Reason 9. There is a promise to those that seek the Lord early but there is none to those that seek him late mistake me not I would not weaken the hands of any if God move any old sinner to look after Christ I do not say but that there is a promise for them that return at whatsoever time it be a promise to him as a seeker but not a particular promise to him as a late seeker But there is a promise particularly to the early seeker Prov. 8.7 They that seek me early shall finde me And from hence the Apostle presses men to take hold of the opportunity Heb. 3.7.13 And to day if you will hear his voice but exhort one another dayly while it is called to day least any of you be hardned through the deceitfullnesse of sin and the Prophet presses the very same Isa 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near the Lord is near thee in the Promise and especially to you young ones because he is near you in the particular Promise whereas he is near others but in the general promise O therefore be perswaded to seek him whilst he is thus near to you Use of Caution to young ones not to lose this time for we may say of youth as David says of the Soul What shall a man give in exchange for it there is no price or ransome sufficient to redeem it from God the following days if thou were sure to enjoy them and give them up to the Lord are not a valuable consideration for thy youth nor will any time be so acceptable to God as this See how the Lord prizes youthfull affections Jer 2 2.3 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying Thus saith the Lord I remember thee the kindnesse of thy youth the love of thine espousals when thou wentest after mee in a Wildernesse in a Land that was not sowen vers 3. Israel was holinesse to the Lord and the first fruits of his increase all that devour him shall offend evill shall come upon them saith the Lord. Times which may follow are either uncertain or not acceptable with God or not so advantagious to this work Joh. 9.4 I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work Night will come and then there will be no working evening will come and it will be bad working but it is good working whilst it is day whilst it is noon-day when thou hast light upon light a double light the Hebrews expresse noon by such a word that signifieth two lights All these considerations laid together may help us to draw this Conclusion Lament 2.27 It is good for a man to bear his yoke in his youth 2 To old ones who have neglected and lost this precious time of their youth O go home and mourn over this great losse the losse of your precious and choysest time of your youth go to your Closets and weep over your deceitfull delaying hearts which have cheated you so often and put so many stumbling-blocks in your ways that you have not found a time to be serious for God to this veryday You had need go and shut your doors upon you and begge earnestly of the Lord that he would accept of you at last and be very serious and never give the Lord over untill he hath given you some evidence of owning those dregs and relicks of the time and strength which Sin and Satan hath left you you have need of abundance of grace to bring you over and to accept of you when God must go in an extraordinary way of grace toward your soul Secondly Redeem the time that is lest let none of that be thrown away after the rest 1 Pet. 4.3 For the time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousnesse lust excesse of wine revellings banquettings and abhominable Idolatries The end of the First Part. Novv if Ever Or an APPENDIX TO The Young-mans Memento Delivered By Jo. CHISHULL At Tiverton in Devon Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another daily while it is called to day lefâ— any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Isa 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is nea Printed at London by A. N. for F. Eglessield and are to be sold at his Shop at the Mary-gold in Pauls Church-yard 1657. To the Right Worshipfull Sir Coplestone Bampfield Baronet SIR I Have presented these few Sermons to you not for their shelter for a Patrons name cannot defend the Author from the censure of the Reader but for your advice Although you cannot want my counsel having injoyed many advantages above others in education of godly counsel and good Examples yet your age does seeing you are now in the day of your choices and if you need none yet I owe to your self and Family whatever may be conducible to your or to their good the engagements which former daies have layed upon me to serve the Family of Poltimore are as fresh upon me as ever and I should gladly embrace any opportunity of manifesting this The Stock of Prayers which your dear Father whose memory is precious among the Lords people hath put up for you the many Counsels which you have received from your Governours and Tutor in former and latter years with the continued Prayers Exhortations and Examples of some very near you give great hopes that you may stand up in your honoured Fathers place and with his Title and Estate inherit that interest which he had in the hearts of them that fear the Lord. If what I have tendered to you further or quicken you unto this I have my end and my joy Above all things beware of delays the danger of those you shall easily find by perusing of what follows vouchsafe to read it seriously and accept kindly as it is offered out of faithfulnesse and affection by him who is Sir Tiverton Aug. 24. 1654. Your obliged Servant Jo. Chishull Now if Ever LUKE 19.42 Saying If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes THese words are some of those which the Lord Christ sighed out when he beheld and considered the sad and lamentable condition of careless Jerusalem His speech is broken as if he had spoken out one and wept out another part of his mind but such imperfect Language serves to expresse sorrow to the life It is easie to see the heart of Christ through these Lines and you cannot but see him here to be a Man of sorrow Neither are the streams more visibe then the Fountain from whence they did arise you need not go farre to search for the Head and rise of this River look but upon the eye of Christ see where it is fixed and you shall not more easily see that he
but would not much of the vanity of our spirits and the formality of our hearts be beaten down if we could but set the glory of the Lord this day before us if we did consider with whom we have to do in Worship would it not advise us to seriousness in our addresses to him surely it would be a curbe and check to the vanity of mens spirits which doth now wonderfully encrease through the neglect of a due and serious remembring of the Lord. Secondly It would much help forward the fear of the Lord by humbling and abasing of us before him Humiliation is the very ground work of holiness here and as this work thrives in the Soul so doth the work of Sanctification prosper in and upon us therefore whatsoever doth conduce to the perfecting or advancing the work of humiliation in the Soul must needs help forward the true fear of the Lord and the work of Sanctification but there is nothing that doth more naturally humble the Soul then a true sight of God This we may see Isa 6.5 Then said I Woe is me because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts And in Job 42.5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes We see how one glance of God did work upon them how much more would a continual frame of beholding God in his glory and as he hath been presented bring creatures down to lie in the dust O therefore if you would have much of the power of Sanctification study the Soul humbling and abasing Truths and Attributes of God it is a seasonable advice to our times Thirdly it crucifieth the World and keeps that alwaies under a cloud before us and how necessary this is to the furthering of the fear of the Lord let those speak who have much to do in the world and any thing to do with their own hearts they shal find that the faster the world dies to them the more they shall live to God The soul never thrives better in Spiritual things then when the world and the glory of it is vailed to it for then the affections have liberty to Spiritual things and the World hath lesse influence upon them now this serious consideration of God helps on these two waies 1 By drawing our hearts to look through the Creature unto God Or 2 By directing us to look down from God upon the Creature If we take it the first way then it crucifieth the World by leading the Soul through the visible to the invisible glory of God Rom. 1 20. For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead it suffers not the Soul to stick and loyter in the surface of any created glory but it strives to comprehend him who fils this and that Creature with his glory The Soul useth the Creature as a man useth a pair of Spectacles to look through them and he is not busie eying them though he looks steadily upon them but he is taken up in eying the letters and words and things which he discerns through them this is the true use of the Creature to look through it and not to be bounded and terminated in it and the Soul that sets the Lord much before him learns thus to pass through every thing unto the Lord who is the center of his thoughts and by doing so the affections are fixed with the glory of God and it takes little notice of the Creature which it passes by having a more excellent object in his eye If we consider it in the second way propounded then it crucifieth the world thus it looks down from the Lord to the Creature and so it beholds it at a disadvantage and this view of the Creature either lessens it or darkens it as we see if a man behold any thing from the top of some high Tower it seems very smal to him what it doth to him that stands level with it so it is with men that converse with God and walk with God they behold the Creature afar off and much beneath them and they seem not so bigg to them as they do to those who stand upon the earth for by this means the Creature is darkned as we find by example That if a man looks steadily on the Sun he shal find a mist upon every thing that he beholds immediatly after so let a Soul that hath been contemplating and considering the goodness and glory of God take a view presently of the Creature and how cloudy and misty wil it appear Fourthly It stirs up choise breathings and longings after God and the enjoyment of him the Soul by lying on God in Christ begins to see him as the only desirable one the choise good the suitable and the satisfying good and from hence proceeds choise breathings after him see one of these Psalm 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple Here was one that was enamoured after God and his wayes he had seen so much of the beauty and excellency of God that he was wonderfully taken with it and would wish to spend all his days in the beholding of it this frame we finde the Disciples in when they had but a glance of the glory of Christ Matthew 17.4 Master it is good for us to be here and these experiences beget choise breathings David would spend al his time not only in beholding but enquiring also beauty discovered begets breathings suitable to discoveries The more God is seen the more desired he did not dream of a contemplative life as some doe wherein we should be onely busied in beholding and be freed from enquiring he desired no such perfection We do not finde so many choyce breathings of any of the Saints recorded as of David and indeed there is enough spoken of him to testifie him to be a man of the choycest affections and one reason of this was as I shall afterward shew you from hence he was a constant eyer of God he was still in his thoughts from hence did so many sweet breathings flow see a few of them Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God! There is panting and thirsting after God yet hee goes higher in his affections Psalm 84.2 he longeth yea even fainteth and yet he exceeds Psalm 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longings that it hath unto thy Judgements What manner of breathings were these after the Lord and after his ways
all these did flow from an experimental taste of God and the excellency of his ways and when the Soul hath found out the sweetness of the presence of God and his ways it wil no longer be contented with broken cisterns which wil hold no water it wil not live upon that which is not bread and which satisfieth not but it flies to God and Christ and nothing else wil satisfie the soul Isaiah 55.1 2. It says to it self as the Lord saith Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness there is bread and water and marrow and fatness I will up says the Soul to my Fathers house there is bread enough and to spare Oh if we did but eye the Lord more we should be more acquainted with those choise breathings of the Saints Fifthly It begets an assimilating love the discoveries of God made out and fastned upon the Soul in a constant and serious frame of eying God do wonderfully move the Soul to love raise very strong affections and these do strongly carry the soul after likeness and conformity to the good which we see and know of God the Soul would fain be like him and doth by degrees grow into the Image and likenesse of that beauty and glory which it beholdeth in the Lord. 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory Souls that are much conversant with God in Christ and are much in admiring and beholding God in him do grow much although perhaps insensible to themselves into the Image of Jesus Christ Sixthly It makes Souls active and fruitful good thoughts make way for good desires and they for good actions how much of time and of the man do vain and unprofitable thoughts take up and what is the fruit of them Psal 10.4 6 7. The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts he hath said in his heart I shall not be moved for I shall never be in adversity Vers 7. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud and in his tongue is mischief and vanity Vain thoughts make way for wicked designes and practises shut him first out of thy thoughts and next deny him in thy works so on the other hand the eying of God feeds and furnisheth the soul with sweet Meditations of him and the fruit of such meditations in a fruitful conversation Psal 1.2 3. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season and his leaf also shall not wither He joyneth these two together as Jacobs Ewes did conceive by eying the Poplars so doth the soul by eying God Seventhly It brings in a sweet experimental knowledge of God which is as fatness unto the soul Now nothing doth so glew the soul to God and his ways as this tast and rellish which the soul gets of them and the sweetness is gotten very much in meditation Psalm 104.34 My meditation of them shall be sweet When he had spent the whole Psalm in beholding the ways and works of God he draweth this conclusion My meditation of him shall be sweet He would not lay aside the thoughts of God when he had ceased speaking he would then to another duty which should yeeld him no smal comfort and what sweetness this was he doth excellently express elsewhere Psalm 63.5 6. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips Vers 6. When I remember thee on my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches And in the connexion of the fifteenth and sixteenth verses of the one hundred and nineteenth Psal you shall find delight as a fruit of meditation on the things of God I will meditate on thy precepts and have respect to thy ways Vers 16. I will delight my self in thy statutes and will not forget thy word The heart that sticks close with God and carries him much in his eye and thoughts is never weary of beholding of him all other Objects do breed a loathing and weariness in the soul but it is not so here the longer a soul converses with God the more delight it hath in him enjoyment breeds hungrings and those being always satisfying but not satisfied breeds an inconceivable delight in the soul Que. 3. How shall I do to keep the Lord in mine eye continually Ans I shall lay down some quickening considerations which wil both engage us and assist us in this duty and then give some practical directions to further it First Consider that God hath an eye continually upon thee and this will help thee always to eye him we know that if we are in any company and observe amongst all the persons one who does particularly observe us we are engaged much in our eyes to that party we shal hardly forbear eying such a one as we observe to eye us thus it would be with us if we did but consider that the Lords eye runs too and fro and observes exactly all our ways it would help us much to seriousness as being in his presence I shall propound a few Scriptures to shew you what use they make of this consideration for I am confident that there is very little use made of it on all hands what manner of men should we be if we did but walk up and down as a people who are always under his eye we should be more mindful of him if we thought he did more mind us David makes the same use of this consideration which I bring it for Psalm thirty four and the fifteenth The eys of the Lord are upon the righteous he brings this unto the young-man to presse him unâ—o the fear of the Lord Vers 11. Come yee children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord. He lays down the duty in general and branches it into two particulars and presses all with this The eys of the Lord c. There it is principally used to the Saints and we find this very place quoted by the Apostle 1 Peter 3.12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers And the wise man makes it an universal argument to all sorts but especially to the young man Prov. 5.20 21. And why wilt thou my son be ravished with a strange Woman and imbrace the bosome of a stranger For the waies of man are before the eyes of the Lord and hee pondereth all his goings Nay presses from hence not only circumspection in our actions but in our words too to watch the tongue to weigh every
casting these under foot when they are to be enjoyed will they not say Surely there is much sweetness in the ways of God that this man denies himself in all these things to follow them If ever thou wouldest honour the ways of God and set them up high in the hearts of men and be eminent in this act of self-denial lose not thy youthful days but begin to follow the Lord Jesus whilst the world and the pleasure of it are following thee so shalt thou be a true Disciple of the Lord Jesus Fourthly The work is great which thou art called to and therefore fittest for thy youth we know that we use to single out the morning for the choicest employment which requires greatness of strength and parts and truly the work of the Lord is in this sense a morning work for it will call for the vigor and strength of thy affections Strive to enter in at the strait gate Luk. 13.24 Philip. 3.14 I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Men do wonderfully mistake the ways of the Lord when they think that the sleeping doating age is good enough for him truly this is according to those conceits and fancies which they have of the worship of God and their thoughts are so low because they are so much strangers to it but if such souls were set truly about the work they would find it so much above the strength they have when strongest that they would easily be convinced of the vanity of making delays and putting it off til a time when they must expect less Oh what folly is there in mens hearts and how little reason wil those delayers have to stand by them at the last day when they delay the workbecause it seems hard and difficult and yet they put it off to a time wherein it must needs be much harder then now it is Friends take heed of this folly it is too common amongst us It is against reason and against our practice in all other things and if the devil had not a great power over men this deceit of the heart would be discerned we see men will not do so in other things they will study the season proper to every work but this of their souls the Husbandman will not put off his Summer work till Winter nor his Winter work til Summer he wil chuse to do the work that is most painfull and laborious before the heat of the day if a man walk by the Sea wal find a smal breach that is made in upon the Land he will not passe it by and say let it alone until the next week or year for says he it will grow much bigger by that time he will not make delays when he is sure that delays will make more work let us but study the seasons for our souls as they do let us do every thing to the best advantage the work is great begin when thou wilt but the longer it be before thou begin it the more difficult thou wilt finde it and the lesse strength thou wilt have to go through with it therefore begin in thy youth Fifthly It is a long work and therefore calls for the morning of thy Age he that would run this race should set out early We know if a man have a long Journey to go or a Race to run upon some forfeiture he will covet for as much of the day as it is possible for him to enjoy he will set out very early by the first appearance of day if we did but know what it is to be a Christian we should not think our day too long to spare any of it from our work especially of our choycest hours Three things makes this work long 1 Want of knowledge we have many things to seek after 2 Want of experience in those things which we have in notion 3 Much imployment First in regard of knowledge we should begin betimes how many things are we ignorant of the Gospel is ful of Mysteries the Worship of God is a Mystery and we know but in part when we know most and yet may always know more then we do If we consider our Naturall estate we are ignorant of every truth of God as it is in Jesus we know nothing aright 1 Cor 2.14 The naturall man cannot perceive the things of God therefore seeing there is no true knowledge of God and of Spiritual things till we set our faces and hearts Heaven-wards we had need begin betimes If we look to our after-knowledge which is a fruit of conversion it is so weak and imperfect and there is so much ignorance in so many of the things of God that then we should say O that we had begun sooner with God! then might we have been teachers of others whereas now we have need to be taught the very principles of Christ if we begin at the first hour of the day yet we shall find the work so long in this regard that when the night comes we shall acknowledge that the day hath not been large enough or we have not been active enough to be acquainted with every Mystery of the Lord and we must leave some things to learn when we come to Heaven Secondly In respect of Experience how many things are there which we get in notion which we are content withal and seek not for the experience of it this requires much time to seek after the experience and power and conformity to those truths of which we are convicted in our judgements thou maist learn many things in a Notional way in a short time but experience of all these things is not so soon obtained The Physitian reads many things and they seem rational to him but this seems not enough to him until he gets some experience of these things til he hath made trial of them it wil require much time for thee to put every truth so to the touchstone as to be able to speak to it from thine own experimental Knowledg and this will advise thee to begin betimes with the Lord. Thirdly In regard of imployment O when thou comest into Christ thou wilt find abundance of work to do too much for the little time that is allotted thee if thou lookest upon those without to labour to bring them in to Christ thy bowels wil sound toward them and thou wil say in thy heart O that I had come in sooner that I might have pittied those poor souls sooner in regard of those who are within there are some weak and they call for thee When thou art converted then strengthen thy brethren some are doubting and call for thee to comfort them some are fallen and cal for thee to restore them yea the strong as well as the weak have need of thee O there is work enough for thee to do amongst the Saints if there were none in the world if thou hadst Methusalem's Age to spend And seeing Jesus Christ hath so much
the wil and the deed If the Lord in his free grace give the Will he wil enable to do if not what we should or would yet what he wil accept of Fourthly It supposeth thus much that it matters not whether thou hast such a power to Believe and Repent which some plead for For if thou hast a Wil to Believe and Repent thou shalt not miscarry for want of power Follow thy wil and thou mayest expect power confidently from the Lord. But if thou hast no wil toward these things and art resolved not to make use of what thou hast it is no matter whether thou hast more or lesse If thou hast no power of thy self yet if thou hast a Wil the Lord wil not let thee stand out for want of power And if thou hadst all this power in thy hand and hast no wil to employ and improve it for thy soul it is all one as to thy salvation Thou shalt perish Fifthly It supposes that the Lord doth not condemn men for what they cannot do although they cannot doe what he commands but because they wil not God commands thee to Believe to repent to be humbled for thy sins and to make thee a new heart to forsake thy very evil thoughts Thou canst no more do these things then the Blackamore can change his skin or the Leopard his spots Jer. 13.23 But this is not that which will damn thee that thou canst not do them but this will be thy condemnation that thou wouldest not do them It is true if thou wert sensible of thine inability thou mightest plead a cannot now and make good use of it thus Lord thou hast commanded that I should keep thy righteous judgements But I cannot Oh that my ways were so directed c. Thou hast commanded me to make me a new heart Ezek. 18.31 But I cannot Therefore Psal 51.10 Create in me a new heart and renew aright spirit within me Thou hast commanded me to Believe but Lord I cannot I find abundance of base unbelief within me Mar. 9.14 therefore Lord help my unbelief Thou hast commanded me to wash and make me clean but I cannot I can as soon wash off the spots from the Leopard Ez. 36.25 Therfore sprinkle clean water upon me and I shal be clean wash me and I shall be whiter then snow Psalm 51.7 Thou hast commanded me to love thee with all my heart and with all my strength But I cannot I find much of the love of the world creeps into my heart and intercepts my affections and I am ful of Backslidings Jerem. 32.40 Therefore Lord put thy Law in my heart that I may not depart from the in a word Thou hast commanded me to cease from evil and to do good But I cannot for I finde Rom. 7.23 a Law in my members rebelling c. Therefore Lord deliver me from the sin of this body or from this body of sinne This is the use thou shouldest make of thy cannot and thus improved and pleaded out with God in time it might be of singular advantage to thee But it wil be vaine to think to lay up this plea by thee until the last day and to think to stop Judgement by it then For the Lord wil proceed with thee upon other termes and so wil frustrate such a plea as this is For he wil not condemn thee because thou couldst not but because thou wouldst not believe And when thou art found guilty of stubborn and wilful disobedience it wil be in vain to plead inability Thy weakness was the reason why thou couldest not believe but it was not the reason why thou wouldest not believe If ever thou wouldst have pleaded insufficiency thou shouldst have done it whilst there was time for it when it might have been removed The business then to be proved wil be that thou wouldst not believe and for this thou shalt be condemned John 3.19 This is Condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness more then light Sixthly It supposes that a mans cannot is from his VVil not Therefore he cannot because he wil not There is a Twofold Cannot in unbelievers A first and a second The first is while the day of grace does continue of which I am now to speak and this is from his corrupt will While God is offering to him termes of peace and reconciliation he is wilful and shuts his eys and ears and wil not see nor hear what is for his good There is a second Cannot which follows this a Judiciary Cannot When man hath shut his eyes and therefore could not see the things of his peace the Lord seals them up and says From henceforth thou shalt not see any thing for thy good this is a dreadful Cannot and when men come to this they are almost in Hell But I am to speak of the former of these which is so much the more fearful because it leads to this the Cannot which arises from a mans own wil the wil and affections blinde the Understanding and therefore he cannot see The corruption of mandoth most of all appear in his wil for this is the very seat of it from whence it issueth forth into every part of him and defileth the whole man the will is the Ring-leader in good or evil And that is not misled by the understanding until the understanding hath been seduced by that A man is first prejudiced against spiritual things he wils them not and therefore he sees not the excellency that is in them Thus the will blindes the understanding and that leads the will aside and so the blinde lead the blinde till both fal into the dâ—tch Thus we see daily by sad experience how mens passions or interests do blinde them that they do not see things as they are Men love or hate things and then they judge them to be good or evil according to their affections The Natural man hates the wayes of Godliness and then fancies them to be hard and unpleasant he judges them foolishness because they crosse his lusts which have gotten his affections and therefore he cannot receive them Again he loves his lusts and therefore he fancies that they are comely and pleasant he is not willing to see the deformity of sinne Like some fond Mother who do ates so much upon her childe that she wil heare no evil of it she is so blinded by affection that she cannot see faults Thus it was with Balam who although he had assurance that Israel should be blest and not curst would faine perswade himself through the extream love of the wages of iniquity that he might curse Israel from such or such a place So also is it with men although the word of God flie in their faces for sin and tels them that if they let it not go their souls shall go for it yet the love of sin and their extream unwillingness to part with it puts them upon studying some excuse or other for it and they would
Evil he cals the Lusts of men the VVils of the flesh and of the minde Eph. 2.2 intimating that such abominations as they have lived in had their rise principally from the corruption of the Wil which did lead to such things Hence I suppose it is that evil things are called our own things and the ways of sin our own wayes Acts 14.16 He suffered all Nations to walk in their own wayes i. e. in wayes of sin and vanity Hence also the Lusts and loose practices of the Gentiles are called the Will of the Gentiles 1 Pet. 4.3 To shew that their very hearts and affections were in such ways and works and that what they did was not so much from any thing without as from the strong and steady bent of their own Wils Nay the Apostle to shew more fully the corruption of the Wil makes but one wil betwixt carnal men and the devil Ephes 2. Compare the second verse with the third He sayes in one they walked according to the course or inclination of the World and in the other he says they walked according to the Prince of the powers of the Ayre They fulfilled the Wil of the devil and their own at once And indeed Natural men do incline to evil as he does only their wils are changeable and may bow towards God but his is unchangably fixed on evil so that by this it appears the natural man hath no such freedom or liberty of Will as as was mentioned God hath left it free but his own corruption hath not left it indifferent to good or evil but strongly inclines it to the latter And if the natural man stood in such an indifferency to good or evil it is very strange that the Holy Ghost should speak so of the whole lump of Mankinde Rom. 3.10 11 12. There is none that seeketh after God there is none that doth Good no not one It is strange that none should choose the right way if they stood all indifferent Thirdly We see the renewed man stands not in such an indifferency For grace which does not destroy the liberty of the wil inclines it to Good We find that the wil renewed is the very seat of Grace and holiness Rom. 7.18 To will is present And the same Apostle says With my mind I serve the Law of God Surely by his minde he properly means his will that was strongly moved towards God and he could see grace there although he could see it no where else ver 18. In my body dwells no good thing Saints see grace in their wils which doth support them against the corruption which they see in every part beside And by the Rule of Contraries if grace be most in the Regenerate Wil Corruption is most in the Unregenerate Will but this the Natural man wil not take notice of so that its manifest that although Man in Innocency in his fallen and in his renewed state had liberty in their Wils yet none of them had that liberty which consisted in an indifferency to good or evil First For Adam in innocency had liberty to chuse good or evil but he was disposed and inclined to good Eccles 7.29 God made man upright Secondly Man fallen chuses evil rather then good Gen. 6.5 The thoughts of his heart are evil only evil and that continually Thirdly Man in his renewed state although he hath a corrupt part in him yet he is more inclinable to good then evil His Wil is principally for God So that these things considered we may Conclude that a Mans Cannot is from his Corruption And if Paul complained of a Cannot Rom. 7.18 when yet his Will was not indifferent but manifestly inclining to good surely we do Nature and the Natural man no wrong to say of him that he cannot because of his Corruption which does strongly dispose his Wil to evil It is strange that Saints complain of a Cannot who have grace in their Wills and yet many will not allow such a Cannot in the Natural man who hath nothing but Corruption in his Wil. Having now shewn you these things there lies another scruple to be answered which is this Does God go so far as hath been hinted to make a day of Grace for them that perish and have they all outward helps in common with them who are saved and have they so many inward helps as have been mentioned Qu. Wherein does the work of God upon his Elect differ from his workings upon these whilst their day continues Ans The difference lies principally in this That al the movings and workings of God upon wicked men are not upon their Wils to bring them over to himself but they are upon their understandings their Consciences and somtimes upon some of their affections But the principal work of God upon his Elect is upon their Wils they come over first and fastest unto God The Lord goes thus far with those whom he converts not Wâ—l says he I wil prove you by illumination I wil shew you many of the truths of the Gospel and you shal see what belongs to your peace so farre that thy judgement shal be for Heaven Nay I wil shake conscience also and that shal rise against thee by way of conviction thou shalt see the danger of thy estate in this condition and I wil break in upon thy affections thou shalt find not onely fears of hel and wrath to sollicite thy return but also some joyes in complying with my word and wayes But as for thy will I wil leave that to its freedome let it choose what pleaseth it best now let it take life or death they are both before it And now if the wil were indifferent when Judgement and conscience and some of its affections are for Believing and Repenting it would surely strike in and all these would engage and bring it over to Christ But notwithstanding all this the Wil fals back and chooseth vanity and sin which pleases it best because of the corruption which is in it So that whiles corruption remains in the Wil it spues out this knowledg and these convictions and runs on to folly which it hath chosen Rom. 1.28 They did not like to retaine the knowledge of God in their hearts Whatever comes in to check the soul in the way of sin is an unwelcome guest so long as the will remains corrupted and tainted and the wil casteth but the light of the understanding and the convictions of conscience as the marriners do pump out the water which breaks in upon them Balaam had a clear knowledg of the happiness of the Saints but his Wil was for Covetousness Felix had a clear conviction of judgement to come but his wil was for his corruption and therefore he resolves to stop the mouth of Conscience by sending Paul away The wil deals with the light of truth as the sore eye deals with the sunne shuts the window to keep it out because it offends John 3.17 Men love darknesse rather then light
for God with another day wherin thou hast bin cold and dead and formal and carelesse of thy heart and forgetful of God and weigh the fruits of these two daies walking together and see whether there be not a vast difference betwixt these What joy and rejoicing was in the midst of thy thoughts those days and hours were sweeter then these which have been spent in vanity wilt thou not conclude I had more peace with my spirit and spiritual joy and rejoicing after every day so spent yea the very remembrance of those hours doth yeeld som sweetness to me now when I think of them but these hours which have been spent without God Oh they are burthensom to my soul when I remember them I will therefore return and study to keep close with God in whom is all my strength and comfort for it was better with me then then now Having now finished these three Queries I come to the fourth and last Fourthly To inquire why the wiseman directs this to the young man rather then any other Methinks I hear the young ones saying This is not counsel fit for us it is a yoke not suitable to our necks we are tender and not fit for the yoke as yet hee might well have spared us and given us the liberty of our youth before he had put us upon such hard and difficult service as this I shall indeavour now to answer such secret Objections and to shew the equity and reason of the Preachers exhortation and I shall be the larger in this thing from these three moving Considerations which have put me on this discourse First Because of that common plea which is found in the hearts of young ones they say as those did by the Prophet It is not yet time Secondly Because the Lord hath cast me into a place where there are abundance of young ones and I fear but a smal company of so many that are seriously ingaged in their hearts to the Lord and to his waies Thirdly Because I find very little incouragement from old ones I see every where that God brings in few of them they are so setled on their Lees that there is no shaking of them It is the observation of all men almost in these daies that where the Gospel is preached the success and incouragement is chiefly if not only on the hearts of young ones we see that God puts but little of the new wine of the Gospel into old bottles they are so tainted with their superstition their carnal compliance formality and luke warmness that God doth generally cast them aside as unusefull the time is now coming when the Lord is making good that word Rev. 22.11 Let him that is filthy be filthy still Let them that have cleaved to their superstitions and will-worship do so still let those who have prophaned Sabbaths and Ordinances do so still and let those who have sate Sermon proof and Judgement-proof and Mercy proof sit so still Me thinks the Lord is saying so to abundance in this place who have not been moved nor wrought upon nor changed by all the gracious pleadings of God in the Gospel and he is now calling in to himself a generation of young ones to hear his name in this place and therefore my speech shall be principally to you the youth of this place to perswade you to set seriously about this work of God and your poor souls It is to you that the Lord calls at this time Quest Why should the youth be set a part especially for God Answ For these Reasons 1. Because God hath made choice of this time typically in the Law in the first born Exod. 13.2 Sanctifie unto me the first born whosoever openeth the Womb among the Children of Israel both of Man and of Beast it is mine God hath commanded this for himself because it is the best of our time as the first born was the prime of the strength Gen. 19.3 Ruben thou art my first-born my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power Now in regard of this it was accounted a great losse to lose the first-born God puts this as an ingredient into that plague in Egypt Exod. 4.23 And I say unto thee let my Son go that he may serve me and if thou refuse to let him go behold I will slay thy Son even thy first-born Oh how do men bring this plague upon themselves who destroy their first-born their youth the beginning of their strength It is as bad as the sacrifice of the Israelites who offered their Sons and Daughters to Devils Secondly The Lord typifieth this in their first fruits Exod. 34.26 The first of the first fruits of thy Land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God Exod. 22.29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of the ripe fruits and of thy liquors the first-born of thy Sons shalt thou give unto me Nay the Lord was so exact and punctual in this that he would have no exchange made Ezek. 48.14 And they shall not sell of it neither exchange nor alienate the first fruits of the Land for it is holy unto the Lord. Here may be a Query raised Why the Lord would not sell those and yet would suffer nay commanded that their sons shall be redeemed Exod. 34.20 All the first-born of thy Sons shal be redeemed and none shal appear before me empty Ans 1. To shew how much Equity and Reason there was for that Law that it is made here with a proviso against any charg 2 There was mercy in redeeming the one and the not redeeming the other 3 The Lord by suffering the Sons to be redeemed did injoy the ends of that Law for they were only redeemed from death they were still his Now I say as God would not have an exchange in this case so it is vanity in any of us to think of compounding the business with him he will have the beginning of thy strength do not thou say I wil give him the dregs of it say not the latter daies are good enough for he hath chosen the first and if thou wouldest be accepted with him observe his choice Observe the first Offering that we read of Gen. 4.3 4. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and the Lord respected him and his offering One brought fruits the other the first fruits and he respected the one and not the other and yet this was before the special Law of first born and first-fruits which shews that it was not ceremonial but moral and so continues for ever as a standing rule for a creature to offer up the first and choicest of everything to God Reason 2. This is the choicest of thy time therefore fittest for such designation most agreeable to the great work of the Lord which will appear if you consider these following particulars First Thy affections are ripe
and flourishing and if thou dost now give up thy self to the work of the Lord thou mayest in all probability bee serviceable to him but in thine old age all thy affections wil be weakned especially those which should most of all render thee serviceable to God 2 Thy Affection of Love and Joy and Zeal Desire and Hope which do most of all quicken souls and honour the work of God in their hands these will be all fallen and there will be nothing left but weakness and faintness and fear and passion and peevishness and how will these things honor the Lord O it is very necessary that wee should have an eye to our Affections in the great work of God for if these bee lost the glory of the work falls to the ground for the affections are the very hands that lay hold on Christ and the feet that run after him and the instruments with which we work for him lose not this time if ever thou wouldest take a time wherein God may be glorified by thee Secondly Now all thy senses are freshest and quick and thy soul most active and thou art best able to taste of that sweetness which is in the ways of the Lord and although the sweetness of the ways of God do not consist in satisfying the senses external neither is godliness as the Familist makes it a sensual life yet when the body is decayed and the soul weakned as to all its exercises the soul is not deprived onely of the relish which it had of carnal things but even of spiritual ones also the reason why we shall enjoy so much more of God in Heaven then we do or can do here is because our bodies shal be fitted to our souls we shal have none of the incumbrances of flesh and weakness and indisposition through sickness and old age which now do hinder us and therefore it must needs follow that the better the soul is Organized and fitted for action through the strength and vigour of all the faculties the more capable it is of communion with God and of tasting the sweetness that is in his wayes Bring a man that is sick and weak never such precious and pleasing meat and drink he affects them not because his palate is weak and he cannot taste the sweetness that is in them Old Age is the sickness of Nature then she begins to be feeble and it cannot be expected that the soul can act at the same rate either in Naturals or Spirituals which it did when it was in the middest of its strength A man cannot do so much work when his assistants and servants are all gone from him as he could when he had them all at command the soul wants many of her attendants they are dead or drousie and very uselesse every member of the body and every faculty of the soul is very weak and lame and there is little expected from them If ever thou wouldest highly put a difference between the ways of God and the ways of sin and thou wouldest relish the sweetness that is in following the Lord Jesus make tryal in thy youth whilst thou art in the prime of thy strength for the breasts of his consolation are ful and require much strength to draw them they are of so pure and spiritual a nature If thy senses were so quick and comprehensive as Adams were in innocency yet there is more then enough in the Lord Jesus and in his ways to exercise them and to satisfie them David speaks largely of his experience in this thing Ps 19. They were sweeter then the honey and the honey-comb And in Psalm one hundred and nineteen he commends them beyond all other good things and speaks elsewhere of this he sets out the fulness and variety of sweetness which the ways of God afford by this expression Rivers of pleasure Psalm 36.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures We may have another much like to this Psalm 16.11 In thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore O what a great mistake is there amongst many who refuse to give their youth to the Lord because they cannot spare that from their pleasures they think that the devoting that unto the Lord would be the spoil of it let not Saten delude any of your poor souls thus any more there are pleasures at Gods right hand and rivers of pleasure for Souls to drink of who follow Jesus Christ when the summer brooks which Satan leads you to will all be dried up Le thim not draw you off from God with a pretence that there is no pleasure to be had in him but whenever he draws you after pleasures tell him how that you have heard That the wâ—y of God are sweet and that you will make tryal of them whether they are so or not whilst you are in the midst of your strength and best able to distinguish betwixt sweet and bitter good and evil and when thou hast gotten but a taste of the sweetnesse of the ways of God thou wilt have an answer at hand for him when he comes and tells thee Thy youth is fittest for pleasure tell him then it is fittest for God at whose right hand are pleasures everlasting which thon wilt never more exchange for his deceivable lusts Thirdly Now thou hast an opportunity to deny thy self for Jesus Christ and to commend the ways of God unto the world and to set a high price upon them for the enjoyment of Christ in them when thou dost deny the vain pleasures of sin when thou mayest enjoy them what a low value dost thou set upon Jesus Christ and the ways of the Lord when thou wilt follow him at no other time but in that which in thy own judgement is fit for nothing else although in truth it is most unfit for that This cannot bean act of selfdenial when we wil never come to God til we have nothing to deny or part withal for him thou canst not then say that thou forsakest any thing of the world to come unto Christ when it hath already forsaken thee what pleasure wilt thou deny to follow God in thy old age in that day when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in it here wil be no room left for self denial in many things but now it lies in the way evidently to make out thy self-denial for now whilst thou art in the strength of thy dayes and many temptations to enjoy the world and many ways to enjoy it also now to renounce all and come into Christ will be an eminent act of self-deniall all men will say loe here is one who hath left all to follow the Lord and wil not this beget an high esteem in men of the ways of God when they shall fee thee prizing it above all profits and pleasures and preferments and Friends and Companions when they see thee