this Banquet and not be the better for it How is it possible Well remember what that is to go rightly and do it indeed it is often shewed in our ministery and you called upon none can say he knows not Then settle to do it He that loves grace indeed and the comforts of grace let him strive to be lively and get as much of it as he can Doctr. 3. It is the nature and duty of good Christians to be constant in their good courses to the end not to be weary when they run nor faint when they walk The duty is in Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful unto the death The priviledge is in this place They are born of incorruptible seed led by an holy Spirit that abides with them for ever embraced with an everlasting love and Covenant strengthned by a mighty faith which overcomes the world and quencheth the fiery darts of the Devil And this of the Text stands by way of promise They shall mount up They shall run and not be weary They shall walk and not faint Now all the promises of God in Christ are Yea and Amen The Oath and Promise of God are two immutable things wherein it is impossible he should be deceived or deceive Object They are weary oftentimes and faint in their course afflictions dishearten and unsettle them corruption of nature even foils them Satan gets within them Answ At the worst they fall not either totally or finally nor are ever so weary or faint but their strength is renewed again and they may say as the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.8 9 16. We are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed We faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day Use Let all that wait on the Lord with their hearts both rejoyce in their priviledge and look well to their duty 1. Rejoyce in your priviledge Your endeavours in holy ways shall be Crowned with perseverance and your perseverance with glory Your desires shall be answered and satisfied to the full When many fall you shall stand And in the day when you are shrewdly shaken yet still you shall stand or if you fall you shall surely rise again True you must fear in respect of your selves and your own unstedfastness but in respect of God you have no cause at all to fear or be dismayed Through the mercy and grace of your God who hath promised you are as sure one day to be in heaven as now you are upon earth 2. Look to your duty that is to keep your selves in the love of God as the Apostle Jude adviseth Be not high-minded but fear and Let him that standeth take heed left he fall Holy joy never breeds security nor a neglect of the means as carnal and presumptuous us useth to do And not only work out your salvation with fear and trembling to shun a total and final Apostasie but take heed of partial and temporary backslidings admit as few interruptions in the way of well-doing as possibly you can still shake up your selves out of every weariness and every fainting Beware of the preparative though not to everlasting destruction yet temporary chastisement especially in the soul by the absence of Christ who withdraws a while when security prevailes Cant. 3. and 5. Ever fear to come any whit near that fatal conclusion of hypocrites who one time or other fall away and shew they were never the men and women that they would be taken to be not of us though among us 1 John 2.19 And of such the Lord saith If any man draw back my soul hath no pleasure in him and they draw back to perdition Heb. 10.39 USE IV. Conclusion ALL this so being may encourage all to a godly life and to receive the grace of God when it is offered to them as that which will set them in such a blessed and permanent condition above all the excellency nature is any way able to reach or attain Alass man what art thou by nature in the greatest of thy strength thou art but a fainting dying man In thy youth the flower of thine age thou mayest be soon cropt and defaced and then without grace in thy heart thou goest to hell as surely as Belzebub What is the strength of legs or beauty or nimbleness or healthiness or any natural endowments pretty things in their kind and such as whereof a good use may be made but in respect of Gods favor and heaven very trifles If so then much more honor riches pleasures ease dainty diet and the like these some call the gifts of fortune and Scripture saith they take them wings and profit not them that have been exercised in them Heb. 13.9 Wisdom would that a man look beyond all these to the better and enduring substance It is good that the heart be established with grace and not with meats He that is born anew unto God shall also be strong in God Though his beginning be but small and weak yet his latter end shall increase exceedingly Others of strong shall become weak he of weak shall become strong Let us hear the end of all All flesh is grass and the glory of man as the flower of the field the grass withereth and the flower fadeth away but the word of the Lord endureth for ever and this is the word which by the Gospel we preach unto you 1 Pet. 1.24 25. FINIS
it may be perish by the splinters running into his hand Certainly this trusting in creatures hinders faith in the Creator and brings a curse in stead of a blessing Jer. 17.5 Thus saith the Lord Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord and ver 7. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is Take heed Christians and beware of the evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Heb. 3.12 which in this our corrupt nature these Puppets are apt to do 5. This briâ—â—leness of nature and natural things yieldeth sundry good instructions to young people and to the Parents Parents briefly are admonished in three things First not to pride themselves in lusty and likely Children as too many use to do making them so many idols and promising themselves great comfort by them it may be insulting over other men whose Children are weak and sickly wherewith the Lord is offended and sometime the likely Children are taken away or prove crosses when 〈◊〉 weaklings survive and become comforts to their parents Secondly parents even from the beginning should commend their children to the Lord by hearty prayer that if they dye in the birth or in their youth yet by Jesus Christ it may be well with their poor souls to eternity Oh that Ismael might lâ—ve in thy sight Thirdly they should begin with them betimes that by their gracious instructions they may quickly come to know and fear the Lord their God and so whatever becomes of them in the world yet their poor souls may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ the highest acts of charity that can be shewed to our children Next for young people 1. They learn to walk in all humbleness of mind as those that may be soon snatched away and while they continue here are subject to many faintings and failings It concerns all to be cloathed with humility but especially young people whose judgment is not yet setled and they want the experience which in time they may have neither are they acquainted with themselves and their manifold weaknesses as in time they may be so that it is neither safe nor seemly for such to be shewing their opinion in matters to be talking much in company of Elder people especially to take upon them without a Calling to teach others as some bold men in these days have dangerously adventured Consider and fear if ye have the grace of God in you of a truth yet ye ought to walk in humility so to be worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called Eph. 4.12 Much more if the work of grace be not yet begun or not well evidenced here come those rules to be observed Prov. 3.5 6 7. Lean not to thine own understanding be not wise in thine own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil 2. Beware of loose and Libertine courses which most young people do chuse and delight to take as best agreeing with their wild and foolish humors therefore called the lusts of youth and must be carefully avoided 2 Tim. 2 22. Fly youthful lusts As fleshly lusts and worldly lusts and lusts of the mind so the lusts of youth which are either peculiar to young people or most affected Remember and consider how these lusts are apt to forestall all good instructions of the word that there is no room for them â—â—â—her they cannot enter or if they do they are soon thrust ouâ— gain Mark 4.19 The lusts of other things entring choak the word and it becometh unfruitful When our young people are nipt in the bud they are scarce good ever afterward Our loose times have shewed it abundantly And after such lawlesness of young people comes that fearful summons Eccl. 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thy eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgment 3. Seeing all within you and without you is so fading and uncertain lift up your eyes and hearts to the Creator to get in with him and by him to obtain a solid and lasting good which may be sufficient for you in all other faintings and failings Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth and which is the whole duty of man fear God and keep his Commandments Eccl. 12.1 13. The wise man there had reckoned up all the vanities of the world and prescribed remedies against them and then bids us hear the conclusion of the whole matter in those two precepts When the soul is tyred out with the consideration of earthly vanities and distractive occurrences it should be think it self of getting home to his Ark where it may find rest for the soal of his foot as Psal 116.7 Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee It should be good instruction both to young and old when they find themselves perplexed or pricked with thorns of the world as who of us doth not to return to our God from whom by sin we departed Never till then shall we find rest and assured confidence Hos 2 6 7. When the Lord hedged up the Churches way with thorns that she could not find her paths then she said I will go and return to my first husband for then was it better with me then now And if young people in their young days would bethink themselves of returning to the Lord their God they might save themselves many scratches and woundings which afterward they are put to endure 4. Seeing all these things are so ye should all receive the exhortation which we give so often Make sure of Christ Make sure of Christ in him alone ye can find rest for your souls there is no salvation in any â—â—â—er no Name else given under heaven by which yâ—â—â—n be saved not Saints and Angels nor any of the creatures nor all of them put together all together could not redeem one soul nor make up the peace with the great God But in and by Christ all is firm and stable everlasting love everlasting compassions everlasting arms to embrace the Penitent an everlasting covenant promises most certain and sure to be performed Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 Bear us witness Christians we invite you day by day to come and receive Christ for your own we urge you with many Motives we tell you of your sin and danger and in the mean time ye feel in your selves the decays of nature and see in the mortality of your Neighbours what your case must be and ye know not how soon Once at last therefore be wise and Kiss the Son of God that in the worst straights ye may find enlargement and be blessed Psal 2.12 Blessed are they that trust in him If ye were commanded to do some great thing for blessedness would ye not
God which he hath sanctified and set apart for their confirmation in grace and in time they shall see all this evil redrest they shall meet with a strength they know not whence but only from God and this shall increase grace and comfort in their souls and fortifie them yet more to the day of their Redemption Esa 25.9 It shall be said in that day Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation and chap. 26.8 and 30.18 and Dan. 12.12 Blessed is he that waiteth Certainly God will not be wanting to his own wayes nor fail of his promises made to Believers and where is faith to call for them they shall surely be fulfilled Psal 9.18 The needy shall not alway be forgotten the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever and Psal 10.17 Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear It is not for his glory to fail his people or if he should their hearts would fail them they would fall quite away their souls would be lost and their holy profession greatly disparaged Here it may be objected that many who waited upon God sometime are grown faint and weary and have utterly lost all their strength in the matters of Religion Answ No doubt but hypocrites may quite fall away it may be turn to be enemies they never waited on God in the way of faith and obedience and therefore might well let fall their hopeful beginnings and plausible forms of religiousness 1 John 2.19 They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us Such are all our Apostates whether they be become Papists or Hereticks or Mockers of Zeal or Worldlings or Persecutors of their godly Brethren or profane in the course of their lives But whether may not a true Believer lose his strength and faint and be weary Answ Though it be a priviledge of the New Covenant that the grace of Christ in his people shall not fail and be extinguished yet they have no such priviledge as to flourish and remain still in the same vigor Their strength may be weakned though not annulled As in Nature a strong man may become weak by a Disease or by long fasting or by much travelling or the like so in matters of grace a tall and lusty Christian may become weak even as another who is but a Novice and beginner in the School of Christ I mean for a while and in some particular thing not wholly nor to the end A Brother may be overtaken in a fault and another may be tempted in like manner Gal. 6.1 And he that thinketh he standeth must take heed lest he fall Now in two respects may the strength of a true Christian be much abated both for his grace and for his comforts 1. His graces and gracious behaviour may be much weakned Ephesus left her first love that is the measure of love to the Gospel which she shewed at first receiving it Rev. 2.4 She loved it still and loved it heartily as appears by the second Verse I know thy works and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not bear with them that are evil and thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them lyars And hast born and hast patience and for my Name sake hast laboured and hast not fainted But she loved it not so earnestly and heartily as she did at the beginning She had need to quicken up her self and do the first works So in chap 3.2 fainting Sardis must be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to dye for her works were not found perfect before God they wede not done in that entire manner as formerly they were So of other graces we feel too often and too much how our faith or hope or patience or humility and the rest do meet with knocks and cracks We make too many breaches in them Sometimes it is too too bad Our lives are nothing so profitable as they were The care and watch is broken up in comparison of the former diligence The tongue is even tyed and good speech is very rare over it was heretofore that if we should be still on the losing hand as we are now and then we should in time prove very Bankrupts in grace and be nothing worth toward God and toward the salvation of our souls 2. The comforts of a true Christian may be much weakned that he needs to pray with David Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Psal 51.8 12. And often in the Psalms we read an alternation of joy and sorrow So unto this day Gods Children find great alteration in their comforts they have not the old feelings they miss the refreshings of the night which formerly they found they want the joys of the Spirit in the ancient liveliness their assurances are much decayed the head now hangs down like a Bull-rush which even was lifted up chearfully in looking for the day of Redemption the voice of joy is gone from their dwellings All is amort and in a dump and the man wonders what is come to him to make him so heavy He hath worldly comforts as he had before yea and he performs the same duties as he did before yet he hath not the same comfort either by failing in those duties or committing some presumptuous sin whereof hitherto he hath not repented as he sees at last and so recovers his hold of God but for the present he is very weak as wanting the joy of the Lord which should be his strength Neh. 8.10 But some will ask How far may the strength of a true Christian be abated Answ 1. With Caution the question is not of the being of a Christian but of his strength He that is once truly regenerate is ever regenerate and ever in the state of grace Only his grace is not alike strong at all times 2. Of them that faint all have not their strength in like manner or measure taken from them nor the same Christian every time of fainting Some are grievous falls some less some are lighter fears and sorrows some heavy Accordingly there needs more ado to recover some then other On some we must have compassion others we must save with fear plucking them out of the fire still putting a difference as the Apostle speaks Jude 22 2â— 3. It is lamentable to say how far the strength of a true Christian may be abated For graces not only the exercise and manifestation of them may be suspended but even the habits themselves much wasted and things
according to the perverse humor which is grown in the soul Others are for their Honors and Preferments as if they would have a Jeremy come and reprove them in those words to Baruch Seekest thou great things to thy self Others too much hang upon evil and ungodly men or too much seek to keep in with the wicked multitude as if they meant no longer to be the Servants of Christ Gal. 1.10 If I go about to please men I am not the Servant of Christ Others are held from good duties through fear of men and kept in a luke-warm indifferency as if with Laodicea they thought good to be spewed out of the mouth of Christ For disguised fashions there is no talk now but they must be tolerated and may be used the Preachers were as good hold their peace as seek to take off these superfluities from their heads and shoulders they shall but get ill-will for speaking against these fashions And so of Marriages Sons of God now-a-days marry the Daughters of men and contrarywise and there is no remorse for it no sin in it all is well if there be State and Portion enough with other the like vanities In many things we see great embasement come upon the professed servants of God and such as we hope do serve him in truth To whom I may say as Christ said to his Disciples admiring the fine stones and buildings of the Temple Are these the things that ye look upon are these the contentful Objects of renewed souls what is your understanding enlightned and your judgment rectified and yet so dote upon such trifles as these are Why what need wings to mount up after these things these are the common prey of every unclean and base-conditioned Bird that never flies aloft these are for Owls and not for Eagles you shall leave these for men of this world who have their portion in this life Psal 17.14 Where the Carkase is thither will the Eagles be gathered together saith our Saviour He spake it of himself and of his coming to judgment Wherever he would appear to judge the world thither the godly would resort and come unto him Consider and gather up thy affections for heaven and make them as many as frequent as earnest as ever they were Christ is that sacred Carkase whereon thy soul must feed unto eternal life and if thou be an Eagle indeed thou wilt scent him strongly afar off and long for him and hasten after him as fast as thou canst Well do so here is now a Sacrament at hand and thereby an occasion to renew thy love of Christ and of the things that pertain to his Kingdom Now stir up thy self to thy ancient affections and actions renew thy Covenant with God soar aloft as thou wast wont to do let us see thee after this Sacrament more heavenly-minded then thou hast been of late days let thy speeches and courses speak louder that thou art for heaven in good sadness as we say say more do more give more spend more which may help thee in that journey The Jews upon their eating the Passover must presently walk out of Egypt and thereunto in eating must have a staff in their hand Let the Moral be thus this heavenly Banquet requires an heavenly Appetite affection conversation afterward Get out of the Egypt of this world as fast as thou canst He is an holy and happy Christian who takes every occasion to unfasten his heart from the world earthly in it self even after grace received and must be skrewed up by little and little upon every advantage that it may take So as he hath less earthly joy he shall have more of the heavenly The sweet peace with God and his own Conscience will infinitely countervail the want of all other peace and comfort whatsoever And thrice happy are those souls who by a right estemation of the worth of heavenly things and by a godly jealousie over their own hearts do keep their thoughts and affections above still looking downward with an holy disdain and weariness It is an high pitch of great grace for the heart to say and the life make it good Vanity of vanities vanity of vanities all is vanity and vexation of spirit Doctr. 2. It is the nature and duty of Christians truly fearing God to be chearful and lively in their holy course as the Eagles are nimble and full of spirits to mount upward so are and must Believers be the Lord loves a chearful giver and that is reason enough 2 Cor. 9.7 They must run and walk run and not be weary walk and not faint Use If they be not thus chearful it is a fault and must be amended It is because they wait not on the Lord so duly and carefully as they ought to do The promise is not performed because the condition is not observed Many Christians may wonder at themselves what is come to them that they are so heavy so unweildy so timerous so backward in the way of godliness Their spirits are even gone they have not the heavenly Meditations that sometime they had they delight not in the presence of God to come before him in prayer as sometime they did Accordingly they have but cold comfort and poor answer returned after their prayer They make not good motions nor put in a good word as heretofore Carnal fear and modesty have seised upon them Some one way and some another are mightily come behind themselves and that measure of liveliness which sometime was in them Hereupon they are troubled about their Estate or have just cause to be troubled Well let this be a watch-word to them to become as chearful as ever Say O Christian in every such case as the Psalmist Why art thou so cast down O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me what is the matter that I am so untoward Stir up the gift that is in thee arise and shake thy self as Samson when he was bound with chains or cords repent and do the first works repent and entertain the first Love again Return O Shulam te return return Thou hast the Spirit of God in thee quench him not set him on work as lively as ever Pray and it shall be done Or if that will not serve the turn fast away this dull and melancholy Devil which possesseth thee as is said This kind goeth not out but by fasting and prayer Renew thy Covenant and Vows do something more then ordinary that is the way to be as lively as ever thou wast Consider the occasion which the Lord now offers unto thee Upon a good Banquet we use to be more lively then we were and to gather up our spirits which were almost spent and wasted No such Banquet as the Lord makes for his servants the flesh of his Son which is meat indeed and the blood of his Son which is drink indeed These are the fat things the Wine and Milk of the Gospel Esa 55.1 2. How can a Christian go rightly to