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
weakest and lowest measure of true or prevailing love to God Thirdly And as this Love encreaseth all troublesome slavish Fear and sad Expectations do scatter and fly away Who that hath the interest in God that such a love doth entitle to need to fear Sickness or Poverty or Crosses or Death it self considerably if he knows he is united to one so firmly that hath Life and Death in his hands and hath the Command of all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and Hell The Sleep of such a Man must needs be sweet His Food though never so course cannot but refresh and comfort him And all his Comforts are Comforts indeed because none of them are disturbed with those Raving Mad and disturbing Passions that every Man void of this love of God cannot be free from more or less How quietly doth such a Man lie down and rise up because the Lord when he thus loves maketh him to dwell continually in safety Psal 4.8 Fourthly As this Love encreaseth Temptation will lose its force and grow weaker and weaker How little will Riches and Honour and worldly Pleasures draw that Man to commit sin and displease God that feels the love of God and the sweet Consequences of it in his Soul and also knows that he hath or may have enough in him They may tempt a Fool and one that hath little or no experience of the love of God and that wants something to set his heart at rest and quiet But he that is rich already and truly happy will not easily catch at shadows but study to keep what he is possessed of and which he knows to be Treasure indeed He may in a short fit of inconsideracy perhaps forget God and his Soul and give some ease to Temptation in such an hour but he will quickly return again And then when he remembers God again he will be troubled Psal 77.3 And his folly will cost him dear And his Soul will cleave the faster afterwards to God when he hath been better taught by so bad experience Fifthly As this love encreaseth all base and sordid love will slink away and depart with confusion and shame Who will love a Harlot that is deformed when he may honestly enjoy sweeter and better love Sure none but a perverted distempered Mind Who will feed upon Husks when he may have the most pleasant wholsome and delicious Fare None but one that hath lost his Reason And who will dote upon a Trifle when he may have a Crown and Kingdom to be delighted with Certainly so far as a Man feels he loves God he disdains the love of other things that will not consist with him And he will abhor the Motion that 's back'd with the greatest worldly Preferment that would draw away his heart from God Had he not tasted how good and gracious the Lord is and how happy a thing it is to live in Unity with him He might perchance hearken to every deluding Pleasure that courts his Affections But after he hath received the love of God into his heart and felt what a reviving Cordial it is the Pleasures and Honours of the World come too late and seem but Dung and Dross when they are laid in the Scales with that No Man saith our Saviour having drunk old Wine straightway desireth new for he saith The old is better Luke 5.39 You know that famous Marquess Galeoc Carac was moved with indignation at such an offer as that Cursed are they saith he that think all the Gold and Silver in the World worth one day's Communion with Christ And thrice wicked are they that would wed Mens Affections to the World and divorce them from Christ When there is a plain Competition or Contradiction between God and any worldly happiness the presentment of such a happiness to a gracious heart and one that truly loves God looks like a motion from the Devil and provokes him to fly in the face of him that makes it and to abhor such a Sollicitor Let me live saith such a one in Poverty and Raggs rather than forgo what I now enjoy Let those that never felt the love of God in their hearts feed upon Trash if they please I have a better Dyet Better is a little with the fear of the Lord and his favour than the greatest treasure without it Prov. 15.16 Better is a dinner of Herbs where this love is than a stalled Ox and hatred therewith vers 17. It 's but a ridiculous foolish thought to think to draw an experienced Saint away from the love of God by Silver and Gold and a little gaudy Apparel and delicious Fare and two or three fair Words and some few more slight Courtesies the World can do for him when he sees the vast difference between an immovable Rock and a Reed shaken with every wind And that there is none in Heaven but God and none upon the Earth that his soul can desire in comparison of him Ps 73.25 The Law of thy Mouth saith David is dearer to me than thousands of Gold and Silver more to be desired than Gold Psal 119.14 yea than the most solid refined Gold sweeter also than the Honey and the dropping of the Honey-comb Psalm 19.10 And iâ— the Law was so lovely and excellent in his esteem much more the Law-giver I conclude therefore that the Love of God is the best Antidote against all base and poisonous love whatsoever and will not permit the World with any of its Pleasures to prevail where it is It will cast this Bond-woman with her Sons and not suffer them to be Co-heirs with God and his Son Gal. 4.30 Since therefore O my Soul it is so highly consonant to that Reason that is in thee and conduceth so much to the highest Honour and Perfection and brings in such incomparable Advantage Why art thou so backward and averse to this sweetest Imployment which is so sweet 1. In the very Exercise 2. And sweeter the more it is exercised 3. And makes all other Duty sweet easie and pleasant which for want of this Quickuer goes on but dully sometimes and is quickly tyred And so much as this warm Affection is wanting all thy Services will wax more and more chill and cold till at last if that spark go quite out I mean as to the exercise there will be a stop in all Duty and all will be frozen up And if the Pulse of this Affection cease to beat towards God all Devotion and Exercise of Piety towards him will suffer a Deliquium and be in a fainting Fit and Swone Why then is thy heart no more transported with this Love David felt so much pleasure and sweetness in this Work that he could not forbear to provoke others to partake with him in this noblest delight by a most Patherical Invitation O Love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the Faithful Psalm 31.23 Thou canst love other things too sensibly that have not half the force and strength that this Object hath
2 Tim. 3.16 and shew how by Doctrine Reproof Correction and Instruction in Righteousness all the visible Creatures would help on this Remembrance of God and therefore forgetfulness of God hath the greater sin by how much it prevailes against the greater means vouchsafed by God for its cure But least that way shâ—uld not seem so intelligible and convincing I shall chuse rather to nominate four other ways whereby the several Creatures do provoke man to have God highest in their Remembrance 1. They all offer themselves to his sight and by that to his understanding to inform him in the glorious Perfections of God which they palpably discover and therefore are very serviceable in the work of Contemplation No one so sottish as to imagine they could make themselves then they must be made by another that 's God but such infinite variety and such rare and excellent works must suppose and therefore put any one that thinks on them in mind of infinite Wisdom and Skill infinite Goodness and Power in the creating of them 2. They serve for his Food and Rayment and are the means to keep him alive that could not live a day without them Let him that thinks he is least of all beholding to the Creatures consider whether he could live an hour without the Air he sucks in or how many days he could live without Food which one Creature or another serves in every day and then let him think who hath made and doth supply every Creature to him and forget God if he can 3. They serve for his other necessary uses in great delightful variety The Horse to fetch in and carry out both himself and other things and to remove his Luggage from place to place The Wood and Stones to build his Habitation and the Art and Workmanship of Man to adorn it the Dog to keep it and all things conspire together to make him as happy as he can be in the absence of God even a Lord on Earth because God hath appointed him so to be and hath he not yet enough to advance his great Benefactor in his Heart 4. They serve also for his Recreation and sober Pleasure and Refreshment when he hath been tired by his more serious Employments and yet to forget God whose Praise and Service these Creatures do so constantly bespeak by their so beneficial service to us All these steps lead up the sin to a higher guilt In a word to have all the Senses assaulted by the several Objects that God hath furnished to them The Eye to be fed with so many delightful sights of several things The Ear with such various Harmony and Sound The Taste with so many distinct and grateful Relishes of things which the wisdom of the Creator hath provided and offered to that Sense And the Objects of the other Senses are multiplied to as great a variety And is it not monstrous for the mind of man to have so many Monitors and yet to forget God in despight of all 3. Thirdly He hath moreover given us his Son that we might not want an Argument of the greatest force to provoke a remembrance of him When we were like to withstand all other Arguments and to lose the sense of all his other mercies towards us and to perish in a wicked oblivion and forgetfulness of God for ever He hath taken such a course that one would think should create a memory of him where there was none at all of him before and should recover those that are the most desperately gone in forgetfulness and force them to say that the love of Christ constraineth them 2 Cor. 5.14 Would not a Malefactor that 's sentenced and condemned to die take it for a favour indeed and place that man high in his Remembrance that should step between him and death and release him with the loss of his own life especially if he were a Person of Honour and Degree And doth it not deserve a Remembrance not a Customary but a substantial Remembrance when the highest and most honourable Person that ever lived in the World hath laid down his life in the room of ours Sure we think we are not so beholding to him as we are when such an obligation as this wiâ—l prevail no more to exalt God in our Hearts If this be not an obligation that doth inforce a gracious Remembrance now I am sure it is such a one that will enforce a tormenting Remembrance hereafter When the thought of such a mercy so wickedly slighted shall be a raging fire in their Bowels and then they shall not be able to forget it What 's the matter that such a motive is put off and not regarded by too many I am sure there 's nothing but flat downright wickedness can make a man so sleepy and forgetful If such a Breath as this will not kindle the love of God in our Hearts if such a spur will not prick us forward to the duty of Remembrance It 's not because we want Arguments but because we want Grace and how we should want Grace if we were apprehensive of the mercy would be very difficult to resolve and how we should not be apprehensive if we did but think frequently of it would be as impossible to determine So that you see the wickedness of this sin is ultimatly resolved into not thinking or bending our selves to think what we have received Well we are left to take our choice the death of Christ will either oblige us to the duty of Remembrance or aggravate the sin of forgetfulness Lastly We have the Spirit Word and all the Ordinances of God to beget and cherish this Remembrance of God I joyn all these together because I would not multiply particulars too much Obj. But you may say Though the Death of Christ and the Gift of the Spirit are Arguments of great strength and may do good service to quicken up a Believer that 's backward to this work yet how can they compel a wicked man or one that forgets God since Christ died for none but the Elect and none can know themselves to be such but such as have true Faith and know they have it and so also for the Spirit and therefore these Arguments are cogent to none but such as these Answer That Christ gave himself intentionally for all men and that God accepted his Sacrifice to that universal end is so plain in Scripture that scarce any truth is plainer 1 Tim. 2.6 Who gave himself a ransom for all 1 John 2.2 And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World But because some evade those places by distinguishing of All and World that All is sometimes taken for some and World for part of the World As if the Apostle fore-saw such Quirks and meant to stop every Mouth his words are not liable to evasion Heb. 2.9 That he by the Grace of God should taste of Death for every Man And to make mention
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
is among the Saints and such as excel in wisdom Psal 16.3 O what a blessing hath God bestowed upon the man or woman to whom he hath given a considering mind How quickly is such a man promoted and brought to unspeakable honour yea to find approbation with God! Such a man is quickly higher by head and shoulders as it s said of Saul than the rest of the inconsiderate doting World I have more understanding saith David than all my teachers for thy Testimonies are my meditation Psal 119.99 You that are yet captivated to the love of any thing here on Earth and like to perish in that state If you will but attentively consider what you dote upon and what you venture for it you would perceive your danger and certainly make your escape and feel the vertue of this excellent duty of Consideration And your present content would make you sick of your former delight And the Honourablest men on earth that had not feasted on this food would seem to you but vile and contemptible persons Methinks I see the man recovered by Consideration tâ—king up his parable like Balaam and saying Thus saith the man whose eyes consideration hath opened He saith who hath heard the words of God and seen the Vision of the Almighty How goodly are the Tents in which God dwelleth and the tabernacles of their hearts where God hath his habitation As the Valleys are they spread forth as Gardens by the Rivers side as the Trees of Ligh-Aloâ—s which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar Trees besides the waters Numb 24.3 4 5 6. And as Consideration would recover the dead and bring them out of the Grave of â—gnorance and Corruption and shew them the excellency of Divine wisdom and purity so that it would keep them in breath that are already translated from death to life and inspire fresh vigour and cheerfulness into all their services it would fill their hearts with a burning love to God and make their lives as a shining light before men It would strengthen their faith and fortify their hopes and put a fresh complexion upon their must withering and consumptive Graces and make their heart to abound and run over with joy and gladness By this time no doubt you see something of the worth and excellency of Consideration and what a gainful trade it is Will you therefore bend your minds to consider and spend more of your time in this work I know the corrupted heart of man is backward to this exercise though it be of such flat necessity and of such eternal advantage yea though it breed so much delight and pleasure after we have gotten some skill and made some progress in the work and have gotten some power over our own affections and can bespeak them in the most suitable moving way For cure therefore of this backwardness I have given you some quickning Considerations to stir you up to this duty and to gain the consent of your wills to this necessary duty In hopes therefore that you are convinced of the necessity of the duty and fully resolved on the performance and that you will not neglect such a duty any longer nor stand in the way of your own light and comfort I come next to give you some Help and Assistance for the more comfortable and successful management and performance of the work And First Endeavour to your power to shun all Impediments but especially those that are most likely to stupify and unfit your minds for Consideration they are obvious I need only to put you in remembrance First Take heed that you sin not maliciously 1. with Wilfulness and Presumption For Divines usually distinguish of Three sorts of Sins 1. Sins of Ignorance when through want of knowledge we transgress the Law of God and do that unwittingly which if we had known to be a violation of the Law of God we would not have done 2. Sins of Infirmity such as are committed through the unavoidableness unruliness of our Sense Phantasy or Passion which are not wholly under the power and command of Reason no not when it is truly enlightned and sanctified 3. Such as are committed with Knowledge and Deliberation when it is in our power to avoid them and will not what these are I need not inform you every one may be his own judge These last sort are called by some Sins of Malice and how much such sins as these will hinder all duty as well as Consideration there is no Christian of any experience but knows too well And therefore David prayeth especially against such sins as these Psal 19.13 Keep back thy servant from Presumptuous Sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and innocent from the great transgression If thou hast any good affection to this duty and art convinc'd that thy Soul will certainly perish without frequent serious consideration thou hast need to take heed of such sins as these Believe it these will wound thy Conscience break thy inward peace mightily provoke the Lord and draw away the Spirit from thee and fill thee with disturbing fears and besot thy mind that it shall not be fit for Consideration or if not such sins as these will dispose thee to hide thy self and get into thee dark and slie consideration as that which will discover thy shame and make thee odious to thy self Never think to bend thy mind to an impartial consideration of God and his Attributes and the Equity of Laws nor to think of thy latter end and the life to come to any purpose or to hear a right answer from thy Soul when thou puttest the question whether it be sanctified or unsanctified whilst thou givest thy consent and allowest thy self to live in any known sin I may say of Consideration as Mr. Bolton said of Prayer That it will make thee leave such presumptuous sinning Or else such sins will make thee to cast off Consideration you may as well hope to reconcile light and darkness as to bring these to any agreement Where Consideration is in any strength there will be no wilful sin or else Hell it self Art thou one that allowest thy self in the habitual neglect of any known duty Canst thou freely indulge thy self in any unjust or ungodly practice Are thy Thoughts at liberty to think vainly and wickedly without curb or controll Is thy Tongue at liberty to utter falshood and deceit to call evil good or good evil to plead any unrighteous causes or to disgrace any way that thou knowest in thy Conscience God approveth of Art thou wilfully proud or uncharitable and art thou intemperate in thy Appetite or Passions or commonly guilty of any such sin that thy own Conscience doth condemn No wonder then if Consideration be an unpleasant work to thee and if thy Thoughts turn away from him that abhorreth all iniquity but that especially which is wilful and allowed It is no marvel that Meditation is seldom or never in the word of the Lord
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
thou seest Pleasure written upon the face of it that is as it is coming towards thee If thou wilt not believe this now thine experience shall shortly make it good and condemn thee for a stark fool in that thou hast so much teaching and yet would'st not learn that thou had'st eyes and could'st not see and that thou wast so oft forewarned of the vanity and deceitfulness of these Earthly pleasures and yet would'st be deceived And yet I will confess if the fault could then be mended after Experience hath taught thee the vanity of them and thou art going out of the world as a miserable wretch ready to be forsaken of the comforts which thou hast inordinately loved if then thou could'st recover thine affections and bequeath thine heart to God which the world did possess all thy life time then it would be some diminution of thy Sin and Folly But as sure as thou livest God will not take that heart at thy Death which thou would'st not give him in thy Life nor be put off with a Legacy when thou art dying and going out of the world to whom thou would'st give nothing all thy life-time But yet if the Lord would accept such an Offering from thee that heart that hath been so commanded all thy life long by such pleasures as the world affords will not be now at thine own command and dispose It will be hankering after the world when it is departing and leaving of it and would still live among these pleasures if it could and prefer them before Eternal Life with God But I beseech thee to consider whether it be not perfect madness to suffer thine affections to be thus captivated and bewitched with fading momentary delights They are little to be envied whose whole lives are but a Diversion from one pleasure to another But if any men on Earth are like to perish for ever and lose those satisfying pleasures at Gods right Hand for evermore these are the men It is not one of a thousand that recovers of their Surfeit when they come to be old that have lived their younger years wholly addicted to their carnal brutish delights and not a man that dies amidst such pleasures before his heart be weaned from them but is like to feel more bitter torment than such as have lived all their life-time in poverty and little ease Surely they that let out their hearts too freely to the things of this world forget that there is such a Text in the Word of God Love not the world nor the things of the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.19 But that which makes some men that know this well enough to be mistaken is because they read of several rich men in Scripture that have their hands full of these Earthly comforts and see and hear of others that go to Heaven in the midst of great Possessions therefore they confidently conclude that they may enjoy them as well as others and yet be in a safe condition as if there were no difference between having and enjoying of them Their hearts were far enough from their Possessions as you might easily have seen if you had lived and conversed with them Though they had a large portion of their comforts a good measure of this Dung and Dross as the Apostle calls it yet they spread it to the good increase of Religion and Piety where they had to do they took little pleasure in this Dunghil neither did they spend their precious thoughts and time to encrease it But thy heart it may be is Wedded to these Carnal contentments and buried in this Dunghil and thy sweetest pleasures come in this way and when riches encrease thy heart is set upon them Psal 62.10 Let me tell thee that if ever Consideration open thine eyes thou wilt be as mad against these pleasures as ever thou wert mad for them And thou that do'st so industriously seek them with such careful study and endeavour wilt then be sick of them nulla major voluptas quam voluptatis fastidium No pleasure like that of contemning such transitory unmanly pleasures as these are if as Tully saith he is not worthy the name of a man that would live a whole day in such pleasures I am sure he is not worthy the name of a Christian that can live his whole life-time and prefer the pleasures of his body before the feasting of his Soul It 's the want of serious Consideration in this particular that makes so many lose the Joys of Heaven whilst they feast themselves with the Pleasures of the World Sixthly Another thing that should be the matter of your frequent serious Consideration is your latter end and the nearness of your dissolution This would make you wise indeed not to lay up riches and diet much less to treasure up sin and wrath against the day of wrath but to lay up in store a good foundation against the appointed time 1 Tim. 6.19 Rom. 2.5 It was the want of such heedful and attentive consideration that made Moses complain of the Israelites that they were a nation void of Counsel neither was there any understanding in them this made him wish so passionately O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Deut. 32.28 29. This made the same Moses to pray so to teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to true wisdom Psal 90.121 Who can think what a vapour his life is James 4.14 and make it shorter by neglecting the work it was given him for A man never begins to live till he lives to God and he that survives the most years after he hath begun this work may be truly said to live the longest although he reach not the age of many a Carnal minded man For a mans life is not to be computed by grey hairs or the number of years but by the work that he hath done If therefore thy work be undone when death is approaching to thee what shall I say that thou hast lived but a little while nay rather that thou hast not lived at all I must conclude therefore that to consider the shortness of thy life is the way to lengthen it and to put thee into such a happy condition that death shall be sure never to surprise thee O what a madness it is for men that are to live but a few years it may be days in the world never seriously to consider it till their days are at an end when they have but a few turns more to fetch in this World not to consider it and turn unfeignedly to God before they are turned out of the World where is that mans Wits that buries his thoughts alive in the impertinencies of this life and scarce thinks from one end of the year to the other that he must die and in that very day his thoughts must perish What doth that man do that Fidles
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
endeavoured to suppress them They had certainly perished in the Flames long before now if God had not walked in the midst of Fire with them How did the Jews on the one hand and the Heathen Emperours on the other conspire both to root out the Men and the Doctrin which they published and taught You know what General Persecutions there have been at once of all the Christians throughout the World and how many Thousands have been slaughtered by the Roman Emperours Commands I need not tell you that there were Ten of these General Persecutions and yet all would not do Julian strictly prohibited all Christian Schools thinking by that Means to root Christianity out of the World and yet the Success was not answerable to his Malice Antiochus Epiphanes commanded all the Holy Writings should be burnt as the History of the Maccabees will inform you 1 Macc. 1.59 yet God preserved them And Dioclesian Author of the Tenth Persecution commanded by Proclamation the Holy Scriptures to be burnt where ever they were found throughout the Roman Empire as Euseb relates l. 8. c. 3. If the Scriptures had not been the Word of God they had never surviv'd so much Malice and the vigilant Endeavours of so many subtil and potent Enemies to destroy them out of the World nor escap'd the combined furious Attempts both of Jews and Gentiles to blot them out of the Memory of Mankind Moreover If all that were hitherto produced were not enough to demonstrate the Divine Authority of Scripture and to satisfie and confirm the Mind in this weighty Truth I might add by way of Accumulation other Proofs from the Majesty Purity and Efficacy of this Word which so far excels all Humane Writings in these particulars And also from the Profession of Men and Martyrs that did and were ready to dye for it Men of great Parts and Integrity that would not have parted with their Lives without a sufficient Cause As also from the destruction of the Grand Opposers of it And the Consent of so many Men in all Ages and those that had the greatest Advantages throughly to scan and know the Truth and the Assent of very Adversaries All which do prove ex super abundanti that the Scriptures are the most Sacred Word of God and Written by Divine Inspiration To conclude therefore with some little Exhortation in a Point of such Weight and Moment Remember in your Meditations to strengthen this Intellectual Grace which lies in the Firm and Active Belief of the Divine Authority of Scripture Get and keep such Clear Evidence and Demonstration of its Divinity that may satisfie your Soul and enforce the most practical Assent That you may read the Threatnings with Reverence and a suitable Fear as those that God will certainly make good and execute upon those that fall under them That you may read the Promises with full perswasion of their Accomplishment to those that have their part and interest in them and so feel the forcible power of them to quicken you to your Duty That you may read the Precepts not as idle Storys but as the Commands of God Look that you evidently see the Name of God upon the Doctrin and History thereof and it will have another Effect than a bare opinionative or implicit belief grounded upon the bare word of Man could produce Your Assent will be suitable to your Evidence and the Effect and Influence it hath upon your Heart and Life will be suitable to your Assent It 's time well spent to read over and consider those Treatises that convince the Divine Authority of Scripture The better the Ground-work is laid the more firm will the Superstructure be When once thou art solidly and throughly perswaded that God is the Author of the Scriptures thou wilt expect a Treasure there that is not to be found in any Humane Writings any farther than they contain this Doctrin in them If you delight in Falshood and Lyes and love Darkness rather than Light search not here nor expect that Scripture should gratifie you But if thou art a Lover of Truth a Lover of Wisdom then come hither and dig into these Mines and God that was the Author will open thine Eyes if thou truly desire to be informed Some Considerations to help on the daily Exercise of Faith in Christ or Subjection to the Sovereignty of our Redeemer Scriptures that require Faith in Christ and shew us its Nature 1 John 12. As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting Life Verse 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God Verse 36. He that believeth on the Son hath Everlasting life that is quo ad jus or Inchoative And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him John 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Luke 19.27 Those mine Enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me Heb. 5.9 And being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Life and Salvation to all them that obey him Matth. 11.28 29. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest to your souls John 5.22 23 24. For the Father judgeth no Man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son That all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which sent him Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death to Life BEfore I come to the Motives that should animate us to the frequent and delightful Exercise of Faith which must be daily kept in the Mind and Thoughts or some of the like Nature it 's necessary that we well understand the Nature of that Faith which is of such daily Use and unspeakable Advantage in the whole Christian Life For the better and more distinct Understanding whereof we must take notice that in the Word of God we are informed of a Twofold Kingdom of God 1. The First as Creatour 2. The Second as Redeemer And both these have their different Constitution and Administration Whilst Man stood in his Integrity he was under the Laws and Government of his Creatour and then Faith in God as his Creatour and Sovereign was the Radical and Fundamental Virtue which whilst it did continue firm and inviolate he was happy in the Favour of God and never
a one that hath unsearchable Wisdom to Rule us infinite Power both to protect us and break our Enemies in pieces and is not profited by our Service Job 22.2 Can a Man be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable to himself Thou owest thy hearty Subjection unto God He made thee and is thy rightful and absolute Sovereign and when thou hadst turn'd Traitor to him He hath not set thee up as a Monument of his terrible Wrath and Vengeance But hath laid the Government upon his Son so nearly allied to us by the Assumption of our Nature and relaxed the Rigour of his Law promising to accept sincere Service and Love though perfect Obedience be due O what a◠Aggravation will this be of our Sin if we still continue it after the Grace of God hath so much abounded towards us Rom. 6.1 and persist in our Rebellion we know too well what it is to be Rebels against God our Redeemer but we little imagin what it is to be sentenced and condemned for Rebels at the great and terrible Day 2. Secondly Every Unbeliever hath the Guilt of all his former Sins fast bound upon him not one of them is pardoned every Commission yea and every Omission every idle Thought and Word and Action with all their several Aggravations stand still upon Record uncancell'd God hath pass'd an Act of Indempnity and Oblivion and proclaimed wonderful Grace and Mercy to penitent Sinners but the Unbeliever whilst such hath no share nor portion in it The Blood of Christ hath infinite virtue to cleanse sinners from all unrighteousness 1 John 1.9 but it 's only such as do believe The Law of God the Creatour or Covenant of Works which threatneth Death to every Sin is still in Force to such as are not the sincere Subjects of Christ by Faith the wrath of God abideth upon such John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Every violation of the Law makes it due to the sinner and Faith in Christ is the only means to remove it but where that is wanting there it continues and abides If one sin unpardoned will sink the Soul of the transgressour into everlasting condemnation into what unspeakable misery and horrour will that vast Number that he hath committed force the sinner who will not come unto Christ nor submit himself to his Redeemer Look to thy self and answer it as thou canst that wilt not come unto Christ to be thy Advocate and answer for thee stand upon thy own Legs as well as thou art able that wilt not bottom thy self by Faith on Christ endure the storm of God's wrath as well as thou canst that wilt not anchor thy Soul upon the Redeemer of the World Thou seest the worst of it if thou canst make light of it it 's but bearing all the Sins thou hast committed upon thy own Body and Soul and the Wrath of God due to them And if thou takest this to be a tolerable and a light Burden continue still in thy unbelief 3. Thirdly If thou art no true Subject of Christ by Faith in him thou art a Slave of Satan and a Vassal to thine own Corruption There are but two principal Masters Christ is one whose Right it is And Satan is the other though an Usurper If thou wilt not devote thy self to him who is thy lawful Lord and Master thou wilt be under the Commands of a Cruel Tyrant There are but two Generals Christ the Captain of our Salvation Heb. 2.10 and Satan the Ring-leader to destruction and one thou must fight under There are but two sorts of Servants either thou art the Servant of Righteousness or else thou art the Servant of Sin Rom. 6.16 If Christ do not dwell in thy Heart by Faith Ephes 3.17 Satan hath got possession and thou art a Member of that wicked Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. that efficaciously worketh in the Children of Disobedience Ephes 2.2 He formeth thy Conceptions frameth thy Discourses animateth all thy Actions steereth thy whole Conversation and when there is need instigateth thee to any Wickedness though thou art secure and little suspectest 't is he that prompteth thee in all thou goest about If thou hadst an eye to see what influence he hath upon all thy Actions it would make thee to abhor all thou doest Indeed there are wicked Habits and Dispositions that strongly move and hurry thee into the same wickedness which the Devil would have thee to commit for if thou wert meerly passive it would be thy Misery but not thy Sin But now having no part in Christ thou art at once led by thy own Corruption and the Enemy of all Goodness into all Sin and Mischief No Turkish slavery comparable to this wherein the sinner is wounding and tearing and wracking himself every day and yet though he feels the smart sometime perceives the mischief he doth himself he cannot nor will forbear You would look with pity upon a Madman gnashing and cutting himself and bless God that you are sober when you see the pernicious Effects of Madness And yet if you are impenitent unbelievers you are guilty of far worse Cruelty to your Souls 4. Fourthly If thou art a Unbeliever thou art not sure to be one Day longer out of Hell and Eternal Misery thou hangst over the Pit of Destruction by the single Thread of thy Life and if the Twine break as it is a Miracle it doth not every hour all the World cannot save thee Let not a deceived Heart turn thee aside that thou canst not by Faith in Christ deliver thy own Soul nor say is there not a Lye in my Right Hand Esa 44.2 Thy Riches and thy Honours cannot prevent thy Death much less can they procure a Release from it least of all can they Ransom thee from Destruction thou art hasting to it every Moment and thou knowest not what one Day or Hour may bring forth Prov. 27.1 As sure as thou livest so surely thou shalt dye for ever if thou go forward in unbelief when once thy Breath is departed from thy Body and how many ways that may be stop'd who knows And wilt thou yet stand out against the gracious Offers of thy Redeemer and linger in Infidelity and run the hazard of Eternal Destruction Nay it s no hazard but as undoubtedly certain as the Word of God is true O that unbelievers would ponder this that they would but consider their latter End what a few Breaths more they have to fetch before they are turned into Everlasting Despair How dare you lye down to sleep lest you should awake in Hell How dare you rise lest it should be to Judgment and Condemnation How can you enjoy your Life one Moment that know not but that the next Moment you must exchange it for Endless Torment and Misery And how will you do to give up the Ghost
the Proffers of his Love Oh with what an a king Heart will the Infidel then say Why did he dye for me since I was resolved to dye for my self If he had not died for me this Death had never been so terrible as now I feel it O that any one would bring an Argument and convince me now that Christ died not for me then should I escape the greatest part of my Torment I would not torment thee with such thoughts as these now if it were not in hope to prevent such tormenting thoughts when time is past Let me earnestly entreat thee whoever thou art that art in this doleful condition either speedily to believe in Christ or believe it thine own Conscience will one day prove thy most terrible Executioner So much for the First Motive that should Teach us to prize and exercise Faith viz. Consider the Miseries of an Unbeliever But it is not my design to fright the Sinner unto Christ neither is it possible that Fear only should work true Belief and produce a justifying Faith All that I have said hitherto is to deter the Sinner from such a damning Sin as Unbelief but these be Arguments of another Nature to attract the Sinner unto Christ Consider therefore 2. Secondly What Christ hath done to draw the Heart of Sinners to him and to engage them to believe He hath given his Soul an Offering to the death and stood in the very flames of his Father's wrath that he might keep away the burning intolerable heat thereof from us and bore the grievous burden of our sins He stript himself even to the greatest Poverty and Nakedness that he might Cloth us and emptied himself that we might be filled 2 Cor. 8.9 Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that tho he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich When we were fallen into the deepest reproach and shame he made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the Form of a Servant that he might advance us to the highest dignity and honour 2 Phill. 6.7 He humbled himself to the death that he might procure our life he made a low stoop that he might lift us up when sin had cast us down He took upon him the humane Nature that he might make us partakers of the Divine Nature Heb. 2.14 compared with 2 Pet. 1.4 Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself likewise took part with them that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and purchase for us exceeding rich and precious Promises that by them we might be made partakers of the Divine Nature It was no small Endearment of himself to us to pass by the Angels and put forth his hand to help us For verily he took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham 2 Heb. 16. He rejoyced in the habitable parts of the Earth and his delight was among the Children of Men Prov. 8.3 It 's his earnest desire that thou shouldst have the benefits of his Death and enjoy what he hath so dearly purchased and therefore he invites thee to believe in him because otherwise thou canst have no advantage by his Death If thou hast any understanding or ingenuity lay the Love of Christ to Heart and consider how unspeakably great it is it 's past words to express it it is so much beyond example let thy thoughts dwell upon it and never give over the serious consideration of his Sufferings and Death for such as thou art till thy Heart melt and yield and till thou canst with Love and Thankfulness resign thy self to him as one that doth deliberately resolve to be his Loyal Subject and Disciple Methinks after thou hast heard what he hath done for thee thou shouldst be ready to do any thing and stick at nothing that he bids thee do that thou mightst shew the most grateful resentment of his love But when he commands thee nothing but for thy greatest advantage that is to leave thy deadly Enemies and forsake thy self-destroying Courses and come unto him thy greatest Friend and live under his Government to refuse such a gracious Offer shews that thou art void of all true understanding ingenuity and sense of thy own Benefit and Advantage Hadst thou rather live under the cruel Laws of a deadly malitious Enemy and one that neither can nor will protect thee when the most dreadful storms are coming on thee Than under the Government of one that beareth the greatest love and compassion to thee and hath the greatest Wisdom to direct thee the greatest Power to protect thee and whose Laws are the most perfect Rule of Life and the greatest Tendency to the Peace Welfare and Perfection of Christ's loyal faithful Subjects Hadst thou rather serve a Tyrant and professed Enemy in Chains and Slavery than a rightful just and gracious Soveraign that hath given such Demonstrations of the most wonderful and â—â—â—pendious love to such as thou art whose Service is perfect Freedom who hath contrived all his Laws for the benefit of his true Subjects and sincere Disciples If the Love of Christ testified by such exquisite Sufferings and Death and thy own Welfare and Felicity will not prevail with thee to throw off the Yoke of Satan and the World and Flesh and to become a Believer and cause thee to say from thy Heart with those in the Prophet Isaiah 26.13 O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had Dominion over us but by thee only will we make mention of thy Name 3. Thirdly Remember that Faith is the first Grace that brings thee into a justified state Condition All that thou hast or canst do before thou dost believe in Christ is of no avail to thy Justification and Salvation It 's Faith that unites the Soul to Christ and till it be united to him it can receive no saving benefit from him when first the sinner doth heartily consent that Christ shall be his King and Teacher and he will be his Subject and Disciple he is morally joyned and united unto Christ as the Soveraign and Subject make one Body Politick of which every Subject is a Member and the King is the Head and as the Master and the Scholars are morally united then begins our union with Christ and our participation of the benefits which he hath purchased when we first enter our selves into his School and list our selves under his Government and Protection God hath peremptorily resolved that none shall have the special Benefits of his Death but those that submit themselves to him Amongst which Justification is the first and then th◠〈◊〉 follow in their due place and order 〈…〉 by Faith we have Peace 〈…〉 〈…〉 â—â—pt 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 of Eternal Salvation 〈…〉 â—se that actually obey him so neither 〈…〉 the Means of their Justification to any 〈…〉 as by Faith and Cordial Subjection resolve to obey
Excellency and Perfection may justly challenge our greatest Love and Esteem yet the unparallel Good he hath done us doth call for much more Nimii durus est Animas saith Seneca qui si Amorem non velit impendere nolit rependere It 's a base Nature indeed and highly unreasonable that will not pay Love with Love Can we be content to receive all from God and to repay nothing back again He that gives him not the prime and choice of his Affections gives him nothing in the Scripture Account yea he is reputed a Hater of him Luke 14.26 If any Man come to me and hate not that is love them not less his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple Let but some of those Numberless Favours which thou hast received from him be but a while considered and it will utterly shame and put to silence this odious sin And the unthankful hard-hearted sinner that is not melted by such love as this must needs be confounded in the serious thoughts thereof either here or hereafter Here in Repentance or hereafter in Torment 1. Thou hast thy very Being from him without which thou wert uncapable of any Love or Kindness from God or any Creature He gave thee that very Heart which thou deniest him and whereby thou slightest him He gave thee thy Memory to remember him Thy Mind to think upon him He gave thee that Faculty of Love that it might burn continually towards him Ungrateful Soul to set any thing above him in thy Love and Esteem That hadst been a Brute and no Man if it had pleased him and might'st then have wanted such a gift to bestow on him or any other thing 2. The same Hand that gave thee thy Being at the first doth yet continue it and preserve thee every Day and Night every Hour and Moment If he should but subtract his Hand thou would'st soon dye and return to thy Dust again Thou hast forfeited Life and deserved Death over and over How oft hast thou run upon destruction and he hath saved thee and reversed the Sentence of Death when the Law hath condemned thee And lengthned out this Life to thee that thou might'st repent and live for ever And dost thou live by his meer grace and favour every day and yet lovest him not above all other things This is highly absurd and unreasonable 3. Thy Life and all other Comforts are not only the Fruit of his Bounty but of his meer Grace and Mercy They have been all forfeited a thousand times over Every Sin calls for Sentence and Execution upon the sinner and condemns him to universal want and misery But the Blood of God hath purchased them back again to thee and the hand of God hath restored them and recovered so base a Wretch into a state of favour and condition of hope And under each of these comprehensive Mercies infinite particulars might be reckoned up And now what canst thou set up in Competition with Him Thy Wit Thine Understanding Thy Health Strength Beauty Friends Riches Honour Life Or any Provision that 's made for it These all belong to him They are his Talents Art thou a Debter to all or any one of these that thou shouldst serve love or esteem them more than him who is so incomparably thy Benefactor Reason 3d. Thirdly God deserveth our greatest love because he is to us The most suitable Good Now that 's the most suitable good that doth most fitly and fully supply all our Necessities and satisfie our most rational Desires Now who or what can pretend to compare with him in this respect or stand in a competition with him There are Two great Necessities which every Soul lies under 1. The one is in respect of Sin The 2d in respect of Suffering and Misery which Two comprize all the Wants and Necessities of Man Both which none is capable of removing but Christ our Redeemer who is God-Man blessed for evermore And for the first Sin It exposeth every sinner to two great Wants The One of Pardon The Other of Sanctification In the want of either of which it 's plainly impossible that any Man should be happy And this needs no other Proof that the bare Explication of what Pardon and Sanctification are 1. Pardon is but the Removal of Guilt which every Sinner doth contract Now Guilt being an Obligation unto Punishment Pardon must needs be the dissolving or nulling of that Obligation which if it should continue and not be removed the guilty sinner must needs be terrified and affrighted with the sense of his obnoxiousness to God's displeasure who perfectly hates Sin and loves Justice and Righteousness more than all his Creatures and therefore must needs resent any Affront done to them as it were to the Apple of his Eye where such Guilt lies upon any Creature which sense cannot but arise in every Sinner when Conscience is awake which will be sooner or later And then he that knows God is his Enemy cannot sure be happy since he hath infinite power and wisdom against him And this is the very Case of every one that lies under Guilt unremoved he hath Almighty God for his Enemy And as the want of Pardon cannot consist with Happiness so neither can the want of 2. Sanctification For as he that hath God for his Enemy cannot be happy so neither can he that is an Enemy unto God And such a one is every unsanctified and unrenewed Soul who being unlike to God cannot take pleasure in him nor have any complacency in those things which are suited to his blessed Nature But loves them just as the Bird doth the Snare from whence he will fly and escape with all the speed he can But he that cannot love God above all and delight chiefly in his Ways can never be happy because these are the only Ways that can perfect his Nature and make him happy Pardon and Sanctification being thus explained it evidently follows by clear consequence that without these two the sinner cannot be happy but such a one is every Man and therefore without these two Supplies no Soul can be happy Thus much being evident and demonstrable it is as plain that none can remove the Guilt and Filth that sin implies but God who alone can remit sin and sanctifie the sinner and dispose him by Holiness to the Love of God and all Righteousness wherein his chief happiness doth consist The Second grand Necessity which Man lies under which indeed comprehends all Necessities whatsoever is Misery or Suffering which comprizeth all that Evil in Effect which sin doth in the Cause All that Sickness and Sorrow and Trouble and Fear and Discontent and Death and those sad Expectations after it are the Fruit and Effect of Sin by Resultancy oftentimes and always by way of a Righteous Punishment and Compensation Yea Sin is such a Monster that it not only deserves but also inflicts Evil upon
to draw and invite this Affection And have moreover disappointed thee too often of the Pleasure and Felicity that from them thou hast expected yea and which is far worse have entangled thee in many foolish and hurtful Lusts which have afterwards betrayed thee to sad and bitter complaints But here 's an Object worthy thy strongest love that will not debase and destroy but advance thy Soul to the highest Perfection The Love of him as it is sweet in the exercise so it will end at last in unspeakable sweetness and will not upbraid thee with Folly afterwards as all other Love will be sure to do Thou mayest love other things too much and here 's the Source and Spring of all Sin and Impiety and of all absurd and unreasonable Practices For as Divine Love is the sum of Duty and all worthy and becoming Actions so Carnal Love or the Love of Creatures is the Sum of all Wickedness and all incongruous and unseemly Practice But God can never be exalted too high in thine Estimation and Affections Here thou mayest safely vent and pour out all the store of thy Love with the greatest delight and security and expatiate thy Soul to the widest extent in the Ocean of his infinite and most lovely Perfections To him thou mayest safely offer up thy Soul in sacrifice as a whole-Burnt-Offering in the Fire of Love for ever Wilt thou permit thy Thoughts any more to fly abroad into Trifles and impertinent Matters when thou hast the immense Ocean of Divine Goodness to lanch forth into and mayest lose thy self with the greatest pleasure and advantage in the depths of his infinite Perfections Here to be even drowned and swallowed up is not Death but the sweetest and most ravishing Life Hast thou not pined long enough and melted away in the Cares and Love of the World the Martyrdom which corrupt Nature prompts thee fast enough to chuse Is it not now more than Time to be wiser and to bare an Honourable Testimony to him that hath redeemed thee And to subscribe that Witness to the Truth which thou hast borne too much hitherto to Lies and Falsehood Let them be taken by thee for Fools and Madmen that torture themselves with the Love and Care of this World and take Hell by that violence that the Kingdom of Heaven should be taken by But let the main stream and current of thine Affections be ever after him in whom are all the dimensions of Perfection Some little Twilight and Glimmerings of his Ravishing Beauty thou hast seen in his Words and Works But oh how short how exceeding short have they been through thy wilful Blindness and Inadvertency But these express not the thousandth part of his wonderful astonishing Splendour and Glory Something it may be thou hast tasted of his sweetest reviving Love But oh how little in respect of what thou might'st have had had it not been for thy own wilful neglect and refusal Hadst thou gazed as much upon his Glory as thou hast done upon the fading transitory Glory of the World and studied his Perfections according to the Opportunities and Advantages he hath given thee and not loved dismal affrighting Darkness rather than the quickning trransforming Light and neglected the best use of thine Understanding and Affections in holy Meditations on God Thou might'st confidently have expected the Blessing of God in a Work so well pleasing to him and found the Treasure that would have made thee contemn all other things in Comparison Then thou might'st have had joy in the darkest Night of Affliction and such an Allay to the bitterest Cup that would have made any Condition welcome to thee Then thou would'st have forgotten all the Miseries of thy life past and remembred them as Waters that pass away Job 11.16 Then thou might'st have lyen down with the sense of the pardon of former sins yea thou might'st have lyen down and thy sleep would have been sweet to thee Then the Remembrance of thy latter End would not have been such an unpleasant Theme to thy Meditations as now it is yea the Lord would have satisfied thy Soul in Drought and made thee like a watered Garden and like a Spring whose Waters fail not Isaiah 58.11 And then with what vivacity and chearfulness should'st thou have performed all Duty and borne all Sufferings when God had once answered thee in the joy of thy Heart Considerations to provoke to the Contempt of the World Psalm 119 96. I have seen an End of all Perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad 1 John 2.15 16. Love not the world nor the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world Vers 17. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever Isa 40.6 7. All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is like the flower of the field The grass withereth and the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it 1 Cor. 7.9 The fashion of this world passeth away Prov. 11.4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath but righteousness delivereth from death Eccles 1.2 and 2.11 Vanity of vanities all is vanity saith the Preacher Eccles 1.8 All things are full of labour man cannot utter it the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing Prov. 31.30 Favour is deceitful and Beauty is vain AS the Object of all rational saving Love is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and all that standeth in subserviency to him so far as they conduce to this Noble End and Happiness of the Soul So the Object of all irrational sinful damning Love is the World and whatsoever serves to promote its interest in the Heart so far as it is Competitory with or Contradictory to the Interest of God and conduceth to the inordinate pleasing of the Flesh And thus much I intend here by the World that is any thing in the whole Creation that doth not refer to and is not subordinate unto God is to be the Object of this Contempt and Disdain First Because the World is unsatisfactory and cannot content the Mind of Man There is something still that the Soul misseth when it hath all here that it can desire It silently imagineth an Aliquid ultra when it hath gone its farthest in the Happiness and Prosperity here on Earth And it 's so far from Rest after all that it grows more hot and impatient in its desires And finding nothing to pursue after that can give content begins to fret and grow peevish when the ambitious Soul is gotten to the top of Honour he finds not the thing he expected he calls it by all the slight and contemptible Names he can invent or imagin you may as well satisfie the Appetite
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
put us beyond all hope And shall this trouble us no more Well might our Saviour bid the Daughters of Jerusalem not to weep for him but for themselves and for their sins Luke 23.28 They had some womanish Tears to command when they saw him led away to Execution but might have shed them far more acceptably for their sins whereby they had brought such a horrid thing to pass It 's a lamentable sight to see Men endued with reason to ring their hands and weep for almost nothing and to be cruelly hard-hearted when they have the greatest cause to weep What a vast difference is there between a little bodily suffering and the intolerable pains of thy Soul between a little Scratch in thy Flesh and the Wounds of thy Spirit A wounded Spirit who can bear saith Solomon Prov. 18.14 Shewing by this Question the incomparable difference between all external griefs and those which are internal and seated in the Spirit What a wide difference is there between the loss of some temporal finite good and the loss of that which is infinite and eternal Thou mayest repair the one but thou canst never repair the other It 's far more tolerable to be scorned by Men than to be contemned by God To be fâ—ighted by thy Friends and Acquaintance when thou art in misery and distress and doest expect some pity and relief from them than that God should laugh at thy Calamity and mock when thy Fear cometh And yet in such like cases as these we want no sorrow but have Tears and Sighs and bitter Expostulations at command O Sirs stop your Tears cease your Complaints forbear your Sighs when it is but the Flesh or outward Man that is concerned Keep these in store for your outward sins which far better deserve them and do you a thousand times more wrong Noli tristari nisi quam male feceris Keep them in store for a time of greater Necessity The Sorrow of the World worketh Death 2 Cor. 7.10 These Tears give your Heart no ease but rather make way for greater sorrow The time is coming when you will wish you could have â—â—â—ghted all other Evils but that of sin Fifthly Consider This is one great End for which Christ shed his Blood and suffered the shameful Death upon the Cross that he might bring Sinners to Repentance He knew they could never be happy till they should get a true sight of the Sin and Misery and till their Hearts were throughly broken for their Transgressions And that they must part with their Corruptions or part with God Being therefore moved with wonderful pity and compassion towards them and loth that they should go on and perish in their Rebellion against God hath undertook to bring them to Repentance If the work could have been done by him alone it would have been a matter of far less difficulty to effect and bring to pass But he well knew before he began to make the least attempt that it was a far easier task to shed his blood and satisfie for his sins pass'd than to bring us to future obedience If it had been only to lay down his Life for us so great was his compassion to us that he could easily have parted with it But this was not all no nor the one half He had a worse work to do the stubborn rebellious Heart of Man to change and to renew He must be brought to see and confess and renounce his sins and come again and submit himself to his Maker whom he had provoked or else his Blood would be spilt in vain O my Brethren this was a work indeed and sets forth the wonderful amazing Love of our Redeemer that he would undertake such a Task as this If he had had no more to do but to fulfil the Law of God in his own Person and our Nature and to have fought with the Devil and Death and to have laid down his Life for us he could have conquered these with a far less power than he could have conquered the rebellious untructable Hearts of sinners It was much easier for him to have confounded all the Powers of Hâ—ll and Darkness than to break in pieces a stoâ—â— sensless Heart and to bring a sinner to Repentance and Reformation But yet he hath undertook the work notwithstanding And what course doth he tâ—ke to mollifie a flinty Heart and to make a sensless sinner feel the odiousness of his sin and to bend such a perverse and obstinate will as ours is Why he undergoes the most horrible Sufferings that the Ear of Man ever heard of And then he causeth the History of them to be written and set before us And withal doth most affectionately beseech us by all these sufferings to consider the Folly of our former Ways â—â—d to lay them to heart till we begin to yield and acknowledge our sins and are stedfastly resolued to follow his Directions and depend upon 〈◊〉 Assistance till we can perfectly overcome our Corruptions and serve the Lord that made us with singleness and sincerity of heart for the suâ—â—â—â— To this 〈◊〉 he sets up an Office on purpose to 〈◊〉 us in remembrance of the bitter Pangs and Sorrows that he hath undergone for us And he both commanded this to be Preached publickly 〈◊〉 the World He hath moreover instituted the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to represent 〈◊〉 â—â—e his Sufferings to us To tell us what Poverty land Shame he hath endured what malicious Usage from the Jews how he was wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities and how the chastisement of our peace was upon him that through his stripes we might be healed Isa 53.5 How the Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all vers 6. How he was made sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God through him 2 Cor. 5.21 How he trod the Wine-press of his Father's wrath Isa 63.3 and drunk off the dregs of the bitter cup of his displeasure and swet drops of Blood while he was conflicting with the Terrours of God's wrath And is not that Man a block indeed that cannot be moved with such Rhetorick as this is Is that Man fit to be pardoned or to find any Mercy at God's hands that stoppeth his Ears to one that hath thus befriended him when he is pleading with him to make his Heart give and relent for all his former sins It 's certain that Mans case is desperate that will not yield to such an Argument as this is But alas sad and woful experience tells us how many Thousand slight it and are no more moved with the real story of Christ's Passion than with a Romance or Fable no nor many I fear half so much O how must this needs Crucifie our Lord afresh to see his love and tender compassion so much slighted and his Blood trampled under feet O wretched unworthy sinner Canst thou find in thy heart to run the bloody Spear and to strike
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
whose death the sting of death is taken out and by whose Resurrection ours is secured even the Resurrection to Life to all his true and faithful Members And as the First-Fruits were as it were the Pledge and Earnest of the Harvest that was to follow after so the Resurrection of Christ is the Gage and Assurance of ours 4. Having not spared his Son but given him a ransome for us he hath with him given us all other things we receive Mercies without number from him every day And that 1. Privative in guarding us from the many Mischiefs that the desert of our sin and the desire and endeavour of our Enemies would bring upon us And 2. Positive in bestowing on us the good things which we deserve not and which the malice of our Enemies would keep from us How many dangers have we oft-times escaped which we have both known and feared but they are far more that we have escaped which we have neither known nor feared We see not the Enemies that lurk continually about our Paths and Beds and that are always plotting and endeavouring to devour us which the secret Power of one that 's stronger than they hath hitherto prevented How oft hath Satan thirsted for our Blood and desired to sift us as Wheat But Christ hath interceded for us and infatuated all his Counsels that they have not prospered hitherto When he hath dug low to hide his Counsel from the Lord and laid his design deep and covered it with the greatest cunning and secresie when he hath thought certainly now he should prevail and swallow us up he hath miss'd his purpose and gone away disappointed and God hath shewed us a way how to escape Every Beam of Light that shineth on us every Breath we fetch every Minutes Health we do enjoy every Bit we eat and are refreshed with the House that covereth us the Air that we suck in the Bed we lye on the Friends that comfort us every Sweetness that we tast either in the Acts of Sense or Understanding together with the continuance of all our Faculties In a word every Comfort that befriendeth us is a distinct Mercy of God vouchsafed to us in Jesus Christ What shall I say How numberless are these which I have but generally touched If I should insist upon the several Circumstances and Degrees of them with the frequent Repetition of every one of them But these are not the one half of what our Redeemer doth bestow The Mercies that concern our Souls are far more numberless So that though I have seemed to name but three or four Instances of the Bounty of God towards us yet these are all so comprehensive especially those of Creation Redemption and Providence that they contain more under them than can be reckoned up in the Individuals by any humane Art or Skill There are some few of those infinite ways whereby God's goodness is demonstrated to us I might further shew how much the goodness of God is manifest towards us in all our Sufferings Streights Necessities Afflictions Sickness Death which breed the only quarrel between us and the goodness of the Lord and will not let us speak out and acknowledge it freely as we ought It's easie to vindicate the goodness of the Lord even in these to such as will but bring an impartial ear Neither doth his Wisdom and Power towards us come much behind his goodness Doth it not require infinite Wisdom and Power to govern such a perverse piece as sin hath made Man to be And to make him serviceable either willingly or without his Will to the glorious Ends of Order and Government in the World And that both in his Commerce 1. with God 2. with Men 3. with other Creatures either bridling or conquering his Corruptions without any impeachment of his liberty that they do not confound and destroy all Piety Justice and Sobriety out of the World It must be no less than the Power of God that must bring down the Proud that would otherwise trample all under feet That must govern the Savage Nations and tame and restrain the barbarous and bloody minds and make the wretched devices of the Enemies of his Church to be of none effect It must be a mighty Power indeed that must turn a furious persecuting Saul into an humble penitent and faithful Saul What a wisdom is seen in making Man so great and yet so little in designing him for so high an end and yet training him up for it by such low and despicable means But I will run out no further on this Argument lest I find no end FINIS