duely on it and then walk worthy of it Now this Love of God I cannot more compendiously declare than by that of the Apostle Ephes 1.3 c. Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ c. In which ye are to observe six remarkable things in Gods blessing of us for which we are to bless him 1. That God the Father of Christ is the Author of all our Blessings especially of Spiritual Blessings Election Redemption and all that flow from thence are given us upon the account of Christ by whom God becomes our Father that is by Adoption by which we have the right of Inheritance that is Salvation 2. That by the word Blessings he includes all things pertaining to Salvation because he saith with all spiritual Blessings alluding to Gods Promise made to Abraham in Christ saying In thee shall all the Nationss of the earth he blessed And therefore he will give the consummation of this Blessing at the day of Judgment to his Elect saying Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you i. e. from his Everlasting Love ver 6. 3. That the Father loves and blesseth us that is his Chosen ones and none else Vers 4 5. who declare themselves such by their Faith and Holiness and Love vers 4. 4. That these Blessings are principally Spiritual Blessings such as the Elect only receive in a peculiar and distinguishing way and that under two Considerations 1. They are not carnal Blessings though the Father denyes not these to his Children for which his Child must bless him but here they are called spiritual because chiefly such 2. They are not common spiritual Blessings neither such are temporary Faith Heb. 6. 1 Cor. 13. a great degree of Knowledge even in Spiritual things yea a taste also of the Holy Ghost and the Beginning of a pious Life c. But only saving Grace and Eternal Glory the Fruit of Eternal Election for all other spiritual Blessings follow and flow from that as the true Knowiedge of God a living Faith effectual Calling Justification Sanctification a Christian Life Love to the Saints and Life Eternal this the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Blessing as containing and comprehending all fully and perfectly 5. But there is one thing more to be noted from that word in heavenly places For as carnal Blessings have their Beginning in the Earth and there they end so heavenly Blessings come from Heaven and terminate there in Glory without end Therefore we render it in heavenly places because it notes the Place of it which is Heaven where Christ is exalted in Glory as our Head to communicate and accumulate all spiritual Blessings on his elected and redeemed Members There it 's said Cap. 1.19 to Vers ult in heavenly places in Christ All this is amplified in this first and more particularized in the second where he saith He hath quickned us together Ephes 2.4 5 6. and raised us up together and made us sit together with Christ in heavenly places All this is an high act of Divine Love toward us By which three things here and in Heaven all Grace and Glory is meant and that Saints do partake of them with and by Christ And this leads to a 6. Sixth thing wherein the Love of God to us is declared in the place afore cited Ephes 1.3 4 5. viz. in Christ by which is assigned the material Cause of all Spiritual Blessings namely Christ as Mediator and High-Priest 1. We are blessed in Christ i. e. for Christs sake and upon his account 2. In Christ by the Merits of Christ by his Obedience Passion and Death 3. In Christ as our Head from whom as such all our Blessings flow in our Souls and Bodies therefore is he called the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23.6 1 Cor. 1.30 That is in the Person of Christ We are raised with him and sit in Heaven with him i. e. We are counted raised and sitting there by his Dignity and Glory as our Head By this Imputation the Papists Justification by Inherent Righteousness is fully confuted Also we have infinite Priviledge and Comfort that the Lord Jesus is made to us his members Righteousness and Holiness which can never be had any other way either within us or without us but in Christ our Head only and there only it is perfect and sure and all this in love For the Father hath demonstrated his love to Christ for this his undertaking and his love to us because he appointed him for us and accepts us in him Ephes 1.3 4 5 6. This is the first Branch of the fifth Use of Studying the Love of God to us in Christ in all the Causes of it and in all the Parts of it For this is a strong Motive to keep us in this Love to understand it and to believe it and to walk up to it 2. The second Branch To understand and practise our Love to the Lord answering his Love to us 1. Understand what Love that is wherewith we are to love the Lord and whereby we keep our selves in his Love to us Matth. 22.36 37. In order unto this ye are to know that the whole Worship of God consists in the Love of God Hence Ambrose saith The Love of God is the form of all Vertue yea the Head and Foundation of all true Religion The end of the Law is Love out of a pure heart a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1.5 and Faith unfeigned There are three things that are in true Love 1. To be affected with a desirable Object upon our knowledge of it to be good 2. To be carryed out strongly in our Desires after it that we may be united with it 3. When we enjoy it to Rejoyce in it and to rest in it as in our End and Center of our Desires This the word signifies in the Original Hebrew and Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To rest greatly in the enjoyment of the thing beloved as Etymologists have it Phavorinus c. So true Love contains in it Affection Desire Joy as the Beginning Progress and End of it and this will be perfect in Heaven and our Perfection and Happiness In this Love outvyes all other Grace 1 Cor. 13. We have an excellent Saying of St. Augustin to this purpose Tom. 4. libro de substantiâ dilectionis Cap. 6. This is then the rest of the Soul when it is fixed by the Love of God as to its desire nor desires any thing or Object besides but having got possession of that which it desires is wholly taken up with the Delight of it and is happy in the secure enjoyment of it Whence we are to learn wherein the true Nature of our Love of God stands that the Heart rest in the enjoyment of what it desires which it can do in nothing else And only our Love to God is true
for her and a blessing upon her x Psal 44.4 Lev. 25.21 who being indeed Christ's Friend as she is to love him in himself so also in the next place 2. She is concern'd to love him in his members Her Christian Charity is to be manifested unto those that are Christs for Christs sake and as the Apostle writes in this Epistle y 1 Tim. 1.5 is such namely which answers the end of the Commandment out of a pure heart a good conscience and faith unfeigned We certainly prove our love to Christ by keeping his Commandment in loving those that are his sincerely and constantly z John 13.34 Love to the Brethren goes along with our love to God a 1 John 5.1 2. and the continuance of it may well dispose to Angelical comforts b Heb. 13.1 2. However it may be very advantageous to a child-bearing woman to endear Christian brethren who are much in doing of Gods will and prevalent with God to assist her more affectionately with their Prayers having seen her real Charity to promote Gods service and advance piety It will no doubt argue her abiding in the light c 1 John 2.10 and sure passage from death to life d and 3.14 and Gods dwelling or constant presence with her which will be abundant support to her in the greatest pains when she bringeth forth with the most difficulty as the Physician * Hippocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aph. 55. finds some to do Then as she should love Christ in himself and in his members so 2. Next to Christ the good Wife is above all other dearly and constantly to love her own Husband and that with a pure heart fervently e 1 Cor. 7.2 Tit. 2.4 1 Pet. 1.22 Yea and she should never entertain low thoughts of him in that Relation whom she could once think worthy of embracing for her Husband and whom by the Covenant of God in all Offices of Love she is oblig'd to please f 1 Cor. 7.34 without this bond of Perfectness all will be loose uneasie and unpleasing yea the Laws and Command of God who by his wise Providence ordered the Match will become tedious and irksome * Lud. Viv. p. 104. But where this conjugal love is consequent upon the foregoing Christian love there all will become easie This is the very life of perfect Friendship and where it resides in power no diligence will be wanting to facilitate all other conjugal duties ‖ Fabr. Bar. de re Vxoria l. 2. c. 1. For never-failing Charity especially in this Relation will enable the good Wife to bear all things to believe all things to hope all things to endure all things g 1 Cor. 13 7 8. This holy flame therefore as the Vestal fire * Alex. Alex. l. 5. c. 12. should be ever-cherish'd that it go not out Indeed Love being as the Soul of Society and of it self Immortal it would argue it were not sincere at first if it should cease Dr. Goad recommending the mothers Legacy to her child unborn written by pious Mrs. Joceline when big with child preparing for her approaching child-bed saith What eyes cannot behold her true and unspotted love to her dearest Husband In her affectionate Letter to him prefix'd to that little Book she declares with thankfulness to God her fears of child-bed painfulness were cured with the remembrance that all things should work together for the best to those that love God which cannot be right in a Wife without this true love to her own Husband and a certain assurance that God would give her patience according to her pain And she bare all patiently So did Mrs. Wilkinson a most loving Wife * Dr. Harris in her Life whose patience was remarkable in the midst of very sore pains which frequented her in the breeding and bearing of children Yet then her speech was I fear not pains I fear my self lest through impatiency I should let fall any unbefitting word 'T is a blessed frame said that grave Divine who recorded it when pain seems light and sin heavy So on the other hand for want of this prevalent conjugal love in conjunction with Christian love a Daughter of King Ethelred having found the difficulty of her first birth she did afterwards perpetually abstain from her Husband's Bed against the Apostle's Rule h 1 Cor. 7.3 protesting from a Principle of unaccountable self-love That it was not fit a Daughter of a crowned Head should commit her self any more to such perils 'T was far otherwise with a young Woman in Euboea who being married to a Man she lovâ—d dearly became Mother and Grand-Mother to an Hundred Children The Story of Mrs. Honywood in our Age is not less famous I might produce many other Instances but 't is more than time I come to the next mentioned Grace viz. 3. Holiness which I take as the former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that which is Christian and Conjugal more general and special 1. There is Holiness which is considered more generally being an universal Grace agreeing to a Christian as such wrought by the Spirit in the new creature from the peace made by Christ whereby the soul being chang'd into his likeness there is an abiding in a state of gracious acceptation with God and a striving in some measure to be holy as he is holy in every particle of our conversation both towards God and Man publickly and privately in some degrees As all Christians are to mind their salvation in the holiness of the Spirit and to follow after it by Christ i 2 Thes 2.13 1 Pet. 1.2 Heb. 12.14 and 13.12 So Christian Wives in a child-bearing state that they may comfortably bring forth the Fruit of their Wombs are highly concern'd for that good work to have their fruit unto holiness k Rom. 6.22 Then be sure all shall go well with them both here and hereafter Blessedness belongs to the pure in heart and the undefiled in the course of their lives l Mat. 5.8 Psal 119.1 What knows the holy Wife whether if she should be married to a bad Man by Parents disposal she may save her Husband m 1 Cor 7.16 We read of several Christian Wives whose Husbands have been brought to real godliness by their zealous Endeavours as Clemens by Domitia c. * L. Vivis de Chr. Foem l. 2. p. 253. vide p. 271.211 For the holy conversation of a Wife hath sometimes a great force upon the mind of the Husband who is thereby dispos'd to entertain good and if a work of Grace be wrought upon him then he will be more fervent in prayer for his child-bearing Wife who as she ought through the whole course of her life to be daily dying to sin and living to righteousness so in her approaching sorrows she is more especially concerned 1. To conform to the preceptive or commanding will of God in all the actions of her
in purple and fared deliciously every day It would be answered That he was a riotous Glutton a Swine out of Epicurus his stie and he bespeaks our indignation not our imitation And yet I might rejoin that his sin lay in pampering his Carcase in the Dining-Room when poor Lazarus could not get the scraps and crumbs that fell from his Table The truth is 't is a Parable which always speaks a truth and is founded in a truth though the manner of teaching be artificial and feigned nor do I doubt but our Saviour Modelled his Parable by and Calculated it for the innocent and allowed Customs of his own Countrey Nor shall I make further use of that man that came into the assembly with his gold ring Jam. 2.2 and goodly apparel than to observe that the sin lay neither in the one nor the other but in the partial Idolizing a Grandee meerly on the account of his External Habiliments when the poor good man was thrust down to the footstool if not trampled under foot 3. Proposition No ability of the rich will warrant him in wearing any Apparel inconsistent with the ends of Gods appointment The purse is not the adequate measure of the Lawfulness of Apparel Conscience may be straitned when the purse is enlarged I note this for the sake of those who always defend themselves with a Proverb as wicked as 't is dull If my mind stand to it and my purse pay for it what has any to do with it I will tell them who has Nature whom thou hast enfeebled those Souls that thou hast tempted thy own which thou hast defiled and God himself whose ends in giving Apparel thou hast neglected and transgressed each of these have cause of Action against thee A man then may be civilly able who is not morally able to follow the fashions The purse may bear the charge when Conscience cannot give thee a discharge for thy vanity 4. Proposition No measure of Wealth can justify those Garbs which speak pride vain-glory in the wearer I grant that Argument may indicate no pride in one man who out of his abundance can spare the charge of which it would speak in another whose incompetent Estate cannot reach the expence and yet his ambitious mind affects the Gallantry yet stll pride and vain-glory are abominable to God in the Rich as in the Poor in the King as in the Beggar difference then of Apparel may be allowed but pride and vain-glory have no toleration 5. Proposition It is sinful to aspire after those costly Garbs which are above our Estates to maintain A poor man may be as covetous as the rich and ordinarily are more because covetousness lies not merely in the having but in the immoderate and inordinate desiring to have what he does not want And a mean man may be vain-glorious and proud in his Rags and sometimes of his Rags because this humour lies not so much in the wearing as in the lusting to wear glorious trappings beyond what his Estate is able to support And this I note for the sakes of those aspiring persons who when they cannot for their lives reach the chargeable matter yet shew their good will to bravery in imitating the cheap vanity of the form and shape 6. Proposition Every man in the account of God Cloathes above his ability who withdraws from works of necessity justice and mercy to maintain his pride No man is suppos'd able to do a thing till he be able to do it when God and man have their own The rich mans conveniences must be retrencht by the duties of Justice his superfluities by the acts of Mercy and when these are substracted out of the total sum of thy income the remainder is clearly thy own only in the Lord. There is a certain order of things which we must strictly observe If food and raiment come in competition the belly must carry it food was before sin raiment brought in by it If Justice and Mercy come in competition Justice must carry it we must pay what we owe and then give what we can spare If the necessities of another are competitors with mine mine own must take place because I am bound to Love my Neighbour as but not before my self but if the necessity of a Christian stands in competition with my own superfluities his exigence is to take place of my abundance for no man is really able to be fine till he has paid all he owes to God and Man to Creditors and Petitioners § 2. The age of the Person will allow some diversity of Apparel One thing may become little Children playing in the Market-place with their fellows which would be ridiculous in the grave Senator when he sits in the Gate of his City when we are Children we think we understand we speak as children 1 Cor. 13.15 when we become men 't is hoped we may put away childish things but what was the reproach of the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may more justly be thrown in our dish the English in the matter of Apparel have always been Children Is it not nauseous to see a Lady of Eighty smug and spruce up as if she was in the flower of Eighteen to trick and trim as if they were new come in when they are just going out of the World to harness out as if for a Wedding when they should be preparing for the Winding-Sheet When the Coffin is making and the Grave a digging and the Worms ready for them but they ready for neither And hence I infer 1. Inference That for aged persons by any habits or dresses to represent themselves as young and youthful is sinful Their Glass tells them they are old but they believe it not Time has snow'd gray hairs on their heads and they acknowledge it not Would they have others believe they are what they would seem Then they would have 'em believe a lye A lye may be told by visible as well as audible signs Or are they asham'd of the hoary head Then are they asham'd of what God has made their glory Or hope they to catch some young Birds with that Chaff Silly Birds are they that will be so caught But in the mean time how abominable is the cheater 2. Infer All youthful Periwigs and Paintings which are sinful in youth are doubly sinful in the aged Time has plow'd deep furrows in the face and they will fill 'em up with Cerass and Vermilion The Clock of time has given warning for their last Hour and they will set it back to Noon The Sun is almost setting in the West and they will outvie Joshuah not content it should stand still there a while but would force it back ten degrees as on the Dyal of Ahaz § 3. The Sex may be allow'd a share in the decision of this point for the Female has a greater Latitude than the Male it was so with Israel of old when the Bride was allow'd her Jewels but the Bridegroom must
because they think they do not live and act as they should do that believe such weighty Truths and expect such great things as they profess they do If therefore your Conversation be correspondent to your Faith you take away the great Cause of their cavilling with you and slandering your Profession 2. More particularly Be as much in acting for God as speaking for him Not only commend his wayes but walk in them not only plead his Cause verbally but really by being in your proper Sphere active for it not only speak well of them that are good but do good to them Many will speak for God and good men but when it comes to doing there is an end of their goodness they will not stir a step not part with a penny they can say as Jam. 2.16 Be thou filled and be thou warmed and yet not give them those things that are needful to the Body they will be Religious as far as good words will go which cost them nothing but are loath to be at the charges of doing any real good How many have their Tongues tipt with good discourse whose Lives are unfruitful as to good works See therefore that your actions keep pace with your words that your Religion do not consist meerly in talking that will be a sign it is either fantastical or hypocritical when the Fruit of it reacheth no further than the Tongue it is odds if the root reach any deeper than the head but when your Religion appears in action your Enemies themselves will confess the reality of it 3. Be as diligent in and make as much Conscience of the Duties of the second Table Righteousness and Mercy in their place and order as those of the first Without this your Religion cannot be real and then no wonder if men think it not real Jam. 1.6 Pure Religion and undefiled in the sight of God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and the Widdow in their Affliction c. In the sight of God God himself that searches the Hearts yet having given men such a Law as may govern their owtuard as well as inward man and influence them in those things which relate to their Neighbour as well as which relate to himself doth accordingly look to their outward Carriage toward men as well as the inward respect they bear to him and so expects the fruits of Righteousness in their Lives as well as the root of Piety in their Hearts That holy Principle he hath put within them is such as extends to their Conversation outwardly and not to the inward frame of their Hearts alone and so the reality of it in it self must be evidenced by the power of it in its effects Now if these external actings where opportunities and means are are requisite to ascertain the Truth of Godliness in the Heart as to its very being we may be sure they are no less necessary as indications of it in the sight of men The World which is apt to traduce you as Hypocritical or Fanatical in Religion will be best confuted by your Carriage in those things which relate to themselves and from which some benefit redounds to them If men see you Just and Righteous and Merciful in your dealings with and behaviour toward others Helpful toward them that want you Pitiful to them in their Misery c. what is in your Hearts and Minds they cannot see but they will be more ready to judge well of it because they see so good Effects of it what they see they will think is real because it is sensible True indeed the first place is due to the Moral Duties of Gods immediate Worship prescribed in the first Table but yet those of the second must accompany them or you will never be able to prove the reality of your Christianity or reasonableness of your Practice to your selves and much less to others They must and will judge of what is within by that which appears without of what they do not see as your Faith and inward Holiness they do not by that which they do see 4. Be most diligent in those Duties which all own to be Duties wheof the first or second Table those which are confessedly Moral and which your Enemies themselves cannot deny to be Duties Some Duties have an intrinsick Loveliness in them and are of good report †Phil. 4.8 even among those themselves that are but Carnal These carry Conviction along with them and if you be diligent in the Practice of them you will have the Consciences of your Adversaries take part with you and their Judgments to applaud you when perhaps their Malice censures you and their Lusts oppose you you will have something within them to bear testimony to you and when they do not love you yet they cannot condemn you 5. Labour to out do and excell others in the World in all those good things in which they excell most Whatever you see praise-worthy in any though Enemies do it and outdo them in it If they be just do you be more just either more exactly or more universally or more constantly so If they be temperate and sober if it be possible go beyond them in it if they be Charitable be you more Charitable if they be Humble Meek Gentle Courteous endeavour to excell them in each if you think that cannot be in some cases yet it is but in some and may you not exceed them as to the general course and whole of a moral Conversation Labour then to make it appear that a Nobler Principle out of which you act an higher End at which you aim and a more perfect Copy after which you write can raise and heighten you to a pitch above any thing not only that Fancy might do in you but natural Conscience or moral Virtue in them And though the best and highest of such moral performances in your external Conversation might be in themselves but insufficient arguments as to your own personal satisfaction of the truth of Grace in your hearts yet your overtopping others in what they excell most or in the main of your Life and Practice may be an argument ad hominem and be a means to silence Enemies and stop their mouths it may be convince their judgments or if it do not make them acknowledge what you do to proceed from a supernatural Principle it may however force them to own it as coming from something more than a Conceit or Fancy 5. Be diligent in those Duties the performanee of which hath least Connexion with a secular Interest So Christ commands Luk. 6.35 Love your Enemies and do good and lend hoping for nothing again Sowe good Seed though upon barren ground and which is like to yield but a poor Harvest Buy the Truth and never sell it though you should for the present be losers by it Nay follow it at the heels though it should kick out your teeth They that do good to others only from whom they expect good give
its just administration should not attain its ends is to reflect the greatest dishonour upon him Yea if any Church or Society of professed Christians be fallen into that State and condition wherein the Discipline appointed by Christ cannot be effectual unto its proper ends Christ hath forsaken that Church or Society Besides the Holy Ghost affirms that the Ministry of the Church in the Administration of it is mighty through God unto all its ends 2 Cor. 10.4 5. 3. The ends of this Discipline are the order peace purity and Holiness of the Church with a Representation of the Love Care and Watchfulness of Christ over it and a Testimony unto his future Judgment An Imagination of any other ends of it hath been its ruine And thus far all who profess themselves Christians are agreed at least in words None dare deny any of these principles no not to secure their abuse of them which is the Interest of many 4. But unto them all we must also add and that with the same uncontrollable Evidence of Truth that the Power and Efficacy of this Discipline which it hath from the Institution of Christ is Spiritual only and hath all its effects on the Souls and Consciences of those who profess subjection unto him with respect unto the Ends before mentioned So the Apostle expresly describes it 2 Cor. 10.4 5. For the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledg of God bringing into captivity every thought unto the Obedience of Christ These are the Ends as of preaching of the Gospel so of the Discipline of the Church and these are the wayes and means of its efficacy it is spiritually mighty to God unto all these Ends and others it hath none But we shall immediately see the total Reverse of this Order in an Image substituted in the room of it 5. Of the Power and Efficacy of this Spiritual Discipline unto its proper end the primitive Christians at least had experience For 300 years the Church had no other way or means for the preservation of its Order Peace Purity and Holiness but the spiritual efficacy of this Discipline on the Souls and Consciences of professed Christians Neither did it fail therein nor were the Churches any longer preserved in peace and purity than whilst they had this Discipline alone for their preservation without the least contribution of assistance from secular power or any thing that should operate on the outward concerns of mankind And there can be no other reason given why it should not be of the same use and efficacy still unto all Churches but only the loss of all those internal Graces which are necessary to make any Gospel Institution effectual wherefore All Sense and Experience hereof of the Spiritual Power and efficacy of this Discipline was utterly lost amongst the most of them that are called Christians Neither those who had assumed a pretence of the administration of it nor those towards whom it was administred could find any thing in it that did affect the Consciences of men with respect unto its proper ends They found it a thing altogether useless in the Church wherein none of any sort would be concerned What shall they now do what course shall they take Shall they renounce all those Principles of Truth concerning it which we have laid down and exclude it both name and thing out of the Church This probably would have been the end of it had they not found out a way to wrest the pretence of it unto their unspeakable advantage wherefore they contrived and made an horrid Image of the holy spiritual Rule and Discipline of the Gospel An Image it was consisting in outward Force and Tyranny over the persons liberties and lives of men exercised with weapons mighty through the Devil to cast men into prison and to destroy them Hereby that which was appointed for the Peace and Edification of the Church being lost an Engine was framed under its name and pretence unto its ruine and destruction and so it continues unto this day It had never entred into the hearts of men to set up a Discipline in the Church of Christ by Law Courts Fines Mulcts Imprisonments and Burnings but that they had utterly lost in themselves and suffered to be lost in others concerned all experience of the Power and Efficacy of the Discipline of Christ towards the Souls and Consciences of men But herein they laid it aside as an useless tool that might do some Service in the hands of the Apostles and the primitive Churches whilst there was Spiritual Life and Sense left amongst Christians but as unto them and what they aimed at it was of no use at all The Deformity of this Image in the several parts of it its universal dissimilitude unto that whose name it bears and which it pretends to be the several degrees whereby it was forged framed and erected with the occasions and advantages taken for its exaltation would take up much time to declare For it was subtilly interwoven with other abominations in the whole mystery of Iniquity until it became the very Life or animating Principle of Antichristianism For however men may set light by the Rule and Discipline of Christ in his Church and its Spiritual Power or Efficacy towards the Souls and Consciences of men the Rejection of it and the setting up of an horrid Image of worldly power domination and force in the room of it and under its name is that which began carried on and yet maintains the fatal Apostacy in the Church of Rome I shall instance only in one particular on the change of this Rule of Christ and together with it the setting up of Mauzzins or an Image or God of Forces in the stead of it they were compelled to change all the ends of that Discipline and to make an Image of them also For this new Instrument of outward Force was of no use with respect unto them For they are as was declared the Spiritual Peace Purity Love and Edification of the Church Outward Force is no way meet to attain any of these ends Wherefore they must make an Image of these also or substitute some dead Form in their room and this was an universal subjection unto the Pope according unto all the Rules Orders and Canons which they should invent Vniformity herein and Canonical Obedience is all the end which they will allow unto their Church Discipline And thâ—se things hang well together for nothing but outward force by Law and Penalties is fit to attain this end So was there an Image composed and erected of the Holy Discipline of Christ and its blessed Ends consisting of these two parts outward Force and fained Subjection For hardly can an Instance be given in the World of any man who ever bowed down to this Image or submitted unto any Ecclesiastical Censure out of a
or others that you see go on in sin let it be your grief trouble lamentation when there is an Eternity of Joyes and they will lose it an Eternity of Torments and they be cast into it Use II. Do something every day in preparing for an Eternal state If any thing of weight lyeth upon your hands this is it If I could prevail with you in any thing Oh that it might be in this if in any thing I am to preach I had need to have gone unto my knees to beg that my message might be regarded this is it If in any thing I should be serious in Preaching and you in Hearing still this it The longer your abode shall be the greater preparation you should make When we exhort you to prepare for other Duties it is but in order unto this that you might be prepared for the Eternal World When we exhort you to Repent Believe be Holy or prepare for Death in all we have an Eye unto Eternity But if my words be slighted and rejected by you will you do so by the word of the Eternal God himself that hath given you this in charge If I shew you express commands from God that will shortly take you into Heaven or judge you down to Hell that will quickly call you out of time into Eternity will you promise you will do it then then read and do what you shall read Matth. 6.18 19 20 33. Luc. 13.24 John 6.27 1 Tim. 6.12 2 Pet. 1.10 11. To these Scriptures I will add these following Arguments to perswade you 1. God hath set you in this World for this very work to make ready for Eternity Consider I beseech you and demand an answer of your selves Why hath God brought you out of Nothing and given you a Being more noble than all his visible works in making your Souls Immortal induing you with Reason and Understanding Do you think it was that you should look after Riches and not Grace things Temporal not Eternal to buy and sell and eat and drink and sleep Do you in your Conscience think that God hath appointed you no higher things to mind no more lasting things to get Reason will convince you and Conscience will prove it to your face and the Immortality of your own Souls considered doth undeniably argue that God hath made you for more noble Ends higher Imployments and greater Concerns Why then do you not mind the end of your Creation and do the work that God hath set you in time to do and look after that Eternal state that God hath made you for I have read of a devout Pilgrim travelling to Jerusalem and in his way passed through many Cities where he saw many stately Buildings rare Monuments and delightful things but he was wont to say but this is not Jerusalem this is not the end of my coming hither I am sure that you are Pilgrims but whether devout or no let Conscience speak and you should be travelling to the Heavenly Jerusalem and if not you are to Eternal Torments why then do you stand gazing at the Temporal things you see in your Journey and your Hearts and Eyes so taken with them Sirs this is not the Heavenly Jerusalem this is not the end of your coming hither be sure the minding loving looking after things of time in the neglect of God and Christ and Heaven is not preparing for Eternity except it be for an Eternity of Wo and Misery and what need you be at so much pains and labour to get thither 2. God doth give you your time in this World to prepare for Eternity You have time to repent to get an Interest in Christ to mortifie sin to pray for Grace to make your peace with God to get the pardon of your sins and all this that you might be fitted for Eternity Why then do not you do in time that which God hath given you time for Can you imagine that God doth lengthen out so long the day of his Patience only that you might labour for Temporal Riches Or that you should live a life of Carnal Pleasure or gratifie the Flesh Can it enter into your heads that God supporteth you in Being and keeps you yet out of the Grave and Hell that you might scrape together things Temporal and neglect the things that are Eternal Doth he make his Sun to rise upon you every Morning to give you light to drudge for things that are but for a moment and let alone the things that are for ever And if God hath given you time in order to Eternity why do you spend your time in getting things that are but for a time and not for Eternity Oh the years that you have had the Moneths the Weeks that God hath given you to be improved for Eternity and you spend it some in things absolutely sinful in serving of the Devil and your Lusts some in things in themselves lawful but unlawfully but none in the things absolutely necessary that you may be happy in Eternity some in taking of your carnal Pleasures some in Trading some in Every thing but the One thing needful that none is left for an Everlasting state but when you shall be in Eternity you will repent though then too late that in this World you so spent your time 3. As you go out of time so you must in the same state go into Eternity If you dye in your sin you must in your sin go down to Hell This is a Life of Tryal here in time you are Probationers for Eternity and as you are found at the end of time so your state shall be determined to Eternity of Happiness or Misery without end 4. You stand upon the brink of Time you are near the Borders of Eternity so near that you that are in Time to day might be in Eternity to morrow or sooner for you never yet saw that hour that you could say you are sure of the next when you have drawn one breath you are not sure to draw another Time is short 1 Cor. 7.29 set forth sometimes by years if Seventy how much is already past Psal 90.10 Sometimes by Moneths Job 14.5 by dayes Psal 90.12 by one day Job 14.6 by a span and nothing Psal 39.5 by a vapour Jam. 4.14 15. But what if you were to live a Thousand years in pleasure upon Earth and after that pass into Eternity of pain and torment would you not when there cry out of your own folly that you should purchase a Thousand years of pleasure at so dear a rate as to endure for them Everlasting Burnings One would think you should not get it out of your heads that you are almost in Eternity One would think you should think on this when you lye down and when you do rise up or dream of this in your sleep that you are as near to Heaven or Hell to an Eternity of Joy or Misery as to your Grave 5. When time is past and gone and you are entred into
sober Wisdom and the Devils cannot deny it and all Damned Souls in Hell and all the Wicked upon Earth as fast as they go down to them and feel what now they do not believe and fear shall not deny it to be Wisdom in them that escaped that and got to a better place in the Eternal World 10. In Eternity there will be no mixture In the other World there is all pure Love or all pure Wrath all Sweet or all Bitter without all Pain or without all Ease without all Misery or without all Happiness not partly at Ease and partly in Pain partly Happy and partly Miserable but all the one or the other This Life is a middle place betwixt Heaven and Hell and here we partake of some good and some Evil No Judgment on this side Hell upon the worst of Men but there is some Mercy mixed with it for it is Mercy they are yet on this side Hell and no Condition on this side Heaven but there is some Evil mixed with it for till we get to Heaven we shall have sin in us In Heaven all are good in Hell all are bad on Earth some good but more bad In Hell Misery without mixture of Mercy or of Hope they have no Mercy and that is bad and they can hope for none and that is worse while they be in time they are pityed God doth pity them and Christ doth pity them and good Men doth pity them their Friends and Relations do pity them pray for them and weep over them but when time is past all pity will be past and they in Misery without pity to all Eternity Rev. 14.10 The same shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11. and the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night No! then for the Lords sake for your Souls sake as upon my knees I beseech you if you have any dread of God any fear of Hell any desire of Heaven any care whither you must go take no rest night nor day in time till you have secured your Everlasting happy state that you might have Everlasting rest night and Day in Eternity or that you might pass into that Eternity where it is alwayes day and no night and not into that where it shall be alwaies night and never day Sirs what say ye What are ye resolved upon to sin still or to repent that ye have already sinned and by the Grace of God to sin so no more To work in time for things of time or in time to prepare for Eternity Will ye obey my message or will ye not Speak in time or I will not say hold your peace for ever but repent in time or ye shall cry and roar for ever The time of this Sermon is out and the time of your Life will be quickly out and I am afraid I shall leave some of you as unfit for Eternity as I found you and my heart doth tremble least Death should find you as I shall leave you and the Justice of God and the Devils of Hell should find you as Death shall leave you and then vengeance shall never leave you and the Burning Flames Tormenting Devils and the Gnawing Worm shall never leave you Will ye then work it upon your Hearts that ye came into Time unfit to go into Eternity that in time ye have made your selves more unfit that the only remedy is the Lord Jesus Christ that in the fulness of time did dye that Sinners might not be damned for ever that this Crucifyed Christ will not save you from Eternal Misery nor take you to Eternal Glory except ye do perform the Conditions of the Gospel without which his Death puts no Man into an actual state of Happiness ye must Repent and be Converted ye must take him for your Saviour and your Lord ye must be Holy sincerely Hate Sin universally love Christ superlatively or else the Saviour will not save you Mercy it self will not save you from Everlasting Misery Ye must persevere in all this to the end of your time and then ye shall be Happy in Eternity to Eternity Otherwise ye shall not give audience Sirs otherwise ye shall not be Happy Happy no ye shall be Miserable If the loss of God and Christ and Heaven will make you Miserable for ever ye shall be Miserable for ever If the pains of Hell the company of Devils the stingings of Conscience the terrors of Darkness total final despair of having any end of your damned condition will make you miserable ye shall be miserable If all that God can lay upon you if all that Devils can torment you with if all that Conscience can for ever accuse you for if all that is in Hell can make you miserable except you repent in time and believe on Christ in time and be sanctifyed in time ye shall be miserable for ever O my God! be thou my Witness of this Doctrine All ye that fear God that hear me this day bear me witness that I have published this in the Ears of all that hear me Thou Conscience that art in that Man that is yet going on in Sin and posting with speed to Eternal Misery bear me witness now and at the day of Judgment that I told him what must be done upon him in him and by him if he would escape Eternal Torments If he will not hearken nor obey while he is in time Conscience I bespeak thy witness against him and that thou bring thy Accusation against him and upbraid him to the Confusion of his face among all the Devils in Hell and all that shall be damned with him that he was told he could not keep his sins and be kept out of that place when he dyed he could not reject Christ and finally refuse him and be saved for ever Sinner carest thou not wilt thou still on Good God! must we end thus Must I come down without hopes of his Repenting and he dye with foolish hopes of being saved and after Death be cast into that Eternity where the Worm dyeth not and the Fire is not quenched But in those Endless Flames shall cry out and roar oh cursed Caitif what did I mean all the while I was in time to neglect preparation for Eternity Oh miserable Wretch this is a doleful dreadful state and still the more because it is Eternal Wo is me that I cannot dye nor cease to be Oh that God would cut me off Oh that Devils could tear me into a Thousand Thousand pieces or that I could use such violence to my self that I might be no longer what I am nor where I am But alas I wish in vain and all these desires are in vain for though the union of my Soul and Body in