God's fear Reckon your Sabbaths gains consider your actions and the frame of your Souls in them fix the Word of the day upon your hearts and resolve by the Grace of God to be found in the sincere and speedy practice of it He who thus regardeth a day unto the Lord Rom. xiv 6. shall comfortably experience that the Lords-day hath the seventh days blessing transferred unto it and an additional blessing of its own conferred upon it Infer III. Seriousness in Religion is not more ado than needs Strictness is not Fanaticism Religion in all its parts is our reasonable service Rom. xii 1. We do not serve God for nought that true enough though once said by the Father of Lies Job i. 9. In keeping Gods Commandments there is great reward Psal xix 11. All this work you have heard laid open is of God's setting us and we may be sure he will not suffer us to be losers by our care to please him And besides the variety of Employments allotted to us which sinners count their burden and their cumber is indeed that which sweetens Religion unto holy Souls It is not the hardness of the work in it self but the unsuitableness of it to our Spirits that maketh it so uneasie to the most and when Grace hath removed that the Soul goes on with chearfulness in those ways which sinners cannot endure to tread and do all they can to discourage others from walking in When therefore sinners entice thee from the ways of godliness and tell thee What needeth so much ado sure God is more merciful than to damn men for neglect of secret prayer for vain thoughts for foolish speeches for taking now and then a Cup of Nimis for making the best of their own c. Sure God won't shut all out of Heaven but a few Puritans and Precisians so much reading and praying c. will but mope you or make you melancholy or mad take care of thy Body and make sure of thy Estate and trust God with thy Soul When I say sinners do thus entice thee consent thou not Prov. i. 10. Let no man deceive you with vain words Eph. v. 6. Tell them God knows better who he will save and who he will damn than any of they and he hath said Without holiness no man shall see the Lord He will pour out his fury upon the Families that call not upon his Name Life and Death are in the power of the Tongue Drunkards among others shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Covetousness is Idolatry It is a little Flock our Heavenly Father will give his Kingdom to The Righteous are scarcely saved The Kingdom of God consists in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost What is a man profited if he gain the whole World and lose himself or be cast away Tell them these are the true sayings of God see Heb. xii 14. Jer. x. 25. Prov. xviii 21. 1 Cor. vi 10. Col. iii. 5. Luke xii 32. 1 Pet. iv v. 18. Rom. xiv 17. Luke ix 25. And you should be a Fool indeed if you should believe the silly sayings of blind Earth-worms and prejudiced unexperienced Sots before the Word of the Living and True God the Infinite and Eternal Wisdom Infer IV. What cause have we to lament the Fall of our First Parents by which we are disabled for this excellent Life God Created Man holy and happy with wisdom to know his Duty and power to do it and holy Love to encline him to the performance of it It was easie for Adam to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long though it was possible for him by a faulty omission of Reasons government over the inferiour powers of the Soul to depart there-from And such was the mutability of his Will that being assaulted by Temptation he wretchedly yielded and so betrayed himself and his Posterity into a forlorn state of wretchedness and impotency so that now we have none of us by nature light enough to discern nor ability to perform aright our Duty in the most ordinary instances of Life Certain it is we have lost that Moral Liberty of Will which was the glory of Innocent Adam and had been our glory had he stood and remained in his Integrity But now the Crown is fallen from our Heads woe unto us that we have sinned Lam. v. 16. We may well name ours Ichabod for the glory is departed from us 1 Sam. iv 21. We are all shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin Psal Li. 5. In our flesh dwelleth no good thing when we would do good evil is present with us O wretched ones that we are who shall deliver us from the body of this death Rom. vii 18 21 24. By one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. v. 12. We have cause to look our hearts and lives in the glass of God's Law and cry out as once a good Man did after a long Sickness looking his Face in a Glass and beholding his pale Cheeks and meager Visage Ah! Adam saith he Adam what hast thou done Oh! what a condition are we who sinned in Adam fallen from and what a sad estate are we fallen into our Minds are dark our Wills perverse our Affections froward c. we cannot of our selves think one good thought if we might have Heaven and Eternal happiness for our pains 2 Cor. iii. 5. We cannot pray nor read nor hear nor do any spiritual Duty aright We have an hereditary Sickness that threatens us with death in that it makes us loath the means of Life Oh what a averseness to and unfitness for secret prayer and meditation and examining themselves do even awakened sinners find and feel till special Grace come in to their aid What shifting what shufling what excuses what slightness what slubbering over of Duties is there In a word Adam's Fall hath rendered us all utterly unable of our selves to do aright any duty to God our Neighbour or our selves Infer V. What cause have we all to lament our past days because they have been in too great a measure lost days If you look back upon the description that hath been laid before you of the everyday work and walk of a serious practical Christian and consider how every day of your Life hath been spent since you came to the use of reason I fear you will most of you have cause to cry out not only with the Emperour Augustus Hem amici diem perdidi Alas my Friends I have lost a day But Heu vitam perdidi Alas I have lost my whole Life Alas How have our days been squandered away and our time lavished out upon unprofitable vanities Ask one man what he hath been doing ever since he came into the World And he must if he say true tell you he hath been labouring for the meat that perisheth he hath been toiling and drudging to add house to house and
every day Luke xvi 19 24. Think how many want what you waste Remember their end is destruction whose God is their Belly Phil. iii. 19. Take heed of being bewitched with the love of strong drink Wine is a mocker strong drink is raging whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise Prov. xx 1. Remember what it did to Noah Gen. ix 21. And then be not content with meer Temperance in which it may be when you have done all you can some Heathens have out-stripped you but mix your meals with good discourse own God in bodily provisions beg his blessing on them and seriously bless him for them Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do let all be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. x. 31. 11. Be moderate in Recreations subordinate them to the great ends of your Life and see they be lawful and sâ—asonable Two Rules * Mr. Whateâ—â—y Redemption of Time an Eminent Divine gives about Recreations among others specially worth our notice 1. Never allow your selves any Recreation till you be come to some degree of weariness in some pious or honest employment Begin not the day with Recreation 2. Spend no more time in Recreation any day than you spend in the private or secret duties of Religion And this Rule though to some it may seem severe he thinks sufficiently warranted by that of our Saviour Mat. vi 33. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness I add Take heed of passion and the lâ—ss of Time Remember Recreation is no Mans business God hath not placed us in the World as Leviathan in the Sea to play therein We must but sip not drink of these dangerous sweets tanquam canis ad nilum a lap and away Take them as that we need not as that we love When once Recreations begin to inveigle our affections though in themselves they be never so lawful it is time to lay them aside 12. Every day rejoice with trembling Mix a humbling sense of our own sins with a thankful sense of Gods mercies Indulge not a sullen sorrow neither let our Joy degenerate into frothiness and levity Maintain an evenness of spirit between the immoderate carefulness of such as are swallowed up of over-much sorrow and the carnal jâ—llity of such as on light occasions are transported into ravishment or on greater ones forget the causes they have not to be puffed up but to be humbled rather When God gives you the greatest mercies think how little you deserve and when he exerciseth you with the greatest afflictions think he is before hand with you both in what he hath bestowed upon you what he offers to you and what he hath laid up for you 13. Let no day pass without some serious heart-affecting thoughts of your last day Pray Lord teach me so to number my days as to apply my heart unto wisdom Psal xc v. 12. One being asked what Philosophy was gave it this definition Philosophia est meditatio mortis and undoubtedly the thorow consideration of Death has a large place in the Christian Philosophy The Gospel Doctrine is Ars moriendi the Art of Dying viz. in and to the Lord. And how unpleasant soever this study may seem to corrupt nature there is none more necessary for us than it Serious thoughts of Death are very powerful to convince of the evil of sin of the vanity of the World of the excellency of Grace and the wisdom of laying up Treasure in Heaven O! did men think as they ought of their latter end they would not raise such a dust as they do in the World for applause and preferment there would not be such pride and pomp such bribery and oppression such luxury and sensuality among professed Christians as there is Serious thoughts of Death would be one of the most effectual cures of Hypocrisie in the World for who would very much care what men say or think of him that considers how soon he must lye buried out of their sight and forgotten by them as if he had never been When Hypocrites see they must die it makes them in earnest and if they had been so in time they had been sincere Who would trifle with God that knows and considers how soon he must be at his Bar It were impossible for men to live as they do did they but once every day seriously think they must die this thought would either reform them or torment them And that sinners seem to be aware of whence because they have no mind of either they do all they can to put Death out of their thoughts 14 Observe and improve the Methods of Providence and Grace every day and record your Experiences for future guidance and encouragement It is a great point of spiritual wisdom to notice aright Gods dealings in his Providence with our selves and others so as to make just Inferences therefrom and none but such And also to observe the secret approaches of the Divine goodness to our Souls in the way of gracious influence from the Spirit of Holiness Whatever God does in the ways of common providence or special grace he expects we should regard and consider and improve it when sin finds our selves or others out we should lye thereby warned how we meddle with that which Experience assures us will cost us dear when Obedience is rewarded we are to observe it for our encouragement to walk in such ways as God owns and in what ways we have found God approaching our Souls with the influences of special grace and spiritual consolation we are to be excited still to wait on him therein 15. Let no special opportunity of furthering your Salvation glorifying God or benefiting your Neighbour slip you unobserved or unimproved This is to redeem time Every hour of every day is to be made the best of but some are capable of a special improvement like a fair Wind to a Mariner or a fair day when we are at harvest-work if we let this slip such another may not come Post est occasio calva It may be now Christ stands at thy door in the person of a poor Beggar send him not away without an Alms see Mat. xxv at the latter end Perhaps a poor ignorant sinner is by providence cast into thy Family or thou meetest with such a one upon the Road or thou hast him upon a sick-bed willing to hearken to instruction O do thy utmost to save a Soul from Death and cover the multitude of sins Jam. v. 20. It may be thou art light into the Company of debauched Sensualists profane Ranters Infidel Scoffers now give a proof of thy loyalty and fidelity to thy great Lord and Master Perhaps thou art under a Cross and thou feelest thy heart sensible and tender now set to confessing thy sins and making supplication for the Life of thy Soul now thou hast a Sabbath a Market-day for Heaven store thy self with Soul-provision sic de caeteris 18. Share in the sufferings of the
Preachers without invading that Office which it is the will of God should be peculiar to those whom he hath specially qualified for it and visibly separated to it When you are constantly and delightfully busied in the duties of Holiness you manifest to others that Religion is not an impracticable notion a meer pleasing speculation but that the Rules of it may be complied with Our Sermons here in the Pulpit would be much more effectual if you would but live them over in your Closets Shops Fields Families and mutual converses in the World O what a joy is it to Ministers what a glory to the Gospel of Christ when we can point with our Fingers as it were and say There and there and there are the Seals of our Ministry There an ignorant man or woman instructed a drunkard or swearer or sabbath-breaker or unclean person reformed a covetous muck-worm made free-hearted and open-handed a hypocritical Formalist awakened to thorow seriousness in Religion one that was formerly prayer-less of whom we can now say Behold he prayeth a Family of the Devils Slaves and Servants and the Worlds Drudges that is now become a Church of Christ having stated orderly Worship and ringing with the praises of God in emulation as it were of Heaven it self God's will being done in it as there it is done The holy Conversation of the Professors of Religion is an Instituted Means of the conversion of the Atheistical Infidel Impenitent World And if we deny them the benefit of this Means we little know what we have to answer for the Blood of how many Souls may be found in our Skirts Whereas on the other hand if by our holy Life and good Example we turn many to righteousness we shall shine as Stars or as the Sun in the Kingdom of our Father Dan. xii 3. Mat. xiii 43. By converting sinners thus from the evil of their ways we shall save Souls from death and cover the multitude of sins James v. 20. This going before others with the light of a good Example is a cheap yea a gainful way of promoting their Salvation which is certainly the best work we can do in the World and will yield us the most solid comfort in a dying hour Oh! be not content to give others a verbal commendation of Religion but let your lives tell them what an excellent thing it is R. 5. We had need thus to improve every day because we know not which shall be our last day Therefore if we would not lose our last day let us take heed that we do not lose any day We always carry as it were our lives in our hands Psal cxix v. 109. Our breath is in our nostrils and God can easily change our countenances and send us away Isa ii 22. Job xiv 20. We all know we must die but none of us knoweth the particular time the year month week day or hour when Our Lord 's coming in this respect is uncertain whether at evening or at midnight or at the Cock-crowing we ought therefore always to watch that we may be in readiness Mark xiii 35. How would we spend that day which we knew before hand would be our dying day Would we not be very serious Would we not labour to keep our minds very composed our hearts fixed our thoughts and affections heavenly I do not say we should spend the same time every day in immediate acts of Devotion as we would do if we knew it to be our dying day nor that we should converse always with the same solemnity as if we were under that apprehension But we should every day take as much care to keep our selves from all known sin and to be diligent in every positive instance of our duty as if we knew we must end the day and our life together for we do not know but it may be so Now tell me sinner couldst thou be content to die a drunken Beast so totally deprived of the use of thy reason as not to be able to utter with sense and seriousness but so much as Lord have mercy upon me Would it not be a terrible thing to go into Eternity as some have done with an Oath or Curse in thy Mouth What a case shouldst thou be in thinkest thou if the Dart of Vengeance should strike thorow thy Liver whilst thou art in the very act of filthy Lust and wallowing in impure Embraces If thy Breath should be stopped as thou art uttering a Lie or a dead Palsie should benum thy Limbs while thou art driving a cheating or oppressive Bargain Surely there is no man so brutish but he would most earnestly deprecate so sad a doom and yet sinners boldly venture on these courses daily notwithstanding they know not but they may thereby expose themselves to so dismal a calamity Whereas if Death find us in the way of our duty whatever that duty be let it lye in never so ordinary or mean an Employment we have cause of rejoicing and not of fear or sorrow When we have been most diligent in spending a day for God we shall then be most willing if the good pleasure of the Lord so be to die at night The weary Labourer hastens to receive his Wages and cheerfully lyes down to rest R. 6. The time is coming when we shall wish we had spent our days thus How irksom soever a Life of Strict Godliness may now seem to our carnal hearts and corrupted natures yet there is never a one of us but we shall shortly wish we had been as holy as the holiest that we had made Religion our business and been every day of our lives in the fear of the Lord all the day long You that are now strong and healthful and through the pride of your hearts forget God so that God is not in all your thoughts Who say to God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Psal x. 4. Job xxi 14. Who esteem fervent praying no better than whining and canting and conscientious strictness in the Government of our selves but needless preciseness and vain scrupulosity Who count him that feareth an Oath or refuseth an imposed Health a morose Melancholist an arrand Fanatick a silly Sneaksby Who pride your selves in the vainly assumed Titles of the Wits as being got above the fear of power invisible and disentangled from the Fetters wherewith Religion binds her Votaries Who can please your senses and gratifie your appetites in defiance of Almighty Justice the threatned Everlasting Torments and all the Jargon as with a sneering smile they are wont to call it of the man in black that as they would fain flatter themselves and glad are they at heart when they can meet with any one so vile as to give them a colour for it doth but talk vehemently against sin for an hour or two in the Week because it is his trade There is not one of all these I say but will shortly change his note and turn his