attain to what he can not do In order to be ready for Christ some thing a man can do some thing he can not do He can Read Hear Pray Consider stir his Natural affections Love Fear Hope Desire by weighing what he knows Some things as yet he can not do Repent turn to God believe Savingly for these are the gifts and work of God Now God hath set the first in the way to the second as it were in the middle betwixt what he can do and what he can not that by doing what he can at present he may gradually come to ability to do what he cannot yet do and by degrees may ascend thither whither he could not reach per Salâ—um at once I will make this plain by an easie comparison A man cannot at one stride step up into the Room above him ten foot higher than the floor he stands on but if there be a Pair of Stairs he can set his Foot first on the lowest than on the second third and by degrees ascend a second third fourth Story tho ten or twenty Foot above the place from whence he first began Just thus there is a Jacobs Ladder of many Rounds set up between Heaven and Earth We cannot step at once from Nature to Grace from Earth to Heaven but we may begin at the foot of this Ladder and climb from the first Round to the second and then the third and so to the top and gradually by the help of this Ladder and the hand of the Spirit leading us up we come to that which without this we could not reach by the means of Grace we attain Grace and by Grace as a means we attain Glory I therefore again press you to Read Hear Pray Meditate with honest industry and an humble expectation of Gods blessing upon his own Institutions and thy labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Sixthly Allow your selves due time and leisure for these things Be good Husbands of time no thrift is more commendable Eternity depends upon it And as I would specially commend unto you the strict Sanctifying the Lords day a thing much out of use which is one of the most visible Causes why the power of Godliness withers and dwindles so much away For 't is easily observable that Religion thrives and prospers proportionably to the improvement of this day and flourisheth or is troden down according as this Fence is kept up or neglected So let me earnestly commend to you the setting apart some Portion of time every day for God and your souls That as God hath the Tribute of a Day-Sabbath out of the Week He may have as it were an Hour-Sabbath out of every Day As there was a continual Morning and Evening Sacrifice dayly under the Law so there should be at least Morning and Evening time allowed for Spiritual Sacrifice under the Gospel And here I cannot I dare not forbear to caution you of this great City against the over lavish spending of whole Evenings in Publick Houses and at your Clubbs Tho 't is easiy to foresee it may offend both those whose guilt and whose interest it toucheth for both these are teachy things not that I am so rigid as to censure moderate Diversion and Friendly Conversation But I fear yea I greatly fear there is a fault yea a great fault in this matter If after your Shops your Counting-House and Business and the Change have taken all the day the Coffee-House the Tavern and the Clubb shall take up all your Evening What 's left for God for Souls and for Eternity And thou returnest home so late that thy Family is in Bed or half asleep and thy head full of Stories and News at least if not of something worse How slenderly cursorily and uncomposedly is God like to be served in Family and Closet if not shut out of both And what if Christ should come and find you doing thus Could you expect his Euge bone serve well done good and faithful servant or not rather his frown with why hast thou served me thus Seventhly If thou wouldest be ready for Christ get thy heart furnish'd and prepared as that Room was where he eat his last Passover Mark xiv 15. Cast out all thy Lusts and cast off every weight but above all keep thy self from thine own iniquity foster no bosome sin enter into league with none Tho 't will be hard enough to get rid of others yet thou'ld be easilier quit of twenty others than of such an one A darling sin a bosom sin a peccatum in deliciis is of all sins most offensive to God most dangerous to our selves One Dalilah was too strong for Sampson himself and he could not stand before her before whom a thousand men fell at one time but she cost him his Eyes and his Life Every sin is a snare and a cord to intangle men but none so much as his Own sin His Own iniquities there 's the Emphasis his Own shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the Cords of His sins Prov. v. 22. Whether it be the sin of thy Natural Constitution or thy Calling and Profession of life or the time and place thou livest in or that long usage and custom hath indeared to thee For from these four quarters this blasting wind usually blows upon men and made as a right Hand or a right Eye or as the spots to a Leopard or skin to an Ethiopian This sin what ever it be is the plague of thy heart the most Mortal Disease of thy Soul and thou must set thy self with all thy might both to find it out and cast it out and mortifie it 'T was Davids Argument for his uprightness that he kept himself from his own iniquity Psal xviii 23. I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity And so must thou if ever thou expect acceptance with God 'T is bad to be forced or ravished by Sin and Satan 't is worse to yield consent to one act of defilement or Spiritual Uncleanness but 't is worst of all to be married to them and this thou art by fostering a Bosome darling sin This yields the constant use of Soul and Body to his impure embraces This keeps Possession for him and opens the Door as often as he knocks and he enters in and dwells there Davids lust to Bathshebah tho very foul is called a Way-faring man and a Traveller 2 Sam. xii 4. But where a darling sin is harboured there Satan is at Home in his own House This makes thy condition almost desperate and nothing but a speedy Divorce can prevent its being altogether so Eighthly Disintagle and unchain thy heart from the inordinate love and cares of the things of this world Account thy self a Stranger and a Pilgrim here Know that this is not thy rest thou hast here no continuing place But especially take Gods Counsel to Hezekiah Isa xxxviii 1. Set thine house in order for thou shalt die
of man cometh in an hour when ye think not 'T is the Motto and brand of a Fool to say non putaram I never thought of this excuss therefore this stupidness shake off this folly and bethink your selves there 's no watch in the night there 's no hour in the day when Christ may not come therefore be ever preparing and prepared to meet him I have thus brought the occasion and the Text together and led you through the Context to the Words as clearly and as briefly as I could So that nothing remains but to make the best improvement of them that I can Be ye ready First 'T is vox Respectiva The very word implies a respect to somewhat He that is ready is ready for some person or some thing And 't is so obvious the naming of it is next to needless 'T is for the coming of our Lord. Secondly 'T is vox Praeceptiva 'T is a word of command from our Great Lord and Master making that our duty which is our greatest interest and happiness Thirdly 't is vox Directiva Directing us to that in which our true our only wisdom which makes wise unto Salvation doth consist Fourthly 'T is vox Comprehensiva a very large and comprehensive word in two regards first including all things which concern our being Good and Happy For to be ready for Christ implies our being compleat in Christ There 's a receiving fulness of Grace from him 2. It implies our going to Heaven with him For they that were ready went with him in to the marriage Matth. xxv 10. there 's our happiness Secondly It comprehends all persons ye that 's all this indefinite is Universal as Thou in the Commandments is every one So here Ye signifies All. These put together fall naturally and without any strayning into this Doctrine 'T is every mans indispensible Duty and highest Interest to be presently Ready for Christs coming A Principle of Duty to Gods Authority requiring it And a Principle of Wisdom for our safety necessitating it are the two unshaken Pillars on which this Truth is so firmly built that it can never be moved No Cavils from men or Devils can overturn it no evasion can ever dispence with mens Obligation to it But as long as man is bound to do what God bids Or believe what God tells him As long as 't is the part of a wise man to escape the utmost misery and to desire and persue after infiâ—ite happiness and glory So long will this truth abide more fixed than the Earth Yea establisht in and as the very Heavens So that I shall say no more for its confirmation in this place but proceed 1. To shew wherein this Readiness consists 2. What is required on our parts to attain to it 3. Press the performance with most cogent Arguments But because a wise Builder will carry off the Rubbish and clear his Ground before he lays his Foundation I shall First Negatively shew you wherein Readiness doth not consist or what is not sufficient to make you so And this is very needful to be done because prepossession of the mind by error hinders the Truth from entring and leaves no room in the Heart to entertain it And too many are prone to rest satisfied with that which will deceive them supposing 't is enough to make their condition safe and happy and would go farther did they not verily think they had gone far enough Many saith Seneca had become wisemen had they not thought themselves already such And Gregory Nazianzen the greatest hindrance of proficiency is an Opinion of sufficient proficiency 'T is no wonder those Marriners strike Sail who think themselves in safe Harbour Nor that he sets by his Staff and takes up his rest who verily believes he is at the end of his journey Now to pass by the excuses many make for neglecting to be ready there seem to be six things which men are prone to trust to as sufficient to make their condition good and safe which really are not so 1. Their being born of Godly Parents 2. Being of very good Natures or sweet Dispositions 3. Being Baptized and using and injoying the means of Grace 4. Outward Conformity to the Letter of the Law in the practice of Moral Vertues and Duties 5. Being of the true Church or of such a Party or persuasion 6. Believing in Christ or presuming rather that they do so without those Fruits which prove their Faith to be Holy and Lively It would require more time than our present streights will allow to speak fully to all these it must suffice to Nonsuit every of these Pleas in a word to undeceive those who are prone to deceive themselves with shaddows and appearances instead of Realities For 't is an error very incident to weak and partial minds as we are all prone to be partial to our selves to judg every thing which is good to be enough and good enough Which is a great mistake as you may be easily convinced by a plain similitude Your mony may be very good both for Mettal and Stamp and as currant as any in the Kingdom Yet twenty Shillings of such mony will not pay a Debt of ten pounds What 's the reason Not because the mony is not good but because there is not enough of it So in our present Case these things I have named will not make us ready for Christ why so Not because they are not good in their place and kind they are good in tanto but not in toto but because they are not good enough In degree and measure Therefore I beseech you think not I condemn or dispraise them or discourage your attainment of them I only warn you not to rest in them as sufficient to make you ready for Christ or fit to go to Heaven For this they cannot do First not the being born of Godly Parents tho it is a great mercy to be so and is attended with many advantages and many have put confidence in it How often do we hear it from the Jews mouths we are Abrahams seed we have Abraham to our Father John viii 43 39 and St. John Baptists warning them against it think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father Matth. iii. 10. intimates their hearts were full of it and placed much confidence in it But our Saviour tells those very men John viii 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil And St. John Baptist call these a generation of vipers 'T is not generation from the best men but regeneration from the good Spirit must do our business non nascimur sed â—enascimur Christiani Men beget children not as good men but as men and therefore beget not good men but meer men As Circumcised Israelites begot children which needed Circumcision And the best drest Wheat grows up again with Chaff So those whose Parents were Circumcised in heart come into this world with a Foreskin on their hearts which must be taken off Whatever
how Superlatively Holy then must that place be of which this was but a figure What ever God Sanctifies by his presence must not be defiled by the approach or touch of any unclean thing When God appears to Moses in the Bush or Joshuah in the Vale both must put off their shooes from their feet because the ground was holy on which they stood Paradice could bear our first Parents no longer when they had sinned away their Innocence Nay the Angels fell from Heaven when they fell from the Holiness in which they were created And Possession which you call Eleven Points could not secure their stay And thinkest thou with an unsanctified heart which bears Satans Image to be admitted into that place from which that very Image cast them out 'T is said some Vessels are so delicate and pure that they will hold no Poyson but crush and break in pieces to be rid on 't Should one sinner get into Heaven with his unchanged his invenomed Nature Heaven would cleave under him as the Earth did under Korah Dathan and Abiram rather than not discharge it self of him Yea when he saw his own loathsomness in that pure place he would save and prevent their labour who would cast him out and partly for shame to be so unlike the rest and partly for the unagreeableness of the place to his expectations and desires he would leap down headlong rather than tarry there As Vzziah when the Leprosie arose in his Forehead the Priests thrust him out of the Temple yea he himself hasted to go out 2 Chron. xxvi 20. And the expression is remarkable concerning the Angels which kept not their first State they left their own Habitation Jud. verse 6. for though Michael and his Angels fought and cast them out Rev. xii 7 8 9. Yet they were soon weary of Heaven and of their Holy Habitation and ready enough to leave it of their own accord when they had made themselves so unlike to it And what ever they think who look upon Heaven as a reserve when they can stay no longer in this world to be chosen rather than the place of Torment and phansie it like a Tuâ—kish Paradice a place of ease and sloath to eat and drink and gratifie their sensualities from an absurd misunderstanding of some allusive and Figurative expressions yet if an unsanctified man with his heart full of his present Antipathies against the Holiness of that place should step in thither it would certainly be the most irksom and disagreeable place he ever came in and more like a Purgatory than a Paradice and never was he so uneasie as he would be there nor was ever creature so much out of its Element as such a man would be And how strange or surprizing soever this may seem its easie to convince you of its Truth by Principles of Reason For likeness is the cause of liking and Satisfaction ariseth from the sutableness of the Object to the Subject that receives it Many things have an intrinsick Excellency in themselves and are very desirable to those to whose capacities and dispositions they are suited which are not so at all to others Hony is very sweet to an Healthful Pallate but bitter to the Tongue which is dryed and scortched with a Feaver Meat and drink are very pleasant to an hungry Stomach but their sight or smell will make him Sick who is troubled with a nausea or loathing Musick and Songs greatly delight a chearful airy spirit but to him that is of an Heavy heart are like the taking away a Garment in cold weather Prov. xxv 20. And to him that 's tyr'd out for want of rest one hours Sleep would be more welcome than the best Melody of Voice or Instrument We are never well but when we are where we would be and we would never be out of our own Element The Worm in the Earth the Bird in the Air the Fish in the water not only live but each in his Place doth grow and sing and play But change their Element and presently they languish and dye Sin and this World are a sinners Element and put him into Heaven whilst he continues such and his Heart would dye within him as soon as he found where he was The Air of that purer Region that Holy Climate would be to him as Ireland is said to be to Spiders Toads and Vipers His Conversation must be in Heaven whilst he lives Phil. iii. 20. to whom Heaven would be Heaven indeed that is a place of Bliss and satisfaction when he dyes Secondly The Company And this makes an unsanctified person more unfit for Heaven and would render his being there yet more uneasie to him Can two walk together except they be agreed Amos iii. 3. And there is just such agreement betwixt a wicked unsanctified sinner and all the Company in Heaven as there is betwixt Light and Darkness Christ and Belial the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent You may find what Company there is in Heaven by that short yet full Muster-Rowl of that Heavenly Host Heb. xii 22 23 24. The sum of which is this that in the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem there are God the Judg of all Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant an innumerable company of Holy Angels the General Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and the spirits of just men made perfect Now if amongst all these a more narrow search be made then was amongst all the creatures for an help for Adam The return must be made us then non est inventus There was not found for Adam a meet help Gen. ii 20. So amongst all these will not be found a meet Companion for an unsanctified sinner Not God for he hath been used to say to him Depart from me I desire not the knowledg of thy ways What is the Almighty that I should serve him Job xxi 20. And God will take him at his word they 'l never come together nor will he now be served or injoyed by him Not Christ for of him he said this man shall not reign over me Luke xix 14. What therefore should he do in his Kingdom Or how can he have Fellowship with him who trampled his blood under his Feet Not the Holy Spirit whom he always resisted grieved vexed fretted and did despight unto whilst he was striving with him to render him a meet Habitation for God Not the Holy Angels for he never caused their Joy in Heaven by his Repentance and they can not be glad to see him there Not the Spirits of just men made perfect for the beginnings of that perfection in the first lineaments of Christs Image on their hearts and lives and the initial participation of the Divine Nature made them the Objects of his scorn and hatred Whom tho his Brethren by Nature he loved just as Cain did Abel and for the same reason 1 John iii. 12. Or as Ishmael
did Isaac or Esaw Jacob or as a Wolfe doth love a Sheep The Righteous is abomination to the Wicked Prov. xxix 27. And what a kind of Heaven would it be for an unsanctified man to be shut up with such Company as he hates with the worst of Antipathies and vilifies with the bitterest censures and most despightful scorn Nor could the Company of Heaven like him better than he likes them For God is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness nor shall evil dwell with him Psal v. 4 5. Christ saith to them depart from me ye that work iniquity Matth. vii 23. The Holy Spirit will not entertain him who would never open the door to him knockt he never so earnestly and long but all ways shut him out of his heart 'T is the Offices of the blessed Angels to gather out of the Kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity and to cast them into a furnace of fire Matth. xiii 41 42. And they will do their Office impartially As for the Saints as they could give them no Oyl to help them in Matth. xxv 9. So would they give them no countenance should they get in without it Moses accuses them John v. 45. The souls under the Altar cryed against them whilst they lived Revel vi 9. And shall judg them when they dye 1 Cor. vi 2. The whole Herd makes head against a blown Deer Those Loyal Subjects will not harbour such Traitors against their Lord and King Then shall be the great Excommunication and the Church of the first born will put from amongst them every wicked person as 1 Cor. v. 13. injoyns Therefore Oh unsanctified sinner bethink thy self in time To which of the Saints wilt thou turn Job v. 1. Thirdly The Work of Heaven which he hath neither skill to perform nor time nor heart to learn renders an unsanctified man as uncapable of Heaven as either of the former For the Work of Heaven is to serve the Lord incessantly And his servants shall serve him Rev. xxii 3. To do his Will so perfectly that 't is fet as a pattern how to do it on Earth Thy will be done on Earth as 't is in Heaven Mat. vi To love the Lord with perpetual extastes and ravishments of Soul to Worship him that sits upon the Throne and give him glory throwing down their Crowns at his feet and saying thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power to sound forth Eternal Hallelujahs and not to cease either day or night from crying Holy Holy Holy to him which was and is and is to come Rev. iv To sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb who redeemed them from the Earth and made them to his Father Kings and Priests to offer up the pure incense of Eternal Praises And such as this being the incessant endless imployment of Heaven I beseech you give me leave with freedom to Appeal to your Consciences who either never Pray nor Praise or slubber over a few formal Devotions for custom sake and to stop the Mouth of Conscience with the greatest weariness as the most irksome task and druggery of your lives and are so tyr'd at a Prayer or Sermon that nothing tries your patience like it or seems so tedious and so much the more as the service is more spiritual and searching what would you do in Heaven what corner would you find to sleep in How many wearyed and longing Eyes would you cast upon that Glass of Eternity which will never be run out How tedious would that everlasting Sabbath seem when you so often ask of these below when will they be gone Amos viii 5. I intreat you therefore be convinced of the indispensible necessity of Sanctification to make you fit to go to Heaven with Christ For either God must change the Nature of Heaven to fit it to thy Phansie which he will never do or thy heart must be made like it even Holy and Heavenly to savour and delight in the things of God or else Heaven it self would be no Heaven to thee In a word without Justification thou canst not go to Heaven as a state of happiness tho thou wouldst and without Sanctification thou wouldst not go to Heaven as a state of Holiness tho thou mightst See Col. i. 12. Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Mark 'T is an Inheritance thou must be made a Son to have a Title to Inherit there 's Justification But 't is an inheritance of the Saints in light and thou must be made a Saint and Child of Light to be meet to enter into the possession of it There 's Sanctification 1 Cor vi 9 10 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God be not deceived neither Fernicators nor Idolaters c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God and such were some of you how then came they to be capable But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Here you have them both expresly St. Paul again tells you Rom. viii 30. Whom he justified them he also glorified In which place also we have both these the first explicitely you must be justified before you can be glorified the second implicitely for therefore glorified signifies perfectly sanctified Grace is glory in the Bud and Blosom Glory is Grace in the full blown Flower and ripe Fruit Now as no ripe Fruit without a Blosom no full blown Rose without a Bud so no Glory without Grace preceeding From glory to glory 1 Cor. iii. ult That is from Glory inchoate in Grace on Earth to Glory consummate in Bliss in Heaven As child-hood is before man-hood and he that never was a child shall never be a man So he in whose heart Christ was never formed by the immortal seed Who never was born of the Spirit Who never as a new born Babe desired the sincere Milk of the Word to grow thereby shall never arrive at the Stature of the fulness of Christ shall never attain to that perfect Image of the Son of God to which all his are Predestinated to be Conformable shall never be a perfect man in Christ nor appear before him perfect in Zion to follow the Lamb upon that Holy Mountain The Conceptions which the best men have of Heaven are very low obscure and imperfect but certainly those which ignorant and prophane men have of it are strangely absurd and brutish or it were impossible they should ever hope to get thither till their sins be both pardoned and subdued for 't is next to a contradiction to think they can reign with Christ in whose mortal Bodies or immortal Souls sin is allowed and continues to reign For least of all in this sence can corruption inherit incorruption Thirdly Tho the two things we last insisted on are the main to constitute us
the stream which was at first but Ankle high or to the Knees and fordable at least will become impassible and in the deep waters they shall not come nigh him The longer thou art going from God the farther off thou 'lt be and the more difficult will thy return be found Rooted Habits are hardly eradicated and Custom in sin becomes a second Nature And as easily may the Leopard change his spots or the Ethiopian put off his skin as he learn to do good who is accustomed to do evil Jer. xiii 23. Custom in sin will take away the sence of sin and harden the heart like the neather Mill-stone Therefore Exhort one another dayly while it is called to day yea rouse up your selves lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. iii. 13. Nemo repente fit turpissimus no man arrives at height of wickedness all on the sudden but by degrees Even depraved Nature hath some modesty left to restrain it and that must be bafled to make it impudent in sin and braze its fore-head to be past blushing A fresh water-Souldier dops his head and shrinks at the discharge of single Muskets but he that 's flusht with often coming safely off despiseth Vollies and marches erect where the Bullets fall like a storm of Hail and at last will run upon the mouth of Canons Experience breeds hope in evil as well as in good and because men have long continued unready for Christ and yet found no danger in it they flatter themselves they never shall And Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Eccl. viii 11. And so what was always hard to do at length becomes next to impossible to be done Especially confidering Fifthteenthly Thy strength declines as well as thy work grows more difficult and according to the old Verse Qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit He that 's unfit to day will be more unfit to morrow for besides the decays of Nature which are not to be despised where the work is wholly to begin the offers of Grace will be more rare and faint the motions of the Spirit will be less frequent less importunate He hath neither delight nor list to knock at that door which hath been barr'd so long against him nor to expose himself to new repulses where he hath been so often grieved and his help rejected and ere long he will be gone for ever and woe be to thee when he departs from thee Si ter pulsanti nemo respondet abito The Courts on Earth Record the third contempt for contumacy and proceed to Sentence And doth the Court of Heaven keep no Records He seals up thine iniquities in a bag and are not these things written in his Book What folly is it to lay the heaviest burden on the weakest beast to leave that care and work to thy decrepid Age When the Grashopper shall be a burden which the vigour of thy youth can scarcely struggle with Sixteenthly Thou wilt not be served thus thy self do as thou wouldst be done to How irksome to thee is a loytring servant As vinegar to the teeth and smoak to the Eyes so is a sluggard to them that send him Prov. x. 26. Thou expectest thy servant shall attend on thee before he serve himself Which of you having a servant Plowing or feeding Cattle will say unto him by and by when he is come from the field go sit down to meat And will not rather say unto him first make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thy self and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afteâ—ward thou shalt eat and drink thou'lt rid thy House of him who will serve himself before his Master and make him stay his leisure and what shall God do to such an one His are a willing people and all delay implies unwillingness We would never do what we are loath to do if we durst omit it not love but fear begets such motion and 't is love to our work which makes our working acceptable God had as lieve you should do nothing as do what you do without or against your heart Seventeenthly Nay You do not only hate delays in men but you cannot bear them at the hand of God if you be in distress in pain or danger you cry out O God make speed to save us O Lord make hast to help us answer me speedily Lord tarry not and if he do you grow importunate Make hast O God to deliver me make hast to help me O Lord Psal lxx 1. Make hast unto me O God O Lord make no tarrying verse 5. if not half impatient Hear me speedily O Lord my spirit faileth Psal clxiii 7. My soul is vexed but thou O Lord how long Psalm vi 3. How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy face from me How long shall I take Counsel in my soul dayly How long shall my enemy be exalted over me Consider and hear me O Lord my God Psalm xiii 1 2 3. If not quite so and desperate with that wicked King Why should I stay or wait for the Lord any longer 2 Kings vi 33. And if God should when thou roarest for horror of Conscience or art as on a Rack with exquisite pains of Gout or Stone or but the Tooth-Ache answer thee with such delays as thou dost him and say why such hast all in good time I am not at leisure forty years hence or twenty years hence I 'le help and ease thee be content I can't come yet but when I have nothing else to do I 'le help thee How would this hope deferred make thy heart sick And 't is well if thou refrain Blaspheming him as one that mockt thee and yet God must suffer all this at thine hand be provoked and grieved forty years long yea fifty threescore years and wait and call and cry and reason with thee and intreat thee to return to get ready for him but all in vain thou turnest a deaf Ear to him and art as the deaf Adder which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer charming never so wisely And wilt neither dance to his piping nor weep at his mourning to you Consider this you that forget God how how unkindly you take it to be forgotten of him and you that delay so many years to be ready for him how ill you can bear his delaying but a week or day if he be not ready to relieve and help you in your fears and sorrows Eighteenthly You 'l not deal thus with others as you deal with God as if 't were only safe and faultless to despise him not with your betters good manners will not suffer that you say 'T is fitter you should stay for them than they for you Not with a Friend or Neighbour but will rise at midnight to lend him what he needs or but to light
pray for Grace To do God's Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven we either ask we know not what or we do but mock God if we endeavour not to Serve Him with the same Diligence as near as we can attain it where with the Host of Heaven serve Him constantly Lastly The Example of God Himself Blessed for ever whom we are so oft required to imitate Be ye Holy for I am Holy Be ye Perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect This beyond all should constrain us to shew forth our utmost Diligence Shall God be so Sollicitous to promote our Salvation and Shall we sleight and despise it as if it were not worth Regarding God the Father imploy'd His Blessed Thoughts about it from all Eternity devising Means to bring home His Banished that they should not be Expelled from Himself to Reconcile His Mercy and His Justice to Punish the Sin and Spare the Sinner and made all his Glory pass before Him in the Accomplishment of it display'd all His Attributes in their brightest Lustre and in a word gave His Son the Dearly Beloved of His Soul in whom He took Infinite and Everlasting pleasure to be made a Man and then to be made a Curse And God the Son came down from Heaven for us Men and for our Salvation And having done so spent His time in the World according to the Ends for which He came into it which was to Glorify His Father do His Will and do Good to the Souls and Bodies of Men and He did it all with a Zeal that even Consumed and Eat Him up and made the Foolish World say He was Mad or Besides Himself as they are ready to do of all that follow Him And at last after a Life spent in preaching whole Dayes and praying whole Nights and Working mighty Miracles He Finish't all with a Willing Obedience to the most painful shameful and accursed Death and even now He is in Heaven He is as Diligent as ever making Intercession without Intermission and watching and ordering all things for the Good of those who shall be Heirs of Salvation And the most Holy and most Blessed Spirit is as busie and sedulous as either of the Former knocking calling striving warning wooing Sinners to return to God to be so Wise as to be contented to be Happy upon God's Terms which in one word are That you Work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling and improve your Seasons with meet Diligence while you have them Working while 't is Day before that Night over-take you in which no Man can Work Which that we all do The Good Lord vouchsafe us that Grace and Wisdom which may Assist us and Direct us to do accordingly Amen FINIS A DISCOURSE SHEWING The sinfulness and danger of unfruitfulness under the Gospel containing the substance of some Sermons Preached upon St. Luke xiii 6 7 8 9. A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his Vineyard and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and find none cut it down why cumbereth it the ground And he answering said unto him Lord let it alone this year also till I shall dig about it and dung it And if it bear fruit well and if not then after that thou shalt cut it down AS time is measured out to us by the revolution of days and months and years so is Gods patience magnified towards us by multiplying the returns of them And as his Patience is magnified so is our Account increased and Impenitency aggravated according to the number of the portions of time which pass over us and the more we have wasted and sent home empty to him that expected fruit from us in them all the more we have cause to expect and fear that every next and new one should be our last for God will not always bear the disappointment of his expectation but tho he bear long will not forbear always but will at length curse to a with'ring or cut down for burning the barren Tree which bears either none or no good Fruit year after year This consideration hath induced mee in the beginning of another year to chuse this Parable to discourse of to press you with all the earnestness I can after so many years of provoking unfruitfulness to tempt Gods long-suffering no longer by impenitency and barrenness under the Gospel lest if being let alone this year also you continue only incumbrances of Gods Vineyard He continue no longer to spare you nor Christ to interceed for you that you may be spared nor good men be able to prevail for you nor your own Consciences have any plea left but that ye be cut off without pitty on Gods part without remedy on mans and without excuse on you own There is not a place in all the Holy Scriptures wherein Repentance and that both sound and speedy is more vehemently urged and more emphatically enforced than the beginning of this Chapter For as those who heard our Lord urge the similitude of the Creditor and Debtor laid down in the two last verses of the preceeding Chapter against procrastination may seem to have taken occasion thence to tell him the story of the Galileans Whose blood Pilate had mingled with their Sacirfices so our Lord takes occasion further to improve that his Doctrine against neglect and deferring Repentance by applying that story now told him and another of eighteen men on whom the Tower of Siloam had fallen and destroyed them which were both true and real Stories of things which had actually and lately hapned and were fresh in all mens memories and mouths Now these being very awakning examples and startling instances of sudden and surprizing Judgments Our Saviour according to his great wisdom and faithfulness will not let slip so fair an opportunity to press his hearers from them to speedy and sincere Repentance As if he had said these were not greater not more flagitious sinners than their Neighbours no nor then your selves and yet these things you hear and know hapned unto them and as bad or worse may happen unto you nay will unless you Repent and now especially since God hath given them to be such warnings to awaken you If you do not now repent ye shall all likewise perish Your impenitency aggravated by slighting such an alarum as their fall gives you will provoke God to meet with you some way or other and if in any case he cut you off before you have Repented truly you perish unavoidably and that for ever Little did the Galileans think when they went to offer Sacrifice they should themselves be made a Sacrifice Little did the Eighteen men who were in or nigh the Tower of Siloam well and safe and secure from fear think to be crusht to death in a moment in the twinkling of an Eye and yet these things befel them both And so may it be
had said I have waited long and come often looking for Fruit and hitherto my expectation hath been disappointed therefore I am weary of forbearing and will suffer the abuse of my patience no longer Cut it down that is execute against it the deserved Judgment And as this is injoyned to his Ministers to be performed by them it implyes 1. That the Fruitless Tree is worthy to be Cut down and is actually under the Sentence of Condemnation tho the Execution may be defer'd by way of Reprieve Every unfruitful sinner under the Gospel is in a state of actual condemnation there is only a small respiting for a while and a short reprieve allowed to afford him time to sue out his pardon according to that from our Saviours own mouth St. John iii. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already So he that repenteth not is condemned already 2. He bids his Ministers Cut them down that is cut them off by sharp reproof and cutting rebukes and Church Censures cast them out of my Vineyard my Church from my Ordinances that they may be ashamed that they may be afraid that they may be awakened 3. To shew the unavoidable certainty of it if they continue impenitent let them know what will certainly be their end Jer. xv 1. Cast them out of my sight declare they shall be cast out and Jer. i. 10. I have set thee over the Nations to root out to pull down to destroy to throw down that is to declare who shall be so dealt with and I will make it good what is bound on Earth shall be bound in Heaven Say to the wicked it shall be ill with him thou also shall be cut off as before the Text you shall all likewise perish that is unless you repent 4. Why cumbreth it the Ground This contains the reason of the Righteous Sentence of cutting down and intimates that God never proceeds to severity without cause And ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it saith the Lord God Eze. xiv 23. 'T is a reproachful upbraiding the Fruitless-tree the word is rend'red variously it signifies to make unprofitable why takes it up a room to no purpose and keeps out a better and robs others both of nourishment and influence by drawing the fatness of the soil and casting a malignant shade And teacheth us that a man who continues in the Church impenitent 1. Robs God of the Glory which would redound to him if he brought forth the Fruits of Righteousness which he ought for Christ saith his Father is glorified when his Disciples bring forth much fruit John xv 8. and commands that our Light shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father in Heaven And St. Paul tells us that the fruits of Righteousness are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God Phil. i. 11. which Glory God loseth by every Tree which stands on his ground and bears no Fruit. 2. Such a man does abundance of mischief by his bad example imboldens others to be and continue as bad as himself and hinders and discourages them from being better 3. Disparages the Soyl causes the way of truth to be evil spoken of Gods Ordinances to be vilified and his name to be Blasphemed and his faithful Ministers to be reproacht as if they were the causes of all that wickedness which they mourn over and endeavour to reform with all their might As we say of servants or beasts that thrive not look ill are in bad plight they shame their keeper as if he starved them or allowed them not what is sufficient So when you who have been Baptized lead bad lives and go on in impenitency you give great scandal cause much offence and put an excuse into the mouths of those who prophanely neglect and slight Christs Institutions and when they are exhorted to frequent them or reproved for neglecting them they have this answer ready why so much ado about these matters we see those who use them most are never the better but as bad or worse than those who seldom or never meddle with them what a shame is it to be thus reproached and to be so ill furnisht to refute it 'T is a great offence that 's given by this means but wo to the man by whom the offence cometh it had been better for him to have been plunged in the Sea then Planted in the Vineyard For God will severely avenge these many evils which are the Consequences of their unfruitfulness unless speedy and sincere Repentance and amendment prevent the Execution of the denounced Sentence And this may suffice for the meaning of the two first verses of the Text which concern the Lord and Owner of the Vineyard both as to what he did and what he said And may be summed up in this short recapitulation The Great God hath in much mercy admitted you into his Church by Baptism and hath often come to see whether you do and long expected that you should make good that solemn Covenant you then made with him by bringing forth the Fruits of sincere Repentance sound Faith and Universal unreserved new Obedience but hitherto hath not found them but the quite contrary And therefore bids his Ministers and you by them with attention and admiration take notice of his past goodness and that he takes severe notice of your continuing badness and provoking disappointment of his expectation and patience and therefore pronounces Sentence against you to cut you off from his Church by his Spiritual Sword and that he will cut you off from the Land of the Living for your robbing him of his Glory for your hindring others by your bad example to be better or imboldning them to be as bad as your selves and causing his Holy Institutions to be evil thought of and evil spoken of as if they were useless and of no efficacy and his Holy name to be blasphemed I now proceed to the other two which concern the Dresser of the Vineyard the former of which contains his Intercession that it may be spared a little longer and tryed one more if yet it may amend The latter his concession that if it do not then the denounced Sentence take place and be put in execution there remaining no shaddow of pretence for farther arrest of Judgment I shall endeavour the Explication of these with the greatest clearness plainness and brevity I can in order to the Application of them which I again tell you I chiefly intend In the former His Intercession are two particulars First an express Prayer in behalf of the barren tree in which are included two requests one for respiting the Sentence and allowing it more time Lord let it alone this year also The other for leave to bestow more pains and cost about it digging and dunging Secondly An implied promise on his own behalf that if his Lord will give him leave and spare the Tree he will spare neither cost nor
And 't is one part of our Prayer that God would vouchsafe to restore you and afford you more time to perfect your Knowledg your Faith your Repentance and what ever else may make you more fit to dye with safety and with comfort Now if God be pleased to hear our Prayers and to spare you and restore you doth not this lay as great an obligation upon us Ministers as may be to apply our selves to you when you are so recovered to put you in mind of the promises you made whilst you conceived your selves in danger of death And as great an engagement upon you to expect from us and accept at our hands willingly and thankfully our bâ—st endeavours to assist you and provoke you to be such as you wish you had been when you thought you should have dyed If the Vine-Dresser here promise that if God will spare the barren-tree one year more after he had threatned to Cut it down he will on his part do all that Art and Industry can do to make it Fruitful applying his care to it particularly besides the general Husbandry he bestows upon the whole Vineyard I think no inference can be drawn more clearly than that when God hath threatned to cut you down by death and the Prayers of your Minister and others have prevailed with God to defer the Sentence and spare you a little longer it is incumbent on you both to desire and accept his help and on him to offer and afford it you and to do alâ— his Christian Charity and Minâ—sterial-Offâ—ce can help him to do that those ends may be attained for which God spared you If he spared you in his Mercy And you should be as willing to send for your Ministers when you are recovered and they as ready to attend you as when you were in danger how much this is practised I know not but how necessary it is that it should be I appeal both to your Consciences and to this Text. And therefore exhort with earnestness it may But I must give the meaning of this place or expression till I shall dig about it and dung it more particularly because much of the Application I design will have dependance upon it Donec ablaqueavero stercoravero It is an allusion to what is most usual and most useful to be done to barren trees 1. Open the Roots remove the clung Earth and the hungry Loam the cold and binding Clay from about them lay them open to the Weather let in the Sun and Rain and expose them to the influence of Heaven the nourishing Dew and refreshing Air cut the stunted and starved and bark-bound Roots that they may sprout afresh put out young Fibres shoot out new Suckers and draw nourishment to feed them and lay good Mendment mellow Dung some richer Soyl and Earth that 's tender well prepared to warm and nourish them that the Roots may have fit nourishment and may be made fit to attract it and receive it And if any thing can this will make the Tree bear Fruit 't is all that Art and Industry can do and it is capable of What could have been more Isa v. 4. So a Minister that interceeds for a people or person that they may be spared must add to his Prayers all that Spiritual wisdom can teach him and Holy industry can assist him in to make them better that they may bring forth the desired Fruits of Righteousness But to be more particular I find much said concerning both these expressions but I confess nothing which gives me satisfaction I shall therefore passing by all others confine my self to one Interpretation which appears to me most proper and pertinent of any I meet with in others or occurred to my own thoughts But before I name it I must premise one Caveat to prevent an indecency and to preserve a decorum that you may not take offence at the comparison I am about to make as unseemly or rude the word Dung is even of a noysom sound as being in itself a loathsome stinking and defiling thing but it is not to be look'd on under that notion in this place but in a more benign acceptation drawn from its usefulness which is to warm to mellow and communicate a prolifick vertue to the Earth and the Plants to make them Fat and flourishing and exuberant in bearing Fruit. And tho Dung on your Cloaths or Bodies in your Houses or your Walks would be loathsome and a foul annoyance yet in your Fields and Orchards it looks well and smells not ill but is desirable and even comely because 't is necessary and very useful And suppose yet to prevent indecency and harshness to the Interpretation I am about to give we mollifie the very word till I may manure it and lay mendment to it for in the scope of this Parable not the bad but the good quality of the Dung is to be considered not how it marrs by its foulness but how it mends by its fatness This premised to prevent prejudice I now tell you that by Digging and Dunging I conceive may most properly be meant applying the Law and the Gospel the Threatnings and the Promises Gods Judgments and Mercies and the most earnest terrifying sinners impenitent bold and daring sinners by the first to bring them to repentance towards God and the alluring wooing and persuading broken-hearted awakened trembling sinners by the other to Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ First Digging breaks the Ground the Spade of the Law the Plough of the Law breaks up the fallow Ground of the Heart as the Prophets phrase is Gods wrath revealed from Heaven against the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men in his terrible threatnings and awakning Judgments startles the obdurate sinner rends the rock he is planted on tears in pieces his hardned security and bold presumption turns up the tough the cold and clungy Soyl in which the very roots of his Heart are shut up and fastned and which chill and stunt his growth that he cannot thrive or bear Fruit. And then the Dew and Rain then the kind and benign influence of the Sun may reach and cherish him then the good Soyl the fresh mendment the prolifick Manure and the mellow tender Mould may be applyed and come near Even the tender Mercies of God and the warm blood of Jesus Christ and the pretious promises of Pardon Life and Grace by which these are offered and applyed 'T is observed and practised that to apply blood to the Root of a Tree a Vine especially is the best and most proper means to make it fruitful And Historians tell us that the Vallies and Gardens about Jerusalem were rendered Fertile beyond expression almost to a Miracle by the abundance of blood which flowed down by the Vaults made on purpose to conveigh it away under the Temple from the multitude of the Sacrifices which were offered there And I am sure there is nothing comparable to the blood of the great Sacrifice of our Lord
injoy the Holy Scriptures to be a light to your Feet and lamp to your Paths and have the truth and excellency of the Gospel fully set forth and plainly preacht explained and applyed to you and the whole counsel of God concerning your Eternal estate declared and nothing kept back which may be necessary or profitable for you You have the Holy Sacraments Administred to you according to Christs Institution without maiming or defiling them with mens Superstitious inventions added You have Prayers made in a Tongue you understand and directed to him alone who stiles himself a God hearing Prayer and in his Mediation who is the true and only Mediatour in whose name we are allowed and commanded to ask what we need with assurance given that it shall be granted And what ever else that 's requisite to promote your Sanctification Consolation and Salvation even all the means of Grace which he hath appointed that was faithful in all his house A Mercy so invaluable that all other mercies of Life and Health of Peace and Plenty are greatly inferiour to it and nothing but Heaven it self exceeds or is above it Secondly You have stood a long time in this Vineyard lived a great while in such a Church Not three years only but more than three times three yea threescore years many of you and all of you many tho not so many all And know that the longer you have stood and the oftner God hath come to look for Fruit the greater your account will be and the nearer cuting down you are and if you mend not if you repent not now speedily and throughly the more sudden hasty sure sore and dreadful will your cuting down be Thirdly The more cost and pain hath been bestowed upon you the heavier the stricter reckoning you must be called to and the severer vengeance will God inflict if you continue to receive his Grace in vain and with obstinate security delay to bring forth Fruit. Fourthly If after long ordinary means injoyed fresh alarms be given and new and more vigorous calls and applications be made to you by extraordinary dispensations of Gods Providence and other circumstances he brings you under which are like the letting it alone another year after Sentence given to cut it down for the three former years barrenness and these be lost and prove as unsuccessful as those which went before them then you perish inevitably without remedy without excuse or any pitty For First God will do no more It shall not be digged nor pruned any more Isa v. 6. Whatever God doth he doth with respect to his Mercy or his Justice they are Principia imperantia in Deo as the Schools speak they engage and set all his Attributes on work as his Wisdom and Power c. and all he doth is for the glory either of his Mercy or his Justice and when neither of them can be farther glorified then he ceases to work and will proceed no farther do no more And such is the case here neither of them would be glorified by his doing more for such men and therefore Mercy is not for it and Justice is against it His Mercy hath hath been hitherto glorified in ingaging his Wisdom to use such variety of means and methods to bring them to repentance and his patience in allowing so much time to see what the effect would be but to continue always to do so and longer to do so when abundantly enough hath been vouchsafed to magnifie his Mercy both in his Wisdom and his Patience he will then give over And to go on still would but be to expose his Wisdom to censure and his Patience to contempt He will not be always trying conclusions in vain and to no purpose after he hath done abundantly enough to manifest yea magnifie his Mercy in the Eyes of all impartial witnesses and excuse his Justice in what he shall inflict by leaving them inexcusable on whom he shall inflict it As he saith to the incorrigible Why should you be stricken any more you will revolt more and more Isa i. 5. Seeing you are like the Anvil which grows harder the more blows are laid upon it So to the indocible and impenitent why should ye be taught called on warned reproved any more seeing ye refuse to learn hearken take warning and return Why should the Word of the Lord be precept upon precept precept upon precept line upon line line upon line to those who have made a covenant with death and are at an agreement with hell Who have made Lyes their refuge and have hid themselves under falsehood unless that they might go and fall backward and be snared and taken Isa xxviii 13 15. And why any more vain endeavours to charm them who have made themselves like the deaf Adder which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer charming never so wisely whose doom is therefore to be taken away suddenly both living and in his wrath Psal lviii 4 5 9. Why any more Piping to them who will not Dance or mourning to them who will not weep Luk. vii 32. Who will be won neither by promises nor threats overcome neither by hopes nor fears nor gained as we say either by fair means or by foul How oft would I have gathered you as an hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not such shall be left desolate Luke xiii He will not always Cluck them nor offer them his shelter any more those whom he hath often called and they would not answer he will call no more Nay he will not answer when they call to him Abused Patience will turn into Fury and 't is fit Justice should have its turn and at length take place on them who have long despised Mercy Secondly He can do no more What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it Isa v. 4. All hath been done that Art and Industry and the best Husbandry can do and all that in that respect it is capable of having done for it The Scope of the Parable is to shew the care and faithfulness of the Planter and the Dresser of the Vineyard to whom it belongs to give good Tillage and Culture and to perform what 's to be done below on Earth but not to send Rain and seasonable Weather or the kind and needful influences of Heaven and it must not be stretcht too far nor applyed to the internal Operations of the Holy Ghost Nor to limit the extraordinary power of God as if by his Almighty Grace he could absolutely have done no more to make his Vineyard Fruitful For in a Parallel case we are told He is able to raise children to Abraham out of stones and he that hath promised To take away the heart of stone and give an heart of flesh must not be denyed Ability to do it when and for whom he pleaseth But it is to be restrained to and understood of the external means of Grace and Gods ordinary power
in in them Sixthly He that is the Amen the true and faithful one the God that cannot lie gives you many great and precious promises which are founded upon his word that is more firm than the mountains than the foundations of the Earth than the Ordinances of Heaven than the course of day and night in their Seasons That he will abundantly pardon that he will heal your back-slidings and love you freely that he will blot out your iniquities as a thick cloud that he will cast all your Traâ—sgressions into the depth of the Sea even that Ocean of Mercy which hath neither shore nor bottom that whosoever comes to him he will in no wise cast him out And hundreds more of the like endearing and sweetest signification Seventhly As if it were not enough on his part to give us leave to be happy he hath made it our duty to be so and obliged us by the strictest commands to that which will infallibly render us so He commands all men every where to repent Act. 17.30 This is his commandment that we believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 3.23 and that believing we might have life by his Name John 20 31. And who dare question his sincerity as if he did not heartily desire what he so earnestly injoyns Eighthly He steps down from the Throne of the Imperative Mood to the humble Foot-stool of the Optative 'T is a sign of weakness to fall to wishing and an argument of impotence to cry O si O si to sigh out our Options And yet the Omnipotent God disdains not to appear to us thus to shew and express the pathos of his blessed mind the vehemency with which he desires our good and wellfare Oh that there were such an heart in them Deut. 5.29 Oh that they were wise Deut 32.29 Oh that my people had hearkened unto we Psal 81.13 Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments Isa 48.18 Whose heart would it not break with shame and sorrow to hear an holy God breathing out the longing desires of his heart in this wise that we may he assured of his hearty readiness in accepting us when we perform what he wishes with such assumed passions that we would perform Ninthly He stoops yet lower and does what is infinitely indecent I will not say for him to do but I must say for us to occasion him to do and more to suffer him to continue to do but most of all to suffer him to do in vain that is to intreat us pray us woe us beseech us to accept his mercy to pity our selves to be reconciled to him and to accept his pardon which he offers ready sealed and to touch that Golden Scepter which he reaches out from Heaven to us Abraham sent but once to take a wife for his Son Isaac from amongst his Kindred and a short woing by a servant serv'd the turn when they saw the Bracelets and the Jewels and the Ear-rings and heard the rest reported how soon do they yield and send away Rebeckah Gen. 24. Yet God sends one Embassador one Paranymph and Spokes-man after another to woe to court us to be Brides to the true Isaac the Heir of all things who is become our Kinsman and hath all the right imaginable to claim us to himself and offers more Dower than we can ask to joyncture us in the whole Land of Promise to settle upon us the inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled which fades not away reserved in Heaven to give us an eternal Kingdom yea the eternal King himself to be our everlasting Portion and is it possible to doubt his willingness to conclude the Match after all this Tenthly But to make all sure beyond all possibility of any rational ground to remain to stick and scruple at his heartiest reality in designing our happiness he adds to all the rest his Oath which puts an end to Controversies God being willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel confirm'd it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation Heb. 6.17 18. Two things that is his Promise and his Oath upon his promise or two things the two by which he swears his life his holiness as if he had said as true as I am a living God as true as I am an holy God I will pardon you I will yet spare you if yet at last you bring forth good fruit let me never be esteemed a living God never accounted an holy God more if I do not or two things I use this only allusively I urge it not as the proper meaning of the place God swears by the two Sacraments for a Sacrament is an Oath As truly as this water which I now touch and lay my hand upon will wash what is foul and make it clean soak what is hard and make it soft quench what is kindled and put out its burning refresh what is scorched and make it fruitful and slack his thirst who drinks it and chear and revive his spirits so shall the Blood and Spirit of my Son which I will pour out upon all who thirst for it and are willing to receive it do for them proportionably in their Souls cleanse soften quench satisfie and make them fruitful and as truly as this Bread will nourish them who eat it and become the staff of their lives and as truly as this Wine will chear the hearts of them that drink it so truly so certainly shall the Body and Blood of my Son which I here freely and heartily offer to you nourish and cherish you unto eternal life if you will indeed by faith receive it and feed upon it Eleventhly He will make your Estate as happy as if you had come sooner provided you come now in earnest without more delay They received every one a penny and there are last who shall be first Twelfthly He 'll not twit you or upbraid you with your coming late He giveth liberally and uphraideth not Nay he will himself be thy Apologist and against them who reproach thee for labouring but one hour he will plead thy Cause Friend I do thee no wrong is thy eye evil because I am good Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own I will give to this last as unto thee Matth. 20.14 This is a little of the much that might be said upon this Argument a little of that mellow prolifick earth to be laid to your Roots God Almighty set it home by the hand of his own Spirit and in his name I do assure you if either this digging or this dunging these threatnings or those promises either singly or both joyntly prevail to make you yet fruitful God will assuredly spare you and repeal his sentence given out against you But then you must do it quickly Agree with thy Adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him Look