speak a word for you ye workers of Iniquity O what shall I have to secure me from such a repulse and to assure me that he will be an Advocate for me If I can but get Christ to be mine Advocate there 's no doubt then but my matters will be good and the cause will go for me here 's the difficulty What shall I have to prove my title to Christ and his Advocation and to secure me that he will undertake for me Why my very trust if it be sincere will prove my Title He that trusteth in him shall not be confounded And for the evidencing the sincerity of this trust a confirmed Christian will have this to say Through the grace of God I have the testimony of a good Conscience and an holy Conversation my works of Faith and my labours of Love my mortified Sins this crucified and conquered World through the Spirit of Christ within me for whom I have forsaken all and followed Him these will attest the truth of my trust though none of these things none of my Graces none of my Dutyes can answer for me or acquit me in the Judgment or open the door of Glory to me yet they will be good evidences to prove my claim to Christ that can and will do it When Christ shall plead I have dyed for Sinners and thereupon shall challenge Absolution and entrance for those that have believed in Him and obeyed his Gospel the Accuser will reply But this Man hath not believed hath not obeyed the Gospel but now if I can get that to be evidenced by the testimony of a good Conscience and my holy Conversation then the mouth of the Accuser will be stopped for ever against me and so an entrance shall be administred to me abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom And here now is the trust of the Saints and its tryumph over all matters of doubt and difficulties that lye between them and everlasting Glory From hence may they take up those words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. Death where is thy Sting Grave yea Sin Hell Devil where is your Victory Thanks be to God who hath given me the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ From what hath been said learn by the way 1. That the life of a Christian in this World is to be a life of trust 2. That a life of trust is an excellent and desirable life and worth your reaching after But these I shall speak to together Christ is to be trusted not only for the world to come to give us entrance into Heaven but for this world also to lead and help us on to be with us in all our way from first to last Our great difficulty and our great danger of miscarrying is not so much in our end as in our way to it As hard as 't is to dye well 't is harder to live well Though the last Enemy Death looks with a more frightful face yet our Enemies that we meet with all along our lives Sin and Lust and Temptation do us the most deadly mischief He that hath conquered Sin need not fear to encounter Death do but live an Holy Life and then be nothing careful how ye shall dye Those Saints Heb. 11. Abel Abraham Sarah with the rest of them 't is Recorded that they liv'd by Faith it 's said of them v. 13. They all dyed by Faith not one amongst them miscarryed in Death who by Faith kept close to God in their lives Now our great difficulty and danger being in our lives there is the most need of trusting in Christ for his conduct through this World and this being that which I am now especially directing you to be reaching to that I may more effectually lead you on to such a life of trust I shall yet more particularly shew you that Christ must be trusted for 1. Our entrance into Religion 2. Our progress in Religion 3. Our perseverance in Religion 1. It is Christ that must do the first work for us must bring us in at the straight Gate and give us entrance into Religion Who brought Israel out of Egypt Cut out a passage for them through the Red Sea and set them into the way of the Promised Land 'T was the same Moses that conducted them through the Wilderness Christians you that have passed the New Birth and have broken out of the Womb you that are escaped out of Egypt that state of Bondage you once were in with the rest of this miserable World and are now gotten safe into the way of life Who is it that hath helped you hitherto Are you not beholden to Christ for this As it was said of the second Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.22 so 't is true of the first Resurrection As in Adam all dye even so in Christ shall all be made alive Are there any living souls amongst you 'T is Christ who is your Life And who is it that must help after and bring in those that are behind and quicken those that are yet dead Is it not the same Jesus that must do it Sinners you that have been left dead in your sins some of you have not trod one step towards the New Birth others of you have been brought to the Birth but still stick in the Womb What hope have you that you shall ever be new Born If you be not new Born there 's no hope of you but you must dye for ever better you had never been Born into this World then not to be Born a new to Christ You must dye there 's no help for you there 's no hope of you you must dye eternally the second Death will seize upon you and swallow you up for ever if you be not Born the second time You are yet without the Gate and if you dye there dye in your sins dye in your ignorance in your impenitence and unbelief if ye dye without the streight Gate you go down quick into the Pit Now what hope is there of your being brought in Multitudes of your Predecessors in sin have never come in have liv'd and dyed and gone to their Graves and gone down to Hell in their impenitence and down you are going apace What hope is there now that you may stop before you come there that you may be brought about out of that common rode that broad way that you are going and brought into the narrow gate that gate of Life May be you will say Christ I trust will do it and the truth is that 's all you have to say that 's all the hope you have there 's the same Jesus before you who hath brought in so many others who says to you all as Isa 45.22 Look unto me and ye shall be saved None cometh to the Father but by me and Joh. 6.37 Him that cometh to me that will trust upon me to bring him to God I will in no wise cast him out Go to Jesus Sinners tell him Lord thou hast told me that none can come to the
Friends 2. His comfort in this his hard lot Though all Men forsook him yet Christ stuck by him the Lord stood with me and strengthened me Christians this may be your case and let this be your comfort though none in the World should own you yet stick by Christ and he will stick by you in all your Tribulations 2. Again you must dye Sickness may Arrest you and cast you upon the Bed of Languishing and Death may stand at your Beds-feet and stare you in the face and the Grave will open its mouth for you to swallow you up Stick fast to Christ and look to find him standing by your Beds-side to comfort you O how will it be with you in that hour O I feel my Diseases and Languishing my Flesh wasteth my Bones ake my strength is lost my heart faints mine eyes fail my breath is departing and all tell me that Death is at the door ready to turn me into rottenness But O! where is my God Now for a sight of Christ Those that are gone back from Christ they may look and look and cry where is the Lord where is the Saviour But poor Wretches there 's no Christ to be seen Death comes and the Devil comes and Sin comes and puts a Sting into Death's tail and the poor Sinner is left to grapple with Death alone its gripes its pangs its terrors are upon him but no Redeemer to be had Whatever come upon thee this shall not thou that holdest thee by him shalt see Jesus standing by thee or if thou should'st not see him yet there he will not fail to be though it may be behind the Curtain yet ready to help thee in thy Conflict with this thy last Enemy 3. Yet again after Death thou must be brought to Judgment where thou wilt meet with a Righteous Judge a Malicious Accuser who will have many things to lay to thy charge All the ugly and frightful sins that ever thou hast done in thy life thou maist look to hear of from that Malicious mouth And how wilt thou stand before that dreadful Bar O there thou shalt be sure Even with these Eyes to behold thy Redeemer there he will certainly be for he is the Judge and there he will stick by thee for he is thine Advocate he hath said to thee Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful to the death and I will give thee a Crown of life Fear not how thy matters shall go in the Judgment I will be there I will secure thee from coming into Condemnation I will give thee the Crown of Life This will be the Portion of those that stick fast to Christ He will certainly stick to them stick to them in all the troubles of their lives stick to them in death and stand by them in the eternal Judgment O Christans stick fast hold fast what you have that no man take your Crown Rev. 2.11 Hold fast your holy Profession hold on your Confidence and your holy Conversation and thence-forth expect that Jesus will give you a Crown of Life 2. Stick closâ— to Christ or else you will never be likely to stick fast By how much the closer our adherence to Christ is by so much the firmer is our standing and the less danger of falling off The root of a Tree if it be loosned from the Earth is more easily plucked up it may be some small strings there may be that keep their hold which maintain it in life but if the main root be loosned it 's the more in danger of being blown down The cleaving of the soul to Christ is set forth by the cleaving together of Husband and Wife Eph. 5.31 For this cause shall a Man leave Father and Mother and shall be joyned to his Wife The word in the Original signifies shall be glued to his Wife What is glu'd together if it shrinks or gapes loses its hold Take heed of warping and shrinking from Christ the glue will give off if you do and when you have once lost your hold you know not whither you may be blown O take heed of growing to a distance of wandring from Christ keep you near him if you would stand firm 4. A confirmed habit of Religion An holy disposition and constitution of soul this is the very heart of the new Creature the Divine Nature whereof Christians are said to be made partakers 2 Pet. 1.4 'T is an holy Spring or Fountain within us which will flow forth in Religious actions and by how much the more maturity it 's ripened up into by so much the more freely will it flow forth An heart that is holily disposed and hath strong and fixed inclinations Heaven-ward will find Religion sweet and easie to it there will be the less need of force and constraint That fear which is so necessary to drive on a servile spirit will be of less use according to the measures that we have attained of this free spirit and ready mind Such Christians have that within them that will save them much of their labour and pains which would be otherwise needful Our work will be easie and we shall go on more prosperously in our way we shall both more abound in the work of the Lord and we shall go on more evenly and steadily in our course Religious acts where there are no Religious habits or where the habit is but weak will be both more seldom and more difficult and when they are done whatever they be for the matter of them yet it will be still questioned whether they be sincerely or savingly Religious Those that are carnally-minded their very Natures do prompt them and carry them on in their fleshly ways there 's the less need of temptation to sin the Devil may save much of his labour their sinful dispositions will carry them on fast enough O Christians let this be in your eye let this be it you aim at and labour for to habituate your selves to Holiness to get up to such a settled holy disposition to such a promptitude and readiness of mind that your hearts may flow forth towards God and Godliness that your inward stream may run Heaven-ward that you may feel a freedom and enlargement of heart towards Godliness of Life Carnal Professors both those that are wholly such and have nothing of the new Nature in them and those who though they have something of the Spirit yet have much of the Flesh remaining in them O how heavily and slowly do they drive on in the matters of Religion How backward are they to duty how hardly brought to it how quickly weary they had rather be any where then with God about any work than about the work of the Lord not only eating and drinking and playing and taking the pleasures of the Flesh but their hardest fleshly labours Ploughing and Threshing will easilier down with them than Praying or Holy Meditation or otherwise Conversing with God This is a wretched temper but is it not an ordinary temper Consider is it
and as Children can't go alone without me saies Christ you can do nothing Joh. 15.5 You are apt to be comfortless Children and 't is He that hath said Isa 51.12 I even I am He that comforteth you Learn to know your own state and carry it accordingly Hast thou Grace Improve it preserve it and make the best of it but never count you have enough to last you till you come home you must to the Breasts every day you must to Christ for your daily Bread or you will quickly starve Hast thou a little strength strength for Duty Improve it to the utmost be diligent and busie in the work of the Lord in every good work in Hearing and Praying and Watching and striving against sin in mortifying the Flesh in helping and strengthning one another do what-ever you can be as active and stirring and industrious as possible but go not in your own strength trust not to the strength you have but let this be your hold which was the Apostles Phil. 4.13 I shall be able to do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah trust ye in the Lord Jesus for in him is everlasting strength Isa 26.4 Have ye comfort in your hearts Say not as the Psalmist Psal 30.5 I shall never be moved thou Lord of thy goodness hast made my Mountain so strong but know that you will need to fetch in fresh comforts as you have of daily supplies of strength Well thus this Trust will answer to these and all other the doubting questions that a Christian will have to put in his life-time whilst he lives in this Wilderness who will shew me my way who will sustain me in my way till I come to my Journeys end c. Christ will do it I trust He will 2. Case I have a Jordain to pass over I must dye who will bring me over Jordain who will stand by me in that hour He is an established Christian who is able to dye who can say with the Apostle To me to live is Christ to dye is gain none of these things move me I am ready to be offered up I desire to depart and to be with Christ Then is the Life of Jesus most signally manifested in our mortal Flesh when we can by Faith tryumph over mortality But as for me I am afraid to dye I am one of their weakly souls who for fear of death are all their life-time subject to Bondage I walk unevenly and uncomelily because upon this account I walk so uncomfortably How may I out-grow my fears and come to a settlement How shall I do to dye If I could dye I could live to better purpose than now I do or can What shall I have to comfort me Whom shall I have to stand by me in that hour Trust answers why Christ will stand by me He that hath taught me to live will I trust help me to dye He hath conquer'd Death he hath disarm'd and pluck'd out the sting of Death He hath broken the head of that Leviathan 'T was He that said Hos 13.14 O Death I will be thy death O Grave I will be thy destruction He hath said it and He hath done it He himself hath passed over that Jordain and hath thereby made a way for his Ransomed to pass over He will send his Angels to conduct me through that shady and dismal passage He knows what it is to dye how hard the conflict is with the last Enemy and what special need I shall have of his help in that hour and therefore hath said I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 If I can but hold me by him while I live I will hang upon him when I dye and with Confidence say with the Psalmist Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the Valley of tâ—e shaddow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me He hath said Joh. 11.25 Whoever liveth and believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live He hath said Rev. 20.6 Blessed is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on him the second death shall have no power Come on therefore O my soul fear not to lanch forth into the deep trust in Christ He that hath delivered and doth deliver will also deliver in that day from death he will not deliver it 's appointed to all once to dye there 's no repealing that Statute but He will deliver in death He will by death deliver me from all my fears and sorrows Who of all His ever miscarryed in death Look to this that thou be one of His hold thee by Him cleave to Him follow Him while thou livest be faithful to Him to the death and trust to Him He will be faithful to thee in death 3. Case I have an Inheritance which I hope for in the Land of Promise And here the question will be Who shall give me entrance who shall give me possession of mine Inheritance There is a great Gulf fixed betwixt me and Glory there is a Judgment that I must pass through in my entrance into the Rest of God and in that Judgment I must pass under a strict and severe examination and give an account of my self and of all my ways unto God O how shall I stand in the Judgments or who shall stand by me I am a Sinner a guilty soul before the Lord and mine Iniquities are all marked before Him Once I was an Enemy to Christ and how much hath he against me for that time Since I became his Servant and Solemnly Covenanted and Vowed my self to Him Vowed Repentance Vowed Obedience Vowed Holiness to him O what a Servant have I been What an idle and sloathful Servant What a barren and unprofitable Servant He hath made me his Child but O what a wanton unruly froward Child have I been How often have I turn'd aside from him and serv'd my Flesh and this present World O my Pride and Hypocrisie O my trifling and my haltings after the Lord O the reproaches that have fallen upon his Name by my unworthy uneven and uncomely walking before him How shall I answer for this in the Judgment or who shall answer for me Who shall stop the Mouth of my Accuser in that day Christ I trust will do it I put my whole Cause into his Hand He shall be my Advocate against my Accuser whom I will trust to plead for me He hath his Stripes and his Wounds He hath his Blood and his Death to answer for me It is Christ that dyed who shall condemn Rom. 8.34 But what shall I have to confirm my trust in Christ and to secure me that he will answer for me There be many that lay claim to Christ amongst the Unbelievers the workers of Iniquity they will put their trust in Christ and will call to him Lord Lord open to me Mat. 7.22 23. Lord Lord answer for me to whom he will say Away from me I know you not I will not
Iniquities are multiplied our Iniquities are marked before the Lord and have mark'd us out for a company of unclean and polluted souls we cannot hide it and we will not hide it we can neither hide nor lessen it 't is too true 't is too evident we must confess it and we will confess it that we are a naughty People not so bad as others Why others never pretended to any good never made that Profession that we have made never had the advantages that we have had there can be no excuse for us we should have been better and we might have been better but what ever we should have been or might have been we are very bad we are all as an unclean thing Thus did that great Apostle when he speaks of Sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Of whom sayes he I am chief Friends whatever your faults are do not mince the matter do not count your errors little Errors your Sins little Sins Be sure of this that mincing is not the way to mending Shame your selves before the Lord abase your selves in his sight study the greatness of those you count your little sins rip open your hearts and find out what a nest of Wickedness is there ransack your ways and see what a course of Folly and Vanity is to be found there and do not go about to hide them He that covereth his Sins shall not prosper Prov. 28.13 Do not go about to hide them but confess them and spread them before the Lord till your soul be ashamed O that this Word might send us to our homes every one of us with an aking heart and a blushing face that it might make us all fall down before our God with Ezra's words in our mouth Ezra 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God for our Iniquities are increased over our head and our Trespasses are grown up unto the Heavens Let us blush at our Hypocrisie let us blush at our Luke-warmness let us blush at our Worldlines and Carnality let us blush in our Prayers let us go blushing home and weeping as we go let us acknowledge we all are as an unclean thing and our Righteousness is as filthy Rags Doct. 3. Consumption upon Professors is the high way to Confusion and Dissipation If we wither and fade as a Leaf our Iniquities as the wind will scatter and drive us away If grey hairs be upon us death and destruction is near Beloved you can hardly be ignorant what complaints there are even from all quarters of our Land what a decay there is grown even every where upon Professors of Religion and whether this consuming Disease hath not seized upon many of us here I leave it to your own Consciences to judge the consideration hereof hath engaged me to enlarge on this subject beyond what I at first intended and I beseech you every one to set your hearts upon the words I shall speak so as both to make a narrow enquiery each one into himself whether you be grown into such a decay and to endeavour for a speedy recovery I remember how it hath been with this Congregation when our Assembling together was in one place what a glorious and hopeful Morning appeared What a Spring-tide there was of Converts flowing in to the Lord and what a day-light of warm and holy affections then brake forth amongst us whether our day hath continued its brightness accordring to the spring of our Morning let us sadly consider before the Lord. Now in prosecution of the Doctrine mention'd I shall first a little open this consuming Disease to you and shew you that even Christians may be sadly surprized by it and then shew you that where it proves Epidemical and General there this Consumption is a fore-runner of confusion For the first know there is a two-fold decay or consumption in Religion Partial Total 1. Paertial or gradual a declining or consuming in some degree a growing into a worse case than sometimes we were a growing weak and cold and remiss in our Religion an abateing or loosing our former care strength life affection and vigour of soul and this may be incident to real Christians who are subject to decay Inwardly Outwardly 1. Inwardly in the case and state of their souls in the inward Man they may be Back-sliders in heart as the expression is Prov. 14.14 Particularly 1. There may be a shaking of their Faith The principles and foundations of Christianity may be shaken there may be a failing of the firmness of their belief of the truth of the Gospel and some declinings towards Infidelity and Atheism Of Himeneus and Philetus 't is said 2 Tim. 2.18 that they erred concerning the truth and overthrew the Faith of some and as they overthrew the Faith of some so probably they might shake the Faith of more 2. There may be a decay or wearing out the sense of the importance of those truths of the Gospel that they do believe Though the Gospel may still be received as an undoubted and unquestionable truth though the evidence of its truth may be so clear as that they cannot contradict or question it yet the weight of it may not be so much felt upon their hearts the truths believed may not be so much minded nor so throughly considered as to leave any powerful impressions of them upon their hearts Those great things the worth and value of a soul the dreadfulness of loosing a soul the danger that they are in of loosing their souls the excellency and necessity of Christ the eternal weight of glory the everlasting Vengeance of God against the Unrighteousness of Men though all these things be believed and acknowledged yet they may not for the time be so duly minded and meditated on they may be so much out of their eye out of their thoughts that the sense of them and the efficacy of that sense may seem even to be utterly lost Friends 't is not the being of these great things no nor the bare believing that they are but the minding and frequent considering them the having that height and depth that life and death in our eye that will affect and work upon the heart and Christians through their own carelesness and heedlesness may have even lost the sight both of Heaven and Hell Things present may have so filled and overpower'd their hearts as to put things to come quite out of mind the heart may be so bewitch'd by this present world so surrounded with a croud of carnal pleasures and delights so swallowed up of worldly cares and contrivances so intent upon our worldly business and commodity that we may hereupon drive so heavily on in the matters of Eternity as if we had forgotten that we had a Christ or a soul to be minded 3. There may be a decay as of ther Faith as before so of all other their inward Graces and vital operations Hence 't is that the Apostle prays so earnestly for them 1 Pet. 5.10
on his fidelity as quiets and sustains and stays their hearts in hope of his help and in peace and comfort and so 't is exprest Isa 50.10 Let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God Christians have their doubts and their fears and their darkness and their tempests even their hearts also are sometimes like a troubled Sea and how sadly are they tossed with the Tempests But how do they stand under all this How is it that they are not sunk and over-whelmed and utterly lost in all this Their trust is their strength they stay themselves upon the Lord. I am in a poor case Lord hard beset hard bestead I know not what to do nor what to make of my self nor how to help my self only mine Eyes are towards thee thou art my Rock and my Refuge I have given this soul of mine to thee 't is thine own and thereupon I have committed it to thy custody Look thou to it Lord thou hast undertataken for me and that shall satisfie me there I will lean I will stay I will repose my fearing wearied soul 2. This trust in Christ makes much for our improvement and establishment in Christianity For 1. It is our taking hold on Christ As the Anchor takes hold on the Rock as the Root takes hold on the Tree so Faith takes hold on Christ and the higher our Believing is grown up into affiance or trusting the stronger is its hold 2. It will answer to all our doubts and fears and to all the doubting questions that the anxious soul will be pulling in for resolution and satisfaction which whilst they remain unresolved he is never like to go comfortably or prosperously on his way There are amongst Multitudes of others these three great cases it sees before it which it must have resolution in 1. Saith the soul I have a Wilderness to pass through this world is a Wilderness and the time of my Life is my Travelling through this Wilderness wherein I shall find much work and hard usage who shall help me through this Wilderness 2. I have a Jordain to pass over I must pass through the Vale of the shaddow of Death I must dye who shall bring me over Jordain 3. I have an Inheritance that lyes beyond the River on the other side Death who shall give me possession of mine Inheritance Trust answers to all to all the doubts that arise in these three cases The first case is most immediately proper to our business in hand but I shall crave leave to speak a few words also to the two latter which will be at least of this use to knock in what I shall speak upon the former 1. Case I have a Wilderness to pass through the time of my life is a passing through the Wilderness who shall help me through it And here the soul will put two particular questions 1. Who shall lead me my way through the VVilderness Here are many ways many false ways many cross ways and but one that is the right way How shall I hit my may to Heaven the right way that leads thither-wards Who will shew me and lead me in this way Here Trust answers Christ will do it I lean upon him to be my Moses to lead me in the way that I should go Thou wilt guide me with thy Councel Psal 73.24 Christ hath gone the way before his Saints and he will shew them his steps to direct them Therefore the Apostle exhorts Heb. 12.2 Run the Race looking to Jesus as for encouragement so for direction follow not the foot-steps of the Sheep only but follow the foot-steps of the Shepheard and walk on as he walked before thee But how shall I find the way or the steps wherein Christ walked Jer. 10.23 It is not in Man that walketh to direct his steps How can a Man understand his own ways Prov. 20.24 There are many hard and intricate cases where I may be at a stand and not know which way to take Their answer is as Psal 143.8 In thee do I trust cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul to thee and v. 10. Thy Spirit is good lead me into the Land of Vprightness I trust thou wilt thou wilt guide me by thy Counsel and bring me to glory 2. Question Who shall supply and sustain me in the Wilderness This World is a dry and barren Land I must have Bread to strengthen me I must have water to refresh me whence shall I be supplyed Why I trust in Christ for supplyes He will give me Manna will rain down Bread from Heaven for me He will be a springing Rock to me of whose streams I shall be refreshed Such a Rock there was in the Wilderness of old and the Apostle tells me 1 Cor. 10.4 This Rock was Christ Christians are sensible that their stock of Provisions which they carry with them will not last that little Grace they have those little Comforts they have will be quickly spent and wasted if there be not continually fresh supplyes Whence shall I be supplyed Trust answers as the Apostle in another case Phil. 4.19 My God will supply all my wants according to the Riches of his Grace by Christ Jesus I trust he will I am often as a dry Tree my soul within me is as a barren Wilderness I have every day my work coming upon me work for mine own Soul work for my Family work for my Friends and Enemies I have every day my wants coming upon me I want Faith I want Love I want Life and Zeal and Strength O how poor and low is it with me my Soul hungreth and thirsteth and fainteth within me and now what shall I do I will get me to the Rock and there will I trust I will trust in Christ his Grace shall be sufficient for me 2 Cor. 12.9 of his fulness I hope to receive even Grace for Grace Christians is this at any time the case of your souls Are you discouraged by your Poverty and Barrenness Do you complain how weak and insufficient you are for your work how low and scant 't is with you in respect of Grace and Strength Do you doubt how you shall hold up and hold on Do you thirst and faint after the influences of Heaven Do you fear you shall wast and wither and consume away in your souls Penury O to the Rock to the Rock go to Christ and trust him for supplies There are these three things that he looks you should depend upon him for 1. For the continued influence of his Grace whereby to hold and maintain your souls in life 2. For assistance in Duty for his Spirit to help your Infirmities and to work your works in you 3. For all needful and necessary Comforts You are yet but Children and as Children you have not your stock in your own hands you have but from hand to mouth every day you will need new provisions You are Children
Father can turn from his sins and come in unto God but by thee this thou hast told me and I have found it true I cannot come in of my self mine own heart hangs back hangs after my sins and this world and hangs back from God Ministers cannot bring me in they have been almost all my life long dealing with me threatning me in perswading and beseeching me in but cannot prevail Poor wretched Creature that I am after all the means that have been used to bring me in to God behold I am an hardned impenitent soul to this day and so I am like to dye for all that they can do to help me I have nothing left for it but only thy help Oh Lord and thy word for it that thou wilt help me and wilt not put me back if I come to thee This being all mine hope I come unto thee I cast my self upon that blessed Word Help O King of Saints help O Saviour of Sinners Christ help Christ help this poor soul of mine help me to God that I may live having nothing else for it upon this I must venture upon thee I must lean I come to thy door there I will lye begging and crying and hoping that thou wilt put forth thine hand and help me in Lord open to me I trust yet thou wilt and in this trust I will continue crying and begging till thou have Mercy on me and bring me within this straight gate the gate of Life 2. 'T is Christ that must do all our following works for us By him we have our entrance and through him we must make our progress He must bring us in at the straight gate must convert our souls and 't is He that must help us on in the narrow way and conduct our souls through all the duties and difficulties of our whole life The Mother must Nurse the Child as well as bring it forth into the World the Child must be carryed in Armes must be Suckled and supported and must afterward be taught to speak and taught to go and though our Children may yet God's Children will never be taught to go alone while they live They must keep by their Fathers side they must be led by their Fathers hand as long as they live Christ must do all this for his Children and He will do it Isa 40.11 He will gather his Lambs with his Armes He will carry them in his Bosom and gently lead them When we are entred into the strait gate when we are passed the New Birth the great difficulty is over Sinners there are many difficult passages between you and the Kingdom of Heaven through all which you must pass or perish There are these three hard passages the straits of the Womb or the difficulties of the New Birth the strait course or the difficulties of Life the hard passage at the end the difficulties at Death But the great difficulty is the first when you are once passed the Birth the great difficulty will be over If you go on and dye in your sins then there is not only a difficulty but an impossibility there is a great Gulf fixed between Heaven and Hell Luk. 16. So that they that would cannot pass from Hell to Heaven O keep you out of Hell when once you come there you cannot escape thank God that yet though it be hard yet 't is possible for you to get to Heaven and you that are Saints may rejoyce that with you the great difficulty is over But yet the narrow way in which you must continue is an hard way The narrow way by which you must pass to glory is that course of Holiness wherein you must hold on to the end There 's no getting to Heaven but by this narrow way and there 's no getting through this narrow way but by help from Christ and therefore your whole life must be a life of trust of trust in Christ Christ must be trusted 1. For the helping us forward in all his Holy ways 2. For the helping us through the sufferings we shall meet with in his ways 1. For the helping us forward in all his Holy ways 'T is from Him we must expect to prosper in our way 't is He that must lead us on towards and raise and work us up to that holy Conformity of heart and life to him wherein our souls prosperity stands Here I shall shortly shew you 1. That our progress in Religion is to be measured by the degree of our conformity to Christ. 2. That eminent Conformity to Christ is that which Christians have or should have in their eye 3. That Christians falling so much short of this Conformity to Christ fall under many doubts and fears whether ever they shall attain to it 4. Their trust in Christ is their help against all their doubts and fears 1. Our progress in Religion is to be measured by the degree of our conformity to Christ There 's a double conformity to Christ To his Image To his Will Our being renewed according to his Image in our inner Man and our being governed by his Word both in our inward and outward Man Now by how much the nearer we are made like unto Christ by how much the more of the Image of his Holiness there is engraven upon our hearts and by how much the more compliance there is of our ways with the will and holy word of Christ so much the more progress have we made in Religion 2. This holy conformity to Christ is that which Christians have or should have in their eye and desire Christ is a Christians Prize and a Christians pattern He is the Prize which a Christian runs for what would you have as the fruit of all your labours and sufferings O Christ Christ that Christ may be mine and he is their Pattern the pattern that God hath set before them and that they also have set before themselves that their eye and their heart is set upon What is your aim What is it that you are reaching towards and working up your selves unto What manner of persons would you be How would you live If you may have your wish or your desire what is it What would you be How would you live O let me be made conformable to Christ We may find both these in the Apostles eye in comparison of which he counted all things but loss and dung Phil. 3.8 9 10. that he may win Christ and that he may be conformable to Christ For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him and v. 10. that I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings and be made conformable to his Death Every Christian is of the same mind all is dung in comparison of him and 't is not only to be found in Christ that he so earnestly desires but also to be made conformable to him They would live as
all my waiting and hoping to get to this holiness and fruitfulness behold here am I in this lower ground to this day A Christian I hope I am but sure a very mean Christian a lame and very weakly Christian God help me there 's but little sign that I have been a Professor so long a Believer so long I see I have hitherto gotten but very little ground and O how little hope is there I should ever get thorow Do not stand complaining thus I often give you warning to take heed of this folly because I doubt it to be ordinarily a case with very many who finding their complaints to give them a little ease for the time do thence count them to be the cure of their diseases Complain if ye will and as much as you see cause but let it be in order to the quickning you to diligence and not either to ease you in your sloth or to discourage you from your duty And thus I have at length dispatch'd the first General What 't is to stir up our selves in Religion having shew'd both by what acts and to what pitch of religion we should stir up ourselves 2. What need there is of stirring up our selves to and in Religion And here I shall not speak to the particular cases of the unconverted of the weak and backsliding Christians distinctly and apart but shall speak promiscuously to them as they fall in my way Do you ask then what need there is of stirring up our selves I answer It will appear there is need enough if we consider these two things 1. Those that fall short of Religion or carefully maintain not that Religion they have will be lost at last 2. Those that stir not up themselves are never like to attain Religion or to maintain that little they have 1. Those that fall short of Religion of true and sound Religion or that carefully maintain not that Relirion they have will be lost at last Without religion we cannot be saved without regeneration which is the beginning of religion or without sanctification which is our progress in Religion without perseverance in religion we cannot be saved Joh. 3.3 Heb. 12.14 Rev. 2.10 particularly 1. Sinners that live and dye in their sins there 's no question concerning them whither they go they must all go to the Devil Those that have no religion that have not taken up so much as the profession of serious Christianity and so live and dye there 's as much hope of the salvation of the Devil as of them You that serve the Devil and continue to live under the power of the Devil you shall never come to Heaven unless the Devil himself be admitted to meet you there As you have lived with the Devil here so he and you must be together at the same place for ever and whatever your hopes and talks are of being saved by Christ it cannot be I must tell you you that come not to Christ and will be none of his Disciples you shall have no more benefit by the bloud of Christ than the Devils shall have and that 's none at all Without sound Christianity you have no part in Christ and without a part in Christ you can have no Salvation 2. Yea and those that are come so far on to Christ as to take on them the Profession of Christianity if they dye Hypocrites will be also certainly lost Those that are come off from the drunkards and adulterers and scoffers and total slighters of Christ and have visibly joyned themselves to the Disciples of Christ joyn'd in prayer and hearing and sacraments with them how much soever they seem to have of the external fruit and appearance of Religion how commendable and hopeful soever their profession hath been if Christ and Christianity be not rooted in their hearts even these also after all their hopes and profession will be lost at last Hypocrites will have the same lot at last with Infidels and final Impenitents 3. Yea and those that have sincere religion if they look not diligently to it will lose all the religion they have Whatever security there be for the Saints perseverance in religion to the end there 's no security at all but they will certainly fall off and perish if they neglect the means of their perseverance And those that are but Children in religion or are fallen to decay are backsliders in religion can never prove to themselves that they are not Hypocrites and so can never be secure or have any assurance but they also will be lost in the end 2. Those that stir not up themselves are never like to attain to religion or to prosper in it yea to maintain that little which any of them have All this will be made evident 1. From the distance we are at the most of us from sound and prosperous religion 2. From the difficulty of recovering those that are fallen 3. From the difficulty of holding on for those that stand 1. From the great distance we are at some of us from sound and prosperous religion There is as great a distance betwixt unconverted Sinners and Saints as betwixt Heaven and Earth betwixt Life and Death 1 Joh. 3.14 We know that we are passed from death to life that is from being Sinners to Saints There is as much difference betwixt the state of these as betwixt the living and the dead And there is though not so great yet a very great distance betwixt the lowest and unthriving sort of Christians and flourishing Christians betwixt those that were ever but low and them there is as much distance as betwixt a Child and a Man betwixt a very poor man and a wealthy man And betwixt backsliders and the prosperous is as much distance as betwixt a languishing and dying man and a healthful The distance betwixt backsliders and the prosperous is greater and more hardly reconciled than of those that are but Children As you know a man that hath had a good trade and a good stock but is broken and fallen to decay there is less hope of his recovering and getting up again than there is of the raising of a young beginner how small soever his stock be That you may more fully understand how great the distance is betwixt what you are and what you should be or might have been I shall advise you to make this threefold comparison 1. Compare your selves with some of those that are of your own time and standing yea with some that came in to Christ many years since some of you O how far are you left behind some of your company Yea how much have some younger Christians gotten the start of you What fruitful Christians what lively Christians what experienced Christians are there which never had half the time that some of you have had Whilst they are shut up and become tall as the Cedars in Lebanon do not you continue as the underwood poor starveling Shrubs that prosper not What a distance is there betwixt a
and their Sorrows and their Complaints to the Lord Ps 38.9 All my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee Ps 56.8 Put my Tears into thy Bottle If it be well with them then their Praises are sent up if they want any thing then up go their Desires to the Lord for Supply if they ail any thing if they be surprized by Sin swallowed up of Sorrow whatever it be that ails them they pour it out into the Bosom of their Friend Some-Messengers or other are daily sent up and whatever the Messengers be if it be a Prayer or a Sigh or a Tear this is still the Message tell him That I am either sick of love or sick for love for an Heart to love the Lord. Such Entercourses there are betwixt God and his Saints and these are a special part of their Communion with God and a special security against distances and enstrangments betwixt the Lord and them And it is to be observed That whenever there is a parting betwixt God and Souls there is a cessation or failing of these Friendly Entercourses Declining Souls how seldom do they look upwards they are so busie here below that they have no leisure and they grow so carnally-minded that they have no list to have much to do with God they restrain Prayer and restrain Holy Meditations the Lord seldom hears from them and when he does 't is so coldly and so dully that he can take no pleasure in it O Friends 't is a sign that there is a breach betwixt the Lord and you when you are fallen so into a neglect of Spiritual Duties Do your affections Heavenward flag do the fervour of your desires fail are your Prayers shortned and straitned are you so seldom and so remiss and so flat in your retirements to God can you not say at least My sighs and complaints are daily before him and my groanings are not hid from him What danger is there that God and your Souls may utterly part if you have thus lost your Correspondence with him 4. Often reckoning by this our Communion with God and our Friendship with him is maintained Often reckoning keeps long Friends whilst we keep our Account clear and fair so long there 's the less danger of a breach The best of Saints run upon score daily we go upon score for Mercies received from God and we go upon score for Sins committed against God and where there is such scoring there must be often reckoning 1. Our score of Mercies should be answered in our Praises and more abundant Duties and a reckoning must be kept both of what we have received and what we have returned of what the Lord hath done for our Souls and what our Souls have done ever the more for his Name Thus we should reckon for these O my soul the Lord hath done great things for thee hath brought thee from darkness to light hath saved thy life from death when thou wert going on in thy sins running with the multitude either after thy Covetousness or after thy Companions in the lusts and in the lewdness of thine heart when thou wert making all the haste thou couldst down to Hell there Grace met thee and whilst it let others run on it singled thee out and brought thee back out of that deaths Rode and hath brought thee into the way of Life and of a dead Sinner hath made thee this living Soul O what a wonder of Mercy was there and since how many a kindness hath it shewed thee how often hath the same Grace met thee in the House of God and taught thee and instructed thee and quickned thee and comforted thee how often hath Grace met thee in thine own House met thee in secret met thee upon thy knees and hath enlarged thine heart and helped thee to pour out thy Soul before the Lord and hath poured in upon thee such a sense of the kindness of God to thee as hath delighted and even ravished thine heart And what great multitudes of other instances have there been of the renewed Kindnesses of the Lord to thee O to what a reckoning do thy Mercies rise hast thou kept the Account by thee if thou hast what hath been returned in answer of the loving kindness of the Lord As 't was said concerning Mordecai who had saved the Kings Life Esther 6.3 What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this Canst not thou say The Lord hath saved my life from death and done for me these great things what honour have I done to the Lord for all this And if upon thy reckoning made it be found as 't was there found in that instance there hath been nothing done or but little done then thou wilt see that there must be more done or God will be angry 2. Our score of sins should be reckoned up in order to the getting them crossed by faith in the Bloud of Christ and repentance from dead works Thus therefore thou shouldst go on O my Soul thou seest what God hath done for thee but what is it that thou hast done against the God of thy Mercy how many slights hast thou put upon the Grace of God how often hast thou abused Mercy hast thou not grown secure hast thou not grown wanton hast thou not been haughty and lifted up in the pride of thine Heart Remember thy frowardness and quarrellings thy backbitings and talebearings hast thou no lies no false and fraudulent dealing to put down upon thy account dost thou not use to play the Hypocrite and come before the Lord with such an hollow heart and such hollow duties as if thou meanst to mock him to the face art thou not either a backslider or a loyterer if thou hast not lost ground and fallen backward yet hast thou not lost time and not gone on forward hast thou no slothfulness and negligence and non-proficiency to write down against thy self hast thou not somewhat against thy self for thy covetousness and over-eagerness upon the World hast thou no wrongs of thy conscience to be remembred dost not find much of these and many more evils that thou art run in score with thy God for and what hath there hitherto been done for the crossing out of the score Sure if thou goest on thus thou art like to hear of him in another way than thou wouldst or it may be not hear from him at all Beloved the keeping good reckoning betwixt the Lord and us being of so great importance and so necessary to the continuing his presence and favour with us I shall give you some short directions concerning it 1. Let every one especially look to his own personal reckoning We must reckon for our people also how great things God hath done for our Nation and his Churches amongst us and how great have been the sins of our People What have our Princes and our Priests what have our Magistrates and our Ministers done What have the Sins of Congregations of our
't is to be feared it will then be said concerning you They are not asleep but dead dead in their sins O how many of the dead are there already amongst these sleepy Souls Sinner art thou yet asleep in thy Sins O thou art in a dead sleep and if this night overtake thee thus its like to close up thine eyes as the eyes of the dead are closed never again to be opened And you that hope you have life in you and yet will not be awakened by the day light but will sleep on still whom neither the lightning nor the thunder of the Word will awaken pray tell me what dead sleepers you also are like to continue in the dark and silent night This I say is like to be the misery of people if such a night overtake us they are like to be sensless Souls that will not lay it to heart nor be affected nor moved at all with the darkness that comes upon them but will dye away in a sleep Become of the Gospel of the Ordinances of the Gospel of the Sabbath and all the means of Grace what will they will not be much moved or lay it to heart 5. Night is no time for work John 9.4 night cometh when no man can work Work there is that lyes upon every one of you and such work wherein your life is concerned I will not say only with the Apostle 2 Thes 3.10 He that will not work shall not eat but he that will not work shall not live thou shalt dye the death who dost not in the day work out the work which God hath committed to thee to do You have every one of you your work to do and 't is great work and of great consequence You are to work for your living for an eternal livelihood you are to work out your Salvation that 's your work in the general And in this there are many particular works comprehended there is the work of Repentance and Mortification of Sin c. There 's Grace to be gotten and improved there 's your Peace with God to be made have you done these works have you repented are your sins mortified have you grace in your hearts have you made your peace with God you that have there 's still all this to be maintained and carried on that ye lose not the things which you have wrought But are all these things yet to do with so many of you are you yet without repentance are you yet to seek for grace have you gotten never a drop of the Holy Oil into your Vessels are you without the Knowledge of God without faith in Christ without repentance is your peace with God yet to make doth the wrath of God still abide upon you what and yet asleep what and yet such idle careless loytering souls What if this work should never be done if you should never have more of Christ nor his Grace never have more of Faith and Repentance than you have now why then you must go down among the dead Look ye down cast an eye down on those chambers of darkness that place of pitch and brimstone that place of fire and everlasting burnings look ye down into that horrible pit and see where you must lie what your place and your portion must be for ever if you arise not and work these works of God ye cannot live but must die and that 's the death you must die you must burn you must be tormented night and day for ever and ever Well now you see here 's great work to be done and to be done by every one of you you see what will follow if it be not done you must die the death O methinks now this word should be a stirring word to you awaken every one of you arise and to your work the night cometh when no man can work And let it not suffice any of you to say I hope this work is done and therefore no such danger if I be fallen asleep but know 1. That if the grace you seem to have does make you grow secure if you grow bold to be idle and careless upon the confidence that the work is done that you are converted have repented and are made partakers of the grace of God that confidence of yours is a deadly sign that the work is not done no nor savingly begun upon you 2. Whatever work there be done upon you your life lieth upon it upon your careful and vigorous carrying it on if you do not hold out to the end keep working to the end ye cannot be saved And is not this a stirring word to you also that are sleeping and loytering professors Awake or perish to your work or be damned And is not this stirring word seconded by a stirring providence the appearance of such a night approaching upon us the light being even ready to vanish from amongst us If I should not say concerning such a night in the words of Christ A night comes wherein no man can work yet this I may be bold to say in such a night few men will work What does our experience speak to this The shadows of the evening have been stretched out over us it hath been evening and almost Sunset with us for divers years and O what lamentable influence has this evening wherein the word of the Gospel has been more scarce had upon us what a woful change is there visible upon the greatest number of Professors in England are there not multitudes among us whose Religion is fallen and almost lost since it is grown darker is it not also grown much colder with us and what sleepy loytering souls are we already become Friends if there be such a fall of lively Religion amongst us while it is but evening do you not tremble to think how much more t is like to be when the thick darkness of the night hath overshadowed us 2. Put upon stirring thoughts Our thoughts are apt to be busie and too busie where they should not like little Children which will be busie from morning till night about doing nothing Keep your thoughts imployed and well imployed there are wandring thoughts which are too busie roving and flying up and down this way and that which like the eyes of a Fool Prov. 17.24 are in the ends of the Earth There are the wandrings of our thoughts after sin and vanity and impertinences we are thinking too much and too often of what we should not think and sometimes there are wandrings after good things sometimes our thoughts wander to Heaven wander up and down about things Spiritual and Eternal though we think sometimes of these better things 't is but with wandring thoughts though we light upon them yet we fix not we are not like the Bee which wanders from flower but pitches and stays upon each flower till it hath gotten the Honey but we are more like the Fly that leaps up and down that 's here and there and every where sometimes upon a Wall sometimes
is in the heart Men usually unless it be the Hypocrite speak according to what is in their hearts the proud heart speaketh proud things the vain heart speaketh vain things and the holy heart speaketh holy things 2. 'T is the abundance of the heart that 's most apt to come forth at the lips In some hearts there is a little good but much evil in others there is much good and less evil 't is that which abounds in the heart that which is most in the heart that hath the command of the tongue See that there be Grace in your hearts and that the grace of God abound in you a little grace will not do to set your tongues agoing 't is the abundance of the heard that which most abounds within that will have the easiest and most ordinary vent Job 32.18 I am full of matter my spirit within me constraineth me my belly is as wine which hath no vent it is ready to burst like new bottles I will speak that I may be refreshed I will open my lips and answer I am full of matter and therefore will I speak an heart full of grace must and will have a vent by the speech The holy spirit within us will constrain us where there is little good coming forth 't is a sign there is not so much as there should be within We may pretend inability and unaptness to speak as the reason of our barrenness of holy discourse that sometimes may be something that hinders but mostly the reason is there wants matter within We have reason to suspect that 't is from want of grace rather than from want of utterance that no more savoury and spiritual and useful words come from us A full heart will be the best help for a stammering tongue Christians let us get an increase of inward grace let us get more of the holy spirit of a spirit of life and love and power within us and our Friends and Acquaintance are like to hear of it oftner and to better purpose than they do Poor creatures that we are we are empty we are empty our insides have no good filling Be ye filled with the spirit faith the Apostle Ephes 5.18 speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs and the more we speak thus to our selves the more freely shall we speak to others those that have but little grace are but Babes in Christ and Babes are but Infants that can't speak when the Infant is grown then he will find his Tongue In vain shall I exhort you to use your Tongues more for God till you be nursed up from Children to more strength in grace Would you ever come to be more fruitful and useful in your Generations this must be your way to it get you more inward grace 2. Let your thoughts be working more about holy things Thinking makes way for speaking what our thoughts run most upon that ordinarily our Tongues will run upon We cannot know each others thoughts but we may give a near guess at them by the words that are spoken Men whose thoughts are most in the Earth that are still thinking of their Money or thinking of their Trades or their Pleasures they can hardly forbear to be talking of these things And if our thoughts were more of God and of our Souls of Religion of Righteousness and Holiness we should certainly have more of God and of Heaven in our Mouths The Psalmist who said Ps 119.46 I will speak of thy Testimonies and will not be ashamed said also Ps 119.97 My meditation is of thee all the day long Christians get your thoughts to be well exercised be much in thinking think of the goodness and kindness and holiness and compassions of the Lord think of Christ of his love of his life of his death of his bowels and everlasting kindness think often what great things the Lord hath done for your souls think what ye would that he should do for you much thinking on God and his holy things will leave an holy tincture on your hearts will by degrees do much to the begetting holy habits and dispositions in you The Lord uses to convey down much of his holy Image and likeness upon the heart by the thoughts Friends such of you who find but little of the impress and image of God upon your hearts pray consider it if you be not too great strangers to the thoughts of God How often in a day are your thoughts in Heaven how very seldom is it that you are seriously looking either upwards or inwards No wonder if your tongues be so silent of God whilst your thoughts are such strangers from God Christians I doubt there are many of us that are much faulty here that our thoughts are no more taken up or working upon things spiritual and heavenly we should make the thoughts of God more precious and delightsom and more familiar and ordinary with us we should be able to say of our thoughts of God as the Psalmist does Ps 139.17 18. How precious are thy thoughts to me O God how great is the summe of them If I should count them they are more in number then the sand When I awake I am still with thee Thus it was with that holy man and thus it should be with us we should be much with the Lord in our thoughts but is it so with us Friends do but trace the goings of your souls for one day together and ask your hearts in the evening how much have I been with God this day how often have I been looking Heavenwards the Psalmists holy thoughts were so many that he could not count them and it may be some of ours have been so few that we cannot count them we can hardly remember any such thoughts we have had I know 't is hard work to keep your thoughts well imployed they will be wandering and roving more or less do what you can and you that observe your selves cannot but know it your selves how hard a work it is and I am afraid that some of us because 't is so hard a work will let it alone if their thoughts will gad and rove let them gad whither they will if they will not easily be gotten up to Heaven let them even stay below and so we let them take their own course and run whither they will I pray Friends this once put your selves every one of you to it and spend this one thought upon your selves think which hath most of your thoughts God or this World must you not if you speak truth speak the quite contrary to what the Psalmist speaks whilest he said How precious are thy thoughts to me O God how great is the summe of them Must not you say how irksom are thy thoughts to me O Lord how small is the summe of them this argues an evil temper 't is sure a carnal frame your hearts are in where spiritual thoughts are so rare and difficult and I shall not wonder that 't is
Prayer in the text is noted to be a stirring duty there 's none that stirreth up himself there 's none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself Had they prayed and prayed as they ought this would have stirred them up or have been their stirring up them selves to take hold of God But neglecting to pray they therein neglected to stir up themselves Prayer is a stirring duty 1. 'T is to stir up the Lord to their help Ps 35.23 Stir up thy self and awaken to my judgment my God and my Lord. Ps 80.2 O Shepherd of Israel thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep thou that dwellest between the Cherubims shine forth stir up thy strength and come to save us The God of Israel sometimes seems to be as Elijah once said mocking of that false God Baal 1 Kings 18.27 It may be he is asleep and must be awakened Though he be the keeper of Israel and never slumbreth nor sleepeth yet he sometimes carries it towards them as if he were asleep and expects to be awakened by their cries upon him 2. Especially prayer is for the stirring up our selves There is a sort of praying dull and cold and formal praying that 's good for nothing but to lay our souls asleep When conscience begins to stir and run upon sinners and fright them for their neglect of God then they will to their prayers and blind devotions and this must serve them as a charm to allay and quiet conscience as Davids Musick did to drive away that evil spirit that vexed Saul Some sinners consciences will not let them be quiet but dog them and haunt them and fright them into something of religion they dare not live without calling upon God their consciences will not suffer them to be quiet under a total neglect and thereupon something must be done which they can call praying and then they are at ease and can go on quietly in their sins without trouble or disturbance these mens praying serves them for nothing but to lull them asleep in their sins But prayer rightly performed will stirr and awaken prayer is said to be a striving with God Rom. 15.30 a wrestling with God Gen. 32 24. and this is our most effectually striving with God and wrestling with God our striving and wrestling with and stirring up our own hearts Praying is not the saying of some good words but the calling up all our powers to come in and joyn in seeking the Lord. That you may particularly understand what a stirring duty Prayer is consider 1. That in Prayer we set our selves under the Eye of the great and mighty God of Heaven and Earth It is a drawing night unto God a lifting up our Eyes to the Everlasting hills a presenting our selves before the throne of God the throne of his Grace a setting all the Attributes of God before our Eyes his Allmightiness his Allsufficiency his infinite greatness dreadfulness goodness and grace which all make up that fearful Name the Lord our God Deut 28.58 and sure Friends such a sight of the glorious and dreadful God will be a stirring sight 2. In Prayer we come to deal with God about all the wonderful and astonishing things of Eternity we are to have eternal life and death in our Eye when we pray and what will stir us if Eternity if a sense that we are now treating with the Eternal God about the eternal things will not O a sense of this that we are begging for our lives begging for our immortal Souls begging the everlasting Kingdom seeking our escape from the everlasting Fire a deep sense of this upon our hearts will awaken them 3 In Prayer there is a ripping open all the affrightning Evils that are in our Hearts Confession unbowels the Soul and fetches up all the filth and rottenness of the Heart lays open all the deadly Diseases that are in the Heart every wicked thought and filthy lust and vile affection all the falshood and Hypocrisie all the pride and malice and envy and frowardness of the Heart are in our confessions brought forth and laid open before the Lord. The Devils are rouz'd that lodged within us and were taken too little Notice of and all the hazard and danger that our Souls are in by these our wickednesses will in our confessions be made to stand before our Eyes and there cannot be such a discovering of our wicked Hearts and our danger that we are in but it will affright and awaken us 4. Prayer is the uniting of all our powers and the engaging them all in seeking the Lord. It strains every string it bends all our forces upon the duty it sets all our faculties our understandings our memories our wills our affections our consciences on work as the Psalmist Ps 103.1 Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name Pray to the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me call upon his Name Prayer is not tongue-work or knee-work but Soul-work bless the Lord O my Soul and 't is not a peice of an Heart one string of the Instrument but every string must be strained and struck up understanding memory will affections all must joyn all that is within me bless his holy Name All our faculties and all our graces our faith our love our hope our desires whatever we have of God within us all must be called forth to joyn in seeking of him 5. Prayer is not only the employing and exercising our Souls with all their faculties and graces but the putting them forth to the height not only the striking every string but the straining every string to the height the word in the original which is translated Acts. 12.5 Prayer without ceasing signifies instant earnest Prayer or more properly according to the notation of the word strained Prayer prayer stretched out and this is that praying which is stirring praying the pouring forth our Soul in Prayer With my Soul have I desired thee Is 26.9 the straining and working up all within us every faculty and grace of our Hearts to the height the stirring up all our strength in the work this is that Praying instantly required Rom. 12.12 that praying fervently Jam. 5.16 that crying and crying mightily unto God unto which the Scriptures promise Audience Now when Prayer hath thus rouzed up our sleepy Souls set all our Faculties and Graces a stirring within us and so gotten an heat in the heart by the joynt and vigorous exercise of all within us in the duty when we have prayed our Souls awake and all our Graces awake and our Heart is waxen hot within us we are therein prepared and put in a readiness and disposedness to and shall feel our selves bent upon the practise of every holy duty in our whole course This therefore is my next direction put upon Praying and such stirring Praying Go set the Lord and all his Glory before your Eyes and get a sense of eternity upon your Hearts rip open and lay