1 Pet. 1. 15 16. And how high a command and strait a Rule is that given us by Christ Matth 5. 48. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Well may it be called an exceeding Righteousness surpassing the Scribes and Pharisees which all have that enter into the Heavenly Kingdom Matth. 5. 20. There is nothing under Heaven that is known to man so like to God as a Holy soul Remember this the next time you reproach such All you that are the Serpents â—eed remember when you spit your venome against Holiness that it is the Image of God that your enmity is exercised against O what a strange conjunction of malignity and hypocrisie appeareth in the enemies of God among us A picture of Christ that is drawn by a Painter or a forbidden Image of God that is carved by an Image-maker in stone that hath nothing but the name of an Image of God these they will reverence and honour though God hath forbidden them to make such Images of him The Papists will 〈◊〉 before them and the prophane among us are zealous for them when in the mean time they hate the noblest Images of God on earth Forbidden Images of God have been defended by seeking the blood of his truest Images Do you indeed Love and Honour the Image of God Why then do you hate them and seek to destroy them And why do you make them the scorn of your continual malice Can you blow hot and cold Can you both Love and Hate both Honour and Scorn the Image of God Search the Scripture and see whether it be not the sanctified heavenly diligent servants of the Lord that are the Honourable Image which he owneth and magnifieth and gloryeth in before the world If this be not true then go on in your hatred of them and spare not These are not Images of stone but of Spirit not Images made by a Carver or a Painter but by the Holy-Ghost himself Not hanged upon a wall for men to look on but living Images actuated from Heaven by spiritual influence from Christ their head and shining forth in exemplary lives to the honour of their Father whom they resemble Matth. 5. 16. It is not in an outward shape but in spiritual wisdom and Love and Holiness of heart and life that they resemble their Creatour Whether you will believe it now or not be sure of it you malignant enemies of Holiness that God would shortly make you know it that you chose out the most excellent Image of your maker under Heaven to pour out your hatred and contempt against And in as much as you did it to his noblest Image you did it unto him 7. If all this be not enough to shew you the Honourable Nature of Holiness I will speak the highest word that can be spoken of any created nature under heaven and yet no more then God hath spoken even in 2 Pet. 1. 4. where it is expresly said that the Godly are partakers of the Divine Nature I know that it is not the Essence of God that is here called the Divine Nature that we partake of we abhor the thoughts of such blasphemous arrogancy as if that grace did make men Gods But it s called the Divine nature in that it is caused by the Spirit of God and floweth from him as the Light or sunshine floweth from the sun You use to say the sun is in the house when it shineth in the house though the sun it self be in the firmament so the Scripture saith that God dwelleth in us and Christ and the spirit dwelleth in us when the Heavenly Light and Love and Life which streameth from him dwelleth in us and this is called the Divine Nature Think of this and tell me whether higher and more Honourable things can easily be spoken of the sons of men 1 Joh. 4. 16. God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him O wonderful advancement high expressions of a creatures dignity Blessed be that Eternal Love that is thus communicative and hath so enobled our unworthy souls with what alacrity and delight should we exalt his name by daily praises that thus exalteth us by his unspeakable mercie Psal 75. 10. 89. 16 17. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance In thy name shall they rejoyce all the day and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted For thou art the glory of our strength and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted For the Lord is our defence and the holy one of Israel is our King Psal 148. 13 14. Let them praise the name of the Lord for his Name alone is excellent his Glory is above the Earth and Heavens He also exalteth the horn of his people the Praise of all his Saints He hath first exalted our blessed Head even highly exalted him by his own right hand and given him a name above every name Act. 2. 33. 5. 31. Phil. 2. 9. and with him he hath wonderfully exalted all his sanctified ones Heb. 2. 10. 11. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to Glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of One for which cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren 1 Cor. 12. 12. For as the Body is One and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ What greater honour can man on earth be advanced to And the Honour of the just is communicative to the societies of which they are members The Churches are called Holy for their sakes Prov. 11. 11. By the blessing of the upright the City is exalted but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked Prov. 14. 34. Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people Let therefore both the persons and Congregations of the Saints continually exalt the name of God O Bless the Lord for ever and ever and blessed be his glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise Neh. 9. 5. The Lord liveth and blessed be our Rock and exalted be the God of our Rock of our salvation 2 Sam. 22. 47. Psal 30. 1. I will extoll thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up Psal 27. 6. And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy I will sing yea I will sing praises unto the Lrrd. Psal 28. 8 9. The Lord is their strength the saving strength of his annointed He will save his people and bless his inheritance and feed them also and lift them up for ever Psal 147. 6. The Lord lifteth up the meek and casteth the wicked down to the ground Thus shall it be done to
no relief 3. Another duty that Holiness consisteth in is Thanksgiving and Praise to the God of our salvation He that knows not that this work is Pleasant is unacquainted with it If there be any thing Pleasant in this world it is the praises of God that flow from a believing loving soul that is full of the sense of the mercies and goodness and excellencies of the Lord Especially the â—â—animous conjunction of such souls in the high praises of God in the holy Assemblies Is it not pleasant even to Name the Lord to mention his Attributes to remember his great and wonderous works to magnifie him that rideth on the Heavens that dwelleth in the light that cannot be approached that is cloathed with Majesty and Glory that infinitely surpasseth the Sun in its â—rightness that hath his Throne in the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him and yet he delighteth in the humble soul and hath respect to the contrite yea dwells with them that tremble at his Word Is any thing so pleasant as the Praises of the Lord How sweet is it to see and praise him as the Creator in the various wonderful creatures which he hath made How pleasant to observe his works of providence to them that read them by the light of the Sanctuary and in Faith and Patience learn the interpretation from him that only can interpret them But O how unspeakably Pleasant is it to see the Father in the Son and the God-head in the man-hood of our Lord and the Riches of Grace in the glass of the holy Gospel and the manifold wisdom of God in the Church where the Angels themselves disdain not to behold it Ephes 3. 10 11. The praising of God for the incarnation of his Son was a work that a chore of Angels were employed in as the instructors of the Church Luke 2. 13 14. There is not a promise in the book of God nor one passage of the Life and Miracles of Christ and the rest of the History of the Gospel nor one of the holy works of the spirit upon the soul nor one of those thousand mercies to the Church or to our selves or friends that infinite Goodness doth bestow but contain such matter of Praise to God as might fill believing hearts with Pleasure and find them most delightful work Much more when all these are at once before us what a feast is there for a gracious Soul O you befooled fleshly minds that find no pleasure in the things of God but had rather be drinking or gaming or scraping in the world awaken your souls and see what you are doing With what eyes do you see with what hearts do you think of the Works and Word and Wayes of God and of the Holy employments that you are so much against For my own part I freely and truly here profess to you that I would not exchange the Pleasure that my soul enjoyeth in this one piece of the holy Work of God for all your mirth and sport and gain and whatever the world and sin affords you I would not change the delights which I enjoy in one of these holy dayes and duties in the mentioning of the eternal God and celebrating his praise and magnifying his Name and thinking and speaking of the riches of his Love and the glory of his Kingdom no not for all the pleasure of your lives O that your souls were cured of those dangerous diseases that make you loath the sweetest things You would then know what it is that you have set light by and would marvail at your selves that you could taste no sweetness in the sweetest things Can you think that your work or your play your profits or your sports are comparable for pleasure to the Praises of the Lord If Grace had made you competent Judges I am sure you would say There is no comparison Hear but the testimony of a holy soul yea of the Spirit of God by him Psal. 147. 1. Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing Praises to our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely Psalm 149. 1 2. Praise ye the Lord sing unto the Lord a new song and his Praise in the Congregation of Saints Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyful in their King For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud upon their beds Let the high Praises of God be in their mouth c. Psal 95. 1 2 3. O come let us sing unto the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise to him with Psalms For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods Psalm 96. 1 2 3 4. O sing unto the Lord a new song Sing unto the Lord all the earth Sing unto the Lord bless his Name shew forth his salvation from day to day Declare his glory among the Heathen his wonders among all people For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised Honour and Majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his Sanctuary Did not this holy Prophet find it a Pleasant work to Praise the Lord Yea all that Love the Name of God should be Joyful in him Psalm 5. 11. Every one of his upright ones may say with the Prophet Isa 61. 10. I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord My soul shall be joyful in my God For he hath cloathed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robes of righteousness as a Bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her self with her Jewels For as the earth springs forth her bud and as the Garden causeth the things sown in it to spring forth so the Lord will cause Righteousness and Praise to spring forth before all the Nations It is a promise of Joy that is made in Isa 56. 6 7 8. To the sons of the stranger that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my House of Prayer What a joyful thing is it to a gracious soul when he may see the reconciled face of God and feel his Fatherly reviving Love and among his Saints may speak his Praise and proclaim his great and blessed name even in his Temple where every man speaketh of his Glory Psalm 29. 9. If the Proud are delighted in their own praise how much more will the humble holy soul be delighted in the Praise of God! When the Love of God is shed abroad in the heart and Faith doth set us as before his Throne or at least doth somewhat withdraw the veil and shew us him that lives
to hunger and thirst or cold or weariness or shame or pain nor any of the frailties that now adhere unto them but be made like the glorified body of Christ 7. The Souls of the Saints united to these Bodies shall also be Perfected having far larger capacity to know God and enjoy him then now we have being freed from all ignorance errour unbelief pride hard-heartedness and whatsoever sin doth now accompany us and perfected in every part of the Image of God upon us 8. The eyes of the Glorified Body shall in Heaven have a Glory to behold that is suitable to their Bodily capacity Heaven being not a place where the Essence of God is confined but where a prepared glory will be manifested to make Happy the Angels and Saints with Christ And whatever other senses the Glorified Bodies shall then have whether formally or eminently we cannot now conceive what they will be they will all be satisfied with suitable Delights from God 9. The Blessed person of our Redeemer in our Nature Glorified will there be the Everlasting object of our delightful iâ—â—uition and fruition An object suitable to the eye of the Glorified Body it self We shall for ever live in the sight of his face and in the sense of his unspeakable Love 10. The Glorified Soul whether mediately or immediately shall behold the Infinite most Blessed God and by knowing him be perfected in knowledge As we shall see the person of Jesus Christ and the glory of God with open face and not as in a glass as now we do so we shall know so much of the Essence of the Deity as we are capable of to our felicity 11. With the Knowledge of God and the Beatifical Vision will be joyned a perfect Love unto him and closure with his blessed will So that to Love him will be the everlasting employment of the soul 12. This Love will be drawn forth into everlasting praise and it will be our work before the Throne of his Glory to magnifie the Lord for ever 13. In all this Love and Praise and Glory and in the full fruition of the Eternal God we shall Rejoyce with full and perfect Joy and we shall have full content delight and rest 14. In all this Blessedness and Glory of the Saints the Glory of God himself will shine and Angels shall admire it and the condemned spirits with anguish shall discern it that God may be Glorified in our Glory 15. In all this Happiness of Believers and his own Glory the Lord will be well pleased and that Blessed Will which is the Beginning and the End of all will be accomplished and will have an Eternal complacency as the Saints shall have an endless complacency in God This is the Glory promised to the Saints This is that Good part which they choose I cite not the Texts of Scripture that prove all this because the things are all so plainly and frequently expressed in the premises And I shall have occasion to do somewhat of this anon And so in brief I have told you what the Good part is 2. We are next to enquire What it is that is put by worldly carnal men into the other end of the scales and is set up in comparison with all this Everlasting Glory Yea what it is that is preferred by ungodly men before it What is it that fin and the world will do for men What do they find that lose the Lord What do they get that miss of Heaven What do they choose tâ—â—â— refuse the Needful Better part And here I am even amazed at that which I must give you an account of O wonderful astonishing thing that ever such base unworthy trifles should by Reasonable men be put into any comparison with God! Wonderful that so much madness and wickedness can enter into the mind and heart of man as to let go all this Glory for a toy And yet more wonderful that this should be the case of the greatest part of men on earth And yet more wonderful that so mâ—â—y make so mad a choice even when the case is opened to them and plainly opened and frequently opened and when they are earnestly entreated to be wiser and importuned to make a better choice In a word All that is set against the Lord and All that is preferred before this Everlasting Life and All the Portion of ungodly men is no more then this The Pleasure of sin for a season The satisfying of the flesh A little ease and pelf and fair words from men as miserable as themselves and all this but for a little a very little time when Temperance is as sweet at least a little that is excessive or forbidden in wealth or meat or drink or cloathes or lust or other fleshly pleasures is the Joy and the Heaven and the God of the ungodly The fleshly pleasures which are common to the beasts and a little vain-glory among men and this for a short uncertain time and then to paâ—â— to everlasting punishment this is the chosen portion of the wicked This is All for which they refuse the Lord and for which â—â—â—y refuse a Holy life This is All 〈◊〉 which they part with 〈◊〉 and part with their Everlasting Peace This is All that they have for Heaven and their salvation and All for which they seâ—â— their souls To the everlasting shame of sin and sinners it shall be known that this was All To the abasing of our own soulâ— that sometime were guilty of this madness I shall tell you again that this is All To the humbling of the best to the conâ—ounding of the wicked and the amazement of us all I must say â—â—â—â— this is All This dirt this dream this cheat i◠〈…〉 wicked have for God and Glory This Nothing â—◠〈…〉 obstinately preferr and choose before him that 〈…〉 O wonderful madness stupidity and deceitâ— so 〈…〉 wilful and so uncureable till tender 〈…〉 cure it in them that shall be saved Well the ballance is now set before yoâ—… in the One end and in the other You see the 〈…〉 choose and the part that is chosen by the rest of the world And are you not yet resolved which is Best and which to choose TWo sorts I look to meet with here to whom I shall apply my self distinctly before I come to the comparative work First some will tell me that all these are needless words and that there is no man so senseless as to think that Temporal things are better then Eternal or the world then God or sin then Holiness Answ O that this were true how happy then were all the world I grant that many are superficially convinced that are not converted and that many have a slight opinion that Heaven and Holiness is best that yet have no Love to it and will not seek it above All. But their practical judgement doth not go along with their Opinions Thy relish the world as sweetest unto them In the prevailing deepest thoughts of their
then if they had never heard the Gospel It is you and such as you that despise the mercies of the Lord that make it a bad world and then you impudently complain of it and charge it on them that will not be as bad as your selves and take away the candle and shut the windows that the light may not trouble you 2. Well! but say you the world was better when there was less preaching and less ado about the serving of God and our salvation I do not believe you and I will tell you why yea Why I am certain that your words are false 1. Because you contradict the Lord. God saith those times are best when there is most of the Light of the Gospel and most helps for our salvation and when the people are most Holy The increase of Light and Holiness is a principal part of the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ and of the Promises to the Gospel Church as you may see Isa 9. 2. 36. 26. 42. 6. 60. 3. Mat. 4. 16. Luk. 2. 32. Joh. 3. 19 20. The word of God is the greatest blessing under heaven together with a heart to obey and practise it Luk. 11. 28. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Psal 106. 3. 119. 1 2. 1. 1 2. God himself pronounceth them blessed that meditate day and night in his Law and that make it their whole delight and because of the increase of Light and Holiness extolleth the times of the Gospel far above those of the Law affirming the least in this Kingdom of God to be greater as to the honour and priviledge of his station then the Prophets or John Baptist Matth. 11. 11 12. And would you wish me to believe such ignorant men as you before the God of Heaven that contradicteth you 2. I will not believe you because your objection is nothing but a Blasphemous accusation of the Living God If it were true that Preaching is bad it is Christ then that is bad that doth command it But I am sure that Christ is not bad and that such as Blaspheme him do it to their cost It is he that hath laid a Necessity on us and woe be unto us if we preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. and that chargeth us to feed the flock of God 1 Pet. 5. 2. Yea the spirit chargeth us before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom that we preach the word and be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine If any one be to be blamed for all this preaching and stir for heaven it is Christ that chargeth it so strictly upon us And if thou dare lay the blame upon the Lord speak out and stand to it at judgement 3. I know it is false that you say that the world is the worse for all this preachig and Godliness because it is against the very office of Christ and of the Holy Ghost Christ was a diligent preacher himself and dare you accuse him for it He came into the world to bring us the Light of heavenly Truth and dare you say that it were better be without it It is the work of the Holy Ghost to illuminate and sanctifie men and do you think that he doth us hurt Christ dyed to wash and purifie by the word and Spirit the Church which is his Body that he might present it spotless to the Father Eph. 5. 26. 27. And darest thou say that Christ came to do us harm By this thy despising of his benefits thou shewest that thou hast yet no part in him or in his saving benefits but art in the gall of bitterness and bond of thy iniquities and thy heart is not right in the sight of God 4. Moreover you are not to be belived because you speak against the experience of all the Prophets and Apostles of Christ David had rather be a door keeper in the house of God then dwell in the tents of wickedness and judged a day in his Courts to be better then a thousand Psal 84. 10. and accounted them the blessed men that might even dwell in the house of God and be daily taken up in holy praise and worship Psal 65. 4. 92. 13. 23. 6. When he was forced from the house and publick worship of God it was his daily lamentation and he fainteth and panteth and longeth after the house and worship of God again Psal 42. 84. 2 3 4 5. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of hosts My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord My bea rt aad my flesh cryeth out for the living God Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praising thee Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are the ways of them The Prophet Isaiah saith In the way of thy judgements O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee with my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early This was the mind of all the Prophets and Apostles and God hath told us that it is the practice of all blessed men to Meditate in Gods word day night Psal 1. 2. And yet will you say that it was a better world when there was less of this O self-condemning Hypocrites Why do you so much profess to honour the Prophets Apostles and Martyrs of Christ if you think that they were the troublers of the world and that their doctrine and practice makes us worse Why do you honour them with the name of Saints and yet despise both their doctrine and practice in those that do but endeavour seriously to imitate them Why keep you Holy days in remembrance of the dead Saints and say that the world in the worse for the living Saints O horrible hypocrisie to honour their names and hate their doctrine and course of life and say that the world was never good since it was troubled with such as they Do we trouble you with our Preaching and praying and our stir for heaven How would Christ and his Apostles have troubled you that went so far beyond us in all these and made a greater stir then we and turned the world as their enemies charged them up side down Act. 17. 6. so busie wâ—s Christ in preaching and doing the work of God that he neglected to eat his meat for it Joh. 4. 34. and his fleshly kindred would have laid hands on him as if he had been beside himself Mark 3. 21. It seems if you had then lived you would have been among the wicked enemies of Christ and of his Disciples and have said It was never a good world since these busie fellows made so much a doe with their Religion 5. Moreover you speak against the inward feeling and
maist regard it He is the wise man that God calls wise and he is the fool that God calls fool and that is every one that layeth up riches for himself and is not rich towards God Luke 12. 20 21. He is the Happy man that God calls Happy and he is a miserable man that God counts miserable and who those are you may see in Psalm 1. and many Scriptures before-cited Hear the words and you that are Believers lay up the blessed promise of Christ himself John 12. 26. If any man serve me him will my Father Honour And who cares then for the dishonours of all the wicked of the world Our tryed faith as preciouser then Gold will be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 7. See 2 Tim. 2. 21. We must learn therefore to imitate our Lord John 5. 41. and not to receive our Honour from men and not to imitate the wicked vers 44. that receive Honour one of another and seek not the Honour that cometh from God There is enough for us in Gods approbation And yet all his servants do imitate their Lord and his Judgement is their Judgement and whom he honoureth them do they honour Angels and Saints and all that enter into the Tabernacle of the Lord do contemn the vile and honour them that fear the Lord Psalm 15. 4. And though no mans Judgement or Praise be valuable in comparison of the Lords yet the Honour and Praise that is given by the wise and Godly is more then a thousand times as much from ignorant ungodly men If the Athenian Orator regarded the censure of Socrates more then of all the rest of his auditors we have cause to judge he Elogies of experienced holy men a greater honour then of thousands of the wicked greater then all their contempt or scorn is able to weigh down The applause of the wicked is oft-times a dishonour in wise mens eyes Was it not Balaams chiefest honour to hear from Balak I thought to promote thee to great Honours but the Lord hath kept thee back from Honour Numb 24. 11. The Honour that God keepeth a man from is no Honour but it is an Honour to be kept from such Honour by the Lord innocent poverty is incomparably more Honourable then Riches by iniquity which is the greatest shame 10. Lastly it is unspeakable everlasting Honour that holiness doth tend unto and which holy men shall enjoy with God The very Relation of a Godly man to his everlasting Glory is an Honour ten thousand times surpassing the Honour of all the Kingdoms of the world If you did but know that one of your poor neighbours should certainly be a King would you not presently honour him even in his rags You may know that the Saints shall raign with Christ as sure as if an Angel from heaven had told you so and more and therefore how should a Saint be honoured If God had but legibly marked out some among you for salvation and written in their fore-heads This man shall be saved would not all the Parish reverence that man Why a Heavenly mind and the Love of God and self-denyal and holy obedience are Heaven-marks infallible as true as the Gospel and written by the same hand as the Gospel was I mean by the Spirit of God himself If a voice from Heaven should speak now of any person in the Congregation and say This man shall raign in Heaven for ever would it not be an Honour above all your worldly Honours Why Holiness is Gods Image and the Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance and beareth witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God and we have the promise and seals and oath of God for our confirmed certainty yea and the Knowledge of God in Christ is the beginning of eternal life John 17. 3. and what would we have more The presence of Christ in a little of his Glory upon the Mount transported the three Disciples And the glympse of the Glory of God which Moses saw did make his face shine that the Israelites could not behold it The approaches of the Saints to God in holy Worship here on earth are exceeding Honourable because they participate of heaven and it is upward that they look 1 Chron. 16. 27. Glory and Honour are in his presence strength and gladness are in his place The soul that is beholding God by faith and conversing with the Heavenly inhabitants is quite above all earthly things and as Angels are more honourable then men and Heaven then Earth so are Believers that converse in Heaven with Angels yea with Christ himself by faith more honourable then terrestrial carnal men But the great Honour is behind yet near at hand when the promised Crown is set upon their heads O mark the Honour that is promised them by the Lord of truth The soul it self before the Resurrection of the body shall be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Even present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 1. 8. John 12. 26. If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be And at the Resurrection Christ that hath loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it will present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Eph. 5. 25 26. Will they not be Honourable even in the eyes of the ungodly world when they hear the sentence of their Lord Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Mat. 25. 34. and vers 23. Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord When Christ shall come to be Glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe 2 Thes 1. 10. Mark here that it is one end of the coming of Christ to be Glorified and admired in his Saints Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jud. 14. 15. Our hearts shall be established unblameable in holiness before God even our father at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints 1 Thes 3. 12 13. we shall then praise him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and made us Kings and Priests to God Rev. 1. 5 6. He that overcometh shall be cloathed with white rayment and confessed by Christ before the Father and the Angels of heaven Rev. 3. 5. Yea he shall be a Pillar in the Temple of God and go out no more and Christ will write on him the Name of God and the name of the City of God New Hierusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from God and his own name vers
as it were written in your fore-heads Such drooping pittiful creatures must all be that will lead so precise and heavenly a life Do you think your carnal neighbours and acquaintance will not be deterred from a holy life when they see that since you turned to it you do nothing but complain and droop and mourn as if you were worse then you were before And was it not enough that you hindred their conversion before when you were in your ignorance and sin by your wicked examples and encouragements but you must hinder it still by your dejected discouraging countenances and conversations Yea perhaps your later excessive troubles may do more to hinder their conversion then your perswasions and examples did before And can you find in your hearts to lay such a stombling block as this in the way of your miserable acquaintance to keep them from salvation Will it not grieve you to think that you should have so great a hand in mens damnation even since you are returned to God your selves I know by your sorrows and complaints that the perdition of a soul is no small matter in your eyes O therefore take heed of that which may procure it The use that Satan would have you make of these very words is to go away with more dejection and to say What a wretch am I even unmeet to live that by my griefs am not only miserable my self but also hinder the salvation of others And thus he would draw thee to grieve over all thy griefs again and because thou hast exceeded in thy sorrows to be more excessive and so to add one sin unto another and to do more because you have done too much â—o that grief is all that he can allow thee and one grief shall be made the reason of another that thou maist run thus in a round of misery and stop in grieving and go no further Whereas thou shouldst so grieve for such grief as may call thee off and stay thy grieving and thy repenting should be the cure and forsaking of thy sin and not the renewal of it But on the other side if thou couldst live a heavenly joyful life that the glory of thy hopes might appear in thy countenance thy conference and conversation how many might hereby be drawn to Christ and caused to think well of the ways of God Did the Godly but exceed the rest of the world in holy joy and cheerfulness of mind as much as they exceed them in happiness and in the causes of true joy what an honour would it be to Christ and holiness and what an attractive to win the ignorant to embrace the motions of salvation How easily would they let go their sinful pleasures their gluttony and drunkenness and filthiness and gaming if they did but see by the carriage of believers that they were like to exchange them for much greater joys You cannot expect that ignorant men that never tryed a holy life and have a natural enmity against it should see the excellency of it immediately in it self But they will judge of Religion by the persons that profess it That shall seem to them the best Religion that hath the best and happiest professors And those seem to them the happiest and best that have the greatest comforts and conquer most the troubles of their minds You can expect no other but that countrey people that know not the nature of medicines themselves should judge of them by the success and think that he followeth the best advice who is most healthful and of longest life And so will the ignorant judge of the holy doctrine and commands of God by the lives of those that seem to follow them O therefore behave your selves in the Church of God as those that remember that they live in the presence of a world of men whose happiness or misery hath much dependance on your lives If you were debating the case with a sensual wretch would you not tell him that Holiness is a state of greater pleasure then his sin Tell him so then by your example as well as by your words Let him see as well as hear of the confidence and comforts of true believers Were Christianity exemplified in the lives of Christians how excellent a state would it appear were we but such as the holy doctrine and Christian pattern requireth us to be even the blind malicious world would be forced to admire the attainments of the Saints Though they might hate them yet they would admire them Were we such as Stephen that was full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and could stedfastly look up to heaven by faith and see there the Glory of the living God and Jesus standing at his right hand till we were raised to his boldness in defence of the truth and his quiet submission to the greatest sufferings the world would not then be able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which we speak but the faces of believers would sometime appear to the terrour of their persecutors as the faces of Angels as Act. 6. 5 10 15. 7. 51 55 56 60. They are high and glorious things that are assured to us in the promises of the Gospel Did but these things appear in the stedfast faith the confident hopes desires and joys of us that do expect them believers then would be the wonder of the world and our joys would so shame their dreaming childish brutish pleasures that doubtless multitudes would flock in to see what it is that so delighteth us that they might be made partakers of our joys Even as Simon Magus himself when he saw the Miraculous guift of the Holy Ghost would fain have bought that guift with money so men that are yet carnal in the gall of bitterness and bond of their iniquities will yet see a desirable excellency in the Joy of the Holy Ghost and wish they were partakers of such joys though yet they are unacquainted with the way to attain it I do therefore intreat you all that believe and hope for an everlasting Crown that you will shew the poor deceived world the preciousness of your faith and hopes and the high prerogative of the Saints in your â—â—answerable cheerfulness and joy and live not with as dead and uncomfortable hearts as those that have nothing but a vexatious transitory world to comfort them much less to be more dejected then these wretched souls Do you not desire the conversion of your carnal friends and all about you would you not be glad if you could further it O that you could try this pleasant way and shew them that you have found the unvaluable treasure And as the Rich live in greater pompe and at higher rates then the poor so you that speak of the Riches of Grace and live in the family of the Lord O shew the world the dignity of your state by your holy courage and comfortable behaviour and by your living above the pleasures and griefs of unbelievers When they glory in their
Erroneous Sectaries are blinded in some particular points by the seducing words of men And ungodly sensualists are blinded in the main and damnably err from the necessary practical doctrines of salvation being deceived by the inclination of their own concupiscence Errors are multifarious and abound even in many that inveigh most fiercely against the erroneous But Truth is simple We have One Teacher to instruct us One Spirit to enlighten us One Word of God to be our Rule One Light to guide us through all the darkness and mazes of the world and recover our deluded darkened minds Thousands are ready to draw us away from God Temptations lye thick on every hand Within us and without us before us and on each side Which way can you look or go but you will meet with baits and snares And if Eve be once deceived Adam is the easilier overcome When the appetite and senses are ensnared by their objects and the imagination corrupted the understanding is in danger of deceit You may go into an Hospital and see variety of diseases but Health is one and the same One hath the pestilence and another hath the leprosie and another a palsie and another is distracted but among a thousand people in Health you see no such difference Health only is formally the cure of all What abundance of miserable sinners be in the world that are almost at Hell already But only one sort of men even the regenerate are rescued by grace and shall be saved from it Many inventions have men found out for their destruction but there is no way but by Christ through faith and holiness to their salvation Set as light by Christ and Holiness as you will and deride it as foolishly and perversly as you please you will find at last that this way or none must bring you to Heaven Either ignorance or pride or covetousness or malice or gluttony or drunkenness or voluptuousness or lust or any one sin of an hundred may be your ruine But there is only One salve to heal these sores and only one cordiall or antidote that can expell these several sorts of poison from your hearts Godliness is profitable to all things 1 Tim. 4. 8. Drudge for the world as long as you will and gape after honour and applause from men and try a thousand wayes for your content but when you have all done you must return by sound Repentance into the way of holiness or you are lost for ever When you have slighted grace you must give up your selves to the power of that grace When you have set light by a life of holy Love to God and the fruition of him in Glory you must make it your treasure and delight and your hearts must be upon it or you are undone Matth. 6. 21. When you have made a jeast of a Holy life you must come about and take your selves that course that you jeasted at though you be as much jeasted at by others yea and make it the principal business of your lives or perish in hell under the vengeance of the Almighty whose justice you provoked and whose mercy you neglected Choose you whether but one of them will be your part Even as Saul that was exceeding mad against Believers and persecuted them even to strange Cities Acts 26. 10 11. was glad to become one of them himself though he suffered as much as he had caused them to suffer and accounted it the greatest mercy of his life that God vouchafed him such a change what ever it cost him IV. Quest But is nothing necessary but this One Are not other things also Needfull in their places Answ I told you that other things are not other so far as they stand in due subordination to this one or are the parts of it He that saith to a sick man You would do well if you had such a skilfull man for your Physicion doth not by these words intend to exclude his Apothecary or his medicines or the taking of them or the instruments and means by which they are applyed but rather includeth and implyeth all these in the One thing mentioned to which they do subserve So all Gods graces and all the means of grace and Christian duties are contained or implyed in the One thing Necessary or supposed to it Because it is One thing that is necessary as the End therefore many means are necessary to the obtaining of it Though there be also a kind of unity as hath been shewed among those means Quest But are not outward things also necessary Must we not have food and rayment and must we not labour and provide it and take care for our families and follow our callings Must we not by lawfull means avoid reproach and poverty in the world Answ In the way of Duty it is as necessary that we labour in our callings and provide things honest and subserve Gods providence for the maintenance of our selves and others And the things of this life and Needful so far as Life is needful that we may have Time and strength to do our works and be supported while we seek the One thing needful But that which is not Necessary for it self but for another thing is not simply or principally Necessary So far as Heaven may be obtained and the work of Christianity done without the accommodations of the flesh so far these worldly things are needless There is no Necessity that you be Rich or Honourable or that you live in Health or Wealth or that you escape the hatred and reproach and trouble of a malicious world There is no Necessity that you should save your lives when Christ requireth them For he that so saveth his life shall lose it Matth. 16. 25. And that Usefulness which you may in a lower sense call Necessity that any of these things are of is but in their respect to the One thing Necessary as they are sanctified means to the service of God and our salvation If your daily bread be to be called Necessary it is not for it self or for your flâ—shly pleasure nor ultimately for your life it self but to sustain your life while you are seeking after life eternal and serving him that is the Lord of life Your Credit or Honour or Pleasure in the world are no further Necessary or Usefull to you then they promote this great End for your selves or others Nothing but God is simply Necessary for himself and Nothing else is any way truly Necessary but for him And therefore as by Necessity of precept you must labour in your Callings and seek provision for your selves and families you must most carefully watch your Hearts that your desires and labours be not carnal as tending only to carnal ends â—ut that you sincerely subject the things desired to the One thing necessary for which you must desire them and therefore that you desire but such measures and proportions as are most suitable to that End which is only for it self desireable Even life it self must
greatest misery It is because they would not Choose that Good and refuse the way and cause of Misery But how cometh it to pass that men will make no wiser a choice Is the case so doubtful that they cannot be resolved in it every man would have that which he thinks is Best for him Why do men follow after wealth or pleasure or credit in the world but because they take it to be Best for them Why do they set so light by Holiness and Christ and Heaven bâ—… cause they apprehend them not to be Best for them Wâ—… men refuse and obstinately against all perswasions refuse a Holy life if they took it practically to be Best for them what will they contrive their own destruction do they long to do themselves a Mischief and the greatest Mischief in the world No that 's not the case But the matter is this Their senses draw them another way Their eye their ear their taste their feeling every sense hath a Pleasure of its Own and this sense or flesh is violent and unreasonable and would fain be satisfied and Reason that was given us to Rule it is bribed and blinded and perverted by it and so is ready as a servant to obey it and to take its part and the fleshly mind discerneth not the things of God for they are spiritually discerned the Will also and the Affections are by the byas of a fleshly inclination corrupted and habitually lean to the fleshly part And that which men Love they will easily think well of and are glad of any thing like Reason to defend it and that which is against the Inclination of the Will will hardly be thought well of and any thing like Reason will serve against it This depravation of the mind and will of man enslaved and ruled by the Flesh or sensuality is the very cause that most men will not choose the Better part and so the cause of their perpetual misery And till the Holy Ghost send in a heavenly light of Wisdom into the mind to shew them the true difference between the Good and the Evil and a new Inclination into the Will that shall turn their hearts from the Evil to the Good they will still go on and the matters of God will seem foolishness to them and they will take those men for the veryest fools that follow the Wisdom of the Lord and provide most carefully for eternal life and they will take those for the wisest men that are most contrary to the God of Wisdom and that dare leap most fearlesly into Hell Or if this be not their Opinion but conviction force them to a wiser kind of language yet will it be their Practical estimation and their Hearts as their Choice and Lives will easily declare For that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit Joh. 3. 6. The fleshly man will have a fleshly mind and will and openly or secretly will Live after the flesh and such are the heirs of death Rom. 8. 5 7 13. Fleshly generation cannot make a spiritual mind or heart in any but it must be by spiritual Regeneration and therefore except a man be born again of the spirit as well as of water he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Joh. 3. 3 5. This inward difference of Inclinations is the true cause of the difference of the judgements and the courses of men about the matters of God and their salvation This is it that makes so many to think none wise but those that are more dangerously mad then men in Bedlam and that makes so many others stand in doubt as men unresolved what to choose and what course to follow As if it were really a difficult point for a man to be resolved in Whether it be best and wisest to follow the teachings of God or of the flesh and to seek first the Kingdom and Righteousness of God or to make a pudder for nothing in the world and to claw this itching flesh a while though they must smart for it for ever or to master the flesh and live to God! In a word the world are half unresolved whether it be better to be Holy with Gods promise of Eternal Glory or to take the Pleasures of sin for a season and neglect this Holiness though this course be threatned by the Living God with Everlasting torments This is the true state of the Question which I say one part of the world doth seem to be unresolved in and another part are resolved on the worser side against their souls and a Holy life and only those that the illuminating sanctifying spirit hath resolved do choose the needful better part The reason of this distracted judgement of the most is within themselves It is not because that there is any such difficulty in the case as should put a wise man to a stand Nor it is not because they have not sufficient evidence in the word or that God denyed them Teachers Books or any Necessary Means for their information The Light is among them but they Love it not because their hearts and deeds are evil and their darkness doth not comprehend it and this is their delusion and their condemnation Joh. 1. 6 7 8. 3. 19. When I am preaching to a congregation of many hundred or thousand souls if the salvation of all that people did lie upon any other question no harder then this that we have in hand so it were such as fleshly interest and corrupted minds and wills had no quarrel against how easily how surely should I save the souls of all that heard me Reader let me have thy judgement If the Question were Whether Light or Darkness be the Better Whether a dead corps be better then a Living man Whether a cottage for a day or a Rich habitation for term of life be better Whether as much drink as will make thee drunk or a nights lodging with a whâ—re be better then Lands and Lordships for thy life time or for a thousand years Whether one sweet cup with shame and beggery all thy life after or one bitter draught with perpetual prosperity should be rather chosen Whether a sick man were better take an unpleasing medicine that would cure him or a pleasant poyson that would kill him Whether he were better pay a little to the Physicion or dye to save his money Whether that Prince be wise that will sell his Kingdom for a cup of wine or for childrens rackets Or whether that child â—e vertuous that cannot abide his Fathers sight or house or commands but loveth better to do that which he knows displeaseth him or to tumble in the dirt with swine I say if any of these were the Question to be Resolved and the salvation of all that heard me lay upon the true Resolution I leave it to your own judgements Whether I were not like to save the souls of all that heard me And yet in a case as
you proud and self-conceited sinners that will plead for your ungodly ways and plead against a holy life and quarrel with the most faithful administrations of youâ— Pastors It is a matter of Everlasting moment that you and we do differ about and which of us is liker to be in the right I confess I am a weak and ignorant man but is the sottish ungodly quarreller any wiser then I am How camest thou man to thy knowledge that thou thinkest thy self wiser then me and all the Pastors of the Church My Knowledge that is but little hath cost me almost forty years hard study Hast thou read and meditated and studied more Hadst thou better helps and means of Knowledge God usually giveth his gifts in the painful use of means If I should think my self wiser in thy trade and able to control thee thou wouldst judge me a self-conceited fool What hast thou done for thy knowledge that I have not done Hast thou prayed for it day and night So have I. Hast thou had any private way of Learning that no man knoweth Truly I have marvelled at the â—aces of many ignorant careless men that they do not blush when we have thus expostulated with them when they quarrel with their Teachers and set against them with as brazen a face as if they were all Doctors or had studied forty years and we were as they are Yea as if they were wiser thâ—n all the Apostles Doctors and Pastors of the Church Were it not a wonder indeed if God should give more knowledge about the matters of salvation to a sensual voluptuous Gentleman or to an idle droan or a fellow that scarce ever read over the Bible and to such as live a worldly fleshly and ungodly life then to all his Ministers and Servants that love his Laws and meditate in them day and night and live in Prayer and other holy exercises and make it their daily care and business to conform their hearts and lives to the holy Doctrine which they study Surely God will sooner reveal his mind to a diligent searcher that feareth and loveth him then to a lustful Epicurâ— or a drunken swearing worldly sot He that every day abuseth the Holy Ghost that should be his Teacher is not so likely to come to Knowledge as he that humbly learneth and obeyeth him It is â— strange evidence that most wicked men do give us to prove themselves wiser then their Teachers when they can scarce give 〈◊〉 wise account of the Principles of Religion contained in a Catechisâ—â— they will prove themselves wise by despising wisdom and railing at the Wise They prove themselves Learned by reproaching the learned They prove themselves godly enough to be saved by hating and scorning them that are Godly and prove themselves the servants of Christ by speaking against his service They prove themselves wise enough to Teach or quarrel with their Teachers by refusing to Learn and to be any wiser and by babling out their sinfull folly And when they have done they prove that their hearts for all this are as good as the precisest by prating against that Holiness which is the only health and goodness of the heart and by shewing us to our grief that they neither know what Goodness is nor what is in their hearts They prove to us that they have Hopes for all this of being saved and seeing the face of God by hating them that are Pure in heart that have the promise of seeing his face Mat. 5. 8. and by reviling or forsaking the way of salvation and by shewing us on their souls the open Marks of the wrath of God and of a state of condemnation This is the Devils Logick And this is the wisdom of the wicked They may next go further and prove that they are chaste by reviling chastity and prove that they are sober by speaking against sobriety and by wallowing in their vomit or prove that they know all arts and trades and sciences by reviling them And as they now prove that they are the freemen of Christ by shewing us the Devils fetters upon them so if they hold out they will shortly have nothing to prove themselves in Heaven but by shewing us the flames of Hell which they endure If therefore all the Holiest and wisest men on earth may be admitted to be witnesses then Holiness must be your Best and all things else be nothing worth in comparison of it 5. Moreover if yet you would have more witness shall those be heard that have tryed both states the state of Sin and the state of Holiness and that have gone both wayes and therefore are able to speak to us by experience If you were to take advice about any worldly business you would choose a man of Experience for your Counsellor an experienced Physicion for your bodies and an experienced Tradesman for your work You will sooner believe a Traveller that â—ath seen the places that he speake of if he be honest then another godly men have tryed both wayes Alas they have known and too much known the way of sin and they have tryed the Holy way that you dislike I think therefore that they are competent Witnesses And if their witness be worth any thing the cause must go against the ungodly For their Lives tell you their Judgement Their hatred to sin their diligent seeking after God their constant endeavours in a Holy course their suffering any thing rather then forsake this Holy way when once they have sincerely chosen it all these do fully acquaint you with their judgement Do you think it is for Nothing that the holy servants of the Lord do stiek so close to him and labour so constantly in his work surely if they had not found that this way is beyond comparison the best you might draw them from it into a state of ungodliness again at least fire and sword and torment might perswade them to forsake it Something he findeth in it that is good that will let go his life and all the world for it What say you now have you any just exceptions against the testimony of these Experienced men The ungodly cannot be competent witnesses for they have tryed but one side They have had experience of a prophane a fleshly worldly life but they never yet tryed a Holy life And therefore how should they be fit to tell you what Good is in the way of God which they never travelled in Or what Gain is in the Heavenly Treasure which they never traded for Or what Beauty is in the face of Christ and Glory which they never had an eye of faith to see Or what sweetness is in the Hidden Manna which they never tasted If you say that many that have tryed the way of Godliness have turned from it and are against it I beseech you weigh my answer 1. It is not One of a hundred that doth so no not in these apoâ—â—â— tizing times when all seducers are let loose And is one mans
but while their power can enforce them They are subject to errour and injustice and are not the same in one Countrey as in another or in one age as in the former and their Rewards and punishments are but temporal and therefore though under the Laws of God they are necessary for the Government of Common-wealths yet without Gods Laws they would be utterly insufficient 6. The way of Holiness is contrary to all Evil whatsoever and therefore hath nothing to disturb a Common-wealth It is true we cannot say so of the persons because they are but imperfectly sanctified Were they in all things such as their Lord and Rule and Religion do require they would have nothing that might be injurious to any But surely as a sick man or a lame is better then a dead corps and as a man of mean understanding is better then an ideot and a mean Schollar better then the illiterate so a man imperfectly sanctified is better in a Common-wealth then the ungodly You blame not the Laws of this Land because that Thieves and Murderers break them The Laws are Good if they oblige men to nothing but what is Good though bad men break them The Rules of Christian Religion are most perfect and direct or command men nothing that is evil There may be faults in us but there is none in the holy Laws which we desire and endeavour to obey Religion therefore is the way to the perfecting and securing of all Societies and the want of it subverteth them 7. Holiness doth not only tell men of a right way and shew them their duty but also effectually Disposeth their very minds to the performance of it and causeth them to walk therein The nature of it is to be the very Right Disposition of the heart and right ordering of the life The truly gracious soul is habitually an enemy to all known sin and addicted to obey in all known Duties And surely persons thus habituated are liker to live according to their Dispositions then others to live well that hate the good in their hearts which they should practise Mens Laws can command good but cannot give men good hearts to practise it as God doth by his servants If you cannot tell whether wicked men that love sin or godly men that hate it are better members of a Common-wealth you know not what Societies are for 8. Holiness destroyeth the root of iniquity and teacheth men to hate even secret sins which are in the heart or which none can see but God alone The Laws of men restrain the Subjects but from open injuries but Holiness restraineth men from doing the most secret wrong to others or once thinking speaking or contriving any evil against them It reacheth the conscience it cleanseth the heart from whence all evil doth proceed 2 Sam. 12. 12. Deut. 27. 24. Psalm 90. 8. Eccles 12. 14. A man fearing God as such dare not deceive or wrong another though he were sure that it would never be known on earth For he knoweth that the Lord is the avenger of such things 1 Thes 4. 6. 9. Holiness cementeth the members of all Societies with the strongest cement of endeared Love It bindeth them together in the bond of Charity He is not Godly that Loveth not all men even his enemies with that common Love that is due to humanity and that Loveth not all that Fear the Lord with a special Love Psalm 15. 4. Joh. 13. 34 35. 15. 12 17. 1 Joh. 3. 14 23. 4. 7 11 12 20. Luke 6. 27. 10. Holiness maketh Princes and Rulers a double blessing to their people It maketh them the more Divine and bear the more excellent Image of God How precious is the name of a David an Hezekiah a Josiah a Constantine a Theodosius though they had all their falls in comparison of the name of a Saul a Jeroboam an Ahab a Nero a Julian O how sweet is the name of a Godly King in the Subjects mouthes Even those that are enemies to Godliness as in themselves because they cannot endure to be curbed and troubled with it do yet use to admire and honour it in their Kings and Governours Authority and Holiness conjunct are two such rayes of the Heavenly Majesty and Goodness as place man in the state of highest excellency on earth and make him so much to resemble his Creator as hath given such the highest place in the esteem and honour of the world of any mortals And it is not easie for a people to value such Holy and Pious Princes and Governours too highly or to be sufficiently thankful for them unto God 1. Holiness effectually teacheth Governours to Rule for God To set him highest and make it their work to seek his Glory and to avoid all selfish contradictory interests and to own nothing that stands at enmity with his honour but to judge that they have most happily attained the ends of their Government and lives if they have promoted the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ and the work of Holiness in the world 2. Holiness will cause Rulers to preferr Gods Laws before their own and to be examples to their Subjects of obedience to God and to desire that all men should stand in far greater awe of God then of them It will make them careful to form all their Laws and Government to the pleasing of God and promoting mens obedience to his Laws and to take heed that there be nothing in them injurious to Christ or contrary to his Will It will teach them with David to enquire of God and make him their Counsellour And with Josiah to search the Book of the Law and humble themselves when they have violated it And with Joshua Not to suffer it to depart out of their mouthes but to meditate in iâ— day and night that they may observe to do according to all that is written therein And then God hath promised to make their way prosperous and to give them good success Josh 1. 8. 3. Holiness will cause the Rulers of the world to Love those that are Holy and to promote the Communion of Saints and to be Nursing Fathers to the Church even that part of the Holy Catholick Church which they are entrusted with and to protect them from the violence of men It will keep them from the sins of Jeroboam that corrupted Gods worship and put forth his hand against the Prophet that spoke against it Whereby God will be engaged to be their Protector in Peace and War When Princes and people that fall out with Holiness and take part with the flesh and set themselves against the servants the worship and the wayes of Christ do put themselves from under his protection and put themselves under the battering and piercing stroakes of his displeasure And wo to him that striveth with his Maker and that kicks against the pricks of his severity Isa 45. 9. Acts 9. 5. 26. 14. The fatal ruine of the Kingdoms of the world or at least the
secureth every Society and interesteth them in the most impregnable defence even in the Love and favour of the Lord and in his many sure and precious promises He hath engaged his Almightiness and Fidelity for such and rendreth them as the apple of his eye and hath promised that he will be their defence Zech. 2. 8. Psalm 5. 11. 7. 10. 59. 9 16 17. 62. 2. whereas the ungodly are under his curse Psalm 1. 6. 37. And which of these Societies is liker to be happy 18. Godliness is the surest way to furnish every Society with all the blessings that are truly good for them For they have the favour and promise of him that is the giver of them all Rom. 8. 28. Psalm 34. 10. 84. 11. 23. Godliness is profitable to all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. 6. 6. Mat. 6. 33. But wickedness is the certain way to ruine Even one sinner destroyeth much good Eccl. 9. 18. and one godly man hindreth much evil as the case of Joseph Moses Daniel and many others tells you 19 Moreover it is Godliness that is the honour of all Societies Without this their wisdom is meer folly and their Riches are but the â—etters of their slavery and canker to gnaw them and testifie against them and their greatest victories may be but murders which shall damn them and their splendour in the world is but the sign of their misery in the eyes of all fore-seeing men Prov. 14. 34 Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people What Glory can be equal to the Glory of our interest in God and of our being his people and doing his work and having his presence 20. Lastly How can that be worst on earth that is so good in Heaven The perfection of Holiness hereafter with the Holy Love and Praises and Enjoyments of the Saints will be their Glory If you think this worst in your Societies on earth what do you but renounce it If Heaven be worst for you come not thither If the participation of that which is the felicity of the glorified be not the felicity of all Societies I desire none of their felicity What if Saints from Heaven would come down and dwell among you here on earth I beseech you as men of reason answer me these two Questions 1. Whether you do not know or verily believe that they would be more Holy and Pure and Exact and strict and more averse to all sin then any of those are that now you dislike as too precise 2. Whether you would therefore call them Puritanes and hate them and cast them out or imprison them or take them for the troublers of your Countries or rather for the honour and blessing of your Countries What you would do by them that do by those that come nearest to them among you CHAP. V. Times of Holiness are the Best Times AND now I have given you all this Evidence I dare leave it to the judgement of any man that is fit to judge Whether it be the godly or ungodly that are the Better Magistrates or Better Pastors of the Churches or Better Members of the Common-wealth or of any Society Judge now whether the Places and Times are not Best that are most Godly And whether it be the Godly or the Ungodly that are the Troublers of the world And yet it hath ever been the practice of ungodly men to charge it upon them that Fear the Lord that all the troubles of the world are long of them We were all quiet say they before this Religion and preciseness troubled us and this is it that since it came among us hath set us all together by the ears But if these men be yet reasonable I desire them to consider 1. That this hath alwayes been the old complaint of the most wicked men which God himself hath testified against When Lot did but gently admonish the abominable Sodomites to forbear a villany not to be named Gen. 19. 7 8 9. I pray you Brethren do not so wickedly What said they to him and how did they take it Why they said stand back and they said again This One fellow came in to sojourn and he will needs be a Judge Now will we deal worse with thee then with them Is not this the case between us now How are we unpeaceable Because we are against sin If we would hinder men from wronging God and from condemning their own souls and others then forsooth we are their troublers and we judge them and we disturb their Peace Just like the Sodomites These precise fellows say they will neede be our Judges and we must be ruled by them before they came among us we had none of this ado But did not God think you decide the controversie aright He first took Lot and his family away that the Sodomites might be troubled with that precise and busie fellow no more and then he sent fire from Heaven on Sodom and consumed them all making them an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. Or as it is fully set forth by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 2. 6 7 8 9. Turning the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes he condemned them with an overthrow making them an example to those that after should live ungodly Mark this And delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust to the day of Judgement to be punished And now who is it that was troublesom and the cause of evil Was it Lot or was it Sodom Take heed lest God take the Lots that trouble you from among you and when you are rejoycing that you are rid of them he serve you worse then he served Sodom In the daies of Noah no question but that Preacher of Righteousness seemed to the world a singular and a self-conceited fellow But did not God decide the controversie whether it were Noah or they that were the troublers of the world Saith Peter 2 Pet. 2 5. God spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person a Preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly When Israel â—ell before the men of Ai it was a doubt who it was that was the cause of that calamity but God proved it to be Achan who is stoned upon this sentence of Joshua Josh 7. 25. Why hast thou troubled us the Lord shall trouble thee this day 2. And consider I pray you What a Quietness it is that you have before you are troubled by the Godly It is a Quietness in the high way to Hell You had the priviledge of damning your souls without disturbance from these precise controllers Hath not
2 8 9. Though the abode of the godly in the flesh is usually more needful to those about them yet to themselves their death is gain and therefore they have cause to desire to depart and be with Christ as being far better Phil. 1. 21 23 24. For sin which is the sting of death is mortified and the curse of the Law which is the strength of it is relaxed or null fied to us by the Gospel so that the Believer may triumph and say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. and to give thanks to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ vers 57. Verily I would not exchange my part though alas too small or dark a part in this one priviledge of true Believers for all the wealth and dominions on earth O the face of Death will soon make the Glory of all your greatness to vanish and the beauty of your flourishing estates to wither and all that you now glory in to appear as nothing And then how glad would you be to change Portions with the holy servants of the Lord whom you now despise When once you hear Thou fool this night shall they require thy soul and whose then are all those things that thou hast provided Luke 12. 20. then in a moment you will change your minds and cry out of the world as nothing worth and wish you had busied your hearts and hands in laying up a better treasure This is one difference O â—ngodly wretch between a holy servant of God and thee Death cannot undo him but it will undo thee It cannot take his Riches from him for his God his Christ his Holiness the Promises are his Riches but it will separate thee and thy wealth for ever It will put an end to all his troubles and fears and griefs and it will put an end to all thy prosperity and to all thy mirth and hope for ever A godly man dare die or if he ignorantly fear it yet shall it be the end of all his fears but thou darest not die and yet thou must or if thou ignorantly hope of a happiness after it yet will it nevertheless end all thy hopes O what a mercy is it to be ready to die 10. But the great unspeakable Riches of the Saints is in the Life to come We have here the Hope and the fore-taste but it is only there that we shall have our Portion You see what a poor Christian is according to his outward appearance But you see not what he will be to eternity There is the Kingdom for which we hope and for which we run and wait and suffer If God be true and his Gospel true then Heaven shall be the Portion of the sanctâ—fied But if it were otherwise then we would confess their hopes are vain Heaven is our Riches or we have none There have we laid up all our Hopes and in these Hopes we will live and die as knowing they will not make us ashamed Rom. 5. 5. 9. 33. 1 John 2. 28. We believe that we shall live with Christ in glory and shine as stars in the Firmament of our Father and be made like to the Angels of God and shall see his face and praise his name and live in his everlasting Love and Joy For all this he himself hath promised us 1 Thes 4. 17. 18. Daâ— 12. 3. Mat. 13. 43. Luk. 20 36. Rev. 22. 4. Mat. 25. 21. And now poor worldling what is all your Gain and Riches in comparison of the least of these Do you think in your judgements that there is any comparison Or rather doth not sin and the world even brutifie you and make you lay by the use of your reason and live as if you knew not what you know Your Treasure is all visible when ours is unseen and therefore I may bid you bring it forth and let us see it whether indeed it be better then the Treasure of the Saints Let us see what that is that is better then God and everlasting glory What! is a little fleshly ease or mirth a little meat and drink and pleasure a little more money or space of ground to use then your neighbours have are these the things that you will change for Heaven and preser before the Lord that made you O poor miserable sinners Are you not told that you have your good things here but what will you have hereafter when this is gone Luke 16. 25. When your wealth is gone and your mirth is gone your souls are immortal and therefore your misery and horrour will continue and never be gone As the wealth of the godly is within them and above the reach of their enemies and surer then yours so is it the more durable even everlasting When all your Riches are upon the wing even ready to be gone and leave you in sorrow when you are most highly valuing them you have it now but it is gone to morrow And what is the Hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him Job 27. 8 9. Let the words of Christ decide the Controversie if indeed you take him for your Judge Mat. 16. 2â— 25 26 27. If any man will come after we let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul For the Son of man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Well sirs you that are all for Getting and for wealth judge now if you have not lost your Reason whether a Holy or unholy â— Heavenly or an Earthly life be the more Profitable way I would not draw you to any thing that you should lose by If I speak not for your Gain reject my words as contemptuously as you please But if I do then be not against your own commodity Will such silly Gain as the world affords you do so much with you as it doth and shall not the Heavenly inheritance do more shall all this stir be made in the world for that which you are ready to leave behind you and will you not lay up a Treasure in heaven where rust and moaths corrupt not and where you may live for ever Matth. 6. 20. What profit now have all those millions of souls that are gone from earth by all the wealth they here possessed Hear sinners and bethink you in the name of God You are leaving Earth and stepping into Eternity and where then should you lay up your Riches Would you rather have your Portion where you must stay but a few days then where you must
dwell for ever O Labour not for the meat that perisheth in comparison of that which endureth to everlasting life which Christ will give you if you will follow him Job 6. 27. Make you friends of this wealth that the world abuseth to unrighteousness that when all fails below you may be received into the everlasting habitations Luk. 16. 9. Make not your selves a Treasure of corruptible riches and set not your heart on Gold and Silver lest the rust of it be a witness against you and eate your flesh as it were fire and lest yee heap up another kind of treasure then you dream of against the last days How many of you have cause to weep and howl for your approaching miseries even then when you are glorying in your prosperity Jam. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. Are you for Commodity Refuse not then the best Commodity Be not enemies to them or to those holy motions that make for your everlasting Profit Take but the Gainfullest 〈…〉 selves and we are pleased If you know 〈…〉 then God and Glory and any riches that will endure any longer then Eternity why do you not shew it us that we may joyn with you But if you do not why will you not hearken to the servants of the Lord and joyâ— with them Wherefore saith the Lord do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eate ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness Encline your care come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you Isa 55. 2 3. If there be not more to be Gotten by Christ and by prayer and by the promises and a holy life then there is by sin or then there is by all your friends or lands or trades or care or labour here then take your course and turn your back on God and spare not But if you are ashamed to say so be ashamed to think so or to live so Verily sirs if the Gospel be true you must be every man of you Saints or Miserable Holiness is the only thriving way Yea the only Saving way If you forsake this way you are 〈…〉 while you are Gaining and Losing by your Gains You 〈…〉 making Achans bargain that by his Gold did purchase a â—corm of stones that dasht out his brains Josh 7. You are running after Gehezie's gains that thought he had got Riches and it proved a Leprosie You are trading with the Devil though you see him not and will not believe it even as certainly as the miserable witches that sell him their souls for a few fair promises and when they have done have the miserablest life of any You are laying up but Judas's treasures which quickly grew too hot to hold and too heavy for his conscience to bear and he would fain rid his hands of it if he knew how and because he cannot he hangs himself and rids himself out of the ashes into the flames O covet not such undoing gains which you all know as sure as you breath that you must let go Believe but your Redeemer and you shall know that there are greater and better things before you Gather not stones when you may be gathering pearls Hear me poor sinner If God and Heaven if Grace and Glory seem not better Riches then 〈…〉 world thou judgest thy self to have no part in them CHAP. IX Holiness is the most Honourable Way WE are resolved if Scripture and Reason can resolve us that Godliness is the Safest the Honestest and the Gainfullest course I shall next shew you that it is the Most Honourable course I know the world thinks otherwise of it In most places it is a matter of reproach to be but serious and diligent in Gods service And though in this place and at this time through the great mercy of God it is not so with us unless it be with here and there a sottish drunkard yet there are too few places that are so much freed from this plague And it is not yet I fear forgotten of God since the very practice of a Godly life was a matter of greater scorn and derision then to have been the prophanest swearer or drunkard If a man would not have gone to the Ale house with them nor sworn or spoke prophanely as 〈…〉 did and if he made any serious mention of the Scripture â—â—â—â— life to come if he reproved any gross offendor if he prayed and instructed his family and spent the Lords Day in holy exercises this was enough to brand him with the name of Puritan or Precisian and make him the common by-word of the town and let him be never so conformable to Bishops and Ceremonies if once he went under the name of a Puritan he was looks upon as Lot in Sodom by the open enemies of Piety who insulted over them and lived securely in open wickedness This is the chiefest sin that God hath been scourging this nation for if I am able to understand his judgements I know men are apt to interpret providences according to their own interests and conceits But I take the help of the Scripture and the experience of former ages for my interpretation and I am verily perswaded not excluding other sins that the great sin for which God hath plagued England by a sharp and bloody war was the common scorn that was cast upon his service it being made the derision of too many in the land I never came into any place where meâ—er serious diligence for salvation was not branded with the name of Puritanism and too much Preciseness and those that abstained from iniquity were as Owles among their neighbours even the very wonder and the reproach of those about them When this is made a Principle that all must hold that ever hope to be accepted with the Lord in Heb. 11 6. that he is a Rewarder of them that Diligently seek him This is the next point in our faith to the Believing that there is a God And yet among us that called our selves Christians the Diligent seeking of the Lord was so far from being thus esteemed of that it was the surest way to make a man contemptible and odious unto many The jealous God did long endure this horrible indignity but would not still endure it from us Must he make a Holy Law for the Government of the world and shall the obeying of it be derided Is he our Soveraign Lord having by Creation and Redemption the right of Ruling us and shall we scorn them that will be Ruled by him Those that will not have Christ rule over them will surely be destroyed Luk. 19. 27. and shall those escape that scorn his service Holiness is the Image of God and unholiness the Devils image And when the Image of God is made a scorn and the Devils image had in honour and that by them that call themselves Christians was it not time
more certainly of the Invisible things then any Saints or Angels can tell them Why should not this I say be sweeter to them then all the fleshly pleasures in the world O that I could know more of God and more of the mystery of Redemption even of an obedient crucified glorified Christ and more of the invisible world and of the blessed state of souls on condition I left all the Pleasures of this world to sensual men O that I had more clear and firm apprehensions of these transcendent glorious things How easily could I spare the Pleasures of the flesh and leave those husks to swine to feed on O could my Soul get nearer God and be more irradiated with his heavenly beams my mind would need no other recreation and I should as little relish carnal Pleasures as carnal minds do relish the heavenly delights As earthly things are poor and low so is the knowledge of them As things spiritual and heavenly are High and Glorious mysterious and profound the knowledge of them is accordingly Delighful And without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glory 1 Tim. 3. 16. Faith is the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. It is far pleasanter by faith to see the Lord thâ—… to see any Creature by the eye of flesh and sweeter â—y faith to see Heaven opened and there behold our Glorified Lord then to see a horse-race or stage-play or any of the folleries of the world 2. The knowledge of things to Come is specially desired and Godliness containeth that Faith which knoweth things to come How glad would men be to be told what shall besall them to the last hour of their lives The woman of Samaria Joh. 4. called out her neighbours with admiration to see Christ as one that had told her all that shee had done But if he had told her all that ever she would do for the time to come and all that ever should befall her it might have astonished her much more Believers know what hath been even before the world was made and how it was made and what hath been since then and they know what will be to all eternity A true Believer knows from Scripture whither mens Souls go after death and how their Bodies shall be raised again and how Christ will come to Judge the world and who shall then be justified and who shall be condemned and what shall be the case of the godly and the ungodly to all eternity And is it not more pleasant to know these things then to possess all the vain delights of the earth Can the flesh afford you any thing so delightful 3. Especially it is desireable and Pleasant to Know those things that most concern us Needless speculations and curiosities we can spare There is a Knowledge that brings more pain then pleasure Yea there is a Knowledge that will torment But to know our own affairs our greatest and most necessary affairs to know our threatened misery to prevent it and to know our offered Happiness to obtain it to know our Portion our Honour our God what can be more Pleasant to the mind of man Other mens matters we can pass by But to Know such things concerning our own souls as what we must be and do for ever and what course we must take to be everlastingly happy must needs be a feast to the mind of a wise man Ask but a soul that is haunted with temptations to unbelif whether any thing would be more welcome to him then the clear and satisfying apprehensions of a lively faith Ask one that lyeth in tears or groans through the feeling of their sin and the fears of the wrath of God and doubtings of his love whether the satisfying Knowledge of pardon and reconciliation and divine acceptance would not be more pleasant to them then any of your merriments can be to you Ask that poor soul that hath lost the apprehension of his Evidences of grace and walks in darkness and hath no light that seeks and cryes and perceives no hearing whether the discovery of his Evidences the assurance that his Prayers are accepted and the light of Gods countenance shining on him would not be Better to him then any Recreation or any Pleasure the earth affords Ask any man at the hour of death that is not a block Whether now the Knowledge of his salvation would not be Better and more Pleasnt to him then all the lust or sport or honours of the world 4. The Knowledge of the Best and Joyfullest matters must be the Best and Pleasantest Knowledge And nothing can be Better then God and Glory Nothing can be sweeter then salvation and therefore this must be the sweetest Knowledge I had rather have the pleasure of one hours clear and lively Knowledge of my salvation and of the special Love of God then to be exalted above the greatest Prince and to have all the Pleasures that my senses can desire The Delights of the flesh are base and brutish and nothing to the spiritual Heavenly Delights of the renewed mind 5. The manner of our Holy Knowledge maketh it more Delightful 1 It is a Certain and Infallible Knowledge It is not a may be or bare possibility It is not It is possible there may be a Heaven and Happiness hereafter But it is as true as the Word of God is true We have his own hand and seal and earnest for it Even his precious promises and oath confirmed by miracles and fulfilled-prophecy and bearing his own image and superscription and shining to us by its own light We have in our hearts the spirit which is Gods earnest by which we are sealed up to the day of our final full redemption And if the soul yet stagger at the promise of God through the remnants of unbelief that shall not make the promise of God of none effect but his foundation shall still stand sure His word shall not pass till all be fulfilled though heaven and earth shall pass away A message by one that were sent to us from the dead were not more credible then the Word of God And this Certainty of Holy Faith and Knowledge is a very great contentment to the soul When the Glory of the Saints is a thing as sure as if we saw it with our eyes and as sure as these things which we daily see it is a great pleasure to the soul when it can but apprehend this joyful Certainty 2. And that there is a certain easiness and plainness in the great and necessary points of faith as to the manner of Revelation doth add much to Faith's Satisfaction and Delight The points that life and death lie on are not left so obscure as might perplex us lest we did not know the meaning of them But they are so plain that he that runs may read them and the simple
your idle games or in spending the Lords day in idleness or sports as we have in the holy works of God Do you think our Delight is not more then yours To our shame but to the praise of God we must say that we have tryed both ways We know what it is to play away much of the Lords day and what it is to imploy it in waiting on the Lord. But since we knew the later we wish we had never known the former That 's our recreation which is your toile and that would be our prison and stocks and toile which is your sport and recreation 6. Another Delightful portion of our work is Holy Conference with the experienced servant of the Lord. There are many things considerable in holy conference that maketh it delightful 1. It is the conference of dearest friends the special Love that all the Godly have to one another doth exceedingly sweeten their communion The very presence of those that we most dearly love is a pleasure to us Much more their sweetest edifying discourse 2. Their conference proceedeth from the spirit of grace and therefore is gracious savouring of that spirit and all the breathings and manifestations of that blessed spirit are very acceptable to those that have the spirit themselves and so can savour spiritual things 3 Their conference is about the highest the most necessary the most excellent things About the most Blessed God and his several Attributes his will and works of Creation and disposing-Providence of nature and Grace about the wonderful mysteries of Redemption the person life and sufferings of the Redeemer his Offices and the performance of them on earth and in Heaven in his Humiliation and his Exaltation and of the sweet Relations that we and all his Church do stand in to Christ our Head our Saviour and Redeemer as also about the gracious workings of the Holy Ghost in first begetting and increase of holiness To open to each other the powerful workings of that Grace that hath raised them above all the creatures and brought them to a contempt of earthly glory and set their hearts on the invisible God and on eternal things that hath renewed them in the inner man and made them hate the things they loved and mortified their oldest strongest sins and quickned them in the exercise of every grace all this is edifying sweet discourse to gracious souls 4. And the rather because it is about the most pertinent affairs They are things that do so neerly concern us that we are glad to speak with those that understand them It is our own case which we hear our brethren open They speak our very hearts as if they had seen them because it is the same work of the same spirit that they describe Yea when they complain of their Infirmities it is with our complaints and they tell us of that which we are troubled with our selves and we perceive that we are not singular in our troubles but that our case is the case of other servants of the Lord. 5. And it is the more pleasant to converse with the Godly because they speak not by hearsay only but by experience They tell us of the discoveries that illuminating grace hath made to their own souls and of the many evils they have been saved from and the communion they have had with God and the prayers which he hath heard and the many and great deliverances he hath granted them They relate their conflicts with temptations and their conquests their strivings against their ancient lusts and how they have overcome them and the sweet refreshings which their souls have had in the exercise of Love and faith and hope They can dive into the Ocean of mercy and speak of the abundant kindness of the Lord and earnestly awaken and invite each other to praise him for his Goodness and to declare his wonderous works for the children of men They can direct each other in their difficulties and encourage each other in holy ways and strengthen one another in holy resolutions and comfort one another with the same comforts that they themselves have been comforted with by the Lord And may not our hearts rejoyce and burn within us while we discourse of such important things as these in such a serious experimental edifying manner They can discourse together of their meeting before the throne of Christ and of the blessed converse which they shall have in Heaven with the Lord himself and with the holy Angels and where they shall be and what they shall do to all eternity in the presence of God where is fulness of joy and before him where are the eternal pleasures O Christians did not your graces languish by your own neglects and your souls grow out of relish with these spiritual and most excellent things your speeches of them would be more savoury you would be more frequent lively and cheerful in your discourse of holy things and then your converse would be more edifying and delightful to each other We shew so little of Grace in our conference that makes it to be but little different from other mens And which is the commonest case and very doleful we most of us remain so ignorant and imprudent that we marr holy conference by our mixtures of unwise expressions and disgrace it to others by our injudicious weakness This is the bane of Christian discourse even the want of holy skill and wisdom and of understanding to speak of the things of God according to their transcendent worth and weight as much and more then the want of zeal But if we could discourse of these holy matters aright with wisdom and with seriousness how sweet how fruitful would the company of holy persons be We should be still among them as in the family of God and should hear that which our souls do most defire to hear and we should preach to one another the riches of grace in our familiar discourse and souls might be converted by the conference of Believers and not all left to the publike ministry Every man would be a helper to his neighbour For the tongue of the just is as choice silver though the heart of the wicked is little worth the lips of the righteous feed many but fools die for want of wisdom Prov. 10. 20 21. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge Prov. 15. 7. Righteous lips are the delight of Kings Prov. 16. 13. and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning v. 21. The lips of Knowledge are a precious Jewel Prov. 20. 15. A mans belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled Prov. 18. 20. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgement the Law of his God is in his heart Psal 37. 30 31. Tell me I beseech you you that can be so merry in an Ale-house or in any vain and idle company why should you think that it is not to us a
our Comforter And if that be not a pleasant life that is managed by such a Guide and that be not likest to be a joyful soul that is possest by the Spirit of joy it self there is no joy then on earth to be expected Hath God promised his Spirit to comfort you that are wicked in your sin No it is the malicious deceiving spirit that is your Comforter that by his comforts he might keep you from solid spiritual everlasting comforts But the Repenting Believing soul that is united unto Christ and hath already had the spirit for his conversion it is he that hath the promise of the spirit for his consolation And if that be not the most comfortable life where the God of Heaven becomes the comforter we cannot then know the effect by the cause If Life it self will quicken if light it self will illuminate the comforting spirit will certainly comfort in the degree and season as God seeth meet and the soul is fitted to receive it 4. Moreover we have the whole treasurie of the Gospel to go to for our Delight And little doth the sensual unbelieving soul know what sweetness what supporting pleasures may be from thence derived I had rather have the holy word of God to go to for contents then the treasures of the rich or the pleasures of the sensual or the flatteries and vain glory of the ambitious man All that the world doth make such a pudder about which they ride and run for which they so much glory in will never afford them so much Content as one Scripture promise will do to a truly faithful soul I must profess before Angels and men that I had rather have one Promise of the Love of God and the life to come which is contained in the holy Scriptures then to have all the riches pleasures and honours of this world My God this was my Covenant with thee and to this I stand O blessed be the Lord that hath provided us such a Magazine of Delight as is this heavenly sacred Book The Precepts appoint us a pleasant work The strictest prohibitions do but restrain us from our own calamities and keep out of our hands the knife by which we would cut our fingers The severest threatnings do but deterre us from running into the consuming fire and hedge about the devouring gulf lest we should foolishly cast our selves therein And these are the bitterest parts of that holy word But when we read the promises of a Saviour and the wonderful history of his Incarnation and of his holy self-denying life his conquests miracles death resurrection ascension intercession and his promise to return when we read of the foundation which he hath laid and the building which he intends to finish of his rich abundant promises to his chosen what provision do we find for our abundant joys No strait can be so great no pressure so grievous no enemies so strong but we have full consolation offered us in the promises against them all We have promises of the pardon of all our sins and promises of heaven it self and what can we have more we have promises suited to every state both prosperity and adversity What do we need which we have not a promise of And the word of God is no deceit What but a promise can comfort them that are short of the possession May I not have more joy in sickness with a promise then the ungodly without a promise in their health A promise in prison sets a man as at liberty A promise in Poverty is more then riches A promise at death is better then life What I have a promise of I may be sure of but what you possess without a promise you may lose and your souls and hopes with it this night There is no condition on earth so hard to a man that hath interest in the promises in which he may not have plentiful relief We live by faith and not by sense And we reckon more on that as ours which we hope for then which we do possess We are sure that there is no true felicity on earth It then we have a promise of Heaven when Infidels lie down in the dust with desperation have we not a more comfortable life then they 5. Moreover we have Heaven it self to fetch our comfort from Not Heaven in sight or in Possession but Heaven in Promise and seen by faith And if Heaven will not afford us pleasure whence shall we expect it Even sensual men can rejoyce as well in what they see not if they are assured it is theirs as in what they see And why then may not Believers do so much more A worldling when he seeth not his money in his chest or at use or his lands and cattel that are far from him can yet rejoyce in them as if he saw them And should not we rejoyce in the certain Hopes of Heaven though yet we see it not when I am pained in sickness and role in restless weariness of my flesh if then I can say I shall be in Heaven may it not be the inward rejoycing of my soul You know where you are but you know not where you shall be The Believer knoweth where he shall be as truly as he knoweth where he is unless it be one that by his frailty hath not reacht unto assurance who yet hath reached unto Hope What great matter is it if I lay in greatest pain if I can say I shall have everlasting ease in Heaven Or if I lay in prison or in sordid poverty and can say I shall shortly be with Christ Or if I had lost the love of all men and could say that I shall everlastingly enjoy the Love of God Most of your comforts do come in by the way of your thoughts And what Thoughts should so rejoyce the soul as the thoughts of our abode with Christ for ever If a day in the Courts of God be so delightful what is ten thousand millions of ages in the Court of Glory and all then as fresh as at the first day There it is that our sin will be put off Our carnal enmity laid by our temptations will be over our enemies will all have done our fears and sorrows will be at an end Our desires will be accomplished Our differences be reconciled Our charity perfected and our expectations fully satisfied and Hope turned into full fruition O may I but be able with stronger faith and fuller confidence to say that Heaven is mine and when this tabernacle is dissolved I shall be with Christ my life and my death will be delightful and I need not complain for want of pleasure Let who will take the pleasures of the flesh may I but have this In prayer in meditation in holy conference in every duty it is the expectation of approaching blessedness that drops in sweetness into all No wonder if it can sweeten a course of duty when it can make light the greatest sufferings and turn pain into pleasure