God should refer it to you reply'd I would then refer it to him again USE II. Let us all be now Exhorted that the Praise of Ged may be duly accounted by us as the End of our Life in our Prayers for it Let us not shoot beside our Mark or live beside our End. Let us pray that we may live and let us live that we may praise It is the most lamentable plight in the world that a man should spend his Life in Sinning against God rather than in Praising of Him. But alas This is the case of Multitudes Multitudes among us How few of us Consider of in seriously How sew of you that are now before the Lord ever seriously thought with your selves What is the Errand that I am come into the world upon Hast thou not lived above a Score of years in the world and never yet seriously thought What is it that God sent me hither for Every man here I suppose desires to live let your Prayers express those Desires and say after the Psalmist Ps. 32. 8. My Prayer is to the God of my life But more than so Let those Desires be for the sake of your Praises and say after the Psalmist again in Ps. 119. 17. Deal bountifully with thy Servant that I may live and keep thy Word Three things are you to be advised unto yea Four things are to be impoâ—tunately prest upon you First Mark and Prize your Opportunities to be Prâ—â—â—ing of God. Every man has his Opportâ—nities Some have an Instrument of a Thousand Strings but the meanest of us all has an Instrument of Ten strings for our God to be praised with Let every man often enquire What are my Opportunities to glorify God And let every man alwaies conclude My Opportunities are my Treasures Secondly Let the Word of God Direct you in His Praises Be often Consulting of that Peace will be on alâ— and Praise will be from all that walk according to this Rule A Bible Christians let That be your Counsellour on all Occasions The Psalmist could say in Ps. 119. 164. Seven times a day will I praise thee O Lord because of thy Righteous Judgements Thirdly Let the Rod of God provoke you to His Praises If you cannot Bless God for your Afflictions which yet I think is a thing attainable nevertheless I 'm sure you should praise God in your Afflictions Let God gain some Glory and we shall gain some Good by all our Sufferings Take the counsil in Isa. 34. 15. Glorifie the Lord in the Fires To Enforce these Three Things Consider that Thing wich is intimated in the Text. The Lives of your Souls are enwrapped in the praises of God. Saies the Psalmist Let my soul live and it shall praise thee So I may say Let thy Soul praise and it shall live A praising Soul is a Thriving Soul. In this consisteth Life Eternal it self The Life of thy Soul in the Third Heaven will be the praise of thy God for evermore Praise God for thy Life it is a mercy well worth praise Praise God by thy life so thou wilt begin Heaven upon Earth But there is a Fourth Counsil which more immediately concerns that part of the Congregation which are of my own Age and have therefore a more peculiar interest in my Loves and Cares T is to Young People here that I take leave to say Fourthly Begin You now Betimes to live unto the Praise of the everliving God. My Brethren you have not yet begun to live at all if you have not begun to praise the Lord. You are Dead in Trespasses and Sins you are stark dead in the rotten hideous loathsome Graves of your Unregeneracy if you have not yet begun to order your Conversation aright and to ponder How may I so offer praise as to Glorify God But is not this the deplorable Condition of many many Young people here Conscience do thine Office Is not the Hour yet to come is not the Day yet to dawn when that young person whom thou art the Officer of God unto did by an hearty Covenant bind himselfe unto the Serving and the Praising of the Lord But what mean you O ye inconsiderate Youths to delay the Remembring of your Creator so In the Language of the young Prophet whom God sent unto the Iews of old let me say thus saith the Lord Consider your waies Consider the Vncertainty of your Life which you have to be praising of God withal As young as you are you may dy before the most aged person here It hath been truly noted That The old man has Death before his face but the young man has Death behind his back The stroak of Death may sooner lay you in the Dust than some whose Heads old Time hath snow'd upon O look and see and let thy heart shake at the Apprehension of it Thy Death stands just behinâ— thee there with an Horrible Pole-Ax ready lifted up saying as the Prince of old Shall I smite them shall I smite them If the great God utter the word Smite smite thou art gone beyond all Recovery The Blessed God hath newly caused me to look into the Coffins of two very near and sweet Relations neither of which had ever seen Twenty Winters in the World and with a strong hand He then said unto me Go Go tell the young people of Boston and Charlestown that this is that which they are all expos`d unto Behold I am now come in Bitterness and in the heat of my spirit I am come to Warn you of it That You may dy before you are aware of such a dismal Change at hand O do not procrastinate the praises and the Vertues which the God of Heaven Expects from you put not off until Tomorrow For t is the admonition to be now set before you in Prov. 2. 7. Bâ—ast not thy self of Tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth But Consider also the Dreadfulness of a Death ensuing upon a Life not spent in the praising of God. O this Dying t is a solemn thing 't is A thing by it self What followes it But that in Heb. 9. 27. After Death Iudgement That Iudgment will be Eternal and if it come upon thee before thy turning and living unto God it will be very Terrible Hearken to this awful Truth and Voice of the Almighty God and let thy heart quiver as under the loudest claps of Thunder at it If thou Dy before thy peace be made with God and thy praise be given to Him t is impossible thou shouldst escape the Vengeance of Eternal Fire Small Chipâ— as well as great Logs are horribly burnâ—â—◠〈◊〉 there must thou too undergo most exquisite Anguishes for infinitely more than as many Millions of Ages as the Huge Ocean has Drops of Water in it O Consider these Terrors of the Lord and immediately set upon His Praises Now that you would come to these Resolutions before you go from the present Exercise Entreat me not to leave you or to turn from following after you but give me leave to press upon you at least this one Consideration more Consider seriously How exceeding Acceptable it will be to the great God for such Young persons as you to set upon praising of Him Your Praises they are very much desired by the Lord and not a little delightful to Him. He declares My soul desires the first ripe Fruit and He seem'd to express as it were some Hast for the First Fruits under the Law of Old. The Lord in a sort longs to see you serving of Him with the First Fruits of your Age and of your Praise He saies as in Cant. 2. 14. Let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice The Voice of your Praises makes a matchless melody in the ears of the God that has call'd for them The very Chatterings of our infants are pleasant unto us the Praises and the Devotions of young persons are so unto Our Father which is in Heaven and he asketh for them with ungainsayable Importunities 'T was said unto a young man in 1. Chron. 28. 9. If thou seek the Lord He will be found of thee Even so If thou that art a young person praise the Lord he will be pleased with thee One that owns an Orchard full of many fruitful Trees will take a most particular and affectionate Notice of a young Tree beginning to have some little Fruit upon it Our Father is such an Husband man. Young Iohns are they that prove the Disciples whom Iesus loves Young Iosiahs will have special Comforts in this and special Honours in another world And yee Hearts of Adamant are you not yet overcome to resolve I will now praise and serve the great God! O let not your Answer be I am almost perswaded but become Altogether so As t was said of him Behold he prayes thus let it be said of you Behold he praises How How can you be deaf Adders before the Charms of these Considerations Lord visit the hitherto-unperswaded young people here O make it the Day of thy power with them and keep these things in the Imagination of the thoughts of their hearts for Evermore FINIS
Expectation of the Psalmist in Psal. 118. 17. I shal not dy but live and declare the works of the Lord. This is to be the Resolution of every man. Can we say I do not dy but live We should add I will then declare the Praises of the Lord. The first Question that the Thoughts of men should be employed upon is What is the Cheef End of Man The true and Just answer To that Question is The Cheef End of man is to glorifie God. Well put the Question so What is the Cheef End of Life The Answer to that Question too will be the same It is to glorifie God. To praise God What is that To praise God is to Render and Procure a due Acknowlement of His Excellencies Indeed all the Duties of Religion are Contained in this Comprehensive thing When we own when we serve when we Adore the Great God in any or all the waies of His Worship Then we praise Him and we further praise Him when we provoke others to join with us in doing so This This Praise of the LORD is the End of our Life in the World. This is the End of our Being We are told that We have our Being in God. Of all things whatever this is then most Reasonable that We should have our Being for God and our Being for Him is not expressed without our praising of Him. The blessed God looks from on high upon mankind and saith as in Isa. 43. 21. This people have I formed for my self they should show forth my Praise Now that which is the End of our Being is the End of our Living too Two things are to be affirmed of it First The Law of God doth Appoint this as as the End of our Lives Unto every man living this is the Voice of God I spare thy life that so thou mayst live my praise It is said in Rom. 14. 7. If we live we are to live unto the Lord. What the Apostle saith of Eating and Drinking may much more be said of Living as in 1. Cor. 10. 30. It must be unto the Glory of God. God gives our Lives God keeps our Lives and this is His reveled His Preceptive Will concerning our Lives Man I suffer thy life yea I support thy life that I may be praised loved admired by thee as long as thou livest It was an heavy dismal Charge against Belshazzer in Dan. 5. 23. God in whose Hand thy breath is thou hast not glorified The Almighty God gives us notice of this Thy Breath is in my hand at the same time He also requires this of us Let thy life be to my prâ—ise That man makes a sacrilegious Incroachment and Invasion upon Gods Right who makes not Godâ—s Praise the End of his living upon God`s Earth There is therefore Secondly this to be added thereunto The Heart of man should Embrace this as the End of our lives It becomes every man to say I live that God who is worthy to be praised may have the praises of my Obedience to Him. It was the godly purpose of the Psalmist in Psal. 147. 2. While I live I will praise the Lord. And a kin to this is the Right Thought which every man should entertain I do live that I may praise the Lord. Hence this is one of the principal Pleas which the Saints have used in their Supâ—lications for their Lives Good Hezekiah pray'd in his Distress Lord let me live And what was his Argument It was that in Isa. 38. 17. 18. The Grave cannot praise thee the living the living he shall praise thee The heart of man should readily close with such an End for the life of man. Satan saies Thou livest only to Enjoy the delights of the Flesh in the world thou livest only to seek to get and to tast the saecular pleasures provided for thee The soul of man should rise with unspeakable Indignation at this wild proposal On the other side our God saies The Business of thy life is to magnifie Mee to make my Praise glorious Here now Here the Soul of every man should fall in and Reply This is all my Salvation and all my Desire But this leads to PROP. II. Prayers for life are then and only then rightly qualified when they have Respect unto the Praises of God. To clear this matter there are these things to be conceived One Conclusion is That the Living on Earth have many peculiar Opportunities to be Praising of God. Indeed Blessed are the dead who dy in the Lord for they too are alwaies praising of Him. But yet they rest from some Praises when they rest from their Labours here The departed Saints are continually shouting Hâ—llelujah Hallelujah before the Throne of God. The Saints they are joyful in glory and the High Praises of God are perpetually Proceeding from those blessed Souls But Christians in this world have their peculiar Opportunities to be Glorifying of Him that made them This did the Psalmist speak in Ps 88. 11. Shall the dead praise thee To instance in some particulars The Living here may be praising of God by the Discharge of many Relations which the dead Saints are strangers unto We may now praise God as Parents as Masters as Officers in the the Church or Common-Wealth All those Capacities will dy with us when we shall go hence and be-no more Again The Living here may be Praising of God by Bearing many a Witness to the Truths and Wayes of the Lord Jesus Christ. We may now bestow many Rebukes upon the Errors and the Evils of a sinful World. We may part with and esteem an Estate with our Ease and our Life it self out of Respect unto the Name of God. But our Testimonies expire with our Lives Once more The Living may be Praising of God by Advancing His Kingdom here below In this Life we may be instrumental to Convince and Convert Vnregenerate Sinners to build up the Church of the Lord Jesus and to Do good among the ignorant by an Exemplary Conversation But this is to be done only below the stars Furthermore There are Graces proper to this Life which God is praised by the Exercising of The Tears of Sorrow for Sin will be dry`d up when we come to the State in which all Sorrow shall flee away Charity in Giving and Forgiving to them that need it there is no occasion for that Charity among them that are above they are all perfect and happy there Patience under Tryals belongs to our present Condition only there are no Afflictions to trouble us when our few dayes full of trouble are passed away In a Word Our Spiritual Warfare is to be attended only in this Valley of the Shadow of Death We cannot fight the Battles of the Lord and therein we cannot shew the praises of the Lord when we are arrived at the End of our Faith the Salvation of our Souls Our Fight is done our Crown is come when we have been Faithful to the Death A Second Conclusion is That Opportunities
their Master as thosâ— Marâ—ners did upon the Passinger in 〈◊〉 1 6 Arâ—â—e 〈…〉 God that we perish 〈◊〉 Let the Master of 〈◊〉 School also Remember That the Scholars are his Family He should pray with them and bless them in the Name of the Highest God provides Angels and will not you afford Prayers for the safety of those little ones We read of some in Mark. 10. 13. who brought young children unto the Lord Iesus Christ The Children that are brought to you by Parents or Guardians these are by you to be brought unto the Lord Jesus that He would lay His Blessing and saving hands upon them Yea the Captain of a Train'd Band is to esteem the Souldiers as his Family That good Captain Cornelius could sâ—y in Act. 10. 30. I prayed in my House As for those that will not pray in the Field t is to be questioned whether they will Fight there Trainings without Prayings are like to degenerate into meer Debaucheries The Prayeresâ— Captain gives a very dangerous and desperate Word of Command when he saies Follow your Leader Briefly All Superiors generally have a Family in the Kind of their Superiority which they are to attend Prayers withal The Second Rule Let all the Matters that would hinder Family-Prayer be put far from our Tabernaâ—les There are diverse Impediments of our family-Prayers â—hiâ—h â—e are to be Cautioned against As now Let not family Iarrs hinder family-Prayers The Aposâ—â—â—â—aith to them that are in â— Câ—njogal Reâ—lation that they should be meek tender lovâ—ng for this cause in 1. Pet. 3. 7. That your Prayers be not hindred if Peace be gone from a family then Prayer is gone How can Scolding and it may be Striking too agree with Praying in which we are to lift up pure â—ands without wrath Again Let not family Scabs hinder family-Prayers Bad-Members in a family often cause that there are no Prayers in it Many men will not pray because others will scoff and flout But let your Houses have no such In-mates no such Ishmaels in them It is recorded of Elisha in 2 King. 4. 33. he would not have a servant with him which he could not pray withal If any profane graceless Despisers of Prayer would impose themselves upon us let us then say to them Depart ye workers of iniquity for I will call upon the Lord. Once more Let not Family-Prayers be hindred by unsuitable Times The earlier we dispatch them the easier We should not ordinarily let Business royl us in the Morning nor â—roâ—siness drown us in the Evening before Family Prayer be over As To every purpose â— thus to every Prayer there is a time and judgment and a wise mans heart will discern it The Third Rule Be frequent enough and yet very serious in your family Prayers Very shameful is their neglect who have Prayers in their Families but once a day The Apostle saith in Col. 4. 2. Masters continue in prayer he speaks with a manifest Allusion to the daily Offering under the Law of old which was both morning and evening We should have Morning-Prayers and Evening-Prayers correspondent unto the daily Sacrifice And hence because the Sacrifice was doubled on the Sabbath I have known some pious people pray four times every Lords-Day with their Families Be sure Twice a day is ordinarily the seldomest and slenderest Repetition that our Family-prayers are to have O but we should therein stir up our selves to take hold on God. When you keel before the Lord you should not be rash hasty sudden in it you should not be sleigâ—ty in this great Excercise of of Religion Before we pray we should think Think seriously To WHOM am I to pray and For What am I to Pray and How soon may I dye and my praying seasons all be over And before we pray we should Read. Read seriously something of the Things which are commanded you of God. The Scriptures are to accompany our prayers T is said They are to dwell with us The Bible is to be one of the House When we betake our selves to our Pâ—ayers we should not let the Bible say I should have been as one of the Family pray why was not I called in The Fourth Rule Let not your Family-prayers be your only prayers Understand that Seâ—ret Prayers â—s â—â—ll as private Prayers are to be performed by â—s all For this the word of our Lord is very positive in Matth. 6. 6. When thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret T is a great fondness and folly in any of us if private prayer cause us to lay aside secret prayer No There is Closet-Prayer as well as Parlour-Prayer which we ought to labour in I would say as our Lord in another case One you ought to do not leave the other undone We have special Transâ—â—issâ—â—ns to be confessed in our prayers these are 〈◊〉 to be confessed To divulge a secret 〈◊〉 is to add a further sin Our secret sins do call for our secreâ— Prayers We have special Tempâ—â—â—â—s to be bewailed in our prayers and these 〈◊〉 secâ—etly to be bewailed Our Desires are sometimes to be too secret for our Neighbours Our secret Griefs and our secret Fears call for our secret Prayers And as one of the Ancients elegantly expresses it Invisible prayers are to be often made to an invisible God. Secret prayer is one good sign of a gracious heart Let the Lord oft see you like Nathanael at secret prayer under the 〈◊〉 and He will say Behold an Israelite iâ—deed Would you get Internal Blessings then pray in secret Solomon got his Widom his Vertue by secret prayer Peter by secret prayer in 〈…〉 carâ—ied with Tranâ—es and Raptures into the other world Would you get External Blessings Then pray in secret Hâ—â—nah with secreâ— prayer asked one Son and had six Iacob had all his House preserved by secret prayer Yea Would you be General Blessings Pray then in â—â—câ—et Moses by secret prayer diverted wrath plagues from all the Congregation That infamous Apostate Iulian was killed by the secret prayer of a good man at that hour very far distant from him What shall I say No Supe sedeas no Diversion should ever be given to your secret prayers Moreover besides your Prayers with all the Family you may do well sometimes to Reâ—â—râ— unto prayers with this or that particular person in it Some do so translate that passage in Gen 25. 21. Isaac entreaâ—ed the Lord with his wife It were but a discreet and a decent practice foâ— married persons to 〈◊〉 likewise Thus holy Pâ—rents have often taken their Children one by one alone and there pray'd and wept and pour'd out their souls over the poor lambs in secret places before the Lord. Thus are we to do Thus to pray SECT XI BUt the Sluggard will pretend A Lion in thâ— way Wherefore I pass on II. To Remove some Objeâ—ctions against Family-Prayer A Threefold want is pleadâ—d
upheld The Curse of God is the Sauce in every Dish the Curse of God is the Cover to every Bed in that lamentable Family Houses molested with Devils are not more miserable than Houses destitute of Prayers I have seen it in an house where the Devils have had Possession of a Child that when Family-Prayer began the Devils would make hideous Roarings and Noises in the Room as being under a Vexation thereat which was intolerable to them Truly The Devils have no Disturbance in Houses where Family-prayers is not maintained prayerless houses are haunted houses and the Fiends of Darkness reign and ramp there without Controâ—l Indeed Prayerless Families are not only the Cages but also the Causes of all Impiety They bring an Irresistible Deluge of Disorder upon all the Town and Land and cause all the Countrey to swarm with the workers of iniquity who call not upon the Lord. And as the prayerless Householder is now cursed by God so he will one day be cursed by all his House he brings curses on them and they will spend curses on him in the Day of Vengeance In the ever-burning lake they will curse the day that ever they saw thy prayerless house and That House brought me to this Hell This this will be their Cry world without End. Consider next the marvellous Blessings which belong to all Praying Families It was noted about the Family of Obed-Edom in 1. Sam 6. 11. The Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his househould while the Ark of the Lord was there So shall it be noted about the Family of a praying Householder The Lord will bless that man and his Household while that Prayer to the Lord is there Family-prayers are conjoined prayers and united prayers thus they become very successful prayers What Encouragement is there given to them in that promise Matth. 18. 19. If two of you shall agree on earth touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them O let your Families Agree in the Asking of grace in the Asking of glory in the Asking of every good thing Prayer in Confort will obtain it all When Cornelius was at his Family-prayer what a signal favour did the Almighty God show unto him Some while since a whole Town in Switzerland was very suddenly destroyed by an Earth-quake all except one peice of an house in which a good man happned then to be at Prayer with his Family T is impossible to tell O how great is the goodness which God has laid up for Houses that seek unto Him But besides all the other comforts of a praying Householder he has This peculiar to him He teacheth all his Family to A praying Parent will have praying children David prayed in his Family and his Son Solomon prov'd a praying young man. A praying Master will have praying Servants Abraham pray'd in his Family and his Man Eliezer became a very praying person Thus O man all thy young people will be filling every corner of thy house with Prayers for thy Felicity O consider of these things and such let the Impression of them upon you be That you may by Prayers with your Families Engage your Houses to serve the Lord. SECT XIII THere are two Things more by the Discharge of which we Engage our Hoxses to serve the Lord and those Two are in a manner One Family-Instruction and Family-Government I link these together because of their near Dependance and Agreement in their Exercise This therefore is the Address now to be made unto us Let Family-Instruction and so Family-Government be maintained in our Houses that they may serve the Lord. Let there be no unâ—aught and unrul'd Families among us but let us be careful about the Education of such as belong to our Families I beseech you let there be a difference between English Houses and Indian Wigwams in the middest of us and let not English Parents be as indulgent and negligent as they report the Indians are And give me leave to say You that are Mothers have a special Advantage to instil the Fear of God into the souls of them that sit upon your knees T is said in Prov. 1. 8. My son forsake not the law of thy Mother Solomon was well instructed by his Mother and it proved his eternal Benefit T is not for Nothing that in the Sacred Records when men have proved good or bad it is noted Their Mothers were such and such You that are Mothers may insiâ—uate Religion into your Children earlier and easier than their Fathers can SECT XIV I shall Repeat the Method which we were in before and under Family-Instruction take in that Family-Government which you are to be studious of I am I. To offer some Directions about Family-Instruction The Directions to be given hereabout may â—e referr'd unto two Heads First The Matter of Family Instruction The Family-Instruction with which we urge our houses to the Service of God are to have 〈◊〉 less than Four things composing of it First There are Holy Lessons with which we are to Instruct our Families We are to make them hear and make them learn those Lessons which may give to the young ones Knowledge and Discretion Teach them the Scriptures of Truth T was said to Timothy in Cap. 3. 15. From a Child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures No doubt his Godly Mother and Grandmother were the cause of his doing so We should procure that our Young ones may read the holy Scriptures and mind the holy Scriptures and know the holy Scriptures even from a Child Let them have by heart here and there a Verse or a Paragraph Especially in the Psalms and in the Proverbs if you would have them good teach them the Psalmes of David if you would have them wise teach them the Proverbs of Solomon And Scriptureâ— Stories are to be told unto them as soon as ever they enquire after new things and strange But while we do thus we are also to teach them the Doctrines of God. Inculcate upon them the Principles of Religion as often as you do the Knife on the Stone in the Wheâ—ting of it T was said unto the Lord Jesus in Matth. 22. 16. Master Thou â—eâ—chest the way of God in Truth Every Mâ—ster should render his young ones able to say that unto himself Master Thou teachest the Truth of God. Especially We should be sure that they be not ignorant of any Saving Truths Tell them What they are come to by the First Adam and what they may come to by the Second Adam Tell them what Covenant man was once and What Covenant man is now to be saved by Yea let none of the Things to be believed none of the Things to be practised none of the Things to be pray'd for be left unmentioned in your Instructions All the Lessons of the Creed the Commandments and the Lords Prayer are to be laid before them And we are to be particularly faithful to them in the present Truths the labouring Truths the witnessed Truths of the
thou hast proved my heart thou hast visited me thiu hast tried me To use a Similitude made Legitimate and Canonical by the Apostle himself in Heb. 4. 13. The Sacrificeing Knife of old never did penetrate so far into the Bowels of the Creatures it was imployed upon it never laid them so â—aked and open before the standers-by as the examining Eye of God makes a discovery of what is in our Souls and our wayes Secondly There are the Trials of Divine Dispensations which we must have Experience of God's Providences are our Probations by them we are tried what we are The things which befal us in the world fetch out of us those things which manifest what metal we are made of Particularly t is said in 2. Cor. 6. 3 7. We are Approved by things on the Right hand and on the Left. First The Merciful Dispensations of God are Trials of us these are Trials on the Right hand It is a sacred Proverb in Prov. 27. 21. As the Fining-pot for silver and the Furnace for Gold so is a man to his praise or so the mouth which praises any one is to try him As when a man is praised by his Neighbour so when a man is Blessed of his Maker he is then tried unto the utmost Honours from below do Indicare virum they soon Try show the man that is perfum'd therewith and the same is done by Mercâ—es from above Therein the Lord brings us as He did the Souldiers of Gideon to a River of Plenty and He saies as in Iudg. 7. 4. Now I will try them there The Favours of God as it were put us into a Crucible in a Furnace where it soon becomes apparent whether we fear him or no. They are so many Trials Whether we will hear God speaking to us in our prosperity or whether when we wax fat we shall kick against the Lord. Secondly The Afflictive Dispensations of God are likewise Tryals of us And these are Trials on the Left hand So much is intimated in 1. Pet. 1. 6 7. Ye are in heaviness thro' many Temptations that the trial of your faith being much more precious than that of gold which perisheth though it be tried with fire may be found unto praise All Afflictions are Tentations by them we are tried whether we have the Grace of God in us or no. T is Faith but not Faith alone which our Troubles here are the Trials of A Sick-bed is a Furnace a Reproach is a Furnace a Loss or a Goal is a Furnace in which t is tried whether we have the spirits not of Bastards but of Children in us Hence we read of A great Tryal of Affliction Afflicted persons may make that Confession in Ps. 66. 10 11 Thou O God hast proved us thou hast tried us as silver is tried thou hast laid Affliction upon our loins Hereby we are Try'd whether we will despise the Chastning of the Lord or whether we will faint when rebuked of Him. Proposition II. Upon the Trials of God good men come forth as gold There is that in Gold which good men may be compar'd unto We read in Deut. 1. 1. about the mountains of Dizahab that is the Golden mountains because Gold was probably dug from thence The Churches of God in the world are such Mountains of gold Every true Believer is a rich lump of Gold before the Lord. Of such persons t is said in Lam. 4. 2. They are the precious sons of Zion comparable to fine gold There are diverse properties in Gold which a good man will have a blessed Resemblance of I should offer you not Gold but Hay and stubble if I should read you here a Lecture of Metallogy or discourse to you all that I could Philosophize about this King of Metals Let me only touch on a few common Reflections As now Gold is a pure metal Hence we read near some scores of times in the sacred Scripture about pure Gold. It will not readily admit a Mixture or an Alloy with more imperfect Metals unless with Silver Especially the Dust-gold of Guinea Gold whereof Iob saith t is Dust of gold wonderful is the Purity thereof Thus a good man is a pure man He is one of those that are called in Matth. 5. 8. The pure in heart He is pure in his Ends pure in his principles pure in his practises pure from the dross of Lust and he is not so much Nominally as really A Puritan Again Gold is a Ductil Metal T is marvellously extensible when beaten into Leaves t were incredible to tell how far one Grain of Gold may be extended and continued So dense and compacted and united are the parts of it that an Ounce of it may be beaten I suppose into a Thousand Leaves Thus a good Man can be Drawn forth into large Expressions of goodness and vertue It was said by such an one in Psal. 11. 3. My goodness Extendeth He extends his Piety his Charity he extends his lnfluence far and near and he is a Diffusive good Once more Gold is a Beautiful metal 'T is called Aurum for that very cause ab Aura i. e. a Splendore T is a shining and glitt'ring thing and hence things that are very splendid are said to be covered with â—ellow Gold. For this reason an Hook of it once catch't 〈◊〉 by the Lust of the Eye Thus a good man has a transcendent Beauty in him To such an one t was said in Cant. 6. 4. Thou art Beautiful There is a Lustre on the Face and a Lustre in the Walk of such a man he has even the Splendor of A light in the world Furthermore Gold is a Durable Metal Tho' the Bible affirms that it is Corruptible and â—â—â—kerable and Perishing yet there is a mighty Strength to be ascribed unto it It will endure the hottest Fire with small or no Diminâ—â—â—on and Aqua-fortis it self will not eat into it â—â—ch an Enduring thing is a good man. His Character is that in Matth. 24. 13. He shall endure to the end No Fire no Water no Vexation shall consume his Devotion He is the Overcomer whom neither the Flattery nor the Fury neither the Frowning nor the Fawning of any Tempter can dissolve the Religion of Moreover Gold is a Ponderous Metal Even Lead it self in its weight is to Gold as far short as Sixty is of an Hundred if I mistake it not Such is the Quality such the Gravity of a good man. A godly man is a Weighty man. T is said in Prov. 12. 26. A righteous man is more excellent than his neighbour One such man will weigh down multitudes and myriads of other men His being a pondering man it soon makes him become ponderous man. His unconverted Neighbourhood may own of him Thou art worth ten thousand of us Finally Gold is a precious Metal It s precious for the Vse which t is of in Nature Rich Cordials and Medicines are to be extracted from it It s precious also for the Price which
whether you will serve Him and praise Him for it God is Trying whether you will now often say Bless the LORD O my soul and all that is within me God is Trying whether you will now think What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits Let us be as Gold by affording now a good Experiment Secondly Let them that are in Adversity likewise behave themselves as under the Tryals of the Lord. We may most or all of us Lament I am the man that hath seen Affliction there is a Variety of Calamity which we are try'd withal God forbid that we should procure to our selves the Brand set upon that wicked man of old In the time of his Distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD Never was there in this world a more doleful sight than that of a Theef on a Cross yet Neglecting and Affronting the Son of God. We that have been lately under Affliction particularly under that Affliction of Sickness have as it were lain among the pots God has as it were laid us by among the meanest Lumps of clay but O that we may now come sorth Doves having Wings covered with Silver and Feathers with yellow Gold O that we may come forth of our Tryals more gracious more Savoury more Heavenly than ever we were in our lives before that the Iron-Age of Grief may issue in a Golden-Age of Grace unto us that our Adversity may procure more grace to to us than ever the Prosperity of Solomon did gold to him T is to be desired that the Transmutation of Metals may be Exemplified in us and that the most exquisite Vitrioliâ— powder may not be so powerful to make Natural gold as the Dust of Affliction may be to make Spiritual gold of our souls Look to it Lest our Character be that Reprchate Silver which is rejected by the Lord. The First DESIRE Let us come forth more out-of-Love with Gold which perisheth Our GOD hath taught us that no gold will deliver from Death and Hell and that no gold can be carried away with us at our Departure hence Our God hath told us That though we should have never so much gold about us we may in a moment be taken away from all Wherefore Let us become Indifferent unto gold and all the Delights of this miserable World. Look Look upon thy most golden Comforts and imagine thou hearest that Voice of GOD in Prov. 23. 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not When one of the Martyrs had money proffer`d unto him he Refused it saying The Coyn is not current in the Countrey to which I am going O despise all gold but what will be Current there The Second Desire Let us come forth more Admiring of more Affected with such things as are better than gold The Fear of God is one of those things Whereof t is said it Job 28. 16. It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir Let it be then our prime and cheef Study to be daily acting of it yea Since we have lately seen Time loudly calling on us to Redeem it Let a Respect to God now ennoble all the Actions of our Lives The Word of God is another of those things Whereof t is said in Psal. 19. 10. It is more to be desired than much fine Gold. Let us then set an unspeakable Value thereupon Yea since we have lately seen an End of all Perfection elsewhere Let the Bible of God be now more than ever the Companion of your Solitary Hours Finally The SON of GOD is the Pearl of great price which no Gold is to be equaliz'd unto We read of a Brazen-Serpent or more truly a Coper-Serpent marvellously useful to Israel of old O let us now Esteem the Antitype of that Brasen or Coper Shadow before the Richest Gold. The holy God has newly sent me back from the Sides of Eternity to tell you That One CHRIST is worth ten Worlds T is a thing whereof you have been heretofore advised with frequent solemn lively Warnings from the Eternal God As Ioshua could say in Cap. 24. 27. Behold this stone shall be a Witness for it hath heard all the words of the Lord. So may I say Let this Pulpit and these Walls and Seats and Pillars Remember if you have forgotten That you have been often told All the gold in the world is not worth one Christ. And behold I repeat unto you one Warning more Let this House be a Witness and be you witnesses of it O ye Angels that are invisible here That it has been earnestly affirmed in our Hearing A Christ is better than a Thousand Worlds and they that slâ—ight Him will be miserable for infinitely more than ten Thousand Ages LIFE DESIRED Vpon the Death of a Relation Psal. CXIX 175. Let my Soul live and it shall praise thee and let thy Iudgements help me SWeeter Words than these could not come from the Sweet Singer of Israel himself The Hundred and Nineteenth is the longest and yet if the Comparison be not odious the sweetest of all the Psalms and perhaps the Psalm like the Grace wherewith it was Composed has a growing Sweetness towards the Conclusion of it The one and twentieth Octonary in this excellent Psalm is a Bundle of Heavenly Affections this two and twentieth Octonary is an Heap of Holy Petitions There are especially Six Petitions in this last part of the Psalm The fourth and fifth of them are in the words now before us He begs First for his Life then for God's Help The Life petition`d for may be understood as Two-fold it is called The life of the Soul both Natural Life and Spiritual Life may be intended in that Expression But cheefly the former Let my soul live it is q. d. Let my Self live T is an usual Hebraism In that signification it was the Choice of Sampson Let me dy in the Hebrew it is Let my Soul dy with the Philistines The Help petition'd for has Two Things declared concerning it We have the For-What of this Help this is That he might attend the Business for which he desired to live namely To praise God. And we also have the From-Whence of this Help this is From the Iudgments of God. Thy Iudgments this is one of the Ten various Phrases used here to signify the Wayes and Means whereby God reveals Himself unto the world In short the Doctrine before us is That While we pray to live we should account the Praises of God to be the Cheef End of our Life in which the Judgments of God are to be sought and used as our Help The Propositions which may shape this Truth unto our minds are these Prop. I. The Praise of God is to be accounted the cheef end of our Life on Earth If our Souls do live in our Bodies if we enjoy that Life which is an Union between Soul and Body this is to be the End of it That we may praise the God of our lives It was the pious
for the Praising of God are the things for which we should desire to be living on Earth There is a Three-fold Desire of Life which the Living have There is a Natural Desire of Life This is common both to good men and bad men Nature it self startles at the Approach of Death Innocent Nature shivers and recoyls when this King of Terrors is ready to lay his cold lâ—y hand upon us This was Ioab's Desire that valiant Souldier The Lord-General of Israel himself in 1. King. 2. 28. being in cold blood under Apprehensions of Death fled unto the Horns of the Altar as a Sanctuary to save his Life There is also a Sensual Desire of Life This is that which Bad men are under the power of Many are loth to dye because they would not leave the Pleasures and Profits and Honours which did surround them here They are like the Miser who on his Death-Bed hugg'd his Baggs of Gold and cry'd out Must I leave you Must I leave you Their Love of their Life comes from their love of their Flesh. This was the Rich Fools Desire in Luc 12. 20. He wished for many Years that he might eat and drink and be merry here There is likewise a gracious Desire of Life And this is that which good men are affected with They desire to live because they desire to praise They would live because they would honour God in those matters those manners for which their Lives do afford them blessed Opportunities and Advantages Now this gracious Desire of of Life is a Regular Desire A Desire of Life for the Praise of God is the only Desire of Life that will have praise of God. This was David's Desire when he was visited with Sickness when he was weak and his Bones were pained then said he in Psal. 6. 5. O save me for in Death there is no Remembrance of thee in the Grave who shall give thee thanks Such Desires are the only right and chast Desires It is not fit for a Christian to say I desire to live because I am afraid to dy Much less is it fit for him to say I desire my life in the world that I may turn and wind still the Affairs of the World. But This is that which Legâ—timates the Desire of Life As every thing is to be iâ—â—roved for God so every thing should be desired for God. And thus Life it self We are daily Praying as he in Psal. 102. 24. O my God take me not away in the midst of my dayes Well Our God enquires of us Why art thou unwilling to be taken away in the midst of thy dayes We should have this to be our true Account of it Because O Lord I am loth to be taken away in the midst of my Praise PROP. III. The Judgments of God are to be sought and used by us as our Help in those Praises of God which are the End of our life There are blessed Helps which God hath provided for us by which we may be both Assisted in and Excited to the work of our lives Behold a double Help both implyed in the Iudgments of God. And he that shall consult other passages in this Hundred-and-nineteenth Psalm will find both under this Notion insisted on The Scriptures of Truth and the Troubles of Life First The Word of God is to be sought as the Help of our Praising Him. The Prophet of old could say as in Mich. 6. 8. The Lord hath shewed thee O man the thing that good is Thus the Lord hath shewed us how to be praising of Him by living to Him. But Where has he shewed it Truly in the sacred Bible The Bible is the Directory given to us Every Child is well taught to say The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Rule which God hath given to instruct us how we are to glorify Him. To order a Life in a dark world is as hard as to manage a Ship in a dark night we are in the Dark about the Practises which our lives are to be employed in What shall we then do that we may leave no part of our due Homage to God unperformed The Apostle speaks fully to this Case in 2. Pet. 1. 18. We have a sure word of Prophecy whereto ye do well to take heed as to a light shining in a dark place There There it is our Bible is our Pole-Star keep an eye to That and we shall shape a course Right All the Directions all the Promises all the Threatnings of God will be so many Helps of our Obedience If any man ask How do the Scriptures of God help men in the Praises of God Know The Scriptures themselves give an Answer thereunto in Psal. 19. 7 8. The law of the Lord converts the soul the testimonies of the Lord make wise the simple the statutes of the Lord rejoice the heart the commandments of the Lord enlighten the eyes That Conversion that Instruction that Ioy and that Lighâ— which the Word of God affords unto us will be no little Help in the Praise of God. Secondly The Rod of God is to be used as the Help of our Praising Him. The Lord sends many Afflictions upon us An Hâ—man is afflicted in his mind a Iob is Afflicted in his Estate a Gaius is afflicted in his Body a Paul in his Credit and a David in his Children they live ill and they dy worse before him What is the Use we are now to make of these things Truly our Afflictions are to be the Help of our Devotions It is the Call of God in Mic 6. 9. Hear the Rod. As we should hear the Voice of the Rod so we should use the Help of the Rod. By our Afflictions we should be helped unto more Seriousness more Watchfulness more Fruitfulness Now those things are to the Praise of the glory of the grace of God. Our Afflictions are the purgings the prunings bestow'd by our God upon us What are they for but That we may bring forth more Fruit and we are told in Ioh. 15. 8. Herein is my father glorified if ye bring forth much fruit Observe it a Learning the Statutes of God is a Rendring of Praises to God those two things are one Now see what the Psalmist saith in Psal 119. 97. T is good for me that I have been afflicted that I may learn thy Statutes This then is incumbent on us under every Affliction Our study should be What Advantage what Engagement to be more holy is now put into my hands Every Afflicted man should ask How may the Sorrowes of my life promote the praises of my God But for the Vse of these things USE I. Some Evil Desires are hence Rebuked and Condemned Especially two sorts of Desires First Impatient Desires of Death are to be Reproved Something is to be said by way of Concession and something by way of Correction about such Desires First by way of Concession I would say There are some Desires of Death well-becoming