with you and tell you that upon the LORDS Day you must not serve yourselves and your owne turnes in idlenesse travailing sports gaming in any earthly businesse or mis-imployment whatsoever but spend that whole blessed Day wholly and onely in spirituall refreshing heavenly businesses divine worship and holy duties in meditation upon the creatures spiritually upon the great worke of redemption and resurrection of CHRIST and upon that everlasting rest above of all which the Christian Sabbath is a remembrancer unto us in both publike and private prayer reading singing of Psalmes hearing Sermons conference c. and in ruminating and as it were chewing the cud upon Scripture points I say ruminate as it were and chew the cud for it is the very phrase of the Church of England in the Homily for reading Scriptures And those reverend and godly men which composed them expresse the benefit thereof emphatically Thus run the words Let us ruminate of the Scriptures sc. that we may have the sweet juyce spirituall effect marrow honey kernell taste comfort and consolation of them I say suppose ye were thus prest would ye not presently out of your worldly wisdome and impatiency to be so snaffâ—…d at to be tied all the day to spirituall exercises and restrain'd from ordinary recreations conceive of it and cry out against it as a puritanicall novelty and foolish precisenesse Because you mention precisenesse and novelty I could as I am wont and to make you without excuse appeale unto and implore the aid of antiquity which will utterly take off such aspersions And here were it incident and seasonable I were able to procure Councels and Fathers and other authorities concurrently to testifie and take my part that upon the LORDS Day we are to recreate our selves onely with spirituall delights onely then to ply divine businesses and to do those things alone which belong to our soules salvation Heare their owne words We ought upon that Day Solummodò spiritualibus gaudijs repleri Concilium Parisiense Anno 829. Tantùm divinis cultibus serviamus August de Temp. Serm. 251. Soli divino cultui vacemus Idem Ibid. Eaque tantum faciat quae ad animae salutem pertinent Hierom. in Cap. 56. Isa. Nay the whole Church of England hath this threescore yeares and above complyed exactly with antiquity in this point in the Hom. of the place and time of prayer These are the words GODS people should use the Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily businesse and also give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises of GODS true religion and service And yet for all this you are so wise in your owne conceipts ye will none of this saving folly you are no such fooles as after so long liberty to fall â—…o any such strictnesse Secondly suppose a Minister should counsell you when you come home from the house of GOD to take your Bibles and call both your wives and children to the comparing together and conferring upon those things which were taught That the husband should exact of the wife and the wife aske of the husband those things that were there spoken and read or at least some of them That you should set this law to your selves to be kept inviolably and not onely to your selves but also to your wives and children that you would spend that one whole Day of the whole weeke whereon you meet to heare the Word in meditation of those things which are delivered I say now in this case your carnall wisedome would resolutely condemne such counsells as contrary to the counsell of great houses as a way to become a By-word to the whole Country and as savoring too rankly of a foolish strictnesse and needlesse singularity And yet this was totidem verbis wise holy advise above twelve hundred yeares agoe For it giving the counsell I have but rendred Chrysostome word for word in diverse places Hom. 5. in Matth. In Eph. Serm. 20. Hom. 2. in Ioan. Hom. 5. ad Popul Antioch Thirdly If Preachers should presse you to plant and preserve Family Duties in your house Prayer and reading Scriptures evening and morning Singing of Psalmes c. and you of greatest meanes may best spare time for such blessed businesses Would not your wisedomes thinke this more then need And that it would bee a foolish thing and much against your profit to rob your selves and servants of so much time from your worldly affaires And yet here I could produce foure or five Fathers above a thousand yeares ago pressing this point and punctuall for my purpose Besides Ambrose quoted in my Book of Walking with God pag. 67. Here other Fathers Basil Origen Chrysostome August Fourthly If you were moved by the Ministery to restore every halfe penny that you have any waies at any time got wrongfully or by any wicked meanes or that you detaine unjustly from any man And then casting your eye backe and considering How you are growne hastily rich and by what waies you are come to a great deale of wealth should finde very foule workes would you not force your selves by a strong counter-plea of carnall reason not to beleeve the point and thinke it extreame madnesse at the instance and prating of a precise companion which understands not the world for so or in the like manner would you speake to part perhaps with a good part of your estate And yet Austins Rule of above twelve hundreth yeares standing and confirmed concurrently by all Divines to this day is That Non tollitur peccatum nisirestituatur ablatum No restitution no remission And our owne Church tels us in the second exhortation before the Communion That without readinesse to make restitution and satisfaction for wrongs done the Sacrament as often as you come doth nothing else but increase your damnation Thus might I passe through all the points of Sanctification and passages of holy life And all the great men of the world either in Learning Wealth Nobility or Wisedome according to the flesh would passe these censures upon them and entertaine conceits of them proportionable to that of Nicodemus about the New-birth They will not become fooles in the Apostles sense And therefore they are soakt and fast fettered in the gall of bitternesse and bond of iniquity and that above ordinary Thirdly All ye great ones of the world in the sense I have said As yee are very wise in your own conceits and it may be truly so according to the flesh so you are selfe-conceited and soule-couseners about your spirituall state For you thinke all better then you too precise and all worse then you too prophane and your selves onely to have happily hit upon the golden meane and pitch upon that well-tempered moderation in Religion wherby you may enjoy temporall happinesse here and eternall hereafter Sleepe in a whole skin as they say and with a good conscience Live the life of pleasures and die the death of the righteous Whereas to be so conceited is the very complement and perfection
and fieriest darts of the Devill for he knowes full well that that is the arme and power of GOD unto us for all sound comfort and spirituall well-being and therefore he is most furious to weaken us there with infinite gaine-sayings and temptations of our inbred insidelity native ignorance diffidence wisdome of the flesh our owne sense and feeling and a world of oppositions continually He is driven many and many a time to the Throne of Grace with prayers teares and strongest wrastlings for auxiliary forces and renewed strength O how often doth he resort with extremest thirst and dearest longings to all the blessed Fountaines that feed his faith the person of CHRIST His meritorious bloud the Promises GODS freest love His sweetest name the covenant of grace all the Ordinances those Ones of a thousand who are able to discover both the depths of the Devill and the mysteries of Evangelicall mercy c. and for all this is glad many times to say unto his GOD Though Thou slay me yet will I trust in Thee LORD I believe helpe Thou mine unbeliefe c. The difference then stands thus They hold it the easiest thing of a thousand but he finds it the hardest matter in the world To believe 3. Aske them what it hath wrought upon them and they cannot give an account of any alteration to any purpose or sanctification at all Imaginary Faith is but an idle Idea a naked Notion a meere fancy a groundlesse presumption and true dreame and therefore it is not active or productive of any reall effects or true religiousnesse But now saving â—…aith doth ever beget a blessed change in the whole man body soule spirit calling company converâ—… â—… â—…f any man be in CHRIST he is a new creature Old things are passed away Behold all things are new It is ever attended with those three great works of grace 1. An universall repentance and returne from all sinnes from grosse ones in practice and action and from the most unavoidable infirmities at least in allowance and affection 2. An universall sanctification in all the parts and powers of body and soule though not in height of degree yet without exception of parts 3. An universall obedience to all GODS commands though not to perfection yet in sincerity and truth and with an heavenly traine of glorious graces love hope vertue knowledge temperance patience godlinesse brotherly kindnesse charity joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse meeknesse c. And even in the lowest ebbe and greatest weakenesse it is ever wont to discover it selfe at least by poverty of spirit hungring and thirsting after righteousnesse striving against doubting bitter complaints for want of former feelings industrious seeking to be setled in believing earnest and greedy longing after grace highly prizing the LORD IESVS and preferring Him infinitely before all the pleasures profits and felicities of this life resolving rather to die ten thousand deaths than to returne any more to folly selfe-deniall contempt of the world care to search out the sin that may possibly hinder comfort and be rid of it continuall watchfulnesse and holy jealousie lest we should be deceived and faithfull labouring to subdue corruption 4. Fourthly aske them How they prize the object they apprehend imaginarily for it is no better and it is but thus If you were able to assure them of wallowing in all worldly pleasures with constant health and immortality upon earth they would with all their hearts part with all their hope of heaven hereafter For they are yet but carnall though selfe-confident But now the divinenesse and excellency of spirituall delights which justifying Faith doth extract from the Objects about which it is exercis'd doth so affect and ravish the heart of the true Believer that well advised in cold bloud and out of temptation he holds all the corporall felicities of ten thousand worlds even world without end in comparison of them but as drosse and dung and dust in the ballance Our part in the person of CHRIST with the purchases of His dearest bloud and possession of the Deity blessed for ever by His meanes do more than infinitely transcend the utmost of all earthly contentments rais'd above the highest possibility by the most inventive and strongest imagination and to be enjoyed thorow a thousand eternities The second sort which are a generation of more understanding men stand thus for their spirituall state and thus fearefully couzen their own soules and come short of salvation They assay indeed to be religious give up their names to Profession and would go to heaven with all their hearts so farre as the way holds with enjoyment of temporall happinesse and therefore they put on a forme of godlinesse and faire out-side furnish themselves with an artificiall habit of talking well take part in all companies with the better side follow and frequent Sermons with good forwardnesse set up prayer and other religious exercises in their families put themselves upon daies of humiliation leave many sinnes do many things hold an universall outward conformity to all the ordinances and divine Duties at the instance of the Ministry And if they be of ability countenance godly Preachers stand for them and entertaine them into their houses with much affectionatenesse and bounty especially such as perhaps by reason of too much charity unacquaintednesse with their wayes lothnesse to be accounted too pragmaticall and rough or something comply with them in a false conceipt of their spirituall well-being c. But presse them further over and besides all this to the heart and life of religion to the power and pith of godlinesse crucifying of their corruptions strangling their lusts mastering their passions parting with all sinne unfashioning them to the times abandoning for ever their darling pleasure deniall of themselves contempt of the world daily walking with GOD delight in the way of holinesse an holy keeping of the LORDS day fruitfulnesse in all good workes living by faith an uncowardly opposition to the iniquities of the present c. which they well know wil be necessarily accompanied with Drunkards songs railings of the basest discountenance from ungodly greatnesse the worlds deadliest enmity speaking against every where c. O then you strike them starke dead on the nest as they say These are hard speeches very harsh grating and ungratefull to their eares and go to their very hearts and therefore in such Points as these pressing more precisenesse you may as well remoove a mountaine of brasse with your little finger as stirre them an inch Say what you will and preach out your heart as they say they will no further Thus farre as they go already shall either serve their turne for salvation or they will venture their soules with thousands that are worse than themselves They pitch upon a safe wise moderate and discreet temper of religion as they conceive and call it and neither desire or endeavour to go any further or grow any better A faire day
All-powerfull GOD scorne with infinite disdaine to feed upon Earth or any earthly things which are no proportionable object either for divinenesse or duration for so noble a nature to nestle upon But let them ply and fat themselves all the dayes of their appointed time with their proper native and celestiall food At that great Supper made by a King at the mariage of a Kings sonne Luke 14. 16. Mat. 22. 2. And therefore must needs be most magnificent and admirable At that Feast of fat things that Feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined Isa. 25. 6. The founder and furnisher whereof is the LORD of Hosts He that made Heaven and Earth makes it and therefore it must needs be matchlesse and incomparable At the Well-head of Wisdomes richest Bounty who hath killed her beasts mingled her wine and furnished her table Prov. 9. 2. In and by these and the royallest â—…east that can be imagined are shadowed but infinitely short and represented unto us but nothing to the life all those inexplicable divine dainties delicates sweetnesses those gracious quicknings rejoycings and ravishments of spirit which GOD in mercy is wont to communicate and convey thorow all the ordinances and meanes of grace to truly humbled soules for a mighty increase of spirituall strength and invincible comfort O how deliciously may a heavenly hungry heart feed and fill it selfe 1. In the powerfull Ministry unfolding all the sacred sense and rich mines of GODS owne meaning in His blessed booke 2. In the precious promises of life by the applications and exercise of Faith 3. In the LORDS Supper by making the LORD IESVS surer to our soules every time and every time by feasting afresh upon His body and bloud spiritually with exultations of dearest joy and sweetest glimpses as it were of eternall glory 4. In fruitfull conferences and mutuall communications of gifts graces prayers duties with GODS people which the LORD doth usually and graciously water with the deawes of many sweet and glorious refreshings and quickning much increase of Christian courage and an holy contentation in the good way 5. In meditations upon the mystery of CHRIST the miracles of mercy upon us for our good all our life long and the eternity of joyes and blisse above 6. Upon the LORDS Day when showers of spirituall blessings are accustomed to fall from the Throne of grace all the day long upon those who sincerely endeavour to consecrate it as glorious unto Him 7. Upon those soule-fatting daies of humiliation which who ever tried either secretly privately or publikely either by himselfe alone with his yoke-fellow in his family or congregation and found not GOD extraordinary according to the extraordinarinesse of the exercise About the last IVDGEMENT Consider 1. How cuttingly and how cold the very first sight of the Son of Man comming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory will strike unto thine heart who hast refused to turne on His side and take His part all the time of thy gracious visitation Then wilt thou begin with extremest griefe and bitternesse of spirit to sigh and say within thy selfe Oh! He that I now see sitting downe upon yonder flaming white and glorious Throne is that IESVS CHRIST the mighty GOD the Prince of Peace that sweetest Lambe whose precious bloud was powred out as water upon the earth to save His people from their sinnes And He it was who so fairely invited and wooed me as it were by His faithfullest Messengers and intreated me with termes of dearest love all my life long but even to leave my lusts and biâ—… the Devill adieu and He even He would become my all-sufficient and everlasting Husband and now as at this time have set an immortall crowne of blisse and glory upon my head with His owne all-mighty hand But I alas like a wilfull desperate wretch did not onely neglect so great salvation forsake mine owne mercy and so judge my selfe unworthy of everlasting life but I also a bloudy butcher to mine owne soule all my few and evill dayes basely and bitterly oppos'd His blessed kingdome the purity power and holy precisenesse thereof as quite contrary to my carnall heart and that current of pleasures and worldly contentments into which I had desperately cast my selfe I indeed wretchedly and cruelly against mine owne soule persecuted all the meanes which should have sanctified me and all the men which should have sav'd me Happy therefore were I now if I could intreat the greatest Rocke to fall upon me or be beholding to some mighty mountaine to cover me there to lie hid everlastingly from the face of Him that sâ—…teth on the Thâ—…one and from the wrath of the Lambe O that I now might be turned into a beast or bird or stone or tree or aire or any other thing Blessed were I that ever I was borne if I could now be unborne That I might become nothing and in the state I was before I had any being Ah that my immortall soule were now mortall that I might die in hell and not lie eternally in those fiery torments which I shall never be able either to avoid or abide Let us then betime in the name and feare of GOD kisse the Son lest he be angry at that Day and so we perish everlastingly Let us now while the day of our visitation lasts before the Sun be sâ—…t upon the Prophets addresse our selves unto Him 1. With hearts burdened and broken with sight of siâ—…ne and sense of divine wrath Mat. 11. 28. 2. Prize Him infinitely and above all the world Matth. 13 46. 3. Sell all part with all sinne Ibid. Out of Egypt quite leave not an hoofe behind Exod 10. 26. 4. Take Him as our Husband and LORD whereby we become the sonnes of GOD Iohn 1. 12. 5. Take his yoke upon us and learne to be meeke and lowly Matth. 11. 28. 6. Enter into the way which is called the way of holinesse Isa. 35. 8. 7. And there continue Professours of the Truth and of the power of the Truth and of the power of the Truth in truth For otherwise thou mayest be a Professour and perish eternally That CHRIST may owne thee at that Day Many professe the Truth and not the power of the Truth some professe both the Truth and the power of it but are false-hearted Where then shall the non-Professour appeare Nay the Persecuter of the Sect which is spoken against every where Acts 28. 22. 2. That thou must presently passe to an impartiall strict the highest and last Tribunall which can never be appeal'd from or repeal'd there to give an exact account of all things done in the flesh For every thought of thine heart every word of thy mouth every glance of thine eye every moment of thy time every omission of any holy duty or good deed every action thou hast undertaken with all the circumstances thereof every office thou hast borne and
the discharge of it in every point and particular every company thou hast come into and all thy behaviour there every Sermon thou hast heard every Sabbath thou hast spent every motion of the Spirit which hath been made unto thy soule c. Let us then while it is called To Day call our selves to account examine search and trie thorowly our hearts lives and callings our thoughts words and deeds let us arraigne accuse judge cast and condemne our selves and prostrated before GODS Mercy-Seat with broken and bleeding affections lowlinesse of spirit and humblest adoration of His free grace upon the same ground with the Aramites 1 Kings 20. 31. We have heard that the Kings of the House of Israel are mercifull Kings let us I pray thee put sack cloth on our loines and ropes on our heads and go out to the King of Israel peradventure he will save thy life Let us there give our mercifull GOD no rest untill we have sued out our pardon by the intercession of the LORD IESVS c. And then we shall find the reckoning made up to our hand and all matters fully answered before-hand And which is a Point of unconceiveable comfort He that was our Advocate upon earth and purchased the Pardon with His owne hearts bloud shall then be our Iudge 3. That all the beastly and impure abominatitions of thine heart all thy secret sinnes and closet-villanies that no eye ever looked upon but that which is ten thousand times brighter than the Sun shall all then be disclosed and laid open before Angels Men and Devils and thou shalt then and there be horribly universally and everlastingly ashamed Thou now acts perhaps securely some harefull and abhorred worke of darknesse and wickednesse not to be nam'd in thine owne heart or one way or other in secret which thou wouldst not for the whole world were knowne to the world or to any but thy selfe or one or two of thy cursed companions curbed by their obnoxiousnesse but be well assured in that Day at that great assize thou shalt in the face of heaven and earth be laid out in thy colours to thine eternall confusion Never therefore go about or encourage thy selfe to commit any sinne because it is mid-night or that the doores are lockt upon thee because thou art alone and no mortall eye seeth thee neither is it possible to be reveal'd And yet I must tell thee by the way secret villanies have and may be discovered 1. In sleepe 2. Out of horrour of conscience or in time of distraction For suppose it be concealed and lie hid in as great darknesse as it was committed untill that last and great Day yet then shall it out with a witnesse and be as legible in thy fore-head as if it were writ with the brightest starres or the most glittering Sun beame upon a wall of Crystall 4. In what a wofull case thy heavy heart will be and with what strange terrour trembling and desperate rage it must needs be possest and rent in peeces when thou shalt heare that dreadfull sentence of damnation to eternall torments and horrour pronounced over thine head Depart from me thou cursed wretch into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his angels Every word breathes out nothing but fire and brimstone vengeance and woe bites deeper and terrifies more than ten thousand Scorpion stings To depart from that glorious presence were hell enough but thou must also go with a curse nor onely so but into fire and that must be everlasting fed continually with infinite rivers of brimstone and kept still in flame and fiercenesse by the unquenchable wrath of the most just GOD thorow all eternity And in that horrible dungeon and fiery lake thou shalt never have other company or comforters but wicked devils and they insulting over thee everlastingly with much hellish spite and stinging exprobrations for neglecting so great salvation all thy life long and losing heaven for some base lust and believing their lies If the drowning of the old world swallowing up of Korah and his complices burning up of Sodome with brimstone were attended with such terrours and hideous out cries How infinitely transcendent to all possibility of conceipt expression or beliefe will the confusions and tremblings of that Day be when so many millions of men shall be drag'd downe with all the Devils of hell to torments without end and past imagination There was horrible scryking when those five filthy cities first felt fire and brimstone drop downe upon their heads when those rebels saw the ground cleave asunder and themselves and all theirs go downe quicke into the pit when all the sonnes and daughters of Adam found the floud rising and ready to over-flow them all at once But the most horrid cry that ever was heard or ever shal be in heaven or earth in this world or the world to come will be then when all the forlorne condemned reprobates upon sentence given shal be violently and unresistably haled downe to hell and pulled presently from the presence not onely of the most glorious GOD the LORD IESVS Angels and all the blessed Ones but also of their Fathers Mothers Wives Husbands Children Sisters Brothers Lovers Friends Acquaintance who shall then justly and deservedly abandon them with all detestation and derision and forgetting all nearenesse and dearest obligations of nature neighbourhood alliance any thing rejoyce in the execution of divine justice in their everlasting condemnation So that no eye of GOD oâ—… man shall pitie them neither shall any teares prayers promises suits cries yellings calling upon rocks and mountains wishes never to have been or now to be made nothing c. be then heard or prevaâ—…e iâ—… their behalfe or any one in heaven or earth be found to mediate or speake for them to reverse or stay that fearefull doome of eternall woe but without mercy without stay without any farewell they shall be immediately and irrecoverably cast downe into the bottomlesse pit of easelesse endlesse and remedilesse torments which then shall finally shut her mouth upon them Oh! What then will be the guawings of the never dying worme what rage of guilty consciences what furious despaire what horrour of mind what distractions and feares what bitter looking backe upon their mis-spent time in this world what banning of their brethren in iniquity what cursing the day of their birth and even blaspheming of GOD Himselfe blessed for ever what tearing their haire and gnashing of teeth what wailing and wringing of hands what desperate roaring what hideous yellings filling heaven and earth and hell c. No tongue can tell no heart can thinke Be fore-warned then in a word To thirst long and labour infinitely more to have IESVS CHRIST in the meanetime say in the Ministry to thy truly humbled soule I am thy salvation than to be Possessour iâ—… it were possible of all the riches glory and pleasures of moe worlds than there are starres in