many and great Mercies of God towards you and yours and all Mankind are you bound to recount and to be affected with on this Day Ought you not still on this Day to remember and consider and solemnly and heartily to bless God and Christ for the capital Mercies of Creation and Redemption and for the gracious seasonable Sending of the Holy Ghost and to spend some Time in speaking highly and honourably of these Benefits to the Praise of your Maker and Glory of your Redeemer Are not you ignorant of many Things in which you ought to be informed and have not you need then to spend some Part of the Lord's-day in reading the Bible and some select Books of sound Divinity in hearing the Word preach'd and in Conference with godly understanding and well-experienced Christians Are you not too great Strangers to God and your selves and have not you need then to improve some Portion of this Seasonn in Meditation and Self-examination that you may get more Acquaintance with God and your own Hearts Have not you the Sins of the whole Week past to confess to God in secret and to beg the Pardon of every Lord's-day when you have leisure from your bodily Labour is it not fit you should take some pains in conquering the Corruptions and mortisying the Lusts of your own Hearts and in wrestling with God in Praier for his Strength and Grace Can you idle away your Time and take your Pleasure on the Lord's-day when you have Families to inform and Children and Servants to catechize and instruct Let your Consciences tell me whether it be better on the Lord's-day to spend your Time in unnecessary Divertisements in fruitless Visitations in vain and frothy Discourses to talk freely together of worldly Businesses to judg the Preacher to censure your Christian Neighbour Or to commune with your selves and to labour to edify your own Families To teach your Children the Doctrine of Adam's Fall and of the Redemption wrought by Christ To acquaint them what Sin and Corruption they brought with them into the World and how they have encreased it since they came into the World That the Wages of Sin is Death To tell them what Christ has done and suffered to free and deliver them from Sin and Death and what they must do to be capable of partaking of Christ's saving Benefits To ground your Servants in the Principles of Religion To take account what they remember of the Sermons they heard that Day and to examine how they have profited by the publick Ordinances You see what a great deal of Work you have to do and what a little Time you have to do it in You have but one whole Day in seven It concerns you then to be very saving of this whole Day [c] Quicunque hisee sacris ita seriò se excicent ut ipsorum familiae necessitas plani postulat locum nullum relictum esse quaestioni ists carn â—liter de larantium invenient An licitum sit die Dominâ—co aut oftari aut ludere aut epu is aut inanabus aut mundanis non planè necessariis tempus sacrum conterere Et qui serpsum alaos werè novit ut diei negotia commoda oblata verbo divino de rebus sparitio libus aeternis verè credit ipsius altorum ex vera necessitate ut â—â—â—tate interesse percepiet diem totum quantùm fieri potest in sacris colocare neque frustra sine fruge horae moment um essluere sinet Neque niâ—â—ges quaestionem movebit An liceat ludis vel aliis manibus ad perdere quà m An laceat sanguinent sâ—um inaniter fundere aurum oblasum respâ—ere in canum projicere Carnalis quippe pe animus sui rerum spiritualium ignarus disputationum talium author est plerumque promus-condus Baxter Method Theol. part 3 c. 14. P. 172. To be as far from disputing whether it be not lawful to use Recreations and Sports on some Part of it or to employ some Hours of it in any unnecessary worldly Businesses as from putting the Question Whether it be not lawful vainly to spill your own Blood or to make a refusal of Gold that is offer'd you and to cast it contemtuously into the Dirt. 'T will but little avail you to make the utmost worldly Advantage of all the other six Daies if you make not a sufficient spiritual Improvement of this which is more considerable than all the rest What would it profit you if as God made the World in six Daies so you could gain the whole World by working hard the six Daies if by gross neglect of the Lord's-day you at last lost your own Souls The Church of England in her pious and useful Homily of the Time and Place of Praier declares that in the fourth Commandment God has given express Charge that his obedient People should use our [d] And truly it is strange that some who have a dearness yea fondness for some VVords of Jewish Extraction Altar Temple and the like should have such an Antipa by against the Sabbath Fuller's Church-Hiâ—â— B. 11. p. 144. Sabbath-day which is now our Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily Businesses and also give themselves wholly to heavenly Exercises of God's true Religion and Service And in his Majestie 's Royal Proclamation for the Observation of the Lord's-day all his Majestie 's Subjects are bid to take notice that by the Law the resorting to divine Service enjoined on that Day does comprehend the entire Day and entire Service both Morning and Evening Yea every Lord's-day Morning you your selves make this open Confession and publick Praier in the Congregation after the Reading of the fourth Commandment Lord have Mercy upon us and encline our Hearts to keep this Law As much as to say Lord we acknowledg we have neglected this thy Day We pray thee pardon all our unchristian Sabbath-breaking for the Time past and give us Grace to observe the Christian Sabbath better for the future Now will you confess in the Fore-noon and transgress in the After-noon Will you beg pardon in the Morning and sin again the very same Sin before Night Will you open your Mouths to ask God's Grace to sanctify and keep holy the Sabbath-day and it may be profane it in a graceless manner as soon as you are out of the Congregation If the Lord's-day ought to be observed at all it is to be kept both Parts of the Day And for those that commonly stay away in the After-noon I would ask them what their Employment is at home in the mean Time Do not some of them spend the After-noon in sleeping or walking or talking or drinking or gaming while others are jointly confessing and praying and praising and hearing If God requires a Day is this to sanctify a Day to the Lord to worship God in the Morning and to dishonour God and serve the Devil and divers Lusts in the Afternoon
very comely and handsome Man Thou hast as much business upon thee says he to heal the Distempers of Mens Minds and Manners as a Physician has in a Plague-time and art thou imployed about Words be glad if thou canst be sufficient for things I have not studied for great Words nor labour'd for high Language but only sought out * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1.13 sound wholsome healing words It may be some candid courteous Reader if he see Occasion may make the same or like Apology for me as Seneca once did for Fabianus Papyrius when Lucilius had taken no small Prejudice against certain Books of that Philosopher because his Style was not elaborate and polite but seem'd to him to be [h] Effundi verba non fingi low and mean [i] Mores ille non verba composuit animis scripsit ista non auribus c. Electa verba sunt non captata Ad profectum omnia tendunt ad bonam mentem non quaeritur plausus Sen. ep 100. He formed Manners not Words says Seneca and wrote to the Minds not Ears of Men. It does not become a Philosopher to be studious and solicitous about Language He was not negligent in his Style says he but only not over-careful about it and therefore you will find nothing sordid or slovenly in it His Words are chosen not affected His Discourses are not flat and low but pleasing and plain Look on the whole Body of the Book though it be not trim 't is honest Would you have him set himself to so small a thing as Words He addicted himself to the Greatness of Things And you may perceive by what he has perform'd that he felt what he wrote What ever he delivers tends all to Profit and a good Mind Applause is not sought for or look'd after by him I shall only speak for my self in the Words of Salvian [k] Nos qui rerum magis quà m verborum amatores utilia potiùs quà m plausibilia sectamur In scriptiunculis nostris non lenocinia esse volumus sed remedia quae scilicet non tam oriosorum auribus placeant quà m aegrotorum mentibus prosint Salvian Praefat. ad libros de Gubern Dei We that are greater Lovers of Things than of Words follow what is profitable more than what is plausible nor do we seek that the empty Ornaments of the Age but that the wholsome Emoluments of things may be commended in us We would have our Writings contain not Enticements but Remedies which may not so much please the Ears of the idle as profit the Minds of such as are sick The Design and Aim of this Discourse in its composure was not to tickle the Ear and strike the Fancy but to warm the Heart and reach the Conscience and direct the Life to teach Men how to live and how to die and how to attain a blissful Life after Death I here present you with a plain Discourse in a very learned Age. I have prepared and provided for you not fine Manchet but rather Barley Bread such as [k] Fox Acts and Mon. 2 vol p. 1456. Bucer encouraged holy Bradford for want of better to give unto the People As St. Peter said to the lame Man * Acts 3.6 Silver and Gold have I none but such as I have give I thee In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk I say to you in like manner I have no rich Present to offer you but such as I have give I unto you I would under God be a means to help you to find your Feet and walk in the way of God's Commandments and run the Race that is set before you I was induced to make these Papers publick not only to satisfy the Desires of some Friends but because I found so very little perform'd by others on this Subject which I thought deserved a larger and fuller Handling And that by my own appearing in it I might oblige my self above all others to a greater and stricter care of my own Time and might leave some wholsome Counsels and seasonable Helps to a holy Life to my own Children Friends and Acquaintance and do some lasting Service to your Souls and when I shall be dead may be these Papers continue to speak to you and yours * Phil. 1.7 8. For God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the Bowels of Jesus Christ. I have you in my Heart and †Rom. 10.1 my Heart's Desire and Prayer to God for you is that you might be saved I shall only here crave your leave to put you in mind of a few very necessary things 1. Let me earnestly exhort and beseech you that you would worthily and becomingly act the parts of Men and Christians Live as those that have rational Souls noble and immortal Spirits within you and do nothing repugnant to the Light of your own Minds and Consciences Yea live as those that have the benefit and advantage of Divine Revelation Let none that name the Name of Christ allow themselves in the constant confident Practice of any notorious scandalous Sin or Vice directly and expresly contrary to the holy Word and righteous Law of God proceeding upon a false imaginary Supposition venturing upon a fond ungrounded foolish Presumption that the Mercy of God will at last prevail against his Wisdome Holiness Justice and Truth perswading promising slattering themselves in any evil Way that God according to their Idea and Model of a Deity will never find in his heart to punish the unreclaimable Sinner and obstinate final Impenitent with everlasting Misery and eternal Torment though he has over and over threatned it in the Gospel and though it stands with * See p. 439 440 441. good and great Reason that he should do it Walk closely according to the Rule and maintain a †Phil. 1.27 Conversation becoming the Gospel of Christ. 2. If any of you upon search and enquiry into your selves shall find in your selves any decay of Piety declining in Godliness abatement of Strictness neglect of Watchfulness any slackness and remisness in Duty any vanity of Mind and carelesness of Spirit growing upon you if you can perceive you have * Rev. 2.4 5. left your first Love * Rev. 2.4 5. Remember from whence you are fallen and repent and do the first works recover maintain encrease the old Warmth †3.2 Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die Fortify natural Principles suscitate your natural Power stir up the Gifts and Graces of God in your selves [l] Herb. Poem Employment p. 71. Man is no Star but a Quick Coal Of Mortal Fire Who blows it not nor doth controll A faint Desire Le ts his own Ashes choke his Soul Look up to Heaven continually for the help and benefit of Divine Influences Illuminations Impressions and receive not the Grace of God in vain but up and be doing
any act of Prophaneness Sin and Wickedness a fit Action for Christ to take and present unto his Father for Divine Acceptance Certainly our Actions must have the Truth though not the Perfection of good Works for otherwise 't were a Thing unbeseeming Christ to present them and unbecoming God to accept them for in so doing Christ must become a Patron of Sin and God an Owner of the Works and an Encourager of the Workers of Iniquity O then take care that your Actions be such as may be fit to be presented by Christ unto his Father and to be accepted by God in and thorough Christ This is the Way to honour Christ considered as a Priest 2. Accept of Christ as a Prophet to teach and instruct thee thorowly to teach both thy Head and Heart and be willing and forward to learn of Christ and to be taught by him the Truth as it is in Jesus and to profit both by his Doctrine and Example 3. Accept of Christ not only for thy Priest and Saviour and for thy Prophet Teacher and Instructour but for thy wise and holy Law-giver and for thy soveraign King and Governour to rule and to reign over thee Give up thy self in hearty Subjection to the Person and Authority of Christ and [c] Credere se in Christâ—m quomodo dicit qui non facit quod Christus facere praecepit aut unde perveniet ad praemium fidei qui fidem non vult servare mandati Cyprianus de Eccles unit Quid est credulitas vel fides opinor fideliter hominem Christo credere id est fidelem Deo esse hoc est fideliter Dei mandata servare Christiani homines infideles sunt si bona sibi à Deo assignata corruperint Salvian de Gubern Dei lib. 3. vow and be ready to perform sincere Obedience to all the Particular Commands of Christ When others cry these are hard Sayings who can bear them do you profess that his Commands are not grievous and do thou say from thy very Heart I delight to do thy Will O Christ Love and Delight in the Laws of Christ and choose and strive to keep and observe them when others censure break and violate them While other Men dishonour Christ and put him to an open Shame and cause his worthy Name to be blasphemed let thy Life lead Men to high and excellent Thoughts of Christ and of his Laws and Waies and Government This is the right Acceptance of Christ so * Coloss 2.6 to receive Christ Jesus the Lord as to purpose and endeavour to walk in him And then for the other Act of Faith Have not only a bare Opinion of Christ's Fidelity but trust in Christ with a practical Trust So thoroughly trust him as to venture all thy Happiness on him in his own way Trust him so far as to be sincerely and heartily willing to leave and forsake all to follow him to part with Sin and the World yea Life it self for him who will not suffer thee to be finally a Loser by him to be ready to relinquish all that thou seest and possessest here for things invisible which Christ hath promised to render to the Believer in the other World And so believe what is said concerning the Holy Ghost as heartily to believe in the Holy Ghost Consent to take him for thy Teacher and Guide Sanctifier and Quickner Advocate and Comforter Enter into solemn Covenant with resign and give up thy self to the Worship and Service of the sacred Trinity Be fully resolv'd to live to God and Christ and to worship in the Spirit to be led by the Spirit to walk in the Spirit and to bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit Believe and learn to live by Faith and let thy Faith work by Love and shew it self by good Works and be productive of the Obedience of Faith And let thy Obedience be voluntary and cheerful uniform and universal constant and perpetual Thus thus improve the precious Season of Gospel-Light Grace and Strength by plainly and fully coming up to the Terms and faithfully performing the great and necessary Conditions of the Gospel Honour and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by entertaining and walking worthy of the Gospel of Christ There was a memorable Statue set up in the Isle of Rhodes in honour of the Sun which once a Day is said to shine upon that Island be the Air in all other Parts never so overcast with Clouds But we enjoy a greater and higher Priviledg than they The Sun of Righteousness shines upon this our Island and affords the Light of the blessed Gospel not only once every Day but all the Day long every Day And now shall we be so blind and unthankful as to take no notice of it so idle and careless as to make no use of it Since the Light of the Gospel does clearly and sweetly beam out in our Faces when the Air is dark abroad and many other places are cover'd with the thick Clouds of Ignorance let us * Joh. 5.35 rejoice in the Light and †1 Joh. 1.7 walk in the Light of the Glorious Gospel as Children of the ‖ Eph. 5.8 Light and of the (*) 1 Thess 5.5 Day and then we shall be as so many Statues set up in Honour of Christ the Sun of Righteousness that shines in his Lustre and Strength upon us But besides the General Opportunity of the Continuance of the Gospel which is afforded to many all their Life long I say besides this there are some Parcels and Portions of our Lives some Daies and Hours of our Time that are Particular and special Opportunities above others as namely these following The first Particular Opportunity to be redeemed 1. The Morning of our Age the Time of Youth and Health and Strength this is an Opportunity of providing for Eternity this is a fit Season of working out our Salvation of laying up in store against a Time of Sickness an Hour of Weakness and the Day of Death This is a Time wherein [a] Juvenes possumus discore possumus facilem animum adhuc tractabilem ad meliora convertere hoc tempus idoneum est laboribus idoneum agitandis â—er studia ingeniis exercendâ—s ter opera corporibus Quod superest segnius languiaius est propâ—â—◠â fine Primus quisquo tanquam optimus dies placeat redigatur in nostrum Sen. ep 103. both Body and Mind are strong and vigorous This is an Age meet for Impression capable of Instruction and fit for Action The Wise Man calls young Men to redeem this choicest Part of their Time to think of him early who lov'd and minded us so early Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the Daies of thy Youth thy choice Daies while the evil Daies come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no Pleasure in them The Daies of Youth are good Daies the Time of Health and Strength is a good Time indeed
unlawful Deeds He vexed himself was active in it Saint Peter expresses more in this than in the former Verse as Calvin observes to wit that Lot did [n] Nempe quòd voluntarios cruciatus justus Lot subierit Calv. in loc voluntarily and willingly afflict himself He did it freely he was not forc'd to it He vexed himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is [o] Est Metaphera à toâ—mentis ducta Gethar in loc a Metaphor drawn from Torments says Gerhard [p] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rich Man being in Torments Luke 10.23 The same Word is used to set out Hell-Torments This good Man continually tortured and tormented himself He lived a grievous painful Life labouring no less than if he had laien upon the Rack It was a kind of Hell upon earth to him to see and hear such Things among them They gave him Ground and Cause enough of Trouble and Grief by their Impieties and Impurities and his righteous Soul could not but work upon that Matter and vex and afflict himself therewith The gross Wickedness of ungodly Men is contrary to the gracious Temper and new Nature of a good Man and therefore he is no more able to bear it than the Stomach can bear that which it nauseates As a musical Ear will be offended with any harsh Sound So Sin grates upon a godly Man and is a Discord to him At his new Birth there was implanted in his Nature a true Zeal to the Cause and Interest of Righteousness and Goodness in the World an inward Sense of its Beauty Excellency and Usefulness in the World and a clear Conviction and strong Apprehension of the Vanity Unprofitableness and Mischievousness of Sin in the World The righteous Man has a real Dislike of a mighty Prejudice and inward Antipathy against Sin as Sin He hates Sin and loves Holiness heartily wherever he sinds it and really wishes that there were no such Evil as Sin in the World He is of another Spirit than wicked Men are of a better Constitution of a purer and more refined Temper His new Nature and Disposition is directly contrary to that which is evil and therefore whenever he sees it wherever he meets with it it is a Vexation and Torment to him So holy David seriously laid to heart the Sins of others was deeply affected with them and heavily afflicted for them * Psal 119.53 Horrour hath taken hold upon me because of the Wicked that forsake thy Law ‖ Verse 136 139. Rivers of Waters run down mine Eyes because they keep not thy Law †Verse 158. My Zeal hath consumed me not because I have Enemies and these Enemies despise me but because mine Enemies have forgotten thy Words I beheld the Transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy Word (*) Psal 69.9 The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up and the Reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me When he was in Trouble he testifies his Sorrow for the Reproaches that fell upon God as if he himself had been reproached And the Prophet Jeremy could say (†) Jer. 13.17 My Soul shall weep in secret Places for your Pride And the Saints in Jerusalem are described to be (‖) Ezek. 9.4 Men that sigh and that cry for all the Abominations that be done in the midst thereof And you know St. Paul is very famous for this Affection In the case of the incestuous Person he wrote unto the Corinthians [*] 2 Cor. 2.4 with many Tears out of much Affliction and Anguish of Heart I fear lest when I come again saies he my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the Vncleanness and Fornication and Lasciviousness which they have committed [†] 2 Cor. 12.21 * Phil. 3.18 Many walk saies he of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ. 1. O that it might be thus with every one of us Let a Time of others Sin be the Time of our Sorrow Let it greatly trouble us to see our good God wronged our heavenly Father abused and his holy just and good Law broken and violated To see the Gospel dishonoured and Religion discredited To see Satan pleased and honoured and his Kingdom strengthned and advanced by the Wickedness of the Wicked To see the precious Souls of Sinners hazarded and endangered by their own wilful Sin and Wickedness To observe rarional Creatures living like mere brute Beasts Baptized Christians acting like very Devils incarnate To find Men rebelling against Light resisting a Reproof loath to be reclaimed hardned in their Sin and hating to be reformed To see so many Fools and Mad-men besotted and bewitch'd cruel to their own Souls and Enemies to their own Peace refusing all Helps of Health and Cure contemning the Means of their Recovery fond of a Disease in love with Slavery devoted to their Enemy courting their own Misery and Calamity chusing Death rather than Life eternal Life walking apace in the broad Way that leadeth to Destruction running on in the Way to Hell the Way that goeth down to the Chambers of Death To behold so many stabbing themselves to the very Heart greedily swallowing their own Poison running into Pest-houses and infected Places drowning themselves in Destruction and Perdition and casting themselves into intolerable eternal unquenchable Flames 2. And let us moreover mourn to see so much Hurt and Misohief done in the World by others open Sin and Wickedness To see Sin become so fashionable and creditable To behold so many corrupted and infected hardned and confirmed in Sin and Wickedness by the ill Examples of loose Livers and vicious debauched Persons To discern the heinous provoking Sins of notoriously wicked Persons hastening and pulling down Judgment after Judgment upon the Land of our Nativity and the Places of our abode To see Sin spread this spiritual Plague encrease and a Cloud of divine Wrath and Judgment gathering and growing thick and black and hanging over our Heads ready to drop and shower down upon us Let us be so publick spirited as to be troubled exceedingly troubled that so much Mischief publick Mischief should be done by others Sins That so many should be drawn into Sin or brought under Suffering by the common and open Wickedness of the Wicked 3. Farther yet Let it be a Thing very grievous to us to meet with a Sort of Men who instead of perplexing and tormenting themselves with the Sins of others do please and delight recreate and refresh themselves with the Sins of others Do tempt and entice them into Sin and hearten and harden them in their Sin Who are so far from troubling themselves at others Sins that they * Rom. 1.32 do the same and have pleasure in them that do them Who make themselves merry with those Sins which make the Land mourn That will laugh at Lewdness
measure it by Work and not by Time Wouldst thou know the Difference between him that spent so few and another that hath passed over many Years The one lives even after Death the other perished before Death Let us therefore praise him and place him in the Number of happy Persons who how little Time soever he enjoyed was careful to bestow it well Why do you inquire how long he lived he liv'd to the Memory and Benefit of Posterity As there may be a perfect Man in a less Habit of Body so there may be a perfect Life in a less Measure of Time Do you demand what is the largest Space of Life it is to live till we attain to Wisdom He that arrives to that is come not to the longest End but the greatest He liv'd not so many Years as he might why a Book may contain but a few Verses and yet be very laudable and useful He that attains the End of Life though his time be short yet his Life is long because he lives [u] In quantolibet tempore bona aeterna consummant Sen. Ep. 92. much in a little Like him that writes small thick and close having much to write and but a little Paper to write in When the Ninivites had but forty Dvies allowed them they made use of that Space to exercise a notable Repentance in Our Time is short and very uncertain let our Improvement therefore be as speedy and as great as may be Let our Care be to live alwaies holily that we may never fear dying suddenly nor dread the Thought of being surprised and taken unprovided If we cannot be certain of longer enjoying this present mortal transitory Life Oh let 's not be contented to be as uncertain of our obaining a better being and an endless Life when this is concluded and expired 3. Our special Particular Opportunities are much shorter than our Time and more uncertain Though the Stalk remain the Flower may be gone though somewhat of Time may be left yet Opportunity may be slipt But this I say Brethren the * ◠Cor. 7.29 TIME IS SHORT the Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contracted or shortened It is an Allusion to Sea-faring Men that have almost done their Voyage and begin to strike Sail are ready to roll and fold up their Sails together to put into Harbour and to go to unlade their Goods Our special Seasons are very short and uncertain Things We may quickly be laid upon Sick-Beds and unfitted by a Disease for the Performance of those Duties which now we are free to the Exercise of We may suddenly fall into so weak a Condition that an earnest Care and working Thoughts about the final Estate of our Souls would hinder the Cure and Recovery of our Bodies and will be apt to be laid aside upon that Pretence In a Time of Sickness our Heads may be distempered or our Hearts may be straitned that we cannot pray We may possibly lose our Estates that we cannot hereafter give to the Poor so liberally as now we may It may be for the future we may not be excited and suscitated by such good Motions as now we are We may never be entrusted with such rich Talents nor have such precious Opportunities any more afforded us as are at present vouchsafed to us Let 's therefore now improve them to the utmost let us make the best of them and lose none of them Especially considering that as our Time is short and uncertai and our special Opportunities shorter and more uncertain So 4. The Work we have to do is very great 'T is no slight and trifling Work above all keepings to keep our Hearts to prevail with our selves to make a Covenant with our Eyes and perform it to turn away our Eyes from beholding Vanity and from gazing on alluring Objects to learn habitually to govern our Tongues to set a Watch over our Lips that we offend not with our Tongues nor speak unadvisedly with our Lips to take heed unto our Feet and to make streight Paths to walk circumspectly * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.15 accurately exactly to strive to enter in at the strait Gate to watch for our Souls to work out our Salvation to make our Calling and Election sure to procure and preserve a Right and Title to the heavenly Kingdom to get our Evidences for Heaven sealed and to keep them so clear from Blots and Blurs that they may be plainly read It is no facile Thing to repent of so many thousand Sins and Follies to believe with all our Hearts to obey the several Laws and Commands of Christ and to discharge and perform our particular respective Duties both towards God towards our Neighbour and towards our selves 'T is no such easy matter to become able to resist the Devil to tread Satan under our Feet to get Victory over the World to subdue our own Flesh to deny our selves To reach and attain to such a Degree of spiritual Niceness as not to endure the Impurity of a Dream nor to allow our selves in so much Anger as would disorder and disturb a Child Sin is not mortified on a suddain Our old Man is not crucified in a Moment The strong Man is not disarm'd and cast out in an instant The Plague of our Heart is not so soon cured our spiritual Leprosie so quickly healed nor our Issue of Blood so presently dried up A corrupt Nature is not so easily changed [w] Malá consuetudine obsessis diu rubigo animorum essricanda est Sen. ep 95. Ill Habits and Customs are not so readily broken and laid aside A craving Appetite is not immediatly drawn off from sensual Objects nor our Inclinations to the Things below vanquish'd and conquer'd with a single and short Conflict Strength is not so speedily gotten against Temptations nor Power over our Passions nor Conquest obtain'd over our Corruptions It is not a Thing of so quick a dispatch to six and settle our Resolutions to remove strong Prejudices to resolve our Doubts to answer Objections and satisfy many weighty and difficult Questions which will arise concerning our Souls and spiritual Estates 'T is a great Work sure Employment and Business enough for all our Time to get a Change of Mind and Heart and Life To get Pardon of Sin and Purity of Heart To recover the Favour and Friendship of God and to regain the glorious Image and Likeness of God To procure the Reconciliation of our Persons and Natures to God To get a Participation of the divine Nature a Participation of God's Holiness To attain a blessed Conformity in a Spirit and Practice to Christ our Head To get an affective transformative Knowledg of God and Christ and a deep Impress of the holy Gospel upon our Hearts and Lives To know the Gospel to know God and Christ so as to become Gospel-like God-like Christ-like Creatures To gain a good Measure of grace and Holiness a rooted Love to God and Goodness a
grow pale to sweat again and to call out to his Son [c] Maxime curre Maxime curre nunquam tibi aliquid mali feci in fidem tuam me suscrpe Maximus to come quickly to save and help him When his Son and Servants came they could see nothing but he himself turn which way he would could see nothing else but those evil Spirits which he could not endure to see and in a despairing Manner at last cried out Inducias vel usque manè inducias vel ujque manè Let me have respite but till to morrow respite but till to morrow Morning And in this Perplexity he died immediatly The same Father makes this Use of it The Vision did him no good says he but let it do good to us upon whom God's Patience waits yet a while longer [d] Nos ergo sratres chartssimt nunc solicitè ista cogitemus ne nobis in vacuum tempora pereant tunc quaeramus ad bene agendum vivere cùm jam compellimur de corpore exire Let us seriously think upon 't that we may not lose our Time says he and then beg to live that we may do our Duty when we are forc'd to die whether we will or no. The fifth Additional Reason We should diligently redeem the Time because we shall be certainly call'd to an Account for our Time Eccles 11.9 Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth or because thou art young healthy and strong the wise Man here speaks Ironically and let thy Heart cheer thee in the Daies of thy Youth and walk in the Waies of thy Heart and in the Sight of thine Eyes take thy Course do what thou pleasest live as thou listest lay no restraint upon thy self deny thy self nothing that Heart can wish please thy Eye gratify thy Phansie satisfy thy Appetite and let thy sensual Heart give Law to thy whole Man take thy Swing thy Fill of Lust and Pleasure get Gain heap up Riches acquire Honour grow great in the World enjoy thy self take thine ease eat drink and be merry But take along with thee this sad and severe yet seasonable Premonition Know thou that for all these Things God will bring thee into Judgment Know thou that is consider an think well of it till thy Heart be warmed with the Thoughts of it Let this so necessary weighty Doctrine not only enter into and then slip out of thy Head almost as soon as in it but let this Truth take up and dwell in thy Thoughts and move and stir thy Heart and Affections and rule and govern thy Life and Actions Thus know thou that for all these Things for all the Vanities and Excesses Follies and Extravagancies of thy Youth for all those Things which are now so grateful and delightful to thy Senses God [c] Bp. Reynolds in loc whose Word and Fear thou now despisest from whose Eye thou canst not hide thy Sins from whose Tribunal thou canst not absent thy self This God will bring thee bring thee perforce whether thou wilt or no send his Angels to hale and drag thee when thou shalt in vain call and cry to Mountains and Rocks to hide and cover thee Bring thee into Judgment to a particular Judgment immediatly after Death and to the general Judgment the Judgment of the great Day as St. Jude speaks call'd by St. Paul the Terrour of the Lord. Thou fond and foolish thou daring venturous Sinner know that there is an After-reckoning a Time when thou must come to an Account when thou must think and hear of what thou hast done and left undone and must surely pay very dear for all They that live their Time in the Flesh to the Lusts of Men says * 1 Pet. 4.2 5. St. Peter they shall give Account to him that is ready to judg the Quick and the Dead [d] Bp. Taylor 's Serm. 1. Vol. p. 294. We are as sure to account for every considerable Portion of our Time as for every Sum of Money we receive [e] Qus unum capillum capitis non dimittit non numeratum unum momentum temporis dimittes non computatum If the very †Mat. 10.30 Hairs of our Heads and †Mat. 10.30 all our Hairs are numbred then certainly our very Hours and all our Hours too And above all our special Hours our Sermon-Hours and all providential Opportunities with all our Neglects and Non-improvements are exactly computed and reckoned up by God our Judg. God puts down in his Catalogue this is the first this the second this the third time that I have warn'd that I have woed such an one He strictly observes how long he has waited upon us how often he has treated with us by his Mercies by his Judgments by his Word by his Spirit by his own Ministers by our own Consciences or our Christian Friends God counts and casts up every Minute of Patience spent upon us He reckons and registers every Sand of Long-suffering run out by us God now takes special particular punctual Notice of all in order to a future final and full Account We must one Day reckon for all those Hours which now we idle and tride away and make so little and light of Time is now a Burthen to many of us and lies upon our Hands and we know not almost how to spend it or which way to get rid of it And therefore sometimes we use evil Arts to pass it away But oh what an intolerable Burthen will the Guilt of mâ—s-spent Time be when it shall be charged home upon a Soul at the great and dreadful Day What have you done with all your Time will God then say Is it true that you have spent so much in Dressing so much in Revelling so much in Dressing your self every Day Were these the Things I gave you Time for what will the Sinner be able to answer to these Things When our righteous Lord who delivered the Talents of Time and manifold Opportunities to us shall come to reckon with us he will require and call for some answerable good Improvement of every such Talent And the more of these Talents were concredited and committed to us the richer Return and greater Improvement will be expected and demanded of us [f] Crescunt dona crescunt rationes donorum Our Reckoning will rise according to the Largeness of our Opportunities and Receits And the longer it is before God calls us to a Reckoning our Account will certainly be the sadder and our Doom and Punishment much the heavier if we have been unfaithful Stewards of our Time and Talents What Account will the old Sinner give of three or four-score Years spent in Vanity Sin and Folly What will he be able to say for himself that his gray Hairs were found in the Way of Vnrighteousness It will be a fearful Audit when God shall call the inconsiderate careless Sinner to appear before his great Tribunal Then he that has but hid his Talent shall hear that sad and
diabolical Temper As God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Lover of all Men so the Devil is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Hater of all Men And as God loves the Faithful peculiarly so the Devil is an Enemy to them especially your Adversary saies St. Peter here emphatically Above all he desires [i] Pro ea quâ pollet malitia quò quis Deo charior est eò Satanae invisior Latro ille viatores praecipuè locupletes iste praedo naves pretiosis mercibus onustas prae aliis adoritur Pantheram ajunt usque adeo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse ut in hominis statuam vel picturam incurrere soleat ita cùm nequeant daemones Deum ipsum invadere impetunt illius imaginem quae in sanctis elucet in pios praesertim magistratus ministros verbi summà feruntur violentiâ Idem ibidem illustrans hunc locum Petri. your Destruction with an insatiable Appetite Now what 's the Apostle's Inference from all this Why since the Devil is sedulous and watchful do not you become sluggish and secure but be sober and vigilant Be sober that you may be vigilant Be vigilant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every Christian be a Gregory a Vigilantius not only awake but watchful considerative and active recollect and attend to Principles of Action and reduce and improve good Principles to seasonable Christian Practice be habitually careful and diligent and very industriously use and exercise all appointed approved means whereby he may be suitably provided and prepared and may not be unhappily surpriz'd and foiled by any suddain Assault of his spiritual Enemy Because the Devil is so vigilant to work out your Damnation be you therefore vigilant to work out your Salvation The Devil is said to have * Rev. 12.12 great wrath because he knoweth he hath but a short Time He is so much the hotter and more eager because his Time is contracted and draws to an end He redeems Time most at last and yet he was always busy enough ever over-busy He never lost any of his Time in the way of Temptation He never neglected any Occasion of gaining Experience and perfecting himself in his Arts and Stratagems of soliciting and seducing unwary and inconsiderate Sinners Let us learn here of the very Devil himself Let us who have lost much of our Time be as laborious to redeem it to our benefit and advantage as the Devil himself who never omitted any Opportunity consider'd as a Tempter is industrious to improve it to our greatest damage and disadvantage The third Motive Consider thirdly how very notably many of the Saints and Servants of God have improved and redeemed their Time Enoch * Gen. 5.21 24. walked with God and persevered in the Waies of God †Heb. 11.5 Before his Translation he had this Testimony that he pleased God ‖ Gen. 6.9 11 12. Noah was a just Man and perfect in his Generations and walked with God in a very vicious and corrupt Age was a pattern of Piety and Probity and a (*) 2 Pet. 2.5 Preacher of Righteousness to a World of Sinners warning them to amend their abominable Lives or else that Vengeance would befall them And he (†) Heb. 11.7 prepared an Ark and by his Obedience out of a principle of Faith and pious Fear condemn'd the World of the Ungodly Abraham was (‖) Rom. 4 16. the Father of all the Faithful the great Example of Faith He believed [*] Verse 18. in Hope against Hope having no natural grounds of Hope And not only believed God's Promises but perform'd very high acts of Obedience to God When God called him to his [k] Mr. Gataker supposeth this place to be meant of Cyrus †Isa 41.2 Foot to go to and fro at his command and as he should appoint him [†] Gen. 12.1 4. he obeyed and went out of his Countrey not knowing whither he went And when he was tried was [‖] Heb. 11.8 ready to offer up his only Son in whom the Promises were made to him accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the Dead () Verse 17 19. I know Abraham saies God that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the Way of the Lord. Lot was a * Gen. 18.19 just and righteous Man among a People monstrously wicked and laid to heart the provoking †2 Pet 2.7 8. Sins of the time and place in which he lived and believed that Judgment lingred not but that the Judge stood before the door and he took the Opportunity to warn his sons-in-Sons-in-law presently to flee from the Wrath approaching though he ‖ Gen. 19.14 seemed to them as one that mocked Job was (*) Job 1.1 5. perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed Evil. He was not carried away with the Idolatry and unjust dealing of the Edomites among whom he lived As occasion required he continually offered Sacrifices to God for his Children out of fatherly Care of their spiritual Good and as a means to keep them in the Favour of God being jealous over them with a Godly Jealousie lest at any time when they had feasted together they should have forgotten themselves and offended God in their feasting and mirth And he improved his afflictions as an opportunity of exercising an exemplary (†) Verse 22. Jam. 5.11 Patience David was (‖) Acts 13.22 a Man after God's own heart and in ruling the People he did fulfil all God's Will [*] Verse 36. He served his own Generation by the Will of God or the Will of God in his own Generation Holy Daniel was a Person devoted to God's true Worship and Fear and given to Prayer He could not content himself with a mental Devotion for a Month together but when [†] Dan. 6.10 he knew the Writing was signed instead of restraining vocal Prayer for thirty Daies he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and his Windows being open in his Chamber toward Jerusalem he glorified God with his Tongue he prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime This righteous Man was * Prov. 28.1 bolder than any Lion in the Den which he was by his Enemies Envy and Malice and the King 's establish'd Decree in apparent Danger to be speedily cast into for his Constancy in his Religion and the Integrity of his Devotion Zachary †Luke 1.6 and Elizabeth were both sincerely righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless So as their Obedience to God's Will with God's merciful Allowance to human frailties was sure to be acceptable in God's sight The devout Cornelius feared God with all his House and took every Occasion and good Opportunity of making Prayer and giving Alms. Acts 10.2 The twelve Tribes are said to have served God instantly day and night to have spent their Time in Piety and Obedience to God
saw Letters and yet taught him first to reade Dr. Bernard tells us that their readiness in the Scripture was marvellous being able suddenly to have repeated any part of the Bible I have read of one who was so conscientiously covetous of redeeming Time for reading of the Scripture that [w] Fox's Time and the end of Time p. 7. being a Prisoner in a dark Dungeon when a Light was brought to him for a little Time to eat his Diet he would pull out his Bible and reade a Chapter saying he could find his Month in the dark but not reade in the dark O mind the Scriptures in imitation of these and the like excellent Examples * 1 Tim. 4 13. Give attendance to reading †Joh. 5.39 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Search the Scriptrres as Christ commands As Diggers in [x] A Lapide in loc Mines with much Labour and Pains do search for Veins of Gold and Silver in the Bowels of the Earth So labour diligently to dig deep in the rich and golden Mines of Scripture for hidden Treasures of saving Truth Can you use your Eyes exercise your Reason improve your Hours in a better Employment Content not thy self with a slight and cursory reading but get a right and good understanding of these sacred Oracles Read them with Prayer to God before and after the reading of them Reade them with the [y] Quo Spiritu factae sunt Scripturae eo Spiritu legi desiderant ipsoetiam intelligendae sunt Bern. ep ad Fratres de monte Dei. Help of the same Spirit that wrote them Read them and hear the Voice of the blessed Spirit speaking in them Read receive and keep the Word in an honest and good Heart Luke 8.15 Hide the Word of God in thy Heart with David Ps 119.11 as a precious Jewel and Treasure as the Law was kept in a Chest or Ark Exod. 25.21 Let the Word of Christ dwell richly copiously plentifully in thee Coloss 3.16 and in this manner make thy Heart Bibliothecam Christi the Library of Christ as [z] Lectione assiduâ meditatione diuturnâ pectus suum bibliothecam fecerat Christi Hier. ep ad Heliod Epitaph Nepetiani St. Jerome tells us Nepotian did by his constant reading and daily Meditation Reade the Scriptures and fully assent to the Truth and Goodness of them Reade them and feed and feast upon them With the Prophet Ezekiel * Ezek 3.1 3. eat and fill thy Belly with this Roll 't will be in thy Mouth as Honey for Sweetness Do not only take the Scriptures into thine Hand and get them into thine Head but let them be deeply rooted in and fairly printed upon thy Heart Read them [a] Alimenta quae accepimus quamdiu in sua qualitate perdurant solida innatant stomacho onera sunt at cùm ex eo quod erant mutata sunt tunc demum in vires in sanguinem transeunt Idem in his quibus aluntur ingenia praestemus ut quaecunque hausimus non patiamur integra esse ne aliena sint Concoquamus illa altoquin in memoriam ibunt non in ingenium Assentiamur illis fideliter nostra faciamus ut unum quiddam siat ex multis Sen. ep 84. concoct and inwardly digest them do not only retain them in thy Memory but turn them into a new Nature Do not offer to deal with the Scriptures as little [b] Culpands sunt qui in lectione quidem Bibliorum versantur non tamen eum sibs proponunt scepum ut conscientiam suam aedisicent in pietate proficiant sed tantùm at scientiam aliquam sibi comparent qua velut artificio quodam apud alios se ostentent ibi Spiritum minimè quaerentes ubi maximè loquitur Spiritus non dissimiles pueris qui nuces ad ludendum quaerunt nucleo nec gustato nec aperto Andr. Rivet Isagog ad S. Script c. 30. §. 16. School-Boys do with their Nuts who often get them only to play with them having no mind or intention at all to crack the Shell and to taste the Kernel of any of them Reade and regard the Scriptures not only to get a notional Knowledg of them and merely to make them matter of Discourse and of Dispute but with an honest Purpose to profit in Piety and practical Knowledg by the frequent reading and constant studying of them Reade and receive the Scripture * 1 Thess 2.13 not as the Word of Men but as it is in truth the Word of God This will make all its Commands more strong and powerful more sweet and acceptable to think very seriously with thy self that they are the Commands of God who has Authority to command us and of a good God who shews as much Love in his Commands as he does in his Promises who gave his Son to die for us and therefore we may be sure will command us nothing but out of Love and for our good nothing but what will some way serve to sit us for and bring us to that Glory and Happiness which his Son has dearly purchas'd for us This also will mightily strengthen your Faith in Scripture Promises to consider that they are God's Promises who understands what he promises is true and faithful and cannot lie and is able to perform whatever he promises be his Promises never so large and great And this will render Scripture Threatnings very terrible and cause you to tremble at them and stand in aw of them to believe and consider that they are God's Threatnings who is arm'd with Omnipotency and able to execute to the utmost the most dreadful Threatnings that are denounced in his Word O bless and praise the good and holy Name of God that you are not left to the conduct of your purblind short-sighted Reason to the faint Light of the Candle within you to the natural Darkness and Blindness of your carnal Minds and corrupt Hearts that you are not guided with the Turks by a ridiculous Alcoran nor with the Jews directed to follow a few curious Rabbines nor with the Papists enslaved to humane unwritten uncertain Traditions But that you have the Bible open and intelligible in the English Tongue Highly prize and value the Scriptures and reade them with Thankfulness Love Joy and Delight as the best Book you can possibly reade in the whole World the most incomparable Writings which clearly and certainly declare the insinite Love of God and seasonably bring the glad Tidings of a Saviour to lost and undone Mankind which shew and discover to a miserable Sinner the only happy way and means of firm Reconciliation to an offended Deity and bring Life and Immortality to light which are God's publick Act of Indemnity and his free Grant of a full Pardon and of eternal Salvation to the penitent Believer Will you not prize and use the Word of God that incorruptible Seed of which you are or may be born again and have frequent recourse to that Word which
spread so far and wide among us When so many so boldly deny the Providence and very Being of God the Immortality of the rational Soul and a Life and State of Retribution in another World the Divine Authority Perfection and Perspicuity of the sacred Scriptures the eternal Duration of Hell-torments the Divinity and Satisfaction of our Saviour Christ the divine Institution of the Lord's-Day deny the Necessity of the Moral Law disown Original Sin and any such Thing as Special Effectual Discriminating Grace infallibly securing the Event as to the Elect assert Perfection contend for Papal Infallibility plead for Idolatry and gross Superstition and design and endeavour and hope to make Popery become the Religion of the Nation it concerns you surely carefully now to redeem the Time The Evil of Errour mightily prevails in these our Daies Seducers and Impostors are subtil and industrious and Errour is of a catching spreading Nature therefore as St. Paul said to the Corinthians * 2 Câ—r 11.3 I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his Subtilty so your Minds should be corrupted from the Simplicity that is in Christ. Take heed that the Leprosie get not into your Head In that case you know the Priest was to pronounce a Man †Levit. 13.44 utterly unclean That Errour take not Possession of your Mind for that is the Eye the leading Faculty and it it slip into the Mind and Judgment it will steal and creep into the Conscience and that is so active a Faculty that it will engage all O do your utmost and best endeavour to keep your selves clear and free from the foul and infectious Errours of the Times you live in ‖ 2 Pet. 3 17. Beware lest ye being led away with the Errour of the Wicked fall from your own Stedfastness 1. Be not too credulous (*) 1 Joh. 4.1 Believe not every Spirit not every one that pretends to a Spirit of Truth acting and breathing in him Now the Air abroad is so pestilentially infected take heed what Air you suck in be very wary what Money you take since the Markets are so full of adulterate Coin 2. Be careful to avoid the Meetings and to shun the Society of Seducers From (†) 1 Tim. 6.5 Men of corrupt Minds and destitute of the Truth from such withdraw thy self Don't venture to keep them Company and to take their Breath who have the Plague of wicked Errour upon them and whose Converse is Death and the eternal Ruin of your Souls Forbear to hear their Discourses or to read their Writings You are bidden indeed to (‖) 1 Joh. 4.1 try the Spirits that is to try all you hear but you must not be bold to hear all when you can shift it The Wise Man forbids that * Prov 19.27 Cease my Son to hear the Instruction that causeth to err from the Words of Knowledg Remember the sad Event of Eve's Rashness in venturing to listen to the Discourse of the Serpent 3. And that you may be the better secured from Errour labour to get a good Understanding of your Catechism to be well grounded in the Principles and Essentials and setled in the radical sundamental and practical Truths of Religion and throughly acquainted with the Necessaries to Salvation Do not stick to say with [h] Fateor me Catechismi descipulum Luther I confess I am still a Learner and Studier of my Catechism Learn it your selves and teach it your Children and Servants understandingly The want of Peoples being well instructed and throughly grounded in the Principles of Religion is a great [i] If this Duty of Catechising be neglected we may preach our Lungs our if we will but wich little Effect When we have spent all our Wind upon the Ears of our People their Hearts will be still apt to be carried away with every Wind of Doctrine Ep. Hali's Peace-maker p. 202. Reason of the many Errours that have been so rife in these late Times Men have not lyen fast in the Building upon the Foundation and therefore it is that they have so easily been tumbled up and down like loose Stones Converse with your Catechism 4. And confirm your Belief of the Divinity of the Scripture by getting rational Evidence and an inward Sence and Experience of it And search and study the Scriptures and compare the Doctrines taught by Men with the Word of God and try and examine them by that Rule 5. Again Beg the Spirit of Truth to lead and guide you into all necessary Truth As it is not a strong Constitution that will secure you from the Plague so it is not your best Parts that will preserve you from the Infection of Errour if the Spirit of God do not keep and protect you if the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of Truth withdraw from you 6. Add to all your earnest Endeavour to get your Hearts * Rom. 12.2 Heb. 13.9 2 Pet. 3.17 18. renewed and seasoned and * Rom. 12.2 Heb. 13.9 2 Pet. 3.17 18. stablish'd with Grace which will prove an excellent Preservative a soveraign Antidote and Defensative against the Contagion and Infection of Errour Any Errour will easily slip into an ignorant uncatechized Head and an unmortified unsanctified ungrà cious Heart The †2 Tim. 3 6. silly Women that were led captive were such as were laden with Sins led away with divers Lusts So they were ‖ Jude vers 4. ungodly Men who turned the Grace of our God into lasciviousness and denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ They that walk in loose Garments soon take Wind Loose Lives will gather in and breed loose Principles If you don't take in sufficient Ballast of Grace to settle you you will be tossed to and fro and carried about with every Wind of strange Doctrine If you want a good Biass of Sincerity for God carnal Interests and Ends will easily mis-lead you If you be devoid and destitute of Grace you will be proud and conceited rash and unwary you will never distrust your selves you will never weigh and consider Things well before you take them up Want of Grace will also breed an Itch of vain Curiosity in your Minds and cause you to linger and hanker after Novelties Further your depraved Wills will have a malign Influence on your Understandings and your carnal Affections will too often bribe and pervert your Judgments so that whatever your Wills and Affections are vehemently set upon must be allowed by the Authority of your Judgments and secretly if not openly maintained and pleaded for Those various Opinions about the Chief Good might arise and proceed from their Over-affection to some created and inferiour Good Your foul Stomach will infect your Brain your unsound Heart will cause a corrupt Head And an ill Life will engage you to entertain and take up such corrupt Principles as may favour and foster your Viciousness give allowance and countenance to your Wickedness Your Sin
will become the Root of Errour If you be loth to be ruled by the Laws of Christ you have a Temptation from your own Lusts to turn to Antinomianism As Luther said that Every Man had a Pope in his Belly So every wicked Man has an Heretick in his Breast And let me moreover tell you that without Grace you will never taste and savour rellish love and like the Truth or have any sensible sweet experimental Knowledg of it which may engage and keep you close to it The Truths of God are so suitable to a gracious Heart that it quickly closeth with them But the Errours of the Wicked are slatly against such and such practical Impressions upon the Soul of a Christian A gracious Person has a good Complexion and Constitution of Soul which disgusts and disrelisheth whatsoever is contrary to it And therefore many an Errour lies but unevenly and untowardly in a good Man's Mind when presented to his Thoughts And when an honest-hearted Christian hears some Sermon or Discourse that is erroneous though he be not able handsomly to detect and logically to lay open the Nature and Danger of the Errour yet it goes against him he cannot down with it he finds a strong Antipathy against it he has not by Inspiration but by real [k] See Mr. Baxter's Unreason of Infid His 2d Discourse there on 1 Joh. 5.10 p. 116 117 127 128 158 161. Impression on his Soul a Witness within himself against it an inward Sense that disapproves it a new Nature that nauseats rejects and rises against it Just as the Sea by the Strength of its Nature casts up works out and purgeth it self of those Straws and Sticks that Filth and Dirt that Frippery and Trash which flowed into it with the River-water And therefore get a Principle of Grace into thy Heart as ever thou wouldst keep Errour out of thy Head And be sure to * 1 Tim. 1.19 hold a good Conscience that you may be able to hold the Doctrine of Faith †1 Tim. 3.9 Hold the Mystery of the Faith in a pure Conscience Like heavenly Manna let it be kept in a Pot of pure Gold By all means labour to be ‖ Tit. 2.2 sound in the Faith and (*) 2 Tim. 1.13 hold fast the Form of sound Words Resolve by the Help of God to (*) 2 Tim. 1.13 hold it fast against all Temptations to let it go Hold it fast in Faith and Love Let the Grace of Love even glue you to the Truth and constrain you to a firm Adhesion to it (†) 2 Thess 2.10 11. Receive the Love of the Truth that you may abide in the Truth and may not be given over to strong Delusions to believe a Lie (‖) Jude 3. Contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints Vigorously oppose fundamental Errours such as directly or reductively expresly or by necessary Consequence destroy the Articles of our Faith Contend for fundamental Truths for these especially and most earnestly but not for these only Contend for all Truth All Truth is valuable for the least Truth The very Parings and Filings of Gold are precious Contend as well for that which is not acknowledged to be necessary to Salvation as for that which is accounted commonly and ordinarily necessary though not with an equal Contention We are chiefly to look to the Foundation or else the House will certainly fall But yet we must look to the Tiles of the House too or else the Rain will beat into the House and in time the very Foundation may rot and moulder and perish If we neglect those Truths which are not fundamental we may in Time be brought to neglect Fundamentals themselves Yet in smaller Errours be content to bear what you cannot cure Very good Christians may have as it is said of St. Cyprian naevos in candido pectore here and there a Mole or Mark in otherwise a fair and clear Breast Very honest Hearts may have some lighter Errours in their Minds some Mistakes or other in their Judgments which ought to be prudently tolerated rather than brotherly Peace and Union be broken and violated or Christian Love and charitable Affection be withdrawn and alienated Wisely and carefully distinguish between those Differences in Opinion which are as the striving of one Israelite with another which is the Lord [p] Advanc of Learn l. 9. p. 473. Verulam's elegant Comparison and those pernicious damnable Heresies which are as the fighting of an Egyptian with an Israelite You must with Moses be mild and gentle fair and peaceable in dealing with the former but sharp and severe in oppugning and suppressing the latter Take care that you your selves don 't desperately fall into the gross and grievous Errours of the Times you live in And take all Opportunities according to your Abilities to inform and instruct to gain and win and bring over the erroneous and incredulous to the * Tit. 1.1 acknowledging of the Truth which is after Godliness That is the first Redeem the Time because the Daies and evil Daies in which dangerous Errours and false Doctrines are vented and propagated The second Particular Evil of the Apostles Daies and ours 2. The Evil of the Apostles Times stood in the vicious and wicked Lives of scandalous Professors of the Gospel The Daies are Evil that is saies [m] Dies malos esse dicit h. e. omnia scandalis corruptelis esse plena ut difficilè sit pios manere illaesos Calv. in loc Calvin all Things are full of Scandals and Corruptions insomuch as it 's hard for those that are good to be kept free from hurt to be preserved untainted with the Infection of the Times And in this Sense the Daies we live in are evil Daies too The present Age is an ungodly Age. †Matt. 24.12 Iniquity everywhere abounds Great and gross Irreligion and Profaneness extreme Loosness and Licentiousness boundless Sensuality and Voluptuousness immeasurable Gluttony and Drunkenness beastly Wantonness and Uncleanness prodigious Pride and Haughtiness bitter Animosity and Revenge malicious Slandering and Backbiting rash and uncharitable Judging and Censuring Lying Swearing Subornation Perjury Cursing Sabbath-breaking Unthankfulness Unfruitfulness Want of Humiliation and Reformation under Variety of sore and severe Judgments Carelesness of God's Providences Contempt of his Word and Ordinances Abuse of his blessed Spirit Playing and Drolling with Scripture Mocking at Religion Scoffing at Holiness and Enmity against Purity and the Power of Godliness are now rife and common the reigning and crying Sins of this Land and Nation Now what should we do to make a good Vse and due Improvement of such evil Daies as these I answer 1. Are the Daies thus evil let us then in a right manner be troubled at the Evil of them It is said that * 2 Pet. 2.8 righteous Lot dwelling among the filthy Sodomites in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous Soul from day to day with their