much Work to be done in so little time No far be it from us to say thus Though our Work be great yet our Time is long enough to perform it in if it were well improved We do indeed consume away our precious Days and waste our Life and Light exhaust our Strength and lay out our Endeavours upon Vanities and Trifles on nothing but Emptiness and Folly And that Life which the Prophet tells us is but as a Tale truly we spend it as a Dream We sleep and drowse and suffer our precious Minutes to run and waste away doing nothing to any good purpose till the Night is shutting in till the Night of Darkness come upon us and then the greatness of our Work will confound us and cause Despair rather than excite Endeavours Have you never known any who at the close of their Lives having neglected their great Work have spent that little time that they had then left them in crying out for more time And thus it may be with you also if your Consciences be not awakned sooner than by the Pains and Disquiets of a sick Bed then with Horror you may cry out More Time Lord more Time But it will not then be granted the Term is fixed the last Hour is struck the last Sand is run and as you and your Work shall then be found so you must go together into Eternity This is such a Consideration as must needs prevail with all Men if they would but lay it to Heart My Time is but short and momentany I am but of Yesterday and possibly I may not be to Morrow and God hath suspended Eternity upon the Improvement of this moment a few Hours will determine my everlasting State and Condition according as these few are spent so will my Doom be either for Eternal Happiness or for Eternal Misery And why should my precious Soul be so vile in my own Eyes as to lose it for ever through Sloth and Negligence Why should I hearken to the Allurements of my own Corruptions or to the Enticements and Persuasions of Satans Temptations No stand off for I am working for Eternity an Eternity that is but a few Days hence a boundless a bottomless an endless Eternity into which I know not how soon I may enter and Woe to me yea a thousand Woes to me that ever I was born if my great Work be not done before the Days of Eternity come upon me This is such a Motive as methinks should make every Man that hears it and hath but a sense what Eternity is presently to bestir and rouse up himself and give God and his Soul no rest till his Immortal Soul be secured and well provided for for Eternity To me there is no greater Argument of the Witchcraft and Sorcery that Sin and Satan useth to besot the Reason and Judgment of rational Creatures than to hear of such Truths Truths that are not to be denied or doubted of and yet Men to live at such a rate as they do so vainly so fruitlessly so lazily so securely and presumptuously as if their Eternity were to be expected and enjoyed here or that there was none to come hereafter Secondly The consideration of the shortness of our Life may serve as a great Incouragement to work The consideration of the burthensomness and trouble of working for Salvation may doubtless fright many from engaging therein Oh! it is a Work very painful and laborious and this discourageth them But know O Sinner though it be grievous yet it is but short Work it is to last no longer than our frail short Life doth last And O! how unreasonable is it to complain as most do of our Work being too long and too tedious and of our Lives as being too short and brittle for our Work is to be no longer than our Lives A Child of God doth not at least he should not desire to live longer than his great Work is done And truly when it is finished it is a great piece of Self-denial in him to be content to abide here in this World any longer And in the mean while this may support him that it shall not be long that he shall thus wrestle with Temptations and thus struggle with Corruptions Death will come in to his Help and put an end to his Toil and Labour and though he brings a Dart in one Hand yet he brings a Reward and Wages in the other Hand and this may be his great Encouragement Fourthly My next Argument to press this Duty of working out of our own Salvation shall consist of three or four Gradations And First Consider we are all of us very busy active Creatures 1. We are all busy active Creatures the frame and constitution of our Natures is such as we must be working some Work or other And therefore since we must be working why should we not work the Works of God We do not simply exhort Sinners to work neither indeed need we You have active Faculties and stirring Principles within you that must and will be still in Imployment and when your Hands cease yet then your Hearts and Thoughts are at work Your whole Lives are nothing but Actions yea when your Thoughts themselves are most unbent and most remiss when they are most vanishing and glimmering so that your selves scarce know what they are yet then are they visibly working though you perceive it not Now what is it that God requires of you It is not that you should be more imployed than you are that you should do more than you do for that is impossible because you never are idle doing nothing but it is that what you do should be done in order unto Heaven and Salvation and how reasonable is such a Command as this It is not more Work that God expects from you only other Work your Thoughts need not be more than they are but they must be more Spiritual than they are your Desires no more but only more Gracious your Actions no more but only they must be more Holy than now they are Let but Grace regulate what Nature doth and the Art of working out of your Salvation is attained The Wheels of a Watch move as fast and as quick when it goes false as when it goes true and if the Watch be but at first set right and true the same activity that makes it go false will make the Motions go right and orderly Truly you your selves are like your Watches your Faculties are the Wheels of your Souls and they move and click as fast when they go false as when they go right and if Grace doth but once set them right the same activity of Nature that makes them work falsly and go amiss will also continue their Motion orderly and regular when once they are set right Well then whatever your Trade be whether it be a Trade of Sin or whether it be a Trade of Holiness you must be working at it And let me tell you Religion and Holiness
Slave to be a Slave unto the Devil whom the People of God have in part subdued and overcome and over whom they shall shortly at once perfectly triumph And now having thus by several Arguments prest this great Duty of working out of our own Salvation I should now proceed to some other Things that are necessary to be spoken unto from this Doctrin But because this is a Duty of so vast Importance and of so universal Concernment unto all and the Slothfulness and Backwardness of many so great and if persisted in will be so ruinous and destructive I shall further urge the practice of this Duty upon the Consciences of Sinners by these following Considerations 1. Working for Salvation is delightful Work First This working for Salvation is the most delightful Work and Imployment that a Christian can be engaged in What is it that makes the whole World so busy in the Service of Sin and Satan but only Pleasure which they either find or imagine The Devil baits all his Temptations with this enticing Witchcraft which the World calls Pleasure and this is that makes them so successful But hath the Devil ingrossed all Pleasure unto his Service Can the Ways of God promise no Delight Are they only ruff and rugged Ways David certainly thought otherwise when speaking of the Commandments of God Psalm 19.10 he tell us They were sweeter than the Hony and the Hony-comb He could squeeze Hony out of them it is an Expression that sets forth the exceeding Pleasantness and Delight that is to be found in the ways of Obedience And truly the whole Book of Psalms is abundantly copious in setting forth that Delight that is to be found in the ways of God Ask therefore the Children of God who are the only sufficient Judges in this Matter and they will tell you with one Consent that they know no Delight on Earth comparable to that Delight that is to be found in Obedience Indeed if you are only taken with a soft luxurious washy Pleasure this is not to be found in the ways of Holiness but if a severe Delight can affect you a Delight that shall not effeminate but innoble you if you desire a masculine rational vigorous Pleasure and Delight you need not seek any further for it than in the ways of Obedience Now there are two Things that make this working for Salvation to be so pleasant Two Things make working for Salvation pleasant the suitableness of this Work to the Agent or Worker and the visible Success and Progress of the Work it self And both these make the working out of Salvation exceeding pleasant and delightful to the People of God First 1. Suitableness of the Work to the Agent It is a Work suited to their Natures and that makes it pleasant As Jesus Christ had in a phisical Sense so every true Christian hath in a moral Sense two Natures in one Person There is the divine Nature or the Nature of God and there is the humane corrupt Nature the Nature of sinful Man and each of these have Inclinations suited unto them there is the carnal part and that is too apt to be seduced and drawn away with the Pleasures of Sin that are Objects proportioned to the carnal part But then there is also a divine and if I may so call it a supernatural Nature imprinted by Regeneration that only doth relish heavenly and spiritual Things So that it is not more natural to a godly Man by reason of the Propensions of the old Nature to sin against God than it is natural to him by reason of the Propensions of the new Nature to obey and serve God Now when Nature acts suitably to its own sway and pondus this must needs cause two Things First Facility and Easiness Secondly Delight and Complacency Streams flow from the Fountain with ease because they take but their natural Course So the Works of Obedience flow easily from that Fountain Principle of Grace that is broken up in the Hearts of the Children of God because they flow naturally from them and therefore because Nature makes things easie that easiness will make them pleasant and delightful It is true indeed when they work there is an opposition and reluctancy from their other contrary Nature for as they act suitably to the one so they act quite contrary to the other Nature But doth not the gracious and new Nature as strongly wrestle against and oppose the Workings and Eruptions of the old Nature as the old doth the Workings of the new Yes it doth and therefore you that are truly Regenerate never sin because of the easiness of it because of its suitableness because else you must offer violence to your Nature if you resist a Temptation Do you not offer violence to your Nature if you close with that Temptation You are not all of one piece if I may so speak if you are Regenerate And what must the corrupt part only be indulged and gratified and must the renewed part be always opposed Why should not Grace since it is as much nay more your self than Sin is why should not that have the same scope and liberty to act freely as Sin doth Truly these Things are Riddles to wicked Men and they are unfit Judges in this Case they wonder what we mean when we speak of Easiness and Delight in ways of Obedience which they never found to be otherwise than the most burthensome Thing in the World And truly it is no wonder for they have no Principle suited to these Things they are made up only of the old Nature that is as contrary and repugnant to them as Darkness is to Light But if once God renew and sanctifie them then they will confess as we do that the Works of God have more easiness in them than the generality of the World do imagine and therefore St. Paul tells That he delighted in the Law of God after the inward Man Rom. 7.22 But why after the inward Man But because though his corrupt part was contrary thereunto yet his renewed part which he calls his inward Man was suited to the Duties of the Law of God and carried him out as naturally to Obedience as the Spark flies upward And hence it is that the Children of God delight in the ways of Obedience because they suit with their new Nature that is implanted in them Secondly 2. Progress in working for Salvation makes it pleasant Another Thing that makes working for Salvation so delightful is That visible Success that the Children of God gain and that visible progress that they make in this Work Nothing doth usually cause greater Delight in Work than to see some riddance in it and that we are like at length to bring it to some issue So truly this is that which mightily delights the Children of God to see that their Work goes forward that their Graces thrive that their Corruptions pine and consume away that they are much nearer Salvation
follow them They rest from their Labours First They rest from their Labour in working under Affliction 1. No Affliction in Heaven Sometimes Afflictions are Spurs and Incentives and sometimes they are Burthens and Discouragements to Obedience But when we arrive at Heaven we shall no longer need the Spur to quicken us nor shall we any longer bare that Burthen to oppress us but cast it down at Heavens Gate where never Sorrow nor Suffering durst yet appear And 2. No Desertion in Heaven Secondly In Heaven you shall rest from your Labour in working under Desertion Now though you do work yet it may be you apprehend God frowning upon you and finding fault with all that you do Now it may be though God doth cause the clear Light of his Precepts and Spirit to shine before you to direct you what your Work is that you should do yet he makes it dismal Darkness behind you and shuts up the Light of his Comfort that you cannot see what Work you have done and this is your great Trouble you work and labour and yet you know not whether you shall be accepted Obedience were easy and pleasant Work says the Soul if I knew that God did regard me but alas I pray and he shuts out my Prayer from him I lay hold upon him but he shakes me off in displeasure I obey but he rejects all my Services and this is the Anguish and Torture of my Life This indeed is Matter of great Grief and Trouble But know Oh Soul thou shalt not long work thus in the dark shortly thou shalt be above these Clouds and then thou shalt see that those Prayers that thou thought'st were vainly scatter'd and lost in the Air are become a Cloud of sweet Incense hovering before the Throne of God And those Tears that thou thought'st were dropt in vain upon the Earth are all gathered up and preserved in God's Bottle And those poor Duties of thine that for their own meanness and vileness thou thought'st God would scorn yet thro' that worth that is put upon them by the Intercession of Christ are ranked in the same degree of Acceptation as the most perfect Services of the Angels themselves are Have but patience a while and continue working and thou shalt see a happy Issue when the Clouds of Darkness and Desertion that now lie upon thy Spirit shall be all scattered and blown away 3. In Heaven there is Rest from Sin Thirdly You shall also rest from your Labour in working against the continual Workings of your own Corruptions which shall then at once both cease to act and cease to be And this indeed is the great Thing that makes it such a blessed Rest to the People of God Indeed God cuts you out your Work in his Commands but it is the old Man within you that makes it to be tedious irksome and difficult unto you God makes it not so but your Corruption makes it so and this it doth two ways First By deadning your Heart to it And Secondly By turning your Heart against it Deadness and dulness to and averseness from the ways of holy Obedience are the greatest cause of all that Toil and Pains that most take in the Work and Service of God if ever they will bring it to a good issue Now both these shall shortly cease and be removed if you but wait and continue striving against them 1. In Heaven there is Rest from labouring with a dead heart in the ways of God First You shall rest from all that Labour that you take with a dead and heavy Heart in the ways of God Now you are continually calling upon it Awake awake my Glory now you are continually tugging of it to get it a little more forward lifting of it up to get it a little higher towards God and Heaven Now you stand in need of continual quickning Grace to actuate and excite those Lumps of Lead that lie heavy within your Breasts and it is the greatest disquietment of your Lives that you find your Hearts so heartless and listless to what is holy and spiritual It is with them as with some great Bells that you must pull long at the Rope before you can make them sound Is not this the daily Complaint of God's Children that their Hearts are dull and heavy and they cannot raise them and this makes the ways of Obedience yea this makes their very Lives become burthensome Well have but patience for a while and continue still to struggle against this sad Indisposition and it will not be long before you shall rest from this Labour also Though now you are as Birds whose Bodies are too heavy for their Wings when you stretch them forth and would fain be soaring up to Heaven you can only run up and down and flutter upon the Earth yet shortly these heavy and cloggy Bodies shall fall off and you shall be all Wing free from all Deadness and Straitness Distraction and Weariness in the Ways of God that now afflict you Then shall your Affections be always intent and not languish always burning and yet never waste nor consume every Motion of your Soul shall then shoot themselves to God as quick as the Lightning and yet constant as the Sun-beams And those who are now out-stript by weak and underling Christians shall then be able to keep pace in their Obedience even with the Holy Angels themselves 2. In Heaven there shall be a resting from the opposition of our Heart against Duty And then Secondly In Heaven there shall be a resting from all that Labour that the People of God now take in the ways of holy Obedience through the averseness of their Hearts from them and the opposition of their Hearts against them There is that contradiction in the carnal part against what is holy and spiritual that the Godly cannot bring themselves to the performance of it without much Strife and Contention the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and when the spiritual part calleth for holy Thoughts and heavenly Affections the corrupt and fleshy part sends forth noisome and stinking Vapours obstructing the Good that we would do and infecting that little Good that we do perform So that as if working were not a sufficient Imployment a Christian must Fight that he may Work and this is it that makes working for Salvation so laborious because we must Fight and Work at once But it shall not be long before that which hinders shall be removed and then as you are not under a sad necessity of offending God so also you shall be under a most blessed necessity of serving God and shall find no more trouble in that Service than in those Actions which you now cannot but do And thus shall you have a happy Rest from all that Labour and Pains that your Corruptions here made you take And therefore be incouraged to persevere in well-doing perfect the Work you have undertaken in spight of all opposition from your own corrupt Hearts
it are direct and certain and because if you once begin to work you shall most assuredly persevere till you have attained that End even the Salvation of your own Souls And this is one Reason why your Labour shall not be in vain Secondly Your Labour shall not be in vain because this End shall fully answer yea infinitely exceed all that Cost and Pains you are at in procuring it It is not so in the Things of this World As to this that of the Psalmist holds true Psal 39.6 Surely every Man walketh in a vain Shew surely they are disquieted in vain Though they do attain their End and that because that very End that they grasp is it self but Vanity But can any Man account Heaven and Happiness a vain Thing Is it not infinitely worth all yea more than all that thou canst do or suffer for it Certainly when you come to enjoy it you will not think it a hard Bargain that it stood you in so many Duties and Difficulties before you came to the possession of it No if there could be any Sorrow in that state of perfect Joy it would be not that we have done so much but that we have done no more not that we have gone through so much Anguish in Repentance or that we have sustained such great Conflicts in Self-denial and Mortification but that we waded no deeper in our own Tears and deeper in the Blood of our own Lusts that we have not more vexed and crossed our carnal self and taken more Pains in the ways of God could there be any Sorrow in Heaven this would be the cause of it But certainly a great part of our Joy there will be to reflect back upon those Duties and Works of Obedience through which though with much strugling and striving we have attained unto that most blessed State And this is the last Argument or Motive that I shall insist upon Work for your Labour shall not be in vain you shall certainly accomplish your End and this End shall abundantly recompence you for all your Labour and Pains Well then to conclude this Head you have at large seen what can be pleaded on the behalf of Obedience What is it now that you can Object against these Things Are they not true Are they not cogent Your Consciences I know tell you that they are so why then do they not prevail with you Why sit you still holding your Arms in your Bosoms Sirs I have not spoken to you Fables or Mysteries that cannot be understood but the Truth in all plainess and if you will not lay it to Heart believe it there is a Day a coming when you shall too late know that once you had a proffer of Salvation and you might have been happy for working for it But alas this is the desperate Folly of Men they do not prize Salvation while it is attainable they never account their Souls precious till they are lost yea and lost beyond all hope of recovery I cannot tell how these many and weighty Arguments that have been propounded may work with you God and your own Consciences know but this I can tell the Devil can never bring such strong Reasons why you should destroy and damn your selves as have now been laid before you why you should work out your own Salvation And if they do not prevail with you truly there is nothing that you can plead for your selves You cannot plead that you could not do these Things that Objection hath been answered you cannot plead that there would no Profit arise to you if you did them for the Reward hath been abundantly discovered to you if you plead any thing it must be because you will not do them and that is the thing that will condemn you Therefore if these Things do not prevail with you if you still continue obstinate and instead of working the Works of God you work the Works of your Father the Devil God acquits himself your Blood lies not upon him you have been fairly warned and told of it but your own Destruction shall justly lie upon your own Heads And thus having done with the Arguments to press you to this Duty of working out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling I come now to Answer some Objections And Object 1 First It may possibly enter into the Heart of some desperate Sinner or other to say These indeed are strong Arguments that have been propounded for the inforceing this Duty of working out our Salvation upon those that expect Salvation but for my part I pretend not so high let me but now enjoy the Sins that I serve and the Pleasures that I pursue and for the state of my Soul hereafter I shall commend it to the Mercy of God had I true Grace I might be persuaded to attempt this hard Work with hopes of some good success but I own my self to be a Sinner and you tell me I cannot change my own Heart and without this change no Salvation can be expected why then should I disquiet my self in vain by labouring for that which I cannot accomplish If I must perish I will perish with as much Ease and Pleasure as I may if I must go to Hell I may be as soon carried down thither in a Flood of Tears as with a Flood of Sins if God hath sentenced me to Hell hereafter why should I sentence my self to a Hell here And therefore if Salvation and Happiness be such Points I will give them over and embrace more easie and obvious Pleasures I know there is no pious Heart but shivereth with Horror at such Language as this is though it be but presented to them and may and do think it rather the Speech of Devils than Men that are in a way of Salvation It is true it is the Speech of Devils but it is the Speech of Devils in Mens Hearts But what now Shall we leave these Men to such desperate Resolutions as these are Shall we suffer them thus to go down flaming to Hell Certainly Religion hath reason enough in it to convince such as these if they will but shew themselves to be rational Men. For Answ Consider thou who hadst rather perish than make thy Life a Trouble to thee by Obedience God under thy Disobedience may make thy Life a Trouble yea a Hell to thee by his Terrors Thou thinkest the filthy Garments of thy Sin and Pollution sit more easie and loose about thee than the close Garments of Holiness and Obedience will do nay but God can wrap and roll these filthy Garments of thine in Brimstone and set them on Fire about thine Ears Many Mens Consciences indeed are like Iron that hath lain for some time out of the Fire that you would not suspect to be hot till you let some Water fall upon it and then it appears to be so by its noise and hissing So truly their Consciences seem cold and dead and such as you might handle at your pleasure but when