in four and twenty hours if a man should do nothing but lay it to the wound take it off lay it on and take it off it will not heal the wound and no marvel Why he will not let it lye on the best salve will not heal the soare nor eat out the corruption unlesse it be bound on and let lye so it is with the Word many a soul hears it heart conscience affections all toucht but when he is gone out of the Church all is gone his affections dye his heart dyes and his conscience becomes unfruitful Why he is still removing of the salve and will not let it lye on and therefore the Word over-powers not his corruptions the Word is like the salve conviction of conscience is like the laying on of the salve meditation the binding of it to the soare St. James compares a slight hearer to a man that looks into a glasse who soon forgets his visage but a good hearer doth two things First he stoops down and looks into it to take a perfect view of his estate Secondly he continues looking into it Iames 1. 25. he doth not leave the glasse behind him but he carrieth away the glasse with him This man shall be blessed in his deed If the pills be never so bitter yet let a man swallow them speedily there is no great distaste but if a man chew a pill it will make him deadly sick Thy sins are like those pills they go down very pleasingly because thou swallowest them thou swallowest down thine oaths lies ignorance pride thou swallowest down the threats of the Lord but if thou wouldest chew these bitter pills and meditate and ruminate and chew the cud drunkennesse would be as bitter as hell swearing and security and Saboath breaking would be as bitter as wormwood thou durst not go on in them they would make thee look sourely upon them for ever like a man that hath chewed a pill he can hardly ever
to beg mercy 4. He is as it were dumb and speechlesse before God And now our God what shall we say after all this for we haue forsaken thy commandements verse 10. Shall I excuse the matter alas it is inexcusable What shall we say after all this Shall we call for thy patience Wee had it and yet were little the better Shall we call for mercy Why we had it and yet our stubborn hearts would not come down I know not what to say for our selves for we have sinned against thee 5. He declares Gods truth that he had warned them by his Prophets vers 11 12. but no warning can better us 6. He shews how God had punished them yet they would not be humbled for all that God had brought upon them lesse evils than they deserved and wrought deliverance for them wich they could not have expected What shall we say should we for all this break thy commandements verse 13 14. What can we expect but hell and confusion 7. He is sensible of Gods Judgements and righteousnesse O Lord thou art righteous as if he should say How canst thou spare us for this sinne How can it stand with thy righteousnesse How is it that such hell-hounds as we are should live above ground when thou art so righteous a God It is a wonder that the earth opens not her mouth for to swallow us up quick for O Lord thou art righteous 8. He layes down his soul and all the peoples souls at Gods feet as if he should say here we be thou maist damn us if thou wilt Behold we are all here before thee in our trespasses for we cannot stand before thee because of this verse 15. Behold here are we rebels we are here are our heads and our throats before thee if now thou shouldst take us from our knees unto hell and from our prayers unto damnation we cannot ask thee why thou doest so Oh it 's mercy it 's mercy indeed that we have been spared Thus Meditation must bring our hearts before God and there complain against them before heaven Meditation should deal with the heart as the Father did with his possessed child who carried him to Christ saying Master my child is possessed THE DANGER Of Deferring REPENTANCE DISCOVERED In a SERMON preached at Maidstone in Kent By that Reverend and Faithfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B. D. Sometimes Fellow of ` Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Pastor of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford A SERMON OF M. WILLIAM FENNERS at Maidstone PROVERBS 1. 28. Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me THere is a good English Proverb among us that he that neglects the occasion the occasion will neglect him Solomon wisely begins his Proverbs with it for he bringeth in the wisdome of his Father in these five particulars First making a generall Proclamation in the 20. verse Wisdome crieth without she uttereth her voice in the streets He compareth God unto a Cryer going up and down the City from street to street and from door to door crying his commodity even the richest that ever was which is a Christ a Christ for redemption a Christ for sanctification a Christ to enlighten those that walk in darknesse and in the shadow of death Ho every one that thirsteth here is a Christ for you Secondly here is a mercifull reprehension in the 22 verse O ye foolish how long will ye love foolishnesse and ye scorners take pleasure in scorning Foolish indeed to be without Christ foolish to be without grace foolish to chafer away our souls for sin How long ye scorners will ye take pleasure in scorning will you still persist in your wickednesse and never have done with your sins will you never turn back again but damn your souls for ever O ye foolish how long will ye love foolishnesse Thirdly here is a gracious exhortation in the 23. verse turn you at my correction lo I will pour out my mind unto you and make you to understand my words As if he should say Do you not see how you are going a pace to confusion and that the way you take leadeth unto destruction turn ye therefore turn ye back again for there is a Christ behind you O turn ye for if ye go on in your sins you perish for ever Fourthly here is a yearning promise made unto the world in the end of the 23. verse Lo I will pour out my spirit unto you and cause you to understand my words As if he should say Return back again with me and you shall have better welcome than you can possibly have if you go on in your sins the Devil will never let you gain so much by your living in your lusts as you shall do by repentance for them and forsaking of them For behold I will prour out my spirit upon you whereby you shall be farr greater gainers than you shall be by your sins Fifthly here is a gratious threatning against the world even all those that have loytered out the day of grace As time and tyde will stay for no man no more doth the day of grace Because I have called and you refused I have exhorted but you have not regarded I have denounced judgements against you for your sins but you have hardened your hearts now a day of woe and misery shall come upon you a time of vengeance and desolation shall over take you there will a day come wherein there will be weeping and crying Mercy Lord mercy but I tell you beforehand what you shall trust to let this be your lesson now I call and you will not hear now I stretch out my hands but you will not regard you shall seek me early but you shall not find me and shall cry but you shall not be heard The words are underclapt against all those that procrastinate their repentance and returning home unto God wherein note first the parties them selves that do prolong this day of grace they that is they who when God cals on them will not hear when God invites them by his mercies patience and forbearance by his Ministers and servants by his corrections and judgement by all fair means and foul means yet withstand the means of grace they are the men they shall call but God will not answer Secondly here is their seeking after God they shall call upon me Thirdly here is their earnest and diligent seeking after God they shall not only call but seek too and not only seek but seek as to labour to find nay they shall seek me early even strive to go about it with all haste and flye to repentance but they shall not find me Fourthly here is the unseasonablenesse of the time of their seeking then that is a demonstrative then even a time which the Lord appoints at as if he should say you shall see then these men will be of another mind
and it becomes sinfull not regarded and abominable in Gods eyes For hearing of the Word of God the godly manâ— hears and the wicked man hears the matter in both is the same the godly man he casteth the Word into a godly mould he hears the Word and he trembles at it he hears the Word and beleeves it he hears the Word and his heart bowes to it and resolves to practise it a wicked man he hears the Word too but he casteth it into a dishonouraâ—le mould he hears it with deadnesse and dulnesse without trembling without faith and obedience So a godly man may think thoughts of God and so may a wicked man think thoughts of God the matter of both is good yet the thoughts of the wicked are vain though he thinks of God yet because he casteth it into his dishonourable frame he fears not God his heart trembles not at God but his heart is as full of dead earthly affections as before he thinks of hearing the Word but it is after this own fashion he thinks of praying but he prayes with his own spirit and not with the spirit of Adoption The Psalmist tells us that the whoremaster the drunkard and the thief thinks of God it is after his own fashion Psal 50. 21. These things hast thou done saith God and I held my tongue and then thoughtest that I was even such a one as thy self A wicked man goes on in his sins and thinks that they are not so devillish and abominable as some say they are and he thinks that God thinks so too he is earthly carnall luke-warm and dead-hearted and if he repent at the last he thinks all will be well and he thinks God is of the same mind too he goes on in his drunkennesse swearing pride and hypocrisie and he thinks if he do but remember to ask God mercy and to cry Lord receive my soul when he is going out of the world he thinks he shall not go to hell but be carried to the joyes of heaven and he thinks God is of his mind that God thinks so too But mark what the Lord saith I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thee O consider this you that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Thirdly mens thoughts are vain when the heart that thinks upon them is earthly and vain wherefore if all the wicked men in the world should lay their heads together to think a good thought yet they cannot for their hearts are vain hearts sinfull hearts they may think of excellent propofitions concerning God his worship his word and service but so long as the heart that thinks upon them is carnall and vain they cannot speak that which is good as saith our Saviour Maithew 12. 34. How can you speak good things Why may some men say â— may not a wicked man read a Chapter in a Bible are the words so hard to be understood and pronounced cannot a wicked man take a Sermon and read it and hear a Sermon and repeat it What are Letters and syllables so hard to be pronounced I answer beloved that is not the meaning of our Saviour How can ye that are evill speak good things no no a wicked man may read Gods word and propound good questions as well as a true Christian but he cannot speak good words that is he cannot speak them from a good heart and therefore his heart being carnall and vain good words in his mouth are as a Jewell in a swines snout it is a word indeed but not a speech when he reads or pronounceth Gods word Aristotle saith that speech is nothing but the expression of that that is within the heart Now then if the word and truth of God be not ingraffed in thy heart if thy heart be not heavenly when thou speakest of heavenly things thou dost pronounce them but not speak them But when thou speakest of earthly things then thou speakest to the purpose because thy heart is set upon them and thy mind and thy tongue go together there is no jarre not discord betwixt them but if thy heart be not pure though thou speakest good things or holy things yet in Christs sense thou speakest them not For say I how can a vain evill corrupt heart think good thoughts An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit saith our Saviour he doth not say that an evill tree cannot be made good for it may be grafted into another stock divers ways there are to make it good but so long as it is a corrupt tree it cannot bring forth good fruit Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles Dost thou go to a drunkard and thinkest there to find any religion in him or to a whore-master to find grace in him Dost thou go to a swearer or a prophane person and thinkest thou to finde any fear of God in them Indeed sometimes there may be some morall good found in them but they are as a pearl in a dunghill out of its place Fourthly all mens thoughts come to be vain when the drift and end of the heart and soul in thinking of them is vain But thou wilt say unto me The end of my thoughts is Gods glory What is it not to Gods glory that we go to the Word and Sacrament that we pray and give almes I Answer The end of every good work in it selfe is Gods glory but is it the end of the worker speaker or thinker I make no question but the end of a good action in it selfe is the glory of God so the end of prayer is the glory of God the end of all preaching and Sermons is the glory of God the end of giving of almes and of all good thoughts is the glory of God but the end of the man that prayes and preaches what is that the end of the hearer and giver of almes what is that the end of him that speaks well what is that Beloved most men have false and corrupt ends which we will branch out into these three heads For the first men will be thinking and plodding from morning till night of their wordly businesses Now because they know they must think on God to make God amends perhaps they will think on him at night when they have dishonoured him all the day So men will swear and swagger drink and be drunk and when they have done say Lord have mercy upon me and so they think to make God amends What beloved will yee swear swagger drink be drunk and lye be secure and worldy and and then ask God forgivenesse to make him amends This is to break Priscians head that you may give him a plaister Will you trespasse your neighbour that you may ask him forgivenesse This is a damned and devillish religion yet this is the religion of many men in the world you shall have them keep daies and weeks and years in the observation of the times of Gods
when made fit for the saddle if he be not broken he will not be willing the rider shall come on his back man is borne like a wild Asse colt Job 11. 12. so thou wast borne and so thou hast been and art thou not as yet broken from it if thou be broken in heart then thy heart is â—ame to every commandment to every truth and thy affections are tame to every precept It is Calvins similitude thou art not yet saith he fit for Gods saddle if thou let the Devill the world or any lust ride thee thou must be broken from thy wildnesse or else thou art not broken in heart it may be thou art a little bridled from thy lusts alas so thou maist be yet be wild for all that Be not like those beasts Psal 32. 9. For though they be bridled and held in yet they are wild still Be not like horse and mule saith Ambrose for though they suffer bit and bridle yet had they rather be at rack and manger or at grasse in the field they delight not to be sadled Dost thou not despise to be curbed by the word to be bitten by reproof wouldst thou not rather be free God casteth in good motions into thy heart and thou casteth them out and they vanish God puts in good purposes into thy heart but thou flingest them off and dost not fulfill them like a wild horse that flings off his rider Thou canst not be crost a little but presently thou art wild with choller and anger thy flesh and blood cannot endure it and dost thou yet say that thou art broken in heart no no thou wast born a wild Asse Colt and so thou art still Thou wert born a wild olive and so thou art still Thou wast never yet broken in heart never yet broken from sin if thou wert broken from thy wildnesse then every exhortation would tame thee then thou wouldst be glad to be reproved and controuled by the word Thou wouldest leap at every commandement were it never so strict But if thou count it precisenesse and too much strictnesse to be holy and zealous I say thou art yet but a wild colt Oh my brethren we have many amongst us who are like Ishmael who was a wild man Gen. 16. many wild men who pray wildly and think wildly and hear wildly their hearts are wild gadding hearts while the word is preachiug they follow their own imaginations Darest thou venture upon any sin against the Gospel of Christ and darest thou live in it till thou art a wicked Bedlam The Psalmist brings all such in as if they were mad Bedlams saying why do the heathen so furiously rage c. Christ would have bound them but they forsooth were too wild they would not be bound but say they let us break his bonds and fling off his cords they will not be bound to such strictnesse darest thou swear and lie and covet and be drunk c. alas man thou art in a mad vaine Darest thou break the sabbath live in thy lusts c. a fury hath taken thee thou art a mad-man God must break that wilde heart of thine else thou canst not be tamed it may be thou art bridled from sin but dost thou bridle thy selfe if not thou art wild for all the bridling thou hast you never saw a horse bridle himself no no it is wild peradventure thou dost bridle thy selfe when thou art not much tempted but if thou beest broken in heart thou wilt refrain all provocations whatsoever I will keep my mouth c. Psal 39. 1. while the Devill was before him as Hierom expounds it or while Shimei was before him to tempt him with wicked reproches and disgracefull speeches as Bazâ—â— and Theodoret expound it then would David keep his tongue as with a bridle when he was greatly tempted to sin Here then is all the â—riâ—ll canst thou bridle thy self from sin when thou art tempted to sin if thou be broken in heart thou canst but if thou canst not thou art wild unto this day The wild beasts are tame enough till a prey comes before them and so thou maist be tame when temptations are down but art thou tame when a temptation is before thee This is a second sign of brokennesse of heart if thou be broken from thy wildnesse Thirdly if thou be broken in heart then thou art broken from thy pride and thou wilt stoop to Gods word in all things A broken heart is an humble heart I dwell with him saith God Isaiah 37. 15. pâ—idei the root of all sin what is the reason that any daâ—e sin but because they think better of themselves in their sins then they do deserve for did a man but think he were accursed and a damned wretch in sinning against God he durst never sin or did a man feele that every sin maks a man filthy yea more filthy then a toad did a man feele his own damned condition he durst not live in sin a man thinks better of himself thâ—n he deserves whensoever he sins against God Heare and give eare and be not proud for the Lord hath spoken it Jer. 13. 15. If the Lord speak and thou do not hear and obey thou aâ—t proud Oh but I am not proud then thinkest thou for I will hear the poorest body in the street when they speaâ— to me yea and I will and do give the wall to my betters wilt thou so wilt thou give man the wall and take the Wâ—ll of God is not this pride swear not sayes God yet thou wiâ—t take the wall of that commandement and sweâ—â—est Let not the Sun go down upon thy wrath sayes God thou takest the wall of that commandement too and canst remember an ill turn a moneth after so c. This is execrable and abominable pride Thou seekest after thy profits and pleasures more than after the glory of God I cannot live else sayes one I cannot be merry else sayes another and I must tell a lie now and then and must suffer bousing and swearing in my house or else I cannot live Thou proud wretch what must â—hy mirth and thy credit peâ—ke above the commandement of Christ The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God Psal 10. 4. It is wicked pride indeed when thou seekest thy selfe more than God I tell thee the word hath not broken the heart untill it hath broken the neck of this pride of thine never tell me that thou art not proud in thy apparell if a servant goe never so meanly in apparell yet he is proud if he obey not all his Masters lawfull and good commandements never tell me thou bowest to God or thou kneelest in prayer to God cluck and crouch bow and bend thou never so much yet thou art proud if every corruption of thine will not yield to every commandement of God thou art not broken in heart for if thou wert broken in heart thou wouldest stoop to all Gods commandements Dost thou
in the congregation but he will find it out if he preach in particular he will discover every mans corruption fling wilde fire in every wicked mans face and throw balme of comfort into every godly troubled spirit As King James said well of a reverend Prelate of this Land Me thinks this man preacheth of death as if death were at my back so should Ministers preach as if Heaven were at mens backes or as if hell were at mens backes When he preacheth of mens sinnes and corruptions he must preach so that their consciences may see that the word of God looks into the very thoughts and hearts when he preacheth of the wrath of God and of condemnation c. he must preach so that the conscience may feele even the fire of hell flaming in it this is the way to teach the people the good knowledge of the Lord as it is called 2 Chron. 30. 22. every Minister may teach the knowledge of the Lord but not the good knowledge of the Lord. There is great difference between teaching of the knowledge and of the good knowledge of the Lord. Men may know God and his word and their sinnes but if they go on in their sins it is not good knowledge then indeed a Minister teacheth good knowledge when he makes his people so to know sin as to loath it and to come out of it so to know repentance as to repent indeed Secondly Discrimination As if he should say there are some that are in him and some that are not in him if any man say he abideth in him he ought himselfe to walk even as he walked so that here the Apostle would put a difference between the sound and the rotten-hearted in his congregation Hence observe this point That every Minister is bound to preach so as to make a difference between the precious and the vile Saint John preached so as that his hearers might say the Spirit of Christ is in me or the Spirit of Christ is not in me that themselves might know whether indeed they were true members of Christ or but hypocrites This is the duty of Ministers Ezek 44. 23. They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and prophane and cause men to discerne between the cleane and unclean Here is two things First they shall teach them the difference between the holy and prophane Secondly they shall not onely shew it before them but if they will not see it they shall cause them to see it that is they must beat it into them and rubbe it into their consciences it may be when men may see they will not then he must make them to see If there be any prophane person any luke warme or dead-hearted professor or close hypocrite in the congregation the Minister must make him see his prophanesse his deadnesse and hypocrisie in Gods worship or if there be any godly soule or broken heart the Minister must make them to see that they have a broken heart First reason because else a man defiles the pulpit and prophanes the holy things of God Ezek. 22. 26. Her Priests have violated my law and prophaned my holy things they have put no difference between the holy and prophane neither have they shewed difference between the cleane and unclean Those Ministers prophane the holy place of God when they make not mens consciences know which is holy and prophane when prophane persons may come and go from Church and have not their prophanenesse discovered to them a drunkard a swearer c. and hath not his sinnes laid open to him Is there any prophane person here that hath not an arrow shot into his heart but he can goe away and not take any comfort from the Sermon these men prophane the holy things of God When God gave Benhadad into the hands of Ahab and Ahab spared him and let him goe 1 King 20. the Prophet tells Ahab ver 42. Thus saith the Lord because thou hast let goe a man whom I appointed to utter destruction therefore thy life shall go for his life c so if there be any Minister over any congregation in which there is any drunkard any swearer or whoremaster or wordling or lukewarmling or any other that lives in such sinnes which God hath apointed and decreed to eternal destruction in hell if we tell them not their sinnes and make their consciences feele them then our life shall goe for their life our soule for their soule for we might have given them such a wound as might have been a means to have cured their soule Secondly We are not the Ministers of Christ if we preach not so as that men may know that they are not converted if they are not c. God saith to to the Prophet Jeremiah if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth Jer. 15. 19. Jeremiah could not be Gods mouth to the people unlesse he would divide between the precious and the vile Unlesse Ministers preach so as to make the consciences of their hearers feele in what state they live in they may be Ministers of Satan Idoll-shepheards but they are not the Ministers of Christ Thirdly because otherwise they can doe no good Ezek. 34. 17. and as for you O my flock thus saith the Lord God behold I will judge between cattell and cattell c. As if he should say woe unto the shepheards will they not preach so as to make a difference between cattell and cattell woe unto the Priests will they not preach so as to feede my flocke I will require my flocke at their hands and now saith God will not the shepheards of my people doe it I will now doe it my selfe I will convert those that are to be converted c. I will feed and provide for my flock my selfe Austin notes that after that Peter had smote off Malchus his eare Peter came to be a shepheard and an Apostle of Christ after Paul had persecuted the Church he came to be a Preacher and an Apostle of Christ so after Moses had killed the Egyptian God made him the Captain and deliverer of his people Austin observes from this that God appoints none for his Ministers but Smiters such as be men of blows men that will smite men home to the heart men that wil wound the consciences of their hearers This I speak that you may not be offended at the ministers of Christ when they apply the word of God to your severall consciences and whensoever you have the truth of Christ preached to your soules let your hearts make use of it for if thou apply not the word of God to thy soule as it is preached thou art guilty of thine own bloud If you apply not the word you put off the word of God and then what saith the Apostle Acts 13. 46. It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing you put it farre from you and judge
person he doth evill Secondly the disposition of his male partnesse that cannot indure to be reproved From the first of these we observe this That a wicked man hates the word of God grace yea he doth not onely hate the word of Gods grace but he hates grace it felfe he doth not onely hate the Lanthorne that beareth the light but he hates the light it selfe I choose not to stand to shew you how the word is called a light but that which I take to be more necessary for this place I will first shew you what this hatred of the word of grace and of grace it self is and I thus define it It is an actual affection of the heart whereby a man riseth up against an union with that which seems to be opposite and contrary to his lust So that there be foure things in a wicked mans hatred of the word First it is an actuall hatred for there is an habituall hatred of the word even in them that never heard the word they doe not actually hate it because they never had it but they would hate it if they had it as sore eys hate the light of the Sunne even when it is down for if they had it they would twinckle at it Thus all wicked men hate the word and may be condemned for despisers of the word though they doe not actually hate it because they have it not yet habitually they hate it they would hate it if they had it I speak not of this hatred but of that which is actuall hatred whereby though they have the word yet they hare to be controled and reformed by the word Prov. 1. 22. O ye fooles how long will ye hate knowledge Secondly it is a passion of the heart and so I distinguish it for I know a wicked man may love the word of God with his understanding and conscience his understanding may love the word and say it is good his conscience may love the word and say it is gratious yet if he cuts not off his sinnes for the word he hates it Psal 119. 70. Their heart is as fat as grease but my delight is in thy law as if he should say my heart is a leane heart an hungrie heart my soule delighteth and rejoyceth in and loveth thy word I have nothing else to fill it but thy word and the comforts I have from it but their hearts are as fat as grease their hearts are fat hearts fat with the world far with lust they hate the word As a full stomack loatheth meat and cannot digest it so wicked men hate the word it will not go down with them it will not fetch up their lusts If thou partest not with thy sinnes thy heart hateth the word yet thou thinkest thou lovest the word thou sayest thou lovest to hear the word and thou lovest good Ministers and good discourses c. it may be that this is nothing but the assent of thine understanding and the approbation of thy conscience and so a man may love the word in his understanding and conscience and yet be a hater of the word of God The Devills have attained to so much divinity as this they like the word in their understandings and assent to the truth of it in their consciences but though their understandings and consciences tell them that it is a good word yet they hate it This is a damnable and a most unnaturall hatred Indeed if a mans mind and conscience were against the word it were naturall for him to hate it it is naturall for a man to hate that which is against his mind but when thy conscience shall tell thee this is the word and the will of the Eternall God and thy conscience shall tell thee that it is a most true word a righteous a just an holy commandement that commands thee to serve thy God onely and so to part with all thy sinnes if yet thou wilt not obey but goe contrary to his word thy hatred it is unnaturall and divelish As it was said of Agrippa his dogge he had a divell tyed to his collar of another that he had a divell signed on his swords pummell so I may say to every one that hates the word and to be ruled by it and yet knowes it in his own understanding and conscience to be a true and good word I may say it is a divelish Hatred and he hath a divell tyed to his heart a divell in his heart Thirdly this hatred is that whereby the heart riseth up against an union with the word hatred is a shunning of an union with a thing A man doth not hate any evill naturally but he hates an union with it A man doth not hate poison it selfe he hates no poison in a toade let it be there as much as it will he cares not so the shepheard be hates not the wolfe in the Forrest but in the Flock A wicked man hates not the word so long as it keeps within it self he loves Epistles and Gospells the first and second lesson so long as the word keeps in the Scriptures he likes it but if the word begin to take union with him if the word begin to plucke sin from him to pull his cupps from him to pluck his pleasures and delights from him and his lusts from him then he hates the word when it comes in this union to his heart I put this union of the word in opposition to foure things First against generall preaching a wicked man loves generall preaching though it be of all the truthes in the Bible while they take no union with his heart he may heare a thousand Sermons and like them all well enough so long as the word closeth not in with a mans conscience so long as it grapples not with his heart so long he may love and like it But let the word come in particulars to him and tell him this is thy sinne and thou must to hell for it if thou givest it not over this hath been an old lust of thine which will be thy bane if thou repent not This thy old corruption it will be thy breake-necke if thou part not with it if the word come in this union with his soule then he hates it So long as Iohn Baptist tooke his text and dwelt on the reasons and went no further Herod heard him gladly but when Iohn came to his use to apply it and told him in particular this reproves thee Herod and all the evills that ever thou hast done and in particular for thine unlawfull marriage with thy brother Philips wife when Iohn came thus then Herod claps him up in prison before he heard him with joy and gladnesse but when he comes close to his conscience and tells him that his marriage would condemne him and his other sinnes would damn him if he repented not Herod cannot endure this preaching any longer Secondly in opposition to mercifull preaching A wicked man loves mercifull Preaching why it takes no
union with his heart it is like a Plaister that will never sticke A mercifull Sermon can never sticke on a prophane heart it is likened to a greasie paper that will never fasten so mercifull Sermons they will never fasten on his heart they cannot take away his sinnes from him Ahab he loved his foure hundred meale-mouthed mercifull Preachers well enough but when Micaiah came to him O I hate him for he never Prophesieth good unto me but evill he is alwayes upon hell-strings he is alwayes preaching judgement unto me I cannot claw off one of his Sermons in a moneth scarce I cannot catch hold on any of his Points to comfort my heart there is not one sentence in all his Sermons to refresh my conscience he never prophesieth good unto me but evill I hate him When a Minister comes to the conscience of a man and tells him this is the truth of God and this is thy sinne and damnation and makes his Sermons sticke as a burre on his conscience and as an arrow shot into his bowells his heart riseth against it and he cannot endure it Thirdly in opposition to preaching when the Minister is dead A wicked man loves the word when he that preacheth it is dead Why then there is none to urge a union of the word with his conscience A wicked man loves to read Saint Paul Saint Peter and Saint Iohn c. why these men are not alive to urge a union of the word with their consciences but if Saint Paul or Saint Peter c. were alive to tell them if this be the word of God then thou art a damned man if thou doest not obey it if this be a grace then thou art a cursed man if thou have it not if these men were alive now their Sermons would cut to the quicke So when the Ministers are dead men love to buy their bookes and to read their Sermons Now Master Perkins is dead all the world honours him and men buy up his bookes but when he was alive the drunkards made ballads of him and profane Belials would make songs of him why they could not endure this union of the word If the Minister be by he cannot be drunk but the Minister will preach condemnation to him for it if he repent not he cannot swear or lie or deceive but the Minister will tell him that this will be a core to his conscience another day Men cannot endure this Saint Paul and Saint Peter c. being dead they like well enough but if they were alive they would hate them why they cannot endure an union with the word This was the religion of the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 23. 29 30. they built the â—ombes of the Prophets and garnished the Sepulchres of the righteous and said if they had lived in the daies of their fathers they would not have been partakers with them in the bloud of the Prophets You are the children of those men that killed the Prophets saith Christ ver 31. Are not you the children of those men doe not you do those sins which the Prophets cried out against and for which the Prophets denounced such fearfull judgements upon them I tell you if the Prophets were now alive they would â—â—ie hell and damnation to you if the Prophets were now alive and did see those sinnes you commit they would denounce woe and vengeance to you as they did to their fathers Oh saith one if I had lived in the Jews time I would never have opposed Christ and his Apostles I would have kissed the very ground that they trod on then wretch why doest thou not doe that which these men preached look in the writings of these holy men of Paul of Peter c. Dost thou do that which Paul and Peter have wrote thou shouldest doe dost thou look in their writings and not obey what they have wrote I tell thee if Peter and Paul were alive they would tell thee thou shouldest be damned if thou repentest not if John and Iames were alive they would tell thee that the wrath of God will take hold on thee if thou yeeld not obedience to that word they preached to thee If Paul were alive he should have many a Tertullus to oppose him if Iohn were alive he should have many a Herod to imprison him if Amos were alive hee should have many an Amaziah to banish him and to silence him but now they are dead men can like them well enough A righteous man in the way is an abomination to the wicked Prov. 29. 27. he doth not say an upright man when he is dead is an abomination to the wicked for when he is dead they may praise him and love him and love to have his picture amongst them then they will speake well of him and commend him I speake that because I would not be misconstrued Let a man be a godly man indeed a Saint indeed as long as he lives the men of the world will hate him I have chosen you out of the world faith Christ and therefore the world hates you c. It hath been an old haunt and custome of the world to hate and maligne the righteous to reproach them to call them Puritans c though very heathens have acknowledged that there is no religion without purity Cicero Horate and others describing a man that is religious say that he is an intire man a man pure from sin If any man will not beleeve it let him trie it let him be holy and gratious and shew forth the power of religion in his life let him contemne the world c. and see whether wicked men will not hate him reproach and disgrace him what they can not as if a godly man could not be godly and religious unlesse he be hated and reproached by the world for it may be First when a man that is truly religious and godly is a great man and all the countrey are loth to lose his favour or to purchase his ill will then he may be free from hate and reproach Secondly when he is a man of admirable wit and knowledge that the world admires him for his learning and for his understanding and for his parts such a one men will rather admire then revile Thirdly it may so be that God may give a godly man favour in the eyes of the world howsoever the world would hate and reproach them yet God may so strike their consciences that they cannot doe it Otherwise a godly man especially if he be such a one by whose godlinesse and purity a wicked man is judged and condemned in his conscience for his ungodlinesse and prophanenesse the wicked will hate him Lastly I put it in opposition to now and then preaching a wicked man loves preaching though never so sharp and terrible so it come but now and then if the Minister preach never so powerfully never so terribly if it give him a reproof and away so it doth not stand digging in his conscience and
the poor saith the text of him he went away sorrowfull as if he should say he was sorry that there was any such truth in the Scripture he would have been glad that there had been no such text in the word of God The Prophets prophesie falsely and my people love to have it so Jer. 5. 31. they hated to have it so as the word would have it But when the false Prophets told them it was otherwise O they loved that Beloved the men of the world would be glad that God would make another Bible that drunkards and whoremasters might be saved another Bible that earthwormes and worldlings and proud persons might be saved If God would raine down a new Bible another Bible I feare there are many thousands among us that now say they love the Bible yet would love to heare of it and come from all places to seek after it after another Bible that would shew the way to heaven a little wider men are loth to heare of so much holinesse so much precisenesse they love not to be beaten on that string a signe that they hate it Can a man that is nothing but flesh and bloud love the text of Saint Paul that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of God 1 Cor. 15. 50 Can an old filthy sinner love that text of Isaiah An old sinner though he be an hundred years old shall be accursed I saiah 65. 20 Can a Usurer love the 15. Psalme Can a luke warmling love Rev 3. 16 no he would be glad there were no such truth in the word and therefore he hates it Rom. 8. 7. A wicked man is such an enemy to the word that all the Ministers in England cannot reconcile him to it Secondly wicked men hate the word because they doe hate the nature of the word If men did love the word of God they would will what the word of God wills and nill what the word of God nills It is a good proverbe amongst us It is the property of lovers to will and nill the same things If men did love the word then look what the word saith they would doe what the word commands them they would obey If men did love the word they would comform their hearts and lives to the rules of the word But the carnall mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8. 7. A wicked man hates the law of God why the heart of a wicked man conceives the word of God to be against him he cannot think a thought but the word is against it he cannot speake a word but the word of God is against it he cannot pray his dead-hearted prayers but the word of God is against him c. And as the word of God is against him so his heart is against the word he is of one mind the word of another he is of one minde and the word of the cleane contrary mind against him Lastly as a wicked man hates the being of the word and the nature of the word in it selfe so he hates the being of it in his understanding he cannot abide the knowledge of the word therefore they say unto God depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Job 21. 14. A wicked man would faine keep this and that lust he is loth to depart with his old corruptions his old sinnes he hath lived in them so long that he is loth to part with his old friends he would faine goe on in his lust and therefore he hates the knowledge of the word that would strippe him of his lust saith Aquinas Now he cannot be free for his sinnes and be curbed by the knowledge of the word I will tell you once it was my hap to preach a Sermon two or three hundred miles from this place and when Sermon was done I heard a man say O what a beast was I to come to this Sermon what a beast was I to come to it When the word of God comes to men and tells them that their state is damnable if they live in their sins when the word of God comes to the heart many are sorry that they ever heard the word of God that ever the word made such â—â—hing known to them The drunkard the wanton the Usurer and the worldling how glad would they be that the Minister could prove by the word of God that these sins were lawful that usury were lawful that covetousnesse were lawful c. But when the word goes flat against them then they cannot endure that word why their conscience begins to pen them in it puts their hearts in the stocks as it were they cannot have freedome in the pursuite of their lusts and sinnes an evident signe that men hate the word Austin saith of a wicked man He loves the truth shing but he hates the truth reproving As much of the word as you will to make him skillfull in knowing but he hates the word every dramme of it checking and rebuking girding and controuling him for his sins Beloved what is all our preaching doth it not shew that men hate the word need any goe to the field and exhort the Husbandman to plough and sow his ground need we goe to your houses to perswade men to feed to eate and drink and to cloath themselves need we goe to the Alehouse and perswade the drunkard to drink the swearer to sweare the gamester to play no men love their backes and their bellies men love their profits and their pleasures men love their lusts and sinnes But they must be exhorted and intreated and commanded to obey and to love the word of God and all little enough Hence then is a reproofe to all the wicked amongst us O beloved it is too true that abundance of us doe hate the light Did we not hate the light we would have shaken all our hands of our sinnes sheere ere now did we not hate the light we would have crucified our anger and our wrath and our pride ere now we would have subdued our security and our selfe-love and our lukewarmnesse in good duties did we not hate the light we had all been children of the light ere now Plato saith He loves that hath a similitude of that he loves but we have not a similitude and a likenesse of the light and therefore we doe not love it Beloved let me come a little neerer and convince all that heare me of this point They must needs be said to hate one another whom no intreaties nor beseeches can possâ—ibly reconcile That is irreconcileable hatred which cannot be taken off by all the intreaties of the world Herâ—d hated Tyrus and Sidon but his hatred was taken off by Blastus his intreatie Acts. 12. 20. but that hatred is irreconcileable hatred that no intreaties can take off Oh how often have Gods Ministers intreated you and beseeched you to give over your sinnes and yet you will not how often