mind prepossessed and actually stâ—ff'd with the cares of this life Intus existens prohibet alienum How canst thou ascend with thy burthen upon thy back unload unload lay aside every weight and then go up and prosper Say to all thou hast stay you here whilest I go and pray before the Lord let the night before each Sabbath be as the grave betwixt the two worlds there let thy dust be buried and thy Spirit fly naked to thy God Let that night which is the partition betwixt thine own dayes and the Lords be thy Souls taking its leave of all thou hast any sinful thoughts works or pleasures thy lusts and thy evil wayes give them an eternal burial Be gone see my face no more for ever and for matters lawful and honest that concern this earth charge them not to thrust in before the Lord go you also your way for this time and when I have a convenient season I will send for you and if from Sabbath to Sabbath thy feet stand thus on the mountain of the Lord thou mayst find them all the week long on the tops of the mountains of the earth Brethren where is our Sabbath separation Is there not a fault among us upon this account let him that heareth enquire How it is with me Am not I faulty what are my Sabbath thoughts what are my Sabbath discourses If I be better employed in the house of God what do I in mine own house what are my morning and evening and midday thoughts what is my table talk my chimney talk If business if bargains or journeys be not admitted are not visits or complements or vain stories or impertinent news suffered to fill up the time is it thus or not with thee Is it well that it is thus O clear your Sabbaths of such worldly encroachments or you 'l never clear your hearts drive all the world into Pathmos into banishment and be wholly in the spirit on the Lords day Be abstracted from earthly things and earthly thoughts bring them with you neither to the house nor to the day of the Lord let your own houses and your own tables be as the house and table of the Lord have nothing to do from morning to evening but to wait on God 2. It is a day for special Communion with God Tbe meeting of God with his people on that day is like unto that meeting which is promised to Moses Exod. 25. 22. before the mercy seat There will I meet thee and commune with thee there will I shew thee all my mind and hear all thy requests It is a day of blessing thither the tribes go up to bless the Lord and there he comes down to bless his people It 's said Gen. 2. and Exod. 20. that God blessed the Sabbath day Gods blessing the day makes it a day of blessing a good day to his Saints he then comes unto them in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel Those that question whether the first day of the week be the Christian Sabbath let them consider which of all the dayes of the week the Lord hath since the death of Christ so exalted above the rest of the dayes that they can with most confidence say This is the day which the Lord hath blessed on what day were the gates of death broken the Lord Jesus declared to be the son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead on which day was the spirit of God most signally shed abroad on the Apostles and primitive Christians in those extraordinary gifts whereby they were made more capable of publishing the blessed Gospel to the ends of the earth and in that special grace which seized three thousand Souls in one day Act. 2. What day is it that hath been honoured to be the birth day of the greatest number of Saints ever since that hath been their feast day wherein their Souls have been most sensibly nourish'd and they have been increas'd with the increasings of God what meals have they had to their Lords-day meals what joyes to their Lords-day joyes Surely if this may determine the question which day is the Sabbath of the Lord the day that of all others God hath blessed and made a good day the experiences of Christians in all ages would bring in their vote for the first day This is the day that God hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it this by the way This day as is said before is the rest of God a little Heaven let down to us on earth God calls us up hither as he called Moses up to Pisgah to give us a view of the promised land The Sabbath is Heaven opened we may give a guess at the glory to come by those glimses and tastes we have of it now It is the day of interview betwixt the bridegroom and the bride wherein he beholds our faces and shewes us his loves wherein he comes down into his garden to eat his pleasant fruits and we behold his goings the goings of God in his Sanctuary The business of this day is to look into the Ark of the Covenant to review and renew the Covenant transactions betwixt God and our Souls to search out contemplate and admire the mercies and lovingkindness of the Lord to receive the overflowing of his goodness and to pour forth our Souls as an offering to him in our prayers and praises to give and receive mutual tokens and pledges of Love and faithfulness to seal to our fidelity to him and to receive farther assurances of his grace and good will to our Souls to obtain help from God against our enemies whereby we may execute upon them the vengeance written and upon this mountain ordinarily is the victory obteined there breaks he the arrowes of the bow the sword the shield and the battel Christians have you ever experimented this Sabbath Communion hath the Lord God appear'd thus unto you have there been such friendly and familiar intercourses betwixt him and your Souls Oh how contemptibly hath the world look'd in that day But oh what dark and cloudy dayes are our Sabbaths ordinarily to us Sundayes per antiphrasin the Sun not once appearing it may be for many dayes together no wonder our Souls are so earth'd all the week when they are so seldom in Heaven on the day of the Lord what dry feasts are our Sabbath feasts rather fasts then feasts real Communion with God is a strange thing to us even in the day of God Heaven is opened but our eyes are shut God comes down to meet us and to bless us but our hearts are not there the breasts of consolation are full but we have no skill or no list to draw at the breasts we come to the well but we do not let down the bucket we stand by the pool where the Angel comes down but our creeple Souls put not in to the waters we stand without in the outer court of the Lords house our Sabbaths are to us but
figures of Sabbaths the ordinances of them are to us as wells without water lamps withoul Oyle meer shadows of good things we go up from week to week to meet one with another but how seldom do we see God in the company and hereupon Sabbaths come and goe and leave us still as we were the Devil may well enough trust us with such Sabbaths the world may give us leave to go thus before the Lord and be no looser by it Brethren get you into the inner court which on these dayes especially was to be set open Ezek. 46. 1. there is an entry through the house of the Lord that leads in to the heart of the most high get you into that sanctum sanctorum and there let be your rest as often as the morning of that blessed day looks forth upon you get your vessels ready and go you forth to meet the bridegroom open your eyes with these thoughts this is the day which the Lord hath made I will rejoyce and be glad in it climb up betimes and let every duty be a stair by which you ascend to your Lord let divine contemplation let prayers and praises c. be the whole work let the blessings of Divine Communion be the whole expectation of that day and when you find your hearts refreshed with his presence and filled with the company of your God and he sends you away laden with the tokens of his love and with the impress of his face upon your hearts and the relish of his goodness fresh upon your palats when you thus go hot out of the presence of the Lord then you will learn to despise that day of small things with which the World entertains you Shall I forsake my sweetness saith the figtree shall I forsake my fatness saith the Olive and become King over the trees let the bramble take that honour farewell dignities and dominions farewell pomps and pleasures farewell houses and lands I have enough I have seen the face of God 3. It is a day of special provision for Souls whereon the Lord brings forth out of his treasury his spiritual provisions to keep the Soul in heart Hunger-starv'd souldiers are but poor fighters they are the weak souls whom the World hath vanquished Sabbaths are the Souls Market dayes Men have their Markets whence to be supplied with necessaries for their bodies and on this day God keeps a Market for Souls He hath his Milk and his Honey his Wine and his Oyl his Bread and his Water of Life and on this day in special he makes Proclamation Ho every one that thirsteth come to the Waters and he that hath no money Come ye buy and eat yea buy Wine and Milk without money and without price The bread which comes down from Heaven though it be to be had every day our Week-dayes may in their measure be all Sabbaths yet on this day it falls more plentifully The Jews had their corporal Manna on the six dayes and none on the Sabbath but the hidden Manna falls more thin and more sparely on our other dayes and on this day more abundantly They were to gather double on the sixth day that they might have to supply them on the Sabbath but for the Spiritual Manna all our other dayes are to be supply'd from our Sabbath provision A Christian who is not fit to meet the Bridegroom is neither fit to meet his adversary without Oyl in his Lamp T is the great commodity that 's set to sale in this Market Oyle for our vessels Come bring your empty vessels here 's Oyl to fill them The Ordinances which are this day administred are the pipes opened those golden pipes by which the golden Oyl is emptied forth and conveyed down from the living Olive Zech. 4. T is no wonder that men hunger after this world who know no better feeding An Asses head or a kab of Doves dung are of great price when there is no bread 2 King 6. 25. T is for want of bread that worldlings can make such a feast of their Locusts and wild Honey Those that have eaten of the hidden Manna will not lust after Quails the Worlds dainties will come out at their nostrils whose bellies have been filled with this hid treasure Those whom God hath fed in his green Pastures those whom God hath led by his still waters they cannot live in these salt Marishes or stubble fields Those whose souls God hath made well watered Gardens will not need the Pools of the Wilderness It s no wonder that the World beats us when we go for many daies together without making one good meal When our souls are famished into weakness then are we our enemies prey they are the hunger starved sheep that are a prey to Crows and Kytes If Sathan can but keep us low if he can either keep the Manna from falling about our Camps or keep us idle when we should be gathering he may then lead us after his lure at pleasure T is not a little strength that will suffice us against his great temptations and t is not a little bread by which we are like to gather any great strength we had need feed well if we will be strong and we had need be strong or we shall never fight well A Soul that uses to come before the Lord with an appetite that feeds hungrily and is as the thirsty earth that drinks up the showers that come oft upon it whom the Lord satisfies with the fatness of his house you may turn him loose to the World flesh and Devil the life of God within him maintained by influences from above will much secure him against all their assaults Christians know your Sabbath priviledges the advantages of Sabbath separation Sabbath communion and Sabbath provision Understand your advantage and make your advantage of them Be ye seperate Remember your Creator and rest from your works as God did from his Remember your Redeemer and rise from your dust as Christ did from his Let this day of his Resurrection be the day of your Resurrection and Ascention Let Sabbaths be Sabbaths indeed holy to the Lord and wholly his Divide not the day betwixt flesh and Spirit God and Mammon but let it be entirely the Lords day Let every duty and Ordinance of this day be a Communion Prepare to meet your God and go up to meet him Seek his face in hope to see his face see and love see and rejoice see and admire and praise him in his excellent greatness Hearken what the Lord God will speak and let him hear your voice Confirm your friendshâ—p renew your acquaintance in Heaven repeat your Covenant transactions Have you chosen the Lord for your portion tell him you stand to your choice have you renounc'd your flesh and the World promise him not to return to folly Have you made the Lord your trust put forth fresh acts of faith upon him Look to him lean on him for his righteousness and strength Let such as these
his Will Worship and Waies is preserved and propagated to wit the holy Scriptures Isa 8. 20. to the Law and to the Testimonies c. 2. Fixed Officers To interpret expound and give the sense of the Word and to publish and preach it to the World Nehem. 8. 4. 8. Mal. 2. 7. 3. Fixed Ordinances Wherein the Lord is to be solemnly worshiped the Observing and keeping pure and entire whereof is required as in many positive Precepts so also in all those Scriptures which forbid Idolatry Superstition and Will-worship 4. A fixed time for instruction in the Law of God and for his more solemn Worship This fixed time is the Sabbath day Isa 66. 23. c. The Adversaries of Religion have attempted its destruction by heaving at these Pillars npon which it is supported and the opposition which hath been made against them hath been carried on some part of it at least much after the same way The Authority of the Scriptures hath been inunded by pretences to other rules besides to be added to them as unwritten Traditions or enthusiastical Revelations Ordinances have been assaulted by the addition of humane Inventions to Divine Institutions The destruction of the Ministry hath been by some of its Adversaries attempted by making all Teachers and Sabbaths have been undermined by others by pleading for an every day Sabbath First enclosing the six daies to the Lord and thereby at length laying the Sabbath in common to the World Upon these four pillars is Religion upheld let these be removed and what becomes of it and the destruction of this one this fixed time how greatly will it endanger all the rest An every-day Sabbath will soon bring us to no Sabbath and from no Sabbath we shall quickly come to no Ordinances no Ministery and from no Ministery how long will it be ere we arrive at No Scriptures no Religion no God But whatever the adversaries of Religion and their waies to supplant it be that which makes them adversaries and engages them in this wicked design are the lusts of this World Religion levels at the flesh its affections and interest and these set themselves to make their batteries upon Religion and all its supports and foundations Keep up Sabbaths and you are like to keep up Scriptures Ministery Ordinances Religion keep up Religion and the World falls under you But the more immediate influence the due sanctification of the Sabbath will have upon the conquering the World will appear if you consider that this day is 1. A day of separation for God 2. A day for special communion with God 3. A day of special provision for souls 1. A day of separation for God The people of God as such are a separated people separated from the lusts of men to the Law of their God Neh. 10. 28. Ezra 6. 21. In their first day their day of Grace they separate themselves from the evils of the World in this day they are to separate themselves from the affairs yea and the thoughts of the World Isa 58. 13. This day is an Hallowed day sanctified by God and to be sanctified by his Saints Gods sanctifying it is his setting apart the day for an holy use our sanctifying it is our setting our selves apart thereon for his holy service This day is a priviledged day nothing that 's common or unclean may encroach upon it The day of the Lord is as the house of the Lord a kind of meeting betwixt heaven and earth wherein God calls us up to the Mount and comes down to give us a meeting And as when he came down on Mount Sinai he required that his people who yet were to come no nearer him than the foot of the Mount should by washing their clothes and separating themselves from their Wives make ready against his comming down Exod. 19. 11 15. So doth he here give us as strict a charge Remember be ye also ready Be ye wash'd and be ye separate Wash your hearts empty your hands come in from your fields come out of your shops lay by your work leave this earth below come up to meer your God There are two things that give to objects their greatest efficacy and advantage upon us Their nearness to us and the remoteness of their contraries The World on this day loses both these advantages wherein we are called to stand aloof from it and to draw nigh to God We are then fairest for victory over the World when we are farthest off it 't is ill fighting a Cock on his own Dung-hill while the world is at our elbow there 's little like to be done against it whilst it is in our eye or our hand 't is not easie to keep it out of our heart when the Lord hath gotten our company alone and the World hath nothing not an Oxe nor an Ass not a business nor a pleasure to sollicit our love or labour When we are gotten out of sight and out of hearing of the wooings of this Harlot and its cries after us then is it most like to lose its hold of us The reason why we ordinarily make no more advantage of Sabbaths this way is because however we pretend to draw nigh unto God yet we do not with-draw from the World we come into the Sanctuary as Israel went out of Aegypt we carry not our Wives and our little ones only but our Flocks and our Herds and all our Substance we carry all we have with us when we come before the Lord. The lowing of the Oxen the bleating of the Sheep the sound of the Mill-stones is so still in our ears the Butter and the Hony the wine and the oyle the silver and the gold are so continually in our eye that we cannot hearken what the Lord God doth speak nor see his face Brethren who is there with you at this houre here you are before the Lord but who is there with you search every room look into every corner Is there none within that should not be there is there no messenger of Satan hath the World no agitatour now at work within you O behold whilest the Lord is a treating with our cares what a mixed multitude are there within cares and thoughts and lusts and projects for this world and what a stirr do they all make that God may not be regarded The Devil will be most most busy in such a time he doubts how matters might go with him if he now keep silence Doubtless many a Soul more might have been gain'd over to Christ had not Satan stood by and hindred and had those ever near us who forbad the match use to be alone with God out of the company and out of the noise of these harlots and then there 's hope the Lord may gain your love What wonder that that seed dies and becomes unfruitful that falls into a brake of thorns or amongst such birds as stand watching to catch it all away what hope that the counsel of the Lord be accepted of a
rejoycing Are there any such things Is there any thing in them then let these suffice you will you have your conversation and take your portion with those who are strangers to Christ and the comforts of his Spirit I beseech you by the mercies of God that you do not Do you hope for mercy have you received mercy do you live upon mercy hath mercy pitied you spared you pardoned you doth mercy feed you cloath you and comfort you and will you not hearken to its beseechings Why what doth mercy speak is this it's word Continue in sin for grace hath abounded now follow thy pleasures and thy liberties God is reconciled thy sins are forgiven thy Soul is secure now thou mayst slight the Lord now thou mayst trample upon mercy now thou hast obtained it is this the lesson that mercy teaches or what doth it speak is not this the voice of all the kindnesses and compassions of the Lord come back from your vanities come away from following Idols he sacrifices to God and prostitute not your selves any longer to the lusts of your flesh come away for our sakes come as you love mercy come as you have received mercy come as you hope for mercy come Is not this the voice of mercy and shall it not prevail how shall mercy be heard when it pleads for you if it cannot be heard when it pleads thus with you Is this the rate and price you put upon the grace of God that you will deny it in those little things it demands of you not a carnal pleasure to be abated not a vain companion to be displeased not a few handfuls of earth to be troden under foot for its sake Doth all the interest that Christ and his grace hath in you come to no more then this Brethren where is ingenuity is not goodness obliging will you shew what power mercy hath with you how much you can do how much you can leave for love you at least that have obteined mercy methinks your hearts should be at your mouth ready to take their flight from this wilderness to the mountains of spices Hath God given himself hath God given me his Son and granted me mercy unto life now let him take all farmes and oxen silver and gold honours and pleasures let all go and thou O my Soul become a sacrifice to the most high my love where art thou my desires whither run you come back from these vanities and get you up to your God mercy hath descended let me ascend with it and no longer dwell in the dust 2. Do not the severities of God call you off what mean the Judgments of God which he executes on the earth but to drive us up from our cisterns to the fountain what mean the wormwood and the gall but to wean us from these dugs wherefore are our disappointments vexations distresses but to tell us this is not your rest what speak the winds and the storms the flouds and the fires the sword and the famine the thief and the moth but get you up get you up out of this place of what use is the cross but to crucifie to crucifie us to the world and to crucify the world unto us Brethren have we not sufficiently smarted for our folly what is it that makes us so many rods and makes the lashes of them to cut so deep but our unmortifiedness to this earth how easy would our crosses lye were we dead to the world That 's the voice of the cross Be mortified be crucified prevent the greater severities of God Be crucified or God will crucifie you Be crucified to the world or look to be crucified by the world Friends would you have but one cross in all your lives choose you whether you will have one or many get your earthly minds nayld to the cross of Christ and there 's an end of all your crosses every other cross that comes will thenceforth be so easy that it will even loose its nature 2. What is there in your denyal to hearken to these calls of God Is there any thing less in it then this I will not be reconciled to God! I choose rather that God be mine enemy then that the world be not my friend I had rather have the wormwood and the gall then not the milk and the honey God saies give me thine heart no he shall never have it I have bestowed it on the world and there let it go God saies Take me for thy portion no I will not let me have my portion in this life God saies take me for thy Lord no I will not I will not that God shall reign over me God saies as thou hopest for mercy hearken as thou hopest for mercy submit to me refuse at thy peril be a worldling at thy peril be a sensualist at thy peril well at my peril be it I will run the hazard of that mercy or no mercy I cannot hearken to that word which is so contrary to me Is not all this comprehended in your denyal to come off from the world O tremble and now at length come and give in your answer Are there any of you that will yet say to me as those Jews Jer. 44. 16. The word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not do or as those Jer. 2. 25. there is no hope as good hold thy peace speak no more to us about it for we will not hearken we have loved strangers and after them we will go we have loved our companions and after them we will go There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices we will walk after the imagination of our own evil heart Jer. 18. 12. Is there no hope indeed would you henceforth be given over as hopeless would you that the Ambassadours of the Lord keep silence and for ever give you over as lost men shall there be no more treaty with you about this thing would you that we should preach no more to you nor pray no more for you that you may be brought to a better mind May there not be yet hope concerning you may you not yet be convinced may you not yet be perswaded This once let me prevail with you Oh might we hear such a word from you We have done with all our Idols to the Moles and to the Batts with them all we have done with this vain earthly life no more such madness to venture eternity for minutes to stake the everlasting kingdom for pictures and shadows Come we will hearken to the Lord this day hitherto we have been written in the earth henceforth for the invisible world hitherto we have lived in pleasures we have been sowing to the flesh we have been labouring for the wind we have been laying up our treasure on earth we have been gathering in dirt and throwing away Manna we have fed upon ashes and trod upon pearls our life hath been either a meer play or a labour for bubles Henceforth for substance for the durable riches for the everlasting pleasures for the bags that wax not old the treasure in Heaven that faileth not What say you brethren shall this be your voice will you hearken to the Lord at length give in your answer will you now become enemies to the world will you indeed shall your Souls and it now be parted Then go and draw up a writing of divorcement carry it before the Lord and acknowledg it as your act and deed and giving your selves to him go presently and take your leave of all things under the Sun Bid farewell to those that are with you in the house farwel Father farewel Child farewel Husband farewel Wife Bid farewel to all within doors and without farewel Goods farewel Mony farewel Sheep and Oxen Lands and Livings farewel my pleasant habitation farewel my merry dayes and easy nights farewel my friends and dear acquaintance farewel love friendship credit in the world farewel liberty and life Go take your leave of all the world to day stay not till to morrow lest it again intangle you and bewitch you into another mind And this is the leave I would advise you to take of all you have Be able to say to them all I am none of yours you are none of mine I am none of yours I have given my self to the Lord you are none of mine with my self I have given away you all the Lord hath given you me and to him I return you and shall not henceforth count you any thing to me but what you are to him I have given him the right of you and when he calls for it I will give him possession I can enjoy you and I can want you I can be thankful for fruition and I can bear your loss with what I have I am content if I have not I will be patient whether I have or no I am still the same and henceforth I will seek you as if I sought you not I will use you as if I used you not while you are with me I will rejoyce as if I rejoyced not that I may weep as if I wept not when we must part and I must know you no more Go thus and take your leave to day or if you find it more then one dayes work as 't is like you may set to it every day let not your hearts be quiet till they and this world be thus parted And then arise put on thy sandals and after thy crucified Lord Deny thy self take up thy cross and follow him and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven FINIS
filth and stench of Hell in their vile affections the smoke and flames of Hell in their reeking and burning lusts the darkness of Hell in their darkned and blinded minds and sometimes the torments of Hell in the anguish of their guilty and self revenging consciences And as sinners may find an hell so believers an heaven in the heart an heaven of light an heaven of love and joy and praise Thus it is with some and thus it might be with all were we stronger in Faith Oh what do we lose by living thus by Sense when we mighâ— live by Faith how have our carnal hearts by consuming and spinning out our daies in sloth and idleness sticking at the labour of duty whining under difficulties shrinking from sufferings indulging to our ease and our pleasure and liberties how have our carnal hearts robb'd us of the life of God the pleasures of Angels the joys of the Upper Region and left us little more of Christianity then its wounds and bruises its mournings and complainings its sighs and sorrows Oh foolish hearts that consult so unwisely for our selves that choose rather to live in Brakes among these bryars and thorns then among the Beds of Spices that will rather laze it in a Wilderness then get us up to the Garden of the Lord The life of Faith is an heavenly life The life of God Ephes 4. 18. though Faith shall never come into heaven it self yet thither it translates our hearts It came down from heaven it is the gift of God and though it must not return thither 't is love not Faith that shall dwell before the Throne of God yet thither it raises those hearts in which it lives Though it may not dwell there hereafter Faith shall then be lost in sight yet now its travelling thither going and returning every day and hour Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven there 's all our business where should a Christian be where does he live but where his business lies A Believer that had heretofore so many things to do dividing his heart and time hath now cast all his business into one hath brought all his business near his home he hath nothing to do abroad in the Tents of wickedness in the Camps of the Uncircumcised he hath done with serving flesh and lusts and times and tables and carkasses here his whole work did lye but no more of these now they must be all laid aside or at least made to come and serve with him in his higher business God and glory the loving and praising and serving and securing God to his soul is all he hath to do Phil. 3. 13. This one thing I do forgetting that which is behind and reaching forth to that which is before I press to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. These lower things his outward priviledges hopes and advantages were once the things before him but he 's now gotten beyond and hath left them all behind him not only his Jewish priviledge whereof he had boasted but much more all earthly things he hath cast off these weights and is now flying upon the wing of Faith ascending in flames of love winding up his soul by constant labour above this dung and darkness to the Regions of light and glory This is his business And hence is his blessedness heaven is his work and his meat his labour and his hire he will know nothing for a blessing or a comfort but what his Faith brings him down from above Why art thou cast down O my soul why art thou so disquieted within me Bid him Hope in God tell him thou shalt yet praise him who is the light of thy countenance and thy God and this will comfort him Say to him while you will Man be of good comfort the fig-tree blossoms the labour of the Olive will not fail there is fruit in the Vines there are Flocks in the Folds there are Herds in the Stalls comfort thine heart what wouldst thou have more And how little will this ease him Oh where is my God how is it with my soul what tidings from above have I a treasure there doth God smile what tidings from within Is it peace there doth my soul prosper Is there grace there is truth in my inward parts this is good news Come in thou blessed of the Lord thou comest with good tidings this shall comfort me This is the life of Faith a conversation in heaven Thus we should and thus we might live more then we do but I doubt I have been here in telling you a Mystery whereof the most of us have but little experimental understanding Christians what acquaintance have you with this life of God Is this your business heavenly work are these your comforts heavenly supports we are yet carnal and walk as men Oh this earth earth how doth it hang on our spirits we live as if there were a middle Region betwixt heaven and earth a middle state betwixt Faith and unbelief Some little we have attain'd of this heavenly life and blessed be the Lord for any thing but oh how little is it Friends wonder not that you see no more of the Divine Glory conclude not that there is no more to be seen put it to the proof live more with God more purely more closely more constantly with him live in the daily exercise of Faith and you will get the sight of other manner of glorious things then can be told you What 's the reason that unbelievers are so wholly in the dark and can see nothing of God no more then they can despise and laugh to scorn O 't is because they come not near where God is they are alienated from the life of God their whole business is in the heart of the earth here they dwell and here is their whole converse Speak ye unbelievers where dwell ye what is your Occupation where is your Conversation far enough from heaven sure where ever it be Speak ye proud and haughty ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the air we feed on wind live upon breath honor and applause is all we work for and live upon Speak ye Covetous where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the earth we feed upon dust and ashes and in these our business lies Speak ye contentious quarrelsome ones where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the fire in storms and tempests Speak ye voluptuous Sensualists where is your Conversation our Conversation is in the mud and mire in lasciviousness wantonness and all manner of filthy lusts Speak ye Ranters Ruffians Swearers Cursers Blasphemers where is your Conversation our Conversation is in Hell in the Alehouse the Tavern the Brothel-house we live where Satans Throne is in the very Suburbs of Hell Oh what a difference hath Faith put betwixt Believers and all others in the world whilst they only live the life of God all others live the life of Bruits
things thou knowest not what thou mayst find hereafter Who can tell what there is in another world whether there be any other state of blessedness then what our eyes do see But grant there be such an happy state what may this be to thee God knows whether ever thou mayst be the better for 't when thou hast done all thou canst and lost all thou hast and left thy self a poor and miserable and forlorn wretch an abject an exile from all thy comforts and contentments after all this thou mayst never come to Heaven at last foolish man loose not a certainty for an uncertainty know when thou art well and keep what thou hast what thou hast thou art sure of thine house is thine own thy estate is thine own thy friends and thy pleasures and thy liberties do not thine eyes see them dost thou not tast that they are good here thou hast something but what thou mayst have heareafter who can tell And what can a poor Soul answer to such temptations that 's held under unbelief I confess there 's no great wisdom in losing certainties for uncertainties I see I have something here and if I were sure it should be so well with me hereafter I could be content to venture all I have to follow Christ naked to follow holiness even to bonds imprisonment and death But what if there should be no such thing as Heaven or I should never come there But now Faith will reply what are thy good things thou countest so sure to thee what but vanity and vexation but were they better then they are and worth what thou countest them what is the assurance thou hast of them for how long are they thine for how many years for how many dayes what thine eye sees to day where may it all be by to morrow or suppose the most thou canst thou canst have but a lease of life in them when thou diest thy estate dies thy pleasures die thy friends dye to thee and here 's the assurance thou boastest of at present thou hast something that pleases thee and may be they may last for an hour or two longer or for a few dayes more but to be sure after a few years at utmost they will be gone and thou must know them no more This is thy assurance But is Heaven no more sure then this Is that enduring substance like these transient shadows can stability be removed or eternity expire or if the doubt be whether ever thou shalt obtain this blessed state what hath God said He that beleiveth shall be saved Is it uncertain whether God be true Hath God help'd me to beleive and therein told me I shall be saved and shall I yet question whether I shall or no At least this is sure beyond all contradiction Heaven may be had thou shalt certainly be saved if it be not thine own fault if thou wilt thou mayst The Gospel is a mockery if this be not true it apparently offers life to all that will and therefore to thee amongst the rest Rev. 22. 17. The Spirit and the bride say come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely there is this only uncertainty now remaining It s a question whether thou wilt or not If thou wilt thou mayst Now when a Soul is brought to this much more when a beleiver understanding that he beleives can read his own name in the book of life then let the world try its skill what an hard task will it have before it Come change thy God and thy glory for that which profiteth not forsake the fountain of living waters for these broken Cisterns purchase the pleasures of time with the loss of Eternity Come let the other world go what wilt thou give me then why what ever thine heart desires of all that thine eyes do see No no deceitful world I have better things then these and I will now use thine own words I will not loose a certainty for uncertainties God is mine but after a few dayes whose shall these things be that thou offerest me I mean not to be so put off as to take mine Heaven on Earth Let this earth be my prison my purgatory my Hell rather then my Heaven my life is bought into that eternal inheritance reserved in Heaven for me and I will not sell mine inheritance V. The Conquest of Faith over this conflicting world this I shall dispatch in shewing 1. How far forth or in what sence every believer hath overcome the world 2. Wherein the victory stands 1. How far forth or in what sence every believer hath overcome the world this in 4 particulars 1. He is actually interess'd in Christs victory 2. He is radically indued with Christs conquering power 3. He hath actually broken the head design of the world 4. He is effectually marching on in the pursuit of the victory 1. He is actually interess'd in Christs victory he hath overcome in capite a believer is in Christ and as such whatsoever Christ hath done as redeemer of the world is his and for him Joh. 16. 33. aforementioned Be ye of good comfort I have overcome the world Christs victory is a believers security I have overcome be ye of good comfort why what comfort is that to us If an unbeliever had ask'd what comfort is that to me it must have been answer'd none at all whilest thou continuest in unbelief thou hast no part in Christ nor art like to reap any profit by him while he is a conquerour thou art a captive still its lusts fetter thee its thorns choke thee its pollutions cleave to thee thou art at present and thou mayst dye a worldling and from this temporal it may carry thee down to an eternal bondage But if it be ask'd what comfort is it to a believer that Christ hath overcome its great comfort In him thou hast overcome his victory is thy victory Christ saies to thee not only as Joh. 14. 19. because I live ye shall live also because I have overcome ye shall overcome but because I have overcome ye have overcome 1 Joh. 4. 4. ye are of God little children and have overcome 2. He is radically endued with Christs conquering power he hath overcome in causa he hath that within him which will be the death of his enemies he is not only interess'd in Christ and what he hath done but Christ is in him the spirit of Christ which is the power of the living God is in him He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Rom. 8. 9. The same power by which Christ overcame is already communicated to the Soul of a believer and thence may he be said to have already conquered because he hath received that spirit of power which will certainly work for him the victory What can a living child new born do He is as weak as water he cannot speak he cannot stand he cannot conquer a flea but what may not this child do when he
late and time to go to bed and so God and the Soul must wait their time till to morrow and when to morrow comes that is as this day and much more busie Judge Brethren whether it be not too ordinarily thus with us and then tell me which do ye think hath the greater interest God or the world Prayer is one of our weapons wherewith we are to maintain the fight against the world Ephes 6. 18. Exod. 17. 11. When Moses hands are lift up this Amalek falls And can you think the world hath you not sure enough when it can at pleasure command your weapons out of your hands or if it leave them with you can so blunt their edge that they are good for nothing No man that is a Souldier will lay aside his weapons but one of these either a Conquerour or a Captive or a Fool. A Conquerour whose victory is compleat needs his Arms no longer the work is done the Enemy is fallen and shall no more be able to rise A Captive who is totally and irrecoverably lost hath no further use of his Arms they will now stand him in no stead 't is too late to fight the field is lost He that is yet in the fight and will lay down his Arms is a fool in laying by his weapons he gives his enemies the day he is a fool that thinks to stand in the fight and will not stand to his Armes In heaven when our warfare is accomplished no more need of praying then no more watching no more fighting no more exercises of faith and patience then the Enemy is under our feet the triumph is all that then remains the Robes and the Palms and the Crowns singing and shouting and rejoycing no more need of praying and watching In Hell when the captivity is irrecoverable there 's no more use of weapons t is too late then they 'le stand them in no stead t is too late to pray and watch and wrestle the day is lost The shame the contempt the prison the mill the dungeon the torments of their captivity is all that there remains Prayer that men now make to give place to lust and vanity to laughing or labouring God will then make it to give place to cursings and ravings and roarings to tearing of hairs and gnawing of tongues and gnashing of teeth you that now count it a trouble and a cumbrance to attend on praying and fasting and such like duties if you ever fall into that prison you shall have your liberty from these burthens you shall live an eternity of dayes and nights and never be put to the trouble of one Prayer more of one Sermon more of one exercise of religion more there 's an everlasting end of Prayer in Heaven and Hell But now though the perfect conquerour may though the perfect captive must lay by his weapons have done with prayer for ever yet he that is yet in the fight is a fool if he stand not to his arms either he triumphs before the victory or else cares not on which side the victory goes Thou art a fool with a witness that either slightest such a potent enemy or holdest thy self little concerned in the victory May all his cost and labour be spared canst thou stand in thine own strength needest thou not be beholding to the Lord for his help or is the help of the Lord so cheap as to he had without seeking for or will any slight seeking now and then serve serve thy governour so Will the world give thee leave to take sufficient time for seeking God if thou wilt not take whether it will or no Brethren learn hence forth not to put God off with the worlds leavings but let the world be content to take Gods leavings if time fall short for any thing see that it be not for your Souls let God have his daily due and your Souls have theirs whatever goe without Let not the world any longer say give place Bible stand aside Prayer I have no leisure for you but let your Souls daily say stand aside world business trade I must serve the Lord. Never look to be other then worldlings whilest any thing below hath so much power with you as to keep God and your Souls asunder to hold you either under a total neglect or ordinary remisness in your religious duties whilest it can keep you either so busy or so slothful that you restrain prayer it hath you sure enough if the Divel can but keep you out of your closets he will not fear to meet you in the field he will not doubt your standing on your feet if he can but keep you from falling on your knees Because there is so much depending on this both as to the issue of our conflict and the evidence of our victory over the world give me leave to press you the closer to it by giving you a short view of the summe of what I have here suggested in these following propositions and advice 1. The death of the world will never be either compassed or witnessed but by the life of religion 2. The life of religion cannot be maintained but by keeping up the life of duties no prayer no holiness little prayer and but little holiness The vigour of grace is maintained from above and nothing will come down unless we often look up 3. The life of duty will not be kept up unless there be set and sufficient time allotted to it occasional duties will be but short and seldom 4. Seldom recesses from the world and suddain returns to it short and hasty prayers the Devil will allow us and the world will be no looser by them 5. If business or slothfulness ordinarily get the upper hand of duty whatever time be allotted for it little enough will be bestowed on it If we never pray but when we have list or leisure there will be but little done the world will either fill us with work or weary us into sloth Therefore 6. Resolve whatever the countermands of the world or Devil of your busy or weary Spirits are to set and keep up your daily duties if time fall short yet let not your Souls fail of their due be constant be instant in prayer If this counsell be not accepted I look not that any other of the counsels of God should prosper with you Are you worldlings are you in bondage to your carnal and earthly hearts there I look to find you to your dying day if constant and instant prayer do not fetch you off 3. That in the multitude of his businesses he neglect not the Souls of his Relations He that neglecteth his families Souls sinneth against his own Soul Worldlings hold all they have in the same bondage with themselves the sons of these bondmen are seldom suffered to be freemen like the Scribes and Pharises Math. 23. 13. They neither enter into the kingdom of God themselves nor suffer those that would to enter in Like Pharaohs task-masters Exod. 5. 17. Ye
if this will not keep thee in frame Put on more weight Christians and your wheels will run more even and more constant let the importance of your eternal state be much in your eye and upon your heart Look often into the blessed eternity that is before you steep your hearts in Divine Contemplation and when you are transported into admirings of that glory then ask your hearts what little things are the Sun-shine or the storms of this lower Region tell me not of pleasures of plenty and prosperity here tell me not of crosses or disappointments here how shall I get to heaven Oh may I come there once no matter how it be here Look also into the black and dreadful eternity put your finger into the eternal fire think and think over and over of those flames of the gripings and gnawings of the Infernal Worm think of these things till you feel them to smart and begin to scorch and burn in your hearts and then say What if this should be my place if this fire and this Worm if these gnawings and this burning should be my portion for ever may I but escape this death only what is there else should trouble me Take a view thus of Eternity and then set down This is the work I have upon me this is the business of my day to make sure for Eternity Let this sink into your hearts hang on this poise and see if it do not hold your souls in such constant and vigorous motion heaven-ward that all the noises of this world which now so amuse and confound you will be but whispers that will be little regarded 3. Reckon upon nothing but God Make sure of God and reckon upon nothing else Reckon on no good thing but God and reckon on all the troubles and miseries on this side hell What you look for and count upon will work the less disturbance when it comes count upon all losses but the loss of God him if you be his you shall never loose Count upon all woes but the last woe upon all sufferings but hell God would never have thee count upon these if thou be his these shall never come upon you bless God for that so long 't is well enough any thing else the worst you can think of may come reckon upon it and you will the better bear it 4. Put your flesh upon the frequent tryal of a voluntary restraint and self-crossing Restrain your selves and you will the better endure when God straitens you He whose flesh is ordinarily curb'd by his Christian prudence will be less mov'd when cross'd by Divine Providence allow not thy flesh what it craves though thou hast to satisfie it think not opportunities of satisfying thy flesh to be a divine allowance count it not thy Warrant to allow thy self whatever pleases thee that thou hast wherewithall opportunities are often but temptations God sometimes does as a wise Master who lays an apple or a piece of money in the way to try his child or servant Use to give thy heart no more then God bids thee and thou shalt find that God will never give it less then will content thee Inure thy self to live daily at the allowance of Religion and thou shalt never want thy allowance When thou usest to have no more then thou shouldst have thou wilt be like to be content with what thou shouldst have and when thou art content with what thou shouldst have thou wilt ever be content to have what thou hast Though it be often said of some of the servants of men yet it shall never be said of any of Gods servants that they have not what they should have And he who whatever falls whatever his portion or condition be in every turn or change that comes can find his heart saying still 't is with me as it should be yesterday it was so this day it is so to morrow it shall be so he whose heart sayes thus of every condition he is in It is with me as it should be will say It is well and so sit down quietly in his lot 5. Lastly Victory over the world stands in a willingness to be gone from this and to take our flight to the other world in a willingness to die Worldly men if they could help it would never die they would rather live among the dead then die into a better life they are dead while they are alive dead in sin and they would that this might be their eternal death Oh might they be allowed an everlasting day to sin in to drink and swear and whore and curse and covet in what other heaven would they wish for Were there a message brought down to the World that their houses of Clay should stand for ever that this buying and selling and building and planting and getting wealth and rolling themselves in pleasures should be their everlasting imployment that all the noise and fear of graves and tombs and death and mortality should be for ever silenc'd what a Gospel would this be to them how would the word then be changed not the poor but the rich receive the Gospel Worldlings if Ministers were sent this day to preach to you that you should never come to heaven but that you should abide here in your houses in your fields in your pomp and peace and wealth eternally O what a Jubilee would this day be unto you what ringings and bonfires and shoutings and triumphs would there be at the news Oh this would be the best Sermon that ever you heard in your lives this would be the best tidings in your account that ever came into the world Death is a terror the great dread of the world the King of terrors Job 18. 14. the hopes of heaven would willingly be parted with so the fears of death might be no more How do the expectations and approach of death appale the faces weaken the hands shake the hearts sowre the pleasures damp the jollities cool and cow the spirits of the mighty ones of the earth If it should be said this day to any of the Worldlings among you Set thine house in order for thou must die if you should see a Tekell written on these walls thy day is finished this night shall thy soul be taken from thee thou hast eaten thy last morsel hast drank thy last draught thy last sand is running out were this my message to you this day what a sad Funeral Sermon would this be to such But now a Christian is willing to be gone Luke 2. 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Said old Simeon I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Said Paul the aged Phil. 1. 23. Egredere O anima go forth O my soul linger not these fourscore years thouhast served the Lord fear not now to go and receive thy wages It s true there is even in the Saints a degree of unwillingness to die but
the whole thus far forth every Believer is willing to die though he still feel a natural dread of death though by reason of the remainders of flesh he be too much taken with the pleasure of an earthly life and being at some uncertainty and under some doubts what his future estate after death may be he may linger and hang back yet were these doubts removed and were he grown to an assurance that whenever his soul looses from this body it should immediately be received into the Paradise of God he so much prefers a life with God in perfect holiness and blessedness above the most prosperous worldly life that though his flesh could wish a longer stay yet his spirit would be willing when ever the Lord calls to depart and be with Christ which is far better And according as the mortification of his flesh his Crucifixion to the world and his assurance of salvation grow more compleat and clear so is his willingness heightned into more earnest desires and longings Come Lord Jesus why doth my Lord delay his coming when Lord when shall this dust return to the earth and this spirit to God that gave it make haste my beloved and come away Oh Brethren what an argument is here to press you to put hard for this Victory over the World when the World is Conquered death is Conquered the fear of death ceases Would you be delivered from this fear would you not count it a mercy better then life to be bold to die arise then and buckle on your armour treat this world no longer as a friend but deal with it as an enemy watch against it fight against it and what day you prevail over it you have both won the field of all your doubts and fears Victory over this world is a sure evidence for heaven and got the Mastery of your carnal hearts which alone make death formidable or unwelcome Brethren death comes you know and it may be upon you on a sudden do you not perceive its approaches do we not some of us already feel our Tabernacles to totter do not the walls moulder the windows grow dim do not our pillars shake and grow weak under us you that are youngest and strongest do you not know that death may be at the door do you know what a day or a night may bring forth are you ready to be gone are you bold to go forth and meet this last Enemy or do you not shake and shrink at the very mention of it Be mortified once and then let death do its worst Give the Word leave to kill this world give the spirit leave to kill this flesh and then you may give death leave to do its office Consider whither ever you go you carry your life in your hand and know not whether ever you shall bring it back O think with your selves when you are going forth into the field think with your selves I carry my life in my hand and God knows whether ever I may return with it whether ever I may come home alive when you go into the house think with thy self God knows whether ever I may come abroad when you arise in the morning God knows whether my next lodging may not be in the dust when you lye down in the evening God knows where my soul may be before morning I may awaken in another world and what if I should awaken in flames and feel this soul wrapp'd up in a winding sheet of fire Is there no fear it may be so Hath this world kept me from Christ all my life long and will it let me to heaven at last hath it held me in Chains all my time here how will it use me when it carries me hence Are you ready to die how shall I die when this earth is still my treasure take away my Gods and what have I more How shall I die when my soul hangs in doubt whither must I when I go hence can I follow this grisly Messenger when I know not whither he will lead me let mine Enemy die first let sin and the World die let mine Enemy be dead and let him that liveth be my friend let me cease from this earth and let heaven be my treasure and then I shall be willing to be gone Be it thus with you Friends and then you will be ready to be offered up Whatever Executioner be now sent to take away your life if old age be sent if a disease a Fever or Consumption if a distast a fall or a fire or any the like casualties if a son of violence a thief or a murtherer whatever Executioner be sent to take away your life and when ever he comes whether in the first second or third Watch you will say with the Apostle The time of my departure is at hand I am ready to be offered up I desire to depart and to be with Christ Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation And now at length Behold the man Here is the Conquerour and this is his Victory He that is come unto Christ to whom the world hath ceased to be his treasure and he hath accepted of God as his happiness and Heritage the moderation of whose affections to things earthly doth evidence that they are now only his means not his end He that can mannage his worldly affairs without the prejudice of his soul that whatever his hand finds to do hath still an eye to the main that overcharges not with business but makes business leave room for duty that so cares for the Oxen and the Asses that he neglect not the souls of his sons or servants that in all his dealings hath a due respect to truth righteousness and mercy that will be true though to his own hindrance that will be poor rather then dishonest or unmerciful whom the whole world cannot hire to lye or be unrighteous He that can use the world to its proper end all for God he that can want the worlds good things or suffer the worlds evil things and can keep his heart and his way whether he prosper or suffer that can deny his flesh when he hath to satisfie it that can want and be content suffer and be patient that is humble in the height of honour magnanimous in the depth of danger and difficulty that keeps in an even equal poise sober temperate serious in all the turns and changes of his life He that can thus live in the world and can die out of the world that is willing to be gone this is the Conquerour and here is his victory Use 1. The application that I shall make of the whole shall be by way of Information and Conviction Direction and Exhortation 1. By way of Information and Conviction Learn from what hath been said 1. That every Captive to the World is an unbeliever 2. That where there is but little power over the World there is but little Faith 1. Every Captive to
mark is this they mind earthly things of them that are saved or of them that perish and is not this the most proper character that can be given of thee see and take more perfect knowledge of thy self canst thou not see hast thou received the Spirit and yet not so much light as to discern betwixt earth and Heaven Is the Lord divided and become contrary to himself do not his hand and his seal agree does his word write this man no child and is that his Spirit that calls thee a child of God once again see and compare the writings that in the word and that in thy heart and if the voice within thee be not according call it not the witness of the Spirit but the false witness of the Devil If thou wilt yet understand thy self no better it 's much to be feared thou wilt not there 's too much dust in thine eye for thee to see it If thou wilt not see it yet there it stands written upon thee in most legible characters a minder of earthly things whose end is destruction But beloved I am perswaded better things of you to whom I am now speaking even you of little faith though it may be of a great name yet with you also must I plead a while and tell you from the Lord that I have somewhat against you and oh were it but a little somewhat that I have to speak even against you but sure there is very much to be spoken unless you will save me the labour and speak against your selves So much may be said as if it be duly considered may take you down many rounds lower then you imagine your selves to have ascended how few of you that are risen with Christ but are too often letting your affections run down again to this earth who though you have really counted this earth but dung yet are too greedily gathering up this dung into your bosomes that have your hands full and your mouths full of this dung and much more then you are aware of it is still in your hearts that are not able to loose what you have accounted loss In whom though Christ may be really formed yet there appears little conformity to his life or death To whom though it hath been long since said Lazarus come forth yet to this day you have scarce gotten your heads above ground whose bellies creep upon the dust whilest your eyes and your hopes are in Heaven in whom there is such a mixture of flesh and Spirit that it 's hard to discern which hath the predominance whose hearts seem still so divided betwixt Christ and the world that no body that knows you can tell which hath the better part whose time and whose care and whose labour run out so much on things below that without some great charity it may be judg'd your hearts are there also And yet by some clearer insight into the mysteries of the Gospel by some affectionate intercourses with God in your secret recesses and retirements from the world by your serious heats and inlargements in your duties with others by some tastes and relishes of the pleasure of ordinances by some raptures of joy and the seeming serenity and uncloudiness of your spirits by not considering what abatement the carnality and earthliness of your course must necessarily make upon you are grown to an hope and opinion that you are the highly favoured of the Lord and his greatly beloved But do you not blush then at your unworthiness are you not ashamed that such love and such hopes should no more wean your hearts from these breasts of vanity from which you suck nothing but filth or froth that you should defile such an heavenly treasure by lodging it in such earthen vessels that you should so disgrace that divine portion which you count is yours as that it should not be enough for you but leave you as hungry as if you had no God nor hope in him that you should so disgrace your Fathers table by your unnatural appetite after coals and dirt Is your profession that God is your happiness your treasure your all Is your none but Christ come to more then this Hath your covenanting with God for renouncing the world mortifying your flesh denying your self brought forth no better fruits then these Oh the impudence and disingenuity of our hearts that can carry the conscience of such treachery before the Throne of Grace without shame and consternation how can you lift up your face before the Lord without hanging down the head Nay do you not fear that your hearts also have deceived you and that matters may not be so well with you as you sometimes conclude that your hopes are but delusory that your joys are but dreams and all your comforts are but the lying divinations and prophesies of your own deceived heart Is it out of question with you that you are risen with Christ and ascended with Christ when these hearts are gotten no further up out of their graves Believe it Christians the severities of Religion will be a surer testimony to you then all its suavities an humble patient contented self-denying mortified Christian under all his doubts and fears under all his complaints of darkness and deadness is fairer for heaven then you all Those are the joys of faith which spring up out of the ruines of carnal joys those are the genuine comforts and delights of the Saints that arise up out of the ashes of earthly delights those are the confidences of true believers which grow out of their contempt of the world then will the world think better of our Religion and then may we hope better of our selves when the joy of the Lord is our strength and the joys of the earth are strangers to us and despised by us Oh Brethren let us no longer dishonour our God nor delude our selves let not the world any longer say in our reproach these men are even as we Let them see that our ways are not as their ways that our joys are not as their joys and then they will know our hope is not as their hope our Rock is not as their Rock Children of the Kingdome if I may be bold to call you so where is the proof of your heavenly extract where is your fathers spirit how can you be patient with your selves whilest you are such degenerate plants how can you satisfie your selves that you are the genuine off-spring of God when so unlike your father how can you without weeping behold the glory of these later Temples to fall so far short of those that were in the Ages before us where is the primitive spirituality the mortification and self-denial of the primitive Christians how have the stars chang'd their Orbs from moving in the Celestial Spheres how seem they now to be fixed in the earth how can you count your selves Stars and not Comets when your highest elevation is seldome above the middle Region you hang betwixt heaven and earth We take
When I awake I am still with thee that is my thoughts are presently with thee my meditations are of thee and where my thoughts are there am I. When the thoughts are with God the soul is with God when the thoughts are in the earth and mud the soul is all bemired The soul goes forth to view to taste and to chuse for it self the thoughts take a view the affections and senses taste and take the relish and then accordingly the will chuses The will should nakedly follow the understanding and chuse only what the unbyassed judgment tells it is good but it does too ordinarily follow the affections and senses these blind the reason and so ingage the will we chuse what we love and what pleases rather then what upon an impartial deliberation we judge to be good The things of both worlds work upon hearts objectively by the good or evil that is apprehended in them they accordingly affect us our thoughts search into things what there is in them when our thoughts by searching find out God God is regarded and when they are in search after the world they make a shift to fancy this to be good and accordingly it is imbraced The thoughts are the feet and the eyes of the soul the feet Eccles 5. 1. keep thy feet when thou goest into the house of God that is keep and look well to thy thoughts The eyes Prov. 17. 24. The eyes of a fool that is his thoughts are in the ends of the earth the rovings of the thoughts are the souls compassing the earth and its walking to and fro to the ends thereof Keep your thoughts in by the Lord and you keep your souls in your thoughts will be in exercise will be walking daily and hourly some whither or other there 's no keeping them in they will abroad either to heaven or earth oh send them to heaven daily and hold them there let them have no leisure to wander in this earth Brethren think your selves up to heaven as we may pray our selves up and believe our selves up to heaven so we may think our selves thither worldly men think themselves into pride or think themselves into covetousness or think themselves into wantonness are so long thinking and thinking in fuel for lust till they have set it all in a flame as worldly men think themselves into wickedness so let Christians think themselves into holiness think themselves into humility sobriety contentation and heavenliness of mind call off your thoughts from this earth and you will cease to be earthly call them back from vanity and you will cease to be vain call them up to heaven and you call them off from what 's below Think on God more Christians and the everlasting Kingdome think on the way that leads to it on the dangers that lie in the way on the dread of perishing in the way on the beauty and pleasure and comfort of being upright in the way of the goal and prize that is at the end of the way Take up such thoughts as these Is not God better then the world that is is not all things better then nothing Is not grace better then sin that is is not fair better then foul Is not peace better then wrath peace with God then friendship with the world are not the fillings of Gold better then heaps of earth Is a little grace so good and is not more desirable can there be much grace where the desire is so divided betwixt it and vanity Is gold in the Our so precious as gold out of the fire Is the twilight pleasant O what is the day light Is a mixture of flesh and spirit of heaven and earth as desirable as all spirit all heaven If grace be so good if peace with God be so precious why do I not seek it if I have a little grace if I have a little peace why do I not press for more when shall I increase and grow rich towards God if I do not decrease towards this earth Be thinking thus on heaven and heavenly things and if you will be thinking of earth too think of the dark places of the earth and the dark side of its brightness think of the precipices the marishes the quagmires the barren Mountains and desolate Wildernesses the bryars and thorns and wild beasts of the earth my meaning is if you will study the world study its vanity and vexations the danger you are in of being lost or torn in pieces or swallow'd up of them How uncertain are these riches how vanishing is this mirth how unconstant are these friends what a blast are these honors what a flash are these pleasures what a bubble are these buildings how long will they lust what will be left of them a few years hence But O the thorns and the bryars the vexations the cares the fears the disappointments the crosses the sweat and the sorrows that are mingled with these pleasures and possessions But yet farther O the darts and the arrows and the stings that come after O the stabs and the wounds that they give to the soul the darkness and death and damnation that they are dragging it into If you will be thinking on the world let it be with such thoughts as these and then see if it would be so hard to make an exchange of earth for heaven Brethren the reason why it is so hard a work for the Ministry to perswade in souls to Christ is because we cannot get them to entertain any serious thoughts of Christ and of the blessedness that comes in with him the reason why we cannot fetch them off from the world is because we cannot perswade them to think as they should of it of the vanity of it of the bondage it holds them in and the misery it subjects them to If we could but set you a thinking once what harm would it be to me to hearken to Christ what will become of me if I do not hearken to him when shall I come to Christ if I still cleave to this present world what if I should never come but should stand at this distance from him to my dying day Can I ever hope for mercy from Christ if for the love of the world I now refuse him will he regard my cryes when hereafter I shall call Lord open to me Lord answer for me Lord save me if I reject him when he calls Soul open to me Soul submit to me How shall I stand in the Judgment if I have no Christ to stand with me will my estate will my pleasures will my friends be good Advocates for me in that day will this be a good Plea Lord Jesus appear for me let thy wounds plead let thy bloud plead for me let me stand as one of thine for I am he that would none of thee I set at nought thy counsels and despised thy Covenant and trampled upon thy bloud and preferr'd my house and my money and my pleasures and my lusts before