to beg mercy 4. He is as it were dumb and speechlesse before God And now our God what shall we say after all this for we haue forsaken thy commandements verse 10. Shall I excuse the matter alas it is inexcusable What shall we say after all this Shall we call for thy patience Wee had it and yet were little the better Shall we call for mercy Why we had it and yet our stubborn hearts would not come down I know not what to say for our selves for we have sinned against thee 5. He declares Gods truth that he had warned them by his Prophets vers 11 12. but no warning can better us 6. He shews how God had punished them yet they would not be humbled for all that God had brought upon them lesse evils than they deserved and wrought deliverance for them wich they could not have expected What shall we say should we for all this break thy commandements verse 13 14. What can we expect but hell and confusion 7. He is sensible of Gods Judgements and righteousnesse O Lord thou art righteous as if he should say How canst thou spare us for this sinne How can it stand with thy righteousnesse How is it that such hell-hounds as we are should live above ground when thou art so righteous a God It is a wonder that the earth opens not her mouth for to swallow us up quick for O Lord thou art righteous 8. He layes down his soul and all the peoples souls at Gods feet as if he should say here we be thou maist damn us if thou wilt Behold we are all here before thee in our trespasses for we cannot stand before thee because of this verse 15. Behold here are we rebels we are here are our heads and our throats before thee if now thou shouldst take us from our knees unto hell and from our prayers unto damnation we cannot ask thee why thou doest so Oh it 's mercy it 's mercy indeed that we have been spared Thus Meditation must bring our hearts before God and there complain against them before heaven Meditation should deal with the heart as the Father did with his possessed child who carried him to Christ saying Master my child is possessed THE DANGER Of Deferring REPENTANCE DISCOVERED In a SERMON preached at Maidstone in Kent By that Reverend and Faithfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B. D. Sometimes Fellow of ` Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Pastor of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford A SERMON OF M. WILLIAM FENNERS at Maidstone PROVERBS 1. 28. Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me THere is a good English Proverb among us that he that neglects the occasion the occasion will neglect him Solomon wisely begins his Proverbs with it for he bringeth in the wisdome of his Father in these five particulars First making a generall Proclamation in the 20. verse Wisdome crieth without she uttereth her voice in the streets He compareth God unto a Cryer going up and down the City from street to street and from door to door crying his commodity even the richest that ever was which is a Christ a Christ for redemption a Christ for sanctification a Christ to enlighten those that walk in darknesse and in the shadow of death Ho every one that thirsteth here is a Christ for you Secondly here is a mercifull reprehension in the 22 verse O ye foolish how long will ye love foolishnesse and ye scorners take pleasure in scorning Foolish indeed to be without Christ foolish to be without grace foolish to chafer away our souls for sin How long ye scorners will ye take pleasure in scorning will you still persist in your wickednesse and never have done with your sins will you never turn back again but damn your souls for ever O ye foolish how long will ye love foolishnesse Thirdly here is a gracious exhortation in the 23. verse turn you at my correction lo I will pour out my mind unto you and make you to understand my words As if he should say Do you not see how you are going a pace to confusion and that the way you take leadeth unto destruction turn ye therefore turn ye back again for there is a Christ behind you O turn ye for if ye go on in your sins you perish for ever Fourthly here is a yearning promise made unto the world in the end of the 23. verse Lo I will pour out my spirit unto you and cause you to understand my words As if he should say Return back again with me and you shall have better welcome than you can possibly have if you go on in your sins the Devil will never let you gain so much by your living in your lusts as you shall do by repentance for them and forsaking of them For behold I will prour out my spirit upon you whereby you shall be farr greater gainers than you shall be by your sins Fifthly here is a gratious threatning against the world even all those that have loytered out the day of grace As time and tyde will stay for no man no more doth the day of grace Because I have called and you refused I have exhorted but you have not regarded I have denounced judgements against you for your sins but you have hardened your hearts now a day of woe and misery shall come upon you a time of vengeance and desolation shall over take you there will a day come wherein there will be weeping and crying Mercy Lord mercy but I tell you beforehand what you shall trust to let this be your lesson now I call and you will not hear now I stretch out my hands but you will not regard you shall seek me early but you shall not find me and shall cry but you shall not be heard The words are underclapt against all those that procrastinate their repentance and returning home unto God wherein note first the parties them selves that do prolong this day of grace they that is they who when God cals on them will not hear when God invites them by his mercies patience and forbearance by his Ministers and servants by his corrections and judgement by all fair means and foul means yet withstand the means of grace they are the men they shall call but God will not answer Secondly here is their seeking after God they shall call upon me Thirdly here is their earnest and diligent seeking after God they shall not only call but seek too and not only seek but seek as to labour to find nay they shall seek me early even strive to go about it with all haste and flye to repentance but they shall not find me Fourthly here is the unseasonablenesse of the time of their seeking then that is a demonstrative then even a time which the Lord appoints at as if he should say you shall see then these men will be of another mind
but as he is a man corrupt by nature with sinne but Christ begets as he is God and therefore as he is without sinne in himselfe so he never begets any but by an eternall spirit and therefore they cannot but be like him Be ye followers of God as dear children Ephes 5. 1. The Apostle grounds his exhortation upon a necessity in grace Consider if you be the children of God it can be no otherwise but you must be followers of Christ as dear children The begetter communicates himselfe to the begotten if the begetter be flesh he begetteth flesh so Adam begot a sonne after his own likenesse That that is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. and is of a fleshly nature That that is borne of the spirit is spirit If we are begotten again by the Spirit of God then are we spiritualized of God so that a man cannot be in Christ unlesse he be the child of Christ and walke as Christ walked Christ was perfect Christ was mercifull be you so saith Christ Matth. 5. Be you perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect as if he should say you cannot be the children of your Heavenly Father unlesse you be perfect as he is perfect mercifull as he is mercifull holy as he is holy righteous as he is righteous walke as he walked Is it so that all that are in Christ walke as Christ walked then all wicked men blaspheme the name of Christ that do not live the life of the Lord Jesus These blaspheme the holy and sacred name of Christ Oh saith one I hope I am a Christian yet the man is a drunkard or a whoremaster or a gamester or a worldling a proud man a covetous man What was Christ a drunkard was Christ a whoremaster was Christ a gamester a worldling proud covetous it were blasphemy for any to say so of Christ and it is also blasphemy for thee who walkest not after the Gospell to say thou art a Christian As I am a Christian saith another yet the man is a filthy speaker Was Christ such a one a swearer c. Thou blasphemest the name of Christ I hope we are all Christians saith a third and yet they are men that live in security and prophanesse What was there security in Christ was prophanesse in Christ Oh what blasphemie is it for thee to stile thy self by the Name of Christ to say thou art in Christ Revel 2. 9. saith Christ I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not that say they are the children of Abraham but doe not the workes of Abraham If a man did blaspheme God to stile himselfe a Jew or a child of Abraham that did not the workes of Abraham what blasphemy then is it for thee to say thou art a Christian and yet dost not the workes of Christ could not a man take the name of Abraham but he did blaspheme unlesse he did the workes of Abraham how then durst thou take the name of Christ upon thee and not doe the workes of Christ not walk as Christ walked Beloved is any man a Christian he hath holinesse engraven in his forehead to the Lord in his heart in his thoughts in his words and in all his wayes he is one that gaspeth after holinesse Art thou a Christian of all sinnes under Heaven God cannot endure the sinnes of a Christian that hath the name of Christ put upon him When Gods materiall temple was defiled by buyers and sellers Christ whippes them out and after told them that the dayes would come wherein there should not be left of it one stone upon another God would not endure the Temple because it was dedicated to his name called his house when it was made a den of theeves Doth God care so much for stocks and stones that are dedicated to his Name will he not endure an unholy stone and will he endure an unholy Christian Thou that art dedicated unto God and unto his service thou that art dedicated to prayer to hearing thou that art dedicated to an holy conversation thou that art called the Temple of God and the House of God wilt thou make it a den of theeves a denne of vain thoughts a denne of wicked words of dead and ungodly workes wilt thou defile the Temple of the Lord then know the Lord will not let one stone lie upon another but will cast thee down and damne thee body and soule in hell for ever Thou sayest thou art a Christian how so thou saiest thou wast christened thy condemnation is the heavier if thou saiest thou hast been baptized into the Name of Christ and hast not put on Christ Examine thy self hast thou put on Christ otherwise it is no matter for thy baptism Can I say that man hath put on his cloths that hath not a ragge on his back nor a shooe on his foote nor a hatte to his head nor a ring on his finger so when there is never a Christ in thy thoughts never a Christ in thy speech and conference never a Christ in thy walke never a Christ in thy calling in thy buying and selling never a Christ shining forth in thy life and conversation canst thou say thou hast put on the Lord Christ Can any man say that a beggar hath put on Royall robes when he hath nothing but ragges and patches upon him so if I see a man with ragged thoughts of the world with ragged speeches of the flesh and a ragged course and conversation according to the course and conversation of the world I can never say that such an one hath put on the Lord Jesus Christ Dost thou say thou hast put on Christ why then shew me the signs of Christ in thee Shall I see it by thine apparell it may be that is garish Shall I see it by thy speech and conference it may be that is earthly and carnall Shall I see it by thy thoughts it may be they are vaine sinfull and worldly Shall I see it by thy company it may be they are wicked and gracelesse Shall I see it in thy course and conversation it may be that is loose and prophane How canst thou then demonstrate that thou art a Christian it may be now and then thou wilt give a praier unto Christ turne up the white of thine eye to Christ it may be thou wilt look into the Church and lend an eare to Christ in his word Is this to be in Christ if thou be in Christ then thou must live the life of Christ in all thy wayes The life of a man is a continued thing A man is not alive at his dinner and dead when he hath done alive at his work and dead when his work is done so it is not enough for thee to prove that thou art in Christ that thou art alive at prayer or at preaching life is a continued thing thou must be alive after prayer as well as before alive after Sermon as whilest thou art at it if thou hast
all punishments then this may make their haire to stand upright upon their heads That God whom thou hatest is the punisher of thee even he whose Sonne thou despisest and whose Sabbaths thou prophanest He is able if his wrath be kindled to consume thee in a moment Oh if thou haddest not an adamant heart this would daunt it and dissolve it into teares of bloud God will infinitely punish thee who is a consuming fire but if thou wilt not be daunted there is nothing but fearfull looking for of fire and brimstone for ever in hell When God punisheth his children it is in mercy but to the wicked his wrath is in their punishments and his Judgements are in anger and great wrath and therefore when he punisheth thee thou maiest say A just Judge brandeth me in the hand Is it so Then when Calamities come let us not so much stand upon men or upon the help of them but let us look to God as David did it may be the Lord sent Shimei to raily on me 2 Sam. 16. 10. and so did Job the Lord gives and the Lord hath taken away Iob 21. 12. The Caldeans did it but they were Gods Instruments We should not do as dogs that gnaw the stones that are throwne at them God takes stones as it were and throweth them upon mens heads and sometimes whips them by wicked men Now the wicked are but Gods rod and when he hath scourged thee he will cast the rod into the fire Therefore goe unto the Lord make peace with him and he will remove it The wicked I confesse are in fault but God is the Author of all and he will deliver you in his good time Secondly wherefore will God deale thus with Israel because they have sinned with a rebellious spirit not by infirmity but in disobedience Whence you may learne this point of Instruction That sinne and disobedience against Gods Law is that which brings down punishments and judgements upon a Nation or a people or Church All Sin in generall is the brooder and hatcher of all judgements and the very spawne of all punishments Ah this sinne and disobedience and willfull rebellion against God it will bring sword and famine amongst us and let in the enemy and send out God from amongst us and stop the mouthes of his Ministers and break off the Parliament A more particular cause why God sends punishments amongst us is this because Kings will not be subject to the Lawes of God and Queens will doe what they list when Bishops and all people will have elbow room to doe that which seems good in their own eyes as giving toleration for the prophanation of Gods Sabbaths that the people may dishonour the Lord and runne headlong to hell this and such like sets up wickednesse and brings the wrath of God upon us and his vengeance upon our Land and Kingdome when thus sinne gets the upper hand and day of the word for which I cannot chuse but pitty our poor Land neither could you do lesse if your hearts were not as hard as an adamant and your eyes glued together Ah poore Nation now thou liest a bleeding and drawing to an end and the bell now tolls for this Nation and the Lord is a going from this Land and her punishments and judgements are comming on apace so that all Nations may say Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto this Land what meaneth the heate of his anger then shall men say they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers and served other Gods Judges 4. 2. When they forgat the Lord their God then he sold them into the hand of Iabin King of Canaan this was the ground why the Lord drowned the old world Genes 6. 12. because they had corrupted all their waies this was the cause why the Lord burned Sodome and Gomorrah with wild-fire from heaven this was the cause the Lord destroyed Ierusalem forty years after Christ because they would have none of the offers of Christ and of grace and mercic And thus much for proof Good Lord what a poor weake Land have we if sinne and rebellion be the cause of all punishments then in what a poor case is England how weake are we our hearts may shake within us and our knees may knock together to consider of it having so many sinnes of all sorts of all degrees and committed with so high a hand and in most fearfull manner We are sick from the Crowne of the head to the soale of the feete there is no soundnesse in us we are sicke in head sick in heart sicke in stomack we have had peace and that hath surfeited us and now we have gotten the pleurisie and nothing but letting of bloud will cure us God grant the Lord let us blood in our hearts also God must purge and physick us and fetch out the drosse which we have gathered by our disobedience If sin and rebellion will doe it we have given God cause enough so to plague us Is it so Then we see who are the greatest traytors in the kingdome and what they are that pull down punishments upon a Kingdome they are disobedient rebells and traytors full of sinne I protest the greatest traytors our land hath this day are the prophaners of Gods Sabbaths and such as do give liberty to prophane them and to swear and be drunke these are the plague sores of this Kingdome and bring down heavie jugements upon us yea of what place or dignity soever they be It is not onely poor drunkards but silver and velvet-Coat drunkards even the Lordly men of this kingdom who give liberty to sin for the greater are the men the greater are their sins they are the most dangerous even as great Cut-purses doe more harm then little ones for as Haman was hanged before the Jews saw good daies and the seven sons of Saul were slain before they could have any peace in Israel so while these rebells be not hanged what peace can be expected while Ionah was in the ship there could be no quietness so whilst these rebells and vile wretches live and have favour and are respected and goe on stil unpunished they are in the land as Ionah was in the shippe and so long there can be no quietnesse in the land One Achan did plague a whole land but here are many Aehans in this land Oh poor land thou art wonderfully laden by every ungodly person both in Country and City O let us beg of God that the wicked may be removed out of the land or that God would turne their hearts Is it so that sinne is the brooder of all punishments O then let it teach every one of us to set heart and hand and all to work to joyne all our forces of prayers and tears against these enemies and labour for the reformation of these When Jonas was in the ship the Marriners came about him and asked him from whence comest thou So if