you should not when once you have gotten duely to love the Lord. Well by this you see the Order in the Heart and in special the due Order and Measure of your love that is necessary and how necessary it is Can you therefore except against this Order and Measure of your Love What should be first and chiefly loved Wilt thou not say That God should be he Which should be most in our Love our Bodies or our Souls Will you not every one say O my Soul my Soul is of more worth than my Body and more worthy of my Love Which should be more loved your Bodies or your Estates and the Creatures you enjoy Surely you would all say in this as Christ said Mat. 6.25 The Life is more than Meat and the Body than Raiment what would you think of such a Man that loves his Money more than his own Body that would suffer his Body to Starve and Pine rather than spend his Money upon it you would say This Man is a Monster and is not he as much a Monster who loves his Body more than his Soul or himself more than God as he who loves his Money more than his Body Christians would you not count it well with you if your Love were thus regulated What if you could now feel that which you have so often questioned and doubted whether it be so or no that you can now love God above all that the whole stream of your Love did run into the Ocean If you could feel such strong and such lively and such passionate workings of your Hearts towards God such dearness and such tenderness and such strength and ardency of Affection to the Lord if you could feel your Hearts burning within you with the Divine Love if these Hearts were all flameing Hearts and flaming upwards and that so sensibly and so strongly that there might be a resolving of that doubt and you saâ— it true beyond question and you could say Now I feel who hath mine Heart none but God none but Christ Whom have I in Heaven but thee there 's nothing in the Earth that I love in comparison of thee God is the love of my Heart and my Portion for ever what if you could now feel it thus within you What if from your own sense and experience you could heartily speak out such words Take this Heart to thee O Lord thine it is thou art mine only Love and nothing will I love or regard but in Order to thee would you not bless your selves in such an experience Would it not be Marrow and Fatness to your Souls Would you not rejoyce in the Lord and triumph in Christ and praise his Holy Name that had wrought you to that pass That God should have thus gotten to be the chief in your love and Self and Flesh and the whole World were brought to stoop and stand aside yea and to be trampled on in comparison of him Sure you that are Christians would count it happy with you if it were thus and I dare say concerning you this is it you pray for and hope for and wait and thirst and long after and would count it an infinitely greater matter of joy and praise than if the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl if all the Pomps and Pleasures and Grandeur of the World were increasing unto you and were rolling in upon you and therefore you for your parts have nothing to except against this Order and Measure of your love Qu. 2. But how is it with you If it be an excellent thing if it be a blessed thing to have our Hearts brought into such a Frame and Order what do ye find Are you made partakers of this blessedness O the Lord help me I am far short of it I can feel that I love this World I need no tryal whether I love this Flesh or no whether I love my Credit or no whether I love my Money or my Lands or mine Ease or my Pleasures I feel I love these things but whether I love my Soul as I ought whether I love God as I ought there 's my great doubt and I fear I do not Dost thou fear Dost thou doubt whether thou lovest thy Soul as thou lovest the World Whether thou lovest thy God as thou lovest thy Flesh And is there any thing but need then that thou shouldst be brought to a better pass Canst thou be quiet canst thou be comforted in any thing whilest it is thus with thee Christians would you ever be clearly satisfied concerning your eternal State that you shall hereafter dwell in the eternal Love Would you be comforted touching your present Case that God is your God That Christ is your Jesus That the Covenant and the Promises and the Mercies of God are yours that you are passed from Death to Life that your Names are written in Heaven and that you are Enrolled amongst the Saints and shall have an Inheritance with the Saints in Light Then put hard on for this blessed Frame of Heart let it henceforth be the great thing in your Eye look for it pray for it reach forth towards it down with this World tread upon this Earth and Flesh love nothing but what God would have you love love nothing but in subordination to God Dread the encroachments of the Creatures upon the Right of God despise these carnal Pleasures despise this Money and these Lands or this Credit so far forth as they stand in competition with God set your Foot upon the Necks of them all give your Hearts unto the Lord and let him be your Love and your Delight and your Portion for ever 2. For our Desires in this as in the former we must desire what we should desire and as much as and no more than we should desire it the Object of our desires is the same with the Object of our Love that which is Good Now of all the Good which may or ought to be desired 1. Something is to be desired Absolutely and Vltimately and thus God only is to be desired 2. Other good things are to be desired Absolutely but Subordinately and thus the first Grace is to be desired and the evelasting Happiness of our Souls absolutely but subordinately we are to desire our own blessedness but chiefly that therein God may be glorified 3. Other good things are to be desired in subordination and with submission And thus the higher Degrees of Grace the best and most advantageous Means of Grace Gifts the gift of Prayer gifts for Edification c. these all are to be desired with submission to the will of God the first Grace or saving Grace we are not to desire with submission so as to be content to be deny'd it no not to the will of God for there is no such will of God for us to submit to God would not have any Man to submit to it to be for ever left an Enemy or a Reprobate from God God would not have any Man content to
Voice of Converts which was the Voice of the Church Isa 26.13 Other Lords have had Dominion over us but now by thee only will we make mentiom of thy Name they are Dead they shall not live they are Deceased they shall not rise the old Lord is dead it is Deceased and shall never rise sin shall no longer have Dominion over us the Devil shall no longer Will shall no longer have the Dominion over us to thee Lord to thee only do we resign up our selves I resign to the Lord I subscribe to the Lord I give the Hand to the Almighty and put my Neck under his Yoke for ever his I am and him alone will I serve This is Conversion this breaking off from under the Dominion of your own wills and resigning up to the will of the Lord. 2. He doth actually submit to and obey the will of God A Convert doth not only say I will submit I will obey but he doth submit he doth obey The old Will will be contending still for the Government but the Heart now answers as the Men of Sodom to Lot Gen. 19.9 Stand back this Fellow came in to sojourn and now he will be Lord. Stand back O my Carnal Will stand back this Stranger shall no longer be Lord over me I have resign'd up my self to the Lord and him will I obey Yea and his will it doth obey this is the will of God that he repent and the Convert doth repent this is the will of God that he be Holy and harmless that he walk in all the Commands of God blameless and this he sets his Heart to do Psal 119.3 They do no iniquity they walk in his ways 3. Yet the will is not so broken but that this Self and Flesh hath a Root remaining in it and this Root will be Springing and growing up again like that Root of Bitterness mentioned by the Apostle Heb. 12.15 That Root of Malice that Root bearing Gall and Wormwood the Apostle warns them to look to it that it spring not up again to trouble and defile them this Root that Self hath even in the will of Converts how often doth it actually spring up and trouble and defile them There 's scarcely any business but self will have a stroak in doing of it there 's scarcely any Duty but Self strikes in and spoils it in the performance O how much of this self-will'dness is there to be found even amongst Christians How often is it that their wills are set upon vanity and how strongly are they often set upon their own wills How heady and wilful are they in their way What stiffness and tenaciousness is there of their own purposes They will not be advised nor perswaded out of their course though as to the main they have resigned themselves up to the will of God yet in many particular Cases either upon mistakes in their Opinions or being overswayed by corruption they are head-strong in their way and will not be turned back When they come to themselves it is their shame and affliction it should be so yet too often so it is that this self-will'dness carries them on even against Counsel and Conscience It 's true where this self-will does carry the main stroak in the Life where the ordinary course and way of the Life is Governed by will there 's no Conversion but there 's no Convert but more or less does groan under the Usurpation and Tyranny of this Self and Flesh You that are Christians would never have liv'd as sometimes you have done would never have carried it as sometimes you have so much against Judgment and Counsel and the most serious advices if Will had not had too much power over you We should be even all of us more considerate and deliberate in our goings we should be more easily intreated and perswaded back from running headlong on in some of those wayes which cost us sorrow afterwards if this self-will'dness had not prevailed in us 4. Therefore there is a necessity that the Heart be kept under Government The Government of the Heart is to the same end and of the same necessity as the Government of a Kingdom The Government of a Kingdom is to be for the encourageing of the good and for the terrour and suppression of the evil Rom. 13.3 And to the same end is the Government of the Heart to foster and cherish and maintain and keep alive the good that is in it and to crush and keep under the evil that is in it If self-will hath an evil Root in the Heart if this evil Root be apt to spring up then is there necessity of governing the Heart to keep it under To the governing the Heart is necessary a double instrument a Spur and a Curb a Spur to the good that is in us to quicken Grace and keep it in action a Curb to that which is evil in us to curb and hold under corruption these two instruments of Government are the reward and punishment the blessed reward will be a Spur to Grace the punishment to come will be a Curb to Lust and Flesh the eying these two great recompences of reward Glory and Wrath the holding the sense of that Life and Death upon the Heart is a great part of our excercising this Government upon us thy self-will is such an obstinate Enemy as nothing but Fire and Sword the Fire of Divine Indignation and the Sword of Divine vengeance will conquer and subdue it There must be Government and there must be severe penalties kept in sight or there 's no good to be done Friends If ever you would Conquer this self-will'dness shew it the Fire the Racks the Gridirons the Gibbets the everlasting Prison that it 's rushing and hurrying you upon Self-will'dness is not only a kicking against the Pricks but a running upon the Pikes of Divine Vengeance thou art heady and wilful in thy way thou art set upon thine own will whatever thou likest and art pleased with thou art so set upon it that there 's no perswading thee back but be advised take heed if thou wilt be wilful at thy Peril be it look before thee to the precipice by which this self-will'dness is tumbling thee headlong down into the Everlasting Pit whenever you feel Will begin to rise and work work against Reason work against Conscience work towards iniquity and vanity when you feel this self-will getting up lay hold on the Bridle put on the Curb give check to it with all your might look towards the land of Darkness whither it 's carrying thee when the fit is up the wilful fit for though there be an abiding habit of wilfulness in the Heart yet it comes forth but by fits when the wilful fit is up think Lord what now Whither is this wilful will driving me What will be its Fruits and Wages What end am I like to come to if this be my way Stop Oh my wretched Heart strike sail Oh my obstinate will take
come and make a Saint of thee Hath Sin made a very Devil of thee and art not thou willing that Christ should make thee a Saint What wouldst thou do in Heaven if thou wilt not be made a Saint or dost thou think thou mayest continue a Devil whilest thou livest on the earth and yet at last be a Saint in Heaven What say you sinners There be some it may be of you that have made a mock at holiness that have despised the saints that are on earth and made them the objects of your scorn rather than your desire but speaks man art thou yet willing that Christ should come this day and make thee a saint Wilt thou that he should humble thee and bring thee to repentance Wilt thou that he should wash thee and bring thee to holiness Wouldst thou who camest hither an ignorant sinner an hardned sinner an impenitent sinner be glad at thine heart if thou mayst r turn an enlightned a convinced yea a converted sinner a beleiver a sincere christian Wouldst thou carry home another heart than thou broughtst hither a new heart transformed and changed into the image of him that created thee or art thou content to go home as thou camest such an ignorant hardned polluted creature as thou camest hither If thou be heartily willing of such a change as this that is a great part of thy cure Art thou willing to be cured willing to be cleansed Then bring forth that leprous soul of thine lay it at the feet of Christ and speak to him as the leper did Mat. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean As vile a state as this soul of mine is in as deadly as my diseases are as very a Leper as my soul is become yet Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Let Christ hear such a word from thee Lord help me Lord heal me if thou wilt thou canst And then there is hope that thou maiest hear the same words from Christ as that poor Leper did I will be thou clean And immediately his Leprosie was cleansed 2. Take Christs medicines To what purpose is it that the physitian comes to a sick man and prescribes to him and adviseth him to what will recover him if he will not take what he prescribeth Christ hath medicines to recover sick souls but his medicines must be taken or they will not recover them Christs medicines are 1. His bloud His bloud is purging and cleansing bloud Heb. 9 14. 1 Joh. 1.7 Therefore he is said to wash us in his bloud By the bloud of Christ is meant the same with the death of Christ There is vertue in the death of Christ to destroy the life of sin Our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed Rom. 6.6 It is the body of sin that must be first laid at The inward pravity of our natures our original corruption Christs physick must be firstly applyed to the root and fountain of our disease those sinful natures those depraved habits and sinful dispositions within you must be changed The inward enmity must be slain and there is nothing will do that but the bloud of a crucified Iesus That is the soveraign medicine that must help and heal you But how must this medicine the bloud of Christ be taken 1. Christ himself must be taken Christ offers himself to you to be yours and you must accept of him for your own Your hearts must by faith consent unto Christ to put your selves into his hands to put your life into his hands expecting and depending upon him trusting your selves with him for your recovery It is Christ alone with whom I lay up all mine hopes upon whose sufficiency and faithfulness I will venture my soul If I die I le die under his hand and if I live I look for life only from him Put your selves thus into the hands of Christ and take Christ into your hearts Take him as your own he gives himself to you to be your own Christ offers to every sinner among you I will be thine own thine own Jesus thine own Saviour if thou be willing to have me Take him at his word Since he says to thee I will be thine own if thou wilt let thy heart lay hold on this blessed word and say content Lord since thou wilt thou shalt be mine own I accept thee with all my heart Now if Christ be once yours his bloud shall be yours his death shall be yours and all the benefits of his death Whereas nothing of Christ can be yours nor any fruit of his death if he be not first yours Let Christ be once imbraced by you and if there be any purging or cleansing or sin-killing ver ue in his bloud your sins shall be purged away If all that the bloud of Christ can do for thee will recover thee thou shalt be recovered 2. You must have frequent recourse to the bloud of Christ by renewed acts of faith Look up to this crucified Jesus Cast thy polluted soul into the fountain of his bloud Zach. 13.1 He is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness His bloud is the fountain cast thy soul into it You are come into the bloud of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 Christians are so and they may freely lay hold on it for their cleansing 1. Believe that there is such vertue in him to cleanse thy soul Say with the woman Mat. 9.21 If I may but touch him I shall be made whole 2. Believe that it is free for theâ— Thou mayst come with boldness to him Christ would have thee to be bold with him and to lay thine help upon him Believe that it is free for thee to lay hold on the bloud of Christ and 3. Come and lay hold upon it Lean upon him for his help and trust him for it 4. Lift up a prayer to him Lord here is a polluted dying soul that is even lost and choaked up in the mud and mire of my sins there is no help for me but I must die and perish in them if thou wilt not look upon me and save me In thy bowels I have hope in thy bloud I have hope and that is all the hope I have O sprinkle me with thy bloud wash me in thy bloud and my soul shall live Wherefore Lord didst thou die Wherefore didst thou shed that precious bloud Was it not for the recovery of lost souls for the cleansing of polluted souls Is not my poor soul one of the number of those for whom Christ died Have not I as great need of of thee as any Is it not thou thy self that hast brought this my soul to thy door crying for thine help Lord Jesus hear let some drops of that bloud some of the vertue of thy death be shed abroad upon my sinful heart and it shall live My sins must die Lord or my soul will never recover I must get this lust destroyed this enmity slain this proud and hard and stubborn
they are the wisest men who meddle least with it at least they have a strong conceit they shall to Heaven without so much troubling themselves about it Let the Lord God speak never so clearly and never so closely of the danger of the way they are in of the damnableness of their state of the necessity of a Change of their State and Life of their becoming new men and giving themselves to a new Life yet their self-conceit carries it against all the Convictions and Demonstrations of the Lord They will not be beaten out of their own Conceits they will believe their own blind and sottish mind before they will believe God Sinners is not this true how many times hath the Lord God preached to you of the necessity of Regeneration and your being born again of the necessity of Sanctification your being made his holy ones pure and undefiled ones How much hath he spoken to convince you that you are the Sons of death and that your ways are the ways of death that you can never see the Kingdom of God but must undoubtedly perish and be destroyed for ever without such a great and effectual change as may bring you in amongst his holy ones How often hath this been preached how plainly hath this been proved and yet after all how is it with you why behold you have a conceit you shall do well enough and get to Heaven at last and upon this conceit you will adventure your Souls What do you herein but Idolize your own Understandings and deny the God that is above Thus saith the Lord is nothing with you nor will perswade you to any thing if your own hearts do but tell you 't is well enough already Sinners if you will not be beaten out of this conceit if we cannot break down your carnal Confidence if we cannot deliver your Souls out of the hands of these Lies and Delusions if you will not be brought to see that these your self-conceits are your self-deceivings I have thought foolishly I have thought falsly in thinking well of my case if we cannot save you from your vain Conceits and Confidence we shall never set up the Authority of God in you nor ever bring you to God or to Heaven O to hear such words as these from you I have been deceived mine Heart hath deceived me the Devil hath deceived me I could never have had a good Thought of my â—sent state I could never have good hope of my future state if I had not been deceived into it I have been meerly gull'd and cheated into this good Opinion I am lost I perish I die for ever if I escape not suddenly out of this case I can be confident no more I can have a good conceit of my self no longer I am an undone Wretch God tells me so the Word tells me so and if ever mine Heart tell me yet again 'T is well enough I 'le never believe it again might we see such a sence upon you might we hear such words from you then there were hope that you were coming back from Self to God For you that are Professors have not you also something of this self-conceitedness upon you some are conceited of their own Opinions whatever Opinion they take up in the matters of God it must be right because it 's right in their own eyes and many of their Brethren that are contrary minded they are in the wrong and in the dark and so become the objects of their censure and reproach Lean not to your own understandings be so humble and so modest as to think that others may see more than you see suspect your selves when you differ from other Christians that you may be in the mistake Others are conceited of their Gifts and Attainments though they yet be but among the young ones and the weak ones of the Flock yet through that pernicious Pride of their Hearts they are apt to be puffed up with high Conceits of any little that they have Christians must be lowly like their Master Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in Heart They must think soberly of themselves Others are Conceited of their Conditions and the State of their Souls who though they have little acquaintance with their own Hearts little understanding and experience of Religion and have spent as little time in the examining their States yet are grown to a confidence that their Hearts are right in the sight of God when this Confidence may be nothing else but Conceit they do but conceit themselves to be Converts conceit themselves to be Believers and and this conceit must carry it against all Convictions to the contrary Examine the grounds upon which your good Opinion of your self is built Search the Scriptures where are certain Evidences of Conversion search your Hearts whether the marks of real Believers be found in you suspect your selves whether you be not in a mistake a mistake here to have a strong conceit that you are Believers when you are but Hypocrites that you are come to Christ when it may be not come half way such mistakes may be your damnation your Everlasting loss and undoing Let the fear of Self-deceiving be the cure of Self-conceitedness 2. Self-will That Brand which is put upon false Teachers and their followers 2 Pet. 2.10 is upon the Heart of every Sinner they are Self-willed and this brand is more or less remaining upon the Heart of every Saint There 's too much of Self-willedness in the best Hearts Here I shall shew you 1. That the great Controversy betwixt God and Self is whose Will shall stand 2. That in the Conversion of a Sinner the Power of Self-will is broken 3. But yet the Will is not so broken but Self hath still a root remaining which will be putting forth again 4. That therefore there is a necessity of keeping the Heart under constant Government 1. The great controversie betwixt God and Self is whose Will shall stand God will have his Will Isa 45.23 I have Sworn by my Self the Word is gone forth of my Mouth and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow In one way or other first or last I 'le make them all to stoop God will have his Will but Self also will have its Will what is said concerning the Wisdom of the Flesh Rom. 8.7 is true of the Will of the Flesh The Wisdom of the Flesh is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be the Will of the Flesh is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed will be What is the Will of God This is the Will of God even your Sanctification 1 Thes 4.3 He hath said Be ye holy for I the Lord your God am holy 1 Pet. 1.16 This is the Will of God to sinners their Salvation 1 Tim. 2.4 He will have all men to be saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth The reason why so many are damned is not because God will have them
Counsel be well advised and run not thus headlong upon thine own ruin O hold up such Government in your Spirits that your Hearts may be tractable and flexible plyable Hearts let them be stiff and fast to the concernments of God but loose and easily withdrawn from the interest of Self Stiff against sin stiff against Temptation resolute for Holiness Is thy will brought about for God for Religion for Conscience Stand to it to the Death never be perswaded out of your Religion never be perswaded out of your Consciences or Consciencious walking let your Hearts be resolved for the greatest strictness of Religion and be strict and stiff in such Holy resolutions but never again be so set upon your own wills your Carnal wills here get a pliable Heart never to be perswaded off from God easily to be perswaded back from Self and Flesh It 's Prophesied Isa 11.6 There shall be such a change wrought upon the rough and furious and ravenous Spirits of Sinners by the power of Christ that the Wolf and the Leopard and the Lyon shall be so tamed that a little Child may lead them They shall be so flexible and pliable that they may be easily lead that the least Items or Intimations from God or from Conscience may bring them to any thing that when Lust puts hardest upon them for sin when Self presses most impetuously upon them for minding or pursuing it's Interest or will a Word from God an Item from Conscience may bring them about after the Lord that Self may never be able to fortifie them against Conscience but that Conscience may with ease break the Bands and loose the Cords of Self and command them after their God It was said of Caesar's Souldiers that where his Interest was concerned they were more than Men in their own concernments they were less than Women Let the Servants of Christ learn so much of the Souldiers of Caesar let them be so true so fast to the Interest of Christ and Religion of Holiness that they may be above the Spirit of a Man and so the Spirit of a Christian is above the Spirit of a Man but let them sit so loose from the Interest or the Commands of Self that a Woman or a little Child may bring them back from the pursuance of it that such a word from whatever Mouth it comes what is this Self or this Flesh to thee that thou so hearkenest to it or insistest so upon it Wilt thou obey thine adversary Wilt thou cleave to thy Mortal Enemy Self is no better 't is the worst Enemy thou hast and wilt thou feed thine Enemy Strengthen thine Enemy Fight for thy Enemy That such a word may be enough to countermand the will of the Flesh and to bring the Heart back from obeying it's strongest motions and Lusts This will be the blessed Fruit of a due Heart-government the defeating and subduing of Self-will and the sweet and easie compliance of the Heart with and it's complacency in the will of God and it will be no hard thing for such a Soul to say Not my will but the will of the Lord be done 3. Self-love 1. There is a Self-love which is our Duty there is an innate Principle of Love planted by God himself in the Nature of Man in his State of Innocency God hath made all Men living lovers of themselves and he would have them so That word Thou shalt love thy Neighour as thy Self evidenceth that we must love our selves The fruits of this Self-love are 1. Self-preservation 2. Self-blessing 1. Self-preservation the securing our selves from Mischief the saving our selves from danger Acts 2.40 Save your selves this generation He that said Save your selves from this evil generation hath therein said much more save your selves from Condemnation To save our selves from sin to save our selves from Wrath to save our Souls this is a great Duty lying on every man in this World and this Self-saving or Self-preservation our Self-love will prompt and press us to He that loveth himself will save himself he that duly loveth his Soul will do what he can to save his Soul That men destroy and Damn themselves that men neglect Christ the Author of Salvation that men neglect Religion and Godliness the way of Salvation is for want of a true love to themselves Sinners Christ is Preached unto you and tendred to you and if you lov'd your selves better you would love Christ and accept of him You are exhorted to Repentance to Godliness and if you loved your own Souls you would repent and be holy Thou art an hater of thy Self an Enemy a Murderer of thine own Soul who art not a lover of Christ and of Religion and godliness What a Brute art thou O sinner yea worse than a Brute thou canst love thy Friends thou canst love thy Wife and thy Child thou canst love thy Companions yea thou canst love thy sins and thy lusts only thou hast no love to thy Soul 'T is laid down as a mark of wicked Persons among many others 2 Tim. 3.3 Without natural Affection For a Child to be without natural Affection to the Parents for Parents to be without natural affection to the Child for men to be strangers to their own flesh without natural Affection to their Friends or Relations this is a mark of a wicked man What is it then for men to be without natural affection to their own Souls wilt thou say thou lovest thy Soul when thou so sadly neglectest thy Soul when thou takest no care for thy Soul when for the love of thy Lusts and thy Pleasures and thy Companions thou wilt Damn thy Soul Sinners what have you done for your Souls ever since you were born You have done something for your Flesh you have fed it and cloathed it and wrought hard for it to get a provision and maintenance for it but what have you done for your Souls what pains didst thou ever take that it might be well with thy Soul what knowledge hast thou gotten what Grace hast thou gotten what Peace for thy Soul hast thou gotten Peace with God hast thou done any thing toward the reconciling thy Soul to God thou knowest how little thou hast done thou hast loaden sin upon thy Soul thou hast loaded guilt upon thy Soul thou hast left it like the Soul of a Laodicean Rev. 3.17 Poor and miserable and Blind and Naked that Soul within thee is a miserable Soul a guilty Soul a blinded hardned Soul a polluted naked Soul it would make your hearts ake if you consider'd it in what woful wretched case you have left your Souls to this day If you have so much sense in you think of it and lay it sadly to Heart what a miserable case you have left your Souls in the reason of this is because you are without love to your Souls hence is it that you have had so little care of your Self-preservation 2. Self-blessing Isa 65.16 There is a Self-blessing that is
Temptations are to be feared and warily used Riches and outward Prosperity is a Temptation our Money and our Lands and our businesses in the World are Temptations He that will be Rich falleth into Temptation c. and therefore must so be feared as to make us the more wary and circumspect in the seeking and using of them follow your Trades with fear go into your Fields and Markets with fear Eat and Drink with fear fear your fine Houses fear you Plentiful and Prosperous Estates lest by these you be led away to sin and to forget God You are every day among Temptations throughout the whole time of your lives and therefore is the Exhortation of the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.17 Pass the time of your Sojourning here in fear 4. The punishments of sin are to be feared The wrath and the curse of God that Everlasting death which is the wages of sin as I told you before fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell He is able and he will do it if thou continue in thy sin This fear is planted in the heart as the Sword of the Angel was placed in the way of Balaam to keep him back from his wicked designs This world is a wicked world notwithstanding that God hath placed such a flaming sword in sinners ways notwithstanding all their fears how wilfully wicked are they but what world would this world be if there were no fear upon mens hearts to bridle or restrain them Secondly We are to keep the heart out of fear of what it should not fear to suppress and keep down all unreasonable and sinful fears There are two things especially which men fear but should not fear 1. The Yoke of Christ the difficulties and severities of Religion some men continue to be sinners because they are afraid to be Saints they continue under the power of the Devil because they are afraid of Christ They look on Christ as an hard Master his service as hard service his Yoke as an hard Yoke some desires they have after Religion they could wish themselves Christians but they are afraid to venture The difficulties and the severities of a Godly life keep them off they are afraid of them that they shall never bear them As God placed a flaming sword in Eden Gen. 3. so these fears are a flaming sword of the devils placing to keep the way of the tree of Life to keep sinners back from Christ they dare not come to Christ for fear of him and the heavy yoke that he would put upon their Necks 2. The Cross of Christ that is 1. The sufferings of this Life These are not to be feared Rev. 2.10 Fear none of those things which you shall suffer And this very charge not to fear them is an Evidence that even Christians are too apt to fear Sufferings 2. Death for Christs sake Luke 12.4 Fear not them that kill the body Fear not the worst that men can do You may not only be persecuted by evil men imprisoned spoiled of your Goods but you may be slain put to death by them yet fear them not and as a violent death a being put to death for Christ so neither is a natural death to be feared death is the King of terrours The Apostle tells us Heb. 2.15 That for fear of death men are all their life time subject to bondage There is a natural fear of death implanted in every man even in Christ himself and there is a sinful fear of death and then 't is sinful when 't is excessive when there is so great a fear of death as to distress and distract us in the duties of our lives When there is so great a fear of death that we cannot quietly and patiently submit to its stroke when we cannot comfort and support our selves against the fear of death by the hope we have in our death the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 As the Apostle speaks concerning sorrow for the dead 1 Thes 4.13 Sorrow not as men without hope the same may be said concerning the fear of death fear not as men without hope The righteous hath hope in his death he lies down in hope goes to his grave in hope and this hope fortifieth his heart under all its fears Now friends would you keep your hearts under Government learn these two Lessons 1. Keep your hearts in fear and particularly 1. keep you in the fear of God keep up the Aw and Reverence of God in your hearts get you trembling hearts before the Lord behold the severe and jealous eye that is upon you live under such a deep sense of the Greatness Glory and Majesty of the great God as may constantly awe you Sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and let him be your fear and your dread Those that live not under an awe of God lye open to the Devil and all his Temptations It is this the fear of God that is the bridle to keep us in due order 2 Keep you in fear of sinning against God Psal 4.4 Tremble and sin not Art thou a professor of faith in God and dost thou not yet fear to sin against God dost thou believe that God is the observer of all ungodliness that thine iniquities are all marked before him dost thou believe that God is the avenger of all ungodliness and that all thine iniquities shall be recompensed and returned upon thine own head how is it then that thou art no more afraid of iniquity Art thou an hypocritical professor and doth not thine hypocrisie make thee afraid art thou a proud Professor or a worldly Professor or a luke-warm or froward or carnal or slothful Professour how is it that thy pride thy covetousness that thy coldness or frowardness or carnality or slothfulness doth not make thee afraid are these Evils this Pride and this Hypocrisie this Coveteousness this frowardness rooted and raigning in thy heart where are thy fears all this while call up fear put on fear and let this suppress these lusts which will else be breaking forth into practical iniquity If you would fear a life of Covetousness a life of Pride fear this heart of Pride this worldly carnal heart if you would fear a froward look a froward tongue fear a froward heart crush this Cockatrice Egg before it hatch into practical wickedness 3. Fear Temptation to Sin What does use to foment or heighten the lusts of thine heart What doth use to draw them forth into practice Whatever it be fear it as you would fear the Devil Particularly 1. Fear whatever you over love in the World 1. When you have your pleasant dishes before you and varieties of them when you have your pleasant cups before you fear your being tempted to excess feed not your selves without fear especially feast not without fear put a knife to thy throat if thou be given to appetite when thou seest dainties before thee Prov. 23.2 Look not on the wine when it is red in
prosper if it hath not your constant care 'T is true we are not to speak the same words in all Companies and our behaviour is not to be alike in its particular Circumstances in all Companies but in the general a serious and holy behaviour the carrying our selves so as men that are in a journey heavenwards the owning and propagating serious Religion the behaving our selves so that others may evidently see the spirit of Glory and of God resting upon us and may be both convinced that God is in us of a truth and if it be possible be gained to God or at least made ashamed of their own sinful and carnal ways Such a temper should we be in and such a carriage should we be of in what Company soever we be we are alwayes in the sight of God and we should be no where but upon business for God and we should carry our selves as such What the Apostle speaks of his Ministry should be exemplified in the practise of Christians 2 Cor. 2.17 As of sincerity as of God in the sight of God so speak we in Christ Wherever you are behave your selves in sincerity in simplicity whatever you speak speak it as in the sight of God be faithful approve your selves to God in all that you do O friends this even this steady this sincere course of life this universal approving your selves to God in all you do will be the fruit of such an abiding sense of God upon your hearts This will be the poise that will make you move swiftly this will be the Ballast that will make you sail steadily And this swift and steady motion heavenward will both make you appear to be Christians indeed and mightily improve and advance your souls in that grace of God that bringeth Salvation O beloved that this now might be the fruit of these many words that I have spoken to you that you would every one of you set your hearts to it to get and to hold such a deep sense of the eternal things upon your spirits as might have influence to the carrying you on in this even and steady course Do not every one of you need some establishment more settledness more fixedness in an heavenly frame do not you feel your selves so up and down so off and on that you can hardly fix Would it not be more comfortable for you if you could get to be more like the unchangeable God that as he is the same God so you might be the same Christians of the same Spirit of the same way so fixed and composed in your Spirits that you might not be moved from the hope nor from the holiness of the Gospel would it not be comfortable to you were it thus with you would it not be much to the honour of the Gospel and to the joy of your own Souls then once again I exhort you by the Lord Jesus get this sight of God in your eye keep this sense of God upon your hearts which will have its fruit unto this settled and even course of holiness the end whereof will be everlasting life This is that which I strive for and am reaching towards in mine own Soul and I must say with the Apostle Phil. 3.12 I press these things upon you not as though I had already obtained but I follow after if I may obtain through Christ Jesus And what I seek and wait and hope for in mine own Soul my hearts desire is that you also may follow after and be partakers of the same Grace that my Soul is in pursuit of that you and I may rejoyce together in the day of the Lord. Thus much for the keeping the heart under Government 2. Keep the Heart under Guard Keep it and all the good that 's in it in safety that it be not lost Christians must keep their Hearts as Worldlings keep their Money and their Jewels and their writings by which they hold their Estates If they have any stronger or safer place than other there they lay them up and whatever else they have to look to their special eye and their strictest Watch is upon their treasure And here I shall shew you 1. Why Christians must especially guard their hearts 2. How Christians must guard their hearts 1. Why Christians must especially guard their hearts They must set a guard upon their tongues they must watch their words and all their carriages but above all keeping they must keep their hearts So the word in the Text is rendred and interpreted by some keep the heart with diligence above all keepings Keep the heart but why so because the heart is 1. The fountain of Life 2. The spring of all vital actions 3. The record of all our sacred Transactions 4. The cabinet of our Jewels 5. Our box of evidences 6. The ark of our strength 7. A sacrifice for God 8. The temple of the Lord. 1. Because the heart is the fountain of Life It is the reason urged in the Text for out of it are the issues of Life The issues that is the streams or rivuâ—ets of life The heart is the fountain from whence all our living streams do flow Christ is our life and the seat or habitation of Christ is in the heart therefore that expression Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of Glory The hope of the Saints is a living and lively hope the life of our hope is from Christ and from Christ within us Eph. 3.17 Christ dwells in the heart by Faith The heart Natural is the fountain of Natural Life it is the primum vivens and the heart Spiritual is the fountain of Spiritual Life we begin to live from within as death begins in the heart so life Death Natural ends in the heart the heart is the last that dieth but death spiritual begins in the heart the heart is the first that dies Sinners dead works do all arise from their dead hearts the root dies first and then the branches and fruit wither and fall off the Devils great design is firstly upon the heart when he hath slain the good that is within he can with ease destroy whatever good is without the fruit will fall off of it self when the root is dead The heart is the first that dies in a spiritual sense and 't is the first that lives It is there the seed of God his immortal Seed is first received and takes its root so that there is the same reason to set a guard upon our hearts as to preserve our life if you would keep your selves alive if you would not fall down among the dead then look well to your hearts which are the fountain of life 2. It is the spring of all our vital actions and operations This is included in the former the heart is the fountain of life and life is the fountain of action A dead man cannot see nor hear nor speak nor move he must live before he can speak or move And what can the spiritually dead do The dead praise
call upon you and encourage you in the Name and the Words of the Lord Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord. Let your hearts be thus kept and then come come with your prayers come with your praises and I will hear and accept you 8. It is the Temple of the Lord. 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the temple of the living God 't is the heart especially that is this Temple There are four things in the Temple of God which are so many reasons why our hearts should be carefully kept and guarded 1. The law of God is in his Temple The law was read in the Temple and kept in the Temple and as in that Temple made with hands so in that living Temple made without hands the Law of God is placed and preserved Christians have the Law of God within them their Bibles in their hearts in the heart of a Christian is the Copy of the Bible God hath not only preach'd it to their hearts but they have laid it up in their hearts Psal 119.11 I have hid thy word within mine heart that I might not sin against thee Mary kept the sayings of Christ and laid them up in her heart Luk. 2.51 God promised Jer. 31.33 I will write my Law in their hearts and he hath done what he promised he that once wrote his Law in Tables of Stone hath also written it in fleshly Tables of Hearts Therefore Psal 40.8 Thy Law is within mine heart The Law written in the heart Notes 1. All those holy Notions of God of Christ of Glory Honour Immortality of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God and of the Mistery of Christ which are written in the Scriptures are revealed in the heart 2. All those holy Principles or divine Axioms concerning Truth Righteousness Holiness Mercy Temperance Sobriety c. the nature and necessity of them to true Godliness and Blessedness 3. That Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus the new Law or Covenant of Grace by which we are freed from the Law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 the Tenour and the Terms of the Covenant the Promises and the Conditions of the Covenant the great Charter of the Saints which gives them Title to and will give them an entrance into the Everlasting Kingdom The writing that Law is the writing the new Covenant in the heart 4. That inward living Law the holy bent inclinations dispositions begotten in the heart by the Word and Spirit of the Lord that renewed Conscience inwardly obliging and holding the heart to the Obedience of the Word A Christian hath not only something without him but something within him binding him to obedience whereby it may be said much more of him then of those Gentiles Rom. 2.14 He is a law to himself His own heart holds him in to Christ his own heart holds him on in Obedience to the Gospel If all our Bibles should be lost or burnt if all our Preachers that urge and press our Obedience were laid aside and trodden under foot a Christian hath that within him that would hold him on in his Christianity That knowledge of God and those Principles of Christianity that love of Christ and that renewed Conscience within him will keep him a Christian still Now all this treasure those holy Notions holy Principles this Law of Grace and this living law of the new Covenant being all kept in the heart the heart being the Temple of God wherein all this is preserved had need be carefully kept Would you not have all the Notions of God and the knowledge of Christ dimm'd and darkned and razed out would you not loose all your holy Principles of Righteousness and Honesty of Temperance and Sobriety would you not have the book of the Covenant stolen away on which all your Hopes and Expectations all your title to Everlasting blessedness depends would you not loose that holy bent and those holy inclinations and that renewed Consciences by all which you are disposed and inwardly bound bound in Spirit to the life of Christianity would you not that all these should be lost would you not return to be dim sighted and dark Souls would you not exchange your holy Principles for carnal Principles your renewed purged Consciences for corrupt Consciences would you not that the Temple of the Lord be robb'd would you not that your heart be robb'd of all these Treasures then set a Guard upon your hearts 2. The name of God is in his Temple Jer. 7.10 12. 't is said often he places his name there And of these living Temples the hearts of Saints 't is said Rev. 3.12 I will write the name of my God and the name of the City of my God upon them And Chap. 2.17 in this heart there is a precious stone put and upon this stone a new name written which no man knows but he that hath it A Christian hath not only the names of Christ call'd upon him he is call'd a Christian after the name of his Lord but he hath this name written upon him written upon his heart Sure that Table should be kept clean in which is written such a precious name What shall the name of God be written on a dunghil wilt thou suffer Sin and the Devil to make a very dunghil of thy heart and in that dunghil write the name of thy God If the heart be not well guarded the Devil will be not only carrying out but carrying in all the precious Treasures that are in your hearts let Satan alone a while and hee 'l carry them all away Whatever thou hast now thou shalt have nothing of God left in thee nothing of Christ lest in thee none of all thy Graces none of all thy comforts Hast thou love for Christ hast thou hope in Christ hast thou peace or joy in God hast thou either the image or the comforts of God in thee Satan stands ready if thou look not to him to carry all away thou wilt quickly be left a very miserable Soul poor and blind and naked if thou take not heed And as the Devil will be carrying out so he will be also carrying in to that heart of thine Thy Gold and thy Jewels he will carry away and he will bring in dirt and filth and trash As he unloads thee he will load thee unload thee of the treasures of light and load thee with the treasures of darkness He will fill those hearts with every unclean thing he will make those Temples to be very Stables or Sties he will make that heart a very Dunghil and Christ must either have no name within thee or that precious name written on a dunghil and will you suffer such an affront and abuse to be put upon your Lord If you do not keep your hearts so it will be 3. The Worship of God is in his Temple Mine house shall be called an house of Prayer Mat. 21.13 In this inward Temple the heart is the inward and spiritual Worship of