them than of the other Luke 12 48. For to whom much is given of them much shall be required And if any have so much time to spare as they know not how to imploy it they must know that God will take it ill at their hands unless they measure to him in some proportion according to what they have If they who so abound in time should think to put off God with a small pittance of it this were 1. A great slighting of God and would be so interpreted by him Mal. 1.14 He is a great king and will accordingly be treated by his Subjects 2. It were a great undervaluing of his Grace as if it were either so cheap a commodity as that it might be obtained at any rate and with less pains than any thing else that is of any value or so vile and worthless a thing as that time were ill bestowed in labouring after it 3. It were a great undervaluing of our own Souls as if we thought so meanly of them that we grudged any time that is bestowed on them 4. As for those who in respect of their Callings and the imployments in which the Providence of God hath ingaged them are much straitned in time and cannot help it I shall recommend these three things to them 1. The less time they can redeem from their Callings for holy Duties the more heavenly-minded let them labour to be while they follow their Imployments setting God much before their eyes in the duties of their Calling endeavouring to keep a good Conscience and to carry themselves justly and uprightly in all their dealings and upon all occasions throughout the day sending up many short but fervent Prayers and holy Ejaculations unto God So doing they may rest assured that they serve God acceptably in the Duties of their Calling and shall accordingly be both accepted and rewarded An instance hereof we may see Coloss 3.24 Eph. 6.8 2. The less time they have for holy Duties the more careful must they be that the little time they have be not lost in a slight careless formal and heartless performance of holy Duties Having but little time for such things let them be sure they make the most of it by a truly spiritual improvement of it 3. The less time they can redeem from their Callings in the week time the more careful let them be to spend the Lord's Day in a due manner and so as may best conduce to their spiritual advantage To be able to gain very little time from their Callings throughout the week and also to spend the Lord's Day either in idleness or pastimes or in the meer outward formalities of Worship void of all spiritual life and power were the ready way to starve your Souls Such as do this if they had any true grace must needs be sensible of the continual decays and declinings thereof unless they be those that never reflect upon themselves and take any account of the state of their Souls And so much touching the third particular how time is to be redeemed 4. Why is time to be redeemed There are many reasons for it but I shall here mention only some of them reserving the rest to be after mentioned in the Application We must redeem the time 1. Because 't is a Talent for which we must give an account Time is lent us and put into our hands not to be wasted and trifled away as we please but to be managed and imployed to be laid out and expended according to the pleasure of him who hath intrusted us with it Wherefore our Account will be sad if when we shall be called to give it in it shall appear that we have neglected the Work for the dispatching whereof time was allotted us and spent our time in that which was no part of our business 2. We must redeem the time because our chief and most necessary work is limited to a certain time the time of this our temporal life here Our most necessary and important work here is to make our peace with God and get a title through Christ to a better life when this shall be at an end Now this work must be done here or never the other World is no place for it Now is the accepted time 2 Cor. 6.2 now is the day of salvation Mercy is here offered and we are called on and importuned to accept of it but after this life the door of mercy will be for ever shut 3. The continuance and duration of the time allotted us for this great work is in sundry respects very uncertain 1. The life of man is uncertain No man knows how near he may be to his long home This may be the last day this the last hour that he hath to live for ought that he can tell Who can give him any security for the lengthening out of his life one hour more Psal 31.15 Psal 104.29 Our times are in God's hand When he pleaseth he takes away our breath and we return to the dust And he hath not thought fit to reveal or declare when or how he will do it he hath given us no assurance that he will not put an end to our days before we go out of this place 2. If life be continued 't is uncertain whether or no the means of grace shall be continued Though God lengthen out mens lives yet he often withdraws the means of grace from them and he hath threatned to do it where means are not improved and where men walk unsuitably to them Thus he threatned the Jews for their sins Matth. 21.43 to take away his kingdom from them and to give it to a notion bringing forth the fruits thereof And to the same effect Christ threatned the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.5 saying Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place 3. Though life and outward means of grace should be continued yet God may in wrath suspend or withdraw the co-operation of his Spirit Though the Jews enjoyed the ministry of the Prophet Isaiah and he must prophecy to them yet God tells him before-hand that the issue of all his Labours among them would be no other than the hardning of them in their sins Isa 6.9 10. Go saith he tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed The meaning is Though God gave his Servant a command to prophesy to them yet for their former sins and provocations he would so give them up to the wickedness of their own hearts that they would be never the better but the worse for having had a Prophet among them A fearful thing when those means
no means untried for keeping them from that place of torment VSE 6. Let no Children think it any part of their misery or unhappiness that by God's Providence they are under the government and discipline of those Parents who keep them in and restrain them who endeavour to nip the first buddings and blossomings of sin in them who will not suffer them to run with others to that excess of riot which their corrupt Natures would be gratified with in a word who use the best means they can for preventing of those evil Customs and Habits of sin which would be the misery of both Parents and Children Let them think themselves well at ease under the Discipline of such Parents and willingly submit their Necks to that Yoke which is laid upon them for their good If they understand themselves and their highest concernment they will think themselves happier a thousand times happier under that restraint than if they had all that sinful liberty which man 's corrupt Nature reacheth out after and eagerly pursueth VSE 7. Hence moreover we may learn how great a benefit 't is to live under Magistracy where good Laws are duly executed and Sin is severely punished This through God's blessing is a means of the timely stopping of that course of sin in many which without this help would end in obstinacy and incorrigibleness The wholsome severity of good Laws put in execution prevents the growth of sin and the ripening of it into those habits which making the Sinner's condition incurable ripens him for his ruin 'T is no privilege but a great misery to live in a place where evey man may do what is good in his own eyes and where there is no Magistrate to put any man to shame This was the condition of Laish before its destruction Judges 18.7 VSE 8. This shews how much thankfulness is due unto God from those unto whom God hath been pleased to give converting grace after a long course of sin by which they were so wofully hardened as nothing would work upon them When God converts old and obdurate Sinners when he cures these Spiritual Diseases that seemed now to be past all cure how doth he hereby magnify the power of his Grace and how doth he exalt the riches of his Mercy When God converts a young Sinner he quickeneth the dead but when he converts old Sinners he quickeneth those who are as it were twice dead V. 12. as St. Jude speaks dead by nature and dead by long custom in sin which had made them twofold more the Children of Hell than they were by nature If converting Grace wherever God is mercifully pleased to vouchsafe it calls for thankfulness surely when 't is vouchsafed to old sinners it calls for double thankfulness And so I have done with the Uses of this Point It remains that I answer one Objection and so conclude Obj. If custom in sin make it so extreamly difficult to leave sin if to endeavour to reclaim such a one be as it were to attempt to wash a Blackmore white this may seem to be a great discouragement to any man's endeavours for reforming old Sinners Ans 'T is certainly a great discouragement and one of the greatest that is but yet should it not take a man off from seeking the Conversion even of such For 1. 'T is a Duty and so the difficulty and doubtfulness of success doth not discharge a man from it 2. Though it be extreamly difficult yet 't is not impossible Old Sinners have sometimes obtained mercy and God hath no where declared his purpose of denying converting Grace to such absolutely and universally 3. The more inveterate the habits of sin by long custom contracted are grown the sadder is the Condition of such and the louder doth it call upon us to lend them our best help for rescuing them out of the Snare of the Devil 4. Whatsoever the issue of our Endeavour may be God will be thereby glorified 2 Cor. 2.15 and we shall be unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish 5. Though our Endeavours should prove succesless yet shall they be nevertheless accepted of God and rewarded Isa 49.4 I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work is with my God The Third Sermon EPHES. V. 15 16. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil THESE Words though containing in themselves an intire sense have some coherence with what went before as the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then as we render it or therefore implies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See then that ye walk circumspectly Which Particle seems to look back upon what the Apostle had said v. 8. touching their translation from darkness to light from the darkness of Gentilism to the light of the Gospel Ye were sometimes darkness saith he but now are ye light in the Lord. Whence he presently infers in the same verse walk as children of the light And again v. 11. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Seeing they were enlightned he exhorts them to a conversation suitable to their present state And this yet once more he presseth them unto in the words of my Text See then that ye walk circumspectly that is Being now no longer in darkness but in the light Take heed that you indulge not your selves in those sins and in that sinful liberty which formerly you did when as yet the light of the Gospel had not been afforded you Then you led your lives as you pleased following the dictates of your dark Understandings and the corrupt inclinations of your sinful Natures but now better things are expected from you This seems to be the connexion of the words with the Apostle's former discourse but I shall not take any notice of what might be observed from the coherence but keep my self to the words absolutely considered without any reflection upon the dependance of them In the words we have 1. A great and weighty Duty strictly enjoined See that ye walk circumspectly 2. An Argument by which the Duty is enforced an Argument at least implied in those words not as fools but as wise As if he had said See that ye walk circumspectly because 't is our wisdom so to walk and our folly if we do not 3. We have one special instance of our circumspect walking or in which our circumspection should be shewed redeeming the time And 4. An Argument or Reason to enforce that also because the days are evil Of all these in order The first thing to be spoken to is The Duty enjoined See that ye walk circumspectly So then the point to be treated of is That 't is our duty to walk circumspectly In discoursing of this point I shall 1. Shew what 't is to walk circumspectly 2. I
treacherous strongly inclined to evil and ready to comply with all Temptations Jer. 17.9 The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Having such a dangerous Inmate within our own Bosoms it stands us upon to walk circumspectly and to think our selves no longer safe than we keep a strict guard over our selves and carefully heed all our goings that we may never tread beside that narrow path which we are required to walk in 5. It concerns us to walk circumspectly in regard of the strict account we must hereafter give of all our ways Eccles 12.14 God will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil a 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad b Mat. 12.36 Of every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof at the day of judgment When they shall be accountable to God for their Omissions as well as for their Commissions Mat. 25.41 42 43. They who verily believe they must be called to so strict an account how can they think they can ever walk strictly and circumspectly enough Believing and expecting this great day of reckoning 2 Pet. 3.11 what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness As the Apostle speaks 6. It behoves us to walk circumspectly in regard of the high and everlasting concernment of our ways and walking while we are here Ab hoc momento pendet eternitas As we demean our selves so we must fare hereafter for ever As a Man soweth here so shall he reap hereafter Gal. 6.7 8. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption and he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting A short time is here allotted us to be improved for our everlasting happiness in another World If this time be neglected it will not be long e're the things belonging to our peace will be hid from our Eyes There will thenceforth be no more offers of Mercies no more opportunities of making our peace with God There will be no more place to Eternity for redeeming time and correcting the Errours and Miscarriages of our heedless and uncircumspect walking O then how great should our care how exact should our circumspection be while the day of grace lasteth and while opportunity is afforded us of laying up a good Foundation for the time to come that we may lay hold of Eternal Life I come now to the uses of this point Is it the Duty of every Christian to walk circumspectly VSE 1. Then let no Man take offence at the strictness and circumspection of any who endeavour to conform themselves to the Rule as exactly as they can Let no Man judge so much Care and Circumspection to be needless Can any Man be too careful where the injunctions of care heedfulness circumspection and watchfulness are so many so peremptory and absolute and where our Concernment is so high and important and that upon so many accounts If any cannot bring their own Hearts to be willing to live by the Rule and to conform to it yet let them not condemn or censure others especially seeing the Holy Ghost hath noted it as a chief point of true Wisdom thus to walk and branded the neglect thereof with folly as we shall see afterwards But if any will yet be wise in their own Eyes and reproach the wisdom of God as foolishness let them hear what God saith concerning such Jer. 8.9 They have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them Whatever for the present they may judge of the strictness of such as endeavour to keep in the narrow way that leadeth to Life the time is coming when they will be of another mind When they come to stand before the Tribunal of Christ to be accountable not only for all the more notorious Irregularities and Extravagancies of their Life but for every idle word O then they will acknowledge that the circumspection and watchfulness which they now deride and laugh at and look upon as folly would have stood them in some stead Then they will be convinced that the most circumspect Man is the wisest Man Then they will say of the sincerely pious and strictly conscientious person whom they now contemn as the Author of the Book of Wisdom brings them in speaking Wisd 5.3 4 5. They shall change their minds saith he and sigh for grief of mind and say within themselves This is he whom we sometime had in derision and in a parable of reproach We fools thought his life madness and his end without honour How is he counted among the children of God and his portion is among the saints VSE 2. Is it the Duty of every Christian to walk circumspectly Then how much do they fail and come short of their Duty who walk at all adventures and live by no Rule Who regard not at all how they walk or where they tread This is that despising of our ways which Solomon makes to be so dangerous and destructive Pro. 19.16 He that despiseth his ways shall die that is he that is of so loose careless and heedless a temper that he rambles up and down like a drunken man or a mad-man without any consideration or regard of his way that minds not considers not his way whether it be safe or dangerous but on he posts with full speed through Dirt and Stones over Bogs and Quagmires upon Pits and Precipices all is alike to him He that thus lives hand over head takes the ready course to destroy his own Soul This is noted concerning Jehu 2 Kin. 10.31 a man of a rash and precipitant Spirit that he took no heed to walk-in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his Heart And this is a part of the Character of the ungodly man Psa 50.17 that he casts God's Words behind him where it might be sure to be out of his Eye as not caring to look upon it or regard it for the regulating of his Life and the due ordering of his Conversation thereby Whithersoever the impetuous violence of such men's corrupt nature hurries them thither speed they without any regard either of their Duty or of the issues of their sinful courses Eccl. 5.1 They consider not that they do evil saith Solomon but rush into sin as the horse rusheth into the battle Jer. 8.6 Though God be in a readiness to meet them in their ways of sin and to withstand them as an armed man yet they go on daringly and presumptuously even running upon the thick bosses of his buckler as the foolhardiness of such rash and bold Sinners is described Job 15.26 VSE 3. Let us all be perswaded to walk more circumspectly to
of the Law that he doth with much vehemency affirm the contrary Rom. 3.31 Do we then make void the law through faith God forbid saith he yea we establish the law 2. Our Saviour in his preaching every where presseth Obedience to the Moral Law and urgeth the Duties thereof And in particular his most Divine and Excellent Sermon on the Mount doth in great part consist of that subject 3. In that Sermon he doth not only press the Duties of the Moral Law but vindicate the Law it self in many particulars and more strictly enforceth Obedience thereunto and severely threatens the Disobedient 4 He declares Mat. 5.20 that if our righteousness exceed not the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees who yet went very far in many things we shall never enter into the kingdom of God Promising Mercy to no Sinners but such as take his yoke upon them Mat. 11.29 And letting all workers of Iniquity and wilful Transgressors of the Law know that he will never acknowledge them for his but utterly disclaim them and cast them off at the great day of their appearance before him notwithstanding all their pleas and pretensions for being owned by him Mat. 7.23 5. As Christ himself ever called for Obedience to the Moral Law and urged the Duties thereof so did the Apostles after him St. Paul in his discourse with Felix Act 24.25 reasoned of righteousness and temperance and judgment to come And writing to the Corinthians he saith 1 Cor. 69 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God All which being Sins against the Moral Law exclude Men out of Heaven so strictly doth God still even now under the Gospel insist on and require Obedience to the Moral Law Rom. 13.1 2. And thus the Apostle presseth the Duty of Subjects to Magistrates the Duty of Parents to Children and of Children to Parents Col. 3.18 19 c. Col. 4.1 as also the respective Duties of Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants He that peruseth these Scriptures how can he think that the Moral Law is now out of date and no longer in force to them that have embraced the Gospel and by Faith received Christ 6. The Gospel is so far from discharging the Professors thereof from Obedience to the Law that it more strongly enforceth Obedience and lays an higher Obligation thereunto upon Christians than was laid upon the Jews in regard that greater Light and more powerful Motives and Inducements to Obedience are now afforded Hence those severe and terrible threatnings in case of Disobedience This is the condemnation Joh. 3.19 that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Mat. 3.10 Now is the Ax laid to the root of the trees therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen down and cast into the fire Christ comes with his fan in his hand Luk. 3.17 and he will throughly purge his floor and gather the wheat into his garner but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels 2 Thes 1.7 8. in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel Tit. 2.11 12. And what doth the grace of God revealed in this Gospel teach us but to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world 7. Did Christ ever intend by his death to purchase for us a liberty of sinning Did he not therefore give himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And lastly on whom was the injunction of walking circumspectly here in the Text imposed Was it not on Believers And this may suffice to have been spoken to that Objection Obj. 5. If so much heedfulness and circumspection be required of Christians what will become of many that profess the Christian Religion We see no great numbers of them that are so strict and circumspect shall they all perish notwithstanding all the Priviledges which they enjoy in the visible Church who attain not to this circumspection A. Our Saviour hath plainly declared Mat. 20.16 Mat. 22.14 that many are called but few are chosen And again That wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat and that strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life Mat. 7.13 14. and few there be that find it What can we say against such plain express and absolute passages of Scripture delivered by the mouth of him that is Truth it self and can neither deceive nor be deceived A very weighty and dreadful Truth it is that calls upon us all to give all diligence that we may be found in that small number which we are never likely to be unless we walk circumspectly If to walk circumspectly be a Duty incumbent on all Christians who is there amongst us all that may think himself exempted from it Who can plead for himself that he hath a particular Dispensation to lead his Life in another manner and to go to Heaven upon easier terms than others may But perhaps you will say though we are all enjoined to walk circumspectly and though it be a Duty incumbent on all yet 't is not enjoined as absolutely necessary to Salvation We may hope God intends not to shut all out of Heaven that have not walked circumspectly This were very hard A. I answer briefly If it be a Duty to walk circumspectly then 't is a Sin not so to walk and every Sin unrepented of excludes a man out of Heaven If any Man think this to be hard he must know that as hard as it is God will never alter the terms on which Eternal Life is offered men and frame more favourable and cheap terms to gratifie mens corrupt Affections Obj. 6. Many who never walked with so much circumspection die peaceably When they are going out of the World we hear of no complaints no discovery of fears no trouble of conscience A man would not wish to leave the World with more peace and quiet than many of these do A. To die without dread and horrour or free from inward troubles and conflicts is no certain and infallible Argument of a good Estate Their Estate is never the better or the more safe because they die quietly Their Consciences may be seared and their Hearts may be so hardened as they may have no sense of their Spiritual condition We find by Experience that this is the case of many a wicked man that hath led a very lewd and ungodly life Ask
to their masters according to the flesh faithfully and faithfully also to their Master in Heaven in singleness of heart as unto Christ and again Not with eye service as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart and yet once more with good-will doing service as to the Lord and not to men he encourageth them thereunto from the consideration of the reward of this their service which they may expect from God Knowing saith he that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free What tho he be not only a Servant but a Bondman wholly at the command and under the power of his Master and by him imployed in the meanest services and put to the basest drudgery and enforced to bestow all his time and lay out all his strength that way may this poor Bond-man this contemptible and miserable Slave expect any reward of these his Services from God Yes that he may and he shall be sure not to lose his reward if he do what he doth sincerely and faithfully if he obey his Master and serve him faithfully in obedience to God and do even his basest drudgery in singleness of heart as to Christ and as to the Lord and not to man Be he a freeman or a bond man be his services and imployments honourable or base all is one with God faithfulness is that which God looks after whatsoever is done faithfully and by whomsoever it shall be accepted and rewarded 3. Where this faithfulness is wanting there the better our Services are for substance the more notoriously and grosly do we play the Hypocrites For in such Services we do in special manner pretend to honour God and seek his Glory which when 't is only pretended and we really mind nothing less than what we make shew of how odious and abominable is this in the sight of God who is a Spirit and will be served in Spirit and in Truth Gal. 6.7 God is not mocked that is he is not deluded and put off with outward shews and appearances instead of realities as men may be who look upon the outward appearance but cannot look into the heart So I have done with the two former things propounded having shewed what it is to do every thing faithfully and why this is so great and so important a Duty I now come to make Application which was the third thing propounded VSE This presents just matter of Humiliation to us all even to the best amongst us in regard there is so little so very little of this faithfulness to be found in our Actions and Services We may be apt to think we have done a great deal of good several ways and so please our selves in the expectation of our reward but if things be well examined how little shall we be found to have done that will be approved of and further our account hereafter How much Pride Vain-glory and Hypocrisy how much seeking of our selves and our own things instead of seeking the Glory of God and the Things of Christ How many of the good things which we have done have been done by us upon other lower Considerations than the command of God from other Motives and to other Ends than that we might thereby honour and please him and be accepted with him Instances of our miscarriages this way might be endless almost if the time would permit and it were expedient to enlarge so much I shall touch at some few instances that by our fairings in them we may be the better able to understand our selves and know how we ought to judge of our selves in reference to the rest of our Life and the various passages thereof My first instance shall be that in which many here present are concerned and 't is that of mens Imployment in the way of their Trade and Commerce with others among whom their dealing is This is the main business of their Life and takes up the most considerable part of their time to which I may also add that 't is the business on which their parts and strength are mostly laid out Great pity therefore it were that little of what they do in this way should turn to their account hereafter as undoubtedly it will not unless it be done faithfully and sincerely as unto God and not to men And yet here how common a thing is it with most men in their Trading to look no further than their own outward Advantage and the procuring a competent or a fair and comfortable Livelihood and Subsistence for themselves and theirs Where almost is the Person to be found who doth everything in the way of that his Calling as unto God and not to men who sets God before his Eyes as much as may be all the day long who treats with every man he deals with or hath to do with throughout the day as in Gods sight who seeks and consults the good of others as well as his own in every Bargain be makes in every parcel of Ware he sells or buys in a word who dischargeth all the Duties of his particular Calling with a respect to God's command with an eye at pleasing him and being accepted of him Lay your hands upon your Breasts and ask your own hearts whether this be your daily practice and what experimental acquaintance you have with these things If you reflect upon your self impartially and search narrowly 't is to be feared that you will find too much cause to be humbled for your failings A second instance I shall give in those who are intrusted with the managing of other mens Businesses and Affairs in any kind in which their Industry Skill Ability and Faithfulness is required They are diligent and industrious in the ways of their Employment they have a care so to manage the Businesses put into their hands and committed to their trust as they may be able to give a good account of them and to approve themselves faithful to those by whom they are intrusted as it concerns them to be with respect to their Reputation and their worldly Advantage also for if they should be slack careless and unfaithful who would make use of them or imploy them Who would care to intrust them with any business of Concernment But in the mean time while for their own ends they are thus careful to approve themselves faithful to men where is their faithfulness to God Are they as careful and solicitous how they may approve themselves to him in every business they manage how they may please him and be accepted of him That some are so far be it from me to question but Oh how few are these men And how rarely to be found among many who scarce mind God at all and who is hardly in all their Thoughts A third instance may be in the poorer sort who are very painful and industrious in their way for such many of the poorer sort are though many
sanctified to him as that he may be enabled to make a holy Use and Improvement of them and not be transported by them into those sinful Excesses into which the Corruption of our Nature would hurry us 2. We may also learn humbly and thankfully to acknowledg the Goodness of God to us if we have received any Benefit by our Afflictions to bless God for it and to give him the Glory of it Have our Afflictions brought us to the sight of our Sins Have they humbled us Have they reduced us from the Errour of our Ways and led us home to God Let us not think these things to be the natural Issues and Fruits of Affliction No such matter 't is God and he alone that puts Efficacy into Afflictions for the production of these great and excellent things Wherefore let us ascribe them not to the Means but to God and accordingly bless him for them But to return to the Point to be insisted on Afflictions will work upon Men and prevail with them to return to God from whom they have gone astray when all other Means are ineffectual Afflictions if God be pleased to sanctify them will do Men good when no other Means will This Truth may be confirmed both from Scripture and Experience 1. From Scripture it may be confirmed David when he was out of the way wanted not other Means to reduce him and to set him right again but yet he acknowledgeth that Afflictions were the Means by which he was recalled from his Wandrings Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept thy Word And again It is good for me that I was afflicted Ver. 71. that I might learn thy Statutes But next to the great Instance of the Efficacy of Afflictions this way in Manasseh there is none other so full and pertinent as that of the Prodigal Son Luke 15.11 12 c. This wild young Man could not be restrained and kept in good Order by his Father's Instructions and Counsels His Father's Discipline was too severe for him his Father's House was little better than a Prison to him a strait Confinement not to be endured and such an Abridgment of his Liberty as was intolerable Abroad he must and take his Portion along with him also Having withdrawn himself from under his Father's Government and being at liberty he prodigally and riotously spends all that he had and reduceth himself to extreme Want and Misery At length when he was ready to perish and knew not what to do he considers how much better it was with him while he was at home with his Father and takes up Resolutions of returning to him and of humbling himself before him Here we see Affliction and Misery works upon this Prodigal and brings him home to his Father's House when nothing else would reclaim him And all this what is it else but a lively Emblem of the Condition of a Sinner that is gone astray from God and is reduced by Affliction when nothing else will reclaim him 2. This Truth may also be confirmed from Experience We may observe and 't is no difficult matter to observe it that when Men could not be reclaimed and taken off from their vicious Courses by any other Means Afflictions have done it Sometimes the Sense of God's Wrath and Terrors of Conscience sometimes a severe Fit of Sickness that hath brought them near the Grave or some other sharp Affliction hath imbittered that Sin to them and taken off their Hearts from it which before they could never be perswaded to part with And there is no Man that hath any good Acquaintance with himself and with his own Heart and hath made any observation of God's Dealings with his Soul but must have taken notice that Afflictions have been of that use to him and have done him that Good in making a Separation between him and his Sins which nothing else could ever do neither the Word nor all the Threatnings against Sin therein contained nor the good Counsels and Admonitions of Friends nor the Examples of the Judgments of God inflicted on others for the same Sins When none of all these things will make a Man willing to leave his Sins a Man 's own proper Smart and personal Afflictions will do it Now if you ask how God is pleased to make Afflictions the Means of reclaiming Sinners and of bringing them home to himself when other Means will not do it I answer Afflictions when God is pleased to sanctify them do many ways contribute towards the reclaiming of Sinners 1. They make Men serious they call in Mens Minds from the things of the World from the Honours the Profits the Pleasures the Divertisements and Vanities thereof and make them reflect and consider how 't is with them as to their spiritual Estate and in what Condition their Souls are and how Matters stand between God and them These things are little minded while Men are in Prosperity and they have no Changes Men have other things to entertain themselves with and to take up their Time and their Thoughts they have things which they are better pleased with and which they take more Content in But in time of Affliction they retire into themselves and are more conversant at home The time of Adversity is a time of thinking and of Consideration Eccl. 7.14 In the Day of Adversity consider saith Solomon Consideration is the proper Duty of that Time and then a Man is fittest for it Now Consideration and serious Reflection on our selves are the first Step towards our returning to God and into the way of Obedience when we have gone astray David thought on his Ways Psal 119.59 and then turned his Feet unto God's Testimonies And 't is said of the Prodigal when he was in Distress that he came to himself and said Luke 15.17 How many hired Servants of my Father's have Bread enough and to spare and I perish for Hunger He came to himself before he was beside himself he was abroad before while his Portion and his Money lasted he had other things to mind but when all was spent and when by his profuse prodigal and luxurious Courses he had brought himself to those Extremities that he was ready to be famished then he began to reflect upon himself and to consider how foolishly he had done in forsaking his Father's House what Misery he had thereby brought himself into and how much happier he might have been if he had still kept at home with his Father and never thought of rambling away from him These and the like serious Reflections and Considerations at length produce the Resolutions which he takes up saying with himself I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants And so much concerning the first thing that Affliction doth towards the reclaiming of