for ever and when the force of Love doth open our lips that our mouthes may shew forth his praise it is pleasant both to God and us The Lord himself doth put on joy as delighting in his peoples praise and when they joyn obedience with holy worship they are pleasant in his eyes Jer. 9. 24. Isa 62. 4. 42. 1. Zeph. 3. 17. He meeteth him that Rejoyceth and worketh righteousness and that remembers him in his wayes Isa 64. 5. Would you taste of the sweetest life on earth Learn then to Delight your selves in God Do you want recreation Be acquainted with his Praise Is there not a better cure for Melancholy here among the servants of the Lord then in an Ale-house or in the company of transgressors Their carnal pleasures are unwholsom for you like luscious fruits that will make you sick But the delights of Faith are safe and healthful Fleshly pleasure is windy and deceitful and weakeneth and befools the soul But the Joy of the Lord is our strength Neb. 8. 10. A little may be too much of fleshly pleasures and it is of very hard digestion and leaves that behind that spoils the sport But the further you go in the Delights of Faith the better they are and the sweeter you will find them You may quickly catch a dangerous surfet of your fleshly pleasures but of spiritual Delights the more the better For they are curing reviving and much confirm and exalt the soul Our spiritual pleasures are so heavenly and have so much of God and Glory in them that they must needs prepare the soul for heaven and be excellent helps to our salvation O therefore if you would live a Pleasant life draw near to God and by Faith behold him and by Love adhere to him and take a view of his infinite Goodness and all his perfections and behold him in his wonderous works and then break forth into his chearful praises and you shall taste such pleasures as the earth affordeth not Lanch forth into the boundless Ocean of Eternity and let your hearts and tongues expatiate in the Praise of the Heavenly Majesty and use this work and ply it close and be not too seldom or customary or careless in it and you shall find the difference between the Pleasures of Faith and of the flesh of a Holy and of a sensual life Psalm 135. 2 3. Ye that stand in the House of the Lord in the Courts of the House of our God Praise the Lord for the Lord is Good sing praises to his Name for it is pleasant Psal 71. 8. Let my mouth be filled with thy Praise and with thy honour all the day Psal 96. 2. 6. Sing unto the Lord bless his name shew forth his salvation from day to day Honour and Majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his Sanctuary O that the Lord will but shine upon my soul with the Light of his countenance and open my heart to the entertainment of his Love and hold a gracious Communion with my soul by his holy Spirit and keep open these doors to me and continue this liberty of his House and Ordinances which we enjoy this day that I may joyn with a faithful humble people in holy Communion and in his Praise and Worship and that with a heart that is suitable to these works I shall then say with David Psal 16. 6. The lines â—â—faln to me in pleasant places I have a goodly heritage I will â—â— for no greater pleasures or honours or advancement in this world Let who will surfet on the pleasures of the flesh Here doth my soul delight to dwell Psalm 27. 4 5 6. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the daies of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his holy Temple For in the time of trouble he will hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up upon a Rock And then shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his Tabernatle sacrifices of Joy I will sing yea I will sing Praises to the Lord. Till I come to the promised Everâ—… Pleasures I shall ask of God no greater Pleasures These would be as much as my soul in the prison of flesh can bear Till 〈…〉 to the Land of Promise may I but have these clusters of 〈…〉 in my present Wilderness I shall not repine My heart 〈…〉 shall be glad and my glory shall rejoyce and at death my flesh 〈…〉 in hope For as the Lord now sheweth me the path of 〈…〉 so in his presence is 〈…〉 of Joy and at his right hand are 〈…〉 for 〈…〉 Pâ—… 4. Another Pleasant Holy Duty is Our holy Communion with Christ and his Church in the Lords Supper This is a holy Feast that is purposely provided by the King of Saints for the entertainment of his family for the refreshing of the weary and the making glad the mournful soul The night before his bitter Death he instituted this Sacramental Feast He caused his Disciples to sit down with him and when they had partaked of the Passover the Sacrament of Promise and had their taste of the old wine he giveth them the New even the Sacrament of the better Covenant and of the fuller Gospel-Grace He teacheth them that his Death is Life to them and that which is his bitterest suffering is their Feast and his Sorrows are their Joyes as our sinful pleasures were his sorrows The slain Lamb of God our Passover that was sacrificed for us that taketh away the sins of the world was the pleasant food which Sacramentally he himself then delivered to them and substantially the next day offered for them The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world John 6. 33. He is the Living Bread which came down from Heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the bread that he giveth is his flesh which he hath given for the life of the world ver 50 51. Except we eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood we have no life in us Whoso eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood hath Eternal life and he will raise him up at the last day For his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed He that eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him As the Living Father hath sent the Son and he liveth by the Father so he that eateth him shall live by him This is that bread that came down from Heaven not as the Fathers did eat Maâ—â—â— and are dead he that eateth this bread shall live for ever I know that to an unbelieving carnal wretch the Sacrament is but a common thing For Christ himself and his Gospel is â—o better in his
When your corpses are laid in the grave men can say Now he hath done his satisfying the flesh and following the world but never man can truly say Now he hath done suffering for it Your life of sin is passing as a dream and your honours as a shadow and all your business as a talc that is told but the life of Glory which you rejected for this would have endured for evermore Suppose as many thousand years as there are sands on the Sea or piles of grass on the whole earth or hairs on the heads of all men in the world yet when these many are past the Joy of Saints and the Torments of the wicked are as far from an end as ever they were The eternal God doth give them a duration and make them eternal When our joyes are at the sweetest this thought must needs be part of that sweetness that their sweetness shall never have an end If our short fore-taste be Joy unspeakable and full of glory what shall we call that Joy which flows from the most perfect fruition and perpetuation 1 Pet. 1. 7 8. We have Joy here but alas how seldom Alas how small in comparison of what we may there expect Some Joy we have but how oft do Melancholy or crosses or losses in the world or temptations or sins or desertions interrupt it Our sun is here most commonly under a cloud and too often in an Ecclipse and we have the night as often as the day Yea our state is usually a Winter Our dayes are cold and short and our nights are long But when the flourishing state of glory comes we shall have no Interscissioâ—s nor Ecclipses Tâ—â— path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. And the perfect day is a perpetual day that knows no interruption by the darkness of the night For there shall be no night there nor need of candle or Sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever Rev. 22. 5. This is the life that fears no death and this is the feast that fears no want or future famine the pleasure that knows nor fears no pain the health that knows nor fears no sickness this is the treasure that fears no moth or rust or thief the building that fears no storm nor decay the Kingdom that fears no changes by Rebellion the friendship that fears no falling out the Love that fears no hatred or frustration the Glory that fears no envious eye the possessed Inheritance that fears no ejection by fraud or force or any failings the Joy that feels or fears no sorrow while God who is Life it self is our life and while God who is Love is the fountain and object of our Love we can never want either Life or Love And whiles he feeds our Love our Joyful praises will never be run dry nor ever go out for want of fewel This is the true perpetual motion the câ—rculation of the holy blood and spirit from God to man and from man to God Being prepared and brought near him we have the blessed Vision of his face by seeing him and by the blessed emanation of his love we are drawn out perpetually and unweariedly to Love him and Rejoyce in him and from hence uncessantly to praise and honour him In all which as his blessed Image and the shining reflections of his revealed glory he taketh complacency which is the highest end of God and man and the very term of all his works and wayes I Thought here to have ended this First Part of my Discourse but yet compassion calls me back I fear lest with the most I have not yet prevailed and lest I shall leave them behind me in the bonds of their iniquity I daily hear the voice of men possessed by a spirit of uncleanness speaking against this Necessity of a holy life which Christ himself so peremptorly asserteth I hear that voice which foretelleth a more dreadful voice if in time they be not prevailed with to prevent it One saith What need all this ado This strictness is more ado then needs Another saith You would make men mad by poring so much on matters that are above them Another saith Cannot you keep your Religion to your selfe and be Godly with moderation as your neighbours be Another saith I hope God is more merciful then to damn 〈…〉 that â—â— not so precise Another saith I shall never endure so strict a life and therefore I will venture as well as others The summe of allis They are so far in love with the world and sin and so much against a holy life that they will not be perswaded to it and therefore to quiet their consciences in their misery they make themselves believe that they may be saved without it and that it is a thing of no Necessity but their coming to Church and living like good neighbours may serve the turn without it for their salvation And thus doth the malicious Serpent in the hearts of those that he possesseth rise up against the words of Christ Christ saith that this is The One thing needful And the Serpent saith It is more ado then needs and What needs all this ado Though I have fully answered this ungodly objection already in my Treatise of Conversion sect 36. pag. 284. c. and more fully in my Treatise of Rest Part 3. Chap. 6. yet I shall once more fall upon it For death is coming while poor deluded souls are loytering and if Satan by such sensless reasonings as these can keep them unready in their sin till the â—atal stroak hath cut them down and cast them into endless easeless fire alas how great will be their fall and how unspeakably dreadful will be their misery Whoever thou be whether hâ—gh or low learned or unlearned that hast disliked opposed or reproached serious godly Christians as Puritanes and too precise and that thinkest the most diligent labour for salvation to be but more ado then needs and hast not thy self yet resolvedly set upon a holy life I require at thy hands so much impartiality and faithfulness to thy own immortal soul as seriously to peruse these following Questions and to go no further in thy careless negligent ungodly course till thou art able to give such a rational answer to them as thou darest stand to now at the Barr of thine own Conscience and hereafter at the Barr of Christ Quest 1. Canst thou possibly give God more then is his due Or love him more then he deserveth Or serve him more faithfully then thâ—â— art bound and he is worthy of Art thou not his creature made of nothing and hast thou not all that thou art and hast from him and if thou give him all dost thou give him any more then what is his own If thou give him all the affections of thy soul and all the most serious thoughts of thy heart and every hour of thy time and
hearts they set most by the pleasures of this world Why else is their Heart most towards them Why else do they choose them and refuse to Live a Holy life Why have they no delight in God and why have we so much ado with them to bring them to a heavenly mind and life and all in vain What! will not men be perswaded to choose that which they know is best for them Object Temptations are strong and men are weak and so men go against their knowledge Answ 1. What do Temptations prevail with you to do Is it not to think well of sinful pleasures and to think more hardly of the wayes of God Is it not to like a worldly fleshly life better then a Holy life If not how can you follow those temptations And if it be so then they draw you for that time to think that fleshly pleasures are the better part 2. But if indeed it be as you say you are the most unexcuseable miscreants in the world What! do you know that God is best for you and yet will you fly from him Do you know that heaven is the only happiness and yet will you seek this world before it Do you know what is Best for you and will not hâ—â—â— it and what is worst and yet will keep it Will you go to 〈…〉 and know whither you are going And will you run from â—…ven and damn your selves and know that you do so Yea 〈◊〉 that while we day by day entreate you to the contrary If this be the case of any one of you the God of Justice shall teach you to know what you are doing by his everlasting vengeance Heaven and earth shall be witness against you your own Consciences and such Confessions of your own shall bear witness against you that you justly perish and are damned because you would be damned and are shut out of Heaven because you would not be perswaded to come thither Object But we hope we may have Both Pleasure here and Heaven hereafter and that we may be saved by the mercy of God and the blood of Christ without the sanctification of the spirit and though we do not live a Holy life Answ And who gave you these hopes Is it God on whom you pretend to trust or the Devil that doth deceive you Certainly not God For he hath told you over and over that he will save none but the sanctified Acts 26. 18. and that except a man be born again even of the Spirit as well as of water he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 3. 3 5. and that without holiness none shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. And is it God that perswadeth you that his Word is false Doubtless it is the Devil When God had told Adam and Eve That in the day that they did eat the forbidden fruit they should die the death was it not the Serpent that gave them hopes of living and told them that they should not die If you be at that pass that you will take on you to trust in God and yet will not believe him but your trust is but trusting that God is a lyar you are as sottish in your presumption as Heathens are in their Infidelity For who is worse he that believeth that there is no God as Atheists do or he that believeth that God is a Lyar which is to be no God and worse If therefore you do believe indeed that Heaven is Best you must needs believe that Holiness is Necessary yea and Best too when Heaven consisteth so much in perfected holiness And therefore you must choose and seek with greatest diligence that Happiness which you confess is Best or never hope that it will be yours O did you at the heart believe it to be Best and that for you you would love it and seek it and be a holy people without delay You cannot so turn away from that which you heartily judge to to be Best for you indeed But the most that I have to deal with are they that cannot be perswaded at the heart but that feasting and drinking and lust and wealth and worldly honour are Better for them then a Holy life with such promises of Heaven as God hath left us For all or most ungodly men have this perswasion next their hearts whether they observe it and know of it or not Now with such deluded unbelieving souls I am next to plead this weighty cause If thou that Readest this be one of them that takest a worldly felicity with Gods threatnings to be Better and rather to be chosen then Holiness with his Promise of future happiness I will now debate the case with thee and undertake by the light of Christ to open the horrible folly of thy mistake And if I do not give thee such sound and weighty undenyable evidence that no man of Reason should resist to prove the choice of Holy persons to be the wisest and their part the best I will give thee leave to call me a Lyar and a deceiver for ever CHAP. II. What in Reason he must do that would be certainly resolved which is the best part and way And who shall be Judge BUt before we come to the debate I have two Questions to pâ—â— to thee that in Reason must be first resolved The first is Whether thou art willing to know the Truth and resolved to choose the best part when thou knowest it It is in vain for me or any man to Reason with thee if thou wouldst not kâ—â—â— and to shew thee the Truth if thou hate it and wilt not acknowledge it when thou seest it and to bring thee in the clearest light if thou be before hand resolved to shut thy eyes And if thou wilt not choose that which thy conscience shall be convinced thou shouldst choose as being absolutely best to what purpose then should it be revealed to thee Wouldst thou be a happy man or noâ— Wouldst thou have Joy or Sorrow Good or Evil stop here and before thou goest any further make me this Promisâ—… before the Lord That thou wilt not wilfully resist the lighâ—… that thou wilt choose and presently and resolvedly choose that 〈…〉 that thy conscience shall tell thee upon certain evidence is the 〈…〉 Promise but this which no man of Reason 〈…〉 and then we may make something of our debate My second Question is Who it is that shall be Judge between us in this debate or whose witness it is that you will take for currant I am willing to stand to the Judgement of any that understand the case and are impartial I hope you will consent that we shall take the most competent witnesses and Judge And if so 1. You know that the Devil is no competent Judge It is he that perswadeth you that present delights are the better part and rather to be chosen then a Holy life But he is Gods enemy and therefore no wonder if he speak against him He is your deadly enemy
our refuge Psal 91. 1 2 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shaddow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord He is my refuge and my fortress my God in him will I trust This is the confidence and joy and glory of the Saints Psal 59. 16 17. I will sing of thy Power yea I will sing aloud of thy mercies in the morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble Unto thee O my strength will I sing for my God is my defence and the God of my mercie Psal 89. 26. Thou art my Father my God and the Rock of my Salvation See Psal 27. 5. 61. 2. 62. 2 6 7. 94 22. Prov. 18. 10. The Name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous run into it and are safe Prov. 21. 31. safety is of the Lord Psal 4. 8. Quietly may we repose our selves to rest for it is the Lord only that maketh us dwell in safety But is it thus with the ungodly man O no when they say Peace and safety to themselves suddenly destruction cometh upon them as travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escape 1 Thes 5. 3. For their Rock is not like our Rock even our enemies themselves being judges Deut. 32. 31. Why else do they desire in times of danger that they were in the case of the Servants of the Lord If they thought themselves as safe as the Regenerate why do they wish at the hour of death that they might but die the death of the Righteous and their later end might be as his Numb 23. 10. 5. Moreover he is certainly more safe that is an heir of the promises and hath the word of God engaged for his safety then he that hath no promise from God at all nor any such security to shew But all the faithful have interest in the promises in which the ungodly have no share Surely he is safe to whom the Lord hath promised safety O what a precious treasure might I here open to shew you the safety of true believers I will cull out but a few of the Promises for a tast Prov. 1. 32 33. The turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of foâ—â—s shall destroy them But who so hearkenneth unto me shall awell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil Prov. 29. 25. Who so putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Prov. 3. 21 22 23. My Son let them not depart from thine eyes keep sound wisdom and discretion so shall they be life unto thy soul and grace unto thy neck then shalt thou walk in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble When thou lyest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet Be not afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken Deut. 33. 12. The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him the Lord shall cover him all the day long and he shall dwell between his shoulders Psalm 55. 22. Cast thy burden on the Lord and he shall sustain thee he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved Psalm 14. 5. God is in the generation of the righteous Psalm 34. 15 17 19 20. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their cry The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their trouble Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of all He keepeth all his bones Evil shall slay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate Psal 37. 28. For the Lord loveth judgement and forsaketh not his Saints they are preserved for ever but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off Ver. 37 39 40. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace But the transgressors shall be destroyed together the End of the wicked shall be cut off But the salvation of the Righteous is of the Lord he is their strength in the time of trouble And the Lord shall help them and deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him Psalm 73. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Isa 49. 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee He hath said I will not fail thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13. 5. Matth. 6. 25. Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink c. Matth. 10. 28 30 31. Fear not them which kill the Body and are not able to kill the soul The very hairs of your head are all numbred Isa 41. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee Yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness See ver 13 14. Isa 43. 1 2. Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt c. The Lord preserveth the way of his Saints Prov. 2. 8. Psalm 31. 23. O Love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithfull Psal 97. 10. he preserveth the souls of his Saints he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked Psalm 145. 18 19 20. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth He will fulfill the desires of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them The Lord preserveth all them that Love him but all the wicked will he destroy Prov. 20. 22. Say not I will recompence evil but wait on the Lord and he will save thee Heb. 10. 23. He is faithfull that hath promised I hope the believer will not be weary to read over all these precious promises which are his security from God for soul and body I summ up all in that one 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godliness is profitable to all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Judge whether Godliness be the safest state Can a man of so many promises be unsafe But instead of these the ungodly are threatned with everlasting vengeance 6. He is safer that hath continually a guard of Angels as certainly all the faithful have then he that hath none but is a prisoner of the devil as the ungodly are Hear the Scriptures Psalm 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord
honoured all rejoyce 1 Cor. 12. 25 26. As weak as Christians are and as worthless in your eyes one of their hearty spiritual prayers and one word of their holy savoury conference doth profit us more then all your Treasures will ever profit you While the Divine nature is in them somewhat Divine will proceed from their mouthes and be seen in their lives which is worth more then all the Riches of the world And O how fruitful are the holy Ordinances which we partake of both in the Churches Communion and alone in our retirements A poor Christian can get more in a Sermon which you sleep under or deride then you will get by your trades or livings while you live He findeth greater Treasures in one Chapter of the Bible or in one good Book then you can get out of all your lands or labours The best of your livings will not yield you so much commodity in seven years nor in seven thousand years if you could so long keep them as a believing soul can get from God in one hours prayer even in secret where he is not by man observed You do not believe this that are ungodly I know you do not heartily believe it for else you would try it and not continue in your ungodliness But they that try it know it to be true Or else what makes them continue in it and live upon their holy Communion with God and his servants more resolvedly then you do on your lands and labours Somewhat you may conjecture they find in holy duty that makes them so instant in it as they are 7. Another part of our commodity by Holiness is the Promise and Assurance of the Love of God and of our salvation and the Peace of Conscience that followeth hereupon All true Believers have objective certainty that is the thing is certain in itself whether they perceive it or not And they may have subjective or Actual certainty in themselves if they do their parts And is not a certain Title to a Lordship or a Kingdom a greater Treasure then the possession of a straw Much more is Gods Promise of Everlasting Glory a greater Treasure then all your wealth As Heaven is infinitely better then earth so the Promise of God is the best security Though we be not with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and do not yet see the face of God yet have we a Promise that speedily we shall be there and shall see that which they see and enjoy all that which they enjoy The poorest Christian hath all that in Promise under the hand of God himself which Angels and Glorified Saints have in possession They can shew you a better Title to Heaven though they are unworthy in themselves then any of you can shew to your lands or houses in your Deeds or Leases As poor and simple as that Godly man is whom you despise he is an Heir of Heaven and a fellow-Heir with Christ Rom. 8. 17. Gal. 3. 29. Heb. 1. 14. 11. 9. When we had the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy-Ghost and were justified by grace we were made the Heirs of eternal life according to the hope that is given us by the Gospel Tit. 3. 5 7. And God that hath given them those Better things that accompany salvation is not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love if they do but shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end and be not sloathful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the Promises Heb. 6. 9 10 11 12. For this cause was Christ the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the Transgressions under the first Testament they which are called may receive the Promise of the eternal inheritance Heb. 9. 15. And we know that he is faithful that hath promised And if your Bills and Bonds and Deeds and Leases be part of your Riches we shall much more take the Promise of God for our everlasting happiness in Heaven to be far greater Riches 8. And yet we may put this among our Riches or at least as the Over-plus given us by God that we have better advantage even for the matters of this world then the ungodly have For we have a Promise that we shall lack nothing that is good for us Psal 34. 10. and so have not they We have warrant to east all our care on God who by promise is engaged to care for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. We are commanded to be anxiously careful for nothing but in all things to make known our requests to God as little children that care not for themselves but go to their father for what they want Phil. 4. 6. It is enough for us whatever we want that our heavenly Father knoweth that we want it Matth. 6. 32. who hath charged us to disburden our minds of these vexatious cares and to seek first his Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof and promised us that other things shall be added to us Mat. 6. 33. We have also a promise that all things shall work together for our good Rom. 8. 28. And therefore we shall have more from the things of this life then the ungodly have Yea more by the want of them then they by the possession For if they do us good in our graces and communion with God and in the matter of our salvation they help us to that which is of far higher value then themselves Poverty to a true Believer is better then Riches to the ungodly that destroyeth himself by them when the Believer is helped by his poverty Imprisonment to Paul and Silas was better then liberty to their persecutors And thus in the fruits and saving benefits all things are ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. We have the Love of God with what we possess be it more or less when the wicked have his wrath with it And who would have their Riches on such terms 9. Another part of the Gain of Godliness is that it puts us into a Readiness to die and a fitness to appear before the Lord. Though all the Godly have not so great a readiness as to desire to be presently dissolved yet all of them are in a safe condition and are so far ready that death shall pass them into a blessed state For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernaâ—le were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hâ—… eternal in the heavens And in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven And God that hath given 〈…〉 the earnest of his Spirit hath wrought in us to be alwayes confident or at least given us cause knowing that whilest we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord For we walk by faith and not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 1
2 8 9. Though the abode of the godly in the flesh is usually more needful to those about them yet to themselves their death is gain and therefore they have cause to desire to depart and be with Christ as being far better Phil. 1. 21 23 24. For sin which is the sting of death is mortified and the curse of the Law which is the strength of it is relaxed or null fied to us by the Gospel so that the Believer may triumph and say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. and to give thanks to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ vers 57. Verily I would not exchange my part though alas too small or dark a part in this one priviledge of true Believers for all the wealth and dominions on earth O the face of Death will soon make the Glory of all your greatness to vanish and the beauty of your flourishing estates to wither and all that you now glory in to appear as nothing And then how glad would you be to change Portions with the holy servants of the Lord whom you now despise When once you hear Thou fool this night shall they require thy soul and whose then are all those things that thou hast provided Luke 12. 20. then in a moment you will change your minds and cry out of the world as nothing worth and wish you had busied your hearts and hands in laying up a better treasure This is one difference O â—ngodly wretch between a holy servant of God and thee Death cannot undo him but it will undo thee It cannot take his Riches from him for his God his Christ his Holiness the Promises are his Riches but it will separate thee and thy wealth for ever It will put an end to all his troubles and fears and griefs and it will put an end to all thy prosperity and to all thy mirth and hope for ever A godly man dare die or if he ignorantly fear it yet shall it be the end of all his fears but thou darest not die and yet thou must or if thou ignorantly hope of a happiness after it yet will it nevertheless end all thy hopes O what a mercy is it to be ready to die 10. But the great unspeakable Riches of the Saints is in the Life to come We have here the Hope and the fore-taste but it is only there that we shall have our Portion You see what a poor Christian is according to his outward appearance But you see not what he will be to eternity There is the Kingdom for which we hope and for which we run and wait and suffer If God be true and his Gospel true then Heaven shall be the Portion of the sanctâ—fied But if it were otherwise then we would confess their hopes are vain Heaven is our Riches or we have none There have we laid up all our Hopes and in these Hopes we will live and die as knowing they will not make us ashamed Rom. 5. 5. 9. 33. 1 John 2. 28. We believe that we shall live with Christ in glory and shine as stars in the Firmament of our Father and be made like to the Angels of God and shall see his face and praise his name and live in his everlasting Love and Joy For all this he himself hath promised us 1 Thes 4. 17. 18. Daâ— 12. 3. Mat. 13. 43. Luk. 20 36. Rev. 22. 4. Mat. 25. 21. And now poor worldling what is all your Gain and Riches in comparison of the least of these Do you think in your judgements that there is any comparison Or rather doth not sin and the world even brutifie you and make you lay by the use of your reason and live as if you knew not what you know Your Treasure is all visible when ours is unseen and therefore I may bid you bring it forth and let us see it whether indeed it be better then the Treasure of the Saints Let us see what that is that is better then God and everlasting glory What! is a little fleshly ease or mirth a little meat and drink and pleasure a little more money or space of ground to use then your neighbours have are these the things that you will change for Heaven and preser before the Lord that made you O poor miserable sinners Are you not told that you have your good things here but what will you have hereafter when this is gone Luke 16. 25. When your wealth is gone and your mirth is gone your souls are immortal and therefore your misery and horrour will continue and never be gone As the wealth of the godly is within them and above the reach of their enemies and surer then yours so is it the more durable even everlasting When all your Riches are upon the wing even ready to be gone and leave you in sorrow when you are most highly valuing them you have it now but it is gone to morrow And what is the Hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him Job 27. 8 9. Let the words of Christ decide the Controversie if indeed you take him for your Judge Mat. 16. 2â— 25 26 27. If any man will come after we let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul For the Son of man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Well sirs you that are all for Getting and for wealth judge now if you have not lost your Reason whether a Holy or unholy â— Heavenly or an Earthly life be the more Profitable way I would not draw you to any thing that you should lose by If I speak not for your Gain reject my words as contemptuously as you please But if I do then be not against your own commodity Will such silly Gain as the world affords you do so much with you as it doth and shall not the Heavenly inheritance do more shall all this stir be made in the world for that which you are ready to leave behind you and will you not lay up a Treasure in heaven where rust and moaths corrupt not and where you may live for ever Matth. 6. 20. What profit now have all those millions of souls that are gone from earth by all the wealth they here possessed Hear sinners and bethink you in the name of God You are leaving Earth and stepping into Eternity and where then should you lay up your Riches Would you rather have your Portion where you must stay but a few days then where you must
the honey and the hony-comb v. 14. 16. I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies as in all riches I will delight my self in thy statutes I will not forget thy word 24. Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors 47. I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes 72. The Law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of Gold and Silver 92. Unless thy Law had been my delight I had perished in my affliction 93. I will never forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickned me 111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart 117. I love thy commandments above Gold yea above fine Gold 162. I rejoyce at thy word as one that findeth great spoile 165. Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them I should but weary you to recite one quarter of the expressions of holy men in Scripture concerning the sweetness and Pleasures which they found in the Law of God In a word it is the work and marke of the Blessed man that His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night Psal 1. 1 2. Do you think that an unpleasant tedious life that doth consist in such employment 2. Another Holy Duty is Prayer both secret and with others in familie and publike Assemblies And do you think it is a grievous tedious work for a needy soul to beg of God that is so ready to relieve him For a guilty soul to pray to God that is so ready to forgive him for a sinful soul to return to God and confess his sins and beg for mercy that is so ready to meet him and entertain him for a Loving soul to converse with God when there is a mutual complacency between them Is it grievous for a child to speak to his Father or are you weary of the presence of your dearest friend What is there in holy prayer that should grieve or weary us sure it is not his company that we speak to For it is his presence that makes Heavenâ— And sure it is not the employment For it is but Asking and asking for the best and choicest thing and asking in our necessities for that which we must have or we are undone for ever And is it unpleasant to pray to a bounteous God in our necessity and that for the best and pleasantest things Perhaps there may be some of you that think it is but labour lost and that you could better spend those hours and that God regardeth not our prayers and that indeed we speed never the better for them and therefore you have no pleasure in them And no wonder If you are Atheists and believe not that there is a God you cannot love him or rejoyce in him If you believe not his Promises how should they give you any comfort If you believe not that he regardeth Prayers no wonder if you have no heart to pray They that say It is in vain to serve the Lord and it is no profit to us to keep his ordinances Mal. 3. 14. Will also say what a weariness is it Mal. 1. 13. and will give him but a lame and lifeless service If you did believe your friend to be your enemy you would have small pleasure in him Mis-conceits may easily make you loath the things that are most delightful The thoughts of Heaven it self yield little Pleasure to them that believe not that there is a Heaven or what it is The Light is not pleasant to the blind nor any object of our tast or smel to those that have lost these senses Is musick unpleasant because it delighteth not the deaf For shame do not charge the sweet and blessed ways of God with that which is the fruit of your own corruption If your lungs be rotten you may be out of breath with speaking the most delightful words or walking in the most pleasant fields or gardens But the cause of the weariness is within you If you have the hearts of Infidels or graceless stupid worldly sinners you are so unfit to approach the most Holy God in holy prayer that I marvail not if you go to it as a Bear to the stake as an Ox to the yoke or as an offender to the stocks For the God that you pray to is a bater of all the workers of iniquity and a consuming fire and therefore no wonder if his terrours should meet you and leave you but little delight in prayer Though its wonder that they do not follow you and meet you in all your ways and leave you less delight in the omission of it But if you had the hearts of believing holy men and had tasted in prayer what they have tasted and had their experience of the success you would then be easily perswaded that prayer is neither a Vain nor an unpleasnt work Surely it is not unpleasant to a burdened soul to dis-burden it self before the Lord nor to a sinner that hath felt the weight the smart the sting of sin to cry for mercy and healing to him that is able and willing to shew mercy nor iâ— it unpleasant for him that knows the worth of grace and glory to lie upon his knees in begging them of the Lord. All those that have felt how good it is to draw near to God had rather have leave to pray in hope then to please their senses with any delights that earth affordeth There is force in Prayer through the grace that hath appointed and doth accompany it to procure comfort to the distressed mind and safety to them that are in danger relief to them that are in want and strength to them that are in weakness Prayer is good for all things that are good and good against all things that are evil It is good against temptations dangers enemies and sin It is good against sorrows fears and cares yea against povery shame and sickness For the God that Prayer goes to and makes use of is sufficient against all and our only help Turn away now from God if you dare and cast off earnest constant Prayer as if it were a tedious unpleasant thing but be sure the time is coming when thou even thou that thus despisest it wilt betake thy self to Prayer and cry Lord Lord when it is too late or when anguish and terrour seise upon thee Sickness and death and the terrours of the Lord will teach thee to pray as useless and tedious as now you think it Yea and teach you to do it earnestly that now put off all with a few frozen heartless words But O it is seasonable believing prayer that is comfortable It is the prayer of Faith and Love and Hope that is pleasant but the prayer of too late repentance in Hell and the prayer of despair and horrour that cannot procure a drop of water afford no pleasure as they procure
is the highest and best condition on earth He is the best and happyest man that is likest to the glorified Saints and Angels And judge your selves whether a dejected or a rejoycing Christian be liker to these inhabitants of Heaven Object But you will say by that rule we should not mourn at all for they do not Whereas God delighteth in the contrite soul Christ blesseth mourners and weepers Answ 1. Your resemblance of the Saints in Heaven must be propertionable in all the parts You must labour first to be as like them as you can in Holiness and then in Joy If you could be as far from sin as they you need not mourn at all But because you cannot you must have moderate regular sorrows and humiliation while you have sin But yet withall you must endeavour to imitate the heavenly Joyes according to the measure of your Grace received 2. And it is such a regular contrition consisting in humble thoughts of our selves and tending to restore us from our falls and sorrows unto our integrity and joy which God delighteth in And it is such mourners as these and such as suffer for righteousness sake from men that Christ pronounceth blessed But the inordinate troubles of the soul that exclude a holy delight in God though he pardon yet he never doth encourage 6. Consider also that a great part of your Religion yea and the most high and excellent part doth consist in the causes form and effects of this holy joy and chearfulness 1. As to the causes of it they are such as in themselves are requisite to the very being of the new creature Faith and Love which are the Head and Heart of sanctifying grace are the causes of our spiritual joy An unwilling heavy forced obedience may proceed from meeâ— Fears and this will not prove an upright heart But when once we Believe Everlasting Glory and Love Christ as our Saviour and the Father as our Father and felicity and Love a holy frame of heart and life as the image of God and that which pleaseth him then our obedience will be chearful and delightful unless accidentally we trouble our selves by our own mistakes If you can truly make God and his will and service your Delight you may be sure you Love him and are beloved by him as being past the state of slavish fear 2. And I have shewed you that Joy in the Holy-Ghost is it self one part of that grace in which Gods Kingdom doth consist Though not such a part as a Christian cannot possibly be without yet such as is exceeding suitable to his state and necessary to his more happy being 3. And without this holy Delight and Joy you will deny God a principal part of his service How can you be thankful for the great mercies of your Justification Sanctification Adoption and all the special graces you have received or for your hopes of Heaven it self as long as you are still doubting whether any of these mercies are yours or not and almost ready to say that you never received them Nay you will be less thankful for your health and life and food and wealth and all common mercies as doubting leâ—t they will prove but aggravations of your sin and misery And for the great and excellent work of Praise which should be your daily sacrifice but specially the work of each Lords day how unfit is a doubting drooping distressed soul for the performance of it You stiffle holy Love within you and stop your mouthes when they should be speaking and singing the praises of the Lord and disable your selves from the most high and sweet and acceptable part of all Gods service by your unwarrantable doubts and self-vexations And when all these are laid aside how poor and lean a service is it that is left you to perform to him Even a few tears and complaints and prayers which I know God will mercifully accept because even in your desires after him there is Love but yet it is far short of the service which you might perform Nay your Heavenly-mindedness will be much supprest as long as you are sadly questioning whether ever you shall come thither and it will be yours or not 7. Are you not ashamed to see the servants of the Devil and the world so jocund and your selves so sad that serve the Lord Will you go mourning so inordinately to Heaven when others go so merrily to Hell Will you credit Satan and Sin so much as to perswade men by your practice that sin affordeth more pleasure and content then Holiness 8. You could live merrily your selves before your Conversion while you served sin And will you walk so dejectedly now you have repented of it As if you had changed for the worse or would make men think so I know you would not for all the world be what you were before your change Why then do you live as if you were more miserable then before 9. You would be loth so long to resist the sanctifying work of the Spirit And why should you not be loth to resist its comforting work It is the same Holy Ghost that you resist in both Nay you dare not so open your mouthes for wickedness and plead against Sanctification it self as you open them on the behalf of your sinful doubtings and plead for your immoderate dejections If you should how vile would you appear 10. Lastly consider that God will lay sufferings enow upon you for your sins and suffer wicked men to lay enow on you for well doing and you need not lay more upon your selves You have need to use all means for strength to bear the burdens that you must undergo and it is the joy of the Lord and the hopes of Glory that are your strength And will you cast away the only supports of your soul and sink when the day of suffering comes How will you bear poverty or reproach or injuries how will you meet approaching death if you feed your doubts of your salvation and of the Love of God in Christ which must corroborate you O weaken not your souls that are too weak already Weaken not your souls that have so much to do and suffer and that of so great necessity and importance While you complain of your weakness encrease it not by unbelieving uncomfortable complaints Gratifie not the Devil and wicked malicious men so far as to inflict on your selves a greater calamity then all their malice and power could inflict It is a madness in them that will please the Devil to the displeasing of God though the pleasing of their own flesh be it that moveth them to it But for a man to please the Devil and displease God even when he displeaseth his own flesh by it also and bringeth nothing but sorrow to himself by it this is in some respects more unreasonable then madness it self Many cast away their souls for Riches and Honours and carnal accommodations but who would do it for poverty sickness or disgrace So