that his Service was making more adoe then needs and didst grudge at those that were more diligent then thy self but for the World how heartily and how constantly didst thou seek and serve it and yet wouldst thou now perswade the Judge that thou didst love God above all He will shew thee thy naked heat and the course of thy former life which shail convince thee of the contrary The Second Excuse I lived not in any gross sin but only in small Infirmities I was no Murderer or Adulterer or Fornicator or Thief nor did I deceive or wrong any or take any thing by violence Answ Was it not a gross sin to love the world above God and to neglect Christ that dyed for thee and never to do him one hours hearty service but meerly to seek thy carnal self and to live to thy flesh God will open thine eyes then and shew thee a thousand gross sins which thou now forgettest or makest light of and it is not only Gross sins but All sin great or small that deserveth the wrath of God and will certainly bring thee under it for ever if thou have not part in Christ to relieve thee Wo to the man that ever he was born that must answer in his own name for his smallest offences The Third Excuse I did it ignorantly I knew not that there was so much required to my Salvation I thought less adoe might have served the turn and that if I lookt to my body God would take caâ—e of my soul and that it was better to trust him what would become of me hereafter then to trouble my mind so much about it Had I known better I would have done better Answ If you knew not better who was it long of but your self Did God hide these things from you Did he not tell them you in his Word as plainly as the tongue of man can speak That except you were regenerate and born again you should not enter into the Kingdom of God John 3. 3â— 5. That without holiness none should see God Heb. 12. 14. That you mist strive to enter in at the strait gate for many shall seek to enter and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. That if you lived after the flesh you should dye and if by the Spirit you mortified the deeds of the body you should live Rom 8. 13 That if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. And to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8. 9. That you must not lay up for your selves a treasure on earth where rust and moths do corrupt and thieves break through and steal but must lay up for your selves a treasure in heaven where rust and moths do not corrupt and thieves break through and steal Mat. 6. 19 20. That you must seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof Mat. 6. 23. and not Labour for the food that perisheth but for the food that endureth to everlasting life which Christ would have given you John 6. 27. That if you be risen with Christ you must seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and not the things that are on earth Col. 3. 1 2 3. Yea Your very Conversation should be in Heaven Phil. 3. 19. 20. 21. What say you Did not God tell you all this and much more aud plainly tell it you Turn to your Bibles and see the words and let them witness against you 2. And could you think with any Reason that your souls being so much move precious then your bodies you should yet do so much more for your bodies then your souls could you think all the labour of your lives little enough for a frail body that must lie shortly in the dirt and that your Immortal souls should be no more reâ—arded Could you think with any Reason that your souls should do so much for a life of a few years continuance and do no more for a life that shall have no end 3. And whereas you talk of trusting God with your souls you did not trust him You did but on that pretence carelesly disregard them If you trust God shew any word of Promise that ever he gave you to trust upon that ever an Impenitent Carnal Careless person shall be saved No he hath told yon enough to the contrary And could you think that it was the will of God that you should mind your bodies more then your souls and this life more then that to come Why he hath bid you strive and run and sight and labour and care and seek and use violence and all diligence for the safety of your souls and for the life to come But where hath he bid you do so for your bodies No he knew that you were prone to do too much for them and therefore he hath bid you Care not and Labour not that is Do it as if you did it not and let your care and Labour for earthly things be none in comparision of that for heavenly things You know God can as well maintain your lives without your care and labour as save your souls without it And yet you see he will not he doth not You must plough and sow and reap and thresh for all Gods Love and Care of you and not say I will let all alone and trust God And must you not much more use diligence in much greater things If you will trust God you must trust him in his own way and in the use of his own means The fourth Excuse I was never brought up to learning I cannot so much as read Nor did my Parents ever teach me any of these things but only set me about my worldly business and provide food and rayment for me but never once told me that I had a soul to save or lose and and an everlasting life to provide and prepare for And therefore I could not come to the knowledge of them Answ The greater is their sin who thus neglected you But this is no sufficient Excuse for you Heaven is not prepared for the Learned only nor will Christ ask you at Judgement whether you are good Scholars or not no nor so much as whether you could write or read But consider well was not Gods word so plainly written that the unlearned might understand it Did he not put it into the most familiar stile though he knew it would be offensive to the proud Scholars of the world of purpose that he might fit it to the capacities of the ignorant And if you could not read yet tell me Could not you have learned to read at 20 or 30 years of age if you had been but willing to bestow now and then an hour to that end Or at least did you not live near some that could Read and could you not have procured them to read to you or to help you And did you not hear these things read to
a full â—ustifiction A Heathens conscience may excuse him from those sins which he was never guilty of but not from all But no more of them 2. The case of those that have had the Gospel is more plainly opened to us in Gods Word Their Sentence is opened in many places of Scripture but most fully in Matth 25. whence we will now collect it There we find that Jesus Christ the Redeemer as King of the world shall sit in Judgement on all men at the last and shall seperate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goats and so shall pass the final Sentence This Sentence is twofold according to the different Condition of them that are judged To them on the right hand there is a Sentence of justification and Adjudication to everlasting glory To them on the left hand there is a Sentence of Condemnation to everlasting Punishment The Sentence on each of these containeth both the state which they are Judged to and the reason or cause of the Judgement to that state For as God will not Iudge any to Life or Death without just cause so he will publish this cause in his sentence as it is the manner of Judges to do If you say Christ will not use a voice Let it satisfie that though we know not the manner yet if he do it but by mental discovery as he shews men what shall everlastingly befall them so he will shew them why it shall so befall them 1. The Sentence on them on the Right hand will contain 1. their Justification and Adjudication to Blessedness that both as generally denominated and as particularly determined and described 2. And the cause of this Iudgement 1. In general they shall be pronounced Blessed Satan would have had them cursed and miserable the Law did curse them to misery Many a fearful thought hath possessed their own brests least they should prove at last accursed and miserable But now they hear the contrary from their Iudge All the Promises in the Gospel could not perfectly overcome those their fears all the comfortable words of the Ministers of the Gospel conld not perfectly subdue them all the tendâ—er mercies of God in Christ dâ—d not perfectly subdue them But now they are vanquished all for ever He that once had heard his Redeemer in Iudgement call him Blessed will never fear being Cursed more For he that Christ Blesseth shall be Blessed indeed The Description of their blessedness followeth Come inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world And also they are called Blessed Of the Father Here is the fountain of their Blessedness The Father and the state of their blessedness in Being the Fathers For I suppose they are called the Blessed of the Father both because the Father blesseth them that is makes them Happy and because these blessed ones are the Fathers own And so Christ will publish it to the world in Judgement that he came to glorifie the Father and will proclaim him the Principal Efficient and Ultimate end of his work of Redemption and the blessedness of his Saints and that himself is as Mediator but the way to the Father It is the Father that prepared the Kingdom for them and from the foundation of the world prepared it Both for them as chosen ones and for them as future believers and Righteous ones It is called a Kingdom partly in respect to God the King in whose glory we shall partake in our places and partly Metaphorically from the Dignity of our Condition For so it is that our selves are said to be made Kings Rev. 1. 6. and 5. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 9. and not that we are properly Kings for then we must have subjects who must be Governed by us Thus we see their Blessedness in the Fountain end and state of Dignity As to the Receptive Act on their part it is expressed by two words one signifying their first entrance on it Come the other their Possession Inherit that is possess it as given by the Father and Redeemed by the Son and hoâ—d it in this Tenure for ever The true Believer was convinced in this life that indeed there was no true blessedness but this enjoyment of God in the Kingdom of heaven The Lord revealed this to his heart by his Word and Spirit And therefore he contemned the seeming happiness on earth and laid up for himself a Treasure in heaven and made him friends with the Mammon of unrighteousness and ventured all his hope in this Vessel And now he findeth the wisdom of that choice in a rich return God made him so Wise a Merchant as to sell All for this Pearl of greatest price and therefore now he shall find the gain As there Is no other true Happiness but God in glory so is there nothing more suitable and welcom to the true Believer O how welcome will the face of that God be whom he loved whom he sought whom he longed and waited for How welcome will that Kingdom be which he lived in Hope of which he parted with All for and suffered for in the flesh How glad will he be to see the Blessed face of his Redeemer who by his manifold Grace hath brought him unto this I leave the believing soul to think of it and to make it the daily matter of his Delightful Meditation What an unconceivable Ioy in one moment his Sentence of Christ will fill his soul with Undoubtedly it is now quite past our comprehension though our imperfect forethoughts of it may well make our lives a continual Feast Were it but our Iustification from the Accusations of Satan who would have us Condemned either as sinners in general or as Impenitent Unbeleiving Rebels against him that Redeemed us in sp cial it would lift up the heads of the Saints in that day After alâ— the fears of our own hearts and the slanderous Accusations of Satan and the world That we were either Impenitent Infidels or Hypocrites Christ will then Iustifie us and prononce us Righteous So much for the Condition to which they are Iudged 2. The Reason or Cause of this Justification of the Saints is given us both 1. In a general denomination and 2. In a particular Description 1. In General it is because they Were Righteous as is evident Mat. 25. 46. The Righteous shall go into life Everlasting And indeed it is the business of every just Judge to justifie the righteous and condemn the unrighteous And shall not the Judge of all the earth judge righteously Gen. 18. 25 God makes men Righteous before he judges them so and Judgeth them Righteous Because they are so He that abominateth that man who saith to the Righteous thou art wicked or to the wicked thou art Righteons who Justifieth the wicked and Condemneth the Righteous will certainly never do so himself Indeed he will Justifie them that are sinners but not against the Accusation that they are sinners but against the Accusation that they are
might be so useful and wherein he hath so full and unpuestionable propriety The greatest the richest the wisest men that are trusted with most are the greatest Robbers on earth if they live not to God and shall have the greatest punishment 5. Is it not incomparably more honourable to be Gods then to be your own and to live to him then to your selves the object and end doth nobilitate the act and thereby the Agent It is more honourabe to serve a Prince then a Plowman Thâ—â— man that least seeks his own honour or carnal interest but most freely denyeth it and most intirely seeks the honour of God is most highly honoured with God and good men when selfe-seekers defraud themselves of their hopes Most men think vilely or at least suspitiously of that man that seeks for honour to himself they think if the matter were combustible he need not to blow the fire so hard if he were worthy of honour his worth would attract it by a sweet magnetick power so much industry they think is the most probable mark of indignity and of some consciousness of it in the seekers breast If he attain some of his ends men are ready to look on his honour but as Almes which he was fain to begge for before he got it and could he make shift to ascend the Throne so much in the eyes of the wisest men would be detracted from his honour as they did believe himselfe to have a hand in contriving it Quod sequitur fugio c. They honour him more that refuseth a Crown when it is offered then him that ambitiously aspireth after it or rapaciously apprehendeth it If they see a men much desire their applause they think he needs it Solomon saith To scarch their own glory Pro. 25. 27. 6. You can never have a better Master then God nor yet a sweeter employment then his service There is nothing in him that may be the least discouragement to you nor in his works that shall be distastefull The reason why the world thinks otherwise is because of the distempered aversnesse of their souls A sick stomack is no fit Judge of the pleasantnesse of meats To live to God is to live to the truest and highest delights His Kingdome is not meats and drinks but in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost His servants indeed are often troubled but ask them the reason and they I quickly tell you that it is not for being his sevatns or for serving him too much but for fear lest they are not his servatns or for serving him no better It is not in his waies or at least not for them that they meet with their perplexities but in stepping out of them wandring in their own Many besides the servants of God do seek felicity and satisfaction to their minds and some discover where it lyeth but only they attain it and enjoy it But on the contrray he hath an ill Master that is ruled by himselfe A Master that is blind and proud and passionate that will lead you to precipices and thence deject you that will most effectually ruine you when he thinks he is doing you the greatest good whose work is bad and his wages no better that feedeth his servants in plenty but as swine and in the day of famine denyeth them the husks what ever you may now imagine while you are distracted with sensuality I dare say if ever God bring you to your selves you will consider that it is better be in your Fathers house where the poorest servant hath bread enough then to be fed with dreams and pictures and to perish with hunger Reject not God till you have found a better Master 7. If you will needs be your own and seek your selves you disengage God from dealing with you as His in a gracious sense If you will not trust him nor venture your selves upon his promise and conduct but still shift for your selves then look to your selves as well as you can save your selves in danger cure your own diseases quiet your own Consciences grapple with death in your own strength plead your own Cause in judgement and save your selves from Hell if you can and when you have done go and boast of your own sufficiency and atchievements and tell men how little you are beholden to Christ Woe to you if upon these provocations God should give you over to provide for your selves and leave you without any other salvation then your own power if able to effect mark the connexion of this sin and punishment in Deut 32. 18 19 20. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful and hast forgotten God that formed thee And when the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his Sons and of his Daughters And he said I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be As if he should say I will see how well they can save themselves and make them know by experience their own insufficiency 8. Those men that seek themselves and live to themselves and not to God are unfaithful and treacherous both to God and man As they neglect God in prosperity so they do but flatter him in adversity Psal 78. 34 35 36 37. And â—e that will be false to God whose interest to him is so absolute is unlikely to be true to men whose interest in him is infinitely less Hee that can shake off the great obligations of Creation Redemption Preservation and provision which God layeth on him is unlikely be held by such slender obligations as he receives from men I 'le never trust that man far if I know him that 's false to his Redeemer He that will sell his God his Saviour his Soul and Heaven for a litle sensuality vain-glory or worldly wealth I shall not wonder if he sell his best friend for a Groat Self-seeking men will take you for their friend no longer then you can serve their turns but if once you need them or stand in their way you shall find what they esteemed you for He that is in haste to be rich and thereupon respecteth persons for a piece of bread that man will transgress saith Solomon Prov. 28. 20 21. 9. Sanctification consisteth in your hearty resignation and living to God and therefore you are unsanctified if you are destitute of this Without holiness none shall see God Heb. 12. 14. And what is holiness but our sincere dedication and devotedness to God Being no longer common and unclean but separated in resolution affection and conversation from the world and our carnal selves to him It is the Office of the holy Ghost to work you to this and if you resist and refuse it you do not soundly believe in the Holy Ghost but instead of believing in him you fight against him 10. You are verbally devoted to Christ in solemn Covenant entered into Baptism and frequently renewed in the Lords Supper and at other seasons Did you not there solemnly
desolation as they The Question is only Whether God have your hearts and lives and not Whether you denyed them to him with a plausible Civility nay it is meerly for their carnal elves to preserve their reputation that some men do forbear those grosser Crimes when yet God hath as little of them as of the more visibly prophane Love not the world nor the things that are in the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2. 15. 2. If you are wholly Gods live wholly to him at least do not stint him and grudge him your service It is grown the common Conceit of the World that a lâ—fe of Absolute Dedication to God is more adoe then needs What needs all this adoe say they cannot you be saved with less adoe then this I will now demand of these men but an Answer to these few sober Questâ—ons 1. Do you fear giving more to God then his due Is not all his own And how can you give him more then all 2. He is not so backward in giving to you that owes you nothing but gives you plenty variety and continuance of all the good you enjoy and do you think you well requite him 3. Christ said not of his life and precious blood It is too much And will you say of your poor unprofitable Service It is too much 4. Who will you give that to which you spare from God that time and study and love and labour to any that hath more right to it or better deserves it or will better reward you then he will do 5. Are you afraid of being losers by him have you cause for such Fears is be unfaithfull or unable to performe his Promises will you repent when you come to heaven that you did too much to get it will not that blessedness pay you to the full 6. What if you had not wages but your work is it not better to live to God then to man is not purity better then impurity If feasting he grievous it is because you are sick if the be your pleasure it is because you are swine and not because the condition is desireable 7. Will it comfort you more in the reckoning and review to have laid out your selves for God or for the World Will you then wish that you had done less for heaven or for earth Sirs these Questions are easily answered if you are but willing to consider them 8. Doth it be seem those to be afraid of serving God too much that are such bankrupts as we are and are sure that we shall not give him the twentieth part of his due if we do the best we can and when the best that are scorned by the world for their forwardness do abhor themselves for their backwardness yea could we do all we are but unprofitable servants and should do but our duty Luke 17. 10. Alas how little cause have we to fear lest we should give God too much of our hearts or of our lives 3. If you are not your own remember that nothing else is your own what can be more your own then your selves 1 Your Parts and Abilities of minde or body are not your own use them therefore for him that owneth them 2. Your Authority and Dignities are not your own see therefore that you make the best of them for him that lent them you 3. Your Children themselves are not your own design them for the utmost of his service that trusts you with them educate them in that way as they may be most serviceable to God It is the great wickedness of too many of our Gentry that they prepare their Posterity only to live plenteously and in credit in the world but not to be serviceable to God or the Commonwealth Design them all that are capable to Magistracy or Ministry or some usefull way of life And whatever be their employment endeavour to possess them with the fear of the Lord that they may devote themselves to him Think not the Preaching of the Gospel a work too low for the Sons of the Noblest person in the Land It would be an excellent furtherance to the work of the Gospel if Noble men and Gentlemen would addict their Sons to the Ministry that are fit for it and can be spared from the Magistracy They might have more respect from their People and easier Rule them and might better win them with bounty then poor men can do They need not to contend with them for Tythes or maintenance 4. If you are not your own your whole Families are not your own use them therefore as Families that are dedicated to God 5. If you are not your own then your wealth is not your own honour God therefore with your substance and with the first fruits of your increase Prov. 3. 9. Do you ask how Is there no poor people that want the faithful preaching of the Gospel for want of means or other furtherance Is there no godly Scholers that want means to maintain them at the Universities to fit them for this Work Is there no poor Neighbors about you that are ignorant that if you buy them Bibles and Catechismes and hire them to learn them might come to knowledge and to life Are there no poor Children that you might set Apprentices to godly Masters where soul and body might both have helps The poor you have always with you It is not for want of objects for your charity if you hide your Talents or consume them on your selves the time is coming when it would do you more good to have laid them out to your masters use then in pampering the flesh Some grudge that God should have the Tenths that is that they should be consesecrated to the maintenance of his service but little do these consider that All is His and must All be accounted for Some question whether now there be such a sin as Sacriledge in being but little do they consider that every sin is a king of sacriledge When you dedicated your self to God you dedicated all you had and it was Gods before do not take if from him again remember the halving of Ananias and give God all Objection But must we not provide for our Families Answer Yes because God requires it and in so doing you render it to him That is given to him which is expended in obedience to him so be it you still prefer his most eminent interest Lastly If you are not your own then must not your Works be principally for your selves but for him that oweth you As the scope of your lives must be to the honor of your Lord so be sure that you hourly renew these intentions when you set your foot out of your doors ask whether your business you go upon be for God when you go to your Rest examine your selves what you have done that day for God especially let no opportunity over-slip you wherein you may do him extraordinary service You must so
Prophet or a Disciple in the name of a Disciple Mat 10. 40 41 43. shall all these decide the Question Beloved Hearers I profess to you all in the Name of our Lord that it is not your bold and confident affirming that you love Christ which will serve your turn when Christ shall judge he will search deep and judge according to the truth in the inward parts How many thousands will then perish as his utter Enemies that verily thought themselves his friends How easily now might they finde their mistake if they would but be at the pains to examine themselves Oh try try Sirs before God try you judge your selves before Christ judge you It would grieve a mans heart that knows what it is to love Christ to believe to be subject to him to see how rare these are in the world and yet how confident and careless most men are It may be that you may think much that I so question your love yet Christ that knew all things questioned Peters love to him and that three times till it grieved Pâ—tâ—r I am a stranger to the most of you and therefore know not your conditions or inclinations yet judge me not censorious if I fear the worst and if I measure you by the rest of the world and then I may confidently and sadly conclude that Christ hath few loving Subjects among you If we could hear your Oaths and vain speeches turned to heavenly soul-edifying discourse and your covetousness to conscionableneâ—s and see that the word of Christ were your Law and that you laid out your endeavours for heaven in good earnest then we should say These People are the loving Subjects of Christ But when men are enemies to Christs Doctrine and ways and worship and had rather live after the flesh and the world and the traditions of their Fathers and are notorious for profaness superstition and enmity to Reformation who can chuse but condole your case and if your obstinacy will not endure us to help you yet you shall give us leave whether you will or no to lament you Vse 2. But its time that I turn my speech to Exhortation And oh that you would encourage me with your resolution to obey My business here to day is as his Herauld and Embassadour to proclaim the Lord Jesus your King and Saviour and to know whether you will heartily acknowledg and take him so to be or not and to perswade you to take so fair an offer while you may have it and to kiss the Son lest his wrath be kindled This is my business here in which if I had not some hope to speed the Lord knows I would not have been here to day You will say This is a common Errand do you think we never heard of hrist before I confess it is common blessed be God for it and long may it so continue and encrease and let it be as constant and durable to us as the Sun in the Firmament and the Lord grant that Englandâ— sins or Enemies may never bereave them of the blessing of the Gospel and then it will be a 〈◊〉 Land then yet ever was on the face of the Earth but is it as common to receive Christ in love obedience I would it were I know the name of Christ is common the Swearer doth swear by it the Beggar begs by it the Charmer puts it into his charms and the Jester into his jests and every Papist and ignorant Protestant doth mutter it oft-times over his Prayers But who trembleth at it or triumpheth in it who maketh it his Fear and his Joy and give up their souls and lives to be governed by Christ I do here solemnly proclaim to you that the Lord Jesus will not be put off with your complements he cares not for your meer name of Christianity nor your Cap nor your knee If thy heart be not set upon him thou art none of his His word must be your Law and you must depend on him alone for soul and body or never look for mercy at his hands He is the Author of eternal salvation to them only that obey him Heb. 5. 9. What say you then Sirs in answer to my message and what course do you resolve upon shall Christ be your love and your Lord or not Will you kiss the Son or will you sleight him stil methinks you should easily be resolved and say Away with pleasure and credit and worldly gain away with these bewitching delights and companions Christ hath bought my heart and he shall have it he is my Lord and I will be ruled by him Hearers I hope God hath kept your alive till now to show you mercy and brought some sinners hither to day to prevail with their hearts And my hope is somewhat strengthened by Gods disposal of my own Spirit I was strongly tempted to have preached this Sermon in the enticing words of humane wisdom tending to a proud ostentation of parts But Christ hath assisted me to conquer the temptation and commanded me to preach him in plainness and evidence of the Spirit I come not to perswade you to opinions or factions to be for this side or for that but to be with all your hearts for Christ as ever you look that Christ should be for you to love him as he that hath bought you from eternal wrath and dyed to save you from the everlasting burnings to lay hold on him with most earnest affectionate apprehension as a man that is ready to drown would do upon a bough or upon the hand of his friend that would pull him to the shore to wait for the Law of thy direction from him and do nothing till thou hast asked counsel at his word and know his mind whether thou shouldst do it or no till thou feel thy Conscience bound by his Law that thou canst not stirr till he give thee leave that the commands of parents and Princes may stoop to his much more the commands of custome and company of credit or pleasure of the world or flesh These are the things that I exhort you to and I must tell you that Christ doth flatly expect them at your hands I will here back these Exhortations with some perswading Considerations Think of what I say and weigh it as we go If I speak not truth and reason then reject it with disdain and spare not but if it be and thy Conscience tell thee so take heed then how thou dost neglect or reject it lest thou be found a fighter against the Spirit and lest the curse of God do seize upon that heart that would not yield to truth and reason And I will draw these Considerations only from my Text. 1. Thou art else a Rebel against thy Soveraign Lord. This I gather from the command in my Text and indeed the scope of the whole Psalm God hath given thee into the hands of his on and made him Lord and King of all commanded all men to accept him and submit
unto him Who can shew such title to the Soveraignty such right to rule thee as Christ can do He is thy maker and so is not Satan he dearly bought thee and so did not the world Thou wast not Redeemed with silver and Gold and corruptible things 1 Pet. 1. 18. I make this challenge here in the behalf of Christ let any thing in the world step forth and shew a better title to thee to thy heart and to thy life then Christ doth shew and let them take thy heart and take thy rule But why do I speak thus I know thou wilt confess it and yet wilt thou not yield him thy chiefest love and obedience out of thy own mouth then art thou condemned and thou proclaimest thy self a knowing and wilful Rebel 2. To deny thy affections and subjection to Christ is the most barbarous unkindness that a sinner can be guilty of Did he pitty thee in thy lost estate and take thee up when thou laist wounded in the way and make thee a plaister of the blood of his heart And is this thy requital Did he come down from heaven to earth to seek thee when thou wast lost and take upon him all thy dept and put himself into the prison of the world and flesh hath he paid for thy folly and born that wrath of God which thou must have suffered for ever and doth he not now deserve to be entertained with most affectionate respect but with a few cold thoughts instead of hearty love and with a few formal words instead of worship What hurt had it been to him if thou hadst perished what would he have lost by it if thou hadst lain in Hell would not Justice have been glorified upon a disobedient wretch Might not he have said to his Father What are these worms and sinners to me must I smart for their folly must I suffer when they have sineed must I debase my self to become man because they would have exalted themseves to become as God if they will needs undo themselves what is it to me if they will cast themselves into the flames of Hell must I go thither to fetch them out Thus Christ might have put off the suffering and the shame aud let it fall and lie where it was due but he did not His compassion would not suffer him to see us suffer Justice must be satisfied the threat must be fulfilled Christ seeth that we cannot overcome it but he can therefore hee comes down into flesh he lives on earth he fasteth he weepeth he is weary he is tempted he hath not a place to put his head he is haâ—ed he is spit upon he is cloathed as a fool and made a scorn he sweateth blood he is Crucified with Theeves he bares the burden that would have sunk all us to Hell and must he after all this be neglected and forgotten and his Laws that should rule us be laid aside and be accounted too strict and precise for us to live by O let the Heavens blush and the Earth be ashamed at this barbarous ingratitude How can such a people shew their faces at his comming or look him in the face when he shall judge them for this would you use a friend thus No nor an enemy Me thinks you should rather wonder with your selves that ever Christ should give you leave to love him and say Will the Lord endure such a wretch to kiss him will he suffer himself to be embraced by those arms which have been defiled so oft by the embracements of sin will he so highly honour me as to be his subject and his servant and to be guided by such a blessed and perfect Law and doth he require no harder conditions then these for my salvation Take then my heart Lord it is only thine and oh that it were better worth thy having or take it and make it better the Spear hath opened me a passage to thy heart let the Spirit open thee a passage into mine deservedly may those Gates be fuel for Hell that would not open to let in the King of Glory 3. To deny thine affection and subjection to the Son is the greatest folly and madness in the world Why doth he require this so earnestly at thy hands is it for thy hurt or for thy good would he make a prey of thee for his own advantage is it for any need hat he hath of thee or of thy service or because thou hast need of him for thy direction or salvation would he steal away thy heart as the world doth to delude it would he draw thee as Satan doth to serve him that he may torment thee if so it were no wonder that thou art so hardly drawn to him but thou knowest sure that Christ hath none of these ends The truth is this His dying on the Cross is but part of the work that is necessary to thy Salvation this was but the paying of the debt he must give thee moreover a peculiar interest and make that to be absolutely thine which was thine but conditionally he must take off thy rags and wash thy sores and qualify thy soul for the prepared Glory and bring thee out of the prison of sin and death and present thee to his Father blameless and undefiled and estate thee in greater dignity then thou fellest from and all this must he do drawing thee to himself and laying himself upon thee as the Prophet upon the Child and closing thy heart with his heart and thy will with his will and thy thoughts and waies with the Rule of his Word And is this against thee or for thee is there any hurt to thee in all this I dare challenge Earth and Hell and all the Enemies of Christ in both to shew the least hurt that ever he caused to the soul of a believer or the least wrong to the soul of any And must he then have such a stir to do thee good must he so beseech thee to be happy and follow thee with entreaties and yet art thou like a stock that neither heare's nor feeâ—'s Nay dost thou not murmur and strive against him as if he were about to do thee mischief and would rather cut thy throat then cure thee and were going to destroy thee and not to save thee I appeal to any that hath not renounced his Reason whether this be not notorious bruitish unreasonableness and whether thou be not liker a beast that must be cast or held while you dress his sores then to a man that should help on his own recovery Foolish Sinner It is thy sin that hurts thee and not thy Saviour why dost thou not rather strive against that It is the Devil that would destroy thee and yet thou dost not grudge at they obedience to him Be judge thy self whether this be wise or equal dealing Sinner I beseech thee in the behalf of thy poor soul if thou have such a mind to renounce thy Saviour do it not till thou hast found a