and as Children can't go alone without me saies Christ you can do nothing Joh. 15.5 You are apt to be comfortless Children and 't is He that hath said Isa 51.12 I even I am He that comforteth you Learn to know your own state and carry it accordingly Hast thou Grace Improve it preserve it and make the best of it but never count you have enough to last you till you come home you must to the Breasts every day you must to Christ for your daily Bread or you will quickly starve Hast thou a little strength strength for Duty Improve it to the utmost be diligent and busie in the work of the Lord in every good work in Hearing and Praying and Watching and striving against sin in mortifying the Flesh in helping and strengthning one another do what-ever you can be as active and stirring and industrious as possible but go not in your own strength trust not to the strength you have but let this be your hold which was the Apostles Phil. 4.13 I shall be able to do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah trust ye in the Lord Jesus for in him is everlasting strength Isa 26.4 Have ye comfort in your hearts Say not as the Psalmist Psal 30.5 I shall never be moved thou Lord of thy goodness hast made my Mountain so strong but know that you will need to fetch in fresh comforts as you have of daily supplies of strength Well thus this Trust will answer to these and all other the doubting questions that a Christian will have to put in his life-time whilst he lives in this Wilderness who will shew me my way who will sustain me in my way till I come to my Journeys end c. Christ will do it I trust He will 2. Case I have a Jordain to pass over I must dye who will bring me over Jordain who will stand by me in that hour He is an established Christian who is able to dye who can say with the Apostle To me to live is Christ to dye is gain none of these things move me I am ready to be offered up I desire to depart and to be with Christ Then is the Life of Jesus most signally manifested in our mortal Flesh when we can by Faith tryumph over mortality But as for me I am afraid to dye I am one of their weakly souls who for fear of death are all their life-time subject to Bondage I walk unevenly and uncomelily because upon this account I walk so uncomfortably How may I out-grow my fears and come to a settlement How shall I do to dye If I could dye I could live to better purpose than now I do or can What shall I have to comfort me Whom shall I have to stand by me in that hour Trust answers why Christ will stand by me He that hath taught me to live will I trust help me to dye He hath conquer'd Death he hath disarm'd and pluck'd out the sting of Death He hath broken the head of that Leviathan 'T was He that said Hos 13.14 O Death I will be thy death O Grave I will be thy destruction He hath said it and He hath done it He himself hath passed over that Jordain and hath thereby made a way for his Ransomed to pass over He will send his Angels to conduct me through that shady and dismal passage He knows what it is to dye how hard the conflict is with the last Enemy and what special need I shall have of his help in that hour and therefore hath said I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 If I can but hold me by him while I live I will hang upon him when I dye and with Confidence say with the Psalmist Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the Valley of tâ—e shaddow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me He hath said Joh. 11.25 Whoever liveth and believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live He hath said Rev. 20.6 Blessed is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on him the second death shall have no power Come on therefore O my soul fear not to lanch forth into the deep trust in Christ He that hath delivered and doth deliver will also deliver in that day from death he will not deliver it 's appointed to all once to dye there 's no repealing that Statute but He will deliver in death He will by death deliver me from all my fears and sorrows Who of all His ever miscarryed in death Look to this that thou be one of His hold thee by Him cleave to Him follow Him while thou livest be faithful to Him to the death and trust to Him He will be faithful to thee in death 3. Case I have an Inheritance which I hope for in the Land of Promise And here the question will be Who shall give me entrance who shall give me possession of mine Inheritance There is a great Gulf fixed betwixt me and Glory there is a Judgment that I must pass through in my entrance into the Rest of God and in that Judgment I must pass under a strict and severe examination and give an account of my self and of all my ways unto God O how shall I stand in the Judgments or who shall stand by me I am a Sinner a guilty soul before the Lord and mine Iniquities are all marked before Him Once I was an Enemy to Christ and how much hath he against me for that time Since I became his Servant and Solemnly Covenanted and Vowed my self to Him Vowed Repentance Vowed Obedience Vowed Holiness to him O what a Servant have I been What an idle and sloathful Servant What a barren and unprofitable Servant He hath made me his Child but O what a wanton unruly froward Child have I been How often have I turn'd aside from him and serv'd my Flesh and this present World O my Pride and Hypocrisie O my trifling and my haltings after the Lord O the reproaches that have fallen upon his Name by my unworthy uneven and uncomely walking before him How shall I answer for this in the Judgment or who shall answer for me Who shall stop the Mouth of my Accuser in that day Christ I trust will do it I put my whole Cause into his Hand He shall be my Advocate against my Accuser whom I will trust to plead for me He hath his Stripes and his Wounds He hath his Blood and his Death to answer for me It is Christ that dyed who shall condemn Rom. 8.34 But what shall I have to confirm my trust in Christ and to secure me that he will answer for me There be many that lay claim to Christ amongst the Unbelievers the workers of Iniquity they will put their trust in Christ and will call to him Lord Lord open to me Mat. 7.22 23. Lord Lord answer for me to whom he will say Away from me I know you not I will not
he reveals his good will and good liking of them and lets them know that they are accepted with him when he is their Friend and lets them have the countenance of their Friend towards them when he is their Father and causes them to feel the Bowels of their Father the Compassions and Kindnesses of their Father and hereby makes them to joy in his Love and to rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God This is Blessedness indeed these are Blessed Ones whose God is thus their Lord. Blessed are the people who are in such a case blessed are the people whose God is the 〈◊〉 Ps 144.15 Christians you need not complain whatever you want if you have no bread in your houses no money in your purses no health in your Bodies no rest in your bones yet have you the Lord God in your hearts it is enough you are blessed Souls Sinners ye need not boast your selves and lift up your heads so high you have money in your purses you have friends in your houses you have health in your bodies you have marrow in your bones you can hardly tell what you lack that would please you and yet miserable souls are you all God is not in you and that to him that knows what it is is misery enough to blast all your comforts and your joys The Devil is where God is not Sin bears rule where God doth not and this is the upshot of your boasting and blessing and comforting of your selves this is all you can say matters of this World go well with me I can live a plentiful and pleasant and merry life the Sun shines on my Tabernacle I have the Wind on my side I am on the warm side of the Hedge I prosper I flourish in the Earth all things go well with me I have but this one thing to trouble me my Soul is in the hands of the Devil there 's nothing of God in me and where God is not there the Devil bears rule This if ye knew it is misery enough for you that whatever you have God is none of yours and this is happiness enough for the Saints that God is in them of a truth 2. Our happiness is that the Lord is among us that we have the visible tokens of his presence that the Ark of his presence is among us that we have his Statutes and his Ordinances and his Worship among us that the Doors of his House are open and the Glory of the Lord filleth his House that the Ordinances are among us and are not as a miscarrying Womb or dry Breasts but are fruitful to the propagating an Holy Seed bringing forth abundance of Children to the Lord and nursing up those that are to be fat and flourishing This was that Glory of the Lord which the Psalmist so thirsts and longs to see Ps 63.2 That I might see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary This was that happiness of the Church which was prophesied Is 60.2 c. The Lord shall arise upon thee and his Glory shall be seen in thee v. 4. Thy Sons shall come from far and thy Daughters shall be nursed up at thy side then shalt thou see and flow together and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged v. 8. Who are those that flee as a Cloud and as the Doves of the Windows v. 14 15. They shall call thee the City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel and I will make thee an everlasting Excellency a Joy of many Generations v. 21. Thy People shall be all righteous the Branch of my Planting the Work of my Hands that I may be glorified This you will acknowledge must needs be an happy time and all this is the fruit of the presence of the Lord among his People When the Glory of the Lord fills his House and the off-springs of the Lord are numerous and prosperous when the Golden Candlesticks are set up and the Son of man walks in the midst of his Candlesticks when there are not only here and there a flourishing Believer but when there are flourishing Churches flourishing companies of Believers when there are not only a throng of People crowding the Doors of the Lords House but a throng of Saints worshipping at his Feet and walking in the Name of the Lord Happy would such days be blessed are the People that are in such a case by the presence of the Lord among them Yea and every degree towards such a State is so far forth a degree of peoples happiness when the Lord gives his Prophets and Teachers and Ordinances and any freedom to attend upon them and any little success to the propagating of holiness and the sincere Professors of it This is a Token and a Fruit of the presence of God with them 'T is a mercy for people to enjoy their civil advantages fruitful times and seasons for the good things of the Earth plenty of Bread free and flourishing Trades freedom from Oppression c. These are Mercies but these may be where the Lord is not as to his gracious Presence 't is freedom and encouragement for Religion the plentiful raining down of Manna the bread that comes from Heaven and our thriving by our Bread 't is this that evidences that the Lord is among us 3. Our taking hold of God is our continuing this Presence of the Lord with us and preventing his departure where I shall shew 3 things 1. God may depart from a people with whom he hath been present 2. 'T is wo with that people from whom God departeth 3. This is to take hold of God to prevent his departure 1. God may depart from his People with whom he hath been present And that 1. From particular persons from whom he may then be said to depart 1. When he hides his Face from them 2. When he suspends the influences of his Grace 3. When he loosens the reins of Government 4. When he denies them the benefit of his protection 5. When he turns away his Heart from them and rejects them 1. When he hides his Face from them and withdraws the light of his Countenance Thus he withdrew from that precious Servant of his David Ps 30.7 Thou didst hide thy Face and I was troubled whom we find praying Ps 4.6 Lord lift up the light of thy Countenance upon me and Ps 51.12 Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit Gods Holy Ones may forget God may grow secure and careless and wanton Children and the Lord will not countenance the best of them in their sins If they forget God he finds a way to remember them of him by conveying himself out of their sight the clouds upon his Face the darkness upon their own Spirits make them remember the light which once they had and to look the better to it when the light returns 2. When he suspends the Influence of his Grace witholds his Spirit from them This
taken to give you the Symptoms or Signs by which you may know it their backslidings are so visible that they are manifest even to every eye The paleness of some of our faces the shortness of our breath the wasting of our strength the unwildiness and inability to labour and the listlesness thereto discovers how 't is with us O what weak and listless souls are some of us our flesh and our bodies strong and healthful but how weak are our hearts how short breath'd quickly tired with every little of duty and how pale and wan doth our outward man appear our very Vitals are perished and gone Friend thou hopest thou keepest thy stand but is it indeed with thee as it was wont to be Dost thou pray and hear and live and love and labour in the matters of God and of thy Soul as in thy former days Open thine eyes and look a little upon thy self compare thy self now with what thou wast in thy best estate and then thou wilt say of thy self as God of Ephraim Hos 7.9 Gray hairs are upon me though I knew it not 'T is conspicuous man to every one that observes thee thy Religion thy conscience and all that Grace that is in thee 't is all grown gray Gray hairs are upon thee though thou mindest it not What say you Christians are you all fresh and flourishing Are you strong Christians lively Christians Do your Souls prosper doth your Religion prosper or must you not say I remember the days of Old when it was better with me than now such who are so far gone whose decay is so visible though their recovery be possible yet they are hard to be recovered 3. A third degree is not to be hid and past cure plain to be discovered never to be cured and then the Consumption of souls is ordinarily past cure when men are past feeling It is one thing to be without feeling in those that never had any sense of God upon them and another to be past feeling in those that once had some tenderness of heart Those that have been chilling and cooling and hardning so long till God gives them over to that reprobate sense mentioned Rom. 1.28 the case of such men is become desperate Now you that are fallen into this consuming Disease consider these things how difficult your case is unless it be but in the very beginning and how it will be growing on to be harder and harder if yet you prevent it not with speed till it becomes desperate Consider this and then say if it be not time to look about you and to make hastily out to the Physician for cure Friends take heed will you yet linger on as you have done will you be quiet take your ease and take no effectual care to recover the health you have lost the strength you have lost Tremble to think how suddenly you may be given up to a total and final Apostasie But why is the cure so difficult I answer 1. Because as it hath been said in the beginning it 's so hard to be discerned Who will look after a cure that thinks he ails nothing This Consumption invades and creeps on by such insensible degrees that it is not perceived or minded till it grows up to such an height as will scarce admit of a cure This Consumption fretteth out the Heart as a Moth fretteth a Garment When the Moth first breeds there it lies undiscovered till by insensible degrees it eats up the strength of the Garment If the Moth seized upon any Garment as fire doth you would shake it off suddenly but because it consumes but insensibly and by slower degrees therefore it 's let alone till it hath done its work Friends is there not a Consumption upon you is not the Moth gotten in I hope not into my Soul Why there 's the misery of it you will not know you consume till ye be utterly consumed 2. From the indisposition and unwillingness of the Heart to seek after a cure Such untowardness and inindisposition there is to this work that I am afraid that by all that I can say I shall not be able to prevail with some of you to make tryal what may be done May be you acknowledge that we have all need enough of this warning but I am in much doubt that when you have heard all your hearts will so hang back from the work that all that can be said will quickly be forgotten and never effectually stir you If you would take the warning and stir up your hearts and set to the work there I hope you might be recovered but I tell you again espâ—cially those that are far gone that I fear your unwilling and untoward hearts will be too hard for the word and will not let you come on to any purpose Consider what I say and remember it a day or two hence and see if it be not with too many of you according to my fears and tell me then if you can I thank the Lord the word hath prevailed and I have set mine heart to it and through the Grace of God will not give over till I may see it effectually work to my recovery 3. From that opposition that is made against our recovery 1. There is a stirring Devil that opposeth it 2. There are stirring lusts that oppose our recovery 1. There is a stirring Devil that opposes your recovery The Devil is a destroyer that 's his name Rev. 9.11 Abaddon Apollyon that is a Destroyer 't is he that hath brought you into this case that hath destroyed that little Grace you had and is thereby attempting to destroy your Souls When you see what wasts have been made upon you upon your consciences upon your comforts 't is the Devil that hath made these wasts he is that Fox that hath devoured your Grapes The Devil is an adversary and a busie adversary 1 Pet. 5.8 walking up and down seeking to do you a mischief 't is he that hath brought you down to this low pass in which you are and he that hath brought you down will do all he can to hinder you from ever rising again The Devil is with you wheresoever you are he watches you where ever you go if you go into your Closets go to pray for recovery the Devil watches you there and does what he can to distract and hinder your prayers When you come to hear the Devil watches you in the Congregation and strives to catch away every word that might do you good All these words which I am speaking to you for your recovery I am in doubt they may have but little success if the Devil can help it there shall none of them stick upon your hearts He that hath brought you so low will be busie with you to hold you so low resisting and stealing away whatever word might help you up What 's become of all the words that have been hitherto spoken to this purpose do they abide upon you have they wrought
gone from me Friends you must give me leave to speak as plainly to you and as closely in this matter as I am able I know how sad 't will be with you if the word doth not prevail and I know this consuming Disease is hard to be cured Backsliders are ordinarily of hard hearts and deaf ears and so hard to be recovered God knows how it may be with you whether God may gain any thing Religion may gain any thing upon you by this warning I know it will be hard work to bring you up out of this case and yet I am loth to lose my labour I would fain do something for Christ and something for the help of your poor Souls and therefore you must bear with me that I thus set my self to speak over and over thus closely to you that if it be possible my words may stick with you Do not say that I think too hardly of you and make you worse than you are I thank God that there are among you those who are faithful and stand their ground I thank God that there is so much Religion as there is even in some of you I thank God I have hope there is as much of serious Religion continuing in this Congregation as in the most Congregations about us But I must tell you that he is a stranger to us that doth not perceive at what a low ebb serious Religion is amongst many of us and he whose heart bleeds not and breaks not at what his eyes may see and his ears may hear hath but little of the Spirit of Christianity in him Sure there are too many among us that have declined in great degree O that this word might find them out and bring them to their knees first and then set them upon their Legs that so there may be a prevention of their utter Rejection 2. God may depart from his Churches and the Congregations of his People and then he departs from these 1. When he shuts up his House and writes upon the Doors thereof The Glory is departed When he causes their visions to fail his Ordinances to cease from among them when preaching and praying and all his spiritual worship fails when though the Candlesticks continue yet there are few Candles left and those that are not quite put out are put under a Bushel when Pastors and Teachers which were burning and shining Lights are removed into a Corner 2. When he pulls down his House When not only the Candles are carried away but the Candlesticks are broken in pieces When he unchurches his People and scatters his Congregations When the Societies of the Saints are broken in pieces and those that went to the House of God in companies have neither house to go into nor company to go together It 's promised Is 33.20 Ye shall look upon Zion the City of our solemnities thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet Habitation a Tabernacle that shall not be taken down not one of the Stakes thereof shall be removed neither shall any of the Cords thereof be broken but there the Glorious Lord will be to us a place of broad Rivers and Streams Now when this word is changed and our eyes see Jerusalem a troubled habitation our Tabernacle taken down its Stakes that pitched it and its Cords that held it all removed and broken in pieces when the Habitation of the Lord is become a desolation and his Vineyard become a meer Wilderness when the Cormorant and the Bittern when Owls and Satyrs when the Beasts and the false Prophets are where once were the Prophets and People of the Lord then is the Lord departed 3. When though his House and his Tabernacle stands and his Ordinances are continued though there be Preaching and Praying still yet the Spirit of the Lord is departed When he doth not continue to bless his House and bless his Ordinances to his People when that word is fulfilled upon them Is 28.13 The Word of the Lord is to them precept upon precept line upon line that they might go and fall backward When the Children of Zion are as it was said those that hate Zion should be Ps 129.6 as the Grass upon the House top that withereth before it be grown up whereof the Mower filleth not his hand nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom Even this is a departure and a grievous departure of the Lord from his People when he continues not among them to bless them continues his Word among them precept upon precept line upon line lets them have Sabbath after Sabbath Meeting upon Meeting Sermon upon Sermon but nothing prospers but they fall and go backward and wither as the grass upon the House top O how many Congregations amongst us are there from whom the Lord is already thus far departed though he gives us his Word yet he doth not bless his Word though the Sowers come forth to sow yet how is the Seed rotten under the Clods how little is there that comes up Though the Planters plant and the Builders build how few young Plants do we see coming up how slowly does the Building rise does not the Building rather go backward do not the Plants that are hang their heads and wither and no more rise in their room When do we hear of a new convert brought in and how few do we see of the former planting to flourish O we fade we fade we wither as the Grass upon the House top our life and our strength and our beauty how is it fallen and withered the beauty of love the beauty of humility the beauty of holiness how is it even all marred Sure this is a token of the Lords departure from us Thus you have seen how the Lord departs from his People 2. It 's wo with a people when the Lord departs from them Wo unto them saith the Lord when I depart from them Hos 9.12 1. 'T is woful to them that have something of Religion in them when their Pastors and Pastures and Waters fail what 's like to become of them even they also are like to pine for want There are none to whom Famine is so tedeous as to hungry Souls the living Child will cry for Bread when those that are dead can want it well enough and never feel their want And it will not be woful only to their sense they will mourn and lament and be pierced to the very heart to see such a day but to some amongst them it will be a worse wo than that Whilst some mourn for want of the Word others will pine away for want Ezek. 24.21 23. I will profane my Sanctuary the excellency of your strength the desire of your eyes and ye shall pine away for your iniquities Professors there be some among you that have languished and grown to decay in the fulness of all things by all the Ordinances of the Gospel you have had by all the Manna that hath fallen among you by all our Preaching to you and Praying
and a special help to holy discourse if what you hear preached on the Lords Day you would make the matter of your discourse the week following hereby you may the more fix what you hear in your own hearts and hence you may be supplied with fresh matter and so find holy discourse the less difficult to you How you have observed this direction since I formerly gave it you whether you have put it in practice I leave it to your consciences to judge Friends if you will not take the directions given you and put them into practice to what purpose are they preached to you I therefore exhort you again to practise this useful direction what you hear on the Lords Days discourse of on the week days 3. From your own experiences of the dealings of God with your own souls Ps 66.16 Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul Self-observing Christians have many experiences by them which may be much useful for others You may be telling one another what experiences you have had of the workings of sin in you and of temptations and what experiences of the workings of grace and of your victories over corruption and temptation what comforts you have had and how you come by them what distresses and fears you have been under and how you were relieved what difficulties you have found in your work how long you groaned under them and how at length you overcame them Many cases you may have been in out of which much may be brought forth for the benefit of others that are or may be in the same cases 4. From the consideration of the company that at such or such a time you may be like to be cast amongst Some days it may be you may see your necessary business leading you amongst sinners you must work with them in the same field or the same shop or you must travel with them the same journey and the like these sinners whom you foresee in the morning you must converse with on the day may be they may be blind or ignorant sinners or profane and lewd sinners or mocking and scoffing sinners whatever temper they are of the consideration of it will give you an hint what to provide for the ignorant you must go provided with words of instruction for the profane with a word of reproof for all sorts such words as you judge most proper for their case and most like to do their souls good Sometimes you may see your converse is like to be among Christians and then consider whether they be weak Christians and need your help and what their weaknesses are and go provided of a word accordingly a word of comfort to the troubled a quickning word to the dead hearted and slothful a recovering awakening word to the backsliders c. or else they may be stronger and more judicious Christians then your study should be to go prepared with such questions touching your own cases touching any doubts or fears or spiritual wants or difficulties you are under that you might receive benefit from them These directions are all practicable and may be exceedingly useful it will cost you pains to inure your selves to this holy practice but by pains taking a while and the help of God with you it may come to be more easie and were it but seriously set on foot and carefully carried on you cannot easily imagine what an advance to you it will be in the state of your own soul and what a blessed expedient 't will be to propagate religion where it is not and to recover it where 't is fallen and to raise it where it is but low Well this is the sum of all the Directions hitherto given Go always with your bow bent and your arrow upon the string with an heart will disposed to speak and a word ready to be spoken 6. Take a right method by which you may with the most ease attain to this holy use of your tongues You will say 't is hard service and so it is but are you willing to try to come to it Why what method will you prescribe to us that we may attain 1. Begin this practice within your selves speak often to your own hearts Ps 4.4 Commune with your own hearts maintain an holy discourse with your selves The Cock doth first clap his wings on his own breast to awaken himself and then he crows to awaken others As the Apostle Rom. 2.21 Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy self Thou that wouldst instruct another warn and awaken another how canst thou do that if thou dost not first instruct and awaken thy self Mat. 7.5 Thou Hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote out of thy brothers eye That 's the complaint Is 64.7 There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee Stir up your selves in the first place say to your own hearts Arise sleeper there 's a God before thee there 's a Christ before thee there 's a Gospel and a Covenant of Grace before thee lay hold on this God lay hold on this Covenant walk worthy of the Lord and be faithful in the Covenant of thy God Speak thus to your own Souls and discourse the matter reason with them about it as the Psalmist reasons with his Soul in his distress Why art thou cast down O my Soul hope in God so do thou reason with thy Soul in thy deadness or in thy hardness or any other case thou art in Why art thou lifted up O my Soul why so hardned Fear God why so proud why so carnal why so slothful humble thy self shake up thy self quicken and rouze up thine own sleepy heart Brethren here 's the original of all our neglects of our duties to others our self-neglects till we stir up our selves more carefully we shall never do any thing to purpose at stirring up one another Kindle an holy fire in your own breasts set your own affections more strongly working upwards if we can get up our own hearts into a more serious lively frame then there 's hope we shall more effectually help up others 2. Next set upon this holy practice in your Families Inure your selves to be speaking of God among your own with them you can be more free and bold There 's no such great difficulty for a Father to speak to his Children for a Master to speak to his Houshold and by speaking much to these you will by degrees grow more free and more able to speak to others Fall therefore closer upon this practice Fathers speak often to your Children Husbands speak often to your Wives Wives speak to your Husbands Masters speak to your Servants Servants speak you one to another Deut. 11.18 19. These my words shall be in thine heart and in thy soul Speak them to thy self first and then ye shall teach them to your Children speaking