the Question lest I should be too tedious The Common Directions which I shall propose are By way of 1 Consideration 2. Exercise Consider therefore 1. What a fearful and dangerous sin it is to forget God 2 What a shame it is to be unmindful of him 3. What are the benefits of preferinging God in our Remembrance before all other things For the First I have already shewed what a heinous and dangerous sin it is to forget God from whence it may be fetch'd for our Consideration I shall give a brief Recapitulation Consider then what Obligations thou sin'st against if thou shut God out of thy Remembrance 1. On God's part 1. He gave thee thy Faculties to this very end 2. And hath purposely set Heaven and Earth before thee to exercise these Faculties and to put thee in Remembrance of him 3. He hath sent his Son to put thee in mind of him 4. He hath given thee his Spirit Word and all his Ordinances to awake thee to remember him Think then what Gilt the breach of all these Obligations on Gods part will bring upon thee if yet thou shalt forget him Consider what Obligations also thou sinnest against 2. On thy own part Thou sinnest against 1. Thy solomn Vow 2. Covenant 3. Oath 4. Profession If these particulars be taken into thy consideration thou wilt not sure count it a venial sin to forget God and consequently it will be a means to bring thee to the Remembrance I am directing to Consider also the danger as well as the guiltiness of this sin 1. It may betray thee to all other sin and absurdity 2. It will provoke God to forget thee in a way of mercy 3. It will cause him to Remember thee in a way of Judgment If thon art one that dost believe and wilt consider thus much it will prepare thee for the duty we are now upon and be a help to a worthy Remembrance of him For every thing that hath the nature of a motive to a practical Duty hath the nature of a means or help to the performance of the Duty The Reason is because cause it is a necessary means to any Duty to bring the Will to a thorough Resolution Now all motives are the most proper means ro bring the Will to such a Determination So much for the first thing that we are to consider Secondly Consider also what a shame it is to forget God and to be unmindful of him Hast thou no ingenuity 1. Canst thou forget him that remembreth thee every hour 2. Canst thou forget him in prosperity whom thou wilt remember in thy necessity 3. Dost thou not blush to prefer empty unsatisfactory and transitory things in thy Remembrance before God But these things I have already insisted on and therefore do but now name them as matter of our consideration as a second sort of motives and therefore fit means to help on this Remembrance Thirdly If thou wouldst be in the number of those that exalt God above all things in their Remembrance then consider what advantage will accrue to thee by such a Remembrance I know these may be also called motives as all means by way of consideration are But yet they are all distinct and different kinds of motives and have their effect upon three several passions 1. The first sort taken from the consideration of the greatness and danger of the sin of not Remembring God are rather to fright us from the sin of forgetfulness than to draw us to the duty of Remembrance 2. The second sort are intended to work upon Ingenuity where there is any and to excite shame in those that neglect such a becoming duty 3. And the third sort taken from the benefits and advantage of this Remembrance are directly to excite Love and Desire and hereby to attract the Heart to the performance of a work so beneficial I come now therefore to propose the Benefits that will follow such a worthy Remembrance of God as a means to this duty First Consider If thou art one that Remembrest God with the most prizing valuing thoughts thou art translated from Death to Life If St. John make the predominant love of the Brethren to be so sure an evidence of this Translation 1 John 3.14 We know that we are passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren Then much more doth the sincere love of God give us full security that we are thus advanced But the predominant love of God is implied in this Remembrance as the essential part of it according to the known Rule words of Sense and Understanding in Morallity essentially involve Affections and Actions If they go alone all moral Acts are incompleat unless they be both in the understanding and will in the Mind and Heart If therefore thou art one that thus remembrest God thou hast this grand priviledge whose name is Legion and contains such a number under it Death is a name of terror and sounds dreadful to all whose Ears it hath not stop'd and is the sum and abridgment of all that 's either hateful or fearful And therefore all the penalty that God threatneth for the breach of such a perfect Righteous Law as he gave to Man was comprized in the word Death And if it be not enough to vindicate the Law from contempt of such as do but hear it yet it will teach them at least not to despise it that feel it And as Death is a Name pregnant with Dread and Horror so Life is the most comfortable Sound and carries all that 's desirable in the Bowels of it And it is put in Scripture to signifie 1. All Happiness 2. Perpetuity And therefore it was the only Sanction that God added to his Law by way of Remuneration Do this and Live Where Life is opposed to the Death that is threatned to the Transgressors As Death therefore is comprehensive of all Misery so Life is a complication of all Happiness And as it is put for all Felicity so for Perpetuity Psal 56.7 In his favour is Life 1. Perpetuity as appears by the opposeâ—â—â— in the former part of the verse His Anger endures but a moment that is it 's short but in his Favour is Life 1. It 's lasting and perpetual Now Death is of three sorts opposed to a three fold Life 1. Natural 2. Moral 3. Metaphorical Natural Death is the privation of all sense Death Moral is the privation of all Love in the Will to Vertue and propension to Goodness for want of which Love it is dead to all vertuous Life and Action and feels no sweetness in them because the principle of that Life is wanting For Love is the Principium Vitae in morallibus Love is the principle of Life in the Moral Spiritual or gracious Life And as Natural Death doth not only deprive the Body of all Sense and Motion but renders it unfit for the Soul to dwell in and be united to and so dissolves the union between these two So Morally Death doth
not deprive the Soul of all gracious and vertuous Sense and Motion but renders it unfit for the Spirit of true Vertue Grace and Holiness to dwell in and so there must needs follow a Devorce and Separation between them And as in the Natural Life there is a Union between the Soul and Body so in the Moral there is a Union between the Soul and God Death Metaphorical is the privation of all the comfortable effects of Life whether it be Natural or Moral whilst bear Life doth still remain and the presence of all those evils that may afflict or imbitter it And all these are either 1. Temporal 2. Eternal From what hath been spoken for the explication of these two terms Life and Death you may perceive what a priviledge and unspeakable favour it is to be translated from Death to Life 1. If thou Remembrest God The sting of a Natural Death is pulled out and though thou art not 〈◊〉 from the part of the penalty of sin whereby the Body is deprived of all sense and separated from the Soul yet thou art delivered from that which is most terrible in Death 〈◊〉 the misery or Death that will follow after and it is a comfortable passage for them that Remember God to endless Joy and Happiness and sometimes a welcome Messenger to them They may truly say as Agag 1 Sam. 15.32 The bitterness of Death is past 2. They are translated from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace and Holiness and are united unto God and are disposed by Faith and Love to that Holiness which is the Divine Perfection and the way to the highest Happiness and Honour that the Heart of Man can wish or desire Though this Life will be imperfect whilst we stay here And if there be such pleasure in the Union between the Soul and Body then there is much more in the Union between the Soul and God 3. As Death is put for Misery and the bitter and uncomfortable effects of the endless Life to come so they are passed from Death to Life The Sentence of Death that God hath passed against sin is so far revers'd And as for the Miseries and Evils of this Life though materially they may have more than other Men yet as to the formal and most essential part of them they feel them not so much as other Men because they are allay'd and sweetned 1. By the inward Peace and Comfort that God gives to those that Remember him 2. By the benefit and advantage they get by those outward Sufferings For as their outward Man is afflicted so their inward man is renewed strengthened and confirmed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 For their light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory even in the beginnings of it here ver 17.3 It lessens their short and momentary sufferings that by them they escape so much Temptation and all the â—aiâ—s of sin are become the less taking If thou art one in whose Remembrance God is advanced above all other things thou shalt not die but live and declare the works of the Lord Psal 118.17 And though the Lord may chasten and correct thee yet he will not give thee over unto Death ver 18. For God is the Fountain of Life and in his Light thou shalt see Life Psal 36.9 O what a Mercy is it to be delivered from the power of Death and Darkness and to be translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son where thou shalt grow up from one degree of Life to another till thou come to everlasting Life Col. 1.13 At thy first entrance into this Kingdom Death is sentenced and some execution is done upon every sort of Death which will be perfected as this remembrance of God grows up to perfection in thee O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Hos 13.14 Which as it was verified of Christ personally understood so it is of Christ mystically understood 1. As Christ overcame Death in his Person so every true Believer such are all and only they that have God in their Remembrance hath gotten some conquest over Death which shall grow up to a full Victory and therefore Paul in the Name of the whole Church doth acknowledge this mercy Thanks be to God that giveth us the victory thorough our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15 5 7. Whilst the wicked forgetters of God are dead in trespasses and sins and dead to all soul and solid Joy and Comfort and designed to an eternal death Thou that thinkest upon God and remembrest his Love in Christ art entred into a state of Life and hast such a Promise that contains more in it than all the rich Indian Mines Because â—e hath set his Love upon me With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my Salvation Psal 91.16 If thou didst but know what a treasure is hid in thâ—â— Remembrance thou wouldst throw out every thing of thy Memory and Heart that hinders this Remembrance of God This one priviledge of being translated from Death to Life is big with a number more 1. It implies that thou art reconciled to God and he is at peace with thee and thou needest no more to fear him as thine Enemy All his Attributes of Power Justice Holiness Vengeance Majesty that sound so terrible to the forgetters of God do but the better secure thee of thine Happiness 2. It implies also thy present Justification in title of Law God hath acquitted thee by the law of Grace and Act of the Gospel from the guilt of sin and dissolved the Obligation to condemnation Who can lay any thing to thy charge if God absolve thee Who can do thee any hurt when Christ is become thy Advocate Rom. 8.33 3. With this mercy doth concur the mercy of Adoption and Sonship It 's no small Honour to be one of his menial Servants but to be a Son yea a Heir is a priviledge not easily valued and understood 4. The gift of the Spirit to dwell within thee is here also implied to mortifie all sin and to work all gracious habits that may fit thee for a state of Glory In a word 5. All real and relative Grace so far as is necessary to Salvation is thine either in Title Possession 1. The Righteousness of Imputation is thine whereby thou art made fit for Pardon and the Righteousness of Implantation is thine whereby thou art made fit for his Love and Complacency and sweetest Communion with him Secondly If thou art one that Remembrest God all things shall co-operate and conspire for thy good Every Age every state and condition of Life every Place and Company every Change and Alteration in the World Prosperity and Adversity Friends and Enemies Health and Sickness Honour and Dishonour every Relation thou art plac'd in shall help forward thy Joy and Felicity and some Foundation God is laying in every one of these whereupon to
wood we have lost our selves in Thus it is if we count but for a day but if we go further and reckon for the month or year we shall find no end Who can count the Dust of Jacob Num. 23.10 or sum up the mercies he doth receive which are like the Dust of the Earth not for smalness but for multitude David observes them to come by whole loads Psal 68.19 Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with his Benefits But our Spiritual Miseries are yet more because they contain all our Temporals so far as they refer to a Spiritual end and how many more who can tell How many mercies concur in our Redemption Vocation Justification Sanctification How many considerations may be fetch'd from the Author from the meritorious cause from the persons that do receive from the instruments that do convey them from the frequency and reiteration of the particulars and from other circumstances of time and place which would swell our Accounts beyond all possibility of Numeration This is the first motive the infinite mercies we receive should prompt us to this Rememembrance Secondly Wouldst thou have God remember thee with compassion in thy greatest necessities then remember him with affection now It may be there are fearful days coming upon some of us before our final departure and solemn appearance before the Judge of all the World What though the Cloud that hangs over this Nation be but the bigness of a mans hand it may quickly grow bigger and blacker till it cover the face of the whole Heaven and bring down a storm of heavier misery upon those that have escaped Judgment hitherto There is nothing can fense a man from all possible Fears and Terrors if God forget us Wouldst thou not be afraid of evil tidings nor faint when the iniquities of thy heels compass thee about Wouldst thou not be confounded in the day of adversity when the Heaven frowns the Sea roars Esay 24.20 And the Earth shall reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man when the world shall be overturned and the transgression thereof shall be heavy on it and the hearts of wicked men shall fail them for fear Then keep alive such remembrance of him as hath been hitherto commended Then come what will nothing shall drive thee to desperation for the Lord God shall be thy confidence and with-hold thine heart from sinking Prov. 3.26 as well as thy foot from being taken This a great Cardinal in this Nation understood when it was too late and therefore when a Messenger from Henry 8. brought him the tidings of his doom and was sent to bring him away to Execution he pitifully complained That if he had served God as faithfully as he had endeavoured to serve his Master he had never met with such a reward As it is the top stone and the perfection of misery to be blotted out of Gods Remembrance so it is a happiness worth a World to be Remembred by him This supported David many a time when he was in miserable distress and brought to the greatest streights when Friends forsook him Enemies threatned him Saul hunted him like a Patridge about the Mountains and he was forced to flee from before his Face and to take Shelter amongst the Philistines whose Champion he had slain and from whom he had little reason to expect any succour and whilst he liv'd in banishment at Ziglag even that was suddenly surprized by the Amalekites and burnt with Fire and his Wives and Friends were taken away Captives and the People that were his only Guard being provoked spake of stoning him But though all this had been enough to have broken the heart of another man not acquainted with David's refuge yet see how David bore up and supported himself 1 Sam. 30.6 And David was greatly distressed for the People spake of stoning him because the Soul of all the People was grieved every Man for his Sons and for his Daughters But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God This helped Hezekiah to digest the proud message of the King of Assyria and to spread the railing Letter before him who he knew could put a Hook into Sennacherib's Nose and turn him back or else defend him against that Army that were grown so insolent by their Victories 2 Chron. 32. And God remembred him verse 21 22. Yea when Esaiah was sent to him to bid him put his House in order and prepare for death it was Armour of Proof to him against the terror of death that he could say Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight which he could ne'r have done if God had not been highest in his Remembrance Esay 38.3 If thou beest one that canst drive out the thoughts of God in thy youthful healthful and more comfortable days expect not that he should remember thee in distress If whilst thou art surrounded with his mercies thou wilt forget that he is gracious to thee when thou art be set with misery and affliction he will forget to be gracious to thee Be wise now therefore and take in these thoughts as thou takest in the Air every day and other comforts which he sendeth thee and lay them up as thy greatest treasure These will sweeten the sowrest Cup and gild over the bitterest Pill and God will certainly remember thee if not to take away the evil yet take out the sting Ahasuerus may forget Mordecai and the Butler may be unmindful of Joseph and the preserved City may not remember the poor man that saved it but God will not forget those that remember him He will be thy refuge and strength and a very present help in the time of trouble Psal 46.1 And then thou needst not fear though the Earth be removed and the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea though the Waters thereof roar and be troubled though the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof ver 2 3. Then though thy Flesh begins to fail thee yet thy heart will not or if thy Flesh should fail thee and thy Heart also yet God would remember thee and be the strength of thy hope and thy portion for ever Thou mayst easily foresee the day when Sickness will break thy Body and earthly Delights will forsake thee and Death will be inexorable and take no nay then if thou hast cherished this Remembrance of God thou wilt dare to lay down thy Body in the Dust and as certainly foresee the joyful re-union of thy Soul and Body as now thou dost their uncomfortable dissolution Wouldst thou not then be forgotten of God when thy Friends and all the World will forget thee Then Remember him now Yea wouldst thou be content to go into the place of Forgetfulness and to be forgotten as a dead man out of sight Why all this will not discourage thee if thou hast this remedy at hand But on the
pine away thy self from day to day with earnest desires and endeavours after it Thou wert made for God and thy Soul will be restless till it return to him Consideration would convince thee that thus it is think then more frequently what is that work thou wert made for Thirdly The next thing worth your most serious Consideration is how well you have answered the end of your Creation You see what a wise just holy and impartial God you have to do with and that you are his Creatures and wherefore he hath made you and endued you with such Faculties and given you such various helps and encouragements Now consider how well you have used them how you have improved your several Talents and served your Maker and kept the Statutes and Judgments he hath given you Have you had your heart in Heaven or in Earth ever since you came hither Have you lived to God or without God in the world Have you lived in the love and praises of your Maker and in perfect obedience to his Laws or have you not rather extinguished all love of God in your hearts and violated all his righteous Laws and preferred the wisdom of the Flesh before the wisdom of the Spirit and set your selves to oppose his Government Though it may be you have not sinned against him on set purpose and directly opposed him yet have you not neglected to consult his will and when you have known your duty in many particulars have you not refused to obey Let your own Consciences be the Judge Have you kept the fear of God always before your eyes Hath no corrupt communication proceeded out of your mouth Have no idle blasphemous wicked thoughts crept into your hearts Have you been just and righteous in all your dealings towards God and Men Have you stood up for the honour of God against all his Enemies and faithfully reproved Sin and done all your works with respect to Gods glory or have you not overlooked that and minded your own worldly interest and cherished revengeful proud ambitious thoughts in your own hearts and countenanced Sin in others at least have you not been silent when Gods Name hath been lightly used in every trivial matter and his Sabbaths profan'd and his Word derided There 's none of us but must confess we have neglected this great work too much at the best how much more at the worst Our Hereditary Corruption was enough to make us odious in the pure Eyes of God for ever what then shall we plead for our Actual Sins which are multiplied to such a number that we cannot reckon them up So that there is no man that is not liable to the Wrath of God and the Condemning Sentence of his Law Consider whether you have not been treasuring up Wrath all your days and destroying your selves and preferring Dung and Dross before him Did he make thee to affront and dishonour him and prefer a trifle before him Did he make thee to scrape after the world to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Bethink thy self and consider whether thou hast discharged thy Duty and answered the Ends of thy Creation and done all to the glory of God and you will see Cause enough to abhor your self Fourthly Being thus obnoxious to Gods displeasure and liable to Death and Condemnation consider in the fourth place whether you are sensible of your Sin and Misery and whether you have accepted the grace which the Gospel offers to you There 's no remedy but you must perish for ever and have the Judgment of Everlasting Condemnation if Consideration do not bring you to Repentance and wound your hearts with the bitter sense and feeling of your Sin O consider that it was the mere mercy of God that any such terms were offered to you he might have left you as he did the fallen Angels and therefore if now you shall slight a pardon and refuse to lay your sin to heart and to be humbled and broken for it and to come to Christ with a loving and thankful heart that he would cleanse and purifie you by his Word and Spirit your case condition will be the more doleful your Judgment at the Great Day will be more Intolerable I know you have verbally Renounced the World the Devil and the Flesh in your Baptismal promise but have you Really and Unfeignedly Renounced them in heart and life Are you Convinced that nothing can wash away the stain of any the least of your Sins but the Blood of Christ much less wipe away the Sins of your whole Life Have you throughly considered the necessity of his Blood to procure your Pardon the necessity of his Spirit to Sanctifie you And that there is no Name under Heaven by which you can be saved but his but if you be such that loath your selves for all former Sins and are weary of a corrupt and sinful Nature and Christ be the chiefest among ten Thousand to your Soul then though you have so much crossed the end of your Creation and committed so much Sin it shall not be charged on you the Blood of Christ will certainly cleanse you from all your Sin If this faith be not yet wrought in you consideration must open and soften your Heart and make way for it If you did but frequently consider what priviledges they are forthwith admitted to that do believe and what a fearful looking for of Judgment there remaineth for unbelievers you would hasten to make your escape from the Stormy Wind and Tempest Suppose that some Mortal distemper had seized on you and this will certainly be your case ere long do but a little consider what the priviledges of a believer will be worth to you then how sweet the promise of forgiveness by Christ will be to your tast Yea sweeter than the Honey to your throat Psal 119.103 Do but let your thoughts run upon this Subject and tell you How happy you would count your self if you were united to Christ and a true member of his body reconciled to God and pardoned adopted into his family and received into his especial protection what would you give then to be acquitted from all your former sins to have the sting of Death pull'd out to land safe at your desired Harbour to dye in the Lord and to have a Convoy of blessed Angels to carry your soul to endless Joy say what you would give then to be secured from the sensible sears of Hell and Death and to lie down in the Grave in Peace and Safety and to have nothing then to make you afraid Why if you are a Penitent Believer and belong to Christ there will be comfort for you in the Hour when all the World shall signifie nothing to you Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil Prov. 1.33 When natural strength will be sure to fail you and your Soul is going out from your Body where it hath so long dwelt
of no other Argument though I could produce several if he died for such as deny him and crucifie him to themselves afresh and finally perish then he died no question for the rest but that he tasted Death for such is plain Heb. 10.29 Having in the verse before shewed the miserable end of those that despised Moses's Law he infers by way of interrogation Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy of that hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despight to the Spirit of Grace and yet plainer 2 Pet. 2.1 There shall be false Teachers as the Apostle gives them warning that shall bring in damnable Heresie denying the Lord that bought them So that hence it is evident that Christ laid down his Blood as a price to redeem them that ungratefully deny him And if Christ had not died for all it could not be the duty of every man to believe in him But there is nothing more unquestionable than that every one is bound to believe and such as refuse are threatned with a more fearful destruction because they wickedly frustrate as much as in them lies such a wonderful Grace of God and withstand the highest motive to Repentance and a new life 1 Cor. 6.20 Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie him in your Body and in your Spirit which are his The Apostle speaketh to the Corinthians in general among whom there were many unbelievers And what 's the Argument he useth to perswade them to Faith and newness of Life but because Christ hath shewed such love to them as to die for them Since he hath offered up his Body upon the Cross for you do you offer up your Souls and Bodies unto him to be instruments of Righteousness to do him service is the force of the Apostles Argument We see then that the Death of Christ and the Gift of the Spirit are obligations upon all that hear the Gospel at least to a thankful Commemoration of the love of God and a Remembrance of him There are none that live under the sound and influence of the Gospel but have the love of Christ expressed in his Incarnation Life and Death for them to move them externally by way of Argument and the powerful Spirit inwardly to check their Corruptions and prompt them to obedience in some degree and measure and if they will not think upon the one nor submit to the other but slightly regard the one and stubbornly resist the other and stiffle every good motion which they feel and keep off from any serious thoughts of the death of Christ and will not be perswaded to consider the Blood that was shed for them nor suffer his love to be shed abroad into their hearts by the Holy Spirit Let such know that their forgetfulness of God is the more heynous because it hath so fast an obligation as this to the most necessary duty of remembrance the Word also as well as the Spirit What are all the passages of Scripture but such as prepare for or directly stir up to such a Remembrance You may observe some parts of Scripture more remotely conduce to this grand duty of remembring God other parts do more immediately serve to produce it where it is wanting others to reduce and recover it when 't is lost So that one of these three ways either by conducing to it or producing or reducing of it all the parts of Gods Word conspire io this principal duty The main division of the Scripture is into the Old and New Testament But what is the design and drift of both these but to rescue or preserve a Memory of God in the World Our Saviour sums up the Old Testament in these two heads the Law and the Prophets Now what doth the Law serve for if not to mind us of the great Law-giver and to beget an awe of his Soveraignty upon the World And the main end of the Prophets and their Prophesies was to reproduce this Remembrance of God when the ungrateful People had forgot him And what can be the end of that Light that hath shined to us in the Gospel but to teach us to deny all ungodliness 〈◊〉 Forgetfulness of God and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present evil World which we can never do without frequent and effectual Remembrance of God and our Lord Jesus Christ I might more particularly insist here and shew how all the Precepts Promises and Threatnings which are the three essential parts of Gods Word are intended to this end and will leave the Soul inexcusable that forgets him or how the several Books of the Old and New Testament which are the integral parts of God's Word oblige to this Remembrance But I think the case is so plain and clear that none of these ways of demonstration is needful to convince us That the whole Word of God is no little impulsive but presseth earnestly to this Remembrance and is therefore another great Aggravation of the sin of Forgetfulness I shall only chuse to set some of those Texts of Scripture before you that are fullest of Affection and most Pathetical and that shew how unwilling God is to forget poor sinners or that they should perish as they must needs do in their Forgetfulness of him Esay 48.18 19. With what passion doth the Lord mourn over the poor forgetful Israelites that had even now brought utter ruine upon themselves O that thou hadst hearkened to my Commandments then had thy Peace been as a River and thy Righteousness as the Waves of the Sea Thy Seed also had been as the Sand and the off-spring of thy Bowels as the Gravel thereof and Hos 11.8 When the ten Tribes were got to such a degree of wickedness that God was not remembred by them any longer but they had divorced him from them by their Idolatries and could bear no longer without disparagement to the Truth and Justice of God with what unwillingness doth he throw them off How shall I give thee up O Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim My Heart is turned within me my Repentings are kindled together What heart that is not desperately sick of stupidity can hear this sound and not return and recover the remembrance of him whom before he had forgot O that my People had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have subdued their Enemies and turned my Hand against their Adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever He should have fed them also with the finest of the Wheat and with Honey out of the Rock should I have satisfied thee Ps 81.13 14 15. Thus you see how these and such like Scriptures Numbers of which might be gathered together and as the parts of
Woe to the persons that use the Talents God hath given them to such a wicked purpose and serve the Devil so openly in the world and that are imployed as his Agents not only to destroy themselves but to pervert and destroy the Souls of others with whom they have any fellowship I would not be in the condition of those that go down to the Grave with the guilt of such a sin on them for all the World If as the Apostle tells us He that converteâ—h a sinner from the evil of his waâ— shall save his Soul from death and hide 〈◊〉 of sins James 5.23 What reward shall be given unto thee thou false tongue Psal 120.3 that studiest to convert a sinner to the errour of thy ways and to bring his soul to death what shall be done unto thee that dost in plain terms or else by cunning Fetches endeavour to discourage thy brother from prayer meditation in the word of God and consideration of the life to come If you have any belief of the life to come and compassion for your souls avoid the company of such persons as much as you can and stopt your ears to such discourses or rather openly declaim against them and rebuke the persons roundly that are such enemies to the salvation of mens souls and consequently to all the means that should promote and bring it to pass amongst which Consideration is none of the least Fourthly see that you carefully shun too much occupation in worldly affairs If your thoughts be much entangled with the matters of the world they will be very unfit for the consideration of such weighty serious things which you must think upon till you are affected with them more than all other matters that meerly concern this life or else wish that God had never given you a thinking faculty Be still and know that I am God so we render it Psal 46.10 But in the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Desist from and remit your other imployments and consider that I am God For the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hiph signifies Desistere Absistere Remittere 1. To desist to leave off or remit If worldly matters be too busie in your heads spiritual and eternal things cannot be considered nor thought upon as they ought You may as well walk upright with a Mountain on your backs as erect your thoughts Heaven-ward whilst they are incumbred with the world Though slight and trivial business may be transacted in a Croud yet when we have matters of weight and moment we then chuse silence and retâ—â—â—ment Let me tell you there 's nothing of such consequence as those things that are to fall under our consideration And do you think a mind distract with worldly cares is fit for such a work as this It is not easie to be affected with the eye of God that 's ever on us and to stand always in awe of him unless frequent serious consideration make way And who can do that that hath one worldly business or another perpetually in his mind And is even burthened and oppressed with such thoughts As the eye of the body is disturbed by the violent motion of the Wind or Air so the eye of the understanding is more perturbed by busie confused and tumultuous thoughts And although they that have their heads continually exercised and imployed in worldly business are very subject to such confusion and disorder yet even those also that have not their hands very much imployed may have their hearts in continual disturbance and agitation and may have as little vacancy and leisure for such consideration as those that are over head and ears in the World and are as busie all the day long as if they were labouring for a Crown or Kingdom It is an unvaluable mercy to have a free composed and undisturbed mind and to have vacancy and leisure to ask a mans self what he is doing and whether it will yield him comfort when he is passing out of the World Many have bitterly repented them that they have had so many Irons in the Fire and that with Martha they have been careful and solicitous for many things whilst they have neglected the one thing necessary Luke 10.41 Let their Repentance be a warning unto us that the oppressing cares of the world do not either prevent or else smother and choke better thoughts Fifthly Another grand obstruction to the work of necessary consideration is pride in all the kinds thereof As God deals with pride so pride deals with him He looks upon the proud and the proud look upon him afar off or rather he regardeth them not at all nor they him The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not consider and seek after God God is not in all his thoughts Psal 10.4 His wayes are alwayes grievous to him They are far above out of his sight Vers 5. Though the proud man looketh too high yet not high enough you see to take God into his consideration who should be the principal object of it There is none that standeth at a greater distance from God both Actively and Passively by way of sin and punishment than the proud person Though the heart that 's lifted up with pride beareth it self so high yet not high enough for such a work as consideration is that is to be exercised in the highest matters It 's true both pride and consideration are of an aspiring nature and yet you can scarce name two things that are more inconsistent The one seeks the vanishing breath and applause of men The other is ambitious of God's approbation The one reacheth after the pomp and glory of the Earth and the other foares after the riches and glory of Heaven And as pride lifteth up the flesh so consideration doth enable and advance the Spirit Now he that is gotten up to the Top of wordly pride and greatness is far more indisposed to consider the high Attributes of God and his glorious perfections and the life to come and the joys of Heaven than he that is cast down and humbled by worldly poverty and shame he hath a better prospect into the Heavenly Kingdom and Glory and seeth more of the Majesty of God and the splendour and dignity of his Servants that is placed low in the world than he that is got upon a Pinnacle or stands upon the Mountain of worldly honour and felicity There is no man that is the least acquainted with the 〈◊〉 of God but will easily confess that an 〈…〉 lowly spirit hath more clear distinct affecting apprehensions of the highest things than the proudest and most 〈◊〉 spirit Men think to advance themselves to honour by such a spirit as this but it 's certainly true that nothing doth more debase them so true is it thâ—â— Solomon â—ffiâ—â—meth that the wicke worâ—â—â—th a deceifed work Râ—oâ—â— 11.18 As pride is an enâ—my to all grace whatsoever so it is a deadly enemy to consideration for there 's nothing
away his precious time and never thinks to any purpose that his day is coming and what a sad tune he will be then in If mens thoughts were but frequently and seriously imployed about this subject men would not live and walk about the World for nothing as they do They would not fish all their life time and catch nothing but a little worldly pleasure and honour which was but a bait that Satan used to bring them to this misery that now they are departing into Wo wo be to the man that thinks not of Death till it is even at his door That sees it not till his eyes are ready to close up That never dreams of it till he is ready to awake in another World O Sirs your Souls are here to day and gone to morrow and you know not what one day or night may bring forth Prov. 27.1 Though you may think it is the way to a merry comfortable life to put the serious sober thoughts of your later end out of your mind yet I am sure it is not the way to a comfortable joyful death and is it not a thousand times more desireable to die comfortably than to live comfortably if you will needs part these two one from the other But I must plainly tell you that you are mistaken and that it is not the way to a comfortable chearful life to forget a mans latter end and to decline such a provident Foresight and Meditation unless you take a licentious sensual and foolish life for a comfortable life And then there 's no doubt but the frequent Consideration of a mans latter end will disturb and interrupt such sinful foolish mirth But there are no men in the World that live a more comfortable joyful life and taste so full and true content and pleasure as those that have frequently thought upon death and the consequent of it and made it familiar to their thoughts and have quite overcome the fear of death by a wise foresight of it and preparation for it He may well rejoyce oven at the heart that hath overcome his great enemy and is got over the Rub that the rest of the World must meet with sooner or later that shall put an end to their foolish mirth and laughter The considerate man hath trampled this King of Terrours under his feet and through fear of death is no longer subject unto bondage as inconsiderate men are whereas on the contrary men that are not accustomed to these thoughts nor have brought forth the fruit of them whensoever such thoughts accidentaly rush into their mind they cannot bear them how terrible and affrighting are the apparitions of death when they get into their imaginations and fancy and let them do what they can to shift these imaginations out of their hearts sometime or other they will surprize them and break in though they shut the door never so fast and bolt them out and then they pay something for their former inconsideracy If a Fit of Sickness come upon them that threatens them with death fearfulness and trembling taketh hold on them and a fit of horrour is ready to overwhelm them Psal 55.5 What now Will you call that a merry comfortable life that 's so easily disturbed with one sad dismal thought that may arise Will you say that man lives a pleasant life whom a Hand-writing upon the Wall can damp and strike into a Fit of Trembling Will you say that that man lives as happily and comfortably that by some sad accident a thousand of which he is subject to may have his Countenance changed his Thoughts trouble him and the Joynts of his Loyns loosed and his Knees smite one against another as Belshazzar had in the midst of his mirth and jollity Dan. 5.6 Will you call this a comfortable life that will so soon perish and come to a fearful end or that rather that grows more lightsome and chearful when Death it self approacheth and is drawing near Let a man that 's forsaken of Reason and Understanding forget his latter end as the fittest Expedient to his distracted foolish mirth but if thou art Master of any Wit or Reason thou wilt entertain and cherish such thoughts as these as the beginning of true Wisdom O remember that die thou must and leave the world behind thee and woe be to thee if thou hast not made some good preparation for a more lasting life The night of thy life is even almost spent see how much the Taper of thy present life is already wasted If thou knowest any thing thou canst not but know that it 's appointed for all men to die yea and that but once and after Death comes the Judgment there 's no calling back thy time and life when once they are spent no turning up thy glass again when once it is run out no after-game to play after the first is lost no dying a second time when once thy breath is gone I mean in this world though there be a second Death a thousand times more terrible than the first in the world to come Well if thou would'st live comfortably indeed yea and die comfortably also consider thy latter end be not afraid of such thoughts that will make thee wise to Salvation Seventhly Another Object worthy thy frequent consideration is the Judgment of the Great Day O what pity is it that a man that 's made for another world and that must be solemnly cited before the Tribunal of the Righteous and Impartial Judge and be responsible for his whole Life how he hath spent it should drive such thoughts out of his mind as Gallio drove Pauls Accusers from the Judgment Seat Acts 18.16 and care for none of these things What is it better to stand trembling before thy Judge in that day than to hold up thy Head with confidence If thou art one that dost not consider the Solemnity of that day nor the Concernments of thine own Soul in that general Assembly and appearance thou art more like to be confounded in that day than to rejoyce Would a proud vain-glorious Worldling so passionately rejoyce in the day of his prosperity and let his heart chear him in the midst of his foolish pleasures and walk in the ways of his heart and in the sight of his eyes if he did but consider that for all these things God will bring him to Judgment Would any man cast off all duty to God or perform it with a negligent slightness and indifferency to gratifie his lazy flesh or a busie Lust if he did but remember and consider that for these things he must be judged and for these without Repentance before Death he must die for ever O my Brethren it is no such contemptible trivial day nor the business that must then be transacted of such small and petty concernment that you should not think them worth your frequent and considerate thoughts Think you must whether you will or no upon trifles if you refuse to think on such matters
for what the World will give thee instead of it thou shalt consider when it is too late and say with that unhappy King that sold away his Kingdom for a draught of water Alas must I for so short a pleasure lose so great a Kingdom Ninthly Another thing that it concerns thee much to roul about and consider with thy deepest thoughts is the horrour and confusion of those that must be banished for ever from the face of God and sentenced to everlasting misery There 's none that escape that place but those that frequently think on it and believe it it s well worth thy serious Consideration to preserve thy soul from such a fearful destruction Many a man whom God hath awakened to believe those terrible endless torments have retired themselves from all worldly noise and disturbance that they might live under the power of these thoughts as the best preservative against these torments And is not thy Soul as dear and precious to thee as their's to them and deserve as much compassion from thee Surely though it is not thy duty to think actually of the woful and miserable estate of unbelievers all the day long Yet it 's of absolute necessity that some serious thoughts should be spent on that subject till the fear thereof make void and prevail over all Carnal worldly fears whatsoever And make thee more industrious to prevent that misery than thou art to escape the scorn and and reproach and all the sufferings and miseries of this life otherwise thou art never like to escape it And methinks thou should'st easily believe that Hell is more to be feared than all the Calamities of this Life and the loss of this Life it self But thus it will never be if thou art not one that dost often represent it to thy thoughts A danger though it be never so great yet if it be both out of sight and mind also will fright no body nor have any the least influence upon our endeavours to escape it The evil must be before the eye of our sense or understanding that works upon us to take the best course for our security and defence And the nearer we apprehend it to be the more hast we make to get away from it And whether a wicked man hath no reason to think his woful misery near even at the door I leave any man to Judge that hath any competent use of his understanding what can you name almost that 's more uncertain then this Life and so soon as ever it ends then begins his distress that shall never end But yet let him not be too confident that it shall not begin before Many a man hath felt the torments of Hell on this side the grave and this Judgment hath commenc'd before his life hath been concluded some mens sins go before them to Judgment saith the Apostle and some mens follow after 1 Tim. 5.24 There is some men feel the Vengeance of a righteous Judge even in this Life Spira professed that he felt the consuming fire of Gods wrath in his heart and Conscience whilst he was alive and openly blasphemed his Maker wishing that he was above him for he knew as he said that he would have no mercy on him O Sirs the intollerable pains that every impenitent Sinner must speedily undergo are well worth the pains of a few hours Consideration to prevent and if you think it not so you may spare your pains a little longer till your lamentable experience shall put you quite out of all doubt If indeed the diversion of your thoughts from so sad an object were the way to secure your Souls and to keep out of that devouring and unquenchable fire then you might well excuse your selves from troubling your minds with such thoughts as these But though you may quench the spirit of God that moveth you to Consider of this and to let it sink into your heart that you may seek for mercy whilst it may be had yet you cannot quench the flames of Hell nor extinguish that fire that must feed upon your soul and body for ever O how much better is it cooly to Consider the intolerableness of Gods wrath then to feel the burning heat and extremity of his indignation when there is no remedy If it were indeed but a flea bite you might slight it and keep your thoughts for something of more weight and moment Or if it were unavoidable perhaps you might do wisely not to torment your selves before the time nor invite such a guest till it comes of his own accord 'T is to no purpose to think of such sufferings which thinking will not prevent But believe it it is no flea-bite nor a matter to be slighted Fire and Sword and Rack and all the inventions of Cruelty that were ever found out are but Sport and Recreation to the Judgment and Condemnation of the Life to come And because the loss of God and Heaven seems such a tolerable punishment to these Vessels of wrath Let me tell them that there 's no part or member either in their Soul or Body that shall not be racked with perpetual and eternal pain And can thine heart endure or thine hands be strong when he shall come to deal with thee Ezek. 22.14 Thou would'st eat thy bread with trembling and drink thy drink with terrour and astonishment if he should pour out on thee some few bitter drops of his displeasure now in this life Thou even thou saith the Psalmist to Almighty God whose Judgments thou despisest art greatly to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry Psal 76.7 what trembling eyes and what a failing heart have they whom God doth a little terrifie with some frowns of his anger here on earth you may hear them cry out in the morning would God it were evening and in the evening would God it were morning for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear and for the fear of thine eyes which thou shalt see Deut. 28.6 51 67. How dolefully doth Job complain under his outward sufferings though he had Integrity to support him and the root of Comfort was within him Job 19.28 Death it self it seems would have been welcome to him under the heavy pressures which he felt as we may see in Job 3.20 21. c. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life to the bitter in Soul which long for death but it cometh not and dig for it more than for hid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave Why is life given to a man whose way is hid and whom God hath hedg'd in for my sighing cometh before I eat and my roarings are poured out like water And how David was ready to faint away many a time under the apprehensions of Gods displeasure it 's the design of many a passage in the Psalms to tell you Psal 51.8 Make me to hear of joy and gladness that the
bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce So Psa 22.14 15. what a sad Lamentation have you I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joynt my heart is like wax it 's melted in the midst of my bowels my strength is dried up like a Potsheard and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou hast brought me into the dust of death So Psa 31.9 10. Have mercy on me O Lord for I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with grief yea my Soul and my Belly for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing my strength faileth because of mine iniquity and my bones are consumed But if you look into the 88 Psal the case of Heman seems there to be far more sad because it was more constant and uninterrupted than David's was vers 14 15 16. c. Lord why castest thou off my Soul why hidest thou thy face from me I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up whilst I suffer thy terrours I am distracted Thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrours have cast me off they came round about me daily like water they compassed me about together Lover and Friend hast thou put far from me and mine Acquaintance into darkness And how pitifully doth the Church complain under the effects of Gods sharp displeasure as you may see in the Book of the Lamentations So that you may perceive by these few instances that the wrath of God even on this side Hell is not to be slighted and if a drop or two light so heavy upon men that had such grace courage and fortitude to bear up under it how heavy must it needs be when it falls with its whole weight upon men in the state of torments Wo be to them on whom it falls it will grind them to powder If a little sickness be so sharp and terrible sometime that it makes a stout heart to speak trembling and turns a fresh coloured face into paleness and makes the beauty thereof to consume away like a Garment fretted by a Moth How will men speak and look under the pains of the second death How restless are men under some Acute Distempers they toss up and down and tell the hours and watch for the Morning Light in hope the Sun should rise upon them with healing in its wings And if men roar under a Fit of the Gout or Collick what then shall they do in Hell And as the torments of Hell are no Flea bite nor to be slighted by any the stoutest heart so neither are they unavoidable for then I should not recommend them to your Consideration But when the misery of that place cannot find a tongue to utter and express it nor set forth the greatness of it and Consideration is such a certain way to escape it who but a Mad-man or one that doth not believe it will refuse at least some time to think seriously on it till he hath some well grounded hope to escape it I will take it for granted that that man is resolved to try his strength and see how well he can bear it that will not endure the sober deliberate thoughts of it in his mind O Sirs if when an Angel of light descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre where our Saviour was buried and sate upon it the guilty Keepers for fear of him did shake and became as dead men Mat. 28.2 4. How will such as are condemned to Hell shake and tremble when Angels of Darkness shall continually appear before them That horrible sight together with the inward terrours of their own despairing Consciences will fright them into everlasting trembling and fearfulness If thou hast a mind to escape that place of perpetual darkness and despair consider it well now and let it sink into thy serious thoughts Lastly Consider the infallible truth and certianty of all this I confess there is something that is dubious and uncertain in every one of these particulars but yet there is something also that is of the highest certainty something that you may well make a question of but yet something that 's past all controversie and question among Christians Let me give you a brief Recapitulation 1. There 's nothing more certain than that there is a God and that he is Infinite in all perfections that he hath made all Creatures and that he is the absolute Lord and Governour of Mankind and his principal Benefactor Thus much is unquestionable But it is a very great question whether thou dost acknowledge him sincerely for thy Owner Soveraign and one that hath every way obliged thee and art truly devoted to him in heart and life 2. It 's most certain that he hath made thee for no lower Ends than his service and that he hath given thee a Law to teach thee how he will be served and that he expecteth thou shouldest be heartily subject to him and obedient to his Laws and that thou should'st believe and patiently wait for his rewards in so doing But it is a matter of Enquiry and Self-examination whether thou hast answered this Intention of God in thy Creation and obeyed his Laws in a confident expectation of his Rewards 3. It is past doubt that thou hast broken the Law of thy Creation corrupted thy Nature lived in Disobedience and cast off the Yoke of thy Creator that thou hast by Original and Actual Transgressions forfeited thy life and all thy other mercies and deserveth to be dealt with as a Rebel and a Traytor to thy Soveraign Lord and Ruler But it is a matter of doubt and therefore should be seriously enquired by thee whether thou dost acknowledge from thy heart and art sensible of thy sin and misery thereby All the world are miserable but they are but few that are affected with their misery 4. It is certain that Christ hath shed his Blood to redeem all Mankind and that Pardon and Remission is offered to all that do heartily repent and believe That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 That none are excepted in this Act of Oblivion and Free-grace but such as refuse the Mercy offered and continue in wilful impenitency and unbelief You will not come unto me that you may have life John 5.40 But it is a matter of very great doubt and question whether thou hast any sincere Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ whether thou hast sufficiently bewailed thy corrupt Nature that was born with thee into the world and thy Rebellion against thy Maker in the course of thy life and wilful transgression of his Laws and whether thou art so deeply wounded with the bitter sense of thy sin as to submit to the Yoke and Government of Christ that he may deliver thee from the bondage of thy sins For though Christ be offered to all and
did intentionally lay down his life for all yet none shall reap the fruit and benefit of his sufferings and satisfaction but such as are broken in heart for their iniquities and come believingly unto him to bind them up again and heal them 5. What more certain than the vanity of all things here below and their utter insufficiency to satisfie the Soul of Man and make it happy Every one that is not wilfully blind may see how ridiculous the Competition is between God and them The greatest Epicures and those that dote most upon the world and admire its glory will confess thus much when they come to die and their eyes are then opened for the most part whose very Reason and Understanding as well as their affections were wholly captivated to its deluding pleasures all their life-long Ask them now which is better the Favour of God or the Pleasures of the World and they will not then stick to tell you there 's no comparison between them you shall have a free and a full confession from them But yet though the World be such an empty thing and not worthy to be laid in the balance with the Favour of God and an Interest in Christ yet it is a great question whether it is so indeed in thy Estimation and Affections Let thy practice and the course and tenour of thy life decide the case Which doest thou study and endeavour to serve and please most Which doest thou labour most after the Food that perisheth or the Food that endureth Which doest thou make the most careful provision for this life or the life to come It concerns thee as much as the Salvation of thy Soul comes to to put this as much out of doubt as it is past doubt that the World is altogether vanity 6. How sure is it that Death will shortly come and part thy Soul and Body and give thee thy mortal wound and turn thy flesh into corruption Not a man but must shortly make his Bed in the Grave and be forgotten as a dead man out of sight and leave his substance to those that come after This is a clear truth and hath a sound confession from all the world the experience of all our Forefathers is a clear proof But yet though this truth is so fully attested by the confession of all the living and the experience of all the Dead yet it is a very great doubt whether thou dost remember and consider thy latter end and improve thy life as that which will not always last Wo to thee if this be not as certain as the other 7. Nothing more sure than that there is a Publick Audit at which all men must give up their Accounts a general day of Oyer and Terminer where every one must undergo an impartial Tryal and Examination But it is uncertain whether thou dost sincerely believe such a day and dost make answerable preparations and whether thou dost live as in the sight of thy Judge it behoves thee to consider 8. It 's matter of greatest certainty that there is a State of unspeakable happiness for Believers and that there is a State of endless and unsufferable misery to which Unbelievers shall he condemned and when men are arrived thither their condition is unalterable there 's no possibility that they should lose the one or ever be released from the other These are all matters of the highest certainty all the doubt is whether thou hast lived under the power of these Truths by frequent Consideration and whether they had such influence on thee as things of such certainty weight and worth should have You see what is certain and what is doubtful and uncertain in all these particulars and in both respects they will deserve thy attentive heedful thoughts and thy most impartial Consideration The things that are certain will never make their due impression upon thy heart nor operate according to their worth nor put thee upon answerable practice till they be again and again considered The things that are uncertain will never be resolved till they be frequently considered Men regard not the Judgment to come because they will not be brought to consider the certainty of it and how much it doth concern them Men slight the Torments of Hell and Joys of Heaven because they will not consider the certainty of them Would any one fall in love with the world if he did but consider how certainly it will deceive him Would men live so improvidently and spend their strength and time so impertinently if they did but seriously consider that they must certainly die and speed Eternally as they have lived Would men set up their own will for a Law and live to themselves and put the fear of God out of their hearts if they did but consider that God is certainly their Maker and Soveraign and that they owe perfect subjection to his Person and obedience to his Laws Would men live so absurdly and forget their main Errand in the world and the principal business of their lives if they did but consider that God certainly sent them into the world for this very end and purpose to serve him and live in love and obedience to him In a word would men wipe their mouths after so much Rebellion and Disobedience to God as if they were Innocent and be so impenitent and unaffected with their sins if they did but consider how certain it is that without Repentance there 's no hope of pardon and that they must smart for their sin here by Repentance or else hereafter in Eternal misery and desperation and that Christ will be a Saviour to none but those that thus smart for their sin and feel its intolerable burthen and fly unto him by Faith as their only refuge O if we did enough consider the great certainty of these things they would have another effect and operation on us than usually they have upon the best of us much less would they suffer us to live in such Atheism and contempt of Christ and Salvation as the most of men live As sure as thou sinnest now thou shalt be judged for it and that to Everlasting Condemnation if thy serious Repentance step not in between as sure as thou livest now thou shalt shortly die and as sure as thou treadest upon the Earth so sure shalt thou lie down in it e're long and be trodden under foot Look up and behold the Heavens above thee that glister with so many Stars of light as sure as they now hang over thy head so certainly shall they be under thy feet e're a few years more be past If thou hast laid up thy Treasure in Heaven I mean if thy chief joy and delight be there if there be any trust in the Lord any truth and certainty in his Word these things which I have recommended to thy frequent Consideration are Truths of the highest certainty and importance the flattering World may deceive thee thy false dissembling heart may deceive thee
yield them I do not say that Tears are always an inseparable Concomitant of Repentance But unfeigned sorrow for sin if it be in that degree that our sin requireth will for the most part produce Tears What a Flood did St. Austin pour forth at his first Conversion The story is very remarkable you may find it in his Confessions After he had strugled with himself a good while and had met with stiff opposition from the World and the Flesh with the Lusts thereof that he was given to which were still tugging and drawing to keep their hold of him But the good Man knowing that they would prove his utter destruction if they were not forsaken prayed earnestly to God to deliver him from their Bondage And hearing by Pontition a Christian Courtier of the virtuous Life of St. Anthony a Man of little Learning but of strict and exemplary Piety began to be more enflamed with a desire after Conversion And walking in a Garden with his Friend Alipius he crys out to him Quid hoc est Quid patimur Sargunt indocti c. 1. What 's the Matter What unhappy Men are we Poor simple illiterate Men Rise up and get the Kingdom of Heaven by force and we with all our Learning wallow in the Mire of Lust and Corruption Afterwards going forth into an Orchard all his former pleasures mustered up and seemed to present themselves before his Eyes and thus to set upon him Dimittesne nos a momento isto c. What wilt thou leave us quite And must we never after this time see thee any more What filth saith he and shameful pleasures did they lay before mine Eyes which he entreated God to pardon At length after a tedious difficult Conflict a marvellous Tempest of Tears came upon him and Rivers of Water ran down his Eyes as he lay under a Figg-tree and there he poured forth his Soul to God and prevailed and threw off his beloved Lusts and Corruptions and never returned to them any more All these Acts must concur where there is true sorrow for sin such as the Gospel doth require as a condition without which there can be no forgiveness though perchance every one of these distinct Acts may not be taken notice of by him that is sincerely penitent yet he feeleth the force and power of them in his afflicted broken Heart But yet some of the forgoing Acts that are in the understanding it may be stick closer than the others and prevail more to bring on the after Acts that are in the Will and Affections and are expressed in the outward Actions But though some degrees of this forementioned Sorrow may and do always go before Faith in Christ yet your Repentance is never compleated and perfected till Christ be heartily closed with and received with loving subjection of the Soul for then the Soul is enabled by the Spirit that he bestoweth to bring forth that Repentance which it had brought but to the Birth before There must be some sense of the evil of sin and fear of God's displeasure and the miseries that it already hath and will moreover bring upon us and some loathing of a Man's self before ever Christ will be welcome to you and before you will consent that he shall be your Soveraign Lord and Saviour and take his Yoke on you You must feel the intolerableness of the other Yoke of Sin and Satan before you will change it for Christ's and come to him for ease and Relief So that you see some Acts of Repentance are preparatory to Faith viz. Such as Self-love and the Fear of Hell and Damnation can produce But it is the Love of God in Christ that must kindly melt the Heart for sin and antidote it against the poyson thereof for the future and settle the Resolution to forsake it and follow after holiness whereby the soul is made like to God So much for the Nature of Repentance or what Acts it is made up of I come next to the Considerations that should provoke and stir up this Holy Affection First then Consider the flat necessity of Repentance without which there is no Pardon nor Peace with God to be expected whatever he dispense withal this he will not dispense with He hath indeed dispensed with the Law of Works that required perfect sinless Obedience or threatned Damnation And hath promised thee that thou shalt not dye nor the threatning be executed on thee if thou wilt submit to the Gospel or the New Law of Christ thy Redeemer That is in other words if thou wilt from thy Heart acknowledge thy sins and repent of them and come to Christ for strength and resolution to forsake them But he will never dispense with thee here in case thou wilt not submit to this gracious offer Thy sins must be felt and that more than all worldly sufferings otherwise Christ will be no Physician to thee nor shalt thou ever feel the admirable power of his Blood Thy sin must be felt either here by Repentance or else hereafter in eternal Desparation Now the stain and filthiness of thy most hainous sins may be washed out by the Blood of Christ if thou comest with a penitent Heart to that sovereign healing Fountain But then the stain can never be got out nor thy reproach be ever wiped away though thou shouldst pour forth Rivers of Tears Behold I have foretold thee Let not thy Heart deceive thee nor think that after thou hast displeased God so often by thy sin that thou mayest scape and find Mercy though thou art never heartily displeased with thy self for thy foolish shameful ways Never any person found favour with God nor obtained Mercy that did not drink of this bitter Potion of Repentance and was not more afflicted in Heart and Soul for Disobedience to God than for any worldly Misery that ever befel him It is an unpleasant work to a Man yet in his sins and a narrow passage unto life but he that will enter into the Heavenly Kingdom must pass through this streight Gate The bitterness of this Repentance will quickly be over but the unspeakable comfort thereof if it be sound and enable thee to forsake thy sins will abide with thee for ever Who would not submit to hard Terms to save his Estate though it were never so little or his Life though it were unhealthy and uncomfortable But who would not consent to harder Terms to procure a more plentiful Estate and a more healthful comfortable Life And is there any thing more necessary or doth half so much concern thee as to have God thy reconciled Friend and to save thy Soul from Eternal Death anâ— thy self from utter destruction of Body and Soul for ever and ever And to get the possession of Eternal Life and Joy Consider I beseech O my Soul And do not reject the offer of Repentance lest the refusal cost thee a Repentance a thousand times more sharp and bitter The pangs of the New Birth will
quickly end and then thou wilt begin to rejoyce that a Soul is born into the Spiritual World And then thou wilt forget all thy former Sighs and Groans and Fears and the bitter Agonies of thy Soul becaufe God hath now answered thee in the joy of thy Heart And taken thee into his special care and pardoned all thy sin Eccles 5.20 Or if thou beest one that hath pass'd the New Birth already thy speedy repentance after sin committed will be like a Shower in Summer after the Ground is parched with heat and drought The Winter-Rain though the Ground be well soaked therewith may indeed prepare the Earth to bring forth its Encrease which Men expect from it in Summer and Harvest But if there fall not some Showers now and then especially after violent hot Seasons all the hopes of a good Harvest may come to nought So it is in the Case of sin your first Repentance and Tears are like the Winter-Rain that is of long continuance and doth throughly soak into the Heart and make it soft and fertile But your after-Repentance is like the Summer-Showers and the more the heat is parched with sin and hardned through the Sun-shine of Prosperity the more it must be watered with fresh Showers of Holy Repentance and Sorrow or else you will lose your hopes of Future Joy and Happiness Seeing then the Necessity of a first and after Repentance refuse not the Mercy that 's offered to thee upon such fair Terms For shame disown that Faculty of Sorrow and Weeping if it will not serve thee and stand thee in stead in this greatest Necessity Shall thine Eyes trickle and run down with Tears if thou hast but lost a dear Friend and Acquaintance Yea if thou hast but parted with him for a time and hast not quite lost him or her And shall not thy Heart melt and thine Eyes pour down when God is departed from thee though it should be but for a certain time Alas thou wantest him every Moment more than thou canst do the most useful helpful Friend that ever thou hadst in the World And if thou knowest not thus much the greater is thy need of repentance and sorrow for such a wicked deadly ignorance as this will prove if the Tears of Repentance do not clear thine Eyes and cause thee better to see and understand what need thou hast of the Divine Grace and Comfort every hour And then thou wilt be as ready to say as David I am poor and needy make hast unto me O God Thou art my help and my deliverer make no long tarrying O my God Psalm 70.5 And when thou hast well considered and had a little more experience thou wilt say as he did Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had long since dwelt in silence 1 death Psalm 94.17 It 's easie to see if thou regardest either Scripture or Experience That in the multitude of thy troublesome thoughts within he only can comfort and rejoyce thy soul Psalm 94.19 If thou canst not therefore weep in the want and absence of him better thou hadst had no Eyes nor a Faculty to sigh or weep Yea the very Children of the Bride-chamber though they have no need to weep whilst the Bride-groom is with them that is whilst they seel the effects of God's gracious Presence and Favour yet when the Bride-groom is gone from them and driven away by some sinful unkind usage in these days they must mourn or the Comforter will not return again How much more must they weep that are none of the Children of the Bride-chamber that never yet repented in all their life Well there is no Remedy Except you repent you will certainly perish Luke 13.3 5. This is the First Consideration to provoke Repentance and to stir up this Affection Secondly Consider how foolishly thou hast done and then refrain thy deepest Sorrow and Tears if thou art able This Consideration stirr'd up David's repentance after that carnal confidence and distrust of God he had been guilty of in numbring the People 2 Sam. 24.10 And David 's heart smote him after he had numbred the People And David said unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done And now I beseech thee O Lord take away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly Is it not a ridiculous foolish Act to set our strength and wit against him that made us For the Stubble to quarrel with the Fire And the Dust to fight against the Wind that scattereth it on the Face of the Earth 'T is just such a piece of wisdom to provoke God wilfully And when he calls to give him no answer And when he hath given us a Law to direct us how to live Never seriously to enquire what it is nor to trouble our selves with such Thoughts If an Earthly Master should command his Servant to do any thing that were just and reasonable and he should peremptorily refuse to do it you would call that plain Rebellion and say that Servant deserves to be used accordingly And is it much better do you think if he should send him Instructions written in black and white what he would have him do And he should let them lye by and never read them Wilful ignorance of what we may and are bound to know lives at next door to direct and open Contradiction and Rebellion Now judge whether that Man be not void of understanding or stark mad That dare stand up and contradict and say he will not obey when God commands him I know there 's not a Man believes there is a God and knows what he is that dares say plainly as Pharaoh did Who is the Lord that I should obey him Exod. 5.2 But are there not many thousands that will go their ways and never consider or regard what God commands them I would it were not a very common Case And Mens ordinary course in the World And what 's the reason that Men are so exceeding bold and adventurous The plain reason is becaufe they are foolish Children and have no knowledge they are sottish and have no understanding Jer. 4.22 And yet it follows They are wise enough to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge What canst thou say for thy self that art yet an impenitent wretch If thou art one that doest believe thou hast a Soul to save and a God to serve and that the Day is coming when thou must account for these things and yet regardest them not will not thy Tongue be forced to say thou hast done very foolishly Is he not a Fool that neglects his greatest Concernments and spendeth all his Time without any Thoughts of them Suppose a Merchant should send a Factour into a far Countrey to negotiate his Affairs and transact his Business there and to carry on his Trade with the Inhabitants of that Countrey and there should live gallantly upon the Cost and Expences of his Master that sent him and when he should
easily force thee to an Acknowledgment of thy Pride and Worldliness and filthy Lusts which thou doest so carefully conceal and the hainous dishonour thou hast done to his Name He could make thine own Conscience fall upon thee and condemn thee in despight of thee and thy Tongue to fall upon thy self But he loves to deal with every Creature according to the Nature he hath given them He leaves thee to thine own choice having given thee Reason to discern what is fittest to be done and his infallible Word to guide thee He useth Arguments to perswade rather than Power to compel and draws thee with Cords of a Man as the Prophet expresseth it Hosea 11.4 That if Love and Ingenuity will not prevail with thee to do thy Duty to him Shame and Ingenuity might perswade thee to repent thee of the Folly There is some ingenuity in a free and open confession of thy sin and a proportionable sorrow for it and endeavour to vindicate the Name of God which thou hast dishonoured after thou hast been so disingenious to dishonour him by thy Transgressions He that can harden himself against his dearest Friend and blot his precious Name with any foul Aspersions and then justifie and defend what he hath done or at least manifest himself to be altogether insensible of such behaviour deserves to be thrust out of the Society of Men And all Men would take him for a Monster and degenerate piece of Humanity But it 's a thousand times worse to play such Tricks with God who will lay them to Heart and not let them go unpunished And when he sees thou art past all Ingenuity and hast out grown the Heart of a Man and there is nothing to be done with thee without stripes and blows he will deal with thee as Masters use to deal with a Scholar that will no longer be moved by any other Arguments make them the common whipping-Blocks of the School that by their just punishment the other that have some ingenuity still left may take warning or else turn such untractable Disciples quite out of their Tuition O my Brethren your Case would be sad indeed if it should once come to any of these The Heathen could say Q. Curt. Illum ego perisse dico â—â—i periit pudor He that hath lost all shame is utterly lost And he that hath lost all ingenuity is quite shameless I beseech you look into your Hearts and search Can you find no Motions to Sorrow and Complaints and bitterness of Spirit for all those Hours you have foolishly spent in the Service of the Flesh or the World and the Devil which are the professed Enemies of him who is your greatest Friend Surely you cannot reflect upon those rebellious sinful Courses you have taken and not be moved with indignation against your corrupt Inclinations that have so much seduced you Surely you can never be vile enough in your own Eyes that have so much villified and despised the just Commands of him that holdeth your Soul in life and keepeth you every moment If you are past all sorrow for sin you are past all hope and are become like a broken Vessel that can never be made up again Peter indeed was so disingenious to deny his dearest Master the effect of whose sweetest Love he had so often tasted But it was when he was in a fright and passion He no sooner thought upon his odious disingenuity but the poor Man melts into Tears and weeps bitterly There 's no sin but is curable but this of Final Impenitance and Unbelief It 's possible that though seven Devils have got possession of thee they may be cast out It was Mary Magdalen's case and she yet found mercy with the Lord but then remember how she wept and wiped the very Feet of Christ with the Hair of her Head Luke 7.44 But if thou want Tears for thy sin and a penitent bleeding Heart for thine iniquities thy case is a thousand times worse than if thou hadst the greatest sins and yet couldst bewail them and humble thy self for them For this would shew that there is some ingenuity left in thee which the Lord loveth where ever he sees it And will not let the person perish that confesseth from his heart that he hath deserved to perish and is afflicted for what he hath done Fourthly Consider there 's no Evil or Misery whatsoever calls for Grief and Sorrow so much as Sin doth And yet we can weep our Eyes out almost for some petty Evils and Miseries that sometimes do afflict us What an absurd and preposterous sorrow is it to cry for the death of a Friend to howl for the loss of a Child and to be overwhelmed with grief when an intimate dear Acquaintance is snatch'd away from thee And yet to be heart-whole when God is provoked to depart from thee and thou art in danger to lose thy Soul We take the Person for a Child or a Fool that whines and makes a stir for a Trifle and makes sad Complaints for a Scratch or a Flea-bite and is little or no whit moved for the loss of his Credit or good Name or something that 's far better This as well as all other Passions in Man should be governed by Reason otherwise they are no more regardable than the howling of a Dog And how is that Passion guided by Reason that makes a great Noise and is moved with much Violence for a Matter of nothing and is very quiet when it hath much more cause to be moved Is that a rational sorrow or doth become a Creature that hath understanding that brings a Man down even to death's door for the departure of some worldly comfort and leaves him without Tears and Sighs when he is losing that which is a thousand times more desirable Understand thy self aright and thou wilt be ashamed of such a ridiculous sorrow as this Sin is the cause of all other Evil that comes upon thee and therefore must needs be far worse it self and much more to be lamented It takes away thy Friend from thy side thy Child from thy bosom It bereaves thee of thy Health deprives thee of thy Credit and Estate It parts between thy Soul and Body and makes the most lamentable divorce of all between God and thy Soul As I live saith the Lord though the Son of Jehoiakim King of Judah were the Signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck him thence Jerem. 22.24 And why is this but because he had provoked God by his sin It is sin that is our greatest Enemy It 's our Comfort against all other Enemies that they can pursue us no further than the Grave and there the weary be at rest Job 3.17 There we shall feel our worldly troubles no longer But this Enemy begins then to rage most when all other Cruelties cease Then it comes upon us like a Tempest It follows us beyond the Grave and will never leave us till it hath compleated our Misery and
Reason can easily stir or command is a great Enemy to this Duty He therefore that would be always fit for this Duty must with all his Might resist the true and principal Cause of Sadness I mean Sin and when he cannot prevent it he must speedily repent of it and turn from it and renew his Faith in Christ and then his Soul will not refuse to be comforted but will chear up and at length attain such a good measure of Alacrity as will become Christianity and constantly dispose him to this Duty provided his Body be not oppressed with melancholy Fumes and Vapours For in such Case the Art of the Physician must be joyned with the fore-mentioned Prescriptions And such Temperance and Exercise of the Body must be used as may reduce it again and make it fit to subserve a chearful Mind There 's no greater pull-back nor obstruction to this becoming generous heavenly Work than a sower dejected and contracted Spirit The Jews had a Proverb amongst them that Spiritus sanctus non descendit super Animum maestum which though taken without limitation is not true because the Spirit of God works Godly Sorrow and dwells in the contrite Heart that 's broken for sin to revive comfort and bind it up again yet with some restriction it contains a very great Truth viz. That the Divine Spirit in it more Noble and Excellent Operations of Love Joy and Delight and those other Affections that have a very near confederacy with these and chearful Obedience which results from these doth not descend upon those that are of a sad and heavy Heart whilst such But they are first exhilerated and cheared by the Heavenly Comforter before they can get up to these higher Duties And though Godly Sorrow for sin be consistent enough with some Spiritual Joy and Concomitant Affections before mentioned whilst it keeps its just degree and measure yet when it proceeds to Heighth and Excess and goes beyond its just Bounds it greatly indisposeth to Works of that Elevation But the Sorrow of the World worketh Death and is therefore very inconsistent with Works that require the greatest Life yea the sorrow and dejectedness that arise from the Temper and Complexion of a Melancholick Body do very much hinder the Soul in these more sublime and raised Operations And the more voluntary it is through the wilful neglect of Means either Medicinal or Moral whereby it may be shaken off still the greater Enemy it is to the joyful Heavenly Work When therefore we prepare for this Work every weight must be cast away and the sin that presseth down and all indisposing dulness must be shaken off as much as may be And therefore Elisha to make way for the Holy Spirit in these noble Operations of it calls for a Musical Instrument 2 Kings 3.15 the better to compose and exhilerate his Mind And it came to pass whilst the Minstrel played that the Hand that is the Spirit of the Lord came upon him 2. He must be of a competent Candour and Ingenuity towards Men One that will readily do good and as easily acknowledge it when it is done by others That affects not to conceal his own Infirmities nor the Worth of others but can quickly spy out both That judgeth not according to outward Appearance but judgeth righteous Judgment And is prone to take every thing by the right handle and to pass the fairest construction upon every thing He that 's disingenuous and base towards Men will be so towards God For it is in other Affections as it is in Love Now he that loveth his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Is the Argument of the beloved Apostle 1 John 4.20 3. He must be very well contented with his Condition None more Averse to the Duty in hand than he that 's displeased with his Estate How can that Man be thankful unto God for any thing he hath that liketh nothing Male-Content filleth a Man with rage and bitterness against every thing almost as supposing it to contribute something to his uneasie Condition It puts him frequently upon sinful study and contrivance to better himself And it is so far from disposing any to the sweet Temper I am now speaking of that it prompts him to be angry with every one Such a one tasts no sweetness in any good he hath be it never so great and therefore forgets all but his discontents He pores wholly upon his Misery and nothing else seems worthy his observation And that Man that hath no eye to observe any Comfort that he hath will never think himself obliged to him from whom they come and such a one is most unfit for a Thankful Acknowledgment 4. He must have made some good progress in the work of Mortification and be pretty well weaned from all Sublunary Good and Pleasure That hath no strong propension to Sensual Comforts and Carnal Delights but hath got a considerable Conquest over the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts And hath a Love that 's rational and doth propend most to that which most deserves it For how can he perform the highest Acts of Spiritual Life that is not first dead to those things that do stifle and utterly quench the Spiritual Life Or how can he thank God aright for any thing that is not in a capacity to make a true judgment of what God doth bestow which is the Case of every one that hath his Affections inordinately wedded to these Earthly Contentments Such a one cannot take a worldly Cross or Reproach and Shame and Sickness and other Afflictions to be such Mercies as they sometimes are nor thank God sometimes for them more heartily than for any outward prosperity 5. He must have a deep Sense and Perswasion of the Certainty and Excellency of Eternal Things The Immortality of the Soul The worth of God's Favour The unspeakable Misery of the damned And the Felicity of those that must live for ever with God otherwise the Pleasures of this World are but a Dream and the Happiness of this Life but a shadow and all the Comforts that are tyed to this state so fickle and unsatisfactory that a wise and considerate Man will not much regard them unless as they be Pledges and Fore-runners of a better Felicity and so cannot rise to any high pitch of Joy and Thankfulness whilst it hath no better Materials to erect such a Frame nor better Motives to this Duty Thus much for the Matter or what is prerequisite to make way for these High and Heavenly Acts of Gratitude and Praise which are always accompanied with some degree of joy and delight in God which formally and principally imply First A due observation and worthy estimation of the Amiable Perfections of God and of his Grace and Favours towards us If we overlook these and our Eyes be in the ends of the Earth when they should be intent upon the infinite Majesty and his Mercies towards us every