the merciful Dispensations of God to them 1 Sam. 15.17 18 19. And Samuel said When thou wast little in thine own sight wast not thou made the Head of the Tribes of Israel and the Lord annointed thee King over Israel and the Lord seat thee on a journey and said Goe and utterly destroy the Sinners c. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord And Nathan said to David c. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. I annointed thee King over Israel and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul And I gave thee thy Masters House and thy Masters Wives into thy bosome and gave thee the House of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would morcover have given unto thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord to do evil in his sight And hath there not been as much disingenuity and unkindness in our Sins The Lord hath given his Statutes to us and his Laws He hath not so dealt with all the Nations under Heaven He hath nourished and brought us up as Children Isa 1.2 3 4. but we have rebelled against him The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People my People doth not cousider Ah sinful Nation a People laden with iniquity c. God fetcheth a deep sigh Ah! under the burden of this Ingratitude His Spirit is laden and troubled with it They have provoked the Holy One of Israel Mis-improvements of Mercies are very provoking When God comes for Bread to be sent away with Stones must need vex the good Spirit of the Lord. Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken it Oh for Professours to be worse than Publicans for they will be kind to such as are kind to them Have not we sinn'd against God even with his favours and requited him evil for good May not the Lord say unto us Deut. 32.6 Do ye thus require the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee All the mercies we have received greaten our sins The more richly that God hath heaped his Blessngs upon us the more wantonly we have followed the swinge of our own Lusts and the more contemptuously spurned at his holy Commandements We have great cause to be ashamed for that all our sins have been 〈◊〉 gainst mercy and therefore against the Principle and Law of Nature It is a perpetual Spot not to be worn out by time that of King Jeash that he slew Zechariah the Son of Jehojada the High Priest who had been loyal unto him in the getting of the Kingdom and faithful in the administration of it ◠Chron. 24.22 23. Thus Joash the King remembred not the kindness which Jehojada his Father had done to him but slew his Son and when he dyed he said the Lord look upon it and requite it And it came to pass at the end of the year that the Host of Syria came up against him and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the Princes of the people from among the people But alas What Engagements could Zechariah possibly lay on Joash that may weigh with the Mercies of our God to us And yet how have we made his choicest Favours as Arrows to shoot at the God that sent them What wretched Prodigals have we been to wast all in the service of Hell which were conferr'd with so open an hand to draw forth our time strength and spirits in the praises and services of God For this our Ingratitude Ezra 9.13 14. the Lord may justly be angry with us till he hath consumed us so that there shall be no remnant nor escaping O that you would remember the Lord from Shittim to Gilgal Mica 6.5 i. e. from the beginning of Mercy to the end of it And you will hardly find that you any of you have been the better for it but many Jeshurun-like have waxed fat and kicked God is this day calling out of Heaven to England and to each particular person in it Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise I could even wish for the thousands of our Israel that they had received fewer Privileges or had had the grace to serve the Lord in the abundance of all things better than they have to this very day If ever you purpose sound Repentance then take a view of all the Mercies of God towards you Goe back to the time when the first stone was laid yea goe back to the eternal projects of God to make thee out of nothing and to redeem thee when worse than nothing Review the upper and lower Springs with which Soul and Body have been refreshed Remember how many eminent Deliverances and Salvations God hath wrought for thee And if at any time thou hast been straitned in outward comforts yet remember how thou hast been enlarged with spiritual graces if God hath denyed thee in one kind of mercy he hath supplyed it by a gracious wonderfull commutation in another in a better if thou hast been denyed the fleshpots of Egypt and the land flowing with honey yet it hath been all made up in the bread the Mannah that fell from Heaven if thou hast had sometimes bodily infirmities yet thou hast been strengthned with all might in the inward man if thou hast been denyed thee the gold of the earth yet God hath supplyed thee in making thee rich in faith If sometimes Friends have been unfriendly inconstant or treacherous yet God hath stood by thee when all left thee God hath dealt with you as with Sons your gleanings are better than the Vintage of the world Having laid these and innumerable such mercies in one Scale now lay in the other Scale thy soul ingratitude not only that particular sin of unthankfulness that thou hast been guilty of of which before but the ingratitude that hath been in all thy sins in thy pride hypocrisie formality self-love self-seeking impatience neglect of duty to Superiours Equals and Inferiours profaneness intemperance unrighteousness c. that Remembring the Lord and his goodness towards thee together with thy cursed returns thou may'st yet abhor thy self in dust and ashes Take words and say My Salvations are more than I can number Blessed be God the Father of all mercy But my sins also are innumerable I cannot recount them shame upon me O! how vile have I made my self whilst by abuse of rich mercy Mat. 5.47 Isa 1.3 I have lived below the ingenuity that is found in Publicans and Beasts O that God would give me the success that the Angel had on such a sinfull people as you are Judg. 2.1 2 3 4. And the Angel of the Lord come up from Gilgal to Bochim and said I made you to go up out of Egypt and have brought you into the land which I swear unto your
in this Divine Garden but it is the Meditater the Christian-Bee that gathers the honey out of them though it be the duty by which the Soul digesteth truths and draweth forth their strength for its nourishment and refreshment yea the duty by which all other duties are improved yet how much is this duty neglected by all sorts of Professours because though it be the delightfullest task to the Spirit yet it is the most tedious to the Flesh that ever men on earth were imployed in Have not many been long Professours At all and yet if they would tell all the truth they will confess they never spent one hour together in mediating on the most weighty Scripture-truths on God on Mans Estate by Creation Degeneration Regeneration Glorification on Christ on the Vanity of the Creature on the Beauty of Holiness on Death on Judgement on Heaven and Hell Meditation saith Mr. Baxter in his Saints rest is confest to be a duty by all but by constant neglect denyed by most and I know not by what fatal customary security it comes to pass that men that are very tender Conscienced toward most other duties yet do as easily overslip this as if they knew it not to be a duty at all they that are presently troubled in mind if they omit a Sermon a Fast a Prayer in publick or private yet were never troubled that they have omitted Meditation perhaps all their life time unto this very day How few have mannaged this duty aright Aright Hath not that which we call Meditation been Study only Hath not some controversial point or some nice speculation been the matter of our Meditation Hereby we evidence that we have not so great spiritual hunger after Righteousness as we should Hungry men saith one do not use to stand and pick bones when they have meat enough to eat Hath not our end in meditating been only the increasing of our knowledge and not the improving of our knowledge Have not we begun this work without God When we were going about to Meditate have not we neglected Prayer for help from Heaven to go through with the work though without God we can neither know resolve upon nor perform what is good for from him yea from his own good pleasure comes both the will and the deed Have not we idled away our meditating seasons If we have sequestred our selves from worldly businesses and company for meditation at any time have not we idled away that time by suffering our thoughts to gad and wander up and down to no purpose to be sure not to fetch in considerations for the stamping holy impressions upon our hearts and lives Have not we in meditating been without a due sense of Gods presence May not we cry out Gen. 28.16 surely the Lord was in such and such a place where I have been meditating and I knew it not i. e. I considered it not Hath not the work of our understandings in this business been to retain and not to convey truth into the heart Have our understandings represented what should work holy affections and resolutions aright Have they presented things good of a Divine and Heavenly nature as God Christ Heaven c. in their prime and beauty Have they presented things in their nature simply evil as Sin Gods wrath Hell at their worst Have not we left off meditating before we attained the end of Meditation before holy affections and resolutions are wrought Have not we rush'd out of this duty as well as rush'd into it Have not we gone from this work as a bird out of the snare with joy and speed Have not we ended as well as begun this work without God not praying to God for strength to perform what we have been inabled by grace to resolve upon for God and for pardon of what hath been amiss in the duty O! when will English Professours be prevailed with to make conscience of this duty of duties I once more intreat thee to use Mr. Baxters words as thou art a man that maketh conscience of a revealed duty and that darest not wilfully resist the Spirit as thou valuest the high delights of a Saint and the Soul-ravishing exercise of Heavenly Contemplation and as thou art faithfull to the peace and prosperity of thine own Soul that thou speedily and diligently set upon this great duty O! Considerations against flighting Gods written Word what a mighty blessing is it to have such a book wherein are written by God himself the great counsels of his will concerning mans Eternal Salvation What a sin is it then to have low mean yea vile and base thoughts of it Is not our slighting of the Word of the Lord the cause of all the wickedness in our hearts and lives Whence are all our omissions and commissions but because we make a light matter of sinning against the Scriptures Certainly this great provocation hath a great hand in our miseries and threatneth utter ruine to us Prov. 13.13 Isa 5.24 Who so despiseth the Word shall be destroyed Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth the chaff so their root shall be rottenness and their blosome shall go up as dust because they have cast away the Law of the Lord of Hosts and despised the Word of the Holy one of Israel CHAP. XVI Their miscarriages about the Promises 9ly Professors miscarriages about the Promises MUch Ungodliness is also evidenced in Professors miscarriages about the Promises of the Ward the promises being the great promoters of godliness in the world not only as arguments to induce it by shewing how God will reward it but likewise as principles of godliness or the chief instrument whereby God makes Souls partakers of the Divine nature 1. Not believing their truth How little do we believe the truth of the Promises How little do we believe that the Spirit of God and glory rests on them that suffer for Christ and his Gospel and that as tribulations do abound for Christ so shall consolations by him or that we shall have an hundred fold advantage by any loss we sustain for Christ and his concernments All that fear of man all that cowardise all those tremblings of heart that are upon Professors this day all that enmity against the Cross of Christ which appears on the faces and hearts of men are clear demonstrations how little the promises for the bearing up under suffering for the deliverance out of suffering or rewarding of suffering for Christ are believed We cannot set the Promises against all Crosses 2. Not prizing them enough How low are our esteems of the Promises of God of the great and faithful God in comparison of what they are concerning the Promises of honest and sufficient men I appeal to thee if a King should promise thee a thousand pound per annum whether it would not more rejoyce thine heart than the Promises of eternal Life which God hath made unto thee do With how
low-spirited and selfish we are Are not we exceedingly pleased at the flowers that are spread upon our dead Corps Though the praises be not due to us yet how do we drink them in as the Hart doth water 19. How Magisterial have we been Being Dictatours to others What great Dictatours to others as if all were bound to dance after us We will not abate at all but every poor Mordecai must do obeysance to our opinion 20. How are we guilty of despising Despising others yea scorning those that are as we think below us in Birth in Estate in Power in Parts and Gifts yea in graces Isa 58.9 How do we evidence our slighting of them in our looks in our words in our gestures and behaviours Pride saith one is a bad Mother of many bad Children these three especially boasting of our selves contending with and despising of others Job 35.6 How unlike are we herein unto God Behold God is mighty i. e. most mighty most great the positive is put for the superlative degree and yet he despiseth not any i. e. any of those who have no might no greatness yea how do we herein reproach our Maker God saith one made every man an object of respect or pity 't is Pride that makes any the objects of contempt Prov. 17.5 and in them their Maker Who so mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker 21. unwilling to confess their faults unto others How few will confess their faults unto others Perhaps they will reform but hate it to the death to go and acknowledge their trespasses to others whom 't is clear and proved they have trespassed against How many have you injured by tale-bearing backbiting c. Must not God work a miracle to perswade us to make reistitution to go to the parties wronged and confess the wrong there and then to go from house to house to vindicate and clear the party there where before we had wickedly stained and aspersed him This makes me cry out Lord who shall be saved Lord many are called but few are chosen 22. Reproving haughtily Isa 3.5 When we go about that too too much neglected duty of fraternal correption how loftily do we manage it How do our words yea looks and gestures evidence our haughtiness The Child behaveth himself proudly against the Ancient Vindicating themselvs maliciously 23. What a stirr what a noise do we make to vindicate our selves when aspersed and calumniated Whereas the humble Soul would never stirr to clear himself as knowing how much guilt and sin there is within were it not for the honour of God and the edification of the Lords people which may be hindred if prejudices and unjust reproaches be not removed Alas most men study revenges and like the Grave are unsatiable in their malicious vindications 24. Being bloudily minded toward their dissenting Brethren How bitter have we been against dissenting Brethren Would we not have cast them out of the Land if we might have had our wills Did not we talk of shipping away all that would not submit to our way of worship Did not we count them who were divided in circumstances and ceremonies from us like Dogs and Pagans unfit to subsist among us No wonder if for these things God make us a shame and a derision a Proverb and a by-word to all the Nations round about us O! our Pride testifies to our faces we are guilty of what brought down fire on Sodom This is the sin that God setteth himself in battel-array against Jam. 4.6 so the word for resisting in that Scripture God resisteth the proud signifieth 'T is that which makes God abhor us and our offerings Prov. 16.5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Believe it Gods eyes are upon the haughty that he may bring them down and he watcheth his opportunity to do it Psa 38.6 The Lord knoweth the proud afar off When God meets with a spectacle that he cannot endure to look upon he turns from it whilst it is afarr off What shall I say Pride is the first of those seven things Prov. 6.17 which are an abomination to the Lord. And no wonder that God so loatheth it whilst it crosseth the great design of God in the Gospel which is to humble the mountains 1 Cor. 1.29 31. that no flesh should glory in his presence but that he that glorieth should glory only in the Lord. CHAP. XXII Their Intemperance in Eating THough Pride was the first spark that blow'd up the glory of Sodom Professors Fulness of Bread yet there was also Fulness of Bread that made the flame the greater Behold This was the iniquity of thy Sister Sodom Ezek. 16.49 Pride Fulness of Bread c. Their Pride was evidenced in their Fulness of Bread as the Cause in its Effect The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to be temperate is as one well observes applyed frequently to the Mind in opposition to Pride because Sobriety proceeds from an humble sense that nothing is ours but all that we have is Gods and all Intemperance is commonly the issue of a proud Spirit which makes men look on themselves as Owners and all Creatures as their proper Goods which are perfectly at their disposal Hence the Crown of Pride Isa 28.1 3. and the Drunkards of Ephraim are both names for the same persons And is not our Pride evidenced in our Fulness of Bread Sodoms intemperance in eating not to insist on intemperance in drinking was very great but I fear Englands hath exceeded Sodoms I will not say all your labour is for the mouth Eccles 6.7 as Solomon complains and yet the appetite is not filled but this I say that some live to eat some sacrifice all to the belly to some the belly is a God Few can displease their appetite like prophane Esau they part from their heritage from the blessing of the first-born for a mess of pottage for a little pleasure to the taste How will we deny our selves in respect of Life when we cannot deny our selves in respect of a little Meat As Heaven and God are low very low with them that cannot deny themselves in a little Iudian-Smoke in a Pipe in a cup of Liquor but will be immoderate in these though thereby they hazard the displeasure of God So are they very low with us if we cannot deny our selves in our Morsels All our ruine came in at this door that Adam ventured the displeasure of God to eat a little pleasant Fruit. A man would think Evidenced in their much eating that the wounds we received by the mouth should make us check our appetite all our dayes 1. How have we been guilty of eating too much A little would content Nature which hath therefore given us a little Mouth and Stomach to teach us saith an Ancient Moderation How have our hearts been overcharged with surfetting whilst wicked men with
been upon the faithfull of the Land that they might dwell with you How curious should you have been in this particular But alas ye would not buy an horse an house a Field but ye would try them but how careless have ye been whether your Servants were godly yea or no If they were strong to labour was not that all ye look'd after you look'd that they should be diligent in your work your interest made you look to that but have you look'd for such as walked in a persect way to serve you Hence many have been taken into Professours families who were found wanton and unclean and thereby Religion hath suffered exceedingly and others sweet tongued gossiping gluttonous drunken Servants and so Acteon was devoured by his Dogs All the Masters geâ—â—ngâ—â—â—vâ— been put into a bag with holes a just anâ—â—â—ghteous jâ—dgement upon the Master for â—is preferring self before Religion yea which is a sâ—dder consequent heâ—ce the Children are cerrupted by evil examâ—◠〈…〉 â—â—ey being more apt to smitate the 〈…〉 than the Parent in 〈…〉 you had been curious in 〈…〉 you procured holy servaâ—◠〈…〉 zeal forwardness and care of 〈◊〉 Children what families might you have 〈…〉 would have been pliable to your holy counsels Should you not have removed wicked Servants as soon as all your counsels would not take effect on them David did so Not removing wicked ones Psa 101.7 He that workâ—â—h deceit and telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight You on the contrary keep them as you do horses if good for labour It will never be said to your glory the Church in your house but may it not be said there is a nest of Snakes a cage of Devills in your house Being over-rigorous Gen. 31.2 5. Mat. 5.22 2. Are not you too rigorous towards your Servants Do not you too much frown upon them as Laban on Jacob Do not you use words of reproach in your speaking to them Whosoever shall say thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell sire Do not you strike them unnecessarily or immoderately Have you forgotten the commands from Heaven Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour Levit. 25.43 Col. 4.1 but shalt fear thy God Masters give unto your Servants that which is just and equal knowing that ye also have a Master in Heaven And ye Masters Eph. 6.9 forbear threatning knowing that your Master also is in Heaven neither is there respect of persons with him Do you herein as you would be dealt with Would you have God to deal with you as you deal with your Servants Remember you and your Servants have one and the same Master to whom you are both accountable you for your rule and they for their subjection 3. Nor directing them distinctly Have not you neglected to give that direction to your several Servants as is proper for them so that they intrench upon each others work and the painful work lies neglected to your trouble and to the raising of strife and passion How few Mistresses yea or Masters are like Solomons vertuous Woman of whom it is said She looketh well to the wayes of her houshold Frov. 31.27 Every one should know his place and work in the Family that all things may be done decently and in order But in how few Families is it thus 4. Not being diligent themselves in their company Do you give your Servants examples of diligence So did that vertuous Mistress She riseth also whilst it is night c. She girdeth her loynes with strength and strengthneth her armes She layeth her hands to the Spindle and her hands hold the Distaffe She maketh her self coverings of Tapestry She maketh fine Linnen c. She eateth not the bread of idleness 5. Not shewing special respect to those that are godly Philem. 16. What love do ye show to your Servants that be godly Do you receive them as beloved Brethren As Paul would have Philemon receive his Servant after his Conversion Receive him not now as a Servant but above a Servant a Brother beloved A Christian Servant should be in the place of a beloved Brother and should be preferr'd before a lewd Son Prov. 17.2 A wise Servant shall have rule over a Son that causeth shame and shall have part of the inheritance among the Brethren How seldome do you show them good as well as receive good from them When they are sick how little attendance and necessaries have they as to diet fire and physick 1 Sam. 30.13 Are not too many like the Amalakite who left his man on the plain fields because he fell sick How are many poor Servants who contracted their diseases by the unmercifull commands of some Professours cast off by them when sick as unprofitable burthens 6. Do you pay your Servants their wages Not paying wages as they ought Do you not pay them dodgingly Hast thou not forgot that the Isralites were required when they set any servant free not to let him go away empty Deut. 15.12 13 14. but thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock and out of thy floore and out of thy wine-press of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him Hast not thou abated them of their dues for the time of their sickness or the time they have spent in the service of God 7. Not suffering them to speak Job 31.13 Doe not you deny liberty to your Servants to speak unto you Job would not slight his Servants cause God hath set Masters over Servants but he hath not given them liberty to trample them under their feet Servants are under their Masters power but not their lusts You shew your selves Nabals by this churlishness and austerity He is such a Son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him 8. Suffering tyranny among them As Servants Being apt to think that they must be subject to none but Christ Do not you suffer one Servant to tyrannize over another Secondly You Servants that Profess I have somewhat in charge against many of you 1. Your Pride sawciness familiarities with your Governours make me think you would easily swallow the errour of old that we are to be subject to none but Christ as if your freedome by Christ had exempted you from all civil subjection to men By your refusing the yoak of your Masters commands you reflect more upon your Master in the Heavens than upon your earthly Governour What saith the Apostle Let as many Servants as are under the yoke 1 Tim. 6.1 count their own Masters worthy of all honour that the name of God and his Doctrine be not blasphemed Servants Eph. 6.5 be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the foward But alas how sawcy are Servants
to each other Do not you suffer Sin to rest upon each other Are not you guilty of not easing and relieving them when they are overcharged with businesses Do not you carry your selves proudly and magisterially towards Apprentices Do not you joyn in a confederacy to tell tales against your Governours And do not you charge your fellow-Servants with secresy therein whereby the Name and Authority of the Master is lost and all hopes of edifying are taken away CHAP. XXXII Their miscarriages with reference to the Ministers of Christ whilst they were resident with them 1. Professors miscarriages towards Ministers before their removal Not esteeming but slighting them 1 Thes 5.13 HOW little have you esteemed them and how much have you slighted them Though they were the Embassadours of the Lord of Heaven and should have had respect according to the rank of their Master that sent them yet how little did you honour them in your hearts Did you know them and esteem them highly for their Works sake Have you not very much slighted both their Persons and Message How many have thought they knew as much as their Ministers and therefore under-valued them How many Ministers have been slighted for their mean Parts As if the efficacy of the Ordinance depended on the Rhetorick of the Preacher as if no dainties could be brought them in a homely dish no treasure in an earthen vessel as if God could not speak out of the mouths of Babes as if the using Jordan were too contemptible a means I have feared the unsoundness of many hearts from the itching of their ears Paul was careful to preach not with enticing words 1 Cor. 14.18 with the wisdom of words Though he could speak with tongues more than all yet he desired to speak rather to edification It is likely your Ministers could have been Seraphical and in the clouds but they stooped and descended to your capacities and denied themselves that they might gain you more desiring that you should be brought in love with the naked truth of the Gospel than with the dress it comes in But nothing hath pleased your squeamish stomachs but meat so sawced you have loved the meat for the sawce when there was no sawce you cared not for the Sermon and when the sawce was gone you were weary of the Sermon you would have no more of the meat A Sermon full of plain naked Scriptures would not down in our last times We were Christ-glutted Gospel-glutted It 's observed by an Historian that before the great Massacre in France the Protestants were for a luscious wanton kind of Preaching Truly saith one of our own about 18 years since We cannot absolutely determine what will become of us only we have cause to fear that consciencious Sermons as much despised as they are may be a commodity dear enough in England ere long 1 Sam. 3.4 and visions may be less open that they may be more precious How unworthily have the Ministers of Christ been slighted by even such Professors who a little before pretended at least to have had their life growth from them and that they were the Seats â—â—â—â—etr â—â—â—istry that they were begotten and bred up under their shadow and yet in process of time have had low mean base and unworthy thoughts of them debased them as brats of Antichrist as limbs of Babilon Have not many eminent Professors been ready to entertain reports against their Ministers and have they not lost their esteems of them for one real or supposed weakness of theirs though you have been under so many engagements to them for your spiritual life c. yet if you have seen a little failing or miscarriage in them have not you forgot all their worth and all their many years labours and cares for your eternal welfare Have not you been so far from esteeming the Messenger for the Message that you have slighted the Message for the Messenger Hath not this been the language of your hearts if not of your months What nothing but this preaching Have not those that at first admired afterwards made nothing of this Heavenly Manna because of the commonness thereof When pearls were common among the Romans they wore them upon their Shooes Uniones emergere e luto cupiunt Tert. Hath not even the pearl of the Gospel been trodden under foot by you Have not you considered only the matter and not the stamp of the Coin Have not your Ministers though they have not kicked the dust of their feet against you yet oft complained to God of the contempt you have put upon them and how much their Embassy hath been undervalued by you It may be you have thought it was no great matter to slight them and their counsels but know for your trembling and amazement of Spirit therein you have slighted Christ himself He that despiseth you despiseth me Luk. 10.16 Mat. 10.15 Prejudiced against them May you not fear it will be more tollerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement than for you 2. How full of undue prejudices have your hearts been against your Ministers and you have not had the honesty to examine the grounds When they have delivered truths of a sublimer Nature than ordinary or have delivered any thing more obscurely than at other times how rarely have you confer'd with them thereabout Have not you gone among your Companions and fill'd your own and their hearts with prejudices against them When they have insisted long upon one subject have not you been offended But when did you ever cry out of others for being too long telling Money to you for spending too many hours therein Hereby you have done the Devil as great a piece of service as any you could have done him in your life time Let me publish that to thine eye which was once whispered in the ear Take heed what thou dost this man is a Roman Should not you much more have taken heed of filling your own and others hearts with prejudice against your Ministers seeing they were the Prophets of the most high these men were men of God they were the special Ambassadours of Heaven I think he said well that Prejudice against the Preacher is the great prejudice to the hearers This Feaver of prejudice hath made many like the full stomach to loath the honey-comb Hath not God met with repulses whilst your Ministers have been entertained with prejudice So long as you have been prejudiced though you were convinced of many duties yet you have not been perswaded to obey the truth This hindred the Jewes from closing with Christ and made their house desolate over-turned their Temple so that a stone was not left joyned to a stone it brought a kind of Dooms-day on them 3. Not blessing God for them How little have you blessed God for the Gospel-Ministry which you have enjoyed and yet hath it not been the best under the Cope of Heaven This distinguishing Mercy did not
that thou art guilty of so much sin but it is no shame to acknowledge it Only in your Confessions take this advice Set your sins in order enumerate the several sins you have been guilty of and though every numerical thought and Act of sin is not possible to be cited yet give diligence to find out as many as thou canst and spread them before the Lord. Bring forth especially that sin or sins All your special sins which are thy special sins whereby thou hast most provoked God David gave a touch at his Sins in the beginning of his Penitential Psalm but his Adultery and Blood-guiltiness lay most upon him and he is never at ease till he hath vomited them up in confession Be sure then that Of all of them upon a review of this or any better Catalogue thou cry unto thy heart as Samuel to Jesse Are here all thy Children Are here all thy sins He that doth not confess a sin hath a mind to commit to that Sin again An hypocrite will confess some nay many sins but there is one sin he is loth to bring forth it is a Jacobs Benjamin Job 20 1â— they would keep it back one sweet bit is covered under the Tongue But certainly it is extreme folly to impose upon God for he knows every thought of thy heart yea he knows thy thoughts before thou know'st them he knew what thoughts Israel would have in the Wilderness David lay somewhile under this piece of Hypocrisie he kept silence a long time which made his bones wax old his moysture was turned into the drought of Summer Psal 32.3 4 5. But at length though it was long first his sin came out I acknowledge my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my Transgressions unto the Lord. Be not like Judas he confesseth his betraying of Christ but there was a close sin which he would not uncover viz. his covetousness I meet with many who will confess such sins as are most in fashion viz. their dulness under Ordinances their formality their vain thoughts in duty c. But when did you hear Professors confessing their envy at the gifts graces and privileges of their Brethren Paul's sin was persecuting Gods Church and how ready is he to tell God and all the world of it A good Copy to write after Bring forth the aggravating circumstances With all their aggravations and lay them before the Lord. Some confess sin but their confessions are accompanied with strange excuses and extenuations viz. it was done through the instigation of the Devil it was done inconsiderately c. Such are not for shaming themselves before the Lord but like Lawyers plead as well as they can for a bad cause Avoyd all extenuating Confessions Father not thy Brats upon the Devil lest thy account swell even for wronging Satan when indeed thou wast inticed and drawn aside by thy own lust Beware of this folly for know that extenuating sin aggravates it and aggravating extenuates sin before the Lord. Let thy Confession be ingenuous and free Freely Sometimes Conscience like an over-charged Stomach doth so over-press men that they cannot hold but must out with their uncleanness c. Thus it is especially when the Horrours of Death have compassed them round This confession of sin proceeds not from hatred of sin and displicence with it but from fear of punishment they hope if they confess sin any how any way they shall obtain mercy and this makes many throw up what otherwise they would hide for ever But O! that you would be more ingenuous in your acknowledgements than Pharaoh and Judas were who should say something upon the Wrack when Gods Hand and Conscience prest them down I know what you will do upon the perusing this sad Catalogue if God do not sanctifie the book unto you you will confess sin but not your own you will fall a censuring the person or party you do not love crying out O! how guilty are such and such before the Lord O! how is God dishonoured by them how doth Religion suffer by them yea but how much hath Gods Name suffered by thy lightness frothiness pride sensuality back-sliding c. O! run with tears and confess all thine own sins before God God requires it Only acknowledge thine iniquity Jer. 3.13 that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God And God tells you it is a means to obtain remission 1 John 1.9 If ye confess your sins he is just and faithfull to for give Some say confess and be hang'd but I say confess or you 'l be damn'd If you had rather be damned than be shamed thou lovest thy Name better than thy Soul The Lord be mercifull to thee or else thou wilt lose both when Christ shall come to Judge the Earth for then whatsoever is hid shall be published Let your Confession be frequent Frequently yea constant until at least God hath done away thy sin It may be you may fear your heart is so hard that you shall but sin by a formal dull confession or enumeration of your sins But yet do it as well as thou canst and if thy heart be hard go and complain of it to God and beg him to take away the heart of stone let the sight of this hardness drive thee the soonner and the oftner to the Throne of Grace and there lye before the Lord till he cleave the Rock that the waters gush out till thy tears vye with thy sins Do as our English Martyr who ceased not his Confessions till his heart was melted and broken for his sins 3. Contrition Labour to get your hearts broken for all your Rebellions against God for all the impurities of your hearts and lives Son of Man Ezek. 21.9 10. Prophesie and say thus saith the Lord say A Sword a Sword is sharpned and also furbished it is sharpned to make a great slaughter it is furbished that it may glister should we then make mirth Heb. 12.25 Ezek. 22.19 20 21. Even our God hath been a consuming fire and shall not we mourn The house of Israel is become dross even the dross of silver and therefore God hath gathered them into the midst of Jerusalem as they gather silver and brass iron and lead and tin into the midst of the Furnace to blow the fire upon it and hath blown upon them in the Fire of his Wrath and they have been melted in the midst thereof and shall not we lament Yea God hath been exceedingly dishonoured by Hypocrisie falshood breaking of Vows Murmurings cruelties neglects of his Worship c. Should we then make mirth Have not we great cause even more cause than ever any people had to tremble not only at the dreadfull Judgements of God that are already upon us and that hang over our heads but at the hellish impieties that swarm in our hearts View not only this imperfect Catalogue but look