engagements CHAP. II. BUt wo is me How few of us are the better for all Yea what eyes can but run over to see for the most part what lives men lead The Holy Ghost tells us in the Word and we hear the same daily That every man shall be judged according to his works be they good or evil Rev. 20.13 That we shall give an account at the day of judgment for every idle word we speak Matth. 12.36 That there needs no other cause of our last and heaviest Doom then ye have not given ye have not visited c. Matth. 25.41 to 46. That the righteous shall scarcely be saved 1 Pet. 4.18 That many shall seek to enter in at the strait gate and shall not be able Luke 13.24 That no unrighteous person shall inherit the Kingdom of God but shall have their part and portion in that Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death 1. Cor. 6.9 10 Gal. 5.21 Revel 21.8 That except our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees who were no mean men for outward and formal performances we shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 4.20 And that without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Yet most men live as if the Gospel were quite contrary to the rule of the Law as if God were neither to be feared nor cared for as if they were neither beholding to him nor stood in awe of him both out of his debt and danger Yea as if there were no God to judge nor Hell to punish nor Heaven to reward I cannot think of it without astonishment Neither would men speak as they speak think as they think do as they do if they thought that their thoughts words and deeds should ever come to judgment Yea hear O heavens be astonished O earth and horribly afraid that such a Nation so blest and so long forborn should be so foolish and ingratefull as thus to requite the Lord. As consider with me God of his goodness hath bestowed so many and so great mercies upon us that it is not possible to express his bounty therein For if we look inward we finde our Creators mercies if we look upward his mercy reacheth unto the Heavens if downward the Earth is full of his goodness and so is the broad Sea if we look about us what is it that he hath not given us air to breathe in fire to warm us water to cool and cleanse us cloaths to cover us food to nourish us fruits to refresh us yea delicates to please us beasts to serve us Angels to attend us Heaven to receive us and which is above all Himself and his own Son to be enjoyed of us Yea God of his goodness hath removed so many evils from us and conferred so many good things upon us that they are beyond thought or imagination For if the whole World were turned into a Book and all the Angels deputed Writers therein they could not set down all the good which Gods love in Christ hath done us And as much do we owe unto God for the dangers from which he delivers us As for the great wealth and dignities whereunto he hath always raised us Now we are infinitely bound to bless God for his external temporal inferior earthly perishing benefits How much more then should we praise him for the lasting fruits of his eternal love and mercy as that we are not at this present frying in Hell flames never to be freed that we have the offer of Heaven and eternal salvation How thankful should we strive to be Nor could we possibly be unthankful if we seriously thought upon what God gives and what he forgives And certainly if a friend had given us but a thousand part of what God hath we should heartily love him all our lives and think no thanks sufficient But that we may the better consider what God hath done for us observe that when man was in a most miserable and undone condition by reason of original and actual sin and of the curse due to both being liable to all miseries in this life and adjudged to suffer eternal torments in hell fire after death having no possibity to escape the fierce wrath of Almighty God who had already passed sentence upon him When neither Heaven Earth nor Hell could have yielded any satisfactory thing besides Christ that could have satisfied Gods justice and merited Heaven for us Then O then God in his infinite wisdom and goodness did not onely find out a way to satisfie his justice and the Law but even gave us his own Son out of his bosom and his Son gave himself to die even the most shameful painful and cursed death of the Cross to redeem us that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 A mercy bestowed and a way found out that may astonish all the sons of men on earth and Angels in Heaven Wherefore O wonder at this you that wonder at nothing that the eternal God should die to redeem our worse then lost souls that we might not die eternally and to bring salvation to us even against our wills 2 Cor. 8.9 O the deepness of Gods love O the unmeasurable measure of his bounty O Son of God who can sufficiently admire thy love or commend thy pity or extol thy praise It was a wonder that thou madest us for thy self more that thou madest thy self man for us but most of all that thou shouldest unmake thy self that thou shouldest die to save us But behold and stand amazed at the return we make of so many mercies For whereas God hath removed so many evils spiritual and corporal temporal and eternal from us and conferred so many good things upon us we by way of requital have striven to multiply offences against him and to make them as infinite in number as his blessings Loth I am to accuse my Nation but Conscience compels me for we are so far from loving and serving Christ for his unspeakable and unexpressible love towards us that what he commands we do the contrary Yea we have done nothing from our infancy but added sin unto sin as God hath added mercy to mercy There is no part power function or faculty either of our souls or bodies that is not become a ready instrument to dishonour their Maker Even every part dishonours Christ which yet would be glorified of him And as if we had contracted with the Devil that we would abuse all our heavenly Fathers gifts so fast as they come his blessings make us proud his riches covetous his peace wanton his meats intemperate his mercy secure and all his benefits serve us but as weapons to rebel against him As we have been fatted with Gods blessings we have spurned at his precepts Resembling the Leopard who wrongs him most that gives him most fodder O my brethren Englands unthankfulness hath striven ven with Gods goodness for the
victory as Absalom strove with David whether the Father should be more kind to the Son or the Son more unkind to the Father As what think you That the road to Hell a place so wofull and dolorous should be so exceedingly thronged and the way to Heaven a place so blessed and glorious should be almost wholly neglected Matth. 7.13 14. John 5.19 Rev. 20.8 That Christ should lay down his life to ransom and redeem men from infinite intollerable and interminable torments and to purchase for them such pleasures as never entred into the heart of man to conceive and yet Satan that bloody devouring Dragon and vowed enemy of all mankind should have more Servants and Voluntiers than Christ and they do far more for him than Christs servants do for their Lord Rev. 3.4 and 13.16 Rom. 10.16 That men supposod rational should resolve to destroy themselves that they should love damnation that they should hate their own souls as well as holiness and the holy God and all for sin and vanity such a wretched emptiness this is the greatest folly and frenzy imaginable This above all deserves bitter lamentation yea what Sea of blood is enough to bemoan this foolish wicked and desperate madness CHAP. III. Quest BUt will you know how it comes to be so for the Word of God in this as in all other cases will acquaint us therewith Answ Many Reasons hereof might be collected from the Word but these few may serve Every man is born stark dead in sin and whereas the Word preached is spirit and life to quicken those that are dead in sin and to raise up those that are therewith cast down they will either not hear the Word as I think I may say that one half of the men and women in the Kingdom come not once a year within the Church doors It were good they were compelled to hear this Word of life which is the onely ordinary means of salvation Or if they do hear it they will not apply it to themselves or be reformed by it but contrarily resolve to continue their sins until at length the custom and reiteration of sin and rejecting the means brauns their hearts and blinds their minds Jer. 13.23 They will not receive the truth in love that they may be saved Therefore are given up to strong delusions to believe lies that they may be damned 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. They will not regard nor retain God in their thoughts therefore God gives them over to a reprobate mind Rom. 1.28 They will not take the Spirits counsel therefore the Spirit gives them up to walk in their own counsels Jer. 9.13 14 15. They think they have as good hearts as the best and therefore they will follow that deceitful guide Ezek. 14.3 4 5. They will not by any means that Christ can use understand nor be converted nor saved Therefore they shall not understand nor be converted nor saved Isa 6.9 10. Matth. 13.15 They will believe Satan that promises prosperity to sin yea life and salvation as the Pope promised to the Powder Traytors rather than believe God who threatens Hell and damnation if men do not repent of and forsake their sins Therefore God delivers them up to Satan so to be deluded that the light of the glorious of Gospel of Christ shall not shine unto them 2 Cor. 4.3 4. Eph. 2.2 2 Thes 2.9 10. Neither will they believe what is written until they feel what is written And therefore shall fire and brimstone confute them because nothing else will do it And let such take notice that when men reject all good means and refuse to serve the just and true God provoking him by their rebellious and damnable wickedness He in justice gives them over to the false namely the god of this world to be taught and governed by him Even as a just Judg having past sentence upon some hainous Malefactor gives him up to the Jaylor or Executioner as you may see by sundry places as 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. 1 Tim. 4.2 2 Tim. 2.26 Eph. 2.2 John 8.44 12.31 13.2 14.30 Acts 5.3 1 Chron. 21.1 Gen. 3.1 to 6. 15. Revel 2.10 2 Cor. 4.3 4. 1 Kings 22.20 21 22. Which being so no wonder there should be so many Athiests and so few Christians in this our Goshen where hath been such preaching that no people in the world enjoy the like True they will not believe that Satan hath any power over them no they defie the Devil and all his works But if the Word of God be true they are the devils captives at his command and ready to do his will For he rules over and works in them his pleasure as the Apostle witnesseth 2 Tim. 2.26 Eph. 2.2 3. Yea he enters into them and puts it into their hearts what he will have them to do John 13.2 Acts 5.3 1 Chron. 21.1 Opens their mouths speaks in and by them Gen. 3.1 6. Stretcheth out their hands and they act as he will have them Acts 12.1 2. Revel 2.10 He being their God 2 Cor. 4.4 their King John 12.31 â—4 30 and their Father Gen. 3.15 John 8.44 Which being so no wonder men should be so mistaken in judging themselves Christians while they are indeed worse enemies to Christ and his Gospel then are meer Heathens No wonder when onely those that are spiritual can judge of spiritual things For the natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 Again It were impossible were it not for the fore-going reasons that in the midst of so much light and means of grace so few should be converted For otherwise the Word of God is so powerful and the Gospel so ravishing that the world could not stand before it without submitting to it Yea were it not for this how were it possible that we who are as traytors condemned to suffer eternal torments in Hell fire being onely reprieved for a time should hear the Gospel and glad tidings of salvation day after day and year after year Which is the strong arm of the Lord and the mighty power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 Quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword c. Eph. 6.17 Jer. 23.29 30. 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Heb. 4.12 And wherein God offers us a pardon in tendering Christ unto us upon the condition of faith and repentance which is such a spectacle of unspeakable mercy as might ravish our souls with admiration and stand it out and being so far from accepting a pardon thankfully that we refuse and contemn it yea in a manner deride the offer For we oppose the Gospel and persecute Christ in his members either with hand or tongue or both and are so far from imitating Christ or observing his precepts in being holy our selves that we most of us hate and scoff at holiness in others Here is ingratitude here is foollish wicked and desperate madness with a
Christian but an Hypocrite may do somewhat like it A man may attain to many gifts and seeming graces and make a great progress in Religion yea he may do all as to external duties and worship that a true Christian can do and yet be but almost a Christian As observe what God saith Isai 58. of that people They seek me daily They delight to know my way as a Nation that did righteousness and forsook not the Ordinances of their God They ask of me the Ordinances of Justice They take delight in approaching to God vers 2. yea in the next verse They were a people much in fasting and afflicting their souls Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest it not And yet for all this they were no better then a generation of Hypocrites as you may finde if you read the Chapter Some neither hear nor do as prophane sinners some both hear and do as true Believers some hear but do not as hypocritical Professors A man may believe all the truths of the Gospel all the promises all the threatnings all the Articles of the Creed to be true and yet perish for want of saving faith A man may be converted from a course of prophaneness to a form of godliness from a filthy conversation to a fair profession and yet be but almost a Christian A man may be outwardly reformed and yet not savingly renewed c. CHAP. XI BUt would you know who are indeed Christians as Saint Paul was and who but almost Christians as Agrippa was Or rather wouldst thou rightly know the sincerity of thine own heart of thy profession of thy Religion which as one would think should be the earnest desire of every ingenious soul then ask thy conscience these questions Art thou sensible how evil and wicked thou art Dost thou seriously lay to heart first the corruption of thy nature by reason of Original sin secondly thy manifold breach of Gods righteous Law by actual sinne thirdly the guilt and punishment due to thee for them both And in case thou art truly sensible of thy wretchednesse it is a good sign that thou art in some forwardnesse to be recovered And indeed the very first step to grace is to feel the want of grace and the necessity of a Redeemer And the next way to receive mercy is to see your self miserable Dost thou find that the Word and Spirit hath wrought an apparent change in thy judgment affections and actions to what they were formerly is Christ thy greatest joy sin thy greatest sorrow and grace the prime object of thy desires Art thou as conscientious alone and in private where God onely sees thee as if thy greatest enemy or all the World did behold thee Dost thou make conscience of evil thoughts grieve for thy unprofitableness under the means of grace for the evil which cleaves to thy very best actions and for sins of Omission Whatever thou enjoyest on this side Hell dost thou think thy self unworthy of it Dost thou more fear the want of grace then confide in what thou hast Dost thou endeavour to leave every sin and make conscience of every duty Dost thou make Gods glory the chief end of all thy actions and aims Dost thou desire the conversion of others Then my soul for thine thou art more then almost a Christian Again the love of grace in another is a good proof of the life of grace in our selves a child of God cannot love a sinner as a sinner Psal 15.4 Prov. 29.27 So a sinner cannot love a child of God as a child of God Briefly when a mans heart is throwly renewed by grace his mind savingly enlightned his conscience throwly convinced the will truly humbled and subdued the affections spiritually raised and sanctified and when mind and will and conscience and affections all join issue to help on with performance of duties commanded then is a man altogether a Christian But contrarily he that takes up with a form of Godliness hating or denying the power thereof is an Hypocrite ipso facto And let men take heed of that sin with two faces and whose reward is the deepest place in Hell as appears by Matth. 23. And the rather for that wickedness does most rankle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled Besides the scab of Hypocrisie does not seldom break out into the plague sore of Apostacy Julian the Apostate was first Julian the Professor To conclude if thou findest not these notes of sincerity in thy self let it be the earnest desire of thy soul and thy principal endeavour to obtain the same Otherwise woe unto thee For outward profession where there is want of inward truth and real practice does but help to draw on and aggravate judgment The Scribes and Pharisees had not heard of so many woes but for their glorious pretences and had the Figtree in the Gospel been utterly bare and leafless it had in all probability escaped the curse Thus mistake through ignorance is one great cause of many mens falling short of their hopes and of their being but almost Christians while they think themselves Christians indeed CHAP. XII BUt Secondly Pride is another cause We are so proud by nature that we have an eye to see our beauty but not our deformity our parts but not our spots our seeming righteousness but not our real-naughtiness our spiritual wretchedness We have all for the most part a self righteousness Every man says Luther is born with a Pope in his belly But it must be the work of grace onely that will make us see our extream vileness and that will make us acceptable to God and it must be the work of grace that must shew a man his want of grace It is the Believers Motto The least of Saints the greatest of Sinners But the Carnal mans Motto is I thank God I am not as other men Eph. 3.8 1 Tim. 1.15 Luke 18.11 But the onely way to become good is first to believe that we are evil Thirdly Another cause is Laziness and the love of the World Almost thou perswadest me to become a Christian says Agrippa to Paul but he could not find in his heart to become one altogether for then he must live a more strict life and relinquish the worlds wicked customs So Balaam could be willing to die the death of the righteous but to part with his covetousness and live the life of the righteous he could not finde in his heart And therefore Christ profited him nothing Hell is to be had with ease but the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence Matth. 11.12 Many shall seek to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but shall not be able because they did not strive Luke 13.24 Yea many run well in the way of Christianity for a while but they do not hold out Gal. 5.7 But perseverance is the crown of all grace and Heaven the crown of perseverance It is said of the truly righteous he shall scarcely be saved 1 Pet. 4.18 And it
is said of the seemingly righteous he shall be almost saved 1 Pet. 4.18 Acts 26.28 Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God Mark 12.34 As good not at all as never the nearer as good never run the race as miss of the goal and prize we run for Wherefore content not thy self with being almost a Christian but see thou beest one altogether and in good earnest For all who are but almost Christians shall be but almost saved and to be saved almost is to be damned We know almost a son is a bastard almost sweet is unsavoury A Christian almost is like a woman that dieth in travail almost she brought forth a son but that almost killed both the mother and the son too If thou believest almost thou shalt be saved almost As we may say of a Thief that hath a pardon brought him whilst he is upon the Gallows he was almost saved but he was hanged and his pardon did him no good To be almost a Christian is to be like the foolish Virgins that had Lamps but without oyl in them for which they were shut out of Heaven though they came to the very door Matth. 25.10 11 12. Wherefore it concerns all that would go to Heaven and be indeed saved to become Christians indeed and in good earnest CHAP. XIII ANd what I say unto these I say unto all as well prophane persons and civil men as to formal professors yea it were to be wished that each man that hath a soul to live eternally in bliss or wo would look himself in this glass and try himself by this touchstone All that have any care of their own souls or that prefer not everlasting flames of fire and brimstone in Hell before an eternal weight of super-abundant glory in Heaven Nor will a wise man need much pressing to this work for what saith St. Bernard A wise man foreseeth the torments of Hell and preventeth them onely a fool goes on merrily until he feels them and then says I had not thought Now that every man ought to examine himself we have the Apostles injunction 2 Cor. 13. Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove ye your own selves know ye not your own selves How that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates Vers 5. And the necessity thereof is very great For as Chrisostome speaks every particular man is either the childe of God and a member of Christ or a childe of the Devil John 8.44 Of the womans seed or of the Serpents Gen. 3.15 For there is not a mean between them Secondly We should the rather do it because there are but a few that are real and sincere Christians here and there one like timber trees in a wood or like gold and jewels among other stuff Those whom Christ hath chosen out of the World to believe in his name are but a small number a little Flock compared with the multitude Luke 12.32 As do we not read That the greatest number go the broad way to destruction and but a few the narrow way that leadeth unto life Matth. 7.13 14. That the whole world lieth in wickedness 1 John 5.19 That the number of those whom Satan shall deceive is as the sand of the Sea Revel 20.8 That all both small and great rich and poor free and bond receive the mark of the Beast in their foreheads Revel 13.16 Whereas they that believe the Gospel are but few in number Rom. 10.16 Isa 53.1 That many are called and but few chosen Matth. 20.16 and 22.14 That though the number of the Children of Israel are as the sand of the Sea yet onely a remnant shall be saved Rom. 9.27 There were but eleven righteous persons in the old world All Sodom afforded but ten Elijah saith I onely remain a Prophet of the Lord but Baals Prophets are Four hundred and fifty 1 Kings 18.22 Micha complaineth of the multitude of the wicked in his time and small number of the faithful Mic. 7.2 Behold saith Isaiah I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel Isa 8.18 and in Chap. 53.1 Lord who hath believed our report Lord saith Saint John thou hast but a few names in Sardis Rev. 3.4 We read also that the whole City went to drive Christ out of their coasts not a Gadarean was found that either dehorted his fellows or opposed the motion Matth. 8.34 When Pilate asked what shall be done with Jesus all with one consent cried out Crucifie him crucifie him Matth. 27.22 There was a general shout for Diana for two hours together Great is Diana of the Ephesians not one man took Pauls part Act. 19.27 28. Yea the chief Jews told Paul that his sect was every where spoken against Act. 28.22 How then does it concern every man of us to bethink our selves whether we be of that small number and to mistrust the worst of himself as all the wise and sincere hearted do witness the Apostles Mat. 26.22 And for want of this many go to Hell while they think themselves in the way to Heaven As why else did those Jews so confidently boast themselves the children of Abraham when indeed they were the Devils children Joh 8.44 And those Revel 3.9 say they were Jews when indeed they were of the Synagogue of Satan as the Holy Ghost tells us And so at this present because men are called after Christs name and wear his cognisance they not once doubt but they are Christians beyond all exceptions CHAP. XIV WHence it were to be wisht that a seperation were made between such as serve Christ in sincerity and such as serve him not as Jehu made a separation between the servants of God and the worshippers of Baal 2 Kings 10.23 This were the way to make men look into themselves But Thirdly and lastly There can be nothing of greater consequence to the careless For are Formal Professors almost saved and yet perish Do you that are not so much as formal stand and tremble For if they that have gone beyond us fall short of Heaven what shall become of such as fall short of them If he shall perish who is almost a Christian what shall they do that are not at all Christians If he that owneth and professeth Christ and leaves many sins for Christ may notwithstanding be damned what then shall his doom be who dishonoureth Christ and refuseth to part with one sin one lust one oath for Christ and takes up arms against him and all that worship him in sincerity If he that is outwardly sanctified shall yet be eternally rejected and shut out of Heaven then surely the filthy Adulterer the Swinish Drunkard the hellish Swearer and Curser the prophane Sabbath-breaker the foul-mouthed scoffer and slanderer of the Saints much more If there be a woe to him that falls short of Heaven then how sad shall their woe be that fall short of them that fall short of Heaven O that God would make the consideration of this an awakening argument to sinners that are asleep in their lusts without the least fear of death or dread of damnation Now to wind up all with a word of exhortation If by what you have heard the Spirit of God hath stirred up in your hearts any good motions and resolutions to receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save your souls If you be convinced that you are not as you should be real Christians and do resolve upon a new course let your resolutions be peremptory and constant and take heed you harden not again as Pharaoh the Philistins the Young man in the Gospel Pilate and Judas did Resemble not the Iron which is no longer soft then it is in the fire Be not like those that are Sea-sick who are much troubled while they are on shipboard but presently well again when they are come to shore For that good saith S. Gregory will do us no good which is not made good by perseverance If with these premonitions the Spirit shall vouchsafe to stir up in your hearts any good motions and holy purposes to obey God in letting your sins go quench not grieve not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 Return not with the dog to thy vomit lest thy latter and prove seven-fold worse than thy beginning Matth. 12.43 45. as it fared with Julian the Apostate and Judas the Traytor Yea as you tender the good of your own souls set upon the work presently Provide with Joseph for the dearth to come and with Noah in the days of thine health build the Ark of a good conscience against the floods of sickness Imitate the Ant that provides her meat in summer for the winter following Yea do it while the yerning bowels the bleeding wounds the compassionate arms of Jesus Christ lie open to receive you whilst ye have health and life and means and time to repent and make your peace with God As you tender I say the everlasting happiness and welfare of your almost lost and drowned souls As you expect or hope for grace or mercy for joy and comfort for Heaven and salvation for endless bliss and glory at the last As you would escape the direful wrath of God the bitter sentence and doom of Christ The never dying sting and worm of conscience The tormenting and soul-scorching flames of Hell and everlasting separation from Gods blissful presence strive after those graces wherewith a true Christian is qualified Nor do I ask any more but that you will now hearken unto Christ as you would have Christ another day hearken unto you Onely by way of caution expect not that this should be done by any power of thine own For a child may as soon create it self as a man in the state of nature regenerate himself Eph. 2.1 2 Cor. 3.5 We are swift to all evil but to any good immoveable Wherefore as when David came to fight with Goliah he cast away Sauls armour so do thou in this case cast away all trust and confidence in thy self and onely set forward in the name of the Lord God of Israel and be sure to use the means that God hath appointed and that power which Christ shall give thee and then he will not be wanting on his part As in that case of the Prodigal Son Luke 15.17 to 25. Consider what I have said and the Lord give you understanding in all things FINIS