in their Shops before they have been in Heaven and many desires after visible Temporal gain before they have had one desire after the Invisible Eternal God and Treasures that are above What do they do all the day long What is it that hath their Endeavours all their labour and travel Their most painful Industry and unwearied diligence Alas their Consciences will tell themselves and their practices tell others when there is Trading but no praying Buying and Selling but no Religious Duties performed the shop-book is often opened but the sacred book of God is not looked into all the week long O Lord Forgive the hardness of my Heart that I can see such insufferable folly among reasonable Creatures and can lament this folly no more Good Lord forgive the want of compassion in me that can stand and see this distraction in the World as if the most of Men had lost their wits and were quite besides themselves and yet my Bowels yearn no more towards immortal Souls that are going to unseen miseries in the Eternal World to see distracted men busie in doing things that tend to no account is not such an amazing sight as to see men that have reason for the World to use it not for God and Christ and their own Eternal good to see them love and embrace a present Dunghil World and cast away all serious affecting and effectual thoughts of the Life to come to see them rage against the God of Heaven and cry out against Holiness as foolish preciseness and serious Godliness as Madness and Melancholy Alas These Men are Brutes in the shape of Men for like the very Beasts they live by sense and are led away by a sensitive appetite The Brute takes pleasure in his present Provender and feels the smart of the present Spur or Goad and so do sensual Sinners find sweetness in their present pleasures and profits and do complain of present pain and sickness but of pains to come and joyes to come that are Eternal they have no care nor serious thoughts Better such had been Toads and Serpents than rational Creatures for as they mind no future things in the other World so they are not Subjects capable of Eternal Punishment or Everlasting Happiness they are not so provident as the Ant that in Summer lays up for Winter and while the warm Sun doth shine provides for a cold and stormy day but Men that have Immortal Souls are only for this present World but do not provide for a stormy day that is a coming nor for an Eternal state to which they are hasting Let us call the whole Creation of God to lament and bewail the folly of Man that was made the best of all Gods visible works but now by such wickedness is bad beyond them all being made by God for an Everlasting state and yet minds nothing less than that for which he was principally made O Sun Why is it not thy burden to give light to men to do those works and walk in those wayes that bring them to Eternal Darkness O Earth Why dost thou not groan to bear such burdensome Fooles that dig into thy Bowels for Gold and Silver while they do neglect Everlasting Treasures in the Eternal World O ye Sheep and Oxen Fish and Fowl Why do ye not cry out against them that take away your present Life to maintain them in being but only mind present things but forget the Eternal God that gave them Dominion over you to live upon you while they had time to mind Eternal things but do not O ye Angels of God and Blessed Saints in Heaven were ye capable of grief and sorrow would not ye bitterly lament the sin and folly of poor mortals upon Earth Could ye look down from that Blessed place where ye do dwell and behold the Joy and Glory which is to us unseen and see how it is basely slighted by the Sons of Men if ye were not above sorrow and mourning would not ye take this up for a bitter lamentation O ye Saints on Earth whose Eyes are open to see what the blind deluded World doth not see do ye bitterly take on let your Heads be Fountains of Water and your Eyes send forth Rivers of Tears for the great neglect of Eternal Joyes and Happiness of Heaven Can you see Men going out of time into Eternity in their Sin and in their Blood in their Guilt and Unconverted state and your Hearts not moved your Bowels not yearn Have ye spent all your tears in bewailing your own sin that your Eyes are dry when ye behold such monstrous madness and unparallel folly of so many with whom dayly ye converse Ye sanctifyed Parents have ye no pity for your ungodly Children nor sanctifyed Children for ungodly Parents O my Father my Father by whom I had my Being is going to Eternal Darkness Alas for my Mother my dear Mother that carryed me in her womb that dandled me upon her knees that suckled me at her breasts that did delight to break her sleep to quiet me when I was froward to look to me when I was sick that bound my head when it was pained that wiped mine eyes when I did weep and my face when I did sweat because of my Disease this my Mother is forgetful of her own Immortal Soul was more troubled for me when she thought I was near my Grave than for her self though near to Hell when I was young she took care for me for things Temporal but for her self neither young nor old for things Eternal Ere long she will be dead and I am afraid and damned too Ere long she must go out of time and for any thing I can perceive being Ignorant and fearless of God and unmindful of Eternity her Soul will go into Eternity of Torments O how loath am I to have such thoughts of one so near so dear unto me Oh it is the cutting of my Heart it is bitterness to my Soul I had rather dye than she be damned and yet it is my feares she is hasting to Eternity of Wo for to my observing Eye she is taken wholly up with the cares and pride and vanity of this Life and apparently regardless of that Eternal World Why do not also ye that are Parents that have a belief of an Everlasting State take on and bewail the doleful state of your ungodly Children that in their sinful courses are posting to Eternal pains What my Son the Son of my Loins the Son of my Womb Did I bear him with so much sorrow and shall he be a castaway Did I travail with him with so much pain and brought and nursed him up with so much labour and must he be for ever fuel for the Flames of Hell Have I brought forth a Child to be a prey to Devils and a Companion with them to all Eternity Oh my Son my Son what shall I do for thee my Son my Son Thus whatever Relation Neighbour Friend or Acquaintance you have
to God therefore inconsistent with the Love of God These six things the Lord hateth yea seven which his Soul hateth Prov. 6.16 Psal 97.10 Math. 6.24 Therefore ye that love the Lord hate evil These are two Masters which we cannot hate and love both 3. Sin separates from God therefore we cannot keep our selves in the love of Sin and in the love of God Sin makes us depart from God and God to depart from us Therefore Conversion reconciles God to us because it mortifies Sin in us by vertue of Christs Death for us VII He that will keep himself in the Love of God must clear up his Interest and Union to Jesus Christ 1. Because Jesus Christ was sent us as the greatest Instance and the greatest Token of Gods Love in the World 1 Joh. 4.9 2. Because the Lord Jesus purchased the Love of God to us when we were the greatest Enemies to each other Rom. 5.8 10. 3. Because Jesus Christ is the Souls Love Cant. 3.1 4. Because Jesus Christ is all Loves Cant. 5.16 5. Because this was the End of Christs coming into the World to save us from our sins the sole cause of Gods hatred to Sinners Math. 1.21 6. Because the Father loveth whom Christ loveth and he loveth them that love Christ Joh. 16.27 7. Because our Interest in Christ puts a Soul out of all danger Rom. 8.1 Rom. 5.1 Chap. 7.24 25. 8. Because the Lord Jesus makes the Fathers Love to him the measure of his love to us As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue in my love Joh. 15.9 i. e. By this ye keep in Gods Love 9. Because the Lord Jesus teacheth us the way how to keep in his Love Joh. 15.10 Consider all this and how cogently they prove this Head of clearing up our Interest and Union unto Christ to keep our selves in the Love of God VIII An eighth way of keeping our selves in the Love of God is by keeping Gods Commandements I do not mean as to a Covenant of Works but upon a Gospel account If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his Love John 15.10 Vers 14. Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you O! mind that Again mark this Joh. 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and doth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and we will make our abode with him This Love is the fulfilling of the whole Law and the Gospel too There be many that will complement a Love to God but will do nothing for him The greatness of Abraham's Love to God and of David's Love and of Peter's Love and of Mary's Love of Paul's Love and of the Martyrs Love was in doing and in dying for him And is not the greatness of Gods Love and of Chists Love to us Joh. 15.13 in Doing and Suffering We read of Labour of Love because true Love is Laborious as it was in Jacob's Love for Rachel There is nothing God hates more than pretending to love therefore the Lord hates Hypocrites Not every Mat. 7.21 one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven As God saith This People Deut. 5.29 have well said in all that they have spoken O that there were such a Heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my Commandments alwayes So I say of Professors and great Pretenders that shew much kindness with their Mouth but their Heart is not right with God O that there were such a Heart in them that they would make Conscience to do the Will of God If the Lord loved the young man that was in a fair way of keeping the Commandments of God and was not perfect and thorow-pac'd how much more will he have a Love for them that have a respect to all the Commandments of God Psal 119.6 IX The way to keep our selves in the Love of God is to walk closely with God in wayes of strict Holiness This is a Commendation and Character upon Record of Gods chiefest Favourites Thus it was with Abraham Gen. 17.1 Thus it was with Enoch Gen. 5.22 Thus it was with Noah Gen. 6.9 Thus it was with Caleb Num. 14.24 And thus David Psal 73. ult Now we shall see how such a one is to God who desires to keep in the Love of God We have known 1 Joh. 4.16 and believed the Love that God hath to us God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him O sweet dwelling You shall shall find that the Holyest Persons were alwaies the highest Favourites of God Witness those before-mentioned and these following Instances Job 1.1 2 3. How did God bless him and praise him and trie him and reward him for his eminent Holiness Zachary and Elizabeth Luk. 1.6 7. How singularly did they shine in Holiness and in the Favour of God to whom God gave a Son in their old age the Harbinger of Christ Mary the Mother of Christ Luk. 1.28 how was she for her Holiness pronounced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 highly favoured And Simeon Luk. 2.25 c. and Anna vers 36 37 38. Holiness and Purity brings us to the fight of God which is called Beatifical which is the Souls highest Happiness and ultimate end Math. 5.8 Psal 24.4 Heb. 12.14 and therefore is pronounced Blessed Psal 119.1 2. X. They keep themselves in the Love of God who do not wave or abate their Profession and Practice of Godliness in evil times and do not baulk the wayes of God under severe Providences and sharp Tryals this was eminent in all Christs Worthyes Thus David Psal 44.17 to vers 22. Mind that Place Though they were sore broken and smitten into the Place of Dragons and cover'd as with the shaddow of death yet we have not forgotten thee nor declined from thy way c. Job 13.15 cap. 3.17 18. Thus Job Though he slay me yet I will trust in him Thus Habakkuk Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom the Vine Olive and Field shall fail of their Fruit and not any Flocks or Herds left yet I will rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God of my Salvation The Lord God is my strength And thus all the Champions of God Let Paul be one Instance more Rom. 8.35 36 37 38 39. Reason Prov. 3.11 12. 1. A Friend loveth at all times and a Brother is born for the day of Adversity Prov. 17.17 2. They know the Lords Chastenings are in Love Heb. 12.6 Rev. 3.19 Psal 119.67 71 72. 3. They know that all the Lords Severities are for good many wayes To drive them to Ordinances and Duties to sweeten them and to teach them to profit by them to know more of the Will of God by them and to give us a better Relish of the
Resist him and he flies from you give back never so little and he 'l come upon you with double force Till we are thus sincerely fixed upon our duty standing perfect and compleat in all the will of God Col. 4.12 resolving to do our duty wherever it lies Till then we shall be partial Judges of our duty very apt to single out the easiest and shortest duties stepping over all the rest we shall seek rather to please our selves than God in the duty we perform and leaning to a carnal judgment do what seems right in our own eyes and then to be sure we are wrong Object Tho by these directions given I may discern duty from downright sin yet I am at a loss how to distinguish between duty and duty between duty in season and duty out of season When two duties come together and present themselves at once to my Conscience I cannot deny but they are both duties but which to do first I know not Ans If this be the doubt consider whether the Scripture hath not decided it in some cases it hath and upon such grounds as may help us in other cases to know our present duty as Mat. 5.24 First be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift So Mat. 7.5 First cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly c. When the duty postponed by you does hinder the right performance of that other duty which thou art going about and render it unacceptable to God then the second duty as you have ranked them must take place of the first and be first done Acts of worship cannot be done in Faith towards God where Charity towards our Neighbour is wanting He doth not believe in God who loves not his brother 1 John 3.10 23. And so in the other case mentioned 't is gross hypocrisie to reprove another when thou thy self art guilty in the same or a higher kind Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam c. Besides he cannot understand how to reprove another who doth not first reform himself the casting out our own sins gives us light how to deal with others then shalt thou see clearly c. Object But what if after all this it should so fall out that two duties should press upon my conscience for present performance and I cannot either by Reason or Scripture determine which to do first but do hang in suspence am in a strait between two Ans This is hardly to be supposed but admit it to be thy case according to thy present judgment Then 1. Sit down once more and consider weigh them both well and hold the ballance with a steddy hand I am perswaded you may perceive some preponderancy on one side that may direct you what to do from some over-bearing circumstances that turn the scales God is the God of Order and not of Confusion He does never command two inconsistent duties at the same time The Covenant is ordered in all things and so must our Conversations be too else we walk disorderly Therefore consider well what pleases God most and for once leave out the relation to the present time which thou art so much puzled about and consider the nature of the duties themselves which of them is most spiritual which of them the Scripture lays most weight upon for there is a difference between duty and duty all are not alike as Psal 51.16 17. a broken and a contrite heart is beyond all other Sacrifices God did require them too but not without this both together do best but of the two he had rather have this alone than the other alone without this Outward Offerings are never pleasing to God when the heart goes not along with them Be sure to mind that most which God is most pleased with 2. If of two duties you cannot resolve which is most your duty at present then resolve upon both and begin where you will God will not be extreme in that case do one and leave not the other undone but be sure to find time for that also When one duty doth quite take us off from the performance of another necessary duty that stood in competition with it 't is greatly to be suspected that there is a temptation then but if you do both one after another you can err only in point of time and order and God will over-look that in a sincere Christian who acts according to his present light and would do that which God likes best if he could understand his mind but being not able to judg of that he resolves upon both successively 3. Beg of God to resolve thee O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes Psal 119.5 Shall I go up to Hebron or shall I not 2 Sam. 2.1 God will teach thee what to do Psal 25.12 He shall direct thy paths Prov. 3.5 6. APPLICATION In some moving Considerations to quicken you to your present duty 1. All the sins of your lives break in upon you through the omission of your present duty Do but stop that gap and keep it stopt and then there will be no room for sin I speak not of those unavoidable infirmities that cleave to the Saints under their most conscionable walking with God but of wilful neglects that lie heavy upon the conscience when God awakens it 2. Whatever you do in the room of a present duty is not acceptable to God Not acceptable did I say that is too soft a word 't is an offence to him 't is disobedience and rebellion tho it be a duty yet because it is not that duty that God now requires you sin in doing it Not that I would have Christians live always distracting in fear lest what they do should not be their present duty My meaning is when we neglect a known duty which we are convinced of but if we use means to know our duty and do act according to our present light in what we do we may have peace and hope for acceptance 3. If you don 't now perform your present duty you can never perform it unless you could recall time and make that present again which is past Time passes away and represents a Man to God as he was at that instant what he is the next is another thing but that hour that day week or year which thou hast spent in the neglect of thy duty stands upon record against thee is irrecoverable you must account for that and without a pardon you cannot escape the judgment of God Mis-spent time is the treasury of Gods wrath and what a fiery day of wrath will that make at last when God shall put all together and sum up the sins of every day of thy life and reckon with thee for all at once in the great day of his wrath so much for such an idle hour and so much for such an idle hour so much for such and such a day spent in an Ale-house Tavern or Brothel-house so much for
can no otherwise command and turn away your thoughts rise up and go into some company or to some employment which will divert you and take them up Tell me what you would do if you heard a scold in the street reviling you or heard an Atheist there talk against God would you stand still to hear them or would you talk it out again with them or rather go from them and disdain to hear them or debate the case with such as they Do you in your case when Satan casts in ugly or despairing or murmuring thoughts go away from them to some other thoughts or business If you cannot do this of your self tell your friend when the temptation cometh and it is his duty who hath the care of you to divert you with some other talk or works or force you into diverting Company Yet be not too much troubled at the temptation for trouble of mind doth keep the evil matter in your memory and so increase it as pain of a sore draws the blood and spirits to the place And this is the design of Satan to give you troubling thoughts and then to cause more by being troubled at those and so for one thought and trouble to cause another and that another and so on as waves in the Sea do follow each other to be tempted is common to the best I told you to what Idolatry Christ was tempted When you feel such thoughts thank God that Satan cannot force you to love them or consent 9. Again still remember what a comfortable Evidence you carry about with you that your sin is not damning while you feel that you love it not but hate it and are weary of it Scarce any sort of sinners have so little pleasure in their sin as the melancholly nor so little desire to keep them and only beloved sins undo men Be sure that you live not idly but in some constant business of a lawful calling so far as you have bodily strength Idleness is a constant sin and labour is a duty Idleness is but the Devils home for temptation and for unprofitable distracting musings Labour profiteth others and our selves both souls and body need it Six days must you labour and must not eat the bread of idleness Prov. 31. God hath made it our duty and will bless us in his appointed way I have known grievous dispairing melancholly cured and turned into a life of Godly cheerfulness principally by setting upon constancy and diligence in the business of families and callings It turns the thoughts from temptation and leaveth the Devil no opportunity it pleaseth God if done in obedience and it purifieth the distempered blood Though thousands of poor people that live in want and have Wivâ—s and Children that must also feel it one would think should be distracted with griefs and cares yet few of them fall into the disease of melancholly because labour keepeth the body sound and leaveth them no leisure for melancholly musings whereas in London and great Towns abundance of Women that never sweat with bodily work but live in idleness especially when from fulness they fall into want are miserable objects continually vexed and near distraction with discontent and a restless mind If you will not be perswaded to business your friends if they can should force you to it And if the Devil turn Religious as an Angel of light and tell you that this is but turning away your thoughts from God and that worldly thoughts and business are unholy and fit for worldly men tell him that Adam was in innocency to dress and keep his Garden and Noah that had all the world was to be Husbandman and Abraham Isaac and Jacob kept Sheep and Cattle and Paul was a Tent maker and Christ himself is justly supposed to have worked at his supposed Fathers Trade as he went on fishing with his Disciples And Paul saith idleness is disorderly walking and be that will not work let him not eat God made souls and body and hath commanded work to both And if Satan would drive you unseasonably upon longer secret prayer then you can bear remember that even sickness will excuse the sick from that sort of duty which they are unable for and so will your disease And the unutterable groans of the spirit are accepted If you have privacy out of hearing I would give you this advice that instead of long meditation or long secret Prayer you will sing a Psalm of praise to God such as the 23 or the 133 c. This will excite your Spirit to that sort of holy affection which is much more acceptable to God and suitable to the hopes of a believer than your repining troubles are IV. But yet I have not done with the duty of those that take care of distressed melancholly persons especially Husbands to their Wives for it is much more frequently the disease of Women than of men when the disease disableth them to help themselves the most of their helps under God must be from others And this is of two Sorts 1. In prudent carriage to them 2. In Medicine and Diet A little of both 1. A great part of their cure lyeth in pleasing them and avoiding all displeasing things as far as lawfully can be done Displeasedness is much of the Disease and a Husband that hath such a Wife is obliged to do his best to cure her both in Charity and by his relative Bond and for his own peace It is a great weakness in some men that if they have Wives who by natural passionate weakness or by melancholly or crazedness is wilful and will not yield to reason they shew their anger at them to their further provocation You took her in marriage for better and for worse for sickness and health If you have chosen one that as a Child must have every thing that she cryeth for and must be spoken fair and as it was rockt in the Cradle or else it will be worse you must condescend to do it and so bear the burden which you have chosen as may not make it heavier to you Your passion and sourness towards a person that cannot cure her own unpleasing carriage is a more unexcusable fault and folly than hers who hath not the power of reason as you have If you know any lawful thing that will please them in speech in company in apparel in rooms in attendance give it them If you know at what they are displeased remove it I speak not of the Distracted that must be mastered by forces but of the sad and melancholly could you devise how to put them in a pleased condition you might cure them 2. As much as you can divert them from the thoughts which are their trouble keep them on some other talkes and business break in upon them and interrupt their musings rouse them out of it but with loving importunity suffer them not to be long alone get fit company to them or them to it especially suffer them not to be
Much more joy will flow in upon you if you go farther and overcome evil with good You will bless God heartily who hath enabled you against all temptations and your own natural inclinations to the contrary to perform this excellent and most Christian duty when you find in your selves the joy that will attend it Quest How may the well discharge of our present duty give us assurance of help from God for the well discharge of all future duties SERMON XX. 1 Sam. 17.34 35 36 37. Psal 27.14 Prov. 10.29 2 Chron. 15.2 OUR Reverend and Worthy Brother who hath the ordering of the Morning-Lectures in this place hath both now and heretofore in great wisdom singled out many choice select cases relating to the mystery of practical godliness and of singular use to all those who desire to know and feel more in themselves of the power of inward experimental Christianity Surely 't is not for nothing that God should send to this Auditority so many of his Messengers one after another Morning by Morning rising early and sending To whom much is given of them much will be required See that you improve these extraordinary means of grace The case that is fallen to my lot this Morning is this viz. How may the well discharge of our present duty give us assurance of help from God for the well discharge of all future duties This Question hath Two parts in it and cannot be so well grounded upon a single Text therefore I shall name Three or Four you may have your eye upon all viz. 1 Sam. 17.34 35 36 37. And David said unto Saul Thy servant kept his fathers sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock And I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth and when he arose against me I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God David said moreover the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine And Saul said unto David Go and the Lord be with thee Psal 27.14 Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. Prov. 10.29 The way of the Lord is strength to the upright but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity 2 Chron. 15.2 And he went out to meet Asa and said unto him Hear ye me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin The Lord is with you while ye be with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you I do not name these several Scriptures as so many Texts which I intend to preach upon but as so many Proofs of the truth of the Point That it is a Case very agreeable to the Scriptures and to the Analogy of Faith and so I shall take it up and for once preach common place wise upon it which was a way of preaching much in use in the last Century and upwards by many eminent Divines and not without great success Now we tie our selves to single Texts Then they preached upon such and such Subjects proving what they said by Scripture and in this good old way I shall walk for once Pray follow me with due attention This Case or Question may be resolved into two 1. What our present duty is 2. How the well discharge of that may encourage us to hope in God for his help and assistance in all future duties First What is our present duty Before I define this it will be necessary to speak something previous to it which may help us much in this Enquiry and lead us as it were by the hand into a right understanding of our present duty The steps I shall go by are these shewing you 1. What Duty is in the general nature and notion of it 'T is an Act of Obedience to the will of our Superiors God being our Soveraign Supreme Lord Master and Lawgiver our duty lies in subjecting our selves in all things to his will Duty is that which is due from Man to God 'T is Justitia ergâ—â— Deum Gic. de Nat. de lib. 1. 'T is Justice towards God We don't do God right we rob him of his glory if we don't do our duty God knows indeed how to recover his right and the wrong we do in sinning against him will in the end redound to our own souls Prov. 8.36 Every sinner deals injuriously with God he does not give unto God the things that are Gods he withholds the obedience that is due unto God he will not be subject to his Law he does not do his duty 2. Something is our present duty God hath filled up all our time with duty not one Moment left at our own disposal We must give an account to him of every thing we do in the body from first to last every day hath its proper works the things of it self Mat. 6.34 3. Nothing that is sinful and in it self unlawful can be our duty at any time and therefore to be sure not our present duty This needs no proof 4. Every thing that is in it self-lawful is not therefore our duty All things are lawful but all things are not expedient 1 Cor. 6.12 Whatsoever is not forbidden under a penalty is lawful i. e. whatsoever is not contrary to the rectitude of the Law and in the doing of which we incur no penalty from the Law that is lawful but nothing properly is our duty but what is commanded What we have a command to do or not to do the doing or not doing of that is our duty as the command runs in the Affirmative or Negative The Law strictly injoyns some things does tollerate and allow of some others of a more indifferent nature which in intimo gradu-juris in the lowest degree of legality may be called lawful and yet Circumstances may render our doing these things unlawful when God is not glorified nor our Neighbour edified All things edifie not 1 Cor. 10.23 5. Every thing that is commanded and is in its time and place our duty may not be our present duty Affirmative commands do bind semper but not ad semper as Negatives do Affirmatives bind always i. e. we can never be discharged from that obligation that lies upon us to worship God but we are not bound at all times to the outward acts of worship for then me should do nothing else Neither indeed are we bound at all times to inward acts of worship for in our sleep we do not act our Grace A disposition so to do from an inward habit and principle is all that God requires when we are not in a capacity to act either Grace or Reason Besides positive
commands must give place to a moral duty because they will not justifie our neglect of that Hence on the Sabbath-day we may and ought to lift our Neighbours Ox out of the pit Luke 14.5 and to perform any other act of necessary charity notwithstanding that positive command to worship God upon that day 6. That which God now requires of you and in doing of which you may most glorifie God and edifie your Neighbour that is undoubtedly your present duty Quest How shall we know this Ans 1. Always look within your Calling for your present duty for there it lies Don't go beyond your line Do your own business 1 Thes 4.11 We have different gifts and different talents according to the Grace that is given unto us Let every one attend to that which God hath fitted him for and called him to Rom. 12.6 7 8. 1 Pet. 4.10 11. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way Prov. 14.8 God hath appointed to every one his way of living in this World from the Smith that blows the coals Isa 54.16 to the King that sins upon the Throne That cannot be our duty which we are not called to We are not absolute Lords to do what we list No we are under command and must obey I am one in authority says the Centurion I say unto my servant do this and he doth it Luke 7.8 God hath the Supreme Authority over us We ought not to move one step but by his direction Our Calling is twofold 1. General As we are Christians so all Saints are of the same Calling Rom. 1.7 called to be saints We are all equally obliged to the duties of our Christian Calling i. e. to serve and worship God to believe in him to love and fear him c. 2. Particular So we differ in our Callings Some are called to the Magistracy some to the Ministry some are Masters some Servants some called to this some to that Trade or Occupation We are called to Christianity by the preaching of the Gospel of Christ We are called to some outward worldly Calling by God's special appointment in his Law Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work Exod. 20.9 Every man hath his work a full business which he must not neglect He must do all his work They walk disorderly who work not at all 2 Thes 3.11 living in pleasures and wantonness Jam. 5.5 having nothing to do Let all idle voluptuous Gallants consider this who spend their days in mirth and jollity scorn the thought of business they must needs be far from their present duty who are imploy'd in nothing or that which is worse than nothing We are called to this or that Imployment by Providence That we should be of some Calling is from the Word that we are of this or that Calling is from Providence Providence follows the Word and is a fulfilling of that some way or other Much of the duties of our Christian Calling do follow us into our particular Callings as duties of worship must be performed in our Families every day let our particular Calling be what it will So the same Graces must be exercised in our particular Callings which were required in our general Callings The same Graces do follow us into our particular Callings and into all the works of our hands They who do not keep up duties of worship in their Families will be as remiss in all duties of practical holiness in their lives They who are not frequent in prayer are never eminent in holiness And as no acts of worship publick or private do please God that are not performed in Faith and in the fear of God So no common acts of our lives are pleasing to God if not done in Faith and seasoned with that inward exercise of Grace that belongs to all the common actions of a Christian In shewing you your present duty in your particular callings I shall not insist so much upon duties of worship you know 'em That Prayer reading the Scriptures Meditation and discourse of what you hear out of the Word are all duties and you know when they should be performed Morning and Evening and as oft as your necessary occasions will permit Whether you do them I must leave that to God and your own Consciences But the present duty I would fix you in is that of Practical Holiness which is your constant duty every moment of the day I would clear up this to you and shew you what it is and where it lies that if it be the will of God you may be always found in it I say then That your present duty lies in a present exercise of Grace suitable to the present work and business in all its circumstances which you are at any time imploy'd in If you buy or sell it must be in the fear of God if you marry it must be in the Lord. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do you must do it to Gods glory which cannot be if you do not act Grace in every thing you do The true Gospel-holiness of an action lies in that Grace that goes along with it 'T is Grace only that turns an action Heaven ward and God-ward you have no other way to sence your selves from the temptations snares and sins that border upon all the works of your calling but by keeping your selves in a due exercise of Grace being in the fear of God all the day long that is the way to eschew evil and to do good 't is the beginning of wisdom He acts like a Fool who acts without it The fear of God in Scripture is put for all the Graces of the Spirit and in that sense I now press it upon you You see your present duty lies in your present work in the daily business of your particular callings I suppose your callings are lawful that there are no Stage-players Conjurers Diviners Astrologers here Those who are of such callings their duty is to leave them and to betake themselves to some honest Imployment consistent with Grace and then Grace will help you out in it wonderfully I could name some other callings that I would hardly advise a Christian to But whatever lawful Calling you are of whatever Office you bear whatever Relation you stand in as Husbands Wives Parents Children Masters Servants whatever your Trade Occupation or Imployment is there are particular Duties proper to your Callings which cannot be performed but by a suitable exercise of Grace by which you shew the respect you have to God in doing what you do regulating and moderating your selves and all your actions by that rule of the Word You may do the works of your calling and yet not do the duties of your calling if you seek only your selves your own profit pleasure c. this is not to serve God but your selves You must do what you do in Faith as to the Lord and then every thing you do will be an act of worship because it carries in it
such a year and such a year it may be for many years spent in open profaness and all manner of debauchery As you fill up your time with sin God fills it up with secret wrath which will be revealed one day Time carries along with it all the things good or evil that are done in that time the neglect of a present duty Leave that time void of the duty that belongs to it and there is no going back to fill it up As for instance If your Present duty be Prayer if you don't pray now you can never pray now You may pray afterwards but that does not answer to the present now You may do the same duty for substance at another time but it does not bear the same date That hour in which thou dost omit any duty proper to it will witness against thee when that part of thy life comes under examination have a care that time does not carry an evil report of you to God There is a voice in time Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledg Psal 19.2 Time past is present with God he sees how it slips thorow thy fingers how it is stained by thy sins Time is ill bestowed upon thee it may provoke God to shorten thy days and to cut thee off in the midst of thy years Psal 55.23 4. You can have no tryal of your spirit nor of the truth of your state 'T is impossible you should ever prove your sincerity but by a conscientious discharge of your present duty The power of godliness lies much in this in having a respect to God in all our common actions There can be no Religion without this and in this there is peace true hearts ease Psal 119.45 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in ipsâ latitudine When a man so walks that his conscience meets with nothing that offends it that strikes against it the way is broad enough a plain path of duty which is very satisfactory to conscience But when the business is dark and doubtful looks as much like sin as duty a man cannot be at ease in this case the way is very narrow there is a grating upon the conscience and after all the tricks salves and distinctions that may be used to justifie what we do we cannot have inward peace whilst something always rubs against the conscience as we go 5. You cannot walk evenly with God if you do not your present duty One would wonder to see what broken forms of godliness some men rest in They pick and chuse here a duty and there another this they will do and this they will not do Their Religion is but a voluntary Religion what they please pure will-worship Col. 2.23 They will stint themselves and stint God so much he shall have and no more They draw up to themselves a scheme of Religion such as they think will serve the turn and on they go in this round of duties Here they are now and here you shall find them Seven years hence I am not against a method of Practical godliness provided it be comprehensive enough but 't is very dangerous tying up our selves to these narrow set forms of practical holiness which some men place all their Religion in a step farther they will not go Alas the Providence of God may lead you to such duties which you thought not of in doing or suffering for him John 21.18 Therefore you should be in a readiness to comply with every call of God standing compleat in his whole will Present obedience gives understanding for the future A good understanding have all they that do his commandments Psal 111.10 Let it be the purpose of your heart to walk before God unto all well-pleasing Col. 1.10 and then your hearts will not reproach you while you live Job 27.6 Some men walk very unevenly there are so many gaps in their obedience they move from duty to duty per saltum quite leaping over some and lightly touching upon others as if they had no great mind to any They act Grace so abruptly that it gives no continued sense we know not where to find them There are so many vacant spaces so many blanks of omission so many blots and blurs of commission they drop a duty here and another half a Mile off that you cannot say A man of God went this way This is not even walking their way is crooked in and out sometimes they wander on the right hand and sometimes on the left they never touch upon the right path unless it be in crossing the way from one sin to another which is rather to break thorow a duty than to perform it Here is no beaten path of holiness no continued tract of godliness They don't always exercise themselves to keep a good conscience They who are not frequent in duty are never exact in duty their hearts cool so much between duty and duty that there is no servour of spirit left they are key-cold now and then they take up a Bible read a little dipping at a venture but are no way concern'd in what they read they heed it not now and then they hear a Sermon now and then pray but without any life and spirit They who pray but seldom never pray well Actus perficit habitum Frequent acts beget a habit and frequent acts maintain it We can never perfect holiness but by a constaut tenor in holiness going on from day to day in the practise of it Some trees tho they bring not forth much fruit yet that as is is the bigger and fairer but 't is not so in a Christian The less you are in duty the more lank and lean are your duties As all Graces grow up together in the heart in an apt disposition to actual exercise when occasion is given to draw them forth And as no grace in the heart grows up alone so no duty thrives in the life alone one duty borrows strength from another is bounded within another as stones in a wall do bare up one another so a Christian is built up of many living stones many graces many duties There is the same reason to do thy duty in one thing as in another the same authority commands both Unless you have respect unto all the Commandments you truly respect none 6. You must begin somewhere at some present duty Why not at this It will be as difficult nay more difficult to come to Christ to morrow than 't is to day Therefore to day hearken to his voice and harden not your heart Break the Ice now and by Faith venture upon thy present duty wherever it lies Do what you are now called to You 'l never know how easie the Yoke of Christ is till 't is bound about your necks nor how light his Burthen is till you have taken it up While you judg of holiness at a distance as a thing without you and contrary to you you 'l never like it Come a little nearer to it do but take it
in actually engage in it and you 'l find Religion carries Meat in its mouth 't is of a reviving nourishing strengthning nature it brings that along with it that enables the soul chearfully to go thorow with it Enter in at the strait gate You cannot judg of the way on this side the gate Most men stick at the strait gate Beg of God to draw thee thorow to lift thee over the Threshold and set thee in the narrow way as narrow as it is yet none who enter in at the strait gate by a true and thorow conversion did ever perish in the way God will lead thee and sustain thee and carry thee on to the end of thy Race Therefore be strong and shew thy self a man and keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgments and his testimonies as it is written in the law of Moses that thou mayst prosper in all that thou dost and whithersoever thou turnest thy self 1 Kings 2.3 Secondly How the well discharge of our present duty may encourage us to hope in God for his help and assistance in all future duties 1. 'T is promised 2 Chron. 15.2 The cause of desertion is from our selves God shews mercy for his own sake without any respect to any thing in us But all acts of judgment and wrath take their rise from something in our selves that provokes God to such severities Therefore let us keep close to our present duty and trust God who has promised never to leave us nor forsake us Heb. 13.5 6. vide Isa 40.31 vide Psal 84.11 and Isa 41.10 There is a special promise to the seed of Abraham of help and strength But they who neglect their present duty are greatly threatned Prov. 1.24 and Psal 52.7 vide 2. Present Grace is a pledg of future Grace To him that hath more shall be given Luke 19.17 26. Where God begins a good work he will finish it Heb. 12.2 Phil. 2.6 So Psal 25.3 10 14. Mat. 10.19 20. vide Judg. 13.23 The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from evil 2 Thes 3.3 3. The experience of the Saints confirms this Psal 18.26 30 31 32. vide 'T was some such thing as this that David had Psal 119.56 4. The Saints made this an Argument in prayer Psal 38.20 21 22. vide Psal 119.30 31 94 121 173. vide Psal 25.21 3. A conscientious discharge of our present duty fits and disposes our minds to the next duty As there is a concatenation of sins so of duties as one sin leads to another so one duty leads to another the breach of one Commandment is virtually the breach of all James 2.10 1 John 4.20 As there is a revolting more and more Isa 1.5 a proceeding from evil to evil Jer. 9.3 waxing worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 so a godly man goes from grace to grace from faith to faith from strength to strength Job 17.9 vide Therefore in all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths Prov. 3.6 A man cannot act his Faith upon God for future preservation but in the discharge of his present duty Commit the keeping of thy soul to him in well-doing 1 Pet. 4.19 and then you 'l find grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.16 6. By the well discharge of our present duty we may attain assurance of salvation Col. 3.23 24. vide 'T is Paul's motive to Timothy when he stirs him up to his present duty 2 Tim. 4.1 2 5 8. vide q. d. I am Paul the aged who have one foot in the grave ver 6. but you are a young man Timothy you are putting on your Armour but I am putting off mine I have finished my course and kept the faith I have discharged the duty of my place and by that means gained assurance of my salvation Henceforth is laid up for me c. He dates his full assurance from that time as the happy result of a well-spent life and exhorts Timothy to tred in his steps to make full proof of his Ministry Fight on Timothy and fear nothing that in the end of thy days thou maist have a comfortable sight of that Crown of righteousness which I am sure of Therefor let us all by patient continuance in well-doing wait for eternal life Rom. 2.7 These are the Scripture-grounds of hope for the time to come that God will help us and stand by us and strengthen us with might in our inward man giving us a sufficiency of grace answerable to all the occasions we may have for it Object May not Saints fail in future duties Ans They may and do fail and when 't is so their former neglects have no small influence into their present miscarriage But tho they may fall yet God upholds them with his hand that they don't fall utterly Psal 37.23 24. God gives them a heart that cannot totally depart from him Jer. 32.40 APPLICATION You see how the way of the Lord is strength to the upright He that is a doer of the word is like a house built upon a Rock which may be shaken but will never fall Mat. 7.24 25. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence Prov. 14.26 A Saint when he relies upon God for help to perform his present duty does not say as Sampson did Strengthen me only this once Judges 16.28 but promises to trust in God at all times hereafter Psal 62.8 to come again and again for help as often as there is need Every single act of Faith implies a universal trust reposed in God for all things at all times He that doth not trust God for every thing cannot trust in him for any thing because there is the same reason for one act of Faith as for another You must bare upon God's Infinite Power Wisdom and Grace in every act of Faith God is always the same in himself If you can believe in him now why not for ever What should discourage you hereafter that may not be objected now You have nothing now to object therefore conclude with David That goodness and mercy shall follow thee all the days of thy life Psal 23.6 He that hath delivered will deliver Not that the doing a present duty does merit assistance for the future but God for our encouragement in well-doing hath graciously promised it This is a great motive to quicken us to our present duty O that every one of you would go home from this Sermon and set upon your present duty You that are Masters of Families take up Joshuah's resolution and say every one of you in the presence of God this day That I and my house will serve the Lord. Fly all appearance of evil declare against every thing that looks like sin let there be no lying swearing drunkenness or any sort of profaneness countenanced by you Be zealous reprovers in your own gates and walk within your houses with a perfect heart live
in a continual fear of offending God beg of him upon your knees to put you into such a daily exercise of grace as may be most suitable to your present circumstances Grace will help you at every turn If you thrive in your calling grace will teach you to give God the praise and to be thankful if you sink and go backwards grace will teach you quietly to submit how to bear with chearfulness all disappointments and losses you meet with how to receive evil as well as good from God Truly a man without grace is a burthen to himself and to every body else he knows not how to receive good or evil is in danger to be undone by one as well as the other The prosperity of the wicked slays them Prov. 1.32 their Table becomes a snare to them and that which should have been for their welfare a trap Psal 69.22 They will run themselves a ground one way or other and come to nothing at last God will turn their way upside down and bring confusion upon them But verily there is a reward for the righteous What I am pressing you to is your present duty what is past cannot be recalled Your present duty is to repent of past sins and to walk with God in your Callings for the time to come Be upright in your way admit nothing into your particular Callings that is inconsistent with the Principles of your general Calling as you are Christians So carry your selves every one of you that all that deal with you may know you are a real Christian Were there a greater savour of grace and of the power of godliness in your Shops did you buy and sell in the fear of God doing all things in Faith as to the Lord as in his sight conversing with others in the fear of God what a comely sight would this be what a Sermon would this be you would be living Epistles of that seen and read of all men and such Sermon-Notes gathered out of the Lives of Professors may make deeper impressions than those that are gathered out of the mouths of Preachers Godliness exemplified in practise shews it self more clearly in the thing than 't is possible for us to do in words Words convey Notions of things to our ears but a holy life holds forth the things themselves to our eyes Nothing is so like a man as himself Godliness in practise is godliness it self extant in the thing in its own substance and nature 't is visible grace 't is the very matter and subject of our Sermons standing forth in the Lives of Professors I wish we had more of this Divinity walking about our Streets more of these living Epistles seen and read of all men These are the Books that will convince gainsayers and provoke them to real holiness You hear good Sermons and read good Books but Doctrines without Examples edifie little You don't see and read that in the men of this Generation that agrees with Gospel-principles The truth is Saints are not so visible so legible as they should be We can hardly spell out any thing that savours of true Christianity 'T would pose a discerning Christian to pick out Grace out of the Lives of some Professors 'T is couched under such sinful mixtures is in such a worldly dress that it does not look like it self Hence it is that many real Saints go for Hypocrites in this World are suspected by good men and hated by bad men upon this account Let your light shine out more away with the Bushel that keeps in the light and take the Lanthorn of Prudence that only keeps out the wind Christian prudence will direct us in the right performance of our duty but true Christian prudence never takes us quite off from our present duty that is Hellish policy not Christian prudence that distinguishes a man quite out of his duty and pretends to give sufficient Reason for it too But God will catch that man in his own craftiness and turn his wisdom into foolishness There can be no Reason given against a present duty if it be duty and thy duty now Reason cannot countermand it You may go to Hell with all your Reasons in a wilful neglect of it But if God incline your hearts every day to make conscience of your present duty you will be always found in a holy frame and the blessing of God will be upon you you will flourish like the Palm-Tree and grow like a Cedar in Lebanon bringing forth fruit in old age you will always be fat and flourishing to shew the Lord is upright Psal 92.12 13 c. Quest What distance ought we to keep in following the strange Fashions of Apparel which come up in the days wherein we live SERMON XXI ZEPH. 1.8 And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lords sacrifice that I will punish the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparel THAT this Prophecy was synchronal with the Reign of good Josiah appears v. 1. And a heinous aggravavation it was of Judah's sin That they were unreformed under a Reforming-Prince Of him it was said That there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul 2 King 23 25. and with all his might according to all the law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him Of them it may be said That there was no Generation that turned from the Lord that departed from the Law of their God before them tho afterwards there were that equalled or exceeded their wickedness The Prophet therefore without the solemnity of a Preface immediately proceeds to sentence ver 2. I will utterly consume all things out of the land And how could more of wrath be expressed in fewer words Consumption and utter consumption and utter consumption of all things is certainly the abstract and epitome of final and total disolation To silence all Objections that might be made against this righteous sentence of God the Lord commands ver 7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord for the day of the Lord is at hand he hath prepared his sacrifice he hath invited his guests 1. Judah was to be the sacrifice They that would not offer a Sacrifice of Righteousness shall be made a Sacrifice to Justice 2. The armed Babylonians were to be the Priests 3. And the Rabble of their Enemies were to be the hungry Guests who would not spare but glut themselves with the spoil of Judah to teach them and us in them That if God be not sanctified in the hearts Lev. 10.3 he will be on the heads of a People professing his Name Now in this day of the Lords sacrifice however the main of the storm and Hericane would fall on the heads of the Idolaters and those that sware by the Lord and Malcham ver 5. upon all the Apostates and such as shook off the worship of God ver 6. yet some