our selves the least swerving from them Some Professors there are whose Religion is all in their Rules and their Rules they have only in their Books or their heads and but little in their hearts who would be excellent Christians if their lives were according to what they prescribe to themselves When they are in secret upon their considering work they propose holy Rules and make good decrees oh if they were but observed what Christians would they be but when they come abroad their Rules are left behind them and it may be never remembred till they return to their Closets again O what a difference is there betwixt the same persons in their Closets and in the Fields or Markets Friends they are not strait rules but strict practices that our Lord requires 3. Severity in reckoning When we make every day a Judgement day and reckon with our selves as God will reckon with us strictly God will bring every work to Judgement Of every idle word men must give an account Greater sins smaller faults our commissions and our omissions the matters of fact and the circumstances of them must be reckoned up Nothing must slip our reckonings but what hath slipt our memories and we must keep that Register carefully 4. Severity in censuring and judging our selves for our sins and failings When we will not wink at our faults no nor mince or excuse them 't was my oversight or 't was my weakness but rebuke our selves sharply I have done foolishly I have done naughtily gathering up all the circumstances that may give our sins their due aggravations and so passing our censures accordingly Such a strict and punctual course as this hath a formidable aspect not only to sinners but even to some of the sincere weaklings among Christians But however it looks baulk it not nor any part of it Will you pinch upon Conscience because that would pinch upon the flesh will you deny Christ rather than deny your selves Every shuffling or shifting off a known Duty is a degree of denying of Christ Hast thou given thy self unto Christ and wilt thou deny him any thing he will have of thee Must this flesh be spared in his cause who spared not his Life for thee Did he say 't is too hard to obey 't is too hard to suffer 't is too hard to die may not less than my Blood than my Soul serve their turns And yet wilt thou say 'T is too hard to serve him 't is too hard to live wholly to him may nothing less than all I have serve may not something may not a little suffice him This flesh will be like enough to say so 't is too hard 't is too much that Christ requires something may be spared to my ease to my appetite to my credit and will grumble and murmure if it may not But shall thy Soul say after this saying of thy flesh Doth thy Soul say 'T is but reason that Christ should have all 't is but reason that Christ alone should be served and served in every thing and to the utmost that he requires It is best for me that I be wholly his the very severities of Christ will be better to me than the liberties of the flesh the pains of Christianity than the pleasures of Sin let me have the weariness of the Saints rather than the ease of Sinners let the yoke of Christ wring rather than be thrown off Doth not thy Reason and thy Conscience speak thus in thee and yet must the grudgings and repinings of the flesh carry it Christians if it be better to be a Disciple of Christ than a stranger if it be better to be a close and a thorow-pac'd Disciple than to bungle and halt if it be the strictness of Christianity out of which its sweetness growes the more exact conformity the more sweet communion with Christ if there be meat in all his work and his hardest work be the most savoury meal then O why do we so wrong our selves by keeping aloof and following him by halves taking up with the easier parts and slinking away from that which is more difficult and thereby feeding onely on the husk and shell of Christianity leaving the kernel to those that will be so wise as to take pains for it Friends shall we yet be for strictness will you resolve will you venture upon it who are there of you that will yet be perswaded to follow after the Lord that will be exact Conformists that will be close Disciples punctual Christians punctual in your words punctual in your practices whose hearts shall say now according to the Apostles words Phil. 1.27 My Conversation shall be in all things as it becometh the Gospel mine eye and mine aim and mine endeavour shall be to stand compleat in all the wills of God O that there were such an heart in us But O the fearfull heart O the sluggish heart that we still feel within us O these poor and low spirits that have no ambition for the excellencies of Religion and cannot bear its difficulties What a pitifull maimed thing is the Religion of many Professors how little is there in it what easie lazy sleepy Disciples are they how unequal are their spirits how uneven their goings how weak are their hearts how slow are their motions Heavenwards and how often do they step aside to save themselves from labour or trouble Never a little hotter service is in sight but their flesh calls them off and away they go presently after it When is it that that voice is heard within thee Pity thy self spare thy self but it does prevail Such a word It is not for mine ease it is not for my credit or it is not safe for me what a mighty charm is it to still and countermand the loudest calls of Christ and Conscience But consider friend whose voice is it that speaks thus to thee why whose voyce was it that spake the like words to Christ when he spake of his sufferings Matth. 16.22 Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee Pity thy self Master and let it not be thus unto thee whose voice was this Christ tells us whose in the next words Get thee behind me Sathan 't was the Devil that spake thus by Peter's mouth and 't is this same Devil that by the mouth of thy flesh speaks the like to thee Why man art thou afraid to hearken to Christ and art thou not afraid to hearken to the Devil Beloved we are few of us so much Christians as to be able to endure hardness and therefore 't is we are so easily and so often called off Well but however as little as we have attained let us put on after it Inure your selves to hardness and that 's the way to endure it Be severe a while and you will be the better able to bear severity Fear in good earnest how you ever again baulk a Duty and after a while you will finde that the hardest Duty is not to be feared
there can be nothing whether Good or Evil that can be hid from his Eyes If there be a God he is Almighty able to save and to destroy As his Eye will find out so by his Power he can revenge all ungodliness and wrong If there be a Judg one that is Holy Righteous All-seeing and Almighty if there be a Judg then there shall be a Judgment wherein every Man must give an account of himself and receive the reward of his doings whether they be good or evil Rom. 2.6 2 Cor. 5.10 'T is Mens Atheism that lies at the bottom of their Security in sinning The Devil would have found it hard work to have fill'd the World with so much wickedness if he had not first filled it with Atheists and Infidels Sinner how is it that thou darest be as thou art and live as thou dost How canst thou eat or drink or sleep for very fear Dost thou not see how much wickedness thou compassest thy self about withal What are thy Sins but so many Devils or worse and art not thou afraid of the Devil Whether thou art or no Remember that there is a God Can that Holy One but hate such a Beast as thou art Does not the All-seeing One see thee will not his Eye find thee out Will not the Almighty one be too strong for thee Art thou stronger than he and able to stand it out against him Is there not a Judg to sit upon thee before whose Bar thou must be brought forth to answer for all thine ungodliness Shall not the Judg of all the Earth do right Will he either destroy the Righteous with the wicked or will he spare the wicked with the Righteous There is a God Sinner there is a God believe and fear The belief of the very being of a God would make Sin to be feared But what will the belief of what God hath said The Word of God hath more plainly and fully declared beyond what might be gathered out of the bare notion of a God what the Sinners of the Earth must expect to receive from his hands Why what is it that the Lord hath spoken Search the Scriptures that 's a Book as to impenitent Sinners like Ezekiel's Roll Ezek. 2.10 Written all over with Lamentations Mourning and Wo. Herein is the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men Rom. 1.18 Who hath appointed a day wherein he will judg the World Acts 17.31 Who will appear in flaming Fire rendring vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power 2 Thess 1.8 9. Who shall be cast into the Lake of Fire Rev. 20.15 These and many more like words are written against Sinners in the Scriptures of God O were this Word believed that it is indeed the Word of God O were this God believed that he is not as Man that he should lye or as the Son of Man that he should repent but will certainly perform and do according to all things that are written in this Book This would make the stout-hearted to faint and the strong Sinner to bow down at his Feet But because of Mens unbelief therefore the Hearts of the Sons of Men are fully and fearlesly set in them to do evil O what Mettal are believing Sinners hearts made of What dost thou believe the Scriptures and yet not afraid to transgress Believest thou that God resists the Proud and yet does not thy Pride make thee afraid Believest thou that by thy lying and covetousness and oppression or but by thy vain life thy walking after the flesh and fulfilling the lusts thereof thou art treasuring up Wrath for thy self against the Day of Wrath and yet darest thou go on canst thou be quiet and secure Sure that heart of thine is a very stone within thee One would think it were not possible for such Sinners as believe the Scriptures but we should find them all fallen upon their Faces smiting upon their Thighs shivering and quaking for fear of the Wrath of God and the Judgment of the Great Day But canst thou hold up thine Head and keep on thy way and mock at Fear Sure either thy Belief is Unbelief thou believest not what thou thinkest thou dost or else thy heart is as the nether Milstone 3. Another Reason why Men Fear not is their Presumption As Mens Unbelief so some Mens Belief is the Reason why they do not Fear Presumption is Belief without a Bottom an House built upon the Sand a Spider's Web spun out of their own Hearts strong confidence founded on the weakness of a conceit or the belief of a lye This Presumption may be either 1. Of the goodness of Mens present State Or 2. Of the happiness of their future State what-ever their present State be 1. There is a Presumption of the goodness of their present State It is some Mens unhappiness that they believe themselves to be happy their great danger that they believe themselves to be out of danger Some Unbelievers and impenitent Sinners take themselves to be Believers and Converts to Christ some that are the Children of Hell believe themselves to be the Children of God This was the case of those Jews John 8.39 who said with great confidence Abraham is our Father we are the Children of Promise and vers 41. We have one Father even God What-ever thou accountest us we are the Children of God And this Confidence Men sometimes grow up unto upon little search or examining whether it be so or no. Nay it may be the Reason is their not examining at all how 't is with them Their case may be so extreamly bad and unsound that a very little search would break down all their confidence There are multitudes that are perswaded 't is well with them upon no other ground but because they cannot tell how bad 't is with them and therefore they understand not their misery and danger because they never search'd nor look'd into themselves nor ever spent a serious thought about the state of their Souls It is a wonderful thing that Men can so easily satisfie themselves in so great a case as multitudes do Let a Minister of Christ come to deal with such Persons let him go from House to House from Man to Man amongst the rude and ignorant Multitude how far may he go how many may he enquire of e're he meet with one that is so much as in doubt but all is well Let him ask How is it with your Soul what hope have you in God Why I doubt not but by the Grace of God my condition is good I hope in God all is well with me Let him go farther and ask But are you not mistaken are you sure you are not No I do not question but by the Grace of God my Soul is in a good condition Let him
you say The time that I spend thus I can spare from my Soul that care 's taken already Christ is sure Heaven is sure to me Now for the flesh and mine ease and my pleasure now for this present World I have done enough for that to come Or else will you say These dayes of my Vanity and Earthliness will I hope be left out of my Reckoning my Prayers and my Alms the good that I have done is so much that my evil Deeds and Dayes will be over look'd and past by But must not every Day must not every Work be brought to Judgment Doth not the Righteous and All-seeing God book down all Is not the Sin of Judah written as well as their Tears and Duties Is not every thing noted in his Book And must not all things that are written therein be read in that day Canst thou look on this and not fear continually every day 1 Pet. 1.17 If ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth according to every Man's Work pass the time of your sojourning here in Fear If you had to do with a God that would never call you to a Reckoning whether you serv'd him or not or how much or how little you serv'd him or whom else you serv'd besides him if you had to do only with such a God the matter were not then so much how you liv'd and spent your time But if ye call on the Father if you serve such a God who will reckon with every one of you and for every thing you have done you had need look better to it Pass the time the whole time of your Sojourning here in Fear Beloved if your own Souls were not so highly concern'd yet this Consideration That the Work of your Lives is to serve the Lord would work you to Fear If you were upon some Service for a Prince or a great Man of the Earth suppose it were but to make him a Garment would you not fear how you sullied it or bungled upon it Or if it were but to keep his Garden would you not fear how you let it run to ruine What is this God whom you serve Is he not a great God the King of all the Earth Is he not an Holy God and a Jealous God that looks to be sanctified and to be the Fear and the Dread of all those that serve him Isa 8.23 The Service of God is often exprest in Scripture by fearing of God Cornelius Acts 10.2 was said to be a Man fearing God that is the same as a Man that served the Lord And the Apostle exhorts Heb. 12.28 That we have Grace in our Hearts whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly Fear Thou servest the Lord but wouldst thou that thy Service be accepted with God Then serve him with Fear Therefore to the end to hold this Fear upon you I shall add this Counsel Through your whole course and all the parts of it carry this express Notion upon your Hearts That you are serving the Lord in all that you do Do all you do as the Servants of the Lord and look on every Duty as the serving of him What the Apostle requires of the Servants of Men is the Duty of every one of the Servants of God Col. 3.23 24. What-ever you do do it heartily as unto the Lord for ye serve the Lord Christ When you go to pray think with your selves this is a Duty which I ow to God I am going into my Closet upon a Service I have to do for God there When you give an Alms or when you teach or instruct your Families think with your selves these are Services which I have to perform not only to my poor Brethren to my ignorant Family but I ow them to the Lord and to him I will perform them I have a Service to do for God amongst the Poor I have a Service to do for God in my Family God hath bid me Feed the one and Teach the other and to whomsoever I do it I 'le do it as unto the Lord. And in like manner in all the matters of your Life in the ordering of your whole Conversation let this be still in your Eye and upon your Heart God hath sent me forth as his Servant into the World I have no business here but for the most High I am born for him I am fed I am clothed I live for him all that ever I have are the Talents of my Lotd committed to me to use and improve for him I am Debtor to no other I am Servant to none else what-ever goes out any other way this is no less than unfaithfulness to him whose I am and now I go bound for him for his pleasure I was made and to him I am devoted this Life of mine and every day of it and every breath of it I consecrate to the Lord his Servant I am and 't is no Work for me that I cannot call serving the Lord. What would such a Sentiment upon the Heart bring forth What care yea what watchfulness yea what fear would it produce What shall I serve the Lord with that which cost me nothing Shall cheap-Service and easie-Service and lazy-Service and eye-Service be all that the Lord God shall have of me I dare not serve my Governour so and how will my God take it But what shall I divide my Service betwixt the Lord and any other Master shall my Flesh be serv'd shall my Pride be serv'd shall my Covetousness shall Men be serv'd shall this Heart or this Time or this Estate be divided betwixt the Lord and them How if the Lord find me in another Field in another House or upon other Work than whither he sent and appointed me How if he find any of his Talents wasted his Goods conveyed away to another Master how will he bear it Yea how shall I bear it Art thou not afraid O my Soul how this will be born and what a Reckoning thou mayest be brought to for it O let me fear to be such an evil Servant that I may not fear the evil Servant's doom let me continually fear every day that I may prevent the fear of the Reckoning-Day Such a standing Impression would this Notion of our being engaged in Service for God kept constantly upon the Heart produce This Notion mingled with all our Thoughts Duties and Wayes and the Holy Fear it will bring forth will not only hold us to constant Service but will put us upon the highest and best Service What is the Lord whom I serve Is he not one who looks for all I have and is he not worthy of all I have What an honour is it to be the Servant of God and what a terror to be none of that number He is the best Master he is worthy he is worthy of the very best I have Fear and be ashamed O my Soul to put him off with any thing that is not worthy of him What will an