right step towards Heaven much less to run with speed whilst you remain in a state of sin For while you are in such a state you are in a dead state Mr. Rogers Pra. Disco of Sickn and Reco p. 114. you taste not the goodness of God nor hear his loudest Calls you tremble not at his most dreadful threats neither are you drawn with his love nor start at his approaching wrath Your ignorance has deprived your souls of all knowledg of your own miseries you are in a state of death and insensibility and your case is the more sad because you are like to fall under the power of eternal death and though your temporal life is prolonged for a season yet we may say of you as of Malefactors under the sentence of the Law for their crimes They are dead men though there be a Reprieve or a delay of execution for a little space You may as well expect a dead Corpse to go or run as expect such as are in a state of sin to do so in this Heavenly race Or a person loaded with a burden that he is scarce able to stand under to be as speedy in going as one that hath no burden at all And although persons in a state of unregeneracy and sin are not sensible what a burden sin is that it will sink 'em to Hell if it be not remov'd yet when once Conscience is awakned they will then say of their sins as David did of his as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Psal 38.4 too heavy for me to bear long so heavy that if Infinite mercy doth not ease nor release me I must fall under it If the yoke of Christ be easie Mat. 11.30 and his burden light than of necessity on the contrary must the yoke of the Devil which is sin be uneasie heavy and intollerable to be born and yet how many are there that by the course of their lives seem to be of the opinion that 't is possible for them notwithstanding the burden of their sins to be speedy enough in the ways of God to obtain Heaven that their external profession without any such thing as repentance and a holy life will save them but O how greatly will they be mistaken no doubt but there are many in Hell that have heard and pray'd as much or more than ever you have done Thus you see how great a burden sin is and how vast a hinderance 't is to you in your way nay such a weight and burden is sin that it will hinder you from ever obtaining Heaven if it be not remov'd before death O therefore endeavour to get rid of this burden loath detest and abhor sin because God doth loath detest and abhor you for sin because it seeks the utter ruin of your precious souls beg of God to make you sensible that sin is a burden and then when you feel the weight of it you will not be unwilling to part with it beseech him to quicken you who are dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.1 plead with him earnestly to make you sincerely willing to part with your whole burden with all your sins for every sin must be left Mr. Gouges Word to Sinners c. paâ— 167. or you had as good keep them all Can you let all your sins go but this one even this must go too or your life must go for it O set your selves against every sin great and small open and secret carnal and spiritual set your selves against them heartily be willing to prosper and overcome and set upon them speedily let not iniquity live a day longer nor sleep a night more in quiet with you O let not that which is so much your hinderance be retain'd by you let God see your weariness of sin by your earnestness to be rid of it and the great sense you have of the impossibility of getting to Heaven with it that so by patient continuing in your Duty you may at last have a gracious release I should now speak of the Reward imply'd in my Text but before I do this give me leave to speak of one thing that is worthy of your strictest Observation the Apostle does not say in my Text seem so to run as to obtain or make an outward shew of running but so run that ye may obtain now in thus expressing of himself he excludes all Hypocrisy and counterfeit Godliness and there is great reason for his doing thus For in the visible Church 't is certain that there are many that outwardly profess Christ but inwardly and with their heart deny him that are Christians by Name but not such indeed Many Hypocrites there are like painted Sepulchers fair without but within nothing but rottenness Here then let me put you upon Examination whether or no you are not of this number Hypocrisy is spun of a very fine Thread Vid. Bishop Sanderson 's Sermon 1. ad populum p. 175. and is not easily discernable without very diligent Examination and things are not to be measured by the outward shew or by the Lump and Bulk but by an exacter Rule whether they be true or no dost thou bewail thy Sins with Tears Dost thou avoid gross Sins with care Dost thou oppose against common Corruptions with zeal Why all this thou mayest do and yet be a Hypocrite Page 172. Nay you may as the same Author says be touched with a deep feeling of your Sins and with heavy Hearts and many Tears confess and bewail them and not only promise but also purpose amendment you may be superficially affected with and find some overly comfort and refreshing from the Contemplation of those gracious promises of Mercy and Reconciliation and Salvation which are contained in the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and have some degrees of perswasion that these promises are true and some flashes of Confidence withal of your own personal Interest therein all this and much more may you do and yet be rotten as he says at Heart wholly carnal and unrenewed quite empty of sound Faith and Repentance and Obedience and every good Grace full of damnable Pride and Hypocrisy as you may see Examples in Saul's care for the destroying of Witches in Jehu's zeal in killing 1 Sam. 28.3 2 Kings 10.16 28. Mark 6.20 1 Kings 21.27 Baal's Worshippers in Herod's hearing of John Baptist gladly and doing many things too in Ahab's Repentance and Humiliation O therefore look to your hearts be willing to know what they are and don 't play the Hypocrite with your Souls Consider there 's no Sin more odious in the sight of God than this Simulata sanctitas est duplex iniquitas You shall never enter Heaven notwithstanding all your Prayers and Tears if you are Hypocrites When you shall plead for Mercy at the Day of Judgment Christ will tell you Matth. 7.23 he knows you not May I a little also gloss upon your Misery when you come to
The Celestial Race A DISCOURSE Perswading to the PRACTICE OF Celerity Constancy Sincerity IN THE WAYS of GOD. Preached at the Funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Knock Daughter of Mr. Thomas Knock of Edgerton in Kent who died January 2. Anno Dom. 1692. in the Eleventh year of her Age. By William Bush Minister of the Gospel Non dormentibus provenit regnum coelorum nec otio desidiae torpentibus beatitudo aeternitatis ingeritur Prosp de vi contempl LONDON Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry MDCâ—XCII TO THE Christian Readers Especially the AUDITORS OF THIS SERMON HAving now compli'd with the Desires of those that were the Hearers of this Discourse to make it Publick I hope 't will meet with that Acceptation as Discourses of this Nature should among Christians That the Subject might have been managed after a better manner is not at all doubted of but acknowledged and I hope the Reader will be more favourable than to Censure me as Proud or Conceited of my own Labours or Ambitious of appearing in Print assuring you I had not done it now had it been possible for me fairly to have avoided it And altho the manner after which the Subject is managed be mean and despisable yet the Matter it self may be useful by the Blessing of the Almighty to excite Slothful Christians to a greater diligence in their Duty to reduce the wandring to the right way to keep such as are going on in the ways of God from Apostatizing and to discover and beat down that great sin Hypocrisy that is 't is to be fear'd predominant in a great many seeming serious Christians and in some as much unknown to themselves as to others If any object against it because of its plainness I hope this Answer will satisfy them It was not design'd to please Persons Fancies but to profit their Souls and I had rather be understood than admir'd I now hope Christians you will propose the same end to your selves in Reading as I do in Writing which is That your Souls might receive benefit and comfort hereby I shall say no more but beseech the God of all Grace to help and enable you so to run the Race that is set before you that you may at last obtain a Crown of Glory And this I shall do particularly for you that were the Hearers of this Sermon and that usually attend upon my Ministry I conclude my self Your Souls Friend and Servant in the Gospel of Christ Jesus W. BUSH THE CELESTIAL RACE 1 COR. ix 24. latter part So run that ye may obtain VVHEN we seriously reflect upon the certainty of our Dy ng and the uncertainty of the time when when we consider too that the longest time of living is but short so short that if it were well improved in working out our Salvation we should find very few spare minutes or that we had too much we should seldom be heard to complain I say when we seriously consider of these things surely we shall be mov'd to a greater diligence in preparing for Eternity in making ready our Accounts in running swiftly the Race that is set before us lest Death overtake us as we are loytering and stop us before our Course be finished and then we are eternally undone I therefore pray and beseech you in the Name of my Master Christ not only to give serious Attention to this seasonable Exhortation that the Apostle gives you in my Text but also to make it your practice so to run as to obtain In the former part of the verse the Apostle borroweth a Similitude from those that run a Terrestial Race for a Temporary Reward that as in that Race tho many run yet 't is only he that out-runs the rest that persevereth to the end that obtains the Prize even so in the Race of Godliness none shall be crown'd but those that hold out to the end of their lives Yet notwithstanding there is this difference in this Similitude In the Race Terrestial he only is rewarded that cometh first to the Mark but in the Race Celestial not only one but all that run lawfully shall obtain The Doctrine that I shall by the assistance of the Almighty discourse of from the words is this That the greatest Speediness and Celerity in the ways of God must be constantly practised by those that would obtain everlasting Life The Method that I shall follow in speaking to this Doctrine will be this 1. I shall give you Reasons for the proof of it 2. Shew you how you may fit and prepare your selves to run speedily and swiftly in this heavenly Race 3. Speak of the Reward impli'd in my Text which will be certainly given to those that run lawfully And 4. And lastly Apply it That those that run in this heavenly Race must run swiftly and speedily I shall prove by these three Reasons The first may be drawn from the celerity brevity and uncertainty of our Lives which here in my Text is compar'd to a Race for swiftness in passing away for so run that ye may obtain is as if the Apostle had said So live under the Gospel of Christ Jesus that ye may obtain Life everlasting The Life of Man is always in Scripture compared to such things as denote the celerity the brevity and the uncertainty of it sometimes 't is compar'd to a shadow as Psalm 109.23 sometimes to a vapour as James 4.14 that appeareth for a little time and then vanishes away Job Job 9.20 considering the swift passage of mans Life compareth it to the swift motion of the Eagle when hasting to her prey or the swift Ships on the Waters that which is of least duration and of most speedy passage may be a fit Comparison of the Life of Man the youngest and the strongest in a very short space must be removed hence Active Youth is quickly metamorphosed into crooked Age so frail and uncertain are our lives that for ought we know one week or day or hour yea perhaps one moment more may put a period to them We have daily Examples of the uncertainty of the time of our departure hence we see one cut down in his early Spring and in his blooming greener Youth and his Sun is covered with Darkness almost as soon as it begins to rise whilst another weathers out the Storms and grows to a mature and full Age. One does but peep as it were into the World takes a short view of it and is commanded out again and is at his Journeys end in the morning of his Life and another is allowed to travel till the shadows of the Evening are stretched out according to their most regular Advances and till the threescore and ten that is the usual date of long Life is expired One is quickly summon'd to the great Tribunal and judged whilst another has a longer space wherein to prepare for his Tryal Vid. Mr Roger's Practical Discourse of Sickness and Recovery page 13. and his final
Hell which will be most intollerable you will share in the greatest of them The loose and prophane Wretches that lived like Devils Incarnate in the World that spent very little or no time in Prayer or Hearing or any other Duties and that took you always for Saints because of your seeming strictness in the ways of God when they shall see you in the same dreadful Condition with themselves 't will make them if 't were possible laugh in Hell to see that this is the end of your Profession of your strictness in the ways of God of your praying and hearing and the like this will greatly aggravate your Torment O therefore for Christs sake and the sake of your own precious Souls beware of Hypocrisy I would had I time have given you some particular Marks of Hypocrisy at present then make but this out clearly That Hypocrisy is not predominant in you but that in simplicity and sincerity of heart and not with fleshly Wisdom you have your Conversations in the World you may then be sure you are not in the number of those Hypocrites that shall be banished for ever from the Presence of the Lord and turned into Hell I now return to my third and last Doctrinal head namely to speak of the Reward implied in my Text which shall be certainly given to those that run lawfully that run thus speedily and swiftly constantly and sincerely in this Heavenly Race and this Reward is no other nor can be no better than Heaven it self Luke 12.32 'T is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom Now to speak fully of this glorious place and the Felicities that God hath prepared there for his People is impossible we are not able fully to conceive of them therefore whatever I may now speak concerning the Glories the Felicities of Heaven if you ever come there you will say behold the thousand part was not told me but according to what discoveries the Holy Ghost hath made of it in Scripture we may speak of it and we may see the Glories of it set forth to us by the diversity and greatness of the Names thereof and the Society we shall there enjoy I shall speak to two or three of the Names thereof briefly 1. 'T is called the Kingdom of God and Christ Revel 12.10 Luke 23.42 because Christ having overcome Death Hell and Damnation together with all the Enemies that did oppose and hinder us in our way to Heaven doth rule there and govern his Church Triumphant with Heavenly Peace and Everlasting Tranquility Beverly's Great Soul of Man p. 278. If we could imagine as indeed we cannot because experience so mightily contradicts it that any Prince should live in all those delights and pleasures the most spendid Court affords without any tediousness or satiety ten thousand years what a dark Representation were this of this Kingdom tho he could do and enjoy all he would 2. 'T is call'd by the Name of Paradice Luke 23.43 in respect of the abundant plenty of the greatest of Pleasures which the Saints can either wish for or desire 3. 'T is call'd Eternal Life Joh. 3.15 Matth. 25.46 because there shall be no more Death nor Lamentation nor Sorrow We shall quit a vale of Tears for Rivers of Eternal Pleasures Mr. Silvester's Sermon in the Supplement to the Morning Exercise an Element of Joys succeeds our bitter Cup our Rights can never be invaded there nothing can stain the Comforts of that World no Blots nor Wounds are there contracted or endured no Troubles in that Israel there are no pauses of Astonishment through surprisals of Afflictions Death smites no Corners there Providence makes no Storms there lies that Ark wherein no vile or wicked Cham shall dwell the Glory of that place it knows no Eclipse nor Cloud no dim Discoveries or flat Notes shall be the Exercise or Entertainment of that State I might give you more Illustrations upon the great and glorious Names of this Kingdom but this may serve as a tast of the Glories the Joys of that blessed place by which you may discern the excellency théreof But now as to the Society that there we shall enjoy There we shall have the Company of God and Christ Saints and Angels and all our Godly Friends and Relations and joyn with them in singing Hallelujahs to the Lord God Almighty and to the Lamb his Son that sits upon the Throne for evermore Vid. Mr. Rogers's Practical Discourse of Sickness and Recovery page 97. O how vastly different is that Assembly from such a one as this Here we are with our unbelief with our Fears with our strong Corruptions and with our many Sins whereas they are all perfect and compleat in Holiness We shall then be no more disturbed with the Abuses of the Wicked we shall be no more griev'd with their Oaths and Curses nor troubled with their Company but be in the happy Society of those that will delight us and such as to Eternity we shall enjoy and not only shall our Souls enjoy these Felicities Phil. 3.21 but at the Resurrection our Bodies shall be joyn'd to them and both shall be happy Our Bodies shall not be what now they are foul unactive Lumps of Clay Mr. Silvester's Sermon in the Supplement to the Morning Exercise they are now pierced with Cold and worn with Labours appaled with Griefs and Dangers and grip'd with Pains and macerated with keen and envious Passions and after all mouldred to Dust by Death and Rottenness but there neither Deformity Pains nor Death shall be their fear nor exercise Thus have I briefly shew'd you what this Reward is that that those shall obtain that run as I have shown you in this Heavenly Race and the Happinesses the Felicities the Glories that there they shall injoy And after all I must conclude somewhat like the Apostle That eye hath not seen nor ear heard 1 Cor. 2. ◠neither hath it entred into the heart of man fully to conceive of the things that God hath prepared in heaven for them that love him Having now done what I promised as to the Doctrinal part I proceed to the Application Is it so then that the greatest Speediness and Celerity in the Ways of God must be constantly practised by those that would obtain everlasting Life Then First From hence we may draw a Use of Reproof for those Persons that are creeping as it were to Heaven instead of running swiftly that go as if they did not care whether they came there or no or as if they had an Eternity of Time allow'd them for their Journey What do you mean Sirs Your Sun is setting the Night draws on the Shadows of the Evening have overtaken you stir up your selves O slothful Souls you are upon the very Borders of Eternity your Lives are but as a Vapour James 4.14 and what will become of your Souls if your day is gone before your work be done Are