Table from being Moral but in common speaking those of the Second are chiefly understood And they are Naturâ notiora more easily discerned by the light of Natural Conscience and he may see his duty in what is easily known who sees it not in what is harder to discover How shall he love God whom he hath not seen who loveth not his brother whom he hath seen But he is without excuse who pretends to know and do the hardest And will neither know nor do the easiest A sober and honest Conversation in the fight of men is a fair body of a Christian but there must be a Soul and Spirit to enliven it as he said to him who wondered that a Statue with such perfect lineaments could neither go nor stand Deest aliquid tnius There wants a living Principle within With the putting off the Old man according to the Conversation and putting on the new there must be a renuing in the Spirit of the mind Eph. iv 23. Many Heathens excelled in the exercise of Vertues Aristides Cato Regulus And yet if you will believe St. Augustine they were but splendida peccata shining sins they wanted both right Principle and end and the sprinkling with Christs Blood We must add Faith to our Vertue as well as Vertue to our Faith See that you do the great things of the Law but besure you leave not undone the greater things of the Gospel A lively work of Faith to purifie your hearts unite you to Christ and make you partakers of his Spirit for sound Regeneration and through Conversion without this you are undone for ever Fifthly Not being of the true Church or of this or that Party or Persuasion 'T is a wonder so many should be cheated with so groundless an error not only Papists who have an Hypothesis which tempts them to it That the Faith of the Church and Treasury of the Church may be Communicated to them by being Members of it But many others crying I am of Paul I of Appollo I of Cephas A true Son of the Church one of the Godly Party one of the Friends But I beseech you take notice 'T is not being of the truest and best Religion in the world will save you but being true to that Religion and living up to it Salvation was of the Jews Theirs was the Religion God dispenc'd Salvation in yet all Jews were not saved All are not Israel who are of Israel nor all the children of Abrahams Faith who were the children of his flesh Surely Judas was of the true Church when he was of our Lords own Family and yet went thence to his own place a place to which you would be loath to follow him Be thy head never so Orthodox as to the Articles of Faith if thy life be Hetrodox as to the Rule of Practice the goodness of thy Faith will be so far from excusing the badness of thy Life that it will greatly aggravate thy Condemnation and the more clearly thou knowest thy Masters will and the more firmly thou believest it with more stripes shalt thou be beaten for disobeying it Tho bad Company occasions many mens damnation and good Company may be an help to yet never was it never shall it be a cause of any mans Salvation I mean that he should be saved meerly for professing the same Religion with them who are saved tho not for the Professing but Practising of their Religion Lastly Not believing in Christ or presuming rather they do so without any Fruits of Faith to prove it true and lively God forbid I should make any sinister reflections on the Doctrine of our Church and a Doctrine so clear in Scripture as that of the Justification and Salvation of sinners by Faith in Christ yea by Faith alone God who regarded the lowliness of his hand maid when his Son was Conceived hath had regard to this humble lowly Grace as to the Conceiving Christ in our Hearts That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith 'T is appointed to receive Christ Jesus and to make us the Sons of God by so doing And whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life John iii. 16. I know no other way of Salvation for my self I teach no other way to you yet after all I say to you look well to your selves that your Faith be Faith indeed not a dead faith not a bold presumption not a self delusion The stronger and purer the Liquor is with which the Poyson is mixed the more dangerous will its Operation be I fear the Poyson the Devil infuses in this Holy this pure Doctrine of the Gospel kills multitudes for want of caution I beseech you therefore be very cautious lest you be deceived in your Faith The question is not whether Faith will save thee and makes thee ready for Christ But whether thou indeed have Faith that is true Faith 'T is certain Faith alone justifies a sinner but as certain that that Faith which is alone justifies no sinner The Eye alone sees The Hand alone works but if the Eye or Hand be alone that is separated from the Body they neither see nor work Tho Faith justifies us as a passive Grace receiving Christ and the gift of Righteousness by and with him and Sanctifies as an active Grace yet 't is the same Faith that doth both and if it do not both it will do neither With the same Hand we receive what is given us and with the same Hand we work what is injoyned us The same Faith that receives Christ as a Saviour engages you to serve him as your Lord and King And the same Faith which justifies your Persons must Sanctifie your Natures Act. xxvi 18. And purifie your hearts Act. xv 9. And work by love and make you new Creatures in Christ 2 Cor. v. 17. if it ingraft you into him and will constrain you to live to him if you do in good earnest believe he dyed for you and if your Faith have not these Fruits to prove it true and living it makes you not ready for Christ thou rather dreamest thou believest in Christ than dost so really and whilst thou art in this stumber thy Lamp will go out like the foolish Virgins Matth. xxv 8. and thou wilt have nothing to meet Christ with when ever he comes Thus have I shewed you negatively what will not make you ready for Christ tho too many flatter and befool themselves that it will and will not suffer themselves to be convinc'd of their error till it be too late to redeem and mend it I earnestly exhort you and most heartily beg of God you may never be found in that number And now I proceed to the positive part to shew wherein Readiness for Christ consists And First To be ready for Christ is to be a Good man a Righteous man an Holy upright Godly Man One who desires to do the whole will of God sincerely both by ceasing to do evil and learning to do good
denying and abstaining from all known sin and applying himself to perform all known Duties with a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men To be heartily Religious Just and Sober Crucifying the Flesh with its affections and lusts Walking before God with respect to all his Commandments in a word to be Christs true and faithful servant For the Scripture is express and plain that God will do good to them that are good and upright in their hearts Psal cxxv 4. That he will give eternal life to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and Immortality Rom. ii 7. and Christ himself hath told us that Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Matth. vii 21. and St. Paul If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye by the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. viii 13. And again Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life eve lasting Gal. vi 7 8. And the terms upon which St. Peter assures you of entrance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are that ye abound in Faith Vertue Knowledg Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly kindness Charity 2 Pet. i. And David in Psalm xv gives the description of a Citizen of Sion who shall dwell in Gods Holy Hill by the same measures And in Gods name saith Psalm l. 23. To him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God And lastly 't is Christs promise Where I am there shall also my servants be John xii 26. And indeed it is the Scope and import of the whole Scripture both Old Testament and New to shew that wicked and bad men shall go to Hell and only Righteous and good men shall go to Heaven Psalm iv 3. Know that God hath set apart him that is Godly for himself But Psalm ix 17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell Ezech. xviii 20. The Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him John v. 29. They that have done good shall come forth to the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation For we must all appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. v. 10. And I beseech you neither to censure nor misinterpret this method of proceeding by beginning to declare in such general terms wherein Readiness for Christ consists But consider the wisdom of God leads me in it for tho the Scriptures do treat of these things some times more accurately and distinctly yet for the most part they speak of them in these general expressions And that for Wise and Holy Reasons For the Scriptures were written not only for the Wise and Learned but for the unwise and Ignorant for Babes in Christ and beginners as well as for grown men and Proficients For the Lamb to waid in as well as for the Elephant to swim in Now for the sake of the first sort who are not able to discern critical differences of things nor to comprehend the more mysterious and intricate expressions nor to understand Artificial and Figurative words in which some times the Truths of the Gospel are wrapt up and veiled It seems very agreeable to the goodness of God to condescend to the weakness and capacities of those to whom he speaks And to propound the way of Life and Death to Heaven and Hell in such general and easie terms as all may understand And such as are suited to affect a Natural Conscience and to be an initial and leading way to the receiving what the Gospel speaks more distincly and accurately to those who are awakened to be inquisitive and rendered capable of what is more high and difficult by the use of general words and easie to be understood Such as these are with which I have begun To be ready for Christ is to be a good man for none but such shall go to Heaven Secondly To be ready for Christ is to be a good Christian And what that implies we shall best understand by our Baptismal Covenant in which we enter upon the profession of Christianity Now as in that God promiseth to accept us as Members of his Son to own us for his Children and make us Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven so we on our parts engage and promise three things first to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil Secondly to believe all the Articles of the Christian Religion viz. with an Applicatory Faith Thirdly to keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of our life and he that keeps this Covenant is a good Christian and as a Child of God shall inherit his Kingdom and is ready to go to it when ever Christ comes Now these three answer the three great Graces which are the condition of the New Covenant Repentance Faith and new Obedience And tho the last is included in and be reduceable to the first because no man truely repents of past disobedience who resolves not and who endeavours not to yield unreserved obedience for the future and therefore the two former are oft put alone for the full and whole condition of the Gospel Covenant The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand repent and believe the Gospel Yet I hope we may inoffensively reckon them all three distinctly especially considering that tho they all have a general respect to the whole Holy Trinity yet they may not improperly be said to have a peculiar reference to the distinct Persons to whose name we are expresly Consecrated in our Baptism The Father Son and Holy Ghost Repentance towards God that is the Father Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ So St. Paul expresly speaks Acts xx 21. New Obedience towards the Holy Ghost who is the immediate Author of Sanctification and to walk in newness of life is to walk in the spirit Gal. v. 25. And to be led by the spirit Rom. viii 14. If therefore thou wouldest be a good Christian and as such ready for Christ First With Holy shame and Godly sorrow turn from sin and creatures in which thou hast too long sought satisfaction to God as thy all-sufficient portion and happiness Secondly Come to him by Christ the great and only Mediator who hath made our peace with him and wrought that reconciliation by which alone thou art capable of injoying him Thirdly yield up thy self to the conduct of the Holy Ghost as thy Sanctifier to inable thee both to believe and to bring forth the Fruits
of folly which men are so impatient of He that was so very busie in taking care for many years â—ears presently Thou fool this night And â—o the Foolish Virgins who had Lamps and Vessels to hold Oyl yet filled them not And indeed what folly greater than for men to go to Hell with their Eyes open To know their danger and yet to play and dally with it till it surprize and snap them and to stand where the Bullets fly thickest and yet neither get an Armor nor hasten their escape to be out of reach of Gun-shot What will if this will not prove men to be indeed foolwardly Third Use Examination Expect not from me here a large enumeration of the signs of Grace I design not that But a brief tryal of thy readiness for Christ Try thy self therefore as to that whether you be ready as the Text requires There is no knowledg more necessary or more worthy of a wise mans pains than the knowledg of himself and his Estate towards God It hath obtained the Authority of a Celestial Aixome even amongst Heathens Know thy self è coelo descendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And questionless it may be obtained if we believe either St. Peter or St. Paul for the first bids us give diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. i. 10. Therefore surely he thought it feasible The second injoyns us thus Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves know you not your own selves how that Christ is in you except you be Reprobates 2 Cor. xiii 5. Doubtless therefore he judged we might without special Revelation even by serious self-examination know this of our selves First Therefore try it by the verdict of thy own Conscience ask it soberly and let it answer freely and it will speak and not lye Great is the force of Conscience on either side both to acquit and to condemn Rom. ii 15. Their Conscience bearing witness and their thoughts accusing or excusing one another And if the blind Consciences of the darkned Gentiles had this power how much more the Consciences of Christians enlightned by the Gospel and assisted at least by the common influences of the Holy Spirit Bring in thy Bill therefore to this Grand Inquest before these mille testes thousand Witnesses 'T will not write Ignoramus on it 'T is Magni Judicii prejudicium a Petty Sessions to the great Assize a previous Judgment to the last and most awful one Neither bribe it nor stop its mouth and it will speak as he would have it whose Deputy it is The spirit of a man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly Prov. xx 27. That which is most hid and secret this light will discover find out and manifest The things of a man the spirit of a man which is in him knows tho none else can 1 Cor. ii 11. And therefore the Testimony of our Conscience yields great rejoycing when it witnesses our Simplicity and Godly Sincerity 2 Cor. i. 12. And St. John tells us If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 1 Eph. iii. 21. Weigh not thy self therefore in the false ballance of other mens Opinions Nec te quaesiveris extra as Persius could advise But get into thy Closet retire be still Commune with thine own heart Psal iv 4. and let it speak freely 't will answer like an Oracle of God Interrogate thy heart in this or such like manner Have I with desire desired Have I with a thirsty Appetite panted after this readiness for Christ Have I with constant and restless diligence endeavoured to attain it Have I arrived at least at some setled hope that if Christ should now come I should be found of him in peace Secondly By the scope and tendency of thy life by the Fruits thou bearest Examine whether thou art a Tree which if now cut down must be Fuel for the fire which shall burn for ever or building Timber for the House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens If others may know us and we may know them by the Fruits which either bear why may we not much rather know our selves by them the frame of our hearts and the scope of our lives are great indications whither we are going If our hearts be in Heaven and our Conversation be in Heaven our soul shall be received there If thou fix thy choice thy delight and love on right-hand blessings thou shalt stand at Christs Right hand at the last day If thou walk in the straight and narrow way it will lead thee to and into the straight gate which gives entrance into Life But the broad way of Hell will never lead any man to Heaven Thirdly By thy willingness to dye thy looking for and hastning to the day of God and loving the appearance of Jesus Christ Not but that Nature may recoil and shrink and the flesh may draw back and be loath to part for even where the Spirit is willing the Flesh is weak but upon sedate recollection the willingness of the Spirit will fortifie the weakness of the Flesh and cry out Go forth my Soul for he is a gracious Lord thou art going now to meet Fourth Use Exhortation I hasten to that in which I designed the chief improvement of this truth that is to exhort and quicken you to the speediest diligence and care to get ready for Christs coming And tho I desire to work both upon your Consciences and your Affections to set before you your Obedience and your Interest to urge you in point of duty and in point of wisdom and to press you to avoid both the sin and danger procrastination will involve you in yet I shall not curiously distinguish the motives to rank each Series by themselves But as God hath twisted his glory and our happiness so close together in great wisdom and mercy that we cannot promote the one but we advance the other nor neglect the one but we destroy and lose the other So is it in our sin and danger they are prevented or incur'd together and therefore I may well wreath into one chain the motives which concern either of them to draw you out of your delay and twist them into one cord wherewith to quicken and accelerate your motion And not to heap up here the many Scriptures which speak so home and plainly to this matter but to leave them to fall in to inforce each motive to which they more properly belong I shall begin with that which stands so near the Text that it is urged in the same verse as a reason to inforce the duty Be ye therefore ready for or because The Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not The first Motive is taken from the uncertainty of the time of our death and our Lords coming And the Inference is so obvious that the Light of Nature and common Reason hath clearly discovered it and excellently